Sharp Azteca

Sometimes a prohibitive 3-5 favorite doesn't run his or her race, but sometimes one runs just as hoped and adds a cherry on top. Last-out GI Beholder Mile Stakes winner and Pamela C. Ziebarth homebred Sweet Azteca (f, 4, Sharp Azteca--So Sweetitiz, by Grand Slam) not only made it three in a row with a facile win in Saturday's GII Great Lady M Stakes at Los Alamitos, but also set a new track record at Los Al for the distance, getting the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:14.33. At the Great...

Quite a few horses have lately nourished the illusion that we might, collectively, actually know what we're doing. Sierra Leone (Gun Runner), for instance, is threatening to make sense of the second-highest price paid for an American yearling in 2022; while Newgate (Into Mischief) is steadily working off a $850,000 debt of his own, while similarly bringing closer the real payday at stud. But last weekend we were given yet another reminder of the genetic powder-keg lit by a mating strategy that can only have prompted a supercilious smile in...

Facing a bevy of more experienced rivals, lightly raced SWEET AZTECA (f, 4, Sharp Azteca--So Sweetitiz, by Grand Slam) led every step of the way to capture the renamed GI B. Wayne Hughes Beholder Mile S. at Santa Anita Saturday. Last summer's GI Clement L. Hirsch S. winner and even-money favorite Adare Manor (Uncle Mo) was second, while 'TDN Rising Star' and Pumpkin Pie S. winner Green Up (Upstart), an East Coast shipper, was third. Final time for the mile was 1:36.40. A homebred for Pamela Cee Ziebarth, Sweet Azteca...

Three Chimneys Farm's Sharp Azteca (Freud), winner of the GI Cigar Mile at Aqueduct and one of the top freshman sires of 2022, has been sold to Japan to stand stud at Shizunai Stallion Station in 2024, the Japanese Racing Association announced Friday. The move is subject to his passing quarantine restrictions. A leading sire of 2-year-olds last year, Sharp Azteca is responsible for progeny like Tyler's Tribe and Sharp Aza Tack.

7th-Churchill Downs, $115,095, Msw, 5-2, 3yo/up, f/m, 6f, 1:09.85, ft, 2 1/4 lengths. SWEET AZTECA (f, 3, Sharp Azteca--So Sweetitiz {MSW, $180,480}, by Grand Slam) trained forwardly ahead of this debut, both at the Trackside training center and over the local strip, and was bet down from 8-1 to be off at just over 9-2 on debut. Hustled along to dispute the early pace through a quarter-mile in :20.82, the homebred grey maintained a narrow advantage as they raced around the turn. Bracing for an outside challenge from fellow firster...

Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg})--the leading sire on the general sire list by percentage of Grade I winners, Grade I horses, graded stakes winners, graded stakes horses, black-type winners and black-type horses from starters--anchors the stallion roster at Three Chimneys Farm, where he will cover mares at a private fee for 2023. Building on his leading freshman sire campaign in 2021, the 9-year-old is the sire of 11 stakes winners this season, including eight at the graded level and four Grade I scorers, including 'TDN Rising Star' and GI Longines...

This is somewhat of a watershed year for freshman sires, with six first-crop sires within the top 10 on the list of leading sires of 2-year-olds in North America through Monday. Spendthrift stalwart Into Mischief leads the group (as he has for five of the last seven years), but the same farm's freshman Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro) is second, Hill 'n' Dale's Good Magic (Curlin) is third, Coolmore America's Justify (Scat Daddy) is fourth, Hill 'n' Dale's Army Mule (Friesan Fire) is fifth, Three Chimneys's Sharp Azteca (Freud) is seventh,...

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Tokyo and Hanshin Racecourses. The 3-year-old fillies' Classics concluded with last Sunday's running of the G1 Shuka Sho and the colts' division finishes up this weekend with the running of the G1 Kikuka Sho, the Japanese St. Leger over a...

Tim Martin, the trainer of undefeated Iowa-bred Tyler's Tribe, joined this week's TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland.

First things first, because this was not just a proxy war. Congratulations, then, to Blazing Sevens (Good Magic) for carving his name on the GI Champagne S. roll of honor, one of the most storied on the American Turf. John and Carla Capek of Rodeo Creek Racing have only owned racehorses for a couple of years, but here they are with the winner of a race once won in three consecutive runnings by Seattle Slew, Alydar and Spectacular Bid. They must be tremendously excited as Chad Brown prepares their colt...

After another dominating performance, this time in the Iowa Cradle S., the undefeated Iowa-bred gelding Tyler's Tribe (Sharp Azteca) will face the stiffest test of his career when going next in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Keeneland. Just don't call him an underdog. He's too fast for that. "We're headed to Kentucky and I think we have a good horse," said co-owner and trainer Tim Martin. "I know he's been running in Iowa but has been beating them pretty bad over there. He's been pretty amazing." The...

It was little more than another high gallop for Tyler's Tribe (Sharp Azteca) at Prairie Meadows Saturday evening, as the 'Hammering Hawkeye' took his record to five towering wins from as many appearances against five overmatched foes in the Iowa Cradle S. The dark bay hit the ground running from his outside berth and had a bit of early pace pressure, but cleared away from that rival, and with Kylee Jordan a mere passenger into the lane, ran out an easy winner. Tyler's Tribe was then asked to gallop out...