Speaker's Corner

A few strides into the running of Satuday's GI Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan H. at Belmont Park, John Sadler, the trainer of 'TDN Rising Star' Flightline (Tapit), admitted to a bit of a queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. "When I saw him behind early, I wanted to throw up on myself," he said. Despite some very anxious moments, particularly at multiple junctures during the opening 440 yards of the stallion-making test, the $1-million Fasig-Tipton Saratoga graduate proved more than equal to the task, as he strode clear...

Shadwell's brilliant, undefeated Baaeed (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) was given a mark of 125 and now leads the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings. The bay made his 4-year-old debut in the G1 Al Shaqab Lockinge S. and ran out a 3 1/4-length victor. America's Life Is Good (Into Mischief) and crack sprinter Nature Strip (Aus) (Nicconi {Aus}) share second at 124, while Speaker's Corner (Street Sense) sits fourth just one point below. It is a four-way tie for fifth at 122, with Hong Kong wunderkind Golden Sixty (Aus) (Medaglia...

After winning the G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas at the end of April, Coroebus (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) moved up to a ranking of 121 in the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings. The new mark puts him even with fellow improvers Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music), who won the GI Churchill Downs S. on Kentucky Derby Day and G1 Tenno Sho (Spring) scorer Titleholder (Jpn) (Duramente {Jpn}). They join Golden Pal (Uncle Mo) and Country Grammer (Tonalist) at that rating, which is a five-way tie for fifth in the standings. Leading the list...

Green Light Go (h, 5, Hard Spun--Light Green, by Pleasantly Perfect), winner of the 2019 GII Saratoga Special S. and runner-up in that term's GI Champagne S., was euthanized after breaking the sesamoid bone in his right foreleg during a workout Friday morning over the Belmont Park training track, according to Daily Racing Form's David Grening. "It looked like he was just cruising," trainer Jimmy Jerkens told DRF. The Stronach Stables runner was preparing for a start May 7 in the GIII Westchester S. at Belmont Park following a fourth-place...

Australian sprinting king Nature Strip (Aus) (Nicconi {Aus}) won the G1 T J Smith S. in Australia recently and moves to the top of the Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings with a mark of 124 shared with GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. hero Life Is Good (Into Mischief). Next on the rankings list is Speaker's Corner (Street Sense), the 4 1/2-length victor of the GI Carter H. at 123. Hong Kong superhorse Golden Sixty (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro) returned to the winner's circle in the G2 Chairman's Trophy S., and...

Not quite nailing the GI Kentucky Derby with Essential Quality (Tapit) felt like one of very few omissions from a spectacular 2021 for Godolphin on both sides of the Atlantic. And while it seems that Sheikh Mohammed must wait at least another year to satisfy that particular craving, his team certainly won't have felt too marginalized during the coast-to-coast sequence of rehearsals that gripped our attention last Saturday. Because they now know for a fact that they have one of the outstanding talents of the previous crop in Speaker's Corner...

Speaker's Corner (Street Sense) took his 2022 record to a perfect three-for-three with a sensational victory in the GI Carter H. on a picture-perfect Saturday afternoon at Aqueduct. Hammered down to 3-5 favoritism, the Godolphin homebred was quickest away from the outside stall, but was quickly joined on the front end by a trio of rivals to his inside. Speaker's Corner spurted away to gain a clear lead after the first quarter went up in :23.17 with Reinvestment Risk (Upstart) tracking from second to his inside. That foe backed up...

Speaker's Corner (Street Sense), a perfect two-for-two to start the year, led by a dominating victory with a 106 Beyer over next-out GIII Ghostzapper S. winner Fearless (Ghostzapper) in the GII WinStar Gulfstream Park Mile S. Mar. 5, headlines Saturday's GI Carter H. at the Big A. Always held in high regard by his connections, the Godolphin homebred has found his calling around one turn this year after concluding his sophomore season with a drifting second in the 1 1/8-mile Discovery S. here Nov. 27. Drawn widest of all in...

Godolphin's Speaker's Corner (Street Sense) and First Captain (Curlin), owned by West Point Thoroughbreds, Siena Farm, Woodford Racing and celebrity chef Bobby Flay, appear on course for a tilt at the seven-furlong GI Carter H. Apr. 9 at Aqueduct. This term, the former, trained by Bill Mott, has posted a pair of one-turn victories at Gulfstream Park--the GIII Fred Hooper S. Jan. 29 followed by the Mar. 5 GII Gulfstream Park Mile. Last year, he won three starts in New York, including a 6 3/4-length triumph in a Belmont optional...

Speaker's Corner (Street Sense) and Fearless (Ghostzapper), one-two across the line in the GIII Fred W. Hooper S. Jan. 29, face off again in Saturday's GII WinStar Gulfstream Park Mile S. The highly regarded Godolphin homebred Speaker's Corner, second after setting the pace in the 1 1/8-mile Discovery S. at Aqueduct Nov. 27, turned back to a mile with a sharp, wire-to-wire tally under an aggressive ride from Junior Alvarado in the Hooper. Fearless, four of six with two seconds in Hallandale, rallied from last of eight to finish a...

Lightly raced Speaker's Corner had earned some strong speed figures up to this point for a horse without a stakes win, and he kicked off his 4-year-old campaign auspiciously with a breakthrough tally in Florida. A second-out graduate in New York as a fall juvenile over a very salty bunch of future stakes runners (Caddo River, Greatest Honour, Miles D, Bourbonic and Original), Speaker's Corner resurfaced off the long lay-off to crush Saratoga allowance foes by open lengths. The GI Pennsylvania Derby next out perhaps proved too much too soon,...

The decision to withdraw GI Kentucky Derby first-past-the-post Medina Spirit (Protonico) from Saturday's $1-million GI Pennsylvania Derby is certainly a disappointing development, but eight of the nine remaining entrants already have at least one stakes win to their credit, six of those at the graded-stakes level, with a couple of new shooters that have earned their chance to contest a race of this magnitude. Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow) is a deserving favorite based on his body of work, one that could look dramatically more sparkling with a few different bounces...