Spendthrift Farm

1st-SAR, $100K, Msw, 2yo, 7f, 12:35 p.m. ET. Debuting upstate is 2-year-old NANTZ (Tapit)--a $600,000 purchase during last year's Keeneland September Sale. Owned by partners Repole Stable, Spendthrift Farm, Big Easy Racing, Titletown Racing, Rick Kanter, Golconda Stable, Ali Goodrich and Mark Parkinson, the Todd Pletcher trainee is the first foal for MSW Divine Queen (Divine Park). She's out of SW Town Queen (Williamstown), who also produced SW Queen's Award (Medaglia d'Oro) and the dam of MGSW The Player (Street Hero). Also set for his unveiling is Aviator Gui (Uncle...

Louisiana Jess (Vekoma) ran to the odds and picked up not only his first stakes win but also became Vekoma's first black-type winner Saturday night at Evangeline Downs. One of five runners to come into this state-bred restricted D. S. Shine Young Futurity off a victory--his being June 14 at Churchill Downs in an auction price-restricted maiden special--the Bret Calhoun-trainee was the heavy 1-5 favorite by the time the gates opened and he did not disappoint his backers. Pressing the issue and three wide around the turn as Big Rasee...

If you didn't know the sophisticated people behind the mating, you might imagine that Puca went to Good Magic on no better premise than to double down on the alchemy implicit in both names. Because a puca (or pooka) in folklore is a shape-changing sprite, capable of bringing good or bad fortune. Shakespeare named Puck accordingly in A Midsummer Night's Dream, but my favourite example is Elwood P. Dowd's invisible drinking buddy Harvey, a rabbit standing just under six feet four inches. Perhaps you've noticed his silhouette at Harvey's Bar...

4th-DMR, $75K, Msw, 2yo, f, 5f, 6:36 p.m. ET. CASALU (Caracaro) was taken home for $775,000 by the Three Amigos--Pegram, Watson and Weitman--at this year's OBS April Sale. Sent to Bob Baffert, the filly posted a four-furlong bullet drill of :46.40 (1/54) at Santa Anita July 8. Out of Key d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro), the juvenile has a 4-year-old half-sister in SP Twirled (Twirling Candy) and a yearling half-brother by Vekoma. Casalu's second dam is herself a full-sister to sire Yankee Gentleman (Storm Cat). TJCIS PPS 7th-ELP, $71K, Msw, 2yo, f,...

If you want to know what endures, you need to know what has changed. To know what really counts, then, you must talk with the guys who have been around longest. "I remember when the first ultrasound scanner came to town," Padraig Campion says. "A guy called Dr. Norman Rantanen brought the machine in, to show us, and the first mare he scanned was Gold Digger. And sure enough, there's twins there. We didn't know. Down the road we realised it was pretty normal, that a lot of them just...

7th-SAR, $100K, Msw, 2yo, 5 1/2f, 3:54 p.m. ET. SAM'S ROCKET (American Pharoah) debuts for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. The colt went for $115,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Fall Yearling Sale before going to Frank Fletcher for $925,000 as the second highest price during this year's OBS April Sale. Dam More Roses (Uncle Mo) was purchased by D.C. Goff for $475,000 at the 2021 Keeneland November Sale while Sam's Rocket--her only foal to date--was in utero. The first-time starter's stakes-winning second dam Flattermewithroses (Flatter) also produced two-time GII Santa...

Kingsbarns (Uncle Mo) had always shown potential, but making good on it had become a problem. After he won last year's GII Louisiana Derby to remain undefeated in three career starts, he struggled to duplicate that performance. He did win the GIII Ben Ali Stakes at Keeneland, but his record still lacked that all-important Grade I win. That's no longer a problem. Kingsbarns defeated a strong field to win the June 29 GI Stephen Foster Stakes at Churchill Downs. To discuss that win and other matters relating to Spendthrift Farm,...

Spendthrift Farm's Ned Toffey joined this week's TDN Writers' Room to discuss the breakout victory by Kingsbarns in the GI Stephen Foster, as well as the early success from first-crop sire Vekoma.

Freshman sire Thousand Words (by Pioneerof the Nile) collected the first stakes win of his promising stud career, as Vodka With a Twist clinked her glass after getting her picture taken in the Debutante Stakes on closing day at Churchill Downs. The former charge of Jason McCutchen broke her maiden under his tutelage at second asking over a sloppy course under the Twin Spires May 17. With her new barn and as the 6-5 choice here, Vodka With a Twist got down to business from the bell by blazing a...

Tuscan Sky (Vino Rosso), who had finished a disappointing seventh as the 5-2 second choice in the GII Wood Memorial S. when last seen Apr. 6, restored his reputation by prevailing in a prolonged five-way battle for the lead and kicking well clear from a quintet of accomplished 3-year old rivals in the NYRA Bets Pegasus S. Running with the addition of blinkers for his fourth career start, the grey broke well under Javier Castellano and dueled for the lead through fractions of :23.35, :46.94 and 1:11.38. Turning for home,...

It was inevitable Into Mischief would be featured early on in our 'Saturday Sires' series, as his picture would probably be next to the phrase in the dictionary if the term appeared there. The five-time leading sire has now surpassed the remarkable threshold of 150 stakes winners with yet another graded winner this past weekend. Maybe it's a coincidence the phrase 'Saturday afternoon horses' came in vogue around the rise of Into Mischief, but maybe it isn't. After all, he practically invented the term. More than any other horse in...

Showing Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings and Jarret Prussin's filly might be sitting on a big 4-year-old season, Clearly Unhinged (Into Mischief) blazed her way to a first black-type success in Louisville in the GIII Winning Colors S. Monday. B G Warrior (Run Away and Hide) shot to the front from post 2 while to her immediate outside, Clearly Unhinged, dragged Joel Rosario to the fore through a nifty quarter in :21.02. Still under a snug hold as Happy Am I (Runhappy) and Leeloo (Practical Joke) loomed on her outer...