Super Chow

With so many roads now leading to Del Mar, traffic may feel pretty slow just now. But we should make a virtue of that, in that our preoccupation with the elite program tends to deny due attention to those achieving their success a tier or so below the very top. After all, such people have typically required no less skill, endeavor and patience, often denied the very highest rewards only through lacking similar parity in resources. Take the breeder of GIII Ontario Derby winner Dresden Row (Lord Nelson), whose emergence...

In this continuing series, Alan Carasso takes 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 Chukyo Racecourse: Saturday, September 7, 2024 4th-CKO, ¥13,720,000 ($95k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1800m AMERICAN STAGE (c, 2, Into Mischief--Bonita Mia, by Warrior's Reward), a half-brother to three-time Grade III-winning sprinter Super Chow (Lord Nelson) and SW Princess Indy (Lord Nelson),...

There can't be many tracks that that deviate further from the standard American model than Goodwood. Even in Britain nobody today would dream of laying out a racecourse along a twisting ridge of downland, and we remain duly indebted to the militia officers who first eked out a little sport here 223 years ago. Not that the horses themselves share our appreciation for a gorgeous panorama of cornfields and woodland, focused as they are on keeping their balance over the swaying terrain and round sharp right-hand bends. Yet last week...

Continuing on the heels of a stacked card Friday, Pimlico offers a robust eight-stakes offering Saturday, led by the $1.5 million GI Preakness S. With GI Kentucky Derby winning Mage (Good Magic) looming as the one to beat, the race suffered a notable blow Friday with the defection of Godolphin's 'TDN Rising Star' First Mission (Street Sense), shaving the field back to seven. Having not only showed a recency in form but also the ability to win at the highest level, none of the chestnut's rivals can really make the...

Saturday's graded stakes races stretch out from coast to coast and feature significant GI Kentucky Derby implications, but not entirely for the reasons we've come to expect. In South Florida, it is business as usual for the Derby preps while on the West Coast all things Kentucky Derby took an unprecedented turn. On the heels of a very successful GI Pegasus World Cup weekend, Gulfstream Park offers a tremendous card with five graded races, including the 34th running of the GIII Holy Bull S. named for the Hall of Famer...

A filly by the late Lord Nelson brought $125,000 from agent Michael Wallace, acting on behalf of St. Elias Stables, to top Friday's 11th of 12 sessions of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Vinnie Viola's operation has purchased a total of 48 head throughout the sale, either alone or in partnership, for gross receipts of $18,815,000 and an average of $391,979. Consigned by Legacy Bloodstock, agent for breeder Spendthrift Farm, as Hip 3709, Friday's topper is a full sister to 2022 GII Saratoga Special S. third-place finisher and recent runaway...

'TDN Rising Star' Damon's Mound (Girvin) backed up his jaw-dropping, double-digit debut victory at Churchill Downs with an impressive, 3 1/4-length decision over favored 'Rising Star' Gulfport (Uncle Mo) in Saturday's GII Saratoga Special S. Facing just three rivals here, the 9-5 second-choice trailed the closely bunched quartet in the garden spot as Gulfstream debut winner Super Chow (Lord Nelson) flew through an opening quarter in :21.94. Gulfport, a perfect two-for-two to begin his career, led by a 12 1/4-length win in the Bashford Manor S., was forced to check...