TDN Rising Star

Four years ago this week, McKinzie was retired to Gainesway after a stellar racing career that netted four Grade I wins and 11 triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures. While it may have been difficult at the time for many to see past the ravages of the COVID pandemic--it was 2020, after all--those far-sighted breeders who patronized McKinzie the next spring are looking positively clairvoyant in 2024. As is becoming blatantly obvious, McKinzie isn't just starting strong as a freshman sire. Instead, McKinzie's beginning as a young sire has been the stuff...

Bright Future (Curlin), the winner of the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup at the Spa, has been retired to Claiborne Farm with a stud fee of $12,500 LFSN for the 2025 breeding season, the farm said via a press release on Wednesday. Currently available for inspection at Claiborne, the 5-year-old son of Curlin won five of 11 career starts and earned $947,940 for owners Repole Stable and St. Elias Stables. The Todd Pletcher trainee won the Gold Cup at four and took home the GIII Salvator Mile Stakes at Monmouth...

It was another banner weekend for Godolphin as the stable swept the two Grade I races for 2-year-olds at Keeneland. The filly Immersive (Nyquist) won Friday's GI Darley Alcibiades Stakes and finished things off with a very impressive win by the colt East Avenue (Medaglia d'Oro) in the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity. Both will appear next in the Breeders' Cup where they could garner favoritism in their respective races. Leading the cheering section for Godolphin was its Director of Bloodstock, Michael Banahan, whose duties include overseeing the U.S.-based Godolphin runners....

7th-Keeneland, $100,000, Msw, 10-6, 2yo, 7f, 1:23.96, ft, 1 1/2 lengths. BUILT (c, 2, Hard Spun--Sea Garden, by Curlin) finished fourth on debut, but then was elevated to third after another horse was disqualified at Ellis Park Aug. 24. The winner who collected a 'TDN Rising Star' badge for his effort and was just crowned as the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity champ was East Avenue (Medaglia d'Oro). As the 2-1 second choice here, Built raced in between runners out of the chute and then set up shop off sole leader...

Bouncing back to her best, Ramatuelle (Justify--Raven's Lady {GB}, by Raven's Pass) ended a frustratingly long wait for another career success in Sunday's G1 Qatar Prix de la Foret to close out ParisLongchamp's elite contests in style. Completing another strong Arc day for the fillies, the 3-year-old whose owners include Tony Parker's Infinity Nine Horses had been without a win since the G2 Prix Robert Papin last July but was on her A-game from the outset here tanking on the heels of the leaders. Set alight by Aurelien Lemaitre approaching...

Back in 2010, when Wootton Bassett (GB) registered what would ultimately be his defining success in ParisLongchamp's G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, few would have predicted the considerable impact he would have on the breed. Fourteen years on, the extent to which he has grown in stature during his second career was felt in the same Qatar-sponsored race as his son Camille Pissarro (Ire) stepped up to reward Coolmore's faith and investment in the sire's raw material. Up to seven furlongs and fitted with blinkers for the first time, Ballydoyle's TDN...

WinStar Farm homebred Impulse Buy (f, 2, Speightstown--Jojo Warrior, by Pioneerof the Nile), a debut second behind her Rodolphe Brisset-trained stablemate Liam in the Dust (Liam's Map) at Ellis Park Aug. 11, graduated in style with a 'TDN Rising Star' performance at second asking at Keeneland Saturday. The 5-2 chance shot out to the front and sped through an opening quarter in :22.11. She traveled nicely around the far turn, kicked for home as the one to catch and dropped the hammer from there to win by an eye-catching 11...

Providing the perfect follow-up for the reintroduction of his half-sister Nashwa (GB) (Frankel {GB}) in the feature G1 Sun Chariot Stakes, Imad Al Sagar's newcomer Nebras (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}--Princess Loulou {Ire}, by Pivotal {GB}) lit up Newmarket's Saturday card by becoming his sire's 45th TDN Rising Star in the mile maiden. Purchased for 725,000gns at Tattersalls October Book 1, the John and Thady Gosden-trained chestnut was switched off in rear early by Hollie Doyle whose body language spoke volumes preparing for the downhill slide into the dip. Picking up with...

It was a Godolphin homebred filly by a Darley stallion to take the GI Darley Alcibiades Stakes on Keeneland's Opening Day. GI Spinaway Stakes winner Immersive (Nyquist) carried her strong form to Kentucky from Saratoga and will now head to Del Mar a two-time Grade I winner while still undefeated into the GI NetJets Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. The race looked to flatter New York form with the top three runners from that Spinaway appearing in Immersive, 'TDN Rising Star' Quietside (Malibu Moon) and Sherbini (Cairo Prince) along with the...

Montalcino (c, 3, Take Charge Indy--Upstager, by Distorted Humor), a big-figure debut winner at Saratoga Sept. 1, backed up that effort with a 'TDN Rising Star' performance in a first-level allowance for trainer Cherie DeVaux on the opening day of the Keeneland meeting Friday. Favored at even-money while receiving first-time Lasix here, the $410,000 OBS April breezer was hustled to the front from his inside draw and traveled nicely beneath Jose Ortiz while pressed through an opening quarter in :21.61. He began to give them the slip entering the far...

Saturday is one of those 'burn the candle at both ends' kind of days for horseplayers, as no fewer than 17 graded stakes take place within a six-hour window. Eight of those events serve as 'Win and You're In' qualifying events for various Breeders' Cup races, and even those races that don't offer a free pass are liable to toss up a runner or two or three at Del Mar in four weeks' time. Keeneland Race Course brands its opening three days of racing as 'Fall Stars Weekend' and who's...

'TDN Rising Star' Senza Parole (Gun Runner) will be scratched from Saturday's GI Frizette at Aqueduct and will not make her next start until some time next year, reports trainer Chad Brown. She was the 3-5 morning line favorite in the race and, with a victory, would have been considered one of the horses to beat in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. "Unfortunately, she's scratched out of this race," Brown said. "She came up with an injury coming out of her last workout (a four-furlong work at Saratoga on...