Three Diamonds Farm

The 2024 Churchill Downs Spring Meet leading jockey race came down to the wire on closing day Sunday with Tyler Gaffalione and Jose Ortiz tying for the most wins. Gaffalione and Ortiz shared leading rider honors with 45 wins apiece. For Gaffalione, it was his 12th Churchill Downs title as leading jockey. It was the first local championship for Ortiz, who began riding in Kentucky this spring. Luis Saez, who had 32 wins following Day 42 of the 43-day meeting, was in third place followed by Florent Geroux (22), Cristian...

All-sources handle on the Turfway Park Winter/Spring Meet, which concluded Saturday, increased 62% from a year ago, while purse money awarded jumped 43%, according to a release from the Kentucky track. More than $145 million was wagered at the meeting, nearly $56 million more than 2022. Connections who raced at Turfway Park were rewarded with more than $19 million in prize money, an increase of more than $5.5 million (including funds from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund). Turfway Park ran nine additional days this year and had an increase of...

Keepmeinmind (Laoban--Inclination, by Victory Gallop), whose prowess on the track first brought sire Laoban to the national forefront, and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner and Eclipse finalist Fire At Will (Declaration of War--Flirt, by Kitten's Joy) join Honest Mischief, Freud and Mission Impazible at Sequel New York's stallion roster, bringing diverse and interesting options for Thoroughbred breeders in the Empire State. Bred by Southern Equine Stables, the physically impressive Keepmeinmind broke his maiden in the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. in November of his 2-year-old season. Prior to that,...

Bruce Lunsford's Art Collector (Bernardini) exited his win in Saturday's GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational in fine shape, according to trainer Bill Mott. "He's happy. He was bright and alert and seemed to be feeling pretty good about himself," Mott reported from Payson Park Sunday morning. Art Collector, winner of the 2021 GI Woodward S., had been a solid stakes performer before his emphatic 4 1/2-length victory in the Pegasus Saturday. "It's strange. I knew he was doing well going into the race. I felt like he was training well,...

Trainer Mike Maker had already saddled the first three finishers in the GIII William L. McKnight as well as the winner of the GIII Fred W. Hooper S. earlier on Gulfstream Park's card, and he added his second $1-million GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational S. trophy Saturday as well-backed Atone (Into Mischief) kicked home impressively from midpack to best GISW Ivar (Brz) (Agnes Gold {Jpn}) by 3/4 of a length. Speaking Scout (Mr Speaker), a last-out winner of the GI Hollywood Derby, was third. The winner, bet down to...

Fasig-Tipton Midlantic concludes its 2022 calendar of auctions with the one-session December Mixed and Horses of Racing Age Sale Tuesday at the Maryland Sate Fairgrounds in Timonium. Bidding for the first of 286 catalogued horses begins at 11 a.m. The auction opens with an offering of weanlings and broodmares and continues with a selection of yearlings before concluding with horses of racing age. "We have had a lot of interest," Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's sales director Paget Bennett said ahead of Tuesday's sale. "We have a bunch of weanlings by Kentucky sires...

The Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA) has named its finalists for the TOBA National Owner of the Year. In alphabetical order, the five finalists are Gary Barber; Godolphin; Klaravich Stables; the partnership of Spendthrift Farm LLC, MyRaceHorse Stable, Madaket Stables LLC, and Starlight Racing; and Three Diamonds Farm. The winner will be announced Saturday, Sept. 11, at the TOBA National Awards Dinner at Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa in Paris, Ky. Motown legend Gladys Knight will perform. TOBA will also honor breeders from 18 states and Canada, as well...

NYRA TV analysts Andy Serling and Anthony Stabile, who kiddingly challenged one another to mini-golf during the July 18 broadcast of Talking Horses, joined forces with Three Diamonds Farm's Kirk Wycoff and Nové Italian Restaurant's Louis Lazzinnaro and by the conclusion of the mini-golf game at the Goony Golf in Lake George, N.Y. Aug. 2, the two-on-two matchup had raised $100,000 for New York-based backstretch organizations. Bolstered by Wycoff's three holes-in-one, the Serling/Wycoff team defeated Stabile and Lazzinnaro, otherwise known as "Team Nové," by 15 strokes. "It's a testament to...

While Memorial Day weekend is thought of as the kick off to the beginning of summer, for Ryder Finney, it also serves as the unofficial start of sales prep season. Early mornings of bringing in the yearlings, lengthy handwalking sessions under the hot summer sun and tedious hours monitoring the walker. All while analyzing every minute change in each yearling at Bluewater. It's his favorite time of year. "This time of year you see an unbelievable transformation in a lot of them," Finney said. "Their winter hair falls off and...

Sent off at 9-2 following a troubled third last out in Aqueduct's GIII Gazelle S., Army Wife (Declaration of War) came from off the pace to collect her first graded victory in Friday's GII George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan S. at Pimlico. Lady Traveler (Quality Road) went to the front, leading Adventuring (Pioneerof the Nile) and 2-1 choice Beautiful Gift (Medaglia d'Oro) as Army Wife settled in a rail-skimming sixth early. Eagerly pulling herself into contention exiting the far turn, she checked slightly when trying to find room between the...

Three Diamonds Farm's Fire At Will (c, 2, Declaration of War--Flirt, by Kitten's Joy) sat the trip and powered clear in the stretch to post an eye-catching, 30-1 upset in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Keeneland. Favored Battleground (War Front), the first foal out of 2015 GI Breeders' Cup Turf victress Found (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), was second; pacesetter Outadore (Outwork) was third. Fire At Will, a last out upset wire-to-wire winner of Belmont's GII Pilgrim S. Oct. 3, sat a stalking trip on the inside in third as...

The Runhappy meet at Kentucky Downs, which concluded Wednesday, Sept. 16, saw record betting handle across the six days of live racing that totaled $59,828,44 for a total of 62 races (average per race $964,975), including $9,487,705 on the final day. The previous record of $41,239,699 (average $824,794) was set in 2019. Even with a modest reduction in prize money owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and a two-month absence of revenue from historical racing machines, a record total of $12,337,000 was paid out over the course of the meet, bettering...