Todd Pletcher

Friday's Racing Insights: Pletcher Stablemates Unveil Their Own Eras Tour At Gulfstream

2nd-GP, $60K, Msw, 3yo/up, f/m, 6f, 12:52 p.m. ET. A pair of 3-year-olds from the shedrow of Todd Pletcher will make their debut with Lasix from the inside gates. Exiting the rail spot is RUMOURS HAVE IT (Tapit). The filly is a Whisper Hill homebred who is out of dual champion Songbird (Medaglia d'Oro). Mandy Pope went to $9.5 million to acquire this dam at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Fall Mixed Sale. Rumours Have It is her third foal and second to make the races. Emanating from next door is Taylor...

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Over 50 Speakers Announced For Global Symposium on Racing

Edited Press Release Speakers have been announced for the 50th annual Global Symposium on Racing, taking place from December 9-11, 2024, at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort in Tucson. For a complete agenda and a list of speakers, please visit RacingSymposium.com. The event brings together racing industry executives from around the world to delve into critical issues and emerging trends across the three racing breeds. The 2024 Symposium will feature a compelling lineup of topics vital to racing industry stakeholders, including:   Artificial Intelligence: Transformative Applications for Advancing Horse Racing Investing...

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Breeders' Cup Follow-Ups: Sierra Leone Well, Future Plans TBA

GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) has come out of the marquee race in good order, according to Chad Brown, and will return to Kentucky Monday morning. "Everything's all good," said assistant trainer Baldo Hernandez Sunday morning after showing the horse to the media. "He will ship tomorrow to Kentucky and maybe Florida after that. I don't know for sure, it's up to the boss." The connections are expected to announce future plans for the colt soon. Sean Flanagan of Flanagan Racing confirmed that...

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Sunday Insights: $750k Uncle Mo Colt Headlines BAQ Closing Day

1st-BAQ , 90K, Msw, 2yo, 1m, 12:10 p.m. UNCLE HULKA (Uncle Mo), a $750,000 OBS March grad who worked in :10.2, debuts Sunday to open the closing day card at Belmont's Aqueduct meet for trainer Chad Brown and the partnership group of Spendthrift Farm, Big Easy Racing, Titletown Racing Stables, Rick Kanter, Golconda Stable, Ali Goodrich and Mark Parkinson. Bred by White Birch Farm, the colt is the second foal out of a winning Candy Ride (Arg) first dam who has already produced one winner from one to race. Making...

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Saratoga: The Fall Place to Be

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - If the 2024 racing season at Saratoga Race Course wrapped up Labor Day weekend, why are so many of the best horsemen in the country still sticking around? Overlooking the famed Oklahoma Training Track, and, at the moment, enveloped in bright fall foliage, the former home to 2023 Horse of the Year Cody's Wish (Curlin) seems like a good place to start. "What did we win, five the last two years? That's not bad," Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said with a smile standing outside...

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Tuesday's Breeders' Cup Report: Classic Contenders Take the 'City' by Storm

DEL MAR, CA - With the rising sun attempting to make its way out of a dense cloud cover, contenders for Saturday's $7-million GI Breeders' Cup Classic were out in force during about a 30-minute window following the renovation break at Del Mar Tuesday morning. 'TDN Rising Star' Newgate and Pyrenees, a pair of blaze-faced, 4-year-old sons of the all-conquering Into Mischief, both entered on their toes and filled the frame nicely while training with good energy. Newgate, listed at a very generous 20-1 on the morning-line, adds blinkers for...

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City of Troy Draws Three, Made 5-2 Choice For Breeders' Cup Classic

Despite never having raced on the dirt in his two seasons at the races, Mrs John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith's champion and 'TDN Rising Star' City of Troy (Justify) was assigned gate three as the 5-2 morning-line selection in a full field of 14 and will be ridden by Ryan Moore in Saturday's $7-million GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar. Deemed by trainer Aidan O'Brien--a two-time runner-up in the Classic (Giant's Causeway, Declaration of War)--'the best he's ever trained,' the son of G1SW Together Forever (Ire)...

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GISW Outwork to Stand in Saudi Arabia

Outwork (Uncle Mo--Nonna Mia by Empire Maker), has been purchased to continue his stud career in Saudi Arabia through a deal brokered by Chad Schumer. The GI Wood Memorial winner won three of five career starts before retiring to WinStar Farm in 2017 with $701,800 in earnings. He's gone on to sire two Grade I winners, Leave No Trace and Brightwork. Another top performer includes millionaire Outadore, who won the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Turf Sprint in 2020 before running in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Keeneland, making a gallant...

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Fierceness to Stand at Ashford Stud Upon Retirement; Repole Says Plans Call for Him to Race at Four

Champion juvenile and 'TDN Rising Star' MGISW Fierceness (City of Light) will join the ranks at Ashford Stud upon his retirement from racing, the farm announced via release Sunday. The champion juvenile from 2023 is a leading GI Breeders' Cup Classic contender and will likely be one of the favorites at post-time. Of the others, Coolmore will have two other rooting interests as well with 'TDN Rising Star' GISW Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) and 'TDN Rising Star' MG1SW-Eng City of Troy (Justify) in the race. That group accounts for three...

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Fierceness Completes Classic Preparations At Saratoga

Repole Stable's 'TDN Rising Star' Fierceness (City of Light), expected to vie for favoritism in next Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar, turned in his final breeze Friday ahead of the $7-million centerpiece of championship weekend, going a half-mile in :48.98 over the Oklahoma training track. With his regular work rider Danny Wright in the irons, the homebred began his work slightly behind a workmate, drew alongside at the entrance to the stretch and was in front at the line before galloping out five furlongs in 1:02 1/5....

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Heart Of Horse Racing Seeks To Tell A Different Story

Horse racing has a PR problem. Tina Bond has a possible solution. "It's to create a new narrative and to help elevate the sport," said Bond, president of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (NYTHA), and the mastermind behind The Heart of Horse Racing, a new campaign--one undergoing something of a soft launch--to cultivate new followers to the game by sharing the stories of those already in it. In the campaign's own words, "our mission is to win over the hearts and minds of a new generation of fans while...

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Locked Romps in Much-Anticipated Big A Return, Could Target Cigar Mile

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Walmac Farm's 'TDN Rising Star' Locked (Gun Runner), an impressive winner of last fall's GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland and most recently third as the favorite in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita Nov. 3, returned to the races in style with a runaway victory in the opener at the Big A Saturday. Favored at 2-5 and racing with first-time Lasix, he was ridden by John Velazquez to keep pace in second, set his sights on Gun It (Tapit) approaching the quarter pole...

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