Toussaud

According to one of his longstanding clients, Arthur Hancock, Dr. Robert Hunt may be only the third best veterinarian in Kentucky. So who are his two rivals? "Dr. Green," Hancock replies. "And Dr. Time." Besides these complementary therapies of grazing and rest, however, he is adamant that an ailing Thoroughbred could have no better helper in the Bluegrass than the Hagyard surgeon: a byword for dedication, integrity and horsemanship. Determinedly self-effacing as he is, Hunt readily acknowledges that Hancock's two other "doctors" have contributed much to his own work. In...

In this continuing series, we examine the past winners of significant filly/mare races by the lasting influence they've had on the breed. Up today is Santa Anita's GI Gamely S., the first Grade I of the year for fillies and mares on the turf out west. Although the great Hall of Famer Gamely split her time between coasts, it was California that got to name what has become a major race after her. The daughter of Bold Ruler won some of the sport's biggest contests for fillies and mares, was...

10th-Santa Anita, $68,000, Msw, 3-18, 3yo, f, 6 1/2f, 1:15.86, ft, 1 1/2 lengths. PLEASANT (f, 3, Munnings--Fair Lady, by Medaglia d'Oro) jumped well at odds of 9-2 despite getting bumped leaving the gate in her debut run and forced the issue from an outside second. Traveling kindly while racing in hand, she turned up the heat on the far turn and braced for the challenge of heavily favored $1.2-million FTFMAR graduate and second-time starter Ruby Nell (Bolt d'Oro) leaving the quarter pole. Pleasant still had plenty left in the...

With so much background noise over the tragic Medina Spirit (Protonico), few have given due attention to another poignant context for the potential elevation of Mandaloun (Into Mischief) as official winner of the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby. If the next name on the roll of honor happens to be Call Me Midnight (Midnight Lute), however, then perhaps more of us will renew our gratitude to the late Prince Khalid Abdullah for a legacy well measured by the performance of both horses at Fair Grounds last Saturday. The founder of Juddmonte...

Honest Mischief (Into Mischief-Honest Lady, by Seattle Slew) is the first son of the record-setting leading sire Into Mischief to stand in New York. He also hails from the blue-blooded Juddmonte family that produced Empire Maker, who died at age 20 in January of 2020, leaving a void in the Thoroughbred breeding industry. Raced by Juddmonte and trained by Chad Brown, Honest Mischief now begins his stud career at Becky Thomas's Sequel New York. He will stand for $6,500 LFSN. Honest Mischief broke his maiden his second time out as...

   In Part II of a two-part series, John Berry looks at Juddmonte's lasting influences from the late 80s through to the present on the 40th anniversary weekend of Prince Khalid Abdullah's first Classic win with Known Fact in the 2000 Guineas. Click here for Part I. When the mighty Dancing Brave (Lyphard) retired to stud, his brilliant 1986 G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe triumph shining like a beacon in the collective consciousness, it was generally felt that Prince Khalid Abdullah had probably reached the pinnacle of his ownership...

Mahmoud is interred in the same soil. So, too, are Broomstick and his son Whisk Broom II--both born in the first years of the last century; Tom Fool, Vaguely Noble, Blushing Groom; the great matriarch La Troienne. Stop The Music, the horse who owed his Champagne S. success to the disqualification of Secretariat, lasted to 35 before he had to be euthanized in 2005. And let's not forget The Axe, gray son of gray Mahmoud: the sire of Foggy Note, fourth of nine gray dams behind the farm's modern colossus...