track record

As farewell tours go, this was a pretty good one. Four years after the Coolmore contingent's Magic Wand (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) gave the GI Pegasus World Cup Turf a mighty shake when second to upset-minded Zulu Alpha (Street Cry {Ire}), the globetrotting Warm Heart (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) was given an A-plus steer from Ryan Moore, showed plenty of heart and guts when in very tight approaching the entrance to the final furlong and stayed on courageously to become the first female winner of the $1-million GI Pegasus World Cup Turf....

Secretariat vs. Flightline (Tapit): Who was better? "I think Secretariat would have beat him," Secretariat's jockey Ron Turcotte said of a hypothetical match up between the two legendary horses. "That's no knock against the other horse. He's a beautiful horse. Well put together. I can't fault him in any way. But he has hasn't done enough for me to say he is better than Secretariat." That's not to say that Turcotte isn't a Flightline fan. "He's a fabulous horse," he said. "We don't know how fast he could run." Turcotte,...

Necker Island (Hard Spun) crossed the wire first in the $150,000 Chesapeake S. at Colonial Downs Aug. 16, stopping the timer in 1:07.72, the track's fastest six-furlong dirt clocking ever. But after multiple objections and a stewards' inquiry, Necker Island was disqualified and demoted to third for interference in the stretch. The lights had barely stopped blinking on the tote board when speculation sparked to life on social media about whether or not the 5-year-old's status as a track-record holder would be stripped, too. The answer, according to Equibase, the...

4th-Louisiana Downs, $23,000, (S), Msw, 6-20, 2yo, f, 4 1/2f, :51.63, ft, 9 lengths. LADY FLURRY (f, 2, Lord Nelson--Patchofbadweather {SW}, by Storm and a Half) blew out three furlongs from the gate in a bullet :35 4/5 (1/36) over this strip June 14 and was the 1-2 mortal to kick her career off on a winning note. Showing good speed to race widest in a line of four early, the Flurry homebred poked her red blinkers in front entering the turn and from there, it was lights out. Firmly...

Nearly two decades apart, we've witnessed a Breeders' Cup in the aftermath of a devastating terrorism attack, which led to armed marksmen defending the rooftop of the host track, and now during a global pandemic, which necessitated the barring of the general public from the two-day event and kept the relatively few essential attendees masked and socially distanced from one another. Unlike 2001, this year's championships produced no singular "Tiznow wins it for America!" moment to buoy the spirit of a nation in crisis. But the crescendo of Authentic (Into...

Already boasting two out of the three highest Beyer Speed Figures on the year for all 3-year-olds, 'TDN Rising Star' Gamine (Into Mischief) produced another spectacular performance, airing by 6 1/4 lengths in track-record time in Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland. Content to stalk the blazing speed of last year's GI Kentucky Oaks heroine Serengeti Empress (Alternation) through early fractions of :21.77 and :44.27, the even-money choice put the screws to the frontrunner turning for home. Moving easily from there beneath Hall of Famer John...

The brilliantly talented Nashville, who had been under consideration for the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, kicked off Saturday's action with a jaw-dropping performance that smashed a track record posted by MGISW A. P. Indian (Indian Charlie) in the 2016 GII Still Keenon Ogden Phoenix S. The bay garnered the 'TDN Rising Star' distinction when he cruised home by 11 1/2 lengths in the Saratoga slop first out Sept. 2, and he crushed allowance foes by 9 3/4 lengths over track and trip Oct. 10, good for a 101 Beyer Speed...

Hammered into heavy favoritism with a recency edge over the come-backing 'TDN Rising Star' Wicked Whisper (Liam's Map), Whitham Thoroughbreds's Four Graces proved the easy winner of Friday's GIII Beaumont S., stopping the clock in a stakes and track-record clocking of 1:24.90 for the extended seven-furlong distance. Ridden for speed by Julien Leparoux over a track that had been playing kindly to front-end types, the homebred half-sister to McCraken (Ghostzapper) set a pressured pace from last year's GI Frizette S. winner Wicked Whisper, as they whistled through an opening half-mile...