Tyler Gaffalione

Laughing Boy (Distorted Humor) got the last laugh-again-in the featured race on the 26th annual Claiming Crown program Saturday at Churchill Downs. The 6-year-old, who hadn't raced since April, led Saturday's $225,000 Jewel at nine furlongs for most of the trip and then again inside the sixteenth pole. But the no-quit grinder required a stewards' disqualification of the rival who had passed him at both the quarter pole and at the wire to elevate his second-across-the-wire finish to a by-decision victory. That's the second time in three races that Laughing...

The number that best sums up this year's Breeders' Cup is :44.96. That's the sizzling opening half-mile split for the GI Classic, and 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) utilized it to the utmost advantage on Saturday, propelling himself to the winner's circle with one of his customary, locomotive-like late kicks that had come up just shy of victory in three previous attempts at 10 furlongs. As a relentless long-strider with a penchant for leaning in and being a magnet for trip trouble during his stretch runs, Sierra Leone...

Trainer Chad Brown sent out his two Keeneland-based pre-entrants in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile--'TDN Rising Star' Carl Spackler (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) and Chili Flag (Fr) (Cityscape {GB})--together for a half-mile breeze over the grass in :50.40 (1/3) Saturday morning. According to Keeneland clockers, their final quarter mile went in :22.80. "I thought it was a great work, very straightforward," said jockey Tyler Gaffalione, who rode Carl Spackler to a win in Keeneland's GI Coolmore Turf Mile Stakes Oct. 5. "He's really feeling good out there. He's a...

It was the Girl in Gold who came home best of all at Keeneland as Emery (More Than Ready) claimed the GII Lexus Raven Run Stakes for owner Stonestreet Stables. Last seen playing bridesmaid to GISW Ways and Means (Practical Joke) in the GI Test Stakes at Saratoga, where MGSW & GISP My Mane Squeeze (Audible) ran third, Emery had come into that contest riding a three-race win streak which began in June. After claiming victory in the Leslie's Lady Stakes at Churchill Downs and then picking up her first...

Never before in his nine-race career had 'TDN Rising Star' Carl Spackler (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) led at the first or second call of any of his races. Never before, even more remarkably, had Chad Brown unsaddled a winner of the GI Coolmore Turf Mile at Keeneland. But, drawn widest in a field of nine for Saturday's 'Win and You're In' qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Mile the flashy chestnut was ridden for speed from out there by Tyler Gaffalione and found extra in the final furlong to...

8th-Churchill Downs, $134,000, Alw (NW2X), Opt. Clm ($125,000), 9-18, 3yo, 6f, 1:08.98, ft, 3/4 length. BILLAL (c, 3, Street Sense--Bambalina, by Bernardini), third in a June 8 Saratoga allowance that produced three next-out winners, filled the same spot, but was well-beaten behind future GI H. Allen Jerkens Stakes hero Domestic Product (Practical Joke) in the July 6 GIII Dwyer Stakes. Most recently runner-up in Spa allowance company Aug. 4, Billal was nominated to this Saturday's GII Gallant Bob Stakes, but connections opted for this softer test and he was sent...

The seven-day Kentucky Downs meet set another record for wagering, totaling $90,181,408 and up eight percent over last year, according to a press release from the track late Wednesday. That included a single-day record of $21,184,941 on the Saturday, Sept. 7 card featuring six graded stakes worth $2 million for Kentucky-breds ($1 million for others). As for the meet's leaders, jockey Tyler Gaffalione finished with nine wins, to pull even with Irad Ortiz Jr. for the riding title, while Brendan Walsh's sixth victory put him in a tie for the...

Whisper Hill Farm's Grand Sonata (Medaglia d'Oro) saved ground when it mattered most, slipped through inside with less than a quarter mile to race and kept on nicely to cause a 15-1 upset in Saturday's GII Kentucky Turf Cup at Kentucky Downs. The victory earns the homebred a spot in the field for the GI Breeders' Cup Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 2. Drawn widest in a field scratched down to nine with the late withdrawal of Ballydoyle's Chief Little Rock (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), the homebred slotted into about...

Society (Gun Runner) stalked and pounced her way to a powerful victory in Saturday's 'Win and You're In' GI Ballerina Handicap at the Spa. Off as the 7-2 third choice, the speedy Peter Blum homebred was content to track in second beneath Tyler Gaffalione--something that she hadn't successfully demonstrated in her previous 13 starts--as 'TDN Rising Star' Munnys Gold (Munnings) sped through fractions of :22.65 and :44.82. Society revved up with a flashy move to take over approaching the quarter pole and turned for home with authority while racing in...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - In about 20 seconds, maybe it was 15, Ryan Kamp traced his journey in racing to the winner's enclosure Saturday after the sixth race at Saratoga Race Course with Papiamento (Medaglia d'Oro). Boiled down to an even more concise version, about 15 years ago, Kamp went to the Kentucky Derby and nailed a $1,000 trifecta with his very first wager. "Right there, it just like latched its hooks in and it had me from that point forward," Kamp said. "I ended up going to the Breeders'...

It was worth the wait. After twice being rescheduled and finally run eight days late due to rain, the GI FanDuel Fourstardave Handicap at Saratoga stayed on the lawn and featured a breakout performance by 'TDN Rising Star' Carl Spackler (c, 4, Lope de Vega {Ire})--Zindaya, by More Than Ready), who was taking the first Grade I event of his career after winning three other graded races, all at Saratoga. As a 'Win and You're In' race for the GI Breeders' Cup Mile, the Fourstardave gives Carl Spackler a fees-paid...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- If it was up to Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, Seize the Grey (Arrogate) would be running in the $1.25-million, GI Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course on Aug. 24. On Sunday morning, all Lukas could do was shrug his shoulders when asked if the GI Preakness Stakes winner would be taking a place in the Travers starting gate. "I don't know," he said at his barn on the Oklahoma Training Track. "I am going to vote to run him in it." Lukas, though,...