Upstart

A field of nine, including several impressive debut winners, are set to line up in Saturday's GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity S. at Keeneland, a 'Win and You're In' for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Founder (Upstart) was green, but awfully good at first asking, graduating by a neck over his Chad Brown-trained stablemate and next out winner Highly Motivated (Into Mischief) in the Saratoga mud going six furlongs Aug. 29. He brought $600,000 from Jeff Drown and Don Rachel after breezing a quarter in :21 flat at OBS March. Godolphin...

LEXINGTON, KY - The Keeneland September Yearling Sale opened its two-session Book 3 with a day of solid trade Friday in Lexington, with bloodstock agent Mike Ryan making the day's highest bid of $625,000 to acquire a colt by red-hot sire Into Mischief (hip 1614). In all, 200 yearlings grossed $21,803,500 during the session for an average of $109,018 and a median of $85,000. With 134 horses reported not sold, the buy-back rate remained elevated at 40.12%. The auction's cumulative buy-back rate stands at 39.72%. Last year's first Book 3...

With the obvious caveat that anything can happen with 2-year-olds this early in their development--look no further than Sittin On Go (Brody's Cause)'s 24-1 upset in Saturday GII Iroquois S.--Monday's GI Runhappy Hopeful S. looks solidly like a three-horse affair, as arguably the three most impressive dirt juveniles of the meet will clash in the seven-furlong test. Made the fractional favorite on the morning line at 7-5, J. Kirk and Judy Robison's Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) looks formidable in his attempt for back-to-back Spa graded stakes scores. A first-out winner...

6th-Ellis, $46,200, Msw, 8-30, 2yo, 6 1/2f, 1:16.52, ft. UPSTRIKER (c, 2, Upstart--Casanova Striker, by Smart Strike) opened with the money on but drifted up to a generous 11-1 at the off while looking to become his first-crop sire's fifth winner and second in as many days after the impressive unveiling Saturday at Saratoga of pricey Founder. Showing good speed to chase in second, the dark bay confronted pacesetter Bluegrass Pharoah (American Pharoah) after a :45.98 half. He went by willingly at the top of the lane, and widened at...

Sent off right at his morning line of 6-1, Jeff Drown and Don Rachel's FOUNDER (c, 2, Upstart--Blue Beryl, by Bernstein) looked to have it all to do at the midpoint of his career debut Saturday at Saratoga, but he caught the eye with a rail run into the stretch, came out at the eighth pole, raced as green as the boggy grass and improbably ran down his better-backed stablemate Highly Motivated (Into Mischief) to open his account at first asking. The highly regarded two favorites, Newbomb (Speightstown) and Happymac...

SPOTLIGHT ON RUNHAPPY BABY IN LOADED SARATOGA MAIDEN 6th-SAR, $72K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 3:57 p.m. ET HAPPYMAC (Runhappy), an $800,000 RNA at the OBS June Sale (:20 3/5), looks like the one to beat in this extremely deep baby race at the Spa. The half-brother to runaway GII Amsterdam S. winner and GI Breeders' Cup Sprint runner-up Shancelot (Shanghai Bobby) fired a five-furlong bullet from the gate in :59 2/5 (1/12) at Saratoga Aug. 17. Happymac, drawn widest of all in post 10 for the Heiligbrodts and Hall of Famer...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency DAUGHTER OF WINTER MEMORIES DEBUTS AT THE SPA 2nd-SAR, $72K, Msw, 2yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 1:44 p.m. Jimmy Toner unveils the latest daughter out of his MGISW pupil Winter Memories (El Prado {Ire}) Sunday in SEASONS (Tapit). A dual Grade I winner in New York, including this venue's Diana S., millionaire Winter Memories is a daughter of MGISW Memories of Silver (Silver Hawk) and a half-sister to GSW La Cloche (Ghostzapper), who in turn produced GSW Bellavais (Tapit). Winter Memories is also the dam of...

The Saratoga opener Saturday was one of those vintage events in which virtually every firster was touted as a runner, and it was Klaravich Stables, Inc.'s Reinvestment Risk (Upstart) who emerged as the best of the bunch while becoming his freshman sire (by Flatter)'s third winner and first 'TDN Rising Star'. A $140,000 FTKJUL yearling turned $280,000 OBS March acquisition off a strong :20 4/5 breeze, the bay joined the Chad Brown barn at Payson Park this spring before stints at Monmouth and most recently locally. Off at 4-1, he...

Baytown Bear (Upstart) cruised to a 9 3/4-length victory to become the first winner for his freshman sire Upstart (Flatter) at Indiana Grand Tuesday. The gray gelding, who RNA'd for $9,500 as a Keeneland September yearling, was well-beaten in a pair of efforts sprinting at Churchill Downs, over the main track May 22 and over the turf June 5, and was coming off a fourth-place effort going 5 1/2 furlongs over the dirt in Louisville June 12. Sent off the 9-5 second choice in this stretch-out to a mile, Baytown...

The three-day under-tack show ahead of next week's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale kicked off Wednesday under picture perfect conditions with temperatures hovering in the low 70s as the first of seven sets hit the track shortly after 8 a.m. Originally scheduled for May, the breeze show attracted a good-sized crowd to the Maryland State Fairgrounds, with bloodstock agents such as Liz Crow, Patti Miller, David Ingordo, Donato Lanni, Gary Young, Tom McGreevy, Steve Young, Gary Contessa, Joe Brocklebank and Alan Quartucci in attendance, as well as trainers like...

The sales ring can be a formidable place for any first-crop sire. Add in a global pandemic, with side effects of low sales attendance and a free-falling stock market, and a positive outcome for the stallion might seem futile. But this year, the first crop of Airdrie Stud's Upstart must not have gotten the message. They were the hot commodities at the OBS March Sale, the only 2-year-old sale to finish before the sales season was forced to grind to a halt. Six Upstart 2-year-olds brought the hammer down during...

Even if most racing is delayed, we're all hoping it will get underway sometime this spring or early summer, if for no other reason than so we can all find out the answer to our annual favorite question. We surveyed some top judges on who their leading first-crop sire is, and to give us some under-the-radar picks as well. I want to disclose my opinion by saying that most of it is based on the two-year-olds I have seen this past week at the OBS sale. Most of my clients...