Valiant Force

"We bought the bar with a credit card," recalls Ken Donworth. "Forty thousand bucks, credit card debt at 20 percent. And we paid it off in three or four months." He shakes his head. "That was 1998. I don't think I'd do it now. So we did take risks, no doubt. But we didn't get caught on any of those slippery slopes." On the contrary. In a college town like Lexington, Donworth and his partners soon figured that policing their customers' age was more trouble than it was worth. So...

So what happens when you keep pursuing the dream, keep persevering, only to find that it's taken you right to the cliff's edge? At some point you quit, right? Not if you're Ramon "R.J." Rangel, you don't. He was still working with yearlings at Dixiana when he leased his first 10 acres. His wife at the time had quit her own job at Dixiana to care for their little farm and he would come back in the afternoons to put in a second shift on the heavier work. Gradually they...

 Beeline (Bee Jersey) thrashed a salty field of maidens by 3 3/4 lengths on course-and-distance debut Feb. 10 and had been flattered since, as three rivals won their next starts while improving their Beyers by 23, 11 and 34 points, respectively, the last of those on a drop into maiden claiming. The odds-on favorite hit the ground running, but had pressure stacked up to his outside and looked to be in deep water as the slow-starting Valiant Force (Malibu Moon) threatened to make a race of it three deep at...

8th-Gulfstream, $86,940, Alw (NW1X), Opt. Clm ($75,000), 2-7, 3yo, 5fT, :54.64, fm, 3/4 length. REEF RUNNER (c, 3, The Big Beast--Paradise Bay, by Blame) was making his first start on the turf as the 15.90-1 longest shot in a field of seven and outsprinted a luckless 3-5 Valiant Force (Malibu Moon) to upset that one's seasonal debut. Ridden along from fourth by Paco Lopez, with the hot favorite underneath him, the Lieblong homebred was sent along three wide on the turn and had dead aim on pacesetting Esperon (Chitu) as...

RP Racing's Big Evs (Ire) (Blue Point {Ire}) came into Friday's GI Breeders' Juvenile Turf Sprint carrying great expectation. The 2-year-old's trainer, Mick Appleby, was making his Breeders' Cup debut, as was jockey Tom Marquand. Far from newcomers in their respective bases in the UK, the duo had to travel a long way for this year's World Championships at Santa Anita, but the voyage proved worth their while as the Irish-bred proved best in a blistering renewal of the five-furlong turf test. "I'm still gobsmacked," said a visibly moved Appleby...

Kelli Cross and Tanya Johnson found themselves in similar situations three years ago, juggling farms, sales and motherhood all at the same time, when they decided to join forces and create the Johnson Cross consignment which debuted at the Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale in 2021. The horsewomen have only gained strength since then and return with their third offering at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearlings Sale next week in Lexington. "Tanya and I had known each other for a few years," Cross explained. "She operates Red Gables...

Group 1 winner Bucanero Fuerte (GB) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) will not race again this season and be trained with an eye to either the G1 2000 Guineas or the Irish equivalent, according to trainer Adrian Murray. A winner of the G1 Phoenix S. in fine style earlier in the year, the colt was unplaced in the G1 National S. during the Irish Champions Festival. He also claimed the G2 Railway S. at the Curragh in the colours of AMO Racing and Giselle De Aguiar. "Nothing came to light, it just...

One of only two French-trained juveniles in Sunday's G1 Sumbe Prix Morny at Deauville, Infinity Nine Horses' TDN Rising Star Ramatuelle (Justify) will need to draw on a significant amount of her abundant talent to maintain her sequence in one of the best renewals of the six-furlong feature in recent years. Out on her own at the end of Chantilly's G3 Prix du Bois and G2 Prix Robert Papin, the Christopher Head trainee now has to stand up to a collective of the best sprinting colts from Britain and Ireland...

Pack away your hats and spend a joyful week in jeans and trainers. Royal Ascot was fabulous, as it always is. Though we may have tipped into the meeting being padded with too many handicaps, the results throughout the five days provided plenty of great storylines, even beyond the headline-hogger that is Frankie Dettori.  Unquestionably, though, the best race anywhere in the world in the last week came at Hanshin on Sunday. In the Takarazuka Kinen, Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) ran the kind of race that few horses can...

Amo Racing's longshot G2 Norfolk S. winner Valiant Force (Malibu Moon) will target the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, trainer Adrian Murray revealed. The colt has already secured a spot in the starting gate at Santa Anita Park in California on Nov. 3 as the race was a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series qualifier for the Future Stars Friday card. "He's probably going to be aimed at the Breeders' Cup now in November," Murray said. "He will more than likely run before then but having talked to the owner he...

All the talk before Thursday's G2 Norfolk S. centred around American Rascal (Curlin) and Elite Status (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}), but it was the 150-1 shot Valiant Force (Malibu Moon--Vigui's Heart, by Quality Road) who held sway to provide Amo Racing with a breakthrough first Royal Ascot winner. Runner-up to His Majesty (Ire) (No Nay Never) on debut in the Listed First Flier S., the Adrian Murray-trained $100,000 Keeneland September yearling was discounted by the betting public due to his latest fifth despite having excuses in the G3 Marble Hill...

Four withdrawals marred The Curragh's Listed GAIN First Flier S., with the winners and likely favourites Bucanero Fuerte (GB) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) and Noche Magica (Ire) (Night of Thunder {Ire}) among them, resulting in the bizarre circumstance of just five runners with two outings between them. In the event, it was the three newcomers who filled the frame with Ballydoyle's His Majesty (Ire) (No Nay Never--Czabo {GB}, by Sixties Icon {GB}) coming out on top to provide the stable with back-to-back renewals. Looking set to play a bit-part at best...