Vekoma

When Jon Clay bought Strong Incentive for his Alpha Delta Stables for $2.15 million at last year's Fasig-Tipton November Sale, she had already produced Grade III winner and track-record holder Highly Motivated (Into Mischief), now a stallion at Airdrie Stud; two-time Grade III winner Surge Capacity (Flintshire {GB}); and an up-and-coming `TDN Rising Star' named Ways and Means (Practical Joke), who had run second in the Grade I Spinaway Stakes. Within a month of his purchase, Surge Capacity won the Grade I Matriarch, and by the following summer, Ways and...

Yaupon continued a strong run for his first crop of yearlings in the sales ring Monday when hip 78 topped the schedule-adjusted Day 1 of the Ocala Breeders' Sale October Yearling Sale. Consigned by Colin Brennan Bloodstock, Agent IX and purchased for $75,000 by Pick View LLC, the Florida-bred colt is a half to a two-time winner in Candy Caramel (Candy Ride {Arg}) and out of a half-sister to MGSW Conveyance (Indian Charlie). Dam Bride Street is also a half to Cashing Tickets (Indian Charlie) who produced GSW Leggs Galore...

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this Sunday running at Tokyo and Niigata Racecourses: Sunday, October 6, 2024 3rd-TOK, ¥13,720,000 ($92k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1600m MALIBU ORANGE (f, 2, Vekoma--Malibu Pier, by Malibu Moon), whose dam won a trio of graded stakes on the turf and was runner-up in the GI...

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this Saturday running at Kyoto and Tokyo Racecourses. Sunday's runners will appear in Saturday's TDN Saturday, October 5, 2024 4th-KYO, ¥13,720,000 ($93k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1400m DRAGON WELDS (c, 2, Frosted--Little Dipper, by Eskendereya) fetched $72,000 as a Keeneland September yearling last fall and was...

The Jockey Club projects a North American registered Thoroughbred foal crop of 17,300 in 2025, which is some 700 fewer foals than the 2024 foal crop estimate of 18,000, the organization said in a press release early Wednesday. The foal crop projection is computed by using Reports of Mares Bred (RMBs) received to date for the 2024 breeding season. RMBs are to be filed by Aug. 1 of each breeding season. This year, The Jockey Club has published preliminary statistics regarding mares reported bred by state/province through the current date...

To many, no doubt, her genetic contribution is by now too attenuated to merit attention. At the very least, however, it must be acknowledged an impressive coincidence that the winners of both the GIII Iroquois Stakes and GIII Pocahontas Stakes--whose shared value, as reconnaissance for the Classics over the same track next May, is recognized by allocation of the first starting points--should share as sixth dam the Darby Dan foundation mare Golden Trail. The Golden Trail dynasty entwines such productive lines as those branded by Memories of Silver, Sunshine Forever...

Let's start this column with the disclaimer that it's way too early to start seriously talking about how a one-turn-mile victory at age two might translate to winning a 10-furlong stakes some 7 ½ months from now in a chaotic field of 20. We'll also put aside for the moment that the GIII Iroquois S. has never been a prognosticator for success in the GI Kentucky Derby. Dating to the race's inception in 1983, juveniles who ran in that late summer/early autumn Churchill Downs stakes have gone a collective 0-1-1...

Rigney Racing's TDN Rising Star Jonathan's Way (Vekoma) went wire-to-wire in the GIII Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs, earning the colt 10 qualifying points towards the GI Kentucky Derby. According to trainer Phil Bauer Sunday, the colt will now head to the Nov. 1 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Del Mar. "It was an unbelievable day for our barn," Bauer said. "Watching him turn for home in the Iroquois, he looked so comfortable on the front end. His ears told a story--he was just waiting for Joel [Rosario] to ask...

No sooner has the dust settled on the 2023 Triple Crown season that another one begins anew. The first points on the 2025 Road to the Kentucky Derby were awarded Saturday with 'TDN Rising Star' Jonathan's Way (Vekoma) getting first dibs at a spot in the gate on the first Saturday in May with his win in the GIII Iroquois Stakes. The Ohio-bred son of popular first-crop sire Vekoma impressed right away for Rigney Racing, earning 'TDN Rising Star' accolades in his Saratoga unveiling when overcoming a bad beginning to...

1st-Belmont The Big A, $90,000, Msw, 9-14, 2yo, 6f, 1:12.81, ft, 5 lengths. VEKOMA RIDES (c, 2, Vekoma--Happy Now, by Mr. Greeley), off at odds of 4-1 for his debut here, tracked a pair of pacesetters from the outside gate up the backstretch. Ready to pounce going three wide around the far turn, the chestnut throttled up, was full of run at the top of the lane and sailed home a winner by five lengths over fellow first time starter Alias (Into Mischief). A half-sister to current sire Ironicus (Distorted...

7th-SAR, $100k, Msw, 2yo, f, 1 1/16mT, post time: 3:54 p.m. ET Chad Brown saddles a pair of debutantes in this spot, led by Klaravich Stables' $310,000 Keeneland September purchase LEANER AND MEANER (Munnings). The Jan. 28 foal's dam Revitalized (Uncle Mo) was acquired for $360,000 with this filly in utero at the 2021 Keeneland November Sale and is a daughter of 2011 GIII Virginia Oaks heroine Excited (Giant's Causeway), the dam of SW & MGSP Thrilled (Uncle Mo) and GSP Beside Herself (Uncle Mo). The stakes-winning third dam Path...

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- At the top of the stretch of the opener of the Saturday card at Saratoga Race Course, a 2-year-old colt named Jonathan's Way (Vekoma) was fanned six, maybe seven wide. But he was moving and, like a giant tidal wave, gathering momentum with each long, powerful stride. Out in California, Richard Rigney, who owns the colt, was watching the race on a cellphone along with bloodstock agent John Moynihan. They had hope, but they also were realists.  After all, the six-furlong race was the first in Jonathan's...