Violence

Back on the hamster wheel, everybody. You know the drill. Usual freshman hype, please. Just remember to change the names--and not to dwell too unhelpfully on how things played out for those being talked up four or five years ago. But the legitimate, perennial challenge of the yearling circuit also abides, and likewise much of its color and character. Just not quite all. Not enough time has elapsed, certainly, to heal one aching void. For many of his compatriots, in particular, every barn we enter we still half-expect to hear...

It was second verse same as the first for Mullikin (Violence) as he powered home to win a quick edition of the GII John A. Nerud Stakes. Untouchable in 2024, he started his season Apr. 26 at Keeneland when beating a first-level allowance group by over five lengths, posting a lifetime best Beyer figure of 98 in the process. He was awarded a similar number for his effort last out June 8 at Churchill Downs, where he soundly defeated a field of optional claimers by 3 1/4 lengths. On the...

Showcase (c, 2, Uncle Mo--Buy Sell Hold, by Violence) fired back-to-back bullets at Todd Pletcher's Saratoga base, including a four-furlong move in :48 3/5 (1/64) out of the gate over the Oklahoma training track June 21, and delivered as advertised as the 3-5 favorite to earn 'TDN Rising Star' honors on debut at the Big A Saturday. Drawn widest of all in post five, Showcase traveled nicely beneath Irad Ortiz, Jr. in an outside second, hit the front while racing in between rivals approaching the quarter pole and took off...

Taking advantage of a pace reactor failure of epic proportions, Politically Correct (Violence) ran down the lane to secure the 123rd running of the Bashford Manor Stakes at Churchill Downs on Sunday afternoon. The Chris Davis trainee debuted a winner by 1 1/4 lengths going 5 1/2 furlongs over this course May 30. As a 7-1 shot here, the juvenile trailed from the bell, but the fractions through the far turn were stiff enough that mounting a charge was feasible. Running on down the center of the main track after...

6th-Keeneland, $110,000, Alw, 4-26, (NW1X), 4yo/up, 6f, 1:09.68, ft, 5 3/4 lengths. MULLIKIN (c, 4, Violence--Tulira's Star {GSP}, by Congrats) broke his maiden at third asking by 10 1/4 lengths at Churchill Downs last May, was the runner-up to GSW Ryvit (Competitive Edge) in the Maxfield S. at Ellis Park in July and capped his year with a fourth-place finish over the same surface at the end of that month. Laid off since, the dark bay returned as the 2-1 second choice here. Mullikin was the speed of the speed...

The whole point of the breeze-ups is that the functionality of a pedigree is on display. Nowadays, in fact, breeze times are treated as though rendering more or less redundant all the painstaking surmise of the yearling sales. Pinhookers, having seen so many offbeat sires achieve knockout sales, can prioritize "run"—knowing that lot of prospectors won't even bother looking at the catalogue until the lots have shown their wares. But it's for precisely that reason that European breeze-up consignors have increasingly been able to repair a dismal separation between the...

Now we're really entering nosebleed altitudes for most breeders, between $30,000 and $50,000: a zone where you should feel that you're improving the odds of coming up with an elite horse. It tells you a lot about our business that the majority of the two dozen stallions operating at this level can only do so because they have yet to send a single runner into the starting gate. A quarter of these we immediately set to one side, as absolute beginners, because those received separate consideration in the opening instalment...

The year 2024 could be a defining season for Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa stallion Violence. Not only must he continue to make his mark as a sire with a limited book of 125 mares, but the son of Medaglia d'Oro will now take the first steps towards becoming a sire of sires. He got off to a fast start doing just that last year as his young son Volatile made headlines with his first crop of yearlings. From just a $17,500 initial stud fee, the Grade I-winning Three Chimneys...

Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa stallion Violence (Medaglia d'Oro--Violent Beauty, by Gone West), the sire of last year's champion 2-year-old Forte, has had his 2024 stud fee reduced from the previously announced $60,000 to $40,000 live foal. In announcing the reduction Sunday evening, Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa president John Sikura explained, "At the end of last breeding season, Violence had a period where he was missing  too many of his mares. We raised his fee to, not only reflect his race track success, but to lessen demand for the...

It didn't take long for champion Forte (Violence - Queen Caroline, by Blame) to settle in at Spendthrift Farm and after just a few weeks of breeder inspections, the 'TDN Rising Star' is already booked full for his first year at stud. "Any time you get a chance to show a champion off to your breeders, it makes the sales team's job pretty easy," said Spendthrift's Mark Toothaker. "He has been hugely popular and is completely sold out. Most every mare that he got is a blacktype mare, so he's...

The stud fee for MGISW Dr. Schivel (Violence) for his initial season at stud at Taylor Made Stallions in Nicholasville, Kentucky, has been set at $12,500 S&N, the farm announced on Monday. Campaigned by Red Baron's Barn, Rancho Temescal, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, and William A. Branch and trained by Mark Glatt, the 5-year-old amassed a career line of 15-7-2-3, $1,347,100. He won the 2020 GI Runhappy Del Mar Futurity, 2021 GI Bing Crosby S. and the GII Santa Anita Sprint Championship in 2021 and 2023 and placed in three other...

Dr. Schivel (Violence-Lil Nugget, by Mining for Money), a Grade I winner at both two and three, will retire after making his final start in this weekend's GI Breeders' Cup Sprint and take up stud duty at Taylor Made Stallions in 2024, the farm confirmed Tuesday. A fee will be announced at a later date. First or second in nine of 14 lifetime starts, the earner of $1,327,100 was campaigned by Red Baron's Barn, Rancho Temescal, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, and William A. Branch, and trained by Mark Glatt. "We are...