Volatile

With the smoking hot sire Violence picking up another Grade I win, with Volatile in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. at Saratoga, John Sikura has a lot to talk about and a lot to be happy about. The President of Hill 'n' Dale Farms, where Violence stands, has seen that stallion's career get off to a fast start, slow down and now take off again. Sikura joined the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland to discuss Violence's recent accomplishments, the decision to bring in Kantharos and his thoughts on...

Really, nobody can demand respect. It has to be commanded. This business has plenty of people who shout their achievements from the rooftops of social media. They have done their own reckoning, and that doesn't necessarily incline the rest of us to reinforce their self-esteem. How much more impressive, surely, is the understated, week-by-week accretion of laurels by a man like Doug Cauthen. He is always reluctant to "claim" credit for a particular horse, knowing that the fulfilment of its potential is always divided between so many different hands. Even...

The Week in Review, by Bill Finley Just about everyone was prepared to either love or hate the performance of Maximum Security (New Year's Day) in the GII San Diego H. Saturday at Del Mar. Either he would come back and dominate or he would struggle in his first performance outside of the notorious Jason Servis barn. There didn't appear to be much room for a gray area. But that's where things have landed. He was good enough to win but not so good that he proved beyond any doubt...

Sent off the prohibitive 2-5 chalk while making his first appearance in Grade I company, Three Chimneys Farm and Phoenix Thoroughbreds' Volatile (Violence) fell out onto the lead, enjoyed a soft time of things on the engine and turned it on late to post a 1 1/4-length victory in the GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. at Saratoga. The Vanderbilt was reduced to a field of four by the gate scratching of Lexitonian (Speightstown), who was unlikely to have a say in the finish, but who may have set or otherwise...

Of the five horses signed on for Saturday's GI A. G. Vanderbilt H., two are already winners of Grade I races at Saratoga, and a third has been successful at Grade III level while placing in Grade I company. In a different year, any of the three could go favored in the six-furlong dash, but not this one, as they all have the very exciting and very fast Volatile (Violence) to beat. His sire's priciest offspring, having fetched $850,000 as a Keeneland September yearling nearly three years ago, the gray...

As his name suggests, there appear to be no half measures with Violence. He had, let's face it, suddenly been under a bit of pressure. It was only last year that Hill 'n' Dale had been able to hoist his fee from $25,000 to $40,000, his first sophomores having confirmed him as the most glamorous stallion in his intake: clear top of the class in 2018 by earnings, winners, stakes winners/performers, graded stakes horses. Having started out at $15,000, he had just processed his third crop of yearlings for an...

The lightly raced and flashy Volatile was pounded in the wagering and showed exactly why as he continues to build a set of past performances that look awfully similar to former stablemate at last year's champion sprinter Mitole (Eskendereya). Drawn six of six in a field with plenty of speed on paper, the overwhelming chalk perched three wide off the early pace of :21.48 set by the fleet Bobby's Wicked One (Speightstown) and was poised to pounce while deep at the entrance to the stretch as the half-mile was up...

Hailing from the same shedrow of Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen isn't the only thing that recent, ultra-impressive Oaklawn Park winners Casual (f, 3, by Curlin) and Volatile (c, 4, by Violence) have in common. The promising duo--both bred in Kentucky by Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings, Inc. and Stretch Run Ventures, LLC--trace their lineage back to the millionaire and brilliant two-time Saratoga Grade I winner and the Asmussen-trained Lady Tak (Mutakddim). After acquiring an interest privately in the GI Test S. and GI Ballerina H. heroine from owners...

9th-Oaklawn, $62,000, Alw (NW2$X)/Opt. Clm ($40,000), 4-24, 3yo/up, 6f, 1:08.48, ft. VOLATILE (c, 4, Violence--Melody Lady {SW}, by Unbridled's Song), a first-out winner at Ellis last July, came up 1 1/4-lengths short at Churchill Downs in September before rebounding to win by three lengths back at that venue Nov. 3. Sent off the 6-5 choice this time, the grey prompted Strike That (Biondetti) through crisp opening splits, assumed control turning for home and ran off to score by an eye-opening 7 1/2-length margin. Strike That finished 1 ½ lengths ahead...