Whit Beckman

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - In about 20 seconds, maybe it was 15, Ryan Kamp traced his journey in racing to the winner's enclosure Saturday after the sixth race at Saratoga Race Course with Papiamento (Medaglia d'Oro). Boiled down to an even more concise version, about 15 years ago, Kamp went to the Kentucky Derby and nailed a $1,000 trifecta with his very first wager. "Right there, it just like latched its hooks in and it had me from that point forward," Kamp said. "I ended up going to the Breeders'...

Kyle Zorn considers himself and his partners Travis Durr and Kristian Villante to be a group of big thinkers. The trio set out with some pretty high expectations for themselves when they formed Legion Bloodstock three years ago, but looking back now, they never could have predicted the initial success that their partnership has enjoyed. Over the next few days in Saratoga, Legion Bloodstock's handiwork will be on full display. Their biggest find to date, Grade II winner Honor Marie (Honor Code), takes on the GI Travers Stakes, but there...

SARATOGA SPRINGS - When one of Bob Baffert's horses is doing well, the Hall of Fame trainer expects a big effort. That's why 'TDN Rising Star' Prince of Monaco (Speightstown) has made his second cross-country trip in the last two months. That's why he is right here, in Saratoga, getting ready to run in the $500,000 GI Allen Jerkens Memorial on Saturday. "It's a tough race, there are no easy spots," Baffert said by phone from his summer base at Del Mar in California. "Anytime you have a Grade I,...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--There is a good reason why White Sands (Into Mischief), the 3-1 morning-line favorite for Sunday's $200,000, GIII Adirondack for 2-year-old fillies at Saratoga Race Course, isn't going to run. She's not here. Trainer Wesley Ward said Saturday morning on the Saratoga backstretch that White Sands is at Keeneland and likely waiting for one of two races at Del Mar next weekend: the $150,000 GIII Sorrento for 2-year-old fillies on Aug. 10 or the $150,000 GIII Best Pal Stakes for 2-year-olds on Aug. 11. White Sands, owned by...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Jockey Manny Franco was on Honor Marie's (Honor Code) back when the colt hit the Oklahoma Training Track at 7:30 Saturday morning. That doesn't mean Franco will be there when Honor Marie runs in the GI Travers Stakes on Aug. 24. Honor Marie worked four furlongs in :48.75 with 2-year-old stablemate Fiddling Felix (Mendelssohn) as he continues to train up to the Midsummer Derby. Franco answered the call to work the horse because trainer Whit Beckman doesn't have an abundance of exercise riders at his disposal...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY--Finally, 'TDN Rising Star' Long Neck Paula (Uncle Mo) gets her chance to run at Saratoga Race Course. The 2-year-old filly, trained by Wesley Ward, is one of 11 entered to run in the 106th running of the $175,000 Listed Schuylerville Stakes on Thursday's opening day card at the Spa. Long Neck Paula was the 2-1 morning-line favorite in the June 6 Astoria S. at Saratoga but didn't get to run after the stewards scratched her. Ward had taken her off the grounds for cold water spa therapy,...

Whit Beckman was watching from behind the Churchill Downs winner's circle as the horses loaded into the gates for the GI Kentucky Derby. Honor Marie (Honor Code) was the trainer's first Derby starter and as the colt's odds dropped to 14-1 before the start of the race, Beckman liked their chances. But as many a veteran Kentucky Derby trainer can attest, a lot can happen when it's a 20-horse field. Only a few moments after the gates sprang open and Honor Marie jumped out of the seventh stall, Beckman knew...

by Tim Wilkin and Editorial Staff For the first time since before the GI Kentucky Derby, Mystik Dan (Goldencents), had a workout. And trainer Kenny McPeek is getting more and more confident that his colt, winner of the Derby and second in the GI Preakness, will be in the starting gate at Saratoga Race Course for the GI Belmont S. on June 8. Mystik Dan, with exercise rider Danny Ramsey aboard, went five furlongs in 1:01.59 (2/5) on the Oklahoma Training Track Saturday morning. He worked in company with Gould's...

'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) will have a new running mate in the GI Belmont S. at Saratoga Race Course on June 8. After watching the GI Kentucky Derby runner-up work five furlongs in 1:02.64 (5/6) on the Oklahoma Training Track Saturday morning, Brown said he was making a rider change. Tyler Gaffalione is out; Flavien Prat is in. Sierra Leone lost the Derby by a nose to Mystik Dan (Goldencents) and finished a nose ahead of Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}). Sierra Leone is owned by...

Ribble Farms, Michael Eiserman, Earl Silver and Kenneth and Dave Fishbein's Honor Marie (Honor Code) worked five furlongs in company with his stakes-placed stablemate Agoo (Munnings) in a bullet :59.20 (1/11) over a fast track on a chilly Thursday morning at Churchill Downs. With jockey Ben Curtis aboard for trainer Whit Beckman, the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. winner and GII Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby runner-up clicked off fractions of :12, :23.80, :35.60, :47.40 and :59.20. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:12.60 and seven-eighths in 1:27.60. "We can take one breath...

While several Kentucky Derby 150 contenders had regular training sessions Sunday morning, Japan's undefeated hope MGSW Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}) made his first appearance on the Churchill Downs main track since arriving early Saturday morning. Conditioned by Yoshito Yahagi and under rider Yusaku Oka, the colt jogged in the one-mile chute for about 20 minutes before taking a 1 1/8-mile gallop in the early hours. Shortly after at 7:30am, GSW Honor Marie (Honor Code) worked in company with stablemate Anthem King (Bolt d'Oro), the pair breezing a half-mile...

Find us a Saturday kind of horse. That's what Kerry and Alan Ribble told Kyle Zorn over a two-hour lunch one afternoon in Lexington. The Hot Springs, Arkansas natives had traveled up to Kentucky to meet with Zorn, who was then in the midst of co-founding Legion Bloodstock, and learn what it might take for them to make a step up from the claiming game. Now two years later they have a running joke with Zorn: Well, you didn't have to find us a first Saturday in May kind of...