Winstar

Tony Braddock's Two Hearts Farm made quite a few headlines back in 2015 when their mare Fioretti (Bernardini) marked herself as a Breeders' Cup contender with wins in the Roxelana S. and GII TCA S. With that mare now retired to the Two Hearts Farm broodmare band, talented sophomore Prime Factor (Quality Road) has put his breeder back in the spotlight and looks to add another feather to Braddock's cap Saturday in the GII Fountain of Youth S. Braddock was interested in horses and racing from a young age, attending...

Throughout time, American bloodstock has been continually infused with new blood from other countries, just as a long history of immigration has made this country a melting pot of cultures. But these things come at some cost, don't they? What of the more or less original American sire and dam lines that have been subverted by the newer arrivals? Who's looking out for their interests as they get forgotten and cast aside? The Tiznow colt Midnight Bourbon, who is on the Gl Kentucky Derby trail after winning the Glll Lecomte...

Gareth Wigley is the newest member of the WinStar Stallion Season Sales team. After riding for five seasons as a Steeplechase jockey in England, Wigley moved to Kentucky in 2006, working under Bobby Frankel and with Godolphin. He most recently worked as a cardiovascular analyst with Epona Technological Company, where he performed heart scans and directed data collection for numerous clients, including WinStar Farm. "I had the pleasure to meet Gareth during his time at Epona, and he has a passion for this business that will help our clients meet...

Coming off a banner year in which its fillies finished one-two in the GI Coaching Club American Oaks, WinStar Stablemates Racing burst out of the starting gate in 2021 going two-for-two on Friday. The victories included a win by Gulf Coast (Union Rags) in the Cash Run S. at Gulfstream. "It's nice to get off to such a great start and we are very excited for 2021," said WinStar CEO and President Elliott Walden. "To be two-for-two is great for our owners." The WinStar racing partnership is an offshoot of...

Champion Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute) arrived at Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa Thursday afternoon after completing her final phase of rehabilitation at WinStar Farm. The five-time Grade I winner will visit Hill 'n' Dale flagbearer Curlin. Midnight Bisou was preparing for her Breeders' Cup bid this fall when she incurred a sesamoid fracture during a work at the end of September that forced connections to retire the mare prematurely. The champion shone as one of brightest stars at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale Nov. 8. Co-owner Chuck Allen of Allen Racing...

It's a tough game, selling nominations; and, except for those sparkly new stallions, getting tougher all the time. So we should have every sympathy with the farms trying to drum up custom. True, WinStar doesn't hold back in introducing Paynter on his homepage as "one of the most popular and courageous runners in racing history." But if that's a pretty heady claim, even for a horse whose recovery from desperate illness so captured the hearts of the racing public, then the son of Awesome Again has certainly moved the conversation...

The brilliantly talented Nashville, who had been under consideration for the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, kicked off Saturday's action with a jaw-dropping performance that smashed a track record posted by MGISW A. P. Indian (Indian Charlie) in the 2016 GII Still Keenon Ogden Phoenix S. The bay garnered the 'TDN Rising Star' distinction when he cruised home by 11 1/2 lengths in the Saratoga slop first out Sept. 2, and he crushed allowance foes by 9 3/4 lengths over track and trip Oct. 10, good for a 101 Beyer Speed...

Trainer Bob Baffert, plus the owners and two jockeys who rode the undefeated 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify and the MGISW Hoppertunity, filed a legal petition against the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) Oct. 13, alleging that the CHRB's recent decision to reopen hearings on two scopolamine positives from those horses in 2018 amounts to "arbitrary, capricious, and unlawful conduct" that purportedly targets Baffert and his clients unfairly while supposedly damaging the horses' reputations as stallions. The petition, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, seeks a judgment, injunction,...

WinStar Farm and China Horse Club's 'TDN Rising Star' Nashville (Speightstown), who took his record to two-for-two with a towering allowance success at Keeneland Oct. 10, could make his next start in the Nov. 7 GI Breeders' Cup Sprint over the same track and distance, WinStar General Manager David Hanley said Monday. "It's a bit too early for a final decision, but I would say the nothing has been ruled out at this point," Hanley said. "I haven't discussed it with [WinStar President/CEO and Racing Manager] Elliott [Walden] or [trainer]...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency PRICEY SPEIGHTSTOWN DEBUTS AT THE SPA 3rd-SAR, $72K, Msw, 3yo/up, 6 1/2f, 1:49  p.m. China Horse Club and WinStar's NASHVILLE (Speightstown) makes his career bow in this five-horse affair. The $460,000 KEESEP purchase hails from the family of GI Kentucky Derby upsetter Giacomo (Holy Bull); MGISW Tiago (Pleasant Tap); and GSW & MGISP Stanwyck (Empire Maker). TJCIS PPs

WinStar's Speightstown continues to prove himself as an accomplished sire of sires. Already, he's had four sons go on to produce Grade I winners and just in the last two years, he's seen eight additional sons, including GISW Force the Pass and the multiple graded stakes-winning Qurbaan, begin their stud careers. In 2017, WinStar welcomed their graded stakes-winning homebred Speightster into the same stud barn as his prodigious sire. With an initial stud fee set at $10,000, a price that has stayed in place since, Speightster has been supported with...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 8th-GP, $60K, Msw, 3yo, f, 7f, 4:25 p.m. Bill Mott sends out first-timer and WinStar homebred PARIS LIGHTS (Curlin) in this test. Her dam Paris Bikini (Bernardini), a $425,000 purchase at Keeneland January in 2016, is a three-quarter sister to Grade III winner and dual Grade I-placed America (A.P. Indy). The latter is the dam of the now 2-year-old colt Virtuous Intention (Curlin), who fetched $1.5 million from West Point, Woodford, Siena, Valdes, Singleton, Sandbrook & Freeman at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale. This is...