There’s a 5-year-old Pennsylvania-bred horse in the Gll Kelso H. Saturday at Belmont Park by the name of Monongahela (K One King), which is the name of a river that flows through Pittsburgh in southwestern Pennsylvania. It’s also the name of a small city–called “Mon City” for short–about 17 miles south of Pittsburgh with a [...]

The iconic Phipps Stable is doing the unprecedented. For the first time, it is selling its entire crop of yearling colts. This is set to go down next week at the Keeneland September sale through Claiborne, as agent. No need to sound the alarm, however–Daisy Phipps Pulito, who co-owns the elite Claiborne-based operation with her [...]

Spendthrift’s flagship sire Into Mischief (Harlan’s Holiday) is a remarkable stallion. For proof, just look at three of the six Grade l stakes entries at Saratoga on Saturday: he’s represented by Owendale and Chess Chief in the Runhappy Travers S.; Mia Mischief in the Ketel One Ballerina S.; and Rowayton in the H. Allen Jerkens [...]

The unusual arc of New Year’s Day (Street Cry {Ire})’s stud career has given him new life. The sire of Gl Xpressbet Florida Derby winner Maximum Security, disqualified from an apparent victory in the Gl Kentucky Derby, but most recently the winner of the Gl TVG.com Haskell Invitational S. at Monmouth last weekend and one [...]

Fasig-Tipton’s July Sale this past week once again highlighted the allure of yearlings by first-crop sires. In particular, Darley’s duo of Frosted (Tapit) and Nyquist (Uncle Mo) had the sale’s co-second-highest lots at $330,000 each, while the WinStar young guns Outwork (Uncle Mo) and Speightster (Speightstown) had the fourth- and fifth-highest sales at $300,000 and [...]

First-crop sires, headed by Triple Crown winner American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile), will be under the microscope as the 2-year-old season heats up, particularly at the marquee meets of Saratoga and Del Mar this summer. At this writing, Florida-based Journeyman Stud’s Khozan (Distorted Humor) leads TDN’s freshman sire list (see Top 10 on page 3) [...]

Tracy Farmer, owner of Shadowlawn Farm in Midway, Ky. with wife Carol, is a native Kentuckian with a distinct accent that blends hints of the American Midwest in a gravelly southern drawl. He wasn’t feeling well enough to travel to Belmont Park for the last leg of the Triple Crown series, instead watching the proceedings [...]

“Back in the early 1970s, you’d see horses bleeding from the nostrils more commonly than you do now,” said trainer Barclay Tagg, who took out his license in 1971. “I had a horse back then that came back after a race, and he was being washed up and suddenly he starts gushing blood from the [...]

My TDN colleague Chris McGrath ably discussed the blue-hen markers in the female family of Maryland-bred Gl Preakness contender Alwaysmining (Stay Thirsty) the other day: namely, fourth dam Cequillo, the Tartan Farms ancestress of many high-class runners, broodmares, and sires, including the highly influential John Nerud-bred sire Fappiano (Mr. Prospector); and Plucky Liege, Cequillo’s fourth [...]

The Kentucky Derby is more wide open now than it was before the scratch of favorite Omaha Beach (War Front) despite the presence of some highly qualified prospects, headed by the Bob Baffert-trained Grade I winners Roadster (Quality Road), Improbable (City Zip), and Game Winner (Candy Ride {Arg}), last year’s juvenile champion who is now [...]

It’s not often at my day job at Werk Thoroughbred Consultants that we get the opportunity to recommend foreign-based stallions to North American-based breeders, for the obvious reason that most breeders here aren’t in the habit of shipping mares abroad to be bred. And if and when we do, the horse is usually in Europe. [...]

The American dirt horse is tough, strong, and fast. He’s an athlete. He’s a combination of speed and stamina, bred to race on an unforgivingly hard surface, bred to race at two, bred to break quickly from the gate, bred to run hard early, bred to withstand pressure late. He’s not a pet, though he’s [...]