Bernardini

Last year's champion 2-year-old colt and 'TDN Rising Star' Forte (Violence) kicks off his sophomore season in the GII Fountain of Youth S. at Gulfstream Park, one of 14 graded stakes races on tap Saturday. The Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable colorbearer concluded his campaign with his third straight win at the top level in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Keeneland Nov. 4. "It seems like he's gotten even better and better since [the Breeders' Cup]," trainer Todd Pletcher said. "It's great to have won with the foundation...

Since 2004, we've shined the spotlight on over 1,500 'TDN Rising Stars' worldwide, recognition given to a horse early on its career who has done something so impressive on the racetrack that our team believes they will go on to become graded stakes winners.  A horse is designated as a 'Rising Star' by the TDN staff after a careful and comprehensive review of many factors--including the quality of the field, margin and time of victory, pedigree, sales price and more. Over the years, it has become a badge of honor...

Bruce Lunsford homebred Art Collector (Bernardini) sat the trip beneath Junior Alvarado and sprung a 15-1 upset in Saturday's $3-million GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. at Gulfstream. California invader Defunded (Dialed In), winner of last fall's GI Awesome Again S. and off as the 5-2 second choice, was 4 1/2 lengths back in second. Pacesetter Stilleto Boy (Shackleford) stayed on for third, the same position he filled in last year's renewal. Alvarado, who rode the Bill Mott-trained Olympiad (Speightstown) to four graded-stakes victories and a runner-up finish behind Flightline...

Grade II winner Modernist (Uncle Mo) was represented by his first foal on Sunday, Jan. 15, when the Mineshaft mare Meteoric Matron produced a colt, Darby Dan Farm tweeted. Owned and bred by Bill Johnson's Stonegate Stables, LLC., the new arrival is a New York-bred. "We're obviously thrilled that the first foal by Modernist is such a good one," Darby Dan Farm manager Charlie McKinlay said. "This stallion has been very well-received and supported by his shareholders and breeders alike. He's a very well-bred horse from the Wygod family program...

Richard Mandella's Ice Dancing (Frosted), the only filly in a scratched-down field of five with a graded-stakes placing already to her name, will seek her first win since breaking her maiden in Sunday's rescheduled Santa Ynez S. at 'The Great Race Place.' The Grade III event, which was originally scheduled for last Sunday's New Year's Eve program, carries Kentucky Oaks points to the tune of 20-8-6-4-2, which will go to the top five finishers that are not associated with Bob Baffert. A homebred for Bass Stables LLC, the newly minted...

Making the 33rd start of her career, her 19th in the last two years and ninth of her 5-year-old season, Lothenbach Stables' She Can't Sing (Bernardini) may just be better than ever and earned an extremely valuable first victory at the graded level in the GIII Chilukki S. as the sun began to set on Churchill Downs Saturday afternoon. A highly impressive allowance victory beneath the Twin Spires last October catapulted the homebred filly into this race, but she beat just one home and hadn't tried the dirt since. A...

Sparkle Blue proved she was aptly named when she kicked home from the nine post to brilliantly take the GIII Rubicon Valley View S. in her first career graded victory ahead of a blanket charge for the minors. After capping her 2021 season a distant 10th in the GIII Jimmy Durante S. Nov. 27 at Del Mar, her connections gave her some time away and brought their filly back July 2 in Delaware's Christiana S. sporting first-time blinkers. Gamely overcoming contact in the stretch, she held on to win by...

First year stallion and 2020 G1 Santa Anita H. winner Combatant (Scat Daddy-Border Dispute, by Boundary) has died suddenly from colic in Chile. He had just begun Southern Hemisphere stud duties at Haras Porta Pia. Combatant stood his first year at Rockridge Stud in Hudson, NY. Earner of over a million in his racing career, one which saw him annex the Big Cap and pick up minor honors in six other graded contests, Combatant was a $320,000 yearling purchase by Winchell Thoroughbreds at KEESEP in 2016. He placed in the...

5th-Del Mar, $81,500, Msw, 8-20, 2yo, 5 1/2f, 1:03.95, ft, 2 1/2 lengths. CLASSICAL CAT (c, 2, Mendelssohn--Conquest Strate Up {SW, $192,984}, by Not Bourbon), away as the second choice at odds of 5-1 for his career bow, broke a bit to his right from the widest post before settling in to stalk the pace while racing five wide up the backstretch. Tucked in to save ground along the rail as they raced around the turn, he inched up on the dueling leaders and was tipped out three deep to...

7th-SAR, $105K, Msw, 2yo, 6 1/2f, 3:52 p.m. ET Winchell homebred ECHO AGAIN (Gun Runner) gets his career started for Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen. Produced by a stakes-placed half-sister to GISW Pyro (Pulpit), the 9-5 morning-line favorite is a half-brother to SW & GSP Pneumatic (Uncle Mo) and a full to SP Costa Terra, both winners at first asking. This same Gun Runner x Tapit cross is responsible for recent 'Rising Star' Disarm as well as last term's GII Adirondack S. heroine Wicked Halo, Monomoy Girl S. winner Society...

6th-Ellis, $60,000, Msw, 8-12, 2yo, 5 1/2f, 1:04.30, ft, 7 3/4 lengths. STUD LOVIN (c, 2, Nyquist--Livin Lovin {GSW-USA, GSP-Can, $162,153}, by Birdstone) never gave his backers and connections a moment's doubt here, debuting with a stylish 7 3/4-length victory as the 5-2 second choice. Leading from the two path right from the jump, Stud Lovin came into the stretch off the back of a :46.09 half and cruised home from there. Meraj (Army Mule) out kicked a rival home for second. Last Cookie (Bernardini), Frosted's half-brother and 'Insights' runner,...

6th-Del Mar, $81,500, Msw, 8-7, 2yo, f, 5f, :58.69, ft, 1 1/2 lengths. FAST AND SHINY (f, 2, Bernardini--Spotted Heart {SW, $167,692}, by Lion Hearted) got the better of a final-furlong tussle with the better-fancied and commonly owned Doinitthehardway (Street Sense) under a cerebral ride from Florent Geroux. They lined up three across the track early on, Fast and Shiny, Doinitthehardway and favored Getthemoney (Midnight Lute) from the rail out, but Geroux elected to take a tug of Fast and Shiny and allow the other two to set the table...