Black Type Thoroughbreds

Brunetti Dugan Stables, Black Type Thoroughbreds, Steve Adkisson and Swinbank Stables' Six Speed (Not This Time), last-out winner of the UAE 2000 Guineas Trial, a conditions event over 1400 meters at Meydan Jan. 2, proved that an extra furlong was no bother whatsoever when striding out a comprehensive winner of Friday's G3 2000 Guineas going the metric mile. With Jake Ballis's Black Type Thoroughbreds and Reagan Swinbank's Swinbank Stables having bought into the 3-year-old colt this past week and with 20 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby at...

Tournament newcomer Madison Mattmiller bested a field of 77 entries to capture the 2025 Belmont Stakes Challenge, which was contested from Friday, June 6 through Saturday, June 7 during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course. Mattmiller, a 34-year-old bloodstock agent from Lexington, Ky. who works with Black Type Thoroughbreds, took home $57,750 from the prize pool awarded to the top-four finishers plus her $66,171.30 bankroll earned over the course of the tournament. In victory, Mattmiller also secured a seat at the 2025 Breeders' Cup Betting Challenge from...

Jake Ballis didn't know quite what to expect when he sent Crimson Advocate (Nyquist) to the 2023 Royal Ascot meet, where she won the GII Queen Mary Stakes. He says now it was one of the most exciting days of his life, and he has vowed to get back there every day since. Ballis, who heads the Black Type Racing partnership, couldn't find a runner in 2024 that he thought could win at one of the most competitive meets in the world. But he never stopped looking. "It was probably...

It was perhaps the decision of a lifetime for Judy Hicks when she famously went up to Kenny McPeek after he purchased Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) and asked if she could stay in for a small piece of the filly she bred. Just a year later, while still awaiting Thorpedo Anna's debut, Hicks went and made another similar arrangement. Hicks sold Thorpedo Anna's half-brother for $40,000--coincidentally the same price that 'Anna' had sold for--at the 2023 Keeneland September Sale. Afterwards, she approached Jake Ballis of Black Type Thoroughbreds and asked...

ASCOT, UK--There's plenty of red, white and blue draped about this most patriotic of race meetings, but the Union Jack had to give way for the Star-Spangled Banner during the early rounds of Royal Ascot's Wednesday fare. First Crimson Advocate blazed a trail in the G2 Queen Mary S., and even through she was all out at the line in an attempt to repel the fast-finishing Relief Rally (Ire), her nose was down where it mattered, providing the 27 owners who had travelled from America in support with a day...

The momentum carried through into Tuesday's closing session of Book 4 of the Keeneland September Sale in Lexington with a filly by sophomore sire Connect drawing a $450,000 final bid from Maddie Mattmiller, acting as agent for Black Type Thoroughbreds. Tuesday's session grossed $21,182,500, up slightly from the corresponding session in 2021 when 312 horses sold for $20,549,000. The average for the day was $71,805, up 9.02% from 2021, while median increased 22.22% to $55,000. The final day of Book 4 saw a total of 295 horses sold, while 1,851...

Actuator (Bodemeister), just a $2,200 FTKFEB yearling graduate, stayed perfect on dirt to capture a career high in Saturday's GIII Indiana Derby. Third in his first two tries on grass for trainer Rodolphe Brisset at Horseshoe Indianapolis last term, including going a mile in his juvenile finale Oct. 6, he returned from the bench to air in his dirt debut going seven furlongs in his first try for trainer Michael McCarthy at Churchill Downs last time June 8. With Black Type Thoroughbreds acquiring a 75-percent controlling interest since, 3-1 third-choice...

DEL MAR, CA - With a tip on 2-year-old first-time starter Ocean Size (Maclean's Music), Jake Ballis watched with interest--and a win wager--on the fifth race at Colonial Downs Aug. 17. When Hidden Connection (Connect)--the co-second choice at 5-2 on the morning line for Friday's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies--ran away to a daylight score carrying the colors of Hidden Brook Farm with Ocean Size back in second, the frontman for the fledgling partnership Black Type Thoroughbreds quickly switched gears. "When she drew off at the eighth pole, I looked...

Black Type Thoroughbreds and R.A. Hill Stable's Up in Smoke (The Big Beast) streaked to her third straight victory at Gulfstream Park Sunday and, while her late-running theatrics may cause anxious moments for her connections, if her powerful late kicks keep propelling her to victory, it's all ok with bloodstock agent Jake Ballis. "It's hard to watch because you can't see her for the entire race until they turn for home," said Ballis, who purchased the filly at last year's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May sale. "But the replay is a lot...