Bobby Flay

4th-Deauville, €27,000, Mdn, 12-16, unraced 2yo, f, 7 1/2f (AWT), 1:31.73, st. QUICKSTEP (FR) (f, 2, Wootton Bassett {GB}--Dance Toupie {Fr}, by Dansili {GB}) was well away from the inside stall to race in a handy third after the opening quarter of this debutantes' heat. Making smooth headway on the bridle in the straight and sent with 300 metres remaining, the even-money pick took a slender advantage into the final furlong and kept on powerfully under whipless coaxing in the closing stages to defeat Sunlike (Fr) (De Treville {GB}) by...

Bobby Flay has always been content to settle for a bit of slow cooking when it comes to his Thoroughbred breeding program, but this particular project probably took a little longer than even the patient chef and restaurateur expected. Flay purchased the yearling filly White Hot (Ire) for 1,250,000 guineas at the 2014 Tattersalls October sale on the advice of his late bloodstock agent James Delahooke. Eight years later, he figures to be paid back, with interest, when her Breeders' Cup-winning daughter Pizza Bianca (Fastnet Rock {Aug}) sells with Elite...

Caravel, purchased for $500,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton November sale, captured her second graded win for the new connections this year when she sauntered clear to the wire to win the GIII Franklin S. at Keeneland Sunday. Sent off the 2-1 favorite, the gray mare sat settled in a tracking third along the rail behind and opening quarter in :21.40. She charged up four wide into the lane and collared pacesetting second-choiceTwilight Gleaming (Ire) (National Defense {GB}) with a furlong to run before skipping clear late. "The mare ran a...

James Delahooke died Wednesday, and I lost a very special friend. I had the great pleasure of working together with him, especially over the last 15-plus years. Tuesday, we spoke about our Keeneland filly short list, of Chris McGrath's great profile of Bobby Flay's equine program to which he had been a major contributor, and meeting in Lexington on Friday for dinner. Life can pivot from normal to abnormal with a phone call, but our initial meeting is a great reminder of the special goodness that can also randomly present...

James Delahooke, an outstanding horseman who played a key role in the creation of the late Prince Khalid Abdullah's Juddmonte empire, died of a heart attack Wednesday morning while grouse hunting in Yorkshire with friends, according to his brother Matthew Delahooke. He was 77. A large proportion of the greatest horses bred and raced by Juddmonte from the late 1980s onwards have descended from fillies or mares bought by Delahooke on the Prince's behalf. The Juddmonte families which have yielded the likes of Frankel (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), Enable (GB) (Nathaniel...

"You know, some of the people I go up against in the auction ring, they own countries," says Bobby Flay with a chuckle. "And I work at a stove." It's an instructive remark. For one thing, it indicates the humor and modesty that redeem the restauranteur and television chef from the kind of airs that might burden others, accustomed to turning heads in Main Street, on entering this arcane hinterland of ours. Flay so reliably checks the fame and glamor at the barn door, indeed, that you suspect he actually...

Hip 126, a full-sister to MGSW and 'TDN Rising Star' First Captain (Curlin)--who shared the top spot at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale--outdid her big brother in the ring Tuesday when fetching $2 million from West Point Thoroughbreds, Woodford Racing and 3C Stable. West Point and Woodford, along with the breeder of both horses Bobby Flay, campaign the Shug McGaughey-trained First Captain, who was last seen finishing second in the July 9 GII Suburban S. after annexing the GIII Pimlico Special in May. Consigned by Stone Farm, hip 126 is...

Christophe Clement has revealed that his first runners at Royal Ascot did not perform as he had hoped but shared how G1 Coronation S. disappointment Pizza Bianca (Fastnet Rock) could bid to bounce back to form at Saratoga later this month. Pizza Bianca, whose owner-breeder is celebrity chef Bobby Flay, has returned to America after her eighth-place finish in the Coronation.  Clement admitted that he was "slightly disappointed" with that effort but is confident that there is more to come from his Breeders' Cup winner back on home soil. "Of...

Hard to keep a rider as talented as Frankie Dettori out of the spotlight and, after a difficult start to the royal meeting, the legendary rider answered his critics aboard Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who produced a stunning performance to win the G1 Coronation S. From Dettori bouncing back to Perfect Power (Ire) (Ardad {Ire}) confirming himself one of the fastest horses in training, in doing so sparking debate about where he may stand as a stallion, Brian Sheerin discusses some of the main talking points from another hugely entertaining...

This week's TDN Triple Crown feature examines the GI Belmont S. entrants listed in "likeliest winner" order. 1) Mo Donegal (c, Uncle Mo--Callingmissbrown, by Pulpit) O-Donegal Racing & Repole Stable. B-Ashview Farm & Colts Neck Stables (KY). T-Todd Pletcher. Sales History: $250,000 yrl '20 KEESEP. You could argue that Mo Donegal lost the GI Kentucky Derby at the post draw after getting stuck with the dreaded rail gate. But his fifth-place effort, beaten 5 3/4 lengths in a stretch finish that featured the 1-2-3 horses all running full-tilt to the...

Celebrity chef Bobby Flay is excited to swap his apron for a top hat and tails at Royal Ascot and described his bold bid for G1 Coronation S. glory with Breeders' Cup-winning homebred Pizza Bianca (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) as "an experience of a lifetime." The Coronation S. has been the main aim for Pizza Bianca ever since she stormed to victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar last November and Flay has said that next week's royal meeting is the pinnacle. "I feel like I...