Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile

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...

This has been a year of ups and downs and the unconventional for everyone and that includes the Korea Racing Authority's Knicks Go (Paynter), but he ended 2020 on a high note with a victory in the GI Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. Dominant in two starts this season, albeit eight months apart with a minor surgery in between, the $87,000 KEESEP buy was favored at 9-5 in this return to Grade I company. Seizing the early advantage, the gray was pressed along by GII Kelso H. winner...

Less is more, they say. Don't worry, that's not a facetious observation on the counting of votes. It's just that some of us still feel that the expansion of the Breeders' Cup into a second day, in 2007, somewhat diluted its trademark intensity. A couple of years previously they had faced a similar calculation, in Britain, about adding a fourth day to the Cheltenham Festival: would the guarantee of another lucrative full house, at this phenomenally popular climax of the jumps season, represent a legitimate trade-off for the inevitable erosion...

After missing an intended start in the GI Forego S. at Saratoga in late August with a foot abscess, the talented Vekoma (Candy Ride {Arg}) is training up to next month's Breeders' Cup at Keeneland. The chestnut punched his ticket(s) to Lexington with eye-catching victories at Belmont Park in the 'Win and You're In' GI Runhappy Carter H. June 6 (GI Sprint) and GI Runhappy Metropolitan H. last time July 4 (GI Dirt Mile). He kicked off his 4-year-old campaign with a sharp win in Gulfstream's Sir Shackleton S. Mar....

Grupo 7C Racing Stable's Jesus' Team (Tapiture), who finished third in Saturday's GI Preakness S. at Pimlico, will make his next start in either the GI Breeders' Cup Classic or GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. "He will run in the Breeders' Cup, 100%," said trainer Jose D'Angelo. "We just don't know what race--maybe the [Dirt] Mile or maybe the Classic. I will wait for the decision from the owners." Jesus' Team is currently getting some down time at Kenny McPeek's Magdalena Farm in Lexington and will head to Keeneland Friday...

Live Oak Plantation's homebred Win Win Win (Hat Trick {Jpn}--Miss Smarty Pants, by Smarty Jones), victor of the GI Forego S. at Saratoga in his most recent start Aug. 29, has been retired from racing due to a tendon injury. The versatile 4-year-old was targeting a start in the GI Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland for trainer Michael Trombetta. Stud plans will be announced at a later date. "I would like to thank Mike Trombetta and his staff and the Live Oak Stud crew for all...

Lane's End Racing and Hronis Racing's Flagstaff (Speightstown) gets the morning line nod in Del Mar's GII Pat O'Brien S., a Saturday "Win and You're In" qualifier for the furlong-longer GI Big Ass Fans Dirt Mile. The lightly raced 6-year-old's 2020 campaign has included a victory in the GII San Carlos S. over this trip in March and a narrow second to Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect) in the GIII Count Fleet Sprint H. in April. He's been off since finishing fourth in the GII Triple Bend S. in June, but has...

Bob and Sue Donaldson's Spun to Run (Hard Spun--Yawkey Way, by Grand Slam), last year's clear-cut winner of the GI Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, has been retired from racing. The Juan Carlos Guerrero trainee blossomed in the second half of his sophomore season in 2019, finishing third in the GI Haskell Invitational S. behind eventual Maximum Security (New Year's Day) in July before annexing the GIII Smarty Jones S. over a pair of next-out winners. He earned a gaudy 110 Beyer Speed Figure two starts later when...

A talented and deep field of eight will line up for Saturday's highly anticipated 127th renewal of the GI Runhappy Metropolitan H. at Belmont Park. An unlucky second behind the mighty Mitole (Eskendereya) in last year's contest, 'TDN Rising Star' McKinzie (Street Sense) figures to vie for favoritism. He was first or second in all seven of his starts in 2019, led by a win in Saratoga's GI Whitney S. and a runner-up finish in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. The four-time Grade I winner made up for a dismal...

Just under a decade ago, Migdaly Serra was busy building up her marketing and human resource company in Venezuela. The successful businesswoman and entrepreneur knew next to nothing about Thoroughbred horse racing. But Serra caught the horseracing bug, and in just a short time became not only a successful farm owner and manager, but also the breeder of last year's GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Spun to Run (Hard Spun), as well as Tonalist's Shape (Tonalist), a leading 3-year-old filly in 2020. A native of Venezuela, Serra graduated with...

Expected to be the second choice in Saturday's GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. at Gulfstream, Spun to Run (Hard Spun) will be scratched after an issue with his skin took a turn for the worse yesterday. The story was first reported by the Daily Racing Form's Jay Privman. Trainer Juan Carlos Guerrero said that Spun to Run had been dealing with skin issues for "three or four weeks" and was breaking out in hives. He originally thought they wouldn't be an impediment to his horse running in the Pegasus....