Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint

Newtown Anner Stud Farm's Praying (f, 3, Vekoma--Pray for Leslie, by Bernardini), a 21-1 upset winner of the GIII Prioress S. at Saratoga Aug. 30, backed up that breakout performance with a half-length victory over her elders in Saturday's 'Win and You're In' GII Thoroughbred Club of America S. at Keeneland. Favored Vahva (Gun Runner) was second. Zeitlos (Curlin) was third. "It's surreal," winning trainer Robbie Medina said. "There's nothing like winning a big stakes at Keeneland. It's great." Praying raced in an outside fifth beneath John Velazquez and made...

Winner of the GIII Vagrancy Stakes at the Belmont at Aqueduct meet in May, Haulin Ice (f, 4, Coal Front--She's Smoke, by Half Ours) secured her trip to the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint with victory in Saturday's GIII Princess Rooney Stakes at Gulfstream Park, a 'Win and You're In' race for the championship in November. The gray speedball hustled straight to the front in Hallandale, setting uncontested fractions of :23.01 and :45.50 with her ears flicking back and forth. She didn't stop, shifting into another gear at...

On paper, it didn't look like Sweet Azteca (Sharp Azteca) could lose in last Saturday's GIII Chillingworth Stakes at Santa Anita. Instead, the Grade I winner was last in the field of four, losing to One Magic Philly (Good Magic) by 8 3/4 lengths in what was the worst start of her career. Trainer Michael McCarthy reports that he can find no reason why she ran so poorly and is still aiming for he GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. "She is fine," McCarthy said. "There's no issues. All...

"Zurdo" Estrada earned his nickname back when he was a kid in Mexico running up and down the soccer field. He would always kick the ball with his left foot so everyone called him Zurdo, the term word for left-handed. The nickname stuck and even still today, it's what everyone knows him as on the Santa Anita backside. Estrada began working as a hot walker at Bay Meadows Racetrack in San Mateo, California in 1989. He instantly fell in love with the sport and after a few short months, made...

Fan favorite and beloved Bradley family member Groupie Doll won two Eclipse Awards, two Breeders' Cup races, four Grade Is, and nine graded stakes; she set two track records, including at Churchill Downs in the GI Humana Distaff; and she sold to Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm for $3.1 million. But it's not the accolades that mean the most to co-breeder, co-owner, and trainer Buff Bradley, he said. It was the special ride she gave the Bradley family during a difficult time. "Winning the Breeders' Cup was great and awesome...

by J.N. Campbell If you didn't know the name of New Mexico's Todd Fincher, you do now. The past few weeks solidified it. "My phone's just blown up," he admitted. In the GII Thoroughbred Club of America S. at Keeneland on Oct. 8, the trainer's 4-year-old filly Slammed (Marking) set the pace early. Never looking back, she torched a solid field by more than a half dozen lengths. Once supplemented for $200,000, she will race on the same track in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on Nov....

1st-Saratoga, $88,000, (S), Msw, 8-12, 2yo, f, 5 1/2fT, 1:03.18, fm, 1 length. IM JUST KIDDIN (f, 2, Justify--Khancord Kid {GSW, $167,343}, by Lemon Drop Kid) scored here at second asking for the same connections of GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint shock winner Bar of Gold (Medaglia d'Oro), GISW, $1,551,000, becoming the eighth winner for her freshman sire (by Scat Daddy). Breaking well from the rail as the 4-5 favorite, the Kimmel trainee was outrun early but content to track from fourth behind :22.36 and :45.34 splits. Swung...

by Christie DeBernardis & Patrycja Szpyra Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 6th-SAR, $105K, Msw, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f, 3:49 p.m. EDT GI Belmont S. winner Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) may be missing his appearance at the Spa this summer, but his little sister PRANK (Into Mischief) will be stepping up to the post for the first time Sunday. Out of a daughter of GISW Island Sand (Tabasco Cat), the $500,000 KEESEP buy also hails from the Todd Pletcher barn. Steve Asmussen unveils Courtlandt Farm's High Class (Into Mischief), purchased for...

Winner of the GIII With Anticipation at Saratoga as a 2-year-old, Coinage returned to the winner's circle once again in the Palm Beach S. despite his early antics and notched another black-type victory to his resume. The chestnut placed third in the Nownownow S. at Monmouth Park Sept. 26 and weakened to ninth Nov. 5 at Del Mar in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf last year. Last out Feb. 5 in the GIII Kitten's Joy S. at this venue, he set all the pace, dueled in the lane and...

It had looked as though she had missed her cue. If the notoriously random behaviors of the Thoroughbred were really governed by some benign destiny, Ce Ce (Elusive Quality) would surely have recognized her prompt last year in the Grade I race named for the father of her owner-breeder Bo Hirsch. As it was, she was jostled leaving the gate in the Clement L. Hirsch S., took a wide trip and had to make do with third. So there you had it. We couldn't deceive ourselves that anybody up there...

DEL MAR, CA - With all eyes on defending champion and 2-5 favorite Gamine (Into Mischief) and star 3-year-old Bella Sofia (Awesome Patriot), it was Ce Ce (Elusive Quality) who came rolling over the top in the stretch to upend Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at Del Mar. Last year's Filly & Mare Sprint heroine Gamine, looking to become only the second two-time winner of the race following Groupie Doll (Bowman's Band), went to the front, as expected, and was shadowed by GI Longines Test S. heroine...

Following a conversation with owner Robert Lothenbach of Lothenbach Stables, trainer Neil Pessin confirmed that his Grade I-winning mare Bell's The One (Majesticperfection) will not start in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint Nov. 6 and will instead make her final start of the season in the $300,000 Dream Supreme S. at Churchill Downs one week later. Pessin added that the relatively lightly raced mare would likely remain in training for a 6-year-old campaign in 2022. The $155,000 Fasig-Tipton July gradauate has won three of her six starts...