Brereton C. Jones

As you review the entries for the marquee races this weekend at Churchill Downs, namely the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks on Friday and the GI Kentucky Derby on Saturday, you'll notice a common name listed among the connections: Brereton C. Jones. Though many outside of the Thoroughbred industry will recognize the name as that of the former governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, for those within it, it's one that evokes immense pride and gratitude for a man who was a true stalwart of the sport. Sadly, Brereton--the founder and...

7th-KEE, $130K, OC80K/N2X, 4yo/up, 6 1/2f, 4:12 p.m. ET. Off the bench for Team Juddmonte, IMPEL (Quality Road) garnered 'TDN Rising Star' honors when she debuted a winner by 3 1/4 lengths at Fair Grounds Jan. 1 of last year. The filly cleared an optional claimer at Oaklawn in early March, which set her up to take a shot in the GI Central Bank Ashland Stakes at Keeneland in April. The homebred finished third and then was the runner-up in the GII Eight Belles Stakes at Churchill Downs on the...

It almost feels like he's on the other end of some celestial phoneline, listening in and smiling. Because somehow Marty Wygod seems to have arranged things so that family and friends, since mourning his loss in April, could be consoled by an afterglow of the same vitality that had sustained his 84 years. First a colt gifted to his daughter Emily Bushnell and longtime racing adviser Ric Waldman took them to the GI Kentucky Derby; and now another graduate of his program has assisted its transition with a $2.4 million...

4th-ELP, $71K, Msw, 2yo, 7f, 2:21 p.m. ET. PUBLISHER (American Pharoah), a $600,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sale grad, debuts for owners Gus King and The Estate of Brereton C. Jones. Trained by Steve Asmussen, the bay colt is the first registered foal out of GSP Indian Pride (Proud Citizen), who is a half-sister to Canadian Horse of the Year Biofuel (Stormin Fever) and Canadian champion 2-year-old filly Tu Endie Wei (Johar). Also to the post is first-time starter--trained by Cherie De Vaux--So Sandy (Omaha Beach), who was initially a 2022...

The outside-drawn gelding whose change-of-plans entry made it a foursome in Saturday's GIII Dwyer S. at Aqueduct has quite a bit going for him despite being ranked as the longest shot at 4-1 on the morning line. The cleverly and elegantly named Save the Trees (by Preservationist out of the Forestry mare Canopy Lane) sports a 2-for-2 record, an adversity-overcoming, off-the-pace style, and a $335,000 auction price that was third-highest at Keeneland's Apr. 26 Horses of Racing Age (HORA) sale conducted after the final race of the spring meet. That's...

Needless to say, all four tried to reject their billing. Between them, after all, they have spent the better part of three centuries dealing with that vehicle of humility, the Thoroughbred. To everyone else present, however, the opportunity to tap into the experience of four such sages as Bill Landes, Frank Penn, Tom Thornbury and John Williams fully justified the Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers Club in promoting their latest meeting in Lexington as "An Evening with Legends." Each, moreover, could be consoled that one of the first tasks addressed--an acknowledgement...

4th-Presque Isle Downs, $49,500, Hcp, 9-18, 3yo/up, 6f (AWT), 1:08.72, ft, 1 1/2 lengths. CLOSETHEGAME SUGAR (g, 3, Girvin--Casual Cocktail, by Magna Graduate), a debut winner in a single start at two sprinting on the turf at Saratoga, was narrowly beaten in this track's Tom Ridge S. on his seasonal return June 5. The Brereton Jones-bred registered a 19-1 upset of the Aug. 13 Mahony S. at the Spa and was backing up quickly off a fourth in the GII Franklin-Stamps S. at Kentucky Downs Sept. 9. Favored at 19-10...

One horse was pulled up and eventually vanned off the track, while another suffered a catastrophic injury during the running of Sunday's fourth race at Saratoga. A field of six went to the post in the 11-furlong allowance on a turf course officially labeled 'good' for Sunday's racing after riding yielding Saturday following heavy rains that canceled the last four races on Friday. The Graham Motion-trained Frivole (Fr) (Anodin {Ire}) saved ground from her inside draw and maintained that position through the stretch for the first time, but her action...

Conclude (Collected) brought his stakes-winning form with him from Santa Anita and returned to the winner's circle in Del Mar's customary opening day feature--the Caesars Sportsbook Oceanside S. A winner a black-type winner at the turf sprint distance last out May 21 in Santa Anita's Desert Code S., Conclude's first race after his freshening from that contest proved fruitful as the 9-2 second choice here. Showing some early speed after the jump but quickly overtaken and outrun by a loose leader on the clubhouse turn, the chestnut son of GI...

We are all the products of our environment. Tim Thornton could see as much, when he saw a foal that had been delivered at sea trying to walk on dry land for the first time. "He was, like, six weeks old," he recalls. "It was so funny to see him get off that ship, rocking everywhere, giving it the sea legs." But then that's pretty well how Thornton himself might have felt, as one born and bred for horses, had he ever been torn away to work in some other...

Lion Horse Race Co. Ltd.'s Continuar (Jpn) (Drefong) will reportedly be scratched from this year's GI Kentucky Derby, according to trainer Yoshito Yahagi. "After evaluating the colt upon my arrival, I feel that he has not been able to reach the peak fitness required to take on a race as tough as the Kentucky Derby," Yahagi said. "Considering the future of the horse and the fact that we cannot show the horse's true ability in his current state, we have decided to scratch Continuar from the Kentucky Derby. I am...

4th-Santa Anita, $62,500, Msw, 10-8, 2yo, f, 6f, 1:10.17, ft, 8 3/4 lengths. BLESSED TOUCH (f, 2, Girvin--Blushing Touch, by Street Boss) had to contend with a slow start and a lost path on debut Sept. 11 at Del Mar, ultimately finishing fifth at a similar distance as this baby dash. Breaking outwardly to end up the rail-side part of a sandwiched Carson Jen (Gun Runner) as the fillies left the blocks, Drayden Van Dyke sent his charge to the lead and never looked back, edging away on the turn...