California Chrome

Stable Recovery will hold its second annual Spring Meet Gala Saturday at Fasig-Tipton's Newtown Paddocks in Lexington. The event kicks off at 6 p.m. with a mocktail hour and will offer men in the substance abuse recovery program the chance to share their transformative stories. The evening will also include numerous items in live and silent auctions, including a Knicks Go package, a Not This Time halter, horseshoes from Medina Spirit and Arabian Knight, and a California Chrome saddle towel. Bidding on silent auction items begins Wednesday. For more information,...

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- The final day of the Keeneland September Sale is one where you blink and you miss it. It's a leaner session to begin with numbers-wise and the action is fast....as in, lightning fast. It's a real meat-and-potatoes sort of way to wrap up two exhausting weeks of trade. But, on rare occasions, there are diamonds in the rough to be found. Just ask Nadir Khassanov and while you're at it, talk to the people at Mulholland Springs. On Friday, Sept. 24, 2021, Khassanov, a bloodstock...

Kabirkhan (California Chrome) continued a most improbable fairy-tale run at the Dubai Racing Carnival, as he raced prominently following a bit of a sluggish dispatch and powered home late to easily take out Friday's US$1-million G1 Al Maktoum Challenge at Meydan. The chestnut with a big white blaze--eerily reminiscent of his G1 Dubai World Cup-winning sire--was returning just a fortnight after annexing a 2000-metre handicap, and for all intents and purposes forced the hand of trainer Doug Watson. After racing for next to no prize-money while winning eight of nine...

His father had long since ceased training, but they still always stood at the same point by the Santa Anita paddock. "There was a spot there, where the horses come out from the saddling enclosure and make a right," Evan Ferraro recalls. "From there you could look at them straight on, so you could see their conformation, their joints, and my dad would point stuff out to me." And there was one filly by In Excess (Ire) that just blew the veteran horseman away: a Harris Farms homebred, saddled by...

Faversham (Lucky Pulpit--Love the Chase, by Not For Love), a full-brother to champion California Chrome, will relocate to Clear Creek Stud in Louisiana for the 2024 breeding season. Faversham's introductory fee for Louisiana is $3,000 payable when foal stands and nurses or $2,000 payable by Sept. 1, 2024; both options offer a live foal guarantee. The 8-year-old stallion is Breeders' Cup nominated. Racing for co-breeder Perry Martin, Faversham won twice--on turf and synthetic--from 19 starts. He stood at Daehling Ranch from mid-2020 through 2023 and will be represented by his...

Cafe Pharoah (American Pharoah--Mary's Follies, by More Than Ready), a two-time winner of the G1 February S. at Tokyo, has been retired from racing and will stand the 2024 breeding season at Arrow Stud on the island of Hokkaido. Bred in Kentucky by the late Paul Pompa, Cafe Pharoah was consigned by Eddie Woods to the 2019 OBS March Sale and was hammered down to Emmanuel de Seroux's Narvick International for $475,000. Trained by Noriyuki Hori for owner Koichi Nishikawa, Cafe Pharoah made an immediate impact, winning his maiden by...

5th-CD, $120K, Msw, 2yo, 1m, 3:01 p.m. ET. After clocking :10 flat during the OBS March under-tack show, TENNESSEE (Justify) brought $1.2 million as the second topper when the dark bay colt was purchased by Maverick Racing and Siena Farms. Unveiled here, the Brad Cox trainee races for Siena and WinStar Farm, and was purchased by Hartley/De Renzo Thoroughbreds for $250,000 at Keeneland September. Out of GSP Zinzay (Smart Strike), who went for $525,000 to Summer Wind Equine back in 2016 during Keeneland November when she carrying eventual SW &...

Several pieces of racing memorabilia will be auctioned off in support of the Georgetown Middle School Football Program in Georgetown, KY. The auction includes authentic leather halters worn by California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit), Olympiad (Speightstown), Liam's Map (Unbridled's Song), and Songbird (Medaglia d'Oro) among others. Also available are behind the scenes private tours of WinStar Farm and Spendthrift Farm, as well as Denali Stud. Bids can be placed here and the auction ends Sept. 16.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Co-owner and co-breeder Steve Coburn was a quotable presence during California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit)'s fine career and delivered again Friday when the California-bred was inducted into the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame. Champions California Chrome, Arrogate (Unbridled's Song) and Songbird (Medaglia d'Oro), all in their first year of eligibility, joined jockey Corey Nakatani in the contemporary class of 2023. Fernando Toro was selected by the Historic Review Committee. Three people--the late John Hanes II, the late Leonard Jerome and Stella F. Thayer--were inducted as...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - At the very least, Aug. 4 will always be a mighty important day in jockey Corey Nakatani's life. For good and bad reasons, but memorable nonetheless. Exactly, five years after he earned his final victory then suffered career-ending injuries in a spill at Del Mar, Nakatani will be inducted into the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame on Friday morning at the Fasig-Tipton Sales Pavilion. The event, which is open to the public, begins at 10:30 a.m. Nakatani, 52, is a member of the Class...

Last year, Robbie Mills of RMM Bloodstock brought one horse to the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-up Sale and scored a dream pinhooking result. A year on and that same filly, now known as Naomi Lapaglia (GB) (Awtaad {Ire}), is an intended starter in the QIPCO 1,000 Guineas after winning her sole run at two. The dream continues. But before Mills can look forward to next Sunday on the Rowley Mile, he first has another four breezers to put through their paces for the Guineas Sale on Thursday. The quartet is shaping...

Eight new members have been elected this year to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame class of 2023. Jockeys Corey Nakatani and Fernando Toro, via the Historic Review Committee, join racehorses Arrogate (Unbridled's Song), California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit), and Songbird (Medaglia d'Oro) each in their first year of eligibility. Pillars of the Turf selections this year are John W. Hanes II, Leonard W. Jerome, and Stella F. Thayer. The late Arrogate, whose bankroll of $17,422,600 still ranks him as North America's wealthiest racehorse of all time, won...