Claiborne

He's such a fixture here, he's even on the sandwich menu. Here you go: the Copelan, grilled cheddar and onion on pumpernickel. True, that only makes Dr. Robert Copelan an institution within an institution. Lunch at Lil's Coffee House on Main Street is a ritual cherished by many other horse folk in the neighborhood of Paris, Kentucky. But it's certainly a joy, for all of them, to see the great veterinarian seated alongside veteran radio host Ercel Ellis Jr., at their usual table in the corner, exchanging wit and wisdom...

Stallion manager Joe Peel, who handled some of Claiborne Farm's top sires, lost a 10-year battle with cancer and has passed away, the Paris, Ky. farm announced via X Wednesday. The farm will rename the breeding shed to honor him. In his early 60s, Peel joined Claiborne in 1985 and spent 15 years in the farm's yearling division. He moved to stallions in 2000 and has been responsible for Arch, Blame, Danzig, Flatter, Pulpit, Seeking the Gold, Unbridled, and War Front, among others. "Joe will be remembered for his unwavering...

6th-Kentucky Downs, $255,000, Alw, 8-31, (R), 2yo, 6 1/2fT, 1:16.87, fm, 1/2 length. COIN MINER (c, 2, Cloud Computing--Require, by Blame) finished well down the center of the course on Ellis debut July 30 to miss by a neck in third and was given a 10-1 chance to graduate in this colts' division of the Keeneland Sales allowance, restricted to horses bought or led out unsold at Keeneland September last year. Settled slightly ahead of mid-division as they raced down the hill and onto the turn, Coin Miner was held...

Art Collector (Bernardini), a winner of eight stakes, including the 2023 GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational and the 2021 GI Woodward S., was euthanized Thursday in Saratoga after developing laminitis. Horse Racing Nation was first with the story. "This was sudden and a tough experience for me and my wife," said owner-breeder Bruce Lunsford. "I can summarize this pretty easily. He gave me my highest highs in this business and now my lowest low. That's as simple as I can put it. He will be in my brain and my...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 6th-GP, $84k, Msw, 3yo, f, 1mT, 2:37p.m. ET Richard Schermerhorn's $390,000 OBSAPR purchase LADY BETH (Hard Spun) will be unveiled on what looks like a very active Sunday of racing across the country. Drawn toward the middle in this Gulfstream maiden, she is the first registered foal for her dam, the Werthemier et Frere-bred and West Point-campaigned Boreale (Makfi {GB}); four times stakes-placed in her career in America as well as a multiple winner in France. This is the female family of MGSW Interactif (Broken...

Bidding opens for the Jockey and Jeans Stallion Season Sale, benefitting the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund, on Tuesday Jan. 10 at 9 am ET and ends Thursday, Jan. 12 at 9 pm ET with a preview beginning Jan. 9. The sale features over 70 stallions from Kentucky, Pennsylvania, New York, California, Texas and Oklahoma and has raised over $500,000 for the PDJF to date. "Big farm or small, we thank them all," said Jockeys and Jeans President Barry Pearl. "There are many other valuable seasons and one for every pocketbook....

The stallions we assess today find themselves at the first major crossroads of their new career. Poor fellows, they're still a long way from having the chance to demonstrate whether they can actually produce runners. But that seems a pretty incidental consideration in the current marketplace, which has created a self-fulfilling cycle. Like it or not, stallions nowadays do indeed have their best chance of producing a good one from their first crop, as these typically emerge from the biggest and best books they will ever get. That, in turn,...

The syndicate that owns MGISW War of Will (War Front), who stands at Claiborne Farm and whose first foals are arriving this year, has entered into a partnership agreement with the University of Kentucky (UK)'s starting quarterback Will Levis. The agreement, which was announced by Sports Management Company Athlete Advantage, is an N.I.L. (Name, Image, and Likeness) deal. "Will Levis loves racing," said Claiborne's Walker Hancock. "He came out to the farm two weeks ago and he met War of Will. We filmed a commercial and that will be airing...

Edited Press Release Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation announced today that Dell Hancock, chairman of the foundation, has been named the fifth recipient of the Dinny Phipps Award. She will be presented with the award at the Belmont Stakes Charity Celebration, which will be held Thursday, June 9. Earle Mack, an active participant in Thoroughbred racing and breeding for more than five decades, created the award in 2017 in memory of Phipps to honor an individual or individuals who have demonstrated dedication to equine health. Previous winners of the Dinny Phipps...

And so we reach the final leg of our journey hunting out value among Kentucky sires in 2022. It's been a rather more focused exercise this time round, and if that means plenty of stallions (and indeed some farms) have been overlooked, so be it. It's only ever the subjective view of a single bystander. You'll know what works for your own mare, and for your own agenda, too, whether you're an end user, say, or first and foremost need to anticipate commercial demand. We've often complained that a market...

Season 5 of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame's live webcam series Foal Patrol will debut online at www.foalpatrol.com Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022. Season 5 will feature in-foal mares at Claiborne Farm, Gainesway Farm, Safari North at Pauls Mill Farm, Three Chimneys Farm and Old Tavern Farm in New York. The participants are MGISW Elate (Medaglia d'Oro) at Claiborne, who is carrying her second foal by Speightstown; Gainesway's Spanish Bunny (Unusual Heat), who is in foal to Uncle Mo; Traveling Tiger (Candy Ride {Arg}), in foal to...

The sales action moves across town Wednesday with bidding on the first session of Keeneland November starting at 1 p.m. The 10-day auction, which runs through Nov. 19, opens with a single-session Book 1 comprised of 229 mares and weanlings, five of which were late supplements. The sale has five books in total and the last half of the final day will be dedicated to 285 Horses of Racing Age. "We have a lot of optimism," said Cormac Breathnach, Keeneland's Director of Sales. "We had an electric atmosphere starting in...