Constitution

6th-CD, $127k, Aoc, 3yo/up, f, 1 1/8mT, 8:30p.m. ET Sold for a price befitting royalty on the back of a 3-year-old season where she was Group 1-placed in Germany, SPANISH EYES (GER) (Zarak {Fr}) will debut here under the lights at Churchill Downs for her new connections. Purchased at ARQDEC last year for €1.3-million by David Redvers Bloodstock for the partnership of Qatar Racing and Michaela Faust, the filly is out of Sortilege (Ire) (Tiger Hill {Ire}), herself a multiple highweight mare in Germany and Italy as well as being...

There come some lofty expectations when you win a six-furlong race by eight lengths and garner a 106 Beyer figure to start your year, but Whatchatalkinabout (Dialed In) proved they were warranted when he fought off simultaneous challenges to win the GIII John A. Nerud Stakes. A stakes winner as a juvenile, he was gone over a year from that New York Breeders' Futurity and resurfaced last October to run second against optional claimers at this venue. He was denied by a neck Nov. 30 at that condition, but broke...

by Jessica Martini & Christina Bossinakis OCALA, FL- For the third straight year, Saudi businessman Amr Zedan made the highest bid at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, going to an OBS record $3 million to acquire a colt by Gun Runner during a vibrant final session of the auction Thursday. The sale-topping colt brought the number of horses to sell for seven figures during the three-day auction to seven, up from four a year ago, and a record for the March sale. "I thought...

Last year ended on a high note for Top o' the Lane Farm and has continued into 2025. Vixen (Vekoma) was second by a neck in the GI Natalma Stakes last September, then followed it up by a solid run in the Breeders' Cup after having to break from the parking lot and has continued on in 2025 after a short break to capture the Sweetest Chant Stakes and GIII Herecomesthebride Stakes. Keeneland November was a major success with three foals going through the ring to great connections through Highgate...

The TDN staff is once again sitting down with leading breeders to find out what stallions they have chosen for their mares, and why. Today we caught up with Blue Heaven Farm. 2024 was Blue Heaven Farm's best year on record. In addition to several nice results at the Keeneland September sale, we were represented by five different stakes horses on the track, including two runners in the Breeders' Cup. We are hoping to keep the momentum going in 2025 and beyond.  Below are the mating plans for a handful...

After starting his career with two daylight wins at Gulfstream Park and Churchill Downs last year on GI Florida Derby Day and GI Kentucky Derby Day, respectively, 'TDN Rising Star' Mindframe (Constitution) nearly pulled off victory in the GI Belmont Stakes in only his third career start, finishing just a half-length behind Dornoch (Good Magic), and then finishing second to that same rival in the GI Haskell Stakes. Sent to the sidelines with bone bruising after those four scintillating starts, the Repole Stable and St. Elias Stables runner made his...

2nd-GP, $94k, Msw, 3yo, f, 7 1/2fT, 1:20p.m. ET Debuting on the Gulfstream grass for Bregman Family Racing, Athaliah (Gun Runner) will go to post from the George Weaver barn. The $480,000 KEESEP grad is out of graded-placed Divine Elegance (Uncle Mo), a half-sister to the dam of multiple Grade I-placed Standard Deviation (Curlin). This is the extended female family of GI Kentucky Oaks victress Believe You Can (Proud Citizen). To her outside is Uncommon (Quality Road), a half-sister to MGSW Fast Boat (City Zip), who hails from a busy,...

With breeding sheds opening last week across North America, farms have been quietly preparing stallions for the demanding months ahead of them. All jokes about them having the best jobs aside, stallions have to be ready for a marathon during breeding season. It's not simply a matter of bringing stallions up from fields and expecting them to be ready to cover a full book of mares over the ensuing months. Perhaps that may work for small operations where a stallion covers a handful of mares all season, but for the...

Our business already includes one John whose namesake signed the Declaration of Independence. (Good day to you, Mr. Penn.) But now we have another, this time on four legs, bidding to confirm that Constitution--if not a founding father--is certainly a patriarch in the making. Yet if the Sam F. Davis Stakes winner were to carve his "John Hancock" on the GI Kentucky Derby roll of honor, he would only be further magnifying two names whose Churchill achievements are already outsized. One is that of his dam Scribbling Sarah (Freud), who...

CHC Inc. and WinStar Farm's John Hancock (Constitution), winner of last weekend's Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa, is unlikely to return for the oval's GIII Lambholm Tampa Bay Derby on Mar. 8, trainer Brad Cox told DRF Sunday. Cox, who indicated that the 8 1/2-furlong race comes up a bit too quickly following the sophomore's latest win, indicated a bevy of options remain, including the Mar. 22 GII Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby, the GI Arkansas Derby or the GI Curlin Florida Derby on Mar. 29. On Apr. 5, the GI...

Stretching out to two turns for Saturday's Sam F. Davis Stakes, downgraded to listed status but still offering 20 points to the winner on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, WinStar Farm and CHC Inc.'s John Hancock (c, 3, Constitution--Scribbling Sarah, by Freud) would not be denied in the early march to the First Saturday in May. The chestnut earned a solid 81 Beyer Speed Figure in leading every step of the way to break his maiden at first asking over three-quarters of a mile locally on Jan. 8 and...

Based at his Mill Ridge Farm, Headley Bell and his Nicoma Bloodstock have been helping clients mate their mares since 1979. With such notable successes as Trempolino, Suave Dancer, Keeper Hill, Barbaro, Street Sense, Havre de Grace, Oscar Performance, Bricks and Mortar, and the 2024 Preakness winner Seize the Grey, it's no wonder that many of the clients he discusses below have been with him for over 40 years. "It's such a gift to be able to assist our clients in this manner because it's something I'm passionate about," said...