Cupid

The tale of Cody's Wish (Curlin) and his association with Cody Dorman continues to be a powerful, feel-good story for the sport of racing. Cody's Wish was named for Dorman, a young man who suffers from Wolf-Hirschorn Syndrome, and the horse's six-race winning streak has brought joy to Dorman and his family. Wade Jost knows just how the Dormans feel. The first race at Saratoga Saturday was won by Carson's Run (Cupid), who is owned by West Point Thoroughbreds and Steven Bouchey. The 2-year-old colt was named after Carson Jost,...

She'd been the buzz horse among the Churchill locals all day and V V's Dream (Mitole) took the first baby steps to making quite a few come true while securing 'TDN Rising Star'-dom in this stylish unveiling. Breaking slowly and asked to race in seventh from two off the rail going into the turn, the grey bided her time as the field watched the other Mitole Cheetah Miss put up all the fractions as :21.90 and :45.59 flashed across the board. Rolling under a full head of steam and splitting...

And so we come to the abyss: that giddy phase between launching your first juveniles and being able to claim a viable niche in this most unforgiving of marketplaces. Yes, for those few young stallions that do manage to seize their fleeting opportunity, a narrow path can rise rapidly towards lucrative heights. Most of the others, however, find themselves clinging to a crumbling ledge. Whatever you do, don't look down! It's easy to disparage the robotic tendencies of the commercial market. Too easy, certainly, for me to have neglected the...

Uncle Mo will once again top the Coolmore America roster at $150,000 for the 2023 breeding season, the same fee at which he stood in 2022, according to a press release from Coolmore Wednesday morning. The 14-year-old stallion was the sire of 10 black-type winners in 2022, including the GI Belmont S. winner Mo Donegal. Justify, who had four black-type winners from his first crop in 2022, will stand for the farm's second highest-fee, at $100,000, the same as in 2022. He is currently the third-leading first-crop sire by earnings....

The Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association's Breeders Sales of Louisiana held its 2022 Yearling Sale followed by mixed session Oct. 1 at the Equine Sales Facility in Opelousas and it was topped by a $63,000 Cupid colt (Hip 60). He was consigned by Brehon Farm. A total of 101 yearlings sold for a gross of $1,690,600 and an average of $16,739 and a median of $10,000. There were 19 RNAs. Three weanlings sold for a gross of $20,000 and an average of $6,667. One horse of racing age sold for $7,000...

Karma, football, a wild longshot in the Santa Anita Oaks, and one of the industry's oldest farms striving to break new ground in new areas. Let's also not forget the big Twin Spired shadow looming over us. Here's how the controlled chaos went down this week. Defying the odds...again Taiba will be up against all sorts of historical norms by forging ahead to the Kentucky Derby off just two lifetime starts. Since 1937 (the advent of detailed start statistics), only four horses have ever even attempted the Derby in career...

While Saturday's GII Santa Anita Oaks seemed all but a procession for 13-length GIII Las Virgenes S. romper Adare Manor (Uncle Mo) in her first start since being transferred from Bob Baffert to Tim Yakteen, Desert Dawn (Cupid)--the longest shot in the field of five at higher than 14-1 odds--had other ideas. Desert Dawn broke well from the fence before tucking in to sit third as her seemingly much more formidable stablemate Ain't Easy (Into Mischief) set off to show the way with the imposing presence of Adare Manor looming...

So finally we come to a group of stallions that has at least offered some initial indication of their competence actually to produce a runner. Not that the market tends to enjoy this process! Its nervousness about sires at this stage of their career makes it easy to see why so much investment is instead concentrated in that period of grace when they haven't yet been exposed in such heartless fashion. Yes, the one or two that are prompt to seize their chance are instantly on their way: their second...

God of Love closed stoutly to give freshman sire Cupid (Tapit) his first graded victory in the GIII Grey S. at Woodbine Sunday. The chestnut colt broke from the outside and was caught five wide into the first turn while racing towards the back of the field. He had one horse beaten down the backstretch behind an opening quarter in :24.42 and a half in :49.58, but he began inching closer approaching the far turn. Caught wide once again turning for home, God of Love stormed into contention at the...

6th-Woodbine, C$77,590, Msw, 7-18, 2yo, 5 1/2f (AWT), 1:04.59, ft, nose. FEELTHEBEAT (c, 2, Cupid--Shelby's Song, by Songandaprayer) was third, beaten just a head in a blanket finish, in his five-furlong debut at Churchill June 4. Favored at 8-5 while adding blinkers in this move to the synthetic, the dark bay colt jumped out to the early lead and was in control while zipping through fractions of :21.91 and :44.89. He extended his advantage in upper stretch, but tired noticeably before just holding off the late-rushing Heat Merchant (Kobe's Back)...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 2nd-CD, $100K, Msw, 2yp, 5f, post time: 5:29 p.m. ET ANNA AND MIA (Cupid) becomes the first starter for her Grade I-winning sire and is out of a stakes-winning full-sister to MSP Breathethefire (Valid Expectations). The deeper female family also includes the flashy MGSW/GISP Phantom On tour (Tour d'Or). A $50K purchase at Fasig-Tipton February in early 2020, the February foal fetched $45K at FTKOCT in the fall and was most recently hammered down for $160K at the OBS March Sale after breezing an eighth...

And so we come to the group standing on the brink. The group facing the moment of truth, when their most precocious stock enters the gate and offers some initial indication as to their competence for the task for which, ostensibly at least, they were bred. As such, this should perhaps be the moment we double down. That's what we would do, at any rate, if we had real faith in the choices we have made for our mares. If we have selected their mates well, then people will be...