Defunded

Caught late and forced to settle for second when racing for Sean McCarthy in last year's GI Hollywood Gold Cup, Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman's Defunded (Dialed In) wrested command of the 2023 iteration soon after the start and led past every pole to give trainer Bob Baffert a ninth victory in the event, breaking a tie with the legendary Charlie Whittingham for the most wins in the history of the race. Favored at 3-5, the chestnut broke well and took his five rivals along at a comfortable...

Santa Anita will play host to three Grade I races, while Grade III action features the return of a champion at Churchill Downs and a talented Louisiana-bred attempting to make the grade at Lone Star Park during holiday stakes action Monday. The GI Shoemaker Mile S. at Santa Anita is set to be the first of 41 Breeders' Cup Challenge series races in North America this year. A field of 11 goes postward seeking the winner's share of the $500,000, as well as an automatic berth in the GI Breeders'...

He is the most talented horse--pound for pound--in a field of seven that was drawn earlier this week, but Whisper Hill Farm's 'TDN Rising Star' Charge It (Tapit) nevertheless has a fair bit to prove as the 8-5 morning-line favorite in Saturday's $1-million GII Oaklawn H. in Hot Springs. The 23-length winner of last year's GIII Dwyer S., the homebred returned with a stylish Gulfstream allowance victory first off a seven-month absence Feb. 5, but exits a disappointing runner-up effort in the GII Gulfstream Park Mile Mar. 4. The blinkers...

Last year's champion 2-year-old colt and 'TDN Rising Star' Forte (Violence) kicks off his sophomore season in the GII Fountain of Youth S. at Gulfstream Park, one of 14 graded stakes races on tap Saturday. The Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable colorbearer concluded his campaign with his third straight win at the top level in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Keeneland Nov. 4. "It seems like he's gotten even better and better since [the Breeders' Cup]," trainer Todd Pletcher said. "It's great to have won with the foundation...

Bruce Lunsford homebred Art Collector (Bernardini) sat the trip beneath Junior Alvarado and sprung a 15-1 upset in Saturday's $3-million GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. at Gulfstream. California invader Defunded (Dialed In), winner of last fall's GI Awesome Again S. and off as the 5-2 second choice, was 4 1/2 lengths back in second. Pacesetter Stilleto Boy (Shackleford) stayed on for third, the same position he filled in last year's renewal. Alvarado, who rode the Bill Mott-trained Olympiad (Speightstown) to four graded-stakes victories and a runner-up finish behind Flightline...

Cyberknife (Gun Runner) and two-time defending champion Colonel Liam (Liam's Map) top the invitational lists for the $3 million GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational and the $1 million GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational respectively. The seventh running of the Pegasus World Cup, a 1 1/8-mile stakes for 4-year-olds and up, will be featured Jan. 28 at Gulfstream Park along with the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational, a 1 1/8-mile stakes for 4-year-olds and up, and the GIII Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf, a 1 1/16-mile...

Grade I winner Defunded, who skipped a shot at the Breeders' Cup, kept it rolling with a popular score in the GIII Native Diver S. Sunday at Del Mar. A second-out graduate last March at Santa Anita, the gelding was fourth in both the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby and GIII Pat Day Mile S. before running second in the GIII Affirmed S. and GIII Los Alamitos Derby. Scoring a pair of blowout allowance/optional claiming victories, he was a hard-fought runner-up in the GI Hollywood Gold Cup S. May 30,...

Defunded, who had been knocking on the door at the graded level for the last year and a half, picked a good time to break through as he led home a one-two for Bob Baffert in this "Win and You're In" qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. Runner-up in both the GIII Affirmed S. and GIII Los Alamitos Derby last term, the chestnut was transferred to Sean McCarthy for his first two tries of 2022--a dominant optional claiming tally going a local mile and a runner-up finish in the...

Steve Moger's Stilleto Boy (Shackleford), who has been knocking on the door to top-level success, will attempt to gain that first Grade I victory while facing four rivals in the GI Gold Cup at Santa Anita Monday. The chestnut gelding, 7-5 on the morning line, was second in last year's GI Awesome Again S. and third in the GI Malibu S., GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational, and GI Santa Anita H. before scoring a front-running victory in the Apr. 30 GII Californian S. last time out. Pegram, Watson and Weitman's...

Bob Baffert has two strong chances to take his fifth straight edition of the GIII Los Alamitos Derby Sunday. The race was originally scheduled for Saturday, but was brought back as an extra Sunday when it failed to fill the first time. Leading the Baffert duo is Defunded (Dialed In), who was fourth in both the Apr. 3 GI Santa Anita Derby and the May 1 GII Pat Day Mile. The gelding enters off a runner-up effort in the GIII Affirmed S. at Santa Anita June 13. Baffert also saddles...

1st-SAR, $72K, Msw, 2yo, f, 6 1/2f, 1:10 p.m. ET Stonestreet Stable's CANTATA (Medaglia d'Oro) debuts for Steve Asmussen, who is winning with 20% of his runners at the current meet. Purchased for $950,000 at Keeneland last September, the bay is the second foal out of Stoweshoe, who is also responsible for Desert Peace (Curlin), who realized $1.3 million from Godolphin at the same venue one year earlier. The Doug and Felicia Branham-bred filly has been training steadily at Saratoga, including a four-furlong move two back Aug. 6 (XBTV Video)....