Dr. John Chandler

Mill Ridge Landmark Only Half The Story For Nicoma, Farm Celebrates 41st Grade I Winner Since 2000

"I think this filly's cheating on me." Well, if that was the opinion of a Hall of Fame trainer, who could argue? Least of all a woman, in the male-dominated Bluegrass of the mid-1970s. But Headley Bell remembers that when Frank Whiteley Jr. sent Nicosia (Gallant Romeo) home to Mill Ridge, his late mother Alice Chandler was not ready to give up. After all, this was a daughter of Nicoma (Nashua), whose previous foal had just won a Grade I; and Alice's husband, Dr. John Chandler, suggested that maybe the...

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World Beater Back on Top in Colonial's Old Dominion Derby

Delayed several minutes because of the storms sweeping through the area Saturday afternoon, recent GI Saratoga Derby Invitational winner World Beater made it two straight with a victory in the GIII Old Dominion Derby at Colonial Downs. Sent off the hot 2-5 choice for a distance he clearly relishes, the Pin Oak-bred colt entered this contest off a pair of Grade Is at the Spa--a second-place finish in the nine-furlong Belmont Derby on July 4 and a narrow score in the Saratoga Derby over 1 mile and three-sixteenths Aug. 2....

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Yuugiri Half-Brother Kicks Off Career at Kyoto

In this continuing series, Alan Carasso takes a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this Saturday running at Kyoto and Tokyo Racecourses: Saturday, February 3, 2024 4th-KYO, ¥11,850,000 ($81k), Newcomers, 3yo, 1800m AIR SAMSARA (c, 3, Nyquist--Yuzuru, by Medaglia d'Oro) is the latest to the races out of this stakes-winning dam, whose daughter Yuugiri (Shackleford) pieced together...

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Three Champs Lead Class of 2023 into Hall of Fame

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...

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An Empire That Will Survive Its Maker's Loss

Mahmoud is interred in the same soil. So, too, are Broomstick and his son Whisk Broom II--both born in the first years of the last century; Tom Fool, Vaguely Noble, Blushing Groom; the great matriarch La Troienne. Stop The Music, the horse who owed his Champagne S. success to the disqualification of Secretariat, lasted to 35 before he had to be euthanized in 2005. And let's not forget The Axe, gray son of gray Mahmoud: the sire of Foggy Note, fourth of nine gray dams behind the farm's modern colossus...

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