Empire Maker

With the team at Juddmonte still "floating on air" after a pair of wins on Breeders' Cup Saturday, the blue-blooded Mullion (c, 3, Into Mischief--Brooch, by Empire Maker) added to a banner weekend for the international operation with a 'TDN Rising Star' performance at Churchill Downs Nov. 5. Sidelined for more than 14 months following a strong debut second--beaten just a nose--going six furlongs at Ellis Park in late August of his 2-year-old season, the full-brother to promoted GI Kentucky Derby winner and Juddmonte stallion Mandaloun proved well worth the...

3rd-Laurel, $52,520, Msw, 7-1, 2yo, f, 5f, :58.39, ft, 8 lengths. TOUPIE (f, 2, Uncle Mo--Amertume {GSP}, by Tapit) was a deserving even-money favorite in this unveiling, jumping up to strike the front from the early jumps to set the pace just outside of Remember Me (Imagining). The pair stayed in close quarters through fractions of :22.93 and :45.79 before Toupie eagerly shook off her shadow past the quarter pole and spurted clear, opening up a dominant advantage that was eight lengths on the wire. Remember Me held on for...

MGSW 'TDN Rising Star' Cazadero (Street Sense), GISW Doppelganger (Into Mischief) and MGSW Messier (Empire Maker) can be found in the catalog for Keeneland's April Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale, to be held Sunday, Apr. 30 at 4 p.m. ET. The sale will be live-streamed on their website, Keeneland said in a Friday release. "The April Sale will take place at a key time, two days after Keeneland's Spring Meet and at the start of Kentucky Derby week, when the energy and excitement for Thoroughbred racing are at a...

Lightly raced Queen Goddess (Empire Maker) rewarded her connections' faith to successfully invade from California and annex Saturday's GIII Pegasus F/M Turf. Originally campaigned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and her breeder, Geoff Nixon's TOLO Thoroughbreds, after RNA'ing for $285,000 as a Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling, the Michael McCarthy trainee made the grade in the rained-off GI American Oaks two Decembers ago and added the GIII Santa Ana S. on the Arcadia lawn last March. She was second in May's 1 1/2-mile GIII Santa Barbara S., but hadn't been back on the...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 9th-SA, $67K, Msw, 3yo, f, 6 1/2fT, 7:29 p.m. Debuting Sunday out of the Richard Mandella barn, Ruby Nell (Bolt d'Oro) put in a quick breeze at the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale to be a $1.2 million pick up for Spendthrift Farm. A daughter of last year's leading first-crop sire, Ruby Nell is out of a half-sister to MSW & GSP Concealed Identity (Smarty Jones) who went on to produce SW & GSP Peach of a Gal (Curlin). Quick on the main track, she's posted a...

The gaming corporation that controls the GI Kentucky Derby fired the latest legal salvo in trainer Bob Baffert's ongoing attempt to reverse the second year of a two-year ban the company imposed in 2021 because of a spate of drug positives in Grade I races, urging a federal judge not to grant an injunction that would lift the ban in time for the May 6 Derby. "Baffert refuses to accept responsibility for his wrongful actions..." Churchill Downs Inc. (CDI) wrote in a brief opposing Baffert's motion for a preliminary injunction...

Representing a Juddmonte pedigree through and through, Mandaloun (Into Mischief - Brooch, by Empire Maker) carried Prince Khalid bin Abdullah's esteemed green, pink and white silks at the highest level of the sport during his racing career. A 'TDN Rising Star' on debut and the promoted 2021 Kentucky Derby winner, the homebred has returned to his birthplace at Juddmonte's American division to begin his stud career. "For Juddmonte to bring in a horse like Mandaloun is very special," said Aaron West, who joined Juddmonte USA this fall as Nominations Manager....

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency                               1st-KEE, $150K, Msw, 2yo, 7f, 10:30 a.m. After working an eighth of a mile in a blazing :9 4/5, ARABIAN KNIGHT (Uncle Mo) achieved a final bid of a sale-topping $2.3 million from Zedan Racing Stables at this year's OBS April Sale after fetching $250,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale. The first foal out of a half-sister to MGSP Kinsley Kisses (Congrats), the bay posted a trio of speedy works...

by Christie DeBernardis & Patrycja Szpyra Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 6th-SAR, $105K, Msw, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f, 3:49 p.m. EDT GI Belmont S. winner Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) may be missing his appearance at the Spa this summer, but his little sister PRANK (Into Mischief) will be stepping up to the post for the first time Sunday. Out of a daughter of GISW Island Sand (Tabasco Cat), the $500,000 KEESEP buy also hails from the Todd Pletcher barn. Steve Asmussen unveils Courtlandt Farm's High Class (Into Mischief), purchased for...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 5th-KEE, $100K, MSW, 3yo/up, 6 1/2f, 3:08 p.m. Trainer Chad Brown brings NABOKOV (Uncle Mo) to Keeneland on Thursday for his career debut. The chestnut son of Peppy Rafaela (Bernardini) is a full-brother to GSW & MGSP Mopotism who earned over $876k in her career. Purchased for $775,000 by Peter Brant from the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Nabokov has been working consistently in preparation for his debut including four-furlongs in :49 2/5 Mar. 26 (12/63) and a more recent four-furlongs on the track at...

Top GI Kentucky Derby contender Messier (Empire Maker), recently transferred from Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert to his former assistant Tim Yakteen, breezed six furlongs Sunday for a start in the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby Apr. 9 in a bullet 1:11.40, fastest by nearly three seconds of five recorded works at the distance. "He worked lights out," Yakteen said of Messier. "We had Johnny [Velazquez] work him and he'll ride him in the Santa Anita Derby. He gave us a thumbs up. The horse looked great, although he...

Here we are, then, in what Oliver Hardy could only call "another nice mess." But let's disentangle this flourishing sapling Messier (Empire Maker) from the tentacles that may restrain him from a timely bloom on the first Saturday in May, and take a moment to celebrate not only the storied nursery that cultivated his family but also the alert grafting that now involves another farm in his future success. For this horticultural analogy permits only one classification of the spectacular GIII Robert S. Lewis S. winner--as a young maple. Messier...