English Channel

Returning to the scene of his victory in last year's GI Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, LSU Stables' 'TDN Rising Star' Far Bridge (English Channel) stamped his authority on Saturday's GII Man o' War Stakes at Aqueduct, defeating his chief market rival Anglophile (English Channel) by a deceptively easy margin. The prohibitive favorite was given a dig away from the stalls by Joel Rosario to open up his early options, but when longshot Decanter (Kitten's Joy) and Capture the Flag (Quality Road) elected to go on with it, Far Bridge was...

In case anyone was worried that the turf marathon would be boring, how's your heart rate after this finish? It was a battle down to the wire, but class prevailed as MGISW Far Bridge (English Channel) made a successful 2025 seasonal bow in the GIII Pan American Stakes. Far Bridge was last seen Nov. 2 fading to ninth in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf but had come into that championship race with back-to-back elite victories under his belt in Belmont Big A's Sept. 28 GI Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Stakes...

LSU Stables's 'TDN Rising Star' Far Bridge (English Channel), winner of last year's GI Sword Dancer S. and GI Joe Hirsch Turf Classic S., will launch his 5-year-old campaign in Saturday's GIII Pan American S. at Gulfstream Park. The Sarf family's gold-and-purple silks will also be carried by Le Mehana (Fr) (Al Wukair {Ire}) in the GIII Orchid S. two races earlier on the sensational GI Curlin Florida Derby program. Both are trained by Christophe Clement. LSU Stables--the 'L' stands for Larry and Leslie (the affable couple went on their...

MGSW Blueskiesnrainbows (English Channel) at the age of 16-year-old passed away due to complications from colic last week, Marcinda Mitchell, DVM from Sunlight Farm and Bad Boy Racing said in a Thursday press release. Blueskiesnrainbows was campaigned by Bad Boy Racing (Kelly Mitchell) and Whizway Farms (Stan Whisenant). During his racing career he was conditioned by Hall of Famers Bob Baffert and Jerry Hollendorfer. According to Equibase, Blueskiesnrainbows made 28 starts, got his picture snapped seven times and took home $672,552 in earnings. His wins on dirt at Southern California...

Class: an elusive concept, in horses as in people. That's because it refers to something inherent, something beyond external trappings. In this business, most of us will have observed how someone can be wealthy and still have no class; and also, more pleasingly, how material poverty need not diminish those human qualities that elevate a person from the mean (in every sense of that word). To whatever extent it may be heritable, then, one core indicator of class is perhaps durability itself. For that is the very opposite of the...

The late English Channel was himself a two-time winner of the race now known as the GI Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, scoring in 2006 and 2007, the last of which preceded a victory in the Monmouth bog in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf a handful of weeks later. George Krikorian's outstanding turf distaffer War Like Goddess (English Channel) was in search of an unprecedented third straight win against the boys in the 12-furlong contest, but LSU Stables' 'TDN Rising Star' Far Bridge (English Channel)--whose dam sire Kitten's Joy (El Prado...

She might have been the bridesmaid in last year's running, but no one was taking her 'New York moment' in 2024. Didia (Arg) (m, 6, Orpen--Delambre {Brz}, by Rainbow Corner {GB}) broke well to briefly see open air in the GI New York S.  before eager pacesetters to her outside, namely Royalty Interest (Fr) (Le Havre {Fr}) and Surprisingly (Mastery), stepped out to dispute who would lead the large field of 13. The former ended up at the head of affairs and rolled along through :23.18 and :47.74 fractions as...

A filly by Twirling Candy (hip 509), a full-sister to GI Preakness S. winner Rombauer, equaled the fastest quarter-mile work of the week when covering the distance in :20 2/5 during the third session of the under-tack show for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's June Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training Thursday in Central Florida. Consigned by Tom McCrocklin, who also consigns the Tiz the Law filly who set the :20 2/5 mark Wednesday, the bay was purchased by Mustang Farm for $140,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton October sale. She RNA'd...

The only member of the field for Saturday's GIII Dinner Party S. with proper soft-ground form, Balnikhov (Ire) (Adaay {Ire}) was given a letter-perfect ride by Frankie Dettori and kicked home smartly to score for the third time at the graded stakes level, snapping an eight-race skid in the process. Allowed to find his own rhythm, Balnikhov anchored himself at the back of the nine-strong field, as longshot Helms Deep (Verrazano) showed the way passing the stands for the first time. Favored Running Bee (English Channel), the rail-skimming Highland Chief...

Keeneland has supplemented the 2-year-old Cheval de Guerre (Caravaggio) to Friday evening's April Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale, which will begin at 6:30 p.m. ET., the auction house said in a release early Friday morning. Consigned by Kenneally Racing, agent, the colt will sell as Hip 135 from Barn 18. The first foal out of Champagne Diet, a winning daughter of Declaration of War, the gray is from the family of multiple Grade I winners Winter Memories (El Prado {Ire}) and Memories of Silver (Silver Hawk). On the turf...

War Like Goddess (English Channel) typically makes a single stop at Keeneland per year and she does so exclusively to win the GIII Bewitch S. Not only did the 7-year-old mare win last year's edition, she also won the same race in both 2022 and 2021. Making her first start of 2024 off a seventh to Auguste Rodin (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Turf at Santa Anita last November, War Like Goddess began her 2023 campaign in exactly the same way, debuting to a win in...

According to a report by Marcus Hersh of the Daily Racing Form, Two Emmys (English Channel), the winner of the 2021 GI Mr. D. S., suffered a fatal injury after a freak training accident during a workout Sunday morning at the Fair Grounds. Two Emmys was a newly turned 8-year-old. Hersh broke the news on X, writing "Confirmed tragic news circulating that Two Emmys was euthanized this morning after breaking his leg during a workout. Per trainer H Robertson the fracture occurred the knee, very unusual, & likely happened after...