Epicenter

Having just last week been crowned the Longines World's Best Racehorse in London, 'TDN Rising Star' Flightline (Tapit) was named America's no-doubt-about-it Horse of the Year and champion dirt male at the Eclipse Awards, held Thursday evening at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida. Bred in Kentucky by Jane Lyon's Summer Wind Equine, Flightline was a $1-million purchase out of the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale, didn't start as a juvenile and didn't get to a starting gate until April of his 3-year-old season. The negatives end right about there. In...

A pair of battle-tested performers in their 3-year-old categories, Nest and Epicenter showed grit and determination versus some stiff competition along the Derby and Oaks Trails. NEST When all the votes were tallied, the title for the 2022 champion 3-year-old filly division went for the second consecutive year to another uber-talented daughter of Curlin out of an A.P. Indy mare. Also trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, Nest follows in the footsteps of 2021 3-year-old filly champion Malathaat, who employed a similar route to Eclipse success, including wins in...

Grade I winner Epicenter (Not This Time), who suffered a displaced condylar fracture to his right front leg during the running of the Nov. 5 GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland, on Friday was sent to Coolmore's Ashford Stud near Versailles, KY, where he will stand his first season at stud this year, Winchell Thorougbreds racing manager David Fiske tweeted. The winner of last year's GI Runhappy Travers. S. and GII Jim Dandy S. had been recuperating from the injury and subsequent surgery, conducted by Dr. Larry Bramlage at Rood...

Sergio Leone's 1966 masterpiece, "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," was the last and best of a trilogy of Leone spaghetti westerns that upended the traditional genre. Before Leone and other Italian directors like Sergio Corbucci set about redefining the Old West in Europe, traditional domestic westerns featured clean-cut leads like John Wayne, Alan Ladd, Gregory Peck, Gary Cooper, and Jimmy Stewart in films by directors like John Ford and Howard Hawks that clearly delineated the good from the bad and ugly. Not so Leone, who made the genre...

Who was the most talented 3-year-old male to race this year? I will not argue with anyone who says the answer is Epicenter (Not This Time). He won the GII Louisiana Derby, finished second in the GI Kentucky Derby and second in the GI Preakness S. From there, he won the GII Jim Dandy S. and the GI Runhappy Travers S. before an injury kept him from finishing the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. Other than the Classic, he finished first or second in all of his starts and won four...

Winchell Thoroughbreds' Epicenter (Not This Time--Silent Candy, by Candy Ride {Arg}), a leading candidate for champion 3-year-old honors, will enter stud in 2023 at Ashford Stud. He will stand for $45,000. Bred at Mike, Brent and Kevin Harrises' Westwind Farms in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Epicenter was hammered down to the Winchell team for $260,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September sale and was ultimately turned over to the operation's Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. A maiden winner at second asking going the one-turn mile at Churchill Downs, the bay romped...

Saturday's GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic won by Flightline (Tapit) has officially had its six-furlong split adjusted to a corrected time of 1:09.27 after the sensor was tripped early by an outrider heading to assist Epicenter (Not This Time), who was pulled up on the Keeneland backstretch with a condylar fracture to his right front. The official statement, jointly released by Equibase and Keeneland, reads as follows: During the running of the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic on Nov. 5, 2022, at Keeneland, the timing eye for the three-quarter fraction...

Trainer Steve Asmussen reported Sunday that leading 3-year-old Epicenter (Not This Time), who was pulled up on the backstretch of Saturday's GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic, had two screws inserted to stabilize a fracture in his condylar joint and is expected to make a full recovery for his future stallion career. "Epicenter had a lateral condylar fracture of his right front," Asmussen said in a statement. "This morning, Dr. Larry Bramlage inserted two screws to stabilize the injury and the horse is up and resting in his stall. After surgery,...

LEXINGTON, KY - You can add horse of a lifetime to the superlatives now, too. Unbeaten 'TDN Rising Star' Flightline (Tapit) ran to his already unworldly reputation, and, dare we say, even more, with a spectacular 8 1/4-length victory in Saturday's $6-million GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland. Olympiad (Speightstown) and fellow 'Rising Star' Taiba (Gun Runner) filled out the minors. "A great win today. He just ran beautiful; just like we thought he could," said winning trainer John Sadler, who previously put to bed an 0-for-44 mark at the...

TDN's Senior Editor Steve Sherack reveals his selections for Breeders' Cup Saturday. Race 3: GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint--#8 Goodnight Olive (3-1) This is definitely one of my stronger opinions of the weekend. I love Goodnight Olive in this spot. Her win in the GI Ballerina this summer was as good as it gets and she's tactical enough to work out that same kind of trip right off the speed. Have good memories cashing on the Chad Brown-trained Wavell Avenue in this same race at Keeneland in 2015....

LEXINGTON, KY--Over the past few days that I've been in Lexington, I've been asked the same question quite a few times by friends and family who are not in attendance. "Who looks good?" So, I decided I'd share my opinions on who has stood out this week with our TDN readers as well. Quick disclaimer: I have not seen every single Breeders' Cup horse, but I have seen many of them. It is the World Championships, so, of course, every horse here looks fantastic. This list is just a few...

LEXINGTON, KY - With Keeneland's illuminated grandstand apron already beginning to fill up, Breeders' Cup weekend's main attraction Flightline (Tapit) once again kickstarted training hours with another spirited 1 1/4-mile gallop just after 6 a.m. After having a quarter crack patched on Wednesday, fellow Classic runner and future Airdie stallion Happy Saver (Super Saver) returned to the track for light training shortly thereafter. The Steve Asmussen-trained duo of Gunite (Gun Runner) (Dirt Mile) and champion sprinter Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) made a big impression beneath the lights as temperatures hovered...