Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale

Pletcher's Route To The Derby And Oaks Will Make A Stop At Tampa On Saturday

Neither the Suncoast Stakes nor the Sam F. Davis Stakes, both run at Tampa Bay Downs, are graded stakes races, but that doesn't seem to bother trainer Todd Pletcher. He has made it no secret that he loves to put some of his best 3-year-old candidates on the Tampa route to Churchill Downs, and he will be doing so again on Saturday. Zany (American Pharoah), currently ranked No. 1 in the TDN's Top 10 poll for the GI Kentucky Oaks, will make her 3-year-old debut in the Suncoast, where she...

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Remsen Champ Paladin Will Point To Risen Star In New Orleans

Paladin (Gun Runner), the winner of the GII Remsen Stakes at the Big A Dec. 6, will according to his trainer Chad Brown point to the Feb. 14 running of the GII Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds, which is tabbed as a GI Kentucky Derby qualifier offering 50-25-15-10-5 points to the top five finishers. The $1.9-million Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling purchase, owned by Mrs. John Magnier, Michael B. Tabor, Derrick Smith, Peter Brant, Brook T. Smith and Summer Wind Equine, broke his maiden on debut in Ozone Park Oct....

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Friday's Racing Insight: Pricey Paladin Knighted For Unveiling Around One Turn At Big A

5th-BAQ, $85K, Msw, 2yo, 1m, 3:21 p.m. ET. Bred by Summer Wind, PALADIN (Gun Runner) easily was knighted as a top-twelve price during the 2024 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling sale when the chestnut was hammered down for $1.9-million. The ownership group of Mrs. John Magnier, Peter Brant, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Brook Smith and Jane Lyon, who stayed in for a piece, sent the colt to trainer Chad Brown. Out of unraced Secret Sigh (Tapit), the first-time starter is a half-brother to a colt by Into Mischief--taken home by Case...

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Kelsey Danner Lights Up The Tote Board At Kentucky Downs

Kelsey Danner probably didn't look at the tote board prior to Thursday's first race at Kentucky Downs. She's not a bettor, she says. But she thought her starter, Repentless (Violence), could run a bit, something the bettors obviously didn't pick up on. They sent the first-time starter off at 25-1. With Adam Beschizza aboard, the colt won by three lengths and paid $52.08. It was not her longest priced winner at the meet. Fellow first-time starter Ground Support (Army Mule) won Saturday's second race for the Danner Stable and paid...

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Friday Insights: Pricey Into Mischief Colt Valiant Set For First Start At Ellis

6th-ELP, $100K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 3:12 p.m. ET. Robert Clay's Grandview Equine went to a cool $1-million to acquire VALIANT (Into Mischief) at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale. Partnering with LNJ Foxwoods and Hubert Vester, the ownership group sent the colt to trainer Brad Cox. The debuting bay is the first foal out of unraced Validest (Medaglia d'Oro)--a Vester purchase for $350,000 from the 2021 Keeneland November Sale while she was in foal to Authentic. Validest is a half-sister to GII American Turf Stakes hero Global View (Galileo {Ire})...

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'TDN Rising Star' Outfielder Headed To Royal Ascot

After a sizzling win in a May 23 maiden on the grass at Churchill Downs, Wesley Ward confirmed what he already knew. 'TDN Rising Star' Outfielder (Speightstown) is among the best 2-year-olds he has ever trained. So it's no surprise that the colt will soon be on his way to Royal Ascot to compete in the G2 Norfolk Stakes June 19. "I was nervous going into the race at Churchill, just because I was so excited and he's one of those colts who has so much ability, Ward said. "The...

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Saturday's Racing Insights: Whisper Hill Homebred Tries Two Turns In Turf Debut At Fair Grounds

5th-FG, $58K, Msw, 3yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 4:15 p.m. ET. Whisper Hill homebred STRAIGHT FORWARD (American Pharoah) makes her first start for Mandy Pope and trainer Steve Asmussen. The filly's dam, Aloof (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), was acquired by the farm at the 2014 Keeneland November Sale for a cool $3.9 million. Herself out of English Group 1 winner Airwave (GB) (Air Express {Ire}), Aloof is a half-sister to the dam of full-siblings MG1SW Churchill (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and G1SW Clemmie. Set for her unveiling is another homebred, Good Going (Mendelssohn),...

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Saturday Racing Insights: Pricey Twirling Candy Colt Yinzer Rehearsed for Churchill Downs Bow

7th-CD, $120K, Msw, 2yo, 6 1/2f, 3:55 p.m. ET. A $1-million buy at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale, YINZER (Twirling Candy) takes the racing stage for the ownership group of West Point Thoroughbreds, CJ Stables and Bill Farish. The Steve Asmussen trainee is out of Rehearsed (Tapit) who is a full-sister to GISP Closing Bell and a half-sister to GII San Felipe Stakes hero Hear the Ghost (Ghostzapper). Also making the races is Aerate (Candy Ride {Arg]). The Stone Farm homebred trained by Brian Lynch was produced by Ducru...

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Baffert's First Churchill Starter Since Lifting Of 3-year Ban Will Be $3.2m Colt Owned By Zedan

Barnes (Into Mischief), an unraced 2-year-old colt who sold for $3.2 million as a FTSAUG yearling in 2023, has been entered by trainer Bob Baffert and owner Zedan Racing Stables in a 5 ½-furlong maiden special weight sprint at Churchill Downs next Wednesday. The start will be Baffert's first at the Louisville track since Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI) on July 19, 2024, announced the lifting of a corporation-imposed three-year suspension that had kept the Hall-of-Fame trainer from racing in the GI Kentucky Derby and at any of CDI's tracks nationwide....

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Journalism's Late-Breaking News In Maiden The Story At Del Mar

6th-Del Mar, $56,500, Msw, 11-17, 2yo, 1m, 1:36.49, ft, 2 1/2 lengths. JOURNALISM (c, 2, Curlin--Mopotism {GSW & MGISP, $876,090}, by Uncle Mo), an $825,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga grad, wrote his own headline as he made the papers at the seaside oval on Sunday. The bay showed signs that he could rally in such a fashion when he was up for third on debut at Santa Anita Oct. 27. Allowed to go off as a 9-2 shot here, the 2-year-old burst out of the stall, but was content to settle in...

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Saturday's Racing Insights: Gate Appointment For Madame Secretary Confirmed At Seaside Oval

7th-DMR, $54K, Msw, 2yo, f, 5fT, 6:30 p.m. ET. MADAME SECRETARY (Constitution) makes her first start for MyRacehorse and Brook Smith after she was purchased at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sale for $900,000 by Rocket Ship and Gandharvi. Sent to Richard Mandella, the filly is out of MSP Nina Fever (Borrego), who was taken home by Blandford Bloodstock for $500,000 while Madame Secretary was in-utero. This dam produced GI Frizette Stakes heroine and $3 million Fasig-Tipton Mixed Sale buy Nickname (Scat Daddy), who herself is responsible for Irish group stakes...

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MGISW National Treasure Retires To Spendthrift, Will Stand For $40,000

National Treasure, the three-time Grade I-winning son of Quality Road, has been retired from racing and will take up residence at Eric & Tamara Gustavson's Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, where he will stand stud in 2025 for an introductory fee of $40,000 S&N, according to a post on the farm's website. A classic winner of the GI Preakness Stakes and victor in this year's GI Pegasus World Cup and GI Metropolitan Handicap, National Treasure is now available for inspection by appointment. Spendthrift acquired the breeding rights to the colt,...

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