First Captain

5th-Churchill Downs, $120,000, Msw, 9-27, 2yo, f, 1m, 1:37.31, ft, 3/4 length. AMERICATHEGREAT (f, 2, Curlin--America {GSW & MGISP, $580,532}, by A.P. Indy) started her career at this venue May 15 and finished second to 'TDN Rising Star' Color Comin' In (Rock Your World). She would see that familiar face June 29 in the Debuntante Stakes and the fillies would finish third and fourth with the 'Rising Star' getting the better placing. She made a third effort to break her maiden Aug. 29, this time at Saratoga, but would come...

Winchell Thoroughbreds had to go to $2,700,000 for a Gun Runner colt (hip 37) out of GSW/MGISP America, also the dam of MGSW/GISP and 'TDN Rising Star' First Captain (Curlin). Consigned by Stone Farm, the colt hails from a deep family which includes GISW Paris Lights (Curlin) who sold herself for $3,100,000 to Spendthrift at KEENOV in 2021.   A quick glimpse of what $2.7 million looks like in horse form 🤩 A colt by Gun Runner takes over the top spot of the @FasigTiptonCo sale. pic.twitter.com/EmXUv5j23P — America'sBestRacing (@ABRLive)...

2nd-CD, 120K, Msw, 2yo, f, 5f, 5:29 p.m. D.J. Stable, now in partnership with Gary Barber, went to $1,200,000 at KEESEP last year to secure AMERICATHEGREAT (Curlin), the full-sister to MGSW/GISP 'TDN Rising Star' First Captain. Both are out of Bobby Flay's GSW/MGISP A.P. Indy mare America who RNA'd first for $3.1m at FTKNOV in 2019 and most recently for $1.2m at the same sale in 2023. The mare, herself a half to the dam of GISW Paris Lights (Curlin), has found continued success for her foals in the sales...

7th-GP, $89K, MSW, 3yo, f, 7f, 3:09 p.m. Owned in partnership by Woodford Racing, West Point Thoroughbreds and Chris Larsen, SEDONA (Curlin) debuts Sunday at Gulfstream Park for trainer Shug McGaughey. The full-sister to MGSW/GISP and $1.5m FTSAUG yearling First Captain nearly topped 2022's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale when selling for $2,000,000. Dam America, herself a graded stakes winner and dual Grade-I placed, last went through the auction ring late last year at FTKNOV but failed to meet her reserve at $1,200,000. She also RNA'd for $3.1m at FTKNOV...

MGSW First Captain (Curlin-America, by A.P. Indy) has been retired and will stand the 2024 Southern Hemisphere season at Stud Eternamente Rio in Brazil, according to Turf Diario. The 6-year-old, who arrived in Brazil Feb. 9, was acquired by a partnership that includes Stud Enternamente Rio, Stud Red Rafa and Stud H e R. Bred by Bobby Flay, who also campaigned GSW America, the colt brought $1.5 million at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Sale in 2019. Flay retained a piece of the colt, who was ultimately raced by a partnership...

As we approach the opening of the 2023 breeding season, the TDN staff is once again sitting down with leading breeders to find out what stallions they have chosen for their mares, and why. First up: Bobby Flay. AMERICA (m, 12, A. P. Indy--Lacadena, by Fasliyev), booked to Gun Runner As she continues to produce quality foals, including MGSW First Captain (Curlin), the co-sales topper at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale for $1.5 million, and his full-sister, who sold for $2 million at Saratoga last August, I'm excited to see...

Grandview Equine, Cheyenne Stable and LNJ Foxwoods's Olympiad (Speightstown), a head-scratching fourth in the GI Whitney S., bounced back with a powerful performance in Saturday's 'Win and You're In' GI Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga. The 8-5 favorite jumped well from his inside draw and sat a perfect, stalking trip in second behind longshot pacesetter Tax (Arch) through fractions of :24.54 and :49.70. Racing in between rivals as last year's GI Cigar Mile H. winner Americanrevolution (Constitution), one of four entered for Todd Pletcher, continued to draw closer heading...

There is no such thing as a sure thing in horse racing, but 'TDN Rising Star' Flightline (Tapit) will be bet as if Saturday's GI TVG Pacific Classic--a 'Win and You're In' qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland Nov. 5--is already the proverbial fait accompli. And why not, really? His four towering victories in as many trips to the races have come by an average winning margin of better than 13 lengths. His lowest Beyer Speed Figure is a downright pedestrian 105 earned for his debut just...

"You know, some of the people I go up against in the auction ring, they own countries," says Bobby Flay with a chuckle. "And I work at a stove." It's an instructive remark. For one thing, it indicates the humor and modesty that redeem the restauranteur and television chef from the kind of airs that might burden others, accustomed to turning heads in Main Street, on entering this arcane hinterland of ours. Flay so reliably checks the fame and glamor at the barn door, indeed, that you suspect he actually...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - It is very much an understatement to say that during the first week of August 2019, West Point Thoroughbreds and their partners really got it right when purchasing two yearling colts. Maybe even struck gold. Time will tell. On Monday, Aug. 5, 2019 at Fasig-Tipton's Saratoga Sale, West Point, headed by president and CEO Terry Finley, and a group of investors went to $1 million for Hip 80, a son of Tapit out of Feathered (Indian Charlie). He was the session topper. Named Flightline, the lightly...

Hip 126, a full-sister to MGSW and 'TDN Rising Star' First Captain (Curlin)--who shared the top spot at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale--outdid her big brother in the ring Tuesday when fetching $2 million from West Point Thoroughbreds, Woodford Racing and 3C Stable. West Point and Woodford, along with the breeder of both horses Bobby Flay, campaign the Shug McGaughey-trained First Captain, who was last seen finishing second in the July 9 GII Suburban S. after annexing the GIII Pimlico Special in May. Consigned by Stone Farm, hip 126 is...

In a stretch-long battle reminiscent of the 2019 GI Jockey Club Gold Cup, in which the Todd Pletcher-trained Vino Rosso (Curlin) was controversially taken down for interfering with the Shug McGaughey-conditioned Code of Honor (Noble Mission {GB}), the former's Dynamic One (Union Rags) outslugged McGaughey's 'TDN Rising Star' First Captain (Curlin) to eke out the victory in Saturday's GII Suburban S. at Belmont Park. The rail-drawn Untreated (Nyquist) hit the ground running and enjoyed an easy time of things up front, as defending champion Max Player (Honor Code) applied only...