GI Breeders' Cup Sprint

HOT SPRINGS, Arkansas--He got the call. They needed him and he was all too ready to oblige once again. Just like any serious athlete, you never really get comfortable with that dreaded word--retired. The chance to strut your stuff in front of the home crowd is just too enticing and probably most of all it is the opportunity to relive the good ole days. For Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect), who won three editions of the GIII Count Fleet Sprint H., a GI Breeders' Cup Sprint--which earned him Eclipse honors--and took home...

After emerging in good form from his GIII Count Fleet Sprint H. victory, MGSW Skelly (Practical Joke) will look to climb the class ladder with future targets including the GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. and the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, announced trainer Steve Asmussen Sunday morning. Having posted the meet's best time for six furlongs at 1:08.82 in that Count Fleet effort, beating the prior mark of 1:09.38, which he also set in his 2024 debut, the Oaklawn star will be setting his sights on bigger prizes this summer and...

The Chosen Vron's (Vronsky) story will continue in 2024. Trainer Eric Kruljac will bring the 5-year old gelding back for another year he announced Thursday. The gelding started an eight-race win streak at Los Alamitos in September of 2022 which ended with his fifth-place finish in this year's GI Breeders' Cup Sprint. "I've put the Breeders' Cup behind me," said Kruljac. "He was kind of covered up. He might have had a little trouble getting out. I think he was behind a couple of horses and when they took off...

Two-time GI Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Elite Power (Curlin--Broadway's Alibi, by Vindication) has arrived at Juddmonte Farm in Lexington, Ky, and will be available for inspection during the farm's annual open house, which gets underway on Wednesday, Nov. 8 and continues through the last day of the Keeneland November Sale on Thursday, Nov. 16, the farm announced on Tuesday. The open house will get underway daily at 9:30 a.m. and conclude at 3:00 p.m. Elite Power, who was retired after his second consecutive Breeders' Cup win on Saturday, will stand...

Mill Ridge Farm will host a stallion open house every day from Tuesday, Nov. 7 through Saturday, Nov. 12, the Lexington, Ky, farm announced on Tuesday. The farm will showcase their two Breeders' Cup-winning stallions--Oscar Performance (Kittens Joy) and Aloha West (Hard Spun)--every day from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Lunch will be served. Oscar Performance, who won the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf in 2016, will stand for a fee of $25,000, live foal in 2024. He currently is a top second-crop stallion with five black-type winners and two...

Eclipse Award-winner and GI Breeders' Cup Sprint champion Amazombie (Northern Afleet) was euthanized on Monday, Sept. 18, at Old Friends in Georgetown, KY, due to a fractured ankle. The 16-year old gelding had lived at the retirement facility since 2014 thanks to his owners, trainer Bill Spawr and Thomas Sanford. "Amazombie was a lot of fun," Spawr said. "He was so much fun, you just can't imagine. And, you know, he died doing what he loved to do--run! You guys [at Old Friends] did a great job. We appreciated that."...

The hometown hero got it done. Facing an exceptionally deep field of sprinters in Saturday's 'Win and You're In' GI Bing Crosby S. at Del Mar, it was the California-bred The Chosen Vron (Vronsky) who got the money. He, however, is not nominated to the Breeders' Cup and would have to be supplemented for this fall's GI Breeders' Cup Sprint. With the victory, the 5-year-old gelding matched a bar set earlier in the day by Eclipse champion male sprinter Elite Power (Curlin) with both horses stretching their respective winning streaks...

Winchell Thoroughbreds and L and N Racing's Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) has won three Grade Is and earned an Eclipse Award, but in Wednesday's GII Honorable Miss H. the 4-year-old filly added to her resume when she posted a Beyer Speed Figure of 112--the fastest number recorded by any horse going six furlongs this year. "I'm extremely proud of her race. That obviously was an impressive race and that would put a [big] number on it," Asmussen said. "I'm very happy with how she came out of the race yesterday....

by Bill Finley & Patrycja Szpyra On paper, Saturday's seventh race at Saratoga looked wide open and loaded with talent. All the major players had horses in the race, Wayne Lukas, Chad Brown, Steve Asmussen, Brad Cox , Bill Mott and Todd Pletcher, who had two starters in the six furlong maiden special weight event. The race figured to be fought all the way to the wire. Instead it was the Asmussen horse, Valentine Candy (Justify), who ran them off their feet right out of the gate. Sent off at...

Juddmonte's Elite Power (Curlin) showed a new dimension and continued his ascension while punching his ticket to the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint in Saturday's 'Win and You're In' GII Vosburgh S. at Belmont at the Big A. Heavily favored at 1-2 to win his fourth straight over just four rivals in this belated stakes debut, Elite Power broke on top and conceded the early lead to longshot Jalen Journey (With Distinction). He took a narrow advantage near the three-eighths marker, began to sneak away under confident handling in the stretch...

DEL MAR, CA - Aloha West (Hard Spun) rocketed down the Del Mar stretch to just nail Dr. Schivel (Violence) by a painful nose in an absolutely thrilling renewal of Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Sprint. Shuffled between runners and outsprinted toward the back of the pack in seventh as heavily favored star sophomore Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) was hounded through fractions of :21.91 and :44.11, Aloha West was ready to pounce in sixth as they approached the top of the stretch. The 1-2 favorite was the first to blink as...

Flagstaff (Speightstown) will be retired after the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint at Del Mar Nov. 6. Owned by Lane's End Racing and Hronis Racing, the 7-year-old campaigner has earned $1,107,585 with a seven wins and six seconds from 22 starts, finishing in the top three in six of seven starts this season. Victorious in the GI Churchill Downs S. and GIII Commonwealth S. earlier this spring, the gelding was second last out in the Oct. 2 GII Santa Anita Sprint Championship. "This is his last year," said trainer John Sadler....