GI Pennsylvania Derby

Coming into the GI Pennsylvania Derby, Puca (Big Brown) may already have been the most valuable broodmare on the planet. But in the 1:48.03 it took to contest that race, she became worth even more. Baeza (McKinzie) won and is now the third son in a row out of Puca to capture a Grade I race. Puca's owner is John Stewart's Resolute Racing, who announced in August that Puca will be sold at this November's Fasig-Tipton "Night of the Stars" sale. As much as he'd like to keep Puca, he...

CRK Stable's Lee Searing joined this week's TDN Writers' Room to discuss Baeza's hard-earned Grade I win in the Pennsylvania Derby and share what's in store for the top 3-year-old.

Sponsored by Pedigrees360. Candidly, it always feels a little cheap to delve into a pedigree once its functionality is established, scrubbing away any genetic mud before triumphantly producing some hidden nugget to explain how it has all come together. "Post rationalization" of this kind is standard in articles like this, and the absolute opposite of the grueling enterprise that has worn out the soles of so many shoes over the past couple of weeks. As ever, Keeneland presented thousands of perfectly plausible pages to measure against the animals paraded before...

For C R K Stable, owned by Lee and Susan Searing of Claremont, Calif., the celebration actually started the day before the GI Pennsylvania Derby won by Baeza (McKinzie). The Searings own Baeza, who is trained by John Shirreffs, in partnership with Grandview Equine. His victory came just 27 1/2 hours after the stable unveiled a horse who could potentially be better than Baeza. Yes, 'TDN Rising Star' Englishman (Maxfield) was that impressive. The son of a first crop sire, he annihilated a field of maidens at Churchill Downs winning...

[tdn-newsletter-embed]BENSALEM, PA -- Having finished third in the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Belmont Stakes and runner-up in the GII Jim Dandy Stakes with Baeza (McKinzie), C R K Stable's Lee Searing admitted to at least a modicum of remorse about not making another trip East for last month's GI DraftKings Travers Stakes. "We flew him three times," he explained. "I would have loved to have run in the Travers against Sovereignty one more time. We'll get him again." A $1.2-million Keeneland September graduate campaigned in partnership with Grandview Equine...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Two years ago, the GI Whitney Stakes was a whiteout. As in White Abarrio (Race Day), who crushed the field by 6 1/4 lengths. Fast forward to now and White Abarrio is back for another run in Saturday's $1 million Whitney, the premier race for older horses at the 40-day meet at Saratoga Race Course. The 6-year-old horse will look to shrug off a disappointing fourth place finish in the GI Met Mile last month and prove to his trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. that he deserves...

1st-CD, $141K, OC100k/C, 3yo/up, 1m, 5:00 p.m. ET. DRAGOON GUARD (Arrogate) turned in a strong 2024 campaign as the gray broke his maiden second out by 3 3/4 lengths at Keeneland in April then cleared an optional claimer at Churchill Downs in early June. The colt captured both the GIII Indiana Derby in July and the GIII West Virginia Derby in August before running third to Seize the Grey (Arrogate) in the GI Pennsylvania Derby at Parx to close out his season in September. Back on the work tab at...

Always Dreaming (Bodemeister--Above Perfection, by In Excess {Ire}), the 2017 Kentucky Derby winner, died of colic Tuesday, December 10 at River Oaks Farm in Oklahoma, according to Chad Schumer, who brokered the deal to send the stallion from WinStar Farm where he originally stood to River Oaks. "The horse was sick," said Schumer. "He had a very typical colic, and they brought him to the clinic. He was there for four days. They didn't do any surgery on him. Everything was fine. He seemed to be okay. He turned the...

Seize the Grey (Arrogate), the winner the GI Preakness Stakes and GI Pennsylvania Derby, will point directly to the GI Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile on Saturday Nov. 2 at Del Mar, the Daily Racing Form first reported on Tuesday, Oct. 15. After taking home his second Grade I score, Seize the Grey's Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas left the door open to go to the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic, but after conferring with ownership groups MyRacehorse and Gainesway Farm that the Dirt Mile would...

Whatever Next? It's as big a question for the throwback gelding of that name as for his sire, both standing at an exciting crossroads in their respective careers. Next's domination of a niche division of the American Turf is now such that he may now try to adapt to a more competitive, mainstream discipline at the Breeders' Cup. But whether this switch concerns distance or surface, in the Classic or Turf respectively, nobody should be surprised if the gray proves equal to the challenge. For his sire Not This Time...

Peter Rotondo picked a good time to go to work for 1/ST Racing. The company's new Senior Vice President of Racing and Wagering joined a team who is ready to put on an extravaganza this weekend at Santa Anita. It's called the California Crown and consists of three races, the GII $750,000 John Henry Turf Cup, the Grade II $750,000 Eddie D. Stakes and the $1 million GI California Crown Stakes. Meant to be Santa Anita's version of the Pegasus World Cup, the day will also include entertainment meant for...

BENSALEM, PA -- Consider it a belated birthday present, Coach. Having turned 89 less than three weeks ago, the legendary Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas pulled yet another rabbit out of his hat, saddling GI Preakness Stakes hero Seize the Grey (Arrogate) to a victory in Saturday's GI Pennsylvania Derby, a result arguably more surprising than his off odds of 4.30-1 might suggest. The $300,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga purchase was only seventh to 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) in the GI Toyota Blue Grass Stakes in April,...