GI Woody Stephens S.

7th-Colonial Downs, $100,000, (R), Hcp, 3-14, 4yo/up, 7f, 1:20.03, ft, 2 1/2 lengths. BOOK'EM DANNO (g, 4, Bucchero--Adorabella, by Ghostzapper) was clearly the showstopper here as the field scratched down to just three from 11 horses, and he made his 2025 bow a winning one. Last seen running fifth in a salty GII Cigar Mile Handicap Dec. 7, he'd been winless since claiming the Listed Jersey Shore Stakes by a nose in mid-July at Monmouth Park. He'd hit the board in the GIII Perryville and GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial...

MSW Determined Kingdom (Animal Kingdom) captured the title of Virginia-bred Horse of the Year and will be recognized--along with other 2024 award winners--during Virginia Derby Day festivities at Colonial Downs Mar. 15, the track said in a Thursday press release. A series of award presentations will take place between various races from the paddock infield that day and broadcast over the simulcast feed. Determined Kingdom's year was marked with his third straight win in the Punch Line Stakes at Colonial last July. The 6-year-old was also rewarded as the Virginia-bred...

McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds has added Provocateur (by Into Mischief) for the 2025 breeding season with a stud fee set at $5,000 LFSN, according to a press release from the New York stallion farm on Wednesday. The 5-year-old will stand alongside three-time leading New York sire Central Banker and nationally ranked second crop sire Solomini. The farm will hold their annual holiday stallion show on Saturday, Dec. 14 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET., and all three stallions will be available for inspection. Bred by Kingswood Farm and David...

After entering stable star Book'em Danno (Bucchero) in both Friday's Robert Hilton Memorial at Charles Town and Saturday's GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S., trainer Derek Ryan confirmed Wednesday that his New Jersey-bred gelding will go in the Saratoga race. Both races are restricted to three-year-olds, have purses of $500,000 and will be run at the distance of seven furlongs. "We're going to Saratoga," Ryan said from his base at Monmouth Park. "He got a good post (post 8). At Charles Town, he got a bad post (post 2) and...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- In his 35 years as a horse trainer, Brett Creighton has never once entered a horse in a Grade I race. There's a reason for that. "I just never had the opportunity I guess," the 62-year-old Creighton said in a matter-of-fact way through an easy Arkansas drawl as he stood on the backstretch at Saratoga Race Course. That all changes on Saturday when Creighton saddles Frost Free (Frosted), the best horse he's ever had, in the GI Woody Stephens S. at Saratoga, part of the blockbuster...

It appears that Imagination (Into Mischief) is going to get another trip east. The 3-year-old colt, last seen finishing seventh in the eight-horse GI Preakness S., may be part of a three-horse contingent that Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert is sending to the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course June 6-9. Imagination and fellow 3-year-old Prince of Monaco (Speightstown), who was last seen finishing fifth in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita in November, are being pointed to the seven-furlong GI Woody Stephens S. Baffert...

GI Woody Stephens S. hero Hog Creek Hustle (Overanalyze) was relocated to War Horse Place for the 2024 breeding season where the 7-year-old will stand for $5,000 LFSN, the farm said in a release Friday. Joining recent arrival GI Preakness S. champ Rombauer (Twirling Candy), Hog Creek Hustle was campaigned by Something Special Racing and trained by Vickie Foley. Retired in 2021, he earned $774,546 over the course of his racing career which spanned 24 starts with 13 in-the-money finishes and included a thrilling runner-up effort to MGISW Mind Control...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Unbeaten and hardly challenged so far through four starts, New York Thunder (Nyquist) will not be an unknown Saturday in his second visit this summer to Saratoga Race Course. New York Thunder made a grand entry on the big stage at the Spa on July 28 with a resounding victory in the GII Amsterdam S. Sent off at 11-2 in his first race on dirt, he rolled to a 7 1/2-length score under jockey Tyler Gaffalione. Though he was eased up in the stretch when the...

Both 'TDN Rising Star' Arabian Lion (Justify), winner of the GI Woody Stephens S. and National Treasure (Quality Road), the GI Preakness winner who faded to sixth after setting the pace in the GI Belmont S., were back at Santa Anita and doing well after competing on last Saturday's Belmont Stakes card at Belmont Park according to trainer Bob Baffert. Prospective next starts have not been named for either runner.

Drain the Clock (Maclean's Music-Manki, by Arch), a G1-winning sprinter will enter stud at Gainesway for the 2023 breeding season, the farm announced Oct. 21. The 4-year-old broke his maiden by six lengths as a juvenile at Gulfstream Park and won four of his first five starts going into his 3-year-old season, culminating with a 6 1/4-length score in the GIII Swale S. He also added a victory in the GIII Bay Shore S. before defeating Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) in the GI Woody Stephens S. at Belmont Park. Drain...