Gun Runner

5th-Gulfstream, $72,000, Alw (NW1$X), Opt. Clm ($25,000), 1-31, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16mT, 1:40.88, fm, 1 1/4 lengths. DELAHAYE (f, 4, Medaglia d'Oro--Bella Carina, by War Front) sat a no-cover trip three and four wide on her debut over this course last February, but jockey Javier Castellano lost the crop with judgment day approaching and the filly went down to a narrow defeat behind the future MSP Love Appeals (Speightstown). Away for 8 1/2 months thereafter, the $550,000 Keeneland September yearling raced more prominently in an Aqueduct maiden and shot clear...

Hall of Fame (c, 3, Gun Runner--Flag Day, by Giant's Causeway), a $1.4-million Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling purchase, ran to his lofty purchase price with a 'TDN Rising Star' performance for Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen at second asking at Fair Grounds Saturday. The 4-5 favorite was ridden early while passing the stands for the first time and secured a tracking trip in a joint second through a quarter mile in :23.30. He turned up the heat beneath Joel Rosario while racing on the inside of the leader heading into the...

Disarm (c, 4, Gun Runner--Easy Tap, by Tapit), sidelined since finishing a closing second behind Arcangelo (Arrogate) in the GI Travers S. at Saratoga Aug. 26, has returned to training with Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen at the Fair Grounds. A respectable fourth at 27-1 in the GI Kentucky Derby, last term's GIII Matt Winn S. winner and GII Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby runner-up exited his second-place finish in the Travers with bone bruising, per David Fiske, longtime advisor to owner/breeder Ron Winchell. "He was walking visibly off after the Travers,"...

1st-SA, $65K, Msw, 3yo, 6 1/2f, 3:30 p.m. A pair of pricey Bob Baffert stablemates make their anticipated debuts Saturday to open the card at Santa Anita. NORMANDY LANDING (Gun Runner), out of a daughter of MGISW and Kentucky Oaks heroine Flute (Seattle Slew), brought $1,050,000 from the 'Avengers' as a yearling at Keeneland. Dam Perfect Flute, who has already produced this runner's winning full-sibling, is herself a half to GSW/MGISP Filimbi (Mizzen Mast) and to the dams of GSW Current (Curlin) and GISW Weep No More (Mineshaft). He'll break...

Today we conclude our survey of Kentucky stallion options with a look at the apex of the pyramid, comprising a couple of dozen standing between $60,000 and $250,000--besides whatever it might take to secure your mare an audience with Justify. It feels presumptuous enough to offer counsel even on cheaper sires, when each mating should boil down to you finding an optimal fit for an individual mare that you know inside out. Still greater hesitation, then, must precede any attempt to discover "value" among this lot. No stallion has any...

Early Voting (Gun Runner), who got 120 mares in foal during his first season at stud last season before a rare condition led to his being removed from stud duties on the advice of veterinary experts, has been cured and will continue his stud career at Taylor Made Stallions in 2024. He covered his first book of mares in 2023 at Ashford Stud. Winner of the 2022 GI Preakness S. for Klaravich Stables and Chad Brown, Early Voting retired with three wins from six starts and earnings in excess of...

10th-GP, $89K, Msw, 3yo, f, 1mT, 4:34 p.m. ET. Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher has a pair of newly-minted 3-year-old fillies heading to the post for their debuts over the turf in the Sunday finale in Hallandale. First, EL MEGEETH (Constitution) makes her first start for Shadwell Stable. Bred by Three Chimneys, the $750,000 Keeneland September purchase is out of Amour d'Ete (Tiznow), who Borges Torrealba Holdings acquired as the third topper at the same sale back in 2013 for $1.75 million. Her most notable produce is GI Preakness...

5th-Oaklawn, $115,000, Msw, 12-31, 2yo, 1 1/16m, 1:45.96, ft, 5 3/4 lengths. IMPERIAL GUN (c, 2, Gun Runner--Take a Memo, by Empire Maker) made an emboldened move through traffic from the back of the pack to wind up fourth when debuted over course at a mile Dec. 9. Away cleaner for his second start, the 4-1 shot sat off the pace only briefly around the first turn before cruising up under his own power to hit the front as the half went in :47.83. Easily the best into the lane,...

By this stage, we can really talk about living in "the Into Mischief era." Not just because the Spendthrift phenomenon ends 2023 by sealing a fifth consecutive general sires' title, but also because he has become the definitive stallion of our times. In some respects, New Year's Day is a more literal turning point for our sport than other walks of life. For bureaucratic purposes, the weanlings of today become the short yearlings of tomorrow; and Into Mischief himself takes one step closer to veteran status, as he enters his...

Medoro's first stakes race looked eerily similar to her Del Mar debut Dec. 1 with both resulting in narrow, hard-closing wins. Stretching out from five furlongs to one mile Friday, the Peter Eutron trainee broke from an outside gate and was content to settle off the speed while kept wide and in the clear by Antonio Fresu. Racing in the back half of the field of nine, the 2-1 favorite began to make up ground into leader Chatalas and drew alongside that rival at the head of the lane. Unleashed...

Thoroughbred Charities of America will honor Greg Goodman with the Allaire du Pont Leadership Award and Central Kentucky Riding for Hope with the Ellen and Herb Moelis Industry Service Award at the 34th Annual Stallion Season Live Auction and Celebration presented by Mt. Brilliant Family Foundation on Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024, at Harper Hall in Lexington, Ky. The Allaire du Pont Leadership Award is presented annually to an organization or individual whose philanthropic endeavors are consistent with TCA's mission. Greg Goodman, a native of Houston, Texas, has been involved in...

Last year's Eclipse Champion 3-Year-Old Epicenter is the first stallion that Coolmore's Ashford Stud has stood for Winchell Thoroughbreds and the partnership got off to a blazing start as the son of Not This Time was one of the most popular stallions in Kentucky this year, covering 262 mares in his debut season. Now, Coolmore has teamed up with the same racing and breeding operation to debut another Grade I-winning stallion--this time a homebred son of Winchell's own Gun Runner. Gunite, who claimed the GI Hopeful S. as a juvenile...