Haskell

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - A final decision on whether or not 'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) will run against the boys in the $1.25 million GI Travers Stakes will be made on Saturday. That's the deadline trainer Kenny McPeek put on himself Sunday morning, the day after his 3-year-old filly dominated the GI Coaching Club American Oaks, winning by 4 1/2 lengths. "We are going to take the week, get her back on the track Wednesday, and I will make a decision Saturday," McPeek said, sitting in his...

It was announced during the telecast of the GI Haskell Stakes that Dornoch (Good Magic) will stand at stud at Spendthrift Farm. Spendthrift General Manager Ned Toffey addresses another big move by his team. TDN: What is it about Dornoch that makes him a good stallion candidate? NT: He's obviously got a great pedigree and he's a very talented horse. We always thought he was a really talented horse. They tried to rate him in the Blue Grass and he got wiped out from the one hole in the Derby....

'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) breezed a solo four furlongs Sunday in :49.73 over the Oklahoma training track for trainer Chad Brown in his final work before Saturday's GII Jim Dandy Stakes. NYRA clockers noted an opening quarter-mile in :25.25 and a gallop out in 1:02.68, 1:14.93 and 1:28.92. "He did super. He's in a nice rhythm," said Brown. "He's been working solo on the training track - I'm liking it. He galloped out with good energy. That's just what I'm looking for six days out." Sierra Leone...

Dornoch (Good Magic) didn't get much respect heading into the GI Belmont Stakes, and his bandwagon wasn't exactly overburdened with supporters after his 17-1 victory over 'TDN Rising Star' Mindframe (Constitution), either. On Saturday at Monmouth Park, bettors let the winner of the third leg of the Triple Crown go as the tepid 3.4-1 third choice in the seven-horse GI Haskell Stakes, believing with 4-5 certainty that a now-more-experienced Mindframe wouldn't, for a second straight race, allow Dornoch to claw back the lead in deep stretch like he did six...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Pressure? What pressure. There was none of that over at trainer Kenny McPeek's barn at the Oklahoma Annex Friday morning. Even though the stable star--the imposing, impressive and almost undefeated 3-year-old filly Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna)--is running on Saturday, no one on McPeek's staff was sweating bullets. Thorpedo Anna is the 1-2 morning-line favorite in the $500,000 GI Coaching Club American Oaks at 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga Race Course. She has won five of six career starts and has won all three of her races...

Trainer Todd Pletcher checks in from Saratoga to join this week's TDN Writers' Room. He discussed some of his top 3-year-old colts, including those running in the GI Haskell this weekend, and even gave out a few 2-year-old tips for the betters.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--Last summer, we hardly knew Kentucky-based trainer Al Stall Jr. During the 40 days of the 2023 Saratoga meet, Stall came up with one win in 12 starts. It's a little different a year later. Four days into the Spa season and Stall has started three horses. He has won with two of them and finished second with the third. "This pays the bar tab and the food tab," Stall said inside his office at his barn on the Saratoga backstretch Sunday morning. "We have to start working...

There were three different winners of the Triple Crown races and the four Grade I preps leading up to the GI Kentucky Derby were won by still four other horses. That means that as the second half of the 3-year-old season starts in earnest with the July 20 GI Haskell Stakes at Monmouth, the race for the 3-year-old championship is as wide open as possible. Danny Gargan, the trainer of GI Belmont Stakes winner Dornoch (Good Magic), knows that. But Gargan, who has never lacked confidence in his 3-year-old colt,...

Champion 2-year-old colt and 'TDN Rising Star' Fierceness (City of Light) worked a half-mile in :51 flat Friday for trainer Todd Pletcher over the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga in preparation for a start in the GI NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes July 20 at Monmouth Park. Joining the GI Curlin Florida Derby winner on the work tab Friday was Repole Stable and St. Elias Stables recent GII Suburban Stakes winner Crupi (Curlin), who covered a half-mile in :52.85 in company with Talk of the Nation (Quality Road). "Both works were...

7th-Churchill Downs, $138,210, Alw (NW3$X)/Opt. Clm ($100,000), 5-30, 3yo/up, 7f, 1:21.54, ft, 3 1/2 lengths. EXTRA ANEJO (c, 4, Into Mischief--Superioritycomplex {Ire}, by Hard Spun), unseen since a well-beaten fourth in last year's GI Haskell S., returned to the races with authority Thursday night for trainer Steve Asmussen and Winchell Thoroughbreds. Dubbed a 'TDN Rising Star' first out, the $1.35m Keeneland September yearling buy won two of his first three, yielding the win only once behind another Grade I-runner in Federal Judge (Constitution) in his 3-year-old unveiling at Churchill last...

GI Haskell S. winner and GI Breeders' Cup Classic contender Geaux Rocket Ride (Candy Ride {Arg}--Beyond Grace, by Uncle Mo), who was pulled up with an open condylar fracture earlier this week in routine morning work at Santa Anita, has been euthanized, his connections announced Wednesday afternoon. He had undergone successful surgery Sunday evening, but did not recover as well as hoped, owner Pin Oak Stud had originally said in a Monday update. Pin Oak gave a final update on X, formerly known as Twitter, late Wednesday, saying, "Our hearts...

GI Breeders' Cup Classic contender Geaux Rocket Ride (Candy Ride {Arg}) was pulled up during a routine morning work Saturday at Santa Anita. He was vanned off after being helped into the ambulance. The GI Haskell S. winner was breezing into the stretch under veteran jockey Mike Smith when the incident occurred. An update from the Breeders' Cup read: "Geaux Rocket Ride sustained an open condylar fracture with intersesmoidian ligament damage to his right front leg during a workout this morning under Mike Smith, who was uninjured, dismounted, and tended...