Hit Show

1st-KEE, $100K, Msw, 3yo/up, 6f, 1:00 p.m. A Gary and Mary West homebred, HOLLYWOOD ENDING (Curlin) makes the races Friday for trainer Brad Cox. The colt is the fifth foal out of Canadian champion 3-year-old filly Milwaukee Appeal making him a half-brother to MGSW Actress (Tapit), herself the dam of GIII Withers S. winner Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}). On a steady work tab at both Turfway Park and, more recently, Churchill Downs, Hollywood Ending comes in with a good foundation and picks up Flavien Prat for his debut. TJCIS...

Equine or human, history is always about the six degrees of someone in racing's world. For instance, at 100-1 Jim Dandy beat Triple Crown champion Gallant Fox in the 1930 edition of the Travers S., which only featured four entries total. The horse who set up the longshot by engaging in a speed duel with the favorite over the mud was Whichone, a colt owned by Harry Payne Whitney (yes, that important family). And what other Thoroughbred did Whitney own? Well, that would be Upset, who did just that, when...

GSWs Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}) and Angel of Empire (Classic Empire) breezed five furlongs in company over Saratoga's Oklahoma dirt training track Saturday as both horses prepare for the July 29 GII Jim Dandy S. at the Spa. Under clear skies and temperatures in the mid-60s, the Brad Cox-trained pair stepped onto the fast track right at 5:30 a.m. with Flavien Prat aboard Angel of Empire and Luis Saez on Hit Show. The two walked in tandem midway up the stretch before turning back around to assume their starting...

2nd-Saratoga, $105,000, Msw, 7-14, 3yo/up, 1 1/8m, 1:49.71, gd, 6 3/4 lengths. DREAMLIKE (c, 3, Gun Runner--Time to Tap, by Tapit) began his career Feb. 11 in Hallendale, where he finished second in a mile maiden contest and in a 1 1/16-mile Mar. 11 main track race before shipping north Apr. 8 to Aqueduct to try his hand in the GII Wood Memorial S. Third in that Derby-qualifier with a blanket finish separating him from winner GSW Lord Miles (Curlin) and runner-up GSW Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}), he was...

Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}) can make some noise at what has to be a terrific price in Saturday's GI Belmont S. He continues to improve with each of his six career starts for trainer Brad Cox, and was a bit unlucky in his last two tries. The handsome gray came up just a nose short with a wide trip after bouncing off rivals down the stretch in the GII Wood Memorial S., then was a respectable fifth after racing too close to a scorching pace in the GI Kentucky...

The GI Belmont S. entrants are listed in "likeliest winner" order. 1) NATIONAL TREASURE (c, Quality Road--Treasure, by Medaglia d'Oro) O-SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Robert E. Masterson, Stonestreet Stables LLC, Jay A. Schoenfarber, Waves Edge Capital LLC and Catherine Donovan; B-Peter E. Blum Thoroughbreds, LLC (KY); T-Bob Baffert. Sales history: $500,000 ylg '21 FTSAUG. Lifetime Record: GISW, 6-2-1-2, $1,335,000. Last Start: 1st GI Preakness S. at Pimlico May 20. National Treasure drew post one, added blinkers, and looked on paper to be the controlling speed in...

With one week out until the GI Belmont S., a trio of Brad Cox trainees put in their final works ahead of the last leg of the Triple Crown on Saturday at Churchill Downs. Angel of Empire (Classic Empire), Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}) and Tapit Shoes (Tapit) each put in five-furlong works while a handful of additional Cox stable stars completed their final tune-ups in preparation for bids in a jam-packed Belmont undercard. The Churchill Downs-based Cox contingent is set to head to Belmont Park on Monday. Angel of...

Trainer Brad Cox has added a third GI Belmont S. contender to his lineup with Tapit Shoes, a stakes-placed son of Tapit who was last seen running second to Red Route One (Gun Runner) in the Bath House Row S. at Oaklawn Park on April 22. "He's a pretty consistent workhorse, steady, and always gallops out well," Cox said Thursday morning at Churchill Downs. "He gives us some confidence that he could like the mile and a half." Owned in partnership by Spendthrift Farm, Steve Landers Racing, Martin Schwartz, Michael...

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher gave a "thumbs up" following a Saturday morning breeze from Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's reigning champion 2-Year-Old Forte (Violence), who worked five-eighths over the Belmont Park main track in preparation for the GI Belmont S. NYRA clockers caught Forte through three-eighths in :35 before completing five furlongs in 1:00.44 and galloping out six furlongs in 1:13 over the fast main track. "I was really, really happy. I thought he was moving great. He got into a good rhythm, finished up great and...

The prospective field for the GI Belmont S. picked up a pair of top contenders Monday when trainer Brad Cox confirmed that he is pointing Angel of Empire (Classic Empire) and Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}) to the final leg of the Triple Crown. Neither has run since the GI Kentucky Derby, where Angel of Empire, the favorite in the race, finished third and Hit Show was fifth. "They both had their first works back after the Derby on Sunday and we're getting them ready to go for the Belmont,"...

Sunday morning's work tab at Churchill Downs featured a trio of trainer Brad Cox's GI Kentucky Derby runners who recorded their first breezes since running on the first Saturday in May. At 5:30 a.m., third-place finisher Angel of Empire (Classic Empire) recorded a half-mile move in :49. The colt, owned by Albaugh Family Stables, is possible to run in the GI Belmont S. June 10. Shortly after, Verifying (Justify), who finished 16th in the Derby, worked a half-mile in :49.60. At 7:45 a.m., Gary and Mary West's Hit Show (Candy...

This week's Triple Crown feature examines the trips of GI Kentucky Derby runners in detail from first to last: 1) Mage (No. 12 in TDN pre-race rankings) Mage, the little horse who could, was a characteristic beat slow out of the starting gate. Javier Castellano let him roll with the flow as the field sorted itself out through the first furlong, then darted to secure the rail while fourth-last the first time under the wire. Unhurried through the turn, this son of Good Magic ($235,000 KEESEP; $290,000 EASMAY) raced several...