Keeneland

In a deal brokered by Matt Bowling of Bowling Bloodstock and J.P. Sullivan of Sullivan Bloodstock, GI Preakness winner Rombauer (by Twirling Candy), who stood his first season this year at War Horse Place in Lexington, Kentucky, will be shuttling to Chile, according to a press release from Bowling Bloodstock on Friday. The John Fradkin homebred broke his maiden at first asking at Del Mar during the summer of 2020 and was the runner-up in the GI American Pharoah Stakes at Santa Anita in late September. As a 3-year-old, Rombauer...

Godolphin newcomer Ruling Court (Justify--Inchargeofme {GB}, by High Chaparral {Ire}) caused a stir when knocked down for a sale-topping €2.3-million at Arqana's Breeze-up sale in May and made another huge splash with an imperious performance to earn a 'TDN Rising Star' rosette in Thursday's Martin Densham & Peter Deal Memorial British EBF Maiden Stakes at Sandown. The seven-furlong contest has earned its status as an important staging post with recent winners including Arabian Crown (Fr) (Dubawi {Ire}), Nostrum (GB) (Kingman {GB}) and Kameko (Kitten's Joy). Ruling Court becomes the ninth...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - In the fall of every year, Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse is out on the recruiting trail. He looks for the best four-legged athletes he can find. He goes to Lexington to seek out young talent. If Thursday's sixth race at Saratoga Race Course-- a $100,000 maiden special weight at 5 1/2 furlongs on the Mellon Turf--is any indication, coach Casse may have found a couple of  blue chippers at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Tracy Farmer's Abientot (Not This Time) finished strongly to...

5th-Ellis, $70,913, Msw, 7-7, 2yo, 1mT, 1:34.25, fm, 1/2 length. SING SING (c, 2, Tiz the Law--Galileo's Melody, by Galileo {Ire}), trying the turf and a mile for the first time, went wire-to-wire to graduate by a half-length at Ellis Park Sunday. The bay broke on top from the rail and took the field through fractions of :23.24 and :46.31. He opened up a clear lead at midstretch and held off the late-charging Giocoso (Not This Time) to become the third winner for GI Belmont Stakes victor Tiz the Law...

The outside-drawn gelding whose change-of-plans entry made it a foursome in Saturday's GIII Dwyer S. at Aqueduct has quite a bit going for him despite being ranked as the longest shot at 4-1 on the morning line. The cleverly and elegantly named Save the Trees (by Preservationist out of the Forestry mare Canopy Lane) sports a 2-for-2 record, an adversity-overcoming, off-the-pace style, and a $335,000 auction price that was third-highest at Keeneland's Apr. 26 Horses of Racing Age (HORA) sale conducted after the final race of the spring meet. That's...

Kingsbarns (Uncle Mo) had always shown potential, but making good on it had become a problem. After he won last year's GII Louisiana Derby to remain undefeated in three career starts, he struggled to duplicate that performance. He did win the GIII Ben Ali Stakes at Keeneland, but his record still lacked that all-important Grade I win. That's no longer a problem. Kingsbarns defeated a strong field to win the June 29 GI Stephen Foster Stakes at Churchill Downs. To discuss that win and other matters relating to Spendthrift Farm,...

The Fall stakes schedule at Keeneland Race Course will feature 22 added-money events worth a record $9.6 million over the course of its 17-day meet from Oct. 4-26, officials at the track announced Thursday. The track has added a total of $550,000 to the purses of four stakes. The GIII Bryan Station Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile on the turf will see its purse doubled from $300,000 to $600,000, while the GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup for sophomore fillies will be run for $750,000, up from $600,000. Two...

Needless to say, all four tried to reject their billing. Between them, after all, they have spent the better part of three centuries dealing with that vehicle of humility, the Thoroughbred. To everyone else present, however, the opportunity to tap into the experience of four such sages as Bill Landes, Frank Penn, Tom Thornbury and John Williams fully justified the Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers Club in promoting their latest meeting in Lexington as "An Evening with Legends." Each, moreover, could be consoled that one of the first tasks addressed--an acknowledgement...

George Bernard Shaw offered the pithy observation that, "England and America are two countries divided by a common language." The quote seems appropriate when viewed through the lens of a pilot program set up by the Organization of Racing Investigators (ORI). This week, ORI board members donned the famous finery--don't forget the millinery either--of the Royal Meeting at Ascot, but it wasn't all about one's garb. They were on hand to impart their own tradecraft to the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) and their investigators, while in turn soaking up English...

Among the dogs noisily bounding to inquire after your business at Dundrum Farm, one is really something special. Gordon, a big black schnauzer, lost his sight to blastomycosis a couple of years ago, but you would never know it: he scampers confidently along corridors, through doorways, even joins the reception committee outside. "Until he gets on the grass," Lesley Campion explains. "Then he knows that he only has one stride, and has to stop. But no, he's a genius, that dog." Certainly he couldn't exhibit a more certain sense of...

Tributes have been paid to Keeneland's longstanding and much-admired European representative Tim Preston, who died earlier this week aged 80 after an illness. He spent 23 years in his role with the Kentucky sales and racing company, starting in 1989 when it was still de rigueur for any major international bloodstock figure to be seen at the July yearling auction. His CV had previously included spells with a variety of trainers in Britain, a time as an amateur jockey (including a Cheltenham Festival ride), work at Greentree Stud in Kentucky...

Over the next fortnight, board members of the Organization of Racing Investigators (ORI) will participate in a new exchange program, which features an intensive tour of hallowed racing sites in Ireland and England. "The new program is a continued effort by the ORI to exchange tradecraft and weigh how integrity is protected in different countries across the world," said ORI's immediate past chairman Jason Klouser. The small group, which includes Klouser, Tyler Durand, J.C. Jaramillo, Juan Estrada and David Duncan, will make stops at The Curragh, Leopardstown and Coolmore. Fellow...