Ken and Sarah Ramsey

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - In his second career start Saturday, General Partner (Speightstown) was really ready for prime time at Saratoga Race Course. While it wasn't exactly a led-from-gate-to-wire performance, General Partner was in front quickly under Manny Franco. He was never seriously challenged and won the seven-furlong maiden special weight race for 2-year-olds a solid four lengths in front of the favorite Dive Bomber (Omaha Beach). Klaravich Stables's chestnut colt reached the wire in 1:22.33. General Partner debuted for trainer Chad Brown at six furlongs on July 22 and...

A filly by Bucchero (hip 999) became the first of the week to work a furlong in :9 3/5, while a colt by Vino Rosso (hip 1072) turned in the day's fastest quarter-mile breeze of :20 4/5 during the final session of the under-tack show for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's June Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training Saturday in Ocala. Consigned by Britton Peak, hip 999 is out of stakes-placed Imperial Strike (Imperialism). The filly was bred in Florida by Wendy Lee Christ. Hip 1072, a supplement to the original...

Juddmonte homebred Westover (GB)'s seven-length thumping of the G1 Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby field last month was the second consecutive Irish Derby victory by a son of Frankel (GB) after Hurricane Lane (Ire) in 2021, but his achievement was also a timely reminder of the potency of his late broodmare sire Lear Fan. Born in 1981, the dark bay has also featured as the broodmare sire of another prominent Sadler's Wells-line runner, the two-time U.S. Champion Sire Kitten's Joy (El Prado {Ire}), who died at Hill 'n' Dale Farm...

Kitten's Joy (El Prado {Ire}--Kitten's First, by Lear Fan), twice the leading general sire in the United States and a perennial top-five turf sire, passed away from an apparent heart attack July 15 in his paddock at Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, where he'd served mares since 2018. He entered stud in 2006 at his owners' Ken and Sarah Ramsey's Ramsey Farm. The blaze-faced chestnut was nearly sold, but was ultimately retained by the Ramseys after bidding stalled out at $95,000 at the 2003 OBS April Sale, and it proved...

All-sources wagering on Churchill Downs' abbreviated 27-date Spring Meet totaled $240.5 million, which was a 53.3% increase from the 32 days of racing that followed last year's Kentucky Derby. Additionally, the average daily handle was up 81.7% from $4.9 million one year ago to $8.9 million this season. Shortened to seven weeks from May 16-June 28, the 2020 meet was staged under strict government-sanctioned protocols and without spectators because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This season, Churchill Downs experienced four of the track's six largest non-Derby, Oaks or Breeders' Cup betting...

Ken and Sarah Ramsey's International Star (Fusaichi Pegasus--Parlez, by French Deputy) has relocated to Haras Porta Pia stud in Chile for stallion duties, in a deal brokered by Sullivan Bloodstock of Chile and Jim Perry Bloodstock of Lexington. A winner six times in 19 career starts for earnings of $1,247,529, International Star carried the Ramsey silks to victory in all three of Fair Grounds's GI Kentucky Derby preps--the GI Louisiana Derby, GII Risen Star S. and GIII Lecomte S.--in 2015. He added another stakes win the following year and placed...

Todd Pletcher, who had a string of 15 straight titles ended last year, returned to the top of the Gulfstream Park trainer's standings when the Championship Meet concluded in Hallandale Sunday. Pletcher finished with a seven-win cushion over Mike Maker, 48-41. "We had a good run, missed it last year, but happy to get it back this year. I'm proud of the whole team. They did a great job," Pletcher said. "We were able to have a lot of maiden winners so, hopefully, we can continue to develop some of...