Lookin At Lucky

In How To Talk To Customers, co-author Tom Larkin wrote that the key in business relationships was to "Make A Great Impression on the Customer"--known by his signature acronym M-A-G-I-C. "Results matter, and so does the process used to get those results," the Preface pithily preached. According to those that knew him best, Larkin built a successful consulting company which focused on the development and enhancement of a business's number one concern, outreach. He traveled the world giving dynamic presentations on what has become the lost art of customer service....

Amerman homebred Test Score (c, 3, Lookin At Lucky--Joy of Learning, by Kitten's Joy), second to Zulu Kingdom (Ire) (Ten Sovereigns {Ire}) in the GI American Turf Stakes at Churchill Downs May 3, got his own Grade I day in the sun Friday, winning Saratoga's $750,000 Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes in convincing style. For his part, Zulu Kingdom won the GIII Manila Stakes at the Spa one race prior to Test Score's Belmont Derby win. The Amermans won the Belmont Derby for the second consecutive year---they had Trikari (Oscar Performance)...

In the first race of the Keeneland meet to stay on the grass after torrential rains throughout Kentucky, Amerman homebred Test Score (c, 3, Lookin At Lucky--Joy of Learning, by Kitten's Joy) captured Monday's rescheduled $600,000 GIII Transylvania Stakes and gave rider Manny Franco two consecutive black-type victories on the day after winning the Lafayette Stakes one race prior with 'TDN Rising Star' Colloquial (Vekoma). Test Score broke forwardly in the Transylvania, settling into an unbothered fifth on the outside as three-straight stakes winner Mi Bago (Vekoma) showed the way...

There were plenty of presents under John Stewart's Christmas Tree this week, including two Group I winners from South America and an Australian pedigree research site, pedigreees360.com. that he has purchased. The Argentine purchase is Pulp Fiction (Arg) (Daddy Long Legs), a 3-year-old filly. Pulp Fiction has raced just four times but one of the wins came in the G1 Polla de Potrancas. She was also third in the G3 Manuel J. Guiraldes S. From Chile, Stewart's Resolute Racing has acquired another 3-year-old filly in Dona Clota (Chi) (Delfa ({Chi})....

GSW/MGISP Breaking Lucky (Lookin At Lucky) was euthanized Saturday, Aug. 3 due to complications from colic at the age of 12 according to a release by Blue Star Racing who stood the stallion in Louisiana. Through a five-year stallion career in both Florida and Louisiana, he was the leading second crop sire by winners in Louisiana and the southwest region. "Our entire family is heartbroken," said Blue Star Racing's Dex Comardelle. "Lucky was such a loved member of our family and local community. We are still trying to process that...

In a tour de force befitting the excitement of opening weekend at Keeneland, Denim and Pearls (Into Mischief) all but ran off the screen en route to her career-first Graded victory in the GII Middleground Capital Beaumont S. A winner by a nose at this venue on first asking Oct. 21, she parlayed that effort into a 3 1/2-length score at Churchill Downs in November against allowance optional claiming company. From there, her connections asked a bit more of their developing star when she moved to Oaklawn Park and tried...

Two turns? It turns out there's no problem. When Timberlake (c, 3, Into Mischief--Pin Up {Ire}, by Lookin At Lucky) finished a somewhat rank, then flat, fourth in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile last November, questions swirled about his ability to get two turns. Trainer Brad Cox brushed the questions aside and let the horse do the talking. A freshened Timberlake, making his first start of the year in Oaklawn's GII Rebel S. Saturday, captured the $1.3-million race by a resounding two lengths over Kenny McPeek trainees Common Defense (Karakontie...

When considering the speculative nature of America's financial future, President Harry S. Truman famously exhorted his aides to bring him a one-handed economist. "All of my economists say 'on the one hand'..., then 'but on the other hand'...," the plain-talking Missourian from Independence famously quipped. To put it another way, convictions matter, not the pros and cons. You are either in or you're not. Horse racing, or more specifically preparing for the 150th Kentucky Derby is no different. It's about possessing sterner stuff. Another Harry Truman, Harry Truman Rosenblum that...

8th-GP, $89K, Msw, 3yo, f, 1mT, 3:37 p.m. ET. Rich Shermerhorn, a real estate developer and Upstate New York neighbor of trainer Chad Brown, began buying racehorses two years ago. He purchased BORED NO MORE (Quality Road) for $700,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale, which was the 10th highest yearling sold by that sire in 2022. The Brown trainee counts G3 UAE Oaks victress Nomorerichblondes (Hard Spun) as a half-sister, while dam SP Miss Luann (Unbridled's Song) is a full-sister to Catch My Eye, who is responsible for GI Gamely...

In this continuing series, Alan Carasso takes a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Tokyo Racecourse: Saturday, January 27, 2024 4th-TOK, ¥14,880,000 ($101k), Allowance, 3yo, 1600m SONIC STAR (c, 3, Into Mischief--Carolina Bertie, by Speightstown), a $300,000 Keeneland September purchase by Katsumi Yoshida, was a handy winner of his 1800-meter debut at Hanshin...

1st-GP, $70K, Msw, 2yo, 7f, 12:10 p.m. A pair of Todd Pletcher trainees headlines the action Saturday for Gulfstream's Pegasus Preview Day led by $700,000 2-year-old BAIL US OUT (Lookin At Lucky). Picked up at OBSAPR by Repole Stable off a breeze in :10 flat, the bay is a son of a stakes-winning dam from the family of MGSW/MGISP Topicount (Private Account). Bail Us Out will break from the inside under Jose Ortiz. Stablemate Born Noble (Constitution), himself a $725,000 KEESEP yearling for St. Elias Stable and West Point Thoroughbreds,...

Today we'll consider some of the sires standing between $10,001 and $19,999. For a long time, I called this the Lookin At Lucky zone. But don't worry, we won't be deploring his neglect yet again: he's staying in Chile, where they evidently appreciate him rather more. Plenty of horses in this bracket have recently relinquished their brief window of commercial opportunity, and are now hanging around to discover whether they might join the very small group whose first runners generate a fresh vogue. Even with the newcomers out of the...