Messier

Aug. 1 Insights: Pricey Candy Ride Filly Unveiled at Ellis

5th-ELP, $70k, Msw, 2, f, 5 1/2fT, 2:45p.m. ET Unveiled on a Tuesday, CANDY LANDY (Candy Ride {Arg}) will go to post for conditioner George Arnold not only carrying Martin Garcia but also the hopes that come with a $500,000 FTSAUG price tag. The bay has been seen religiously on Churchill Downs's work tab and has been given 6-1 odds on the morning line. The half-sister to MGSW & GISP Messier (Empire Maker), who was last seen finishing fourth in the GII San Pasqual S., will take on a field...

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Keeneland Catalogs 80 Horses For April Sale

MGSW 'TDN Rising Star' Cazadero (Street Sense), GISW Doppelganger (Into Mischief) and MGSW Messier (Empire Maker) can be found in the catalog for Keeneland's April Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale, to be held Sunday, Apr. 30 at 4 p.m. ET. The sale will be live-streamed on their website, Keeneland said in a Friday release. "The April Sale will take place at a key time, two days after Keeneland's Spring Meet and at the start of Kentucky Derby week, when the energy and excitement for Thoroughbred racing are at a...

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CDI Argues Court Win By Baffert Would Harm Other Derby Qualifiers

The gaming corporation that controls the GI Kentucky Derby fired the latest legal salvo in trainer Bob Baffert's ongoing attempt to reverse the second year of a two-year ban the company imposed in 2021 because of a spate of drug positives in Grade I races, urging a federal judge not to grant an injunction that would lift the ban in time for the May 6 Derby. "Baffert refuses to accept responsibility for his wrongful actions..." Churchill Downs Inc. (CDI) wrote in a brief opposing Baffert's motion for a preliminary injunction...

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Saturday Insights: Baffert Unveils $2.3M Arabian Knight, The Return Of Messier, And More On Breeders' Cup Undercard

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency                               1st-KEE, $150K, Msw, 2yo, 7f, 10:30 a.m. After working an eighth of a mile in a blazing :9 4/5, ARABIAN KNIGHT (Uncle Mo) achieved a final bid of a sale-topping $2.3 million from Zedan Racing Stables at this year's OBS April Sale after fetching $250,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale. The first foal out of a half-sister to MGSP Kinsley Kisses (Congrats), the bay posted a trio of speedy works...

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Rich Strike 'Looking Great' After Derby Shocker

RED TR-Racing's Rich Strike (Keen Ice) left Churchill Downs around 9:30 a.m. ET Sunday to head back to his main base at trainer Eric Reed's Mercury Equine Center in Lexington as a GI Kentucky Derby winner. "I couldn't sleep last night," Reed said after achieving his first Grade I victory and second graded victory in a career that began in 1985. "At four this morning I was wondering if this was real or if it was a dream. I got home and my kids and their friends were there with...

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Derby and Oaks Workers Active on Both Coasts

A trio of GI Kentucky Derby contenders put in their final works ahead of next weekend's Run for the Roses. The only one of the three to work at Churchill Downs was GI Toyota Blue Grass S. winner Zandon (Upstart). Working on his own at 7:30 a.m. over a fast track with regular morning partner Kriss Bon aboard, the Chad Brown pupil completed the five furlongs in 1:00.40 (7/43). Churchill Downs clockers caught Zandon in fractions of :12.80, :25, :36.80, 1:00.40 and out in 1:12.80 and 1:26.40. "I just didn't...

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Tuesday Insights: Well-Related Goldencents Firster Right To the Races

3rd-Parx, $42K, Msw, 2yo, 2f, post time: 1:49 p.m. ET Less than six weeks after selling to owner Richard Malouf for $100,000 at the OBS March Sale, FERRARI KID (Goldencents) looks to recoup some of that investment in the first race of the season for the 2-year-old males. A :21 1/5 breezer in Central Florida during his Mar. 11 under-tack preview, the bay son of Catch the Flag (A.P. Indy) is a half-brother to SW Checkered Past (Smart Strike), whose 'TDN Rising Star' MGSW/GISP son Messier (Empire Maker) is set...

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Taiba Tops Former Baffert Trainee Exacta in Santa Anita Derby
Taiba Tops Former Baffert Trainee Exacta in Santa Anita Derby

Saturday's GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby was billed mainly as a match-up of back-to-back Grade II winner Forbidden Kingdom (American Pharoah) and 15-length GIII Robert B. Lewis S. romper and 'TDN Rising Star' Messier (Empire Maker), but the former dropped out of it in the lane after setting the pace, and $1.7-million FTFMAR buy Taiba (Gun Runner) ran by fellow Tim Yakteen trainee Messier to post the 4-1 upset and stamp his ticket to the GI Kentucky Derby. Having earned 'Rising Star' status himself and a gaudy 103 Beyer Speed...

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Best of the West To Be Decided in Santa Anita Derby

Barring something unforeseen, they are both headed to Louisville in a month's time, but Saturday's GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby will make either Messier (Empire Maker) or Forbidden Kingdom (American Pharoah) the left coast's best chance at GI Kentucky Derby glory when they go head-to-head for the second time Saturday afternoon. Named a 'TDN Rising Star' when graduating by a space at second asking over a six-furlong trip that was always bound to be sharp, Messier easily handled Forbidden Kingdom in Del Mar's GIII Bob Hope S. over seven furlongs...

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This Side Up: A Wrong Turn Onto the Right Road

They call it "pilot error." It's just that you have all the correction of perspective, right there, that anyone could possibly require. If a jockey makes a mistake, the consequences obviously tend to be a good deal less drastic than for a guy flying a plane. Besides, I have never liked the kind of blame culture that unites handicappers and horsemen in casting jockeys as the villains of their woulda-coulda-shoulda world. To be fair, perhaps that's rather more common in my native environment, racing on turf in Europe, where the...

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Best of the West To Be Decided in Santa Anita Derby

Barring something unforeseen, they are both headed to Louisville in a month's time, but Saturday's GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby will make either Messier (Empire Maker) or Forbidden Kingdom (American Pharoah) the left coast's best chance at GI Kentucky Derby glory when they go head-to-head for the second time Saturday afternoon. Named a 'TDN Rising Star' when graduating by a space at second asking over a six-furlong trip that was always bound to be sharp, Messier easily handled Forbidden Kingdom in Del Mar's GIII Bob Hope S. over seven furlongs...

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Baffert's Ownership Group Clarifies Move of Horses

SF Bloodstock's Tom Ryan, representing the ownership group which moved four top three-year-olds to other barns last week, posted a statement on Twitter Friday night clarifying the impetus of the move. "In light of recent commentary, our ownership group wishes to clear up a couple of misconceptions that have arisen about the transfer of our potential Derby horses to Rodolphe Brisset and Tim Yakteen," Ryan wrote. "The owners alone made this decision, and they did so in order to give the horses the opportunity they deserve to compete in this...

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