Mr Speaker

There were 13 graded stakes races run in North America Saturday and the combination of Bob Baffert, Chad Brown, Steve Asmussen, Brad Cox and Mark Casse won eight of them. That's three Hall of Famers and two future Hall of Famers. Not that any of this should come as a surprise. The so-called super trainer stables seem to only be getting bigger and more powerful by the day, leaving everyone else to fight over the leftover scraps. So what chance did Jason Cook have in the GII John A. Nerud...

Speaking Scout came running late to upset the GI Hollywood Derby Saturday at Del Mar. Cold on the board at 8-1, the gelding broke well from the 10-hole, but was content to race near the back as longshot Evan Harlan (Temple City) carved out opening splits of :24.51 and :49.86. Asked for more approaching the far turn, the bay launched a powerful four-wide rally in the lane, forging clear late to score. Spycatcher held second over Wit. Fourth in both the GIII Kent S. and Bald Eagle Derby this summer,...

Deciding Vote (Mr Speaker) clinched the MATCH championship with a win in the off-the-turf Salvatore M. Debunda PTHA President's Cup S. at Parx Monday. The result landed her the overall MATCH Series championship for 2022 with 38 points. "This means a lot to Mr. and Mrs. Pape and it means a lot to me," said trainer Edward Graham, who is based at Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland. "We were so close to the series final and we all said, 'Let's give it a go,' and if she doesn't handle...

Grade I winner Mr Speaker (Pulpit--Salute, by Unbridled) has been purchased by Lori and Mark Collinsworth and will be relocating to their Forks of the Paluxy Farm in Bluff Dale, Texas for the 2022 Breeding Season. He will stand for $5,000. "We are thrilled to have the opportunity to stand a horse of Mr Speaker's caliber in Texas," said Mark Collinsworth. "He was a very talented racehorse, and he is off to a great start in his stallion career with a number of stakes horses already to his credit. With...

Eclipse Thoroughbreds, Madaket Stables and Heider Family Stables' Speech (Mr Speaker) looks to reproduce the form that landed her last summer's GI Central Bank Ashland S. in Friday's GIII Baird Doubledogdare S. at Keeneland. Promoted a position to third after the disqualification of Gamine in the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks in September, the Mike McCarthy trainee tired to sixth in the seven-furlong GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at the Lexington oval Nov. 7. Javier Castellano, who was aboard the Florida-bred for two of her three lifetime wins, gets...

This is the second half of the latest instalment in our ongoing series examining stallion options for the new breeding season, featuring sires about to launch their third crop of juveniles. The first part, dealing with the likes of American Pharoah and Constitution, can be read here.  We wrapped up yesterday with the first two of three horses retired to Lane's End after filling the frame in an epic race for the GI Whitney S. in 2015. The third, Tonalist (Tapit--Settling Mist, by Pleasant Colony), has somehow always seemed to...

If anything, you would think it the very last thing that might appeal to one who has spent decades acquainting himself, at viscerally close quarters, with all the things that can go wrong with a Thoroughbred. Yet here he is, sharing the same vicissitudes as those clients for whom--weighing the ups and downs of their trade--his veterinary skills so long served as a vital fulcrum. As one of the original partners of the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, Dr. Scott Pierce could scarcely have gone into breeding with fewer illusions....

For Gail Rice, the way luck and judgement play out with Thoroughbreds is sooner a matter of faith than mere fate. "God tries to make you make the right decisions," she declares. But then she gives a delighted, self-deprecating laugh and adds: "Apparently for once I listened properly!" Yes she did. Because you would have had to strain your ears pretty hard to catch the hint, the time Rice saw a young New York-bred mare by Freud in the back ring at the 2015 Fasig-Tipton February Sale. Scribbling Sarah had...

Speech (Mr Speaker) became her young sire's first Grade I winner and earned enough points to land her a spot in the Sept. 4 GI Kentucky Oaks with a decisive score in the GI Central Bank Ashland S. at Keeneland Saturday afternoon. Speedy GII Las Virgenes S. romper Venetian Harbor (Munnings) shot out to the early lead, loping through an opening quarter in :24.04 with Speech stalking from second off the fence. Envoutante (Uncle Mo) slipped up the fence inside of Speech as the half went up in :47.14, but...