Padraig Campion

LEXINGTON, KY - The Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearlings Sale blazed through its penultimate session Wednesday in Lexington with frenetic bidding from start to finish producing a $72,127 average that was nearly 47% higher than the figure from the corresponding session a year ago. At the conclusion of the session, the three-day average of $64,772 is 24.1% ahead of the 2024 record figure of $52,206. And with a full session to go, the total gross of $53,177,500 is just $5.398 million off last year's total sale record gross of $58,575,500. "It...

If you want to know what endures, you need to know what has changed. To know what really counts, then, you must talk with the guys who have been around longest. "I remember when the first ultrasound scanner came to town," Padraig Campion says. "A guy called Dr. Norman Rantanen brought the machine in, to show us, and the first mare he scanned was Gold Digger. And sure enough, there's twins there. We didn't know. Down the road we realised it was pretty normal, that a lot of them just...

A filly from the first crop of multiple Grade I winner McKinzie (hip 1143) equaled the fastest quarter-mile work of the seven-session under-tack show for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training when covering the distance in :20 1/5 Sunday in Central Florida. The juvenile is consigned by Eddie Woods on behalf of breeders Brent and Beth Harris. "We expected her to work well," Woods said. "I'm not going to say I thought she would go in :20 1/5. That would be ridiculous. But she really...

Walter "Buster" Gordon, the longtime head stallion groom at the `old' Spendthrift Farm formerly owned by the Combs family, passed away Oct. 25 after a long illness. A Gofundme page has been established for his family, and is accessible by clicking here. "Buster never met a stranger and all of us loved him during his many years as head stallion groom at Spendthrift Farm," reads his Gofundme page, set up by Gregory Clarke. "In addition to being a brilliant horseman, he could throw a mean snowball. :) He's a permanent...

The first of four races on the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby, the 1600-meter Cattleya S. (allowance), took place Saturday on the eve of the G1 Japan Cup at Toyko Racecourse, with US-bred Lemon Pop (Lemon Drop Kid) running his record to two wins from as many starts with a convincing victory. The 7-5 second choice, a debut winner in a 1300-meter newcomers' event at Tokyo Nov. 7, broke without incident and was ridden positively from gate one by Keita Tosaki to sit in the wake of pacesetting Takeru...