Rattle N Roll

In what was probably America's most anticipated race in the older horse division since the GI Breeders' Cup Classic nearly four weeks ago, the 151st running of the GII Clark Stakes at Churchill Downs Friday lived up to expectations and then some. Runaway GII Fasig-Tipton Risen Star Stakes winner and Winchell Thoroughbreds colorbearer Magnitude (c, 3, Not This Time--Rockadelic, by Bernardini), one of the most heralded 3-year-olds on the Derby Trail at the beginning of the year, put it all together in his first start against older horses to capture...

Continuing a fruitful campaign since returning from his elite-level World Cup triumph in Dubai, Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}) put his best foot forward once again to take home the GIII Fayette Stakes on closing day of the Keeneland Fall meet. The grey collected his second win here since returning from Meydan, but had been tasked with taking on some salty company in the contests he didn't claim, too--namely the likes of Breeders' Cup Classic contenders Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) and Mindframe (Constitution) in the GI Stephen Foster back in...

Greg Geier doesn't remember a time when horses weren't a part of his life. He and his brother Dennis were practically raised on the track. They tagged along with their father, Louisiana-based George Geier, to the barn early each morning on the weekends and traveled north every summer for race meets in Detroit. "We started walking horses when we were eight years old," Geier recalled. "Then we went to grooming and then we went to helping our dad do everything. I never did ride, though. I always thought it was...

Lucky Seven Stable and Sharaf Mohamed Alhairi's Rattle N Roll (Connect), who rallied from the back of the back to finish a creditable fifth to Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}) and Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) in the G1 Saudi Cup on Feb. 22, has officially been invited to participate in the $12-million G1 Dubai World Cup at Meydan Racecourse Apr. 5, trainer Ken McPeek tweeted Mar. 21. The 6-year-old failed to draw into last year's GI Breeders' Cup Classic and was rerouted for the GII Clark Stakes Nov....

With less than five weeks remaining to Dubai World Cup night at the sprawling Meydan Racecourse Apr. 5, the American challenge for the $12-million main event is coming together, with at least two U.S.-based middle-distance gallopers targeting the 2000-meter contest. Wathnan Racing's Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}) has come out of his distant third-place effort to 'TDN Rising Star' Locked (Gun Runner) in Saturday's GI Santa Anita Handicap in good order and connections have accepted an invitation to the World Cup, Case Clay, Wathnan's U.S. advisor, confirmed Sunday. "Will pow-wow...

RIYADH, KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA -- The eleventh-hour defection of horses like 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner), reigning G1 Dubai World Cup hero Laurel River (Into Mischief) and GI Pegasus World Cup victor White Abarrio (Race Day) deprived the 2025 G1 Saudi Cup of at least some of its pre-race lustre. Remaining in the field of 14, however, were two of the world's top horses, having achieved their success heretofore in diametrically opposite ways. Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}) won the G3 Saudi Derby in 2024 in...

RIYADH, KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA -- Fourteen horses with Grade I or Group 1 form from America, Argentina, Dubai, Hong Kong, Japan and even Uruguay will take their chance at the winner's share of the $20-million gross purse for the world's richest horse race, Saturday's G1 Saudi Cup at King Abdulaziz Racecourse. And few of them are without some sort of chance. Susumu Fujita's Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}) returns to the Saudi capital 12 months on from a last-lunge success in the G3 Saudi Derby and looks to...

RIYADH, KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA -- At the age of six, Lucky Seven Stable and Sharaf Mohamad Alhairi's Rattle N Roll (Connect) is at the peak of his powers. The same can be said for his veteran trainer Ken McPeek, who is just this side of a series of achievements that anyone who does what he does for a living will have a hard time replicating anytime in the foreseeable future. For equine and human alike, Saturday's G1 Saudi Cup at King Abdulaziz Racecourse is a potential watershed moment. "It's...

RIYADH, KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA -- Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}), a Group 1 winner at the back end of 2024 in the Tokyo Daishoten and third in the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Breeders' Cup Classic, will jump from the widest alley in barrier 14 for Saturday's G1 Saudi Cup at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh. Post positions were drawn Wednesday evening at the racecourse. Also victorious in a thrilling renewal of the G3 Saudi Derby on this program 12 months ago, the 4-year-old colt will once again have...

RIYADH, KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA -- There is almost no rainfall on an annual basis in the Saudi capital, but there was a flood of equine activity almost as soon as the clock struck seven on a cool Wednesday morning at King Abdulaziz. That is because a good many of the international raiders for Saturday's Saudi Cup meeting took to the main track almost as one, causing a real stir--in one case, a bit of a scare. The Noboru Takagi-trained Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) (inside) and Wilson Tesoro (Jpn)...

After fielding a team of four for last year's $20-million G1 Saudi Cup, a maximum of three horses and as few as just one horse already on the ground in Riyadh, could make up the American challenge for the 2025 renewal to be contested Saturday, Feb. 22 at King Abdulaziz Racetrack on the outskirts of the Saudi capital. Three of the four horses that took part in last year's running were each possible for a return trip, but none will ultimately travel. Last year's winner Senor Buscador (Mineshaft) was to...

The Ken McPeek-trained Rattle N Roll (Connect) had just one horse beaten for the opening six furlongs of Saturday's $400,000 Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Cup (King's Cup), a race carrying international Group 3 status for the first time and earning the winner a guaranteed spot in the field for the $20-million G1 Saudi Cup four weeks down the road. Quietly ridden by Joel Rosario, who had earlier won the Riyadh Dirt Sprint qualifier for Jimmy Jerkens aboard Ancestral Land (GB) (Sioux Nation), Rattle N Roll was felt for...