Speightstown

TDN's Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack reveals a pair of selections for the first Saturday of the Saratoga meeting. Race 1, Msw, $136k, 2yo, 5 1/2f, post time: 1:10 p.m. ET There's every chance that National Treasure (Quality Road)'s half-brother and rail-drawn 4-5 morning-line favorite Pirate (Omaha Beach) turns out to be a complete monster, but I'll be taking a shot against him with fellow firster Special Element (Copper Bullet). There's plenty of precocity in Special Element's pedigree. His freshman sire Copper Bullet, winner of the 2017 GII Saratoga Special...

Living up to both his price tag and his recent workouts, Prince of Monaco (Speightstown--Rainier by Medaglia d'Oro) earned 'TDN Rising Star' billing as the 2-year-old poured on the speed at Los Alamitos on Sunday afternoon en route to a maiden-breaking victory for trainer Bob Baffert. Off at 1-20 for this debut, the $950,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select graduate broke a touch awkwardly from his wide draw in this compact field, but soon seized the lead heading into the far turn. Opening up at the top of the lane, the dark...

2nd-LRC, $45K, Msw, 2yo, 5f, 4:33 p.m. Facing a field of entirely first-time starters, PRINCE OF MONACO (Speightstown) drew the enviable outside gate for his afternoon debut for trainer Bob Baffert and the prolific ownership group known as the 'Avengers'. Purchased for a coll $950,000 as a yearling out of last year's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Sale, the dark bay colt is out of Medaglia d'Oro mare Rainier, herself a half to MSW/MGSP Laurie's Rocket (Bluegrass Cat) and to the dam of MSW/GSP Necker Island (Hard Spun). This is also the...

In this continuing series, we take 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 Hanshin and Hakodate Racecourses: Saturday, June 17, 2023 5th-HSN, ¥13,720,000 ($97k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1200m ECORO GAIA (c, 2, Speightstown--Charge of Angels, by Distorted Humor) is a full-brother to the stakes-placed Winning Number and is out of an unraced daughter of...

Steve Asmussen made it a 'sweep' for the 2-year-old stakes wins at Belmont Sunday with a dominating performance by Gold Sweep to not only break his maiden but stamp himself a contender for upcoming summer races. Despite missing by a just a neck when unveiled at Churchill Downs May 18, the son of Speightstown was running late and still earned a 75 Beyer Speed Figure for his losing effort.  Bet down to 4-5 breaking from an outside gate, Gold Sweep came away in good order and raced widest of the...

6th-SA, $61k, Msw, 3-5yo, 6 1/2f, 6:42p.m. ET In against a field of mixed maidens of various age, Bob Baffert will unveil two expensive stablemates in this sixth at the Great Race Place on the Golden Coast lead by EXTORTION (Into Mischief). Out of an unraced half-sister to full-siblings MGISP Munnings (Speightstown) and GSP Munnings Sister, another of Gaudete's half-sisters produced SP-Uae Speight'spercomete (Speightstown). Extortion can claim a Group-placed sibling of his own in MGSP-Uae Snowboarder (Raven's Pass) and one of his half-sisters named Beauty and Light (Unbridled's Song) is...

3rd-PIM, $52K, Msw, 3yo, 6f, 4:37 p.m. As Pimlico's meet tunes up before Preakness week, $450,000 KEESEP purchase REBELLIOUS STAGE (Justify) heads to post four in this maiden attempt. Trained by Brittany Russell and ridden by Sheldon Russell, the chestnut colt's second dam Mon Belle (Maria's Mon) is a full-sister to GI Kentucky Derby hero Monarchos and she produced GSP Supreme (Empire Maker), who is the dam of GI Met Mile champ Silver State (Hard Spun).  TJCIS PPS 4th-CD, $120K, Msw, 3yo/up, f, 1mT, 2:13 p.m. As the Triple Crown...

6th-KEE, $100k, Msw, 3yo, 6 1/2f, post time: 3:40 p.m. ET SOLEVO (City of Light) is the second foal to the races out of the stakes-placed Pleasant Mine (Mineshaft), who was acquired by Windylea Farm New York for $200,000 with this foal in utero at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton November Sale. The Kentucky-bred dark bay colt made a solid return on that investment when hammering for $170,000 at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton July Sale and fetched $685,000 from trainer Cherie DeVaux at last year's OBS April Sale after breezing a furlong in...

A filly by Speightstown (hip 618) zipped a quarter-mile in a track record-tying :20 1/5, while six horses shared the day's fastest furlong time, during the fourth session of the under-tack show for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training in Central Florida Wednesday. Hip 618, who worked just after 11:30 a.m. and with temperatures approaching 80 degrees, is consigned by Juan Centeno's All Dreams Equine. "You never know if they can go that fast, but she prepped pretty fast," Centeno said. "I knew she could...

Since 2004, we've shined the spotlight on over 1,500 'TDN Rising Stars' worldwide, recognition given to a horse early on its career who has done something so impressive on the racetrack that our team believes they will go on to become graded stakes winners.  A horse is designated as a 'Rising Star' by the TDN staff after a careful and comprehensive review of many factors--including the quality of the field, margin and time of victory, pedigree, sales price and more. Over the years, it has become a badge of honor...

A debut winner at Churchill Downs in May 2022, Drew's Gold went to the sidelines for the next eight months before making a winning return to the races at Laurel Park Jan. 28. Favored at 8-5 for his first try against stakes company in New York, the colt pressed the pace, keeping things tight up front for early leader Kool Kathmandu (Frosted). Outside with plenty of run left, he drew alongside a new leader in Clubhouse and went right on by past the quarter pole, stretching his lead down the...

It tells you plenty about the business today that this final leg of our quest for value on Kentucky farms should compress together stallions whose various retirements from the racetrack spanned more than decade. In devoting nearly all the previous instalments to individual classes of younger stallions, we've simply mirrored the distribution of mares, which as we all know is massively loaded towards largely unproven sires. To me, then, those few survivors that do establish a viable niche in the Bluegrass are real heroes. While dozens of their original competitors...