Spendthrift

How Spendthrift Got Dornoch: A Q&A With Ned Toffey

It was announced during the telecast of the GI Haskell Stakes that Dornoch (Good Magic) will stand at stud at Spendthrift Farm. Spendthrift General Manager Ned Toffey addresses another big move by his team. TDN: What is it about Dornoch that makes him a good stallion candidate? NT: He's obviously got a great pedigree and he's a very talented horse. We always thought he was a really talented horse. They tried to rate him in the Blue Grass and he got wiped out from the one hole in the Derby....

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'A Fantastic Start'–Fasig-Tipton July Launches Yearling Season

by Christina Bossinakis & Stefanie Grimm Lexington, KY--The onset of the yearling season every summer can be a bit of a worrisome time for many. With the yearlings that have been so painstakingly selected by Fasig-Tipton's team for its first yearling sale of the season, it can often be a bit unnerving whether things will go off without a hitch or not. And at the conclusion of Tuesday's yearling session, it appeared that it had. "It was a fantastic start to the 2024 yearling sales season," affirmed Fasig-Tipton President and...

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Kingsbarns Earns Breeders' Cup Slot With 'WAYI' Victory In The Stephen Foster

Spendthrift Farm's Kingsbarns (Uncle Mo) earned an automatic berth in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic with a dominant victory in the GI Stephen Foster Stakes at Churchill Downs Saturday. The 2-1 shot rated just off the pace as First Mission (Street Sense) and Skippylongstocking (Exaggerator) took the field through a moderate opening quarter in :24.13. First Mission, the 4-5 favorite, took charge as the half went up in :48.38, but Kingsbarns was rolling up three wide to grab control into the stretch. The favorite attempted to fight back, but...

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Spendthrift's Nicole Finch Parachutes in Normandy on D-Day Anniversary to Honor WWII Veterans

When Nicole Finch joined the team at Spendthrift Farm as the Marketing & Experience Coordinator in 2022, the fact that Omaha Beach--one of her favorite racehorses--was on the stallion roster wasn't the main reason she applied, but it certainly sweetened the deal. Though her fondness for the dark bay son of War Front certainly grew as she followed his career on the track, it was his name and the deeper meaning behind it that intrigued Finch from the beginning. Finch learned about the importance of the stallion's namesake, one of...

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Saturday Sires: Into Mischief

It was inevitable Into Mischief would be featured early on in our 'Saturday Sires' series, as his picture would probably be next to the phrase in the dictionary if the term appeared there. The five-time leading sire has now surpassed the remarkable threshold of 150 stakes winners with yet another graded winner this past weekend. Maybe it's a coincidence the phrase 'Saturday afternoon horses' came in vogue around the rise of Into Mischief, but maybe it isn't. After all, he practically invented the term. More than any other horse in...

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Vekoma Gets First Winner With Fortuna Mia At Horseshoe Indy

4th-Horseshoe Indianapolis, $32,000, Msw, 5-13, 2yo, f, 4 1/2f, :53.60, ft, 4 lengths. FORTUNA MIA (f, 2, Vekoma--Windy Lane, by Cairo Prince), dispatched at 5-1, quickly hooked up with Run Camila Run (West Coast) to her inside. The top pair opened up on the field and worked through an opening quarter in :22.45 before Fortuna Mia began to gain an upper hand. Run Camila Run ducked to the outside to try to re-engage but the winner was already gone and hit the wire four lengths in front. An objection was...

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$775K Caracaro Filly Tops Solid OBS Spring Opener

by Jessica Martini & Stefanie Grimm OCALA, FL - While it took some time to find its stride, the first session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training gained momentum throughout the day and concluded with figures in line with the first session of its record-setting 2023 renewal. "I thought it was a good day," said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. "A good horse sells well and I thought we had a lot of nice horses today. Holding true to last year, that's a...

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The Queens M G Becomes First Winner For Thousand Words

1st-Keeneland, $74,144, Msw, 4-7, 2yo, f, 4 1/2f, :52.44, ft, head. THE QUEENS M G (f, 2, Thousand Words--Show Queen, by Grindstone) became her freshman sire's first winner Sunday. One of the longest shots on the board at 45-1, she flashed early speed from the far outside gate but was quickly confronted by West Memorial (Caracaro) to her inside on the run around the far turn. That pair opened up a sizable gap to the rest of the field with The Queens M G just getting the better of the...

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Mating Plans, Presented by Spendthrift: Newtownanner Stud

The TDN's popular annual series 'Mating Plans, presented by Spendthrift,' continues today in a conversation with Hanzly Albina of Newtownanner Stud. "I don't take this lightly at all," said Albina, who is both general manager of Newtownanner's Kentucky farm and North American bloodstock manager of the operation. "It's a ton of fun when it works out. For me, the physical is what I'm shooting for as I can't predict performance. We want to produce what we would buy in a sales ring, want to produce as nice a horse as...

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Ruby Nell Sparkles in Frontrunning Buena Vista Score

Ruby Nell (Bolt d'Oro) returned from her trip to Florida like many do--refreshed and ready to get back to work. And back to work she went, wiring the field impressively as the 4-5 favorite in the GII Buena Vista S. at Santa Anita. Shipped East by Richard Mandella for Pegasus weekend, the daughter of Bolt d'Oro did well to race against her normal style in coming off the pace to  finish third beaten just 1 3/4 lengths in the GII Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf Invitational Jan. 27....

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Sunday Insight: $2M Full Sister To First Captain Debuts At Gulfstream

7th-GP, $89K, MSW, 3yo, f, 7f, 3:09 p.m. Owned in partnership by Woodford Racing, West Point Thoroughbreds and Chris Larsen, SEDONA (Curlin) debuts Sunday at Gulfstream Park for trainer Shug McGaughey. The full-sister to MGSW/GISP and $1.5m FTSAUG yearling First Captain nearly topped 2022's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale when selling for $2,000,000. Dam America, herself a graded stakes winner and dual Grade-I placed, last went through the auction ring late last year at FTKNOV but failed to meet her reserve at $1,200,000. She also RNA'd for $3.1m at FTKNOV...

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Vino Rosso's Tuscan Sky Airs At First Asking at the Big A

1st-Aqueduct, $80,000, Msw, 1-13, 3yo, 6f, 1:10.51, my, 5 1/4 lengths. TUSCAN SKY (c, 3, Vino Rosso--South Andros {SW, $207,125}, by Sky Mesa), a clear 7-2 second choice on debut taking on the three-start maiden, but 3-4 chalk Have You Heard (Hard Spun), found his best stride entering the final furlong and streaked home to open his account impressively at first asking in the Saturday opener from Aqueduct. Tuscan Sky won the break and took his four rivals along through the opening furlong, but Have You Heard wrested command before...

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