Spendthrift

GII Louisiana Derby winner Kingsbarns (Uncle Mo) remains a possibility for either the GII Jim Dandy July 29 at Saratoga Race Course or the previous week's GI Haskell S. at Monmouth Park said Spendthrift Farm's general manager Ned Toffey. "We're freshening him a little bit, keeping some options open," Toffey said. "There's the Haskell and the Jim Dandy and we'll look at those, but we'll talk with [trainer] Todd [Pletcher] and just keep things open. Obviously, it gets pretty tough with fewer spots for these good 3-year-olds. You won't find...

5th-CD, $120K, Msw, 3yo/up, f/m, 6 1/2f, 2:45 p.m. PUMPKIN SCONE (Into Mischief), a $1.25-million Keeneland September Yearling purchase by Spendthrift Farm, debuts for Brad Cox from the outside gate on Sunday. Bred in Kentucky by the China Horse Club, the bay filly is out of Embellish the Lace (Super Saver), who has also produced three-time winner and fellow $1.25-million KEESEP graduate Tap the Faith (Tapit). Pumpkin Scone hails from a female family which includes GI Travers S. hero Afleet Express (Afleet Alex) and MGISP My Miss Sophia (Unbridled's Song),...

She'd been the buzz horse among the Churchill locals all day and V V's Dream (Mitole) took the first baby steps to making quite a few come true while securing 'TDN Rising Star'-dom in this stylish unveiling. Breaking slowly and asked to race in seventh from two off the rail going into the turn, the grey bided her time as the field watched the other Mitole Cheetah Miss put up all the fractions as :21.90 and :45.59 flashed across the board. Rolling under a full head of steam and splitting...

Tom McCrocklin was calling all that winter, on and on about the same horse. "Listen," he said. "I got a Bolt d'Oro filly that can really run. I'm telling you, maybe as good as anything I've ever had." Mark Toothaker had to take heed; had to pass on the word to his employers at Spendthrift, where he is Stallion Sales Manager. After all, he has known McCrocklin since 1985, when he'd arrived at Louisiana Tech and found this guy who was a real man of the world: already a graduate,...

Spendthrift Farm's duo of GII TwinSpires.com Louisiana Derby winner Kingsbarns (Uncle Mo) and GII Jeff Ruby Steaks runner-up Major Dude (Bolt d'Oro) had their penultimate works prior to Kentucky Derby Day when they each breezed five furlongs in 1:00.80 Thursday morning at Churchill Downs. The duo clipped through opening eighth-mile fractions of :12.60, :24.40 and :36.20. They galloped out together through six furlongs in 1:13.40. "I think people gave Kingsbarns a discount because of the time of the Louisiana Derby," Spendthrift Farm President Eric Gustavson said. "I don't think you...

Spendthrift Farm's Kingsbarns (c, 3, Uncle Mo--Lady Tapit, by Tapit) made it a perfect three-for-three in a dominating, front-running performance in Saturday's GII Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds. 'TDN Rising Star' Disarm (Gun Runner) was second; 'TDN Rising Star' Jace's Road (Quality Road) was third. Well-backed at odds of 9-2 from a 6-1 morning-line quote, Kingsbarns was sent to the front by Flavien Prat from post six and led the way through easy fractions of :24.71 and :49.60 with Jace's Road shadowing in second. Kingsbarns began to shake free...

After compiling Peter Brant's mating plans two years in a row, it's pretty clear that there may be no other owner/breeder who spends more time on this. And why not? With one of the deepest, most impressive broodmare bands in the business, mating his mares is both a big responsibility and a labor of love. He shared his system with us. "I go by three or four major things," said Brant. "The mare's race record in terms of distance, speed, turn of foot, whether they don't have much of a...

The 2021 GI Santa Anita Derby winner Rock Your World (Candy Ride {Arg}) was represented by his first reported foal Jan. 9 when a filly was born at Diana Shoop's Gemstone Farm in Lexington. The bay lass is the first foal out of her winning dam, Mrs. O'Connell (American Pharoah), and was bred by Mark and Allison Menscer's Post Rock Farm. "We are thrilled with the filly," said Mark Menscer. "She looks like Rock Your World. He stamped her out. She has tremendous bone and a lot of substance. We...

Bidding opens for the Jockey and Jeans Stallion Season Sale, benefitting the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund, on Tuesday Jan. 10 at 9 am ET and ends Thursday, Jan. 12 at 9 pm ET with a preview beginning Jan. 9. The sale features over 70 stallions from Kentucky, Pennsylvania, New York, California, Texas and Oklahoma and has raised over $500,000 for the PDJF to date. "Big farm or small, we thank them all," said Jockeys and Jeans President Barry Pearl. "There are many other valuable seasons and one for every pocketbook....

As we approach the opening of the 2023 breeding season, the TDN staff is once again sitting down with leading breeders to find out what stallions they have chosen for their mares, and why. First up: Bobby Flay. AMERICA (m, 12, A. P. Indy--Lacadena, by Fasliyev), booked to Gun Runner As she continues to produce quality foals, including MGSW First Captain (Curlin), the co-sales topper at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale for $1.5 million, and his full-sister, who sold for $2 million at Saratoga last August, I'm excited to see...

Spendthrift Farm has added four new stallions to their extensive roster for 2023. Of those, two carry the weighty distinction of winning a graded stake at two. Both precocious horses furthered their success on the racetrack after their juvenile campaigns. Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo - Callingmissbrown, by Pulpit) took home a hard-fought win in the 2021 GII Remsen S. and went on to claim a Classic victory this year. His new studmate Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music - Unicorn Girl, by A.P. Five Hundred) came close to an undefeated season at...

As we saw in the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff, if there's anything more exciting than a duel to the wire, it's the intrusion of a third nose. And that's pretty much the way a remarkable contest for the freshman sires' title is playing out entering the stretch. The first thing to stress is that it really shouldn't matter which of the stallions involved happens to bank the critical extra cents to claim the crown. That won't be how the marketing teams of their respective farms are viewing things, naturally, but...