Spendthrift

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...

After traveling the GI Kentucky Derby trail through the first half of this year with MGISW Cyberknife (Gun Runner), Al Gold's Gold Square and Brad Cox took the first step down the long road to the 2023 Derby Saturday at Churchill Downs, winning the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. with Instant Coffee (Bolt d'Oro). Rallying to victory on debut going seven panels at Saratoga Sept. 3, the $200,000 KEESEP buy came from way out of it to be fourth behind next-out GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile and likely champion Forte (Violence)...

Courtlandt Farm's Greatest Honour (Tapit--Tiffany's Honour, by Street Cry {Ire}), winner of Gulfstream's GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S. and GIII Holy Bull S., has retired to stud at Spendthrift Farm and will stand the 2023 breeding season for a fee of $7,500 S&N. "Greatest Honour has one of the best combinations of pedigree, looks and ability among the sons of Tapit that we've evaluated," said Ned Toffey, Spendthrift general manager. "Unfortunately, he came up with an injury in last year's Florida Derby as the odds-on favorite before the Triple...

Multiple Grade I winner Brody's Cause (Giant's Causeway--Sweet Breanna, by Sahm) will stand the 2023 breeding season at Equistar Training and Breeding in Pennsylvania after formerly standing at Spendthrift in Kentucky. The third-crop sire has been acquired by Rodney Eckenrode and will stand for $3,500. A winner of both the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity and the GI Blue Grass S., Brody's Cause is the sire of three black-type winners, including GI La Brea S. winner Kalypso and GIII Iroquois S. winner Sittin On Go. He is currently ranked in the...

by Jessica Martini & Christie DeBernardis SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - The Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Selected Yearlings Sale opened with a lively session of trade punctuated by four seven-figure yearlings Monday evening in upstate New York. A colt by Uncle Mo, consigned by Lane's End as agent for his breeder, Summer Wind Farm, attracted the session's highest bid when selling for $1.5 million to the partnership of West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing. In all, 69 yearlings sold at the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion Monday for a total of $28,930,000. The average...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - By far, the most enthusiastic applause during the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame induction ceremony Friday morning was for a video clip of race that everyone in the audience likely had seen many times. Beholder's (Henny Hughes) career-capping victory by a nose over the previously unbeaten champion Songbird (Medaglia d'Oro) in the 2016 GI Breeder's Cup Distaff was nearly as gripping on the big screen at the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion as it was live at Santa Anita Park. For sheer drama it ranks with...

TIMONIUM, MD - The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale got off to a strong start Monday in Timonium as it looks to follow up on a record-setting 2021 renewal. "It was a very solid opening session to the sale," said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. "There was diverse bidding activity literally from buyers all around the world participating today. This has become a really solid marketplace where you can sell a quality horse, you can sell a state-bred horse. There was lots of activity at really all price ranges." A...

Forbidden Kingdom (American Pharaoh), one of the favorites in Saturday's GI Santa Anita Derby, stands to earn a $4-million stallion bonus for his connections if he wins. The "Future Stallion Bonus" is an incentive for selected MyRacehorse-owned horses to earn connections financial benefits if they win a Grade I event on the dirt in the U.S. "We selected a few really well-bred colts and attached a pre-payment of potential stallion value as a way of providing a more immediate financial return for winning a Grade I," said Michael Behrens, Founder...

Spendthrift Farm and MyRacehorse.com have launched a weekly foal contest on social media called #FoalDerby, which will showcase foals from the first crop of their Horse of the Year and GI Kentucky Derby winner Authentic. The contest begins this week and will run weekly leading up to this year's Kentucky Derby. Breeders are encouraged to submit photos each week as their foals arrive and continue to submit as they grow over the course of the next 10 weeks. Submissions will be posted to Spendthrift's Twitter and Facebook platforms. The top...

Forbidden Kingdom (American Pharoah) upset the highly touted Bob Baffert trio to register a front-running victory in Santa Anita's GII San Vicente S. Saturday. Longshot What in Blazes (Straight Fire) burst from the outside post in this five-horse affair with the rest of the field breaking in tandem to his inside. Forbidden Kingdom sprinted up the fence to take command with Grade I winner Pinehurst (Twirling Candy) and his stablemate McLaren Vale (Gun Runner) tracking from about a half-length back through a :21.86 opening quarter. 'TDN Rising Star' Doppelganger (Into...

Urban parks are well-loved destinations in America's most developed and highly-populated cities. Of course Central Park is the first that comes to mind, as well as perhaps Lincoln Park in Chicago or Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. These beautifully-designed pieces of landscape architecture serve as gathering places for the city's community and are often stopping points for those visiting a bustling metropolis. In a few years Lexington, Kentucky--with a population of less than 400,000--will get a state-of-the-art park of its own in the heart of downtown. Ground is set...

Leading stallion Into Mischief will stand the 2022 season for $250,000, Spendthrift Farm announced Tuesday evening. The stallion, who is enjoying another standout season on the racetrack and in the sales ring, stood for $225,000 in 2021. Spendthrift has added four new stallions for 2022, including recently retired Grade I winners Basin, Known Agenda and Yaupon, along with multi-millionaire By My Standards who remains in training through the end of the racing season. The new additions bring the farm's roster to 25 stallions. "It is important to us that we...