Street Sense

Happier (f, 3, Street Sense--On My Way, by Giant's Causeway), a $800,000 KEESEP yearling graduate, ran to the money in her unveiling for Hall of Famer Bob Baffert at Del Mar Friday evening, earning 'TDN Rising Star' honors. The 6-5 favorite shot out to the front from her inside draw and led through fractions of :22.71 and :45.89. She widened the margin as they turned for home and kept on rolling down the stretch to graduate by 3 1/4 lengths over stablemate Himiko (American Pharoah). Happier was the most expensive...

4th-Indiana Grand, $32,500, Alw, 7-13, (NW2LX), 3yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16mT, 1:43.42, fm. NASTY (f, 3, Street Sense--Valiant Passion {GISP, $132,900}, by Lion Heart), firming into 4-5 favoritism to build on an eight-length graduation when trying turf and two turns for the first time June 18, LNJ Foxwoods's Nasty traveled like a winner every step of a Monday allowance at Indiana Grand and came home a measured one-length winner. Wrangled back to sit in a stalking second beneath Fernando de la Cruz, the $230,000 Keeneland September yearling acquisition traveled strongly down...

Stonestreet Stables homebred Cazadero made good on his 'TDN Rising Star' tag with a dominant victory in the GIII Bashford Manor S. at Churchill Downs Saturday. Demolishing the field by 8 3/4 lengths in his five-panel unveiling beneath the Twin Spires May 29, the Steve Asmussen pupil was heavily favored to repeat in this first juvenile graded stakes of the season. Breaking sharply, Cazadero tracked from a two-wide fourth as longshot County Final (Oxbow) blazed through a :21.24 first quarter. Ranging up two wide on the far turn, the bay...

An expected Kentucky Derby favorite, Godolphin homebred Maxfield (Street Sense) suffered a non-displaced condylar fracture in his right front leg Wednesday morning while breezing a half-mile at Keeneland. The Brendan Walsh trainee joins a growing list of 3-year-olds now off the Derby trail as Wells Bayou (Lookin At Lucky) was found to have bone bruising also on Wednesday morning. Within the past two weeks, the race also lost the undefeated Bob Baffert colts Nadal (Blame) and Charlatan (Speightstown) due to injuries. "He wasn't cooling out right after the work," Walsh...

Though coming off an impressive win in the GIII Matt Winn S. at Churchill Downs, Maxfield (Street Sense) will not start in the GI Belmont S., this year the first leg in the Triple Crown. His next start will come instead in the GII Toyota Blue Grass S. July 11 at Keeneland. The news that Maxfield was headed to the Blue Grass was first reported by the Daily Racing Form. "It's really a matter of trying to make the proper progressive steps," said Jimmy Bell, the president and racing manager...

Three-time Grade I winner and 'TDN Rising Star' McKinzie (Street Sense) returns to action against four rivals in Sunday's GII Triple Bend S. at Santa Anita. Beaten 28 lengths when last seen in the $20-million Saudi Cup Feb. 29, McKinzie is two-for-two at this seven-furlong distance, including a win in Santa Anita's GI Malibu S. in 2018. The 2019 GI Whitney S. hero was second-best in several high-profile races term, led by the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, GI Runhappy Metropolitan H. and GI Santa Anita H. McKinzie, trained by Hall...

A four-time Grade I winner in training at Santa Anita under Bob Baffert, an undefeated homebred Triple Crown hopeful, and a two-year-old named a 'TDN Rising Star' after winning on debut by almost nine lengths. This year, Street Sense is a stallion sales manager's dream. The champion juvenile and GI Kentucky Derby winner's race record speaks for itself, but now his top progeny are looking to make this their sire's biggest year yet. Street Sense spent a year in Japan in 2013 after starting off his first five years at...

Cazadero (Street Sense) was a bit chilly on the board at 5-1 for this unveiling, but proved the betting public wrong with a 'TDN Rising Star'-worthy graduation. The Stonestreet homebred broke on top and was hounded by Knicks Front (Outwork) through a :22.12 first quarter. A bit wide off the turn for home, the dark bay slammed the door on his foe in the stretch, cruising clear with ease to win by 8 3/4 lengths. Barbara Banke's operation purchased the winner's MGSW & GISP dam Wild Gams for $1-million at...

Trainer Brendan Walsh joins this week's TDN Writers' Room to talk about his Triple Crown hopeful Maxfield after last weekend's win in the Matt Winn S., as well as Godolphin's pursuit of the elusive Kentucky Derby.

Making his first start since winning the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity in handsome fashion nearly eight months ago and his first since undergoing surgery to have ankle chips removed, Godolphin's Maxfield (Street Sense) finished with a flourish down the center of the Churchill Downs main track to take Saturday's GIII Matt Winn S. over a game Ny Traffic (Cross Traffic). 'TDN Rising Star' Pneumatic (Uncle Mo) was a creditable third after arguing the pace in his graded stakes debut. The victory, worth 50 points, on the road to September's GI...

The terms `best' and `favorite' are typically two subjective concepts when it comes the Thoroughbred racehorse. The TDN's Gary King reached out to key players from different facets of the industry to hear their thoughts. Email Gary King ([email protected]) to have your say. CHRISTIE DEBERNARDIS, TDN Over the past seven years at the TDN, I have been blessed to witness many of racing's greats, which I thought would make it very difficult to choose just one. But, when given this assignment, there was one horse who immediately came to mind,...

Slam Dunk Racing, Legacy Ranch and Doug Branham's undefeated Tonalist's Shape (Tonalist), a dominant winner of the local Hut Hut S. on opening day of Gulfstream's Championship Meet, returns Saturday as a likely prohibitive favorite in her graded stakes debut, the seven-furlong GIII Forward Gal S. Rallying from well off the pace to score a 19-1 upset on debut here Sept. 28 for Sabana Racing Stable and trainer Juan Avila, the chestnut was privately purchased and transferred to the red-hot Saffie Joseph, Jr. barn, for which she notched another impressive...