The Queens M G

Breeding Digest: An Authentic Ray of Hope

If you're among the many currently absorbed by his autobiography, you'll be indebted to Arthur Hancock for sharing a series of Charlie Whittingham maxims. And one is of particular value to anyone routinely assessing pedigrees: "Never say anything bad about a horse until he's been dead at least 10 years." Plenty will have been sorely tempted to disregard that stricture in the case of Authentic, after the 2020 Horse of the Year fell so far short of his billing with his first juveniles last year. Retired at $75,000, much the...

[ Read More ]
March 29 Insights: Son of Eblouissante Unveiled in Florida, Pricey Auction Buys Abound

5th-GP, $94k, Msw, 3yo, 7f, 1:26p.m. ET Though not the most expensive in the field, TOTAL SENSATION (Speightstown) comes into this race with perhaps the best-known family as the son of Eblouissante (Bernardini), the half-sister to Hall of Famer Zenyatta (Street Cry {Ire}). A $300,000 yearling from KEESEP in 2023, and racing for the partnership of Qatar Racing, CHC, Inc., and Trilogy USA, the colt is a half-brother to GSW Confidence Game (Candy Ride {Arg}) and GSP The Process (More Than Ready) from the family of the aforementioned Horse of...

[ Read More ]
The Kentucky Oaks Top 10 for Mar. 27

Here's a look at the sixth installment of our Kentucky Oaks Top 10 for 2025: Things are really starting to heat up. Last weekend saw Good Cheer (Medaglia d'Oro), who is now 6 for 6, winning the Fasig-Tipton Fair Grounds Oaks. For now, she looks like a strong favorite in the GI Kentucky Oaks. At Turfway Park, Bless the Broken (Laoban) won the Bourbonette Oaks, but didn't show enough versus a weak field to crack our top 10. This will be a huge weekend of preps that will include the...

[ Read More ]
Connections of FOY Finishers, led by Winner Sovereignty, Reflect and Assess What's Next

Godolphin's Sovereignty (Into Mischief), who closed from last to first to capture Saturday's Coolmore GII Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park, emerged as an exciting Triple Crown prospect in the first start of his 3-year-old season. "We were sort of hoping that was the way the race would pan out," Godolphin USA's director of bloodstock Michael Banahan said Sunday. "We didn't really know if he'd have enough ground to actually catch the horses on the lead with his running style, especially with the way the track seems to play for...

[ Read More ]
The Queens M G is Davona Dale Royalty

The Queens M G (Thousand Words), winner of last summer's GIII Adirondack S. and Schuylerville S. at Saratoga, rode the rail to a decisive victory in Saturday's GII Fasig-Tipton Davona Dale S. at Gulfstream Park, good for 37.5 points on the road to the GI Kentucky Oaks. Drawn on the fence and off as the 9-5 second-choice, she traveled nicely on the inside through an opening quarter in :24.24, slipped through along the inside beneath Irad Ortiz, Jr. at the top of the stretch and took off nicely from there...

[ Read More ]
Fountain Of Youth Draws Field Of 8 To Top Stakes-Heavy $2.15M Saturday Card At Gulfstream

The GII Coolmore Fountain of Youth, the final prep for the GI Curlin Florida Derby held March 29, will headline a program laden with nine stakes, of which eight are graded, worth $2.15 million in purses next Saturday. The 79th running of the Fountain of Youth offers qualifying points for the GI Kentucky Derby on a 50-25-15-10-5 scale. Burnham Square, the GIII Holy Bull winner, is scheduled to clash with seven other 3-year-olds entered for next Saturday's feature. Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher is represented in the Fountain of...

[ Read More ]
Saturday Preview: Fall Stars Weekend Rolls On in Lexington

Saturday is one of those 'burn the candle at both ends' kind of days for horseplayers, as no fewer than 17 graded stakes take place within a six-hour window. Eight of those events serve as 'Win and You're In' qualifying events for various Breeders' Cup races, and even those races that don't offer a free pass are liable to toss up a runner or two or three at Del Mar in four weeks' time. Keeneland Race Course brands its opening three days of racing as 'Fall Stars Weekend' and who's...

[ Read More ]
Keeneland Fall Opens With Alcibiades On Massive Graded Stakes Weekend

Tickets, please! Keeneland's fall meet has the turnstiles primed Friday and that means the featured GI Darley Alcibiades Stakes will fill the apron on what promises to be massive weekend with some 30 graded races across North America--half of which have Breeders' Cup implications. The signature top-level race at the site of the Old Keene Farm was named for a foundational mare who was bred at Hal Price Headley's Beaumont--where modern-day Mill Ridge resides. Alcibiades won the 1930 Kentucky Oaks for Headley, who was one the Keeneland Association's founders and...

[ Read More ]
'Skippy' Works Ahead of Woodward; Joseph Charts Plan with Team

Daniel Alonso's Skippylongstocking (Exaggerator) breezed a half mile in :49.90 over the Oklahoma dirt training track Sunday in preparation for a start in the Sept. 28 GII Woodward at Belmont at the Big A. Trained by Saffie Joseph, Jr., the 5-year-old won three graded stakes this season, including last time out in the GII Charles Town Classic on Aug. 23. "It's a good spot for him and he's doing well at Saratoga, so it's not too long of a ship," Joseph, Jr. said. "He just seems to keep getting better....

[ Read More ]
Immersive Upsets A Soggy Spinaway

The 2024 GI Spinaway Stakes was a tale of the haves and the have-nots. On one hand, there was just a single stakes winner in the field. But that runner, The Queens M G (Thousand Words), was looking to sweep the 2-year-old stakes on offer at Saratoga this season--a feat not commonly accomplished. Lined up to oppose her was a talented group of maiden winners led by 'TDN Rising Star' Quietside (Malibu Moon) and Godolphin homebred Immersive (Nyquist). And of the 11 fillies lined up seeking Grade I glory, only...

[ Read More ]
Nashville Derby A Very Rich And 'Grand Ole' Showdown

It doesn't take long for the Kentucky Downs meeting to hit full gear, as Saturday's program features three graded contests, including the GIII DK Horse Nashville Derby Invitational Stakes, with prize money that could reach $3.1 million. The purse remains intact should one of the 10 Kentucky-breds--eight in the main body of the field and two also-eligibles--is home first over the mile and five-sixteenths journey along the Kentucky/Tennessee border. The four foreign raiders are ineligible for the KTDF money, but the base purse of $2.5 million already makes it one...

[ Read More ]
Saratoga Notebook, Sponsored by NYRA Bets: The Queens M G Seeks Spa Hat Trick

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.-Just the mere fact that a $3,500 yearling has won two races of any kind at Saratoga this summer, puts The Queens M G (Thousand Words) in a "that's impressive" category. In the GI Spinaway Stakes Saturday, she will try to add to her reputation by completing the rare sweep of the track's three stakes for 2-year-old fillies. The Queens M G scored in the 5 1/2-furlong Schuylerville Stakes, long the opening day feature, by 2 3/4 lengths at 44-1 July 11. She crushed the six-furlong GIII Adirondack...

[ Read More ]
X

Never miss another story from the TDN

Click Here to sign up for a free subscription.