Tom's d'Etat

It's that time again. The first major 2-year-old sale, the March OBS sale, is in the books and the buyers, sellers and bloodstock agents have had their chance to evaluate this year's freshman sires. So who do they like? We asked the experts listed below to give us their pick for leading freshman sire and an under-the-radar stallion they expect will have a big 2024. Liz Crow: "I really liked the Improbables (WinStar) at the OBS March breeze show. It's very sad that he passed away. I thought he had,...

The first reported foal by WinStar stallion Tom's d'Etat (Smart Strike--Julia Tuttle, by Giant's Causeway) was born Sunday at Waldorf Farm. The filly is out of Today Comes Once (Cross Traffic) and was bred by Steven Wecker, Alfred and Keith Riccio, Patrick Brown, and Bill Achenbaum. "Lovely filly. Solid bone," said Kenny Toye, manager of Waldorf Farm. "Excited for her owners and happy to have some more Smart Strike blood in New York." Tom's d'Etat won the 2019 GI Clark S. and 2020 GII Stephen Foster S. On the board...

Speightstown will head the roster at WinStar Farm in 2022 with a fee of $90,000, stands and nurses, the same fee for which he stood in 2021. Right behind the chestnut is Constitution, North America's second-leading third-crop sire, who will stand for $85,000 S&N, also the same as 2021. Among notable changes on the 18-horse roster, More Than Ready gets a trim from $65,000 to $50,000. "Our 2022 roster is suited for breeders at every level," said Elliott Walden, WinStar's president, CEO, and racing manager. "Speightstown, Constitution, and More Than...

As former stable star and popular GISW Tom's d'Etat (Smart Strike) gets his career at stud underway at WinStar Farm, a pair of flashy 3-year-old maiden winners and an emotional stakes victory have helped propel the 2021 season for veteran trainer Al Stall, Jr. "Trying to fill the shoes of horses like Blame and Tom's d'Etat are awfully tough," said Stall, who trained the former to a heart-stopping victory over Zenyatta in the 2010 GI Breeders' Cup Classic. "When horses like that leave the barn to go to Claiborne Farm...

With 18 stallions already standing at stud, WinStar Farm already had one of the largest stallion rosters in Kentucky, but they will be busier than ever in 2021 after having welcomed five new recruits for the upcoming season. Laoban (Uncle Mo) will stand his first year in Kentucky after becoming a Grade I-producing sire this year, while Grade I winners Improbable (City Zip) and Promises Fulfilled (Shackleford) will start off their career at the Versailles farm. Today, we speak with WinStar's General Manager Dave Hanley on Global Campaign (Curlin) and...

For the first half of this story, please visit yesterday's instalment. Precocity may not be the first thing you'd have in mind from Tom's d'Etat (Smart Strike--Julia Tuttle, by Giant's Causeway), who enters service at WinStar at $17,500 after only really seizing our attention at the age of seven. Nonetheless, he represents one of the most promising prospects of the intake. For a start, he's by a sire of sires out of a graded stakes-placed Giant's Causeway mare whose own dam was a full-sister to Candy Ride (Arg). And nine...

LEXINGTON,KY-- Just over 12 hours after the trio's contention for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, Improbable (City Zip), Global Campaign (Curlin) and Tom's d'Etat (Smart Strike) made the short trip from Keeneland to WinStar Farm, where they will soon take up stud duty for the 2021 breeding season. "We're really excited with Improbable, Global Campaign and Tom's d'Etat coming to the stallion barn," said WinStar's Elliott Walden. "They all look good-their color was good, they didn't look too drawn up and they got off the van and acted like they'd...

In an atypical year for horse racing in which COVID-19 has played havoc on just about everything, it will be a typical Breeders' Cup Saturday, at least on the racetrack. Including also-eligibles, 104 horses have been entered to contest the nine races that will be offered and the list includes a who's who of the best horses not just in North America but in the world. Between the two days of racing, the Breeders' Cup could decide every Eclipse Award race but the 3-year-old filly championship, where Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil)...

In these days of wilful division and reluctant separation, perhaps the wider world could for once learn something from our own community. For while our preoccupations may be frivolous, relative to such momentous challenges as the securing of democracy or public health, they do at least inculcate precisely the kind of calm forbearance most needed, right now, to quell the hysteria and despair infecting national wellbeing. It's pouring with rain? Go feed your horse and clean out the stall. Middle of a heatwave? Go feed your horse and clean out...

Sackatoga Stables' GI Belmont S. winner and GI Kentucky Derby runner-up Tiz the Law (Constitution) capped off his serious work ahead of next Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Classic with a five-furlong breeze at Keeneland Saturday morning. With his regular work rider Heather Smullen in the irons, the New York-bred drilled five furlongs in :59.20 and galloped out an extra eighth of a mile in 1:12.20 (video). "I saw just what I wanted. He went perfectly," said trainer Barclay Tagg who will send out his 11th Breeders' Cup starter next weekend....

The worktab at Churchill Downs Saturday morning was replete with many of racing's biggest names scheduled to make an upcoming start during next month's Breeders' Cup, including champion Monomoy Girl (Tapizar), GI Preakness S. heroine Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) and Grade I-winner Tom's d'Etat (Smart Strike). Targeting the Distaff, the 2018 3-year-old champion filly completed six furlongs in 1:12. Working in tandem with GSW and GISP Owendale (Into Mischief, 6f 1:13), the 5-year-old carved out eighth-mile splits of :12, :24.40, :36.20, :47.80 and 1:00, galloping out in front of her stablemate...

As a multiple Grade I winner with 11 triple-digit Beyer figures to his name, McKinzie (Street Sense) has well established himself as a force in the older male division. But showing a pair of off-the-board finishes in three starts this season, he will be out looking for a bit of redemption when he returns to the site and race that produced his track-record setting performance last spring in Friday's GII Alysheba S. at Churchill Downs. Racking up powerful victories in the GI Pennsylvania Derby and GI Malibu S. as a...