Tonalist

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- Brooke Hubbard remembers the 2018 Keeneland September Sale almost as if it happened yesterday. A little past the midway point of the sixth day of bidding in Lexington, hip 1683--a colt from the first crop of Tonalist and offered by Dermot and Emma Quinn's Garrencasey Sales--walked into the back ring and immediately caught Hubbard's attention. A few minutes and $60,000 later, the May 11 foal was hers. "I bid twice and I was looking around thinking, 'Oh, my gosh, I must have missed something that...

Root Cause (f, 3, Into Mischief--Vertical Vision {MSW, $202,979), by Pollard's Vision), second at Saratoga Aug. 14 last season in a 1 1/16-mile turf maiden which yielded SP Towhead (Malibu Moon), SP Beauitfulnavigator (Ire) (Expert Eye {GB}), and SP Forever Dixie (Quality Road), made it look effortless here en route to 'TDN Rising Star'-dom at 1-5 favoritism in her 2023 bow over Gulfstream Park grass. Breaking well but in no hurry to challenge the eager early speed, Root Cause stalked from the two path in third through the first bend....

And so we come to the abyss: that giddy phase between launching your first juveniles and being able to claim a viable niche in this most unforgiving of marketplaces. Yes, for those few young stallions that do manage to seize their fleeting opportunity, a narrow path can rise rapidly towards lucrative heights. Most of the others, however, find themselves clinging to a crumbling ledge. Whatever you do, don't look down! It's easy to disparage the robotic tendencies of the commercial market. Too easy, certainly, for me to have neglected the...

Following their performances in the GI Dubai World Cup, beaten favorite Life Is Good (Into Mischief) and race winner Country Grammer (Tonalist) are on their way to WinStar Farm for a freshening before they return to serious training. WinStar President and CEO Elliott Walden estimated that their stay at the farm will last from 30 to 45 days. WinStar is the co-owner of both horses. Colonel Liam (Liam's Map), who finished ninth in the GI Dubai Turf, is also being sent to WinStar. The heavy favorite in the wagering, Life...

With the 2022 breeding season right around the corner, we will feature a series of breeders' mating plans over the coming weeks. Today we have Erin Fisher of Harper Ridge Thoroughbreds. "All my horses are crossed with stallions that I feel will throw appealing and sound horses that can provide second and third careers off the track and provide longevity to the breed," said Fisher. "I look for soundness and attitude with the idea that my foals can have long futures in any discipline after racing." APPEALING WAY (m, 8,...

This can be a terrifying business. Here we are, for the first time in this series, assessing stallions that have at least put some sophomores through the starting gate. And already, commercially, the game appears to be up for many. So much so, in fact, that to give adequate competitive depth to our value podium, we're going to combine the consecutive intakes who were in 2021 respectively contesting the second- and third-crop championships. Here's just one example of how ruthless the market is. I won't name the stallion, because he...

OCALA, FL - The three-day Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's June Sale of 2-Year-Olds more than bounced back from its 2020 pandemic-induced lull, ending Friday with its highest-ever gross and average and with a record-tying median. In all, 560 juveniles grossed $24,492,950 for an average of $43,737--besting the previous record figures of $23,475,500 and $39,722, respectively, set in 2015. The cumulative median was $20,000. With 125 horses reported not sold, the buy-back rate was 18.2%. "The June sale is all grown up now," said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. "I...

After bringing $110,000 from WinStar Farm at the Keeneland January dispersal of the late Paul Pompa, Jr., Country Grammer (Tonalist) makes his first start for Bob Baffert in Saturday's GII Californian S. at Santa Anita. Previously trained by Chad Brown, Country Grammer narrowly captured last summer's GIII Peter Pan S. at Saratoga with subsequent G1 Dubai World Cup winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Mystic Guide (Ghostzapper) back in third. The $450,000 OBS April 2-year-old, last seen finishing a well-beaten fifth in the GI Runhappy Travers S. Aug. 8, worked five...

This is the second half of the latest instalment in our ongoing series examining stallion options for the new breeding season, featuring sires about to launch their third crop of juveniles. The first part, dealing with the likes of American Pharoah and Constitution, can be read here.  We wrapped up yesterday with the first two of three horses retired to Lane's End after filling the frame in an epic race for the GI Whitney S. in 2015. The third, Tonalist (Tapit--Settling Mist, by Pleasant Colony), has somehow always seemed to...

Dual graded winner Tonalist's Shape (Tonalist) bypassed the Sept. 4 GI Kentucky Oaks in favor of running in Friday's GIII Charles Town Oaks. Victorious in the GIII Forward Gal S. and GII Davona Dale S. in February at Gulfstream, the chestnut was off the board as the favorite behind leading Oaks contender Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) in the GII Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Park Oaks Mar. 28. Returning to winning ways in Hollywood Wildcat S. in Hallandale May 15, she was fourth last time in the nine-panel GI CCA Oaks in Saratoga July...

If anything, you would think it the very last thing that might appeal to one who has spent decades acquainting himself, at viscerally close quarters, with all the things that can go wrong with a Thoroughbred. Yet here he is, sharing the same vicissitudes as those clients for whom--weighing the ups and downs of their trade--his veterinary skills so long served as a vital fulcrum. As one of the original partners of the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, Dr. Scott Pierce could scarcely have gone into breeding with fewer illusions....

Paul Pompa's Country Grammer (Tonalist) was ultra-game in securing his first black-type score in the rescheduled and relocated GIII Peter Pan S. on Saratoga's opening day Thursday. Saving ground in fourth, the 4-1 shot sat a few lengths off the longshot pacesetter Mo Hawk (Uncle Mo) through a :23.24 opening quarter and closed the gap a bit, moving into third as the half went in :48.13. The bay inched up the fence as 22-1 shot Celtic Striker (Congrats) ranged up outside the leader with Caracaro (Uncle Mo) hot on his...