Upstart

Grade I winners and 'TDN Rising Stars' Taiba (Gun Runner) and Arabian Lion (Justify) will join Zandon (Upstart) and stand at Spendthrift Farm for the 2024 breeding season. Spendthrift announced the news Saturday. "We are really excited to be bringing in three new stallion prospects of the caliber of Taiba, Arabian Lion and Zandon for the 2024 breeding season," said Spendthrift general manager Ned Toffey. "All three are superior physicals, and all three displayed immense talent in winning some of America's biggest 3-year-old races on dirt. Obviously, the Breeders' Cup...

Some of the most highly anticipated races during the summer racing season are the 'baby' races during the boutique meetings at both Saratoga and Del Mar and at Ellis Park, which attract its fair share of high-priced offspring from a variety of top national outfits. Summer Breezes highlights debuting 2-year-olds at those meetings that have been sourced at the breeze-up sales earlier in the year, with links to their under-tack previews. To follow are the entries for Thursday at Saratoga and Del Mar: Thursday, August 24, 2023 Saratoga 2, $88k,...

Welcome back, Babe. Trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr., on the sidelines for more than 10 years after having his license suspended by New York State racing regulators, enjoyed by far his biggest win since returning in the spring courtesy of White Abarrio (Race Day), a jaw-dropping 6 1/4-length, stalk-and-pounce winner of Saturday's 'Win and You're In' GI Whitney S. at Saratoga. Zandon (Upstart) completed the exacta while the heavily favored Cody's Wish (Curlin), looking for his first career win beyond one mile while drawn widest of all in post six, had...

First Row Partners and Team Hanley's Prerequisite went wire-to-wire to take the rescheduled GII Wonder Again S. in just her third career start at Belmont Park Sunday. Sent off at 7-1, the bay filly rushed up to take the lead into the first turn and she was tracked by Spansive (Karakontie {Jpn}) through fractions of :23.67 and :47.94 in a strung-out field down the backstretch. She scampered away into the lane and was clear in upper stretch, but was all out to hold off the late-closing Be Your Best. "I...

She'd been the buzz horse among the Churchill locals all day and V V's Dream (Mitole) took the first baby steps to making quite a few come true while securing 'TDN Rising Star'-dom in this stylish unveiling. Breaking slowly and asked to race in seventh from two off the rail going into the turn, the grey bided her time as the field watched the other Mitole Cheetah Miss put up all the fractions as :21.90 and :45.59 flashed across the board. Rolling under a full head of steam and splitting...

8th-AQU, $84K, OC, 4yo/up, 1m, 5:06 p.m. ZANDON (Upstart), last seen running fourth Dec. 3 in the GI Cigar Mile at Aqueduct, returns to the scene on Saturday in this spot for owner Jeff Drown. Receiving Lasix for the first time, the Chad Brown trainee will be ridden by Flavien Prat and will leave from gate two. Zandon's 3-year-old campaign included a victory in the GI Toyota Blue Grass S., and a pair of third-place finishes in the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Runhappy Travers S. His dam Memories Prevail...

The TAA-accredited R.A.C.E. Fund, a 501c3 that stands for "Retirement Assistance and Care for Equines," will launch its 2023 fundraising drive May 12. The online auction will appear on eBay and end May 19. A number of halters--including those of Essential Quality, Serena's Song, Quality Road, Mandaloun, and Upstart--horseshoes, and signed pictures will be part of the auction, as will a VIP farm tour of Three Chimneys. "We have some very exciting and amazing auction items again this year," said R.A.C.E. Fund president Marlene Murray. "We would like to especially...

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...

Strictly, it's the very reverse of what he's doing—which is actually to revert from two turns to one. In a sense, however, the return of Zandon (Upstart) to Aqueduct on Saturday will bring things full circle.

Enjoy your day at the Big A. Led by the GI Cigar Mile H. and three other graded events, Aqueduct's loaded 10-race card will be in the spotlight in South Ozone Park Saturday. Zandon (Upstart), winner of the GI Toyota Blue Grass S. and third-place finisher in the GI Kentucky Derby this spring, cuts back to a one-turn mile for Chad Brown in the feature. The dark bay, favored at even-money on the Cigar Mile's morning-line, also finished third in the GI Runhappy Travers S. and second in the GI...

Led by top three third-crop sire Upstart, whose fee has risen from $10,000 to $30,000 for the upcoming year, Airdrie Stud has released the stud fees for the farm's 2023 stallion roster. New stallion Happy Saver, a Grade I winner who will retire after an expected start in the Nov. 5 GI Breeders' Cup Classic, and Girvin, a top freshman sire whose three stakes winners include GII Saratoga Special S. winner Damon's Mound and who has been relocated from Ocala Stud, will stand for $12,500 and $20,000, respectively. "These are...

Plainsman (Flatter--S S Pinafore, by Street Sense), a three-time graded winner and third-place finisher in the 2021 GI Cigar Mile H., has been retired to Buck Pond Farm in Kentucky. He will stand the 2023 season for $5,000. "He's by Flatter, who has not only been a great sire, but is also the sire of Upstart, who is a leading young sire himself," Buck Pond's Doug Arnold told TDN. "He had incredible speed. He ran 1:33 and change two different times and he's extremely good looking. He looks like his...