V V's Dream

The Road to the Kentucky Derby heats up further still on Saturday, as the $400,000 GII Risen Star S. is the first of six prep races that will offer the winner 50 points, virtually locking up a berth in the field for the Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs on May 4. Track Phantom (Quality Road) will look to continue his domination among the local 3-year-olds as he looks to remain unbeaten around two turns in trying to add to his victories in the Dec. 23 Gun Runner S....

2nd-AQU, $85k, Msw, 2yo, 7f, 12:20p.m. ET From the family of GISW Acoma (Empire Maker) and her half-brother, the late, great GISW Arch (Kris S.), CONQUEST WARRIOR (City of Light) will be the priciest unveiling on the afternoon in New York, carrying a princely $1 million tag from the 2022 KEESEP sale. Racing for Courtlandt Farms under the tutelage of Shug McGaughey, the colt is a half-sibling to a series of winners out of dam MSW Tea Time (Pulpit) including unraced 3-year-old filly Soul Play (Union Rags), who was also...

Everybody understands the deal with new stallions. Most will never again command so high a fee, nor so potent a book, and many will complete their principal service to commercial breeders long before any of their stock has actually entered a starting gate. Once they reach that point, you need only browse the freshman tables of years past to get a chastening sense of how many "exciting" newcomers will establish a lasting eligibility to keep seeding the breed. On the other hand, their window of opportunity is ruthlessly brief. If...

West Sunset (f, 2, West Coast--Vindicated Ghost, by Vindication) didn't let the Kentucky rain slow her down en route to a stylish coast-to-coast victory in a sloppy rendition of the Rags to Riches S. beneath the Twin Spires. Coming into the race with a neck victory over a fast main track at this venue Sept. 16 after being forced to close from the back of the field, she took a diametrically opposed trip here, immediately establishing a clear lead right from the jump. Well in hand on a loose lead...

Cut loose in the lane and rolling home, Youalmosthadme (f, 2, Oxbow--Good Gator, by Good and Tough) gave them the slip on the cut back from a mile and dominated the Myrtlewood S. to pick up her second career black type victory. Last seen finishing second behind long-gone GIII Pocahontas victress 'TDN Rising Star' V V's Dream (Mitole), who finished second to Candied (Candy Ride {Arg}) in the GI Darley Alcibiades earlier in the month, Youalmosthadme already tallied an open length maiden score over this track in the spring and...

The fall isn't really, The Fall, until Keeneland arrives. Well, get your steaming pot of burgoo ready, because it's here. Scheduled for Friday, Oct. 6, the meet's opening day at the Old Keene Farm is upon us and the 10-race card includes a trio of graded stakes which all have Breeders' Cup 'Win and You're In' implications. Leading off is the GII Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix S. for 3-year-olds and up going six furlongs on the Main Track. Suitors for the GI Breeders' Cup Qatar Racing Sprint include MSW Bango...

The juvenile fillies division is crystalizing into one of the most intriguing subplots of the Breeders' Cup as we approach the six-week mark to the championships. The skyrocketing 'TDN Rising Star' Tamara (Bolt d'Oro), unveiled barely a month ago, has emerged from the West Coast as the obvious topper of her division. But the brilliant, 2-for-2  daughter of four-time champion Beholder is likely to have a fight on her hands as the upcoming stakes engagements extend around two turns, thanks to a talented trio of fillies who have ascended in...

V V's Dream (Mitole) already is showing an affinity for Churchill Downs. She picked up her second victory over the track in the GIII Pocahontas S., earning the first 10 points available on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks. Debuted sprinting as the favorite over the dirt May 19, the gray filly earned 'TDN Rising Star' status with a 6 1/2-length win from off the pace. Shipped to Ellis Park for a run in the Debutante S., she was a beaten favorite July 2 by just a half-length to undefeated...

Racing roads converge this Saturday. With a little over a month left before horses and their connections officially point to Santa Anita, the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series returns to Woodbine Racetrack. Featured are three 'Win and You're In' chances, including the GI Ricoh Woodbine Mile. Meanwhile, at Churchill Downs, the prep seasons officially open for 2-year-old colts and fillies, who are seeking to bank points for next May's 150th editions of the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Kentucky Oaks. There is much to get to with Belmont at the Big...

Kenny McPeek has managed to keep Lucky Seven Stable's talented pair Smile Happy (Runhappy) and Rattle N Roll (Connect) away from the same starting gate until now, but on Saturday the stablemates will meet for the first time in the GI Stephen Foster S. Set to run this year at Ellis Park, the mile-and-an-eighth contest drew a field of eight and is a 'Win and You're In' qualifier for the GI Breeders Cup Classic. Smile Happy and Rattle N Roll share more than a few similarities, but the main parallel...

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...

1st-BEL, $90K, Msw, 2yo, f, 5fT, 3:05 p.m. Belmont Park opens the week with a maiden sprint over the grass which includes $700,000 FTSAUG buy SAM'S TREASURE (Munnings). The Wesley Ward trainee with Irad Ortiz in the irons, counts second dam MSW Treasured Up (Medaglia d'Oro) and her half-sister GSW Choctaw Nation (Louis Quatorze) in her family. Out of Ward's stable also comes a daughter out of Freshman Sire Advertise (GB), who was a multiple Group 1 turf sprinter in Europe. Chitarra (Ire), hammered down for 300,000 guineas at the...