Vino Rosso

1st-AQU, $85k, Msw, 2yo, f, 6fT, 12:20p.m. ET The lone firster in the field, Team Spoor's CURLIN'S GIRL (Curlin) will open her tab in this maiden baby dash on the back of a string of bullet works. Starting Oct. 7, when she went five furlongs in 1:01.88, she flashed speed Oct. 14 going five panels in :59.44 (1/6); Oct. 23 in company with $475,000 KEESEP grad Shop Lifting (Into Mischief)--who ran second by a head on her debut at Saratoga to GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies victress Just F Y...

The first of back-to-back GI Breeders' Cup Classic winners retired to Spendthrift, Vino Rosso currently leads the U.S. freshman sire list and has had four individuals place in Grade I races in the last five weeks, including three on Oct. 7. "Since he is a son of Curlin, we were fortunate enough to acquire the breeding rights to him in his 4-year-old year, and that's when he really began to take off," said Ned Toffey, general manager of Spendthrift. "He won the Wood Memorial, so he was good early in...

Fees have been set for Spendthrift's four first-crop sires, currently occupying four of the five top spots on the leading freshman sire list in North America, according to a release from the Central Kentucky farm Wednesday. Their fees for the 2024 breeding season were held back when Spendthrift announced the farm's roster and fees in late September. The Spendthrift roster will feature three new stallions in 2024: Taiba (Gun Runner), Arabian Lion (Justify), and Zandon (Upstart). Taiba is already at the farm and will stand for $35,000, while the other...

Celebrating 40 Years of the Breeders' Cup with Living Legends There are great racehorses and there are great sires. One doesn't always equal the other. Sometimes, but not always, a horse is equally adept at both. "It's rare for world-class racehorse to become a world-class sire. It's two different resumes, two different achievements," said John Sikura, owner of Hill 'n' Dale. Rarely, ever so rarely, a top racehorse becomes a sire so good and so prolific in generating top-class horses that his own championship race record becomes almost an afterthought....

5th-CD, $120K, Msw, 2yo, 7f, 2:45 p.m. Currently in fifth place on TDN's first-crop sire tally behind fellow Spendthrift Farm leader Maximus Mischief, Vino Rosso will look to add to his haul when MASMAK hits the track for the first time Friday afternoon. Originally purchased for $70,000 by Tom McCrocklin at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, the chestnut colt went to FMQ Stables at the OBS Spring Sale earlier this year for $475,000. Trained by Brad Cox and ridden by Florent Geroux, Masmak's dam GSP Nite in Rome is also...

5th-BAQ, $90K, Msw, 2yo, f, 6fT, 3:11 p.m. Blue Devil Racing Stable purchased DREAMING OF MO (Uncle Mo) at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sale for $700,000. Two years prior, the bay filly's dam Dreaming of You (Pioneerof the Nile) was sold to Phoenix Thoroughbreds with the filly in utero at the Keeneland November Sale for $500,000. Second dam General Jeanne (Honour and Glory) also produced MGSW Justwhistledixie (Dixie Union), who foaled GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile hero New Year's Day (Street Cry {Ire}) and three full-brothers by Tapit--MGSW Mohaymen, GSW Enforceable,...

Jockey Katie Davis will be suspended from riding the first seven days of the 2024 Saratoga Race Course season after she opted not to appeal a "careless riding" penalty handed down by the stewards. The ruling follows the disqualification of her mount on the final Saturday of this summer's meet. According to the ruling dated Sept. 17, the infraction occurred in Saratoga's sixth race Sept. 2, a New York-bred maiden special weight over 1 1/16 miles on the turf. Davis was aboard the 52-1 first-timer Vin Santo (Vino Rosso), who...

3rd-Del Mar, $84,500, Msw, 9-2, 2yo, 6f, 1:11.43, ft, 1 1/2 lengths. WINE ME UP (c, 2, Vino Rosso--Deanaallen'skitten {SW, $374,246}, by Kitten's Joy) found his feet after bobbling a touch at the jump and took no time getting to the front, speeding through :22.01, and :45.44 early splits as D'Oro Dash (Bolt d'Oro) hounded him from second as part of the lead trio. Vying with challengers through the turn, Wine Me Up had to dig, but found more in the stretch to kick away from his longtime shadow and...

Unbeaten and already a stakes winner in his first two starts, The Wine Steward kept his perfect record intact with a gutsy performance in Sunday's Funny Cide S. at Saratoga. Back facing New York-breds for the first time since his six-length debut win at Belmont May 28, the even-money favorite had to overcome a wide draw and a bumpy beginning. Caught outside throughout, he turned for home four abreast, set his sights on pacesetter El Grande O, and dug in to just get past that rival in the final jumps....

2nd-Saratoga, $105,000, Msw, 8-19, 2yo, 1m (off turf), 1:39.24, ft, 5 lengths. DANCING GROOM (c, 2, Vino Rosso--Snow Dancer, by Bernardini) skipped clear down the lane to become the sixth winner for his freshman sire (by Curlin). A 9-2 shot in this off-turf stretch-out to a mile, the chestnut colt was hustled to keep pace with the early leaders, but was shuffled back to midpack down the backstretch. He rolled into contention with a three-wide move on the far turn, took charge at the top of the lane and strolled...

1st-CNL, $60K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 1:30p.m. Lael Stables' BUBBLING UP (Vino Rosso) marks her career debut at Colonial Downs for trainer Michael Stidham. Out of  GSP Shaken (Uncle Mo), the Mark Stansell-bred filly brought $550,000 at Fasig-Tipton's Saratoga Select Sale last summer. The top-priced offspring by the champion Vino Rosso last season, the filly's pricetag far surpassed the Spendthrift sire's 2022 yearling average of $94,287 for 112 head sold. TJCIS PPs  

Maybe opera is not as popular in the nomenclature of horses as classic ballet or theater, but Ohio multiple winner Alfio (Mucho Macho Man) carries a very solid and thoughtful operatic connection with his parents in his name. In the celebrated one-act opera "Cavalleria Rusticana" (1890), Alfio is the jealous husband who kills romantic rival "compare Turiddu" in a duel to the death. A possible translation of "Cavalleria Rusticana" could be "Rustic Gallantry." Some say that the opera is the solitary masterpiece of one-hit-wonder Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945). Still, some of...