Whit Beckman

It was a busy weekend with GI Kentucky Oaks preps being run at Santa Anita, Aqueduct and Gulfstream. None of the winners did enough to crack the top four, but they all have a license to improve. We've dropped the bottom three from last week's list--Running Away (Gun Runner), Runnin N Gunnin (Gun Runner) and White Rocks (Frosted)--and replaced them with horses who appear to have more potential. It will be a quiet week as there is not a single stakes race for 3-year-old fillies that will be run this...

Legion Racing's Drexel Hill (Bolt d'Oro) overcame a stumble at the start to post a rallying score in Saturday's Listed Busher Invitational, a one-turn mile for sophomore fillies, at Aqueduct Racetrack. In victory, the Whit Beckman trainee secured 50 Kentucky Oaks qualifying points, joining stablemates Simply Joking (Practical Joke)--campaigned by Grantley Acres, Ryan Conner and Berkels0813--and Grantley Acres' homebred Her Laugh (Practical Joke) as contenders for the 'Lilies for the Fillies' on the first Friday in May at Churchill Downs. In Saturday's one-turn test, Drexel Hill was returning from a...

With the top five finishers receiving 50-25-15-10-5, respectively, on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks, Drexel Hill (Bolt d'Oro) proved best and took home the top prize in the Busher Stakes at Aqueduct on Saturday. Initially conditioned by Barbara Minshall, the filly broke out of the maiden ranks with a six-length score last fall in what was her fourth attempt at Woodbine. Drexel Hill was then sent to Whit Beckman. The filly finished a well-beaten fifth in the Untapable Stakes in New Orleans Dec. 21, but rebounded to run a...

Simply Joking was failed by 17 vets at the Keeneland September Sale, but Geoff Nixon had an inside track into the filly's history. The daughter of Practical Joke had spent some time at his farm, Grantley Acres, as a yearling and Nixon had liked what he saw. Plus, he knew that her half-brother Drum Roll Please (Hard Spun) was showing promise as a 2-year-old. Nixon took a chance and bought the filly from his friends at Ballysax Bloodstock for $65,000. "To the Thoroughbred world it's not a ton of money,...

Things are starting to heat up on the trail to the GI Kentucky Oaks, and this weekend will feature the most important race run so far this year. The GII Fasig-Tipton Rachel Alexandra Stakes at the Fair Grounds drew just six horses, but the race does not lack quality. Good Cheer (Medaglia d'Oro) was undefeated last year in four starts and will be the favorite. But Simply Joking (Practical Joke) is not a horse you can throw out. It will be a big test for Simply Joking, who has run...

This could only happen to Brad Cox. He trained the best 2-year-old filly in the country last year as Eclipse Award winner Immersive (Nyquist) whipped everything she faced, including eight challengers in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. Earlier this year, she looked like the runaway leader among the fillies eyeing the GI Kentucky Oaks, but came down with a minor injury and will not be ready in time for the Oaks. For most other trainers that would have been a severe setback, losing out on a chance they may...

Four newly-elected board members of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association (KTA) and the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders (KTOB) were announced by the organizations Friday. Whit Beckman, Kelsey Danner, Austin Luttrell and Michael Snyder were elected to serve three-year terms while incumbents William Daugherty, Walker Hancock, Dermot Ryan and Kim Smith were also reelected. "We would like to thank Patrick Costello and James Baker for their service," the KTA said in a press release Friday. "Pat and Jimmy were instrumental in both shaping policy for marketing investments and our advocacy for...

After winning Saturday's Letellier Memorial Stakes with first-time starter Simply Joking (Practical Joke), trainer Whit Beckman struck again with another daughter of Practical Joke in the Untapable Stakes at Fair Grounds. Scratched out of that six-furlong affair on the undercard in favor of the two-turn Untapable, it was Her Laugh (Practical Joke) who got the job done for Beckman in front-running fashion at odds of 9-2, good for 10 points on the Road to the GI Kentucky Oaks. It was 2 1/2 lengths back to favored 'TDN Rising Star' Golden...

Simply Joking (Practical Joke) was certainly for real, kicking off her career with a debut victory in Saturday's Letellier Memorial Stakes at Fair Grounds. Well backed at 5-2 with a flashy worktab on display for trainer Whit Beckman, the $65,000 Keeneland September yearling wasn't off to the sharpest of beginnings and trailed the field of six in the early stages. Fifth and traveling nicely approaching the quarter pole, she rolled up five wide at the top of the stretch and outbattled Delta Downs runaway debut winner Whata Moon (Gormley) to...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - In about 20 seconds, maybe it was 15, Ryan Kamp traced his journey in racing to the winner's enclosure Saturday after the sixth race at Saratoga Race Course with Papiamento (Medaglia d'Oro). Boiled down to an even more concise version, about 15 years ago, Kamp went to the Kentucky Derby and nailed a $1,000 trifecta with his very first wager. "Right there, it just like latched its hooks in and it had me from that point forward," Kamp said. "I ended up going to the Breeders'...

Kyle Zorn considers himself and his partners Travis Durr and Kristian Villante to be a group of big thinkers. The trio set out with some pretty high expectations for themselves when they formed Legion Bloodstock three years ago, but looking back now, they never could have predicted the initial success that their partnership has enjoyed. Over the next few days in Saratoga, Legion Bloodstock's handiwork will be on full display. Their biggest find to date, Grade II winner Honor Marie (Honor Code), takes on the GI Travers Stakes, but there...

SARATOGA SPRINGS - When one of Bob Baffert's horses is doing well, the Hall of Fame trainer expects a big effort. That's why 'TDN Rising Star' Prince of Monaco (Speightstown) has made his second cross-country trip in the last two months. That's why he is right here, in Saratoga, getting ready to run in the $500,000 GI Allen Jerkens Memorial on Saturday. "It's a tough race, there are no easy spots," Baffert said by phone from his summer base at Del Mar in California. "Anytime you have a Grade I,...