White Birch Farm

Peter Brant's investment in Gun Runner has paid dividends, and the momentum shows no signs of slowing down. Eclipse Award winner Sierra Leone, who Brant campaigned alongside the Coolmore group, headlines Brant's success with the sire. The champion retired to Ashford Stud this year as Gun Runner's all-time leading earner. A similarly composed partnership that includes Brant owns undefeated Paladin (Gun Runner), the recent winner of the GII Risen Star Stakes, as well as a Gun Runner colt out of GSW Thoughtfully (Tapit) who was purchased for $3.3 million at...

Already a winner of the G1 Prix de Diane (French Oaks) in June, Gezora (Fr) (Almanzor {Fr}) unleashed a devastating late kick to down stretch leader She Feels Pretty (Karakontie {Jpn}) in the dying strides and claim the $2-million GI Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf by half-length. The final time for the 1 3/8 miles was 2:12.54. The bay gave her trainer Francis-Henri Graffard his first Breeders' Cup victory. He is champion trainer elect in France this year. Bred by Haras d'Etreham where her sire used to...

5th-Belmont The Big A, $85,000, Msw, 10-17, 2yo, 1m, 1:36.11, ft, 5 1/4 lengths. PALADIN (c, 2, Gun Runner--Secret Sigh, by Tapit) scored his first career win here, albeit not in a way his connections likely believed he would after Renegade (Into Mischief)--first across the line--was disqualified to second. The even-money favorite for this unveiling, Paladin was never far from the front as he pushed Credit History (Nyquist) through an opening quarter in :23.20 and a half in :46.48. Asked to take command passing the half-mile, he had a slim...

With a big kick down the lane, Asbury Park (GB) (Frankel (GB)--Limonar (Ire), by Street Cry {Ire}) rolled home to take the GII Jockey Club Derby Invitational Stakes at the Big A on Saturday. Named a 'TDN Rising Star', presented by Hagyard, after the colt won at second asking in what was his 3-year-old debut over the grass going two turns upstate June 6, Asbury Park was well-beaten against optional claimers at course and distance July 18. The Chad Brown trainee was last seen running third in the Saranac Stakes...

Trainer Francis-Henri Graffard fields a trio of runners in Sunday's G1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, with Aga Khan homebred Daryz (Sea The Stars) to be ridden by Mickael Barzalona. The three-year-old colt has been stepped up gradually this season, with a win in the Listed Prix Ridgway in June followed by a success in the G2 Prix Eugene Adam at Saint-Cloud later that month. Unplaced in the G1 Juddmonte International Stakes at York in August, the son of Daryakana (Selkirk) bounced back to be second in the G3...

5th-BAQ, 85k, Msw, 3yo/up, f/m, 1mT, 3:05 p.m. ET Peter Brant homebred Blackfin (Ire) (Kingman {GB}), the first foal out of GI Breeders' Cup Mile heroine and champion turf female Uni (GB) (More Than Ready), debuts for Chad Brown. Brant's White Birch Farm went to $4.1 million to purchase Uni at the 2020 FTKNOV Sale. Listed at 7-2 on the morning-line, the 3-year-old filly will be ridden by Flavien Prat. Blackfin is bred on the same Kingman x More Than Ready cross as G1SW-Aus King Colorado (Aus). TJCIS PPS

LEXINGTON, KY -- The Keeneland September Yearling Sale marched into Book 3 Saturday with no signs of slackening of its torrid pace as the auction's fifth session continued to produce double-digit gains over last year's figures. During the opening Book 3 session, 278 yearlings sold for $61,799,000. The session average was $222,299--up 26.69% from last year's corresponding figure--and the median of $300,000 was up 20%. The buy-back rate ticked down to 26.43% from 28.62% a year ago. "Today marks the fifth consecutive session in which we've set a record, an...

After a dark day Friday, the Keeneland September Yearling Sale picked up right where it had left off when a colt by Into Mischief (hip 1197) brought a final bid of $2 million early in Saturday's fifth session of the 12-day auction. Bloodstock agent Justin Casse signed the ticket on behalf of Coolmore, White Birch Farm, and John Oxley. Consigned by Gainesway, the bay colt is out of the unraced Miss Jessica J (Empire Maker), who is a half-sister to champion Jaywalk (Cross Traffic) and multiple stakes winner Danzatrice (Dunkirk),...

Christophe Soumillon was forced into switching mounts, taking up piloting duties aboard Killarney maiden winner Benvenuto Cellini (Frankel) after TDN Rising Star Montreal (Sea The Stars) was scratched, in Saturday's G2 KPMG Champions Juvenile Stakes--formerly known as the Golden Fleece Stakes--and the rider continued on a winning roll as the son of Newspaperofrecord (Lope De Vega) stepped forward to claim a career high in the one-mile contest. His tally earned him a spot in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar at the beginning of November. "He's a...

by Jessica Martini, Christina Bossinakis and Jill Williams LEXINGTON, KY - The Keeneland September Yearling Sale continued to churn out double-digit year-on-year gains as its second Book 2 session concluded Thursday night with yet another son of Gun Runner leading the way. Through four sessions of the 12-day auction, 671 yearlings have grossed $307,639,000. At this same point a year ago, 640 head had sold for $252,528,000. Asked about the gross surpassing the $300-million mark after day four, Keeneland Senior Director of Sales Operations Cormac Breathnach laughed and said, "It's...

Guided on the lawn by former Eclipse Outstanding Jockey Jose Ortiz, May Day Ready (Tapit--Nemoralia, by More Than Ready) pulled the proverbial wool over the eyes of her competitors by absconding with every pole to take the GII Lake Placid Stakes at the Spa on Saturday. May Day Ready made the local course her own over a year ago when she broke her maiden by a nose at first asking. The bay shipped to Kentucky Downs and won the Juvenile Fillies Stakes in early September, then netted the GII Jessamine...

In a continued flurry of high-priced activity in the ring at Arqana, the third seven-figure yearling of the morning session was knocked down at €1.2 million to MV Magnier and White Birch Farm. The colt by Camelot (lot 191) is out of the winning Lope De Vega mare Peinture Secret and was consigned by Haras de la Perelle as lot 191. His dam is a half-sister to the Group 2 winner Pensee Du Jour, who is also by Camelot, and to Group 3 winner Canvassed. The third dam Peinture Bleue...