Ultrafleet, a daughter of Afleet, became the foundation root of a family tree that has expanded to include six graded/group stakes winners worldwide, with its brightest stars including late European Horse of the Year Roaring Lion and the newly minted Preakness Stakes winner Rombauer.
With his victory in the Preakness Stakes, Rombauer is now a winner on dirt, turf, and synthetic racing surfaces. He has followed in the footsteps of sire, Twirling Candy, a graded stakes winner on all three surfaces and a similarly versatile sire who can now also be called a classic sire.
The global coronavirus pandemic turned life, including the Thoroughbred racing and sales calendar, upside down in 2020. But the shuffling of the sales calendar actually played out in favor of the small breeding program of John and Dian Fradkin.
One day before Rombauer runs in the Preakness Stakes, his older half-brother Treasure Trove will contest the Grade 3 Pimlico Special.
Several Maryland-breds, including defending winner Harpers First Ride, will fly the flag for their home state in the Grade 3 Pimlico Special on Friday.
Mandy Pope has spent well over $50 million on broodmares for her Whisper Hill Farm operation in the last nine Novembers at Kentucky's elite sales. The total purse of Saturday's Preakness Stakes is $1 million, with $600,000 going to the winning connections. But a victory by Pope's homebred Unbridled Honor would be priceless.
Champions Gun Runner and Classic Empire each sired his first winner in the past week at Churchill Downs.
Six years after the 2015 Kentucky Derby victory that kicked off his Triple Crown sweep, an already huge month of May for American Pharoah could get even more significant.
Thoroughbreds are often evaluated on paper – on how those black-and-white squares of past performances and Beyer Speed Figures and statistics line up against their foes. But intangible things can also elevate a horse. And if that quality known as heart – the will to win when the chips are down – can be found in a scrutiny of bloodlines, then Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit has come by his honestly.
Malathaat avenged the 2013 Kentucky Oaks loss of her dam, Dreaming of Julia, with a victory in the filly classic on Friday at Churchill Downs. She and her dam were both brought to the Oaks by trainer Todd Pletcher, who achieved an exacta of sorts in this year's edition. He also trained Co Cola, dam of Search Results, a hard-fought second to Malathaat on Friday.
