Glennwood Farm, operated by John D. Gunther and his daughter Tanya Gunther, reached the pinnacle of Thoroughbred racing when its fields produced unbeaten Triple Crown winner Justify. The Scat Daddy colt, whom Gunther sold for $500,000 as a Keeneland September yearling, also is out of a Glennwood homebred, the Grade 3-placed Ghostzapper mare Stage Magic.
Skip to main content
Create Your DRF Account
New to DRF?
Everything you could possibly
need in one place
need in one place
Register
Don't have an account?
Register Here
DRF Past Performances
Mike Abraham’s diverse equine interests as a breeder in 2018 were led by Accelerate, who won five Grade 1 races, including the Breeders’ Cup Classic, to make himself a finalist for Horse of the Year and outstanding older dirt male.
Abraham has owned a farm in his native New Mexico since the early 1980s, and splits his Thoroughbred broodmare band between there and Jacob Nance’s I.R. Bloodstock at Dearborn Farm in Kentucky. He also maintains a large Quarter Horse operation in New Mexico.
Monomoy Girl was fairly unstoppable in 2018, with the only one who was able to defeat her being . . . herself.
The filly won 6 of 7 starts in 2018, with the only blip on her record a disqualification that cost her a perfect season. Monomoy Girl holds signature triumphs in the Kentucky Oaks and Breeders’ Cup Distaff and is now an Eclipse Award finalist as leading 3-year-old filly.
“She is a special filly, one of a kind, an unbelievable filly,” trainer Brad Cox said.
Midnight Bisou was a $19,000 buyback by breeder Woodford Thoroughbreds when she appeared at the 2016 Keeneland September yearling sale. Jeff Bloom then purchased her for a bargain $80,000 after she breezed a furlong in a relatively ordinary 10 1/5 seconds at the 2018 OBS spring sale of 2-year-olds in training.
As 2018 dawned, McKinzie was the best 3-year-old in trainer Bob Baffert’s barn, and as the year ended, he had reclaimed that spot. The middle of the year . . .
Well, McKinzie went to the sidelines with a minor injury, and a horse named Justify came along as a more-than-worthy replacement. But McKinzie came roaring back, winning a pair of Grade 1 races in the final 3 1/2 months of the year to end up a finalist in this division.
Sat, 01/05/2019 - 11:14
Accelerate made his first start of 2018 exactly 15 days before Justify ever raced, and his campaign continued for nearly five months after Justify made his last start. They could not have had more contrasting schedules, and though they never faced one another on the track, their accomplishments have set the stage for a battle at the ballot box for Horse of the Year.
Those who were paying attention to the waning days of 2017 were treated to the sight of a colt named City of Light making his stakes debut in a Grade 1 event and running away with the seven-furlong Malibu Stakes for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita Park.
The calendar page turned, and City of Light was asked by trainer Michael McCarthy to grow up fast. To begin his 2018 campaign, the son of Quality Road answered with resounding back-to-back wins in the Grade 1 Triple Bend on March 10 and then an upset of Santa Anita Handicap winner Accelerate in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap on April 14.
On the first edition of last year’s Top Thoroughbred Poll sponsored by the NTRA, published Jan. 29, 2018, a total of 49 different horses received at least one vote of support from the 38 racing experts who submitted opinions.
Accelerate was not among the 49.
The setbacks that sidelined Sistercharlie in 2017 and 2018 gave owner Peter Brant a profound sense of appreciation moments after the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Churchill Downs on Nov. 3.
Sistercharlie won her third consecutive Grade 1 race in the BC Filly and Mare Turf, holding off by a neck a sustained threat from Wild Illusion in the richest turf race for females in the United States. As a result of that victory and her exceptional campaign, Sistercharlie is among the finalists for the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding turf female of 2018.