Mon, 02/10/2020 - 11:46

Florida stallions: Khozan making up for short racing career with breeding success

Barbara D. Livingston
Khozan, with Javier Castellano aboard, improves to 2 for 2 by winning an allowance by 12 3/4 lengths.

Khozan never got a chance to show what he may have been truly capable of on the racetrack. The $1 million purchase, a half-brother to Hall of Fame racemare Royal Delta, won his two starts in dominant fashion, but was injured while preparing for his stakes debut, forcing his retirement. Still, he was well received upon arriving at Journeyman Stud in Florida.

“Khozan is reminiscent of Danzig and Malibu Moon – immensely talented horses with abbreviated racing careers,” Journeyman’s Brent Fernung said. “The upside is unlimited.”

Sun, 02/09/2020 - 11:34

First Foals of 2020: Justify, Mendelssohn, and more

Susie Raisher
With his win in the Juvenile Turf, Mendelssohn (outside) made dam Leslie's Lady just the fourth mare to have produced multiple individual Breeders' Cup winners.

Triple Crown winner Justify entered stud last year at Coolmore's Ashford Stud in Kentucky. Joining him in the stallion barn was another talented son of Coolmore's late sire Scat Daddy, the globe-trotting Mendelssohn. Both Justify and Mendelssohn proved exceptionally popular, each covering 252 mares in their first seasons.

Wed, 02/05/2020 - 08:28

Ontario's mare purchase program completes season

With breeding sheds across North America set to open in the coming weeks, Ontario Racing's Thoroughbred Improvement Program has announced that its mare purchase program has ended for the season, with a strong response for the new programs designed to bolster the province's breeding and racing industry.

Mon, 02/03/2020 - 13:10

Poindexter breeds three straight Santa Anita winners

Coady Photography
H. Allen Poindexter bred the winners of the first three races at Santa Anita on Saturday.

The races were on turf and dirt, won by horses born in different states, who went off as longshots and favorites. But the winners of the first three races on Saturday’s card at Santa Anita were all bred by H. Allen Poindexter, giving the horseman a rare hat trick.

Mon, 02/03/2020 - 13:06

Freshmen sires of 2019 keep rolling

Joe Labozzetta/NYRA
Withers winner Max Player is out of the first crop by Honor Code.

Last year’s strong freshman sire class seems to have picked up right where it left off with the turn of the calendar, as 3-year-olds from their first crops won two of the three Kentucky Derby points races contested last Saturday, as well as two of the weekend’s three Kentucky Oaks points races.

Mon, 02/03/2020 - 12:56

Drown owns an undefeated 3-year-old and recently bought the dam of another

Keeneland Photo
Jeff Drown bought Pomeroy's Pistol, the dam of Thousand Words, for $475,000 at the Keeneland January sale.

Undefeated Thousand Words has emerged as one of the West Coast’s leading Kentucky Derby hopefuls. Meanwhile his dam, a multiple graded stakes winner herself, has landed in the hands of the connections of another unbeaten colt from this 3-year-old crop.

Pomeroys Pistol was one of the highest-priced mares at the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale when she sold for $475,000 to bloodstock agent Mike Ryan. He was acting on behalf of the Kindred Stables of Jeff Drown, who co-owns unbeaten Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Structor with Don Rachel.

Mon, 02/03/2020 - 11:03

Special Edition: Eastern Stallions

Barbara D. Livingston
Khozan, with Javier Castellano aboard, improves to 2 for 2 by winning an allowance by 12 3/4 lengths.

Daily Racing Form's annual special edition takes a look at the leading sires in the prominent regional markets of New York, Florida, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and other states in this Eastern region.

Sun, 01/26/2020 - 13:24

Tapit continues to grow reputation as sire of sires

Debra A. Roma
British Idiom

Perennial leading sire Tapit continues his emergence as a sire of sires, as, for the second year in a row, one of his sons was represented by an Eclipse Award champion.

Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner British Idiom, who earned her divisional title, is by the Tapit horse Flashback, who currently stands at Diamond B Farm in Pennsylvania after beginning his stud career in Kentucky. She followed 2018 Kentucky Oaks and Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner and Eclipse champion Monomoy Girl. That champion is by Tapizar, who stands alongside sire Tapit at Gainesway Farm in Kentucky.

Sun, 01/26/2020 - 13:11

Runhappy links abound on a marquee weekend at Gulfstream

Barbara D. Livingston
Runhappy had eight yearlings sell in Book 1 of the Keeneland September yearling sale at an average price of $462,500.

The name of champion sprinter and 2020 freshman sire Runhappy was inescapable last week at Gulfstream Park, as owner Jim McIngvale continued his robust marketing campaign for his stable star. Runhappy, who stands at Claiborne Farm, was the title sponsor of both Thursday night’s Eclipse Awards and Saturday’s Pegasus World Cup and Pegasus World Cup Turf. Appropriately enough, Beyond the Waves, dam of 2019 Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar, delivered a Runhappy colt last year as her son was putting together his championship campaign, which included the inaugural Pegasus Turf.

Sun, 01/26/2020 - 11:51

Pegasus winner Mucho Gusto has family ties to Stronach's Adena Springs

Barbara D. Livingston
Mucho Gusto, who won the Pegasus World Cup on Saturday, is a grandson of Mucho Uno..

Primal Force was a foundation broodmare for Frank Stronach's Adena Springs operation, producing two Grade 1 winners who went on to be prominent sires for the farm in Awesome Again and Macho Uno.