Mon, 02/06/2017 - 11:40

Sparkman: Le Havre emerges as unexpected savior

Barbara D. Livingston
Rymska, by Le Havre, wins the Grade 3 Sweetest Chant Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

Among the many great performances in Breeders’ Cup history few, if any, have been more visually impressive or more exciting than Arazi’s mad dash through and around almost the entire field in the 1991 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. The diminutive chestnut with offset knees looked like a cheetah scattering elephants as he zipped through the field before drawing off to win by an eased-down five lengths.

Mon, 02/06/2017 - 11:40

Garden State grows Derby contender Irish War Cry

Barbara D. Livingston
Irish War Cry wins the Grade 2 Holy Bull on Saturday.

The colt who knocked the Florida road to the Kentucky Derby askew last Saturday is named for Ireland, is by a Kentucky stallion, and has roots in European breeding. But his actual birthplace is a state not known for producing top Thoroughbreds – New Jersey.

Sat, 02/04/2017 - 09:17

Big Drama switching Ocala farms, has stud fee halved

Champion sprinter Big Drama will relocate to Stonewall’s Prestige Stallions in Ocala, Fla., for the 2017 breeding season, where he will be offered at an advertised fee of $7,500 for an introductory period.

The 11-year-old son of Montbrook stood the past two seasons at Bridlewood Farm, where he was advertised last year for $15,000. Big Drama returns to the place where he entered stud in 2012, when the property was known as HallMarc Stallions at Stonewall Farm.

Big Drama has three crops of racing age, with 47 winners and progeny earnings in excess of $2.5 million.

Thu, 02/02/2017 - 11:10

Tencendur to stand in New York for owner Birsh

Debra A. Roma
Tencendur, who hasn't run since June's Ohio Derby, is back in training at Saratoga.

The Grade 1-placed New York-bred Tencendur will return to his home state for stallion duty at Mill Creek Farm in Stillwater.

The Warrior’s Reward horse, who raced as a homebred for Philip Birsh, the publisher of Playbill Magazine, will begin his stud career with a $2,500 fee. Stillwater, a town outside of Saratoga Springs, is about 25 miles from Birsh’s farm in Galway, where Tencendur was born and raised.

Mon, 01/30/2017 - 18:33

California Chrome deemed healthy, arrives for stallion duty

Barbara D. Livingston
California Chrome departs the Gulfstream barn for the last time en route to a van and then a flight to Kentucky.

Two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome is settling into his new life at Taylor Made Farm in Nicholasville, Ky., and is about to begin the next phase of his career after passing a physical exam.

Mon, 01/30/2017 - 10:52

Sparkman: Arrogate's bloodlines paying it forward

Barbara D. Livingston
Arrogate, by Unbridled's Song, cruises to victory in the inaugural Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup.

At the 1989 Keeneland September yearling sale, Rob Whiteley, director of operations for Carl Icahn’s Foxfield, fell in love with a chestnut filly by Meadowlake out of the In Reality mare, Inreality Star. Whiteley purchased the filly in Foxfield’s name for only $90,000, and within a little more than a year, she had won all seven of her starts as a 2-year-old, including a dominating victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies to clinch an Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old filly of 1990.

Thu, 01/26/2017 - 13:00

California Chrome now has a Tapit half-brother

Barbara D. Livingston
Nic Roldan, captain of the U.S. polo team, got to meet California Chrome earlier this week at Gulfstream Park.

Love the Chase, the dam of California Chrome, delivered a Tapit half-brother to her two-time Horse of the Year at midnight Thursday at Atlas Farm in Nicholasville, Ky.

Love the Chase has been boarded at Atlas since selling for $1.95 million at last November’s Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall selected mixed sale, where bloodstock agent John McCormack said he purchased her for undisclosed domestic clients. Since then, Tom Ryan, a representative for S.F. Bloodstock, has shared news about the mare.

Thu, 01/26/2017 - 13:00

Taylor Made's Pegasus connections go beyond California Chrome

Taylor Made Farm hopes California Chrome can end his racing career with a bang in the $12 million Pegasus World Cup before shipping to its farm the next day to begin his stud career. But the Taylor family may have a soft spot in their hearts for two of the two-time Horse of the Year’s challengers as well.

Thu, 01/26/2017 - 12:56

Juddmonte Farms ready to cap outstanding week

Barbara D. Livingston
A victory by Arrogate in the Pegasus on Saturday would top off a great week for Juddmonte Farms.

Juddmonte Farms manager Garrett O’Rourke could have been forgiven for looking a little tired last Saturday night at Gulfstream Park. He hiked from his seat to the stage to accept Eclipse Award statues on three separate occasions, as Juddmonte was honored as outstanding owner on the strength of diverse runners Arrogate (3-year-old male) and Flintshire (turf male), who won their divisional championships.

Thu, 01/26/2017 - 12:30

Polo players meet, admire California Chrome

Barbara D. Livingston
Nic Roldan, captain of the U.S. polo team, got to meet California Chrome earlier this week at Gulfstream Park.

“The great ones are so willing. They will do anything we ask at all times, and that’s why we love them. It’s an amazing partnership – when you get on a horse and you know you are on it and king of the moment.”