Friendly Ghost
Gelding by Outwork – Kin’s Ghost, by Ghostzapper
Bred in Ontario by Phoenix Rising Farms ($35,134 Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society Ontario Premier yearling purchase by Sue Leslie)
Never worse than third in three starts, Friendly Ghost now eyes a major series of three, going in the first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, the King’s Plate.
Essex Serpent
Gelding by Honor Code – Eileen’s Girl, by Medaglia d’Oro
Bred in Ontario by Conrad Farms
Manfred and Penny Conrad’s homebred Essex Serpent was late to the party, but he is making up for lost time. Unraced at 2, the gelding has two wins and a runner-up effort from three starts this year.
Most recently, he won the Grade 3 Marine Stakes on June 29. His performance was flattered when runner-up Cameo Performance came back to win a stakes at Ellis Park.
Three years ago, multiple Grade 1 winner Oscar Performance, standing at Mill Ridge Farm in Kentucky, was represented by his first yearlings at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected sale, looking to make his mark in a tough class of first-crop sires that also included Triple Crown winner Justify and champion Good Magic.
Rafaroo
Colt by Hard Spun – Light Green, by Pleasantly Perfect
Bred in Ontario by Adena Springs
Rafaroo is still a maiden, but gave a fine account of himself in his second career start, finishing second to My Boy Prince in the Plate Trial. The colt’s pedigree is a good blend of stamina over speed.
Midnight Mascot
Colt by Army Mule – Midnight Embrace, by Midnight Lute
Bred in Ontario by Yvonne Schwabe Thoroughbreds ($200,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by Manfred and Penny Conrad)
Among this year’s King’s Plate hopefuls, Woodstock Stakes winner Midnight Mascot sports the distinction of counting a recent winner of the Canadian classic as a very close relative.
Belmont Stakes and Haskell Invitational winner Dornoch will eventually stand at Spendthrift Farm, the principals behind both his current racing and future stallion careers confirmed over the weekend.
Dornoch is campaigned by the partnership of West Paces Racing, R. A. Hill Stable, Belmar Racing, Two Eight Racing, and Pine Racing Stables. Those owners announced after the colt won Saturday’s Haskell at Monmouth that they had struck a stallion deal with Spendthrift Farm shortly after last month’s Belmont Stakes. Spendthrift confirmed the news in a release on Sunday.
Preakness Stakes winner Seize the Grey will stand at Gainesway in Kentucky upon his eventual retirement from racing.
MyRacehorse, the micro-share ownership experience group that campaigns the Arrogate colt, reported the deal to partners in Seize the Grey in an e-mail on Wednesday. Gainesway has yet to comment.
Seize the Grey was expected to be a red-hot commodity as a stallion prospect, as a surviving Grade 1-winning son of the late champion Arrogate, who has had incredible success from the three crops he produced before his death at age 7.
Grade 1 winner Cogburn will stand at WinStar Farm upon his eventual retirement from racing.
WinStar announced on Wednesday that it has entered into a partnership with racing owners Clark Brewster and William and Corrine Heiligbrodt, and a new partner in Lindy Farms, to acquire the breeding rights to 5-year-old Cogburn, who is by Not This Time.
The deal was brokered by Bradley Weisbord of BSW/Crow Bloodstock. A stud fee will be announced at a later date.
