Recently deceased freshman sire Brilliant Speed got his first winner when first-time starter Fly won a $41,320 maiden race at Laurel today. Brilliant Speed, by Dynaformer, was found dead in his paddock at Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Ky., on July 14, apparently struck by lightning. He had stood at Three Chimneys since 2013.
Texan Tom Durant has been an owner of racehorses for some three decades, and he’s also been noted for his fast juveniles.
The resident of Granbury, Tx., took that show on the road to Prairie Meadows in Iowa, winning the $65,000 Prairie Gold Lassie on July 28 with Grandma’s Princess and the $65,000 Prairie Gold Juvenile on July 29 with Raise the Rumor, both Texas homebreds, both by his former racehorse Sing Baby Sing, and both trained by Randy Morse. Those are the first two stakes winners for Sing Baby Sing, whose oldest foals are 4.
Freshman sire Astrology was represented by his first stakes winner on August 3 when the 2-year-old filly Clairvoyant Lady won the $50,125 White Clay Creek Stakes at Delaware Park.
Out of the Shore Breeze mare Chantilly Lady, Clairvoyant Lady won the 5 1/2-furlong race by 1 1/4 lengths over 3-10 favorite You Know Too (by Majesticperfection), with Easy Money (by Into Mischief) third in the six-horse field. She rallied from fifth early to get the lead late to finish the race in 1:05.93.
-- Edited Press Release --
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association announced the winners of its state and national awards for 2015, with the winners being honored at TOBA’s 31st annual National Awards Dinner on September 10 at Stonestreet Farm in Lexington, Ky. The National Awards Dinner honors the achievements of Thoroughbred owners and breeders in the four major North American racing regions and breeders in 25 states and Canada.
The following regional owners will be honored:
Walmac Farm will consolidate its operations from two locations to one, putting its 248-acre property on Paris Pike between Paris and Lexington, Ky., up for sale.
Opened in 1976 by John T.L. Jones Jr., the Paris Pike location houses Walmac Farm’s stallion operation, which has been home to more than 100 stallions, including Nureyev, Miswaki, Alleged, Lord At War, Shecky Greene, Salt Lake, Songandaprayer, and Phone Trick. Walmac Farm currently stands Successful Appeal and Mr. Sidney.
Swifty Farms in Seymour, Ind., will add a pair of relocating stallions to its roster for the 2017 breeding season, Cashel Castle and Wolfcamp.
Cashel Castle, a 17-year-old son of Silver Ghost, comes to Swifty Farms from Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm in Illinois, and will stand for an advertised fee of $1,000.
Grade 2 winner Wilburn has been sold to Rockin’ Z Ranch in Beggs, Okla., where he will stand the 2017 breeding season for a fee to be announced later.
The 8-year-old son of Bernardini previously stood at Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Ky., where he debuted for the 2012 breeding season and stood in 2016 for $3,500.
Wilburn will continue to be available to breeders who invested in the stallion through Spendthrift’s Share the Upside program under the same terms.
Grade 1 winner Victor’s Cry has been sold to Holden Thoroughbred and Running Quarter Horse Farm in Greenfield, Ind., where he will stand the 2017 breeding season.
The 11-year-old son of Street Cry stood the 2016 season at Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Ky., after being relocated from Park Stud in Orangeville, Ontario, where he debuted as property of Spendthrift in 2012.
“We hope there’s a ton of upside,” said Holden farm owner Jay Holden. “We really feel pretty fortunate to have him here. It looks like his foals will be able to run short as well as long.”
The prognosis for the 2016 yearling market among consignors is so uniform from person to person that it feels as though a cue card of talking points had been passed around the sale grounds and memorized.
Almost to the number, they describe the increasingly selective nature of the market, with buyers swarming toward the horses with the fewest perceived flaws and driving up their prices while trying to land them. If you have one of those in your shed row, you’re golden.
The family of 2010 Horse of the Year Zenyatta is having an active summer in advance of the mare’s Hall of Fame induction on Aug. 12.
One of the mare’s accomplished half-sisters, the stakes winner Where’s Bailey, is the dam of She’s Not Here, who scored a repeat victory in the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon Stakes on July 16. The mare’s youngest runner, Richmond Street, finished second in a Saratoga maiden special weight race on Saturday. Both of those runners are by Street Cry, the sire of Zenyatta.
