Three of the Kentucky Derby’s most imposing prospects – the champion Nyquist, Rebel Stakes winner Cupid, and Louisiana Derby winner Gun Runner – are graduates of Niall Brennan’s training program.

Sound familiar?

The Ocala, Fla., horseman was thought to have reached a career high-water mark in 2013 with a trio of alumni in the Derby gate. Winner Orb and third-place Revolutionary gave Brennan an immediate spike in his résumé, while pacesetter and 12th-place finisher Palace Malice went on to win the Belmont Stakes.

Two more mares from one of the world’s most prominent breeders reportedly have been added to what is already an outstanding first book for Triple Crown winner American Pharoah.

The Racing Post first reported that Ridasiyna and Dalayna, based in the U.S. for the Aga Khan’s broodmare band, were booked to the champion, standing at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky.

Ridasiyna, a daughter of Motivator, won the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera and Group 3 Prix Chloe in France. Her oldest foal is a yearling colt by War Front.

The Florida-bred X Y Jet turned in a game performance in the Group 1, $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen on Saturday, engaging in a prolonged stretch battle with the Meydan-based Muarrab and grudgingly giving way late. It was a career performance for the gelding and bolsters the résumé of his young sire, Kantharos, who stands at Florida’s Ocala Stud.

Upon his retirement, 1989 Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Sunday Silence attracted surprisingly little attention from American breeders but was sold to Japanese interests for $11 million, at the high end of the market at the time. It was a prudent move, as he went on to make innumerable contributions to that bloodstock industry. Now, more than a decade after his death, he could be adding some international intrigue to this Kentucky Derby.

Those who decry the lack of diversity in contemporary Thoroughbred pedigrees should have been at Meydan last Saturday.

True, six of the eight major winners on the Dubai World Cup card trace in male line to Phalaris, but since something like 95 percent of modern Thoroughbreds hail from the Phalaris male line, any less dominant result would be very unusual. Besides, since the Y chromosome serves little known genetic purpose beyond making the offspring male, it is time to move on from worrying about the “excessive” influence of a horse born 103 years ago.

Work came to a standstill at Harris Farms in Coalinga, Calif., at 10 a.m. on Saturday. The team had pressing matters to follow in the Middle East.

California Chrome, the 2014 Horse of the Year, was raised at Harris Farms and was the favorite in the $10 million Dubai World Cup at Meydan Racecourse. The staff attending to broodmares and the horses in training on the farm, about 20 people in all, gathered with farm manager Dave McGlothlin in a conference room for the telecast.

Cape Cross, one of Europe’s leading sires, has been pensioned due to fertility issues.

The 22-year-old son of Green Desert stood the Northern Hemisphere season at Darley’s Kildangan Stud in Co. Kildare, Ireland, where he was advertised in 2016 for a fee of $17,836 (20,000 Euros). He also shuttled to Darley’s Australian base for the Southern Hemisphere season.

Edited Press Release

The Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC) on Mar. 25 announced the winners of its 2015 statistical awards for leading California owners. Reddam Racing LLC was the leading owner in purse money won in California as well as leading owner by number of wins. Karl Watson, Mike Pegram, and Paul Weitman led all owners by number of California stakes wins. Kings River Ranch was leading owner by number of California starts. David and Mark Greco, Patrick Grohl, and Brent Malmstrom were selected as Rookies of the Year.

Tap Your Heels, a stakes winner and the dam of record-breaking sire Tapit, died Thursday due to foaling complications. She was 20.

Owner Barouche Stud, which announced the mare’s death Friday on its Facebook page, said the foal, a Super Saver colt, had survived. Tap Your Heels resided at Dromoland Farm in Lexington, Ky., for her Irish-based owners.

Cassatt, a Grade 3-winning daughter of Tapit, was bred to Hill 'n' Dale Farm stallion Curlin on Tuesday and is scheduled to be entered in this year's Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall select mixed sale. 

The mating was confirmed Friday by the Facebook page of owner Fox Hill Farms. John G. Sikura's Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings purchased an interest in the mare prior to her 2016 campaign and will consign her as agent at the auction.