Each year’s Triple Crown run produces its own dramatic arc, and this year’s string of performances, wrapped up by Palace Malice’s upset win in the Belmont, definitely sets up an unpredictable and exciting second half of the season in the 3-year-old division.
Lent, a half-brother to Breeders' Cup Classic winner Fort Larned, set the stage for a big night for his connections, defeating a field of well-bred runners in a maiden special weight event Saturday night at Churchill Downs, just hours before his famed older relative romped in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap.
Both horses are trained by Ian Wilkes for owner-breeder Janis Whitham, and jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr., piloted both to victory.
Bayou circuit legend and all-time Louisiana-bred earnings leader Star Guitar was named Louisiana Horse of the Year for the fourth consecutive year last week. The Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association held its annual meeting on June 8 at Fair Grounds in New Orleans, where it also honored several other prominent Louisiana-bred horses and state breeders.
Heavenly Prize, a multiple Grade 1 winner and champion for Ogden Phipps who went on to become a successful broodmare, died earlier this year. The daughter of Seeking the Gold, who was boarded at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Ky., was 22.
California sire Caros Love, a multiple stakes winner who set the U.S. record for the fastest two-turn dirt mile, was euthanized May 31 at Rancho San Roberto Farm in Bakersfield, Calif., due to complications from the infirmities of old age. He was 29 years old.
The son of Caro, bred in California by E. L. Allee Ranch, was a multiple stakes winner during his racing career in the late 1980s, winning seven of 19 starts for earnings of $199,486. His most notable wins came in the Temperence Hill Handicap at Louisiana Downs and the On Trust Handicap at Hollywood Park, both in 1987.
Champion Zenyatta has been confirmed in foal to young Claiborne Farm sire War Front, for what would be her third foal. The 9-year-old Street Cry mare was scanned at 37 days in foal Friday.
A popular expression used to describe an appealing horse in the bloodstock market is to say that he or she “ticked all the boxes.” For breeder William S. Farish III, Palace Malice’s triumph in the Belmont Stakes did just that.
Breeder of record? Check. The bay colt took his first steps at Farish’s Lane’s End in Versailles, Ky., as the third foal out of the stakes-winning Royal Anthem mare Palace Rumor.
Indian Evening, a Grade 2-placed stakes winner, will begin his stallion career in 2014 at Ellen Jackson’s Victory Rose Thoroughbreds in Vacaville, Calif., standing for an advertised fee of $3,000.
The 4-year-old son of Indian Charlie won two of three starts during his racing career, including a victory in the Swynford Stakes at Woodbine. His lone defeat came in a third-place effort in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special Stakes.
W. Cothran “Cot” Campbell, president of the trailblazing Dogwood Stable partnership, always felt there were bright things in the future for Palace Malice, a well-regarded colt who, through a run of bad luck, entered the Belmont Stakes without a graded stakes victory to his name.
“He deserved this – I said, ‘He deserves a blue sky somewhere,’ ” Campbell said. “And luckily, that blue sky appeared at about 6:30 Saturday.”
Courtesy Lane's EndCurlin
There was a time in American Thoroughbred breeding when soundness and stamina were cherished right alongside speed and class in a prospective stallion. If a horse had aged well on the racetrack, so much the better. If he could stay 1 1/2 miles, better still.
