West Point Thoroughbreds is already enjoying a special summer, having scored its 1,000th victory in August. The partnership looks to keep working on its next 1,000 this weekend, with Grade 1 action from coast to coast with leading older horses it runs in partnership.
First Captain contests the Jockey Club Gold Cup on Saturday evening at Saratoga. Less than three hours later, Flightline looks to remain unbeaten in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar.
The weekend following internationally successful sire More Than Ready’s death, his legacy was evident. His son Funtastic sired his first winner, and More Than Ready recorded a stakes winner as a broodmare sire.
The legacy of More Than Ready, a Grade 1 winner who went on to become one of the most successful sires in the history of the Breeders’ Cup, will be as the most prominent keeper of the Halo line in the United States.
More Than Ready was euthanized Aug. 26 at WinStar Farm in Kentucky due to the effects of old age at 25.
More Than Ready, a Grade 1 winner who became a prominent sire on two continents and one of the most successful stallions in the history of the Breeders' Cup, was euthanized Friday at WinStar Farm "due to the cumulative effects of old age." The son of Southern Halo was 25.
Two Grade 1-winning regional stallions who it was hoped would help carry on important sirelines recently died of colic.
It was reported Monday that Combatant, who stood his first season earlier this year at Rockridge Stud in Hudson, N.Y., died suddenly of colic at Haras Porta Pia in Chile, where he had shuttled for the Southern Hemisphere season. On Tuesday, Imagining, who stood at Anchor and Hope Farm in Port Deposit, Md., was euthanized during colic surgery at the New Bolton Center in Pennsylvania.
During Friday’s New York Showcase Day at Saratoga – with six statebred stakes worth $1.25 million – the New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc., will honor five legendary New York-breds: Classic winners Funny Cide and Tiz the Law; fellow Grade 1 winners Commentator and Fio Rito; and Fourstardave, the “Sultan of Saratoga.”
Horse of the Year Gun Runner will get a chance to continue to build on the smashing success of his first crop as his Preakness Stakes winner Early Voting and multiple Grade 1 winner Cyberknife face off in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes on Saturday at Saratoga. His second crop also is beginning to light up the board.
Gun Runner recorded three maiden special weight winners from his crop of 2-year-olds over the weekend.
Duke of Love
Cupid – Tell the Duchess, by Smart Strike
Bred in Ontario by Caldara Farm, Patrick Costello, David Whitford, and Tom Zwiesler ($15,000 Keeneland November weanling purchase by War Horse Place; $40,000 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling purchase by Julie Davies, agent; $85,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-old purchase by MyRacehorse)
Owner Joel Politi and trainer Tom Amoss teamed to win the Groupie Doll Stakes on Sunday with Li’l Tootsie. It was Politi’s first stakes win at Ellis Park in five years and came nearly five years to the day that a dark bay filly, also trained by Amoss, carried Politi’s silks to victory in the Ellis Park Debutante. That was the first of six stakes victories for Serengeti Empress, highlighted by Grade 1 wins in the 2019 Kentucky Oaks and 2020 Ballerina Stakes.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - For the second year in a row, Spendthrift Farm had a connection to the winner of the Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap on the Saratoga turf.
Casa Creed, by Spendthrift stallion Jimmy Creed, made his third appearance in the race a winning one after finishing third in the past two editions of the race. Last year, he finished behind Got Stormy, who carried Spendthrift colors.
