Messier
Empire Maker – Checkered Past, by Smart Strike
Bred in Ontario by Sam-Son Farm ($470,000 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky selected yearling purchase by SF/Starlight/Madaket)
Messier, who takes his one and only shot at earning a Kentucky Derby berth on Saturday at Santa Anita, is from a pedigree that has had classic success on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border for legendary breeding operations.
The durable racehorse Majestic Harbor, a Grade 1 winner who made 42 starts, died of a suspected cardiac event Tuesday at Harris Farms, where he has been standing at stud, according to his co-owner, Lori Hebel-Osborne, who raced Majestic Harbor as part of a partnership.
Majestic Harbor scored the biggest win of his career in the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita in 2014, defeating, among others, Game On Dude and Clubhouse Ride.
War Front, the flagship sire for Claiborne Farm, and his sons succeeded on several fronts last Saturday.
War Front is the sire of a pair stakes winners this year, including Sumter, who won the Singletary Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita. Off three straight wins, he is likely to head to the Grade 2 American Turf at Churchill Downs on Derby Day.
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Just one-quarter of the way into 2022, there is plenty of road still to cover in the race for this year’s leading sire title. But at this early stage, the path runs through Quality Road. By virtue of an international performer and several American classic contenders, Quality Road leads his Lane’s End Farm stablemate Tonalist on the overall earnings list.
Secret Oath
Arrogate – Absinthe Minded, by Quiet American
Bred in Kentucky by Briland Farm, Robert Mitchell, and Stacy Mitchell
Arrogate, one of the most brilliant runners of modern times, was euthanized at age 7 after developing an illness with neurological symptoms. He stood three breeding seasons at Juddmonte Farm, all of which saw stellar books of mares visit his court. Secret Oath, whose dam is a multiple stakes winner, has a chance to become his first Grade 1 winner when she faces colts in Saturday’s Arkansas Derby.
In the legend of the creation of the Giant’s Causeway – a rock formation resulting from an ancient volcanic fissure eruption on the coast of Ireland – the Irish giant Fionn was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant Benandonner and built the formation so the two could meet. In one version of the legend, Fionn defeats Benandonner outright. In another, Fionn’s wife, Sadhbh, disguises Fionn as a baby. When Benandonner sees the imposing size of the ‘child,’ he reckons that its father must be a giant among giants and flees.
John Ed Anthony has been racing horses at Oaklawn Park for more than a half-century. In a season in which he has already scored a milestone victory and picked up multiple stakes scores, he looks to hit another high note this Saturday as Bubble Rock, a homebred for his Shortleaf Stable, looks to punch her Kentucky Oaks ticket in the Grade 2 Fantasy Stakes.
There are two Grade 1 prep races for the Kentucky Derby on Saturday: the Florida Derby and the Arkansas Derby. Classic Causeway is expected to start in Florida, but the colt has ties to the Arkansas-bred program close up in his pedigree.
Classic Causeway, from the final crop of Giant’s Causeway, is out of Private World, whose dam is the Arkansas-bred mare Rita Rucker.
Two decades after his death, Sunday Silence is continuing to help his adopted home country of Japan become a force on racetracks around the globe. A U.S. champion, Sunday Silence crossed the globe to become a breed-shaping sire in Japan.
