Fri, 05/30/2008 - 00:00

Graded stakes wins up over last year

Topped by Pays to Dream's victory in the Grade 2 Dixie Handicap on Preakness Day, New York-breds continued to perform well in open stakes races during May.

On the same day, New York-bred Icabad Crane ran third in the Preakness Stakes, while Be Certain won the Grade 2 National Hunt Cup over fences.

Pays to Dream was the seventh New York-bred winner of a graded race on the flat in 2008, surpassing the figure of six for all of 2007.

The historic Dixie, a Grade 2 race at 1 1/8 miles on turf worth $250,000, was run for the 107th time.

Fri, 05/30/2008 - 00:00

Riders fondly reflect on Nashoba's Key

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The two champion jockeys who rode Nashoba's Key during her 10-race career spoke fondly of the millionaire mare who was euthanized on Wednesday after sustaining a catastrophic leg injury in her stall at Hollywood Park.

Garrett Gomez, the Eclipse Award winner as the nation's outstanding jockey of 2007, remembered the confidence Nashoba's Key showed in winning the final start of her career, the Grade 1 Santa Margarita Handicap at Santa Anita in March, and how optimistic he was about her future.

Fri, 05/23/2008 - 00:00

War Chant going to Chile for season

War Chant, winner of the 2000 Breeders' Cup Mile and sire of the Grade 2 winner Brilliant, will shuttle this year to Chile for the Southern Hemisphere breeding season, Three Chimneys Farm announced Friday.

War Chant, who stands for $20,000 this year at the Midway, Ky., stud farm, will stand at Haras de Pirque in Chile. His fee in Chile was not announced. He will return to Three Chimneys for the 2009 Northern Hemisphere breeding season.

Fri, 05/23/2008 - 00:00

Sherlock got quite a bargain at yearling sale

The California October yearling sale was about half over last fall when the filly Listisimo went into the ring. At the time, it did not seem like an important moment.

Listisimo was purchased for $2,500 by trainer Gary Sherlock as something of a gamble. It has already paid off.

Listisimo, a rare California-bred More Than Ready filly, won a $49,200 maiden special weight race at Hollywood Park on Wednesday, a performance that has Sherlock convinced that she will play a factor in the statebred stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Del Mar.

Fri, 05/23/2008 - 00:00

Who's who among young sires

Let's take a look at several New York sires whose first runners are hitting the track this year.

* Anasheed: Stands at Liberty Stud in Ghent for Questroyal Stud. Fee: $5,000.

This son of Horse of the Year A.P. Indy brings an extremely strong pedigree to the state roster. A.P. Indy is already the sire of top stallion Pulpit, whose numerous Grade 1 winners include Corinthian, Purge, and Sky Mesa. Other sons of A.P. Indy at stud include Malibu Moon, Aptitude, Old Trieste, Stephen Got Even, and Golden Missile.

Fri, 05/23/2008 - 00:00

Two Maryland-bred claimers grab spotlight

Runners who are the backbone of the daily card at tracks around the country had their moment to shine at Pimlico over the Preakness weekend. Two starter handicaps, each named for a legendary Maryland-bred, were offered for Maryland-breds who had started for a claiming price of $15,000 or less in 2007 or 2008, and each attracted a full field.

Fri, 05/23/2008 - 00:00

Defending Saez and recalling Ruffian

"The kid didn't do anything wrong," are the words of Hall of Fame jockey Jacinto Vasquez. He was referring to comments about jockey Gabriel Saez's professionalism astride Eight Belles when she broke down after finishing second in the Kentucky Derby.

Vasquez knows what it means to be on an ill-fated horse, as he rode the epic filly Ruffian some 33 years ago in her fatal encounter with the champion colt Foolish Pleasure.

Fri, 05/23/2008 - 00:00

A pair of stakes-winning fillies on the rise

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Although Ginger Punch and Zenyatta fill the top spots among fillies and mares, a pair of 4-year-olds indicated with performances on Preakness Day that they could become players in the division.

Buy the Barrel, a progressive daughter of the Mr. Prospector stallion E Dubai, won the Allaire duPont Distaff at Pimlico, and Cowgirls Don't Cry, a lightly raced filly by the Storm Cat horse Pure Prize, won the Shuvee at Belmont.

Wed, 05/21/2008 - 00:00

Three Wonders, Florida stallion, euthanized

Three Wonders, a son of Storm Cat who was Florida's leading freshman sire in 2006, was euthanized at Peter Van Rosbeck's Hidden Point Farm near Ocala, Fla., on May 16. He was 11.

The horse had developed spinal problems last fall that deteriorated over time, making him uncoordinated and eventually causing him pain, said Barry Long, manager of Hidden Point, where Three Wonders had been advertised with a $7,500 fee. He was Florida's leading second-crop sire last year by number of winners.

Tue, 05/20/2008 - 00:00

Prices up on Fasig-Tipton's second day

The second session of Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's May preferred 2-year-old sale on Tuesday saw higher prices one day after the auction saw dips across the board. By 4 p.m., Tuesday's high note was Puglisi Racing's $575,000 bid for a Lion Heart-Bye the Bye colt.

The auction was still under way at Timonium in Maryland late Tuesday afternoon.