Essential Quality established himself as an early favorite for the Kentucky Derby with his victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. The Tapit colt, a homebred for Godolphin, is from a family that has had recent classic success – albeit, a world away. He is from the immediate family of 2020 Japanese Triple Crown winner Contrail.

Order of Australia was the longest-priced winner of the weekend at Keeneland, as he sprang a $148.40 upset in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. However, in terms of his pedigree, he sported perhaps more Breeders’ Cup purple than any runner.

Both of the colt’s granddams are Breeders’ Cup winners, as is his half-sister, placing his family in an elite club.

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Indian Charlie never ran in a Breeders’ Cup race. But the late stallion, who died in 2011 after standing at Airdrie Stud, sired a pair of Breeders’ Cup winners, as his daughter Indian Blessing won the 2007 Juvenile Fillies and his son Uncle Mo took the 2010 Juvenile. Indian Charlie continues to have an influence through the next generations, including with Uncle Mo, as seen on the Breeders’ Cup’s Future Stars Friday program at Keeneland.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Authentic arrived Monday morning at majority owner B. Wayne Hughes’s Spendthrift Farm, where he will begin his stud career in 2021 alongside his sire, Into Mischief, the nation’s leading stallion.

Various unsung heroes in the Thoroughbred racing and breeding industry were honored as the Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards were presented in a virtual ceremony broadcast Thursday from Lexington, Ky.

The Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards, now in their fifth year in the United States, are sponsored by Godolphin in partnership with the National HBPA, TOBA, The Jockey Club, and Breeders’ Cup. Media partners are the TDN, BloodHorse, Daily Racing Form, The Paulick Report, Fox Sports, and TVG.

The winners were:

LEXINGTON, Ky. – There will be a sister act on Saturday in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, as Sistercharlie and My Sister Nat face off in a rare, but not unprecedented, case of half-siblings meeting up.

The two mares are part of a strong hand at this Breeders’ Cup for owner Peter Brant, who came back into racing in 2017, some 20 years after disbanding a massively successful stable. His horses are trained by Chad Brown.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Scientific evidence supports the idea that horses can remember one another. You’ll forgive Global Campaign, Improbable, and Tom’s d’Etat then if they experience a bit of déjà vu when they board a van to WinStar Farm this coming Sunday. The three will first line up together in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Saturday evening at nearby Keeneland, giving the farm a strong hand of stallion prospects in the $6 million race.

Regardless of the result of Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, Princess Noor already stands alone.

Princess Noor was the most expensive horse of the turbulent 2020 juvenile sales season, bringing $1.35 million at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s spring sale of 2-year-olds in training from Saudi businessman Amr Zedan, who competes as Zedan Racing. She is the only seven-figure horse of her crop to make it to the Breeders’ Cup.

Sam-Son Farm, a legendary Ontario-based operation responsible for numerous influential champions, has announced that it will disperse its remaining breeding and racing stock over the next 12 to 18 months.

Sam-Son Farm was founded by Ernie Samuel in 1972 and to date has bred and raced 44 graded stakes winners, including 14 Grade 1 winners. Its runners have garnered 84 Sovereign Awards for championships in Canada and four Eclipse Awards.

Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus has been pensioned from stallion duty at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky.

The 23-year-old, who covered two mares this year, according to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred, was the final active stallion by the great Mr. Prospector in Kentucky. His remaining active sons in North America, according to the Report of Mares Bred, are Greatness in Florida, Sasha’s Prospect in Oklahoma, Shadow Hawk in Nebraska, and Cape Canaveral in Alberta, while his champion son Aldebaran stands in Japan.