Gary & Mary West to Reduce Broodmare Band at Keeneland November

Prominent owner/breeders Gary and Mary West will begin an annual reduction of their broodmare band at Keeneland November starting with the 2021 sale. With Paramount Sales consigning, the Wests will offer 31 broodmares and broodmares prospects at this November's auction. Mares will be offered in foal to Hard Spun, Union Rags and The Factor, as well as to the Wests' champions Game Winner, Maximum Security and West Coast and Grade 3 winner and Grade 1-placed American Freedom.

The Wests had acquired a significant number of mares in past years to support their colts who were going off to stud.

“We just can't keep them all,” said racing and bloodstock advisor Ben Glass. “It's amazing how quickly we accumulated broodmares. We're up to 100, and we only try to have 50-60. You just have to move those mares down the line. It's a tough decision. For all we know, we're selling the dam of another Grade I winner.”

The Wests have been longtime patrons of Keeneland, acquiring many of their stand-out runners at the September yearling sale, including American Freedom, Game Winner and West Coast. They purchased Maximum Security's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile-winning sire New Year's Day for $425,000 at KEESEP '12, and his dam Lil Indy (Anasheed) for $80,000 at the 2014 Keeneland January sale while in foal to Pioneerof the Nile.

“We have a good working relationship with Keeneland,” Glass said. “They have always done a good job for us. There is a buyer there for every mare.”

Among the Paramount-consigned West offerings at Keeneland November will be Sweet Sweet Annie (Curlin, hip 684), a daughter of MSW Song for Annie (Sultry Song) and half to MSW/MGSP Successful Song (Successful Appeal) offered in foal to West Coast; 3-year-old Applaud (Medaglia d'Oro, hip 751), also in foal to West Coast; and Media Circus (Mineshaft, hip 948), another 3-year-old who hails from the deep female family of Olympio, Tapizar, etc.

“Sweet Sweet Annie is a fine mare with good size and is from a hell of a family,” Paramount's Pat Costello said. “Applaud is a lovely individual from a real deep family that goes back to Hold That Tiger and Editor's Note. Media Circus is also another nice mare, and she is from the family of Tapizar.”

Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy said, “The Wests are passionate Thoroughbred owners and breeders, who have been very loyal patrons of Keeneland and have realized some of their greatest triumphs in racing thanks to horses they acquired here. We are grateful for the opportunity to annually offer mares from such a successful operation as an added attraction of the November Sale.”

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Delta Downs Takes Entries For Opening Day Of Thoroughbred Season

Delta Downs racing office took entries on Tuesday for the opening day program of its upcoming 2021-22 Thoroughbred season. The 84-day stand will kick off on Oct. 13 and run through March 5. First post time each Wednesday and Thursday will be at 12:55 pm Central Time and the first race every Friday and Saturday night will begin at 5:55 pm.

A total of 92 horses, including also eligible horses, were entered in the nine-race program to start the season. Delta Downs allows a maximum of 10 horses to compete in each race, however the track does include up to two 'also eligible' horses in each event if there are enough entries to warrant it. The track began using 'also eligible' horses a few years ago and it has led to larger average field sizes and more betting opportunities for the wagering public.

The first stakes activity of the season will take place on opening weekend with the $100,000 Magnolia Stakes for 3-year-olds and up fillies and mares on Friday night, Oct. 15, and the $100,000 Gold Cup for 3-year-olds and up going as the Saturday night headliner. Both races are restricted to horses bred in Louisiana.

Several streaks will be on the line this season in the horsemen ranks at Delta Downs this year. Karl Broberg will attempt to win his 11th consecutive training title while Tim Thornton will try to extend his streak to four straight riding titles. The ownership group of End Zone Athletics, Inc., which includes Broberg and Matt Johanson, will be looking to extend their run of six titles in a row this meet. Overall, they have captured nine of the last 10 owner crowns at the southwest Louisiana oval.

For more information about the upcoming season, including the entire stakes schedule, visit the track's website at www.deltadownsracing.com. Fans can also get information about the track through Facebook by visiting the page 'Delta Downs Racing'. The track's Twitter handle is @deltaracing.

Delta Downs Racetrack Casino and Hotel, a property of Boyd Gaming Corporation (NYSE:BYD), features exciting casino action, live horse racing and fun dining experiences. Delta Downs is located in Vinton, Louisiana, on Delta Downs Drive. From Lake Charles, take Exit 7 and from Texas, take Exit 4.

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Brad Cox Hoping To Add To His Breeders’ Cup Lineup At Keeneland This Weekend

Trainer Brad Cox unleashed a couple of coming attractions here last fall for the Breeders' Cup World Championships at Keeneland when Essential Quality and Aunt Pearl (IRE) used Keeneland stakes victories as a springboard to respective triumphs in the TVG Juvenile (G1) Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance and Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1).

Cox is hoping for a repeat performance in a trio of upcoming Breeders' Cup Challenge races, which provide the winners with a fees-paid berth into their respective races at Del Mar Nov. 5-6.

Friday's 1 1/16-mile Darley Alcibiades (G1) is first for Cox with a spot in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) Nov. 5 on the line. Cox won the Darley Alcibiades in 2019 with British Idiom, who came back four weeks later to win the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita.

This year, he has Godolphin's Matareya and Albaugh Family Stables' Juju's Map in the race.

“We have always thought highly of her,” Cox said of Matareya, who won her lone start by 4½ lengths at Ellis Park on Aug. 20. “Juju's Map, I like her a lot. She is a little more seasoned than Matareya, and she has won at a mile (at Ellis Park).”

Cox plans to run Shortleaf Stable's Vivar in Sunday's 1 1/16-mile Castle & Key Bourbon (G2), a “Win and You're In” race for the $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1), also on Nov. 5.

“He ran well at Kentucky Downs,” Cox said of Vivar, who won going a mile as the 1-2 favorite. “He finished well.”

Hoping to follow in Aunt Pearl's footsteps for Cox is Dawn and Ike Thrash's Turnerloose, who is being pointed to next Wednesday's 1 1/16-mile JPMorgan Chase Jessamine (G2), a “Win and You're In” race for the $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 5.

“I like her a lot, too,” Cox said of Turnerloose, who has won twice going a mile with the latter score coming in the Aristocrat Juvenile Fillies (L) at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 6.

Cox, whose 1-2 punch of Essential Quality and Knicks Go is targeting the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), plans to run Juddmonte's Bonny South in Sunday's 1 1/8-mile Juddmonte Spinster (G1). The Juddmonte Spinster is a “Win and You're In” race for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1).

“She's doing very well, and her last two works at Churchill Downs have been very good,” Cox said of Bonny South, who won the Baird Doubledogdare (G3) here in April. “We will see if she can close the gap on Letruska a little more.”

Bonny South has chased Letruska twice in 2021, finishing second by 2 ¾ lengths in the Ogden Phipps (G1) and in her most recent start was second by a half-length in the Personal Ensign (G1).

Cox already has Shedaresthedevil targeting the Breeders' Cup Distaff and is considering Donegal Racing's Ready to Purrform, winner of last Saturday's Laurel Futurity, for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.

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Special Reserve Faces Off With Streaking Just Might In Friday’s Phoenix

Paradise Farms Corp. and David Staudacher's Special Reserve headlines a field of seven sprinters entered Tuesday for Friday's 169th running of the $250,000 Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix (G2) going six furlongs on the main track. Friday is opening day of Keeneland's Fall Meet, which marks the track's 85th anniversary.

Scheduled as the eighth race on Friday's 10-race program with a 5:10 p.m. ET post time, the Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix is a Breeders' Cup Challenge race with the winner receiving a fees-paid berth into the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) to be run Nov. 6 at Del Mar.

Trained by Mike Maker, Special Reserve has compiled a 6-4-2-0 record in 2021 and enters Friday's race off a runner-up effort in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt (G1) at Saratoga on July 31. In his lone Keeneland start, Special Reserve was second in this spring's Commonwealth (G3).

Joel Rosario, who was aboard in the Vanderbilt, has the mount Friday out of post position six.

Looming as the main threat to Special Reserve is Griffon Farms and trainer Michelle Lovell's Just Might.

Winner of his past four starts, all coming in stakes, Just Might enters Friday's race off dirt victories at Colonial Downs and most recently at Churchill Downs. Colby Hernandez has the mount from post four.

The field for the Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix, with riders and weights from the inside, is:

  1. Quick Tempo (Sophie Doyle, 118)
  2. Mucho (Reylu Gutierrez, 120)
  3. Endorsed (Julien Leparoux, 120)
  4. Just Might (Hernandez, 120)
  5. Aloha West (Jose Ortiz, 120)
  6. Special Reserve (Rosario, 120)
  7. Sir Alfred James (Corey Lanerie, 120)

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