May, 2023 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Old Friends Homecoming Auction Bidding Opens for Collector Halters, Secretariat Portrait

Old Friends will host its 18th Annual Homecoming Event Sunday, May 7th, beginning at 12 noon.

The event features a live and silent auction of artwork, prints, and racing memorabilia, including several premiere collectible stallion halters. Absentee bidding for halters, which are all accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity, is currently open. On the block are halters worn by the following horses: Afleet Alex, Charismatic, Constitution, Da Hoss, Essential Quality, Feathered, Lava Man, Nashville, Pioneerof The Nile, Silver Charm and Tapit.

The deadline to receive bids is Saturday, May 6, at 9 p.m. (EST). To bid, email your name, address, and phone number along with your highest bid to: horses@oldfriendsequine.org

Also up for bid during the live auction will be this hand water-colored portrait of Secretariat by the artist, Judith Berkshire Jones. It is a limited edition, artist proof, with hand coloring over the original limited edition print of her pencil drawing, done from life, of Secretariat. This one of a kind item of the great champion is 8 x 10-inches, and is in an archival 11 x 14-inch double mat and framed. The outside frame measures 13-1/2-inches x 16-1/2-inches. The portrait is accompanied on the back by a certificate of authenticity hand signed, dated, and inscribed by the artist.

The deadline to receive bids is Saturday, May 6, at 9 p.m. (EST). At the event, someone will be assigned to proxy bid for you starting low and bidding up to your highest number.

The Old Friends Homecoming event will be highlighted by live music, a barbecue buffet, book signings, and farm tours where guests can meet the farm's Kentucky Derby Champion Silver Charm, along with one of the farm's newest retirees, Lava Man.

For tickets to the event, click here.

The post Old Friends Homecoming Auction Bidding Opens for Collector Halters, Secretariat Portrait appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Old Friends Homecoming Auction Premiere Halters Now Available For Absentee Bidding

Old Friends, the Thoroughbred Retirement Facility in Georgetown, Ky., will host its 18th Annual Homecoming Event on Sunday, May 7th, beginning at 12 noon.

The event features a live and silent auction of artwork, prints, and racing memorabilia, including several premiere collectible stallion halters.

For those unable to attend the event, absentee bidding for these exceptional halters opens today. On the block are halters worn by:

* Afleet Alex, the 2005 Eclipse Award winning Champion 3-Year Old Colt is best known for his wins in the 2005 Preakness and Belmont Stakes, after losing a bid for the Triple Crown when he stumbled badly out of the gate in the Kentucky Derby, where he still finished third. Today he stands at Gainesway Farm where he's had a good breeding career.

* Charismatic, the 1999 Eclipse Award winner as Horse of the Year and Champion 3-Year Old Colt, won that year's Kentucky Derby and Preakness. He is also known for his loss in the Belmont Stakes due to an injury near the finish line when his jockey, Chris Antley, jumped off the horse and held his leg up until medical help arrived. The rider is credited with saving the horse's life. After healing from the injury, he entered stud at Lane's End, and then in 2002 was sent to JBBA Shizunai Stallion Station in Hokkaido in Japan for the rest of his stud career. He was repatriated to the United States and arrived at Old Friends on Dec. 4, 2016.

* Constitution, who was trained by Todd Pletcher, is a son of Tapit. In his race career, he won two major graded-stakes races, the Florida Derby and the Donn Handicap. Standing at Winstar Farm, he has had a successful stud career, which includes siring Tiz The Law, the 2020 Belmont Stakes and Travers Stakes winner.

* Da Hoss, who was trained by Michael Dickinson, won the 1996 Breeders' Cup Mile, and then is best known for making an amazing comeback when, after being away from the track for two years due to injury and having only one prep race prior to the 1998 Breeders' Cup Championships, he again won the Mile in exciting fashion. In the race, he was leading in the stretch, but was passed by Hawksley Hill. But, Da Hoss came back and passed his rival to get the win. His comeback from injury and in the race was cemented into history by track announcer, Tom Durkin's now famous call, “This the greatest comeback since Lazarus!”

* Essential Quality, who is a son of Tapit, is a multiple graded-stakes winner with his biggest wins coming in the 2020 Breeders' Cup Juvenile and the 2021 Belmont Stakes. For his efforts in those two years of racing, he won Eclipse Awards as 2020 Champion 2-Year Old Colt and 2021 Champion 3-Year Old Colt, respectively.

* Feathered, a daughter of sire, Indian Charlie, won one graded-stakes race in her racing career, the Edgewood Stakes (G3), and was also stakes placed in multiple other stakes races. However, her biggest claim to fame came in 2018 as a broodmare when, in foal to Tapit, she gave birth to Flightline, the 2022 Horse of the Year. Feathered lives across the street from Old Friends at Summer Wind Farm.

* Lava Man is a multiple-graded stakes winner with wins in the Pacific Classic; the Santa Anita Handicap twice; and the Hollywood Gold Cup three times. A one-time claimer, Lava Man earned over $5.2 million in his career. His other claim to fame was being a pony horse for his trainer, Doug O'Neill, guiding the trainer's horses to the track for 13 years, which earned him the nickname, “Coach.” He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2015 and arrived at Old Friends in Nov. 2022.

* Nashville, who was sired by Speightstown, won four of his eight career races for trainer Steve Asmussen. He was undefeated in his first four starts, which included the Perryville Stakes and the Malibu Stakes. In the Perryville Stakes, he set a new track record at Keeneland of 1:07.89 for six-furlongs.

* Pioneerof The Nile was a multiple-graded stakes winner. In his career, he strung together a four-race win streak over two seasons that included the 2008 CashCall Futurity, and the 2009 Robert B. Lewis Stakes, San Felipe Stakes, and Santa Anita Derby that propelled him into the Kentucky Derby where he finished second to 50-1 upset winner, Mine That Bird. Pioneerof The Nile, who tragically died young at age 19 in 2019, is also well known as the sire of American Pharoah who broke the 37-year Triple Crown drought when he won it in 2015 to become the 12th horse to accomplish the feat. He also won that year's Breeders' Cup Classic to complete the newly named accomplishment, the Grand Slam.

* Silver Charm is a multiple graded-stakes winner, with top wins in the 1997 Kentucky Derby and Preakness, and the 1998 Dubai World Cup. Owned by Bob and Beverly Lewis, and trained by Bob Baffert, Silver Charm won the Eclipse Award in 1997 as Champion 3-Year Old Colt. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007. He began his stud career at Three Chimneys Farm, before being sent to complete his stud career in Japan. He was repatriated to the United States and arrived at Old Friends in Dec. 2014.

* Tapit, a graded-stakes winner, he only raced six times and won three times, with his biggest wins coming in the Laurel Futurity and Wood Memorial Stakes. However, his best known accomplishment is that, since his retirement, he has become one of the greatest sires of all time. Standing at Gainesway Farm, he has “sired 31 Grade 1 winners, 33 yearlings to bring $1 million or more at auction, and earners of over $198 million on the racetrack for the most progeny earnings of any North American sire ever,” according to the farm's website. In addition, he is a three-time Champion Sire and the only top 5 sire 11 of the last 13 years.

Each halter is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity. Interested buyers unable to attend on Sunday can absentee bid on these items beginning today. To bid, email your name, address, and phone number along with your highest bid to: horses@oldfriendsequine.org

Old Friends is grateful to the private collectors who donated these exceptional halters to our auction.

The post Old Friends Homecoming Auction Premiere Halters Now Available For Absentee Bidding appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

The Friday Show Presented By The Jockey Club: Sun Shines Bright On My Old Kentucky Dome?

Imagine a horse that's had the most phenomenal lead-up to the Kentucky Derby ever. Dominating performances and a champion at 2, undefeated at 3 and sitting atop the Derby's qualifying points leaderboard. And then, by the luck of the draw, he is assigned the dreaded No. 1 post position, seriously diminishing any chance of winning.

It doesn't have to be that way, Paulick Report bloodstock editor Joe Nevills says in this week's Friday Show. Nevills proposes Churchill Downs officials take the Derby points system one step further and allow each horse's connections to choose their post positions, with the No. 1 points earner going first and No. 20 going last. Every other sport favors top-ranked teams and players through seedings in playoffs and tournaments. Why not racing?

But wait, there's more ideas in the Paulick Report's Derby suggestion box.

Publisher Ray Paulick wants jockey cams on every rider, allowing fans at home to choose their view of the most exciting two minutes in sport. Nevills would like a roof over Churchill Downs to ensure a fast track and comfortable patrons.

Will the Stephen Foster lyrics have to be changed to “the sun shines bright on my old Kentucky dome”?

Some of the suggestions are serious; others, not so much.

Watch this week's episode of The Friday Show below:

The post The Friday Show Presented By The Jockey Club: Sun Shines Bright On My Old Kentucky Dome? appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Oaks Contender Gambling Girl Represents Four Generations of Gallagher’s Stud

Under the guidance of Hall of Fame trainer Laz Barrera, Buryyourbelief (Believe It) became the first New York-bred filly to win the GI Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs in 1987 as the 8-1 upset, coasting home a 2 3/4-length winner in the nation's most prestigious race for 3-year-old fillies.

This Friday, 37 years later, the Todd Pletcher-trained Gambling Girl (Dialed In) will fly the flag for the Empire State as the lone New York-bred in a field of 14. Owned by Queens native Mike Repole, Gambling Girl represents the fourth generation in a long line of mares bred by Marlene Brody's Gallagher's Stud in Ghent, NY.

Gambling Girl is her breeder's first Kentucky Oaks contender, stemming from a family line that began at Gallagher's Stud with the purchase of the filly's fourth dam, Grand Bonheur (Blushing Groom {Fr}), as a yearling in 1980. From the 11 foals she produced came Felicita (Rubiano), dam of Grade I winner and Grade I producer Take Charge Lady, who Gallagher's Stud sold in utero and went on to produce the likes of champion Will Take Charge (Unbridled's Song), Grade I winners Take Charge Indy (A.P. Indy) and As Time Goes By (American Pharoah), and Charming (War Front), the dam of multiple Grade I winner Omaha Beach.

Before Take Charge Lady, there was Eventail (Lear Fan), Felicita's first foal who produced Tulipmania, Gambling Girl's dam, along with Grade II winner Straight Story (Giant's Causeway), before going through the ring at the 2006 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, in foal to El Prado (Ire), and selling for $925,000 to Shadai Farm.

“Tulipmania was actually a very useful racehorse. She was very close to a stakes-caliber filly. She ended up injuring a knee, but she beat stakes winners running in allowance races and stuff like that so she was a pretty nice race filly,” said Mallory Mort, who has worked with all facets of the farm's equine and cattle operations for 44 years and took over as manager of the entire farm in 2005. “It's very gratifying when that many generations of breeding comes to fruition.”

Tulipmania has produced 11 foals, with four winners from eight starters, topped by stakes winner and GII-placed Gambling Girl. The third foal from her dam to sell for six figures as a yearling at Fasig-Tipton's New York Bred Yearlings Sale, she was purchased for $200,000 by West Bloodstock, Agent for Repole Stable, from the Denali Stud consignment in 2021.

“From the beginning, she was just a piece of cake. Nothing ever went wrong with her and she was always easy to work with. We were expecting pretty good money for her [at the sale]. She was a good individual and obviously had a nice page,” said Mort. “I think if one of the mare's earlier progeny had jumped up and run really well, she would have brought considerably more money, but that's the way it goes. She ended up bringing in the range we were thinking and we were really fortunate that they bought her. She's in really great hands and a New York guy racing a nice New York-bred is really special.”

The bay filly, who has raced primarily in her home state, debuted as a 2-year-old last summer at Belmont Park and broke her maiden at Saratoga in her third career start, winning a seven-furlong state-bred maiden special weight by 10 1/2 lengths. In her next start, she won her stakes debut in the Joseph A. Gimma at the Belmont at the Big A meet and later closed out the season with a third in the Dec 3. GII Demoiselle Stakes, just a length behind winner Julia Shining (Curlin).

Returning this January, Gambling Girl was second in the Busanda Stakes, fourth in the GIII Honeybee Stakes in February at Oaklawn, and a hard-fought second in the Apr. 8 GIII Gazelle Stakes, just a head behind fellow Oaks contender Promiseher America (American Pharoah).

Though a small breeding operation with a broodmare band that hovers around 10 to 15 mares, Brody and her team have always prided themselves on producing horses of quality and class, and Gambling Girl is just the latest success story to validate those efforts.

“We had a horse many years ago named Allez Milord [Tom Rolfe], who won a Group 1 in Germany and a Grade I in this country. He was also a champion in Germany and ran second in the [1987] G1 Japan Cup. He was quite an international horse. Icabad Crane [Jump Start] ran third in the GI Preakness several years ago, so we've had some pretty good Classic-type horses over the years and a lot of graded stakes winners. We also had a filly a few years ago named Inimitable Romance [Maria's Mon], who won three graded stakes for us. Maximova [Danehill Dancer {Ire}} is another one of our mares who was a stakes winner and multiple graded stakes placed,” said Mort. “We don't have that many mares so we don't get a ton of them, but it's great when they come along.”

Tulipmania had a full-brother to Gambling Girl last year, who will be heading to the sale ring this summer, and just last week, she foaled a Medaglia d'Oro filly on Apr. 25.

“We've always thought that Dialed In is an underrated stallion. For his stud fee, a good one will sell really well, and that's mainly what we do, so we decided to go back to him. The yearling is a very nice colt as well,” said Mort. “Dialed In was a really good racehorse and I think he is physically a lot different than some of the Mineshafts. [His progeny] are earlier and faster and we liked that. He's proven to be a pretty darn good sire.”

Gambling Girl's start in Friday's Run for the Lilies also stands as a testament to Brody's dedication to her farm, which her and her late husband Jerry purchased in April of 1976, her horses, and the team that keeps everything going day-in and day-out.

“It's been great to work for someone that just wants to put the horses and the people first. We try to make some money to keep things going obviously, but really the emphasis is on the horses' health and the people that are working for us. Anybody that stays in this business for as long as she's been in it, they just have to love it. They can roll with the punches and those are great people to work for. They know how to enjoy the good times and not take the low too badly, to just keep on going. She's been a wonderful person to work for, for this many years, otherwise I wouldn't have been here for this long,” said Mort.

The farm will only be foaling out four mares this year, and breeding seven back, along with cutting back their racing operation slightly. But even at 91, Brody remains devoted, as she and the rest of the Gallagher's Stud team look forward to what's still to come.

“These are the horses we've tried to breed for a long time and so it's very gratifying when one can reach this kind of Classic contention and run in these kinds of races. It's great. And Gambling Girl being a New York-bred on top of that, obviously we've been breeding in New York for over 40 years or something, it's really nice when this happens. It makes it all worthwhile, even if it doesn't come around very often,” said Mort.

The post Oaks Contender Gambling Girl Represents Four Generations of Gallagher’s Stud appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post