Month: December 2023

Nash, Risk It Among Top Nominees To Fair Grounds’ Road To The Kentucky Derby Kickoff Day

Nominations for Road to the Derby Kickoff Day's eight scheduled stakes at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots on Saturday Dec. 23 have been released. The day's headline races include the 3rd running of the $100,000 Gun Runner and the $100,000 Untapable Stakes for fillies. Both stakes award 10-5-3-2-1 points as the final 2-year-old Kentucky Derby and Oaks prep races of the calendar year. The Gun Runner closed with 25 nominations; the Untapable with 18.

Post positions for the Dec. 23 card, which also includes the Sugar Bowl, Letellier, Tenacious, Richard R. Scherer Memorial, Blushing KD, and Buddy Diliberto Memorial Stakes will be drawn on Saturday, Dec. 16. First post is scheduled for noon CT.

Run over 1 1/16 miles, the Gun Runner is named for the local winner of the 2016 Risen Star and Louisiana Derby. In 2021, the inaugural running featured the Kentucky Derby 148 exacta, as Epicenter won and Rich Strike finished fifth. Jace's Road's path to Kentucky Derby 149 began with winning the 2022 edition.

Brad Cox leads all trainers with seven Gun Runner nominees, including Godolphin's homebred Nash, who broke his maiden going two turns on Nov. 12 at Churchill Downs, winning by 10 1/4 lengths.

Steve Asmussen has a quartet of horses nominated to the Gun Runner including Winchell Thoroughbreds and Three Chimneys Farm's Risk It, who has a second-place finish in the Iroquois (G3) and a fourth-place finish in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) on his resume. Winchell Thoroughbreds and Asmussen teamed up to win the 2021 Gun Runner with Epicenter.

Other top nominees to the Gun Runner include: Don't Tell My Wife Stables' Next Level, who broke his maiden on Thanksgiving at Fair Grounds for trainer Keith Desormeaux and has a third-place finish in the Del Mar Futurity (G1) on his resume; Red White and Blue Racing's Neat, a Constitution colt trained by Rob Atras who has two wins on the turf, including an open-lengths, first-level allowance score going 1 1/16 miles on Nov. 25 at Fair Grounds; and Greg McDonald's homebred Footprint, a son of Dialed In sporting a 3-1-1-0 record, having won on debut at Keeneland this fall for trainer Ken McPeek.

McPeek also boasts four Untapable nominees, including Brownwood Farm's homebred Sistina Chapel, who along with her maiden win has never finished out of the exacta in four starts, and Dixiana Farms' Band of Gold, who broke her maiden when debuting on Churchill Downs' Stars of Tomorrow II card. Top among Cox's list-leading five Untapable nominees is Full of Run Racing and Madakat Stables' Alpine Princess who has two impressive wins along with her 7th-place finish in the Darley Alcibiades (G1), and the Rags to Riches winner West Sunset, a Gary and Mary West homebred who finished eighth in the Golden Rod (G2). Phil Bauer nominates three fillies to the Untapable; Tom Amoss, two; and Steve Asmussen nominates Whisper Hill Farm's Gun Runner filly, Perfect Shot.

The Untapable is run across 1 mile 70 yards. In 2022 Pretty Mischievous began her road towards winning the 2023 Kentucky Oaks with a victory in the Untapable for trainer Brendan Walsh, which she followed up with a victory in the Rachel Alexandra (G2) before finishing second in the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2).

The list of nominees and the past performances for all eight stakes to be run at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots on Dec. 23 can be found here: https://bit.ly/471HZ9Y.

The post Nash, Risk It Among Top Nominees To Fair Grounds’ Road To The Kentucky Derby Kickoff Day appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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What Was Your Favorite Moment Of 2023: Cherie Devaux

As 2023 draws to a close, the TDN is asking industry members to name their favorite moment of the year. Send yours to suefinley@thetdn.com

“There were so many, it is hard to narrow it down to just one. I would have to say the one that will stick with me is winning the GII Raven Run with Vahva. There is something magical about racing at Keeneland and to be able to make the walk to the infield with a filly that has meant a lot to me since we purchased her, was something special.”
–Cherie DeVaux, Trainer

The post What Was Your Favorite Moment Of 2023: Cherie Devaux appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Darley’s Japanese Stallion Roster Welcomes Palace Malice And Yoshida

Three Chimneys Farm's GI Belmont S. hero Palace Malice (Curlin) and WinStar Farm's versatile multiple Grade I winner Yoshida (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) are bound for 2024 Japanese stud duty, Darley Japan said in a release late Wednesday.

On the heels of the announcement that Adayar (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) and Hukum (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) will stand at Darley in Japan next year, Palace Malice and Yoshida add even more star power as they accrued four Grade I wins and 10 black-type wins between them.

Palace Malice was a stateside Classic winner, taking the Belmont S. by more than three lengths. He also won the GI Met Mile at four, a season that saw him amass four graded victories.

Out of SW Palace Rumor (Royal Anthem), who was purchased by Katsumi Yoshida while in-foal to Mineshaft at the 2013 Fasig-Tipton Fall Mixed Sale for $1.1 million, Palace Malice is a half-brother to this year's G1 Tenno Sho (Spring) winner Justin Palace (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and GSW Iron Barows (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}). That pair are likely to face one another in the G1 Arima Kinen on Christmas Eve. His yearling half-sister by Silver State (Jpn) sold for nearly $2.2 million this past summer in Japan.

Three Chimneys's own wasted little time in getting his career at stud off to a flying start in his very first crop when Structor landed the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf and Palace Malice has sired 21 stakes performers to date. Among them is unbeaten Japanese Group 2-winning juvenile, Jantar Mantar (Jpn)–one of four winners from just seven runners in Japan for his sire–and he figures one of the favorites for Sunday's G1 Asahi Hai Futurity. Also, his U.S. bred son Noble Roger was an impressive debut winner at Tokyo last month.

Yoshida | Sarah Andrew

Yoshida was purchased for $765,160 in Japan as a yearling by John McCormack on behalf of WinStar Farm. Named a 'TDN Rising Star', he landed the GI Turf Classic at Churchill Downs and the GI Woodward S. at Saratoga. He was also beaten by just a length in the G1 Queen Anne at Royal Ascot and finished fourth in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic.

Yoshida is a son of Heart's Cry who is also the sire of Japanese stallions Just A Way (Jpn) and this year's freshman sire sensation Suave Richard (Jpn). He is the second foal out of the Grade I-winning mare Hilda's Passion (Canadian Frontier), who won the 2011 GI Ballerina S. by over nine lengths for Starlight Racing, then sold to Katsumi Yoshida for $1.225 million at that year's Fasig-Tipton November Sale. She is also responsible for Japanese group winner Sanctuaire (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}).

Yoshida, whose first crop are now juveniles, is the sire of eight winners, of which two are stakes-placed, including Yatta, third in the GIII Jimmy Durante S. Dec. 2.

“In addition to Adayar and Hukum, we are very pleased to introduce two more exciting stallions,” said Harry Sweeney, President of Darley in Japan. “Palace Malice has already had success on the turf in Japan, and Yoshida is a promising stallion who won Grade I races on both turf and dirt in the U.S. as a Japanese-bred horse. Even though both stallions raced in the U.S., they are well-known amongst Japanese breeders. With the addition of these two exciting new stallions, we have an even stronger and more varied lineup for next season. We look forward to welcoming you to view these stallions.”

Fees for both Palace Malice and Yoshida will be announced at a later date.

The post Darley’s Japanese Stallion Roster Welcomes Palace Malice And Yoshida appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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