Bernardini | Horse Racing Free Tips

Art Collector to Runhappy Ellis Park Derby

Bruce Lunsford’s GII Toyota Blue Grass S. winner Art Collector (Bernardini) will run in the $200,000 Runhappy Ellis Park Derby Aug. 9, trainer Tom Drury told the Ellis Park notes team.

The Runhappy Ellis Park Derby, with its purse doubled and distance extended from a mile to 1 1/8 miles, this year carries GI Kentucky Derby qualifying points. The winner receives 50 points toward qualifying for the Sept. 5 Derby, a number that virtually assures a spot in the 20-horse field at Churchill Downs. The runner-up receives 20 points, with 10 for third and five for fourth. Art Collector, by virtue of his 100-point win in the Blue Grass, is safely in the Derby field already, which had Drury considering training the colt up to the Run for the Roses.

“Bruce kind of left the decision up to me,” Drury said. “I felt we needed to go somewhere, and that was our only option. Before I said too much, I just wanted to make sure my horse came out of the Keeneland race OK and everything was in good order. Now that we’re back on the track and seeing him train, gosh, if anything it seems like he’s better. The timing of it is going to be good leading up to the Derby. That’s the ultimate goal, and we’re going to try to take our best shot.”

Added Lunsford, “You could try to train him up to the Kentucky Derby. That’s a long eight weeks. You don’t want to start working horses quick; you might as well just have a race. We’ve got four weeks to get ready. There are a lot of things I love about Ellis anyway, and it gives me a chance to give back. They’ve always been good to me. Every time I’ve been in politics, I’ve won every time in Henderson. I know a lot of people down there. And I think [jockey] Brian [Hernandez, Jr.] and Tommy are excited about doing this.”

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GreenMount Farm’s Bernardini Filly Named 2020 Champion At Maryland Yearling Show

GreenMount Farm's filly by Bernardini out of Mystic Love, by Not For Love, outshined the competition as judge Michael Matz selected her as grand champion of the 86th annual Maryland Horse Breeders Association's Yearling Show, held Sunday, July 19 at the Timonium Fairgrounds horse show ring in Timonium, Md.

Bred by GreenMount Farm in partnership with Godolphin, the champion filly was the winner of Class IV (for fillies foaled in Maryland, by out-of-state sires). She was shown by Sabrina Moore, manager and co-owner of GreenMount.

“I had a good feeling about her, I mean I think she's really nice, but until you get there and see how nice all the other horses are [you don't know],” said Moore. “It's surreal, but I count my blessings, I know it doesn't happen all the time. Knowing the people that are genuinely happy for you, that's probably the best part of it.

“I love the show because they get out and you kind of get a feel for them, what they're going to be like as soon as you get them off the farm and they [get to] school a little bit. I just think the yearling show is really key for them and I was glad to get her there.”

A total of 67 yearlings in four classes were judged by two-time classic-winning trainer and hall of fame show jumping rider Matz, who lives in Pennsylvania and trains out of Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md.

“I thought the last [class], that the [champion] filly won, was the strongest group,” Matz said. “She was a nice mover. She just had an overall look. I thought she was well-made and pretty well balanced.”

The reserve championship went to R. Larry Johnson's homebred Whenigettoheaven, a colt by Street Magician out of Heaven Knows What, by Holy Bull, who won Class I (for colts and geldings foaled in Maryland, by Maryland sires). He was one of two ribbon winners for Johnson, as his Street Magician filly won Class III (for fillies foaled in Maryland, by Maryland sires).

Street Magician was awarded the Northview Stallion Station Challenge Trophy as the leading sire of the show. Bred and campaigned by Johnson, the graded stakes winner stands as part of Legacy Farm Stallions at Roland Farm in Warwick, Md.

All yearlings who entered the show ring are now eligible for the $40,000 premium award which is split annually, with $20,000 going to the exhibitors of the four show contestants who earn the most money as 2-year-olds during 2021, and another $20,000 divided among the exhibitors of the four highest-earning 3-year-old runners the next year.

To view the show's complete results, click here.

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Bernardini Filly Named 2020 MHBA Champion

A filly by Bernardini out of Mystic Love (Not For Love) was selected as grand champion of the 86th annual Maryland Horse Breeders Association’s Yearling Show, held Sunday in Timonium. Bred by GreenMount Farm in partnership with Godolphin, the champion filly was the winner of Class IV (for fillies foaled in Maryland, by out-of-state sires). She was shown by Sabrina Moore, manager and co-owner of GreenMount.

A total of 67 yearlings in four classes were judged by two-time Classic-winning trainer and Hall of Fame Show Jumping rider Michael Matz.

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Letter to the Editor: Ellen Parker

In “Art Collector Puts Sire Back in the Frame” (TDN 7/16/2020) Chris McGrath comments that “Whatever the reason, I am convinced that compounded, proven distaff influences represent a far better foundation for a pedigree than the supposed alchemies flimsily peddled between given sire-lines.”

I couldn’t agree more, which is why I created the Reine de Course (Queens of the Turf) series of influential mares and have been updating it for the past 40 years.

As Bull Hancock famously said, “the family is stronger than the individual.”

At the end of the day a good broodmare sire is, simply, a stallion bred to mares of good family. Trying to make it more complicated is a waste of time.

Ellen Parker, Paris Kentucky

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