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Gun Runner Tops Three Chimneys Stallion Roster

Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg})–the leading sire on the general sire list by percentage of Grade I winners, Grade I horses, graded stakes winners, graded stakes horses, black-type winners and black-type horses from starters–anchors the stallion roster at Three Chimneys Farm, where he will cover mares at a private fee for 2023.

Building on his leading freshman sire campaign in 2021, the 9-year-old is the sire of 11 stakes winners this season, including eight at the graded level and four Grade I scorers, including 'TDN Rising Star' and GI Longines Breeders' Cup third Taiba; GI Arkansas Derby and GI Haskell S. hero Cyberknife, who was just edged in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile over the weekend; and Early Voting, who became his first Classic winner in the GI Preakness S. this past May. Ten of his starters have earned Grade I black-type this term, while no fewer than 25 have been placed at stakes level. Gun Runner is also the leading sire of 3-year-olds, with nearly double the progeny earnings of his next-closest rival. Gun Runner's third-crop yearlings sold for up to $975,000 this year, while eight Gun Runner foals of 2022 have averaged better than $418,000 at this week's breeding stock sales.

Sharp Azteca (Freud), the leading freshman sire of 22 by winners with 30, gets a bump to $15,000 from $5,000 this past year. The fourth-leading member of his crop by progeny earnings, he is the sire of the brilliant Tyler's Tribe, who won his first five trips to the post by a combined 62 lengths and a pair of additional black-type winners.

The 2023 Three Chimneys stallion roster is as follows:

Gun Runner–Private

Sharp Azteca–$15,000

Volatile–$12,500

Sky Mesa–$10,000

Palace Malice–$10,000

Funtastic–$5,000

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Into Mischief Tops Spendthrift’s 2023 Stud Fees

Into Mischief once again leads Spendthrift Farm's roster for 2023 with his stud fee remaining at $250,000 S&N, the operation announced Thursday.

Spendthrift has added four new stallions including MGISWs Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) and Cyberknife (Gun Runner), who are both pointing for the Breeders' Cup. The other new additions are GI Belmont S. winner Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) and GSW Greatest Honour (Tapit), who are both available for inspection at the farm.

Champion Jackie's Warrior, the likely favorite in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, will command a fee of $50,000 S&N. GI Arkansas Derby and GI Haskell Invitational S. winner Cyberknife's fee will be determined after he runs in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. Mo Donegal, who retired shortly after his Classic victory, will stand for $20,000 S&N. While regally bred Greatest Honour will be at an introductory fee of $7,500 S&N.

“We are extremely excited about the new stallions we are bringing in for 2023. They represent exactly what we hope to do each year, in terms of offering quality and value at all levels of the market,” said Ned Toffey, Spendthrift general manager. “Jackie's Warrior is a brilliantly fast champion and one of the most decorated racehorses to come around in recent years. Mo Donegal is a graded winner at two and classic winner at three. Cyberknife won two of the most high-profile Grade Is for 3-year-olds, and Greatest Honour has a rare combination of talent, looks and pedigree that you don't find often at his level of the market. From $50,000 on down to $7,500, all four of these horses were precocious, displayed immense talent, are tremendous physicals, and possess the sire power breeders are looking for.”

Into Mischief's GI Kentucky Derby-winning son and Horse of the Year Authentic will stand for $60,000 S&N for his third season, down $10,000 from last year. Meanwhile Bolt d'Oro will see his fee increase on the back of a strong freshman season, going from $20,000 to $35,000 S&N.

Omaha Beach and Yaupon will remain at $30,000 S&N. Omaha Beach's yearlings have proven quite popular, making him the leader in his class at the recent yearling auctions. Yaupon is standing his second season this year.

Spendthrift's stallions under $20,000 are led by champion Vino Rosso at $15,000 S&N, down from $20,000 last year. MGISW Vekoma and champion Mitole will also stand for $15,000 S&N. Mitole's fee is unchanged from last year and Vekoma is down slightly from $17,500. Goldencents, Known Agenda, Rock Your World and Jimmy Creed will all stand for $10,000 S&N.

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‘Improving’ Taiba Races Away In Pennsylvania Derby

If the GI Kentucky Derby all came a bit too soon for 'TDN Rising Star' Taiba (c, 3, Gun Runner–Needmore Flattery, by Flatter), Saturday's GI betPARX Pennsylvania Derby showed that he is close to–or is already–the finished project, enjoying the run of the race in before shooting clear in the stretch to defeat Kentucky Derby third Zandon (Upstart) by three solid lengths. Cyberknife (Gun Runner), who got the better trip and the better of a final-furlong tussle with Taiba in the GI TVG.com Haskell S. earlier this summer, outfinished Simplification (Not This Time) for third.

“Gun Runner is an unbelievable sire and this guy looks more like Gun Runner than a lot of them,” said trainer Bob Baffert, winning his fourth Pennsylvania Derrby. “I was just so excited watching it. I was not loving it on the backside, but once he tipped out it was like, 'Wow! Look at this guy!' We have such a great team and to get rewarded with a win like this makes it all worth it. Fantastic.”

Ridden for speed by Mike Smith, in the irons for the Derby victories of the Baffert-trained West Coast (Flatter) in 2017 and McKinzie (Street Sense) the following year, Taiba dueled early on with White Abarrio (Race Day) through an opening quarter in :23.27, but when it was clear that the latter was going to make the lead at all costs, the chestnut was eased back into a ground-saving fourth from close up. Simplification and 'Rising Star' We The People (Constitution) added some fuel to the pace fire, but Taiba continued to travel well behind the first flight of runners while being asked a bit rounding the far turn.

Angled out sharply around Simplification in upper stretch, Taiba hit the front outside the eighth pole and was punched out mostly hands and heels to hit the line a clear-cut winner. Zandon sat an inside trip beneath Joel Rosario and made steady progress up the inside, but could not reach the winner. Cyberknife looked to exchange bumps with We The People while launching his own bid and was up in the final jump for third.

While GI Runhappy Travers S. winner Epicenter (Not This Time) is the head of the 3-year-old class, Baffert was subtly making the case for Taiba post-race. The colt does hold the distinction of being one of two members of the group to have won multiple Grade Is going long this season. Jack Christopher is a two-time winner at the top-level around one turn.

“You want to be the best 3-year-old,” the conditioner said. “This was the spot that puts him right there. He is just a tough horse. He is powerful. He is a heavily muscled horse and you would not think he would run this far. He has speed but he will sit behind horses. He comes running and he is just a fighter.”

A $170,000 purchase out of the 2020 Fasig-Tipton October Sale, Taiba was the second-priciest offering at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale on Gary Young's bid of $1.7-million on behalf of Amr Zedan. The chestnut was named a no-brainer 'Rising Star' following a 7 1/2-length debut victory for Baffert over six furlongs at Santa Anita Mar. 5, but was turned over to Tim Yakteen and he did what not even Justify could do–win the Runhappy Santa Anita Derby off just a maiden victory Apr. 9. Bet to under 6-1 despite his inexperience entering the May 7 GI Kentucky Derby, Taiba never truly reached contention and tired to finish 12th. Connections were content to allow the rest of the Triple Crown to pass them by and, with Baffert off his suspension, he was routed for the Haskell. Consigned to a wide run into the stretch, he came to win the race a furlong out, but was outfinished at the fence by Cyberknife, denying Baffert a 10th win in the race.

From here, Taiba is likely to chart a course that lands at Keeneland on the first Saturday in November.

“If all is good, we are going to point to the Breeders' Cup Classic. You know, horse racing changes day by day. I'm not looking forward to running against Life Is Good (Into Mischief) and Flightline (Tapit). Those are two very fast horses.”

Bayern (Offlee Wild) used the Pennsylvania Derby as a springboard to his much-ballyhooed success in the 2014 Classic.

Pedigree Notes:

Taiba is the lone foal to race out of Needmore Flattery, a mare that would have made E. F. Hutton proud. The Ohio-bred did it the hard way in her career, making 39 trips to the races from ages two to five for owner and Taiba breeder Bruce Ryan, resulting in 17 visits to the winner's circle, nine of those in state-bred stakes races, for earnings north of $732,000.

After producing a colt by Uncle Mo for her first foal, one that Ryan elected to buy back for $112,000 at FTKNOV in 2019, the breeder cashed out, selling Neeedmore Flattery to Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals's Yeguada Centurion for $195,000 back in foal to Uncle Mo at KEENOV the following month. The mare was sent to France, foaled a filly in Ireland, and that produce–now named Tita Mimosa (Ire)–is in training and worked a half-mile in :48.60 (8/75) at Monmouth Park Sept. 18. Needmore Flattery's last listed produce is a French-bred yearling colt by G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Waldgeist (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) that is catalogued as hip 51 to next month's Arqana October Yearling Sale.

Saturday, Parx Racing
PENNSYLVANIA DERBY-GI, $1,000,000, Parx Racing, 9-24, 3yo, 1 1/8m, 1:48.67, ft.
1–TAIBA, 126, c, 3, by Gun Runner

1st Dam: Needmore Flattery (MSW, $732,103), by Flatter
2nd Dam: Kiosk, by Left Banker
3rd Dam: Phone Switch, by Phone Trick
($140,000 Ylg '20 FTKOCT; $1,700,000 2yo '21 FTFMAR).
O-Zedan Racing Stables, Inc.; B-Bruce C Ryan (KY); T-Bob
Baffert; J-Mike E. Smith. $546,000. 'TDN Rising Star'
Lifetime Record: 5-3-1-0, $1,236,200.
Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Zandon, 126, c, 3, Upstart–Memories Prevail, by Creative
Cause. ($170,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Jeff Drown; B-Brereton
Jones (KY); T-Chad C. Brown. $182,000.
3–Cyberknife, 126, c, 3, Gun Runner–Awesome Flower, by
Flower Alley. ($400,000 Ylg '20 FTKSEL). O-Gold Square LLC;
B-Kenneth L. Ramsey & Sarah K. Ramsey (KY); T-Brad H. Cox.
$91,000.
Margins: 3, 3 3/4, HD. Odds: 1.40, 3.30, 4.10.
Also Ran: Simplification, White Abarrio, B Dawk, Naval Aviator, We the People, Skippylongstocking, Tawny Port, Icy Storm.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Haskell Rematch Highlights Saturday’s Graded Stakes Slate

After putting on a show on the Jersey Shore earlier this summer, the Gun Runner-sired GI TVG.com Haskell S. exacta of Cyberknife and 'TDN Rising Star' Taiba co-headline a loaded renewal of the GI Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Saturday.

Was it a tale of two trips or did the best horse just win that day at Monmouth Park? You be the judge.

While subsequent GI Runhappy Travers S. runner-up Cyberknife awaited racing room leaving the quarter pole, the hard-ridden Taiba began to wind up beneath Mike Smith with a four-wide blitz. Florent Geroux, meanwhile, found a seam aboard the GI Arkansas Derby winner along the rail as favored 'Rising Star' Jack Christopher (Munnings) began to back out of it at the furlong marker. Cyberknife ran to daylight from there and outbattled the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby winner by a game head in a race that didn't deserve a loser.

“He's a Grade I horse and it's a Grade I race,” trainer Brad Cox said of Cyberknife and Saturday's $1-million affair. “And look, I'm excited about matching up with Taiba. He's a very good horse, a Grade I winner in his own right. There are some other very good horses in the race. It looks like a really good group of horses.”

That “really good group of horses” also includes the rail-drawn GISW Zandon (Upstart), who should appreciate the turnback to nine furlongs following a third-place finish in the Travers; the Cox-trained GIII Ohio Derby winner and GII Jim Dandy S. third Tawny Port (Pioneerof the Nile); the top three finishers of the GIII West Virginia Derby–Skippylongstocking (Exaggerator), 'Rising Star' We the People (Constitution) and Simplification (Not This Time); and GI Curlin Florida Derby winner and Ohio Derby runner-up White Abarrio (Race Day), who finished a puzzling seventh last out in the Haskell.

Saturday in the Parx…

The loaded 13-race program at Parx also features four other graded events, led by the GI Cotillion for 3-year-old fillies.

In addition to seeking a record fourth Pennsylvania Derby victory with 5-2 morning-line favorite Taiba, Hall of Famer Bob Baffert will also ship in Cotillion second-choice Adare Manor (Uncle Mo) from his Santa Anita base. The runaway GIII Las Virgenes S. heroine has been training lights out since finishing second as the favorite in the GII Black-Eyed Susan S. May 20.

“She is training really well,” Baffert said. “I could have run her in a softer spot. This will be a class check for her.”

After chasing home runaway division leader Nest (Curlin) in Saratoga's GI Coaching Club American Oaks and GI Alabama S., the classy Secret Oath (Arrogate) seeks her first win since capturing the GI Kentucky Oaks. She is the 2-1 morning-line favorite.

“She is only getting stronger,” Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas said. “She sure is filling out and getting better and holding a lot of weight. She is probably maturing into the filly that we wanted her to be.”

Todd Pletcher will be represented by a formidable trio in Alabama third Goddess of Fire (Mineshaft), streaking local Cathryn Sophia S. winner and 'Rising Star' Green Up (Upstart) and GIII Monmouth Oaks heroine and 'Rising Star' Shahama (Munnings).

The card also features wide-open renewals of the GII Gallant Bob S. and GIII Turf Monster S., while a field of nine marathoners will line up for the GIII Greenwood Cup.

The day's graded stakes action is rounded out by Saturday evening's GIII Dogwood S. at Churchill Downs, featuring the return of champion and 'Rising Star' Echo Zulu (Gun Runner), who was a vet scratch at the gate prior to Belmont's GI Acorn S. June 11; and Belmont at the Big A's GIII Athenia S.

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