Fasig-Tipton Renames Sale in July, Opens Nominations

Fasig-Tipton's July Selected Horses of All Ages Sale is open for nominations. Scheduled for Monday, July 11, the sale will be held in Lexington the day immediately prior to Fasig-Tipton's July Selected Yearling Sale.

The sale has been both expanded and renamed. Originally the July Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale, it will now include not just horses of racing age, but also broodmares, broodmares with a foal at their side, and broodmare prospects.

“Last year, we conducted a dispersal in July which allowed us to open up the sale to additional breeding stock,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. “Offering summer breeding stock was positively received by buyers, and that success prompted us to make this a permanent July fixture to complement our strong horses of racing age market.”

Last year's racehorse topper was SW & GSP Front Run the Fed (Fed Biz), who hammered for $440,000 to buyer George Sharp. The breeding stock session was topped by SW Jeweled Princess (Cairo Prince), who sold for $225,000 to Stoneriggs Farm while carrying her first foal by Gun Runner.

Entries for the initial online catalogue release will close June 17, but Fasig-Tipton will continue to add approved entries after that date up until sale time. For more information, visit julyhoaa.fasigtipton.com.

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Kentucky Downs Takes Entries, Draws Post Positions For Sept. 11 Graded Stakes Card

The fields are set for the summer's biggest day of turf racing, as entries were taken and post positions drawn Saturday for the FanDuel Meet at Kentucky Downs' blockbuster Sept. 11 card featuring five graded stakes at the Franklin, Ky., track.

The Super Saturday is the marquee attraction among six huge days of racing Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Sept. 11 and 12. First post is 12:20 p.m. Central. All the races will be shown on TVG.

Purses for next Saturday's 11 races total $4,692,000, of which $2.2 million comes from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund for registered Kentucky-bred horses. That's the vast majority of the horses running, but even the base purse that everyone competes for reflects some of the richest pots in the country.

“The card is amazing,” said Kentucky Downs Vice President for Racing Ted Nicholson. “Hats off to our racing office.”

The headliners are the $1 million Grade 2 Calumet Turf Cup at 1 1/2 miles and the $1 million Grade 3 FanDuel Turf Sprint at six furlongs. Both are “Win and You're In” stops on the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series and will be televised live by NBC. The Turf Cup winner will get a fees-paid berth in the $4 million Longines Breeders' Cup Turf and the FanDuel winner the same in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., on Nov. 6.

Donegal Racing's Arklow, the 2020 and 2018 Calumet Turf Cup winner, renews his rivalry with Michael Hui's 2019 victor Zulu Alpha, who was sidelined after last year's stakes and is 0 for 2 this year. Arklow would be the first three-time winner of the race. But they'll have to beat another Grade 1 winner in Channel Cat, returning to Kentucky Downs for the first time since he captured the 2018 Dueling Grounds Derby. He's owned by stakes sponsor Calumet Farm.

Arklow won Churchill Downs' Louisville Stakes and most recently was seventh in the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap, but beaten only 1 3/4 lengths for everything.

Mike Maker, a five-time meet-leader and Kentucky Downs' record-holder in career wins, has five of the 12 horses in the body of the Calumet Turf Cup, headed by Zulu Alpha. The others are Tide of the Sea, a Kentucky Downs winner last year and Gulfstream's Grade 3 McKnight this year; Ellis Park's Kentucky Downs TVG Preview winner Bluegrass Parkway; Grade 2 Belmont Gold Cup third-place finisher Ajourneytofreedom, and Glynn County, third in Arlington Park's Grade 1 Mr. D, the race formerly known as the Arlington Million. A sixth Maker entrant, Dynadrive, needs three scratches to get in the field.

Also in the field: Breakpoint, a triple Grade 1 winner in his native Chile, goes for his first U.S. win in three starts; Irish Group 3 winner Crossfirehurricane; Grade 1 United Nations runner-up Imperador and United Nations third Epic Bromance. Big Dreaming, second in last year's Dueling Grounds Derby, needs a defection to get in.

The FanDuel Turf Sprint brings back last year's top three finishers in Imprimis and the dead-heat runners-up Bombard and Front Run the Fed, who finished a neck behind the winner. But the favorite is likely to be boys-beater Got Stormy, winner of last year's Kentucky Downs Ladies Sprint over very soft turf in her first attempt at sprinting. Got Stormy is the only filly or mare to win Saratoga's Grade 1 Fourstardave, having done so in her last start and in 2019 after taking second last year. She has been second in three other Grade 1 starts against males, including in the 2019 Breeders' Cup Mile.

“We've never backed down from a challenge,” says Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse, who acknowledges his desire to pad Got Stormy's own Hall of Fame credentials.

Other challengers: Casa Creed, winner of Belmont's Grade 1 Jackpocket Jaipur at the six-furlong distance; multiple graded stakes-winner Diamond Oops; the blossoming Fast Boat, a past winner over the course who last out won Saratoga's Grade 3 Troy Stakes, and Born Great, who last year won a Kentucky Downs maiden and allowance race in the span of a week.

The Richard Baltas-trained Venetian Harbor ships in from California for the $600,000 The Mint Ladies Sprint. The 4-year-old filly has been worse than second only once in 10 starts. In two turf races, she was second in her debut and won Santa Anita's Grade 2 Monrovia.

Also in from the West Coast is the multiple stakes winner and graded stakes-placed Superstition for Hall of Famer Richard Mandella. John Sadler sends out Santa Anita stakes-winner Constantia in the overflow field of 14.

The beer will be flowing in Henderson if Yes It's Ginger prevails. There were so many people connected to Henderson beer distributor Mike “Hotdog” Utley, as well as the Brilliant Racing and Tagg Team Racing partnerships, that the winner's circle presentation had to move to the main track after “Ginger” prevailed in the Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Ladies Sprint, which gave her a free roll in this 6 1/2-furlong race.

The Casse-trained Jeanie B lost a Grade 2 stakes at Woodbine by a nose in her last start for owner CJ Thoroughbreds, whose managing partner Corey Johnsen was president and part-owner of Kentucky Downs before its sale to Ron Winchell and Marc Falcone.

Violenza enters the race off victory in a $100,000 turf sprint at Colonial Downs in her stakes debut for trainer Ian Wilkes and his son-in-law jockey Chris Landeros. The Maker-trained Jakarta has been off form but won a starter-allowance race here last year.

The $750,000 Kentucky Downs Ladies Mile is headlined by 5-for-6 Princess Grace, winner of three straight stakes capped by Del Mar's Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon. The Mike Stidham-trained Princess Grace shares the 126-pound high-weight with 2020 One Dreamer winner Dalika.

She'sonthewarpath, an eight-time winner out of 19 starts, is in peak form off of two stakes victories at Ellis Park. Florida trainer Saffie Joseph has the horse to catch in Shifty She, a two-time stakes-winner at Gulfstream and a good third in Saratoga's De La Rose won by 2020 Ladies Mile winner Regal Glory.

Summer in Saratoga, an allowance winner here last year for trainer Joe Sharp, won Indiana Grand's Indiana General Assembly Distaff in her last start.

With The Lir Jet, Qatar Racing will try to win the $600,000 Franklin-Simpson for the third straight year, and the first time with the stakes a Grade 2. Qatar Racing won last year's stakes with Guildsman, who like The Lir Jet is trained by Brendan Walsh, and in 2019 with the Doug O'Neill-trained Legends of War. The Lir Jet won Royal Ascot's Group 2 Norfolk as a 2-year-old but is winless since. He makes his debut both in the United States and as a gelding.

Sharing high weight status of 124 pounds with The Lir Jet is the Eddie Kenneally-trained Point Me By, winner of Arlington Park's Grade 1 Bruce D. Stakes (formerly the Secretariat).

The field of twelve 3-year-old stakes-winners, with three others on the also-eligible list, includes the filly Miss Amulet, a Group 2 winner in England and a close second in a Group 1. Other contenders in a talented field: Woodbine's Grade 3 Marine winner Easy Time; the Wesley Ward duo of Churchill Downs' War Chant winner Next and Ellis Park's Dade Park Dash victor Into the Sunrise, and American Derby winner Tango Tango Tango. Other stakes-winners are Bodenheimer, King of Miami, Omaha City, and County Final. Last year's Kentucky Downs Juvenile Sprint runner-up Fauci, also trained by Ward, needs a scratch to get in the field.

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Casa Creed, Bound for Nowhere Headline Troy Stakes At Saratoga

LRE Racing and JEH Racing Stable's Casa Creed will seek another triumph against some of the country's elite turf sprinters in Friday's 18th running of the $200,000 Grade 3 Troy presented by Horse Racing Ireland at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

The 5 ½-furlong turf sprint over the Mellon turf course is one of three stakes events on the eve of Whitney Day, which also includes the $120,000 Alydar for older horses at nine furlongs over the main track and the $200,000 Grade 2 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame for sophomores going a mile over the inner turf.

Conditioned by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, Casa Creed arrives at the Troy off his best performance yet, displaying a devastating late turn-of-foot to capture the Grade 1 Jackpocket Jaipur on Belmont Stakes Day June 5 at Belmont Park, where he earned a career-best 105 Beyer Speed Figure. The triumph was the 5-year-old son of Jimmy Creed's first start at six furlongs since his July 2018 career debut when sixth over the Saratoga main track.

Casa Creed has seen a considerable cutback in distance after two seasons of campaigning primarily around one mile, a distance where he has found prosperity capturing the Grade 2 Hall of Fame in August 2019 at Saratoga. He also has been graded stakes placed three times at one mile, including a third-place finish to Halladay in last year's Grade 1 Fourstardave at the Spa.

It was a cut back to seven furlongs in the Elusive Quality on April 24 at Belmont Park two starts ago where Casa Creed recaptured winning form for the first time since the Hall of Fame, ending a seven-race losing streak.

“We backed him up to six furlongs and that was okay, five and a half is a bit of a different race on a different type of course,” Mott said. “It's a tighter course here so we'll have to see how he negotiates that.”

Casa Creed has gone 11-1-2-3 at one mile, but Mott said he has benefitted going shorter distances.

“I usually try to get horses to run a mile if they can, which he does. It's pretty obvious he doesn't get beyond a mile that well,” Mott said. “He was a length, a length and a quarter behind some of the best. He's run well and makes that run and has just been touched off a couple of times. Something slightly less than a mile is good for him. Of course, when you're going shorter you need some luck and have to get the right trip.”

Jockey Junior Alvarado has been aboard Casa Creed for both of his graded stakes wins and returns to the irons from post 12.

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Mott also saddles Wachtel Stables, Pantofel Stables, and Jerold Zaro's Chewing Gum, who made a late rally to complete a Mott-trained exacta in the Jaipur. The 6-year-old son of Candy Ride seeks his first trip to the winner's circle since besting allowance optional claiming company going six furlongs in June 2020 at Belmont Park.

Jockey Jose Ortiz will ride from post 2.

Trainer Wesley Ward will saddle Bound for Nowhere, the lone millionaire in the field with a record of 16-7-2-3. Owned by his trainer, the lightly-raced 7-year-old son of The Factor returns to action with a redeeming agenda after setting a swift tempo and relinquishing to third in the final furlong of the Jaipur.

In his prior effort in the Grade 2 Shakertown on April 3 at Keeneland Race Course, Bound for Nowhere was forced to switch tactics and come from off the pace after an awkward start, but overcame adversity with a late-closing narrow win, which netted a 105 Beyer. Bound for Nowhere also captured the 2018 Shakertown, when besting talented turf sprinters Bucchero and Disco Partner by four lengths and registering a career-best 107 Beyer.

Bound for Nowhere has put together a solid work pattern heading into the Troy. He worked five-eighths in 1:01.43 over the Oklahoma training turf Saturday, one week after a sharp five-furlong drill in :59.40 over the same course.

“He's ready,” Ward said. “He's doing everything right. We got here early and got a couple of nice breezes here with [assistant trainer and former jockey] David Flores up. His last work was a nice and easy one because he had a stiff one the week before. He's been working as good of works as he's ever had. Usually, when you're coming into a race like this with a horse that's seven years old, you always are worrying about something, but we've got no worries.”

Jockey Joel Rosario rides from post 11.

Breeze Easy's 7-year-old veteran Imprimis will look to shake off four months' worth of rust, returning to a distance where he boasts a 16-8-2-2 record having not raced since finishing second beaten a nose to Bound for Nowhere in the Shakertown.

Trained by Joe Orseno, the Broken Vow dark bay crossed the wire first in last year's Troy but was disqualified and placed third. He was triumphant in his next effort going six furlongs in the Grade 3 Runhappy Turf Sprint on September 12 at Kentucky Downs before finishing 13th in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint on November 5 at Keeneland.

Imprimis emerged from the Shakertown with a broken bone in his nose.

“He's a very good fresh horse. When he came out of the gate in the Shakertown, he broke a bone in his nose. We took precautions over it, but he's been fine and ready to run,” Orseno said. “The Troy has been on our radar since that race. I was thinking about the Jaipur and decided to skip it, but he's ready to go.”

A six-time stakes winner over five different ovals, the well-traveled Imprimis boasts previous stakes wins in the Jim McKay Turf Sprint in May 2018 at Pimlico Race Course, the Wolf Hill two months later at Monmouth Park, as well as the Silks Run [March 2019], and Janus [January 1] at Gulfstream Park.

“He's never been the kind of horse that needed a track,” Orseno said. “Obviously, it's always turf but Kentucky Downs is different than most. Last year, I took him there off a ten-month layoff and his first race back was the Troy. He handled it fine and did what he was supposed to do. Unfortunately, they took him down, but he ran his race. It's kind of the same pattern we're trying to follow.”

Irad Ortiz, Jr. will ride Imprimis from post 7.

Trainer Charlie Appleby has garnered success this year in shipping horses across the pond to New York, including Grade 1 triumphs with Althiqa in the Just a Game at Belmont Park and the Diana at the Spa. The Newmarket-based conditioner sends out Godolphin's dual Group 3 winner Lazuli for the Troy.

The 4-year-old bay son of Dubawi captured the Group 3 Dubai International Airport World Trophy at Newbury on September 20 and won the Group 3 Palace House at Newmarket on May 1 two starts later.

Jockey Luis Saez has the mount from post 10.

Rounding out the field are Brad Grady's Fast Boat [post 1, Tyler Gaffalione], a winner of the Grade 2 Twin Spires Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs two starts back for trainer Joe Sharp; Louisiana-bred stakes winner Classy John [post 3, John Velazquez]; John Terranova-trained three-time winner Backtohisroots [post 4, Manny Franco]; graded stakes-placed Front Run the Fed [post 5, Ricardo Santana, Jr.]; Calumet Farms' ultra-consistent Gear Jockey [post 6, Jose Lezcano]; multiple stakes winner Carotari [post 8, Javier Castellano] for trainer Brian Lynch; and Chateau [post 9, Dylan Davis], a graded-stakes winner on dirt for trainer Rob Atras.

The Troy is carded as Race 9 on Friday's 10-race program. First post is 1:05 p.m.

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Stakes Winners Front Run The Fed, Stilleto Boy Top Vibrant Renewal Of Fasig-Tipton July Selected Horses Of Racing Age Sale

Fasig-Tipton held two sales Monday at Newtown Paddocks in Lexington, Ky.: the inaugural July Breeding Stock sale, featuring the Far From Over/Fountain of Youth Dispersal, and a successful renewal of the July Selected Horses of Racing Age sale.

“I don't think there were any surprises today,” Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning said of the July Selected Horses of Racing Age sale. “It was a very active market with very competitive bidding throughout the day. [It had a] really vibrant feel to it.”

Front Run the Fed (Hip 647), a 5-year-old stakes winning son of Fed Biz, topped the sale when sold for $440,000 to George Sharp (video).

“I got tired of being outbid, and decided I was going to go to half a million on this one, because I want to go to the Breeders' Cup this year,” Sharp said. “I've got some nice 2-year-old fillies that I think I'll get there with, but this one is hopefully certainly going to get me there.

“We might race him once in Del Mar, almost certainly Kentucky Downs, and then the Breeders' Cup,” he continued.

ELiTE, agent consigned the five-year-old son of Fed Biz, who is a multiple graded stakes placed stakes winner with earnings of $392,150 to date. Front Run the Fed's current record stands at 4-4-2 in 13 career starts, including a win in the Better Talk Now Stakes at three and placings in the 2020 Grade 3 Runhappy Turf Sprint Stakes and 2021 G3 Poker Stakes behind Grade 1 winners Oleksandra (AUS) and Raging Bull (FR).

Recent Iowa Derby winner Stilleto Boy (Hip 557)  was the second-highest priced offering of the day, selling for $420,000 to Steve Moger (video).

Paramount Sales, agent consigned the 3-year-old Shackleford gelding, who has earned $249,675. Stilleto Boy has been in the money in all of his seven career starts, with a record of 2-2-2. Stilleto Boy is a half-brother to eight other winners out of 100-percent winner-producer Rosie's Ransom, including stakes winner Rosie My Rosie (Purge).

The top-priced filly was Josie (Hip 501) who got the sale off to a spectacular start when sold for $300,000 to KatieRich Farms as the first horse through the ring (video).

ELiTE, agent consigned the 4-year-old Race Day filly, who won the Iowa Distaff Stakes at Prairie Meadows on July 3 to increase earnings to $266,867. Josie has a record of 4-4-2 in 14 career starts, and is having a an excellent 2021, with three wins in four starts to date. Josie is one of seven winners out of the stakes winning Awesome Again mare Spirited Away, who has also produced Grade 2 winner/multiple graded stakes winner Prospective (Malibu Moon) and Malibu Cove (Malibu Moon), dam of Grade 2 winner/Grade 1 placed Kalypso.

In total, 79 horses of racing age sold for $5,905,500, up 16.4 percent from when 81 horses sold for $5,072,000 last year. The average rose 19.4 percent to $74,753 from $62,617 in 2020, while the median rose 66.7 percent to $50,000 from $30,000 last year. Fifteen horses sold for $100,000 or more, compared to 11 in 2020. The RNA rate fell to 24.8 percent. Full results are available online.

Jeweled Princess tops inaugural July Breeding Stock sale

Hip 448, Jeweled Princess, brought $225,000 at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton July Breeding Stock Sale.

Jeweled Princess (Hip 448), a stakes winning daughter of Cairo Prince, topped the July Breeding Stock sale when sold for $225,000 to Stoneriggs Farm (video).

Gainesway consigned the 4-year-old filly, who was offered carrying her first foal, by Horse of the Year and current leading first-crop sire Gun Runner. Jeweled Princess is out of a Scat Daddy half-sister to current stakes winner Miss Brazil, from the immediate family of Horse of the Year Military Attack, two-time champion Gladiatorus, and Grade/Group 1 winners Al Bahathri, Haafhd, The Hangman.

Colonial Creed (Hip 434), a multiple graded stakes placed daughter of Jimmy Creed, took the top broodmare prospect spot when sold for $175,000 to Andre Lynch, agent. South Point Sales Agency consigned the 5-year-old mare, who is a twice graded stakes placed winner who earned $223,881. Colonial Creed is half-sister to multiple graded stakes placed stakes winner Mo d'Amour (Uncle Mo), from the immediate family of Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf victor Line of Duty (IRE).

The most expensive broodmare with a foal-at-foot was multiple stakes winner Too Much Prada (Hip 421), who sold for $150,000 to The Elkstone Group with her 2021 Violence filly. Stuart Morris, agent for Far From Over/Fountain of Youth Dispersal consigned the 8-year-old Too Much Bling mare, who is a full sister to stakes winner Prada's Bling. Too Much Prada has a 2-year-old filly by Violence, which has not started, and a yearling colt by Violence. Her 2021 Violence filly was bred in Kentucky by BTSK Breeding and Racing.

“In the grand scheme of things, it was encouraging,” Browning said of the inaugural July Breeding Stock sale, which was a late addition to the sales calendar. “People (sellers) that tried it with an open mind were pretty well rewarded.”

During the breeding stock session, 44 fillies and mares changed hands for $2,012,000, good for an average of $45,727 and a median of $31,000. The RNA rate was 13.7 percent. Full results are available online.

Selling resumes tomorrow at 10 a.m. with the return of The July Sale.

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