A $350,000 purchase by Starlight Racing and Harrell Ventures at the Keeneland September Sale, the Todd Pletcher trainee is a half-brother to GI Preakness S. and GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. hero National Treasure (Quality Road) and SW Ultimate (Speightstown). Pirate's dam is a half-sister to MSW Inspired (Unbridled's Song), who produced GSP Carmel Road (Quality Road). TJCIS PPS

3rd-KEE, $100K, Msw, 3yo, 7f, 2:04 p.m. ET.
TIMEOUT (Curlin) has posted some sharp recent works for trainer Bill Mott at Payson Park in preparation for this debut. The hombred for Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider, out of MGSW Lull (War Front), has an extended female family which includes Horse of the Year winners Saint Liam (Sant Ballado) and Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}.

Under the colors of Charles Fipke, another homebred set for his first start is D'oro Unbridled (Medaglia d'Oro). The Ignacio Correas trainee's dam GISW Unbridled Forever (Unbridled's Song) counts as a full-sister Forever Unbridled. Both are out of GI Kentucky Oaks heroine Lemons Forever (Lemon Drop Kid).

Finally, Counter Attack (Gun Runner) makes the races for an ownership group which includes his breeder Three Chimneys Farm. Trained by Steve Asmussen, the colt was an $825,000 Keeneland September buy for M.V. Magnier and Breeze Easy. Counter Attack's third dam is responsible for GISW Midnight Storm (Pioneerof the Nile). TJCIS PPS

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Acting on behalf of Pletcher and owners Mike Repole and Vinnie Viola, attorney Drew Mollica filed an Article 78 appeal. Article 78 appeals are lawsuits mainly used to challenge an action, or inaction, by agencies of New York State and local governments.

The New York Gaming Commission has alleged that Forte tested positive for meloxicam, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, widely prescribed to treat osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, and sold under the brand name Mobic. Forte was disqualified and Pletcher was issued a 10-day suspension and fined $1,000.

The Forte team has used Dr. Steven A. Barker, considered one of the foremost experts in equine drug testing and research, as a witness and Barker has said that 500 picograms or .5 nanograms of meloxicam was detected in Forte's system. Barker said he believes that such a low level of the medication would not impact a horse's performance and that the small amount is indicative of environmental contamination.

A hearing was granted by the Gaming Commission, which voted unanimously to uphold a recommendation from a hearing officer. After that decision, Forte's legal team took the next step and went to court. The case is scheduled to resurface on Jan. 9, at which time the court can issue a permanent injunction.

“We look forward to appellate review of one of the most unfair, egregious hearing processes and commission orders that I have ever seen,” Mollica said. “The facts will show that not only did Mr. Pletcher break no Gaming Commission rule, the rule by which he was charged has no applicability at all and the hearing was constitutionally flawed.”

Mollica also argued that the amount found in the horse's system did not merit a violation. He said that Dr. George Maylin, the director of the New York Equine Drug Testing Programs, agreed with that finding and stated as much when going before the hearing officer.

“The scientific finding alleged by the Gaming Commission did not meet the standard of a violation,” Mollica said. “Dr. George Maylin, the nation's foremost equine pharmacologist, testified as much at the hearing. It should be noted that Dr. Maylin did not testify for the prosecution, in this case the Gaming Commission, but testified for the defense. That speaks volumes. We look forward to an impartial review of this matter. After reviewing the transcript of the hearing all I can say is that this was a travesty of justice.”

Once the positive finding was revealed Repole has been adamant that the disqualification was unwarranted and vowed to fight.

“I spent $20 million last year on horses, I can spend $20 million fighting this case,” he said in May. “I think long-term this is going to be good for racing. This whole process, though sad and pathetic, has been a great learning experience for me.”

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The case has moved slowly since the Sept. 2022 race. It took a eight months for the New York Gaming Commission to make the finding public and when it did the stewards disqualified Forte, fined Pletcher $1,000 and suspended him for ten days. Pletcher and owners Mike Repole and Vinnie Viola appealed the stewards' ruling, which meant the matter was sent to a hearing officer, Clark Petschek. The session with the hearing officer was held in July and Petschek issued his report on Sept. 30. Petschek upheld the original findings of the stewards, the fine, the suspension and the disqualification.

It is within the commission's right to reject the hearing officer's recommendations but, instead, it voted unanimously to uphold them.

It was noted that the owners of Hopeful runner-up, Bill and Corrine Heiligbrodt, appeared at the hearing to support the decision to disqualify Forte.

“They could have made the decision the day after the hearing,” Repole said. “I guess they must have done a lot of extensive work the last six, seven months. Instead, they took six months to state the obvious. We knew what was going to happen. We got just what we expected. They did what they thought they needed to do. We knew there was a zero percent chance this was going to get overturned.”

It's unlikely that Tuesday's ruling by the New York Gaming Commission will be the last word on the Forte matter. The Forte team can now take their case to the courts and will like file an appeal within the New York court system. Repole has vowed to spend whatever it takes to get the Hopeful decision overturned.

“We plan on taking this further and we knew we were going to get to this point,” he said. “Under HISA rules, this isn't even a violation. We are super confident that common sense will prevail and people will realize we put in this governing body in HISA to make sure people are ethical and play by the rules of the sport. Any real process that follows common sense will easily see it the same way and we will prevail.”

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Okay, so a trifecta for Eaton Sales graduates in the Saratoga Grade I last year featured only the winner, Forte (Violence), from the 2021 Keeneland September Sale. Runner-up Gulfport (Uncle Mo) and third Blazing Sevens (Good Magic) were respectively sold through the Eaton drafts at Fasig-Tipton's July and Saratoga Sales. Nonetheless it was an achievement all the more remarkable for the fact that champion juvenile Forte and Blazing Sevens, subsequently runner-up in the GI Preakness, were both pinhooked through Reiley McDonald's own farm, Athens Wood LLC.

Another complement to his supervision of a flagship sales agency, moreover, is the band of around 20 broodmares resident there. These diverse silos help McDonald to stay tuned into the marketplace from every side, but bring much satisfaction besides. One of those mares has produced Defunded (Dialed In) to win another Grade I this year, in the Hollywood Gold Cup. Only last weekend McDonald had winners in his own silks at Saratoga and in a stakes at Colonial Downs, while last month he co-bred a €1 million Wootton Bassett yearling sold at Arqana.

Such is the constant action resulting from the long experience that has brought us to McDonald's office in downtown Lexington. And while there's an intensity here, for sure, it is accompanied by a breadth of perspective that also permits a fulfilling life away from the business. (McDonald, indeed, typically spends half his year with his partner, Cricket, in Connecticut.)

“That was unbelievable,” he acknowledges, when reminded of his Hopeful achievement. “But really, I've done this so long, I don't get too excited, don't jump up and down, because there are so many that don't work out-you have to take the good and bad just the same.” He pauses and chuckles. “And, of course, we only just about broke even on Forte!”

Every year, with a couple of partners, McDonald pinhooks a dozen or so weanlings. Having found Forte for $80,000 at the preceding November Sale, they had to settle for $110,000 from Repole Stable & St. Elias when bringing him back to the same ring.

“Forte is one of the prettier horses you'll ever see, but at that time nobody wanted a Violence,” McDonald recalls. “And then Jacob West walked up, right as he was going into the ring, and said, 'What's your reserve?' I told him he had to bring more than a hundred. All those brilliant horsemen, and it came down to just one guy, one bid.”

Reiley McDonald (left) with Scott Dilworth | Keeneland

But such are the vagaries of this business-and such, duly, is McDonald's achievement, over the past 28 years, in maintaining both quality and quantity since taking on the game-changing agency founded by Lee Eaton.

He has actually started to scale back somewhat, having concluded that sheer volume is nowadays less sustainable. As he says, it costs as much time, labor and administration to sell a horse for $2,000 as for $2 million. Eaton Sales still has over 100 yearlings catalogued at Keeneland, but there have been times when they might have processed as many as 350 at that sale, following maybe 50 at Saratoga.

“That was a dangerous managerial feat and I don't think anybody can pull it off,” McDonald says. “It's so hard to find the help now. I really do worry about the animals, with the kind of help that's out there. And these days, if you're selling a horse for, call it $50,000 or less, you're losing money. Because some of the consignors have cannibalized themselves, reducing fees to a point where there's very little profit margin at the end of the day.”

By the time Eaton (and partner John Williams) stepped down, quite apart from a formidable address book, McDonald could feel no less grateful for his mentorship.

“Lee was like so many people who are successful in business,” McDonald reflects. “He worked hard, and demanded that the people around him worked hard. And he really was smart, always thinking of how you might do things differently, and better. He made it a much more professional business. The 'good old boy' stuff went out the window. The big parties before the July Sale, I mean, we never really did that. We just stuck to trying to make that horse look as good as it could. That was the whole thing: how do you present the horse?

“It used to be the old 'baggy pants' off the farm. But Lee hired all these guys from Virginia who would come in with their creased pants, and they really knew how to show a horse. And suddenly smart guys like Ed Cox, even Warner Jones as good as he was, started to sell with Lee. When you walked into his courtyard at Saratoga or Keeneland, it was definitely different: very clean, very professional–like they all are now. He really did set the standard.”

No less crucially, there were also corresponding advances in preparation, heeded to this day by McDonald.

“He decided to build huge run-in sheds and turn his horses out,” he says. “He was the first to do that. He didn't bring them up in the winter. And I follow the same program. Now, if it's a horrible, icy wet night, we bring everything in, and he would too. But they were out 99 percent of the time. And he developed his own feed. We've modified it over the years, but I still feed the same cubed feed.

“He was very good about horses' weight, getting the proper conditioning to each yearling-which is something that surprisingly few people do well. Back in the day, people wanted yearlings to be almost obese. Lee started to make them look more like racehorses.”

Before joining Eaton, McDonald had spent 10 years under John Finney at Fasig-Tipton, gaining a comprehensive insight into the market. Under head inspector Bobby Powell he learned the optimal physique of a commercial yearling, and as sales announcer he came to understand the functioning of the marketplace itself. “At the time John Finney was probably the smartest guy in the business,” McDonald says. “That's where I really learned about the business of horses, valuations, matings.”

There were other paths McDonald might have taken, having studied Animal Science at Cornell (where he captained the lacrosse team), but he has basically been working with horses since he was 13. The family had moved to the country, the kids got a pony, there was a horse farm down the road. He went to school five minutes from Pimlico, and would run in “smelling of manure and throwing on a tie to get to assembly.” The teenage McDonald then cut his racetrack teeth under Maryland hardboot B. Frank Christmas.

Tom Van Meter | Keeneland

“He was one of the real old-timers,” he recalls. “Quite a crusty character, always chewing tobacco and spitting, always with the hat and the coat on. He was a trainer, but also had a farm and a stallion. We were breeding mares, we were breaking all our horses, we legged up everything on the farm.”

One way or another, then, the young man who took over the sales agency had plenty of miles on the clock. “Then Tom Van Meter bought a 20 percent interest, and he was my partner for about 20 years,” McDonald says. “Tom was a vet, he was sort of the country boy while I was more the city boy. So we had different sets of clients, and that worked for a long time. But that's when the business was huge. We were doing too many horses.”

In admitting as much, and with Eaton having been such a trailblazer, does McDonald sometimes feel that he has helped to create a monster? This, after all, has become an industry where horses are routinely exploited through several investment cycles before they get anywhere near the gate.

“I feel like I've probably overseen the sale, personally, of more horses than anybody,” he replies. “Which, the last couple of years, doesn't make me the proudest guy in the world. Because I really feel like our business has deteriorated a good bit. And I don't mean just the selling business, but the racing, to a large extent.

“I think often we interfere way too much with these horses. By 'we' I don't mean us, I mean the industry. The more I learn and observe about what's happening on the tracks, the more disappointing I find it. And we're losing fans, and alienating the non-horse public.”

This conversation, it should be noted, took place before the recent traumas at Saratoga. In other words, McDonald was already thinking in terms that have meanwhile come to feel imperative. He feels that the spirit of reform behind HISA is vital, albeit that early mistakes were made: overreaching, not consulting adequately. “I think the trainers got a double whammy,” he says. “They didn't have a lot of say in it, and then a lot of the responsibility was put onto them. But we need HISA and it will get better–as it has to. Like anything worth doing, it needs time and we all need to work on it.”

Nor does he feel that the current use of the crop can last. (“Three strikes and you're out,” he recommends. “One to start, one to steer, one to finish.”) But for all the challenges we face, the magic of the horse itself abides. That's where every fulfilment begins–and many opportunities, too. Standing in the back ring at the 2016 Keeneland November Sale, for instance, McDonald saw a Touch Gold mare led past.

“Oh, she's really pretty,” he murmured to himself. In fact, she reminded him of Scarlet Tango, a mare he had once found in the same ring for $35,000. Five years later, having meanwhile produced GI King's Bishop winner Visionaire (Grand Slam), he sold her on for $850,000 to Stonestreet.

“I can't afford to buy a whole package: race record, pedigree, everything,” McDonald says. “But I can buy looks.” While this mare actually had multiple stakes placings, she cost barely more than Scarlet Tango at $37,000. And Wind Caper is now dam of Defunded, sold for $210,000 at Keeneland September in 2019 and hitherto winner of $1.6 million.

Defunded | Benoit

“I don't breed the fanciest pedigrees,” McDonald says. “But they come up to that little farm and do really well. It was a cattle farm for 300 years, all with the same family. It was about to be developed into 10-acre 'piano-key' lots when four other guys and I bought it. I kept 120 acres, and it's just great land. It's heavy in limestone, it's been fertilized for hundreds of years. And I kind of stick to the old 'leave' formula: leave them out, leave them alone, just keep an eye on any problems creeping up.”

“They're well raised, and the guys have been on the farm for years. Chuchie has been with me 35 years, was on the old Eaton Farm when he was 18. These are the best guys I've ever seen with foals, it's magic to watch their hands.”

But many of the elite performers whose photos are crammed onto the walls have obviously come through the core business of the agency. And here, McDonald says, how you handle people counts for at least as much as how you do horses. Before anything else, he needs to understand his clients' risk tolerance: where they might have slack, when they might race a horse, and so on. Because the market itself is never predictable. Neither Hard Spun nor Omaha Beach made their September reserves, for instance, McDonald eventually persuading the late Rick Porter to take both. (“You're now about $60 million to the good from those two horses,” he told Porter later. “Don't you think I should get a share?” Porter replied: “On the next one!”)

Unique Bella, the daughter of Tapit and Unrivaled Belle (Unbridled's Song), had over 160 shows at the 2015 September Sale and was not vetted once.

“So, you got the best horseman from around the world looking at this filly,” marvels McDonald. “She toed in a little bit, and had a $399,000 reserve. And one person runs up to me, right as she's walking into the ring, and says, 'Can I see the vet report?' And runs back inside. There was one bid at $400,000, and it happened to be Carlos [Heller] at Don Alberto. And look what he got: one of the great mares of that decade. She was gorgeous. So sometimes it just blows your mind.”

Unique Bella and Hard Spun were both bred by Betty Moran, owner of Brushwood Stables, who became another cherished influence.

“An angel was on my shoulder the day I bumped into her, in 1991, and she told me she'd just lost her general manager,” McDonald recalls. He volunteered for the role and they worked together for nearly 30 years, perhaps their most memorable moment actually being with a steeplechaser, Papillon (Ire), in the 2000 Grand National. “Mrs. Moran only wanted to compete at the highest level,” McDonald notes. “And we built and maintained one of the best 20-head broodmare bands in the country. She was a best friend, confidante-and tough boss!”

That highest level, however, is never always confined only to the top of the market–and that, of course, is what drives the whole business.”

“How about Victory Gallop, who I sold many moons ago for $25,000?” says McDonald. “He had a chip in a stifle, and three ankles. Pug Hart bought him and said, 'I can't keep this horse.' This was before the repository. And I said, 'Well, essentially, he's sold, but let me talk to the owner.' And he agreed to take $10,000 off. So, they got Victory Gallop for $15,000! But I could count so many good horses that [apparently] had big, big problems. I purchased Mitole for very little [$20,000 September yearling] because he had a lot of writing on the vet report, but he was a horse of exquisite conformation.”

Kenny McPeek | Sarah Andrew

Like many experienced consignors, McDonald reckons to know buyers' tastes well enough to pull out a horse they haven't even asked for. “The only guy I still can't figure out is Kenny McPeek!” he admits. “He has bought so many good horses through auction, and I still don't know what he looks for. But that's really what puts it all together for us: knowing both sides, the seller and the buyer. And that takes a long time to do. That's why anybody who wants to get into the consignment business, you have to be willing to get on an airplane, to be everywhere and see everyone.”

While he isn't comfortable with everything about the industry, or the way it has changed over the past 40 years, McDonald emphasizes an undiminished passion for the sport.

“We've got a lot of hard work to do, but there are still great parts to it,” he says. “I do feel blessed to have been able to do what I have. It all comes from being hands on. My favorite thing I ever did in my life, and the thing I was best at, was on top of a horse. You learn so much if your hands have learned to absorb what the animal is telling you. Even today I love showing a horse at the sales.

“I don't know, I just love this animal. It's incredible. I mean, last night I was walking around the foals, just thinking how lucky I am, to be in that moment, with these beautiful little animals coming up to you. I still love it.”

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“Everything looks good [Sunday] morning and he seems happy; no complaints,” said Casse, who celebrated his fifth career graded victory. “Overall, it's so rewarding. I've been doing this for a long time and Saratoga is an iconic place–the Saratoga Special is an iconic race. Just to be involved is humbling, and to win it is something to be really proud of.”

Sixth on debut in May at Churchill Downs, he rebounded with the addition of blinkers to score at second asking June 15 at Ellis.     He proved his versatility in the Saratoga Special while winning under regular rider Ricardo Santana, Jr.

“He's a true professional,” said Casse. “We don't have to do too much with him because he's so talented; we just let him go through the motions between races, and that's good enough for him. That's what's most exciting about him is the fact that we haven't really had to grind on him to get him to this place where he is now.”

The colt will now be pointed to the Spa's seven-furlong GI Hopeful S. Sept. 4, which will likely be used a springboard to Keeneland's GI Breeders' Futurity going a 1 1/16-miles on Oct. 7.

“Unless he suggests otherwise, I think that's the most rational thing to do,” said Casse. “I know he's still a fresh horse and I can't imagine why he can't come back in three weeks and run just as well. Ideally, the Hopeful will be next and then the Breeders' Futurity after that. The way he trains and his overall demeanor suggests he's a two-turn horse. The horses have the answers, so we'll figure it out as we do it.”

In the juvenile filly division, Casse is represented by recent maiden winner Empire Island (Classic Empire), who is possible to try Grade I company in the Sept. 3 Spinaway S. A homebred for Marylou Whitney Stables, Empire Island came from off the pace to earn a 3/4-length score over Lady Moscato (Quality Road) in a six-furlong maiden special weight Aug. 6.

“There's a slight chance she could come back in the Spinaway, but she's going to have to train herself into that spot,” said Casse. “I feel like she's kind of the opposite of Rhyme Schemes in that we had to press on her a little bit more. It seems like the race took a little more out of her. That's a pretty salty spot, and I need a fresh, ready horse for that.”

Casse added that Robert Masterson's GII Fair Grounds Oaks winner Southlawn (Pioneerof the Nile) remains possible for Saturday's GI Alabama S., but is also considering the Cathryn Sophia S. Aug. 22 at Parx.

“There's an outside chance she could run in the Alabama, but she's got multiple options,” said Casse. “I'm leaning towards running her in something a little less demanding. I feel like she's lost her mojo a little bit and it's my job to get that back. Sometimes, the best way to do that is a little bit of class relief.”

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Friday, Keeneland
FANDUEL BREEDERS' CUP JUVENILE PRESENTED BY THOROUGHBRED AFTERCARE ALLIANCE-GI, $1,840,000, Keeneland, 11-4, 2yo, c/g, 1 1/16m, 1:43.06, ft.
1–FORTE, 122, c, 2, by Violence
1st Dam: Queen Caroline (MSW, $401,608), by Blame
2nd Dam: Queens Plaza, by Forestry
3rd Dam: Kew Garden, by Seattle Slew
'TDN Rising Star' ($80,000 Wlg '20 KEENOV; $110,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-Repole Stable & St Elias Stable; B-Southgate Farm (KY); T-Todd A Pletcher; J-Irad Ortiz Jr. $1,040,000. Lifetime Record: 5-4-0-0, $1,595,150. Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross  pedigree or free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Cave Rock, 122, c, 2, Arrogate–Georgie's Angel, by Bellamy Road. 'TDN Rising Star' ($210,000 Wlg '20 KEENOV; $550,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-Michael E Pegram, Karl Watson & Paul Weitman; B-Anne & Ronnie Sheffer Racing LLC (KY); T-Bob Baffert. $340,000.
3–National Treasure, 122, c, 2, Quality Road–Treasure, by Medaglia d'Oro. ($500,000 Ylg '21 FTSAUG). O-SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Robert E Masterson, Stonestreet Stables LLC, Jay A Schoenfarber, Waves Edge Capital LLC & Catherine Donovan; B-Peter E Blum Thoroughbreds LLC (KY); T-Bob Baffert. $180,000.
Margins: 1HF, 2 1/4, 1HF. Odds: 5.02, 0.47, 8.00.
Also Ran: Blazing Sevens, Curly Jack, Verifying, Hurricane J, Congruent, Wound Up, Lost Ark. Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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“They ran away from me a little bit and my horse doesn't have that kind of speed,” winning jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. said of his trip aboard the winner. “I didn't panic, I knew we'd be in the back. I kept him in the race and in the turn I started working on him. He started to pick it up slowly, but he picked it up. At the top of the stretch, I hit him a couple times and he responded really well. I knew I had a chance to win, so I just kept him busy.”

Winning trainer Todd Pletcher said, “He came really energetic into the paddock, but it was a good energy, though. You could tell he was kind of enjoying the rain and playing in the slop and splashing in the puddles in the paddock. I love the way he kicked away from the pony, he warmed up awesome.

Forte was one of 45 yearlings purchased  by the partnership of Mike Repole's Repole Stable and Vinnie Viola's St. Elias Stables in a $16.2-million spending spree at last year's Keeneland September sale. The partnership, with bloodstock agent Jacob West signing the tickets, was the leading buyer at the auction.

“This is what we're about,” Repole said from the winner's circle Monday. “Vinnie, Todd and I made a big investment last year. The team from Jim Martin, Ed Rosen, Danielle Bricker, and Jacob West. This is what we do. It's been fun, Irad has been winning some big races for us, Todd and I have been friends for a long, long time. It's been a lot of fun.”

Forte, a much-hyped 1-5 favorite, was tabbed a 'TDN Rising Star' following his 7 3/4-length victory in his five-furlong debut at Belmont Park May 27. Favored again in the July 16 GIII Sanford S., the dark bay colt was never in the mix and finished a lackluster fourth.

“Last time, he wasn't able to get extracted into the clear until really, really late,” Pletcher explained. “When he did, he showed some interest. He came back and trained really well with some older horses. His last breeze was with Bal Harbour who won earlier on the card. There were a lot of good indications that he was going to rebound and run to his capabilities, but you never know until you see it. I felt like the added distance was in his favor and he's a nice colt.”

Looking ahead to a potential next start for Forte, Pletcher said, “Our first reaction was to go to the [Oct. 1 GI] Champagne, but we'll talk to Vinnie and Mike and come up with a game plan. The Champagne is a race we've always thought highly of and that would be first on the radar.”

Pedigree Notes:

Forte is the sixth Grade I winner for Violence, whose son Volatile also enjoyed top-level success at the Spa in the 2020 GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H.

Queen Caroline was purchased by Amy Moore of South Gate Farm for $170,000 at the 2014 Keeneland September sale. The mare went on to win four stakes in Moore's colors before becoming one of the Virginia farm's first broodmares. Forte is the mare's first foal. She has a yearling colt by Uncle Mo who is scheduled to sell as hip 11 in next Monday's first session of the Keeneland September sale. The mare is currently in foal to Not This Time.

Monday, Saratoga
HOPEFUL S.-GI, $300,000, Saratoga, 9-5, 2yo, 7f, 1:22.58, sy.
1–FORTE, 120, c, 2, by Violence
                1st Dam: Queen Caroline (MSW, $401,608), by Blame
                2nd Dam: Queens Plaza, by Forestry
                3rd Dam: Kew Garden, by Seattle Slew
   'TDN Rising Star' 1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES
   WIN, 1ST GRADE I WIN. ($80,000 Wlg '20 KEENOV; $110,000
Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable;
B-South Gate Farm (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr..
$165,000. Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-0, $225,000. Werk Nick
   Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree
   or free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Gulfport, 122, c, 2, Uncle Mo–Fame and Fortune, by
Unbridled's Song. 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($275,000 Ylg '21
FTKJUL). 'TDN Rising Star' O-L. William & Corinne Heiligbrodt,
Jackpot Farm, Whispering Oaks Farm LLC and Coolmore Stud;
B-Diamond Creek Farm (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen. $60,000.
3–Blazing Sevens, 120, c, 2, Good Magic–Trophy Girl, by
Warrior's Reward. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE,
   1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. 'TDN Rising Star' ($140,000 Ylg '21
KEEJAN; $225,000 Ylg '21 FTSAUG). O-Rodeo Creek Racing, LLC;
B-Tracy Farmer (KY); T-Chad C. Brown. $36,000.
Margins: 3, 9, NK. Odds: 6.90, 1.00, 4.30.
Also Ran: Mo Strike, Bourbon Bash, Western Ghent.

Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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The Hall of Fame trainer, who turned 87 Friday, will saddle Holy Cow Stable's Naughty Gal (Into Mischief) Sunday in the GI Spinaway S. The next afternoon, Lukas will send out BC Stable's Bourbon Bash (City of Light) and Western Ghent (American Pharoah) in the GI Hopeful, the final stake of the 154th season of Saratoga racing.

Lukas skipped the last two years because of a combination of Covid-19 and a downturn in the quality of his stable, but came back to Saratoga this summer with 16 horses for what has been a productive meet. Through Friday, the Lukas stable had a record of 4-6-2 from 23 starts with earnings of $607,889. During the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale, he signed the tickets for five yearlings for $2.725 million.

Three of Lukas' Saratoga wins came from his stakes starters. Bourbon Bash handled a maiden special weight field by eight lengths Aug. 13. Western Ghent, co-owned by Lukas and his wife Laurie, won a $75,000 maiden claimer Aug. 25. Naughty Gal, the GIII Adirondack winner Aug. 7, prevailed by 2 1/4 lengths despite running greenly and drifting out in the stretch under Luis Saez.

“She's corrected that, for sure, and I feel comfortable,” Lukas said, “And, of course, Luis is going to be a lot more familiar with who she is. The power steering kicked in and she overreacted to what he was trying to do. We wanted to be in the four or five-hole and we didn't want to be an eight or nine He ended up there so quick it surprised him.”

Lukas and his former assistant and fellow Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher top the Spinaway trainers's standings with six victories each. In 23 starts, Lukas has a 6-5-3 record in the seven-furlong race. He won with Tiltalating (Tilt Up) in 1984, the first year he ran at the track. His most recent winner was Golden Attraction in 1995.

Figuring out who belongs in a graded stake, Lukas said, comes down to experience.

“Well, if you've been doing it for 60 years, you get a pretty good cross section of what works and what won't,” he said.  “I've been guilty my whole career of entering in stakes that I have no idea what the competition's ability is. That goes for everyday races. I'll enter in non-winners of two and somebody will say this or that about the race and I have no idea. But I know what wins non-winners of two. I've seen it enough that I know that I'm competitive in a non-winners of two unless Secretariat shows up or Ruffian.”

Before the 40-day meet July 14, Lukas expected BC Stable's Summer Promise (Uncle Mo) to be his Spinaway horse. However, she finished second in the GIII Schuylerville on opening day and Naughty Gal moved up in the pecking order in the stable with her Adirondack triumph.

“She's going into it and the other one's not,” Lukas said. “I'm running the best one I've got at this point.”

Lukas said Naughty Gal is an obvious standout.

“Awful strong. Big, powerful filly,” he said. “One of the best horsemen I know called me the other day and said 'Boy, that's a good-looking (SOB) you ran in the Adirondack. He was watching on television. She's a picture of conformation. For her age, her development, strength, size is incredible. She's really a study. You want to study one how they're supposed to look, she's it in every way. That's why I say the seven furlongs should just be right in her wheelhouse.”

Never shy about promoting his horses, Lukas said Naughty Gal is a filly with a future.

“Big time. And I'm anxious to run her two turns,” he said. “That's where I really want to see her run.”

If things go well in the Spinaway, Lukas said Naughty Gal is on the road to the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies in November at Keeneland.

“No bones about it,” he said. “I'm pointing her right there.”

Lukas is the career leader in Hopeful wins with eight from 32 starts. Pletcher and Steve Asmussen are next with three each.

Bourbon Bash was a well-beaten second to the Chad Brown-trained Blazing Sevens (Good Magic) in his first try July 24, but earned his trip to the Hopeful with the romp in his second start.

“He's a real immature colt, but I think he'll also relish the seven-eighths,” Lukas said. “He was getting in cruise control the other day. The only thing that is a little bit disturbing is the race was slow. Of course, it wasn't slow for him. When they say the race was slow, I always say, 'Well, he beat everybody that showed up.' I wondered about the time a little bit. I'm talking to Chad Brown and he said, 'You know, my colt is the one that beat yours' when I first started him. I said, 'well, it will be interesting the next time.'”

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As he approaches his 87th birthday on Sept. 2, the racing legend has won a graded stake, finished second in two others, and made his presence felt at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale with the purchase of five yearlings for $2.725 million, led by of a son of Medaglia d'Oro for $1.35 million.

After skipping the past two Saratoga seasons due to a combination of the Covid-19 pandemic and a downturn in talent in his stable, Lukas returned in July with the star filly Secret Oath (Arrogate) and 15 others he felt had the quality to compete at the tough meet in upstate New York. While the Briland Farm homebred disappointed, finishing a distant second to Nest (Curlin) in the GI Coaching Club American Oaks on July 23, Lukas said he is satisfied with the way things worked out in the opening weeks of the season. Through Sunday's 24th day of the 40-day meet, Lukas' stable had a record of 3-4-2 from 19 starts– 47 percent in the money–and  earnings of $433,259.

“I think we've done all right, except for that one race,” he said after supervising the morning training from the back of his pony. “That one race bothers me and is nagging at me a little bit. I'm talking about the Coaching Club Oaks. That really bothered me. I know that our filly is so much better than that and we didn't get a chance to showcase her yet.”

Lukas said he was unhappy with the way jockey Luis Saez rode Secret Oath in the CCA Oaks and discussed that race after he worked her five furlongs in 1:01.55 on Aug. 9. Lukas described the breeze over the Oklahoma training track as “brilliant.”

“If you take that one out of it, I think everything else has been real fine,” Lukas said. “I really have enjoyed getting some of the 2-year-olds started and so forth. I think we can finish up here with a little flourish.”

BC Stable's 2-year-old Bourbon Bash (City of Light) sent Lukas to the winner's circle on Saturday to celebrate his eight-length victory in a maiden special weight race. He said the colt could make his next start in the GI Hopeful, a race Lukas has won a record eight times.

“He's been training really strong,” Lukas said. “He's a very immature looking horse, if you look at him closely, but he's starting to get his act together. Having the one out and the rest of the field didn't have any, he got away beautifully and Flavien (Prat) put him on cruise speed and away he went.”

Lukas said the Hopeful on the final day of the meet could be a good fit.

“We're right here,” he said. “You know me, when they're good I like to run them back. That was not a hard race on this horse. ”

On Aug. 9, the second night of the Saratoga Sale, Lukas purchased the Medaglia d'Oro colt for John Bellinger, a partner in the new BC Stable, that owns Bourbon Bash and Summer Promise (Uncle Mo), who was second in the GIII Schuylerville S. on opening day. It was the first time in a while that Lukas bought a seven-figure yearling.

“I don't know it just exactly. It had to be had to be mid-2000s–2005, 2006, 2007, somewhere in there,” he said. “We've been active in the sales, but we're buying $400,00-$500,000 ones which is not to be watered down. But this horse, we got into a bidding war with I think WinStar and some of those people. That was plenty for him, but he was something else. Good horseman all said the same thing. Actually, Kenny McPeek and I were talking and he said it was the No. 1 horse in the sale for him.”

Lukas said he called Bellinger a couple of hours before the session started and proposed buying the horse.

“I said, 'I think the best horse in the sale is selling tonight,'” Lukas said “I said, 'we can probably put together a group of three or four, or, John, you can just step up if you want to and we'll just try to buy him.'”

Lukas told him the colt would sell for “north of a million, for sure” and Bellinger agreed have Lukas jump into the bidding.

Lukas on his pony | Mike Kane

Naughty Gal's victory in the GIII Adirondack S. was Lukas's third graded stakes victory of 2022 and matched his combined total for the previous seven seasons. He expects to bring her back in the GI Spinaway S. on the closing weekend of the meet. With $2,614,795 in earnings through Sunday he is a cinch to have his best year since 2014 when he topped $4.7 million. His success has brought him new business.

“Surprisingly, yes. It really has,” he said. “I don't know if the exposure or the fact that people were sitting back and saying 'He's old. I wonder if he's still got it?' You know, that attitude. Then when you bang, bang, bang start to get on the front page again, they probably think 'Well, hell, he's out there and he's doing okay, we can give him another horse.' I don't think anybody questions that we can train. I think that's probably a given. But at my age they could sure question the work ethic and some of that and I think they feel comfortable.”

Among the additions to his stable in recent months were 14 horses owned by former client Willis Horton Racing LLC.

“Not only that, I've gotten a couple of new ones in the sale ring by buying yearlings, which is now a three-year look down the road,” he said. “So they must think I'm doing okay, physically.”

Lukas has made a few concessions to his age–using a cane when he is walking and steps to get up off the ground and onto his horse–but said he only feels old when he looks in the mirror. Earlier in the meet he had a mild case of Covid-19, which kept him away from the stable. It was a far different than his bout in 2020 when he said he thought he might die from the virus.

Lukas is confident in Secret Oath | Mike Kane

Secret Oath steps back into the spotlight this week and will face Nest again Saturday in the 142nd running of the Grade I Alabama S. The outcome could have a significant impact on the 3-year-old filly championship. Secret Oath beat Nest in the GI Kentucky Oaks then ran fourth in the GI Preakness S. Nest came out of her runner-up performance in the Oaks to finish second in the GI Belmont S. and ran away from Secret Oath in the CCA Oaks to win by 12 1/4 lengths.

Lukas said Saez told him after that Secret Oath “never felt better” under him. In the CCA Oaks, Secret Oath was closer to the pace and was wide in her first start in some eight weeks. At the top of the stretch, when it looked like the two stars would battle to the wire, Nest easily ran away from her rival.

With a race over the track and couple of breezes since the race, Lukas said he is confident that Secret Oath is capable of winning the 1 1/4-mile Alabama. She will be his 14th starter in the race. He was won it twice, most recently with Open Mind (Deputy Minister) in 1989

“I think it's just a trip,” Lukas said. “She actually is doing better right now than any time. I really feel that. I think she's filled out and getting stronger and everything. The work really put a punch on that line that she is better and Luis, when he worked her, said the same thing.”

“So we're down to a trip. We've got to get a trip, the trip we got in the Oaks back in Kentucky. If we get that I am not afraid of anybody.”

Lukas praised Nest, trained by is former assistant Todd Pletcher, and said the rivalry is something to look forward to.

“This thing's going to get down to where–this is not Alydar and Affirmed–but I think we could have a great fall with these two fillies,” he said.

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“We are excited to add Basin to the Spendthrift stallion ranks and to be able to offer breeders a horse of his caliber through our Share The Upside program,” said Ned Toffey, Spendthrift General Manager. “We pride ourselves on being able to offer quality at all levels, and we believe there's a lot to like with this dominant Grade 1-winning 2-year-old by Liam's Map.”

The Share The Upside fee for Basin will be $8,500 for one year. Additionally, breeders must breed one mare in 2023 on a complimentary basis. After the breeder has a live foal in 2023, pays the stud fee, and breeds a mare back, he or she will earn a lifetime breeding right beginning in 2024.

Campaigned by Jackpot Farm and Steve Asmussen at two, Basin broke his maiden at Saratoga before going on to score by 6 1/2 lengths in the GI Hopeful S. in his next start. Early in his sophomore season, Basin was runner-up to Charlatan (Speightstown) in the GI Arkansas Derby, also finishing third behind Nadal (Blame) in the GII Rebel S. at Oaklawn. Turned over to Todd Pletcher later that summer, he came home second to Yaupon (Uncle Mo) in the GII Amsterdam S. at the Spa. This term, the bay won the Sir Shackleton S. at Gulfstream in March before finishing off the board in his three latest starts. He retires with three wins and three seconds from 12 starts and earnings of $573,640.

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