The Kentucky Thoroughbred Association (KTA) and Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders (KTOB) elected officers and members of the board of directors.
The officers of KTA/KTOB serve two-year terms and are voted on by members of the KTA/KTOB board of directors. Members of the KTA/KTOB board of directors serve three-year terms and are elected by the full membership of the organization.
Elected KTA/KTOB officers for 2021:
President, KTA/KTOB: Joseph Seitz—Director of Sales, Brookdale Farm
Vice-President, KTA: Walker Hancock—President, Claiborne Farm.
Vice-President, KTOB: Natanya Nieman, D.V.M.—Resident Veterinarian, WinStar Farm
Secretary, KTA/KTOB: Christopher L. Baker—COO, Three Chimneys
Treasurer, KTA/KTOB: Dermot Ryan—Manager, Ashford Stud
Newly elected KTA/KTOB board of directors for 2021:
Bill Daugherty—Owner, BlackRidge Stables
Kim Smith— Founder/Executive Director, Second Stride, Inc.
Christopher L. Baker, James Baker, Patrick Costello, Walker Hancock and Dermot Ryan were re-elected to the Board of Directors.
Tiz the Law, the winner of the 2020 Belmont Stakes, will shuttle to Haras Paso Nevado in Chile for the upcoming Southern Hemisphere breeding season, the South American publication Turf Diario reports.
The 4-year-old son of Constitution stands the Northern Hemisphere season at Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky., where he currently is advertised for a fee of $40,000.
Ashford Stud has been a longtime partner in shuttling stallions to Haras Paso Nevado, with previous summer residents including Scat Daddy, Lookin at Lucky, Verrazano, Practical Joke, and Classic Empire.
Tiz the Law won six of nine starts during his on-track career for earnings of $2,735,300. His 2-year-old season was highlighted by a victory in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes and a third-place effort in the G2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes.
At three, Tiz the Law asserted himself as a threat on the interrupted classic trail, with wins in the G3 Holy Bull Stakes and G1 Florida Derby. He then reeled off a pair of signature wins in his home state of New York, taking the Belmont Stakes, then shipping north to Saratoga to win the G1 Travers Stakes. The colt was also a close second in that year's Kentucky Derby.
The New York-bred Tiz the Law is out of the Grade 2-winning Tiznow mare Tizfiz, whose three winners from four foals to race also includes the multiple stakes-placed Awestruck. Horse of the Year Favorite Trick and Grade 1 winner Moonshine Memories are in his extended family.
In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Plenty of U.S.-bred activity, so we begin with Saturday's runners at Chukyo and Tokyo on what shapes up as a potentially productive weekend. Sunday's notable horses will appear in Saturday's TDN:
1st-CKO, ¥9,680,000 ($89k), Maiden, 3yo, 1800m CAREERISM (c, 3, Upstart–Out of Goodbyes, by Out of Place) has run too good to lose in each of his two previous career outings, first when beaten a half-length on debut over this track and distance Jan. 30 before missing by a head at Hanshin Feb. 27 (see below, gate 3). The February foal is out of a three-time stakes winner in Massachusetts-bred company whose half-brother No More Goodbyes (More Than Ready) was also a black-type winner at Suffolk Downs. An $85K Fasig-Tipton November weanling, Careerism was knocked down for $120K as a FTKJUL yearling and made $200K as an OBS March breezer after working a quarter-mile in :21 2/5. B-Golden Pedigree LLC (KY)
MOZU LOTUS LAND (c, 3, Tapit–Sacred Feather, by Carson City), a half-brother to French MGSW & G1SP Taareef (Kitten's Joy), cost $425K as a Keeneland September yearling and is out of a stakes-placed daughter of MGSW Marianna's Girl (Dewan), the dam of MSW & MGSP Crimson Classic (Sky Classic); GSWs Marastani (Shahrastani) and Christine' s Outlaw (Wild Again); and SW/GSP Amansara (War Chant), the dam of SW Siem Riep (Tapit) and GSP Tempestad (Uncle Mo). B-Dixiana Farms LLC & Tapit Syndicate (KY)
5th-CKO, ¥9,680,000 ($89k), Maiden, 3yo, 1600mT BELLE AURORE (f, 3, Galileo {Ire}–Turbulent Descent, by Congrats) is a full-sister to Spanish Steps (Ire), winner of the 2017 G3 Ballyroan S. for Team Coolmore and Flaxman Holdings, and was snapped up by North Hills Co. Ltd. for $710K at the 2019 KEESEP sale. The colt's dam won the GI Hollywood Starlet S. at two and the GI Santa Anita Oaks and GI Test S. in 2011 before being acquired by Coolmore during her 4-year-old campaign. She added the GI Ballerina S. in her first start for the new ownership in 2012 and was later bought back on a bid of $2.45 million in foal to War Front at FTKNOV in 2014. B-Orpendale/Chelston/Wynatt (KY)
6th-TOK, ¥13,830,000 ($127k), Allowance, 3yo, 1400mT SLAP SHOT (JPN) (c, 3, Air Force Blue–Laxfield Road, by Quality Road) just missed in a 1400-meter newcomers' event on the dirt at Tokyo Feb. 14 before returning on 13 days' rest go to one better over six furlongs at Nakayama (see below, gate 11), but tries the turf for the first time Saturday. A $200K in utero purchase at KEEJAN in 2018, Slap Shot fetched ¥32,940,000 ($305,354) from North Hills at the 2019 Hokkaido Selection Yearling sale. The colt's stakes-placed dam is a half-sister to GISP Zatter (Midnight Lute). B-Sakurai Bokujo
Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen confirmed Thursday morning that Winchell Thoroughbreds' Midnight Bourbon will run in the 146th Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico Race Course May 15.
Asmussen, via text from Texas, also confirmed that Irad Ortiz Jr., the defending three-time Eclipse Award champion, will ride the son of Tiznow in the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown.
Winchell Thoroughbreds is seeking its first victory in a Triple Crown race in the family's many decades in horse racing, while Asmussen won the Preakness in 2007 with two-time Horse of the Year Curlin and two years later with the filly and Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra. Winchell Thoroughbreds did finish third with Tenfold, just three-quarters of a length behind eventual Triple Crown hero Justify in the foggy 2018 Preakness. Tenfold went on to win the 2019 Pimlico Special (G3).
Midnight Bourbon closed from well back to finish sixth in the Kentucky Derby (G1) after breaking slowly and taking him out of his up-close running style.
“We didn't think he got the opportunity that he deserved after he missed the break and his back end went out from underneath him,” said David Fiske, the longtime racing and bloodstock manager for the late Verne Winchell and subsequently for Verne's son Ron Winchell. “He got jostled around by the horses on either side of him, then lost some ground. He was pretty wide on the second turn; I think eventually he ran 52 or 56 feet farther than the winner. So that would have put him a little closer. And speed seemed to be lethal on Saturday. There weren't a whole lot of horses that were closing on the front-runners. Then the fact that it took two handlers to get him back to the barn to give him a bath, it didn't seem to take that much out of him. So we thought we'd give it a try.”
Midnight Bourbon visited Churchill Downs' starting gate for routine schooling Thursday, followed by a controlled gallop.
“The horse is doing great,” said Scott Blasi, the assistant trainer who oversees Asmussen's Churchill Downs operation. “I don't think he did a lot of running early (in the Derby), so he seems to have come out of the race pretty fresh.”
