#4 IN THEORY ($3.00) goes wire-to-wire to break her maiden in R6 at Santa Anita Park. The three-year-old filly by @CoolmoreAmerica's Mendelssohn is trained by Bob Baffert and was ridden by @JJHernandezS19. pic.twitter.com/aknEiuBjYU

— TVG (@TVG) March 23, 2024

The post In Theory Breaks Maiden At Santa Anita appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

“We had a great ride,” said winning rider Flavien Prat. “The horse showed some speed then settled down nicely down the backside. You always run well fresh, and on paper it seemed like this race was going to have a good amount of pace. My job was just to make sure we were in a comfortable zone, so he was able to show his talent through the final stretch.”

Du Jour won the 2021 GII American Turf S. under Baffert's tutelage before making three starts for New York-based Bill Mott. He was fourth in the GI Belmont Derby and third in the GI Saratoga Derby before concluding his time with Mott with an eighth-place effort in the Dueling Grounds Derby. Back with Baffert, the bay gelding was a narrowly beaten second in last year's GIII Thunder Road S. and Kilroe Mile. He earned a shot at the Breeders' Cup Mile with a win in the GII Del Mar Mile and was 10th, but beaten just 3 1/2 lengths, when last seen on championship weekend.

“It was so exciting, so I won't say unexpected but very exciting,” Lanni said of Du Jour's first top-level victory. “In the Breeders' Cup, he just wasn't himself, I don't think. He only finished 3 1/2 lengths behind, but 3 1/2 short.”

Pedigree Notes:

One of 14 graded winners for Temple City, Du Jour became his sire's fourth Grade I winner. Guiltless, a half-sister to graded winner Northern Causeway (Giant's Causeway), was purchased by the O'Callaghans' Woods Edge Farm for $60,000 at the 2016 Fasig-Tipton Winter Mixed Sale. The mare produced a yearling filly by Street Sense last year.

Du Jour's third dam, Baby Zip, produced Grade I winner City Zip and Horse of the Year Ghostzapper.

Oh là là!#6 DU JOUR ($8.40) rated towards the back of the field, quickly made up ground on the turn, and showed a devastating turn of foot in the stretch to win Santa Anita's $300,000 G1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile! pic.twitter.com/AaFKC0ANQ6

— TVG (@TVG) March 3, 2024

Sunday, Santa Anita
FRANK E. KILROE MILE S.-GI, $301,500, Santa Anita, 3-3, 4yo/up, 1mT, 1:33.95, gd.
1–DU JOUR, 122, g, 6, by Temple City
                1st Dam: Guiltless, by Bernardini
                2nd Dam: Getaway Girl, by Silver Deputy
                3rd Dam: Baby Zip, by Relaunch
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($19,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP; $280,000 2yo '20
OBSAPR). O-Natalie J. Baffert and Debbie Lanni; B-Woods Edge
Farm, LLC (KY); T-Bob Baffert; J-Flavien Prat. $180,000.
Lifetime Record: 17-6-3-2, $1,118,220. Werk Nick Rating: A.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Easter (Fr), 122, g, 6, Exosphere (Aus)–Excellent Girl (GB),
by Exceed And Excel (Aus). 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. (€150,000
3yo '21 ARARC). O-Madaket Stables LLC; B-Aleyrion Bloodstock
Ltd. (FR); T-Philip D'Amato. $60,000.
3–Ah Jeez, 120, c, 4, Mendelssohn–Poetic, by Violence.
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($80,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP; $55,000 2yo '22
OBSAPR). O-Mark Davis; B-Machmer Hall (KY); T-Doug F.
O'Neill. $36,000.
Margins: 2, 1 3/4, HF. Odds: 3.20, 1.50, 61.00.
Also Ran: First Peace, Dandy Man Shines (Ire), Goliad, Prince Abama (Ire), Mackinnon. Scratched: Irideo (Arg).
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

The post Du Jour Claims First Grade I in Frank E. Kilroe Mile appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Bred by David Fennelly's Mountmellick Farm, the filly is out of GIII Torrey Pines S. winner Munny Spunt (Munnings), who sold for $340,000 at Fasig-Tipton Winter Mixed Sale in foal to Justify, subsequently died but not before foaling a colt named Just Munny. Midsummer March's dam is a half-sister to MGSW Blues Street and GSP Beale Street, both by Street Cry (Ire).

Also set for her first start is Cypress Creek Equine's Off the Lam (Curlin). Trained by Fausto Gutierrez, the homebred is out Argentinian multiple group stakes winning mare Sarasota (Arg) (Luhuk), who is responsible for GII Honeymoon H. heroine Sarah's Secret (Leroidesanimaux {Brz}) and GI Carter H. victor Salutos Amigos (Salute the Sarge). TJCIS PPS

2nd-GP, $89K, Msw, 3yo, 5fT, 12:39 p.m. ET.
With the same Hard Spun-Speightstown cross as GI Breeders' Cup Sprint champ Aloha West, firster Refuel makes his inaugural trip to the post for Repole and St. Elias. A $550,000 Keeneland September buy, the chestnut was the second-highest priced Hard Spun yearling in 2022.

The Todd Pletcher trainee is out of SW Quick Flip who went to Spendthrift Farm for $230,000 at the 2017 Keeneland November Sale. At the time, she was carrying GSW/GISP Following Sea (Runhappy), who incidently was third to Aloha West at the Breeders' Cup.

The dam of GSP Gimmick (Into Mischief), Quick Flip is a half-sister to MGSP/SW Qahira (Cairo Prince) and MGSP/MSW Factor It In (The Factor). TJCIS PPS

The post Friday Insights: Mendelssohn Filly Steps To The Rostrum For Oaklawn Debut appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Plenty of horses in this bracket have recently relinquished their brief window of commercial opportunity, and are now hanging around to discover whether they might join the very small group whose first runners generate a fresh vogue. Even with the newcomers out of the equation–we gave them a separate assessment, to open the series–we're left with three groups still untested on the track: those expecting their first foals; those who have just sold their first weanlings; and those actually about to dip a toe in the water with their first runners.

Pending that crossroads, many find themselves somewhat adrift against a bunch of older sires who have survived that test. These fit this tier either because they are losing stature or, more cheerfully, because they have carved out a viable niche as an affordable source of winners.

First the young guns. Of those who sent their first yearlings to auction this year, the ones who really nailed it, unsurprisingly, vaunted the kind of speed that pinhookers crave.

VOLATILE burned brightly in a light career, not seen again after confirming his Grade I caliber against a small but select field in the Vanderbilt. His 112 Beyer in the Aristides S. (1:07.57) was the highest of 2020 and duly secured 181 mares the following spring. Himself an $850,000 yearling, with a GI Test/GI Ballerina winner as granddam, his $125,431 average was boosted by a spectacular $1.15 million docket for a Book 1 filly at Keeneland in September. Nudged back up to $15,000 (from $12,500), Volatile has three hefty books behind him and will be the horse to beat for the freshman title next year.

But not even his median yield of 4.3 on his opening fee ($75,000/ $17,500) could match that of COMPLEXITY, whose $65,000 median (never mind his average $90,400!) multiplied his $12,500 fee by 5.2. Complexity started with some serious volume by the restrained standards of his farm, and then followed through with another three-figure book in his second season. He was clearly in the same vicinity as Volatile as a mature horse (110 Beyer in the GII Kelso) but was the more accomplished juvenile, wiring a Saratoga maiden (90 Beyer) before a decisive success in the GI Champagne S. on his second start. His half-sister ran second in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, so their unraced dam is obviously channelling the good stuff.

VEKOMA is meanwhile working the Spendthrift system with remarkable efficiency, having started out (at $20,000) with staggering volume, entertaining at least 200 mares in each of his first three seasons. This year he processed 102 of his first yearlings at $98,432, albeit was unsurprisingly stretched somewhat thinner by a median of $60,000. Though confined to eight starts across three seasons, he was class from beginning to end, posting big numbers for his Grade I double in the Carter and Met Mile. From a stallion-producing family, he's a horse I've liked all the way through and everything is in place for him to look after many (albeit probably not all!) of his (very many!) clients at $15,000.

Knicks Go | Sarah Andrew

Among those in this intake offering rather more stretch, one or two suffered horrible yearling medians relative to conception fee. But one who made a solid start off $12,500 was Bolt d'Oro's half-brother GLOBAL CAMPAIGN: 74 yearlings sold at $63,195 (median $43,500). This was a more talented animal than generally appreciated and I can see him proving himself a bargain gateway to Curlin. A closer look at his family shows that it tends to produce faster types than are associated with the seeding sires, and Global Campaign's first crop of 126 live foals may surprise a few people with their dash.

Of those who sold their first weanlings this fall, meanwhile, the one that will sort out the sheep and the goats is KNICKS GO. No questioning his talent, it was just never quite obvious where it all came from–albeit his dam maintained stakes speed through four seasons. Those who didn't require a more familiar pedigree were delighted to see a Horse of the Year introduced at just $30,000. Well, now they can get him for half that, even though he's still nearly 18 months away from the opportunity to demonstrate whether or not he can replicate his brilliance! At this money, some people will surely want to roll the dice.

Even as it is, his weanlings sold a little better than those of SILVER STATE. But it's very early days for the latter, whose pedigree in contrast elucidates all the class he manifested as a runner. A friendly clip to $15,000 should hopefully keep him in the game because this horse equipped to prove a really wholesome influence.

The subsequent intake features some truly frightening books, but I will resist dwelling on that here. Suffice to say that those playing a longer game might quite like a filly by either SPEAKER'S CORNER or MYSTIC GUIDE. Both have taken an early trim at Darley, respectively to $17,500 and $12,500, and their pedigrees shout distaff influence.

We'll have to see how many of the youngsters will endure even in this relatively modest tier, a few years from now. Nor does a flying start bring any guarantees, as UNION RAGS could caution them. The halving of his fee to $15,000 acknowledges the way he has faltered, having stood at $60,000 between 2018 and 2020. Trade for his latest yearlings made this further cut imperative, but he's still the same horse that so quickly came up with five Grade I winners. Hopefully he will find a little oxygen now that he has descended to more accessible altitudes.

Studmate DAREDEVIL has taken his second cut since returning to the U.S., now down to $15,000, but of course it's only in 2024 that we'll get to assess the first juveniles conceived after Swiss Skydiver prompted his urgent repatriation. Their sales performance demanded a mild trim in fee, but he could easily be poised for fresh momentum.

MENDELSSOHN has also taken consecutive cuts, similarly now available at $15,000. He has so far been more about quantity than quality but his supporters will hope that he can still emulate four others, standing at the same fee, who have all done admirably to create a lasting foothold in this most slippery of markets.

The first of these, DIALED IN, is something of a blue-collar hero. He maintains such high volume–corralled 175 mares last spring, his 10th at stud–that it will always be hard, with the raw materials available at this level, to make his ratios “sing”. But Defunded has once again shown the caliber within his competence as his third elite scorer. Dialed In gets his work done at a fair tariff, and will keep plugging away to leave behind many of those now starting at multiples of his fee.

Cairo Prince | Sarah Andrew

CAIRO PRINCE has also created a sustainable brand for himself through six crops, as attested by a solid book of 129 mares last spring. A set-your-clock black-type producer throughout, he's now entering the territory where he can legitimately prove a mare–and of course he gets such a nice type, the average ($54,194) and median ($40,000) of his latest yearlings duly best among this proven quartet.

MIDSHIPMAN is a true yeoman and it's typical of this business that he should have had a quieter year (by his very special standards) both on the track and in the sales ring after finally doubling his fee to $20,000 last year–due recognition for having punched above weight for so long. His lifetime stats remain ridiculous for a stallion who has largely been a four-figure cover: 47 stakes winners at 6.4 percent of named foals, nine at graded stakes level; and 101 black-type performers overall, at 13.7 percent. The trim back to $15,000 brings him back towards the reach of breeders who most appreciate just what he can do for their mares.

KANTHAROS, who has really pulled himself up by his bootstraps, had another very solid year on the track. He has made the same slip in fee, reflecting a tepid book of mares last spring and a challenging yield on yearlings conceived at $30,000. But that was an experience shared by many sires exposed to a porous middle market, and the fact is that Kantharos lurks only just outside the top 10 in the 2023 general sires' list with a dozen stakes winners, including a couple at graded level. His lifetime ratio of stakes runners–11 percent of named foals–remains outstanding for a horse whose first five books were compiled in Florida at just $5,000.

He sired two Grade I winners at that fee, and now has another millionaire in Grade II winner Bay Storm. The first of his two $30,000 books were juveniles this year, and we know how they will keep thriving. That guarantees Kantharos imminently entry into the top 20 active sires on lifetime earnings. All he needs to do is supplant… Lookin At Lucky!

VALUE PODIUM

Bronze Medal: CONNECT
Curlin–Bullville Belle (Holy Bull)
Lane's End $15,000

Connect | Sarah Andrew

Amid all this talk about stud fees being too high, credit is overdue to Lane's End for anticipating the mood in the room. From Flightline down, the farm made 11 cuts across their 2024 roster. All were meaningful, and some nearly brutal, effectively conceding that one or two stallions were drifting into trouble and needed some decisive help. Bravo! The very opposite of burying your head in the sand, and in the present environment I hope it works out both for the farm and its clients.

One stallion who can certainly benefit is Connect, restored from $25,000 to his 2021 fee of $15,000 after the crop conceived that year returned a tepid median (albeit a perfectly acceptable $45,774 average) at the yearling sales. He'd also suffered a real slump in his book last spring, down to 45 from 172 in 2022! But we're accustomed to seeing horses treated like this, once they have served their commercial purpose, and should sooner marvel at the impression he must have made with his first crop to get such a big book (up from 93 in 2021) in his fifth year at stud.

Sure enough, only Gun Runner and Practical Joke banked more prizemoney as freshmen in 2021, and only Gun Runner had more winners. Unfortunately Connect did not then consolidate especially well, but he has made a timely return to form this year with eight stakes winners, three at graded level, plus a GI Kentucky Oaks third in The Alys Look. Moreover, his first-crop flagship, the juvenile Grade I winner Rattle N Roll, failed by just half a length to add another elite score in the GI Stephen Foster S. That horse was a $55,000 weanling but has now banked $1.7 million across three seasons.

Connect's pedigree is not without its challenges but he's another to bring Curlin within range and had real prowess as a racehorse, a blip in the Travers his only defeat in seven starts (four triple-digit Beyers) up the grades after debut. He outkicked none other than Gun Runner in the GII Pennsylvania Derby and, while he won't be doing that again any time soon, he's actually siring winners at a higher percentage of named foals.

With that bumper crop of weanlings in the pipeline, and now a lenient fee, this looks a good time to re-Connect.

Silver Medal: KARAKONTIE (Jpn)
Bernstein–Sun Is Up (Jpn) (Sunday Silence)
Gainesway $15,000

Karakontie | Sarah Andrew

How pleasing to see this undervalued stallion moving his book back up last year, up to 86 from 48. Perhaps his hour has come at last, now that the minority prepared to breed to a quality turf sire in the Bluegrass have been deprived of English Channel and Kitten's Joy.

If you're enlightened enough to see the growing need for turf quality in the U.S., then you might also recognize that you don't always have to fly first class to Tattersalls. With a fifth crop on the track, Karakontie has still only had 174 starters, but seven have won graded stakes. For the second year running, moreover, he had an elite scorer in She Feels Pretty, winner of the GI Natalma S. before failing by barely half a length to overcome a wide trip in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. Karakontie's premier earner Princess Grace meanwhile continued to thrive in Australia, missing Group 1 scores by a neck and half a length.

Even after a hike from $10,000, Karakontie is an awful lot of horse for this fee. He converted some of the most regal blood in the book–his third dam is Miesque herself–into a turn of foot that won him a Group 1 at two and then a mile Classic, before doing all he could to endear the American market in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile. Don't forget that he restores Sunday Silence to the Bluegrass through his dam, herself out of a half-sister to Kingmambo. His international pedigree and participation alike are a measure of our debt to the program that produced him.

The American market has not really grasped its privilege, with this horse, but the elevation in his fee tells you everything you need to know: he's being used by people who want to breed a runner, whether in their own silks or to boost a mare. Actually, Karakontie is perfectly capable of a home run at the sales, including the $525,000 filly at Keeneland in September whose buyers will have been delighted to see her full-sister (who herself made $280,000 the previous year) win the Tepin S. last month. His lesser specimens may struggle commercially, until the environment improves, but that won't trouble those eccentrics who calculate value according to the odds of ending up with a runner.

Gold Medal: MITOLE
Eskendereya–Indian Miss (Indian Charlie)
Spendthrift $15,000

How naïve of me to imagine that all those commercial breeders who flocked to the new sires in 2020 wanted nothing more than to land on the champion freshman of 2023. Because Mitole, as he closes in on those laurels, finds himself the only one of the four Spendthrift sires dominating this table to remain on the same fee in 2024.

Mitole | Louise Reinagel

Now, clearly this farm needs no help in how to make their remarkable machine run smoothly. The Spendthrift team know that Mitole was the one who took the biggest slide of the quartet, in the inevitable slackening of demand for their second crop of yearlings. But they had already ensured that these were conceived more affordably, trimming him from $25,000 in his debut season to $15,000. That was partly a concession to the Covid market, but it also offered such obvious value about a champion sprinter that he maintained the enthusiastic support of 184 mares even last spring, after topping 200 in each of his three previous seasons.

In other words, the system is functioning smoothly and Mitole has played his part so well that he approaches the winning post with a narrow advantage over Maximus Mischief (my serial “gold” pick, I might add, after starting at $7,500!) by prizemoney and also a wafer-thin one by individual winners (32 from 79 starters).

Whether or not he holds out, Mitole is the only one of the four to have a graded stakes scorer–and so joins Flameaway and Solomini in what has been a weirdly unproductive group, by that measure-in GIII Pocahontas S. winner/GI Alcibiades runner-up V V's Dream.

The precocious Maximus Mischief has shown a lot more of his hand (77 starters from 122 named foals) and remember that Mitole (79 from 145) himself only squeezed in a single start at two, in late November. It was as a 4-year-old that he racked up his four Grade Is–including that resonant Met Mile/Breeders' Cup Sprint double, and a stakes record at the intermediate distance in the Forego. So it seems fair to suggest that he has only just got started.

By now Mitole has surely stifled misgivings about his sire, himself after all a brilliant performer and a conduit of corresponding genes. Eskendereya's fifth dam is Cosmah, and doubles up her half-sister's son Northern Dancer top and bottom. It was presumably his unfashionable sire that confined Mitole to $20,000 as a yearling–but then along came kid brother Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow), himself a $17,000 short yearling, to reiterate the merit of a family cultivated by the late Edward A. Cox Jr.

Hot Rod Charlie has now followed Eskendereya to Japan, where they have made a habit of exposing crass commercial trends in Kentucky. But here's a horse making the family assets work even in this less imaginative environment, and his debut at the 2-year-old sales–behind only Omaha Beach in the key freshman medians–suggest that Mitole will be taking out a long lease on the attention of pinhookers.

Sires In The Teens: Breeder Selections

Aidan O'Meara, Stonehaven Steadings

Aidan O'Meara | Keeneland

Gold Medal: Volatile
One of the best angles for success in the commercial breeding field is identifying a future leading stallion in the early stages and this sometimes requires taking a leap of faith breeding when their first runners are about to run. Volatile has been the breakout star at the yearling sales this year, mirroring his sire's first crop results a few years back. He's a beautifully built horse himself and passed his physique on with remarkable consistency. He's been very well supported by breeders and will have plenty of ammo in his first few crops to give him every opportunity. If his offspring have legitimate ability, he will skyrocket up the stallion ranks and $15,000 will look like the deal of the decade.

Silver Medal: Connect
The crop of 2021 has all been overshadowed by Gun Runner's incredible achievements, but Connect has been quietly developing a very solid career for himself. He has shown consistency with three graded stakes winners again this year and a strong supporting cast of stakes horses. He has also shown the ability to get the all-important high-class horse with Rattle N Roll. He measures well in all statistical categories and looks to be a stallion that can establish himself long term in the mold of a Midshipman/First Samurai/Blame type.

Bronze Medal: Audible
The Spendthrift quartet has garnered most of the attention from this year's freshmen and rightly so but one horse is simmering just below these and that horse is Audible. His 14% stakes horses with his first 2-year-olds cannot be ignored and his own racing career suggests there is more improvement to be had as they mature. He's a beautiful horse that can throw the right kind as witnessed by his first crop of yearlings. $15,000 is very intriguing for a horse with some potential future upswing and worst-case scenario has shown plenty of ability for longer term success at this price point.

Peter O'Callaghan, Woods Edge Farm

Peter O'Callaghan | Fasig-Tipton

Gold Medal: Midshipman
This stallion has been very good to us both on the track and in the sales ring. We recently bred first-time-out 2-year-old winner Midshipman's Dance; pinhooked Grade II winner Special Reserve; bred Leucothea and co-bred Amidst Waves, both of whom are multiple stakes winning 2-year-olds. He is a very consistent and well-respected sire, standing for an affordable $15,000. You can sell one well at the sales and he produces winners every weekend at the track.

Silver Medal: Mitole
Obviously a brilliant racehorse and looks to be turning out some good 2-year-old winners this second half of the year. Must be a horse worth a punt at $15,000. We are breeding to him again this year.

Bronze Medal: Vekoma
A brilliant racehorse, a high class 2-year-old who trained on, winning some high-profile races in the GII Bluegrass S. going two turns at three. Then winning the GI Carter H. and GI Met Mile at four in impressive fashion. Furthermore, he is a very well-bred son of Candy Ride (Arg), out of the GISW Speightstown mare Mona De Momma from the family of Mr. Greeley.

He is a good-looking horse who seems to sire plenty of good-looking stock. We have bred to him each year and have bought foals by him in each crop, he has not let us down so far.

I think he is a horse with a legitimate shot to be a sire standing at an affordable fee of $15,000.

The post Value Sires For 2024, Part 4: Into The Teens appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

The Richard Mandella trainee at odds of 2-5 broke alertly and vied for the lead with two others up the backstretch. As the far turn arrived, Llorona clearly had more to give and at the quarter pole she began to increase her margin. With Flavien Prat serving as passenger at this point, his mount appeared to glide along as she coasted home by 5 3/4 lengths over Make It Snow (Empire Maker).

The winner's dam GISP Wasted Tears (Najran) was bred, owned and trained by Bart Evans. A juvenile maiden breaker herself at Retama Park in San Antonio, a year later in 2008 through 2010 she won 10 of 11 races as she advanced from allowance into graded stakes company–including wins in the GII Jenny Wiley S. and GII John C. Mabee S.

Evans partnered with Jeff and Chiquita Reddoch, the founders of Stonehaven Steadings, to breed Corniche, who went to Speedway Stables for $1.5 million at the '21 OBS April Sale. At Keeneland September that same year, Evans, along with his son Robert, bought out the Reddoch's share in Llorona for $750,000. Since then, Wasted Tears foaled a filly by Into Mischief Mar. 15 and she visited that multiple-leading sire again for next year.

Llorona is Mendelssohn's second 'Rising Star' after Pink Hue.

1st-Del Mar, $62,000, Msw, 12-1, 3yo/up, f/m, 6f, 1:10.80, ft, 5 3/4 lengths.
LLORONA, f, 3, Mendelssohn
                1st Dam: Wasted Tears {MGSW & GISP, $941,463},
                                by Najran
                2nd Dam: Wishes and Roses, by Greinton (GB)
                3rd Dam: Anniversary Wish, by Beau's Eagle
Sales History: $750,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $36,600. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
O-Bart B. Evans and Robert M. Evans; B-Bart Evans & Stonehaven Steadings (KY); T-Richard E. Mandella.

She made it look so easy. #6 LLORONA ($2.80) wins the @DelMarRacing opener with Flavien Prat aboard for trainer Richard Mandella and owners Bart Evans and Robert Evans. Another winner by Mendelssohn who stands at @coolmoreamerica.

Bet the Del Mar Pick 4 next on @FanDuelTV pic.twitter.com/oxWPhqSwRH

— TVG (@TVG) December 1, 2023

The post Corniche’s Half-Sister Llorona Effortless At Del Mar, Now A ‘TDN Rising Star’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

5th-AQU, $85K, Msw, 2yo, f, 7f, 2:14 p.m. ET.
Courtlandt Farms purchased Whocouldaskformo (Uncle Mo) for $450,000 at last year's Keeneland September Sale. She debuts for Shug McGaughey alongside fellow firster and workmate, Very Practical (Practical Joke).

Whocouldaskformo's dam Midnight Belle (Bernardini) is a half-sister to GI Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic heroine Unrivaled Belle (Unbridled's Song), who went to Whisper Hill Farm at the 2016 Keeneland November Sale for $3.6 million while in foal to Tapit. She produced two-time champion Unique Bella (Tapit). Midnight Belle is also a half-sister the dam of GIII Gotham S. hero Raise Cain (Violence). TJCIS PPS

The post Friday Insights: Half-Sister To Champion Corniche Debuts At Del Mar appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Justify's 2024 fee is the fourth-highest of the stallions announced so far for 2024, placing him behind perennial leading sires Into Mischief (Harlan's Holiday) and Curlin (Smart Strike), and third-crop standout Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}).

Veteran sire Uncle Mo (Indian Charlie) remains at $150,000 while 17-year-old Munnings (Speightstown) sits at $75,000.

Following the top three are American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) $50,000; Practical Joke (Into Mischief) $45,000; Epicenter (Not This Time), $40,000; Jack Christopher (Munnings) $40,000; Corniche (Quality Road) $25,000; Golden Pal (Uncle Mo) $25,000; Tiz The Law (Constitution) $20,000; Mendelssohn (Scat Daddy) $15,000; Maximum Security (New Year's Day) $7,500; Echo Town (Speightstown) $5,000; and Mo Town (Uncle Mo) $5,000.

The post Justify’s Fee Doubled at Ashford for 2024 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

“All of our team loved Mendelssohn from the first time we saw him as a yearling and he developed into a magnificent-looking horse,” said Coolmore's Charlie O'Connor. “Being by our own Scat Daddy and a half-brother to Into Mischief and Beholder, you couldn't ask for a better pedigree and he showed real brilliance when winning the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar and the [G2] U.A.E. Derby by a street, recording a new track record. He is currently the No. 4 leading sire of 2-year-olds in North America… With big crops to come he should keep rising up the ranks.”

Mendelssohn (2015 bay horse, Scat Daddy–Leslie's Lady, by Tricky Creek)

Lifetime record: Hwt. at 3-U.A.E, GISW-U.S., GSW-U.A.E., G1SP-Eng, SW-Ire, 13-4-2-2, $2,542,137

Breeders' Cup connections: B-Clarkland Farm (KY); O-Michael B. Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier, and Derrick Smith; T-Aidan O'Brien; J-Ryan Moore.

Current location: Coolmore America/Ashford Stud, Versailles, Ky.

The post Catching Up with 2017 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Winner Mendelssohn appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

“I had a very nice trip,” said winning trainer Steve Asmussen. “I knew there was a lot of speed in the race. I was very confident with him and comfortable where he was traveling. As soon as we passed the three-eighths (pole), I asked him to pick it up, and he picked it up beautiful. Down the lane he just kept coming, and he got the job done.”

The fifth stakes winner for Mendelssohn, Committee of One is out of a half-sister to MGSP Saint Vigeur (Smart Strike) and GSP Victory Way (City of Light). This is also the family of champion 2-year-old filly Sweet Catomine (Storm Cat) and MGISW Life Is Sweet (Storm Cat). The winner has a yearling Mastery half-sister and a weanling half-sister by American Pharoah. Sweetest Sound visited Girvin for 2024. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

A close finish in the Indian Summer S. but #6 Committee of One comes out on top to also break his maiden for trainer Steve Asmussen with @cristiantorr64 in the irons!

The 2-year-old colt went off at 7/1!

#TwinSpiresReplay pic.twitter.com/otnimVmsL8

— TwinSpires Racing (@TwinSpires) October 8, 2023

INDIAN SUMMER S. PRESENTED BY KEENELAND SELECT, $243,907, Keeneland, 10-8, 2yo, 5 1/2fT, 1:02.40, fm.
1–COMMITTEE OF ONE, 118, c, 2, by Mendelssohn
                1st Dam: Sweetest Sound, by Smart Strike
                2nd Dam: Sweet Way, by Giant's Causeway
                3rd Dam: Sweet Life, by Kris S.
($80,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). 1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. O-J. Kirk and
Judy Robison; B-Gatewood Bell, Ken Donworth & Ike Van
Meter (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen; J-Cristian A. Torres.
$145,313. Lifetime Record: 3-1-2-0, $190,713.
2–Amidst Waves, 117, f, 2, Midshipman–Troublesome, by Into
Mischief. ($100,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). O-R. A. Hill Stable,
BlackRidge Stables LLC, Swinbank Stables, Big Tufff Stables and
Black Type Thoroughbreds; B-Woods Edge Farm, LLC &
Ballyfair Bloodstock (KY); T-George Weaver. $46,875.
3–Shards, 118, c, 2, Bucchero–Cynthia's Fury, by Utopia (Jpn).
($175,000 2yo '23 OBSMAR). 1ST BLACK TYPE. O-NBS Stable,
Crown's Way Racing LLC and Kevin Marko; B-Craig L Wheeler
(FL); T-Kelsey Danner. $18,750.
Margins: NO, NK, 4. Odds: 7.67, 1.92, 6.76.
Also Ran: Cowes, Fairhopecurly, Bledsoe, Sponge Bath, Riparound, Pinotslilgirl, Candymaker.

The post Committee Of One Noses Out Amidst Waves For Indian Summer Win appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

“It was not a surprise at all,” winning trainer Brendan Walsh said of Austere's effort. “She'd been working great. We think she has lots of talent. It was great to go there and win. It looks like she's going to a nice filly going forward.”

Austere was cutting back to a mile after breaking her maiden going 1 1/16 miles over the Ellis Park lawn in her Aug. 13 debut.

Asked if a tilt at the GI Breeders' Cup Juv Fillies Turf would be next for Austere, Walsh said, “You'd have to after today. She's two for two now. So we'll see how she comes out of it and go from there. But she's done nothing wrong so far.”

Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

GLOBAL TOTE JUVENILE FILLIES S., $487,500, Kentucky Downs, 9-10, 2yo, f, 1mT, 1:35.48, fm.
1–AUSTERE, 120, f, 2, by Mendelssohn
                1st Dam: Argumentative (GB) (MSP-Fr), by Observatory
2nd Dam: Discuss, by Danzig
                3rd Dam: Private Line, by Private Account
($150,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). 1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. O-Bradley
Thoroughbreds, Gary Finder, Tucci Stables, Cambron Equine,
LLC and Belmar Racing and Breeding, LLC; B-Summer Wind
Equine LLC (KY); T-Brendan P. Walsh; J-Tyler Gaffalione.
$300,350. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $340,950. *1/2 to Indeed
(GB) (Showcasing {GB}), GSP-Eng, $117,425; and to Epicuris
(GB) (Rail Link {GB}), G1SW-Fr, $356,042.
2–Bella Haze, 118, f, 2, Flameaway–Cape Haze, by
Ghostzapper. ($75,000 2yo '23 OBSMAR). 1ST BLACK TYPE.
O-Chris Curtis; B-John R & John C Penn (KY); T-Carlos
Santamaria. $98,500.
3–Latte Lizzie, 118, f, 2, Catalina Cruiser–Egyptian Magic, by
Eskendereya. ($40,000 Ylg '22 FTKOCT; $85,000 2yo '23
OBSAPR). 1ST BLACK TYPE. O-Madaket Stables LLC, Michael
Doheny & Thomas Coleman; B-Nina Hahn (KY); T-Chad C.
Brown. $49,250.
Margins: 3, NK, HD. Odds: 4.02, 6.64, 7.86.
Also Ran: Kodiac Wintergreen (Ire), Sea Dancer, Cynane, Kamikaze Umagi, Beautiful Dancer. Scratched: Fancy Looker, Mo Fox Givin, Old Fashioned Girl, Shot Girl, Sweetcatherinerose.

The post Mendelssohn Filly on Top at Kentucky Downs appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post