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Gun Runner Breaks Freshman Progeny Earnings Mark

Three Chimneys' Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}) set a new record for progeny earnings for a first-crop sire when his total moved past the $3.8-million mark Sunday. Coolmore's Uncle Mo held the previous record of $3,717,490, which he established in 2015. Prior to Uncle Mo, the first-crop progeny earnings record had been held by Gainesway's Tapit, who set the mark in 2008.

Gun Runner took over the record earnings figure when the Tom Amoss-trained Shotgun Hottie won a $92,000 maiden special weight at Churchill Downs Sunday, becoming the stallion's 22nd winner.

“Gun Runner's record start at stud is a crowning achievement for the farm and its philosophy,” said Three Chimneys' owner Goncalo Torrealba. “To surpass a record established by Uncle Mo, and Tapit previous to that, clearly compares Gun Runner favorably at this point in time with two of the most influential sires at stud today. He not only established a new progeny earnings record, but he is also the Leading Sire in America by percent Stakes Winner to runners among all sires, pretty astonishing. Three Chimneys' whole team is grateful to the breeders who continue to support him with great mares, and a special thanks to partner Ron Winchell. He has been fantastic. I am grateful for his continued commitment to breed his best mares and race their progeny. Trainer Steve Asmussen has created his legacy through Horse of the Year Gun Runner and his progeny. Thank you, Steve.”

From his first crop to race this year, Gun Runner has been represented by GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner and expected champion Echo Zulu, as well as GI Hopeful S. winner Gunite and graded winners Pappacap and Wicked Halo.

Echo Zulu, Gunite and Wicked Halo are all trained by Asmussen, who conditioned Gun Runner to a Horse of the Year title in 2017, and are owned or co-owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds, which, along with Three Chimneys, campaigned the stallion to six Grade I victories.

Gun Runner will stand the 2022 breeding season at $125,000.

The post Gun Runner Breaks Freshman Progeny Earnings Mark appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Beholder To Be Bred To Gun Runner In 2022

Three Chimneys announced today that future Hall of Famer Beholder will be bred to Leading Sire Gun Runner for the 2022 breeding season.

One of the greatest race mares of all time and the recipient of the coveted Eclipse Award four times – Champion 2-Year-Old Filly, Champion 3-Year-Old Filly, and Champion Older Mare twice – compiled a record of 18 wins and 6 seconds from 26 starts with career earnings of $6,156,600. The remarkable mare notched an unprecedented 10 Grade 1 wins and is one of only two mares in the history of the Breeders' Cup to win three times. A singular performer on the track, she boasts perhaps the most prominent pedigree currently in the stud book. She is a half-sister to both super sire Into Mischief as well as to Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner and promising young sire Mendelssohn.

“Beholder is the crown jewel of an extraordinary book for Gun Runner. The whole Gun Runner team is excited and appreciative that she is coming. Three Chimneys will be rolling out the red carpet for her,” said Doug Cauthen, managing partner at Doug Cauthen Thoroughbred Management LLC., and Vice Chairman at Three Chimneys.

Horse of the Year Gun Runner is off to one of the most remarkable starts to a stud career in recent memory. He is the sire of 5 individual stakes winners. The undefeated and unchallenged Echo Zulu distinguished herself as the best of her generation compiling Grade 1 wins in the Spinaway, the Frizette, and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Gun Runner's other standout performers among his 20 first crop winners include G1 Hopeful Winner Gunite, G2 Best Pal winner, and G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile runner-up Pappacap, G2 Adirondack winner Wicked Halo, and stakes winner Concept.

The post Beholder To Be Bred To Gun Runner In 2022 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Trifecta Of Magical World, Shedaresthedevil, Swiss Skydiver Drive More Than $100 Million In Sales At Fasig-Tipton November

The Fasig-Tipton November Sale, marketed as the world's premier breeding stock event, proved worthy of the marquee Tuesday in Lexington, Ky. Fasig-Tipton's flagship breeding stock sale established a new record gross, selling more than $100 million in the single session for the first time in the sale's history, including 26 fillies and mares which sold for $1 million or more.

Grade 1 producer Magical World in foal to multiple leading sire Into Mischief topped the sale when sold for $5.2 million to Whisper Hill Farm and Three Chimneys Farm (video).

Hill 'n' Dale Sales Agency, agent, offered the 11-year-old daughter of Distorted Humor as Hip 203. Magical World has produced four winners from four to race, including multiple Grade 1 winning millionaire Guarana (Ghostzapper); Grade 2 placed stakes winner Magic Dance (More Than Ready); and current 3-year-old winner Beatbox (Pioneer of the Nile). Magical World is out of Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Pleasant Home, from the immediate family of champion Sky Beauty and Grade 1 winners Violence and Tale of Ekati. Magical World also has a yearling colt by Gun Runner and foaled a colt by Quality Road this year.

“[It was a] remarkable evening tonight,” said Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning. “We were so fortunate to have a tremendous group of horses… It was almost impossible to believe the quality of horses on the grounds.”

Record-setting Kentucky Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil topped the racing/broodmare prospects on offer, selling for $5 million to Whisper Hill Farm, Flurry Racing, and Qatar Racing from the consignment of Hunter Valley Farm, agent (video).

Offered as Hip 232, the four-year-old daughter of Daredevil ran the fastest Kentucky Oaks in history, going 9 furlongs in 1:48.28 while defeating champions Swiss Skydiver and Gamine and Grade 1 winner Speech. Shedaresthedevil's seven graded stakes victories also include this year's Grade La Troienne Stakes and G1 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes. To date, she has earned $2,331,458 under the tutelage of trainer Brad Cox and has won or placed in 15 of 17 career starts.

Eclipse champion Swiss Skydiver was the sale's top broodmare prospect, selling for $4.7 million to Katsumi Yoshida from the consignment of Runnymede Farm, agent (video).

Offered as Hip 246, the 4-year-old daughter of Daredevil won five graded stakes last year en route to champion 3-year-old filly honors, including a victory in the Preakness Stakes over Kentucky Derby winner and subsequent Horse of the Year Authentic. Swiss Skydiver captured the prestigious G1 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga last year at three and won this year's G1 Beholder Mile Stakes. She won or placed 12 of 16 career starts and earned $2,216,480 for owner Peter Callahan and trainer Kenny McPeek.

“Our friends from Japan have become a major component of this sale,” said Browning when asked about the high level of participation from Japanese buyers. “We live in a global world and we're fortunate that we have a global marketplace here.”

The sale's top weanling was Hip 107, a filly by Curlin out of Grade 1 winner Sippican Harbor, which sold for $750,000 to West Bloodstock, agent for Robert and Lawana Low from the consignment of Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent.

The chestnut filly is the second foal out of G1 Spinaway Stakes winner Sippican Harbor, from the immediate family of Group 1 winner Peter Davies. Hip 107 was bred in Kentucky by Lee Pokoik.

“We were supported by an unbelievable cross section of horses from an unbelievable cross section of consignors and owners,” added Browning. “That's what it's all about: it's the quality of horses that you have the opportunity to sell, and we were fortunate tonight to have an all-star cast of offers and support (from) a tremendous buying base from all over the world. I couldn't be any more pleased.”

Overall, 149 horses changed hands for a sale-record gross of $103,699,000, a 15.9 percent increase over the previous highwater mark, set in 2018 when 141 horses sold for $89,473,000.

The average rose 23.2 percent to $695,966 from $565,049 in 2020 and was good for second-highest average in sale history. The median was $300,000, up 50 percent from 2020 and good for third-highest median ever recorded at The November Sale. The RNA rate was 21.1 percent. Twenty-six fillies and mares sold for $1 million or more.

Results are available online.

The post Trifecta Of Magical World, Shedaresthedevil, Swiss Skydiver Drive More Than $100 Million In Sales At Fasig-Tipton November appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Amidst Monumental Year, Asmussen Heads Into BC Weekend ‘Guns’ Blazing

DEL MAR, CA – The best thing about Steve Asmussen's record-breaking 2021 season? The Hall of Famer may want to wait until the weekend is up to answer that.

In a year that has included passing Dale Baird to become the winningest North American trainer of all time, an emotional GI Arkansas Derby victory for his parents with Super Stock (Dialed In) and five top-level wins at the prestigious Saratoga meeting, including three from the first crop of a former barn superstar, Asmussen heads into the Breeders' Cup World Championships at Del Mar with a loaded, six-horse hand.

“Those are some very nice milestones and things that we will obviously enjoy looking back on, but we need to finish out the year strong,” Asmussen said.

“I feel like we have some excellent chances in the Breeders' Cup and we need to show up and have our horses perform to the best of their ability and finish the year off right.”

Excellent chances, indeed.

It comes full circle for Asmussen as his Breeders' Cup weekend begins with L and N Racing and Winchell Thoroughbreds's unbeaten 'TDN Rising Star' Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) in Friday's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.

The $300,000 KEESEP graduate and half-sister to the Asmussen-trained GI Runhappy H. Allen Jerkens S. winner and young Ashford Stud sire Echo Town (Speightstown) will be heavily favored over five rivals for her two-turn debut off the strength of eye-catching wins in the GI Spinaway S. at Saratoga Sept. 5 and the GI Frizette S. at Belmont Oct. 30.

Asmussen, of course, saddled Echo Zulu's leading freshman sire Gun Runner to a win in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic–the 55-year-old's second trophy in the big one–which was also held at the seaside track four years ago.

Standing at Three Chimneys Farm, the 2017 Horse of the Year and champion older dirt male is also responsible for the Asmussen-trained GI Hopeful S. winner Gunite. Gun Runner will also be represented by longshot Pappacap in the male dirt equivalent on 'Future Stars Friday.'

“It went extremely well the last time the Breeders' Cup was at Del Mar and we're trying to recreate some of the same magic,” Asmussen said. “We don't get to take Gun Runner back, but it is kind of fun that the first time we go back we have one from his first crop that's the favorite in the Juvenile Fillies.”

Of Gun Runner's fast start at stud, he continued, “It's dreaming. Meaning, Gun Runner, as special as he was and what an amazing ride he was–good 2-year-old, strong 3-year-old, great 4-year-old–then, how excited we were to have Gun Runner's progeny and for one to start out this fast… Better than we could've even hoped. Knowing how much better he got with time and for Echo Zulu to come out of the box like this–just absolutely special.”

California Dreaming…

Four of Asmussen's seven-career Breeders' Cup wins, including a Classic victory with the aforementioned Gun Runner, have come in Southern California. The three others–Tapizar (2012 GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile), Untapable (2014 GI Breeders' Cup Distaff) and Mitole (2019 GI Breeders' Cup Sprint)-took place at Santa Anita.

The Asmussen barn has also been well-represented with Santa Anita Breeders' Cup placings from: Dust and Diamonds (second 2012 GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint); My Miss Aurelia (second 2012 GI Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic); Unbridled's Note (second 2012 GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint); Tapiture (second 2014 GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile); Gun Runner (second 2016 GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile); Midnight Bisou (second 2019 GI Breeders' Cup Distaff); and Storm Treasure (third 2008 GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint).

Like his aforementioned celebrated quartet, Asmussen's 2021 Breeders' Cup troops arrived early in the Golden State to prepare, in fact, weeks ahead of the 38th World Championships. It's certainly worked well in the past, but exactly how important is it to get acclimated early to the West Coast?

“I think you said it, it's worked well in the past,” Asmussen said. “It's worked well for whatever reason. Just get acclimated and eliminate as many variables as we possibly can and go from there.”

Five More Major 'Players' for BC Saturday…

Asmussen will tighten the girth on five Breeders' Cup runners on Saturday's stacked program, led by J. Kirk and Judy Robison's GI Breeders' Cup Sprint headliner Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music).

A valiant fourth as the favorite after sitting right on a scorching pace in last year's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, he takes on his elders after a spectacular 110 Beyer Speed Figure performance in the GII Gallant Bob at Parx Sept. 25. He previously posted a heart-stopping neck victory over the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile 4-5 morning-line favorite and 'TDN Rising Star' Life Is Good (Into Mischief) in a GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S. for the ages at the Spa Aug. 28.

Where does Jackie's Warrior, just a $95,000 KEESEP buy, rank with some of Asmussen's all-time top sprinters–dare we even mention the brilliant Mitole yet?

“I think that they're all individuals and comparing horses is unjust,” Asmussen fired back. “Because what makes them special is how they perform against competition, not talking about it. We have had the fastest horses in the world and are very proud of that.”

The future Spendthrift Farm stallion's resume also includes top-level wins in the 2020 GI Runhappy Hopeful S. and GI Champagne S.

“I think the most unique thing about Jackie's Warrior is the Gallant Bob was only the second time he had run six furlongs,” Asmussen said. “He's just fast.”

Previous 3-year-old winners of the Breeders' Cup Sprint include: Drefong (2016); Runhappy (2015); Trinniberg (2012); Silver Train (2005); Cajun Beat (2003); Squirtle Squirt (2001); Reraise (1998); Sheikh Albadou (GB) (1991); and Very Subtle (1987).

George Hall's and SportBLX Thoroughbreds Corp.'s GI Breeders' Cup Classic contender Max Player (Honor Code) has taken his game to the next level with a change in tactics, sitting right on the pace en route to breakthrough wins in the GII Suburban S. at Belmont July 3 and GI Jockey Club Gold Cup S. at Saratoga Sept. 4. He rallied from far back to third-place finishes in the 2020 GI Belmont S. and GI Runhappy Travers S. for previous trainer Linda Rice as well as a fifth-place finish in the GI Kentucky Derby in his first start for this stable.

“He was giving himself too much to do in quality races,” Asmussen said. “Spotting them seven, eight, 10 lengths-he put himself in a position that it was hard to show his ability. In the mornings, he was showing plenty and enough that with an opportunity, he could do enough with it. Getting him in the race early has allowed that. He stays well, so using some of him early hasn't cost him late and it's given him a chance.”

Stonestreet homebred Clairiere (Curlin), the first foal out of the talented three-time Grade I winner and 2015 GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint rallying fourth as the favorite Cavorting (Bernardini), faces older fillies and mares for the first time in the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff. She headed an exacta for her leading sire and former Asmussen-trained two-time Horse of the Year Curlin in the GI Cotillion S. at Parx Sept. 25. She was also second to the ultra-talented, re-opposing 'TDN Rising Star' Malathaat (Curlin) in the GI Alabama S. Aug. 21.

Asmussen will be double-fisted in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. Listed as the second choice on the morning line at 7-2, GI Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan H. winner and $450,000 KEESEP graduate Silver State (Hard Spun) overcame a slow start and looked well on his way after leading in the stretch, but just couldn't close the door and had to settle for a close second in the Parx Dirt Mile S. last out Sept. 25. The Winchell Thoroughbreds and Willis Horton Racing colorbearer, did, notably earn a career-best 104 Beyer in that effort. Silver State retires to Claiborne Farm for 2022.

Bloom Racing Stable's fan favorite and blaze-faced 6-year-old Snapper Sinclair (City Zip) goes turf to dirt in search of his first career graded win in the Dirt Mile following a rallying second in Santa Anita's GII Eddie D. S. Oct. 1.

“It's the goal,” Asmussen concluded of the year-end Championships. “We're obviously very fortunate to have horses of this level. We would expect them to perform well. It is the target.”

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