virginia-bred | Horse Racing Free Tips

Forte’s Breeder Amy Moore Joins The TDN Writers’ Room Podcast

It's not easy, but somehow Amy Moore has made it look that way. After spending three decades as a high-profile Washington, D.C. lawyer, she said goodbye to the long work weeks and the pressures and changed careers midstream in 2015 and became a race horse owner and breeder.

It could be a case of beginner's luck or that Moore really knows what she is doing or some combination of the two, but Moore's success has been nothing short of sensational.

The first horse she bought and raced was Queen Caroline (Blame), a $170,000 Keeneland September purchase who won four stakes and earned $384,776. Queen Caroline would be the first horse to join Moore's broodmare band at her South Gate Farm in Virginia. She was bred to Violence (Medaglia d'Oro) and the offspring would be Moore's first ever production as a breeder. That Violence-Queen Caroline colt is none other than Forte, the likely favorite for the GI Kentucky Derby. One horse bred, one Kentucky Derby favorite.

It's a remarkable story and one Moore shared with us this week on the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland. Moore was this week's Green Group Guest of the Week.

As a lawyer, Moore, who grew up riding horses, advised large companies on their retirement and health plans. But in the back of her mind she looked forward to the day when she could have an easier and, some would say, more rewarding lifestyle breeding and racing horses.

Click here to play this week's podcast | Ryan Thompson Photo

“A 70-hour week would have been a light week, frankly,” she said. “It was very intense. A lot of hard work. It was fun because you're working with extremely bright people and that's always challenging and fun. But no, I have never looked back. I like being a farmer a lot better than I like being a lawyer.”

Actually, she didn't get off to a perfect start. Queen Caroline finished last in her first two races, losing by a combined margin of 42 3/4 lengths.

“I thought I was going to have to go to the races with that paper bag over my head for shame,” she said.

But then trainer Michael Matz put Queen Caroline on the turf and she was a completely different horse.

Moore said that Forte has become a celebrity in her local county in Virginia, where he was raised after being born in Kentucky.

“One of the nicest things about it is that now everyone in Clark County, Virginia, which is the smallest county in Virginia, knows Forte,” she said. “He's a local hero. So if I go to the post office or the grocery store or wherever, people are rooting for Forte and want to know how he's doing and they're very interested in him, and that's a nice thing to have for the community. A lot of people that know nothing about horse racing are getting behind the horse.”

Queen Caroline has delivered one live foal since Forte, a now 2-year-old colt by Uncle Mo who sold for $850,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale, and she has been reported to be in foal to Flightline. It doesn't look like Moore will be a one-horse wonder.

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by Coolmore,https://lanesend.com/ the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, Woodford Thoroughbreds, Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders, Lane's End, XBTV, 1/st Racing, WinStar Farm and https://www.threechimneys.com/ West Point Thoroughbreds, the team of Zoe Cadman, Randy Moss and Bill Finley went over last week's action, which was topped by the GI Blue Grass S., the GI Santa Anita Derby and the GII Wood Memorial. Moss and Finley both thought that Tapit Trice (Tapit) ran much better when winning the Blue Grass than he did in his GIII Tampa Bay Derby win. They looked ahead to this week's GI Maker's Mark Mile at Keeneland and to the GI Apple Blossom H. to be run at Oaklawn. In other news, the team took a look at the Ron Faucheux story. After winning his third straight training title at Fair Grounds, Faucheux announced that he was becoming a jockey's agent because he wasn't making a decent living as a trainer.

Click here to watch the video version of this podcast or click here to hear the audio-only version.

The post Forte’s Breeder Amy Moore Joins The TDN Writers’ Room Podcast appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Unified Colt Takes Grand Champion Honors At Virginia Yearling Futurity

Knockgriffin Farm's Virginia-Certified 2019 colt out of Causin Commotion took Grand Champion honors in the annual Virginia Breeders Fund 2020 Yearling Futurity, which was held September 9 at the Warrenton Horse Show Grounds in Warrenton, Va.

The champion is owned/bred by Jim & Katie Fitzgerald at their Marshall, Va., farm. The dark bay or brown colt is by Unified.

Morgan's Ford Farm's 2019 bay out of Smart Believer, who took top honors in the Virginia-Bred/Sired Fillies division, was named 2020 Reserve Champion. She is a daughter of Animal Kingdom. A total of $22,500 in prize money was distributed between the three divisions. The top two winners from each advanced to the Grand Championship final round.

In the Virginia-Bred/Sired Colt and Gelding class, Althea Richards' 2019 colt out of Darting won top honors. Also named “Best Turned Out”, the dark bay is by Divining Rod.

Susan Cooney's Celtic Sea, a chestnut colt by English Channel out of Embarr by Royal Academy, took second. Rounding out the class in order was Knockgriffin Farms' 2019 colt out of Trishas Even by Street Sense, Becky and Andy Lavin's 2019 chestnut colt out of Falsehood by Madefromlucky, Knockgriffin's 2019 colt out of Looking Great by American Freedom, Daniel Wukich and Quest Realty's E.P Milton by Jack Milton, Darlene Bowlin's 2019 gelding out of Cape Cod Bay by Great Notion and Frazer Hendrick's colt, Maximum Momentum by Koda Chrome.

In the Virginia-Bred/Sired Fillies category, Daybreak Stables' 2019 bay out of Callipepla was runner-up behind the Smart Believer filly. The daughter of Cupid was also named “Best Turned Out” in her class.

The rest of the field in order was Corner Farm and John Behrendt's 2019 bay out of Senate Caucus by Maclean's Music, Morgan's Ford Farms' 2019 Pearls by Super Saver, Doug Daniels' Dulini by Madefromlucky, Daniel Wukich and Quest Realty's Music Queen by Maclean's Music, Eagle Point Farms' Chickahominy by Great Notion and Susan Cooney's Speak Your Mind by Mr Speaker.

In the large Certified class, which saw colts and filles combined, Lorraine and Dennis Johnson's colt out of Bigshot On Nothing and by Mineshaft, finished second and was named “Best Turned Out” horse.

Joanne Krishack's filly New Age Bad Girl by Fiber Sonde was next followed by Ron Sapp's colt Rebel Empire by Sky Kingdom, Kathleen Hamlin's gelding Man of the Cloth by Fiber Sonde, DMG Racing Stables' gelding Freegftwthpurchase by Freedom Child, Daniel Wukich & Quest Realty's filly Lunar Motion by Great Notion and Michael Dalton's colt Quincannon by Buffum.

The judge for this year's Futurity was Rick Abbott, a former longtime Pennsylvania bloodstock agent who along with his wife Dixie, had a successful sales consignment business.

The post Unified Colt Takes Grand Champion Honors At Virginia Yearling Futurity appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Opening Weekend At Colonial Downs To Feature Six Virginia-Restricted Stakes Races

Virginia-bred, -sired and/or -certified horses will be spotlighted in the first three evenings of racing at Colonial Downs – Monday, July 27 through Wednesday, July 29 – with six stakes races. Three of the events are for registered Virginia bred/sired runners and three for Virginia-certified Thoroughbreds.

The opening night's program will be highlighted by the $40,000 Van Clief Handicap for fillies and mares at one mile over Colonial's renowned Secretariat turf course. Most prominent among the 30 nominees for the Van Clief is Dare To Dream Stable's Embolden, winner of the Jamestown Stakes here last September. The Mike Stidham-trained son of The Factor has not raced since a third-place run in the $400,000 Springboard Mile at Remington Park last December. The career earner of $181,000 is cross-nominated to the July 29 Edward P. Evans Stakes.

Other noms of note include the 1-2-3 finishers in the 2019 Bert Allen Stakes – Alex Kazdan's K D's Cat Bird, Sarah Nagle's Black Prong and Lady Olivia at Northcliff's Accountable; Eagle Point Farm's Braxton, runner-up in last August's Meadow Stable Stakes; and Morgan's Ford Farm's River Deep, the winner of last summer's Evans.

Juvenile runners headline the Tuesday, July 28 card with a pair of $40,000 dashes – one open and one for the fillies. The 5 1/2-furlong White Oak Farm Stakes attracted 20 nominations most of whom are making their career debuts. One exception is Kingdom Bloodstock's Merchant of Hope. The daughter of Bayern broke her maiden at Charles Town at first asking for trainer Phil Schoenthal and is cross-nominated to the open race.

The open division honors 1991 Preakness and Belmont Stakes champion Hansel and will also be contested at 5½ furlongs. In addition to aforementioned Merchant of Hope, other winners listed among the 30 nominees are O'Sullivan Farms and Huntertown Farm's Natural Attraction and R. Larry Johnson's and RDM Stable's Sky's Not Falling.

A trio of Virginia-bred/sired stakes – each with a $60,000 purse – will highlight the Wednesday, July 29 card. Fifteen horses have each been nominated to the Nellie Mae Cox and Camptown Stakes while 19 were nominated to the Edward P. Evans.

Tasting The Stars and Bella Aurora headline horses for the Nellie Mae Cox, a one-mile filly and mare turf stakes. The former is a Michael Stidham trainee who won the 2019 Just Jenda Stakes at Monmouth and was sixth in last year's Virginia Oaks. A 4-year-old Bodemeister filly bred by Audley Farm, Tasting The Stars is three for four with $96,600 in earnings. The latter, trained by Michael Trombetta, won the 2019 Gin Talking Stakes and was runner-up in Colonial's Jamestown Stakes. Bred by Morgan's Ford Farm, the 3-year-old Carpe Diem filly has bankrolled $154,140 from eight starts. Also nominated is the Ian Wilkes-trained Urban Fairytale who is fresh off a maiden special weight victory at Gulfstream March 29.

The top two finishers from last year's M. Tyson Gilpin Stakes were nominated to the Camptown. What The Beep, trained and bred by Karen Godsey at her Ashland, Virginia, Eagle Point Farm, prevailed by one length in the Gilpin and was a runner-up in the 2018 Camptown. English Heiress, a Patrick Neusch trainee, finished second behind What the Beep. Also nominated is Tan and Tight, a 4-year-old Uncle Mo filly conditioned by Michael Stidham. She has earned $100,000 from seven starts including a dominating maiden special weight win at Aqueduct in January. Bella Aurora, nominated to the Nellie Mae Cox in addition to the Camptown.

Embolden and K D's Cat Bird – both six figure earners – are among the Edward P. Evans nominees. Both are also nominated to the July 27 Van Clief.

The Colonial Downs season begins Monday, July 27, with racing conducted three days a week – Monday through Wednesday – with a first post of 5:30 p.m. EDT with provisions for a limited number of spectators in attendance for the 18-day schedule.

Under conditions established in Virginia's Phase 3 reopening plan, which allows for outdoor venues to cap attendance at 1,000 spectators, Colonial Downs will plan the following protocols for the nightly meeting:

· Up to 1,000 spectators will be admitted to the outdoor areas of the grandstand and the track apron.

· All guests will receive temperature checks upon arrival at the facility and a 6-foot physical distancing policy will be enforced.

· Guests are required to wear masks indoors and encouraged outdoors.

The post Opening Weekend At Colonial Downs To Feature Six Virginia-Restricted Stakes Races appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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