Tag: willis horton racing

Lemon Muffin Leads Longshot Exacta Home in Honeybee

In a 28-1 shocker, Lemon Muffin (f, 3, Collected–Pelt, by Canadian Frontier) ended her four-race runner-up streak to break her maiden, pick up her first black-type, and score her first Graded victory in the GIII Honeybee S. as well as take home 50 points toward the Kentucky Oaks trail.

Never far from the leaders while traveling comfortably in midpack, she launched her winning bid entering the lane, and despite contact with Tapit Jenallie (Tapit), kicked home to win with open air between them. A jockey's objection from the runner-up was quickly dismissed. West Omaha (West Coast) kept on to collect third.

With her victory here, it tallies as jockey Keith Asmussen's first career Graded stakes win as well as give conditioner D. Wayne Lukas the hat trick on the day.

 

Sales history: $20,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP, $140,000 2yo '23 OBSAPR. O-Aaron Sones; B-Mr. & Mrs. Theodore R. Kuster & Collected Syndicate (KY); T-D. Wayne Lukas.

The post Lemon Muffin Leads Longshot Exacta Home in Honeybee appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Sunday Insights: Well-Bred Son Of Tapit And Lady Take Charge Debuts At Oaklawn

5th-OP, $115K, Msw, 2yo, 1 1/16m, 3:22 p.m. ET.
A $700,000 Keeneland September purchase by Willis Horton Racing and trained by Eddie Milligan Jr., WILL TAKE IT (Tapit) is the first to the post out of unraced Lady Take Charge (War Front).

The latter was the top-priced foal at the 2015 Keeneland November Sale when she was hammered down to Whisper Hill Farm for $3.2 million. Eclipse Award winner Take Charge Brandi (Giant's Causeway), a daughter of Lady Take Charge's half-sister Charming (Seeking the Gold), was the overall topper when sold to John Sikura and Hill 'n' Dale Equine for $6 million.

Last year, Lady Take Charge produced a full-sister to Will Take It, who went to Sinandigan Stable at the Keeneland September Sale for $1.3 million.

The extended female family runs through influential second dam MGISW Take Charge Lady (Dehere), who is responsible for GI Florida Derby champ Take Charge Indy (A.P. Indy), Horton's champion 3-year-old colt Will Take Charge (Unbridled's Song), GI Beholder Mile winner As Time Goes By (American Pharoah), and Take Charge Brandi's half-brother and top-five first-crop sire Omaha Beach (War Front). TJCIS PPS

5th-AQU, $85K, Msw, 2yo, 1m, 2:14 p.m. ET
Trained by Todd Pletcher, Don Alberto and Bridlewood Farm homebred Carolo Rapido (Curlin) is out of GI Kentucky Oaks heroine Cathryn Sophia (Street Boss). She was a Blandford Bloodstock buy last year during Fasig-Tipton's Fall Mixed Sale for $1.2 million while in-foal to Gun Runner. TJCIS PPS

6th-OP, $115K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 3:50 p.m. ET.
SF Bloodstock bred Guarani (Speightstown), who will be making his first start for Three Chimneys Farm after they purchased him for $425,000 at Keeneland September. The Steve Asmussen trainee is out of MGSP Czechers (Indian Charlie), who also produced his full-brother, G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen S. hero Switzerland. TJCIS PPS

 

The post Sunday Insights: Well-Bred Son Of Tapit And Lady Take Charge Debuts At Oaklawn appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Owner of Champions Willis Horton Dies

Willis Horton, an owner and breeder in Thoroughbred racing for decades whose Willis Horton Racing campaigned champions Will Take Charge (Unbridled's Song) and Take Charge Brandi (Giant's Causeway), passed away Friday at the age of 82 after a bout with COVID-induced pneumonia. The news was first reported by Daily Racing Form.

Originally from Zach, Ark., Horton grew up on a farm and competed in rodeos. His wife of 64 years, Glenda, had a similar upbringing, and the two owned quarter horses before branching out into the world of Thoroughbreds. Horton's home racing base was Oaklawn Park, and he maintained a cattle operation at his farm in Marshall, Ark.

“Oaklawn sends our condolences to the entire Horton family and the racing community,” Oaklawn Park said in a tweet. “Willis Horton will be greatly missed by everyone that knew him.”

Horton's family founded D.R. Horton Homes in 1978, which grew to become America's largest homebuilder with revenue over $27 billion. The company has more than 11,000 employees and is traded publicly on the New York Stock Exchange.

As an owner, Horton's career reached new heights with D. Wayne Lukas trainee Will Take Charge, who won five graded stakes as a 3-year-old in 2013, including the Grade I Travers S. and GI Clark H., and was runner-up in that year's GI Breeders' Cup Classic en route to champion 3-year-old male honors at the Eclipse Awards. The chestnut, who Horton purchased for $425,000 as a Keeneland September yearling, currently stands at Three Chimneys Farm and was represented this past Friday at Keeneland by GII Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix S. winner Manny Wah.

Soon after Will Take Charge's breakout Travers score, Horton went to $435,000 to secure Take Charge Brandi at KEESEP. Named after Horton's granddaughter, she scored in the 2014 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and added a victory in the GI Starlet S., also under Lukas's tutelage, to be named champion 2-year-old filly. In the fall of 2015, Horton sold the filly for a whopping $6 million at Keeneland November.

Horton also scored major victories in the 2007 GI Kentucky Oaks with Lemons Forever (Lemon Drop Kid) and more recently in the 2019 GII Rebel S. with Long Range Toddy (Take Charge Indy) and this year's GII Oaklawn H. with Last Samurai (Malibu Moon).

Horton is survived by his wife Glenda Holsted Horton; his son Kevin Horton and wife Laurie; his granddaughters, Tressa de Miranda and husband Ben, Brandi Horton and fiancé Grant, and Courtney Matyja and husband Shay; his great grandchildren, Wyatt Dale, Emma Pearl, Noah Matyja and Chloey Matyja; his brother Leon Horton; and his sister-in-law Wilma Horton.

Visitation will be held Tuesday, Oct. 11 from 12-2 p.m. at the Roller-Coffman Chapel (923 US-65, Marshall, AR 72650). A funeral service will be held Tuesday at 3 p.m. at the same location.

The post Owner of Champions Willis Horton Dies appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Perfect Fit for ‘Old-School’ Silver State at Claiborne

According to Walker Hancock, Silver State (Hard Spun – Supreme, by Empire Maker) has been an easy sell as breeders have stopped by Claiborne Farm in the past few weeks to see the new, Grade I-winning arrival.

“Everyone who has come to see him has absolutely loved him,” Hancock reported. “They can't get enough of him. We've even sold shares to him just with people who have come out to see him. The comments we get are that people didn't realize how big he is. He's 16'3 and is dappled out right now, so he looks fantastic.”

“He's a really smooth-walking horse and he has this presence about him,” Hancock continued of the Stonestreet-bred who brought $450,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September Sale. “He just kind of knows that he's a cool dude and he had the miler speed, which is what breeders are looking for, so there's a lot to like about Silver State.”

Campaigned by Winchell Thoroughbreds and Willis Horton Racing, Silver State won on debut at two for trainer Steve Asmussen and was competitive on the Triple Crown trail at three with a runner-up performance in the 2020 GIII Lecomte S. and third-place finish in one division of the GII Risen Star S., but he incurred a setback in the GII Louisiana Derby and was forced to watch from the sidelines until the fall.

The strapping bay reemerged at Keeneland's fall meet with a seven-length romp against allowance company that proved to be the start of a six-race win streak. After another dominating performance at Churchill Downs, the colt kicked off his 4-year-old season with a pair of wins at Oaklawn Park in the Fifth Season S. and Essex H.

Returning to graded company, Silver State took the GII Oaklawn H. by half a length before earning his signature win in the GI Metropolitan H., defeating the likes of MGSWs By My Standards (Goldencents) and Mischevious Alex (Into Mischief), plus future GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner Knicks Go (Paynter).

“He had been on our radar for quite a while, but his win in the Met Mile solidified him as a serious stallion prospect for his,” Hancock explained. “He had the miler speed, but he was a big horse that was able to carry that speed, which I think says a lot about him.”

After running in the money in the GI Whitney S. behind Knicks Go and GISW Maxfield (Street Sense) and again in the Parx Dirt Mile S., Silver State retired with earnings of nearly $2 million.

“He had five six-figure Beyer Speed Figures and was only off the board twice, so he was a model of consistency,” Hancock noted. “His six-race win streak was something you hardly ever see anymore.”

As a grandson of Claiborne legend Danzig, Silver State was a natural fit for the farm's stallion program.

Silver State wins the 2021 GI Metropolitan H. | Coglianese

“He's by Hard Spun, who I think is a tremendously-underrated sire, and we look forward to him carrying on his grandfather's legacy,” Hancock said. “His dam [Supreme] is by Empire Maker, who is obviously a great broodmare sire.”

Supreme (Empire Maker), a full-sister to 2001 GI Kentucky Derby winner Monarchos (Maria's Mon), was a stakes winner on turf and was runner-up in the GIII Royal North S. She sold for $800,000 to Stonestreet at the 2013 Keeneland January Sale and has since produced two additional winners who have both achieved six figures in earnings.

“One of the reasons that we really thought he could be a successful stallion here is that we think he will nick really well with a lot of our mares,” Hancock explained. “The Danzig over Blame and Arch nick is one that we're really high on, so we think Silver State will complement them really well.”

Hancock added that Winchell Thoroughbreds and breeder Stonestreet Farms are committed to supporting the young stallion as he begins his stud career.

“We're thankful to partner up with Ron Winchell. They know how to make a great stallion obviously, as Gun Runner is one of the hottest freshman sires that we've seen in quite some time. They have a great program and are going to support Silver State just like they did for Gun Runner. Stonestreet is going to be a big supporter of him as well and they definitely know what they're doing, so we're glad to have them on board. He will be well-supported by a lot of great breeders.”

Silver State joins Claiborne's cornerstone stallion War Front, proven sire Blame and War Front's young son War of Will as ancestors of Danzig in the stud barn of the historic Paris, Ky. farm. The new addition will stand for a fee of $20,000 in 2022.

“Someone mentioned to me that he's a bit of a throwback-type horse,” Hancock said. “He is kind of an old-school horse and he's at an old-school farm, so he seems like a perfect fit.”

To catch up on all TDN features for new stallions in 2022, click here. 

The post Perfect Fit for ‘Old-School’ Silver State at Claiborne appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights