No surprise that a Baffert maiden, Dessman, won the seventh at Santa Anita on January 19, 2019, by eight lengths. The gorgeous hunk of horseflesh towered over the field, both in racing terms and in looks, weighing 250 pounds more than any other horse in the field (Santa Anita posts weights of all horses), and looking like the proverbial man among boys.
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Beholder Gives Birth To a Healthy Curlin Filly!
Spendthrift Farm’s General Manager Ned Toffey has reported that the superstar mare Beholder has had a healthy Curlin filly this afternoon. We wish mother and daughter well!
Pegasus World Cup Turf Contender Aerolithe Arrives at Gulfstream
HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Sunday Racing Co., Ltd.’s Grade 1-winning mare Aerolithe arrived at Gulfstream Park early Wednesday at approximately 3:15 a.m. to prepare for the $7 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1), North America’s richest grass race, Jan. 26. The mare’s excellent adventure went from Tokyo to South Korea to Anchorage to Miami. Total travel time, including layovers, was 21 hours and 25 minutes.
Shippers Dominate Santa Anita’s La Canada Stakes
From the “a good horse can come from anywhere” file, the La Canada S.-G3 at Santa Anita, run on Saturday, January 12, 2019, proved a total anomaly because of its one-two finishers. Winning the race was Manitoba Wonder Mare Escape Clause, who has been racking up wins at such tracks as Assinoboia and Canterbury, whose race record now reads 28 starts, 19 wins, three seconds and three thirds. Talk about consistency! And iron-leggedness! Her bank account contains $423,500 for owner/trainer Don Schnell. By little known Canadian sire Going Commando, by Unbridled’s Song, Escape Clause became his first graded stakes winner.
Pedigree Column: Bellafina
The Santa Ynez S.-G2, run January 6, 2019 at Santa Anita, was hyped as a two-horse race, and commentators noted that they could not separate Bellafina and Mother Mother, as the two were both so talented. Wrong! This wasn’t so much a horse race, or even a two-horse race, as it was a demonstration of breathtaking ability and superiority on the part of the gorgeous Bellafina. She won by 8 ½ lengths, her separation from the rest of the field growing as she neared the finish line.
Abel Tasman Thrills Us Again – This Time In The Sales Ring
Champion, current Eclipse Award nominee, winner of six Grade One stakes races, and multi-millionaire Abel Tasman provided all the thrills at the 2019 opening day of the Keeneland January Sale when she sold as hip number 288 for five million dollars, tying a Keeneland January record that stood for 19 years when the beautifully bred Mackie (Summer Squall/Glowing Tribute, by Graustark) fetched the same amount. Bidding opened at three million dollars, then hardly paused until Abel Tasman reached the five million mark.
Welcome Back Victor Espinoza!
Beloved Triple Crown winning, Hall of Fame jockey Victor Espinoza returned to the saddle for the first time on January 5, 2019. Before July 22, 2018, this wouldn’t have been news, but on that day, at Del Mar, the horse he was on suffered a fatal breakdown. Espinoza hit the dirt hard, fracturing his C3 vertebra in the process. It was unclear if he would ever ride again, and his depression as he worked his way through the pain of the injury itself, and the process of rehab and physical therapy, was well documented.
A Rookie’s Guide To The Keeneland January Sale
The Keeneland sales can be an overwhelming experience for the uninitiated and initiated alike, with 49 barns full of horses, selling on numerous days, with horses continually shipping in and out and various types of thoroughbreds available: in-foal mares, barren or maiden mares, broodmare and racing prospects, weanlings, and even geldings, stallions, and among these both racing and stud prospects. With luck, there may even be a mare who has already foaled, and will be brought through the ring with her new baby at her side, a rare two-for-one deal that both takes the guesswork out of foaling a mare whose habits you don’t know, and getting the late Christmas present of the cutest thing in the world, a new foal.
Stud Notes: Street Sense and Twirling Candy Christmas Presents
Opening day of Santa Anita’s winter 2018 meet demonstrated that Santa Claus was still at work for stallions Street Sense and Twirling Candy. Mckinzie, whom Bob Baffert touted early in the year as one of his very best three-year olds, finally showed his stuff, in a crowded Malibu S.-G1 field that showed that trainers believed the race was wide open for the taking. Mckinzie thought otherwise, and won by nearly five lengths with complete ease, coming from off the pace and making his challengers look like Grade One amateurs. Darley’s Street Sense, who stood for $45,000 in 2018, once again stamps himself as Street Cry’s best son, and Mckinzie’s pedigree underscores what, historically, works with Street Sense.
Stud Notes: Leading Second Crop Sire Violence
Second crop sires in the United States have been dominated by Hill ‘n’ Dale’s Violence, and there is no reason to assume that will change before the end of the year. Violence entered stud in 2014 for a fee of $15,000, and he is up to $40,000 for 2019, but his statistics support this raise in stud fee. Depending upon what sire list you refer to, he has around 228 named foals, and 148 starters, with 81 winners, and is hitting at the requisite ten percent for stakes winners with eight currently, and over five million dollars in earnings.