Spirited bidding continued to yield positive results on Monday as Keeneland closed the seventh day of its September Yearling Sale. Leading the session was the sale of a colt by Quality Road for $625,000 to Team Casse.
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Michael Wrona To Call New Fall Meet At Grants Pass Downs
Grants Pass Downs has named Michael Wrona, one of the world’s preeminent race callers, as track announcer for its fall race meet. Wrona will call all 14 race days scheduled for Grants Pass Downs’ inaugural commercial race meet, scheduled Sept. 22 through Nov. 4.
Stud Notes: Lane’s End is Red Hot
It doesn’t take Albert Einstein to realize some genetics are, simply, magical. Juddmonte Farms advertised Empire Maker, when he first went to stud, as a “genetic masterpiece,” and they were correct, but Empire Maker isn’t Juddmonte’s only genetic masterpiece. The full brothers Frankel and Noble Mission represent more great art.
Stud Notes: Tiznow & The Old School Sires At Keeneland
The frenzy over discovery of the next big thing in the thoroughbred industry—note the competitive if not frenzied bidding at the Keeneland September Sale for the offspring of Runhappy, Nyquist and Frosted—frequently obscures the great older sires and their achievements. On Saturday, September 14, old school sires shone, with Tiznow’s son Dennis’ Moment taking the Iroquois S.-G3 at Churchill in dominant, if not downright easy, fashion.
Truth and Fiction in Book One of the Keeneland September Sale
Amidst fears that the relatively shaky state of our economy due to the possibility of recession and the trade war with China, and the Brexit-affair in the European Union, would affect the returns of the 2019 Keeneland September Sale, Dubai came to the rescue. The ruling Makhtoum family of Dubai, personified by Sheikh Mohammad and his brother, Sheikh Hamdan, with no cash flow issues, clearly saw opportunity, and spent big money on the top yearlings of Book One.
Keeneland Returns Program To Educate Kids About Thoroughbred Industry
Keeneland will welcome approximately 2,900 fifth grade students from 33 area public and private schools each day this week for a two-hour interactive tour designed to expand their knowledge of Keeneland and the Thoroughbred industry in Central Kentucky. More than 23,000 fifth-grade students have participated in the program, now in its ninth year.
‘It’s Been A Long Road’: Krigger Celebrates 1,000th Win At Emerald
Jockey Kevin Krigger stole the show Saturday evening at Emerald Downs, riding four winners including career victory No. 1,000. Krigger swept races 4, 5, 6 and 7, scoring win No. 1,000 aboard I Double Dare You ($5.20) in race five, and adding a feature race victory on Vicente’s Shadow ($9) in the $16,600 Muckleshoot Casino Purse for 3-year-olds and up.
Stud Notes: Noble Mission’s Travers Winner
At first, it seemed that Noble Mission’s sole claim to fame was being the great champion Frankel’s full brother. Having run only on grass in Europe, the Group One winning millionaire seemed an odd choice for Lane’s End in Versailles, Kentucky, to import to add to its stallion roster in 2015. However, it would seem that doubting the stallion acumen of the masters of Lane’s End, William Farish, the elder, and former Ambassador to England, and William Farish, the younger, who has run the farm for the past decade, is utter foolishness.
Pedigree Column: Back to the Future with Blushing Groom
The Lake Placid S.-G3T at Saratoga (August 17) was a hard-fought thriller ending in a lengthy stewards’ consultation which eventually declared a dead heat between Varenka and Regal Glory. Neither mare deserved to lose. What was surprising was that the most superficial glance at the two mares’ pedigrees revealed stunning similarities, making them almost seem like sisters from another mother.
Stud Notes: Medaglia D’Oro Rules at Del Mar
Saturday, August 17, in the space of little more than thirty minutes, a remarkable thing happened. Two Grade One races were run, the Del Mar Oaks, on turf, won by Cambier Parc with an explosive turn of foot, making her rivals look like nags down the stretch, and the Pacific Classic S., won easily by Higher Power. Why is this remarkable?