Spendthrift Farm’s freshman stallion Shakin It Up is having one heck of a June. Two of his first-time starters became winners on debut, propelling the stallion, who stands for $5000, to number five on the freshman sires list. The handsome son of Midnight Lute did not demonstrate unusual precocity at two, but was a G1 winner at three in the Malibu S.
On June 1, his son B.B. Dude, owned by Jerry Durant and trained by Steve Asmussen, fought hard to take a maiden special weight at Churchill Downs by ¾ of a length in his first out. The colt was bred by Sally Thomas and New Dawn Stable, LLC.
Then, on June 21, Stirred took the third at Santa Anita, another maiden special weight, by a length. Ridden by Drayden Van Dyke and trained by Michael McCarthy, she was a $52,000 Keeneland September yearling, and a $150,000 Ocala Breeders Sale March two-year old, and is now owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners. The filly was bred by Sally Thomas and New Dawn Stable.
In other news, the piratical Wesley Ward has once again stormed Ascot and come away with the booty, shanghaiing the Group 2 Norfolk S. with the only filly in this race for two-year olds, Shang Shang Shang, by Shanghai Bobby. This is Ward’s tenth win at Ascot, a new record for non-European trainers, and it was the result of a gutsy ride by Joel Rosario, who got the filly up by a very short nose. Owned by Breeze Easy, LLC, this filly is now two for two, as in her only other start she broke her maiden at Keeneland in a maiden special weight. Royal Ascot isn’t over yet—expect to see more of the top-hatted Ward beaming while getting trophies.
If I were to invent a perfect imaginary pedigree, I would probably invent Lewis Bay’s. I’ve wagered on her many a time because of her stunning lineage, and have been let down until recently because of my high expectations of her. But her victory in the June 8 Bed O’ Roses Invitational S.-G3, in which heavy favorite American Girl virtually failed to show up, validated her pedigree further, allowing me the great pleasure of writing about her. Her trainer, Chad Brown, said of her, after the race, “she deserves to get a Grade 1,” and, with that pedigree, she certainly does. The bay mare has won graded stakes races in each of her years at the track, at two, three, four and now five, so she can hardly be faulted, and she is a millionaire earner. From her 15 starts, she has been in the money 14 times, so the girl clearly tries. Her breeder, Alpha Delta Stables, ran her through the Keeneland September sale in 2014, buying her back for $170,000—surely a disappointment, as they had spent $1.7 million on her dam, Summer Raven, at Keeneland November in 2009. Summer Raven is now looking like a bargain, having produced not only Lewis Bay but also graded stakes winners Winslow Homer and Misconduct, both by Unbridled’s Song, and she is currently back in foal to Bernardini, the sire of Lewis Bay. Summer Raven’s affinity for Unbridled’s Song should be noted, since he is by Fappiano, just as Quiet American in Bernardini’s pedigree, is by Fappiano.
We live in a world where there are so few things we can really count on: the proverbial death and taxes, of course. And Old Faithful, the reliable geyser in Yellowstone that erupts every ninety minutes, to the awe and admiration of tourists who don’t realize they’re standing on a spot that may explode into magma and boulders and unbreathable ash at any moment. But in the thoroughbred world, there are some stallions that can be counted on, and Thursday, May 17, exemplified that.
Todd Pletcher won an allowance by 7 ¼ lengths in the slop—that colt is named, rightfully, Legit, and was bred by David Greathouse II, of the illustrious Greathouse family that once stood Clever Trick and others. Curlin is number six on the leading stallions list, one notch ahead of Tapit, whose $300,000 stud fee is twice that of Curlin’s. An addendum: on Friday, May 18, Irish War Cry won the Pimlico Special-G3.
others. The redoubtable More Than Ready gets racehorses that go long and short, dirt and turf, are precocious yet stick around. Fourteenth on the leading sires list, his $75,000 stud fee also seems reasonable, and Winstar has managed his career beautifully. He marks his offspring, which are usually compact, almost coal black, and very nicely made with short backs and attractive heads.
Saturday May 6th 2006. It was the day I saw the Kentucky Derby won by the horse who was going to become the first Triple Crown winner in 29 years. 
Everybody knows what happened in the Preakness. I can still sadly, see it now. Twelve years on I still vividly remember the knot in my stomach that suddenly arrived along with a dark sense of foreboding, as Barbaro burst through the gate before the field was ready.
Trained by the master horseman and ex-Olympic Equestrian champion Michael Matz, Barbaro was a sound horse in great physical shape. The nature of Barbaro’s injury suggested that it was very possibly initiated when he became fractious in the gate and broke out of that stall – always a physically straining, stressful, combustive situation, especially on a horse’s hind end. 
Like Giant’s Causeway before him, Declaration of War stood his first season at stud at Coolmore Ireland before being imported by Coolmore America, where he stands for $25,000, stands and nurses. And again, like Giant’s Causeway, whose only European crop yielded the champion Shamardal, Declaration of War’s European crop has yielded a Two-Year-Old Champion Colt and now a Group One classic winner, Olmedo. On Sunday, May 13, Olmedo won the Poule d’Essai des Poulains-G1 at Longchamps, just outside of Paris, to cement his reputation after winning the Prix du Jockey Club-G1 as a two-year-old and being named French Champion. Olmedo won by a dramatic neck after many horses faltered in the very soft, wet going, including Coolmore’s own War Front colt, U.S. Naval Flag; the dire conditions on the track very nearly got Olmedo, as well, but he came out of the downward bend that was the end of many of his rivals and continued on. Trained by Jean-Claude Rouget and ridden by Christian Demuro, Olmedo is owned by the successful partnership of Antonio Caro and Gerard Augustin-Normand. Olmedo currently has a race record of five starts, two wins, three seconds.
OCEANPORT, NJ – After nearly seven years of legal wrangling, Monmouth Park Racetrack has won its right to sports betting after the Supreme Court announced this morning that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) is unconstitutional.
First, the disclaimer: I am in love with Will Take Charge. I loved him on the track, and then, when I saw him in the flesh at Three Chimneys Farm shortly after his retirement, he took my breath away. I could have looked at him all day. He’s a large horse, with tons of bone, and that amazing head and white face: both handsome and pretty, the only horse I can think of that can embody both the masculine and feminine ideals of beauty. He instantly became my pick for leading freshman sire of 2018, and I was thrilled to see his first foals sell well as weanlings, yearlings, and then two-year-olds. I looked at as many of them as I could at sale, and loved them as well: he had stamped them with his own good looks.
The very fast Cross Traffic, who stands at Spendthrift Farm, in Lexington, Kentucky, for $7500 stands and nurses, was represented by his first winner, Dreaming Diamonds. Out of the D’Wildcat mare Xuniel (and representing, therefore, the tried and true Unbridled’s Song/Storm Cat cross), Dreaming Diamonds took a maiden special weight at Churchill Downs by 3 ¼ lengths on Thursday, May 3. Owned by Rob Auerbach and Mark Winston, Dreaming Diamonds is trained by Tom Amoss and was ridden by Corey Lanerie. Cross Traffic himself didn’t start until he was a four-year-old, but excelled by winning the Grade 1 Whitney Invitational Handicap, defeating such foes as Mucho Macho Man and Fort Larned, while running a stunning 116 Beyer, and finished second, by a nose, in the Metropolitan H.-G1.
No Nay Never was Champion Two-Year-Old in France in 2013, having won the Group 1 Prix Morny at Deauville, so precocious two-year-olds are no surprise given his pedigree and race record. He also closely resembles his late father, being a muscular, masculine, handsome solid bay. His stud fee is 25,000 euros.
Verrazano is currently a bargain at $17,500, considering the high prices his yearlings fetched at auction. Verrazano was a monster on the track at three, winning both the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational S. (by a record 9 ¼ lengths, with a 116 Beyer) and the G1 Wood Memorial S.
Upon reviewing one US jurisdiction’s rules of racing, in this example, the California Horse Racing Board’s rules, the penalty for a licensed trainer caught for a first *”Milkshaking” event is a 30 day suspension plus a fine. A second offence – 60 days plus a fine. And if the trainer is found “Milkshaking” a third time? The penalty is a 90 day ban plus a fine – with a maximum imposable suspension of 365 days in the presence of “aggravating factors”.