Things to know today
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Spendthrift Farm will stand Baeza and Further Ado from the 2027 breeding season, each on the conclusion of his racing career. Baeza, a 1.2 million dollar Keeneland September yearling by McKinzie, was placed in both the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes at three and won the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby. He is out of the Broodmare of the Year Puca, which makes him her third Grade 1 winning son after Mage and Dornoch. Further Ado, by Gun Runner and campaigned by the farm with Brad Cox, broke his maiden by 20 lengths at Keeneland and won the Grade 1 Blue Grass by 11. The general manager Ned Toffey said Baeza checks boxes from every direction (Paulick Report) |
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Centennial Farms has sold Antiquarian to the JS Company and Directors to stand at Arrow Stud in Japan, where he joins California Chrome, Shanghai Bobby, Firenze Fire and Mozu Ascot. The five year old son of Preservationist was a 250,000 dollar yearling trained by Todd Pletcher. He won the Grade 3 Peter Pan at three and ran a troubled fifth in the 2024 Belmont Stakes, then took the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup at four and closed his career third in the Whitney. He retires with five wins from 14 starts and 1,320,350 dollars (Paulick Report) |
| 3 |
Stewart Elliott rode his 6,000th North American winner on Thursday night at Remington Park, the 23rd rider to reach the mark, and he got there by accident. Floyd Wethey Jr. won both halves of the daily double, then gave up his remaining mounts with a stomach bug, and Elliott was named on Lamorna Inn in the ninth, winning by two lengths for the trainer Dick Cappellucci. The 61 year old, who won the 2004 Kentucky Derby and Preakness on Smarty Jones, had been stuck on 5,999 since 5 September. He said he was grateful and fortunate to get it done (Paulick Report) |
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Fairmount Park is asking the Illinois Racing Board or the legislature to let its signal reach the northern Illinois off track betting shops, after the board moved on Wednesday to have Hawthorne’s licences revoked in the bankruptcy case. Fairmount, now the only racetrack in the state, is barred by statute from sending its signal beyond 160 miles. The general manager Vince Gabbert put the lost state tax revenue at 2.5 to 3 million dollars and said 21 or 22 percent of handle comes through the shops, about 97 percent of that from up north. He believes the board has the discretion to lift the limit and that Fairmount could be put in charge of the network (Thoroughbred Daily News) |
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Card Man made it look straightforward at Belmont on Friday afternoon, drawing off to win a 150,000 dollar mile maiden by five lengths in 1:36.76 under Flavien Prat for Chad Brown and the owner Jeffrey Drown, and earning TDN Rising Star status. The Life Is Good colt, out of the Arrogate mare Dover Dreams, was second on debut at Saratoga on 15 August. He is the fifth Rising Star and the twelfth winner for his freshman sire, and only the fifth winner out of a daughter of Arrogate (Thoroughbred Daily News) |
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Mystic Ride won the Friday opener at Los Alamitos on debut, showing speed in hand and drawing clear by four and a quarter lengths in 1:10.64 for Bob Baffert and the partnership of Michael Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman. The colt cost 45,000 dollars as a short yearling at Keeneland January last year and 425,000 dollars at Keeneland September eight months later. He is the fourth winner from the first crop of Mystic Guide and a half brother to the multiple graded winner St. Joe Bay (Thoroughbred Daily News) |
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Micanopy cost 8,000 dollars out of a claiming race at Tampa Bay Downs on 25 April, and today he runs in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx, worth a million dollars. Michael Simone won a five way shake for the gelding and says they got more than they bargained for. He had never run better than a 60 Beyer figure; in the 200,000 dollar Smarty Jones Stakes he sat fourth, won by a length and a half and earned a career best 91. Simone, training since 2007, has 71 wins this year at a career best 21 percent. Paco Lopez rides (Thoroughbred Daily News) |
| 8 |
The Chicago Cubs turned out at Churchill Downs on Thursday night, on an off day before a series with the Reds, and watched Alex Bregman’s Act of Parliament rally five wide to win the last race of the card by three quarters of a length in 1:18.07 under Axel Concepcion for the trainer Will Walden. Players chanted the rider’s name and lifted him in the winner’s circle, and the manager Craig Counsell led the colt in. Walden called it electric. The horse was claimed afterwards in a six way shake (Paulick Report) |
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