Join now & win money today! Get Started

Five Fastest Maidens for the Week of May 4 to May 10

---

Topping this week’s list: a homebred maiden who splashed to the fastest Beyer Speed Figure of the three-day Evangeline Downs week.

5. WHITE SMOKE RISING, BAQ, 5/7-5th, 6 1/2 furlongs (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure- 83
(c, 3, by Volatile–Little Cyclone, by City Zip)
O-Albert Fried, Jr. B-Three Chimneys Farm (Ky). T-Charlton Baker. J-John Velazquez.
He was probably unlucky to lose to 2-5 favorite Crossingthechannel in his first lifetime start back in early January, and that colt looks to have stakes-level talent. This time, White Smoke Rising looped rivals to pair up middle-80 Beyers against a field that turned out to be stronger than it appeared on paper.

4. FATHER TED, SA, 5/8-1st, 6 furlongs (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure- 85
(c, 4, by Practical Joke–Cry Uncle, by Uncle Mo)
O-Muir Hut Stables. B-Robert Marzilli (Ont-C). T-Mark Glatt. J-Antonio Fresu.
Three of the four colts who outran Father Ted in his first two starts were expensive Bob Baffert trainees. But he turned the tables in dominating fashion in start No. 3, blowing away four rivals including two other Bafferts by 7 3/4 widening lengths. He has already dramatically outperformed his dam–Cry Uncle made 23 starts with a top Beyer of 73, and he has topped that mark three times in as many races. Father Ted was a Fasig-Tipton May 2-year-old graduate at $475,000.

3. GLAVINE, BAQ, 5/10-6th, 1 1/16 miles (turf) (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure- 86
(c, 3, by Not This Time–Aspen Hilltop, by Bernardini)
O-West Paces Racing, Rainbow’s End Racing Stable and Michael Lyden. B-Hunter Valley Farm (Ky). T-Tom Morley. J-John Velazquez.
Glavine showed he was brave in his 3-year-old comeback, leaving behind a 1-2 Chad Brown-trained Juddmonte favorite on turf. In hindsight, the competition he faced in his narrow debut loss last August was lackluster by Saratoga standards, but the $250,000 yearling buy has now taken a nice step forward.

2. TRICKY BUSINESS, BAQ, 5/10-3rd, 1 mile (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure- 87
(g, 3, by Vekoma–Super Marina, by Warrior’s Reward)
O/B-R A Hill Stable (NY). T-George Weaver. J-Flavien Prat.
Earlier on the same card as Glavine (above), the debut victory by promising New York-bred Tricky Business was like a family affair. Owner-breeder Randy Hill raced stakes-winning dam Super Marina (a modest $17,000 find) as well as sire Vekoma, the three-time Grade I-winning stallion he originally bought as a yearling for $135,000. And Weaver also trained both.

Spendthrift’s Bolt d’Oro sired the week’s fastest maiden | Sarah Andrew

1. RANGE GOAT, EVD, 5/9-5th, 7 furlongs (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure- 90
(c, 3, by Bolt d’Oro–Taylor’s Tourist, by Midshipman)
O/B-Levings Racing/Brian Levings (Ky). T-Juan Larrosa. J-Joel Dominguez.
After a couple of warmup swings, Range Goat brought his “A” game to the course. He was a solidly beaten second at Delta in February at 7-1 odds followed by a third at 20-1 in the Lafayette Stakes in April at Evangeline, earning Beyers of 65 then 67. But last week–boom!–he ran off by 10 1/2 lengths on sloppy footing at odds of 1-10. Obviously, the competition wasn’t stiff, but he made them look even worse.

The post Five Fastest Maidens for the Week of May 4 to May 10 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Rain Holds Off as Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May Preview Concludes

---

TIMONIUM, MD – The under-tack preview of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale concluded its two-day stint at the Maryland State Fairgrounds Wednesday under increasing winds and threatening skies, but dodged the rain that was expected to hit the Timonium area later in the evening. Buyers and consignors alike continued to make adjustments to the preview’s new format, which limits use of the whip and for which no workout times are provided by the sales company.

“It’s very strange,” admitted consignor Ciaran Dunne of Wavertree Stables. “It’s probably harder on us as consignors than it is for buyers. You go up and your horse goes well or moves well, but you have no idea what he did time wise. You are just up and back and unless you go up there and clock every horse, there is no point in just clocking your own because if you don’t know what they are doing in relation to everybody else, you really have no idea where they fit.”

Wavertree Stables sent 10 horses to preview over the Timonium track during the two-day show.

“We were always going to breeze,” Dunne said of plans for the group. “At the end of the day, it’s a horses-in-training sale. It’s May of their 2-year-old year. Surely, they should be able to breeze an eighth of a mile at this stage of the game.”

Consignors who purchased yearlings in an ultra-competitive market last fall are now looking to cash out in what they hope will be an equally competitive 2-year-old market. Dunne questioned whether that was feasible with horses who galloped into the Midlantic sale.

“The difficult thing is, if we are going to bring them up there and do a slow gallop, we’re basically going to have a yearling sale,” he said. “If we have a yearling sale, we are going to get yearling prices. And because we’ve already paid yearling prices for them, it’s probably not the greatest business model ever. So the only way we can separate them is by letting them run and letting the buyers decide who they think are the fastest or the best ones. They are well capable of doing it without a time showing up on a screen. It’s just going to be a little harder for us as consignors to figure out where we are. And it’s going to be really hard to set reserves.”

A colt by Practical Joke (hip 414) from the Wavertree consignment already owned a bullet when he breezed in Maryland Wednesday (video). Named Be a Clown, the dark bay colt turned in a furlong breeze in :9 4/5 ahead of the OBS April sale, but was withdrawn from that auction.

“He’s a lovely horse,” Dunne said of the colt. “He’s always been a nice horse. In April, I said he is appropriately named. He seems to find trouble wherever he goes and that’s usually the sign of a good one.”

The Wavertree consignment also includes a colt by Jackie’s Warrior (hip 113) that “we are really high on,” and a Cyberknife (hip 458) colt, who is “a beautiful horse.”

Tom McCrocklin had 32 juveniles preview over the Timonium oval during the two-day preview. The Ocala horseman admitted, “I find the new format very frustrating. I want to know what message we are sending.”

McCrocklin continued, “We are de-emphasizing the need for speed. I did get that message. My peers and contemporaries who I have a lot of respect for, they still seem to be breezing quite fast. So, what are we trying to say?”

McCrocklin’s horses typically breeze quarter-miles at the spring under-tack shows. Feeling like that option wasn’t open to him at this sale, he instructed his riders to, “Try to make the horse look it’s best, show it’s athleticism off. And come back in good order.”

Among McCrocklin’s consignment is a filly by Gun Runner (hip 428) who took to the track Wednesday (video). The filly, a $400,000 Keeneland September purchase, is out of Purely Hot (Pure Prize), who is the dam of Grade I winner Eight Rings (Empire Maker) and British Isles (Justify).

“She has loads of pedigree,” McCrocklin said. “I thought she moved very well. I am very happy with her.”

McCrocklin agreed the filly’s pedigree would seem to align well with the preview’s new format.

“Typically Gun Runners don’t have fast breeze times,” McCrocklin said. “They need a little more time, a little more distance, but his resume speaks for itself. I was in agreement with the owner of the horse that she would fit this format. I am hoping so.”

Marcus Ryan of Mason Springs was one consignor embracing the new format.

“I am finding it relaxed,” Ryan said. “The horses are doing a good breeze and they seem relaxed and I feel like they are coming out of it good. It’s a little tighter on the track, but I feel like people will make allowances for that. But other than that, everything is good.”

Ryan said the plan coming into the under-tack show was basically to stick to their normal routine.

“We are all in hand and a couple of taps on the shoulder, but that’s it,” he said. “We didn’t change what we are doing, but we knew basically what every horse was going to do before we came in. If they are able to do it, we let them do it. And if they are not, we’re not going to force the head off them to do it.”

Among the eight horses consigned to the sale by Mason Springs is a colt by Drain the Clock (hip 399, video) out of On Parole (Put It Back). Ryan and wife Crystal purchased the colt for $40,000 at last year’s Keeneland September sale.

“He’s our star of the show here and has been my wife’s favorite,” Ryan said. “I had an opportunity to buy him as a weanling, it just didn’t work out. And then we got him out of the September sale. I love the Drain the Clocks and he’s just a muscular, strong-looking colt.”

With the under-tack show completed, consignors are now left waiting to see the buyers’ response to the new format.

“The buyers who have typically been so dependent on the clock, now some of the commentary I am hearing is, ‘How do I assign a value to this horse? Because I don’t know how fast he is,’” McCrocklin said. “It is a wait-and-see game now. We are here in the deep end and we’ve all got our bathing suits on.”

The Midlantic May sale will be held next Monday and Tuesday with bidding beginning each day at 11 a.m.

The post Rain Holds Off as Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May Preview Concludes appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Five Fastest Maidens for the Week of May 4 to May 10

---

Topping this week’s list: a homebred maiden who splashed to the fastest Beyer Speed Figure of the three-day Evangeline Downs week.

5. WHITE SMOKE RISING, BAQ, 5/7-5th, 6 1/2 furlongs (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure- 83
(c, 3, by Volatile–Little Cyclone, by City Zip)
O-Albert Fried, Jr. B-Three Chimneys Farm (Ky). T-Charlton Baker. J-John Velazquez.
He was probably unlucky to lose to 2-5 favorite Crossingthechannel in his first lifetime start back in early January, and that colt looks to have stakes-level talent. This time, White Smoke Rising looped rivals to pair up middle-80 Beyers against a field that turned out to be stronger than it appeared on paper.

4. FATHER TED, SA, 5/8-1st, 6 furlongs (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure- 85
(c, 4, by Practical Joke–Cry Uncle, by Uncle Mo)
O-Muir Hut Stables. B-Robert Marzilli (Ont-C). T-Mark Glatt. J-Antonio Fresu.
Three of the four colts who outran Father Ted in his first two starts were expensive Bob Baffert trainees. But he turned the tables in dominating fashion in start No. 3, blowing away four rivals including two other Bafferts by 7 3/4 widening lengths. He has already dramatically outperformed his dam–Cry Uncle made 23 starts with a top Beyer of 73, and he has topped that mark three times in as many races. Father Ted was a Fasig-Tipton May 2-year-old graduate at $475,000.

3. GLAVINE, BAQ, 5/10-6th, 1 1/16 miles (turf) (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure- 86
(c, 3, by Not This Time–Aspen Hilltop, by Bernardini)
O-West Paces Racing, Rainbow’s End Racing Stable and Michael Lyden. B-Hunter Valley Farm (Ky). T-Tom Morley. J-John Velazquez.
Glavine showed he was brave in his 3-year-old comeback, leaving behind a 1-2 Chad Brown-trained Juddmonte favorite on turf. In hindsight, the competition he faced in his narrow debut loss last August was lackluster by Saratoga standards, but the $250,000 yearling buy has now taken a nice step forward.

2. TRICKY BUSINESS, BAQ, 5/10-3rd, 1 mile (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure- 87
(g, 3, by Vekoma–Super Marina, by Warrior’s Reward)
O/B-R A Hill Stable (NY). T-George Weaver. J-Flavien Prat.
Earlier on the same card as Glavine (above), the debut victory by promising New York-bred Tricky Business was like a family affair. Owner-breeder Randy Hill raced stakes-winning dam Super Marina (a modest $17,000 find) as well as sire Vekoma, the three-time Grade I-winning stallion he originally bought as a yearling for $135,000. And Weaver also trained both.

Spendthrift’s Bolt d’Oro sired the week’s fastest maiden | Sarah Andrew

1. RANGE GOAT, EVD, 5/9-5th, 7 furlongs (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure- 90
(c, 3, by Bolt d’Oro–Taylor’s Tourist, by Midshipman)
O/B-Levings Racing/Brian Levings (Ky). T-Juan Larrosa. J-Joel Dominguez.
After a couple of warmup swings, Range Goat brought his “A” game to the course. He was a solidly beaten second at Delta in February at 7-1 odds followed by a third at 20-1 in the Lafayette Stakes in April at Evangeline, earning Beyers of 65 then 67. But last week–boom!–he ran off by 10 1/2 lengths on sloppy footing at odds of 1-10. Obviously, the competition wasn’t stiff, but he made them look even worse.

The post Five Fastest Maidens for the Week of May 4 to May 10 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Rain Holds Off as Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May Preview Concludes

---

TIMONIUM, MD – The under-tack preview of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale concluded its two-day stint at the Maryland State Fairgrounds Wednesday under increasing winds and threatening skies, but dodged the rain that was expected to hit the Timonium area later in the evening. Buyers and consignors alike continued to make adjustments to the preview’s new format, which limits use of the whip and for which no workout times are provided by the sales company.

“It’s very strange,” admitted consignor Ciaran Dunne of Wavertree Stables. “It’s probably harder on us as consignors than it is for buyers. You go up and your horse goes well or moves well, but you have no idea what he did time wise. You are just up and back and unless you go up there and clock every horse, there is no point in just clocking your own because if you don’t know what they are doing in relation to everybody else, you really have no idea where they fit.”

Wavertree Stables sent 10 horses to preview over the Timonium track during the two-day show.

“We were always going to breeze,” Dunne said of plans for the group. “At the end of the day, it’s a horses-in-training sale. It’s May of their 2-year-old year. Surely, they should be able to breeze an eighth of a mile at this stage of the game.”

Consignors who purchased yearlings in an ultra-competitive market last fall are now looking to cash out in what they hope will be an equally competitive 2-year-old market. Dunne questioned whether that was feasible with horses who galloped into the Midlantic sale.

“The difficult thing is, if we are going to bring them up there and do a slow gallop, we’re basically going to have a yearling sale,” he said. “If we have a yearling sale, we are going to get yearling prices. And because we’ve already paid yearling prices for them, it’s probably not the greatest business model ever. So the only way we can separate them is by letting them run and letting the buyers decide who they think are the fastest or the best ones. They are well capable of doing it without a time showing up on a screen. It’s just going to be a little harder for us as consignors to figure out where we are. And it’s going to be really hard to set reserves.”

A colt by Practical Joke (hip 414) from the Wavertree consignment already owned a bullet when he breezed in Maryland Wednesday (video). Named Be a Clown, the dark bay colt turned in a furlong breeze in :9 4/5 ahead of the OBS April sale, but was withdrawn from that auction.

“He’s a lovely horse,” Dunne said of the colt. “He’s always been a nice horse. In April, I said he is appropriately named. He seems to find trouble wherever he goes and that’s usually the sign of a good one.”

The Wavertree consignment also includes a colt by Jackie’s Warrior (hip 113) that “we are really high on,” and a Cyberknife (hip 458) colt, who is “a beautiful horse.”

Tom McCrocklin had 32 juveniles preview over the Timonium oval during the two-day preview. The Ocala horseman admitted, “I find the new format very frustrating. I want to know what message we are sending.”

McCrocklin continued, “We are de-emphasizing the need for speed. I did get that message. My peers and contemporaries who I have a lot of respect for, they still seem to be breezing quite fast. So, what are we trying to say?”

McCrocklin’s horses typically breeze quarter-miles at the spring under-tack shows. Feeling like that option wasn’t open to him at this sale, he instructed his riders to, “Try to make the horse look it’s best, show it’s athleticism off. And come back in good order.”

Among McCrocklin’s consignment is a filly by Gun Runner (hip 428) who took to the track Wednesday (video). The filly, a $400,000 Keeneland September purchase, is out of Purely Hot (Pure Prize), who is the dam of Grade I winner Eight Rings (Empire Maker) and British Isles (Justify).

“She has loads of pedigree,” McCrocklin said. “I thought she moved very well. I am very happy with her.”

McCrocklin agreed the filly’s pedigree would seem to align well with the preview’s new format.

“Typically Gun Runners don’t have fast breeze times,” McCrocklin said. “They need a little more time, a little more distance, but his resume speaks for itself. I was in agreement with the owner of the horse that she would fit this format. I am hoping so.”

Marcus Ryan of Mason Springs was one consignor embracing the new format.

“I am finding it relaxed,” Ryan said. “The horses are doing a good breeze and they seem relaxed and I feel like they are coming out of it good. It’s a little tighter on the track, but I feel like people will make allowances for that. But other than that, everything is good.”

Ryan said the plan coming into the under-tack show was basically to stick to their normal routine.

“We are all in hand and a couple of taps on the shoulder, but that’s it,” he said. “We didn’t change what we are doing, but we knew basically what every horse was going to do before we came in. If they are able to do it, we let them do it. And if they are not, we’re not going to force the head off them to do it.”

Among the eight horses consigned to the sale by Mason Springs is a colt by Drain the Clock (hip 399, video) out of On Parole (Put It Back). Ryan and wife Crystal purchased the colt for $40,000 at last year’s Keeneland September sale.

“He’s our star of the show here and has been my wife’s favorite,” Ryan said. “I had an opportunity to buy him as a weanling, it just didn’t work out. And then we got him out of the September sale. I love the Drain the Clocks and he’s just a muscular, strong-looking colt.”

With the under-tack show completed, consignors are now left waiting to see the buyers’ response to the new format.

“The buyers who have typically been so dependent on the clock, now some of the commentary I am hearing is, ‘How do I assign a value to this horse? Because I don’t know how fast he is,’” McCrocklin said. “It is a wait-and-see game now. We are here in the deep end and we’ve all got our bathing suits on.”

The Midlantic May sale will be held next Monday and Tuesday with bidding beginning each day at 11 a.m.

The post Rain Holds Off as Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May Preview Concludes appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.