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Indiana-Bred Holmby Wins Sorrento, Marks First Graded Winner for Corniche

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As a $55,000 Indiana-bred yearling sourced from the Fasig-Tipton July sale, she may have been a bargain compared to the outsized number of seven-figure Kentucky-bred yearlings that usually grace Bob Baffert’s shedrow, but Holmby (f, 2, Corniche–Candida H., by Lemon Drop Kid) sure looked like a million bucks in winning Sunday’s GII Sorrento Stakes at Del Mar. The By Talla Racing LLC runner also became the first graded winner for first-crop sire Corniche (by Quality Road).

Only one filly in the Sorrento came into the race with stakes experience and it was formidable: Three Chimneys Farm’s homebred Ruiva (Munnings) broke her maiden at Churchill by seven lengths with an 83 Beyer Speed Figure for trainer Wesley Ward, then shipped to Royal Ascot and finished third against 26 opponents in the G2 Queen Mary Stakes June 17. It would be another month before Holmby would even see the starting gate herself in the afternoon. The chestnut debuted July 18 going five furlongs at Del Mar, chasing between horses before pulling clear two furlongs from home to finish 2 1/4 lengths the best with a 74 Beyer. Holmby was the lone filly in the Sorrento with experience over Del Mar’s surface.

Holmby broke smoothly Sunday, but there was no outfooting Ruiva early, although Belleza Latina (Maclean’s Music) briefly tried to go with her and Holmby tracked from third as Ruiva set a :21.91 quarter. Juan Hernandez, aboard the winner, advanced going into the turn to loom menacingly outside of Ruiva and the two quickly drew four lengths–then six lengths–clear of the rest. Ruiva was game as they come and held her spot on the inside as Holmby tried gallantly to run her down. It was a ding-dong battle with neither willing to relent, but finally, in the last strides, Holmby got her neck in front to outfinish Ruiva. Crazy Hot Mess (Pinehurst) finished another 7 1/2 lengths back in third.

“She brought her game today,” said Hernandez. “We were tracking that other filly [Ruvia] and I know how good she is. I rode her twice [in both her previous starts]. My horse is improving, though. She did the tracking, then we put it in motion coming for home. She’s improving; getting better each time.”

Baffert, who was winning the Sorrento for the 10th time and for the third year in a row, agreed: “She was very game. I like the way she sat off the pace and ran down a really nice filly. I’m excited for [owner] Michael Talla. She’ll go on now to the Debutante. It was fun, just a great weekend.”

The GI Del Mar Debutante Stakes is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 5. In addition to the Sorrento, Baffert’s weekend also netted a win in the GI Test Stakes at Saratoga with ‘TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard’ Explora (Blame) and a GIII Best Pal Stakes victory at Del Mar with another ‘TDN Rising Star’ in Hughes (Into Mischief). Hernandez also rode Hughes for Baffert.

Pedigree Notes:

Coolmore America’s freshman sire Corniche got the first graded winner of his nascent sire career with Holmby’s Sorrento victory. In fact, he’s the first North American freshman sire to score a graded winner this year. He was already one of five first-crop stallions with a black-type winner when his ‘TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard’ Fanshell Beach won the Riverside Rush Stakes at Ellis Park Aug. 1. A ‘TDN Rising Star’ himself, Corniche was named champion 2-year-old colt in 2021, the same year he won the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and the GI American Pharoah Stakes.

Out of a Lemon Drop Kid mare, Holmby is the 134th stakes winner by that late Belmont Stakes winner as a broodmare sire. The winning Candida H., who hails from the same female family as GISW and sire Include (Broad Brush), was sold to Brad Boyer for $35,000 at the 2023 Keeneland November sale with Holmby in utero. The mare has not produced a live foal since Holmby’s birth, but has been bred to Raging Torrent for 2027.

Favorite fillies battle it out to the wire in the Sorrento Stakes GIII with Holmby and Juan Hernandez sneaking by to win. pic.twitter.com/hNDXE2bHtJ

— Del Mar Racetrack (@DelMarRacing) August 9, 2026

Sunday, Del Mar
SORRENTO S.-GIII, $150,500, Del Mar, 8-9, 2yo, f, 6f, 1:10.73, ft.
1–HOLMBY, 123, f, 2, by Corniche
              1st Dam: Candida H. (SW, $236,347), by Lemon Drop Kid
              2nd Dam: Magical Broad, by Broad Brush
              3rd Dam: Illeria, by Stop the Music
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($28,000
Wlg ’24 KEENOV; $55,000 Ylg ’25 FTKJUL). O-By Talla Racing
LLC; B-40 Acre Farm, LLC (IN); T-Bob Baffert; J-Juan J.
Hernandez. $90,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $150,000.
*1st graded winner for freshman sire (by Quality Road).
Werk Nick Rating: A+.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree or the free
Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Ruiva, 123, f, 2, Munnings–Minha Paixao, by Curlin.
O/B-Three Chimneys Farm, LLC (KY); T-Wesley A. Ward.
$30,000.
3–Crazy Hot Mess, 123, f, 2, Pinehurst–Pure Moon, by
Malibu Moon. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE.
($15,000 Ylg ’25 KEESEP). O-Michael McMillan and Raymond
Bryner; B-Erick Alexander Torres (KY); T-Peter Miller.
$18,000.
Margins: NK, 7HF, 3HF. Odds: 0.80, 1.60, 11.70.
Also Ran: Dash, Blockade, Belleza Latina.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

The post Indiana-Bred Holmby Wins Sorrento, Marks First Graded Winner for Corniche appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Early Voting’s Miss Monica Cruises to ‘TDN Rising Stardom’

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Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman’s Miss Monica (Early Voting) cruised to an effortless 5 3/4-length debut victory Sunday at Del Mar, giving her GI Preakness Stakes-winning freshman sire (by Gun Runner) his seventh winner and fourth ‘TDN Rising Star presented by Hagyard.’

The 1-2 favorite powered out to the early lead from her inside draw and was in hand while clear through an opening quarter in :23.08 and a half in :46.14. Spendthrift’s homebred firster Well Versed (Into Mischief) moved to challenge the favorite approaching the stretch, but Miss Monica easily shrugged off that foe and sailed home with minimal encouragement from Juan Hernandez.

Miss Monica is the first foal to race out of Lipstikliesnlovers. With no reported foals in 2025 or 2026, the mare was bred to Drain the Clock this year. Her dam, graded stakes winner Cherokee Queen, was purchased by the Branhams for $365,000 at the 2012 Fasig-Tipton November sale.

Miss Monica was purchased by pinhooker Jesse Hoppel for $45,000 at the 2025 Keeneland September sale and was purchased on behalf of Pegram, Watson and Weitman by Donato Lanni for $850,000 at the OBS April sale. Lanni’s purchase was firmly under the radar as it came just minutes before the bloodstock agent paid a record $10.5 million for a colt by Flightline.

Miss Monica worked a quarter-mile in a co-fastest :20 2/5 ahead of the April sale.

“Her work was phenomenal,” Lanni said at the time. “She was running against a head wind, too. Galloped out good. She was serious out there.”

2nd-Del Mar, $100,000, Msw, 8-9, 2yo, f, 6 1/2f, 1:16.44, ft, 5 3/4 lengths.
MISS MONICA, f, 2, by Early Voting
                1st Dam: Lipstikliesnlovers, by American Pharoah
                2nd Dam: Cherokee Queen, by Cherokee Run
                3rd Dam: Virginia Bee, by Virginia Rapids
Sales history: $32,000 RNA Wlg ’24 KEENOV; $45,000 Ylg ’25 KEESEP; $850,000 2yo ’26 OBSAPR. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $60,000. Click for the Equibase.com chart or free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
O-Michael Pegram, Karl Watson, & Paul Weitman; B-Doug & Felicia Branham & Pippa’s Hurricane LLC (KY); T-Bob Baffert.

MISS MONICA makes a statement on debut at @DelMarRacing, drawing off to break her maiden by over 5 lengths! The impressive filly becomes the 7⃣th winner for EARLY VOTING!

Bred by Doug & Felicia Branham and Pippa’s Hurricane LLC, trained by @BobBaffert and owned by Michael… pic.twitter.com/y3Qw1fMemJ

— Taylor Made Stallions (@TMStallions) August 9, 2026

The post Early Voting’s Miss Monica Cruises to ‘TDN Rising Stardom’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Indiana-Bred Holmby Wins Sorrento, Marks First Graded Winner for Corniche

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As a $55,000 Indiana-bred yearling sourced from the Fasig-Tipton July sale, she may have been a bargain compared to the outsized number of seven-figure Kentucky-bred yearlings that usually grace Bob Baffert’s shedrow, but Holmby (f, 2, Corniche–Candida H., by Lemon Drop Kid) sure looked like a million bucks in winning Sunday’s GII Sorrento Stakes at Del Mar. The By Talla Racing LLC runner also became the first graded winner for first-crop sire Corniche (by Quality Road).

Only one filly in the Sorrento came into the race with stakes experience and it was formidable: Three Chimneys Farm’s homebred Ruiva (Munnings) broke her maiden at Churchill by seven lengths with an 83 Beyer Speed Figure for trainer Wesley Ward, then shipped to Royal Ascot and finished third against 26 opponents in the G2 Queen Mary Stakes June 17. It would be another month before Holmby would even see the starting gate herself in the afternoon. The chestnut debuted July 18 going five furlongs at Del Mar, chasing between horses before pulling clear two furlongs from home to finish 2 1/4 lengths the best with a 74 Beyer. Holmby was the lone filly in the Sorrento with experience over Del Mar’s surface.

Holmby broke smoothly Sunday, but there was no outfooting Ruiva early, although Belleza Latina (Maclean’s Music) briefly tried to go with her and Holmby tracked from third as Ruiva set a :21.91 quarter. Juan Hernandez, aboard the winner, advanced going into the turn to loom menacingly outside of Ruiva and the two quickly drew four lengths–then six lengths–clear of the rest. Ruiva was game as they come and held her spot on the inside as Holmby tried gallantly to run her down. It was a ding-dong battle with neither willing to relent, but finally, in the last strides, Holmby got her neck in front to outfinish Ruiva. Crazy Hot Mess (Pinehurst) finished another 7 1/2 lengths back in third.

“She brought her game today,” said Hernandez. “We were tracking that other filly [Ruvia] and I know how good she is. I rode her twice [in both her previous starts]. My horse is improving, though. She did the tracking, then we put it in motion coming for home. She’s improving; getting better each time.”

Baffert, who was winning the Sorrento for the 10th time and for the third year in a row, agreed: “She was very game. I like the way she sat off the pace and ran down a really nice filly. I’m excited for [owner] Michael Talla. She’ll go on now to the Debutante. It was fun, just a great weekend.”

The GI Del Mar Debutante Stakes is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 5. In addition to the Sorrento, Baffert’s weekend also netted a win in the GI Test Stakes at Saratoga with ‘TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard’ Explora (Blame) and a GIII Best Pal Stakes victory at Del Mar with another ‘TDN Rising Star’ in Hughes (Into Mischief). Hernandez also rode Hughes for Baffert.

Pedigree Notes:

Coolmore America’s freshman sire Corniche got the first graded winner of his nascent sire career with Holmby’s Sorrento victory. In fact, he’s the first North American freshman sire to score a graded winner this year. He was already one of five first-crop stallions with a black-type winner when his ‘TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard’ Fanshell Beach won the Riverside Rush Stakes at Ellis Park Aug. 1. A ‘TDN Rising Star’ himself, Corniche was named champion 2-year-old colt in 2021, the same year he won the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and the GI American Pharoah Stakes.

Out of a Lemon Drop Kid mare, Holmby is the 134th stakes winner by that late Belmont Stakes winner as a broodmare sire. The winning Candida H., who hails from the same female family as GISW and sire Include (Broad Brush), was sold to Brad Boyer for $35,000 at the 2023 Keeneland November sale with Holmby in utero. The mare has not produced a live foal since Holmby’s birth, but has been bred to Raging Torrent for 2027.

Favorite fillies battle it out to the wire in the Sorrento Stakes GIII with Holmby and Juan Hernandez sneaking by to win. pic.twitter.com/hNDXE2bHtJ

— Del Mar Racetrack (@DelMarRacing) August 9, 2026

Sunday, Del Mar
SORRENTO S.-GIII, $150,500, Del Mar, 8-9, 2yo, f, 6f, 1:10.73, ft.
1–HOLMBY, 123, f, 2, by Corniche
              1st Dam: Candida H. (SW, $236,347), by Lemon Drop Kid
              2nd Dam: Magical Broad, by Broad Brush
              3rd Dam: Illeria, by Stop the Music
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($28,000
Wlg ’24 KEENOV; $55,000 Ylg ’25 FTKJUL). O-By Talla Racing
LLC; B-40 Acre Farm, LLC (IN); T-Bob Baffert; J-Juan J.
Hernandez. $90,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $150,000.
*1st graded winner for freshman sire (by Quality Road).
Werk Nick Rating: A+.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree or the free
Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Ruiva, 123, f, 2, Munnings–Minha Paixao, by Curlin.
O/B-Three Chimneys Farm, LLC (KY); T-Wesley A. Ward.
$30,000.
3–Crazy Hot Mess, 123, f, 2, Pinehurst–Pure Moon, by
Malibu Moon. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE.
($15,000 Ylg ’25 KEESEP). O-Michael McMillan and Raymond
Bryner; B-Erick Alexander Torres (KY); T-Peter Miller.
$18,000.
Margins: NK, 7HF, 3HF. Odds: 0.80, 1.60, 11.70.
Also Ran: Dash, Blockade, Belleza Latina.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

The post Indiana-Bred Holmby Wins Sorrento, Marks First Graded Winner for Corniche appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Early Voting’s Miss Monica Cruises to ‘TDN Rising Stardom’

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Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman’s Miss Monica (Early Voting) cruised to an effortless 5 3/4-length debut victory Sunday at Del Mar, giving her GI Preakness Stakes-winning freshman sire (by Gun Runner) his seventh winner and fourth ‘TDN Rising Star presented by Hagyard.’

The 1-2 favorite powered out to the early lead from her inside draw and was in hand while clear through an opening quarter in :23.08 and a half in :46.14. Spendthrift’s homebred firster Well Versed (Into Mischief) moved to challenge the favorite approaching the stretch, but Miss Monica easily shrugged off that foe and sailed home with minimal encouragement from Juan Hernandez.

Miss Monica is the first foal to race out of Lipstikliesnlovers. With no reported foals in 2025 or 2026, the mare was bred to Drain the Clock this year. Her dam, graded stakes winner Cherokee Queen, was purchased by the Branhams for $365,000 at the 2012 Fasig-Tipton November sale.

Miss Monica was purchased by pinhooker Jesse Hoppel for $45,000 at the 2025 Keeneland September sale and was purchased on behalf of Pegram, Watson and Weitman by Donato Lanni for $850,000 at the OBS April sale. Lanni’s purchase was firmly under the radar as it came just minutes before the bloodstock agent paid a record $10.5 million for a colt by Flightline.

Miss Monica worked a quarter-mile in a co-fastest :20 2/5 ahead of the April sale.

“Her work was phenomenal,” Lanni said at the time. “She was running against a head wind, too. Galloped out good. She was serious out there.”

2nd-Del Mar, $100,000, Msw, 8-9, 2yo, f, 6 1/2f, 1:16.44, ft, 5 3/4 lengths.
MISS MONICA, f, 2, by Early Voting
                1st Dam: Lipstikliesnlovers, by American Pharoah
                2nd Dam: Cherokee Queen, by Cherokee Run
                3rd Dam: Virginia Bee, by Virginia Rapids
Sales history: $32,000 RNA Wlg ’24 KEENOV; $45,000 Ylg ’25 KEESEP; $850,000 2yo ’26 OBSAPR. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $60,000. Click for the Equibase.com chart or free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
O-Michael Pegram, Karl Watson, & Paul Weitman; B-Doug & Felicia Branham & Pippa’s Hurricane LLC (KY); T-Bob Baffert.

MISS MONICA makes a statement on debut at @DelMarRacing, drawing off to break her maiden by over 5 lengths! The impressive filly becomes the 7⃣th winner for EARLY VOTING!

Bred by Doug & Felicia Branham and Pippa’s Hurricane LLC, trained by @BobBaffert and owned by Michael… pic.twitter.com/y3Qw1fMemJ

— Taylor Made Stallions (@TMStallions) August 9, 2026

The post Early Voting’s Miss Monica Cruises to ‘TDN Rising Stardom’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.