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'Winning Strategies', a three-part professional development series created to support women navigating leadership, communication, and decision-making in today's Thoroughbred industry, will be offered by the Horse Racing Women's Association (HRWA) in three virtual sessions over the next three months.

The sessions, each 90 minutes long, are available to HRWA members exclusively and center on practical leadership tools and peer connections.

Session one is entitled 'Claiming the Reins–Leading With Confidence' and is set for Jan. 29 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Pacific Time. Session Two, 'Voices Unbridled–Boundaries, Balance and Growth' takes place Feb. 26 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. PT and the final session, 'In the Stretch–Strategic Leadership Lab' is scheduled for Mar. 26 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. PT.

The series is facilitated by Amy Brin, MSN, MA, PCNS-BC, a nationally recognized leadership strategist with more than 20 years of experience guiding executives and organizations through change. In 2024, Brin entered the Thoroughbred industry as Interim Executive Director of Light Up Racing, bringing her background in healthcare leadership, nonprofit governance, and coalition-building into the racing space.

Click here to join HRWA.

The post HRWA To Kick Off ‘Winning Strategies’ Series Jan. 29 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Groundhog Day isn't for another 2 1/2 weeks, but when a Florida House of Representatives subcommittee on Wednesday debated a newly retooled version of previously controversial decoupling legislation that is being pushed by Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs, there was a distinct flavor of deja vu in the Tallahassee state house.

Just like in 2025, a similar group of legislators on the House Industries & Professional Activities Subcommittee were considering essentially the same proposed bill that would allow either of Florida's two Thoroughbred tracks to cease live racing while retaining their gaming rights.

And just like last year, when a version of his decoupling measure ended up getting passed in the House but not the Senate, its same sponsor, Rep. Adam Anderson, claimed his goal of decoupling was to actually “support” the Thoroughbred industry. During Jan. 14 testimony in support of HB 881, Anderson highlighted how this year's updated version of his bill would require the tracks to give notice of racing suspension as of July 1, 2027, with racing required to continue for at least three years after that notice of intent got filed.

In almost exact carbon-copy fashion as 12 months ago, Thoroughbred industry participants and several legislators sympathetic to the concerns of stakeholders fired back with reams of impressive economic-impact statistics, impassioned stories about their love of horses and the importance of continuing multi-generational family legacies involved in the sport.

Additionally, horsemen once again articulated how they feel their trust is being abused by track operators who, decades ago, leveraged the support of the racing community to establish a gaming-at-tracks paradigm that Gulfstream and Tampa now want to abandon by having the option to walk away from hosting horse races while retaining the benefits of the respective slot-machine and card-room privileges that the partnership of horsemen made possible.

To be sure, there were also the same queries of confusion by some legislators who, year after year, find it difficult to grasp the complex inner workings of how horse racing meshes with the overall gaming landscape, which in Florida is intricately linked by intertwined requirements involving a state compact with an Indian Tribe, various pari-mutuel statutes, local referendums and commission-level oversight.

Thus, given the repetitive, cyclical nature of all of the above, it was not surprising that the end result of Wednesday's voting ended up with the same result as last year, as the House Industries & Professional Activities Subcommittee reported HB 881 as “favorable.”

Just like last year, a nearly identical companion bill has been filed in the Florida Senate, but it has yet to come up before a committee for a recommendation either way.

After the hearing, a press release from the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders' and Owners' Association (FTBOA), termed the vote an “expected outcome.”

Lonny Powell, the FTBOA's chief executive officer, added that, “The bill has a long path ahead and we will continue making the case for Florida's Thoroughbred industry at every opportunity.”

Powell wasn't kidding about the “long path” prediction. All of this happened on just day three of the House's 2026 session, which is scheduled to go at least until Mar. 13.

HB 881 must next clear the House Commerce Committee, where it is up for consideration with no hearing date yet posted.

Racing and breeding stakeholders have fought Florida's looming threat of decoupling almost since right after Gulfstream and Tampa first got gaming two decades ago.

On Wednesday, at least to those within the horse industry, the descriptions of the decoupling bill by its sponsor, Anderson, had to have resonated as a mind-boggling array of double-speak.

“The whole intention of this legislation is to ensure that live racing does not end,” Anderson said.

With specific regard to a committee member's question about how decoupling might affect live racing at Tampa, Anderson postulated that, “we don't believe there will be any impact at all to Tampa Bay Downs.”

Asked a similar question about Gulfstream, Anderson replied, “this bill is providing [a] pathway to preserve the industry” that “guarantees racing into the future.”

Powell, who said he was testifying on behalf of not just the FTBOA but of all of the united horsemen-supported spheres of influence in the state, told legislators not to buy what he alleged was Anderson's intentional use of opaque language.

“Though it may be said this [bill] does good for the Thoroughbred industry, what that means, as presented so far, [is] 'good for the Thoroughbred racetracks,'” Powell said.

“As far as the horse people, it's not good. We oppose it. We oppose it just like we did last year. Decoupling is just, simply, not being committed to live racing, [and] the revenue share that used to go to the horse people gets kept by the racetracks,” Powell said.

“You'll hear much more about the destruction of decoupling,” Powell forewarned. “You heard it all last session.”

Powell told the committee members that when Anderson spoke of purported flexibility in the form of the bill's options to transfer racetrack permits, what the sponsor was really trying to do was execute a legislative strategy based on “permit confusion.”

“It's an attempt to toss out lots of 'shining-star' options,” Powell explained. “However, they're all extremely speculative. Does anybody really know, especially as we try to look at the wording, which is not clear, are these certain options? Are these even realistic or even possible, [and] are they even viable economically?”

Two committee members were clearly on the side of horsemen in opposing the legislation.

One was Rep. Yvonne Hinson, whose district includes part of Marion County, the heart of Florida's Thoroughbred breeding and horse-raising territory.

“Decoupling is a multi-billion-dollar threat to Florida's world-renowned Thoroughbred legacy,” Hinson said, echoing nearly verbatim arguments she made before the very same committee last year. “I beg you all not to destroy five or six generations of the Florida equine industry.”

Another was Rep. Angie Nixon, whose district is in the northeast part of the state.

“I believe in honoring contracts, especially contracts with voters. The casinos wouldn't have even been established if not for the races and the Thoroughbred owners. And so it doesn't make sense that now they can kind of be pushed out of the deal, so to speak,” Nixon said.

No executives from either Gulfstream or Tampa spoke during the public testimony portion of the hearing.

In summation of his bill just prior to the committee's vote, Anderson was given the floor one final time to make closing remarks.

“It appears that most of the concerns here with this legislation is what the potential impacts could be if racing ceases in the state of Florida. Those are concerns that we are addressing in this bill,” Anderson said.

“So I want to remind everyone that today, there is nothing that requires a track to continue racing. Today, any Thoroughbred racing permit-holder could stop racing tomorrow if they want, which would send shock waves reverberating through the industry, and would, in fact, cause a lot of the concerns that were being brought up today in public testimony,” Anderson said.

“So I remind everyone of the provisions that we add in here: The transferability of licenses, to ensure that the industry can continue in the free market, [and] the four years of visibility and notice that doesn't exist today,” Anderson said.

“Four years should be enough time if there is a Thoroughbred permit-holder that wants to get out of the industry. For whatever reason it is, that's enough time for the industry to adjust, enough time to transfer that permit, enough time to ensure that racing continues,” Anderson said.

The bill then got reported favorably by the subcommittee by what appeared to be at least a 10-6 margin. (Several voice votes were inaudible during the roll call, and the Florida legislature's web page for the bill had not posted the official vote tally prior to deadline for this story.)

The post Just Like Last Year, Decoupling Bill Clears Same Florida Subcommittee In First Legislative Hearing appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

It was a good year for the new management team at the Maryland racetracks, where the average daily handle at Laurel was up 13.49 percent and average per-race handle increased by 14.29 percent. To talk about what went right for Maryland racing last year, the future of the GI Preakness Stakes, the decision to form a circuit with Colonial Downs, and to report on the rebuild of Pimlico, Bill Knauf, the president and general manager of the nonprofit Maryland Jockey Club, joined the team for this week's TDN Writers' Room Podcast presented by Keeneland. Knauf was the Gainesway Guest of the Week.

“It was a really great first year for us,” he said. “When our new organization took over Jan. 1, we weren't quite sure what to expect. We started off a little slowly in January. I think, at the time, there was a lot of uncertainty about what Laurel was going to bring and what Maryland racing was going to bring. Then we really got some nice momentum going for the rest of the year. Because we shut down for two months in the summer, there was a substantial date reduction. We decided that when we race, let's put big fields out there. Let's put competitive fields out there. We chose to focus on some bets, like the 12 percent low-takeout Pick Five. We were doing some online handicapping contests. So there was a lot of focus after we could set the product the right way.”

When it came to Laurel, Knauf and his team decided to focus even more heavily on grass racing. According to statistics from Horse Racing Nation, Laurel Park ranked third in the nation in the number of turf races run in 2025, behind only Santa Anita and Gulfstream Park. From Apr. 1 to the close of the turf season on Thanksgiving Day, Laurel Park carded the most turf races of any racetrack in North America.

“We have a fantastic turf course,” Knauf said. “I stepped into one of the largest in the country. Our turf maintenance guys do a fantastic job. So shout out to them. We've got six running lanes and that's a luxury. When I came here, I honestly didn't realize how big the turf course was. The turf course can really take quite a beating, and it really wasn't until the very end of November that we felt like we had to stop because it was in such great condition. The other part of it is that we have a natural break by not running in July and August, which means we can open it up in April and can run pretty strong on it until June. We can give it a nice two-month break, recuperate, and then come back and go September to November.”

Laurel stopped racing for two months in the summer after a deal was worked out with Colonial Downs. The two Mid-Atlantic region tracks had been going head-to-head during those months, which was an unhealthy situation. Knauf said that the Colonial decision worked out well for the Maryland tracks.

“It's a true point,” Knauf said when asked about the glut of tracks in the Mid-Atlantic region. “I think a lot of people recognize that. We started down the path with Colonial, and I also think that trying to work in conjunction with Delaware Park also makes sense.  During our break, our horsemen actually ran just as much, if not more, at Delaware than they did at Colonial. I can't speak for Delaware, but I think it's a natural fit, as well. It's just trying to get to that point where we all can agree on when to run or when not to run and what the long-term focus should be. We can live without racing in July and August.”

The “Fastest Horse of the Week” was One Nine Hundred (Dialed In), who earned a 104 Beyer figure after taking an allowance race at Aqueduct Jan. 9. The Fastest Horse of the Week segment is sponsored by WinStar, which stands the red-hot sire Constitution.

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the PHBA, 1/ST TV, the KTOB and West Point Thoroughbreds, Randy Moss, Bill Finley and Zoe Cadman discussed the latest problems at Monmouth Park and recapped remarks John Sikura made on the prior week's edition of the podcast, in which he called on the Breeders' Cup to offer financial assistance to the struggling California racing industry.

The team also looked at some of the potential 3-year-old stars who have run during the early weeks of 2026 and previewed Saturday's GIII Lecomte Stakes at the Fair Grounds, which carries Derby points.

Click here, to listen to the Writers' Room podcast. To view the podcast as a video, click here.

The post Maryland Jockey Club’s Bill Knauf Joins The TDN Writers’ Room Podcast Presented By Keeneland appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

The dual Louisiana-bred Horse of the Year from 2022 and 2024, Free Like a Girl (El Deal–Flashy Prize, by Flashy Bull), was euthanized after a recent trailer accident. The story was first reported on Tuesday, Jan. 13 by the Daily Racing Form.

The all-time highest earner in the Pelican state's history with over $2.5-million, Free Like a Girl made 55 starts and got her picture taken on 21 occasions. The $5,500 Equine Sales of Louisiana Yearling Sale grad was owned by Gerald Bruno, Carl Deville, Jerry Caroom and Chasey Deville Pomier, who also trained her.

Free Like a Girl ran third in the GIII Iowa Oaks then served as the runner-up in the GIII Charles Town Oaks and GIII Remington Park Oaks during her 3-year-old campaign.

Almost exclusively a stakes competitor moving forward, the race mare was incredibly consistent versus state breds as she recorded 18 black-type wins, but she also took on graded company where she was second in the GI Fasig-Tipton La Troienne Stakes at Churchill Downs in 2024 and the runner-up to Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) in the GI Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park in 2025.

After a runner-up finish in the Magnolia Stakes at Delta Downs Oct. 11, the 7-year-old was retired and according to the DRF article was set to visit Into Mischief for the 2026 breeding season.

By El Deal, Free Like a Girl has an unraced full-brother named Flashy Rich Deal, who was made the $150,000 topper by Landon Jordan of Mansfield Racing during the 2024 Texas Yearling Sale at Lone Star Park.

The post Dual Louisiana-Bred Horse Of The Year Free like A Girl Passes Away appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Bob Duncan, whose career spans better than 50 years at the tracks of the New York Racing Association (NYRA), will be honored with a Special Eclipse Award for Career Excellence during the Resolute Racing Eclipse Award ceremonies at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida, on Thursday, Jan. 22. The award recognizes Duncan's horsemanship and his work to foster the human-equine relationship at the starting gate.

Duncan, who grew up in Elmont, NY, began working at the NYRA tracks in 1967-1968 and returned from a stint in the U.S. Army in Korea to become an assistant starter under Frank Calvarese. He succeeded Calvarese as head starter in 1993 and remained in that role until his retirement in 2004. He remained a consultant to NYRA and continues to provide his service on a private basis to racing stables.

Addressing the issues starting gate crews had with loading horses into the gate, Duncan came to the realization that common practices of using fear and intimidation were counterproductive and counterintuitive. Horses, by and large, were being loaded into the gate, but the process was often a recipe for disaster.

“Horses respond to good leadership,” said Duncan. “Once we started communicating in a language that the horses understood, they responded calmly, and their performance improved. By watching horses, you learn how to connect with them; the key is to set aside your ego and any urge to dominate the horse.

“They are prey animals, and dominance just doesn't work. We used to think we were heroes just to get the horses into the starting gate, but we didn't realize the price that the horses were paying and, in turn, how it hurt their connections and the sport.”

“Bob revolutionized the starting gate process over his 50-year tenure,” said Hall of Fame trainer and eight-time Eclipse Award winner Todd Pletcher. “He was the first to introduce more humane, behaviorally informed practices in his running of the gate-schooling and starting-gate program, establishing a model now emulated internationally. He led the charge in urging the industry to use natural horsemanship not only at the gate but throughout all elements of the training, racing, and breeding process.”

Duncan's practices began receiving attention both at home and overseas, as his services were solicited by the likes of trainers Aidan O'Brien and Gai Waterhouse in Ireland, Australia. Barbados and other countries.

Duncan's methods were well institutionalized in New York. In 2004, there were 6,000 horse visits to the gates at NYRA tracks without a serious occurrence at the starting gate.

In later years, Duncan worked with the starting gate crew at Churchill Downs and started the 2006 Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby. In 2009, Duncan worked with the Pletcher-trained Quality Road, who was fractious and unruly while being loaded for the start of the Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita Park, and had to be scratched.

Following that incident, Duncan got a call from Pletcher.

“I came down from Saratoga and schooled him at Belmont Park,” Duncan remembers. “I just took him in the stall with my rope halter and spent 15 minutes with him, moving him back and forth, and connecting with him. He was almost instantly responsive.”

In 2010, a calmer Quality Road won four graded stakes races, including Grade I fixtures in the Donn Handicap, Metropolitan Handicap and the Woodward Stakes.

Moved upon hearing the news of receiving a Special Eclipse Award, Duncan reflected, “This is not something that normally happens in our discipline. There is so much joy and satisfaction to this process–handling the horses in this way–that it's like winning a little Eclipse Award every morning.”

“What began with smaller changes like limiting the use of buggy whips and blindfolds,” continued Pletcher, “turned into a complete overhaul of the current system focusing on bringing in the practices of Monty Roberts, Pat and Linda Parelli, Ray Hunt, and the like, to create calm horses at the gate and build a safer environment for all involved.”

The post Legendary Starter Duncan To Receive Special Eclipse For Career Excellence appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

With Horse of the Year candidate Sovereignty (Into Mischief) recently returned to Bill Mott's winter base at Payson Park in preparation for a 4-year-old campaign, breeders eager to support the three-time Grade I winner will have to wait at least another year. In the meantime, the Darley America stallion team is still plenty occupied with two other millionaire homebreds new to Jonabell Farm for 2026.

Sales Manager Darren Fox said that the farm has carved out a competitive position in the market with 'TDN Rising Star presented by Hagyard' First Mission (Street Sense) and Grade I winner Highland Falls (Curlin).

“Both horses represent tremendous value,” he said. “We priced them both at $10,000 to make them a no-brainer for breeders. Really top horsemen who have been out to see them have really loved them. They're both very strong physicals with a lot of sire power to boot.”

 

 

HIGHLAND FALLS (Curlin — Round Pond, by Awesome Again). Standing for $10,000

Highland Falls joins the roster with the distinction of being the only Grade I-winning son of Curlin at stud out of a multiple Grade I-winning mare.

Godolphin secured Round Pond (Awesome Again), winner of the GI Acorn Stakes and GI Breeders' Cup Distaff, for $5.75 million in 2007 and the champion mare has proven to be a foundation producer for the operation. Her first foal Long River (A.P. Indy) was a Grade I winner and her daughter Tyburn Brook (Bernardini) has extended the line as the dam of Grade I winner and Darley sire Speaker's Corner (Street Sense) as well as recent GIII Mr. Prospector Stakes winner Knightsbridge (Nyquist), also a 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard'.

“Knightsbridge has oodles of talent and we're very excited about his campaign this year,” said Fox. “It's an immensely deep female family and you couldn't really ask for better in a young stallion.”

Sara Gordon

Trained by Brad Cox, Highland Falls was a winner on debut at three and developed into top form the following season. His 4-year-old campaign was highlighted by top-level scores in the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes and GIII Blame Stakes, as well as runner-up finishes in the GII Oaklawn Handicap and GIII Monmouth Cup Stakes.

In the Jockey Club Gold Cup, Highland Falls defeated three Grade I winners including GI Whitney Stakes victor Arthur's Ride (Tapit).

“He got bumped from both sides pretty hard at the start and it didn't faze him a bit,” recalled Fox. “He's a two-turn horse, but he had speed and he put the race to Arthur's Ride. Turning for home, he pulled away and drew off impressively to win by four.”

Highland Falls placed third in the same Saratoga race in 2025 and also finished second to champion Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) in the GI Whitney Stakes, earning a 107 Beyer Speed Figure.

“That race was absolutely loaded with the likes of Sierra Leone, White Abarrio (Race Day) and Fierceness (City of Light),” recalled Fox. “For about three strides I thought he was going to win, but was ultimately collared late by Sierra Leone and was only beaten by a length by a very good racehorse. That race really showed what he could do over nine furlongs.”

Due to an ill-timed minor injury, Highland Falls was not able to make the Breeders' Cup Classic for his final career start. He retired with six wins and finished out of the money only twice in 13 career starts.

Fox noted that the chestnut has taken well to his new surroundings at Jonabell, adding that breeder interest has been high since the new stallion's arrival.

“Highland Falls is an absolutely gorgeous horse physically,” he noted. “He's got a lovely shape to him, very racey with an attractive profile. What I love about him is the length of his hip. When he walks away from you he has that lovely, square hip. For a two-turn horse to have that shape of hip, I think it's going to prove very commercial. Pedigree-wise, he's an easy horse to breed to and physically he will fit most mares.”

 

FIRST MISSION (Street Sense — Elude, by Medaglia d'Oro). Standing for $10,000.

Sara Gordon

First Mission becomes the third son of Street Sense to join the Darley America roster, following in the footsteps of Maxfield, whose fee has climbed to $50,000 following a breakout season with his first 2-year-olds in 2025, and Speaker's Corner, whose first juveniles will hit the track in 2026. Street Sense's fourth son at stud in Kentucky is Gainesway's McKinzie.

“When I look at First Mission, he is all class and that is something that is synonymous with the Street Sense sireline,” said Fox. “They love to eat and train. They're so easy to be around and this horse exudes that class.”

Another standout for the Cox stable, First Mission finished a narrow second to future MGSW Bishops Bay (Uncle Mo) on debut in February of his 3-year-old season. He returned a month later to break his maiden by over six lengths going a mile and a sixteenth, earning the 'Rising Star' nod. Also during his 3-year-old campaign, he claimed the GIII Lexington Stakes, defeating future Grade I winner Arabian Lion (Justify), and was second in the GII Clark Stakes.

Returning to the racetrack at four and five, career highlights included wins in the GII Essex Handicap, GII Alysheba Stakes and GII Oaklawn Handicap.

“He earned a 109 Beyer Speed Figure in the Oaklawn Handicap, which makes him the fastest sire to retire in Kentucky at $10,000 and under in the last five years,” noted Fox. “He followed that win with an excellent third in the GI Stephen Foster behind top horses Mindframe (Constitution) and Sierra Leone.”

First Mission retired to stud with over $2.2 million in career earnings.

“Like Maxfield, he was a typical two-turn Street Sense, but he had front-end speed and could carry it,” said Fox. “He is his own brand of Street Sense physically. He's got great movement and just walks like a cat.”

First Mission's dam Elude is a daughter of Forty Marchanta (Arg) (Roar), a champion 3-year-old in Argentina.

“He's out of a Medaglia d'Oro mare who is bred on the same cross as Rachel Alexandra, which I love,” Fox noted. “He has that lovely blend of Medaglia d'Oro coming through and that's probably one of the areas that he has an edge over his paternal barnmates Maxfield and Speaker's Corner in that First Mission is free of A.P. Indy, which is Street Sense's best cross. So bring on all the A.P. Indy and Bernardini you like, because he's going to love it.”

The post Darren Fox: New Darley Sires “A No-Brainer for Breeders” appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

by George Adams

Wasabi Ventures Stables & Stallions continues to upgrade the quality of their breeding stock and the commerciality of the foals that they're producing on their Serendipity Springs Farm. There is a very interesting group of stallions retiring for 2026, and Wasabi has shares in several which we'll be supporting.

TICKLE THE IVORIES, 5, Justify-Gagnoa (Ire), by Sadler's Wells. Will be bred to Mindframe.
The highest profile of the new stallions with whom Wasabi is involved is the multiple GI winner Mindframe, who retired to Claiborne. He's a horse that I was personally invested in early on, having claimed his half-sister as a broodmare prospect before Mindframe was named, and he comes from a deep Mid-Atlantic female family. Mindframe is a gorgeous physical, and it's quite a snub that he didn't make the list of Eclipse finalists even though he was the only older male to win two G1s in '25, beating Sierra Leone in one and Nysos in the other. But still, he's got every right to be a fantastic stallion and Wasabi purchased a young Justify mare from Coolmore in November specifically to send to him. Her name is Tickle the Ivories, she's due early to Munnings with her first foal, and we were able to steal her a couple months ago because she was literally the first mare through the ring in November. Like Mindframe, she's a leggy, strapping individual, and she should suit him very well.

 

WHY NOT TONIGHT, 8, Tapiture-Pay the Lady, by Not For Love, and PAW PRINTS, 6, Kitten's Joy-Hachita, by Gone West. Will be bred to Johannes.
Wasabi is also supporting Claiborne's other new stallion, Johannes. He was a heck of a racehorse, and Nyquist is one of the best young stallions out there, so Johannes has a lot going for him. Wasabi has never shied away from producing a turf horse, and will be sending two young mares to Johannes. The first is their first ever black-type winner Why Not Tonight, a daughter of Tapiture. Like Johannes, she is bred for dirt but did her best running on turf, and Nyquist has had success with Tapit-line mares, having sired the likes of Tenma and Gosger on that cross. The second mare that Wasabi is sending to Johannes is Paw Prints, a Juddmonte-bred daughter of Kitten's Joy from the immediate family of Final Gambit. We're leaning into Johannes's turf success again here, and the Uncle Mo/El Prado cross has produced the likes of Seismic Beauty, Showcase and Scalding.

 

'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard', Locked joins the sire ranks at Gainesway | Sara Gordon

ITGETSGREATERLATER,6, Justify-Sotto Voce, by Tapit, and SAUCILY, 6, Curlin-Leslie May, by Tapit. Will be bred to Locked.
Wasabi was very lucky to get involved early with Locked, who is another first-year stallion that we're very excited about. He was an absolutely top-class two-year-old, beat older horses in the Cigar Mile at three, and scored by a record margin in the Santa Anita Handicap this past season at four. As a son of Gun Runner, he has everything going for him, and we're sending two mares to him at Gainesway. The first will be the Justify mare Itgetsgreaterlater, whose 2025 colt by Gunite topped the weanlings in his session at Keeneland November when selling to Wesley Ward for $160,000, so it made plenty of sense to go back to another son of Gun Runner with the mare. And Locked's leg and length will suit her very well, as she's a touch more compact herself. The second mare Wasabi will send to Locked is Saucily, a Stonestreet-bred daughter of Curlin. This is a very commercial family, and we've been giving Saucily plenty of chances. She's another whose own physical is a bit more compact, so Locked should suit her well, too.

 

WILD FOR LOVE, 6, Not For Love, Sticky, by Concern and EBB TIDE, 7, Medaglia d'Oro-Magdalena Bay, by Distorted Humor. Will be bred to Arthur's Ride.
We took a share in Arthur's Ride after seeing him in person at Taylor Made during the November sale, as he just blew us away physically. Obviously he was brilliant on his best day, and is a very well-bred horse, so he's got plenty going for him. Wasabi will send him Wild For Love, who has already produced a multiple black-type winner by a son of Tapit, as well as the Godolphin-bred mare Ebb Tide, whose female family has had lots of success with A.P. Indy-line stallions, including a full-sister to the dam of Ebb Tide having produced Tapit's leading son Constitution.

 

GIVING SPIRIT, 6, Ghostzapper-Hallie Belle, by Medaglia d'Oro and QUEEN MUM, 11, Paynter-For Royalty, by Not for Love. Will be bred to Straight No Chaser.
Eclipse Champion Sprinter Straight No Chaser at WinStar is another horse with a really awesome physical.  He has a lot more leg and scope to him than I was expecting for a fast son of Speightster out of a Johannesburg mare. Wasabi will be sending him the Godolphin-bred Giving Spirit, who is a half-sister to a talented horse called Maycocks Bay by Speightster's sire Speightstown. And they'll also send the Black-Type two-year-old Queen Mum, who is half-sister to the dam of a nice Munnings filly named Cougar Cocktail who looks like a stakes horse, so this sire-line has worked with her female family.

 

AQUATIC APPROACH, 5, Omaha Beach-Secret Mission, by Smart Strike and PIVOTAL WOMAN (Fr), 9, Siyouni (Fr)-Candinie, by Bernadini. Will be bred to Arzak.
Although Wasabi is focused on Kentucky these days, we were sufficiently intrigued and impressed by Arzak to take a share in him, also. He's a Grade II-winning millionaire by Not This Time that will stand at Amsterdam Two Farm in New York, and we'll be sending him the young mare Aquatic Approach, whose female family has produced several good horses by Giant's Causeway (sire of Not This Time), and also a really neat mare called Pivotal Woman (FR), who is by Siyouni and from the productive Overbrook Farm family that produced Grand Slam and Leestown.

 

Tiz the Law | Coolmore

FLORAL HALL, 7, Bodemeister-Painted Lady, by Broad Brush. Will be bred to Tiz The Law.
Some of the other matings that we're particularly excited about this spring are the Godolphin-bred Bodemeister mare Floral Hall, who we got into Tiz the Law at Ashford before they increased his fee following that graded stakes double he had at Aqueduct during the November sale.

 

MAD GRACE, 11, English Channel-Floating Island, by A.P. Indy. Will be bred to Karakontie.
We'll be sending a really hard-knocking, well-bred turf mare named Mad Grace to Karakontie at Gainesway. He gets runners, and they're classy, too, and – as mentioned earlier, Wasabi doesn't hesitate to breed for turf.

 

WAND WORK, 6, Uncle Mo-Mrs. Norris, by Bernardini. Will be bred to Jimmy Creed.
I've been a big fan of Jimmy Creed at Spendthrift for a long time now, and we'll be sending a young Uncle Mo mare to him. Her name is Wand Work, and she's a half to a nice Black-Type horse named Hedwig from the Distorted Humor sire-line, so hopefully Jimmy Creed can help her get a nice runner.

 

C'EST MARDI, 10, Tiznow-Surging Storm, by Storm Creek. Will be bred to Thousand Words.
We're also sending our Tiznow mare C'est Mardi, who won a couple of races in Wasabi's silks during her racing days, to Thousand Words at Spendthrift. He's had some really impressive results with his first two crops now, despite a Comp Index of less than 1.00, and he already has two black-type winners out of mares by Tiznow and a son of Tiznow, from just five runners. So we'll take a shot with him and a cross that looks very promising. He's a beautiful horse and had plenty of talent, and the mare could run a little bit, too.

The post Mating Plans For 2026, Presented By Spendthrift: Wasabi Ventures appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

And so we reach the apex of the fee pyramid we've scaled in stages all the way up from the basement.

In reality, this final ascent is too extensive to be coherent: we're clearly not comparing like with like, between stallions available at $60,000 and la crème de la crème at $250,000. But since we can hardly reveal to an unsuspecting world that Into Mischief is a pretty good stallion, let's establish our parameters straightaway. Our purpose today is to seek the residual value that lurks even at this rarefied level, perhaps even to find a horse with the scope someday to be promoted into the real elite. In effect, that will confine our quest to those standing between $60,000 and $125,000.

We will, however, briefly take in the view from the top. For the seven that have detached themselves from that penultimate tier nowadays include NYQUIST, who justified last year's giddy leap from $85,000 to $175,000 by including four elite scorers among his dozen graded stakes winners in 2025. His incoming juveniles were sired at just $55,000, and retailed at $346,209 (median $300,000), so there's a lesson for us all-in terms of judging a stallion prematurely-in the backwards step he took with a single graded stakes winner as a second-crop sire. The reality is that his 36 stakes winners have come at a ratio matched or bettered by his much cheaper neighbors Hard Spun, Street Sense and Midshipman. But his good ones have been very good, and 11 Grade I winners from his first six crops put Nyquist on track to keep consolidating as his mare upgrade cycles through.

Heading the other way, in terms of career trajectory, is former champion TAPIT who barely made the top 30 of the 2025 general sires' list. But that is all about his diminishing footprint, his book having been carefully managed for several years already, and $185,000 must be as close to “value” as you can find at this level. No need to reprise his eye-watering aggregates, but it's worth reiterating that he retrieved his broodmare sire crown in 2025, when his daughters produced 13 graded stakes winners. His latest yearlings kept him in the top six at the sales, and the bottom line is that this is a breed-shaping influence now with an extremely finite span of activity. If you can get to him, it is a privilege beyond price.

Of the top quintet, the one anomaly of 2025 was the way JUSTIFY was mysteriously undervalued by the domestic market, which evidently treated his sensational impact in Europe as somehow cause for hesitation. As a result, he retreats to $200,000 from $250,000. A year after City Of Troy emerged from his second crop to win the Derby at Epsom, two sons from his third respectively won the 2,000 Guineas and St Leger. The fact that he has already won all three British colts' Classics, across the distance spectrum, shows just what European breeders have been missing by neglecting the kind of dirt sires who set off fast but then keep going. Justify has barely got started, yet already has nine elite scorers. With 244 mares paying top dollar last year, he is going to be a breed-shaper. If you want to be narrow-minded, that's your prerogative, but gosh they'd pay anything to be using him in Europe.

Of those above him, nothing to say. If you could afford $250,000 for INTO MISCHIEF or the young pretenders vying for the succession, NOT THIS TIME and GUN RUNNER, or $225,000 for the enduing gold standard represented by CURLIN, then you'd just pay it-and choose between them according to the make and shape of your mare, and what else she might need to complement her strengths.

That quartet lived up to their fees as four of the only five sires to achieve a median of $500,000 or more with their latest yearlings. The interloper was FLIGHTLINE, whose debut crop put him second in the averages with 57 sold of 65 at $737,274 and a median of $600,000, behind only Gun Runner on both indices. At this point I will reliably point out that anyone who thought he was worth $200,000 to conceive those horses should be glad to pay $125,000 now, though nobody can yet say whether even so freakish a runner (albeit notoriously over the span of just six starts) will be an equal success in his new career. The only guarantee is that the restrained management of his books will continue to serve his clients well, which can itself only help to maintain full subscription.

GOOD MAGIC holds his fee at $125,000, leaving his backers to hold their nerve after a single stakes winner in 2025. That hardly tells the whole story, as he had three seconds in elite company. Cynics might treat the rise of Baeza to point out that the wondermare Puca (Big Brown) also had a considerable role in Good Magic boasting Classic winners from both his first two crops. But his retort is obvious, as he has also given us three other Grade I winners-bringing him up to four sons at stud in Kentucky already-while his incoming yearlings will be the first following the major fee hike earned by Mage. Remember he only narrowly missed the freshman title, before Mage had ever run, which earned him an initial advance from $30,000 to $50,000. That was duly the conception fee of the 102 yearlings offered last year, of which 80 retailed at $295,643 (median $200,000).

CONSTITUTION seems to have found his level for now, standing at $110,000 for a fourth year after again making the top six in the general sires' table. Mindframe delivered his third Grade I victory, and arguably was his first true headliner since Tiz the Law emerged from his debut crop. It's a significant rise but deserved for a horse who dipped to $15,000 during the 2019 bubble, underscoring that he's found his stride over the past couple of seasons.. His latest yearlings, indeed, were his first as a six-figure cover and averaged $297,056 ($215,000 median) for 71 sold of 79 offered. Overall he's up to 52 black-type winners at 6.3 percent of named foals, 25 at graded level, and duly sets Flightline a solid standard to meet as heir to their ageing sire.

PRACTICAL JOKE finished just a few cents behind Constitution and looks tempting at $75,000. In 2025 his fee was doubled, for the second year running, to $100,000-which turned out to be precisely the median meanwhile achieved by his latest yearlings. Those, however, were sired at just $25,000, and posted an average of $147,872. Moreover there were no fewer than 263 mares that deemed him deserving of a six-figure fee last year, so there's a ton of action coming down the line. His best days lie ahead, which is saying plenty for the sire of five Grade I winners already.

OSCAR PERFORMANCE climbs for the fourth year running, this time to $60,000 from $45,000, in what has proved a superb return to the stallion game for his farm. He had a very small crop of juveniles, sired at just $12,500 in his bubble, but he has been fully subscribed since and the pipeline is overflowing. In the meantime his maturing stock kept him in the game with nine stakes scorers, five at graded level including GI Saratoga Derby winner World Beater, from 144 starters. His first revived book, still only conceived at $20,000, averaged $104,704 ($70,000 median) for 51 sold of 65 offered. The momentum is inexorably upwards from here, and it is high time the big European programs cottoned on.

The Spendthrift system has worked out metronomically in the past four freshman championships, and the last three cycles have each catapulted a young stallion to a fee that implies he may yet break into the elite. Each was given-and seized-major opportunities, and will benefit from sustained quantity while cycling through upgraded quality.

It tells you much about this weird business that the senior of this trio, OMAHA BEACH, achieved a higher average ($201,689) with his first crop of yearlings in 2022, when absolutely unproven, than he did with his fourth, when his established prowess saw 63 of 81 sold at $128,701 ($90,000 median). His fee, however, has more than doubled for 2025-from $35,000 to $75,000-after Grade I wins for members of both his first two crops, in Kopion and Nevada Beach. That takes him to 25 stakes winners overall, from 295 starters, and the 16 he assembled in 2025 were exceeded only by the biggest of big guns.

In terms of ratio, mind you, the next guy did even better: with a second crop in play, VEKOMA had 15 black-type winners from 188 starters to smash his way as high as 13th in the general sires' list. Never mind all the volume that sustains these young horses, this one is proving uncannily consistent. Measured by the simplest of all measures, winners to starters, he was batting off the charts: 117 into the winner's circle in 2025, representing 62 percent against around 54 percent for Gun Runner and Not This Time. Vekoma duly hit plenty of home runs for those who used him on the bubble at $15,000 in 2023: of 106 resulting yearlings, 90 changed hands in 2025 at $163,715 (median $132,500). But a giddy hike from $35,000 to $100,000, while eventually likely to have an impact on the racetrack, leaves little margin for error in the meantime to a stallion now charging a lot more than many sires with numerous Grade I winners to their credit.

One of his big rivals, McKINZIE, famously has three of those already from just four graded stakes winners overall, and only nine black-type scorers of any description. This horse has a very useful propensity to hit the bull's-eye with his sharpest arrows, and of course his elevation from $35,000 to $75,000 last year should result in an eventual upgrade on the track. But he has been a buzz horse from the outset and looked after his own bubble clients nicely with 69 of 83 yearlings processed at $172,442 (median $100,000) in 2025.

Returning to the Spendthrift conveyor belt, YAUPON was preceded by rave reviews for his physique and covered more mares in his debut season than any other stallion bar Gun Runner. He duly dominated the freshman table, albeit in what proved a historically underachieving intake with a single graded stakes success between them. But at least Yaupon can boast of eight black-type scorers, from 82 starters, which beats his late sire Uncle Mo's seven (from 75) when himself champion freshman back in 2015. In this day and age he must be congratulated for a second crop of yearlings that very nearly matched the returns of his first, who of course were not “burdened” by the proof that he could replicate his own speed: 99 sold of 112 at $163,3030, for a $130,000 median.

Having dealt with the rookies separately, the newest name in this tier is CODY'S WISH. He is such a monster that we may have to get involved ahead of his first starters, but let's see what the going rate is then: he has been dropped from $75,000 to $60,000 despite a strong debut with his weanlings (average $277,224/median $235,000).

Life Is Good | Sarah Andrew

VALUE PODIUM

Bronze: QUALITY ROAD

Elusive Quality-Kobla (Strawberry Road {Aus})

$100,000 Lane's End

His fees between 2019 and 2024, either $150,000 or $200,000, left this horse nowhere to hide, his new fee looks a very sensible compromise relative to an impressive body of work: 95 stakes winners at a formidable 8.3 percent of named foals, including 17 at the highest level (the latest two in 2025, Clicquot and Hope Road).

And of course he remains a shimmering commercial stallion: the 33 yearlings he sold last year (of 39 offered) did something pretty extraordinary, achieving a considerably higher median at $450,000 than their $409,090 average. Stallions generally cover a multitude of sins with a few outliers, but Quality Road is just a superbly reliable operator at the sales. He deserves all the patience he may require.

 

Silver: LIFE IS GOOD

Into Mischief-Beach Walk (Distorted Humor)

$60,000 WinStar

I know, I know: a sheer guess. And I'm always chiding people for wasting mares on guesses. But the other recurring theme of this series has been the inconsistency, at ringside, of those who claim only to support new sires in the hope of catching the next big thing while still affordable, only to slink away from the same stallions just as they approach the hour of truth.

Unproven as his seed remains, Life Is Good has now taken his third consecutive fee cut since offering the same goods at $100,000 in his debut season. That investment paid off at the yearling sales, where 81 yearlings (96 offered) averaged $310,740, with a median $275,000. And with a battalion of runners out of mares deemed worthy of a six-figure cover, this tremendously dashing animal can hardly fail to make a big impact on the freshman table.

Well, he can. Of course he can. But if you truly believed in him at $100,000, you need to follow through now.

It was only natural, and very sporting, to try to stretch out his speed. But just remind yourself of the way he pulverised top-class horses when sticking to his strengths: from the day he announced himself by thrashing Medina Spirit by eight lengths, to his destruction of a peak-form Knicks Go in the GI Pegasus. Breeders will never tire of this cross and Into Mischief has surely never sent a faster son to stud.

 

Gold: TWIRLING CANDY

Candy Ride (Arg)-House of Danzing (Chester House)

$75,000 Lane's End

There's a limit to how far you could hike his fee, when he pays such a penalty at the sales for his proficiency on turf: $186,070 (median $135,000) was a perfectly respectable yield for his latest yearlings, next to their $60,000 conception fee, but made it hard to reward him adequately for a year in which he banked more prizemoney than any American stallion bar Into Mischief, Not This Time and Gun Runner. Another three Grade I winners take him up to a dozen overall, among 62 stakes winners at 5.7 percent of named foals.

His ratios are in line with those of his venerable sire CANDY RIDE (Arg), himself available in the evening of his career at just $60,000-tempting enough, for the sire additionally of Gun Runner and Vekoma…. And while his turf earnings were second only to Not This Time, Twirling Candy is similarly versatile in terms of metier, with graded stakes winners in 2025 from 5.5 to 11 furlongs. That evokes his own record, as a Grade I winner both in a dirt sprint and round a second turn on turf.

Remember he only reached $40,000 in 2020, having bumped along at fees between $10,000 and $15,000 for his first five years at stud. He has had to earn his stripes, and still can't get the credit he is due, but no racetrack program either side of the water should be neglecting the opportunity his slow-burning trajectory has produced.

The post Kentucky Value Sires for 2026: Part 6 – The Big Guns appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Annunciate, a maiden winner for her breeder Windylea Farm last spring, sold for $80,000 Tuesday at the Keeneland January sale. Photo courtesy of Warrendale Sales.

Annunciate, a debut maiden winner last spring, and a short yearling colt by New York-based sire Americanrevolution were among the leading New York-breds sold during the final session of the Keeneland January horses of all ages Tuesday in Lexington.

Airdrie Stud purchased Annunciate, a 4-year-old daughter of Speightstown offered as a broodmare prospect as Hip 570, for $80,000 to lead the way. Bred and raced by Windylea Farm, Annunciate won her debut May 12 at Finger Lakes before runs in five straight allowance races through September.

Consigned by Warrendale Sales, agent, Annunciate is out of the winning Hard Spun mare Whispering Angel. Foaled at Old Saratoga Equine Services in Schuylerville, Annunciate is a half-sister to graded stakes winner Wells Bayou, the 2-for-2 New York-bred Army Mule mare Angelique and two-time winning New York-bred Lookin At Lucky gelding Prophetic. Whispering Angel, purchased by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings for $375,000 at the 2022 Keeneland November sale, is also the dam of the 2-year-old Curlin filly Table Twenty.

Phil Hager’s Taproot, agent for the New York-based Final Furlong Racing, went to $75,000 to land the session’s top-priced short yearling, Hip 733, a filly by Maclean’s Music.

Bred by Fred Hertrich III and John Fielding, foaled at Waldorf Farm in Valatie and consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent, the filly is the second foal out of the Nyquist mare Hedy Lamarr. She’s also the dam of a New York-bred 2-year-old colt by Corniche was did not sell on a $100,000 bid at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred sale.

Hip 682, a colt by the Rockridge Stud-based Americanrevolution, sold for $40,000 Tuesday at Keeneland January. Photo courtesy of Taylor Made Sales Agency.

Greg Norman purchased the Americanrevolution colt, Hip 682, for $40,000 out of the Taylor Made Sales Agency consignment.

Bred by CHC Inc. and foaled at Edition Farm in Hyde Park, the colt is the sixth foal out of the unraced War Front mare End Times. She’s the dam of two-time winner Free Bird Bordo and a 2-year-old colt by Nashville that sold for $15,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred sale.

Americanrevolution, New York-bred Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old male in 2021, stands for $10,000 at Rockridge Stud in Hudson. He’ll be represented by his first crop of yearlings at the sales in 2026 after a strong showing last year when 15 of his weanlings sold for an average of $37,933.

Keeneland reported sales on 33 of the 45 New York-bred short yearlings during the two-day sale for a total of $1,320,700, an average price of $40,022 and median of $10,000. Six of the seven New York-bred broodmares, broodmare prospects or racing prospects sold for $325,000, an average price of $54,167 and median of $61,000.

The post Maiden winner Annunciate, Americanrevolution colt among top sellers at Keeneland January finale appeared first on New York Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc. News.

LEXINGTON, KY – The 2026 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale concluded its compressed two-day run Tuesday.

“Another really good day,” said Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy. “Overall, it was a great, solid day of trading. Everyone felt like it was a very honest and strong market overall.”

That market strength and diversity was on display with as the top 25 horses came from 18 different consignors and sold to 24 individual buyers. The top 13 yearlings were also each by different stallions.

After a three-day sale in 2025, Keeneland opted to make the 2026 January Sale into two longer, more action-packed sessions versus stretching the sale into three days. Lacy acknowledged that the decision was a difficult one to make but said, at the end of the day, buyers and sellers were happy.

“It maintained the energy,” Lacy said. “The back ring was packed for a lot of the day. That's all you can ask for in a good marketplace is when you've got energy from the beginning to the end of the day. We never felt like we hit a lull. Even the auctioneer said the sale had a great bounce to it. It really comes down to the entry count. You have a choice between two full, longer days or three shorter days. And we felt like the fuller days, where you put horses up against each other and you have a real energy, are going to be better rather than split it into three days. It was a big ask from everybody because we've never catalogued that many before and we didn't get the scratch rate we expected either. So normally you have 30% scratches and it was more like 20% out of this sale which, again, is a sign of a strong market and something we're happy with.”

Keeneland Senior Director of Sales Operations Cormac Breathnach also emphasized that the switch to longer sessions in this particular sale was not an indicator that the same method would be employed in future, larger sales.

“It's not something we're going to make a habit of,” said Breathnach. “This is not a new strategy and it's something you can't do in a bigger sale because you can't stable the horses. When you're re-using the same barns, you can't have 500 horses in a session. We have to really keep it at 400 or something close to that. So this is not going to be like we're going to have extra long sessions in big sales. It just became a two or three day decision [for this specific sale], and the decision was made to make it a two-day sale and we'll stand behind it as the right move.”

Many consignors returned to Keeneland for a new try at short yearlings off a strong November Sale with money still to spend when they weren't able to purchase enough weanlings.

“We were pleased to see the quality of the short yearlings,” Lacy continued. “The consignors felt like this was a good representation. People brought some really nice stuff here and the sellers got rewarded for that. The buyers were here and willing to support [the diversity] in the market. That's indicative of the quality of stock that was here.”

Orinoco River (Hip 863) Keeneland

En Fuego Stable picked up the session's top yearling, a $525,000 son of Nyquist consigned by Conley Bloodstock while the day's top mare belonged to St. George Stable LCC who acquired Orinoco River (War Front) (hip 863) in foal to Not This Time for $500,000 in a post-sale transaction after she failed to meet her reserve in the ring. The made the mare Coin Broker (Ire) responsible for two of the top four prices of the day as her Uncle Mo yearling (hip 637) sold to Rock Ridge Racing for $420,000.

“Obviously her, her page is what, you know, caught our eye, but then you go look at her and physically,” said Rock Ridge Racing's Codee Guffey. “She just stood out to us. We'll ultimately keep her and hopefully add her to our racing stable and then bring her home, make a broodmare after racing.”

 

Nyquist Colt a Home Run for Conley Bloodstock

Gainesway's Brian Graves waited late into Tuesday's closing session to pick up a colt (hip 966) by top sire Nyquist, outlasting several other interested parties on a final bid of $525,000. Out of the stakes-placed mare Sorrentina Lemon, the colt counts Canadian champion 2-year-old filly and GI Darley Alcibiades winner Negligee (Northern Afleet) as an extended family member. Graves signed the ticket as part of En Fuego Stables, a group that was also active buying weanlings during the Keeneland November Sale.

“I bought him for a pinhooking group and we'll bring him back as one of our stars next year at one of the select yearling sales,” Graves said. “He was just a specimen of a horse. He had everything you'd want–sire power, physical, walk, athleticism. I thought he was the best yearling here. [The market] has been hard. I bought eight foals yesterday, but it hasn't been easy. I think you just have to find your flow with the market and trust your gut.”

Nyquist | Sarah Andrew

The son of Nyquist was the sole offering consigned in the Keeneland January Sale by Carolyn Conley's Conley Bloodstock. First dam Sorrentina Lemon is a Justice Stables homebred.

“His reserve was a bit lower than the final price but we like to see the market take it,” Conley said. “So we set a conservative reserve. Bill Justice (of Justice Real Estate) is my other half and he bred this colt. We believed in this colt from the beginning. I knew he was the nicest foal out of this mare so far. We are excited for his future.”

Sorrentina Lemon's first foal is the now 4-year-old Mendelssohn gelding Lemon Sohn and she has a 3-year-old Medaglia d'Oro filly and a 2-year-old Justify filly still in the pipeline. That Justify filly failed to reach her reserve at Keeneland September last year on a final bid of $325,000.

“I wanted to wait for the September sale but Bill is an expert at businessman and he said Nyquist is as hot as a firecracker so we are going to January,” Conley continued. “The colt improved while he was here at Keeneland. I swear he grew and gained weight. He has a beautiful disposition. And his walk–wow.”

The result marked the highest-priced sale for Conley since she began consigning in 2021.

“I have been actively consigning going on five years,” Conley said. “It was a natural flow from working in California where I was a jockey's agent for two years. I was asked to sell or buy horses so this was a natural progression. Cassie Lee is my right hand. She has been with me since I started consigning. She runs the shedrow at the sale and shows the horses and brings them to the ring. I couldn't do it without her.”

 

Black Magic Woman Casts a Spell on L C Racing

A winning daughter of Uncle Mo campaigned by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher earned plenty of attention Tuesday early in the session, hammering down on a final bid of $425,000 to L C Racing. Black Magic Woman (hip 596), a half-sister to GI Arkansas Derby winner Magnum Moon, sold in foal to champion first-crop sire Vekoma from the consignment of Claiborne Farm.

“She's a big, strong mare, very attractive,” said Mark Reid who signed the ticket on behalf of L C Racing's Glenn Bennett. “I love Vekoma. And she's a half to an Arkansas Derby-winning millionaire. There was a lot to like about her. Todd had her as a race mare and she ran a couple of good numbers on the rags and sheets, which I pay a lot of attention to. I actually thought we'd have to pay a little bit more for her then we did. So we're very happy with the price.”

Black Magic Woman (Hip 596) | Keeneland

Twice a winner going one mile at Gulfstream in her racing career in 2021, Black Magic Woman is likely to return to Kentucky and Vekoma for her 2026 cover, though Reid admitted he'd been tempted by a few other options while visiting farms during Tuesday's open houses.

“[Her 2026 foaling plans] are still to be discussed,” Reid said. “There's a good chance she'll go back to the same horse. She's a really good match for him. Although I've been wandering the countryside looking at stallions today and I've seen maybe two or three other good matches for her. So she'll go back to Pennsylvania to foal and then she'll return to Kentucky to be bred.”

L C Racing has seen plenty of success on the track, including last year's GII Lexus Raven Run Stakes winner Kappa Kappa (Omaha Beach). Reid noted that Bennett was also looking to breed future success with a broodmare band that's trending upwards.

“Glenn's looking to improve himself,” Reid said. “He's an old-school sports guy who's looking to have some fun and you have fun in those big races on Saturday. So my marching orders are to see if we can get him there. He's assembling a pretty good broodmare band. I bought Adorabella [at Fasig-Tipton] two years ago and now it looks like Book 'em Danno [Bucchero] could be a champion sprinter. So he's got, at the very least, a couple of top producing dams. So we're excited. He's got a band of about 15 now. And what I do every time I go to one of these sales, I sell our bottom mares and buy one higher to upgrade the group. That's what he's looking for. The market is very spotty. They either want them or they don't. And everybody seems to be on the same five horses in every sale. So that's why we're going this way [buying mares] instead of yearlings because they get the big super groups together and all the ones that I used to be able to buy for a couple hundred thousand are now going for [seven-figures]. And although Glenn could do that, I just don't think it's a smart way to go. If I can get him 15 decent-bred mares throwing horses by decent Kentucky stallions every year, I think we'll put together a pretty good race horse.”

 

Now on the Oaks Trail, EGL-One Racing Continues to Grow

Sixteen months ago, EGL One picked up their first purchase at Keeneland September, a yearling filly by American Pharoah for $75,000. Flash forward and that filly, now named Two Bits, has put the young entity on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks via her second-place finish in the Jan. 2 Busanda Stakes at Aqueduct, good for 10 points on the Oaks leaderboard. EGL has continued to grow in the months since that first purchase and Amanda Gillman struck again Tuesday, adding the now 4-year-old Quality Road filly Agia Marina (hip 558) to an EGL-One Racing roster which numbers some 20 strong.

“We liked her race record,” said Gillman of EGL's newest acquisition. “She's proven that she has some talent on the race track and obviously Quality Road kind of sells himself.”

Agia Marina (Hip 558) | Keeneland

With earnings of over $130,000 in six starts, Agia Marina broke her maiden two starts ago at Kentucky Downs and raced most recently at Gulfstream Park, finishing second at Gulfstream Park in an allowance optional claimer Dec. 27.

“These guys [EGL], they're focused on breeding and anything that they can create value with and get some black-type with down the road and then put into the broodmare band,” Gillman continued. “She's going to return to the track with Amelia Green and she'll race, barring any unforeseen circumstances, through her 4-year-old year and then we'll put her in foal next year.”

The $170,000 paid for Agia Marina matched the third highest-priced horse signed for by EGL and Gillman acknowledged the strength of the market.

“It was a good price,” Gillman said. “It was kind of the top of our limit but, in this market, you have to stretch for the ones you really like. We were blown out of the water on basically everything [Monday] so when you do land on one, it's a relief. [We want] the kind of horses that everyone wants in their broodmare band, which obviously makes it tough to buy. You hope that some slip through the cracks here and there. You look through all sorts of horses in every sale and try and find those classic pedigrees, those Curlin and Tapit pedigrees that everyone wants.”

And as for their Busanda runner up?

“She's doing great,” Gillman said. “She came out of the race in great shape. She's been very exciting to have. She's such a hard-trying, sweet horse to be around. She really gives you her all and she loves people so she's been a cool horse. It's honestly surreal. If you would have told us two years ago, we probably would've laughed in your face. It's everything coming together. We'll leave all her options open and consider every race on the Oaks trail. Just see how she trains on and pick the best spot for her.”

The post Keeneland January Concludes With Day Of ‘Solid Trading’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Two racetrack veterinarians who are the principals of Maryland Veterinary Group (MVG) have been served with notices of violations and were given provisional suspensions that started Jan. 12 after Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) searches of that practice's offices at Laurel Park and Delaware Park allegedly turned up “banned” substances that, under Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) rules, are never to be found in any covered Thoroughbred or possessed on any HISA-regulated grounds.

Dr. Nicholas Meittinis and Dr. Adam Lockard are both alleged to have violated HISA Rule 2215 (“No Covered Person acting alone or in concert with another person shall compromise the welfare of a Covered Horse for competitive or commercial reasons…”) and Rule 2271(a)(1) (“Use of physical or veterinary procedures to mask the effects or signs of injury so as to allow training or racing to the detriment of the Covered Horse's health and welfare.”).

TDN emailed both veterinarians on Tuesday to get their sides of the story.

Meittinis wrote back and said, “as our hearing has not yet been scheduled, I withhold any comments at this time. I'll be happy to comment after the hearing.”

Lockard did not reply prior to deadline for this story.

The charges represent only the regulator's version of what transpired, and both veterinarians will be entitled to hearings as their separate (but related) cases move forward.

According to the two notices of violation, on Sept. 23, 2025, HIWU, which is the independent enforcement agency of the HISA's Anti-Doping and Medication Control Program, conducted coordinated searches of the veterinary practice's offices at Laurel and Delaware.

The violation notices did not state specific reasons why the MVG offices were singled out beyond indicating that the searches were based on “information provided to the Authority.”

Nor did the documents cite any specific trainers who might have received veterinary services related to any alleged administration of banned substances.

At Laurel, HIWU agents allegedly seized banned substances, some of which “were several years past their expiration dates.” The inventory list included:

“Carolina Gold” (gamma aminobutyric acid) “AMP 20%” (adenosine 5-monophosphate), “Osphos” (bisphosphonate), albuterol tablets (banned if not administered via inhaler) and isoxsuprine.

Multiple containers of banned anabolic-agent substances were also allegedly seized: Trenbolone, testosterone, testosterone cypionate, stanozolol and Winstrol-V.

On the same date, Dr. Meittinis was present at MVG's Delaware office when HIWU found and seized another banned substance, albuterol syrup.

The notices of violation further stated that, “Displayed on the wall of MVG's Delaware Park office during the Sept. 23, 2025, inspection was the recipe for 'Steroid Paint'.”

That recipe appeared to be comprised of banned and controlled substances, such as pitcher plant extract, “DMSO” and “Dex.”

The violation notices stated that, “On the date of the Delaware Park search, Dr. Meittinis's veterinary vehicle was also searched on the backside of Delaware Park, and HIWU found and seized another Banned Substance,” which was allegedly pitcher plant extract.

The violation notices stated that a follow-up search by HIWU Nov. 20 at Laurel allegedly yielded additional jugs of topical pitcher plant extract and other allegedly banned substances that “were located in an inconspicuous location and were not observed by investigators during the Sept. 23, 2025, search at Laurel Park (although they can be seen in photographs from that inspection).”

The violation notices also stated that additional substances seized from the searches are “currently being analyzed by laboratories to determine if they also contain Banned Substances.”

The violation notices stated that, “As described above, you and the veterinary practice under your control were found to be in possession of several current Banned Substances across multiple locations dedicated to the care and treatment of Covered Horses and on different dates, indicating a pattern of repeated and ongoing violations.

“Additionally, there is evidence that MVG dispensed Steroid Paint containing three Banned Substances to Covered Persons for use on Covered Horses since 2023…

“If it is agreed or determined that one or more Rule 2271(a)(1) violations have occurred, HISA may, in addition to the provisional suspension, seek to impose one or more of the sanctions outlined in Rule 8200 as deemed appropriate by HISA in keeping with the seriousness of the violation and the facts of the case, and that is consistent with the safety, welfare, and integrity of Covered Horses, Covered Persons and Covered Horseraces,” the violation notices stated.

The post Two Veterinarians Suspended By HISA After Track-Office Searches At Laurel And Delaware Allegedly Turn Up Banned Substances appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Last November, Democratic Kentucky state representative Matt Lehman told the TDN he was considering legislative intervention in an effort to curb computer assisted wagering (CAW) play in the state to a more equitable standard for all players.

The debate around CAW players typically surrounds the edge they wield over regular gamblers thanks to their use of sophisticated technologies that allow them to precisely read the markets and to place massive wagers across many pools in the final seconds of betting–which can lead to extreme late odds changes–as well as the attractive rates and rebates offered to them which are unavailable to the average punter.

Earlier this month, Lehman came good on that idea by introducing into the state legislature HB 39, an apparently first-of-its-kind bill that seeks to put CAW players on as even a playing field as possible with average retail players in Kentucky's Pari-mutuel wagering pools.

The bill redefines “Pari-mutuel wagering” the following way, the key aspects of it focused on uniform access to these pools, and the prohibition of preferential “pricing” and “rebates” not uniformly available to all patrons:

“Amounts wagered shall be placed in one (1) or more designated pari-mutuel pools from which winning wagers are paid out in proportion to the individual winning wagers, after deductions and adjustments to the pool are made, as required by statute or authorized by the corporation. Access to pari-mutuel pools shall be made available to all patrons on equitable terms, and no patron or class of patrons shall be afforded preferential pricing, rebates, access, information, technology, latency, or other advantages not uniformly available to all patrons placing wagers of the same type into the same pari-mutuel pool.”

While last November, Lehman shared how he was involved in “bipartisan discussions” with other lawmakers around any such legislation, it's currently unclear what kind of broad political support this current bill has.

Though early days, it doesn't appear to have any co-sponsors yet. The TDN messaged Lehman Tuesday afternoon for clarification. The story will be updated as necessary.

Bipartisan Support would be crucial for this bill because as a Democrat, Lehman is in the distinct minority in the 100-seat Kentucky House of Representatives, which the Republicans control by an 80-20 margin. Republicans control the 38-seat state senate by a 32-6 margin.

While many gambling experts have in recent years repeatedly warned that CAW play has too often gotten out of control–leading to pools that are way out of a healthy balance–the tracks have largely led the way in addressing the problem, some more proactive than others.

At last month's Global Symposium on Racing in Tucson, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) president and CEO David O'Rourke announced the organization was taking steps–arguably the most aggressive yet by any track operator in the country–to limit CAW play one minute to post in nearly all pools.

This will mean that all CAW players will soon be limited to a maximum six-bets per second when they bet into the NYRA product within one minute to post in these pools, putting them on the same footing as retail players.

The steps that NYRA has already taken to manage these high-volume players-limiting their access to the win pool and the Late Pick 5 and Pick 6 pools-will remain unchanged.

The post Lehman CAW Bill Introduced, Tough Road In Republican-led State Legislature appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Trainer John W. Sadler has been elected President of the Board of Directors of California Thoroughbred Trainers, Inc. [CTT], succeeding Eoin G. Harty, who has served in that capacity since 2019, and remains a Director, the organization said via a Tuesday press release.

Sadler previously served as a Director or President of CTT on several occasions, most recently from 2010 to 2013. He was instrumental in developing the Edwin J. Gregson Foundation in 1998, which benefits and enhances the quality of life for backstretch workers and their families.

The post Sadler Succeeds Harty As President Of California Thoroughbred Trainers appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

D. J. Stables homebred Nitrogen, a finalist for Eclipse champion 3-year-old filly, arrived at Oaklawn Park Jan. 11 ahead of her 4-year-old campaign.

Old Friends, the Thoroughbred retirement farm in Georgetown, Ky. announced that reservations for 2026 tours are now open.

The late Ed Bowen will be honored with the Eclipse Award of Merit in recognition of a lifetime of outstanding achievement in the Thoroughbred industry.

The first foals by Coolmore's group 1-winning 2-year-olds and Epsom Derby (G1) heroes Auguste Rodin and City of Troy arrived Jan. 12.

Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) winner Bentornato is nearing a return to the work tab Jan. 17 with a target on a trip to the Middle East for the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) on Dubai World Cup night March 28.

Maiden Watch: Week of Jan. 5-11

The Jan. 13 session of the Gold Coast Yearling Sale finished with a clearance rate of 78% as 145 yearlings found a new home. In turn, the aggregate reached AU$41.285 million, down 8.5% year-on-year. The average price closed at AU$284,725, up 2.2 %.