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New York-bred Usha put on a dazzling performance in the $300,000 La Brea Stakes (G1) Dec. 28 at Santa Anita Park. The 3-year-old daughter of Tiz the Law kicked away to win by 5 1/4 lengths in the 7-furlong race.

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert's goal for Goal Oriented had been a grade 1 win all season, and that goal was achieved in the final days of his 3-year-old season as he won the $300,000 Malibu Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita Park Dec. 28.

In an epic stretch battle, Nysos surged forward at just the right time to defeat Nevada Beach in the Laffit Pincay Jr. Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita Park Dec. 28.

Alberto Delgado, who earned Eclipse Award honors as the champion apprentice jockey in 1982, announced his retirement after the second race Dec. 28 at Laurel Park.

Usha joins ranks of New York-bred Grade 1 winners in Sunday’s La Brea at Santa Anita. Benoit Photo.

Usha added her name to the list of New York-bred Grade 1 winners with a dazzling performance in the $302,500 La Brea Stakes Sunday on the belated Opening Day card at Santa Anita Park.

The co-second highest-priced juvenile out of last year’s OBS April sale, Usha also landed her first stakes victory in the 7-furlong La Brea under jockey Juan Hernandez for trainer Bob Baffert and owners Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman. The 3-year-old daughter of two-time New York-bred Horse of the Year Tiz the Law made a powerful middle and stretch run to win by 5 1/4 lengths over 2-1 second choice Formula Rossa.

Usha went to post as the 5-1 third choice in the field of 10 in the traditional co-feature on Santa Anita’s Opening Day card, which was pushed from Friday to Sunday because of wet weather in Southern California around the Christmas holiday. She broke well before backing off just a bit to race alongside fellow New York-bred and 5-2 second choice Five G up the backstretch.

Artisma and Usha’s stablemate Silent Law battled through the opening quarter-mile in :21.85. Usha raced into sixth position as the tight pack headed to the far turn. Artisma continued to lead midway around the bend, past the half in :44.43, before Hernandez gave Usha her cue to attack the leaders.

Usha raced up to the leaders approaching the stretch, took command in the straight and powered home from there, drawing away through the lane to win in 1:21.68. Formula Rossa outfinished 16-1 longshot Simply Joking for second with Brilliantly third at 7-1.

“She broke good but and then she got in tight a little bit and had a little pressure from the outside,” Hernandez said. “That’s why I had to check a little bit, but it worked out really good. She is really good. She liked that style because she can be a little nervous and leaves some of the race in the post parade but today she was really calm. Jimmy and the guys in the barn did a really good job with her and kept her calm. It worked out really well.”

Usha came into the La Brea off more than two months off, after finishing a distant seventh in the Grade 2 Raven Run Stakes at Keeneland. She won her previous two starts in late July and in early September at Del Mar. Usha started her career with four defeats in the maiden ranks, her first three for Baffert in California and her fourth start in late October 2024 for John Terranova at Aqueduct. Usha improved to 3-for-8 with two seconds and two thirds in the La Brea and boosted her bankroll to $328,350.

“Usha showed up today,” Baffert said. “I shipped her to Kentucky for her last race and she lost it in the paddock. She came back here and that worked well. Juan knows her really well I didn’t have to say anything to him. We expected this when I shipped her to Kentucky, and didn’t win a race, but today she showed up.”

Bred by Elser & Raine and a $30,000 buy out of the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale, Usha is out of the stakes-placed Leroidesanimaux mare Animal Appeal. Offered out of the On Point Training & Sales consignment at the 2024 OBS April sale, Usha sold for $600,000 to Three Amigos to spark the final session and finish as the co-second top seller for the entire sale.

Animal Appeal is the dam of New York-bred winners Ableton (by Twirling Candy) and Sandy Sweet Tooth (by Blame), who were also bred by Elser & Raine.

Animal Appeal, a New York-bred who won four of 14 starts and $220,298, sold in foal to Twirling Candy for $35,000 to Thirty Year Farm at the 2018 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. She sold in foal to Solomini for $9,000 to Rachid Brothers at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed sale.

Animal Appeal produced a filly by Solomini in Saudi Arabia in February 2024

Tiz the Law, named New York-bred Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old male in 2020, won six of nine starts and earned $2,735,300. He won the Grade 1 Champagne at 2 before a sophomore campaign – interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic – highlighted by victories in the Grade 1 Curlin Florida Derby, Grade 1 Belmont Stakes and Grade 1 Travers Stakes.

The post Usha dominates Grade 1 La Brea at Santa Anita appeared first on New York Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc. News.

Waymark (Liam's Map) made his debut a winning one as he ran to his 3-2 odds here.

At the bell as a blitz for the top spot ensued, the colt watched from the outside up the backstretch. The 2-year-old flexed his muscles with a four-wide move around the far turn and picked up fellow 'Insight' runner High Camp (Instagrand). Blazing down the lane, Waymark aimed for the wire and scored, but High Camp put in a game effort with some late speed of his own. Autobahn (Nyquist), another 'Insight' horse, was fifth.

The winner is a half-brother to Caddo River (Hard Spun), SW & GISP, $838,116. Shortleaf-owned Pangburn, who the farm acquired as a summer yearling from Fasig-Tipton for $130,000 in 2013 and is a half-sister to GSW Eres Tu (Malibu Moon), is also responsible for a yearling colt by Good Magic and a weanling filly by Hard Spun. She visited Charlatan for next spring.

7th-Gulfstream, $40,000, Msw, 12-28, 2yo, 6f, 1:10.87, ft, 1 1/2 lengths.
WAYMARK, c, 2, Liam's Map–Pangburn {SW & MGSP, $338,480}, by Congrats
Sales History: $700,000 Ylg '24 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $24,000.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
O-Windancer Farm; B-Shortleaf Stable (KY); T-Brad H. Cox.

WAYMARK ($5.00) wins on debut at @GulfstreamPark with @Tyler_Gaff in the saddle for @bradcoxracing. The 2YO son of @LanesEndFarms' Liam's Map and half brother to Caddo River is owned by Windancer Farm. pic.twitter.com/PjndUQFcfS

— FanDuel Racing (@FanDuel_Racing) December 28, 2025

The post Liam’s Map Colt Waymark Off The Mark At Gulfstream On Sunday appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Champion jockey Alberto Delgado, whose Eclipse Award came in 1982 when he was crowned the Champion Apprentice Jockey, has retired from racing.

“It's been coming for a long time,” Delgado said. “Over the years, I retired, but never because I wanted to. [It was] because of injuries, concussions. At some point, I was heavy, so I had to retire and get everything straight. Last year, I kept telling myself this would be my last year, and I had to build myself up for it. I still love it, but at some point you've got to step down. You can't keep this madness going.”

The announcement came shortly after Sunday's second race at Laurel Park. Delgado, a second-generation jockey from Carolina, Puerto Rico, won 245 races during his Eclipse Award-winning season. That year, on Aug. 16, he rode five consecutive winners at Delaware, then drove to Timonium, where he swept the late daily double. Delgado surpassed the 200-win mark in each of the next four years. In 1995, he finished second in the GI Preakness Stakes aboard Oliver's Twist (Horatius) four weeks after he and the colt won the GIII Federico Tesio Stakes.

More recently, during a stint in Southern California in 2013, Delgado rode eventual two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome in five of his first six starts. The Listed Graduation Stakes at Hollywood Park was part of that stretch. He would later be replaced by Victor Espinoza ahead of the Triple Crown bid.

“I worked him for the first time, and I knew he was a super horse,” Delgado said. “I told the owner as soon as I broke his maiden that this horse would win the Derby the next year. He was something amazing.”

Delgado retires with a record of 2,951 wins in 25,534 rides and career earnings of $42,072,982. He earned 115 stakes wins, including 10 graded triumphs, and captured five Maryland Million races. He reports that his next plan is to move into training horses.

“This morning [Sunday], when I woke up, I was tearing up,” Delgado said. “It's funny. I've always made fun of these athletes when they retire. You see the speech, and they're crying. I'm like 'Ah, what a sissy, I can't believe he's crying'. Now, I'm in those shoes, and I know how they feel. It's tough. It's something you've done all your life. All my generation. I was like the Last of the Mohicans. I've got to step aside, and let them do their thing.”

The post Champion Jockey Alberto Delgado Calls It a Career after Laurel Park’s Second Race appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Bernietakescharge cruises to victory in Sunday’s Bay Ridge for her third stakes win of 2025. Coglianese Photo.

Robert Rosenthal and Brad Bernstein’s homebred Bernietakescharge put a cap on a strong 2025 campaign with a victory in Sunday’s $125,000 Bay Ridge Stakes at Aqueduct.

The 4-year-old daughter of Take Charge Indy collected her third stakes win of the season in the Bay Ridge, adding the 1-mile event to victories in the 1-mile Heavenly Prize against open company in February at Aqueduct and 1 1/8-mile Critical Eye versus New York-breds in June at Saratoga Race Course.

Bernietakescharge, who improved to 4-for-7 in the Bay Ridge, also finished second last time out in the Empire Distaff Stakes at Aqueduct.

Ruben Silvera rode Bernietakescharge to her 2 1/4-length victory over late-running Cupid’s Heart with 6-5 favorite Landed third in the field of seven. Bernietakescharge won in 1:37.77.

“She was training super,” winning trainer Dominick Schettino said. “She ran gutsy today, I’m proud of her. She ran the way she was training. She ran a gutsy race.”

The 2-1 second choice in the field of seven, Bernietakescharge was sent to the front to duel for command with Landed. Those two skipped ahead of the field past the opening quarter-mile in :22.96 over the fast main track.

“I just tried to break good because she likes to be in front; she likes the competition,” said Silvera, who was also aboard for Bernietakescharge’s Empire Distaff runner-up finish. “I put her in the game in the beginning, and she kept running. She’s a good filly.”

Bernietakescharge and Landed continued to battle through the half in :45.59 and the two widened their advantage from the field around the far turn. Landed and Bernietakescharge were stride-for-stride through 6 furlongs in 1:10.05 while Cupid’s Heart altered course to attempt to go around them, but Bernietakescharge dug in gamely to inch past Landed passing the eighth pole.

Bernietakescharge kept Cupid’s Heart at bay and finished clear at the finish. Cupid’s Heart finished three-quarters of a length in front of Landed for the place spot. Landed came to the Bay Ridge for trainer Wesley Ward after scratching out of last week’s My Charmer Stakes at Turfway Park.

“I was worried about her,” Schettino said. “She was in at Turfway, I was hoping she ran there actually. That didn’t happen, but then I told Ruben, ‘you can’t take away from her running style. Landed will probably go, let the best filly win.’ ”

Bernietakescharge is the second foal out of the stakes winning mare Berning Rose, who Schettino trained in 2017 to win the Maid of the Mist Stakes at Belmont Park.

Berning Rose, a daughter of Freud, has also produced multiple stakes winner and $255,750-earner Bernieandtherose, winning mare Berning Honor and the placed 2-year-old Always Dreaming filly Roseberns Dream. Rosenthal and Bernstein are also the breeders of Berning Rose’s yearling colt by four-time leading New York sire Central Banker and breeders with William Entenmann of her weanling New York-bred filly by New York-bred Horse of the Year Americanrevolution

Bernietakescharge is now a winner of seven of 20 starts and with a bankroll to $595,830.

The post Bernietakescharge caps strong season in Bay Ridge appeared first on New York Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc. News.

Night of Thunder gained a richly deserved first title after a season of high achievements. His 31 individual stakes winners worldwide are led by five individual group/grade 1 winners.

Museum Mile capped a busy and successful 3-year-old season with a victory over older foes in the Arima Kinen (G1T) Dec. 28 at Nakayama Racecourse.

BloodHorse has reprised its online year-end survey to ask some of the sport's leading individuals for their opinions on pertinent issues facing the sport.

Securing his first stakes win, Knightsbridge's victory in the $150,000 Mr. Prospector Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream Park Dec. 27 announced him as a threat in future one-turn mile events.

A return on 13 days' rest and a stretch out from a sprint to a route proved insignificant obstacles for Counting Stars, who improved to 3-for-4 in romping in the $150,000 Year's End Stakes Dec. 27 at Oaklawn Park.

Kentucky Derby (G1) and Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Sovereignty is preparing to compete as a 4-year-old, according to Godolphin USA director of bloodstock Michael Banahan.

Montador, which in Portuguese means "assembler," put it all together in notching his first stakes win in the $98,000 Woodchopper Stakes Dec. 27 at Fair Ground Race Course & Slots.

Lovcen employed a striking turn of foot in the final 200 meters to win the Dec. 27 Hopeful Stakes (G1T) for 2-year-olds at Nakayama Racecourse in just his second career start.

BloodHorse has reprised its online year-end survey to ask some of the sport's leading individuals for their opinions on pertinent issues facing the sport.

The Hopeful Stakes (G1T) has been a reliable springboard to glory for Japan's 2-year-olds and usually has a favorite or two set to move ahead, but not this year.

Sandman (Tapit) and La Cara (Street Sense), Grade I winners for dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse, each had five-furlong workouts over a fast track Saturday morning at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas.

GI Arkansas Derby winner Sandman, under Cristian Torres, went in :59.60 (1/16). He covered his opening eighth of a mile in :12, a quarter-mile in :24 and three furlongs in :35.80 before galloping out six furlongs in 1:12.40.

Unraced since late August, Sandman has had five published workouts in advance of his yet-to-be determined 4-year-old debut.

“He's great,” said Torres. “He's an easy horse to work with. He did it all on his own. He's a nice horse to ride, so I just put my hands down and he did all the work. He had a target today and he actually liked it. There was a horse that started like five lengths in front of me. When I asked him at the quarter pole, he went on and passed that horse. He's feeling good.”

MGISW La Cara also worked moments after the surface renovation break, clocking five furlongs in 1:00.20 (2/16) under exercise rider Autumn Lavertu, galloping out six furlongs in 1:13, according to clockers.

“Went good and easy,” Caden Arthur, who oversees Casse's Oaklawn division, said. “Just trying to get her a little more fit for the race in February.”

La Cara, who hasn't raced since finishing fifth in the GI Cotilion Stakes Sept. 20, is scheduled to make her 4-year-old debut in the GIII Bayakoa Stakes Feb. 7 at Oaklawn.

The post Casse Works Grade I Winners Sandman, La Cara Saturday appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Who says it never rains in Southern California?

Well, for any music trivia buffs in the audience, it was the little-known Albert Hammond who sang those lyrics, but those living in and around metropolitan Los Angeles will confirm that the precipitation came with a vengeance this Christmas week, flooding parts of Interstate 5 and causing power outages and even the (very) odd threat of tornadoes. Nearly two inches of rainfall was recorded at Los Angeles International Airport, breaking a 54-year-old mark, while nearly four inches fell upon Woodland Hills and 2.91 inches in East Pasadena. So far.

While the streets of Pasadena will have dried out ahead of next week's Tournament of Roses Parade, it's a bit more unclear what the underfoot conditions may be like a bit farther to the east at Santa Anita in Arcadia, which plays host to its booming opening day program, wisely pushed back by a couple of days to Dec. 28.

Bob Baffert has five chances for a record-breaking seventh victory in the GI Malibu Stakes, a race he won for the first time with The Factor in 2011. At $3.2 million, Barnes (Into Mischief) was the second-dearest offering at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale (to the $4-million Curlin–Beholder colt) and he is likely to go favored in what has become a stallion-making heat. Winner of this the GII San Vicente Stakes over this course and seven-furlong distance at second asking, the bay was a sound third in the GI H. Allen Jerkens Stakes in August at Saratoga and most recently plundered Keeneland's GIII Perryville Stakes Oct. 18 when he was somehow not favored.

Barnes has stablemates either side of him Sunday afternoon. Cornucopian (Into Mischief) was accorded 'TDN Rising Star' presented by Hagyard status for a smashing debut score at Oaklawn last February, but was only fourth in the GI Arkansas Derby after getting used up on a suicidal pace and was a very disappointing runner-up in a one-mile Aqueduct allowance when last seen Apr. 27. The $1.1-million Keeneland September grad gets the blinkers off and he and Barnes both drilled six furlongs in 1:12 4/5 on Dec. 20.

'Rising Star' Goal Oriented (Not This Time), twice Grade I-placed going two turns, Madaket Road (Quality Road), second in the GI Woody Stephens Stakes at this specialist trip, and the first-time blinkered and progressive Midland Money (Maclean's Music) round out the Baffert challenge.

California-based 3-year-old fillies have more or less dominated the GI La Brea Stakes, with only Birdatthewire (Summer Bird) and Fair Maiden (Street Boss) launching successful raids in 2015 and 2020, respectively.

The George Weaver-trained Five G (Vekoma) has a fair shot at backing up that every-five-year pattern as she returns to the races for the first time since wiring the GIII Gulfstream Park Oaks back at the end of March. The Gatsas Stable runner has trained nicely at Palm Beach Downs and got a feel for the local strip with an easy four furlongs in :49 flat on Dec. 19. Irad Ortiz, Jr. is in to ride.

Baffert saddles three in the La Brea in search of a 10th victory dating back to Arches of Gold in 1992, but none of the trio is close to a lock. New York-bred Usha (Tiz the Law) was very good at Del Mar this summer, winning her maiden by better than 11 lengths before adding a 5 1/4-length allowance, but she faded tamely to be seventh in the GII Raven Run Stakes at Keeneland Oct. 18. Silent Law (Tiz the Law) set the pace before yielding to Tamara (Bolt d'Oro) in the GIII Chillingworth Stakes Oct. 4, while Brilliantly (Uncle Mo) spots her rivals a world of experience.

On the evidence of her European form for Donnacha O'Brien, Atsila (Ire) (Phoenix of Spain {Ire}) is strictly the one to beat in the GI American Oaks to close the card–providing, that is–that it remains on the rain-softened turf course.

All the bay filly's experience has come in 2025, as she beat the boys to open her account at first asking before besting her peers in the G3 Athasi Stakes at The Curragh in May. She overcame a bit of a slow start to finish third as a 25-1 chance in the G1 Matron Stakes going a mile around Leopardstown Sept. 13 and was a latest sixth in the G1 Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket Oct. 4. An intended runner in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf, she was one of several vet scratches and is now based in the U.S. with Richard Baltas. She is back with her own age group for the first time since a seventh in the G1 Irish 1000 Guineas in May.

German listed winner and Group 2-placed Namaron (Ger) (Amaron {GB}) adds blinkers and gets Flavien Prat back in the boot for Sunday's GII Mathis Mile, a race that has also attracted Let It Ride Stakes winner and GI Hollywood Derby fourth Tempus Volat (Not This Time). 'TDN Rising Star' presented by Hagyard Nysos (Nyquist) and his GI Awesome Again Stakes-winning stable companion Nevada Beach (Omaha Beach) look set to dominate the GII Laffit Pincay, Jr. Stakes in what might be a springboard to valuable Middle East targets, while a wide-open field of 11 is set to load the gate for the GII San Gabriel Stakes.

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