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Darby Dan Farm's Shirl's Speight (Speightstown–Perfect Shirl, by Perfect Soul {Ire}), sired his first reported foal when a filly out of the multiple stakes-placed Ultimate Class (Durling) was born at Crupper Bloodstock in Paris, Kentucky, on Feb. 9. The filly's dam amassed earnings of $283,253 during her racing career and she has also produced multiple graded stakes-placed Bad Beat Brian who has banked $865,158.

“I was very pleased with this filly from the moment she stood,” said Megan Morrison, Crupper Bloodstock, of the first arrival by Shirl's Speight. “Even in a newborn, it was obvious she had a great angle to her shoulder and a deep heart girth.”

A homebred for Charles Fipke, the bay registered his biggest victory in the 2022 GI Maker's Mark Mile at Keeneland, earning a career-high 104 Beyer Speed Figure. He ranked among the top milers that season when also second by less than a length to champion Modern Games (GB) in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile. All told in an outstanding racing career, Shirl's Speight hit the board in 10-of-25 appearances competing against top-level horses around the world, banking $1,497,245.

Shirl's Speight is by the late Speightstown, a champion sprinter, winner of the 2004 GI Breeders' Cup Sprint. Shirl's Speight is a member of a dynamic and highly achieving family cultivated by Fipke through the decades. Fipke purchased Shirl's Speight's second dam, Grade I winner Lady Shirl, for $485,000 at the 2005 Keeneland November sale. He bred Lady Shirl to his homebred Sadler's Wells stallion Perfect Soul  to get Perfect Shirl, winner of the 2011 GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf. Perfect Shirl earned more than $1.3 million during her accomplished racing career.

For more information on Shirl's Speight, who stands for $5,000 S&N, contact Stuart Fitzgibbon at (859) 621-6763, or by email at Stuart@darbydan.com, or visit www.darbydan.com.

The post First Foal for Darby Dan Farm’s Grade I Winner Shirl’s Speight appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Florida Thoroughbred industry leaders anticipated this vote in the House and are expecting a different result when the companion bill is considered by the Senate.

Kentucky Oaks (G1) hopeful Bella Ballerina is looking to begin her 3-year-old season with a win in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes (G2) Feb. 14 at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.

Grand National-winning jockey Eddie Harty, the only Olympic competitor to win the world's most famous steeplechase, has died at age 88.

Returning to a track he has had much success over, the Philip D'Amato trainee enters the race off a game fifth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) at Del Mar, after being compromised at the break.

The Royal Delta Stakes (G3) is the featured race on Gulfstream Park's Feb. 14 card.

Illinois veterinarian and Thoroughbred breeder Dr. Donald McCrosky has been fined $300,000 and suspended for 24 years in rulings on the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit website.

An increased weanling offering meant turnover was always liable to rise, but spending was up with across-the-board increases.

A highlight of the Southern Hemisphere session is the 3-in-1 package of the well-bred mare Moraless, out of a half sister to High Chaparral. She is offered in foal to Starman alongside her Southern Hemisphere-time weanling colt by Too Darn Hot.

Bob and Bonnie Roth's Majestic View Farms in Gardiner, N.Y., has seen a number of talented horses foaled and raised on the property, but has reached a new milestone as the breeder of Withers Stakes winner Talk to Me Jimmy.

Darby Dan Farm's Blazing Sevens has sired his first reported foals, which include a filly out of the Adios Charlie mare Rye Lane born Feb. 9 and a colt born Feb. 11 out of the Ribchester mare Championofmyheart.

Former Santa Anita Park executive John Perrotta explores racing in Sicily.

A panel of Kentucky legislators dive into its contributions to the general fund of the horse racing industry and sports wagering.

The New York Racing Association announces its stakes schedule for the 2026 Belmont at the Big A spring/summer meet at Aqueduct Racetrack and the June 3-7 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course.

Submissions to participate in the 2026 Kentucky Oaks Survivors Parade on Friday, May 1, are now open. 

The Kentucky Equine Education Project Foundation awarded $46,760 to Kentucky equine nonprofit organizations through its Seattle Slew Grant Program in 2025.

Tickets and hospitality offerings for the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at historic Saratoga Race Course will go on sale to the public at 10 a.m. ET on Thursday, Feb. 12 at BelmontStakes.com.

Cristian Torres is Jockey of the Week after victories aboard Silent Tactic in the Southwest Stakes (G3) and Search Party in the Martha Washington Stakes for trainer Mark Casse.

The Belmont Stakes Festival, which will be held at Saratoga Race Course for the third and final time from June 3 to 7, will feature 25 stakes races worth $11,075,000. Anchoring the festival is the $2-million GI Belmont Stakes, one of 10 Grade I events over the five days of racing in upstate New York. Also on the Belmont's June 6 card is the $1-million GI Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan Handicap; $1-million GI Resorts World Casino Manhattan; the $500,000 GI Jaipur Stakes; the $500,000 GI Woody Stephens Stakes; the $500,000 GI Just a Game Stakes and the $400,000 GIII True North Stakes.

The Belmont Stakes Racing Festival will open with a race day dedicated to New York-breds June 3. The New York Showcase Day program will offer six $200,000 events exclusively for horses foaled in the Empire State.

Visit BelmontStakes.com/schedule for the complete schedule.

Tickets and hospitality offerings for the final edition of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga will go on sale to the public at 10 a.m. EST on Thursday at BelmontStakes.com.

The post Belmont Stakes Festival Offers $11 Million in Stakes Purses appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

The Belmont at the Big A spring/summer meet, which will open Apr. 30 and conclude June 28, will feature 16 stakes races worth $2.475 million in purses and will mark the final days of racing at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Highlighting the stakes schedule is the $200,000 GIII Peter Pan Stakes, the New York prep for the GI Belmont Stakes, which will be held May 9. The New York Racing Association will waive entry and starting fees to the Belmont Stakes for the first three finishers of the Peter Pan. The GII Man o' War Stakes, which was previously held on the weekend of the Peter Pan, will be held during the fall meet at Belmont Park in 2026.

The spring/summer meet, traditionally held at Belmont Park, will again take place at Aqueduct and the 2026 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival will be held at Saratoga Race Course for the third and final time due to the ongoing construction at Belmont. As racing shifts from Aqueduct to Saratoga, the spring/summer meet will pause from May 26-June 2 and, following the conclusion of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, live racing at Aqueduct will resume June 11.

Once construction at Belmont Park is completed, downstate racing operations will cease at Aqueduct and will be consolidated to the Elmont oval. The final race day at Aqueduct will be June 28 and NYRA is expected to pay tribute to the legacy of the South Ozone Park oval during its closing weekend.

Click here for the complete Spring/Summer stakes schedule.

 

The post Peter Pan Stakes Highlights Final Aqueduct Meet appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.