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After securing runner-up honors in the past two editions of the Phoenix Stakes (G2), Nakatomi will try to land top honors when he starts in the six-furlong sprint Oct. 3 at Keeneland.

On the Sept. 29 episode of BloodHorse Monday, Kenny McPeek discusses Mystik Dan's Lukas Classic (G2) win and Thorpedo Anna's upcoming start in the Spinster Stakes (G1) at Keeneland Oct. 5. Bob Ehalt recaps weekend racing in New York.

Keeneland has catalogued 3,075 horses for its upcoming November Breeding Stock Sale, the company announced Tuesday. The sale will run for eight days beginning Tuesday, Nov. 4 and running through Wednesday, Nov. 11, with the stand-alone November Horses of Racing Age Sale held the following day.

Click here for the Breeding Stock Sale catalog, which features exciting broodmare prospects along with proven mares in foal to prominent stallions and well-bred weanlings by established stallions and popular young sires.

Among the horses featured are the first mares in foal to such stallions as GI Preakness winner Seize the Grey, GI Belmont winner Dornoch and GI Breeders' Cup Mile winner More Than Looks along with the first weanlings by stallions including Horse of the Year Cody's Wish and GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage.

The November Breeding Stock Sale will open with a single-day Book 1 on Nov. 4 with a select group of 213 broodmares, broodmare prospects and weanlings. The session will begin at 2 p.m. and Keeneland will accept select supplements to Book 1 until the auction starts.

The November Sale catalog also includes these offerings:

• Dispersal of Bonne Chance Thoroughbreds–Gainesway is consigning seven broodmares and six weanlings. Hidden Brook is consigning 10 broodmares, one broodmare prospect and one weanling.
• Dispersal of Woodford Thoroughbreds (Phase 1)–Denali Stud is handling the sale of seven broodmares and one broodmare prospect. Taylor Made Sales Agency is consigning three racing or broodmare prospects.
• Previously announced curated reduction of bloodstock owned by Leonard and Jon Green's D.J. Stable. Taylor Made Sales Agency is consigning 31 broodmares, racing or broodmare prospects and one broodmare prospect. Hill 'n Dale at Xalapa is consigning one mare in foal to Curlin.

“With the November Breeding Stock Sale, we carry forward the tremendous momentum of our record September Yearling Sale,” Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy said. “The September Sale underscored the power of this community when we stand together, and the quality of the offerings in November give us reason to be optimistic about the road ahead.”

Print catalogs for the November Breeding Stock Sale are scheduled to arrive in the mail the week of Oct. 13.

The catalog for the November Breeding Stock Sale includes 1,360 weanlings along with 1,715 broodmares and broodmare prospects; racing or broodmare prospects; and stallions and stallion prospects. The auction will present the following schedule:

Book 1 (Session 1)–Tuesday, Nov. 4. Session will begin at 2 p.m. with 213 horses in the catalog.

Every remaining session begins at 10 a.m.

Book 2 (Sessions 2-3)–Wednesday-Thursday, Nov. 5-6. A total of 790 horses are cataloged over the two days.

Book 3 (Sessions 4-5)–Friday-Saturday, Nov. 7-8. A total of 837 horses are cataloged over the two days.

Book 4 (Sessions 6-8)–Sunday-Tuesday, Nov. 9-11. A total of 1,235 horses are cataloged over the three days.

New this year, Keeneland has adjusted the format of Book 4 to include three sessions. Sessions 6 and 7, which comprise the regularly scheduled Book 4, will sell Sunday, Nov. 9 and Monday, Nov. 10. On Tuesday, Nov. 11, Sessions 8 and 9 will be combined into a single day of selling. Horses cataloged to Session 8 will sell in the morning and will be immediately followed by horses cataloged to Session 9. Consignors with horses in Session 9 will sell those horses in the afternoon of Session 8 with the morning hours available for showing.

“This adjustment means buyers have a full day of breeding stock to evaluate, rather than two shorter sessions at the close of the sale,” Keeneland Senior Director of Sales Operations Cormac Breathnach said. “We believe this format will maintain the dynamic marketplace for all participants.”

Broodmares cataloged to the November Breeding Stock Sale are in foal to 156 stallions, including American Pharoah, Bolt d'Oro, Candy Ride (Arg), City of Light, Constitution, Curlin, Flightline, Good Magic, Gun Runner, Hard Spun, Into Mischief, Justify, Liam's Map, Life Is Good, Maclean's Music, Maxfield, Medaglia d'Oro, McKinzie, Munnings, Not This Time, Nyquist, Omaha Beach, Practical Joke, Quality Road, Street Sense, Tapit, Twirling Candy, Vekoma and War Front.

Joining the aforementioned Seize the Grey, Dornoch and More Than Looks as stallions with their first in-foal mares in the catalog are such sires as Grade I winners Arabian Knight, Blazing Sevens, Bright Future, Casa Creed, Classic Causeway, Cogburn, Domestic Product, Gun Pilot, Kingsbarns, Muth, National Treasure, Newgate, Prince of Monaco, Shirl's Speight, Tapit Trice and Timberlake; and Grade II winner Charge It.

A total of 140 stallions have weanlings in the catalog, including the aforementioned Cody's Wish and Mage. Other stallions with first-crop weanlings include champions Elite Power, Forte and Up to the Mark; GI Preakness winner Rombauer; Belmont winner Arcangelo; and Grade I winners Annapolis, Arabian Lion, Country Grammer, Dr. Schivel, Gunite, Proxy, Taiba and Zandon; Grade II winner Pappacap; and Grade III winners Fulsome and Two Phil's.

They join additional sires of weanlings such as American Pharoah, Bolt d'Oro, Candy Ride (Arg), City of Light, Constitution, Curlin, Girvin, Good Magic, Gun Runner, Hard Spun, Into Mischief, Justify, Maclean's Music, Maxfield, McKinzie, Not This Time, Nyquist, Omaha Beach, Practical Joke, Quality Road, Tapit, Uncle Mo, Volatile, War Front and Yaupon.

Weanlings who are graduates of the November Breeding Stock Sale include 2025 Grade I winners Ag Bullet (Twirling Candy) and Battle of Rouge (Vino Rosso), Grade II winners led by Carter Stakes winner Crazy Mason (Coal Front), 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Nysos (Nyquist) and Grade III winners led by Sovereign Award-winning 3-year-old filly Caitlinhergrtness (Omaha Beach) and recent Oklahoma Derby winner Bracket Buster (Vekoma) amongst many others.

The catalog for Keeneland's November Horses of Racing Age Sale is scheduled to be online Wednesday, Oct. 15. Keeneland will accept approved supplements for the auction until the Nov. 12 sale day.

Keeneland sales are live-streamed here and as always, online and phone bidding is available.

The post Keeneland Catalogues 3,075 Horses For Eight-Day November Breeding Stock Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

The launch of “Champions Give Back,” a campaign dedicated to raising funds and awareness for Breeders' Cup Charities, will coincide with this year's World Championships, according to an organization release Tuesday.

Led by an annual donation of all royalties received on Breeders' Cup merchandise sales, “Champions Give Back” will support the enhanced Breeders' Cup Charities program announced earlier this year. Breeders' Cup Charities supports Thoroughbred aftercare, jockey health and wellness, backstretch and industry workers, equine research, and other impactful community initiatives.

Featuring a selection of apparel, accessories, and décor, all Breeders' Cup royalties from every purchase will be donated to Breeders' Cup Charities.

Fans can explore www.BreedersCupShop.com to shop the full collection.

Fans can also support “Champions Give Back” by texting BCWC to +1 (855) 800-4975 to donate, or by visiting www.BreedersCup.com/Charities. A $50,000 match from international philanthropist and racehorse owner Ken Freirich will double the power of all donations received during the campaign, which will start Oct. 1 and run through the Oct. 31-Nov. 1 Breeders' Cup World Championships at Del Mar.

Additionally, $1 from every official Breeders' Cup cocktail–the Torrie Cup featuring Maker's Mark bourbon and the Garland, featuring Chopin Vodka–will be donated to Breeders' Cup Charities.

A post-event auction of donated Thoroughbred racing memorabilia will conclude the campaign, with additional details to be released after the World Championships. Owners of World Championships contenders are also given the option to dedicate a percentage of purse earnings to Breeders' Cup Charities.

For 2025, Breeders' Cup Charities will support multiple established charities, including the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund, the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, and the Race Track Chaplaincy of America.

The post “Champions Give Back” Campaign Kicks Off Ahead of Breeders’ Cup appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

The dedication ceremony for the Sunday Silence mural, a new equine art installation celebrating the legendary racehorse, is set for Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, at 2 p.m. in downtown Paris, Kentucky. The event is free and open to the public.

The mural, created by equine artist Jaime Corum, depicts the 1989 Kentucky Derby winner in his iconic victory. The artwork is located on the side of the new Hotel Thoroughbred, set to open in the spring of 2026. The mural is a project of the Legends of Bourbon County non-profit organization, in conjunction with Stone Farm.

The dedication is part of the third annual Legends of Bourbon County festival, which will celebrate the legacy of Sunday Silence throughout the weekend.  As part of the dedication, there is a day-long festival on Main Street in Paris that includes vendors and multiple musical acts.

The Mountain Music Ambassadors will take the stage at noon; Kentucky Wild Horse at 1 p.m and Mash Grass are scheduled for 2:35 p.m. Jason Carter, the day's final act, performs at 4:30 p.m.

The post Sunday Silence Mural to Be Unveiled in Downtown Paris, Kentucky Oct. 12 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Grade I winner Vahva (Gun Runner–Holiday Soiree, by Harlan's Holiday) has been entered in Book 1 of the November Breeding Stock Sale on Tuesday, Nov. 4. Lane's End, agent, will consign Vahva, who is cataloged as a racing or broodmare prospect. She will become the first Grade I-winning daughter of Gun Runner to be offered at public auction, according to a Keeneland release Tuesday.

Vahva is nominated to the GII Thoroughbred Club of America on Saturday during Fall Stars Weekend on Keeneland's opening three days.

“Vahva is a high-class competitor who has faced and defeated many of the sport's most talented female sprinters in each of the past three seasons,” Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy said. “A leading earner by Gun Runner, she will be a valuable addition to any program. Her graded stakes success at Keeneland makes her return to our sales ring especially meaningful, underscoring the unique connection between our racing and sales.”

In four seasons of racing, Vahva has raced at seven tracks with seven victories, including five stakes wins, and earnings of $2,041,010. Last year, she bankrolled nearly $1 million with a campaign that featured a 2-length victory in the GI Derby City Distaff on Kentucky Derby Day at Churchill Downs, where she next took the GIII Chicago Stakes by 1 1/4 lengths. Vahva also ran second in the GI Resolute Racing Madison at Keeneland and third in the GI Ballerina at Saratoga. In 2023, she won the GII Lexus Raven Run at Keeneland and the GIII Charles Town Oaks.

This year, Vahva captured Churchill's Chicago, which was upgraded to a Grade II event, for the second consecutive season. The goal for her connections is a return to the $1-million GI PNC Bank Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar in advance of being showcased at the November Sale.

“I've been fortunate to be around many successful mares, and Vahva has all the characteristics you look for in a future broodmare,” David Ingordo of Lane's End Farm said. “She is both elegant and strong with the kind of speed you want to see in a broodmare prospect, and I believe she will carry her racing success into the next generation.

“It is strategic on our part to sell Vahva at Keeneland because we believe in the reinvestment of their dollars into the industry and community,” Ingordo added. “I also believe that being able to train her at Keeneland has played a huge role in her development and success.”

Vahva's dam, SW and GISP Holiday Soiree, also produced Cherie DeVaux-trainee Ahavah, runner-up in the GII Fair Grounds Oaks in her second start earlier this year. Holiday Soiree's yearling filly by City of Light commanded $850,000 at the recent Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Trained throughout her career by DeVaux and based at Keeneland, Vahva raced for Belladonna Racing, Lynne Hudson, Edward J. Hudson, West Point Thoroughbreds, Twin Brook Stables, W.S. Farish, LBD Stable, Runnels Racing and Manganaro Bloodstock.

The post Gun Runner’s GISW Vahva to Sell at Keeneland November Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

5. CRISIS MANAGER, CD, 9/25, 1 1/16 miles (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure- 81 (4th)
(c, 3, by Liam's Map–Wilburnmoney, by Wilburn)
O-Highlander Training Center. B-The Elkstone Group (Md). T-Tom Amoss. J-Irad Ortiz, Jr.
You know it's a slow week for fast maidens when one race produces four of the top five, but fourth-place Crisis Manager gave a list-worthy performance when ground loss is considered: from his No. 12 post, he was marooned four-wide on both turns. Using data from Equibase's GPS charts (because it's the only game in town for these stats), he ran one second slower than winner Chillax but traveled 53 feet farther. Do the math, and the case can be made that Crisis Manager ran just as fast.

 

4. IGNITER, BAQ, 9/25, 1 mile (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure- 81
(c, 2, by Volatile–Malibu Prayer, by Malibu Moon)
O/B-Three Chimneys Farm (Ky). T-Rick Dutrow. J-Manny Franco.
Igniter was expected to improve off his wide-trip debut third behind talented Golden Tornado and Oscar's Hope, and he did, scoring at even money with a pace-stalking style. His Ned Evans owned/bred dam Malibu Prayer was a good one, taking the Grade I Ruffian with a 103 Beyer, then bringing $2 million at auction after her on-track career–and now each of her four foals to race has logged an 80 Beyer at least once.

 

3. MONEY MAN, CD, 9/25, 1 1/16 miles (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure- 82 (3rd)
(g. 3, by Dialed In–Oro Blanco, by Hold for Gold)
O/B-Everest Stables (Ky). T-Destin Heath. J-Frankie Dettori.
Money Man has the same running style as Mom and Dad, and his lack of gate speed repeatedly gets him bumped and squeezed and puts him in strategically difficult spots: he trailed by 13 lengths early in this race. But he's also honest, and now has rallied for three consecutive third-place finishes.

 

2. UP COUNTRY, CD, 9/25, 1 1/16 miles (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure- 85 (2nd)
(c, 3, by Practical Joke–A P Lucky, by Lookin At Lucky)
O-Calumet Farm. B-Wolverton Mountain Farm (Ky). T-Brendan Walsh. J-Tyler Gaffalione.
Revved up early by Gaffalione, Up Country secured a nice spot stalking pacesetter Woodson, briefly took the lead leaving the quarter pole but couldn't hold off Chillax while continuing to show Beyer improvement in his third lifetime start. His unraced dam A P Lucky is a half-sister to Grade II Beldame Stakes winner Horologist. Up Country was a 2022 $82,000 Keeneland November weanling from the Taylor Made consignment.

 

1. CHILLAX, CD, 9/25, 1 1/16 miles  (VIDEO)
Beyer Speed Figure- 90
(c, 3, by Bernardini–Keepshercool, by Smart Strike)
O/B-Godolphin (Ky). T-Bill Mott. J-Junior Alvarado.
Chillax had made Five Fastest Maidens once before–a statement that needs two asterisks. On July 13 at Saratoga he was third to Classicist with an 87 Beyer, and they finished 1-2 on that week's list. Then on Aug. 10 at the Spa, he was a rough-trip second to Worthy Charge with an 82 Beyer that failed to make the cut–but upon further review, as they say in the NFL, the Beyers for that race were upgraded by six points. Thus he should have been No. 2 that week as well. And four races back, Chillax missed the top five by fractions of a point. Now he has a five-race fig profile of 90-88-87-86-86, which looks more like a top allowance or low-level stakes runner than a recent maiden graduate.

 

 

The post Five Fastest Maidens, Presented by Taylor Made: Sept. 23-28 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

BBN Racing's Bracket Buster landed his first graded stakes victory in the Oklahoma Derby (G3) Sept. 28 at Remington Park. His trainer Vicki Oliver became the first female trainer to win the race.

The 2019 champion 3-year-old colt and second-crop sire has been relocated to Breakway Farm near Dillsboro, Ind. A partnership focused on supporting the Indiana program put the stallion deal together.

The Oct. 7 sale session will offer Hips 1-230, plus supplements Hips 231 - 258. The Oct. 8 session will sell Hips 301-530 along with supplements Hips 531-551. Sessions begin at noon ET each day.

In his first meet at Churchill Downs since returning from a broken ankle, jockey Tyler Gaffalione earned his 14th overall riding title at the Louisville, Ky., track.

Forever Young will get his warmup for the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) in the Nippon TV Hai Oct. 1 at Funabashi Racecourse in Japan.

Coming off an eight-month layoff between races, it would have been fair to wonder how Imagination would perform in his return to competition. The Into Mischief colt exceeded even the wildest of expectations to win the Santa Anita Sprint (G2).

The Chris Waller-trained Beiwacht emulated his sire Bivouac when winning the Golden Rose Stakes (G1) Sept. 27 in a record-breaking time of 1:20.79, smashing the previous track record of 1:21.22 held by Cepheus.

Cavalieri, Richi, and Howin ran one-two-three for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, as Cavalieri posted her fifth win in as many starts.

Rancho San Miguel's first-crop sire Mo Forza, a grade 1-winning son of the late Uncle Mo, got his first winner Sept. 28 when his 2-year-old son Mo Holland Drive won a maiden special weight at Santa Anita Park. Read more:

Folland-Bowen Bloodstock makes a first appearance at the Goffs Orby Sale this year with a Pinatubo half brother to classic-placed sire Isaac Shelby as Lot 200 of the Sept. 29 opening session.

Tom's Magic, a hard-charging second in The King's Plate, went one better in the CA$400,000 Breeders' Stakes, the final jewel in the Canadian Triple Crown, Sept. 28 at Woodbine.

In her third start for Ribble Farms and Front Page Equestrian, Regaled made a return on their investment with a dominant victory in the $392,000 Delaware Handicap (G3) at Delaware Park Sept. 28.

Trainer John Sadler said Full Serrano will "probably" try and defend his title in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) rather than try the added distance of the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1).