The grey colt, who finished second in the GI Haskell Stakes in his last start on July 18, will be ridden for the first time by Hall of Fame jockey Johnny Velazquez.

“Look, he is one of the best 3-year-olds of his generation and we want to give him the chance to go the classic distance of a mile and a quarter,” trainer Chad Summers said by phone Thursday afternoon. “We'll let the results speak for itself on Aug. 29.”

Summers said the decision was made after a 20-minute call with members of Espoir USA, an international group that bought the horse from former owner Al Gold for an undisclosed–but enormous–price after the Preakness.

“It was a team decision,” Summers said. “All systems go. We are on the same page.”

Velazquez worked Napoleon Solo last week and it was decided that he would be the pilot in the Travers. He replaces Paco Lopez, who had ridden Napoleon Solo in his last three starts.

“Johnny is a guy who has been there and done that,” Summers said. “We love the job that Paco did for us in the Preakness and I would think there would be a chance Paco could be reunited with him at some point. We are going with a Hall of Famer who has more Grade I races than anybody.”

Earlier Thursday, Napoleon Solo worked a bullet four furlongs in 47.67 seconds (1/41) with regular exercise rider Emily Elingwood aboard. He came onto the main track at 5:30 a.m. and did what he normally does.

He ran fast.

Summers said the colt has been working “great” since he arrived in Saratoga following the Haskell.

“We have always felt he had an affinity for this track,” Summers said after the Thursday morning work. “He has put on weight since he got here, and he has been touting himself. I don't think he could have had three better breezes than he has since the Haskell. We think he is coming into this race the right way.”

Napoleon Solo began his career at Saratoga, breaking his maiden by 5 1/4 lengths last summer.

What Summers wants to do is give his colt a chance to be 3-year-old champion. The clear-cut favorite right now is Travers-bound Golden Tempo (Curlin), winner of the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Belmont Stakes.

Napoleon Solo's resume this year shows four starts, one win and a second (in the GI Haskell Stakes). A win in the Travers–no easy feat because the field will be a tough one–could put him in the conversation with the Breeders' Cup looming at Keeneland in the fall.  But Golden Tempo is currently way in front.

Besides Golden Tempo, Napoleon Solo will have to contend in the Travers with the likes of  GII Jim Dandy winner Renegade (Into Mischief), Sea Strike (Midshipman), winner of the Curlin Stakes, GII Louisiana Derby victor Emerging Market (Candy Ride {Arg}), longshot GI Haskell Stakes champ Baby Vino (Vino Rosso), GIII Tampa Bay Derby winner The Puma (Essential Quality), Silent Tactic (Tacitus) who was third in the Jim Dandy,  GIII Indiana Derby winner Leading Change (Gun Runner) and maiden Ocelli, who was third in the Kentucky Derby and fourth in the Preakness.

Napoleon Solo has never run against Golden Tempo or Renegade, who figure to be the top two betting choices on the Travers morning-line. Entries will be drawn for the Midsummer Derby on Sunday.

“If you want to be champion, you have to show up,” Summers said “If you are not in the Travers, you're not champion. I still think it goes through Golden Tempo. Even if we were to run and win the Travers, you have to do the next step and beat older horses in the Breeders' Cup.”

Brown Taking on Counting Stars With Fresh Face

Without a doubt, there is one 3-year-old filly that towers over the other five that have been entered in Saturday's 146th running of the GI, $600,000 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.

Always a Runner (outside) My Gun's Loaded (inside) | Sarah Andrew

Counting Stars (Honor A.P.), winner of a pair of GI stakes at Saratoga this year (Acorn and Coaching Club American Oaks) is the 1-2 favorite. And for good reason. None of the others have won a stake race, let alone a Grade I. Combined, the other five fillies have won seven races; Counting Stars has won six.

On paper, the Alabama looks like a colossal mismatch. Ah, but that's why the races are not run on paper.

Chad Brown, who knows a thing or two about getting a filly ready for the big stage, is coming to the Alabama with a lightly raced horse named My Gun's Loaded (Gun Runner). She has only run three times–two of them while in Brown's barn–and the leading trainer at the Saratoga meet is going to give his filly a puncher's chance against the top filly of the division.

My Gun's Loaded began her career with Steve Asmussen and ran once, last December at Oaklawn Par, where she finished eighth. Owner Douglas Scharbauer transferred her to Brown for her 3-year-old season.

Brown took his time with her and debuted her at Saratoga on Belmont Stakes Day, June 6. She broke her maiden in a seven-furlong race by 4 ½ lengths and then won a 1-mile allowance by three lengths at the Spa on July 24.

Even though she has the least amount of starts of any in the Alabama, My Gun's Loaded was made the 3-1 second choice on the morning line, set by David Aragona.

“I am excited about this race,” Brown said outside his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track. “I have a lightly raced horse, but she is fresh. The big question for her is can she get a mile and a quarter?”

Brown has won the Alabama twice–the most recent with Randomized (Nyquist) in 2023.

Earlier this year, Brown won the prestigious GI Kentucky Oaks with Always a Runner (Gun Runner), who defeated Counting Stars that night in Kentucky. Since then, Always a Runner has been no match for that rival.

She was second to her in the Acorn by 3 1/4 lengths and then was second in the Coaching Club American Oaks, 4 1/2 lengths behind.

“We are going to try with a fresh horse this time with a horse that is in great form,” Brown said. “The two times I have run her, she has run exceptionally well, albeit in one-turn races. But she is by Gun Runner, and these horses get classic distances, generally. She could not possibly be training any better.”

Irad Ortiz Expected Back Saturday for Alabama

After being absent for a big chunk of the Saratoga meeting, jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. is expected to return just in time to ride Counting Stars (Honor A.P.) in Saturday's GI, $600,000 Alabama Stakes.

Ortiz, the four-time defending Saratoga riding champion, has had a frustrating summer at the Spa. After missing the first six days of the meet due to suspension (five days) and a riding date out of town (one), he was injured on Whitney Day, Aug. 8.

He was involved in an incident during the post parade of the seventh race on Whitney Day that resulted in severe swelling in his left foot. He has not ridden since. When he returns on Saturday, he will have missed 15 days of the meet.

His agent, Steve Rushing, said Ortiz is scheduled to breeze a horse at the Spa on Friday and then ride three races on Saturday and four on Sunday.

“Every day he is making progress,” Rushing said Thursday morning at the Oklahoma Training Track. “The swelling has come down, and he is about 90 percent. We will keep it light the first few days and then go full from there.”

Ortiz has ridden Counting Stars in his last two starts–wins in the GI Acorn Stakes and GI Coaching Club American Oaks. Had he not been able to return in time, Rushing said the contingency plan was to have Jose Ortiz ride the filly.

Rushing said that Ortiz and his brother, Jose, who he also represents, will be leaving Saratoga after Travers Day, Aug. 29, and head to Kentucky Downs to ride. He said that Irad will not return to Saratoga for any of the final seven days of racing, but Jose is scheduled to ride here on Sept. 4.

After Thursday's card. Jose Ortiz led the standings with 59 wins, 12 more than Manny Franco, who, according to his agent John Panagot, is remaining in Saratoga for the rest of the meet.

“Obviously, it's the premier meet in the country,” Rushing said. “It's definitely important to win it. Irad missed so many days … for him to have 30 wins at this point is pretty impressive.”

The post Saratoga Notebook, presented by NYRA Bets: Napoleon Solo Will Run in Travers, Velazquez Will Ride appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

“So impressive, it was our first 2-year-old winner (this year),” winning owner Seth Klarman said in the winner's circle on Saratoga Live. “Great to get her going and see what she could do. It's just like spring training in baseball, there's always a dream, and when they continue on, you're really excited. It's nice to see one validate our confidence.”

4th-Saratoga, $115,000, (S), Msw, 8-20, 2yo, f, 6 1/2f, 1:18.73, ft, 13 1/2 lengths.
CASH BURN (f, 2, Nyquist–Three Hawk {SP, $172,328}, by Violence) Sales history: $370,000 Ylg '25 SARAUG. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $63,250. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel Racing.
O-Klaravich Stables, Inc.; B-Ned Williams, Mike Matese & Jack Murray (NY); T-Chad C. Brown.

makes her move through traffic and wins R4 by 10+ lengths for trainer Chad Brown, piloted by Flavien Prat. pic.twitter.com/eCRNBYHsG8

— TwinSpires Racing (@TwinSpires) August 20, 2026

The post New York-Bred Cash Burn Sizzles in Debut at the Spa appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Casse couldn't help but glow when discussing the ultra-talented Nitrogen, laying out the strategy behind pointing her to the GII Locust Grove Stakes as a stepping stone toward the Breeders' Cup. He also discussed a few precocious 2-year-olds eyeing the turf at Kentucky Downs and had a check-in with OBS graduate Counting Stars as she puts the finishing touches on her preparations for this weekend's GI Alabama Stakes.

Some of the horses featured in the video are previewed below.

NITROGEN (4, f, Medaglia d'Oro — Tiffany Case, by Uncle Mo)

No introduction needed for this champion and DJ Stable homebred.

She was second to Sovereignty (Into Mischief) and went from ninth to second in the national standings, which was what we were trying to accomplish. I felt like everybody looked at her as a very good filly. I wanted them to look at her as a great filly and I think we accomplished that.

We were originally thinking the GI Spinster for her, but now we're thinking the GII Locust Grove at Churchill because of the timing. She likes six weeks between races and if we go in the Locust Grove, the timing will be a little better for the Breeders' Cup.

AND ONE MORE TIME (4, f, Omaha Beach — Complicated, by Blame)

Live Oak Plantation-owned filly looks to get a fourth career stakes win in Saturday's GII Ballston Spa Stakes.

She belongs to Mrs. Weber and just won the De La Rose here. She was a Grade I winner at two and has an impeccable pedigree. She's a half to several graded stakes winners, including GISW Simply In Front (Summer Front).

CLASSIC Q (4, f, Classic Empire — Lovely Em, by Scat Daddy)

Gary Barber, Blue Crevalle Racing and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners-owned filly has scored back-to-back wins in the GII Churchill Distaff Turf Mile Stakes and GI Just a Game Stakes.

I bought this one for my wife and Hugh Daly, our dear friend, as a yearling for $40,000. She has made $1.4 million and is getting ready to run in a turf sprint for older fillies at Kentucky Downs.

SILENT TACTIC (3, c, Tacitus — Magical Sign, by Gun Runner)

Silent Tactic in Saratoga | Sarah Andrew

The $500,000 OBS April graduate campaigned by John Oxley is pointing for the GI Travers Stakes.

I thought he ran extremely well finishing third in the GII Jim Dandy and he should run even better in the Travers. He won the GIII Southwest, was second in the GI Arkansas Derby and has won over a million dollars. I feel good about him.

COUNTING STARS (3, f, Honor A.P. — Paynterbynumbers, by Paynter)

The $150,000 OBS April graduate and West Point Thoroughbreds star runs in this weekend's GI Alabama Stakes

She could become the third filly ever to win three Grade I races at Saratoga in one meet. She's already won two, the Coaching Club American Oaks and the Acorn, and I can't say enough great things about her. She's a trainer's dream.

MEASURE (3, f, Essential Quality — Fateer, by Eskendereya)

Gary Barber, Bridlewood Farm and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners-campaigned filly looks to get first win since November maiden win in the Alabama

She was third in the CCA Oaks behind Counting Stars and I think she's one of our up-and-coming stars. She's a filly we've been really high on, but she's taken a little bit of time because she wants more ground. She's going to love the mile and a quarter.

NEW YORK SPECIAL (3, f, Curlin — Achalaya, by Bellamy Road)

Owned by Gary Barber, she makes her fourth career start in Friday's Fleet Indian Stakes.

This is a half-sister to Casa Creed (Jimmy Creed). She broke her maiden in her second start and was third in [the Suzie O'Cain Stakes]. She's kind of been a later developer. She's a big, tall, lanky filly that is just now starting to figure it out. As a 2-year-old, she didn't have a clue, but she's figuring it out.

HARBAUGH (2, c, Not This Time — Courteous, by Midnight Lute)

Purchased by DJ Stable for $450,000 at the OBS April Sale was runner-up in his last start. Runs on Sunday at Saratoga.

He was second in his second start here at Saratoga and is eventually going to Kentucky Downs.

Vissino is expected to try the turf at Kentucky Downs next | Coady Media

VISSINO (2, c, Preservationist — Treat, by Summer Front)

A $30,000 OBS March purchase campaigned by Blue Crevalle Racing and Quintessential Racing Florida, the colt will make a turf debut in his third start.

He broke his maiden first time out at Churchill Downs and then was second in the GIII Sanford here. He's doing great and is getting ready to go to Kentucky Downs to try grass.

The post Down the Shedrow with Mark Casse, presented by OBS appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

The post read: “Has anyone seen these new PP's with vet work? Also, how can I get them?”

That led to an investigation that led to more investigations that concluded with serious allegations from the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) against horse owner, gambler, handicapping contest player and college professor Marshall Gramm. Gramm has admitted that he was the one who had exploited vulnerabilities in HISA's cyber security to obtain confidential horse health records not just on Deterministic and Griffin's Wharf, but on millions of records, HISA says. On Monday, HISA charged Gramm with multiple rule violations and has referred the matter to law enforcement officials, asking them to look into whether or not he committed fraud.

So how did Imperio, who does not own any part of either horse, get hold of the information that led to one of the biggest scandals in horse racing history?

It all started with a phone call from a friend, whose name Imperio would not divulge, who was participating in a handicapping contest that centered around the Belmont Stakes Festival at Saratoga. There were two–one run by XpressBet and the other by NYRA Bets.

Has anyone seen these new pp's with vet work?
Also how can I get them? pic.twitter.com/hln6tvAb8x

— Michael Imperio (@MImperioRacing) June 9, 2026

Gramm had two entries in the XpressBet contest and finished with a bankroll of $0 in both. In the NYRA Bets contest, Gramm finished second with a bankroll of $37,328. He earned $35,250, plus a seat in the Breeders' Cup Betting Challenge. There was a $5,000 buy-in to enter the contest, which means he made an additional profit of $32,328 with his actual wagers. HISA has reported that it will compensate the contest players who finished behind Gramm and will seek restitution from Gramm to pay the players.

According to Imperio, one gambler noticed that someone was using PP's that contained veterinary information and took screenshots of the past performances of Deterministic and Griffin's Wharf. Those screenshots were passed around until they landed with Imperio's friend and were forwarded on to Imperio. Imperio said he does not know if the person using the PP's was, in fact, Gramm.

The gambler sent the screenshots to Imperio, believing that, as a horse owner, he might be able to help solve the mystery.

“So he sent it to me,” Imperio said. “He goes, 'Michael, you're a horse owner. Can you get these? Is this out?' And I said, 'No, it's impossible. You can only get your own horses.' This whole thing broke because some gamblers in the contest figured that someone else was cheating them. That's how this whole thing happened.

“There's a story I heard that a guy told his friend he saw somebody on their iPad and he said, 'What the hell is this?' And he took a couple of pictures. Some were blurry. I don't know how many pictures he took, but those were only two that I got. If I had gotten more, I would have posted them.”

Imperio said he logged into the HISA portal to check to see if the veterinary records on his horses were available to him and says they weren't because he is only a minority owner of the horses in his stable and only the managing owner is privy to the information. In Imperio's case, that is trainer Rudy Rodriguez.

Imperio said he might feel differently about the situation if it had not involved a handicapping contest.

“If you were betting a Pick Five, nobody cares because you're betting against the house,” he said. “They're getting their takeout. But you go to a contest and people are putting up their own money. Whoever saw this originally was in that contest with this guy. That's when they got mad. They thought, 'you're betting against me and robbing me.' I think the funniest part is this was all uncovered not by HISA, but by gamblers that were mad they were getting cheated.”

Imperio said he is also upset that the information might have given Gramm an edge when it came to claiming horses.

“To me, it's the claiming horse part,” he said. “I gave an analogy to someone and I said, 'It'd be like this: I go to my safe deposit box. I open the box that ain't my box. He worked in someone else's boxes. Do I have the right to go to everybody's boxes? No.'”

Imperio said that he is surprised that Gramm is fighting the charges.

“(HISA) offered him a great deal and he didn't take it,” he said. “That's the part I don't understand.”

The post How Owner Michael Imperio Broke The Story of PP-Gate appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

With these supplements, a total of 4,642 horses have been cataloged to the September sale, which runs 12 sessions through Sept. 26.

The post Half-Sister to Champion Forte One of Two Added to Keeneland September Book 1 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Stable Recovery, launched by Frank Taylor and Christian Countzler to help individuals recover from substance abuse, support them on their path to sobriety and find meaningful employment within the Thoroughbred racing industry, is NTWAB's Bill Mooney Award honoree. The Bill Mooney Award recognizes those who have demonstrated “courage in the face of tremendous adversity.”

The honorees will be recognized at the NTWAB's annual awards dinner Oct. 28 at Malone's Prime, located at 3373 Tates Creek Road in Lexington. The annual awards dinner serves as the NTWAB's sole fundraiser. A portion of the event's proceeds will fund Thoroughbred industry charities and internships for prospective racing journalists.

Tickets for the NTWAB Awards Dinner can be purchased online. Ticket prices are $85 for NTWAB members and Breeders' Cup credentialed media, and $115 for non-members and guests. Full tables are also available for purchase.

The post Team Golden Tempo to be Honored by NTWAB appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

The separate HISA Authority and FTC filings, dated last week but just docketed Aug. 17, were the expected next moves in an ongoing lawsuit that dates to 2021 and has already once resulted in the Supreme Court telling three lower appeals courts to re-examine earlier decisions in light of a similar case that the Supreme Court had ruled on in 2025.

The original litigation out of the Fifth Circuit was spearheaded five years ago by the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA) and 12 of its affiliates against the HISA Authority and the FTC.

For the better part of the last five years, both sides in this lawsuit–and in two similar federal cases challenging HISA that also reached the Supreme Court level but were remanded–have sparred over the non-delegation doctrine, which bans Congress from delegating legislative power to federal agencies without an “intelligible principle” to guide the exercise of agency discretion.

Three separate appeals courts–the Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Circuits–have all agreed that HISA's rulemaking structure is constitutional. Only the Fifth Circuit has disagreed, in part, by consistently opining that HISA's enforcement provisions are unconstitutional.

“All parties agree that the Fifth Circuit's outlier judgment warrants review,” stated HISA's Aug. 10, 2026 writ of certiorari, which is the formal term for asking the Supreme Court to take up a case. “Given the intractable conflict over the facial constitutionality of HISA's enforcement provisions, only this Court can provide an authoritative nationwide ruling on that issue of legal and practical importance.”

The HISA petition continued: “Two administrations have supported HISA. Two bipartisan Congresses have embraced it, including through an amendment in late 2022 that fortified the FTC's oversight. And all but one of the federal courts that have resolved an identical challenge to the amended statute have reached the same conclusion: HISA is constitutional.

“The Fifth Circuit contradicted that consensus, holding that HISA's enforcement provisions facially violate the private-nondelegation doctrine. That decision–embracing the most extreme assumptions about the HISA regime, including hypothetical applications of provisions that have never been exercised–ignores this Court's caution against wiping out broad swaths of federal legislation on a facial basis. It also disregards the many ways Congress purposefully subordinated the Authority's implementation of HISA to the FTC's substantial oversight.

“Moreover, the decision [issued June 11] brushes aside cautionary signals this Court already issued in this very case,” the HISA petition stated.

Eric Hamelback, the NHBPA's chief executive officer, issued the following statement via email when asked for comment.

“The fact that both HISA and the Federal Trade Commission have now asked the Supreme Court to review the Fifth Circuit's decision underscores the importance of the constitutional questions the National HBPA and its affiliates have raised for years.

We welcome Supreme Court review because this case is ultimately about something much bigger than HISA. It is about the constitutional limits on government power and whether Congress can give a private organization the authority to investigate, prosecute, adjudicate and impose penalties on American horsemen without meaningful federal supervision.

The Fifth Circuit has now reached the same fundamental conclusion multiple times: the FTC's oversight of HISA's enforcement authority comes too late to make that private enforcement power constitutional. The Sixth Circuit has reached a different conclusion, creating precisely the kind of conflict that warrants resolution by the Supreme Court.

We have never objected to the goals of safety, integrity and accountability in Thoroughbred racing. We have consistently argued that those goals must be pursued within the Constitution.

Horsemen should not have to surrender their constitutional rights in order to have a safe and honest sport.

After more than four years of litigation, we believe the Supreme Court should take this case and provide a definitive answer.

The National HBPA is prepared to see this process through. Our position has remained consistent from the beginning: safety and integrity matter, but so does the Constitution.”

A year and a half ago, the three cases out of the Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Circuits had all been appealed up to the Supreme Court level.

Then, on June 30, 2025, the Supreme Court issued nearly identical “summary dispositions” for all three lawsuits involving the constitutionality of HISA, telling each respective appeals court that it wanted them to re-examine their rulings in light of a relevant decision the Supreme Court had just issued on June 27, 2025.

The new precedent that the Supreme Court told the Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Circuits to consider involved a case titled Federal Communications Commission (FCC) vs. Consumers' Research.

In that case, the Supreme Court justices, by a 6-3 vote, rejected arguments that the funding mechanism for a service that provides subsidized telecommunications services for low-income customers, rural hospitals, schools, and libraries violated the non-delegation doctrine. The Supreme Court also rejected a claim that the FCC delegated too much authority to a private company to administer the program.

The Sixth Circuit was the first to act on the Supreme Court's remand in a case led by the states of Oklahoma, West Virginia and Louisiana. On Dec. 17, 2025, the Sixth Circuit upheld the constitutionality of HISA for a second time.

Those states (plus a handful of other plaintiffs who first signed on to the original lawsuit back in 2021) have already asked the Supreme Court to re-examine that second Sixth Circuit constitutionality ruling, via a writ of certiorari dated May 15, 2026.

In it, the states and the other plaintiffs claim that the Sixth Circuit “erroneously” analyzed the application of the private non-delegation doctrine to the Act.

In the Eighth Circuit anti-HISA case, the plaintiffs are executives with the Arkansas and Iowa HBPA chapters.

That lawsuit involves a 2024 appeals court opinion that had affirmed a ruling out of a lower federal court in Arkansas denying a preliminary injunction the horsemen had sought to halt HISA and its Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) program.

Now approaching the 14-month mark since the Supreme Court remanded the case, the Eighth Circuit is the lone remaining appeals court yet to issue any revised HISA ruling. There have been no entries on that court's docket for this case since June 17.

The post HISA Authority and FTC Again Ask Supreme Court to Take Up ‘Outlier’ Constitutionality Opinion appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

It was his first race since March.

The colt had battled a foot problem all spring.

He was going up against two of the titans in the division in Renegade (Into Mischief) and Commandment (Into Mischief).

“I went into it thinking if we got beat eight lengths to those horses, it would be a good thing,” Casse said outside his barn at the Saratoga backstretch Wednesday morning. “Then, at about the eighth pole, I was thinking he might win this thing.”

Silent Tactic, owned by John Oxley and ridden by Luis Saez, did not win but he ran well, finishing third, 2 1/2 lengths behind Renegade and two lengths off Commandment.

Not a bad effort at all and now, it's full speed ahead to the $1.25-million GI Travers Stakes a week from Saturday.

Wednesday, Silent Tactic worked five furlongs in 1:01.34 (2/7) with Edwin Soto on his back. They worked in company with 4-year-old filly Nerazurri (Protonico) and Reynaldo Dumont. She is being pointed to the $500,000 GI Personal Ensign on Travers Day.

Silent Tactic is never going to blow anyone away with his morning works, but Casse liked what he saw from him Wednesday.

“I was going to breeze him a half and then I decided to go five-eighths because he is not exceptionally fast,” he said. “I wanted him to get a little blow and get something out of it. If you watched him work, you would think he is a $25,000 claimer.”

Before the Jim Dandy, Silent Tactic was last seen running second behind Renegade in the GI Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn on March 28. Nagging problems with a foot knocked him out of the GI Kentucky Derby and then the GI Preakness Stakes.

Casse decided then to aim for a Saratoga summer campaign and here they are.

The bruised foot is behind them, and the Travers is in full view in front of them.

“I definitely came away from the Jim Dandy feeling the best I have ever felt about him,” Casse said. “I feel very good about him going into next week.”

It's Always a Long Walk for Shisospicy

Every morning, Shisospicy (Mitole) takes a long walk to work.

The 4-year-old filly, trained by Jose D'Angelo, is led out of her stall at Clare Court and begins the journey to the Oklahoma Training Track, which is about a 20-minute walk. She is accompanied by exercise rider Jose Rivera and assistant trainer Angel Ayala and, when he's here, D'Angelo.

Shisospicy in a recent work on the Oklahoma | Sarah Andrew

The trainer flies into Saratoga whenever Shisospicy works. He comes from wherever he happens to be with his other divisions– California, Florida, Kentucky or Virginia.

The 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' has had three works on the Oklahoma this summer, the most recent being Sunday when she went four furlongs in :47.95 (1/50).

It would be much easier to just head over to the main track to work or gallop as it is a stone's throw from Clare Court to the main. But the Oklahoma is where Shisospicy trained last summer when D'Angelo was stabled there.

“She trained there every day last year and I like that track because it is a little deeper (than the main),” D'Angelo said. “It is a very good place for her to get fit.”

That worked out well because Shisospicy was the champion female sprinter of 2025 after she became the first 3-year-old filly to win the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint. She also won the G2 Music City Stakes against 3-year-old fillies at Kentucky Downs.

Just as she did last year, D'Angelo is using Saratoga as a summer springboard to the fall. Shisospicy did not run here last year but trained here following a dismal 15th place finish in the G1 Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot.

This year, Shisospicy was on the shelf early with an infection and, once she got back to training, she finished last in the GII Unbridled Sidney Stakes at Churchill Downs on May 1, Kentucky Oaks Day. She came out of that race “very, very sick,” D'Angelo said, and that necessitated some time off at Gainesway Farm in Kentucky.

D'Angelo hopes another summer at the Spa propels her to another strong fall. Shisospicy's next race could come in an allowance race at Churchill Downs in the middle of September to prepare her to defend her title at the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland.

“She has been special since day one, she just does things different than other horses,” D'Angelo said. “We are not too far to get to the place we want to get with her. I am very happy with her progress.”

Shisospicy has won six of 10 career starts and has a second and a third. Her career earnings are $2,095,270.

“She is the kind of horse that makes you wake up earlier,” D'Angelo said,  “because you want to see her.”

He said it depends on “how she runs” but there are plans to run Shisospicy, owned by Morplay Racing LLC, next year. The long-range goal would be to make a trip to the Middle East, something that could not happen this year.

Twinkle Town on Track for the Hopeful

If his first two starts are any indication, the future is bright for the aptly named Twinkle Town (Take Charge Indy), a 2-year-old colt in the barn of Kenny McPeek.

Owned by Four G Racing, LLC, Twinkle Town has won both his starts by a combined 12 1/4 lengths, The most recent was the GII Saratoga Special Stakes on Aug. 1 when Twinkle Town and jockey Jose Ortiz came home a six-length winner in the 6 1/2-furlong race.

Twinkle Town in the paddock just prior to the Saratoga Special | Sarah Andrew

What looms on the horizon is the seven-furlong $300,000 GI Hopeful Stakes on Sept. 6, the final Sunday of the Saratoga meet.

“He has such early natural speed,” McPeek said outside his barn. “I do think he is a horse that wants to go longer. You can't make a horse go :21 and :45 (seconds, the fractions Twinkle Town ran in the Saratoga Special), and that is certainly not in my style. He is just fast.”

Four G Racing is comprised of Lance Gasaway, Daniel Hamby III and Valley View Farm and they owned 2024 GI Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan (Goldencents), also trained by McPeek.

Twinkle Town is the nickname of Star City, a small rural town in Lincoln County in Arkansas where Gasaway lives. He, along with fiancé Bobbi Jo Harris, were in Saratoga for the Saratoga Special and are expected back for the Hopeful.

“They are on a bit of a roll,” McPeek said of Gasaway's group, which also bred Twinkle Town. “It's a tough game, but when you get a good horse, it's a lot of fun.”

The group hopes the good times continue to roll in the Hopeful. After that, there is the Breeders' Cup to think about that, and dare say, is it too early to start thinking about next spring?

“Well, not really,” McPeek said. “I think you can expect that, assuming he stays healthy, he will be competitive at a high level all fall. Next spring is another deal. We will have to retool him from a sprinter to a route of ground.”

The post Saratoga Notebook, presented by NYRA Bets: Casse Feeling Good about Silent Tactic as He Works Toward Travers appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Warner C. Lusardi, the San Diego construction magnate, major philanthropist and longtime civic benefactor, passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family. He was 94.

Mr. Lusardi was a devoted horse racing enthusiast and a valued member of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club Board of Directors, serving with distinction since 1988. Throughout his nearly four decades of service, he provided steadfast leadership, thoughtful counsel and an unwavering commitment to the success of Del Mar and the Thoroughbred racing industry.

He and his father, Pete, founded Lusardi Construction in 1958, starting the company out of the garage in their San Diego home. Over the decades, Lusardi Construction grew into one of the region's largest and most successful builders, completing thousands of projects totaling millions of square feet across Southern California.

Mr. Lusardi was a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and served in the U.S. Navy as a member of the Civil Engineer Corps. He was also a licensed General Engineering and General Building contractor and a Registered Civil Engineer.

He and his wife, Debbie, were married for 54 years prior to her passing in 2024.

The Lusardi's took great pride in their philanthropic work throughout the community. Their contributions included sponsorship of the Curebound Cancer Challenge, a fundraiser to fight cancer that has generated over $25 million since its start in 2013. Most recently, they served as the lead benefactors of the expansion of Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas, providing a $25-million gift that led to the construction of the Lusardi Tower, enabling the hospital to increase its capacity from 187 to 235 patients and enhance integrated inpatient, surgical and maternal care services.

The post San Diego Construction Magnate, Del Mar Board Member Lusardi Dies appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

The following rulings were reported on HISA's “rulings” portal and through the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit's (HIWU) “pending” and “resolved” cases portals.

Resolved ADMC Violations
Dates: 08/12/2026
Licensee: Miguel Penaloza, trainer
Penalty: A fine of $500; imposition of 1.5 Penalty Points.
Explainer: Vet's list medication violations for the presence of Methocarbamol—a class C controlled substance—in a sample taken from Cody Pass on 6/24/26.

Pending ADMC Violations

08/18/2026, Charlton Baker, trainer: Pending medication violation for the presence of Lidocaine–a class B substance–in a sample taken from Rock Steady Babe, who won at Finger Lakes on 7/15/26.

08/18/2026, Geneveive Londono, trainer: Pending medication violation for the presence of Acepromazine–a class B substance–in a sample taken from Shriner, who finished sixth at Belterra Park on 6/21/26.

08/14/2026, Alexis Silva Martinez, trainer: Pending medication violation for the presence of Methamphetamine–a banned substance–in a sample taken from Dandy Day, who won at Emerald Downs on 6/20/26.

08/14/2026, Mark Scott Tubbs, trainer: Pending medication violation for the presence of Phenylbutazone–a class C controlled substance–in a sample taken from Go Lent Go, who finished sixth at Emerald Downs on 6/6/26.

08/13/2026, Jose Camejo, trainer: Pending medication violation for the presence of Dexamethasone–a class C controlled substance–in a sample taken from Glacial Power, who won at Belterra Park on 7/19/26.

08/13/2026, Angel Quinoz, trainer: Pending vets' list medication violation for the presence of non-inhalation Albuterol–a banned substance–in a sample taken from Bonita Rough on 7/10/26.

Read more on this story here and here.

Crop Violations

Colonial Downs

Tais Lyapustina – reporting date August 14; $250 fine, one-day suspension, on appeal stay requested

Delaware Park

Cipriano A. Gil – reporting date August 15; $500 fine, two-day suspension

Jorge F. Hernandez – reporting date August 15; $250 fine, one-day suspension

Del Mar

Antonio Fresu – reporting date August 14; $500 fine, one-day suspension

Ellis Park

Francisco J. Arrieta – reporting date August 13; $500 fine, four-day suspension

Finger Lakes

Sofia L. Vives – reporting date August 19; $500 fine, two-day suspension

Joel Cruz – reporting date August 18; $500 fine, two-day suspension

Keiber J. Coa – reporting date August 18; $250 fine, one-day suspension

Jose A. Ventura – reporting date August 18; $500 fine, two-day suspension

Gulfstream Park

Miguel A. Vasquez – reporting date August 17; $500 fine, two-day suspension

Edwin Gonzalez – reporting date August 17; $100 fine

Parx Racing

Jomar Torres – reporting date August 14; $500 fine, two-day suspension

Penn National

Sebastian A. Orellana – reporting date August 17; $250 fine, one-day suspension

Saratoga

Tyler Gaffalione – reporting date August 14; $2,000 fine, four-day suspension, on appeal stay requested

Thistledown

Humberto Haldar – reporting date August 13; $250 fine, one-day suspension

The post Weekly National Rulings For Aug. 13-19, 2026 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Boughey joined this week's TDN Writers' Room Podcast presented by Keeneland. He was the Gainesway Guest of the Week.

When asked to address why he brought a horse back in 13 days and worked her in between starts, Boughey acknowledged that European trainers don't always see eye-to-eye with American trainers.

“Obviously, different jurisdictions around the world do things differently and for me it was quite a normal preparation,” Boughey said. “We tried it earlier in the year when she went to Saudi Arabia. She ran at Lingfield on the all-weather and then ran 13 days later in the Middle East. So she had to ship out there, train out on the track for a week and then run, and she seemed to handle it very well. In my opinion, that set her up beautifully for this summer. The style of racing was obviously very different in England, but being able to take those two races very quickly meant that the Glens Falls and the Christophe Clement looked like a beautiful setup for her.”

Boughey confirmed that Survie will make her next start in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf rather than the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf.

“The mile-and-a-half distance in the Turf is a massive thing for her,” Boughey said. “I had intentionally been running her a bit short for a while knowing that she's already won a Group 2 in France over 12 furlongs. So her stamina was assured. We just wanted to build up to that. So I'd kick myself if I ran in a shorter race in the Filly & Mare Turf and she didn't quite get there.”

Bow Echo was retired due to an injury to his left front fetlock. Undefeated in six career starts, he was considered the best miler in Europe.

“I think you kind of get used to it as a trainer, the highs and lows of it,” he said. “But I've made it sort of my thing through my career not to get too high and not to get too low on success and failure. Bow Echo was an amazing horse and I might go a long time to find another one like him.”

The “Fastest Horse of the Week” was GIII Iselin Stakes winner Bishops Bay (Uncle Mo), who earned a 106 Beyer figure. The Fastest Horse of the Week is sponsored by WinStar Farm, the home of the outstanding stallion Constitution.

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the PHBA, 1/ST TV and West Point Thoroughbreds, much of the discussion among Randy Moss, Bill Finley, and Zoe Cadman centered on the Marshall Gramm scandal. Gramm was charged with multiple rules violations by HISA over unauthorized access to confidential horse health information.

“Marshall, what the hell were you thinking?” Finley said. “This was a very dumb move.”

Questions were also raised as to whether or not HISA had the proper security measures in place that would have kept Gramm from being able to access the information.

The team also reviewed Survie's big win in the Christophe Clement and the magnificent performance by the filly Luster (Knicks Go) in the King's Plate.

Click here to listen to the podcast and click here to watch the podcast.

The post George Boughey Joins TDN Writers’ Room, Team Discuss Gramm Situation appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

The Jockey Club's recent pledge of greater transparency presents an opportunity. For generations, many in the Thoroughbred industry have had little understanding of how one becomes a member of The Jockey Club. With their recent announcement that they are going to “remove Marshall Gramm,” The Jockey Club now has industry participants asking about the process that exists for removing a member. If transparency is to be more than a talking point, now is the time to answer those questions.

What criteria are used to select new members? Who makes those decisions? What standards govern the suspension or removal of a member, and what due process protections exist? These are not unreasonable questions, particularly when membership in The Jockey Club remains one of the most influential positions in our industry.

The Jockey Club occupies a unique position within North American racing. Through its control of the breed registry and its significant role in the commercialization and monetization of Thoroughbred data, its decisions affect owners, breeders, consignors, racetracks, and countless others who make their living in this business.

With that influence comes a responsibility to be accountable not only to its members, but also to the broader industry. Greater transparency regarding its membership and governance processes would be a meaningful step toward demonstrating the openness that The Jockey Club now advocates.

Transparency is most meaningful when it begins with the institutions asking others to embrace it.

Respectfully, Max Hodge

Max Hodge is Vice President of Client Services at Fasig-Tipton

The post Letter to the Editor: Jockey Club Transparency appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

“The more [DJ Stable General Manager] Jon Green and I looked at it, we thought the timing of this race was better for her,” Casse said. “Obviously, our biggest goal is the Breeders' Cup. This gives her a little more time between that race and the Breeders' Cup. We originally said we would run her in the Spinster, but looking at her patterns and where and how she runs her best, the Locust Grove seemed to make more sense.

“She already has a race at Keeneland [a win in the GII Appalachian Stakes on the turf], so it's not like she hasn't run there. This is more about timing.”

Casse said Nitrogen came out of the Whitney in “fantastic shape.”

“I got emotional after the Whitney and I didn't understand why I was so emotional,” Casse said. “I don't listen to handicappers and stuff, but a couple days prior to the race a guy that is pretty well known said that he wouldn't be surprised if she were to run last. To that point, that had never entered my mind. Now, this is my child. I worried if I were putting her in a place where I might embarrass her. That thought never occurred to me and then it was in my mind. When she ran so well, I was relieved.

“In the NTRA poll, she went from ninth to second after the race. That tells you something. If we had run her in the Shuvee and won, she would have stayed at ninth.”

The post Change of Plans: Nitrogen to Go Next in Locust Grove appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

5 (tie)-ZEITLOS, SAR, 8-14, Smart and Fancy Stakes, 5 1/2fT VIDEO
Beyer Speed Figure-93
(m, 6, Curlin–Thyme for Roses {Aus}, by Redoute's Choice {Aus})
O-Peter Leidel. B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings (Ky). T-Steve Asmussen. J-Jose Ortiz.
Curlin mares age like fine wine, and at six, the consistent Zeitlos remains as tasty as ever on turf or dirt. She broke a 10-race losing streak while again capitalizing on the occasional class relief. She is 1-for-11 in graded stakes (she won the GII TCA in 2024), but now 8-for-14 in allowances or ungraded stakes like this one. Leidel–previously partners with Stonestreet in brilliant turf sprinter Lady Aurelia–bought Zeitlos as a yearling from Stonestreet for $350,000, then raced her as partners before bidding $775,000 to buy out Stonestreet at Fasig-Tipton last December.

4-BIT'S TIGER MAGIC, DMR, 8-13, Allowance, 5fT VIDEO
Beyer Speed Figure-94
(m, 5, Smiling Tiger–Magic School, by In Excess {Ire})
O-Griffin Racing. B-Harris Farm and Mike/Jeanne Lepore (Cal). T-Peter Miller. J-Juan Hernandez.
Her first start off the bench in January didn't go well and she needed five-plus months before breezing again, but she rebounded Friday to lead from start to finish and run her lifetime record to 5-for-9. Her 94 Beyer was her career-best by two points–and her 92 Beyer was last Aug. 10 also in a five-furlong turf allowance at Del Mar.

Survie | Sarah Andrew
3-SURVIE, SAR, 8-15, GI Christophe Clement Stakes, 1 1/2mT VIDEO
Beyer Speed Figure-98
(m, 5, by Churchill {Ire}–Sotteville {Fr}, by Le Havre {Ire})
O-Michael Tabor. B-Franklin Finance SA (Ire). T-George Boughey. J-Manny Franco.
Survie unleashed another wicked rally to blow past American rivals–this time males. When she was only 3 1/2 lengths back after her first six furlongs in 1:19.46 on yielding ground, the leaders were target practice. She's the first U.S. winner for fast-rising Newmarket-based 34-year-old Boughey, who now has designs on the GI Breeders' Cup Turf. Coolmore's M. V. Magnier signed a 1.9-million guineas ticket (about $2.6 million) to acquire her in December at Tattersalls and she has since raced in the names of partner Michael Tabor and his wife Doreen. Formerly known as the Sword Dancer, the race was recently renamed to honor the late Clement, and his son Miguel hoped to win it with Tawny Port, who finished fifth of six. But Survie's victory was the next-best result for the Clement family. Prior to her sale, she had been trained in France by Christophe's brother Nicolas.

2-SHOOT IT TRUE, SAR, 8-13, Allowance, 5 1/2fT VIDEO
Beyer Speed Figure-100
(f, 4, Munnings–To the Moon Alice, by Malibu Moon)
O-Ice Wine Stable and Smart Choice Stable. B-Old Tavern Farm (NY). T-Wesley Ward. J-Jose Ortiz.
After a series of strong stakes efforts in defeat, Shoot It True only needed to hold form to dominate this allowance, and she did at 3-5 odds. Her 100 Beyer was her best yet, following her previous solid figs of 96-95-95-94-93. Given her dam, better names for her might have been Honeymooner, Kramden or Gleason, but those were already taken.

1-LUSTER, WO, 8-15, King's Plate, 1 1/4m (Tapeta) VIDEO
Beyer Speed Figure-102
(f, 3, Knicks Go–Ruby Frost, by The Factor)
O-Gainesway Stable and Andrew Rosen. B-Ravie Sugrim & Joannie Dass (Ont-C). T-Josie Carroll. J-John Velazquez.
Her sales prices ($50,000 as a weanling, $80,000 as a yearling) muted expectations–she wasn't favored in her debut. But Luster is very special. The 40th filly to win Canada's premier race, she has wrapped up a Sovereign Award and might not be out of contention for an Eclipse Award as North America's champion 3-year-old filly in a division clearly led at the moment by Counting Stars. But she'd definitely have to beat Counting Stars in the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff on dirt, and veteran Carroll has run only three horses in the Breeders' Cup and none in the past eight years.

The post Six Speedy Females, for the Week of August 10-16 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

A new wrinkle emerged after weeks of telling backstretch residents they must be out by Aug. 31: Hawthorne now wants the court to set Aug. 28 as the date when the “order of possession” takes effect.

“In order to ensure that the closing of the sale of the real estate [will proceed] as scheduled on Sept. 1, the Debtors seek entry of an order for possession of the Premises effective immediately with enforcement stayed until Aug. 28,” stated an Aug. 14 motion filed by Hawthorne, which is seeking to restructure between $100 and $500 million in debt.

That filing came on the heels of a status report submitted the same day by the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (ITHA) filed with United States Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Illinois (Eastern Division) to update the progress of rehoming efforts.

The ITHA's report indicated that most human and equine residents have either moved or are on their way to being relocated.

“As of Aug. 11, there were 128 horses remaining. This is a reduction of 338 over the three weeks of the wind-down and move-out of the backstretch. Additionally, the ITHA has been informed that another material shipping of most (if not all) of the horses at the backstretch has been scheduled for Aug. 20,” the ITHA's report stated.

“As of Aug. 14, there were 177 adults remaining. This is a reduction of 357 adults over the three weeks of the wind-down and move-out of the backstretch…. There are 78 children remaining at the backstretch as well. The reduction in children will coincide with the reduction of adults,” the ITHA's report stated.

Hawthorne's Aug. 14 motion asked for a “writ of assistance” to make sure everyone is off the property, and stated that a U.S. marshal might be needed to execute on the order of possession.

“The Debtors file this Motion to establish a protocol to ensure that the Premises will be vacated and the closing will proceed,” Hawthorne's Aug. 14 filing stated.

Shortly before 5 p.m. CT on Tuesday, Aug. 18, the ITHA filed a notice of limited objection to Hawthorne's newly requested Aug. 28 move-out date.

“ITHA objects to the Motion's request for an order for possession that is stayed only until 12:01 a.m. on Aug. 28, improperly amends the Sale Order, and prejudices the rights of the Backstretch Community,” the ITHA's objection stated. “The Court should grant the Motion with an order for possession stayed until 9:00 a.m. on Aug. 31.”

The ITHA's objection continued: “This request cuts short the court-ordered and agreed residency of the Backstretch Community by three full days. The Court and parties are fully aware of how this transaction has upended the lives and livelihoods of the Backstretch Community,” the ITHA's objection stated.

“All remaining parties at the backstretch have been informed of the Eviction Deadline and requirement to vacate [Hawthorne] no later than Aug. 31. The request to further shorten that period by three days is unnecessary and punitive to the Backstretch Community,” the objections stated.

The ITHA has scheduled a resource fair for Aug. 21, “focused solely on finding housing for any remaining backstretch workers,” according to its Aug. 14 filing.

The post Wednesday’s Hearing to Address Hawthorne’s New Request for Earlier Backstretch Move-Out Date appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

If you have any questions you'd like to ask HISA or HIWU, please feel free to send them over to us at the following email address: danross@thetdn.com

The following was submitted by former trainer, Jenine Sahadi.

Q: Is there any information publicly available of the point system in place for positive tests? Every adjudication names points assessed per positive, yet there seems to be no information as to the point leaders or points accumulated on the website.

Answer by HIWU spokesperson:

The penalty points system under the Anti-Doping and Medication Control Program is designed to deter and sanction individuals who commit multiple violations within a short period of time. If someone has accumulated more than six penalty points within a two-year period, they will be subject to an additional suspension (30-180 days) that will be tacked onto any suspension imposed for subsequent violations. Penalty points from specific violations expire after two years, and they are only applicable to Controlled Medication Rule Violations. The penalty point system is summarized on the HIWU website.

HIWU plans to formally publish a live list of penalty point totals on our website in the near future. In the interim, if individuals are interested in the number of penalty points currently assigned to specific trainers, they can search for the trainer's name on our cases page. Each resolved case lists the number of penalty points that were assigned for that specific violation as part of the overall sanctions.

The post Ask HIWU: Penalty Points appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Cataloged as Hip 153, the yearling filly by Cyberknife is out of a five-time stakes winning and track record setting mare who has already produced a winner and a placed horse in 2026.

The filly is consigned by Colin Brennan Bloodstock at Highlander Training Center, Agent.

Two horses have also been supplemented to the Horse of Racing Age portion of the sale. Cataloged as Hips 168 and 169:

• Hip 168: Passed Over is a winning Accredited Texas-bred 3-year-old gelding by By My Standards out of a Gemologist mare; Passed Over won in his second career start in March at Sam Houston by 2 1/2 lengths. Consigned by Colin Brennan Bloodstock at Highlander Training Center, Agent
• Hip 169: Lucky John is an unraced Kentucky-bred 3-year-old gelding by By My Standards out of a Congrats full-sister to a stakes winner; Consigned by Colin Brennan Bloodstock at Highlander Training Center, Agent

A digital PDF catalog and the interactive catalog are available at www.TTAsales.com.

The post Trio Added to 2026 Texas Summer Yearling and HORA Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

The Jones family has campaigned and bred many stars since Airdrie Stud was launched in 1972, but there will always be favorites. And the one that has Airdrie President Bret Jones most excited at the moment is the 2-year-old filly Libby Lloyd (Into Mischief) who earned 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard', honors when breaking her maiden by 10 lengths last Saturday at Saratoga.

“That race, you draw it up in your head, and that's exactly how we hoped it would go, and that happens about one out of every 30 scenarios like that,” Jones said. “She'd been training like a very good filly. The race was pretty loaded on paper. I know there were a couple of scratches, but it really was amazing how similar it was to her dam's debut a few years ago. This filly is so much an Into Mischief. Just from the very start, she was really a standout filly, one of those that never had a bad day. There were no setbacks. There was never an issue with her. When the time came, she X-rayed perfectly. She had the big blaze, she had that look, she had the substance, she had everything that a lot of the good mares really throw to the sire. I'm knocking on wood as I'm saying this, but to this point, it's just been one of those things that doesn't come along very often.”

This story is about much more than a flashy debut winner.

The dam of Libby Lloyd is Indian Pride (Proud Citizen). Nearly seven years to the day, Indian Pride broke her maiden at Saratoga by eight lengths in an Aug. 28, 2019 race. She, too, was named a TDN Rising Star.

“She was the most impressive debut winner we'd ever had,” Jones said. “In the TDN today, they showed a picture, sort of a parallel picture of the two fillies, and there are just a lot of similarities in the way they've started their careers off.”

The Airdrie team always had the highest regard for Indian Pride, who was third in the GII Raven Run Stakes and won the Shine Again Stakes. But Jones said that various minor setbacks were the only things that kept her from being a superstar.

“She just had some bad luck, not even really injuries,” he said. “She had pneumonia as a 2-year-old and then colicked badly as an older mare. And so we just thought that with that level of talent, there was the real chance she could be a very important broodmare for us. I don't think we've ever had a more talented filly than Indian Pride. She just never fully got to show it.”

Her first foal was Publisher (American Pharoah), who finished second in the GI Arkansas Derby. The next foal, by Constitution, was unraced. Then came Libby Lloyd. Thinking they might have a special horse on their hands, they named her after Libby Lloyd Jones, Bret's mother.

“Indian Pride was just an absolute sweetheart,” Jones said. “And her daughter, Libby Lloyd, is exactly the same way. Anyone who knows my mother, who she's named after, they know how sweet and kind my mother is. This filly had so many of those same characteristics and we thought it would be kind of a nice tribute for my mom to name  her after her.”

Indian Pride was bred in 2025 to Gun Runner and in 2026 to Life Is Good.

Last year, she had another bout with colic and passed away.

“We lost her last year,” Jones said. “She had had multiple colic surgeries, and she had colicked again badly to where our hands were completely tied. And frankly, it was probably as emotional a loss as I've experienced.”

But her legacy lives on in Libby Lloyd.

Jones said that the GI Spinaway Stakes on Sept. 5 at Saratoga is probably coming up too soon and that Libby Lloyd's next start may be in the Oct. 3 GI Frizette Stakes at the new Belmont Park. He said the decision will be left up to trainer Chad Brown.

We have seen 12 TDN Rising Stars emerge since the initial installment of this series. The latest additions are Inshallah (Flightline) at Del Mar; Q B Rocket (Gun Runner), Libby Lloyd (Into Mischief), Balayage (Kingman) and Summer Starlet (City of Light) at Saratoga; Bin Jahwar (Ghaiyyath) and Desert Castle (Frankel) at Newmarket; Forbidden Fire (No Nay Never) at Salisbury; Domus (Uncle Mo) and Miss Monica (Early Voting) at Del Mar; Kalimaat (Frankel) at Deauville; and Wall Street (Sea The Stars) at Leopardstown. Frankel is the only sire represented by more than one TDN Rising Star during that period, with two.

The post Libby Lloyd: The Making of a ‘TDN Rising Star, Presented by Hagyard’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

In a statement released Tuesday, the Jockey Club said: “Based upon an investigation by HISA, Marshall Gramm, a Thoroughbred breeder, owner, and a member of The Jockey Club, accessed veterinary information for horses he did not own within a system operated by HISA.

His membership with The Jockey Club provided no special or additional access.

The Jockey Club's systems and its data were not breached.

The Stewards of The Jockey Club condemn Mr. Gramm's actions and will be meeting to take steps to remove him as a member.”

The post Jockey Club Seeks To Remove Marshall Gramm From Membership appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

5 – C's TODAY, ELP, 8/15-5th, 6 furlongs
Beyer Speed Figure- 84 (2nd)
(g, 3, by McKinzie-Into Candy, by Into Mischief)
O-Rodeo Creek Racing. B-Highlight Thoroughbreds (Ky). T-Rob Medina. J-Martin Garcia.
Dismissed at 40/1 odds in his debut, he nevertheless rolled up alongside odds-on Campobasso (below) at the eighth pole with momentum before he was rebuffed. Still, he finished four lengths clear of the rest. His pedigree black type comes from the 2nd and 3rd dams; his dam is a half-sister to Peter Brant's GII Distaff Stakes winner Shidabhuti (best Beyer 90, by Practical Joke).

4 – CAMPOBASSO, ELP, 8/15-5th, 6 furlongs
Beyer Speed Figure – 86
(c, 3, by Street Sense-Italia, by Medaglia d'Oro)
O-SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Stonestreet Stables, Bashar Racing, Determined Stables, Golconda Stable, Waves Edge Capital and Catherine Donovan. B-Fred Hertrich III and John Fielding (Ky). T-Bob Baffert. J-Florent Geroux.
Heavily favored after beginning his career with two runnerup finishes at Churchill Downs (most recently behind subsequent Saratoga allowance winner Tagermeen), the $400,000 yearling ran Baffert's Ellis Park record to 8-for-17 (47%) at the current meet. Campobasso began breezing last fall but had a brief February/March training holdup before he was shipped to Kentucky.

3 – ICANTHELPMYSELF, DMR, 8/15-7th, 5 1/2 furlongs (video)
Beyer Speed Figure- 87 (2nd)
(c, 2, by Mo Town-Road Rager, by Quality Road)
O/B-Jay Em Ess Stable (Ky). T-Brian Koriner. J-Armando Ayuso.
In a loaded field of first-timers, the Samantha Siegel homebred turned in an auspicious debut. The colt by a $5,000 stallion chased the blueblooded Inshallah from the start and slowly cut the margin to 1 1/2 lengths at the end while 4 1/4 clear of the 3rd finisher. Siegel bought and raced the graded-stakes-placed dam.

2 – OVECHKIN, SAR, 8/14-5th, 1 mile (video)
Beyer Speed Figure – 87
(g, 3, by Nyquist-Blonde Bomber, by Fort Larned)
O-Lee/Lexi Lewis. B-Clarkland Farm (Ky). T-Mark Hennig. J-Tyler Gaffalione.
They couldn't skate him on ice and he seemed indifferent to grass in two previous tries, but the class drop to an $85,000 tag may have made the difference–he led wire to wire in his eighth start (and emerged unclaimed). Ovechkin's stakes-winning dam was also 3rd in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies; her most successful offspring has been turf runner Bling (American Pharoah), who never won a stakes but finished 2-3-4 in seven graded races.

1 – INSHALLAH, DMR, 8/15-7th, 5 1/2 furlongs (video)
Beyer Speed Figure- 90
(c, 2, by Flightline-Bar of Gold, by Medaglia d'Oro)
O-KAS Stables. B-Chester/Mary Broman (NY). T-John Sadler. J-Joel Rosario.
The $2.1 million 2-year-old purchase, owned by the Saudi royal family, ran to his Breeders' Cup-centric pedigree. From the first crop of Classic winner Flightline (who sizzled to a 105 Beyer as a 3-year-old in his debut), he's the fifth foal to race out of the Bromans' Filly & Mare Sprint upsetter Bar of Gold. His lone sibling of note is GIII With Anticipation-winning gelding Coinage (who recently ran poorly for $4,000 claiming at Finger Lakes).

The post The Five Fastest Maidens – Week of Aug. 10 -16 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

“167 hours ago, we kicked off the 2026 yearling sale season in Saratoga, and it exceeded all of our expectations, literally from start to finish,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. “The first horse in the ring in the main sale brought $650,000. The last horse in the ring tonight was $150,000. There was very, very competitive bidding, lots of interest, lots of enthusiasm. It's almost been a magical seven days. We're thrilled to death as a team, as an organization.”

Through two sessions, 203 New York-bred yearlings sold for a record $24,628,000, just up from the previous record set last year when 199 yearlings sold for $23,870,000. The 2026 average of $121,320 edged up 1.1% over last year's record figure of $119,950, while the median, which was a record-tying $85,000 in 2025, rose 17.6% to $100,000.

With 43 horses reported not sold, the buy-back rate was a sparkling 17.5%, down from 21.7% a year ago.

“Some of us who have been involved in this New York-bred sale for a number of years, there was a period of time when it would not be unusual to have 40% or 45% RNAs in this sale. At the New York-bred sale, the breeders were, honest to goodness, happy at times to buy their horses back to be able to keep it in New York and race it there. And we've seen such a growth and an evolution in the program, that every major trainer that's stabled in New York has New York-breds. It is a vital part of their racing team.”

Trainer Miguel Clement, with John Kimmel and Nick Sallusto as agents, made the highest bid of the New York sale, going to $550,000 to acquire a colt by Life Is Good from the Denali Stud consignment. The Clement family was also represented as sellers, when a colt by Good Magic co-bred with Kathleen Burke Schweizer and Daniel J. Burke, sold for $375,000–co-second highest of the sale–to CHC, Inc, Maverick Racing and First Go Racing.

“NYRA understands the importance of New York-breds to their overall racing program, not only at Saratoga, but more importantly, to their overall calendar year,” Browning said of the symbiotic relationship that has developed in the state's racing industry. “I think we're going to see the New York-breds fill a more important role throughout the process with the opening of the new Belmont Park, which should provide further growth opportunities for the New York-bred program, which will benefit everybody, collectively, the breeders, the owners, NYRA, the racetrack, Fasig-Tipton. It's a cooperative environment that we live in. Unfortunately, oftentimes in our industry, the cooperation amongst various parties is lacking. Fortunately, right now, and for many years, there's been an alignment of the breeders, and Fasig-Tipton, and NYRA, and the owners, the trainers, and so forth, to promote the New York-bred product and to continue to expand those opportunities.”

'Fit a Lot of Orders': $550,000 Life is Good Colt to Clement

A colt by Life Is Good (hip 411) put Marlene Brody's Gallagher's Stud on center stage during Monday's session of the Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred sale when selling for a sale-topping $550,000 to the bid of trainer Miguel Clement.

“He fit a lot of orders, to be honest with you, so we had to partner up with some people,” Clement, who did his bidding out back standing alongside agent John Kimmel, said. “It's exciting. I thought he was going to be out of our reach and sometimes collaboration gets it done.”

Clement declined to name the partners involved in the purchase.

“He was one of the best physicals in the sale,” Clement said of the colt. “And if you want to win big races, you have to have some of the better physicals. It's that simple.”

A few hips later, Clement was in action again, securing a filly by Oscar Performance (hip 417) for $250,000 from the Lane's End consignment. The trainer also signed for a colt by Army Mule (hip 467) from the Taylor Made consignment for $270,000.

Gallagher's Stud, started by Marlene Brody and her late husband Jerry, has been a mainstay of the New York breeding industry for five decades now. Just short of her 95th birthday, Brody watched her yearling sell from the back row of the pavilion.

“I was expecting a healthy result, but that was very nice for us,” Brody said of the result.

Gallagher's Stud's Marlene Brody | Fasig-Tipton

Of the New York breeding program, Brody said with a smile, “We've been doing this 50 years, a long time. It's coming along nicely.”

Hip 411, who was consigned by Denali Stud, is out of Mascotte (Speightstown), a half-sister to group winner Alignment (Pivotal), stakes winner Dataman (Tapit), Grade I-placed 'TDN Rising Star' presented by Hagyard Alda (Munnings) and the stakes-winning Serifos (Into Mischief).

“He's always been a really nice colt,” said longtime Gallagher's Stud manager Mallory Mort. “Life is Good is off to a really nice start. And all the vet work was in order. It doesn't always work to have all of those things come together like that.”

Gallagher's Stud purchased Mascotte for $200,000 at the 2022 Keeneland November sale. Her colt by Essential Quality sold for $220,000 at last year's New York-bred sale. The mare produced a filly by Flightline this year.

“She is a Speightstown–I like Speightstown as a broodmare sire–and she's big,” Mort said of the mare's appeal. “She's got really good size. So that gave us a lot of good options to what we could breed her to. We didn't have to breed her necessarily to a huge horse or anything like that.”

GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Life Is Good has gotten off to a quick start with his first 2-year-olds on the track this year. His 10 winners include three 'TDN Rising Stars presented by Hagyard,' led by undefeated multiple stakes-winning filly Waggley and graded-placed Scarlett Begonia.

Mort said Gallagher's Stud currently has five mares in its broodmare band.

“In the next couple of years, [Brody] is probably going to cut it down to probably just retiring horses,” Mort said.

Good Magic Colt to CHC, Maverick, First Go

A colt by Good Magic (hip 537) will be racing for the CHC, Maverick Racing and First Go Racing partnership after selling for $375,000 Monday in Saratoga. The yearling was consigned by Eaton Sales on behalf of his breeders, Kathleen Burke Schweizer, Daniel J. Burke, and Clement Stable.

“We looked at him as a team and everybody thought he was a real athlete by an exciting stallion in Good Magic, who is really getting it done,” said WinStar's Gerry Duffy. “We are delighted to own him. This is our second horse purchased from the New York sale. It's a great program and there are a lot of nice horses up here. There are great incentives to own a New York-bred.”

The three partners, who teamed up to win this year's GII Rebel Stakes with Class President (Uncle Mo), also purchased a colt by Vekoma (hip 386) from the Gainesway consignment for $300,000.

Hip 537 is out of stakes winner Too Sexy (Quality Road), who was trained by the late Christophe Clement before selling to the Burke family's Longford Farm for $450,000 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton November sale. Her first foal, a filly by Constitution, sold for $390,000 at last year's New York-bred sale.

Hip 537 c. GOOD MAGIC o/o Too Sexy sells for $375,000 at NY Bred Yearlings! Congrats to the connections:

B: @Chinahorseclub, Maverick Racing & First Go
C: @EatonSales1, agt
Br: Kathleen Burke Schweizer, Daniel J. Burke & @clementstable (NY) #NYBred

@nytbreeders |… pic.twitter.com/RZaWERItfr

— Fasig-Tipton (@FasigTiptonCo) August 17, 2026

“It's been such a meaningful summer for [the Clement family], this week for sure,” Kathleen Burke Schweizer said after watching the yearling sell. “It's really nice to be here with them and have such a great result. But I think the colt really spoke for himself. We are very fortunate that way. It goes back to the mare, she is fantastic. Christophe really brought her to us and said 'You have to get her.'”

Too Sexy is currently in foal to Flightline, according to Burke Schweizer.

Of the market, Burke Schweizer said, “I think it's been a very strong sale. Horses are bringing very good money. What can you say about the New York-bred program? It's only on the rise. Which is fantastic for us.”

Longford Farm accounted for the 2022 Fasig-Tipton NY-Bred topper when selling a colt by Arrogate–Georgie's Angel (Bellamy Road) to Tom McCrocklin for $700,000. His full-brother Cave Rock became a Grade I winner a few weeks later.

Partnership Strikes Late for Vekoma

The two-day New York-bred sale was starting to wind down when bloodstock agent Conor Foley bid $375,000 to acquire a filly by Vekoma (hip 587) from the Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa consignment.

“I bought her for a partnership of a few people, West Paces Races from Atlanta, Steven Rocco, and another gentlemen who is new to horse racing,” Foley said. “Tom Morley will train her. I thought she was an outstanding filly and I'm tickled to death to get her.”

The chestnut filly is out of Bella Figura (Midshipman), a half-sister to multiple stakes winner Crimson King Cat (Catienus). She was purchased by Marc Gunderson's MWG for $210,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton New York Mixed Sale.

“There were several nice horses today, but I thought she was probably the best filly,” Foley said.

Hip 587 f. VEKOMA o/o Bella Figura sells for $375,000 at NY Bred Yearlings! Congrats to the connections:

B: @OracleBloodstck, agt
C: @HillnDaleFarm, agt

@nytbreeders | #NYBred @spendthriftfarm pic.twitter.com/VgD668UVQW

— Fasig-Tipton (@FasigTiptonCo) August 17, 2026

Grant, Dubb Stay Busy

Stuart Grant and Michael Dubb came into the two-day New York-bred sale looking to buy five to seven yearlings as the two racing partners look to capitalize on the number of incentives powering the state's racing and breeding industry. In the name of Grant's The Elkstone Group they hit their target, purchasing seven yearlings for a total of $592,000.

“Mike Dubb and I are both very supportive of the New York program,” Grant said. “We both spend the summer up here and we love racing up here. We like the fact that Belmont will now have year-round racing–obviously we won't have these the first year, but we will have them after–and the idea that they have raised the New York-bred purses to match the opens. If you buy right up here, you really only have to win a maiden special and a first-level allowance to sort of get close to even. It seems like a good investment.”

The Elkstone Group's Stuart Grant | Fasig-Tipton

A filly by Zandon (hip 499), purchased for $137,000 from the Fort Christopher's Thoroughbreds consignment, led the partners' purchases. They also acquired a colt by Jackie's Warrior (hip 479) from the Sequel consignment for $115,000.

“I think the prices were generally fair,” Grant said. “I don't think there were great bargains. We are very disciplined. We stay within what we think is value. We don't chase horses. I also breed, so I have 20 on the ground myself. So, as my wife likes to remind me, I don't need another horse. But if we can buy well, we are willing to do it. And I think we stayed pretty disciplined and got the horses that we wanted for the prices that we wanted.”

Nothing But Net

Estradas Strike Again

Carlos and Sarah Estrada's C & S Thoroughbreds brought two yearlings to the New York-bred sale and came away with a pair of impressive pinhooking scores. The couple sold a colt by Americanrevolution (hip 464) for $225,000 to Sackatoga Stable. Out of Pride of Paris (Sharp Humor), the colt had been purchased for $80,000 at this year's Fasig-Tipton February sale.

“We absolutely loved him when we bought him and we knew this would be the sale for him,” Sarah Estrada said of the colt. “He really blossomed into what we imagined he would be. He showed himself well over the past three days and he's going to a great home.”

Sarah Estrada said she had no hesitancy to buy yearlings by New York-based stallions.

“I don't think Americanrevolution is the only one who is doing well,” she said. “I have seen some Mullions go through the ring and sell really well. I think the New York program has grown and the purses are great and I am not afraid to buy New York stallions.”

A few hips later, the C & S Thoroughbreds consignment was back in action, selling a filly by Gunite (hip 566) for $250,000 to Mike Ryan. Carlos Estrada and Blaine Isaacs had purchased the filly, out of Abuela's Humor (Distorted Humor), for $160,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton New York Mixed Sale.

“She was one of the top fillies when we came here in October,” Carlos Estrada said. “Blaine and I picked her and we thought this was going to be a good sale for her here. We are happy with the way she grew up and prepped. We are going to see her in the winner's circle next year.”

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The 13-race program, featuring five stakes races in addition to the main event, generated more than C$14.8 million in all-sources wagering, fifth-highest for a King's Plate program. The C$1,242,081 win pool on the first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown broke the previous record set in 2023.

“From the first race to the last, this year's King's Plate Day delivered very competitive racing and incredible energy throughout the grandstand,” said Michael Copeland, CEO, Woodbine Entertainment. “We are proud of Saturday's outstanding race card and results.

“The King's Plate continues to stand apart as the highlight of our Thoroughbred racing season at Woodbine, and we're grateful to the owners, trainers, jockeys, fans, and entire racing community who made this year's celebration such a memorable one.”

Trainer Josie Carroll was being represented by her fourth King's Plate winner, while Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez was earning a second victory in the race, having ridden Wonder Gadot (Medaglia d'Oro) in 2018.

The Canadian Triple Crown continues with its lone leg on conventional dirt, the Sept. 7 Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie and concludes with the Breeders' Stakes at a mile and four furlongs on the turf back at Woodbine on Sept. 27.

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Both pools will consist of up to 23 unique wagering interests with an 'All Others' option comprising the last of the 24 options. 'All Others' includes Thoroughbreds other than the individual horses in the pools.

Betting on the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Future Wagers will be offered at racetracks, advanced deposit wagering (“ADW”) sites, casinos, simulcast centers, and off-track betting sites. Additional information will be released ahead of each pool.

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The charges stem from an investigation launched after past performances for Deterministic and Griffin's Wharf containing confidential health information were posted on social media in June by an individual unconnected to either horse.

According to HISA, its preliminary investigation found no breach of the HISA Portal by a person or entity without prior authorization to access the system.

HISA subsequently expanded the investigation to determine whether someone with authorized access had exploited vulnerabilities to obtain and share confidential horse health records.

The investigation included interviews and information gathered by HISA employees and contractors, as well as an independent forensic cybersecurity analysis conducted by Arete.

HISA said the findings “unanimously pointed to” Gramm as being solely responsible for accessing confidential health information and creating past performances for horses with which he had no legitimate connection.

According to HISA, Gramm “deliberately and methodically” accessed confidential horse health information over a six-week period beginning in early May and ending in mid-June.

HISA alleges Gramm developed an automated method of obtaining the information at scale in a manner designed to mimic authorized activity and avoid detection by the organization's security systems.

HISA said Gramm used the information to create the past performances that were subsequently shared on social media.

The authority also said Gramm participated in handicapping contests, engaged in pari-mutuel wagering and claimed several Covered Horses across multiple jurisdictions and racetracks during the six-week period.

HISA said it will seek restitution of any proceeds derived from those activities on behalf of affected entities and individuals.

According to HISA, when confronted with the findings of the investigations, Gramm admitted that he was the source of the past performances for Deterministic and Griffin's Wharf.

HISA has initiated enforcement actions against Gramm for alleged rule violations relating to fraud and unauthorized access to horse health records.

The organization said it will also evaluate other available remedies and share information gathered during its investigation with federal and local law enforcement, state racing commissions and other relevant authorities.

HISA said Monday that it has made changes to its technology systems designed to prevent similar unauthorized access and is devoting additional resources to protecting confidential information.

Gramm is a Professor of Economics and Department Chair at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. He holds a B.A. from Rice University and a Ph.D. in Economics from Texas A&M University.

His academic research focuses heavily on gambling and pari-mutuel betting market efficiency. He has also published several articles on the economics of horse racing.

Gramm issued the following statement Monday in response:

“HISA has unfortunately decided to pursue disciplinary proceedings against me regarding data I accessed through the HISA Portal. I made a good-faith effort to resolve this matter with HISA, and we came very close to doing so. Ultimately, we could not reach agreement on several issues, including my ability to speak publicly and tell my side of the story.

“I intend to vigorously defend myself in the HISA proceedings. I am a college professor and data analyst, and gathering and analyzing large datasets is something I have done throughout my career, including extensive work with horse racing data. The information at issue was available through my authorized HISA account. It was a large dataset, and at the time I accessed it, I had not fully reviewed its contents or understood the scope of the information it contained.

“I used my own account and credentials and never attempted to conceal my identity or circumvent HISA's security. Once logged into my account, I bypassed no security protocols or other safeguards to access the information. Where I exercised poor judgment was in not bringing the vulnerability to HISA's attention sooner after it became a public story. I should have done so, and I regret that I did not.

“I want to apologize for the difficulties this situation has caused. Horse racing has been an important part of my life for many years, and I care deeply about the integrity of the sport. I remain willing to work with HISA to address the access-control weaknesses that allowed this information to be available.    “Making me the focus of this matter is a distraction from the fundamental issues HISA needs to address with its systems.”

Lazarus Adresses The Press

In a Zoom press conference Monday, HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus expanded upon some of the details in the agency's earlier press release.

Lazarus said the deal HISA was attempting to strike with Gramm fell through because he wanted HISA to “essentially conceal some information” in exchange for a settlement.

“That was always a complete no-go for us,” said Lazarus. “We had to share publicly what had happened. We had to be fair to our stakeholders, inform everyone.”

Reports on social media have suggested Gramm's ability to access the data was made easier by a quirk of the HISA portal, in which each horse has an individual number that can be simply changed in the URL to access another horse's file.

According to Lazarus, this is “patently false and not at all what happened.”

She added that “our evidence showed that Mr. Gramm used essentially an automated and invisible browser to download records at scale while employing methods to avoid detection.”

When pressed about it later in the press conference, Lazarus explained one of the alleged mechanisms Gramm used to avoid detection was to download the information in batches of no more than 500, to avoid a security trigger.

“Our system essentially looks at certain activities as being typical activities, right? People are moving and changing horses. That's what it's for. But it's set to essentially set off alarm bells if somebody is transacting at an unusually high level,” said Lazarus.

“So, instead of him downloading the millions of records that he ultimately downloaded at once, he did it in batches of 500 because, if it was below 500–500 or below–it wouldn't trigger our security system,” said Lazarus, before adding, however, that Gramm hasn't “conceded” he employed such an approach.

As for what kind of information Gramm was downloading, Lazarus said that he was accessing “the majority of what was available at that point in time for a significant number of records,” and that he was “doing it at scale.”

For the nine horses that Gramm claimed during a six-week period, Lazarus said that HISA will return the owners of the horses in question the relevant purse monies, which total between $80,000 and $90,000.

“In order to be fair to the owners, we're going to essentially pay that money back,” and then “we hope to ultimately recover that from Mr. Gramm,” said Lazarus.

During the settlement negotiations, there had been talk of offering the horses to the original owners for the same price they'd been claimed.

“But given that settlement broke down and we're in legal proceedings, that's not something that we can actually require at the outset,” said Lazarus.

Using “relationships” already forged with federal authorities like the FBI, Lazarus said HISA has asked the feds to “initiate” the process of determining if Gramm is guilty of federal crimes.

“We will obviously be sharing what we've learned with the relevant racing commissions, law enforcement, wagering platforms,” said Lazarus. “Anybody who we believe could be affected by this conduct.”

As for the ethical ramifications of Gramm's alleged conduct, Lazarus discussed his multiple connections with important bodies within the sport.

“There's no question that he would know what he was doing was wrong, that it was unethical and that he was violating multiple rules,” said Lazarus. “The way we really characterize this and understand it as fraud on the market, like insider trading. He had access to information that nobody else did. He was able to use that information to monetize it.”

To further explain their position, Lazarus shared an “anecdote” from the day a HISA investigator confronted Gramm at Saratoga, when he reportedly admitted what he had done. That confrontation, she said, occurred at about 5 p.m..

“Earlier that day at 11 a.m., there was a call that had been set up by The Jockey Club because they were unaware of what was transpiring. We had kept it really confidential during the investigation period,” said Lazarus. “That call was to talk about whether or not the industry should make changes to its policies going forward as a consequence of these PPs that had leaked.”

Gramm, said Lazarus, was on the call, alongside Patrick Cummings, Lazarus herself, Jim Gagliano, Charlotte Clement, and other Jockey Club representatives.

“Gramm spent an hour on that call with us contributing his ideas to where we go from here without once acknowledging that he was actually the one that caused the fact we had to talk about changes in policy,” said Lazarus.

“To me, it's very disingenuous to say that this was some sort of accident, because frankly, if it had been and he had come to us, we would always have a very different reaction and a very different outcome,” said Lazarus.

“But the only time he was willing to admit that he had actually been the perpetrator,” said Lazarus, “was when he was confronted with the facts.”

Who Is Marshall Gramm?

Gramm is the co-founder and managing partner of Ten Strike Racing, which was founded in 2016 in partnership with Clay Sanders. Ten Strike is a partnership based at Oaklawn offering fractional ownership from claiming horses to graded stakes horses. Gramm has served on the board of directors for the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation and Thoroughbred Charities of America.

Gramm grew up in Washington, D.C., the son of Phil Gramm, the former United States Senator and Congressman from Texas, himself a former economics professor at Texas A&M. Gramm and Ten Strike have campaigned several graded stakes winners, including Warrior's Charge, winner of the GIII Razorback and Philip H. Iselin Stakes. He was fourth in the 2019 Preakness and earned over $1 million; Long On Value, winner of the Grade I Highlander Stakes, campaigned in partnership with Madaket Stables.

As a standalone venture (not including partnerships), they have won 454 races from 2,172 starts with earnings of over $15 million. They have also campaigned horses in dozens of other partnerships.

Ten Strike's website says they support the TAA, Turning For Home, the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund, New Vocations, and Anna House. Gramm is also active in handicapping tournaments, and told TOBA in 2019 that he considers himself a horseplayer first.

He has qualified for the National Horseplayers Championship (the NHC) over a dozen times, reaching the final table in 2019 and finishing ninth overall. He won the Breeders' Cup Betting Challenge in 2020, taking home almost $500,000 in prizemoney and betting payouts. He also has served on the NHC Players committee, helping craft and guide tournament rules.

—Sue Finley contributed to this report

The post HISA Charges Marshall Gramm with Multiple Rule Violations, Including Fraud appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

“It was an excellent opening session of the 2026 New York-Bred Sale,” Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. said at the close of business Sunday. “Statistically, it was right on par with the overall sale last year, which was a record-breaking sale.”

During the session, 63 yearlings sold for a gross of $7,622,000. The session average was $120,984 and the median was $100,000. While the average and median dipped slightly from comparable figures from the opening session of the 2025 auction, they were just ahead of the record-setting cumulative figures from last year's auction. The cumulative average in 2025 was a sale record $119,950 and the median was a record-tying $85,000.

“There was good activity from the first horse in the ring to the last horse in the ring,” Browning said. “I think we saw very good activity on the sales grounds, literally since some of the express lanes started on Thursday afternoon. We look forward to a continued strong session tomorrow.”

Ten yearlings sold for $200,000 or over during Sunday's session, led by a colt by Cody's Wish who sold for $360,000 to Lee Lewis. The yearling was consigned by Sequel, which also consigned the session's top-priced filly, a daughter of Golden Pal who sold for $320,000.

Cody's Wish | Sarah Andrew

Sequel's Becky Thomas was expecting a strong sale when the consignment ran out of its signature peaches during showing Sunday.

“We were expecting to have an uptick,” Thomas said. “We had peaches at this sale–we have apples in October. We ran out of peaches yesterday. Usually, they last through the whole sale, so we knew this was going to be a good sale.”

The Fasig-Tipton New York-bred Sale continues with a final session beginning at noon on Monday.

Sequel, Broman Winning from Coast to Coast

Becky Thomas's Sequel and her longtime client and New York breeder Chester Broman capped an impressive 24 hours when selling the top-priced yearling at Sunday's first session of the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred sale after bloodstock agent Phil Hager bid $360,000 to acquire a colt by Cody's Wish (hip 358) on behalf of Lee Lewis.

Hip 358 c. CODY'S WISH o/o Hard to Stay Notgo sells for $360,000 at NY Bred Yearlings! Congrats to the connections:

B: Taproot, for Lee Lewis
C: @sequelfarms, agt for Chester Broman
Br: Chester Broman Sr. (NY) #NYBred

@nytbreeders | @DarleyStallions pic.twitter.com/JuVwexTctZ

— Fasig-Tipton (@FasigTiptonCo) August 17, 2026

“We had Mr. Broman in the winner's circle with his horse in the 12th race last night,” Thomas said. “And then we had Inshallah last night. And we had three in a row that have done super well. This horse was Mr. Broman's and we have the mom and the siblings. We are really happy.”

Broman won the nightcap at Saratoga Saturday with Maximum Heat (Maxfield) and a few hours later the Broman-bred Inshallah (Flightline), who topped the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale when selling for $2.1 million in May, was tabbed a 'TDN Rising Star presented by Hagyard' when winning his debut at Del Mar.

Phil Hager | Fasig-Tipton

Hager did his bidding while standing out back alongside Mark Hennig, who will train the colt. The yearling is out of stakes winner Hard to Stay Notgo (More Than Ready) and is a half-brother to stakes winners Makin My Move (Carpe Diem) and Mommy's Turn (Mendelssohn).

“The New York-bred program is really good and there are a lot of new incentives you can run for now,” Hager said of the colt's appeal. “So that played into it. Obviously, Cody's Wish is an awesome horse. The mare has been productive and the colt had a really nice physical.”

Of champion Cody's Wish's first foals, Hager said, “We liked a bunch of them in the first sale and I've seen a bunch on the farm that I really like. He seems to be very consistent. He throws a very strong, athletic body type.”

Just a few hips before selling the session topper, Sequel also consigned the session's top-priced filly, a daughter of Golden Pal (hip 350), who sold for $320,000 to the partnership of Steven Rocco's LJSS Thoroughbreds, Matt Cutair's Adelphi Racing Club partnership, and Chief Horse Futures.

“She was a standout filly in the sale–certainly in tonight's session, but also in the sale overall,” bloodstock agent Joe Migliore said after signing the ticket on the filly. “We've been very impressed with what we've seen from the Golden Pals right off the bat. The mare has been a productive producer and had a recent black-type update. We've done a lot of good shopping off Sequel, so that probably helped us.”

Filly by Golden Pal (Hip 350) | Fasig-Tipton

The filly is out of Gun Club (Trappe Shot) and her half-sister My Magic Wand (Gun Runner) finished second in the July 23 Dashing Beauty Stakes. Sequel bred the yearling after dissolving a partnership with the estate of the late Lewis Lakin by buying Gun Club for $90,000 with the filly in utero at the 2024 Fasig-Tipton Digital July sale.

Migliore said buying at the New York-bred sale was a priority for Adelphi and partners.

“This New York-bred program and this sale is such a focus for us,” he said. “We are really putting an emphasis on being one of the premier partnerships in the state of New York. And there is not a better way to do that than to buy quality New York-breds. The female families are only getting better every year. The program continues to put out more incentives. We are very excited about the Trillium series coming up. Where else would we shop?”

The filly will be trained by Miguel Clement, Migliore said.

Saffie Joseph in a New York State of Mind

Saffie Joseph, a new homeowner in Saratoga, expects to be more involved with the New York racing scene and to that end, the trainer purchased three yearlings at the Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred sale Sunday night. Leading the way was a colt by Forte (hip 400), who sold for $350,000 as the very last hip through the ring Sunday. The yearling, consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency on behalf of breeder Fred Hertrich, is out of Liam's Lookout (Liam's Map), who is a half-sister to graded winner Itsaknockout (Lemon Drop Kid).

Hip 400 c. FORTE o/o Liam's Lookout sells for $350,000 at NY Bred Yearlings! Congrats to the connections:

B: @SaffieJosephJr
C: @TaylorMadeSales, agt
Br: Fred W. Hertrich III (NY) #NYBred

@nytbreeders | @spendthrift pic.twitter.com/OGK6oUMJAI

— Fasig-Tipton (@FasigTiptonCo) August 17, 2026

“He's a good-looking horse and he obviously has a solid pedigree,” Joseph said after signing the ticket on the colt. “He's a very good mover. We just hope that carries over to when he gets under tack.”

Also during Sunday's session, Joseph purchased a filly by Arcangelo (hip 336) from the Lane's End consignment for $130,000 and a colt by Frosted (hip 315) from Taylor Made for $62,000.

Saffie Joseph Jr. | Fasig-Tipton

“I've dabbled with [the New York sale] before, but now that we are going to have more of a presence in New York next year and, obviously with the incentives with the New York-bred program, it makes you more willing to get involved.”

Joseph continued, “We bought a house here in Saratoga, so we are definitely getting more involved. We will probably keep a lot of horses here next year.”

Joseph said he purchases the yearlings first and seeks owners second.

“I buy them, and then I sell them after,” he said with a laugh. “So, if I like them, I buy them. We have good relationships with people. They will see that I bought them and they will call and say, 'I want this or I don't want that.' That's how it works. And it's worked well for us that way.”

'Best Bred Filly in the Catalogue': $300,000 Elite Power Filly to Ryan

Bloodstock agent Mike Ryan went to $300,000 to acquire a filly from the first crop of Elite Power (hip 329) on behalf of Christine and Phil Hatfield early in Sunday's first session of the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred sale. The yearling was consigned by Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa and was bred by Lance Bell and Bradley Browne. She is out of Fast Retailing (Malibu Moon) and was purchased in utero for $50,000 at the 2025 Keeneland January sale.

Filly by Elite Power (hip 329) | Fasig-Tipton

“She's a beautiful filly, very much like the sire, very sharp, very forward,” Ryan said. “It looks like she will have plenty of speed, the way she is made, but she's bred to go two turns as well. The female family is outstanding. She's probably the best-bred horse in the catalogue, really. In my opinion, she was Book 1 Keeneland September. And you've got the added bonus of New York-bred, go through those conditions and she's open company class, for sure. I think she's stakes-caliber for sure. I love her.”

The yearling's 5-year-old half sister is multiple graded stakes winner Speed Shopper (Quality Road), who won this year's GIII Bewitch Stakes and GIII Christophe Clement Stakes at Gulfstream Park. The mare was a $430,000 Keeneland September Yearling in 2022.

“She is s quality filly with a lot of racing and residual value,” Ryan said. “That is important to me. You've got to have some pedigree on the female side.”

Hip 329 f. ELITE POWER o/o Fast Retailing sells for $300,000 at NY Bred Yearlings! Congrats to the connections:

B: Mike Ryan, agt
C: @HillnDaleFarm, agt
Br: Dr. Lance Bell & Bradley B. Browne (NY) #NYBred

@nytbreeders | @JuddmonteFarms pic.twitter.com/54S6H0Umwq

— Fasig-Tipton (@FasigTiptonCo) August 17, 2026

Of the filly's two-time champion sire Elite Power, who won the 2022 and 2023 GI Breeders' Cup Sprint for Juddmonte, Ryan said, “He's a two-time Breeders' Cup winner and a beautifully bred horse and he's standing at a great farm. I am sure he got a lot of quality mares from the home team at Juddmonte. I think he has a great shot.”

A Delightful Score for Hertrich

When Fred Hertrich purchased the then 4-year-old filly Delightof the Nile (Pioneerof the Nile) for $65,000 at the 2023 Keeneland November sale, the breeder was already plenty familiar with the mare. He had bred the filly and sold her for $180,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September sale. The mare's first foal, by Liam's Map ($40k) and co-bred with John Fielding, went through the sales ring Sunday night in Saratoga as hip 308 and sold for $220,000 to trainer Linda Rice.

Liam's Map | Sarah Andrew

“She was a beautiful yearling,” Hertrich said of Delightof the Nile, who was a winner in eight starts. “I think she had some soreness at two, but then she raced very well and won a maiden special at four. She came back in the auction, and we love her momma [Delightfully So], who made a very good New York horse in [multiple stakes winner and graded-placed] Dr Ardito (Liam's Map). So we thought she was a bargain at $65,000.”

As for expectations for the mare's first foal Sunday, Hertrich said, “With the people who looked at him, we thought he would bring that kind of money. So it wasn't really a surprise. The great thing is, he went to a tremendous barn with Linda Rice. So, she will do a great job with him and hopefully propel this mare by being a stakes horse up here in New York.”

Delightof the Nile has a weanling filly by Prince of Monaco and she was bred back to Girvin.

Hip 393 c. UP TO THE MARK o/o La Croix Valmer sells for $300,000 at NY Bred Yearlings! Congrats to the connections:

B: @ScanlonTraining & Sales
C: Blake-Albina Thoroughbred Services, agt
Br: Newtownanner Stud Farm (NY) #NYBred

@nytbreeders | @LanesEndFarms pic.twitter.com/Pzzt7QcbFI

— Fasig-Tipton (@FasigTiptonCo) August 17, 2026

The post $360,000 Cody’s Wish Colt Tops Solid Fasig-Tipton New York Opener appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Spendthrift Farm and Frank Fletcher Racing Operations' Q B Rocket made a winning debut sprinting six furlongs on Saturday versus fellow juveniles in the eighth race, which earned him a 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard,' for the effort. Ridden by Junior Alvarado, the Gun Runner dark bay wired the eight-horse field in a final time of 1:10.70, earning an 80 Beyer.

“He came out of it really good. Looks amazing,” Cox said. “I'm very happy with him. He acted like he was a good horse in morning training, and we brought him up here and he handled everything really well. We expected him to run big, and he did.”

Possible targets for Q B Rocket include the GI Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park or the GI Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland, both Oct. 3 and “Win and You're In” qualifiers for the GI FanDuel Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

“The Champagne or the Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland would probably be the logical spots,” the trainer said. “I think he showed enough yesterday to take that next step and stretch him out. He's bred to stretch and acts like he would. He's got a great mind, so we'll see.”

NEW TDN RISING STAR

Q B ROCKET (2yo c. by Gun Runner @Three_Chimneys – Ginja) earns @TDN Rising Star honors after winning a MdSpWt today @TheNYRA Saratoga for trainer @bradcoxracing and owners Frank Fletcher & @spendthriftfarm .

Purchased at KEESEP25. Congrats to all… pic.twitter.com/Oyb67YldbQ

— BSW/Crow Bloodstock (@BSWCrow) August 15, 2026

The post ‘TDN Rising Star’ Q B Rocket Looks To Stretch The Field For Cox appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

The race was also part of the Breeders' Cup Dirt Dozen Bonus Series heading toward the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, that will be run at Keeneland Oct. 31.

Sweet Azteca's victory earned her an additional $15,000 toward the $30,000 entrance fee for the $1-million race.

Victorious in her sole start at three for trainer Michael McCarthy, the homebred nabbed four of six starts in 2024–including the GI Beholder Mile over favored Adare Manor. The winner in the 6 1/2-furlong GII Great Lady M Stakes at Los Alamitos, she added her first Rancho Bernardo before tiring to finish a well-beaten fourth in the GIII Chillingworth Stakes at Santa Anita.

The top-class mare in California followed the same path the next season and won the Great Lady M again in 2025. Sweet Azteca aimed for the Breeders' Cup after the second Rancho Bernardo score, but she was forced to scratch before her big moment at Del Mar. Her trainer Richard Baltas announced a week later that the mare would remain in his care.

Off her third Great Lady M victory July 4, the heavy 1-5 favorite here used her speed to keep pace with Thermal (Nyquist), who as the 2-1 second choice was intent on making the lead. Sweet Azteca had plenty in the tank though and she put away her rival with a furlong left to sail home a no-doubt winner. Thermal was the runner-up.

“Juan [Hernandez] was saying she relaxed nice for him, she wasn't pulling as hard,” said trainer Richard Baltas. “She did whatever he wanted. Juan rode the perfect race and got the job done. I was worried about something happening with her standing in the gate too long but she's been standing really good lately and didn't move a muscle. I'm glad it's over. She ran like I knew she would.”

Pedigree Notes:
Sweet Azteca is the lone Grade I winner for 2017 GI Cigar Mile winner Sharp Azteca, who stands at Shizunai Stallion Station in Japan. Sweet Azteca, a third generation homebred for Pamela Cee Ziebarth, is out of the Grand Slam mare So Sweetitiz, herself a multiple stakes winner for Ziebarth.

The winner's dam is responsible for 3-year-old colt Under the Big Sky (Tonalist). She handed Sweet Azteca a full-sister in 2024 and foaled a filly by Epicenter last spring. So Sweetitiz was entered in Essential Quality's book for next term.

As for Sweet Azteca's fourth dam that is Cee's Song (Seattle Song). She raced for Zeibarth's late mother Cecilia Straub Rubens, and produced Horse of the Year and dual Breeders' Cup Classic hero Tiznow, plus multiple graded stakes winner Budroyale–both full-brothers to Sweet Azteca's third dam Tizsweet.

Brilliant SWEET AZTECA won the $100,000 Rancho Bernardo Stakes (G3) for the third straight year. @JJHernandezS19 in the irons on the Richard Baltas trainee, who is by Sharp Azteca.

Her record is now 9 for 11 lifetime! pic.twitter.com/99RzgkdoxR

— FanDuel Racing (@FanDuel_Racing) August 16, 2026

Sunday, Del Mar
RANCHO BERNARDO S.-GIII, $100,000, Del Mar, 8-16, 3yo/up, f/m, 6 1/2f, 1:16.51, ft.
1–SWEET AZTECA, 125, m, 6, by Sharp Azteca
              1st Dam: So Sweetitiz (MSW, $180,480), by Grand
              Slam
              2nd Dam: Sweetitiz, by El Prado (Ire)
              3rd Dam: Tizsweet, by Cee's Tizzy
O/B-Pamela Cee Ziebarth (KY); T-Richard Baltas; J-Juan J.
Hernandez. $60,000. Lifetime Record: GISW, 11-9-0-1,
$847,200. Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree or the free
Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Thermal, 122, m, 5, Nyquist–Full Tap, by Tapit. 1ST
GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($625,000 Ylg '22 FTSAUG). O-By
Talla Racing LLC and John W. Sadler Racing, Inc.; B-Anderson
Farms Ont. Inc. (ON); T-John W. Sadler. $20,000.
3–Antifona (Fr), 122, m, 5, Recoletos (Fr)–Survived (GB), by
Kyllachy (GB). (€18,000 RNA Ylg '22 ARQDOY). O-Holly
Wilson and David Wilson; B-SARL Darpat France (FR);
T-Vladimir Cerin. $12,000.
Margins: 4 3/4, 3 1/4, NK. Odds: 0.30, 2.00, 22.70.
Also Ran: Fire Ban, Catalina Cocktail. Scratched: Sweet Gal of Mine.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPS. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel Racing.

The post Speedy Sweet Azteca Nets Third GIII Rancho Bernardo Stakes At Del Mar appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Now, seven days later, the alleged coup is gaining enough notoriety that it could end up as American racing's most audacious attempted betting takedown of the last quarter-century.

Although no one has been charged with pari-mutuel wrongdoing or sanctioned for in-race cheating, the swirl of intrigue includes enough plot thickening to warrant significant scrutiny.

The first red flag was the strikingly low $12.80 daily double payout involving Quiroz's consecutive-race Monmouth winners, a 17-1 shot that aired by nine lengths, and a 7-2 winner by half a length.

Within the same time frame, two wire-to-wire Saratoga long shots–both put through unremarkable workouts by Quiroz at Fair Hill before being sold to 8% lifetime winning owner/trainer Ernesto Ochoa–won by 8 3/4 lengths at 8-1 odds and by 3 1/2 lengths at 12-1 odds. Returning from nine- and seven-month layoffs, they recorded lifetime-best Beyer Speed Figure improvements of 31 and 34 points, respectively.

Also that Sunday, there was a 5-1 near-miss on another Quiroz-conditioned Fair Hill layoff gelding who ran second at Colonial Downs. This one had been away for six months before getting transferred to the barn of owner/trainer Monica McGoey, another 8% lifetime winning conditioner.

That Colonial runner-up reportedly took outsized betting action in overseas pools, as did two other Quiroz-prepped entrants who were supposed to run Monday at Mountaineer Park and Presque Isle Downs. Those last two ended up being scratched from their Aug. 10 races as news of the previous day's training and betting patterns filtered up to regulators.

Quiroz, who doubled his victory total for the year with the two Aug. 9 Monmouth winners, denied doing anything wrong when interviewed last Monday by TDN's Bill Finley.

“I don't see what the big deal is or what the problem is,” Quiroz said. “I'm supposed to run all the time and not try to win the race? There are too many people behind social media who don't show their faces and post too much stuff that is not true.”

Quiroz has a point about the perils of trial-by-social-media. But by Thursday, he had a more concrete concern: He's now facing up to a two-year suspension and a $25,000 fine after one of his Fair Hill trainees (a filly not among those entered last week) allegedly tested positive for a vets' list violation for non-inhalation albuterol, a bronchodilator that the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) considers a banned substance when administered by any route other than inhalation.

When TDN's Dan Ross asked a HIWU spokesperson if other out-of-competition tests on Quiroz-trained horses were in the pipeline, he got an emailed reply stating that targeted testing “has been and will continue to be administered” in relation to the Aug. 9-10 events, but that HIWU could not share details.

As per protocol, results are still pending for the winning Quiroz-related horses that had to go through HIWU's standard post-race testing.

Although HIWU and the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) generally only release adverse analytical findings, given the heightened public interest, perhaps they will disclose the results if those horses test clean.

Of the many unknowns in this constellation of curiosities, the drug testing is unlikely to be the weak link.

Figuring out the betting part of it will be far more difficult.

Right now no one knows for sure who, specifically, might have profited and how.

The New York Racing Association (NYRA) told TDN that it has referred the matter to HISA, HIWU, and the Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau (TRPB). The New Jersey Racing Commission is reportedly also looking into the issue.

But neither HISA nor HIWU specialize in pari-mutuel forensics. Their mandates are focused on racetrack safety and medication control.

State racing commissions certainly do have the power to obtain betting information from the tracks they regulate. Whether or not they have the resources to sift through and parse the data meaningfully is a fair question to ask.

The TRPB has monitored wagering since 1946. But it's a private investigative agency that reports to the racetrack and regulator clients who contract for those services. It is up to those clients to release–or not release–the results of any investigations. The TRPB is not a publicly accountable entity.

And while the TRPB has sophisticated tools at its disposal, times have changed.

At one point not too long ago, the TRPB's number-crunching and pattern-detection capabilities might have clearly outclassed the computing power available to the average horseplayer.

But since the advent of big-database handicapping and computer-assisted wagering (CAW), that gap has closed.

It is now far more likely that the people who use such software to try and make money betting on a daily basis possess the more powerful tools.

It's conceivable that some bettors were on to the Aug. 9 patterns with the Quiroz-related horses as they emerged in real time.

And by sending supposedly smarter money after smart money, their wagering decisions could have amplified any original pari-mutuel aberrations.

Although our sport deals with garden-variety fraud and people pushing boundaries to get an edge on a regular basis, major benchmark wagering scandals happen only about once every 25 years.

Volponi won the Breeders' Cup Classic in the 'Fix Six' year | Horsephotos

If we were to build a “Mount Rushmore” of orchestrated race results, the most recent one would be the Breeders' Cup “Fix Six” of 2002.

Three accomplices who had access to the tote system placed six identical Pick Six bets after the first four legs had been run, singling the known winners and using “all” combinations in the last two races to steal the $3.1 million pool.

When executives at NYRA–in particular, a very observant Bill Nader–first noticed the highly unusual sequences and the fact that the tickets were all bought through the same OTB by the same bettor, they reported their findings to racing commission and law enforcement officials (even though NYRA was not directly involved in the running of that year's Breeders' Cup).

The scammers were caught and served prison sentences, and their ill-gotten gains were later redistributed to bettors who had five of six horses correct on their tickets.

Prior to that, you have to go back another 25 years to the Cinzano-disguised-as-Lebon ringer case at Belmont Park in 1977.

That one involved a champion horse from Uruguay being reported as dead, then passed off as his far-less-accomplished but similar-looking (and probably killed) stablemate to win at 57-1 odds.

When a Belmont cash-room messenger who had worked as an exercise rider was delivering $75,000 to the window to be paid to the bettor collecting on the coup, the messenger recognized the man who made the big score as a veterinarian who had imported both horses.

That identifying info, when coupled with a chance recognition by a Uruguayan racing editor who happened to see a photo of “Lebon” after his surprise victory and knew it wasn't him, resulted in the veterinarian being convicted of fraud, fined $1,000, and sentenced to a year in prison (shortened to four months on appeal).

I wouldn't get the chisels and dynamite out just yet to start carving this latest suspicious series of events at Saratoga and Monmouth into that fictional version of Mount Rushmore.

But it is notable that in both the Fix Six and the Cinzano/Lebon cases, regulators were not the ones who first noticed things weren't on the level.

And the same was true last week about the out-of-the-ordinary patterns involving the Fair Hill trainees, which were flagged (and dissected) by skeptical horseplayers on social media for a full day before anyone in an official capacity issued a statement or launched an investigation.

If you were involved in the sport back in 2002 when the Fix Six unfolded, you might recall one of the more perplexing (yet predictable) reactions by the racing industry at the time: A number of prominent racetracks announced they were changing the locks on their tote rooms and posting armed guards outside those doors.

Presumably, this extra layer of physical security was supposed to prevent future pari-mutuel fraud, even though the Fix Six was a cyber-perpetrated inside job.

In the wake of what happened last week–and especially considering the betting public again had to spark the powers that be into action–it seems legit to question how far the industry has actually come in terms of policing its pools in the past 2 1/2 decades.

I also wonder if the tote room guards might again soon be assigned to their posts.

The post Week in Review: When Tracks Again Post Armed Guards Outside Tote Rooms, We’ll Know It’s a Real Betting Coup appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

In the GIII Mahony Stakes at Saratoga on Sunday afternoon, Stradale (Yaupon–Twitterpated, by Stormy Atlantic) took the featured race on the card with a late move down the lane and secured the first graded win of his career.

A competitor on dirt for trainer Steve Asmussen after going for $1.3-million during the OBS April sale, Stradale, was a well-beaten fifth in the GI Champagne Stakes at Aqueduct last October, which was third career race. The bay then broke his maiden at Churchill Downs at the end of that month and finished off his season with a third-place finish in the Ed Brown Society Stakes in Louisville in late November.

The Asmussen trainee cleared an optional claimer at Oaklawn Mar. 5 to start his 3-year-old campaign and lost by a neck in the Bachelor Stakes in Hot Springs May 1. Stradale was sixth in the GI Woody Stephens Stakes at the Spa June 6, but switched to the turf upstate, which yielded a fourth-place ending in the GIII Quick Call Stakes July 19.

Up against a heavy favorite in 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard,' Outfielder (Speightstown) as a 7-1 shot here, Stradale rated nicely behind Intricate Spirit (Complexity) from the bell.

The 3-year-old remained on hold looking for his chance to pounce up the backstretch and through the far turn. Asked for his best at the top of the lane, Stradale responded well to take the prize. Oscar's Hope (Twirling Candy) was a game runner-up.

“I think the break made the biggest difference today,” said Asmussen assistant Scott Blasi. “I think he likes to run a little closer like that. Jose [Ortiz] said when he jumped out of there like that, it gave him some confidence and then he was able to put him on the bridle. He finished up strong.

Stradale with Jose Ortiz | Sarah Andrew

“A horse like him that's really talented… the Yaupons seem to be doing it all, winning all over at every level,” he added. “I thought we saw enough in his last race that we'd give him another shot today. We're glad we did.”

“He always showed speed before on the dirt, unfortunately last time he wasn't able to be close,” said jockey Jose Ortiz. “Today he was. He broke very alert, and the other horse [No. 4, Intricate Spirit] decided to go, so I just sit off him and [made a run] at the end. He was traveling very good every step of the way. You worry if they're going to like the soft ground, and he was traveling well at the three-eighths pole, but you don't know until you turn them loose. When I turned him loose and he gave me another kick, I was very happy with him.

“The other horse [Intricate Spirit] is a very nice horse and it surprised me that he backed up that quick, but it helped me because I was able to wait a little bit longer and hold off the closer.

“Oscar's Hope [No. 3], I actually worked him last week on the turf for Kinnon [LaRose, trainer] and I liked what I saw on him. Today, he ran [good] on the grass as well, so it's cool for them, but I'm glad I was on Stradale today [laughs].”

Pedigree Note:
Stradale is the first to the races for Twitterpated (Stormy Atlantic), a full-sister to GISW Stormy Lucy, and a half to the mother of GSW Shifty (Medaglia d'Oro) and GSW Big Runnuer (Stormy Atlantic). He has a juvenile half-brother named Empire Penguin (Classic Empire) still in the wings. The dam has not produced any offspring since those two, and was bred to Jackie's Warrior for 2027.

The third dam is MSP Lucinda K (Red Random), who claims SW Thatswhatimean (Belong to Me) and GSW Moonwalk (Malibu Moon) to her tally. Her former daughter is herself the granddam of Malibu Mischief (Goldencents) and the great granddam of SW-Ire Yaupon de Replay (Yaupon). The latter daughter is the granddam of SP Snowhomish (Rock Your World).

Stradale is the fifth graded winner for his sophomore sire (by Uncle Mo), joining Albus, Local Knowledge, Booked and Sippin Pretty. –P. Szpyra

STRADALE gets his first stakes win in the Grade 3 Mahony Stakes at 7-1 under @jose93_ortiz for trainer Steve Asmussen. pic.twitter.com/1xLWoD0z83

— NYRA () (@TheNYRA) August 16, 2026

Sunday, Saratoga
MAHONY S.-GIII, $225,000, Saratoga, 8-16, 3yo, 5 1/2fT, 1:03.34, fm.
1–STRADALE, 120, c, 3, by Yaupon
                1st Dam: Twitterpated, by Stormy Atlantic
                2nd Dam: Here Comes Lucinda, by Dixieland Band
                3rd Dam: Lucinda K, by Red Ransom
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($285,000 Ylg '24 FTKJUL; $1,300,000 2yo '25 OBSAPR). O-Kaleem Shah, Inc.; B-Richard Bremer & Cheryl Sprick (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen; J-Jose L. Ortiz. $123,750. Lifetime Record: 10-3-2-2, $388,300. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree or free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Oscar's Hope, 122, c, 3, Twirling Candy–Hopeful Princess, by Not This Time. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($150,000 Ylg '24 KEESEP). O-Michael McLoughlin; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY); T-Kinnon LaRose. $45,000.
3–Rebel With a Cause, 122, g, 3, Leinster–Glenwood Pines, by Mizzen Mast. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($10,000 Ylg '24 OBSWIN; $37,000 RNA 2yo '25 OBSMAR). O-Tristar Farm LLC; B-David John Osterholt (FL); T-Lauren Robson. $27,000.
Margins: NK, 1HF, 1. Odds: 7.10, 16.49, 12.60.
Also Ran: Outfielder, Learntodiscover (GB), Big Destroyer, Intricate Spirit.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel Racing.

The post Red, White, Blue Clad Ortiz Steers Son Of Yaupon Stradale To Win Mahony Stakes appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

My Gun's Loaded (Gun Runner), will make her stakes debut in the Alabama after winning both starts this year. She broke her maiden at Saratoga June 6 by 4 1/4 lengths and then won a mile allowance race by three lengths July 24.

Always a Runner (Gun Runner), winner of her first three starts, including the prestigious GI Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs May 1, will not run in the Alabama. Brown said Sunday that he will send this gifted filly, owned by Douglas Scharbauer and breeder Three Chimneys Farm, LLC, to the $1-million GI Cotillion at Parx Sept. 19.

In her last two starts, both at Saratoga, Always a Runner finished second to Counting Stars (Honor A.P.), the probable favorite for the Alabama, in the GI Acorn Stakes (by 3 3/4 lengths) and the GI Coaching Club American Oaks (by 4 1/4 lengths).

Working together: Always a Runner outside of My Gun's Loaded | Sarah Andrew

“She ran really good races and was second best,” Brown said outside his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track Sunday morning. “After two starts at Saratoga, maybe try her at a different track. She might not be quite at her best here, not to make excuses. She trains fine here; it just might not be her favorite surface.”

My Gun's Loaded is also owned by Scharbauer.

Brown also has an upcoming star in the filly ranks after 2-year-old Libby Lloyd (Into Mischief) romped to a 10-length win in her first career start and earned herself a 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard,' on Saturday. Owned by Bret Jones, Libby Lloyd and jockey Flavien Prat covered the six furlongs in 1:10.80.

Libby Lloyd most likely won't be racing at the Spa again this summer as the $300,000 GI Spinaway Stakes Sept. 5 comes up a little too quick for Brown. He will wait for the $500,000 GI Frizette Stakes at the new Belmont Park Oct. 3.

“I was very impressed with her,” Brown said. “The horse has trained really well all summer, and we were excited to get her started. It was finally her turn and she did not disappoint. I'll try to stretch her all the way to a mile (in the Frizette). It's a big jump from six furlongs, but it might be what I have to do.”

Another High Five for Rice

This was nothing new for trainer Linda Rice. During her 39-year-career, she had won five races in a day twice. On Saturday, she did it for the third time, but this time it came at Saratoga.

Linda Rice with jockey Jose Ortiz | Coglianese

“We had a very good day,” Rice said Sunday morning while looking at yearlings for the two-day Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Sale that began Sunday night. “It's always special and, to do it at Saratoga, that's a great feeling.”

The first two times Rice won five in one day came at Aqueduct.

She did it last Jan. 22 and also got to the winner's circle five times on Wood Memorial Day, Apr. 4, 2024.

She is the second trainer to get five wins in one day at this meet. Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher did it Aug. 1.

“You go into thinking you can win a couple,” Rice said. “But you never go into it thinking you're going to win five. It's always great to win five in a day, but it's significantly better here.”

On Saturday, her winners were Scramjet (Uncle Mo, $18.96) in the second, Lady Rose (Upstart, $4.24) in the fourth, Bite and Strike (Liam's Map, $10.60) in the seventh, Calling Card (Complexity, $5.66) in the 11th and Maximum Heat (Maxfield, $3.50) in the 12th.

Two of the winners (Lady Rose, Bite and Strike) were ridden by Jose Lezcano, who came into Saturday with no wins in his first 80 starts at the meet.

“One thing about Jose Lezcano, he is such an even-keeled professional,” Rice said. “You never see him lose his temper. Not with horses, not with people. He rides the wave.”

What made the day even more special is that Rice invited her office staff from Belmont Park to spend the day at Saratoga. The dozen workers, who had never been to Saratoga, Rice said, brought family and friends with them and were able to experience the wins in the paddock and the winner's circle.

After the big day, there would be no wild celebration with all the familiar faces in town.

“I got a quick bite to eat, went home and went to bed,” she said with a laugh.

Caddiemaster on the bag and in the winner's circle | Sarah Andrew

Rice did not cool off on Sunday as she won the first race with Caddiemaster (Liam's Map, $13.76) and the fifth with Seeker's Hope (McKinzie, $3.44).

She has 23 wins, good for second place in the trainer's standings, three behind leader Chad Brown. Rice is the only woman to win a Saratoga training title, and she has done it twice. She won it outright in 2009 with 20 wins and shared the 2023 title with Brown when both won 35 races.

“Chad is a hard guy to catch,” Rice said. “He wins races every day in bunches. We'll keep throwing the ball and seeing what we can get.”

Pletcher Starting to get the Band Back Together

The leader of the pack for the 3-year-old colts for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher is Renegade (Into Mischief), the winner of the GII Jim Dandy Stakes last month and one of the favorites for the $1.25 million GI DK Travers Stakes Aug. 29.

Ted Noffey works with Carlos Quevedo at Saratoga on Sun. | Sarah Andrew

Some of the other stalwarts of Pletcher's sophomore division are trickling back into his barn after missing the Triple Crown campaign last spring.

Spendthrift Farm's 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard,' Ted Noffey (Into Mischief), the 2025 Eclipse Award winner for champion 2-year-old colt, is back in training after arriving in Saratoga two weeks ago. Undefeated in four starts as a juvenile, Ted Noffey was taken off the Kentucky Derby trail with bone bruising.

He had his second Saratoga work on Sunday as he went four furlongs in :49.77 (112/151) with exercise rider Carlos Quevedo on board.

Pletcher said Ted Noffey won't run at Saratoga but could target a race in the fall.

“He doesn't have many conditions left, so it will be a little tricky where we place him coming back,” Pletcher said. “We will zero in on that as we get a little more foundation into him. It's great to have him back and I'm happy with the way he looks.”

Another promising colt, Centennial Farms's Nearly (Not This Time) is close to rejoining the Pletcher barn. He is at Don Little Jr.'s–Centennial Farms' president and co-owner–training center in Middleburg, Va.

Nearly, winner of two of three this year, including the GIII Fountain of Youth, was fourth in the GI Florida Derby and then Pletcher had to stop on him because of hind ankle issues.

“He is doing very well,” Little said. “I would think we would try to get a race into him before the end of the year.”

For now, it looks as though Nearly would not be sent to Pletcher's barn until after the Saratoga meet ends. Little said the colt will continue to build some foundation at the farm.

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