All Equine All The Time

A horse born in the wrong generation of racing, Frosted gets a second chance to show his talents in the coming years after retiring to the breeding shed for 2017. Hitting the track as a 2-year-old in 2014, the same year his sire Tapit got his first classic winner, Frosted lived up to the “third time is the charm” saying when he broke his maiden third time out at Aqueduct after two second place finishes. That eye-catching 5 ¼ length maiden victory was enough to convince his connections to enter him in the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes. Starting what would become a trend in his career, Frosted ran second to Leave the Light On (Horse Greeley) in the Remsen then came back two months later to run second again in the Grade 2 Lambholm South Holy Bull Stakes to Upstart (Flatter). A fourth place finish behind Itsaknockout (Lemon Drop Kid) in the Grade 2 Besilu Stables Fountain of Youth Stakes convinced trainer Kiaran McLaughlin to change things up before his next race. After a change in ...

After nearly a month hiatus, All Equine All the Time returns with the first new stallion blog of the season. Follow along in coming months as I look at new stallions hitting the sheds in 2017. Bobby's Kitten A familiar horse to both American and Europeans is new stallion Bobby’s Kitten, who won stakes in both North America and Ireland. The first Kitten’s Joy son to stand in Europe, Bobby’s Kitten may be known most for his thrilling finish in the 2014 Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint where he edged out fellow European stallion No Nay Never (Scat Daddy) by half a length at Santa Anita. But that is far from the only thing the bay accomplished. A winner at Saratoga in his second start, Bobby’s Kitten proved to be one of the best – if not the best – U.S. 2-year-old turf horses of his year. Breaking his maiden at 1 1/6 miles by 2 ¾ lengths, Bobby’s Kitten went on to lead the 2013 Grade 3 Pilgrim Stakes wire-to-wire with a 6 ¼ length victory at the same distance. Tha...

Drefong's half-sister In a Breeders’ Cup for the ages, owners, horses and trainers went down in the history books at Santa Anita. From championship caliber wins to new sires hitting it big, the 13 races of the Breeders’ Cup saw horses bred in three countries and two states in the winner’s circle. From Juddmonte’s big weekend to a top stallion making it big in another way, read on to find out some of the interesting things that happened at the Breeders’ Cup this year. Juddmonte Farms – Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Arrogate wasn’t the only one making this year’s Breeders’ Cup a good one for Juddmonte. While that was the only win for the stable as an owner, they also had a second place finish with Flintshire in the Turf, his final start before retiring to Hill ‘n’ Dale for 2017. Flintshire was one of the top performers of the weekend for Juddmonte’s stallion Dansili, who also sired Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf winner Queen’s Trust for Cheveley Park Stud. In an interestin...

The entries are drawn and all the Breeders’ Cup horses are on the grounds for the 2016 Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita, taking place on Nov. 4 and 5. But there’s more to the racing than just the racehorses and owners trying to add a prestigious Breeders’ Cup title to their resumes. Keep reading to find out nine facts, including a few about those chasing history, about the sires and dams represented at this year’s event By the Numbers – Ninty-eight stallions sired the 167 main body entrants in the 13 races with 112 broodmare sires also represented. Of the 98 sires at the races, there are 13 father/son pairs with Distorted Humor, Tiznow and Pulpit all having multiple sons with entries while also having their own runners. Stallions from six U.S. states and 11 countries have runners in the Breeders’ Cup races from Japan to France. Awesome Again Breeders’ Cup Winners – Eleven Breeders’ Cup winners are among the sires with runners this year. Of those 11, Ghostzapper, Unbridled’s ...

A regally-bred son of Unbridled’s Song, Keep Up’s career almost ended before it began when he broke his knee as a yearling. Three screws and seven months of stall rest later, he was cleared to enter training and the rest is history. " When we brought him up that day, we had to wait three weeks because of all the inflammation just to x-ray him," said Headley Bell of Mill Ridge Farm, where the colt was raised. "Then when we x-rayed him and saw the severity of the fracture at that stage you’re just trying to save his life. That’s all you’re doing. I think the vet said he had 10 percent chance to make it, really and then the racing was just a far reaching dream that we had. But he continued to take every step and then we early trained him and he did that then we gave him time to mature and he would just continue going. Then it was like 'he’s done this and he’s done that, what the hell' and you keep on going down the road and see what happens." Keep Up m...

After spending the last several months spending time being shown in theatres from Toronto’s International Film Festival to showings in California, U.S. steeplechasing fans finally have a chance to buy Being AP while helping out a few important racing organizations. Available for purchase in North America for the first time, part of the proceeds from the Being AP movies purchased in the U.S. will go toward a donation to the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund and the Retired Racehorse Project (RRP). Both causes are important to McCoy, with the former jockey currently the president of the UK’s Injured Jockeys Fund and a patron of the UK’s official OTTB charity, the Retraining of Racehorses (ROR). “These are two very important causes that are close to the hearts of all involved in the film, we are delighted to be able to help,” said producer Nick Ryle. The Retired Racehorse Project’s annual Thoroughbred “Makeover” will take place on Oct. 27 through 30 in Lexington, Ky. at the...

If there’s one thing racing fans can count on in this world, it’s that a big race will have multiple horses who trace back to 1964 Kentucky Derby winner Northern Dancer. This Sunday’s € 5-million ($5,621,000) Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is no exception to that rule with 11 horses tracing back to the stallion through their sire or broodmare sire. But with Northern Dancer multiple generations back in all the runners’ pedigrees (the closest he is found in an Arc runner's pedigree is three generations back), it’s worth focusing on his sons and grandsons who make his appearance possible. Not surprisingly, Sadler’s Wells is a popular line in this race even though the stallion isn’t the sire of any of the runners. Medaglia d'Oro His son Galileo has three runners, all from the Coolmore stable, with two more sires carrying Sadler's Wells blood. U.S. stallion Medaglia d’Oro could continue his hot streak if his runner Talismanic wins the race. A son of El Prado, Med...

Curlin's Stellar Wind On Saturday the Road to the Breeders’ Cup gets interesting with the second of three big weekends full of prep races. Santa Anita, the host of this year’s Breeders’ Cup, has five graded stakes carded for Saturday while Belmont also has five graded stakes during its first of two “Super Saturdays.” With 82 horses entered as of Wednesday, it left more than enough chances for a variety of stallions to pick up some valuable stakes placings for their resumes heading into the final months before breeding season. In all, 65 stallions have horses running in the major graded stakes on Saturday with 14 sires represented by two or more horses. Interestingly, North America’s top two sires don’t have any entries in these races with both Tapit and Uncle Mo sitting this “Super Saturday” out (Uncle Mo does have an entry in the ungraded Unzip Me Stakes taking place as Santa Anita’s finale on Saturday.) However, the nation’s other top sires have a chance to make ...