Nakoma Update

After a short rest so she could recover from some aches and pains associated with beginning more advanced exercises, Nakoma has handled her return to jogging without issue and is reportedly happy to be back to work. :D 

With the barn preparing to ship out of Saratoga, Jena Antonucci will weigh the options of sending Nakoma to either Keeneland or Belmont, but Keeneland is very likely to be her next spot.

Vekoma continues to be super hot as a freshman sire. On Saturday, he was represented by G3 Iroquois Stales romper Jonathan’s Way, who earned 10 of the first 2025 Kentucky Derby qualifying points! Vekoma also narrowly missed siring his first Grade 1 winner in Woodbine’s Natalma Stakes! He also had a five-length debut winner at BAQ. Victories and strong performances from many of his first crop have been a very good sign of things to come.

We look forward to Nakoma's continued advancement and will post further updates as she progresses. 

Seize The Grey Entered in G1 Pennsylvania Derby

We are excited to announce Seize the Grey was officially entered for this Saturday's G1 $1M Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing on September 21st. 

Our colt drew post 2 of (11) and has regular rider and Preakness winning jockey Jaime Torres back in the irons. 

The 13th race has a post time of 6:10 PM ET / 4:10 PM MT.

Other entries include Dragoon Guard, another talented son of Arrogate who has won his last four races, including G3 level stakes. Past competitors and Triple Crown contenders include Stronghold, Resilience, and Uncle Heavy. 

Seize The Grey has continued to train beautifully. Help us cheer him on in Saturday's race.  

Blue Devil Completes 4th Work Back

Blue Devil, the talented horse we bought into who has already competed at the stakes level, has now completed his fourth work back since his rest and train back. Info as follows...

Ellis Park   9/16/2024     Dirt 4F 50.60 Breezing 19/23

Ellis Park   9/9/2024 Dirt 4F 50.20 Breezing 11/23

Ellis Park   9/2/2024 Dirt 4F 51.60 Breezing 25/26

Ellis Park   8/27/2024 Dirt 3F 39.80 Breezing 5/5

Although he appears to be off to a slow start, he's in the hands of one of the best -- Steve Asmussen -- and his works indicate that the Asmussen team may be working on rebuilding his stamina, wind and overall fitness before advancing to faster works. 

So far, so good. 

Seismic Beauty Works - Appears it's a Pass on the Dogwood Stakes

Seismic Beauty worked a strong half mile in :48 flat this morning at Santa Anita Park. Trainer Bob Baffert was extremely pleased with today’s breeze. We’re still ironing out our next race target but will report back as soon as a plan is finalized.

Although the Dogwood Stakes at Churchill Downs was a potential target, it does not appear that Seismic Beauty has been entered. Not surprising since she's still on the West Coast, and the trip logistics probably didn't make sense at this time. With Santa Anita opening soon, our guess is she'll likely target a West Coast stakes if all goes well. 

Here's The Kicker Work and Update

Here’s the Kicker had her first work back this morning, covering four furlongs in :49.80. We caught up with trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. at the yearling sale this week who reported your daughter of Liam’s Map continues in great order.

She will be entered today for a maiden special weight going six and one half furlongs which is an extra on the overnight. We will follow up once the overnight is released.

English Jubilee Runs 3rd at Woodbine

English Jubilee overcame a hard check early on in her race at Woodbine today that put her into last place, but she rallied for 3rd in the stretch. (We thought she might have grabbed second but she got caught by another closer before the wire.) All-in-all, a pretty nice effort, and best of all, it does not appear she was claimed, so she'll be back to race for us another day. Good Job, English.

English Jubilee finished 3rd beaten by 5 1/4 lengths, on September 14, 2024, at WOODBINE in Race 1.

FOLLOW UP:

We received an update that cast a lot more light on English Jubilee's failure to mount a strong rally. Since the channel was so focused on the paddock activity, post parade, warm up and gate load of a MSW at Churchill Downs instead of the live feed at Woodbine, they didn't broadcast her race until nearly 20 minutes after it had run, and didn't cover any of the pre-race hijinx we were just filled in on.

"English Jubilee threw a wing-ding before the race, as she can do on occasion, and she blasted Patrick Husbands in the face, causing Patrick to require concussion protocol after the race and it probably rung the filly’s bell, too. 

They were both dull around the oval and made just a mild bid to be a non threatening 3rd behind the filly we knew would be tough..."

So, as they say, there's the "rest of the story." 

It would have been helpful if we could have actually viewed the issues with the gate load at Woodbine, instead of the channel droning on and on for nearly 25 minutes about some random maiden special weight at Churchill while a LIVE RACE was going off at Woodbine, but that's the issue we face with television coverage on certain channels these days. 

Caldera Arrives at Lukas's Churchill Barn!

Caldera arrived safely at Churchill Downs to join the D. Wayne Lukas barn this week and has settled in nicely. The son of Liam’s Map will have a few easy days. We'll follow up once he returns to the track. 

OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FROM MRH

We are thrilled to announce Caldera, our big son of Liam's Map, has officially joined "Coach" D. Wayne Lukas's string at Churchill Downs! 

Caldera has been working beautifully at Dave Scanlon's Oak Ridge Farrm. So far, he has been a star student in his training. Nearly every work he's had, Scanlon's noted it was either "a walk in the park" or "he makes it look easy" with his natural athleticism and good mind. 

These are great qualities you want to see in a young horse heading into the next stage of their training.

Although Seize the Grey is currently at Saratoga and not in the same barn as Caldera, we can't help to get a little bit of déjà vu with Caldera since last year around this time, Seize the Grey was at Churchill himself. Caldera has huge hoofprints to follow, but there's nothing more exciting than a grey starting their career with D. Wayne Lukas (Seize the Grey, Oxbow, Winning Colors, and Lady's Secret would all agree). 

It's now up to Coach and Caldera!