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!

Secret Crush Update

The team checked in with the Silver Springs staff earlier this week regarding Secret Crush. Farm manager Kevin Notlemeyer reported he is a happy horse on turnout and has been very sound since moving out to a large paddock. Dr. Sutter plans to perform a re-check this coming week which will be his 30-day check since being turned out.

English Jubilee Entry

English Jubilee has been entered in Race #1, a $40,000 Maiden Claiming with a purse of $65,700, on Saturday at Woodbine. 

English Jubilee has drawn post #3 with Patrick Husbands on board. Mark Casse is her trainer. Post time is 1:10 PM ET / 11:10 AM MT.

Seize The Grey Update

The MRH team has been in touch with trainer D. Wayne Lukas over the last few days while they've been at the Keeneland September yearling sale together. The Coach reports our son of Arrogate remains in great order and will have one final breeze this coming weekend in preparation for the G1 Pennsylvania Derby. Mr. Lukas continues to be full of confidence. 

We will report back once our colt returns to the work tab. 

Seismic Beauty Work and Possible Stakes Entry

Seismic Beauty had her first work back since her maiden victory yesterday morning at Del Mar, covering three furlongs in :36.20. In her solo drill, the daughter of Uncle Mo wasn’t asked for much and went easily throughout. 

With the Del Mar meet now closed, trainer Bob Baffert wasn’t looking for anything special and has been pleased with the filly since her race. Seismic Beauty has been nominated to the G3 Dogwood on September 21st at Churchill Downs, however that would require a ship across country and there will also be plenty of options as soon as the Santa Anita meet starts back at the end of the month. 

The Baffert barn is expected to ship back to Santa Anita in the coming days and we'll discuss plans with Bob once she returns. 

Blue Devil work

Blue Devil breezed a half mile in :50.20 yesterday morning at Ellis Park. He traveled nicely by himself while not being asked for much. 

He’s moving right along, now having two half-miles under him and is making good progress. His works will begin to get more serious over the coming weeks.

Fancy Quality Workout Report

Fancy Quality breezed five furlongs in 1:04.21 this morning over the Belmont training track. This week she breezed in company with a stablemate from Argentina, Dia Estelar. 

We remain on target for her debut on September 21st at Belmont at the Big A and your daughter of Wootton Bassett will have one additional breeze next Saturday in preparation.

Simply Enchanting Update

Simply Enchanting has continued in good order since her comeback race on Sunday. She earned a 72 Beyer Speed Figure for her effort. It was great to see her respond well following that head-scratching effort at Churchill but she showed plenty of grit in the stretch and this looks to be a race we can build off of.

The logical next spot would be the same condition on October 4th at Santa Anita but we’ll see how she continues to train out of this race and finalize our decision as we get closer.  

The D’Amato barn is scheduled to return to Santa Anita early next week, so her first work back will come there. 

Fireball Birdie Runs 2ND at Remington Park

Fireball Birdie ran 2nd at Remington Park yesterday evening, two lengths behind the winner. He earned a 91 Equibase speed figure for the race.

Simply Enchanting Just Misses at Del Mar

Simply Enchanting ran a great race today at Del Mar R#3, closing in on the clear leader deep in the stretch to almost get there, only loosing by a head at the wire and finishing 4 lengths ahead of the 3rd place horse. Very exciting performance and we'll post more when we receive the Equibase and trainer reports. 

AFTER RACE REPORT

Simply Enchanting bounced back nicely this afternoon at Del Mar, missing by a head to in-form Edge Racing runner Normandy Queen. (Edge is MRH's other division and Normandy Queen is currently undefeated.)

Your filly took a bump from the horse to her inside at the break, but continued right along to stalk from third. Normandy Queen looked home free heading for home, but Simply Enchanting continued to respond to rider Antonio Fresu’s urging. She found another gear once she switched leads at the top of the lane, gobbled up ground on the leader, but just ran out of room.

Regardless of the tough beat, we have to be very heartened by that performance and excited to see Simply Enchanting build on that improved run next time.

We’ll see how she comes back and weigh options with trainer Phil D’Amato, but another try in a similar spot would be logical.

RACE ON YOUTUBE: