Catalyst Moves from Keeneland to Ellis Park

Catalyst has been moved from Keeneland to Ellis Park for the time being. The Asmussen barn does a lot of repositioning of horses depending on where in their training they are and other factors, and after evaluating Catalyst since she returned to the barn, determined that she's got some time to go before she'll be race ready again. We'll be back with more information as we receive it.

Secret Crush: Great News! But Slow Road Back

Secret Crush was re-checked and scanned as planned, and he has been cleared to return to training!

That's the good news.

Now, we'll need to have some patience because Secret Crush will require a measured and incremental re-train. His muscles need to be strengthened before his workload can be increased, so his timeline will take longer than just a standard return from a break.

The team at Silver Springs will jog Secret Crush for approximately 60 days and then gallop him for another 60 days before he'll be ready to do speed work. He’ll get regular vet checks during this time to ensure sure everything is trending in the right direction physically. If all goes well, he'll be back for his 4YO campaign sometime in the Spring. 

We’ll continue to monitor his progress at Silver Springs and pass along any news as it arrives.

Seismic Beauty has a Minor Setback

Seismic Beauty came up with some warmth in a knee leading up to what would have been her scheduled breeze day this week, so diagnostics were performed. 

Her X-rays were clean, but a PET scan showed some light bone bruising. The recommended treatment is three weeks of just walking and at that point if everything checks out ok, she can slowly resume training. 

This is a frustrating setback for sure, but at this point it looks like a minor one. We’ll remain in frequent contact with the Baffert barn to monitor Seismic Beauty’s condition and recovery and report back with news as it comes to us.

Blue Devil Update and Possible Target Race

BLUE DEVIL is (almost) baaaack! Our veteran stakes horse had a timed work yesterday at Ellis Park, from the gate, where he clocked an impressive 1:00.60. This was his second five-furlong work since returning from the farm and his sixth overall in Steve Asmussen's barn. He is expected to make his next start soon. One option for him could possibly be an upcoming allowance race at Keeneland scheduled for October 20th. [Photo from a previous race courtesy of MRH]

Guinevere Update - The Royal Duet

It's been awhile since we've done an updated on Guinevere (part of The Royal Duet) so this will catch up her latest news. 

Guinevere has won her last two starts by 2-3/4 lengths and 3 lengths respectively.

This was a 1-1/6 mile Maiden Special Weight 16K on August 2nd, and a 1 mile and 70 yards Allowance 18.3K on September 25th, both run at Belterra Park on dirt.

We expect her next start will be at Keeneland, but no date has been set. 

The update after her last race:

Guinevere has exited her race in good order and is back at Keeneland with trainer Wesley Ward. She will get back into training this week to prepare for what could be her third win in a row. She earned a career-best 66 Beyer Speed Figure and a copy of her updated lifetime past performances can be seen above. It's been a nice turn around for our daughter of Justify.

Update on 10/03/2024: (Which came with some surprising news)

In an effort to keep all options open, Guinevere was entered in the Keeneland November sale and that catalog was released today. Your daughter of Justify was cataloged as hip 1008, meaning if she were to sell, she would sell on Thursday, Nov. 7 as part of Book 2.

Please note that we have no concrete plans to sell her or not sell her at this time, and the immediate focus is to test the waters at Keeneland and see if she can grab a third-straight win. It is standard practice to enter fillies like her in the November sale to have that option and, again, absolutely nothing is set in stone.

Our take: This took us by surprise. Along it was stated this is common practice, we aren't sure if "test the waters" means they intend to place a reserve on Guinevere to see if she will bring a particular price, or if they have another plan in play. 

Guinevere is not owned outright by MRH, and has two other partners involved, including a major Kentucky farm. 

We shall see what we shall see in the coming month. 

Blue Devil Works a Bullet at Ellis Park

So great to see our veteran back in training and now running his first bullet back. This was from the gate. He's an older horse with a stakes win and lengthy list of stakes places and he is trained by Steve Asmussen.

Blue Devil (5-Year-Old Gelding)

Date: October 3, 2024
Track: ELLIS PARK
Distance: Five Furlongs
Time: 1.00:60 Handily
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt
Rank: 1/6

Here's The Kicker: After Race Update

Here’s the Kicker has resumed training off of her impressive 10 3/4-length win. There is a first-level allowance race going a mile on the dirt at Gulfstream Park on October 20th that we are considering. She will likely have a work or two between now and then. 

It would be her first time stretching out, which as we've mentioned before is something trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. is keen to try.

We're Seeing Some Good Signs from Caldera!

Caldera turned in another very impressive breeze this morning at Churchill Downs, completing five furlongs in 1:00.40. In an accompanying video, he outworked his overmatched mate (most likely Cowboy Code) by many lengths before galloping out strongly.

MRH had a chance to chat about Caldera with trainer D. Wayne Lukas between his last breeze and this one, and The Coach could not have been more complimentary of our colt, even saying, "It looks like you've done it again," of course referring to G1 Preakness and G1 Pennsylvania Derby winner Seize the Grey. 

Lukas noted that Caldera possesses a particularly impressive combination of speed and stamina and at this stage he expects him to make an impact on the 2025 Triple Crown trail!

As many of you are aware, you never truly know what kind of horse you have until they're asked to compete in a race, but coming from the legend himself, those are some exciting statements that MRH couldn't help but share.