Blue Devil has been Entered in the Sunland Park Handicap

Blue Devil is officially in for next Sunday’s $200K Sunland Park Handicap, on April 6t, 2025. 

He’ll be the #5 among a field of 9 carded as the day’s 11th race. Post time is 4:35 p.m. MT.

Catalyst Update and Non-Entry

Catalyst was not entered in that previously mentioned Sam Houston allowance race that drew today. Trainer Steve Asmussen reports that he has not been happy with her appetite in recent days, and would like to make sure she's 100% before taking on winners. This definitely doesn't sound like anything major, but we'll have to just let Team Asmussen get her sorted out before proceeding.

Misstrial's Half-Sibling Wins the Rushaway Stakes

Misstrial got a nice pedigree update Saturday when her previously mentioned 3YO half-brother, Banks, scored a convincing victory in Turfway's $240K Rushaway Stakes on Jeff Ruby day. 

That adds a nice up-close and current stakes horse to Misstrial's pedigree page and ups her breeding value. It'll be interesting to see where they head with Banks next--he's only raced on conventional dirt once, but will likely need to return to the dirt or try turf next out and for the balance of the year. The main track at Turfway Park is synthetic.

The dam to both horses is Blip Says Bye. 

Misstrial's sire is Constitution. 

Banks' sire is Outwork.

Coexist's Half-Brother Competes, Runs 2ND in the Louisiana Derby

Coexist's half-brother, Chunk of Gold, both being out of Play For Gold by Cairo Prince, ran 2nd yesterday in the Louisiana Derby G2 prep race. This awards him 50 points, and he will most likely be a starter in this year's Kentucky Derby. Keeping our fingers crossed for Coexist that he is and runs well. It would certainly help her broodmare page! 

Coexist is one of our former horses. We lost her in a claiming race at Churchill Downs some time ago. 

Caldera: Louisiana Derby and After Race Update

Caldera ran 8th in the Louisiana Derby yesterday, after a bad stumble at the start.

The Lukas barn reports that Caldera appears thus far to have exited yesterday’s race in pretty good order. He did grab a quarter (when a horse’s back foot clips the heel area of their front foot)—most likely coming out of the gate—but scoped clean and jogged sound. He is on his way back to Oaklawn now.

Consensus among both Team Lukas and our racing team is that Caldera is still a somewhat immature horse mentally and the rough start was just more than he could overcome. He also didn’t seem to handle the track particularly well.

We’ll let him get back to Arkansas and see how he returns to training. We wouldn’t necessarily be in a rush to bring him back in another Derby prep, but will let The Coach make that determination after observing him for a bit.

A Day To Remember is Back with a Bullet

A Day to Remember recorded a bullet half-mile work yesterday morning at San Luis Rey Downs. He stopped the clock in :47.20 and is reportedly doing exceptionally well according to trainer Mark Glatt. 

A Day to Remember to likely have another two works at San Luis Rey before transitioning back to Santa Anita. 

Assuming all continues well, a return to the races in late April seems well in range.

Joke Sisi Should Foal Soon

Joke Sisi(CHI) began waxing for the first time late last week. Waxing is when a pregnant mare begins to have colostrum drip from the teats, forming a dry, waxy material. This is a common indication that she will deliver her foal very soon, which is to be expected as we are a bit past her March 10 due date. 

It seems that most mares this year are foaling a week or two late— likely due to the cold winter we had in Kentucky. 

We expect a foal on the ground within the next week or so, and will pass along any updates as they come to us.

Caldera: Looking Ahead to the Louisiana Derby

Caldera will be in the middle of the field of ten horses in this start in his first graded stakes win, and his bid to add to his Kentucky Derby points. 

His workout times have been looking really good among the Derby contenders. We know he has the talent and the monster stride to do big things, but in only his sixth start it's yet to be determined if he possesses the "killer instinct" to drive him to the line first over a group of top 3YOs. 

His record, to date, is looking pretty darn good, with only his debut being off the board, but he arguably had his shot to beat Getaway Car in his last start and only stake race, the Sunland Derby, but after overtaking him off the 2nd turn, he relaxed and let his rival nearly overtake him. Getaway Car got the nose bob on that one, but was subsequently soundly beaten in the Virginia Derby, with that Derby prep victory going to Caldera's stablemate, the D. Wayne Lukas-trained American Promise (Justify).

His next start in the Louisiana Derby will tell us if we have the fierce kind of competitor who can summon all his strengths and hit the wire first to capture 50 Kentucky Derby points, and a shoe-in to the Run for the Roses. If anyone can get him there, it's the Coach. 

Fingers crossed and holding our breaths until Saturday, hoping for a huge step up in the Grade 2 $1 million Louisiana Derby. I guess St. Patrick's Day is a good day to muse about big dreams. :)

Fancy Quality Sells

Fancy Quality sold today in the Fasig-Tipton March Digital Sale for $22K to Indiana-based owner/breeder Chris Nolan.

That was in the range the team expected, particularly given the tricky timing of this sale with breeding season having already begun.

While MRH did bid up to a certain amount with the plan to put her in foal and re-offer her in November, she ultimately reached what we felt was a fair price. Breeding her ourselves would have obviously come with additional expenses and risk—particularly if she weren’t able to get in foal.

We’ll continue to keep an eye on her in new career and our accounting team will get working on her series closure.

Natural Beauty/Violence Foal Turn Out

Natural Beauty and her Violence filly are doing well and have begun enjoying some turnout time. We were sent a video of the two enjoying a nice day in the paddock. 

In other news, Natural Beauty's 2YO half-sister by Charlatan (hip #30) sold well last week at the OBS March Sale, going for a very strong $335K, which can only help the value of our mare and her produce—particularly if she goes on to back up her sales price at the races. 

West Point Thoroughbreds purchased her. 

Caldera: Two Successive Bullet Works and Louisiana Derby Draw

Caldera update. Two bullet works in a row...

Oaklawn Park 3/14/2025 Dirt 5F 59.60 Breezing 1/23

Oaklawn Park 3/6/2025     Dirt 5F 59.20 Breezing 1/18

And he drew post #5 for the Louisiana Derby next weekend with Tyler Gaffaleone up.

In other news, his stablemate, American Promise (Justify) just tied up a berth in the Kentucky Derby with a decisive, 8(ish) length win after Getaway Car led the first half.

Things are heating up on the Road to the Kentucky Derby.

Sirius Pursuit Getting Closer to Shipping Out

The team was on hand to watch Sirius Pursuit breeze 3/8 this morning (3/12/2025) at trainer Jena Antonucci’s farm in Ocala, Florida, and were very pleased with how she looked. Her rider also seemed very impressed by her.

She continues to progress quickly, so the plan will be for her to ship up to Keeneland when Jena’s string heads that way in late March/early April.

From there we’ll let her come to hand at her own pace, but we wouldn’t be surprised at all to see her ready to run some time this spring/early summer either in Kentucky or possibly New York.

In other exciting news, Sirius Pursuit’s 3-year-old half-sister Paula’s a Star is entered on Saturday against the boys in the Jimmy Winkfield S., which only attracted a field of six. Paula’s a Star has the best last-out Beyer Speed Figure in the race, so this might be a nice chance for her to pick up some black-type and add to our filly’s pedigree as well.

Note that the horse on the rail in that spot, T Kraft, is a half to none other than MRH's champion sprinter Straight No Chaser.

Welcome to our Stable, Native Brew

David added a second 2YO to our stable recently who originally went by Perfect Impression '23 but has now been named Native Brew. He was on hand at the Ocala Showcase last month for owners' inspection. Native Brew will be trained by Steven Asmussen, who according to reports approached the MRH team immediately after they purchased Native Brew asking to train the colt because he loved him so much. Steve also trained his sire, Yaupon, along with champions Gun Runner, Curlin, Jackie's Warrior, and Epicenter—demonstrating his unmatched ability to develop world-class talent.

Steve Asmussen also trains Blue Devil, Catalyst and Fireball Birdie for us.

You can check further info on the colt by clicking on his page -- NATIVE BREW -- above.

Welcome to our Stable, Instant Impact

David added a 2YO to our stable recently that is looking good! 

Instant Impact (registered name) made quite a splash at the Ocala Showcase last month. 

According to the report: "Instant Impact was spotted at our MRH 2025 Ocala Showcase event last weekend, Trainer Kenny McPeek's assistant Steven notes that our colt is very forward and intelligent and is a standout among the many 2-year-olds." Instant Impact is a son of Upstart (Flatter) out of Perfect Impression by Shackleford. 

We've started a page for Instant Impact above, and will be adding more info to it shortly. 

Tiffany's Mo Foals a Liam's Map Colt

Tiffany’s Mo foaled a healthy colt by Liam’s Map at 11:30 PM last night (3/11/2025) at Gainesway Farm in Kentucky. He is a big, dark foal (looks like he might possibly go grey) with a blaze. Does not appear to have any leg markings, but the straw was deep so he could possibly have some low white on his legs. He was scampering around the big foaling stall like he was ready to go run right now!

This guy is our third Liam's Map, the others being our possible Triple Crown contender this year, Caldera, and Here's The Kicker, a filly who won big at Gulfstream Park last week.

Tiffany's Mo (by Uncle Mo) Foaled a Colt by Liam's Map.

Tiffany's Mo foaled a lovely big colt by Liam's Map at around 11:30 PM last night, barn time. 

We were sent photos and video and were very impressed with this gorgeous little boy. (Sadly, we can no longer post photos here due to an unknown issue with the site.)

Update 3/12/2025:

Tiffany’s Mo presented with colic symptoms this morning and was taken to the clinic as a precaution. The cause of her colic is nephrospleenic entrapment, which is not an uncommon occurrence for mares after they foal. The hope is to avoid surgery, and so far they have been able to do that. She remains stable at this time. We will stay in contact with the clinic and with Gainesway and pass along any updates as they come to us.

Update 3/13/2025:

Tiffany's Mo worked through the nephrospleenic entrapment with medical support at the clinic and did not require surgical intervention. She and her foal have returned to Gainesway this morning.

Seismic Beauty Entered

Seismic Beauty is entered on Friday, March 14, 2025, at Santa Anita, going 6-1/2 furlongs. Juan Hernandez Jr. will be in the irons. She'll be running in an Allowance Optional Claiming race with no tag and will be in Post #1. 

It's race 2 on the card scheduled for 1:33 PM Pacific / 2:33 PM Mountain.

Seize The Grey's Tally So Far

We were sent a video of the stallion director at Gainesway Farm in front of Seize The Grey's stall, where our boy looked happy and magnificent.

He read off a couple of the names of talented mares who were/would be bred to him, and also said that Seize The Grey had now bred around 40 mares and seemed to "like his job." (I'll bet! :D )

We're very excited to have two of our partnership mares who have now foaled -- Natural Beauty and Community Adjusted. 

Natural Beauty has a Violence Filly!

Natural Beauty foaled a lovely bay filly sired by Violence late last night at Gainesway Farm in Kentucky. We were sent a video of the new arrival shortly after she took her first steps, and she's a pretty little girl with two back stockings and a big star.  

Two down....two to go!

Natural Beauty is expected to be bred back to Seize The Grey in the coming weeks. 

(Sorry this site no longer lets us post photos. If we get a shareable video, I'll post it.)

Here's The Kicker...SCOOOOOOOOORE!!!

Here's The Kicker wins big in Race #7 at Gulfstream Park. We're so thrilled at her excellent showing. 

Our Liam's Map kids are having one heck of a year! (The other being Caldera who is currently on the Road to the Kentucky Derby.) 

She can add this decisive victory to her 10-length win at Gulfstream earlier in her career. She may be looking for some black type in one of her next outs. :D

Here's the video:  

Follow-up:

When Here's the Kicker joined Saffie Joseph Jr.'s barn, he told us he believed our Liam's Map daughter could earn some black-type (wins or placings in listed or graded stakes races) and he reaffirmed that thought following this victory. We can't wait to see what type of ride she'll take us on. Congratulations, Here's the Kicker and the partnership!

Black Tie Optional Update

Black Tie Optional was a participant in the MRH 2025 Ocala Showcase event in February, where he trained for owners in attendance. 

Farm trainer Ciaran Dunne notes that your son of Not This Time can be "a bit quirky," but we hope that with time and additional experience he will become more professional. 

He will continue to train at Wavertree in the coming weeks, and will likely ship to his trainer Bob Baffert following the OBS March Sale.

Seize The Grey's First Two Mares Confirmed In Foal

We are excited to report that first two mares bred to Seize the Grey have checked in foal (pregnant)! Those two mares are Above the Sun (by Bernardini) and Queen of God (by Paynter). 

We also received a video update from Ryan Norton, the stallion director at Gainesway Farm this week, taken from the aisle in front of "Ceasar's" stall where he was milling around inside and looking magnificent. 

Mr. Norton related just a few of the mares who have been or are slated to be bred to Seize The Grey, and all had impressive breeding, race records or both. 

So far, so good for our very rare, multiple G1 winning son of Arrogate! 

SIMPLY ENCHANTING to be Retired/Bred to Curlin

So...big change of plans for our girl "Ella"!

After weighing options and discussion with trainer Phil D’Amato and the other partner on the filly, the decision was made to send Simply Enchanting to the breeding shed with a plan to sell her at the November breeding stock sales later this year.

This decision was due to several factors. While she came out of her last race in fine order, it is clear that she just hasn’t stepped up after showing early promise. At this point, it’s hard to envision her being competitive at the allowance level (or better) on one of the top circuits, and she is simply worth too much as a broodmare to run for a claiming tag. To allow her any chance to return to top form we would likely have to give her significant time to reset, probably pushing us past the 2025 breeding stock sales in the process.

Given she has significant breeding value, we believe the best plan for her is to take advantage of beginning her broodmare career now.

An opportunity has arisen to breed Simply Enchanting to Curlin and since her female family is so deep, and her sireline (Nyquist/Uncle Mo) has crossed exceptionally well on Curlin, this could result in a sales price of $500k or more for Simply Enchanting in foal to Curlin. He currently stands for  $225k.

While we are somewhat disappointed by the decision to call it quits on Simply Enchanting’s racing career, we look forward to experience the excitement of the breeding and auction process. The nice thing about a filly of this quality is that we have this opportunity for her—even when one avenue hasn’t panned out perfectly.

First Mares Confirmed in Foal to Seize The Grey!

Exciting times. The first two mares have been confirmed in foal to our boy at Gainesway Farm. Read more here:  

Seize The Grey: First Mares Checked in Foal

Fancy Quality to be Sold

 After conferring with trainer Kenny McPeek and the other partner, a decision was made to enter Fancy Quality in Fasig-Tipton’s March Digital Sale. The catalogue for that online auction will be released, and bidding opened, on March 13th. It closes on March 18th.

Fancy Quality definitely has some broodmare value given she’s by top European sire Wootton Bassett (GB) (who is commanding a €300,000 stud fee in 2025) and from a deep female family, however there is probably not significant upside in attempting to get her in foal to sell later in the year due to the added expenses/carrying costs. There is also not much point in holding her until the fall and then selling her open (without being bred).

We expect to get a follow-up report once bidding has opened for the sale.

Simply Enchanting Result

Simply Enchanting has once again left us scratching our heads.

She could only manage 8th place Friday at Oaklawn Park. Off a step slowly (we thought we saw a stumble in the footage), she found herself a bit farther back than we would have hoped for. Hung slightly wide, she didn’t seem to be loving the racing surface down the backside, but tried to mount a bid into the far turn. Asked hard from there, she never got going.

This was a disappointing showing for sure. Despite training well over the Oaklawn surface in the mornings, we have reason to believe she might not love that track—it was tough to determine that from previously as that race came in the slop. With that being said, it’s also fair to say that she just hasn’t realized the early promise that she displayed in her first few starts.

The team will weigh options for a path forward. We'll share the game plan as soon as we have it.

Blue Devil Update and Possible Next Stakes Race (in NM!)

The team chatted with Steve Asmussen about what could be next for your son of Uncle Mo. Steve has his eyes on the $200,000 Sunland Park Handicap for Blue Devil, which is to be run on April 6th. 

We'll keep an eye out for opportunities in between should something pop up, but Steve is comfortable training up to the race if need be.