Munny Problem will now depart Wavertree Stables tomorrow and is expected to arrive to “The Coach” at Churchill on Thursday morning (before the Kentucky Derby).
Farm trainer Ciaran Dunne reported he most recently breezed an easy half-mile and continues to take strides forward.
We will look forward to his progression with the Lukas team and will plan to check back in once things quiet down for the barn after Derby week.
Good Cop (Tiz The Law) was gelded without complications. He has been jogging as well as aquatreading at Fair Hill over the past couple of weeks.
He is now back moving forward and will continue to build back his foundation with extended training.
We will continue to update on Good Cop's progress as we receive intermittent updates.
Native Brew arrived at the Steve Asmussen barn at Keeneland, Kentucky and was seen exercising with a group of four other juveniles on the track this morning.
The team spoke with trainer D. Wayne Lukas the other morning about Caldera. He is happy overall with how our colt exited the race at Oaklawn and handled the ship to Churchill Downs. He said he’d rate him a 9.5 out of 10 right now, but did note that he came out of the Bathhouse Row Stakes a bit body sore—nothing major and not surprising considering the hard effort.
As a precaution, they took some X-rays to rule out anything more significant, and those radiographs came back very clean—there is nothing to be concerned about or to monitor at this time, which is great news.
We have not committed to a target race yet and will give Caldera and The Coach a bit more time before firming up any plans.
Here’s the Kicker breezed a strong five furlongs in 1:00.70 on Friday morning at Palm Meadows while breezing in company with Claret Beret.
We spoke yesterday afternoon with trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., who reported that the plan is still to target the G2 Ruffian on May 10th at Belmont at the Big A. Nominations will close today.
We are skipping a condition (second-level allowance) to point to this race, but we must appreciate Saffie’s willingness to try this more ambitious spot as one-turn-mile graded stakes do not come around every day and the allowance option will always be there if Here's the Kicker does not clear the condition in the Ruffian.
It also must be noted that even if she does not win the Ruffian, hitting the board (top three finish) will be a lucrative outcome from a residual value standpoint.
Catalyst was a very solid second at Lone Star Park yesterday (Saturday, April 27th). She broke well, but was squeezed back a bit in the early stages before settling into a midpack spot down the backside while in between horses.
Our filly moved up quickly and willingly along the turn for home, and engaged in a stretch-long duel with the eventual winner before coming up just a head short.
After her win last out, this was certainly a positive performance first time against winners and felt like Catalyst’s best effort to date.
Secret Crush has been retired. 😞
He was being carefully prepped and vet checked for a return to racing, but has incurred a re-injury during an exercise and now will be retired in his best interest.
This boy is a son of Candy Ride out of a Storm Cat mare, Elarose, who’s dam (his 2nd dam) was the stellar racehorse and producer Take Charge Lady.
He and Seize The Grey were both nominated to the Triple Crown last year as 3YOs, but he incurred an injury at Keeneland while gearing up for the preps. He was given ample time off before beginning initial preparation with careful monitoring for a hopeful return, but the re-injury has ended those aspirations. He was trained by Todd Pletcher.
MRH will seek out a good home for this gelding. He is an absolutely stunning individual.
Best wishes for a very happy future, Crusher!
[We'll be moving Secret Crush's page info above to the retired/no longer owned section at the top of this site. Very sad this guy never had the shot he deserved because he was a seriously talented horse, but the repeat injury requires he be retired for his own good. Hopefully he gets a great home and we'll post a follow-up when we hear where he is placed.]
Native Brew departed Wavertree Stables Friday afternoon en route to Keeneland to join the barn of trainer Steve Asmussen.
We will follow up in the coming days once he settles in.
Kenny McPeek (last year's Kentucky Derby/Kentucky Oaks winning trainer, and former trainer of Fancy Quality) gave a video recap of Instant Impact's progress to date at his Silver Leaf Farm near Ocala, Florida, which was quite glowing.
Quoting:
"I think anyone involved with Instant Impact, the Upstart colt, should be really excited. This colt trains like a good horse. He's going to be a horse that takes a little time to develop. We see him, later in the year, wanting to run at least a mile or more.
But be patient with him, because he's not going to be a horse that runs early or short. And I think the upside is there -- huge stride, absolutely a total professional on the race track at this stage, and the sky's the limit, you never know what he's going to be but right now he's doing everything right, every day.
And like I said, about the time he starts running route races later in the year, I think this horse is going to find a good spot in the winner's circle."
Trainer Bob Baffert confirmed in a podcast interview that our big winner last week, Seismic Beauty, will be pointed to the Breeders Cup World Championships near the end of 2025.
Exciting news, if she continues to train and run as she has been doing.
Early on in her training, Bob said of this Uncle Mo filly, "The sky's the limit," and it's looking like his prediction might just be playing out.
Her upcoming starts will show if she's on the right track. :)
SIMPLY ENCHANTING (Nyquist x Enchante by Bluegrass Cat) has been bred to Curlin!
She is stakes placed winner and a 3/4 sister to millionaire stakes mare Envoutante.
He is a 2X Champion and a top sire, the only stallion in history to have sired 3 champions in the same year. He has produced many exceptional racehorses such as Cody's Wish, Nest, Idiomatic, Raging Sea, Exaggerator and Vino Rosso.
He's also the sire of this year's KENTUCKY DERBY entrants, favorite Journalism, and Grande. Another 3YO, Getaway Car, has won or placed in multiple stakes and just edged out Caldera in the Sunland Derby.
Given that she is a stakes-placed filly by a very fashionable sire from a strong female family with an excellent physical, she has pretty high-dollar potential as a broodmare. She certainly won’t bring what Envoutante did, but her 3/4 sibling fetched $1.8 million at the Fasig-Tipton November sale last year in foal to Into Mischief.
Simply Enchanting could have mid-to-high six-figure potential if offered in foal to the right stallion. Curlin certainly looks to be an excellent choice.
We'll post the news when she is confirmed in foal in a few weeks.
Here we are again, this time with several promising youngsters about to make the ship to their respective trainers/tracks. We don't know if there will be another Seize The Grey in this bunch, but we have high hopes. Here's a status on a few of our 2YO "Class of 2025."
Black Tie Optional (Not This Time - Stylishly by Speightstown)
This big, strapping chestnut already has a series of on farm 3/8ths breezes under his belt, and is headed to Bob Baffert on the West Coast, to join our recent sensation, Seismic Beauty. He'll first be sent to Los Alamitos with the trainer's other incoming 2YOs to go through initial on track training and evaluation. Black Tie Optional recently went through another growth spurt and is not expected to start in the near future, as he'll need more time to mature, but this big boy looks to be a two-turn colt, so maybe we'll be hearing from him for the Derby preps next year.
Misstrial (Constitution - Blip Says Bye by Fed Biz [Giant's Causeway])
The team had a chance to check in on Misstrial while in Ocala last week for the OBS April sale. Our daughter of Constitution looks to be doing extremely well and galloped strongly for them during the visit. Trainer Ciaran Dunne has been very pleased with the filly, giving her the green light to ship to trainer Bob Baffert this coming Thursday, April 24th. She will also ship into Bob’s string at Los Alamitos where most of his 2-year-olds start off. We'll follow up after her arrival.
Munny Problem (Munnings - Malibu Bonnie by Malibu Moon)
The flashy bay with some striking chrome (who still reminds us so much of Dornoch in the looks department) will soon be headed to the D. Wayne Lukas barn at Churchill Downs to begin his on track training. The colt has made some solid progress both mentally and physically over the last month, which farm trainer Ciaran Dunne has been happy with. He has always been a strong-bodied horse, but has now really developed into his frame. He'll be joining Caldera at that iconic barn (at least until the Coach decides the next step for Seize The Grey's look-alike protégé). With Munny Problem's breeding and foundation, we are hoping he may be a "big horse on campus" once he starts racing.
Sirius Pursuit (Knicks Go - Seeking A Star by Pioneerof the Nile
This young lady was quite literally a star from the moment she was foaled, being the very first foal sired by Horse of the Year and racing sensation, Knicks Go. She has started her initial training at a different location in Florida-- Jena Antonucci's farm. Jena is best known as the trainer of Arcangelo (Arrogate) and the first female trainer to win a Triple Crown race when he won the Belmont in 2023. Sirius Pursuit remains on course to ship up to Kentucky in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, the filly’s half-sister, Paula’s a Star, is entered in a Laurel allowance on Friday. This may be in preparation for another stakes try for Paula's Star.
Our 2YO class is also rounded out by Native Brew (Yaupon - Spanxamillion by Street Cry) and Instant Impact (Upstart - Perfect Impression by Shackleford [Forestry]. We'll catch up with them in separate posts.
It was just about this time two years ago (in 2023) that we got word Seize The Grey was headed to trainer D. Wayne Lukas at Churchill Downs to ready him for his career after his initial training had been completed by Ciaran Dunne at Wavertree in Ocala.
Things went extremely well, and with a bit more seasoning, "Ceasar" made his first start on July 1, 2023 at Ellis Park. His performance was not so wonderful, finishing in 8th place after a distracted sightseeing trip down the home stretch.
Four weeks later, on July 29th, he was entered in a maiden special weight at Saratoga and won wire-to-wire, beating a very promising Good Magic colt named Dornoch! Little did we know, we'd just seen the future Preakness and Belmont winners finish 1 and 2 in what turned out to be one heckova MSW race.
As you know...the rest is racing history.
Here we are again, this time with several promising youngsters about to make the ship to their respective trainers/tracks. We don't know if there will be another Seize The Grey in this bunch, but we have high hopes. Here's a status on a few of our 2YO "Class of 2025."
Black Tie Optional (Not This Time - Stylishly by Speightstown)
This big, strapping chestnut already has a series of on farm 3/8ths breezes under his belt, and is headed to Bob Baffert on the West Coast, to join our recent sensation, Seismic Beauty. He'll first be sent to Los Alamitos with the trainer's other incoming 2YOs to go through initial on track training and evaluation. Black Tie Optional recently went through another growth spurt and is not expected to start in the near future, as he'll need more time to mature, but this big boy looks to be a two-turn colt, so maybe we'll be hearing from him for the Derby preps next year.
Misstrial (Constitution - Blip Says Bye by Fed Biz [Giant's Causeway])
The team had a chance to check in on Misstrial while in Ocala last week for the OBS April sale. Our daughter of Constitution looks to be doing extremely well and galloped strongly for them during the visit. Trainer Ciaran Dunne has been very pleased with the filly, giving her the green light to ship to trainer Bob Baffert this coming Thursday, April 24th. She will also ship into Bob’s string at Los Alamitos where most of his 2-year-olds start off. We'll follow up after her arrival.
Munny Problem (Munnings - Malibu Bonnie by Malibu Moon)
The flashy bay with some striking chrome (who still reminds us so much of Dornoch in the looks department) will soon be headed to the D. Wayne Lukas barn at Churchill Downs to begin his on track training. The colt has made some solid progress both mentally and physically over the last month, which farm trainer Ciaran Dunne has been happy with. He has always been a strong-bodied horse, but has now really developed into his frame. He'll be joining Caldera at that iconic barn (at least until the Coach decides the next step for Seize The Grey's look-alike protégé). With Munny Problem's breeding and foundation, we are hoping he may be a "big horse on campus" once he starts racing.
Sirius Pursuit (Knicks Go - Seeking A Star by Pioneerof the Nile
This young lady was quite literally a star from the moment she was foaled, being the very first foal sired by Horse of the Year and racing sensation, Knicks Go. She has started her initial training at a different location in Florida-- Jena Antonucci's farm. Jena is best known as the trainer of Arcangelo (Arrogate) and the first female trainer to win a Triple Crown race when he won the Belmont in 2023. Sirius Pursuit remains on course to ship up to Kentucky in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, the filly’s half-sister, Paula’s a Star, is entered in a Laurel allowance on Friday. This may be in preparation for another stakes try for Paula's Star.
Our 2YO class is also rounded out by Native Brew (Yaupon - Spanxamillion by Street Cry) and Instant Impact (Upstart - Perfect Impression by Shackleford [Forestry]. We'll catch up with them on another day.
The team had an opportunity to check in on Native Brew this past week while in Ocala for the OBS April sale. Our son of Yaupon looked well and is scheduled to ship to trainer Steve Asmussen’s barn at Keeneland this coming Friday to continue his training.
Visually, he appears to be one that could be an early type, but we’ll have to see how he transitions to the racetrack and how he handles the additional pressure.
Native Brew’s sire Yaupon was very well received yet again at the OBS April sale. From a total of 21 horses sold, his offspring averaged over $271,000, highlighted by a $1.3-million colt who was purchased by Kaleem Shah.
It's been a bit of a wait, but our son of American Pharoah is entered for his next start!
A Day to Remember Race Entry
A Day to Remember breezed five furlongs in 1:01.80 this past Saturday morning at Santa Anita Park. Our 4YO gelding transitioned to Santa Anita after his most recent work at San Luis Rey on April 9th and continues to train forwardly.
Trainer Mark Glatt proceeded with entering him today for a six-furlong turf maiden special on Sunday, April 27th.
A Day to Remember drew post 3 (of 10) in Sunday’s 9th race which has an approximate post time of 5:00 PM PT/6:00 PM MT.
Other details are entered in the UPCOMING section at the top of the posts.
Close one for Caldera (#2) at Oaklawn Park today in the Bath House Row Stakes , vying for an automatic berth in the Preakness awarded to the winner. It was a rough and tumble trip with traffic jams and a couple of roadblocks thrown into his path, but he did some maneuvering and made a very strong late bid, finishing 2nd by half a length (officially posted as 3/4 length). We were very happy with his performance especially with the less than ideal trip. Rafael Bejarano was in the irons again.
Valiant effort overall and could set him up nicely for his next race.
Praying he comes back in good order and starts looking for that next challenge, wherever it may be. ❤️
MRH RACE RECAP:
[Video of race at bottom with commentary]
Caldera was a solid second in the Bathhouse Row at Oaklawn.
Away better than he was at Fair Grounds, he found himself in third early and jockey Rafael Bejarano smartly maneuvered him out into the clear heading into the first turn. The pace was pretty moderate, with the half posted in :49.42. Caldera seemed to idle on the second bend and Bejarano had to push on him a bit to hold his position approaching the stretch behind six panels in 1:14.70.
Caldera continued to fight on as they entered the lane, but he was in a slightly tricky spot behind the lugging out #3 First Division with a possible path between that one and #1 Hymn if he wanted to try and split horses. Caldera continued to level off and build momentum as favorite and eventual winner #7 Instant Replay closed down the outside. Bejarano eventually guided Caldera to the outside of First Division and inside of Instant Replay, but Instant Replay had a clearer path and a bit more momentum and bested Caldera by 3/4 of a length.
Coming off of that disappointing try last out, it was great to see the real Caldera back and show so much heart and determination. He still takes a very long time to get going—which contributed to the bit of traffic trouble he found this time—but he did a lot right today and still seems to have more room for improvement left in him.
Trainer D. Wayne Lukas was pleased with the effort and thought it would be beneficial to Caldera both physically and mentally. If he bounces out of this one in good order, he’ll be seriously considered for either the G1 Preakness or the Sir Barton S. on the Preakness undercard.
UPDATE:
Caldera earned a solid 90 Beyer Speed Figure for Saturday’s effort, and is en route as we speak back to Churchill Downs. We will touch base with Mr. Lukas in the coming days to discuss with him future plans and see how Caldera has bounced out of the Bathhouse Row Stakes and handled the ship back to Kentucky.
Check out the accompanying video for a closer look at Caldera’s trip featuring commentary from Joe Moran and Brian DiDonato. We hope you’ll find it interesting and informative.
At long last, Seismic Beauty, our daughter of Uncle Mo out of Medaglia d'Oro mare Knarsdale, won impressively going a mile around two turns! She left the field in the dust, finishing 10 lengths the better while geared down in the stretch. Her fractions and her speed figures were eye-popping. We can't wait to see where she's headed next, but strongly suspect it will be a stakes race.
Here's the race...
From MRH:
Congratulations to all owners! Seismic Beauty was an extremely impressive winner in her first start around two turns this afternoon at Santa Anita. Your daughter of Uncle Mo broke to the front, cleared the field, and led every step of the way - setting impressive fractions of 22.67 and 45.91 before widening her lead around the far turn. She covered six-furlongs in 1:10.04 and blew the field away winning by as many as she wanted, stopping the clock for the mile distance in 1:36.87.
Speed is certainly an impressive trait for an equine athlete, but speed that carries is a dangerous one, and that is what Seismic Beauty showed us she possesses today. We will let her bounce out of this race and convene with trainer Bob Baffert before deciding on where to point at next, but one would have to believe that stakes company awaits.
FOLLOW UP (Beyer speed figure):
Seismic Beauty earned a very strong 95 Beyer Speed Figure for Friday’s romp.
That’s a graded stakes-caliber number for sure. For context, yesterday’s longshot winner of the G3 Doubledogdare at Keeneland ran a 96. Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna ran a 93 in last Saturday’s G1 Apple Blossom H. (We’re certainly not saying she’s better than Thorpedo Anna quite yet…).
We’ll have plenty of fun options to consider moving forward.
POST RACE UPDATE:
We checked in on Seismic Beauty this morning, April 20, at Santa Anita Park.
Your daughter of Uncle Mo exited her dominating win in good physical order and the future looks bright. From the get-go, we all felt two turns was going to be the key for this filly and while it took a little longer than expected to finally get to see it, the wait was worth it. We’ll let Bob and his team get her back on the track in the coming week and begin putting together a plan for her.
From Bloodhorse:
Caldera, Instant Replay Meet Again in the Bath House Row Stakes tomorrow at Oaklawn Park.
The team paid Nakoma and Jena Antonucci a visit this morning in Ocala. Our filly remains on stall rest and will get another check later this week to see how her healing is coming along.
An informative article with reference to Caldera bypassing the Blue Grass Stakes to run in the Bathhouse Row at Oaklawn.
Paulick Report: We Could do the Preakness
Race Recap
Blue Devil ran fourth in the $200k Sunland Park Handicap.
He raced a bit keenly in the early stages just behind the pacesetters, and found a tiny bit of trouble into the first turn. Blue Devil continued to stalk along the inside down the backside, and came under a busy ride heading for home. We were hopeful he’d keep grinding along from there and show off his stamina, but the winner re-broke and pulled away convincingly while Blue Devil grew leg-weary and was then out-kicked by a couple other foes in the lane.
Blue Devil might have fared a bit better if he’d been a bit less sharp early and farther off the pace, but all in all he seemed to fit in with that group and was well spotted.
The Sunland meet is wrapping up now, so we’ll look elsewhere for his next try.
Seismic Beauty breeze a half-mile in :48 flat this morning at Santa Anita Park.
Per usual, our daughter of Uncle Mo worked by herself and did it handily. We hope to get Seismic Beauty stretched out around two turns next go around. The new condition book at Santa Anita is offering a first-level allowance going one mile on April 18th, but if that was not to go, trainer Bob Baffert is strongly considering shipping her to Churchill, if needed.
Isle Blue transitioned to galloping this week at Two Springs. Admittedly, it’s been quite the journey to get to this point, but we are very pleased to see her back in training. Nellie Breeden reported, “She’s moving well and looks great.” Our fingers are crossed our Speightstown daughter only moves forward from here on out.
Secret Crush had his first breeze back this morning, working a quarter-mile in :25.02 at Highlander Training Center. Most importantly, his rider reported that he felt good when breezing.
Of course, we are going to keep close eyes on him as the intensity of his training continues to increase, but it was great to see him back in action today.
