Good Cop has been jogging for several weeks and is now ready to begin galloping. He will log the miles at Fair Hill building back up his foundation to begin a breezing program.
A video of Good Cop this past week at Fair Hill was included, where the 3YO son of Tiz The Law was looking healthy and quite fit. He appeared well-mannered, which has been a concern because he had been acting quite studdish. His improved attitude may have been the result of gelding him earlier in the year.
Tiffany's Mo ‘25 Update
Tiffany’s Mo’s colt by Liam’s Map continues to thrive at Gainesway Farm. Our striking foal keeps turning heads as he gets bigger and stronger. He will be turned out alongside his dam until he is ready to wean, which will likely be around September.
Progeny of Liam’s Map have had a productive month of May on the track. Deterministic was the winner of the $200K G2 Fort Marcy S. At Belmont at the Big A, and Firenze Flavor took the $100K G3 Honeymoon S. at Santa Anita.
Natural Beauty ‘25 Update
Natural Beauty’s filly by Violence has continued to get stronger with time and is really starting to find her shape. Her conformation has improved significantly as Mother Nature continues to work her magic.
Progeny of Violence will be active in some of this weekend's graded stakes. His son Panagiotis will go out in the $400K G2 Penn Mile today at Penn National, and his daughter Royal Spa will start in tomorrow’s $275K G3 Shawnee S. at Churchill Downs.
We stopped by Churchill Downs to check in on Munny Problem, who quite frankly could not look any better.
Bas Nicholl, trainer D. Wayne Lukas's assistant of over 22 years, expressed to the MRH reps how the entire team really likes our colt, including Wayne himself.
Our handsome son of Munnings will start to learn the starting gate in the coming weeks and is on course for a debut at some point this summer.
Simply Enchanting (Nyquist x Enchante - Bluegrass Cat) has scanned in foal after her most recent cover by Curlin!
This is certainly good news as we are starting to get down to the wire for the 2025 breeding season. She will continue to be checked regularly to make sure all is going well with the pregnancy.
Our decision to breed to Curlin looks even better now after Journalism’s impressive, trouble-overcoming score in the G1 Preakness Stakes, second jewel of the Triple Crown, a couple of weeks ago. This followed his runner-up placing in the Kentucky Derby two weeks before.
Journalism is a son of Curlin out of an Uncle Mo daughter, Mopotism. Simply Enchanting's sire, Nyquist, is one of Uncle Mo's better sons, so the cross with Curlin may be a very attractive one to buyers in this Fall's sales.
Black Tie Optional's first work this morning was a bullet!
Los Alamitos Quarter Horse 5/28/2025 Dirt 2F 23.60 Handily 1*/6
Summary by Team Baffert
Black Tie Optional had his first official breeze this morning at Los Alamitos, covering two furlongs in :23.60 while on the outside of unnamed stablemate, Front Range ’23 (Authentic). Our son of Not This Time was a bit green around the turn, but straightened out nicely in the stretch, showing plenty of competitiveness to the wire. He seemed to be traveling better over the Los Alamitos surface than he had the surface down at Wavertree (Florida).
Assistant trainer Mike Marlow is happy with the improvements your colt has made mentally since first arriving to the barn. Fingers crossed he only continues to move forward from here.
Misstrial's first two works (2F/3F) at Los Alamitos have been bullets. Great start for our young Constitution x Blip Says Bye (Fed Biz) filly.
Los Alamitos Quarter Horse 5/28/2025 Dirt 3F 35.80 Handily 1*/7
Los Alamitos Quarter Horse 5/21/2025 Dirt 2F 24.00 Handily 1*/4
Follow-up from Baffert Team:
Misstrial had her second official breeze this morning at Los Alamitos and was credited with three furlongs in :35.80. Your daughter of Constitution worked on the outside of stablemate Cherry Cider (Tiz the Law), traveling nicely while under a hold. It appeared she had her workmate measured throughout the move and could have gone even quicker if asked, but this early in the game breezing :35 and change is plenty fast enough.
Assistant trainer Mike Marlow, who runs Bob’s operation at Los Alamitos, was very complimentary of your filly, noting, “She is very smart and does everything easy. She seems like she can really run as well.”
Seismic Beauty has exited Sunday’s big effort in great order, trainer Bob Baffert reported. The fun is just getting started, as we’ll now look to map out a plan for the rest of the year that will hopefully culminate in a try in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Del Mar on Nov. 1.
There are three logical options for her next start outlined below, but we have plenty of time before we need to make any firm decisions. As always, we will lean heavily on trainer Bob Baffert in the decision-making process. He has other runners in the barn who are major players in this division, and we respect and acknowledge the fact that he’ll try to keep them separated as best as he can, but it’s fair to say that Seismic Beauty is probably at the top of his depth chart after Sunday.
Here are the three spots Seismic Beauty could run next:
$500K G2 Fleur de Lis S. - Churchill Downs - June 28 - 1 1/8 miles
Pros: “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the BC Distaff (we’re not really worried about her getting into the Breeders’ Cup, but having entry fees paid is always a nice bonus.) Shorter wait between starts. Solid purse for a Grade 2.
Cons: She’s already a Grade 2 winner, so it’s not much of a resumé builder… Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna is reportedly being pointed here. While she ran a clunker last time, there’s probably no real reason to rush to face that one before we have to. Shipping cross-country always adds another wrinkle.
$400K G1 Clement L. Hirsch S. - Del Mar - Aug. 2 - 1 1/16 miles
Pros: Also a “Win And You’re In.” Slightly lengthy race spacing, but probably ideal for her off such a big effort to avoid a “bounce.” It's doubtful she'll mind the slightly shorter distance considering her cruising speed and what she’s already done at a mile. Will be run over the same track as the Breeders’ Cup, and a surface she’s already won on before. Likely to be the shortest field of the three options. Baffert has won three of the last five runnings of this race, including the last two with Uncle Mo’s Adare Manor.
Cons: There aren't many, but perhaps the fact we’d have to wait a couple of months to see her back in the entries. Slightly smaller purse than the other two races.
$500K G1 Personal Ensign S. - Saratoga - Aug. 23 - 1 1/8 miles
Pros: “Win and You’re In” as well. The most prestigious of the three races and always exciting to race (and win!) at Saratoga. Four of the last six champion older females won this race on their way to an Eclipse award.
Cons: Pretty long wait for a next start unless we run in something in between. She'd have to ship across the country to upstate New York. Could very well come up tough like most Saratoga Grade 1 events do.
Our American Pharoah son, A Day To Remember, won going away in his MSW at Santa Anita this holiday weekend.
Due to setbacks, this was only his fourth start in two years, but we are so grateful for the training expertise of Mark Glatt and his team who got him to this point.
We'll let you know what's next for boy after we get word how he's come back from this effort.
Isle Blue has been doing well while on her break from training due to another splint. We caught up with the Two Springs team this past week and that reported that if all continues to go well, she should be ready to resume training around the 1st of June.
As noted elsewhere, our heartfelt condolences go to the family, friends and associates of her trainer, Christophe Clement, who passed from cancer just a few days ago. His loss is being felt heavily by the industry in general, and of course by us as well. Rest in Peace.
We are assuming, unless informed otherwise, that Christophe's son, Miguel Clement, will be taking over the training of our Speightstown filly once she is sent back to the track. This is fortunate, since Miguel has already been involved with aspects of her training.
Blue Devil did not run as anticipated in the $400,000 G3 Steve Sexton Mile on Monday, May 26 (Memorial Day) at Lone Star Park, finishing 7th without making any real bid.
The combination of the quality of the field and a torrential downpour that left the track in extremely sloppy condition may have been contributing factors.
We'll report back after we get a post-race update from the Steve Asmussen team.
UPDATE
Blue Devil was not able to make much of an impact in the grade 3 stakes race at Lone Star Park over a very wet track.
It was a tough spot on paper, as evidenced by his 33-1 odds, and he was hung pretty wide throughout and just never got going. His lone prior outing over a wet track yielded a win at Saratoga and one of his best speed figures, so we expected him to handle the slop, but he didn’t seem to be getting over it very well at this track.
We’ll regroup and give Steve and his team some time to evaluate how he comes back. Blue Devil’s lack of conditions makes spotting a bit tough, but we’ll look at all options in the coming weeks and figure out what makes the most sense for his next entry.
Seismic Beauty absolutely dominated in the G2 Santa Margarita Stakes yesterday at Santa Anita, formerly won by such talents as Zenyatta, Azeri and Bayakoa!
She hopped slightly at the start, but quickly recovered to take the lead and clear off. From that point, she looked like a winner every step of the way, doling out splits of :23.05, :46.25 and 1:09.84 before shrugging off favored stablemate Splendora en route to an open-length success.
We had high expectations for today, but it’s fair to say Seismic Beauty might have even exceeded those—that was as strong a performance as we could have hoped for and certainly puts her among the best distaffers in the country.
We’ll enjoy the excitement of today, see how she bounces out of it and start plotting a course towards the G1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
Follow-up:
Seismic Beauty earned a 104 Beyer Speed Figure for Sunday's romp--that's the fastest figure run by a female this year at a route distance.
Her E-speed figure coming out of the race yesterday was 106, but that could bounce around a bit in the next few days. We'll keep this post updated.
PRESS:
SEISMIC BEAUTY SERVES NOTICE - Santa Anita.com news
Sirius Pursuit put in a very nice first published breeze this morning at Keeneland. Working outside of fellow 2-year-old filly Amended Dreamer (Constitution), she was clocked in :36.60 (8/52).
Sirius Pursuit finished up great and Jena noted how well she galloped out too.
Fireball Birdie remains in good order on the farm. After conferring with trainer Steve Asmussen, we have elected to have Fireball Birdie gelded and that procedure is set to take place today.
This is a pretty logical move to make and we hope it will help him stay sound as his training ramps back up. He tends to be a pretty heavy horse--as seen in our last video check-in--and gelding him should aid in getting some of that weight off and in turn taking some pressure off of his legs. He is not a stallion prospect at this point, so there's no reason not to go ahead with the procedure.
Blue Devil is set to return to graded stakes company in the $400,000 G3 Steve Sexton Mile on Monday, May 26 (Memorial Day) at Lone Star Park. Trainer Steve Asmussen has tabbed Erik Asmussen to ride. He will be the #10 among a field of 11 carded as the day’s 11th race. Post time is 6:37 PM CT / 5:37 PM MT.
There is no denying that this is an ambitious spot for our son of Uncle Mo. However, he did take a minor stakes race going the same distance two back, and if he can get back to his best form, it would make him competitive here. We also take it as a positive and a vote of confidence that Steve picked out this race and has not wavered.
More on the competition:
#1 Number One Dude: Finished 7th in a field of 8 allowance foes n his most recent start, earning a 75 Beyer. Will need major improvement to be competitive in this race.
#2 Heroic Move: Finished ahead of Blue Devil last time out when taking the Sunland Park S. by open lengths, earning a 91 Beyer Figure. He has kept decent company, running behind Dubai World Cup winner Hit Show several times this year. His best race makes him a contender in here and he goes out for a barn that is red-hot at the meet, winning at a 40% clip with 11 of 15 runners thus far finishing top three.
#3 Komorebino Omoide (Jpn): A stablemate to the runner to his inside, this horse was most recently seen demolishing a weak stakes field at Fonner Park. Perhaps that was the confidence boost that he needed to make him a factor in here. He did earn a 100 Beyer three back when second in the G3 Mineshaft S.—that figure could certainly best this bunch if replicated.
#4 U.S. Army: Finished 5th in a field of 8 against allowance company in his most recent start where he earned a 80 Beyer. Sports some back-class, but will need major improvement to be competitive in this race.
#5 This Is Uscar: Cleared his second-level allowance condition two starts back in an off-the-turf event at Keeneland. Took his first swing at graded stakes company in the G2 Alysheba last time out where he finished 5th of 6 among a salty bunch, earning a career high 94 Beyer for the effort. Will have to take another step forward to vie for a placing in here.
#6 Frankie’s Empire: Last year's third place-finisher in the G2 Fountain of Youth S., this colt was most recently third in a stake at Evangeline Downs in what was his first start off of an extended layoff. He should improve off of that effort, however that may not be sufficient against this group.
#7 Creative Minister: Was claimed by his current connections for $50K three starts back. Most recently he took a turf route allowance race and earned an 87 Beyer. Has some back-class, but this is certainly an ambitious spot for him.
#8 The Wine Steward: Was a pretty solid three-year-old in the first half of 2024, even achieving a Grade 1 placing. Won his 2025 debut off of an extended layoff where he earned a 96 Beyer, but followed that up with a disappointing run in the G3 Oaklawn Mile. Has only been off the board once in his career. Can certainly vie for a top placing in here. [NOTE: Ran in the 2024 Belmont against Seize The Grey.]
#9 Touchuponastar: The Louisiana-bred wonder horse is a model of consistency and just seems to keep getting better with age. He as strung together three triple-digit Beyers for his starts so far this year and will likely be the favorite in this race. He proved that he can run with the best when he defeated Eclipse champion Sierra Leone two starts back in the New Orleans Classic. Has never been off of the board in 22 career starts.
#11 Run Classic: A sprint type who will try his hand around two turns once again in here. His best races have come around one turn and he is certainly up against it against this group.
A Day to Remember has been entered for next Monday (Memorial Day) at Santa Anita, and drew post four in a field of only five carded as the holiday card's third race. Post time is 2:00 PM. PT / 3:00 PM MT.
The team at Second Stride has opened the barn to owners for a chance to see Secret Crush now that he has settled in.
MyRacehorse staff and owners will have a special visit to Second Stride in Prospect, KY, on Friday, May 16th, where they'll have the opportunity to see Secret Crush before he is adopted.
Foal check on Simply Enchanting, bred to Curlin. She has checked as NOT in foal. She will be bred back to Curlin in the coming weeks.
There's a lot going on with our 2YOs in the last couple of weeks as most have now gone out to their trainers' barns, for those who weren't in their trainer's care already, as are Sirius Pursuit (Jena Antonucci) and Instant Impact (Kenny McPeek). Here's an update on several:
Sirius Pursuit (by Horse of the Year Knicks Go - in fact, his first foal)
Sirius Pursuit put in a nice breeze at GoldMark Farm (Florida) this morning, May 9th, covering three furlongs in :36.84. Jena Antonucci and her team remain very happy with how she’s responded to the period of backing off some on speed work and focusing on open gallops to build fitness. We’ll make sure she bounces out of this breeze in good order and then likely start making plans to ship to the racetrack.
In a follow-up video of her exercise, Jena Antonucci said "She did very well. We're pleased. She came back nicely."
Black Tie Optional (by Not This Time)
The team checked in on Black Tie Optional this morning, May 9th, at Los Alamitos. He did not train this morning as it was discovered he has a scratch on an ankle—having likely nicked himself on track or in his stall. Assistant trainer Mike Marlow does not have any concerns about it, but still wanted to limit him to walking today to be on the safe side.
We would expect to see him back in a normal routine in the next few days. Not to continue to beat the drum on this, but minor issues like this aren’t going to hurt his training progress, especially as we strongly believe that time is going to be his friend.
Native Brew (by Yaupon)
May 6, 2025: Native Brew was spotted galloping at Keeneland where he continues his early preparations towards an eventual debut. Mitch, Steve Asmussen’s assistant at Keeneland, has been happy with your colt since he has come in, noting that he has yet to miss a beat. He seems to be a very straightforward horse who knows his job.
May 8, 2025: Native Brew checked off another milestone, putting in his first published work since shipping in to Keeneland. He covered three furlongs in :38.00 (13/36). This move was fairly easy, as you'd expect at this stage, and he stuck to the outside of his workmate and galloped out nicely. His mate was another son of Yaupon named Picked, who was a $375K graduate of the OBS April sale. This will be the first in a series of workouts before your son of Yaupon is fit to race. It comes down to trainer (Steve Asmussen) preference, but typically anywhere from 6-12 consistent on-track works is the usual range prior to debut.
Instant Impact (by Upstart)
Instant Impact turned in his first published breeze on May 8th at Keeneland, and it was a sharp one—he was clocked in a bullet :36.40 working outside of a horse from another barn. He showed good fight to collar the other horse. Considering this was just his first breeze at the racetrack, and that he’s more of a two-turn horse, we're very pleased with that.
We had expected him to head up to New York already, but Keeneland’s a great place for him to train as well, so we’ll just let Team McPeek sort out those logistics and report back with more as it comes to us.
Munny Problem (by Munnings)
Munny Problem had his first published breeze the morning of May 6th at Churchill Downs. Working outside of speedy 3-year-old Improbable Luck, our colt went an easy half-mile in :50.40.
Neither horse was asked for much effort in this drill and that was by design—with this being Munny Problem’s first breeze for the Lukas barn and first at the racetrack, he definitely didn’t need to do more than that.
We caught up with Mr. Lukas after the work and he really raved about the colt physically, saying if he was at a 2-year-old sale and saw Munny Problem, he’d have to have him.
We’ll let Team Lukas bring the colt along at the pace that they see fit, but knowing the typical Lukas training style, we’d expect to see them start tightening the screws pretty quickly.
The team spoke with trainer D. Wayne Lukas today regarding Caldera. Our colt galloped well this morning, and appears to be over the soreness he exhibited coming out of the Bathhouse Row. Given that he X-ray’d completely clean, The Coach’s best guess is that his foot was bothering him.
With all that being said, the plan is to back off a bit on Caldera in the short term. He will skip the Preakness and head to the farm for a couple of weeks just to get on some grass. He’ll be able to stay fit on the exercise machine during his refresher so as not to lose too much time.
The Coach in his expert opinion believes our colt will benefit from a reset and we are 100% behind that decision. This will allow him to grow up and catch up a bit and hopefully come back a stronger horse for the second half of the season and beyond. He’ll also get a check-up from leading vet, Dr. Larry Bramlage, while at the farm just to make sure all bases are covered.
We must keep in mind that horses are not machines and the reason that trainers like Mr. Lukas achieve the reputations they do as great horsemen are because of decisions like this—it’s also the type of management that helped make Seize the Grey what he was last year, and allowed Straight No Chaser to blossom into champion sprinter.
So, we’ll exercise some patience for now but are hopeful that we’ll be rewarded for it down the line. Both the Lukas team and our own team remain extremely high on Caldera and have big expectations for his future and where he could take us.
Munny Problem has logged his first official work. It took place at Churchill Downs over 4F and was on the easier side, as expected for a first time 2YO. He is trained by D. Wayne Lukas.
FOLLOW UP
Munny Problem had his first published breeze this morning at Churchill Downs. Working outside of speedy 3-year-old Improbable Luck, our colt went an easy half-mile in :50.40.
Neither horse was asked for much effort in this drill and that was by design—with this being Munny Problem’s first breeze for the Lukas barn and first at the racetrack, he definitely didn’t need to do more than that.
We caught up with Mr. Lukas after the work and he really raved about the colt physically, saying if he was at a 2YO sale and saw Munny Problem, he’d have to have him.
We’ll let Team Lukas bring along the colt at the pace that they see fit, but knowing the typical Lukas training style, we’d expect to see them start tightening the screws pretty quickly.
Trainer Steve Asmussen has informed us that he is pointing Blue Devil to the $400K G3 Steve Sexton Mile to be run on Monday, May 26th at Lone Star Park. Nominations for the race close this Saturday, May 10th.
This will be added to UPCOMING above, and we'll post further info.
A Day to Remember (American Pharoah) remains in good order since his return second-place effort and was spotted galloping this morning at Santa Anita Park. We would expect to see him back on the work tab towards the end of this week/weekend.
While we don’t have a finalized race plan yet, we will likely point back to the identical condition (MSW sprinting on turf) which falls on May 26th. Trainer Mark Glatt still isn’t counting out the dirt in his future, but from a timing standpoint, the MSW on dirt comes up too soon on this Saturday and the next one he could potentially be ready for would likely not be until the second week of June.
We have some exciting news!!!
Just a day before the Derby, we bought a share in an offering for a yearling colt. Our latest acquisition is tagged as Puca '24.
He is:
And, as of the 2025 Kentucky Derby on Saturday, he is also
Puca 24 will receive his official registered name at a later date. He will be trained by Chad Brown.
We are extremely excited about the possibilities for this lovely chestnut son of GOOD MAGIC and the phenomenal producer, PUCA. Stay tuned!
Here’s the Kicker is officially entered in next Saturday’s G2 Ruffian S. at Belmont at the Big A!
She’ll be the #5 among a field of 11, carded as the day’s 10th race. Post time is 6:16 PM ET (or 4:16 PM MT).
Ricardo Santana, Jr. will ride—he should fit her very well.
Trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. has three in the race, but he has a knack for taking multiple top spots in stakes like these—in fact, he ran 1-2 in today’s G3 Vagrancy Stakes in New York.
The "UPCOMING" info above has been updated to show her stakes race information.
1) Sovereignty finished 1st by 1 1/2 lengths
2) Journalism finished 2nd beaten 1 1/2 lengths
3) Baeza* finished 3rd beaten 1 3/4 lengths
4) Final Gambit finished 4th beaten 4 1/4 lengths
5) Owen Almighty finished 5th beaten 9 lengths
6) Burnham Square** finished 6th beaten 10 1/2 lengths
7) Sandman finished 7th beaten 12 1/2 lengths
8) East Avenue finished 8th beaten 13 1/4 lengths
9) Chunk of Gold*** finished 9th beaten 15 3/4 lengths
10) Tiztastic finished**** 10th beaten 16 1/2 lengths
11) Coal Battle finished 11th beaten 17 lengths
12) Luxor Cafe finished 12th beaten 18 3/4 lengths
13) Neoequos finished 13th beaten 27 lengths
14) Publisher finished 14th beaten 32 1/4 lengths
15) Citizen Bull finished 15th beaten 33 1/2 lengths
16) American Promise finished 16th beaten 38 1/2 lengths
17) Render Judgment finished 17th beaten 39 3/4 lengths
18) Flying Mohawk finished 18th beaten 42 1/4 lengths
19) Admire Daytona (JPN) finished 19th beaten 54 3/4 lengths
______________________________
* Half-sibling to Puca 24
** Same sire as Caldera
*** Half-sibling to Coexist
**** Same sire as Good Cop
