Instant Impact Scores 2nd in Second Start

Very tough, gritty performance by Instant Impact in his second start in the 11th at Ellis Park on Sunday, August 24, 2025, where he overcame adversity and kept running, to finish a closing 2nd with Brian Hernandez up. 

Great experience for him and he really showed some talent. Looking forward to his next start. 

He earned an 83 E-speed figure for this run, a big jump up from the 71 he earned on debut on July 27th at Saratoga.

Catching Up on Updates - 2YOs and 3YOs

TWO YEAR OLDS

Black Tie Optional (Not This Time colt)

• Black Tie Optional has remained on a work schedule at Los Alamitos, where he is breezing well, including a 4F in :48 flat in company with his usual mate, Cherokee Nation, in July prompting assistant trainer Mike Marlow to report, “He worked great. Probably his best work to date.” His most recent work was from the gate on August 1st (three furlongs in :37.20). His team is bringing him along slowly and no immediate start date is expected. 

Instant Impact (Upstart colt)

• Instant Impact debuted on July 27th at Saratoga. After his race came off the turf course due to rain, trainer Kenny McPeek opted to keep him in. He ran fourth, notably handled the loading process and broke well—a good sign after some of his gate issues in the mornings. Jockey Kendrick Carmouche allowed Instant Impact to find his rhythm though he did seem to be spinning his wheels a bit on the wet track. He did show good fight when the horse coming up behind him tried to run by, and he galloped out well. Instant Impact departed Saratoga for Churchill Downs last week, and ran a bullet work at Churchill on August 11th going 4F in 47.20. He is expected to make his next start at Ellis Park in approximately 9-10 days.  

Misstrial (Constitution filly)

• Misstrial had her first start at Del Mar (the same day Seismic Beauty won the G1 Clement L. Hirsch), but stumbled badly out of the gate, almost going to her nose, and then colliding with the horse to her inside. In spite of her troubles, she still made a valiant effort, but was tiring by the time she hit the stretch. She was back on the work tab on August 11th at Del Mar, covering 5F in 1:00.60 while on the inside of stablemate Falcon Jet (2nd on debut on 8/3). We were glad to see Misstrial no worse for the wear after her debut and expect to see her get one more run at Del Mar before the summer meet ends. There are two maiden special weight options remaining at the meet, on August 30th and September 6th.

Munny Problem  (Munnings colt)

• Sadly, Munny Problem was being trained by D. Wayne Lukas who's sudden passing on June 28th left him trainerless. He was sent to Highlander training center with the Coach's two other trainees, Caldera (stakes placed 3YO) and Trust But Verify (unstarted 2YO). Munny Problem is doing well at Highlander during his R&R period. He should be started back in training in approximately 60 days.

Native Brew (Yaupon colt)

• Native Brew made his first start and ran 5th. Unfortunately, the race took a toll on this first time starter, and he will need time off before running again. 

Sirius Pursuit (Knicks Go filly)

• Upcoming possible debut dates - Saturday, August 23 at Ellis Park or a later date at Saratoga. Her workmate, Amended Dreamer, will make her debut at Saratoga on Saturday, August 16th, in the 4th race. This will give a better indication of Sirius Pursuit's standing among 2YOs. Her trainer is Jena Antonucci.

Trust But Verify (Into Mischief colt)

• Trust But Verify was transferred to Highlander Training Center after the death of D. Wayne Lukas, who had been training this promising colt. A decision was made to send Trust But Verify to "Coach's" good friend Kenny McPeek. Trust But Verify had his final breeze at Highlander Training Center where he covered 3F from the gate in :37.72. Highlander’s Jeff Hooper reported “Everything went smoothly and [he] worked a nice 3/8ths from the gate in company, outworking his work mate comfortably.” Trust But Verify was sent to the McPeek barn at Keeneland and is currently awaiting the next van to join his string at Saratoga.

THREE YEAR OLDS

Good Cop (Tiz The Law colt)

• Has transferred from Fair Hill to Todd Pletcher's barn at Belmont Park (open for training during renovations) and has been putting in a works there. 

Isle Blue (Speightstown filly)

• After the death of Christophe Clement earlier this year, she is now being trained by his son, Miguel Clement who has done much of her hands-on training to this point. Isle Blue ran a stunning bullet work on 8/9/25, running 4F in 47.40 for the fastest work of 76 that morning.

Nakoma (Vekoma filly)

• Currently turned out. Expected to return to racing later this year. Trained by Jena Antonucci.

OTHER HORSES

Caldera (Liam's Map colt)

• Since losing his trainer (D. Wayne Lukas -- "Coach"), Caldera was sent to Highlander where he has been cooling his heels. After a valiant run at qualifying for the Kentucky Derby which didn't pan out due to stumbling and grabbing a quarter out of the gate in the Louisiana Derby (a Kentucky Derby qualifier), Caldera ran back 2nd in a minor stakes at Oaklawn hoping for a Preakness berth, then went through a growth spurt/weight loss period and other issues that required a rest. No new trainer has yet been selected.

Here's The Kicker (Liam's Map filly)

• After her last start in the G1 Ruffian Stakes, which didn't go well for her, she was transferred to Saratoga to try her hand at the spa. While her first work there was an eye-opening bullet running 35.03 for 3F on June 30th, her next three works were not as impressive. Unfortunately, the deep surface at Saratoga does not seem to be to her liking. Trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. has opted to send her back to Florida where she has done her best running, so her next start will most likely be at Gulfstream Park. 

2YO Updates This Week: All Now With Trainers

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.

McPeek Update on 2YO Instant Impact

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." 

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.