Author Archives: Horse Country

Happy 2020 Kentucky Derby Week, 2.0! While we celebrated #DerbyatHome in May, we’re excited that the run for the roses is officially upon us – less than a week away now! While this year is different in so many ways, one thing hasn’t changed: for many of the Kentucky Derby hopefuls, it all starts here in Horse Country. From breeding and foaling to training, sales, and then life after racing, there’s a reason we’re known as the Horse Capital of the World. 

We’ve partnered this year with Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby to offer virtual content at Horse Country locations. To stay up to date on the schedule, check out the KY Derby Watch and Follow page here.

All tours will be streamed via the Kentucky Derby Facebook Page & Kentucky Derby YouTube Page, and shared on the Horse Country Facebook Page.

You don’t have to have a Facebook account to watch videos. All videos will be shared to the Horse Country Virtual Tour library after they have been posted.  For a complete list of live streaming activities during Derby week, be sure to check out the Kentucky Derby Watch & Follow page!

The 2020 Runhappy Travers Stakes, a Grade 1 $1 million race held annually at Saratoga Racetrack, looks a little different this year. Notably: the race is being run three weeks earlier than usual, and is this year a part of the Road to the Kentucky Derby.

All eyes are on Tiz the Law, winner of the 2020 Belmont Stakes, and the field is full of Horse Country connections. Will you be tuning in Saturday? The race will be broadcast nationally on FOX; for more information on where to watch or listen, check out this list from our friends at America’s Best Racing.

In post position order, here are the contenders in the 2020 Runhappy Travers Stakes:

• First Line – sired by First Samurai, who stands at Claiborne Farm
• Country Grammer – sired by Tonalist, who stands at Lane’s End Farm
• Uncle Chuck – sired by Uncle Mo, who stands at Coolmore America
• Max Player – sired by Honor Code, who stands at Lane’s End Farm
• Shivaree
• Tiz the Law -sired by Constitution, who stands at WinStar Farm
• Caracaro -sired by Uncle Mo, who stands at Coolmore America
• South Bend – sired by Algorithms, who stands at Claiborne Farm

We wish the best of luck and a safe ride to all!

This Saturday, August 1st, we’ll be tuning into one of the hallmarks of summer racing at Saratoga: the Whitney Stakes. The $750,000 Grade 1 race is also a Win and You’re In Breeders’ Cup race, giving the winner automatic entry into the $7 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland this November.

There are a number of Whitney winners who currently reside in Horse Country (Blame, Medaglia D’Oro, Frosted, Cross Traffic, Honor Code to name a few) – and this year’s field represents another three stallions who live at Horse Country farm locations (listed below in order of post position).

By My Standards: Sired by Goldencents who stands at Spendthrift Farm

Improbable: Sired by City Zip, who stood at Lane’s End; partly owned by WinStar Farm

Code of Honor: Sired by Noble Mission, who stands at Lane’s End; owned by William S. Farish of Lane’s End

Mr. Buff

Tom’s d’Etat

You can join America’s Best Racing and Breeders’ Cup for a live-streaming experience as they discuss the Whitney as well as the Personal Ensign Stakes, a Win and You’re In challenge race for the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Tune in to Breeders’ Cup YouTube at 4pm Eastern for #BCLIVE.

For more info about these runners, their race record and connections, check out America’s Best Racing’s Cheat Sheet. We wish the best of luck to all contenders and hope for a safe and thrilling ride for all!

As if we needed a reminder that 2020 is a remarkable year, the Belmont Stakes arrives this Saturday, June 20 to kick off this year’s Triple Crown races — instead of serving as the final stop in the series. Additionally, instead of its traditional distance of one and a half miles, the Belmont this year will be run at one and an eighth miles.

What’s at stake? In addition to the $1 million, the winner of this Grade 1 stakes race earns points for the Kentucky Derby, and presumably a de facto place in history as the winner among the most unusual circumstances. So who’s a contender? The field of 10, outlined below in order of post position, is headlined by Tiz the Law – but indeed has many interested competitors and many, many connections to Horse Country!

Tap It to Win: Sired by Tapit, who stands at Gainesway Farm; trained by Mark Casse who runs on Hallway Feeds

Sole Volante: Sired by Karakontie who stands at Gainesway Farm; was raised on Hallway Feeds

Max Player: Sired by Honor Code, who stands at Lane’s End

Modernist: Sired by Uncle Mo, who stands at Coolmore America; trained by Bill Mott who runs on Hallway Feeds

Farmington Road: Sired by Quality Road, who stands at Lane’s End

Fore Left: Sired by Twirling Candy, who stands at Lane’s End

Jungle Runner: Sired by Candy Ride, who stands at Lane’s End

Tiz the Law: Sired by Constitution, who stands at Winstar Farm

Dr Post: Sired by Quality Road, who stands at Lane’s End Farm

Pneumatic: Sired by Uncle Mo, who stands at Coolmore America

For more info about these runners, their race record and connections, check out America’s Best Racing’s Cheat Sheet. We wish the best of luck to all contenders and hope for a safe and thrilling ride for all!

Catching up with Kentucky Derby winners Nyquist + Street Sense at Godolphin’s Jonabell Farm

Jonabell Farm is one of Godolphin’s six Kentucky farms and home of the Darley stallions, making it the site of Godolphin’s Horse Country tours. We’re catching up today with Brianne Sharp, who in addition to being on the Marketing team at Godolphin, hosts many of the Horse Country experiences & serves as a Horse Country Board Member. Brianne is updating us on 2007 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense and 2016 Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist, offering a peek into their day-to-day life!

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What is a normal daily routine for these guys?

During breeding season, they will have a mare to breed most mornings at 7am.  After that, they will go outside to their paddock for about five hours.  At noon, their groom will bring them in from the paddock and they will be bathed and groomed before the afternoon breeding session at 1pm.  They are available for viewing by potential breeders in the afternoon from 2:30-3pm.  Then they are fed their afternoon meal and some of them will lay down and take an afternoon nap after they finish eating.  Street Sense loves a good nap!  Sometimes they will have a third mare to breed at 6pm at night.  They spend the night inside the stallion barn, and we have a night watch person who stays with them all night.  

When we aren’t in breeding season they keep basically the same daily routine, minus the trips to the breeding shed.  We’ve recently put in an aqua treadmill that the stallions get on daily in the months leading up to breeding season to build up their fitness.  Nyquist LOVES the treadmill.  They have to put him on it first every day – he doesn’t like it if someone else gets to go ahead of him!

We’re all snacking a bit more during quarantine. What do these guys eat?

Most of our stallions are fed grain twice a day – at 5am and 3:30pm.  They have as much hay as they want in their stall and obviously grass in their paddock.  And lots of carrots – we go through about 75 pounds of carrots per week in the stallion barn!  

Do either of them have particular personality quirks that are notable/funny?

Nyquist notices everything.  If there’s something new or something out of place from where it usually is, he wants to go investigate it.  
Street Sense has a funny way of asking for carrots – he’ll lift his front leg.  If you don’t give him a carrot right away he’ll try the other leg and keep going back and forth.  They are both very smart!

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Can you share any memories of the 2016 Kentucky Derby, when Nyquist won?

We had been watching Nyquist train at Keeneland in the weeks leading up to the Derby so the anticipation was high.  There was obviously a lot of buzz around him since he was the favorite.  I watched the race on TV with a bunch of friends and I just remember screaming my head off.  It was awesome.  He was the first two-year-old champion since Seattle Slew to stay undefeated through the Kentucky Derby – what a superstar.

How do these superstars handle the fans on Horse Country tours?

Both of them seem to enjoy the tours.  They usually come to the gate or the front of the stall to say hello to the visitors.  I definitely think they like the attention.

Street Sense’s progeny have had some success. Can you share about any particular offspring that have been fun to watch?

Street Sense has had a number of top class horses, but certainly my two favorites would be his two G1 winners for Godolphin – Wedding Toast and Maxfield.  Wedding Toast’s win in the G1 Ogden Phipps at Belmont in 2015 was my first ever trip to the winner’s circle in a G1 race, so that will always be a special memory. And of course Maxfield winning the G1 Breeders’ Futurity last fall at Keeneland was so much fun to share with the whole team.  Hopefully he will be in the gate for the Kentucky Derby in September!

Brianne’s top 3 tips for work from home/surviving quarantine/social distancing?

Puzzles, Zoom calls with friends/family, and of course Horse Country virtual tours!

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