Category: Miscellaneous

MGSP CHESS CHIEF takes allowance at the Fair Grounds

Courtesy of the TDN

7th-Fair Grounds, $46,000, Alw (NW1X)/Opt. Clm ($17,500), 2-24, 4yo/up, 1 1/16m, 1:43.57, ft.
CHESS CHIEF (c, 4, Into Mischief–Un Blessed, by Mineshaft), second in last year=s GIII West Virginia Derby and third in the GIII Oklahoma Derby, was most recently second over this track and trip in a Jan. 4 optional claimer. The prohibitive 1-10 favorite settled within striking distance along the rail through a quarter in :24.45 and a half in :48.42. Tipped out three wide at the top of the lane, the bay colt forged to the lead in upper stretch and powered clear to win by 4 3/4 lengths. Irish Wind (Daaher) was second. Chess Chief RNA’d for $145,000 as a FTSAUG yearling.

Morgan’s Ford Farm purchased Un Blessed, in foal to Sidney’s Candy, for $110,000 at the 2014 Keeneland November sale. Her Ghostzapper colt sold for $150,000 as a weanling at the 2018 Keeneland November sale and for $430,000 at last year’s Keeneland September sale. The mare, a daughter of Grade I winner Plenty of Grace (Roberto), also has a yearling filly by Gun Runner and was bred last year to Ghostzapper. Plenty of Grace also produced the dam of multiple graded stakes winners Diabolical (Artax) and What a Name (Ire) (Mr. Greeley), as well as the dam of Grade I placed Grace Anatomy (Aldebaran).
Lifetime Record: MGSP, 15-2-3-2, $314,830
O-Estate of JamesJ. Coleman, Jr.
B-Morgan’s Ford Farm (VA)
T-Dallas Stewart

Kirkwood Keeps Gallop-Only Program at Gulfstream Sale


Anne M. Eberhardt

Four previous sale horses asked only to gallop have become black-type performers.

  • By Eric Mitchell

Kip Elser’s Kirkwood Stables will continue to only gallop its entrants during the under tack show for The Gulfstream Sale as the stable has done for the past two years, rather than push the juveniles through a timed workout.

Elser launched this experiment in 2018 at Fasig-Tipton’s select 2-year-olds in training sale at Gulfstream Park following a conversation during the Saratoga Race Course meet with a friend who proposed pinhooking yearlings at the 2-year-olds in training sale without pushing the young horses during the under tack show.

Previous “gallop-only” prospects, offered only at The Gulfstream Sale, had been cataloged as part of the Kirkwood Stables consignment but also under the names Midway Gallop or Gulfstream Gallop so buyers knew what to expect. This year the Gulfstream entrants have been cataloged only under Kirkwood Stables, so Elser wants to be sure buyers know the gallop-only program is still in place.

“We have had very positive results at the sales and on the racetrack,” Elser said. “Maybe we leave a little money on the table, but we are selling every horse and reducing the injury rate.”

During the first two years of the program, Kirkwood offered 14 juveniles, of which eight were sold in the ring for an average of $121,250. The others that did not meet their reserve prices all found new homes through private sales.

Out of these 14 horses, 11 went on to start in a race, and six became winners. Four of the horses became black-type performers, led by winner Splashy Kisses, a daughter of Blame  who was second in the Pocahontas Stakes (G2) and third in the Sweet Life Stakes (G3), and Defense Wins, a son of Flatter  who was third in last year’s Runhappy Del Mar Futurity (G1). Both of these graded stakes horses are trained by Doug O’Neill. Kirkwood also sold stakes-placed winners Irish Hustle, a daughter of Data Link, and Wicked Slider, a gelding by Wicked Strong .

“The better our results on the racetrack, the better our sales results will continue to be,” Elser said.

At the upcoming April 1 auction at Gulfstream, Kirkwood will offer the following horses as part of its gallop-only program: