Frank Vespe

2 weeks ago | theracingbiz.com | Frank Vespe

“What she wants”: Roja rolls in first turf tryRoja ran pretty well in two dirt tries. But it was clear from her breeding that there was someplace she’d rather be than on the main track. “This is what she wanted,” trainer Graham Motion said Sunday at Laurel Park, after the three-year-old Karakontie filly left the maiden ranks with a dominant win in her first try on turf. Karakontie’s best runners – like the millionaires Princess Grace and She Feels Pretty – have done their best work on the lawn.

3 weeks ago | theracingbiz.com | Frank Vespe

Fasig-Tipton 2yo sale tops $44 million, sets recordSpearheaded by four seven-figure horses, Tuesday’s Fasig-Tipton Midlantic two-year-olds in training sale overcame difficult headwinds to top last year and set a record for this sale, zooming past $44 million in gross sales. Despite a series of misfortunes that forced the company to compress a two-day sale into one, the company sold 326 horses that brought a record total of $44,192,500.

3 weeks ago | theracingbiz.com | Frank Vespe

Journalism writes a comeback story in PreaknessJockey Umberto Rispoli took Journalism past the Pimlico winners’ circle, down another sixteenth of a mile. The crowd pressed to the rail was already standing as he came, and they cheered and cheered. Old Hilltop, whose next date is with the wrecking ball, had one last gift to give. It fell to Journalism, the beaten favorite in the Kentucky Derby, and, with an eighth of a mile to go, the hopelessly beaten favorite in the Preakness, to provide it.

4 weeks ago | theracingbiz.com | Frank Vespe

Preakness: Pay Billy could pay off in a big wayThirty-five years ago, young trainer Michael Gorham was a refugee from the crumbling New England racing scene. With Suffolk Downs closed – not yet for the last time – he found himself stabled at Pimlico, where he plied his trade out of Barn D. Fast-forward to today, and Gorham’s right back in Barn D.

4 weeks ago | thebaltimorebanner.com | Frank Vespe

For much of the week following the May 3 Kentucky Derby, it appeared that Saturday’s 150th running of the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes would be one of its blander renewals. It seemed Pimlico would end not with a bang but a whimper. But, following last-minute maneuvering, the shine’s back on the middle jewel.