It’s been a busy fall around here, and plenty has happened since we last checked in.
“Between the farm, the sales and the racing, this is the most active I’ve ever been in the business at one time. That’s precisely why we relocated and bought the farm in Kentucky back in 2024. Randie and I couldn’t be having any more fun.”
Another Blue Point, Home in Kentucky
Buying Randie’s Rascal at Tattersalls October Book 2 last year was one of the best experiences we’ve had at a sale. The sale was run with real professionalism, the bloodstock was deep, and it didn’t hurt that our filly did exactly what we’d hoped. She started at two at the Keeneland spring meet, ran third, then second at Churchill Downs, and broke her maiden at Churchill in June, drawing off by two and a quarter lengths.
Along the way we became big fans of her sire. Blue Point had a breakout 2026, led by Blue Bolt, who won four straight Group 1s this summer and fall: the Falmouth, the Prix Rothschild, the Matron and the Sun Chariot. So in October we went back to Newmarket, sending trainer Ben Colebrook and our son Henry with his Thoroughbred Intelligence system to bring home another classy filly for the Kentucky string. A Blue Point would be a bonus, though we expected to be priced out of that market.
It worked out. The team bought Lot 689, a Blue Point filly out of the Harbour Watch mare Minoria, for 200,000 guineas, and we wrote about why at the time. She arrived in the United States last week and will spend the winter on Ben’s farm before she starts training at Keeneland in early 2027.
Randie’s Rascal Is Back in the Barn
The tendon issue that sidelined Randie’s Rascal this summer came at a frustrating moment, with her ready to step up to stakes company. We chose to give her time at the farm and let it heal properly. She is completely sound again and has returned to Ben’s barn at Keeneland, where she’ll ease back toward race fitness. She might run again before the year is out, and either way we’re glad to see her on the mend.
Straight Up Joins Appeared in Australia
We keep growing our presence in Australia, and our experience with Darby Racing and trainer Bjorn Baker is the main reason. We already have HnR-bred Appeared, unbeaten in three starts there, and the two-year-old No Justice with Baker, plus four more Darby syndicates in training with Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott and with Ciaron Maher. When Darby offered us a share of Straight Up, also bound for Baker, it was an easy yes.
Straight Up is a colt by Wootton Bassett out of the Galileo mare Flutter (IRE), bred by Coolmore and Flaxman Stables, and he has taken the same road from Ballydoyle to Warwick Farm that Appeared did. Both raced for Coolmore partners and broke their maidens in Ireland for Aidan O’Brien, both were picked out of the Coolmore draft at the Tattersalls Autumn Horses in Training Sale by Darby’s agent Hubie de Burgh, and both went to Baker to race for Darby.
His form holds up. Straight Up won on debut at Listowel in September 2025, over seven furlongs on heavy ground, eight lengths clear of Perisher, who has since won first-up in Australia for Ciaron Maher. From five starts he has two wins and a third, and he ran fifth in the Group 3 Derby Trial at Leopardstown in May behind James J Braddock, who went on to finish third in the Derby at Epsom and seventh in this month’s Melbourne Cup. Straight Up was rated 99 when Darby bought him. Appeared was rated 88 at the same point last year.
Scott Darby explains why Coolmore sells horses of this quality: “They’re only looking for the absolute world-class top, and everything else under must move out for the next lot of stock, hence why we’ve been able to buy such good horses.” He sees Straight Up as “the ideal sort of 2,000- to 2,400-metre horse here in Australia.” He makes seven horses for us in Australia, and we’re looking forward to his first start for our syndicate.
Two H’s Heads to the Races
Two H’s, our partnership with our son Henry, started in 2024 on the breeding side, managing our Insight Thoroughbred partnership. Now it is moving to the racetrack. At Keeneland September, Two H’s bought three yearling fillies: a chestnut by Golden Pal out of the Medaglia d’Oro mare Barista for $100,000, a bay by Taiba out of the Empire Maker mare Betwixt for $60,000, and a dark bay or brown filly by Girvin out of the Pioneerof the Nile mare Mezcal for $150,000. Golden Pal, a two-time Breeders’ Cup winner, gives the first of them plenty of speed, while Taiba and Girvin, both Grade 1 winners at a mile and an eighth, point the other two toward two turns. They should make their first starts in 2027 in the Two H’s silks, which means HnR will soon have runners under two sets of colors.
Living Magic and the Insight Thoroughbred Sales
As we shift most of our effort to racing, we’ve continued to sell our remaining breeding stock. Living Magic, in foal to champion Citizen Bull, sold for $300,000 to Thirty Year Farm at Fasig-Tipton November.
We are also exiting our breeding partnership in Insight Thoroughbred, which Henry manages, and the partnership’s Keeneland November consignment sold well. Its Domestic Product colt out of Baby Nina brought $330,000, the highest price for any Domestic Product weanling this year, from Weatherford Bloodstock, the leading buyer of the session. An Arabian Knight filly out of Stealth Mode made $140,000, and Stealth Mode herself, in foal to Citizen Bull, sold for $300,000. The partnership will offer a National Treasure colt out of the stakes winner Sharapova at Keeneland January.
Kindle Retires
Kindle is retired at HnR Farm in Versailles, where she shares the paddocks with Living the Life (IRE) and Randie’s Legend.
We bought her as a yearling at Keeneland September in 2009 for $50,000. She won four of her 11 starts, including the Cool Air and the Bangles and Beads, placed in four graded stakes and earned $243,370, then went to the broodmare band and became its foundation alongside Living the Life (IRE). Her first foal, Made in America, raced for us as a homebred and won three of his six starts, including the Forego Stakes at Turfway Park. Allah Maak, her American Pharoah colt, sold as a weanling and then topped the opening session of Keeneland September in 2018, when Godolphin bought him as Hip 91 for $2,200,000 with Sheikh Mohammed on the grounds. Palazzi, her Pioneerof the Nile colt, became a multiple graded stakes winner and has earned $642,410.
Her Last Foal Stays With Us
Kindle’s final foal is a weanling filly by Quality Road, and we’ve kept her as a racing prospect. Of all Kindle’s foals, we’ve retained two: her first, Made in America, and this filly, her last. Her physical development and disposition have impressed us so far, and we’re optimistic about what she can do on the track.
Back to the Races
Ai Magic, Neuromap and Puunene, among others, should be back at the track in the coming weeks. All three breezed at Keeneland on November 5, and Puunene goes first, in a six-and-a-half-furlong maiden special weight at Churchill Downs on Sunday, November 15. Maybe we’ll see you there.
Puunene’s record, workouts and pedigree live on her page.
See Puunene