WoodbineHnR BredMGSW
Palazzi
Bay Gelding, 2018 · Pioneerof the Nile out of Kindle, by Indian Charlie
38
Starts
7
Wins
$642,410
Earnings
107
Top Figure
WoodbinePalazzi is the third foal out of Kindle and her first graded stakes winner. Bred by HnR Nothhaft Horseracing LLC in partnership with the Pioneerof the Nile Syndicate, he won seven of 38 starts and $642,410 across seven racing seasons for owner Gary Barber and trainer Mark Casse. He is the third graded stakes winner bred and sold by Hank Nothhaft, joining Eclipse Award winner and Breeders’ Cup champion Finest City and multiple graded stakes winner Daddy is a Legend.
He was foaled in Kentucky on April 14, 2018, by Pioneerof the Nile out of Kindle, who had won four races and $243,370 for HnR and was placed in four graded stakes. He was sold as a yearling at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga in August 2019 for $510,000 to Team Casse. Mark Casse has trained him ever since, through seven seasons and 38 starts.
He broke his maiden at Fair Grounds in December 2020 and won the Texas Turf Mile Stakes at Sam Houston six weeks later, in his second start at three. That spring he was second in the Kentucky Utilities Transylvania Stakes (G3) at Keeneland and second again in the Audubon Stakes at Churchill Downs.
Casse then sent him to the two richest turf races in America for his generation. He ran sixth in the Belmont Derby Invitational (G1) in July and seventh in the Saratoga Derby Invitational (G1) in August. Those two races produced Equibase figures of 107 and 106, the two highest of his life. He earned $257,050 that year, more than any other season of his career.
At five he put together the best sequence of his career, three wins in 83 days across two surfaces and three distances.
On June 18, 2023, he won an allowance at Woodbine at a mile and a sixteenth on firm turf, stalking from fifth, going four to five wide on the turn, and holding on by a nose after a stretch-long duel. Kazushi Kimura rode him at 9.95-1.
On July 16 he went a mile and an eighth in a race that had been taken off the turf and moved to the all-weather track. Sahin Civaci settled him last of six. The chart caller wrote that he swooped around runners four deep with a powerful turn of foot on the far turn, took control five paths off the rail, and won going away by two lengths.
On September 9 he won the Pattison Singspiel Stakes (G3) at a mile and a quarter on the E.P. Taylor turf course. He was last of seven at the quarter and the half, eight and a half lengths off the lead, and still only fourth with a quarter mile to run. Civaci brought him between horses through the stretch, and he ran down Chad Brown’s Rockemperor (IRE), the 1.30-1 favorite, inside the sixteenth pole to win by a half length. His closing quarter of 23.94 was the fastest fraction anyone ran that afternoon.
The win made Kindle a graded stakes producer. A month later he was fourth in the Canadian International (G1), and in December he ran a 104 finishing fourth in the Valedictory Stakes (G3).
Mark Casse saddled three of the seven runners in the bet365 Eclipse Stakes (G2) at Woodbine on June 1, 2024, and Palazzi was the least regarded of them. He had not won since the Singspiel nine months earlier, he was coming off a winter in Louisiana that had gone against him, and he was making his first Woodbine start of the year. He went off at 6.55-1 behind his stablemates Paramount Prince, the 2023 King’s Plate winner, and Get Smokin.
Bumped inward at the start, he settled last of seven while Get Smokin and Paramount Prince cut out fractions of 24.47 and 49.25. He was still last at the half, eleven lengths off the lead, and last again at the three-quarters. Civaci began moving from the five-sixteenths pole, fanned him seven paths wide turning for home, and he ground his way forward through the whole of the stretch. He surged past inside the final seventy yards to win by a half length over the favorite Tyson, with Paramount Prince a further three-quarters back in third and Get Smokin fourth. The mile and a sixteenth took 1:43.86 and paid $15.10.
Afterward Civaci explained the ride plainly. There were several speed horses in the race, coming from behind was the only chance he saw, and holding him mid-pack would not have suited the horse.
It was his second stakes win since he had been sold for $35,000 at the 2022 Keeneland November Horses of Racing Age Sale, and it took his earnings past $580,000. Pioneerof the Nile, who died in 2019, had two graded stakes winners that season. Palazzi was one of them.
He was third in the Niagara Stakes at Woodbine in September 2024. At eight, in February 2026, he ran a 102 finishing fourth in a Gulfstream Park handicap. On May 15, 2026 he went back to Gulfstream, was sent off favorite, settled eighth of ten, came four wide into the stretch and got up by a head under all-out pressure at a mile and a sixteenth on the turf.
Across 38 starts and seven seasons he won on turf and on synthetic, from a mile and a sixteenth to a mile and a quarter, at two racetracks in two countries. Fifteen of those starts came at Woodbine, where he won four times including both graded races.
Palazzi is by Pioneerof the Nile, sire of 56 black-type winners from 632 starters with progeny earnings above $79.3 million and an Average Earnings Index of 1.72. He is out of Kindle, by Indian Charlie, who won four races and $243,370 for HnR and is herself in this Hall of Honor. He is a half-brother to Made in America, Kindle’s first foal and a fellow honoree. His second dam, Carson’s Vanity, is by Carson City; his third dam Vanities was a stakes winner by Nureyev; his fourth dam Play It Safe was champion two-year-old filly in France.
The analysis below is Thoroughbred Intelligence’s, reproduced as written.
Pioneerof the Nile is by Empire Maker out of Star of Goshen, by Lord At War. The direct male line runs through Empire Maker, Unbridled, Fappiano, and Mr. Prospector, placing Palazzi within a branch associated with American dirt and classic-distance performance.
Empire Maker contributes through Unbridled and the accomplished mare Toussaud, whose pedigree adds El Gran Senor and In Reality. Pioneerof the Nile’s dam, Star of Goshen, brings Lord At War and Key to the Kingdom into the pedigree, adding a blend of North American and international influences around the direct sire line.
The available Equineline statistics credit Pioneerof the Nile with 450 winners and 56 black-type winners from 632 starters. His runners earned more than $79.3 million and recorded an Average Earnings Index of 1.72. The figures include a 75 percent starter rate and a 53 percent winner rate from foals of racing age.
For Palazzi, this sire line supplied the capacity to progress from juvenile racing into longer turf and synthetic events. His early career included black-type form at a mile and participation in leading three-year-old turf races, while his later development produced graded victories around two turns.
Palazzi’s racing record also reflects the adaptability within the sire line. He won the Texas Turf Mile Stakes at three, then returned at five to win three consecutive races, culminating in the Grade 3 Singspiel Stakes. At six, he added the Grade 2 Eclipse Stakes over Woodbine’s synthetic surface.
Palazzi is out of Kindle, a multiple stakes-winning daughter of Indian Charlie. Kindle won four of 11 starts and earned $243,370 while racing for HnR Nothhaft Horse Racing. Her victories included the Cool Air Stakes and Bangles and Beads Stakes, and she placed in the Grade 2 Monrovia Stakes twice, Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes, and Grade 3 Senator Ken Maddy Stakes.
Kindle has produced two black-type winners. Her first foal, Made in America, by Tiznow, won three of six starts and captured the Forego Stakes. Palazzi became her leading runner through his Grade 2 and Grade 3 victories and earnings exceeding $642,000. Her other winners include American Symphony, by Into Mischief, and A Day to Remember, by American Pharoah.
Indian Charlie contributes speed and dirt aptitude through In Excess and Siberian Express. His record as a broodmare sire is represented by 1,240 winners and 116 black-type winners from 1,698 starters, with progeny earnings exceeding $154.8 million and an AEI of 1.33.
The second dam, Carson’s Vanity, is by Carson City and produced six winners from seven runners. Her leading runners include Australian Group 3 winner Tonopah, Kindle, and Latigo Shore, who finished third in the Grade 1 King’s Bishop Stakes and second in the Grade 3 Chick Lang Stakes.
The third dam, Vanities, was a six-time winner by Nureyev. She won the Marie P. DeBartolo Memorial Oaks and placed in the Grade 3 Pucker Up Stakes and Grade 3 Nijana Stakes. She also produced Grade 3-placed Bugatti.
The fourth dam, Play It Safe, was France’s champion two-year-old filly. Her victories included the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac and Group 3 Prix d’Aumale. The wider family includes Group or Grade 1 winner Providential, Irish highweight Prudent Manner, Group 1 Racing Post Trophy winner Saratoga Springs, and European Group winner Walzerkoenigin.
This female family gives Palazzi a combination of juvenile quality, sprint speed, turf performance, and sustained international black-type production. Kindle’s own racing and production records place that family strength directly behind him.
Palazzi is linebred 5 x 4 to Mr. Prospector. The sire-side occurrence comes through Fappiano in the Pioneerof the Nile line, while the dam-side occurrence comes through Carson City, the sire of Carson’s Vanity.
Northern Dancer appears 5 x 5 through El Gran Senor on the sire’s side and Nureyev on the dam’s side. These duplications bring major influences into both halves of the pedigree through separate descendants.
The broader structure combines Unbridled and Empire Maker with Indian Charlie, Carson City, Nureyev, and Blushing Groom. Pioneerof the Nile supplies the principal route and classic elements, while Kindle and Carson’s Vanity reinforce speed. Nureyev and Play It Safe add established turf and international influences.
Palazzi’s Dosage Profile is 7-7-8-4-0, with 26 dosage points, a Dosage Index of 2.25, and a Center of Distribution of +0.65. The profile is distributed across the Brilliant, Intermediate, Classic, and Solid categories. This numerical balance is consistent with his ability to win at a mile and remain effective through middle-distance competition.
The Pioneerof the Nile and Indian Charlie cross includes 15 foals of racing age, ten starters, nine winners, and two black-type winners. Those runners earned more than $1.65 million and produced an AEI of 1.43.
The cross generated a 67 percent starter rate, a 60 percent winner rate from foals, and a 13 percent black-type-winner rate. Palazzi is one of its two black-type winners and represents the mating through graded success on both turf and synthetic surfaces.
The broader statistical records also support the combination. Pioneerof the Nile recorded an AEI of 1.72 as a sire, while Indian Charlie’s broodmare-sire record includes 116 black-type winners and an AEI of 1.33.
