Brian Robin

Muck Rack profile
Imperador (right) used this victory over Arklow to win the Grade 2 Calumet Turf Cup at Kentucky Downs. That earned the Argentinian colt a berth in the Breeders' Cup Turf he will pass up. (Image: Coady Photography)

Breeders’ Cup Early Scratches Include Turf Contender Imperador

We’re still eight days out from Day 1 of the 2021 Breeders’ Cup and six pre-entry horses already scratched, a group led by Kentucky Turf Cup winner Imperador. He pulled out of the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Turf, one of five Thursday scratches from the Nov. 5-6 two-day racing festival […]

Del Mar plays host to the Breeders Cup World Championships for the second time. (Image: Breeders Cup)

Here is Your First Look at the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Pre-Entries

Seven returning Breeders’ Cup champions, including Breeders’ Cup Classic favorites Knicks Go and Essential Quality, lead the pre-entry field for next weekend’s Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Del Mar. The 14-race festival begins on Friday, Nov. 5 with five juvenile races before segueing into nine races on Saturday, Nov. 6. […]

This year's Breeders' Cup wagering menu offers an all-turf Pick 4, mandating you pick the winners of four of the top Breeders' Cup grass races. (Image: K.C. Allred/San Diego Union-Tribune)

Breeders’ Cup Betting Menu Offers a Healthy Smorgasbord of Wagers

The Breeders’ Cup unveiled its 2021 wagering menu on Wednesday, adding a new All-Turf Pick 4 and a third Pick 5 to Saturday’s betting smorgasbord. Along with the wagering menu, officials for the Nov. 5-6 racing festival at Del Mar announced the official race order. Friday’s first day features 10 […]

Spendthrift Farm's Goldencents was the most prolific stallion in terms of mares bred in 2021. He covered 230 mares during breeding season. (Image: David Coyle)

Breeding Frenzy: Goldencents is 2021’s Most Prolific Stallion

The Jockey Club released its annual Report of Mares Bred (RMB) this week, revealing that three of super-stallion Into Mischief’s offspring serviced the most mares during the 2021 breeding season. Goldencents, the 2012 and 2013 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner, led the stallion parade, covering 230 mares this year. Right […]

Essential Quality's August win in the Travers gave him his fourth Grade 1 victory. He and Maxfield will begin their stallion careers together after their final races. (Image: Adam Coglianese-NYRA/AP)

Essential Quality, Maxfield Headed to Stallion Careers After Final Races

Essential Quality and Maxfield, two of the biggest North American routing names of the last two-plus seasons, are both retiring to the breeding shed after their next races. Darley America, Godolphin’s North American affiliate, announced the pair will join the breeding and racing giant’s Jonabell, Kentucky, farm for the 2022 […]

Even at 20, Tapit remains one of the top stallions in the world. His stud fee remains $185,000 for the 2022 breeding season. (Image: Gainesway Farm)

Even at 20, Gainesway’s Champion Sire Tapit Holds His Value

Three-time Champion Sire Tapit’s stud fee remains at $185,000, the primary takeaway from Gainesway Farm’s 2022 stallion roster fee update. Even as Spendthrift Farm’s Into Mischief continues to draw most of the oxygen and attention on the sire tables, Tapit remains North America’s leading sire over numerous categories. He leads […]

Irad Ortiz Jr. and Public Sector (9) surge and steal the Grade 2 Hill Prince from Never Surprised (back). The Chad Brown-trained 3-year-old is 4-for-6 in 2021. (Image: Susie Raisher)

No Surprise: Public Sector Steals His Third Straight Graded Stakes Race

That Public Sector took his second consecutive graded stakes race at the expense of Never Surprised shouldn’t have surprised anyone who watched the two 3-year-old turf prospects duel in Saturday’s Grade 2 Hill Prince at Belmont Park. The M.O. was as simple as it was familiar to anyone versed with […]

This battle of geldings went to Two Emmys (back), who nipped Domestic Spending in the final Mr. D Stakes at Arlington Park. Two Emmys won't go off near his 27/1 price in Friday's Grade 3 Sycamore at Keeneland. (Image: Coady Photography)

After 27/1 Shocker, What Can Two Emmys Bring to the Keeneland Stage?

When Two Emmys won August’s Mr. D Stakes at Arlington Park at 27/1, Hugh Robertson was the trainer of record. When Two Emmys leaves the Keeneland starting gate for Friday’s Grade 3 Sycamore Stakes, where he’s the 3/1 morning-line favorite, Mac Robertson will be the trainer of record. What’s going […]

Raging Bull will stand for an initial fee of $10,000. He owns a 5-3-4 record in 18 graded-stakes races. (Image: Gainesway Farm)

Raging Bull Retiring to Gainesway Farm After Breeders’ Cup Farewell

Raging Bull, one of North America’s leading male turf runners, will retire after the Breeders’ Cup Mile and head to his breeding career at Gainesway Farm in Kentucky. He will open his breeding career in 2022 for $10,000. The 6-year-old horse, a product of standout European sire Dark Angel, owns […]

It now costs 2 1/2 times more to breed a mare or filly to 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner. He is off to a promising stallion career, based on five graded stakes wins among his juvenile progeny. (Image: Three Chimney Farm)

Stallion Fee Roundup: Curlin Unchanged, Gun Runner More than Doubles

Stud fees for two-time Horse of the Year Curlin remain unchanged at $175,000 as Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm in Xalapa, Kentucky, released its 2022 stallion roster and fees on Wednesday. Hill ‘n’ Dale was one of several breeding farms unveiling its roster and breeding fees. Among other farms announcing their […]

Maxfield's last victory came here, in June's Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs. He will bypass the Breeders' Cup Classic in favor of a return to Churchill Downs for the easier Grade 1 Clark Stakes. (Image: Jamie Newell/TwinSpires)

Maxfield Won’t Go West to Breeders’ Cup, Stays East for Clark

In a move designed to deliver him a Grade 1 victory, Maxfield will pass up the Breeders’ Cup Classic, trading that loaded Grade 1 field for the easier pickings of the Grade 1 Clark Handicap. That race is on Black Friday at Churchill Downs. The Daily Racing Form first reported […]

Knicks Go is quite accustomed to being by himself down the stretch -- like he was here in August's Whitney Stakes at Saratoga. He won't lack for company when his stallion career begins at Taylor Made Farm in Kentucky. (Image: Sarah Andrew

Knicks Go Headed to Taylor Made Stallions After Racing Career Ends

Knicks Go, the current clubhouse leader for 2021 Horse of the Year, will retire to Taylor Made Stallions in Kentucky at the end of his racing career, the farm announced in a release Monday. The stud fee for the four-time Grade 1 winner will be announced after next month’s Breeders’ […]

Trainer Bob Baffert's Medina Spirit wired the field in the Grade 1 Awesome Again earlier this month. The star Baffert colt -- as well as his other Breeders' Cup entries -- will be allowed to run in the championships at Del Mar next month. (Image: Ernie Belmonte)

Breeders’ Cup Allows Baffert’s Horses to Run with Extra Conditions

After a nearly month-long “review process” on Bob Baffert’s status, Breeders’ Cup officials announced on Sunday that the Hall of Fame trainer can enter this year’s Nov. 5-6 event at Del Mar, with certain conditions. Those conditions include extra testing of his entries, which Baffert will pay for, along with […]

In May, Empress Josephine won the 1,000 Guineas at 14/1. She comes back a week after running another Grade 1 as the 3/1 favorite in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup. (Image: RacingFotos.com)

What Break? Empress Josephine Back, Searching for First US Grade 1

When it comes to his Irish-bred filly Empress Josephine, the concept of “load management” is a foreign one to Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien. It’s apparently also a foreign concept to Keeneland’s morning-line author, who made Empress Josephine the 3/1 favorite for Saturday’s Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup. This, […]

Adayar won the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II stakes going away. He figures to be a key figure in Saturday's British Champion Stakes at Ascot. (Image: Great British Racing)

Star-Packed British Champion Stakes Looks Like a Breeders’ Cup Field

The British Champion Stakes bears a resemblance to the Breeders’ Cup Classic, if that $6 million all-star race was held in the UK. There’s an all-star flavor to the anchor race of British Champions Day at Ascot. You’ve got multiple Group 1 winner Mishriff taking on Epsom Derby champion Adayar. […]

Eduardo won eight of his last 10 races after one of his first 12. The 8-year-old gelding is one of the favorites for Friday night's The Everest from Royal Randwick in Sydney, Australia. (Image: Darryl Sherer)

Summiting Australia’s The Everest Requires Speed — and Cash

The Everest is named after the tallest peak in the world, not the amount of cash up for grabs in Australia’s open-air ATM-with-a-twist race. That distinction out of the way, the fifth edition of the richest race on turf sends its 12 contenders out of the Randwick starting gate Friday […]

Flippant goes from this Listed Virginia Oaks victory to Saturday's Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland. (Image: Coady Photography)

This QE II Challenge Cup Contender is Certainly Flippant

It was in the genes that Flippant would run her first two races on dirt. After all, that’s what Tapit offspring do. They run on dirt. Often, quite well on dirt, as we’ve seen with the likes of Belmont and Travers winner Essential Quality, among numerous others. But Flippant flipped […]

Edwin Gonzalez became a trivia question when he rode Emoji Guy to the first victory on Gulfstream Park's new Tapeta track on Sept. 30. Gonzalez leads all Gulfstream jockeys with six wins on the new, all-weather surface. (Image: Gulfstream Park Twitter)

Bring a Closer’s Mentality to Betting Gulfstream Park’s New Tapeta Track

Horseplayers seeking a trend that’s their friend can look no further than the newest course in North America: Gulfstream Park’s just-installed Tapeta track. And they need look no further at the betting window than their friendly closer. Over the first two weeks of racing on Gulfstream’s new all-weather track, closers […]