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Mares on Monday: Maida Proves to Be an Honorable Miss

7/27/2026

Saratoga has something for everyone, and Sunday’s Honorable Miss Stakes (USA-G2) provided a nice prize for the female sprint division. The winner turned up in Maida, who got back to the races last month off a seven-month-plus layoff with a 10½-length win in Laurel’s Alma North Stakes. The competition was saltier in the Honorable Miss, but Maida set the early pace, proved dead game when hooked, and had enough in the tank to turn back Grade 1-placed Grade 2 winner Grand Job (the race favorite) and then hold Arkansas-bred millionaire Haulin Ice safe. The Honorable Miss was the first graded win for Maida and raised her lifetime record to five wins from seven starts while boosting her bankroll to US$335,650.

Bred and owned by Harry Papaleo, Maida is from the first crop of the late Improbable. The American champion older male of 2020, Improbable sired three full crops and a partial crop in his final season before his untimely death in March 2024. The son of City Zip and the A.P. Indy mare Rare Event has 101 winners and nine stakes winners thus far from his 281 named foals of racing age. Maida is his second runner to capture a graded event, the other being 2025 Quick Call Stakes (USA-G3) winner Governor Sam.

Maida is the seventh foal of 2011 Endine Stakes (USA-G3) winner Eve Giselle, whose five previous winners include stakes-placed I’m Patriotic (by To Honor and Serve). A daughter of 2001 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (USA-G2) winner Five Star Day, Eve Giselle was produced from the winning Tale of the Cat mare Captiva Cat, a half sister to stakes winner Adam’s Time (by Gilded Time). The next mare in the tail-female line, the winning Turkoman mare Donna Says So, is a half sister to 1985 Orchid Handicap (USA-G2) winner Aspen Rose (by Little Current), to 1991 Gotham Stakes (USA-G2) winner Kyle’s Our Man (by In Reality), and to stakes winner Abbey Leix (by Banquet Circuit).

Donna Says So and her siblings are out of unraced Lady Donna (by Graustark), whose dam Glorious Spring (by Hail to Reason) is a winning full sister to 1972 Derby Stakes (ENG-G1) winner and important sire Roberto. Also the dam of multiple Grade 3 winner Low Tolerance (by Proud Truth), Glorious Spring is out of Nashua’s high-class daughter Bramalea, winner of the 1962 Coaching Club American Oaks.

While Nashua was an American champion juvenile, won two legs of the American Triple Crown, and was American Horse of the Year in 1955, he was not the most generous sort of horse and often passed on a share of his rather quirky nature to his progeny. Bramalea received a full dose of his temperament but was top-class when in the mood, traits also characteristic of her son Roberto. According to trainer Brittany Russell (whose husband, Sheldon Russell, is the filly’s jockey), “quirky” is also an excellent description of Maida, but the family talent is there as well—a talent reinforced and possibly shaped by a 3x3 pedigree cross to the classy sprinter and good sire Carson City, a bit of close-up inbreeding not often seen these days.

The logical next step up for Maida, assuming she comes out well from the Honorable Miss, would be the Resorts World Casino Ballerina Stakes (USA-G1) at Saratoga on August 29, and a win there could punch her ticket for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (USA-G1). A few quirks are worth putting up with for a filly who has a legitimate shot at dreams like that.

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Mares on Monday: Luster Shines in the Woodbine Oaks

7/20/2026

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One of the oldest jokes in the breeding industry is that nothing gets a stallion’s career to take off faster than getting exported. After standing at Taylor Made in 2022-2025, Knicks Go is now in South Korea. Whether the foals he left behind will take off as a group is open to question, but his daughter Luster certainly has. Now four-for-five lifetime, the Josie Carroll trainee scored the easiest of victories on Sunday in Canada’s premier filly Classic, the Woodbine Oaks, winning geared down by 5½ lengths over Dixie Law.

Knicks Go first caught the public eye by winning the 2018 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity (USA-G1) but was unable to follow up on that form at 3 due to various issues. He came back with a vengeance at 4 and 5. The winner of the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (USA-G1), he set a new track record for Keeneland in that race and had set a record for 8½ furlongs at the same track earlier in the year. He was even better at 5, when his three Grade 1 wins included the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic (USA-G1). The highweight on the 2021 Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings at 129 pounds, he ran once in 2022, finishing second in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (USA-G1), before entering stud.

Knicks Go’s departure for Korea was not really a surprise, given that his owner, the Korean Racing Authority, had originally bought him with the intent of incorporating him into their plans for long-range improvement of Korean breeding. Given his uncommercial pedigree (Paynter x Kosmo's Buddy, by Outflanker), he was never likely to get much traction in Kentucky without siring some major juvenile winners in his first crop, and 2025 Saratoga Special Stakes (USA-G2) winner Ewing was not enough to give him that much of a bump, even though the stallion ended up second on the American freshman sire list by number of winners and fourth by progeny earnings.

Luster was a winner as a juvenile and has been showing steady improvement since then, with her only hiccup being a third-place finish behind Dixie Law in the Ruling Angel Stakes at Woodbine. She avenged that defeat in the Selene Stakes (CAN-G3) in her last outing before the Woodbine Oaks, leaving Dixie Law back in third. With her clear-cut Oaks win, Luster would appear to be in the driver’s seat in the race for a Sovereign Award in her division. She is the fourth Woodbine Oaks winner for Carroll, who also conditioned Inglorious (2011), Curlin’s Voyage (2020), and Kin’s Concerto (2024).

Bred by Ravi Sugrim and Joannie Dass, Luster is the fourth foal and second winner produced from Ruby Frost, who never raced and was purchased for just US$5,000 from the 2017 Keeneland November mixed sale. The daughter of multiple Grade 1 winner The Factor has produced only one live foal following Luster, the unraced 2024 Frac Daddy colt Whatsyoursismine, and was bred to Muth for a 2027 foal after missing in 2025 and 2026,

A half sister to multiple Grade 3-placed Swear by It (by Broken Vow) and restricted stakes-placed Shea Derby (by Street Sense), Ruby Frost is out of New York restricted stakes winner Jesse’s Justice (by Lear Fan), a half sister to Grade 3-placed multiple New York restricted stakes winner Willard Straight (by Lion Cavern). Jesse’s Justice is also a half sister to Queen of Battle (by Dance Brightly), dam of 2016 Jamaican champion sprinter Buzz Nightmare (by Into Mischief).

The next dam in the tail-female line, unraced My Reem (Chief’s Crown x Fabulous Salt, by Le Fabuleux), is a half sister to multiple English listed stakes winner Knoosh (by Storm Bird) and to stakes-placed Illusive Icicle (by Far North), dam of multiple Scandinavian listed stakes winner Federico (by Known Fact). My Reem is also a half sister to Fay Morgan (by Cox’s Ridge), dam of juvenile listed stakes winner Torey Ridge (by Danzatore).

Luster has a pedigree that is well balanced between speed and stamina elements, and her bloodlines combined with her Oaks performance lead to some interesting choices for her owners, Gainesway Stable (Anthony Beck) and Andrew Rosen. She could go against males in an attempt at landing the prestigious Oaks-King’s Plate double; she could try to sweep Canada’s Triple Tiara series for 3-year-old fillies; or she could venture south of the border to tackle American graded stakes fillies. Given that she ran the 9 furlongs of the Woodbine Oaks 1.18 seconds faster than the boys went in the Plate Trial one race earlier on the card, perhaps Canada’s current crop of 3-year-old males had better hope that she goes elsewhere,

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Mares on Monday: Movin' On Up Lives Up to Her Name in Caress Stakes

7/13/2026

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A 5-year-old mare with six previous stakes placings to her credit, Movin’ On Up finally broke into the charmed circle of black-type winners last Saturday—in a graded stakes, no less. Waiting at the rear of a five-horse field in the 5½-furlong Caress Stakes (USA-G2) through the first quarter, Movin’ On Up found her best stride after straightening away in the stretch and rolled past previous Grade 2 winners Zeitlos and In Our Time to claim the lioness’s share of the US$250,000 purse for owner Kenneth Ramsey and trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. Claimed out of her third start for US$35,000 in 2023, Movin’ On Up has now won six of her 20 lifetime starts and placed on another seven occasions for lifetime earnings of US$734,970.

Bred by the estate of Harvey A. Clarke, Movin’ On Up was a logical candidate for taking some time to reach peak form. She is a daughter of 2018 American champion older male Accelerate, whose five Grade 1 wins that season—including a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (USA-G1)—would have made him a shoo-in for American Horse of the Year honors had it not been for Justify’s heroics in the American Triple Crown. Then a 5-year-old, Accelerate had been a Grade 2 winner at 3 and 4 but showed greatly improved form in his last full season on the track.

Unfortunately, Accelerate’s late maturity, his clear preference for 10 furlongs as his best distance, and an unfashionable pedigree (he is the top earner sired by two-time Eclipse Award winner Lookin At Lucky, a two-time champion sire in Chile but more a hard-knocking breed-to-race sire in North America) combined to doom his stallion career before it ever had a chance to get going, During his five seasons at Lanes’ End Farm, Accelerate sired 310 named foals of racing age. Of those, 155 have won and six have earned stakes wins, including 2024 Summertime Oaks (USA-G2) winner Sugar Fish. Movin’ On Up is now his top earner.

Movin’ On Up is the first foal and the only winner of three produced from the Cairo Prince mare Stifle Yourself. A winner of one of her two start, Stifle Yourself is a half sister to 2020 Queen Elizabeth Challenge Cup Stakes (USA-G1) winner Harvey’s Lil Goil (by American Pharoah) and to 2025 Lexington Stakes (USA-G3) winner Gosger, runner-up in that year’s Preakness Stakes (USA-G1) and NYRA.Bets Haskell Stakes. Stifle Yourself has an unraced 2-year-old colt by Authentic, Real Restraint, and was most recently bred to City of Light.

Stifle Yourself, in turn, is out of the unraced Tapit mare Gloria S., a half sister to 2012 American champion 3-year-old male I’ll Have Another (by Flower Alley) and to multiple Grade 3 winner Golden Award (by Medaglia d’Oro). Their dam, Arch’s Pal Edith (by Arch) won her only race and is out of stakes-placed Force Five Gal (by Pleasant Tap).

Given her connections, the biggest surprise regarding Movin’ On Up is not her step up to Grade 2 winner but the fact that she did so as a sprinter. Still, a Grade 2 win is a Grade 2 win, and the fact that she showed enough foot to win over good competition at 5½ furlongs certainly has not hurt her value as a broodmare prospect. She has certainly made a nice move up from the claiming ranks, and any improvement on her current resume will only make a solid family that much more attractive even without a fashionable broodmare sire for any future foal. As with looks, sometimes pedigree is as pedigree does.

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Mares on Monday: Victory Lane in the Belmont Oaks

7/6/2026

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Kensington Lane may have been 23-1 at the post for the Belmont Oaks Stakes (USA-G1), but she ran like an odds-on shot. Always prominently placed, the Athasi Stakes (IRE-G3) winner had the lead for good by the half-mile pole and was in control the rest of the way, throwing a final furlong in 0:11.32 at her competitors to seal the deal. She finished 1¾ lengths in front while gearing down, securing her first Grade/Group 1 win and boosting her lifetime earnings to US$411,281.

Appropriately for a major winner on America’s Independence Day, Kensington Lane is by Starspangledbanner, though, in spite of the name, Starspangledbanner is not an American horse. A four-time Group 1 winner in Australia and England and a champion sprinter in both Australia and Europe. Starspangledbanner was bred under the Union Jack, Southern Cross, and Commonwealth Star of the Australian flag from a mating between the brilliantly fast Choisir (a champion juvenile in Australia and a Group 1 winner in England) and the mare Gold Anthem, both also Australian-breds. Starspangledbanner now stands in Ireland, where he has ranked three times among the country’s top 10 sires.

In spite of her sprinting sire, there was good reason to think all along that Kensington Lane might want more distance than the seven furlongs of the Athasi or the flat mile of her most recent start before coming over to Saratoga, the Irish One Thousand Guineas (IRE-G1). Kensington Lane is the fifth foal and third winner produced from the unraced Galileo mare Almost Always, whose full sister, Amurmar, is the dam of 2024 Lonesome Glory Handicap (NSA-G1) winner Freddy Flintshire. Galileo, of course, is no unknown quantity as a source of stamina, and Ramruma, the dam of Almost Always, won an Oaks triple with the 1999 Vodafone Oaks (ENG-G1), Kildangan Stud Irish Oaks (IRE-G1), and Aston Upthorpe Yorkshire Oaks (ENG-G1), all contested at the European classic distance of 1½ miles.

Diesis, the sire of Ramruma, was an English champion at 2 but was no fluke as an Oaks sire, also getting Oaks Stakes winners Diminuendo (who completed the same triple as Ramruma in 1988) and Love Divine. Ramruma was produced from Princess of Man, who also foaled Ramruma’s listed-stakes-winning full siblings Ausherra and Royal Scimitar. Both liked a bit of ground to stretch their legs over, and Ausherra went on to produce another staying sort in listed stakes winner Yorkshire (by Generous), whose average winning distance was just over 14 furlongs. Princess of Man is also the dam of Zarara (by Manila), whose son All the Good (by Diesis) won the 2008 Caulfield Cup (AUS-G1) over 2400 meters.

This family is not devoid of speed, however, as Ausherra also produced Strategic Prince (by the good miler Dansili), a multiple Group 2 winner as a juvenile in England. 1971 English champion sprinter Green God (by the speed influence Red God), the sire of Princess of Man, provided an injection of high-quality speed to the lineage. Still, some degree of stoutness remained, as Princess of Man won the 1978 Musidora Stakes (ENG-G3) over a little more than 1¼ miles.

Breeding a top Thoroughbred is always a matter of balancing speed and stamina in a pedigree, as well as many other factors. Very few horses can “sprint with the sprinters and stay with the stayers,” as old-time breeders used to say, and Kensington Lane has already shown that although she has some talent at shorter distances, she lacks the foot to be really top-class over sprints or even a mile. The questions now are finding out how far she really wants to go and how much of the apparent facility of her Belmont Oaks win was due to getting control of the race tempo relatively early. Still, she is clearly a nice filly, and her female family suggests that we have not yet seen her limit as to how far she’ll go.

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Mares on Monday: Maida Proves to Be an Honorable Miss

Mares on Monday: Luster Shines in the Woodbine Oaks

Mares on Monday: Movin' On Up Lives Up to Her Name in Caress Stakes

Mares on Monday: Victory Lane in the Belmont Oaks

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