Grade 1 winner and first-crop Airdrie Stud stallion Happy Saver was represented by his first black-type winner Oct. 3 when Piggybunz won the $96,000 Smart Halo Stakes at Laurel Park.
Wells Bayou, whose stallion career ended early because of fertility problems, has just one foal: the 2-year-old Mystik Bayou. But acting solo, the juvenile is doing his part to keep his sire in the headlines.
The daughter of Blue Point looked none the worse for a busy season that had yielded five successive wins, three at this level, in the paddock beforehand and even earned the best turned out prize before trouncing Evolutionist and City of Memphis.
Irad Ortiz Jr. returned to the saddle Oct. 2 at Keeneland and picked up a win in the Phoenix Stakes (G2) after missing nearly two months with a foot injury.
Two-time champion male sprinter Roy H died Oct. 2 following complications from colic at 14. Roy H had been a resident of the Kentucky Horse Park's Hall of Champions barn since November 2023.
West Point Thoroughbreds' Counting Stars is already favored to earn the Eclipse Award as outstanding 3-year-old filly, and now she faces older rivals for the first time in the Oct. 4 Spinster Stakes (G1) at Keeneland.
An evenly matched group of juveniles line up for the Oct. 4 Bourbon Stakes (G2T), which is a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In race for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T).