Stars of 2014: Where Are They Now

The top three finishers in the Breeders' Cup Classic will be returning for the 2015 season. (All photos by Eclipse Sportswire unless otherwise noted)
Every year, the new year’s bells ring in a new dose of hope for the coming racing season but 2015 looks to be more promising than any in recent history with a large group of horses returning to the track.
Twelve of the 14 horses to win a Breeders’ Cup race in 2014 are slated to return to the track in 2015 with the two male Juvenile race winners looking to take on classic races on both sides of the Atlantic this fall. This year’s class of racehorses will also include classic winners from 2013 and 2014 with Palace Malice, California Chrome and Tonalist all tackling the older male division this season.
While listing every big horse returning in 2015 would make this blog go on for ages, here are 18 of the big horses who ran in 2014 with some information on where they may be headed next. 
Bayern

Age: 4
Gender: Colt
Pedigree: Offlee Wild - Alittlebitearly, by Thunder Gulch
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Owner: Kaleem Shah
Notable 2014 achievements: Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, Travers winner, Pennsylvania Derby winner
Early 2015 plans: Possible for the Feb. 7 San Antonio Stakes or March 28 Dubai World Cup
Fun Facts: Bayern started his career on Jan 4, 2014 and placed third in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby in his third start. The Breeders’ Cup Classic winner won at distances between seven furlongs and 1 1/4 miles with his first graded stakes win coming in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens on Belmont Stakes day (he was first across the line in the Derby Trial two starts before the Woody Stephens but was disqualified to second).
 
Bobby’s Kitten

Age: 4
Gender: Colt
Pedigree: Kitten's Joy - Celestial Woods, by Forestry
Trainer: Chad Brown
Owner: Ken and Sarah Ramsey
Notable 2014 achievements: Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner, National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame runner-up, third in the Woodbine Mile
Early 2015 plans:  June Royal Ascot meet
Fun Facts: A year after setting the pace in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf and finishing third, Bobby’s Kitten did a complete running style reversal when he won the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint when closing from nearly last. He is by Kitten’s Joy, who finished second in the 2004 Breeders’ Cup Turf, and comes from the female family of Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Theatrical and Arlington Million winner Paradise Creek. Bobby’s Kitten is the third Breeders’ Cup winner for Ken and Sarah Ramsey and was one of three Breeders’ Cup winners on the weekend for trainer Chad Brown.
 
California Chrome

Age: 4
Gender: Colt
Pedigree: Lucky Pulpit - Love the Chase, by Not For Love
Trainer: Art Sherman
Owner: Steve Coburn and Perry Martin
Notable 2014 achievements: Kentucky Derby winner, Preakness winner, Santa Anita Derby winner, Hollywood Derby winner, third in the Breeders’ Cup Classic
Early 2015 plans: Feb. 7 San Antonio Stakes
Fun Facts: California Chrome won two legs of the Triple Crown to go five-for-five during the first half of the year. California Chrome put in two off the board finishes mid-year before finishing a neck behind Bayern to place third in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. California Chrome became one of only four Kentucky Derby winners since 2000 to also win a turf race when he won the Nov. 29 Grade 1 Hollywood Derby.
Hootenanny

Age: 2
Gender: Colt
Pedigree: Quality Road - More Hennessy, by Hennessy
Trainer: Wesley Ward
Owner: Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith
Notable 2014 achievements: Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner, Windsor Castle Stakes winner, Darley Prix Morny runner-up
Early 2015 plans: April 3 Transylvania Stakes then possibly May 2 English 2,000 Guineas and June 19 Commonwealth Cup
Fun Facts: Hootenanny started his career by winning a Keeneland maiden race by 4 ¼ lengths before going on to win two stakes races over the next six months. Hootenanny is from the first crop of multiple Grade 1 winner Quality Road and out of a half-sister to grade one winner Cat Moves. Hootenanny led a Ward exacta in the 2014  Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf with Luck of the Kitten finishing second. Ward would go on to finish on-the-board with all five of his Breeders’ Cup runners, including another win later in the weekend with Judy the Beauty. 
Hoppertunity

Age: 4
Gender: Colt
Pedigree: Any Given Saturday - Refugee, by Unaccounted For
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Owner: Karl Watson, Michael Pegram, Paul Weitman
Notable 2014 achievements: Clark Handicap winner, Rebel Stakes winner, Santa Anita Derby runner-up
Early 2015 plans: TBD
Fun Facts: Due to an injury, Hoppertunity had to scratch from the Kentucky Derby but got his revenge under the Churchill twin spires in late November when he won the Clark Handicap. The colt debuted on Jan. 4, 2014 in the maiden race Bayern won before breaking his maiden in his next start. Hoppertunity is a half-brother to Grade 1 winner and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies runner-up Executiveprivilege, who is a year older than the colt.
Judy the Beauty

Age: 6
Gender: Mare
Pedigree: Ghostzapper - Holy Blitz, by Holy Bull
Trainer: Wesley Ward
Owner: Wesley Ward
Notable 2014 achievements: Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner, Madison Stakes winner, Las Flores Stakes winner, Rancho Bernardo Handicap winner
Early 2015 plans: TBD
Fun Facts: Judy the Beauty was purchased for $20,000 by owner-trainer Wesley Ward and won her first three starts, including a European race. The mare has won six stakes races and finished out of the money just once in 18 starts. After a second-place finish in the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. Judy the Beauty led a Ghostzapper exacta in the 2014 edition when she held off fellow Ghostzapper daughter Better Lucky for the win. Judy the Beauty has won on three different surfaces and from 4 ½ to seven furlongs, the farthest distance she’s run. Judy the Beauty has been slated to sell at auction the past two years but has scratched both times due to Ward wanting to run her another year.
Main Sequence

Age: 6
Gender: Gelding
Pedigree: Aldebaran - Ikat (IRE), by Pivotal (GB)
Trainer: Graham Motion
Owner: Flaxman Holdings
Notable 2014 achievements: Breeders’ Cup Turf winner, United Nations Stakes winner, Sword Dancer Invitational winner, Joe Hirsch Turf Classic winner
Early 2015 plans: Feb. 21 Mac Diarmida before one of the Dubai World Cup races on March 28
Fun Facts: Won first four races of his career in 2011 and 2012 before finishing second in the Epsom Derby behind Camelot. He lost 10 races in Europe before coming to the United States where he won all four of his races in 2014, including the Breeders’ Cup Turf against Flintshire who went on to win the prestigious Hong Kong Vase in his next start.
Palace Malice

Photo by NYRA/Joe Labozzetta
Age: 5
Gender: Horse
Pedigree: Curlin - Palace Rumor, by Royal Anthem
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Owner: Dogwood Stable
Notabl 2014 achievements: Metropolitan Handicap winner, New Orleans Handicap winner, Gulfstream Park Handicap winner, Westchester Stakes winner
Early 2015 plans:  May 2 Westchester Stakes
Fun Facts: The winner of the 2013 Belmont Stakes, Palace Malice won his first four starts in 2014. The colt’s first defeat of the year came in the Whitney Stakes a month later it was found that he had suffered a bone bruise. Palace Malice was retired when his injury was discovered but after the injury healed a few months later he was unretired and shipped to Aiken, S.C. to prepare for his 5-year-old season. It has been announced that Palace Malice will make five starts in 2015, culminating with the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Shared Belief

Photo by Benoit & Associates
Age: 4
Gender: Gelding
Pedigree: Candy Ride (ARG) - Common Hope, by Storm Cat
Trainer: Jerry Hollendorfer
Owner: Jungle Racing, KMN Racing, Jerry Hollendorfer, Jason Litt, Alex Solis II and George Todaro
Notable 2014 achievements: Pacific Classic winner, Awesome Again winner, Malibu Stakes winner, Los Alamitos Derby winner
Early 2015 plans: Possible for the Feb. 7 San Antonio Stakes
Fun Facts: Shared Belief, co-owned by Jim Rome, was the 2013 champion 2-year-old male. The gelding won the first seven starts of his career before finishing fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. He ended his 3-year-old season with a win in the Malibu Stakes at seven furlongs. Shared Belief was privately purchased by his current owners after winning his debut by seven lengths at Golden Gate Fields in October 2013.
 
Stephanie’s Kitten

Age: 6
Gender: Mare
Pedigree: Kitten's Joy – Unfold the Rose, by Catienus
Trainer: Chad Brown
Owner: Ken and Sarah Ramsey
Notable 2014 achievements: Flower Bowl winner, Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf runner-up, Beverly D. runner-up, Diana Stakes runner-up
Early 2015 plans: April 11 Jenny Wiley Stakes
Fun Facts: Two days after finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, Stephanie’s Kitten went through the auction ring where she brought a final bid of $3.95 million but didn’t sell. Stephanie’s Kitten won the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and since then has won four other graded stakes races, including two grade 1 stakes. In this year’s Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, she completed a Chad Brown exacta with Brown-trained Dayatthespa winning the race.
 
Take Charge Brandi

Age: 3
Gender: Filly
Pedigree: Giant's Causeway - Charming, by Seeking the Gold
Trainer: D. Wayne Lukas
Owner: Willis Horton
Notable 2014 achievements: Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner, Starlet Stakes winner, Delta Downs Princess Stakes winner
Early 2015 plans: March 7 Honeybee, April 4 Fantasy Stakes, May 1 Kentucky Oaks
Fun Facts: Take Charge Brandi broke her maiden in June and ran every month after that, including two runs in November. The filly finished second in the Schuylerville Stakes in July but after three straight off-the-board finishes went off at 61.70-to-1 in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. Her upset victory in that race kicked off a streak of three straight wins to make herself the frontrunner for the 2-year-old championship. Take Charge Brandi’s dam [mother] is a half-sister [same mother, different father] to 2013 champion 3-year-old male Will Take Charge and Grade 1 winner Take Charge Indy. Will Take Charge was also trained by Lukas and owned by Horton, and Horton also owns Take Charge Brandi’s 2-year-old half-sister, a War Front filly named Take Charge Tressa.
Texas Red

Age: 3
Gender: Colt
Pedigree: Afleet Alex - Ramatuelle (CHI), by Jeune Homme
Trainer: Keith Desormeaux
Owner: Erich Brehm, Wayne Detmar, Lee Michaels, Keith Desormeaux, et al.
Notable 2014 achievements: Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner, third in FrontRunner Stakes
Early 2015 plans: Feb. 1 San Vicente
Fun Facts: Texas Red is ridden and trained by the team of Kent and Keith Desormeaux, respectively, and his sire is 2005 Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner Afleet Alex. The colt broke his maiden by 1 ½ lengths in his third start before finishing third to American Pharoah in the FrontRunner. In the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile he was four lengths behind the second-to-last horse at one point but went on to win by 6 ½ lengths. Texas Red is connected to another Breeders’ Cup winner as well, during his early training he was Cozmic One’s exercise partner. Cozmic One is 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Zenyatta’s first foal.
Toast of New York

Age: 4
Gender: Colt
Pedigree: Thewayyouare - Claire Soleil, by Syncline
Trainer: Jamie Osborne
Owner: Michael Buckley
Notable 2014 achievements: U.A.E. Derby winner, Breeders’ Cup Classic runner-up, and Pacific Classic runner-up
Early 2015 plans: March 28 Dubai World Cup
Fun Facts: Toast of New York is trained by former jumps racing jockey Jamie Osborne, who started training flat racing horses after retiring from riding in 2000. Toast of New York is based in England but made three of his four starts in 2014 in the United States, with his biggest finish coming in the Breeders’ Cup Classic where he finished second by a nose to Bayern. Toast of New York was purchased for only $35,000 as a young yearling at the January Keeneland sale in 2012 and has made over $2.3 million in his career. Toast of New York’s granddam is a multiple Grade 1 winner in the United States and his sire Thewayyouare is out of a half-sister to Better Than Honour, who is the dam of Belmont Stakes winners Rags to Riches and Jazil.
 
Tonalist

Age: 4
Gender: Colt
Pedigree: Tapit - Settling Mist, by Pleasant Colony
Trainer: Christophe Clement
Owner: Robert S. Evans
Notable 2014 achievements: Belmont Stakes winner, Jockey Club Gold Cup winner, third in the Travers Stakes
Early 2015 plans: Potentially March 28 Dubai World Cup
Fun Facts: He won the Peter Pan Stakes as a prep for the Belmont Stakes, which he won by a head. Tonalist beat older horses in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, becoming only the second 3-year-old to win the Belmont and Jockey Club Gold Cup since Easy Goer in 1989. Tonalist’s second dam [mother’s mother] is Toll Fee, who is the granddam of 2011 Horse of the Year Havre de Grace.
 
Untapable

Age: 4
Gender: Filly
Pedigree: Tapit - Fun House, by Prized
Trainer: Steve Asmussen
Owner: Winchell Thoroughbreds
Notable 2014 achievements: Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner, Kentucky Oaks winner, Mother Goose winner, Cotillion Stakes winner
Early 2015 plans: No race named but looking at late March return
Fun Facts: Untapable’s only loss in 2014 came against males in the Haskell Invitational. The filly looks to be a nearly unanimous winner of the 3-year-old filly championship. She is her dam’s second Grade 1 winner with her half-brother Paddy O’Prado winning the Secretariat Stakes and finishing third in the Kentucky Derby in 2010. 
Wicked Strong

Photo by NYRA/Coglinese Photos
Age: 4
Gender: Colt
Pedigree: Hard Spun - Moyne Abbey, by Charismatic
Trainer: Jimmy Jerkens
Owner: Centennial Farms
Notable 2014 achievements: Wood Memorial winner, Jim Dandy Stakes winner, Travers Stakes runner-up
Early 2015 plans: TBD
Fun Facts: Wicked Strong was named in honor of the Boston Marathon bombing when the name Boston Strong was taken. In the Travers Stakes, he provided trainer Jimmy Jerkens a 1-2 finish with his stablemate V. E. Day (named after the end of World War II) finishing first. Wicked Strong went off as the second choice in the Jockey Club Gold Cup but lost his jockey during the running of the race, his final appearance of 2014. After a few months off, Wicked Strong arrived in Florida in late December to resume training with Jerkens.
Wise Dan

Age: 8
Gender: Gelding
Pedigree: Wiseman's Ferry - Lisa Danielle, by Wolf Power (SAF)
Trainer: Charlie LoPresti
Owner: Morton Fink
Notable 2014 achievements: Maker’s 46 Mile Stakes winner, Woodford Reserve Turf Classic winner, Shadwell Turf Mile Stakes winner, and Bernard Baruch Handicap winner
Early 2015 plans: Possibly Maker’s 46 Mile
Fun Facts: Wise Dan colicked in May 2014 after winning his first two starts of the year then returned to close out the season with two more victories before suffering an ankle injury and missing the Breeders’ Cup Mile. The two-time Horse of the Year is looking to make a comeback in 2015 for his sixth season of racing. Wise Dan hasn’t lost a turf race since Oct. 8, 2011 when he finished fourth in the Shadwell Turf Mile; he has only lost two races (one on dirt and one on Polytrack) since that race.
Work All Week

Age: 6
Gender: Gelding
Pedigree: City Zip - Danzig Matilda, by Repriced
Trainer: Roger Brueggemann
Owner: Midwest Thoroughbreds
Notable 2014 achievements: Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner, Phoenix Stakes winner
Early 2015 plans: TBD
Fun Facts: Work All Week is only the second Illinois-bred horse to win a Breeders’ Cup race and was one of two Breeders’ Cup winners for his sire City Zip at the 2014 meet (the other was Dayatthespa), which were also the first two Breeders’ Cup wins for the sire. But that wasn’t the only “first” Work All Week was a part of, as neither his jockey Florent Geroux or trainer Roger Brueggemann had ever won a Grade 1 race before Work All Week’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint win.