Keeneland Photo
Hard Not to Like at the Keeneland November Sale.
Anne M. Eberhardt
Grade I-winning Hard Spun mare Hard Not to Like tops Keeneland November's opening session at $2.2 million
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Hard Not to Like
Leslie Martin / Coglianese Photos
Hard Not To Like captures the Marshua's River Stakes (gr. 3) at Gulfstream Park.
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Hard Not to Like wins the 2015 Diana.
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Hard Not to Like wins the 2015 Diana.
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Hard Not to Like wins the 2015 Diana.
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Hard Not to Like wins the 2015 Diana.
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Hard Not to Like wins the 2015 Diana.
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Hard Not to Like wins the 2015 Diana.
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Hard Not to Like wins the 2015 Diana.
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Hard Not to Like wins the 2015 Diana.
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Hard Not to Like (left) gets up late to take the Diana Stakes.
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Hard Not To Like wins the Gamely Stakes.
Benoit Photography
Hard Not To Like wins the Gamely Stakes.
Benoit Photography
Hard Not To Like wins the Gamely Stakes.
Benoit Photography
Hard Not To Like wins the Gamely Stakes.
Benoit Photography
Hard Not To Like wins the Gamely Stakes.
Anne M. Eberhardt
Under a heady ride from Javier Castellano, Hard Not to Like pulled a 13-1 upset in the $300,000 Grade I Jenny Wiley Stakes and earned her first win at the top level at Keeneland
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Hard Not to Like wins the 2014 Jenny Wiley.
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Hard Not to Like wins the 2014 Jenny Wiley.
Keeneland Photo
Hard Not to Like wins the 2014 Jenny Wiley.
Keeneland Photo
Hard Not to Like wins the 2014 Jenny Wiley.
Coglianese Photos/Courtney Heeney
Hard Not to Like wins the 2013 Marshua's River.
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Hard Not to Like wins the 2013 Marshua's River.
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Hard Not to Like wins the 2013 Marshua's River.
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Hard Not to Like wins the 2013 Marshua's River.
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Hard Not to Like wins the 2013 Marshua's River.
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Hard Not to Like wins the 2013 Marshua's River.
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Hard Not to Like wins the 2011 Cup and Saucer.
Mathea Kelley
Hard Not to Like comes through on the inside to win the Jenny Wiley Stakes.
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Blocked by a wall of five horses exiting the final turn, Steve Moger's Stormy Lucy found space to the outside and just got up to catch Recepta at the wire to win the $300,000 Matriarch Stakes (gr. IT) Nov. 29 at Del Mar.
Hard Not to Like has been quite the traveler in her four-year career, racing at eight different racetracks and winning at five, and the gray mare will look to add another to her list in the Matriarch (gr. IT).
Ian Tapp reviews session 1 of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. Hear from Gary Bush of Denali Stud, Goncalo Torrealba of Three Chimneys, and Hugo Merry of Nawara Stud. Sponsored by Taylor Made Sales Agency watch video
Keeneland's 12-day November breeding stock auction's opening session, topped by DATTT Farm's $2.2 million purchase of Hard Not to Like, saw across-the-board increases Nov. 2 but also a higher buyback rate.
Hard Not to Like, a three-time grade I-winning daughter of Hard Spun, was purchased by DATTT Farm $2.2 million at the Nov. 2 opening session of the Keeneland November breeding stock sale.
Keeneland's November catalog features a selection of horses related to recent Breeders' Cup runners, and, as usual, Book 1 offers a number of stellar broodmares and prospects and well-connected weanlings.
Speedway Stable's Hard Not to Like and Sheikh Ahmed al Maktoum and Darley Stud Management's Talmada have been scratched from the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (gr. IT), Breeders' Cup officials said the morning of Oct. 31.
Foreign-breds Legatissimo, Dacita, Photo Call, and Secret Gesture will square off against the likes of Stephanie's Kitten and Hard Not to Like in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf
Tonalist, under jockey John Velazquez, worked five furlongs in 1:01 at Belmont Park Oct. 24 in his final work before the Oct. 31 Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I) at Keeneland.
Photo Call and jockey Drayden Van Dyke split rivals midstretch and continued well to register a clear victory in the $300,000 Rodeo Drive Stakes (gr. IT) Sept. 26 at Santa Anita Park.
A winner of grade I turf races on both coasts this season, Hard Not to Like will try for a third straight top-level stakes win when she starts Saturday, Sept. 26 in the Rodeo Drive Stakes (gr. IT) at Santa Anita Park.
Photos highlighting the 2015 Saratoga race meet.
Hard Not to Like closes from six lengths back to take Diana Stakes in record time and more in the August 1, 2015 issue of Blood-Horse magazine.
Hard Not to Like came flying and secured her second consecutive grade I victory July 25, edging out Tepin in the final strides of the $500,000 TVG Diana Stakes (gr. IT) at Saratoga while setting a turf course record.
Claire Novak and Tom LaMarra discuss the Diana Stakes (gr. IT) featuring Tepin, Hard Not to Like, and Stephanie's Kitten. Watch Video
Claire Novak and Tom LaMarra discuss the Diana Stakes (gr. IT) featuring Tepin, Hard Not to Like, and Stephanie's Kitten. Download Equibase Past Performances for the Diana Stakes.
Speedway Stable's Hard Not to Like showed a liking for the Santa Anita Park turf course with a come-from-behind victory in the $300,000 Gamely Stakes (gr. IT) on the grass May 25.
Speedway Stable's Hard Not to Like will look for her second grade I turf score in the $300,000 Gamely Stakes (gr. IT) May 22 at Santa Anita Park.
With 13 evenly-matched fillies and mares entered for the $150,000 Gallorette Handicap (gr. IIIT) at Pimlico Race Course May 16, the 1 1/16-mile turf race is up for grabs.
Will Farish and Steve Mooney's Ball Dancing, making her second start off the layup, returned to the Keeneland course she seems to enjoy and posted a solid victory in the $300,000 Jenny Wiley Stakes (gr. IT) April 11.
Speedway Stable's Hard Not to Like will attempt to become the second repeat winner of the $300,000 Jenny Wiley (gr. IT) April 11, when she takes on seven rivals in the 1 1/16-mile grass test.
Hard Not to Like hit the wire first in the $150,000 Lambholm South Endeavour Stakes (gr. IIIT) Jan. 31 but was disqualified, moving favored Testa Rossi into the winner's circle at Tampa Bay Downs.
Multiple graded stakes winner Testa Rossi makes her return to the races in the $150,000 Lambholm South Endeavour Stakes (gr. IIIT) from Tampa Bay Downs Jan. 31.
A $3.9 million broodmare, a record $3 million weanling filly, and a daylong parade of seven-figure horses helped the Keeneland November sale post gains across the board at its lively second session Nov. 5 in Lexington.
Hip 307, Hard Not to Like, brought $1.5 million Nov. 5 at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale. Video Courtesy Keeneland
The mares Hard Not to Like and Her Smile brought back-to-back winning bids of $1.5 million Nov. 5 at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale.
Hard Not to Like pulled a 13-1 upset in the $300,000 Jenny Wiley Stakes (gr. IT) and earned her first win at the top level April 12 at Keeneland.
G. Watts Humphrey's 5-year-old mare Centre Court will attempt become only the second repeat winner of the Jenny Wiley Stakes (gr. IT) at Keeneland when she takes on nine rivals in the 1 1/16-mile turf race April 12.
Richard Santulli's Laughing captured her third victory in as many starts this year with a wire-to-wire victory in the Ketel One Ballston Spa Stakes (gr. IIT) at Saratoga Race Course.
Grade I winner Centre Court will face Laughing, Miz Ida, Somali Lemonade, and Hungry Island trying to make it back to the winner's circle in the $250,000 Ketel One Ballston Spa Stakes (gr. IIT) Aug. 24 at Saratoga.
Solid Appeal, upset winner of the Nassau Stakes (Can-IIT) in May, looks to remain unbeaten in 2013 as the 122-pound highweight in the $200,000 Dance Smartly Stakes (gr. II) July 7 at Woodbine.
Benefiting from a quick start, Pianist set a fast pace en route to a gate-to-wire victory in the Gallorette Handicap on the May 18 Preakness Stakes (gr. I) undercard at Pimlico Race Course.
Defending Jenny Wiley Stakes (gr. IT) winner Daisy Devine is back to protect her title April 13 at Keeneland, but the 5-year-old daughter of Kafwain faces a steep question as she goes up against six stakes winners.
Making her first start since a sixth in the 2012 Kentucky Oaks (gr. I), Garland Williamson's Hard Not to Like proved her quality with a half-length victory in the $100,000 Marshua's River Stakes at Gulfstream Park Jan. 5.
Defending winner Heavenly Landing takes on nine older fillies and mares Jan. 5 in the $100,000 Marshua's River Stakes (gr. IIIT) at Gulfstream Park, including Team Block's highly consistent Leading Astray.
Jockey Robby Albarado has been suspended from racing after his arrest on a charge of accosting a woman who says she was breaking up with him.
Believe You Can predict the winner of this year's Kentucky Oaks? Predict the Order
A visual look at the Kentucky Oaks field in post position order. View Slideshow
Hard Not to Like put in her final work for the $1 million Kentucky Oaks (gr. I), breezing five furlongs in a handy 1:01 3/5 at Woodbine April 27, earning a 'very, very good' report from her trainer Gail Cox.
Alex G. Campbell Jr.'s homebred goes wire-to-wire in Keeneland feature April 7.
Stephanie's Kitten, a leading juvenile filly last year on both the main track and the turf, heads a field of seven 3-year-old fillies in the Central Bank Ashland Stakes (gr. I) at Keeneland April 7.
Filly Dixie Strike, trained by champion conditioner Mark Casse and owned by John Oxley, was installed as the 4-1 favorite in the Queen's Plate Winterbook.
Jockey Chantal Sutherland may be the most famous Canadian female participating in the Breeders' Cup. But she's not the only one. Gail Cox is operating under the radar as the trainer of Hard Not to Like.
The filly Hard Not to Like romped to victory over her male counterparts in the $247,921 Cup and Saucer Stakes over a soft turf course at Woodbine Oct. 15. A pair of horses pulled up early.
| Trainer | Gail Cox |
|---|---|
| Jockey | James McAleney |
| Owner | Hillsbrook Farms |
| Breeder | Garland E. Williamson |
| Hard Not to Like View Five-Cross Pedigree | Hard Spun | Danzig |
| Turkish Tryst | ||
| Like a Gem | Tactical Cat | |
| Its a Ruby |
| Sale / Hip | Type | Buyer | Consignor | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KEENOV2014 Hip 307 |
Racing or broodmare prospect | Speedway Stables, Peter Fluor, & K.C. Weiner | Michael C. Byrne, agent for Hillsbrook Farm | $1,500,000 |
| KEENOV2015 Hip 79 |
Racing or broodmare prospect | DATTT Farm | Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent | $2,200,000 |
| Spooky Woods |
| Arrogate |
| Mill Road |
| Unspoiled Moments |
| Classic Empire |
| Flipcup |
| Tapwrit |
| Gun Runner |
| Lady Aurelia |
| Always Dreaming |
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