Rise Me Gold, ACORN STAKES* winner

Three year old The Rising filly, Rise Me Gold found herself having to adapt to a sudden change in jockeys after her usual jockey, Lara Hansen, was injured mere days before the running of the ACORN STAKES*, also known as the 1st leg of the Triple Tiara. A quick decision had to be made in order to find someone who could deal with the easy-going diva of KC Racing. A split second decision was made to allow Enrapture's usual jockey, Jean-Claude Cuervos to ride the filly in the Acorn Stakes. The french-canadian jockey was used to having to deal with Enrapture's murderous tendencies so a filly like Rise Me Gold would be mere child's play to the seasoned jockey.

Little did we know, that simple change would work wonders for the bay filly. Rise Me Gold had a rough start to her juvenile year with a plethora of last or second-to-last place finishes. She spent most of her time in undercards and we hardly dared to allow her to so much as look in the general direction of the HOTY* races. As a three year old, however, something in the filly changed and she seemed more competitive than she had ever been. She hasn't finished out of the money once in her three year old season (knock on wood), and has 3 wins, 3 second place finishes and only 1 third place finish. 

One of her wins was the nail-biting race, the Acorn Stakes. The filly would be up against other super fillies such as Battle Brook's Miss Magic, Firestone Racing's Winning Fire (a filly that has gone up to the likes of Enrapture in the past) and Hysteria, a G3 filly who won the Unicorn Horn Junior Dirt Mile. There was a lot weighing on this race and KC Racing was going up against three of the big dogs of the racing industry. A lot of time and care went into prepping this filly for this race and we prayed that she'd not only come out unscathed, but victorious. Our prayers were answered in something akin almost to a dead heat with Rise Me Gold surpassing Miss Magic by a nose. 

The win itself is nothing short of amazing, however, we know we have a great deal to improve on before Rise Me Gold's appearance in the MOTHER GOOSE STAKES*, the second leg of the Triple Tiara. We are well aware that all of those fillies will be coming back with vengeance, especially Miss Magic and Hysteria. 

Rise Me Gold won't be entering into any other races outside of the tiara for the next month so that she can bring her best game and won't feel overworked. She'll get a couple of days off to keep her in tip-top shape before returning to her usual workout regime. Head trainer John Murchison has already taken it upon himself to plan out the filly's workouts and aims to get her accustomed to adjusting her speed and preparing herself for an extra burst of speed towards the last parts of the race. The trainer is set on allowing the filly to get more than a nose on her opponents. Regardless of the outcome, we are incredibly proud of this filly and she has come a long way from her juvenile year. She is only 1 race away from achieving G3 status and we hoped that it will be another Tiara win that will get her there.

Rise Me Gold is The Rising's first filly to win a leg of the Triple Tiara, and she is also the stallion's highest earning filly with $986,000!

Look forward to seeing Rise Me Gold back at The Wire for the Mother Goose Stakes*!

Rising Wonder, THE WIRE FINISH CUP JUVENILE TURF* & MAGIC MILLIONS COLTS TURF* winner

Rising Wonder is a two-year old colt that many people think of as a pretty face with his sleek, shiny red coat, wide blaze and four stockings. But this Merry Bay King grandson is so much more than that. Through The Rising, he is a half-sister to Rising Wonder and these horses have taken KC Racing by surprise. An interesting difference between the two half-siblings is that Rise Me Gold is purely a dirt horse while Rising Wonder is a turf horse. It's probably for the best because who knows how hard these horses would run if they were ever placed up against one another. Rising Wonder isn't a diva like his sister, instead he is incredibly serious and comes off as brooding, when in reality he's always thinking and considering his surroundings. 

He pushes himself above and beyond his limits and once he gets to that point, there's no stopping this ambitious colt. During his debut this year he managed to win THE WIRE FINISH CUP JUVENILE TURF* and the MAGIC MILLIONS COLTS TURF* without batting an eye, much to our surprise and amazement. He managed to narrowly miss out on winning the STABLE-FACE OFF G5 by finishing in second place. With each race this colt gains more experience and with each win he becomes more and more like superior damsire, Merry Bay King. The colt reached G4 before even that of his older sister, Rise Me Gold and by the end of the year we believe the two half-siblings will be near equals in talent. Rising Wonder's next stop will be the FTH JUVENILE TURF CLASSIC* and by the end of the year he will try for the BREEDERS' CUP JUVENILE TURF*, but that's a long ways from now, anything can happen from now til then.

As of right now, Rising Wonder is The Rising's highest-earning (earnings of $619,500) and highest-performing juvenile of 2017. 

Look forward to seeing Rise Me Gold's little brother in the coming weeks!

You've heard quite a bit about these two The Rising foals, but who is The Rising?