From the KY HBPA / Jennie Rees:

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Friday, Oct. 2, 2026) — The following videos are available for any media use as part of the Kentucky HBPA’s initiative to provide select supplemental racing content to news outlets. Subscribe to the Kentucky HBPA Youtube Channel to get all of our videos on the run-up to the Oct. 30-31 Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland.

Today’s videos:

Emphatic, owned by Antony Beck’s Gainesway Stable and Andrew Rosen, led all the way under Tyler Gaffalione to run her record to 3-for-3 at three tracks with a 1 1/4-length victory over favored Summer Starlet in Keeneland’s opening day $650,000, G1 Darley Alcibiades. Video starts with b-roll then Keeneland’s video of the race, followed by interviews with trainer Brendan Walsh, Beck, Gaffalione and more Walsh. Next stop for the Pennsylvania-bred daughter of Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist is the Oct. 30 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies back at Keeneland. Race video is courtesy Keeneland.

Note: Video interviews from today’s Phoenix Stakes won for the second year in a row by Nakatomi and the Jessamine Stakes won by Horseshoe Indy debut winner Serenas Ghost will be posted later on Kentucky HBPA Youtube Channel.

Q B Rocket (Breeders’ Futurity) — Daniel Toffey, Spendthrift Farm’s racing manager who is an integral part of the operation’s sales team, talks about the purchase of Q B Rocket and their expectations for the $1.9 million Keeneland yearling acquisition last year. “We just kind of blew the stop sign and said we’re going to get this horse bought,” Toffey said of the Gun Runner colt, owned in partnership with Frank Fletcher. So far so good. The Brad Cox-trained Q B Rocket won his debut Aug. 15 at Saratoga and is the 2-1 second choice in Saturday’s $650,000 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity (G1), a 1 1/16-mile stakes designed to launch the colt to the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland on October 30. As an aside, Q B Rocket was co-bred by Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, whose wife Jill raced the colt’s dam, who went 1 for 11 but was Grade 3-placed. “It was a solid enough pedigree,” Toffey said. “She was a Quality Road mare that showed a little bit of talent. I think the big thing here is that Gun Runner is just a phenomenal stallion. I think a lot of times if you get a Gun Runner with four legs you’re in pretty good shape. I think we have one of more athletic horses I’ve seen since I’ve been doing this.”

Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse is running 20 horses this weekend in stakes that he hopes prove launching pads to the Oct. 30-31 Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland. “About 10 of them, I’m trying to figure out where we stand,” Casse said. “I’ve said all along that training horses is putting the puzzle together. So we’re going to try some pieces; hopefully a few of them fit.” Two of those are Jaded, winner of his debut over the Kentucky Downs grass, in Saturday’s G1 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity for 2-year-olds, and 3-year-old standout Counting Stars, who takes on older fillies and mares in Sunday’s Grade 1 Juddmonte Spinster. “I’ve always said to my son, ‘When you win, you win. When you lose, you learn.’ So we’re going to learn a lot. Hopefully we win a few. This is a discovery weekend for a lot of them. Even Counting Stars. Is she ready to play with the older girls?”

Jockey Jose Ortiz, aboard the 2-year-old Coach Pope for the first time in a 12-length maiden win September 12 at Churchill Downs, talks about Gainesway Stable and partners’ $350,000 yearling purchase heading into Saturday’s $650,000 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland, a major prep for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Photo of University of Kentucky men’s basketball coach Mark Pope courtesy of Keeneland.