Best Brisnet Speed Figure: 100 (Louisiana Derby).
COMMENTS: Noble Indy is another from the powerful WinStar Farm racing conglomerate and, in this partnership with Mike Repole Stable, they send the Todd Pletcher-trained colt to Louisville off a solid win in the Louisiana Derby (GII).
Two winners of the Louisiana Derby have claimed victory under the Twin Spires — Black Gold in 1924 and Grindstone in 1996 — and while the race isn’t the most productive, good horses flock to Fair Grounds in search of the 100 Derby points and $1 million purse the race offers. He is a son of the stallion Take Charge Indy, who was sent to Japan in 2016 but who his owners are now negotiating to bring back to Kentucky, largely thanks to his big Louisiana Derby effort.
The classic distance shouldn’t be a problem and if John Velazquez chooses to ride, it will be another bonus, but he’s got to turn around history and prove the Louisiana Derby is a legitimate prep.
California native and lifelong horsewoman Margaret Ransom is a graduate of the University of Arizona’s Race Track Industry Program. She got her start in racing working in the publicity departments at Calder Race Course and Hialeah Park, as well as in the racing office at Gulfstream Park in South Florida. She then spent six years in Lexington, KY, at BRISnet.com, where she helped create and develop the company’s popular newsletters: Handicapper’s Edge and Bloodstock Journal. After returning to California, she served six years as the Southern California news correspondent for BloodHorse, assisted in the publicity department at Santa Anita Park and was a contributor to many other racing publications, including HorsePlayer Magazine and Trainer Magazine. She then spent seven years at HRTV and HRTV.com in various roles as researcher, programming assistant, producer and social media and marketing manager.
She has also walked hots and groomed runners, worked the elite sales in Kentucky for top-class consignors and volunteers for several racehorse retirement organizations, including CARMA.
In 2016, Margaret was the recipient of the prestigious Stanley Bergstein Writing Award, sponsored by Team Valor, and was an Eclipse Award honorable mention for her story, “The Shocking Untold Story of Maria Borell,” which appeared on USRacing.com. The article and subsequent stories helped save 43 abandoned and neglected Thoroughbreds in Kentucky and also helped create a new animal welfare law known as the “Borell Law.”
Margaret’s very first Breeders’ Cup was at Hollywood Park in 1984 and she has attended more than half of the Breeders’ Cups since. She counts Holy Bull and Arrogate as her favorite horses of all time. She lives in Pasadena with her longtime beau, Tony, two Australian Shepherds and one Golden Retriever.
