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  • 2 days ago
The Brian Lynch stable is one of the hottest barns on the Churchill Downs backside and has a big weekend ahead. Winning at a 27% clip in 2026, Lynch currently ranks fifth at the Churchill Downs meet, finishing in the money in 30 of his 40 starts. Assistant trainer Nic Lynch takes the TDN down the shedrow. He highlights a handful of recent 'TDN Rising Stars,' several barn-favorite veterans, and a competitive lineup for this weekend topped by GII Fleur de Lis contender Shred the Gnar. If you're handicapping the Churchill Downs action this weekend, don't miss this inside look at the Lynch barn's lineup.
Transcript
00:09We got the big mare shred the gnar like she wouldn't give us the time of day if I didn't
00:13have any peppermint so at least she's being nice but you know she kind of threw craps at us in
00:20Florida but you know we always kind of felt that she did better up in Churchill and my dad decided
00:26to train her up to the La Troienne and she was doing so good going into the race we really
00:31kind of were
00:32pretty confident that she was going to show up for her to give Dutchman their first grade one win on
00:36Oaks day on my dad's birthday it was a really incredible she's come out of the race great we
00:42decided to kind of just she seems like a filly that does well when she has some space in between
00:46her races and wait until the Florida League kind of made the most sense for us and she's trained on
00:52great since since the La Troienne and we're really excited to run her next Saturday though he he ran
00:58an allowance like derby week and he kind of had a bit of a rough trip but he's come out
01:05of the race
01:05really good and we're pointing towards the the Hanschen closing day going a mile so he didn't
01:12really have much of a chance his first start at Gulfstream he got packed out wide and coming off the
01:17layoff he really put in a better effort than the forum says we've entered him in a race it didn't
01:22go
01:22so we figured we'd just sit on him until closing day but he seems to be doing really well
01:28this is banana frost she's a two-year-old filly by authentic she won first time out last wednesday
01:36five and a half she kind of went gate to wire got out of there real well she's always been
01:40a filly
01:40she came in early at palm meadows and hasn't missed a day of training she's just very very balanced
01:46filly very pretty so um very straightforward we're excited for her future for sure
01:53this is thira this is an on race two-year-old filly by oscar performance she has shown a lot
01:59of talent in the morning so far and she hasn't really been here that long she's just up to a
02:04couple of three-eighths but we really like what we're seeing she's a full sister to a colt we train
02:10named zakynthos who just ran a really good race here in a other than last week so um you know
02:16we
02:16really believe in oscar performance so when we get the chance to bring his babies into our barn we're
02:21always excited so this is fancy sailor he's a three-year-old colt by justify he just knocked out
02:28a other than last week at churchill and uh he's been a cult that my dad's always really been high
02:35on
02:35since he came in as a two-year-old we trained his dam and she was very talented herself he's
02:40got a
02:40bit of personality to him for sure but he's just a horse that when you watch him train in the
02:45morning
02:45he just kind of carries himself in a way that a lot of the the good ones do i'd say
02:49later down the
02:50year looking towards kentucky downs we got a lot of got high hopes for him for sure this is maytown
02:56she's a four-year-old by motown and she is very talented she has not been off the board in
03:03any of
03:03her starts she knocked out three in the row last year as a three-year-old won the p patch
03:08had a
03:08bit of a setback we got a race into her a couple of weeks ago she ran second to a
03:12very nice mayor of
03:13kent sweezy's who was coming off a big win on preakness day so looking forward to her rest of
03:18the year kentucky downs type for sure this is storm's wake three-year-old philly by oscar performance
03:25grade winner of the appalachian or grade two winner of the appalachian in keeneland this spring
03:31uh just uh been really kind of a you know barn favorite since she came in she beat the boys
03:37in
03:38an allowance in her second start as a two-year-old and she's kind of a horse that she needs
03:42a trip and
03:42she needs a pace to run at but you know she hasn't really had a race where she doesn't have
03:46something
03:46at the end this is blue this is probably the actual mvp of the barn there is definitely not a
03:53horse that goes out for more sets than him every day this is prize pick he's a three-year-old
03:58colt
03:59by tis the law he's actually a full brother to tis tastic who was in last year's derby and uh
04:05he's
04:05one of those horses that really took him a lot of time to put it together in the afternoon and
04:09he ran a lot of good races in florida but they just kind of weren't get enough good enough to
04:14get it
04:14done but as soon as we got him back up to churchill he won a maiden special weight on the
04:20last race of
04:20derby day very impressively and he came back and knocked out the ailer then in his next start like
04:26even more impressively this is hey tough guy tdn rising star son of life is good
04:34one by seven first time out going five and a half my dad found him at the sale he's just
04:40like the
04:40ultimate racehorse just has that mentality like he goes to the track trains nothing silly goes does
04:47his job comes back eats and sleeps the rest of the day so um you know we're really excited for
04:52him he's
04:52gonna run in the bashford manor this is where luck lives tdn rising star when she broke her maiden
04:59at keeneland she uh is a daughter of nyquist half sister to vava so she came in as a two
05:06-year-old and
05:07really was one of our favorites in the group she really ran a bang-up race first time out
05:12beaten by very little going five eights on the dirt at ellis she had a bit of a setback and
05:17we brought
05:17her back in florida she never missed a beat and uh she really acts like she could be
05:24a very special filly and uh you know we're pointing towards probably some races up at saratoga later
05:29in the summer this is the famous houseboat party uh daughter of flight line she ran third first time
05:37out last week going five eights on the dirt i mean obviously ultimately goal with her be two turns
05:43down the road uh she's shown some things in the morning you don't really see a lot from two-year
05:47-olds
05:48so uh you know we thought she ran really well the best part of her race was probably right when
05:53she
05:53got to the eighth pole she really started getting going um and she galloped out great so we're just
05:57gonna probably wait until they start running baby races a bit longer one turn and just let her fill
06:03out put on some weight get some miles under her belt but uh we really think a lot of this
06:07filly
06:08this is betty's pearl a three-year-old daughter of munting she just won a other than a couple weeks
06:15ago at churchill she ran a 90 buyer she really was a filly that always was kind of trying hitting
06:21the
06:21board and when she kind of broke through at gulfstream she kind of figured it all out and expect
06:25um really when we put the blinkers on her too that was the kind of the the key i think
06:30that
06:31really got her figuring things out in the afternoon and she was very impressive last time out at
06:36churchill so we uh probably pointing towards stakes uh later on in the summer for sure
06:42this is epic proud mary recent maiden special weight winner here at churchill she was pretty
06:48impressive broke from the 12 hole and went wire to wire she had a race at keeneland in the spring
06:53it
06:54was her first start had a bit of a troubled trip she got another race endure at churchill and she
07:00ran
07:00second to a very talented filly of will walden's named movie night and uh you know going into this
07:05third start we were pretty confident that she was going to finally be able to kind of show how
07:09talented we think she is she was a workmate for where luck lives all winter at palmettos and it was
07:15like 50 50 who you asked who liked who more in the barn come here what's up he's a ladies
07:23man i swear
07:24he doesn't like dudes this is angle file winner of the 2023 dueling grounds derby at the time i believe
07:31it's the nashville derby now but uh he's just been an old war horse for us like he has danced
07:36a lot of
07:37big dances and uh very kind of horse that needs a trip and needs a pace but he just keeps
07:43running those
07:43good races that that keep you believing him in enough to keep entering him in those stakes and if
07:48you watched him breeze like last week you you say he's got plenty of gas left in the tank
07:53if we're going to talk about anybody we're going down the shed road you cannot not mention
07:58my main man right here julio and antonio guys that have been with us for years and you know
08:03they make it all happen without good staff and good people around your horses it's uh
08:08it makes it 10 times harder so you know believe me we're so thankful for everything they do every day
08:15got one of the big mares sister troyen three-year-old filly by munnings kind of i don't think really
08:21needs much of an introduction at this point she had a quite the winter down at gulfstream we gave her
08:27a
08:27bit of a break after the race at keeneland and got her back here about a week or two ago
08:31she's just
08:31starting back up galloping now but um you know we're hoping for big things later in the year
08:36definitely ellis parker kentucky downs and just a lot to like about her it's really been since november
08:44at last churchill we've kind of been on a roll but you know i i really think my dad is
08:49an amazing
08:49horseman and um you know we've just built up such a great group of clients you know 20 30 years
08:55of work
08:55on my dad's part to get to this so you know some people might think it's just out of nowhere
09:00but
09:01really you know my dad's been training horses and winning big races for a long time so to be a
09:05part
09:06of it and to be his assistant at churchill and the crew we have and the clients we train for
09:11just
09:11everybody makes it so much fun it's like my third year working for my dad as an assistant for him
09:16full
09:16time i grew up working in the barn obviously every summer break school break but i started working
09:22pretty seriously thinking about a career in horses around 16. i worked at windstar grooming on the
09:27weekends and i worked at taylormade right out of high school for a summer prepping yearlands as soon
09:33as i graduated i went to work for brendan walsh for about two years and then came back to my
09:38dad so it's
09:39been pretty full on but i literally could not imagine doing anything else i would probably go insane
09:44it's just an amazing opportunity for me
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