BOAY Racing News

I think you might have reflected well on Wes...     lol, it would make interesting reading to see that sort of stuff!! ps, the old 'vanity project' is often at play in the modern world of horse racing!

Coteau Grove Farms was represented by three winners Feb. 1 on the 22nd Louisiana Premier Night at Delta Downs, highlighted by Touchuponastar winning the LA Bred Premier Night Champion Stakes for the third year in a row.View the full article

The Florida Thoroughbred Horsemen's board voted unanimously Feb. 3 to oppose Florida HB 105, which would remove a requirement to run live Thoroughbred races in order to operate slot machines or card rooms. View the full article

During the first episode of the BloodHorse Monday podcast, trainer Ron Moquett said a decision on running Speed King in the Rebel is still undecided. The ultimate goal is the $1.5 million Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park March 29.View the full article

We're inside the 13-week mark to the GI Kentucky Derby with no seismic changes to the running order at this early stage of the season. The rankings are fairly evenly distributed among contenders based on both coasts and in Kentucky, Arkansas and Louisiana. 1) FIRST RESORT (c, Uncle Mo-Fair Maiden, by Street Boss). O/B-Godolphin (KY); T-Eoin G. Harty. Lifetime record GSW, 4-2-1-0, $338,671. Last start: WON Nov. 30 GII Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes. First Resort's 6-1 win in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes Nov. 30 rated as the most visually impressive 2-year-old route stakes last season, and his bounding-home fourth-quarter split of :23.28 and final sixteenth of 6:10 represent the fastest respective finishing fractions out of 11 Derby qualifying stakes at 1 1/16 miles so far in 2024-25. Initially, trainer Eoin Harty had envisioned that this Godolphin homebred by Uncle Mo would make his 3-year-old debut at either Gulfstream Park or Tampa Bay Downs. But Mother Nature forced a change to those plans when adverse winter weather descended upon Turfway Park in mid-January, where Harty has stabled both First Resort and 'TDN Rising Star' Poster (Munnings). The game plan is now for First Resort to target the Feb. 22 John Battaglia Memorial Stakes at Turfway, while Poster got shipped to Tampa to train in advance of this Saturday's Sam F. Davis Stakes. “They missed two works, and I just didn't feel like I would have been doing them any favors to try and fit a square peg into a round hole,” Harty told TDN on Monday shortly after First Resort breezed six furlongs in 1:14 as the only worker at that distance over Turfway's Tapeta surface. “He's progressing. He missed a little training like a lot of horses in the Midwest and the South over the last two or three weeks. That's why I worked him three-quarters and he worked very well. He doesn't have to progress much. I'm still very happy with him. He hasn't disappointed me at all.” Harty also trained First Resort's dam, Fair Maiden, another Godolphin homebred. She was a four-time victress by Street Boss who won the 2020 GI La Brea Stakes. “The only similarity they really have is their speed. They both have natural speed,” Harty said. “She was a pretty flighty, a little, narrow-headed chestnut filly. He doesn't have that at all. He is so laid back, so mellow. He's very kind. Very nice to be around. He gets a little aggressive at feed time, which is understandable. But he covers so much ground in the morning when he's training, so he keeps himself very fit.” 2) SANDMAN (c, Tapit-Distorted Music, by Distorted Humor). O-D. J. Stable LLC, St. Elias Stable, West Point Thoroughbreds and CJ Stables; B-Lothenbach Stables Inc (KY); T-Mark E. Casse. Sales History: $1,200,000 2yo '24 OBSMAR. Lifetime Record: GSP, 6-2-1-1, $344,595. Last start: 2nd Jan. 25 GIII Southwest Stakes. On the Derby development trail, a second-place finish earned by overcoming adversity can count more than an actual win, and until some other soph prospect wows us with a sensational try despite a brutal trip, Sandman's rousing, runner-up effort in the GIII Southwest Stakes is this year's benchmark for outrunning in-race hardship. This $1.2 million OBSMAR colt by Tapit buckled at the ankle then leaped sideways at the start of that Jan. 25 Oaklawn stakes. Relegated to last, Cristian Torres let Sandman regroup on the backstretch. The colt started gathering true steam three-eighths out, but by that time he was chasing a staying-on leader who had capably shrugged off a dueler and was ahead by open lengths. Sandman uncoiled through the lane, and he looked like the more confident colt shouldering aside the lugging-out 4-5 favorite and 'TDN Rising Star' Patch Adams (Into Mischief) when those two raced in close quarters through midstretch. Sandman never quit, ending up a length behind Speed King (Volatile), who ran a gritty race on the lead at 14-1 odds but benefitted from a trouble-free run on the front end while the three betting favorites all encountered trip woes. Sandman closed against the grain of a speed-centric track that afternoon, with the 11-race card yielding one wire winner and seven just-off-the-lead winners, compared to closers prevailing in only three races. Trainer Mark Casse reported that Sandman returned “in good order.” The Feb. 22 GII Rebel S. is next, where a potential marquee matchup looms with one of the two West Coast colts ranked below at Nos. 3 and 4 on this list. Citizen Bull | Benoit 3) CITIZEN BULL (c, Into Mischief-No Joke, by Distorted Humor). O-SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Stonestreet Stables LLC, Dianne Bashor, Determined Stables, Robert E. Masterson, Tom J. Ryan, Waves Edge Capital LLC and Catherine Donovan; B-Robert & Lawana Low (KY); T-Bob Baffert. Sales history: $675,000 Ylg '23 KEESEP. Lifetime record: MGISW, 5-4-0-1, $1,421,000. Last start: WON Feb. 1 GIII Robert B. Lewis Stakes. Even though he won the GI Breeders Cup Juvenile and was voted the Eclipse Award for top 2-year-old male, Citizen Bull headed into his first start at age three as one of the more “ignored” juvenile champs in recent memory. He didn't sit atop too many published early-season Derby contender lists (including this one), and he was sometimes ranked behind horses with less experience even within his own stable, the powerhouse barn of trainer Bob Baffert. That changed to a large degree on Saturday when this $675,000 KEESEP son of Into Mischief returned from a three-month break with a smackdown wiring of the GIII Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita. He earned a 98 Beyer Speed Figure despite trouble at the break and being cut back in distance to a mile after a pair of Grade I wins at 1 1/16 miles to close out his 2-year-old campaign. After bobbling at start, Citizen Bull recovered on his own under a patient Martin Garcia, asserted himself at the head of affairs, cranked out a legit tempo while keeping challengers at bay on the backstretch, then opened up on the far turn without being roused. Gamely chased home by two Baffert-trained stablemates in the five-horse field, he drew away under steady handling to score by 3 3/4 lengths. “He was fresh,” Garcia said post-win. “When I was warming him up, he just wanted to go and you could see that he was ready, and when the gates opened it was like the ground broke underneath him. He just broke too fast. Right away he recovered and I just sat, sat, sat and he just took me right away. Bob knows when the horses are ready. That's why he is in the Hall Of Fame.” Baffert has described Citizen Bull as a “big, strong, heavy horse” who will benefit from racing, perhaps more so than training. “It's funny you see him and you don't realize that in a race that he has those gears,” Baffert said. “He won't show you that in the morning, but he does have gears.” 4) BARNES (c, Into Mischief-All American Dream, by American Pharoah). O-Zedan Racing Stables, Inc.; B-Jeff Drown and Don Rachel, LLC (KY); T-Bob Baffert. Sales history: $3,200,000 Ylg '23 FTSAUG). Lifetime record: GSW, 2-2-0-0, $189,000. Last start: WON Jan. 4 GII San Vicente Stakes. The Bob Baffert-trained Barnes put in a :59.80 (5/72) five-furlong breeze Saturday at Santa Anita, his third published workout since annihilating four rivals in the Jan. 4 GII San Vicente Stakes. Considering that Barnes cost $3.2 million at FTSAUG and is named in honor of the Hall-of-Fame trainer's longtime assistant, Jimmy Barnes, he probably doesn't need any added pressure placed upon his broad, bay shoulders. But since Baffert has already compared Barnes favorably to the colt's maternal grandsire, the 2015 Triple Crown champ American Pharoah, superlatives figure to be maxxed until Barnes makes his first start around two turns. Baffert confirmed on Sunday that next race will be either the Rebel Stakes Feb. 22 at Oaklawn or the San Felipe a week later at Santa Anita. Both are contested at 1 1/16 miles, and you'd have to think that Baffert intends to separate Barnes from the above-ranked Citizen Bull. I flip-flopped Citizen Bull and Barnes in the Nos. 3 and 4 slots this week after writing them up the other way around a month ago. That amounts to splitting hairs at this early stage of the season. But even if you concede that Barnes rates higher in long-term potential, it's awfully tough to discount that Citizen Bull has already won three stakes around two turns, while Barnes has yet to attempt a race beyond seven furlongs. With his highly hyped debut win at Churchill Downs on Thanksgiving Eve now more than two months in the rear-view mirror, it's worth noting that of the nine rivals Barnes beat in that 5 1/2-furlong sprint, five of them have run back, and none managed to win their next-out starts (although the runner-up Barnes beat by a head won his second start back). 5) SOVEREIGNTY (c, Into Mischief-Crowned, by Bernardini). O/B-Godolphin (KY); T-William I. Mott; Lifetime Record: GSW, 3-1-1-0, $143,280. Last start: WON Oct. 27 GIII Street Sense Stakes. This Godolphin homebred was back on the worktab Friday, breezing a half mile in :49.20 (13/16) after previously only working twice since Dec. 24 at Payson Park. Sovereignty broke his maiden in his first two-turn attempt in the Oct. 27 GIII Street Sense Stakes, and although his next start has been highly anticipated, no plans for his sophomore debut have been publicly disclosed. Unveiled on the undercard for last summer's Grade I Travers Stakes, Sovereignty rallied from last with a seven-wide swoop to get fourth in a six-furlong sprint that yielded two next-out winners. A one-turn mile at Aqueduct a month later seemed better suited to his Into Mischief (out of a Bernardini mare) pedigree, and Sovereignty stalked and romped home with huge strides to just miss by a neck, beaten by the 1.25-1 favorite. Start number three was Sovereignty's big coming-out party at Churchill. Bet to 7-5 favoritism in a nine-horse field, he broke a step slow from the outermost post, remained patiently parked in last until the quarter pole, then circled everybody for another seven-wide stretch attack that propelled him to a five-length, 87-Beyer victory. 6) AVIATOR GUI (c, Uncle Mo-Paulistinha, by Tapit). O/B-Three Chimneys Farm, LLC (KY); T-Chad Brown. Lifetime record: GSP, 4-1-1-1, $120,500. Last start: 2nd Dec. 7 GII Remsen S. This Uncle Mo-sired homebred for Three Chimneys Farm opened some eyes with an adversity-overcoming, trip-troubled second when stretched out to nine furlongs in the Dec. 7 GII Remsen S. After stalking inside, this Chad Brown trainee was full of run but was boxed in at the quarter pole. After fighting free, he brushed aside a rival at the lead of the lane, then had his momentum stalled a second time when lugging in atop the heels of the eventual winner, Poster. Yet he closed with authority, ending up second by a head-bob before galloping out past Poster. Aviator Gui is wintering at Payson Park but has only had two late-January workouts to this point in his sophomore training. Captain Cook | Sarah Andrew 7) CAPTAIN COOK (c, Practical Joke-Pow Wow Wow, by Indian Charlie). 'TDN Rising Star'. O-St. Elias Stable; B-Marylou Whitney Stables, LLC (KY); T-Richard E. Dutrow, Jr. Sales history: $410,000 2yo '24 KEENOV. Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-0, $188,256. Last start: WON Feb. 1 Withers Stakes. Trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr. has touted Captain Cook's relaxed nature as nice complement to the colt's smaller stature, because he believes that easy-going attitude will allow the colt to conserve in-race energy. This 'TDN Rising Star' by Practical Joke ($410,000 KEENOV) had an arduous sprint debut at Churchill Oct. 27 in which he was bumped and crowded at the break and got hooked five wide on the far turn, finishing sixth but beaten only four lengths. Captain Cook then burst onto the scene with a 9 1/4-length pace-pressing blowout score at Aqueduct over a sloppy seven furlongs Dec. 28. Stretching out to nine furlongs in the Feb. 1 Withers Stakes, Captain Cook commanded 7-5 favoritism and delivered a measured 2 1/4-length victory (94 Beyer) despite breaking a touch tardily and  stalking the leaders while three wide on both turns. His stretch run had a no-nonsense, focused quality to it. It might be two months before we see this colt in action again. Dutrow said he will aim for the Apr. 5 GII Wood Memorial Stakes, because he prefers longer spacing between races for Captain Cook, and believes that having two wins over the Aqueduct dirt (with one of them at the Wood's nine-furlong distance) is a plus. 8) EAST AVENUE (c, Medaglia d'Oro-Dance Music, by Ghostzapper). 'TDN Rising Star'. O/B-Godolphin (KY); T-Brendan P. Walsh. Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-0, $410,645. Last start: 9th Nov. 1 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile. 'TDN Rising Star' East Avenue (Medaglia d'Oro) closed at 15-1 odds in last month's Derby Future Wager, the fourth betting choice behind the mutuel field (4-1), Barnes (6-1) and Patch Adams (12-1). Bettors are not only being forgiving of East Avenue's blown break in the Breeders' Cup (when he was favored in the Juvenile and finished ninth after a poor start), but they're also factoring in that this Godolphin homebred has reportedly been thriving in his Fair Grounds training for the Feb. 15 GII Risen Star Stakes. This Brendan Walsh trainee won his first two starts by a combined 13 1/4 lengths. He dismantled an Aug. 24 Ellis Park maiden sprint field by eight lengths (86 Beyer), then wired the GI Breeders' Futurity by 5 1/4 lengths over the short-stretch 1 1/16-miles configuration at Keeneland. 9) KEEP IT EASY (c, Hard Spun-Boxwood, by English Channel). O-St. Elias Stable, West Point Thoroughbreds, CJ Thoroughbreds. B-Mr. & Mrs. William L. Pape (KY). T-Dale L. Romans. Sales history: $435,000 Ylg '23 KEESEP. Lifetime record: 4-2-0-0, $207,671. Last start: WON Nov. 30 Ed Brown Stakes. Keep It Easy had been nominated for this past Saturday's GIII Holy Bull Stakes, but trainer Dale Romans opted to wait for the GII Fountain of Youth Stakes Mar. 1 instead. This $435,000 KEESEP colt by Hard Spun has been training at Gulfstream for his two-turn debut, and is now four breezes into his winter campaign after a 5 1/4-length runaway win despite absorbing a bump at the break in the 6 1/2-furlong Ed Brown Stakes at Churchill Downs. Two colts who finished behind Keep It Easy in that Nov. 30 stakes subsequently won stakes themselves. Runner-up Tough Catch (Complexity) took the Sugar Bowl Stakes at Fair Grounds at 2-5 odds in his next try, while sixth-place Coming in Hot (Maclean's Music) scored by 5 1/2 lengths in a Turfway allowance sprint, then won the Turfway Preview Stakes at 3-1 odds. The most notable name in Keep It Easy's company lines is the No. 2-ranked Sandman, who was favored at even money in his June 27 sprint debut but finished fifth behind this colt's second-start wiring of a Churchill sprint field at 23-1 odds. Keep It Easy's one ugly race is a total tossout: He blew the break at the start of the GII Saratoga Special Stakes and never recovered, finishing last. 10) RODRIGUEZ (c, Authentic-Cayala, by Cherokee Run). 'TDN Rising Star'. O-SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Stonestreet Stables LLC, Dianne Bashor, Determined Stables, Robert E. Masterson, Tom J. Ryan, Waves Edge Capital LLC and Catherine Donovan; B-Kingswood Farm & David Egan (KY); T-Bob Baffert. Sales history: $485,000 Ylg KEESEP '23. Lifetime record: 3-1-2-0, $86,800. Last start: 2nd Feb. 1 GIII Robert B. Lewis Stakes. While everyone was raving over Citizen Bull's “champ is back” performance in last weekend's Lewis Stakes, his stablemate Rodriguez's sneaky-good, two-move effort to finish second got lost in the shuffle. This 'TDN Rising Star' by Authentic broke running, chased the favorite, then appeared to be falling out of contention with a half-mile to race. But Rodriguez wasn't spent. Jockey Juan Hernandez instead wanted him positioned outside instead of between horses for the far-turn run, and within a furlong Rodriguez was back on the prowl without losing significant momentum. This Bob Baffert trainee had no quit in him despite getting outkicked by the much more experienced Citizen Bull through the stretch, and he was the only other horse besides the winner finishing strongly. Hernandez wisely chose not to hammer on him in the final stages when it was evident this May 20 foal who was making his first start against winners was not going to reel in the Breeders' Cup winner and divisional champ. Burnham Square | Lauren King 11) BURNHAM SQUARE (g, Liam's Map-Linda, by Scat Daddy). O/B-Whitham Thoroughbreds, LLC (KY); T-Ian R. Wilkes. Lifetime Record: 4-2-1-1, $202,330. Last start: WON Feb.1 GIII Holy Bull Stakes. When equipped with blinkers for the first time in start number three, Burnham Square (Liam's Map) flashed speed and broke his maiden by nine lengths from post one in a 1 1/16-miles race Dec. 28 at Gulfstream. Attempting stakes company over the same short-stretch configuration Feb. 1, he drew the outermost seven post for the Holy Bull Stakes but came out slowly, dropping back to last while four wide in the early going. After repositioning down near the rail, Burnham Square commenced a bid up the fence with little coaxing, closing a gap that had him six lengths last 5 1/2 furlongs out but within one length of dueling leaders a furlong later. When one of the speedsters called it quits and dropped back, Burnham Square was briefly bottled up with nowhere to go. But he made his own clear path, bumping lightly with a rival entering the far turn while coming out for running room, again giving up four paths of real estate on the bend. Approaching the quarter pole, four different horses had already taken turns on the lead, and Burnham Square willingly chased the new frontrunner, the favored Tappan Street (Into Mischief), who had come over the top with what looked like a winning move. With more left to give, Burnham Square zeroed in on Tappan Street with purpose, and even though it took him the better part of the stretch to reel him in, the gelding responded to rousing before punching through at the sixteenth pole. Kept to task late, he won by 1 3/4-lengths, and the 90-Beyer effort was impressive considering his difficulty at the break, the lost ground on the turns, the backstretch traffic, and the fact that the race's finish line was at the sixteenth pole. Trainer Ian Wilkes said post-win that the Fountain of Youth Stakes Mar. 1 is “a strong possibility” for Burnham Square's next start. 12) JONATHAN'S WAY (c, Vekoma-Female Drama, by Indian Charlie). 'TDN Rising Star'. O-Rigney Racing, LLC; B-Susan L. Anderson Racing LLC (OH); T-Philip A. Bauer. Sales history: $290,000 Wlg '22 KEENOV). Lifetime record: GSW, 4-2-1-0, $268,530. Last start: 2nd Nov. 30 GII Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes. Jonathan's Way, who celebrates his third birthdate Feb. 5, is being aimed for the Risen Star Stakes, where he and East Avenue should take the brunt of the betting. This $290,000 KEENOV weanling won his first two starts in a manner that mirrored the early racing career of his sire, Vekoma. Both won six-furlong sprints in New York in their debuts, then scored as favorites in one-turn-mile stakes second time out. Jonathan's Way parlayed a 4 1/4-length maiden score at Saratoga Aug. 17 into a win in the Sept. 14 Iroquois Stakes. Vekoma (who had gotten a later start as a May 22 foal) won his Sept. 23, 2018, debut at Belmont, then took down the GIII Nashua Stakes. Their paths diverged from there. Jonathan's Way ran seventh with no obvious excuse in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, then wheeled back four weeks later with a gutsy second as the beaten .87-1 favorite in the GII Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill. He overcame a bump at the break, got hooked five wide off the far turn, then twice had to shift away from a tiring rival in the stretch. He dug in and was closing in on the impressive, No. 1-ranked First Resort, but came up 2 1/4 lengths short. Vekoma, by contrast, followed up his first two wins by running third in the GII Fountain of Youth Stakes, winning the then-GII Blue Grass Stakes, and finishing twelfth in the 2019 Kentucky Derby. After missing 10 months with foot ailments, Vekoma's connections cut him back to one-turn races in 2020, and he ended his career with three straight stakes victories, including the 2020 GI Metropolitan Handicap. Interestingly, winning a debut and then a stakes was also the career path for this colt's dam, Female Drama. In 2009, she wired two sprint races in New York as a juvenile to start her career, but never won again from four more starts. The post TDN Derby Top 12: An Eclectic Cast of Evenly Matched Characters appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article