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Just shows you how screwed the Pattern is: Only five starters in the time honoured Wakefield Challenge Stakes! 1 2 3
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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Earlier this week, owner Mike Repole took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to ask for help. He wanted to know what he should do with the two of the best older horses in the country, both, coincidentally, that he owns. Mindframe (Constitution) and Fierceness (City of Light). What to do with them next weekend? The options are simple enough. The $1 million GI Pacific Classic is being run at Del Mar in California next Saturday. The $1 million GI Jockey Club Gold Cup is being run at Saratoga next day. Run one in Saratoga? Run two in Saratoga? Send one (Fierceness) to California? “I put it out there,” Repole said Saturday afternoon, sitting in his clubhouse box at Saratoga. “That is what I do best. I am thinking about it.” Mindframe, unbeaten in three starts this year, is being pointed to the Jockey Club Gold Cup. Fierceness may be headed west as Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher has said he would rather keep his two stable stars separated. Fierceness worked four furlongs in 47.42 (4/94) on the main track Saturday morning. Mindframe is scheduled to work on Sunday. A final decision on who goes where will be made after that. Repole owns Fierceness along with Derrick Smith, Michael Tabor and Mrs. John Magnier. He owns Mindframe with Vinnie and Teresa Viola's St. Elias Stables LLC. Fierceness, most recently fifth in the GI Whitney Stakes on Aug. 2, has one win in three starts this year. “I will talk to Todd after Mindframe works and then we'll make a decision,” Repole said. “Fierceness worked great. He is going to run next week. He is going to run somewhere.” If Fierceness were to head to Del Mar, it would be the scene of where he finished second in last year's GI Breeders' Cup Classic. And Del Mar is the site of this year's Breeders' Cup. The Pacific Classic is expected to attract the Bob Baffert-trained Nysos (Nyquist) as well as highly regarded 3-year-old Journalism (Curlin), winner of the GI Preakness Stakes and runner-up in the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Belmont Stakes. The Jockey Club Gold Cup will feature Sierra Leone (Gun Runner), this year's GI Whitney champ, Highland Falls(Curlin), the second-place finisher, and White Abarrio (Race Day), who was fourth. There is also a chance, albeit small, that Fierceness and Mindframe could both run at Saratoga next weekend. “I'm not afraid to ship, absolutely not,” Repole said. “And I'm not afraid to stay here. I would not be afraid to run both in (Jockey Club Gold Cup). They are going to have to face each other in the Breeders' Cup Classic.” If Fierceness ends up in California, Repole could be seeing a lot of the friendly skies next weekend if he plans on seeing both horses run. “That would be amazing,” Repole said, “and Sunday night, I'm flying to France!” Rodriguez Knows Phileas Fogg Has Tough Chore Ahead He hasn't been seen since the Fourth of July, but Phileas Fogg (Astern {AUS}) will reappear soon enough. The former claimer, the hero of the GII Suburban on Independence Day, will take another giant step forward on Aug. 31 when he runs in the GI, $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes at Saratoga. There, he will face the likes of Mindframe (Constitution), GI Whitney Stakes winner Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) and White Abarrio (Race Day) the Whitney champ of 2023. Phileas Fogg working in the fog | Sarah Andrew Gus Rodriguez, the bubbly trainer of Phileas Fogg, knows the challenge if a difficult one, but one he readily accepts. “He can win the race, but it's a tough spot,” Rodriguez said at his barn on the Saratoga backstretch. “There are a lot of good horses, the best horses in the world. One thing we like about it is that we know he really likes Saratoga.” Phileas Fogg, named after the character in Jules Verne's 1873 novel Around the World in Eighty Days, won the Suburban in front-running fashion under jockey Kendrick Carmouche for owner Jupiter Stable LLC. The margin of victory was a head over the Todd Pletcher-trained Antiquarian (Preservationist). The Suburban favorite, Locked (Gun Runner), also trained by Pletcher, finished third. The Suburban was the second career Spa win in three starts for Phileas Fogg, a 5-year-old gelding. He won an allowance race at Saratoga last summer. The long time off for Phileas Fogg was by design. Running in the Whitney on Aug. 2 was never under consideration. “He needed time,” Rodriguez said. “(The Suburban) really knocked him down. He was quiet for like three weeks. It took a lot out of him. Now, he's good.” Phileas Fogg has worked four times since the Suburban, the most recent being a five-furlong move in 1:00 (1/15) last Sunday. “He really has gotten comfortable on this track,” Rodriguez said. “We just have to hope we come into this race as good as we can and just hope for the best.” Jerkens Glad to be Back Home After two years in Saudi Arabia, trainer Jimmy Jerkens is glad to be back home. Jimmy Jerkens | Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia The 66-year-old Jerkens, a mainstay on the New York circuit for years, returned earlier this year and is now working as an assistant to trainer Kenny McPeek. Jerkens is overseeing the McPeek horses at Belmont Park, but has made a few trips to Saratoga Race Course this summer. “I really didn't miss (Saratoga) like I thought I would,” Jerkens, the son of the late, legendary Allen Jerkens, said on the Saratoga backstretch on one of his few visits from downstate. “I came here for so long and have had such great memories of this place. Being in Saudi, it didn't hit me when racing was going on here. I kept tabs on it.” Jerkens said he is currently in charge of about 18 horses at Belmont for the McPeek barn. McPeek hired Jerkens April. When Jerkens left for Saudi, his wife, Shirley, was with him for the first six months. “She did not come back for the second year, which kind of stunk,” Jerkens said. “I wasn't really homesick because there was plenty to do over there. As long as you got interested and looked forward to racing the horses, the time passes. The two years went by pretty quick.” Jerkens went to Saudi to train privately for Prince Faisal bin Khalid Al Saud. Eventually, Jerkens said he would like to have his own stable, but, for right now, working with McPeek is keeping him busy. “Absolutely,” he said about training his own string eventually. “It's so hard to start from scratch again. I wasn't really up for that right away. When Kenny offered me the spot, I was able to be with the horses every day. I'm certainly not ruling out going back out on my own.” The post Saratoga Notebook, presented by NYRA Bets: Fierceness May Be on His Way to the West Coast appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
The Wesley Ward-trained Outfielder ships overseas to challenge the impressive Ballydoyle colt Gstaad in the Aug. 24 Prix Morny (G1).View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
With a Grade II race win already on her dossier, May Day Ready (Tapit–Nemoralia, by More Than Ready) netted her second in the GII Lake Placid Stakes at the Spa on Saturday. Off a fourth-place finish in the GI Belmont Oaks Invitational July 5, the 9-5 second choice here forced the issue and earned the lead heading into the first turn. Making every pole a winning one through the far turn, the 3-year-old geared up down the lane as she was challeged by favorite Play With Fire (Oscar Peformance). However, the Joe Lee trainee sealed the deal from pillar to post. The final running time was 1:35.70. Lifetime Record: 8-4-1-1. Sales History: FTKOCT '23 $60,000 OBSAPR '24 $325,000. O-KatieRich Stables LLC; B-White Birch Farm, Inc. (KY); T-Joe Lee. The post May Day Ready All The Way In GII Lake Placid Stakes At The Spa appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Greenwell Thoroughbreds' Big Dom (c, 2, McKinzie–Half A.P., by Pulpit) and Dr. Kapur (McKinzie) threw down in the final furlong in front of the Travers day crowd assembled at Saratoga Saturday afternoon, and the duo sprinted well clear of their rivals, with the former prevailing in a tight finish to become the day's third 'TDN Rising Star'. The 13-4 second choice behind 5-2 pick Vino Vici (Vino Rosso)–the only member of the octet with previous race experience– Big Dom raced between Dr. Kapur to his inside and Vino Vici to his outer through the opening exchanges before going forward to press the pace of Dr. Kapur through an first couple of furlongs in :22.64, as Vino Vici was content to drop back and chase from the second flight of horses. Asked to come after the pacesetter entering the stretch after a half in :45.58, Big Dom joined the battle in earnest with just under an eighth of a mile to travel and sprinted his final two furlongs in :23.73 to defeat Dr. Kapur, who came home in :23.93. The final time was a crisp 1:09.47 and there was a good gap back of 3 1/4 lengths back to Vino Vici in third. Both the rail-drawn My World (Essential Quality) and Stimulate (Tapit–Elate) should come on for their debut runs in fourth and fifth, respectively. Big Dom, who was bought back on a bid of $160,000 at last year's Keeneland September Sale, is a half-brother to 2023 GIII Canadian Derby winner Abeliefinthislivin (Arrogate), GSW-Can, SP-USA, $193,648; and to Fully Living (Unbridled's Song), GSP, $172,417, herself the dam of GSW Ballet Dancing (Medaglia d'Oro) and MGSP Untreated (Nyquist). Half A.P., purchased by Merriebelle Stable for $450,000 in foal to Candy Ride (Arg) at Keeneland November in 2014, is a half-sister to five winners, most notably 2003 champion 2-year-old filly and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies heroine Halfbridled (Unbridled). Third dam At the Half, winner of the GIII Golden Rod Stakes at two, produced a couple of winners, including MGSW Lu Ravi (A.P. Indy). Half A.P. is responsible for a yearling half-sister to Big Dom and a colt foal by Arcangelo. She was most recently bred to another Classic-winning son of Arrogate, namely Seize the Grey. Big Dom is the second 'Rising Star' in as many weeks for the Tom Amoss barn, which was represented by the towering debut winner It's Our Time (Not This Time) on Aug. 16. 6th-Saratoga, $100,000, Msw, 8-23, 2yo, 6f, 1:09.47, ft, neck. BIG DOM, c, 2, by McKinzie 1st Dam: Half A. P., by Pulpit 2nd Dam: Half Queen, by Deputy Minister 3rd Dam: At the Half, by Seeking the Gold Sales history: $160,000 RNA Ylg '24 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $55,000. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. O-Greenwell Thoroughbreds; B-Merriebelle Stable LLC (KY); T-Thomas M Amoss. The post Big Dom Tops McKinzie 1-2, Becomes a Third ‘Rising Star’ at Saratoga appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
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