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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
It's been three weeks since our last GI Kentucky Oaks Top 10, and a lot has happened. But no one stepped up with the type of explosive performance that would have shaken up the standings. We've dropped four horses from our original poll. Mythical (St. Patrick's Day) just wasn't good enough in the GIII Forward Gal Stakes. Tommy Jo (Into Mischief) has been injured and has been taken off the Oaks trail. Percy's Bar (Upstart) hasn't had a workout since Jan. 6, which doesn't bode well for her making the Oaks. Hit Parade (Street Sense) was a disappointing fifth in the Martha Washington Stakes at Oaklawn. Saturday's GII Fasig-Tipton Rachel Alexandra Stakes at the Fair Grounds should provide a bit more clarity to the picture. So, here goes, your latest Top 10: 1) ZANY (American Pharoah–Mo' Green, by Uncle Mo) O-Repole Stable; B-D.J. Stable (Ky); T-Todd Pletcher. Sales history: $350,000 yrl '24 FTSAR. Lifetime Record: GSW, 3-3-0-0, $221,500. Last Start: Won Feb. 7 Suncoast Stakes. Kentucky Oaks Points: 30. She didn't exactly burn up the racetrack in her 3-year-old debut, last Saturday's Suncoast Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, but I can't see dropping a horse from the No. 1 spot off of a win. Though she won by 2 3/4 lengths, her running time for the mile and 40 yards was 1:40.56. In the very next race, run at the same distance, the maiden Emerging Market (Candy Ride {Arg}) crossed the wire in 1:39.11 for trainer Chad Brown. That left Zany with an 81 Beyer figure, eight points slower than she ran in her impressive victory in the GII Demoiselle Stakes. She also ducked in sharply in the stretch. So why is she still No. 1? Because no one did enough to knock her off the top spot and I have all the confidence in the world in Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. Likely, this was a starting place for Zany, and we will see a better filly when she returns in the Apr. 3 GI Ashland at Keeneland. 2) MEANING (Gun Runner–Figure of Speech, by Into Mischief) O-Bridlewood Farm & Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners; B-Stonehaven Steadings (Ky); T-Michael McCarthy. Sales history: $440,000 yrl '24 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: SW, 3-2-0-0, $187,000. Last Start: Won Feb. 8 Las Virgenes Stakes. Kentucky Oaks Points: 26. Unranked in the first edition of the Oaks Top 10, she roared into the No. 2 spot with a win in the Las Virgenes S. at Santa Anita, where she beat two pretty tough customers in Explora (Blame) and Super Corredora (Gun Runner). It was her first start since she was a non-threatening fourth in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. “She's a stronger filly, more mature,” winning trainer Michael McCarthy told reporters after the race. The knock on Meaning is that she got a perfect trip. She sat third behind Explora and Super Corredora, who battled it out in testing fractions of :22.57 and :45.98. When those two started to tire, the race fell into Meaning's lap. McCarthy has said that the Apr. 4 GII Santa Anita Oaks will be next for his filly. Meaning | Benoit 3) TAKEN BY THE WIND (Rock Your World–Up for Grabs, by First Samurai) O-Magdalena Racing, Terry Bradshaw, Graham Leveston, Raasi Stable; B-Courtney L. Meagher (Fl); T-Kenneth G McPeek. Sales History: $70,000 yrl '24 FTKJUL; $20,000 yrl '24 FTKOCT. Lifetime Record: GSW, 3-3-0-0, $270,710. Last Start: Won Jan. 17 Silverbulletday Stakes. Kentucky Oaks Points: 30. Taken by the Wind has not raced since the first poll came out, but moves up because, well, someone had to, with so many disappointing performances from some of the more highly regarded horses. After his filly won the Silverbulletday Stakes, trainer Kenny McPeek expressed how high he is on her, and that means something from a trainer who has had so much success with star fillies. She only won the Silverbulletday by a neck, but there's no knocking her record–she's 3 for 3. McPeek reports that Taken by the Wind will have her next start in the Mar. 1 GIII Honeybee Stakes at Oaklawn. 4) LIFE OF JOY (Gun Runner–Jordayn's Leo, by Malibu Moon) O-Will Stroud, Andrew Farm, Mountmellick Farm & For the People Racing Stable LLC; B-Springhouse Farm (Ky); T-Brad H Cox. Sales history: $375,000 yrl '24 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: SW, 4-2-1-0, $180,260. Last Start: Second in Feb. 7 Suncoast Stakes. Kentucky Oaks Points: 22. You know that Brad Cox is going to have a say when it comes to the road to the Kentucky Oaks. He always does. And Life of Joy might be his best hope. Her race in the Suncoast, where she was second behind Zany, is better than it looks on paper. She broke a step slow, which cost her position. Sensing that there was a slow pace (:24.89, :49.55), Flavien Prat rushed her up into contention midway down the backstretch in what may have been a premature move. Still, she held her own against Zany. Other than a fourth-place finish in the GII Golden Rod Stakes, she's never been worse than second and seems to be peaking at the right time. 5) EXPLORA (Blame–Collections Choice, by Bernardini) O-Michael Pegram, Karl Watson & Paul Weitman; B-Mesingw Farm (Ky); T-Bob Baffert. Sales History: $22,000 yrl '24 KEESEP; $350,000 2yo '25 FTMMAY. 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard.' Lifetime Record: GSW & MGISP, 5-3-2-0, $628,000. Last Start: Second Feb. 8 Las Virgenes Stakes. Kentucky Oaks Points: 45. The Bob Baffert-trained filly made her 3-year-old debut in the Las Virgenes and probably didn't deliver the type of performance her Hall of Fame trainer was expecting. She's shown the ability to rate in the past, which she did in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, where she was fourth early before closing for second. But in the Las Virgenes, she got caught up in a speed duel with rival Super Corredora and didn't have enough left in the tank to hold off Meaning, who wasn't necessarily flying at the end. They went the final quarter in :27 4/5 seconds. The positive is that she held in there a lot better than Super Corredora, who finished last. She far from embarrassed herself and could easily rebound next out with a better trip. 6) DAZZLING DAME (Girvin–Awesome Dama, by Corinthian) O-Respect the Valleys LLC; B-Maria M Haire (Md); T-Brittany T Russell. Sales History: $50,000 RNA wnlg '23 KEENOV: $65,000 yrl '24 OBSWIN; $45,000 2yo '25 OBSMAR. Lifetime Record: MSW, 5-4-0-0, $240,525. Last Start: Won Jan. 3 Busanda Stakes. Kentucky Oaks Points: 22. Might be overrating a filly whose claim to fame is that she won the Busanda Stakes on Jan. 3 at Aqueduct, but that was a powerful performance. She won by 11 1/2 lengths and earned a 91 Beyer. That's the best Beyer number turned in by any 3-year-old filly so far this year. Trainer Brittany Russell reports that Dazzling Dame may go next in the Mar. 14 Virginia Oaks at Colonial Downs. If so, she may need to find a tougher spot to prove that her filly belongs among the best of her division. It's worth noting that she might have missed a work since she has not had a published workout since Jan. 23. 7) BELLA BALLERINA (Street Sense–Pretty City Dancer, by Tapit) O/B-Godolphin (Ky); T-Brendan P Walsh. Lifetime Record: GSW, 2-2-0-0, $301,525. 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard.' Last Start: Won Nov. 29 GII Golden Rod Stakes. Kentucky Oaks Points: 10. The Godolphin-homebred will make her 3-year-old debut in Saturday's Rachel Alexandra at the Fair Grounds, where she'll likely be favored over seven others. She was last seen winning the Golden Rod on Nov. 29 at Churchill. She took a 3 1/2-length lead into the stretch of that race and held on to win by a half-length while earning an 80 Beyer. Her rivals in the Rachel Alexandra will include Just Singing (Justify), who finished a fast-closing third behind her in the Golden Rod. There's very little speed in this race and Bella Ballerina will either set the pace or stay close to what is sure to be a slow pace. Either way, she should get a good trip. This will be an important test for her. 8) SUPER CORREDORA (Gun Runner–Super Simple, by Super Saver) O-Spartan Equine Racing LLC, West Point Thoroughbreds, Robert Gardiner & Michael Olszewki; B-Woodford Thoroughbreds (Ky); T-John Sadler. Sales History: $400,000 yrl '24 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: Ch. 2yo filly, GISW, 5-2-1-0, $1,099,600. Last Start: Fourth Feb. 8 Las Virgenes Stakes. Kentucky Oaks Points: 34. It was not a good 3-year-old debut for last year's juvenile filly champion. Yes, she got caught up in a speed duel in the Las Virgenes, but she should have had more fight than she did. She finished last in the four-horse field, 6 3/4 lengths behind the winner, Meaning. It was nothing like her winning performance in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, where she hung on gamely after setting fractions of :22 2/5 and :45 3/5. “We will stay the course and go to the next one [Mar. 1 GIII Santa Ysabel Stakes],” said Terry Finley, whose West Point Thoroughbreds is a co-owner of the filly. “This was a tough race. The hope is our filly needed the race. She'll have to improve to stay in the top echelon.” On Time Girl | Coglianese 9) ON TIME GIRL (Not This Time–Girl Daddy, by Uncle Mo) O/B-Albaugh Farmily Stables, LLC (Ky); T-Brad H Cox. Sales history: $375,000 RNA yrl '24 KEESEP. 'TDN Rising Star presented by Hagyard.' Lifetime Record: 5-4-1-0, $405,735. Last Start: Won Jan. 31 GIII Forward Gal Stakes. Kentucky Oaks Points: 20. Another Brad Cox filly, she jumped into the picture with a convincing win in the GIII Forward Gal Stakes at seven furlongs. She's now four for five during her career. The problem is that she's never gone beyond seven furlongs. She is by Not This Time, which suggests she should be able to handle a distance, but until she proves it, the jury is out. Cox is looking at the Feb. 28 GII Davona Dale at Gulfstream, a one-mile race. But it, too, will be run around one turn, meaning it may not answer all the questions. 10) POWERED BY FAMILY (Quality Road–Icon Project, by Empire Maker) O/B-St Elias Stables & West Point Thoroughbreds (Ky); T-Cherie DeVaux. Lifetime Record: 2-1-0-0, $38,400. Last Start: Won MSW at Fair Grounds Jan. 10. Kentucky Oaks Points: 0. While this might be an outside-the-box pick, the Quality Road filly has a lot of upside. She looked terrific breaking her maiden at the Fair Grounds on Jan. 10. She broke terribly and spotted the field several lengths, but made up a ton of ground and drew away to a four-length win while earning an 84 Beyer. The problem is she also broke poorly in her career debut and could do no better than fourth. She steps way up in class for the Rachel Alexandra and can contend. It all depends on the break. She'll have no chance against this caliber if she again breaks poorly. The post The Kentucky Oaks TDN Top 10 For Feb. 12: Zany Stays on Top appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article -
‘It’s King Kong Versus Godzilla’: Baffert Relishing Saudi Cup Battle Between Forever Young and Nysos
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA — Bob Baffert may have won two Triple Crowns, six Kentucky Derbys, 21 Breeders' Cup races, and four Dubai World Cups but there is an itch that still needs to be scratched: the Saudi Cup. “We've gotten pretty close,” he said Thursday morning from King Abdulaziz Racecourse, and he's not wrong. Baffert has been represented in five of the six runnings of the world's richest race and has finished second twice, with Charlatan (Speightstown) then Country Grammer (Tonalist). Last year was his sole omission, and to make up for that, this year he will saddle two horses, with the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner 'TDN Rising Star' presented by Hagyard Nysos (Nyquist) being joined by his stablemate and runner-up in the GII Laffit Pincay Jr Stakes, Nevada Beach (Omaha Beach). In any other year, he'd be sitting pretty, but there is the small matter of the defending champion and GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}) in the field. Baffert conceded that this will be no easy mission, and he was full of praise for the odds-on favorite and his trainer Yoshito Yahagi, who had exited the press conference suite just moments before. “That was a fantastic race,” Baffert said of the thrilling stretch-long tussle between Forever Young and Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) 12 months ago. “I was watching that race in my office at Santa Anita, and Romantic Warrior, he looked so good going to the gate, and all of a sudden he took off, he got bold, and it looked like the race was over, and then Forever Young, he's just–he's a unicorn. Bob Baffert during a Thursday press conference at King Abdulaziz | Emma Berry “I'm telling you, he's unbelievable, and I have so much respect for that horse. He just put his head down, and what he did as a 3-year-old, to win in Saudi, Dubai, come to the Derby, and come so close, that is just unheard of, you know, a horse shipping that much. Credit to his trainer and his staff, and his jockey, riding with so much confidence, but that horse is an incredible horse, and he's a good-looking horse. I saw him the other day, he looks healthy, and he's going to be tough.” Of Yahagi, who is arguably Japan's most internationally recognized trainer with a haul of victories which stretches beyond Saudi and America to Dubai–with Forever Young's sire among his five winners there–Australia and Hong Kong. He has also won Japan's Triple Crown with Contrail (Jpn). “He's like the Charlie Whittingham of Japan,” Baffert added. “He's tough, and he looks like he's having fun, that's what I love about him. And when he says his horse is ready, they're ready. He said last night his horse is ready, and I didn't like to hear that, but that's what makes these races great. These races are supposed to be tough, and bring the best horses here. It's like that baseball movie, if they put up the money, they'll come, and so, we're here.” Yahagi is himself a big baseball fan. He was proudly sporting his L.A. Dodgers shirt along with a self-confessed hangover the morning after last year's Breeders' Cup Classic, which happened to clash with the final game of a tense World Series in which the Dodgers, with their smattering of Japanese imports, proved as tough to beat as Forever Young. But Baffert will be doing his level best to ensure that Riyadh does not remain a field of dreams solely for his rival. He will also take on the Yahagi-trained American Stage with 5-year-old Imagination–both of them sons of Into Mischief–in the G2 Riyadh Dirt Sprint, but in Nysos, he says that he has his strongest chance yet to add the Saudi Cup to his portfolio. “I think Nysos is a brilliant racehorse,” he said. “He's got his work cut out, but he's got a good draw position, he's outside, he can just stalk, he's smart. He can go to the lead, he can come off the pace, whereas the horses I brought here before were one-dimensional, and they had horses hook them early and then got tired at the end.” The long stretch at Riyadh, on a dirt track modelled on the easy, sweeping turns of Belmont Park, is famously attritional, as Baffert knows to his cost. He continued, “We won a little Derby here [with Pinehurst in 2022] and stuff, but we've fallen short. I always tell everybody, I'm watching at home, it looks like I'm home free and I'm looking for the wire, and all of a sudden they show the 100-meter mark and I've lost millions of dollars just to make that last 100 meters. They just come get you there at the end. It's sort of a deep racetrack, it's a soft, very forgiving, safe racetrack, but it gets tough: that stretch is just so long. I prefer shorter stretches.” Nevada Beach | Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia Following a dominant victory in the GIII Robert B. Lewis Stakes in February 2024, Nysos was not seen in action for the remainder of his 3-year-old season. Injury niggles kept him off the track until May 2025, when he ran Mindframe (Constitution) to a neck on comeback to finish second in the GI Churchill Downs Stakes. Thereafter he has remained faultless in four starts, including his first Grade I success at the Breeders' Cup. On that same day at Del Mar, Nevada Beach, then three, finished seventh in a Breeders' Cup Classic for the ages, in which Forever Young was chased home by Sierra Leone (Gun Runner), Fierceness (City of Light), Journalism (Curlin) and Mindframe. “He wants to go a mile and a quarter, and you need a horse that can go a mile and a quarter to run here,” Baffert said of GI Goodwood Stakes winner Nevada Beach. “I feel pretty good about both my chances. I think the Breeders' Cup [Classic] was a weird-run race, he was on the inside, and he was sort of tight in the inside there and the track that day was just really speed. But he won after that, he's come back and run two big races, so I feel he's more mature now. He gets over this track really well. He's big, he reminds me a lot of Country Grammer–a big, long-striding horse that gets over this track.” The second-place finishes for Charlatan and Country Grammer came in the two years following a disappointing effort in the inaugural running from McKinzie, who, like Nevada Beach, was owned by the triumvirate of Michael E. Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman. “I thought McKinzie was going to run really big, and he didn't pick up his speed at all, so, you're just hoping that when they turn for home, that they're running, and hopefully it's going to be Nysos, and I hope that Nevada Beach is right there too, but Nysos and Forever Young–it's King Kong versus Godzilla,” Baffert said. While Nevada Beach is likely to go on to next month's Dubai World Cup from Riyadh, Nysos will return to California. “We'll take him back home, and just freshen him up and point for the Breeders' Cup Classic,” he added. “I've brought good horses here, and I think Nysos, hopefully, is the best one I've brought here. It's one of those things where I just felt like I wanted to come back, and if we were to win, I want to be here, I want to enjoy it. “All I can hope for is when they turn for home, that Nevada Beach and Nysos, they're there in contention. It would be great to see my horses hook up with Forever Young. Last year, it was really fun to watch that race. It was incredible–that's what the Saudi Cup is supposed to be about: two great horses just going at it. “I think Nysos is a great horse. Forever Young is a great horse, maybe there's another. I've come here and I got beat by [80-1 shot] Emblem Road, so you never know. Crazy things happen in this race. I just hope that the horses show up–that's all you can ask for. “I like challenges, and this is a race I've never won, so it's on my bucket list, and we're going to keep coming until we win this thing. We're not going to give up.” The post ‘It’s King Kong Versus Godzilla’: Baffert Relishing Saudi Cup Battle Between Forever Young and Nysos 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
Letters to the Editor for the Feb. 12 edition of BloodHorse Daily includes a submission from the Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association requesting changes from the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority.View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Francis Graffard targeted Thursday's debutantes event at Chantilly with two potentially smart fillies and it was The Aga Khan Studs representative Edaja (Siyouni) who enjoyed the stable bragging rights. Sent off the 12-5 favourite for the mile contest on Polytrack, the daughter of the Jockey Club Oaks Invitational winner and G2 Prix de Malleret and G2 Prix du Conseil de Paris runner-up Edisa (Kitten's Joy) was restrained early in mid-division by Clement Lecoeuvre. Reeling in stablemate Morgana Gold (Too Darn Hot) with 50 metres remaining, the homebred asserted to score by 1 1/2 lengths. The post Siyouni Filly Edaja Another Bright Graffard Prospect 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
John Size will unleash a bumper squad of 11 horses at Sha Tin on Saturday as he looks to continue his strong run of recent form, with Hong Kong Derby (2,000m) entrant Enthusium one of his most fascinating runners. The champion trainer has designs on running the British import – who won once at Carlisle from four starts in the UK when owned by King Charles – in next month’s Derby and his overseas form suggests that is not a fanciful idea. His victory came over 1,800m and his pedigree is all...View the full article
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