Wandering Eyes

In a hearing Friday at Alameda County Superior Court, the judge pushed back until Aug. 30 a decision as to whether Jerry Hollendorfer can once again stable and race his horses at the Pacific Racing Association’s (PRA) Golden Gate Fields facility. “It’s too complex for the judge to make a decision today,” said Darrell Vienna, who represented the California Thoroughbred Trainers (CTT) in the hearing via court call. “That’s probably the best thing–there were probably a couple hundred pages. There’s no chance for her to look at that in the time she had,” Vienna said, adding that the judge’s staff attorney would also be reviewing the documents. Hollendorfer and the CTT filed a 65-page complaint for emergency relief Monday of this week in the Alameda County Superior Court, seeking either a Temporary Restraining Order or a Preliminary Injunction against PRA, which operates The Stronach Group (TSG)-owned Golden Gate Fields. According to Vienna, TSG submitted a roughly 150-page filing Thursday night. TDN has yet to review TSG’s filing. “She [the judge] was concerned about whether the harm that Jerry was sustaining was truly irreparable, and she was concerned about the owners being involved–what was their position,” Vienna said, about the judge’s comments during the roughly 25-minute hearing. “She wanted to know [whether there] was a breach of contract, and we believe there was. And there’s going to be additional briefing, and so, by next Friday, we get to write and submit additional briefs.” In the interim, said Vienna, Hollendorfer will not be able to stable and race his horses at the Bay Area track. “That’s my understanding,” he said. Live racing at Golden Gate Fields resumed Aug. 15. Back in June, Santa Anita management told the trainer to remove his horses from TSG-owned facility, along with some 60 horses from Golden Gate Fields. The action was taken after four Hollendorfer-trained horses were catastrophically injured at Santa Anita during a six-month period, along with two at Golden Gate. The Paulick Report identified the Golden Gate fatalities as occurring in November of last year and January of this year. During this time, Hollendorfer has had no formal regulatory ruling against him. Friday’s ruling follows a flurry of recent actions that hitherto had amounted to a swift reversal of fortunes for the trainer. On Thursday, the DRF reported that the trainer is once again permitted to run horses under his name at New York Racing Association (NYRA) tracks. In late June, NYRA appeared to bar Hollendorfer from stabling and racing horses at its facilities, after which, Hollendorfer’s assistant, Don Chatlos, took over training duties in New York for the horses owned by Larry Best. In the article, Patrick McKenna, a NYRA spokesman, is quoted as saying, “Jerry Hollendorfer is a licensed trainer in New York State who is permitted to ship in and enter horses to race at all NYRA tracks including Saratoga Race Course.” Last month, a judge at the Superior Court of San Diego granted the trainer a preliminary injunction against Del Mar, giving him permission to stable and race horses under his name at the Southern California venue, the facility having barred him from doing so prior to the start of the meet. TDN has reached out to TSG for comment and will update the story with any response given. The post Judicial Decision on Hollendorfer and Golden Gate Fields Postponed appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

In a case of whodunnit, Monmouth-based trainer Aparna Battula has been denied a stay of a suspension issued by the New Jersey Racing Commission after investigators found several hypodermic needles and vials in her tack room July 29. However, Battula, a former jockey who came to the U.S. from India, said a disgruntled employee she had only recently fired planted the needles and vials without her knowledge. She said the employee then called in an anonymous tip to Monmouth Park security and told them to search Battula’s barn. “It was one of my friends that I went to school with and she was working for me and we were having trouble with her over the last month leading up to this,” Battula said. “I had people warning me about her, that she was acting jealous of me, even though I was close to her family and we were friends for a long time.” Battula said that she had a particularly busy day July 28 with two horses entered and the employee “was not being very helpful.” “A week before that I told her that if she didn’t step up, I’d have to let her go,” Battula continued. “She was really mad at me. That Sunday [the 28th], I was in the process of running horses, trying to get my job done, trying to get horses cooled out and she wasn’t being helpful. I told her she had to leave.” Battula said the employee showed up the next morning, the two exchanged words and before the employee left, Battula believes she planted the syringes in the tack room. Battula said she was too busy with her morning work to focus on what the ex-employee had allegedly done. “I have 11 horses in training, I gallop all my horses,” Battula said. “We start early. I was just going about my whole routine. She wasn’t there so everyone else had to do extra work and we were all busy trying to get horses out. I had horses tacked up to go to the track. It never hit me or occurred to me what was going on. She put them in the office. I never thought she would do something so drastic.” Battula said the employee admitted to other workers in her barn that the “disgruntled employee” admitted planting the syringes. Battula’s lawyer, Karen Murphy, identified the ex-employee as Maria Cardone. It is illegal for a trainer to possess needles and regulated or illegal medications on the backstretch. However, in an e-mail sent to the New Jersey Racing Commission, Murphy argued that Battula was not actually in possession of the illegal items because she had no idea they were in her tack room since they were put their by Cardone. “I write FIRST to respectfully demand that you make a correction concerning the attached ruling which inaccurately states that Ms. Battula ‘by her own admission, did possess in her occupied premises on the grounds of Monmouth Park….over 30 hypodermic needles and syringes as well as over 80 vials of injectable substances,'” Murphy wrote. “There was NO such admission. Rather, the testimony established that one of your licensees [Maria Cardone], who refused to appear in person at the administrative hearing, planted two bags in Ms. Battula’s tack room in retaliation for having been fired the day before. As you are aware from that same testimony, at no time did Ms. Battula ‘possess’ any prohibited items on the premises of Monmouth Park.” What also has yet to be determined, and may go a long way toward deciding Battula’s fate, is what was actually in the syringes. In its ruling, the New Jersey Racing Commission wrote that a “number of injectable substances” were sent for analysis. The ruling continued that Battula will have a hearing before Board of Stewards “once the confiscated items have been analyzed and the results reported to the New Jersey Racing Commission…” The Board of Stewards may see the case completely differently if the vials contained something as innocuous as vitamins or legal therapeutic medications versus a more serious class of illegal drugs. It is not known how long it will take before the results of the tests are received by the racing commission. “Nothing that is out there is what it people are making it out to be,” Battula said. “Karen told me they are trying to make an example out of me. They just want to look good. According to them, I’m nothing, so I’m an easy person to throw under the bus.” Battula is 3 for 25 on the year while racing primarily and seven of 75 during her career. The post Jersey-Based Trainer Denied Stay After Syringes Found in Tack Room appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

ANOTHER MIRACLE (c, 2, American Pharoah–Retraceable, by Medaglia d’Oro) took to the turf with aplomb, winning Saratoga’s Skidmore S. in his first try on grass Friday and becoming the second black-type winner for his Triple Crown-winning freshman sire (by Pioneerof the Nile). Battling favored Montauk Daddy (Daddy Long Legs) early, the 5-2 shot was content to sit second as the chalk sped clear, clocking an opening quarter in a sharp :21.82. The bay closed in on Montauk Daddy as the half went up in :44.05 and was forced to go out wide as his betting rival moved out a few paths in mid-stretch. Another Miracle swept past Montauk Daddy in the final sixteenth and charged clear to score in 1:01.61. Proven Strategies (Sky Mesa), co-owned by Len Green, nipped Montauk Daddy for second. Co-bred by Len Green’s DJ Stables, the Greens bought out their partners for $210,000 at Keeneland September. Second to recent GII Saratoga Special winner Green Light Go (Hard Spun) on debut at Belmont July 4, he returned 20 days later to wire an off-the-turf affair at the Spa. Lifetime Record: 3-2-1-0. O-Len & Jon Green; B-Betz/J Betz/CHNNHK/DJ Stables/Lamantia/Coco/Ram (KY); T-Gary Contessa. The post Another Miracle Becomes Second Stakes Winner for American Pharoah appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Seven of the eight graded stakes to be run Saturday, August 17 take place at either Del Mar or Saratoga Race Course, the lone outlier the Monmouth Oaks (G3) where Jaywalk looms odds-on against four opposing 3-year-old fillies. View the full article

Tax breezed a half-mile in a bullet :47.33 the morning of Aug. 16 in preparation for the $1.25 million Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course. View the full article

Officials at Fasig-Tipton have announced that a total of 285 predominantly California-bred yearlings have been cataloged for its California Fall Yearlings Sale to be held Thursday, Sept. 26, at the Fairplex in Pomona, CA. “Fasig-Tipton is excited to conduct our first yearling sale since we have returned to the California marketplace,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. “Our inaugural 2-year-old sale at Santa Anita this past June was an excellent launching point, and we look forward to building on that success in the yearling market. There is quality sire power in this catalogue, from both leading sires in California and nationally,” added Browning. The catalog is now available online and will be accessible via the Equineline sales catalog app. Print catalogs will be available by the beginning of next week. The post Fasig-Tipton Catalogs 285 For California Fall Yearling Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

The GI Runhappy Travers S. took a bit of a hit Thursday with news that Gary and Mary West’s duo of ‘TDN Rising Star’ and Eclipse Award winner Game Winner (Candy Ride {Arg}) and last-out GI TVG.com Haskell Invitational S. hero Maximum Security (New Year’s Day) would be skipping the race. But the ‘Midsummer Derby’ remains a compelling affair and a pair of its likely entrants tuned up Friday at Saratoga. Particularly with those aforementioned defections, Tax (Arch) should be one of the betting selections on the strength of his 3/4-length defeat of Tacitus (Tapit) in the GII Jim Dandy S. July 27. Owned by R. A. Hill Stable (Randy Hill), Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Hugh Lynch and Corms Racing Stable, the gelding broke off behind workmate Nan’s Plan (Kantharos), slipped through inside of a galloping horse at the entry to the stretch and skipped home well in hand, covering four furlongs in a bullet :47.33 (1/63) (XBTV video) over the Saratoga main track Friday morning. Irad Ortiz, Jr. was in the irons. “We tucked him in behind a horse and we got some other company in the middle of it and he went to the rail and just went right on about his business. I was really happy,” said trainer Danny Gargan. “Irad said he’s getting stronger and bigger and faster. We’re really happy with how he’s doing. He seems to be blossoming at just the right time. He was bucking and squealing coming off the track. It was a big-time work. He worked in :47[.33], and out three-quarters in 1:12.4. “He looks great after the work,” Gargan continued. “This is the fittest we ever had him. This winter we missed a lot of training due to weather and a few things here and there, but he’s fit now. I don’t know if we can win the Travers, but we’re going to show up and run good.” Claimed for $50,000 out of a victory in his two-turn debut at Keeneland last October, Tax was third in the GII Remsen S., but rebounded to win the GIII Withers S. ahead of a runner-up effort to Tacitus in the GII Wood Memorial S. Never truly factor in the GI Kentucky Derby and fourth in the GI Belmont S., he sat off the pace set by War of Will (War Front) in the Jim Dandy, ran to the front in upper stretch and held sway late from the slow-starting Tacitus. Endorsed Likely For Travers… Godolphin’s Endorsed (Medaglia d’Oro), a strong second to Highest Honors (Tapit) in the restricted Curlin S. July 26, was pronounced a likely starter for the Travers after drilling a half-mile in :48.33 (12/63) over the Spa main track Friday morning (XBTV video). “He worked really well and has been doing great since the Curlin and at this time are pointing to the Travers as long as he jogs up well tomorrow,” trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said. The conditioner admitted that Thursday’s developments helped put some wind in his sails. “We were looking at it strongly, but it helps to know that two of the [potential] favorites aren’t running. We’re doing very well and excited about the prospects,” McLaughlin said. Joel Rosario, who guided Endorsed to his first-level allowance victory at Belmont June 23, has the call for the Travers. Mind Control Hoping Lightning Strikes Twice… Red Oak Stable and Madaket Stable’s Mind Control (Stay Thirsty) is set to return to the site of his finest career moment when he contests the GI H. Allen Jerkens S. on the Travers undercard Aug. 24. Victorious in the GI Hopeful S. last summer, the bay earned Kentucky Derby points when landing the Jan. 1 Jerome S. and when a game runner-up in the GIII Gotham S., both going Aqueduct’s one-turn mile. Foregoing the Triple Crown races, Mind Control has since raced exclusively at seven furlongs, winning the GIII Bay Shore S. Apr. 6, finishing a troubled eighth to Hog Creek Hustle (Overanalyze) in the GI Woody Stephens S. June 8 and a neck third when hampered in Laurel’s Concern S. July 14. “The last two starts have been disastrous,” trainer Greg Sacco admitted. “In the Woody Stephens, he stumbled to his face and then he got bumped at the quarter pole. The last trip wasn’t much better at Laurel. He was blocked the whole stretch it seemed. The main thing is, he came out of those races well. You don’t always have the racing luck, which you need, hopefully we’ll have some racing luck in the Allen Jerkens.” Mind Control, who ships to Saratoga Aug. 21, worked five furlongs in 1:00.60 at his Monmouth base Aug. 10 and is scheduled to breeze back Saturday. The post Spa Notebook: Tax, Endorsed Breeze Towards ‘Midsummer Derby’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Last year Stormy Liberal used a pair of narrow wins on the five-furlong course at Del Mar, including a score in the Green Flash Handicap, as foundation to a four-race win streak that ended with a second straight Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint triumph. View the full article

The Great Day, runner-up in the Arlington Handicap (G3T) last out, will make a third attempt to break through in a stakes in the United States Aug. 17 in the $250,000 Del Mar Handicap Presented by The Japan Racing Association (G2T). View the full article

L & N Racing’s Tone Broke (Broken Vow) attempts turf for the first time in the final leg of Canada’s Triple Crown–Saturday’s Breeders’ S. at Woodbine. A two-time winner at Remington Park last season, the Steve Asmussen pupil failed to fire in a pair of tries at Meydan. He resurfaced to be second to King for a Day (Uncle Mo) in Pimlico’s Sir Barton S. May 18, and was third at double-digit odds behind front-running One Bad Boy (Twirling Candy) and Avie’s Flatter (Flatter) in the Queen’s Plate over the local synthetic June 29. The dark bay broke through in a big way last out, turning the tables on both of his Queen’s Plate foes to annex Fort Erie’s Prince of Wales S. by two lengths. While he’s never before tried the grass, he certainly has the pedigree to handle it–dam Mendocino Beano (Smart Strike) was third in the GIII Ontario Colleen S. over the local lawn, and is also responsible for turf MSW and ‘TDN Rising Star’ Stallion Heiress (Exchange Rate). A half to Mendocino Beano produced none other than last year’s champion turf male and older horse Mr Havercamp (Court Vision), while Tone Broke’s third dam Trishyde (Nureyev) was a French MGSW and MGISP Stateside. Avie’s Flatter boasts the most established turf form, having bested GI Belmont Derby hero Henley’s Joy (Kitten’s Joy) in Keeneland’s GIII Transylvania S. Apr. 5. He was sixth in the GII American Turf S. at Churchill May 4 before his back-to-back runner-up finishes in the first two legs of the Triple Crown. Josie Carroll will also saddle the lightly raced He’s a Macho Man (Mucho Macho Man), who was fourth in both the Queen’s Plate and Prince of Wales. The post Turf Test for Tone Broke in Breeders’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

After securing the biggest win of his career, veteran Bolo will try to win back-to-back races for the first time since his 2-year-old campaign when he starts in the $200,000 Del Mar Mile (G2T) Aug. 18 at Del Mar. View the full article

It is the turn of the seven-furlong specialists on Saturday, with Newbury staging an open-looking renewal the G2 Hungerford S. With very little between all eight protagonists, those entering the test on a high could have the edge and last year’s winner Sir Dancealot (Ire) (Sir Prancealot {Ire}) is coming in off a return-to-form success in Goodwood’s G2 Lennox S. on July 30. Forced to carry a three-pound penalty here as he did when following up 12 months ago, David Elsworth’s stable stalwart has to confirm form with the Lennox runner-up Hey Gaman (GB) (New Approach {Ire}). Ross Harmon’s Safe Voyage (Ire) (Fast Company {Ire}) has proven a revelation this term, winning Haydock’s Listed Spring Trophy May 11 and G3 John of Gaunt S. June 8 on ground with varying degrees of ease before running third in the G2 Minstrel S. Behind the subsequent G1 Prix Jacques le Marois winner Romanised (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) and Hay Gaman on ground described as good in that July 20 Curragh contest, the John Quinn standard-bearer should have the going to suit with the British summer dipping once again. “We’re very happy with him,” Quinn said. “Obviously the races he can run in now are very difficult, but we couldn’t be happier with him and we’re hoping he can win. There’s rain around and I’m expecting good-to-soft ground which will be fine for him. It did dry up quicker than we expected at The Curragh, but it was safe and he went on it–he just prefers it with a little bit more dig. He can travel that bit easier when it’s softer.” Earlier on Newbury’s card, Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum’s Juan Elcano (GB) (Frankel {GB}) will be a warm order after his second in Newmarket’s G2 Superlative S. July 13, but faces danger in an unbeaten Mark Johnston-trained colt in Thunderous (Ire) (Night of Thunder {Ire}). Highclere Thoroughbred Racing’s bay was successful with an amount of authority at Doncaster June 28 and Redcar July 21 and is still unexposed. Juan Elcano’s jockey Andrea Atzeni said, “He ran a solid race last time at Newmarket, where I think the dip coming down the hill didn’t suit him. He is a good-looking horse with a great mind and we are very hopeful. That was only his second run last time and he was staying on well. The flat seven should suit him well, while we know he handles a softer surface as he won his novice race on heavy ground. He is a horse we think a lot of and like a lot.” Mark Johnston said of Thunderous, “On ratings he has got quite a bit to find, but he is an unknown quantity. He has had two runs and two wins and he can’t do any more than that. He has shown a bit of class. He is a nice horse and has done everything well.” The G3 Geoffrey Freer S. sees a trio of 3-year-olds take on the impressive May 9 G3 Ormonde S. winner Morando (Fr) (Kendargent {Fr}) who is enjoying a drop in class. One of them is Sultan Ali’s convincing July 19 Listed Glasgow S. scorer Sameem (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) who could yet emerge as a lively outsider in the St Leger. Andrew Balding said of Morando, “If the rain comes we know he handles that ground very well. He seems in good form. He was a little bit below-par [when eighth] in the King George, but it was a race run at a strong gallop and it didn’t really suit him. He has won over this trip at Chester so we know that won’t be a problem.” Deauville’s four black-type races are headed by the G2 Shadwell Prix de la Nonette, where Lady Bamford’s Suphala (Fr) (Frankel {GB}) bids to take another step up the ladder after successes in the Listed Prix Volterra over a mile at ParisLongchamp June 10 and nine-furlong G3 Prix Chloe at Chantilly June 29. She faces Ecurie Philippe Segalot and Martin Schwartz’s May 20 G3 Prix Cleopatre winner Etoile (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) who was unlucky to only be fourth in the G1 Prix de Diane over 10 1/2 furlongs at Chantilly last time June 16. Lady Bamford and Andre Fabre also combine with the likely G2 Shadwell Prix du Calvados favourite Tropbeau (GB) (Showcasing {GB}), who captured the G3 Prix Six Perfections over this course and distance July 29. Just three fillies take her on, including Merriebelle Irish Farm’s July 25 Listed Star S. winner Walk In Marrakesh (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}) from the Johnston stable. The G3 Shadwell Prix Daphnis sees Khalid Abdullah’s July 28 Listed Prix de Tourgeville winner Delaware (GB) (Frankel {GB}) meet His Highness The Aga Khan’s impressive July 14 ParisLongchamp conditions scorer Shendam (Fr) (Charm Spirit {Ire}). The post Hungerford Takes Center Stage appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

After a pair of impressive stakes wins last year on the synthetic surface at Presque Isle Downs, Hotshot Anna will aim for a repeat performance. View the full article

After securing the biggest win of his career in his previous start, veteran Bolo will try to win back-to-back races for the first time since his 2-year-old campaign when he starts in the $200,000 Del Mar Mile (G2T) Aug. 18 at Del Mar. View the full article

Of the many stud farms dotted around the Normandy countryside, none is closer to the Arqana sales complex than Elevage de Tourgeville, just three kilometres outside Deauville. It has been the home of the Lepeudry family for three generations, with a fourth waiting in the wings, and during that time, the human dynasty has cultivated an equine family which now stretches to its seventh generation and has been much celebrated in Europe of late. One of the latest to emerge from Pierre Lepeudry’s purchase of the Abernant (GB) mare Dilly-Dally (GB) in the 1960s is lot 71, the Muhaarar (GB) half-sister to Group 1 winner Robin Of Navan (Fr) (American Post {GB}), one of two offerings by Tourgeville in the select session of the August Sale. Robin Of Navan’s juvenile season was highlighted by consecutive victories at listed and Group 2 level before his G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud win and, now six, Harry Dunlop’s pride and joy is still on the boil and recently won the G2 Meilen Trophy in Dusseldorf. The family’s current revival was augmented last season by the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac victory of Lily’s Candle (Fr) (Style Vendome {Fr}) from a different branch of the Dilly-Dally clan, while farther afield there has been another top-level victory for the family in Lys Gracieux (Jpn) (Heart’s Cry (Jpn), a half-sister to Lily’s Candle’s dam Golden Lily (Fr) (Dolphin Street {Fr}) and winner of the GI Takarazuka Kinen in Japan. Antoine Lepeudry is the current head of the farm and is closely aided by his sons Felix, currently assistant trainer to David O’Meara in England, and Jean-Charles, an equine vet with Baker McVeigh. Antoine’s mother Monique is the breeder of both Robin Of Navan and Lily’s Candle from her only two broodmares at the farm. Her husband Pierre died in 2013. “My grandfather started with some Thoroughbreds and had a few older mares. He had a bit of success but then for some reason he stopped with Thoroughbreds and started breeding trotters,” Antoine Lepeudry recalls. “When my father took over he was very good friends with Dick Warden from the CBA and he got involved in one mare in particular because The Marshal (Ire) (Martial {Ire}) had just won the Jacques Le Marois and he was given a nomination. So he went to Newmarket and bought Dilly-Dally.” Citing patience as the key requisite for any breeder, Lepeudry continues, “Nothing really appeared in this part of the family until Good Bye My Friend, he was the first decent one.” Good Bye My Friend (Fr) (Kendor {Fr}), named in memory of the Lepeudry family’s late friend and client Rico Erculiani, is a half-brother to Robin Of Navan’s dam Cloghran (Fr) (Muhtahir {GB}), their dam The Wise Lady (Fr) (Ganges) being a fourth generation descendant of Dilly-Dally. Another of The Wise Lady’s offspring, the G3 Premio Sergio Cumani winner Ming Zhi Cosmos (Fr) (Duke Of Marmalade {Ire}), is about to return to the fold after a round-the-world tour which has seen her also race in Singapore and start her breeding career in the southern hemisphere. “This little pedigree of Normandy is starting to shine all over the world,” says Felix Lepeudry. “We inadvertently saw Ming Zhi Cosmos in a catalogue the other day at Magic Millions, so at 4 a.m. in Yorkshire before I started work we were bidding for a mare in Australia for my family and we got her for a bargain.” And Felix, who has also worked for Roger Varian in Newmarket, has his sights set on adding a new element to the family business. He explains, “My personal project is to carry on breeding with the family and then start training eventually. The ideal for me would be to be on the farm and have a small string of horses here in Deauville. That’s the dream but I need to have the full support of the family as well.” He has whet his appetite for seeing through the careers of some of the Tourgeville graduates by being able to keep an extra close eye on David O’Meara’s stable star of the season, Lord Glitters (Fr) (Whipper), who was bred by his family and sold by them as a yearling for €25,000 at the 2014 Arqana October Sale. “Being able to have followed a horse that we bred at the trainer’s yard has been very nice,” he says. “David is excellent–he speaks his mind and teaches me a lot about how to run the business and how to be more competitive. He trains winner after winner.” Lord Glitters provided the Lepeudrys with yet another proud day when winning the G1 Queen Anne S. at Royal Ascot, having finished runner-up in the race 12 months earlier. Extra poignancy is found in the fact that one of their partners in his dam is Erculiani’s widow, Hilary. “We were all together at Ascot with Mrs Erculiani and our mother,” Felix says. “We don’t see each other very often so for us all to be together was very special.” With four mares from Dilly-Dally’s family still on the farm, the Lepeudrys take pride in trying to adhere to the approach of patriarch Pierre when it comes to deciding on matings. “Our grandfather always said speed, speed, speed, and then you can add the stamina to a family later, but the baseline must be your speed,” advises Felix. “Cloghran is by Muhtathir, who tends to produce longer-distance horses, so coming back to Muhaarar seemed to make sense. We replicated all the same inbreeding as Robin Of Navan and Liliside–the inbreeding to Lyphard and Riverman. They were stallions our grandfather was completely mad about but could never afford.” Few could begrudge the family its current run of success, especially when taking into account a particularly bitter piece of luck with Liliside (Fr) (American Post {GB})–now the dam of Lys Gracieux–who finished first past the post in the G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches in 2010 but was subsequently demoted to sixth place following a stewards’ enquiry which gave the race to Juddmonte’s Special Duty (GB) (Hennessy). “Liliside should have been our first Classic winner,” says Antoine. “When we were watching Lily’s Candle at Longchamp last year we were thinking back to what happened nine years ago and there was a lot of emotion but it was a wonderful result in the end as the Marcel Boussac is like a Classic race to us.” He adds, “The most important thing in this business is to be patient.” The post Glittering Spell For Tourgeville appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. 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There’s a new name on the consignors’ list at Arqana this August but it is one with an entirely familiar ring to it. Andreas Putsch’s Haras de Saint Pair has regularly been one of the headline acts of the October Yearling Sale but this year presents a pair of fillies from two very current families by way of dipping a toe in warmer waters. “It’s the first time selling at August–it’s an experiment and let’s see how it goes,” says Putsch, who will also be active as a vendor at the Tattersalls October Sale in Newmarket. “We are trying to be here with the pedigrees with the updates so we thought it was important to bring these two fillies with updates from this year. It needs to be seen how people take to our change of policy.” There will certainly be plenty to send potential buyers toward the filly (lot 76), who sells on Saturday night as she is by arguably France’s hottest sire, Siyouni (Fr), and is a half-sister to this season’s G2 Coventry S.-placed Guildsman (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}). Her breeder says, “We’re very happy with her coming here. She’s done great and, like her brother, she’s quite a precocious type, not too big and mentally very forward. She’s by Siyouni and you can’t go wrong with Siyouni these days.” Adding further depth to the family which has been successful over generations for the Aga Khan is the fact that the filly’s dam Dardiza (Ire) (Street Cry {Ire}) is herself a half-sister to the dam of France’s former champion 3-year-old Almanzor (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), who has his first crop of foals on the ground. A similarly active family is that of Monday’s offering by Intello (Ger) (lot 209). She is out of the G2 Diana-Trial runner-up Waldjagd (GB) (Observatory {GB}), the dam of Urwald (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}), who will bid to follow up his win in the Listed Prix Pont Neuf earlier this year with victory in Saturday’s G3 Prix Daphnis. While that would prove yet another timely update, it is already a family with plenty going on as it includes Waldgeist (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), the winner earlier this year of the G1 Prix Ganay who was just touched off in the Prix du Jockey Club during his Classic season. “Today this is really the German family and one of the top five in the studbook in Europe,” Putsch says. “Her dam had the update this year with Urwald who is running and it’s a filly, so hopefully there will be somebody trying to get into this family.” As well as his own yearlings to be consigned, Putsch will be keeping a close eye on the first crop of his homebred G1 Prix du Moulin winner Vadamos (Fr) (Monsun {Ger}) as they come under the hammer this year, starting with a colt and a filly to be sold at the August Sale. He says, “We kept shares in Vadamos and we used him. We are keeping a colt as we feel that what they do at two in training is very important. What I have seen of his stock here in this sale is quite nice, they are good looking and we will hope for the best.” Putsch has been delighted with the support Vadamos has received since his retirement to Tally-Ho Stud in Ireland in 2017. He adds, “First of all, he is a fast son of Monsun–a miler–so that’s unique for a Monsun and I think with the combination of the some of the speedy Tally-Ho mares he will do well. He’s a good-looking horse and I think that has won many breeders over. I have had breeders telling me that they didn’t want to breed to him but when they saw him they did, so I think his looks have been a very strong factor in the equation.” Moreover, Putsch is optimistic about this season’s yearling crop in general. “I’ve been around looking at yearlings with my daughter before the sale and it’s rare that you see so many good-looking yearlings. I think it’s a very strong crop–maybe it is because we have had so much sun this year–and I hope that this will be confirmed over the next month when we come to Tatts and Goffs.” The post August ‘Experiment’ For Saint Pair appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

DEAUVILLE, France-The European yearling sale season gets underway in Deauville, France this weekend with Arqana’s flagship August Yearling Sale. Selling begins at 5:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday after group-race action at Deauville Racecourse across the street. Monday’s session begins at 1 p.m. and is followed on Tuesday by the separate v2 sale for yearlings handpicked for precocity. A gloomy forecast failed to materialize during inspections on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, allowing a cosmopolitan cast of buyers to inspect their potential purchases under sunny skies, and the mood on the grounds was similarly bright. “Inspections have been going very well,” said Arqana’s Executive Director Freddy Powell. “The consignors were busier than usual for the first couple days of inspections, Wednesday and Thursday. Those looking have said they’ve been very happy with the selection of horses, so it couldn’t be better at this point.” As the first yearling sale of the year, the August sale will set the standard for the remainder of the season. Powell said he has a few concerns about the economy, but that ultimately the cream of the crop would rise to the top. “There are a few factors that make us a bit nervous but we can’t control them,” he said. “The economy is not as good as last year at this time and the sterling is pretty low against the Euro compared to last year, so that’s all a bit of a worry. At the end of the day, though, if you have nice horses, people will buy them. We can be cautiously optimistic.” One of the poster boys of the August sale this year has been Sottsass (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}), a €340,000 yearling and the winner of this year’s G1 Prix du Jockey Club. Sottsass is out of the excellent young producer Starlet’s Sister (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) whose first foal, Sistercharlie (Ire) (Myboycharlie {Ire}), won her sixth Grade I just last weekend, and whose fifth foal, a colt by Fastnet Rock (Aus), is catalogued as lot 21 with Ecurie des Monceaux. “Sottsass is a very good advert for the sale,” Powell said. “He won the French Derby for Peter Brant and he’s a gorgeous horse, a brother to Sistercharlie of course and we have another half-brother in this sale so it’s very exciting. The mare has a Dubawi filly this year and is back in foal to Dubawi so I’d say we’re going to hear about that family for a while.” And has Powell put the pressure on Monceaux’s Henri Bozo to put Starlet’s Sister’s Dubawi filly in next year’s sale? “He doesn’t have a choice,” Powell laughed. Monceaux will have its usual array of stars, and those are expected to include lot 16, a Kingman (GB) colt out of the stakes-placed Sotka (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}), already the dam of stakes winners Fas (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) and Silva (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}); lot 48, a three-quarter-sister to French champion 2-year-old National Defense (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) by first-crop sire Shalaa (Ire); lot 78, a Galileo (Ire) filly out of the stakes-placed Debutante (Fr) (Gold Away {Ire}); and lots 147 and 148, a colt and a filly, respectively, by Galileo (Ire) and Dubawi (Ire) out of the Dansili (GB) full-sisters Prudente (Ire) and Prudenzia (Ire). The largest consignment numerically comes from Haras des Capucines, which fields 43. Potential highlights could include lot 52, a Frankel (GB) half-sister to stakes winner Nordic One (Fr) (Dubai Destination) and stakes-placed Modern Family (Fr) (Excellent Art {GB}) and any one of seven Siyounis in the draft. “We’ve been very busy,” said Capucines’ Eric Puerari. “On Thursday we had an average of about 50 visits per horse and a large number of people from all over the world.” Lucie Lamotte and Gwenael Monneraye’s La Motteraye Consignment sold the top lot at this sale two years ago, and Monneraye said this year’s group of 25 is the best consignment they have ever brought. “We are very lucky to have a good draft including four Kingmans, two Frankels and a Dark Angel,” he said. “We don’t have a star, but we have a good bunch of horses. “I have a feeling that this sale is becoming more and more of a stallion market; you have to have the right stallion and a good-looking yearling and pedigree is a big help also.” Monneraye said they began showing on Wednesday, with numbers way up. “It was really busy,” he said. “We had about 30 shows, which normally we have about four on the Wednesday. I think the right people are here and there are good vibes about the sale. Sheikh Mohammed is probably on his way, so that’s a big thing. We haven’t seen him here in about 15 years so that will probably help the sale.” Of his expectations for the market, Monneraye added, “We had good indicators with the breeze ups, which went well. I’m optimistic. We had a lot of people visiting the farm during July to look at the horses, more than ever, and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we have been very busy showing horses.” Ballylinch Stud typically brings a select draft to Deauville, and this year it offers six fillies. Two of those are by its well- established G1 Prix du Jockey Club/G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches winner Lope de Vega (Ire), while it also presents a filly from the first crop of another French Derby winner, New Bay (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), who also stands at Ballylinch. Lot 34 is a full-sister to last year’s G3 Prestige S. winner Antonia de Vega (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}), and it is also the family of G1 Prix Jacques le Marois winner and young French sire Al Wukair (Ire) (Dream Ahead) and G1 Prix de Diane winner Caerlina. Lot 85 is a granddaughter of French stakes winner and multiple stakes producer Via Milano (Ire) (Singspiel {Ire}), while her 2-year-old full-sister Love Vega (Ire) is a winner in France. “The pedigrees are alive and Lope de Vega is very much on an upward curve,” said Ballylinch Manager John O’Connor. “We anticipate that’s going to continue because the quality of mares he’s covering now is improving all the time.” Ballylinch’s New Bay filly is a half-sister to listed winner and Group 3-placed Ship Of Dreams (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}). “New Bay is a Classic-winning son of Dubawi with a big family because he’s from the immediate family of Kingman and Oasis Dream. It’s definitely a sires’ family and it’s on fire at the moment. This filly is out of a mare by Lawman so it’s very much a Ballylinch family. She’s a sister to a stakes-winning filly by Lope de Vega called Ship of Dreams who did very well for Qatar Racing.” Of the first crop of New Bays, O’Connor added, “We’re delighted with them. He gets a lovely type; very nice clean limbs on them and great temperaments and good movers. He has every chance of being a very nice stallion.” Other lots to keep an eye on this weekend include lot 15, a Kingman (GB) colt out of the G1 Premio Lydia Tesio winner Sortilege (Ire) (Tiger Hill {Ire}) from the excellent family of Group 1 winners like Schiaparelli (Ger), Samum (Ger), Salve Regina (Ger) and Sea the Moon (Ger); lot 61, a Galileo filly from the family of Goldikova (Ire)(Anabaa) and lot 68, a Galileo colt out of dual Group 2 winner Cladocera (Ger) (Oasis Dream {GB}); and lot 88, a Dubawi (Ire) colt out of Group 1 winner Giofra (Fr) and the full-brother to the €1.55-million sale topper here two years ago. The post A Deauville Draft For The Ages appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

On the heels of a graded-stakes sweep in Chicago last weekend, Chad Brown ships in a pair of sophomore fillies who will look to provide the conditioner with his first GI Del Mar Oaks at the seaside oval with his first starters in the race. OXO Equine LLC’s Cambier Parc (Medaglia d’Oro), a $1.25-million Keeneland September yearling and a daughter of Canadian Horse of the Year Sealy Hill (Point Given), looks the preferred half of the uncoupled entry as she shoots for her third graded stakes conquest of the season. The 3/4-length winner of Gulfstream’s GIII Herecomesthebride S. in March, she was fourth to divisional leader Concrete Rose (Twirling Candy) in the GIII Edgewood S. at Churchill May 3 before defeating stable companion and ‘TDN Rising Star’ Newspaperofrecord (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) in the GIII Wonder Again S. at Belmont June 6. A one-paced third to Concrete Rose in the GI Belmont Oaks, she will be suited by the slight cutback in trip. John Velazquez takes over for Jose Ortiz, who remains in New York to partner the Brown-trained GII Mother Goose S. winner Dunbar Road (Quality Road) in the GI Alabama S. Drayden Van Dyke has the call atop LNJ Foxwoods’s homebred Dogtag (War Front), winner of the P.G. Johnson S. at Saratoga, who returned from nearly eight months on the sidelines to annex the May 17 Hilltop S. at Pimlico. She was most recently the last home in the July 19 Lake George S. at Saratoga in which all three runners were trained by Brown. George Krikorian’s Mucho Unusual (Mucho Macho Man) looks to take her turf record to a perfect four-for-four this weekend. Front-running winner of the California Cup Oaks at Santa Anita Feb. 18, she nipped Out of Balance (Kitten’s Joy) by a head in an open first-level allowance in Arcadia June 16 and overcame a wide run into the stretch to best an unlucky Apache Princess (Unusual Heat) in the GII San Clemente S. July 20. Lady Prancealot (Ire) (Sir Prancealot {Ire}), a fast-finishing third in the GIII Providencia S. at Santa Anita Apr. 6, was outfinished by Maxim Rate (Exchange Rate) in the GIII Senorita S. May 4 and exits a strong victory in the GIII Honeymoon S. June 1. The post Brown Duo Faces Locals in Del Mar Oaks appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency CHROME HALF-SIBLING ENTERED AS MTO 1st-SAR, $90K, Msw, 2yo, 1 1/16mT, 1:00p.m. The Coolmore contingent went to $1.1 million at Keeneland September to acquire FORT MCHENRY (Tapit), a half-brother to two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit), and he looks to draw into this test as a main track only for his first trip to the post. California Chrome owns four Eclipse Awards overall, as well as victories in the GI Kentucky Derby, GI Preakness S. and G1 Dubai World Cup. SF Bloodstock purchased their dam Love the Chase (Not For Love) for $1.95 million with Fort McHenry in utero at the 2016 Fasig-Tipton November Sale. If the race stays on the grass as scheduled, Pletcher will saddle a first timer bred for that surface in No Word (Silent Name {Jpn}). The Wertheimer and Frere homebred is a full-sibling to MGSW & MGISP turfer Silentio and his second dam is MSW & MGSP Ecoute (Manila). TJCIS PPs WILKES UNVEILS WELL-RELATED FILLY AT ELLIS 3rd-ELP, $50K, Msw, 2yo, f, 7f, 2:46p.m. Green Lantern Stables homebred DELPHIKI (Pioneerof the Nile) makes her career bow in this test for Ian Wilkes. Out of MSW & MGSP Ender’s Sister (A.P. Indy), the dark bay is a half-sister to MGISW sprinter A.P. Indian (Indian Charlie), GSW Tiz Shea D (Tiznow) and GSP Its All Relevant (Hard Spun). This is also the family of MGSW Doctor Mounty (Street Sense). TJCIS PPs SKY MESA COLT FROM DEEP CANADIAN FAMILY DEBUTS AT MONMOUTH 8th-MTH, $45K, Msw, 2yo, 1mT, 4:02p.m. Candian blue-blood RESURGENT (Sky Mesa) debuts at the Jersey Shore Saturday afternoon. The $275,000 KEESEP buy is a half-sibling to Canadian champion Amis Gizmo (Giant Gizmo); GSW & GISP Ami’s Flatter (Flatter), who did his best work here in the U.S.; and SW Aragorn Ami (Aragorn {Ire}). His dam is a full-sister to stakes winner Victorious Ami, who is responsible for two-time Sovereign Award winner Ami’s Mesa (Sky Mesa) and GSW Ami’s Holiday (Harlan’s Holiday). West Point Thoroughbreds partnered with Albert Frassetto to purchase Kid Mercury (Lemon Drop Kid) for $475,000 at the OBS March Sale following a :21 1/5 breeze. He is out of SP Queenie’s Song (Unbridled’s Song), who is a daughter of GSW & GISP Queen of Money (Corporate Report) and a half-sister to MSW & MGSP Quiet Cash (Real Quiet). TJCIS PPs EXPENSIVE MORE THAN READY MAKES CAREER BOW IN SOCAL 5th-DMR, $61K, Msw, 3yo/up, 1mT, 7:00p.m. Kaleem Shah’s $750,000 EASMAY purchase RAPPORT (More Than Ready) looks to open his account at Del Mar. He is out of Canadian champion Embur’s Song (Unbridled’s Son), who is a half-sister to the SP dam of MGISW Exaggerator (Curlin). TJCIS PPs SHIREFFS SADDLES PRICEY HONOR CODE FIRSTER 6th-DMR, $61K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 7:30p.m. C R K Stable secured the well-bred HONOR A.P. (Honor Code) for $850,000 at Fasig-Tipton’s Saratoga Sale and he looks to get his career off on the right hoof here. Out of MGISW Hollywood Story (Wild Rush), the dark bay is a half to SW Miss Hollywood (Malibu Moon), MGSP Hollywood Star (Malibu Moon) and MSP Hoorayforhollywood (Storm Cat). SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Fred Hertrich, John Fielding and Golconda Stables got their partnership off to a good start earlier this month with Eight Rings (Empire Maker) romped to ‘TDN Rising Star’-dom at this oval for Bob Baffert. The same team looks to see continued success with first timer Hydrogen (Violence) in this spot. The $575,000 FTSAUG buy is a half-brother to stakes-placed Gettysburg (Pioneerof the Nile). TJCIS PPs The post Aug. 17 Insights appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

In the 28 previous runnings of the GI TVG Pacific Classic, just two horses have raided from the Eastern half of the country and emerged victorious–Go Between (Thunder Gulch) in 2008 and Dullahan (Even the Score) in 2012–and both of those were contested over the Polytrack. An East Coast quartet, led by GII Stephen Foster S. hero Seeking the Soul (Perfect Soul {Ire}) will try to right that wrong in the $1-million centerpiece of the Del Mar meeting, which carries with it a fees-paid berth into the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita Nov. 2. A homebred for Charles Fipke, Seeking the Soul made the 2017 GI Clark H. his first black-type victory and added last year’s GIII Ack Ack S. before finishing runner-up to City of Light (Quality Road) in the GI Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and third in defense of his Clark title to close the season. Second to City of Light in this year’s GI Pegasus World Cup, he was well-beaten in the G1 Dubai World Cup, rounded out the triple underneath divisional heavy ‘TDN Rising Star’ McKinzie (Street Sense) in the May 3 GII Alysheba S. at Churchill and was up late to annex the Foster last time out. ‘TDN Rising Star’ Quip (Distorted Humor) atoned from a bland third-place effort in the GIII Hal’s Hope S. Feb. 23 with a very game neck success in the GII Oaklawn H. in the Hot Springs slop Apr. 13. Part of a moderate tempo in the Stephen Foster, the bay carried the lead into the final furlong, but just failed to resist the late surge of Seeking the Soul. The other two shippers are Tenfold (Curlin), two-back winner of the GIII Pimlico Special S. over Saturday’s trip, and War Story (Northern Afleet), upset winner of the GIII Monmouth Cup at the Jersey Shore July 20. Campaign (Curlin) looks to give Hronis Racing and trainer John Sadler a second straight Pacific Classic win following on the towering tally recorded last year by champion Accelerate (Lookin At Lucky), who defeated Pavel (Creative Cause) by 12 1/2 lengths. Fourth to ‘Rising Star’ Gift Box (Twirling Candy) in the GI Santa Anita H. at this distance in April, the well-bred bay has excelled over further, winning the GIII Tokyo City Cup and GIII Cougar II H. at the mile and a half. The pace of Saturday’s heat feels genuine enough and Campaign should be coming hard through the final furlong. The post Seeking the Soul Looking To Make History in Pacific Classic appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

In this continuing series, Alan Carasso takes a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Kokura and Niigata Racecourses, featuring the return to action of Group 3 winner Mozu Superflare (Speightstown): Sunday, August 18, 2019 1st-KOK, ¥9,550,000 ($90k), Maiden, 2yo, 1000m FLAMINGO FLIGHT (f, 2, Flatter–Well, by Well Decorated) was bet down to 3-1 for her 1400-meter debut over soft Chukyo turf July 20 and turned in a creditable fourth-place effort (video, gate 6). Switching to the dirt and shortening up for this, the full-sister to ‘TDN Rising Star’ and MGSW & MGISP Kobe’s Back and to GSW Well Spelled (Spellbinder) cost connections $180K at last year’s Keeneland September Sale. B-Joanne R Mummert & John C Barrett Jr (KY) 5th-NII, ¥13,400,000 ($126k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1600mT JET MAX (c, 2, Goldencents–Song’n Dance, by Carson City) is a half-brother to a pair of stakes-placed gallopers, including Catsadiva (Tale of the Cat) from the same Storm Cat sire line who broke her maiden in her belated career debut in 2016. The first runner in Japan for his successful young stallion, Jet Max was a $72K KEESEP grad turned $100K OBSMAR breezer (:20 4/5). His yearling half-sister by Tapizar is cataloged as hip 2660 for this year’s KEESEP sale. B-C Kidder & N Cole (KY) 11th-KOK, Kitakyushu Kinen-G3, ¥74.6m ($703k), 3/up, 1200mT MOZU SUPERFLARE (f, 4, Speightstown–Christies Treasure, by Belong to Me), a $125K KEESEP acquisition, has earned about 10 times that amount and broke through at the pattern level with a front-running score in the G3 Ocean S. at Nakayama Mar. 2 (see below, gate 14). A half-sister to GSW Sacristy (Pulpit) and to the dam of Australian G1SW Qafila (Aus) (Not a Single Doubt {Aus}) and hailing from the family of GISWs Purge (Pulpit) and Jersey Girl (Belong to Me), Mozu Superflare’s yearling relation is a colt from the first crop of Exaggerator cataloged as hip 761 for KEESEP. B-Alpha Delta Stables LLC (KY) The post Notable US-Breds in Japan: Sunday, August 18, 2019 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Stetson Racing’s Point of Honor (Curlin), a stakes winner twice in her first four starts, came within a length of Grade I glory when second to undefeated ‘TDN Rising Star’ and Chad Brown trainee Guarana (Ghostzapper) in the GI Coaching Club American Oaks July 21 at Saratoga. Saturday, the impressive chestnut will meet another talented, yet less heralded runner from the Brown barn, Peter Brant’s Dunbar Road (Quality Road), in a nine-horse renewal of the GI Alabama S. at the Spa. Debuting a six-length winner in an off-the-turf event Dec. 16 at Gulfstream, Point of Honor repeated in Tampa’s Suncoast S. Feb. 9 before running an even fourth in the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks Mar. 30. Overcoming a wide trip to capture the GII Black-Eyed Susan S. May 17 at Pimlico, the $725,000 Keeneland September RNA finished gamely in the CCA Oaks, getting her last three furlongs in under 36 seconds, but wasn’t quite able to reel in the loose-on-the-lead Guarana, who is being pointed to the GII Cotillion S. Sept. 21. That race will be contested at nine furlongs, same as the CCA Oaks, while the stamina-laden Point of Honor gets an extra eighth to work with in the 10-panel Alabama. “She’s bred to handle it and this is the race we’ve had in the back of our minds for several months now,” trainer George Weaver told the NYRA notes team. “She has to go get it done, but it’s something we’re looking forward to. She’s had a good four weeks and she’s been training good. We’re happy with her. She’s not a difficult keep. She’s remained happy all year. She likes it here, but she liked it in Florida and liked it in Kentucky [too].” Dunbar Road also aired on debut, by 8 3/4 lengths Mar. 3 at Gulfstream and was runner-up in the Gulfstream Oaks, earning her a trip to Louisville for the GI Kentucky Oaks. Stuck on the also-eligible list, she didn’t get in, but hasn’t missed a beat since. Easily annexing a Belmont allowance May 30, she signaled her readiness for another attempt at Grade I company with a sharp success in the GII Mother Goose S. June 29 in Elmont. Though she earned a modest 87 Beyer for that effort, it belies the strength of the performance, as the bay rallied into a slow pace to score going away while clocking her last five-sixteenths in a sizzling :28.91. Should the two favorites falter slightly, a pair of multiple graded stakes winners will be ready to pounce. Phoenix Thoroughbreds and KatieRich Farms’ Lady Apple (Curlin) took five tries to break her maiden, but reeled off two more victories once she did, including the GIII Fantasy S. Apr. 12 at Oaklawn. Third in the Kentucky Oaks, she returned off a brief break to conquer the GIII Iowa Oaks July 5 at Prairie Meadows. She has returned to drill sharply over the local training track for the hot Steve Asmussen barn. Street Brand (Istan), an upset winner of the GII Fair Grounds Oaks Mar. 23, had early trouble before checking in seventh in the Kentucky Oaks, and bounced back with a convincing success in the GIII Indiana Oaks last out July 13 at Indiana Grand. Cheyenne Stables’ Ulele (Candy Ride {Arg}) stands an outside chance after two near misses against today’s contenders. Beaten a half-length by Point of Honor in the Black-Eyed Susan, she was denied by the same margin against Lady Apple in Iowa, and figures to set or sit close to a slow pace here. The post Point of Honor Takes On The ‘Other Chad’ in Alabama appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

After finishing first and second of an all-Chad Brown trio in the GIII Lake George S. July 19 at Saratoga, Paul Pompa’s Regal Glory (Animal Kingdom) and Peter Brant’s Blowout (GB) (Dansili {GB}) will re-oppose Saturday at the Spa, with six others signed on this time, in the GII Lake Placid S.. Graduating powerfully on debut to become a ‘TDN Rising Star’ last October at Belmont, Regal Glory repeated in the Stewart Manor S. at Aqueduct before finishing second in her first two sophomore starts, the GIII Sweetest Chant S. at Gulfstream and GII Appalachian S. at Keeneland. Back in the winner’s circle after an easy triumph in the Penn Oaks June 1 at Penn National, the chestnut was the longest price of the three Brown runners in the Lake George and wore down Blowout late to prevail. Blowout, like her stablemate, has yet to finish out of the exacta. A first-out victress Jan. 23 at Tampa, the bay was runner-up in the GIII Florida Oaks Mar. 9 in Oldsmar and the Memories of Silver S. Apr. 19 at Aqueduct. She picked up her first stakes score in the Wild Applause S. June 22 at Belmont and just wilted late after setting the pace in the Lake George. The two main challenges outside of the Brown barn come from Augustin Stable’s Varenka (Ghostzapper) and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Tango Uniform Racing’s Feel Glorious (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}). The former, who was second in both the GII Miss Grillo S. and P.G. Johnson S. last year as a maiden, closed her juvenile season with a good fifth at 40-1 in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. Getting her maiden win out of the way May 11 at Belmont, she closed into a slow pace to be third in the GIII Regret S. and annexed a local optional claimer July 14. The latter, who edged Blowout in the aforementioned Memories of Silver, was second with traffic trouble in the GIII Soaring Softly S. May 18 at Big Sandy before running fourth when last seen in the Wild Applause. The post Lake George Top Two Rematch in Lake Placid appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

An evenly matched field of eight is scheduled to line up for Saturday’s GIII Torrey Pines S. at Del Mar. Godolphin’s Classic Fit (Bernardini) should be one of the top betting choices off a runner-up effort behind GI Alabama S. contender Dunbar Road (Quality Road) in Belmont’s GII Mother Goose S. June 29. A second out graduate at Monmouth Park in September, she won an optional claimer on the Presque Isle synthetic a month later and captured the Hut Hut S. next out Dec. 8. The bay was making her seasonal bow in the Mother Goose off an almost seven-month layoff and has every right to improve here. Bob Baffert can never be overlooked and he saddles Fighting Mad (New Year’s Day) in this test. A debut winner over this strip last August, she was subsequently shelved and returned in a Churchill Downs allowance Apr. 30, which she won by a length. Off the board next out behind recent GI Test S. winner Covfefe (Into Mischief) in the GIII Miss Preakness S. May 17, she checked in second in a local optional claimer last out July 19. Pam and Martin Wygod homebred Into Chocolate (Into Mischief) earned an 81 Beyer Speed Figure for her second-out graduation at Santa Anita June 9 and was second last time over this track and trip July 26. Hollywood Hills (Hoorayforhollywood) and Sneaking Out (Indian Evening) finished just a nose apart in the Cal-bred Fleet Treat S. July 18 and they both return in this spot. The post Evenly Matched Field Set for Torrey Pines appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article

Final Jeopardy, a private purchase by Peter and James Redekop, ships from Saratoga to Alberta and is the 8-5 morning-line choice for Sunday's $150,000 Canadian Derby (G3) at Century Mile Racetrack and Casino. View the full article