Wandering Eyes

Stormy Liberal (Stormy Atlantic–Vassar, by Royal Academy), winner of last season’s GI Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar, made it two-for-two with an off the pace run in the 2018 renewal of the race at Churchill Downs. Sent off at 7-1 following a trio of victories, including the GIII Eddie D. at Santa Anita Sept,. 28, the gelding broke quickly from the nine hole and found himself closeup but was eased back to a stalking fourth behind the fleet-running World of Trouble (Kantharos), who carved out splits of :22.50, :45.83 and :57.71. Drawn to the outer turning for home as World of Trouble cut the corner, Stormy Liberal needed the entire length of the stretch to get past the game leader, and was a neck ahead of front runner at the wire. It was a long way back to Disco Partner (Disco Rico) in third. The final time for the 5 1/2 furlong turf test was 1:04.05. Lifetime Record: 30-12-8-1, $1,968,930. O-Rockingham Ranch and David Bernsen LLC; B-Dapple Bloodstock & Gryphon Invest. LLC. View the full article

SHAMROCK ROSE (f, 3, First Dude–Slew’s Quality, by Elusive Quality) unleashed a strong late rally in the final sixteenth to get up in the last jump and upset the GI Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint to get the Championship action started on Saturday at Churchill Downs. Romping in the Pennsylvania-bred Malvern Rose S. Aug. 5 at Presque Isle and repeating with another convincing score in the La Lorgnette S. at Woodbine Sept. 8, the bay kept it rolling with an 18-1 upset when switching to dirt in the GII Lexus Raven Run S. Oct. 20 at Keeneland. Let go at 25-1 here, Shamrock Rose dropped out to travel last of the 14 behind a sharp :21.89 quarter. Angling over to the fence heading into the far turn, she saved ground while still last behind a :44.99 quarter, began to advance in earnest past the three-sixteenths pole and kicked on late between horses to just tag Chalon (Dialed In) on the wire in 1:23.13. Lifetime Record: 10-5-2-1, $967,687. O-Conrad Farms; B-Best A Luck Farm LLC (PA); T-Mark Casse. View the full article

13:55 Naas – RaceBets Bet Of The Day Although the Ballydoyle team have had far more pressing matters across the Atlantic this week they still hold a host of contenders in their native Ireland where we find Ferretti in the fourth on the card. Two mediocre runs were put behind him when doing much better to finish a credible 2nd at this very venue. That looked a much tougher race than this one and it seems as though Aidan O’Brien has found an easier target. A step up to seven furlongs looks a promising move and it’s safe to say it’s likely he’s going to finally shake off his maiden tag this afternoon. Showmethegin May appreciate the softer ground and the top weight Dandys Ocean is very consistent so both deserve a close eye. Of the remainder Only The Brave looks an obvious threat especially with less weight to carry this time around but it’s going to be hard to see past a Ferretti success. FERRETTI (WIN) – NAP Carlisle: 13:00 – One For Rosie (WIN) 13:30 – Donna’s Delight (E/W) 14:05 – Take A Break (WIN) 14:40 – Looksnowtlikebrian (WIN) 15:10 – Dubai Angel (WIN) 15:45 – Thomas Patrick (WIN) Cork: 13:05 – Eclair De Beaufeu (WIN) 13:35 – Milliner (WIN) 14:10 – Young Turk (WIN) 14:45 – Spare Brakes (E/W) 15:15 – Poormans Hill (E/W) 15:50 – Arctic Light (E/W) 16:25 – Royal Illusion (WIN) Huntingdon: 13:10 – Excellent Team (WIN) 13:45 – Oi The Club Oi’s (WIN) 14:20 – Espoir De Loire (WIN) 14:50 – Jackthejourneyman (E/W) 15:25 – Thomas Campbell (WIN) 15:55 – King Cool (WIN) Naas: 12:20 – Roger That (E/W) 12:50 – Miss Power (E/W) 13:20 – Gentle Bellini (E/W) 13:55 – Ferretti (WIN)* 14:30 – Merited (E/W) 15:00 – Family Tree (E/W) 15:35 – Storm Steps (E/W) 16:05 – Snowflakes (E/W) The post Picks From The Paddock Best Bet – Sunday 4th November appeared first on RaceBets Blog EN. View the full article

Capannelle plays host to Italy’s only remaining Group 1 race the Premio Lydia Tesio on Sunday and for those of you, who don’t know where Capannelle is, the racecourse is in the beautiful cosmopolitan city of Rome. Tony Martin who is known more as a jumps trainer took this twelve months ago with Laganore under Colin Keane. This year’s race has attracted a very international field, with the eight runners coming from three different countries to contest this Group 1. It’s a pair of German horses that top the market with Well Timed and Navaro Girl. Well Timed won the German Oaks back in August and ran a possible career-best when last seen running a huge race to finish fifth behind Wild Illusion in the Prix de l’Opera at Longchamp on Arc day. Jean-Pierre Carvalho will be expecting his three-year-old filly to win a second Group One and she is the one to beat. Navaro Girl finished in behind Well Timed in the Prix de l’Opera and she has to give weight away to Well Timed again and I find it hard to see her turn the tables. Mark Johnston runs Nyaleti who has had a globetrotting campaign including a victory in the Group 2 German 1000 Guineas, a credible fourth in the Falmouth Stakes and most recently a third-place finish in a Group 1 at Keeneland. She has had a very busy campaign but she should be right there at the finish. God Given has been a maybe horse for much of the season but got her day in the season when winning the Group 2 Park Hill Stakes at Doncaster in September. She followed this up with a fine sixth on Champions Day at Ascot and although this was a fine run, I think she’ll once again come up short. Archie Watson trained Absolute Blast to finish third in this last year and the up and coming trainer runs Snowy Winter this time around who has already had a good season but again looks short of Group 1 class. Selection: Nyaleti The post Premio Lydia Tesio Preview appeared first on RaceBets Blog EN. View the full article

FORMER champion jockey and 15-times Group 1 winner Simon Marshall gives us his insights into all the runners in the 2018 Melbourne Cup. View the full article

FORMER champion jockey and 15-times Group 1 winner Simon Marshall gives us View the full article

IT’S three-and-a-bit minutes of drama and intrigue, a torrid, gut-busting test of horse and rider. View the full article

Rival jockey Karis Teetan is praying for a brotherly stoush between Time Warp and Glorious Forever this Sunday to set up the Group Three Sa Sa Ladies’ Purse (1,800m) for fan favourite Pakistan Star. The speedy brothers are set to face off for the first time, with the pair sharing the same freewheeling running style that will ensure the feature is run at a fast tempo, potentially setting up a trademark barnstorming Pakistan Star finish. The Mauritian jockey, who is the sixth rider of the... View the full article

THE all-important Melbourne Cup barrier draw has been held after the final 24-horse field for 2018 was confirmed. View the full article

THE all-important Melbourne Cup barrier draw has been held after the final 24-horse field for 2018 was confirmed. How did your horse fare? View the full article

Champion jockey Zac Purton believes promising galloper Superich is capable of bigger and better things, including a possible tilt at the four-year-old series. The Frankie Lor Fu-chuen-trained gelding has won three times in his five-race career to date, but Purton believes it could be just the beginning as he steps up in distance for the first time on Sunday in the Class Two Eleanor Handicap (1,400m) at Sha Tin. The rise in distance will also be met with a step up in grade as the son of Red... View the full article

Alexis Badel is hoping to take the momentum of an outstanding season in France into his winter stint in Hong Kong. The popular Frenchman returns to Sha Tin for a third time, having made a good impression in his first two short-term stretches, winning seven races first time around before doubling that to 14 last season. It means Badel arrives with a spring in his step and he is determined to go to another level. “My season was fantastic, I won my first Group One in Deauville, the Prix Jean... View the full article

EXTRA BRUT has landed Darren Weir a Victoria Derby win with the premier trainer’s first runner in the $2 million race. View the full article

EXTRA BRUT has landed Darren Weir a Victoria Derby win with the premier trainer’s first runner in the $2 million race. View the full article

Tim Glyshaw still has the halter. A piece of forelock. A sales catalog with a horse on the cover, suspended in midair. The memories are all around Barn 3 at Churchill Downs. He's learned to hold onto the good ones. View the full article

THE all-important Melbourne Cup barrier draw is held tonight at 6.30pm (AEDT), shortly after the final 2018 field is confirmed. View the full article

All-sources handle for Friday’s first day of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Churchill Downs was $52,216,685, the fourth highest total for a Friday Breeders’ Cup and the sixth time the card has exceeded $50 million. The Future Stars Friday card featured five Breeders’ Cup races for 2-year-old horses for the first time since the event expanded to its current two-day format in 2007 and Breeders’ Cup officials said they were encouraged by fans’ reaction to the new format. “It’s always exciting when the Breeders’ Cup returns to Churchill Downs and especially today as we focus on our sport’s future stars and highlight the connection between our championship races for juveniles and the GI Kentucky Derby and the GI Kentucky Oaks,” said Craig Fravel, Breeders’ Cup President and CEO. “We want to thank all of today’s participants and congratulate all of today’s winners as we look forward to tomorrow’s outstanding showcase of the best international racing.” Friday’s attendance was 42,249, a 29% increase over last year’s event at Del Mar, where attendance was capped because of the size of the venue, and a 4% increase over 2011, the last time the event was held at Churchill Downs. Friday’s on-track handle for the 10-race card was $7,251,466. View the full article

Schroeder Farms and Welton Mansfield's homebred Give Me a Hint continued to roll through the ranks in Southern California with a 2 1/2-length victory in the $200,000 Golden State Juvenile Fillies Nov. 2 at Santa Anita Park. View the full article

Daughter of Lope de Vega is unbeaten in three starts View the full article

A hard-charging Rocketry issued a late challenge in the final furlongs of the $200,000 Marathon Stakes Presented by TAA (G2) to claim his first graded win Nov. 2 at Churchill Downs. View the full article

The trainer, who may be the best ever when it comes to winning the GI Kentucky Derby, won Friday’s GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile with an undefeated horse that will be named 2-year-old champion. The talent, the pedigree, the trainer, the 2-year-old season…every box is checked. Can we just concede right now that Game Winner (Candy Ride {Arg}) will win the 2019 Derby? Not so fast. It may not seem like it, but there are actually a few things about Bob Baffert that indicate that the trainer is mortal and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile is one of them. This was the fourth time that Baffert has won the Juvenile and here are the histories of what happened to his previous winners following the Breeders’ Cup: New Year’s Day (Street Cry {Ire}): The 2013 winner never ran again. Midshipman (Unbridled’s Song): The 2008 Juvenile winner did not make any of the Triple Crown races. He was sold to Godolphin and won only twice after the Breeders’ Cup, in an allowance race at Belmont and in a $110,000 race in Dubai. Vindication (Seattle Slew): He won the 2002 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and never ran again. Meanwhile, Baffert has won the Derby five times and not one of those horses started in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Like most trainers, Baffert has changed the way he manages his horses over the last decade or so and now seems at his best when bringing horses along slowly when it comes to winning the Classic races. Justify (Scat Daddy) didn’t make his first career start until Feb. 18 and American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) was sidelined by an injury after winning the Sept. 27 GI FrontRunner S. (which was renamed in his honor this year) and did not reappear until the following year in the Mar. 14 GII Rebel S. If there was ever any temptation to push American Pharoah toward the Juvenile, Baffert resisted it. None of which means Game Winner can’t win the Kentucky Derby as there were things to like and not like about his race The bay’s Juvenile victory was a good one, but not a breathtaking one. Many will no doubt point to the fact that the horse he beat, Knicks Go (Paynter), was a 40-1 shot, and Game Winner didn’t exactly blow him away. Also, Complexity (Maclean’s Music), the second choice, threw in a clunker. Plus, the highly regarded Code of Honor (Noble Mission {GB}) was scratched. Game Winner’s winning time of 1:43.67 was a hair slower than the fillies ran in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, where Jaywalk (Cross Traffic) won in 1:43.62. The good news is that he overcame a less-than-perfect trip. A horse that is normally right on top of the pace at the outset, he was lackadaisical in the early going and wound up sitting seventh while four or five wide on the first turn. Under Joel Rosario, he made steady progress while playing catch-up to the leaders, but again went wide on the second turn. From the three path, he kept going and once he collared Knicks Go at the sixteenth-pole the race was no longer in doubt. There’s a long way to go between now and the 2019 Kentucky Derby, but right now Game Winner is absolutely the horse to beat May 4 and Baffert is the trainer to beat. But could he win with someone else? Some may look at Friday’s card and wonder if Game Winner was not the best 2-year-old Baffert ran. That’s how impressive Improbable (City Zip) was when winning the one-mile Street Sense S. by 7 1/4 lengths. Because of the caches of the Kentucky Derby, most of the hype coming out of Friday’s card will go to Game Winner. But by no means was he the most impressive winner on the day. That accolade goes to GI Juvenile Turf Fillies winner Newspaperofrecord (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}). Had this been a more prominent Breeders’ Cup race, her performance might well be regarded as one of the best in the history of the series. Likely sensing that the inside was not the place to be on the Churchill turf course, Irad Ortiz, Jr., had Newspaperofrecord out in the middle of the track the entire trip. At the top of the stretch, she was only 1 1/2 lengths in front and when Ortiz called on her, she took off like a Nolan Ryan fastball. The ‘TDN Rising Star’ jumped away from the field in an instant and was then geared down before crossing the wire 6 3/4 lengths in front. Owner Seth Klarman and trainer Chad Brown might want to look into flights for Royal Ascot right now. She’s too good to be running next year for the modest purses offered to 3-year-old turf fillies in the U.S.. The Breeders’ Cup portion of the card kicked off with a win by Bulletin (City Zip) in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Sprint for Todd Pletcher and the team that brought you Justify, owners WinStar Farm LLC, China Horse Club and SF Racing LLC. It’s a bizarre Breeders’ Cup for Pletcher. He is known for developing top dirt 3-year-olds, but all six of his Breeders’ Cup starters have been entered in grass races. By City Zip, there’s no reason to believe that Bulletin won’t be able to handle the dirt. Surely, they’ll give it a try. In the Juvenile Fillies, Jaywalk proved that two turns and added distance was no problem for her. She could be part of a dynamic duo next year for Chuck Zacney’s Cash Is King Stables, who is the part owner of both this filly and the very impressive 2-year-old colt prospect Maximus Mischief (Into Mischief). In the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, there was an inquiry as Line of Duty (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) definitely bumped Uncle Benny (Declaration of War) approaching the wire, but it didn’t appear to cost Uncle Benny the race and the stewards made the right call. The Breeders’ Cup keeps tinkering with the Friday format and never seems to stick to any one for too long. This year all the Breeders’ Cup Friday races were for 2-year-olds. They picked a winner. The races were exciting, we saw some horses who we can’t wait to see come back next year and the most important Breeders’ Cup races were all saved for Saturday. That’s the day they belong on. Let’s hope this is a Friday schedule they will stick with for years to come. View the full article

Saifudin, Vorster suspended View the full article

Freedman applies for Ford to replace Clark on Mr Clint View the full article

In his first top-level try, Godolphin's Line of Duty rallied in deep stretch to secure a narrow victory in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T) Nov. 2 at Churchill Downs. View the full article

Daughter of Lope de Vega is unbeaten in three starts View the full article