July, 2020 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Daughter of Intercontinental Debuts at Deauville

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Thursday’s Insights features a daughter of Breeders’ Cup heroine Intercontinental (GB) (Danehill).

4.20 Goodwood, Mdn, £16,500, 2yo, f, 7fT
MISS CHESS (IRE) (Zoffany {Ire}) bids to build on her debut third at Yarmouth earlier this month on the same card that her G1 Prix de Diane-winning half-sister Fancy Blue (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) takes part in the G1 Nassau S. The Phoenix Ladies Syndicate’s €220,000 Arqana Deauville August Sale graduate is a relative of High Chaparral (Ire) and represents the Ed Vaughan stable in this maiden won in recent times by Rhododendron (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Amazing Maria (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}). Amongst her opponents is Jeff Smith’s Iconic Queen (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), a Ralph Beckett-trained half-sister to the G1 Juddmonte International heroine Arabian Queen (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}).

8.50 Deauville, Debutantes, €22,000, 2yo, f, 6fT
NOT IN DOUBT (GB) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) is one of the day’s intriguing juvenile runners as a daughter of the 2005 GI Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf heroine Intercontinental (GB) (Danehill). Andre Fabre introduces the Juddmonte homebred and also Lady Bamford’s Love Child (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), a 700,000gns Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 1 graduate who is a half-sister to the G2 Prix Niel and G2 Prix Chaudenay winner Brundtland (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}).

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‘Huge Heart’: 8-Year-Old American Sailor Better Than Ever, Takes Aim On Troy Stakes

Firm in his belief that Raj Jagnanan's stakes winner American Sailor is better than ever at the age of 8, trainer Wayne Potts is taking aim at a big target.

Based with Potts at Laurel Park, where he opened his season in impressive fashion last month, American Sailor is being pointed to a return to graded-stakes competition in the $200,000 Troy (G3) Aug. 8 on the Saratoga turf.

The 5 ½-furlong Troy would be the third time facing graded company for American Sailor and the first since running 10th in the 2016 Twin Spires Turf Sprint (G3) at Churchill Downs for previous trainer Joe Sharp.

“He has a huge heart, a huge heart. He just does everything you ask him to do,” Potts said. “When he hits the racetrack, he's all business.”

American Sailor, a gelded son of City Zip, won a turf sprint stakes at Sam Houston in 2016 and ran second in subsequent editions to begin his 2017, 2018 and 2019 campaigns. The connections skipped the trip this past winter and wound up not getting started until June 8, in part due to the coronavirus pandemic that paused live racing in Maryland for 2 ½ months until May 30.

“I think we did the right thing by finally letting him go out and drop his head and be a horse. We gave him the winter off and he came back, and I think he's better now than when I previously had him, knock on wood, that's for sure,” Potts said. “We're very pleased with him.”

The speedy American Sailor earned his 14th career victory in the third-level optional claiming allowance at Laurel, opening up by as many as five lengths after a half-mile to win by a length in 1:03.53 for 5 ½ furlongs. He followed up with a determined runner-up effort after setting the pace in the Wolf Hill Stakes July 18 at Monmouth, finishing between Archidust and Shekky Shebaz – both turf stakes winners at Saratoga.

“It was a very solid field. We were thrilled. It was a super effort, and he gave it everything he had,” Potts said. “He came out of the race very good so I nominated him to the Troy. We're going to look at the race at Saratoga, and I nominated him to the Da Hoss [Aug. 15] at Colonial [Downs] as a backup plan.”

American Sailor, seventh in last year's Da Hoss, is among 17 nominees to the Troy. He was claimed by Potts for $25,000 out of a Sept. 3, 2017 win at Suffolk Downs and ran nine times with two wins and a second in the stakes at Sam Houston before being lost for a $7,500 tag in June 2018.

Jagnanan purchased American Sailor privately after he made one start for owner-trainer David Nunn, and has a record of 4-3-1 with nearly $300,000 in purse earnings from 12 races since being reunited with Potts.

Potts made two starts at Saratoga last summer, both with the gelding Dazzling Okie, finishing third in a mid-July claimer.

“I've never won a race at Saratoga, so it would be a steppingstone in the right direction,” Potts said. “We might get a short field there, who knows. We have to see how it all plays out, but as long as he stays like he is right now, I plan on being there.”

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‘He Sounded Great’: Injured Jockey Rosario Montanez Talking About Return To Riding

When his phone rang Monday evening, jockey agent Joe Rocco Sr. thought it was going to be a regular update on his client, Rosario Montanez, who was injured in a July 17 spill at Laurel Park.

It turned out to be much more. Though the number displayed was of Montanez's fiancé, Chloe LaBarre, Rocco got the surprise of his life when he answered.

“Her number showed up, but it was him on the phone,” Rocco said. “He spoke to me. He's got a long road ahead of him … but he sounded great. It was great news.”

A San Diego native who was a finalist for the 2011 Eclipse Award as champion apprentice, Montanez was unseated when his mount, 4-year-old filly Hendaya, clipped heels and fell leaving the backstretch of a 5 ½-furlong turf sprint for filly and mare claimers 3 and up. While he was being tended to on the track, Hendaya was able to get up and jog off the turf course.

Montanez, 28, underwent surgery July 18 to repair several fractures in his back at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. Rocco said the rider was being transferred Tuesday to another facility in the city to begin rehabilitation for his brain injuries.

“I had to explain to him what I thought happened. It was just a bad incident he went through,” Rocco said. “He didn't even know he had surgery, which is a great sign. He's doing well.”

A winner of more than 3,700 career races during his riding career and whose son, Joe Jr. is a jockey based in Kentucky, Rocco gets emotional when talking both to and about Montanez.

“He's my friend. I really care about him a lot,” Rocco said. “I couldn't believe it when he talked to me. I didn't know if he was going to make it or not, that's how bad it was. But, you know he asked me when he's going to be back racing. He said, 'Let's figure this out.'”

A GoFundMe account launched by Laurel trainer Brittany Russell July 18 has raised $37,505 to go toward general living and medical expenses. An initial goal of $20,000 was surpassed in less than 24 hours, and a second $30,000 goal reached days later. The goal has been updated to $50,000.

“I would like to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for coming together to help us out,” LaBarre wrote on the GoFundMe website. “Please continue to pray for him! I'm so thankful for everything people have done for him. It means so much to us.”

To donate to Montanez's GoFundMe campaign, visit www.gofundme.com/f/rosario-montanez

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Baffert Doesn’t Like Inside Post, Will Scratch McKinzie From Saturday’s Bing Crosby

McKinzie will not run in this Saturday's Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar, trainer Bob Baffert told the Daily Racing Form on Wednesday. The 5-year-old son of Street Sense drew post four of ten in the six-furlong sprint contest, and Baffert doesn't believe the horse will be able to make his best effort from that spot.

“If I had an outside post, I was going to take a chance at it,” Baffert told drf.com. “But he's down in the four-hole, and this track's been playing weird. It's real loose and deep. A horse like him wouldn't have a chance.”

Instead, Baffert plans to wait for the G2 Pat O'Brien over seven furlongs on Aug. 29. Though the “Win and You're In” race offers a berth to the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, Baffert's long-term goal for McKinzie is still the Breeders' Cup Classic over 1 1/4 miles.