July, 2020 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Del Mar Cards Special Monday Racing Program As COVID-19 Make-Up Day

With the exceptions of Labor Day Mondays, racing on the first day of the week hasn't happened at Del Mar in many moons. In fact, the last time Monday programs were par for the course was when the seaside track used to race six days a week, a situation last realized in 2008.

But this coming Monday racing will be back on the front burner featuring a 10-race card. And track officials will be interested to see how fans across the country respond to it at their mutuel windows — at satellites or online. The sense is, with Del Mar being the “big dog” among all tracks running that day, it might prove very noteworthy in the counting house.

Del Mar is racing this Monday as a “make up” for one of the three days lost last weekend to jockey woes with the COVID-19 pandemic. The other two “missing” days are expected to be made up further along in the summer season that goes forward to Labor Day Monday, September 7.

This Monday approximately a dozen other “major” tracks across the country will be in action. On an average weekend at this time of year, there'd be half as many more of those tracks doing business and competing for the wagering dollars. Obviously, less competition could prove beneficial. How much so is uncertain, but the Del Mar folks ought to have a pretty good idea after the last race is run Monday afternoon.

The feature race Monday is an allowance test for 3-year-olds and up at a mile on the grass course that has drawn seven horses. The morning line favorite in the turfer is Keith Brackpool's Mesut, who is trained by Carla Gaines and will be ridden by the track's leading rider, Umberto Rispoli.

First post Monday, as it is on all racing cards at the shore track this summer, is 2 p.m.

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Two Sixty Gives Casse-Barber Team Third Straight Selene Triumph

Two Sixty dashed to the lead out of the gates and never looked back in the $125,000 Selene Stakes (Grade 3) on Saturday at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario.

The victory marks the third straight in the Selene for the trainer-owner combination of Mark Casse and Gary Barber, and second in a row for jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson, who also won last year's edition in rein to Power Gal. For Casse, it was his record-tying (Yonnie Starr) sixth Selene score.

One of three Casse trainees in the field of seven, Two Sixty set out on a front-end mission in the 1 1/16-mile main track stakes event for 3-year-old fillies, posting splits of :24.12, :48.81 and 1:13.36 en route to the three-quarter-length triumph. The final time was 1:45.01.

Saratoga Vision, the longest shot on the board at 84-1, slipped between horses and found a seam towards the rail to close for second-place honors just ahead of the favored Queen's Plate eligibles Owlette and Merveilleux.

“It was clear on paper that Owlette was going to be pace, but they took the blinkers off. So right off the hop, I wanted to get away and set myself at the front with conviction and that's what happened,” said Wilson. “As we eased into the backstretch, I took a little bit of a hold of her. I glanced between my legs and saw that I had a length or so of daylight that I could ease back and have her take a breather. She pricked her ears as we came around the three-quarter pole top of the backstretch and it was great. And then I just waited to hear them… waited to hear them… waited to hear them… waited to hear them… She dug hard, she ran fast and she held them off.”

Two Sixty returned $21.20 to win for the 9-1 upset.

“It's Mark Casse, Gary Barber, you can't go wrong,” said Wilson of picking up the winning mount. “Mark is a fantastic trainer and he puts these horses in races and they can win. I followed instructions. We went with the flow of that. She ran a bang of a race at Gulfstream before she went in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile [ninth]. She went to the lead, set some solid fractions and held them off in hand. She had to work a little harder today, but that's kind of the way it panned out for us.”

Bred in Florida by Shade Tree Thoroughbreds Inc., the Uncaptured–Jim's Lonesa filly entered the Selene off a fourth-place finish in the six-furlong Star Shoot Stakes during her Woodbine debut on June 13. The win was her second in five starts this year, having also captured the Gasparilla Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in January. Two Sixty now boasts a record of 4-1-1 from 11 starts lifetime and is closing in on the $500,000 mark in career earnings.

Casse stablemates Diamond Sparkles and American Tap finished fifth and seventh, respectively, with Livin in the Six sixth.

Live Thoroughbred racing continues, without spectators, on Sunday at Woodbine Racetrack featuring the Grade 3 Seagram Cup. Post time for the first race is 1 p.m.

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Violence’s Volatile Takes Care of Business in Vanderbilt

Sent off the prohibitive 2-5 chalk while making his first appearance in Grade I company, Three Chimneys Farm and Phoenix Thoroughbreds’ Volatile (Violence) fell out onto the lead, enjoyed a soft time of things on the engine and turned it on late to post a 1 1/4-length victory in the GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. at Saratoga.

The Vanderbilt was reduced to a field of four by the gate scratching of Lexitonian (Speightstown), who was unlikely to have a say in the finish, but who may have set or otherwise impacted the pace. The start of the race was further delayed by Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect), who broke through the gate, but was pulled up after galloping about a furlong and was passed fit to run. The quartet broke as one, but with none of the horses showing particularly keen early interest, Ricardo Santana, Jr. took the bull by the horns and led the field through an opening quarter in :23.46, a nearly unheard-of split for this level of competition.

Chased around the turn by dual Saratoga Grade I winner Mind Control (Stay Thirsty) and GISW Firenze Fire (Poseidon’s Warrior) farther out, Volatile turned for home after a half in :46.67 and dared them to match strides with him late. But as he had done in previous victories in Oaklawn allowance company Apr. 24 and in the Listed Aristides S. at Churchill June 6, he delivered a quick turn of foot and covered the final two furlongs in a career-best :22.94 to defeat a very game Whitmore. Mind Control held for third over Firenze Fire, the four horses covered by two lengths at the wire.

“For a Grade I sprint race to be allowed that first quarter [:23.46 seconds] was very fortunate,” said trainer Steve Asmussen, winning the Vanderbilt for the third time (Majesticperfection, 2009; Justin Phillip, 2013). “I think the anxious moments were all pre-race with the incident at the gate. Once he was away from the gate smoothly and they threw up the first quarter, he would be awfully hard to beat from there.”

Added Phoenix Thoroughbreds’s Amer Abdulaziz: “We’ll need to see how he comes out of this, but the future looks exciting. Today’s win was an important one for his value as a stallion, but he also proved he is one of the best sprinters in the country. We’d love to give him a chance to prove that. This is our first Grade I winner with Steve and we are delighted for him and his team. Also massive congratulations to our very good friends and partners Three Chimneys.”

Volatile, his sire’s most expensive horse sold at public auction when hammering for $850,000 at Keeneland September in 2017, was a debut winner at Ellis Park last August and was second in Churchill allowance company the following month before closing the season with a victory in Louisville Nov. 3. He posted stalk-and-pounce successes in his two aforementioned appearances this season while running up the score to the tune of 15 1/2 lengths combined.

Pedigree Notes:

Volatile is the second Grade I-winning sprinter for his sire in the last five weeks, joining ‘TDN Rising Star’ No Parole, who earned his wings in the Woody Stephens S. in similar front-running fashion.

Volatile, also the 24th top-level winner produced by a daughter of the late Unbridled’s Song, is out of a stakes-winning daughter of Lady Tak, who was conditioned by Steve Asmussen to wins in this track’s GI Test S. and GI Ballerina S. Lady Tak is also the dam of Japanese SW & GSP A Shin Spartan (Zensational) as well as the very promising 3-year-old filly Casual (Curlin).

Melody Lady is the dam of the 3-year-old colt Soccer Dad (Bayern), a $260,000 KEESEP yearling who was second in a Del Mar maiden turf sprint in his lone trip to the races. Her 2-year-old of this year is the Bayern colt Grendel and she produced a filly by Army Mule this season.

Saturday, Saratoga
ALFRED G. VANDERBILT H.-GI, $232,500, Saratoga, 7-25, 3yo/up, 6f, 1:09.61, ft.
1–VOLATILE, 121, c, 4, by Violence
                1st Dam: Melody Lady (SW), by Unbridled’s Song
                2nd Dam: Lady Tak, by Mutakddim
                3rd Dam: Star of My Eye, by Lucky North
   1ST GRADED STAKES WIN, 1ST GRADE I WIN. ($850,000 Ylg
’17 KEESEP). O-Three Chimneys Farm and Phoenix
Thoroughbred III; B-Hill ‘n’ Dale Equine Holdings, Inc & Stretch
Run Ventures, LLC (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen; J-Ricardo
Santana, Jr. $137,500. Lifetime Record: 6-5-1-0, $341,040.
*Full to Buy Sell Hold, SW & GSP, $125,520. Werk Nick Rating:
   A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Whitmore, 123, g, 7, Pleasantly Perfect–Melody’s Spirit, by
Scat Daddy. O-LaPenta, Robert V., Moquett, Ron and Head of
Plains Partners LLC; B-John Liviakis (KY); T-Ron Moquett.
$50,000.
3–Mind Control, 123, c, 4, Stay Thirsty–Feel That Fire, by
Lightnin N Thunder. O-Red Oak Stable (Brunetti) & Madaket
Stables, LLC; B-Red Oak Stable (KY); T-Gregory Sacco. $30,000.
Margins: 1 1/4, HF, NK. Odds: 0.40, 4.30, 6.00.
Also Ran: Firenze Fire. Scratched: Lexitonian. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree

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Prominent Owner, Successful Businessman Jon Kelly Dies

Jon S. Kelly, a successful California businessman who maintained Thoroughbred racing operations all over the world, passed away Saturday morning at his home in Tres Palomas in Rancho Santa Fe. He celebrated his 84th birthday July 24 and passed away following a lengthy battle with cancer. Kelly had been in hospice care and several family members, including his wife, Sarah, were at his side at the time of his death.

Born in Berkeley and schooled in the east and at the University of California–Berkeley, Kelly entered the broadcasting business, founding Kelly Broadcasting Company and later founded and ran Summit Broadcasting Radio Company. He owned television stations in Seattle and Sacramento. He was also a successful banker, having founded River City Bank in the state capitol and was also a successful real estate executive.

A horse owner since the 1960s, Kelly has raced horses in England, Ireland and Australia in addition to the U.S. He most notably raced MGISW Borrego (El Prado {Ire}) with trainer Beau Greely and also had horses with Bob Baffert, Richard Mandella and Christophe Clement. Gingham (Quality Road), a horse raced by Sarah Kelly and Jane Wiltz, won the Angels Flight S. just last month at Santa Anita for Baffert. Kelly and his wife also campaigned Red Vine (Candy Ride {Arg}), a stakes winner and runner-up in the GI Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and GI Cigar Mile H., with Clement.

Kelly also maintained racing stables in Australia with Gai Waterhouse and in Ireland with Jessie Harrington. Sarah Kelly’s Cayenne Pepper (Ire) (Australia {GB}) was runner-up in the G1 Irish Oaks July 18. Kelly, in conjunction with Reg Inglis and Paul Frampton, signed for an A$2-million son of I Am Invincible (Aus) top the 2018 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in Queensland, Australia.

“He was quite a guy,” said Dr. Greg Ferraro, chairman of the California Horse Racing Board and a longtime Kelly friend. “He could make anyone laugh. He always lifted your spirits.”

Ferraro told of business associates Kelly had worked with 30 and 40 years ago writing him letters recently sending thanks for his council and guidance and how it had shaped their careers and lives. He spoke personally of Kelly sending him to a Louisville hospital for a life-saving operation, then make a huge donation to the hospital in Ferraro’s name.

“He didn’t make it in his name, which he should have,” said Ferraro, “but that was John. He did so many good things for so many people and he never bragged or looked for credit. He just was a good person who did good things. He was special.”

Kelly is survived by his wife and six children, as well as many grandchildren.

Those wishing to make a donation in his name are encouraged to do so at two of his favorite projects–the Center for Equine Health at the UC Davis School for Veterinary Medicine or the Gregson Foundation, which services backstretch workers and their families.

At his request, there will be no services.

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