Month: August 2020

Vosburgh Could Be Next For Vanderbilt Winner Volatile

Following a victory in the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt last Saturday at Saratoga in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Volatile could target more Grade 1 action going six furlongs on the NYRA circuit in the Vosburgh at Belmont Park.

Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, who won the Vosburgh in 2009 with Kodiak Kowboy, Phoenix Thoroughbreds and Three Chimneys Farms' Volatile made his graded stakes debut in the Vanderbilt in which he secured a tepid pace and maintained his advantage throughout the journey to win by 1 1/4 lengths. The son of Violence registered an outstanding 112 Beyer from his previous effort in the Aristides at Churchill Downs, which he won by an emphatic eight lengths.

The long term goal with Volatile remains the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint on November 7 at Keeneland.

“We have to finalize plans with our partners at Three Chimneys, but it's very likely he'll run next in the Vosburgh at Belmont,” said Phoenix Thoroughbreds CEO Amer Abdulaziz. “He's come out of the Vanderbilt well and seems very pleased with himself. The timing of the Vosburgh works very well giving him around six weeks to the Breeders' Cup Sprint which is the target now.”

Bred in Kentucky by Hill n' Dale Equine Holdings and Stretch Run, Volatile is by Violence and is out of the Unbridled's Song broodmare Melody Lady, whose dam was Grade 1-winning millionaire Lady Tak. He was acquired for $850,000 from the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

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Thousand Words Re-Enters Kentucky Derby Picture, Beating Honor A.P. In Shared Belief

Albaugh Family Stables and Spendthrift Farm's Thousand Words made every pole a winner Saturday in upsetting the $100,000 Shared Belief Stakes by three-quarters of a length at Del Mar near San Diego, Calif. In the process, he may have bought himself a ticket to the 2020 Kentucky Derby, to be run on Sept. 5 at Churchill Downs.

The Pioneerof the Nile colt, ridden by Abel Cedillo and trained by Bob Baffert, took the lead right out of the gate and held off all challenges, including one from the 1-5 favorite Honor A.P. under Mike Smith. The latter was bumped from the outside coming out of the starting gate by Cezanne, a Baffert-trained stablemate of the winner who veered inwardly at the break under Flavien Prat.

The 1 1/16-mile feature went with only four runners when two of its 3-year-olds — Uncle Chuck and Anneau d'Or — were scratched Saturday morning.

“He (trainer Bob Baffert) just told me to warm him up real well, then get him out of there,” said Cedillo. “Then see what happens. He broke well and I saw I could take the lead, so I did. He was going along there steady, steady, steady. Then we got it done.”

“I told Abel (Cedillo) to jump him out of there and I thought he and Cezanne would be 1-2,” said Baffert. “Turning for home I could tell that Honor A.P. wasn't running like he usually does. Cezanne got really tired, but Thousand Words … I could tell when we got down here that he was a different horse from Los Alamitos and the real Thousand Words showed up today. His whole mind changed. His color has changed. He had soured out on me, but we got him going the right way. I think he earned his way to the Derby.”

With the victory, Thousand Words earned 50 Kentucky Derby qualifying points, and now ranks seventh on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard among potential runners, with 83 points.

Updated Kentucky Derby points leaderboard

Thousand Words covered the distance in 1:43.85 after setting fractions of :23.89, :47.93, 1:12.33 and 1:37.44. He returned $20.40 and $3.40. Honor A.P. returned $2.10 to place. There was no show betting.

John Sondereker's Kiss Today Goodbye finished third and Coolmore partners' Cezanne was fourth and last.

Thousand Words earned $60,000 for his tally and pushed his bankroll to $327,000, after winning his fourth race in his seventh start. Produced from the Pomeroy mare, Pomeroys Pistol, he was bred in Florida by Hardacre Farm and sold for $1 million by Brookdale Sales at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

The stakes win is the third of the meet for rider Cedillo, but his first in the Shared Belief. He now has five stakes wins at Del Mar.

As for Honor A.P., Mike Smith said: “He ran well, but we're disappointed he didn't win. I haven't been able to get on him in the mornings and I think that's made a difference. He's just been going along there not doing much in the mornings. I need to be on him and get more out of him. But that's the way it is now; that's just the way it is. This distance (mile and one-sixteenth) is too short for him, too. Just not his day.”

 

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Learning With Experience: Hopeful Growth Wins Monmouth Oaks

Trainer Anthony Margotta, Jr. and jockey Antonio Gallardo know that much more went into Hopeful Growth's upset victory in Saturday's Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., than just a perfect trip.

Two starts ago Margotta took the blinkers off the filly to get her to relax in a race at Tampa in which Gallardo rode her. Last time out the veteran conditioner sent her two turns for the first time. She finished fifth in the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks.

Both learning experiences, they agreed, keyed a four-length victory at odds of 11-1 in the 96th edition of the $200,000 Monmouth Oaks.

Hopeful Growth, able to sit chilly along the rail behind dueling leaders, mowed down the frontrunners in the lane for the first stakes score of her five-race career. She covered the mile and a sixteenth in 1:45.63.

Delaware Oaks winner Project Whiskey held for second, 2¼ lengths ahead of Eve of War.

“I had a really good trip,” said Gallardo. “I know this filly. I won with her in Tampa. Anthony told me that day `try to teach her. I don't want her to be a filly that just goes to the lead. I don't care if you lose, just teach her.'

“That's what happened in Tampa. She learned – and she still won. I was able to put her behind horses that day and she learned very fast. When I put her in the clear that race she took off. That lesson paid off today. She's a good horse and now she knows how to relax and sit behind horses. That's why she won this.”

Margotta said the filly's last two races were learning experiences for this one.

“Her last race was the first time she ran around two turns,” he said. “We were hoping to hit the board there, but typically a horse going two turns for the first time in our program may need a race around two turns the first time. This was our bull's eye target. I took the blinkers off her last two races so she would learn a little. I put them back on (today) so she would focus more after she learned a little bit.

“The Delaware Oaks was a race we needed to get in before this one for the two-turn experience and to learn. I loved the trip (today). She was patient on the rail. That's what we have been teaching her to do and it paid off.”

Owned by St. Elias Stable, Hopeful Growth returned $25.60 to win. The daughter of Tapiture–Maiden America by Rock Hard Ten now sports a 3-1-0 line from five career starts.

“She's bred to go long and she has trained that way the whole time so I knew she would go longer,” Margotta said. “She has always wanted to stretch out.

Gallardo kept Hopeful Growth along the rail as favored Lucrezia and Project Whiskey battled for command through early fractions of :23.94, :48.51, 1:13.52 and 1:139.10 for the mile.

Hopeful Growth found clearance in mid-stretch and proved to be much the best in the field of nine 3-year-old fillies.

“I had good position the whole way,” said Gallardo. “I was close to the leaders. I had the favorite (Lucrezia) in front of me with Project Whiskey with her and the two horse (Princess Cadey) was just outside us. I just waited to get clear. I was able to do that before the quarter pole. I knew she had a lot left and she responded.”

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