August, 2020 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Vanzzy Tops Saranac Field

Three-time stakes winner Vanzzy (Verrazano) looks to take his game to the next level Saturday in Saratoga’s GIII Saranac S. Capturing the Display S. last term, the bay won this year’s Rushaway S. in March on the Turfway synthetic and was fourth next out when trying grass for the first time in Belmont’s GII Pennine Ridge S. June 20. Third in the GIII Kent S. on the Delaware lawn July 4, he scored a decisive victory in the Jersey Derby last time at Monmouth July 26.

“His last race was his best, and he’s just getting better,” trainer Michael Pino said. “I think he fits, his last race was good he tucked in saved some ground and pushed away that’s a better trip. It looked like he had a good finish. Where he sits early on depends on how the race goes. He can do either, but I would rather sit a little off it.”

Chad Brown can never be overlooked in a grass stakes and he sends out French import L’Imperator (Fr) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}). The bay won three of his four starts overseas for his previous connections and was privately purchased by Madaket Stables, Robert LaPenta and Wonder Stables and sent to Brown. L’Imperator receives Lasix for the first time in this event.

Don Juan Kitten (Kitten’s Joy) seeks his first black-type victory Saturday. Missing by a neck in a June 7 allowance at Belmont, the gray scored a decisive win in a one-mile test at the Spa July 25.

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‘Solid Guy’ Matt Chew Off To A New Life Outside Racing

He didn't think he'd ever do it, but now he knows he will. Matt Chew, a man born and bred to be a racetracker, is going to walk away from the racetrack when the Del Mar meeting ends on Labor Day.

It's his choice and he's good with it.

“The last while it's just become clear to me that the time is right,” says the 60-year-old trainer who has been getting up at 3:30 in the morning for more than 40 years to greet racehorses in barns up and down California. “I'm not fully sure what I'm going to do – the racetrack is so consuming you don't get a chance to think about anything else – but I've got some ideas and I'm willing to try new things.”

To say the racetrack is in his blood is like saying that seals have slick on their backs. His father, Richard, was a horse trainer all his life. His grandfather, William, the same.

He grew up in Arcadia with Santa Anita as a backdrop. The siren's call was strong early on: he remembers climbing over the racetrack fence at age 15 when the track was closed and the horses were away just so he could walk among the barns and fantasize. When he'd finished high school he headed north to the Bay Area for his first job/love: assistant trainer to his father.

He watched, he learned, he experienced. Yup, this is it, he thought. And in 1982 he took out a license, hung out a shingle and started a life as a conditioner of Thoroughbreds.

That first year he had 90 starters, saw 18 of them win, 16 finish second and 10 run third while earning $172,032 in purses. Not bad for the new kid on the block, not bad at all. Almost four decades later he has sent 4,023 horses to the post, has seen 399 of them win, 417 finish second and 442 run third with purses totaling $9,374,621.

Those are good, steady numbers, the kind that reflect what Matt Chew is and has been over the years: one of the racetrack's solid guys. He's a backbone type. Folks like Chew – and those like him at any racetrack – are why those racetracks run. Without the “small” trainers – men and women handling four, eight, 12, 16 head – racing secretaries could not fill cards and the show would grind to a halt.

Right now, for instance, he has a dozen horses and they'll all go to other trainers and have good homes shortly. He wouldn't let it be any other way.

“The best part of this game is the mornings with the horses,” Chew offers. “I love coming to the barn and seeing each one of them. They're not there trying to sell you anything; they don't have agendas. They're honest. How they present themselves is how they are.”

He says he's liked nothing better than working with a horse who had some problems, getting them “right” and allowing them to run to their best ability. “That's especially rewarding,” he notes.

He's had several exceptional horses along the way and one that's close to his heart is a filly named Singing Kitty that he claimed for $32,000, then guided through a campaign that saw her win a trio of stakes and almost $400,000. “You remember those kind,” he says.

He's also had owners that have stuck with him through thick and thin. He mentions a Northern California lady named Lyn McDonald who raced horses with him for more than 30 years. He notes the Nicolas family – the father named Pierre and the son Matt – who have sent the Chews – both his father and himself – horses for 50 years. He was especially pleased when he won a straight maiden race on the turf earlier in the current meet for the son with an Irish-bred named Tallien.

Another who has stuck with him is a lady named Candace Coder-Chew. She was working for the Anderson Ranch near Sacramento where he used to send horses on occasion when he was training up north. They actually met over the phone, finally got to dating six months later, then wound up getting hitched. Ten days ago they celebrated 35 years of being married.

Candace, known as “Candy” to many, is an exceptional graphic artist and was offered a job at Santa Anita in 1993. It was an excellent opportunity and she and Matt decided – even though they were living and working in the Bay Area — they had to go for it.

“It was too good a situation for her – and us – to pass up, so I dispersed a barnful of horses at Bay Meadows and returned 'home' to Santa Anita,” Matt says. “Went from 25 head to rubbing one on my own.”

The switch has worked out well for the Chews. Candace is now director of print and graphics for Santa Anita and Matt went from one horse to a regular rotation of 10 to 20 runners each year in Southern California.

And it appears their next steps will work out well, too.

Along the way the Chews acquired a four-bedroom home on 18 pristine acres alongside Hayden Lake in Idaho, just a couple of miles north of Coeur d'Alene. There's a barn going in for horses and plans for it to be Matt's headquarters for a special program he has in mind.

“I've seen how exceptional it can be for kids with special needs to interact with horses,” he says. “For veterans suffering with PTSD, too. That's what I want to get involved in up there. I'll either join up with someone doing that or start my own program.”

There should be no problem getting the horses. Candace, a passionate horsewoman, last year was elected president of the board of CARMA (California Retirement Management Account), a program that has facilitated the successful efforts in the state to retrain, rehome and retire thousands of racehorses.

So shortly, Matt is headed north and Candace will stay steady with her work at Santa Anita and CARMA. He'll have regular chances to head south and take in the old stomping ground. She'll have her chances to head north and escape to the woods. They think it will be a nice blend.

As he prepares to head off to a new life, Chew was asked what he considers his “best moment” during his years at the racetrack. His answer is a beautiful one and tells you all you need to know about the man he is.

Chew has always been the “go to” guy when racetracks have needed a horse for something outside of the usual. When a TV station asked for a horse for a news piece or a feature or a backdrop, he was there with one of his. If you needed to take some visitors on the backside to see how it works, you went to the Chew barn. He would readily stick one in a trailer and take it downtown somewhere to be part of a special event.

So it was around the time when they were filming the movie “Seabiscuit” at Santa Anita in the early 2000s and the Chew barn was involved in providing horses for the various scenes. He had one horse they nicknamed “Fred” who was one of “Seabiscuit's” stand-ins.

“'Fred' was bulletproof; wouldn't hurt a fly,” Chew recalled. “We were working then with a group from Pasadena called Ability First that aided the developmentally disabled. They'd bring their people over and let them interact with the horses. Candy and I brought 'Fred' into the paddock one morning and when we did I saw this young boy – maybe 11 or 12 – looking at him real hard. So I went over and handed him the shank. He took it and started walking with the horse, talking to him and telling him how pretty he was and what a great horse he was; he was just having a total conversation with him.

“Candy meanwhile looks over and sees three adults in the middle of the walking ring and their jaws are dropped; they look almost horrified. She realizes that they are with the young boy and she begins to apologize. 'I'm sorry,' she says. 'My husband does these kind of things. We really should have asked permission before he gave him the horse.'

“One of women – it turned out to be the boy's mother – was sobbing. She finally told Candy that 'Austin doesn't talk.' It turned out her son was technically what they call non-verbal autistic. He had been through a traumatic incident several years back and since then had not said a word – until that day.

“So winning races is great, of course, but something that powerful is beyond special.”

Del Mar – and racing in California – is going to miss Matt Chew. His kind of solid is the foundation that all good things are built on. But Matt Chew is off to a unique new life that is going to be full of new challenges and new rewards.

And racetrackers everywhere salute him for it.

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New Approach’s New Treasure Takes the Round Tower

In the immediate aftermath of Friday’s G3 Heider Family Stables Round Tower S. at The Curragh, there was almost an audible groan from those who failed to take note that Jim Bolger’s representative New Treasure (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) was allowed to start at 66-1 in a race that his dam had won on her debut in 2008. In the pattern races for juveniles that have taken place in Britain and Ireland since mid-June, there have been winners at 150-1, 66-1, 66-1, 33-1, 14-1 and 28-1 with the latter being the return of this stable’s Mac Swiney (Ire) by the same sire in last week’s G2 Futurity S. Coolcullen’s engine is starting to crank now and it was a case of strange science that saw a totally unexposed son of Maoineach (Congaree) so readily ignored by the punters. Fading late when seventh on debut behind TDN Rising Star Thunder Moon (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) over seven furlongs here Aug. 9, the homebred was one of very few in the line-up equipped on pedigree to handle this heavy surface and see out the trip if it turned into a stiff test at the six-furlong trip. Those factors told at the end as he saw off the well-backed 13-8 favourite Teresa Mendoza (Ire) (Territories {Ire}) to score by a half length, with the 28-1 shot Coulthard (Ire) (Coulsty {Ire}) 1 1/4 lengths away in third.

New Treasure had been ridden forward on his introduction and paid the penalty, but the anchor was down from the break this time with Kevin Manning restraining in rear intent on saving for the finish. Travelling with ease alongside Teresa Mendoza as they sauntered through the ground at halfway, the chestnut was in front of that rival at the furlong pole, narrowly behind shortly after but back in charge as staying power came into play in the last half a furlong. Bolger’s daughter Una Manning was on hand and said, “The dam won this race first time out and Jim is delighted with him. Things just didn’t work out for him the last day when he was a bit keen first time out. We were confident that he would run a good race today. I’m not sure what the plans are, but I’m sure he’s well entered up.”

The aforementioned Maoineach was not just a one-hit wonder, following her notable debut success in this with another in the following year’s G3 Leopardstown 1000 Guineas Trial S. After Bolger had mated her with Sea the Stars (Ire), Teofilo (Ire), Dream Ahead and Dawn Approach (Ire), this was the first time that New Approach had entered the equation and it may be that a perfect alchemy has been discovered with her eighth foal. Armed with a yearling full-brother to the winner, the half-sister to the stakes winner and GII Jim Dandy S. third Tiz Now Tiz Then (Tiznow) descended from the prolific grade I-winning Kentucky Oaks heroine Dispute (Danzig) could yet prove herself a notable producer for her renowned breeder.

Friday, The Curragh, Ireland
HEIDER FAMILY STABLES ROUND TOWER S.-G3, €50,000, Curragh, 8-28, 2yo, 6fT, 1:16.93, hy.
1–NEW TREASURE (IRE), 131, c, 2, by New Approach (Ire)
1st Dam: Maoineach (Hwt. 3yo Filly-Ire at 5-6 1/2f, MGSW-Ire, $140,963), by Congaree
2nd Dam: Trepidation, by Seeking the Gold
3rd Dam: Troubling, by Storm Cat
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GROUP WIN. O-Mrs J S Bolger; B/T-Jim Bolger (IRE); J-Kevin Manning. €30,000. Lifetime Record: 2-1-0-0, $35,467. Werk Nick Rating: D+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Teresa Mendoza (Ire), 128, f, 2, Territories (Ire)–Ceoldrama, by Mr. Greeley. O-Ecurie Ama.Zing Team; B-Ennistown Stud (IRE); T-Ken Condon. €10,000.
3–Coulthard (Ire), 131, c, 2, Coulsty (Ire)–Iamnoangel (Ire), by Dark Angel (Ire). (€2,000 RNA Ylg ’19 TIRSEP; 27,000gns 2yo ’20 TTIGOR). O-Michael O’Callaghan; B-J Waldron & J Barton (IRE); T-Michael O’Callaghan. €5,000.
Margins: HF, 1 1/4, 4 1/4. Odds: 66.00, 1.63, 28.00.
Also Ran: Sweet Gardenia (GB), Coill Avon (Ire), Sloane Peterson (Ire), Chief Little Hawk, Giorgio Vasari (Ire). Scratched: All Things Bright (Ire). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

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Math Wizard Tops Overflow Field For Friday Night’s Charles Town Classic

An overflow field of ten runners, led by Grade 1 winner Math Wizard will take to the gate on Friday night at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races as the track hosts its premier event of the season – the rescheduled $600,000 Charles Town Classic (G2) for older horses going the three-turn distance of 1 1/8 miles. West Virginia's most lucrative race highlights a card that includes seven stakes with purses totalling $1.25 million and marks the first time the track has held two graded events on the same day. Post time for the first race on the card is 5:00pm EST.

After following up his signature win in the 2019 Pennsylvania Derby (G1) with a fifth-place effort in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), the Saffie Joseph trained Math Wizard spent some time on the sidelines before a return to the races produced a subpar performance in the Razorback (G3) at Oaklawn Park in February. After the ongoing Covid pandemic threw Math Wizard's schedule up in the air, he spent another four months away from the races, resurfacing in a handicap at Gulfstream Park where he checked in fifth beaten 3 3/4 lengths.

However, in his last start on Haskell day in the Monmouth Cup, Math Wizard signaled a potential return to form when he closed well to finish second, beaten 1 1/2-lengths for the top spot by Global Campaign. Since his effort at Monmouth, the son of Algorithms has flourished in his training up at Saratoga and his conditioner thought the lucrative Classic was a race that suited his colt well.

“He ran one of the best races of his life last time out according to the numbers, and he's been training great coming out of it,” said the native of Barbados who will saddle his first ever starters at Charles Town on Friday. “I think he's going to continue to progress and take another step forward on Friday.”

While Joseph has enjoyed a couple of breakout years as a trainer with 2020 Kentucky Derby (G1) contender Ny Traffic, multiple stakes winner Chance it and multiple graded stakes winner and 2020 Charles Town Oaks starter Tonalist's Shape, it's still his lone Grade 1 winner to date that he credits for getting the ball rolling in his stable's quest to join the sport's upper echelon.

“I think when we look back in 15 or 20 or however many years, we'll say that Math Wizard will be the horse that put us on the map. He's just an incredibly special horse to us and always will be.”

This Friday evening, Math Wizard will have the services of jockey Christian Hiraldo as he breaks from Post 4 as the 3-to-1 favorite.

Back for another run in the Charles Town Classic is Imaginary Stables and Glenn K. Ellis' War Story, the eight-year-old gelding who was last seen finishing third in the Pegasus World Cup (G1) at Gulfstream Park earlier this year. With his start in the Classic on Friday night, War Story will join two-time winner Imperative as the only horses to make four starts in Charles Town's marquee race and the son of Northern Afleet has come tantalizingly close to adding a Charles Town Classic score to his resume which already includes three graded stakes victories and earnings of more than $3.2 million.

Now trained by Elizabeth Dobles, War Story has checked in third in both the 2017 and 2019 runnings and second in 2018, a fact that led his connections to target this race after a trip to Dubai earlier in 2020 fell through.

The handicap division veteran has shown few signs of slowing down over the past two years taking graded stakes at both Monmouth Park in the 2019 Monmouth Cup (G3) and Gulfstream Park in the Harlan's Holiday (G3) prior to his run behind Mucho Gusto and Mr. Freeze in the Pegasus.

War Story will have his fourth different rider in the Charles Town Classic as J.D. Acosta jumps on board the 4-to-1 second choice.

Much like his fellow Charles Town Classic runner Math Wizard, Allied Racing Stable LLC and Spendthrift Farm LLC's Mr. Money is looking to recapture the 2019 form that eventually saw him sent off as the third choice in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) behind the likes of Omaha Beach and Improbable.

After stringing together a four race winning streak in a quartet of Grade 3 events as a three-year-old, including the West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer, the Bret Calhoun trainee came within a neck of becoming a Grade 1 winner when he was caught in the final strides of the Pennsylvania Derby by his rival on Friday night. When he emerged after five months on the sidelines, Mr. Money caught a wet track – as well as Tom's d'Etat and Improbable – in the Oaklawn Mile and followed that up with a wide trip that resulted in a fourth place finish in the Blame at Churchill before only mustering a sixth place effort in a cutback to 6 1/2 furlongs at Keeneland in his most recent outing.

In the Charles Town Classic, Mr. Money stretches back out to a distance that seems more to his liking but, either way, his trainer isn't concerned about what he's seen thus far in 2020.

“He had a great year last year and has had a rocky start to this year, but it's not really his doing,” said Calhoun. “He caught a sloppy track that he didn't like at Oaklawn. I thought he ran a pretty good race in the Blame at Churchill with a really wide trip. Then we got stuck without a spot with so many races getting canceled. So we ran him in that race at Keeneland and 61/2 furlongs is not his deal. So it really hasn't been his fault. He's trained forwardly all along and we're looking forward to getting him back on track this Friday.”

Gerald Almodovar rides Mr. Money who breaks from Post 6.

Winchell Thoroughbreds' Tenfold is himself out to recapture some past form and find the winners' circle for the first time since the 2019 Pimlico Special (G3) and provide trainer Steve Asmussen with a win in his first Charles Town Classic.

Third, beaten less than a length by Justify, in the 2018 Preakness (G1) and a winner of the Jim Dandy (G2) later in his three-year-old season, the Winchell Thoroughbreds homebred eclipsed the $1 million mark in career earnings earlier this year and is looking to rebound from a third place finish in the Hollywood Gold Cup (G1) in June.

While Tenfold marks Asmussen's first Charles Town Classic runner, he's developed a solid record over the years at Charles Town with 6 wins from 14 stakes outings, a run that started with Rock Slide back in the 1987 West Virginia Lottery Breeders' Classic.

Luis Batista rides Tenfold who stands at 5-to-1 on the morning line.

2019 Charles Town hero Runnin'toluvya is back to defend his crown and will seek to do what Duke of Mischief, Game on Dude, Imperative, Stanford and Something Awesome could not do – join Researcher as the only back-to-back winner of the Charles Town Classic.

In 2019, the West Virginia-bred son of Fiber Sonde entered the race red hot after stringing together eight consecutive wins over the Charles Town oval. 2020 will be a bit of a different story, however, as the popular gelding has dropped four of his last five decisions and comes into the race without a start since May 30.

However, neither his recent record nor the layoff is of great concern for Runnin'toluvya's trainer Tim Grams who also owns the six-year-old along with his wife, Judy.

“He's doing really good. I breezed him last week, and he did it handily. It's going to be a tough race, but we're going in without hesitation because of how well he's doing. It was an unfortunate trip last time out. You know, it's hard even for the really good ones to have to start and stop three or four times like he did. Obviously for my peace of mind I would like to be coming in off of a good race, but that was the hand we were dealt.”

As for the layoff, Friday will mark the fifth time Runnin'toluvya has started off a layoff of at least 90 days in his career, with the prior four outings resulting in three wins and a runner-up finish. Even without a race since the end of May, Grams has kept his stable star sharp and ready for his bid at a Classic repeat.

“I felt like last year, we had him in training without a race to point towards and he got a little dull. But this year he's been staying a lot sharper and he's fit. We'll just have to see how it goes. I just hope he breaks clean and gets a good position in the clear so that when it's time to run, he can run.”

Antonio Lopez has the call on Runnin'toluvya in the Charles Town Classic.

Another Charles Town Classic entrant looking to find the winner's circle once again is the well-traveled Multiplier, who came up just a neck short of posting an upset in the Santa Anita Handicap (G1) earlier this year but has gone more than two years without a victory despite banking north of $500,000 in his career.

A winner of the Illinois Derby (G3) back in 2017, Multiplier was most recently seen knocking heads with divisional heavyweights Tom's d'Etat and By My Standards in the Stephen Foster (G2) – a race where the now six-year-old finished fourth, beaten eight lengths. Despite Multiplier only being trainer Peter Miller's second ever starter over the Charles Town oval, there was a familiarity with some of the track's leading connections that made the trip to West Virginia more appealing.

“We're excited and the horse is doing great,” said the California based Miller. “He's been training up at Monmouth and doing really well over there. We've got the top rider [Arnaldo Bocachica] which is good and he'll go to [Jeff] Runco's barn for the week. I have worked with Jeff for a while and he's great. So we'll just hope for a good trip. We're looking forward to it.”

As Miller alluded to, Multiplier will have the services of Charles Town's leading rider, Arnaldo Bocachica on Friday night and will break from Post 10.

Plus Que Parfait, winner of the 2019 UAE Derby (G2) in Dubai, Sleepy Eyes Todd, and Ohio-breds Forewarned and Mo Dont No complete the body of the Charles Town Classic field with Awesome D J on the also-eligible list.

Post time for the Charles Town Classic is set for 10:18 PM EST and the race can be seen on TVG as well as heard on the Horse Racing Radio Network. The Classic will be the penultimate race in the Charles Town 6-12 sequence – a Pick 6 with a low 12% takeout – that sports a mandatory of the carryover on Classic day with a total of $111,750 in the carryover going into the track's Thursday night card.

$600,000 CHARLES TOWN CLASSIC (G2)
August 28, 2020
Race 11 – Post time 10:18 PM EST
3&up, 1 1/8 Miles
PP. Horse, Jockey, Weight, Trainer
1. Forewarned, Sunday Diaz, Jr., 118, Uriah St. Lewis
2. Tenfold, Luis A. Batista, 118, Steven M. Asmussen
3. Mo Dont No, Wesley Ho, 118, Jeffrey A. Radosevich
4. Math Wizard, Christian Hiraldo, 118, Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.
5. Runnin'toluvya, Antonio Lopez, 118, Timothy C. Grams
6. Mr. Money, Gerald Almodovar, 118, W. Bret Calhoun
7. Sleepy Eyes Todd, Open, 118, Miguel Angel Silva
8. Plus Que Parfait, Reshawn Latchman, 118, Brendan P. Walsh
9. War Story, J.D. Acosta, 118, Elizabeth L. Dobles
10. Multiplier, Arnaldo Bocachica, 118, Peter Miller
Also Eligible
11. Awesome D J, Fredy Peltroche, 118, Jose Corrales

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