September, 2020 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Galileo’s Magic Attitude Rolls in Belmont Oaks

Magic Attitude (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) made her Stateside debut in style with a late-surging victory as the heavy favorite in the GI Belmont Oaks Saturday, the first Grade I event of the track’s fall meet. Caboosing the quintet early, the even-money favorite–who was receiving Lasix for the first time–bided her time at the back as second-choice Antoinette (Hard Spun) clocked a half-mile in :49.99. Still last entering the far turn, the bay swung out three wide in the lane and unleashed a furious rally, powering clear late for a decisive victory. Saratoga Oaks victress Antoinette held second.

“The pace was a little bit of a concern,” said winning trainer Arnaud Delacour. “With a five-horse field, you never know what’s going to happen, but it didn’t change her running style as that’s how she likes to race. Javier [Castellano] timed it perfectly and she came with a good kick.”

On a potential start in the GI Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf Nov. 7: “We’ll see. One race at a time. The [GI] Queen Elizabeth [II Challenge Cup] [Oct. 10 at Keeneland] is in 21 days and might be coming back too quick. We’ll let her tell us.”

“I really like the way she did it,” jockey Javier Castellano said. “Watching the replays, it seemed like she could be a little bit keen. She always seemed to break well out of the gate and get good forward position in Europe. Today, she broke OK. I tried to cover up a little bit. It was her first time in the country and a mile and a quarter and you always have to save something for the end. She sat beautifully behind the speed. She had a nice rhythm. When I asked her turning for home at the quarter pole, she just took off really well. I was very excited to see the way she did it today.”

Graduating at second asking in France for Haras Du Saubouas and trainer Fabrice Chappet, Magic Attitude checked in third in the Criterium de Lyon 15 days later. Victorious in the G3 Prix Vanteaux in May, she was privately purchased by Roy and Gretchen Jackson’s Lael Stables and was second in her first start for them in the G1 Prix Saint Alary June 14. The chestnut was fifth in her final European start in the G1 Prix de Diane July 5 for trainer Fabrice Chappet and was transferred to Delacour.

Pedigree Notes:

Magic Attitude is the 89th top-level scorer for the mighty Galileo and is bred on the same Galileo/Exceed and Excel cross as Group 1 winner Anthony Van Dyck. She is also one of 327 black-type winners and 221 graded winners for that Coolmore stalwart. Her dam, English Highweight and Group 1 winner Margot Did, is also the dam of GSW & MG1SP Mission Impassible (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). Her recent produce includes the juvenile colt Pietrasanta (Jpn) (Frankel {GB}), who brought ¥210,000,000–the equivalent of $1,936,200–at the JRHA Yearling and Foal Sale; and a yearling colt by Heart’s Cry (Jpn).

Saturday, Belmont Park
BELMONT OAKS INVITATIONAL S.-GI, $242,500, Belmont, 9-19, 3yo, f, 1 1/4mT, 2:01.14, fm.
1–MAGIC ATTITUDE (GB), 121, f, 3, by Galileo (Ire)
1st Dam: Margot Did (Ire) (Hwt. Filly at 3-Eng at 5- 7f.,
G1SW-Eng, $425,664), by Exceed And Excel (Aus)
2nd Dam: Special Dancer (GB), by Shareef Dancer
3rd Dam: Caraniya (Ire), by Darshaan (GB)
1ST GRADE I WIN. (€850,000 RNA Ylg ’18 ARAUG). O-Lael
Stables; B-Katsumi Yoshida (GB); T-Arnaud Delacour; J-Javier
Castellano. $137,500. Lifetime Record: GSW & G1SP-Fr,
7-3-1-1, $245,437. *Full to Mission Impassible (Ire), GSW &
G1SP-Fr, GISP-US, $312,159. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple
Plus* Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Antoinette, 121, f, 3, by Hard Spun
1st Dam: Shuruq, by Elusive Quality
2nd Dam: Miss Lucifer (Fr), by Noverre
3rd Dam: Devil’s Imp (Ire), by Cadeaux Genereux (GB)
O/B-Godolphin (KY); T-William I. Mott. $50,000.
3–Neige Blanche (Fr), 121, f, 3, by Anodin (Ire)
1st Dam: Bianca Neve (Fr), by Muhtathir (GB)
2nd Dam: Polomia, by General Assembly
3rd Dam: Rampolda (Fr), by Saint Cyrien (Fr)
O-Madaket Stables LLC, Marsha Naify & Laura De Seroux;
B-Ecurie du Sud (FR); T-Leonard Powell. $30,000.
Margins: 2 1/4, 2 1/4, 1. Odds: 1.15, 1.35, 5.20.
Also Ran: Setting the Mood, Key Biscayne.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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Maryland Apprentice Marquez Heading To New York, To Team Up With Cordero

Teenaged jockey Charlie Marquez, the top apprentice and third-leading rider at Laurel Park's summer meet, is moving his tack from Maryland to New York under the tutelage of Hall of Fame rider Angel Cordero Jr.

Marquez, 17, who rides with a five-pound weight allowance, entered Saturday ranked third in wins (33) and starts (231) and fifth in purses earned ($944,681) at Laurel's extended summer meet. He had four mounts on Saturday's closing day program.

“There's nothing like Laurel. I love all the people. The environment's great, the horses are great. I just wanted to try something new in my career,” Marquez said. “I always wanted to go to New York. It's just another chapter of my life, so I want to see where that goes.”

Represented by agent Kevin Witte in Maryland, Marquez also finished third at Laurel's truncated winter meet with 24 wins and 132 mounts, and was fifth with $513,254 in purse earnings. He registered hat tricks March 8 and 15, the latter the final card before live racing was paused for 2 1/2 months in Maryland amid the coronavirus pandemic, returning May 30.

“I'm excited. I hope to do good. I have a very good agent up there,” Marquez said of his move. “Angel Cordero Jr.'s going to take my book. He's a great mentor, a good agent and has a lot of connections, so hopefully we can be a good team and work together to get some wins.”

After riding in seven amateur races in 2019, three at Laurel and four at Parx, with two seconds and two thirds, Marquez made his professional debut at age 16 running fourth on Up Hill Battle Jan. 1 at Laurel. The Columbia, Md., native got his first winner in his eighth career mount Jan. 9, also at Laurel, with Sierra Leona.

The son of Carlos Marquez Jr., a multiple graded-stakes winner of more than 3,150 career races currently riding in Puerto Rico, Marquez is also the grandson of Carlos Marquez Sr., another successful rider who taught at Puerto Rico's famed Escuela Vocacional Hipica jockey school.

Marquez registered seven two-win days during Laurel's summer meet. He joins forces with the 77-year-old with Cordero, a winner of 7,057 career races who previously represented Hall of Famer John Velazquez and currently handles the book of Manny Franco, regular rider of Florida Derby (G1), Belmont (G1) and Travers (G1) winner Tiz the Law.

“I can't really explain it. It's just an honor. I couldn't be more grateful. But I can't forget about all the people here that helped move me along and made me the rider that I am now where I think I can compete up in New York,” Marquez said. “I don't think there's anyone like Angel Cordero. He's a Hall of Fame rider and they call him the King of Saratoga. It's an opportunity I just had to take, and I'm very excited and looking forward to teaming up with him.”

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Forster Looking At Salvator Mile As Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile ‘Win And You’re In’ For Pirate’s Punch

Whatever reservations trainer Grant Forster had about shipping Pirate's Punch from Kentucky to Monmouth Park for the second time in a little more than four weeks disappeared when he put the speedy 4-old gelding back on the work tab.

Disqualified from first place in the Grade 3 Philip H. Iselin Stakes for interference on Aug. 22 at the Oceanport, N.J., track, Pirate's Punch has maintained the form that saw him cross the finish line a 1 1/2-length winner that day.

So Forster will try again, this time in Sunday's $150,000 Grade 3 Salvator Mile that headlines Monmouth Park's 14-race card, and he will do so with an eye on the future: the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile.

“We were looking for any reason not to come back but he just would not give us any reason not to do it,” said Forster. “He has been absolutely fantastic every day since he has been back in Kentucky after the Iselin and he has answered every question we gave him.

“He deserves the chance to go back and do it again.”

But there's a little more to it this time, Forster conceded.

“We're looking at this race as kind of our win and you're in for the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile,” he said.

Forster, who took over the training of Pirate's Punch from Jeff Mullins last summer, is still looking to add a graded stakes win to Kentucky-bred's credentials. He thought he had one in the Iselin in what was essentially a two-horse race between Pirate's Punch and Warrior's Charge, with Pirate's Punch disqualified from first for interference in the stretch.

“What can you do? That's sports,” said Forster. “Calls go against you in every sport in every country in the world. We were ecstatic with how our horse ran and we felt like we had the best horse that day. So we're back to try to do it again on Sunday.”

A son of Shanghai Bobby, Pirate's Punch shows a 4-3-4 line for 16 career starts, with earnings of $242,751. His appearance at Monmouth Park in the Iselin marked the 10th different track he has raced at over his career and the ninth time in his past 10 starts that he was trying a mile and a sixteenth.

He will be shortening up to a mile for only the third time in his career.

“I think a mile, a mile and a sixteenth, a mile and an eighth … I don't think there is any real specialty to him per se,” said Forster.

The eight-horse Salvator Mile field, he said, “is more well-rounded than the Iselin field was.”

“In the Iselin, Warrior's Charge was the most accomplished horse in the race,” he said. “You look at this field and see a horse like Bal Harbour and I am more worried about him this time than I was in the Iselin. It's his third time off the layoff. There's Top Line Growth, who ran a big number off a layoff. We'll see if he's ready to build off of that or if he will regress.

“With (Grade 1 winner) Valid Point (trying dirt for the first time in his career) you don't know if they're experimenting or if they feel this will move him up. I don't know. He's a hard read.”

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Derby and Oaks Winners Return to the Worktab

GI Kentucky Derby hero Authentic (Into Mischief) and GI Kentucky Oaks victress Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil) both returned to the worktab Saturday at Churchill Downs.

GI Preakness S.-bound Authentic covered five panels in :59.20, the fastest of 38 works at the distance. With jockey Martin Garcia aboard, the bay clicked off splits in :23.80 and :35.40, galloping out six furlongs in 1:12.20.

“It went very well. Martin has been with me,” said trainer Bob Baffert, who came to Louisville from the Keeneland Sale in Lexington. “He knows what I expect. I told him we’re going to go three-quarters from the [five-eighths pole], and he just went off, didn’t have to move on him. This horse, he gets over any track. He couldn’t have looked better, coming off a race like that. Everything is all systems go for the Preakness. Got a nice work out of him. I’ll come back, give him an easier work next week and he should be ready to go.”

His stablemate Thousand Words (Pioneerof the Nile), who was forced to scratch from the Derby after flipping over in the paddock, also breezed Saturday. Florent Geroux was in the irons for the five-panel move in 1:02.40 (26/38). The bay was clocked in splits of :25.80, :8 and :50.60 and galloped out six furlongs in 1:14.60.

“He’s not a real good work horse,” Baffert said. “I usually have him in company, and today I had him by himself. He’s just a steady kind of horse. Distance is his friend. Flo got to know him today, and I think he’s going to work him back this week. Now he knows the horse a little bit better. But it was fine. I like the way he actually finished up. He started picking it up the last part. I worked him seven-eighths today. That’s him. He’ll never wow you in the mornings. Just steady. He’s funny in that if you try to rush him early, he gets discouraged.”

The incident with Thousand Words in the paddock injured longtime Baffert assistant Jimmy Barns, who required eight screws in his arm.

“But Jimmy is doing fine now,” Baffert said. “He got his arm patched up. He had a great surgeon who patched him up. He’s actually in pretty good spirits.”

With Barnes temporarily out of commission, both Baffert horses have been under the watchful eye of fellow Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas since the Derby. They are scheduled to ship to Baltimore Sept. 29.

Also on the worktab Saturday were Preakness contenders Art Collector (Bernardini) and Mystic Guide (Ghostzapper). A late defection from the Derby with a minor hoof issue, Art Collector breezed five furlongs in :59.40 (2/38) with jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr. at the controls. The homebred went in fractions of :12.20, :24.20 and :6 with a five-panel gallop-out in 1:11.60.

“He’s in a great spot right now with his fitness,” trainer Tommy Drury said. “We wanted a bit more of a serious work today and he went well within himself. He’ll have a maintenance work next weekend before we ship to Baltimore.”

GII Jim Dandy S. victor Mystic Guide prepped for a possible start in the Preakness with a half-mile move in :48.60 (2/35) at Fair Hill in company with 2-year-old maiden winner Tate (Quality Road).

“Mystic Guide sat just off of [Tate] breaking from the half-mile pole and he came to him in the stretch and they finished together, which was the planned work,” trainer Mike Stidham said. “Then he had a real solid gallop-out. It was just what we were looking for and we’re very pleased with where we’re at with him right now.”

Oaks upsetter Shedaresthedevil also returned to the worktab at Churchill Saturday, covering a half-mile in :49 flat (40/112). With exercise rider Edvin Vargas aboard, the bay clocked her first quarter in :25.20 and galloped out five-eighths in 1:02. Her champion stablemate Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) also breezed Saturday, going four furlongs in company in :49.60 (70/112). Both fillies are nominated to Keeneland’s GI Juddmonte Spinster S. Oct. 4.

Oaks runner-up Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) was also back to breezing Saturday, going a half-mile in :48 flat (11/112) with Tyler Gaffalione in the saddle. Trainer Ken McPeek tweeted that he is considering the Preakness, Spinster and GI QEII S. on turf for Swiss Skydiver’s next start.

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