Part of the allure of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships every year is picking out a horse few others saw as a serious contender and watching him or her surprise everyone in the stretch. When you have 14 championship races that draw the best horses from around the world, the result is deep, talented field throughout the entire card, which happens to be a terrific recipe for longshot winners. That’s why on Breeders’ Cup weekend you can bet a horse at 12-1 or 15-1 or even 25-1 odds and still put your money on a graded stakes winner in good form.
Month: November 2020
Lookin At Lee To Enter Stud At Irish Hill And Dutchess Views Stallions In New York
Lookin At Lee (2014 Lookin At Lucky x Langara Lass), a multiple Grade 1-placed black type winner and popular runner-up in the 2017 Kentucky Derby, has been retired from racing and will stand his first season at stud in 2021 under the management of Irish Hill and Dutchess Views Stallions LLC in Saratoga Springs, New York.
The precocious Lookin At Lee broke his maiden in his second start at two and went on to earn his first black type win in the Ellis Park Juvenile Stakes. He then jumped directly into graded competition, finishing second to Not This Time in the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes and to unanimous 2-year-old champion, Classic Empire in the G1 Claiborne Breeders' Futurity. In his final start as a 2-year old, he was fourth in the Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
Lookin At Lee's impressive 2-year-old season catapulted him onto the Triple Crown trail in 2017. He earned his way into the Kentucky Derby starting gate by placing in two Oaklawn Park preps: The G3 Southwest Stakes and the G1 Arkansas Derby.
In the Kentucky Derby, he would come from far back to rally past all but Always Dreaming to earn second in America's most prestigious race. Lookin At Lee went on to compete in each leg of the Triple Crown (one of only eight horses to do so in the last five years), finishing fourth in the Preakness Stakes (G1). He competed against the best of his generation and proved durable, running in eight graded stakes in five months and amassing $1.3 million in career earnings.
Trainer Steve Asmussen said, “Lookin At Lee was a precocious 2-year old with an excellent disposition that brought his connections on a thrilling journey through the Triple Crown races. I'm looking forward to seeing his foals”.
The son of leading national sire Lookin At Lucky will stand his initial season for $6,500 LFSN.
Lookin At Lucky is one of the best sons of Smart Strike, sire of Curlin, and bred on the similar Mr. Prospector/Danzig line as Distorted Humor. Sons of Lookin at Lucky are now taking on the role of stallion including Accelerate and Country House. Lookin At Lee is out of the graded stakes placed and multiple graded stakes producing Langfuhr mare, Langara Lass. He is the half-brother to multiple Grade 3 winner Blended Citizen and half-brother to Grade 1 placed, Battlefield Angel, dam of 2020 Breeders' Cup Sprint participant Manny Wah.
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Saratoga WarHorse Launches Military Armed Forces and Racehorses Program
Saratoga WarHorse, a not-for-profit organization which uses retired Thoroughbred racehorses to work with service members and veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress, will now use its program to aid individuals mobilized during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Military Armed Forces and Racehorses Program is designed to assist service members and veterans during the immediate aftermath of trauma and prevent the negative consequences of Post-Traumatic Stress. The program, which will formally launch this December, is currently accepting participants and available to service members who were mobilized during the pandemic at no cost.
Since April, more than 50,000 troops across all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, have been activated domestically to assist in their state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, approximately 25,000 retired and former U.S. Army medical personnel have volunteered their service.
“Tens of thousands of military troops were called upon to fight this invisible enemy,” said U.S. Army veteran and Saratoga WarHorse Foundation Chief Executive Officer Allison Cherkosly, Ph.D. “Serving in an uncertain environment–unsure whether or not the person you’re trying to help will infect you–is stressful and traumatic. Our Military FAR Program will help spare a lot of service members and their families from the suffering caused by Post-Traumatic Stress by providing early intervention shortly after enduring trauma. With this program, we have the opportunity to make a major contribution to the field of veteran care. Instead of trying to reverse the devastating consequences of Post-Traumatic Stress, we could actually prevent it.”
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Lir Can Fly, But Can He Go The Mile?
LEXINGTON, KY–Tuesday brought about another bright but cool morning in Lexington, and the European Breeders’ Cup contingent-all bar the Ballydoyle brigade, which touched down in Lexington late on Monday evening and will be ensconced in quarantine until Thursday-had another opportunity to stretch their legs at Keeneland. The English and Irish Guineas winners Kameko (Kitten’s Joy) and Siskin (First Defence) were among those who took to the training track for the second straight day, with Kameko once again catching the eye in a light gallop just as dawn broke. Siskin once again displayed his well being by throwing in a periodic hop and swivelling his head to take in all the sights as he went about his work, but the Ger Lyons trainee looked a picture of good health and appears to have taken his travels well.
Five Europeans-GII Juvenile Turf Sprint entrant Ubettabelieveit (GB) (Kodiac {GB}) in addition to the fillies Audarya (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), Glass Slippers (GB) (Dream Ahead), Miss Amulet (Ire) (Sir Prancealot {Ire})) and One Master (GB) (Fastnet Rock {Aus})–tested the Keeneland turf course for the first time on Tuesday.
G1 Prince of Wales’s S. winner Lord North (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) was a standout among the John Gosden trio as he took to the training track alongside stablemates Terebellum (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) and Mehdaayih (GB) (Frankel {GB}), and the GI Turf contender traveled enthusiastically on the bridle without being overeager through an easy gallop. Trainer Ralph Beckett, having arrived in Lexington on Monday night, was aboard a pony to oversee his GI Juvenile Turf runners New Mandate (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) and Devilwala (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}). The G2 Royal Lodge S. winner New Mandate galloped freely ahead of his barnmate Devilwala, who was fourth in the G1 Dewhurst S. last out. Both horses are campaigned by owners relatively new to the game: Marc Chan bought New Mandate from a partnership headed by Beckett and Alex Elliott after a handicap win at Sandown in August, while Devilwala is among a talented bunch of 2-year-olds for Kia Joorabchian’s Amo Racing.
New Mandate landed in gate two for Friday’s Juvenile Turf at Monday evening’s post position draw and Devilwala in 13, the only horse to the inside of Qatar Racing’s The Lir Jet (Ire) (Prince of Lir {Ire}). The Lir Jet’s trainer Michael Bell was on hand to supervise his first Breeders’ Cup starter on Tuesday, having landed the evening before, and he was philosophical about the draw.
“The draw could have been kinder, but people seem to say you’re better off drawn wide than out low. Time will tell,” he said. “I watched the [2015 Juvenile Turf] when Hit It A Bomb won here, and he won from post 14 and had a great ride from Ryan Moore, so we hope Oisin [Murphy] can do the same.”
The Lir Jet skipped over the training track for the second straight morning on Tuesday, and Bell said he is pleased with how the colt has taken his journey.
“He seems very happy in himself and he’s eating well, which is the most important thing when they’ve traveled, because it can be a bit disruptive for them,” the trainer said. “But he looks in very good form when he’s out on the track in the morning. We’ve kept him on the training track just to keep a lid on him but he couldn’t have traveled better.
It was somewhat serendipitous circumstances that saw The Lir Jet land in Bell’s yard earlier this year; the colt was bought privately by Bell’s son Nick from pinhooker Robson Aguiar after the breeze-up sales were delayed in the spring. Sheikh Fahad came calling after The Lir Jet set a five-furlong track record when winning at Yarmouth on debut two days after racing in Britain resumed on June 3, and the colt carried Qatar Racing’s colours when beating Wesley Ward’s Golden Pal (Uncle Mo) in the G2 Norfolk S. at Royal Ascot. The Lir Jet, from the first crop of Ballyhane Stud’s fellow Norfolk winner Prince of Lir, was somewhat unlucky to be beaten when second in the G2 Prix Robert Papin on July 19 and the G1 Phoenix S. on Aug. 9, and according to Bell didn’t quite handle the Newmarket dip when fifth in the G1 Middle Park S. on Sept. 26. He steps up to a mile for the first time on Friday.
“He was a bit unlucky in the photograph in the Papin when it was heads up, heads down; the dice didn’t roll the right way for him because he was in front just before and just after the line,” Bell said. “He ran in Ireland in the Phoenix S. and stayed on very well but got slightly hampered and finished off very well over six furlongs. He ran at Newmarket and was a bit unbalanced coming down the hill, so this flatter track will suit him better. But he finished off his race very well over six, so we’re hopeful he’ll get the mile.”
“It would be a fantastic achievement,” Bell said of a potential Breeders’ Cup win. “It’s not going to be easy; we’re under no pretensions that he’s a warm-order favourite. We’re taking a punt at the trip, but if he does stay he’ll be in the mix because he has the class and he can certainly run to a higher rating over a mile if he stays. But we’ll only find that out on Friday.”
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