November, 2020 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Grade 3 Red Carpet Draws Competitors From All Across The Country To Del Mar

Ten fillies and mares will test their lung and leg power over a mile and three eighths on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course Thanksgiving Day at Del Mar in the seventh edition of the $100,000 Red Carpet Handicap. Racing on Turkey Day traditionally starts early – 11:00 a.m. – with the thought of getting fans home in time to sit down for their big dinners. There will be no fans this year, but nonetheless the early racing holds, meaning the stakes – Race six on the eight-race program — should go off at approximately 1:30 p.m.

The Grade 3 Red Carpet has drawn a pair of east coast invaders from the potent barns of trainers H. Graham Motion and Chad Brown and they both appear to be serious contenders in the 11-panel testing. Motion's horse is Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Cloonan and Thornton's Blame Debbie, a 3-year-old daughter of Blame currently working on a three-race win streak. Brown has sent out Dubb, Madaket Stables or Wonder Stables' Orglandes, a 4-year-old French-bred filly by the Irish stallion Le Harve who clicked on Oct. 9 at Belmont Park in her second stateside start. Also coming west to handle the riding assignments on those two are a pair of top New York reinsmen, Manny Franco for Blame Debbie and Irad Ortiz, Jr. for Orglandes.

There's a trio of local ladies who plan to lead the not-in-my-backyard contingent – Barber or Wachtel Stable's California Kook, Charles or Gordon's Never Be Enough and Bederian, Kamberian or Nakkashian, et al's Going to Vegas.

California Kook has been tackling tougher of late and has been competitive while doing so. The 3-year-old Boisterous filly was second in the G1 Del Mar Oaks on August 22, then a close-up fourth to colts in the G2 Del Mar Derby on September 6 and finally fifth, beaten only three lengths, in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Keeneland on October 10. Thursday she'll have the saddle services of another east coaster in Joel Rosario for trainer Peter Miller.

Never Be Enough, a 5-year-old British-bred mare by Sir Percy, tallied on opening day (Oct. 31) of the Bing Crosby Season in the Kathryn Crosby Stakes at a mile on the grass. The stretch runner has reeled off three victories in a row in the past three months, two of them against allowance horses at Golden Gate Fields. Tiago Pereira was aboard the chestnut for her Kathryn Crosby score and trainer Manuel Badilla will have him on once more on Thanksgiving.

Going to Vegas has turned in a series of sharp efforts of late while just missing finding the winner's circle. The 3-year-old by Goldencents most recently missed in a photo to the tough filly Warren's Showtime in the G3 Autumn Miss Stakes on the lawn Oct. 17 at Santa Anita. Trainer Richard Baltas sticks with her regular rider of late, Mario Gutierrez.

Here's the full field for the Red Carpet from the rail out with riders:

California Kook; Never Be Enough; Branham, Baltas or McClanahan's Colonial Creed (Flavien Prat); Orglandes; Going to Vegas; St George Farm Racing's Woodfin (Jose Valdivia, Jr.); Jay Em Ess Stable's Aunt Lubie (Victor Espinoza); Blame Debby; C R K Stable's Hollywood Girl (Mike Smith), and Hronis Racing's Quick (Umberto Rispoli).

Trainer Motion won the Red Carpet with his mare Rusty Slippers in 2015. The stakes record for the 11-furlong distance was set by India Mantuana in winning the 2018 edition of this race in 2:14.50. The course record was set by Spring House in 2008 at 2:11.14.

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A New Heir to War Front’s Throne at Claiborne

War Front is undoubtedly heralded as one of America’s top turf sires, but Claiborne’s Bernie Sams said he finds any stereotype that the stallion is solely a grass producer is unjustifiable.

“I think War Front has been labeled to some extent as a turf sire, but unfairly so because he got his start with dirt stakes winners,” he said. “Then a lot of people started breeding to him and taking a lot of them to Europe. He probably is equally as good on dirt as he is on turf, if we had as many of them here.”

Sams’s theory on War Front’s progeny comes to fruition in the versatile ability displayed by War of Will. The son of War Front is among an elite group that can claim Grade I wins on both dirt and turf, and is the first of War Front’s progeny to snag a Classic victory.

The imposing bay recently joined his sire at Claiborne Farm and will stand for a fee of $25,000 in his first year at stud.

A $175,000 R.N.A at the Keeneland September Sale, War of Will was pinhooked privately by Norman Williamson before selling for €250,000 at the Arquana May Breeze-Up Sale in 2018. The youngster was purchase by Justin Casse and sent to his brother Mark Casse’s barn, where he made his debut on the grass.

While competitive in stakes company at two, the colt failed to break his maiden in four starts and Casse decided to look past the colt’s grass pedigree, switching the blaze-faced bay to the dirt.

The result was a three-race win streak, with a five-length maiden-breaking sophomore debut, followed by a graded stakes double in the GIII LeComte S. and the GII Risen Star S.

That’s when Claiborne started to take notice.

“We started getting interested in War of Will when he won down at Fair Grounds,” Sams said. “He was very impressive. We’d kind of been keeping an eye out for a son of War Front, and he seemed to fit the bill.”

After drawing the first position in last year’s GI Kentucky Derby, rider Tyler Gaffalione had War of Will poised for a perfect ‘up the rail’ victory. But the seam never opened, and they ran seventh in a highly controversial Run for the Roses.

The duo sought redemption and earned it when two weeks later in the GI Preakness S., they again drew the one hole, but this time found an opening and never looked back. The victory gave all connections- owner Gary Barber, Casse and Gaffalione- each their first Preakness win and first-ever Classic win.

“After he won the Preakness was when we got very serious,” Bernie said of the then stallion prospect. “Just with the fact that he was a big, strong son of War Front that had won an American Classic on the dirt going two turns, and had speed.”

War of Will did not see the winner’s circle again last year, so Casse followed a hunch and turned the bay back to the turf for his four-year-old season.

He was rewarded when War of Will took the GI Maker’s Mark Mile S. at Keeneland, defeating Graded and Group I winners Raging Bull (FR) (Dark Angel {Ire}), Without Parole (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and Next Shares (Archarcharch).

“The Grade I at Keeneland on the grass was very exciting,” Sams said. “For him to be a Grade I winner on dirt and turf, there’s a lot of grass racing in America now, so you know it can go both ways with him. And his female family has quite a bit of turf in it.”

War of Will is the ninth foal out of Visions of Clarity (Ire) {Sadler’s Wells), a stakes winner at three in France and half-sister to European champion and Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Spinning World (Nureyev). The mare is also responsible for Irish highweight and Group I winner Pathfork (Distorted Humor), as well as Juddmonte’s three-time graded stakes winner Tacitus (Tapit).

Sams said Claiborne is looking forward to offering their first son of War Front, but that War of Will offers a new aspect to the sire line for breeders.

“To have had Danzig and War Front and now him is very exciting,” he said. “If he could be halfway as successful as those two, it’d be a good deal. There’s definitely more size and scope to him than his father and grandfather. [In terms of] conformation, he sells himself. He’s a big, pretty horse. He’s correct and has plenty of bone.”

War of Will’s appeal is so great, it seems, that he might just end up taking a few mare’s off his sire’s book.

“Everybody has loved him,” Sams said. “I’ve had a couple of people that had asked about breeding to War Front and came out and looked at War of Will and now are going to breed to him and not War Front. So that’s the kind of mares he’s going to end up getting.”

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Brad Cox Trying For Fourth Consecutive Trainer’s Title At Fair Grounds

Fresh off a record-tying four wins at the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland earlier this month, trainer Brad Cox will look to parlay that success to his fourth straight Fair Grounds trainer's title when the 149th meet kicks off Thanksgiving Day. Cox, who won 40 races last year and also led with 12 stakes wins, will have the maximum number of 44 allotted stalls, two of which will eventually be occupied by soon-to-be champions Essential Quality and Monomoy Girl, who, along with Knicks Go and Aunt Pearl, helped him tie Hall of Famer Richard Mandella for the most wins at one Breeders' Cup. And while he's the clear favorite to extend his local streak, it won't be at the top of his to-do list to start the meet.

“Honestly, I never go into a meet thinking about winning the trainer's title,” Cox said. “The goal is always to be competitive, and especially now to develop our younger horses, that's a huge part of it. If we get halfway through the meet and we're in contention, then that's great.”

At the top of the list of younger horses is Godolphin's homebred, Essential Quality, who won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile to cap a 3-for-3 campaign that will almost assuredly earn him an Eclipse Award for Champion 2-Year-Old Male. The son of Tapit is on the short list of Kentucky Derby contenders and could be a candidate for the March 20, $1 million Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby (G2), a race Cox won last year with Wells Bayou. Essential Quality has been given some time off after his Juvenile win and could resurface in mid-February, which means the local February 13 Risen Star (G2) could be in play.

“Right now, he's at Churchill jogging and will be there through November,” Cox said. “We'll eventually get him down to Fair Grounds and start mapping out a path to the Derby, with likely two preps. I don't have a spot picked out yet but Fair Grounds and their series is definitely in play.”

Michael Dubb, Monomoy Stables, The Elkstone Group, and Bethlehem Stables' Monomoy Girl won her second Breeders' Cup Distaff prior to being sold for $9.5 million to Spendthrift Farm at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Selected Mixed Sale but, in a somewhat surprise decision, will race in 2021. The 5-year-old daughter of Tapizar is 13-for-15 lifetime in a surefire Hall of Fame career, won the Eclipse Award as Champion 3-Year-old Filly in 2018 and is odds-on to win Champion Older Mare this year. Monomoy Girl, who won the local Rachel Alexandra (G2) in 2018, is another who will join Cox's stable during the meet, though a potential schedule has yet to be determined.

“It's great to have her back (for another season),” Cox said. “Obviously, the Breeders' Cup at Del Mar is the main goal, but right now we really haven't talked 2021 with her. We'll get together with Spendthrift to work out a schedule, let her tell us when she's ready, and we'll go from there.”

Korea Racing Authority's Knicks Go will be the third of the Cox-trainer Breeders' Cup winners to be stabled at Fair Grounds this meet, though he could be pointed to the Pegasus World Cup in January at Gulfstream Park. Cox, with an ever-growing stable, will also have horses at Palm Meadows in South Florida this year, as part of his Gulfstream contingent, though he will spend the majority of his time in New Orleans. Cox will kick off his title defense with runners in the last five races on the Opening Day card, including ERJ Racing, Madaket Stables, and Dave Kenney's Landeskog, who is 4-1 on the morning line for the featured $125,000 Thanksgiving Classic.

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Controversial 2017 Canadian Derby Declared Official–For Fifth Time

The 2017 GIII Canadian Derby has been declared official–for the fifth time.

But the upholding of the controversial commission-level disqualification of Chief Know It All (Flashy Bull) from western Canada’s most prestigious race might still not end up being the final judgment in a case that has now languished in the courts for three-plus years.

The Alberta Court of Appeal ruling, first reported Nov. 23 by Canadian Press, is the latest twist in the prolonged legal challenge over whether stewards are the final arbiters of foul-related race disqualifications in that province.

This latest judgment–which essentially upholds the right of a quasi-judicial, independent body to overturn race outcome decisions made by track officials in Alberta—stands in stark contrast to the opposite United States federal court ruling from earlier this year that declared Churchill Downs stewards had the full power and final say in DQ’ing the winner of the 2019 GI Kentucky Derby for an in-race foul.

On Aug. 19, 2017, at Northlands Park, Chief Know It All, then owned by Rollingson Racing Stable and trained by Robertino Diodoro, won the $150,000 (CDN) stakes by a half-length.

There was a dead heat for second, and the stewards investigated a foul claim on behalf of one of the runners-up.

The objection focused on whether Chief Know It All came over and impeded rail-running Double Bear (Kentucky Bear) at the head of the stretch or if Double

Bear caused his own stutter-step problem by running up on the left hind of Chief Know It All.

The stewards ruled no foul occurred, leaving up Chief Know It All as the winner.

The connections of Double Bear appealed to Horse Racing Alberta, which has something called an Appeal Tribunal comprised of up to three members who hear appeals on rulings made by horse racing officials, with the ability to render reversals independent of Horse Racing Alberta.

Ten months later, the Appeal Tribunal did indeed reverse the outcome of the 2017 Canadian Derby, DQ’ing Chief Know It All for interference while elevating Double Bear and Trooper John (Colonel John) as dead-heat winners.

Rollingson Racing took the matter to court, seeking a remand back to the original stewards’ decision, but had no luck in two lower court attempts before the case went before the Alberta Court of Appeal, which similarly upheld the tribunal’s power to overrule stewards.

According to Canadian Press, “Rollingson Racing argued that the Appeal Tribunal did not have enough members to make the decision to disqualify, because one of them had been let go partway through the proceedings. The Appeal Court has dismissed the argument [ruling that] a section of Alberta’s horse racing act could be interpreted to allow a former member to return so as to conclude a complaint that was already before the tribunal.”

It was unclear if Rollingson Racing will pursue further legal attempts to fight the DQ.

Chief Know It All has long since left the Rollingson stable and Diodoro’s barn. He won the GII British Columbia Derby at Hastings in his next start after the Canadian Derby, then shipped out to race at Zia, Oaklawn, Prairie Meadows, Canterbury, Turf Paradise and Churchill.

During 2019 and into 2020, he was claimed four times while crossing the finish line first in five of six races at Churchill, Saratoga, Keeneland and Aqueduct.

But in one of those races, on Nov. 14, 2019, Chief Know It All was DQ’d from a 12 1/4-length win at Churchill while also having his claim voided for a Class 3 naproxen positive while under the care of trainer Danny Gargan. The gelding currently competes at the $25,000 claiming level in New York, most recently running third at that level Nov. 13.

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