January, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Special Holiday Card On Tap At Santa Anita On Monday, Jan. 18

Live racing resumes at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., with a four-day race week on Friday, as there will be special holiday racing on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Monday, Jan. 18. Monday's main event will be the Grade 3, $100,000 Megahertz Stakes for older fillies and mares at one mile on turf.

Saturday, Jan. 16, is California Cup Day at Santa Anita, with the entire card, including five stakes, dedicated to horses bred or sired in California.

On Sunday, older fillies and mares will go a marathon mile and one half on turf in the Grade 3, $100,000 Astra Stakes.

For additional information, please visit santaanita.com.

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From TDN Look: While the Horses are Away

It’s three days before Christmas, a time when most young Americans can be found lounging on the couch binging on Netflix and cookies, but Merlin Cano is busy on the backside of Churchill Downs.

Most of the trainers have already packed up and headed for warmer climates. A few trucks roll by carrying used straw or unused hay, remnants of the hive of activity this backstretch was just a few weeks ago. All is quiet for now, but Merlin knows there is still much to be done.

Merlin is a member of the team at the Backside Learning Center (BLC)–an organization located on the Churchill Downs backside that serves as a resource center for the equine backstretch community, providing educational programs and services and promoting community amongst the backstretch workers and their families.

At 20 years old and around a hundred pounds, Merlin loads up the BLC’s van to the brim with holiday gift baskets filled with blankets, fruits, gift cards, coats and more. She heads out to Oakdale Avenue to journey through the streets of downtown Louisville.

She knows the roads surrounding the track like the back of her hand and soon arrives at the house of Angelica Solano and her four children. The family receives new shoes for each of the children along with food for a holiday feast.

When asked what the BLC has done for her family, Solano replied, “The Backside Learning Center has helped me translate the letters and mail I receive. I’m thankful because they have supported my kids with homework and they’ve provided us with several food distributions. They’re always making sure we’re doing okay and helping us with whatever we need.”

Click to continue reading and to see the video at TDN Look.

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Princess Zoe Not Traveling to Saudi Arabia

Group 1 winner Princess Zoe (Ger) (Jukebox Jury {Ire}) will not go to Saudi Arabia for the Saudi Cup card, her trainer Tony Mullins revealed on Sunday. The charismatic grey enjoyed a progressive campaign in 2020, taking the Listed Oyster S. at Galway in September, before adding the G1 Qatar Prix du Cadran on Oct. 3, her fifth-straight win. Her final race of the season was a fourth in the G1 Prix Royal-Oak.

“We’ve decided against it. I’d love to go, but we thought the ground wouldn’t be suitable for her,” said Mullins. “We want to run her with a cut in the ground, and it’s unlikely over there. We’d have loved the money–but we’ll do right by her. I’d imagine we’d start in a suitable race at The Curragh if there is one, if not the Vintage Crop at Navan–that’s the plan.

“If it looks like having a crack at the best over a mile and a half is possible we’ll do it–if not we won’t. We believe she’ll be as effective over a mile and a half, and if we’re wrong the Cadran is always there. We’d like to prove it’s possible, but if it’s not that’s it. It’s nice to be thinking of these races, anyway.”

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Maurice Colts One-Two in Chukyo Contest

Pixie Knight (Jpn) (Maurice {Jpn}) caused an upset in the G3 Nikkan Sports Sho Shinzan Kinen at Chukyo on Sunday. He led home an exacta for his sire, former Japanese Horse of the Year Maurice (Jpn), 1 1/4 lengths ahead of Rooks Nest (Jpn), who was 3/4 to the good of Bathrat Leon (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}). Favoured Kukuna (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}) reported home fourth, another half-length back.

The 12-1 shot surged immediately to the head of affairs and raced with ears pricked through splits of :23.40 for the quarter and :46.30 for the half-mile. Still full of run 600 metres from home, he was soon pressured by Bathrat Leon to his outside, but shifted to another gear and quickened away again 200 metres out. Under mainly hands and heels, Pixie Knight had built up enough of a cushion that Rooks Nest’s late rally fell short and he scored a shade handily, appearing to have plenty more to give if asked.

Off the mark at first asking in a Chukyo newcomer race on Sept. 26, the Silk Racing colourbearer was wheeled back going the same 1400-metre trip at Hanshin on Nov. 23 and ran third in the Shumeigiku Sho.

Pedigree Notes
Part of the first Northern Hemisphere crop of his sire, Japanese Horse of the Year Maurice, Pixie Knight is his Shadai-based sire’s initial black-type winner. Maurice was named the champion sprinter/miler in 2015 and scored six times at the highest level in Japan and Hong Kong. Maurice’s Infinite (Jpn) has also filled the runner-up position in the G3 Saudi Arabia Royal Cup.

The third foal from his three-time winning dam, Pixie Knight has the older half-brother Salpa (Jpn) (Screen Hero {Jpn}), the winning 4-year-old half-sister Vidia (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}), a juvenile half-brother by Black Tide (Jpn) and a yearling half-sibling by Mikki Isle (Jpn). Pixie Hollow visited the court of Kizuna (Jpn) last spring.

His third dam produced Japanese MSW & MGSP Danon Come On (Jpn) (Symboli Kris S), GSW Queen’s Barn (Jpn) (Special Week {Jpn}), SW Wild Soldier (Jpn) (Brocco), SP Lebaiserdel’ange (Jpn) (Gold Allure {Jpn}) and the dam of MGSW & G1 Sprinters S. third Ukiyono Kaze (Jpn) (On Fire {Jpn}). GI Vanity H. heroine A Kiss For Luck (Reflected Glory) is his fourth dam, while GI La Brea S. heroine Alphabet Kisses (Alphabet Soup) is also in the extended family.

Sunday, Kyoto, Japan
NIKKAN SPORTS SHO SHINZAN KINEN-G3, ¥72,760,000 (US$700,043/£515,984/€572,589), Chukyo, 1-10, 3yo, 1600mT, 1:33.30, fm.
1–PIXIE KNIGHT (JPN), 123, c, 3, Maurice (Jpn)
1st Dam: Pixie Hollow (Jpn), by King Halo (Jpn)
2nd Dam: Rhein Regina (Jpn), by Sakura Bakushin O (Jpn)
3rd Dam: Shinko Angel, by Ogygian
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. 1ST GROUp WIN. O-Silk Racing; B-Northern
Farm (Jpn); T-Hidetaka Otonashi; J-Yuichi Fukunaga. ¥38,532,000. Lifetime
Record: 3-2-0-1. Werk Nick Rating: D. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
*1st SW/GSW for sire (by Screen Hero {Jpn}).
2–Rooks Nest (Jpn), 123, c, 3, Maurice (Jpn)–Villa (Jpn), by
Deep Impact (Jpn). O-Yoshiro Kubota; B-Northern Farm (Jpn);
¥15,152,000.
3–Bathrat Leon (Jpn), 123, c, 3, Kizuna (Jpn)–Bathrat Amal
(Jpn), by New Approach (Ire). O-Hiroo Race; B-Mishima Bokujo
(Jpn); ¥9,576,000.
Margins: 1 1/4, 3/4, HF. Odds: 12.00, 19.40, 3.20.
Also Ran: Kukuna (Jpn), Seraphinite (Jpn), Blue Symphony (Jpn), Maria Elena (Jpn), Wazamono (Jpn), Luz (Jpn), Raison du Sourire (Jpn), Daddy’s Vivid (Jpn), Tokai King (Jpn), Fervore (Jpn), Castilla (Jpn), Lord Max (Jpn). Click for the JRA chart & video or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

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