January, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Surf Cat Relocating to Rancho San Miguel

Surf Cat (Sir Cat–Trust Greta, by Centrust), the sire of graded winner and 2017 California Horse of the Year Sircat Sally and GSW San Onofre, will stand the 2021 breeding season at Rancho San Miguel in San Miguel, CA. He will command a fee of $2,500, live foal guarantee.

A graded winner on dirt and synthetic, short and long, and placed in Grade I company for the late Bruce Headley, Surf Cat has sired 57 winners to date, including the additional stakes horses Tule Fog, K Thirty Eight and Surfing Star.

“I am thrilled to have Surf Cat back; he was one of my favorite racehorses,” said owner Marsha Naify, who campaigned Surf Cat with Headley's wife, Aase. “Bruce did such a wonderful job training him. He has never been promoted very heavily as a stallion, but he has had some good runners, and I want to make the most of his remaining breeding years.”

“We are thrilled to have Surf Cat come to Rancho San Miguel,” said farm owner / manager Tom Clark. “He has an amazingly strong produce record from his small crops to date. We look forward to working with Marsha to help Surf Cat reach his full potential as a sire.”

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OBS Winter Mixed Sale Kicks Off Tuesday

The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company kicks off their 2021 season Tuesday with the two-day OBS Winter Mixed Sale. Tuesday's session starts with a 183-head consignor-preferred session which will be immediately followed by a 120-head Horses of Racing Age session. Wednesday's open session consists of 354 horses and is a mix of broodmares and short yearlings. Both sessions start at 10:30 a.m.

Those numbers include late supplements. The supplemental catalogues will be available on the grounds and those additional horses will sell immediately following the original catalogue.

“We are cautiously optimistic,” OBS's Tod Wojciechowski said. “We have a good book of yearlings and mares, as well as some nice racing age options. We saw some bright spots in [Keeneland] January and hopefully some of those bright spots carry down here.”

Covering stallions include Enticed, Collected, Speightster and Tapit, as well as Florida-based stallions, such as St. Patrick's Day, Khozan and Girvin. Short yearlings on offer include the offspring of such stallions as Accelerate, Always Dreaming, Bolt d'Oro, Constitution, Into Mischief and Mendelssohn.

During Monday's under-tack preview of the auction, a pair of colts shared the fastest three-furlong work of :32 2/5.

Load to Fire (More Than Ready), hip 306, an unraced 4-year-old colt, worked his :32 2/5 three furlongs for consignor Woodard Sales. Hip 315, an unraced 3-year-old colt by Distorted Humor, worked in :32 2/5 for consignor Oscar Brown Stables.

Four horses enter the Winter sales ring off recent wins on the racetrack. Pledge (Candy Ride {Arg}) (hip 360) broke her maiden by 6 1/2 lengths at Turfway Park Jan. 2; Kramden (Kitten's Joy) (hip 362) won at Tampa Bay Downs Sunday; Bear Brian (Tiznow) (hip 368) broke his maiden on debut at Sam Houston Race Park Jan. 9; and Lower for Longer (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}) (hip 370) broke her maiden at Tampa Bay Downs Sunday.

The 2020 renewal of this auction generated $4,957,800 of turnover from 359 transactions with an average of $13,810 and median of $7,000. The sales-topper was a $165,000 yearling colt by Union Rags, who was purchased by Blue Sky Stables.

OBS will continue to implement COVID-19 safety protocols and provide online bidding.

“We are still committed to trying to provide the safest environment possible,” Wojciechowski said “We will continue with the COVID protocols we initiated last year. In addition, there will be a mask mandate for inside the building and the back walking ring. It is obviously something we have to deal with. That is one reason the online bidding was implemented, so buyers unable or unwilling to travel can still shop.”

The sale will be streamed on the TDN homepage. Click here for the full catalog.

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Breeders’ Cup Runner-Up Dayoutoftheoffice ‘Way Ahead Of Schedule’ For Sophomore Debut

Like the majority of Thoroughbred trainers, Tampa Bay Downs conditioner Tim Hamm is a realist. And he knows it is unlikely his filly Dayoutoftheoffice will be announced as the Eclipse Award Champion 2-Year-Old Filly on Thursday after her second-place finish to Vequist in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies on Nov. 6 at Keeneland.

After her dazzling 5-furlong breeze in 1:01 on Sunday at Tampa Bay Downs, Hamm expects Dayoutoftheoffice to earn another shot against Vequist in the near future. Dayoutoftheoffice had breezed 4 furlongs a week earlier in 49 3/5 seconds in her first workout of 2021.

“She's coming back incredibly well. Her work today (with exercise rider Alfredo Clemente aboard) was awesome,” Hamm said Sunday. “She just did it real easy and she galloped out super strong. She is way ahead of schedule, and it's a good feeling that we can handle her how we want and have her plenty fit for whatever race we choose (as her 3-year-old debut).”

Hamm said Dayoutoftheoffice will likely make her first 3-year-old start on either Feb. 27 in the Grade 2 Davona Dale at Gulfstream or on March 6 in the G3 Honeybee Stakes at Oaklawn Park. “We nominated her to the Suncoast (on Feb. 6 at Tampa Bay Downs), but that is probably a little too quick,” he said. Hamm added that the Grade 1, $1.25-million Longines Kentucky Oaks on April 30 at Churchill Downs is in his plans for the Kentucky-bred daughter of Into Mischief.

Although Dayoutoftheoffice is 1-1 against Vequist, having beaten her in the G1 Frizette Stakes on Oct. 10 at Belmont, and had a better record last year – three victories from four starts, with the lone second in the Juvenile Fillies, compared to Vequist's two victories and two seconds – Eclipse voters have traditionally given extra weight to winning a Breeders' Cup race.

“Just being nominated is great. It says you had one of the best 2-year-old fillies in the country,” said Hamm, who also co-owns Dayoutoftheoffice under his Blazing Meadows Farm banner in partnership with Siena Farm. “I'd love to say we have a chance, but if you're voting, you're going to see who won on championship day (at the Breeders' Cup).”

The third nominee in the 2-Year-Old Filly category is Aunt Pearl, whose 3-for-3 record includes a victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (voters have been known to lean toward dirt horses when push comes to shove, but you never know).

The 50th Eclipse Awards Ceremony honoring the sport's 2020 champions will be held Thursday as a virtual event, with portions hosted from Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Ky. Winners in 17 equine and human categories will be announced in a program streamed live on multiple outlets, including TVG and Racetrack Television Network, beginning at 7:30 p.m. (see below for the finalists).

Hamm had a previous brush with Eclipse Award glory, having sold Wait a While as an unraced 2-year-old in 2005 after purchasing her the previous year as a yearling. She was part of his pinhooking program and reaped a $210,000 profit. In 2006, Wait a While earned the Eclipse as Champion 3-Year-Old Filly for owner Arindel and trainer Todd Pletcher.

“We breed them, raise them, sell them and race them. It is all part of our plan,” Hamm said.

Here are the Eclipse Award finalists (in alphabetical order) in each category:

Horse of the Year: Authentic, Improbable, Monomoy Girl

2-Year-Old Male: Essential Quality, Fire At Will, Jackie's Warrior

2-Year-Old Filly: Aunt Pearl, Dayoutoftheoffice, Vequist

3-Year-Old Male: Authentic, Nadal, Tiz the Law

3-Year-Old Filly: Gamine, Shedaresthedevil, Swiss Skydiver

Older Dirt Male: Improbable, Maximum Security, Vekoma

Older Dirt Female: Midnight Bisou, Monomoy Girl, Serengeti Empress

Male Sprinter: Vekoma, Volatile, Whitmore

Female Sprinter: Gamine, Glass Slippers, Serengeti Empress

Male Turf Horse: Channel Maker, Order of Australia, Zulu Alpha

Female Turf horse: Audarya, Rushing Fall, Tarnawa

Steeplechase Horse: Moscato, Rashaan, Snap Decision

Owner: Godolphin, Klaravich Stables, and the partnership of Spendthrift Farm, MyRaceHorse Stable, Madaket Stables, and Starlight Racing

Breeder: Calumet Farm, Peter E. Blum Thoroughbreds, WinStar Farm

Trainer: Steve Asmussen, Bob Baffert, Brad Cox

Jockey: Irad Ortiz, Jr., Joel Rosario, John Velazquez

Apprentice Jockey: Luis Cardenas, Yarmarie Correa, Alexander Crispin

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Rodriguez Will ‘Keep The Dream Alive,’ Point Stakes Winner Eagle Orb To Withers

Trainer Rudy Rodriguez said he will keep stakes winner Eagle Orb in pursuit of Kentucky Derby qualifying points and plans on pointing the New York-bred stakes winner to the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers on Feb. 6 at Aqueduct Racetrack. The Withers offers 10-4-2-1 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top-four finishers.

Owned by E. V. Racing Stable, the son of 2013 Kentucky Derby winner Orb earned four points on the Derby trail when finishing second to Capo Kane in the Jerome on New Year's Day at the Big A going a one-turn mile.

The Withers will be Eagle Orb's first start going two turns as he attempts his first overall win past six furlongs. He broke his maiden going three-quarters on Aug. 21 at Saratoga and four starts later won the Notebook Stakes on Nov. 14 at Aqueduct, also going six furlongs.

Eagle Orb last breezed on Jan. 20, completing a five-furlong work in 1:03.07 over the Belmont Park training track.

“We're going to try for the Withers,” Rodriguez said. “He's been training very good. Right now is the time to take a chance so that's the place to go. We just have to keep the dream alive.”

Bred by Barry Ostrager, Eagle Orb is out of the Harlan's Holiday mare Lady On Holiday and was purchased for $95,000 from the Saratoga Preferred New York-bred Yearling Sale in 2019.

Should Rodriguez's Derby dreams come alive, Eagle Orb would be his second starter in the Run for the Roses. His first Derby starter was Vyjack, who won the Jerome and Gotham in 2013, and subsequently finished 18th in the Kentucky Derby.

“He was a nice horse,” Rodriguez said of Vyjack. “He was one of the best horses that we've ever trained.”

Rodriguez said he plans on regrouping with Backsideofthemoon, who was fourth beaten 20 lengths following a slow start under Jose Lezcano as the post time favorite for the Jazil. The 9-year-old son of Malibu Moon arrived off a career-best 106 Beyer in the Dec. 19 Queens County at the Big A.

“We're going to regroup with him,” Rodriguez said. “It looked like he came back good, but I'll check him out the next couple of days. Before the break he was close to the gate and he came out of the gate a step slow. Jose said he tried to break before the gate opened.”

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