January, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Champion Sprinter Big Drama Dies At Age 15

Big Drama, the champion sprinter of 2010, was euthanized over the weekend due to complications from a stomach issue, BloodHorse reports. He was 15.

The son of Montbrook last stood at Stormborne Stallions in Citra, Fla., where he was set to stand the upcoming breeding season for an advertised fee of $5,000.

Since entering stud in 2012, Big Drama has spent two separate stints at Florida Stonewall Farm, once under the HallMarc Stallions banner and later under Prestige Stallions, with two seasons at Bridlewood Farm sandwiched between them. He began standing for Oakton Farm Stallions in 2019, and the operation renamed itself Stormborne Stallions ahead of this year's breeding season.

Big Drama has sired seven crops of racing age, with 136 winners and combined progeny earnings of just under $9 million. He has sired four stakes winners, with R Kinsley Doll and Tribal Drama earning their black type in Florida, Miss Deplorable at Monmouth Park, and General Council in New Mexico.

Racing as a homebred for Harold Queen and trained by David Fawkes, Big Drama won 11 of 19 starts and earned $2,746,060.

Big Drama started fast as a 2-year-old, sweeping the three races in his division of the Florida Sire Stakes, then capping off his season with a victory in the Grade 3 Delta Jackpot Stakes. He finished second in the G2 Swale Stakes in his 3-year-old bow, and the remainder of his season saw him run fifth in the 2009 Preakness Stakes, win the listed Red Legend Stakes at Charles Town, and finish second in the G2 West Virginia Derby.

The horse's championship season came at age four, starting in the summer with wins in the Ponche Handicap and G2 Smile Stakes at Calder Race Course. After second-place efforts in the G1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap and G1 Forego Stakes in Saratoga, he secured the champion sprinter Eclipse Award with a strong, front-running victory in the Breeders' Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs.

Big Drama raced for one more season after his Eclipse-winning campaign, taking the G3 Mr. Prospector Stakes and the non-graded Whippleton Stakes before finishing seventh in that season's Breeders' Cup Sprint.

Defending Lady Apple To Face Six Rivals In Houston Ladies Classic

The fields are set, and the excitement is building at Sam Houston Race Park for its most prestigious event of the 2021 Thoroughbred racing season. The Houston Racing Festival will take place on Sunday, Jan. 31 with a special afternoon post time of 1:45 pm (CT). The ten-race card includes six stakes, highlighted by the Grade 3, $300,000 Houston Ladies Classic.

Now in its ninth running, the Houston Ladies Classic, at a mile and one-sixteenth on the main track, has been a springboard for top older fillies and mares, and once again attracted a highly competitive field.

Defending champion Lady Apple is a 5-year-old daughter of Curlin out of the Clever Trick mare Miss Mary Apples owned by Phoenix Thoroughbred III and KatieRich Farms. Trained by Hall of Fame conditioner Steve Asmussen, the Kentucky-bred mare has won six of her 18 starts with earnings of $1,045,984. One year ago, she closed gamely to defeating a contentious field which included 2019 Kentucky Oaks champion Serengeti Empress and Street Band. Following her victory, Asmussen shipped her to Oaklawn Park where she competed in both the G2 Azeri and G1 Apple Blossom. Her third place finish in last month's Spanky Broussard at Fair Grounds served as a solid prep for her return to Sam Houston Race Park, where she will break from post position four under veteran rider Stewart Elliott at odds of 4-1.

“She needed that race, and I had no problem with the result,” said Asmussen. “Lady Apple is a quality filly who loves the track surface at Sam Houston and is training really well.”

Letruska, bred and owned by St. George Stable, LLC, has been installed as the even-money favorite. The 5-year-old mare by Super Saver out of the Successful Appeal mare Magic Appeal has won 11 of her 15 career efforts including the G3 Shuvee last August at Saratoga. She exits a victory last month in the Grade 3, $100,000 Rampart at Gulfstream Park and when her trainer Fausto Gutierrez began planning her 5-year-old campaign, he felt that the Houston Ladies Classic would be an ideal beginning.

“She's a filly with a great deal of speed,” explained Gutierrez. “We removed the blinkers and felt that she finished much better. I ran at Sam Houston twenty years ago and know it has an excellent track surface. They have always attracted quality fields for the Ladies Classic and I feel that this will be a perfect start for her year. Our plan is to head to Oaklawn Park and point to the (Grade 1) Apple Blossom.”

Letruska was flown from South Florida to New Orleans and vanned from Fair Grounds to Sam Houston Race Park early Sunday morning. Jockey Jesus Castanon has the call aboard the bay mare and will break from post position seven.

Asmussen will also saddle Motion Emotion for owners MyRacehorse.com and Spendthrift Farm LLC. The 5-year-old mare sired by Take Charge Indy has topped the half-million dollar mark in her 16 career starts and will be ridden by Miguel Mena at odds of 7-2. Sunday's race will be her first start since running fourth in the G1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga. She has been stabled at Asmussen's Sam Houston barn all month, with a solid work tab, including two bullet drills on Jan. 16 and 23.

“She's been training like a steam engine,” declared Asmussen. “We are fortunate that Spendthrift bought her at the Night of the Stars Sale (on Nov. 8) and look forward to running her in the Ladies Classic.”

A victory by Motion Emotion or Lady Apple would vault Asmussen into the record books as the only conditioner to win three editions of the Houston Ladies Classic. Asmussen, who is nominated for Eclipse Award winning trainer honors along with Brad Cox and Bob Baffert, won with Midnight Bisou in 2019. The remarkable champion went on to capture five Grade 1 stakes, banking $7.4 million and was honored as 2019 Eclipse Award winning Older Female. Larry Jones is the only other trainer to win two Ladies Classic titles.

Jeweled Princess is on target to ship to Houston and represent owners Walking L Thoroughbreds of The Woodlands, Texas. Trained by Kenny McPeek, the 4-year-filly by Cairo Prince, earned her fourth career win on Dec. 18 at Remington Park when she captured the $75,000 She's All In Stakes. Jockey Reylu Gutierrez has the call at odds of 8-1. He joined the Sam Houston jockey colony this year and is off to an excellent start, ranked second behind veteran Stewart Elliott. McPeek won the 2004 Great State Challenge Distaff at Sam Houston Race Park with Take Charge Lady as well as victories in the Maxxam Gold Cup with Unstoppable U in 2013 and Blueridge Traveler in 2018.

Trainer Michael Maker has entered Ujayji, a 5-year-old mare by Smarty Jones for her breeder and owner T. L. Wise. The Pennsylvania-bred mare exits a third-place finish in the $100,000 Ladies Handicap at Aqueduct on Jan. 17. She brings a record of four wins, four seconds and four thirds from 19 starts with earnings of $293,090. She drew post position three under rider Rafael Manuel Hernandez at odds of 6-1.

Trainer Tom Amoss, who ran second in last year's edition of the race with Serengeti Empress, will send in Figure It Out, a 5-year-old Paynter mare owned by Joel Politi. She began her year with an impressive allowance score at Fair Grounds on Jan. 1 prior to running sixth in the $150,000 Pippin Stakes at Oaklawn Park on Saturday. He has given the call to Houston-based rider Lane Luzzi, who is currently tied for third in the standings. This will be the third time Amoss has shipped in for the Houston Ladies Classic. He ran fifth in the 2015 edition of the race with Kiss to Remember.

Trainer Scott Gelner will saddle Norman Racing Stables, LLC's Shes Our Fastest who drew post position six and will be ridden by Ry Eikleberry. The Texas-bred daughter of Oratory has won five stakes in Texas and Louisiana, including the 2019 Texas Rose Stakes at Sam Houston Race Park. The 6-year-old mare has earned $344,537 in her 29 lifetime starts.

Inaugurated in 2013, the Houston Ladies Classic was awarded its graded status by the American Graded Stakes Committee in 2016. It anchors the annual Houston Racing Festival, which also includes the Grade 3, $200,000 John B. Connally Turf Cup, the $200,000 Texas Turf, the $100,000 Pulse Power Turf Sprint, the $75,000 Jersey Lilly Turf Stakes and the $75,000 Stonerside Sprint.

The post Defending Lady Apple To Face Six Rivals In Houston Ladies Classic appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Cute Foals of the Week for Jan. 25

Thoroughbreds in North America all celebrate their birthdays on Jan. 1, so as soon as the New Year rolls around, so does “foaling season” – that magical time that lasts from the beginning of January through the late spring when racehorse babies are born. In this weekly piece, we’ll bring you the best of new arrivals to the Thoroughbred world. So sit back, relax, and take in the Cute Foals of the Week for 2021! Need cute baby horses in your life 24/7?

International Cast For Qatar’s Major Festival

Three European Group 1 winners feature among a cast of 75 international entries for Qatar's biggest racing fixture, the HH The Amir Sword Festival.

Last week's G2 Singspiel S. winner Lord Glitters (Fr) (Whipper) has been entered for the $1 million HH The Amir Trophy, the Longines-sponsored feature race for Thoroughbreds on Feb. 20 at Al Rayyan Racecourse in Doha, along with Aspetar (Fr) (Al Kazeem {GB}), who is owned by Qatar's HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Thani, and 6-year-old Intellogent (Ire) (Intello {Ger}). The latter has raced in America, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in recent seasons for trainer Fabrice Chappet, who was successful at last year's festival when Al Malhouf (GB) (Dutch Art {GB}) won the HH The Amir Shalfa.

Intellogent is one of five French entries for the race along with Royal Julius (Ire) (Royal Applause {GB}), another globetrotter who will be making his third consecutive appearance in Doha for Jerome Reynier, having finished runner-up in the HH The Amir Trophy in 2019 and fifth last year. Last season's St Leger runner-up Berkshire Rocco (GB) (Sir Percy {GB}) has also been given an entry for the mile-and-a-half contest by trainer Andrew Balding, who also has King Power Racing's six-time winner Johnny Drama (Ire) (Lilbourne Lad {Ire}) entered.

The 5-year-old Felix (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) has won four or his five starts since joining Marco Botti's stable and he is another with a Trophy entry along with his Newmarket neighbour, Red Verdon (Lemon Drop Kid), who has now won nine of his 41 starts for Ed Dunlop and the Hon. Ronnie Arculli.

Among the local entries for the domestic Group 1 contest is a Qatari favourite, The Blue Eye (GB). Now nine, the son of Dubawi (Ire) has won 20 of his 37 races at Al Rayyan and has contested the last five runnings of HH The Amir Trophy, winning in partnership with Harry Bentley in 2016 and 2018.

With a total prize fund of $4.34 million (£3.26 million), the three-day festival features five international races on Saturday, Feb. 20—three for Thoroughbreds and two for purebred Arabians—with the Thoroughbred turf races completed by the six-furlong Breeders' Cup-sponsored Dukhan Sprint and the Al Biddah Mile for 3-year-olds.

Last season's Stewards' Cup winner Summerghand (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) is one of two entries for the David O'Meara stable in the Dukhan Sprint, which has also attracted Corine Barande-Barbe's G3 Prix du Petit Couvert winner Air De Valse (Fr) (Mesnil Des Aigles {Fr}) and the listed Roses S. victor Acklam Express (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}). Another French challenger in Qatar could be the 3-year-old Homeryan (Fr) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), trained by Francis Graffard for Steve Burggraf's Ecurie de Montlahuc. Last seen in public finishing runner-up in the G3 Prix Thomas Bryon in October, the colt is an entrant in the Al Biddah Mile along with Andrew Balding's recent Wolverhampton winner Wallem (GB) (Sea The Moon {Ger}).

The international contest on the Friday of the festival is the $200,000 Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Cup, run over a mile for 4-year-olds and up with an entry list of 59 horses from seven different countries. Ireland's Adrian McGuinness trains three of the entries, led by the 7-year-old Saltonstall (GB) (Pivotal {GB}), who has won his three most recent starts, including the listed Glencairn S. at Naas. Frederic Rossi, who had a breakthrough season in 2020 with Group 1 winners Dream And Do (Ire) and Sealiway (Fr), has entered the consistent Kenway (Fr) (Kendargent {Fr}), whose five wins include victory over subsequent Group 1 winner Wooded (Fr) in the G3 Prix la Rochette.

The six international races have attracted 29 horses from Britain, 23 from France, 15 from Oman, three from Ireland, two from Bahrain, and one each from Spain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The post International Cast For Qatar’s Major Festival appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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