February, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Champion Vequist Ready For ‘Stepping-Stone’ Race In Davona Dale

Gary Barber, Wachtel Stable and Swilcan Stable's Vequist, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2020, is set to launch her highly anticipated sophomore season against 11 rivals in Saturday's $200,000 Davona Dale (G2) at Gulfstream Park.

The 34th running of the one-mile Davona Dale is part of a blockbuster 14-race program featuring nine stakes, eight graded, worth $1.475 million in purses anchored by the $300,000 Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth (G2) for 3-year-olds on the road to the $750,000 Curlin Florida Derby (G1) presented by Hill 'n' Dale Farms at Xalapa March 27.

First race post time is 11:30 a.m.

Named for Calumet Farm's champion 3-year-old filly of 1979 that was elected into the Hall of Fame in 1985, the Davona Dale is Gulfstream's next stop for sophomore females toward the $200,000 Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) March 27. Last year's Oaks winner, Swiss Skydiver, went on to beat males in the Preakness (G1) and be named 3-year-old filly champion.

Vequist, the 7-5 favorite in the Davona Dale, is the latest in a family of champions. Her sire, Nyquist, was named North America's top juvenile male in 2015 and followed up by winning the Florida Derby and Kentucky Derby (G1) in 2016. Vequist's grandsire, Mineshaft, earned 2003 Eclipse Awards for older male and Horse of the Year.

Her title was the first for her trainer, Parx-based veteran Robert E. 'Butch' Reid Jr., approaching his 800th victory in a career that began in 1985. He and his wife and assistant, Ginny, have been overseeing Vequist's preparation at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream's satellite training facility in Palm Beach County.

“It was a box that I was never sure that I would check, training a champion, so it was nice to get that accomplished,” Reid said. “She's doing really well. We're very happy with her. She's acclimated to the weather down here. We've been down here a couple of months already, so we've taken our time and so far, so good.”

Vequist will be cutting back for her first race since a two-length victory in the 1 1/16-mile Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) Nov. 6 at Keeneland, a span of 114 days. She has breezed every other week since mid-January for her return, most recently going five furlongs in 59.65 seconds Feb. 13, second-fastest of 30 horses.

“I expect her to run well,” Reid said. “We don't have the screws completely tightened for this one but it should be a nice stepping-stone with some big races down the line in mind.”

The Davona Dale offers 85 qualifying points (50-20-10-5) to the Kentucky Oaks (G1), scheduled for April 30 at Churchill Downs. Vequist is currently fourth in the standings with 24 points, all but four of them coming from her Breeders' Cup triumph.

Following the Breeders' Cup, the connections gave Vequist a breather at noted horseman Dr. Barry Esiaman's farm near Ocala, Fla. before she returned to Reid to begin preparations for her 2021 campaign.

“After the Breeders' Cup we wanted to get three starts in her and have the [Kentucky] Oaks be her third start of the year. This just fit well,” Reid said. “It's a one-turn mile, a little bit of a turnback, but we didn't want to go back any further than that. We didn't have to train her too hard for this one, and she's coming up to it well.”

Vequist made her career debut last July for Swilcan's Tom McGrath, running second by a nose after chasing the winner, fellow first-time starter Niente, from the gate in a 4 ½-furlong maiden special weight at Parx. Barber and Adam Wachtel saw enough to buy into the promising filly, who romped by 9 ½ lengths in the historic Spinaway (G1) at Saratoga in just her second start.

From there, Vequist was stretched out to a mile for the Frizette (G1) at Belmont Park, where she wound up two lengths behind Dayoutoftheoffice, another finalist for the 2-year-old filly Eclipse, and 10 ¼ lengths ahead of everyone else. Overlooked as the fourth choice in a field of seven for the Breeders' Cup, Vequist got an inside trip at Keeneland never far from the lead and found enough room to kick clear late.

“It was a sensational year. It all happened so quick. One day we were in a maiden race at Parx and the next thing we knew we were winning a Grade 1 at Saratoga,” Reid said. “It was all a bit of a blur but, in the end, it was very satisfying to be there with my family and everything.”

Reid said he has noticed a growth in Vequist, both physically and mentally, in her time since the Breeders' Cup. Riding for the first time is two-time defending Eclipse Award-winning jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. from Post 3 at topweight of 123 pounds.

“Definitely, physically you can see it. She's bigger and she's filled out nicely since her 2-year-old campaign,” Reid said. “She always had a good head on her shoulders, so she didn't have too much to jump forward there. She's just a smart filly and doesn't worry about too much so we're excited to get this first one under our belt.

“We're taking it one start at a time and we'll re-evaluate after this first start and make our plan from here,” he added. “There's a lot of exciting races on the horizon.”

Breeze Easy's Ontario-bred stakes winner Curlin's Catch will be among the horses looking to spoil Vequist's season debut. Trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, the bay daughter of two-time Horse of the Year and 2014 Hall of Famer Curlin made her first two starts last fall on the all-weather surface at Woodbine before getting time off.

Casse moved Curlin's Catch to the dirt for her sophomore opener Jan. 3 going a mile at Gulfstream, and she responded with a front-running 2 ¾-length triumph over next-out winner Tabor Hall. She stretched out for the Suncoast Stakes Feb. 6 at Tampa Bay Downs, rating just off the pace before splitting horses and sprinting clear to a 4 ½-length victory. She is 8-1 on the morning line.

“In the last race we had actually planned on being a little closer, but it didn't work out that way and it was fine. She handled it well,” Casse said. “We aren't going to be very far off of it. We are cutting back from the mile and 40 yards and two turns to one turn, so that's a little different. But she's not going to be far back.

“She's two-for-two on the dirt and definitely headed in the right direction,” he added. “This will be a true test on Saturday, [to see] where she fits in with the 3-year-old filly gang.”

Jose Ortiz has the call aboard Curlin's Catch from Post 4.

Another daughter of Curlin, Juddmonte Farms, Inc.'s homebred Millefeuille, is entered to make her sophomore debut for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. The bay filly broke her maiden second time out going a mile last October at Belmont Park, and was beaten less than a length when second in the 1 1/8-mile Demoiselle (G2) Dec. 5 at Aqueduct. Hall of Famer John Velazquez gets the assignment from Post 5.

Like Vequist, Phoenix Thoroughbreds III's Crazy Beautiful also exits the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, where she ran sixth following runner-up finishes in the Alcibiades (G1) and Pocahontas (G3). Winner of the Ellis Park Debutante last summer, she will be making her Gulfstream debut for Ken McPeek, the trainer of Swiss Skydiver. Robby Albarado rides from Post 6.

John Michello's Competitive Speed looks to rebound off a disappointing sixth, though beaten just 4 ½ lengths after some early traffic trouble, in the seven-furlong Forward Gal (G3) Jan. 30 at Gulfstream. She had won each of her previous three starts, including the 6 ½-furlong Glitter Woman Jan. 2 to open her sophomore season. Leonel Reyes has the call from Post 7.

Also entered are Adios Trippi, winner of the seven-furlong Gasparilla Jan. 16; Lady Traveler, Wholebodemeister and Three Tipsy Chix, respectively second, third and seventh in the Forward Gal; Happy Constitution, third in the seven-furlong Our Dear Peggy last fall at Gulfstream; Pens Street, a maiden winner last fall at Gulfstream who ran second in a Feb. 4 optional claiming allowance in her only two starts; and Hindsight.

The post Champion Vequist Ready For ‘Stepping-Stone’ Race In Davona Dale appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Certain Smells Soothe Stressed Out Steeds

Aromatherapy is a holistic treatment that uses plant extracts to encourage health and wellbeing based on the idea that specific scents trigger certain reactions, including relaxation and stress relief. Lavender is often touted to bring about feelings of relaxation and calmness in humans that inhale its scent. A recent study suggests that this scent can calm horses, as well.

The University of Arizona used eight dressage horses for an aromatherapy study. Cardiac parameters were taken before, during and after they inhaled air that had been infused with a lavender scent from a humidifier. Each horse was also tested using air infused with chamomile essential oil and plain water.

The horses wore monitors that collected information on heart rate, time intervals between heartbeats and heart rate variability (HRV) during each testing period. HRV increases when a horse is relaxed.

Trial data showed that inhaled lavender relaxed seven of the study horses, while the chamomile oil relaxed just two of the eight horses. The researchers note that some horses may be more sensitive to the smell of lavender and chamomile than others. The team also reported that none of the horses was exposed to external stressors during the study period. Physiological effects subsided when the inhalation of the oil stopped.

Performer Chasing Encore In Gulfstream Park Mile

Phipps Stable and Claiborne Farm's Performer, who captured the Jan. 23 Fred W. Hooper (G3), will seek to produce an encore performance in Saturday's $200,000 WinStar Gulfstream Park Mile (G2).

Trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, the 5-year-old son of Speightstown is slated to top a field of seven older horses in the one-turn mile event on Saturday's 14-race program with nine stakes, headlined by the $300,000 Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth (G2).

Joel Rosario worked out a winning trip aboard Performer after breaking from the rail post position in the Hooper, also run at a one-turn mile. Pinned down on the rail along the backstretch, Performer was swung to the outside on the turn into the homestretch and out-battled Eye of a Jedi to the wire to win by a neck.

“He gutted it out pretty good,” McGaughey said. “He was down on the inside. Joel looked up and saw those horses on the lead were going easy, so that's when he eased him to the outside. I don't think it killed him to win, but that horse that finished second is a pretty darn horse.”

The Hooper was Performer's sixth victory in eight career starts.

“He seems to have come out of the race good. He had a very good work the other day,” McGaughey said.

After finishing third in his November 2018 debut, the Phipps Stable's homebred won five races in a row, including the 1 1/8-mile Discovery (G3) at Aqueduct. His streak was broken with a third-place finish over a sealed sloppy track in the Dec. 5 Cigar Mile (G1) at Aqueduct before getting back to winning form in the Hooper.

Performer has demonstrated the versatility to win at distances from 6 ½ furlongs to 1 1/8 miles, but McGaughey favors the longer distances for the Kentucky-bred.

“I'd like to run him around two turns. I kind of thought about that, but the race here [March 27 Ghostzapper (G3)] would be over two months and run him back a mile and an eighth. I could have taken him to New York for the [April 3] Excelsior, but that would be 11 weeks almost,” McGaughey said. “I thought, 'Well, I'll get a solid race in him here going a mile and can use either one of those for a mile and an eighth. I'll feel a lot better about his fitness level going a mile and an eighth.”

Jose Ortiz, who will ride McGaughey-trained Greatest Honour in the Fountain of Youth, is scheduled to ride Performer for the first time Saturday.

R. A. Hill Stable, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Hugh Lynch's Tax is scheduled to return to action in the Gulfstream Park Mile after finishing 10th in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup International (G1) Jan. 23 at Gulfstream.

The Danny Gargan-trained 5-year-old gelding previously captured the Harlan's Holiday (G3) by 4 ½ lengths at Gulfstream in his previous start.

Junior Alvarado has the call aboard the son of Arch.

Trainer Steve Budhoo's Eye of a Jedi, an ultra-consistent 6-year-old gelding who seems to be getting better with age, will seek to turn the tables on Performer. The son of Eye of the Leopard had finished a late-closing second behind Tax in the Harlan's Holiday prior to his narrow loss to Performer.

Marcos Meneses has the return mount aboard Eye of a Jedi.

Gelfenstein Farm LLC's Avant Garde, who has won six of eight starts since being claimed for $10,000, is set for a return in the Gulfstream Mile after closing from last to finish third, 1 ½ lengths behind Eye of a Jedi, in the Hooper. Trainer Gustavo Delgado is also scheduled to saddle Gelfenstein Farm's homebred Summer Kid, a 4-year-old son of Lemon Drop Kid who is coming off a victory in a first-level optional claiming allowance at Gulfstream.

Hall of Famer Javier Castellano will ride the son of Tonalist for the first time, while Edgard Zayas has the return call on Summer Kid.

WinStar Farm and China Horse Club International's Fearless is scheduled to make his first start since finishing sixth in the June 20 Stephen Foster (G2) at Churchill Downs. The 5-year-old Ghostzapper gelding launched his career with two straight victories during the 2019-2020 Championship Meet.

Trainer Todd Pletcher named Irad Ortiz Jr. to ride Fearless.

Phat Man, who finished second in last year's Gulfstream Mile, is set for a return Saturday for owners Marianne Stribling, Force Five Racing LLC and Two River's Racing Stable LLC. The Kent Sweezey-trained 7-year-old gelding finished an even fifth in the Hooper after checking in third in the Harlan's Holiday.

Paco Lopez is scheduled to ride Phat Man for the first time Saturday.

Daniel Alonso's Wind of Change, a Brazilian import who finished a distant fourth in the Gulfstream Park Sprint (G3) last time out, rounds out the field.

The post Performer Chasing Encore In Gulfstream Park Mile appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Baffert Giving Spielberg ‘Another Chance’ On Derby Trail In Southwest

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has captured one of Oaklawn's four Kentucky Derby points races with a horse named after an Olympic gold medalist, another with a horse named after a professional tennis icon and a third with a horse named after a celebrated soccer manager.

Now, it's that fourth race receiving the “star” treatment. The Southern California-based Baffert, who has dominated Oaklawn's Kentucky Derby prep series the last decade, will send out Spielberg in Saturday's $750,000 Southwest Stakes (G3), a 1 1/16-mile event the trainer's already won four times.

Spielberg is named for Steven Spielberg, a two-time Academy Award winner for best director. Purchased for $1 million at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Spielberg – the horse – will be making his first start since a disappointing fourth-place finish in his 3-year-old debut, the $100,000 Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G3) at 1 1/16 miles Jan. 30 at Santa Anita.

Spielberg was not originally nominated to the Southwest, which was scheduled to be run Feb. 15 before severe winter weather postponed the race twice. After losing eight live racing dates, Oaklawn announced Feb. 17 that nominations to all postponed stakes would be reopened and close Feb. 19. Spielberg, a son of Union Rags, was among a handful of horses nominated during the two-day window and one of seven entered Tuesday morning. He was to be flown Wednesday to Arkansas.

“I really don't plan too far out,” Baffert said Tuesday afternoon. “His last race, he just never really got into it. Struggled all the way around there. But he came back and worked well and so I thought, 'You know what? I know it's going to be a short field and the races are sort of on top of each other.' I thought I would give him another chance. It's an easy ship, so we're just going to send him up there and see if he fits with those.”

Spielberg had a productive 2-year-old campaign, finishing second and third, as a maiden, in the $250,000 Del Mar Futurity (G1) at Del Mar and $300,000 American Pharoah Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita, respectively, and winning the $200,000 Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) at 1 1/16 miles Dec. 19 at Los Alamitos.

Spielberg was beaten 11 ¼ lengths in the two-turn Robert B. Lewis. In his only other poor performance, Spielberg finished fourth, beaten 9 ½ lengths, in the $100,000 Bob Hope Stakes (G3) Nov. 15 at Del Mar. The colt was coming off a Nov. 1 maiden victory at Del Mar.

“He just never got engaged in the race,” Baffert said of the Robert B. Lewis. “One of those races where he just didn't show up. He came out of it fine. We thought he was doing well going in. He's done that before. He did that at Del Mar. He ran in a stake and just didn't show up.”

Baffert won the Southwest in 2010 with Conveyance – the trainer's first Oaklawn starter in roughly nine years – in 2012 with Castaway and Secret Circle (split race) and in 2013 with Super Ninety Nine. The late Bob Holthus, Oaklawn's all-time winningest trainer, captured the Southwest a record five times.

Baffert also won the $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1) in 2012 with Bodemeister, who was named after Olympic gold medal winning skier Bode Miller. Baffert won Oaklawn's first Kentucky Derby points race, the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes, in 2018 with Mourinho, who was named after three-time Premier League champion soccer coach Jose Mourinho.

Baffert won the $1 million Rebel Stakes (G2) last year with Nadal, named after Rafael Nadal, who has a record-equaling 20 career Grand Slam men's singles tennis titles. Nadal returned to win the second division of the Arkansas Derby last May.

The Southwest will offer 17 points to the top four finishers (10-4-2-1, respectively) toward starting eligibility for the Kentucky Derby. Oaklawn's Kentucky Derby points series continues with the $1 million Rebel (G2) March 13 and the $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1) April 10.

The Southwest anchors Saturday's 11-race program that begins at 12:15 p.m. (Central). Probable post time for the Southwest, which goes as race 10, is 4:58 p.m. The projected field from the rail out: Essential Quality, Luis Saez to ride, 119 pounds; Saffa's Day, Ricardo Santana Jr., 117; Last Samurai, Jon Court, 117; Jackie's Warrior, Joel Rosario, 119; Santa Cruiser, Richard Eramia, 117; Woodhouse, David Cabrera, 117; and Spielberg, Martin Garcia, 119.

Unbeaten Essential Quality was the country's champion 2-year-old male for trainer Brad Cox, while Jackie's Warrior was a multiple Grade 1 winner last year for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. Both horses have been based this winter at Fair Grounds and will be making their 2021 debuts in the Southwest.

Baffert said unbeaten Concert Tour (2 for 2) is already “penciled in” for the 1 1/16-mile Rebel, a race the trainer has won a record seven times. Also pointing for the Rebel is runaway Smarty Jones winner Caddo River, another Cox trainee, and locally based Grade 2 winner Keepmeinmind for trainer Robertino Diodoro.

The post Baffert Giving Spielberg ‘Another Chance’ On Derby Trail In Southwest appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post