April, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

$40,000 Claim Devious Mo Makes Big Step Up In Class For Rodriguez And Repole

Repole Stable's Devious Mo made a triumphant stakes debut on Saturday, besting Sinful Dancer by three-quarters of a length in the $200,000 New York Stallion Stakes Series Times Square for sophomores at Aqueduct in Ozone Park, N.Y.

After needing seven starts to break his maiden, trainer Rudy Rodriguez has seen his charge now win two in a row, building on an 8 3/4-length score in a maiden contest going six furlongs in a $25,000 maiden claimer on March 13 at the Big A. That effort netted the Laoban colt a then personal-best 79 Beyer Speed Figure. He set a new high by garnering an 84 for his forwardly placed effort going 6 1/2 furlongs on Saturday, with Rodriguez saying on Sunday morning that he came out of it in good order.

“He looked good and comfortable this morning,” Rodriguez said.

Claimed for $40,000 out of a fourth-place effort in November at the Big A, Devious Mo has already made four starts at Aqueduct for Rodriguez to start his 3-year-old campaign. After his maiden-breaking effort, Rodriguez, with Repole's urging, decided to face him against more challenging competition, and he responded under a strong ride by Manny Franco to top a seven-horse field.

“We were just taking a chance since he was eligible for the race and it looked like it may have been a bit of a softer spot,” said Rodriguez. “We knew it was a big jump up to ask him to run in a stakes after being in for $25,000, and we were a little concerned breaking out of the one hole. But he did it the right way. Manny rode him great.”

Devious Mo, bred in New York by McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, gave Rodriguez his second stakes win of 2021, adding to Pete's Play Call in the $100,000 Gravesend on January 2.

Rodriguez could be aiming for greater stakes glory during the upcoming Belmont Park spring/summer meet, with E.V. Racing Stable's Water White a possibility for the Grade 2, $200,000 Ruffian for older fillies and mares going one mile on Big Sandy Sunday, May 2.

Water White, who capped her 3-year-old campaign with a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Acorn on Belmont Stakes Day June 20, returned from a nearly 10-month layoff to best a five-horse optional claiming field by four lengths going a one-turn mile on a sloppy and sealed track on April 1 at Aqueduct.

Rodriguez said Water White could build off a successful sophomore effort, which saw her run second in the Busanda before winning the $250,000 Busher Invitational. In the Acorn, she earned in a black type in a race won by Gamine, the eventual Eclipse Award Champion Female Sprinter last year.

In January, Water White returned to the work tab for the first time in six months and took the next step with her victory earlier this month, earning a 72 Beyer. While Rodriguez doesn't have a definitive next spot picked out for the Conveyance filly, the Ruffian could mark her third career start at Belmont, with both previous efforts coming at the one-turn mile, including a runner-up effort in her second career start in October 2019.

“She looks good. She came back real nice,” Rodriguez said. “We worked her a half-mile the other morning. We'll nominate to the Ruffian but we'll keep our options open.”

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Belmont Park Spring/Summer Meet Opens On Thursday

The 48-day Belmont Park spring/summer meet, which will feature 59 total stakes races worth $16.95 million in total purses, kicks off in Elmont, N.Y., on Thursday with an eight-race card. First post is 1 p.m. Eastern.

The spring/summer meet, which runs through Sunday, July 11, will offer 11 Grade 1 events and seven races with purses of $700,000 or higher, with four of those contests coming during the three-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival from Thursday, June 3, through Saturday, June 5. The festival will encompass 17 total stakes, including eight Grade 1s on Belmont Stakes Day, capped by the $1.5 million “Test of the Champion” for 3-year-olds in the 1 ½-mile final leg of the Triple Crown.

Tickets for the 2021 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival are not yet on sale to the public. Additional information and the timing of the general on-sale will be released in the coming weeks.

Thursday's meet opener at Belmont includes five turf races and an array of talent on tap, including the seasonal debut of Charles Fipke's Grade 1-placed Pleasant Orb in Race 7, a 6 1/2-furlong sprint for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up.

The Kentucky homebred is by Orb and out of the Grade 1-winning Seeking the Gold mare Pleasant Home, who romped to victory in the 2005 Breeders' Cup Distaff at Belmont.

Pleasant Orb, initially trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, joined Barclay Tagg's barn last year and won in her second start for the veteran conditioner in a one-mile maiden special weight on March 22 at Gulfstream Park. Following an even third in the 1 1/16-mile Hollywood Wildcat in May at Gulfstream, Pleasant Orb shipped to New York and completed the exacta behind Gamine in the Grade 1 Acorn, a one-turn mile on Belmont Stakes Day last June.

“She's doing pretty well,” said Tagg. “She was laid up for a while and we have her fit again now. This is the first race we found that we thought would suit her. We'll get a short race into her and see where we go from there.”

Pleasant Orb has trained into her 4-year-old debut at Palm Meadows Training Center in Florida, including a five-eighths effort in 1:04.20 on April 9.

Hall of Famer Javier Castellano will pilot Pleasant Orb from the inside post.

To collect the win, Pleasant Orb will have to topple a field of five rivals led by impressive maiden winner Aunt Kat, six-time winner Ruvies in Time and the improving Whispering Pines.

Carl Pollard's Aunt Kat, trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, earned a career-best 95 Beyer in her 9 3/4-length maiden score traveling 6 1/2-furlongs on March 13 at the Big A. The 4-year-old Uncle Mo filly is out of the multiple graded-stakes winning Forestry mare Carolyn's Cat.

Junior Alvarado will guide Aunt Kat from post 2.

Ruvies in Time, trained and co-owned by Rich Schosberg with Clear Stars Stable, was a four-length winner of the six-furlong Videogenic on New York Claiming Championship Day on March 27 at the Big A. Bred in New York by Mashnee Stables and Steve Schuster, Ruvies in Time is by The Factor and out of the Tapit mare Hollywood Redhead.

Manny Franco retains the mount on Ruvies in Time from post 5.

Whispering Pines enters from a good third in the Conniver, a seven-furlong sprint for Maryland-breds on March 13 at Laurel Park. The 4-year-old Uncle Mo filly, previously trained by Brian Lynch, will be making her first start for conditioner Horacio DePaz.

“She's a Maryland-bred and she was very competitive in that stakes race, so we thought we'd bring her up here to New York for the early part of the meet,” said DePaz. “She's versatile so I think the distance will be OK.

“There's some very nice fillies in there, so we'll see how she handles everything,” he added. “Hopefully she can hit the board and continue to develop. She was very competitive in that stakes race in Maryland considering she still has all her conditions left.”

Whispering Pines, who boasts a record 6-1-0-2, will exit post 3 under Jose Ortiz.

Rounding out the field are Saratoga Affair [Irad Ortiz, Jr., post 4], and She's a Black Belt [Trevor McCarthy, post 6].

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Motion Eyeing Defense Of New York Stakes With Multiple Graded Stakes Winner Mean Mary

Alex G. Campbell's Mean Mary is eyeing a repeat win in the Grade 2, $750,000 New York on June 4 at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., as her first start of 2021 for trainer Graham Motion.

The 5-year-old daughter of Scat Daddy, out of Grade 1-winner Karlovy Vary, wintered in Florida at Palm Meadows before shipping to Motion's primary base at Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland. She recently breezed five furlongs in 1:02.60 on April 12.

Motion said Mean Mary missed her initial target, the 11-furlong Grade 2, $200,000 Sheepshead Bay on May 1 at Belmont Park.

“It took us a while to get going with her,” Motion said. “I would have like to have made the Sheepshead Bay, but we got a little behind so we're looking at the race in June.”

Last season, Mean Mary put together three straight victories against graded stakes company. Prior to capturing the New York, she won the Grade 3 La Prevoyante and the Grade 3 Orchid last winter at Gulfstream Park. She has not raced since finishing seventh in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf in November at Keeneland.

Motion said True Valour returned from his international endeavor in Dubai in good order and could possibly make the Grade 1, $400,000 Jackpocket Jaipur, a six-furlong turf sprint for 3-year-olds and up on June 5 at Belmont Park offering Breeders' Cup Win and You're In status.

Owned by R. Larry Johnson, Ture Valour finished sixth in the Group 1 Al Quoz Turf Sprint, arriving off stakes placings in the Grade 2 Joe Hernandez at Santa Anita [second] and the Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship [third].

“He had a really weird trip in Dubai,” Motion recalled. “He seems fine back at Fair Hill. We're just taking things easy with him at the moment. He could be possible for the Jaipur.”

Motion also has New York graded stakes in mind for Invincible Gal, who has not raced since running second in the Tepin on November 29 at the Big A. The 3-year-old daughter of Invincible Spirit garnered black type twice last season, finishing second in the Sorority at Monmouth Park and the Selima at Pimlico on October 3.

Owned by Mike Ryan, Jeff Drown and Team Hanley, Invincible Gal could make her seasonal bow in the seven-furlong Grade 3, $100,000 Soaring Softly on May 15 at Belmont Park.

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Stakes-Winning Aquetduct Winter Warrior Sharp Starr Gets A Freshening

Trainer Horacio DePaz said Barry Schwartz's Sharp Starr, winner of the Grade 3 Go for Wand in December at Aqueduct in Ozone Park, N.Y., is enjoying some well deserved time off after a productive winter campaign.

The New York homebred, a 4-year-old dark bay filly by Munnings out of the A.P. Indy mare Mindy Gold, romped to a 15 3/4-length state-bred allowance win in November at the Big A that garnered a career-best 101 Beyer ahead of her Go for Wand score.

Sharp Starr followed that effort with a good second in the La Verdad in January on a muddy Aqueduct main track before a sixth-place effort in the Grade 3 Barbara Fritchie in February at Laurel Park.

Last out, Sharp Starr finished a distant third to Water White in a one-mile optional-claiming event on April 1 at Aqueduct.

“I think she was a tired horse. She tried but there's really no excuses,” said DePaz. “We looked her over and everything was fine, so we turned her out at the farm. I think she just needed a break and to put some weight on her.

“She deserves the time off and she's been running pretty consistent all last year,” he added. “We'll bring her back fresh.”

DePaz said he is looking forward to the start of the Belmont spring/summer meet which begins on Thursday.

“I've got 23 horses at the moment and more coming,” said DePaz, who expects his barn to expand to 30. “The purse money is good, we just need the right horses to be able to chase it. It gets much deeper when everyone comes back, but it's exciting.”

The conditioner will send out a pair of starters on the Opening Day card including Whispering Pines in a featured allowance sprint in Race 7 and Fed Funds in Race 4, a seven-furlong $50,000 open-claiming sprint. DePaz said Fed Funds, a four-time winner from 10 starts, should appreciate the company following a pair of off-the-board efforts in strong optional-claiming sprints.

“The distance sets up perfect for him,” said DePaz. “There's some pretty salty horses in there, but he's a hard-trying horse. He likes to show up. Hopefully he's on top of his game. He's been very consistent for us.”

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