April, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Brown Starts Pair in Bid for Fourth Straight Jenny Wiley

As of now, the only trainer to win four straight renewals of the GI Coolmore Jenny Wiley S. at Keeneland is the late Hall of Famer Bobby Frankel. Saturday, Frankel's future Hall of Fame protege Chad Brown will have a chance to equal his feat with a pair of contenders in the 1 1/16-mile turf test.

Capturing the Jenny Wiley with Sistercharlie (Ire) (Myboycharlie {Ire}) in 2018 and Rushing Fall (More Than Ready) in 2019 and 2020, Brown will be represented by Tamahere (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) and Etoile (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}). The former punched her ticket to America with a dominant score in the Prix la Sorellina at La Teste Buch and impressively annexed the GII Sands Point S. in her North American debut before running sixth as the favorite in the GI Matriarch S. The latter, beaten less than a length when fourth in the G1 Prix de Diane Longines in June of 2019, failed to find the mark in her first two North American tries before breaking through in the GI E.P. Taylor S. when last seen Oct. 18 at Woodbine.

The morning-line favorite is Godolphin's Micheline (Bernardini). Scoring a 17-1 upset by open lengths in the Honey Ryder S. last spring at Gulfstream, the homebred was off the board in her next two before getting up late to take the Exacta Systems Dueling Grounds Oaks at 10-1 Sept. 10 at Kentucky Downs. She's kept up that good form with a second at 11-1 in the local GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup S. and a conquest of the GII Hillsborough S. last out Mar. 6 at Tampa.

“I really didn't feel like I had her completely tight for the Hillsborough coming off a layoff,” trainer Mike Stidham told TDN's Katie Ritz. “In my mind, I thought maybe I was a work or two short of having her totally cranked up for that race. So the way she ran was really impressive to me, knowing what I had in her. Since that race, she's come back and worked a couple of times and her last work [Apr. 2], in :47 [1/5] was a really, really good work for her because she's not a huge workhorse. For her to work like that, she was touting me that she's sitting on ready.”

Rounding out the major challengers is Juliet Foxtrot (GB) (Dansili {GB}). A dual graded stakes victress, she looks for a belated top-level success after placing four times in Grade I company, including when third in this race last year.

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Baffert Looking for ‘Concert’ Encore in Arkansas Derby

After losing presumptive GI Kentucky Derby favorite Life Is Good (Into Mischief) to injury for several months, Bob Baffert may still have the Derby chalk in his barn if his undefeated 'TDN Rising Star' Concert Tour (Street Sense) can follow up his dominant GII Rebel S. score with a similar performance against just five rivals in Saturday's $1-million GI Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn.

Unveiled as an even-money favorite going six furlongs Jan. 15 at Santa Anita, the Gary and Mary West homebred scored a good-looking wire-to-wire victory and repeated with a half-length triumph in the GII San Vicente S. there Feb. 6. Stretched out to two turns for the first time in the Rebel here Mar. 13, the bay set a sharp pace and drew clear strongly in the lane for a convincing 4 1/4-length success. Pegged as the even-money favorite on the morning line with regular rider Joel Rosario, he drilled six furlongs in 1:12 4/5 (1/5) at his Arcadia home base Apr. 3.

The Rebel was billed as a clash between Concert Tour and fellow promising 'Rising Star' Caddo River (Hard Spun), but that battle never materialized, as frontrunning Caddo River was taken off the lead and got rank before finishing a distant fifth. Trainer Brad Cox has promised more aggressive tactics in the Arkansas Derby for the Shortleaf Stable homebred, who previously crushed his Smarty Jones S. rivals by 10 1/4 lengths to follow up a 9 1/2-length third-out graduation. With just 10 Derby qualifying points, he needs a top two finish to punch his ticket to Louisville.

“We're going to try and be a little bit more involved early if we can,” he told the Oaklawn notes team. “That's really the tactics we're going to take into the race. We'll see if that works any different. He's probably more of a free-running horse. I think we found that out last time. Florent took a hold of him up the backside and that didn't really seem what he wanted to do.”

The second, fourth and seventh finishers from the Rebel also re-oppose. Hozier (Pioneerof the Nile) completed a Baffert exacta that day at 18-1 and another move forward is possible in just his fourth career start.

“I just feel fortunate that I have these two after losing Life Is Good,” Baffert said. “It's pretty tough, you know, but that's why everything works itself out for the Derby. The horse will get you there.”

Late-running Super Stock (Dialed In) rallied to be fourth in the Rebel and was third to champion Essential Quality (Tapit) three back in the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity. Get Her Number (Dialed In) was seventh with a troubled trip making his sophomore debut in the Rebel after winning the GI American Pharoah S. to close out his 2-year-old season.

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$500,000 Rainbow 6 Jackpot Guarantee At Gulfstream Park On Friday

The 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot pool will be guaranteed at $500,000 for Friday's program at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The popular multi-race wager went unsolved Thursday for the sixth consecutive racing day since a March 27 mandatory payout. Tickets with all six winners were each worth $4,574.18.

The jackpot pool is only paid out when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 70 percent of that day's pool goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners, while 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.

There will also be a carryover of $2,695.50 in the $1 Super Hi-5 for Friday's opener.

Notes: Jockey Miguel Vasquez registered a two-win day Thursday aboard Holy Meister ($4.20) in Race 1 and Por Que No ($5.80) in Race 4. It was the fourth consecutive win for Fano Racing's 3-year-old filly Por Que No, trained by J. Kent Sweezey. Sweezey also sent out Kahiko ($5) to win Race 8 … Meet-leading rider Edgard Zayas also doubled on Perfect Enough ($30.80) in Race 5 and Uncle Fun ($12.80) in Race 7.

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‘He’s Like A Son To Me’: Agent Moran Reflects As Paco Lopez Approaches 3,000th Win

Popular and personable jockey Paco Lopez, an Eclipse Award winner and twice the leading rider during Gulfstream Park's prestigious Championship Meet, is on the verge of reaching a career milestone.

Lopez, 35, captured the eighth-race finale aboard Kahiko ($5), his lone victory from six mounts, as live racing returned to Gulfstream Thursday. He enters Friday's nine-race program (1 p.m. post time) with 2,998 career Thoroughbred wins according to Equibase statistics, which also noted one quarter horse win in 2009 at Hialeah. Lopez is named in six races Friday and 10 of 11 races Saturday.

“Just the thought of winning 3,000 races and being with him from the start is pretty phenomenal,” Lopez's agent, Cory Moran, said. “We've been together through this and it's been amazing.

“There's riders that get to 3,000, but I just think it's amazing we did it together. I'm grateful and blessed through this journey,” he added. “The journey has had its ups and downs but Paco's a good guy and a good rider, and I think we appreciate each other.”

Lopez is one of six children that grew up in poverty in Veracruz, Mexico, leaving home at age 12 to live with one of his sisters. He was shining shoes and working in a car wash for $30 a week when a customer offered him a ranch job. Soon he was riding in quarter horse races at bush tracks with incredible success, including winning all 13 races over a single weekend.

In 2006, Lopez relocated to South Florida to further his dream of becoming a jockey, working on a ranch in West Palm Beach and riding unsanctioned quarter horse races. He began exercising Thoroughbreds at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream's satellite training facility in Palm Beach County, and launched his professional career in June 2007 at the former Calder Race Course.

“Since the first time I met him, I just thought there was something special in him. He just had those hungry eyes,” Moran said. “He was like a little boy standing there. Bill White introduced me to him. He was the leading trainer at the time and he loved him.

“He introduced us and I decided to take him the day I met him,” he added. “It's been a constant win machine from that day. He's been like a whirlwind, and it's not slowing down. He's done a lot of remarkable things.”

Lopez rode his first winner July 13, 2007, at Calder and finished with 20 for the calendar year. He won 229 races, nearly $4 million in purse earnings, a Calder meet title and the Eclipse Award as champion apprentice in his first full season of 2008.

Overall, Lopez has won 200 or more races nine times ranked in the top 10 in North America in wins five times, including third in 2019 with a career-best 283. That year he also reached a personal high of $10.9 million in purses earned.

Lopez won back-to-back Championship Meet riding titles in 2010 and 2011, and is one of only four jockeys (Javier Castellano, Irad Ortiz Jr., Luis Saez) to win 100 or more races at Gulfstream's elite winter stand. He also won the 2019 Gulfstream Park West crown and owns 11 riding championships in New Jersey, eight of them at Monmouth Park where he spends the summer and early fall.

“In the early years, when he was having success at Monmouth and he won the Championship Meet twice, there were other agents trying to get him. But, Paco stayed loyal,” Moran said. “He believed in me and I believed in him. There's been riders that have been available and I don't even call them. He's such a good rider. I don't even think about it.”

Three times in his career, Lopez has won seven races on a single card. He did it twice in 2014 at Monmouth and again March 21, 2020, at Gulfstream, each time sharing the track record. Lopez earned his 2,000^th career win Dec. 4, 2016 at Gulfstream.

Overall, Lopez has won 89 career graded-stakes, eight of them Grade 1, including his first with South Florida-based Itsmyluckyday in the 2014 Woodward as well as the 2018 Breeders' Cup Sprint aboard Roy H. Last winter, he piloted Swiss Skydiver to victory in the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2); Swiss Skydiver would go on to beat males in the Preakness Stakes (G1) and be named champion 3-year-old filly.

“I've seen riders win seven [races] in a day here and there, but he's done it three times,” Moran said. “We've just had phenomenal success. He won a Breeders' Cup. He's won so many stakes from coast to coast. It's been like a whirlwind with him and his success.

“I'm just very fortunate to run into a rider like that and he turned out to be that way,” he added. “I've been an agent for a long time and I've had leading riders and stuff like that, but this is a long run with Paco. He's like family. He's like a son to me. It's been a good run.”

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