May, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

First Winner For National Defense

2nd-Siracusa, €11,000, Mdn, 2yo, f, 1200mT.
FILLY OF MALTA (IRE) (National Defense {GB}-Amusing Plan, by Pleasantly Perfect) was driven take up the lead upon breaking, which she held only briefly as Amoazzurra (Ire) (Slade Power {Ire}) charged up on her outside to take over, causing Filly Of Malta to become unsettled and race with her head held high. Filly Of Malta soon dropped back to a joint fourth on the fence and was a length and a half off the lead rounding the turn. Switching out to the two path coming off the bend, Filly Of Malta employed a powerful kick to grab the lead and sprint 2 1/2 lengths clear for a decisive score, becoming the first winner for her Irish National Stud-based freshman sire (by Invincible Spirit {Ire}). Filly Of Malta is out of a winning daughter of Contrive (Storm Cat), meaning she is from the immediate family of last year's American champion 2-year-old and recent GI Kentucky Derby favourite Essential Quality (Tapit) as well as last year's Japanese champion 3-year-old and Triple Crown winner Contrail (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}). Both of those are descendants of Contrive's daughter Folklore (Tiznow), who in her day was America's champion 2-year-old filly and the winner of two Grade Is. Amusing Plan has herself left behind Tiz Plan (Tiznow), a stakes winner in Korea, and the American listed-placed Street Moxie (Street Sense). She has a yearling full-brother to Filly Of Malta. Sales history: £2,500 yrl '20 TATSEP. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0. Chart and video.
O-SC Cuschieri SRL. B-Oghill House Stud Ltd & J. Burke (IRE). T-Cannella Antonino.

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Firenze Fire Sharp In Seasonal Debut, Takes Runhappy Stakes For Second Time

Making his first start since a second-place finish in the Grade 3 Mr. Prospector Stakes at Gulfstream Park in December, Mr. Amore Stable's Firenze Fire tracked pacesetter Chateau through the opening five furlongs, then took command inside the eighth pole en route to a 3 1/4-length victory in Saturday's Grade 3 Runhappy Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

Ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., the Kelly Breen-trained 6-year-old Florida-bred by Poseidon's Warrior traveled six furlongs in 1:09.76 and paid $3.80 as the favorite in the field of five seasoned older runners.

Chateau, the 7-5 second wagering choice who set fractions of :22.59, :45.51 and :57.48 under Kendrick Carmouche, easily held second by three-quarters of a length, with Town Classic edging Stan the Man in a photo for third. Drafted trailed the field. Going into the Runhappy, the five runners had each averaged 32 career starts.

“I knew the other horse [Chateau] was going to go and no one else was going to be close with him, so I decided to be close and not have to be in a rush,” said Ortiz. “It's only six furlongs. I didn't want to let him relax too much and then make a run from the three-eighths pole. I just let him be closer and waited as long as I could to start going.

“When I asked him, he responded really well. The tank was full. He kept coming and kept moving forward. He feels great. I think this is going to be a good year for him. He can be right there in the conversation with all the good sprinters.”

Firenze Fire was winning for the 13th time in 32 starts and has won graded stakes at 2, 3, 5 and now 6. This was his second Runhappy Stakes victory, the first coming in 2019 when the race was not yet graded. The Runhappy was upgraded to Grade 3 in 2020 but was not held because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Prior to March 2020, Firenze Fire was trained by Jason Servis, who is now facing federal criminal charges in connection with the FBI probe into racehorse doping.

Since joining Breen's stable, Firenze Fire has won three of eight starts, including a pair of G2 races at Belmont, the True North and Vosburgh Invitational.

“There were a couple other races we could have pointed towards; the undercard of the Derby [G1 Churchill Downs], this race or a race over at Pimlico, but Ron [owner Ron Lombardi] said let's go to his home track at Belmont,” said Breen. “There's no such thing as a soft spot. We locked up Irad [Ortiz, Jr.]. All the things just kept on clicking.

“The horse wintered well in Florida,” Breen added. “They took good care of him. He shipped up here and got to breeze a couple times right out of his stall. We didn't have to ship. Everything worked out to plan and it doesn't always work out that well.

“In the paddock, he looked very picturesque. Maybe a tad bit heavy,” Breen said. “That happens to us when we get older.”

“He broke well. He sat right there and ran a very professional race. The horse that was in front [Chateau] is a nice horse and has been running well and is in form. We're coming off a layoff and I was definitely concerned about him getting away from us, but we showed up.”

Breen said the Breeders' Cup Sprint at Del Mar will be the year-end goal for Firenze Fire.

“I'll assume at the end of the year he'll be going to stud, but Ron loves running in the Breeders' Cup Sprint,” said Breen. “One day at a time and I'm happy he came back as strong as he did. He looked great.”

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Gary Young On OBS Bargain Purchase Winning Kentucky Derby: ‘I’ll Remember That Moment For My Entire Life’

Veteran bloodstock agent Gary Young is still living on a proverbial Cloud Nine following Medina Spirit's victory in last Saturday's $3-million Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (Grade 1).

Young, who is based in Southern California, purchased the Florida-bred Protonico colt for a mere $35,000 as a 2-year-old at the 2020 OBS July Sale for Amr Zedan.

“Jockey Victory Espinoza actually helped bridge the relationship with Mr. Zedan,” Young said. “He's a lifelong horse lover and he felt like he wanted to get back in the game. He met (Bob) Baffert in Saudi Arabia a couple years ago and he decided to take another swing at the game. The first sale we went to (2020 OBS April) he gave me a budget of $1 million and I got there that day and sometimes you hear rumblings about potential top sales prices around the sale. I called him about the two horses we marked down and told him there was a chance we wouldn't get both for that price and one may go for more than the budget.”

Young was correct and their first purchase was future Grade 1-winning filly Princess Noor, who dropped the hammer at $1.35 million. Princess Noor subsequently retired at the end of 2020 due to an injury but was pronounced in foal Friday to top stallion Into Mischief.

Following Princess Noor's purchase, Young returned to the sales ring to the rescheduled OBS July Sale. Because the sale was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Young only had 12 horses marked down in his catalogue to look at following the breeze preview days.

“After the last day of the preview I walked out of the sale similar to Rocky Balboa walking back to the corner after Apollo beat him up,” Young said. “I called Mr.Zedan and he asked me if I remember seeing a horse by Protonico breeze. It was easy to remember because there was only one horse by Protonico in the sale and he was one of the 12 horses I wrote down to look at. He told me his friend stands the stallion and asked if I could go look at him.

“In his sales breeze he kept his rhythm very well to the wire and actually continued out well to the seven-eighths pole. I have the catalogue of that sale and on the page for (Medina Spirit) I wrote, 'natural router stride.'”

When Young arrived to look at Medina Spirit prior to the sale, he noted his dark color like his sire Protonico. On the day of the sale, Young purchased Medina Spirit and he was shipped to Southern California to Baffert.

“I'm glad Mr. Zedan chose me to work with but even more importantly he chose Bob,” Young quipped.

Young arrived to Louisville eight days prior to this year's Kentucky Derby – the same time his prized purchase walked off the van to begin his final preparation for the “Run for the Roses.”

“I kept coming home to the hotel room all week knowing this horse would run well,” Young said. “In the Derby, I knew there wasn't a lot of speed inside of us. We knew Mandaloun had some speed but we thought Brad (Cox) would instruct (Florent Geroux) get him to relax. Rock Your World, who I considered our main opposition, got left leaving the gate.

“Down the backside you start looking around who's traveling well behind you. I could see Mandaloun was a different horse than the Louisiana Derby. He was probably pulling more than you like but he was running. Then, I noticed Flavien (Prat) on Hot Rod Charlie was traveling beautifully. Essential Quality was a little further out than Medina Spirit, Mandaloun and Hot Rod Charlie.”

Young's mere $35,000 purchase gamely turned back his rivals down the stretch for a half-length victory in the Kentucky Derby.

“I remember seeing Mr. Zedan after the race just fall to his knees in pure jubilation,” Baffert said. “What a humble man. We couldn't be happier for him.”

Young was noticeably hoarse Sunday morning following the Derby celebration.

“You can't put into words what winning the Kentucky Derby means,” Young said. “Life has been so good to me. I've been around so many talented people and horses. In the past I've been fortunate enough to win many Grade 1 races but there's only one Kentucky Derby and I'll remember that moment for my entire life.”

Medina Spirit will face his next test in next Saturday's Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico. He returned to training Wednesday at Churchill Downs and will ship to Baltimore, Md., Monday afternoon.

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Saturday’s Preakness Update: Trio of Breezers at Belmont

Trainer Chad Brown sent out Klaravich Stables' duo of Crowded Trade (More Than Ready) and Risk Taking (Medaglia d'Oro) to breeze in company Saturday, while Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher had Whisper Hill Farm's Unbridled Honor (Honor Code) work in company with older graded stakes winner Fearless (Ghostzapper) at Belmont Park in preparation for next Saturday's GI Preakness S.

Risk Taking, winner of the GIII Withers S. and seventh-place finisher in the GII Wood Memorial S., worked outside of narrow GIII Gotham S. second and Wood Memorial third Crowded Trade, through five-eighths in 1:01.76 on a main track rated fast at 8:45 a.m. with the pair finishing together at the wire. Risk Taking was scratched out of Saturday's GIII Peter Pan S. in favor of the second leg of the Triple Crown.

“I thought they breezed super. It was just what I wanted,” Brown said. “I got them in 1:01 and even out in 1:13 and change. I was real happy with it.”

Brown added of Risk Taking, “His last two works were the best we've seen.”

As for Crowded Trade, he said, “He's only raced three times. He's run three really credible races and he's going in the right direction. He's had six weeks between races and I could see him running a really big race on Saturday.”

Unbridled Honor, runner-up in the GIII Stonestreet Lexington S., worked outside of Fearless on Belmont's dirt training track at 9:30 a.m. The pair covered a half-mile in :49.75 and out in 1:02.1 with a long gallop out through the turn.

“I thought both horses worked well to the wire,” Pletcher said. “Fearless was particularly strong on the gallop out and I thought Unbridled Honor did well. I was happy with both of them.”

As for Unbridled Honor, Pletcher added, “We weren't really thinking Derby at that time [in the Lexington]. We were hoping for a good performance, which we got. He finished up well and he continues to improve with each start. He had a good pace to run at that day. Hopefully, it will be a contested pace at Pimlico.”

Fearless, winner of the GII WinStar Gulfstream Park Mile S. and runner-up in the GII Oaklawn H., is being pointed to the GIII Pimlico Special S. May 14.

John and Diane Fradkin's homebred and El Camino Real Derby winner Rombauer (Twirling Candy), meanwhile, had his final timed workout in preparation for the Preakness Saturday morning, covering five furlongs in :59.80 seconds under jockey Flavien Prat at Santa Anita. “He worked in company, settled in a length behind the other horse, passed him coming to the eighth pole and went on about his business,” trainer Michael McCarthy said.

Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas has confirmed Ram (American Pharoah) as a starter for the Preakness. He won his second straight annexing an allowance on the GI Kentucky Derby undercard. “We realize he has to step forward to be effective,” Lukas said. “But when these horses are doing well, sometimes they'll step up and do what you want them to do. I always thought this horse had potential.”

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