Haggas eyes St Leger for Alenquer after King Edward VII Stakes success at Royal Ascot
Trainer William Haggas decided to play the long game going into the Derby and it has now twice reaped dividends at Royal Ascot.
Month: June 2021
‘Things Are Going Our Way’: Red-Hot Combo Murrill, Hartman Headed To Ellis Park
The hottest trainer-jockey combination in Kentucky racing is heading to Ellis Park after Churchill Downs' spring meet ends June 26. Ellis Park opens Sunday June 27 and closes Sept. 4, with racing Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays as well as Thursday July 1.
Trainer Chris Hartman has 13 wins out of 33 starts at Churchill through Thursday, good for a tie for fourth in the standings behind Brad Cox (17 wins), Brendan Walsh (16) and Mike Maker (15). However, Hartman's 39-percent win rate towers over his colleagues among those with at least 10 starts. Twelve of those winners have been ridden by Mitchell Murrill, who is having a breakout meet since moving his tack from Chicago to Kentucky last year. Murrill has prevailed on 16 of 76 mounts (along with 12 seconds and 10 thirds) to be tied for sixth in the Churchill riding standings, his 21-percent strike rate for winners matching the highest among the leaders.
“Things are going our way,” Murrill said on the Churchill Downs backstretch recently as he prepared to work a horse for Hartman. “We're having good luck together and trying to keep it rolling. I've had a few winners back to back (with other trainers) but not seven or eight in a row. It's definitely helpful to get my name out there and let people see me. Hopefully it will give me more opportunities to collect more business and get more and better rides.”
Hartman's hot streak includes five straight victories and winning seven of eight from June 3 through June 10.
“Blessed meet, that's all I can say. It's unbelievable,” Hartman said, adding in reference to his eight-win meet over the winter at Arkansas' Oaklawn Park, “We didn't win that many, but we had 16 seconds – and lot of them were by a nose. I thought we'd have a good meet here, but you don't really dream you're going to do this good.”
The 26-year-old Murrill describes riding for Hartman as “awesome.”
“He kind of lets me do my thing and he does his,” he said. “We've had a good relationship, and we always seem to be on the same page when it comes to race day. The day (June 5) I rode three and won three, that was a pretty impressive day.”
Already Murrill has blown past his previous high of six wins at a Churchill meet. Six also was his win total last summer at Ellis Park, his first time riding at the western Kentucky track.
“It was tough,” he recalled of his Ellis debut. “It was my first time there, first year in Kentucky. It didn't really go quite as well as we wanted. But we had a few winners and stuck it out, and it's starting to come back around and payoff. I like the track, the distance (1 1/8-mile main track). The surface was good. It was a fun new track to ride at.”
The flip side of winning a lot of races at a meet can be as that horses use up their race conditions, with victory becoming harder to achieve at the next level or in unrestricted races. However, Hartman sounds optimistic about Ellis Park, where he won 11 of 43 starts in 2018 as major client Joey Keith Davis captured the owner's title with seven victories.
“Ellis has a little different variety of horse there,” Hartman said. “But we've got horses we haven't even run yet at Churchill so hopefully they'll be strong there. And we've got 11 'babies,' so hopefully we'll get some of them rolling.”
Hartman first started using Murrill several years ago Arlington Park, which led to using the jockey in the winters in New Orleans, where the trainer also has a division.
“He just keeps getting better,” the trainer said of Murrill. “He's really been riding great here lately. That's another thing that helps a bunch. He's been riding really good, making winning decisions in a race. That's made the difference in a handful of these races. It's all a team effort. He's riding with absolutely confidence, putting horses where they're supposed to be.”
Murrill began riding full-time in 2014 on the Louisiana circuit before moving on to an Arlington Park-Fair Grounds base in 2015. The jockey quickly stamped himself among the top riders in Chicago before making the jump with agent Tim Hanisch to Kentucky for Churchill Downs' 2020 spring meet.
Yet, if it hadn't been for a high school pal, Murrill might be an electrician and very well would be spending his Saturdays in the fall not in the saddle but in Tuscaloosa watching his beloved Alabama Crimson Tide playing football. Growing up in Mobile, Ala., horse racing wasn't on his radar.
“I played soccer throughout high school and growing up,” Murrill said. “I was going to follow doing what my dad did, doing electrical work. A friend of mine in high school introduced me to some trainers, because he saw my size and said, 'Man, you'd be good at this.' I tried it and stuck it out, and now we're here.”
The old saying about getting back on the horse sums up Murrill's introduction to the sport. He started out getting on horses on farms for several trainers around Mobile.
“They just threw me on,” he said, adding of young horses, “I got on for the first time, I had a couple throw me off because they were babies. I kind of learned the hard way. It was wild at first. I had a concussion from one, when I got knocked out. So I was kind of iffy on it. But I got back on 'em and kept going at it.”
At the same time he began exercising racehorses, young Murrill also was riding bulls. He can testify that bulls are harder to stay on. But there is some cross-over skill between riding bulls and horses, he said.
“It definitely teaches you balance, for sure,” Murrill said, adding that if he fell off a horse, “he's not going to turn around looking for me, trying to kill me. So I stuck with the horses.”
Follow Mitchell Murrill on Twitter @MitchellMurrill. Follow Chris Hartman @CHartmanRacing.
The post ‘Things Are Going Our Way’: Red-Hot Combo Murrill, Hartman Headed To Ellis Park appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Win And You’re In: Starman, Dream Of Dreams Headline Saturday’s Diamond Jubilee At Royal Ascot
David Ward's Starman (GB), a winner of four of five races, and Saeed Suhail's Dream Of Dreams (IRE), runner-up in this race the last two years, headline Saturday's 6-furlong US$975,000 Diamond Jubilee Stakes (G1) at Royal Ascot. The winner of the Diamond Jubilee Stakes will earn an automatic berth into this year's US$1million Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1) through the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series.
The Breeders' Cup Challenge Series is an international series of 84 stakes races whose winners receive automatic starting positions and fees paid into a corresponding race of the Breeders' Cup World Championships, which will be held at Del Mar racetrack in Del Mar, California on Nov. 5-6.
As part of the benefits of the Challenge Series, Breeders' Cup will pay the entry fees for the Diamond Jubilee winner to start in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, which will be run at 5 furlongs at Del Mar. Breeders' Cup will also provide a travel allowance of US$40,000 for all starters based outside of North America to compete in the World Championships. The Challenge winner must be nominated to the Breeders' Cup program by the Championships' pre-entry deadline of October 25 to receive the rewards.
The Diamond Jubilee is the fourth of four Breeders' Cup Challenge Series “Win and You're In” races to be conducted during the Royal Ascot meeting. The race will be televised live on NBC, TVG, ITV and Sky Sports.
In his 2021 debut, Starman, trained by Ed Walker, won York's 6-furlong Duke of York Clipper Logistics Stakes (G2) on May 12. The bay son of Dutch Art (GB) took the lead in the final furlong and held off Nahaarr (IRE) by a neck for his fourth win, all at the 6-furlong distance.
“He is a massively exciting horse,” said Walker of the 4-year-old Starman. “He is a big imposing horse with that presence, a real head-turner in the string. He's obviously very good as well. Everything has gone well since York.”
After winning his first three races last year, Starman finished 13th in the Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes (G1) at Ascot over a soft course. Oisin Murphy has the mount on Starman.
The 7-year-old chestnut gelding Dream Of Dreams, trained by Michael Stoute, has finished second by a head in the last two runnings of the Diamond Jubilee, losing the 2019 race to Blue Point (IRE), and in 2020 to Hello Youmzain (FR). But following last year's defeat, Dream Of Dreams returned on Aug. 15 at Newbury and romped home a 7-length winner in the Unibet Hungerford Stakes (G2). That win set him up for his biggest score yet, when he captured the Group 1 Betfair Sprint Stakes at Haydock by 1 ¼ over Glen Shiel (GB) in September.
In preparation for this year's race, Dream Of Dreams won the listed Weatherbys ePassport Stakes at Windsor on May 17. He will be ridden Saturday by Ryan Moore.
Sheikh Ahmed al Maktoum's 5-year-old Nahaar has won six races for trainer William Haggis, including three last year. A bay son of Dark Angel (IRE), Nahaar just missed taking his first Group stakes race in his gallant runner-up effort in the Duke of York.
Another son of Dark Angel is Power Racing's 4-year-old Art Power (IRE), who won last year's Palace Of Holyroodhouse Handicap at Royal Ascot by 3 ¼ lengths, defeating 20 rivals. Trained by Tim Easterby, Art Power followed that win by taking the Lacken Stakes (G3) at Naas. Stepping into Group 1 competition in his next two starts, Art Power finished fourth in the Haydock Sprint and fourth in British Champions Sprint Stakes. He had a disappointing 2021 debut in the Duke of York Stakes when he started awkwardly and finished fifth. Silvestre De Sousa has the mount on Art Power.
Hambleton Racing's Glen Sheil is seeking his ninth win. Trained Archie Watson, the 7-year-old chestnut gelding by Pivotal (GB) finished first or second in eight of nine starts last year. In addition to his British Champions Stakes win, Glen Sheil captured the Phoenix Sprint Stakes (G3) at the Curragh. He made his 2021 debut in the Wetherbys Ireland Greenland Stakes (G2), finishing fourth at the 9-5 favorite. Hollie Doyle will ride Glen Sheil.
The post Win And You’re In: Starman, Dream Of Dreams Headline Saturday’s Diamond Jubilee At Royal Ascot appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Tapwrit Well-Represented by First Yearlings at Fasig-Tipton July
After 'TDN Rising Star' Essential Quality's sound victory in the GI Belmont S., his sire Tapit became one of only two stallions in history to produce four winners of the Classic test. In doing so, the champion sire did one of his other Belmont-winning sons, this one also a fellow Gainesway stallion, a favor by reinforcing the market's every-growing esteem for Tapit bloodlines. The achievements of Essential Quality and Tapit came at just the right time for Tapwrit (Tapit -Appealing Zophie, by Successful Appeal), who will have his first crop of yearlings hit the market this year.
“Certainly Tapit's status in the Kentucky stallion ranks and the all-time ranks of stallions keeps getting elevated every year,” Gainesway's Sean Tugel said. “He has produced four outstanding winners of the Test of the Champion, with Tapwrit being one of them, which was exciting because Tapwrit was able to break his maiden as a 2-year-old and be a 2-year-old stakes winner, but also carry that speed and precocity to go a mile and a half and win a very impressive Belmont S.”
Essential Quality and Tapwrit are Tapit's only Belmont winners to also be stakes winners at two. The other pair, Tonalist and Creator, did not break their maiden until early in their sophomore year.
After selling for $1.2 million to partners Bridlewood Farm, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Robert LaPenta at the 2015 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Sale, Tapwrit broke his maiden at second asking and then took the Pulpit S. at Gulfstream as a juvenile. At three, the Todd Pletcher pupil ran second in the GIII Sam F. Davis S. and took the GII Tampa Bay Derby before his eventual two-length win at Belmont Park.
Retiring after his 4-year-old season with earnings of over $1.3 million, Tapwrit joined his sire at Gainesway Farm in 2019.
But he wasn't the only son of the Tapit to join the stallion ranks in Kentucky. Nearly ten young sires by Tapit had started their stud careers in the Bluegrass in the three years before Tapwrit came around. What set this newcomer apart?
“I think what separates Tapwrit from many other sons of Tapit is that he has that Grade I form on the bottom side,” Tugel noted. “His dam, Appealing Zophie (Successful Appeal), was a Grade I-winning 2-year-old. That gave him the precocity to run not only at Saratoga as a 2-year-old, but break his maiden and be a stakes winner.”
Of the nine sons of Tapit standing in Kentucky today, Tapwrit holds the distinction of the only son of a Grade I winner.
Appealing Zophie, a blowout winner of the 2006 GI Spinaway S., produced another top performer the year after Tapwrit hit the ground in Ride a Comet (Candy Ride {Arg}). The three-time graded stakes winner ran second in this year's GI Maker's Mark Mile S. at Keeneland. Meanwhile the mare's 3-year-old filly Inject (Frosted), a six-length debut winner last year, recently took the Goldfinch S. at Prarie Meadows for Brad Cox.
“It's a very active family and a very precocious family,” Tugel said. “And Tapwrit is the best in that family.”
The Classic winner's propensity to combine precocity and the ability to stretch out as an older horse, Tugel added, is another indication of success at stud for Tapwrit.
“Over the last 15 years, Union Rags and American Pharoah are the only other [current sires] that have won a 2-year-old stakes race and also won the Belmont at a mile and a half. Those are two sires that have done well in their early careers, so if Tapwrit can follow suit, the sky is the limit for him.”
When Tapwrit joined the roster at Gainesway with a $12,500 initial stud fee, breeders supported the newcomer with 154 mares in his first book. He remained at the same fee the following year and was given a minor COVID-induced adjustment this year at $10,000. The early results on his first crop of foals were positive enough to keep the breeders coming in years two and three.
“He bred 249 mares total in his first two years and we're still piling up the mares here in year three, but the physicals that he has produced is helping him maintain very solid book sizes,” Tugel said.”He was a $1.2 million Saratoga yearling and is now throwing his good looks to his offspring.”
Tapwrit one of nine sons of Tapit currently at stud in Kentucky. | Equisport Photo
Tugel explained how he believes Tapwrit is passing some of his best attributes on to his first few crops.
“There is no rubber stamp for what a good Tapit looks like, but we see that Tapit himself produces good balance in his offspring and that's what we're seeing in these Tapwrits,” he said. “They look athletic and have a nice amount of leg and good bone to them.”
At the weanling sales, Tapwrit's first crop averaged $46,444 with 18 of 26 sold. His top-priced weanling, a colt out of the Smart Strike mare Smart N Soft, brought $100,000 to Black Cat Stable at Keeneland November.
“I think the weanling sales really helped him gain some traction as a third-year horse,” Tugel said. “When a stallion's initial crop can get the attention of both pinhookers and the breeders, it's a great storm to maintain really good support for a horse early on in his career. By producing the physicals and replicating his outstanding looks, we're very excited to bring his first crop of yearlings to the sales this year.”
At the upcoming Fasig-Tipton July Sale on July 13, Tapwrit will be represented by nine first-crop yearlings.
“The fact that he has nine in there tells you how early they're maturing,” Tugel noted.”They're horses that look not only like they're going to make the races early, just like himself and his dam, but that they should hold together and mature to be good two-turn route types that we want to win the Oaks and the Derby.”
Tapwrit colt out of Black Coronas sells as Hip 2 at the upcoming Fasig-Tipton July Sale.
One breeder in particular has high hopes for her July-bound yearling. Denise Belcher's Phoenix Farm is the co-breeder of a Tapwrit colt out of Black Coronas (Curlin). The January-foaled yearling was bred by Chad Frederick and Belcher's Phoenix Farm and Racing and will sell as Hip 2 from the Four Star Sales consignment.
“He's been a big, strong colt from the time he hit the ground,” Belcher said. “He precocious, good-minded, has a good walk and a great physical. We think he's going to appeal to the end users and the pinhookers.”
The young colt is a three-quarters brother to Drop Anchor, a 3-year-old son of Anchor Down that won on debut at Ellis Park last summer as a juvenile.
“The Tapwrit colt has a wonderful demeanor to him when he comes out of the barn,” Belcher said. “He has a presence and you can't really help but take a look at him. He really has that, 'look at me, I'm something special' [attitude] and he's got a great mind. He's very easy to work with and we've enjoyed having him.”
Tugel also noted the exceptional presence he's seen in many of Tapwrit's first yearlings.
“They have a lot of class and a lot of intelligence,” he said. “They enjoy the prepping and they enjoy having something to do. You want horses to like what they do and be smart about it, and that's something we've seen in the Tapwrit yearlings. They should handle the sales process and breaking process really well, so we're chomping at the bit to let the public see them.”
Other notable Tapwrits heading for the Fasig-Tipton July Sale include Hip 80, the $100,000 colt out of Smart N Soft that led Tapwrit's progeny at the weanling sales, Hip 90, a filly out of a half-sister to four-time GISW and sire Tiz the Law (Constitution) and Hip 93, a filly out of a half-sister to juvenile champion Hansen (Tapit).
The post Tapwrit Well-Represented by First Yearlings at Fasig-Tipton July appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
