Robin Goodfellow’s Racing Tips: Best bets for Saturday, June 12
Sportsmail's racing expert Robin Goodfellow dishes out his tips for Saturday's meetings at Chester, York, Sandown, Bath, Hexham, Worcester and Leicester.
Month: June 2021
Pletcher-Trained Basin Will Try To Spring The Upset In Salvator Mile
It isn't often that a Grade 1 winner trainer by Todd Pletcher gets overlooked in a stakes race. But with defending champion Pirate's Punch and the talented Ny Traffic heading the field for Saturday's Grade 3 Salvator Mile at Monmouth Park, that seems to be the case with Basin.
The 4-year-old son of Liam's Map, who won the Grade 1 Hopeful at Saratoga as a 2-year-old and then was second in the Arkansas Derby last year to Charlatan, will be making just his fourth start for Pletcher.
Fellow Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen had Basin for his first seven career starts.
A $150,000 yearling purchase who has earned $568,260 in 10 lifetime starts, Basin is coming off an eighth-place finish in the Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes on May 1 – though he was beaten just 3¾ lengths in that seven-furlong race.
“He wasn't beaten far at Churchill,” Pletcher said. “The whole field was two or three lengths apart. He got squeezed out late but he was just starting to not hold his spot late. I thought he ran competitively in a pretty deep field.”
In three career starts for Pletcher, Basin, owned by Jackpot Farm, shows a second in the Grade 2 Amsterdam last August at Saratoga and a win in the Sir Shackleton Stakes at Gulfstream Park on March 27.
His best efforts, with the exception of the Arkansas Derby, have come at seven furlongs or less. But Pletcher is confident the two-turn Salvator Mile, which has attracted a field of 10, won't be an issue.
“We felt like a two-turn, one-mile race suits him well,” Pletcher said. “He trains like the two turns and longer won't be an issue. I felt like timing-wise this was (a) good (spot) and he's had good breezes since the Churchill race.”
Pirate's Punch, who notched a two-length victory in the Salvator Mile last year, has not raced since the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 7. Trainer Grant Forster said the 5-year-old gelding had a chip surgically removed from one of his knees following that race but that he has trained exceptionally well during the time off.
Ny Traffic, second by nose to 2020 Horse of the Year Authentic in last year's TVG.com Haskell Stakes, turned in an impressive first race back for trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. as a prep for this race. He won an allowance optional claimer at Belmont Park by 6 ¾ lengths on May 2.
The 74th running of the Salvator Mile, which carries a purse of $150,000, will go as the 10th race on a 13-race card. First race post time is 12:15 p.m.
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Monmouth: Current Leading Rider Jose Ferrer Sees Both Sides Of Whip Debate
Jockey Jose Ferrer leads the Monmouth Park jockey standings with nine wins thus far, and spoke this week to Horse Racing Nation about the New Jersey Racing Commission's whip rules. The strictest in the country, the regulations allow jockeys to only utilize the whip for reasons of safety, but to not encourage the horse to run faster.
Several riders, including Monmouth's perennial leading jockey Joe Bravo, have chosen not to return to New Jersey under the new regulations, citing safety concerns.
“At the beginning I was a little worried, a little concerned, but then when I started riding I felt comfortable out there,” Ferrer told HRN. “We are all in the same boat. It's not like this guy can hit and this guy can't. I've told the guys, it's a different kind of riding now. We have to protect each other a little more. It's doable, you just have to be a little more careful.”
Ferrer has found a way to win without the riding crop, and said there's no discernable bias in terms of racing style, but he added that some lazier horses have been “barely blowing” when coming back to be unsaddled.
“You won't see the best performance out of these animals — that's what's really going to hurt our sport here in New Jersey in the long run,” Ferrer explained. “We coach these horses, that final quarter mile, tap them on the shoulders and let them know, 'We have to go.' It's time for 110 percent. Horses don't understand language. You can't just tell them, hey let's go. That's what we're really going to miss.”
Read more at Horse Racing Nation.
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Pacific Classic, Haskell Among Options for Hot Rod Charlie
Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow), runner-up to favored Essential Quality (Tapit) in last Saturday's GI Belmont S., returned to the track at his Santa Anita base Friday. The colt arrived from the East Coast Wednesday night.
“He jogged a mile and a half and looked fantastic,” trainer Doug O'Neill said. “He was happy and full of energy.”
Regarding the GII Louisiana Derby winner's next possible engagement, O'Neill said, “The [GI] Pacific Classic at Del Mar is a possibility [Aug. 21], the [GI] Haskell at Monmouth is possible [July 17] as is the [GI] Pennsylvania Derby [Sept. 25]. There are tons of possibilities and options.”
He added, “Deciding on his next race is a group effort. No one wants to say much right now..it's the old cliche, 'We'll see where 'Charlie' takes us,' and we really can't know that until we see how he is on the track, eating, and all that stuff, so in a couple weeks we'll have a better idea.”
The post Pacific Classic, Haskell Among Options for Hot Rod Charlie appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
