Month: June 2021

Oaks, Eight Belles Runners Converge in Acorn

Five of the six runners in Saturday's prestigious GI Acorn S. at Belmont were last seen competing on the GI Kentucky Oaks card Apr. 30 at Churchill, and now they'll all run together. Busher Invitational S. and GIII Gazelle S. heroine Search Results (Flatter) missed by just a neck last time in the Oaks after a hard-fought battle with unbeaten Malathaat (Curlin).

“It's five weeks and [after the Kentucky Oaks] I said I'm going to point to the race under no pressure to run and [owner Seth] Klarman was fine with whatever I wanted to do,” trainer Chad Brown said. “She's come back and worked really well. I've been doing this long enough to know that even if they work well, you're going to find out how they're really doing at the quarter-pole and how much the last race did or didn't affect them. I just can't pass on a race where she would be favorite in a Grade I and she's training this well. I am looking at the five weeks wishing I had a little more time for my own comfort, knowing what a hard stretch duel it was, but she's doing well.”

Also exiting the Oaks is 'TDN Rising Star' Travel Column (Frosted). The GII Fair Grounds Oaks heroine could relish this one-turn mile configuration after setting the pace and fading to fifth at Churchill. Her sire turned in a powerhouse performance here give years ago when dominating the GI Met Mile by 14 1/4 lengths, good for a 123 Beyer Speed Figure.

The top three finishers from the GII Eight Belles S.–Obligatory (Curlin), Dayoutoftheoffice (Into Mischief) and Make Mischief  (Into Mischief)–are also signed on. Obligatory was coming off a fourth-place run in the Fair Grounds Oaks when she belied 16-1 odds in the Eight Belles. The Juddmonte homebred went last to first that day after favored Dayoutoftheoffice chased hot splits. Dayoutoftheoffice took last year's GI Frizette S. over this strip last October before finishing second in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.

“She's doing great and coming in perfect,” Dayoutoftheofffice's conditioner Tim Hamm said. “We worked her on Sunday morning (four furlongs at Thistledown in :49 flat {4/13}) and she went just as prescribed, doing exactly what we wanted. We are confident, but when you get to this level of racing, you need a good trip. She's coming into the race in good shape.”

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Hawwaam To Stand At Wilgerbosdrift

South African champion Hawwaam (SAf) (Silvano {Ger}-Halfway To Heaven {SAf}, by Jet Master {SAf}), the winner of five Group 1s in the colours of the late Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, will enter stud in 2021 at Wilgerbosdrift Stud, which co-bred him with Mauritzfontein Stud and sold him for R1,000,000 at the Bloodstock South Africa National Yearling Sale in 2017.

South Africa's champion 3-year-old of 2018-19, Hawwaam won the G1 Premier's Champions Challenge twice, and also collected the G1 Horse Chestnut S., G1 Daily News 2000 and G1 S A Classic for trainer Mike de Kock. Hawwaam is currently in the UK under the care of trainer William Haggas but has not raced since collecting the Champions Challenge in June 2020.

Hawwaam is one of three Group 1 winners produced by South Africa's two-time champion broodmare Halfway To Heaven.

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Cutbacks Coming and Going in Woody Stephens

There are only six runners signed on for Saturday's GI Woody Stephens S. on the GI Belmont S. undercard, but any one of them can win. Saffie Joseph, Jr. trainee Drain the Clock (Maclean's Music) will be one of a few likely to have his eyes on the lead. A dominant winner of the Limehouse S. and GIII Swale S. at Gulfstream, he was second in the two-turn GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S. there Feb. 27 before cutting back to annex the GIII Bay Shore S. going this distance at Aqueduct Apr. 3.

“I feel he's a better one-turn horse. Can he win two turns? Yes, against the right company,” Joseph, Jr. said. “But for him to achieve his full potential, one turn is his best distance. He's unbeaten at one turn. It's coming up a small field, but I think any one of them could win it. He'll have to run his best, but he's won most of his one-turn races quite handily and we never really let him out fully.”

Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music), a MGISW juvenile, is also clearly better around one bend. He was fourth in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile and third in the GIII Southwest S. Feb. 27, but woke up in the GII Pat Day Mile S. on the GI Kentucky Derby undercard May 1, setting a blazing :43.68 half before holding off Dream Shake (Twirling Candy) by a head. Dream Shake belied 20-1 odds to be named a 'TDN Rising Star' after an impressive off-the-pace debut score sprinting at Santa Anita Feb. 7, and he was a well-beaten third in both the GII San Felipe S. a month later and GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby Apr. 3 before shortening up himself in the Pat Day.

While some of his rivals have already made the route to sprint move, Caddo River (Hard Spun)'s will come here. The Jan. 22 Smarty Jones S. romper faded to fifth at 6-5 in the Mar. 13 GII Rebel S., but bounced back to be second after showing the way in the GI Arkansas Derby Apr. 10. He had been under consideration for both the Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S., but Brad Cox and owner/breeder John Ed Anthony of Shortleaf Stable ultimately decided on a shorter distance.

“We're hopeful that the cutback is the play here from the mile and an eighth,” Cox said. “He's been freshened a little bit. He's been working steady over the past month and hopefully, with a good trip, he can have a breakthrough performance and maybe pick off a Grade I. I think the shortening up will be good for him.”

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