June, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Double Thunder Rallies To Win Bashford Manor For Pletcher, Phoenix Thoroughbred

East Coast invader Double Thunder from the powerful Todd Pletcher stable rallied into a collapsing pace from last to defeat Vodka N Water by 4 ¾ lengths in Saturday's 120th running of the $150,000 Grade 3 Bashford Manor Stakes for 2-year-olds at Churchill Downs. Glacial was another head back in third.

Ridden by Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, Double Thunder clocked six furlongs in 1:11.17.

Pletcher, who celebrated his 54th birthday Saturday, won the Bashford Manor for the third time after wins by Limehouse in 2003 and Circular Quay in 2006.

Double Thunder hopped at the start and was last as Lansdowne and Tapped Off set the pace through fractions of :21.00 and :45.30. Glacial, the filly Shesgotattitude, and Whatstheconnection also were in close pursuit down the backstretch.

Leaving the turn, Double Thunder commenced his rally as Glacial took over with 56-1 longshot Knocker Down on his right hip. Despite having to close from the back of the pack, Double Thunder had clear sailing down on the inside, swung out at the three-sixteenths pole, and easily ran down the weary Glacial, who was edged by a closing Vodka N Water for the place.

“I didn't think we would break as slow as he did so we had to adjust a little bit after the start,” Velazquez said. “Once I got to the quarter-pole, I had a lot of confidence in him and thought we had a big shot. He did everything professionally today. Warming up, he didn't handle going with the pony as well so I warmed him up by himself. I knew there would be a lot of speed in the race and wanted to keep him close – just not last. You don't expect a 2-year-old to handle things like that as well as he did. He took dirt and handled it well and I think he can move forward a lot from that.”

Double Thunder's triumph was worth $88,350 for owner Aamer Abdulaziz Ahmed's Phoenix Thoroughbred III Ltd. and increased his bankroll to $116,850 with a perfect record in two starts. His debut win came on June 5 at Monmouth Park.

A $60,000 yearling buy, Double Thunder is a 2-year-old son of Pletcher's 2010 Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver out of the Tapit mare Rattataptap. He was bred in Kentucky by WinStar Farm LLC.

Double Thunder returned $10.20, $6, and $3.80 as the 4-1 fourth betting choice. Vodka N Water, under Jose Ortiz at 7-1, paid $7 and $4.20. Glacial paid $3.40 to show under Joe Talamo at 3-1.

Knocker Down, 5-2 favorite Red Run, Shesgotattitude, Lansdowne, Whistlewhileyoumow, Whatstheconnection, and Tapped Off completed the order of finish. Rising Outlaw was a late scratch.

First run in 1902, the Bashford Manor is named for the former Louisville Thoroughbred breeding and racing farm that dominated the American racing scene in the early 1900s. George J. Long, a wealthy foundry owner, purchased Bashford Manor Farm in 1887 and developed the Thoroughbred operation that provided him two Derby wins as an owner, 1892 (Azra) and 1906 (Sir Huon), and three as a breeder, 1892 (Azra), 1899 (Manuel) and 1906 (Sir Huon). In addition, Bashford Manor also won the Kentucky Oaks in 1894 (Selika) and 1915 (Kathleen). The original Wilder family owned Bashford Manor. The Wilders were direct descendants of Lord Baltimore, whose English home was also called Bashford Manor. Long died in 1930 and the farm was eventually sold in 1973 to make way for the development of a mall complex, fittingly named Bashford Manor, that formally closed in 2003.

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Runaway Rumour Stays Undefeated With Wild Applause Win

Lawrence Goichman's New York homebred Runaway Rumour pulled an upset to stay undefeated while in the process defeating open company for the first time with a half-length win in Saturday's $100,000 Wild Applause for 3-year-old fillies. Runaway Rumour overtook five competitors from the outside in the stretch to capture the one-mile contest on the Widener turf course at Belmont Park in Elmont, Ny.

Runaway Rumour, bred in New York, saw jockey Luis Cardenas pick up the mount from Jose Lezcano, and the duo broke from the outermost post and tracked in seventh position as Bye Bye led the eight-horse field through the opening quarter-mile in :22.79, the half in :47.28, and three-quarters in 1:11.69 on the firm turf.

Out of the final turn, Runaway Rumour was in sixth position with plenty of daylight in front of her. The Flintshire filly utilized a strong turn-of-foot to pick off rivals and sustain that momentum to the wire, completing the course in 1:34.25 with 6-5 favorite Minaun in second.

The Jorge Abreu trainee was unraced as a juvenile but broke her maiden going six furlongs on May 9 on the Belmont turf. She won again when stretched out to the Wild Applause distance in her previous start on June 5 and improved to 3-for-3 after capturing her stakes debut, increasing her career earnings to $140,250.

“I was a little concerned about the jockey change because I had never rode Luis in that type of race before, but he gave me so much confidence when I was giving him instructions,” Abreu said. “He told me he was looking at the replays and I knew it going to be OK. I told him, whatever you do, do not go on the inside.

“He broke sharp and tucked her in behind horses and he kept her in the clear,” Abreu added. “She likes to run free on the outside. When I saw at the five-sixteenths pole that she was picking up momentum, I had a pretty good feeling about her.”

Off at 13-1, Runaway Rumour returned $29 on a $2 win wager. Abreu said she will now target the one-mile $150,000 Grade 3 Lake George Stakes on July 23 at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, Ny.

“Depending on how she comes out of the race, we'll look at the Lake George at Saratoga,” Abreu said. “I'd say a mile to a mile and a sixteenth is good for her. I don't want to stretch her out to a mile and an eighth or a mile and quarter. Time will tell.”

Cardenas said the pre-race instructions played out as the connections hoped.

“[Abreu] worked out the plan with me and we both agreed to just let her run her race,” Cardenas said. “She likes to be able to run horses down and that's what she did. She loves doing that and I love her, too.

“We popped out of the gate and let the speed go,” Cardenas continued. “We had a beautiful trip behind horses and when we started to move by the five-sixteenths pole, she responded really well.”

The Irish-bred Minaun, a Group 3 winner in her native country, won her North American debut on April 30 for trainer Chad Brown at Belmont and earned black type in her first stakes appearance in the country, besting stablemate Nevisian Sunrise by a half length for second.

“I gave her a turf trip,” said Minaun jockey Manny Franco. “I was inside and trying to work my way out to the clear at some point, but the winner got the jump. When the winner was coming, I was still trying to find my way out.”

Brown, who also saddled the favorite to a second-place finish in the previous race with Always Carina in the Grade 2 Mother Goose, said Minaun did not have the best trip and Nevisian Sunrise was rank at times.

“She [Minaun] had some traffic trouble,” Brown said. “My other horse ran well but she was in a fight with the jockey [Irad Ortiz, Jr.] for most of the race. It's tough for a horse to re-break again after being in a tussle for most of the race. For both horses, it just didn't work out the way I had hoped.”

Sussex Garden, Alda, Bubbles On Ice, Bye Bye, and Lovestruck completed the order of finish. Alwayz Late scratched.

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Gulfstream Park: Rainbow 6 Mandatory Payout Returns $567

Gulfstream Park's mandatory Rainbow 6 payout Saturday returned $567.80.

There was a carryover of $464,802.90 and $2.784 million of new money was put into the pool Saturday.

The Rainbow 6 sequence was Races 7 through 12 with the winners Personal Meadow ($3.80), Fuego Caliente ($14), Boldness ($9), Mr Tito's ($4.80), Divert ($7), and Wolfhand ($3.20).

The Rainbow 6 carryover jackpot is usually 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 usually goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners, while 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool. However, on mandatory-payout days, the entire pool is paid out to the bettor or bettors with the most winners in the six-race sequence.

The Rainbow 6 will have a guaranteed pool of $50,000 when racing resumes Sunday with a 12:50 p.m. first race post. There will be another mandatory payout of the Rainbow 6 on Wednesday.

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Shadwell’s Zaajel Surprises Always Carina, Upsets Mother Goose Stakes At Belmont

Shadwell Stable's Zaajel provided Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher a graded stakes win on his birthday, overtaking 4-5 favorite Always Carina in the final furlong and prevailing by 1 1/4 lengths as the longest shot on the board at 18-1 to win Saturday's $250,000 Grade 2 Mother Goose Stakes for 3-year-old fillies going a one-turn, 1 1/16 miles at Belmont Park in Elmont, Ny.

Pletcher, who turned 54 and recorded his sixth career win in the Mother Goose, moved Zaajel back to the main track after she ran seventh in her turf debut last out in the Grade 2 Edgewood Stakes in April at Churchill Downs. The Street Sense filly was forwardly placed by jockey Joel Rosario in her Belmont debut, staying in second position as Always Carina led the five-horse field through the opening quarter-mile in :24.03 and the half in :48.03 on the fast track.

Zaajel stayed close to Always Carina out of the turn and moved up from the outside when straightened for home, running stride-for-stride with her rival before pulling ahead. After an aggressive hand ride, Rosario used a quick burst of left-handed encouragement as Zaajel surged home a winner in a 1:42.83 final time.

“She ran really big today. She was very comfortable and happy,” Rosario said. “I knew the horse on the lead was the horse to beat and she did it. She ran a big race today. She was moving very well for me.”

Zaajel, who captured the Grade 3 Forward Gal Stakes in her 3-year-old bow in January at Gulfstream Park, became a two-time graded stakes winner, improving her overall ledger to three wins in five starts. The Kentucky homebred returned $38.80 on a $2 win wager and upped her career bankroll to $228,640.

“She had been training well and got back to one turn,” said Pletcher assistant Byron Hughes. “We knew it was going to be a short field, and she ran well.

“We thought she would be forwardly placed. We had Chad's filly [Brown, Always Carina] on her inside and she sat right on her hip,” he added. “Joel did a great job of keeping her right there and she responded well and got the win.”

Pletcher added to his rich history in this race, where he also saddled victorious Off the Tracks [2016], Buster's Ready [2011], Devil May Care [2010], Octave [2007], and Jersey Girl [1998].

Three Chimneys Farm's Always Carina, who entered her stakes debut 2-for-2 for trainer Chad Brown, held off a surging Clairiere by a nose for second.

“She certainly didn't run up to her capabilities today,” Brown said. “Maybe switching her off and going a little too slow during the race – which she's not really used to – in hindsight, might have put her to sleep a bit. We'll have to see how she comes out of the race and see if there's any other reason. But my first thought is that maybe we should have just let her roll on the front. She fought on bravely for second but that wasn't how she had run her first two starts, that's for sure.”

Always Carina, a homebred Malibu Moon filly, was stretching out to 1 1/16 miles for the first time after graduating at six furlongs and winning last out by 9 3/4 lengths going one mile on Big Sandy.

“My horse was traveling well and she accelerated nicely,” said Always Carina jockey Flavien Prat. “She just got beat by a filly who had more experience. I didn't have any issues. She dug in well.”

Make Mischief and Illiogami completed the order of finish.

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