July, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Kenneally Hits 1,000 Career Wins With Victory At Ellis Park

Some of the toughest victories to knock out seem to come during a countdown to a landmark. And when trainer Eddie Kenneally earned his 1,000th career victory Saturday at the RUNHAPPY Meet at Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky., his 3-year-old He's Pretty Lucky kept the outcome in suspense until right before the wire.

With jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. wearing Kenneally's navy silks emblazoned with a beige K, the newly gelded He's Pretty Lucky pressed front-running favorite Futuro before dispatching that rival late in the stretch. Just when Kenneally's milestone seemed in the bag, Stone Slinger loomed on the outside and appeared poised to go past before coming up a head short in the off-the-turn mile $10,000 maiden-claiming race. It was He's Pretty Lucky's second race for the ownership partnership of Kenneally and Shaun McCarthy.

“Let me tell you, they'll all hard to win,” Kenneally said after the winner's circle presentation. “We were hoping to knock it out at Churchill, because that's our home track. But we're delighted to get it done here at Ellis Park. We finally got over the milestone. It took a long time. I've been doing this a long time.

“We've been fortunate. We've had some very good horses over the years. We've had some very good people work for us. Not just now, but in the past we've had a lot of good people come through. You can't do it on your own. You need the help, you need the horses. It's got to be set up. Thankfully we've had a very good career.”

The Irish-born Kenneally's first full year of training was 1994. His 35 graded-stakes victories include Grade 1 wins with Kelly's Landing (Dubai Golden Shaheen), Bradester (Stephen Foster), Bushfire (Ashland, Acorn, Mother Goose), Sailor's Valentine (Ashland), and Abscond (Natalma).

Kenneally's horses have earned more than $42 million in purses.

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Lorena Stays Undefeated With Fury Stakes Win At Woodbine

Undefeated three-year-old filly Lorena led all the way to win the $125,000 Fury Stakes and keep her perfect record intact for trainer and co-owner Stu Simon on Saturday at Woodbine.

Leading the field of Canadian-bred fillies through a quarter in :23.57 and half-mile :46.82, Lorena turned back her late challengers to win the seven-furlong sprint in 1:23.94 in rein to the hot-handed Gary Boulanger.

Through the turn, Lorena rebuffed Owen's Tour Guide, who also entered the Fury with a two-for-two record, and then held the late-rallying Astrological at bay down the stretch to defeat that foe by three-quarters of a length. Less than a length behind, Curlin's Catch completed a 2-3 finish for trainer Mark Casse.

Il Malocchio finished four lengths back in fourth with Bodacious Miss, Owen's Tour Guide, and El Bayern rounding out the field.

“I thought that she broke well, and she seemed to make the lead rather easily,” said Simon, who co-owns the Souper Speedy-Negotiable filly with Brent & Russell McLellan and former jockey Gerry Olguin. “She was setting sensible fractions and looked comfortable, so I wasn't worried about where she was at.”

Simon said he is still mulling over whether the Ontario-bred filly will head to the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks presented by Budweiser, scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 1 at Woodbine.

“I hate to put too much on a young horse's plate, so we'll take it under careful consideration,” he said.

“She's an awfully good filly,” he added. “She ranks right up there with all of them. I think we've been fortunate to get some good young horses and it's worked out well.”

Lorena paid $3.90 to win as the 4-5 favorite.

It was a banner day for Boulanger, who had a grand slam on the 11-race program.

“It's everything that we work for and that we want,” said the veteran reinsman, who picked up the mount on Lorena when making his comeback from injury this season. “Everybody wants to do well, especially coming back from injuries, but sometimes it's harder to get back into that light. I've been fortunate to be involved with some great people that have given me the opportunities, like Stu and everybody else, and it's a lot of fun just getting back.”

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Live Oak Gets Selene Stakes Win With Our Flash Drive

Trainer Mark Casse continued his Grade 3 Selene Stakes win streak as Live Oak Plantation's homebred Our Flash Drive took command on the final turn and drove clear to win the $150,000 co-feature for three-year-old fillies on Saturday at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario.

Casse earned his fourth consecutive victory in the G3 event, with Patrick Husbands engineering the winning trip aboard the Florida-bred daughter of Ghostzapper.

Stretching out to 1 1/16 miles on the main track, Our Flash Drive stalked the front-running California Lily early on before moving up to press the pace after opening fractions of :24.78 and :49.03. With Husbands signaling it was go-time past the 1:12.87 three-quarter mark, Our Flash Drive overtook the pacesetter and took off down the lane to win by 2-1/4 lengths in 1:44.69.

Woodbine Oaks eligible Munnyfor Ro, who broke outward, rallied home from the backfield to take the runner-up honors under Justin Stein. It was another 2-1/4 lengths back to third-place finisher Sweet Souper Sweet, another Live Oak homebred trained by Michael Trombetta, who finished three lengths ahead of California Lily. Gote Go followed in fifth and the Casse-trained Danger was eased up and completed the order of finish.

Sent postward as the odds-on favourite, Our Flash Drive returned $4.70 to win.

Now two-for-four lifetime, she boasts back-to-back wins at Woodbine.

Casse, who has won the Selene a total of seven times, has teamed with Husbands to take four editions of the race. They combined for past wins with Dark Ending (2001), Dixie Strike (2012), and Miss Mo Mentum (2018).

The connections of Il Malocchio, who was cross-entered in the Selene, opted to compete in the Fury two races later.

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Papetu Returns With Win In Carry Back At Gulfstream

Magic Stables LLC's Papetu fired off the layoff to win Saturday's $75,000 Carry Back at Gulfstream Park, victorious in his first start since finishing off the board in the March 27 Grade 1 Florida Derby.

The Carry Back, a seven-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds, headlined a 13-race program that also featured Competitive Speed's return to winning form in the $60,000 Hallandale Beach, an overnight handicap for 3-year-old fillies.

Papetu ($9.40) ran seven furlongs in 1:09.35 to prevail by 1 ¼ lengths under Leonel Reyes, who was also aboard Competitive Speed.

The son of Dialed In had earned his way into the Florida Derby with a runner-up finish in the Mucho Macho Man and a third-place finish in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth during the Championship Meet.

Papetu broke well from his far outside post position and settled several lengths behind the early pace, set by Moonlite Strike and stalked by Real Talk on the rail and Lauda Speed on the outside. Moonlite Strike, who captured the Roar Stakes in his most recent start, set fractions of :22.53 for the first quarter and :44.76 seconds for the first half mile, as Papetu made his way into contention on the turn into the homestretch.

Real Talk made a strong move to take the lead at the top of the stretch under Samy Camacho but proved no match for the wide stretch drive of Papetu, who claimed his first stakes victory.

“He ran a good race. He was training very good. I know that he wasn't 100 percent, but we had to start somewhere,” trained Antonio Sano said. “We would like to run him at Saratoga in August.”

Papetu was impressive while winning his first two starts of his career last year at Gulfstream before venturing to Saratoga to finish sixth in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special and fifth in the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes. The Kentucky-bred colt was competitive with the top 3-year-olds during the Championship Meet before enduring a five-wide trip from his far-outside post position and finishing seventh.

In the Carry Back, Real Talk finished second, three-quarters of a length ahead of a tiring Moonlite Strike.

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