Robin Goodfellow’s racing tips: Best bets for Wednesday, July 28
Sportsmail's racing expert Robin Goodfellow dishes out his tips for Wednesday's meetings at Goodwood, Perth, Redcar, Sandown and Leicester.
Month: July 2021
Jockey Club Gold Cup The Next Stop For Lightly-Raced Forza Di Oro
Don Alberto Stable homebred Forza Di Oro made a splash in a Saratoga allowance race last week, coming off an eight-month layoff to win by three lengths while geared down at the wire. Trainer Bill Mott plans to point the lightly-raced 4-year-old son of Speightstown to the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup on Sept. 4 at the Spa, according to the Thoroughbred Daily News.
The Jockey Club Gold Cup is a “Win and You're In” race for the Breeders' Cup Classic this fall at Del Mar.
The colt has only started six times in his career. Forza Di Oro broke his maiden in his second start as a juvenile, then ran a disappointing eighth in the G2 Remsen. Mott brought him back off a 10-month layoff to win an allowance race and the G3 Discovery last fall, the latter with a 101 Beyer figure, but the colt went back to the sidelines for another eight months.
Forza Di Oro's allowance win was his fourth from six starts, and improved his earnings to $209,375.
“Bill is a Hall of Famer,” Don Alberto stable manager Matt Hogan told the TDN. “This is what he does. He's phenomenal at that. A big horse like this, as Bill said, he's been a little bit of a project, but any little setback is obviously poorly timed. Giving him the time off and bringing him back this year, he just seemed a big, happy, fresh, sound animal that was ready to get out there and rock and roll when we put him back under tack here at the farm. To bring a horse off such a long layoff– yet again to such an impressive performance–just goes to show the capabilities of Bill and his team.”
Out of the graded stakes-placed Hard Spun mare Filare l'Oro, Forza Di Oro is a half-brother to multiple graded stakes winner Silver Dust from the family of Grade 1 winners Stop Traffic and Cross Traffic.
Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.
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Claiming They Are Owed $368,272, Zayat’s Attorneys Want Out Of Bankruptcy Case
Ahmed Zayat, who filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy last year after being sued by MGG Investment Group for allegedly defaulting on a $24 million loan, has stopped paying his attorneys, according to a court filing.
Jay L. Lubetkin, a partner in the Rabinowitz, Lubetkin & Tully law firm that has been representing Zayat in both the bankruptcy and MGG adversary proceedings, filed a notice with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey on Monday seeking to withdraw from the case.
Lubetkin said Zayat has failed to fulfill his promise to keep outstanding invoices within 60-day terms and a subsequent promise to make minimum monthly payments of $50,000. Lubetkin said he tried communicating with Zayat “at least nine times” in July to discuss the status of payments but has not received a “substantive or satisfactory response” from the Eclipse Award-winning owner and breeder who campaigned 2015 Triple Crown winner and Horse of the Year American Pharoah.
Lubetkin said Zayat currently owes $368,273.33, not including billings incurred since June 29, 2021. Lubetkin said the last payment received was May 5, with outstanding bills now dating back to February of this year.
“If (Zayat) were to satisfy his previously expressed commitment to keep our receivables within 60-day terms,” Lubetkin wrote, “it would require an immediate payment of $232,899, and a further payment of $76,717 when the billing governing July's efforts is tendered.”
Lubetkin commented that the MGG Investment Group lawsuit is “in its earliest stages” and likely would not go to trial until the second quarter of 2022, at the soonest.
Zayat's “payment failures constitute a failure to substantially fulfill obligations to our firm,” Lubetkin wrote, “and the debtor (Zayat) has been given reasonable warning that we will have no choice but to withdraw unless those obligations were fulfilled. … Additionally, continuing representation of the debtor will result in an unreasonable financial burden on our firm.”
Zayat, Lubetkin added, is “an extremely intelligent individual who fully understands the Chapter 7 bankruptcy process, the nature of the claims being made against him by MGG Investment Group in its adversary proceeding seeking the non-dischargeability of the alleged debt due MGG Investment Group, the role of his individual Chapter 7 trustee, the role of the Chatper 7 trustee for Zayat Stables LLC, the prospect of an objection to discharge complaint being filed against the debtor by his individual Chapter 7 trustee and the prospect of a Section 523 complaint being filed against the debtor by the Stables' trustee. The debtor also understands the exemption available to his interest in residential real property, the exemption available to his ownership interest in home furnishings, and the impact of the real property and personalty appraisals obtained by his Chapter 7 trustee.
“Based on the debtor's intelligence and the detailed statutory and caselaw information which has been shared with the debtor,” Lubetkin concluded, “the debtor is fully capable of representing himself in his main bankruptcy case and in the adversary proceeding.”
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Regally Bred Best Time Brings $29,500 To Top Keeneland July Digital Sale
Best Time, a 3-year-old colt by leading sire Tapit out of champion Take Charge Brandi, brought a sale-topping $29,500 from KDE Equine during today's Keeneland July Digital Sale, held as part of Keeneland's Digital Sales Ring platform.
Consigned by Hill 'n' Dale Sales Agency, agent, as a racing prospect, Best Time has been twice third in three career races this year. He hails from a family that includes Kentucky Broodmare of the Year and Grade 1 winner Take Charge Lady, champion Will Take Charge and Grade 1 winners Omaha Beach and Take Charge Indy.
Poindexter Thoroughbreds paid the day's second-highest price of $27,500 for Brina, a 3-year-old filly by Frosted out of the stakes-placed Street Sense mare Humble Street. She was consigned as a racing prospect by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent.
The one-day mixed July Digital Sale grossed $70,000 for four horses. Summary results are available by clicking here.
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