July, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Field Pass Posts Neck Victory In BWI Turf Cup At Pimlico

Three Diamonds Farm's multiple graded-stakes winner Field Pass squeezed through a narrow opening along the rail in deep stretch and muscled his way to a popular neck triumph over stubborn pacesetter Ramsey Solution in Saturday's $200,000 Grade 3 Baltimore-Washington International Turf Cup at historic Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md.

The 15th running of the one-mile G3 BWI Turf Cup for 3-year-olds and up anchored four grass stakes worth $500,000 in purses, following wins by Indian Lake in the $100,000 Bald Eagle Derby for 3-year-olds and Can the Queen in the $100,000 Sensible Lady Turf Dash and Tightly Twisted in the $100,000 Big Dreyfus, both for fillies and mares 3 years old and up.

Ridden for the first time by Victor Carrasco for trainer Mike Maker, Field Pass ($3.40) earned his seventh career win and fourth in graded company after the Grade 3 Transylvania on turf and Grade 3 Ontario Derby and Grade 3 Jeff Ruby on synthetics last year.

“We're obviously happy with the win. We had a few anxious moments there, but we're happy he got through and got there,” Maker said by phone from Saratoga. “There weren't a whole lot of instructions. We basically said, 'He's the class of the field, get to the wire first,' and they did.”

The winning time was 1:35.12 over a firm turf course. Talk Or Listen, second by a length in the Grade 2 Dinner Party May 15 at Pimlico, trailed runner-up Ramsey Solution by 1 ½ lengths with Posterity another 3 ¾ lengths back. Graded-stakes winners Pixelate and English Bee were scratched.

Jockey Mychel Sanchez and Ramsey Solution broke on the outside and were intent on the lead, with Field Pass on the rail and Talk Or Listen with Daniel Centeno on their right hip. The early fractions were sensible, going :24.59 for a quarter-mile and :48.33 for the half.

“I saw on the first turn to the backside, Mychel was trying to keep his horse inside and he's fighting with him to keep him on the rail. I had Centeno on my outside with [Talk Or Listen] and I'm just waiting and holding because all my horse wants to do is go. I'm like, 'No, there's not enough room. It's too early yet,'” Carrasco said.

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“They didn't give me many instructions. They said, 'Don't fight with him. If [Ramsey Solution] wants to go, let him go. Come around and stalk him, don't let him go free,'” he added. “But, I had somebody on my outside and he wasn't relaxing for me. I was fighting with him behind horses. I had no other choice but to wait, wait, wait, and patience won the race.”

Ramsey Solution, winner of the Tapit last fall at Kentucky Downs, remained in front after going six furlongs in 1:11.55 and straightened for home with Talk Or Listen bearing down on his outside and Field Pass trying to get through on the rail. Ramsey Solution dug in gamely through the lane but Field Pass had just enough room and time to get up two jumps from the wire.

“When we turned for home, Mychel stayed outside and I said, 'It's now or never.' When I said 'go,' he gave me some but when I hit him with the left hand he gave me another gear,” Carrasco said. “My horse is not huge but he's well-built. There wasn't much [room]. I moved on him and he wasn't afraid of going to the hole, and he got it done.”

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He’spuregold Follows Up Maiden Win With Victory In Irish War Cry At Monmouth

Owner and breeder John Bowers was so confident in the turf breeding of He'spuregold that he specifically targeted a summer stakes race for trainer Kelly Breen to point to with then-3-year-old maiden gelding this spring.

That race was Saturday's $85,000 Irish War Cry Handicap and Bowers' faith was rewarded in a big way as He'spuregold skimmed the rail coming out of the final turn and went on to a one-length victory in the feature at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., just one race after breaking his maiden.

A half-brother to 2019 New Jersey-bred Horse of the Year Valedictorian, He'spuregold is a son of Australian sire Vancouver out of Smart N Classy. He paid $5.40 to win in the field of eight New Jersey-breds, 3 years old and up, covering the mile over a firm turf course in 1:35.53.

“This was on Mr. Bowers' plan when he gave me the horse to run at Monmouth this spring,” said Breen. “We talked about this race on Jan. 1. He had this circled on his calendar. He asked me if I could get him to this race.”

The optimism on Bowers' part was steeped simply in the turf breeding, since He'spuregold took seven tries to break his maiden. Given to Breen from Michelle Nehi three races ago, He'spuregold now has two wins and a second over that span.

Ridden by Nik Juarez, He'spuregold was kept off the early pace of Optic Way, who was hounded by Quiberon Bay, through fractions of :24.46, :47.77 and 1:10.75 for three-quarters of a mile.

As Quiberon Bay engaged Optic Way in the stretch, Juarez sent He'spuregold through an opening on the rail. Quiberon Bay finished second, a head better than Optic Way.

“The trip was perfect,” said Juarez. “I thought I was sitting a perfect spot off the speed. We were going honest fractions and knowing that I knew I was in a perfect spot if the rail opened and I had the horse. It opened and I had enough horse to get through and he dug in really gamely.”

Said Breen: “He rode him great, the rail opened up, it all worked out.”

He'spuregold, owned by Bowers' Roseland Farm Stable, now shows a 2-2-3 line from eight career starts, all on the turf.

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Jolie Olimpica Takes Nassau Over Firm Turf At Woodbine

Fox Hill Farm's Jolie Olimpica bested a field of a dozen distaffers to take the $175,000 Nassau, a one-mile Grade 2 stakes for fillies and mares four years old and up, featured on a rainy Saturday afternoon at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario.

Making her Woodbine debut on the E.P. Taylor Turf Course, Jolie Olimpica stalked the pacesetter Honey Cake while racing outside of 2020 Nassau runner-up Another Time through fractions of :23.94, :47.63, and 1:10.69. The Brazilian-bred daughter of Drosselmeyer rallied three-wide on the turn and pulled ahead down the lane en route to victory in 1:34.83 over the 'firm' course.

Jolie Olimpica paid $5.30 to win as the 8-5 favorite as she finished three-quarters of a length ahead of 7-2 second choice Abscond, who closed strongly from the backfield to place. Our Secret Agent rounded out the top three finish order, 2 ½ lengths behind.

“She was so nice and great the whole way,” said winning jockey Luis Contreras. “I was confident every single step of the way and turning for home, it felt like she was just breaking from the gate again.”

Bred by Stud T N T, the classy chestnut mare has finished no worse than third in 10 lifetime starts. A Group 1 winner in Brazil, Jolie Olimpica has earned more than $450,000 in purses and six career victories, including last year's Grade 2 Monrovia Stakes and Grade 3 Las Cienegas at Santa Anita.

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The multiple graded stakes-winning 5-year-old was previously trained by Richard Mandella stateside before joining the stable of Canadian Hall of Famer Josie Carroll this season at Woodbine.

Carroll noted the mare has been ready to run for a long time with the delayed season and opted for the Nassau's one-turn mile to allow her to relax better in the race and make an easier lead.

“What an honour to have these silks,” said Carroll in reference to the white and red colours representing Fox Hill and its late founder Rick Porter. “It was wonderful that Mr. Porter sent this horse here and that his family left her with me with his passing. I'm delighted that she won in his honour in one of the big choices that he made. He's made such great choices and had such great horses over the years that I hope we can carry on his tradition.”

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Sadler Seeks Repeat For Galilean In California Dreamin’, Starts Three in Daisycutter

Trainer John Sadler will send out defending champion Galilean in Sunday's featured $150,000 California Dreamin' Stakes and has a three-horse contingent in the $80,000 Daisycutter Handicap earlier in the program at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

At the very least, Sadler's charges figure to factor strongly in both events as the 64-year-old Pasadena native seeks to add to his 78 Del Mar stakes victories, second on the track's all-time list behind Bob Baffert.

Galilean, a 5-year-old son of Uncle Mo owned by West Point Thoroughbreds and partners, moved between rivals to get a clear lead entering the stretch and held on for a half-length victory as the 3-2 favorite in last year's California Dreamin', a 1 1/16-mile turf assignment for California breds. It was the fourth start in a seven-race 2020 campaign that has netted earnings of $217,098.

Sunday's title defense, however, is the 2021 debut for Galilean, ending an eight-month layoff since finishing fourth as the favorite in the Cary Grant Stakes in November during Del Mar's Bing Crosby fall meeting.

“It's a little different this year coming off a layoff, but he's a very good horse, doing well, and we're expecting good things,” Sadler said.

The field from the rail with riders and morning line odds: Desmond Doss (Abel Cedillo, 5-1); Wound Tight (Kent Desormeaux, 6-1); Unbridled Ethos (Ricky Gonzalez, 20-1); Secret Club (Tyler Baze, 30-1); Indian Peak (Flavien Prat, 8-1); Ward 'n Jerry (Trevor McCarthy, 8-1); Galilean (Joe Bravo, 4-1); Margot's Boy (Juan Hernandez, 12-1); Brandothebartender (Umberto Rispoli, 4-1) and North County Guy (Mario Gutierrez, 7-2).

In the Daisycutter, a five-furlong turf sprint for older California-bred fillies and mares, Sadler will saddle Constantia, Five Pics Please, and Bruja Escarlata for three different ownerships.

Constantia, bred and owned by Keith Abrahams, comes in off a win in the Mizdirection overnight and runner-up in the Grade 2 Monrovia, both at Santa Anita. Five Pics Please, owned by Desert Sun Stables, has a win, a second, and a third in three starts since joining the Sadler stable for her 2021 campaign.

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Bruja Escarlata, which translates from Spanish as “Scarlet Witch,” is owned by Hronis Racing. The 4-year-old daughter of Street Boss, a $185,000 purchase at a Florida sale in 2019, debuted with a victory at Los Alamitos in December and followed with wins on the turf at Santa Anita in February and the dirt there in March.

“Two of the fillies (Five Pics Please and Bruja Escarlata) are pretty fast and the other is a deep closer,” Sadler pointed out. “I think they all fit pretty well in there.”

The field from the rail with riders and morning line odds: Bulletproof One (Gonzalez, 4-1); Querelle (Hernandez, 6-1); Gypsy Spirit (Edwin Maldonado, 20-1); Constantia (Jose Valdivia, Jr., 6-1); Superstition (Prat, 5-2); Lenzi's Lucky Lady (Desormeaux, 20-1); Five Pics Please (Rispoli, 15-1); Never for Money (Giovanni Franco, 20-1); Rakassah (Jessica Pyfer, 6-1) and Bruja Escarlata (Baze, 4-1). Also eligible: Sadie Bluegrass (Brayan Pena, 15-1) and Acting Out (Bravo, 15-1).

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