August, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Lady Kate Seeks A Second Groupie Doll Win At Ellis Park

Anderson Stables' Lady Kate, the 2020 RUNHAPPY Group Doll winner, is the only return winner from last year's five dirt stakes on the RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Derby Day card at Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky. Then again, she's the only who could, with the other four stakes limited to either 2-year-olds or 3-year-olds.

Lady Kate also is seeking to become the first two-time winner of the stakes, which dates to 1987. Even Groupie Doll, the two-time Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint and champion female sprinter, only won the stakes now named for her once, that coming in 2011 as a 3-year-old. Groupie Doll also was third in 2013 en route to her second championship.

The 5-year-old Lady Kate, with Adam Beschizza to ride, goes up against familiar faces in last year's Groupie Doll runner-up New Roo and third-place Istan Council.

“She's doing well,” trainer Eddie Kenneally said of Lady Kate, who recently shipped over from his Keeneland barn. “She seems to like it here, and she was successful in the race last year and got it done first time running on this track. She's been here a few days and settled in nicely. She's been doing her breezes at Keeneland. It's a loaded race, quite a few runners in there. But I think it was a good big field here last year as well.”

After the Groupie Doll, Lady Kate finished second to champion Monomoy Girl in Churchill Downs' delayed Grade 1 La Troienne. She tired to 10th after pushing the pace in the Breeders' Cup Distaff, then in her only start this year was fifth in Aqueduct's Grade 3 Distaff Handicap in April.

“She seems to like Ellis and Churchill,” Kenneally said. “So hopefully we can repeat something like we did last year with her. But she's in great shape. She didn't have a prep for the race this year. She hasn't run since the first week of April. So she's coming in fresh with no prep. That's the only concern: She doesn't have a race under her belt coming in against horses that are fit and racing.”

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That Grade 1-placing was huge for Lady Kate, a daughter of champion Bernardini who cost $485,000 as a yearling.

“For a filly with a pedigree like her it enhances her value tremendously to be placed at all in a G1,” Kenneally said. “It stamps her value going forward. So it means a lot for those kinds of fillies. She was a high-dollar yearling and thankfully it's turned out.

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Morse Preps Verylittlecents, Texas Red Hot For Ellis Park Juvenile Stakes Tries

Randy Morse won a pair of 2-year-old maiden races at Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky., on July 11 with Randy Patterson's filly Verylittlecents prevailing by 2 1/4 lengths at five-eighths of a mile and Donna Clark's colt Texas Red Hot wresting victory by a head at seven-eighths of a mile. Both youngsters were making their second start.

Now Morse tries to pull off a sweep at the next level, with Verylittlecents the 2-1 favorite in the $125,000 RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Debutante and Texas Red Hot at fat 8-1 in the $125,000 RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Juvenile.

Morse is very high on Texas Red Hot, even if the Texas Red colt doesn't seem to get that much respect elsewhere.

“He's a really nice-moving colt,” he said. “I'm really high on him. He ran a really slow (speed figure) number the other day. But we'll see. I think he's pretty special. In his last race, it had rained that day. I think they'd opened (harrowed the track) up, and it still wasn't very fast, let's put it that way. It was really muddy out of the chute, and that race was seven-eighths.

“But bottom line is, he did it very professional, I thought. He was boxed in behind horses, nowhere to go. And when he did get a seam, he did what he needed to do.”

Texas Red Hot, who'd been second in his debut, made a leap forward between races. Morse expects another progression for this race, saying, “I think the farther they keep going he'll just get better and better.”

Verylittlecents finished fourth in her first start.

“She got away really bad,” he said. She had the one hole. But she's really quick. But she showed she had some class, because she kept finishing that day, where most of them when get away bad will just throw in the towel.”

Morse said she put it together in her last start. “A horse came up and hooked her, and when he asked her, she ran away from the field,” he said.

“The filly looks pretty good on paper,” Morse continued, speaking of the Debutante. “The colt, he's going to have to step up numbers-wise. But I think he's capable.

“Both of them, knock on wood, have done very well. Both of them had a really good breeze here, worked in a minute by themselves, just real easy. As hot as it's been, I haven't wanted to overdo anything with them. They're still just babies, still learning.”

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No matter what happens Sunday, Morse believes both babies have a bright future.

“This doesn't mean their whole future, this one race,” he said. “…. (but) you'd like to see them finish. This is seven-eighths of a mile. This will separate a lot of them. They're doing well. It's just a matter if they're good enough.”

Joe Talamo rides both horses.

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Kingman Filly To The Top In Deauville

Haras d'Haspel's Kingman (GB) filly from the Juddmonte family of young sire Calyx (GB) and Group 1-winning sprinter African Rose (GB) moved to the top of the leaderboard at Arqana on Saturday when Godolphin went to a winning bid of €950,000. The third foal out of her dam, the filly enjoyed a significant update with her 2-year-old half-brother Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) winning the G2 Superlative S. since the publication of the catalogue.

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Fasig-Tipton NY-Bred Yearlings Sale Starts Sunday

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY – The Fasig-Tipton New York-bred Yearlings Sale, which follows on the heels of a strong renewal of the company's Saratoga Selected Yearlings Sale, begins its two-day run at the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion Sunday evening at 7 p.m. With the cancellation of last year's auction due to the pandemic, this marks the second time the sale will be held on Sunday and Monday, as opposed to its traditional Saturday and Sunday dates and, with an extra day of showing, consignors were kept busy on the sales grounds when shopping started Friday.

“We showed Friday and we were very busy,” said Derek MacKenzie, whose Vinery Sales has 22 yearlings consigned to the auction. “I think we showed 1,060 times. How we got that done, I don't know, but we did. It's been strong again today, not quite as busy, obviously with the second day. There have been a lot of new faces–a lot of pinhookers, quite a few new faces that weren't here for the main sale. And we are seeing quite a few of the trainers coming over as well. So that's good.”

The New York-bred sale continues to gain strength from year to year, with a record-priced yearling at each of the last four renewals.

“There are definitely more people coming than there used to be and the catalogue has gotten so much stronger, pedigree-wise over the years,” MacKenzie said. “And the physicals have improved, too. There are some very sharp buyers who told me the physicals keep getting better and better every year. And this year is the best yet.”

The strength of the New York-bred racing program has pushed the state's breeding industry to new heights and consignors are expecting those results to be mirrored in the sales ring.

“I think the sale every year has increased in strength,” said Archie St. George, who will offer six yearlings–all by Kentucky-based sires–through his St. George Sales consignment. “It seems like the sire power is getting better every year. There are a lot more consignors from Kentucky selling here. The horses are better. I think every year, the sale has taken a step forward.”

St. George looks for that trend of yearly improvement to continue in 2021.

“Racing in New York is in a good place and, if you've got the right horse, by the right stallion, and you vet well, I am sure you'll get rewarded,” he said.

Jimbo and Tori Gladwell's Top Line Sales will offer four yearlings at the two-day auction.

“We're glad to be back and have a great atmosphere to sell at,” Jimbo Gladwell said. “I think the activity at the barns is on par with years past, with the sales split up by a couple of days and an extra day of showing. The traffic has been good, we've been busy both days so far. I think it's going to be a strong sale.”

Following on a strong series of juvenile sales this past spring, buyers seem eager to restock at the yearlings auctions. The Fasig-Tipton July Selected Yearlings Sale featured competitive bidding and buying was tough at last week's Saratoga Selected Yearlings sale. Those trends should lead to a positive New York-bred sale, according to Gladwell.

“The sale in July was very strong, the trade was brisk and people were spending money,” he said. “People showed up at the first sale here and they weren't just shopping, they were here to buy horses. The same group of people are here. They are shopping hard and are keen on spending some money. I think it was very difficult to buy the horses you wanted in the first sale. What is perceived as quality is bringing a lot more than it is supposed to. That is what we are all doing it for, is trying to find that horse and get in that spot. Hopefully we get a little luck here.”

The 2019 New York-bred sale was topped by a daughter of Malibu Moon, who brought a sale record $775,000 from Larry Best's OXO Equine. Now the stakes-placed Brattle House (Malibu Moon), she was one of 186 sold for a gross of $16,200,000. The average was $87,097 and the median was $60,000.

The 2018 auction set records for both average ($107,512) and median ($76,000) and was topped by a then-record $600,000 son of Pioneerof the Nile.

Sunday's evening session begins at 7 p.m. with 100 catalogued yearlings on offer. The auction continues Monday at noon with an additional 207 catalogued head.

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