August, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Sprawl Gets First Stakes Victory In West Virginia Governor’s Stakes

Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider's Sprawl earned his first stakes victory in the $200,000 Grade 3 West Virginia Governor's Stakes, which preceded the Grade 3 West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort in New Cumberland, W.Va.

The Kentucky homebred 4-year-old colt by City Zip grabbed the early lead from the inside post position under Joe Talamo in the 1 1/16-mile event, briefly lost the lead to Mighty Heart on the far turn, and fought back to pull away to win by 1 ¾ lengths.

Mighty Heart was second and Bourbon Calling third. Sprawl covered the distance in 1:44.95 and paid $5.20 to win as the favorite.

Claiborne and Dilschneider owned 2013 West Virginia Derby winner Departing, who returned three years later and finished second in the Governor's Stakes after having a two-length lead in the stretch.

“I thought he was done (heading into the stretch) but he switched leads and found another gear,” trainer Tom Drury said. “The inside is not so good on this track, but Joe did a great job riding him. This is my first graded stakes win for Claiborne, and after Departing finished second in the Governor's Cup, I guess they owed us one. I am so proud of this horse.”

Sprawl now has four wins in 16 starts and earnings of $401,653.

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Mr. Wireless Scores Second Consecutive Grade 3 Win In West Virginia Derby

With a large group of owners and supporters from several states in the Midwest and Southwest looking on, Mr. Wireless collected his second consecutive Grade 3 win with a gritty score in the $500,000 West Virginia Derby for 3-year-olds Aug. 7 at Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort in New Cumberland, W.Va.

With regular rider Ramon Vazquez aboard in the 1 1/8-mile race, Mr. Wireless left the gate well from post position fpur and took early position to the outside of Kinetic Sky and Bourbon Thunder, who had little separation from the start to midway on the final turn through moderate fractions of :23.82 for a quarter-mile, :47.86 for a half-mile, and 1:12.48 for three-quarters of a mile.

Mr. Wireless took over near the top of the stretch, opened up by three lengths, and held on to win by 1¼ lengths over Warrant, who rallied from fourth on the far turn. The final time on a track rated fast was 1:52.49.

Mr. Wireless returned $5.20 to win as the slight favorite over Warrant, who had defeated him in the Texas Derby. Third choice Bourbonic closed late for third.

Trainer Bret Calhoun, who won the 2019 West Virginia Derby with Mr. Money, watched this edition on a television monitor at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., where he saddled By My Standards in the Grade I Whitney Stakes.

“He had good position the whole way around,” Calhoun said of Mr. Wireless, a Kentucky-bred gelding by Dialed In. “It looked like the rider was sitting on a lot of horse. I think it was a trouble-free race, and when Ramon asked him, he did his job.

“I hate to get to looking too far ahead for a horse's next race, but I would say the (Grade I) Pennsylvania (Sept. 25) is very possible.”

Mr. Wireless is owned by JIL Stable (John and Iveta Kerber, who also bred him). Part-owner Jon Lapcnzenski traveled from Oklahoma to West Virginia as did 12 people from Iowa and Wisconsin, including two of the Kerbers' daughters. It proved well worth the trip.

“I couldn't see the start because of where I was standing and going into the first turn, I saw he was three-wide,” Lapcnzenski said. “But Ramon (does what Ramon does—he got the horse to relax. And Mr. Wireless does what he does. He has only given up the lead once in his career. When he gets the lead he's all heart.”

Mr. Wireless now has four wins and a second in six starts and earnings of $670,150.

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Solis Prepares To Send Out Two In Best Pal, Two In Graduation At Del Mar

Trainer Walther Solis will send out two colts in each of the featured events for 2-year-olds in the next two days. Finneus and Thirsty Always are set to go in Saturday's $200,000 Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes and Mr. T's Thirsty and Rock N Rye in Sunday's $100,000 Graduation Stakes.

They are all California-bred sons of Stay Thirsty owned in partnerships and bred by Terry C. Lovingier.

“Stay Thirstys have really good minds,” Solis said Saturday morning at his Del Mar barn, gesturing toward Finneus who was being given a race-day veterinary check. “Even the colts, they act like older horses.”

Finneus comes into the Best Pal off a maiden victory at Santa Anita Park in June. Thirsty Always is 2-for-2 with the most recent being a stakes at Pleasanton on the Northern California fair circuit. The duo of Rock N Rye and Mr. T's Thirsty are the 8-5 favorite and 2-1 co-second choice, respectively, on Jon White's morning line for Sunday's Graduation Stakes.

Being a graded stake with a larger purse, the Best Pal would be a bigger feather in the cap of Solis, whose lone Del Mar Stakes victory to date came with My Fiona, the dam of Finneus, in the 2014 CTBA Stakes.

Solis, 59, formerly managed Golden Eagle Farm in Ramona for John and Betty Mabee, the longtime patriarch and matriarch of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club and three-time Eclipse Award winners in the 1990s as the top Thoroughbred breeders in North America.

“I managed the farm for the Mabees for five years and Best Pal was before my time,” Solis said. “But when I was there we had General Challenge and a lot of other big horses. It would be nice to win a race like this. It's a hope for a small guy.”

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D’Amato Readies Two For Yellow Ribbon, Cathkin Peak For La Jolla

Trainer Phil D'Amato reported Saturday morning that 2-year-old filly Elm Drive came out of her victory in Friday's $200,000 Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes “really good” physically.

And if the Kentucky-bred daughter of Mohaymen, a $165,000 purchase at the Ocala sale in March who carries the colors of Little Red Feather Racing stays that way, she'll next be seen in the $300,000 Grade 1 TVG Del Mar Debutante on September 5.

“Yup, absolutely,” was D'Amato's response when the Debutante was mentioned in the winner's circle after she prevailed by a head over Baoma Corp's Eda in a stretch-long duel while covering six furlongs in 1:10.64.

“She broke on top then Juan (Hernandez) got her to rate, make a move and fight off a rival to her outside the length of the stretch. I just thought that's the epitome of class. Very professional, and I think she's the type of filly that the longer (the races) the better.”

Having chalked up one stakes victory for the weekend, D'Amato will send out Raymundos Secret (6-1) and Charmaine's Mia (4-1) in Saturday's $200,000 Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon and narrowly favored (2-1) Cathkin Peak in Sunday's $150,000 Grade 3 La Jolla Stakes as a possible closer to three consecutive big days.

Irish-bred Cathkin Peak made his U.S. debut at Del Mar in late November a winning one and followed that with a December victory in the $80,000 Eddie Logan Stakes at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. Kicking off his 3-year-old campaign this year, Cathkin Peak was second to soon-to-be Santa Anita Derby winner Rock Your World in the $100,000 Pasadena Stakes in February and has gone unraced since.

“He had a couple of little things we needed to deal with, but he never left the barn and he has come back to train really well,” D'Amato said. Cathkin Peak will go 1 1/16 miles, the longest assignment of his career, in the La Jolla – second leg in the grass stakes series for 3-year-olds during the Del Mar summer. His previous starts were all at a mile.

“He's really tactical,” D'Amato said. “If there's not a lot of pace, he can be up close; if there is, he can sit back and make a late move. Juan can play the break and try to have him in the right spot.”

The field for the La Jolla from the rail with jockeys and morning line odds in parenthesis: Stilleto Boy (Kent Desormeaux, 6-1); Wyfire (Kyle Frey, 12-1); Hudson Ridge (Abel Cedillo, 5-2); Cathkin Peak (Juan Hernandez, 2-1); Zoffarelli (Drayden Van Dyke, 3-1), and Sword Zorro (Umberto Rispoli, 4-1).

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