September, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Gear Jockey Ridden to Perfection in Turf Sprint

Gear Jockey (Twirling Candy), third at 67-1 as a maiden in the 2019 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita, delivered a career high while punching his ticket to the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint.

The Calumet Farm homebred sat just off the pacesetting Bombard (War Front) in second, took over under confident handling as they hit the quarter pole and took care of business from there to win for fun.

Longshot Diamond Oops (Lookin At Lucky) nosed out Bombard for second.

Gear Jockey, a maiden winner at ninth asking at Gulfstream Jan. 21, was a close third in the GIII Canadian Turf S. going 1 1/16 miles Feb. 27. A Keeneland allowance winner going a mile this spring, he cut back to a pair of 5 1/2-furlong turf sprints in his last two, scoring in an optional claimer at Saratoga July 17, then rallying for third in the GIII Troy S. Aug. 6.

Trainer Rusty Arnold has also enjoyed success with Twirling Candy's GI Belmont Oaks Invitational S. heroine Concrete Rose and MGSW Morticia.

“He's been working good,” winning jockey Jose Lezcano said. “He felt very good. He broke right on top and I let him follow [Bombard] and when I asked him at the three-sixteenths, he took off again. At the quarter [pole] he had already taken me there, but at three-sixteenths, I had to ask him because no one was coming and he might hang and fool around. The whole way he gave me the feeling that I had so much horse. When I asked, him he really kicked on.”

Favored two-time GI Fourstardave H. heroine Got Stormy (Get Stormy) was a disappointing sixth.

“You've always heard me say that she likes hard ground,” trainer Mark Casse said. “I think when she's sprinting she probably would actually like it a little softer. Today they were just a little too fast for her. But she's fine. We knew this was a tall task, but this will get us ready for the Breeders' Cup.”

Pedigree Notes:

Gear Jockey, whose granddam is a half-sister to GISW Stroll (Pulpit), has effectively salvaged the last two generations of his female family from a scarcity of black-type. Gear Jockey's dam spent her early producing years delivering foals by obscure stallion Calimonco until being purchased for $20,000 by Calumet with the Turf Sprint winner in utero at the 2017 Keeneland January sale. Her most recent foals–2-year-old colt Double Clutch (Optimizer) and yearling colt Keen to Go (Keen Ice)–are by resident Calumet stallions. She has been bred back to Calumet's Bravazo for next term. Gear Jockey became the 50th black-type winner out of a Tapit mare with the Kentucky Downs score and the second by Twirling Candy out of a Tapit mare, joining Venezuelan MSW Believe (Ven). Twirling Candy is having a fabulous year, with Gear Jockey his eighth black-type winner of 2021 and joining the ranks of GI Preakness S. winner Rombauer, as well as last week's GI Runhappy Del Mar Futurity winner Pinehurst. Gear Jockey marks Twirling Candy's 12th graded winner and 31st stakes winner in seven crops.

Saturday, Kentucky Downs
FANDUEL TURF SPRINT S.-GIII, $995,500, Kentucky Downs, 9-11, 3yo/up, 6fT, 1:07.90 (NCR), fm.
1–GEAR JOCKEY, 121, c, 4, by Twirling Candy
                1st Dam: Switching Gears, by Tapit
                2nd Dam: Pace, by Indian Ridge (Ire)
                3rd Dam: Maid for Walking (GB), by Prince Sabo (GB)
   1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN.
O/B-Calumet Farm (KY); T-George R. Arnold, II; J-Jose Lezcano.
$576,600. Lifetime Record: GISP, 15-4-2-5, $902,875. Click for
   eNicks report & 5-cross catalogue-style pedigree. Werk Nick
   Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*.
2–Diamond Oops, 121, g, 6, Lookin At Lucky–Patriotic Viva, by
Whywhywhy. ($42,000 RNA Wlg '15 KEENOV). O-Diamond 100
Racing Club, LLC, Amy Dunne, D P Racing LLC & Patrick L.
Biancone Racing LLC; B-Kin Hui Racing Stables LLC (KY);
T-Patrick L. Biancone. $186,000.
3–Bombard, 125, g, 8, War Front–Witty, by Distorted Humor.
O/B-Raydelz Stable (KY); T-Richard E. Mandella. $93,000.
Margins: 2HF, NO, HD. Odds: 5.70, 21.90, 6.30.
Also Ran: Fast Boat, Casa Creed, Got Stormy, Front Run the Fed, Chewing Gum, Stubbins, Imprimis, Siem Riep, Born Great. Scratched: Johnny Unleashed. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Gear Jockey Delivers Course-Record Performance In Kentucky Downs’ Turf Sprint

On Calumet Saturday at Kentucky Downs, the farm's homebred Gear Jockey delivered a timely performance to triumph in the Grade 3 FanDuel Turf Sprint. Crossing the wire 2 1/2 lengths the best at odds of 5-1, Gear Jockey lowered the track record for six furlongs by over a second: his final time was 1:07.90 over the firm turf. Jose Lezcano piloted the Rusty Arnold trainee to victory.

The 4-year-old son of Twirling Candy earned the first graded stakes victory of his career in the Turf Sprint, as well as an expenses-paid berth to the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar in November.

Third by a length in the 2019 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf as a maiden, Gear Jockey has continued to improve with age. The colt broke his maiden in January of 2021, and hadn't run worse than fourth in seven starts this year as he entered the starting gate at Kentucky Downs. Most recently, Gear Jockey ran third after a poor start in the G3 Troy Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 6.

Coming from well off the pace that day, Gear Jockey was much closer to the pace in this pace-less edition of the Turf Sprint. Bombard grabbed the lead at the start, and Lezcano kept Gear Jockey right on his heels through fractions of :22.38 and :45.14. Rounding the far turn Gear Jockey drew even with the frontrunner, and Lezcano sent him up the hill to the wire an easy winner by 2 1/2 lengths.

Diamond Oops, also up close early, made up ground in the lane to out-finish Bombard by a nose for the place. Troy Stakes winner Fast Boat finished another head back in fourth. Race-favorite Got Stormy, the filly taking on the males, finished sixth, beaten 3 1/4 lengths.

Bred in Kentucky by owner Brad Kelley's Calumet Farm, Gear Jockey is out of the winning Tapit mare Switching Gears, from the family of Grade 1 winner Stroll. Calumet purchased the mare with Gear Jockey in utero for $20,000 at the 2017 Keeneland January sale. With a record of four wins, two seconds, and five fifths from 15 career starts, Gear Jockey has earned a total of $902,875.

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Wondrwherecraigis Leads Field For De Francis Dash At Laurel

It's on to the $200,000 Grade 3 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash for newly minted stakes winner Wondrwherecraigis, who tuned up for his return to graded competition with an easy half-mile breeze Saturday morning at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md.

Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, The Elkstone Group, and Bethlehem Stables' 4-year-old gelding Wondrwherecraigis went four furlongs in :49 over Laurel's main track, which underwent a multi-million dollar reconstruction over the summer.

It was the second work for Wondrwherecraigis since earning his first career stakes victory Aug. 13 in the Tale of the Cat at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. He also breezed a half-mile in :49.20 Sept. 3.

“That's all we wanted,” trainer Brittany Russell said of Saturday's work. “He's great. He's in good form. He's happy and he's training well. We have a lot going on at the moment, but it looks like we're going to move forward to next week.”

The six-furlong De Francis for 3-year-olds and up headlines four stakes worth $500,000 in purses Saturday, Sept. 18 at Laurel, which launched its calendar year-ending fall meet Thursday. Joining the De Francis are the $100,000 Weather Vane for fillies and mares 3 and up sprinting six furlongs and a pair of $100,000 stakes going one mile, the Polynesian for 3-year-olds and up and Twixt for females 3 and older.

All four races are part of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship (MATCH) Series.

Named for the late president and chairman of both Laurel and historic Pimlico Race Course, the De Francis' illustrious roster of winners includes Hall of Famer Housebuster, fellow sprint champions Cherokee Run, Smoke Glacken, Thor's Echo and Benny the Bull, and Lite the Fuse, the race's only two-time winner (1995-96) honored with his own stakes race in Maryland.

Wondrwherecraigis has won each of his last two starts, both in front-running fashion. Saratoga meet champion Luis Saez was aboard in the six-furlong Tale of the Cat, beating fellow De Francis nominee My Boy Tate by 2 ¾ lengths in 1:10.09. He was a popular 5 ¾-length winner of a July 18 optional claiming allowance at Pimlico under Russell's husband, jockey Sheldon Russell.

The connections will need a new rider as Sheldon Russell suffered a broken foot after being thrown from his horse during the post parade of Thursday's opening day finale at Laurel and will be out indefinitely.

Other jockeys to have ridden Wondrwherecraigis include Jose Lezcano and Hall of Famer Javier Castellano, the latter in the 2020 Grade 2 Amsterdam last August where they ran fourth in the Munnings gelding's only previous graded-stakes attempt.

Sheldon Russell is also the regular rider for six-time stakes winner Hello Beautiful, trained by his wife and owned by Madaket Stables, Albert Frassetto, Mark Parkinson, K-Mac Stables, and Magic City Stables and scheduled to start in the Weather Vane. Hello Beautiful, who gave Russell his 1,500th career victory in the July 31 Alma North at Pimlico, breezed a half-mile in :48.60 Sept. 8.

“We'll just regroup here the next couple days and see what we're going to do,” Brittany Russell said.

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Other De Francis nominees breezing Saturday were Mucho, four furlongs in :50.80 at the Churchill Downs' Trackside training center for trainer John Ortiz; and Gary Capuano-trained stablemates Band On Tour (:48.20) and Threes Over Deuces (:48.40) at Delaware Park.

Band On Tour, 4, exits a six-furlong optional claiming allowance win Aug. 7 at Pimlico. Threes Over Deuces is a stakes winner that has run second or third in six others including a runner-up finish to Grade 1 winner Firenze Fire in the 2020 Grade 3 General George at Laurel.

Mucho leads the 3-year-old and up dirt sprint division of the MATCH Series with 20 points, two more than defending De Francis champion and fellow nominee Laki. Winner of the July 31 Challedon at Pimlico, Mucho is also tied with Chub Wagon for the overall MATCH Series championship.

Kentucky-based Ortiz said Saturday that Mucho is being pointed to the Grade 2 Phoenix Oct. 8 at Keeneland, an automatic qualifier for the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint Nov. 6 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

“I know we're sitting so close to winning the MATCH Series, but when a horse is doing this well you have to take advantage,” Ortiz said. “Kentucky being our home and his home track and Lexington being my hometown, I just think it's best to get a 'Win and You're In' while things are going the right way.”

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Princess Grace Overcomes Slow Start To Win Ladies Turf At Kentucky Downs

Over a firm course at Kentucky Downs, Susan and John Moore's Princess Grace broke last from the starting gate, patiently waited for an opening in the stretch, and held off challengers to win the Grade 3 Ladies Turf at the Franklin, Ky., racetrack.

The 4-year-old filly went into the gate as the post time favorite, but broke a step slow from the second post to run toward the back of the field of nine early. Florent Geroux kept the filly on the rail as Sara Sea set early fractions of :23.02 for the first quarter and :46.06 for the half-mile. As they approached the last bend, Princess Causeway pulled even with Sara Sea, Princess Grace behind them on the rail.

Into the stretch, Sara Sea held on to a short lead over Princess Causeway, the field spread five wide across the straight, as Geroux took advantage of an opening between horses, angling Princess Grace out from the rail. The favorite accelerated, taking over the lead, and putting space between her and challengers rushing up on her outside.

As they closed in on the wire, Geroux was able to keep Princess Grace clear of the field, with Dalika closing fast on her outside. At the wire, it was the favorite by a half-length, with Dalika second and Abscond third.

The final time for the one-mile Ladies Turf was 1:34.25.

Princess Grace paid $4.20, $2.60, and $2.20. Dalika paid $4.40 and $3.00. Abscond paid $3.40.

By Karakontie out of the Silent Name mare Masquerade, Princess Grace was bred in Kentucky by her owners. She is trained by Michael Stidham. Her win in the G3 Ladies Turf gives her a perfect 3 for 3 record in 2021, for a lifetime record of six wins in seven starts.

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