Trainer Steve Asmussen calls it a "dream meet." And there's still two days-and a couple of grade 1 opportunities-to go. During the first 38 of 40 days of racing at Saratoga Race Course, Asmussen has been in the middle of some of the most memorable moments of all.
Month: September 2021
War Like Goddess Rolls to Fourth Straight in Flower Bowl
The meteoric ascent of George Krikorian's War Like Goddess (English Channel) continued in Saturday's GI Flower Bowl S., contested at Saratoga for the first time and lengthened to 11 furlongs. Coincidentally, the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf will be contested over that exact trip the first weekend of November and with the victory, the 4-year-old has earned an all-expenses-paid trip to Del Mar, where she figures to take plenty of beating.
Four of the bay filly's prior starts had come at a mile and three furlongs and farther, as she graduated by a convincing 3 1/4 lengths at Churchill last October before getting some time off. A better-than-it-might-look fifth from after trying to make a run from last in the GIII The Very One S. at Gulfstream first off a four-month layoff Feb. 27, War Like Goddess came with a furious stretch rally to make the grade by a nose in the GIII Orchid S. in Hallandale Mar. 27. She handled the extra furlong of Keeneland's GIII Bewitch S. Apr. 23 with consummate ease, scoring by 3 3/4 lengths, and made this track's GII Glens Falls S. her third straight graded conquest with a 3 1/4-length defeat of My Sister Nat (Fr) (Acclamation {GB}) Aug. 7.
La Signare (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) hit the ground running and set a reasonably strong pace for the distance as Great Island (Scat Daddy), extremely impressive in winning the GIII WinStar Matchmaker S. over nine panels at Monmouth July 17, was ridden much handier. War Like Goddess settled just behind midfield, with the white-capped My Sister Nat content to caboose the field. War Like Goddess, a bit headstrong through the lane for the first time settled much more kindly down the backstretch, but it was Joel Rosario who was first to play his hand, as he sent Great Island after her front-running stablemate, in an attempt to get first run on the heavy favorite. Great Island claimed La Signare in upper stretch, but Julien Leparoux had yet to move a muscle atop War Like Goddess, and the duo hit the front, felt one left-handed crack of the crop and pulled confidently clear. Great Island drifted a bit in upper stretch and was home a half-head better than My Sister Nat.
“She's a classy filly,” said Leparoux. “You can do whatever you want and she'll still give you that punch in the end. It's nice. It's a sign of the good ones, for sure. Bill Mott knows how to get them to these Grade 1s. They took their time with her and it has paid off. For sure, the Breeders' Cup is the goal, so if she gets there healthy, she'll be going in with a big chance.”
Pedigree Notes:
The 12th worldwide Group 1/Grade I winner for Calumet's under-appreciated English Channel, War Like Goddess is the ultimate rags-to-riches story. With no black-type to be found in her first couple of dams, War Like Goddess attracted a couple of $100 bids at Keeneland November in 2017, but two fewer bids at the September sale, when she was led out unsold for the upset price of $1,000. She had a few admirers at OBS June in 2019, selling for $30,000. War Like Goddess is one of two of her sire's 32 graded/group winners worldwide to be produced from a Danzig-line dam (Irish Strait).
The dam of the 3-year-old gelding Market Economy, by English Channel's son Optimizer, Misty North is responsible for the 2-year-old filly Thecradlewillrock (Red Rocks {Ire}). She was sold in foal to Calumet's Bal a Bali (Brz) for $1,000 at the 2019 November Sale and produced a colt last May now named North of Bali.
Saturday, Belmont Park
FLOWER BOWL S.-GI, $600,000, Saratoga, 9-4, 4yo/up, f/m,
1 3/8mT, 2:13.07, fm.
1–WAR LIKE GODDESS, 122, f, 4, by English Channel
               1st Dam: Misty North, by North Light (Ire)
               2nd Dam: Misty Gallop, by Victory Gallop
               3rd Dam: Romanette, by Alleged
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($1,200 Wlg '17 KEENOV; $1,000 RNA Ylg
'18 KEESEP; $30,000 2yo '19 OBSOPN). O-George Krikorian;
B-Calumet Farm (KY); T-William I Mott; J-Julien R Leparoux.
$330,000. Lifetime Record: 7-6-0-0, $713,684. Werk Nick
Rating: F. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Great Island, 120, m, 5, by Scat Daddy
               1st Dam: Voyage, by Rahy
               2nd Dam: Matlacha Pass, by Seeking the Gold
               3rd Dam: Our Country Place, by Pleasant Colony
($160,000 Wlg '16 KEENOV; $300,000 Ylg '17 KEESEP). O-Alpha
Delta Stables, LLC; B-Ben P Walden Jr & Larry Taylor (KY);
T-Chad C Brown. $120,000.
3–My Sister Nat (Fr), 118, m, 6, by Acclamation (GB)
               1st Dam: Starlet's Sister (Ire), by Galileo (Ire)
               2nd Dam: Premiere Creation (Fr), by Green Tune
               3rd Dam: Allwaki, by Miswaki
(€20,000 Ylg '16 ARQFEB). O-Peter M Brant; B-Ecurie Des
Monceaux (FR); T-Chad C Brown. $72,000.
Margins: 2 1/4, NO, 6 3/4. Odds: 0.40, 6.50, 8.00.
Also Ran: Lovely Lucky, American Bridge (GB), La Signare (Fr). Scratched: Coastana. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
The post War Like Goddess Rolls to Fourth Straight in Flower Bowl appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
Elm Drive, Eda Face Off Again in Del Mar Debutante
Little Red Feather Racing's Elm Drive (Mohaymen) and Baoma Corporation's Eda (Munnings), who were separated by just a head after battling the length of the stretch in the GIII Sorrento S. Aug. 6, renew their rivalry in the GI TVG Del Mar Debutante Sunday. Elm Drive, trained by Phil D'Amato, romped by eight lengths in her five-furlong debut at Los Alamitos June 26 and refused to let Eda by when winning the six-furlong Sorrento.
Eda has yet to finish in front in her two-race career. The Bob Baffert trainee inherited the victory via disqualification after finishing a nose runner-up in her June 19 debut and couldn't get by a determined Elm Drive in the Sorrento.
Michael Lund Petersen, who enjoyed Grade I success at Saratoga last weekend when his champion Gamine (Into Mischief) won the GI Ballerina S., will look to double up on the West Coast when Grace Adler (Curlin) goes postward Sunday at Del Mar. Co-owned with Willow Grace Farm and trained by Baffert, the $700,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga purchase battled to a 3/4-length debut score going five furlongs at Del Mar July 31. She enters the seven-furlong Debutante off six-furlong drills Aug. 23 and Aug. 30.
Baffert has won the last two runnings of the Debutante, with Bast in 2019 and Princess Noor in 2020, and has won the race nine times since 1995.
The post Elm Drive, Eda Face Off Again in Del Mar Debutante appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
Echo Zulu Faces Eight in Spinaway
Winchell Thoroughbreds and L and N Racing's Echo Zulu (Gun Runner), tabbed a 'TDN Rising Star' following her 5 1/2-length debut victory at Saratoga July 15, will attempt to add to her freshman sire's growing list of graded stakes winners when she goes postward in the GI Spinaway S. at Saratoga Sunday. Her first-out effort earned her a 92 Beyer Speed Figure–the highest recorded figure for a 2-year-old filly this year.
“The idea was always that she could be a Saratoga 2-year-old,” said Winchell Thoroughbreds' racing and bloodstock advisor David Fiske. “She showed some early speed, but for her to win the way she did and to get the number she got, I don't think anyone was expecting that.”
Echo Zulu, a half-sister to Grade I winner Echo Town (Speightstown) and a $300,000 KEESEP yearling purchase, will add a furlong and a half to that effort in the seven-furlong Spinaway and she could become fast-starting Gun Runner's first Grade I winner. The stallion was represented earlier in the meet by GII Adirondack S. winner Wicked Halo and by GII Saratoga Special runner-up Gunite. Across the country, his Pappacap won the GII Best Pal S. at Del Mar.
“She came out of Steve [Asmussen]'s parents' operation in Laredo pretty highly touted,” Fiske said. “We have some pretty big expectations for her. We were grateful that [co-owner Mike] Levinson let us partner up with her. We bought a few other yearlings last year and since he had Echo Town, he asked about her. We looked at her and got her as well.”
Jim Bakke's Girl with a Dream (Practical Joke) is another juvenile by a freshman sire coming into the Spinaway off an impressive debut victory. The Brad Cox trainee pulled away to a 6 3/4-length score doing five furlongs at Ellis Park July 24.
Pretty Birdie (Bird Song) carried the colors of the late Marylou Whitney, for years synonymous with racing in Saratoga, to victory in an emotional opening-day GIII Schuylerville S. July 15. A debut winner at Churchill June 18, the gray filly will look to double up on her Saratoga graded haul Sunday for trainer Norm Casse.
Gold Square's Sue Ellen Mishkin (Mohaymen) jumps to the graded ranks after romping to a 7 1/4-length debut score going six furlongs versus state-bred foes in her Aug. 13 unveiling.
The post Echo Zulu Faces Eight in Spinaway appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
