Red Oak Stables' Make It Big (Neolithic) may have earned a position on the Kentucky Derby trail with his win in Friday's Remington Springboard Mile S. The Saffie Joseph, Jr. trainee accumulated 10 qualifying points to the Derby with his half-length victory over Osbourne (Tapiture) in Oklahoma.
“We are, obviously, very excited. He was stepping up in class, shipping for the first time and going two turns [for the first time]. He handled it all as good as you could ask for,” said Joseph. “He sat in the pocket, made a move down the backside, and was gutsy enough to hold off Osbourne.”
Make It Big, a $120,000 purchase at this year's OBS April sale, opened his career with an 8 1/2-length win against fellow Florida-breds at Gulfstream Oct. 9 and added a victory in the Oct. 30 Ocala Stud Juvenile Sprint–both at seven furlongs–before shipping to Remington Park.
“The [Feb 5 GIII] Holy Bull might come a little quick, but everything is still in play. Maybe, the [Mar. 5 GII Fasig-Tipton] Fountain of Youth,” Joseph said of possible next starts for Make It Big. “We'll talk it over with the ownership group and Rick Sacco, the stable manager. He was the one that recommended, after he won last time, that we should try this race [Springboard Mile]. It turned out a perfect choice of race.”
Joseph said he thinks Make It Big will handle longer distances.
“You would think the more distance the better. That's how he trained. Up until six weeks before he made his debut, he kind of seemed he'd go long, long, long,” Joseph said. “He was lacking that early speed. When we put blinkers on him, they gave him that dynamic, showing some speed. We already knew he had the stamina. He's really turned around.”
Joseph also trains Triple Crown prospect White Abarrio (Race Day), who captured his first two races impressively before finishing third in the Nov. 27 GII Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs.
“He's doing well. We gave him a little freshening,” Joseph said of the colt who worked three furlongs in :36.00 (3/11) at Gulfstream Sunday. “He's most likely going in the Holy Bull.”
The post Joseph Eyes Triple Crown Trail With Make It Big appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
The Pick 6 for Thursday, December 30 will be bolstered by a $49,302 carryover as the multi-race wager went unsolved on Sunday at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.
The $1 Pick 6 returned $1,166 to bettors who selected 5-of-6 winners correctly.
Sunday's Pick 6 sequence kicked off in Race 4 when Jorge Vargas, Jr. engineered a winning trip aboard the Michelle Giangiulio-trained Alpine Queen [No. 7, $9.40], to earn a second victory in eight starts for a $25,000 tag.
Reigning Chick [No. 12, $34.40] made her career debut a winning one at seven furlongs in Race 5, going wire-to-wire under Kendrick Carmouche for trainer Orlando Noda.
The shortest price in the sequence took place in Race 6, when Maiden Beauty [No. 5, $5.00] earned her eighth career win in 34 lifetime starts. Carmouche piloted the daughter of Revolutionary for trainer Robert Falcone, Jr.
Carmouche completed a hat trick when guiding Michael Dubb's Chateau [No. 6, $5.20] to victory in the $100,000 Gravesend [Race 7] for trainer Rob Atras. The son of Flat Out earned his first triumph since capturing the Grade 3 Tom Fool in March at the Big A.
Forewarned [No. 9, $86.00], owned and trained by Uriah St. Lewis, lit up the tote board with a late-rallying victory under Dexter Haddock, to capture the $125,000 Queens County [Race 8].
With only three horses covered in the Pick 6 to close out the sequence in Race 9, Sandro the Great [No. 5, $23.80] defeated his New York-bred counterparts for a $40,000 tag, earning his first victory in 11 lifetime starts. Patrick Quick saddled the Gallagher's Stud homebred, who was ridden by Benjamin Hernandez.
The Pick 6 will return on Thursday, December 30 when live racing resumes at the Big A following the holiday break.
America's Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the winter meet at Aqueduct Racetrack on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule.
NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Aqueduct Racetrack, and the best way to bet every race of the winter meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.
The post Aqueduct Pick 6 Will Have $49,302 Carryover Dec. 30 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Though her career has been one with far more successes than failures, Hello Beautiful has also shown a resilience to match her talent. Trainer Brittany Russell will be hoping for more of the same from the history-making filly when she caps her 4-year-old season in the $100,000 Willa On the Move Dec. 26 at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md.
Madaket Stables, Albert Frassetto, Mark Parkinson, K-Mac Stables, and Magic City Stables' Hello Beautiful had a three-race win streak snapped when she finished last of five as the favorite in the six-furlong Politely Nov. 26 at Laurel. Russell said the Golden Lad filly came back well, if agitated, from the performance.
“She was very unhappy after the race, in a just [ticked] off kind of way. She knew that it wasn't supposed to go like that,” Russell said. “When I went back to check on her, it wasn't her normal munching her hay. It was like, 'Get away from me.' The important thing is she's doing well, and she's still Hello Beautiful.
“She's been fine. She really only ran about a quarter of a mile, if you really look at how it went down,” she added. “She came back no worse for the wear. She's doing fine, and she's trained well since.”
Prior to the Politely, Hello Beautiful was a front-running winner of the Alma North at historic Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md., and the Weather Vane and Maryland Million Distaff to put her career win total at 10, eight of them in stakes. She is one of only seven horses in event history with three Maryland Million victories.
Hello Beautiful broke from the rail and found herself atypically behind horses in the Politely, outrun to the lead by Princess Kokachin, another speedy type that drew the post just outside the favorite. Jockey Jevian Toledo opted to drop back and then make a run that never materialized.
“I probably should have been a little more clear with Toledo to just kind of stay on that filly. We know our filly. She was a step slow that day, but you've got to go. You've got to go with her,” Russell said. “They were moving, they were going quick, but that's our game, too. When she kind of got checked out of there, it was over.”
Toledo climbs back aboard for the fourth straight race in place of Russell's husband, injured jockey Sheldon Russell, and they drew Post 6 in a field of eight at 124 pounds, a topweight she shares with Call On Mischief and Jakarta.
“You can look at it all different ways, but had our filly drawn outside that filly that day, it might have been a different outcome, too. It's fine. It happens,” Russell said. “You better learn how to lose races, because we lose a lot more than we win. Just be a good loser and hopefully, she bounces back next time.”
Eric Rizer's homebred Princess Kokachin will break inside Hello Beautiful from Post 3 under regular rider Xavier Perez, looking to extend her win streak to six races. The Politely marked the stakes debut for the Jerry Robb-trained 3-year-old Graydar filly, with all of those victories coming against older horses. She set testing fractions of :21.98 and :45.12 before finishing up in 1:11.22 to win by 5 ½ lengths.
Beaten in the Alma North and May 15 Skipat, also at Pimlico, in two previous trips to Maryland this year, Down Neck Stables' Call On Mischief is set to make her Laurel debut. She prevailed by a half-length after a prolonged drive to win the six-furlong Mahoning Distaff Nov. 22, and was most recently second in the Garland of Roses Dec. 11 over a sloppy surface at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.
Five Hellions Farm's Dontletsweetfoolya captured last year's Willa On the Move to cap her 3-year-old campaign on a five-race win streak. Winless in her first four starts to open 2021, she went three months between the Grade 3 Runhappy Barbara Fritchie Feb. 20 and Skipat, and returned to the winner's circle with a popular 6 ¼-length optional claiming allowance triumph in front-running fashion sprinting six furlongs Nov. 5 at Laurel.
Also entered are Three Diamonds Farm's Jakarta, a stakes winner making her first start for trainer Mike Trombetta and first dirt start since running fourth in the June 2020 G3 Vagrancy at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.; Kaylasaurus, racing first off the claim for Penn National-based trainer Tim Kreiser; Kentucky shipper Miss Mosiac; and multiple stakes-placed Paisley Singing.
The post Hello Beautiful Rounds Out 2021 Season With Willa On The Move Try appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
