This Saturday, Aqueduct will host its signature race and the final stop on the New York road to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve.
Month: April 2022
American Pharoah Filly Powers To ‘TDN Rising Stardom’ at Leopardstown
Coolmore and Westerberg's sophomore filly Above The Curve (American Pharoah) caught the eye when overcoming a slow getaway to finish strongly for third in a one-mile Leopardstown maiden last October. Back at the Foxrock venue for Wednesday's 10-furlong Irish Stallion Farms EBF Fillies Maiden, a contest won in 2019 by MG1SW distaffer Tarnawa (Ire) (Shamardal), she stamped her class on a field stacked with well-bred individuals to earn 'TDN Rising Star' status with an eyecatching display. The 6-5 favourite was more in focus at the break this time and settled off the tempo out wide in midfield through halfway. Making smooth headway into contention on the home turn, she quickened in taking fashion to seize control approaching the final furlong and kept on strongly under mild coaxing in the latter stages to easily outpoint Thoughts of June (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) by 2 3/4 lengths.
“We think a lot of her,” revealed trainer Joseph O'Brien of the June 3 G1 Epsom Oaks and July 16 G1 Irish Oaks entry. “She had a really good run last year and has an amazing pedigree. We couldn't ask for more and we'll see where we go now, but we think she's an [Irish] Oaks type. She's very big so we'll manage her gently, maybe something like the [G3] Blue Wind [at Naas next month] would suit. We won't throw her in at the deep end and we'll take baby steps with her. She really is huge, in a way she's nearly too big, and we'll have to manage her correctly. She hasn't done anything wrong so far anyway. I don't think she will be an Epsom [Oaks] filly and I think we will look at the Curragh [for the Irish Oaks], but it is early days to be targeting that.”
Above The Curve is the third of five foals and second scorer out of an unraced sibling of eight black-type performers headed by MG1SW sire Giant's Causeway (Storm Cat). She is a full-sister to G3 Irish 1000 Guineas Trial and G3 Weld Park S. third Thinking Of You and her dam Fabulous (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who was bred to Justify last year, has a 2-year-old filly and yearling filly by Justify to come. Descendants of the April-foaled bay's MGSW second dam Mariah's Storm (Rahy), herself a half-sister to G1SP sire Panoramic (GB) (Rainbow Quest), also include MG1SW sires Gleneagles (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Decorated Knight (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), Classic heroines Joan of Arc (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Marvellous (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), MG1SW distaffer Happily (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and elite-level performers Vatican City (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), Coolmore (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Taj Mahal (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).
1st-Leopardstown, €15,000, Mdn, 4-6, 3yo, f, 10fT, 2:10.66, gd.
ABOVE THE CURVE, f, 3, by American Pharoah
1st Dam: Fabulous (Ire), by Galileo (Ire)
2nd Dam: Mariah's Storm, by Rahy
3rd Dam: Immense, by Roberto
Lifetime Record: 2-1-0-1, $11,538. O-Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith & Westerberg; B-Orpendale, Chelston & Wynatt (KY); T-Joseph O'Brien. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
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War of Will Syndicate Partners with UK Football’s Will Levis
The syndicate that owns MGISW War of Will (War Front), who stands at Claiborne Farm and whose first foals are arriving this year, has entered into a partnership agreement with the University of Kentucky (UK)'s starting quarterback Will Levis. The agreement, which was announced by Sports Management Company Athlete Advantage, is an N.I.L. (Name, Image, and Likeness) deal.
“Will Levis loves racing,” said Claiborne's Walker Hancock. “He came out to the farm two weeks ago and he met War of Will. We filmed a commercial and that will be airing on FOX Sports this weekend on America's Day at the Races. He's going to do some social media posts and help promote the stallion. It's kind of a new approach. It's different. It's innovative. It's a different kind of way of looking at marketing. The name was obviously a big play as well. Kind of made perfect sense, with the University of Kentucky right here, and it has been a great partnership. He's awesome. He's a fierce competitor on the field, but in person, he's easy going, soft spoken, and nice to talk to.”
The agreement will consist of a multimedia advertising campaign that will center on the athleticism of both football players and racehorses. It represents the first N.I.L. deal for any collegiate student-athlete with a Thoroughbred syndicate.
Continued Hancock: “We are thrilled to be the first farm to partner with a Division I athlete in this newly created N.I.L. space. Having a star quarterback help promote one of our young and promising stallions is a new way of advertising that we think provides a perfect synergy of our brands. Will's athleticism and performance displayed on the football field mirrors what we saw with War of Will on the racetrack and the reason he is such an exciting stallion prospect.”
War of Will, best known for his GI Preakness S. win after being impeded with in the GI Kentucky Derby and praised for his athleticism for staying on his feet, also won a number of other graded races, including the GI Maker's Mark Mile on the turf.
From Connecticut, Levis threw for over 2,820 yards last year and is attributed with 24 touchdowns. He was part of UK's second win in the VRBO Citrus Bowl and one of the school's most successful seasons on record.
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Grade 1 Winner Majestic Harbor Dies Suddenly At Age 14
Majestic Harbor – who won nearly $1.3 million in a brilliant race career that included 10 wins and a memorable and stirring victory in the 2014 version of the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita – has died at Harris Farm in Coalinga, Calif.
The stallion – who was California's leading freshman sire in 2020 and was the #1 stallion among all California sires in 2021 in both average earnings per runner and median earnings per runner – would have turned a full 14 years old on Wednesday, April 6.
According to Jonny Hilvers, Harris Farms' general manager, Majestic Harbor collapsed and died suddenly in the breeding shed due to a suspected heart attack. Majestic Harbor will be buried at Harris Farms.
“As you can imagine, we are all in shock and completely devastated,” said Lori Hebel-Osborne, who owned Majestic Harbor along with her husband, David, and her mother and father, Carol and the late Charles W. Hebel, Ron Beegle and Ray Beegle. The owners raced the colt under the partnership name of Gallant Stables. “Rocky was just a huge part of our life, and he gave us so much of his life to make ours bigger and brighter. He had so much personality. He had so much talent. He had it all. We all loved him so much. Hard to believe that he is gone so soon.”
Majestic Harbor – who was affectionately nicknamed “Rocky” as a nod to his sire Rockport Harbor and for all his comeback fights throughout his racing years – was a true warrior on the racetrack. He started 42 times and he compiled an impressive record of 10 wins, eight seconds, and seven thirds at 10 different racetracks that spanned from Kentucky to California.
The colt was trained by Paul McGee in Kentucky and Sean McCarthy in California. Majestic Harbor won graded stakes for both McGee and McCarthy. Both trainers credited the horse's success to a combination of class, intelligence, tactical speed, and soundness.
Majestic Harbor, who raced until he was an 8-year-old, won four graded stakes: the 2014 G1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita; the 2014 G3 Tokyo City Cup Stakes; the 2016 G3 Mineshaft Stakes at the Fair Grounds; and the 2016 G2 Alysheba Stakes at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day.
In addition, he placed in the G1 Stephen Foster Handicap; the G2 Marathon Stakes; the G3 Greenwood Cup Stakes; the G2 Hawthorne Gold Cup, the G2 Californian Stakes and the G2 San Pasqual Stakes.
All told, Majestic Harbor hit the board in 31 of 42 lifetime starts including 14 times in graded stakes. In 2014, he competed in the 2014 Breeders' Cup Classic. His best speed figure came in the Mineshaft, where he was credited with a 116 rating by Equibase.
Majestic Harbor, a son of Rockport Harbor and the French Deputy mare Champagne Royale, began his stallion career at Swifty Farms in Indiana in 2017.
From his first crop, he produced stakes-winning filly Pearl Tiara, who won an Indiana-bred stakes event in 2021 and stakes-placed winner Diamond Solitaire, who is also an Indiana-bred success story.
After his first two years in Indiana, he was transferred to California and Harris Farm. Majestic Harbor's third full crop and first from California has already produced an open maiden special weight winner in Oneparticularharbor, who broke his maiden at Santa Anita earlier this year.
The post Grade 1 Winner Majestic Harbor Dies Suddenly At Age 14 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
