June, 2022 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Owner Brant Has Three Chances To Win Race Named After His Champion Turf Mare Just A Game

Saturday's Grade 1, $500,000 Longines Just a Game drew a field of five talented older fillies and mares to tackle one mile over the Widener turf course at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

The Longines Just a Game, named in honor of Peter Brant's 1980 Champion Female Turf Horse, has been won by Breeders' Cup winners Tepin, Stephanie's Kitten, Perfect Sting, Rushing Fall, Intercontinental, Newspaperofrecord and Tapitsfly.

A winner of top-flight races around the world, including the 2020 Group 1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and a pair of Breeders' Cups, Brant will be represented by a trio of capable Chad Brown trainees in search of his first Just a Game score.

Leading the charge is 6-year-old dual Grade 1 winner Regal Glory, a daughter of Animal Kingdom, who has won six of her past eight races, with her worst effort being a fourth in this race last year behind Godolphin's Althiqa. She exits consecutive victories in the Grade 1 Matriarch in November at Del Mar; the Grade 3 Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf in January at Gulfstream Park; and the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley in April at Keeneland. Regal Glory will be ridden by Jose Ortiz from post 2.

“She's training super and you can see from her races that she's never been better,” Brown said. “She has exceeded all expectations this season. She's the top turf mare in the country until proven otherwise. It would be great to get it done for Peter.”

Speak of the Devil, a $2.2 million Arqana December Breeding Stock Sale graduate, was an emphatic winner of her stateside bow in the Grade 2 Churchill Distaff Turf Mile on May 7 at Churchill Downs, out-kicking stablemate In Italian by 2 3/4-lengths in the process.

A five-time winner in 14 starts in France prior to joining Brown, she will be looking for her first top-level victory, but has gone quite close before. Last August, she was a head third in the Group 1 Prix Rothschild at Deauville and in June 2020 she was a nose second in the Group 1 Poule d'Essai des Pouiches [French 1000 Guineas] – both over one mile. Flavien Prat has the return call from post 3.

In Italian has yet to finish out of the exacta in five starts, including a victory in Grade 3 Honey Fox in March at Gulfstream. The daughter of Dubawi will be ridden once again by Irad Ortiz Jr., breaking from post 4.

“Speak of the Devil has come out of her race well and all signs say that she's a mare who is moving forward,” Brown said. “With In Italian, I think it depends on the ground for her. She's training well.”

Gary Barber and Team Valor International's Wakanaka was a distant third in the aforementioned Churchill Distaff Turf Mile and second in the Honey Fox.

Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, the 4-year-old daughter of Power was a classic winner in Italy, landing the Group 3 Premio Regina Elena [Italian 1000 Guineas] in April 2021. Joel Rosario rides from the outermost post 5.

“I think she is training better than ever,” said Barry Irwin, principal of Team Valor. “She will appreciate a return to racing around one turn.”

William Sims' Leggs Galore ships east for trainer Phil D'Amato on the strength of three consecutive stakes victories, including the Grade 2 Buena Vista on March 5 at Santa Anita over this distance. She will be ridden by Ricardo Gonzalez from the inside post.

The Just a Game is slated as Race 4 on Saturday's 13-race card which features a first post of 11:20 a.m. Eastern with the Belmont Stakes slated as Race 11 at 6:44 p.m.

National television coverage of Belmont Stakes Day will begin on FS2, where America's Day at the Races will air from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. before coverage shifts to CNBC from 3 to 5 p.m. and NBC from 5 to 7p.m. America's Day at the Races will then return to FS2 from 7:15 to 8:30 p.m. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Belmont Park, and the best way to bet every race of the spring/summer meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.

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Champion Echo Zulu, Coming Off Lone Defeat, Has Four Rivals In Acorn

Breeders' Cup winner and reigning Eclipse Award Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Echo Zulu will look to recapture the dominant form she displayed in her first five starts when cutting back to a one-turn mile in the Grade 1, $500,000 Acorn for 3-year-old fillies on Saturday, Belmont Stakes Day, at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

The Acorn – one of eight Grade 1 events on a loaded card that will culminate with the 154th running of the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets – will give Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen his first opportunity to see how Echo Zulu responds to a loss.

Owned by L and N Racing and Winchell Thoroughbreds, the three-time Grade 1-winner was 5-for-5 entering the 1 1/8-mile Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks on May 6 at Churchill Downs and pressed pacesetter Yuugiri before tiring late and finishing fourth as Secret Oath bested the 14-horse field on the wet fast track.

But the daughter of Gun Runner, the 2017 Horse of the Year who Asmussen also trained, will return to Belmont for the first time since romping to a 7 1/2-length victory in the Grade 1 Frizette in September at the Acorn distance. That effort was part of an award-winning juvenile campaign in which Echo Zulu won the Grade 1 Spinaway at Saratoga Race Course in September in her second career start and followed the Frizette with a gate-to-wire 5 1/4 length score in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies in November at Del Mar that secured Eclipse Award honors.

In her 3-year-old bow, Echo Zulu again utilized her front-running ability to go the distance, wiring a six-horse field to win the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks in edging Hidden Connection by a nose in March before her first out-of-the-money effort last month in Louisville. She will now try to use her speed going just one turn on Belmont's Big Sandy.

“I'm very comfortable with her going back to the mile with how brilliant she is,” Asmussen said. “She made a good account of herself on some very trying circumstances in the Oaks, but I'm extremely happy about the opportunity to back her up to the one-turn mile at Belmont, where she ran a brilliant race in last year's Frizette.”

Jockey Joel Rosario, aboard for her last four starts including the Breeders' Cup, Frizette and Fair Grounds Oaks victory, will have the return call from post 5.

“I thought she ran great in the Oaks to miss being second by a length and off one race for the year,” said Dave Fiske, Winchell's racing and bloodstock advisor. “I thought she did really well. As fast as she is, you'd have to figure she's going to be more effective around one turn.

“She seems to be as fast as she's always been,” Fiske added. “I watched her work last week and her exercise rider couldn't have been standing any taller, any straighter in the irons. He just had hands on her withers and never moved.”

While Echo Zulu will be cutting back in distance, Godolphin homebred Matareya will be stretching out for trainer Brad Cox following three consecutive wins in sprints. The Pioneerof the Nile filly started her 3-year-old year with a 5 1/4-length win going six furlongs against allowance company in February at Fair Grounds and proved just as effective when stepping up in class, cruising to an 8 1/2-length victory in the seven-furlong Grade 3 Beaumont in April at Keeneland.

On the same day as the Kentucky Oaks, Matareya handled a faster track than Echo Zulu ran on later in the day, posting a 2 1/4 length victory over Pretty Birdie in the seven-furlong Grade 2 Eight Belles.

The Acorn will mark Matareya's first route of the year. Previously, she concluded 2021 with a runner-up effort in a one-mile allowance tilt on New Year's Eve at Oaklawn Park. With a 4-2-0 record in seven starts, her only off-the-board effort game in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 1 Darley Alcibiades in her second career start in October at Keeneland.

Matareya will put her winning streak on the line in her Belmont debut as Cox goes for his second career Acorn win following Monomoy Girl's triumph in 2018. Flavien Prat will be in the irons from post 4.

Dream Lith will return to the main track after running fifth in her turf debut in the Grade 2 Edgewood on May 6 at Churchill for trainer Robertino Diodoro. Before her sojourn on the grass, the Medaglia d'Oro filly made five consecutive graded stakes starts on the main track, including a fifth in her second career appearance in the Grade 1 Spinaway won by Echo Zulu at the Spa.

Dream Lith, owned by Cypress Creek Equine and Arnold Bennewith, capped her 2021 campaign with a victory in the Grade 2 Golden Rod going 1 1/16 miles in November at Churchill.

In her 3-year-old year, Diodoro has kept entering Dream Lith against stellar competition, where she ran sixth in the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra in February at Fair Grounds, fifth in the Grade 3 Fantasy in April at Oaklawn and fifth last out. Diodoro said he's hoping the experience gained in her high-level races will help nurture her talent.

“The key is to get her to relax,” Diodoro said. “She's her own worst enemy and we're slowly working on making headway with her to get her to relax. She can get washy in the paddock and post parade just with her nerves, but improving that comes with maturity and schooling and we're getting there with her.”

Diodoro said the conditions last out, with inclement weather causing a softer surface, made it more difficult to assess her ability on the turf and did not rule out a return engagement in the future.

“I don't think we got a true read on the grass with her,” Diodoro said. “It rained several minutes before the race and turned into a pretty soft turf course and she just didn't like it, but I think at some point in her career, we'll try her again on the grass.”

Dream Lith will break from post 1 with Ramon Vazquez set to ride.

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher will send out Repole Stable and Woodford Racing's Inventing for her stakes debut. The Union Rags filly started her career in April and posted runner-up efforts in each of her first two starts, starting at Gulfstream Park and continuing last out when second to Olga Isabel on May 6 at Churchill. She completed her preparation on June 4, working in company with Malathaat through a four-furlong breeze in 48.75.

Irad Ortiz, Jr. will be aboard from post 2.

Rounding out the field is Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Long Valley Stables' Divine Huntress for trainer Graham Motion.

The sophomore daughter of Divining Rod [post 3, Luis Saez] posted a maiden win in December at Parx Racing and followed one more later with a smart optional-claiming score. She has finished off-the-board in her last three outings, all in graded company.

The Acorn is slated as Race 3 on Saturday's 13-race card which features a first post of 11:20 a.m. Eastern with the Belmont Stakes set for Race 11.

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Lazarus on HISA Anti-Doping and Medication Control

Bit by bit, the pieces of the puzzle are slotting into place for the Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) component of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, set to go into effect at the start of next year.

Last month, that program was designated an agency to officially run it–namely Drug Free Sports International, an organization that has helped administer drug testing programs to a slew of major human sports leagues.

Then, last week, the draft ADMC rules were for put out public comment. These draft rules can be found here.

Adolpho Birch, Chair of HISA's ADMC Committee, concurrently issued a letter outlining the primary changes to the revised ADMC rules as compared to the draft rules previously issued, when the United States Anti-Doping Agency's (USADA) appeared set to become HISA's enforcement agency.

In the letter, Birch points out that possible sanctions for controlled therapeutic medication violations have been reduced, to make a clearer distinction between medication offenses where banned substances are administered, and those when controlled therapeutic substances have been given.

Furthermore, in the event of a positive test result and a request for a B sample analysis, someone from the enforcement agency itself will choose the laboratory, which may be a different laboratory from the one that did the initial analysis.

Tuesday morning, HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus held a media Q&A to discuss the draft ADMC rules further. The following is a summary of her comments.

Responsible Persons

Lazarus provided interesting context to the reasons underpinning the need for trainers and owners to maintain daily treatment records for the horses in their care, a basic outline for which can be found here.

The registration system designates a responsible person for each horse. And that in turn places the burden on the responsible trainer or owner to make sure that they keep detailed records and documentation–essentially, run a “tight ship,” as Lazarus put it.

In the event of a medication violation, therefore, the HISA Authority can request these documents and records, “and those records can become part of the case,” said Lazarus.

In relation to this, Lazarus also expanded on HISA's “whereabouts” program, which essentially ensures that all horses under HISA's remit are accounted for at all times.

In the first phase of the whereabouts program, set to go into effect early next year, responsible persons are required to submit a whereabouts filing if they remove a horse from a racetrack or registered facility.

In other words, said Lazarus, “If you take a horse to a private facility or a private farm, you have to notify us.” And there are possible penalties for non-compliance, including potential fines for failure to submit a whereabouts filing.

However, failure to produce a horse for drug testing results in a presumptive two-year violation (pending a hearing), irrespective of any test result.

“If you take a horse off a public racetrack where we know where the horse is, you don't tell us where the horse is with the whereabouts filing, we look for the horse, we reach out to the Covered Person–we're going to have access to all of this through our database–and they don't produce [the horse] immediately for testing, then, it's a presumptive two-year penalty,” said Lazarus.

Ultimately, said Lazarus, the plan is for a system in place that identifies the whereabouts of any covered horse at any time.

“But one of the things we want to understand and see is whether or not we can really just mine that data from existing resources without putting a paperwork burden on participants,” she said.

Case Management

Before diving into this section, there are some important nomenclature changes to note, as compared to the previous draft rules' use of “primary” and “secondary” substances.

Under these revised draft rules, “prohibited substances” is an umbrella term for anything that shouldn't be in a horse on race day. Banned substances refers to doping substances, while controlled medications are essentially therapeutic substances.

A list of banned and controlled substances, along with possible sanctions in the event of a positive test result, can be found here.

Lazarus provided a snap-shot of the case management process.

In the event a horse tests positive for a banned substance like a steroid, an anabolic agent or a growth hormone, the responsible person is immediately suspended until a hearing takes place.

“The presumption is that this is a two-year sanction,” said Lazarus.

However, that two-year sanction can be reduced if the responsible person can show “no fault or no significant fault,” said Lazarus, adding how any penalty reduction is predicated upon the responsible person proving how the substance got into the horse's system in the first place.

“So, for example, if you're in a situation of a steroid [positive] and you want to argue that somebody gave the horse a steroid without your knowledge, you have to actually prove that [scenario] to the confidence and satisfaction of the hearing panel,” said Lazarus, who also explained how there will be potential four-year bans in the event of “aggravating circumstances” like trafficking, evading sample collection and tampering with samples.

Public Disclosure of Test Results

Under USADA's version of the ADMC program, one rather controversial component concerned how A samples results weren't necessarily going to be automatically disclosed to the public.

But Lazarus pointed to a change of tune, with A sample results now indeed set to be made available online.

“You'll know the covered person, covered horse, and the substance that was detected in the sample,” she said. “You'll be able to follow the case essentially as it goes through the various steps. [For example,] if there's a hearing to lift a suspension that'll be recorded, the decision will be recorded,” she added.

Shortened Adjudication Timelines

The timeline to hear and adjudicate cases will be “incredibly reduced” when compared to the current model at the individual state level, said Lazarus.

After a hearing, for example, the arbitrator will have to issue a decision within 14 days. In the appeals process, defendants have 30 days to file an appeal to the charges, and then, a hearing must happen within 60 days after initial notice.

When asked if the tightened system provides adequate time for defendants to mount a fair defense–especially in complex cases–Lazarus said that cases will be adjudicated on an individual basis, with wriggle room given in “exceptional circumstances” so as not to compromise due process.

That said, the truncated timeline–along with any provisional suspension in the event of a banned substance violation–could also act as an incentivizing lever, said Lazarus.

“If you're dealing with a two-year penalty and it's a banned substance, you're going to be suspended during the case processing scheduling period, and so they're probably going to be very motivated to have it heard quickly as well, so, it also protects the participants,” she said.

Registration Numbers

According to Lazarus, nearly half the horses and covered persons who need to be registered by July 1 have done so. However, racing offices will soon provide a “can't race flag” if a horse that is entered to race is not registered with HISA, she said.

This is intended more as a prompt, said Lazarus, as it won't necessarily affect the horse's eligibility to race, just as long as that horse is, indeed, registered by July 1.

Drug Testing

The actual ADMC testing program is still being developed, said Lazarus, and so, specifics are thin.

That said, in the past various officials have suggested that under HISA, all winners won't necessarily be tested post-race–something of a departure from the current model.

Lazarus indicated, however, that indeed, the post-race drug testing net could still accommodate all winners.

“We're trying to balance a robust testing program that has a deterrent effect with the intelligence-based advantages you get from looking at intelligence metrics,” said Lazarus.

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‘Win And You’re In’ Jaipur Attracts 13 Turf Sprint Specialists

LRE Racing and JEH Racing Stable's Casa Creed returns to defend his title against a loaded field of 13 contenders in Saturday's Grade 1, $400,000 Jaipur, a six-furlong Widener turf test for 3-year-olds and up at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

The Jaipur, which offers a “Win and You're In” berth to the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint in November at Keeneland, is slated as Race 8 on Saturday's 13-race card. First post is 11:20 a.m. Eastern.

Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, the 6-year-old Jimmy Creed bay was a 10-1 upset winner of the Jaipur last year, closing from eighth under Junior Alvarado to post a two-length score over stablemate Chewing Gum.

Casa Creed followed with a third-place effort in the one-mile Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap in August at Saratoga Race Course and a close fifth in the six-furlong Grade 3 Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs. He completed his season with an eighth-place finish in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Mile in November at Del Mar.

Casa Creed made his first two starts this season in the Middle East, finishing a close second to recent Group 1 Yasuda Kinen-winner Songline in the Group 3 Turf Sprint Cup in February at King Abdulaziz in Saudi Arabia and a close fifth in the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint in March on the Dubai World Cup undercard at Meydan.

“He went to Saudi and Dubai and ran well there in an international race. He finished well,” Mott said.

Casa Creed blitzed a half-mile in 47.88 seconds Sunday over the Belmont dirt training track in company with Grade 1-winner Obligatory, who is entered in Friday's Grade 2 Bed o' Roses at Belmont.

“He worked good,” said Mott, who also won the Jaipur with Harp Islet [1989], Elusive Quality [1998] and Around the Cape [2006]. “He went with Obligatory and they worked well. They went right together.”

Luis Saez has the call from post 4.

Trainer Wesley Ward, who won the 2014 Jaipur with Undrafted, will saddle Lael Stables' Arrest Me Red [post 5, Irad Ortiz, Jr.].

The 4-year-old Pioneerof the Nile colt matched a career-best 100 Beyer Speed Figure last out with a 1 3/4-length score in the Grade 2 Turf Sprint on May 6 at Churchill Downs. The effort equaled his figure for a front-running one-length score in the Grade 3 Belmont Turf Sprint Invitational in October. A six-time winner from nine starts, Arrest Me Red has banked $638,500.

R.L. Johnson's True Valour, who has raced at distances ranging from 5 1/2-furlongs to 1 1/8-miles, seems to have found his niche in turf sprints for trainer Graham Motion.

The 8-year-old Kodiac bay joined Motion's barn late in 2020 and tried his luck in a pair of graded turf routes, finishing off-the-board in the Grade 1 Turf Classic at Churchill and the Grade 2 Dinner Party at Pimlico.

True Valour then shortened up to 6 1/2-furlongs in November 2020 at Woodbine Racetrack, posting a prominent half-length score in an optional-claimer on Tapeta.

“It was my racing manager, Jane Buchanan, who said to me, 'We keep trying to stretch this horse out, I wonder if he just wants to sprint,'” recalled Motion. “And she was absolutely right. That win turned our program around with him.”

He finished a close third in the Turf Sprint Championship in November 2020 at the Big A and in January 2021 was second, defeated less than a length, in the Grade 2 Joe Hernandez at Santa Anita.

True Valour was a close-up sixth under Joel Rosario, defeated 2 1/4 lengths in the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint in March 2021 at Meydan.

“That was a weird race,” Motion said. “Joel and one other guy chose to stay on the far side and everyone else came to the grandstand side, so he was kind of lost the whole race and was only beaten a couple lengths. I don't blame Joel at all. The six-furlong straightaway is a weird race. I don't think it was a bad effort.”

The bay horse returned to action in April at Laurel Park, wiring the 5 1/2-furlong King T. Leatherbury over firm footing. With Feargal Lynch up, True Valour set splits of 21.89 and 44.35 en route to a swift score in 1:02.10.

“He surprised me that day that he was so sharp,” Motion said. “I didn't anticipate him being on the lead and he did it so nicely. This is the kind of horse we thought he was.”

Motion said True Valour relishes his work and has trained well into the Jaipur.

“He does not act like an 8-year-old. He loves it. He's very active,” Motion said. “I breezed him a couple weeks ago and I told the crew I was going to give him the weekend off. We gave him the first day off and they came back and told me I could not give him another day off. We had to do something with him because he was just so full of himself. He's a really likeable character.”

True Valour will burst from post 3 under Lynch.

La Marca Stable's Scuttlebuzz [post 8, Javier Castellano], a 5-year-old The Factor gelding, went from claim-to-fame last out with a one-length score in the Elusive Quality on April 30 at Belmont while making his stakes debut in his 17th career start.

Trained by Rudy Rodriguez, Scuttlebuzz was claimed for $30,000 out of a winning effort in April 2021 at Aqueduct and has since posted a record of 9-5-1-1 for current connections.

The grey, who posted a bullet five-eighths work in 1:00.09 on May 26 over Big Sandy, garnered a career-best 101 Beyer for his Elusive Quality score.

Scuttlebuzz, bred in the Empire State by Lawrence Goichman, is out of the stakes-placed Elusive Quality mare Elusive Rumour, who also produced the multiple stakes winner Myhartblongstodady [by Scat Daddy].

Rounding out the field is Filo Di Arianna [post 9, Jose Ortiz], a Group 2 winner in Brazil for Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse; the Rusty Arnold-trained Gear Jockey [post 12, Jose Lezcano], who won the Grade 3 Turf Sprint in September at Kentucky Downs; Gregorian Chant [post 13, Joel Rosario], winner of the Grade 3 San Simeon last year at Santa Anita for conditioner Phil D'Amato; multiple graded-stakes winner Change of Control [post 1, Manny Franco] for trainer Michelle Lovell; the Saffie Joseph, Jr. trained multiple stakes winner Chasing Artie [post 11, John Velazquez]; stakes winner Smokin' Jay [post 10, Junior Alvarado] for conditioner Kelsey Danner; stakes winner Whatmakessammyrun [post 7, Flavien Prat] for trainer Jamie Begg; graded-stakes-placed Omaha City [post 2, Marcos Meneses] to be saddled by Amzadali Jehaludi; and three-time winner Greyes Creek [post 6, Tyler Gaffalione], who adds blinkers for conditioner Paulo Lobo.

Saturday's 13-race card features a first post of 11:20 a.m. Eastern with the Belmont Stakes slated as Race 11 with a post time of 6:44 p.m.

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