Robin Goodfellow’s racing tips: Best bets for Tuesday, August 16
Sportsmail's racing expert Robin Goodfellow delivers his tips for Tuesday's meetings at Kempton, Hamilton, Chelmsford City and Wolverhampton.
Month: August 2022
‘Best Feeling In The World’: Venezuelan Transplant Carlos Rojas Making An Impact At Monmouth
Jockey Carlos Rojas wasn't a typical newcomer when he rode his first race in the United States on May 22 at Monmouth Park. The 28-year-old from Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela, had already won more than 500 races in his native country – including all of the classics there – and had been the leading apprentice.
That experience showed immediately when Rojas won with just his third career mount in the U.S.
“This is where the best racing is,” said Rojas, who the opening race on Monday's Monmouth Park card aboard Completed Storm for leading trainer Claudio Gonzalez. “I always wanted to come to the United States to ride and I finally got the chance. But I wanted to make sure I was prepared when I came here.”
With a boost from trainers Jose Camejo and Juan Carlos Avila, as well as jockey Javier Castellano, whom he befriended, Rojas took his leap of faith. He has not regretted a day of it, he said, making his presence felt with 10 wins, 10 seconds and 11 thirds from 74 mounts at the Monmouth Park meet.
“The best feeling in the world was my first win here (aboard Steadytillready on June 4),” said Rojas, who had his second two-winner day of the meet last Saturday. “It's everything you work for. I can't describe the feeling of winning that first race in the United States. This is just the start for me. I am trying to learn something new every day. I want to keep improving. There are a lot of good jockeys to learn from here.”
Rojas, who once had a six-winner day in Venezuela, said he finally feels comfortable, with his recent success bolstering his confidence.
“I did not know what to expect when I came here,” he said. “I am very happy with the way things are going.”
Rojas hasn't firmed up his plans yet for after the Monmouth Park meet, but he is considering the Fair Grounds, where Camejo is based.
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Star De Naskra, Smoke Glacken Inducted Into Maryland Thoroughbred Hall Of Fame
Speed was the name of the game for the two horses selected for induction into the Maryland-bred Thoroughbred Hall of Fame in 2022. Eclipse Award-winning sprinters Star de Naskra and Smoke Glacken are the newest inductees after a vote by a committee of Maryland racing industry members coordinated by the Maryland Horse Breeders Association and Maryland Racing Media Association.
“It's a testament to the quality of Maryland-breds over the years that the 30th and 31st horses in our Hall of Fame were both Eclipse Award-winning sprinters,” said Maryland Racing Media Association president Frank Vespe. “Star de Naskra and Smoke Glacken both tackled and often defeated the best of their generation, and they are truly deserving of this recognition.”
Star de Naskra earned national championship honors as a 4-year-old in 1979, the year he won six of 10 starts (and was disqualified from first in another), including the Whitney and Bold Ruler Stakes, and Cornhusker and Carter Handicaps, the latter while defeating Alydar. In a 36-start career from 2 to 4, he won 15 races, eight stakes, and finished worse than fourth only three times.
Trained throughout his career by Dick Ferris, Star de Naskra was campaigned by his breeder, Carlyle “Jiggs” Lancaster, until early in the 1979 season when Lancaster sold a half-interest to William duPont III's Pillar Stud in Lexington, Ky. The son of Naskra—Candle Star, by Clandestine, earned $587,391 before an injury following a fourth-place finish in the 1979 Grade 1 Vosburgh forced his retirement. He was named Maryland-bred Horse of the Year and Maryland-bred champion older male in 1979.
Smoke Glacken took home his Eclipse Award 18 years later, after a 3-year-old season in 1997 in which he captured six of eight starts, all by daylight margins. He wrapped up a championship with wins in his final three starts – the Grade 3 Riva Ridge at Belmont Park, Grade 3 Jersey Shore at Monmouth and Grade 2 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash Stakes at Laurel, the latter facing older runners for the first time. A Grade 1 winner at 2 in Saratoga's Hopeful Stakes, which he won by nine lengths, the son of Two Punch out of the Magesterial mare Majesty's Crown was Maryland-bred Horse of the Year at 3 and a two-time divisional champion. He retired with 10 wins, nine in stakes, two seconds and a third and earnings of $759,560 in 14 starts in a racing career which lasted just over a year.
Trained by Henry L. Carroll, who picked the colt out of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May sale for $65,000, he raced for the partnership of Alex Karkenny, William Roberts and Robert Levy. His breeder, Perry M. Rosebrock, had sold the colt as a weanling at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic December sale for $14,700.
“With the Maryland Thoroughbred Hall of Fame inductees each year we are able to shine a light on important Maryland-bred horses. This year two Eclipse Award-winning Champion Sprinters have been selected,” said Cricket Goodall, executive director of the Maryland Horse Breeders Association, “and it is a chance for many to learn about these horses and their connections. We congratulate them!”
This year's inductees will be celebrated during a ceremony between races at Timonium on Saturday, Sept. 3.
Under the collaboration of the Maryland Horse Breeders Association and Maryland Racing Media Association, the Hall of Fame was initiated in 2013 as a means of celebrating the excellence of state-bred Thoroughbred horses and debuted with an inaugural class of 12. There are now 31 members. Smoke Glacken and Star de Naskra join MTHOF members Awad, Broad Brush, Caesar's Wish, Challedon, Cigar, Concern, Conniver, Dave's Friend, Deputed Testamony, Devil's Bag, El Gran Senor, Find, Gallorette, Heavenly Cause, Jameela, J. O. Tobin, Kauai King, Little Bold John, Politely, Safely Kept, Social Outcast, Twixt, Vertex, What a Summer and Youth and steeplechasers Elkridge, Good Night Shirt, Jay Trump and Tuscalee.
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Graded Stakes Winner Bandua Breaks His Maiden Over Hurdles At Colonial
Michael Smith's Bandua, a graded stakes winner of $360,000 on the flat, broke his maiden over hurdles in his second try, taking Monday's $40,000 special weight contest at Colonial Downs by two lengths over William Russell's Seismic Wave.
With Jamie Bargary riding for trainer Neil Morris, Bandua sat off the pace in the tightly bunched field of nine for most of the 2 1/4 miles, as T and C Stables and JoAnne Morris' Ahnaf, Holwood Stable's Quality Choice, and Blythe Miller Davies' Brave Deacon occupied the top three spots until entering the far turn the final time around.
With about a quarter mile to go, Bargary split horses and spurted off to a lead of about three lengths, and maintained that advantage with three-sixteenths to go. At that point, Bargary took a peak behind him as Seismic Wave, under Barry Foley, closed stoutly for second. Ashwell Stable's Honor Up was third.
The win for Bandua, a 7-year-old Kentucky-bred son of The Factor, added a new accolade to his resume. On the flat when conditioned by Jack Sisterson, Bandua won the 2019 edition of the Grade 3 Arlington Handicap, ran second in the G2 Fairgrounds Handicap in 2019, and third in the 2019 edition of the G1 Arlington Million. Earlier in his career, when trained by Ireland's Dermot Weld, Bandua ran third (at 40-1) in the G1 Secretariat Stakes in 2018.
Jockey Jamie Bargary picked up his second and third victories of 2022 by taking both of today's hurdle races at Colonial Downs in New Kent, Va.
After scoring in the opener by two lengths with Michael Smith's Bandua, Bargary romped by 13 with Daniel Denefrio's Fightinirishtabit in the $30,000 handicap for horses rated at 110 or less at 2 1/4 miles.
Bargary had Fightinirishtabit, a seven-year-old son of Tiznow trained by Ricky Hendriks, on the lead from the get-go in the field of four. And that field was rendered even smaller with Atlantic Friends Racing's Peat Moss, with Parker Hendriks up, was a faller heading over the jump in front of the grandstand the first time around.
For much of the race, Fightinirishtabit was stalked closely by Shamrock & Thistle's Make A Stand (Graham Watters), and the pair raced as a team up the backside the final time.
With a pair of jumps to go, QR Stables' Criticize, ridden by Harrison Beswick, made his move inside of Fightinirishtabit, and looked like he might run away with the race.
But that's when Fightinirishtabit showed he had plenty left in the tank, though it was still a dogfight as the trio battled for supremacy entering the far turn.
It didn't take long, however, for Fightinirishtabit to draw clear. He extended his advantage to eight lengths, then to more than a dozen while being eased up at the wire. Make A Stand finished second, while Criticize was third.
For Fightinirishtabit, who has straddled both the flat and steeplechase racing circuits, it was his first victory over jumps since breaking his maiden at Charleston in 2019.
The replay of both races can be watched here: https://youtu.be/
Full results can be found here: https://
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