Month: August 2022

Del Mar, the graveyard of favorites.

Actually, that's Saratoga's claim to fame but for at least one race Saturday the moniker applied to the seaside oval. Pozo de Luna's Blue Stripe came rolling down the lane, cruising past 4-5 favorite Shedaresthedevil to win the Clement L. Hirsch (G1) and a berth in the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1).

Trainer Marcelo Polanco said Sunday morning his mare came out of the race in good order.

“She looked good,” Polanco said. “She was very alert this morning.”

As for the celebration Saturday night, Polanco said he was too busy to party.

“My phone didn't stop ringing for hours,” the smiling trainer said. “People from South America, people from around here…texting and calling…it was kind of a freaky night.”

Polanco says a decision about Blue Stripe's future is pending.

“We haven't talked to the connections,” Polanco said. “I don't want to say anything, but I think we're just going to wait for that (the Breeders' Cup) because she's run good fresh. But the decision has not been made yet.”

The Clement Hirsch victory was Polanco's third Grade 1 win in his career. He took the 2003 La Brea and 2004 Santa Monica with Island Fashion, but he says the Hirsch may his favorite.

“This is unbelievable,” Polanco says. “It was a tough race, good fillies, at Del Mar, Grade 1, just unbelievable.”

Trainer Phil D'Amato was just as happy with his horse, H & E Ranch's Desert Dawn, who headed Shedaresthedevil on the wire for second place.

“She came out of the race really well,” D'Amato said Sunday. “She ran against older for the first time and I thought she held her own and ran a valiant second. She nodded a real nice filly in Shedaresthedevil. We're proud of her.”

D'Amato has no immediate plans for Desert Dawn, who won the Santa Anita Oaks (G2) earlier this year, but he's eager for her future.

“I think this filly is going to continue to mature,” D'Amato stated. “I look forward to running her one or two more times this year and save some for next year.”

D'Amato says the Breeders' Cup is not necessarily in the plans at this time.

“It's a possibility,” D'Amato said, “but it's not something we need to get to. Definitely I think that will be our goal next year when she turns four and with a little more experience under her belt.”

The beaten favorite, Flurry Racing Stable, et al.'s Shedaresthedevil came out of the race no worse for wear.

“She came out of the race good,” assistant trainer Marcelo Aquinde said Sunday morning. “She's always been a quiet filly. We scoped her and she was clean so she'll be ready next time.”

Trainer Brad Cox will ship Shedaresthedevil back to Churchill Downs Tuesday and make a decision where she will run next.

The post Clement L. Hirsch Winner Blue Stripe Could Train Up To Breeders’ Cup Distaff appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

When CHC Inc. and WinStar Farm's Life Is Good crossed the finish line two lengths the best in Saturday's 95th running of the, $1 million Whitney (G1) at Saratoga Race Course, it marked the fourth time Hall of Fame conditioner Todd Pletcher was awarded the trophy for the historic nine-furlong event for older horses.

Looking back on past wins with Left Bank [2002], Lawyer Ron [2007], and Cross Traffic [2013], Pletcher acknowledged how difficult it is to find the winner's circle in the Whitney, noting the duality between the two heartbreaking losses he suffered when second with Quality Road in 2010 and Liam's Map in 2015, and the highest honors he achieved with his four victors.

“It feels great [to win again]. We've been fortunate to win four now and I would say two of the toughest beats we have ever taken were in the Whitney, too, with Quality Road and Liam's Map,” Pletcher said. “So, we never take for granted how hard they are to win.”

Life Is Good, a son of Into Mischief, continues to prove his place as the leader of the older male division, building upon a victory in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) to kick off his 4-year-old campaign in January at Gulfstream Park and a runaway score in the John A. Nerud (G2) as his final race before the Whitney on July 2 at Belmont Park.

He found Whitney glory with his usual front-running tactics, breaking sharply from the outermost post 5 under Irad Ortiz Jr. and making every step towards the finish a winning one. He completed the nine furlongs in 1:48.97 and was awarded a 107 Beyer Speed Figure, his eighth consecutive triple-digit figure.

Pletcher said Life Is Good's class not only allows him to excel on the racetrack, but to do so despite difficult factors like the ones he faced yesterday with the main track rated as good and harrowed, and temperatures in the low 90s with high humidity.

“He's a super special horse. He's so consistent not only in his races, but in his daily routine. He's eager to please every day,” Pletcher said. “I was concerned about all of those variables, and we got a downpour that I kind of didn't know what condition that would leave the track in. Then it got real steamy and humid and super hot. The track all meet has been super challenging, but he was able to overcome it all.”

With his Whitney victory, Life Is Good has received a berth to the $6 million Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) on November 5 at Keeneland. Should he run in the Classic and not in the Dirt Mile to defend his 2021 title, it would be the second time Life Is Good has raced at the 1 1/4-mile distance, his first try a weakening fourth in the Dubai World Cup (G1) in March at Meydan Racecourse in his lone off-the-board finish through 10 starts.

Pletcher said he expects Life Is Good to handle stretching out again after his strong performance in the Whitney.

“I think yesterday was kind of the race that was going to tell us which direction to go, and I think based on that, we'd be looking at the Classic,” said Pletcher.

It is possible that Life Is Good could get one more start before the Breeders' Cup with Pletcher not completely ruling out an engagement in the $500,000 Woodward (G1) on October 1 during the Belmont at the Big A fall meet.

The post Pletcher: Whitney Winner Life Is Good Possible For Woodward, Breeders’ Cup Classic appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post