September, 2022 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Equibase Analysis: Hot Rod Charlie Primed For Big Effort In Lukas Classic

This Saturday's Grade 2, $500,000 Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs may not be a qualifying race for the Breeders' Cup Classic five weeks from Saturday, but it certainly has implications because the top three contenders may be running in that race depending on their efforts in this one.

Hot Rod Charlie leads the field in career earnings at $5.2 million. The hard trying colt with 12 in-the-money finishes from 15 dirt races in his career just missed second by a head in the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes.

Art Collector has won 10 of 19 career starts and banked $2.3 million. He enters the Lukas Classic off a win in the Grade 2 Charles Town Classic which he also won in 2021.

Happy Saver ($1.1 million) has finished second in three straight top races since returning from a five month layoff in May. The three horses who beat him – Olympiad, Flightline and Life is Good – are all at the top of the Breeders' Cup Classic division.

King Fury has won four of 12 races in his career with three of those wins coming at Churchill Downs including the Bourbon Trail Stakes, at the distance of this race, by 13 lengths last September. He enters this race off a third place finish in August in the Fort Larned Stakes.

Then there's Rich Strike, who shocked the world at 80 to 1 when winning the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby in May. Sixth and fourth since then, Rich Strike is the only 3-year-old in the field and returns to the track which made him famous.

Chess Chief rounds out the sextet which will compete in this race. His last win came in December of last year in the Tenacious Stakes and he has not finished better than third in five races since then.

Win contenders:

Hot Rod Charlie tries every time he races, as he's not been worse than third in 11 of his last 12 races. He's won four of those dozen, and been beaten by inches in another two. Last year Hot Rod Charlie won the Haskell Stakes but was disqualified to seventh for interference. He returned six weeks later to win the Pennsylvania Derby, earning a career best 117 Equibase® Speed Figure with that effort. After a fourth place finish among some of the best in the division in last year's Breeders' Cup Classic, Hot Rod Charlie missed by a nose in California then shipped half way across the world to win the Al Maktoum Challenge and finish second in the $12 million Dubai World Cup. Then, following three months off he was beaten a head in the Salvator Mile Stakes, earning a new career-best 118 figure, which improved to 122 in August when third in the Whitney Stakes. In that race, while no match for one of the fastest horses in North America in Life is Good, Hot Rod Charlie was once again tough as nails in the stretch when battling with Happy Saver and coming up a head short of second to that one. On a pattern for more improvement making his third start off the layoff, Hot Rod Charlie appears set to get back into the winner's circle in the Lukas Classic.

Happy Saver has run against the top three horses in North America on dirt since May, first when he was second to Olympiad in the Alysheba Stakes at Churchill Downs in May, although that effort came following five months off. Next in the Metropolitan Handicap in June, Happy Saver faced division leader Flightline, who will be favored in the Breeders' Cup Classic off his sensational win in the Pacific Classic this summer. Finally in his most recent start, Happy Saver finished second to Life Is Good, another of the best of the best in 2022 on dirt in North America. With none of that trio entered in the Lukas Classic, it is likely betting favoritism will fall to Happy Saver, and considering his last race figure (122 ) is tied for the best by any horse in the field ever, he has every right to succeed.

Art Collector is likely the horse which the other five will have to catch to win as he is the only horse truly comfortable leading from the start. That style resulted in his last two victories in his last two starts. The first of the two came in the Alydar Stakes in August, following five months off. Then Art Collector won the Charles Town Classic for the second year in a row. Although his win in the Charles Town Classic earned a 113 figure well below the 122 earned by Hot Rod Charlie and by Happy Saver in their most recent races, Art Collector earned 121 and 120 figures last summer and fall including a win in the Woodward Stakes on this weekend one year ago, so he could play “come catch me” successfully in this situation.

The rest of the Lukas Classic field, with their best Equibase Figures, is Chess Chief (105), King Fury (108) and Rich Strike (106).

Win Contenders:
Hot Rod Charlie
Happy Saver
Art Collector

Lukas Classic Stakes – Grade 2
Race 10 at Churchill Downs
Saturday, October 1 – Post Time 5:26 PM E.T.
One Mile and One Eighth
Three Year Olds and Upward
Purse: $500,000

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Pick 6 Carryover Of $44,671 For Friday’s Belmont At The Big A Card

Friday's nine-race program at the Belmont at the Big A fall meet will be bolstered by a Pick 6 carryover of $44,671 after Thursday's multi-race wager went unsolved.

The $1 Pick 6 returned $293.50 to bettors who selected 4-of-6 horses correctly.

The sequence began in Race 4 when the Randi Persaud-trained Happy Sophia [No. 1, $24.20] upset a $25,000 claiming tilt for fillies and mares 3-years-old and upward under Mike Luzzi. Race 5 saw 2-year-old New York-bred Canarsie [No. 5, $13.60] graduate on debut under Irad Ortiz, Jr. for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher.

Ortiz, Jr. scored a riding double, guiding graded stakes-placed Kept Waiting [No. 4, $8.30] to an optional claiming victory in Race 6 for conditioner Robert Falcone, Jr. Trainer Christophe Clement sent out Big Everest [No. 1, $7.20] to his third victory this year, taking an optional claimer in Race 7 under Joel Rosario.

The largest price of the sequence came when Jose Ortiz piloted the Jim Ryerson-trained Unbridled Bomber [No. 4, $38.60] to upset an optional claimer in Race 8 and trigger the carryover.

With the carryover already ensured, Shadow Dragon [No. 2, $16.80] rolled home under Junior Alvarado to nab his first career victory just in time in Race 9, a six-furlong state-bred maiden, for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.

Friday's sequence begins in Race 4 at 2:31 p.m. Eastern, and features the $125,000 John Hettinger in Race 7. First post is 1 p.m.

America's Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of every day of Belmont at the Big A on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Belmont at the Big A, and the best way to bet every race of the fall meet. Available to horse players nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.

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Champion Ce Ce Back For More In Sunday’s Chillingworth

She's back for more. Bo Hirsch's brilliant homebred Ce Ce, winner of last year's Grade 3, $100,000 Chillingworth Stakes at Santa Anita, is hoping to take Sunday's edition and repeat a sweep of the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint Nov. 5 at Keeneland.

Named in honor of the late Sherwood C. Chillingworth, a highly respected longtime director and Executive Vice President of the Oak Tree Racing Association, Sunday's Chillingworth has attracted a field of six fillies and mares aged three and up at 6 ½ furlongs.

A 6-year-old mare by Elusive Quality out of the Grade 1 stakes winning Belong to Me mare Miss Houdini, Ce Ce, who is 9-5-2-1 at Santa Anita, should relish a return to The Great Race Place as she tries to regroup following a well beaten fifth-place effort as the 3-2 favorite in the G1 Ballerina Stakes at Saratoga Aug. 28.

A seven-time graded stakes winner, Ce Ce is 21-10-2-4 overall with earnings of $2,297,100. She'll be ridden by Victor Espinoza, who has been aboard in all but two of her lifetime starts.

Although Ce Ce is a likely odds-on favorite, Bob Baffert's Under the Stars, a winner of the G2 Summertime Oaks at Santa Anita two starts back on June 12, will bid for an upset in her first try against older competition.

A non-factor at 8-5 when fifth, beaten 15 ½ lengths by stablemate Midnight Memories in the G3 Torrey Pines Stakes at one mile Sept. 4, look for Under the Stars, who has solid credentials sprinting, to bounce back with a big effort as she cuts back in distance on Sunday.

Owned by Mrs. John Magnier and John Tabor, Under the Stars, a 3-year-old filly by Pioneerof the Nile out of the Storm Cat mare Untouched Talent, is 8-3-1-2 overall.

THE GRADE 3CHILLINGWORTH WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 6 of 10- Approximate post time 3:30 p.m. PT

Teddy's Barino—Mike Smith–124
Under the Stars—Juan Hernandez—122
Ce Ce—Victor Espinoza—126
Cover Version—Ramon Vazquez—122
Scenic Masterpiece—Drayden Van Dyke—118
My Destiny—Emily Ellingwood—122

First post time for a 10-race card that will include three other stakes on Sunday is at 1 p.m.

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Midnight Memories Heads Sunday’s Zenyatta Stakes

Bob Baffert's talented Midnight Memories, a winner of three out of her four starts, heads Sunday's Grade 2, $200,000 Zenyatta Stakes at Santa Anita, an important prep to the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff at Keeneland Nov. 5.

Named for one of racing all-time greats who defeated males here in the 2009 Breeders' Cup Classic, was named 2010 Horse of the Year and garnered a total of four Eclipse Awards in winning 19 out of her 20 lifetime races, the Zenyatta is for fillies and mares three and up at a mile and one sixteenth.

Unraced at two, Midnight Memories was a first-out maiden winner going 6 ½ furlongs here on April 30 and she overcame a troubled start to take a first condition allowance by a neck on June 5. A well beaten third as the 8-5 favorite in a six furlong allowance July 28, she came back in her first try around two turns to post an upset three quarter length win going one mile versus sophomore fillies in the G3 Torrey Pines Stakes at Del Mar Sept. 4.

Owned and bred in Kentucky by Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman, Midnight Memories, who is by Mastery and is out of the Midnight Lute mare Tiz Midnight, has faced older fillies and mares in three out of her four starts.

A 4-year-old filly by Distorted Humor, the Richard Mandella-trained Soothsay was likely in need of her most recent start, a fourth-place finish in the G1 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes going 1 1/16 miles on Aug. 6—her first start in 13 months.

A winner of the G2 Santa Anita Oaks and G3 Indiana Oaks at age three, Soothsay, who is out of the Bernardini mare Spellbound, is owned by Perry Bass II, Ramona Bass, Adele Dilschneider and Waddell Hancock II. With three wins and a second, she'll be ridden back by Mike Smith.

THE GRADE II ZENYATTA WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 4 of 10 – Approximate post time 2:30 p.m. PT

Empire House—Drayden Van Dyke–122
Midnight Memories—Ramon Vazquez—12
Soothsay—Mike Smith—122
Awake At Midnyte—Mario Gutierrez—118
Samurai Charm—Juan Hernandez—122

First post time for a 10-race card that will include three other stakes, is at 1 p.m.

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