October, 2022 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Evvie Jets Could Give Kantarmaci First Graded Win In Saturday’s Noble Damsel

Robert Amendola's Evvie Jets will look to make the grade in Saturday's Grade 3, $150,000 Noble Damsel, a one-mile inner turf test for fillies and mares 3-year-olds and upward, at the Belmont at the Big A fall meet.

The 4-year-old Twirling Candy bay nearly gave trainer Mertkan Kantarmaci his first graded win in his first attempt with a pacesetting neck loss here to Love And Thunder last out on September 24 in the nine-furlong Grade 3 Athenia.

Evvie Jets, with returning pilot Eric Cancel up, set splits of 24.35 seconds and 51.10 over firm going in the Athenia, opening up a 2 1/2-length lead at the stretch call but could not hold off the rallying Chad Brown-trained favorite, who closed from last-of-5. Evvie Jets' game runner-up effort garnered a career-best 91 Beyer Speed Figure.

The 31-year-old Kantarmaci, who has surpassed the $1 million mark in purse earnings in each season since 2019, said he was pleased with the effort from Evvie Jets in her stakes debut.

“She ran really good last time. She always runs well. We believe in her and she always gives everything,” said Kantarmaci, whose lone stakes win came with Turco Bravo in the 2019 Stud Muffin at Aqueduct. “It felt good to finish second in my first graded stake, finishing second to Chad Brown who is the top trainer right now on the grass. Hopefully, we are looking forward to a win this Saturday.”

Evvie Jets was haltered last September for $80,000 from her seventh career start where she lost by a nose in a one-mile optional-claiming tilt at Belmont Park. She has since posted a record of 8-2-4-0 for current connections, including one-mile turf scores in a November allowance with a stalking trip at the Big A and a closing effort in an optional-claimer in July at Belmont.

Her lone off-the-board efforts for Kantarmaci came in an off-the-turf allowance in November at the Big A and a close fourth in her seasonal debut in May at Belmont in a turf allowance won by Love And Thunder.

“If you throw out the dirt race, in all of her races she has run well and been successful,” Kantarmaci said. “On the grass from a mile to a mile and an eighth, she is really good.”

Kantarmaci said Amendola brought the filly to his attention. A $75,000 purchase at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Evvie Jets is out of the Consolidator mare Natchez Trace, who is a half-sister to stakes-winner Perfectly Clear.

“Mr. Amendola liked her form and when I saw her, she was so muscled and so dappled when we claimed her last year. She's a young horse and she was fresh,” explained Kantarmaci.

Kantarmaci said Evvie Jets is capable of any number of trips, but will leave strategy in the hands of Cancel, who has ridden the filly in each of her last six starts.

“She can do both on the lead, stalking or off the pace. It depends on the shape of the race,” Kantarmaci said. “Sometimes, she wants to be sharp and we can't play too much with her. We don't want her to be upset, so whatever she wants to do. She's the same way in the morning.”

Cancel, who won the Grade 3 Matron with American Apple here earlier this month, retains the mount from post 3.

Trainer Christophe Clement saddles a strong pair of contenders in Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables and Michael J. Caruso's graded stakes winner Plum Ali [post 2, Manny Franco] and Blue Devil Racing Stable's five-time winner Messidor [post 4, Javier Castellano].

Clement shares the Noble Damsel win record of five with Chad Brown and will look to secure the feat outright by adding to past winners Khumba Mela [1999], Bright Abundance [2005], Rutherienne [2009], Naples Bay [2012] and Annecdote [2014].

“They're both doing great. I'm really excited to see both of them run. It's a fun race,” Clement said.

Plum Ali, a 4-year-old First Samurai chestnut, boasts a record of 16-5-3-1 for purse earnings of $787,042. She won 3-of-4 starts as a 2-year-old in 2020, taking the Grade 2 Miss Grillo at Belmont ahead of a close fifth in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Keeneland.

Plum Ali utilized a closing style in her first four starts last season, rallying from last-of-9 to finish second to Con Lima in her seasonal debut in the Grade 3 Wonder Again at Belmont. She closed out that campaign in November with a frontrunning score in the Winter Memories traveling 1 1/16-miles over good going at the Big A.

Plum Ali was off-the-board in her first two starts this year, finishing seventh in the Grade 3 Beaugay in May at Belmont and fourth in the Grade 2 Nassau in July at Woodbine.

But she showed renewed form when second in both of her most recent outings, dropped in class with stalking trips in the restricted one-mile Fasig-Tipton De La Rose at Saratoga Race Couse and the nine-furlong All Along last out on September 10 at Pimlico where she could not reel in gate-to-wire winner In a Hurry.

“I think she is doing very, very well in the fall,” Clement said. “I'm still puzzled why she got beat last time because she was training so well. She looked like she would win the race, but she was second.”

Messidor, a 4-year-old Vadamos bay, won a pair of races as a 2-year-old in her native Ireland for her former conditioner Joseph O'Brien. She was transferred to Clement's care after finishing seventh in last year's Grade 3 Saratoga Oaks Invitational and has since won a trio of turf starts against winners, taking a six-furlong sprint in November at the Big A, a seven-furlong sprint in June at Belmont and a one-mile tilt last out on July 27 at the Spa.

Clement said he has waited to find a spot for Messidor going one mile.

“She's improving all along,” Clement said. “I think she's ideally a seven-eighths to a mile horse. We either had to sprint her or run her at a mile and a sixteenth or eighth, and I didn't want to [do either], so that's the way it is.”

Sanford J. Goldfarb, Irwin Goldfarb and Nice Guys Stables' graded stakes-placed Kept Waiting [post 1, Irad Ortiz, Jr.] scratched out of Sunday's $150,000 Floral Park at six furlongs on the outer turf in favor of this spot.

“She seems like she would be [able to get the distance],” trainer Robert Falcone, Jr. said. “If there's speed in the race, she can sit comfortably and be fine. She should be OK with the same closing kick, hopefully. We just have to hope for a little pace and hope she can get the mile.”

Kept Waiting enters from a rallying three-quarter length score in a six-furlong outer turf sprint on September 29 at the Belmont at the Big A fall meet.

The 5-year-old New York-bred daughter of Broken Vow enjoyed a solid run of form at the Big A this winter, taking a six-furlong state-bred outer turf allowance by five lengths in December. She followed in February with a state-bred score in the Broadway over a sloppy and sealed main track, ahead of a runner-up effort in the Grade 3 Distaff Handicap in April contested on a fast main track.

The versatile Kept Waiting, bred by John Lauriello, has posted 4-of-6 wins on turf while banking $382,350 through a career ledger of 16-6-4-2.

Rounding out the field is Fano Racing's stakes-winner Por Que No [post 5, Abner Adorno] for conditioner Tyler Servis. The 4-year-old Wicked Strong bay captured the 1 1/16-mile Boiling Springs last June at Monmouth Park to close out a solid run of form that saw her win 5-of-6 starts from January 2021.

Por Que No has finished off-the-board in each of her five starts since the Boiling Springs, entering from a prominent fourth in a 1 1/16-mile optional-claimer on August 31 at Colonial.

The Noble Damsel is slated as Race 3 on Saturday's 10-race card, which also features the Grade 2, $300,000 Hill Prince in Race 7. First post is 12:35 p.m. Eastern.

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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Bell’s The One To Skip Breeders’ Cup Filly And Mare Sprint

Grade 1 winner Bell's the One will bypass the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on Saturday, Nov. 5 at Keeneland, and she will instead go straight to the Fasig-Tipton November Sale, Thoroughbred Daily News reports.

“She had a minor setback that will prevent us from running,” trainer Neil Pessin told the TDN. “I've always said that if she's not 100 percent, we're not going. She could be 95 percent or 99 percent, but we're not taking that chance with her. It's just a timing thing. If we had three more weeks we would probably be able to run, but she has done right by me for five years so I've got to do right by her for this race. But she earned her right to be there.”

Pessin said the 6-year-old Majesticperfection mare remains in light training at his Churchill Downs barn, in part to keep her looking in shape for the sale on Nov. 6.

Owned by Lothenbach Stables, Inc., Bell's the One has won 13 of 27 starts for earnings of $2,000,675. She would have entered the Breeders' Cup on a two-race winning streak at Churchill Downs, taking the Lady Tak Stakes on Aug. 13 and the listed Open Mind Stakes on Sept. 17.

Her accomplished sprinting career has included five graded stakes wins, including the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff Stakes at Churchill Downs in 2021.

The Oft-Maligned Macrophage, And What It Could Do For Equine Osteoarthritis

If you ever took a high school biology class, or if you're a horseman used to hearing a veterinarian review bloodwork, you may be familiar with macrophages or monocytes – and chances are, you think of them as bearers of bad news.

Recent studies on these cells found that the oft-maligned macrophages are vital for joint health and may provide the key to the treatment of joint disease in horses, according to Dr. Bruno Menarim, a researcher in the Gluck Equine Research Center's Musculoskeletal System Lab, that have dedicated several years to this field.

Macrophages are cells which are often abundant in inflamed areas. For a long time, we knew that macrophage-like cells existed in the healthy synovial (joint) membrane, but aside from signaling a problem and “cleaning the joint,” scientists weren't sure they did anything productive. We even thought, mistakenly, that they were causing problems. Now, Menarim says, we know that they are the source of key molecules for adequate joint function and cartilage metabolism.

When he began his research career, Menarim was focused on how the cells that emerge from “carving” the bone under the damaged cartilage improved healing of cartilage defects. He was surprised to discover that when these cells emerging from that bone marrow gained contact with the viscous synovial fluid in the joint, over 70% became macrophages. Even more interestingly, the number of macrophages was four times higher if the synovial fluid was inflamed.

Menarim began questioning about what macrophages do in joints, particularly arthritic joints, and how learning about it could improve joint therapy.

“Some research groups had shown that if you deplete macrophages from inflamed joints there was a dramatic clinical improvement,” he said. “So, they thought they had a treatment for arthritis.”

It didn't take long however for researchers to realize that in fact when they removed macrophages from an inflamed joint, clinical signs may temporarily improve but the progress of the arthritis hastened. The removal of joint macrophages also eliminated macrophage-derived molecules that were key for cartilage and overall joint maintenance.

“Right there was clear evidence that we should better understand the roles of macrophages in joint function and harness them as treatment,” said Menarim.

Macrophages live in all types of tissue – skin, brain, bone, lungs, etc. They stick around as sentinels, guarding tissue integrity and take fast action if something goes wrong. When the body detects damage, they flood the area to counteract aggressors and provide a protective shield around damaged tissues inside the body, like a skin wound scab, under which they orchestrate tissue repair. They are essential to drive proper healing and resolve inflammation. When macrophages are overwhelmed by the task at hand, they stimulate more inflammation to help recruit more healing molecules to the area – that's why you'll see their numbers increase as an injury flares. Without macrophages, an injury can't heal properly and may only form a dysfunctional scar or set the stage for chronic inflammation.

Menarim and collaborators found that macrophages in arthritic joints have lost some of their normal ability to do housekeeping functions that are essential to resolve inflammation – which makes sense, since osteoarthritis is a condition derived from chronic inflammation. He also found that collecting macrophages from the bone marrow and injecting them in either acute or chronically inflamed joints dramatically helped the inflammation resolve, while joints that did not receive macrophages remained inflamed.

Upon further study, the researchers identified several mechanisms by which these macrophages produced such remarkable effect. With support from the University of Kentucky and several industry stakeholders, Dr. Menarim and collaborators are now working on synthetic molecules to mimic the response of macrophages to reproduce those outstanding results.

His goal is to create an off-the-shelf product that veterinarians could use to do a better job of addressing the root causes of the inflammation leading to osteoarthritis – ineffective inflammation resolution. Therapies promoting inflammation resolution can produce clinical results comparable to that from corticosteroids, but without the side effects.

“Inflammation resolution and anti-inflammation are two very different things,” Menarim said. “Inflammation resolution is not a passive termination of inflammation; it's an active phenomenon that is built by macrophages in the joint, which use some byproducts of the inflammatory response to resolve inflammation.

“Anti-inflammation is simply blocking a pro-inflammatory response. That's what anti-inflammatories do. If we use an anti-inflammatory and block that pro-inflammatory response, we are also blocking the production of building blocks of a resolution response. And often that predisposes to chronic inflammation.”

Anything that could reduce the reliance on anti-inflammatory drugs could prove beneficial for equine welfare and the horse industry long-term. A product designed to do the work of macrophages could also treat the root causes of some inflammatory conditions instead of simply treating symptoms.

Menarim is keen to emphasize that such a product could meet important needs in the current equine veterinary landscape and could become a powerful tool in a veterinarian's toolbox when dealing with chronic inflammation.

“It won't be the magic cure for every problem or every horse. We've also got a while to wait for it as the science behind of it is being refined” he said.

Think of the maligned macrophage as a soldier fighting a war on inflammation. Instead of stunting their progress, it may be better to work with them.

“If you strengthen your army, it will perform better, and you might win the war,” he said.

Learn more about this research in the World Journal of Stem Cells

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Belmont Stakes Winner Sir Winston Retired To Crestwood Farm

Sir Winston, a classic winning millionaire by Awesome Again has been retired from racing and will stand stud next year at Pope McLean's Crestwood Farm.

A Tracy Farmer homebred, Sir Winston, is out of the Grade-3 winning and Grade-1 placed mare La Gran Bailadora. Tracy Farmer said, “Sir Winston showed us incredible talent right from the start and we think his progeny will do the same. We will be supporting him both with mares in the breeding shed as well as in the sales ring down the road.”

Sir Winston was a precocious stakes winner as a 2-year-old, and at the age of three, Sir Winston won the Belmont Stakes defeating Preakness States winner, War of Will, multiple Grade 2-winning Tacitus, and Grade 2 winner Tax. Prior to the Belmont victory, Sir Winston was second in the Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park to eventual Grade 1 winner Global Campaign.

At the ages of four and five, Sir Winston went on to either win or place in four stakes, including a victory in the G3 Valedictory Stakes. Sir Winston retires sound as a Grade 1 winner with six wins from 20 starts with earnings of $1,277,623.

Sir Winston was campaigned his entire career by noted conditioner Mark Casse. Casse said, “Sir Winston was pure class. He had as good a mind of any horse I have ever trained. He showed a lot of talent right from the start, which is why he was a stakes winner at two, classic winner at three, and trained on to win graded stakes as an older horse.”

Pope McLean said, “we are thrilled to add Belmont winner Sir Winston to our stallion roster. Sir Winston is a phenomenal physical; he's 16.2, correct and a classic-type, with a lot of length and scope. He is also by elite sire Awesome Again, sire of Ghostzapper, 15 Grade 1 winners, and multiple champions. We think breeders will be impressed with his physical, his classic race record and his pedigree.”

His fee will be $7,500 Live Foal Stands and Nurse. Share the Upside will be available.

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