Bet to win.
Chepstow 3.22 Camembert Electric – win bet.
Kempton 8.0 Rooful – win bet.
Octobers stats
24 Selections 8 winners 33.33% Strike rate
5 Seconds
3 Thirds
Month: November 2022
Breeders’ Cup Presents The News Minute: Post Position Post-Mortem
“Good draw. We would've been happy with any draw,” Flightline's trainer John Sadler said after post positions were assigned for the $6-million Breeders' Cup Classic and the 13 other championship races to be contested at Keeneland racecourse in Lexington, Ky., on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 4-5.
Flightline drew the No. 4 post and was made the 3-5 morning line favorite in the Grade 1 Classic run at 1 1/4 miles.
“We think at a mile and a quarter you have a good run into the turn to get your position so for him it's just fine,” Sadler added.
But a number of the Breeders' Cup races do not have a long run to the turn, and in today's Breeders' Cup News Minute Ray Paulick outlines some of those challenges, including the G1 Dirt Mile and the two G1 dirt races for 2-year-olds on Friday, the Juvenile and Juvenile Fillies, run at 1 1/16 miles. All three of those races also have a shorter stretch run, with the finish line at the sixteenth pole. Outside posts are disadvantageous in those three dirt races, as well as one-mile turf contests.
Watch today's News Minute, below.
The post Breeders’ Cup Presents The News Minute: Post Position Post-Mortem appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Aga Khan Draft Highlights Goffs Horses-In-Training Sale
The Aga Khan draft, always incredibly popular at the Goffs Autumn Horses In Training Sale, may have been down on numbers but captured the imagination once again with the 77-rated Karakoul (Ire) (Fast Company {Ire}) (lot 97) selling to Mohamed H K Al Attiyah for €72,000.
That made Karakoul, trained by Johnny Murtagh, the joint top lot of the sale, as fellow maiden Midnight Toker (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) (lot 137) was sold to Marco Bozzi to continue his career in Italy.
Midnight Toker carried Peter Brant's double green silks to place in five of his seven starts for Ger Lyons and, with a rating of 83, the juvenile boasted an attractive level of form without managing to win.
As did Karakoul, notably when running Piz Badile (Ire) (Ulysses {Ire}) close in a Killarney maiden last year and Tom Taaffe, acting on behalf of the Qatari buyers, signed for the Aga Khan gelding.
He said, “He's been bought to go to Qatar for Mohamed Al Attiyah. He liked the horse's pedigree and his form and I liked the horse when I saw him this morning. He has a nice profile for Qatar.”
Late in the session, Bozzi swooped for The Castlebridge Consignment's Midnight Toker, a horse he thinks can do well in Italy.
He said, “We like this horse a lot and have followed him all season. We think he can mature and race well in Italy. He has a very good pedigree and will go into training with Giovanni Colella in Rome for the former owner of (Group 1-winning filly) Grand Glory (GB) (Olympic Glory {Ire}).”
As well as supplying Karakoul, the Aga Khan and Johnny Murtagh offered Shajak (Ire) (Zarak {Fr}), who was knocked down to Tom Malone and Aidan O'Ryan for €52,000.
“He's a very nice horse and he's one that we've had our eye on for some time,” Malone said. “You'd like what he has done on the track so far and I thought he wasn't bad value relative to the horse we hope he could develop into over hurdles. He's going to be going to Gordon Elliott.”
The Aga Khan's third and final offering, Riyami (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) (lot 140), trained by Michael Halford, was snapped up by Denis Hogan for €30,000.
The aggregate of just under €1.4m was up 7% on last year despite the fact there were two six-figure lots in 2021. The average of €16,679 was 24% ahead on last year's figure while the median jumped from €8,000 to €11,000 (+38%). There was also an improvement in the clearance rate which went from 78% to 84%.
Goffs CEO Henry Beeby said, “Although not our biggest or most prestigious sale in the calendar, today's HIT sale fulfills an important need in the market by providing a viable outlet for Horses-In-Training in Ireland. As the forerunner to our big two-day Autumn Yearling Sale, we attract a large and diverse international crowd, and it is fair to say that we would like to grow the catalogue as we consistently deliver for the horses presented. Indeed, this is a low cost, convenient option for Irish owners and trainers when compared to the alternative and benefits from the unique contribution of Irish Thoroughbred Marketing and our network of proactive international agents.”
He added, “We are grateful for the support we receive but can do so much more as is the case in every other category each year. A look at today's buyers list sees horses knocked down to successful bidders from across Eastern Europe, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, the Gulf Region as well as the UK and domestically, and a buoyant trade from start to finish as we continue to exceed expectations. Despite a smaller catalogue every metric has improved headed by an impressive 84% clearance rate and big rises in average and median price. For the next two days we turn our attention to yearlings and our Autumn Yearling Sale that is once again packed full of potential and value.”
The post Aga Khan Draft Highlights Goffs Horses-In-Training Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
‘I Tell Her That I Love Her Before And After Every Race’: Moira, Devoted Groom Take On World Championships
Whenever the doting groom and the bay filly are together, time seems to always stand still.
It's a scene that plays out nearly every evening at Barn 28 on the Woodbine backstretch, the one that starts with Peter Lopez pulling into trainer Kevin Attard's barn and then listening for the familiar sound emanating from the shed row.
The multiple stakes winner, the one set to take the Breeders' Cup stage, knows he is here for her.
“Every night, around 7:30, I come to take Moira to the grass outside of the barn and she is so happy to see me,” said Lopez. “I can tell she is waiting for me. But I am just as happy to see her. Whenever I come to see her at that time, she pokes her head out of her stall and nickers.”
Lopez then gently guides the daughter of Ghostzapper to a patch of grass just a stone's throw from her stall, where the two will stand for the next 30 minutes or so.
But there are times, more often than not, when the pair is out there longer.
One look from this year's Queen's Plate winner is enough to make Lopez stay put, and happily so.
“All she wants to do is eat her grass. As much as she can. Sometimes, she doesn't want to go back in her stall. I'll say, 'Okay, Moira, it's time to go back now.' She'll walk about two yards and look at me as if she's saying, 'No, I don't walk to go in yet. Let's stay a bit longer.' When she gives me that look, I just can't say no to her. I could stay out there all night with her. She loves me and I love her. When I go to the barn at night, she's looking for me and I can't wait to see her so we can spend some time together, maybe about half an hour to 45 minutes. I love it. When she lowers her head and eats the grass, she's so happy. I love to see that because I know she's happy.”
Moira, bred in Ontario by Adena Springs, has made plenty of others happy over her six-race career, including her connections and the legion of fans she has attracted along the way.
Owned by X-Men Racing, Madaket Stables and SF Racing, Moira was a $150,000 yearling purchase by X-Men's Donato Lanni from Hidden Brook's consignment to the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
She won her debut last October when she took the Princess Elizabeth Stakes at Woodbine by 4 ¼ lengths and closed the curtain on her rookie season with a solid second in the Mazarine Stakes. She launched her 3-year-old campaign in June with a gutsy head victory in the Stella Artois Fury Stakes, prior to an outstanding 10 ¾-length triumph in the Woodbine Oaks Presented by Budweiser on July 24.
The victory was even more impressive considering what happened prior to Moira reaching the racetrack when she had to have her hind shoes removed after she acted up in the walking ring, nearly twisting both shoes off her feet.
“We're trying to work on her antics,” Attard noted in the lead-up to the Queen's Plate. “She always schools pretty decently. Obviously on race day, it is a bit of a different story.”
Just as it is on the Woodbine backstretch.
“She does have two personalities,” offered Lopez. “She can get a little excited after the races, like in the winner's circle, but in the barn, she's very quiet. She's one of the quietest horses in the barn. When you are walking her, she puts her head down and you can lead her to where she needs to be, and she doesn't do a thing. She's a sweetheart.”
Three weeks after her mighty Oaks performance, Moira loaded in the gate for the 163rd running of the Queen's Plate. Sent on her way as the 9-5 second choice in the betting, Moira was positioned mid-pack along the backstretch in the 1 ¼-mile classic before gliding up on the far turn and breezing past her rivals en route to a seven-length score. She also set a track record for the distance of 2:01.48 on the Tapeta.
“The only race I was actually very nervous was the Plate,” recalled Lopez of the performance that gave Attard his first victory in the “Gallop for the Guineas.” “The other races, I was okay. When she was coming down the stretch in the Plate, I think that was the only race where I was screaming. After the race, I said, 'I love you.' She gives her heart every time and when I watch her, she makes me smile. I tell her that I love her before and after every race.”
A troubled trip in the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes at Woodbine on October 8 resulted in Moira being demoted from second to seventh.
Now, Moira will test her mettle against a tough group in the $2 million Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf, traversing two turns in the 1 3/16-mile Grade 1 event on Saturday at Keeneland.
Lopez knows she'll be ready for the challenge.
“I love everything about her, to be honest. The way she carries herself, the way she competes… I just love everything about her. She is always a force when she runs, and I know that she will give it her all at the Breeders' Cup.”
“You can see the bond the two of them share,” Attard shared. “I wish people could see that, the love and care the grooms have for the horses. The work they put in is one thing, but the genuine love they have for the horses is amazing.”
In the days before she departed for her date in the Filly & Mare Turf, Moira was quietly standing on the green grass of home, head down, enjoying the moments spent with her devoted companion.
Time is of no concern for those when it comes to the queen of the Attard barn, whether it's grazing or doing anything else for that matter.
“Of course she knows that she's special,” said Lopez with a smile. “She's spoiled, and she loves it too.”
Her groom is always happy to oblige.
“I love her. To be honest, I love her. I don't know any other way to say it, but I know that's how I feel.”
The post ‘I Tell Her That I Love Her Before And After Every Race’: Moira, Devoted Groom Take On World Championships appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
