January, 2023 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Red Knight Gives Maker Fifth McKnight Win, Leads Stable’s 1-2-3 Sweep Of Turf Marathon

Trainer Mike Maker managed to top his previous four victories in the $150,000 William L. McKnight (G3) presented by Davidoff Cigars Saturday by saddling the top three finishers in Saturday's 1 ½-mile turf stakes at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

Ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., Trinity Farm's 9-year-old Red Knight ($8.60) won the McKnight by a length over stablemate Value Engineering, who went off at 10-1. It was another length back to 45-1 long shot Wicked Fast with another Maker-trained horse, Temple, running fifth.

“Irad had Red Knight settled in the back of the pace. The pace was hot, which favored him. The rest is history,” said Maker. “I had a lot of confidence in him, The first time he ran for us, he hadn't run in a year and won. He likes to run fresh. He loves his job.”

The McKnight was the third of seven graded stakes on the 13-race blockbuster Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) presented by Baccarat program that includes the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1) presented by Qatar Racing and the $500,000 TAA Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf Invitational (G3) presented by Pepsi.

Maker picked up his first McKnight win in 2017 and repeated in 2018. His runners finished first and second in the 2019 and 2021 editions of the race.

“One, two, three and five. We just missed the superfecta. Every horse ran a great race and I'm proud,” Maker said.

Red Knight, Trinity Farm's homebred son of Pure Prize, earned his 11th victory in 32 career starts. He spent the early years of his career with Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott and was transferred to Maker's care in 2022. He has three wins in five starts for Maker.

Bidding to repeat in the McKnight, the favorite Abaan, trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, quickly grabbed the lead in the three-turn test and led the way early with a quarter-mile in 24.18 seconds. Agitare moved up to provide pace pressure and the half-mile was run in 48.27 with three-quarters going in 1:12.67.

Red Knight and others closers arrived in the stretch, moved into contention and surged to the lead. The winning time was 2:25.11 over a firm course.

“Thank God I had a good trip from tough post 11,” said Ortiz. “He's perfect for the distance because he relaxes very well. With five furlongs to go he started to gain ground on the outside and I just let him do his thing.

“This one's really special because my family is here,” Ortiz added. “My wife, my parents and my daughters are all here with me. They are my driving force, what keeps me going day after day, all supporting me 100 percent of the time.”

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Queen Goddess Takes The Pegasus F&M Turf

Lightly raced Queen Goddess (Empire Maker) rewarded her connections' faith to successfully invade from California and annex Saturday's GIII Pegasus F/M Turf. Originally campaigned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and her breeder, Geoff Nixon's TOLO Thoroughbreds, after RNA'ing for $285,000 as a Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling, the Michael McCarthy trainee made the grade in the rained-off GI American Oaks two Decembers ago and added the GIII Santa Ana S. on the Arcadia lawn last March. She was second in May's 1 1/2-mile GIII Santa Barbara S., but hadn't been back on the track since then when she fetched $1,525,000 at Fasig-Tipton November, with Gary Barber essentially buying out TOLO's piece. Resurfacing on New Year's Eve, the dark bay dominated Santa Anita's GIII Robert J. Frankel S. on the front end going a sixteenth farther than this. Taken in hand by Luis Saez to try and avoid a four-way scramble into the first turn, Queen Goddess settled nicely within striking distance and out in the clear behind splits of :23.76 and :48.03. She ranged up three deep under confident Luis Saez handling nearing the lane, quickly blew the race apart and held safe a late bid from Shantisara to get the job done.

“She ran pretty big,” Saez said. “Today she proved she's a beautiful and special filly. We knew she had a lot of speed but inside they had speed, too, so the plan was to try to follow the speed and be right behind, and everything went according to plan. It was perfect.”

Eclipse's Aron Wellman said, “She's matured. She's a filly we always thought would get better with age. The two times we sent her east were a very ambitious run [when fifth at 41-1] in the [2021 GI] Queen Elizabeth [II Challenge Cup] and a dirt try in the [2022 GIII] Bayakoa [at Oaklawn, where she also finished fifth]. She wasn't quite ready for it. Today we felt good about our chances.”

Pedigree Notes:

Queen Goddess is one of 39 Northern Hemisphere graded winners for her late, great sire, but the only out of a Lemon Drop Kid mare. Lemon Drop Kid is the damsire of 28 graded/group winners worldwide.

The winner's dam hails from the family of GISW Persistently (Smoke Glacken) and GSWs Good Reward (Storm Cat) and Pure Prize (Storm Cat)–the latter sired Saturday's GIII William L. McKnight S. winner Red Knight. Royal Story was acquired privately by Nixon after finishing second by a head in the 2015 Hut Hut S. at Gulfstream Park West, but failed to pan out on the track after that. She sold to Leopoldo Fernandez Pujals's Yeguada Centurion for $125,000 in foal to Mendelssohn at the 2019 Keeneland November sale and was exported to France. The resulting foal sold for €235,000 to agent Daithi Harvey for Highland Yard at the 2021 Arqana August Yearling sale.

Saturday, Gulfstream Park
TAA PEGASUS WORLD CUP FILLY AND MARE TURF INVITATIONAL S. PRESENTED BY PEPSI-GIII, $490,300, Gulfstream, 1-28, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16mT, 1:41.91, fm.
1–QUEEN GODDESS, 121, m, 5, by Empire Maker
1st Dam: Royal Story (SP), by Lemon Drop Kid
2nd Dam: Bauble, by Tale of the Cat
3rd Dam: Just Reward, by Deputy Minister
($285,000 RNA Ylg '19 FTSAUG; $1,525,000 4yo '22 FTKNOV). O-Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners & Gary Barber; B-Tolo Thoroughbreds (KY); T-Michael W McCarthy; J-Luis Saez. $291,000. Lifetime Record: 11-6-2-1, $761,580. Werk Nick Rating: B. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Shantisara (Ire), 119, m, 5, Coulsty (Ire)–Kharana (Ire), by Dalakhani (Ire). (10,000gns 2yo '20 TATGBR). O-Madaket Stables LLC, Michael Dubb & Robert V LaPenta; B-Mr Oliver Donlon (IRE); T-Chad C Brown. $97,000.
3–Lady Rockstar (GB), 119, m, 5, Frankel (GB)–Noozhah (GB), by Singspiel (Ire). O-Steven Parkin; B-Branton Court Stud (GB); T-Brendan P Walsh. $48,500.
Margins: 1HF, 2 3/4, 2 3/4. Odds: 4.20, 2.50, 7.50.
Also Ran: Dalika (Ger), Wakanaka (Ire), Artie's Princess, Justify My Love (Brz), Sweet Enough (GB). Scratched: Bay Storm, Mona Stella, Perseverancia. Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Girvin’s Faiza Stays Perfect in Las Virgenes

A $725,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic grad, Faiza (Girvin) already had lofty expectations by the time she entered the starting gate for the first time Nov. 12. A popular choice at the betting windows, she put on a 3 1/2-length winning performance that day worthy of a 'TDN Rising Star' tag and immediately backed that form up with a narrow win next time out over familiar foe Pride of the Nile (Pioneerof the Nile) in the GI Starlet S. at Los Alamitos Dec. 10.

In a field that included the top three out of that Starlet S., as well as fellow 'Rising Star' Justique (Justify), Faiza drew the inside gate but was out-sprinted into the first turn by a pair of rivals to her outside in Sweet Trouble (Into Mischief) and Broadway Girls (Army Mule). Taken back third off that duo as the field strung out down the backstretch, Faiza stayed in contention before shifting to the outside to steadily gain until she was on even terms with Broadway Girls. Still making progress as the top trio came around the far turn, she came within a neck of Sweet Trouble at the head of the lane despite drifting out a bit and dug in gamely down the stretch to keep a closing Pride of the Nile at bay in a repeat of the Starlet exacta.

“I'd like to thank Bob Baffert and the owner for the opportunity and support,” said winning jockey Ramon Vazquez, who was aboard Faiza for the first time today with regular rider Flavien Prat away to ride today at Oaklawn Park. “I wanted to get out in the clear and put my filly in a good position. She's a nice filly, when I asked her, she responded really well. She's amazing.”

Pedigree Notes:

By top-five freshman sire Girvin–also the sire of fellow 'Rising Star' Damon's Mound–Faiza was her sire's first Grade I winner. Her second dam, MGSW & GISP Pomeroys Pistol (Pomeroy), is also responsible for MGSW and Spendthrift stallion Thousand Words (Pioneerof the Nile). Sweet Pistol saw her 2-year-old by Cairo Prince realize $160,000 at last year's Keeneland September Sale and she has a yearling filly by Complexity still to race as well.

Saturday, Santa Anita
LAS VIRGENES S.-GIII, $200,500, Santa Anita, 1-28, 3yo, f, 1m,
1:38.46, ft.
1–FAIZA, 124, f, 3, by Girvin
          1st Dam: Sweet Pistol, by Smart Strike
          2nd Dam: Pomeroys Pistol, by Pomeroy
          3rd Dam: Prettyatthetable, by Point Given
'TDN Rising Star'. ($90,000 Ylg '21 FTKJUL; $725,000 2yo '22 EASMAY).
O-Michael Lund Petersen; B-Brereton C. Jones (KY); T-Bob
Baffert; J-Ramon A. Vazquez. $120,000. Lifetime Record:
GISW, 3-3-0-0, $342,000. Werk Nick Rating: B+. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree or free Equineline.com
catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Pride of the Nile, 122, f, 3, Pioneerof the Nile–Inny Minnie,
by Hard Spun. ($140,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-West Coast
Stables, LLC; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY);
T-Doug F. O'Neill. $40,000.
3–Justique, 120, f, 3, Justify–Grazie Mille, by Bernardini.
($725,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-C R K Stable LLC; B-John D.
Gunther & Eurowest Bloodstock (KY); T-John A. Shirreffs.
$24,000. 'TDN Rising Star'.
Margins: HF, 2HF, HF. Odds: 1.00, 3.60, 2.40.
Also Ran: Sweet Trouble, Uncontrollable, Broadway Girls.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO,
sponsored by TVG.

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Maryquitecontrary Extends Win Streak To Five In Gulfsteam’s Inside Information

Maryquitecontrary added to her growing reputation Saturday, extending her win streak to five and picking up her first graded stakes victory in the Inside Information (G2) at Gulfstream Park.

The Inside Information was the first graded stakes victory for veteran trainer Joseph Catanese III.

The $200,000 Inside Information was the second of seven graded stakes on the 13-race blockbuster Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) program that includes the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1) and the $500,000 TAA Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf Invitational (G3).

With a strong off-the-pace run from far back under jockey Luca Panici, Maryquitecontrary took the lead at the sixteenths pole and won the seven-furlong race for older fillies and mares by 2 ½ lengths over Colorful Mischief. Fire On Time, who had set much of the pace, was third.

The early fractions of :22.41 and :45.38 for a half mile suited the Maryquitecontrary's running style. She was on the move entering the turn and, racing wide in the stretch, easily made the lead. She finished the trip in 1:23.64 on a fast track.

Sent off at 5-2, Maryquitecontrary paid $7.20. Odds-on favorite Obligatory, a four-time graded stakes winner, was never a factor in the Inside Information and finished sixth in the field of 10.

Bred and owned by Rodney G. Lundock, Florida-bred Maryquitecontrary is a 4-year-old by First Dude out of the Mecke mare Mary Kate 'n Kelly.

Inside Information (G2) Stakes Quotes

Winning trainer Joseph Catanese III (Maryquitecontrary): “She keeps getting better and better. She's a pleasure. We'll keep finding races for her here.”

Winning jockey Luca Panici (Maryquitecontrary): “I was squeezed after the break. She was a little bit nervous and I lost a half-length after the break but they were running in front and I was sitting confident like always with her. When I got to the clear she started to kick, and she kicked until the end. She's improving race after race, and today she showed what she can do.”

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