January, 2023 | Horse Racing Free Tips

‘I Don’t Like Backing Down From A Challenge’: Lady Speightspeare Faces Males For Final Start In Pegasus Turf

Before going off to join owner-breeder Charles Fipke's broodmare band, Grade 1-winning mare Lady Speightspeare will take on one last challenge when she faces males for the first time in Saturday's $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1) Invitational presented by Qatar Racing.

Trained by Roger Attfield, who Fipke joined in Canada's Hall of Fame last year, Lady Speightspeare has seven wins, six in graded-stakes, and $761,145 in purse earnings from 13 lifetime starts dating back to 2020, when she earned the Sovereign Award as Canada's champion 2-year-old filly.

“You just have to go for it, you know? The fillies race against the males in Europe quite a bit, and fillies can run, too,” Fipke said. “It's her last race and even if she just places it'll be good. She's a group 1 winner already and she was a champion. She's a pretty awesome filly.”

Lady Speightspeare won the Natalma (G1) on turf in her second career start and made just three starts in 2021, winning twice including the Bessarabian (G2) on all-weather, both at Woodbine, where she raced primarily. In her lone prior attempt at Gulfstream, she was third as the favorite in the 2021 Tropical Park Oaks.

Last year, Lady Speightspeare won three of eight races, taking the Nassau (G2), Trillium (G3) and Seaway (G3) in succession at Woodbine heading into the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1), where she was third at odds of 32-1, beaten 1 ½ lengths by European invader Tuesday.

Lady Speightspeare was the initial invitation lists for both the Pegasus Turf and $500,000 TAA Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf (G3) Invitational presented by Pepsi.

“I don't like backing down from a challenge,” Fipke said. “It would be great if she won against the boys.”

Lady Speightspeare is already booked to Gun Runner, the champion older dirt male and Horse of the Year in 2017 who capped his career with a victory in the 2018 Pegasus World Cup (G1), then the world's richest horse race valued at $16 million.

“He's an outstanding stallion. I'm kind of keen on that. If you keep her running, sure, you might make a bit more money, but you might not. She doesn't owe us anything. I'm into the breeding so I'm pretty excited about her broodmare career,” Fipke said. “It is [bittersweet] but what can you say, she's done really well.”

Luis Saez is named to ride Lady Speightspeare, rated third on the morning line at odds of 6-1, from Post 6.

The post ‘I Don’t Like Backing Down From A Challenge’: Lady Speightspeare Faces Males For Final Start In Pegasus Turf appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Oaks Prep: ‘Ultra-Impressive’ Defining Purpose Faces Unbeaten Olivia Twist In Martha Washington

Program favorite Defining Purpose for trainer Kenny McPeek and unbeaten Olivia Twist for trainer Todd Fincher headline the $200,000 Martha Washington Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles Saturday at Oaklawn.

Probable post time for the Martha Washington, which goes as the fifth race, is 2:10 p.m. (Central). Racing begins at noon. The 11-race card also features the $750,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles and the $150,000 King Cotton Stakes for older horses at 6 furlongs.

The Martha Washington is Oaklawn's first of three Kentucky Oaks points races. It will offer 40 (20-8-6-4-2, respectively) to the top five finishers toward starting eligibility for the Kentucky Oaks, the country's biggest race for 3-year-old fillies. Oaklawn's Kentucky Oaks points series continues with the $300,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) Feb. 25 and the $600,000 Fantasy Stakes (G3) April 1. Both races are 1 1/16 miles.

Defining Purpose concluded her 2-year-old campaign with a 5 ¼-length victory in the inaugural $150,000 Year's End Stakes at 1 mile Dec. 31 at Oaklawn. Defining Purpose was among four winners for McPeek on the Dec. 31 card, the first in Oaklawn history exclusively for 2-year-olds.

“It should be a good next spot for her,” McPeek said. “She was ultra-impressive last time. It looks like Todd Fincher's filly has got some talent that's in there. The rest of them, I think, she's beaten or be all right against. It should be a good next step to keep her in line for the rest of the winter at Oaklawn, hopefully.”

Olivia Twist (3 for 3) exits the $100,000 Trapeze Stakes at one mile Dec. 17 at Remington Park. A daughter of millionaire multiple Grade 1 winner Mshawish, Olivia Twist has won her three starts – all at Remington Park – by a combined 19 ½ lengths. Olivia Twist has recorded three workouts this month at Oaklawn leading up to her 3-year-old debut.

“The timing is perfect from her last race,” said Fincher, who is based at Sunland Park, but has a five-horse string this season at Oaklawn. “How do you pass up this race? It's perfect. She's doing great. Everything's lining up just the way we want it to.”

The projected six-horse field from the rail out:

Wet Paint, Flavien Prat to ride, 115 pounds, 9-2 on the morning line;
Key to Success, Tyler Baze, 115, 20-1;
Defining Purpose, David Cabrera, 122, 6-5;
Take Charge Briana, Mickaelle Michel, 115, 6-1;
Olivia Twist, Cristian Torres, 122, 2-1; and
Taxed, Joe Talamo, 115, 15-1.

Take Charge Briana and Taxed, a supplemental nominee, finished third and fourth, respectively, in the Year's End. Wet Paint, who will be making her stakes debut for two-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox, is one for one on dirt. Key to Success finished second to the promising Twirled in a first-level allowance sprint Dec. 31 at Oaklawn for trainer Mike Puhich.

Secret Oath, last year's Martha Washington winner, went on to win the Kentucky Oaks for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas and was a finalist for an Eclipse Award as the country's champion 3-year-old filly of 2022. Lukas also trains Take Charge Briana.

The post Oaks Prep: ‘Ultra-Impressive’ Defining Purpose Faces Unbeaten Olivia Twist In Martha Washington appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Owner Al Gold’s Horse Of A Lifetime: Cyberknife Brings Cancer Awareness To Pegasus World Cup

About the time Al Gold was faced with potentially life-threatening cancer, a horse of a lifetime came into his racing operation.

Gold, a horse owner for 50 years, named the young colt Cyberknife in recognition of the medical device used to successfully treat his prostate cancer. As Cyberknife began fulfilling expectations created by his pre-racetrack training, Gold hoped the horse and its name could raise awareness about prostate cancer, the importance of screening for the disease and the technology that improved his own quality of life during treatment.

More than $2 million in purse earnings and two Grade 1 victories later, Cyberknife will carry those banners along with jockey Florent Geroux and Gold's black and gold silks for the last time in Saturday's $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) presented by Baccarat at Gulfstream Park.

Trained by Brad Cox, Cyberknife will break from post 10 as the 5-2 program favorite in a capacity field of 12 older horses, plus an also-eligible. Post time is 5:40 p.m. with live coverage on NBC from 4:30 to 6 p.m. EST.

Gold clearly handicapped well in picking out the horse to name Cyberknife.

“I'd never had a Grade 1 winner before,” Gold said. “I'd had a Grade 2, a couple of Grade 3s in partnership with people. But this was far more outstanding than anything else I'd ever had. My next biggest winner won $399,000, so this is $1.6 million more.”

Gold paid $400,000 for Cyberknife, a son of 2017 Horse of the Year and 2018 Pegasus winner Gun Runner, at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's 2020 Selected Yearlings Showcase. Not long afterward, Gold's cancer was diagnosed. His research and close friends led him to the non-invasive Accuray CyberKnife System that uses robotics and artificial intelligence to pinpoint radiation directly to hard-to-get tumors, sparing a lot of healthy tissue. Gold says he had five 18-minute treatments that allowed him to continue his normal life.

“I wasn't there when the horse was picked out,” said Gold, who races as Gold Square LLC. “[Racing manager] Joe Hardoon and Chad Summers were there. They really loved the horse. When we got him to Ocala to be broken, Susan Montayne, who owns a farm there, said this horse was special. All three liked the horse a lot, so we gave him that name.”

Sixteen months after the cancer diagnosis, Gold won his first Grade 1 with the Brad Cox-trained Cyberknife taking Oaklawn's Arkansas Derby. A month later he was at Churchill Downs, with his first Kentucky Derby (G1) starter. In Kentucky, he met other cancer survivors treated with CyberKnife, including a woman who had brain cancer.

“It brought a lot of exposure to CyberKnife,” Gold said of the device.

Cyberknife finished 18th in the Kentucky Derby. The colt subsequently gave Gold another Grade 1 victory in Monmouth Park's Haskell Invitational, New Jersey's signature race at the track Gold lived near for 30 years and his state residence for more than 60. Now the 4-year-old colt will close out his career at the owner's new hometown track, with Gold living in Delray Beach about 45 minutes from Gulfstream Park.

It's a long way from Cyberknife's racing debut at Churchill Downs in 2021. He finished first that day but ran greenly and was disqualified for interference.

“There were ups and downs with this horse in the beginning,” Gold said. “His third race to break his maiden, he was just hanging on. He just wasn't trying, pulling himself up. The Lecomte [his stakes debut a year ago], he went wide, looked like he was going to blow the field away and just stopped. There was always good and bad with him until he got himself together.”

In his last race, Cyberknife finished second by a head behind favored Cody's Wish in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) at Keeneland. The narrow defeat probably cost him being a finalist for the Eclipse Award as leading 3-year-old champion.

“If he had to get beat in the Breeders' Cup, that was the horse you wanted to win, because that was a better story than anything, that Cody's Wish,” Gold said of the horse named for a young man born with Wolf–Hirschhorn syndrome.

It was suggested that trying to win a $3 million race the week of the Eclipse is a nice alternative.

“We'll have to settle for that,” he laughed. “It's a great race for us because it fits perfectly with our schedule. He goes to stud next month, so this will be his last hurrah.”

Then it's on to Kentucky where Cyberknife will join Spendthrift Farm's stallion roster. The stud deal struck after Cyberknife won the Arkansas Derby stipulated that the colt would be retired before the breeding season begins in mid-February.

“It's a very enjoyable experience for the two years I've had him,” Gold said. “It's bittersweet now that he's going to stud. I'll miss all the fun, the enjoyment I had with him but he's off to a second career.

“I would have loved to have raced him as a 4-year-old for the whole year. But at the time I made the decision, right after the Arkansas Derby, I was very happy. I got a few offers. The best offer I got was Spendthrift, and I was very happy to go through with it. And I still am. I bought some broodmares and I'm looking forward to breeding to him.”

Cox said that Cyberknife is the epitome of a plan coming together, that racing is full of horses who didn't pan out after being named for a person or something meaningful.

“Most of the time it doesn't work out that way,” he said. “It's obviously a very meaningful name to Al. With the Kentucky Derby, it was well-documented tying his name to promote prostate cancer awareness. It's been a positive in that regard. Hopefully he does well in the Pegasus and continues to spread the word as a stallion.”

The post Owner Al Gold’s Horse Of A Lifetime: Cyberknife Brings Cancer Awareness To Pegasus World Cup appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Weekend Lineup Presented By Hialeah Park NHC Qualifier: Pegasus Tops Busy Saturday

The $3 million Pegasus World Cup highlights this weekend's live racing action, with 12 horses expected to line up for the 1 1/8-mile contest at Gulfstream Park on Saturday. Brad Cox trainee Cyberknife is the program favorite, and will be making the final start of his career before heading off to stud. His rivals include Proxy, a Grade 1 winning son of Tapit for trainer Michael Stidham, as well as 2022 Florida Derby (G1) hero White Abarrio for trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr.

Twelve entrants and two also-eligibles have also signed on for the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1), one race earlier on the card. Trainer Todd Pletcher has won the last two editions and will send out Wit with Jose Ortiz aboard. The Brazilian-bred Ivar, fourth in the FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) last out, tops the field as the 5-2 morning line favorite for Paulo Lobo.

In total, Gulfstream's Saturday card includes seven graded stakes races with 83 entrants, including also-eligibles.

The Road to the Kentucky Derby continues with a stop in Hot Springs this weekend. The $750,000 Southwest Stakes is led by Bob Baffert trainee Arabian Knight, while Brad Cox has three entrants and Ken McPeek another two in the field of nine.

A pair of Oaks preps will be held on Saturday, with the Martha Washington at Oaklawn and the G3 Las Virgenes at Santa Anita. The highlight of those races is likely Justique, the promising come-from-behind runner trained by John Shirreffs.

Other significant stakes action around the country comes from Aqueduct (Saturday's G3 Toboggan) and Sam Houston. The latter has a big card planned for Saturday. Five stakes, two graded, are headlined by the G3 Houston Ladies Classic in which Grade 1 winner Pauline's Pearl is the morning-line favorite. The G3 John Connally Turf Cup drew a full field of 12 and is topped by comebacking Spooky Channel for trainer Jason Barkley.

Saturday

3:10 p.m. – Martha Washington Stakes at Oaklawn – OAKS PREP

The Martha Washington, which will offer 40 points (20-8-6-4-2, respectively) to the top five finishers toward starting eligibility for the Kentucky Oaks, is headlined by program favorite Defining Purpose for trainer Kenny McPeek and unbeaten Olivia Twist for trainer Todd Fincher.

Defining Purpose concluded her 2-year-old campaign with a 5 ¼-length victory in the inaugural $150,000 Year's End Stakes at one mile Dec. 31 at Oaklawn. Defining Purpose was among four winners for McPeek on the Dec. 31 card, the first in Oaklawn history exclusively for 2-year-olds.

Olivia Twist (3 for 3) exits the $100,000 Trapeze Stakes at 1 mile Dec. 17 at Remington Park. She has won her three starts by a combined 19 ½ lengths.

Martha Washington Entries

3:10 p.m. – G3 Las Virgenes Stakes at Santa Anita – OAKS PREP

With a come-from-behind style that leaves her backers on the edge of their seats, Justique, idle since Nov. 19, heads a field of six sophomore fillies going a flat mile in Saturday's $200,000 Las Virgenes Stakes. In her best race to date, Justique rallied from last under Victor Espinoza to win the seven furlong Desi Arnaz Stakes by 2 ¼ lengths at Del Mar on Nov. 19.

Justique was entered in the G3 Santa Ynez, rescheduled to Jan. 8 after weather-related cancellations, but Shirreffs scratched the filly when she developed a fever. Now recovered and having posted works on Jan. 13 and Jan. 21, Justique will be trying two turns for the second time in what will be her fourth start on Saturday.

Although Justique will no doubt command a good deal of attention on Saturday, Bob Baffert's Faiza, idle since winning the G1 Starlet going 1 1/16 miles at Los Alamitos Dec. 10, has plenty of natural speed and should be extremely tough to beat as she tries to remain unbeaten in her third start.

The Las Virgenes winner will receive 20 qualifying points to the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks on May 5, with eight, six, four and two points going to the second through fifth place finishers.

Las Virgenes Entries

4:40 p.m. – G1 Pegasus World Cup Turf at Gulfstream

The narrow 5-2 program favorite for the Pegasus Turf is Ivar, a Brazilian-bred multiple Group 1 winner in Argentina that has won three of 12 starts in the U.S. topped by the 2020 Shadwell Turf Mile (G1) at Keeneland. He has run in the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) each of the last three years, running third in 2021 and fourth in 2020 and 2022, the latter to Eclipse Award finalist Modern Games. Ivar's total margin of defeat in those races was 4 ½ lengths.

Third choice at 6-1 in the Pegasus Turf is Charles Fipke's Grade 1-winning homebred Lady Speightspeare, entered to face males for the first time. The 5-year-old daughter of champion Speightstown owns seven wins from 13 career starts, six of them in graded-stakes including the 2020 Natalma (G1) at Woodbine second time out. Last time out she had a three-race win streak snapped when third by 1 ½ lengths at odds of 32-1 in the 1 3/16-mile Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1).

Graham Motion-trained stablemates Speaking Scout and Hurricane Dream are also entered in the Pegasus Turf. Speaking Scout won two of his last three starts to end 2022, the Hawthorne Derby and Hollywood Derby (G1), both at 1 1/8 miles, the latter at Del Mar Dec. 3. In between, the 4-year-old Mr Speaker gelding was second by a half-length as the favorite in Santa Anita's Twilight Derby (G2). Hurricane Dream will be making his North American debut in the Pegasus Turf; the 6-year-old gelding won six of 18 starts in Europe where he was group-stakes placed four times, most recently beaten a head when second in the one-mile Brunner Oettingen Rennen (G2) last September in Germany.

Despite the Jan. 19 retirement of two-time defending Pegasus Turf winner Colonel Liam, trainer Todd Pletcher can win a third straight Pegasus Turf with Wit. A two-time graded stakes winner on dirt, the 4-year-old Practical Joke colt won the Better Talk Now, was second in the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame (G2) and Bryan Station (G3), and third by less than a length to Speaking Scout in the Hollywood Derby in his four turf tries.

Also among the dozen contenders are multiple graded stakes winners City Man and Decorated Invader, both trained by Christophe Clement, who respectively ran 1-2 in Gulfstream's Dec. 31 Fort Lauderdale (G2). City Man is a 6-year-old New York-bred son of Mucho Macho Man, the 2013 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) winner also campaigned by Dean and Patti Reeves. City Man enters the Pegasus Turf riding a three-race win streak, all in stakes. Decorated Invader has a win and two seconds from four starts this year since coming back from a 16-month break between starts in a one-mile optional claiming allowance Sept. 24 at Pimlico, where he closed to within a nose of winner English Tavern.

Pegasus Turf Entries

5:40 p.m. – G1 Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream

Cyberknife is scheduled to make the final start of his racing career Saturday at Gulfstream Park, where he has been installed as the 5-2 morning-line favorite for the $3-million Pegasus World Cup (G1). Win or lose, Cyberknife, who drew Post No. 10 in the 12-horse Pegasus field, will be retired to begin stallion duty at Spendthrift Farm in Lexington. Cyberknife established himself as one of the premier colts in the 3-year-old division last year while winning the Arkansas Derby (G1) at Oaklawn and the Haskell (G1) at Monmouth Park and Grade 1 placings in the Pennsylvania Derby and Travers. He finished his 3-year-old campaign with a photo-finish second behind Cody's Wish in a most memorable edition of the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) at Keeneland.

Proxy, who is rated second in the morning line at 9-2, enters the Pegasus World Cup off his first career Grade 1 victory in the Nov. 25 Clark (G1) at Churchill Downs. The Michael Stidham-trained 5-year-old son of Tapit pressed the pace before edging clear nearing the wire to win the first stakes of his 13-race career, during which he has had four runner-up finishes in Grade 2 stakes.

Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., who leads all trainers with victories during the current Championship Meet at Gulfstream in his quest to defend his 2021-2022 title, is represented in the Pegasus World Cup field by three horses: Daniel Alonso's Skippylongstocking (5-1; Post No. 7), C2 Racing Stable LLC and La Milagrosa Stable LLC's White Abarrio (10-1; Post No 4) and Fernando Vine Ode and Michael and Jules Iavarone's O'Connor (10; Post No. 12).

Trainer Bob Baffert will send Michael Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman's Defunded to the Gulfstream Park track Saturday in search of his third success in the Pegasus World Cup. Defunded (6-1; Post No. 5) is coming off back-to-back victories in the Awesome Again (G1) at Santa Anita and Native Diver (G3) at Del Mar.

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas has made a late change in jockeys for Willis Horton Racing LLC's Last Samurai, who will be ridden by international superstar Frankie Dettori. The 5-year-old son of Malibu Moon (20-1; Post No. 9), who finished fourth behind Proxy in the Clark, won the Oaklawn Handicap (G2) last season.

Bruce Lundsford's Art Collector (10-1; Post No. 6) will be one of six Grade or Group 1 winners in Saturday's 12-horse field, having won the 2021 Woodward (G1) at Belmont Park. The Bill Mott-trained 6-year-old campaigner won his second straight Charles Town Classic (G2) last season.

Gary Barber's Get Her Number (15-1; Post No. 8) enters the Pegasus World Cup off a sharp runner-up finish in the Cigar Mile, in which he finished a head behind victorious Mind Control and a half-length ahead of White Abarrio.

Steve Moger's Stilleto Boy (30-1; Post No. 11), who finished third in last year's Pegasus World Cup, is coming off a second-place finish in the San Antonio (G2) at Santa Anita, where he ran his career-best while winning the Californian (G2) last March.

Cash is King LLC and LC Racing LLC's Ridin With Biden (20-1; Post No. 3) drew into the 12-horse field Sunday upon the defection of Super Corinto. The Butch Reid-trained 5-year-old gelding has won three of his last four starts, including a victory in the Greenwood Cup (G3) at Parx.

Pegasus Entries

5:57 p.m. – G3 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn – DERBY PREP

Trainer Bob Baffert will start dazzling Keeneland debut winner Arabian Knight in Saturday's $750,000 Southwest, Oaklawn's second of four Kentucky Derby points races. The Southern California-based Arabian Knight will be making just his second career start and first around two turns in the Southwest. Arabian Knight, the even-money program favorite, is the most lightly raced horse Baffert has brought to Oaklawn for a Kentucky Derby prep.

Brad Cox will be represented by three horses in the 1 1/16-mile Southwest, including unbeaten Corona Bolt (two for two), stakes winner Jace's Road, and Hit Show, a Dec. 17 entry-level allowance winner at Oaklawn. Corona Bolt will be making his two-turn and 3-year-old debut in the Southwest; the son of Bolt d'oro was a front-running 6 ¾-length winner of the $100,000 Sugar Bowl Stakes at six furlongs Dec. 26 at Fair Grounds.

The remainder of the nine-horse field is as follows: Sun Thunder, last-out maiden winner trained by Ken McPeek; Western Ghent, D. Wayne Lukas trainee with the most starts of any horse in the field at nine; Frosted Departure, listed stakes winner trained by McPeek; Red Route One, G1-placed Steve Asmussen trainee; and El Tomate, winner of his lone start for owner/trainer Miguel Silva.

The Southwest will offer 40 points (20-8-6-4-2, respectively) to the top five finishers toward starting eligibility for the Kentucky Derby (excluding Baffert trainees).

Southwest Entries

6:25 p.m. – G3 Houston Ladies Classic at Sam Houston

Grade 1 winner Pauline's Pearl is among seven older fillies and mares entered for the 1 1/16-mile Houston Ladies Classic. A 5-year-old daughter of Tapit out of Grade 1 winner Hot Dixie Chick, by Dixie Union, Pauline's Pearl captured the 2021 edition of the race for trainer Steve Asmussen and followed up with an elite-level win in the La Troienne (G1) at Churchill Downs. An earner of $1,695,200 in 15 career efforts, the freshened mare will be starting for the first time since finishing third in the Fleur de Lis Stakes (G2) July 2 at the Lousiville track.

Trainer Bret Calhoun has entered Hidden Connection, a Connect filly who won the 2021 Pocahontas Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs, before finishing fourth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) for owners Hidden Brook Farm and Black Type Thoroughbreds. In her most recent start, she won an allowance-optional claiming race by 7 1/2 lengths Dec. 16 at Fair Grounds, where she was the runner-up in the 2022 Fair Grounds Oaks.

Houston Ladies Classic Entries

The post Weekend Lineup Presented By Hialeah Park NHC Qualifier: Pegasus Tops Busy Saturday appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post