April, 2023 | Horse Racing Free Tips

O’Neill’s Starlet Runner-Up Pride Of The Nile Breezes Toward Ashland

West Coast Stables' Grade 1-placed Pride of the Nile worked six furlongs in 1:16 under Ferrin Peterson Sunday morning on Keeneland's main track in preparation for Friday's $600,000 Central Bank Ashland (G1).

Trained by Doug O'Neill, the Pioneerof the Nile filly shipped to Keeneland in mid-March after a troubled trip in the Santa Ysabel (G3) at Santa Anita on March 5.

“I was glad to get her,” said Stephanie Murray, who oversees the O'Neill string at Keeneland. “Today was her third work here. The first time, she worked on the (all-weather) training track because of the rain.”

Runner-up in the Starlet (G1), denied by a head by Faiza, Dec. 10 and Las Virgenes (G3) Jan. 28, both at Santa Anita, Pride of the Nile has compiled 17 points toward starting eligibility for the Kentucky Oaks (G1), which ranks 28th for the race that is limited to the top 14 point earners that pass the entry box. The Ashland offers 200 points toward the Oaks on a 100-40-30-20-10 scale for the first- through fifth-place finishers.

O'Neill is expected to be at Keeneland Friday, and Frankie Dettori will have the mount on Pride of the Nile.

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McPeek-Trained Hayes Strike, Mendelssohns March Tune Up At Keeneland For Blue Grass

Dixiana Farms' homebred Hayes Strike along with Mendelssohns March, owned by Harold Lerner, Nehoc Stables, AWC Stables, and Team Stallion Racing Stable, tuned up for expected starts in Saturday's $1-million Toyota Blue Grass (G1) by working five furlongs in 1:00.60 in company over a fast main track at Keeneland Sunday morning.

Hayes Strike, a Connect colt, comes into the 1 1/8-mile Blue Grass off a victory in the Private Terms Stakes at Laurel on March 18.

“I don't run many horses in Maryland,” trainer Kenny McPeek said of Hayes Strike, who has two graded stakes-placings. “His race at Turfway (in the Leonatus Stakes on Jan. 21 in which he finished ninth) … nothing went right. He didn't ship well, and he didn't handle the synthetic surface at all. I just needed to get him back on the dirt and get him back to winning.”

Hayes Strike is a half brother to Senior Investment (by Discreetly Mine), who won the 2017 Stonestreet Lexington (G3) at Keeneland for McPeek.

“Senior Investment needed a mile and an eighth, and his brother is the same,” said McPeek, who also plans to run R.T. Racing Stable and Cypress Creek Equine's Sun Thunder in the Blue Grass. Sun Thunder finished fifth in the Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby (G2) on March 25 in his most recent start.

Mendelssohns March, a Mendelssohn colt, has two wins from two starts, with victories on the turf at Fair Grounds and on a sloppy dirt track at Oaklawn Park.

McPeek is the most recent of six trainers to have swept the Central Bank Ashland (G1) and Toyota Blue Grass in the same year. He accomplished the double in 2002 with Take Charge Lady and Harlan's Holiday and is expected to send out Magdalena Racing, Colette Marie Vanmatre, and James Ball's Defining Purpose in Friday's Ashland. Defining Purpose worked five furlongs in 1:00.20 Sunday morning.

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Trio Of Pletcher Runners, Led By Forte, Top Final Kentucky Derby Future Wager

Five weeks in advance of the 149th running of the $3 million Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (Grade 1), bettors made Florida Derby (G1) winner Forte the 5-2 favorite with stablemates Kingsbarns, last week's Louisiana Derby (G2) winner, and Tapit Trice, the Tampa Bay Derby (G2) winner, both at 11-1 in the sixth and final pool of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager (KDFW).

All three horses are trained by two-time Kentucky Derby winner Todd Pletcher.

The three-day pool closed Saturday at 6 p.m. ET in advance of the day's two Road to the Kentucky Derby Championship Series races: the Florida Derby and Arkansas Derby (G1).

Horses in order of the public's betting choice (with Pool 6 odds and $2 Win will pays): #14 Forte (5-2, $7.78); #21 Kingsbarns (11-1, $24.56); #35 Tapit Trice (11-1, $25.72); #9 Derma Sotogake (JPN) (13-1, $28.18); #26 Practical Move (14-1, $31.56); #40 “All Other 3-Year-Olds” (17-1, $36.56); #37 Two Phil's (21-1, $44.02); #29 Reincarnate (24-1, $51.70); #28 Red Route One (24-1, $51.72); #1 Angel of Empire (29-1, $61.14); #6 Confidence Game (29-1, $61.42); #17 Hit Show (30-1, $63.20); #30 Rocket Can (32-1, $66.14); #10 Disarm (33-1, $68.10); #15 Geaux Rocket Ride (33-1, $68.38); #36 Two Eagles River (38-1, $78.58); #25 National Treasure (44-1, $90.06); #3 Blazing Sevens (46-1, $94.98); #22 Mage (46-1, $95.54); #19 Instant Coffee (49-1, $101.94); #32 Skinner (49-1, $101.98); #38 Verifying (50-1, $102.78); #7 Continuar (JPN) (54-1, $110.56); #13 Fort Bragg (58-1, $119.66); #27 Raise Cain (81-1, $165.10); #8 Cyclone Mischief (88-1, $179.74); #23 Mandarin Hero (JPN) (99-1, $200.48); #4 Bourbon Bash (100-1, $202.64); #12 Dubyuhnell (111-1, $225.32); #34 Sun Thunder (113-1, $228.72); #20 Jace's Road (118-1, $238.04); #33 Slip Mahoney (130-1, $262.44); #11 Dreamlike (143-1, $289.02); #2 Arctic Arrogance (165-1, $333.64); #5 Classic Car Wash (169-1, $340.96); #39 Wild On Ice (190-1, $383.16); #24 Mendelssohns March (212-1, $427.52); #18 I Don't Get It (238-1, $478.90); #31 Shadow Dragon (299-1, $600.12); and #16 Hayes Strike (404-1, $810.96).

Total handle for the March 30-April 1 KDFW pool – the final future wager pool in advance of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, May 6 – was $369,443 ($271,230 in the Win pool and $98,213 in Exactas).

Visit www.KentuckyDerby.com/FutureWager for more information.

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Highfield Princess Returning in Duke of York

Star sprinter Highfield Princess (Fr) (Night of Thunder {Ire}) will return in the G2 Duke of York S. on May 13, following a similar path this year as her 2022 campaign, trainer John Quinn said. The 6-year-old Trainers House Enterprises homebred won last year's Duke of York before taking the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest, the G1 Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe S. and the G1 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Flying Five S. She has not run since finishing fourth in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland Nov. 5.

“I'm very happy with her,” Quinn said. “She's been back in for a while, she's in good nick and we'll start her off at York in the Duke of York. She came back in towards the end of January, so she's been in a while and York will soon come round. We'll see how we go, but after York you'd be looking at Royal Ascot and on from there.

“With a bit of luck we'll roll the dice with her as it's her last year.”

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