April, 2023 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Forte’s Late Rally In Florida Derby Solidifies Status As Kentucky Derby Favorite

Overcoming the disadvantageous No. 11 post and racing wide most of the way, Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's Forte, the 2-year-old male champion of 2022 and early Kentucky Derby favorite, rallied late under Irad Ortiz Jr. to catch Mage in the final sixteenth of a mile to win the 72nd running of the $1-million, Grade 1 Curlin Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The son of Violence out of Queen Caroline, by Blame, drew off to a winning margin of one length after covering 1 1/8 miles on a fast track in 1:48.51. He paid $2.60 to win as the heavy favorite in a field of 12 3-year-olds.

Mage, the 9-2 second betting choice trained by Gustavo Delgado, held second after opening a clear lead in mid-stretch. Cyclone Mischief finished third, with Mr. Ripple fourth, and pace-setting Fort Bragg fifth.

The top five finishers earned 100-40-30-20-10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points.

Forte is trained by Todd Pletcher, who was winning his seventh Florida Derby since 2007. The Florida Derby was his fourth win on the 14-race Florida Derby day program. Ortiz won six races on the day. This was the multiple Eclipse Award-winning jockey's second Florida Derby victory, his previous win coming in 2021 with Pletcher-trained Known Agenda.

Joel Rosario sent Fort Bragg to the early lead after a tardy break, outrunning Mr. Peeks and going the opening quarter mile in :23.57 and the half mile in :46.71. The Tapit colt shook clear, holding a two-length advantage entering the far turn after six furlongs in 1:10.63, but by the time the field reached the top of the stretch, Mage and Luis Saez ranged up alongside and were poised to take the lead.

Mage got the jump on Forte, who managed to save some ground around the far turn, after racing wide into the first turn and down the backstretch while near the back of the field. Irad swung Forte to Mage's outside turning into the stretch, but had a lot of work to do when Mage hit the furlong grounds after a mile in 1:36.35. Under left-handed encouragement from Ortiz, Forte caught and passed Mage in the final sixteenth of a mile.

The win was the sixth in seven career starts for Forte, who has now won four G1 rqces: the Hopeful, Breeders' Futurity, Breeders' Cup Juvenile and Florida Derby. He was bred in Kentucky by South Gate Farm and purchased by Repole and Elias Stable for $110,000 from consignor Eaton Sales at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Inaugurated in 1952, the Florida Derby has had numerous runners move on to win the Kentucky Derby. Since 2001, six horses have completed the Florida Derby-Kentucky Derby double: Monarchos in 2001, Barbaro in 2006, Big Brown in 2008, Orb in 2013, Nyquist in 2016, and Always Dreaming in 2017. Gen. Duke, the 1957 winner, holds the stakes record of 1:46 4/5.

The post Forte’s Late Rally In Florida Derby Solidifies Status As Kentucky Derby Favorite appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Road To Kentucky Oaks: Affirmative Lady Kicks Clear In Gulfstream Park Oaks

AMO Racing USA's Affirmative Lady, put in a steady drive midway around the far turn, powered through the stretch to pass Davona Dale (G2) winner Dorth Vader, and pulled clear to a two-length victory in Saturday's $250,000 Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2).

Ridden by Luis Saez for trainer Graham Motion, Affirmative Lady ($19) had placed twice previously in stakes, including second by a neck in the Demoiselle (G2) last December at Aqueduct. The Arrogate filly was coming out of a maiden special weight triumph going the Oaks' 1 1/16-mile distance Feb. 26 at Gulfstream, earning her a return trip to stakes competition.

“When she broke her maiden here five weeks ago, I thought it was really impressive and the timing was good,” Motion said. “I think she really wants to go further. I think she'll really appreciate a mile and an eighth, to be honest.”

The Gulfstream Park Oaks was worth a total of 200 qualifying points to the top five finishers for the 1 1/8-mile Kentucky Oaks (G1) May 5 at Churchill Downs. Affirmative Lady earned 100 points to seal her spot in the starting gate.

“There's a big race going a mile and an eighth in May, so we'll think about that,” Motion said. “Look, if she comes out of it OK, we have to [run]. That's what she wants to do.”

Saez, aboard for the first time, settled Affirmative Lady in fourth saving ground on the rail as 30-1 long shot Flakes was in front through a quarter-mile in :23.73 pressed by Jan. 1 Cash Run winner Infinite Diamond with Dorth Vader looming in the clear three wide. The order didn't change after a half in :47.63 when Saez tipped Affirmative Lady off the rail to split horses and get into the race.

“The plan with her was to try to break good, get close and save ground. When we were ready, she kept going,” Saez said. “I had a lot of horse. Graham did an amazing job with her. She did great. She ran huge.”

Dorth Vader forged a short lead at the top of the stretch with Flakes digging in on the inside, but set Affirmative Lady down for a drive once straightened for home and reeled in the front runners in the final eighth of a mile with plenty left to turn back a late run from Sacred Wish, who got up for second. The winning time was 1:44.69 over a fast main track.

“I'm thrilled, extremely happy,” Saez said. “Graham always does a great job with his horses, and that gave me a lot of confidence she would have the stamina at the end. She demonstrated she has a great future and a very good chance to win the Kentucky Oaks. She's versatile and knows how to settle nicely, which says a lot about her potential going longer.”

Sacred Wish, making just her third career start and first for trainer George Weaver, edged Flakes by a head for second to earn 40 Kentucky Oaks points. Flakes picked up 30 points, beating Dorth Vader by a neck for third.

“I liked the way everything fell in the race. I had to go a little wide and sacrifice a little bit with the outside post and she didn't break that sharp out of the gate. She stumbled a little bit but she recovered and I liked the way she was doing it all the way down the backside,” Javier Castellano, aboard Sacred Wish, said. “Her first time going two turns, she handled it well. She finished good. I'm very satisfied.”

Dorth Vader, breaking from outermost Post 8, now has 70 points after picking up 50 for her 4 ¾-length upset at odds of 46-1 in the one-mile Davona Dale.

“She broke out a bit and was very wide on the first turn,” trainer Michael Yates said. “We'll see how she comes out of this and see how she trains and go from there.”

Miracle, the 2-1 favorite, Infinite Diamond, 2022 FSS My Dear Girl winner Atomically and Just Katherine completed the order of finish.

Affirmative Lady was bred in Kentucky by Alastar Thoroughbred Co. LLC from the Stephen Got Even mare Stiffed.

The post Road To Kentucky Oaks: Affirmative Lady Kicks Clear In Gulfstream Park Oaks appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

From Last to First, Blame’s Wet Paint Takes the Fantasy

It's hard to fault Wet Paint (f, 3, Blame–Sky Painter, by Street Cry {Ire}), who can win on wet or dry, has improved with each start, looks to like a distance, is unbeaten on dirt, and has been unstoppable in Oaklawn Park's 3-year-old filly series, with her latest conquest Saturday's GIII Fantasy S. in Hot Springs. The late-running Godolphin homebred won her third straight as she marches to the GI Kentucky Oaks as the current points leader with 170. The Fantasy divvied up points on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks with a scale of 100-40-30-20-10, also giving Taxed (Collected) and Olivia Twist (Mshawish), who chased Wet Paint home in second and third, respectively, a potential spot in the Oaks gate May 5.

Winning trainer Brad Cox won the Oaks in 2018 with Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) and again in 2020 with Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil).

The 3-5 heavy favorite in the Fantasy, Wet Paint trailed far back–at least a dozen lengths–early as 5-1 Grand Love (Gun Runner) led with her ears pricked through :22.98 and :47.08 fractions. Roused entering the turn, Wet Paint swept around the field with ease and loomed menacingly as Grand Love was swamped in mid-stretch. Under minimal encouragement, Wet Paint flew by at least five wide as Taxed and Olivia Twist picked up the leftovers to her inside. Wrapped up on at the end, Wet Paint won far easier than the 2 1/2-length margin would suggest. She was Cox's second Fantasy winner following Sassy Sienna (Midshipman) in 2018 and Godolphin's first.

“I guess when you break and they kind of get away from you a bit you're always a little concerned,” said Cox. “But they were strung out a little bit. I saw the half in 47 and thought she was going to be able to close into it, and she finished up well. When Flavien [Prat] asked her to pick it up at the half-mile, you could tell he was riding her with a lot of confidence. At the three-eighths pole, she ranged up and was just cruising along. Very happy with how she finished up and galloped out. She ran great, won going away.”

Wet Paint has never been beaten on dirt. She broke her maiden at second asking at Horseshoe Indianapolis last October and captured both the Jan. 28 Martha Washington S. and the Feb. 25 GIII Honeybee S. at Oaklawn this year, the latter two with twin 83 Beyer Speed Figures. Her only career losses came on debut on the Kentucky Downs grass and a December start in an optional allowance on Turfway's synthetic surface. All three of her previous main track starts were in the slop or on a wet-fast track, making the Fantasy, contested on a dry and fast track, an important test. She passed.

Cox said Wet Paint would likely ship to Churchill Downs this week to prepare for the Oaks.

Pedigree Notes:

Claiborne's Blame, the most established sire son of Claiborne's late Arch, has 45 black-type winners, including 21 graded winners. Wet Paint isn't the first of Blame's progeny to star as a sophomore at Oaklawn–his son, Nadal, won a division of the GI Arkansas Derby and GII Rebel S. in 2020 and now stands in Japan. Wet Paint is Blame's first stakes winner out of a Street Cry (Ire) mare, the latter having 135 black-type winners out of his daughters. The late Street Cry stood at Darley, the flagship U.S. farm of Godolphin.

Wet Paint is out of Sky Painter, second in Belmont's GIII Miss Grillo S. in 2013 and, like her daughter, a homebred for Godolphin. The Fantasy winner's fourth dam is Nastique (Naskra), a four-time Grade I winner and a multiple stakes producer. Sky Painter has a yearling filly by Darley stallion Medaglia d'Oro and was bred back to Not This Time for this spring.

Saturday, Oaklawn Park
FANTASY S.-GIII, $600,000, Oaklawn, 4-1, 3yo, f, 1 1/16m, 1:44.08, ft.
1–WET PAINT, 122, f, 3, by Blame
          1st Dam: Sky Painter (GSP, $169,755), by Street Cry (Ire)
          2nd Dam: Skylighter, by Sky Mesa
          3rd Dam: Painted Lady, by Broad Brush
O/B-Godolphin (KY); T-Brad H. Cox; J-Flavien Prat. $354,900.
Lifetime Record: 6-4-1-0, $689,000. Werk Nick
Rating: F. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click
for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Taxed, 119, f, 3, Collected–Yankee Union, by Yankee
Gentleman. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($27,000 Ylg '21
KEESEP; $105,000 2yo '22 OBSMAR). O-Richard Bahde;
B-Brereton C. Jones (KY); T-Randy L. Morse. $109,200.
3–Olivia Twist, 122, f, 3, Mshawish–Twinkling, by War Chant.
1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($20,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP; $230,000
2yo '22 OBSOPN). O-Brad King, Randy Andrews, G. Chris
Coleman, Jim Cone, Suzanne Kirby and Lee Lewis; B-Brushy
Hill, LLC (KY); T-Todd W. Fincher. $54,600.
Margins: 2HF, HF, 2 1/4. Odds: 0.60, 33.10, 50.00.
Also Ran: Condensation, Grand Love, Pate, Towhead,
Take Charge Briana, Royal Spa, She's Lookin Lucky.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs.
VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

The post From Last to First, Blame’s Wet Paint Takes the Fantasy appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

‘He Ran A Big Race’: Law Professor Scores Dominant Excelsior Victory

Twin Creeks Racing Stables' Kentucky homebred Law Professor made a triumphant return to New York to capture Saturday's $125,000 Excelsior, a nine-furlong test for older horses, at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Trained by Rob Atras, the 5-year-old Constitution gelding entered from a distant third-place finish in the Razorback Handicap (G3) on February 18 at Oaklawn Park that the victorious Last Samurai exited to win the Essex (G3) at the Hot Springs, Arkansas oval and saw runner-up West Will Power come back to win last Saturday's New Orleans Classic (G2) at Fair Grounds.

The Jose Lezcano-piloted Keystone Field won a three-way battle for the lead into the first turn with Miles D and Law Professor to mark the opening quarter-mile in :23.32 over the muddy and sealed main track. Law Professor, who initially took back to third after exiting post 2, advanced outside of Miles D to secure second position entering the backstretch as Keystone Field reached the half-mile in :46.90.

Law Professor ranged up to the outside of Keystone Field to take command late in the final turn with three-quarters elapsing in 1:11.69 as Miles D angled off the rail to launch his bid, but there was no catching the versatile dark bay, who crossed the wire a 4 1/4-length winner in a final time of 1:50.34. Keystone Field stayed on strong down the lane to complete the exacta by four lengths over Miles D with the slow-starting Portos in fourth. Curlin's Wisdom, Forewarned and Bourbonic rounded out the order of finish.

Franco, leading rider at the recently concluded Big A winter meet, said he rode with confidence.

“I broke sharp and made sure I got my position going to the turn,” Franco said. “I saw those two horses [Keystone Field and Miles D] wanted to go, so I just stayed back and went around there and the horse did the rest. He was just dragging me all the way to the quarter pole and when I asked him, he was there for me.”

Atras said Law Professor, who impressed with a 7 1/2-length score in the nine-furlong Queens County on January 7 in his seasonal debut here, had excelled in his training at Belmont Park and enjoys racing out of his own stall.

“I think being back here definitely helped. He likes it here and seems to run his best races here,” Atras said. “Even though we didn't get the most ideal trip, Manny was able to work it out and he ran a big race. He trains well here. He can be a bit of a nervous horse and he was nice and settled in the paddock.”

Atras credited Franco, who was aboard for the Queens County score, with getting the sometimes temperamental Law Professor to rate.

“Manny took him back a little bit, which I think was a very smart move because the pace was pretty hot,” Atras said. “Then when he re-engaged, he wanted to be a little rank, but Manny settled him down real nicely. He knows the horse and he rode him perfect after that.”

Lezcano said the stakes-place Keystone Field, a distant seventh last out in the Razorback, performed admirably.

“I think it was kind of fast today, but we were going pretty good,” Lezcano said. “He gave me a good race and everything he's got. I think the best horse won the race.”

Law Professor spent his first 10 starts in the care of trainer Michael McCarthy, taking the off-the-turf 2021 Santa Anita Mathis Mile (G2). He made a winning debut for Atras in September at Kentucky Downs, scoring a half-length victory in the restricted Tapit over turf ahead of a game second to multiple Grade 1 winner Life Is Good in the Woodward (G1) on October 1 at Belmont at the Big A. He closed out his 2022 campaign with a fifth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) in November at Keeneland.

Law Professor, who was produced by the Ghostzapper mare Haunted Heroine, banked $68,750 in victory while improving his record to 6-2-2 from 16 career starts. He paid $3 for a $2 win ticket.

The post ‘He Ran A Big Race’: Law Professor Scores Dominant Excelsior Victory appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post