One week on from their protest at the Grand National, Animal Rising have made it onto the track at the Scottish Grand National.
Month: April 2023
Defunded Overcomes Bad Start, Zooms From Last To Win Californian
An odds-on multiple stakes winner who was expected to be on the lead in Saturday's $200,000 Californian Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita, Defunded took a crow-hop leaving the gate and instead of being in front, found himself last in a field of six, four lengths off the lead around the Club House turn.
It mattered not however, as the classy 5-year-old Dialed In gelding cruised into contention around the far turn and then fairly mowed down the competition in a command performance that enabled to him to win by three lengths. Trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Juan Hernandez, Defunded finished 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.91 and certainly appears headed to the Hollywood Gold Cup (G1) at Santa Anita on May 29 at 1 1/4 miles.
With Mr. Impossible and Midnight Mammoth battling for early supremacy, Midnight Mammoth took the lead heading up the backside and he was headed midway around the far turn by Brazilian-bred Royal Ship, but Defunded, under a vigorous hand ride, got on terms with both of them at the top of the lane and his class prevailed from there.
“He was standing really good and at the last moment, he decided to take a step back and at that time, they gave us the break, so he kind of hopped in the air,” said Hernandez, who registered his second stakes win of the day. “After the bad break, he relaxed very well behind those horses. He wasn't rank at all and down the backside, I felt like I had a lot of horse.
“Around the three eighths, I swung out and I put him in the clear and when I did that, he picked it up by himself. I just let him go and he caught the horses.”
Most recently a close third in the Santa Anita Handicap (G1) March 4, Defunded was off today at 1-5 and paid $2.40 for the win.
“He's always had a little issue at the gate,” said Baffert, who notched his fourth win in the Californian. “Juan said that he was standing perfect and right when they kicked it, he stepped back and that's why he hopped out of there…He said he was never rank. He was in the bridle, and he was just being patient with him…Down the backside, I wasn't sure, I thought we missed the race.
“I almost didn't run him in here, but he was doing so well I put him in the race to freshen him up a little bit…I'm just happy Karl Watson (co-owner) was here with his wife to watch the race, so it was exciting. I like the fact that he has always been one dimensional and it looks like now he's maturing, getting older, and he is starting to fill out. He's always been a little bit of a head case, but now he's figuring it out and he knows he's a good horse, so that's important.”
Out of the Touch Gold mare Wind Caper, Defunded was bred in Kentucky by Athens Woods LLC. He is owned by Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman. In garnering his third career graded stakes win, he improved his overall mark to 6-4-2 from 16 starts, and with the winner's share of $120,000 his earnings increased to $1,348,100.
Trained by Richard Mandella and ridden by Mike Smith, Royal Ship finished second by one length in front of Midnight Mammoth.
Ridden by Kyle Frey, Midnight Mammoth was off at 15-1 and finished a half length better than fellow longshot Kiss Today Goodbye.
Fractions on the race were :23.22, :47.35, 1:11, and 1:35.82.
The post Defunded Overcomes Bad Start, Zooms From Last To Win Californian appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Asmussen Becomes Oaklawn’s Winningest Trainer With Red Route One’s Win In Bath House Row Stakes
Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, who has had a milestone-filled meet, reached another milestone Saturday when Winchell Thoroughbred LLC's Red Route One made him the winningest trainer in Oaklawn's history with the victory in the $200,000 Bath House Row Stakes.
The victory was Oaklawn win 868 for Asmussen, who had tied the late Bob Holthus with a win on Friday. On Feb. 20, Asmussen became the first trainer in North America to reach 10,000 career wins when Bet He's Ready won at Oaklawn.
In the Bath House Row, Red Route One fell back early and raced in last place while Victory Formation led the field through fractions of :22.87 and :46.95 for the first half mile. Victory Formation held a narrow lead over stablemate Tapit Shoes entering the stretch and the two battled toward the wire. Tapit Shoes began to edge clear before being caught in the final jump by Red Route One, who got up late by a head. Victory Formation was third. The winning time was 1:50.94 for 1 1/8 miles over a fast track.
The win gave jockey Joel Rosario a sweep of all three stakes on Saturday's card. He also won the $150,000 Valley of Vapors with Merlazza and the $1-million Oaklawn Handicap (G2) with Proxy.
“I always had confidence in the horse,” Rosario said of Red Route One. “It looked like when we got to the sixteenth pole that we had the race won. Then, they kept moving. But he gave everything to me. It was just a close race.”
Red Route One, who was winning for the second time in nine starts, earned an automatic berth to the Preakness Stakes (G1) May 20 with the win.
“He ran straight through the wire.” Asmussen said. “He still gallops out so huge. It feels like there's more there. Maybe the victory, maybe the winning … Joel (Rosario) gave him a dream trip. I think that he waited until the (Kenny) McPeek horse (Interlock Empire) ran up outside of him and then just got some momentum with him.”
Red Route One will be considered for the Preakness, Asmussen said.
The post Asmussen Becomes Oaklawn’s Winningest Trainer With Red Route One’s Win In Bath House Row Stakes appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Proxy Gets ‘Last’ Laugh In Oaklawn Handicap
The names of some of this country's most accomplished Thoroughbred owners grace the honor roll as winners of the GII Oaklawn H., including Loblolly Stable, Greentree Stable, Allen Paulson, Golden Eagle, John Franks, Ogden Phipps, Jerry Moss, Pin Oak Stable and the late Oaklawn president Charles Cella.
Following the conclusion of nine sometimes rough-and-tumble furlongs Saturday in Hot Springs, you can now add the name of Godolphin to the list, as the operation's immaculately bred 5-year-old Proxy (Tapit) stormed down the center of the track and managed to outfinish defending champion Last Samurai (Malibu Moon) by a head, with the hard-knocking GI Santa Anita H. hero Stilleto Boy (Shackleford) another unlucky nose away in third.
Sent off the 37-10 third pick, Proxy was sporting cheekpieces and landed in fourth position into the first turn, as Stilleto Boy showed slightly more speed than Classic Causeway (Giant's Causeway), who applied the pressure from the outside. On the back of 'TDN Rising Star' Charge It (Tapit), blinkered for the first time and very erratic through the opening stages, Proxy was guided into the clear by Joel Rosario a turning into the backstretch. Racing as many as six paths off the inside approaching the entrance to the second turn, Proxy was asked to pick it up a bit at the seven-sixteenths, but there wasn't much of a response, as Last Samurai improved at the rail.
When longshot Senor Buscador (Mineshaft) commenced a sharp rally of his own that saw him overtake Proxy to his inside, that seemed to serve as a wake-up call and Proxy jumped back into the bridle while widest into the lane. In the meantime, Stilleto Boy had left the rail open, and leading rider Cristian Torres tried to send Last Samurai through a razor-thin opening, appearing to bounce off the fence at the furlong grounds and ricocheting off the rail to brush with Stilleto Boy and consequently putting Charge It in tight. But all the while, Proxy had worked up a full head of steam, was zeroing in on the leaders while out of harm's way down the center of the track and was shoved across the line first.
“I knew there was enough speed to set up his late run,” said winning trainer Michael Stidham. “The way it went, with Charge It sitting right in behind them [speed horses] and us outside of him, the only concern was turning for home it looked like he was trying to drop out of it again. But Joel [Rosario] had him out there for a reason, to stay out from behind the dirt.”
A fringe player on the Louisiana road to the Triple Crown two years ago, Proxy was third in last year's GIII Ben Ali S. and filled the same spot behind Olympiad (Speightstown) in the GII Stephen Foster S. before returning from a 4 1/2-month break to defeat West Will Power (Bernardini) in the GI Clark S. in November. He was a non-threatening fifth in the GI Pegasus World Cup Jan. 29 ahead of the Big 'Cap, where he got home well, but the wire came a couple of strides too soon.
Pedigree Notes:
Proxy's dam, a $260,000 purchase by Glencrest Farm out of the 2006 Keeneland April Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, was one of the more versatile performers of her generation, winning the GII Black-Eyed Susan S. on conventional dirt in May 2007 and the GI American Oaks on turf two months later before doubling her Grade I tally in that year's Juddmonte Spinster S. over the Keeneland all-weather.
Panty Raid was purchased by John Ferguson on behalf of Sheikh Mohammed's operation for $2.5 million at the 2008 Fasig-Tipton November Sale, but took some time to make her mark in the breeding shed. Her first foal of note was Proxy's year-older half-sister Micheline, a Grade II winner on turf and second in the GI QE II Challenge Cup at Keeneland. Panty Raid, whose full-sister St. John's River went excruciatingly close in the 2011 GI Kentucky Oaks, is the dam of the 2-year-old colt Out in Force (Frosted) and a yearling filly by Into Mischief. Panty Raid was among the first book of mares bred to Tapit's two-time Eclipse Award winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Essential Quality.
Saturday, Oaklawn
OAKLAWN H.-GII, $1,000,000, Oaklawn, 4-22, 4yo/up, 1 1/8m, 1:49.68, ft.
1–PROXY, 122, h, 5, by Tapit
1st Dam: Panty Raid (MGISW, $1,052,380), by Include
2nd Dam: Adventurous Di, by Private Account
3rd Dam: Tamaral, by Seattle Slew
O/B-Godolphin (KY); T-Michael Stidham; J-Joel Rosario. $620,750. Lifetime Record: GISW, 16-5-6-2, $1,775,970. *1/2 to Micheline (Bernardini), GSW & GISP, $695,103. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Last Samurai, 123, h, 5, Malibu Moon–Lady Samuri, by First Samurai. ($37,000 RNA Ylg '19 KEESEP; $175,000 2yo '20 OBSMAR). O-Willis Horton Racing LLC; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY); T-D. Wayne Lukas. $191,000.
3–Stilleto Boy, 122, g, 5, Shackleford–Rosie's Ransom, by Marquetry. ($420,000 3yo '21 FTKHRA). O-Steve Moger; B-John & Iveta Kerber (KY); T-Ed Moger, Jr. $95,500.
Margins: HD, NO, 2 3/4. Odds: 3.70, 2.80, 5.80.
Also Ran: Senor Buscador, Charge It, Classic Causeway, Rated R Superstar. Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
The post Proxy Gets ‘Last’ Laugh In Oaklawn Handicap appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
