Month: May 2023

Nagirroc unleashed a powerful turn of foot on Saturday to set a new Pimlico Race Course track record for a mile on the turf in the James W. Murphy Stakes.

The 3-year-old son of Lea broke from the outside post, and after getting clear of the mid-pack runners, jockey Flavien Prat quickly moved his mount toward the rail to settle in behind the lead quartet of Funtastic Again, Fadetheniose, A Western Yarn, and Top Recruit.

Funtastic Again, making his first turf start since his 2-year-old debut in July 2022, broke from the rail and led the inside trip through an opening quarter-mile in :22.44 seconds, chased closely by Fadethenoise, while Nagirroc settled in the pocket on the rail behind the two leaders.

Funtastic Again continued to carry his advantage through the backstretch in a half-mile time of :46.15. A flagging Fadethenoise floated out a path wider entering the final turn, and Prat fired Nagirroc through the hole to catch Funtastic Again. Nagirroc had already bested the previous leader after six furlongs in 1:09.84, and he piled on through the stretch with Prat doing little more to encourage his mount than flashing the crop.

After a look over his right shoulder, Prat popped Nagirroc with the crop once, then put him under a hand ride through the final sixteenth to win by 3 1/2 lengths. Pacesetter Funtastic Again carried on for second, holding off Circling the Drain by a neck.

Nagirroc stopped the clock in the one-mile turf race in 1:33.11 over a firm course to set a new track record. The previous record was held by North East Bound in the 2000 Charlie Eckman Mile Stakes, who completed the trip in 1:33.42.

Nagirroc's record-setting performance came shortly after Prat eclipsed another Pimlico record for 1 1/8 miles on the turf aboard Never Explain in the Grade 3 Dinner Party Stakes. The James W. Murphy was Prat's third stakes win over the Pimlico turf on Saturday's card, also including the Jim McKay Turf Sprint aboard Beer Can Man.

Prat rode Nagirroc for owners Little Red Feather Racing, Madaket Stables, and William Strauss. He is trained by Graham Motion. The colt paid $4 to win.

Saturday's victory was Nagirroc's third win from seven career starts, and his first of 2023. It was his second career stakes triumph after winning the G3 Futurity Stakes as a 2-year-old. His earnings now total $377,550.

Bred in Kentucky by Chervenell Thoroughbreds, Nagirroc is out of the winning Zamindar mare Emma Spencer.

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Ryder Ryder Ryder, under Patrick Husbands, cruised to victory in the $100,000 Ruling Angel Stakes on Saturday at Woodbine.

Making her first start of the season, the Mark Casse trainee looked in mid-season form in the seven-furlong Tapeta race for 3-year-old fillies, gliding to an impressive seventh-length score.

Collecting Flatter and Renegade Rebel threw down early, with the duo scrapping on the front end well ahead of their nearest rival. The pair proceeded to take the field through early fractions of :22.21 and :43.76 as Husbands bided his time on the dark bay.

The front-runners continued their tete-a-tete into the turn for home, while Ryder Ryder Ryder was given her cue by Husbands. Coming off the turn, Ryder Ryder Ryder quickly engaged the leaders along the inside and then dashed away from her foes down the lane.

Ahead by a length at Robert Geller's stretch call, the Live Oak Plantation miss poured it on late and stopped the teletimer at 1:21.79. Last year's Grade 1 Natalma Stakes winner Last Call held on to second, a half-length ahead of Attabe.

Husbands, who recently notched his 350th career stakes triumph, was pleased to see the filly live up to her talent and price tag.

“She cost a lot of money,” said the veteran rider of the $600,000 (U.S.) purchase from consignor Lane's End at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale. “Since she's come here, she's always showed that she's a nice filly. The last stakes race [Grade 3 Mazarine, in November] I rode her, as the gates opened, she reared up in the gates and I had to bide my time and she just got beat a nose [neck]. I got on her in January when I was in Florida, and she was going good. I've breezed her twice here and she was doing it so easy. I was licking my chops.” ​ ​

It was the second win, along with the second in the Mazarine, in three starts for the daughter of Quality Road, who won at first asking last October at Woodbine.

Bred in Kentucky by Summer Wind Equine LLC, Ryder Ryder Ryder was produced by the Hennessy mare More Hennessy. She paid $6.50 for Saturday's win.

Last Call, Attabe, Collecting Flatter, Bulsara, and Renegade Rebel rounded out the field. Dolce Sopresa and Ticker Tape Home were scratched.

“Coming into the race, I had a lot of confidence,” said Husbands. “My filly broke sharp and I just wanted to see what was going on. They came back to me so fast, and it paid off in the long run, and she won pretty easy.”

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Stud Los Leones' Cheetara, a Group 2 winner in her native Chile, came with a relentless drive on the far outside to outrun fellow closers Olivia Darling and I'm the Boss of Me and spring a 17-1 upset of Saturday's $100,00 Skipat presented by Old Bay at historic Pimlico Race Course.

The 30th running of the Skipat for fillies and mares three and up sprinting six furlongs was the fifth of 10 stakes, six graded, worth $2.75 million in purses on a blockbuster 14-race program headlined by the 148th Preakness Stakes (G1), Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown.

Ridden by Vincent Cheminaud for trainer Ignacio 'Nacho' Correas IV, Cheetara ($36) picked up her fourth career stakes win and first since the Crestwood last June at Hawthorne. She also won the 2021 Seeking the Pearl at Colonial Downs and Haras de Chile Marcel Zarour Atanacio (G2) at Hipodromo Chile in December 2020.

Edie Meeny Miny Mo, racing for the first time since finishing fifth in the Sugar Swirl (G3) on New Year's Eve at Gulfstream Park, ran the opening quarter of a mile in :22.58 with fellow stakes winner Princess Kokachin pressing from the rail and Olivia Darling to her outside.

Cheminaud kept Cheetara in the clear on the far outside, getting up into fourth after a half in :45.14 and five furlongs in :57.10 as Princess Kokachin opened a clear lead. Cheminaud was persistent on Cheetara, a 6-year-old daughter of Daddy Long Legs, and they were able to prevail by a neck in 1:09.95 over a fast main track.

Olivia Darling was second, a half-length ahead of I'm the Boss of Me. It was another half-length back to Princess Kokachin, who edged Oxana by a head for fourth. Gunning, the 9-5 favorite, multiple stakes winner Street Lute and Edie Meeny Miny Mo completed the order of finish.

Cheetara ran third in the Alma North at Laurel Park and Roxelana last year and was fourth in the Gallant Bloom (G2) last fall at Aqueduct. She entered the Skipat having run second by a head in a 6 ½-furlong optional claiming allowance April 14 at Keeneland.

Bred in Connecticut, Skipat won 26 of 45 career races over six years, earning $614,215 in purses between 1977 and 1981. Two of her wins came in the Barbara Fritchie (G3), in 1979 and 1981, the latter coming the year after she had been retired and bred and brought back to the races.

Cheetara's dam is the Chilean-bred Thunder Gulch mare Fescura Total.

Skipat Quotes

Haram Rosario, assistant to Winning Trainer Ignacio Correas IV (Cheetara): “The horse is feeling very good and is training very good. We were confident she would run a good race.”

Winning Jockey Vincent Cheminaud (Cheetara): “It was great to win this race. The pace is why we won today. It was perfect for her, very fast. Sometimes, I ride this filly next to the leader and she doesn't run well. She finished very well, she deserved this win. She likes to come from the outside.”

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