May, 2023 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Back On Home Turf, Queen Goddess Faces Six Rivals In Monday’s Gamely

Queen Goddess will take aim at a second Grade 1 win for trainer Michael McCarthy when she takes on six rivals in Monday's Grade 1, $400,000 Gamely Stakes going 1 1/8 miles on turf.

Queen Goddess won the G3 Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf at Gulfstream Park in her 5-year-old bow Jan. 28 then returned to be sixth when sent to Keeneland for the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley on April 15. Owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partner and Gary Barber, Queen Goddess has won half of her 12 starts with three additional board hits for $769,080 in earnings. Her biggest win came in the 2021 G1 American Oaks, which was washed off the turf and moved to the main track.

Queen Goddess is by Empire Maker out of stakes-placed winner Royal Story, by Lemon Drop Kid. She will be ridden by eastern-based jockey Luis Saez, who comes to town after being aboard for both the Jenny Wiley and Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf.

The chief rivals to Queen Goddess look to be Macadamia and Quattroelle, who have split a pair of decisions when running 1-2 in their two most recent starts.

In the G3 Wilshire at a mile on turf here April 30, Macadamia beat Quattroelle by a length to earn her first stakes victory for top turf trainer Phil D'Amato, who also has School Dance entered in the Gamely. Owned by R Unicorn Stable, Macadamia is a 5-year-old mare by Hat Trick.

Jockey Tiago Pereira, who has ridden Macadamia in her last three starts, will again be in the irons Monday.

Prior to coming up a length short in the Wilshire, Quattroelle had reeled off consecutive graded-stakes wins for trainer Jeff Mullins. She beat Macadamia by a half-length here March 4 in the G2 Buena Vista and prior to that won the G3 Megahertz, both going a mile on turf. Owned by Red Baron's Barn and Rancho Temescal, Quattroelle has a record of 5-4-4 in 16 starts with $432,772 in earnings.

Jockey Hector Berrios, who has been aboard for Quattroelle's last seven starts, again has the call on Monday.

The new shooter in the field is Irish-bred Viareggio, who invades from the east for trainer Brendan Walsh. A 4-year-old filly by Caravaggio, Viareggio won her only U.S. start when taking a first-level allowance at Keeneland going 1 1/16 miles on turf April 21.

Viareggio is owned by Hunter Valley Farm, Debra L. O'Connor, Mrs. Paul Shanahan and Marc Detampel. She will be ridden by Umberto Rispoli.

THE GRADE 1 GAMELY WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 5 of 10 Approximate post time 3 p.m. PT

School Dance – Flavien Prat – 122
Bellamore – Ramon Vazquez – 122
Queen Goddess – Luis Saez – 122
Closing Remarks – Joe Bravo – 124
Viareggio – Umberto Rispoli – 122
Quattroelle – Hector Berrios – 124
Macadamia – Tiago Pereira – 122

First post time for a 10-race card on Monday is at 1 p.m. with admission gates opening at 11 a.m. The $400,000 Gamely Stakes, is one of three Grade I events on Memorial Day, Monday.

The post Back On Home Turf, Queen Goddess Faces Six Rivals In Monday’s Gamely appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Gold Phoenix Leads Field Of 11 For ‘Win And You’re In Shoemaker Mile

One of three talented turf runners from the Phil D'Amato barn, Irish-bred Gold Phoenix heads an outstanding field of 11 three-year-olds and up in the Grade 1, $500,000 Shoemaker Mile, one of three Grade 1 stakes on Memorial Day, Monday at Santa Anita.

Originally run at Hollywood Park in 1938 and renamed to honor legendary late Hall of Fame jockey William Shoemaker, the Shoe Mile is a Breeders' Cup “Win & You're In” Challenge Race qualifier, with the winner earning a fees-paid berth into the Grade 1 FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile at Santa Anita on Nov. 4. The Shoe Mile has the distinction of being the first “Win & You're In” qualifier to be run in North America this year.

A game neck winner over the course of the Grade 1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile on March 4, Gold Phoenix was most recent fourth, beaten 2 ½ lengths by repeat winner Offlee Naughty as the 8-5 favorite going a mile and one quarter on turf in the Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes April 8.

Freshened and unbeaten in two tries at a mile on grass, Gold Phoenix will be reunited with Japanese sensation Kazushi Kimura, who has been aboard for his last two starts and will fly in from his Toronto base on Sunday.

A 5-year-old gelding owned by Little Red Feather Racing, Sterling Stables, LLC and Marsh Naify, Gold Phoenix seeks his third graded stakes win and approaches the Shoe Mile with an overall mark of 12-4-3-3 and earnings of $687,257.

D'Amato's other two Shoe Mile entrants, fellow Irish-breds Hong Kong Harry and Balnikov, both enter the race in top form, with Hong Kong Harry toting a stronger resume.

Off at 7-2 in the prestigious Grade 1 Old Forester Turf Classic on Derby Day at Churchill Downs, Hong Kong Harry rallied gamely to finish second by 3 ¾ lengths and returns to a course over which he's got three wins from four tries.

Fourth, beaten 1 ¼ lengths by Gold Phoenix as the even money favorite two starts back in the Kilroe Mile, it'll be up to regular rider Flavien Prat to get this diminutive 6-year-old gelding a bit farther back off the early pace on Monday.

A three-time graded stakes winner for D'Amato, Hong Kong Harry has been favored in six out of his eight stateside starts, winning five of them. Owned by Scott Anastasi, Jimmy Ukegawa and Tony Valazza, “Harry” has an overall mark of 15-9-3-1. With earnings of $789,097, he seeks his first Grade 1 victory.

Bob Baffert's Du Jour, most recently fourth as the favorite going one mile on turf here in the Grade 3 American Stakes April 2, rallied to be second by a neck to Gold Phoenix two starts back in the Grade 1 Kilroe Mile and is a stout contender with eastern-based Luis Saez taking over for the first time.

A 5-year-old gelding by Temple City, Du Jour is owned by Natalie Baffert and Debbie Lanni. With all three of his wins coming on grass, Du Jour is 12-3-3-2 with earnings of $677,720.

THE GRADE 1 SHOEMAKER MILE WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 7 of 10 Approximate post time 4 p.m. PT

Gold Phoenix—Kazushi Kimura—126
Hong Kong Harry—Flavien Prat—124
Du Jour—Luis Saez—122
Flavius—Mike Smith–122
Il Bellator—Alejandro Gomez—122
Exaulted—Juan Hernandez—122
Balnikov—Umberto Rispoli–122
Cabo Spirit—Joe Bravo—124
Lamplighter Jack—Edwin Maldonado—122
Irideo—Hector Berrios—122
Salesman—Ramon Vazquez–122

First post time for a 10-race card on Monday is at 1 p.m. with admission gates opening at 11 a.m. The Shoemaker Mile, along with the $400,000 Hollywood Gold Cup and the $400,000 Gamely Stakes, is one of three Grade 1 events on Memorial Day, Monday.

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Dutrow Seeks Kentucky License at Tuesday Hearing

Richard E. Dutrow, Jr., who in February regained his license to train horses in New York after sitting out a 10-year revocation imposed by the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC), is on the agenda for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC)'s license review committee meeting on Tuesday to try and regain his license in that state.

The 63-year-old GI Kentucky Derby-winning trainer with the long and controversial history of racing infractions has a 1-1-1 record from three starts at Belmont Park since rebooting his career with fresh stock May 6.

Earlier this week, Dutrow was named as the new trainer for the 2022 GI Florida Derby winner White Abarrio (Race Day). An ownership entity for that colt, C2 Racing Stable, had stated the switch was necessary to ensure White Abarrio would be able to campaign in major stakes given the indefinite suspension recently imposed by Churchill Downs Inc., (CDI), upon White Abarrio's former conditioner, Saffie Joseph, Jr.

According to the KHRC meeting notice, the May 30 format will be for the committee to go into closed session “to deliberate regarding individual adjudications. The committee will reconvene in open session to vote on the participants' license applications.”

Dutrow's trainees earned more than $87 million between 1979 and 2013. They won multiple graded stakes, including three Breeders' Cup races and the 2008 Kentucky Derby with Big Brown. He often topped the trainer standings at New York tracks during the 2000s decade.

Around that same time, Dutrow's official rap sheet maintained by the Association of Racing Commissioners International began to swell with violations related to an array of equine pharmaceuticals.

Between 2000 and his attempt to win the Triple Crown in 2008 with Big Brown, Dutrow was cited for 18 drug infractions, ranging from comparably benign violations for overages of legal medications phenylbutazone and Lasix, to more serious charges of using mepivacaine, an anesthetic that can be used to make sore horses feel no pain.

In addition to $20,000 in drug fines, Dutrow racked up a $5,000 penalty for providing misleading information to authorities about a workout, and was slapped with a $25,000 fine in 2007 for having contact with his stable while he was supposed to be serving a suspension.

On Nov. 20, 2010, the Dutrow trainee Fastus Cactus tested positive for butorphanol after a winning effort at Aqueduct. Dutrow's barn was searched and investigators claimed to have found in a desk drawer three syringes filled with a muscle relaxer, xylazine.

The NYSGC's predecessor agency, the New York State Racing and Wagering Board, revoked Dutrow's license on Oct. 12, 2011.

Dutrow battled that revocation for two years, both at the racing commission level and in the courts. His suspension officially commenced Jan. 17, 2013. Later that year he filed a failed federal lawsuit seeking monetary damages and a reinstatement of his licensure.

In 2017, Dutrow filed for and was granted Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, claiming he had zero income and total liabilities of $1.76 million.

In 2018, a collective of supporters launched an online petition calling for the NYSGC to allow Dutrow to be allowed to return to training. The petition was signed by a number of Hall-of-Fame trainers and jockeys, but it failed to sway the commission.

In 2020, Dutrow's legal team tried a different route by applying for a license in Kentucky. Appearing before the KHRC's license review committee, former NYSGC steward Stephen Lewandowski testified on Dutrow's behalf, alleging that the syringes found in Dutrow's barn in 2011 were planted. Fellow trainer Dale Romans also vouched for Dutrow, as did the noted equine surgeon Dr. Larry Bramlage.

That 2020 KHRC committee voted not to grant Dutrow a license without stating its reasoning. At the time, TDN reported that the committee's chairperson, Ken Jackson, said during the meeting that it was the committee's policy not to comment on its rulings once they had been made.

The KHRC license review committee did, however, allow Dutrow to withdraw his application so he could avoid having a denial of licensure on his record.

Dutrow has since paid a $50,000 NYSGC fine, his term of revocation in New York ended on Jan. 17, 2023, and he now has a valid New York license in hand.

According to the KHRC website, the current members of the license review committee are Lesley Howard (chair), Paul Brooker (steward designee), Jamie Eads, Greg Harbut and George Haydon.

Dutrow is one of four trainers on the agenda. The others are Patricia Brewer, David Ward and Francesca de la Flor.

The post Dutrow Seeks Kentucky License at Tuesday Hearing appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Monday’s Cross Country Pick 5 Features Stakes Action From Belmont, Churchill

The New York Racing Association Inc. (NYRA) will host a Cross Country Pick 5 on Monday featuring stakes racing from Belmont Park's Big Apple Showcase Day and graded stakes action from Churchill Downs.

The Cross Country Pick 5 requires bettors to pick the winner of five select races from tracks across the country. The minimum bet for the multi-track, multi-race wager is 50 cents. Wagering on the Cross Country Pick 5 is available on ADW platforms and at simulcast facilities across the country with each week featuring a mandatory payout of the net pool. The Cross Country Pick 5, boasting a low 15 percent takeout, offers sequences with races from Belmont Park and partner tracks across the country.

The sequence kicks off in Race 8 [4:22 p.m.] at Churchill Downs when 2021 Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Echo Zulu makes her 4-year-old debut against five others in the Grade 3 Winning Colors for older fillies and mares going six furlongs. The L and N Racing and Winchell Thoroughbreds-owned daughter of Gun Runner was last seen finishing second to Goodnight Olive in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in November at Keeneland for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. Albaugh Family Stables' Fire On Time, by Not This Time, will look to build off a sharp six-length triumph going the Winning Colors distance on May 12 at Churchill Downs for trainer Dale Romans. The six-time winner earned black type when third in Gulfstream Park's Grade 2 Inside Information on January 28.

Action shifts to Belmont Park for the following leg in Race 8 [4:40 p.m.] where popular New York-bred veterans City Man and Somelikeithotbrown will each attempt their ninth overall stakes triumph in the $125,000 Kingston for older horses going 1 1/16 miles on the inner turf. Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Peter Searles and Patty Searles' City Man won last year's Grade 3 Forbidden Apple at Saratoga Race Course and Grade 2 Fort Lauderdale at Gulfstream for trainer Christophe Clement. Somelikeithotbrown, owned by Skychai Racing and David Koenig, will make his first start of the year and was last seen finishing a distant seventh in the Alex M. Robb on December 17 at Aqueduct for trainer Mike Maker. The 7-year-old Big Brown bay won the Grade 3 Mint Million in September at Kentucky Downs following a triumph in an off the turf edition of the West Point presented by Trustco Bank in August at the Spa.

The middle leg will feature an overflow field of turf maidens going nine furlongs at Churchill Downs [Race 9, 4:55 p.m.], where well-bred Boppy seeks to graduate at second asking for trainer Brad Cox. The son of Blame, out of dual graded stakes-winner Daring Dancer, was second on debut on March 25 going a two-turn mile at Turfway Park. He is a direct descendant of Terlingua – the dam of breed-shaping stallion Storm Cat. Trainer Kenny McPeek sends out Freydis the Red, a consistent French-bred son of Saxon Warrior who has finished second in 3-of-5 starts.

The final two legs will see action shift to beautiful Belmont Park, beginning with the 1 1/16-mile $200,000 Commentator [Race 9, 5:12 p.m.] for older horses on the main track. Michael Dubb and Michael J. Caruso's Dr Ardito vies for his second career stakes win for four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown. The son of Liam's Map won the February 20 Haynesfield at the Big A before finishing fifth in the Grade 3 Westchester at Belmont in his last start.

Bankit, 2021 Champion New York-bred Older Horse, provides steep opposition as he seeks his first triumph of the year for Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen. The 7-year-old Central Banker horse faced open company in the last out Frank Y. Whiteley on April 15 where he finished fourth. He won the 2021 Commentator by 13 1/4 lengths.

The curtains close on the sequence in the Belmont finale [Race 10, 5:44 p.m.] where the Barry Schwartz homebred Utamaro faces an overflow field of New York-bred maidens 3-years-old and upward traveling seven furlongs over the Widener turf course. The gray son of Cairo Prince is out of the A.P. Indy mare Mindy's Gold, making him a half-brother to graded stakes winner Sharp Starr. Trainer Rudy Rodriguez will saddle Factually Correct following a close third last out on May 5 going six furlongs in an off-the-turf maiden. The son of Tourist has never finished worse than fourth and will race with blinkers on in attempt to find the winner's circle at seventh asking.

Free Equibase past performances for the Cross Country Pick 5 sequence will be available for download at https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/cross-country-wagers.

America's Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the spring/summer meet at Belmont Park on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/tv-schedule.

Cross Country Pick 5 – Monday, May 29

Leg A: Churchill Downs – Race 8, G3 Winning Colors (4:22 p.m. Eastern)

Leg B: Belmont Park – Race 8, $125K Kingston (4:40 p.m.)

Leg C: Churchill Downs – Race 9, maiden special weight (4:55 p.m.)

Leg D: Belmont Park – Race 9, $200K Commentator (5:12 p.m.)

Leg E: Belmont Park – Race 10, New York-bred MSW (5:44 p.m.)

The post Monday’s Cross Country Pick 5 Features Stakes Action From Belmont, Churchill appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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