Month: June 2023

Kelly Breen may have made more successful claims over the course of his 31-year training career, but he was hard-pressed to come up in the immediate aftermath of Train to Artemus' 1¾-length victory in Saturday's $100,000 Goldwood Stakes at Monmouth Park.

“This is one of the tops,” said Breen. “We've had a couple of stakes winners in the past that we've claimed but not one as repetitive as this filly. She's just very game. I couldn't be more proud of her.”

Claimed for $35,000 for owner M and W Stables last Aug. 28, the 5-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Tapizar out of Pay Day Kitten by Kitten's Joy notched her third stakes victory since coming into Breen's care.

In nine starts for Breen, the turf sprinting specialist has won six times with a second.

“I can't believe he got her for $35,000,” said winning jockey Paco Lopez. “She's a very nice filly.”

The winning time for the 5½ furlongs over a turf course listed as firm – though the race was contested in a downpour – was 1:03.44.

“It's hard to put into words what this means,” said Breen, locked in a three-way tie with Chad Brown and Claudio Gonzalez for leading trainer honors with 10 winners apiece. He has won three training titles at Monmouth Park. “A few weeks ago (following neck fusion surgery) I was down and out. My wife even said today, 'You're going to go to winner's circle in this rain?' I told her I miss days like this.”

Able to secure a stalking position in third behind the early speed of Sweet Temperament and Glitter Up through an opening quarter in :21.99 and a first half that went in :45.19, Lopez split horses coming out of the turn and Train to Artemus took off. She paid $4.00 to win in the field of seven fillies and mares, recording her ninth victory in 16 career starts. She is 6-for-9 sprinting on the turf.

“Sometimes you have to play the break,” said Lopez, now 3-for-3, all in stakes races, aboard Train to Artemus. “This filly broke very well today. She was sitting right where I wanted her behind the speed. So I just had to wait. I knew I had plenty of horse. She never hesitated when we needed to split horses.”

Can't Buy Love was second 1¼ lengths ahead of longshot Roselba.

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Alpha Delta Stables' graded stakes winner Liguria made her second start off the layoff a winning one with a last-to-first rush in Saturday's $150,000 Wild Applause, a one-mile Widener turf test for sophomore fillies, at Belmont Park.

Trained by Chad Brown, the daughter of War Front provided Brown with his fourth win in this event and finished three-quarter lengths ahead of stablemate Tax Implications to give their conditioner the exacta.

Ridden from post three by Irad Ortiz Jr., Liguria broke sharply to come out in front of the eight-horse field, but took back as Kerry and Breath Away rushed to the front from the two outermost posts. The Dylan Davis-piloted Soviet Excess attempted to join the fray but steadied and shuffled back to race midpack. Meanwhile, a headstrong Im Just Kiddin advanced along the inside as Kerry marked an opening quarter-mile in :23.65 over the firm footing.

Ortiz bided his time aboard Liguria as positions remained unchanged down the backstretch through a half-mile in :47.18 and three-quarters in 1:11.18. A stubborn Kerry clung to a precarious lead as the field straightened for home with the race appearing wide open as Liguria tracked behind a wall of foes and was swung to the far outside to follow the run of Tax Implications, who rallied from last down the backstretch to come into contention at the eighth pole. The two drew away from the rest of the field in deep stretch before Liguria made one last surge in the final strides to sweep past her stablemate and land the victory in a final time of 1:35.01, returning $5.60 for a $2 win ticket as the 9-5 post-time favorite.

It was another two lengths back to Soviet Excess, who held show honors by a neck over Cecile. Breath Away, Im Just Kiddin, Violet Gibson and Kerry completed the order of finish. Main track-only entrant Shidabhuti was scratched.

Brown praised the efforts of both his horses, and noted the adversity Liguria overcame to notch the victory.

“Liguria really caught a flyer out of the gate. She broke good but some other horses passed her on the backside and Irad lost a little position there,” said Brown, who scored back-to-back Wild Applause coups after sending out Eminent Victor to win last year. “Both horses were traveling beautifully, but as the horses in front of them started to take a hold and try to slow the pace down, I was a little concerned. I thought it was maybe too much to do, but she was brilliant today.”

Ortiz aboard Liguria for the first time in the afternoon, said the bay filly responded well when asked to maneuver around the field in midstretch.

“She broke quick but after that I just let her be where she wants to be,” said Ortiz “I think she had the best races coming up to it, so I wasn't afraid to be wherever she wants to be. I take my time and when I asked her, she was full of run. I was comfortable where I was and I feel I was loaded every step of the way. She gave me a good feeling. It's nice to ride those kind.”

Liguria, bred in Kentucky by Tada Nobutaka from the Woodman mare Lerici, was a winner at second asking in October at Belmont at the Big A and followed with her first stakes triumph in the Grade 3 Jimmy Durante in December at Del Mar to close out her juvenile season. She kicked off her current campaign with a fifth-place finish in the Grade 2 Edgewood on May 5 at Churchill Downs ahead of the Wild Applause.

Brown said Liguria did not handle the turf at Churchill, but found her best stride over Belmont's Widener course.

“Most of mine have run significantly better when I put them on turf where they can get their toe in the ground,” said Brown. “It doesn't have to be soft, just nice fair ground – lush ground, that you can get your toe in and push. That's the way I train my horses, so when they can't push off they're not as effective.”

Brown added the Grade 3, $175,000 Lake George going one mile on July 21 at Saratoga Race Course is “a logical race” for both Liguria and Tax Implications.

Manny Franco, aboard Klaravich Stables' Tax Implications, said he had no choice but to go wide with the daughter of Mehmas, who raced for the first time since finishing second in the Chelsey Flower in October at Belmont at the Big A.

“I had to go wide because everybody was bunched up,” Franco said. “I didn't have anywhere to go. I moved when I had to move but that may have cost me a little bit. She ran good. I think she's a very nice filly and she's more straightforward now than she was last time.”

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Fair and Square, a WinStar Farm and Blazing Meadows Farm homebred, broke on top and made all the pace en route to winning the $75,000 Daniel Stearns Cleveland Gold Cup for 3-year-olds by 4 1/4 lengths on Saturday at Thistledown Racino.

The Ohio-bred Super Saver gelding added a third stakes victory to his record after covering the 1 1/8 miles in 1:52.86 on a fast track.

Ridden by Jeffrey Sanchez for trainer Tim Hamm, Fair and Square set all the fractions: :23.82 for the opening quarter mile, :49.08 for the half, 1:13.62 for six furlongs, and 1:39.44 for one mile en route to the comfortable win. Runner-up Trojan Tale pursued from second throughout and got to within a half length of the winner through three-quarters. Despite drifting to the five path in the stretch he held on for the place, just a head in front Returnoninvestment, who rallied from next to last to just miss second.

Even-money favorite Hey Eugene was never a factor and finished fifth.

Sent away at 3-1 in the field of eight state-breds, Fair and Square paid $8 for the win and collected the $45,000 winner's share, boosting his lifetime bankroll to $204,540. He has never failed to place in his seven outings, his career line standing at 4-1-2.

Fair and Square was produced by the stakes-placed Drosselmeyer mare Marathon.

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