Month: June 2023

Equibase Analysis: Kentucky Derby Runner-up Two Phil’s, Wood Winner Lord Miles Meet In Ohio Derby

The Grade 3, $500,000 Ohio Derby at JACK Thistledown offers the winner $300,000 and brings together a field of eight, with five either stakes winners or stakes placed to date in the 3-year-old ranks.

Leading the field in accomplishments is Two Phil's, who ran valiantly last month when leading in the stretch in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby before settling for second. Lord Miles is likely to be well-regarded by racing fans, having won the Grade 2 Wood Memorial when last seen in April. Bishops Bay is another strong contender as he enters the Ohio Derby after missing by a head last month in the Grade 3 Peter Pan Stakes to eventual Grade 1 Belmont Stakes winner Arcangelo.

Hayes Strike has proven he belongs with the some of the best 3-year-olds, winning the Private Terms Stakes in March and the Texas Derby last month. Henry Q won the Mine That Bird Derby in New Mexico in February and followed that up with third-place finishes in the Grade 3 Sunland Derby and Peter Pan so is another who appears to fit with these. Locally based Agnello's Dream, Last Cookie and Timesatappin all step up in class off allowance race efforts in which none of the trio was victorious.

Win contenders:

Bishops Bay is my top choice to win this year's Ohio Derby, adding to the hot hand trainer Brad Cox has held this month in stakes races for 3-year-olds, having saddled Idiomatic to win the Shawnee Stakes three weeks ago and similarly saddling Salute the Stars to victory in the Pegasus Stakes last weekend.

Bishops Bay has run three times to date and all three were “A” efforts, first winning in his debut in February and next prevailing gamely by a neck when stretched out to two turns for the first time in March. Returning on May 13 in the Peter Pan Stakes, Bishops Bay pressed the pacesetter from the moment the gate opened, then got the lead by a head before engaging with eventual winner Arcangelo in a head-and-head battle for the final eighth of a mile. Although losing the battle at the end, Bishops Bay ran markedly better than in his previous race, going from an 88  Equibase Speed Figure to 97. Arcangelo returned two weeks ago and improved to a 100 figure in the 1 ½-mile Belmont, and with Bishops Bay running the same 1 1/8-mile trip as he did in the Peter Pan it can be assumed he's going to improve once more, particularly having put in a very strong five-furlong workout (:59.40) at Churchill Downs one week ago.

Hayes Strike has won two of his last three races, both stakes for 3-year-olds. The first of the two was on March 18 when taking the Private Terms Stakes, earning a 91 figure in the process. After a poor-seventh place effort in the Blue Grass Stakes in April, Hayes Strike improved to a 100 figure in his most recent race on May 29, putting in a visually impressive rally from ninth with a quarter mile to run, to seventh with an eighth of a mile left in the race, to win the Texas Derby by a nose. Jockey Cristian Torres was riding Hayes Strike for the first time in that race and rides back again, so we can assume the same effort, or an even better one, could be forthcoming in the Ohio Derby.

Lord Miles posted the 59-1 upset to win the Wood Memorial in April when last seen. He was entered in the Kentucky Derby but did not run in the race after being ordered scratched by the stewards. He has been in steady training in Florida since. Although he had run poorly in the Holy Bull Stakes (sixth) in February and in the Tampa Bay Derby (fifth) in March, Lord Miles showed a lot of moxie in the Wood when battling head-and-head with both Hit Show and Dreamlike for the last eighth of a mile. Certainly if he can repeat that effort, which earned a 100 figure, following more than two months off, Lord Miles would be a contender to win this race.

As to Two Phil's, I think he will run well again but not well enough to win, the reason being his tendency to lose ground in the final eighth of a mile. Starting with his 2023 debut in the G3 Lecomte Stakes this past January, Two Phil's rallied from fifth in the early stages to get to second, within a head of the leader with an eight of a mile to go, only to be beaten more than two lengths at the end.

One month later in the G2 Risen Star Stakes, Two Phil's rallied from seventh to get within inches of the leader in the stretch, but was passed and settled for third. After winning the G3 Jeff Ruby Steaks on the all-weather surface at Turfway Park in March, Two Phil's indisputably ran the best race of his career in the Kentucky Derby, earning a 102 figure. However after rallying from fifth to make the lead entering the stretch, Two Phil's once again didn't have the needed physical or mental energy, was passed by Mage near the wire and barely holding off Angel of Empire for the runner-up spot. So even though his Equibase Speed Figures have improved in his last three races, from 92 to 97 to 102, I feel he may be vulnerable to a more tenacious foe in the final yards and will end up second, or even third, in this year's Ohio Derby.

The rest of the field, with their best representative Equibase Speed Figures, is Agnello's Dream (87), Henry Q (97), Last Cookie (77) and Timesatappin (78).

Win Contenders in preference order:

Bishops Bay

Hayes Strike

Lord Miles

$500,000 Ohio Derby – Grade 3, Race 12 at Thistledown

Saturday, June 24 – Post Time 6:20 p.m. ET

1 1/8 Miles

3-Years Olds

Ellis Starr is national racing analyst for Equibase

The post Equibase Analysis: Kentucky Derby Runner-up Two Phil’s, Wood Winner Lord Miles Meet In Ohio Derby appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Kirkpatrick & Co. Presents In Their Care: The Matchmaker For Cody’s Wish And His Namesake

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott and Danny Mulvihill, farm manager at Godolphin's Gainsborough Farm, were discussing Cody's Wish after he dominated the May 6 Churchill Downs Stakes in his 5-year-old debut.

“Did you know he was going to be this good?” Mott asked.

“I wish,” Mulvihill replied.

Mulvihill could not have predicted that the son of two-time Horse of the Year Curlin would blossom into the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner last November at Keeneland. He could not have foreseen that the immensely popular bay horse would add the Met Mile to the Churchill Down to give him four consecutive Grade 1 triumphs and nine victories in his last 10 starts.

But when Cody Dorman visited Gainsborough in 2018 as part of its involvement with the Make-A-Wish program, Mulvihill's keen powers of observation did lead him to create what he believes was a match made in heaven.

Mulvihill had been alerted that Dorman, born with Wolf Hirsch-horn syndrome, is unable to walk. He knew the wheelchair might spook many foals, creating a potentially dangerous situation. The Curlin foal out of Dance Card was an obvious choice to him.

“As a foal, he was very, very laid back,” Mulvihill recalled. “He took everything in stride. He never fussed about anything.”

Cody's Wish with his dam, the gray Tapit mare Dance Card (photo courtesy of Danny Mulvihill)

The foal eyed Cody and began to inch forward until he was close enough to begin nuzzling the boy's hands and sniffing him. Then he gently laid his head in Cody's lap.

“The two of them just bonded for a couple of minutes,” Mulvihill said.

Mary Bourne, Gainsborough's office manager, was so struck by their instant connection that she requested permission to name the foal Cody's Wish.

No one envisioned then that Cody and his namesake would meet many more times, that Cody would credit the horse with saving his life and that the two of them would inspire many physically challenged youngsters.

Certainly, Mulvihill never saw that coming. “For all of that to line up, I've said to many people that we are just pawns in this story,” he said. “I think the man upstairs has had his hand in this and has had his hand in it from a long way back.”

At the least, the pairing was fortuitous and a vivid example of how well Mulvihill knows his horses. He has worked for Godolphin for 24 years, spending 10 years in his native Ireland and then three and a half years in Japan. He has been based in the United States since 2013.

Danny Mulvihill at Gainsborough with one of the farm's foals (courtesy of Danny Mulvihill)

Mulvihill, 47, is so passionate about horses that his wife, Carol, calls his career his “first wife.” They delight in living at 1,500-acre Gainsborough, in Versailles, Ky., as do their five children: Matthew, 21; Emma, 18; Cian, 16; and twins Daniel and Grace, 13.

Carol said of her husband's devotion to the farm, “He lives for it. It's not really a job. It's a lifestyle. I can't see him ever doing anything else. He just gets it done quietly, head down.”

Some workers cringe when breeding season approaches, knowing the grueling commitment that entails. Not Mulvihill.

“You hear many times about the long hours of the breeding season, but it's without a doubt my favorite time of year,” he said. “I'm quite happy to be up at all hours of the night and all hours of the morning to see them born and stand for the first time, to see that connection between mom and baby.

“Every time it's something different. It's hard to explain how good it is. I'm just blessed that I get to experience it year in and year out.”

Gainsborough breeds as many as 65 mares a year and raises the foals. Mulvihill looks on in wonderment when mares deliver their first foals.

“You've got this mare that doesn't know what is going on but Mother Nature takes over,” he said. “You see that foal born and it stands. They're all different, but you hear this lovely little exchange between the two of them, the little nicker from the mare welcoming the baby into the world. It just give you a fantastic feeling that this is what you get to do as a job, this is what you get to do with your life.”

Danny and Carol Mulvihill at Churchill Downs (courtesy of Carol Mulvihill)

Godolphin has won consecutive Eclipse Awards as Outstanding Breeder and Outstanding Owner. Mulvihill credited top management for its patience in allowing foals ample time to grow and never attempting to rush their development. He oversees approximately 45 workers and praised the performance of broodmare manager Gary Harlow, assistant yearling manager Benji Amezcua and Bourne, among others.

“I've got a fantastic team of people who help me look good at what I do,” Mulvihill said. “Without that team, that does not happen.”

Then, too, there is the support of his family, which grew by one not long ago. Grace persuaded them to adopt a retired Thoroughbred that competed on behalf of Godolphin from 2020-'22. He never quite broke his maiden, placing second twice and third once in four lifetime starts.

Brother in Arms, perhaps not the fiercest of competitors, is now known by a gentler name. They all call him “Mike.”

Tom Pedulla, 2022 recipient of the Walter Haight Award from the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters, wrote for USA Today from 1995-2012 and has been a contributor to the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Blood-Horse, America's Best Racing and other publications.

If you wish to suggest someone as a potential subject for In Their Care, please send an email to info @ paulickreport.com that includes the person's name and contact information in addition to a brief description of the individual's background.

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