Month: July 2023

Far Bridge Prevails In Belmont Derby As Visitor Hits NY Traffic

'TDN Rising Star' Far Bridge (c, 3, English Channel–Fitpitcher, by Kitten's Joy) was the beneficiary of a clean trip beneath Jose Ortiz, took command in upper stretch and finished off nicely to take Saturday's GI Belmont Derby on Long Island. Less fortunate was King Power Racing's G2 Dante S. hero The Foxes (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}), whose passage more resembled a rush-hour trip on the adjacent Cross Island Parkway, but he flew home to remarkably grab second on the line from pacesetting longshot Mondego (GB) (Lope de Vega {Ire}).

Supplanted late at the top of the market by the European invader, Far Bridge was off without incident and settled in the latter third of the field as longshot Mondego set the pace in advance of Godolphin's Silver Knott (GB) (Lope de Vega {Ire}), beaten a nose into second in last year's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. Worse than midfield at the midway stage and now down inside, Far Bridge was niggled along three furlongs out and pinched ground with no stone in his path at the hedge. Railing through inside of Mendelssohns March (Mendelssohn) into the stretch, Far Bridge was angled out a furlong and a half from home and kicked on gamely for the victory. The Foxes, dispatched as the 2-1 favorite, hesitated at the start and raced with only Webslinger (Constitution) behind through the opening exchanges. He raced more or less in the company of Far Bridge passing the half-mile pole, but found himself in a bit tight inside of GII Pennine Ridge S. hero Kalik (Collected) approaching the lane and was forced to wait a fraction or two longer than Oisin Murphy might have preferred. The Foxes sailed home and skimmed the rail late to finish a highly unlucky runner-up.

“We got a fortunate trip today,” said winning trainer Todd Pletcher. “Everything worked out. We were able to save some ground pretty much around both turns, especially the far turn. We knew he had a good closing kick, we just needed to be in position to deliver it. I really liked the way he was moving around the turn and then when he got clear in the stretch, I knew he'd keep coming. We always felt like the added distance was going to be to his advantage.”

Before hot-footing it to nearby JFK Airport to board a flight bound for France to ride Chaldean (GB) (Frankel {GB}) in Sunday's G1 Prix Jean Prat, The Foxes's jockey Oisin Murphy lamented: “He stood to jump and was a little slow away. I followed the winner but I wanted to sit closer in the run. The winner got first run on me as we turned into the straight and The Foxes picked up brilliantly, but I'd have loved to have been more forward in the run.”

Far Bridge made the first two starts of his career for his breeder and Christophe Clement, flying home to narrowly defeat Carl Spackler (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) before impressively adding a Mar. 11 allowance to earn 'TDN Rising Star' honors. Carl Spackler had earned the same designation a few weeks prior. LSU Stables acquired Far Bridge privately following the allowance and the bay rallied up the inside but was outfinished by Webslinger in the GII American Turf May 6. He was exiting fast-finishing second in the Pennine Ridge.

Pedigree Notes:

Far Bridge becomes the 69th worldwide stakes winner, 36th graded winner and 14th Grade I winner for the much-missed English Channel, winner of the GI Joe Hirsch Turf Classic over this course in 2006 and 2007. He is the 39th SW, 14th GSW and fifth GISW out of a mare by the late Kitten's Joy, a number that includes Channel Cat (English Channel) and dual Chilean G1SW Lukka (Chi), by Smart Strike's champion son Lookin At Lucky. Far Bridge is the last live produce listed for his dam.

Saturday, Belmont Park
BELMONT DERBY INVITATIONAL S.-GI, $750,000, Belmont, 7-8, 3yo, 1 1/4mT, 2:01.75, fm.
1–FAR BRIDGE, 122, c, 3, by English Channel
                1st Dam: Fitpitcher, by Kitten's Joy
                2nd Dam: Teenage Temper, by A.P. Indy
                3rd Dam: Pleasant Temper, by Storm Cat
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN, 1ST GRADE I WIN. 'TDN Rising Star' O-LSU Stables; B-Calumet Farm (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher; J-Jose L. Ortiz. $412,500. Lifetime Record: 5-3-2-0, $629,700. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus* Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–The Foxes (Ire), 122, c, 3, Churchill (Ire)–Tanaghum (GB), by Darshaan (GB). 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. (440,000gns Ylg '21 TATOCT). O-King Power Racing Co. Ltd.; B-Barronstown Stud (IRE); T-Andrew Balding. $150,000.
3–Mondego (GB), 122, c, 3, Lope de Vega (Ire)–Free Rein (GB), by Dansili (GB). 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE, 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. (230,000gns Ylg '21 TATOCT). O-Cheyenne Stable LLC; B-Car Colston Hall Stud (GB); T-Christophe Clement. $90,000.
Margins: 1, NO, HF. Odds: 3.35, 2.15, 41.50.
Also Ran: Webslinger, Silver Knott (GB), Mendelssohns March, Redistricting (GB), Kalik, Wizard of Westwood, Cyber Ninja, Boppy O.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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Precious Avary Surprises In Jersey Girl, Provides Trainer Shaw First Career Stakes Win

Tim Shaw is going to savor  this win for a while.

After 22 years as a trainer, and 1,337 starters, Shaw notched his first career stakes win when front-running Precious Avary held on for a neck victory in Saturday's $85,000 Jersey Girl Handicap at Monmouth Park, doing so at odds of 22-1.

The win was the third in a row for the 3-year-old daughter of Divining Rod, all coming since she returned to facing New Jersey-breds.

“It's a great feeling,” said Shaw. “It means the beer is going to be colder, the steak is going to taste better. I've only run two horses in stakes races in my career and she is one of them. Mostly I claim horses and have some homebreds with limited ability. But I never had a real horse who could run like this one.”

Racing against older fillies and mares, and stretching out on the turf for the first time, Precious Avary was put on the lead by jockey Silvestre Gonzalez, loped through an opening quarter in :25.08 and a first half in :50.24 and had just enough left to hold off 2-1 Bramble Bay, who was charging up the rail. It was another 1¾ lengths back to Riding Pretty in third.

The winning time for the mile over a turf course listed as firm was 1:37.31.

“She's in very good form right now,” said Gonzalez. “She just loves to run – dirt, turf, short, long. She's just game. She comes out of there and gives 100 percent.

“When I broke out of there and I saw there was no speed I put her on the lead and then grabbed her and she rated very well today. She settled in nicely, we got an easy pace and that helped us down the stretch. Right now she's in a happy place. She's a Jersey-bred and in these Jersey-bred races she fits very well.”

The victory was her fourth straight against state-bred company, the last three coming at Monmouth Park this year.

“I think the change back to Jersey-bred company has given her confidence again,” said Shaw, who keeps a 10-horse stable based at Parx Racing. “She had a good race against open company at Penn National to start the year and that was kind of the spark. Then once we were able to get her in Jersey-bred company it seemed her confidence kept building.

“It's a little of a case of being back with her own company thing, being back with some confidence, and she's a 3-year-old filly who is getting better. She's won short turf, long dirt, slop going short and now turf going two turns. Honestly, I don't know what she wants or what she's best at. As long as Monmouth stays open I think we have to keep her with Jersey-breds.”

A Smith Farm and Stable homebred, Precious Avary  has a 4-2-1 line from 10 career starts with earnings of $201,460. She was produced by the Mutakddim mare Alytania.

The post Precious Avary Surprises In Jersey Girl, Provides Trainer Shaw First Career Stakes Win appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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City of Light Filly Delivers a ‘TDN Rising Star’ Debut Win at Los Al

Benedetta (f, 2, City of Light–Tessie Flip, by Grand Slam), a $750,000 OBS March purchase by Kaleem Shah, kicked off her career in style with a 'TDN Rising Star' performance at Los Alamitos Saturday afternoon.

The 3-5 favorite bumped with a rival at the start and recovered nicely to flash good speed through an opening quarter in :21.94. Traveling powerfully while about four wide on the turn for home, she switched over to her right lead in the stretch and was under cruise control down the lane to win by a geared-down three lengths over Tambo (Enticed).

Benedetta RNA'd for $290,000 as a Keeneland September yearling, then fired a :9 4/5 bullet from the Top Line Sales LLC, Agent X consignment at OBS March this year.

Tessie Flip, a two-time winning half-sister to MGISW Switch (Quiet American), is also responsible for Jo Jo Air (Scat Daddy), MSW & GSP, $221,474; the 3-year-old stakes-placed colt in Ireland and $400,000 KEESEP yearling Congo River (Mendelssohn); and a 2023 filly by Maxfield. Tessie Flip, a $200,000 KEEJAN purchase by Springhouse Farm in 2014, RNA'd for $370,000 at the 2014 KEENOV sale.

Benedetta is the second 'TDN Rising Star' for City of Light.

3rd-Los Alamitos, $45,500, Msw, 7-8, 2yo, f, 5f, :57.92, ft, 3 lengths.
BENEDETTA, f, 2, by City of Light
                1st Dam: Tessie Flip, by Grand Slam
                2nd Dam: Antoniette, by Nicholas
                3rd Dam: Queen of Women, by Sharpen Up (GB)
Sales history: $290,000 RNA Ylg '22 KEESEP; $750,000 2yo '23 OBSMAR. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $27,000. Click for the Equibase.com chart or the free
Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
O-Kaleem Shah, Inc.; B-Springhouse Farm & Dromoland Farm (KY); T-Simon Callaghan. *1/2 to Jo Jo Air (Scat Daddy), MSW & GSP, $221,474.

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Justify’s Aspen Grove Upsets Fasig-Tipton Belmont Oaks

Glen Hill Farm and Mrs. John Magnier's Aspen Grove (Ire) (Justify) became the second Grade I winner in the space of a month for her Triple Crown-winning stallion, as she slalomed her way through her rivals in the three-sixteenths of a mile to spring a 15-1 upset in Saturday's GI Fasig-Tipton Belmont Oaks Invitational S. Prerequisite (Upstart), all-the-way winner of the GIII Wonder Again S. last time, held for second after once again making the running, while the slow-starting Papilio (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) closed nicely for third.

Equipped with a stalls blanket and carrying the famed orange and black of Glen Hill, Aspen Grove broke outward beneath Oisin Murphy, but recovered and was able to secure a spot at the hedge as Prerequisite and 'TDN Rising Star' Be Your Best (Ire) (Muhaarar {GB}) eyeballed each other up front, with favored Mission of Joy (Kitten's Joy) a touch keen on their heels. The pace dropped away markedly down the backstretch, leaving Aspen Grove a tugging sixth, but within striking distance in a bunched field, and she traveled well enough as the six furlongs went up in a pedestrian 1:16.69. Prerequisite retained the call into the stretch, but Aspen Grove followed the move of Mission of Joy into the final quarter-mile, angled outside of that one at the eighth pole and kicked home strongly for the victory.

Aspen Grove turned in a shock even bigger than Saturday's to break her maiden as the 66-1 roughest chance in the G3 Irish EBF S. at the Curragh last August, then was seventh to recent G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches and G1 Prix de Diane victress Blue Rose Cen (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}) in the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac to end the season. A late-on-the-scene and wide-trip third in the May 7 G3 Cornelscourt S. at Leopardstown, Aspen Grove was allowed to take her chance in the G1 Irish 1000 Guineas three weeks later, finishing tailed off in 10th behind recent G1 Coronation S. heroine Tahiyra (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}), but with a viable excuse.

“She was in season when she ran in the Guineas,” trainer Fozzy Stack told TDN Europe's Brian Sheerin earlier this week. “There's only one Guineas, she couldn't run in it next year, so that's why we took our chance.”

“Stumbling at the start probably helped her considering the wide post,” said Glen Hill's Craig Bernick of Saturday's performance. “He [jockey Oisin Murphy] was able to tuck right in and get good position. You could tell that she was handy the whole way. He's a world-class rider, a Champion rider in England which is probably the toughest racing circuit in the world. He's a great jockey.”

Murphy's most recent trip to America also proved fruitful, as he capitalized on his relationship with Japanese connections and duly piloted Marche Lorraine (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) to a massive boilover in the 2021 GI Breeders' Cup Distaff. This past February, Murphy returned from a 14-month for breaking COVID rules, misleading the regulator and prejudicial conduct and two alcohol breaches.

“She broke a little slowly compared to American horses, but I used to work for [trainer] Fozzy Stack when I was a small boy, 14 and 15,” the Irishman said. “To team up and win a [Grade] 1 for him in the Belmont Oaks is brilliant, really brilliant.”

Pedigree Notes:

Aspen Grove's victory comes four weeks to the day since Arabian Lion became the first Grade I winner for Justify in the Woody Stephens S. on the Belmont S. undercard.

A $145,000 Fasig-Tipton October yearling purchase by Mike Ryan on behalf of Klaravich Stable, Data Dependent broke her maiden at her third career start for Chad Brown and Klaravich Stable and was subsequently runner-up in the GIII Jimmy Durante S. Aspen Grove is her first produce. A half-sister to Irish highweight 2-year-old filly and G1 Moyglare Stud S. heroine Skitter Scatter (Scat Daddy), SW and MGSP Victory Dance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) and to a Kingman (GB) colt that fetched €550,000 from Stauffenberg Bloodstock at last year's Goffs November Foal Sale, Data Dependent is also the dam of the 2-year-old Kentucky-bred colt Edwardian (No Nay Never)–a debut second at Tipperary for the Coolmore connections Apr. 20–a yearling full-brother to Aspen Grove and a filly by Charlatan foaled May 27.

Saturday, Belmont Park
FASIG-TIPTON BELMONT OAKS INVITATIONAL S.-GI,
$500,000, Belmont, 7-8, 3yo, f, 1 1/4mT, 2:04.09, fm.
1–ASPEN GROVE (IRE), 121, f, 3, by Justify
                1st Dam: Data Dependent (GSP, $136,670), by More Than Ready
                2nd Dam: Dane Street, by Street Cry (Ire)
                3rd Dam: Daneleta (Ire), by Danehill
1ST GRADE I WIN. O-Glen Hill Farm and Mrs. John Magnier; B-Glen Hill Farm (IRE); T-James A. Stack; J-Oisin Murphy. $275,000. Lifetime Record: 7-2-0-1, $318,652. Werk Nick Rating: B+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Prerequisite, 121, f, 3, by Upstart
1st Dam: Etsu, by Smart Strike
2nd Dam: Forever Beautiful, by Giant's Causeway
3rd Dam: Fly North, by Pleasant Colony
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($47,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP; $350,000 2yo '22 EASMAY). O-First Row Partners and Team Hanley; B-Brereton C. Jones (KY); T-Chad C. Brown. $100,000.
3–Papilio (Ire), 121, f, 3, by Starspangledbanner (Aus)
1st Dam: Glafyra (Fr), by High Chaparral (Ire)
2nd Dam: Akhla, by Nashwan
3rd Dam: Beautiful River, by Irish River (Fr)
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. (€60,000 Ylg '21 ARAUG). O-D. J. Stable LLC, Medallion Racing, Barry Fowler and Parkland Thoroughbreds; B-SCEA Marmion & Mr A. Jathiere (IRE); T-Mark E. Casse. $60,000.
Margins: 3/4, NK, 1HF. Odds: 15.70, 3.90, 7.60.
Also Ran: Aspray, Freydis the Red (Fr), Speirling Beag (Ire),
Mission of Joy, Strikingly Spun, Be Your Best (Ire).
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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