Month: July 2023

Saturday’s Saratoga Notes: Cox and Pletcher Runners Headline Worktab

West Will Power (Bernardini), a last-out winner of the GI Stephen Foster S., worked five furlongs in 1:02.24 (1/4) in company with the stakes-placed Tapit Shoes (Tapit) for trainer Brad Cox over Saratoga's Oklahoma training track Saturday.

West Will Power, owned and bred by Gary and Mary West, is under consideration for either next Saturday's GI Whitney S. or the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup Sept. 2 at the Spa.

“It's a very prestigious race. It means a lot,” Cox said of the Whitney. “We'll see how things unfold after this work and make a decision a little bit later. We'll speak with the West team and come up with a plan.”

The Cox-trained Verifying (Justify), a narrow winner of the GIII Indiana Derby, worked a half mile in :48.75 (13/53) in company with the maiden Fighting Back (Lookin At Lucky) over the Oklahoma training track.

Cox said that Verifying will point to the seven-furlong GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Aug. 26 at Saratoga.

“He went a really good half. I wasn't looking to do a whole lot with him, but he was on it,” Cox said. “He was ready to do something.”

Charge It Breezes for Whitney…

'TDN Rising Star' Charge It (Tapit), a front-running winner of the GII Suburban S. last out downstate, worked a half mile in :48.77 (28/101) Saturday morning over the main track in his final tune up for next Saturday's Whitney.

“I thought it was excellent,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “He did it well in hand and looked good doing it. I've been very pleased with the way he's trained since the Suburban.”

Pletcher continued, “He's a horse that's always trained really strongly and shown hints that he's capable to run a big race. His (GIII) Dwyer was brilliant. His Suburban, I thought, was his most professional race. He's starting to put it all together consistently. It's a very tall order going up against the best older horses in training, but we're happy with the way he's coming into it.”

Pletcher added that fellow 'Rising Star' Tapit Trice (Tapit), fifth in the GI Haskell, will target the GI Travers S. Aug. 26.

The post Saturday’s Saratoga Notes: Cox and Pletcher Runners Headline Worktab appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Pletcher Looks To Travers For Former Classics Starter Tapit Trice

Gainesway Stable and Whisper Hill Farm's Tapit Trice will target the $1.25-million Travers on August 26 at Saratoga, trainer Todd Pletcher said.

Tapit Trice was a last-out fifth in the TVG.com Haskell (G1) on July 22 at Monmouth Park. The gray Tapit colt raced off the pace and lacked a crucial late kick, finishing 8 3/4 lengths behind the victorious Geaux Rocket Ride.

A 2023 alumnus of the Triple Crown trail, Tapit Trice was third in the Belmont Stakes (G1) five weeks following a distant seventh in the Kentucky Derby (G1). Over the spring, he captured the Tampa Bay Derby (G2) and Blue Grass (G1) at Keeneland.

“Everything went wrong,” Pletcher said of his Haskell effort. “He didn't get away well. He got bottled up behind horses in a lot of traffic. It was very similar to the Derby. He was in an impossible spot to run from, especially on a track like that.”

Bred in Kentucky by Gainesway Thoroughbreds, Tapit Trice is out of the multiple graded stakes-placed mare Danzatrice, whose Pletcher-trained sire, Dunkirk, finished second in the 2009 Belmont Stakes. He was bought by Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill for $1.3 million at the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

The post Pletcher Looks To Travers For Former Classics Starter Tapit Trice appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

WATCH: High-Class Hukum Prevails In ‘Win & You’re In’ King George VI & QEII Thriller

Shadwell Estate Co's homebred Hukum, a 6-year-old full brother to brilliant miler Baaeed, prevailed in an epic stretch battle with younger rival Westover in a stirring edition of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II QIPCO Stakes (G1) Saturday at Ascot.

The pair powered away from  3-year-old King Of Steel in the final furlong and furiously battled to the finish, with Hukum prevailing in a monumental effort for Jim Crowley, scoring by a nose outside of 4-year-old Westover. King Of Steel was 4 1/2 lengths back in third. Epsom Derby (G1)/Irish Derby (G1) winner Auguste Rodin, racing in last place, faltered nearing the home turn and was eased before finishing last as the 9-4 favorite in the 10-horse field.

Time for the 1 1/2 miles was 2:33.95 on turf rated as good to soft.

With the win, Hukum earned a guaranteed start in the $4-million Longines Breeders' Cup Turf (G1) in November at Santa Anita via the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In.

Hukum's victory came on the heels of his impressive comeback in May when he defeated last years' Epsom Derby winner Desert Crown the Brigadier Gerard (G3) at Sandown. He had been sidelined for 356 days after winning the Coronation Cup (G2) in  June 2022 at Epsom when the Owen Burrows-trained Sea The Stars horse sustained a potentially career-ending hind-leg fracture.

“I've always believed in him and even last year I said to Owen this could be a King George horse –he's out of his brother's shadow now,” Crowley told  ITV immediately after the race.

“It's a great training performance by Owen because he was off a year, and in fairness to (Shadwell owner) Sheikha Hissa she persisted with him to bring him back into training.

“It would've been very easy to retire him as a full brother to Baaeed. She had faith and it's great, that was something special.

“Westover got first run at me, but it gave me something to aim at. He was so tough, I never felt he was going to come off second best there.”

In a demonstration of heart and consistency, Hukum took his career line to 11-1-2 from 17 starts.

Bred in Ireland Hukum was produced by the stakes-winning Kingmambo mare Aghareed, a descendant of the late Sheikh Hamdan's blue hen mare Height Of Fashion. Full brother Baaeed, a six-time Group 1 winner who closed his racing career last year as the world's top-rated turf horse and the second-highest-rated horse in the world after achieving a mark of 135, stood his first season this at Shadwell's Nunnery Stud.

The post WATCH: High-Class Hukum Prevails In ‘Win & You’re In’ King George VI & QEII Thriller appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights