Month: July 2023

Reigning Champion Male Sprinter Elite Power bested dual graded stakes-winner Gunite when they last faced off in the Group 3 Riyadh Dirt Sprint in February in Saudi Arabia. The two millionaire sprinters will renew their rivalry, some 6,400 miles away, as they battle for divisional supremacy in Saturday's Grade 1, $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap, a six-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds and upward at Saratoga Race Course.

Juddmonte's Elite Power, trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, won 5-of-6 starts last year, taking the Grade 2 Vosburgh at Belmont at the Big A and the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland to complete his Championship season.

The 5-year-old Curlin chestnut made his seasonal debut with a powerful performance in the Riyadh Dirt Sprint. With Frankie Dettori up, Elite Power took up an outside position in sixth as the Tyler Gaffalione-piloted Gunite saved ground behind the speed of Meraas and Justin. It was Gunite that moved first to take on Justin as Meraas retreated, but Elite Power was flying on the outside and soared to a 3 1/4-length score over a grinding Gunite, who earned place honors.

Elite Power did not return until June 10, easily posting a 1 3/4-length win in the 6 1/2-furlong Grade 2 True North over Big Sandy.

“He got the job done. He did what he had to do and we did what we had to do to bring him along,” Mott said of the successful seasonal debut.

Elite Power worked a half-mile solo in 51.22 seconds Sunday over the Oklahoma training track in a breeze that Mott indicated was similar to the chestnut's half-mile work in 51.11 on October 28 over the Oklahoma ahead of his Breeders' Cup coup.

“That's him by himself,” Mott said. “He's run well off of those kind of works right before his races. He did that in Saudi. He was working 51 before he won the Breeders' Cup. He wouldn't wow anyone when he's working by himself.”

Elite Power, who boasts a record of 10-7-0-1 for purse earnings in excess of $2.4 million, won his lone start over the Spa main track by toppling an optional-claiming field here in September.

The Spa's leading rider Irad Ortiz, Jr. has the call from post 4 aboard Elite Power, who will carry a field-high 126 pounds.

Winchell Thoroughbreds' Kentucky homebred Gunite posted a record of 7-4-2-0 last year, winning stakes at Churchill Downs [Maxfield, Harrods Creek], Saratoga [Grade 2 Amsterdam] and Keeneland [Perryville].

The dark bay endured a troubled trip as he concluded a solid sophomore season in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and settled for fourth, four lengths back of the Mott-trained winner Cody's Wish.

The well-traveled colt prepared for the Riyadh Dirt Sprint with a four-length romp in the King Cotton over sloppy and sealed going in January at Oaklawn Park and completed his overseas excursion with a close third in the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen in March at Meydan Racecourse.

Gunite tuned up for Saturday's test by posting a career-best 108 Beyer Speed Figure with a stalking effort in the six-furlong Aristides on June 3 at Churchill Downs, scoring a 1 3/4-length win over Bango, who exited that effort to win the Kelly's Landing at Ellis Park.

Asmussen holds Gunite, an eight-time winner with earnings in excess of $1.7 million, in high regard.

“He's exactly what horse racing needs – versatile, durable, and honest,” Asmussen said. “He's hard as hickory as a horse can be mentally and physically. He doesn't care where it's at – Saratoga, Dubai, Saudi, Hot Springs – he's going to run.”

Asmussen and Winchell Thoroughbreds campaigned Gunite's sire, Gun Runner, to Horse of the Year honors in 2017 on the back of Grade 1 wins at Saratoga in the Whitney and Woodward.

Gunite has proven to have similar affinity for the Spa, boasting a record of 4-2-2-0, including a 5 3/4-length romp in the 2021 Grade 1 Hopeful and a runner-up effort to Jack Christopher in last year's Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial.

Tyler Gaffalione retains the mount from post 5 aboard Gunite, who is assigned 124 pounds.

Dean Delivers [post 6, Emisael Jaramillo, 120 pounds], a Florida homebred for Stonehedge trained by Michael Yates, will make his first start outside of the Sunshine State.

The ultra-consistent 4-year-old Cajun Breeze gelding sports a ledger of 16-5-7-1 for purse earnings of $431,060. He made the grade in his sixth attempt last out with a gate-to-wire triumph in the six-furlong Grade 3 Smile Sprint on July 1 at Gulfstream Park.

With returning rider Emisael Jaramillo up, Dean Delivers blitzed through splits of 21.88 seconds, 44.30 and 56.41 over the fast main track en route to a 2 1/4-length score in a final time of 1:09.28. The sharp score earned a career-best 100 Beyer.

Yates, who made three trips to Saratoga with Cajun Breeze, is in search of his first Spa score.

Winning Move Stable's Gun It [post 1, Jose Ortiz, 118 pounds] will try to overturn his former stablemate Gunite while making his first graded start since a seventh-place finish in the 2020 Grade 2 New Orleans Classic.

The 7-year-old Tapit gelding was haltered for $62,500 by Linda Rice, the Spa's current leading trainer, out of a runner-up effort in April at Keeneland. He has since made three starts in optional-claiming sprints, hitting the board each time led by a 2 3/4-length score last out on June 22 at Belmont that matched a career-best 97 Beyer.

Gun It made 31 starts for Asmussen, earning second money traveling 1 1/16-miles in 2020 in the Grade 3 Louisiana and Grade 3 Mineshaft at Fair Grounds. But the grey gelding has posted 3-of-4 wins around one turn, including a sharp effort in a seven-furlong allowance here in July 2021 that also garnered a 97 Beyer.

The regally-bred Gun It is out of the multiple graded stakes-placed Medaglia d'Oro mare Miss Besilu, who is a half-sister to 2005 Horse of the Year Saint Liam, Grade 1-winner Funtastic and graded-stakes winner Quiet Giant – the dam of Gun Runner.

Rounding out the field is graded-stakes winner Little Vic [post 7, Carlos Olivero, 118 pounds] for trainer Juan Carlos Avila; the multiple graded stakes-placed Synthesis [post 2, Manny Franco, 119 pounds] for owner-trainer David Jacobson; and Awesome Aaron [post 3, Dylan Davis, 116 pounds], who makes his stakes debut for owner-trainer Troy Green.

The Alfred G. Vanderbilt is slated as Race 8 on Saturday's 12-race card which also features the Grade 2, $500,000 Jim Dandy presented by DK Horse in Race 10. First post is 12:40 p.m. Eastern.

Saratoga Live will present live coverage and analysis of the Saratoga Race Course summer meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule/.

The post Champion Elite Power, ‘Hard As Hickory’ Gunite Reignite Rivalry In Saturday’s Vanderbilt appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The evening before the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park this fall will not lack for star power. The newest class for the Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Fame will be inducted during the races on Saturday night, Sept. 23.

A group of four horses and one horsemen will be honored in between races on Sept. 23. Following are the first to be added to the Hall of Fame for Thoroughbred achievements since 2017.

Welder – All-time Wins Leader at Remington Park

The gray sprinter that found his winning form as he grew older under the training of Teri Luneack, became a three-time Remington Park Horse of the Meeting (2018-2020). Welder racked up 16 career wins in Oklahoma City, to set the new standard for local scores. Owned by Clayton Rash's Ra-Max Farms of Claremore, Okla., the gelded Oklahoma-bred son of The Visualiser from the Tiznow mare Dance Softly, amassed more than $1.2 million in earnings with $889,340 of it gained at Remington Park. Welder won 12 of 13 races during his Horse of the Meeting seasons and won at distances from five furlongs to 6-1/5 furlongs in his career here. He set the new Remington Park win mark, in what turned out to be his final victory before retirement, on Aug. 27, 2021. Welder also owns the Remington Park record for most stakes wins with 11.

Shotgun Kowboy – 2015 Oklahoma Derby Winner

Owned, trained and bred in Oklahoma by Hall of Famer C.R. Trout, Shotgun Kowboy became just the second state-bred horse to win the Oklahoma Derby. Prior to 2015, the only other to win the richest race at Remington Park was the legendary Clever Trevor in 1989. A multiple stakes winner at Remington Park, the gelded son of Kodiak Kowboy from the Siphon (Brz) mare Shotgun Jane, left the sprint ranks to win his derby and won 11 of his 15 triumphs between distances of 1 mile 70 yards and 1 1/8 miles. Shotgun Kowboy won the Oklahoma Classics Cup a record four times (2015, 2017-2019). He won 10 times at Remington Park with two seconds and four thirds, finishing off the board only once in 17 Oklahoma City starts. A career earner of more than $1.5 million, Shotgun Kowboy almost reached a million at Remington Park, piling up $982,020. He was retired by Trout at the end of the 2019 campaign.

Slide Show – Nearly Perfect Stakes-winning Filly

A superstar filly in the early years of Remington Park, Slide Show almost completed an undefeated career in Oklahoma City. Owned by Joe Colley and Deanne White, Slide Show burst onto the scene a winning 2-year-old in 1993. Trained by Wade White, the Oklahoma-bred daughter of Slewacide from the Silent Screen broodmare Screen Landing, won 11 consecutive races at Remington Park from 1993 to 1995, including seven stakes races. Among the big-money scores were three Oklahoma Classics events, the Lassie (1993), the Distaff (1994) and a victory over males in the Classics Cup (1995). Slide Show only tasted defeat once at Remington Park, in her 12th and final start here, when she was third in allowance company. The lone defeat took place just three weeks after winning the Classics Cup. Slide Show earned $215,306 in her 12 Remington Park attempts. Overall, she won 12 of 25 career starts with five seconds and two thirds for total earnings of $347,917, competing from 1993-1996.

Darrell Darrell – Versatile Stakes-winning Sprinter from early 1990s

A fan favorite from 1991 to 1996, Darrell Darrell racked up sprint victories against fellow Oklahoma-breds, and in open company. Triumphant at sprint measures from 5-1/2 to 7 furlongs, Darrell Darrell even won a 1,000-yard match race in the “Rumble at Remington” in June 1993 when he defeated EJ Cash Bo, an American Quarter Horse, by one length. Owned by Jean Dillard of Ringling, Okla. and trained during his finest years by Normie Thomas, Jr., Darrell Darrell was by Boca Rio from the King's Bishop mare Harrys Queen. He finished in the money in 25 of 28 Remington Park starts with 12 local victories and local earnings of $328,155, an astronomical amount for the early 1990s. Overall, Darrell Darrell won 19 career races from 47 starts, making more than $540,000.

Danny Caldwell – Owner

A resident of Poteau, Okla. and former high school educator and coach, Caldwell is the all-time leading owner by wins at Remington Park with 421 entering the 2023 season. He went all-in for horse racing as the millennium started, using a business model of claiming horses, finding winning spots to race and elevating them if possible. Many of his claims went on to become stakes winners at Remington Park including Fifth Date and Dont Tell Noobody (Oklahoma Classics Cup winners), Rated R Superstar (two-time Governor's Cup winner) and Eurobond (Oklahoma Classics Sprint), among others.

“In 2001, I was coaching Panama High School in the state softball championships at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium, a couple of furlongs from Remington Park,” Caldwell said upon learning of his Hall of Fame inclusion. “I really got going with horse racing right after that. I would have never thought, that just over 20 years later, I would be going into the Hall of Fame at Remington. I am truly honored.”

The 2023 Thoroughbred Season at Remington Park begins Friday, Aug. 18 and continues through Friday, Dec. 15.

Tracked by more than 176,000 fans on Facebook and 10,600 Twitter followers, Remington Park has provided more than $325 Million to the State of Oklahoma general education fund since the opening of the casino in 2005. Located at the junction of Interstates 35 & 44, in the heart of the Oklahoma City Adventure District. Remington Park presents simulcast racing daily and non-stop casino gaming. Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.

The post Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall Of Fame To Induct Remington’s All-Time Win Leader Welder, Millionaire Shotgun Kowboy appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Winchell Thoroughbreds and L and N Racing's 2021 Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Echo Zulu made a triumphant return to the site of her first two lifetime victories, defeating an all-graded stakes-winning cast of runners in Wednesday's 32nd running of the Grade 2, $200,000 Honorable Miss Handicap for fillies and mares traveling six furlongs at Saratoga Race Course.

Echo Zulu, a member of the first crop of sensational stallion Gun Runner, launched her Championship season at the Spa in July 2021 with a 5 1/2-length debut triumph en route to another open-lengths score in the Grade 1 Spinaway. She completed her juvenile campaign with two more much-the-best wins in the Grade 1 Frizette at Belmont Park and the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar.

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, who also conditioned Gun Runner, expressed a strong sense of pride in training Echo Zulu, who carried a field-high 123 pounds.

“Unbelievable amount of gratitude to have her in the barn training with her being a Champion and the value she's established,” said Asmussen, who saddled Street Story [2015] and Forest Music [2005] to Honorable Miss scores. “As fast as she was when she was younger, the older the Gun Runners get, the faster they go, and I think that's another example of it.”

Breaking from the rail in the four-horse field, Echo Zulu flaunted her usual frontrunning tactics under Florent Geroux with five-time graded stakes winning millionaire Frank's Rockette, second in this race last year, looming a close second through a swift opening quarter-mile in 22.02 seconds over the fast main track. Sharp-starting Dr B, winner of last year's Grade 3 Go for Wand at the Big A, tracked a close third with Grade 2 Inside Information winner Maryquitecontrary at the rear of the field.

Junior Alvarado, aboard Frank's Rockette, began asking his charge for more around the far turn through a half in 44.45 with Geroux calling on Echo Zulu nearing the quarter pole. A few nudges was all it took for Echo Zulu to shake clear of her foe, opening up a five-length lead at the stretch call.

Geroux showed Echo Zulu the stick just outside the furlong marker with Dr B launching a late rally. But there was no reeling in Echo Zulu, who crossed the finish line a 7 1/4-length winner in a final time of 1:08.76.

Dr B finished another two lengths ahead of Frank's Rockette with Maryquitecontrary completing the order of finish.

Echo Zulu earned her seventh overall graded stakes triumph, adding to last year's scores in the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks and Grade 3 Dogwood at Churchill Downs, en route to a runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in November at Keeneland. She entered the Honorable Miss from a triumphant 4-year-old debut in the Grade 3 Winning Colors on May 29 at Churchill Downs, where she teamed up with Geroux for the first time.

“She's able to go very [fast]. She's able to set up very fast fractions and stay very nicely within herself,” Geroux said. “She's able to get a nice breather at the three eighths and she's just waiting for my cue down the lane. As soon as I push the gas, she responds right away, so automatic. She's just gifted.”

Geroux, who also was the regular rider for Gun Runner, used only one word to describe the 2017 Horse of the Year and leading third-crop sire's talented daughter: Champion.

“It's the difference between good horses and special horses – Champion, and she's one of them,” Geroux said. “I've been lucky to be with some very good horses the past few years, but I can count on one hand the special ones that I've got and she's one of them.”

Asmussen admitted to being concerned with Echo Zulu breaking alertly.

“I was extremely nervous about just getting away from there cleanly,” Asmussen said. “She broke well, very comfortable and very fast. She looked beautiful coming into the stretch. [Her speed] is not new. From her maiden race here, she goes along at a rate that they're not comfortable doing.

“I think it's that simple: she's extremely fast,” Asmussen continued. “She really is. She's doing it quicker than they are, easier than they are in comparison to the other horses she has.”

Asmussen said the Grade 1, $500,000 Ballerina going seven furlongs on August 26 at Saratoga – a “Win And You're In” qualifier for the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in November at Santa Anita – will likely be Echo Zulu's next start.

Echo Zulu returned $2.80 as the overwhelming favorite and banked $110,000 in victory, which brought her lifetime earnings up to $2,365,375. Her record now stands at 10-8-1-0 with her lone off-the-board finish taking place when fourth in last year's Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs.

Bought for $300,000 from the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Echo Zulu is out of the multiple black-type producing and graded stakes-winning Menifee mare Letgomyecho – a half-sibling to Grade 1-winner Echo Town and graded stakes winner J Boys Echo. She was bred in Kentucky by Betz/J. Betz/Burns/CHNNHK/Magers/CoCo Equine/Ramsby.

The Honorable Miss pays tribute to Pen-Y-Bryn Farm's two-time winner of the Fall Highweight against males in 1975-76. She also defeated the boys in the 1975 Gravesend and Toboggan while besting fellow females in the Vagrancy.

Honorable Miss retired with a 62-19-12-9 record and $437,973 in earnings.

Live racing resumes Thursday at Saratoga with a 10-race card, featuring the $150,000 Birdstone in Race 8. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.

Saratoga Live will present live coverage and analysis of the Saratoga Race Course summer meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule/.

The post ‘I Can Count On One Hand The Special Ones’: Echo Zulu Dominates Honorable Miss By 7 1/4 Lengths appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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