Month: August 2023

Irish-bred War Bomber struck front in early stretch and then held off a game Treason to take Saturday's $200,000 King Edward Stakes (G2), a one-mile turf race for 3-year-olds and upward at Woodbine.

Treason, the 5-2 second choice, was sent to the front by leading rider Kazushi Kimura as jockey Rico Walcott and War Bomber patiently tracked the pacesetter from second, followed by the duo of Shirl's Speight and The Minkster.

Ahead 2½ lengths after an opening panel in :23.53, Treason extended that advantage over War Bomber to three lengths through a half in :45.63.

Still well ahead of their rivals as they rounded the turn for home, multiple stakes-winning War Bomber came calling to Treason's outside, setting the stage for a thrilling stretch duel. After powering by Treason past the three-sixteenths, War Bomber appeared en route to a comfortable win, but the former fought back along the inside in the final strides.

At the finish, War Bomber was a neck in front. Lucky Score was third and multiple graded stakes winner, 9-5 choice Shirl's Speight, was fourth.

The final time over firm ground was 1:32.41.

“I was going to play it by the break,” said Walcott, who will ride Kaukokaipuu in Sunday's King's Plate. “I break on top and then I see another horse (Treason) want to go for the lead, so I just take my horse back a little and sit behind the speed and just wait for the right time to move. At the head of the lane when I asked him, he gave me all he had. It was a good finish. I enjoy it when I cross the line first.”

It was the seventh win from 19 starts for War Bomber, the 5-year-old son of War Front out of Irish-bred Sun Shower, by Indian Ridge. His victories include last year's Seagram Cup (G3). Bred by Coolmore, the bay gelding is trained by Norm McKnight.

“He's versatile,” said Bruno Schickedanz, Canada's champion owner of 2022. “To me, I don't know where he's better. He's good on both surfaces.”

War Bomber, who contested last year's Ricoh Woodbine Mile (G1), could take another shot at the $1-million turf test on Sept. 16. He is trained by Norman McKnight.

“Who knows? We'll talk about it and think about it,” Schickedanz said.

War Bomber returned $14.90 for the win.

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Trainer Chad Brown had four chances to capture Saturday's $200,000 Lake Placid (G2) and did just that as Ran Jan Racing's Kentucky homebred Aspray rallied strongly from off the pace to coast home a two-length winner over stablemate Surge Capacity in the 1 1/16-mile inner turf test for sophomore fillies at Saratoga Race Course.

The daughter of Quality Road made the grade in her second attempt on the heels of a fourth-place finish in the 10-furlong Fasig-Tipton Belmont Oaks Invitational (G1) on July 8 at Belmont Park. A cutback in distance and a well-timed ride from Flavien Prat led to the bay filly visiting the winner's circle for the fourth time in five starts, adding to her first stakes triumph in Pimlico Race Course's one-mile Hilltop on May 19.

“I trained her a little too far last time, but you had to try since it was such a prestigious race we were pointing towards,” said Brown, who secured a record-extending fifth Lake Placid triumph. “Flavien knows the horse so well, he came back after the race and he was adamant about the race being a little too far for her and that we should cut her back in distance to 1 1/16 miles to 1 1/8 miles and we'll be fine. He was right.”

The victory marked a third consecutive in the event for Brown, who saddled last year's winner Haughty along with Technical Analysis [2021], Regal Glory [DH, 2019] and Rushing Fall [2018].

Aspray emerged from post 2 and sat back patiently as Heavenly Sunday assumed the title of pacesetter from the inside post through an opening quarter-mile in :24.05 over the good footing.

Gloria's Princess tracked in second into the backstretch as Junipermarshmallow settled in third, racing comfortably through a half-mile in :48.37 with Prat staying patient aboard Aspray in fourth along the inside. Gloria's Princess was asked for more by Luis Saez into the turn as Junipermarshmallow faded and Aspray was swung off the rail to make her bid for the front after three-quarters in 1:12.58.

The Brown-trained Surge Capacity attempted to make a swift move up the rail down the backstretch but was on and off the bridle and stayed along the inside before angling out at the eighth pole to make a run to the outside of her runaway stablemate. Aspray assumed the lead from a tiring Gloria's Princess passing the sixteenth pole and drew away from the oncoming Surge Capacity to cross the wire first in a final time of 1:42.85.

Surge Capacity fended off Soviet Excess to hold onto place honors by a head while the Brown-trained Tax Implications finished a neck back in fourth. Prerequisite, Gloria's Princess, Heavenly Sunday and Junipermarshmallow completed the order of finish. Main track-only entrants Leave No Trace and Undervalued Asset were scratched.

Prat said Aspray was a perfect professional.

“We had a good draw. She broke well, I was able to get myself into the race. She was traveling well and did the rest,” said Prat. “I was really happy and pleased where I was. I thought turning for home I was traveling really well and when I tipped her out, she really dug in. So I thought from there, I didn't know who was behind me, but I felt she was going to make a good move.”

Out of the Irish-bred multiple group-winning Galileo mare Up, Aspray is the result of a meticulous search by Jan Van de Bos Naify of Ran Jan Racing to find the perfect mare from the family of Sadler's Wells. She found Up at the 2015 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale where she went to $2.2 million for the mare, who was then in foal to War Front.

“I had looked for a Galileo mare. My late husband [Robert Naify] and I made trips to Ireland. We went to Coolmore and met Montjeu and Galileo,” said Naify. “Sadler's Wells is my favorite stallion of all time, the sire of Galileo. I looked for about 10 years for the right Galileo mare and during the January Sale, I saw her walk. She wasn't big, she was only about 15.2 [hands]. Frank Taylor and myself spoke and I told him I wanted to possibly buy that mare. I made one bid and one bid only.”

Brown, who also saddled fourth-place Tax Implications and fifth-place Prerequisite, said it is likely Aspray will now target the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup going nine furlongs on October 14 at Keeneland, a race Brown has won five times.

“It would be about as far as she would want to go,” said Brown. “As long as she's got some pace to run at. Last year, Flavien and I teamed up to win it with Gina Romantica. The race had some pace and she was able to come from off it. Hopefully, we'll be able to do it again with this one.”

Aspray banked $110,000, boosting her total purse earnings to $226,210 and improving her record to 5-4-0-0. She returned $8.70 for a $2 win ticket.

Joel Rosario, aboard Surge Capacity, said he was pleased with the effort from the last-out winner of the Lake George(G3) at Saratoga.

“It was a good trip,” said Rosario. “I was in a good spot turning for home, but we were second best today. She ran good. It looked like that horse [Soviet Excess] was going to get me for second, but she kept fighting.”

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Klaravich Stables' Randomized cruised to a breakthrough win at the elite level Saturday when she led wire to wire to win the $600,000 Alabama (G1) for 3-year-old fillies on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course.

Under Joel Rosario, the daughter of Nyquist trained by Chad Brown went to the lead at the start, shook off a bid on the turn from Defining Purpose, who chased her from second to midstretch, then easily held back the closing rally of favorite Wet Paint while rolling home to a comfortable four-length victory. Defining Purpose held on for third, 1 1/2 lengths behind Wet Paint.

Randomized returned $16.20 after covering 1¼ miles in 2:03.07. She set all the early fractions: clocking :23.45 for the opening quarter, :47.86 for the half mile, 1:12.33 for six furlongs, and 1:37.1 for the mile.

The win was the third from five career starts for Randomized, who earned her first stakes win in the Wilton on July 14 at the Spa following a sixth-place finish in the Acorn (G1) June 9 at Belmont in her graded stakes debut.

Randomized was bred in Kentucky by Cove Springs LLC. Her dam is the Elusive Quality mare French Passport. Klaravich Stables paid $420,000 for her at the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, where Four Star Sales consigned her. With the $330,000 winner's share of the Alabama purse, her lifetime earnings increased to $465,850.

Alabama (G1) Quotes

Chad Brown, winning trainer of Randomized  and eighth-place Fireline: “I wasn't real confident [about the 10 furlongs]. I was confident that she would run a real good race. I've got to give to owner Seth Klarman a lot of credit here. He kept looking at the race and looking at how fast the horse was and said, 'you should really consider this race.' I was really just going to rest her for the Cotillion at a mile and a sixteenth. As it got closer and I reported she was breezing well, I said, 'let's at least enter and look at the pace scenario.' We talked about it the other day and he said, 'if you're willing to do it, I have a good feeling about this.' He was right. He's a guy that's such a good partner of our stable and such an important guy in our industry – not only through all the commerce he does, but all the philanthropy. Seth's a great guy and may he and his wife really enjoy this win. They deserve it.”

On when he felt confident: “At the three-eighths pole, the horses behind her weren't running I didn't feel. I thought it was just between her and the horse stalking her. Wet Paint did run on and she was clearly a threat coming up the rail, but when I looked beyond her I didn't see anything running there. Even when she [Wet Paint] started running up the rail, I felt she wasn't moving as fast as I've seen her do on the outside of horses. I liked the fact that although she was coming, it was on the inside.”

On her Acorn effort: “I was very disappointed. I wasn't really discouraged because I knew how fast she had run. She had one of the highest figures early in the year for a 3-year-old filly. For quite a while, she had the fastest number. Going a mile or further, I think coming into the race – granted, they were both at a mile – she had the fastest two Ragozins of any 3-year-old filly on dirt going into the race. That doesn't mean she'll go a mile and a quarter, but she's at that top percentile of this crop. I was very disappointed after the Acorn. I regretted moving her up so far in class, but when she came up here and won Opening Weekend and the way she did it and the way she came back, I then realized how the Acorn wasn't representative of her. It was just a mistake by me and to just draw a line through it.”

On a start in the Grade 1 Cotillion on September 23 at Parx or the Grade 1 Spinster on October 8 at Keeneland: “I'm just going to enjoy this win. We didn't really look beyond it when we committed to give this a try. We took everything else off the table. The Cotillion is still in play, it's quite a ways away still. It's not that I wouldn't go there, but not a bad idea to think about Keeneland either.”

Joel Rosario, winning jockey aboard Randomized: “It looked like probably another horse was going to show speed and if that filly [No. 10, Defining Purpose] goes, I will try to sit second. And it looked like I went to the lead and [it's] a mile and a quarter, so just trying to get comfortable with her and let her find her stride – hopefully then one challenges me a little early then go from there.

“It was the plan. We thought maybe another horse would show speed, but the plan was maybe to go, and if that horse showed speed lay second, but I got the lead and could do it from there.

“She was moving so well, nice and easy all around, she's just a nice filly, but a mile and a quarter is a long ways, so you have to have something always for the end. It looked like she did it really easy. I asked her turning for home and it looked like she would just start running, so that was a really good performance.

“It looked like I was just easily moving at that point [the stretch]. I tend to look back a little bit to try and save something for next time.”

Brad Cox, trainer of runner-up Wet Paint: “I was proud of our filly's effort. She was maybe a little bit closer than I expected, but you know, given the trip – I loved the trip. I love where Flavien put her. I thought she responded when he asked her. She finished up well, second best today no excuses that I can see.”

On if he thought there would be more pressure on the pace: “Maybe so, a little bit more pace pressure. I need to watch the race before I say too much and watch the horses up front. I was kind of zeroed in on her, but based off what I saw there – she got a great trip and finished up and was just second best, bottom line.”

On if the distance got to her: “I don't think so. She stayed on well and I think she really handled the distance.”

Flavien Prat, jockey of runner-up Wet Paint: “I feel the winner got it pretty easy on the lead, but in the meantime I was a lot closer than we usually are. Naturally, she put herself closer in the race, I just feel I didn't have any excuse. Hats off to the winner, she was better today.

“Last time, she jumped well out of the gate and it felt like if I wanted to, I could get myself a little closer. Today, she jumped well and everybody was off the fence and I found myself there. I was pleased with it.”

Brian Hernandez, Jr., jockey of third-place Defining Purpose: “We had a good trip. She broke well from the outside and we tracked outside the winner the whole way. Turning for home, she made a good run at her, she just wasn't good enough today.

“Our filly is always forward. Looking at it on paper, it looked like there was going to be a little speed in the race but we weren't quite certain how much. Our filly left on good terms and put herself in the race right away, from there we had a pretty uneventful trip.”

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