August, 2023 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Del Mar: ‘Amazing Week’ Vaults Antonio Fresu Up Jockey Standings

It was supposed to be the week that leading jockey Juan Hernandez was to put a wrap on this year's riding title at the Del Mar summer meet. He went into the week with a four-victory lead over his closest rival, Umberto Rispoli, who was out of town all last week representing the U.S. in a World All-Star Jockey event in Japan.

But instead of running up the score and building an insurmountable lead, another talented rider had a strong week and kept Hernandez from riding off and hiding in this year's jockeys race.

Antonio Fresu won 10 races last week, sandwiching back-to-back riding doubles with a pair of riding triples. While Hernandez was winning four races to raise his total to 28, Fresu vaulted into second place and sits just five back of the pacesetter with 23.

“It was an amazing week,” Fresu says. “I wasn't expecting that. I knew I had some live horses last week but not that live. The horses were running really well for me and I am super happy about what I achieved last week.”

Fresu is a veteran jockey with years of racing overseas under his belt. So a run like this one is special, but not new to him.

“Everywhere is different,” Fresu says. “Something like this at another place wouldn't be the same. But with Del Mar, it's a big meet and it's so important to get winners. When you get 10 altogether in four days or 13, if you consider six days, it's an amazing number. For a jockey, especially for me being in the U.S. for only four months and first time at Del Mar, it means a lot.

“Obviously it's because of all of the people around me,” Fresu continues. “They've given me opportunities and a chance and now everything is happening. My agent (Tom Knust) is doing a great job.”

Fresu has taken quite a liking to Del Mar.

“I love it,” Fresu says. “It's a beautiful place and a beautiful course. The lifestyle, apart from racing, is gorgeous. It's very easy and relaxed and I'm really enjoying it. It's a shame it's only a couple of months.”

Fresu plans on staying in Southern California and riding at Santa Anita this fall.

Meanwhile, Rispoli is back in town and will ride this week at Del Mar. He now sits in third place in the jockey standings with 20 wins followed by Hector Berrios at 19 and Ramon Vasquez with 16. Rounding out the Top 10 are Edwin Maldonado (14); Tiago Pereira (11); Kent Desormeaux and Geovanni Franco with eight each and Mike Smith with seven.

The trainer standings have a new name in the top spot. Doug O'Neill has displaced Phil D'Amato atop the leaderboard after compiling seven wins last week, five of them with Fresu in the saddle. O'Neill has 16 wins to D'Amato's 15 and Bob Baffert's 14. Peter Miller's next with 12 followed by Peter Eurton with 11. Rounding out the Top 10 are Richard Mandella, Mark Glatt and Steve Knapp with seven wins apiece and Leonard Powell and Michael McCarthy with six each.

Reddam Racing continues to lead the owners standings with five wins, their lone win last week coming in the G2 Pat O'Brien with Anarchist. Red Baron Barn and Rancho Temescal are tied with the partnership of Michael Bello and Charles Bartlett with four wins each.

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Treasure Hunting Presented By Keeneland: Echo Zulu Was A Product Of Goodwill And Good Luck

Value can be found at every level of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, and in the “Treasure Hunting” series, we'll be examining successful graduates of the bellwether auction who sold below the median price of their particular session.

We'll start at Book 1 and go all the way to Book 6, talking to buyers who found horses that slipped under the commercial radar in their given segment of the marketplace.

Champion Echo Zulu might be one of the best possible results of a plan coming together at a horse auction, but she initially wasn't part of the plan at all for owners Winchell Thoroughbreds and L and N Racing.

The two entities were encouraged to pair up by mutual trainer Steve Asmussen ahead of the 2020 yearling auction season, and they entered that year's Keeneland September Yearling Sale with a plan to buy colts.

That year's sale featured the first crop of yearlings from sire Gun Runner, a horse the Winchell operation campaigned to a Horse of the Year title in 2017, and Winchell racing manager David Fiske said they planned to support their new stallion heavily.

At the same time, L and N Racing – a partnership consisting of Lee Levinson, sons Andy and Michael, and family friend Don Nelson – was in the midst of campaigning Echo Town, a Speightstown colt who had recently won the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.

The boutique Book 1 of that year's Keeneland September sale featured a half-sibling to Echo Town by Gun Runner, out of the Grade 2-winning Menifee mare Letgomyecho.

There was just one problem: The yearling wasn't a colt. Michael Levinson was undeterred.

“Mike was the one that came to us and said, 'Have you seen this Gun Runner half-sister to Echo Town?'” Fiske said. “At first, we kind of went, 'Well, no, because we're looking at colts,' and we tried to stay focused. He kind of kept on about it, and Steve [Asmussen] went and looked at her, and Steve liked her. He wasn't raving about her, but he liked her.”

The filly jumped through all the veterinary hoops, and at that point, Fiske said they expected Echo Zulu to hammer somewhere in the neighborhood of $300,000. Going in for half on a price in that range wouldn't be “make or break” for the Winchell operation, and between supporting Gun Runner and generating some goodwill with their new partners, it was decided to deviate slightly from the plan.

Echo Zulu went to the partnership for $300,000, selling as Hip 253 during the second session of Book 1. The median price for that session was $330,000, putting the filly just below the line.

Betz Thoroughbreds consigned Echo Zulu as agent at the sale, and the filly was bred by the partnership of Betz/J. Betz/Burns/CHNNHK/Magers/CoCo Equine/Ramsby.

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“Bill Betz has a history and a reputation of raising and selling really nice racehorses,” Fiske said. “I don't think Bill had sold anything out of Letgomyecho for more than $300,000, and we thought it was Gun Runner's first crop and we want to put as many of those in good hands as we can. That could only benefit us. We thought if we could get her for $300,000, how could we get hurt too badly doing that? She's going to have some residual value (as a broodmare).”

For going off charted course, Echo Zulu has rewarded her owners handsomely, winning nine of 11 starts and earning $2,640,375 to date.

She was named champion 2-year-old filly of the 2021 racing season after a campaign that featured victories in the G1 Spinaway Stakes and Frizette Stakes, and culminated with a 5 1/4-length triumph in the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar.

Following a 3-year-old campaign that saw her finish second in the G1 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint after winning the G2 Fair Grounds Oaks and G3 Dogwood Stakes, Echo Zulu has gone on to become one of the top female sprinters in the nation at age four. She's unbeaten in three starts during the 2023 racing season, starting with the G3 Winning Colors Stakes, then the G2 Honorable Miss Handicap, and most recently the G1 Ballerina Handicap at Saratoga on Aug. 26.

“Everyone's been really pleased ever since,” Fiske said. “It's one of those things where the stars just aligned and everyone was receptive with the proposition.”

Echo Zulu_Sept 2020 Hip 253 from Lauren Warren on Vimeo.

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Prince Of Wales Card Stacked For Canadian Triple Crown Run At Fort Erie

Nominations for the 88th Prince of Wales Stakes, the second race for the Canadian Triple Crown, have closed and the card is shaping up to be its strongest in decades. The $400,000 stakes will hit the dirt oval at Fort Erie Race Track on Sept. 12 with what looks to be a full field.

When nominations closed on Aug. 29, a total of 11 different horses had their ticket punched to the big dance at the track's signature event. This list was packed with heavy hitters, including Paramount Prince, who won the first leg of the Triple Crown at the King's Plate at Woodbine on Aug. 20. After the King's Plate victory, Paramount Prince will need to win the Prince of Wales Stakes to keep the Canadian Triple Crown run going.

“It's been a full two decades since the last horse, Wando, captured the Triple Crown back in 2003,” said Fort Erie Race Track's communication manager, James Culic. “The Stakes card is jammed with great horses, but Paramount Prince really put on an impressive display at the King's Plate, so I think he has a genuine shot at keeping the Canadian Triple Crown dream run going in Fort Erie.”

To do that, Paramount Prince will have to fend off challenges from familiar faces like Stanley House, Velocitor, Cool Kiss, Twin City, Morstachy's, and Kaukokaipuu, all of whom ran in the King's Plate and are nominated for the Prince of Wales Stakes as well. The nomination card was rounded out by Armaline, Ottawa, Stanhonor Goodside, and Tiburon.

If all 11 horses remain in good health and make it to the gate on Sept. 12, it will be the largest Prince of Wales Stakes card in two decades. This despite ongoing challenges with horse supply constraints in Ontario.

Live racing for the big event begins at 1 p.m., with the Prince of Wales Stakes hitting the oval later that afternoon. The track will have food trucks on hand to keep the crowd fed as they take in the Prince of Wales, and the four other stakes races that day, including the Molson Cup, Le Cinquieme Essai Cup, The Rondeau Bay Stakes, and The Lake Erie Stakes. The race card for the 88th Prince of Wales Stakes will be finalized on Sept. 7 during the draw for post positions, which will be live streamed to the track's YouTube page.

Admission and parking to the Stakes are free, and for those who can't make it in person, The Prince of Wales Stakes will once again be broadcast live on TSN.

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Exaulted Looks To Extend Win Streak In Del Mar Mile

Years ago a horse named Cigar was running on the turf. Nothing special, just an average grass horse. He did win an entry level allowance race at Del Mar, but that was about it.

Then one day, trainer Bill Mott and owner Allen Paulson decided to try their now 4-year-old colt on the dirt. Cigar ran off 16 straight victories, tying Citation's old mark for most consecutive wins and eventually vaulting Cigar into racing's Hall of Fame.

This should not be mistaken as a comparison to Cigar but there's a horse in the Peter Eurton barn named Exaulted that started out as your average, everyday dirt horse until this year when the connections decided to try him on the turf. He hasn't lost since and will try to extend his win streak to five this Saturday in the G2 Del Mar Mile, one of the five graded stakes featured on Pacific Classic Day.

“That's what I have to think,” Eurton says when asked if the surface switch was the key to Exaulted's turnaround. “He was always pretty healthy. Growing up he had little issues but nothing ever serious.”

The son of Twirling Candy only won once in his first 11 races. He broke his maiden winning an entry level allowance race at Santa Anita. Exaulted ran twice at Del Mar last summer finishing third and fifth in entry level allowance races.

“He didn't run bad,” Eurton says. “He was always knocking on the door but he wouldn't finish. (The grass) made him more of a stayer.”

So to start his 6-year-old campaign, Eurton made the switch to grass.

“He's by a turf sire,” Eurton says. “His size is not your typical turf horse. He's like 17-hands so we always thought he'd be a dirt horse and it just kind of worked out. It's just too bad I didn't try it earlier.”

He won an entry level allowance in January; a non-winners of two in February; the G3 American in April and the G1 Shoemaker Mile on Memorial Day. All were at Santa Anita.

Trainer Philip D'Amato has brought his full complement of turf runners to the party on Saturday. In the Mile he has Count Again and Balnikhov, winner of last year's Oceanside Stakes on opening day at Del Mar.

“He (Balnikhov) really likes this turf course down here,” D'Amato says. “He's trained really well post Eddie Read and I think he should be set to run one of his 'A' races.”

Balnikhov finished a fast-closing second to stablemate Gold Phoenix in the G2 Eddie Read in July.

Bob Baffert will send out Du Jour, winner of the $100,000 Wickerr on opening weekend. The son of Temple City will have the services of rider Flavien Prat, who is flying in from the east coast and will ride this weekend.

Last year's Wickerr winner, Irideo, will take the outside post in the 10-horse 'Mile' field. He posted back-to-back runner up finishes, both behind Exaulted, in the G3 American and the G1 Shoemaker Mile before a head-scratching, sixth-place finish in this year's edition of the Wickerr. Trainer Marcelo Polanco is hoping for a better effort this time.

“Since we got here I've been working him on the grass,” Polanco says, “so he's getting used to it and he does work good on the turf.”

Irideo had two bullet works over consecutive weekends earlier this month. He also has a new rider.

“We have Tiago Pereira,” Polanco says. “He worked the horse the last time. They got along real good and he seems like the right guy for this horse. He's an easy horse to ride. You make one move and that's about it. He's got to relax in the first part (of the race) and he'll give you a good race.”

The G2 Del Mar Mile is the seventh race on the 11-race Saturday card. Approximate post time is 4:30 p.m. First post for Saturday's races is at 1:30 p.m.

Here's the field from the rail with the jockeys:

Du Jour (4-1);
Sumter (Mike Smith, 15-1);
Count Again (Umberto Rispoli, 4-1);
Exaulted (Juan Hernandez, 3-1);
Balnikhov (Hector Berrios, 6-1);
Visitant (Geovanni Franco, 12-1);
I'm A Gambler (Antonio Fresu, 8-1);
War At Sea (Victor Espinoza, 10-1);
Twist (Kent Desormeaux, 12-1), and
Irideo (Tiago Pereira, 10-1).

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