7th-ELP, $70K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 3:50 p.m.
A $575,000 Ylg KEESEP acquisition by Three Chimneys Farm, CATS BY FIVE is by first-crop sire Audible, who is looking for his third career winner. Exiting from gate three and with Cristian Torres aboard for this Pea Patch debut, the Steve Asmussen trainee out of unraced Catticus (Bluegrass) counts GSW Bob's Edge (Competitive Edge) and SW Watch Me Burn (Hold Me Back) as half-siblings. His dam also foaled a colt Mar. 11 by Game Winner and was bred to Essential Quality for next year. Cats By Five's second dam, MSW Cupids Revenge (Red Ransom), also produced GSW Restrainedvengence (Hold Me Back). TJCIS PPS
Jockey Mike Smith turned 58 on Thursday. Riding for 43 years, he isn't prepared to slow down. Since moving his tack to Southern California in 2001, he has ridden several Hall of Fame horses and was himself inducted in 2003.
“The only thing that feels old on me is my memories of the past,” said Smith.
The Hall of Famer has won four GI Pacific Classics and if Geaux Rocket Ride (Candy Ride {Arg}) makes it to the race this year, Smith will have his eleventh shot at Del Mar's marquee race. He has won 77 stakes races at the track, eleventh best all-time.
“As far as the way I feel,” Smith notes, “I feel like a machine. I feel good, I'm really taking good care of myself and I've been working out hard. I'm still able to do everything I was doing in my thirties.”
Post Time and the Setting Sun
Friday's first post has been moved up a half hour to 3:30 p.m. (PST) in hopes of eliminating the glare from the setting sun. Over the past couple of weeks, the jockeys have voiced their concerns about being unable to see just before they give their mounts their cues.
“Anywhere from the quarter pole to in between the 3/8's pole is a crucial time,” jockey Joe Bravo says. “Everybody is starting to ask their horse to run and it's blinding, you really can't see anything.”
The horses are affected as well and that is what happened to jockey Edwin Maldonado aboard Bus Buzz (Stay Thirsty), who was leading the pack in the Real Good Deal S. last Friday.
Maltese Falcon | Benoit
“If they (the horse) can't see anything they tend to slow down,” Maldonado says. “He jumped sharp out of the gate and then the second or third jump he slowed down a whole lot.”
Powell Points La Jolla Winner
Trainer Leonard Powell says Maltese Falcon (Ire) (Caravaggio), winner of last Sunday's GIII La Jolla H., came out of the race in “very good shape” and he said his charge will next target the Sept. 2 GII Del Mar Derby.
“How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?” – Satchel Paige
Jockey Mike Smith turns 58 today. You wouldn't know it by looking at him. Certainly not by the way he still rides horses.
The grizzled veteran of the Del Mar jockey colony is anything but 'grizzled.' In fact, he's in as a good shape, if not better, than everyone else in the jocks room. He reportedly invited some of the young jockeys to accompany him during his morning exercises and, as the story goes, most of them quit half way through the workout.
Smith has been riding for 43 years. He moved his tack to Southern California in 2001. He has ridden several Hall of Fame horses and was himself inducted into the Hall in 2003. He has won a record number of Breeders' Cups, a couple of Eclipse Awards and a Triple Crown.
So it begs the question: In what sport does a 58-year old man compete with 20- and 30-year-olds and beat the youngsters on a regular basis?
“The only thing that feels old on me is my memories of the past,” Smith says with a smile following yet another victory on Sunday.
Coming into the fourth week of racing at the summer meet at Del Mar, Smith is in the top 10 in the jockey standings with four wins. Last year, he finished fourth with 19 victories and that was with considerably fewer mounts than everyone else in the top 10.
“As far as the way I feel,” Smith notes, “I feel like a machine. I feel good, I'm really taking good care of myself and I've been working out hard. I'm still able to do everything I was doing in my thirties.”
For part of his thirties, Smith was riding back east on the New York circuit, venturing out now and then to win big races in other regions like Kentucky and Florida. They don't call him 'Big Money Mike' for nothing.
Smith has won four Pacific Classics and if Geaux Rocket Ride makes it to the race this year, Smith will have his eleventh shot at Del Mar's marquee race. He has won 77 stakes races at Del Mar, eleventh best all-time.
“I still feel great,” Smith says. “I'm going to keep going until I don't.”
In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Kokura, Niigata and Sapporo Racecourses:
Saturday, August 12, 2023 2nd-NII, ¥10,480,000 ($72k), Maiden, 2yo, 1800mT ROCK CITY BOY (c, 2, City of Light–Mississippi Coast, by Super Saver) was acquired in utero for $125,000 at the 2021 Keeneland January Sale and is out of a winning half-sister to the stakes-winning No Use Denying (Maria's Mon), the dam of 2019 GI Spinaway S. and GII Adirondack S. heroine Perfect Alibi (Sky Mesa) as well as GSP Noble Thought (Harlan's Holiday). Third dam Missed the Wedding, a half-sister to Chris Evert, produced former Pin Oak GSW turf star Green Means Go (Green Dancer) and GI Test S. victress Missed the Storm (Storm Cat). B-Yuki Dendo
3rd-KOK, ¥10,480,000 ($72k), Maiden, 3yo, 1000m A SURE VICTORY (JPN) (f, 3, Justify–A Raving Beauty {Ger}, by Mastercraftsman {Ire}) makes a belated first trip to the races Saturday afternoon. Her dam was a two-time German listed winner and champion in that country at age four before relocating to the barn of Chad Brown, for whom she won the GI Just A Game S. and GI First Lady S. while finishing third to stablemate Sistercharlie (Ire) (Myboycharlie {Ire}) in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf. Oiwake Farm's Haruya Yoshida acquired A Raving Beauty for $2 million at Fasig-Tipton November in 2018 and she was covered by Justify prior to her export to Japan. B-Haruya Yoshida
Sunday, August 13, 2023 12th-SAP, ¥15,200,000 ($105k), Allowance, 3yo/up, 1700m DOUBLE JOKE (c, 3, Practical Joke–Double Date, by Rahy) was beaten into second by recent Listed Japan Dirt Derby runner-up Kirinji (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}) Feb. 12 before defeating fellow US-bred Mystic Lore (Arrogate) to break his maiden two weeks later (see below, SC 7) and was most recently unplaced in the G3 Mainichi Hai on the turf in late March. An $80,000 purchase as a weanling at FTKNOV in 2020, the chestnut is out of a half-sister to Canadian Horse of the Year and MGISW Peaks and Valleys (Mt. Livermore) and MSW/MGSP Alternate (Seattle Slew), the dam of GISW Higher Power (Medaglia d'Oro) and MGSW Alternation (Distorted Humor). B-William Humphries & Altair Farms LLC (KY)
12th-KOK, ¥15,200,000 ($105k), Allowance, 3yo/up, 1000m JASPER ROYAL (c, 3, Violence–Sumthingtotalkabt, by Mutakddim) is bred to be a quick one, as his 10-time stakes-winning half-sister Lady Shipman (Midshipman) produced GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint hero Golden Pal (Uncle Mo). A $140,000 KEENOV weanling, $170,000 FTKJUL buyback and $140,000 OBS March graduate, the chestnut has never been worse than third in his four career starts to date and exits a facile maiden victory going this track and distance in his most recent appearance Feb. 4 (video, SC 4). B-SF Bloodstock (KY)
