A dozen 2-year-old fillies will race 1 1/16 miles on turf in Wednesday’s $200,000, Grade 2 Miss Grillo Stakes at Belmont at the Big A (Aqueduct). (Note: the race was postponed from Sunday to Wednesday due to inclement weather in the forecast over ghe weekend in New York.)
Month: September 2023
The Friday Show Presented By Woodbine: Maggi Moss On New Challenges In The Claiming Game
Claiming races are often called the meat and potatoes of horse racing, but the game has evolved in recent years from what many considered high-stakes poker to a more regulated and less risky endeavor for horse owners. Greater pre-race veterinary scrutiny, tighter medication restrictions, and voided claim rules have improved health and welfare conditions for horses and made claiming more competitive for owners.
Maggi Moss has won more than a dozen graded stakes since she entered racehorse ownership in 2000, but the primary focus of her stable over the years has been claiming races. Based in Iowa, Moss has won 2,432 races overall, captured leading owners titles at several tracks, led the nation in wins in 2006, and has been top 10 nationally by wins on 18 occasions. And she's just as well known for her commitment to aftercare as she is for winner's circle visits.
Moss joins Ray Paulick and bloodstock editor Joe Nevills in this week's Friday Show to talk about the claiming game, some of its challenges, and how it has changed over the years.
One current challenge in Kentucky, where Moss has run many horses, is the absence of regulatory “claiming jail” rules designed to prevent out-of-state trainers and owners from depleting a track's horse population by claiming horses and sending them to their home track. Churchill Downs recently imposed house rules to make up for the absence of claiming jail regulations that are in effect in most other racing states. Moss even goes so far as to suggest the time has come to look for alternatives to claiming races.
Watch this week's episode of The Friday Show below:
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Easy For New Bay’s Alcantor In The Thomas Bryon
Up to a mile for the first time in Friday's G3 Prix Thomas Bryon Jockey Club de Turquie at Saint-Cloud, Baron Edouard De Rothschild's TDN Rising Star Alcantor (Fr) (New Bay {GB}) made light work of the test to put himself to the forefront of the year's home-trained juveniles.
Successful here and at Chantilly either side of a third to Havana Cigar (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}) over a six-furlong trip that was too sharp at Chantilly in July, the Andre Fabre trainee was always in his comfort zone tagging on to the back of the field with Mickael Barzalona content to wait.
Allowing White Birch Farm's fellow TDN Rising Star Havana Cigar first run in the straight, the €180,000 Arqana December Foal purchase was finally unleashed wide of the remainder to take control a furlong out en route to a comfortable 2 1/2-length success. The Aga Khan's unexposed Saganti (Fr) (Zarak {Fr}) got up for second, a short neck ahead of Havana Cigar who appeared to tire late.
“His last race was the perfect education to teach him to relax after he had done too much in front on his second start,” Edouard De Rothschild said. “We also made the right decision not to run him in the Prix des Chenes at Longchamp on a day when the temperature reached new heights. He is certainly a very good horse with a lot of talent and it would be nice for his future career at stud to try to win a Group 1 this year, so the Criterium International is a possibility. We will first see how he comes out of this race and then decide then if we run him again this season or wait for 2024.”
Pedigree Notes
Alcantor's dam Bianca De Medici (GB) (Medicean {GB}), a half to the stakes-winning Hungarian champion Thunder Teddington (GB) (Halling), is also responsible for the G2 Union-Rennen winner Boscaccio (Ger) (Mount Nelson {GB}). She is a granddaughter of the Haras du Quesnay broodmare of note Trevillari (Riverman), a full-sister to the G1 Prix Saint-Alary heroine Treble who produced the GI Shoemaker Breeders' Cup Mile-placed Tsigane (Fr) (Anabaa) and the dam of the brilliant dual G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe heroine Treve (Fr) (Motivator {GB}).
Also connected to last year's G2 Moonee Valley Gold Cup winner Francesco Guardi (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) and the multiple champion Triptych, Bianca De Medici's yearling filly by Romanised (Ire) was a €170,000 purchase by Haras de Meautry at last month's Arqana Deauville August Yearling Sale. She also has a filly foal by Waldgeist (GB).
Friday, Saint-Cloud, France
PRIX THOMAS BRYON JOCKEY CLUB DE TURQUIE-G3, €80,000, Saint-Cloud, 9-29, 2yo, 8fT, 1:41.35, sf.
1–ALCANTOR (FR), 126, c, 2, by New Bay (GB)
1st Dam: Bianca De Medici (GB), by Medicean (GB)
2nd Dam: Tremiere (Fr), by Anabaa
3rd Dam: Trevillari, by Riverman
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN; 1ST GROUP WIN. (€180,000 Wlg '21 ARQDEC). O-Baron Edouard de Rothschild; B-SCEA du Grand Chene (FR); T-Andre Fabre; J-Mickael Barzalona. €40,000. Lifetime Record: 4-3-0-1, €77,100. *1/2 to Boscaccio (Ger) (Mount Nelson {GB}), GSW-Ger. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Saganti (Fr), 126, c, 2, Zarak (Fr)–Saghaniya (Fr), by Rock Of Gibraltar (Ire). 1ST BLACK TYPE; 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE. O-H H The Aga Khan; B-H H The Aga Khan's Studs SC (FR); T-Mikel Delzangles.
3–Havana Cigar (GB), 126, c, 2, Havana Grey (GB)–Speculating (Ire), by Xtension (Ire). (21,000gns Wlg '21 TATFOA; 150,000gns Ylg '22 TATOCT). O-White Birch Farm; B-Josh Cameron (GB); T-Jean-Claude Rouget. €12,000.
Margins: 2HF, SNK, NK. Odds: 1.50, 8.80, 3.20.
Also Ran: Devil's Point (Ire), Warnie (Ire), Schutzenzauber (Ger), Bateau Blanc (GB). Video, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
Very nice! Alcantor sweeps from last to first to land the Group 3 Prix Thomas Bryon at Saint-Cloud for @mickaelbarzalon and André Fabre
A certain Continuous won this race in 2022… pic.twitter.com/gQVJjw6Yte
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) September 29, 2023
The post Easy For New Bay’s Alcantor In The Thomas Bryon appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
Heavy Rain In Northeast: Aqueduct Friday, Meadowlands Friday/Saturday All-Turf Cards Scrapped
Heavy rains with the potential for flash flooding in the Northeast are wreaking havoc with racing schedules, with Aqueduct's Friday program and Friday and Saturday's all-turf Monmouth-at-Meadowlands cards cancelled.
Following are the press releases from those tracks:
AQUEDUCT: The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) has canceled Friday's live racing program at Aqueduct Racetrack due to significant rainfall forecast to create hazardous weather conditions in the New York metropolitan area.
With as much as five inches of rain expected, Ozone Park is under a flash flood warning and flood watch throughout the day on Friday. As a result, Friday's 11-race card has been canceled in the interest of the safety of all participants.
Aqueduct Racetrack will remain open for simulcasting on Friday, and online wagering is available through www.NYRABets.com.
NYRA has yet to determine a new schedule for Friday's featured Grade 3, $150,000 Noble Damsel and $125,000 Ashley T. Cole.
Live racing at Aqueduct is scheduled to resume on Saturday with an 11-race card featuring the Grade 1, $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, the Grade 2, $400,000 Woodward, the Grade 2, $250,000 Gallant Bloom and the Grade 2, $250,000 Vosburgh, a “Win and You're In” for the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint. First post is 12:05 p.m. Eastern.
For additional information on the Belmont at the Big A fall meet, as well as a complete stakes schedule, visit NYRA.com.
MONMOUTH-AT-MEADOWLANDS: The all-turf Monmouth-at-Meadowlands cards for Friday, Sept. 29, and Saturday, Sept. 30, have been canceled due to inclement weather.
Last Saturday's card was canceled due to rain and windy conditions as well.
The abbreviated meet will resume Friday, Oct. 6 with a six-race card. First race post time is 7 p.m.
When live racing does return the program will feature a carryover of $18,488 for the Jackpot Pick 6.
The Monmouth-at-Meadowlands meet, originally scheduled for 10 days, runs Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 14.
After the first three racing days of the meet, Paco Lopez leads the jockey standings with six wins from 10 mounts. Kent Sweezey, Rob Atras and Jose Delgado are tied atop the trainer standings with two wins apiece.
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