Month: October 2023

In 2-year-old stakes action at Woodbine Sunday, filly Tripolina took on the boys and captured the $125,000 Display Stakes, and A Little Frisky gave jockey Ryan Munger his first career stakes win in the $125,000 Glorious Song for fillies.

Tripolina, trained by Kevin Attard and ridden to victory by Woodbine leading jockey Kazushi Kimura, is owned by X-Men Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, and SF Racing LLC. The Kentucky-bred Constitution filly is now perfect in two starts, the first being a maiden special weight on August 13 at Woodbine.

Out of the gate, Western Whirl took the lead while favorite Tripolina settled in the midfield among the eight runners.

After an opening quarter of :23.15, Western Whirl was passed by Gotts Got It and Magic Slips, the latter leading through a half mile in :45.53.

Around the turn, Tripolina surged up to the leaders from the outside. Down the stretch, she pushed past the front-runners, winning by 2 3/4 lengths. Two Ghosts was second, Western Whirl was third, and Break the Spell was fourth after a photo for the show spot.

The final time for the seven furlongs was 1:21.81 on the Tapeta main track.

Tripolina was entered into both of Woodbine's Sunday stakes, but ultimately Display was decided upon.

“We kind of looked at the race set up and obviously we're trying to see if we can win both divisions,” Attard said. “We thought this filly here suited this race best. It just worked out like we planned.”

“She's very smart, she is big, kind of scopey filly. I don't like to rush them off their feet too early, if she broke well and kind of wanted to be in the early fight, we would have let her do that. But on paper it looked like there would be plenty of speed, so we hoped it would transpire like it did and it worked out in our favor today.”

Tripolina was bred WinStar Farm LLC from the Street Boss mare Ballykiss. Offered at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale by Vinery Sales, she sold to X-Men Racing for $70,000. With Sunday's win, she has $87,031 in purse earnings.

Tripolina paid $4.70 to win.

In the Glorious Song for fillies, A Little Frisky earned her first win with a last-to-first rally to score by three-quarters of a length in her second career start.

A Little Frisky, trained by Josie Carroll and owned by Mark Dodson, was the runner-up in her debut in a maiden special weight on September 1 at Woodbine but made amends in fine style Sunday.

Mystic Lake broke ahead of the pack and maintained the lead through the opening quarter in :22.75 with Bolt Enoree in second and Witwatersrand in third. A Little Frisky, out of post 7, was last in the field of eight.

The field reached the half in :44.69, A Little Frisky remained at the back of the pack. Mystic Lake led, 2-1 favorite Witwatersrand was second, Rosa was third, and Bolt Enoree was fourth.

Just before the turn, A Little Frisky quickly began making up ground along the rail. Down the stretch, jockey Ryan Munger found a gap between Witwatersrand and Rosa, passing the duo to challenge the leader. Just before the wire, A Little Frisky took the lead from Mystic Lake, who finished second. Witwatersrand was third, and Uphill Dance was fourth.

The final time for the seven furlongs was 1:21.87 on the Tapeta main track.

“Got the monkey of my back, it feels great. It all worked out and the plan came together,” said Munger, who captured his first stakes. “Josie Carroll gave me a lot of instructions and big thanks to her, she had the filly in spot on condition.”

“It was actually a funny race, I didn't get the best of jumps, which was a bit unfortunate. There were four horses abreast, and I decided it is a very competitive field and the only way I can knockout punch was to save ground and take a chance. So that's what I did, then I just waited for the gaps to open.”

Carroll sees a bright future for A Little Frisky, an Ontario-bred daughter of Army Mule.

“We loved this filly from the start, but she is still very immature, there's nothing but upside to her,” Carroll said. “She's got a lot of growing up and learning to do. But she was brave and bold today, we are very proud of her.”

Bred by Josham Farms Limited from the Zensational mare Tulsa, A Little Frisky has $78,858 in purse earnings. Ben McElroy, agent, signed the $140,000 sales ticket for her at the 2022 Keeneland September yearling sale, where Hill 'n' Dales Sales Agency consigned her.

A Little Frisky paid $15 for the win.

The post Juvenile Fillies Tripolina, A Little Frisky Shine In Stakes At Woodbine appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Overwhelming favorite Liberty Island claimed this year's $1,822,000 Shuka Sho (G1) Sunday at Kyoto Racecourse to sweep Japan's Triple Crown for fillies, which includes her victories this spring in the Oka Sho (G1) (Japanese 1000 Guineas) and the Yushun Himba (G1) (Japanese Oaks).

Liberty Island is the seventh filly to dominate all three' Triple Crown races for fillies, following Mejiro Ramonu (1986), Still in Love (2003), Apapane (2010), Gentildonna (2012), Almond Eye (2018),and Daring Tact (2020). She also extended her Group 1-winning streak to four, including last year's Hanshin Juvenile Fillies, which earned her the JRA Award's Best Two-Year-Old Filly title.

Starting this year, a Japanese-bred horse that achieves the filly Triple Crown title will receive a bonus of 100 million yen (approximately $668,846).

Liberty Island broke smoothly and settled two-wide in good position behind the leaders, around seventh along the backstretch, and made headway 600 meters out while turning the last corners wide. After taking command around the 400-meter pole, the Duramente filly found another gear to exert a strong drive along the stretch and, although threatened by the fast-closing chase by Masked Diva before the wire, managed to hold off the Rulership filly by a length margin for her Triple Crown title.

Time for the 2,000 meters (about 1 1/4 miles) was 2:01.1 on turf rated as good.

“I'm grateful that we were able to achieve the Triple Crown,” said winning rider Yuga Kawada. “She is a horse with great ability, so I placed top priority on letting her run comfortably and finding a good path for her. I was confident of her victory when we had an open space at the third corner. She has great potential, and her dreams for the future are wide open, but first of all, I would like to praise her for achieving the Triple Crown.”

Liberty Island is trained by Mitsumasa Nakauchida for owner Sunday Racing Co. Ltd. She was bred by Northern Racing from the All American mare Yankee Rose.

Third pick Masked Diva broke sharply and eased back to settle around 13th. Though meeting traffic at the top of the stretch, the filly found an opening 300 meters out and dislodged a powerful late charge that timed the fastest last three furlongs to close in on the leader but was a length short at the wire to finish second.

Second pick Harper sat around fifth in front of the winner, angled out slightly turning the final corner and, while unable to keep up with the winner's speed, managed to pass the tiring frontrunners 100 meters out but missed the runner-up spot before the wire for third.

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