Month: November 2023

When asked to expound on his indefatigable mare, Sweet Willemina, trainer Scott Lake doesn't have to think long.

“She's a beast. There's no other word to describe her,” Lake said. “She's a beast. She loves getting on the van. She's shipped all over the country since I've had her. She's been everywhere. She just does her job, and she loves her job.”

The latest stop for Richard Clavardone's Sweet Willemina comes Saturday in the $100,000 Thirty Eight Go Go at Laurel Park, her 49th career start and 34th for Lake, a winner of more than 6,300 races over 3 ½ decades that has seldom seen a mare maintain her form into her 6-year-old season.

“Not like that, especially shipping everywhere and doing it,” he said. “They're very rare.”

Sweet Willemina fetched just $1,100 as a yearling in the fall of 2018 but has gone on to earn $605,020 in purses with a record of 17 wins, two seconds and 16 thirds. Sixteen of those wins – including stakes victories in the 2021 PTHA President's Cup and Claiming Crown Glass Slipper – have come since being claimed for $32,000 in the summer of 2021 after winning just one of 15 starts.

“I had someone tell me that it was the worst claim in America when I took her,” Lake said. “I remind him about it all the time.”

The short-term plan Lake had when he claimed Sweet Willemina has turned into a long-term love affair for a horse that has become a barn favorite.

“I took her with an idea. Parx wrote those [$16,000] starter races, never won two lifetime and never won three lifetime, so you knew if she could go through those two conditions then she's paid for. And then if she could win the never won four starter and the a-other-than, you're ahead on her and you can run her for anything you want,” Lake said. “She just kept getting better. She's won at nine different distances if you count the one-turn mile, the two-turn mile and a three-turn mile. She's been unbelievable.”

Sweet Willemina debuted in May 2019 at Churchill Downs and has raced at 15 tracks in 10 states in the East and Midwest, registering wins at Churchill, Parx, Delaware Park, Gulfstream Park, Aqueduct, Mahoning Valley, Mountaineer Park and the Maryland State Fair Meet in Timonium. She has raced once previously at Laurel, finishing 10th in the one-mile Heavenly Cause last April.

“I ran her the one time there and she really wasn't at her peak. She was kind of in a little bit of a lull which, for her, has never really lasted long,” Lake said. “She runs one or two mediocre races and then she jumps back up again. That really was kind of in her lull period. She didn't run her best race that day, for sure.”

Sweet Willemina takes a three-race win streak into the 1 1/16-mile Thirty Eight Go Go, where she drew Post 8 under jockey Angel Cruz in a field of 10 that includes multiple stakes winners Hybrid Eclipse, Malibu Beauty and Intrepid Daydream, Argentinian group-stakes winner Milagrosa Surena, Grade 3-placed Opus Forty Two and two-time Maryland-bred champion filly Luna Belle.

“She's kind of risen to the occasion for what she runs against,” Lake said. “She shows up. We looked at like she's earned a shot at something like this, so let's go do it.”

The post ‘She Loves Her Job’: Laurel Park Next Stop For Sweet Willemina appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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It's the track. Not the weather, or the beach or the restaurants (though they come in close behind) but the track that attracts horsemen and women to Del Mar in the fall. Many of the trainers who have set up shop at the seaside oval for the next four weeks will tell you they choose to bring their horses to Del Mar, rather than shuttling them in for the races, because of the racing surface.

“November at Del Mar is probably the best track we have,” trainer Peter Miller says. “because there are so few horses, the surface is great and the weather is cool. It's the best track we have all year on this circuit in my opinion.”

Miller has brought a string of 20 horses to Del Mar this fall and he plans to shuttle in horses from the San Luis Rey Training Center in nearby Bonsal, much like he does during the summer meet. Miller also owns a home 10 minutes from the track so he has a personal affection for Del Mar.

But he's not alone in his opinion. Phil D'Amato is back to defend his training title at Del Mar and he echoes Miller's sentiments.

“It's a track where there's not a lot of traffic,” he says. “It's fresh and horses seem to get over it better. And you can race horses on the grass as well. It suits my barn very well.”

Both D'Amato and Miller will have horses running in the $75,000 Kathryn Crosby, the feature race on Saturday. Nine fillies and mares have been entered in the one mile test on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course. D'Amato's Dolce Zel is the morning line favorite.

“She's a new filly into my barn,” D'Amato says. “I've had her for a couple of months and she's training very well. I think it's a good race to get her started.”

D'Amato also brings Turnerloose back to Del Mar. The 4-year old daughter of Nyquist ran twice at Del Mar over the summer, finishing fifth in the G2 Yellow Ribbon and second to Closing Remarks in the G2 John Mabee. She subsequently ran last in the G2 Rodeo Drive up at Santa Anita.

“She came out of the race a little sick so she had a valid excuse there,” D'Amato says. “She's run well on the Del Mar surface, so with a class relief and a happy filly hopefully we'll get a better performance.”

Miller brings Free and Humble into the Kathryn Crosby. She ran three times during the Del Mar summer meet, finishing third in an entry level allowance before winning at that level in her next race. She then ran sixth in the John Mabee. The 3-year old daughter of Free Drop Billy was third last out in the $100,000 Unzippped at Santa Anita behind Ruby Nell, who won the G3 Autumn Miss last Sunday.

“It's a tough spot again for her but she's doing well,” Miller says. “We gotta run her. She still has the two-X allowance condition but that race doesn't come up until the end of the meet and we don't want to wait another month with her. So we're going to give it a go.”

He expects Free and Humble to stalk third or fourth in the race which features two entries from trainer Bob Baffert. Ganadora returns to the turf. She has 10 career starts but only one on the grass. Baffert also brings Lucky For You, a daughter of Uncle Mo, who hasn't raced since August at Del Mar when she ran sixth in a non-winners of two allowance race.

The Kathryn Crosby is the seventh of nine races on the Saturday card. It's named after the popular actress of the 1950's and wife of Del Mar founder Bing Crosby. Post time for the stakes race is 3:30 p.m.

Here's the field from the rail with the jockeys and morning line odds: Linda's Gift (Tiago Pereira, 5-1); Nadette (Hector Berrios, 6-1); Very Scary (Kent Desormeaux, 15-1); Turnerloose (Antonio Fresu, 7-2); Dolce Zel (Flavien Prat, 5-2); Ganadora (Juan Hernandez, 6-1); Free and Humble (Mike Smith, 12-1); Lucky For You (Kyle Frey, 12-1), and Yerwanthere (Umberto Rispoli, 6-1).

The post Kathryn Crosby: Nine Line Up For Stern Turf Test At Del Mar appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Del Mar continues the opening weekend of its 10th fall racing season Sunday with the highlight event being the 28th edition of the $100,000 Betty Grable Stakes, a seven-panel spin for fillies and mares born or sired in the California.

The race is part of the Golden State Stakes Series overseen by the CTBA which consists of 39 events run at tracks up and down the state worth a total of $4.85 million. Del Mar hosts 10 of the races – eight in the summer and two in the fall – worth $1,325,000.

The 5/2 favorite for the dash is the quick filly Chancery Way, a 4-year-old daughter of Mr. Big owned by Smolich and Smolich and trained by Jamey Thomas. The bay has won five of her 10 starts, usually on the front end. Antonio Fresu will be aboard the speedster for the first time.

Her chief threat appears to be Nick Alexander's homebred Rose Dawson, a grey 4-year-old by the owner's home stallion Grazen. Phil D'Amato is the conditioner of the three-time winner and he's gotten top rider Juan Hernandez to sign on again for the Sunday special. She's been hung the second choice in the field at 3-1.

Here's the full field for the race in post position order with riders and morning line odds:

1. Chancery Way;
2. Out of the Blue Stables' Bella D, Giovanni Franco (15-1);
3. Harris Farms' Glorious Spring, Flavien Prat (8-1);
4. Jay Em Ess Stable's Power Surge, Tiago Periera (8-1);
5. Tessar or Bach's Smoothlikebuttah, Umberto Rispoli (8-1);
6. Jaime Renella's Chismosa, Edgar Payeras (5-1);
7. Nick Alexander's Carmen Miranda, Ramon Vazquez (4-1), and
8. Rose Dawson.

The Betty Grable is named, of course, for the movie star and pin-up queen of World War II who was a big fan of Del Mar. She was a regular at the track in the '40s and '50s where she and her husband – bandleader and trumpet player Harry James – raced horses regularly. Their homebred colt Big Noise (the moniker by which James' famous trumpet was known) won the 1951 Del Mar Futurity and was considered one of the favorites for the 1952 Kentucky Derby until an injury took him out of the picture.

The Betty Grable will go off at approximately 4 p.m. Sunday.

The post Del Mar: Eight Cal-Bred Fillies And Mares Go In Sunday’s Betty Grable appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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