Month: December 2023

Favored Tejano Twist used a devastating late kick to easily win the $150,000 Ring the Bell for sprinters, and Butterbean came from well off the pace to record a narrow victory in the $150,000 Mistletoe for fillies and mares Saturday at Oaklawn Park.

Tejano Twist ($4.40), last of eight early, roared to the lead in midstretch in beating stablemate and fellow millionaire Necker Island by five lengths. Both horses are trained by Chris Hartman. Sir Wellington finished another three-quarters of a length farther back in third.

Chris Landeros rode Tejano Twist, who covered six furlongs over a fast track in 1:10.02. Tejano Twist trailed by 10¾ lengths after the opening quarter.

“Hoping for a 1-2 finish and got it,” Hartman said. “That's an impressive throw, I'll tell you what. That's just his style. We're rolling through the (older sprint stakes series here). That's the game plan. Necker Island ran a swell race. Just second best.”

Tejano Twist won for the ninth time in 28 starts to raise his career earnings to $1,179,854. Winner of the Whitmore Stakes (G3) last year at Oaklawn. Tejano Twist was exiting a victory in the Bet On Sunshine Stakes Nov. 4 at Churchill Downs. Both races were six furlongs.

“Special,” Landeros said. “Very special. Got a turn of foot. Could be one of the legit ones, you know? Just blessed to be a part of him. I had kind of the same trip as last time. He's just one those horses that just eyeballs them from the back and makes his move. Stay out of the way because he's going to turn it on. At the eighth pole, he'll you give another gear. Just amazing.”

Tejano Twist is 4-year-old Practical Joke gelding out of the Cuvee mare Haley's Lolipop. He is campaigned by JD Thoroughbreds LLC and Joey Keith Davis and was bred in Kentucky by Tom Durant.

The Mistletoe finish was much closer. Butterbean ($24.60) edged Misty Veil by a half-length, with Ice Orchid another neck farther back in third in the one-mile race.

Butterbean, under Julien Leparoux, trailed by some ninth lengths early before advancing toward the leaders on the second turn and was up time in the middle of the track. The winning time over a fast track was 1:38.54.

“She's got one run and the fast pace helped,” said Ray Bryner, who oversees winning trainer Kenny McPeek's Oaklawn division. “It set up perfect. If we get a quick pace and they back up a little, she really gets her engine running. It worked out well.”

The Mistletoe marked the third career Oaklawn stakes victory and first as a regular for Leparoux, a two-time Eclipse Award winner.

“She's got one run,” Leparoux said. “Today, it was good for her. She had a nice finish.”

Butterbean, a 4-year-old Klimt filly out of the Johannesburg mare Letting Go, raised her career earnings to $476,410 after winning for the fifth time in 16 starts. The Mistletoe was her fourth career stakes victory.

Campaigned bu Magdalena Racing (Sherri McPeek) and William Klimashousky, she was bred in Kentucky by Woodgate Farm.

Saturday's estimated attendance was 17,000.

The post Closers Tejano Twist, Butterbean Rule Oaklawn’s Stakes Doubleheader appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Repole Stable's  Noted, back on turf following a disappointing effort in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1), found running room late and held off fast-closing longshot Reminder to win Saturday's $100,000 Pulpit by a neck at Gulfstream Park.

The 10th running of the 7½-furlong Pulpit for 2-year-olds anchored an 11-race program as co-headliner with the $100,000 Wait a While for 2-year-old fillies – the first two stakes on Gulfstream's new turf course.

Noted ($4.40), beaten a nose in the 1 1/16-mile Bourbon (G2) Oct. 8 at Keeneland in his last try on grass, gave jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. a sweep of Saturday's stakes following Ozara's victory in the Wait a While. It was the second straight Pulpit win for trainer Todd Pletcher and third overall after Ari Gold (2022) and Tapwrit (2016).

“He had to work out a trip. I was a little worried at the eighth pole. It still looked like he was looking for room but once he got a seam to run at, he quickened nicely,” Pletcher said. “The only thing we wanted to be mindful of is it was 7½ [furlongs] and we didn't want to leave him with too much to do.”

Prevent, breaking from the rail, was pressed on the lead by fellow longshot Tocayo through a quarter-mile in :22.90 and a half in :45.91. Ortiz settled Noted, who began outside all but two of his nine rivals, in seventh along the rail, and still found himself blocked behind horses after six furlongs went in 1:09.36.

“It felt like they were running,” Ortiz said. “I had to try to stay close. I had good position. At the three-eighths to the quarter pole, I waited a little longer. But when I came out of there and asked my horse to go, he responded very well. He was ready.”

Ortiz tipped outside once straightened for home and then had to swing around Palm Tree inside the eighth pole to find a seam, then closed stoutly down the center of the track as Reminder, racing for the first time on turf after a win and four thirds on Gulfstream's all-weather Tapeta course, made his bid on the far outside.

Noted completed the distance in 1:27.30 over the firm course and now has two wins and two seconds in five tries on the grass. Reminder was a head in front of Palm Tree in third, with another half-length back to General Ledger in fourth.

In his other two races Noted, by 2014 Holy Bull (G3) winner Cairo Prince, won the Aug. 26 Sapling at Monmouth Park over Dornoch, a full brother to Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Mage who won the Remsen (G2) last out, and was last of nine in the Juvenile behind Pletcher-trained stablemate Fierceness.

“I was a little concerned with the 7½ [today], but he seemed to come out of the Breeders' Cup well, he carries good condition and he's an easy horse to train, so I felt like he was ready to run back,” Pletcher said.

“We're not going to rule [dirt] out. If he trains really well we might give him another shot at some stage,” he added. “He's got that win in the Sapling that looks good on paper, but in the Breeders' Cup he didn't fire.”

Bred in Kentucky by the late Brereton C. Jones of Airdrie Stud, Noted is out of the Proud Citizen mare Sea View Millie. He was a $200,000 purchase at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, where his breeder offered him.

The Pulpit is named for Claiborne Farm's late Gulfstream-based homebred that won four of six starts in his only season of 1997, including victories in the Fountain of Youth (G2) and Blue Grass (G2) while also running second in the Florida Derby (G1) and fourth in the Kentucky Derby (G1). Injured in that race and retired to stud at Claiborne, Pulpit went on to the sire such horses as 2010 Florida Derby winner Ice Box, 2007 Met Mile (G1) winner Corinthian and 2004 Wood Memorial (G1) winner Tapit, now one of racing's most influential sires.

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