Month: December 2023

Stay Hot took the overland route heading for home and came away a neck best in the $100,000 Cecil B. DeMille (G3) for 2-year-olds Sunday at Del Mar.

The winner, owned by the partnership of Burns Racing LLC, Exline-Border Racing, SAF Racing, the Estate of Brereton C. Jones, and William Dan Hudock, won by a neck and covered the one-mile turf test in 1:35.89 under Antonio Fresu. The Summer Front ridgling is trained by Peter Eurton.

Finishing second in the nine-horse field was Rothschild, who had a head on third-place finisher Miracle Mark.

Stay Hot was winning his first stakes, and the winner's share of the purse pushed his total earnings to $116,940. He's now been victorious in two of five starts and entered Sunday's race off a 10th-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) Nov. 3 at Santa Anita but rebounded with aplomb. In his race prior to the Breeders' Cup, he broke his maiden Oct. 7 at Santa Anita in his third outing.

Stay Hot paid $6.60 for the victory.

Bred in Kentucky by late Kentucky Gov. Brereton C. Jones of Airdrie Stud, Stay Hot is out of the Smart Strike mare Etsu and was sold by his breeder for $130,000 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Select Yearling sale.

The post Stay Hot Returns From Breeders’ Cup Loss To Post First Stakes Win In Cecil B. DeMille appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Klaravich Stables' homebred Surge Capacity, benefitting from a daring rail-skimming ride by Joel Rosario, captured Sunday's Matriarch (G1) at Del Mar, leading a one-two-three-four finish for trainer Chad Brown in the $300,000 fixture for fillies and mares.

The eastern-based conditioner, who has had great success shipping horses west as part of the seaside track's Autumn Turf Festival, pulled off his biggest score yet in the closing-day headliner as he registered his sixth victory in the race in its seven most recent editions.

His top four finishes have never been accomplished in a Grade 1 race at Del Mar before.

Rosario, who previously was a three-time riding champion at Del Mar, won the Matriarch for the fifth time, getting his mount home by a head over Fluffy Socks, who was 1 1/2 lengths ahead of third-place finisher Beaute Cachee, who was a head to the good of Whitebeam in fourth in the field of 12.

Surge Capacity covered the one-mile test in 1:33.95, the fastest mile grass race of the meeting.

“I kind of had no choice but to stay inside (in the stretch),” Rosario said. “I was just trying to save the ground and then go from there. I was very lucky with her kick. She is a very nice horse.”

The winner is a 3-year-old daughter of the British sire Flintshire bred in Kentucky by her owner, Seth Klarman of Boston, Mass. Her dam is the Warrior's Reward mare Strong Incentive.

On Saturday, Klarman and Brown combined to win the Hollywood Derby (G1) at Del Mar with Program Trading under Flavien Prat.

Surge Capacity was winning her third graded stakes, but her first Grade 1 in her initial outing against older rivals. Her $180,000 winning share of the purse pushed her bankroll up to $518,975.

The filly entered the Matriarch off a victory in the Valley View (G3), in which she was bottled up behind rivals in the stretch but burst through an opening along the rail and scored by three-quarters of a length Oct. 27 at Keeneland.

“She always does that (sits in behind horses),” said Brown's assistant trainer Jose Hernandez. “The same thing in Keeneland. She got in trouble, and then when she gets in the clear, she just takes off. It's just her; I've never seen that before. Fillies get intimidated a little bit, but when she gets in the clear, she takes off again.”

The 4-1 second betting choice behind favorite Whitebeam, Surge Capacity returned $11.40 for the victory.

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Joe R. Peacock Jr.'s multiple graded stakes winner Senor Buscador rallied gamely from last of 12 to finish second to Hoist the Gold in Saturday's Cigar Mile Handicap (G2) at Aqueduct.

Trained by Todd Fincher and piloted by Junior Alvarado, the connections hoped the 5-year-old Mineshaft bay would utilizing a more close-up approach as he did when taking last year's Ack Ack (G3) traveling a one-turn mile at Churchill Downs.

Instead, Senor Buscador reverted to the deep-closing tactics that saw him win the San Diego Handicap (G2) in July at Del Mar and that he repeated through three follow-up efforts in Grade 1 events, including a seventh-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) in November at Santa Anita.

“He does what he wants to do. Junior tried to let him run away from there, but he just took himself out of it,” Fincher said. “There's not a whole lot you can do about that. He was way, way back on a track where everyone won on the lead and the rail and then he went wide with nowhere to go.

“They made it tight on him down the lane,” added Fincher. “A horse on the inside of him came out and another horse was laying on him – he overcame a lot, that's for sure. Hoist the Gold is also a great horse and he ran a great race himself. He was on the better side of the bias, but you have to give him credit, he ran a great race.”

Fincher said Senor Buscador, who matched a career-high 101 Beyer Speed Figure with his Cigar Mile effort, exited the race in good order and is en route to Gulfstream Park with an eye toward a start on Jan. 27 in the $3-million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) going 1 1/8 miles.

“He ate all his dinner last night and jumped on a van to Gulfstream Park. We're planning for the Pegasus,” Fincher said of the talented bay, who has now banked $923,427 through a 16-6-1-2 record.

Senor Buscador, bred in Kentucky by Peacock and the late Joe Peacock Sr., is out of the multiple stakes-winning Desert Gold mare Rose's Desert. She has produced five winners from as many foals that all were campaigned at one point by Fincher, including graded stakes winner Runaway Ghost, multiple stakes-winner Sheriff Brown, and stakes winner Our Iris Rose. A fifth half-sibling, the 2-year-old filly Aye Candy, made a winning debut Tuesday at Zia Park for Fincher.

The post ‘We’re Aiming For The Pegasus’: Cigar Mile Runner-Up Senor Buscador Eyes Lucrative Race appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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