More preparation time proved a key factor for No More Time in his victory in the $200,000 Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes Feb. 10 at Tampa Bay Downs.
Month: February 2024
No More Time Sharp in Front-Running Sam F. Davis Victory
Sent away as the somewhat surprising 33-10 favorite in Saturday's $250,000 GIII Sam F. Davis S. at Tampa Bay Downs, Morplay Racing's No More Time (Not This Time) won the pace battle and ultimately the war, as he had enough in the tank late to hold off 'TDN Rising Star' Agate Road (Quality Road) and earn 20 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby. West Saratoga (Exaggerator), winner of last year's GIII Iroquois S. and a distant second to the G3 Saudi Derby-bound Book'em Danno (Bucchero) in Tampa's Pasco S. Jan. 13, also attended the fast fractions and stayed on bravely for third.
With Jose Ortiz opting for Agate Road, it was Paco Lopez at the controls astride No More Time and he bounced the colt aggressively away from gate five to lead early from second choice Change of Command (Into Mischief). West Saratoga was hung out four deep into the backstretch, while Agate Road–returning to the dirt since debuting over the surface at Saratoga last summer–was void of any speed and dropped out to be a detached last.
Though he was forced through splits of :23.52 for the quarter and a testing :46.61 for the half, No More Time was still going nicely and met a three-wide bid from West Saratoga midway on the turn as the blinkered Change of Command began to back out of it. In the meantime, Agate Road commenced a rally at the 3 1/2-furlong marker and was weaving his way into contention nearing the stretch. Firmly in front passing the three-sixteenths pole, No More Time was asked for his best as Lopez took his trademark look back at the competition over his right shoulder and he gutted it out as Agate Road, wide into the stretch, took good ground off of him in the final yards. West Saratoga just lasted for third over Elysian Meadows (City of Light).
There was some drama at the break, as Everdoit (Gary D) dropped his rider Huber Villa-Gomez after hitting the gate and ran through the outside rail at about the five-furlong marker. Track announcer Jason Beem tweeted later that the gelding had been caught by the outriders. After reviewing the start, stewards ruled that no changes would be made.
A wide second sprinting 5 1/2 furlongs at Gulfstream on debut Sept. 9, No More Time shot away to graduate by 6 3/4 lengths going the one-turn mile Oct. 22 and did not see action again until the Mucho Macho Man S. over that same track and trip on New Year's Day. Slowly away as the 21-10 second choice, he took the overland route around the turn, but nevertheless traveled into the race looking a threat at the quarter pole. He wasn't able to sustain that bid, finishing fifth, but the gamblers took a forgiving approach Saturday afternoon after No More Time was scratched out of the GIII Holy Bull S. last weekend.
Pedigree Notes:
No More Time is the 31st stakes winner and 14th graded winner for his newly turned 10-year-old sire and is bred on the same cross responsible for GI Madison S. heroine Just One Time. The late Speightstown is now the broodmare sire of 65 stakes winners, 25 at the graded level.
Baroness Juliette was purchased by trainer Clinton Stuart for $12,000 as a 2-year-old at Keeneland November in 2017 and was a maiden winner for a $10,000 tag at Prairie Meadows in nine starts at three in 2018. No More Time is her second foal and her third, the now-juvenile West Virginia-bred colt Mor d'Oro (Mor Spirit), was sold in utero for $7,000 at KEENOV in 2021. She is the dam of a yearling filly by Golden Years, also bred in the Mountaineer State.
Saturday, Tampa Bay Downs
SAM F. DAVIS S.-GIII, $200,000, Tampa Bay Downs, 2-10, 3yo, 1 1/16m, 1:43.26, ft.
1–NO MORE TIME, 120, c, 3, by Not This Time
1st Dam: Baroness Juliette, by Speightstown
2nd Dam: Juliette Ava, by Medaglia d'Oro
3rd Dam: Cherokee Crossing, by Cherokee Colony
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($40,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). O-Morplay Racing LLC; B-MAMAS Thoroughbreds, LLC (IA); T-Jose Francisco D'Angelo; J-Paco Lopez. $120,000. Lifetime Record: 4-2-1-0, $156,780. Werk Nick Rating: B. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Agate Road, 124, c, 3, Quality Road–Yellow Agate, by Gemologist. ($650,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). 'TDN Rising Star'. O-Repole Stable and St. Elias Stables LLC; B-Chc Inc. (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $40,000.
3–West Saratoga, 122, c, 3, Exaggerator–Mo Wicked, by Uncle Mo. ($11,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). O-Harry L. Veruchi; B-Two Hearts Farm II LLC (KY); T-Larry W. Demeritte. $20,000.
Margins: 1 1/4, 5 1/4, HD. Odds: 3.30, 4.30, 31.00.
Also Ran: Elysian Meadows, Fulmineo, Crazy Mason, Tireless, El Principito, Patriot Spirit, Copper Tax, Change of Command, Everdoit.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
#5 NO MORE TIME ($8.60) takes the them wire-to-wire
in @TampaBayDownsFL's $250,000 GIII Sam F. Davis Stakes! #6 Agate Road finished a quick-closing second.Paco Lopez was in the irons for trainer @DangeloStable and owners @MorplayRacing. pic.twitter.com/wIYDa0Wpou
— TVG (@TVG) February 10, 2024
The post No More Time Sharp in Front-Running Sam F. Davis Victory appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
Shishkin’s Gold rush! Nicky Henderson-trained horse gears up for Cheltenham Festival by claiming a decisive victory in the Betfair Denman Chase
MARCUS TOWNEND: Shishkin remains rated at 8-1 for the feature race of the National Hunt festival, probably because the horses who chased him home are both without a win since November 2022.
‘TDN Rising Star’ Kinza Goes Gate To Wire In Las Virgenes
Looking every bit a 'TDN Rising Star', Kinza (Carpe Diem) stepped up in class, posted a second-consecutive 96 Beyer and took home her first graded win with a professional gate-to-wire performance at 'The Great Race Place' on Saturday afternoon.
To kick start her career over the same surface Dec. 29, the chestnut became a meteoric star when she won by an eye-catching 7 1/2 lengths for trainer Bob Baffert. Putting in quality workouts since, the filly was well-supported at the windows as the 1-1 choice over rival Kopion (Omaha Beach). The Richard Mandella trainee at odds of 6-5 here, arrived with a pair of wins under her belt, one of which was a 5 1/4-length score last out in the GIII Santa Ynez S. Jan. 7.
Kinza took the opening round of the Kentucky Oaks points race by wrangling the lead from the bell, which gave her the upper hand into the first turn. Holding the rail position up the backstretch, the 3-year-old remained committed to the pace as the far turn arrived. Though Kopion was called upon to pull even with her mark just before the top of the lane, she could not muster the speed to catch Kinza, who went on to win by two lengths.
“She acts like a filly that can handle (two turns),” said assistant to Bob Baffert, Jimmy Barnes. “You don't know until you do it, but she had shown in the morning, in her workouts that she could go further. I was more concerned there was so much speed, with the small field and a lot of speed. Unfortunately, our other filly (Nothing Like You {Malibu Moon}) she's got speed, but she was on the rail and she doesn't have that kind of speed, so she had to kind of take back and make some kind of trip and she probably doesn't want to do that.”
Pedigree Notes:
Kinza is the 237th winner and third Western Hemisphere graded/group stakes winner for her Louisiana-based sire. The first to the races for her dam, the winner counts as a half-sister a 2-year-old by Instagrand. A $100,000 purchase by MTC at the 2014 Keeneland September Sale, Secret Wonder visited Honest Mischief for this season.
Saturday, Santa Anita Park
LAS VIRGENES S.-GIII, $100,000, Santa Anita, 2-10, 3yo, f, 1m, 1:37.03, ft.
1–KINZA, 120, f, 3, by Carpe Diem
1st Dam: Secret Wonder, by Quality Road
2nd Dam: Maxinkuckee Miss, by Langfuhr
3rd Dam: Wini Jones, by Seeking the Gold
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($17,000 Wlg '21 FTNMIX; $30,000 Ylg '22 OBSOCT; $350,000 2yo '23 EASMAY). 'TDN Rising Star'. O-Michael Lund Petersen; B-JD Business Ventures LLC, Brushy Hill Stable & Carpe Diem Syndicate (NY); T-Bob Baffert; J-Juan J. Hernandez. $60,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $99,000. Werk Nick Rating: B. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Kopion, 120, f, 3, Omaha Beach–Galloping Ami, by Victory Gallop. ($270,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). O-Spendthrift Farm LLC; B-Tall Oaks Farm (KY); T-Richard E. Mandella. $20,000.
3–She's a Tempest, 120, f, 3, Connect–Hurricane Tiz, by Tiznow. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. O-Beerman Family Trust and Sayjay Racing LLC; B-SAYJAY Racing, LLC & Beerman Family Trust (KY); T-Steve R. Knapp. $12,000.
Margins: 2, 1HF, 9 1/4. Odds: 1.00, 1.30, 16.40.
Also Ran: Nothing Like You, Great Forty Eight.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
#3 KINZA ($4.00) goes wire to wire as the favorite in the $100,000 Las Virgenes Stakes (G3) at @santaanitapark. The three-year-old Carpe Diem filly is 2 for 2 for trainer Bob Baffert. @JJHernandezS19 was in the irons.
pic.twitter.com/QhBB9tLVGm
— TVG (@TVG) February 10, 2024
The post ‘TDN Rising Star’ Kinza Goes Gate To Wire In Las Virgenes appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
