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Come Dancing Regains Winning Form In Honorable Miss

Blue Devil Racing Stable's Come Dancing sat patiently off a torrid pace and picked up a fifth graded stakes victory proving to be much the best in the 29th running of the Grade 2, $150,000 Honorable Miss for fillies and mares going six furlongs over the main track at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Guided by jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., Come Dancing broke sharply from her inside post but took back into fourth as graded stakes winner Lady's Island threw down swift splits of 21.64 for the opening quarter and 43.81 for the half-mile over the fast main track.

Around the far turn, Come Dancing began making up ground and moved a path to the outside of multiple graded stakes winner Blamed and got her cue from Ortiz, Jr. at the quarter pole.

With Lady's Island to catch, Come Dancing was under an all-out drive and charged in between rivals and took command just past the eighth-pole. She hit the wire a three-quarter length winner, stopping the clock in a time of 1:08.74.

Lady's Island finished second, 2 3/4 lengths ahead of Blamed. Unholy Alliance, Pink Sands, Bye Bye J and Pacific Gale completed the order of finish.

Come Dancing's last victory took place in the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom last September at Belmont Park. Prior to that effort, she won against graded stakes company at all three NYRA tracks taking the Grade 3 Distaff at Aqueduct Racetrack, the Grade 2 Ruffian at Belmont Park and the Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga.

“I was happy to see that Irad was able to get her to break and settle and he had her in the clear when he made his move,” said trainer Carlos Martin. “The track has been very fast, but I just wanted to see the old Come Dancing give us a run like the champion that she is. It's very gratifying that Marc [Holliday, Blue Devil Racing Stable] brought her back. A lot of naysayers were saying she lost a step but hopefully she can come back and finish the year strong and we can be vindicated. I'm so happy for Come Dancing, she's a special horse for us.”

Ortiz, Jr., who picked up his tenth stakes win of the meet, was piloting Come Dancing for the first time since October 2018, where she was fifth in the Grade 1 Beldame.

“I'm happy to be back on her today,” Ortiz, Jr. said. “I haven't ridden her in a long time but she's as good as she's ever been. Hopefully, she stays sound and healthy.”

Ortiz, Jr. said a clean break from the gate was instrumental in the victory.

“I thought I had the best filly, so I tried to stay close and not give them a chance to steal the race,” Ortiz, Jr. said. “She broke well today. Last time she missed the break and today she broke good and sat a little closer and I think that was the key.”

Returning $4.70 as the post time favorite, Come Dancing enhanced her lifetime earnings to $1,186,783 and her record to 18-8-3-0.

Live racing returns Monday with a 14-race card to close out the 40-day Saratoga summer meet highlighted by the Grade 1, $250,000 Runhappy Hopeful at seven furlongs for 2-year-olds; and the $85,000 Lure, a 1 1/16-mile turf test for older horses. First post is 11:30 a.m.

Live racing will then move to Belmont Park for the 27-day fall meet, featuring 38 stakes worth $5.58 million in purse money, that will kick off on Friday, September 18 and run through Sunday, November 1

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Princess Noor Rules in Del Mar Debutante

Already with a GI Kentucky Derby victory in the bag, Bob Baffert got another superstar performance from one of his charges this weekend, as ‘TDN Rising Star’ Princess Noor (Not This Time) ran away to an explosive victory in the GI Del Mar Debutante Sunday at the seaside oval.

Topping the delayed OBS April sale when hammering to Gary Young for $1.35 million following a dazzling :20 1/5 quarter-mile breeze, the dark bay did not disappoint when unveiled locally Aug. 22, going wire to wire essentially on her own power the entire race. Back on relatively short rest here, she was pounded down to odds-on from an 8-5 morning-line quote.

Breaking inwardly, bumping into second choice and GII Sorrento S. heroine My Girl Red (Texas Red) and squeezing that one back to last, Princess Noor settled in a three-wide third as barnmate Illumination (Medaglia d’Oro) dictated terms through a :23.01 quarter. My Girl Red, who never got involved, was pulled up at that point. The favorite moved in tandem with Forest Caraway (Bodemeister) to overhaul the frontrunner past a :45.49 half, but was going easier of the two and left the other two behind at the top of the stretch.

Drifting in a bit once set down, she straightened quickly, asserted herself fully past the furlong grounds and was under wraps for much of the remainder for an extremely auspicious romp. Forest Caraway held for second. The stewards posted an inquiry regarding the winner’s leftward break, but no action was taken.

“We knew going in she was a special filly,” said Baffert. “She showed so much brilliance at the sale, that’s why she cost so much, and we got what we expected to see today. She broke a little off kilter and was behind horses, but Victor didn’t really push her, especially at the end. We’re happy to get the win. We’ll run her back at Santa Anita and then go from there.”

“She’s a little green. Only her second time [to race],” added winning rider Victor Espinoza. “Coming away from there she went in a bit and I tried to get her off as quickly as I could. You try to control the babies as best as you can, especially at the break. My filly was OK from there. I really don’t know how good she is, because I haven’t let her run yet. It’s nice to be back at Del Mar and riding good horses.”

Pedigree Notes:

The first stakes winner for red-hot freshman sire Not This Time, Princess Noor completed a sweep for first-crop stallions in Sunday’s Grade I juvenile races after Vequist (Nyquist) romped in the GI Spinaway S. at Saratoga. She is the second foal to race for Sheza Smoke Show, an upset victress of the GIII Senorita S. on turf for Peter Eurton in 2014. Both her second dam and third dam are stakes winners. A $185,000 purchase at Keeneland November in 2017, Sheza Smoke Show has a yearling colt by Protonico and foaled a Tapwrit filly Feb. 19 before returning to the former sire.

Sunday, Del Mar
DEL MAR DEBUTANTE S.-GI, $250,500, Del Mar, 9-6, 2yo, f, 7f, 1:23.15, ft.
1–PRINCESS NOOR, 122, f, 2, by Not This Time
                1st Dam: Sheza Smoke Show (GSW, $150,644), by Wilko
                2nd Dam: Avery Hall, by A. P Jet
                3rd Dam: Royal Form, by Dynaformer
‘TDN Rising Star’ 1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES
   WIN, 1ST GRADE I WIN. ($135,000 Ylg ’19 KEESEP; $1,350,000
2yo ’20 OBSAPR). O-Zedan Racing Stables Inc; B-International
Equities Holding, Inc. (KY); T-Bob Baffert; J-Victor Espinoza.
$150,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $183,000. First stakes
winner for freshman sire (by Giant’s Causeway). Werk Nick
   Rating: C+. Click for eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Forest Caraway, 122, f, 2, by Bodemeister
                1st Dam: Thin Disguise, by Yes It’s True
                2nd Dam: Naughty Natisha, by Known Fact
                3rd Dam: Noble Natisha, by Noble Commander
($70,000 Wlg ’18 KEENOV; $27,000 RNA Ylg ’19 KEESEP).
O-Phoenix Thoroughbred III; B-SpruceLane, Stepwise,
GroundThunder, Robbins, Copper Beech, Lynn et al. (KY);
T-Peter Miller. $50,000.
3–Illumination, 120, f, 2, by Medaglia d’Oro
                1st Dam: Light the City, by Street Sense
                2nd Dam: Light From Above, by A.P. Indy
                3rd Dam: Very Special Lite, by Majestic Light
($900,000 Ylg ’19 FTSAUG). O-George Bolton, Peter & Karin
Leidel, Barry Lipman & Kerri Radcliffe; B-Breeze Easy, LLC (KY);
T-Bob Baffert. $30,000.
Margins: 6HF, 2 1/4, 5 1/4. Odds: 0.70, 4.00, 7.40.
Also Ran: Get On the Bus, Roll Up Mo Money, My Girl Red.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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Offspring By Freshman Sire Nyquist Run 1-3 In Grade 1 Spinaway

Darley America”s freshman sire Nyquist is off the mark with a G1 winner in the very first juvenile G1 event of the year, as his 2-year-old daughters Vequist and Lady Lilly ran first and third in the seven-furlong G1 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Vequist, making her second start after finishing runner-up by a nose on debut at Parx, broke a bit flat-footed under jockey Luis Saez but quickly hustled up to sit in second going into the turn. She hit the front at the top of the stretch and turned on the afterburners, pulling away to win easily by nine-and-a-half lengths for trainer Robert E. Reid, Jr. and owners Gary Barber, Wachtel Stable and Swilcan Stable LLC. The final time of 1:22.29 was .01 seconds off the seven-furlong stakes record.

Lady Lilly, a debut winner earlier in the meet at the Spa, ran well to finish third for Phoenix Thorougbhreds and trainer Steve Asmussen.

Bred in Kentucky by part-owner Swilcan Stables, Vequist is a daughter of the G2-placed Mineshaft mare Vero Amore.

Vequist is the fifth winner and second Black Type winner for Nyquist, whose other first-crop winners include Woodbine Stakes winner Gretzky the Great and Ellis Park maiden winners Dream Quist and Assertive Style.

Nyquist was 2-year-old male champion of 2015 and G1 Kentucky Derby winner the following year. His stud fee at Darley at Jonabell for the 2020 breeding season was $40,000 live foal.

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Vancouver Filly Remains Unbeaten in Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf

Kaleem Shah’s Madone found running room late and surged to victory in the Del Mar Juvenile FilliesTurf S. Sunday evening. The favorite was unhurried early and fell well back in the field. Racing keenly behind tepid splits, she took closer order but ran up on heels in the tightly bunched field. Full of run but with nowhere to go nearing the home stretch, the dark bay filly finally found a seam to run through and surged to the wire ahead of Nimbostratus (Fr) (Wooton Bassett {GB}) and Ivy League (Medaglia d’Oro), who had both taken the overland route. Nimostratus just got her nose in front of Ivy League on the wire, but the stewards ruled that the filly had come out and impeded the third-place finisher and their placements were reversed.

The first Northern Hemisphere black-type winner for her reverse shuttle sire, Madone opened her career with a late-running one-length victory over this same course and one-mile distance July 31. The dark bay filly was a $70,000 KEENOV weanling and a $50,000 KEESEP yearling before selling for $125,000 at this year’s OBS March sale. Madone’s dam has a filly of 2019 by Astern (Aus) and a colt of this year by Cairo Prince. From the family of GI NYRA Mile H. victor Gold Fever (Forty Niner) and SW Emanating (Cox’s Ridge), herself the dam of Grade I winner Boisterous (Distorted Humor), she was covered by Gormley earlier this year.

DEL MAR JUVENILE FILLIES TURF S., $83,500, Del Mar, 9-6, 2yo, f, 1mT, 1:39.09, fm.
1–MADONE, 122, f, 2, by Vancouver (Aus)
                1st Dam: Indian Love Call, by Cherokee Run
                2nd Dam: Mood Music, by Kingmambo
                3rd Dam: Lead Kindly Light, by Majestic Light
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. ($70,000 Wlg ’18 KEENOV; $50,000 Ylg
’19 KEESEP; $125,000 2yo ’20 OBSMAR). O-Kaleem Shah, Inc.;
B-Glendalough LLC (KY); T-Simon Callaghan; J-Flavien Prat.
$48,300. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $81,300.
2–Ivy League, 120, f, 2, Medaglia d’Oro–With Honors, by War
Front. O-LNJ Foxwoods; B-LNJ Foxwoods (KY); T-Richard E.
Mandella. $16,100.
3–Nimbostratus (Fr), 120, f, 2, Wootton Bassett (GB)–Bahama
Spirit (Ire), by Invincible Spirit (Ire). (£65,000 Ylg ’19 GOFFPR).
O-Altamira Racing Stable, CYBT and Nentwig, Michael;
B-Laundry Cottage Stud (FR); T-Peter Miller. $9,660.
Margins: HF, 1 3/4, NO. Odds: 1.60, 2.50, 19.90.
Also Ran: Sweetest Angel, Canoodling, Inner Beauty (Ire), Tetragonal (Ire), Frazzled, My Princess Ellie, Super Game, Basilia. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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