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Jess’s Dream, Son Of Rachel Alexandra, Pensioned From Stud Duty With Sights On A New Career

Jess's Dream, the first foal by Hall of Famer Rachel Alexandra and a veteran stallion in Florida, has been pensioned from stud duty and gelded, with the goal of starting a new career as a track pony.

Owner Stonestreet Farms made the announcement on Friday via its social media channels.

Jess's Dream is currently residing at the Stonestreet Training Center in Summerfield, Fla., where he will work as a track pony for the next generation of Stonestreet runners. The farm stated he would be restarted under tack in 2024.

Jess's Dream, an 11-year-old, gained national attention as the first foal out of 2009 Horse of the Year and Hall of Famer Rachel Alexandra. His sire, the Hall of Famer Curlin, also brought home a pair of Horse of the Year titles for the Stonestreet operation, and the horse's name was an homage to the vision of Stonestreet Farm's late owner Jess Jackson.

He would be one of just two foals out of Rachel Alexandra – the other being the Grade 1-winning Bernardini filly Rachel's Valentina – before the mare was pensioned from production due to recurring foaling complications.

Jess's Dream was placed in the barn of trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, but a variety of maladies kept him from making his lone career start until the summer of his 4-year-old season in 2015.

Jess's Dream appeared green and hopelessly outclassed in the early stages of the race, trailing the leader by more than 18 lengths in a 1 1/8-mile race in Saratoga. He was still barely passing stragglers as the field turned for home, but he unleashed an incredible turn of foot down the Saratoga stretch and blew past the field to win by a length.

The horse was retired to Ocala Stud in Florida for the 2017 breeding season, and he has compiled 90 winners from four crops of racing age, with combined progeny earnings of more than $7.3 million.

His top runners include Grade 3 winner Chess's Dream and stakes winners Dreaming of Snow, Beth's Dream, and Intrepid Daydream.

The post Jess’s Dream, Son Of Rachel Alexandra, Pensioned From Stud Duty With Sights On A New Career appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Restrepo And Partners Buy Horse To Run At St. Moritz White Turf Meet

For the last three or four years, bloodstock agents Ramiro Restrepo, Bo Bramagen, and Clay Scherer had talked about attending the White Turf races in St. Moritz, Switzerland as fans. The races are among the most unique in the world. They're held every February and run over a frozen lake that is packed down with snow, creating a spectacle unlike anything, anywhere in the world of horse racing. The races have been held since 1907.

“We always thought that the St. Moritz white turf races were so cool, so appealing,” Restrepo said.

In a few months, the three will be in St. Moritz, but not as fans but as owners. At this week's Tattersalls Autumn Horses In Training Sale 2023 they bought a horse named Cumulonimbus (Ire) (Night of Thunder {Ire}) with the specific goal of sending him to Switzerland to compete in the biggest race of the meet, the Feb. 18 Grosser Preis von St Moritz. The horse cost 150,000 guineas.

The race will be contested at a mile-and-a-quarter and the purse is 100,000 Swiss Francs, which equals about $110,000 U.S.

“Last year, we decided to forget about going in there as fans,” said Restrepo, part owner of 2023 GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic). “We decided why don't we try to win this thing. We spent the year putting our heads together and tried to figure out the best way to approach it.”

Part of that approach is to involve a large contingent of friends and colleagues. The three decided to sell 50 shares in the horses and Restrepo said that about 40 have already been sold.

“We wanted to put forth a strong investment to acquire a prospect who we could have some fun with running in Switzerland and, also, going forward, run in a couple of other international races and just have fun,” Restrepo said. “We want to put 40-50 horsemen together and put aside the competition and the egos. We want this to be more a brotherhood and sisterhood of horsemen, whether its consignors, owners, breeders, someone who works for a sales company. We just want to make this a fun thing. We spend all year fighting each other in sales ring and on racetrack. Here is a chance for all of us to come together under one banner as equal shareholders and have a great time competing in a unique international race.”

But how do you find the right horse for a race that is not run on dirt, grass or a synthetic surface, but on snow? What is there to go on?

The group put European bloodstock expert Martin Buick, the brother of jockey William Buick, in charge.

“Martin Buick helped us out through the process,” Restrepo said. “We were going through potential horses in this horses of racing age sale and looked at previous horses that won this race and their ratings. We did our homework and Martin was our eyes and ears on ground.”

Restrepo said winners of the Grosser Preis von St Moritz tend to be close to the pace early because those in the back can be hindered by what can be a heavy kickback of snow. Considering the conditions, you also need a horse with proven stamina. Restrepo believes that Cumulonimbus is a perfect fit for the race.

“This one fell in our lap,” Restrepo said. “He has the style for it. He's won handicaps with Frankie Dettori and Hollie Doyle up, so you know he has some class. He just kind of fit the bill.”

Cumulonimbus has been turned over to U.K. based trainer George Baker, no stranger to the White Turf races. He won the 2020 Grosser Preis von St. Moritz with Wargrave (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).

“This is something fresh, something new that we wanted to try,” Restrepo said. “What could be better than to spend a weekend of racing with a good group of people? This race is a bucket list item for a lot of people. It's easy to see why and we'd love to win it.”

The post Restrepo And Partners Buy Horse To Run At St. Moritz White Turf Meet appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Doncaster: “Boxes Ticked” for Ancient Wisdom in Trophy Bid

If it goes ahead, it's going to be tough at Doncaster on Saturday with the G1 Kameko Futurity Trophy being staged on ground that failed to survive an inspection for the Friday card. If there was a horse physically designed for such conditions, it is surely Godolphin's TDN Rising Star Ancient Wisdom (Fr) (Dubawi {Ire}) who went through Newmarket's testing surface with relish when winning the G3 Autumn S. over this mile trip a fortnight earlier. Supplemented for this prize given how strongly he emerged from that experience, he bids to provide Charlie Appleby with a first renewal and that trainer will be praying this meeting gets the green light.

“We have been very pleased with how Ancient Wisdom came out of the Autumn Stakes,” he said. “It wasn't an immediate decision afterwards to come here, but we thought that we would keep an eye on his wellbeing with a view to potentially heading to Doncaster. We are happy with him going into this and he showed at Newmarket that a mile on testing conditions suited him, so he ticks a few boxes in a race where stamina is going to play a part. It's a competitive field and we are looking forward to seeing how he gets on.”

Aidan O'Brien has won this 11 times and four times since 2017 with some of his biggest names and relies on the unbeaten Diego Velazquez (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), who like last year's hero Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) comes here on the back of a win in Leopardstown's G2 Champions Juvenile S. Only raced on good ground so far, he is ridden by James Doyle due to the suspension of Ryan Moore and he said, “We haven't seen much of him, but the two starts we have done he looks very progressive and warms to the task. I don't think he's encountered ground like we'll have for this, so we'll just have to see.”

Fishdance Limited's impressive Listed Flying Scotsman S. winner Dancing Gemini (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) is up there with the two big guns on that course form and trainer Roger Teal is understandably confident. “He beat what was in front of him that day and he beat them in style, it was faster than the group two the next day. It was a good performance, he did it very convincingly,” he said. “It was pretty soft the day he won at Doncaster. It is not ideal for any horse, I don't think any trainer would choose the conditions if they could. The way he travels, he is quite light on his feet so hopefully he doesn't get bogged down too much.”

Of the unexposed members of the cast, Cayton Park Stud's homebred God's Window (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) is of obvious intrigue having won his maiden over course and distance at the St Leger meeting, but few lightly-raced types get involved in this race in recent years. Jockey Kieran Shoemark said, “He won his maiden nicely there on pretty soft ground on Leger day, so the ground is not a concern. He definitely appreciates a cut in the ground, but heavy ground is different altogether. He gave me a good feel on his debut, I felt when I crossed the line he was only just getting going and he ran all the way to the bottom of the hill.”

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Half-Sister To GISW Paris Lights Debuts at Kyoto

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Kyoto and Niigata Racecourses. The weekend feature takes place at Tokyo on Sunday, when Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) returns to action in defense of his title in the G1 Tenno Sho (Autumn) against a top field. Read Heather Anderson's preview here:

Saturday, October 28, 2023
4th-KYO, ¥13,720,000 ($92k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1400m
PARIS PLAGES (f, 2, Uncle Mo–Paris Bikini, by Bernardini), a half-sister to 2020 GI Coaching Club American Oaks winner Paris Lights (Curlin), was acquired in utero by Katsumi Yoshida for $1.95 million at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale and Paris Bikini produced this filly Feb. 17, 2021 before being exported to Japan in foal to American Pharoah. Paris Bikini is a daughter of SP Lacadena (Nureyev), herself the dam of GSW & MGISP America (A.P. Indy), who was bought back for $3.1 million in foal to Uncle Mo at FTKNOV in 2019. America is the dam of MGSW/GISP 'TDN Rising Star' First Captain (Curlin). Third dam Butterfly Blue (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) was a half-sister to Broodmare of the Year Better Than Honour (Deputy Minister). B-Northern Racing (KY)

AMERICAN MARCH (c, 2, Cajun Breeze–Goldminer's Dream, by Distorted Humor) becomes his sire's first offspring to race in Japan, having been purchased by Yoshizawa Stable for $100,000 at this year's OBS March Sale (under-tack preview). The Florida-bred is out of an unraced daughter of SW Quite a Ruckus (Richter Scale) and his third dam was responsible for GSW and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf runner-up Excaper (Exchange Rate). Joao Moreira has the riding assignment. B-Tom McCrocklin (FL)

Sunday, October 29, 2023
2nd-NII, ¥10,480,000 ($70k), Maiden, 2yo, 1200m
GRAN ORCA (c, 2, Liam's Map–Layla, by Union Rags) looks to improve on his Sept. 24 debut in the slop at Nakayama, where he found only the well-meant Historiai (Liam's Map) too strong in the finish (see below, SC 7). Produced by a winning full-sister to GISW Express Train, the joint most-expensive of 58 of his sire's progeny to sell in 2022 (75 ring). Gran Orca's third dam was 1992 GI Alabama S. heroine November Snow (Storm Cat). B-Dixiana Farms LLC (KY)

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