Author: News

Bolt d’Oro Filly a Professional Debut Winner at Saratoga

5th-Saratoga, $88,000, (S), Msw, 8-10, 2yo, f, 6f, 1:11.93, ft, 3 lengths.
MISS D'OR CHERIE (f, 2, Bolt d'Oro–Above Fashion {SW & GSP, $188,590}, by Paddy O'Prado) was drawn widest in a nine-strong field for Thursday's state-bred maiden at Saratoga and turned in a most professional debut effort to open her account at first asking. Outsprinted through the opening exchanges by Snarky (Redesdale), who won the break from the rail, the $300,000 OBS April acquisition showed ample early pace to sit right off the leader's flank from second. Inching closer still at the midway point of the turn, the dark bay eased to the front with a bit more than a quarter-mile to travel, pinching a break entering the final furlong and went on to score by three lengths as the 14-5 favorite. Book of Wisdom (Solomini) ran on gamely for second while no menace to the winner. Miss d'Or Cherie also sold for $72,000 as a weanling at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton November Sale and again at that auction house's Kentucky July Yearling Sale, where she fetched $160,000. Christopher Shelli, who operates Fort Christopher's Thoroughbreds in Fort Edward, New York, purchased Miss d'Or Cherie's dam for $27,000 on behalf of Jon Stillman's Caliburn Farm in foal to Star Guitar at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Winter Mixed Sale and they began upgrading her breeding record when mating her with Bernardini that season. He sold the resulting foal, a filly, for $90,000 as the Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Sale in 2021 and the mare has since been represented by a Vino Rosso colt of 2022 that sells as hip 494 during next Monday's session of the Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearling Sale and a McKinzie filly foaled this past Apr. 7. Above Fashion was subsequently covered by Epicenter. Stillman and his wife Margaret Davenport made the short drive from their farm to watch the race in person Thursday afternoon. “It was a magic moment, just great,” Stillman said. “When she hit the ground, she just had this maturity about her to go along with her physical appearance. As if she knew more than she really did. She looked like she'd been there before and she's shown that from the time she was a foal.” Stillman said that the decision to breed Above Fashion to Bolt d'Oro was his advisor's. “That was Chris's idea, he really nailed it.” Stillman maintains a broodmare band of six at Caliburn Farm.  Sales history: $72,000 Wlg '21 FTKNOV; $160,000 Ylg '22 FTKOCT; $300,000 2yo '23 OBSAPR. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $48,400. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
O-Reeves Thoroughbred Racing & Steven Rocco; B-Caliburn Farm LLC (NY); T-Christophe Clement.

 

 

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Del Mar Summer: A Side Trip To Dog Beach And Gwen’s Garden

One of the joys of Del Mar, especially for dog lovers, is Dog Beach, located a few furlongs west of the racetrack grandstand beneath the iconic bluff that juts out toward the Pacific Ocean inlet to the San Dieguito River. It's a happy place where dogs of all colors, shapes and sizes bring their humans to watch them frolic in the sand and surf, chase tennis balls or Frisbees, or just get acquainted with one another.

Gwen, a yellow Labrador, was one of those dogs, dragging her human companion, Jimmy Joe Gooding, to Dog Beach for some playtime. When Gwen died, as our beloved pets sadly do, J.J. – as he is known to locals – decided to do something in Gwen's memory that would also be of therapeutic value to him.

Taking advantage of the city of Del Mar's “Adopt a Spot” program, Gooding applied for and received permission to create Gwen's Garden, a small plot of public land at the entrance to Dog Beach with a sidewalk that zig-zags through what was once a wasteland of mostly weeds and dead plants.

Over several years, Gooding transformed that wasteland into a beautiful memorial to Gwen and all the other dogs who enjoyed playtime at Dog Beach. He planted and maintains a variety of succulents, wild flowers, and native greenery, making Gwen's Garden a must-see stop for those who enjoy gardening or flowers or simply want to meditate over a lost canine friend.

Every time I walk through the garden, a smile comes to my face, thinking of the Paulick family's now departed dog, Spud, who annually endured long drives from Kentucky to Del Mar but seemed to find a fountain of youth at Dog Beach, making new friends on each visit.

J.J. Gooding, who created the Dog Beach gardens, posts daily longshot picks during the Del Mar race meet

During the course of the year, depending on the holiday or activities around town, you might see the garden decorated with Valentine's Day, Fourth of July, Halloween or inspirational signs for dog lovers. During the racing season, Gooding – who has served as a volunteer for the host committee when the Breeders' Cup is held at Del Mar – puts out longshot picks behind a miniature racing oval placed in the garden. You'll see him there almost every day tending to Gwen's Garden, watering, sweeping sand off the sidewalks, or decorating for the next holiday – often wearing a Breeders' Cup ballcap or shirt.

For me, the most poignant part of the garden are the hand-painted rocks that dog owners have bought to memorialize their own lost friends. Hundreds of rocks, with special tributes painted on them, have been placed there, reminding dog owners of the good times they had at Dog Beach with their faithful companions.

Some of the hand-painted rocks memorializing departed canine friends who enjoyed Dog Beach

Now, on to the races.

By the Numbers

Last week, we reported on the first seven days of racing at Del Mar, pointing out that the percentage of winning favorites was just 27.1 percent – well below the norm – and that front-runners had not fared well on dirt or turf, winning just four of 40 races.

What a difference a week makes.

The four racing programs offered Aug. 3-6, were just the opposite, with 17 favorites winning the 38 races, a hefty 44.7 percent, and front-runners winning 15 of 38 contests. The percentage of winning favorites was almost identical on turf or dirt. Horses leading at every call won 10 of 20 dirt races (50 percent) and five of 18 on turf. Unlike the first two weeks, horses closing from the back one-third of the field had difficulty winning on dirt, with just two of 20 races won by a deep closer. Three of 18 turf races were won by horses closing from well off the pace.

Field size dropped from 9.7 runners per race to 8.5 in week three. It still stands at a healthy 9.3 average field size for the first 78 races over three weeks.

The first open 2-year-old stakes on dirt will be run this weekend for both fillies and colts/geldings, with Saturday's Grade 3 Sorrento presented by Keeneland Sales and Sunday's Best Pal Stakes. Not surprisingly, Bob Baffert figures to have the upper hand in both. Baffert has won both open maiden 2-year-old dirt races thus far and one of the two open maiden 2-year-old filly dirt races.

Baffert's winning filly, Zedan Racing Stables' Dua, won what appeared to be a very competitive filly race July 22 and will be the likely favorite in Saturday's Sorrento.

While the Best Pal entries have not been released yet, Heartland was the more impressive of Baffert's two male 2-year-old maiden winners, the Justify colt breaking last in a six-horse field, then putting in a strong rally to win going away by two lengths under leading rider John Hernandez. Heartland races for CHC Inc. Siena Farm, and WinStar Farm.

Couple of reminders about week four at Del Mar, which begins on Thursday with an eight-race card that kicks off at 2 p.m. PT. Friday's new post time is 3:30 p.m. PT and the Pick 6 will have a $1-million single ticket winner guarantee on Saturday and a mandatory payout on Sunday.

 

The post Del Mar Summer: A Side Trip To Dog Beach And Gwen’s Garden appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Bucanero ‘The Best I’ve Ridden’ – Aguiar Sweet On Phoenix Stakes Favourite

Widely considered one of the shrewdest judges of equine talent on an international scale, Robson Aguiar has described Bucanero Fuerte (GB) (Wootton Bassett {GB) as the best horse he has ever ridden and predicted the colt would be very hard to beat in Saturday's G1 Phoenix S. at the Curragh.

It was Aguiar who first spotted the potential in the Adrian Murray-trained Bucanero Fuerte as a yearling last year and went to €165,000 to secure the colt from Etreham at the August Sale at Arqana. 

Victory in the first juvenile Group 1 race of the year in Europe would guarantee Bucanero Fuerte's share price to sky-rocket well beyond that initial outlay, which would represent a huge result for the Brazilian native given his wife Giselle owns the colt in partnership with Amo Racing. 

“Bucanero is in top form,” the 41-year-old said on Thursday. “I'd say he has improved a good bit since his last run. I have ridden a lot of good horses in the past but this horse is really special. He is the best horse I have ridden. I rode very good horses when I worked in Ballydoyle and for Tally-Ho Stud as well. 

“I rode Camelot (GB), Excelebration (Ire), Perfect Power (Ire), Go Bears Go (Ire), Ardad (Ire), Persian Force (Ire)–a lot of good horses–but this horse is really special. He's a very quiet horse, has a good mind, is a brilliant mover–he has everything.”

Bucanero Fuerte beats Unquestionable in the Railway Stakes | Racingfotos.com

Bucanero Fuerte has already accounted for his main market rival on Saturday, Unquestionable (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), when the pair met in the G2 Railway S. at the Curragh last month. He is well on his way to fulfilling his stallion potential, being a classy brother to the Prix de l'Abbaye scorer Wooded (Ire), and Aguiar explained that the blooding of such types has become an important aspect of the Amo Racing model.  

He said, “We work very hard for this. We are working hard to make a stallion and have four good stallion prospects this year. There is New York Thunder (Nyquist), one of the best three-year-olds in America, King Of Steel (Wootton Bassett {GB}), Valiant Force and Bucanero Fuerte. Also, we still have Go Bears Go (Ire) (Kodi Bear {Ire}), who will retire at the end of this year. Hopefully he can win a Group 1 or Group 2 beforehand. 

“For the past few years, we have been working hard to try and find these horses. It's not easy to make a stallion and, until we get there, we won't be happy. We are on the right track but we are not there yet. Hopefully Bucanero can win on Saturday.”

The brother to Wooded, whose first yearlings will go under the hammer at the August Sale at Arqana next week, was a well-credentialed stallion prospect at the yearling sales. However, it wasn't Bucanero Fuerte's page that lured Aguiar in.

“He caught my eye straight away when I saw him at the sales. When they pulled him out of the stable, I said to my wife, 'I am going to buy this horse.' I didn't even look at his pedigree because, when I go to the sales, I watch all of the horses. I look at them walking and, if they interest me, I look at the pedigree. If I am not interested, I don't bother looking.”

Aguiar added, “I didn't know he was a brother to Wooded when I saw him first. He could have been related to nothing and I would have bought him still. But when I did see his pedigree, I thought I had no chance of buying him. I was lucky to be able to buy him.”

Buying the good models over a page is what Aguiar built his business on. When operating on a budget, he was able to turn cheaper yearling purchases into six-figure breezers. 

The bankroll behind the operation may be on a completely different scale now, helped by the backing of Amo boss Kia Joorabchian, but the principals and the work ethic remains the same.

“Look, I still buy colts without much of a pedigree for myself and I breeze them. I like to buy a racey-looking horse to breeze. But for Amo, I try to buy stallion prospects with a pedigree because Kia does not want to win a race. He wants Group winners and stallion prospects.”

Royal Ascot-winning juvenile Valiant Force, who is also trained in County Westmeath by Murray and being aimed at the G1 Prix Morny, is another stallion prospect that was found for Amo by Aguiar. 

Alongside Tally-Ho Stud's Roger O'Callaghan, Aguiar snapped up the son of Malibu Moon for $100,000 on the recommendation of bloodstock agent Ben McElroy at the September Yearling Sale at Keeneland. 

Like Bucanero Fuerte, Aguiar's wife Giselle retains a share of Valiant Force, as does O'Callaghan's wife Rachael, in partnership with Amo Racing. 

Valiant Force caused one of the biggest shocks in recent memory at Royal Ascot when winning the G2 Norfolk S. at odds of 150-1 and Aguiar is now charting a path back to America along with Murray for the Breeders' Cup with the colt. 

Recalling how he came to acquire Valiant Force, he said, “Ben McElroy told me to have a look at him. He bought him as a foal as part of a syndicate and they put him in Book 2 of the September Yearling Sale at Keeneland where he got a little bit lost. He is by Malibu Moon, who is not the most fashionable stallion but, when Ben showed me the horse, I really liked him. I got Roger to have a look and we bought him to breeze. We decided to race him and sold a little bit of him to Kia before Ascot.

“He's in good form and I'd say he has improved since Ascot as well. He's gotten bigger and stronger. For me, he will be a proper dirt horse but I'm going to run him once more on turf in the Prix Morny in France. My plan is to go to the Breeders' Cup for the dirt race because he works very good on it.”

Joorabchian has earned himself a reputation as being a hard-nosed businessman who is not afraid to move his horses around. It is a results-based business at the end of the day and nobody is more aware of this than Aguiar, who has a very clear vision about what success looks like for the Amo Racing chief.

 Aguiar: “I want to be the best – I don't want to be just another person in the game.” | Tattersalls 

“We are not there yet,” he admitted. “For me, I want to get a few Group 1s over the line and produce a good stallion. We have spent a lot of money and I will be proud when we start to bring more money back into the business [through a good stallion].”

In order to fulfill his ambitions in racing, Aguiar shared that he would be bidding to emulate the achievements of the O'Callaghans at Tally-Ho Stud, for whom he has a long and fruitful association working alongside. 

He explained, “I joined Tally-Ho when I left Ballydoyle and they help me and I help them. We still do a lot of business together and I am very good friends with Roger, Henry and Tony O'Callaghan. We are friends and we also respect each other. Any favour they ask me to do, I do it for them. They would also do anything for me. We are like family.

“They work very hard. Roger is a good person to buy and sell a horse and everybody trusts Tony. They will always help people who need to get a mare covered and will always try and do a deal for you even if you don't have the money there and then. 

“Kodiac (GB) brought them to the next level and now Mehmas (Ire) is doing the same. Everything that retires there, they do a great job for the stallion and they reinvest every year in new mares and facilities.”

He added, “Everything that I make, I put it back into building stables and buying my own mares. I do a lot of pre-training for Amo and I still have a few racehorses myself who I couldn't sell. 

“My business is starting to grow and hopefully I can keep on improving every year just like Tally-Ho has. I want to be competitive at the top level. I don't spend my money on anything else. I always invest, invest, invest. I want to be the best–I don't want to be just another person in the game.”

For those reasons, victory on Saturday would mean the world to Aguiar and he has full confidence in Bucanero Fuerte delivering the goods. 

“If everything goes right in the race, I think he should win. You can think this but you can never be sure. I bought the horse, I broke him and I ride him every day so it would give me a lot of pleasure if he was to win his Group 1 on Saturday. I sold a Group 1 winner already, Shantisara (Ire) (Coulsty {Ire}) in America, but I think this horse can bring me to the next level of the business.”

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Fall MSW Purses At Churchill ($120k), Keeneland ($100k) To Be Level With ’22 Money

Both Churchill Downs ($120,000) and Keeneland Race Course ($100,000) are projecting maiden special weight (MSW) purses this autumn to be level with the money paid out at the same meets in 2022.

Those figures were revealed by representatives of the two tracks Thursday during a meeting of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund (KTDF) advisory committee.

The Churchill MSW purses for this year's two fall meets (Sep. 14-Oct. 1 and Oct. 29-Nov. 26) have been unchanged since 2020.

In 2020, Churchill offered split MSW purse values in September-$97,000 during the pandemic-rescheduled GI Kentucky Derby week, then $75,000 for the balance of that month. In November 2020, Churchill's MSW races were $85,000.

Keeneland's fall meet this year spans Oct. 6-28. The MSW races there were worth $84,000 back in 2021. In 2020 they were $70,000 after the track lost the entire April meet to COVID-19 and instead ran during July.

The KTDF is funded by three-quarters of 1% of all money wagered on both live Thoroughbred races and historical horse race (HHR) gaming, plus 2% of all money wagered on Thoroughbred races via inter-track wagering and whole-card simulcasting.

The KTDF advisory committee approved the recommendation of the fall meet allotment requests that the Churchill and Keeneland MSW purse estimates were based on. The full Kentucky Horse Racing Commission still has to vote on final approval of that funding.

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