Robin Goodfellow’s racing tips: Best bets for Friday, August 7
Sportsmail's racing expert Robin Goodfellow dishes out his tips for Friday's meetings at Wolverhampton, Sandown and Cartmel.
Category: Horse Racing News
Fan-Favorite Bodexpress Seeks Stakes Breakthrough In Alydar
Top Racing, Global Thoroughbred and GDS Racing Stable's Bodexpress will look to run off with Sunday's $85,000 Alydar, a nine-furlong route restricted to 4-year-olds and upward yet to win a stake this year other than state-bred, at Saratoga Race Course.
Trained by Gustavo Delgado, the multiple graded-stakes placed Bodexpress was a late scratch before the start of the Grade 3 Monmouth Cup on July 18 at Monmouth Park. He then re-routed to the Alydar at his home base at the Spa under the care of the conditioner's son and assistant trainer, Gustavo Delgado, Jr.
Bodexpress was also under consideration for last Saturday's Grade 1, $750,000 Whitney, won by Improbable, and Delgado, Jr. expressed regret at not entering the colt in the compact, but talented, field of five.
“We were planning to enter him in the Whitney, and we were regretting not doing it because that race had no pace. They went [a quarter-mile] in 25, and almost 50 [to the half-mile],” said Delgado, Jr. “He probably would have been on the lead and not to say that he would have won it, but second or third in the Whitney would have been good.”
The 4-year-old Bodemeister bay has breezed twice on the Saratoga main track since scratching at Monmouth, including a five-eighths breeze in 1:02.66 Sunday under Hall of Famer Javier Castellano who has the call from post 5.
Bodexpress became an internet sensation after unseating Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez in last year's Grade 1 Preakness before completing the course on his own accord. Delgado, Jr. said providing Castellano an opportunity to hop aboard the quirky colt in advance of Sunday was important.
“Last Sunday he breezed with Castellano on him, and he really liked him,” said Delgado, Jr. “He's got more confidence in him now. It's always good to get to know him first.”
A runner-up as a maiden in the 2019 Grade 1 Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park, Bodexpress was placed 13th in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby, ultimately graduating in October in a mile and seventy yard maiden tilt at Gulfstream Park West. He completed his eventful sophomore season with a third in the Grade 3 Harlan's Holiday at Gulfstream.
Bodexpress has made three starts this season at Gulfstream, including a fifth in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational and a last-out third in the Grade 3 Hal's Hope at nine furlongs.
Delgado, Jr. said the well-traveled Bodexpress is enjoying his time at the Spa.
“He's doing really good. He's feeling good. He likes it here. The ambience, the weather, everything,” said Delgado, Jr.
Winchell Thoroughbreds' Tenfold, a multiple graded-stakes winning son of Curlin, captured the 2018 Grade 2 Jim Dandy at Saratoga before running seventh in the Grade 1 Travers.
Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, the Kentucky homebred will make his return to the Spa off a third in the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup on June 6 at Santa Anita, a 10-furlong event won by Improbable.
Ricardo Santana, Jr., who guided Tenfold to his most recent victory in the 2019 Grade 3 Pimlico Special, has the call from post six.
Godolphin homebred Endorsed, a 4-year-old Medaglia d'Oro colt, earned a career-best 100 Beyer Speed Figure two starts back when second to Code of Honor in the Grade 3 Westchester traveling a one-turn 1 1/16-miles on June 6 at Belmont.
Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, Endorsed has shown good form at Saratoga where he graduated in a maiden sprint in August 2018 and last year added a second in the nine-furlong Curlin and rallying fourth in the 10-furlong Grade 1 Runhappy Travers.
Endorsed will be looking for his third win of the campaign following optional-claiming scores in January at Gulfstream for former trainer Kiaran McLaughlin and a half-length win at Oaklawn Park in May at first asking for Mott.
Joel Rosario, aboard for a last-out seventh in the Grade 1 Runhappy Met Mile on July 4 at Belmont, retains the mount from the inside post.
Rounding out the field are Backsideofthemoon [post 2, Manny Franco], Spinoff [post 3, Irad Ortiz, Jr.], and Its All Relevant [post 4, Dylan Davis].
The Alydar is slated as Race 9 on Sunday's 10-race card, which offers a first post of 1:10 p.m. Eastern. Sunday's card will also feature a mandatory payout of the Empire 6. Saratoga Live will present daily television coverage of the 40-day summer meet on FOX Sports and MSG Networks. For the complete Saratoga Live broadcast schedule, and additional programming information, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule.
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Indiana Grand Offers $100,000 Guaranteed Pick 5 On Aug. 12 Caesars Stakes Day
Indiana Grand will celebrate the richest day in turf racing with a special $100,000-guaranteed Pick 5 Pool Wednesday, Aug. 12 for Caesars Stakes Day. The wager offers one of the lowest take outs in North America at 11.99 percent.
The $100,000-Guaranteed Pick 6 gets underway in the fifth race and extends through the ninth race. It will include the $150,000 Indiana Grand Stakes for three-year-old fillies on the turf in the seventh race as well as the 15th running of the $150,000 Caesars Stakes for three-year-olds on the turf, slated as the eighth race.
“Caesars Stakes Day is one of the biggest afternoons of the year for us, and with the Pick 5 being one of our most popular wagers, we wanted to add a nice guarantee to link both of them together,” said Eric Halstrom, vice president and general manager of racing at Indiana Grand. “Both the Caesars Stakes and the Indiana Grand Stakes turned out with full fields and are flanked with some pretty competitive races. It should be a nice sequence for our Pick 5 with a little added incentive as a bonus.”
Live racing is held Monday through Thursday beginning at 2:20 p.m. Three more Saturday programs are slated for all-Quarter Horse days Aug. 8, Oct. 3 and Oct. 24. The Aug. 8 program will begin at 10 a.m.
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‘Really Strong Favorite’ Art Collector Draws Post Four Of Full Field For Ellis Park Derby
The field was set Thursday for Sunday's first-ever Kentucky Derby prep staged at Ellis Park, with Keeneland's Grade 2 Toyota Blue Grass winner Art Collector heading the thirteen 3-year-old colts and geldings entered in the $200,000 RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Derby.
“It's Art Collector and all the rest,” said trainer Tom Amoss, who will try to pull off the upset with Grade 3 Ohio Derby victor Dean Martini. “You've got a really strong favorite in this race, and I think everyone will measure the quality of their horse with how they perform against him.”
The Ellis Park Derby, which was instituted in 2018 as a mile race, anchors a five-stakes program that also includes the $100,000 RUNHAPPY Audubon Oaks for 3-year-old fillies, which offers 10 points to its winner toward qualifying for the Kentucky Oaks; $100,000 Groupie Doll Stakes for older fillies and mares; $100,000 RUNHAPPY Juvenile for 2-year-olds; and $100,000 RUNHAPPY Debutante for 2-year-old fillies.
The 1 1/8-mile Ellis Park Derby carries 50 points to the winner toward qualifying for the COVID-delayed Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5. Also earning qualifying points will be the runner-up (20), third place (10) and fourth (5).
Art Collector drew post 4 as he seeks to go to 4 for 4 since being turned over to trainer Tommy Drury this year. Thanks to the Blue Grass' 100 points, owner-breeder Bruce Lunsford's colt already has enough points to ensure a spot in the 20-horse Kentucky Derby field, with Drury using the Ellis Park Derby as a conditioning tool rather than training the eight weeks up to America's most important race.
“His first couple of wins, he just ran off the screen both times, certainly didn't have to overexert himself,” Drury said of Art Collector. “The Blue Grass, he had to earn it; that filly (Swiss Skydiver) made him work for it. Watching that race and evaluating the race afterward, I felt one more was going to be beneficial to him. I'm just really thankful that spot at Ellis is available. We were late getting to the party and we've needed every little thing to fall in place to get him to this point. For Ellis to have a Derby prep this year was a lifesaver to us.”
Other leading contenders include Grade 3 Indiana Derby winner Shared Sense (post 12); Anneau d'Or (post 2), the Breeders' Cup Juvenile runner-up and most recently fourth in the Santa Anita Derby; Grand Prairie Derby winner Little Menace (post 6), and last year's Ellis Park Juvenile winner Rowdy Yates (post 8).
Shared Sense could be on the Derby qualifying bubble points-wise, collecting 20 for winning the Grade 3 Indiana Derby in his graded-stakes debut. Godolphin's son of 2007 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense faced Art Collector two races back, when Art Collector controlled the speed for a dominant win over Shared Sense in a four-horse Churchill Downs allowance field.
“First time we ran against him here, we were at the back of the pack, there was no pace,” said Brad Cox, Shared Sense's trainer. “I was pleased with the effort. They almost broke the track record; the track was quick. Honestly, we were the second-best horse that day. He bounced out of it in good shape. We turned our attention to the Indiana Derby and it worked out extremely well. Obviously the other horse went on to pick off a Grade 2 at Keeneland very impressively. Both horses seem to be going the right way right now, and I'm excited about Sunday.”
Saturday's $1 million, Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga, where Belmont Stakes winner Tiz the Law looms as the big favorite, also was a possibility for Shared Sense.
“If we're dreaming about the Derby, I think with my horse I would be comfortable trying to get a nice mile-and-an-eighth race into him four weeks before the Derby as opposed to a mile and a quarter at Saratoga,” Cox said. “That's a pretty demanding course, and that's a big ask four weeks before you're hopefully going to run the biggest race of your life.”
Because he wasn't nominated earlier in the year, Godolphin would have to pay $45,000 to make Shared Sense a supplemental nominee to the Kentucky Derby, on top of entry fees.
The same is true for Dean Martini, who was claimed by his owners Raise the BAR Racing out of a $50,000 maiden-claiming race May 17. The gelding actually started his career with a second at Ellis Park but needed seven more attempts to win, albeit while accumulating three seconds and three thirds. Dean Martini won the Ohio Derby in his second start for his new connections.
“We need to know if he can validate his Ohio Derby performance,” Amoss said. “It was a very good race, but is he consistently the kind of horse who can put in those kinds of performances? We need to find out, and we're going to do that on Sunday. Obviously with a horse like Art Collector in there, it will validate one way or the other where we need to head for our next race.”
If the Ellis Park Derby is a first for the racetrack as far as being a Kentucky Derby prep race, count Cox among those hoping that it's also the last.
“Unless we start running at Ellis earlier in the year,” he joked. “I hate to say it, but hopefully it's a one-time thing. I like the Derby in May, not September. “
Still, Cox believes the 2020 running is a great start in entrenching the Ellis Park Derby among the regional Derbys that populate racing after what normally is the Triple Crown.
“West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Oklahoma — There are a lot of Derbys out there,” he said. “There's definitely a spot on the calendar where Kentucky could have a nice 3-year-old race like the Ellis Park Derby and it become a graded event. Hopefully this is the start of something bigger and better for the Ellis Park Derby.”
RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Derby
Purse: $200,000. Post time: Sunday at 5:10 p.m. CT (10th race). Distance: 1 1/8 miles. Division: 3-year-olds.
PP horse (weight) trainer/jockey
- Trident Hit (118) Brendan Walsh/Corey Lanerie
- Anneau d'Or (118) Blaine Wright/Tyler Baze
- Sprawl (118) Bill Mott/Julien Leparoux
- Art Collector (122) Tommy Drury/Brian Hernandez Jr.
- Necker Island (118) Chris Hartman/Mitchell Murrill
- Little Menace (120) Steve Asmussen/ Martin Garcia
- Truculent (118) Jack Sisterson/Adam Beschizza
- Rowdy Yates (118) Steve Asmussen/Shaun Bridgmohan
- Dean Martini (122) Tom Amoss/James Graham
- Attachment Rate (118) Dale Romans/Joe Talamo
- Winning Impressions (118) Dallas Stewart/Joe Rocco
- Shared Sense (122) Brad Cox/Florent Geroux
- (AE) Rogue Element (118) Dale Romans/Miguel Mena
**(AE) Also eligible – needs scratch to run
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