Category: Horse Racing News

Authentic Hangs on to Give Baffert Ninth Haskell

Heavily favored Authentic (Into Mischief) got surprisingly loose early and held on narrowly late in Saturday’s GI TVG.com Haskell S., upping trainer Bob Baffert’s record win total in the prestigious event to nine and earning an automatic spot in the starting gate for the GI Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic. Off at 3-5 looking to atone for a second-place finish at 1-2 behind Honor A. P. (Honor Code) in the GI Santa Anita Derby last month, the bay broke on top and received only token pressure from Ny Traffic (Cross Traffic) as he was kept off the rail a bit by Hall of Famer Mike Smith through splits of :23.60 and :47.52. He appeared to be going much better than Ny Traffic through six furlongs in 1:11.50, and put several lengths on his pursuer in upper stretch as hard-ridden second choice Dr Post (Quality Road) tried to mount a rally. The top three seemed locked in their positions at midstretch, but Paco Lopez aboard Ny Traffic wasn’t giving up on the top spot yet, and he kept after his mount to get into a tight photo with Authentic.

“He’s a colt with an abundance of talent. Ability is something he does not lack. He’s got a lot of it,” said winning rider Mike Smith, who was celebrating his third Haskell (Holly Bull, 1994; Coronado’s Quest, 1998). “But what he is lacking right now, he’s learning, He’s growing up. He sees things. Down the backside… there are a lot of shadows back there from the sun at this point. He looked at every single one of them and he wouldn’t let me get him down close to the fence because he was looking at them too much.

“Then he kicked away like I wanted him to heading for home. Once that horse started to come at him I wanted to get into him a little bit just to get him going. If he was going to start playing again I thought `I just better stay riding and hope he could hang on at that point’–which he did.  I rode him well past the wire just to show him to keep running. I didn’t want him to think it was over when he hit the wire.”

Saturday, Monmouth Park
TVG.COM HASKELL S.-GI, $1,005,000, Monmouth, 7-18, 3yo,
1 1/8m, 1:50.45, ft.
1–AUTHENTIC, 122, c, 3, by Into Mischief
                1st Dam: Flawless, by Mr. Greeley
                2nd Dam: Oyster Baby, by Wild Again
                3rd Dam: Really Fancy, by In Reality
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($350,000 Ylg ’18 KEESEP). O-Spendthrift
Farm LLC, MyRaceHorse Stable, Madaket Stables LLC &
Starlight Racing; B-Peter E. Blum Thoroughbreds, LLC (KY);
T-Bob Baffert; J-Mike E. Smith. $600,000. Lifetime Record:
5-4-1-0, $1,011,200. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*.
   Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Ny Traffic, 122, c, 3, Cross Traffic–Mamie Reilly, by Graeme
Hall. ($27,000 RNA 2yo ’19 EASMAY). O-John Fanelli, Cash is
King LLC, LC Racing & Paul Braverman; B-Brian Culnan (NY);
T-Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.. $200,000.
3–Dr Post, 122, c, 3, Quality Road–Mary Delaney, by Hennessy.
($200,000 Wlg ’17 KEENOV; $400,000 Ylg ’18 KEESEP). O-St.
Elias Stable; B-Cloyce C Clark (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher.
$100,000.
Margins: NO, 4HF, 3 1/4. Odds: 0.60, 5.70, 1.80.
Also Ran: Jesus’ Team, Fame to Famous, Lebda, Ancient Warrior.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

Authentic was a first-out winner at Del Mar last November, and was shelved after defeating stablemate Azul Coast (Super Saver) by 7 3/4 lengths in the GIII Sham S. at Santa Anita in January. He resurfaced to defeat Honor A. P. handily in the GII San Felipe S. in Arcadia Mar. 7, but still seemed at that point to be third on Baffert’s depth chart behind ‘TDN Rising Stars’ Nadal (Blame) and Charlatan (Speightstown). Those two each crossed the wire first in divisions of the GI Arkansas Derby in May, but the former was subsequently retired and the latter sidelined. Charlatan was disqualified from his win and Baffert suspended 15 days earlier this week for lidocaine positives (click for more).       B. Wayne Hughes’s Spendthrift Farm acquired a majority interest in Authentic when buying the equity owned by SF Racing, Fred Hertrich, John Fielding and Golconda Stables days before the June 6 Santa Anita Derby, and micro-share syndicate MyRacehorse.com got in on the colt after his slow start and pace-pressing second in that event.

“I’m just so proud of him, but I was like everybody else telling Mike, ‘You better stay after him. You’d better keep busy,'” said Baffert from California. “[Authentic] looks at everything, as we’ve seen in his past races. I could tell he wasn’t focused going down the stretch but he held on. He saw that horse coming to him and he took off again.

“[Assistant Jimmy Barnes] said he came back not really that tired. We’re learning about the horse. He might need a little blinker, though. He was playing in the stretch. I had told Mike that he had to stay after him and keep him busy. I could tell he wasn’t laying it down. He was just playing out there and that horse came to him and kept him going. But when he got [out on an easy lead] by himself like that I thought for sure he was just going to go on. But he ran a great race.”

Authentic now sits behind only Tiz the Law for GI Kentucky Derby qualifying points with 200. Ny Traffic is fourth with 110.

“I thought he ran good,” said the runner-up’s trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. “Coming into this race he missed a work and I was a little concerned–did we have enough? At the quarter pole you could see Authentic was cruising and my horse was off the bridle. To dig down and dig deep you can’t be more proud of that. I was pretty sure we lost when I first saw it. We were a head in front right after the bob at the wire. I just want to keep going forward. That’s the important thing. Hopefully all goes well to the Kentucky Derby and we’re living the dream.”

Pedigree Notes:

Authentic is the first member of his direct female family to add blacktype in 35 years. His third dam, Arkansas-bred Really Fancy, captured the GIII Anoakia S. in 1985, but the family has been dormant in stakes company ever since. Peter E. Blum acquired second dam Oyster Baby and bred Authentic’s dam Flawless, a $285,000 Keeneland September yearling RNA and two-time winner, out of her. Flawless, by Mr. Greeley whose 76 stakes winners out of his daughters include champion Ria Antonia (Rockport Harbor), produced two winners from two runners before Authentic and had colts in 2018 and 2019 by Bodemeister named Mint and Push Button, respectively. If Authentic’s dam side has been quiet in recent years, his sire line certainly has not as Into Mischief is currently the leading sire in the nation. His 73 career blacktype winners, 30 of which are graded, include 2019 dual champion Covfefe and a remarkable 18 stakes winners of 2020, which is 10 more than his nearest pursuers. His 2-year-old daughters made up the exacta in Thursday’s GIII Schuylerville S. at Saratoga.

The post Authentic Hangs on to Give Baffert Ninth Haskell appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Another Maker Claim Makes the Grade in UN

Mike Maker’s incredible success with turning claimers into graded winners on the turf is well documented, but that didn’t stop Aquaphobia from getting lost on the board and upending Saturday’s GI United Nations S. at 10-1 off a 9-2 morning line. Taken for $62,500 out of a fourth-place run at Gulfstream Jan. 26 for Drawing Away Stable and Robert Falcone, Jr., the bay immediately began repaying his new connections’ investment when he bested future stablemate and fellow UN competitor Muggsamatic (Any Given Saturday) in a Gulfstream starter stakes race Feb. 17. Fourth in the GII Muniz Memorial Classic S. at Fair Grounds Mar. 21, he was second in a listed event back at Gulfstream May 9 and most recently checked in a close fourth in the GII Wise Dan S. at Churchill June 20.

Aquaphobia settled into a ground-saving third as Paret cruised along through splits of :24.50, :48.90, 1:14.41 and 1:38.48. He looked loaded heading for home but was stuck in the pocket behind Paret and inside the coming-on Corelli. Rider Joe Bravo got busy on Aquaphobia in upper stretch, pushed him through a tight seam midway down the lane and that was that.

“Joe Bravo rode him beautifully,” Maker said. “We had a lot of confidence in the horse coming in and he didn’t let us down. He’s run a mile and quarter in the past in he was successful but he hasn’t had the opportunity to go that long or longer again. We felt this horse was better than we were getting out of him. I think the distance was the reason. He’d been training dynamite, so I was optimistic. Coming out of his last race, the Wise Dan, I thought that was a good race. He was beaten less than two lengths. So it looked like he was getting back to where we think he can be. He’s a classy, sound horse who makes it easy.”

Maker and co-owner Paradise Farms Corp. took the GII Pan American S. in March with $30,000 claim Bemma’s Boy (Into Mischief), who bested Maker trainee, former claimer (not by Maker) and GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational S. Presented by Runhappy hero Zulu Alpha (Street Cry {Ire}). Zulu Alpha took last Sunday’s GII TVG Elkhorn S. at Keeneland.

Saturday, Monmouth Park
UNITED NATIONS S.-GI, $315,000, Monmouth, 7-18, 3yo/up, 1 3/8mT, 2:12.63, fm.
1–AQUAPHOBIA, 125, h, 7, by Giant’s Causeway
1st Dam: Pussycat Doll (MGISW, $797,183), by Real Quiet
2nd Dam: Hookedonthefeelin, by Citidancer
3rd Dam: Prospective Joy, by Allen’s Prospect
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN, 1ST GRADE I WIN. O-Paradise
Farms Corp, David Staudacher, Hooties Racing LLC & Skychai
Racing, LLC; B-M Roy Jackson (KY); T-Michael J Maker; J-Joe
Bravo. $180,000. Lifetime Record: 36-9-6-6, $647,361. Click
for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk Nick Rating: C+.
2–Paret (Aus), 125, g, 6, Harbour Watch (Ire)–Enduja (Aus), by
Encosta de Lago (Aus). (110,000 Ylg ’16 MMLJAN). O-Matthew
Schera & Orangella Racing Stable; B-Qatar Bloodstock (Vic);
T-James L Lawrence, II. $60,000.
3–Corelli, 121, g, 5, Point of Entry–Vignette, by Diesis (GB).
O-Augustin Stable; B-George Strawbridge (KY); T-Jonathan
Thomas. $30,000.
Margins: 1, HF, 3 3/4. Odds: 10.70, 10.50, 6.30.
Also Ran: Arklow, Muggsamatic, Current, Standard Deviation, Eve’s Medal, O Dionysus. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

Pedigree Notes:
   Aquaphobia became the third consecutive generation on his dam’s side to add a Grade I victory to his name. Dam Pussycat Doll took down a trio of Grade Is in the mid-2000s and granddam Hookedonthefeelin won the GI La Brea S. in 1999 (which was later one of the races won by Pussycat Doll in 2005). In addition to Pussycat Doll, Hookedonthefeelin also produced 2012 GI Malibu S. winner Jimmy Creed (Distorted Humor). Both mares were also stellar in the sales ring, with Pussycat Doll bringing $2.3 million at the 2007 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November sale and Hookedonthefeelin bringing $2.9 million at the same sale in 2006. Aquaphobia is by Giant’s Causeway, a star on the track and in the breeding shed, and is one of 192 black-type winners–114 graded–by the late sire. He’s also one of 11 stakes winners out of mares by Real Quiet, including half-sister and listed English winner Forever Popular (Dynaformer). Pussycat Doll’s last reported foal is a juvenile colt by Uncle Mo.

The post Another Maker Claim Makes the Grade in UN appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Hernandez: ‘You’re Always Thinking About The Derby’

Jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. has won America's richest horse race. Now the Ellis Park regular has his sights on America's most revered race, the Kentucky Derby.

That long-held dream took an important step forward when Hernandez guided Bruce Lunsford's Art Collector to a 3 1/2-length victory over the talented filly Swiss Skydiver in Keeneland's $600,000 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes on July 11. The triumph in the Grade 2 stakes was the first in a graded stakes for trainer Tommy Drury, a close friend of Hernandez. Drury has trained horses for 30 years, but a large part of his business has been getting 2-year-olds and horses coming off layoffs ready for other trainers.

Hernandez has won a slew of graded stakes races, capped by Fort Larned's score in 2012 in the then-$5 million Breeders' Cup Classic, North America's most lucrative race. He's only had two cracks at the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, in his adopted hometown of Louisville: finishing 12th in 2016 on Tom's Ready and eighth in 2017 with McCraken.

Had the Derby been in its usual First Saturday in May time slot, Hernandez would not be in this position with Art Collector.

“The most special thing about it is to be on this trail with Tommy,” Hernandez said. “The Blue Grass being his first graded-stakes win meant a lot. I've ridden at every little racetrack in the country, I think, for Tommy. Indiana, River Downs, Beulah, Ellis and now to win the Blue Grass for him is a special moment. Being friends like we are, it's more special to have this good of a horse. We've always talked about, 'Man, if we could ever get a really good one like this, the trip it would put us on.' It's meant a lot.

“…You're always thinking about the Derby. Every time we work these young 2-year-olds, you're always thinking, 'Hey, maybe this will be our next Derby mount.' Hopefully one day it will be the Derby winner. I've never won it, so I couldn't tell you what it takes to win it. I know just from riding it the few times we have, it does take a special horse. The year we went into it with McCraken, we went in thinking we had a really big chance. And we kind of lost our chance at the start that day. That just shows you how difficult a race it is.”

Drury said that if Art Collector needs another race before the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby, it will be the $200,000 Ellis Park Derby, at 1 1/8-miles on Aug. 9. The winner receives 50 points toward qualifying for the Kentucky Derby, enough to virtually secure a spot in the 20-horse field. But that's not an issue with Art Collector, who earned 100 in the Blue Grass.

Hernandez, the 2012 Ellis Park meet titlist, has ridden Art Collector in a race five times, including the past three when the colt won at seven furlongs, 1 1/16 miles and the Blue Grass' 1 1/8 miles — all by open lengths.

“He's just one of those rare, very intelligent horses that everything put in front him, he's jumped through all the hoops,” the jockey said. “He seems to be improving with each start.

“He's a top 3-year-old right now, and it's a different year with this whole Derby-in-September time. He was one of the late developers. It's a lot of fun, kind of hard to put into words. You're going into the Derby with one of the favorites, and you've just got to be excited about it.”

Lunsford and Drury are lifelong Louisvillians, while the 34-year-old Hernandez has lived in the Louisville area since he began riding full-time in 2004. That's the year the Louisiana product won the Eclipse Award as North America's outstanding apprentice jockey.

“I think we've lived in Louisville now just about as long as I did in Louisiana,” he said. “I guess now we're just Kentuckians. That's another fun part of the journey, being able to say, 'Hey, Tommy's from Louisville here, and Bruce is as well. It's all Kentucky guys. It just goes to show you how strong the Kentucky program is getting now. We're one of the top circuits in the country.”

Hernandez has been a shining example that riding at Ellis Park in the summer isn't a detriment to riding in the sport's biggest races (although this year, there's the COVID-19 wrinkle of tracks such as Saratoga closing its doors to outside jockeys).

The jockey won his first Grade 1 victory in Saratoga's 2012 Whitney Handicap with the Ian Wilkes-trained Fort Larned, then rode at Ellis Park the next day. Three months later, the jockey and Fort Larned won the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita.

“It's always worked well for us being at Ellis,” he said. “Like last year, we picked up a really good 2-year-old in Fighting Seabee. He broke his maiden at Ellis and in his very next start he won the With Anticipation Stakes at Saratoga. And just having that relationship with clients who run at Ellis during the summertime, we do get the opportunity to run at places like Saratoga and all the stakes out of town — most of the years.”

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