First Stakes Win for Life’s an Audible in Sweetest Chant

Her Todd Pletcher-trained sire was fond of Gulfstream, getting the two biggest wins of his career in the GI Florida Derby and the GII Holy Bull S. at the Hallandale oval, and now LIFE'S AN AUDIBLE (f, 3, Audible–Catkins, by Data Link) is following suit, also for Pletcher. Showing a flair for drama, Life's an Audible waited until late and made it close in victory over last-out maiden winner Style Points (Oscar Performance) in the GIII Sweetest Chant S. at Gulfstream Park Saturday. Dynamic Pricing (Ire) (Night of Thunder {Ire}) was third.

The chestnut Life's an Audible lingered second from last behind :23.59 and :47.06 early fractions while Macanga (American Pharoah) showed the way up front. Macanga didn't run out of steam until the top of the stretch, when a stalking Style Points found room on the rail. At the same time, on the turn from the back, Irad Ortiz, Jr. had woken up Life's an Audible and swung the filly to the far outside for her rally, meeting Style Points for the closing strides. Despite the latter getting the first jump, Life's an Audible at 9-5 and still several paths out wore her down to prevail by about a neck after a brief battle.

“The filly broke a little slow today,” said Ortiz. “After that, we went to Plan B and let her be her and let her relax. She did well. The mile and a sixteenth helped her today because she wasn't that close early. Last time she was finishing. Today, she got time to get there.”

Pletcher added: “I thought it was great… It seems like she's kind of found her groove just wanting to settle and make a late run. She really delivered a good turn of foot.”

With an off-the-board finish in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf sandwiched between a runner-up placing in the Oct. 4 GII Miss Grillo S. at Belmont at the Big A and a second last out in Gulfstream's Jan. 6 Ginger Brew S., Life's an Audible was winning her first black-type event in the Sweetest Chant. She was a $200,000 OBS March 2-year-old purchase last year by West Bloodstock, agent for Repole Stable, after working in :10 1/5. Ortiz has been up for all six of her lifetime starts.

The same connections–with the addition of Town and Country Racing as part of the ownership team–also took the Sweetest Chant last year with Cairo Consort (Cairo Prince).

Pedigree Notes:

Life's an Audible is the first graded winner for WinStar Farm's Audible, a son of Into Mischief, who also has three black-type winners and five additional stakes performers from his first crop to race. In addition to breaking new ground for her sire, Life's an Audible is also the first stakes winner as a broodmare sire for Data Link, a Grade I-winning son of War Front who was pensioned at Claiborne after siring five crops.

Breeder Susan Moulton bought Catkins, dam of Life's an Audible, for $100,000 at the OBS Spring 2-year-old sale in 2017, campaigned her to one win at Churchill Downs, and bred her to Audible for her first foal. The mare has since produced juvenile colt Catman Tomkins (Tom's d'Etat) and a yearling filly by Liam's Map who brought $130,000 as a Keeneland November weanling to the bid of Solano Bloodstock. She was bred to Nashville for 2024.

 

Saturday, Gulfstream Park
SWEETEST CHANT S.-GIII, $175,000, Gulfstream, 2-3, 3yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 1:39.36, fm.
1–LIFE'S AN AUDIBLE, 118, f, 3, by Audible
               1st Dam: Catkins, by Data Link
               2nd Dam: Galileo's Star, by Lil E. Tee
               3rd Dam: June Gale, by Run For Nurse
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($25,000
Wlg '21 KEENOV; $90,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP; $200,000 2yo '23
OBSMAR). O-Repole Stable; B-Susan Moulton (KY); T-Todd A.
Pletcher; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr. $105,245. Lifetime Record: 6-2-2-0,
$243,045. Werk Nick Rating: F. Click for the eNicks report &
5-cross pedigree or free Equineline.com catalogue-style
pedigree.
2–Style Points, 118, f, 3, Oscar Performance–Mystical Star, by
Ghostzapper. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE.
O-Cheyenne Stable LLC; B-Candy Meadows LLC (KY);
T-Christophe Clement. $33,950.
3–Dynamic Pricing (Ire), 118, f, 3, Night of Thunder (Ire)–
Shemda (Ire), by Dutch Art (GB). 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST
GRADED BLACK TYPE. (170,000gns Ylg '22 TATOCT).
O-Klaravich Stables, Inc.; B-Epona Bloodstock Ltd (IRE); T-Chad
Brown. $16,975.
Margins: NK, NK, 1 3/4. Odds: 1.90, 12.30, 5.60.
Also Ran: Madame Mischief, Macanga, Pharoah's Wine, Golden Ghost (GB), Milliat (Ire).
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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Baaeed’s Half-Brother Back At Newcastle

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Sunday's Observations features a half-brother to Shadwell's Group 1 winners Baaeed (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) and Hukum (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}).

18.30 Newcastle, Novice, £16,000, 3yo/up, 8f (AWT)
WALEEFY (IRE) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) bids to build on his encouraging debut third at Lingfield two days before Christmas with the eyes of the world watching as is inevitable when you are a half-brother to Shadwell's brilliant Baaeed (GB) and his fellow Sea The Stars-sired sibling Hukum (Ire). Like that pair under the tutelage of William Haggas, the homebred was slowly away on debut but has that experience under his belt meeting a newcomer of note in Ballylinch Stud's 250,000gns Tatts Book 1 purchase Las Ramblas (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), a Roger Varian-trained half-brother to the G1 1000 Guineas heroine Legatissimo (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}).

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Size Holds Strong Hand For Hong Kong Classic Mile

One of the best trainers in Hong Kong history, John Size is a three-time winner of the Hong Kong Classic Mile, a 1600-metre event that serves as the first of the three legs of the Classics series restricted to 4-year-olds from both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The 12-times champion conditioner, who is approaching 1500 career victories, has two bonafide chances to add a fourth Classic Mile Sunday in the form of Helios Express (Aus) (Toronado {Ire}) and Howdeepisyourlove (Aus) (Deep Field {Aus}).

Helios Express is the lone member of the nine-horse field rated north of 100, and he has earned it with four wins from his six starts dating back to last June, including a powerful 2 3/4-length victory in a Class 2 over Sunday's distance Jan. 7. That effort has stamped him as the $1.40 (2-5) jolly overnight and Hugh Bowman has the call before beginning a suspension.

“He made the adaption to 1600 (metres) more or less straight away, he seemed to travel not too bad,” the always matter-of-fact Size said of his latest effort. “He was a little bit strong, I guess, but still managed it in a slow-run race and he sprinted well off a slow speed, that's about all we expected from him.

“I don't think he's taken harm from the race. He seems to have coped with that pretty well. His trial was normal and he looks like he's going to run a race again.”

 

 

 

James McDonald is due to partner with Howdeepisyourlove, but suffered a foot injury before Saturday's G3 Widden S. at Rosehill and will be subject to an exam by the HKJC's chief medical officer upon his arrival. The gelding has four wins to his credit, all over the 1200-metre distance and each at Happy Valley, and he'll need to lift here to make his presence felt.

There are 34 stakes races held each season in Hong Kong, and the Classic Mile is the only one to have thus far eluded champion jockey Zac Purton. He takes the reins on Helene Feeling (Ire) (Sioux Nation) for Danny Shum and actually exits a try at group level when he was third as the favourite in the G3 January Cup H. at the city circuit Jan. 10. Winner of four from 10 in Hong Kong, he raced in England as Indian Dream and was a two-time scorer in the lower grades while under the care of Michael Bell.

Beauty Crescent (Ire), whose sire Acclamation (GB) was responsible for 2022 Classic Mile and now multiple Group 1 winner Romantic Warrior (Ire), won the Listed Blenheim S. in 2022 while under the care of Ger Lyons, and though he may not quite be up to winning this, can contend for a minor award. He exits a pair of luckless runs in Class 3 over 1400 metres and attacked the line on both occasions. Andrea Atzeni rides for the legendary Tony Cruz.

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Not This Time’s Waitlist Proves Toughest On Tampa Debut

4th-Tampa Bay Downs, $32,000, Msw, 2-3, 3yo, 1 1/8mT, 1:48.37, fm, neck.
WAITLIST (c, 3, Not This Time–Grandezza, by Scat Daddy) opened his account in highly impressive fashion at first asking going nine furlongs over the Tampa turf course Saturday afternoon. By the sire of recently crowned champion Up to the Mark and sent out by that one's trainer Todd Pletcher, the $240,000 Keeneland September acquisition was void of early speed and settled one from the tail. Asked to improve his position leaving the five-furlong pole by Emisael Jaramillo, the dark bay colt had tacked on to the back of the leading group and raced in about seventh position entering the second turn. Consigned to an overland trip around the bend, Waitlist had no choice but to launch his bid five deep off the final corner. He confronted narrow second favorite and perfect-trip Stop the Press (Uncle Mo)–a $1.5-million Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling trying the grass after three unplaced efforts on the dirt–nearing the midstretch marker, was overtaken for a stride or two with time ticking away and re-rallied to take it by a neck at a starting price of 44-5, double his morning line of 4-1. Breeder David McCarty paid $210,000 for Grandezza at the 2016 Keeneland November Sale and bought her back on a bid of $340,000 at Keeneland September the following year. A maiden winner of better than $134,000 from ages two to four, Grandezza is also represented by a yearling colt by Yoshida (Jpn) and she is due to Audible this season. Waitlist's second dam Tap Mate (Pleasant Tap) is a full-sister to GSW & GISP Tap Day and to Street Mate (Street Cry {Ire}), whose Grade I-winning daughter and $2-million earner Bell's the One (Majesticperfection) sells as part of the Lothenbach Dispersal Tuesday at Fasig-Tipton. Street Mate is also responsible for GSW King Cause (Creative Cause). Sales history: $240,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $18,560. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
O-Centennial Farms; B-David McCarty (KY); T-Todd A Pletcher.

 

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