Team Valor International LLC's Romagna Mia lived up to her 4-5 favorite's role Tuesday at Gulfstream Park while scoring an authoritative seven-length romp in the $125,000 Via Borghese.
Making her first start on Tapeta in the race for fillies and mares that had been scheduled for 1 3/8 miles on turf, the 4-year-old British-bred filly relaxed in fourth as Tass showed the way at a solid pace for the adjusted 1 ½-mile distance. Tass set fractions of 25.23 (seconds), 49.61, 1:15.45 and 1:40.54 for the first half mile before Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez pushed the 'Go' button on Romagna Mia, who responded with a three-wide sweep to the lead and an impressive stretch run while under little pressure.
“I would have been surprised if she hadn't [handled the Tapeta], although the synthetic is a bit of an unknown,” trainer Graham Motion said. “She kind of won for fun.”
Romagna Mia, a Group 2 winner in Europe, finished third in her U.S. debut in the Beverly D (G1) on turf at Colonial before capturing the 1 ½-mile Dowager (G3) over Keeneland's turf in her most recent start.
“She's an absolute pleasure to train. She's a lovely filly,” Motion said.
The gray daughter of Mastercraftsman ran 1 ½ miles on Tapeta in 2:28.69. Tass held gamely to finish second, 1 ¼ lengths ahead of Viva La Red.
Romagna Mia is likely to return in the $200,000 La Prevoyante (G3), a 1 ½-mile turf stakes for fillies and mares on the Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) undercard Jan. 27 at Gulfstream Park.
Oisin Murphy Begins Championship Meet Stint Thursday
International star jockey Oisin Murphy will begin riding at Gulfstream Park Thursday, when he is named to ride Christophe Clement-trained Streamsong in a Race 9 maiden special weight for 2-year-olds on Tapeta.
Streamsong, a son of Omaha Beach who is rated fourth at 5-1 on the morning line, is scheduled to make his debut in the mile-and-70-yard race that drew a field of eight.
Murphy is named on two horses for Friday's card and five horses Saturday, including Marwad in the $200,000 Ft. Lauderdale (G2). The 28-year-old three-time British champion is slated to ride two horses Sunday, including Isabel Alexandra in the $100,000 Abundantia.
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Freshened since a disappointing effort on Nov. 5, English-bred Anisette was back to her best on Tuesday at Santa Anita, as she loomed into contention turning for home and powered past a very well meant Be Your Best to take the Grade 1, $300,000 American Oaks by 1 ¾ lengths, getting a mile and one quarter on turf in 2:00.22.
Trained by Leonard Powell and ridden by Umberto Rispoli, who got his second win of the day, Anisette saved ground at the rail while about 3 ½ lengths off pacesetting Be Your Best in the run up the backside while a joint third with Sakura Flavor. Coming to the quarter pole, Rispoli scooted inside of Musical Mischief and had Be Your Best measured turning for home en route to her second Grade I score dating back to victory in the Del Mar Oaks three starts back on Aug. 19.
Most recently second as the odds-on favorite in the Grade 3 Autumn Miss Stakes here Nov. 5, Anisette was off at 3-5 in a field of five sophomore fillies and paid $3.20, $2.80 and $2.10.
Owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Anisette, who was one for three in England, notched her fourth win from six starts since joining Powell's stable—two of them in Grade 1 stakes. With today's winner's share of $180,000, Anisette increased her earnings to $606,871.
Be Your Best, the narrow third choice under Irad Ortiz, Jr. at 7-2, paid $2.80 and $2.10.
Musical Mischief, second to the top of the lane under Flavien Prat, was the actual second choice at 7-2 and paid $2.40 to show.
Fractions on the race were 24.76, 48.88, 1:13.08 and 1:36.66.
GRADE 1, $300,000 AMERICAN OAKS STAKES QUOTES
UMBERTO RISPOLI, JOCKEY OF ANISETTE, WINNER: “First of all I have to say thanks to Leo, Aron Wellman and all the Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners for the opportunities. It's a pleasure to be on a filly like this. She gave me two Grade I's this year. I think she is back at the top like she was in Del Mar with that kick. We knew she had it. The two starts ago she was beat by Didia, then her last time out the race was falling apart with the horses running away from her. Today, was a tactical race again, but I just stayed a couple of lengths behind the speed, and she did the rest.”
LEONARD POWELL, ANISETTE, WINNER: “Her last two races, she didn't win, but there were circumstances. I didn't blame her and she made amends today. She's been a part of the exacta for six straight races (four wins and two seconds).
“She's the goods. Aron Wellman and I have chosen to give her plenty of time in between races and that's probably the key of keeping her at the top of her game. She is happy and healthy so that is the main thing.”
NOTES: The winning owner is Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners.
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The concern over safety of racehorses extends beyond major circuits in New York, Kentucky, and California that have had high profile fatalities and increased scrutiny from the public and mainstream media.
In a recent press release wrapping up its 2023 meet, Zia Park in Hobbs, N.M. – which recorded record daily average handle and record purses – included a paragraph citing a safety record that stands up well against the national average published in The Jockey Club's Equine Injury Database.
“Racing safety also set records,” the statement read, “with only two racing catastrophic injuries the entire meet resulting in a rate of 0.74 per 1,000 starters – the lowest ever recorded for Zia Park and nearly 50 percent lower than the national average for dirt races as published by The Jockey Club's Equine Injury Database. There was one training catastrophic injury during training which began Oct. 1.”
The 0.74 per 1,000 racing fatalities is 41 percent lower than the national average 1.25 fatalities per 1,000 recorded in 2022, the lowest for that measurement since data collection began in 2009.
Chris McErlean, vice president of racing for Penn Entertainment, which owns Zia Park, said multiple factors led to the reduced number of catastrophic injuries.
“This is the first year that pre-race inspections have been done on all horses/all races,” McErlean said in an email in response to a question from the Paulick Report. “It is a HISA requirement, but we also applied it to our Quarter Horse races which are not covered under HISA. We employed two association vets, plus the state had their vet on site as well, so we were able to get those inspections done daily.”
McErlean said Penn Gaming installed an accident warning system, with horns and lights, that “helped during training in getting people to pay attention when incidents occurred.”
Maintenance of the track surface also played a role, McErlean said.
“We have over the past several years been steadily improving the racing surface and equipment and while the conditions in Hobbs can be challenging, I think the track is very consistent and safe,” he said. “We have utilized resources at our other tracks to assist the team at Zia as well when needed.”
All Penn Entertainment tracks (Thoroughbred tracks include Charles Town in West Virginia, Mahoning Valley in Ohio, Penn National in Pennsylvania, and Sam Houston and Retama Park in Texas) conduct reviews on all catastrophic injuries, something McErlean said has been standard at company tracks for some time. McErlean said the review includes interviews with the horse's trainer, jockey, and attending veterinarian to look for “common denominators.”
While Penn Entertainment does not publicly disclose fatality numbers it supplies to the Equine Injury Database, McErlean said Zia Park has only had four fatal injuries since 2020 – a rate of 0.70 per 1,000, less than half the national average on dirt.
“The Quarter Horse rate has been higher over that time period,” he said, “but their numbers were equally impressive this year, so hopefully some of the cumulative changes we have been making are turning the tide there.”
Other changes detailed by McErlean: “We have scrutinized horses more in terms of stall applications and in the screening process/requirements to race, trying to weed out marginal or higher risk horses (we don't allow horses who have not raced in 18 months; no unraced maidens if older than 4, no maidens older than 5 years old, and we require additional information/sign-offs for horses off more than one year – even those that meet HISA requirements) which I think has helped; in addition, we have not permitted several horsemen who have significant prior medication violations or out-of-competition positive tests from racing at Zia and we have paid more attention to trainer transfers and 'paper trainers' and stepped in to not permit those transfers or horses to race, even if the commission previously approved them.
“It is a collective and ongoing effort between the track, commission, horsemen and participants to take more interest and responsibility in their respective areas,” McErlean said. “There is no magic formula and sometimes you can't control everything, but the results from the meet were very encouraging and we certainly hope to continue to improve but it is an ongoing challenge.”
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