Wootton Bassett’s Gala Real Powers to TDN Rising Stardom at Saint-Cloud

Alessandro and Giuseppe Botti trainee Gala Real (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) notched an 11-length tally when shedding maiden status at Lyon-Parilly last November and continued on the upgrade with a 'TDN Rising Star' performance in Friday's Prix Durban at Saint-Cloud.

The 73-10 chance, who had previously finished last of seven runners in her July 16 debut over seven furlongs at Chantilly, employed patient tactics from flagfall in this 10 1/2-furlong distaffers' test and settled off the tempo in sixth for the most part. Inching closer on the home turn, the daughter of Cala Violina (Fr) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) cruised to the front on the bridle passing the quarter-mile marker and was not for catching thereafter, lengthening clear under minimal urging inside the final 300 metres to easily outclass Wootton Zi (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) by an impressive 3 1/2 lengths. Gala Real becomes the sixth Rising Star for Wootton Bassett, whose existing quintet of inductees is headed by last term's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf hero and G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere runner-up Unquestionable (Fr).

“I was devastated when she lost first time out, but she won very well on her second start and I am not surprised she won so easily today,” admitted trainer Alessandro Botti. “She enjoyed a good winter, she worked with [Christophe] Soumillon and he said she sent him great vibes. The idea, and it was already the case before she ran today, is to have her at her best for the [June 16 G1] Prix de Diane [at Chantilly] and we will try to find a race for her between now and then.”

Gala Real is the first of three foals produced by a winning half-sister to multiple stakes-winning G2 Grand Prix de Deauville third Fenelon (Fr) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}). Her dual Grade III-winning second dam Aigue Marine (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), a daughter of G3 Prix Fille de l'Air victrix Aiglonne (Silver Hawk), is a half-sister to four black-type performers headed by G1 Prix d'Ispahan-winning sire Mekhtaal (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), G2 Prix Hocquart winner Democrate (GB) (Dalakhani {Ire}) and G3 Prix Thomas Bryon victor and G1 Criterium International runner-up Normandy Bridge (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}). The February-foaled bay is kin to the unraced 2-year-old colt Ipso Facto (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) and a yearling filly by Camelot (GB).

2nd-Saint-Cloud, €28,000, Cond, 4-12, 3yo, f, 10 1/2fT, 2:30.89, hy.
GALA REAL (GB), f, 3, by Wootton Bassett (GB)
1st Dam: Cala Violina (Fr), by Lope De Vega (Ire)
2nd Dam: Aigue Marine (GB), by Galileo (Ire)
3rd Dam: Aiglonne, by Silver Hawk
Sales history: €270,000 Ylg '22 ARQAUG. Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-0, €25,500. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
O-Scuderia Dei Duepi, Ballylinch Stud, Ecurie des Charmes & Hisham Abdulwahed; B-Noir et Or Elevage SA & Ecurie Skymarc Farm (FR); T-Alessandro & Giuseppe Botti; J-Christophe Soumillon.

 

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Breeders’ Cup Mile Champ War Chant Passes Away In Australia

War Chant (Danzig), the winner of the 2000 GI Breeders' Cup Mile at Churchill Downs, passed away on Thursday, Apr. 11. Housed at Yarradale Stud in Western Australia, the 27-year-old stallion succumbed to old age at the Gidgegannup nursery that he had called home for over a decade, the breeder said in a Thursday release.

War Chant was bred and raced by Marge and Irving Cowan, and trained by Neil Drysdale. Out of MGISW Hollywood Wildcat (Kris S.), the homebred finished ninth in the GI Kentucky Derby and ended his racing career with a win later that year in the Breeders' Cup Mile. In seven starts he amassed earnings of $1,130,600.

Beginning his stud duties at Robert Clay's Three Chimneys Farm in Kentucky in 2001, War Chant performed shuttle duty on occasion to Chile and Western Australia. In 2011, after prolonged negotiations, the late Ron Sayers managed to secure the Southern-hemisphere breeding rights for War Chant for the next three years.

Three years later, the sire relocated permanently to Western Australia following the breeding season. He was responsible for 46 stakes winners world-wide with 12 of those based down under.

The stallion was regularly used to educate young staff in the breeding barn. His professional manner while covering mares meant that he was the perfect teacher for the younger staff who were keen to perfect their handling skills.

“He had the three Ps–Performance, Pedigree and Physique,” said Davy Hanratty, Yarradale's Stud Manager. “His movie star good looks hit you first. He was a quirky devil at times but taught me to be a better horseman. We are very lucky he has built a terrific reputation as a broodmare sire, and rest assured, we haven't seen the last of his name in the record books.”

 

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Zedan: Derby Ban Based on `Pretext,’ Not `Health and Safety’

Amr Zedan's incorporated racing stable advanced its lawsuit to get Bob Baffert-trained horses un-banned from the GI Kentucky Derby by telling a Kentucky judge Thursday that the motion to dismiss filed by defendant Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI) “confirms that the extension of its ban is based on pretext rather than genuine, fact-based concerns about health and safety.”

Zedan's Apr. 11 legal response in Jefferson Circuit Court underscored the time-pressing need for a swift judicial response to Zedan's request for an injunction before the Apr. 27 deadline for all entered Derby horses to be on the grounds prior to the May 4 race. The next hearing in the case is Apr. 15.

Zedan articulated concerns that CDI's legal invocation of an Anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) statute was “not only meritless, but perverse.”

An Anti-SLAPP claims process might take months to legally unfold, and while it played out there would be a mandatory halting of all other legal proceedings, including Zedan's pending motion for the temporary injunction.

After Medina Spirit tested positive for betamethasone in the 2021 Derby, Baffert was banned from CDI's properties for two years. A federal judge in February 2023 denied Baffert a preliminary injunction that the Hall-of-Fame trainer had sought to be eligible to race in the Derby. Last July CDI extended the ban at least through 2024.

Zedan owns the GI Arkansas Derby winner Muth (Good Magic), who would be among the Derby favorites if allowed to race.

It is unclear if a ruling in favor of Zedan would allow other Baffert trainees owned by different entities to also participate in the Derby, or if any lifting of the ban would also permit Baffert's trainees to enter the GI Kentucky Oaks.

CDI's Apr. 8 motion to dismiss stated that “The demand for a last-minute judicial takeover of the world's most storied horse race…is baseless, outrageous and should be immediately rejected.”
Zedan's responded in the Apr. 11 filing: “CDI has given away the game at the outset. In purporting to uphold the right 'to petition and speak freely on issues of public interest,' CDI has discredited its sole gripe against Baffert: far from acting on any substantive concerns about the health or safety of horses, CDI admits its extended ban is based only on its dissatisfaction with Baffert supposedly 'pedd[ling] a false narrative,' i.e., uttering words, in public interviews, that displease CDI.”

In a different section of the filing, Zedan stated, “Observers to this point might have thought that CDI stands behind its ban-and CDI's professed concerns about an actual threat to 'integrity' and 'safety'-as reflecting hard, objective facts that CDI has diligently verified. But observers now know better. CDI has admitted to this Court that its banning of an all-time-great horse trainer was and is just a matter of CDI's casual, subjective opinion!”

Zedan's filing later continued: “CDI argues that Zedan suffers no serious detriment and that CDI gains no unfair advantage from any inconsistency, but the facts amply refute that. CDI's bait-and-switch tactics have cost Zedan millions of dollars in sunk costs while enabling CDI successfully to defend a two-year ban against legal challenge, only thereafter to extend the ban indefinitely.”

Baffert is not a party to the lawsuit filed by Zedan.

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