2020 horse of the year | Horse Racing Free Tips

Two-time Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Monomoy Girl left trainer Brad Cox's Keeneland barn shortly after 6 a.m. and made the 15-minute drive across town in Lexington, Ky., to Fasig-Tipton Co.'s auction house where she is scheduled to sell later Sunday.

Monomoy Girl improved her 2020 record to a perfect four for four with her Distaff victory, which was made even more remarkable by the fact that she had missed all of 2019 because of various minor ailments. In 2018, she capped a championship season that included the Kentucky Oaks and four other stakes with her first Distaff win.

“To be honest, it was a relief when she won,” Cox said. “I don't why, but there's just a lot of pressure with her, but she's never let us down.”

When asked if Monomoy Girl should be considered for Horse of the Year, Cox said yes.

“She's done nothing wrong,” Cox said. “There's obviously some very good horses out there that have accomplished a lot this year and yesterday. Ultimately, that's up to the voters. Who knows, maybe, depending on who buys her, you could see her again this year and maybe even next. I don't know where. I'll know a lot more later tonight. It will be exciting. It's like we've been through two days of Breeders' Cup and now we have to go through (the sale) with her.

“She looked great out of the race, I'm telling you she really looked amazing. I really have no clue what is going to happen (at the sales.)”

Cox said he, along with family and friends, celebrated his four overall Breeders' Cup win over the weekend at a local Japanese restaurant and that he was home by 9. His plans are to return to his Churchill base to saddle horses in races there before returning to Lexington for the sale.

“We just have to keep our heads down and keep going, continue doing what we're doing,” Cox said. I told someone this morning that we have to start preparing for Breeders' Cup 2021.”

“This was an amazing weekend of racing,” Cox said. “Very happy for our staff, our owners and our clients. Very happy and proud. Our horses showed up and ran their races.”

In addition to the Distaff, Cox won the Juvenile Fillies Turf with Aunt Pearl (IRE), TVG Juvenile with Essential Quality and the Big Ass Fans Dirt Mile with Knicks Go.

“I mean I've been a huge fan of racing. I love racing and I've kept up with it since I was a young kid,” Cox said. “Really growing up Breeders' Cup weekend, Kentucky Derby, Belmont, and Preakness weekend, those are highlights where I can look back at the tremendous horses who won those races and I can almost remember where I was at watching on TV. But it was an amazing weekend.”

Valiance, the runner-up in the Distaff, departed Keeneland at 6 a.m. for the 10-mile van ride across Lexington to Fasig-Tipton where she will be offered for sale this afternoon or early evening.

The 4-year-old Tapit filly was purchased by current owners Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Martin Schwartz for $650,000 at Fasig-Tipton's 2017 sale of selected yearlings in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Breeder China Horse Club then bought back in. For the partnership she has earned $809,575 with a 9-6-1-0 record that includes her triumph in Keeneland's Juddmonte Spinster on Oct. 4.

The post Distaff: Cox Throws Monomoy Girl’s Hat Into Horse Of The Year Ring appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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After walking Swiss Skydiver a few turns in the Preakness Stakes Barn at Pimlico in Baltimore, Md., on Sunday morning, trainer Ken McPeek was still trying to wrap his mind around the 3-year-old filly's sensational triumph in Saturday's 145th Preakness Stakes (G1) under a heads-up ride from jockey Robby Albarado.

“I should probably retire today,” McPeek said, “because I don't think it can get higher than this. I really don't. She's beat so many odds. I'm beyond proud of her, proud of Robby and everyone who's handled her. It's been a real team effort. I have some unbelievable people who work for me that help handle the details.”

Peter Callahan's Swiss Skydiver not only beat the boys in the Preakness, the daughter of Daredevil registered the second-fastest running time in the storied history of Maryland's signature Triple Crown race. The 1:53.28 clocking for her thrilling 1 3/16-mile tour of the Pimlico oval was second only to 1973 Triple Crown champion Secretariat's 1:53 stakes-record time.

“It was surreal,” McPeek said. “It's still surreal.”

Swiss Skydiver defeated Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Authentic by a resolute neck to become the sixth filly to win the Preakness and first since Rachel Alexandra got the better of Derby winner Mine That Bird in 2009. After saving ground on the first turn and into the backstretch aboard the McPeek trainee, Albarado made a decisive move that propelled the filly into the lead heading into the far turn, easing his mount around tiring pacesetter Thousand Words before darting back to the rail inside Authentic. Swiss Skydiver and Authentic dueled around the turn and through the stretch with the 11-1 filly gamely holding off the 3-2 favorite to the wire.

The Grade 1 victory aboard Swiss Skydiver was Albarado's first since 2017, as well as his first graded-stakes win of 2020. The veteran jockey, who has ridden the winners of more than 5,200 races and $220 million in purses, has experienced slowing business the past few years but showed the racing world that he can still win the big ones.

“The thing about it was that we took a negative and made it into a positive. We didn't have a rider until Saturday night (Sept. 26),” said McPeek, who was left without a rider when Tyler Gaffalione opted out. “I called Robby right away and I said, 'Here's what it is going to take for you to ride her. We're going to offer the mount to Mike Smith and wait for his agent to call me back. If his agent says no then I'm going to present to the owner that you're going to ride her. He said, 'OK, let me know, let me know.'

Trainer Kenny McPeek

“We waited for Mike Smith's agent to return our offer, but once I got confirmation he couldn't ride her, I called Robby and said, 'You're on.' I said, 'But here's what we're going to do. We're flying up together; we're going to get on her all week.' I think it was fortuitous because he got on her every day and got to know her. He spent time with her and, every day, he got more confident in her. You need a rider with confidence because if she takes you there, she'll win. We pulled it off.”

Swiss Skydiver is scheduled to ship to Churchill Downs Monday morning to prepare for a start on the Nov. 7 Breeders' Cup program at Keeneland in either the Distaff (G1) or the Classic (G1).

“I like the mile and a quarter of the Classic, but the Distaff, today, is probably the wiser move. But the farther she goes the better,” McPeek said. “We can sit on it. We won't make a rash decision.”

Swiss Skydiver entered the Preakness with four graded-stakes victories against 3-year-old fillies, including the Alabama (G1) at Saratoga, and second-place finishes in the Blue Grass (G2) at Keeneland against the boys and Kentucky Oaks (G1) at Churchill. Her victory in the final leg of the reshuffled 2020 Triple Crown puts her in the discussion for Horse of the Year, McPeek said.

“I think you have to make a case for her. I mean, she's run every month of the year except April, and she ran at the end of March and early May. You have to make a case for her. She's entertained coast to coast, north, south, east, west,” he said. “She's amazing. She's not even tired today. She's a throwback horse.”

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