Aloha West | Horse Racing Free Tips

Speightstown Filly Blazes Quarter-Mile at OBS Wednesday

A filly by Speightstown (hip 618) zipped a quarter-mile in a track record-tying :20 1/5, while six horses shared the day's fastest furlong time, during the fourth session of the under-tack show for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training in Central Florida Wednesday. Hip 618, who worked just after 11:30 a.m. and with temperatures approaching 80 degrees, is consigned by Juan Centeno's All Dreams Equine.

“You never know if they can go that fast, but she prepped pretty fast,” Centeno said. “I knew she could at least tie that prep or improve on it and obviously, she improved. But she's always been that filly who gives her all every time. She just has a natural talent. Every time she goes up there, it's all business. When she is in the stall, she's nice and relaxed. I think she has a brilliant future.”

The filly is out of the unraced Last Dance (Revolutionary), who is a half-sister to graded winner Speightster (Speightstown) and is out of a full-sister to Dance Smartly.

Centeno purchased the filly for $17,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.

“She is not perfect,” Centeno said. “Her conformation wasn't perfect. That's probably why people passed on her last year. But we took our chances because she has a beautiful body. And you never know how they are going to come out. You have to play and see what happens. In the early days, you start seeing which ones really start shining from the rest and she was one of those. She was not that fast, but she was always better than the rest.”

The filly's :20 1/5 breeze ties the record for the fastest quarter-mile over the OBS surface, matching, among others, the time of future Grade I winner Princess Noor (Not This Time), who sold for $1.35 million at the 2020 Spring sale.

Asked what it was like to lead his speedy filly up to the track Wednesday morning, Centeno said, “Before you go, you feel sick. You just hope she doesn't take a bad step or anything. It's just nerve-wracking. And after it, you feel so proud for her. She's the one who did it all. It's just a special feeling in your heart to say, 'Wow. Look at these beautiful things.' They can make you feel so wonderful.”

A Day at the Beach for Wavertree

Six juveniles shared the fastest furlong time of :9 4/5 during Wednesday's session of the under-tack show and two were fillies from the first crop of Omaha Beach from the Wavertree Stables consignment, which also sent out a colt by the multiple Grade I winner to work the day's second-fastest quarter-mile time of :20 3/5.

“We went up there with high expectations,” said Wavertree's Ciaran Dunne. “They were horses who had trained really well all year and had advertised themselves in their works as fast horses. And I think they all showed up.”

Working during the day's first set, hip 532 was first to hit the :9 4/5 mark on the day for Wavertree. The bay filly is out of Intelyhente (Smart Stride), a full-sister to graded winner Bel Air Beauty and dam of stakes-placed Count Alexander (Scat Daddy), who Wavertree sold at the 2017 OBS June sale.

“She is huge,” Dunne said of the filly. “She looks like a colt. She's probably 16 hands, plus. We had her half-brother and that probably played a part in us being as strong as we were [in buying her last year]. We thought he was a very good horse. I think he was a better horse than his race record probably panned out to be–he was very unlucky in a couple of races. But she is a bigger, stronger version of him. You could have passed him off as the filly and her as the colt.”

Hip 667 turned in her :9 4/5 work around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. The chestnut filly is out of Malibu Pride (Malibu Moon), a full-sister to By The Light, who produced multiple Grade I winner By the Moon (Indian Charlie).

“She's a medium-sized filly,” Dunne said. “She's real compact and very well-balanced. She's been lightning fast since the first time we said, 'Go.' We spent the spring trying to slow her down. She's really, really quick with a beautiful female family underneath.”

Both fillies were purchased by Paul Reddam and Dunne's Red Wings Enterprises pinhooking partnership for $200,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.

“Paul has been my partner in Red Wings for many years,” Dunne said. “He is a guy who really goes with his gut feeling. He was very high on Omaha Beach going into the yearling sales and his marching orders were to buy as many Omaha Beaches as I could. I think I called him at one point and said, 'Is that enough?' and the response I got was, 'no.' So we have to give him the credit–or the blame–for the number of Omaha Beaches we have.”

On behalf of Houston third baseman Alex Bregman, Wavertree sent out a son of Omaha Beach (hip 617) to work a quarter-mile in :20 3/5 in the opening minutes of Wednesday's session of the under-tack show. The bay colt is out of stakes-placed Lantiz (Tizway).

Bloodstock agent Mike Akers purchased the colt on behalf of Bregman Family Racing for $185,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton July sale.

“This is a lovely horse. He doesn't necessarily look fast, which is interesting for as fast as he is,” Dunne said. “He looks like a horse with a bit of stretch that will go a route of ground.”

Bregman was represented by a bullet worker by No Nay Never who worked in :20 4/5 during Monday's second session of the under-tack show.

“Mike Akers has done a really job for Alex sourcing racehorses and obviously now pinhooks,” Dunne said. “I think they are good team and they work together well.”

Omaha Beach now has three juveniles to work in :9 4/5 this week at OBS. Mayberry Farm sent out a colt by the freshman sire (hip 466, video) to work in that time Tuesday.

Omaha Beach, winner of the GI Arkansas Derby and GI Santa Anita Sprint Championship, was scratched as the morning-line favorite three days before the 2019 GI Kentucky Derby. He stands at Spendthrift Farm for $30,000.

“They are lovely horses,” Dunne said of the first-season sire's progeny. “They have a shape to them. They have a bit of size and scope. They move really well. Thankfully, all of those things have transferred as you would want them to from yearlings to 2-year-olds. Once we started training them, we were very pleased. They are nice horses to be around and mentally very easy to deal with. They thrive on work. The more we've done with them, the better they were and the happier they were. Obviously, I am a big fan today.”

Also working the furlong bullet Wednesday was a filly by Divining Rod (hip 544, video) who is a half-sister to GI Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Aloha West (Hard Spun) consigned by Best a Luck Farm; a colt by Maximus Mischief (hip 632, video) consigned by Kings Equine; a colt by Tapwrit (hip 634, video), who is a half to multiple graded-placed Dream Marie (Graydar) and consigned by Top Line Sales; and a colt by Solomini (hip 692, video), who is a half to graded winner Lookin to Strike (Lookin at Lucky) and consigned by Randy Miles.

The under-tack show continues through Saturday with sessions beginning each day at 8 .m. The Spring sale will be held next Tuesday through Friday. Bidding commences at 10:30 a.m. daily.

The post Speightstown Filly Blazes Quarter-Mile at OBS Wednesday appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

2023 Mating Plans, Presented by Spendthrift: Wasabi Ventures

As we approach the opening of the 2023 breeding season, the TDN staff is once again sitting down with leading breeders to find out what stallions they have chosen for their mares, and why. Today, we catch up with George Adams at Housatonic Bloodstock, who serves as the Director of Stallions and Breeding for Wasabi Ventures Stables.

WHY NOT TONIGHT (5, Tapiture—Pay the Lady, by Not For Love), to be bred to Nashville

This filly became Wasabi's first stakes winner last year when she won the All Brandy Stakes at Laurel, and she also won an allowance for them after they claimed her at Monmouth. Originally a $57,000 yearling, she has good size and is well-made, and we're sending her to one of the more exciting freshman stallions in this year's crop in Nashville. A wickedly fast sprinter, he's a gorgeous specimen, and the cross is a good one. Plus, she's a half to a stakes horse of last year by Great Notion, from the same Gone West sire-line.

GUN SLINGIN (4, Gun Runner—Easy Tap, by Tapit), to be bred to Liam's Map

Wasabi really upped its game at the Keeneland November Sale, buying five mares for a total of $247,000, and this one was the most expensive at $77,000. A maiden mare, she's a full-sister to the TDN `Rising Star' of last summer Disarm (Gun Runner). We wanted to send her to a proven horse, and she gets that in Liam's Map, who should still have some upside as his best-bred crop comes to the races this year. This mating results in loads of line-breeding to some great Tartan Farm names like Fappiano, In Reality, Dr. Fager, Aspidistra and Rough n Tumble.

AMERICAN THRILLER (4, American Pharoah—Thrilled, by Uncle Mo), to be bred to Candy Ride (Arg)

Another purchase from Keeneland November who will be bred for the first time in 2023, she is another for whom we tried to find a proven stallion to fit. Physically, she's a great, big filly, so should match nicely with Candy Ride. And he has done very well with the Empire Maker sire line from which this filly hails. Her family can also show some versatility on the track, and Candy Ride should play into that, as well.

MAD GRACE (8, English Channel—Floating Island, by A. P. Indy), to be bred to Aloha West

This was a hard-knocking, versatile racemare that Wasabi claimed and who will be bred for the first time in 2023. She has a lot of page, and there are turf horses and dirt horses, sprinters and routers on it. We're sending her to Aloha West, a first-year stallion that is going to get every chance from the folks at Mill Ridge. He was exclusively a dirt sprinter himself, but his pedigree contains the same type of versatility that Mad Grace showed, and we won't be shocked if he gets horses that run longer than he did, and on turf. He's a beautifully balanced horse, very nicely-made, and we're excited to have a share in him and send a couple of mares to him.

FLORAL HALL (4, Bodemeister—Painted Lady, by Broad Brush) to be bred to Greatest Honour

Another Keeneland November purchase, this one carrying her first foal by Frosted, she goes to another first-year stallion that we are very high on in Greatest Honour. Physically, he's an incredible specimen, and we think the turn of foot he showed to win those Derby preps for Shug McGaughey over a surface and configuration that should not have suited his style means he's got a huge shot and offers a lot of value where Spendthrift priced him. This mare's family has had plenty of success with Pulpit-line stallions, and a few by Street Cry, who happens to be Greatest Honour's broodmare sire. So we like this pairing a lot.

WILD FOR LOVE (13, Not for Love—Sticky, by Concern) to be bred to Tapiture

One of Wasabi's first broodmares, Wild for Love delivered her first foal for us in the form of stakes winner Local Motive by the Maryland stallion Divining Rod, a son of Tapit. She has a two-year-old filly of '23 by Maximus Mischief that brought $160,000 as a yearling in 2022, but since then we've gone back to that Tapit/Pulpit line with her–she's in foal to Tacitus currently, and we will send her to Tapiture this spring. Tapiture gets such a high proportion of runners and winners, and plenty of stakes horses, too–and his numbers with Not For Love mares are pretty incredible (4-for-4 winners to runners, two stakes winners plus another black-type placed). We hope we get another Maryland-bred runner to earn us breeder bonuses for years just like Local Motive.

WOWWHATABRAT (11, Louis Quatorize—Kim the Brat, by Smart Strike) to be bred to Blofeld

This mare was a warrior, running 74 times over eight years and earning over $300,000. She was stakes-placed at two and four, and comes from the family of New Money Honey, Any Given Saturday, and a good horse named Second of June. After slipping last year, she is carrying her first foal by Jimmy Creed and looks like she'll be our first mare to foal this year. We are going to breed her back locally to Blofeld—the numbers he has put up are pretty amazing, with his first 14 foals to race all having won, and now he's sitting at 29 winners from 37 runners (out of just 50 foals). He had the winners of both Maryland Million two-year-old races in 2022. He has a couple of decent winners out of a full-sister to Wowwhatabrat, and this mating doubles up on Broodmare of the Year Misty Morn, and adds two more crosses of her dam, Grey Flight. Too far back to count as the Rasmussen Factor, but hopefully still effective.

Interested in sharing your own mating plans? Email garyking@thetdn.com.

The post 2023 Mating Plans, Presented by Spendthrift: Wasabi Ventures appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Gone West Legacy Renewed at Mill Ridge with New Addition

After a short hiatus from the stallion business, Mill Ridge welcomed GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner Oscar Performance to their farm in 2019. Four years later, they now add a second stallion to their roster in Aloha West (Hard Spun – Island Bound, by Speightstown), who claimed the 2021 GI Qatar Racing Breeders' Cup Sprint for Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Wayne Catalano.

With breeding shed doors opening soon, what has this newcomer's initial reception been like with breeders?

“A lot more positive than the Oscar Performance reception was,” said Price Bell with a laugh.

These days, Mill Ridge Farm's general manager is happy to joke about the challenge of launching an American turf horse's stud career if it means talking about Oscar Performance, who just received a fee bump from $12,500 to $20,000 after he wrapped up 2022 as the leading sire of all 2-year-olds on the turf by progeny earnings with his first crop.

As for Aloha West, the champion has drawn a steady stream of visitors at Mill Ridge after he retired to stud following this year's Breeders' Cup.

A son of Hard Spun, Aloha West is out of the Speightstown mare Island Bound, who won the 2012 GIII Winning Colors S. Bell said the new stallion has a physical that reflects both sides of his pedigree and will fit a variety of mares.

“Physically, he's a beautiful horse. Hard Spun is a son of Danzig, who is as influential of a sire line as there exists. Aloha West it from the family of Fappiano and then within that, you've got Speightstown, who is a son of Gone West out of a Storm Cat mare. I think the Speightstown side has really balanced him and polished him up. ”

Aloha West fulfills an important roll at Mill Ridge in carrying out the legacy of breed shaper Gone West, who joined Mill Ridge's first stallion Diesis at the farm in 1988 and went on to produce 98 stakes winners.

After the remarkable success of Gone West, whose sons and grandsons are influential on a global scale today, the farm added several more stallions that failed to follow in their predecessors' achievements.

“We were more active in the stallion business through the 1990s and the 2000s,” Bell explained. “We took on a strategy–and not a unique one–that we needed to retire a stallion every year. We stood Bien Bien, Valiant Nature, Binalong, and really a series of stallions that didn't work. I think at times we might have gotten over our skis in feeling like we had to stand a stallion and we got away from believing in a stallion. As the dust settled, our strategy changed because we couldn't afford to make mistakes. So we never felt like we were out of the stallion business, but rather that we were waiting for the right opportunity.”

That first opportunity came with Oscar Performance, who is the product of a Nicoma Bloodstock mating suggestion and was foaled and raised at Mill Ridge. Next came Gone West's descendant Aloha West.

“Our belief in him was the fundamental driver,” Bell said. “I think if we were to have learned anything after Gone West with the other stallions that we tried, it is that we have to get back to believing in the horse, his ability, his ability to become a stallion and the team around that horse.”

One chapter of Aloha West's story that Bell said they aim to impress upon breeders is that while the Maryland-bred did not race until he was four due to an injury that required surgery, he did have all the potential to be a top-class juvenile.

“Although he didn't race at two, you can look back at his works and see that he was putting in bullets at San Luis Rey and Santa Anita. So it would be easy to bypass that, but when you understand that he was a very good 2-year-old, and then he breaks his maiden at Oaklawn Park by making this big move passing horses around the turn, you think, 'Wow, that's a serious racehorse.'”

Purchased by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners shortly after that debut win, Aloha West won five of his nine starts in 2021. He was the runner-up in the GII Phoenix S. at Keeneland and then got his signature win in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint, where he defeated the likes of champion Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) and MGISW Dr. Schivel (Violence). He furthered his success at five with a win in the Kelly's Landing S.

“He had a tremendous desire to win,” Bell said. “He was tough and fast and wanted to get to the finish line first. He ran speed figures comparable to Munnings and other great stallions, so that gives us the belief that he can pass that on to his offspring.”

Aloha West will stand for a fee of $10,000 in 2023. Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners has stayed in on the stallion and recently signed tickets on several mares at the Keeneland January Sale.

“Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners are our friends and clients that we hold in the highest regard,” Bell said. “Their motto is to believe big and he certainly achieved the highest results for their partners. For me, he is as exciting a sire at this price point that has come out in the last few years and we've had a positive reception not only from previous clients, but also from new clients. We feel so blessed because this is a game of hopes and dreams and we want to share it with as many people as possible. We're all in this together and we hope that we can launch a successful stallion career.”

The post Gone West Legacy Renewed at Mill Ridge with New Addition appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Dec. 18 Insights: Glen Hill Farm Homebred by Curlin Unveiled

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency

6th-AQU, $85k, Msw, 2yo, f, 1m, 2:14p.m. ET
Manzanita Stables LLC went to $300,000 at KEESEP in 2021 to acquire LUCKY COMBINATION (Ghostzapper), a price tag likely aided by her dam being out of a half-sister to GISW & MGISP Girolamo (A.P. Indy) and his full-siblings MGISP & MGSW Daydreaming and GISP Accelerator. Dam Lucky Number herself claims GISW Got Lucky (A.P. Indy)–responsible for MGSP Overtook (Curlin)–as a half-relation and has produced two other winning fillies. This is the female family of GISW Chocolate Gelato (Practical Joke); GISW Imagining (Giant's Causeway); GI Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver (Maria's Mon) and his graded-stakes winning brothers Cyrus Alexander (Medaglia d'Oro) and Brethren (Distorted Humor); GISW Callback (Street Sense); GISW Bluegrass Cat (Storm Cat) as well as no less than 25 other graded and listed black-type earners. She brings in a steady string of work outs from the barn of Christophe Clement. TJCIS PPs

6th-GP, $70k, Msw, 2yo, f, 6f, 2:38p.m. ET
Glen Hill Farm will unveil their homebred OCEAN CLUB (Curlin) in this six furlong baby dash. Out of MGSP Theatre Star (War Front), herself a half-sister to GISW, track record-setter Taris (Flatter)–dam of GSW King Fury (Curlin)–and that one's full-sister, SW Stoweshoe, Ocean Club has a two-time winning full-sister Gather as You Go. This is the extended female family of Panamanian champion 3-year-old filly Chef Michelle (Pine Bluff). Tom Proctor will send her to post. To her outside and one over is Famosa (Speightstown), the half-sister to MGSP Into Mystic (Into Mischief). Also campaigned by her breeder Tami Bobo, the chestnut is out of Loveofalifetime, who counts GSW, track record-setter Savorthetime (Gilded Time); GISP Rogue Romance (Smarty Jones); and MGSP Tizbig (Tiznow) as half-siblings. She's also a half-sister to Indy Mood for Luv (A.P. Indy), dam of GSW Island Bound (Speightstown), who herself credits GI Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Aloha West (Hard Spun) to her tally. Famosa will go to post from the barn of Antonio Sano on the back of a bullet work Dec. 7 over the surface, the four furlong work in :48 flat the fastest of 23 that morning. TJCIS PPs

The post Dec. 18 Insights: Glen Hill Farm Homebred by Curlin Unveiled appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post