Sunday Insights: Debuting Carla Bred On Wildly Successful Cross

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1st-DMR, $80K, Msw, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f, post time: 4:00 p.m. ET
Michael Petersen and Willow Grace Farm, who campaign last year's GI Del Mar Debutante winner Grace Adler (Curlin) in partnership, team up for the Sunday opener at Del Mar with $950K Keeneland September acquisition CARLA (Medaglia d'Oro). The February foal is the first produce from Naples Princess (Distorted Humor), a full-sister to SW Banker's Buy and a half to SW City Dweller (Carson City) and SW Glacken's Gal (Smoke Glacken), the dam of GII Davona Dale S. victress Live Lively (Medaglia d'Oro). The hugely productive cross of Medaglia d'Oro over Distorted Humor mares has yielded the likes of two-time Hong Kong Horse of the Year Golden Sixty (Aus) and additional Grade I winners Elate and New Money Honey, while extending to Forty Niner-line dams brings in the likes of multiple champion Songbird and Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra. TJCIS PPs

2nd-KD, $150K, Msw, 2yo, 1mT, post time: 1:58 p.m. ET
The debuting Carnaby Street got American Pharoah on the board in the opening race of the meet Thursday afternoon and ON THE TEAR looks to continue the momentum here. A $350K KEESEP purchase, the Springhouse Farm-bred is a half-brother to this year's Star Shoot S. heroine Beautiful Empire (Classic Empire) and his dam, purchased by Springhouse for $260K in foal to Shanghai Bobby at Fasig-Tipton November in 2016, is a half-sister to successful young sire Practical Joke (Into Mischief). Life At Sea (West Coast) is the third foal to race out of Irish Jasper (First Defence), three times a graded winner sprinting on the main track. TJCIS PPs

6th-SAR, $105K, Msw, 2yo, f, 7f, post time: 3:20 p.m. ET
It's been an outstanding meet for Curlin and Stonestreet homebred PURE PAULINE will attempt to open her account at first asking Sunday. Inheriting the chestnut coloring of both her sire and of her GII Black-Eyed Susan S.-winning dam Keen Pauline (Pulpit), the Apr. 24 is bred on a variant of the cross over A.P. Indy-line mares that has tossed up Malathaat, Nest and Cody's Wish, each a Grade I winner during the current meet at Saratoga. Curlin is also represented by the rail-drawn third-time starter Take Charge Briana, whose dam Take Charge Tressa is a full-sister to MGISW and Spendthrift sire Omaha Beach (War Front). TJCIS PPs

7th-SAR, $105K, Msw, 2yo, f, 1 1/16mT, post time: 3:53 p.m. ET
PROUVER (Justify), a $310K graduate of last year's Keeneland September sale, is a daughter of Ready to Act (More Than Ready), who won her maiden at first asking sprinting over the local turf course and was well on her way to victory in the 2013 GII Natalma S. when she abruptly ducked in and unseated jockey Rajiv Maragh. The gray filly would go on to win the 2014 Sweetest Chant S. over the Gulfstream turf course and the GII Beaumont S. at Keeneland when the race was contested on the Polytrack. This is the extended female family of GI Hollywood Gold Cup hero and GI Pacific Classic third Mast Track (Mizzen Mast). Writteninthestars (Malibu Moon), a $110K KEESEP yearling turned $500K Fasig-Tipton Midlantic juvenile (:10 2/5, see below), is out of a half-sister to GSW Sparky Ville (Candy Ride {Arg}) and hails from the family of GISWs Harmony Lodge and Pinehurst and MGSW Graeme Hall. TJCIS PPs

 

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Lukas ‘Hopeful’ On Final Weekend At The Spa

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY – Here we are on the final weekend of the Saratoga season and–no surprise–D. Wayne Lukas is ready to take swings in both of the historic Grade I races for 2-year-olds.

The Hall of Fame trainer, who turned 87 Friday, will saddle Holy Cow Stable's Naughty Gal (Into Mischief) Sunday in the GI Spinaway S. The next afternoon, Lukas will send out BC Stable's Bourbon Bash (City of Light) and Western Ghent (American Pharoah) in the GI Hopeful, the final stake of the 154th season of Saratoga racing.

Lukas skipped the last two years because of a combination of Covid-19 and a downturn in the quality of his stable, but came back to Saratoga this summer with 16 horses for what has been a productive meet. Through Friday, the Lukas stable had a record of 4-6-2 from 23 starts with earnings of $607,889. During the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale, he signed the tickets for five yearlings for $2.725 million.

Three of Lukas' Saratoga wins came from his stakes starters. Bourbon Bash handled a maiden special weight field by eight lengths Aug. 13. Western Ghent, co-owned by Lukas and his wife Laurie, won a $75,000 maiden claimer Aug. 25. Naughty Gal, the GIII Adirondack winner Aug. 7, prevailed by 2 1/4 lengths despite running greenly and drifting out in the stretch under Luis Saez.

“She's corrected that, for sure, and I feel comfortable,” Lukas said, “And, of course, Luis is going to be a lot more familiar with who she is. The power steering kicked in and she overreacted to what he was trying to do. We wanted to be in the four or five-hole and we didn't want to be an eight or nine He ended up there so quick it surprised him.”

Lukas and his former assistant and fellow Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher top the Spinaway trainers's standings with six victories each. In 23 starts, Lukas has a 6-5-3 record in the seven-furlong race. He won with Tiltalating (Tilt Up) in 1984, the first year he ran at the track. His most recent winner was Golden Attraction in 1995.

Figuring out who belongs in a graded stake, Lukas said, comes down to experience.

“Well, if you've been doing it for 60 years, you get a pretty good cross section of what works and what won't,” he said.  “I've been guilty my whole career of entering in stakes that I have no idea what the competition's ability is. That goes for everyday races. I'll enter in non-winners of two and somebody will say this or that about the race and I have no idea. But I know what wins non-winners of two. I've seen it enough that I know that I'm competitive in a non-winners of two unless Secretariat shows up or Ruffian.”

Before the 40-day meet July 14, Lukas expected BC Stable's Summer Promise (Uncle Mo) to be his Spinaway horse. However, she finished second in the GIII Schuylerville on opening day and Naughty Gal moved up in the pecking order in the stable with her Adirondack triumph.

“She's going into it and the other one's not,” Lukas said. “I'm running the best one I've got at this point.”

Lukas said Naughty Gal is an obvious standout.

“Awful strong. Big, powerful filly,” he said. “One of the best horsemen I know called me the other day and said 'Boy, that's a good-looking (SOB) you ran in the Adirondack. He was watching on television. She's a picture of conformation. For her age, her development, strength, size is incredible. She's really a study. You want to study one how they're supposed to look, she's it in every way. That's why I say the seven furlongs should just be right in her wheelhouse.”

Never shy about promoting his horses, Lukas said Naughty Gal is a filly with a future.

“Big time. And I'm anxious to run her two turns,” he said. “That's where I really want to see her run.”

If things go well in the Spinaway, Lukas said Naughty Gal is on the road to the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies in November at Keeneland.

“No bones about it,” he said. “I'm pointing her right there.”

Lukas is the career leader in Hopeful wins with eight from 32 starts. Pletcher and Steve Asmussen are next with three each.

Bourbon Bash was a well-beaten second to the Chad Brown-trained Blazing Sevens (Good Magic) in his first try July 24, but earned his trip to the Hopeful with the romp in his second start.

“He's a real immature colt, but I think he'll also relish the seven-eighths,” Lukas said. “He was getting in cruise control the other day. The only thing that is a little bit disturbing is the race was slow. Of course, it wasn't slow for him. When they say the race was slow, I always say, 'Well, he beat everybody that showed up.' I wondered about the time a little bit. I'm talking to Chad Brown and he said, 'You know, my colt is the one that beat yours' when I first started him. I said, 'well, it will be interesting the next time.'”

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American Pharoah’s Carnaby Street Rolls In Kentucky Downs Opener

1st-Kentucky Downs, $156,000, Msw, 9-1, 2yo, f, 6 1/2fT, 1:16.89, fm, 4 1/2 lengths.
CARNABY STREET (f, 2, American Pharoah–Sloane Square {GSP}, by Giant's Causeway), favored at 7-5 in the opening event of the meet, settled patiently and stalked from good position in third behind the leading pair of Master Som (Mastery) and Fabulosity (Exaggerator). With a ton of run but little room, she waited for a break to open between rivals down the stretch, split them into the final furlong, and easily cleared late to score by 4 1/2 lengths. 42-1 longshot Miss Peabody (Anchor Down) surged late to fill out the exacta as the early leaders faded in the final sixteenth. Sloane Square produced back-to-back foals by Munnings–a colt in 2021 and a filly in 2022, and was bred back to the Coolmore stallion for 2023. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $90,000. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG. O-Michael B. Tabor; B-Chelston (KY); T-Wesley A. Ward.

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APBs: Forbidden Kingdom Gearing Up for Santa Anita Sprint Championship

MyRacehorse and Spendthrift Farm's Forbidden Kingdom (American Pharoah), a powerful wire-to-wire winner of the GII San Vicente S. Jan. 29 and GII San Felipe S. Mar. 5, could return to action against older horses in the GII Santa Anita Sprint Championship S. Oct. 1.

Knocked off the Triple Crown trail after finishing last of six as the favorite after setting a fast pace in the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby Apr. 9, the chestnut has posted three breezes since returning to the worktab in August, most recently firing a four-furlong bullet in :46 (1/65) at Hall of Famer Richard Mandella's Del Mar base Aug. 26.

“He just had a handful of setbacks–a succession of bad luck, bad timing type of things,” Spendthrift's General Manager Ned Toffey said.

“The most recent was a little bout with colitis and it just took a little bit for him to bounce back. Richard is such a great caretaker and he's given him plenty of time and let him get back to the horse that we know he is. He's starting to remind us of what we saw earlier in the year. We know he's fast. We know he's talented. It's just been a frustrating year. We're always gonna do what's right for the horse and give them the time that they need. Hopefully, he's gonna reward us for it.”

Bred in Kentucky by Gabriel Duignan's Springhouse Farm, Forbidden Kingdom brought $300,000 at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase. He is one of 16 graded winners worldwide for Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. Duignan purchased Forbidden Kingdom's dam Just Louise (Five Star Day), winner of the 2010 GIII Debutante S. and a half-sister to MGSW Sara Louise (Malibu Moon), for $150,000 at the 2013 FTKNOV sale.

Forbidden Kingdom, a debut winner at two at Del Mar, was also second in last term's GIII Bob Hope S. and third in the grassy Speakeasy S.

“When we bought him at the sale, he very much had a look of an American dirt speed horse,” Toffey said.

“And not that he can't stretch out. We still feel like the jury is out on that subject. They need to do it on the track and build that resume before getting admitted to the stud barn, but he certainly is the kind of horse that I think breeders would really respond well to. We want to try to enjoy some more success with him first.”

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