Andie Biancone | Horse Racing Free Tips

Biancone: Diamond Oops ‘Runs his Best When He’s Doing Something Different’

When Andie Biancone saddles Diamond Oops in Kentucky Downs $1 million G3 FanDuel Turf Sprint on Saturday it will be yet another episode in the ongoing multi-generational, two-family affair.

Diamond Oops, the 6-year-old son of Lookin At Lucky, is a member of the third of four generations of his family trained by Biancone's father, Patrick. Andie has joined the family business, is an assistant trainer and the exercise rider for the multiple graded-stakes winning millionaire gelding.

After Diamond Oops ran third as the 8-5 favorite in the six-furlong G3 Smile Stakes on dirt on July 3 at Gulfstream Park, his connections decided that it was time to try something new and began preparing for a September trip to Kentucky Downs.

“Initially, the plan for this year was to really focus on six furlongs on the dirt, because that's really his niche. That's really where we feel like he does his best,” she said. “But last race, we ran him and he just ran like a pretty flat third. We think it's because he's bored. This horse runs his best when he's doing something different. He loves to run six furlongs on the dirt, a mile on the turf, five furlongs on the turf. He loves the change. He's so intelligent and he really appreciates doing things differently. I think that's why he loves Kentucky Downs so much. It's because it's not a race track. It's so big, so different. And he's just so happy.”

During training hours Wednesday, Diamond Oops showed Biancone, 24, just how pleased he is to be at the sprawling track in rural southern Kentucky very close to the border with Tennessee.

“It's like he's at Disneyland here,” she said. “It's just kind of blowing his mind a little bit. The space. The grass. Everything. He's so excited. He's also just so well right now. My dad really has him in his best form.

“He came out of the barn, heard some gravel move and then he just reared straight up and bashed me in the face with his head. I'm a little concussed, but it's a long way from my heart. It's okay. I can survive. He definitely felt sorry afterwards. He was giving me the baby eyes like 'Mom, I'm so sorry.' I was like, 'Hmm. OK. You can make it up to me on Saturday.' I'm like, 'Save it, save it for the race. Please keep yourself composed for 48 hours.”

The horse and human connections go back more than 20 years when Patrick Biancone was training Diamond Oops' grandsire, the multiple graded-stakes winner Whywhywhy and his second dam Patriotic Diva, owned by Kin Hui. After Patriotic Diva retired, Hui bred her to Whywhywhy and that mating produced the 2007 filly Patriotic Viva, who became the dam of Diamond Oops. Patrick Biancone also trained other foals dropped by Patriotic Viva. This summer, the 2-year-old Diamond Wow, a daughter of Diamond Oops' sister, Patriotic Diamond, broke her maiden at Gulfstream Park.

“It's been really cool. They're just such a classy family,” Andie Biancone said.

Bred by Hui, Diamond Oops is co-owned by Hui's Diamond 100 Racing Club, Amy Dunne, D P Racing and Patrick Biancone Racing. He wasn't supposed to end up in Biancone's care.

“We named him Oops, because he was so ugly and we got stuck with him, kind of,” Andie Biancone said. “We tried to, sell him as a weanling and he was a no-bid at the sale. It's so funny because when he won the Phoenix (in 2020), Keeneland posted like a little video of him in the ring, I always wondered what he looked like as a baby. And they posted this video of him in the ring. I was like, 'Oh my gosh, a mule.' He really looked like a donkey. It's so funny how much he's grown into himself. He's obviously gorgeous now.”

Diamond Oops won a pair of stakes as a 2-year-old, but was limited to a single start as a 3-year-old by what was feared to be a career-ending leg injury. After a 10-month layoff, Diamond Oops returned to competition and won the Smile in his third start. He was second in a pair of G1 stakes, the A.G. Vanderbilt on dirt and the Shadwell Turf Mile, and was eighth in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and completed his season with a victory in the G3 Mr. Prospector.

Last year, he captured G2 stakes on turf and dirt and was sixth in the Breeders' Cup Sprint.

Noting that Diamond Oops wasn't at his best later in the season in the Breeders' Cup, his connections gave him a couple of months off during the winter and plotted a conservative schedule for 2021. The Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs was a reworking of the plan and will be his sixth career start on grass. A victory will earn him a guaranteed, fees-paid berth in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint through the “Win and You're In” program.

Based on his history and the way he feels under her in the morning, Andie Biancone expects him to run well Saturday.

“He's gutsy,” she said. “When he ran the Shadwell Turf Mile, I thought that was pretty bold to run him two turns, but he finished a really game second. That's just him. He loves a challenge. He's not afraid. He doesn't back down and he literally thinks he's like the only horse in the world. It's just that cocky attitude of his.”

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Diamond Oops Looks Set For Another Smile Sprint Run Following Hollywood Lakes Win

Multiple graded-stakes Diamond Oops prepped for a scheduled start in the $200,000 Smile Sprint (G3) with a thoroughly professional triumph in the $60,000 Hollywood Lakes at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The Hollywood Lakes, a six-furlong overnight handicap for 3-year-olds and up, co-headlined Saturday's 12-race program with the $75,000 Game Face, a 6 ½-furlong sprint for 3-year-old fillies.

The Smile Sprint will be co-featured on the July 3 Summit of Speed card at Gulfstream with the $350,000 Princess Rooney (G2), a seven-furlong Breeders' Cup 'Win and You're In' sprint for fillies and mares.

Diamond Oops, who captured the 2019 running of the Smile Sprint, was rated a few lengths off the pace set by Willy Boi, who put up fractions of 22.71 and 45.28 (seconds) for the first half mile before being joined by Ournationonparade on the turn into the homestretch. Ournationonparade took the lead at the top of the stretch, only to meet challenges on the inside by Miles Ahead, the even-money favorite ridden by Edgard Zayas, and on the outside by Diamond Oops, the 2-1 second choice ridden by Luca Panici.

Miles Ahead made a strong rail bid in an effort to win his stakes debut but was unable to hold off Diamond Oops, a multiple graded-stakes winner on turf and dirt who has earned more than $1.1 million. The Patrick Biancone-trained 6-year-old gelding ran six furlongs in 1:09.31 to win by a head while carrying highweight of 124 pounds, five more than Miles Ahead.

“He just does his job. He's so versatile, he can do anything, but I do feel like six furlongs on dirt is his niche. That's truly where he belongs,” said assistant trainer Andie Biancone. “We're really going to focus on that and try to get him to the Breeders' Cup [Sprint]. We have the wonderful Smile coming up, so hopefully that will be his next win. He loves Gulfstream.”

Diamond Oops, who won his fifth stakes at Gulfstream Saturday, was making his second start of the year Saturday after finishing a late rallying fourth in the April 20 Churchill Downs' Turf Sprint (G2), a race he won last year. The son of Lookin At Lucky provided Panici with his first stakes success since recently returning to action following a three-month recovery and rehabilitation of a back injury sustained in a February accident.

“It feels great,” he said. “This is a good horse, a class horse.”

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Gulfstream Park: $650,000 Guarantee In Saturday’s Rainbow 6 Jackpot

The 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot pool will be guaranteed at $650,000 for Saturday's program at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The popular multi-race wager went unsolved Friday for the seventh consecutive racing day since a March 27 mandatory payout. Tickets with all six winners were each worth $1,406.70.

The jackpot pool is only paid out when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 70 percent of that day's pool goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners, while 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.

Saturday's sequence spans Races 6-11 and includes maiden special weights on the turf. In Race 7 and 3-year-olds and up in Race 9. Trainer Christophe Clement has the program favorite in both heats, sophomore Vancouver colt Q F Seventy Five and 4-year-old City Zip colt Voodoo Zip.

The feature comes in Race 10, an entry-level optional claiming allowance for older females going a one-turn mile. Drawing Away Stable's Don't Get Khozy is favored at 8-5 on the morning line, winning twice at the distance in five starts during the recently concluded Championship Meet for trainer Antonio Sano.

There will also be a carryover of $2,063.56 in the $1 Super Hi-5 for Saturday's opener.

Kelsey's Cross, Sutherland Score In Friday Allowance
Sanford Bacon and trainer Patrick Biancone's Grade 2-placed Kelsey's Cross, exiting a string of 12 consecutive stakes, dropped into allowance company Friday and made her familiar late run down the center of the track to take the featured race at Gulfstream Park.

Ridden by Chantal Sutherland, her second win from eight starts at the spring-summer meet, Kelsey's Cross ($11) won for the first time since capturing the Ginger Punch over the Gulfstream turf last June. The winning time in second-level event for older females was 1:33.23 over a firm course.

“It feels awesome. We gave her a little break before the start of the season and we just thought, 'Wow, she's going to have a great year,'” Biancone's daughter and assistant, Andie Biancone, said. “She looks so good, and she just keeps getting so unlucky. She has all the talent but she's never had the right trip. Chantal just gave her the most perfect ride and we couldn't have asked for anything better.”

Shifty She, unraced since December 2019, and last out winner La Babia battled on the lead through testing fractions of 23.92 seconds for the quarter-mile, 46.47 for a half and 1:08.83 after six furlongs. Racing on the far outside, Kelsey's Cross came with a steady run through the stretch to edge 8-5 favorite Lashara by a half-length. Hotsy Totsy was third.

“She really needs that good trip, but once she has that spot, she's awesome,” Biancone said. “She's all try.”

Kelsey's Cross, 5, had been winless in six starts since the Ginger Punch, finishing off the board in her last three, including the Via Borghese and Sunshine Filly & Mare Turf during Gulfstream's Championship Meet. Third in the 2020 Hillsborough (G2) and 2019 Wonder Again, she was sixth last out in the Endeavour (G3) Feb. 6 at Tampa Bay Downs.

Biancone said the connections will explore all options for Kelsey's Cross' next start.

“Who knows? There's always some nice little stakes here this summer and we could always go up to New York. She loves New York,” she said. “We'll see what Patrick has planned.”

Notes: Jockey Emisael Jaramillo rode back-to-back winners Friday with Tellington ($11) in Race 6 and Lauda Speed ($6.20) in Race 7 … Edwin Gonzalez also doubled, aboard Shikaka ($2.80) in Race 3 and Serenade a Kitten ($9.60) in Race 9.

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Maker Brings Hot Hand Into Sunshine Turf Stakes; Filly & Mare Turf Attracts Kelsey’s Cross

Leading the country by wins heading into Thursday's action, trainer Mike Maker will look to keep his momentum going into the weekend when he sends out the pair of Second Mate and Max K.O. in Saturday's $75,000 Sunshine Turf.

The 19th running of the Turf for 4-year-olds and up and $75,000 Filly & Mare Turf for females 4 and older, both at 1 1/16 miles, are among four Florida-bred stakes worth $300,000 in purses on a 12-race Sunshine Day program. First race post time is 11:45 a.m.

Second Mate and Max K.O. each ran in last year's Turf, respectively finishing fifth and eighth behind multiple Grade 2 winner March to the Arch. The runner-up, Muggsamatic, was beaten a head in that race and is now also trained by Maker.

According to Equibase statistics, Maker won 12 races through the first 13 days of 2021. Seven of those 2021 wins have come during Gulfstream's Championship Meet (he's won 18 races since the meet began Dec. 2), and he is seeking his first victory in the Turf. Eccentric Club Racing Stable's Second Mate will be making his fourth straight appearance in the race and first for Maker, having run third in 2018 and second in 2019.

Second Mate raced only twice after last year's Turf, where he was beaten less than three lengths. Both races came at Gulfstream Park West – an optional claiming allowance where he finished off the board following a nine-month layoff, and a runner-up finish to fellow Turf entrant Venezuelan Hug in the Nov. 21 Millions Turf Preview, also going 1 1/16 miles.

“He had a tough beat there. Then he had an injury, got over it and came back well,” Maker said. “We expect a big performance from him.”

Tyler Gaffalione rides Second Mate from Post 1 in a field of nine.

Max K.O. is a new addition to Maker's barn, claimed on behalf of Michael Dubb for $50,000 out of a one-mile claiming event Dec. 13 at Gulfstream where he set the pace for six furlongs before tiring to be ninth. The 5-year-old horse, twice stakes-placed, also led for three-quarters in last year's Turf.

“We claimed him with this race in mind,” Maker said. “We figured if we could ration some of his speed he'll be a little more productive. He's been running off in his races and if we can get him to settle, I think we've got a decent horse.”

Julien Leparoux, winner of the 2010 Turf with Jet Propulsion, gets the assignment on Max K.O. from Post 7.

Anne Scott's 8-year-old gelding Galleon Mast is a six-time stakes winner with $659,080 in purse earnings racing in the Turf for the third consecutive year. He won it in 2018 then ran second in that year's Canadian Turf (G3), and closed to be third by two lengths last winter. Most recently, he had his two-year win streak snapped when fifth in the Turf Preview.

Galleon Mast is trained by David Fawkes, who will also send out William Rainbow's Over the Channel, a troubled sixth in the Dec. 5 Claiming Crown Emerald though beaten just two lengths. The 5-year-old Overanalyzed gelding has been third or better in nine of 13 career races, with five wins.

The Turf Preview was Venezuelan Hug's fourth win in six starts since being claimed for $40,000 last spring by trainer Danny Gargan. A 4-year-old son of Constitution, Venezuelan Hug overcame a tough trip where he got bumped near the eighth pole last out and prevailed under a drive. Overwhelmed in the 1 ¼-mile Belmont Derby (G1) in October, he has won each of his last two races against state-breds.

Rancho Alegre's Monforte has won six of his last eight starts including the 7 ½-furlong Bear's Den and one-mile Showing Up in back-to-back races last summer and fall at Gulfstream. The 4-year-old Carpe Diem colt took a short lead into the stretch of the Turf Preview last time out before fading to seventh.

Proven Strategies, a stakes winner over the Woodbine turf last out and second in the Pennine Ridge (G2) last summer; stakes-placed Shamrocket and Clear Destination are also entered.

Kelsey's Cross Aims for $75,000 Sunshine Filly & Mare Turf
Sanford Bacon and Patrick Biancone Racing's Kelsey's Cross, a multiple graded-stakes placed mare who became a stakes winner her last time facing state-breds, is set to launch her 5-year-old season in the $75,000 Sunshine Filly & Mare Turf.

It will be the 11th consecutive stakes start for the 5-year-old daughter of Anthony's Cross, who has won each of her only two starts against fellow Florida-breds, both at Gulfstream – a maiden special weight triumph in May 2019 and the 1 1/16-mile Ginger Punch last June, her most recent win.

“She's super fit and we're ready,” Biancone's daughter and assistant trainer Andie Biancone said. “The last race she only had one breeze going into it and we kind of just wanted to give her a race and help get her back into form, and I think she ran really well for having such a long layoff and only one breeze. She's a lot more fit coming into this race.”

Kelsey's Cross got bumped at the start and found herself trailing the field entering the stretch of the 1 3/16-mile Via Borghese Dec. 19, her first race in three months. She rallied to get up for fifth, beaten less than five lengths.

“She loves Gulfstream, and she's game. She's super-game, super competitive,” Biancone said. “She's more ready going into this race. We're looking forward to it.”

Kelsey's Cross has three wins, two seconds, five thirds and more than $285,000 in purse earnings from 13 career starts, placing third in the 2019 Wonder Again (G3) in just her third race and the 2020 Hillsborough (G3) last March. She was second, beaten a neck in the Dayatthespa last summer at Gulfstream.

“I think she's got to be one of the toughest Florida-bred fillies on the turf. She's really tough. She's a cool horse,” Biancone said. “When we got her, we got her basically for free. She kind of came in a little package deal of horses. She doesn't have a huge pedigree or anything like that but she's really proven herself. She's got a lot of class. It's awesome to get to work with her.”

Hall of Famer John Velazquez rides Kelsey's Cross from Post 2 in a field of nine.

Paradise Farms Corp., David Staudacher and Steven Weiland's Sun Summer enters the Filly & Mare Turf off successive victories going one mile at Churchill Downs and Aqueduct last fall. Claimed for $40,000 last summer at Belmont Park, the 5-year-old Broken Vow mare is seeking her first win in her first start in nearly two months.

“She had a ground-saving trip at Aqueduct last time, ran a dynamite race and got the job done,” trainer Mike Maker said. “She's doing super. It looks like the time between races really does her well. She's pretty easy to ride so you can place her wherever you need her.”

Irad Ortiz Jr. gets the call on Sun Summer from Post 4.

Mad Dog Racing Stable, Isla Stables and Big Frank Racing Stable's Sugar Fix ran fifth by 2 ½ lengths in the Lake George (G3) last summer at Saratoga, her first start since being claimed for $40,000 by trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. In her most recent effort, the 4-year-old filly ran second as the favorite in the 1 1/16-mile Claiming Crown Tiara Dec. 5 at Gulfstream.

D.J. Stable and Jonathan Green's Ceci Valentina is entered to make her turf debut for trainer Joe Orseno. The 4-year-old filly owns three wins, a second and three thirds in 10 career tries on the dirt, including stakes victories in the 2019 FSS Susan's Girl at Gulfstream and 2019 Juvenile Fillies Sprint at Gulfstream West

Rounding out the field are Bienville Street, second to Grade 2 winner Always Shopping in the Monroe last fall and coming off a one-mile optional claiming allowance victory Dec. 18, both at Gulfstream; Mo of the West, fourth last out in the 1 1/16-mile Tropical Park Oaks Dec. 26; Lookinlikeaqueen, and Lovely Luvy. Heiressindy is entered for main track only.

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