Aqueduct Racetrack | Horse Racing Free Tips

Half-Sister To Scat Daddy, Lovestruck Stays Undefeated In Tepin Stakes

Godolphin Stable's Lovestruck, the half-sister to the late stallion Scat Daddy, won her first stakes appearance in similar fashion to her career debut on Sunday. The 2-year-old filly stayed off the pace before a strong stretch-drive kick to post a one-length victory in the $100,000 Tepin Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack.

The Kentucky homebred was a one-length winner going 1 1/16 miles over the firm inner turf at Saratoga Race Course on Sept. 7. Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott elevated the Tapit filly to stakes company for her second start, where she again won at the same distance, this time over an inner turf course rated good.

Lovestruck broke sharp under jockey Junior Alvarado from post two, being forwardly placed in third position as 20-1 longshot Big Time Lady led the eight-horse field through the opening quarter-mile in 24.05 seconds, the half in 50.50 and three-quarters in 1:16.21.

Turning for home, Big Time Lady was kept inside by jockey Eric Cancel, but Lovestruck pressed on and overtook the pacesetter from the outside. Invincible Gal, piloted by Jose Ortiz, made a strong bid near the rail, but Alvarado set down Lovestruck to repel the threat and hit the wire in 1:47.14.

A stewards' inquiry focused on bumping at the head of the stretch between Big Time Lady and Lovestruck resulted in no change to the order of finish.

“She's been ready for quite a while,” Alvarado said. “We were expecting the kind of run from her that we saw today. There's still room for her to improve. She's still a little bit green and when she got to the lead she was wandering around the track, which is fine. When she puts it all together, we'll get a little more from her.”

Off as the even-money favorite, Lovestruck returned $4.20 on a $2 win wager. She more than doubled her career earnings to $94,600.

“I knew she was going to be sharp, but I like to teach them to relax behind horses and have a nice finish,” Alvarado said. “I didn't want to just let her go. Even though it was a slow pace, I knew I was close enough that she wouldn't have too much to do at the end.”

Invincible Gal, fresh off an 11th-place finish in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 6 at Keeneland, outkicked Big Time Lady by 1 ½ lengths for second. The Graham Motion trainee has run second in three of her four stakes starts, adding to her runner-up efforts in the Sorority in September at Monmouth Park and the Selima on Preakness Day, Oct. 3, at Pimlico.

“I had a beautiful trip. I found an opening on the inside in the stretch and I thought I had a shot to get there but the winner, she showed up,” Ortiz said. “She's the real deal.”

Island Treasure, Fifth Risk, Bravo Regina and Lexinator completed the order of finish. Thursday was pulled up and vanned off.

Frost Me was scratched, as were main-track only entrants Hit the Woah, Dollar Mountain and Malibu Curl.

Live racing resumes Thursday at Aqueduct with a nine-race card that features a 12:20 p.m. Eastern first post.

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Mutamakina Rides The Rail To Capture Long Island Stakes

Al Shira'aa Farms' Mutamakina rallied up the rail under Dylan Davis to collar fellow Christophe Clement trainee Traipsing in the final stride in Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Long Island, an 11-furlong inner turf test for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up, at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Traipsing, under a heady ride by Kendrick Carmouche, led the twelve-horse field over good turf through moderate splits of 26.10, 52.62 and 1:19.76 as Beau Belle tracked her early foot with Eliade chasing along the rail in third.

Mutamakina, content to rate in fifth position, sat a patient trip under Davis as Traipsing led confidently through the final turn and opened up a 2 ½-length lead at the stretch call. Inside the final furlong, Traipsing was still moving well but Davis went to work on Mutamakina, who responded with a powerful turn-of-foot to overtake Eliade and Delta's Kingdom and squeeze up the rail past Traipsing in the shadow of the wire. She stopped the clock in 2:21.08 for the three-quarter-length win.

It was another 1 3/4-lengths back to Delta's Kingdom in third. Eliade, Theodora B., Wegetsdamunnys, English Affair, With Dignity, Beau Belle, Pretty Point, Hungry Kitten and Siberian Iris completed the order of finish. Also-eligible Lovely Lucky was scratched.

Clement, the Big A fall meet's leading trainer with 14 wins, said he was pleased with the ride by Davis aboard Mutamakina, who entered from a troubled third in the 1 ½-mile Zagora on October 31 over yielding Belmont Park turf.

“Traipsing set up a perfect pace; she looked great. My other filly [Mutamakina] was very game,” said Clement. “Dylan gave a great ride. He wasn't a long way off the pace and she was travelling well down the backstretch. I'll have to talk to the owner, but she might stay another year. Obviously, the way she ran today, she will be an exciting prospect for the 1 ½-mile division. I thought she was extremely unlucky last time at Belmont Park. I was delighted to see her win. She deserved a graded stakes win.”

Davis, who won three races on Saturday, finished second in a pair of stakes earlier on the card with Monday Morning Qb in the Grade 3 Discovery and El Tormenta in the Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship.

The veteran rider said he was nervous when Traipsing kicked away in the stretch run.

“I didn't think I was going to get there at first because I saw Kendrick pull away a bit, but she does take a little bit of time to get running,” said Davis. “When she started moving, I knew it was over. Within the last eighth of a mile she was just getting into stride and I was just staying out of her way and keeping her happy. She was able to get up, which was nice.”

Stone Farm homebred Traipsing entered from a front-running score in 1 1/16-mile optional-claiming tilt on the September 26 on firm Belmont turf and nearly held on under Carmouche, who leads the Big A fall meet jockey standings with 16 wins.

“My horse ran very well and I loved her today,” said Carmouche. “Coming out of a mile-and-a-sixteenth race, I thought I would be right there on the lead. She ran really well. The favorite beat me, but my horse did a good job.”

Bred in Great Britain by Widgham Stud, Mutamakina banked $55,000 in victory while maintaining improving her record to 11-3-2-2. She was making just her second start for Clement after winning a pair of races in France last year for former conditioner Carlos Laffon-Parias.

Mutamakina returned $5.90 for a $2 win ticket as the 9-5 mutuel favorite and her card-closing score secured a hefty $482,817.70 single-ticket payout of the Empire 6 jackpot.

Live racing resumes Sunday at the Big A with a 10-race card highlighted by a trio of $100,000 stakes, including the Grade 3 Fall Highweight Handicap for 3-year-olds and upward going six furlongs over the main track; the Tepin for juvenile fillies going 1 1/16 miles over the turf; and the Autumn Days at six furlongs on turf for fillies and mares 3-years-old and upward. First post is 11:50 a.m. Eastern.

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Forza Di Oro Makes The Grade In Discovery

Don Alberto Stable's Forza Di Oro made the grade in Saturday's 76th running of the Grade 3, $100,000 Discovery, a nine-furlong test for sophomores at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, the Speightstown chestnut arrived at the Discovery from a narrow victory in a 1 1/16-mile first-level allowance on Oct. 9 at Belmont Park, where he registered a 96 Beyer Speed Figure.

Forza Di Oro broke sharply from post 3 in the five-horse field and was taken back and edged to the rail by jockey Junior Alvarado, as post-time favorite and dual stakes winner Monday Morning Qb led the field into the first turn through an opening quarter of 23.43 seconds with 24-1 longshot Ralston tracking one path to the outside in second over the fast main track.

Alvarado had a tight hold on Forza Di Oro, who was just to the outside of multiple-stakes placed Attachment Rate as Monday Morning Qb produced an easy half-mile in 47.53.

Around the far turn, Forza Di Oro still sought racing room but found an opening a few jumps past the quarter-pole in pursuit of the front end. Forza Di Oro collared Monday Morning Qb at the eighth pole and drew off to a 3 ¾ length victory in a time of 1:50.03.

Monday Morning Qb, with Dylan Davis up, held off a late-charge from two-time graded stakes winner Shared Sense, who finished third. Attachment Rate and Ralston completed the order of finish.

Fresh off a successful Friday at the Big A with two stakes victories, Alvarado said he was satisfied with the trip.

“I was pretty happy the whole way around. I knew what I had underneath and whatever position I was in, he'd be there for me. He makes my job easier,” said Alvarado, who has piloted the horse in all five of his lifetime starts. “He broke nicely today and after that he put me in the spot where we wanted to be. I was a passenger the whole way around. He was just waiting for me to give him the green light when we turned for home. It was the first time for him being on the inside like that and when we started moving forward, he hesitated a little bit, but after a few jumps, he knew what to do and went by the other horse.”

Alvarado added that Forza Di Oro's ability to switch leads was crucial.

“When he switches leads like he did today, he gives that next gear,” Alvarado said. “We'll keep working with him. He's a very talented horse. He's a horse that works very nice in the morning and we've been high on him since the beginning. He had to stop with some issues he had, but he came back very strong this year. Mentally, he still hasn't caught up with his body. He's a big guy with a nice, long stride but I think mentally, he still has to put it together.”

Banking $55,000 in victory, Forza Di Oro enhanced his lifetime earnings to $148,875 through a 5-3-1-0 record.

A Kentucky homebred, Forza Di Oro, who returned $8.30, provided his dam Filare l'Oro with her second graded stakes-winning progeny. The stakes-winning daughter of Hard Spun also produced three-time graded stakes winner Silver Dust.

While switching leads was to the winner's advantage, the same couldn't be said regarding the Butch Reid-trained Monday Morning Qb, who entered the Discovery from a victory in the Maryland Million Classic under Sheldon Russell on October 24 at Laurel Park.

“Butch said he tends to break a little slow the first two jumps,” Davis said. “I just did what Sheldon did in his last race and gave him a couple pops and he gets on the bridle. We got on the lead and he was aggressive, but he was doing good. He's a really big horse and it takes him a little bit to switch his leads, but I thought he still ran well. The other horse was just a little bit better today.”

Live racing resumes Sunday at the Big A with a 10-race card, highlighted by the Grade 3, $100,000 Fall Highweight Handicap for 3-year-olds and upward going six furlongs over the main track; the $100,000 Tepin for juvenile fillies going 1 1/16 miles over the turf; and the $100,000 Autumn Days for fillies and mares 3-years-old and upward going six furlongs on the turf. First post is 11:50 a.m. Eastern.

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‘Hard Work Is Paying Off’ For Kendrick Carmouche At Aqueduct

The first weekend of the Aqueduct Racetrack fall meet saw veteran rider Kendrick Carmouche surge to the top of the standings, posting nine wins, a pair of runner-up efforts and a third-place finish in 27 mounts, registering five more wins than the next-closest rider in Pablo Morales with one-sixth of the 18-day meet concluded.

The long-time New York stalwart made a name for himself on the Parx circuit, winning seven riding titles there from 2008-11 and earning induction into its Hall of Fame in 2015. But racing in the highly competitive NYRA circuit has still seen the 36-year-old earn trips to the winner's circle, including aboard Malathaat in the $100,000 Tempted on Friday. That marked a memorable day that also saw him pilot Microsecond to victory in the day's seventh race, earning trainer Todd Pletcher his 5,000th career win.

“Coming from Parx, I could win three, four, sometimes five races a day there, and to come to New York, I've been here for five years and I think the work I've been putting in, you can see it now,” Carmouche said. “I've had a lot of support from my family and the fans and the owners and trainers, they've been great and it means a lot.

“No matter who I'm on, I'm trying to put the horse in the best position for my horse to win,” he added. “I'm putting my horse in the best position. Once I get that, I'm going to try and win it from there. If I don't get the job done, that's the way it is. But it's tough riding with the best riders in New York. I feel like I'm doing good for my situation, I just need to work a little bit harder and do things a little bit different. The hard work is paying off.”

Entering Thursday, Carmouche had posted a winning percentage of 33.33 percent and has finished in the money in more than 44 percent of his starts this meet, compiling earnings of $432,503.

For his career, which started with his first victory in 2000, Carmouche has amassed 3,300 wins in more than 20,000 starts, notching earnings in excess of $112 million and six career Grade 2 wins, including this year aboard Fire At Will in the Pilgrim.

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