arnaud delacour | Horse Racing Free Tips

Chez Pierre Right at Home in Maker’s Mark; Modern Games Second

The public bet reigning Eclipse Award-winning turf male Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) like he couldn't lose Friday's GI Maker's Mark Mile at Keeneland, but Lael Stables Chez Pierre (Fr) (Mehmas {Ire}) had other designs, as he kicked hard into the stretch and ran out a very easy winner in stakes-record time.

Alertly into stride from gate three, the 5-year-old dueled inside and heads apart with Peter Brant's Dr Zempf (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}) around the first turn and tugged his way to the front beneath Flavien Prat to lead passing the five-furlong peg. The Brown trainee, trying a two-turn mile for the first time, proved a handful for Tyler Gaffalione down the backstretch and was allowed to stride to the front with a half-mile to race, but Prat remained unhurried aboard Chez Pierre, who was never off the bridle and re-engaged Dr Zempf going well at the top of the lane. The two-time Arqana sales grad pinched a break in upper stretch and really poured it on from there to prevail by 3 1/2 lengths. The final time of 1:33.46 lowered the previous mark of 1:33.54 set by Perfect Soul (Ire) back in 2004.

“I talked with [trainer] Arnaud [Delacour] that we could find ourselves on the lead, which happened,” said Prat. “But he wasn't really comfortable. He was looking around, and when [Dr Zempf] down the backside made a move, it actually helped me a lot because then I had a target and he was able to settle down and get in a good rhythm.”

Modern Games looked a bit flat-footed when Dr. Zempf rolled to the front and was hard-ridden the remainder, but could do no better than second, just ahead of second pick Up To the Mark (Not This Time) in third.

“He had a good trip,” William Buick said of the beaten favorite. “The winner went well. I was under pressure a little bit earlier than I thought I would be. The pace was even. I'm sure he will improve from this run. I was closing, but I was under pressure quite soon.”

Trained in France by Francis-Henri Graffard after selling for €100,000 at the 2020 Arqana July Sale, Chez Pierre was perfect in a pair of starts at two at Chantilly and added a conditions event at that venue in May 2021 before shipping stateside. A big-figure allowance winner at Tampa in his U.S. bow last March, he was sidelined off a blowout victory in the Henry Clark S. at Laurel the following month and resumed with a keen sixth behind 'TDN Rising Star' Emmanuel (More Than Ready) in the GIII Tampa Bay S. Feb. 4.

Pedigree Notes:

Chez Pierre is the 13th graded/group winner and fourth top-level scorer for Tally-Ho Stud's Mehmas (by Acclamation {GB}), half of which have come in this country, the other being Del Mar Oaks heroine Going Global (Ire).

Chez Pierre's dam was purchased by Mandore International Agency for €15,000 at the 2015 Arqana February Sale and has since gone on to punch well above her weight in the breeding shed. The half-sister to GIII Buena Vista H. heroine Uraib (Ire) (Mark of Esteem {Ire}) is also the dam of Chez Pierre's year-younger Listed Prix Saraca-winning half-sister Zelda (Fr) (Zelzal {Fr}) and produced a full-brother to the latter in 2021.

Friday, Keeneland
MAKER'S MARK MILE S.-GI, $518,575, Keeneland, 4-14, 4yo/up, 1mT, 1:33.46, fm.
1–CHEZ PIERRE (FR), 123, g, 5, by Mehmas (Ire)
                1st Dam: Hortensia (Ity), by Orpen
                2nd Dam: Hamsaat (Ire), by Sadler's Wells
                3rd Dam: Steel Habit (Ire), by Habitat
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN, 1ST GRADE I WIN. (€25,000 Ylg
'19 ARAUG; €100,000 2yo '20 ARQSRM). O-Lael Stables;
B-SCEA des Prairies & Ecurie de Castillon (FR); T-Arnaud
Delacour; J-Flavien Prat. $298,375. Lifetime Record: 7-6-0-0,
$427,791. Werk Nick Rating: A.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the
free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Modern Games (Ire), 123, c, 4, Dubawi (Ire)–Modern Ideals
(GB), by New Approach (Ire). O/B-Godolphin (Ire); T-Charles
Appleby. $96,250.
3–Up to the Mark, 123, c, 4, Not This Time–Belle's Finale, by
Ghostzapper. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE,
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($450,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Repole
Stable and St. Elias Stable; B-Ramspring Farm (KY); T-Todd A.
Pletcher. $57,750.
Margins: 3HF, NK, 1 1/4. Odds: 9.42, 0.45, 5.39.
Also Ran: Cabo Spirit, Speaking Scout, Dr Zempf (GB), Emmanuel, In Love (Brz).
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Fields Shaping Up For ‘Turf Champions Day’ Stakes At Tampa Bay Downs

The likely fields for the first two graded stakes races of the meet at Tampa Bay Downs in Oldsmar, Fla., have begun to take shape, stakes coordinator Gerry Stanislawzyk announced.

Billed as “Turf Champions Day,” the Feb. 5 card is highlighted by a pair of Grade 3, $175,000 events on the grass: the 36th edition of the Tampa Bay Stakes for 4-year-olds and upward and the 23rd running of the Endeavour Stakes for fillies and mares 4 and up. Both races will be run at a distance of 1 1/16 miles.

Tampa Bay Downs-based trainer Arnaud Delacour, who won the Endeavour back-to-back with Hawksmoor in 2019 and Jehozacat in 2020 (both owned by Lael Stables), expects to take aim at his first Tampa Bay Stakes trophy with a pair of 6-year-olds who ran in last year's renewal: owner Mark B. Grier's horse Eons and the Lael Stables-owned gelding Talk Or Listen.

Eons finished second in last year's Tampa Bay Stakes, three-quarters of a length behind winner Get Smokin, while Talk Or Listen was a fast-closing fourth in the 12-horse field.

“We thought this was a good race to bring them both back,” said Delacour, who breezed both horses four furlongs Saturday in cold, windy conditions over the main Tampa Bay Downs dirt track. “We're happy with the way they've been training, and it should be a very competitive race.

“There are a lot of things to like about entering them in that race. The timing is good as far as setting them up for the rest of the year, and they've both been training here, so they don't have to ship in,” Delacour said. “The other thing is the quality of the (Tampa Bay Downs) turf course. It just seems like a good spot for them.”

Eons is a Grade 3 winner with career earnings of $429,785 while Talk Or Listen, who was bred in Ireland, is a Grade 2-placed stakes winner with a career bankroll of $282,459.

“They are very similar horses, class-wise,” Delacour said. “I really can't say one is better than the other.”

On the distaff side, south Florida-based trainer Chad Brown is expected to take two shots at capturing his fourth Endeavour Stakes victory in 11 years. He won the race in 2012 with Zagora, who went on to earn an Eclipse Award as that year's champion grass mare, and added victories in 2015 with Testa Rossi and last year with Counterparty Risk.

Brown's likely entrants are both owned by major client Peter M. Brant. Their 4-year-old filly In Italian, bred in Great Britain, is 2-for-3 lifetime, her most recent victory coming here on Jan. 12 in a one-mile turf allowance in gate-to-wire fashion in a swift 1:34.64.

Brown and Brant's other probable entrant, 4-year-old Bleecker Street, is 3-for-3, with victories at three different tracks. She made her 2022 debut here on Jan. 8, winning an allowance/optional claiming event on the turf in a fast 1:41.45 for the mile-and-a-sixteenth.

Other expected Endeavour entrants include 4-year-old filly Lady Speightspeare, who won a Sovereign Award as Canada's Champion 2-Year-Old Filly in 2020 after winning the Grade 1 Natalma Stakes at Woodbine. After being off for almost a year, she returned better than ever last fall, winning the Grade 2 Bessarabian Stakes in a sizzling 1:21.03 for the seven furlongs on Woodbine's all-weather track.

Lady Speightspeare is owned by Charles Fipke and trained by Roger Attfield.

Other intended Endeavour runners are 4-year-old Oyster Box, the third-place finisher in last year's Grade 3 Florida Oaks at Tampa Bay Downs, trained by H. Graham Motion; stakes winner Morning Molly, who finished second in last year's Grade 2 Hillsborough Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, trained by Tom Proctor; stakes winner Jezebel's Kitten, trained by Christopher Davis; Stunning Princess, from the barn of Danny Gargan; Katama Moonlight, trained by Saffie Joseph, Jr.; and Pythoness, trained by Michael B. Campbell.

Motion won the Endeavour in 2014 with Cloud Scapes and in 2011 with Silver Reunion.

Back to the Tampa Bay Stakes, in which a pair of Grade 3 winners, 6-year-old horse English Bee and 5-year-old horse Shirl's Speight, are among those expected to join Eons and Talk Or Listen in the starting gate.

English Bee, bred and owned by Calumet Farm and trained by Motion, finished third in his most recent start, the Grade 2 Ft. Lauderdale Stakes on Dec. 18 at Gulfstream. As a 3-year-old, English Bee won the Grade 3 New Kent County Virginia Derby at Colonial Downs.

Shirl's Speight's graded score came in 2020 as a 3-year-old in the Grade 3 Marine Stakes at Woodbine. In his most recent effort, he won 1 1/16-mile allowance/optional claiming race here on the turf on Jan. 15. Attfield trains Shirl's Speight for owner Fipke.

Also expected are Carpenters Call, out of the barn of leading Oldsmar trainer Gerald Bennett; Call Curt, trained by Juan Carlos Avila; Fly Like an Eagle, trained by Tom Albertrani; and one or two others, Stanislawzyk said.

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David Powell Passes Away

David Powell, a former American journalist who relocated to France in the 1970s and purchased Haras du Lieu des Champs in Coupesante in 1980, passed away in the early morning hours Sunday after a long illness, according to his son, Richard. He was 73 years old.

In addition to Richard, who bought the 222-acre farm from his father in 2013, Powell was the father of Freddy, the executive director at Arqana; Leo Powell, a trainer in California; and stepfather to trainer Arnaud Delacour.

During his career, Powell was a longtime contributor of articles on racing and breeding for several major publications in France, Britain and the United States, including Pacemaker and the Thoroughbred Daily News. He was a breeder, owner, manager and trainer of racehorses in France, most recently serving as the European-based racing manager for owner Magalen O. “Maggie” Bryant, one of France's most successful steeplechase owners, who passed away herself June 28, 2021. Powell did the pretraining and layup for her horses, and their recent successes included the G1 Grand Steeplechase of Paris, the oldest and most prestigious jump race in Paris, which they won in 2015 with Milord Thomas. They won the race the following year with So French, who came back to win it again in 2017.

Powell was born in Argentina to an American father and a German mother. His father was a diplomat, and during the family's travels, he went to Longchamp and discovered horse racing. He came to New York to study, and wrote for the Daily Racing Form while still a student at Columbia University. He was one of the original 120 fax subscribers to the TDN.

“He was the consummate horseman,” said Johnathan Miller, Bryant's American equine advisor. “He was very knowledgeable and very meticulous. He was passionate about all the horses that he cared for. I knew his health had not been good, but I know that the death of Maggie Bryant was a real gut punch for him. Those two were an amazing partnership. It was awesome to watch him with Maggie and the reason she was so successful in France was due to his genius.”

In a TDN article on Richard Powell in 2021, Chris McGrath asked what he had learned from his father. “Always to give your best,” Powell said. “And always to search for solutions, to find answers. Even today, I still have questions for him-and he gives me, I wouldn't say the pleasure but the 'envie' to seek the right thing for the right horse. Because you have to work on them all individually, to find the right balance for each one.”

Powell, Remi Bellocq and Pierre Bellocq | courtesy Remi Bellocq

Remi Bellocq, who along with his father Pierre “Peb” Bellocq, were old family friends and who had his first job in racing working for David Powell, said, “With the passing of David Powell, the Bellocq family have lost an old and dear friend and, in my case, a wonderful early mentor. And racing has lost one of its imortant pioneers. Few are aware that before one could find an obscure bloodline through the touch of a smart phone button, there was was only David Powell. My sympathies to his family.”

“A very sad day indeed,” Anthony Bromley of Highflyer Bloodstock tweeted. “David Powell was a very special man with immense passion for the sport he loved and the horses he nurtured, produced and often mended. His eye for a champion was unparalleled and he taught me so much. I cannot believe he has gone. Please rest peacefully.”

“It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of our racing manager in France, David Powell,” co-owner Simon Munir of Double Green tweeted. “A pioneer who loved our sport and put heart and soul into #Doublegreen. RIP dear David. Our prayers and thoughts are with David and his family.”

Added Tinnakill House Stud's Dermot Cantillon on Twitter, “Sad to hear of the passing of David Powell. A great friend for many years. Always enjoyed and looked forward to his company. I valued his opinion as it was based on a mixture of research, fact and experience. Sincere condolences to his family.”

He is survived by his three children, and his wife, Elisabeth.

Information on services will be published when it is made available.

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Laurel’s Claiming Crown Preview Winners Among Nominees For Claiming Crown Races At Gulfstream

All five of Laurel Park's Claiming Crown preview race winners as well as several Maryland-based horsemen are among the nominees for the 23rd Claiming Crown to be held Saturday, Dec. 4 at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

Laurel Park in Laurel, Md., played host to Claiming Crown Preview Day Oct. 10, where preview race winners each earned an automatic berth to the Claiming Crown as well as a $2,500 stipend toward travel costs to South Florida.

Stablemates Belgrano and Aequor, trained by 79-year-old Frank Russo, were respectively nominated to the $90,000 Canterbury for 3-year-olds and up which have not started for a claiming price of $25,000 or less in 2020-21 sprinting five furlongs on turf and $75,000 Express for 3-year-olds and up that have run for a tag of $8,000 or less lifetime going six furlongs.

Peace Sign Stables' Belgrano has strung together three consecutive wins including the Rainbow Heir Aug. 28 at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., in his preview day prep. The 7-year-old gelding ran seventh in last year's Canterbury. Also among the 33 nominations is Winning Stables, Inc.'s Xy Speed, neck winner of the Oct. 2 Laurel Dash for trainer Gerald Bennett.

Morning Moon Farm's Aequor edged Sevier by a neck in the Express preview, his second straight win. Formerly based at Gulfstream, the 6-year-old gelding ran ninth in the 2019 Claiming Crown Jewel. Sevier, from the barn of trainer Jamie Ness, is also one of 24 Express nominees.

Travin Stables' Lookin At Roses rebounded from a fourth behind Magic Michael in the Grade 3 Greenwood Cup to win Laurel's preview for the $85,000 Rapid Transit, a seven-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds and up that have started for a claiming price of $16,000 or less in 2020-21. Ness-trained Magic Michael is nominated to the $125,000 Claiming Crown Jewel as well as Laurel's $100,000 Richard W. Small Nov. 27, both going 1 1/8 miles.

Other Rapid Transit nominees include Silent Malice and Grade 3 winner Tusk. Silent Malice is one of three horses nominated to Claiming Crown races by Laurel-based trainer Rodolpho Sanchez-Salomon, along with Foggy Dreams ($95,000 Tiara) and Calypso Ghost ($80,000 Glass Slipper). Trainer Mary Eppler, based at historic Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md., also nominated Tusk to the Jewel and $95,000 Emerald, Seranade a Kitten to the Tiara and Heza Kitten to the Emerald.

Bruno Schickendanz's Mandate, trained by Robert J.W. Johnston, is among 50 nominees to the 1 1/16-mile Emerald on turf for 3-year-olds and up which have started for a claiming price of $25,000 or less in 2020-21. The 4-year-old Blame gelding won Laurel's Emerald preview by 3 ½ lengths and followed up with a victory in the one-mile Artie Schiller on the grass at Aqueduct Nov. 13.

You Must Chill and Just Whistle, respectively third and fifth in Laurel's Emerald preview for trainers Ness and Michael Matz, are also nominated, as is Ten Strike Racing's Caribbean, a 7-year-old Australia-bred gelding claimed for $40,000 out of his most recent start Marc 19 at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., by Laurel-based trainer Lacey Gaudet. Caribbean is also nominated to the Jewel.

Team Valor International's Beantown Baby, from the Fair Hill, Md. barn of trainer Arnaud Delacour, was a popular neck winner of Laurel's Distaff Dash preview, her third win from five 2021 starts. The $90,000 Distaff Dash at five-furlongs on turf is for fillies and mares 3 and up that have started for a claiming price of $25,000 or less in 2020-21.

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