East Or West? Delacour Keeping Options Open For Versatile Luck Money

Catherine Wills' Luck Money could make a second consecutive appearance in a New York turf route, though trainer Arnaud Delacour said he has not yet decided on the 3-year-old Lookin At Lucky filly's next spot.

The Grade 3, $100,000 Long Island for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up going 1 3/8 miles on Aqueduct Racetrack's inner turf on Nov. 28 remains a possibility, though the Grade 1, $300,000 American Oaks at Santa Anita Park on Dec. 28 is also still in play.

“I'm not sure yet. I'm going to breeze her this weekend and decide. There's a possibility I'll skip that race and run her in the American Oaks a month later,” said Delacour on Luck Money, who continues to train at Fair Hill in Maryland.

Delacour said he initially thought Luck Money could use the extra time between starts after stretching out to 1 1/2 miles for the first time last out to win the Zagora on Oct. 31 over yielding Belmont turf.

The Kentucky homebred defeated a nine-horse Zagora field, besting Hungry Kitten by a neck, for a 91 Beyer Speed Figure that tied a personal best. It was Luck Money's first stakes victory in the longest race of her career, having won previously at 1 1/16 miles and 1 1/8 miles.

“I thought the last race was going to take too much out of her, but she's been training very well, so I'll get together with the owner and see what she wants to do,” Delacour said.

Luck Money has won over turf listed as firm, good and yielding, making her a versatile option for her connections.

“She's neat in that regard. She seems to run well on any type of track and everywhere; I've shipped her quite a bit,” Delacour said. “She hasn't really had a bad race. She's exceptional.”

Luck Money is 3-3-4 in 10 career starts with earnings of $224,200. After besting older horses in the Zagora, the sophomore could face the same conditions again in the Long Island, while the American Oaks is restricted to fellow 3-year-olds.

“Running her against older fillies, they have a lot more experience, especially going a mile and a half, but she just stepped right up, so that was interesting,” Delacour said.

Edward Seltzer and Beverly Anderson's Ode to Joy could also be making a stakes appearance at the Big A, targeting the $100,000 Autumn Days for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up going six furlongs on the outer turf on Nov. 29.

Nearing the end of her 5-year-old campaign, Ode to Joy could be looking to move into the next phase of her career on a high note, entering off a third-place finish in the five-furlong The Very One on Oct. 1 at Pimlico. The race before, she ran fourth in the Incredible Revenge moved off the turf on August 16 at Monmouth and will make her Aqueduct debut looking for her first stakes victory.

“Depending on the turf, there's a little bit of rain in the forecast next week, but if it's on the turf, I'll do that with her,” Delacour said. “She's been very consistent. She might not be the favorite, but I hope she can run well in there. I think the owners have in mind to breed her in the spring, so we're going to try and see if we can add to her resume this winter and she'll be a broodmare.”

While Ode to Joy's racing career could be winding down, Dame of Malta's is on an upward trajectory after a third-place debut finish on Oct. 21 at Keeneland in a one-mile maiden race moved off the turf.

Owned by Runnymede Farm and Catesby Clay, the juvenile daughter of Union Rags is slated to make her turf debut on Saturday at Aqueduct in Race 6. Her form on grass is intriguing to Delacour, as the promising bay filly is out of the multiple graded stakes winning mare Bizzy Caroline, who is a half-sister to 2017 Eclipse Award Champion Turf Female Lady Eli.

“I think it'll be interesting; she ran better than our expectations last time on the dirt,” Delacour said. “She was a little green with the kickback, but she really showed up and did it nice. I think the turf should be good. It remains to be seen, but I like the way she's been training. She's closely related to Lady Eli, so that's the type of horse you want to see on the turf at least once, right?”

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Delacour Duo Seeking More Magic

On a bright fall morning in Maryland, Arnaud and Leigh Delacour are diligently at work at their Fair Hill-based stable. Arnaud is on the phone, talking logistics with various jockey agents while inspecting a youngster that just returned from a workout. Meanwhile, Leigh leads a troop of four exercise riders and their mounts out for a light jog through the rolling pastures of Fair Hill. When she returns, they’ll compare notes and move on to the next set.

It takes a special kind of relationship for a couple to successfully run a business together, but anyone that’s trying should take notes from the Delacours. In just over a decade, they’ve taken hundreds of trips to the winner’s circle and made several Grade I headlines. But if anyone asks, they will say they owe much of their success to a Frenchman and an Englishman who took the time to develop them into the horsemen they have become.

Arnaud grew up on a farm in Normandy and quickly realized his dream of one day becoming a successful trainer. He started out at Chantilly, becoming the assistant trainer to Alain de Royer Dupré. After testing the waters in France, England and Argentina, he eventually ended up in the States with fellow Frenchman Christophe Clement.

“Christophe was a very good teacher,” Arnaud said. “He’s very intense in the way he trains, but I guess that’s the French way so it doesn’t really bother me. He’s really hands on, is there every day and really puts young people on the right path.”

At the same time, Leigh was learning the tricks of the trade from British-born Graham Motion.

“I started out by loving horses as a child, and that took me to Graham Motion’s barn at Laurel,” she recalled. “Working with Graham was the epitome of horse racing childhood. It was the Harvard education of racing.”

Leigh said that while she worked with Motion for over 10 years, the top-class trainer pushed her to graduate from college and take other opportunities in the industry, including a stint working under Barclay Tagg and with several other trainers.

While working with Graham and Anita Motion, she was introduced to Clement’s assistant trainer at the time–Arnaud Delacour.

“Graham and Anita set us up on our first date,” Leigh said with a grin. “In fact, I give more of the credit to Anita. She’s the one that said, ‘That’s the one you want. You should go there.’ Graham would never say anything like that. He’s too proper.”

It was a match perhaps made by the racing gods, because while they were compatible on a personal level, their racing ideology aligned as well.

“When we compared notes and talked about how we wanted to train, we looked at our playbooks and laid them on top of each other and realized they were nearly identical,” Leigh said.

When the duo went out on their own in 2007, they decided to base their operation at the picturesque Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Maryland.

“We chose Fair Hill because we thought it was a wonderful place,” Arnaud said. “There’s a lot of opportunity as far as horse placement. We’re in the middle of a lot of racetracks, so it was a little easier to be less stuck and try to place horses well to win races.”

Another major plus for planting roots at Fair Hill was the proximity to their matchmaking neighbors and close friends, Graham and Anita Motion.

“That was no small part of our decision to be here–my experience with them and wishing to emulate something like what they have,” Leigh said.

Both Arnaud and Leigh say they strongly believe that the lessons they learned from Motion and Clement were essential in getting their stable on its feet.

“Everything we do on a daily basis came from the methodology and thorough horsemanship that Arnaud and I learned from Graham and Clement,” Leigh said. “Their methods and ethics were something that we wanted to make sure we were ambassadors of going forward, hoping to be the next generation of what they were able to do.”

“When I first started with Clement I was at Payson Park, where it was the same kind of setup [as Fair Hill] with paddocks and round pens,” Arnaud said. “So a lot of the things we do are in more of a farm setting than a racetrack. I got used to Christophe’s methods and the way he does things, and Graham is really similar to Christophe.”

Leigh continued, “We would do anything for them. They went out of their way to get us started and we’re the competition. Of course, we weren’t when we began. We weren’t at that level then. But we still look up to them now.”

Since first starting out, the Delacours have collected dozens of stakes win and developed several graded stakes winners–most notably A.P. Indian (Indian Charlie), who went on a six-race stakes-winning streak in 2016, raking in four graded stakes titles including two Grade I wins at Saratoga.

“Any win is important,” Arnaud said. “But when A.P. Indian won the GI Forego S. that was pretty special. Actually, no, even when he won the GI Vanderbilt H., because winning a Grade I at Saratoga is great, but winning two in three weeks is even better.”

The Arnaud family enjoys the tranquil setting of Fair Hill | Anita Motion

A.P. Indian was reminiscent of many of the Delacour’s trainees in that he raced at 11 different tracks over his six-year career.

Other top horses include GIII Lexington S. winner and 2015 Preakness S. third-place finisher Divining Rod (Tapit), three-time MGSW Hawksmoor (Ire) {Amamour (Ire)} and near-millionaire earner and Breeders’ Cup runner-up Chalon (Dialed In).

Most recently, their sophomore filly Magic Attitude (GB) {Galileo (Ire)} made her Stateside debut a winning one with a late effort in the GI Belmont Oaks Invitational S. this September. In her next start, she ran in the money in the GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup S. at Keeneland.

When Arnaud and Leigh are not busy tending to Grade I performers, they can be found entertaining their three young son.

“They’re all healthy and smart and funny,” Leigh said. “With the pandemic, we’re also homeschooling right now. Our goals are to raise our sons and enjoy horse racing, wherever and however that meshes together.”

Leigh cites Fair Hill as the perfect setting for introducing their children to the horse world.

“It’s kind of nice to stop by at night with the kids in their pajamas and walk down the shed row to give everyone peppermints. When we go home the kids smell like the barn and usually have dirty hands, but that’s okay.”

Both Arnaud and Leigh stress the essentiality of their unwavering teamwork.

“It’s a partnership,” Arnaud explained. “She keeps me on the right path. We decide everything together pretty much. She’s really good at what she does. So I think it’s a great partnership that works really well.”

“Arnaud and I working together has never been a problem,” Leigh said. “I think Anita chose well for me. He seeks my opinion on a lot of things pertaining to the racehorses and I seek his about the children and the finance side of the barn. There’s a joke with the staff that if we ever divorce, some of the guys are going to work for me and some are going to work for Arnaud. They’ve already chosen sides. But it’s easy for us to work together and I realize it’s not for some people, but the way our relationship works is very mellow.”

For Leigh, she says that her greatest achievement has been helping Arnaud fulfill the dream he had as a young boy on a small farm in France.

“Arnaud’s dream from childhood was to be a horse trainer,” she said. “Every winner is rewarding for us, for the mentality of our barn employees and for all the time, money and energy that each of the owners invests in their horses and in us. We try to do our best every day and it’s a privilege for us to get to come out every morning and do that.”

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Looking for ‘Magic’ in the QEII

Newcomer Magic Attitude (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) marked her U.S. debut with an emphatic score in the Sept. 19 GI Belmont Oaks Invitational S. and will try to remain undefeated at the highest level in this country in Saturday’s GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup S. at Keeneland. A winner of one of three starts in France for trainer Fabrice Chappet and owner Haras du Saubouas, the English-bred returned off an eight-month layoff to take ParisLongchamp’s G3 Prix Vanteaux in May before finishing runner up in the G1 Prix Saint Alary at Chantilly in June. Transferred to her new trainer Arnaud Delacour following a fifth in the July 5 G1 Prix de Diane, the Lael Stables runner overcame a wide trip to win the 10-furlong Oaks Sept. 19 and will reunite with Javier Castellano, who was aboard for her U.S. unveiling.

Fellow Grade I-winner Red Lark (Ire) (Epaulette {Aus}) also tries to add another top tier tally to her record. Winless in three starts in Ireland last term, the Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners runner won her second U.S. start going nine furlongs on the Santa Anita turf in February before finishing off the board in her next two black-type appearances at that Arcadia oval. Second in the GIII Wilshire S. June 20, the Paddy Gallagher trainee was third–beaten a length–in a Del Mar optional claimer July 12 before attaining a career high in the GI Del Mar Oaks Aug. 22.

One of two fillies by Triple Crown hero American Pharoah in the field, Sweet Melania kicked off the season with a wire-to-wire win in Belmont’s one-mile GIII Wonder Again S. June 20 before getting nipped in the Aug. 28 GIII Lake George S. at Saratoga. Trained by Todd Pletcher, the Robert and Lawana Low representative already has registered a win over the surface, having taken last fall’s GII Jessamine S. at Keeneland.

Also, sired by American Pharoah, Harvey’s Lil Goil tries to recapture the form that saw her win the nine-furlong GIII Regret S. at Churchill Downs. Third returning to the dirt for the 10-furlong GI Alabama S. at Saratoga Aug. 15, the Bill Mott pupil just missed by a neck in the Dueling Grounds Oaks over 10 1/2 furlongs at Kentucky Downs Sept. 10. Mott also saddles Belmont Oaks runner-up Antoinette (Hard Spun).

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Magic Attitude, Antoinette Rematch Set For Saturday’s Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup

Lael Stables' Magic Attitude (GB) headlines a field of nine 3-year-old fillies entered Wednesday for Saturday's 37th running of the $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1) Presented by Dixiana at Keeneland.

The 1 1/8-mile grass test will go as the ninth race on Saturday's 10-race program with a 5:30 p.m. ET post time. First post Saturday is 1:05 p.m.

Trained by Arnaud Delacour, Magic Attitude comes to Keeneland off a 2¼-length victory over Antoinette in the Belmont Oaks Invitational (G1) in her U.S. debut.

Javier Castellano, a three-time winner of the QE II, retains the mount on Magic Attitude and will break from post position four.

Antoinette, owned and bred by Godolphin, won the Saratoga Oaks in her start prior to the Belmont Oaks. Trained by Bill Mott, who won the QE II in 2014 with Crown Queen, Antoinette will be ridden by James Graham and break from post position three.

Godolphin will have another homebred in the gate in Micheline. Trained by Mike Stidham, who won the QE II in 2015 with Her Emmynency, Micheline won the Exacta System Dueling Grounds Oaks at Kentucky Downs in her most recent start. She will be ridden by Florent Geroux and break from post position seven.

Mott will have a second starter in Harvey's Lil Goil. Second to Micheline in the Dueling Grounds Oaks, Harvey's Lil Goil races for the Estate of Harvey Clarke and Paul Braverman. Martin Garcia has the mount and will break from post position one.

One other trainer with past success in the QE II will be represented Saturday.

Mark Casse, trainer of 2017 winner La Coronel, will send out Stonestreet Stables' homebred Hendy Woods. Second to Sharing in the Edgewood (G2) Presented by Forcht Bank in her most recent start, Hendy Woods will be ridden by Julien Leparoux and break from post position six.

The lone entrant to have run on the Keeneland turf course is Robert and Lawana Low's Sweet Melania. Trained by Todd Pletcher, Sweet Melania won last year's JPMorgan Chase Jessamine (G2) by 5½ lengths and finished third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) at Santa Anita in her next start.

Winner of the Wonder Again (G3) in her 2020 debut and second beaten a nose in the Lake George (G3), Sweet Melania will be ridden by Flavien Prat and break from post position two.

Invading from California are the 1-2 finishers from the Del Mar Oaks (G1): Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Red Lark (IRE) and Wachtel Stable and Gary Barber's homebred California Kook.

Trained by Paddy Gallagher, Red Lark notched her first stakes win with the 19-1 upset in the Del Mar Oaks. Drayden Van Dyke will have the mount and break from post position nine.

Following her runner-up effort at 27-1 in the Del Mar Oaks, California Kook came back two weeks later to run fourth against the boys in the Del Mar Derby (G2). Trained by Peter Miller, California Kook will break from post position eight and be ridden by Tyler Gaffalione.

The field for the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup, with riders from the inside, is: Harvey's Lil Goil (Garcia), Sweet Melania (Prat), Antoinette (Graham), Magic Attitude (GB) (Castellano), Lucky Betty (Declan Cannon), Hendy Woods (Leparoux), Micheline (Geroux), California Kook (Gaffalione) and Red Lark (IRE) (Van Dyke). All starters will carry 121 pounds.

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