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Risen Star Upsetter Continuing Sire-Making Tradition

This Saturday, Calumet Farm looks to pull off a bit of an upset in the GII Risen Star with their homebred Santa Cruiser (Dialed In), who broke his maiden last November and ran fourth in his most recent start in the GIII Lecomte S.

Santa Cruiser may go off as one of the longer shots on the board, but if he were to win, it wouldn't be the farm's first upset in the same race.

Three years ago, Calumet's homebred Bravazo (Awesome Again-Tiz O'Gold, by Cee's Tizzy) won the GII Risen Star S. at odds of 21-1 and went on to earn over $2 million.

This year, he retires to stud at his birthplace, having danced nearly every dance over his four-year career while running in the money in six of some of the top Grade I races of his division.

Bravazo will stand for a fee of $6,000 in his first year at stud, beginning his career as the first homebred to take up stud duty at Calumet since the farm was placed under new ownership in 2012.

“He would be the first stallion to have been born and raised and then go off to the track for Calumet and return as a stallion,” said Calumet stallion manager Darrell Hayes. “So he's pretty much a new chapter for Calumet under its new owner.”

Trained by D. Wayne Lukas, the dark bay broke his maiden at second asking as a juvenile before placing second in the GI Breeders' Futurity. He stamped his ticket to the Kentucky Derby with his victory in the GII Risen Star S., taking the three path around the far turn and battling to get the nose over stakes winner Snapper Sinclair (City Zip).

“Bravazo was such a hard-knocking horse,” Hayes said. “He started his 3-year-old campaign in the Risen Star winning just as he does best, coming down the stretch and leaving everything on the track. Guts out, heart out, determined to get ahead and leaving everything on the track. That to me showed a lot of guts, a lot of will.”

Bravazo got up for sixth in the 2018 GI Kentucky Derby and nearly caught Justify in the GI Preakness S., finishing a close second.

Later in his sophomore season, the colt ran second behind champion Good Magic (Curlin) in the GI Haskell Invitational S., third in the GI Runhappy Travers S., third in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and second behind Leofric (Candy Ride {Arg}) in the GI Clark H.

“Bravazo's 3-year-old campaign had 11 starts, eight of which were Grade I and five of which he placed and showed in,” Hayes said. “To me, it was one of the strongest 3-year-old crops, including a Triple Crown winner who Bravazo almost caught at the wire. Bravazo was one of those horses that showed up every day and played his heart out. Whether he won or not, he left everything on the track that he could give.”

“It showed in all those Grade I races that he ran in,” he continued. “They were filled with champion horses. He wasn't scared to run against the tough competition. Bravazo had such a tough campaign as a 3-year-old and had almost double the amount of starts as any other top competitor that he had that year.”

In recent years, the rather obscure cross of Awesome Again with Cee's Tizzy in Bravazo's pedigree has developed into a tried-and-true sire-producing match up.

It started with Ghostazpper. The first and most famous son of Awesome Again to be named a champion, his stakes-winning dam was a daughter of Relaunch – the sire of Cee's Tizzy. Ghostzapper is now on track to surpass his late sire with 12 Grade I winners.

Then came another son of Awesome Again named Paynter. This one was out of Tizso (Cee's Tizzy), a full-sister to Tiznow but also a granddaughter of Relaunch. Paynter would, of course, go on to stand at WinStar Farm as a Grade I-winning millionaire now making headlines as the sire of red hot champion Knicks Go.

Calumet stallion Oxbow (Awesome Again) was bred by Colts Neck Stables and is out of Tizamazing, a full-sister to the dam of Paynter. Their dam, Cee's Song, was bred to Cee's Tizzy eight times, six of those resulting in stakes winners or the producers of stakes winners.

Oxbow was purchased by Brad Kelley's Bluegrass Hall as a yearling for $250,000 in 2011. A year later, the Calumet Investment Group purchased Calumet Farm and leased it to Kelley. Oxbow's win in the 2013 GI Preakness S. marked the first Triple Crown race win for the farm in 45 years. He now stands at Calumet as a five-time stakes producer and his 3-year-old Hot Rod Charlie ran second in last year's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Oxbow's full brother and now sire Awesome Patriot won the 2011 Alydar S.

A year after Oxbow's Preakness win, Calumet found a similar mating up for grabs at the Keeneland November Sale. Tiz o'Gold was in foal to Awesome Again and, just as the dams of Oxbow and Paynter, was by Cee's Tizzy. Additionally, all three broodmares were out of mares with Seattle Slew as their grandsire.

Calumet Farm brought Tiz O'Gold home for $35,000 and soon after, she foaled Bravazo.

Hayes said that this son of Awesome Again offers unique qualities from those of the aforementioned studs.

“Bravazo has a very attractive, maybe thinner top than a lot of the Awesome Agains,” he said. “He's a good-looking horse with a fantastic head. He brings a little bit more late speed that I think will help him down the road.”

Bravazo now has the entire Calumet team anticipating this new season in the homebred's career.

“We've had some other horses come in that we've acquired during this racing careers, but for him to be an actual bred-and-raised racehorse, foaled on the farm, is unexplainable,” Hayes said. “We're so excited; we're looking forward to getting him in the breeding shed and having his foals come next season.”

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Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Veteran Hofmans Still Fishing For His Next Big One

It's been a few years since 77-year-old trainer David Hofmans has had a nice young horse in his barn, but that doesn't mean he's forgotten how to handle one.

Big Fish, a 3-year-old California-bred by Mr. Big, was already a stakes winner on the turf before entering the starting gate in last Saturday's $200,000 California Cup Derby, a 1 1/16 mile contest on the dirt course at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. Despite a challenging trip, the colt pulled off a 1 1/2-length victory with ease.

“I thought he preferred the turf, but since he was a Cal-bred we thought we'd take advantage of that,” Hofmans said after the race. “He breezed well over (the dirt), the other day with Juan (Hernandez) and seemed to get over it well. He's just maturing. This horse is just now coming into himself. I think we have a better future going forward.

“I dream all the time, it's the only reason I get up in the morning. We'll see what happens, how he comes out of it and go from there.”

A week on from Big Fish's performance, Hofmans has found no reason to cut that dream short. The colt could head north next to run in the El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields, contested over nine furlongs on the synthetic surface.

With 10 points offered toward the Kentucky Derby, the El Camino Real Derby could be Big Fish's first step on the road to Churchill Downs.

“If he continues to improve, we'll consider it,” Hofmans said coyly.

Big Fish put in a big stretch run to win the California Cup Derby under Juan Hernandez

The veteran horseman knows better than to start counting his chickens this early. Hofmans' record speaks for itself: three Breeders' Cup wins, a Belmont Stakes, and a Queen's Plate are just the highlights of his 1,072 victories.

“When you start getting older people think you forget how to train horses,” Hofmans said, laughing. “I think I have a pretty good reputation, but maybe they don't like the old school trainers. Maybe they think I'm stubborn and opinionated!”

A Southern California mainstay since his first win there in 1973, Hofmans probably has a right to be a little bit opinionated. However, the fact that his newest employee has been with him eight years suggests he isn't either. In fact, Hofmans' barn foreman has been on the payroll for 30 years, and Big Fish's owner, Legacy Ranch, has been with Hofmans for nearly 50 years.

“These guys are horsemen,” Hofmans said of his staff. “I go to them sometimes to ask their opinions, and when they come to me for something I never disregard what they say. I think they respect that, and it makes them really want to be involved.”

Hofmans didn't grow up in racing, so his journey to the track was a bit circuitous. His father brought him to the track while he was growing up in Los Angeles, and he met future Hall of Fame trainer Gary Jones in one of his classes at Pasadena City College.

That led to a job with Jones' father, the legendary California trainer Farrell “Wild Horse” Jones. The elder Jones had been a Quarter Horse jockey in his youth, earning the nickname with his “do anything to win” tactics, like hooking his arm over other riders or hitting them with his whip. Farrell Jones also galloped Seabiscuit in the 1930s, and was the leading trainer in California for many years.

“That was a crazier time,” Hofmans said. “He had some innovative ideas, and some very out there ideas. The man was very particular about his details, to a fault, but it helped me learn that you're only as good as your weakest link.

“He and Gary a lot of times were in competition with each other about what to do with the horses, and I was the mediator. That didn't always work out too well for me!”

When Bobby Frankel moved out West, it gave Farrell Jones serious competition for the leading trainer titles he'd dominated for so long.

“They used to hook up and try to be leading trainer, because Farrell Jones was the king around here until Frankel showed up,” Hofmans recalled. “I think it affected Jones more because he was so competitive. I didn't think that was so important, the leading trainer thing. I didn't care about that other ego stuff. I just did what I was told. Well — sometimes. Not all the time!”

By 1972, Hofmans was ready to start thinking about going out on his own. Instead, Frankel offered him a job taking a small group of horses up north on the California fair circuit, and Hofmans jumped at the chance. It would only be a five-month gig, but with eight horses and basically carte blanche over where to place them, Hofmans knew it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

“I won with every horse,” Hofmans said. “It was a really good way to start out, because I had someone looking over my shoulder who was a tremendous horseman, yet I was still on my own, sort of like a father thing. I knew he had my back if I needed advice, but he mostly left me alone to make the decisions.”

When Hofmans came back to Southern California he started training under his own name, and won his first race in 1973.

While he's saddled plenty of good horses since then, his favorite will probably always be the namesake of Legacy Ranch, His Legacy. The 1985 gelding won 14 of his 47 career starts, racing through his 9-year-old season and earning $420,925.

“He was just a little cheap Cal-bred, and we'd run him for $25,000 or $30,000, but he was part of my life for six or seven years here at the track,” Hofmans said. “He won the Cal Cup Starter Handicap three times. The last time, we knew we were going to retire him after, and he was coming down the stretch and he grabbed the lead. My son and I were standing next to each other and looked over, and we were both crying. He was just a wonderful horse who tried every single time.”

One of Hofmans' other training highlights was saddling Alphabet Soup to win the 1996 Breeders' Cup Classic.

“He wasn't the best horse, but he tried every single time, and I knew one day he was gonna win a big race or two because he tried so hard,” Hofmans said. “I remember the San Pasqual, with Chris Antley riding. They turned into the stretch and Alphabet Soup was in front. Soul of the Matter took the lead, passed him by about a half-length, maybe three-quarters, then all of a sudden at the wire there's Alphabet Soup's head. Antley comes back and he's crying, he was sort of an emotional guy anyway, but he said, 'Dave, I didn't do this. That horse got a half a length on us and this guy just threw himself at the wire.'

“Chris and I talked at the Breeders' Cup, he said, 'You know, if I can just get his head just in front at the 3/16ths pole, he may be gutsy enough not to let anybody pass him. And that's exactly how it happened that day, he just sticks his head down and digs in. He had Louis Quatorze on the inside, Cigar on outside; they were better horses but he just would not give in. He had a heart bigger than his body.”

Alphabet Soup (left) and Louis Quatorze battle to the wire, along with Cigar, in the '96 Classic (Breeders' Cup photo)

Perhaps slightly less well-known is the story of Dramatic Gold, owned by John Mabee. The 17-hand son of Slew o' Gold was extremely pigeon-toed and crooked-legged, and could easily have been overlooked as a top racehorse prospect.

“Mr. Mabee sent him to me, and said, 'Now I don't want an argument, you run him for a tag,'” Hofmans recalled. “I told him I'd give him $50,000 for the horse before he'd even started. Mr. Mabee thought about it for a minute, then said, 'Well, if you like him for fifty, maybe I'll just keep him.'

“Dramatic Gold made over $3 million in his career, and personality-wise was the coolest horse I ever trained. Wherever he would go everyone fell in love with him. One of the times Mr. Mabee fired me, he gave him to another trainer, and that trainer called me just to tell me how much he liked the horse.”

Hofmans' most recent Grade 1 winner was Melatonin, who took the Santa Anita Handicap and the Gold Cup at Santa Anita in 2016.

Hofmans celebrates Melatonin's Santa Anita Handicap victory with jockey Joe Talamo
©Benoit Photo

“That was a gratifying career he had for me,” the trainer said. “When he won the 1 1/16-mile race at Del Mar in 41 and something, and did it so easily, I went down there and Joe Talamo was on him talking to my assistant. They both looked at me and said, 'We want to run in the Santa Anita Handicap!'

“I may have thought they were crazy, but I have a pic of Talamo in the Big 'Cap turning into the stretch on Melatonin 3-4 lengths in front. He had just looked back and had a big smile on his face because he hadn't let the horse run yet.”

Hofmans was nominated for the Hall of Fame in 2006, and while his list of accomplishments is long and distinguished, the trainer isn't ready to retire anytime soon. He has 17 horses in the barn these days, and he's still having too much fun to walk away.

“I love training horses, the getting out here early in the morning and interacting with the other horsemen, but mostly the horses,” Hofmans said. “Today's 70 is yesterday's 50, especially when you get a good one in the barn!”

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$50,000 Claim Rightandjust On Target For Risen Star After Sharp Fair Grounds Score

The sight of a 3-year-old in January going two turns and drawing off in deep stretch will get any trainer thinking big. Shane Wilson is no different, and while Rightandjust might not be taking the most conventional path to the February 13 Risen Star (G2), he put everyone on notice after his dominant win in a strong January 16 optional-claimer at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots in New Orleans.

Rightandjust isn't your typical blueblooded Fair Grounds 3-year-old. He wasn't a precocious 2-year-old who came to the backstretch this winter with stakes plans already penciled in at 3. Though he may still well get there, the route to any potential glory is more the road less traveled.

Wilson and owner Wayne T. Davis claimed Rightandjust from trainer Louie Roussel III for $50,000 out of his gate-to-wire 5 ½-length maiden claiming win at Fair Grounds December 18. The son of Awesome Again had run a better-than-it-looked fourth sprinting in a local MSW on debut in November, but looked like a new horse stretching out. Wilson, who teamed with Davis to win a pair of graded stakes with Mocito Rojo—a horse they claimed for $10,000—had a game plan in mind when the meet opened and Rightandjust, a son of Awesome Again, fit the bill.

“We thought coming to Fair Grounds there would be some young, good quality horses that we could get to stretch out,” Wilson said. “Obviously the owner claimed Mocito Rojo awhile back for 10k to win a couple of graded races so we wanted to try and do that again with a couple of young horses. With Rightandjust being an Awesome Again and the mare by Tiznow, we thought he was a young horse with a good race and he finished up strong and should get better going two turns so we took a shot.”

Based on pedigree and what he's displayed in his races so far, Wilson might be right. Rightandjust's dam Pussyfoot was winless from just one start, but her half sibling Morning Line earned $1.2 million in his career and was a productive stallion in his second career until his death in 2019. He is also a half-brother to the promising 4-year-old Tapit colt Guided Missile.

Rightandjust broke through in a big way in his MCL win but showed no ill effects from such a strong race. It was readily apparent that Wilson had a rapidly improving soon-to-be 3-year-old on his hands, who still had plenty of untapped potential.

“We got him back the night I claimed him and he cleaned up everything I fed him and he licked the bowl,” Wilson said. “He was on his hind legs when we hand-walked him down the shedrow the next morning. It seemed like he did what he did easily and we came back and worked him and he worked great and then he had a bullet best-of-100 work. (Jockey) Jack Gilligan was the one breezing him and he said 'Shane, this horse can really run and he has a bunch of gears he doesn't even know he's got yet.'”

Rightandjust entered the optional-claimer as a bit of a rank outsider, at least judging by the 22-1 price on the toteboard. In a race that saw entries from trainers named Asmussen, Cox, Stidham, and Walsh, and owners like Godolphin, Brereton C. Jones, and Three Chimneys Farm, it was no real surprise that Wilson, Davis, and Rightandjust were overlooked. Facing much tougher competition, he went to the front again, set a measured pace, and streaked home an easy three-length winner. An unknown outsider before the race, Rightandjust had clearly arrived, which wasn't a complete shock to his trainer.

“We were pretty confident but it came up tough,” Wilson said. “A few were stretching out for the first time but we knew he could run 1 1/16 miles over the Fair Grounds. I was really surprised he was such a big price even though the other horses were coming from Churchill Downs and Keeneland and had great connections.”

Rightandjust looks like a vintage 3-year-old that is getting better by the day and his blend of speed and stamina can take a horse a long way during the first half of their sophomore year. Wilson is taking the 'If it's not broke don't fix it' route to the 1 1/8-mile Risen Star, which could prove problematic to some of his more precocious rivals.

“He looks like when he gets up there (on the lead) he goes to flicking his ears around and he's comfortable with that pace,” Wilson said. “It looks like he had plenty in the tank (in his win) and he'll go another sixteenth of a mile. As long as everything is good—and he came back great and he's galloping strong—we're going to breeze him 14 days out and then 7 days out and if everything is like it is now that (the Risen Star) is where we're going to go.”

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Count Again Will Try To Maintain Momentum In San Gabriel

Canadian-bred Count Again, fresh off the biggest win of his career in what was his first start for Phil D'Amato, will try to employ similar tactics under Juan Hernandez as he heads a field of seven older horses going a mile and one eighth on turf in Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 San Gabriel Stakes at Santa Anita.

A 6-year-old gelding by Awesome Again, Count Again is one of five horses exiting the G2 Seabiscuit Stakes, which was run at a mile and one sixteenth over the Del Mar turf on Nov. 28. Previously headquartered in Toronto at Woodbine Racecourse, Count Again took a G3 turf stakes there three starts back at a mile and one quarter and should relish the added sixteenth of mile on Saturday. With four wins from eight starts, Count Again earned a career best 100 Beyer Speed figure in the Seabiscuit.

Peter Miller's Anothertwistafate, fourth as the 2-1 favorite with Joel Rosario in the Seabiscuit, will try to turn the tables on Count Again in what will be his second turf try. A lightly raced 5-year-old colt by Scat Daddy, he won the G3 Longacres Mile in his first start of 2020 on Sept 10. With Rosario riding him back in the San Gabriel, he'll be seeking his fifth win from 10 career starts.

Richard Baltas will be represented by a pair of horses coming off solid third place finishes, Bob and Jackie, who was third going a mile on turf in the G3 City of Hope Mile here Oct. 3, and the venerable Next Shares, who rallied to be third in the Seabiscuit at odds of 20-1.

Off the board in just two of eight starts, Bob and Jackie sat a close second early in the City of Hope and finished third, beaten three lengths while earning a career best 100 Beyer with Heriberto Figueroa, who has guided him to four wins from eight overall starts. A three-time minor stakes winner, this 5-year-old horse by Twirling Candy will seek his first graded win on Saturday.

Next Shares, an 8-year-old gelding by Archarcharch, rallied to be beaten 1 ½ lengths by Count Again in the Seabiscuit and must be respected as a late threat. A winner of the 2019 San Gabriel, Next Shares is the leading money earner in the field with $1,833,071 from an overall mark of 36-7-5-4.

THE GRADE II SAN GABRIEL WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 7 of 9 Approximate post time 3:30 p.m.

Cleopatra's Strike—Kent Desormeaux—120
Next Shares—Jose Valdivia, Jr.—120
Bob and Jackie—Heriberto Figueroa—120
Multiplier—Abel Cedillo—120
Count Again—Juan Hernandez—124
Anothertwistafate—Joel Rosario—122
Bowies Hero—Flavien Prat—120

First post time for a nine-race card on Saturday is at 12:30 p.m. All of Santa Anita's races are offered free of charge at santaanita.com/live and fans can watch and wager at 1st.com/Bet.

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