Tag: Be Your Best

Perfect Storm as Anisette Much the Best in Del Mar Oaks

With the threat of Hurricane Hilary looming over Southern California and Del Mar, Anisette (GB) (f, 3, Awtaad {Ire}–Tutti Frutti {GB}, by Teofilo {Ire}) took the seaside oval by storm, blowing the doors off the GI Del Mar Oaks Saturday. She remained perfect in three U.S. starts since transferring to Leonard Powell's barn from the UK earlier this year. The final time for Anisett's nine furlongs on the lawn was 1:48.15 as 'TDN Rising Star' and East Coast shipper Be Your Best (Ire) (Muhaarar {GB}), as well as former Irish runner Impact Warrior (Ire) (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}) chased her home.

“Her turn of foot made the difference at the top of the lane,” said Powell, who also won the Oaks in 2018 with Fatale Bere (Fr) (Pedro the Great). “I didn't think we'd be so far back, especially with a half mile in :47, but she was good enough to overcome that and close the ground. [Jockey Umberto Rispoli] kept his cool; we got a dream run on the rail and he had the horse to do it. She's the goods.”

The 3-year-old fillies broke in an even line for the turf contest and it was former $1.2-million Fasig-Tipton juvenile Ruby Nell (Bolt d'Oro) who led by as many as four lengths while setting fractions of :23.84 and :47.21. Meanwhile, Anisette trailed through the first six panels while as many as a dozen lengths in arrears. If Rispoli was concerned, he didn't show it. The dark bay had also lingered closer to the back than the front early when the pair scored the in GII San Clemente S. over this course at a mile July 22.

On the turn for home, Anisette and Rispoli began weaving through horses, finally driving through a dream seam on the rail and bursting clear with a dazzling turn of foot as the rider peeked over his shoulder and stood up for a fist-pumping celebration at the wire. It was Anisette's fourth consecutive win following the San Clemente and an introductory U.S. allowance May 29 at Santa Anita. She was coming off a late-December win as a 2-year-old at Wolverhampton in Great Britain for her former conditioner, Kevin Philippart de Foy, after which Eclipse Thoroughbred's Aron Wellman bought her privately and imported her to the U.S. Anisette was originally consigned by Wiltshire's Manor Farm to the 2021 Tattersalls Somerville Yearling Sale, where she hammered for 26,000gns to Avenue Bloodstock.

“I knew I was on the best filly and that helped me ride her the way I did,” said Rispoli. “I thought about going outside and I knew the pace wasn't in my favor. But then things opened a bit inside and I went. They tell me I ride like [new Hall of Famer] Fernando Toro did. I know what that means. It's a great honor.”

 

Pedigree Notes:

Derrinstown Stud's Awtaad (Ire) has not had huge books by modern standards at his County Kildare home, but he's certainly done well with his three crops aged three and up with two Grade I/Group 1 winners to date in addition to a French highweight. He attained the Group 1 level himself in the 2016 Irish Two Thousand Guineas. Anmaat (Ire) won the May 29 G1 Prix d'Ispahan for the son of Cape Cross (Ire) and now Anisette adds a Grade I victory stateside less than three months later with the Del Mar Oaks. Overall, Awtaad has 10 black-type winners, five of which are group or graded.

The Galileo (Ire) son Teofilo (Ire) is the damsire of both Anisette and Al Qareem (Ire), Awtaad's French GSW who was highweighed for 2022. The statistical sample may be small, but it still makes 40% of Awtaad's group/graded winners out of mares by Teofilo, who has 33 stakes winners out of his daughters.

In addition to Anisette, Tutti Frutti (GB), a half to Great Britain's 2014 G1 Markel Insurance Nassau S. winner Sultanina (GB) (New Approach {Ire}), has produced an unraced 2-year-old colt named Eton Mes (Ire) (Expert Eye {GB}) and a yearling filly by Make Believe (GB). Eton Mes was an RNA at the Tattersalls December Yearling Sale. Tutti Frutti herself was a 52,000gns purchase by Hugo Merry Bloodstock at the 2016 December Mare Sale.

Saturday, Del Mar
DEL MAR OAKS-GI, $302,500, Del Mar, 8-19, 3yo, f, 1 1/8mT, 1:48.15, fm.
1–ANISETTE (GB), 122, f, 3, by Awtaad (Ire)
                1st Dam: Tutti Frutti (GB), by Teofilo (Ire)
                2nd Dam: Soft Centre (GB), by Zafonic
                3rd Dam: Foodbroker Fancy (Ire), by Halling
1ST GRADE I WIN. (26,000gns Ylg '21 TATSOM). O-Eclipse
Thoroughbred Partners; B-Morera Partnership (GB); T-Leonard
Powell; J-Umberto Rispoli. $180,000. Lifetime Record: 6-4-1-0,
$346,871. Werk Nick Rating: A++.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Be Your Best (Ire), 122, f, 3, by Muhaarar (GB)
                1st Dam: Kamakura, by Medaglia d'Oro
                2nd Dam: Kotuku (GB), by A.P. Indy
                3rd Dam: Flagbird, by Nureyev
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. O-Michael J. Ryan; B-St. Croix Bloodstock
(IRE); T-Horacio De Paz. $60,000.
3–Impact Warrior (Ire), 122, f, 3, by Saxon Warrior (Jpn)
                1st Dam: Lina de Vega (Ire) (GSP-Ire),
                                by Lope de Vega (Ire)
                2nd Dam: Caerlina (Ire), by Caerleon
                3rd Dam: Dinalina (Fr), by Top Ville (Ire)
1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE, 1ST G1 BLACK
TYPE. (€55,000 Ylg '21 GOFOR). O-Martin Schwartz;
B-Ballylinch Stud (IRE); T-Philip D'Amato. $36,000.
Margins: 2 3/4, NK, 1HF. Odds: 0.80, 7.50, 8.50.
Also Ran: Ruby Nell, Infinite Diamond, Window Shopping, And Tell Me Nolies, Absolutely Zero, Big Pond, Paris Secret (Ire).
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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Keeneland Workers Prep For Opening Weekend Stakes

Several runners being pointed to opening weekend stakes turned in works Sunday morning over the fast main track.

Dixiana Farms' homebred Hayes Strike (Connect) along with Mendelssohns March (Mendelssohn), owned by Harold Lerner, Nehoc Stables, AWC Stables and Team Stallion Racing Stable, tuned up for expected starts in Saturday's GI Toyota Blue Grass S. by working 5 furlongs in 1:00.60 in company together.

Hayes Strike comes into the 1 1/8-mile Blue Grass off a victory in the Private Terms S. at Laurel March 18.

“I don't run many horses in Maryland,” trainer Kenny McPeek said of Hayes Strike. “His race at Turfway (in the Leonatus Stakes on Jan. 21 in which he finished ninth) … nothing went right. He didn't ship well, and he didn't handle the synthetic surface at all. I just needed to get him back on the dirt and get him back to winning.”

Mendelssohns March has two wins in two starts with victories on the turf at Fair Grounds and on a sloppy dirt track at Oaklawn Park.

McPeek is the most recent of six trainers to have swept the GI Central Bank Ashland and Toyota Blue Grass in the same year. McPeek, who first accomplished the double in 2002 with Take Charge Lady and Harlan's Holiday, is expected to send out Magdalena Racing, Colette Marie Vanmatre and James Ball's Defining Purpose (Cross Traffic) in the Ashland. Defining Purpose worked 5 furlongs in 1:00.20.

Half-mile workers included Mr. and Mrs. Tsunebumi Yoshihara's Yuugiri (Shackleford) who went in :48.80 in preparation for the GI Madison S. for trainer Rodolphe Brisset; Tom Durant's Run Classic (Runhappy) who worked a half in :47.80 for the GIII Commonwealth S. for trainer Bret Calhoun; and Michael J. Ryan's Be Your Best (Ire) (Muhaarar {GB}) in :49.80 for the GII Appalachian S. for trainer Horacio De Paz.

Also working Sunday morning was West Coast Stables' Pride of the Nile (Pioneerof the Nile), currently 28th on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks with 17 points, who drilled 6 furlongs in 1:16 on the main track under Ferrin Peterson for trainer Doug O'Neill in preparation for Friday's GI Central Bank Ashland S. Pride of the Nile shipped to Keeneland the middle of last month after a troubled trip in the GIII Santa Ysabel at Santa Anita March 5.

“I was glad to get her,” said Stephanie Murray, who oversees the O'Neill string at Keeneland. “Today was her third work here. The first time, she worked on the (all-weather) training track because of the rain.”

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Be Your Best Reigns Supreme In Saratoga’s P.G. Johnson S.

Be Your Best made the most of a picture-perfect trip when debuted over this same track and distance July 31, sitting off the pace and powering home late to score by 3 1/4 lengths en route to a 'TDN Rising Star' nod. Bumped up to stakes company in just her second start, Be Your Best broke as the 6-5 choice and sat closer to the frontrunners this time, racing wide into the first turn in pursuit from third. Settled into a good stride against the hedge up the backstretch, she saved ground around the far turn before angling out two wide to challenge Recognize for the front. As room there closed, she tipped back to the rail in mid stretch and rallied through a tight spot inside to take command with a furlong to run. Whichwaze was closing behind but Be Your Best was already well clear for the 3 3/4-length win.

“The filly was so easy to ride,” said winning jockey Jose Ortiz. “She did whatever I asked her to do. She relaxed well and had a beautiful turn of foot turning for home. The rail opened up and she gave it to me. I feel like she didn't give me 100 percent – she was playing with her ears passing the wire. She's happy and Horacio [De Paz] has done an amazing job with her.”

Out of a full-sister to GSP Bay of Plenty and a half-sister to GISP Fortify (Distorted Humor), Be Your Best hails from the extended family of MG1SW Flagbird (Nureyev) as well as GISW & GI Longines Kentucky Oaks runner-up Little Belle (A.P. Indy). She is her dam's last reported foal. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

P. G. JOHNSON S., $150,000, Saratoga, 9-1, 2yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 1:45.67, gd.
1–BE YOUR BEST (Ire), 122, f, 2, by Muhaarar (GB)
                1st Dam: Kamakura, by Medaglia d'Oro
                2nd Dam: Kotuku (GB), by A.P. Indy
                3rd Dam: Flagbird, by Nureyev
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. 'TDN Rising Star'. O-Michael J. Ryan; B-St. Croix
Bloodstock (IRE); T-Horacio De Paz; J-Jose L. Ortiz. $82,500.
Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $140,250.
2–Whichwaze, 120, f, 2, Cross Traffic–Deherewego, by Dehere.
($4,500 Wlg '20 KEENOV; $15,000 Ylg '21 OBSOCT).
1ST BLACK TYPE. O-Tina Casse; B-Old Chapel Farm LLC (VA);
T-Mark E. Casse. $30,000.
3–Recognize, 122, f, 2, Bolt d'Oro–Avendesora, by
Majesticperfection. ($270,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP; $190,000 RNA
2yo '22 OBSAPR). 1ST BLACK TYPE. O-Sequel Racing & Cypress
Creek Equine; B-Sequel Stallions NY & Lakland Farms (NY);
T-William I. Mott. $18,000.
Margins: 3 3/4, HF, NO. Odds: 1.35, 19.20, 10.90.
Also Ran: Idea Generation (Ire), Pachuca, Damaso, Lady Jasmine, Indian Spideroo. Scratched: Leave No Trace.

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