Becca Taylor | Horse Racing Free Tips

Grade I winner Fun to Dream (Arrogate) was crowned California-bred Horse of the Year at the CTBA Awards dinner held Monday night. The 4-year-old filly, who is out of the Maria's Mon mare Lutess, was bred by Connie Pageler and trainer Bob Baffert and is owned by Paegler and Natalie J. Baffert. The gray filly was also named Cal-bred champion 3-year-old filly and sprinter, and her dam was named Cal-bred broodmare of the year.

“I did this, it was a crazy thing, I called Garrett O'Rourke at Juddmonte and I told him I'm going to do something really crazy, I'm sending you a mare that I claimed for $8,000,” Bob Baffert, who was voted Trainer of the Year, said. “I told Connie, we're going to breed her to Arrogate, one of the greatest horses I ever trained. And we got lucky. We talked about what to name her and it's fun to dream, that's why we're all in this business. And that's how she got her name.

“Connie sold the mare and I'm going to get crazy again and do a foal share with Justify. So, hopefully, I'll be up here in a couple of years and maybe we can catch lightning in a bottle twice.”In 2022, Fun to Dream had five wins in six starts, including the GI La Brea S., and earned $426,590. Overall, she has six wins in seven starts and earnings of $546,590.

Other 2022 Cal-bred champions:
Champion California-bred 2-Year-Old Male: Giver Not a Taker (Danzing Candy)
Champion California-bred 2-Year-Old Female: Sell The Dream (Munnings)
Champion California-bred 3-Year-Old: Slow Down Andy (Nyquist)
Champion California-bred 3-Year-Old Female: Fun to Dream
Champion California-bred Older Male: The Chosen Vron (Vronsky).
Champion California-bred Older Female: Becca Taylor (Old Topper)
Champion California-bred Sprinter: Fun to Dream
Champion California-bred Turf Horse: The Chosen Vron
Champion Sire of California Conceived Foals by Earnings: Grazen (Benchmark)
Champion Sire of California Conceived Foals by Number of Winners: Grazen
Champion Sire of California Conceived Foals by Turf Earnings: Grazen
Champion Sire of California Conceived 2-Year-Olds by Earnings: Stay Thirsty (Bernardini)
Trainer of the Year: Bob Baffert
Broodmare of the Year: Lutess (Maria's Mon)
Champion Breeder of California Foaled Thoroughbreds by Earnings: Nick Alexander
Scoop Vessels Award: The Derby Room
CTBA Hall of Fame: Joe Harper, Nashoba's Key (Silver Hawk)

The post Fun to Dream Crowned CTBA Horse of the Year appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Historically, Independence Day racing had served up a smorgasbord of delectable graded action throughout the U.S. Since the advent of the 'Super Saturday' format instituted in many of the nation's biggest racing jurisdictions in more recent times, however, July 4 racing has felt a little more abstemious than gourmand. Underscoring the point, this year's holiday racing schedule features a single graded stakes race, the GII Great Lady M. at Los Alamitos.

Formerly the Sequoia H., the Great Lady M. was initially contested over seven furlongs at Hollywood Park in 1941, when it was won by movie mogul Louis B. Mayer's Painted Veil. KO'd by World War II the next two years, it returned in 1944 as a race for juvenile fillies at six furlongs. Not held from 1947 through 1958, the race resumed in 1958 once again featuring older horses, and in 1986, it was upgraded to a Grade III before gaining Grade II status in 1990. Renamed the A Gleam H. in 1979, the contest finally garnered the name of the Great Lady M. in 2013, when moving to Los Alamitos following the closure of Hollywood Park. The race's namesake, trained by Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, won the 1980 renewal of the A Gleam, far surpassing her racing accomplishments as a broodmare after foaling 1986 Horse of the Year Lady's Secret (Secretariat).

While last season's 6 1/2-furlong test for filles and mares served as a stage for an embarrassingly easy 10-length romp by the 2020 campion female sprinter Gamine (Into Mischief), the 2022 edition of the race doesn't appear to have a filly of that caliber in its midst, although Nick Alexander's Becca Taylor (Old Topper) has proven dominant on the left coast, having won eight of nine starts, including Santa Anita's GIII Desert Stormer S. June 4. A debut winner at Los Al during her juvenile season, the California-bred has registered wins at four different California tracks, having only tasted defeat once when nosed out for the win while facing statebreds in the grassy Irish O'Brien S. Mar. 19. Also included among graded stakes winners in this year's renewal are Ain't Easy (Into Mischief), last term's GII Chandelier S. scorer, who also finished third in a pair of Grade II races in 2022, and GII Sorrento S. victress Elm Drive (Mohaymen), winner of her sole start in 2022 in the May 8 Angels Flight S. at Santa Anita.

The post Independence Day Action Highlighted by Great Lady M appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post