belmont park | Horse Racing Free Tips

Search Results Back to Winning Ways in the Acorn

Search Results (Flatter) bounced back from a narrow defeat in the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks to handle a stellar field of fillies in the prestigious GI Acorn S. Saturday at Belmont Park.

Well supported by the bettors with what appeared to be a narrow figure edge on her other accomplished foes, the dark bay broke alertly but was reined in by Javier Castellano to stalk from fourth of the five out wide as last year's local GI Frizette S. winner and second choice Dayoutoftheoffice (Into Mischief) cruised to the fore. Dayoutoftheoffice clicked off splits of :23.50 and :47.23 while seemingly well within herself. Search Results revved up with a three-wide bid along the turn, and while the pacesetter fought on to midstretch, Search Results wore her down despite traveling on her wrong lead. A new challenge came from Obligatory (Curlin), who was rocketing home from the back of the pack and who had defeated Dayoutoftheoffice in the GII Eight Belles S. last time, but Search Results had built up enough of a cushion to hang on. Eight Belles third Make Mischief (Into Mischief) nosed out Dayoutoftheoffice for third, with GII Fair Grounds Oaks heroine Travel Column (Frosted) disappointing for the second straight time.

“I was at the right place at the right time,” said Castellano, who picked up the mount on Search Results from the sidelined Irad Ortiz, Jr. “I was very fortunate… I'm thankful to Chad Brown for the opportunity to ride this horse; we've had a lot of success in the past. I'm sorry for Irad Ortiz that he got hurt, but it gave me the opportunity to ride.”

Castellano had ridden Search Results in the Mar. 6 Busher.

“The pace wasn't fast [Saturday] but she was right there,” the Hall of Famer said. “That's the good thing about her. You can put her where you want. You can be a little closer to the pace or you can be a little bit off the pace. I don't think she's a difficult horse to manage. She's very easy and straightforward. I'm just lucky I had the opportunity to ride her.”

A four-length debut winner sprinting at Gulfstream in January, Search Results resurfaced at Aqueduct for the Busher Invitational S., seeing out the mile that day before handling nine panels with aplomb in the Apr. 3 GIII Gazelle S. She was the proverbial “too good to lose” in the Oaks Apr. 30, dropping a neck decision to until then fellow unbeaten 'TDN Rising Star' Malathaat (Curlin).

“I'm just so proud of her to come back in five weeks after a real dog fight with Malathaat. To bounce right back and lay it on the line again, this filly has so much talent and so much heart. She's a very rare kind of horse to have, and we're so lucky to have her.”

Saturday, Belmont
ACORN S.-GI, $480,000, Belmont, 6-5, 3yo, f, 1m, 1:35.50, ft.
1–SEARCH RESULTS, 120, f, 3, by Flatter
                1st Dam: Co Cola (GSP), by Candy Ride (Arg)
                2nd Dam: Yong Musician, by Yonaguska
                3rd Dam: Alljazz, by Stop the Music
   1ST GRADE I WIN. ($310,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Klaravich
Stables, Inc.; B-Machmer Hall (KY); T-Chad C. Brown; J-Javier
Castellano. $275,000. Lifetime Record: 5-4-1-0, $804,000.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk Nick
   Rating: A+.
2–Obligatory, 120, f, 3, by Curlin
                1st Dam: Uno Duo (SW, $171,300), by Macho Uno
                2nd Dam: Willstar, by Nureyev
                3rd Dam: Nijinsky Star, by Nijinsky II
O-Juddmonte; B-Juddmonte Farms Inc (KY); T-William I. Mott.
$100,000.
3–Make Mischief, 118, f, 3, by Into Mischief
                1st Dam: Speightful Lady, by Speightstown
                2nd Dam: England's Rose, by Nureyev
                3rd Dam: Infringe, by Irish River (Fr)
($285,000 Ylg '19 SARAUG). O-Gary Barber; B-Avanti Stable
(NY); T-Mark E. Casse. $60,000.
Margins: HF, 1, NO. Odds: 0.90, 5.30, 21.20.
Also Ran: Dayoutoftheoffice, Travel Column. Scratched: Miss Brazil. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

Pedigree Notes:

Search Results is the fifth Grade I winner Flatter, and one of 21 graded winners for the Claiborne stalwart, who was also represented on the Kentucky Oaks trail by GI Central Bank Ashland S. runner-up Pass the Champagne. Candy Ride (Arg) is just beginning to hit his stride as a broodmare sire, and is the now the dam sire of four top-level winners (including one in the Southern Hemisphere).

Dam Co Cola was second in a trio of six-furlong stakes, including the 2014 GIII Old Hat S. for trainer Todd Pletcher. Her 2-year-old full-brother to Search Results was a $100,000 KEESEP yearling turned $625,000 OBS April buy by Lauren Carlisle and MyRacehorse after breezing in :10 1/5. Co Cola subsequently aborted to Flatter's son West Coast, but produced a Nyquist colt this February and is back in foal to Flatter.

The post Search Results Back to Winning Ways in the Acorn appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Lone Rock Claims Brooklyn Stakes With Overpowering Stretch Run

After a one-year COVID-19 hiatus, the Grade 2 Brooklyn Stakes returned to Belmont Park with a dazzling performance by a former claimer turned long-distance specialist, Lone Rock. Running in the colors of Flying P Stable, Lone Rock sat just off of Musical Heart for the first mile, took the lead on the final turn, and then draw away from Tizamagician and Moretti to win the $400,000 stakes for 4-year olds and up by 11 1/4 lengths.

Favored Tizamagician broke awkwardly, allowing Musical Heart and Lone Rock to grab the lead and run 1-2 for the first mile. With fractions of :23.91 for the first quarter and :47.85 for the first half, Kendrick Carmouche and Musical Heart set a steady pace, with Lone Rock and Ramon Vazquez sitting a length behind. As the field of nine rounded the sweeping final turn, Vazquez moved Lone Rock into the lead, with Tizamagician and Flavien Prat moving up as well. Into the stretch, though, neither Tizamagician nor a fast-closing Moretti could catch the Robertino Diodoro trainee. Lone Rock covered the mile and a half in 2:28.97.

View the race's chart here.

The Brooklyn returned to the Belmont Stakes undercard after the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated changes to the New York Racing Association's stakes schedule in 2020. Friday's rains gave way to a beautiful Saturday, with sunshine that dried out the Big Sandy surface to a fast track.

Lone Rock (3-1) paid $8.90, $4.60, and $3.40. Tizamagician (5-2) paid $4.00 and $3.00. Moretti (6-1) paid $4.00 to show. Campaign, trained by John Sadler, finished fourth, with You're to Blame, Ry's the Guy, Ajaaweed, Rocketry, and Musical Heart rounding out the field.

Trainer Diodoro was pleased with the performance of his former claimer turned stakes horse. “He was meant to be a good horse. He's a horse that is just getting better.” Diodoro told the NYRA press office. “We just have to keep him healthy and happy as long as we can. He loves his job. When you have a horse trying to run these distances, you need one who loves to train, and he definitely enjoys training.”

Ramon Vazquez returned for his third ride and third victory aboard Lone Rock. “When I saw the other horse that has a lot of speed stumble out of the gate, I just put my horse in the best position that I could,” Vazquez said. “I just waited until the end to ask my horse and you can see what happened. It feels awesome.”

Lone Rock is a 6-year-old bay gelding by Majestic Warrior (A.P. Indy) out of Ruby Lips (Hard Spun). He was bred by Town & Country and Pollock Farms in Kentucky and was sold at Fasig-Tipton July 2016 sale for $55,000. The Brooklyn is his fifth start of 2021 and his fourth win of the year. His previous stakes races include a win in the Issac Murphy Marathon Stakes at Churchill Downs on April 27th and a close second in the Temperance Hill at Oaklawn Park in March.

The post Lone Rock Claims Brooklyn Stakes With Overpowering Stretch Run appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Drain The Clock Outlasts Jackie’s Warrior To Win Woody Stephens Stakes

The Grade 1 Woody Stephens Stakes at Belmont Park was a slugfest between sons of Hill 'n' Dale Farms' Maclean's Music on Saturday, with Drain the Clock getting the best of favorite Jackie's Warrior in the deep stretch.

Drain the Clock grabbed the lead out of the gate, and set a hot pace through the first furlong of the backstretch before being joined by Jackie's Warrior on the inside. Jackie's Warrior wrestled the lead away from Drain the Clock as they passed the opening quarter in :22.09 seconds.

Jackie's Warrior was in the driver's seat heading into the turn in the seven-furlong race, with Drain the Clock on his outside hip. Jockey Joel Rosario drifted Jackie's Warrior wide as they hit the crux of the turn, and floated Drain the Clock out with him.

The opening half-mile went by in a blistering :44.19 seconds, and the pair were several paths wide entering the home stretch. Behind them, Dream Shake had a clear path on the rail and Nova Rags was advancing through a wide trip, but neither would contend with the two leaders.

Jackie's Warrior continued to keep Drain the Clock at bay after three-quarters of a mile in 1:08.88, at which point jockey Jose Ortiz, who picked up the mount in place of his injured brother Irad, started asking Drain the Clock in earnest. Drain the Clock drew even with a game Jackie's Warrior inside the final furlong, and he carried on to win by a neck. Nova Rags was 7 1/4 lengths behind the runner-up.

Drain the Clock completed the seven-furlong race in 1:22.27 over a good main track. He paid $17 to win as the field's fourth choice.

With the Woody Stephens victory, Drain the Clock improved his lifetime record to six wins in eight starts for earnings of $539,550. Saturday's race was the latest rung in what has been a steady climbing of the ladder for the colt in 2021, starting with a 7 1/2-length drubbing of the black type Limehouse Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 2. He carried on to win the G3 Swale Stakes by 6 1/4 lengths, then stretched out to two turns to finish second in the G2 Fountain of Youth Stakes. He headed into the Woody Stephens off a return to one-turn racing in the G3 Bay Shore Stakes, which he won in a front-running trip.

Drain the Clock is trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., for owners Slam Dunk Racing, Madaket Stables, Wonder Stables, and Michael Nentwig. He was bred in Kentucky by Nick Cosato, out of the Arch mare Manki.

To view the Equibase chart, click here.

G1 Woody Stephens Quotes, Courtesy of the NYRA Notes Team

Saffie Joseph, Jr., winning trainer of Drain the Clock (No. 2, $17): “We talked it over so much with [co-owner] Nick Cosato [of Slam Dunk Racing] and he wanted to break well and use him for the lead. We just left it up to Jose [Ortiz]. We told him the break was important and to make Rosario [aboard Jackie's Warrior, No. 3] make a decision. If they're going to let you lead, lead.

“Obviously, Jackie's Warrior missed the break and after that he ran up on the inside and we were in a good spot. If we were good enough then we were going to win. At the quarter pole, I thought we were going to be second. It looked like he was backing up a little bit. He dug in after that, and then Jackie's Warrior wouldn't give up. All credit to the horse.”

On taking a departure from the Triple Crown trail: “This is the benefit of making a tough decision because he got 20 points [for the Kentucky Derby] and he could have picked up more. Would he have won? Probably not. That's stretching him. After that, it was just cut back. We figured let's have a good horse at one turn.”

On a potential start in the Grade 2, $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial on August 28 at Saratoga: “That's the plan.”

Jose Ortiz, winning jockey aboard Drain the Clock (No. 2): “If [Joel] Rosario [on Jackie's Warrior] wanted the lead, I'd rather have him rush inside of me. It was my game plan to break better, outrun him out of the gate in the first couple jumps and go as far out as I could, as long as I was clear. I wasn't planning to mess with anybody; you can see as soon as Rosario came back in, I came back in. I didn't want him outside of me putting pressure on me the whole way.”

On the stretch-duel between Drain the Clock and Jackie's Warrior: “It was great. It's great for racing. That's what it's all about, people want to come here to see those kinds of duels. It was a great race, everybody gave their best. I'm just happy we came out with the win and I'm happy filling in for Irad [Ortiz] and not messing it up. He told me the horse was very classy, Saffie was great, and the owner was great, too. The owner was the one that told me if you can outrun him out of the gate and make him go inside, that would be great, to have him inside of us.”

Joel Rosario, jockey aboard runner-up Jackie's Warrior (No. 3): “He just kind of stumbled a little bit coming out of the gate and missed the break. Then he went and did his best, but I think the break out of the gate was the key. He still ran his race.”

Junior Alvarado, jockey aboard third-place finisher Nova Rags (No. 1): “The track is still playing a little bit to the fast side, which will benefit horses on the lead. My horse broke good and I let him settle and make a run. He was there for me. He was trying for me at the end.”

The post Drain The Clock Outlasts Jackie’s Warrior To Win Woody Stephens Stakes appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Practical Joke Colt Romps to Rising Star Debut

Practical Joke (Into Mischief) came into the juvenile sales season with plenty of hype and the first-crop Coolmore stallion has not disappointed in the sales ring or on the racetrack where his second winner romped home to a 'TDN Rising Star' debut at Belmont Park Saturday.

Sent off the 2-5 favorite, Wit was away a half-step slowly and trailed the field in the early going. But the dark bay colt made a powerful, sustained rally on the far turn and came four wide into the stretch, where he idled for a moment before bounding clear in the final furlong to graduate by six lengths. Keepcalmcarryon (Union Rags) was second.

Wit, a $575,000 KEESEP yearling purchase, is a half-brother to Barkley (Munnings), GSW, $368,425. His unraced dam Numero d'Oro (Afleet), who sold for $175,000 while in foal to Frosted at the 2017 Keeneland November sale, was not bred in 2020, but was bred to City of Light last year. She is a daughter of multiple stakes winner and multiple graded placed Numero Uno (Afleet) and is a half-sister to the dam of graded stakes winner and multiple Grade I placed Ivy Bell (Archarcharch).

Fillies by Practical Joke sold for $800,000 and $500,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream sale and for $750,000 at the OBS March sale. His first winner was Catchusifyoucan, a homebred for Tom Durant who graduated on debut at Lone Star Park May 22.

Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
1st-Belmont, $90,000, Msw, 6-5, 2yo, 5 1/2f, 1:04.70, gd, 6 lengths.
WIT, c, 2, by Practical Joke
                1st Dam: Numero d'Oro, by Medaglia d'Oro
                2nd Dam: Numero Uno, by Afleet
                3rd Dam: Une Pavane (Fr), by Caro (Ire)
Click for the Equibase.com chart or free equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $49,500. O-Repole Stable, St. Elias Stable and Gainesway Stable (Antony Beck); B-Rosilyn Polan (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. *$575,000 yrl '19 KEESEP.

The post Practical Joke Colt Romps to Rising Star Debut appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post