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Clairiere Goes Back-To-Back In the Phipps

ELMONT, NY – Stonestreet homebred Clairiere (Curlin) successfully defended her title with a late surge to nail Search Results (Flatter) in dramatic fashion by a half-length in Saturday's GI Ogden Phipps S. at Belmont Park. Played Hard (Into Mischief) finished third.

Clairiere joins Take D' Tour (2006-07), Sightseek (2003-04) and Heatherten (1984-85) as back-to-back winners of the prestigious 'Win and You're In' event for the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff.

“I'm unbelievably proud of her,” said winning trainer Steve Asmussen after registering his fourth Phipps victory in five years. “What a special mare. For her to continue to win races on this level is just incredible. She's always been top class and if anything, she's better than she's ever been. To continue winning is the goal with her, but we know where we're aimed at with the Breeders' Cup [Distaff on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita] as her year-end target.”

Favored at 8-5, Clairiere was content to caboose the field of six as hopeless longshot Gamestonks (Blofeld) showed the way with last-out GI La Troienne S. winner Played Hard and 2-1 second-choice Search Results, third in this race last year, in hot pursuit through very easy early fractions of :24.32 and :48.63 in the 1 1/16-mile affair.

With Gamestonks dropping back sharply, Joel Rosario began to get busy aboard Clairiere approaching the quarter pole as the 2021 GI Acorn S. winner and unlucky GI Kentucky Oaks runner-up Search Results loomed boldly alongside Played Hard.

Search Results looked like a winner close to home, but Clairiere was just getting warmed up. The 5-year-old was produced down the center by Rosario and got there for a well-timed fourth career victory at the top level.

“I was very confident,” Rosario said. “However, you never know. It looked like a second a horse got away from me, but she [Clairiere] was able to put it all together and come with the run that she always does to get it done. She's very special. She really goes out there and does her job. Not many come that way.”

Clairiere's stacked resume also includes wins in the 2021 GI Cotillion S. and the GI Apple Blossom H. last time out Apr. 15. She was unlucky in both of her prior attempts at the Championships, finishing a close fourth after an impossibly wide trip in the 2021 renewal, and was third, beaten just a head, in Lexington last fall.

Pedigree Notes:

Clairiere, the second graded winner on the GI Belmont S. program following champion Elite Power's heroics in the GII True North S., is one of 20 Grade I winners for leading sire Curlin. Broodmare sire Bernardini is responsible for 15 Grade I winners. The Curlin over Bernardini cross is also responsible for GISW Paris Lights.

Clairiere is the first foal out of three-time GISW Cavorting, who won this same race in 2016. She was purchased as a weanling by Stonestreet for $360,000 at the 2012 Keeneland November sale.

Cavorting's next foal is stakes winner La Crete (Medaglia d'Oro). She has an unraced 3-year-old colt by Curlin named Judge Miller ($550,000 KEESEP purchase by Muir Hut Stables) and, without foals in 2021 and 2022, she produced a colt by Curlin this year.

“I am very proud, and, of course her mother [Cavorting] won this race, too,” Barbara Banke of Stonestreet Stables said. “It's been a family tradition. She does have a late kick and Joel [Rosario] left it just enough to give me a slight coronary condition, but she made it through. We're trying [to win an Eclipse Award]. We were close last year, really close. But maybe this year we'll do it.”

Saturday, Belmont
OGDEN PHIPPS S.-GI, $500,000, Belmont, 6-10, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16m, 1:43.40, ft.
1–CLAIRIERE, 124, m, 5, by Curlin
               1st Dam: Cavorting (MGISW, $2,063,000), by Bernardini
               2nd Dam: Promenade Girl, by Carson City
               3rd Dam: Promenade Colony, by Pleasant Colony
O-Stonestreet Stables LLC; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred
Holdings LLC (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen; J-Joel Rosario.
$275,000. Lifetime Record: 19-8-5-3, $3,106,392. *1/2 to La
Crete (Medaglia d'Oro), SW, $159,460.
Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree or
the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Search Results, 122, m, 5, by Flatter
               1st Dam: Co Cola (GSP), by Candy Ride (Arg)
               2nd Dam: Yong Musician, by Yonaguska
               3rd Dam: Alljazz, by Stop the Music
($310,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Klaravich Stables, Inc.;
B-Machmer Hall (KY); T-Chad C. Brown. $100,000.
3–Played Hard, 124, m, 5, by Into Mischief
               1st Dam: Well Lived, by Tiznow
               2nd Dam: Well Dressed, by Notebook
               3rd Dam: Trithenia, by Gold Meridian
($280,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Rigney Racing, LLC; B-Susan
Casner (KY); T-Philip A. Bauer. $60,000.
Margins: HF, 2HF, 3 1/4. Odds: 1.75, 2.25, 4.50.
Also Ran: Pass the Champagne, Secret Oath, Gamestonks.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Powerhouse: Elite Power Flexes in True North

ELMONT, NY – Juddmonte's streaking champion sprinter Elite Power (Curlin) kicked off the graded stakes portion of Saturday's absolutely stacked GI Belmont S. program with a sensational performance in the GII True North S.

Off as the 3-4 favorite, last year's GI Breeders' Cup Sprint hero looked to be at a major disadvantage from the go in the 6 1/2-furlong affair, chasing in an outside fourth as the field of six crawled through fractions of :23.25 and :46.12. The blaze-faced chestnut, nonetheless, ranged up while three wide approaching the quarter pole, inhaled the top two as they straightened and was only shown the whip in deep stretch by Irad Ortiz, Jr. to win by a geared-down 1 3/4 lengths over last-out GIII Jacques Cartier S. winner Anarchist (Distorted Humor). 'TDN Rising Star' Strobe (Into Mischief), second in the GIII Count Fleet Sprint H. at Oaklawn, could do no better than a well-beaten third as the 2-1 second choice after sitting a dream trip in second.

“He got the job done,” said winning Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, who won this same race three times back in the 1990s with Diablo (1991), Lion Cavern (1993) and Richter Scale (1998). “I noticed the fractions, :23 and change, weren't overly quick, but he's still got a pretty good punch to him. He really is exceptional. He's gotten very good.”

Mott added that Elite Power may target Saratoga's GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. July 29.

Elite Power has now won seven straight, including his first try in stakes company in the GII Vosburgh S. Oct. 8, on racing's biggest stage at the aforementioned Championships in Lexington Nov. 5 and the G3 Riyadh Dirt Sprint on the Saudi Cup undercard most recently Feb. 25. The distant runner-up in the latter Gunite (Gun Runner) has since followed with a third-place finish in the G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen S. and an authoritative win in Churchill's Aristides S. last weekend, good for a gaudy 108 Beyer Speed Figure.

“He's such a nice and exciting horse,” Ortiz Jr. said of Elite Power. “He's won his last seven starts. He was great last year. You can see his performances and campaign last year was great. I'm hoping he's the same or better than he was last year, so far it looks great. He hasn't made any mistakes out there.”

Pedigree Notes:

Elite Power, a $900,000 KEESEP yearling, is one of 53 graded winners, 20 at the Grade I level, for the mighty Curlin.

Broodmare sire Vindication, the unbeaten winner of the 2002 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Arlington, is responsible for 12 graded winners, six at the top level.

Elite Power is bred on the same Curlin/Vindication cross as GI Preakness S. winner Exaggerator. Elite Power's dam Broadway's Alibi, a MGSW & GI Kentucky Oaks runner-up and Robsham homebred, brought $2.15 million from Alpha Delta Stables while in foal to Smart Strike at the 2013 KEENOV sale. Broadway's Alibi is also represented by a Curlin colt of 2021. She was bred to City of Light for 2023.

Elite Power's fourth dam is champion 2-year-old filly and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies heroine Eliza (Mt. Livermore). This is also the family of GISW and young sire Dialed In (Mineshaft).

“The oddity of this guy is that dirt sprinting isn't anything we've ever really geared our program for,” Juddmonte's Garrett O'Rourke said. “Obviously, we purchased this guy and it's really nice that for the first time we're winning races that we hadn't before. These are races that we'd never even competed in before. This is very satisfying.”

Saturday, Belmont Park
TRUE NORTH S.-GII, $250,000, Belmont, 6-10, 4yo/up, 6 1/2f, 1:15.65, ft.
1–ELITE POWER, 124, h, 5, by Curlin
                1st Dam: Broadway's Alibi (MGSW & GISP, $521,500), by Vindication
                2nd Dam: Broadway Gold, by Seeking the Gold
                3rd Dam: Miss Doolittle, by Storm Cat
($900,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Juddmonte; B-Alpha Delta
Stables, LLC (KY); T-William I. Mott; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr. $137,500.
Lifetime Record: Ch. Male Sprinter, GISW-USA, GSW-Sau,
10-7-0-1, $2,443,211. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Anarchist, 120, c, 4, Distorted Humor–Vicarious Won, by
Elusive Quality. ($75,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Ilium Stables, LLC;
B-Centaur Farms, Inc. (KY); T-Doug F. O'Neill. $50,000.
3–Strobe, 118, c, 4, Into Mischief–Flashing, by A.P. Indy.
'TDN Rising Star'. O/B-Godolphin (KY); T-Brad H. Cox. $30,000.
Margins: 1 3/4, 3 3/4, 2HF. Odds: 0.75, 12.30, 2.10.
Also Ran: Today's Flavor, Fearless, Synthesis.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Kentucky Oaks Heroine Pretty Mischievous Delivers in Acorn Thriller

ELMONT, NY — Godolphin homebred and 'TDN Rising Star' Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief) followed up her thrilling GI Kentucky Oaks victory with a hard-fought, head decision over Dorth Vader (Girvin) in Friday's GI Acorn S. at Belmont Park. Occult (Into Mischief) was another four lengths back in third.

Cutting back to a one-turn 1 1/16 miles here, the 9-5 second-choice raced within striking distance in an outside fifth as the stretching-out and favored 'Rising Star' Munnys Gold (Munnings) led through fractions of :23.34 and :46.37. Pretty Mischievous loomed boldly while three wide approaching the quarter pole and looked well on her way after hitting the front in the stretch. Dorth Vader, making her first start for George Weaver after finishing fifth in the Kentucky Oaks, made her work for it, however, and battled back gamely along the inside down the stretch. Pretty Mischievous showed her class in the end to win her second straight and joins fellow recent Kentucky Oaks winners Bird Town (Cape Town) (2013), Abel Tasman (Quality Road) (2017) and Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) (2018) to double up in the Acorn.

Sheikh Mohammed's operation also won this race last year with Matareya (Pioneerof the Nile).

“What's funny is that in the blink of an eyelid, when Todd's [Pletcher] filly [Munnys Gold] kind of backed up, she was in front [and] I was worried because she will idle a little bit, like she did in the [Kentucky] Oaks and she did it again today,” winning trainer Brendan Walsh said. “She's just a great filly. It's unbelievable and such an honor to have her for the people we have her [for]. I think she'll get better and better as the year goes on. She's still got a bit of furnishing to do. We still have a little ways to go.”

Pretty Mischievous, a winner of her first two starts sprinting at Churchill Downs last fall, suffered her first career defeat finishing third in the GII Golden Rod S. beneath the Twin Spires Nov. 26. The bay enjoyed a fantastic winter at the Fair Grounds, annexing her first two career stakes victories in the Untapable S. Dec. 26 and the GII Rachel Alexandra S. Feb. 18. She looked primed for a third straight win in the GII Fair Grounds Oaks, but, after hitting the front in the stretch, reported home a well-beaten second. She was making her first start with blinkers for Walsh on the first Friday in May.

Winning jockey Tyler Gaffalione added, “I'm just so proud of her. She's really developed into an amazing filly. She seems to just be getting bigger and stronger with each race. I can't wait for the day she finishes out one of her races. She gets to the lead and she kind of waits. She just has so much talent. I don't think we've seen the best of her yet.”

He continued, “I think the blinkers have really helped her because before when we made the lead, she would just go to a complete stop. At least now you're getting a little bit more out of her.”

Pedigree Notes:

Pretty Mischievous is one of 130 black-type winners bred in the Northern Hemisphere by Into Mischief, who also has 64 graded winners, 17 at the top level. The super sire cross of Into Mischief over Tapit is also responsible for GSW Hoosier Philly, a recent second in the GII Black-Eyed Susan S., and GSW Rocket Can, ninth in the GI Kentucky Derby. Pretty Mischievous is the second foal out of 2016 GI Spinaway S. winner Pretty City Dancer, who is a half-sister to GI Gazelle S. winner Lear's Princess (Lear Fan). Stroud Coleman Bloodstock acquired Pretty City Dancer on behalf of Godolphin for $3.5 million at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton November Sale while she was carrying her first foal, now the winning 4-year-old Medaglia d'Oro filly named Ornamental. The mare was barren to Uncle Mo for 2021, but has a Medaglia d'Oro yearling filly and a Street Sense filly born Mar. 28.

Friday, Belmont Park
ACORN S. PRESENTED BY GREAT JONES DISTILLING CO.-GI, $500,000, Belmont, 6-9, 3yo, f, 1 1/16m, 1:43.33, ft.
1–PRETTY MISCHIEVOUS, 123, f, 3, by Into Mischief
                1st Dam: Pretty City Dancer (GISW, $286,344), by Tapit
                2nd Dam: Pretty City, by Carson City
                3rd Dam: Pretty Special, by Riverman
'TDN Rising Star'. O/B-Godolphin (KY); T-Brendan P. Walsh;
J-Tyler Gaffalione. $275,000. Lifetime Record: 8-6-1-1,
$1,481,560. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Dorth Vader, 120, f, 3, by Girvin
1st Dam: Hardcore Candy (SP, $101,308), by Yonaguska
2nd Dam: Its a Girl, by Thunder Gulch
3rd Dam: Ladyago, by Northern Dancer
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. O-John Ropes; B-John Ropes (FL);
T-George Weaver. $100,000.
3–Occult, 118, f, 3, by Into Mischief
1st Dam: Magical Feeling (GSW & GISP, $554,532), by Empire Maker
2nd Dam: Magical Mood (GB), by Forestry
3rd Dam: Good Mood, by Devil's Bag
1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE, 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($625,000 Ylg
'21 KEESEP). O-Alpha Delta Stables, LLC; B-Peter E. Blum
Thoroughbreds, LLC (KY); T-Chad C. Brown. $60,000.
Margins: HD, 4, HF. Odds: 1.90, 11.30, 27.50.
Also Ran: Munnys Gold, Accede, Randomized, Frosty O Toole, Goodgirl Badhabits.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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‘Tapping’ into the Field for the 155th Belmont Stakes

ELMONT, NY – Breathe easy.

Following significant improvement in air quality conditions throughout New York State, the 155th GI Belmont Stakes–celebrating the 50th anniversary of Secretariat's performance of a lifetime in the final leg of the Triple Crown–will go on as scheduled Saturday evening.

If there's one sire's name that you want to see when handicapping the 1 1/2-mile Classic, it's Tapit.

Responsible for a co-record four Belmont winners, two second-place finishers and two third-place finishers, the 22-year-old Gainesway kingpin will be represented by potential race favorite Tapit Trice (Tapit) and the rail-drawn longshot Tapit Shoes (Tapit) in the field of nine as well as an additional four runners as a broodmare sire.

“Tapit's everywhere,” Gainesway's General Manager Brian Graves said. “He's a once-in-a-lifetime horse. We'll probably be quite content if we just have a few stallions half as good as him at Gainesway in the near future.”

The $1.3-million Keeneland September yearling graduate Tapit Trice, winner of the GI Toyota Blue Grass S. and seventh-place finisher in the GI Kentucky Derby, was bred by Gainesway and is campaigned in partnership by Antony Beck's operation along with Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm.

“We're hoping for our own selves that Tapit Trice can win this race and stand beside his dad at Gainesway,” Graves said. “We're very proud. We bred this horse and we have the mare on the farm. We bought her as a 2-year-old and raced her, so it's a family that we have created right here. There's a lot of excitement in the air hoping that Tapit Trice could be a special horse. We're all dreaming right now.”

Tapit Trice's Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher has won the Belmont four times himself, including with Tapit's Tapwrit following a sixth-place finish on the first Saturday in May, and will also saddle morning-line favorite and last year's champion 2-year-old colt Forte (Violence). The latter was forced to scratch on the morning of the Derby with a well-documented foot bruise.

The field for the Belmont also includes wire-to-wire GI Preakness S. winner National Treasure (Quality Road) and beaten Kentucky Derby favorite and third-place finisher Angel of Empire (Classic Empire), who adds blinkers for the first time.

Keeping it 100…

Commanding a stud fee of $185,000 in 2023, North America's three-time leading sire Tapit is responsible for 100 graded winners worldwide–31 at the highest level–including Belmont winners Essential Quality (2021), Tapwrit (2017), Creator (2016) and Tonalist (2014).

Tapit is the broodmare sire of 12 Grade I winners, including this year's GI Kentucky Oaks heroine Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief), who returned with a thrilling victory in Friday's GI Acorn S., and Saturday's GI Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan H. 7-5 morning-line favorite and GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Cody's Wish (Curlin).

He'll have four chances to collect his first Belmont trophy as a broodmare sire with the lightly raced GIII Peter Pan S. winner Arcangelo (Arrogate); Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}), a better-than-it-looked fifth in the Kentucky Derby after racing close to a hot pace; last out Gulfstream optional claiming winner Il Miracolo (Gun Runner); and Bath House Row winner and GI Preakness S. fourth Red Route One (Gun Runner).

Tapit's progeny will also be featured prominently on the absolutely stacked Belmont undercard via Charge It (Tapit) (GI Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan H.); Highest Honors (Tapit) (GI Resorts World Casino Manhattan S.); and Portos (Tapit) (GII Brooklyn S.).

Star Power…

There will be eight additional graded stakes races–five at the Grade I level–on the blockbuster Belmont undercard.

The aforementioned fan favorite Cody's Wish (Curlin) will put his five-race winning streak on the line in the stallion-making GI Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan H.

Clairiere (Curlin) and Secret Oath (Arrogate) will meet for the third straight time in the GI Ogden Phipps S. The former defeated two-time champion Malathaat (Curlin) by a head in a thrilling renewal of the Phipps last year.

Last out GI Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic S. winner Up to the Mark (Not This Time) will take on nine rivals, including the Charlie Appleby-trained duo of Ottoman Fleet (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) and Warren Point (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), in the GI Resorts World Casino Manhattan S.

A terrific field of 13 sophomores, including top two choices General Jim (Into Mischief) and Arabian Lion (Justify), will throw down in one of the best betting races on the day in the seven-furlong GI Woody Stephens S.

Last year's GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint winner Caravel (Mizzen Mast) will face an overflow field of males, including two-time GI Jaipur S. winner Casa Creed (Jimmy Creed), in a very deep edition of the six-furlong turf sprint Saturday.

Streaking champion sprinter and GI Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Elite Power (Curlin) looms large in the GII True North S.

Chez Pierre (Fr) (Mehmas {Ire}), winner of the GI Maker's Mark Mile S. at Keeneland this spring, is the even-money, morning-line favorite for the GIII Poker S.

And a field of 11 stayers will be locked and loaded in front of the crowd at the Belmont distance of 1 1/2 miles in the GII Brooklyn S.

The legendary Tom Durkin will make his return out of retirement to the announcer's booth to call the Belmont S. as well as all the races aired during FOX's Belmont Day coverage scheduled for 4:00-7:30 p.m. ET.

Saturday's forecast calls for partly sunny skies and a delightful high of 77 degrees on Long Island.

First post for the 13-race program, featuring a trio of Breeders' Cup 'Win and You're In' events (Met Mile, Ogden Phipps and Jaipur), is 11:20 a.m. ET. Post time for the Belmont is 7:02 p.m.

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