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Jockey Club Gold Cup Winner Happy Saver Jumps To Fifth In NTRA Top 3-Year-Old Poll

When he surged up the rail and hit the finish line first in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup on October 10, Happy Saver inserted himself into the discussion of top tier contenders in the sophomore male division. Indeed, when the votes were tallied in the latest National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) Top 3-Year-Old Thoroughbred Poll, the son of Super Saver found himself among the elite.

Happy Saver bested a field that included such older foes as graded stakes winner Tacitus in the Jockey Club Gold Cup to give trainer Todd Pletcher his long-awaited first triumph in the storied race. That victory, which also marked the colt's first try against graded stakes company in four career starts, earned Happy Saver 174 points this week to move him into the fifth position. Following a debut victory on June 20 at Belmont Park, Happy Saver prevailed going two turns at Saratoga en route to a triumph in the Sept. 7 Federico Tesio Stakes at Laurel Park, ahead of his Jockey Club Gold Cup outing.

“What he's been able to accomplish you don't see very many other horses do,” Pletcher told the NYRA publicity team of Happy Saver. “He went from a seven-furlong maiden on June 20 to a mile and an eighth allowance at Saratoga, to a mile and an eighth stake at Laurel and came back to Belmont and then to win a Grade 1 going a mile and a quarter against older horses is something you don't see very often.”

Whether Happy Saver heads to the Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland on Nov. 7 is still to be determined. Should he end up in that starting gate, his list of challengers will likely include Kentucky Derby winner Authentic, who continues to hold the top spot in the 3-Year-Old Poll.

Authentic, who was beaten a neck by the filly Swiss Skydiver in the October 3 Preakness Stakes, earned 17 first-place votes and 342 points to hold onto the top spot for yet another week. Belmont and Travers Stakes winner Tiz the Law remains second with eight first-place votes and 328 points with Swiss Skydiver (12 first-place votes, 326 points) in third.

Grade 2 winner Art Collector (203 points) holds down the fourth position ahead of Happy Saver while Grade 1 winner Honor A. P., who has been retired to stud, drops one spot to sixth with 129 points.

Multiple Grade 1 winner Gamine (103 points) is seventh with Kentucky Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil and Max Player now tied for eighth with 80 points apiece. Grade 2 winner Mystic Guide, who was second in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, rounds out the top 10 with 57 points.

With sophomore runners taking the top two spots in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, the handicap division had no major shifts this week. Multiple Grade 1 winner Improbable remains out front in the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll with 32 first-place votes and 365 points as the son of City Zip has won three straight top-level contests.

Champion Maximum Security, runner-up to Improbable in the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes on Sept. 26, is second with two first-place votes and 271 points. Tom's d'Etat (two first-place votes, 218 points) is third followed by Vekoma (one first-place vote, 202 points) and champion Monomoy Girl (191 points).

Multiple graded stakes winner By My Standards remains sixth with 147 points while Authentic (124 points) and Tiz the Law (117) rank seventh and eighth, respectively. Swiss Skydiver (104 points) and multiple Grade 1 winner Rushing Fall (71) complete the top ten.

The NTRA Top Thoroughbred polls are the sport's most comprehensive surveys of experts. Every week eligible journalists and broadcasters cast votes for their top 10 horses, with points awarded on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. All horses that have raced in the U.S., are in training in the U.S., or are known to be pointing to a major event in the U.S. are eligible for the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll. Voting in both the Top Three-Year-Old Thoroughbred Poll and the Top Thoroughbred Poll is scheduled to be conducted through the conclusion of the Breeders' Cup in November.

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Ward Thinking Breeders’ Cup For Royal Approval Following Sharp Matron Victory

Three Chimneys Farm's Royal Approval overtook pacesetter Union Gables in the final furlong and closed strongly to register a three-quarter length victory for her first stakes score in Sunday's Grade 3, $100,000 Matron for juvenile fillies on the inner turf course at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

Royal Approval broke sharply from post 7 under jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. and tracked Union Gables as she led the seven-horse field through an opening quarter-mile in 22.53 seconds and the half in 46.28 on the firm course. Out of the turn, the 1-2 favorite pressed on and bypassed Union Gables from the outside once inside the eighth pole. Magisterium, who was at the back at the pack a quarter mile in, made a strong bid from the rail, and Union Gables continued to dig in, but Royal Approval completed the six-furlong sprint in 1:09.10.

“I rode her like the best horse in the race,” Ortiz, Jr. said. “With this one I got the perfect trip. She broke well, she put me right there and when I asked her to go, she was there.

“She [Union Gables] was game,” he added regarding the stubborn pace setter. “She was fighting and she tried to come back. My filly responded really well. She has a nice turn of foot.”

Trainer Wesley Ward said before the race that Royal Approval much preferred firm turf, which the daughter of Tiznow thrived on in her previous start with a 6 1/4-length romp on September 9 at Kentucky Downs in a maiden special weight.

Following a second-place effort upon debut to stablemate Campanelle on May 31 going five furlongs on Gulfstream Park's firm grass, Ward shipped Royal Approval to England to run at Royal Ascot in the Group 2 Queen Mary in June, where a wet surface proved problematic in a 17th place finish. Campanell, victorious in the Queen Mary, exited that effort to win the Group 1 Prix Morny at Deauville.

Under dryer conditions, Royal Approval has now won two in a row and improved to 2-for-2 since Ward took the blinkers off.

“I try to take [the blinkers] off at the end of the year,” said Ward, who won the 2017 Matron with Happy Like a Fool. “At the beginning of the year, I just want to keep them focused and looking straight ahead and not looking at whatever is beside them. As we get to the fall, they get to different tracks and so many different countries, that it helps to stretch their speed when you take the blinkers off.

“When I took the blinkers off her last time, she ran very well and if you analyze the race at Kentucky Downs, it almost looked like you had to get worried and then the rider went to the stick and she opened up five or six lengths,” he continued. “Irad said that he was just riding, and she was just kind of right there, but when he hit her, she took off. I think this filly may stretch out.”

Royal Approval returned $3.10 for winning the 113th edition of the Matron. Ward said the effort gave him confidence to pursue a spot in the Breeders' Cup next month at Keeneland, with either the Grade 2, $1 million Juvenile Turf Sprint against males going 5 ½ furlongs or the Grade 1, $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf going one mile in play and a possible rematch with Campanell, who is targeting that race.

“We definitely will go to the Breeders' Cup with her. I'll sit down with [Three Chimneys Farm vice chairman] Doug Cauthen and [chairman] Mr. [Gonçalo Borges] Torrealba and see just which direction they want to go,” Ward said. “Just after talking to Irad, the mile [Juvenile Fillies Turf] might be the better option for her, but again, we'll sit down and see how she is. As we get a little closer, we'll have to really watch the weather, as this filly doesn't handle the soft turf. At Keeneland in the fall, sometimes you'll get that.”

Union Gables, conditioned by Todd Pletcher, held off Magisterium by three-quarters of a length for second.

“She was pretty comfortable, she broke pretty well,” said Union Gables' jockey Luis Saez. “She's going to be all right next time. She fought until the end, the winner was just too tough. She's going to be OK.”

Amalfi Princess, Fabricate and Rossa Veloce completed the order of finish. Niente was pulled up in the stretch run and vanned off.

Bravo Regina was scratched.

Originally contested on dirt, the Matron – along with its male counterpart the Grade 3, $100,000 Futurity – was moved to the grass in 2018 upon introduction of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint to give 2-year-old turf sprinting fillies an opportunity to garner black type. The historic race has seen some of racing's finest fillies notch a victory early on in their storied careers including Maskette (1908), Top Flight (1938), Busher (1944), Bed o' Roses (1949), Cicada (1961), Numbered Account (1971) and La Prevoyante (1972).

Live racing resumes with a special nine-race Monday holiday card at Belmont with a first post of 12:50 p.m. Eastern.

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After Futurity Upset, Second Of July Likely Heading To Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint

After springing a 68-1 upset in his career debut, Bryan Hilliard's homebred Second of July again outran his odds displaying off-the-pace tactics to score a 15-1 victory in Sunday's 130th running of the Grade 3, $100,000 Futurity going six furlongs over the Widener turf at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

In taking the Futurity, Second of July earned an all-fees paid entry into the Grade 2 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint on November 6 at Keeneland.

Trained by Phillip Gleaves, Second of July was further off the pace in the Futurity than he was in his September 20 maiden special weight victory over Belmont's inner turf, where he was 1 1/2 lengths off the lead before surging to win by three-quarters of a length. On Sunday, the chestnut son of Jack Milton settled in sixth under jockey Dylan Davis while Momos and Gypsy King wrestled for control of the pace through opening fractions of 22.10 and 45.45 over the firm turf.

The field was tightly packed as they made their way around the far turn, where Second of July was trying to find real estate. Just past the quarter pole, Davis tipped one path to the outside and in the clear and began asking more from his charge. On the front end, Momos and Gypsy King were still duking it out with County Final to their outside with a chance as Second of July bid five-wide in the stretch.

After Five unleashed a late bid to the far outside, but Second of July made his way to the front just inside the sixteenth pole and came home a half-length winner in a time of 1:09.33. After Five, who was last at the top of the stretch in search of racing room, took second as the beaten favorite over Momos, who ran third against graded stakes company for a second straight time.

Davis, who piloted Second of July to both of his victories, said he felt a difference in the horse's maturity level from his first start.

“The first time out, he was pretty green about everything,” Davis said. “Today, he was very professional and I hope he will be third time out. He was a lot better with the gate and the pony and the whole race scenario. He was a lot better for me. First time out, there were some heavy hitters and that's why he was a longshot. He ran great that day and he ran well again today. He was moving up in class and we were asking a lot of him. Phil did a great job getting him here.”

Second of July rewarded his backers with $2 win payouts of $33 as the highest price in the seven-horse field. Banking $55,000 in victory, he increased his earnings to $89,650 being unbeaten in two starts.

Gleaves said he was cautiously optimistic in his horse's chances.

“I knew he was very fit and sharp and doing good, so I knew he would run his race, but I just wasn't sure if it was going to be good enough, but it turned out to be,” Gleaves said. “I was happy to see he had so much horse coming around the turn and at that point I knew we were going to run well. He just wore them down. Dylan does such a great job. There would be no reason to change things at the Breeders' Cup.”

Gleaves said a trip to the Breeders' Cup is likely in play.

“All being well and if the horse is OK, we will head to the Breeders' Cup,” Gleaves said.

Completing the order of finish were County Final, Gypsy King, Trade Deal and Bright Devil. Sky's Not Falling, Newbomb, Kentucky Knight and Nutsie were scratched.

A Kentucky homebred, Second of July is named after owner Bryan Hilliard's son Reed's date of birth and is the third offspring out of the Curlin mare Wichita.

Live racing resumes on Monday with a nine-race program. First post is 12:50 p.m.

The post After Futurity Upset, Second Of July Likely Heading To Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The Week in Review: HBPA Says ‘Ramrodded’ Integrity Act Could Get Challenged As ‘Unconstitutional’

If the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) gets passed by the United States Senate and then signed into federal law, the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA) could launch a legal challenge against it based on the alleged unconstitutionality of the independently overseen anti-doping, drug testing, and racetrack safety standard programs that the new federal law would create.

Leroy Gessmann, who serves as both the NHBPA president and as Arizona HBPA’s executive director, told commissioners at the Oct. 8 Arizona Racing Commission (AZRC) meeting that “this thing is being ramrodded right now by [U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell…. We feel this thing is unconstitutional, just as the ban on sports betting was unconstitutional. We have the same attorneys looking into it.”

Gessmann did not speak in specifics about which aspects of the bill the NHBPA considered unconstitutional. Nor did he outline what the purported similarities were to the federal ban on sports betting that got overturned by a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Although previous versions of the Integrity Act have existed in the House of Representatives since 2015, the Senate version of the HISA (SB 4547) that was introduced by McConnell Sept. 9 has language that now matches the amended House version that passed with bipartisan support Sept. 29. As the majority leader, McConnell determines which bills come up for action in the Senate, and the longtime Kentucky legislator has consistently indicated he’s strongly in favor of a vote on HISA happening prior to the end of the current legislative session.

Gessmann’s comments came 22 minutes into an AZRC presentation last Thursday that detailed possible implications of the HISA on the sport’s regulation in Arizona. He was asked by the commission if he’d like to speak on the issue, and to clarify if he’d be commenting personally or as an HBPA representative.

“I’m going to speak on this topic as the National HBPA president,” Gessmann said. “Although there are a few good things in this bill, there’s a lot of concerns…. There’s been a version of this bill for six years in the House, and it’s never gone anywhere. And then when McConnell teamed up with Keeneland, Churchill, The Jockey Club, this thing all of a sudden took off.

“National HBPA is against this bill because of the Lasix issue [and] because of the formation of the Authority,” Gessmann said. “The Authority is made up of nine members, and they are appointed, they’re not elected [and] they can have nothing to do with the horse industry. They can have no experience or be involved in any way in the horse industry. [So] how [you] take people that don’t know anything about a horse and put them in charge of such an operation is beyond me.

“The other key issue [is] the expense of this is going to be a burden on the horsemen,” Gessmann continued. “Every start, you’re going to be assessed. The tracks are going to be assessed, and the state is going to be assessed to pay for this Authority and to oversee this thing on a national basis. Although we feel as horsemen the safety of the tracks are important, [there] is going to be major concerns with the safety of the racetracks, especially in Arizona.”

Gessmann did not elaborate on why Arizona, in particular, would face outsized concerns about racetrack safety.

At a later point in the discussion, Gessmann was asked how McConnell’s re-election bid factored into the outcome of the HISA bill.

“McConnell is trying to get it passed through in the ‘lame duck’ session before it ends, before his term ends,” Gessmann said. “If they don’t get it done in the lame duck session, then the bill dies, and they have to start all over.”

GovTrack, a legislative transparency organization that uses logistic regression analysis to rank the likelihood of passage of the 10,000 bills that come up annually in Congress, currently gives HR 1754 a 63% chance of being enacted.

SB 4547 is ranked at 21% chance to be enacted. The discrepancy between the two numbers no doubt reflects that the House version has already been passed by that chamber; McConnell’s considerable political clout is apparently not factored into the algorithm.

Either way, both prediction rates are astounding considering that GovTrack gave the Integrity Act only a 2% chance of being enacted when the first version of the bill debuted back in 2015.

An Unlikely 0-Fer

Considering his dauntingly long list of graded-stakes-winning achievements, it was a bit of surprise to learn that trainer Todd Pletcher had been shut out of the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup until Saturday, when ‘TDN Rising Star’ Happy Saver (Super Saver) shot through at the rail to claw out a three-quarter-length victory in the traditional season-capping highlight of the Belmont Park autumn meet.

According to the count by the New York Racing Association press department, Pletcher had been 0-for-23 in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, with seven second-place finishes.

That included last year’s version of the Gold Cup, in which Vino Rosso crossed the wire first but was disqualified and placed second for causing interference in the stretch. (Vino Rosso avenged that DQ by winning the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic in his next start).

“Not only had we not won it, we’d suffered some really close defeats. And then throw in a disqualification on top of that, and it’s been a frustrating one over the years,” Pletcher said. “This one was fun. It’s one of the races that has been hard on us. We’ve had some tough losses and it was very fulfilling to win it today.”

Five of those runner-up efforts were by margins of a length or less, including near-misses by Lawyer Ron to Curlin (a neck in 2007) and by Newfoundland to Funny Cide (three-quarters of a length in 2004).

BC Juvenile Getting Interesting

With a pair of undefeated colts now on a collision course for the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, the premier campaign-capping race for 2-year-old males is shaping up to be one of the more anticipated showdowns on the docket for the Nov. 6-7 championships at Keeneland.

Jackie’s Warrior (Maclean’s Music) commandeered the early pace in confident fashion, then was hand-ridden home after edging away under pressure in the stretch to romp home by 5 1/2 lengths in Saturday’s GI Champagne S. at Belmont. He’s now a perfect four-for-four and looms as the top East Coast-based juvenile heading to Lexington.

It’s presumed he’ll vie for favoritism in the Juvenile with home-court hopeful Essential Quality (Tapit), a ‘TDN Rising Star’ who broke his maiden by four lengths when favored on the GI Kentucky Derby undercard, then pasted the GI Breeders’ Futurity field at Keeneland Oct. 3 by employing assertive, pace-pressing tactics to engineer an at-will 3 1/2-length score.

The Juvenile itself is very much in need of a reboot after last year’s edition proved to be one of the weakest in the race’s history. Storm the Court (Court Vision) was the $93.80 winner. But he, and the race’s other top four finishers, have yet to win another race.

In fact, the field of eight that contested last year’s Juvenile now stands as a collective 2-for-33. The only horses to subsequently visit the winner’s circle have been the Japan-based Full Flat (Speightstown), who won the Saudi Derby Cup in Saudi Arabia back on Feb. 29, and Shoplifted (Into Mischief), who won the Springboard Mile at Remington Park last Dec. 15.

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