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Malibu Moon Filly Cruises to Rising Stardom at Spa

Sophomore filly More Moonshine (Malibu Moon) sat off a quick pace and skipped home in the muddy stretch to earn the 'TDN Rising Star' nod for an impressive belated debut Sunday at Saratoga. Having been very close to an unveiling here last year only to suffer a setback, the dark bay showed an upbeat local tab for a barn that can win with a firster but doesn't often get bet like it, and was let go at 6-1. Away in good order, the Summer Wind Equine homebred sat in a distant sixth among a strung-out group as favored Equal Pay (Quality Road) took pressure through splits of :22.44 and :45.49. Florida invader Perfect Grace (Tapit–Havre de Grace) ranged up and briefly looked like the winner approaching the straight, but More Moonshine soon caught the eye out wider and cruised past Perfect Grace in upper stretch. Never shown the stick by Junior Alvarado, she cantered away by 6 1/2 lengths, stopping the clock in 1:23.59. Perfect Grace was far in front of the others. Equal Pay faded to last, one spot behind well-bred newcomer Mezcal (Pioneerof the Nile–Cathryn Sophia).

The winner is a full to fellow 'Rising Star' Moonshine Memories, MGISW, $549,056, a $650,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga grad and two-time highest-level winner at two; and half to precocious runner and former California-based sire Indian Evening (Indian Charlie), SW-Can, GSP-USA, $140,172, who was third in the local GII Saratoga Special S. in 2011. Another half-brother, stakes-placed Mo for the Money (Uncle Mo), stands in Arkansas.

Dam Unenchanted Evening–a half to Horse of the Year and champion 2-year-old Favorite Trick (Phone Trick)–was also bred by Jane Lyon's Summer Wind. She has a 2-year-old full-brother to More Moonshine and Moonshine Memories who cost $375,000 at Keeneland September before being exported to France. Unenchanted was not bred back for 2020, but produced a Justify colt this term.

Malibu Moon, who died in May at age 24, has now sired an impressive 22 'TDN Rising Stars'.

7th-Saratoga, $100,000, Msw, 7-18, 3yo/up, f/m, 7f, 1:23.59, my, 6 1/2 lengths.
MORE MOONSHINE, f, 3, Malibu Moon
                1st Dam: Unenchantedevening, by Unbridled's Song
                2nd Dam: Evil Elaine, by Mediaval Man
                3rd Dam: Distinctive Elaine, by Distinctive
Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $55,000. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG. Free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
O/B-Summer Wind Equine LLC (KY); T-William I. Mott.

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Sunday Insights: Daughter of Oaks Winner Debuts at Spa

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency

7th-SAR, $100k, Msw, 3yo/up, f/m, 7f, 4:29 p.m. ET

Bobby Flay's MEZCAL (Pioneerof the Nile), the first foal out of 2016 GI Kentucky Oaks winner Cathryn Sophia (Street Boss), makes her debut in the seventh race at Saratoga Sunday. The 3-year-old filly, a $625,000 KEESEP yearling, is trained by Todd Pletcher. Bridlewood Farm and Don Alberto Corp. purchased Cathryn Sophia, with this filly in utero, for $2.3 million at the 2017 Keeneland November sale.

Courtlandt Farms' Big City Momma (Quality Road), a $700,000 KEESEP purchase, will look to improve on a third-place effort in her six-furlong debut at Belmont May 6 for trainer Shug McGaughey, while Bill Mott saddles Summer Wind Equine firster More Moonshine (Malibu Moon). Out of Unenchantedevening (Unbridled's Song), the sophomore is a full-sister to Grade I winner Moonshine Memories and a half to stakes winner and graded placed Indian Evening (Indian Charlie). Whisper Hill Farm homebred Perfect Grace (Tapit), a daughter of champion Havre de Grace (Saint Liam), makes her third trip to the post following a pair of runner-up efforts at Gulfstream for trainer Ralph Nicks.

TJCIS PPs

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Competitive Filly Sprinters Kick Off Spa Juvenile Action

5th-SAR, $100k, Msw, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f, 3:21 p.m. ET

Split divisions of juvenile filly sprinters get the Saratoga baby race season underway on opening day Thursday, with this latter half appearing to be clearly the saltier spot on paper. Heads turned when a filly by thus-far unheralded freshman sire Valiant Minister hammered for $360,000–120 times the Bridlewood Farm resident's stud fee–at OBS April, but one viewing of OUTFOXED's breeze-show effort quickly explains why. The dark bay barreled through a powerful :20 4/5 quarter-mile work, sparking a bidding war that ended with Solis/Litt as the last entity standing on behalf of LNJ Foxwoods. The Bill Mott trainee shows a modest local worktab, but did work a half-mile in :49 flat (3/12) from the gate on the Oklahoma training track June 25. Two other debutantes have live looks in Solasta (Goldencents) and Echo Zulu (Gun Runner). The former, owned by Jeff Drown and Don Rachel, is a half-sister to GISW Mia Mischief who cost $300,000 as a Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearling buy. The bay has breezed sharply for Jeremiah Englehart, including a best-of-31 bullet half-mile from the gate over this strip in :47 3/5 July 1. The latter, who goes out for L and N Racing and Winchell Thoroughbreds, is a half to last summer's GI H. Allen Jerkens S. hero Echo Town (Speightstown) and GSW J Boys Echo (Mineshaft). She sports a four-furlong gate bullet of her own, going the distance in :47 2/5 (1/44) June 15 at Keeneland. One of only two horses in the 10-horse group with racing experience, Pop-A-Top's Lady Scarlet (Union Rags) gets the slight nod on the morning line at 5-2 after showing good speed and finishing a clear second for Brad Cox in the opener June 4 at Churchill. TJCIS PPs

—@JBiancaTDN

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Eclipse Award Winner Bert Firestone, Owner Of Derby-Winning Filly Genuine Risk, Passes At Age 89

The Eclipse Award-winning owner of 1980, Bertram Robert Firestone died July 12 in West Palm Beach, Fla., at the age of 89, reports bloodhorse.com. He is perhaps best known for campaigning Genuine Risk, just the second filly in history to win the Kentucky Derby (1980).

In all, Firestone and his wife Diana Johnson campaigned 17 Grade or Group 1 winners and multiple champions: Honest Pleasure (1975 U.S. Champion 2-Year-Old); April Run (1981 French Champion 3-Year-Old Filly, 1982 U.S. Champion Grass Mare); Blue Wind (1981 English & Irish Champion 3-Year-Old Filly); Play It Safe (1981 French Champion 2-Year-Old Filly); Theatrical (1987 U.S. Champion Grass Horse); and Paradise Creek (1994 U.S. Champion Grass Horse).

The Firestones originally partnered with Hall of Fame trainer LeRoy Jolley, but were also responsible for sending Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott his first big horse, Theatrical.

“I had a private job with them for about five years, and I could not have been treated any better,” Mott told bloodhorse.com. “They were the ones who got me to New York full-time. They gave me a huge opportunity, and they sent Theatrical to me. He did more for my career than any other single horse. He was my first champion and first Breeders' Cup winner. I'm forever grateful for those opportunities.”