Bell’s the One Is Number One In Roxelana

Bell's the One showed her love for the Twin Spires Saturday in the Roxelana Overnight Stakes at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. The 5-year-old mare, trained by Neil Pessin and ridden by Corey Lanerie, went four wide on the race's final turn and ran down Sconsin in the stretch to win the Roxelana by a three-quarters of a length.

In a field of six, Sconsin, who won the Grade 3 Winning Colors Stakes in her previous start, went into the gate as the favorite with Bell's the One as the second choice. At the break, longshot Jungle Juice grabbed a short advantage, but Four Graces and Julien Leparoux took over the lead with Jungle Juice and Sconsin tightly packed behind her. Bell's the One ran fifth in the tightly bunched field, Lanerie moving his mare to the outside as the field entered the final turn. As Sconsin and Tyler Gafflione passed Four Graces to take the lead, Lanerie positioned Bell's the One to Sconsin's outside and set her down for a drive in the stretch. Gafflione moved Sconsin to the rail, but her time at the front was brief as Bell's the One had more than enough left to grab the lead for the good. Sconsin held on to second place with Miss Mosaic third. Four Graces, Shesomajestic, and Jungle Juice rounded out the field.

Find this race's chart here.

The Roxelana is Bell's the One's first win in three starts in 2021. Her previous wins at Churchill Downs include the 2020 G3 Winning Colors and the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff. Sired by Majesticperfection, Bell's the One is out of the Street Cry (IRE) mare Street Mate. Bred by Bret Jones, the 5-year-old mare is owned by Lothenbach Stables. She was sold by Brereton Jones to Lothenbach Stables for $155,000 at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Yearling Sale.

Corey Lanerie knew Bell's the One was ready for her race with Sconsin. “Today I let her run a little bit out of the gate because I didn't think the pace would be too fast. Then, I was sort of in the pocket (inside of Sconsin) and I didn't really like my spot because I know she needs to be outside of horses. I took her back from there to make sure I got first run at Sconsin. You could tell she was ready to run a big race and Neil had her ready to go.”

Neil Pessin has his sights set on Breeders' Cup for Bell's the One. “The last four or five days you could tell in her training she was ready to run a big race. She got a much better trip today than in her last start. Now, we'll look to get her ready for the Breeders' Cup. She'll likely run in the (Breeders' Cup) 'Win and You're In' at Keeneland (Grade II, Thoroughbred Club of America). I'm not sure yet if I'll run her once before then or not. We'll wait and see but the goal is the Breeders' Cup at the end of the year.”

The post Bell’s the One Is Number One In Roxelana appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Bell’s the One Gearing Up For Return

Lothenbach Stables' Bell's the One (Majesticperfection), who became the first Grade I winner for trainer Neil Pessin in last year's Derby City Distaff ahead of a third-place effort to champion 'TDN Rising Star' Gamine (Into Mischief) in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, breezed five furlongs in 1:00.60 (9/36) at the Fair Grounds Feb. 28. Pessin confirmed that the GI Madison S. at Keeneland Apr. 4, in which his charge was a pace-compromised third in the coronavirus-delayed 2020 renewal last July, is the jumping-off spot for the mare's 5-year-old campaign.

“She's doing very well and we are right on schedule to run at Keeneland,” the affable conditioner said Monday from New Orleans.

Following the Filly & Mare Sprint, where she was beaten by the nose of Serengeti Empress (Alternation) for second, Bell's the One was turned out for six weeks at Chesapeake Farm in Lexington. Pessin said she arrived at the Fair Grounds in early January, galloped for about a month and has turned in four breezes since.

“She's on a weekly training schedule, just depends on the weather and the track,” Pessin said. “We're pretty happy with where we are right now, so we do have some flexibility if needed. I'm not on a tight schedule. She'll be ready to rock and roll when Keeneland comes around.”

The trainer has no reservations about training up to the Madison.

“Very,” he said when asked about his level of confidence running in the Madison without a prep. “I have a lot of confidence in her. I'll be honest with you, if my filly runs her race–there has to be a little bit of a pace set-up for her at Keeneland–but with any sort of pace whatsoever, she ought to be tough. I don't think Gamine is coming and I'm really not worried about anything else.”

Pessin has never been one to rack up big numbers, but my any metric, 2020 was a banner year, with a victory in the GIII Winning Colors S. over an insufficient six-furlong trip in addition to the Derby City Distaff, where she got just the better of Serengeti Empress following a final-furlong throwdown.

“Well, winning the Derby City Distaff was nice, especially the fashion we did it,” he said. “Breeders' Cup, if we'd have been second–we had to wait a little bit turning for home and I think it cost us the nose. But with that being said, she ran a big race.

He continued, “Overall, having a horse like her in the barn is very exciting, makes you want to get up in the morning. I do wish she'd have been a finalist in the [Eclipse] balloting, because I do think she belonged on the list. We ran against Serengeti [Empress] twice, we beat her a nose and she beat us a nose. I feel we could have beaten her in the Breeders' Cup with a little more luck. I hope we get a shot to win one or two more Grade Is this year and she stays healthy and everything goes well.”

As for the rest of this year, Pessin said that the team will chart a course backwards from this year's Filly & Mare Sprint at Del Mar Nov. 6 following her first two starts. From there, her future remains an open question.

“I would say it depends on how healthy she stays and how well she runs,” Pessin said. “Bob breeds his own, but that doesn't necessarily mean she'll go straight to the breeding shed when this year is over.

“I want to do whatever is best for her,” Pessin added. “If I think she is 100% good to go for another year, then it'd be up to Bob and [racing manager] Drew [Nardiello] whether to race her or not. But I won't race her unless she's 100%.”

The post Bell’s the One Gearing Up For Return appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Captivating Moon Springs $89 Surprise In Fair Grounds Stakes

Rallying far out in the middle of the Fair Grounds turf course, Lothenbach Stables' homebred Captivating Moon upset the apple cart at odds of 43-1, getting up in the final sixteenth of a mile to win Saturday's Grade 3, $150,000 Fair Grounds Stakes in New Orleans, La.

Trained by Chris Block and ridden by Marcelino Pedroza, the 6-year-old son of Malibu Moon was 1 3/4 lengths ahead at the finish, covering 1 1/8  miles on the soft Fair Grounds turf  in 1:50.27 and paying $89 on a $2 bet.

Logical Myth finished second, edging Peace Achieved by a head, with Set Piece a nose bacj in a three-horse photo. Factor This, the 9-5 favorite, finished fifth in the field of 10 older runners. Blackberry Wine was scratched, trainer Joe Sharp opting to run the horse one race earlier in the Mineshaft Stakes.

Captivating Moon raced near the back of the field, alongside Set Piece, as Spectacular Gem and Factor This battled on the front end through fractions of :23:35, :48.14 and 1:12.20 for the opening six furlongs.

Pedroza took the outside route and Set Piece went inside as the field rounded the turn and headed into the long Fair Grounds stretch. Captivating Moon began running down the leaders in the final furlong, after a one-mile clocking in 1:37.99, then took command in the closing strides.

“He does like a soft turf,” said Block. “Marcelino did a nice job of keeping him in the clear.”

Block had also entered Captivating Moon in the Colonel Power Stakes, a 5 1/2-furlong turf stakes, earlier in the card, but opted for this spot.

The victory was the fifth in 29 career starts for Captivating Moon, who had run on dirt in his eight most recent races. The Fair Grounds Stakes was his first graded stakes victory.

The post Captivating Moon Springs $89 Surprise In Fair Grounds Stakes appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Memories Of Mom En Route To Kentucky Oaks

The son of a butcher and a baker growing up in Bloomington, Minn., Thoroughbred owner Bob Lothenbach knows how important family is on the road to success. His latest stakes winner, a 3-year-old filly on the Kentucky Oaks trail, is named in honor of his mom, Lorraine, who passed away seven years ago.

Charlie's Penny was named by Lothenbach's daughter, who remembers her grandmother exclaiming “Come on, Charlie!” while playing cards for pennies around the kitchen table.

The filly's 3 ¼-length victory in the Fair Grounds' Jan. 16 Silverbulletday Stakes came as a slight surprise to bettors (she was 9-1) and Lothenbach alike.

“We didn't expect it, that's for sure,” he said. “We didn't know if she would go two turns, but she made it look easy.”

Prior to the Silverbulletday Charlie's Penny had only started in one-turn races, and she had a record of two wins from four starts. While the daughter of Race Day will be tested once again in the Feb. 13 Rachel Alexandra Stakes, trainer Chris Block is optimistic about her talent level moving forward.

“(Jockey) Brian (Hernandez, Jr.) did a fantastic job around the first turn (in the Silverbulletday) getting her out and settled in there behind what was a slow pace, which I think benefited us to a degree,” Block said. “In the middle of the turn, I could see that he had a ton of horse. She ranged up there on the outside turning for home, and I've seen her level off really well going short. I thought if she could do that going long, we're going to be ok.”

Charlie's Penny is out of the unraced Warrior's Reward mare Sweet Lorraine, also named in honor of his mother. Her full sister, cheekily named Mom's Red Lipstick, is also a stakes winner trained by Block, but was foaled in Kentucky. Conversely, Charlie's Penny was foaled in Minnesota as one of Lothenbach's first crop of Thoroughbreds born in his home state.

Charlie's Penny winning the Silverbulletday Stakes at Fair Grounds

“That's where I live most of the time, so it just made sense to support my home program,” Lothenbach said. “It's always been a passion of mine, horses, and then the horse racing itself is just fantastic. There's nothing better than spending the day at the track.”

In fact, Lothenbach has been supporting Minnesota horse racing since Canterbury Park in Shakopee first opened in 1985. The longtime racing fan called on three of his friends, each of whom put in $1,000 to claim a horse. The partners made money with that first claim, and Lothenbach was hooked.

Before long, he was purchasing racehorses all on his own.

“That's probably part of the reason I went out on my own, to be able to hear the trainer,” Lothenbach explained, laughing. “I've got four different trainers that say I'm their best client because I never call them. They call me, and we'll cover stuff then. They've got their job to do, and I don't want the communication unless I need it.”

He trusts his trainers and gives them the space they need to do their jobs. That trust has become increasingly important as Lothenbach's racing and breeding stable has grown to over 150 horses.

Block, for example, is especially good at developing younger horses, Lothenbach said.

“Chris is a great developer of horses,” said Lothenbach. “He takes really good care of them. There's a lot of guys that push the babies, and Chris doesn't do that. If they really do show that they have the ability to run at 2, he'll do it, but otherwise he's patient with them.”

Another quality Lothenbach particularly respects in a trainer is a strong work ethic. It was something his own parents instilled in him early in life.

“I never heard college mentioned in our household, it was all about work ethic,” he said. “My dad always said, 'If I teach you a good work ethic, I'll never have to worry about you being able to take care of yourself.'”

That mantra of hard work paid off for Lothenbach, from working 40-hour weeks during his senior year of high school to building his own major printing company from the ground up.

“I started 30 years ago out of my garage with $1,800 to my name,” said Lothenbach. “Back then, the printing industry was pretty old school, and it could take several weeks to process an order. With my company, I told people, 'When you need it, I'll get it for you.' It single-handedly changed the printing industry in Minnesota.

“It was all about service. If I got an order that would normally take 2-4 weeks to finish, I literally would go pick up the paper. I signed a deal with the paper company that if I ordered the paper by 4 p.m., they'd deliver it that night, or I could go pick it up. I'd print overnight, do the binding in the mornings, and then deliver it.

“There were days when I'd sleep there, work 20 hours, get four hours of sleep, and be right back at it.”

The company grew to over 1,300 employees, and Lothenbach was inducted into the Printing Impressions/RIT Printing Industry Hall of Fame in 2013. He sold a majority share in 2016, and now focuses much of his time on other investment projects as well as his Lothenbach Family Foundation.

“I'm really big on literacy for kids, because when I was a kid I really struggled with school and reading, in fact I still do today,” Lothenbach said. “So the foundation supports literacy programs for kids, as well as veterans and a few other charities.

“People helped me get where I'm at, so I try to return the favor.”

Lothenbach admitted that his challenges with reading may be one of the reasons he worked so hard to build his company, and still tries to stay just as busy today.

“Because I had learning disabilities, and because I was a little hellion, I always tried to prove myself,” he said. “I always wanted to be the best at whatever I was doing, since I wasn't the best at school.”

One of his greatest rewards, then, was being able to take his parents out of town to the horse races in Chicago for the first time in 1992. That afternoon, a horse he co-owned, Saint Ballado, won the Grade 2 Arlington Classic. His parents joined him in the winner's circle.

“They just loved it,” Lothenbach said, his voice choking up with emotion. “It was pretty neat.”

Horse racing still brings his family together. Before the pandemic, Lothenbach and his brothers made time to take their 89-year-old father to the races at Canterbury a few times a year.

“He can barely walk, but to be with us and go to the races, he'll do it,” Lothenbach said.

Last year that tradition had to be adjusted a bit, but the family still connects by watching Lothenbach's horses race on television. A trip to this year's Kentucky Oaks with Charlie's Penny would definitely involve the whole family, if at all possible.

“It would be pretty special,” Lothenbach said.

The post Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Memories Of Mom En Route To Kentucky Oaks appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights