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Fulsome Maintains ‘Winn’-ing Ways at Churchill

Four weeks after the commonly owned 'TDN Rising Star' and stablemate Mandaloun (Into Mischief) crossed the line second in the GI Kentucky Derby, Juddmonte's Fulsome (Into Mischief) was afforded his own chance to shine and made the most of the opportunity in Saturday's GIII Matt Winn S., overcoming a sluggish break to defeat Derby fifth O Besos (Orb) and that race's eighth-place finisher Helium (Ironicus) in convincing fashion.

Sent off the 17-10 chalk to remain perfect in three tries on the main track, the impeccably bred bay walked out of barrier five, but that caused jockey Florent Geroux little concern, as he settled Fulsome last of the septet as Helium poked through from between rivals to take up the running. Allowed to dictate reasonably soft fractions of :23.75 and :48.69, Helium galloped along comfortably enough as Fulsome continued to trail from within striking distance. O Besos was the first to come after the front-runner as the field neared the stretch, rolling up boldly three wide, but Fulsome had that move covered and was just finding his best stride four deep off the final corner. Fulsome claimed his two chief market rivals with relative ease outside of the eighth pole and strode home a good-looking winner.

“I was pretty confident he could take some dirt in his face and got him to relax early,” Geroux explained. “I was just hoping they were going fast up front after the slow break. He was able to go past those horses easily to win.”

Hailing from an extremely versatile female family, Fulsome began his career on the grass, besting three next-out winners when graduating by a neck at third asking at the Fair Grounds. Fourth in the Feb. 27 Black Gold S. in New Orleans, the bay romped in a rained-off Keeneland allowance in the slop Apr. 10 and was exiting a hard-fought, 1 1/4-length success in the May 1 Oaklawn S., getting the better of fellow Brad Cox trainee Warrant (Constitution).

Pedigree Notes:

Fulsome, the 43rd graded winner for his all-conquering sire, was produced by a winning daughter of French MSW & GSP Viviana, whose distinguished produce include Juddmonte's Sightseek (Distant View), a seven-time Grade I winner at distances from seven to nine furlongs on the dirt and dam of GSP Raison d'Etat (A.P. Indy); and Tates Creek (Rahy), a dual Grade I winner on the turf whose son Spirit Ridge (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) won his second race at group level in the G3 Premier's Cup Saturday at Eagle Farm in Brisbane, Australia.

Fulsome's third dam Nijinsky Star, a half-sister to champion Chief's Crown (Danzig)'s dam Six Crowns (Secretariat x Chris Evert), was responsible for GSW & GISP Revasser (Riverman) and SW & MGISP Hometown Queen (Pleasant Colony), the 1987 GI Kentucky Oaks runner-up who would go on to produce GSW & MGISP sire Bowman's Band (Dixieland Band), whose unraced full-sister Etats Unis was the dam of MGSW & MGISP sire Pollard's Vision (Carson City). Viviana's full-sister Willstar bred Etoile Montante (Miswaki), winner in France of the G1 Prix de la Foret and a MGSW/GISP runner in this country under the care of the late Bobby Frankel. The latter's grand-daughter Oyster Box (Tapit) was a good fourth in Saturday's GIII Regret S.

Fulsome, who is bred on the exact same cross as 'TDN Rising Star' Life Is Good and fellow GSW Naughty Joker, has a 2-year-old half-brother named Rimprotector (Point of Entry), a yearling half-sister by Frosted and a foal half-sister by Twirling Candy.

Saturday, Churchill Downs
MATT WINN S.-GIII, $150,000, Churchill Downs, 5-29, 3yo, 1 1/16m, 1:42.88, ft.
1–FULSOME, 120, c, 3, by Into Mischief
                1st Dam: Flourish, by Distorted Humor
                2nd Dam: Viviana, by Nureyev
                3rd Dam: Nijinsky Star, by Nijinsky II
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. O-Juddmonte; B-Juddmonte Farms
Inc (KY); T-Brad H Cox; J-Florent Geroux. $91,140. Lifetime
Record: 7-4-1-0, $373,854. *1/2 to Mr Darcy (Harlan's
Holiday), GSP, $263,876. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple
Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–O Besos, 118, c, 3, Orb–Snuggs and Kisses, by Soto.
O-Bernard Racing LLC, Tagg Team Racing, West Point
Thoroughbreds & Terry L Stephens; B-L Barrett Bernard (KY);
T-Gregory D. Foley. $29,400.
3–Helium, 123, c, 3, Ironicus–Thundering Emilia, by Thunder
Gulch. ($55,000 Ylg '19 FTKOCT). O-D J Stable LLC; B-Teneri
Farm Inc & Bernardo Alvarez Calderon (KY); T-Mark E Casse.
$14,700.
Margins: 3 3/4, 1 1/4, HF. Odds: 1.70, 1.90, 2.70.
Also Ran: Southern Passage, Ready to Pounce, Game Day Play, Sittin On Go. Scratched: Hello Hot Rod.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG

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Fulsome Edges O Besos, Helium In Matt Winn For Third Consecutive Victory

Last early, Juddmonte Farms' homebred Into Mischief colt Fulsome took command with an eighth of a mile to run and pulled away by 3 3/4 lengths under jockey Florent Geroux to win Saturday's Grade 3 Matt Winn Stakes for 3-year-olds at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky,

Trained by Brad Cox, Fulsome ran 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in 1:42.88 and paid $5.40 to win as the 8-5 favorite in his third consecutive victory. Second betting choice at 9-5, O Besos, coming off a fifth-place finish in the G1 Kentucky Derby, was second, with the Derby's eighth-place finisher, Helium, third at 5-2 odds.

Southern Passage, Ready to Pounce, Game Day Play and Sittin On Go completed the order of finish. Hello Hot Rod was scratched.

Helium, winner of the G2 Tampa Bay Derby in March, set the fractions, going :23.75, :48.69 and 1:13.26 for the first six furlongs under Julien Leparoux. Longshot Game Day Play applied pressure under David Cohen, with O Besos making a move on the leaders on the turn for home.

Fulsome began moving up approaching the far turn, rallied wide into the stretch and won geared down at the end after passing the mile marker in 1:36.78.

“I was pretty confident he could take some dirt in his face and got him to relax early,” said Geroux. “I was just hoping they were going fast up front after the slow break. He was able to go past those horses easily to win.”

This was the third consecutive victory for Fulsome, who made his first four starts on turf, winning just once in a maiden race at Fair Grounds on Jan. 16, 2021. He made his dirt debut at Keeneland on April 10 in a race that was taken off the turf because of rain. He drew off that day to win by 3 1/2 lengths in the slop and and came three weeks later to win the $300,000 Oaklawn Stakes by 1 1/4 lengths at Oaklawn Park.

“He had two solid works here at Churchill after winning the Oaklawn Stakes,” said Cox. “We were very confident in him by the way he was training. He got off a step slow but he really finished up fast today and was impressive doing so.”

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Derby Fifth-Place Finisher O Besos Headlines Saturday’s Matt Winn Stakes

Bernard Racing, Tagg Team Racing, West Point Thoroughbreds and Terry Stephens' Kentucky Derby (Grade 1) fifth-place finisher O Besos headlines a field of eight 3-year-olds that were entered in Saturday's $150,000 Matt Winn (G3) – one of seven stakes events on the 11-race Stephen Foster Preview Day card at Churchill Downs.

The 1 1/16-mile Matt Winn shares the Saturday spotlight with the $150,000 Regret (G3), $150,000 Aristides (Listed), $150,000 Blame, $150,000 Shawnee, $150,000 Audubon and $110,000 Douglas Park Overnight Stakes. The action-packed program gets underway at 12:45 p.m. (all times Eastern) and the Matt Winn is carded as Race 9 at 4:55 p.m.

O Besos, a 3-year-old son of Orb, closed into the early Kentucky Derby pace but flattened in the final furlong to cross the wire fifth. Trained by Greg Foley, O Besos had several options on the table following the Derby but opted to stay at Churchill Downs for the Matt Winn.

“We love running at Churchill and this race gives us plenty of options going forward,” Foley said. “He worked an easy half-mile (in :49) Monday morning and is doing well from the Derby. We can lead him over for the race right from Barn 11.”

Jockey Marcelino Pedroza, who rode O Besos to a third-place finish in the $1 million TwinSpires.com Louisiana Derby (G2) and in the Kentucky Derby, has the call in the Matt Winn from post No. 3.

Chief among O Besos' rivals in the Matt Winn is D J Stable's $400,000 Tampa Bay Derby (G2) winner Helium. The Mark Casse trainee finished 10th in the Kentucky Derby. He'll be ridden in Saturday's race by Julien Leparoux from post 2.

Also entered in the Matt Winn field is Juddmonte's $300,000 Oaklawn Stakes winner Fulsome. Trained by Brad Cox, Fulsome broke his maiden on turf but was transitioned to dirt in April at Keeneland when a first-level allowance event changed surfaces due to inclement weather. Fulsome defeated six rivals by 3 ½ lengths that day, which catapulted him to a 1 ¼-length win in the Oaklawn Stakes on May 1.

Florent Geroux has the mount from post 5.

The complete field for the Matt Winn (from the rail out with jockey and trainer): Ready to Pounce (Brian Hernandez Jr., Neil Pessin); Helium (Leparoux, Casse); O Besos (Pedroza, Foley); Southern Passage (Corey Lanerie, Dale Romans); Fulsome (Geroux, Cox); Hello Hot Rod (Francisco Arrieta, Caio Caramori); Sittin On Go (Joe Talamo, Romans); and Game Day Play (David Cohen, Robertino Diodoro).

Churchill Downs' admission gates will open Saturday at 11:30 a.m. and tickets, starting at $5, are available on www.ChurchillDowns.com/tickets. For those outside the Louisville area, all 11 races are scheduled to be televised on Fox Sports 2 from 12:30-6 p.m. Fans can also watch the live simulcast feed and wager on www.TwinSpires.com, the official ADW of Churchill Downs Incorporated.

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Knicks Go Re-Routed To Met Mile

Multiple Grade 1 winner Knicks Go had been targeting the May 31 Steve Sexton Mile at Lone Star Park for his first start back after finishing fourth in the Saudi Cup in February, but the 5-year-old son of Paynter has been re-routed to the Grade 1 Met Mile on June 5 at Belmont Park.

Trainer Brad Cox told the Daily Racing Form the reason behind the change is that Charlatan, second-place finisher in the Saudi Cup, will not appear in the Met Mile entry box. The Bob Baffert-trained colt was taken out of training for an unspecified issue earlier this month, and his trainer is currently banned from entering horses at NYRA racetracks.

Other likely entrants in the G1 Met Mile include: Mischevious Alex, Dr Post, Silver State, and Lexitonian. Possibles include Ny Traffic and Rushie.

Cox has several other contenders for the loaded Belmont Stakes Festival, including juvenile champion Essential Quality in the marquee event. Shedaresthedevil and Bonny South are pointing to the Ogden Phipps, Travel Column the Acorn, Caddo River the Woody Stephens, and Kinenos the Belmont Gold Cup.