Tag: brad cox

Talamo Earns Ellis Park Riding Title

Joe Talamo, recently relocated from the West Coast, won his first jockey’s title on the Kentucky circuit after riding 20 winners at Ellis Park’s Runhappy Summer meet which concluded Sunday.

“It feels really good,” said Talamo, who won a race both Saturday and Sunday to pull out of a tie with Rafael Bejarano. “Obviously Bejarano didn’t ride the last couple of weeks, so that definitely helped quite a bit, in all honestly. But more than anything, I was just really happy that we got into some nice barns and outfits and won on some really nice 2-year-olds this meet that I’m really excited about in the coming months. I think quite a few of them have a bright future.”

Talamo continued, “I really have to thank all the owners and trainers who supported me this meet, gave me good opportunities. Obviously [agent] Jake [Romans] did a great job. Hopefully we can keep the momentum going.”

Brad Cox and Ken McPeek tied for the meet’s leading trainer title with 10 wins apiece. Cox won Ellis titles in 2015 and 2018 and McPeek was winning his first title at the Henderson oval.

“We had a great meet,” McPeek said. “We had a lot of horses who came into it perfect. I liked the distance 2-year-old races, and I think we even had one win going short. Overall, the team did a great job. We brought up some from Florida to run, so it was a great summer. It’s a fun meet.”

Cox came on top in the money title with purse earnings of $450,261.

“I was happy with the meet,” Cox said. “It’s a great place to start a lot of young horses, to get them going. Whether they won or not, at least we got some races into them and the meet offered a lot of options as far as turf and dirt. The place has been extremely good to us, and we think a lot of Ellis Park. We’re able to stable there, and it’s a big part of our operation for sure. It’s a good meet, and we’re looking forward to bigger and better things to come.”

The Haughey family’s PTK was the leading owner at the meet with six wins from 23 starters.

“My amazing mom, our P, actually passed away unexpectedly in late March,” Kaitlin Haughey said in an email. “PTK was her baby, and we know she must be proud of this achievement. Winning the Ellis Park owner’s title is really a testament to all the many people and horses who keep PTK functioning on a day-to-day basis.”

The post Talamo Earns Ellis Park Riding Title appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Speech Tunes Up for Oaks Beneath Twin Spires

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Madaket Stables’ GI Ashland S. victress Speech (Mr Speaker)–third in the TDN Kentucky Oaks Top 10–drilled a half-mile in :47.60 (XBTV video) beneath exercise rider Osman Cedeno over the Churchill Downs main track Friday morning, her final major work ahead of the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks Sept. 4.

Working by her lonesome in the 7:30-7:45 a.m. window reserved for Kentucky Derby and Oaks horses, the Mike McCarthy trainee galloped through an opening quarter-mile in :24 flat and pulled up five furlongs in 1:00.20. It was the eighth-fastest of 94 half-mile breezes.

“She’s a very spirited horse and she got over the track well,” McCarthy said. “She always keeps herself plenty fit.”

Trainer Brad Cox sent out his two Oaks hopefuls in separate workouts Friday morning.

Juddmonte Farms’ Bonny South (Munnings, #5), the distant runner-up to likely second choice Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) in the GI Alabama S. at Saratoga Aug. 15, went a half-mile in :48.20 (XBTV video) inside of her GIII Indiana Derby-winning stablemate Shared Sense (Street Sense). She was caught in splits of :12.20 and :24 and galloped out five panels in 1:01.40.

“I thought it was a really strong work,” said Shaun Bridgmohan, who put Bonny South through her paces. “Shared Sense is a nice colt and she worked right with him.”

The Cox-conditioned GIII Indiana Oaks heroine Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil, #6) worked five furlongs in 1:01.40 underneath exercise rider Edgar Vargas.

“She’s really picked up her training over the last several weeks,” Cox said. “I’ve seen her really come into her own since winning the Indiana Oaks.”

Florent Geroux has the call next Friday.

At Del Mar Friday morning, ‘TDN Rising Star‘ Donna Veloce (Uncle Mo, #4) went five furlongs in 1:00.80 (XBTV video). Trainer Simon Callaghan told the Churchill press office via text that Ricardo Santana, Jr. would take the Oaks ride.

Hopeful Growth (Tapiture, #8), who was entered in Friday night’s GIII Charles Town Oaks as a Kentucky Oaks backup, worked five furlongs in 1:01.80 over the Monmouth Park main track.

“I moved the work up a day because we are supposed to get rain tomorrow,” trainer Anthony Margotta said via text. “I was very pleased with her breeze.”

Project Whiskey (Tapizar, #9) went a half-mile in :47.82 over the Parx main track Friday morning, while Tempers Rising (Bayern, #10) breezed a bullet half-mile in :47 flat (XBTV video) at Churchill.

The post Speech Tunes Up for Oaks Beneath Twin Spires appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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More Than Ready Filly Runs Away From Them on Spa Lawn

1st-Saratoga, $72,000, Msw, 8-23, 2yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 1:42.14, fm.
CALDEE (f, 2, More Than Ready–Holiday’s Jewel {SP, $393,052}, by Harlan’s Holiday), let go at a tick under 9-1 off an even fifth-place run sprinting on the dirt here July 19, seemed to find her preferred surface Sunday with a dominant front-running score. Facing minimal early resistance as she cruised along through splits of :25.25, :49.49 and 1:13.58,  the bay had plenty left in the tank for the stretch drive, and widened at will to defeat fellow second timer Uptown Flirt (Speightster) by 6 3/4 lengths. Favored firster Black Sand (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) advanced ominously heading for home but flattened out in the lane to settle for third. The winner is the second foal and first to race out of a mare who  was stakes-placed on the Aqueduct inner track before being purchased for $160,000 by John Ed Anthony’s Shortleaf Stable at the 2015 Keeneland November sale. Holiday’s Jewel produced a Street Boss filly in 2019 and a Collected filly this term. She most recently visited Arkansas-based Double Irish. Lifetime Record: 2-1-0-0, $42,480. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
O/B-Shortleaf Stable (KY); T-Brad H. Cox.

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Warrior’s Charge Wins Iselin Via Disqualification

Trainer Brad Cox knows full well how tough graded stakes victories are to come by, so he will take the one by Warrior's Charge via disqualification in Saturday's Grade 3 $200,000 Philip H. Iselin Stakes at Monmouth Park and move on.

With the stewards ruling that first-place finisher Pirate's Punch came in and intimidated Warrior's Charge late in the race at the Oceanport, N.J., track, Cox's horse earned the second graded stakes victory of his career after being placed first.

The 1 1/16-mile Iselin, reduced to a four-horse field after scratches, was essentially a two-horse race with Pirate's Punch, ridden by Jorge Vargas, Jr., and Warrior's Charge, handled by Paco Lopez, running neck and neck around the racetrack.

Pirate's Punch took a slight advantage in mid-stretch before starting to come over inside the sixteenth pole, with Warrior's Charge battling along the rail.

With 30 yards to go, Lopez stood straight up in the irons and effectively stopped riding, finishing 1 1/2 lengths behind the Grant Forster-trained Pirate's Punch. It was another three-quarters of a length back to Bal Harbour.

Final time for the mile and a sixteenth was 1:43.37.

“He (Pirate's Punch) came in on me pretty good,” said Lopez. “I had to steady because of him. I had to completely stand up and stop riding. He came over. I think the stewards did the right thing. I had to completely stop riding my horse. I think my horse was still trying hard.

“I think if had a little room he would have come back to win because he's a fighter. You can see on the head-on how it bothered us and why I had to stop riding. That hole was there and then it closed very quickly when that horse came over on us.”

Gulliver Racing's Phil Bongiovanni, co-owner of Pirate's Punch, saw it differently.

Warrior's Charge, who started his 4-year-old campaign by winning the Grade 3 Razorback Handicap at Oaklawn Park, earned his fifth victory in 11 career starts. The son of Munnings-Battling Brook by Broken Vow is owned by Ten Strike Racing and Madaket Stables LLC.

“Paco had the horse where he needed to be, up close or on the lead,” said Cox. “Pirate's Punch took off after us and I thought we were able to battle back and get in front of him but I'm not sure he ever did, even though he hung in there with him. Maybe we were going to come back. Obviously the stewards thought we were. We were fortunate to come out on the front end of this. The horse that crossed the wire first ran a tremendous race. I honestly thought he was a horse to contend with and he obviously was.

“It's strange, because a couple of more jumps and we're probably third. It was an unfortunate way to win a race, I guess you could say. But we'll take. Now we'll see how he comes out of it.”

Cox said his ultimate goal with Warrior's Charge is the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland on Nov. 7. He hopes to find one more race before then.

“He will ship back to Kentucky tomorrow and we'll see how he is,” he said. “I think we'll look at one more race (before the Breeders' Cup Mile) but we'll see how he comes out of this first.”

Warrior's Charge paid $3 to win as the 1-2 favorite, dueling with Pirate's Punch through fractions of :24.10 for the opening quarter, :47.46 for the half, 1:11.17 for three quarters of a mile and 1:36.61 for the mile. They were never separated by more than a half-length until the incident in deep stretch.

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