breeders' cup sprint | Horse Racing Free Tips

Dec. 18 Insights: Glen Hill Farm Homebred by Curlin Unveiled

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency

6th-AQU, $85k, Msw, 2yo, f, 1m, 2:14p.m. ET
Manzanita Stables LLC went to $300,000 at KEESEP in 2021 to acquire LUCKY COMBINATION (Ghostzapper), a price tag likely aided by her dam being out of a half-sister to GISW & MGISP Girolamo (A.P. Indy) and his full-siblings MGISP & MGSW Daydreaming and GISP Accelerator. Dam Lucky Number herself claims GISW Got Lucky (A.P. Indy)–responsible for MGSP Overtook (Curlin)–as a half-relation and has produced two other winning fillies. This is the female family of GISW Chocolate Gelato (Practical Joke); GISW Imagining (Giant's Causeway); GI Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver (Maria's Mon) and his graded-stakes winning brothers Cyrus Alexander (Medaglia d'Oro) and Brethren (Distorted Humor); GISW Callback (Street Sense); GISW Bluegrass Cat (Storm Cat) as well as no less than 25 other graded and listed black-type earners. She brings in a steady string of work outs from the barn of Christophe Clement. TJCIS PPs

6th-GP, $70k, Msw, 2yo, f, 6f, 2:38p.m. ET
Glen Hill Farm will unveil their homebred OCEAN CLUB (Curlin) in this six furlong baby dash. Out of MGSP Theatre Star (War Front), herself a half-sister to GISW, track record-setter Taris (Flatter)–dam of GSW King Fury (Curlin)–and that one's full-sister, SW Stoweshoe, Ocean Club has a two-time winning full-sister Gather as You Go. This is the extended female family of Panamanian champion 3-year-old filly Chef Michelle (Pine Bluff). Tom Proctor will send her to post. To her outside and one over is Famosa (Speightstown), the half-sister to MGSP Into Mystic (Into Mischief). Also campaigned by her breeder Tami Bobo, the chestnut is out of Loveofalifetime, who counts GSW, track record-setter Savorthetime (Gilded Time); GISP Rogue Romance (Smarty Jones); and MGSP Tizbig (Tiznow) as half-siblings. She's also a half-sister to Indy Mood for Luv (A.P. Indy), dam of GSW Island Bound (Speightstown), who herself credits GI Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Aloha West (Hard Spun) to her tally. Famosa will go to post from the barn of Antonio Sano on the back of a bullet work Dec. 7 over the surface, the four furlong work in :48 flat the fastest of 23 that morning. TJCIS PPs

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Elite Power Upsets Jackie’s Warrior In Sprint

LEXINGTON, KY – Now that's an 'Elite' sprinter.

Juddmonte's streaking Elite Power (Curlin) came storming down the center of the course with massive strides to blow past longshot C Z Rocket (City Zip) and heavily favored champion Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) to capture Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland. The 5-1 winner punched his ticket to the bluegrass with a visually impressive score in Belmont's seven-furlong GII Vosburgh S.

Hall of Famer Bill Mott was also in the winner's circle with another son of Curlin two races earlier on the card with Cody's Wish in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile.

“The cut back today was always a little concerning when you are running against a horse as good as Jackie's Warrior but hey, he come down in the middle of the racetrack and ran them all down,” Mott said after saddling his 12th winner at the Championships.

Seventh as 41-1 longshot Super Ocho (Chi) (Dubai Sky) led with Jackie's Warrior sitting the trip in second through an opening quarter in :22.12, Elite Power appeared to have his work cut out for him as they approached the quarter pole.

Super Ocho cornered very wide and forced Jackie's Warrior into the six path, but the 3-5 favorite still had dead aim. Elite Power was just getting warmed up though. Irad Ortiz, Jr. tipped the blaze-faced chestnut out into the clear and he came over the top like an absolute freight train down the lane to win going away by 1 1/4 lengths.

Off the board in a pair of attempts at three, Elite Power has been perfect in five attempts since kicking off the 2022 season with a third-place finish behind the promising 'Rising Star' Strobe (Into Mischief) at Churchill on Derby Day. A nine-length maiden winner beneath the Twin Spires June 5, he added two more victories in come-from-behind fashion, capturing a first-level allowance going a mile in Louisville June 30 and an optional claimer going six furlongs at Saratoga Sept. 3. The deep closer showed a new dimension last time in the five-horse field Vosburgh, sitting right on the pace in a race lacking any true early speed.

“I had the perfect trip,” Ortiz, Jr. said of his third Breeders' Cup win of the weekend and 17th overall at the Championships. “He broke real sharp and I let him settle. I let the speed go. I was able to cut the corner around the turn. When I tipped him out, he was there for me. He kept going forward. He gave me a really good kick from the quarter-pole to the wire. He's a nice horse. I rode him with a lot of confidence.”

Just like Juddmonte's brilliant and gone-to-soon Classic winner Arrogate (Unbridled's Song), Elite Power was also acquired at Keeneland's auction house as a yearling for $900,000. Juddmonte has now won eight Breeders' Cup races.

“Going back to when Prince Khalid was with us, he wanted to start buying some horses at the sales,” Juddmonte's Garrett O'Rourke said. “Obviously, we got off to a good start with Arrogate and followed up with horses like this guy, beautiful horse from the very beginning.

He continued, “The satisfaction of racing at the top end and ultimately winning is what we're all–there's a huge crowd here today and every participant is having the same dream, and we're lucky enough to be here.”

The tough-as-nails 8-year-old gelding C Z Rocket was also second in 2020 Sprint over this same course.

“I'm pretty happy,” trainer Peter Miller said. “Other than winning, I couldn't be happier for this guy, at 8 years old, to run like this. It took a really big effort from the winner to beat us, I couldn't be more proud of the team, and of the horse, and Flavien [Prat] gave him a great ride.”

Five-time GISW Jackie's Warrior, also beaten as the favorite in the 2020 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile and last year's Sprint, is slated to join the stallion barn at Spendthrift Farm in 2023.

“It's just amazing that a horse as great as he is has never won a Breeders' Cup race,” Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen said. “He's a very special horse–physically, mentally and his ability. It's a disappointment. I don't like the outcome, but hail to the victor.”

Pedigree Notes:

Elite Power gave Curlin his second of three Breeders' Cup winners on the card. He later was represented by heart-stopping Distaff heroine Malathaat upping his total to five. The 2007 GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner is also the sire of Classic winner Vino Rosso and Juvenile hero Good Magic. His Stellar Wind was a painful second in the 2015 Distaff at Keeneland. Elite Power is Curlin's 20th Grade I winner.

Broodmare sire Vindication concluded his four-for-four career with a win in the 2002 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Arlington. Elite Power is bred on the same Curlin/Vindication cross as GI Preakness S. winner Exaggerator. Elite Power's dam Broadway's Alibi, a MGSW & GI Kentucky Oaks runner-up and Robsham homebred, brought $2.15 million from Alpha Delta Stables while in foal to Smart Strike at the 2013 KEENOV sale. Broadway's Alibi is also represented by a Curlin colt of 2021. She was bred to City of Light for 2023.

Elite Power's fourth dam is champion 2-year-old filly and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies heroine Eliza (Mt. Livermore). This is also the family of GISW and young sire Dialed In (Mineshaft).

Saturday, Keeneland
QATAR RACING BREEDERS' CUP SPRINT-GI, $1,840,000, Keeneland, 11-5, 3yo/up, 6f, 1:09.11, ft.
1–ELITE POWER, 126, c, 4, by Curlin
                1st Dam: Broadway's Alibi (MGSW & GISP, $521,500), by Vindication
                2nd Dam: Broadway Gold, by Seeking the Gold
                3rd Dam: Miss Doolittle, by Storm Cat
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($900,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Juddmonte;
B-Alpha Delta Stables, LLC (KY); T-William I. Mott; J-Irad Ortiz,
Jr. $1,040,000. Lifetime Record: 8-5-0-1, $1,405,711. Werk
Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the
free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–C Z Rocket, 126, g, 8, City Zip–Successful Sarah, by
Successful Appeal. ($800,000 2yo '16 OBSOPN). O-Altamira
Racing Stable, Madaket Stables LLC, Gary Barber & Tom
Kagele; B-Farm III Enterprises (FL); T-Peter Miller. $340,000.
3–Jackie's Warrior, 126, c, 4, Maclean's Music–Unicorn Girl, by
A.P. Five Hundred. ($95,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-J. Kirk & Judy
Robison; B-J & J Stables (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen.
$180,000.
Margins: 1 1/4, HF, 3/4. Odds: 5.55, 31.45, 0.77.
Also Ran: Manny Wah, O Besos, Super Ocho (Chi), Kimari, American Theorem, Flash of Mischief, Willy Boi, Aloha West.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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All You Need to Know About the Breeders’ Cup Saturday Card

Breeders' Cup action continues at Keeneland Saturday with nine Championship races. The TDN staff provides detailed previews of each of those events in our special Breeders' Cup Saturday edition. Click here for all you need to know.

Saturday's program includes the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic, GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff, GI Longines Breeders' Cup Turf, GI Breeders' Cup Maker's Mark F/M Turf, GI Breeders' Cup Big Ass Fans Dirt Mile, GI Breeders' Cup FanDuel Mile, GI Qatar Racing Breeders' Cup Sprint, GI Breeders' Cup F/M Sprint and GI Breeders' Turf Sprint.

Among the many highlights are unbeaten Flightline's (Tapit) quest for glory in the Classic and a showdown between stablemates Malathaat (Curlin) and Nest (Curlin) in the Distaff.

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Aloha West to Stand at Mill Ridge After Breeders’ Cup

Mill Ridge Farm will add a second stallion to its roster for 2023 in this year's defending GI Breeders' Cup Sprint champion Aloha West (Hard Spun–Island Bound, by Speightstown), according to Mill Ridge's general manager Price Bell.

Owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and trained by Wayne Catalano, Aloha West is from the family of Fappiano, out of a winner of the six-furlong GIII Winning Colors S. at Churchill.

“Aloha West himself very much resembles this side of his family with the speed of Speightstown and his physical quality and presence,” said Bell. “Also, the granddam is a daughter of A.P. Indy, and this provides a wonderful pedigree blend of Danzig through Hard Spun, Gone West through Speightstown, and A.P. Indy. These are three of the most influential sire lines today.”

A $160,000 2018 Keeneland September yearling, Aloha West was initially owned by Gary West and trained by Bob Baffert. Turning in impressive works at two, he was injured prior to his first start, requiring surgery. He was turned over to Catalano for his 3-year-old year, and didn't make his debut until February of his 4-year-season, breaking his maiden in his first start. He was purchased by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners after his next outing. He went on to win five of nine starts that year, culminating with a win in the GI Qatar Racing Breeders' Cup Sprint over champion Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music).

“This history of brilliance in training also resembled that of Speightstown, who showed promise as a 3-year-old and was injured and missed his entire 4-year-old season before returning as a 6-year-old and winning the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint,” said Bell. “With the speed Aloha West demonstrated winning the Breeders' Cup Sprint, and influence from Speightstown and the Fappiano family, as well as his physical good looks, we expect he will be attractive to commercial breeders.”

Mill Ridge was formerly the home of champion sires Diesis (GB) and Gone West, but the farm took a hiatus from the stallion business for several years until Oscar Performance's arrival in 2019.

“To stand another Breeders' Cup winner in Aloha West is a great addition to the farm,” said Bell. “He will be located in the Gone West stallion barn and paddock. We are so excited to announce Aloha West as our next Mill Ridge stallion. With his will to win, pedigree blend and outstanding physical presence, we believe breeders will be drawn to him. We think he has an opportunity to contribute to our breed.

“Over the years, we have stood a number of horses, including Bien Bien and Valiant Nature,” said Bell, who added that as a smaller stallion operation, they needed to choose carefully. “In the end, we can't make mistakes,” he said. “We have to carve our niche. The Amermans gave us a tremendous opportunity in Oscar Performance, who we raised, and we had the confidence we could buck the trend and stand a turf horse in America because he had the pedigree, the looks and the race record.” Oscar Performance is currently the ninth-leading first-crop sire by earnings, and has three offspring pointing to next week's Breeders' Cup: GII Castle & Key Bourbon S. winner Andthewinneris; Lachaise, third in the GII Pilgrim S.; and G Laurie, third in the GI Natalma S.

Aloha West's stallion career will be managed in the same way, said Bell. “There are a ton of programs going to lifetime breeding rights, and share the upside, which are great programs and which have changed the market,” he said. “We're trying to go the other way and have a traditional 40-share syndicate, with a diverse group of breeders. We're all on the journey together, paying the bills, and giving him the best chance possible. We are trying to price our horses as fairly as possible so everyone can `share the upside.' We said we were going to breed Oscar Performance to 150-160 mares, and we'll do the same in Aloha West.”

Bell said that the Eclipse partners would stay in on the stallion. “There is a broad group of Eclipse partners in this horse and they're excited to try and experience the next stage of a horse's career in being a stallion,” he said. “Eclipse is excited to provide that opportunity and they're some of the best at bringing people into the business.”

Bell said that half of Aloha West would be syndicated. “We all believe in these horses for a variety of reasons and believe they should be given an opportunity at stud, while leaving enough opportunity for others who also believe.

“Aloha West was a great racehorse–a tough, hard knocking, great racehorse,” said Bell. “If we're trying to further the breed, we need a greater body of work than just one race. For us, Aloha West and Oscar Performance have given us the confidence that they can contribute to the breed.”

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