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Nunthorpe To Winter Power After Golden Pal Wilts After Setting Fast Pace

King Power Racing Co Ltd's Winter Power (IRE) produced a brilliant display in the Coolmore Wootton Basset Nunthorpe Stakes (G1) at York in the United Kingdom on Friday. The victory at 9-1 odds secured Winter Power a guaranteed start in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1) through the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series.

The Breeders' Cup Challenge Series is an international series of 84 stakes races whose winners receive automatic starting positions and fees paid into a corresponding race of the Breeders' Cup World Championships, which will be held at Del Mar racetrack in Del Mar, California, on Nov. 5-6.

Winter Power becomes the third horse to gain a “Win and You're In” berth into the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint this year, joining Casa Creed, the Jackpocket Jaipur Stakes (G1) winner at Belmont Park on June 5 and Dream of Dreams (IRE), who won the Diamond Jubilee Stakes (G1) at Royal Ascot on June 19.

A blistering pace was set by Frankie Dettori on Wesley Ward-trained Golden Pal, the 5-2 second choice, but Winter Power, under Silvestre De Sousa, quickened past him at the two-furlong pole and kept up the gallop all the way to the line to win by 1 ¼ lengths. Emaraaty Ana (GB), a 40-1 hope, chased her down to finish second with the 3-year-old son of Cable Bay, Dragon Symbol (GB), finishing back in third at odds of 4-1. Golden Pal wound up seventh.

Winter Power, a 3-year-old daughter of Bungle Inthejungle (GB) out of Titian Saga (IRE) by Titus Livius (FR), completed the five furlongs in :56.72 on a course listed as good-to-firm.

Winter Power's win gave local trainer Tim Easterby his first Group 1 success since Fayr Jag (IRE) won the Golden Jubilee Stakes (G1) at Royal Ascot in 2004. Easterby believed his filly was in perfect condition going into the race and so it proved. He said: “She's an incredible filly. She had come right for today. I wasn't too worried about any other horses today; I was just focused on my filly. She's able to relax now in races and we can then use her speed. The best sprinters have that ability to kick half-way through the race and she's got that.”

When asked what it means to win a Group 1 at his local track, Easterby simply said: “It's the best. What more can you get?”

It was a first Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes win for Winter Power's jockey Silvestre De Sousa who was full of praise for his filly. He said: “She's unbelievably fast. I don't think I've sat on anything as fast as her. When it's a flat track like York, she gets away from the gates very quickly. It means the world to ride the winner of the Nunthorpe in the King Power silks.”

As part of the benefits of the Challenge Series, Breeders' Cup will pay the entry fees for Winter Power to start in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, which will be run at five furlongs on the Del Mar turf course. Breeders' Cup will also provide a travel allowance of $40,000 for all starters based outside of North America to compete in the World Championships.

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Express Train Puts Shirreffs In Pacific Classic Spotlight

John Shirreffs has saddled four starters in the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic, and the closest he has come to a win in the Grade 1 fixture at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., was the third-place finish by Midcourt, off at odds of 7-1 and beaten 5 ¾-lengths by Maximum Security, in last year's 30^th running.

In providing Bob Baffert with a TVG Pacific Classic record-tying sixth victory, Maximum Security went postward as the 2-5 favorite. Of Baffert's six wins in the race, five have come with either the favorite or second betting choice. The outlier: Richard's Kid stunning at odds of 24.40-1 in 2009.

In Saturday's 31^st running of the 1 ¼-mile signature event of the summer meeting, Shirreffs has the 3-1 morning line favorite in San Diego Handicap winner Express Train. Baffert's lone entry is 20-1 Magic On Tap, who was nearly 12-1 in the San Diego, stumbled at the start and finished fifth of eight, beaten 6 ¾-lengths.

If the odds stay that way to post time, Shirreffs will have a Classic favorite for the second time. Bertrando, the 2-1 favorite in 1994 off his victory a year earlier when trained by Bobby Frankel, got caught up in a speed duel for the first three quarters and faded to eighth of nine.

Earlier in the 1994 meeting, Bertrando had provided Shirreffs with the first of what has now become 17 Del Mar stakes victories. A TVG Pacific Classic would be a welcome addition and Shirreffs has reason for optimism about the 4-year-old son of Union Rags, owned by the C R K Stable of Lee and Susan Seareing, who has four victories from 12 career starts and earnings of $659,300.

“I think he's coming into the race really well,” Shirreffs said.

And, as is always the case, Shirreffs, 76, will be focused intently on developments with his horse before, during and after the race.

“Like a lot of Union Rags (progeny) he can get a little hot (nerved up) in the paddock,” Shirreffs said. “He's probably going to get a little hot no matter what.

“But if he can control his nervousness a little bit and maintain his focus, he'll do really well. That's a sign for him. He controlled himself well in the paddock before the San Diego and ran a very good race.”

The TVG Pacific Classic is a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic on November 6 at Del Mar.

The TVG Pacific Classic field from the rail with jockeys and morning line odds in parentheses: Tripoli (Tiago Pereira, 5-1); Tizamagician (Flavien Prat, 5-1); Dr Post (Joel Rosario, 4-1); Royal Ship (Mike Smith, 7-2); Express Train (Juan Hernandez); Magic On Tap (Abel Cedillo); Independence Hall (Florent Geroux, 5-1); Sheriff Brown (Edwin Maldonado, 30-1), and Cupid's Claws (Umberto Rispoli, 15-1).

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Hall Of Famers Mandella, Smith A Powerful Combo For Royal Ship In Pacific Classic

Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella and Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith have a combined 27 “participations” in the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic.

They have four wins apiece and a combined 18 in-the-money finishes.

For Mandella, the record shows 17 starters, four wins, six seconds and a third. Dare And Go's phenomenal upset of Cigar in 1996 was the first victory for Mandella with Gentleman (1997), Pleasantly Perfect (2004) and Beholder (2015) following.

For Smith, it's 10 mounts, four wins, one second and two third-place finishes. The victories were guiding Came Home (2002), back-to-back with Richard's Kid in 2009-10 and Shared Belief in 2014.

It's all been separately. The two have never combined on a TVG Pacific Classic runner.

“It's about time,” was Mandella's immediate reaction.

“It's about time,” were Smith's first words when apprised of the fact a few days later.

The time will come Saturday in the 31st running of the signature event of Del Mar's summer meeting. Mandella will saddle and Smith will ride Fox Hill Farm and Siena Farm's Royal Ship, a Brazilian-bred 5-year-old son of 2008 Del Mar Futurity winner Midshipman, the 7-2 second choice behind 3-1 favorite Express Train on the morning line.

If Mandella and Smith haven't hooked up for the Classic before this, it's because they were orbiting at different, albeit exceptionally high, levels when selecting riders for mounts or mounts to ride.

Gary Stevens (Beholder and Gentleman), Jerry Bailey (Pleasantly Perfect) and Alex Solis (Dare And Go), Hall of Famers all, piloted Mandella's TVG Pacific Classic winners. Three of Smith's four Classic victories came for Hall of Fame trainers – Bob Baffert with Richard's Kid and Jerry Hollendorfer with Shared Belief.

And there was one notable near miss.

“I was riding Pleasantly Perfect, but I had already (committed to) Came Home,” Smith recalled. Pleasantly Perfect finished fourth to Came Home in 2002, skipped the Pacific Classic in 2003 but won the Breeders' Cup Classic and returned as a 6-year-old in 2004 to win the Dubai World Cup and the Pacific Classic.

“You don't know what would have happened if I'd have been able to stay with him,” Smith said. “But he won just about everything the next year and the year after that.”

That Mandella and Smith are together on Royal Ship is in a major part attributable to John Fulton, a former Southern California-based trainer who is now a bloodstock agent and equine talent scout in South America, and the late Rick Porter of Fox Hill Farms.

“John Fulton contacted Mr. Porter and sent him some films of the horse that he thought looked really good,” Mandella said. “Mr. Porter sent them to me and I agreed, so they bought him.”

Porter's recommendation that Smith get the call was based on years of success together. Smith provided Porter, who died from cancer on June 6, with his first Grade I win on Jostle in 2000. More recently, Smith rode the filly Songbird through a career of 13 victories in 15 starts, 12 of them stakes, Eclipse Awards in filly divisions as a 2-year-old in 2015 and 3-year-old in 2016. And, in one of the most memorable races of recent years a runner-up to Beholder by a nose in the 2016 Breeders' Cup Distaff at Santa Anita.

Royal Ship was on a five-race winning streak in his native Brazil, capped by a victory in the Group I Estado do Rio de Janeiro in February last year, when the call came to send him to America. There was quarantine upon arrival and four months acclimating under Mandella's care before his first U.S. start. It came on August 23, 2020 in the Del Mar Mile and resulted in a third-place finish, beaten 4 ¼ lengths by Mo Forza.

It took three more starts, all in Graded events, and the “ultimate equipment change” of being gelded before notching a victory in the Grade II Californian in April, a close second in the Grade I Hollywood Gold Cup in May and third, beaten 1 ¼-lengths by TVG Pacific Classic favorite Express Train in the San Diego Handicap on July 17.

“He has always trained like a really good horse,” Mandella said. “He's done well, but as he got older he got a little studdish, and that that's when we gelded him. He was having trouble in his races, but he was making his own trouble.”

Smith has been a co-contributor through the work-in-progress stage with Royal Ship

And now speaks with enthusiasm about the horse.

“When he first came over, he was not a very mature horse,” Smith said. “He would never stand straight in the gate, didn't break that well. All his races had been on turf and we thought of him as a turf horse at first.

“His first few races here were good, but he wasn't really giving his all. I knew there was more left in him. We wound up gelding him and it made a difference. He's been standing in the gate well, jumping really well and he hasn't run a bad race since.

“The horse is really coming around at the right time and he has really found a home and a place to excel at the mile-and-an-eighth to mile-and-a-quarter distance.”

With Smith in the irons, Royal Ship breezed a half-mile in :47.80 last Monday in his final TVG Pacific Classic tune-up

“He was in the bridle, wanting to do it and finished strong,” Smith said. “Hopefully he'll get a good run, do what I believe he can do and combine for a fifth win apiece.”

For the first-time TVG Pacific Classic combination of Smith and Mandella.

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Breeders’ Cup Winner Golden Pal Lines Up In Friday’s Nunthorpe Stakes At York

The 2020 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G2) champion Golden Pal lines up in the 5-furlong Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes (G1) at York on Friday. The Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes winner will receive an automatic berth into the US$1 million Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1) through the international Breeders' Cup Challenge Series.

International challengers Golden Pal and Suesa (IRE) head a 15-runner field in the Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes.

Trained by Wesley Ward and ridden by Frankie Dettori, Golden Pal returns to the UK for the first time this season. The 3-year-old son of Uncle Mo was last seen across the Atlantic when finishing second in the Norfolk Stakes (G2) at Royal Ascot in June 2020. Returning to the US, Golden Pal finished off his 2-year-old campaign in style when winning the Skidmore Stakes at Saratoga, before cruising to victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Keeneland.

Winner of the Quick Call Stakes (G3) at Saratoga in his only start this year, Golden Pal is aiming to give Frankie Dettori his fourth win in this race.

The Newmarket based jockey flew up to York on Tuesday morning to exercise Golden Pal and said, “Wesley booked me on the horse a few weeks back. He is very pleased with the horse. I've seen him race a few times, but Wesley wanted me to have a sit on him before Friday. He's in good order and looks great. I didn't let him out of third gear, it was just to get a feel of him.'

Dettori added: “Wesley is the king of sprinters so I'm with the right trainer. The Nunthorpe Stakes is probably our best sprint so it's always very hard to win, but we are going to war with a good horse. He's an explosive horse and very quick. I'm looking forward to riding him.”

George Strawbridge's Suesa was last seen winning the King George Qatar Stakes (G2) at Goodwood on July 30. The 3-year-old filly, representing French trainer Francois Rohaut, suffered her only career defeat when finishing eighth as the favorite in the Commonwealth Cup (G1) at Royal Ascot in June. Jockey William Buick is booked to ride.

Second that day in the King George Qatar Stakes was Dragon Symbol (GB), one of four occasions the son of Cable Bay (GB) has placed runner-up this season. The highly consistent 3-year-old was first past the post in the Commonwealth Cup (G1) at Royal Ascot in June but following a stewards' inquiry was demoted to second place behind Campanelle (IRE). Trained by Archie Watson, Dragon Symbol was denied another Group 1 victory when finishing 1 ¼ lengths behind Starman (GB) in the Darley July Cup (G1) at Newmarket on July 10.

The Tim Easterby-trained Winter Power (IRE) leads the home challenge for Yorkshire. The 3-year-old daughter of Bungle Inthejungle (GB) was a comfortable winner of the listed John Smith's City Walls Stakes over the same course and distance last time out, with Moss Girl (IRE), for trainer Edward Bethell, 1-length behind in second.

They are joined by last year's Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes runner-up Que Amoro (IRE), one of two runners in the race for trainer Michael Dods, who also saddles stablemate Dakota Gold (GB). Other notable runners include the Robert Cowell-trained Arecibo (FR), runner-up in the King's Stand Stakes (G1) at Royal Ascot in June, and the Group 1-placed Liberty Beach (GB), trained by John Quinn.

As part of the benefits of the Challenge Series, Breeders' Cup will pay the entry fees for the Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes winner to start in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, which will be run at 5 Furlongs on the Del Mar turf course. Breeders' Cup will also provide a travel allowance of US$40,000 for all starters based outside of North America to compete in the World Championships. The Challenge winner must be nominated to the Breeders' Cup program by the Championships' pre-entry deadline of Oct. 25 to receive the rewards.

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