Breeders' Cup | Horse Racing Free Tips

Back-To-Back ‘Huge’ Races Propel Channel Maker Into Breeders’ Cup Turf

Wachtel Stable, Gary Barber, R.A. Hill Stable and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing's Channel Maker secured his fourth Grade 1 win with a stellar front-running performance in Saturday's Joe Hirsch Turf Classic.

The victory marked Channel Maker's second win from four Joe Hirsch starts, having previously won in 2018. His previous Joe Hirsch efforts included a sixth in 2017 and a second last year.

Bred in Ontario by the Tall Oaks Farm of Ivan Dalos, the 7-year-old was purchased privately early in his sophomore season and transferred to the care of Mott.

Channel Maker scored his first win for Mott in his fifth attempt by taking the 12-furlong Breeders' Stakes, third leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, by a nose when traveling his preferred 12 furlongs on Woodbine's E.P. Taylor turf course.

The veteran English Channel gelding now boasts a record of 36-7-5-4 with purse earnings in excess of $2.63-million with his other Grade 1 scores coming in the 2019 Man o' War at Belmont and the Sword Dancer in August at Saratoga, which offered a “Win and You're In” berth to the Breeders' Cup Turf.

“We got him as a 3-year-old and it took us a little while to get through the 'one-other-than' condition,” said Mott. “It's interesting how you go from that and he has now developed into winning four Grade 1s. He was a nice horse and we purchased him because he looked like he had potential, but he didn't really get going until he won the Breeders'.”

Channel Maker paired up back-to-back 108 Beyers for his last two winning efforts.

“I love the horse. He's run two huge, huge races,” said Mott.

Channel Maker is out of the late Horse Chestnut mare In Return, who also produced multiple Grade 1-winner Johnny Bear, also by English Channel, and a stakes-winning half-sister by Court Vision, the Ontario-bred Court Return, who ran third in the Grade 2 Canadian in September at Woodbine.

Mott said he is cautiously optimistic about Channel Maker's chances as he makes a third attempt at the 12-furlong Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf.

“You don't know what's going to show up [in the Breeders' Cup.], but it seems like he came back good,” said Mott. “He's run two spectacular races, has he got three in a row in him – we don't know. It's not going to cost us anything to find out.

“I would think in the fall you could get soft ground there,” added Mott. “That would be in his favor.”

Juddmonte Farms' regally bred Tacitus worked a bullet half-mile in 47.20 seconds Sunday morning on Big Sandy working in company with Will Sing for Wine, who applied pressure to the pacesetter.

“The track was pretty quick. His work looked good,” said Mott. “He went out with his ears up. [Will Sing for Wine] was just a length off to have somebody push him along a little bit.”

Tacitus will target Saturday's Grade 1, $250,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup, a 10-furlong test on Big Sandy for 3-year-olds and upward with a “Win and You're In” berth to the Breeders' Cup Classic on the line.

Jose Ortiz will have the call on Tacitus, a 4-year-old Tapit grey who boasts a record of 13-4-4-2 with more than $2.9 million in earnings. Out of the champion mare Close Hatches, Tacitus captured the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby and Grade 2 Wood Memorial last year and added the Grade 2 Suburban to his ledger in July at Belmont.

The probable Jockey Club Gold Cup field includes Danny California (Orlando Noda), Happy Saver (Todd Pletcher), Mystic Guide (Michael Stidham), Plus Que Parfait (Brendan Walsh), and Prioritize (H. James Bond).

A busy Saturday of racing at Belmont for Mott also included off-the-board efforts from Moon Over Miami [sixth], who captured the Dueling Grounds Derby at Kentucky Downs in September, and South Bend [seventh] in the Grade 1 Belmont Derby.

“I guess there was a difference in the competition from the Dueling Grounds Derby to what he faced here,” said Mott. “I don't know that he ran quite as good a race as he did down there but I suppose the first two or three horses in here were better.”

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Kelso Winner Complexity, First Lady Winner Uni Will Prepare For Breeders’ Cup Engagements In New York

Four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown won a pair of graded races on Saturday taking the Grade 2 Kelso Handicap at Belmont Park with Breeders' Cup-bound Complexity and the Grade 1 First Lady at Keeneland with reigning Champion Turf Female Uni.

Owned by Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables, Complexity earned a career-best 110 Beyer for his prominent score in the one-turn mile Kelso in which he got the jump on multiple Grade 1-winner Code of Honor, who had to settle for second.

Brown said Complexity will now point to the two-turn Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, although he will also nominate the 4-year-old Maclean's Music colt to the six-furlong Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint.

“He ran super yesterday,” said Brown. “I'm pointing him towards the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. I think six furlongs might be a little quick for him, but I'll keep him eligible for both races.”

A five-time winner from nine starts, Complexity captured the 2018 Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont and was runner-up in the Grade 1 Forego on August 29 contested during a rainstorm over a sloppy and sealed Saratoga main track.

Michael Dubb, Head of Plains Partners, Robert LaPenta and Bethlehem Stables' Uni earned a 99 Beyer in her successful title defense in the Grade 1 First Lady at Keeneland. The 6-year-old More Than Ready chestnut overtook stablemate Newspaperofrecord in deep stretch to secure her fourth career Grade 1 win with a one-length score over Beau Recall, who nosed out Newspaperofrecord for place.

Brown said Uni will return to Belmont to prepare to defend her title in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Mile against the boys on Nov. 7 at Keeneland.

“Uni ran really well and we'll bring her back here to train up to the final start of her career in the Breeders' Cup Mile,” said Brown. “Hopefully, she can defend her title.”

Klaravich Stables' Newspaperofrecord, who captured the 2018 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, has enjoyed a productive 4-year-old campaign with wins in the Grade 3 Intercontinental on June 6 and the Grade 1 Longines Just a Game on June 27, both at Belmont.

Brown said the Irish-bred daughter of Lope de Vega could target the Grade 1 Matriarch, a one-mile turf test on November 29 at Del Mar.

“Newspaper will come back here and I'll talk to Seth Klarman about if we want to run her one more time or not this year,” said Brown. “If we do, it would be in the Matriarch. We could just rest her.”

Brown said Newspaperofrecord is likely to return to the races as a 5-year-old.

“I would say probably if she is in good health we'd like to run her another year,” said Brown.

Brown breezed a number of upcoming stakes starters on the Belmont inner turf on Sunday morning, including the Peter Brant-owned 2018 Champion Turf Female Sistercharlie, who went five-eighths in 1:02.88.

The breeze took place less than an hour before the Brant-owned Sottsass, Sistercharlie's 4-year-old half-brother by Siyouni, captured the prestigious Group 1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp. Sottsass is trained by Jean-Claude Rouget.

“I'm so happy for Peter,” said Brown. “It's a race he's wanted to win for a long time. He kept him over there this year to point for that race and I'm so happy that it worked out. It's an incredible family.”

Both Sistercharlie, a seven-time Grade 1-winner, and Sottsass are out of the Galileo mare Starlet's Sister, who also produced the Group/Graded winner My Sister Nat, a 5-year-old Acclamation mare who captured the Grade 3 Waya in August for Brown and Brant.

Sistercharlie, who ran third in both the Grade 2 Ballston Spa and Grade 1 Diana this summer at Saratoga, will look to secure the first win of her 6-year-old campaign in Saturday's 10-furlong Grade 1, $250,000 Flower Bowl which offers a berth in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf in November at Keeneland.

“The breeze went good,” said Brown. “She's running back into form. Her last race was an acceptable one. She got a late start this year but I think she'll run well.”

Sistercharlie is likely to square off with stablemates Cambier Parc and Nay Lady Nay in the Flower Bowl.

OXO Equine's multiple Grade 1-winner Cambier Parc worked five furlongs in 1:01.40 Sunday on the Belmont inner turf.

“She breezed good. She'll run in Flower Bowl,” said Brown.

The Medaglia d'Oro bay, out of Canada's 2007 Horse of the Year Sealy Hill, captured the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks and Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup last year in a sophomore campaign that also included wins in the Grade 3 Wonder Again at Belmont and the Grade 3 Herecomesthebride at Gulfstream Park.

First Row Partners and Hidden Brook Farm's Irish-bred Nay Lady Nay, a multiple graded-stakes winning 4-year-old daughter of No Nay Never worked a half-mile in 49 flat on Saturday on the Monmouth Park main track.

Nay Lady Nay made the grade last year in the Grade 2 Mrs. Revere at Churchill Downs and on July 18 added the Grade 3 Matchmaker at Monmouth to her ledger.

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Code Of Honor Still Possible For Breeders’ Cup Classic After Kelso Defeat

Following a runner-up performance in Saturday's Grade 2 Kelso at Belmont Park, Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey did not rule Code of Honor out of contention for the Grade 1, $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic.

McGaughey said if Code of Honor does go to the Breeders' Cup, he would prefer the 10-furlong Classic rather than the Dirt Mile.

“We'll have to wait and see how he comes out of it, but I'd be more inclined to run him a mile and a quarter,” McGaughey said. “A mile at Keeneland they start right on the turn and if you draw an outside post you're probably done.”

McGaughey used the Kelso as a Breeders' Cup Classic prep for Honor Code in 2015, who finished third in both races en route to Champion Older Horse honors.

A William S. Farish homebred, the 4-year-old Noble Mission chestnut colt was beaten 2 ¼ lengths to post time favorite Complexity in the one-turn mile Kelso.

McGaughey said Code of Honor is more suited for the classic distance of a mile and a quarter, having won last year's Grade 1 Runhappy Travers at Saratoga and Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park [via the disqualification of Vino Rosso].

“I thought he ran fine,” McGaughey said of the Kelso effort. “The first quarter wasn't that fast. I think the way the race set up with a four-horse race got us out of our game plan. I thought he ran well. They ran fast and the winner is a nice horse and he kind of had it his way. It made it a sprint to the end and we're probably not a sprinter.”

Code of Honor has not won since making his 4-year-old debut in the Grade 3 Westchester on June 6 at Belmont Park. Prior to the Kelso, he finished fourth in the Grade 1 Whitney and was a late-closing third in the Grade 1 Runhappy Met Mile.

McGaughey said that Code of Honor could race next year as a 5-year-old.

“All things being equal, I think he will run next year,” he said.

McGaughey worked a handful of stakes contenders on the turf on Sunday morning, including Phipps Stables' Breaking the Rules, who is scheduled to make his next start in the Grade 2, $150,000 Knickerbocker on October 12.

The 5-year-old son of War Front out of the graded stakes-placed A.P. Indy mare Protesting went five furlongs in 1:00.80.

“I thought he worked really well,” McGaughey said. “He eased away from the pole and finished up really well. He'll go to the Knickerbocker.”

Breaking the Rules was a last out fourth as the beaten favorite in the Lure following back-to-back allowance victories at Belmont and Saratoga.

McGaughey said that one can expect to see a different horse show up in his upcoming engagement.

“He ran well up there [at Saratoga], but he came back fourth in the stakes,” said McGaughey, who won the Knickerbocker with Boisterous in 2011-12. “I think he'll be a different horse this time. I don't think he was real comfortable down on the inside. Johnny [Velazquez] had been riding him on the outside, but he was at the Derby and couldn't ride.”

Allen Stable's Civil Union worked five furlongs in 1:02.22 in preparation for Saturday's Grade 1, 250,000 Flower Bowl Invitational, which McGaughey won with War Flag in 2017.

“She went just fine this morning. She went 1:02 and change and did it well. She's going to go to the Flower Bowl,” McGaughey said.

McGaughey also reported that Emory Hamilton's two-time allowance winner Hungry Kitten, who worked five furlongs in 1:02.22, will target the Grade 3, $125,000 Dowager on October 18 at Keeneland going 1 ½ miles on the turf.

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Mutasaabeq Leads 1-2 Finish For Leading Sire Into Mischief In Bourbon Stakes

Shadwell Stable's Mutasaabeq, last at the top of the stretch in the field of 11, rocketed to the front at the sixteenth pole and cruised to a 21/4-length victory in the 30th running of the $200,000 Bourbon (G2) for 2-year-olds at Keeneland and earn a spot in the $1-million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) to be run at a mile at the Lexington, Ky., track on Nov. 6.

Trained by Todd Pletcher and ridden by Luis Saez, Mutasaabeq covered the 1 1/16 miles on a firm turf course in 1:43.13 in his grass debut. It is the fifth victory in the Bourbon for Pletcher, whose other winners are Twilight Meteor (2006), Bittel Road (2008), Interactif (2009) and Current (2018).

Into the Sunrise emerged with the lead in the run to the first turn and set fractions of :22.62, :47.09 and 1:12.24 while Saez waited at the back.

Mutasaabeq shifted to the outside on the far turn, entered the stretch eight wide and quickly picked off rivals before overtaking Into the Sunrise inside the sixteenth pole and drawing off.

“We broke a little slow,” said Saez. “Last time he did the same thing, but I knew I had a lot of horse. The distance was great for him. He was working so good on the turf. We knew what we had. When we came to the half-mile I was trying to (decide) where we were going to go – inside or out – but inside we had so many horses. I felt like I had the horse to go out and let him roll. When he came to the straight, he just took off. He did it easy.”

“He didn't break well and that has historically been him,” said Pletcher. “He's a horse that has speed and he has a tremendous turn of foot as you saw today, but he's notoriously not been great the first jump or two away from the gate. So I wasn't surprised when he didn't get away well and then he kind of got shuffled back and then a horse kind of came over and he had to steady a bit.

“The first 100 yards didn't go very well, but he was able to save a little bit of ground around the first turn and it looked like Luis (Saez) was biding his time and trying to figure out whether he should find a seam to go through or ultimately he just decided to circle the field and kind of sling-shotted them. He delivered an explosive turn of foot. Great to see and great for the Shadwell team.

“His maiden win was very impressive and his gate work prior to his maiden win was as good as any 2-year-old we've had at Saratoga ever. We felt that the Hopeful (G1), they kind of ran away from him and he couldn't really close the way we hoped he would. Kind of looking into his pedigree, the Into Mischief's run on anything.”

A Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale graduate, Mutasaabeq is a Kentucky-bred son of Into Mischief out of the Scat Daddy mare Downside Scenario. The victory was worth $120,000 and increased his earnings to $189,600 with a record of 3-2-0-1.

Sent off as the favorite, Mutasaabeq paid $6, $3.80 and $3.60. Abarta, also by the Spendthrift Farm stallion Into Mischief, rallied for second under Umberto Rispoli to return $10.60 and $7.60. Nathan Detroit finished another three-quarters of a length back in third under Julien Leparoux and paid $7.60 to show.

It was another head back to Into the Sunrise, who was followed in order by Arrest Me Red, Private Island, Spyglass, Barrister Tom, Blame the Booze, Indy Tourist and Really Slow.

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