Brendan Walsh | Horse Racing Free Tips

Zofelle Shows Strong Stretch Punch In Winning Marshua’s River Off Layoff

Returning from a seven-month layoff, the Heider Family Stables' Zofelle cruised up into contention on the second turn and rolled to a two-length victory Saturday in the Marshua's River (G3) at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The Marshua's River, run at a mile for the first time since 2004, is for fillies and mares 4-year-olds on the turf. It was the third of seven stakes on Saturday's program that was headlined by the $3-million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) and the $1-million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1).

Zofelle, a 5-year-old Irish-bred daughter of Zoffany, won her first three starts in 2019 after being imported from Europe. She placed in two stakes in 2020 but was given a break by trainer Brendan Walsh after finishing fifth in the Just A Game (G1) on June 27 at Belmont Park.

Sent off as the 5-2 favorite in the field of 10, Zofelle and jockey Tyler Gaffalione took up a position near the rail a half-dozen lengths behind Our Bay B Ruth, who led the way through opening fractions of 23.18 and 46.12 seconds. Sweet Bye and Bye and Vigilantes Way quickened from their stalking positions to overtake Our Bay B Ruth in the second turn, but Zofelle was making her rally, too, and, swept to the lead inside the eighth pole. She completed the mile in 1:38.11 and paid $7.60 for her first graded-stakes victory.

Sweet Bye and Bye held for second and Belle Laura was up for third.

$125,000 Marshua's River (G3) Quotes

Winning trainer Brendan Walsh (Zofelle): “She had a very good year last year. We gave her a break. She came back from the break and she had been working really, really good. Came to hand really fast, had been working well for this, so it was nice to see her do what she did there.”

“It seems like it has been tough to close on the outer course today, so we didn't want to be too far away. She traveled around there really nice and when he asked her she picked up instantly. We can't ask for more than that.”

Winning jockey Tyler Gaffalione (Zofelle): “I rode her in her first start in America and she settled real well that day and gave a really serious run down the stretch. I was trying to do the same thing. Coming off the layoff, I didn't want to rush her. I just let her settle and she picked up her feet as she went and she finished up nicely.”

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Medaglia d’Oro Firster Rockets Home to ‘TDN Rising Star’ Honors

Off at debut odds of 39-5 in a loaded seven-furlong Gulfstream maiden Saturday afternoon, Godolphin's Prevalence (Medaglia d'Oro) turned in arguably the performance of the meet, streaking away to graduate by 8 1/2 eased-down lengths.

Drawn six in a field of 11, the bay colt was away without incident and showed enough speed to gain the rail for Tyler Gaffalione, as Triple Crown winner Justify's half-brother Stage Raider (Pioneerof the Nile) also attended the pace from the three path. Prevalence eased to the front with a half-mile to travel, but Stage Raider had the move covered and appeared as if he would run right to his regal breeding, taking aim on Prevalence at the five-sixteenths marker. Once Gaffalione let out a notch off the home corner, Prevalence quickly put many lengths on his rivals and never felt a crack of the whip while being gathered up in the final 50 yards. Stage Raider held for second ahead of $1.05-million KEESEP acquisition Ghazaaly (Curlin).

Prevalence is a half-brother to Libreta (Girolamo), SW, $128,660; and Estihdaaf (Arch), GSW-UAE, $183,491, and is out of a daughter of GSW Sahara Gold, the dam of Godolphin's dual-surface GISW Better Lucky (Ghostzapper), GSW Sahara Heat (A.P. Indy) and SW Final Frontier (Ghostzapper). The colt's third dam is GI Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Desert Stormer (Storm Cat). The homebred has a 2-year-old half-brother by Quality Road, a yearling colt by Frosted and was most recently bred to Uncle Mo.

6th-Gulfstream, $43,000, Msw, 1-23, 3yo, 7f, 1:23.00, ft, 8 1/2 lengths.
PREVALENCE, c, 3, by Medagliad'Oro
1st Dam: Enrichment, by Ghostzapper
2nd Dam: Sahara Gold, by Seeking the Gold
3rd Dam: Desert Stormer, by Storm Cat
Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $25,800. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton. Click for the free Equineline.com catalog-style pedigree.
O/BGodolphin LLC (KY); T-Brendan P Walsh.

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Maxfield Past ‘Hiccup’ In Training, Potential Targets Include Mineshaft, Saudi Cup

Though a minor illness knocked undefeated Maxfield out of contention for this weekend's Pegasus World Cup, the 4-year-old son of Street Sense has fully recovered and recorded a half-mile breeze in :49.80 last Saturday at the Fair Grounds.

According to the Daily Racing Form, trainer Brendan Walsh and the Godolphin ownership are planning to start Maxfield in either the $20 million Saudi Cup on Feb. 20, or the G3 Mineshaft Handicap at the Fair Grounds on Feb. 13.

“He looked good and he came back good,” Walsh told drf.com on Wednesday. “It seems like he got over that little hiccup just fine. He trained this morning before I left, and he looks great.”

Maxfield won the G1 Breeders' Futurity in 2019 at Keeneland, then missed the Breeders' Cup due to injury. He returned to win Churchill's G3 Matt Winn Stakes in May of 2020, but missed time again until he returned to win the listed Tenacious Stakes at the Fair Grounds on Dec. 19.

Lynch Hoping There Is A Wendell Fong Laurel Park Stakes Win In Her Future

Still seeking her first career win as a trainer, Maryland's own Natalia Lynch couldn't imagine a better horse getting it done in a better place than Gold Square's Wendell Fong in Saturday's $100,000 Fire Plug at Laurel Park in Maryland.

Lynch, 26, has a long association with Wendell Fong going back to when she was working as an assistant to trainer Jeremiah Englehart, overseeing his Laurel string. Lynch helped prepare the now 5-year-old son of Flat Out for his debut, which he won in the final month of 2018, as well as his lone stakes victory in the 2019 Gold Fever at Belmont Park.

After getting a class break in his last two starts, Wendell Fong returns to stakes company looking to reward Lynch's devotion and dedication. Lynch is winless with four seconds from 16 starters since going out on her own last summer; Wendell Fong will be No. 17.

“He got sent to me before his first start and he just kind of became the barn favorite real quick. He's got a real cool personality. He's just one of those special horses,” Lynch said. “I don't think there could be a more fitting horse for me to get my first win.”

Lynch began galloping horses while at Walter Johnson High School in Montgomery County and continued while pursuing a nursing degree, first at Towson University and then at Shepherd University in West Virginia.

She worked for trainers Graham Motion at Fair Hill and Brendan Walsh in Florida, eventually hooking on as the top exercise rider and assistant for Englehart's Laurel string, overseeing 29 horses during the winter. The daughter of a horse dentist, she also worked for trainers Brittany Russell and Phil Schoenthal in Maryland and Jim Bond in New York.

“Just to see the horse win would be more amazing to me than anything else,” Lynch said. “For me it's cool because I came from Laurel and it's kind of like full circle to see my name back there as a trainer. It means a lot.

“I love it. I feel like it's always kind of what I've worked for,” she added. “I always put a lot of pressure on myself but when you see your name in the program it's about 10,000 times more pressure than before. But it's been really good and my support system has been awesome. There have been days where if I don't believe in myself, they believe in me. So it's helped.”

Wendell Fong ran in the Woody Stephens (G1), Amsterdam (G2) and Count Fleet (G3) while still with Englehart, finishing behind the likes of Hog Creek Hustle, Shancelot and Whitmore. He made one start for Robertino Diodoro before landing back with Lynch when she went out on her own.

After two off-the-board finishes, Wendell Fong rediscovered his form running second by 1 ½ lengths behind fellow stakes winner Taco Supream in a six-furlong optional claiming allowance Dec. 3 at Laurel, where he has a 2-1-0 record in four tries.

“We were all very, very happy with that. It was really good to see him come and get his confidence back and he came out of that race very well. He seems a little bit more like the old horse he used to be,” Lynch said.

“I think that's kind of what makes him special. I think he went under the radar for a little bit,” she added. “You look at the company he was running against. He was running against Mind Control and Whitmore and definitely never really hit an easy field. Even though he didn't win, he was still running great races.”

Sheldon Russell will ride Wendell Fong from Post 1 in a field of seven.

To achieve Lynch's breakthrough win, Wendell Fong will have to beat a solid collection of sprinters led by Hillside Equestrian Meadows' Laki, nose winner of the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) Oct. 3 at Pimlico Race Course, his sixth career stakes win. Three of his others have come at Laurel, where he was second in the Frank Y. Whiteley and fourth in the Dave's Friend to cap 2020.

Silvino Ramirez's Share the Ride, last out winner of the six-furlong Fall Highweight (G3) Nov. 29 at Aqueduct. The 6-year-old gelding won the Mr. Prospector last summer at Monmouth Park, a race where Wendell Fong ran fourth, and was beaten a head when second to Majestic Dunhill in the Bold Ruler (G3) in October.

Penguin Power, a multiple stakes winner at Charles Town with 13 career victories who ran third by two lengths in the Dave's Friend; upset Maryland Million Sprint winner Karan's Notion; Lebda, winner of Laurel's Miracle Wood and Private Terms last winter; and New York-bred stakes winner Arthur's Hope complete the field.

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