Brian Hernandez Jr. | Horse Racing Free Tips

Core Values Beats The Boys To Take Kentucky Downs Preview Dueling Grounds Derby

Core Values won her third straight race and this time beat males as BBN Racing's late-running 3-year-old filly got up on the last stride to the $100,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Dueling Grounds Derby by a nose over favored Royal Prince at Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky. It was another neck back to pacesetter Modern Science.

“She likes to make it close every time,” said winning trainer Vicki Oliver, who wound up winning three races on the card. “But she seems to get her head in front at the wire.”

Oliver used the turf stakes as a stepping stone to the $500,000 Exacta Systems Dueling Grounds Oaks at 1 5/16 miles on Kentucky Downs' Sept. 5 opening card. While she could have used the $100,000 Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Dueling Grounds Oaks for the same purpose, Oliver wanted the extra sixteenth-mile distance.

“We were thinking about the Pucker Up (at Arlington Park) next weekend,” she said. “But we felt we'd gain a week coming here before Kentucky Downs and half the ship. And a mile and an eighth made more sense than the mile and a sixteenth for fillies. So we decided to run her against the boys.”

Jockey Rafael Bejarano had Core Values back in last in the field of seven 3-year-olds, flying through the stretch to get up by a nod at the finish while covering 1 1/8 miles in 1:46.94 over firm turf. She paid $24.40 as the longest shot on the board.

Core Values earned her first victory on dirt last winter in Tampa. After a pair of double-digit defeats, Oliver put her back on the turf, which the filly had tried in her second start. Core Values reeled off an allowance victory at Indiana Grand and then took Arlington Park's Hatoof Stakes by a head.

“My horse did win the last two times in easy races,” Bejarano said. “She really didn't like it much the last time she ran on the dirt. When she ran on the turf, she looked tremendous. Today, I just wanted to relax in the beginning and make my own ground. By the three-eighths pole, when I had my position, I started to ask her for more and she responded and gave me a good kick. I wanted to make sure we were clear in the stretch. When I came up to the favored horse, I knew we were going to beat him.”

Core Values, a daughter of Honor Code, now is 4-0-0 in eight starts, earning $141,377 with the $60,570 payday.

Oliver said she was confident of a big performance.

“I liked that it was a small enough field, there was enough speed for her and pace for her to close into,” she said. “So I did like our chances. And we had five pounds on the boys. That's a big deal going a mile and an eighth.”

But was Oliver confident at the wire that she'd won?

“I thought we had it the whole way until I walked down here and everybody said, 'I don't think you got it,'” she said. “So yeah, I was until everyone second-guessed that we got there.”

Brian Hernandez Jr., aboard the Brad Cox-trained Royal Prince, said he wasn't sure who'd won the race.

“It was really close,” he said. “Because that horse went by me pretty good, and then my horse took off again like he was going to get back by. We just weren't sure at the wire.”

The post Core Values Beats The Boys To Take Kentucky Downs Preview Dueling Grounds Derby appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Jesus’ Team Returns In Friday’s Alydar At Saratoga

Group 7C Racing Stable's Jesus' Team, who has earned three placings in prestigious Grade 1 races, will return to stakes company on Friday as part of an eight-horse field of 4-year-olds and up who have not won a stakes other than state-bred in 2021 in the $120,000 Alydar contested at 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

The ninth edition of the Alydar, named for the 1989 Hall of Fame inductee who finished second to Affirmed in all three legs of the 1978 Triple Crown, will see Jesus' Team return to the Spa for the first time since running third in last year's Grade 2 Jim Dandy.

The Tapiture colt used that contest for sophomores as a prep for the 2020 Grade 1 Preakness Stakes, which was held in October last year, with Jesus' Team finishing third in the final leg of the Triple Crown behind Authentic and winner Swiss Skydiver. Trainer Jose D'Angelo saw him build on that effort in a Triple Crown classic to run second behind Knicks Go in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cut Dirt Mile in November at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., earning a 102 Beyer Speed Figure.

Jesus' Team closed out his year with his first stakes win, capturing the Claiming Crown Jewel in December at Gulfstream going 1 1/8 miles. Returning to the same track and distance, Jesus' Team again linked up with Knicks Go in his 2021 bow, again running second to his rival in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational in January that netted a 105 Beyer.

D'Angelo then shipped Jesus' Team to the United Arab Emirates, where he ran sixth in the Group 1 Dubai World Cup in March. After a four-month freshening, he returned to run fifth on July 11 at Gulfstream, prompting D'Angelo to skip the $1 million Grade 1 Whitney on August 7 at Saratoga in favor of the Alydar.

“The last race, for sure, he needed,” D'Angelo said. “After quarantine coming back from Dubai, he lost a little weight. It was a little hard to [improve] his conditioning again. He needed that race to be the horse he is now. He's bigger than his last race, and in that race, he was a little too close to the front. I think it helped him get him fit, though, and we're looking forward to this race.”

Junior Alvarado will pick up the mount from post 7.

Two-time graded stakes-winner Core Beliefs returned from a nine-month layoff to run third in an optional claiming contest going 1 1/16 miles in June at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Trainer Brian Lynch said the Quality Road bay needed that race after being given a freshening following a fifth-place finish in the Champions Day Marathon in September at Churchill Downs for then-trainer Scott Hansen.

“I think he ran well enough last out to give us the confidence to try him in a spot like this, because it was a credible effort off a long layoff,” Lynch said. “He's trained on well enough to get a shot. This will be the second time off the bench and it's at a distance that he really likes.”

Core Beliefs, owned by Gary Broad, won the 2018 Grade 3 Ohio Derby in a sophomore year that saw him run fourth in the Grade 1 Haskell at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., and fifth in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing in Bensalem, Pa. He then made his 2019 debut with a win in the Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap at Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, La., that March, which marked his last victory.

Running at Saratoga for the first time, Core Beliefs will be seeking his first victory in his last eight starts and enters after posting four workouts over the Saratoga main track in July.

“He's doing well and has great energy, and for an older horse, he's been very willing and trying hard in his works,” Lynch said. “I take that as a positive. He just acts like he's in good form. He's done so well since he's been here and the weather has been a little bit cooler, and he seems to enjoy that. His appetite has been fantastic, too. We're just hoping for good things.”

Hall of Famer Javier Castellano will have the call from post 3.

[Story Continues Below]

Bruce Lunsford's Art Collector, who like Jesus' Team also competed in last year's Preakness and Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, will get his first opportunity to run at Saratoga and his first start for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. Art Collector commenced his 4-year-old year with a sixth-place finish in the Kelly's Landing on June 25 at Churchill Downs, marking his first race since running eighth in that Breeders' Cup appearance seven months prior.

Art Collector, who ran fourth in the Preakness, finished just a head back to Jesus' Team to fall just short of black type in the 1 3/16-mile classic. The winner of the 2020 Grade 2 Blue Grass at Keeneland will have the services of Luis Saez. on Friday, breaking from post 4.

Steve Landers Racing's Night Ops, off three consecutive runner-up efforts in the Grade 3 Ben Ali, Blame, and Grade 3 Monmouth Cup for reigning Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox, will make his Saratoga start in a well-traveled career.

Night Ops, who Manny Franco will ride out of post 8, has finished in the money in his last six starts, all against stakes competition, starting with a win in the 2020 Grade 3 Cornhusker at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa.

Bourbon Lane Stable's Bourbon War will be running in a stakes for the first time since 2019, when as a 3-year-old he found success on the Triple Crown trail by running second in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth before finishing fourth in the Grade 1 Florida Derby, eighth in the Preakness, and 10th in the Belmont Stakes. Trainer Ian Wilkes took over the conditioning duties for Bourbon War's 5-year-old campaign, which started with a strong second, by a neck, to Home Base in an optional claimer in May at Churchill Downs before running third under similar conditions at the same track on June 26.

“He came off a long layoff and ran two good races; I thought he ran really respectable in putting two good ones together back-to-back,” Wilkes said. “I'm getting to know him and he's getting to know me, so it's all good there. The horse has been happy, so that's the key. We're hoping to make that next progression. He needs to step up and pick up his game a little more. I feel good for him.”

Bourbon War, a son of Tapit, will have Brian Hernandez, Jr. in the irons from post 6.

Prioritize, sixth in the Grade 2 Suburban on July 3 at Belmont, will return to a familiar track that's near trainer H. James Bond's base, as the Tizway gelding ran twice here last year, winning an optional claimer before running third in the Grade 1 Woodward. The now 6-year-old will have jockey Tyler Gaffalione aboard for the first time, departing post 1.

Math Wizard will enter off a six-month layoff in his first start since finishing sixth in the Pegasus World Cup. The Saffie Joseph, Jr. trainee will be racing for just the second time as a 5-year-old as he seeks his first victory since the 2019 Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby [Irad Ortiz, Jr., post 5].

Limonite ran third in the Grade 3 Excelsior going the Alydar distance on April 3 at Aqueduct and after two fifth-place efforts will return to the Spa for trainer Gustavo Rodriguez [Joel Rosario, post 2].

The Alydar, slated as Race 8 on the 10-race card, is one of three stakes on a stacked Friday card that will feature a 1:05 p.m. Eastern first post.

The post Jesus’ Team Returns In Friday’s Alydar At Saratoga appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Kenneally Hits 1,000 Career Wins With Victory At Ellis Park

Some of the toughest victories to knock out seem to come during a countdown to a landmark. And when trainer Eddie Kenneally earned his 1,000th career victory Saturday at the RUNHAPPY Meet at Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky., his 3-year-old He's Pretty Lucky kept the outcome in suspense until right before the wire.

With jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. wearing Kenneally's navy silks emblazoned with a beige K, the newly gelded He's Pretty Lucky pressed front-running favorite Futuro before dispatching that rival late in the stretch. Just when Kenneally's milestone seemed in the bag, Stone Slinger loomed on the outside and appeared poised to go past before coming up a head short in the off-the-turn mile $10,000 maiden-claiming race. It was He's Pretty Lucky's second race for the ownership partnership of Kenneally and Shaun McCarthy.

“Let me tell you, they'll all hard to win,” Kenneally said after the winner's circle presentation. “We were hoping to knock it out at Churchill, because that's our home track. But we're delighted to get it done here at Ellis Park. We finally got over the milestone. It took a long time. I've been doing this a long time.

“We've been fortunate. We've had some very good horses over the years. We've had some very good people work for us. Not just now, but in the past we've had a lot of good people come through. You can't do it on your own. You need the help, you need the horses. It's got to be set up. Thankfully we've had a very good career.”

The Irish-born Kenneally's first full year of training was 1994. His 35 graded-stakes victories include Grade 1 wins with Kelly's Landing (Dubai Golden Shaheen), Bradester (Stephen Foster), Bushfire (Ashland, Acorn, Mother Goose), Sailor's Valentine (Ashland), and Abscond (Natalma).

Kenneally's horses have earned more than $42 million in purses.

The post Kenneally Hits 1,000 Career Wins With Victory At Ellis Park appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Hernandez Bags Four Winners At Ellis Park

Jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. won on four his five mounts Friday on Ellis Park's eight-race card in Henderson, Ky., including with the promising 2-year-old colt Tiz the Bomb. The race he lost? Gus Gus, owned by trainer Ian Wilkes' wife, Tracey, and Hernandez's wife, Jamie. The two couples also bred the 2-year-old gelding.

But Gus Gus' second place in a $30,000 maiden-claiming race in his career debut was special in its own right. He's a son of Fort Larned, with whom Wilkes and Hernandez teamed to win the $6-million Breeders' Cup Classic in 2012 and two other Grade 1 races. In fact, Fort Larned gave Hernandez his first Grade 1 winner in Saratoga's Whitney Handicap, after which he was back riding at Ellis Park the next day.

“It was a good day,” Hernandez said of Friday's haul. “We rode five, and the first one was second. Which was pretty cool because it's a horse that Ian and I bred and we race. He was second today in the third race. And the rest of them, they all ran true to form. We got lucky and had a four-win day…. Third day of the meet and to get a four-win day, it's big.”

More on Gus Gus later. Here are the races Hernandez won:

// The fourth race as the Kenny McPeek-trained Tiz the Bomb blew up to a 14 1/2-length romp in a 2-year-old maiden race.

// The sixth aboard the 4-year-old filly Teenage Kicks, winner by three-quarters of a length in an off-the-turf allowance race for trainer Bernie Flint and owner Naveed Chowhan.

// The seventh by 2 3/4 lengths on Joseph Murphy's 4-year-old colt My Man Flintstone for trainer Brendan Walsh in another allowance race.

// The eighth in the $30,000 maiden-claiming race that served as the nightcap and which Island Boy smoked to a 10 3/4-length score for Wilkes and owner-breeder Anita Ebert.

Gus Gus closed from last of seven but was no threat as 9-5 favorite Bueno Bueno rolled to a 7 1/4-length romp. Off at 6-1 odds, Gus Gus finished three lengths in front of the next-closest horse.

Hernandez's streak started the next race, in which Tiz the Bomb led all the way at 3-5 odds in a mile maiden race taken off the turf. In his only other start, Tiz the Bomb finished seventh in a five-eighths of a mile dirt race at Churchill Downs. Undaunted, before the Ellis meet began, trainer Kenny McPeek said he had a really nice horse for the track's $125,000 Runhappy Juvenile Aug. 15 in Tiz the Bomb. Nothing that happened change that.

“He ran big,” Hernandez said after the victory. “We always thought he was going to run like that. The first time was a little short for him. When he got to go the mile today, he showed how good he is. I don't know what Kenny's going to do with him now, but it looks like he'll go forward from here.”

Said McPeek: “He was just a little clumsy in his first race. Nothing went right. He got off a little awkward, and he couldn't run them down. He just needed more ground. He'll definitely go in (the Juvenile), and we'll go from there.”

Tiz the Bomb is a poster boy for McPeek's use of mile maiden races over the Ellis Park turf, the trainer wanting the distance more than the surface and unconcerned if soggy grass moves them to the main track. Tiz the Bomb would seem suited to both surfaces, being a son of 2015 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner Hit It a Bomb, now part of Spendthrift Farm's stallion roster. His broodmare sire is two-time Breeders' Cup Classic winner Tiznow.

How Wilkes, Hernandez ended up in the breeding business
Here's how Hernandez found himself in the breeding business: “Ian called a few years ago and asked if we wanted to go in half on this mare with him,” he said. “We bred her to Fort Larned twice. We got the horse that ran today and we have a yearling over in Lexington.”

That mare, Social Amber, went 0 for 3 as a racehorse but is by the popular Claiborne Farm stallion War Front. Her owner at the time, Dennis Farkas, gave Social Amber to Wilkes, who as the trainer also has a free breeding right to Fort Larned.

“I gave half of the mare to Brian, and I had the breeding right,” Wilkes said. “So we got in at the right cost.”

Asked if their wives were “good pay” — racetrack parlance for owners who pay their training bills — Wilkes joked with a laugh, “Hmm, slow. They're tough. After the race, Trace wanted to know why Brian didn't move early enough.”

More seriously, he said, “He was very encouraging today to run second in his first start, because he's no five-furlong horse.”

Hernandez is now out of the breeding business. With Fort Larned moving from Kentucky to Ohio, Jamie Hernandez gave the mare to a friend in the Buckeye state.

The post Hernandez Bags Four Winners At Ellis Park appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post