Tag: Brian Hernandez Jr.

Speedy Behave Virginia Gets Second Career Win In Debutante At Churchill Downs

Lucky Seven Stable's Behave Virginia ran down swift pacesetter Wicked Halo and out-kicked 7-5 favorite Ontheonesandtwos in deep stretch to win Saturday's 120th running of the $150,000 Debutante Stakes by one length at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

Ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr. and trained by Kenny McPeek, Behave Virginia ran the first sub-1:10 Debutante since Rated Fiesty's 2007 stakes record of 1:09.27.

The quick final time was the result of a record-setting pace and a fast track. Wicked Halo, who broke from the rail in the field of eight 2-year-old fillies, was rushed to the front with Tizplenty and Mollie Kate just off her hip. Down the backstretch after a first quarter mile in :21.11 and the half in :44.61, Behave Virginia was rated in fourth with Ontheonesandtwos on the outside in the clear. Wicked Halo put away the accompanying speed leaving the turn and was quickly met by the converging Behave Virginia and Ontheonesandtwos at the three-sixteenths pole. Behave Virginia edged clear with a sixteenth of a mile to run and Ontheonesandtwos slipped past an understandably tiring Wicked Halo by a half-length for the place.

“She's a really talented filly to be able to sit behind some pretty good horses like that and win the way she did,” Hernandez said. “When the spot opened up, she went through like an old professional would. It's a testament of how good she is. She answered a lot of questions today and we are very proud of her.”

The victory was worth $90,210 which increased the 2-year-old filly's earnings to $147,698 with a perfect record in two starts. Prior to her Debutante triumph, Behave Virginia broke her maiden at Churchill Downs on May 28 by 5 ¾ lengths at odds of 7-1.

“Typically we don't crank our horses to win first time out,” McPeek said. “Usually when they win first out, it's because they do it on their own talent. That's what she did. She reminds me of Take Charge Lady with her early ability on the racetrack. I think we may have seen a Breeders' Cup contender. I'll point her to the Alcibiades (in the Fall Meet at Keeneland) and go from there. I'll probably take her to Saratoga with me this summer just so I can keep an eye on her.”

Behave Virginia paid $10.20, $4.20, and $3.20 as the 4-1 third betting choice. Ontheonesandtwos, under Florent Geroux, returned $3.20 and $2.40. Wicked Halo, with Ricardo Santana Jr. up, paid $2.80.

Tizplenty, Classiness, Catchusifyoucan, Compressed Energy, and Mollie Kate completed the order of finish.

Behave Virginia is a 2-year-old daughter of Unified out of the Mineshaft mare She's Behaving. She was bred in Kentucky by Khalid Mishref Alkahtani and was purchased as a yearling at the 2020 Keeneland September Sale for Michael J. Mackin's Lucky Seven Stable for $115,000.

The Debutante, first staged in 1895 and one of Churchill Downs' most storied races, was one the second of three stakes races on Saturday's closing day card at Churchill Downs.

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Art Collector Set For 2021 Debut In Kelly’s Landing

Bruce Lunsford's Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes winning-homebred Art Collector leads a field of nine colts and geldings that were entered in Friday's $110,000 Kelly's Landing Overnight Stakes at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. – the penultimate card of the 38-day Spring Meet.

The seven-furlong Kelly's Landing was carded as Race 10 with a post time of 5:26 p.m. The 11-race program begins at 12:45 p.m.

Art Collector, a now 4-year-old son of Bernardini, is slated to make his seasonal debut in Friday's race following more than seven months away from the races. Trained by Tommy Drury Jr., Art Collector has been regularly training with Drury's string of horses at Churchill Downs and will once again be ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr.

“We've done everything we can right now for his first race back,” Drury said. “He worked a really good half-mile (Saturday in :47.40). He's ready to go and we're excited to get him back to the races.”

Art Collector was the early Kentucky Derby (GI) favorite in 2020 following his 3 ½-length Blue Grass (GII) win and 3 ¼-length score in the Ellis Park Derby. Drury and Lunsford had to scratch Art Collector the day of the Derby post position draw because a minor foot issue developed. He returned to run in the Preakness Stakes (GI) but finished fourth after tracking the early pace. Art Collector closed his 3-year-old campaign with an eighth-place effort in the Breeders Cup Dirt Mile (GI).

The five-time winner drew post No. 9 in the Kelly's Landing.

Another accomplished colt entered in the Kelly's Landing is Tamaroak Partners' six-time winning homebred Bango. The Greg Foley-trained son of Congrats held off fellow Kelly's Landing rival Long Range Toddy in the $150,000 Aristides Stakes in his last start. Bango has recorded five of his six lifetime victories beneath the Twin Spires. Tyler Gaffalione has the mount from post 6.

The complete Kelly's Landing field from the rail out (with jockey and trainer): Mucho (Gabriel Saez, John Ortiz); Strike Power (Ricardo Santana Jr., Steve Asmussen); Bourbon Calling (Julien Leparoux, Ian Wilkes); Long Range Toddy (Jon Court, Dallas Stewart); Home Base (Manny Esquivel, Cipriano Contreras); Bango (Gaffalione, Foley); Aloha West (Florent Geroux, Wayne Catalano); Relentless Dancer (Martin Garcia, Mike Maker); and Art Collector (Hernandez, Drury).

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King Fury Out Of Derby With A Fever, Elevated White Cell Count

King Fury, 20-1 on the morning line for tomorrow's Kentucky Derby, will be scratched after trainer Kenny McPeek revealed the colt spiked a high fever Friday afternoon after galloping in the morning. Blood tests revealed an elevated white cell count, which is typical of an infection.

“I feel gutted for Paul Fireman, Gonçalo Torrealba, and Brian Hernandez and all the people who have worked so hard to get him to this race but unfortunately he is not 100%” said McPeek in a video posted to Twitter. “This is a horse who had been doing really well all week. Anybody who had been watching him train had to be impressed; I know I was. We felt pretty confident going into this race.”

McPeek said the team will regroup and point towards another race and mentioned the Travers could be a long-term goal. He expected the colt will recover.

“Everyone from Fern Circle, Kenny's team, and Three Chimneys are disappointed that King Fury will not be able to run tomorrow,” said co-ownership group Fern Circle Stables on Twitter. “He's been training amazing this week, but it is important to do what's right for King Fury. He has a bright future ahead.”

King Fury was coming to the race off a decisive win in the Grade 3 Lexington at Keeneland and had a win in the Street Sense to his credit as well.

Brian Hernandez Jr. had been set to ride the colt.

 

King Fury was number 16 in the program. With the news of his impending scratch, Churchill officials announced all horses to his outside will shift one gate toward the inside, leaving the 20 gate empty. The program numbers will stay the same.

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Curlin Colt Unleashes ‘Fury-ous’ Rally For McPeek In Lexington Stakes

Far back early under Brian Hernandez Jr., King Fury benefited from a fast early pace and uncorked a powerful move on the turn to win the Grade 3, $200,000 Stonestreet Lexington Stakes on a very sloppy racetrack at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., on Saturday afternoon.

Trained by Kenny McPeek for the partnership of Fern Circle Stables and Three Chimneys Farm LLC, King Fury – a 3-year-old colt by Curlin bred in Kentucky by Heider Family Stables LLC – completed 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.50 and paid $38.40 as the third longest price in the field of nine 3-year-olds competing for 34 points in the final day of Road to the Kentucky Derby qualifying races of 2021. The top four finishers earned 20-8-4-2 points.

Unbridled Honor finished second at 20-1 odds, beaten 2 3/4 lengths, with 8-1 shot Starrinmydreams another 2 1/4 lengths back in third and 2-1 favorite Proxy finishing fourth.

Noble Reflection, stretching out to 1 1/16 miles after a six-furlong maiden win at Oaklawn last out for Richard Baltas, shot to the lead under Javier Castellano and set fractions of :22.39, :45.87 and 1:11.30 for the first six furlongs. Unbeaten Swiftsure, 2-for-2 sprinting for Steve Asmussen, and highly regarded Bob Baffert-trained Bezos applied pressure on the front-runner.

Hernandez allowed King Fury to settle near the back early, then began picking off horses approaching the far turn, finding room along the rail as the field made its way around the final turn. The front-runners began to pay the price for the early fractions and King Fury reeled them all in quickly, opening a commanding lead after a mile in 1:37.12 and easily holding off the late rally by Unbridled Honor and Julien Leparoux.

A $950,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling purchase, King Fury is out of the Flatter mare, Taris. The Lexington Stakes was his third win from six starts and first in a stakes. He had not raced since a fifth-place finish after setting  the pace with blinkers on in the G2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs on Nov. 28. After training at Gulfstream Park this winter, McPeek removed the blinkers for the Lexington.

Post-race quotes

Brian Hernandez Jr. (winning rider of King Fury)
“They were going fast, and my horse, he actually jumped away from there (the gate) really, really good. Then going around the turn, he went to hopping up and down from the dirt. Once he got down to the fence and midway down the backside, he went to traveling so good. I got to the five-eighths pole and went 'Man, they're in trouble from this point' because he was just doing it the right way and traveling and taking us the whole way. He was so powerful today that I knew I would just be able to pick my way through like we did. He was just there for me the whole way.”

Kenny McPeek (winning trainer)
“This has always been a really, really good horse. We were a little aggressive with him last fall. I'm going to give a big tip of the hat to the (co-owner) Three Chimneys team. They said, 'Hey, send him to us for a little while. Let's give him a little break'. He needed it. We tested him at the highest levels and he came back bigger and stronger.”

“I'm really proud of everybody involved. I've got a great team of people that help me. I channeled a little Alice Chandler today, because what a fantastic woman she's been for horse racing. It's an awesome win for (co-owner) Paul Fireman and his family. I wish he was here – I think he's playing golf in the Dominican (Republic) right now. It's a good day.”

On King Fury's next race
“We'll check him after this race. I think he's going to handle a mile and a quarter without any trouble. Whether he gets in (the Kentucky Derby-G1), it's out of our control. We'll see how he bounces out. We think a mile a quarter would be great. We'll look at the opposition. The Preakness (G1) is a great race too. It could be either-or, but it would definitely one or the other.”

Dallas Stewart (trainer and co-owner of third-place finisher Starrininmydreams)
“He's a really nice horse. He showed his quality this afternoon. It was a really nice effort. We'll get him back to Louisville and plan for the next one.”

John Velazquez (rider of fourth-place finisher Proxy)
“He was not loving this (sloppy track), that is for sure. I knew that in the first turn. He kept running at the end because he is a distance horse and he is supposed to pass horses.”

Mike Stidham (trainer of Proxy)
“I knew when Johnny had to (urge) him right away on the first turn that he looked like he was not handling the sloppy track. We had in the back of our minds to try him on the turf, and now that is something we will look at. Maybe not immediately but in the near future.”

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