Call Me Love | Horse Racing Free Tips

Call Me Love Gets First North American Stake Win In River Memories

Trainer Christophe Clement's persistency paid off Sunday as Call Me Love notched her first win in seven starts against North American stakes company, edging favorite Virginia Joy by a neck in the $150,000 River Memories – the Belmont Park spring/summer meet Closing Day feature race at the Elmont, N.Y. track.

Owned by R Unicorn Stable, Call Me Love, a dual grouped winner in Italy, went 0-for-5 in a 2020 campaign, where she solely ran against graded stakes company. The 5-year-old chestnut mare has displayed a turnaround in form for her past two starts, defeating allowance optional claiming company going 1 1/16 miles on May 23 at Belmont Park ahead of Sunday's engagement.

Call Me Love broke from post 2 under jockey Junior Alvarado in the 1 ½-mile contest for older fillies and mares as graded stakes-winning stable mate Mutamakina assumed command in the early stages over the good going on the Widener turf course. Last year's winner, Civil Union, tracked to her outside in second with Call Me Love along the rail in third position.

Mutamakina maintained her advantage as she slowed the tempo down through a half-mile in :47.80, while Alvarado had a tight hold aboard Call Me Love, with 6-5 favorite Virginia Joy inching closer to her outside.

Around the far turn, Call Me Love found herself last of five in the tightly packed field as Virginia Joy joined Mutamakina and Delta's Kingdom in pursuit on the front end. Alvarado weaved Call Me Love several paths wide at the top of the stretch as Mutamakina, Virginia Joy, and Delta's Kingdom all battled for control. The latter threw in the towel just past the furlong marker as Mutamakina and Virginia Joy duked it out on the front end.

In the final strides, Call Me Love prevailed, completing the 12-furlong journey in 2:27.59. Virginia Joy finished a head to the better of Mutamakina, who rounded out the trifecta. Delta's Kingdom and Civil Union completed the order of finish.

Pallas Athene, Luck Money, and main track only entrant Thankful were scratched.

Call Me Love, who returned $17 for a $2 win wager, registered her second consecutive victory for the first time since capturing the Group 3 Premio Verziere Memorial Aldo Cirla at San Siro and the Group 2 Premio Lydia Tesio at Capannelle to close out her 2019 season. The River Memories conquest upped her lifetime earnings to $613,121 through a 16-7-2-3 record.

Clement said the stretch out in distance benefitted Call Me Love.

“Call Me Love has been a bit unlucky in the past,” said Clement, who closed out the meet with five stakes victories. “I've probably been running her a bit shorter than I should have done looking back at today's performance.

“Mutamakina always gives a good account of herself and even if she got beat today, I thought she ran a good race,” Clement added. “The plan was for Junior to be comfortable on the lead or close to the pace and for Rosario [aboard Mutamakina] to wait and be comfortable as well. But the other horse didn't break that well and Joel ended up on the lead and was very comfortable.”

Alvarado, who also captured his fifth stakes win of the meet, said he was hoping to be on the lead, but he had to call an audible when Call Me Love broke a touch slow.

“This is the kind of race that you have to figure it out when they open the gate,” Alvarado said. “I was supposed to be on the lead – even Christophe said I could be the speed of the race – but she broke a little flat-footed. Going a mile and a half, I didn't want to rush her to go to the lead. She did it nice and quiet. Turning for home, she started picking up very nicely.”

Bred in Great Britain by Grundy Bloodstock SRL, Call Me Love is by multiple Group 1 winner Sea The Stars and is out of the Rainbow Quest mare Fresnay.

Live action resumes on Thursday afternoon for Opening Day at Saratoga Race Course. The first day of racing for the prestigious 40-day meet is spearheaded by the Grade 3, $120,000 Quick Call for 3-year-olds going 5 ½ furlongs over the Mellon turf course and the Grade 3, $150,000 Schuylerville for juvenile fillies going six furlongs over the main track. First post is 1:05 p.m. Eastern.

The post Call Me Love Gets First North American Stake Win In River Memories appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Plum Ali Has Final Tightener For Saturday’s $700,000 Belmont Oaks Invitational

Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables and Michael Caruso's Plum Ali worked in company with Al Shira'aa Farms' Mutamakina on the inner turf Monday at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

“It was a nice maintenance work. They both worked well and finished well,” said Clement. “One will go to the River Memories and the other will go to the Oaks. They were the best workers of my barn this morning.”

Plum Ali (by First Samurai), runner-up last out in the nine-furlong Grade 3 Wonder Again, is pointed to Saturday's $700,000 Belmont Oaks Invitational, first leg of the Turf Triple series for sophomore fillies.

Mutamakina (Great Britain-bred by Nathaniel) will be part of a strong one-two punch for Clement along with R Unicorn Stable's Call Me Love, who worked a half-mile solo Monday on the inner turf, in preparation for Sunday's 12-furlong $150,000 River Memories on the Widener turf for older fillies and mares.

Call Me Love, a 5-year-old Sea The Stars chestnut, won a 1 1/16-mile optional-claiming event last out on May 23 on firm Belmont turf.

Call Me Love was winless in five starts against graded company last year, completing the exacta in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 3 Beaugay at Belmont and the 1 1/16-mile Ballston Spa at Saratoga.

Clement said he was pleased with the easy half-mile breeze.

“It was easy by design,” said Clement. “She's very fit. We let her stretch her legs a little bit.”

The post Plum Ali Has Final Tightener For Saturday’s $700,000 Belmont Oaks Invitational appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Clement May Send Gufo In Sword Dancer

Trainer Christophe Clement said he has been delighted thus far with Otter Bend Stables' Gufo following two late-closing efforts against Grade 1 company to commence his 4-year-old season.

The consistent son of Declaration of War kept a never-off-the-board record intact when making up 17 lengths to finish a late-closing third to Domestic Spending in the Grade 1 Manhattan Stakes at Belmont Park, Elmont, N.Y. on June 5, registering a career-best 100 Beyer Speed Figure. He arrived at the 10-furlong engagement off a narrow runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Man o' War Stakes on May 8, where he made a five-wide move in the upper stretch with dead aim on pacesetter Channel Cat, coming up a nose shy of victory.

“He was a bit erratic in the Manhattan. We've got to work on that,” Clement said. “I may put blinkers on him, I'm not sure yet. We'll come back somewhere going a mile and a half or mile and three-eighths and get him going longer.”

Clement mentioned the $500,000 Grade 1 Resorts World Casino Sword Dancer on August 28 at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. as a likely target and said Gufo could run once before said start.

During his 3-year-old season, Gufo won the English Channel Stakes at Gulfstream Park and Grade 3 Kent Stakes at Delaware Park before coming up a head shy of victory to Domestic Spending in the Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes. He successfully sought redemption next out in the Grade 1 Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes.

Clement has twice won the Sword Dancer Invitational, with Winchester [2011] and Honor Glide [1999].

Also pursuing Grade 1 turf action from the Clement stable is Plum Ali, who displayed a strong turf of foot with a close second when chasing a leisurely pace in the Grade 3 Wonder Again Stakes at Belmont Park on June 3. Owned by Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables, and Michael Caruso, Plum Ali will target the 10-furlong $700,000 Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational on July 10, the first leg of the Turf Triple series for fillies.

“She should get the distance,” Clement said. “She came out of the Wonder Again in good shape. We'll work her next week.”

Plum Ali, a daughter of First Samurai, began her racing career with wins in her first three starts, including the Grade 2 Miss Grillo Stakes on October 4. In two starts as a 3-year-old, Plum Ali gathered more graded stakes black type when third in the Grade 2 Appalachian Stakes before the last-out Wonder Again.

Clement has won the Belmont Oaks twice when raced as the Garden City Handicap with Miss World [2009] and Voodoo Dancer [2001].

R Unicorn Stable's Call Me Love earned her first North American triumph in a 1 1/16-mile allowance optional claiming event over the inner turf on May 23.

The daughter of Sea the Stars earned black-type twice last season with second-place finishes in the Grade 3 Beaugay Stakes at Belmont Park and the Grade 2 Ballston Spa Stakes at Saratoga.

Call Me Love registered her second work since her last out triumph when breezing a half-mile in 49.45 seconds over the inner turf on Sunday morning.

Clement mentioned the $100,000 Perfect Sting on July 3 at Belmont, going one mile for fillies and mares, as an option for Call Me Love.

“Call Me Love worked well today,” Clement said. “There's one stake this meet for fillies on the grass and it's a mile which is a little on the short side for her, but we're going to have a look at it. I think she wants to go further.”

Clement said he would send stakes winners Bye Bye and Bubbles On Ice to the one-mile $100,000 Wild Applause Stakes on June 26.

Owned by Bach Stables, Bye Bye is a winner of both her efforts on grass, most recently in the Grade 3 Soaring Softly Stales on May 15. Bubbles On Ice, owned by Glen Hill Farm, Madaket Stables, and Cheyenne Stables, was fifth in the Hilltop Stakes on May 15 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, M.D. last out after capturing her North American debut in the Memories of Silver Stakes on April 18 at Aqueduct.

The post Clement May Send Gufo In Sword Dancer appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Sistercharlie Shooting For Third Straight Diana

The list of horses that have won the GI Diana S. on multiple occasions reads like a veritable horse racing Hall of Fame: Miss Grillo, Tempted, Shuvee, Glowing Honor and Forever Together have all accomplished the feat. Peter Brant’s Sistercharlie (Ire) (Myboycharlie {Ire}) can ascend to the top of that classy heap as she goes for the three-peat Sunday afternoon at Saratoga, but a fait accompli is most certainly is not.

The 2018 champion turf female made best use of her superior turn of foot to easily defeat her stablemate and TDN Rising Star Rushing Fall (More Than Ready) in this event last summer, then became the first to win the GI Beverly D. S. back-to-back last August. The deceptively easy winner of the GI Flower Bowl S. in October, she was third in defense of her GI Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf title Nov. 2 and could do no better than to round out the trifecta behind Starship Jubilee (Indy Wind) and Call Me Love (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in the GII Ballston Spa S. July 25.

Rushing Fall’s defeat last year was just the second of her career and while she was only fourth to Uni (GB) (More Than Ready) in the GI First Lady S. at Keeneland when forced to race off the speed, she has been dominant in two starts this term, besting Call Me Love in front-running fashion in the GIII Beaugay S. June 3 ahead of a 3/4-length success over Jolie Olimpica (Brz) (Drosselmeyer) in the GI Jenny Wiley S. in Lexington July 11, though Sunday’s nine-furlong trip remains a question mark. Her two wins at the distance came in age-restricted company in 2018.

Starship Jubilee returns to the Spa, having passed on the GII Dance Smartly S. at her Woodbine base last weekend. The former $16,000 claimer enters the Diana on a three-race streak, having annexed the GIII Suwannee River S. at Gulfstream and the GII Hillsborough S. at Tampa over the winter.

Mean Mary (Scat Daddy), five-for-seven lifetime, figures to make Rushing Fall work for it up front. The Alex Campbell homebred has not been headed in her last three trips to the race, good for victories in the 12-furlong GIII La Prevoyante S. at Gulfstream in January, the GIII Orchid S. over a mile and three furlongs Mar. 28 and a the 10-panel GII New York S. downstate June 27.

The post Sistercharlie Shooting For Third Straight Diana appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post