caracaro | Horse Racing Free Tips

‘Really? I Did That?’ Castellano Hoping To Add To Record Six Travers Wins

Global Thoroughbred and Top Racing's Grade 3 Peter Pan runner-up Caracaro, trained by Gustavo Delgado, worked six furlongs under Hall of Famer Javier Castellano in 1:15.99 Saturday morning on the Saratoga main track in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., shortly after the renovation break.

The lightly-raced colt moved easily through splits of 26.2, 50.1 with a long gallop out past the wire.

“He's a good mover. Today, it wasn't about looking for time, it was more like a two-minute lick starting from the three-quarters and letting him gallop out,” said Castellano. “He just ran three weeks ago, so today was a good maintenance work. He galloped out beautiful past the wire but I didn't let him overdo it. He handled the track well. He did everything the right way today.”

The Uncle Mo bay, a $95,000 Keeneland November Sale purchase, followed up his January 11 maiden win at Gulfstream with a strong second off the layoff in the July 16 Grade 3 Peter Pan, earning 20 Kentucky Derby qualifying points.

Castellano has won the Runhappy Travers a record six times having captured the Mid-Summer Derby with Bernardini [2006; 2-5, $2.70*], Afleet Express [2010; 7-1, $16], Stay Thirsty [2011; 5-2, $6.80*], V.E. Day [2014; 19-1, $40], Keen Ice [2015; 16-1, $34] and Catholic Boy [2018; 7-1, $16.20].

“I really love this race. To me, it's one of the best races in the country. It always has the best 3-year-olds,” said Castellano. “All jockeys and trainers are all trying to win a race like the Travers. I'm very fortunate to be a part of its history winning with six horses. Even myself, when I say that number, I say, 'Really? I did that?' I've been so lucky and I've had a lot of support from my agent, the trainers and owners who put me on horses with opportunities to win these big races.”

While Bernardini and Stay Thirsty were favorites, Castellano has also found Travers success with longshots including V.E. Day, who nosed out Wicked Strong in 2010, and Keen Ice, who upset 2015 Triple Crown champion American Pharoah to end his eight-race win streak.

“You have to be patient and confident in both yourself and the horse to put everything together and have a good result,” said Castellano. “Some of the winners were favorites like Bernardini and Stay Thirsty, but Afleet Express was a longshot and V.E. Day was a longshot that paid big. And then American Pharoah came and we won with Keen Ice.”

To add to his Runhappy Travers ledger, Castellano and Caracaro will have to topple another strong favorite in Grade 1 Belmont Stakes hero Tiz the Law, but the Hall of Fame rider said he is cautiously optimistic.

“It's not an easy race to win,” said Castellano. “You need to time it right and you don't want to overdo it early because it's not going to pay off. You have to be patient and ride like they are the best horse in the race.

“Tiz the Law is the horse to beat, but you never know,” added Castellano. “American Pharoah was supposed to be unbeatable that day, but this is horse racing and you just never know.”

The post ‘Really? I Did That?’ Castellano Hoping To Add To Record Six Travers Wins appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Country Grammer Shows His Long-Distance Chops In Peter Pan

Country Grammer dueled Caracaro in the stretch and held firm from the inside position, edging his rival by a neck to win the Grade 3, $100,000 Peter Pan for 3-year-olds on Thursday, Opening Day of the summer meet at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Owned by Paul Pompa, Jr., Country Grammer broke his maiden traveling nine furlongs at second asking in November at Aqueduct Racetrack for his only previous victory. After running fifth in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth in November at Gulfstream and third against allowance company on June 4 at Belmont, Country Grammer returned to 1 1/8 miles and responded with his first career stakes score. His win earned 50 qualifying points to the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby in September at Churchill Downs.

Updated Kentucky Derby leaderboard

Under jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., who won the Belmont spring/summer meet riding title, Country Grammer stalked in fourth position as Mo Hawk led the nine-horse field through the opening quarter-mile in 23.24 seconds, the half in 48.13 and three-quarters in 1:12.35 on the fast main track.

Out of the final turn, Ortiz, Jr. angled Country Grammer near the rail, while Caracaro made a strong bid under Hall of Famer Javier Castellano from his outside. The duo linked up in the stretch for an exciting final furlong before the Chad Brown trainee prevailed, hitting the wire in a final time of 1:49.79.

“Irad gave him a beautiful ride. He took advantage of his inside post,” Brown said. “He trains that way and he's a bit of a grinder. He's a long-distance horse and we've been wanting to get him back out to a mile and an eighth.”

While Country Grammer earned points to go to Kentucky, Brown said he could be staying at Saratoga in the immediate future with a spot in the Grade 1, $1 million Runhappy Travers on August 8 a likely spot.

“Obviously, the logical thing is to point him to the Travers at a mile and a quarter,” Brown said. “I don't think he'll have a problem with the distance. We'll have to see if he's good enough. He hasn't run many times and there's room for improvement there. It's a race we hoped to get him to, and I'll talk to Mr. Pompa about it.”

Brown is coming off another title as the leading trainer in the Belmont spring/summer meet and has also captured the Saratoga training crowns the previous two summer meets. Though this year's lid-lifter at the Spa was different without spectators in attendance in compliance with New York State guidelines, Brown said it's always special to win at a track that dates its history to 1863.

“It's really nice to win this race but definitely a bittersweet day when this beautiful place is empty where I grew up,” said Brown, a native of nearby Mechanicville, N.Y. “We'll try to get through the meet and hold out hope that maybe it will open more during the meet, but there's no guarantees about that. We'll do the best we can and we're grateful they're running here. Hopefully, this is the only year we have to do this.

“NYRA has really done a good job,” he added. “It feels very safe on the backside training in the morning. It's well organized and I think it's a very safe environment.”

Off at 4-1, Country Grammer returned $10.20 on a $2 win wager. The bay colt is a son of Tonalist, who won the 2014 Belmont Stakes in upsetting California Chrome's Triple Crown bid.

“He's a fighter. He has a great trainer and he [Country Grammer] had something left at the end,” Ortiz, Jr. said. “Chad's horses finish really good. I never gave up and I was lucky he came back.”

Caracaro, conditioned by Gustavo Delgado, was making his first stakes appearance and just his third start overall. The Uncle Mo colt finished 3 ¼ lengths in front of 8-5 favorite Mystic Guide for second, racking up 20 qualifying points for the runner-up effort.

“I had a beautiful trip. I like the way it set up. My horse usually likes to go to the lead and tries to dictate the pace,” Castellano said. “He broke a little sideways out of the gate. I decided not to rush and put him in the lead, and just let him develop himself. I think he got tired the last part of the race, he hadn't run in such a long time. I'm very satisfied with how he did it today. He was only beat a little bit and I'm not disappointed at all. I'm excited for his future.”

Mystic Guide, trained by Michael Stidham, earned 10 points for third.

Celtic Striker finished fourth, garnering five points. Modernist, Chestertown, Candy Tycoon, Mo Hawk and Katzarelli completed the order of finish.

Handle on the 10-race Opening Day card was $19,100,297, a 21 percent increase over the 2019 Opening Day handle of 15,754,227.

Live racing resumes Friday with a 10-race card featuring the $85,000 De La Rose for older fillies and mares in Race 7 and the $85,000 Shine Again, also for fillies and mares 4-years-old and up, in Race 9. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.

The post Country Grammer Shows His Long-Distance Chops In Peter Pan appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Tonalist’s Country Grammer Delivers Game Peter Pan Victory

Paul Pompa’s Country Grammer (Tonalist) was ultra-game in securing his first black-type score in the rescheduled and relocated GIII Peter Pan S. on Saratoga’s opening day Thursday. Saving ground in fourth, the 4-1 shot sat a few lengths off the longshot pacesetter Mo Hawk (Uncle Mo) through a :23.24 opening quarter and closed the gap a bit, moving into third as the half went in :48.13. The bay inched up the fence as 22-1 shot Celtic Striker (Congrats) ranged up outside the leader with Caracaro (Uncle Mo) hot on his heels. Punching through on the fence exiting the bend, Country Grammer was briefly headed by Caracaro, but he quickly wrestled the lead back from his foe and the duo battled to the wire with Country Grammar holding Carcaro at bay by a neck. With its new position on the calendar, the Peter Pan, which is typically a prep for the GI Belmont S. held downstate in May, offered 50 points towards the Sept. 5 GI Kentucky Derby.

“Irad [Ortiz] gave him a beautiful ride,” winning trainer Chad Brown said. “He took advantage of his inside post. He trains that way and he’s a bit of a grinder. He’s a long distance horse and we’ve been wanting to get him back out to a mile and an eighth. Additionally, in his last race, this horse has never really trained good at Belmont. We ran him there because that’s where he was, but he just didn’t like the track that much. He had a nice work over the track here [at Saratoga] last week and we were optimistic he was going to run much better.”

When asked if the GI Runhappy Travers S. Aug. 8 was next, Brown said, “Obviously, the logical thing is to point him to the Travers at a mile and a quarter. I don’t think he’ll have a problem with the distance. We’ll have to see if he’s good enough. He hasn’t run many times and there’s room for improvement there. It’s a race we hoped to get him to and I’ll talk to Mr. Pompa about it.”

Fourth when unveiled on the turf at Belmont in October, Country Grammer earned his diploma next out with a decisive victory going nine panels on dirt at Aqueduct Nov. 11. Checking in fifth in Gulfstream’s GII Fountain of Youth S. Feb. 29, he checked in third behind Tap It to Win (Tapit) in a Belmont allowance June 4.

Pedigree Note:

Country Grammer is the second stakes winner and second graded winner from the first crop of MGISW Tonalist, following the filly Tonalist’s Shape. His dam Arabian Song has a now-2-year-old filly named Joyful Cadence (Runhappy), who was purchased by William Simon for $235,000 at Keeneland September, and the mare was subsequently sold to Abdul Aziz Al-Ateeqi for $5,000 in foal to Wicked Strong at the 2018 KEENOV sale. The resulting foal was a filly and is her most recent produce. The winner hails from the family of Group 1 winner Etoile Montante (Miswaki) and MGSW Starformer (Dynaformer).

Thursday, Saratoga
PETER PAN S.-GIII, $100,000, Saratoga, 7-16, 3yo, 1 1/8m, 1:49.79, ft.
1–COUNTRY GRAMMER, 120, c, 3, by Tonalist
1st Dam: Arabian Song, by Forestry
2nd Dam: Prima Centauri, by Distant View
3rd Dam: Willstar, by Nureyev
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($60,000 Ylg ’18 KEESEP; $450,000 2yo ’19 OBSAPR). O-Paul P. Pompa, Jr.; B-Scott and Debbie Pierce (KY); T-Chad C. Brown; J-Irad Ortiz Jr. $55,000. Lifetime Record: 5-2-0-1, $117,320. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk Nick Rating: A+.
2–Caracaro, 120, c, 3, Uncle Mo–Peace Time, by War Front. ($95,000 Wlg ’17 KEENOV). O-Global Thoroughbred and Top Racing, LLC; B-SF Bloodstock LLC (KY); T-Gustavo Delgado. $20,000.
3–Mystic Guide, 120, c, 3, Ghostzapper–Music Note, by A.P. Indy. O/B-Godolphin, LLC (KY); T-Michael Stidham. $12,000.
Margins: NK, 3 1/4, 4 3/4. Odds: 4.10, 3.20, 1.75.
Also Ran: Celtic Striker, Modernist, Chestertown, Candy Tycoon, Mo Hawk, Katzarelli.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

The post Tonalist’s Country Grammer Delivers Game Peter Pan Victory appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post