Carlo Vaccarezza | Horse Racing Free Tips

Dam Of Champagne Winner Jackie’s Warrior, Her American Pharoah Weanling Added To Keeneland November

Keeneland announced on Sunday that Unicorn Girl, dam of undefeated two-time Grade 1 winner and leading Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) candidate Jackie's Warrior, and her weanling colt by American Pharoah have been supplemented to the November Breeding Stock Sale, to be held Nov. 9-18.

Unicorn Girl, who is in foal to leading sire Into Mischief, and her weanling son both are consigned by Beau Lane Bloodstock, agent, in the premier Book 1 on opening day.

Catalog pages for the two horses will be released later this week.

In Saturday's Champagne (G1) at Belmont, Jackie's Warrior dominated his rivals with a front-running 5 1/2-length victory. The effort solidified the status of the colt by Maclean's Music as a favorite in the Nov. 6 Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Keeneland and set the $95,000 graduate of Keeneland's 2019 September Yearling Sale on course for a potential Eclipse Award as division champion.

“It was a very impressive victory for Jackie's Warrior in the Champagne, and Unicorn Girl in foal to Into Mischief on one cover and carrying a colt will be well received at Keeneland November,” said Carlo Vaccarezza, who owns the mare and weanling with John Williams. “Also selling the weanling half-brother to Jackie's Warrior by American Pharoah will show what she's capable of moving forward. John and I are extremely excited for this opportunity.”

The Champagne continued Jackie's Warrior's roll this year. He won his June 19 career debut by 2 1/2 lengths at Churchill Downs and next took the Aug. 7 Saratoga Special (G2) by three lengths. On Sept. 7, Jackie's Warrior captured the Hopeful (G1) at Saratoga by 2 1/4 lengths in stakes-record time.

Unicorn Girl, by the A.P. Indy stallion A. P. Five Hundred, is in foal to the powerhouse Into Mischief, whose stud fee recently climbed to $225,000 for 2021. His recent headliners include Kentucky Derby (G1) hero Authentic and Test (G1) winner Gamine. Into Mischief was the leading sire by gross sales at the recent Keeneland September Yearling Sale, where 19 of his sons and daughters commanded $500,000 or more. Five sold for $1 million or more, including the $1.9 million sale-topping filly.

“There is no telling what Unicorn Girl can do with a foal by Into Mischief,” Beau Lane said. “She is a powerhouse. She tried her heart out every time she raced. She's a quality mare who was an overachiever, and she passes that on to her babies. They have the same attitude. She is the kind that can give you that special horse.”

Unicorn Girl has a pedigree page loaded with quality. Out of stakes winner Horah for Bailey, she is a half-sister to eight winners, including stakes winner Bernie the Maestro, who earned $694,317, and a pair of stakes horses who banked nearly $200,000 each.

On the race track, Unicorn Girl was competitive, classy and sound. Racing on the East Coast, she won 19 races and earned $483,508 in 54 races.

“Jackie's Warrior proved his star power with his dominating performance in the Champagne, and we look forward to seeing him at Keeneland for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile,” said Shannon Arvin, president-elect and interim head of sales at Keeneland. “Keeneland is especially excited to offer his dam, Unicorn Girl, who is in foal to the popular stallion Into Mischief, and his weanling half-brother in the November Sale.”

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Jackie’s Warrior Dam, Weanling Half-Brother Supplemented to Keeneland November

Both the dam of and weanling half-brother to unbeaten leading juvenile colt Jackie’s Warrior (Maclean’s Music) have been supplemented to the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, it was announced Sunday–one day after the Steve Asmussen pupil further solidified himself as the favorite for the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile with a 5 1/2-length romp in Saturday’s GI Champagne S. at Belmont. Dam Unicorn Girl (A. P. Five Hundred) will be offered in foal to leading sire Into Mischief; her weanling colt is by American Pharoah. Both will be consigned by Beau Lane Bloodstock during the Book 1 session on the sale’s first day, Nov. 9.

“It was a very impressive victory for Jackie’s Warrior in the Champagne, and Unicorn Girl in foal to Into Mischief on one cover and carrying a colt will be well received at Keeneland November,” said Carlo Vaccarezza, who owns the mare and weanling with John Williams. “Also selling the weanling half-brother to Jackie’s Warrior by American Pharoah will show what she’s capable of moving forward. John and I are extremely excited for this opportunity.”

Beau Lane offered: “There is no telling what Unicorn Girl can do with a foal by Into Mischief. She is a powerhouse. She tried her heart out every time she raced. She’s a quality mare who was an overachiever, and she passes that on to her babies. They have the same attitude. She is the kind that can give you that special horse.”

A debut winner at Churchill in June, Jackie’s Warrior–a $95,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by J. Kirk and Judy Robison–annexed the GII Saratoga Special S. Aug. 7 and GI Runhappy Hopeful S. back at the Spa a month later.

“Jackie’s Warrior proved his star power with his dominating performance in the Champagne, and we look forward to seeing him at Keeneland for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile,” Keeneland President-Elect and Interim Head of Sales Shannon Arvin said. “Keeneland is especially excited to offer his dam, Unicorn Girl, who is in foal to the popular stallion Into Mischief, and his weanling half-brother in the November Sale.”

Catalog pages for both horses will be released later this week. Click here for a promotional video.

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Notable US-Bred Runners in Japan: Oct. 10, 2020

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. With plenty of US-bred activity ahead, here are the horses of interest for this Saturday running at Kyoto and Tokyo Racecourses, featuring the return to the races of the very exciting 3-year-old filly Lecce Baroque. Sunday’s entrants will appear in Saturday’s TDN:

Saturday, October 10, 2020
4th-TOK, ¥13,400,000 ($126k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1600m
TAPITAIL (f, 2, Tapit–Lady of Fifty, by After Market) is the most recent produce for her dam, winner of the GI Clement L. Hirsch S. on synthetic and a stakes winner and Grade II placed on conventional dirt. A $975K buyback in foal to this sire at Fasig-Tipton November in 2014, Lady of Fifty was acquired by Teruya Yoshida in 2017 and produced this filly in Kentucky before being sent overseas. The mare was not represented by a foal in 2019 and her weanling colt by Heart’s Cry (Jpn) was purchased for ¥36m ($335,538) at this year’s JRHA Select Sale. B-Teruya Yoshida (KY)

8th-KYO, ¥14,360,000 ($136k), Allowance, 3yo/up, 1200m
DUAL CAREER (c, 4, War Front–A Star Is Born {Ire}, by Galileo {Ire}), a 475,000gns graduate of the 2017 Tattersalls October Book 1 Sale, has romped in each of his three career starts, all this season, winning by a combined 16 lengths on the dirt course at Mombetsu on the lesser NAR circuit. The impeccably bred bay, a full-brother to SW & MG1SP Fleet Review, is out of a winning full-sister to champion and treble Group 1 winner Rip Van Winkle (Ire) and a half to Italian Group 3 winner Le Vie Infinite (Ire) (Le Vie Dei Colori {GB}). B-Orpendale, Chelston & Wynatt (KY)

12th-TOK, ¥21,000,000 ($198k), Allowance, 3yo/up, 1400m
LECCE BAROQUE (f, 3, Uncle Mo–My Fast One, by Elusive Quality) looks to give pinhooker Carlo Vaccarezza and Top Line Sales a second Japanese winner in as many weekends, following on the success of Sui (Candy Ride {Arg}) Oct. 3. A $410K Keeneland September yearling turned $525K OBS March breezer, the dark bay could not have been more impressive in graduating by 10 lengths at first asking over this track and distance Feb. 8 and added an equally sparkling nine-length allowance Apr. 25 (see below, gate 10). She was burned up on the pace when the 2-1 second favorite to Cafe Pharoah (American Pharoah) in the June 21 G3 Unicorn S. (1600m) and makes a much-anticipate return here. Lecce Baroque is out of a half-sister to the late No Mo Dough (Uncle Mo) and MSP Terrific Storm (Storm Cat). B-MMM Stables (KY)

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Patience, Perseverance Couldn’t Overcome Physical Obstacle For Slain Student’s Namesake Little Guac

Carlo Vaccarezza's sons Nick and Mike made it out of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School alive on that horrific Valentine's Day in 2018 in Parkland, Fla., when a gunman opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle and killed 17 students and educators.

Nick's buddy Joaquin Oliver didn't.

“Nick said, 'Dad, the next horse you buy, let's name him after one of my best friends, Joaquin Oliver — they call him Guac,'” recalled the elder Vaccarezza, a horse owner, trainer and Boca Raton restaurateur.

Three weeks later, Vaccarezza paid $55,000 at the Ocala 2-year-old sale for a son of the Claiborne Farm stallion Flatter. The colt was named Little Guac (pronounced wok) to honor the slain 17-year-old.

It would be another two years and four months before Vaccarezza finally got Little Guac to the starting gate for his first start, racing with Nick as owner. If willing something to happen was enough, Little Guac would have been in the winner's circle after Ellis Park's eighth race Saturday. Instead, he raced up close to the leaders until late in the turn before fading to sixth under Miguel Mena in the eight-horse field running 5 1/2 furlongs on turf.

Vaccarezza and jockey Miguel Mena discuss Little Guac after the race

As he waited for the race to start, Vaccarezza said that he thought he finally had Little Guac ready for competition.

“At least I hope he's ready,” he said. “I think it would be a nice story. My son would be really emotional if the horse would win. Myself, too. It's a shame — a young not even 18-year-old kid, we lost him for something crazy. He was such a nice kid and had the world to live for, and unfortunately he got shot.”

Little Guac's finish wasn't simply a matter of the horse tiring in his first start ever. The horse experienced a pulmonary hemorrhaging episode, a common condition in the equine species known as bleeding. In fact, it was what had kept Little Guac from racing earlier in his career, with Vaccarezza giving the horse lots of time off from training and specialized treatments.

Treatment does allow many horses to race successfully with this condition. Little Guac just wasn't one. Now, with Saturday's result, Vaccarezza said Little Guac most likely is through racing after one race in which he earned $300.

“We did everything we could think of,” Vaccarezza said. “We did everything possible. … I think that's the end of his career. If I could look back, I wish I could have named another horse Little Guac, that maybe he'd have won a race. But at least we tried. This is horse racing. You can't predict the future of these animals. It doesn't matter how much you pay for them. We gave it a good try. I hope Little Guac in heaven is proud of his horse.”

The elder Vaccarezza said he doesn't regret trying to get Little Guac to the races.

“If this horse was any other horse, I'd have given up,” he said. “There are very few people who have a horse who is almost 5 years old and hasn't made a start. Due to the fact that it meant so much to my son and being the namesake, I did everything possible to try to let the horse be a good horse and let it run a decent race.”

Carlo Vaccarezza is best known in racing circles for campaigning $3.5 million-earner Little Mike, the horse named for his younger son. Little Mike in 2012 won Churchill Downs' Woodford Reserve Turf Classic, the Arlington Million and Breeders' Cup Turf when trained by Dale Romans. Vaccarezza, who owns Frank & Dino's restaurant in Boca Raton, races many of his horses in the name of family members: wife Priscilla and both sons. He began training his own horses in 2014.

After almost 30 years in Florida, Vaccarezza moved his entire 28-horse stable to Keeneland in mid-March. One factor is that his sons want to attend the University of Kentucky, Nick (who works for trainer Chad Brown) for the equine program and Mike for business administration.

“This has been brewing for a few months,” he said. “We're building another Frank & Dino's in Lexington, so that was the perfect scenario, just to move my horses to Keeneland. I love it in Lexington. I think it's a beautiful town.”

Vaccarezza had a win, three seconds and three thirds at Churchill Downs' spring meet, his first while training full-time in Kentucky. Saturday was his first time at Ellis Park, though he knows racing secretary Dan Bork well from Bork's years at Gulfstream Park.

“It's like a diamond in the rough,” Vaccarezza said of Ellis Park. “It's a pretty little place. Dan Bork is doing a phenomenal job. The main track is great; the turf course is superb, and the people are really friendly.”

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