Agate Road Back To The Dirt For Sam F. Davis

The Tampa Road to the Kentucky Derby heats up Saturday afternoon, as a full field of 12 sophomore males is set to face the starter for the $250,000 GIII Sam F. Davis S., with 42 Kentucky Derby qualifying points (20-10-6-4-2) up for grabs.

When Litigate (Blame) took out the 2023 renewal, he was giving trainer Todd Pletcher a seventh victory in the Davis, having won the race for the first time in 2006 with Bluegrass Cat (Storm Cat). 'TDN Rising Star' Agate Road (Quality Road) will be the more-fancied of Pletcher's two runners as he returns to the dirt for the first time since missing by a nose in a rained-off maiden at Saratoga last August. A had-to-see-it-to-believe-it winner of his turf debut at the Spa the following month, the $650,000 Keeneland September purchase found his best stride late to take out the GIII Pilgrim S., but he was done no favors by the one-mile trip of the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, running on belatedly to finish fifth. Agate Road's seasonal debut is best taken with a grain of salt, as Tocayo (Always Dreaming) set a leisurely tempo in the Jan. 6 Dania Beach S. and was never threatened, with Agate Road chipping away late to be second. He certainly fits on class and figs, but he would be dodgy at a skinny number with Jose Ortiz in the irons. Pletcher also sends out Tireless (Not This Time), a local maiden winner over an extended mile Jan. 14.

Iowa-bred No More Time (Not This Time) broke his maiden impressively going a mile at Gulfstream in October, but was off slowly from the inside gate in the Jan. 1 Mucho Macho Man and loomed a wide threat at the head of the lane before fading into fifth. The dark bay tries the two-turn game for the first time, with Paco Lopez taking over from Ortiz for trainer Jose D'Angelo.

Courtlandt Farms' Change of Command (Into Mischief) blew the doors off a field of Gulfstream maidens going seven furlongs Dec. 17 and gutted out a neck victory trying a route of ground for the first time in Hallandale Jan. 5. Shug McGaughey elects to puts blinkers on the $1.05-million KEESEP acqusition.

Elysian Meadows (City of Light) is perfect in two starts to date, both over three-quarters of a mile at Aqueduct, and the form of his first-level state-bred allowance victory Dec. 15 was franked when the runner-up Mischief Joke (Practical Joke) returned to win the Rego Park S. It'll be up to Junior Alvarado to work out a trip from the 12 hole for trainer Bill Mott. That combination teamed to win the 2021 Davis with Candy Man Rocket (Candy Ride {Arg}).

Small, But Select Field For Rescheduled Las Virgenes

Saturday's GIII Las Virgenes S., postponed due to impending rains last Sunday, has lured a field of five, but what the race may lack in numbers, it appears to make up for in terms of quality.

Michael Lund Petersen's 'TDN Rising Star' Kinza (Not This Time) steps up in class and up in trip for this second go after earning a towering 96 Beyer Speed Figure in annexing her racecourse debut by 7 1/2 lengths going six furlongs Dec. 29. The $17,000 FTNOCT weanling, $30,000 OBSOCT yearling and $350,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic breezer will try to give trainer Bob Baffert an eighth Las Virgenes and third straight for Petersen following Adare Manor (Uncle Mo) in 2022 and Faiza (Girvin) last year.

Kopion (Omaha Beach) holds an experience edge over Kinza and exits a front-running, 5 3/4-length success in the seven-furlong GIII Santa Ynez S. Jan. 7. The $270,000 KEESEP graduate had previously defeated She's a Tempest (Connect) into second to open her account at first asking at Del Mar in late November, and She's a Tempest did her part to validate the effort with a tenacious victory over next-out maiden winner Ultimate Authority (Practical Joke) over this track and distance Jan. 5.

The post Agate Road Back To The Dirt For Sam F. Davis appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Lovell Riding High After a Special Saratoga Win

In 1993, Michelle Lovell rode five races at Saratoga. Then known as jockey Michelle Hanley, she came home with three second-place finishes, but never got that win at the Spa. Twenty-nine years later, she finally made it to the winner's circle. This time it was with the brilliant GII Saratoga Special S. winner Damon's Mound (Girvin), her first Saratoga starter as a trainer.

How do the two experiences compare?

“Riding here back in the day, I was just super in awe of the place,” Lovell explained. “Obviously who wouldn't want to come here and have a go at it? But honestly, bringing Damon's Mound as my first Saratoga starter, I mean that's what dreams are made of, right?”

Damon's Mound is a sixth-generation homebred for Cliff and Michele Love and the first horse Lovell has trained for the Texas-based owners. The horsewoman said her connection with the couple started early this year with a cold call from Cliff.

“Thank goodness I answered the phone,” she said with a laugh. “I knew his name because I used to race in Texas. It was just a really nice person on the other end of the line who said they had a 2-year-old training in Ocala that they thought a lot of. He said he had done a lot of research and decided he wanted me as a trainer if I had a stall. We get these calls as trainers every so often and sometimes the horse doesn't pan out or the owners don't call back, but they kept in touch and when Damon's Mound was ready, he showed up at my barn–this big, beautiful 2-year-old.”

Lovell took an immediate liking to the striking bay colt, who is named after a 146 foot-tall limestone formation outside of the town of Damon, Texas.

Lovell, Damon's Mound and Gabriel Saez celebrate the GII Saratoga Special victory | Susie Raisher

“He was obviously raised right,” she said. “He was broke by Ocala Stud's David O'Farrell and I had lots of contact with him after I got him in. He told me that he was always professional and that he really liked him. We got him in the spring and he never missed a day. He was obviously well-broke. He was actually fit for a half-mile as they said, which sometimes doesn't happen.”

When Damon's Mound was named a 'TDN Rising Star' after his stunning 12 1/2-length obliteration of maidens at Churchill Downs on July 2, Lovell and the Loves were inundated with inquiries about purchasing the promising juvenile. All were turned down.

“We had dozens of calls and text messages,” Lovell shared. “We had some really nice offers from good people that have been in the business for a long time who said they would be happy to be a silent partner along for the ride, but Cliff just said he was going to share this with his wife.”

Despite Love's initial words, Lovell said she couldn't help harboring a few thoughts that the owner's mind might change if Damon's Mound was just as brilliant in his second start as he was in his debut.

“It was always in the back of my mind,” she admitted. “I just thought that I would have to wish them well and understand that it's a business and it happens. I was just grateful to have him to begin with.”

Before leaving for Saratoga, Lovell had the conversation with the Loves of what would happen if they came back with a win in the Saratoga Special.

“We really didn't think we would be worse than second,” Lovell said. “With Gulfport (Uncle Mo) in there we knew we had our work cut out for us, but we thought we could be in the winner's circle. Cliff just told me, 'If he wins they're going to be calling again, but he's still not for sale. You're my spokesperson and he's not for sale.'”

A caravan that included Lovell, Damon's Mound, Elwood (Lovell's speckled pony with a following of his own) and Roy Seales (Lovell's groom with a background working in New York racing) made the journey from their summer base at Colonial Downs Racetrack in Virginia to Saratoga. They shipped in to Mike Maker's barn, which overlooks the main track's far turn.

Change of Control settling into the same stall Damon's Mound occupied in Saratoga last week | Michelle Lovell

“The first day we were here, he could see the racing and it kind of got him excited,” Lovell said. “He watched really intensely, but then the next day, he slept all day.”

Two days before the big day, Damon's Mound had a similar laid-back attitude as he schooled in the paddock alongside his highly regarded competitor Gulfport.

“He walked in through the crowd with such confidence and poise,” Lovell said. “Especially for a young horse in his second time out, he just owns it. I couldn't have been more proud of him.”

Damon's Mound got another look at 2-5 favorite Gulfport as he trailed the rest of a four-horse field through the opening stages of the Saratoga Special, but after being asked by jockey Gabriel Saez, Damon's Mound made his move at the far turn and accelerated to a 3 1/4-length victory.

“We were confident going in, but you get a little nervous,” Lovell admitted as she reflected on the race.  “He gives you all the confidence because his demeanor is great. He's humble, too. He's proud of himself, but he's a humble horse. It was an awesome day. It couldn't have been more perfect.”

Of course, more offers came in for the new Grade II victor, but Lovell said word has spread that for now, the colt is in her barn to stay.

“It's a great thing that people are interested because obviously he's a very talented 2-year-old with a great future in front of him, but it's refreshing not to have to field those calls and text messages,” Lovell admitted. “I'm truly grateful to Cliff and Michele that they want to be on this journey. They've been waiting for it for a long time, so kudos to them for sticking to their guns. It's a great story for them.”

The Loves were not present for the victory in Saratoga, opting to enjoy the race together at home and plan to attend their stable star's next start.

Damon's Mound returned to Colonial Downs late on Sunday and Lovell reported that he has come out of the race in perfect form. She is still weighing her options for where the Florida-bred could make his next start, considering either the GIII Iroquois S. at Churchill on Sept. 17 or the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland on Oct. 8.

While Damon's Mound has already resumed light jogging at Colonial Downs, Lovell is back in New York this weekend with her second Saratoga starter. On Saturday, Change of Control (Fed Biz) will race from post one in the Smart N Fancy S. The 6-year-old mare finished fourth by three lengths to eventual GI Fourstardave H. winner Casa Creed (Jimmy Creed) in the GI Jaipur S. and followed that effort with a stakes win at Colonial Downs on July 18.

“She's coming into this race really well off her win at Colonial,” Lovell reported. “It was nice to get a little class relief there and that will set her up well for this race. There are some good mares in there, so there's no doubt it will be a nice race. Hopefully we get a nice trip.”

It certainly can't hurt that while in Saratoga, Change of Control is staying in the same stall that Damon's Mound occupied last weekend.

“It would be awesome to be two-for-two up here,” Lovell said. “That would be the cherry on top.”

The post Lovell Riding High After a Special Saratoga Win appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Keeneland Breeder Spotlight: Invasion a Big Tribute to O’Meara

Call it a Milestone achievement. Any farm, right up to the biggest brands of the Bluegrass, would have been proud to match the three stakes wins in 24 hours recorded by John O'Meara a couple of weekends back. And yet this is a man tending just a dozen mares, with the assistance of a single employee. Some landmark, then, in an odyssey stretching back four decades to when O'Meara first arrived in Lexington and called a farm he'd found in the bus station telephone directory.

“Is anybody Irish working there?” he asked.

Another Irishman was working there soon after, sure enough, but it would still be a long and winding road, either side of the ocean, before O'Meara went to an auction in 2002, bought 165 acres just outside Lexington and “became very friendly with the bank”. He called the farm Milestone, for an influential Irish Draft Horse his father had stood at Toomevara Stud back in Co. Tipperary. But if various experiments since have tended to confirm the odds against an enterprise on this modest scale–despite a few dozen winners as a trainer, and a bold attempt to launch a couple of stallions–then equally that's a measure of the exceptional horsemanship underpinning this remarkable treble.

It started with Big Invasion (Declaration of War), whose first three dams have all grazed Milestone pasture. Sold as a yearling for $72,000 at the 2020 September Sale to Phil Hager's Taproot Bloodstock, he has been hurtling up the sophomore ladder with five consecutive wins for Christopher Clement and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, clocking 1:00.80 on his graded stakes debut in the GIII Quick Call S. over 5 1/2 furlongs at Saratoga.

The next afternoon another 3-year-old, Roses for Debra (Liam's Map), followed up her maiden success over the same track with a stakes score against fellow Pennsylvania-breds at Presque Isle Downs. She is trained for O'Meara himself by Michelle Brafford, having been found (knocked down to Chris Drakos) for just $25,000 in the same September Sale.

And within the hour the 6-year-old Change of Control (Fed Biz), a Milestone graduate, took her career earnings to $923,725 with her sixth black-type success in another turf sprint, at Colonial Downs. O'Meara understands Change of Control's connections are hoping to get her to the Breeders' Cup, as a graded stakes winner already at Keeneland. But the real excitement concerns Big Invasion, who got a triple-digit Beyer for his Saratoga win.

“With Declaration of War I thought I'd put some stamina into the mare, but as it turned out the speed has just been compounded in her,” O'Meara reflects. “He'd be unbeaten but for getting left in the gate on his debut. I hope he might [stretch out], because the longer you go, the longer you last. But you can't blame them, if there's big money being given away to run against 3-year-olds going short. He's with a top trainer, they take really good care of their horses, so he'll be getting every chance in the world. It's exciting.”

Whatever happens from here, Big Invasion is already a huge tribute to the way his breeder developed a family from third dam Pola (Strawberry Road {Aus}), acquired for $55,000 back in 2000. O'Meara had actually tried to buy her at the Keeneland November Sale the previous year, when culled by breeder Allen Paulson, but had to surrender at $70,000 after Frank Stronach came in for her.

“She had a lot of speed,” he recalls. “You know, :22, :44 type speed. She didn't get away in her first race, won her second, but then pulled a suspensory. I went to the Keeneland November Sale to buy her, sat around thinking there was a good deal coming up, with Strawberry Road such a solid, sound, under-rated stallion. I didn't have the money to get her that day, but then they just put her in foal to Alphabet Soup and put her in their own sale the next year, with a free Golden Missile season.”

O'Meara retained the Alphabet Soup filly that came with the package, who went on to be stakes-placed, and then used the Golden Missile cover to produce a colt he took to the September Sale with a $29,000 reserve. He made $140,000, before pinhooker Mike Miller had an even bigger touch at Gulfstream the following February, selling to Bob and Beverly Lewis for $600,000. As Going Wild, the colt won the Sham S. for D. Wayne Lukas en route to a crack at the GI Kentucky Derby.

Pola's next date was with Out of Place, and the resulting filly was retained as Pola's Place after failing to meet her reserve as a yearling but did not run until four.

“I couldn't sell her so sent her to Florida as a 2-year-old,” O'Meara recalls. “But she pulled a suspensory so I brought her home, gave her time. Dr. Bramlage ultra-sounded her and said give her more time. So I gave her another three months, took her back. And he said, 'Another two months.' And after that he said, 'Okay, you can go on.' So I sent her to Turfway on the poly, thinking it would be easier on her. And she turned out to be very fast. She was in front every [first] call, every race she ever ran in, and won a stakes race for me.”

Retired to the farm, Pola's Place was given a chance with a couple of foal shares to the young Curlin. One resulted in a filly named Curls in Place, who O'Meara was able to buy out as a $25,000 weanling on account of X-ray issues. Once again, O'Meara had to bide his time. She had ability, but wasn't showing it, including under a tag, and it was again only when she was four that she finally put it together to win a couple of races.

Big Invasion is only her third foal, both previous ones having managed a minor stakes placing.

“And she's still only 11,” O'Meara says. “She's not very big, but a beautiful looker. You look at a Ferrari and look at her, you'd think she's the Ferrari. And she's a very nice, kind mare.”

Big Invasion made a good price for Hip 3303, and will now decorate the page of his half-brother by Air Force Blue when he, too, appears deep in the September Sale. (It will also do no harm that this family has been newly decorated by Nest (Curlin), whose dam is out of a half-sister to Pola.)

“He's in the third last day, I think, but that's fine–once it's there [on the pedigree], it never goes away,” O'Meara says. “Big Invasion wasn't very big, but he was well proportioned, well put together, and a very smart horse. And this colt is much the same, moderate-sized but very intelligent, very easy to deal with.”

Though O'Meara will sell when he can, he is always happier to retain a filly. That's what he is doing with the mare's 2-year-old by Empire Maker; she also has a weanling colt by War at Will and is now in foal to Maclean's Music.

Change of Control's dam, America's Blossom (Quiet American), is also still in a position to exploit her success. She has a big, backward sophomore by Midshipman that O'Meara is still developing, and a yearling filly by Karakontie (Jpn) that he has also retained. She's now pregnant to Dialed In.

America's Blossom was found for just $7,000 at the Keeneland January Sale in 2015. “If you don't have a lot of money, you've got to do your homework,” O'Meara says. “Those Quiet American mares are really good, and she was stakes-placed herself, and very tough. She'd had one foal by Pleasantly Perfect and didn't get in foal when they bred her back, so they obviously decided to cut her loose. And January is the kind of sale where you can get a good deal: people don't want to keep them, and with the breeding season so close you can get straight going.”

We have seen how much patience O'Meara required to develop the mares behind Big Invasion, and again he has been no rush with Roses for Debra.

“She's out of a Bernardini mare that had already produced a stakes winner when I bought her,” O'Meara explained. “I sent her to Florida for the 2-year-old sales and she worked in :10 flat [at OBS April] but chipped her knee. So I had to bring her home and operate on her and give her the time. And because she's Pennsylvania-bred I sent her up there to race. On her first start she got taken down, then a couple of weeks later she won by six and now she's won a $100,000 stakes race.”

Like so many Irishmen working with young horses in the United States, O'Meara was actually raised in a National Hunt and sport horse environment. (Fitting, as such, that he should have bred Blackfoot Mystery (Out of Place), the re-trained Thoroughbred whose eventing career took him to the Rio Olympics in 2016 under Boyd Martin.) Besides Milestone, Prefairy was another resonant name at Toomevara–in both spheres–but O'Meara was only 12 when losing his father in 1969 and instead became one of many young compatriots forever indebted to Michael Osborne's mentorship at the Irish National Stud.

O'Meara then cut his teeth on farms in Australia and New Zealand before that first sampling of the Bluegrass.

“I went home in 1981 and was going to change the world,” he says wryly. “But interest rates were 22% and I couldn't get going. So went back to Mr. Osborne and he set me up with a visa and a job at Spendthrift.”

A stint at Gainesway followed, and he then spent four years working for Carl Nafzger before eventually venturing out on his own, initially renting land and boarding mares before committing to the Milestone gamble.

“My first aim was to train horses,” he says. “If you know what you're doing, you'll know where you are with a horse within a couple of months. Whereas breeding is always like a five-year plan. But while I trained a couple of nice ones, usually someone will come along to buy them and they're on their way.

“I had a couple of stallions for a time, as well. Mancini was a three-parts brother to Unbridled's Song, who was standing for $300,000. I didn't think he could lose.”

But he found a way, evidently? O'Meara responds with a laugh.

“That's a tough game,” he says. “Spendthrift had 47 stallions when I went there. A lot of them didn't make it, but they obviously had Raise A Native, Seattle Slew, J.O. Tobin, Exclusive Native, Lord Avie, Affirmed. They had 200 boarding mares and 200 mares of their own. It was a huge machine: they got the stallions because they had the mares, and the mares because they had the stallions. Mancini got a lot of sound horses but not a lot of support. I supported him as best as I could, but nearly went broke doing it.”

Holding your nerve is both harder, and even more essential, for those who can't play the numbers game. But O'Meara understands how the axiom “more haste, less speed” might have been devised specifically for Thoroughbreds–one legacy, perhaps, of an upbringing among those big, raw horses back in Ireland.

“The thing I couldn't handle about National Hunt horses is that you don't break them until they're three,” he says. “But by then they're so big they want to kill you!”

As it is, O'Meara divides his time between pre-training in the mornings–partly because he still loves the training side, and partly to keep costs under control–and then managing the mares and foals. There are five yearlings to sell this year, leaving another five whose commercial imperfections shouldn't stop them being trained. But the same approach governs both types of prep, whether for the sales or the racetrack.

“Just don't rush them,” O'Meara says. “It's hard to turn out a horse that's fit. But if you don't wait, they'll make you wait. So you just try to breed them to sound horses, take care of them growing up, and then it's just lots of long, slow work.”

And if it's unusual for the dividends to be quite so vividly compressed, O'Meara's recent streak of success will be warmly appreciated by many peers who also persevere in old school tenets of perspiration and patience. Because if you can't afford to travel the wide, smooth highway along the valley floor, every now and then sheer tenacity over the steep, crumbling mountain track will take you to the same destination.

“It's been a great experience the whole way,” O'Meara says, uncomplainingly. “And when this kind of thing happens it's fun to be able to get up in the morning and look at a horse like Curls in Place. Somebody up there seems to be looking down on me, at the moment anyway. Long may it last!”

 

The post Keeneland Breeder Spotlight: Invasion a Big Tribute to O’Meara appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Change Of Control Rides Rail To Victory In Autumn Day At Aqueduct

Perry Harrison's Change of Control overtook pacesetter Athwaaq when straightened for home and repelled 6-5 favorite Too Sexy's deep-stretch bid to post a victory by three-quarters of a length in Sunday's $150,000 Autumn Days for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up going six furlongs on the outer turf at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.

Change of Control, who already registered a pair of graded stakes wins in her 5-year-old campaign, including a last-out score in the Grade 3 Franklin County in October at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., made a successful debut at the Big A, tallying her fourth stakes win of 2021 for trainer Michelle Lovell.

The fifth running of the Autumn Days saw Athwaaq break on top from post 6, leading the eight-horse field through an opening quarter-mile in :23.26 and the half in :46.28 over firm going. Jockey Colby Hernandez tucked Change of Control in third position near the rail, with the pocket position enabling her to move up to second out of the turn.

Once straightened for home, Change of Control capitalized with the open seam from the inside, overtaking a tiring Athwaaq. Hernandez kept his charge to task as Too Sexy rallied to pass three rivals, gaining in the shadow of the wire before Change of Control completed the course in a 1:09.14 final time to improve to 4-2-3 in 10 starts this year.

Hernandez's rail-riding trip earned Change of Control, off at 7-2, a winner's circle trip, returning $9.90 on a $2 win bet. She improved her career earnings to $739,257.

“She gave us a good break and I was right there,” Hernandez said. “I tried to pop out and run second but they weren't letting me out. I saw the horse on the front looked like she was going to come out at the top of the stretch and we stayed there and it ended up working out perfect.

“Every single time she runs, it's like she gets better,” he added. “She's just a cool horse, does nothing wrong, and anything you ask her, she does. She's a very cool horse to ride.”

Change of Control, bred in Kentucky by John O' Meara, is 2-for-2 at NYRA-operated tracks this year after winning the G3 Intercontinental in June at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

“Colby rode her perfect. He never panicked,” Lovell said. “He stayed right there on the inside and she just looked awesome. She did well in New York when we sent her up to Belmont in the summer, so I just thought this race was a really good spot. The owner gave us a lot of time finding the best races for her. She's really thriving and coming into her own.”
Lovell said Change of Control will now winter in Louisiana in preparing for her 6-year-old year in 2022 before embarking on the next phase of her career.

“She'll go to Fair Grounds for the winter. We'll try to map out her races really well over the winter, spring, and summertime, and then she'll go to the breeding shed,” Lovell said. “I'm not really sure what our plan is from here, but she'll come back to Churchill and come to Fair Grounds with the rest of my barn.”

Too Sexy, trained by Christophe Clement, topped the slow-starting Love And Thunder by one length for second. Jockey Jose Lezcano, who was aboard for Too Sexy's last-out win in the Floral Park in October at Belmont, said the outcome might have been different with a slightly more advantageous trip.

“She broke well and I had to wait a little bit until the eighth pole,” Lezcano said. “She gave a very good race and ran strong. She did everything right, the winner is just a very good horse. I think she also got a better trip than I got. I had to go between horses and she got through on the inside.”

Miss Majorette, Piedi Bianchi, Athwaaq, Raven's Cry, and Secure Connection completed the order of finish.

[Story Continues Below]

Live racing resumes Thursday at the Big A with a nine-race card. First post is 12:20 p.m. Eastern.

America's Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the fall meet at Aqueduct Racetrack on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Aqueduct Racetrack, and the best way to bet every race of the fall meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.

The post Change Of Control Rides Rail To Victory In Autumn Day At Aqueduct appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights