cherie devaux | Horse Racing Free Tips

No ‘Maybe’ About It: Upstart Filly Crushes Saratoga Foes for ‘Rising Star’ Nod

Lael Stables' THE GREAT MAYBE (Upstart), let go at 8-1 in a live-looking field of juvenile fillies Sunday at Saratoga, made that price look like a gift when winning a far-turn pace duel and bursting clear in the stretch for a first-out romp and 'TDN Rising Star' honors.

Bought by De Meric Sales for $55,000 at Fasig-Tipton October, the dark bay blossomed into a $425,000 OBS March 2-year-old after breezing a furlong in :10 flat–her sire's most expensive progeny to sell thus far in 2022–and showed an above-average but not spectacular worktab on paper, capped by a half-mile gate breeze here in :48 3/5 (6/67) Aug. 21. Made the fourth choice in a field where only one of the 10 fillies had experience, The Great Maybe was away well enough from her rail draw and settled in third early as I'm a County Girl (More Than Ready) was quickest past a salty :22.13 quarter. Sneaking through inside and soon going by that rival midway around the turn, the Cherie DeVaux trainee left the half behind in :45.28 and showed no signs of stopping down the lane, pouring it on en route to a eight-length romp in 1:10.24. Love to Shop (Violence), the 9-5 favorite, edged out longshot Quiescent (Nyquist) for second.

The winner is the second foal to race out of her dam, a half-sister to three black-type performers who has a yearling Midshipman colt and produced a colt by Promises Fulfilled this season before returning to Upstart for 2023.

6th-Saratoga, $105,000, Msw, 8-28, 2yo, f, 6f, 1:10.24, ft,
8 lengths.
THE GREAT MAYBE f, 2, Upstart
1st Dam: Pure Legacy, by Simon Pure
2nd Dam: Legacy's Silver, by Robyn Dancer
3rd Dam: Caught Ree, by Eastern Echo
Sales History: $55,000 Ylg '21 FTKOCT; $425,000 2yo '22 OBSMAR. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $57,750. O-Lael Stables; B-Monica Egger (KY); T-Cherie DeVaux. Click for the Equibase.com chart, free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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First Samurai’s Tarabi Too Strong In Wilton S.

LBD Stable, Manganaro Bloodstock and David Ingordo's Tarabi (First Samurai) rallied down the center of Saratoga main track and finished strongly to take out Thursday's Wilton S., the first race contested out of the reconstructed Wilson Chute at Saratoga.

Off as the 6-5 chalk, the $240,000 Keeneland September graduate was content to lay second through the early exchanges as Angitude (Violence), a bit reticent to load, showed the way in her first attempt at a distance of ground. Tarabi began to zero in on the front-runner as the field approached the stretch, grabbed that one with about a furlong to travel and prevailed by three-quarters of a length. Goddess of Fire (Mineshaft) finished with interest at the rail to complete a chalky exacta ahead of Angitude in third.

A full-sister to Shivaji, a Group 3-winning and Group 1-placed turf sprinter and $2.1-million earner on the ultra-competitive Japan Racing Association circuit, Tarabi earned a lofty 79 Beyer in decimating a group of Ellis Park maidens at first asking last August, then ran into 'TDN Rising Star' and eventual champion Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) in her next two, finishing runner-up in this track's GI Spinaway S. and again in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. The chestnut tuned up for this return to stakes company with a sound runner-up effort in a seven-furlong allowance over the Churchill main track June 18.

A 35th black-type winner for Claiborne's underrated First Samurai, Tarabi is out of an unraced daughter of Grade II winner Buy the Barrel, also the dam of MSP Stave (Ghostzapper) and English MGSP Mise En Rose (War Front). The winner's 2-year-old half-brother Gunner Bay (Gun Runner) was purchased by Robert and Lawana Low for $250,000 out of last year's Keeneland September Sale, and Indian Bay is also responsible for a yearling Kantharos filly. The mare was most recently covered by Authentic.

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Reagan Makes the Right Decision

Two years ago, 8-year-old Reagan Ingordo purchased a weanling daughter of Unified for $25,000 at the Keeneland November sale. The filly rewarded her young buyer when winning her career debut at Fair Grounds Sunday, but Reagan wasn't the only winner when Reagan's Decision (Unified) crossed the wire first in New Orleans. Before the race, trainer (and stepmom) Cherie DeVaux tweeted out that any purse earnings from the race would be donated to relief efforts following the devastating tornadoes in Western Kentucky.

Visiting Reagan's Decision on the Fair Grounds backstretch Monday morning, Reagan explained why she was donating to the recovery efforts.

“We wanted to give back to the people who lost their homes,” she explained. “It's good to help community. We might all need help some day.”

Reagan is the daughter of David Ingordo and, when asked what she liked about Reagan's Decision as a weanling, she sounded much like her bloodstock agent dad.

“She was very balanced and very athletic,” Reagan explained. Before the sparkling 10-year-old came out and she added with a laugh, “And she was cute.”

Asked what advice her father gave her when shopping at the sales, Reagan said, “He taught me to make sure they have good feet and good parents.”

Reagan's Decision was a lightly regarded 18-1 longshot when she went to the post at Fair Grounds Sunday, but her owner had plenty of confidence in the juvenile filly.

“She was training really well into the race, so I thought she would win,” Reagan said. “And also because she's fast.”

Reagan's Decision proved to be not only fast, but also scrappy as she struggled to find racing room down the stretch before tipping out to the center of the course and closing stoutly to just get her head in front on the wire (video).

Reagan admitted to some nerves as her filly weaved through traffic, but ultimately, “I was really happy and excited,” she said.

Reagan reported Reagan's Decision looked to be in fine shape Monday morning.

“She looks good this morning,” Reagan said. “She will go in an allowance race next.”

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Monition Puts Perfect Record On Line In Friday’s Gio Ponti At Aqueduct

Hinkle Farms' homebred Monition will bring a perfect record into Friday's $150,000 Gio Ponti, a 1 1/16-mile inner turf test for sophomores, at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.

The Gio Ponti is one of three stakes on a packed Friday card, including the $200,000 Grade 3 Comely at nine furlongs for sophomore fillies and the $150,000 Forever Together in a 1 1/16-mile turf test for fillies and mares.

Trained by Cherie DeVaux, Monition hasn't put a foot wrong through two career starts under jockey Brian Hernandez. The English Channel gelding rallied to a professional three-quarters of a length debut win, advancing inside rivals on the turn and splitting the leaders in the final furlong to capture a one-mile maiden special weight over firm turf at Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky., in September.

“He broke mid-pack and had a nice turn-of-foot at the end,” DeVaux said. “He ran really well. You never know going long first time if they're going to need a race or not, so I was really pleased with him. He had always trained well, so it wasn't a huge surprise.”

Monition followed by demonstrating a new dimension, posting a gate-to-wire score when stretched out to nine furlongs over good going against older allowance company on October 9 at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky.

DeVaux credited Hernandez for the prominent trip.

“Brian made the decision. He saw there wasn't a lot of speed on paper and knew the horse could break sharp,” DeVaux said. “When he made the lead, he made the right decision and let the horse stay comfortable there. It was quite impressive.”

Monition has breezed back five times at Keeneland, including a half-mile in :48.60 on November 16. He will make his Big A debut under jockey Luis Saez from the outermost post 8.

DeVaux said Saez will have plenty of options with the versatile Monition.

“It's going to be up to Luis to play the break and see. If no one is going to go, it's definitely in his wheelhouse to do so,” DeVaux said.

WellSpring Stables' Queen's Plate-winner Safe Conduct, who competed in two-thirds of the Canadian Triple Crown, will make his racing return to New York for trainer Phil Serpe.

The Bodemeister colt enters from starts in the first and third legs of the prestigious Canadian series at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario, having won the 162nd running of the $1 million Queen's Plate at 10 furlongs on Tapeta in August ahead of an eighth-place effort in the 12-furlong Breeders' Stakes over yielding turf in October.

Safe Conduct, who sports a ledger of 8-3-1-0 with field-high purse earnings of $606,364, won a 1 1/16-mile optional-claimer over firm Belmont turf in May by 2 1/2-lengths in besting Public Sector, who has since developed into a multiple graded stakes winner.

Safe Conduct exited that effort to finish fourth in the off-the-turf G3 Pennine Ridge in May and faded to eighth in the G1 Belmont Derby Invitational in July over good going ahead of his Queen's Plate run.

The talented bay, bred in Ontario by Mitchell Kursner, breezed five-eighths in 1:02.25 November 7 over the Belmont inner turf and followed with an easy five-eighths over Big Sandy in 1:03.86 on November 18.

Jose Lezcano, aboard for the win at Belmont in May, has the call from post 7.

Repole Stable's multiple graded-stakes placed Never Surprised, by Constitution, boasts an all-turf record of 5-2-3-0 for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher.

The Kentucky-bred bay made his first two career starts last November at the Big A, winning a six-furlong maiden special weight ahead of a gate-to-wire score in the 1 1/16-mile Central Park.

Never Surprised has made his three sophomore starts in graded company, finishing second in each of the one-mile G3 Kitten's Joy in January at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., the 1 1/16-mile G3 Saranac in September at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and the nine-furlong G2 Hill Prince in October at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y. The latter two efforts were both won by Public Sector.

He worked a half-mile in :50.35 on November 19 over the Belmont dirt training track.

“He's training forwardly like he always does. He's a very eager horse in the mornings and he's a little bit that way in his races,” Pletcher said. “Hopefully, he can repeat his form here – he's 2-for-2 at Aqueduct and seems to like the course. Kendrick [Carmouche] has certainly had some success with him.”

Kendrick Carmouche, aboard for both wins and the last-out Hill Prince, retains the mount from post 6.

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Thomas Albrecht, Vincent Fusaro, and James Klein's New York-bred Ocala Dream arrives from a close fifth, defeated just two lengths, in the seven-furlong Carle Place contested over firm footing on October 22 at Belmont.

Trained by Tom Morley, the Effinex chestnut captured the New York Stallion Stakes Series Spectacular Bid for eligible state-sired 3-year-olds going seven furlongs over the Widener turf at Belmont in June.

He exited that effort to finish off-the-board in the NYSSS Cab Calloway in July at Saratoga but made amends with a rallying nose score in an open 1 1/16-mile optional-claiming test ahead of the Carle Place.

Dylan Davis, who has piloted the colt in his last two starts, retains the mount from post 5.

Rounding out the field are Kygo [post 1, Manny Franco], a formerly French-based son of Adlerflug making his North American debut for trainer Mike Maker; the graded-stakes placed Original [post 3, Javier Castellano], who captured the one-mile Manila in July at Belmont for trainer John Terranova; and the Irish-bred Gussy Mac [post 2, Jorge Vargas, Jr.], who removes blinkers in search of his first win in North America for trainer Niall Saville. Boldish was entered for the main track only.

The Gio Ponti is slated as Race 8 on Friday's 10-race card. First post is 11:50 a.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.

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