American Pharoah’s Waskesiu Makes The Grade In Florida Oaks

Sent off a lukewarm favorite at 5-2, Chiefswood Stable's homebred 3-year-old filly WASKESIU (f, 3, American Pharoah–Finn's Girl, by Bernardini) sat a perfect ground-saving trip just behind the speed, tipped out in the lane and finished determinedly for a maiden stakes success in Saturday's GIII Florida Oaks at Tampa Bay Downs. Winner of her turf debut at Aqeuduct Nov. 18 and a slow-starting third in the Jan. 6 Ginger Brew S., the Ontario-bred took advantage of her low draw in gate four to tuck in at the fence to take the shortest way around the Olsdmar oval as triple-digit longshot A Primera Vista (Competitive Edge) cut out the running through fractions of :23.18 and :47.92. Waskesiu traveled strongly around the turn and was right on the back of the leaders nearing the stretch, just waiting for the gaps to appear. Pointed at daylight with about a furlong and a half to run, Waskesiu knuckled down to deliver her challenge and was along in the final few strides to become a 44th worldwide stakes winner and 26th graded/group winner for American Pharoah. The final time for the mile and a sixteenth was 1:42.04. O/B-Chiefswood Stables Limited (ON); T-Bill Mott.

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Brown Trainees Headline Riskaverse At Saratoga

Trainer Chad Brown will send out three fillies against an evenly matched field built for Thursday's 12th running of the $120,000 Riskaverse, a one-mile event over the Saratoga Race Course inner turf for sophomore fillies who have not won a stakes at one mile or over. Saratoga Race Course is located in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

The Riskaverse pays homage to Fox Ridge Farm's multiple Grade 1-winning mare, trained by Patrick Kelly, who became the first horse to score back-to-back triumphs in the Grade 1 Flower Bowl [2004-05]. The talented daughter of prominent turf stallion Dynaformer retired with earnings in excess of $2 million and a significant resume which also included triumphs in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., and the Grade 2 Sands Point at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., both in 2002.

Brown captured the Riskaverse with subsequent Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf winner Dayatthespa [2012] and Catch a Bid [2019].

Peter Brant's Rastafara will look to defeat winners for the first time. After two on-the-board efforts, the daughter of Shamardal graduated at third asking against impressive next-out winner Baby Blythe on July 24 going the Riskaverse distance over Saratoga's inner turf.

“She ran really well and finally broke though and got her maiden broken last time,” Brown said. “We've always thought a lot of her. She'll have to step it up again but it seems like the right spot for her.”

Irad Ortiz, Jr. will seek a fourth Riskaverse conquest when piloting Rastafara from post 7.

Minaun and Amy C will attempt to make amends after finishing a respective fifth and sixth in the Grade 3 Lake George on July 23 at the Spa, which was won by the Brown-trained Technical Analysis.

Owned by Bradley Thoroughbreds, Iris Smith Stable, and Rigney Racing, Minaun was four lengths back in upper stretch racing three-wide, but finished 3 ½ lengths behind the winner last out. A winner of the Group 3 Marble Hill last July at The Curragh, the Irish-bred daughter of Zoffany won her first start for Brown off a nine-month respite going one mile over the Widener turf course at Belmont Park on April 30 ahead of a close second in the Wild Applause on June 26 at Belmont.

Jockey Ricardo Santana, Jr. picks up the mount from post 11.

Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables, and Robert V. LaPenta's Amy C, a British-bred daughter of Charming Thought, won her North American debut on June 25 at Belmont Park before finishing sixth as the second choice in the Grade 3 Lake George.

Jockey Manny Franco will ride from post 9.

Chiefswood Stables' Third Draft makes her stakes debut off a sharp triumph in an allowance optional claiming tilt over the inner turf for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey.

The gray or roan daughter of multiple champion-producing sire Curlin, out of Ontario-bred stakes-winning Malibu Moon mare Original Script, defeated a group of winners last out that included graded stakes placed Magisterium and Amalfi Princess. She trailed the eight-horse field down the backstretch and made a sweeping wide move in upper stretch to get her nose on the wire in the final jumps.

After finishing behind subsequent stakes winners Technical Analysis and Munnyfor Ro at maiden level, fifth time was the charm for Third Draft in a 1 1/16-mile maiden event on May 8 over the Widener turf at Belmont Park.

“She's been pretty consistent, and I've liked her races,” said McGaughey, who won the 2016 Riskaverse with On Leave. “Her last two have been really good and I'm looking forward to running her in the Riskaverse. She wants to run farther than a mile, so hopefully this can set her up for something later on.”

Jockey Jose Ortiz retains the mount from post 4.

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Hoolie Racing Stable and Madaket Stable's Hit the Woah will try to regain winning form for trainer Christophe Clement. The black type earning daughter of Vancouver was a 1 ¼-length winner of an off-the-turf maiden tilt on November 13 at Aqueduct, where she defeated next-out winners Amalfi Princess and Into Vanishing.

Although winless in two starts on grass, Hit the Woah made good showings both times when third in the Sanibel Island on March 27 at Gulfstream Park and seventh beaten 1 ¾ lengths to stablemate Bye Bye in the Grade 3 Soaring Softly on May 15 at Belmont.

She enters from an off-the-board effort in a main-track allowance at Parx in Bensalem, Penn., on June 30.

“She's in very good form and training forwardly,” Clement said. “Last time, we tried the dirt and that didn't work. At the moment this is the right spot for her.”

Jockey Joel Rosario will ride from post 8.

Trainer Brendan Walsh will send out Keeper of Time for her North American debut. The Bradley Thoroughbreds-owned daughter of Mehmas was a last out 80-1 upset winner of the Group 3 1000 Guineas Trial on April 11 at Leopardstown.

Jockey Tyler Gaffalione will ride Keeper of Time from post 2.

Completing the field are Magisterium [post 1, Dylan Davis], Stand By You [post 3, Javier Castellano], Triple Digit [post 5, Jose Lezcano], Designer Ready [post 6, Junior Alvarado] and Love and Money [post 10, Luis Saez].

The Riskaverse is carded as Race 9 on Thursday's 10-race program. First post is 1:05 p.m. Saratoga Live will present daily television coverage of the summer meet on FOX Sports. For the complete Saratoga Live broadcast schedule, and additional programming information, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule.

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Weyburn, Rocketry Breeze Ahead Of Saratoga Stakes Tries

Chiefswood Stables homebred Weyburn worked a bullet five-eighths in :59.40 in company Saturday on the Saratoga main track in preparation for next Saturday's $600,000 Grade 2 Jim Dandy, a nine-furlong test for sophomores.

“We wanted him to go good. I hope it wasn't too fast, but he seemed to handle it really well,” Jerkens said. “He went by the workmate once they passed the quarter pole and galloped out on his own. He had a target in the first part of the work, which is why he probably went so fast.”

Saturday's breeze by the Ontario-bred son of Pioneerof the Nile followed a bullet five-eighths in 1:00.60 on July 16 over the Spa main track.

“We weren't planning on doing that, but the weather was creeping up on us. We gave him a work and the track was heavy and he worked good and he was blowing pretty hard,” Jerkens said. “That work really tightened him up and the work yesterday was no problem at all.”

Centennial Farms' multiple graded stakes winner Rocketry breezed six furlongs in 1:17.70 Saturday on the Oklahoma dirt training track in preparation for the $120,000 Birdstone, a 1 3/4-mile test for older horses on August 5.

“It was a nice long work,” Jerkens said. “We're going to come back and work him in company before he runs.”

The 7-year-old Hard Spun bay was off-the-board last out in the 12-furlong Grade 1 Brooklyn, which was won by emerging marathon star Lone Rock.

Jerkens said he is hopeful that the added distance will suit Rocketry, whose last win came three starts back in the 1 5/8-mile Grade 2 Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance in November at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky.

“That one horse [Lone Rock] looks like a standout in that category. If ever he's going to beat horses like that, it's going that distance,” Jerkens said. “That's what happened in Kentucky. The pace was just too sharp for going that far and they came back to him and he went by them in the very end.”

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Weyburn To Skip Kentucky Derby, Point For Belmont Stakes

Gotham Stakes winner Weyburn will not contest the Kentucky Derby on May 1, racing manager Robert Landry told the Daily Racing Form on Monday. Instead, the 3-year-old son of Pioneerof the Nile will start in the G3 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park on May 8 as a prep for the Belmont Stakes on June 5.

“The right thing for the horse is to miss the Derby,” Landry told DRF. “I think (trainer) Jimmy (Jerkens) and I are on the same page with that. I think this horse is going to mature a lot more. The family history is they get better with age.”

Fourth last out in the G2 Wood Memorial, Weyburn is a homebred for Chiefswood Stables. He is out of the unraced A.P. Indy mare Sunday Affair, also the dam of multiple graded stakes-winning sprinter Yorkton and mulitple stakes-placed Nipigon.

Jerkens had suggested Weyburn would be a better fit for the Belmont Stakes even before the horse contested the Wood.

“We kind of have that in the back of our head that we'd more apt to aim for something like that than the Derby,” Jerkens told NYRA publicity. “He's a horse that takes some time to get used to new places. He's high maintenance in that regard. We'd like to stretch the year out a little more.”

Read more at the Daily Racing Form.

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