Christophe Clement | Horse Racing Free Tips

Eight Juveniles Face Off in With Anticipation

A field of eight juveniles will head postward in the 1 1/16-mile GIII With Anticipation S. over the lawn at Saratoga Thursday. West Point Thoroughbreds and Steven Bouchey's Carson's Run (Cupid) is already a winner over the course and trip where he broke his maiden by a late-running neck July 29. Carson's Run has worked back three times since his victory, most recently covering five furlongs in 1:03.25 (3/4) over the Oklahoma turf training track last Thursday.

“He had a good work on the grass the other day. He's trained very forwardly and we're looking forward to running him again here at Saratoga,” said Miguel Clement, son and assistant to Christophe Clement. “[Jockey] Dylan [Davis] has been breezing him in the mornings. He's always been high on the horse from Day One. The horse has a good turn of foot, and I wouldn't swap positions with anyone else heading into this race.”

While Carson's Run enters his first start against winners as the 7-2 co-second choice on the morning line, he will be an emotional favorite for the Saratoga faithful. The colt's namesake Carson Jost, 30, suffers from a genetic condition called Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome. His father, Wade Jost, is a longtime friend of West Point Thoroughbreds' President and CEO Terry Finley and is a partner in the horse's ownership.

Christophe Clement will also saddle the With Anticipation's 3-1 morning-line favorite Spirit Prince (Cairo Prince), who adds blinkers after finishing a narrowly beaten runner-up in his July 22 unveiling over the same course and distance. The gray colt finished a half-length adrift of Noted (Cairo Prince) that day and that rival returned to win the Aug. 26 Sapling S. at Monmouth Park.

The Bill Mott-trained Gala Brand (Violence), scratched from Wednesday's one-mile off-turf P.G. Johnson S. versus her own sex, is the lone filly in the field. She was flying from far back to win her 5 1/2-furlong unveiling at Saratoga Aug. 3, kicking clear in the lane to a 2 1/4-length score that was awarded a field-best 71 Beyer Speed Figure.

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Roses for Debra a Stylish Victress of Smart N Fancy at Saratoga

Neither wind nor water could stop her, and Roses for Debra (Liam's Map) streaked home at a rain-drenched Saratoga to take the Smart N Fancy S., securing her fourth win in a row in the process.

Only once off the board in her career, the grey was last seen putting up a career-high Beyer of 99 en route to winning the GIII Caress S. over this course last month and had two victories over the lawn at Belmont and Pimlico since changing from the barn of Michelle Brafford to Christophe Clement for 2023.

Christened the heavy 1-5 favorite as the field shrank with the scratch of four rivals, she veered to her outside after the jump as her outer rival also went to the right, but was settled to comfortably follow the leading pair. Three wide under an ultra confident Irad Ortiz Jr. through the turn, Roses for Debra was called on for her kick as she shifted further out. In the five path but closing with a full head of steam, she was given a single, minor reminder and powered clear in the final furlong to win by 3 1/4 lengths.

“It was pretty nice. The tote board said it all really, everybody thought she'd run really well,” said winning co-owner John O'Meara. “It was nice having some scratches. You know it's always nicer to have a smaller field, but when they scratched out of there…I don't know whether they scratched because of the weather or because they were afraid of her. Going to have to keep going and see who will be afraid of her in the future. I bought her. A good friend of mine, Gerry Dilger, bought her as a weanling and he passed away. It was a dispersal and I bought her in the dispersal. She's been nothing but fun to have around since. Of course, when she got hurt in the 2-year-old sale that didn't help, but it is all for the better at this point.”

O'Meara added that the current plan is to go to Presque Isle for the $300,000 GII Presque Isle Downs Masters S., and from there either a trip to Keeneland or the Breeders' Cup.

A half-sister to an accomplished elder half-brother in Rose's Vision and to SP Rosie's Alibi (Justify), Roses for Debra also has a 2-year-old half-sister Modarosa (Palace Malice), a yearling American Pharoah half-sister and the 2023 half-sibling by Gun Runner was unfortunately stillborn. Essential Rose, herself out of a graded stakes-winning mare and a half-sister to a graded stakes-placed stakes producer, visited Curlin for 2024. This is the female family of MGSW Flameaway (Scat Daddy) through the European blue hen Flame of Tara (Ire). Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

SMART N FANCY S., $139,500, Saratoga, 8-25, 4yo/up, f/m, 5 1/2fT, 1:01.82, gd.
1–ROSES FOR DEBRA, 124, f, 4, Liam's Map–Essential Rose, by Bernardini. ($120,000 Ylg '20 KEEJAN; $25,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-John O'Meara and Cheyenne Stable LLC; B-Blackstone Farm LLC (PA); T-Christophe Clement; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr.. $82,500. Lifetime Record: GSW, 9-7-1-0, $406,430. *1/2 to Rose's Vision (Artie Schiller), SW-USA, MSP-Can, $264,358.
2–Bubble Rock, 124, f, 4, More Than Ready–Reef Point, by Giant's Causeway. O/B-Shortleaf Stable (KY); T-Brad H. Cox. $30,000.
3–Train to Artemus, 124, m, 5, Tapizar–Pay Day Kitten, by Kitten's Joy. O-M and W Stables; B-Kenneth L. & Sarah K. Ramsey (KY); T-Kelly J. Breen. $18,000.
Margins: 3 1/4, 1, 9 1/4. Odds: 0.35, 2.85, 6.60.
Also Ran: Talkin Tipsy. Scratched: Bluefield, Can't Buy Love, Poppy Flower, Self Isolation.

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Deterministic, by Liam’s Map, a Rising Star to Watch

The word was out on several 2-year-olds going into a salty Saratoga maiden race on Aug. 12, but in the end it was Deterministic, a son of Lane's End Farm's Liam's Map, who overcame a troubled start to get the win. Trained by Christophe Clement and owned by the partnership of Vinnie Viola's St. Elias Stables, Ken Langone, Steven Duncker and Vicarage Stable, the striking dark bay earned 'TDN Rising Star' honors in his promising debut.

The colt may have done it the hard way, breaking last in the field of eight with Joel Rosario aboard, but it was the raw talent he showed to overcome the poor start that impressed his conditioner.

“Rosario was very aggressive to get him back in the race, which he did straightaway,” recalled Clement. “He was a touch rank because obviously we asked him to get back into the race and the signal we gave him was to go on and quicken, but Joel got him to settle. Then he made a big, sweeping move and he was able to get there in the end. He was very professional and he got all of us excited.”

Deterministic was a $625,000 Keeneland September purchase for St. Elias. The operation's Executive Director of Racehorse Development Monique Delk remembers scouring the sales grounds for Book 2 yearlings and coming across the youngster, later describing him as a beautiful-bodied, well-balanced and athletic-looking yearling.

Delk said the Hinkle Farms-bred colt had a strong resemblance to his sire, who the St. Elias team picked out for $800,000 at the same auction 10 years earlier.

“I worked for Jimmy Crupi when we purchased Liam's Map for Mr. and Mrs. Viola,” Delk recalled. “He was the same–beautiful, athletic, the whole package. He was special from the get go. I always look forward to seeing all the Liam's Map babies, having that sentimental attachment to him.”

Along with Deterministic sharing a physical resemblance to his sire, Delk quickly noticed similarities in their demeanor.

“They just exude class and they have that smart look about them,” she said. “He took all of his early training with great ease. Everything just came very naturally to him.”

Deterministic made an immediate impression when he arrived at the Clement barn in Saratoga early this summer.

“He has always been a very good mover from day one,” said Clement. “He does not look like a 2-year-old. He looks like an older horse when he is running. He trains like an older horse. And then when he moves, he's just the most beautiful mover. He barely touches the ground. He's like a dancer.”

Timing and surface were two considerations Clement gave some thought to before the colt's debut.

While Deterministic's dam Giulio's Jewel (Speightstown) earned her three career wins on turf, the Clement team believed the colt's forward training and sire power would lead to a strong performance going longer on dirt. They had planned to start the colt a few weeks earlier in the meet, but pushed back his debut out of an abundance of caution when they noticed a mild cough one morning just ahead of the race. In the end, the experience Deterministic collected in the morning while awaiting his first start paid off on the afternoon of his debut.

“We worked him in behind horses and he got a bit of kickback in the morning,” Clement explained. “Because we delayed his first race by three weeks, he probably got a little more experience than the normal 2-year-old that we run.”

The Clement team is not ruling out the Sept. 4 GI Hopeful S., but they said they are leaning toward pointing the colt to the Oct. 7 GI Champagne S.

Also at the Clement barn this summer in Saratoga, the shedrow is home to two more promising Liam's Map progeny. Roses for Debra is five-for-six since breaking her maiden, most recently stepping up to graded stakes company to win the GIII Caress S. She is entered for Friday's Smart N Fancy S. Silver Skillet, who was stakes placed on dirt last year, just earned her first stakes victory last week in the Suzie O'Cain S. stretching out on turf.

Deterministic is Liam's Map's third Rising Star, along with MGSW Crazy Beautiful and GSP Beau Liam. The winner of the 2015 GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, Liam's Map is a top five leading fifth-crop sire this year.

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With Determined Run, Deterministic Tops Loaded Saratoga Maiden

It wasn't that Deterministic (Liam's Map) blew away the field in Saturday's fifth race at Saratoga, enroute to earning 'TDN Rising Star' honors. The $625,000 Keeneland September purchase won by just a half-length over 24-1 shot Hurricane Nelson (Khozan). But considering who he beat and how he did it, Deterministic very well may have a bright future.

“There's so much promise when you win a race like this,” said co-owner and NYRA Board member Steven Duncker. “This was a war out there today. Everybody liked their horses and they ran pretty fast. You want to live in the moment, but it's hard not to think of the future.”

In the eight-horse field, seven of the horses had sold at auction and the collective sales price was $2,925,000. That includes the $950,000 paid for Chaperone ($950,000) and the $525,000 paid for 6-5 favorite Eliminate (Curlin).

As the field broke from the gate in the seven-furlong test, things didn't look good for Deterministic. The Christophe Clement trainee, ridden by Joel Rosario, was seventh up the backstretch. Approaching the turn, Deterministic was in threatening position, but he was six-wide and would have to catch Hurricane Nelson, who grabbed a clear lead after putting away Informed Patriot (Hard Spun), the full-brother to GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Spun to Run (Hard Spun).

Deterministic is owned by the partnership of Vinnie Viola's St. Elias Stable, Ken Langone, Duncker and Vicarage Stable. Duncker said that Deterministic is among the first group of horses he has owned with Viola.

“We've been friends with Vinnie for a long time and we all know of his success,” Duncker said. “He was nice enough to come to us and say let's get a group together and split them up between Christophe and Todd (Pletcher). It's been a great process. With owning horses, the consumption comes before the race. We've had a lot of fun with this for six, eight months. You bond a little more when that's the case. I've got to give a lot of credit to Vinnie for being such a great partner. He's an incredible guy and his team has made this special for us.”

Owned and trained by Gustavo Delgado, the trainer of GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic), the lone homebred in the race, turned in a strong performance to finish second. Eliminate, who is owned by the partnership of Spendthrift Farm and Repole Stable, was third, beaten four lengths.

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