Tag: Churchill Downs

Rusty Arnold Plans Full Slate Of Stakes, Return to Saratoga For Barn

Reiko and Michael Baum's Illiogami, trained by Rusty Arnold, will make her stakes debut in Saturday's $250,000 Grade 2 Mother Goose Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile test for sophomore fillies at Belmont Park in Elmont, Ny.

The Tapit grey, a $400,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase, is out of the multiple Group 1-winning Falco mare Odeliz.

The sizable filly made her first two starts traveling one mile on the turf in Kentucky, finishing fifth on debut in October at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky. and second in November at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Illiogami closed out her juvenile campaign with a closing second on November 28 on the Churchill Downs main track.

Illiogami has thrived at 1 1/16-miles on the dirt to start her 3-year-old campaign, notching a maiden score at Keeneland on April 2 and a similar late-moving score at Churchill on April 30.

“She's a vastly improved 3-year-old. We're very excited about her and think she has a big future,” said Arnold. “We started her on turf and she ran well. We decided to give her a try on dirt and she breezed good on it and then ran good on it.”

Arnold said he wanted to give Illiogami some time between starts after winning races 28 days apart.

“We ran her back pretty quick and then started trying to map out where we wanted to go and there wasn't anything here for her,” said Arnold. “I think she'll like Belmont. She's a big filly and I think the turns will help her. We've aimed at this the whole time.”

Her dam, Odeliz, ran second to Just the Judge in the 2014 Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes at Woodbine and the following year captured the Group 1 Prix Jean Romanet at Deauville and the Group 1 Lydia Tesio at Rome.

Given the impressive pedigree, Arnold said he hasn't ruled out a return to turf for Illiogami.

“She may be back to the turf at some point, but right now it's hard to move her off the dirt when she's won two in a row,” said Arnold.

Julien Leparoux will retain the mount on Illiogami for the Mother Goose, which is expected to attract a classy field that includes graded-stakes winner Clairiere and the undefeated Always Carina.

Arnold said Calumet Farm homebred Cellist, a Big Blue Kitten colt, will make his next start in the $1 million Grade 1 Belmont Derby Invitational. The first leg of the Turf Triple series for sophomores is contested at 10 furlongs on the Belmont turf on July 10.

A winner at second asking traveling 1 1/16-miles on the turf at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla. in February, Cellist followed with a close second in a nine-furlong Keeneland turf allowance on April 23.

Last out, Cellist made every call a winning one in the nine-furlong Audubon over good turf on May 29 at Churchill.

“We're really high on him and we're bringing him up for the Belmont Derby,” said Arnold. “He has a lot to learn but I think the distance will help him. The purse is really good, and, hopefully, he'll handle the jump up.”

Arnold said he plans to have his usual string of 16 horses at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, Ny. this summer after missing the meet last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Last year was the first year I hadn't been at Saratoga since '85,” said Arnold. “We love Saratoga and we've been there for a long time. You like it on the years when you have good horses better than when you don't and we're excited to get back.”

Among the good horses to be part of Arnold's Saratoga contingent is A. Dunne, P. Harlow, B. Miley, and J. Wilkinson's Artos, who finished fourth in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes on June 16 at Ascot.

“She ran very well. We wish we'd been third but she had a tough go on her side of the course. She ran very credible,” said Arnold.

The Irish-bred Kodiac filly graduated at second asking in a 5 1/2-furlong Churchill turf sprint by a nose over Overbore, who exited that effort to win the Tremont on the Belmont main track.

Arnold said Artos will target the $120,000 Bolton Landing Stakes, a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint for juvenile fillies on August 18 at Saratoga.

“We'll play it by how she comes back, but that's two months off and will give her a lot of time to recover,” said Arnold. “She gets back to Kentucky on Friday and we'll ship to Saratoga soon after that.”

G. Watts Humprey's stakes-placed Navratilova will make her next start in the one-mile Tepin Stakes for sophomore fillies on the Churchill turf on June 26 before making her way to Saratoga.

The well-bred Medaglia d'Oro bay is out of the multiple graded stakes-winning Smart Strike mare Centre Court, who won the 2013 Grade 1 Jenny Wiley Stakes at Keeneland.

Arnold said the filly's moniker is a nod to the strong family line, including the second dam, Let, who was second in the 1998 Ashland Stakes at Keeneland and won the 1999 Grade 2 Churchill Downs Distaff for the veteran conditioner.

“We had bought the mare, Let, who placed in a Grade 1 for us and one of her foals was Centre Court, who was a Grade 1 winner, and this [Navratilova] is her foal. The theme comes from the female line,” said Arnold. “Navratilova will run in the Tepin on the last day at Churchill and hopefully move on to the end of the stakes schedule at Saratoga.”

Notable turf route options for sophomore fillies at Saratoga include the $700,000 Grade 3 Saratoga Oaks Invitational, second leg of the Turf Triple series for females, at 1 3/16-miles on August 8 and the $200,000 Grade 2 Lake Placid Stakes at 1 1/16-miles on August 21.

Amy Dunne, Brenda Miley, Westrock Stables, and Jean Wilkinson's multiple graded stakes winner Leinster is enjoying a freshening at Wavertree in Ocala, Florida. The 6-year-old Majestic Warrior bay captured the Grade 3 Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint on February 13 in his most recent effort.

“He won well at Gulfstream but came out of it with some issues,” said Arnold. “All the turf races for him are in the fall so we sent him to the farm down at Wavertree and we expect him back for the Saratoga meet. I'm not sure if he'll run there or not, but we'll have him back in training for the fall.”

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Letruska Adds Intrigue To Loaded Fleur de Lis Field

Closing day for the spring meet at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. was already a blockbuster one loaded with seven stakes races on the 11-race card, including two Win-And-You're-In events for this year's Breeders' Cup at Del Mar. Sunday's news from the Daily Racing Form's Marty McGee that trainer Fausto Gutierrez had declared Letruska, the current leader of the filly and mare division, for the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis Stakes bumped the anticipation for that 1 1/8-mile event even higher.

The Fleur de Lis already had Spice Is Nice, Point of Honor, and Shawnee Stakes winner Envoutante, set to start along with Singita Dreams and Grade 2 Ruffian Stakes winner Vault, but the addition of Grade 1-winning Letruska makes this stake a must-watch on Saturday. To the victor goes the winner's share of the $300,000 purse and a free and guaranteed spot in the 1 1/8-mile Breeders' Cup Distaff at Del Mar racetrack in Del Mar, Calif. on Nov. 6.

Of her four races this season, Letruska has won three, all stakes, including the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Stakes at Oaklawn Park in Hot Spring, Ark. in April and the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, Ny. on the Belmont Stakes undercard on June 5. In the G1 Apple Blossom, Letruska took an early lead over 2020's champion mare Monomoy Girl, dueling with the multiple-Grade 1 winner down the Oaklawn stretch to win by a nose. In the G1 Ogden Phipps, Letruska faced 2020 Kentucky Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil and stakes winner Bonny South, again taking the lead from the break and winning easily by 2 3/4 lengths.

After her Ogden Phipps victory, Gutierrez declared the Breeders' Cup Distaff his mare's year-end target, and a win in the Fleur de Lis along with that guaranteed spot in the Distaff starting gate would put Letruska well on her way to that goal.

Letruska was bred in Kentucky by breeder/owner St. George Stable. She is by 2010 Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver out of the Successful Appeal mare Magic Appeal. Letruska started her career in Mexico, winning her first six starts there before coming to the United States in late 2019. She has won 14 of her 19 lifetime starts with career winnings of $1,121,400.

The post Letruska Adds Intrigue To Loaded Fleur de Lis Field appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Another Churchill Debut Winner for Classic Empire

3rd-Churchill Downs, $101,886, Msw, 6-20, 2yo, 5f, :58.17, ft, 1 length.
OTTOMAN EMPIRE (c, 2, Classic Empire–Seven Stars, by Indygo Shiner) belied 13-1 odds to become the third winner–all under the Twin Spires–for champion juvenile and freshman sire Classic Empire (Pioneerof the Nile), who himself was a first-up graduate here in 2016. Away in midpack between rivals, the bay started to get going heading for home but still had his work cut out for him as James Graham tried to guide him out in the clear. Ottoman Empire leveled off in midstretch, struck the front late and was followed home by Texas Red Hot (Texas Red) en route to a one-length decision. The winner has a yearling half-sister by West Coast. He hails from the extended female family of MGISW Spain. Sales history: $120,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $57,488. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG. 
O-Greg Tramontin; B-Pedro Gonzalez & Lenny Cohen (KY); T-Thomas M. Amoss.

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For Owner Brook Smith, There’s a Method to His Madness

As the field loaded for Saturday's fourth race at Churchill Downs, Brook Smith could feel the butterflies churning in his stomach. He had just made one of the biggest bets of the meet, a $300,000 flyer. He hadn't bet to win, place or show but that three costly but unproven 2-year-olds were headed to bigger and better things. In less than a minute, he might be proven right but he also could have been proven very wrong.

“This wasn't some rich dude or someone who has some money in his pocket that was just shooting from the hip,” Smith said. “That's not at all what was going on here.”

What was? It turns out that it was a case of an owner who was not afraid to do something different and didn't care if some concluded he was naive, foolish or some combination of the two. Looking to build up his new stable, RSLP (Stands for Rocket Ship Launch Pad) Racing, Smith claimed three horses out of the pricey maiden claimer, paying $100,000 for each one. He claimed the winner, Just Call Ray (Mohaymen), the fifth-place finisher Versatile (Violence) and Braggadocio (Fr) (Caravaggio), who was 10th and last.

“I can't lie and say my adrenaline wasn't pumping,” he said. “If not, you're not alive. I thought, OK, I have signed on to this. What will be will be. At least for now, with the way the race turned out, it looks like we hit it somewhere in the middle.”

With Bill Denzik as his trainer, Smith has operated a small stable for two decades, but only recently decided to get more involved in ownership. He said RSLP will eventually become a partnership, but, for now, he is looking to build up his numbers and lay a foundation for the future. He hired Denzik to be his racing manager and brought in Jeff Hiles to train for him.

He also runs a handful of horses under his own name and won Saturday's second race at Churchill, an allowance race worth $102,000, with Lovemesomeme (Paynter), a 3-year-old plucked out of the 2019 Keeneland September sale for $8,200.

Smith said he will return to the sales later this year, but did not get everything in place for the RSLP stable in time to shop at recent 2-year-old sales. That's why he went shopping in the $100,000 maiden claiming race.

Entering Saturday, RSLP had already claimed four older horses at Churchill for a combined $180,000, but Smith was just getting started. He wanted some younger horses to complement his growing stable, so he focused in on the $100,000 maiden claimer, which was run at five furlongs.

“He wanted to get in and play ball and young horses are where it is at,” Hiles said. “We thought, let's take a shot with these 2-year-olds. You never know what you are getting.”

There was a case for claiming Just Call Ray. He had been a competitive fifth in a maiden special weight race in his debut and was dropping in class. Versatile and Braggadocio, both first-time starters, seemed a bit like a reach. Versatile is a homebred who was owned by Whitham Thoroughbreds LLC and trained by Ian Wilkes and was dismissed at 25-1. Braggodocio was bet down to 9-2 and, like Just Call Ray, was trained by Norm Casse,

“The thought with these horses that we claimed, and especially with the 2-year-olds was, why not?” Smith said. “We didn't claim three out of a $100,000 race because we thought it would be fun and cute or some kind of stunt. We were serious about this. I have worked very hard for the dollars in my pocket.”

Smith said he considered claiming several horses in the race, but went for ones that came from connections that he respected, people who were used to dealing with good horses.

“If we end up with a zero out of it, that's the risk you take,” Smith said. “Or you could get a stakes horse. If you look at that race, you had some well-bred horses from professional connections. We claimed them off people who take the business seriously and would have their horses prepared. Anything could happen, but these are ready made 2-year-olds.”

Though the results of the race were something of a mixed bag for Smith, he said was very happy with the way things turned out. He predicted that the last-place finisher, Braggadocio, will turn out to be the best of the three.

“I'm not so sure that I don't like the one who finished last the best,” he said. “What can you tell from one race? He came from a wide post and never really had a chance to get into it. He's a big strong horse and with his breeding he looks like he will be a route horse on the grass. Are you always going to pick the right ones? No. Did we pick the right ones? Time will tell.”

Smith said he will look to claim a few more horses this summer and that he will also be active at the yearling sales. If someone cards another $100,000 maiden claimer, he won't be afraid to take another shot.

“I understand that what he did was different, but there are a thousands ways to approach this industry,” Hiles said. “The best is yet to come.”

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