Tag: Churchill Downs

West Coast’s West Sunset Skips Home in Rags to Riches

West Sunset (f, 2, West Coast–Vindicated Ghost, by Vindication) didn't let the Kentucky rain slow her down en route to a stylish coast-to-coast victory in a sloppy rendition of the Rags to Riches S. beneath the Twin Spires.

Coming into the race with a neck victory over a fast main track at this venue Sept. 16 after being forced to close from the back of the field, she took a diametrically opposed trip here, immediately establishing a clear lead right from the jump. Well in hand on a loose lead through both turns, she readily responded in the lane to register a 6 3/4-length victory over Gin Gin (Hightail), who got the best of heavy 1-9 favorite 'TDN Rising Star' V V's Dream (Mitole) for second.

 

A half to Bourbon Resolution, West Sunset has a 2023 half-sister by Maximum Security in the wings and is only one of four foals to the races for the mare. Vindicated Ghost is herself a half-sister to an accomplished fleet of runners including GSW Chelokee (Cherokee Run); MGSW & MGISP Salute the Sarge (Forest Wildcat); SW & GSP Mymich (A. P. Indy). This is the extended family of 14-time winner GISW Dismasted. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

RAGS TO RICHES S., $200,000, Churchill Downs, 10-29, 2yo, f, 1 1/16m, 1:46.31, sy.
1–WEST SUNSET, 122, f, 2, by West Coast
         1st Dam: Vindicated Ghost, by Vindication
         2nd Dam: Dixie Ghost, by Silver Ghost
         3rd Dam: Mississippi Dixie, by Dixieland Band
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. O/B-Gary & Mary West Stables Inc. (KY); T-Brad H. Cox; J-Flavien Prat. $124,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $193,000. *1/2 to Bourbon Resolution (New Year's Day), GSW, $325,421.
2–Gin Gin, 122, f, 2, Hightail–Before You Know It, by Hard Spun. 1ST BLACK TYPE. O-Calumet Farm; B-Calumet Farm (KY); T-Brad H. Cox. $40,000.
3–V V's Dream, 122, f, 2, Mitole–Quay, by Tapit. ($130,000 Wlg '21 KEENOV; $190,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). 'TDN Rising Star'.
O-MJM Racing and Magdalena Racing (Sherri McPeek); B-Mark Stansell (KY); T-Kenneth G. McPeek. $20,000.
Margins: 6 3/4, 2 3/4, 6. Odds: 7.86, 9.07, 0.19.
Also Ran: Candy Landy, Floored. Scratched: Shimmering Allure, Twirling Good Time.

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Sunday Insights: $1.2m OBS March Grad By Justify Unveiled At Churchill

5th-CD, $120K, Msw, 2yo, 1m, 3:01 p.m. ET.
After clocking :10 flat during the OBS March under-tack show, TENNESSEE (Justify) brought $1.2 million as the second topper when the dark bay colt was purchased by Maverick Racing and Siena Farms. Unveiled here, the Brad Cox trainee races for Siena and WinStar Farm, and was purchased by Hartley/De Renzo Thoroughbreds for $250,000 at Keeneland September.

Out of GSP Zinzay (Smart Strike), who went for $525,000 to Summer Wind Equine back in 2016 during Keeneland November when she carrying eventual SW & GISP Moon Over Miami (Malibu Moon), hails from an extended female family which includes GSW She Can't Sing (Bernardini) and G1 Dubai World Cup hero and 'TDN Rising Star' Mystic Guide (Ghostzapper). TJCIS PPS

1st-WO, $111K, Msw, 3yo/up, 1 1/8mT, 1:15 p.m. ET.
Up in Toronto, Loose Wire (Street Sense) makes his debut as a 3-year-old against six other more experienced runners. The Sam-Son Farm Ontario-bred was purchased for $925,000 by Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable to top the 2021 Fasig-Tipton October Sale. The Kevin Attard trainee's second dam is Canadian champion 3-year-old filly Dancethruthedawn (Mr. Prospector), who is responsible for the dam of GI Whitney S. champ Moreno (Ghostzpper), and the third dam is Canadian Horse of the Year, Eclipse Award and GI Breeders' Cup Distaff heroine Dance Smartly (Danzig). TJCIS PPS

2nd-CD, $120K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 1:30 p.m. ET.
Out of Indian Miss (Indian Charlie), OXO Equine homebred Bowstreet (Into Mischief) hails from a well-regarded family which includes his half-brothers, champion male sprinter and top five first-crop sire Mitole (Eskendereya) and GISW and GI Belmont S. and G1 Dubai World Cup runner-up Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow).

Indian Miss was initially purchased at the 2018 Keeneland November sale for $240,000 by WinStar Farm while carrying Indigo Miss (Into Mischief), who was hammered down to Larry Best's operation for $525,000 at Keeneland September in 2020. Bowstreet's dam was then purchased by OXO two months later for $1.9 million at KEENOV while carrying this colt. Before entering training with Paulo Lobo, Bowstreet was bought back on a bid of $1.6 million at the Fasig-Tipton Select Yearling Sale last summer. TJCIS PPS

3rd-CD, $120K, Msw, 2yo, f, 6f, 2:00 p.m. ET.
Coastal Invasion (Omaha Beach) debuts for Hoffman Family Racing and Schwing Thoroughbreds after agent Clay Scherer signed the ticket for $700,000 back in April at OBS. Prior to that, the Brad Cox trainee went to Red Wings Enterprises for $200,000 at Keeneland September. Dam Intelyhente (Smart Strike) is a full-sister to GII Darley Alcibiades S. heroine Bel Air Beauty, who produced Canadian champion sprinter Stacked Deck (First Samurai). TJCIS PPS

4th-CD, $120K, Msw, 2yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 2:30 p.m. ET.
Perry Martin, who sadly lost his wife and Martin Racing partner Denise back in 2021, received five lifetime breeding rights when he and Steve Coburn's GI Kentucky Derby winner California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) was sold to Japan's JS Company, who manages the stallion business at Arrow Stud. Martin purchased MSW Lake Ponchatrain (Afleet Express) in a private sale in 2019 that was brokered by California-based bloodstock consultant Lisa Groothedde and sent her to California Chrome. The result is juvenile Tazawako (Jpn), her first to the races under the tutelage of trainer Mike Maker. California Chrome has been represented by nine 2-year-old winners to date from his first Japanese-foaled crop. TJCIS PPS

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Weekend Preview: Stars of Tomorrow Program Anchored By Street Sense

The fall meeting at Churchill Downs gets underway Sunday in what has become its traditional way, with juvenile races comprising the entire 11-race program. When the Triple Crown trail begins in earnest following the turn of the calendar, it will likely feature a handful of horses that raced on the day en route to bigger and better things, and the $200,000 GIII Street Sense S. has the feel of a key race going forward.

The form of the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity is very much on display, and while that event's top two finishers–'TDN Rising Star' Locked (Gun Runner) and The Wine Steward (Vino Rosso)– will be making their way to Santa Anita for next Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, the two horses that finished immediately in their wake will do their part to frank the race.

Despite graduating by a distance at odds-on and earning an 86 Beyer Speed Figure, Generous Tipper (Street Sense) was friendless in the market at better than 17-1 for the Breeders' Futurity, but turned in a bold effort to be third after trailing for the opening half-mile. When all was said and done, he was a neck better than Northern Flame (Flameaway), who won his maiden in wire-to-wire fashion at this track Sept. 15.

Locked's stable companion Moonlight (Audible) is the new shooter and potential fly in the ointment, as he stretched away to break his maiden by eight lengths in a rained-off maiden at Aqueduct Sept. 28, while Liberal Arts (Arrogate) looks to improve off his closing third in the one-mile GIII Iroquois S. Sept. 16.

That's A Wrap at Keeneland…

Saturday marks the final day of racing for the Keeneland fall meet, with a pair of graded events on tap. You'd have to travel all the way back to Blame in 2009 for the last time a 3-year-old defeated his elders in the GII Hagyard Fayette S.–his sire Arch accomplished the same feat in 1998–and such is the objective for Il Miracolo (Gun Runner) on Saturday. Seventh to Arcangelo (Arrogate) in the GI Belmont S. June 10, the chestnut has since held his own in stakes company, finishing second in the Curlin S. July 21 before winning the GIII Smarty Jones S. at Parx Aug. 22. The chestnut was hardly disgraced when last seen in the GI Pennsylvania Derby Sept. 23, as he rallied from behind midfield to round out the exacta behind the GI Breeders' Cup Classic-bound Saudi Crown (Always Dreaming) and Dreamlike (Gun Runner), pre-entered for two championship races.

Trademark (Upstart) is the very lukewarm 9-2 morning-line favorite off his head defeat in the GII Lukas Classic Sept. 30, but he'll have to work out a trip from gate 10, while Giant Game (Giant's Causeway) is a threat on his best, though there appears to be plenty of other speed signed on.

The co-featured GIII Bryan Station S. lures a field of 10, led by the exciting Talk of the Nation (Quality Road), who bounced back from a pair of runner-up efforts to win the $1-million Gun Runner S. at Kentucky Downs Sept. 2. He squares off here with Smokey Mandate (Strong Mandate), third in the Gun Runner and second to More Than Looks (More Than Ready) in the Sept. 30 Jefferson Cup S. at Churchill. The latter was entered in the Bryan Station, but breezed Friday at Keeneland and appears headed for next Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Mile.

Xigera Opts For Path of Least Resistance in NY…

For a time, Rigney Racing's Xigera (Nyquist) was under strong consideration for next weekend's GI Breeders' Cup Distaff, but connections have chosen a more conservative course and have the 6-5 morning-line choice for Satuday's GII Mother Goose S. at Aqueduct. Though the $190,000 Keeneland September yearling won her maiden on the turf and added this year's Tepin S. on the grass, she could not have been more impressive in shooting clear to take the Seneca Overnight S. by a dominating 6 1/4 lengths Sept. 23. Anything approaching that effort would be tough to topple here, but she does encounter some classy rivals in the form of GI Central Bank Ashland S. victress Defining Purpose (Cross Traffic) as well as the enigmatic Julia Shining (Curlin), winner of the GII Demoiselle S. at this venue last December.

The GII Forty Niner S., formerly the GII Kelso S., serves as a course-and-distance prep for the GII Cigar Mile H. during the Aqueduct meet and looks to be a two-horse affair between Accretive (Practical Joke), runner-up to Cody's Wish (Curlin) in the GII Vosburgh S. Oct. 1, and Everso Mischievous (Into Mischief), who looks to negotiate this class hike, having drawn away for a first black-type score in the Sept. 23 Harrods Creek S. at Churchill.

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GISW Played Hard Retired

Rigney Racing's Played Hard (Into Mischief–Well Lived, by Tiznow), winner of the GI La Troienne S. in May, has been retired from racing, trainer Phil Bauer confirmed the news first reported in Blood-Horse Thursday.

“She had a summer that just nothing bounced her way,” Bauer said. “We took her to Saratoga and missed the Shuvee with illness. We planned on bringing her back to Churchill, but in her last breeze up there, she got an injury in her right hind ankle. So we had the discussion with Mr. [Richard] Rigney that she owed us nothing. It was something she could rehab from, but she's a Grade I-winning millionare, to skip a breeding season and try to bring her back, we didn't think she owed us that much. She's going to join [Rigney's] broodmare band and hopefully produce more like her.”

A $280,000 Keeneland September purchase, Played Hard was second in the 2021 GIII Comely S. and earned her first graded victory in the 2022 GIII Locust Grove S. She was third in last year's GI Juddmonte Spinster S. and ended the campaign with a win in the GIII Falls City S.

Played Hard gave Bauer his first top-level victory when winning the La Troienne at his hometown track in May and made her final start when third in the June 10 GI Ogden Phipps S.

“It is bittersweet,” Bauer said of the 5-year-old mare's retirement. “We had such high hopes for her to finish out the year, but we went to the farm to look at her the other day. They brought her out and it just brought back a lot of emotions and happiness. Hopefully we will find another one to repeat it.”

On the board in 14 of 16 starts, Played Hard won six times and earned $1,480,140.

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