Churchill Downs | Horse Racing Free Tips

It’s Du Jour’s Day In the American Turf

Du Jour worked out a perfect trip under Flavien Prat to provide Bob Baffert with a rare graded stakes winner on the turf. A debut second on the Del Mar lawn last November behind next-out stakes winner Cathkin Peak (Ire) (Alhebayeb {Ire}), the bay was third when switched to the Santa Anita main track Jan. 3 behind subsequent GIII Robert B. Lewis S. runner-up Roman Centurian (Empire Maker). He broke through back on the lawn in Arcadia Feb. 19, and doubled up after setting pace in a Mar. 28 optional claimer.

Guided to the hedge to sit fifth as Excellent Timing (Not This Time) sped clear, Du Jour advanced along the inside after six furlongs in 1:12.60. He briefly had to wait for a seam behind Winfromwithin, but the seas parted in midstretch and Du Jour lengthened his stride from there to kick home a decisive winner.

“The key was getting him to relax down inside,” said Prat, who also piloted Blowout (GB) (Dansili {GB}) to a win in the GII Churchill Downs Distaff Turf Mile earlier in the card. “I actually sent him quite a bit out of the gate and then it's always a question of if they can come back to you after that. It felt like they were going a good clip up front and that helped him to relax too. He traveled well and when I asked him to split horses, he did it nicely.”

Du Jour is co-owned by Baffert's wife Jill and Debbie Lanni, whose family's Lanni Family Trust has raced the likes of $6.5-million MGISW Game On Dude (Awesome Again) and MGSW/MGISP Reneesgotzip (City Zip).

“These turf horses are easier to train. You don't have to train them very hard,” said Baffert, whose last graded winner on the grass came with Kingly (Tapit) in the 2019 GIII La Jolla H. “We tried to make a dirt horse out of him and he wasn't that good. Mike Smith rode him and said I think he likes the turf. I'm really excited about it. And I'm just so happy for Jill. She has to deal with me as a trainer, and all the ups and downs. For that horse to win today, and to listen to her excitement, now she has something that's hers.”

Saturday, Churchill Downs
AMERICAN TURF S. PRESENTED BY DERBY CITY GAMING-GII, $500,000, Churchill Downs, 5-1, 3yo, 1 1/16mT, 1:42.49, fm.
1–DU JOUR, 118, c, 3, by Temple City
1st Dam: Guiltless, by Bernardini
2nd Dam: Getaway Girl, by Silver Deputy
3rd Dam: Baby Zip, by Relaunch
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($19,000 Ylg
'19 KEESEP; $280,000 2yo '20 OBSAPR). O-Natalie J. Baffert &
Debbie Lanni; B-Woods Edge Farm, LLC (KY); T-Bob Baffert;
J-Flavien Prat. $282,100. Lifetime Record: 5-3-1-1, $375,220.
Werk Nick Rating: C+.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Lucky Law (Ire), 118, c, 3, No Nay Never–Musically (GB), by
Singspiel (Ire). (110,000gns Wlg '18 TATFOA; £110,000 2yo '20
GOFARQ). O-Sanford Bacon, Mrs. Paul Shanahan, Horse France
America, Patrick L. Biancone Racing LLC & DP Racing; B-The
Musically Syndicate (IRE); T-Patrick L. Biancone. $91,000.
3–Winfromwithin, 118, c, 3, Into Mischief–Rau Breck, by Mr.
Greeley. ($100,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Jim Bakke; B-Mulholland
Springs LLC (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $45,500.
Margins: 1HF, 1 1/4, HF. Odds: 5.60, 15.90, 5.00.
Also Ran: Hidden Enemy (Ire), Palazzi, Royal Prince, Chess's Dream, Annex, Scarlett Sky, Holy Vow, Next, Dyn O Mite, Barrister Tom, Excellent Timing. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

Pedigree Notes:
Du Jour becomes the 19th stakes winner (ninth graded) for sire Temple City. He is the 29th graded winner out of a Bernardini mare. The red-hot broodmare sire has been represented just this year by the likes of graded winners Colonel Liam (Liam's Map), Maxfield (Street Sense), Paris Lights (Curlin), Clairiere (Curlin), Cezanne (Curlin), Moonlight d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro) and Twenty Carat (Into Mischief).

Just a $19,000 KEESEP yearling, Du Jour breezed in :10 1/5 at the pushed-back OBS Spring sale last year as a member of the Off the Hook LLC consignment before bringing $280,000. Off the Hook sold a :9 4/5 co-bullet breezer by Temple City for $110,000 at this year's recent OBSAPR renewal.

Du Jour is the second foal out of unplaced Guiltless, who is a half to GSW Northern Causeway (Giant's Causeway). His third dam produced Ghostzapper and City Zip. Guiltless's 2-year-old filly Royal County (Klimt) was fifth and fourth in her first two tries at Keeneland for juvenile specialist John Ennis. She has a yearling filly by Twirling Candy and was bred back to Not This Time.

The post It’s Du Jour’s Day In the American Turf appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Jackie’s Warrior Outlasts Dream Shake In Pat Day Mile

The return to one-turn races wasn't a cake walk for Jackie's Warrior in the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile on Saturday at Churchill Downs, but the colt showed plenty of tenacity to survive a sustained challenge from a game Dream Shake down the stretch and pick up his first win of the year.

The 3-year-old son of Maclean's Music was put on the lead early by regular rider Joel Rosario, challenged on his immediate outside by Dream Shake, and further out by a group including Dreamer's Disease and Noble Reflection. That lead quartet bobbed for the lead as the field left the chute and entered the main course, with Jackie's Warrior soon giving himself a bit of space from the rest of the front pack.

No stranger to setting hot fractions, Jackie's Warrior blazed through an opening quarter in :21.75 seconds, with the remaining three lead contenders remaining within striking distance.

The pace remained fast through the half-mile point, with Jackie's Warrior passing the post in :43.68 seconds; the fastest opening half he's set in seven career starts. Dream Shake and Dreamer's Disease remained in hot pursuit on the outside, while Joe Fraizer advanced up the rail to pose a threat directly behind the leader.

Rosario kept his mount under a hand ride through the turn, and swung Jackie's Warrior further off the rail as he entered the home stretch. The only challengers that remained after such electric opening fractions were Dream Shake and Defunded, who was moving up on the far outside.

Dream Shake, under Flavien Prat fully engaged Jackie's Warrior at the quarter pole, completing three-quarters in 1:07.97. Though Dream Shake was unrelenting in his challenge all the way to the wire, he could never get his nose in front. Jackie's Warrior kept the challenger at bay under an aggressive – but not desperate – ride by Rosario, to prevail by a head.

Four and a half lengths behind the runner-up, Whiskey Double advanced from the back of the field to win a three-way photo over Defunded and Sittin On Go.

Jackie's Warrior stopped the clock in 1:34.39 in the one-mile race, paying $6.60 to win as the 2-1 favorite.

With the victory, Jackie's Warrior improved his career record to five wins in seven career starts for earnings of $868,964.

After starting his career with four straight wins, all at a mile or shorter including two in Grade 1 competition, Jackie's Warrior had been on a two-race losing streak, finishing fourth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and third in the G3 Southwest Stakes. The Pat Day Mile marked a successful return to his element.

Steve Asmussen trains Jackie's Warrior for owners J. Kirk and Judy Robison. He was bred in Kentucky by J & J Stables, out of the A. P. Five Hundred mare Unicorn Girl.

To view the full Equibase chart, click here.

PAT DAY MILE QUOTES

Joel Rosario (Jockey, Jackie's Warrior, winner) – “I was pretty confident that he was going to hang in down the stretch. He likes when a horse comes up to him and he really digs in. I was not worried about the fast early pace because he fights very hard down the stretch.”

Steve Asmussen (Trainer, Jackie's Warrior, winner) – “I'm proud of who Jackie's Warrior is, under these circumstances, only validates of the beliefs we had in him. It's quite obvious that he's a special horse and there are plenty of opportunities for him out there that will serve his assets best.”

Flavien Prat (Jockey, Dream Shake, runner-up) – “He showed speed out of the gate and I got terrific position. He was running well all the way around and I moved right up outside the winner. I thought I was going to catch him through the length of the stretch. I really thought I was going to get there. My horse ran too good to get beat.”

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Jackie’s Warrior All Heart In Pat Day Mile

Jackie's Warrior showed his appreciation for the cutback to one-turn with a gutsy score in the Pat Day Mile Saturday beneath the Twin Spires. Breaking sharply, the favorite took up his preferred position at the head of affairs, zipping through an opening quarter in :21.75 with a trio of rivals hot on his heels. Traveling comfortably as he registered a :43.68 half-mile, the chestnut turned for home in front out in the three path. Confronted by 'TDN Rising Star' Dream Shake in the lane, Jackie's Warrior refused to be denied and kept on finding to fend off that foe and return to the winner's circle. It was 4 1/2 lengths back to Whiskey Double in third.

“I'm proud of who Jackie's Warrior is, under these circumstances, only validates of the beliefs we had in him,” said winning conditioner Steve Asmussen. “It's quite obvious that he's a special horse and there are plenty of opportunities for him out there that will serve his assets best.”

“I was pretty confident that he was going to hang in down the stretch,” said Joel Rosario, who was also in the irons for the colt's three prior graded scores in New York. “He likes when a horse comes up to him and he really digs in. I was not worried about the fast early pace because he fights very hard down the stretch.”

A debut winner going five furlongs over this strip last June, Jackie's Warrior wired the GII Saratoga Special S. next out in August and repeated in that venue's GI Runhappy Hopeful S. a month later. Dominating the GI Champagne S. going a one-turn mile at Belmont Oct. 10, he could only manage fourth as the favorite when trying two turns for the first time in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile S. at Keeneland Nov. 6 and was third when given another try routing in Oaklawn's GIII Southwest S. Feb. 27, both of which were won by champion Essential Quality (Tapit).

Pedigree Notes:

Jackie's Warrior is one of three Grade I victors, five graded winners and 21 black-type scorers by Maclean's Music. His dam Unicorn Girl RNA'd for $110,000 at the 2018 Keeneland November Sale and came back to sell to Arthur Hoyeau for $850,000 at the 2020 renewal of that auction thanks to her son's accomplishments and the Into Mischief in her belly. She had a Candy Ride (Arg) filly in 2019 and an American Pharoah colt in 2020, who brought $600,000 from Coolmore's M. V. Magnier at KEENOV. Unicorn Girl has yet to produce that Into Mischief foal.

Saturday, Churchill Downs
PAT DAY MILE S. PRESENTED BY LG&E AND KU-GII, $500,000, Churchill Downs, 5-1, 3yo, 1m, 1:34.39, ft.
1–JACKIE'S WARRIOR, 122, c, 3, by Maclean's Music
1st Dam: Unicorn Girl, by A. P. Five Hundred
2nd Dam: Horah for Bailey, by Doneraile Court
3rd Dam: Horah for the Lady, by Rahy
($95,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-J. Kirk and Judy Robison; B-J & J
Stables (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen; J-Joel Rosario. $291,400.
Lifetime Record: MGISW, 7-5-0-1, $868,964. Werk Nick Rating: A+++
*Triple Plus* Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Dream Shake, 118, c, 3, Twirling Candy–Even Song, by Street
Cry (Ire). ($32,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP; $75,000 2yo '20 OBSAPR).
Rising Star O-Exline-Border Racing LLC, SAF Racing, Richard Hausman and
Stonestreet Stables LLC; B-Dunwoody Farm (KY); T-Peter
Eurton. $94,000.
3–Whiskey Double, 118, c, 3, Into Mischief–Lake Sebago, by
Munnings. ($875,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Winchell
Thoroughbreds LLC; B-Buck Pond Farm, Inc. & Richard M. Seale
(KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen. $47,000.
Margins: HD, 4HF, HD. Odds: 2.30, 3.80, 11.60.
Also Ran: Defunded, Sittin On Go, Dreamer's Disease, Starrininmydreams, Prevalence, Joe Frazier, Three Two Zone, Noble Reflection. Scratched: Ultimate Badger.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Gamine Makes Easy Work Of Grade 1 Derby City Distaff

Gamine continued to add to her impressive record on the Kentucky Derby undercard with an easy win in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff, holding off a late bid from Sconsin. John Velazquez took Gamine to the lead at the start of the seven furlong contest despite stumbling out of the gate. Hibiscus Punch settled to her outside for company and drew up to briefly challenge on the turn but was quickly outmatched. Sconsin had sat off the pace and made a closing bid in the stretch but was unable to catch the winner. The final time was 1:21.50 after early fractions of :23.15 and :46.08.

Sconsin was second, Estilo Talentoso third and Bell's The One was fourth after a slow start.

The win is the third Grade 1 victory for Gamine, who also has wins in the 2020 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, the G1 Test, and the G1 Acorn to her credit. In her last outing, she won the Grade 3 Las Flores by five lengths. In eight starts, her only non-win came from the Kentucky Oaks, where she crossed the wire third but was later disqualified to ninth due to an overage of betamethasone.

Bob Baffert trains Gamine for owner Michael Lund Petersen. Gamine was bred in Kentucky by Grace Thoroughbred Holdings and is the 4-year-old daughter of Into Mischief and Kafwain mare Peggy Jane. She was a $220,000 yearling at the Keenelad September sale, where she was consigned by Summerfield and purchased by Grand Oaks. Then, she sold at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale as a 2-year-old, where she was consigned by Bobby Dodd and bought by Petersen for $1.8 million.

Gamine was heavily favored at 1-5 and paid $2.40 to win.

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