Churchill Downs | Horse Racing Free Tips

Digital Age Gives Chad Brown Back-To-Back Turf Classic Triumphs

Rallying from far back under Javier Castellano, Klaravich Stable's Irish-bred Digital Age ran down pace-setting Factor This to win the Grade 1, $1-million Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic by three-quarters of a length on Saturday at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., giving trainer Chad Brown back-to-back victories in the Kentucky Derby day grass fixture for older runners.

Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar won the 2019 renewal.

Factor This, trained by red-hot Brad Cox, held second after controlling the pace through fractions of :23.24, :47.17 and 1:11.16. Brown's two other runners in the race, Irish-bred Rockemperor and French-bred betting favorite Sacred Life, finished third and fourth, respectively.

Digital Age covered the nine furlongs on firm turf in 1:47.79 and paid $19.20.

Castellano took ahold of Digital Age shortly after the start, allowing the 4-year-old colt by Invincible Spirit to race near the back of the pack while saving ground. Factor This was engaged by True Valour and Spectacular Gem in the run down the backstretch, but shook free from those two under Shaun Bridgmohan and set sail for home.

Castellano gained ground moving into the final turn, swung Digital Age toward the outside turning into the stretch and ran down Factor This in the final sixteenth.

The win was the fifth in 11 career starts for Digital Age but first in a G1 stakes. His only previous graded stakes win came over the same grass course in the G2 American Turf on the 2019 Kentucky Derby day program.

Out of the Lemon Drop Kid mare, Willow View, Digital Age was bred in Ireland by Merry Fox Stud Limited.

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Digital Age Causes Upset in Turf Classic

The least-fancied of three Chad Brown entries for Saturday’s GI Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic S. at 8-1, DIGITAL AGE (IRE) (c, 4, Invincible Spirit {Ire}–Willow View, by Lemon Drop Kid) settled last but one, was produced wide into the lane by Javier Castellano and rocketed home to best pacesetting Factor This (The Factor) by a little more than a length. Favored Sacred Life (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) rounded out a Brown-trained 1-3, while Rockemperor (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) finished fourth. Dropped out to near the tail as Factor This went along at a good clip, Digital Age was patiently handled by Castellano until he got after him in earnest about three furlongs out. Taken out wide off the home corner, he got through a relatively narrow opening between Somelikeithotbrown (Big Brown) to his inner and Sacred Life on the outer and kicked home to score nicely. A 325,000gns purchase out of the 2017 Tattersalls October Sale, Digital Age becomes the 20th top-level winner for Invincible Spirit and second in this country, joining 2009 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile upsetter Vale of York (Ire). O-Klaravich Stable; B-Merry Fox Stud Limited; T-Chad C Brown.

Saturday, Churchill Downs
OLD FORESTER BOURBON TURF CLASSIC S.-GI, $1,000,000, Churchill Downs, 9-5, 4yo/up, 1 1/8mT, 1:47.79, fm.
1–DIGITAL AGE (IRE), 119, c, 4, by Invincible Spirit (Ire)
                1st Dam: Willow View, by Lemon Drop Kid
                2nd Dam: Time Control (GB), by Sadler’s Wells
                3rd Dam: Time Away (Ire), by Darshaan (GB)
   1ST GRADE I WIN. (325,000gns Ylg ’17 TATOCT). O-Klaravich
Stables, Inc.; B-Merry Fox Stud Limited (IRE); T-Chad C. Brown;
J-Javier Castellano. $589,000. Lifetime Record: 11-5-2-0,
$1,234,660. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the
   eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Factor This, 124, h, 5, The Factor–Capricious Miss (GB), by
Singspiel (Ire). ($2,700 Ylg ’16 KEESEP; $11,000 2yo ’17
OBSAPR). O-Gaining Ground Racing LLC; B-Maccabee Farm
(KY); T-Brad H. Cox. $190,000.
3–Rockemperor (Ire), 119, c, 4, Holy Roman Emperor (Ire)—
Motivation (Fr), by Muhtathir (GB). (€50,000 Ylg ’17 ARAUG;
€12,000 2yo ’18 ARQMAY). O-Madaket Stables LLC, Dubb,
Michael, Wonder Stables, Kisber, Michael E. and Bethlehem
Stables LLC; B-Haras du Mezeray (IRE); T-Chad C. Brown.
$95,000.
Margins: 3/4, 2 1/4, 1 3/4. Odds: 8.60, 5.50, 4.70.
Also Ran: Sacred Life (Fr), Dontblamerocket, Spectacular Gem, True Valour (Ire), Mr Dumas, Somelikeithotbrown, Bowies Hero. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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Bell’s The One Denies Serengeti Empress in Derby City Distaff

In a race that did not deserve a loser, Lothenbach Stables’ Bell’s the One (Majesticperfection) took advantage of the ultimate race flow for her one-run style and dropped her nose down on the wire ahead of a desperately unlucky 2019 GI Kentucky Oaks winner Serengeti Empress (Alternation) to win the GI Derby City Distaff S. at Churchill Downs.

Taken back off the pace, as is her custom, Bell’s The One laid fifth as Serengeti Empress, last-out winner of the GI Ballerina S. at Saratoga, dueled on a scorching pace inside of Bellafina (Quality Road) through a sub :22-second opening quarter. The tough-as-teak Serengeti Empress swatted away her pace pressure despite cutting the half-mile in :43 3/5 and she turned for home in front. Corey Lanerie began to get after Bell’s The One at the quarter pole and she came with her patented late run, looking as if she might blow right by the front-runner.

Serengeti Empress dug in with dogged determination, but ultimately just failed to hold the late lunge of Bell’s The One.

It was a first career Grade I winner for lifelong horseman Neil Pessin.

“That was an unbelievable horse race,” Pessin said. “Tom Amoss and I actually joked before the photo came out that we would take a dead heat. This filly had a great trip once again with Corey [Lanerie]. He fits this filly so well. She sat behind that really fast pace and was so impressive. I’m so proud of her and so thankful for the owners.”

He continued, “I was happy whether we’d won or lost. Maybe now she’ll get a little respect, because she’s never gotten it any time she’s run. She tries hard every time. The only times she’s ever gotten beat, it was my fault. Not hers.”

As for the GI Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at Keeneland, Pessin said, “I think you have to. I think that’s your only choice. That will be her next race. We gave her two months between her last race and this one and it’s another two months to the Breeders’ Cup. She does well with the spacing. It sets up good for her and she’s won before at seven-eighths at Keeneland in the GII Raven Run.”

Bell’s the One, perfect through her first four career starts, earned her first graded score in the GII Lexus Raven Run S. at Keeneland last fall. The 2020 GIII Winning Colors S. upsetter was up against it closing into a soft pace to finish a solid third in the GI Madison S. at Keeneland last time July 11.

Pedigree Notes:

Former Airdrie Stud stallion Majesticperfection is the sire of Bell’s the One and 19 other black-type winners, including seven graded winners. Bell’s the One is not the first of Majesticperfection’s runners to show an affinity for Churchill Downs as Lovely Maria captured the GI Kentucky Oaks in 2015. The Harlan’s Holiday sire stood in Kentucky through 2018 before moving to Haras Rapetti in Uruguay. Broodmare sire Street Cry (Ire) has 77 stakes winners out of his daughters, including 2019 champion older male Vino Rosso (Curlin). His winning daughter Street Mate produced Bell’s the One; Running Mate (Creative Cause), SP; and unraced 2-year-old Summer Mate (Summer Front), who brought $105,000 at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling sale. A half-sister to GSW Tap Day (Pleasant Tap) and a granddaughter of MGSW Possible Mate (King’s Bishop), Street Mate has a yearling filly by Cairo Prince.

Saturday, Churchill Downs
DERBY CITY DISTAFF S. PRESENTED BY DERBY CITY GAMING-GI, $500,000, Churchill Downs, 9-5, 4yo/up, f/m, 7f, 1:21.07, ft.
1–BELL’S THE ONE, 120, f, 4, by Majesticperfection
1st Dam: Street Mate, by Street Cry (Ire)
2nd Dam: Day Mate, by Dayjur
3rd Dam: Possible Mate, by King’s Bishop

   1ST GRADE I WIN. ($155,000 Ylg ’17 FTKJUL). O-Lothenbach
Stables, Inc. (Bob Lothenbach); B-Bret Jones (KY); T-Neil L.
Pessin; J-Corey J. Lanerie. $303,800. Lifetime Record: 14-7-2-1,
$790,040. Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the
   eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Serengeti Empress, 123, f, 4, by Alternation
                1st Dam: Havisham, by Bernardini
                2nd Dam: Love Dancing (Arg), by Salt Lake
                3rd Dam: Le Midi (Arg), by Fitzcarraldo (Arg)
($25,000 Wlg ’16 KEENOV; $70,000 Ylg ’17 KEESEP). O-Joel
Politi; B-Tri Eques Bloodstock, LLC (KY); T-Thomas M. Amoss.
$98,000.
3–Sally’s Curlin, 120, f, 4, by Curlin
                1st Dam: Cabo Queen, by More Than Ready
                2nd Dam: First Quarter, by Sky Classic
                3rd Dam: First Class Gal, by Geiger Counter
($160,000 Ylg ’17 KEESEP). O-CJ Thoroughbreds, Left Turn
Racing LLC and Casner Racing, LP; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred
Holdings LLC (KY); T-Dale L. Romans. $49,000.
Margins: NO, 3, HF. Odds: 4.20, 1.80, 9.60.
Also Ran: Ce Ce, Wildwood’s Beauty, Bellafina, Shesomajestic. Scratched: Crazy Sexy Munny, Lady Kate, Mia Mischief. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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Brody’s Cause Colt Sittin On Go Rallies Late To Win Iroquois

Albaugh Family Stables' Sittin On Go roared past Midnight Bourbon at the sixteenth pole en route to a 2 1/2-length victory on Saturday in the 39th running of the Grade 3, $200,000 Iroquois Stakes for 2-year-olds at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

Trained by Dale Romans and ridden by Corey Lanerie, Sittin On Go covered the mile on a fast main track in 1:35.

In addition to picking up 10 points toward the 2021 Kentucky Derby, the winner also earned a fees-paid berth into the $2-million Breeders' Cup Juvenile (GI) at Keeneland on Nov. 6.

Favored Therideofalifetime led the field of 10 through uncontested fractions of :23.04, :45.64 and 1:10. At the top of the lane, Midnight Bourbon made the first move at Therideofalifetime and opened a daylight advantage that evaporated at the sixteenth pole.

The victory, the second in two starts for Sittin On Go, was worth $117,800 and boosted Sittin On Go's earnings to $145,520.

Sittin On Go is a Kentucky-bred son of Brody's Cause out of the More Than Ready mare Set'n On Ready.

Sittin On Go returned $50, $18.60 and $9. Midnight Bourbon, ridden by Gerardo Corrales, returned $6 and $4 and finished 1 ¾ lengths in front of Super Stock who paid $5.20 to show under Ricardo Santana Jr.

It was another 5 1/4 lengths back to Therideofalifetime who was followed in order by Pico d'Oro, Notary, Ultimate Badger, Crazy Shot, Drop Anchor and Belafonte.

“He broke really good and put me right where I thought he would be after watching his replay from Ellis Park,” said Lanerie. “Down the backside, he was trying to get out on me. I don't know why, but he settled in real nice. I was actually going to follow Dale's (Romans) other horse (Ultimate Badger), but I had so much horse, I went to the outside and let him come on. Watching the races, it looked like the outside is the best place to be. I didn't want any excuses for getting him stopped. I put him in the clear and he was just like his daddy (stakes winner Brody's Cause).”

“We're having ourselves a great weekend,” said Romans, who on Thursday saddled Girl Daddy to win the Pocahontas, a Win and You're In for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. “This horse reminds us a lot of his father (Brody's Cause). We were pretty confident he'd be able to stretch out from his training and this race set up perfectly for us. We're on to the Breeders' Cup.”

“Man, to pick up the Pocahontas (with Girl Daddy) and then follow it up with the Iroquois two days later is unreal,” said Dennis Albaugh. “We couldn't be happier. That's why we're in the racing business. That horse was unbelievable coming around the turn. I was like, 'Man, he's moving.' ”

Steve Asmussen was positive about the performances of his two runners, Midnight Bourbon and Super Stock. “Both of them are solid colts, good finishing times,” Asmussen said. “Just another step in the development of 2-year-olds that we hope end as good 3-year-olds. Super Stock, he kind of stumbled just a tad away from there. He wasn't exactly where we expected him to be early but I thought he adjusted and ran a solid race considering. And Midnight Bourbon ran really well. I thought he should have won from the position he was in but he was back on short rest and has room to improve.”

Florent Geroux, aboard favored Therideofalifetime, the beaten favorite who finished fourth, said: “Disappointed. He broke sharp and made the lead very easily. He did not finish for some reason. I don't know if it was too far for him or if it was too soon after the Saratoga race.”

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