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Home Sweet Home: Snapper Sinclair Posts Another Kentucky Downs Stakes Win

Using an unusual style, Snapper Sinclair won the second division of the $400,000 TVG Stakes Wednesday to add to his already solid reputation as the ultimate horse for the course at Kentucky Downs in Franklin, Ky.

The 6-year-old owned by Bloom Racing led from gate to wire under jockey Julien Leparoux to become the first horse to win three stakes at the track. In his lone losing performance at Kentucky Downs, he was second by three-quarters of a length in last year's Tourist Mile (now the WinStar Mint Million).

In the first division of the TVG, In Love came from off the pace under Alex Achard to win by 2 ¼ lengths at 8-1.

Sent off as the 2-1 favorite, Snapper Sinclair paid $6. The son of City Zip trained by Steve Asmussen completed the mile and 70 yards in 1:40.24 and finished three-quarters of a length in front of Bob and Jackie.

“When the horse loves the track, it's a big help and he obviously does,” Leparoux said. “He travels good on it. Going downhill or uphill he is very comfortable with it. It's a big effort for us and I'm glad he won it today.”

Snapper Sinclair picked up his seventh win in 33 career starts and the first-place purse money of $239,320 pushed his career earnings to $1,793,250. While he has run well at other tracks during his career, all of his stakes victories have come at Kentucky Downs.

“He definitely has an affinity for Kentucky Downs,” said Jeff Bloom, president of Bloom Racing, which partners with Chuck and Lori Allen on many of their horses. “Clearly, this is a track that Snapper is very fond of and Snapper is horse we're all fond of. He's the coolest horse there is. He's just the best.”

The horse was named for a jockey played by Mickey Rooney in the 1936 movie “Down the Stretch.”

The TVG was Snapper Sinclair's fourth start of the season and first since finishing second in the G3 Opening Verse at Churchill Downs on April 29. He opened the season with an allowance victory at Oaklawn Park on Feb. 4 and turned in a solid fourth-place finish in the G2 Godolphin Mile on the Dubai World Cup program on March 27. He was beaten a neck and a nose for second.

“This is exactly where he needed to be,” Asmussen said. “He got a little bit of a break. I'm glad he was ready for Kentucky Downs. He definitely made us proud. He definitely shines here at Kentucky Downs. He's been a very special horse, that's even after making the trip over to (Dubai) this year. Just very proud for the Blooms and the Allens. Snapper has been very good to us for a long time.

“He ran beautifully today. He responds very well for Julien here, and very pleased to have him on him. Just a great victory celebration.”

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Leparoux said the race did not play out the way he expected when Snapper Sinclair broke sharply and was quickly in front.

“I didn't really want to be on the lead, to be honest, but he took me there very easy,” Leparoux said. “He was traveling very nice. He pointed his ears around the turn so I knew he was going to finish up good.”

With first Penalty and then Midnight Tea Time in pursuit in second, Snapper Sinclair set early fractions of 23.38 and 47.65 seconds. He had a one-length lead through six furlongs in 1:12.57.

Bloom, a former jockey, smiled as he described his reaction when Snapper Sinclair was setting the pace.

“He had been off a little bit, he was fresh, he broke so well and Julien said he was going so well, there was a change of plans,” Bloom said. “If you look at all of his races here at Kentucky Downs it's different every time. With Snapper, put him out there and he'll figure it out.”

Bob and Jackie, trained by Richard Baltas, hopped at the start and got away sixth in the field of nine. Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez moved him into contention a couple of lengths behind Snapper Sinclair, but he could not overcome the handicap he gave himself in the long run through the stretch.

“I think it's a race he could have won,” Velazquez said. “Broke slow, and that's it. He ran a good race. (Snapper Sinclair) loves it here. And everything went his way, too. He loves the course and everything went his way.”

Lori Allen was surprised to learn that he was the first horse to win three stakes at the track.

“I had no idea. That's awesome,” she said. “He should have a race named after him here. He loves this race. He came so close last year, he's nearly a four-time winner. But he tries everywhere. Everywhere he goes, boy, he never lets us down. He puts it all down every time.”

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Fast Boat Overhauls Carotari To Upset Troy Stakes On Saratoga Turf

Brad Grady's Fast Boat motored in deep stretch to overtake pacesetter Carotari from the outside, getting up in the final jumps for a half-length score in Friday's Grade 3, $200,000 Troy presented by Horse Racing Ireland for 4-year-olds and up sprinting 5 1/2 furlongs on Saratoga Race Course's Mellon turf in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Fast Boat won for the third time in four starts, utilizing a patient trip from jockey Tyler Gaffalione from the inside post as Carotari led the nine-horse field through the opening quarter-mile in 21.74 seconds and the half in 44.15 over firm going under Hall of Famer Javier Castellano.

Out of the turn, Gaffalione kept Fast Boat wide, providing the 6-year-old son of City Zip plenty of racing room in front of him. Gaffalione's charge capitalized on the daylight and picked off multiple rivals one-by-one until setting his sights on Carotari.

In the final sixteenth, Gaffalione alternated from right-handed to left-handed encouragement, and Fast Boat collared his rival in the shadow of the wire, completing the course in 1:01.24 for trainer Joe Sharp.

“During the stretch run I was jumping off the ground,” Sharp said. “I got a little taller inside the eighth pole. You could tell by his momentum that he was going to get there, but the horse on the lead, Javier's horse [Carotari], dug in when he got to him. When he fires his big ones it's always fun to watch from the quarter-pole home. We figured he'd like this turf course here, and he sure did.”

Fast Boat registered his third stakes win of the campaign, adding to scores in the Pulse Power Turf Sprint in January at Sam Houston and the Grade 2 Turf Sprint in April at Churchill Downs, before running sixth last out in the Grade 1 Jackpocket Jaipur on Belmont Stakes Day June 5.

“He was training very forwardly into the race,” Sharp said. “He's a horse we've gotten to know really well and we know all his 'isms.' When he's doing well and when he's going to run a big race and everything pointed to his effort today. The weather cooperated today. He prefers a firm turf course, and for the Jaipur, he lost his opportunity at the Grade 1 with the give in the ground. But I'm not taking anything away from today. We're super proud to be here and honored. Winning at Saratoga is big, let alone winning a graded stake.”

Off at 10-1, Fast Boat returned $23.80 on a $2 win wager. He improved his career earnings to $659,849.

Gaffalione won the Troy for a third consecutive year for three different trainers, starting with Leinster and Rusty Arnold in 2019 and winning aboard the Wayne Potts-conditioned American Sailor last year.

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“I didn't expect to be that close, but he was travelling pretty easy and I just let him do his thing,” Gaffalione said. “I didn't want to get in his way and when I tipped him out he really finished his job. Mr. Sharp has done a great job with him. You can tell when he's in that five-and-a-half to three-quarters range, he really runs his race.”

Carotari, trained by Brian Lynch, went off at 23-1 but outkicked Gear Jockey by one length for second, marking the third time in four starts the Artie Schiller gelding has hit the board in his 5-year-old year.

“He had been training so well going into this race,” Castellano said. “You could see on paper how good he was working. I really like how he did it today. I was really satisfied with his race.”

Imprimis, Bound for Nowhere, Front Run the Fed, Lazuli, Chewing Gum and Classy John completed the order of finish. Backtohisroots, Chateau and Casa Creed scratched.

Saturday will feature a stacked 12-race card at Saratoga comprising five stakes, highlighted by the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney for 4-year-olds and up going 1 1/8 miles in Race 10; the Grade 1, $1 million Saratoga Derby Invitational as the second leg of the Turf Triple series for 3-year-olds at 1 3/16 miles in Race 9; the Grade 1, $500,000 Longinest Test in a seven-furlong sprint for 3-year-old fillies in Race 8; the Grade 2, $250,000 Glens Falls for older fillies and mares at 1 1/2 miles on turf in Race 7; and the $120,000 Fasig-Tipton Lure for 4-year-olds and up competing at 1 1/16 miles on grass in Race 6. First post is 12:35 p.m. Eastern.

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Sprawl Ready For Rematch With Mighty Heart In West Virginia Governor’s Stakes

Three years after he won the West Virginia Derby, Departing returned to Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort in 2016 as the favorite for the $200,000 West Virginia Governor's Stakes, which at that time had not yet achieved graded status.

Bred and owned by Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider and trained by Tom Drury, Departing was dispatched as the favorite in a field of nine. Then six years old, Departing took the lead turning for home and opened a two-length lead. But he was passed in the final sixteenth of a mile by Hawaakom and had to settle for second.

“Turning for home it looked like he was home free,” said Drury, who was and still is based in Kentucky. “He started to open up, and then he got caught. It was a very good effort, but I have to say it was the longest ride home in the history of horse racing.”

Kentucky-bred Departing retired after that race with nine victories in 27 starts and earnings just shy of $2 million. This year, the same connections will take another shot in the 1 1/16-mile Governor's Stakes, which has since achieved Grade 3 status.

The 4-year-old colt Sprawl, also bred and owned by Claiborne and Dilschneider, is one of seven entered in the stakes on the Aug. 7 West Virginia Derby program. The son of City Zip has performed well at a high level, having finished third in the Grade 2 Stephen Foster Stakes at Churchill Downs June 26, but is seeking his first stakes score.

Sprawl finished third, only a head behind the victorious Mighty Heart—also entered in the Governor's Stakes—in the Blame Stakes at Churchill, and fourth, only three-quarters of a length behind, in the Grade 3 Ben Ali Stakes at Keeneland. In between those two races, the colt won an allowance test at Churchill by 7 ¼ lengths.

Sprawl has been training forwardly at the Churchill Training Center in preparation for the Mountaineer race.

“Any time you get to the races for older horses you have your work cut out,” Drury said. “Our horse is good. His Churchill and Keeneland races were good, and I don't know if he has been the luckiest horse in some of his races. His Stephen Foster race was huge for him, and we're looking for a little class relief.”

Along with Sprawl and Mighty Heart, a Grade 3 winner in Canada, the Governor's Stakes has also attracted Bourbon Calling, Grade 3-placed in 2020; Colonelsdarktemper, winner of the 2017 West Virginia Derby who is three-for-three this year against claiming and starter allowance foes; and Exulting, who was claimed for $7,500 in March and last time out finished second in the Schaefer Memorial Stakes in Indiana.

Drury, who also has horses stabled at Skylight Training Center outside of Louisville, Ky., said the Governor's Cup has implications beyond the race itself. Claiborne Farm has a long, successful history breeding Thoroughbreds, and Drury indicated the farm still has the dam of Sprawl.

“It's a Grade 3, it's black type, and so it's very important to us, not only to win it but for the family,” Drury said regarding the breeding aspects. “He has done very well on the (Churchill Training Center) track heading into this race, and I think he can take that track with him.”

First post time for the West Virginia Derby program is 2 p.m.

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Stallion Manager Bill Sellers To Retire From Lane’s End

Lane's End Farm's longtime Stallion Manager, Bill Sellers, will retire in September of this year after 39 years of service to the farm. Bill has overseen the management and care of influential Lane's End stallions including the legendary A.P. Indy, champion sires Kingmambo, Smart Strike, Dixieland Band, Gulch, Lemon Drop Kid, Mineshaft and City Zip in addition to current top stallions Quality Road, Candy Ride (ARG), Union Rags and Twirling Candy.

Bill has been a valued member of the Lane's End Farm team since 1982, when he was hired in a foreman capacity to work with the farm's first yearling crop and with mares and foals. He became stallion manager at the beginning of the development of the Lane's End stallion division in 1985. In this position, Bill established the foundation of best practices that would ensure the health and safety of the stallions and result in smooth management of the breeding shed.

Will Farish, Lane's End Farm owner, said: “Bill Sellers has contributed significantly to the success of Lane's End as a leading Thoroughbred breeding farm. Billy's exceptional diligence and hard work have been instrumental in building the Lane's End stallion division into a world renowned operation known for the highest level of horse care and management. We take this opportunity to thank Billy for dedicating his career to Lane's End Farm. We will miss him greatly and wish him the very best in his retirement.”

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