Tag: constantia

Zero Tolerance Will Head Down The Hill In Sunday’s Las Cienegas

A stakes winner over the course, Zero Tolerance heads a field of eight older fillies and mares going 6 ½ furlongs down Santa Anita's hillside turf in this Sunday's Grade 3, $100,000 Las Cienegas Stakes.

Vladimir Cerin's Hear My Prayer and Bob Baffert's Ginja, a pair of distaffers in good recent form, also rate big chances in what will be their initial tries down Santa Anita's unique hillside layout. Throw in Baffert's classy comebacker Beautiful Gift and John Sadler's newcomer, Gold for Kitten, as well as his veteran stakes winner Constantia, and the Las Cienegas has the look of a wide open affair.

A Kentucky-bred 4-year-old filly by Mizzen Mast, Zero Tolerance stalked the pace and rallied impressively to take the ungraded Unzip Me Stakes over the course three starts back on Oct. 3 and was subsequently a close fourth going one mile on turf in the G3 Autumn Miss Stakes on Oct. 30.

Ridden for the first time by Umberto Rispoli, she sped to a 1 ¼ length win at 3-5 in a second condition allowance on Nov. 20 at Del Mar. Originally trained by Peter Miller, she'll be saddled by Ruben Alvarado on Sunday as she seeks her first graded win and her fourth overall from six starts. Owned by Custom Truck Accessories, Jason Hall, Joe Kelly and Michael Riordan, Zero Tolerance will be reunited with Flavien Prat, who was aboard for the Unzip Me win as well as a maiden score four starts back on Aug. 20.

Owned by Holly and David Wilson, Hear My Prayer has been idle since rallying for a solid third place finish, beaten three quarters of a length in the five furlong turf Senator Ken Maddy Stakes at Del Mar on Nov. 5. Originally based at Gulfstream Park, Hear My Prayer made her first start for Cerin two starts back in five furlong turf classified allowance Aug. 26, a race in which she pressed the pace and prevailed by a half length.

A two-time ungraded stakes winner sprinting on turf at Gulfstream, Hear My Prayer enters the Las Cienegas as a fresh commodity with a solid resume and will be ridden for the third consecutive time by Juan Hernandez. A 5-year-old Florida-bred mare by the Yes It's True stallion The Big Beast, Hear My Prayer is 11-5-0-3 overall with earnings of $218,975.

Idle since well beaten as the 2-1 favorite in the G2 Black Eyed Susan May 14 at Pimlico, Baoma Corporation's Beautiful Gift, who was a close second in the G2 Santa Anita Oaks April 3 and a game head winner of the G3 Santa Ysabel three starts back on March 7, should be attentive to the pace coming off the bench in what will be her first try on grass.

Although ridden by John Velazquez in her last three starts, Beautiful Gift will be handled for the first time by Drayden Van Dyke on Sunday. Favored in three out of her five starts, Beautiful Gift has the class to rate a major contender.

Perhaps the biggest question mark in the field due to the fact she'll be trying turf for the first time, Ginja nonetheless is in solid form and with Mike Smith riding her back, well-spotted. In a gutty effort, she was pressed every step of the way when second, beaten a neck by her stablemate Velvet Slippers in a one mile first condition allowance Nov. 19 at Del Mar.

Owned by Jill Baffert, Ginja is a 4-year-old filly by Quality Road, out of the Forestry mare Sequoia Queen. With an overall mark of 9-1-5-1, she'll be looking for her first graded stakes win.

Idle since a close third in an ungraded stakes going a mile and one sixteenth on synthetic at Woodbine Oct. 31, Gold for Kitten, who was claimed five starts back for $50,000 at Churchill Downs May 6, has never been worse than third in six starts—winning four, and she'll get the first time services of a red hot John Velazquez. A 4-year-old filly by Kitten's Joy, she's owned by DARRS Inc.

With her last win coming five starts back in the ungraded Mizdirection Stakes going six furlongs on turf here April 17, Sadler will also be well represented by Constantia, who takes a significant drop in class off a sixth place finish going one mile on grass in the G2 Goldikova Stakes at Del Mar Nov. 6. A 5-year-old mare by Munnings, Constantia was bred in Kentucky by her owner, Keith Abrahams. Although second going 6 ½ furlongs in the G2 Monrovia Stakes four starts back on June 5, Constantia, who has four wins from 16 starts, will be making her first start down the hillside turf course.

THE GRADE 3 LAS CIENEGAS WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 7 of 9 Approximate post time 3:30 p.m. PT

  1. Tapwater—Joe Bravo—120
  2. Hear My Prayer—Juan Hernandez–120
  3. Constantia—Umberto Rispoli—122
  4. Quiet Secretary—Tyler Baze—120
  5. Beautiful Gift—Drayden Van Dyke—122
  6. Ginja—Mike Smith—120
  7. Zero Tolerance—Flavien Prat—122
  8. Gold for Kitten—John Velazquez–120

First post time for a nine-race card on Sunday is at 12:30 p.m., admission gates will open at 10:30 a.m.

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Kentucky Downs Takes Entries, Draws Post Positions For Sept. 11 Graded Stakes Card

The fields are set for the summer's biggest day of turf racing, as entries were taken and post positions drawn Saturday for the FanDuel Meet at Kentucky Downs' blockbuster Sept. 11 card featuring five graded stakes at the Franklin, Ky., track.

The Super Saturday is the marquee attraction among six huge days of racing Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Sept. 11 and 12. First post is 12:20 p.m. Central. All the races will be shown on TVG.

Purses for next Saturday's 11 races total $4,692,000, of which $2.2 million comes from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund for registered Kentucky-bred horses. That's the vast majority of the horses running, but even the base purse that everyone competes for reflects some of the richest pots in the country.

“The card is amazing,” said Kentucky Downs Vice President for Racing Ted Nicholson. “Hats off to our racing office.”

The headliners are the $1 million Grade 2 Calumet Turf Cup at 1 1/2 miles and the $1 million Grade 3 FanDuel Turf Sprint at six furlongs. Both are “Win and You're In” stops on the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series and will be televised live by NBC. The Turf Cup winner will get a fees-paid berth in the $4 million Longines Breeders' Cup Turf and the FanDuel winner the same in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., on Nov. 6.

Donegal Racing's Arklow, the 2020 and 2018 Calumet Turf Cup winner, renews his rivalry with Michael Hui's 2019 victor Zulu Alpha, who was sidelined after last year's stakes and is 0 for 2 this year. Arklow would be the first three-time winner of the race. But they'll have to beat another Grade 1 winner in Channel Cat, returning to Kentucky Downs for the first time since he captured the 2018 Dueling Grounds Derby. He's owned by stakes sponsor Calumet Farm.

Arklow won Churchill Downs' Louisville Stakes and most recently was seventh in the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap, but beaten only 1 3/4 lengths for everything.

Mike Maker, a five-time meet-leader and Kentucky Downs' record-holder in career wins, has five of the 12 horses in the body of the Calumet Turf Cup, headed by Zulu Alpha. The others are Tide of the Sea, a Kentucky Downs winner last year and Gulfstream's Grade 3 McKnight this year; Ellis Park's Kentucky Downs TVG Preview winner Bluegrass Parkway; Grade 2 Belmont Gold Cup third-place finisher Ajourneytofreedom, and Glynn County, third in Arlington Park's Grade 1 Mr. D, the race formerly known as the Arlington Million. A sixth Maker entrant, Dynadrive, needs three scratches to get in the field.

Also in the field: Breakpoint, a triple Grade 1 winner in his native Chile, goes for his first U.S. win in three starts; Irish Group 3 winner Crossfirehurricane; Grade 1 United Nations runner-up Imperador and United Nations third Epic Bromance. Big Dreaming, second in last year's Dueling Grounds Derby, needs a defection to get in.

The FanDuel Turf Sprint brings back last year's top three finishers in Imprimis and the dead-heat runners-up Bombard and Front Run the Fed, who finished a neck behind the winner. But the favorite is likely to be boys-beater Got Stormy, winner of last year's Kentucky Downs Ladies Sprint over very soft turf in her first attempt at sprinting. Got Stormy is the only filly or mare to win Saratoga's Grade 1 Fourstardave, having done so in her last start and in 2019 after taking second last year. She has been second in three other Grade 1 starts against males, including in the 2019 Breeders' Cup Mile.

“We've never backed down from a challenge,” says Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse, who acknowledges his desire to pad Got Stormy's own Hall of Fame credentials.

Other challengers: Casa Creed, winner of Belmont's Grade 1 Jackpocket Jaipur at the six-furlong distance; multiple graded stakes-winner Diamond Oops; the blossoming Fast Boat, a past winner over the course who last out won Saratoga's Grade 3 Troy Stakes, and Born Great, who last year won a Kentucky Downs maiden and allowance race in the span of a week.

The Richard Baltas-trained Venetian Harbor ships in from California for the $600,000 The Mint Ladies Sprint. The 4-year-old filly has been worse than second only once in 10 starts. In two turf races, she was second in her debut and won Santa Anita's Grade 2 Monrovia.

Also in from the West Coast is the multiple stakes winner and graded stakes-placed Superstition for Hall of Famer Richard Mandella. John Sadler sends out Santa Anita stakes-winner Constantia in the overflow field of 14.

The beer will be flowing in Henderson if Yes It's Ginger prevails. There were so many people connected to Henderson beer distributor Mike “Hotdog” Utley, as well as the Brilliant Racing and Tagg Team Racing partnerships, that the winner's circle presentation had to move to the main track after “Ginger” prevailed in the Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Ladies Sprint, which gave her a free roll in this 6 1/2-furlong race.

The Casse-trained Jeanie B lost a Grade 2 stakes at Woodbine by a nose in her last start for owner CJ Thoroughbreds, whose managing partner Corey Johnsen was president and part-owner of Kentucky Downs before its sale to Ron Winchell and Marc Falcone.

Violenza enters the race off victory in a $100,000 turf sprint at Colonial Downs in her stakes debut for trainer Ian Wilkes and his son-in-law jockey Chris Landeros. The Maker-trained Jakarta has been off form but won a starter-allowance race here last year.

The $750,000 Kentucky Downs Ladies Mile is headlined by 5-for-6 Princess Grace, winner of three straight stakes capped by Del Mar's Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon. The Mike Stidham-trained Princess Grace shares the 126-pound high-weight with 2020 One Dreamer winner Dalika.

She'sonthewarpath, an eight-time winner out of 19 starts, is in peak form off of two stakes victories at Ellis Park. Florida trainer Saffie Joseph has the horse to catch in Shifty She, a two-time stakes-winner at Gulfstream and a good third in Saratoga's De La Rose won by 2020 Ladies Mile winner Regal Glory.

Summer in Saratoga, an allowance winner here last year for trainer Joe Sharp, won Indiana Grand's Indiana General Assembly Distaff in her last start.

With The Lir Jet, Qatar Racing will try to win the $600,000 Franklin-Simpson for the third straight year, and the first time with the stakes a Grade 2. Qatar Racing won last year's stakes with Guildsman, who like The Lir Jet is trained by Brendan Walsh, and in 2019 with the Doug O'Neill-trained Legends of War. The Lir Jet won Royal Ascot's Group 2 Norfolk as a 2-year-old but is winless since. He makes his debut both in the United States and as a gelding.

Sharing high weight status of 124 pounds with The Lir Jet is the Eddie Kenneally-trained Point Me By, winner of Arlington Park's Grade 1 Bruce D. Stakes (formerly the Secretariat).

The field of twelve 3-year-old stakes-winners, with three others on the also-eligible list, includes the filly Miss Amulet, a Group 2 winner in England and a close second in a Group 1. Other contenders in a talented field: Woodbine's Grade 3 Marine winner Easy Time; the Wesley Ward duo of Churchill Downs' War Chant winner Next and Ellis Park's Dade Park Dash victor Into the Sunrise, and American Derby winner Tango Tango Tango. Other stakes-winners are Bodenheimer, King of Miami, Omaha City, and County Final. Last year's Kentucky Downs Juvenile Sprint runner-up Fauci, also trained by Ward, needs a scratch to get in the field.

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Sadler Seeks Repeat For Galilean In California Dreamin’, Starts Three in Daisycutter

Trainer John Sadler will send out defending champion Galilean in Sunday's featured $150,000 California Dreamin' Stakes and has a three-horse contingent in the $80,000 Daisycutter Handicap earlier in the program at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

At the very least, Sadler's charges figure to factor strongly in both events as the 64-year-old Pasadena native seeks to add to his 78 Del Mar stakes victories, second on the track's all-time list behind Bob Baffert.

Galilean, a 5-year-old son of Uncle Mo owned by West Point Thoroughbreds and partners, moved between rivals to get a clear lead entering the stretch and held on for a half-length victory as the 3-2 favorite in last year's California Dreamin', a 1 1/16-mile turf assignment for California breds. It was the fourth start in a seven-race 2020 campaign that has netted earnings of $217,098.

Sunday's title defense, however, is the 2021 debut for Galilean, ending an eight-month layoff since finishing fourth as the favorite in the Cary Grant Stakes in November during Del Mar's Bing Crosby fall meeting.

“It's a little different this year coming off a layoff, but he's a very good horse, doing well, and we're expecting good things,” Sadler said.

The field from the rail with riders and morning line odds: Desmond Doss (Abel Cedillo, 5-1); Wound Tight (Kent Desormeaux, 6-1); Unbridled Ethos (Ricky Gonzalez, 20-1); Secret Club (Tyler Baze, 30-1); Indian Peak (Flavien Prat, 8-1); Ward 'n Jerry (Trevor McCarthy, 8-1); Galilean (Joe Bravo, 4-1); Margot's Boy (Juan Hernandez, 12-1); Brandothebartender (Umberto Rispoli, 4-1) and North County Guy (Mario Gutierrez, 7-2).

In the Daisycutter, a five-furlong turf sprint for older California-bred fillies and mares, Sadler will saddle Constantia, Five Pics Please, and Bruja Escarlata for three different ownerships.

Constantia, bred and owned by Keith Abrahams, comes in off a win in the Mizdirection overnight and runner-up in the Grade 2 Monrovia, both at Santa Anita. Five Pics Please, owned by Desert Sun Stables, has a win, a second, and a third in three starts since joining the Sadler stable for her 2021 campaign.

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Bruja Escarlata, which translates from Spanish as “Scarlet Witch,” is owned by Hronis Racing. The 4-year-old daughter of Street Boss, a $185,000 purchase at a Florida sale in 2019, debuted with a victory at Los Alamitos in December and followed with wins on the turf at Santa Anita in February and the dirt there in March.

“Two of the fillies (Five Pics Please and Bruja Escarlata) are pretty fast and the other is a deep closer,” Sadler pointed out. “I think they all fit pretty well in there.”

The field from the rail with riders and morning line odds: Bulletproof One (Gonzalez, 4-1); Querelle (Hernandez, 6-1);  Gypsy Spirit (Edwin Maldonado, 20-1); Constantia (Jose Valdivia, Jr., 6-1); Superstition (Prat, 5-2); Lenzi's Lucky Lady (Desormeaux, 20-1); Five Pics Please (Rispoli, 15-1); Never for Money (Giovanni Franco, 20-1); Rakassah (Jessica Pyfer, 6-1) and Bruja Escarlata (Baze, 4-1). Also eligible: Sadie Bluegrass (Brayan Pena, 15-1) and Acting Out (Bravo, 15-1).

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Venetian Harbor Returns In Saturday’s Monrovia

A two-time graded stakes winner who has been idle since well beaten by Eclipse Champion Gamine in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint Nov. 7, the Richard Baltas-trained Venetian Harbor heads a field of eight fillies and mares going 6 ½ furlongs on turf in Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 Monrovia Stakes at Santa Anita.

Although she looms large on class alone, Venetian Harbor will face serious opposition as she catches a field with four last-out winners and a pair of distaffers that come off of second-place finishes in their most recent starts.

The Keith Abrahams homebred Constantia rates high on the list of recent winners, as she rallied impressively to take an ungraded sprint stakes going six furlongs on turf here April 17 and the Baltas-trained Nasty, a gate to wire ungraded stakes winner here at a flat mile on turf back on Dec. 26, also rates a huge chance.

A winner of Santa Anita's Grade 2 Las Virgenes Stakes going a flat mile on the main track in her third start on Feb. 8, 2020, Venetian Harbor was then second as the odds-on favorite to eventual Eclipse Champion 3-year-old Filly Swiss Skydiver in Oaklawn Park's Grade 2 Fantasy Stakes May 1 and was subsequently second in both the Grade 1 Ashland at Keeneland July 11 and the Grade 1 Test Stakes at Saratoga Aug. 8. A winner of the Grade 2 Raven Run Stakes two starts back going seven furlongs on dirt at Keeneland Oct. 17, Venetian Harbor was never a factor when beaten 16 ½ lengths in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at Keeneland Nov. 7.

Although she's be trying a new game with turf on Saturday, Venetian Harbor, in her only start on grass, ran a solid second in her career debut, beaten three quarters of a length going five furlongs at Del Mar on Nov. 15, 2019.

Owned by Ciaglia Racing, LLC, Highland Yard, LLC, River Oak Farm and Domenic Savides, Venetian Harbor, a 4-year-old filly by Munnings out of the Street Cry mare Sounds of the City, will be ridden for the first time by Mario Gutierrez. With an overall mark of 8-3-4-0, she has earnings of $513,400.

Trained by John Sadler, Constantia comes off what appeared to be her best ever performance, as she split horses turning for home and rallied for an impressive 1 ½ length win in the Mizdirection Stakes at six furlongs on turf April 17. A 4-year-old filly by Munnings out of the Belong to Me mare Llandudno, Constantia, unlike Venetian Harbor, has been on turf in all 12 of her career starts, which have resulted in a 4-1-3 mark and earnings of $149,752.

With Umberto Rispoli, who is in search of his 15 stakes win at the current meet, back aboard, Constantia will be making her first graded stakes start in the Monrovia.

Cast as the “Other Baltas,” the LNJ Foxwoods-owned Nasty has an outstanding work tab to her credit, with three bullet moves on Santa Anita's training track at distances of five furlongs and a half mile. Idle since taking the one mile turf Lady of Shamrock in gate to wire fashion on opening day, Nasty, who sold for $230,000 as a Keeneland September Yearling, will be ridden for the first time by newly transplanted Trevor McCarthy, who notched his first Santa Anita win at 6 ½ furlongs on turf this past Monday.

A 4-year-old filly by Street Sense out of the Lion Heart mare Valiant Passion, Nasty, who was originally stabled with Brad Cox in the Midwest, made her first start for Baltas three starts back in the Grade 3 Autumn Miss Stakes at one mile on turf Oct. 17—finishing a close third behind multiple stakes winner Warren's Showtime.

THE GRADE 2 MONROVIA STAKES WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 7 of 9 Approximate post time 4 p.m. PT

  1. Nasty—Trevor McCarthy—122
  2. Never for Money—Geovanni Franco—122
  3. Constantia—Umberto Rispoli—122
  4. Gypsy Spirit—Edwin Maldonado—122
  5. Trickle In—Tyler Baze—122
  6. She's So Special—Juan Hernandez–122
  7. Venetian Harbor—Mario Gutierrez—124
  8. Superstition—Abel Cedillo–122

First post time for a nine-race card on Saturday is at 1 p.m. For additional information, please visit santaanita.com or call (626) 574-RACE.

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