LNJ Foxwoods’s Jaime Roth Talks Dual-Hemisphere Success On Writers’ Room

It's been a remarkable few weeks for LNJ Foxwoods and Jaime Roth, with the outfit accomplishing the rare double of graded/group stakes victories in both America and Australia during the month of March. Wednesday, Roth joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland as the Green Group Guest of the Week to discuss GII New Orleans Classic S. winner Olympiad (Speightstown), G1 Coolmore Classic heroine Lighthouse (Mizzen Mast), her affinity for naming horses and much more.

“He's always been a horse that showed tremendous ability,” Roth said of Olympiad, who was off for nearly a year before returning last September and has now recorded three straight open-length successes. “He broke his maiden impressively at Saratoga second time out in 2020 and was prepping for the [GI] Champagne after that. Unfortunately in racing, you have minor setbacks, and our stable personally likes to take as much time as we can and show patience, because we feel that will reward us in the end. He's a beautiful, well-bred horse and it's great, not just for us, but for the racing world to see what I think he can become. It sounds like the [May 6 GII] Alysheba is next. We just got his Ragozin number, which was a four-plus, so he's trending in the right way. He's running better numbers, but not so drastic that you have to worry about bouncing, and his numbers line up with top horses like Life Is Good. I'm not saying we are that by any stretch, but we're starting to fit into the picture of top older horses and I'm just so happy for the horse. For me, it's about him showing the racing community his ability and I'm happy he has a chance to do that now.”

In Lighthouse–a stakes winner in America as a 3-year-old in 2020–LNJ Foxwoods has found a budding down-under star, as the gray has picked up five wins and three seconds in eight starts since relocating across the world, culminating in her Mar. 12 Coolmore Classic conquest.

“LNJ is a very think-outside-the-box operation to try to take advantage of new markets and maybe do things that not everyone is doing,” Roth said. “She was a good horse in the U.S., she won the GIII Music City at Kentucky Downs, but after that, again, had some minor setbacks. I don't think a lot of people realize this, but we already had a few mares down in Australia, including one who had a ton of speed but couldn't quite get the distance here. So we had already had a good experience and thought [Lighthouse] would fit–she's got a lot of speed and is a very big, strong-bodied filly, and I think the change in environment was also key. She was a little high-strung here, and sometimes just doing something new, even going to another country, can be the trick. She trains at the beach, she's happy, she swims with dolphins. And now she's a mature, totally different horse. It's been great to see her excel.”

Elsewhere on the show, which is also sponsored by Coolmore, Lane's End, the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders, XBTV, West Point Thoroughbreds and Legacy Bloodstock, the writers analyzed the 2021 numbers from The Jockey Club's Equine Injury Database and NYRA's decision to kick Wayne Potts and Juan Vazquez off the Belmont grounds, then previewed the penultimate major prep Saturday on the GI Kentucky Derby trail. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version or find it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

The post LNJ Foxwoods’s Jaime Roth Talks Dual-Hemisphere Success On Writers’ Room appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Australia: Winx Immortalized At Her Home Track Of Rosehill Gardens

Fillies and mares will be spotlighted this Friday night in Sydney against the backdrop of Australia's greatest ever mare – Winx — being immortalized in bronze at her home track Rosehill Gardens. The Group 1 Coolmore Classic heads a nine-race program at Rosehill which is available for livestream on the new Sky Racing World App and will be broadcast live on TVG (First Post: 8:35 p.m. ET / 5:35 p.m. PT).

Sydney's “Autumn Carnival” moves to Rosehill for the next three weeks and, in advance of this Friday night's Coolmore Classic card, a magnificent statue of Winx has been unveiled and will greet racing fans directly inside the track's main entrance. The 1,500-pound monument to the racing legend and her regular rider, Hugh Bowman, is 110% of their actual size: literally “larger than life.”

Bowman was quite moved at the ceremony – on International Women's Day – crediting the “extraordinary detail and accuracy” captured by renowned sculptor Tanya Bartlett during her 14-month labor of love. Winx's part-owner, Debbie Kepitis, marveled how “it is so touching that every time I walk through the gates at Rosehill now I can say hello to Winx!” And the grand mare's trainer, Chris Waller, echoed his champion's lasting inspiration by saying, “Winx is proof that dreams can turn into reality in this sport.”

As Waller's base of operations, Rosehill was Winx's “home track.” However, she never contested a Coolmore Classic and the race remains one of the few gems on Australia's racing calendar to have eluded Waller. The New Zealand native, firmly ensconced as Sydney's premier trainer, will saddle Madam Rouge (18-1) and Subpoenaed (11-1) in this year's renewal, carded as the seventh race at 9:15 p.m. PT.

One of Waller's biggest obstacles to a first Coolmore success is 3-year-old filly Forbidden Love (5-1 favorite), a last-start G1 winner against her own age. The filly has already acquitted herself admirably against elders, finishing a close third at G1 level last October (the Australian racing season begins in August). Forbidden Love is also adept on all track conditions, which will stand her in good stead with rain forecast for the second half of this week in Sydney.

Second choice in early wagering is lightly-raced 4-year-old Chaillot (7-1), who finished only a head behind Forbidden Love in the aforementioned Group One last October and has a massive 21-pound weight swing in her favor under the two races' respective conditions. One query against Chaillot is her never having raced outside of Victoria – the Coolmore will be her first experience in Sydney's clockwise direction – but, on weights alone, she will take a power of beating.

A week that began by globally celebrating women's achievements could end with a G1 victory by an Australian mare named for an American woman who reached the pinnacle in her chosen field: Krone has won her last two races at 30-1 and 15-1, and is a 16-1 shot to make it a third straight stakes upset in the Coolmore Classic. Colonial Affair was similar odds (13-1) when Julie Krone became the first female rider to win a Triple Crown race. And Krone's crowning achievement, the 1993 Belmont Stakes, occurred in similar rainy conditions that are relished by her equine namesake Down Under.

Finally, in a week that featured International Women's Day, it's fitting to reflect on the career of last year's Coolmore Classic winner, Con Te Partiro. A graduate of the 2015 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, the $130,000 purchase won races at Keeneland, Saratoga, and Royal Ascot when trained by Wesley Ward. She was subsequently acquired for $575,000 at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton November Sale by a partnership of U.S.-based SF Bloodstock and Australia's Newgate Farm, and Con Te Partiro transferred to Australia's “Queen of Racing,” Gai Waterhouse. After a G3 win, she was retired but failed to get into foal. Brought back into training, the mare won consecutive G1 races, beginning with the 2020 Coolmore Classic.

An incredible journey came full circle when Con Te Partiro returned to Kentucky and was offered at last November's Keeneland Breeding Stock Sale, although she was passed in after not meeting her reserve. The 7-year-old daughter of Scat Daddy has been privately purchased by Sheikh Fahad of Qatar Racing for $1.6 million, with plans for her to be served by a stallion in England.

The Rosehill card will be broadcast live on TVG this Friday night (first post: 8:35 p.m. ET / 5:35 p.m. PT) alongside cards from Gold Coast, Gosford and Ipswich. All races will be live-streamed in HD on the new Sky Racing World Appskyracingworld.com and major ADW platforms such as TVG, TwinSpiresXpressbet, NYRABets, WatchandWagerHPIbet, and AmWager. Wagering is also available via these ADW platforms. Fans can get free access to live-streaming, past performances and expert picks on all races at skyracingworld.com.

A native of Brisbane, Australia, Michael Wrona has called races in six countries. Wrona's vast U.S. experience includes race calling at Los Alamitos, Hollywood Park, Arlington and Santa Anita, calling the 2000 Preakness on a national radio network and the 2016 Breeders' Cup on the International simulcast network. Wrona also performed a race call voiceover for a Seinfeld episode called The Subway.

The post Australia: Winx Immortalized At Her Home Track Of Rosehill Gardens appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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