Tag: Core Values

Mating Plans, Presented By Spendthrift: Pin Oak Stud

The TDN's popular annual series 'Mating Plans, presented by Spendthrift,' continues today in a conversation with Pin Oak Stud's Clifford Barry

“Planning matings is always fun, putting all the tools you have available to make the best decision for your mare in hope of breeding the next champion,” said Barry, a long-time advisor to the late Josephine Abercrombie and now serving the farm's current owners, Jim and Dana Bernhard. “As a team, we sit around the table and make the best decisions we can to help our mares achieve the best outcome. Here is a sample of our choices.”

 

SWEET SAMI D (8, First Samurai–Treaty of Kadesh, by Victory Gallop)

She is a young graded-stakes mare and earner of over $250,000. Her first foal is now a yearling by Gun Runner, and she is currently in foal to Flightline. She will return to Gun Runner in 2024, as the yearling is very nice and the cross has already produced two Grade I winners in Echo Zulu and Gunite.

 

 

 

QUERELLE (8, Violence–Orbital Affair, by El Corredor)

A very attractive young mare by Violence who earned $187,000, she has a very racy yearling filly by Constitution and is in foal to Tapit. We plan to send her to Street Sense this year. The team thinks the size and substance of Street Sense will help this mare–what a solid sire he has become, and he gets a top horse yearly. The cross has produced four stakes winners in 16% with a Grade III winner in First Mission.

OMA THE GREAT (5, Tapit–Rise Above, by Violence)

We bought this mare in foal to Candy Ride (Arg) at Keeneland November ($60,000). She is a winning daughter of Tapit from the family of Grade I winner Twilight Eclipse and Grade III scorer Grand Contender. She will visit the very underrated sire, American Pharoah. A very similar mating has produced the Grade I-winning filly Harvey's Lil Goil, and the American Pharoah over Tapit cross is yielding 30% stakes winners.

MIND OUT (7, Tapit–Kid Majic, by Lemon Drop Kid)

She is another Tapit mare that we bought in 2021 ($1.2m KEENOV). A 'TDN Rising Star', she is half-sister to graded stakes-placed Miss Mischief and is multiple stakes-placed herself. The mare seems to have a lot of her family coming through and needs some refinement and athleticism. That is the reason we have chosen Gun Runner for her in 2024 and look to illuminate the success of Gun Runner with Tapit mares (Grade I winner Society, Grade II winner Wicked Halo).

GLITTER AND GOLD (9, Bodemeister–Expo Gold, by Johannesburg)

A winning half-sister to champion and GI Preakness S. winner Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil), her first foal is now a 2-year-old by Curlin named Cajun Curls who is pre-training at the farm. She has an excellent Tapit yearling colt, so that is the main reason for Glitter and Gold to visit Tapit again this year.

DIAMOND SPARKLES (7, War Front–Diamondsandrubies {Ire}, by Fastnet Rock {Aus})

She is a winning graded stakes-placed mare from an amazing prolific family–that of Group 1 winners Diamondsandrubies, Quarter Moon (Ire) and Yesterday (Ire). We have had a nice update in the 3-year-old half-sister with Aidan O'Brien named Pearls and Rubies (No Nay Never), showing a lot of promise (second in the 2023 G1 Cheveley Park S.) and will be one to watch this year. The mare will visit the sire of the moment, Not This Time. She looks a lot like her sire, War Front, and we believe this mating will offer her some size and scope. There are four very amazing broodmares up close in this mating: Mariah's Storm, Miss Macy Sue, Starry Dancer and Quarter Moon.

CORE VALUES (6, Honor Code–Sweet Awakening, by Street Cry {Ire})

A very attractive daughter of Honor Code (a broodmare sire of the future), she is a multiple stakes and graded stakes-placed winner of over $220,000 and half-sister to Are You Kidding Me, a champion in Canada with earnings over $1 million. The mare is currently in foal to Curlin and will visit Candy Ride (Arg) this year. This cross has produced 20 stakes winners to date, including Grade I winners Game Winner, Ollie's Candy and Mastery.

COMPETITIVE SPEED (6, Competitive Edge–Shopped Out, by Mineshaft)

A nice, young stakes-winning and graded stakes-placed mare of $191,000, this mare was purchased in November 2022 and produced a Maxfield colt last year. She is in foal to Justify and will visit Constitution this year as the cross has produced two Grade I winners. The team at Pin Oak really likes the sire; we have a 3-year-old, 'TDN Rising Star' Parchment Party, that is 2-for-2, and we bought two yearlings in September that we like a lot and are pre-training at the farm.

BROADWAY LADY (7, Constitution–Livi Makenzie, by Macho Uno)

She is a young Grade III-placed mare we purchased in 2022 ($500,000 KEENOV) from the family of GIII Ohio Derby winner Tawny Port and Grade II winner Surf Cat. She will visit Candy Ride (Arg) this year. Constitution is a young broodmare sire, so we are hoping his sire's Tapit's affinity for Candy Ride comes into play.

Broadway Lady | Keeneland

 

SUMMERTIME MAGIC (5, Carpe Diem–Tap Softly, by Tapit)

We purchased this mare in November ($225,000 KEENOV). She is a stakes winner in Canada and from the family of Silver Prospector, winner of the GII Kentucky Jockey Club. She is currently in foal to the exciting young sire Jackie's Warrior and visits Twirling Candy in 2024. A similar cross has produced Grade I winners Pinehurst and Rombauer.

CHECKERED EMPIRE (6, Empire Maker–Checkered Past, by Smart Strike)

This young mare is a recent purchase and is a very elegant filly by Empire Maker with size and substance. She is the full sister to multiple Grade II winner and Grade I-placed Messier. She will visit Twirling Candy and this mating has inbreeding to the great mare Toussaud. We are hoping we can have some of that Juddmonte magic rub off on her.

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Mott-Trained Du Jour Headlines Full Field Of 3-Year-Olds For $750,000 Dueling Grounds Derby

Du Jour, winner of Churchill Downs' Grade 2 American Turf on Kentucky Derby Day, heads a capacity field of twelve 3-year-olds entered for Sunday's $750,000 Big Ass Fans Dueling Grounds Derby on opening day of the FanDuel Meet at Kentucky Downs.

The Vicki Oliver-trained Core Values, fresh off beating boys in Ellis Park's prep for the Dueling Grounds Derby, goes back in against fillies while putting her three-race win streak on the line in the co-featured $500,000 Exacta Systems Dueling Grounds Oaks. Both stakes are 1 5/16 miles, one lap around Kentucky Downs' undulating, kidney-shaped course.

A total of 145 horses are on the program for Sunday's 11-race card, with an extra race added because of the strong demand. There are 124 horses in the body of the races, with another 21 needing defections in order to run. Seven races attracted at least 12 entries. The Dueling Grounds Oaks' field of nine is the smallest field, with an 11-horse field and a pair of 10-horse fields rounding out the card.

Du Jour most recently was third in Saratoga's $1 million, Grade 1 Saratoga Derby Invitational after finishing fourth in the $1 million, Grade 1 Belmont Derby Invitational in his first two races for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. The colt previously was trained by California-based Bob Baffert, whose wife, Jill, is Du Jour's co-owner. Du Jour's American Turf was part of a huge day at Churchill Downs for Baffert, who finished first with Medina Spirit for what seemed to be his record-breaking seventh Kentucky Derby victory. That victory is in doubt, however, with Medina Spirit facing potential disqualification after subsequently testing positive for a therapeutic medication at more than the permitted level on race day.

Reigning Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox has a strong tandem in the 3-year-old stakes with Royal Prince in the Dueling Grounds Derby and Adventuring in the Dueling Grounds Oaks.

Royal Prince lost Ellis Park's Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Dueling Grounds Derby by a nose to Core Values after garnering a second and third in a pair of $75,000 stakes at the Fair Grounds and Sam Houston earlier in the year. Royal Prince has the distinction of finishing first in his debut at Kentucky Downs a year ago, only to have the race declared a no-contest because of a gate malfunction.

Modern Science gets another crack at Royal Prince after leading all the way in the Ellis Park prep only to get passed late to finish third by a total of a neck.

Among other Dueling Grounds Derby contenders: Kelly Breen ships Delaware's Grade 3 Kent Stakes victor Yes This Time in from Saratoga where the colt's five-race win streak ended with an eighth place in the Saratoga Derby after being pinched off at the start.

The Rusty Arnold-trained Cellist was sixth in the Saratoga Derby and third in the Belmont Derby after defeating Dueling Grounds Derby entrant Palazzi and Royal Prince in Churchill Downs' Audubon Stakes. Arnold also has Grey Streak in the Dueling Grounds Derby, with both colts owned by Calumet Farm.

Adventuring was third, by a total of a half-length, as the favorite in Ellis Park's Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Dueling Grounds Oaks, won by Core Value's stablemate Flippant in a stakes sweep for Oliver. The winner of Turfway Park's Bourbonette, Adventuring worked a half-mile in a sparkling 47 2/5 seconds on Monday – the fastest of the morning — in company with Royal Prince.

Also back from Ellis Park's Preview Dueling Grounds Oaks is fourth-place finisher Oliviaofthedesert. Trainer Kenny McPeek has enjoyed a lot of success in the Dueling Grounds Oaks, winning in 2019 with Princesa Carolina and in 2017 with Daddys Lil Darlin and coming in second in 2018 with Princess Warrior.

Mark Casse, voted into racing's Hall of Fame last year and formally inducted this year after a COVID delay, sends out the entry of Woodbine allowance winner Inthewinnerscircle and Earth Strike in the Dueling Grounds Oaks among his seven horses in on Sunday.

Joel Rosario comes in from Saratoga to ride the opening card and has been named on 10 horses, including Du Jour and Adventuring. Also leaving Saratoga early is defending meet champion Tyler Gaffalione, who likewise is in every race but one.

Mike Maker, Kentucky Downs' all-time win leader who captured his fifth training crown last year, has a relatively calm opening day by the frenetic standards he's set at the entry box for the track. Maker has six horses in the entries, two of which are on the also-eligible list and will need defections to run. Among those assured of being in the race is Hilliard, a $40,000 claim at Saratoga in his last start. Maker will try to make the gelding his latest stakes winner by running him longer distances on turf.

The post Mott-Trained Du Jour Headlines Full Field Of 3-Year-Olds For $750,000 Dueling Grounds Derby appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Trainer Oliver, Jockey Bejarano Celebrate Multi-Win Day At Ellis Park Saturday

Trainer Vicki Oliver and jockey Rafael Bejarano proved the stars of Saturday's first day of Kentucky Downs Preview Weekend at the RUNHAPPY Meet at Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky., teaming for three victories, with the rider winning four overall.

Oliver brought two 3-year-old fillies from her Keeneland base. But instead of running both Flippant and Core Values in the $100,000 Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Dueling Grounds Oaks, she opted to put Core Values in against boys in the $100,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Dueling Grounds Derby. That resulted in a nose victory over favored Royal Prince, with Flippant winning the $100,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Dueling Grounds Oaks two races later by a half-length over Caldee.

The trainer and jockey also teamed to take the third race, a $52,000 turf allowance sprint, with the 4-year-old filly Never Forget, who is out of the same mare (Frivolous) as Flippant. Both fillies are owned by breeder G. Watts Humphrey, the trainer's dad.

Bejarano's big day started with victory in the second race aboard Casino Star in an optional claiming $40,000 allowance race.

Oliver said it was only the second time in her career that she'd won three races on a card, the last time coming in June 19, 2006, at The Meadowlands' all-grass meet. She said it was her first time winning two stakes.

Oliver said she's hoping to run all three winning fillies in stakes at Kentucky Downs' meet in early September.

“I love Kentucky Downs. Love Ellis Park, and it's fun to be here supporting them,” she said. “I think it's fantastic they have this day. It's great for all of us who stay here and support the Kentucky circuit. It keeps us staying here. And we get a leg up to get into Kentucky Downs for that.”

Meet-leading trainer Brad Cox — who was busy winning Saratoga's Grade 1 Whitney Stakes with Knicks Go (an Ellis Park 2-year-old winner and runner-up in the Ellis Park Derby) — won the first of the stakes quartet as Shared Sense took the $65,000 Tri-State Overnight Stakes under Brian Hernandez Jr. Trainer Brendan Walsh — at Saratoga, where he was second in the Whitney with Maxfield, who trained all summer as a 2-year-old at Ellis Park — captured the $100,000 Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Turf Sprint with favored Born Great, ridden by Adam Beschizza.

The post Trainer Oliver, Jockey Bejarano Celebrate Multi-Win Day At Ellis Park Saturday appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Core Values Beats The Boys To Take Kentucky Downs Preview Dueling Grounds Derby

Core Values won her third straight race and this time beat males as BBN Racing's late-running 3-year-old filly got up on the last stride to the $100,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Dueling Grounds Derby by a nose over favored Royal Prince at Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky. It was another neck back to pacesetter Modern Science.

“She likes to make it close every time,” said winning trainer Vicki Oliver, who wound up winning three races on the card. “But she seems to get her head in front at the wire.”

Oliver used the turf stakes as a stepping stone to the $500,000 Exacta Systems Dueling Grounds Oaks at 1 5/16 miles on Kentucky Downs' Sept. 5 opening card. While she could have used the $100,000 Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Dueling Grounds Oaks for the same purpose, Oliver wanted the extra sixteenth-mile distance.

“We were thinking about the Pucker Up (at Arlington Park) next weekend,” she said. “But we felt we'd gain a week coming here before Kentucky Downs and half the ship. And a mile and an eighth made more sense than the mile and a sixteenth for fillies. So we decided to run her against the boys.”

Jockey Rafael Bejarano had Core Values back in last in the field of seven 3-year-olds, flying through the stretch to get up by a nod at the finish while covering 1 1/8 miles in 1:46.94 over firm turf. She paid $24.40 as the longest shot on the board.

Core Values earned her first victory on dirt last winter in Tampa. After a pair of double-digit defeats, Oliver put her back on the turf, which the filly had tried in her second start. Core Values reeled off an allowance victory at Indiana Grand and then took Arlington Park's Hatoof Stakes by a head.

“My horse did win the last two times in easy races,” Bejarano said. “She really didn't like it much the last time she ran on the dirt. When she ran on the turf, she looked tremendous. Today, I just wanted to relax in the beginning and make my own ground. By the three-eighths pole, when I had my position, I started to ask her for more and she responded and gave me a good kick. I wanted to make sure we were clear in the stretch. When I came up to the favored horse, I knew we were going to beat him.”

Core Values, a daughter of Honor Code, now is 4-0-0 in eight starts, earning $141,377 with the $60,570 payday.

Oliver said she was confident of a big performance.

“I liked that it was a small enough field, there was enough speed for her and pace for her to close into,” she said. “So I did like our chances. And we had five pounds on the boys. That's a big deal going a mile and an eighth.”

But was Oliver confident at the wire that she'd won?

“I thought we had it the whole way until I walked down here and everybody said, 'I don't think you got it,'” she said. “So yeah, I was until everyone second-guessed that we got there.”

Brian Hernandez Jr., aboard the Brad Cox-trained Royal Prince, said he wasn't sure who'd won the race.

“It was really close,” he said. “Because that horse went by me pretty good, and then my horse took off again like he was going to get back by. We just weren't sure at the wire.”

The post Core Values Beats The Boys To Take Kentucky Downs Preview Dueling Grounds Derby appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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