Tag: Curlin

Malathaat Could Enter Belmont Stakes, If Velazquez Is Available

Undefeated Kentucky Oaks winner Malathaat is under consideration for the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes on June 5, reports the Thoroughbred Daily News.

The 3-year-old daughter of Curlin is best suited by longer distances, explained Shadwell Farms' Vice President and General Manager Rick Nichols, and there aren't any other two-turn Grade 1 races for fillies and mares until July.

“It has crossed our minds,” Nichols told the TDN. “One issue would be whether or not we could get John Velazquez. If Medina Spirit wins the Preakness Stakes., obviously John will have to choose him for the Belmont. No one would blame him for choosing that horse.”

Trainer Todd Pletcher already has experience with successfully sending a filly from the Kentucky Oaks to win the Belmont Stakes, having accomplished the feat in 2007 with Rags to Riches. A total of three fillies have won the Belmont.

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.

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Cordmaker Returns To Pimlico Special For Third Straight Year

Hillwood Stable's multiple stakes winner Cordmaker, third in each of the past two years, is headed for a third straight trip to the historic $250,000 Pimlico Special (G3) May 14 at Pimlico Race Course.

Trainer Rodney Jenkins said Monday that plans call for the gelded 6-year-old son of two-time Horse of the Year and 2014 Hall of Famer Curlin to make his 29th career start in the 1 3/16-mile Special on the undercard of the $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan (G2).

“We're going to give it a shot. He's run great the past two years,” Jenkins said. “We're going to give it a chance to see if we can be something besides third this time.”

Bred in Maryland by the late Bob Manfuso and trainer Katy Voss, Cordmaker was beaten two necks when third behind Tenfold and You're To Blame in the 2019 Special. Harpers First Ride was a two-length winner in 2020 when the race was delayed from mid-May to early October amid the coronavirus pandemic, with Cordmaker a half-length behind runner-up Owendale.

Last year's Special came during a career-long winless drought for Cordmaker of 10 races spanning more than 17 months. Second or third in six of those starts, all of them in stakes, he returned to the winner's circle with a front-running one-length triumph in the 1 1/8-mile Harrison E. Johnson Memorial March 13 at Laurel Park.

“It had to be good for him because it got him more confidence. He ran a really nice race,” Jenkins said. “We hope between that and the way he's been training that he's up to this.”

Cordmaker has breezed twice since the Johnson, both times bullet five-furlong moves at Pimlico. He went in 1:00.20 April 18, the fastest of 33 horses, and returned to go in 59.40 seconds April 27, the best of 15 horses.

“He's doing really well. The horse is probably has never done better in his life than he's doing now,” Jenkins said. “He seems to be interested in everything. We took him to Pimlico to work him and he worked good there, so I hope he runs as good as he's training.”

Purchased for $150,000 as yearling in 2016, Cordmaker has nine wins, four seconds and six thirds with purse earnings of $588,640. He won the Jennings for Maryland-bred/sired horses as a 3-year-old in 2018 and the Johnson and Polynesian at Laurel and DTHA Governors Day Handicap in 2019 at Delaware Park.

The Pimlico Special for 3-year-olds and up was created in 1937 by Alfred Vanderbilt, the master of Sagamore Farm, as the first major stakes in the United States set up as an invitational, and was won by Triple Crown champion War Admiral. The following year, War Admiral was upset by Seabiscuit in what Sports Illustrated has called the “Race of the Century.”

Revived in 1988 by the late Maryland Jockey Club president Frank J. De Francis, the Special's illustrious roster of winners also includes Triple Crown winners Whirlaway, Citation and Assault and modern-day Horses of the Year Criminal Type, Cigar, Skip Away, Mineshaft and Invasor.

A total of 16 stakes, 10 graded, worth $3.25 million in purses will be contested over Preakness weekend, May 14-15, at Pimlico, highlighted by the 146th running of the $1 million Preakness Stakes (G1), Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown.

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Malathaat Guts Out Emotional Victory In Kentucky Oaks

It was an emotional Friday under the Twin Spires for members of the global racing and breeding operation Shadwell Stable. The organization's founder, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, died on March 24, 2021, just five weeks before the running of the 2021 Kentucky Oaks.

The rangy bay filly with a wide star on her head may have understood the extra significance of the day. Malathaat, a daughter of Curlin out of Grade 1 winner Dreaming of Julia, was undefeated entering the fillies' classic for trainer Todd Pletcher.

This afternoon at Churchill Downs, Malathaat (5-2) faced a field of 12 other sophomore fillies all vying for the coveted garland of lilies. At the head of the lane, there were three across the track putting on a show for 41,472 fans at Churchill Downs.: Malathaat on the outside, frontrunner Travel Column (7-2) at the rail, and the also undefeated Search Results (5-1) between them.

Try as they might, neither of those rivals could get by Malathaat and John Velazquez. Not on this day. They brought home a first U.S. Classic victory for Shadwell, carrying the white and blue colors across the line a neck in front of Search Results. Malathaat completed nine furlongs over the fast main track in 1:48.99.

“It's just fantastic for our whole operation, such a big lift,” said Rick Nichols, Vice President and General Manager of Shadwell Stable. “I know in my heart he saw her win. He loved racing too much to miss this one.”

After the wire, Search Results' jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. reached over to congratulate Velazquez with a pat on the back.

Irad Ortiz, right, congratulates John Velazquez, left, after his Kentucky Oaks win aboard Malathaat.

Malathaat's triumph marks the fourth Kentucky Oaks win for Hall of Fame nominee Todd Pletcher, and the second for Velazquez. Velazquez and Pletcher teamed to win the Oaks in 2004 with Ashado, as well as the 2017 Kentucky Derby with Always Dreaming. Pletcher's other Oaks victories came with Princess of Sylmar in 2013 and Rags to Riches in 2007.

The victory puts Pletcher and Velazquez in position to make history Saturday in the $3 million Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (G1). No trainer since Ben Jones in 1952 has won the Oaks and Derby in the same year. Jones also did it in 1949 and Dick Thompson did it in 1933.

Seven riders have won the Oaks and Derby in the same year with the most recent being Calvin Borel in 2009.

Bumped from each side at the start, Malathaat looked as though she'd be shuffled back to the rear of the field. Instead, her Hall of Fame jockey sent her through a narrow hole to be three-wide in sixth position around the clubhouse turn.

Up front, Travel Column set a mild pace of :23.60 and :47.47, a half-length ahead of Moraz and Search Results. Pauline's Pearl got a cozy spot against the rail in fourth, while Malathaat was able to secure the outside position in fifth for the run up the backstretch. After six furlongs in 1:11.31, both Search Results and Malathaat were winding up and bearing down on Travel Column.

Search Results and Travel Column appeared to bump one another at the head of the lane, while Malathaat stayed in the clear in about the four-path. Despite her wide trip early in the race, Velazquez allowed Malathaat to drift in as Search Results did, the pair ending up against the rail with Malathaat on the outside. In the final eighth of a mile, Malathaat was all heart to fend off Search Results in the shadow of the wire.

“She got away from there just a bit slow, but Johnny (Velazquez) moved her up and got her in a much better position,” Pletcher said. “He had to lose some ground and go wide to do it, but it was the right thing to do. She wants a target to run at and she got one here. Delighted with the outcome.”

Malathaat was a neck in front of Search Results at the finish. It was three lengths back to Will's Secret in third, just a nose in front of late-running Clairiere. The remaining order of finish was: Travel Column, Millefeuille, Maracuja, Pauline's Pearl, Coach, Crazy Beautiful, Moraz, Pass the Champagne, and Competitive Speed. Ava's Grace was scratched earlier in the week.

Chad Brown, trainer of runner-up Search Results, said: “I'm so proud of the filly and the way she ran. She put it all out there on the track for us and you can't ask for anything more than that. She ran her eyeballs out, she really did. She battled all the way to the end and we got beat by a really good filly. She delivered and hopefully we'll get one of these one day.”

The winner was bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet Thoroughbreds, who campaigned her dam, Dreaming of Julia (A.P. Indy), with Pletcher to earnings of $874,500. Malathaat is the second foal out of the mare, and commanded a final bid of $1.05 million from Shadwell at the Keeneland September Yearling sale.

She broke her maiden at first asking, won a listed stakes race at Aqueduct, and then the G2 Demoiselle to cap her juvenile season. Malathaat returned off a four-month layoff to post a gutsy win in the G1 Ashland, and now the Kentucky Oaks victory has the filly's record standing at 5-for-5, with earnings of over $1.1 million.

Malathaat (Curlin) wins the Kentucky Oaks (G1) at Churchill Downs on 4.30.21. John Velazquez up, Todd Pletcher trainer, Shadwell Stables owner.

Shadwell's legacy began in 1980, when Sheikh Hamdan founded his racing and breeding operation.

It peaked in the U.S. with an Eclipse Award as outstanding owner in 2007. That season was led by Hall of Famer Invasor, who won the Dubai World Cup and Grade 1 Donn Handicap that season.

However, the Shadwell operation's U.S. interests will probably be best remembered for its 2006 campaign, when Invasor secured Horse of the Year honors with victories in the Breeders' Cup Classic, Whitney Handicap, and Pimlico Special. That season also saw Sheikh Hamdan win his first U.S. classic when Jazil executed his signature closing move to win the Belmont Stakes.

While Shadwell's operation was successful in the U.S., its true power lied in Europe, and especially in the U.K. The stable was represented by two winners of the English 2000 Guineas (Nashwan in 1989 and Haafhd in 2004), and two Epsom Derby winners (Nashwan in the same year and Erhaab in 1994).

Sheikh Hamdan also had five winners of the English 1000 Guineas and three Epsom Oaks winners. He was also a regular presence at the prestigious Royal Ascot meet, where he earned the meet's leading owner title in 2020 with six winners.

Shadwell has earned Great Britain's leading owner title on five occasions, most recently in 2020. Shadwell won the Irish Derby in 1990 with Salsabil, the Irish 2000 Guineas with Awtaad in 2016, and five runnings of the Irish 1000 Guineas from 1985 to 2010.

In his native U.A.E., Sheikh Hamdan won the signature Dubai World Cup on two occasions, first winning it with Almutawakel in 1999, then taking it again with Invasor in 2007.

Shadwell also had an extensive Southern Hemisphere operation, particularly in Australia, where Sheikh Hamdan won the Melbourne Cup on two occasions: At Talaq in 1986, and Jeune in 1994.

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Curlin’s Undefeated Malathaat Scores Gutsy Victory in KY Oaks

LOUISVILLE, KY – His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum is smiling somewhere tonight.

Shadwell Stable's 'TDN Rising Star' Malathaat (Curlin) outslugged Search Results (Flatter) by a neck in a battle of unbeatens in a GI Kentucky Oaks for the ages Friday at Churchill Downs. It was another 2 3/4 lengths back to Will's Secret (Will Take Charge) in third.

Sheikh Hamdan, who campaigned countless champions and Classic winners across the globe, passed away at 75 in late March.

“A million things have been going through my mind,” Shadwell Stable's Vice President and General Manager Rick Nichols said. “You know, losing the boss the way we did and him coming off a great year–he was the leading owner in Europe last year. And we have many good horses in our stable this year. And having Malathaat step up and give him an Oaks win is, you know, more than we could ask for.”

Nichols continued, “He loved the sport. Even in his advanced years, he didn't lose his passion for it. He was a very, very close friend. He was a lot of times a father figure, sometimes like a brother, sometimes like a friend. But he was always the boss. I loved him dearly. He'll always be missed.”

Favored at 5-2, the $1.05-million Keeneland September Yearling purchase was squeezed and bumped at the start as the lively and pinked-out Oaks day crowd of 41,472 let out a roar as the field of 13 was on its way beneath sun-splashed skies.

Malathaat, who made it four-for-four in a hard-fought GI Central Bank Ashland S. victory at Keeneland last out Apr. 3, recovered nicely, and got into a good rhythm beneath Johnny Velazquez heading into the clubhouse turn in a four-wide fifth as Travel Column (Frosted) led through a :23.60 opening quarter.

Search Results, heroine of the GIII Gazelle S. Apr. 3, sat in third, meanwhile, ready to pounce with Irad Ortiz, Jr. in the irons as Malathaat was two spots back in fifth through a half mile in :47.47.

Search Results and Malathaat both began to rev up three and four wide to take on the pacesetter approaching the quarter pole and the stage was set.

Search Results briefly held a narrow advantage in the stretch and fought on bravely from the inside, but just couldn't withstand Malathaat, who ground her way by for the lilies.

In a touching moment just past the wire, Ortiz gave his highly respected elder statesman several pats on the back as the two galloped out in tandem.

“She didn't get away the best, but I got a spot with her,” Velazquez said. “She was running well and when I turned for home, I had a target [Search Results] to send her after. We got up next to her and my filly went by. Then she waited a bit; she does that. The other filly came back, but I could tell I was still in control. I never thought I was going to do anything but win.”

It was the fourth Oaks win for Pletcher and the second for Velazquez, who teamed with the future Hall of Famer to take the 2004 renewal with Ashado. Pletcher's other two Oaks victories were with Princess of Sylmar in 2013 and Rags to Riches in 2007.

Malathaat's ultra-talented dam Dreaming of Julia (A.P. Indy) was an unlucky fourth for Pletcher as the favorite in the 2013 Oaks.

“I commented coming over that her dam finished fourth in this race and got off to a really poor start, got basically eliminated,” Pletcher said. “When she didn't jump real well the first stride or two and then got jostled around, I was concerned we were going to have the same misfortune we had with her dam.”

Pletcher continued, “I thought Johnny made a key decision to quickly try to get her back into position after that. And I felt a lot better after about a sixteenth of a mile once he got to a good stalking position, had her in the clear, and had her in a rhythm. Then it was just a matter of hopefully there was enough pace on up front that they would come back to her a little bit. It was great ride for a great filly and a great team. We are very fortunate to have her.”

Pletcher began training for Shadwell just last year when longtime trainer and fellow former D. Wayne Lukas assistant Kiaran McLaughlin announced his retirement.

“I remember three or four days after the sale, I saw Kiaran McLauglin,” Pletcher said. “And I said, 'Kiaran, are you getting to get that Dreaming of Julia filly?' He said, 'I think so, yeah.' And I said, 'Man, great, I love that filly.' When I met with Rick and his team at Shadwell before we started training for them, I saw the filly was on the roster. I was really hoping she would come our way.”

Malathaat, a 'Rising Star' debut winner at Belmont last October, stretched to a one-turn mile with a flashy, runaway victory in Aqueduct's Tempted S. a month later. She made her two-turn debut a winning one, concluding her juvenile campaign with a 3/4-length tally in the GII Demoiselle S. Dec. 5. Originally ticketed to kick off her season in the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks, Malathaat was re-routed to the Ashland while observing a 10-day mourning period for Sheikh Hamdan.

Friday, Churchill Downs
LONGINES KENTUCKY OAKS-GI, $1,250,000, Churchill Downs, 4-30, 3yo, f, 1 1/8m, 1:48.99, ft.
1–MALATHAAT, 121, f, 3, by Curlin
1st Dam: Dreaming of Julia (GISW, $874,500), by A.P. Indy
2nd Dam: Dream Rush, by Wild Rush
3rd Dam: Turbo Dream, by Unbridled
'TDN Rising Star' ($1,050,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Shadwell Stable; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY); T-Todd A Pletcher; J-John R Velazquez. $713,000. Lifetime Record: 5-5-0-0, $1,125,150. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Search Results, 121, f, 3, by Flatter
1st Dam: Co Cola (GSP), by Candy Ride (Arg)
2nd Dam: Yong Musician, by Yonaguska
3rd Dam: Alljazz, by Stop the Music
($310,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Klaravich Stables Inc; B-Machmer Hall (KY); T-Chad C Brown. $230,000.
3–Will's Secret, 121, f, 3, by Will Take Charge
1st Dam: Girls Secret, by Giant's Causeway
2nd Dam: Well Monied, by Maria's Mon
3rd Dam: Queen of America, by Quiet American
O-Willis Horton Racing LLC; B-Willis Horton Racing LLC (KY); T-Dallas Stewart. $115,000.
Margins: NK, 2 3/4, NO. Odds: 2.50, 5.70, 26.50.
Also Ran: Clairiere, Travel Column, Millefeuille, Maracuja, Pauline's Pearl, Coach, Crazy Beautiful, Moraz, Pass the Champagne, Competitive Speed. Scratched: Ava's Grace.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

Pedigree Notes:

Malathaat is one of 14 Grade I winners for the mighty Curlin, who was represented two races earlier by GII Eight Belles S. winner Obligatory. She is bred on the same cross as last year's

GI Woodward H. hero Global Campaign and recent GI Santa Anita H. victor Idol.

The legendary A.P. Indy is the sire of the dams of no fewer than 30 highest-level winners, including recent G1 Dubai World Cup winner Mystic Guide (Ghostzapper).

Malathaat is the third foal–first to race–out of Dreaming of Julia, a daughter of MGISW Dream Rush. Dreaming of Julia has a 2-year-old colt by Medaglia d'Oro, a yearling full-sister to Malathaat and foaled a Medaglia d'Oro filly earlier this spring.

The ultra-talented Dreaming of Julia, a Stonestreet homebred and Pletcher-trained 'TDN Rising Star' herself, registered a career high in Belmont's GI Frizette S. at two. Her resume also included a 21 3/4-length victory in the GII Gulfstream Oaks, good for an astronomical 114 Beyer Speed Figure, a runner-up finish in the GI Mother Goose S. and a third-place finish in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.

This is also the same female family of MGSW Dream Pauline (Tapit) and stakes-winning young sire Atreides (Medaglia d'Oro).

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