dallas stewart | Horse Racing Free Tips

Unified Reports Stays Undefeated With Win In Louisiana Champions Day Juvenile

On Monday, trainer Dallas Stewart welcomed his first grandchild into the world, and just a few short days later, Henry Lane Stewart and family watched from afar as Valene Farms' Unified Report would score yet another Louisiana Champions Day win for grandpa.

Sent off as the .70-1 favorite in the $100,000 Juvenile, the sophomore son of Unified, tracked the pace set by the embattled Grunt and Charco through contested fractions of :21.76 and :45.63. Four-wide on the turn for home, he battled briefly with eventual third place finisher Charco mid-stretch before putting that rival away. Unified Report led into the deep stretch, and held safe of the late closing 1.80-1 second choice, the maiden Bron and Brow, stopping the timer in 1:10.55.

“Truly it all goes back to thanking Mr. Murray (owner Valene),” Hernandez said. “Year after year, he just keeps finding these really good Louisiana-breds. I think this is like the third or fourth year in a row we've won one of these 2-year-old (stakes) races. He (Unified Report) looked like he was the best horse in the race and I just did my job, give him the cleanest trip we could. He's a young horse, but he was two for two (coming in) so he's got a little experience behind him. There were for of them in front, so I just let him find his rhythm, I got him in the clear and off he went. What really impressed me today was the way he galloped out. He hit the wire and kind of stepped away from those horses again, so he kind of shows you that he wants to stretch out and go to two turns.”

With the win, Unified Report remained perfect from three starts, increasing his bankroll to $154,720 in the process.

Bron and Brow, who finished third at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., in his career debut, added blinkers for the Juvenile, and after a difficult trip with some traffic trouble, he too stamped himself as a youngster to watch.

“It was a little troubled trip for me,” jockey Deshawn Parker admitted. “He was trying to run and had nowhere to go for a while. So once I came out of the turn, I tried to dig him out. But it was real trouble. Trouble. He's a maiden but he won't be a maiden much longer.”

“We had a horrible trip,” assistant trainer David Carroll added. “He was loaded the whole way, had to check hard off heels, then had to wait for room. He closed fast. To me, he was much the best horse in the race. He's a talented colt and we look forward to running him back. That's racing.”

A longtime supporter of Louisiana racing, Murray Valene was thrilled with his colt's performance.

“We had an undefeated filly (Big Time) win for us on this day last year, and this year it was the colt (Unified Report),” Valene said. “I want to thank Dallas Stewart and his team for doing such a great job. This colt looks like he wants to go longer and he might have the talent to do it successfully.”

The post Unified Reports Stays Undefeated With Win In Louisiana Champions Day Juvenile appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Last Samurai Holds Off Super Stock To Win Poinsettia At Oaklawn

Jon Court, still riding winners at age 61, showed that a jockey can turn in a bold ride at any age with his late-stretch move on Last Samurai to win the inaugural Poinsettia Stakes at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort in Hot Springs, Ark. After stalking the pace, a wide move on the far turn gave Last Samurai the clear running lane he needed to battle Super Stock and emerge victorious by three-quarters of a length.

Flash of Mischief got the best of a clean break, getting out to an early lead over Myopic and Super Stock into the first turn. Down the backstretch, Flash of Mischief was a length in front, with Last Samurai stalking in fourth. Into the far turn, Flash of Mischief still held the advantage, with Court moving Last Samurai three-wide to find a running lane for their stretch bid.

Into the Oaklawn straight, Flash of Mischief held a half-length lead with Last Samurai and Super Stock driving on his outside. Those two dueled down the latter part of the stretch, with Last Samurai digging in to take over the lead inside the last sixteenth of a mile. He was three-quarters of a length in front at the wire, with Super Stock second and Flash of Mischief holding on for third. Defeater, Ram, Myopic, and Simovitch rounded out the field.

The final time for the 1 1/16 miles was 1:43.70. Find this race's chart here.

Last Samurai paid $10.20, $4.40, and $3.00. Super Stock paid $3.60 and $2.40. Flash of Mischief paid $2.80.

Bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings, Last Samurai is by Mailbu Moon out of the First Samurai mare Lady Samuri. He is trained by Dallas Stewart and owned by Willis Horton Racing, who purchased the colt from consigner Gene Recio for $175,000 at the March 2020 Ocala Breeders' Sales Company Two-Year-Olds In Training Sale. With his win in the Poinsettia, the 3-year-old colt has two wins in nine starts in 2021, for a lifetime record of three wins in 12 starts and career earnings of $312,744.

The post Last Samurai Holds Off Super Stock To Win Poinsettia At Oaklawn appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Strava Tops HORA Portion of KEENOV

Strava, a promising juvenile colt by super sire Into Mischief, topped Friday's 10th and final session of the Keeneland November Sale, bringing $825,000 from legendary University of Louisville basketball Denny Crum. Consignor and part-owner WinStar Farm stayed in for half.

There were 435 horses catalogued for Friday's session with the first 148 being broodmares and weanlings and the remaining 287 comprised of active racehorses. This was the first time the horse of racing age portion was consolidated into a single and final session.

A total of 231 horses grossed $9,122,400 Friday with an average of $39,491 and median of $14,000. The RNA rate was 11.83%. Of those, 127 were horses of racing age, which brought $8,029,000.

WinStar Racing led all consignors during the final session, selling 22 racehorses for $2,456,500 and an average of $113,932. Their consignment accounted for three of the top five sellers and six of the top 11, including three for Juddmonte. Elite was second with 21 head bringing $1,707,000. They represented four of the top 12.

The red-hot Into Mischief was the day's leading sire, with seven of his offspring selling for $1,163,000.

Crum Gets in the Game for Strava

Denny Crum, who put together a Hall of Fame career as the basketball coach for the University of Louisville, has been in the racing industry on and off over the years. However, he made a big splash at Keeneland November Friday when purchasing the promising juvenile colt Strava (Into Mischief) (Hip 3631) for $825,000 during the Horses of Racing Age Portion.

WinStar Farm, which bred, consigned and co-owned the colt with Siena Farm, stayed in for 50%. Strava will be returned to the care of trainer Dallas Stewart, who bid on Crum's behalf.

“He's had horses off and on,” Stewart said. “He's got a piece of another 2-year-old. He's been in the game a long time. He knows the ups and the downs. He has won a lot at the buzzer and he has lost a lot at the buzzer, so he knows what's going on.”

The conditioner continued, “It is hard to find the good ones. People are always like, 'When you find a good one let me know.' I was at a fish fry last night. I started talking to him about this colt and said, 'Do you want to go to the sale?' He said, 'Sure.' I showed him the race when he won at Keeneland. I was so impressed. We took the ride over there and he bought half of him and WinStar stayed in for half.”

Kenny Troutt's operation purchased the colt's dam SW & GISP Catch My Drift (Pioneerof the Nile) for $400,000 at the 2015 KEENOV sale. A $275,000 RNA at KEESEP, Strava won on debut for Stewart, WinStar and Siena Farm going six panels at Keeneland Oct. 9.

As for future plans for Strava, Stewart said, “He has been over at the sale a couple of days. You kind of back off of them a little bit going into the sale. He should be back at Churchill this afternoon. We will just ease him back into the training. We will put a campaign together for him later on. He will go back to the Fair Grounds this winter.”

Stewart and Crum have had success together before, most notably with a mare named Nasty Storm (Gulch). She won three graded events and placed in a pair of Grade Is before selling to Frank Stronach for $1.075 million at the 2002 KEENOV sale.

“We have had a couple horses together,” Stewart said. “We had one really, really nice filly named Nasty Storm. She was a graded stakes winner and we sold her for a lot of money to Mr. Stronach. We had a lot of fun with her.”

The post Strava Tops HORA Portion of KEENOV appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Turf Festival At Del Mar Attracts Number of East Coast Trainers

The nomination deadline is not until Thursday night for the seven stakes races from Thanksgiving Thursday to closing day on Sunday, November 28, unofficially known as the “Turf Festival” at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

And New York-based trainer Chad Brown, who has shipped in nine winners from his deep bench of grass runners in the past, hasn't been heard from yet.

But several other prominent Midwest- and East Coast-based conditioners have, leading to expectations in the racing office of quality and quantity invaders for the main events on the Bing Crosby Season's final four days.

A sneak peek, with horse names being withheld until close of entries:

Hollywood Turf Cup, Friday, November 26th, Grade 2, $250,000, 1 ½ miles (turf), 3-year-olds and up: Trainer Mike Maker has placed five in nomination for a race Brad Cox won last year with Arklow.

Hollywood Derby, Saturday, November 27th, Grade 1, $400,000, 1 1/8 miles (turf), 3-year-olds: Wesley Ward, Dallas Stewart, Ken McPeek, Maker (2), Jack Sisterson (2), Graham Motion, and Gregory Sacco have nominees. Brown has won it three times, sending out Annals of Time (2016), Raging Bull (2018), and Domestic Spending last year.

Seabiscuit Handicap, Saturday, November 27th, Grade 2, $250,000, 1 1/16 miles (turf), 3-year-olds and up: One horse from Japan is listed while Maker has submitted two names and Motion one. Phil D'Amato has carried the locally-based trainer banner to wins with Midnight Storm (2015), Hunt (2017), and Count Again (2020). Add Richard Baltas' win with Next Shares in 2019 and this has been a good Festival race for the home team.

Jimmy Durante Stakes, Saturday, November 27, Grade 3, $100,000, 1 mile (turf), 2-year-old fillies: Maker and Motion (2) have nominees for an event dominated by shippers over the years. Brown-trained Fluffy Socks won last year. Mike Stidham won the two years before that and George Weaver, Motion, and Mark Casse have also scored in the seven editions at Del Mar.

Cecil B. DeMille Stakes, Sunday, November 28, Grade 3, $100,000, 1 mile (turf), 2-year-olds: Motion has an early nominee in an event that has been good for locals. Smooth Like Strait won for Mike McCarthy in 2019 and Beer Can Man for Mark Glatt last year. Both horses ran during the recent Breeders' Cup Week here.

Matriarch Stakes, Sunday, November 28, Grade 1, $400,000, 1 mile (turf), older fillies and mares: Trainer Joe Sharp has two nominated and Stidham one for the climactic stakes race of the meeting. Brown has shipped in three winners in seven meetings, among them Viadera in 2020.

The post Turf Festival At Del Mar Attracts Number of East Coast Trainers appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post