Del Mar | Horse Racing Free Tips

Second Chances: ‘Team Flightline’ Well-Represented on Pacific Classic Undercard

In this continuing series, TDN's Senior Editor Steve Sherack catches up with the connections of promising maidens to keep on your radar.

Before the brilliant Flightline (Tapit) puts his unbeaten record on the line in Saturday's GI TVG Pacific Classic, Hronis Racing, West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing and trainer John Sadler will also send out the well-bred Hawker (c, 2, Justify–Flaming Heart, by Touch Gold) for his second career start on the undercard.

Given a 6-1 chance going five furlongs on debut at Del Mar Aug. 6, the chestnut jumped well from his outside draw, but was quickly outfooted and began to climb as six of them threw down for early control. Under a busy ride in seventh through an opening quarter in :22.16, Hawker started to figure it out entering the far turn and launched an eye-catching four/five-wide move around the bend.

Looking like a winner as they straightened despite his early struggles and wide journey, he had his sights set on the drifting Mister Iceman (Girvin) in the stretch and just fell a neck short of the game pacesetter while coming home in a field-best :12.01. It was another 1 1/4 lengths back to runaway next-out maiden winner Carmel Road (Quality Road), who was forced to check late while a troubled third.

Hawker, given a respectable 76 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort, has posted three workouts since, most recently covering five furlongs in 1:00.40 (20/97) at Del Mar Aug. 28. He drew widest of all in post 10 in an absolutely loaded contest going 6 1/2 furlongs this weekend. Flavien Prat has the mount.

“You're up against it with a horse like this going five-eighths, there's no doubt,” West Point's Terry Finley said of Hawker's debut run. “I thought he was gonna pull up after a quarter of a mile, he was climbing that badly. But then you could see him level out as they went into the far turn. Really neat horse. I know Sadler is very excited to see him come back and make his second start.”

Finley continued, “This will put him in a spot where we'll be able to take another step forward. He's been really good coming out of his first race. He's definitely a horse that we're thinking of–he's gonna make a name for himself.”

Bred in Kentucky by WinStar Farm, Hawker brought $675,000 as a yearling out of the Taylor Made Sales Agency consignment at last year's Keeneland September sale.

Triple Crown winner Justify, currently sitting atop the freshman sire standings, is already represented by 11 winners, led by three graded winners. Hawker's dam Flaming Heart, a graded stakes-placed, two-time stakes winner, brought $1.5 million from WinStar Farm in foal to Street Cry (Ire) at the 2007 Keeneland November Sale.

Her winning first foal Mythical Bride (Street Cry) went on to produce GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner and champion older male Vino Rosso (Curlin). Flaming Heart is also responsible for three-time graded winner and narrow GI Belmont S. runner-up Commissioner (A.P. Indy), graded winner and narrow GI Breeders' Cup Sprint runner-up Laugh Track (Distorted Humor) and graded placed Intrepid Heart (Tapit).

“It's a solid pedigree,” Finley said. “Touch Gold as a broodmare sire has been a little bit underrated and Hawker's first dam has a lot of quality to her in her progeny. The Justifys are running to the hype overall. I've been very impressed with them–we have four of them. I think he's as good as any from the younger stallions in their first and second-crop year.”

The 'Second Chances' honor roll is headed by two-time Breeders' Cup winner Golden Pal (Uncle Mo), GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby winner and Lane's End stallion Honor A. P. (Honor Code) and MGISW and 'TDN Rising Star' Paradise Woods (Union Rags).

This term's GI Carter H. winner Speaker's Corner (Street Sense), GI Forego S. winner Cody's Wish (Curlin), GI Preakness S. third-place finisher Creative Minister (Creative Cause), Curlin S. winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Artorius (Arrogate) and streaking Cinema S. winner War At Sea (War Front) have also been featured in the series.

Other standouts include: GSW Moonlight d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro), GSW & MGISP Spielberg (Union Rags), GSW Backyard Heaven (Tizway), MSW and 'TDN Rising Star' Gidu (Ire) (Frankel {GB}); and GISP A Mo Reay (Uncle Mo).

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APBs: Forbidden Kingdom Gearing Up for Santa Anita Sprint Championship

MyRacehorse and Spendthrift Farm's Forbidden Kingdom (American Pharoah), a powerful wire-to-wire winner of the GII San Vicente S. Jan. 29 and GII San Felipe S. Mar. 5, could return to action against older horses in the GII Santa Anita Sprint Championship S. Oct. 1.

Knocked off the Triple Crown trail after finishing last of six as the favorite after setting a fast pace in the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby Apr. 9, the chestnut has posted three breezes since returning to the worktab in August, most recently firing a four-furlong bullet in :46 (1/65) at Hall of Famer Richard Mandella's Del Mar base Aug. 26.

“He just had a handful of setbacks–a succession of bad luck, bad timing type of things,” Spendthrift's General Manager Ned Toffey said.

“The most recent was a little bout with colitis and it just took a little bit for him to bounce back. Richard is such a great caretaker and he's given him plenty of time and let him get back to the horse that we know he is. He's starting to remind us of what we saw earlier in the year. We know he's fast. We know he's talented. It's just been a frustrating year. We're always gonna do what's right for the horse and give them the time that they need. Hopefully, he's gonna reward us for it.”

Bred in Kentucky by Gabriel Duignan's Springhouse Farm, Forbidden Kingdom brought $300,000 at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase. He is one of 16 graded winners worldwide for Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. Duignan purchased Forbidden Kingdom's dam Just Louise (Five Star Day), winner of the 2010 GIII Debutante S. and a half-sister to MGSW Sara Louise (Malibu Moon), for $150,000 at the 2013 FTKNOV sale.

Forbidden Kingdom, a debut winner at two at Del Mar, was also second in last term's GIII Bob Hope S. and third in the grassy Speakeasy S.

“When we bought him at the sale, he very much had a look of an American dirt speed horse,” Toffey said.

“And not that he can't stretch out. We still feel like the jury is out on that subject. They need to do it on the track and build that resume before getting admitted to the stud barn, but he certainly is the kind of horse that I think breeders would really respond well to. We want to try to enjoy some more success with him first.”

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Taylor Made CEO Mark Taylor Talks Not This Time, Yearling Sales On Writers’ Room

Business is booming at Taylor Made, not just because of the company's continued status as the largest sales consignor in the country, but also on the stallion side with the continued ascent of their young star sire Not This Time. Tuesday, Taylor Made CEO joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland as the Green Group Guest of the Week to talk about Not This Time's newest Grade I winner in Runhappy Travers S. romper Epicenter, his team's approach to yearling sales and more.

“You can never predict that a horse is going to do what Not This Time has done,” Taylor said. “We've been down this path before. We had Saint Ballado, who led the general sires' list. We had Unbridled's Song, who led the general sires' list. And then we've had a lot of horses who never even got close to leading the general sires' list. So when a horse starts out and they're showing promise, people love their babies, the market is reacting positively to them, you feel the momentum building, but then you don't know what's going to happen when the racetrack acid test really happens. But he's just a horse who's gone from strength to strength. At every stage he's excelled and we're very blessed to have him on our farm. He just keeps ratcheting up from one level to the next, and we don't know where it's going to land him, but it looks pretty promising right now.”

Elsewhere on the show, which is also sponsored by Coolmore, Lane's End, the KTOB, West Point Thoroughbreds, Three Chimneys, XBTV and Legacy Bloodstock, the writers broke down a huge Saturday at Saratoga and looked forward to Flightline (Tapit)'s much-anticipated start in the GI TVG Pacific Classic. Click here to watch the show; click here for the audio-only version or find it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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XBTV Nears 2K Works From Saratoga, Del Mar

Edited Press Release

With closing weekends on the horizon for this summer's Saratoga and Del Mar meets, XBTV.com has already successfully captured, cataloged and uploaded nearly 2,000 morning video workouts for racing's marquee meets. The XBTV workouts are available without cost to those with a 1/ST account.

“An analysis of a published workout based only on final time can lead to a faulty conclusion,” said Jeff Siegel, Xpressbet.com handicapper and one of the country's most respected analysts. “How the breeze was accomplished, and which work mate it was accomplished with, can be just as important, if not more so, especially at Saratoga and Del Mar, where so many young horses make their debuts. Rather than relying on independent analysis, the XBTV.com video workouts allow horseplayers and horsemen to use their own insight and formulate their own opinions to solve the puzzle.”

With Del Mar's GI TVG Pacific Classic and Saratoga's GI Jockey Club Gold Cup set for Saturday, Sept. 3, most runners in the large fields expected in the full cards that day should have workouts on XBTV. As happens at Santa Anita Park and Gulfstream Park during the Winter and Spring, XBTV camera teams have been trackside each morning working with the Official Clockers at each track to record as many of the workouts as possible. The full XBTV library allows handicappers to the opportunity to look at how a horse's work pattern might have changed–positively or negatively–throughout its career.

Several syndicates / fractional ownership groups, including West Point Thoroughbreds, MyRacehorse, Little Red Feather and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, have separate portals on the XBTV.com site to follow their horses. The workouts are also featured on NBC Sports' Breeders' Cup Challenge Series coverage and on Fox Sports' Saratoga Live.

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