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Mychel Sanchez Hoping To Make His Presence Felt At Monmouth Park This Summer

Though jockey Mychel Sanchez has been a proven commodity at Parx, where he has won the past two riding titles, the 25-year-old is trying to make his presence felt at Monmouth Park this summer as well.

“I was always at Parx, and I think I am built for more than just one track,” said Sanchez. “I think I am more of a jockey than just Parx, and I think I can do better by going to New York, here at Monmouth, and other places on the East Coast.”

During his career Sanchez has raced primarily at Parx, where he has posted 52 wins and is winning at a 14 percent clip in 2021. This summer he has had the opportunity to ride in stakes races at Monmouth Park, Pimlico, Delaware Park (where he is 11-for-34 overall this year) and Belmont Park.

The native of Venezuela is on pace to ride the most he ever has in his career, which started in 2013, with 439 mounts this year alone. The most mounts he has in a single season was 859 in 2019.

He is just beginning to get a foothold at the Monmouth meet too, with a 3-2-4 line from 29 mounts. Overall he has 67 wins entering the day.

“I think it is time for me to go out there, get to know more people and get bigger opportunities,” said Sanchez. “I want to be a jockey who travels around and competes in big races.”

Sanchez has one career graded stakes victory, which came in 2018 when he rode Dixie Serenade to a victory at Belmont Park in the Grade 3 Victory Rides Stakes. The winning ticket had a payout of $97.50. He has been clamoring for more opportunities to ride in bigger races ever since.

“I think I can do better in stake races. I think I am built for it,” he said. “I believe I can ride against anybody if I have the right horse.”

Sanchez' first stakes win of the Monmouth Park meet happened June 27, when he rode Groovy Surprise to victory the Smart N' Classy Handicap. The jockey has had mounts in two grade 3 stakes races at Monmouth Park so far this summer — the Salvator Mile and the Eatontown Stakes — but a second graded stakes career victory has eluded him so far.

“Most of the time it's all about the horse, but you still have to go out there and do the job, and do the right thing as a jockey,” said Sanchez. “I think I can do anything, and if I have the right horse, I will win.”

Besides winning graded stakes races, he has aspirations of being the top rider at Monmouth Park and reaching the 1,000-win mark. He currently has 843 career wins.

“I am hoping to accomplish a lot of things in my career, like (winning) graded stakes, and hopefully winning more riding titles at tracks other than Parx — like Monmouth,” said Sanchez. “Getting 1,000 wins would be great. I work hard and I try hard, and I could do anything that a trainer needs me to do. I just need the opportunity.”

With Scott Silver as his agent, and given an opportunity with top trainers, Sanchez feels his name can spread throughout the Eastern seaboard.

“Just give me the chance. Like I told my agent, just put my name out there and I will open the doors,” he said. “More people are starting to notice.”

Coming from a family where his father, uncle and brother were all riders, Sanchez hopes to carry on his family's name, and leave a legacy that aspiring riders will hope to replicate.

“I want my career to end with my name in the history books,” he said.

The post Mychel Sanchez Hoping To Make His Presence Felt At Monmouth Park This Summer appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Well-Traveled Bonny South Installed Delaware Handicap Favorite

Juddmonte's Bonny South tops the 84th renewal of the $400,000, Grade 2 Delaware Handicap at Delaware Park in Wilmington, Del., this Saturday. The filly and mare summer classic has attracted a field of seven. After being shortened to a mile and an eighth last year due to the pandemic, the race will return to the traditional distance of a mile and a quarter. The Delaware Handicap has been carded as the ninth race with an approximate post time of 5:15 p.m. ET.

This year, the 4-year-old daughter of Munnings is one for two. In her first outing in 2021, the Kentucky-bred trained by Brad Cox notched a head victory in the 1 1/16-mile, Grade 3 Doubledogdare at Keeneland on April 16. She followed by running second over the same distance in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park on June 5. Last year, Bonny South had a record of two wins and three seconds from six starts including a victory in the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks and a trio of seconds in Grade 1 Alabama at Saratoga, the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico and the Grade 2 Falls City at Churchill Downs. She has a career record of four wins and four seconds from ten starts with earnings $692,150.

“She is doing well,” said trainer Brad Cox. “She is a solid horse. You never really have to make any excuses for her and hopefully with a good trip on Saturday, she will get the job done. We have run her at Fair Grounds, Oaklawn, Pimlico, Keeneland, Saratoga, Belmont and obviously Churchill and she has run well at each time regardless of distance. She is a just a consistent and solid filly.”

Bonny South will be arriving in Delaware towards the end of the week.

“She is going to ship to Monmouth,” Cox said. “We are sending a little string to Monmouth and she will be part of that group. From there, we are going to ship her to Delaware the day before or the day of the race, so she will be there Friday or Saturday.”

A solid effort in the Delaware Handicap will punch a ticket for her to travel to upstate New York in August.

“If all goes well afterward, we will ship her to Saratoga and point for the Personal Ensign (August 28),” Cox said.

Trainer Joseph Saffie Jr. has entered both eFive Racing Thoroughbreds Gibberish and Ken Copenhaver's Queen Nekia.

It will be a homecoming for Queen Nekia as the 6-year-old daughter of Harlington will be returning to the track where she has a main track career record of five wins, two seconds and a third from ten starts. The Florida-bred has not raced at Delaware Park since her Delaware Certified Horse of the Year campaign in 2019.

In her 2021 debut, she posted a 1 ¾-length score in the Grade 3 Royal Delta going 1 1/16 miles at Gulfstream Park on February 20. Since then, she had a pair of fourth-place efforts in the Top Flight Invitational at Aqueduct on April 10 and the aforementioned Phipps at Belmont on June 5. She has a career record of ten wins, six seconds and seven thirds from 34 starts with earnings of $528,876.

“She has run well at Delaware in the past, so hopefully she will run well again on Saturday,” said trainer Joseph Saffie Jr. “She was a proven solid filly before we claimed her back in December 2019 and she has gotten even better. She has done more than we could have ever asked for.”

Gibberish has a career mark of four wins, a second and a third from 11 starts with earnings of $170,310. In her most recent, the 4-year-old daughter of Lea ran second in the 1 1/16-mile Lady's Secret at Monmouth on June 6.

“Gibberish is also coming into the race well,” Saffie Jr. said. “She has won a stake, she beat Queen Nekia once and Queen Nekia beat her and she is coming off a good run at Monmouth. We feel like the mile and a quarter fits her nicely as well and are expecting a solid effort from her.”

$400,000 Grade 2 Delaware Handicap, fillies & mares 3-year-olds and up, 1 1/4 miles

PP	HORSE	OWNER	TRAINER	JOCKEY	Wg	OD
1	Gibberish	eFive Racing Thoroughbreds	Joseph Saffie Jr	Trevor McCarthy	118	8-1
2	Queen Nekia	Ken Copenhaver	Joseph Saffie Jr	Sheldon Russell	119	3-1
3	Dream Marie	Miracle's International	Matthew Williams	Joe Bravo	120	4-1
4	Saracosa	Chad Schumer	Cipriano Contreras	Emmanuel Esquiuel	116	10-1
5	Bonny South	Juddmonte	Brad Cox	Florent Geroux	123	3/2
6	Miss Marissa	Cammarota Racing	James Ryerson	Daniel Centeno	119	6-1
7	Final Cut	G. Watts Humphrey Jr	Victoria Oliver	Jaime Rodriguez	116	12-1

The post Well-Traveled Bonny South Installed Delaware Handicap Favorite appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Motion Looking For Ninth Victory In Delaware Park’s Robert G. Dick Memorial

Godolphin's Micheline tops the $150,000, Grade 3 Robert G. Dick Memorial at Delaware Park in Wilmington, Del., on Saturday. The 1 3/8-mile turf affair for fillies and mares has attracted a field of nine.

Micheline, a 4-year-old daughter of Bernardini, has a career record of five wins, two seconds and a third from 15 starts with earnings of $674,478. This year, the Kentucky-bred conditioned by Michael Stidham has one win from three starts. She opened her 2021 campaign with a score in the Grade 2 Hillsborough Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs on March 6. She followed with a pair of off-the-board races in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley at Keeneland on April 10 and the Grade 3 Eatontown at Monmouth Park on June 20.

Trainer H. Graham Motion will be going for his ninth career victory in the Robert G. Dick Memorial when he sends Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Micahel Cloonan and Timothy Thornton's Blame Debbie postward. In her only outing this year, the 4-year-old daughter of Blame posted a 3 ½-length score in the mile and a half Searching Stakes at Pimlico on June 13. Last year, the Kentucky-bred had a record of two wins and two thirds from eight starts including a victory in the Grade 3 Dowager Stakes at Keeneland. She has a career record of four wins, a second and three thirds from 12 starts with earnings of $277,920.

“I had not really planned on running her in this race before her last race, but these races are kind of just falling into place and I thought she ran nicely the other day at Pimlico,” said trainer H. Graham Motion. “She did not have a hard race and they did not run fast so I feel very comfortable running her back in four weeks. The races are very similar and we get Victor (Carrasco) back to ride. So with our past luck in this race and the way she has been going, it just makes sense for her to be in the race.”

Jordan Wycoff's Candy Flower may be peaking just at the right time. In her most recent, the 4-year-old daughter of Twirling Candy won a 1 1/16-mile turf allowance at Belmont Park on June 17. Previously, the Kentucky-bred trained by Saffie Joseph Jr. ran third in a one mile turf allowance at Belmont Park on May 22. She has a career record of four wins, three seconds and a third from eleven starts with earnings of $161,092.

“She is in good form and we think this a good spot for her,” said Joseph. “She has been a little of an overachiever. She always tries hard and runs well. We ran her at a mile and a half once at Keeneland and she just got beat, so we feel like the mile and three eighths should suit her well, so this is a good time to test her against Graded competition.”

$150,000 Grade 3 Robert G. Dick Memorial, fillies & mares 3-year-olds and upward,

1 3/8 miles on turf

#	HORSE	OWNER	TRAINER	JOCKEY	Wg	OD
1	Hotsy Totsy	Reeves Thoroughbreds	Amber Cobb	Jaime Rodriguez	118	15-1
2	Candy Flower	Jordan Wycoff	Saffie Joseph Jr	Sheldon Russell	120	8-1
3	Blame Debbie	Eclipse Thoroughbred	H. Graham Motion	Victor Carrasco	122	9/2
4	Micheline	Godolphin	Michael Stidham	Joe Bravo	124	5/2
5	Temple City Terror	Pocket Aces Racing	Brendan Walsh	Florent Geroux	122	6-1
6	Tonal Verse	Heights Stable	H. Graham Motion	Carol Cedeno	118	15-1
7	Luck Money	Catherine Wills	Arnaud Delacour	Mychel Sanchez	118	10-1
8	Dailka	Bal Mar Equine	Albert Stall Jr	Miguel Mena	122	7/2
9	La Dragontea	Reeves Thorughbreds	Christophe Clement	Trevor McCarthy	120	8-1

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First Winner for Straight Fire Lights Up the Tote

Let go at debut odds of 52-1, Fourteeneightyfour (Straight Fire) became the first winner for his freshman sire (by Dominus) with a surprisingly easy victory in Monday's third race from Delaware Park.

The California-bred, who was entered for, but ultimately withdrawn from last year's Fasig-Tipton October sale, was last away from the inside gate, but recovered to be within a couple of lengths in the opening quarter-mile, which was timed in a sharp :22 flat. Taken to the outside for the run around the turn, he launched an eye-catching bid to inhale the front-runners nearing the top of the stretch and widened in hand to take it by nine impressive lengths in good time.

Fourteeneightyfour is one of 28 reported foals for Straight Fire, who earned 'TDN Rising Star' honors when decimating a field of Del Mar maidens by 10 1/4 lengths at second asking while stopping the clock in 1:14.92 for the 6 1/2 furlongs. Campaigned by Jim Rome's Jungle Racing LLC, the Roth family's LNJ Foxwoods, Kimberly Nish's KMN Racing and others and trained by Keith Desormeaux, Straight Fire would go on to complete the exacta behind Klimt (Quality Road) in the 2016 GI Del Mar Futurity and was third to Gormley (Malibu Moon) in the GI FrontRunner S. in what would become his final career appearance.

Fourteeneightyfour is the fifth starter for Straight Fire. Each of his previous four runners has been placed.

The stakes-winning It's High Time was acquired by Straight Fire LLC for $12,000 not pregnant to Bayern at Keeneland November in 2017. She missed to Straight Fire for 2020, but produced a Florida-bred colt by Copper Bullet this year. This is the extended female family of GI Vosburgh S. winner Black Seventeen (Is It True).

3rd-Delaware, $40,150, Msw, 7-5, 2yo, 5f, :58.62, ft, 9 lengths.
FOURTEENEIGHTYFOUR (c, 2, Straight Fire–It's High Time {SW, $234,040}, by Gone Astray) Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $22,800. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
O-Valentin Jimenez; B-Straight Fire LLC (CA); T-Baltazar Galvan.

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