Tag: Derma Sotogake

Dutrow Back In the Limelight as White Abarrio Scores in the Classic

ARCADIA, CA – Babe!

After spending 10 years in exile with a very well-documented suspension, trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr. is officially all the way back.

C2 Racing Stable and La Milagrosa Stable's White Abarrio (Race Day), a powerhouse last out winner of this summer's GI Whitney S. at Saratoga, ran to the money as the 5-2 favorite with a one-length victory for Dutrow in Saturday's $6-million GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita. The 64-year-old's three prior wins at the Championships were headed by future Horse of the Year Saint Liam in the 2005 Classic at Belmont Park. The New York-based Dutrow has been back training for seven months now.

“I don't feel that I am back at the top, but I feel that the white horse is,” said Dutrow, who also trained Big Brown to wins in the first two legs of the 2008 Triple Crown. “As soon as I get stables like Todd (Pletcher) and Chad (Brown), then I'll feel like I'm back on the top. I'm going to be calling everybody tomorrow when I get done with Disneyland and say, 'Hey, I am ready for some horses here.'”

Dutrow continued, “Right now, I just feel like I'm lucky to be around him. I feel he's on the top, and I love being around good horses like that. It just makes you feel like a good horseman, and that's always what I wanted to be.”

White Abarrio, drawn kindly in post two, secured a dream spot on the inside in third as 'TDN Rising Star' Arabian Knight (Uncle Mo)–off as the 3-1 second choice off a game win against older horses in this summer's GI Pacific Classic S.–and GI Pennsylvania Derby hero Saudi Crown (Always Dreaming) absolutely tore through fractions of :22.46 and :45.73 in the 1 1/4-mile centerpiece.

Richard Dutrow, Jr. and jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. celebrate after winning the GI Breeders' Cup Classic |
Benoit Photo

With Irad Ortiz, Jr., aboard, White Abarrio began to make his move on the far turn and attacked the top two while three wide nearing the quarter pole. Saudi Crown was the first to blink and White Abarrio had dead aim on the pacesetter at the top of the stretch. He switched his leads right on cue and blasted off for home for a no-doubt-about-it victory while never seriously threatened by Japanese invader and G2 UAE Derby winner Derma Sotogake (Jpn) (Mind Your Biscuits), who was making his first start since finishing sixth in the GI Kentucky Derby. Proxy (Tapit), a narrow second in the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup S., came rattling home to tag Arabian Knight by a neck for third.

“Everything came out perfect,” said the hot-handed Ortiz, Jr., who won his fifth Bill Shoemaker Award after guiding home three winners on Breeders' Cup Saturday. “We handicapped that race perfectly as we thought Saudi Crown and Arabian Knight would be on the lead and we should be third. I saved all the ground on the first turn and then I was able to get in the clear on the backside. After that, it's all about the horse. To be honest, I just let him do his thing and I don't get in his way. When I turned for him, I started to ride him and he kept responding.”

Transferred to Dutrow while former trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. was under fire this spring following a pair of high-profile horse deaths at Churchill Downs during Derby week, the 2022 GI Curlin Florida Derby winner and GI Cigar Mile H. third-place finisher produced a better-than-it-looked third-place finish after stumbling at the start in his first start for this barn in the GI Hill 'N' Dale Metropolitan H. at Belmont June 10. He had made only one other start since, earning a career-high 110 Beyer Speed Figure with Zandon (Upstart) and two-time GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Cody's Wish (Curlin) far back in second and third in the Whitney Aug. 5.

“Churchill Downs, we had an issue where they scratched our horse,” winning co-owner Mark Cornett said of the decision to change trainers. “NYRA decided they weren't going to accept the entries, nominations, and I wanted to run in the Met Mile.

He continued, “So I had to make a trainer switch. I've known Rick a long time. I know exactly what he's capable of. This horse was tailor made for him.”

Pedigree Notes:

White Abarrio, a $7,500 OBS Winter yearling turned $40,000 OBS March 2-year-old, is the lone graded winner for Race Day, a son of Tapit. Race Day previously stood at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky, but was exported to Korea prior to the 2021 season. White Abarrio is one of four graded winners for the mighty Into Mischief as a broodmare sire.

The unplaced winner's dam Catching Diamonds, a $425,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase for Spendthrift, produced White Abarrio as her first foal. A half to MGSW-UAE and MSW-U.S. Cool Cowboy (Kodiak Kowboy) and to the dam of GSW Mutasaabeq (Into Mischief), the mare has an unraced 2-year-old colt named Diamond Lord (Lord Nelson), who fetched $155,000 from Lincoln Racing at last year's Keeneland September sale, and a yearling colt, also by Lord Nelson, who sold as a weanling at Keeneland November for $100,000 to Larry Hirsch. Her 2023 foal was a Yaupon filly born Apr. 15 and she was bred back to Constitution.

 

LONGINES BREEDERS' CUP CLASSIC-GI, $5,520,000, Santa Anita, 11-4, 3yo/up, 1 1/4m, 2:02.87, ft.
1–WHITE ABARRIO, 126, c, 4, by Race Day
        1st Dam: Catching Diamonds, by Into Mischief
        2nd Dam: Grand Breeze, by Grand Slam
        3rd Dam: Breeze Lass, by It's Freezing
($7,500 Ylg '20 OBSWIN; $40,000 2yo '21 OBSMAR). O-C2 Racing Stable LLC and La Milagrosa Stable, LLC; B-Spendthrift
Farm LLC (KY); T-Richard E. Dutrow, Jr.; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr. $3,120,000. Lifetime Record: 15-7-1-3, $4,946,350. Click for
the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Derma Sotogake (Jpn), 122, c, 3, Mind Your Biscuits–Amour Poesie (Jpn), by Neo Universe (Jpn). 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. (¥18,000,000 Ylg '21 JRHAYF). O-Hiroyuki Asanuma; B-Shadai Farm (Jpn); T-Hidetaka Otonashi. $1,020,000.
3–Proxy, 126, h, 5, Tapit–Panty Raid, by Include. O/B-Godolphin (KY); T-Michael Stidham. $540,000.
Margins: 1, 1 1/4, NK. Odds: 2.60, 26.20, 17.40.
Also Ran: Arabian Knight, Ushba Tesoro (Jpn), Bright Future, Senor Buscador, Dreamlike, Zandon, Saudi Crown, Clapton, Missed the Cut. Scratched: Arcangelo. Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by Fanduel TV.

 

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Japan’s Best To Face Test From Mick Fire in Japan Dirt Derby

While the likes of Derma Sotogake (Jpn) (Mind Your Biscuits), Continuar (Jpn) (Drefong) and Mandarin Hero (Jpn) (Shanghai Bobby) were off representing Japan in age-restricted races from Saudi Arabia to Dubai to the U.S. this winter and spring, Mick Fire (Jpn) (Sinister Minister) remained at home, where the bay colt, a perfect three from three at Ohi Racecourse in 2022, was being patiently brought along towards his 3-year-old debut.

The bay colt, acquired for ¥5.5 million at the 2021 Hokkaido Summer Yearling Sale, had earned back his purchase price in easily running the table in three appearances as a juvenile and made a splashy return to the races in the Haneda Hai allowance May 10. In that 1800-meter affair, Mick Fire defeated heavily favoured Hero Call (Jpn) (Hokko Tarumae {Jpn}), who had previously accounted for future GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby runner-up Mandarin Hero in a similar test back in February.

Wednesday's ¥85 million ($606,730) Tokyo Derby over the metric mile and a quarter served as a course-and-distance allowance prep for the July 12 Listed Japan Dirt Derby, a race that could well attract those Japanese horses that plied their trade overseas earlier in the season, in addition to the highly progressive Yuttitham (Jpn) (Justify).

Sent off the 1-2 favorite in a 15-runner field that also included 5-2 second choice Hero Call, Mick Fire bounced well from the 12 hole and sat a stalking trip from the two path. Hero Call rolled up three deep outside of Mick Fire passing the three-furlong pole, but the latter was always going the better of the two, hit the front with a bit less than a quarter-mile to race and glided home a six-length winner in race-record time.

A son of the 20-year-old Sinister Minister, conditioned by Bob Baffert to a 12 3/4-length victory in the 2006 GI Toyota Blue Grass S., Mick Fire counts 1983 G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe heroine and U.S. Horse of the Year, three-time Grade I winner and inaugural GI Breeders' Cup Turf runner-up All Along (Fr) (Targowice) as his third dam.

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Japanese Racing Journalist Toshi Onikubo Joins The TDN Writers’ Room Podcast

With at least two, and perhaps three, horses from Japan set to compete in this year's GI Kentucky Derby, everyone wants to know more about these horses and why the Japanese runners have had so much success internationally over the last few years. To answer those questions and more, the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland called upon Toshi Onikubo whose website, netkeiba.com, is among the best sources of information on Japanese racing anywhere. Onikubo was this week's Green Group Guest of the Week. He is a graduate of the Darley Flying Start program.

The biggest name among the Japanese horses set to run in the Derby is Derma Sotogake (Jpn) (Mind Your Biscuits), the runaway winner of the G2 UAE Derby. The Writers' Room's Randy Moss has made him 6-1 in his early line for the Derby. Can he win the Derby?

“I believe he's definitely one of the best 3-year-old horses on dirt in Japan,” Onikubo said. “But we don't really know because we don't have any benchmarks when it comes to comparing him to American horses. And it's a big ask, to come over and win the Kentucky Derby. We recently have had really successful results, on turf and on dirt and in the Breeders' Cup two years ago. But we haven't really had those successes previously. So it's still a big ask for Derma Sotogake. And I hope I'm wrong, but this will be really tough for him to do. There are a lot of things to overcome.”

Mandarin Hero (Jpn) (Shanghai Bobby) is next on the Japanese depth chart, but he may not get into the race because he currently does not have enough points to qualify. Nonetheless, his performance in the GI Santa Anita Derby, where he lost by just a nose to Practical Move (Practical Joke) was a big one. Mandarin Hero races in Japan at the National Association of Racing (NAR) tracks, which are considered inferior to the Japan Racing Association (JRA) tracks. So what does that say about Derma Sotogake, who, in Japan, is clearly regarded as the better horse of the two.

“It definitely was a surprising result,” Onikubo said of the Santa Anita Derby. “The JRA, that's division one, league A, and NAR is league two, division two. The primary leading trainers are basically all on the JRA circuit, and Mandarin Hero is not from JRA. He was coming from a NAR track and running in one of the best prep races for the Kentucky Derby, an international Grade I race on dirt and finished a very close second. That was a really surprising result, but it's an encouraging result as well.”

The third potential Japanese starter is Continuar (Jpn) (Drefong). He was third behind Derma Sotogake in the UAE Derby but has made the Derby field because he won a “Win and You're In” race for the Derby in Japan. Onikubo said the best thing he has going for him is his trainer, Yoshito Yahagi. Yahagi was the mastermind behind the Japanese invasion of the 2021 Breeders' Cup, where he won two races. Loves Only You (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) won the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mate Turf.  Marche Lorraine (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) won the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff.

“He's trained by the master, Yoshito Yahagi, an internationally successful trainer with the two Breeders' Cup wins,” Onikubo said. “He's also won the Saudi Cup and he won the Cox Plate, so he's a really successful trainer on international stages. He seems to know something other trainers don't know.”

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by Coolmore,https://lanesend.com/  the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders,  1/st Racing, WinStar Farm and West Point Thoroughbreds, the team of Moss, Zoe Cadman, and Bill Finley took a look back at last weekend's biggest races, including the bounce-back race by Clairiere (Curlin) in the GI Apple Blossom H., which vaulted her back to the top of the older filly and mare division. Looking ahead, the team focused on the GII Oaklawn H., with all agreeing that it has assembled a top field worthy of Grade I status.

In off-the-track news, the trio talked about the fate of Turf Paradise and delved in an interesting story in the TDN by Dan Ross that shed some light on computer assisted wagering play in California and whether it is hurting the industry or not.

Click here to listen to the audio version of this podcast or click here to watch the video version.

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First Churchill Work for Derma Sotogake

GI Kentucky Derby contender Derma Sotogake (Jpn) (Mind Your Biscuits) registered his first published work at Churchill Downs Wednesday going a half-mile in :49.60 (16/20).

With exercise rider Masatoshi Segawa in the saddle, Derma Sotogake went through his routine 25-minute warm-up in the one-mile chute prior to beginning his work. The chestnut colt exited the chute and began galloping around the six-furlong pole. He started to pick up his momentum around the three-furlong pole and worked through fractions of :13 and :37.20, according to Churchill Downs clocker John Nichols.

“I am really happy with how he moved today,” Segawa said. “He felt great. We didn't want to go too fast today, so I had to keep a strong hold on him throughout and even then he performed brilliantly. Now I can start to get really excited about Derby Day.”

Derma Sotogake, most recently winner of the G2 UAE Derby, is stabled in Quarantine Barn 1 next to fellow Kentucky Derby contender Continuar (Jpn) (Drefong). Trained by Yoshito Yahagi and owned by Lion Race Horse Co. Ltd., Continuar had his most serious training to date Tuesday at Churchill Downs when he picked up his gallop around the seven-eighths pole to about the three-eighths pole. The training was slower than a published workout, but noticeably faster than a routine gallop.

The special 15-minute training window for only Kentucky Derby and Longines Kentucky Oaks contenders begins Saturday at 7:30 a.m. Kentucky Derby contenders will wear a yellow saddle towel while Oaks contenders will sport a pink saddle towel.

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