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McGaughey Hopes Nashua Can Be Stepping Stone To Two Turns For Judge Davis

Courtlandt Farms' Judge Davis will take on five other juveniles in Sunday's 45th running of the Grade 3, $150,000 Nashua going a one-turn mile at Belmont Park.

Trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, who saddled 1997 Nashua victor Coronado's Quest, Judge Davis arrives off a three-quarter length maiden triumph at second asking. The bay son of Distorted Humor made amends from a distant fourth going 6 ½ furlongs on debut when stretching out to 1 1/16 miles on September 24 over a muddy main track at Belmont Park.

“I think stretching him out in distance and getting that experience helped him,” McGaughey said. “I'd like to see how he does here and then start thinking about two turns.”

Purchased for $280,000 from the 2020 Fasig-Tipton October Yearling Sale, Judge Davis is the second offspring out of the Sky Mesa mare Mylitta.

Jose Ortiz will ride Judge Davis from post 2.

Cairama will attempt to parlay a first out winning effort into stakes company for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. Owned by His Royal Highness Prince Sultan bin Mishal Al Saud, the dark bay or brown son of 2013 Nashua winner Cairo Prince led through every point of call, and held off a late confrontation to win by a head.

Breaking from post 6, Cairama will be ridden by Joel Rosario.

Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher will saddle Repole Stable's Midnight Worker who returns to the main track after trying the turf when fourth in the Grade 3 Futurity last out. The son of Outwork was a 10-1 winner of his July 24 debut at Saratoga ahead of a third in the Sapling on September 5 at Monmouth Park.

Pletcher will attempt his fourth Nashua score, previously saddling Bluegrass Cat [2005], Violence [2012], and Blofeld [2014].

Irad Ortiz, Jr. will ride Midnight Worker from post 4.

Rockefeller will take a drop in class and cut back to one turn after finishing fourth in the Grade 1 American Pharoah five weeks ago at Santa Anita for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert. The blue-blooded son of Medaglia d'Oro is out of the Grade 1-winning Speightstown mare Dance to Bristol, and was bought for $750,000 out of the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. He dazzled on debut going wire-to-wire in a six-furlong maiden special weight on August 28 at Del Mar.

Rockefeller is owned by Goldconda Stable, Madaket Stables, SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Siena Farm, Stonestreet Stables, Waves Edge Capital, Catherine Donovan, Robert Masterson, and Jay Schoenfarber. He will be ridden by Hall of Famer John Velazquez from post 1.

Completing the field are Holly Crest Farm homebred Speaking [post 3, Gerardo Corrales] and Cheyenne Stables' Cooke Creek [post 5, Manny Franco] who are both stakes-winners that are unbeaten in a pair of lifetime starts.

The Nashua pays homage to Belair Stud's winner of the 1955 Preakness and Belmont Stakes trained by the great Sunny “Jim” Fitzsimmons. Notching two American Classic triumphs in addition to victories in the Florida Derby, Wood Memorial and Jockey Club Gold Cup earned him Horse of the Year honors that year and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 1965. He parlayed his talent to some of his offspring including Hall of Fame distaffers Shuvee as well as Gold Digger – the dam of prolific sire-of-sires Mr. Prospector.

The Nashua is carded as Race 9 on Sunday's 10-race program, which also includes the $150,000 Zagora for fillies and mares 3-years-old and upward going 12 furlongs over the turf. First post is 11:50 a.m. Eastern.

America's Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the fall meet at Belmont Park on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/tv-schedule.

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WinStar Stallions Distorted Humor, Congrats Retired From Stud Duty

The upcoming breeding season marks a departure from WinStar Farm's stallion ranks for long-standing cornerstones Distorted Humor and Congrats as both are being retired from stud duty, the farm announced today.

Distorted Humor, a champion freshman sire and a champion general sire, served an instrumental role in helping WinStar scale new heights as a breeding operation, and the esteemed stallion has sired a plethora of big-name horses in a spectacular career at stud. Numbered among his top runners are classic winners Drosselmeyer and Funny Cide, and Grade 1 winners Commentator, Any Given Saturday, Flower Alley, Hystericalady, Boisterous, Awesome Humor, Restless Rider, and many others.

“We all owe Distorted Humor a debt of gratitude for all he has done for WinStar Farm, my family, and the many breeders who supported him from his humble beginnings,” said Elliott Walden, WinStar's president, CEO, and racing manager. “He will be missed in the breeding shed this year, but we are so grateful that we can continue to see him at WinStar for the foreseeable future. What a horse.”

Over the last decade, Distorted Humor has also emerged as one of the leading and most influential broodmare sires in recent memory, being represented by such horses as racing's all-time leading earner Arrogate ($17,422,600), Elate, Practical Joke, New Money Honey, and Constitution. This year, he is represented as a broodmare sire by Grade 1 Woodward Stakes winner Art Collector, a leading candidate for next month's $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic.

Distorted Humor entered stud in 1999 and has provided many seminal moments during his remarkable and lengthy career as a stallion. He topped all freshman sires in 2002 and he was North America's leading general sire in 2011, the same year, his son and leading earner, Drosselmeyer ($3,728.170) captured the Breeders' Cup Classic. Drosselmeyer was also a classic winner, having won the 2010 Belmont Stakes. In 2003, Distorted Humor's Funny Cide, bred by WinStar and campaigned by Sackatoga Stable, won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes on his way to a career bankroll of $3,529,412.

A son of champion Forty Niner out of Danzig's Beauty, by Danzig, Distorted Humor is the sire of 163 black-type winners and 71 graded stakes winners with more than $152 million in total progeny earnings.

While he has made an indelible imprint on the breed as a stallion, Distorted Humor, bred in Kentucky by Charles Nuckols Jr. and sons, was also an accomplished racehorse.

Trained by Elliott Walden and owned by R.L. Renieman and Prestonwood Farms, Distorted Humor won the 1998 G2 Commonwealth Breeders' Cup Stakes at Keeneland, where he set a stakes record that still stands, getting the seven furlongs in 1:20.50. He also annexed the G2 Churchill Downs Handicap; the G3 Ack Ack Handicap, and the G3 Salvator Mile Handicap en route to earnings of $769,964.

Congrats, a top 10 sire by winners for the last six years (top 5 in three of those years) has been a perennial producer of top-class runners during his remarkably consistent career at stud and is once again among the leading sires of winners in 2021.

This year Congrats is represented by 122 winners and boasts progeny earnings of $4,843,399. His top runner this season is two-time graded stakes winner Last Judgment, winner of the G3 Pimlico Special Match Series Stakes at Pimlico and the G3 Challenger Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.

The only champion freshman sire by the legendary sire of sires, A.P. Indy, Congrats is the sire of such Grade 1 horses as Turbulent Descent, Haveyougoneaway, Wickedly Perfect, and Emma's Encore. Congrats has total progeny earnings of $71,982,417 and is the sire of 44 black-type winners. He is being retired to John Sykes' Woodford Thoroughbreds in Reddick, Fla.

“Congrats helped me get started in this business and has meant so much to Woodford Thoroughbreds,” said John Sykes. “We are happy to be bringing him home for his retirement.”

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Distorted Humor, Congrats Pensioned by WinStar

Distorted Humor (Forty Niner–Danzig's Beauty, by Danzig), sire of 2003 GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S. hero Funny Cide from his first crop and an additional 17 Grade I/Group 1 winners to date, was pensioned from stud duty by WinStar Farm Monday at the age of 28. WinStar also announced it is pensioning stalwart Congrats (A.P. Indy–Praise, by Mr. Prospector) at the age of 21.

Humorous Beginnings…

The late Charles Nuckols, Jr. and Sons bred the chestnut son of 2-year-old champion Forty Niner from Danzig's Beauty, a Grade II winner and runner-up in the 2000 GI Acorn S. at Belmont Park. After winning his first start by a commanding 5 1/2 lengths with trainer Phil Gleaves, Prestonwood Farms purchased half of the colt and turned him over to Prestonwood trainer Elliott Walden.

Winner of Saratoga's Screen King S. (later Amsterdam S.) in August 1996, Distorted Humor was third to that year's GI Met Mile hero Honour and Glory (Relaunch) in the GII King's Bishop S. before finishing runner-up in the GII Jerome H. at Belmont and in the GII Fayette S. at Keeneland. Victorious in the GIII Salvator Mile H. at Monmouth in the summer of 1997, he celebrated his best year at the races as a 5-year-old, taking out the GII Commonwealth Breeders' Cup, the GII Churchill Downs H. and GIII Ack Ack S. before closing out his career with a troubled third in the GI Cigar Mile H. He retired to Prestonwood with a record of 8-5-3 from 23 starts and earnings of $769,964.

Distorted Humor stood his first year at stud in 1999 for a fee of $10,000 and became the leading first-crop sire of 2002 by earnings, owing largely to the exploits of the WinStar-owned and Walden-trained Awesome Humor, who was perfect in four juvenile appearances, including a 2 3/4-length victory in the GI Spinaway S. at Saratoga.

In 2000, Kenny Troutt and Bill Casner purchased the farm from the Preston brothers and renamed it WinStar Farm. Among the stallion's second crop was a New York-bred son of Belle's Good Cide (Slewacide) named Funny Cide. A $22,000 purchase out of the 2001 Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred yearling sale by Sackatoga Stable, the chestnut defeated his state-bred peers in three appearances at two before making a successful transition to open company in 2003. Runner-up to Empire Maker (Unbridled) in the GI Wood Memorial S., the 'gutsy gelding' turned the tables on his more fashionably bred foe in the 'Run for the Roses' scoring by 1 3/4 lengths before tacking on a 9 3/4-length romp at Old Hilltop. The even-money choice to become racing's first Triple Crown winner in a quarter-century, Funny Cide raced prominently over a sloppy Belmont main track, but gave way in the final furlong, ultimately settling for third to Empire Maker. Distorted Humor, who served mares at $20,000 in 2000, was runner-up among second-crop sires.

Distorted Humor sired two Grade I winners in each of those first two crops and sired at least one top-level winner from each of his first five North American crops. Commentator (2001) was a two-time winner of the prestigious of the GI Whitney H., while Flower Alley (2002) defeated the best of his generation in the 2005 GI Travers S. at the Spa. Hystericalady (2003) was victorious in the GI Humana Distaff H. and went within a whisker of winning the 2007 GI Breeders' Cup Distaff, while Bit of Whimsy (2004) took out the time-honored GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup for Funny Cide's trainer Barclay Tagg. WinStar's Drosselmeyer (2007) became his sire's second Classic winner when upsetting the 2010 GI Belmont S. in the WinStar colors and added a season-ending success from the clouds in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs in 2011. Distorted Humor's other domestic Grade I winners include Fourty Niners Son (Clement Hirsch Turf Championship), Any Given Saturday (Haskell Invitational), Boisterous (Man o'War S.), Jimmy Creed (Malibu S.), Joking (Vosburgh S.) and Restless Rider (Darley Alcibiades S.). Distorted Humor sired four international Group 1 winners: Pathfork (National S.) and Cursory Glance (Moyglare Stud S.) in Ireland; Aesop's Fables (Prix Jean Prat) in France; and Rinky Dink (Aus) (South Australian Oaks) from limited crops in Australia.

Overall, Distorted Humor has sired 1,147 winners to date (76.3% winners to runners), among them 163 black-type winners and 70 at the graded/group level in eight different jurisdictions, including England, United Arab Emirates and Turkey in addition to those previously mentioned.

Only a Horse of the Year season from Saint Ballado's son Saint Liam denied Distorted Humor a general sires' title in 2005 and he was among the top 10 sires from 2007-2010 before breaking through in 2011, owing to the exploits of Drosselmeyer. Distorted Humor stood for a six-figure stud fee from the mid-2000s, peaking at $300,000 in 2008. He commanded $50,000 at WinStar in 2020 before standing for an undisclosed fee this year.

Daughters of Distorted Humor have become important producers, having accounted for 115 black-type winners, 52 at the graded/group level and 19 to succeed at Grade I/Group 1 level. Arrogate (Unbridled's Song), a three-time top-level scorer in this country, added a spectacular victory in the G1 Dubai World Cup in 2017, and Distorted Humor is also the broodmare sire of Constitution (Tapit), the leading first-crop sire of 2019 by stakes winners and graded winners who also stands at WinStar.

His daughters have also produced the likes of Elate and New Money Honey–each by Medaglia d'Oro–Practical Joke (Into Mischief), 'TDN Rising Star' Guarana and Molly Morgan–both daughters of Ghostzapper–Book Review (Giant's Causeway), Carrick (Giant's Causeway) and Japanese G1SW Moanin (Henny Hughes).

Congrats

Congrats, a top 10 sire by winners for the last six years (top five in three of those years) has been a perennial producer of top-class runners during his remarkably consistent career at stud and is once again among the leading sires of winners in 2021.

A Grade II winner on the track and graded stakes-placed in four straight seasons from three to six, the bay entered stud in Florida at Cloverleaf Farms in 2007 before moving to Vinery from 2008-12 and calling WinStar home from 2013 on.

This year, Congrats is represented by 122 winners and boasts progeny earnings of $4,843,399. His top runner this season is two-time graded stakes winner Last Judgment, winner of the GIII Pimlico Special Match Series S. at Pimlico and the GIII Challenger Stakes S. at Tampa Bay Downs.

The only champion freshman sire by the legendary sire of sires, A.P. Indy, Congrats is the sire of Grade I winners Turbulent Descent, Haveyougoneaway, Wickedly Perfect, and Emma's Encore. He has total progeny earnings of $71,982,417 and is the sire of 44 black-type winners. He also has sired 12 graded stakes winners and is being retired to John Sykes' Woodford Thoroughbreds in Reddick, Fla.

“Congrats helped me get started in this business and has meant so much to Woodford Thoroughbreds,” said John Sykes. “We are happy to be bringing him home for his retirement.”

The post Distorted Humor, Congrats Pensioned by WinStar appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Locally Owned Upsets Lone Rock In Grand Prix American Jockey Club Invitational Stakes

Since trainer Tom Morley claimed Locally Owned in February, the 5-year-old gelding had seen the inside of the winner's circle only once in five starts until Saturday, when the son of Distorted Humor made his rail trip in the 1 5/8-mile Grand Prix American Jockey Club Invitational Stakes a winning one. Under jockey Dylan Davis, Locally Owned bided his time in last throughout the early running, picked up his pace on the final turn, and took over the front early in the stretch at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

With Lone Rock going into the gate as the 1-9 favorite, all eyes were on the last-out winner of the Birdstone at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. After a clean break, Mo Gotcha took the lead, with Lone Rock stalking him, Davis sitting chilly on Locally Owned in last. Lone Rock stayed close to Mo Gotcha throughout the first mile, poised to bid for the lead coming out of the final turn as Davis moved Locally Owned on the rail.

Into the stretch, they were three across briefly with Locally Owned finding his closing kick as Mo Gotcha tired. Lone Rock made his bid on the outside, but could not find enough to catch the winner, who crossed the wire a length in front. Mo Gotcha, Chris and Dave, and Empty Tomb rounded out the field.

The final time for the 1 5/8 miles was 2:44.60. Find this race's chart here.

Locally Owned paid $39.00 and $4.10. Lone Rock paid $2.10.

Bred by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings in Kentucky, Locally Owned is out of the Pulpit mare Fiftyshadesofhay. Owned by Flying P Stable, the gelding has two wins in seven starts in 2021, for a lifetime record of five wins in 24 starts and career earnings of $461,431.

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