The mount opened up when Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) won Saturday's GI Blue Grass S. with Tyler Gaffalione aboard. Gaffalione, also the regular rider of Domestic Product, will stick with the highly regarded Sierra Leone, who could be the second choice in the Derby.

“We were lucky enough to pick up Irad Ortiz on (Domestic Product). So he's going to ride him in the Derby, which is great,” Brown said.

Ortiz has had seven mounts in the Derby and has yet to hit the board with any. Brown is also 0-for-7 in the race.

While Sierra Leone may be his main gun, Brown thinks highly of Domestic Product.

“That horse is an under-the-radar real contender in the Derby,” Brown said. “He has a really fast figure at a mile-and-an-eighth as a two-year-old to keep working off of.”

Gaffalione is also a fan of Domestic Product.

“Tyler said to me, 'he's not that far behind (Sierra Leone).,” Brown said. “'Trust me, the horse goes a mile and a quarter. There's not as much separating these horses as you think. That's what he told me.'”

Domestic Product broke his maiden in his second career start last fall at the Belmont at Aqueduct meet. After a poor effort in the GII Remsen S. he was second in the GIII Holy Bull S. He then won the Tampa Bay Derby by a neck over No More Time (Not This Time).

The post Irad Ortiz, Jr. Picks Up Derby Mount On Domestic Product appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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But last weekend we were given yet another reminder of the genetic powder-keg lit by a mating strategy that can only have prompted a supercilious smile in any professional analyst who happened to notice it at the time. Certainly it feels safe to assume that Cecilia “Cee” Straub-Rubens required none of the systems or software being expensively peddled today in order to decide that Cee's Tizzy loves Cee's Song.

Straub-Rubens had bought both as yearlings, Song for $50,000 in 1987 and Tizzy for $72,000 the following year. After their serial matings produced first Budroyale and then the mighty Tiznow, the sire was given little credit by those who in 2001 gave the Straub-Rubens estate $2.6 million for Cee's Song. Instead they repeatedly “upgraded” the mare to Storm Cat. Luckily two of these $500,000 covers were funded by the sale of the final Tizzy-Song yearling, who had been acquired in utero. That filly would go on to produce Oxbow; another Tizzy-Song sibling meanwhile came up with Paynter; while still another is now granddam of GI Kentucky Oaks fancy Tarifa (Bernardini).

Happily a parallel line persists between this amazing dynasty and its founder, whose daughter Pamela Cee Ziebarth retained another of the Tizzy-Song crew, Tizsweet, long enough to breed (with Michael Cooper) an El Prado (Ire) filly named Sweetitiz. She never made the track but Ziebarth retained her to breed half-dozen named foals–much the best of whom was So Sweetitiz (Grand Slam), whose four wins in Ziebarth's silks included a couple in stakes company.

And now So Sweetitiz has restored to elite participation the program that launched her family, through the success of her daughter Sweet Azteca (Sharp Azteca) in the GI Beholder Mile.

That was a remarkable performance on only her fourth start, beating five-time graded scorer Adare Manor (Uncle Mo). For Tarifa and now Sweet Azteca to be simultaneously elaborating the legacy–with siblings respectively figuring as their second and third dams–confirms the Tizzy-Song “marriage” as one of the happiest quirks of the modern breed.

Nonetheless we owe a footnote to Sweet Azteca's sire, who had just embarked on his second year at stud when his former trainer was arrested. The shocking revelations about Jorge Navarro surely hastened a slump in support for a stallion who had amassed no fewer than 194 other mares, besides So Sweetitiz, in his debut book in 2019. By 2021, he was down to 36, and it was a similar story in 2022–the year he launched his first runners.

Well, not even Justify, Bolt d'Oro or Good Magic (all working from similarly large crops) could match Sharp Azteca's 35 individual winners as a freshman. Unfortunately, this evidence of an authentic genetic prowess appears to have come too late. Although his book revived to 113 last year, in the fall it was announced that the son of Freud was off to Shizunai Stallion Station.

While Sweet Azteca is his first graded stakes winner, we know that emigration to Japan often proves the prelude to a transformation in fortune. And remember that two of the four foals Halo gave blue hen Ballade (Herbager {Fr}) eye each other across Sharp Azteca's pedigree: Saint Ballado as sire of his damsire Saint Liam, and Glorious Song as dam of Freud's damsire Rahy.

In the meantime, it's fun to note that Sweet Azteca's grandsire Freud and third dam Tizsweet are respectively siblings to Giant's Causeway and Tiznow, joint authors of one of the great modern races. Moreover the contrast in their parentage–Storm Cat-Mariah's Storm vs. Cee's Tizzy-Cee's Song–reproves us that we remain an awfully long way from figuring it all out.

Will We See the Joke Come Derby Day?

Both his sophomore starts having turned into such messy races, he's yet to be dignified by flashy numbers. But don't underestimate Domestic Product (Practical Joke) after he scrambled home in the GIII Tampa Bay Derby.

In the GIII Holy Bull S., everybody was so preoccupied with the disappointing comeback of the champion juvenile that few gave adequate heed to the way Domestic Product finished for second, despite absolutely everything going wrong through the race (involved in bumping early, battled his rider against the slow pace, wide on the turn). Now he has somehow overcome another cortege of a race, summoning amazing late splits to collar a useful rival who had been much better positioned.

Domestic Product (center, green cap) | SV Photography

For now, however, his longest race remains the nine-furlong maiden he won at Belmont last fall. And while it has obviously turned out that he had a class edge there, it still feels paradoxical that he was equal to such a searching test as a juvenile.

His sire flattened into fifth in his own Derby bid, and duly returned to the GI Hopeful course and distance for the GI Allen Jerkens. Since retiring to Ashford in 2018, Practical Joke has been treated primarily as a conduit of Into Mischief speed, and even his tragic son Practical Move appeared to approach the limit of his stamina when himself on the Classic trail last spring. Practical Joke has had good performers over longer trips in Chile, but domestically the likes of Skelly and Tejano Twist have branded him as a speed influence.

We know how Into Mischief himself has managed to stretch out his stock with the upgrading of his mares, and conceivably that may yet happen for Practical Joke as his own fee moves rapidly north–now $65,000, after he covered a staggering 252 mares at $25,000 last year. He has maintained monster books throughout and, given the sheer volume of his commercial output, his ratios have held up very respectably. But his dam was a talented sprinter by Distorted Humor out of a Gilded Time mare, and overall the family appears to offer little latent stretch.

Domestic Product himself is out of an unraced mare by Paynter, who may well have put some fuel in the tank. But her own mother (albeit sister to a nine-furlong graded stakes winner on turf) was a stakes sprinter by Cherokee Run, who won the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint in the colors of J. Mack Robinson's daughter. The Atlanta businessman–who helped to launch a young fashion designer named Yves Saint Laurent–bred the second, third and fourth dams of Domestic Product and collectively they suggest limited foundation for a second turn.

Domestic Product must have been a fairly ordinary weanling, as owner-breeder Klaravich Stables sold his dam–plus a Complexity filly in utero–at Keeneland that November for just $37,000. With her brother's timely update (plus a :10 flat breeze) behind her, the Complexity filly made $220,000 from Louis Dubois, agent for Wesley Ward, when offered by Sequel Bloodstock at OBS on Tuesday.

Poignantly, however, this is the bargain mare's final foal: she aborted her next one, and has since succumbed to laminitis. What a strange, marvelous, head-wrecking game this is!

Drummer Finally in Rhythm

The emergence of Kinza (Carpe Diem) among the leading fillies of her crop was pretty timely, with her GIII Santa Ysabel S. success coming on the eve of a new 2-year-old sales cycle.

She was an inspired pinhook by Grassroots Training and Sales, from $30,000 OBS October yearling to $350,000 Timonium 2-year-old last year. Her sire had by then been given a new lease of life in Louisiana, having been reduced to just 11 mares in 2021, his final spring in Kentucky.

Flying Drummer | Benoit

We have long become familiar, however, with the ability of Bob Baffert–not forgetting the reciprocal genius of Donato Lanni–to discover elite caliber in left-field horses that had often, somewhere along the line, fallen within reach of many a humble barn.

Those achievements, over the years, have naturally earned the support of bigger spenders, not least the gentleman who signed the docket for Kinza.

For quite a while Michael Lund Peterson could have been forgiven for thinking that the $850,000 he gave for a colt from the debut crop of Gun Runner at OBS April in 2021 was not going to pay off quite as well as the likes of Gamine (Into Mischief). Flying Drummer (Gun Runner) was the outsider of three Baffert runners when duly only fifth of seven behind Corniche in the GI American Pharoah S. and, though he did break his maiden on the last day of the year, he then disappeared for 17 months. After resurfacing briefly last summer, he was again sidelined until an impressive comeback at Santa Anita in January.

Having posted a 94 Beyer there, last weekend Flying Drummer doubled down for a 9 1/2-length romp that confirmed his connections are now being rewarded for their perseverance. Admittedly they will have to keep reaping the rewards on the track, as the 5-year-old has meanwhile been gelded.

Obviously we're not going to run short of sons of Gun Runner at stud, but it would have been nice to see damsire Successful Appeal retain some tenuous influence on the breed. His daughters also gave us the mare Letruska (Super Saver) and the gelded C Z  Rocket (City Zip), which may leave only Tapwrit to recycle some of that Florida zip on any scale.

Absolutely His Fault

The most precocious broodmare sire in town these days is clearly Blame, whose latest star in that role is thriving GII Azeri S. winner Tiny Temper (Arrogate).

Tiny Temper (outside) | Coady Photography

Her dam Don't Blame Me only won a maiden, but she was placed in her only start in graded company and Brookstone Farm did well to buy her for $120,000 at the same Keeneland November Sale in 2020 where the weanling Tiny Temper herself was found by Hunter Valley Farm for $240,000.

At the time Don't Blame Me was carrying a filly by Gun Runner, who made $350,000 as a yearling. Nice work, but Tiny Temper herself is very much a tribute to the long game. For she and her dam were both sold only following the death that summer of their breeder Alan S. Kline, who had bought Tiny Temper's fourth dam for $17,000 back in 1983. At the time she was carrying a Dr. Blum filly, who went on to be stakes-placed herself before producing perhaps the Kline program's two most accomplished graduates, stakes winner Forestier (Forestry) and graded stakes winner Unbridled Hope (Unbridled).

Kline, whose Maryland farm bore the charming name of Honey Acres, sent Forestier to Blame in 2011 and the result was Don't Blame Me. That was the stallion's first year at Claiborne, so the mating can only go down as a successful guess. But the evidence is now out there for all to see. If your broodmare band is lacking a little something, then perhaps it's high time you, too, took the Blame.

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While he did not argue the fact that the horse tested positive, he has said that it is grossly unfair that the HISA/HIWU continues to suspended trainers for minute amounts of drugs that aren't considered performance-enhancing.

Advocating for a major change in how these infractions are dealt with, Arnold was this week's guest on the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland. He was the Green Group Guest of the week.

“I can't deny that the horse raced on Tramadol,” Arnold said. “I took my positive and I didn't argue it. I didn't say anything. But after taking it, I wanted to point out that I don't think it's fair. I don't think the system is right on these trace limits. I'm trying to create some positive movement to change the rules and bring about some positive changes.”

Arnold said the only way the drug could have gotten into the horse's system is through environmental contamination and that HIWU's zero tolerance stand on drug positives is unrealistic.

Rusty Arnold Joins the TDN Writers' Room from Thoroughbred Daily News on Vimeo.

“I have no doubt that it came from contamination,” he said. “But my major objection is that in today's society, there is no such thing as zero tolerance. There needs to be a level and if the medication is under that level it won't be a drug positive. I'm trying to move forward and trying to make a positive change. Too many people are getting involved in similar situations right now. It's one every day or one every few days. And I disagree with it.”

Arnold said he heard from over 300 people since his ordeal became public and said the overwhelming sentiment was that he was being treated unfairly.

“The response has been very good, a little bit overwhelming actually,” he said. “I answered over 300 emails and texts over the next 48 hours. I would say 99.9% were positive and that included support I received from several Jockey Club members, which very much surprised me. The one thing that was the theme that echoed between every one of them was, 'this isn't what we signed up for with HISA. This isn't what we thought it was going to be. We thought we were going to catch guys that were clearly cheating. We didn't know that the everyday guy that's out there trying to do his job was going to be snared by the gotcha mentality.'”

In our breeding spotlight section we looked at the Coolmore stallion Tiz the Law and the WinStar stallion Audible.

Domestic Product | SV Photography

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association, Coolmore, 1/ST Racing, West Point Thoroughbreds, WinStar https://www.winstarfarm.com/and XBTV.com, the team of Randy Moss, Bill Finley and Zoe Cadman reviewed the major races from last week, which included the one nobody could bet on–the GIII Tampa Bay Derby–won by Domestic Product (Practical Joke). Cadman said she was impressed by the performance of the Chad Brown-trainee, while Finley said he was underwhelmed because of the weak field.

There was also talk of the win by Kinza (Carpe Diem) in the GIII Santa Ysabel S. Kinza is arguably the best 3-year-old filly in training but because she is trained by Bob Baffert she cannot run in the GI Kentucky Oaks. Cadman was in Ocala for the March OBS 2-Year-Old Sale and gave a scouting report on which freshman sires she thinks will stand out during the sale.

To watch the Writers' Room, click here. To view the show as a podcast, click here.

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“She's been very popular today, let's put it that way,” Becky Thomas said of the filly from the first crop of Complexity (hip 276) after a long day of showing Sunday in Ocala.

Thomas's Sequel Thoroughbreds bred the daughter of Goods and Services (Paynter) and she is consigned under the Sequel Bloodstock banner.

The tote delay that caused the Tampa Bay Derby post time to be pushed back a half-hour did, at least, allow Thomas to get home in time to watch the race.

“I was afraid he was not going to be able to move around because he was in tight there at the end,” Thomas said. “Those kind of horses are so impressive because he obviously had so much horse left, he just needed to be able to go. So it was very, very cool.”

Even before Domestic Product's win at Tampa Bay, Thomas was impressed with his 2-year-old half-sister, who worked a furlong during the OBS under-tack show in :10 flat and had shown even more promise when training over the dirt.

“I really love her on dirt,” Thomas said. “She was a filly that I slated for Maryland May [Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale] and I moved her up here because she was training so good. She's got a really quiet demeanor, so I originally put her for May because she is a big, stretchy filly and I thought I would give her a little bit more time. They kind of tell you when you start breezing them who needs to move up and who might need to move down. But she's been really solid.”

The dark bay filly is one of 19 juveniles by Complexity to work last week ahead of the OBS March sale. The son of Hill 'n' Dale stallion Maclean's Music won the 2018 GI Champagne S. and 2020 GII Kelso S. He stands at Airdrie Stud for a fee of $12,500.

“I am a Maclean's Music fan,” Thomas explained. “I ended up buying a share in [his sons] Drain the Clock and I bred to Jackie's Warrior. I am a John Sikura disciple. When you have those horses who have shown such brilliance and have been a Grade I-siring stallion like him, I really like those kind of horses. And this filly is a big tall leggy, two-turn looking filly that's got a lot of parts. You can see why she can go so fast and you can also see why she should go two turns.”

The large number of juveniles by Complexity in the March catalogue came as no surprise to Thomas.

“We are a land of pinhookers and if we actually bought horses, it's because all of us like the shape of them,” she said. “The fact that there are that many in here and so many of them are pinhooks, they are the type the pinhookers like. They look quick.”

Thomas purchased Goods and Services with the Complexity filly in utero for $37,000 at the 2021 Keeneland November sale.

“I couldn't be at that sale, but [bloodstock agent] Andrew Cary and my assistant Carlos Manresa sent me the link to her,” Thomas said. “So we decided to try on her. But it was all because of Andrew and Carlos.”

The 2-year-old is the mare's last foal.

“Unfortunately, she has passed away,” Thomas said of the mare. “We bred her to Drain the Clock and she was in foal, but she was really very laminitic. Unfortunately, even through our podiatrist, we were not able to keep her comfortable. This is the only baby we got out of her.”

The three-day OBS March sale begins Tuesday at 11 a.m.

The post Domestic Product Gives Complexity Filly a Big Update at OBS March appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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“It was what I call a 'Wow!' work,” trainer Joe Orseno said. “I put a horse in front of him to have a horse to run at a little bit. At the quarter-pole, I told both riders to ask their horses. If the other horse ran away from him, I needed to know that. The rider on the inside horse said when he asked, his horse responded and found another gear, and Hades ran by him so fast it's kind of ridiculous.”

Orseno added, “I've got him galloping out the mile in 1:42. Horses don't do that.”

Although the Mar. 2 GII Fountain of Youth was scratched down to just five horses when heavily favored Speak Easy (Constitution) unseated his rider in his pre-race warm-up, Orseno hasn't questioned his decision to bypass the final local prep for the Florida Derby with Hades.

“For me, my horse didn't have that look in his eye that he had until two days before the Fountain of Youth, when I could say, 'Wow: The way he feels now, maybe I should have been in there.' Never did I think that I did the wrong thing,” Orseno said. “He has a big future, so we're not looking at just the next two races, the Florida Derby and Kentucky Derby. We're looking down the road, too. You've got to pick and choose your spots.”

Hades is unbeaten in three starts. He debuted with a win at Gulfstream in early December and added an allowance victory in Hallandale at the end of the month. He defeated Domestic Product (Practical Joke) by two lengths in the Holy Bull and the form of that race was flattered when the runner-up returned to win the GIII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby Saturday.

“He didn't win by much, but he did get up to win, so I think that complimented us a little bit,” Orseno said of the Tampa Bay Derby finish.

Sunday's breeze was Hades' final serious preparation for the Florida Derby.

“Next week he's going to open gallop. He's not even going to breeze. And then he'll just have a little something the next week, so today was his major prep,” Orseno said.

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As the Tampa Bay Derby runners circled for about 30 minutes in the saddling paddock prior to the race as the extent of the tote outage became apparent, officials at Tampa Bay Downs finally opted to run the Kentucky Derby points race as a non-wagering event. The final race on the card, scheduled to be run after the Tampa Bay Derby, was canceled altogether.

Most recently the runner-up to Hades (Awesome Slew) in the GIII Holy Bull S. Feb. 3, Domestic Product broke outward at the Tampa Bay Derby start, bumped slightly, and was unbothered as jockey Tyler Gaffalione eased into a covered-up position midpack while keeping his mount under a strong hold. Domestic Product's stablemate, fellow Chad Brown trainee Good Money, showed the way through tepid :25.25 and :51.14 early fractions as Gaffalione continued to ask Domestic Product to wait. Tipped wide off the turn, the winner joined a calvary charge bearing down on Good Money with the photo showing mere inches between Domestic Product and No More Time, as Grand Mo the First and Good Money also made noise as part of the final fray.

It was the first Tampa Bay Derby win for both Brown and Gaffalione, as well as for Klaravich Stables. Inaugurated in 1981 with a current purse of $400,000, the Tampa Bay Derby has featured one victor to date (Street Sense, 2007) who went on to win the roses on the first Saturday in May in Louisville.

Prior to his Holy Bull second last month, Domestic Product–an open-daylight winner in a nine-furlong maiden special weight Oct. 27 at the Belmont at Aqueduct meet–finished an unheralded seventh in the GII Remsen S. Dec. 2. The Remsen is proving to be a key race, as the winner, Dornoch (Good Magic), won last week's GII Fountain of Youth S.; the runner-up, 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner), won the Feb. 17 GII Risen Star S.; and the third-place finisher, Drum Roll Please (Hard Spun), won the Jerome S. in his last start in January. Domestic Product's first start since, that runner-up trip in the Holy Bull, involved a bumpy start and a six-wide bid in which he outslugged Eclipse champion 2-year-old Fierceness (City of Light).

Pedigree Notes:

The first stakes winner out of a daughter of the late Paynter, Domestic Product is by Coolmore America's Practical Joke, the continent's current-leading fourth-crop sire of 2024 by both earnings and black-type winners. A son of Into Mischief, Practical Joke has 25 career graded winners and 37 stakes winners worldwide.

Unraced Goods and Services, the Tampa Bay Derby winner's dam, sold at the 2021 Keeneland November sale for $37,000 to Railway Street when Domestic Product was a weanling. The mare produced a 2022 filly by Complexity in New York, aborted to Honest Mischief for 2023, and was bred to Drain the Clock for this term.

#5 DOMESTIC PRODUCT wins the tight photo in the $400,000 Tampa Bay Derby (G3). He earns 50 points on the @SpendthriftFarm Road to the Kentucky Derby for trainer Chad Brown with @Tyler_Gaff in the irons. Domestic Product is sired by @CoolmoreAmerica's Practical Joke. pic.twitter.com/1q3IqJgMDh

— TVG (@TVG) March 9, 2024

Saturday, Tampa Bay Downs
LAMBHOLM SOUTH TAMPA BAY DERBY-GIII, $350,000, Tampa Bay Downs, 3-9, 3yo, 1 1/16m, 1:45.47, ft.
1–DOMESTIC PRODUCT, 120, c, 3, by Practical Joke
                1st Dam: Goods and Services, by Paynter
                2nd Dam: Indian Legend, by Cherokee Run
                3rd Dam: Virginia Bee, by Virginia Rapids
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN.
O/B-Klaravich Stables (KY); T-Chad C. Brown; J-Tyler
Gaffalione. $210,000. Lifetime Record: 5-2-1-0, $314,200.
Werk Nick Rating: D+.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–No More Time, 120, c, 3, Not This Time–Baroness Juliette,
by Speightstown. ($40,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). O-Morplay Racing
LLC; B-MAMAS Thoroughbreds, LLC (IA); T-Jose Francisco
D'Angelo. $70,000.
3–Grand Mo the First, 120, c, 3, Uncle Mo–Lilies So Fair,
by Giant's Causeway. ($125,000 RNA Ylg '22 KEESEP; $135,000
Ylg '22 FTKOCT; $335,000 RNA 2yo '23 OBSMAR). O-Granpollo
Stables LLC; B-John D. Gunther (KY); T-Victor Barboza, Jr.
$35,000.
Margins: NK, HD, HF. Odds: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00.
Also Ran: Good Money, Heartened, Sturdy, Crazy Mason, Everdoit, Catire Vizcaya, Give Me Liberty.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

The post Klaravich’s Domestic Product Wins Wild Tampa Bay Derby appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Having won his maiden over nine furlongs at second asking at Aqueduct in late October, the next logical step was the Dec. 2 GII Remsen S., but he caught a rain-affected strip he may not have preferred and faded through the final furlong to finish a well-beaten seventh. As has been well documented, the oft-maligned Remsen has proved productive, with Dornoch (Good Magic) and 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) winning 50-point Derby preps over the last several weeks. The 8-5 morning line second pick, Domestic Product ran on well to finish two lengths behind Hades (Awesome Slew) in the GIII Holy Bull S. Feb. 3.

Morplay Racing's No More Time (Not This Time) is the 7-5 pick on the strength of his 1 1/4-length defeat of the running-on 'TDN Rising Star' Agate Road (Quality Road) when a surprising favorite in the GIII Sam F. Davis S. over course and distance Feb. 10. Javier Castellano takes over at the controls from Paco Lopez on a horse whose speed figures remain very light.

Juxtaposed to Brown is trainer Todd Pletcher, who has won the Tampa Bay Derby no fewer than six times, including his first with Limehouse (Grand Slam) 20 years ago and Tapit Trice (Tapit) last March. Heartened (Street Boss) has not missed the top three in his four trips to the race, two each on turf and dirt. The bay most recently validated a quote of 40 cents on the dollar to break his maiden by a widening 4 1/2 lengths going this track's extended mile Feb. 10, and his 74 Beyer for that effort is not all that far off the 80 earned by No More Time in the Davis.

Florida Oaks A Tasty Appetizer

An intriguing field of 12 sophomore fillies is slated to go to post for Saturday's GIII Florida Oaks, and while Chad Brown is looking for a maiden win in the Derby one race later, his runners have taken the Oaks on three occasions, most recently with Dolce Zel (Fr) (Zelzal {Fr}) in 2022.

Klaravich Stables' Dynamic Pricing (Ire) (Night of Thunder {Ire}) is the preferred half of an uncoupled entry. A 170,000gns purchase at Tattersalls October in 2022 by Mike Ryan on behalf of Seth Klarman's operation, the bay filly was up in the nick of time to break her maiden at first asking at Aqueduct Nov. 4.  Dynamic Pricing returned to action at a generous 28-5 in the Feb. 3 GIII Sweetest Chant S. and came with a solid finish to cross the line third, beaten two necks by Life's an Audible (Audible) and the re-opposing Style Points (Oscar Performance).

Austere (Mendelssohn) was a debut winner on the turf at Ellis Park last August before taking out the valuable Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies the following month. Tyler Gaffalione managed to work out an inside trip from a high draw in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Nov. 3, and the dark bay was scarcely disgraced in fifth, beaten two lengths behind Hard to Justify (Justify).

Placed once from two sprint tries over the Saratoga main track, Waskesiu (American Pharoah) improved by several lengths when bounding away to graduate by 4 1/2 lengths at Aqueduct Nov. 18. Made the 9-5 favorite in the Jan. 6 Ginger Brew S., the Chiefswood homebred was a bit wayward out of the gates, then turned in a mostly even effort to be third. She has since worked well up at Payson Park.

Pletcher Ships A Pair In For Beholder Mile

Rare are the California shippers for non-Breeders' Cup events from the barn of Todd Pletcher, but the Hall of Famer is set to be represented by a pair of entrants in Saturday's GI Beholder Mile at Santa Anita.

Commenting that he 'is trying to save racing one horse at a time,' Mike Repole paid $1.4 million to acquire the dual graded-stakes winner Interstatedaydream (Classic Empire) from her previous owner Staton Flurry at Keeneland November just days after winning the Turnback the Alarm S. at Aqueduct. Frankie Dettori takes the ride on the Ontario-bred 5-year-old, while John Velazquez has the mount aboard 'TDN Rising Star' Green Up (Flatter), who–like her stablemate–exits a victory in Aqueduct stakes company, in her case the Nov. 5 Pumpkin Pie S.

Adare Manor (Uncle Mo) is the 5-2 favorite to give her sire back-to-back Beholder Mile winners following A Mo Reay last year. Also kept in training for a 5-year-old campaign, the Michael Lund Petersen colorbearer defeated Desert Dawn (Cupid) for her first elite-level success in the Clement L. Hirsch S. at Del Mar and added this track's GII Zenyatta S. in October before finishing seventh, but not beaten far, in the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff.

Arizona-bred Desert Dawn was winless in seven starts last term, including a runner-up effort in the GIII Bayakoa S. at Los Alamitos Dec. 15, but she got her 5-year-old season off on a high note with a one-length defeat of Coffee in Bed (Curlin) in the GIII La Canada S. Jan. 20.

Kinza Rates the Marquee in Santa Ysabel

'TDN Rising Star' Kinza (Carpe Diem) puts her undefeated record on the line against seven others in a renewal of the GIII Santa Ysabel S. that looks competitive on paper.

The $350,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic breezer belied debut odds of 11-2 to romp home by 7 1/2 lengths going six furlongs over this strip Dec. 29 and was made the even-money choice in the GIII Las Virgenes S. Feb. 10. The New York-bred set reasonable fractions beneath Juan Hernandez and was never truly in danger, scoring by two lengths, with She's a Tempest (Connect) another 1 1/2 lengths back in third.

Of the five last-out maiden winners looking to negotiate the hike into stakes company, Ultimate Authority (Practical Joke) shapes with the most promise. She has turned in a pair of cracking efforts around two turns–each good for a 90 Beyer Speed Figure–missing by a head to She's a Tempest in a mile maiden Jan. 5 before defeating Where's My Ring (Twirling Candy) by a half-length over the same distance Feb. 2. The latter also takes her chance here.

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The tote read 1-5 on the champ, but the Repole homebred and 'TDN Rising Star' was out of gas when push came to shove, and, in a bit of an oddly run race, D J Stable and Robert Cotran's unbeaten Hades (Awesome Slew) controlled a moderate tempo, slipped away from Fierceness in the final furlong and held off Domestic Product (Practical Joke) by two lengths for a 9-1 upset and 20 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby.

“This is what you hope for,” D J Stable's Jonathan Green said. “You hope you have a horse that's this good that can carry your dreams into another level for the Florida Derby and then the Kentucky Derby. The thing that was so exciting to me about this race was not only the way that (trainer) Joe (Orseno) campaigned the horse, which was outstanding. He knows how to handle a horse and get him into the Triple Crown races. But I was so happy that our horse went eyeball-to-eyeball with a champ and put him away. To me, that really shows something. It means the horse really wants to (win), and that's something you can't teach.”

Making his two-turn debut Saturday, Hades, a $130,000 OBS April purchase, was driven away from his rail draw by Paco Lopez, and Fierceness was also given a dig by John Velazquez in an effort to gain some forward position, but Fierceness did get fired up a bit as a result. Hades made the running from Inveigled (Enticed) and a three-wide Fierceness, and sensing a slow pace, Velazquez sent Fierceness into the lead a good three furlongs from home.

Right alongside and in with every chance, Fierceness and Hades appeared to lightly brush inside the eighth pole and while Fierceness had no more to give, Hades kicked on to cause the surprise. Domestic Product, making his first start since a well-beaten seventh in the GII Remsen S. Dec. 2, sat an inside trip and got through at the fence into the stretch before going on to claim second.

Hades rallied from last of seven to win at first asking going 5 1/2 furlongs in a $50,000 maiden optional claimer (not in for the tag) at Gulfstream Park Dec. 9. He dueled free from his rail draw to win by daylight in a first-level state-bred allowance going seven furlongs at Gulfstream last time Dec. 31.

“The plan was to go to the lead, but if somebody was pushing him he was going to rate him,” Orseno said. “It looked like he started to do that when that one horse went up to him, and then Paco had to go. He knew it. When the horse accelerates, he's just got another gear at the top of the stretch. He showed it to us last time. Of course, a champion eyeballs him and he dug in and took off. He ran away from a very good horse. It was our day today. We'll see next time, but right now we'll enjoy the moment.”

Orseno added, “I'm going to let the horse tell us (what's next). Right now, I would say no (to the Fountain of Youth), but if the horse is sharp… he's lightly raced. He's run five and a half and seven furlongs. It's not like he's been pushed.”

It wasn't the easiest of journeys for Fierceness, who was defeated by 3 1/2 lengths following a wide trip after getting pinballed at the start. His resume also includes a puzzling seventh as the heavy favorite in last fall's GI Champagne S.

“He didn't get off to a very good start,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “The inside horse bumped him pretty good and then he got sandwiched and kind of had to shove him into the race and try to get the position we wanted, which we eventually did. But, he had to overcome a pretty rough start to get there. It seemed like he got into a good rhythm and straightened away for home and just kind of flattened out a little bit. Disappointed in the outcome. I think if you watch the replay of the start, it was a pretty rough start, kind of similar to what happened in the Champagne. If he doesn't get away well, he doesn't get into the flow of the race the same way.”

He continued, “I don't think we're going to change any plans. We'll obviously assess how the horse comes out of the race. We know he's better than that, so we've got to regroup a little bit and do better next time. He's shown that he can recover from a subpar performance with a good one.”

Pedigree Notes:

Hades is the second stakes winner and first at the graded level for Awesome Slew. The win gave broodmare sire Quality Road his 11th black-type winner and fifth graded/group winner worldwide. D J Stable went to $130,000 (:21 1/5) to recruit Hades from the 2023 OBS April Sale. The year prior, his half-sister Devious Dame (Girvin) brought $240,000 from One Up Bloodstock out of the OBS March Sale. Devious Dame won her first two races by a combined 10 3/4 lengths and lived up to heavy favoritism with a sharp victory in the Astoria S. at Belmont Park. She brought $185,000 from Woods Edge Farm at the 2023 KEENOV sale. Hades's third dam is GISW Pretty Discreet (Private Account), herself the dam of GISWs Discreet Cat (Forestry) and Discreetly Mine (Mineshaft). Their unraced dam The Shady Lady is a half-sister to MSW & MGSP Courtesan (Street Sense). She is also represented by a 2-year-old full brother to Hades and a yearling filly by Girvin. She visited Win Win Win for 2024.

Saturday, Gulfstream Park
HOLY BULL S.-GIII, $260,000, Gulfstream, 2-3, 3yo, 1 1/16m, 1:46.07, ft.
1–HADES, 118, g, 3, by Awesome Slew
                1st Dam: The Shady Lady, by Quality Road
                2nd Dam: Lady Discreet, by Boundary
                3rd Dam: Pretty Discreet, by Private Account
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($130,000 2yo '23 OBSAPR). O-D. J. Stable LLC and Robert Cotran; B-Ocala Stud, Joseph M. O'Farrell III, David O'Farrell, et al. (FL);
T-Joseph F. Orseno; J-Paco Lopez. $161,900. Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0, $225,000. *1/2 to Devious Dame (Girvin), SW, $120,560. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Domestic Product, 118, c, 3, Practical Joke–Goods and Services, by Paynter. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. O/B-Klaravich Stables (KY); T-Chad C. Brown. $49,000.
3–Fierceness, 124, c, 3, City of Light–Nonna Bella, by Stay Thirsty. 'TDN Rising Star'. O/B-Repole Stable, Inc. (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $24,500.
Margins: 2, 1HF, 2HF. Odds: 9.20, 14.40, 0.20.
Also Ran: Inveigled, Dancing Groom, Otello, Sea Streak. Scratched: No More Time.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

What a run from HADES, who wins the Holy Bull Stakes! pic.twitter.com/kfH8kqwZ1e

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) February 3, 2024

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