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‘Colonel’ Looks for Pegasus Turf Repeat

As is the case in the day's feature event on the main track, Gulfstream's GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational highlights a returning champion in the form of Robert and Lawana Low's Colonel Liam (Liam's Map). Following a neck win in the 2021 renewal of the nine-furlong test, the Todd Pletcher trainee added a win in the GII Muniz Memorial Classic at the Fair Grounds in March before finishing on even terms with Domestic Spending (GB) (Kingman {GB}) in the GI Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic at Churchill Downs in May. In his latest start, he finished eighth in the 10-furlong GI Manhattan S. at Belmont June 5.

“He seems to look good and energetic coming into this,” confirmed Pletcher. “Is he going to be ready to fire his best shot off the lengthy layoff? But every indication he is he's ready.”

A winner of this race in 2019 with ultimate Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar, Chad Brown is represented by Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables, Wonder Stables and Mike Caruso's Sacred Life (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}). Fourth in this race last year, the French-bred won the GIII Knickerbocker S. last October before finishing a head back in second behind the re-opposing Field Pass (Lemon Drop Kid) in Del Mar's GII Seabiscuit S. Nov. 27. Jose Ortiz gets back aboard.

D K Racing, Radley Equine Inc., Taste of Victory Stables, Rick Gold, Tony Maslowski and Dave Odmark's Hit the Road (More Than Ready) reeled off four consecutive wins between May 2020 and March 2021, including Santa Anita's GIII Thunder Road S. and the GI Frank E. Kilroe Mile in March. He is coming off back-to-back thirds in the GII Del Mar Mile in August and GII City of Hope Mile Oct. 2. The 5-year-old was purchased by trainer Dan Blacker and Australian bloodstock agent Craig 'Boomer' Rounsefell after he RNA'd for $200,000 at Keeneland September.

“He's the best horse I've ever trained,” said Blacker. “Hopefully, there'll be more like him to come, but, he's a really special horse. It meant a lot that myself and Craig Rounsefell bought him ourselves at the sale and watched him develop into a great horse. I always had a confidence that he could be a top-level horse, but you never know. To have him go and win a Grade I, it was more than I could have hoped for, a real thrill. I'm just thankful to the owners to give me the chance to buy horses like him.”

Kirk Wycoff's Three Diamonds Farm offers a two-pronged attack with Cross Border (English Channel) and the aforementioned Field Pass. Their trainer Mike Maker, who won this race with Zulu Alpha (Street Cry {Ire}) in 2020, is also represented this year by Jordan Wycoff's Atone (Into Mischief) and Mike and Jules Iavarone, Abbondanza Racing and Donald Durando's Flavius (War Front).

Cross Border, winner of the GII Bowling Green S. at Saratoga in July, took the Prairie Bayou S. over Turfway Park's all-weather surface Dec. 18. Winless with a second and two thirds over Gulfstream's turf, Cross Border gets the services of Reylu Gutierrez from post 11.

Victorious in the GIII Baltimore/Washington International Turf Cup in July, Field Pass later finished runner up in the Knickerbocker before taking the Seabiscuit. He won in his only previous try over Gulfstream's grass course in the 2020 Dania Beach S. Umberto Rispoli rides from post 9.

Joseph Allen's homebred Doswell (Giant's Causeway), runner up in the 2020 edition of the GII Ft Lauderdale S., finished third in his next three starts, including the GIII W. L. McKnight S., also at this venue. Sent off a 9-2 while trying to go one better in last month's Ft. Lauderdale, he went wire-to-wire to score by 1 1/2 lengths over Atone Dec. 18.

“He came out really, really well,” said trainer Barclay Tagg. “Not a blemish on him. He's happy, eating well and he hasn't missed a breeze since. We feel good about him. If he can get to where he can relax and be up close, then I think it'll work out fine.”

The post ‘Colonel’ Looks for Pegasus Turf Repeat appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Busy Sunday Morning In Florida For Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitees

Joseph Allen LLC's Doswell, who scored an impressive 1 ½-length front-running victory in the Dec. 16 Fort Lauderdale (G2), breezed seven furlongs on turf at Palm Meadows Training Center Sunday morning in preparation for a planned start in the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1) at Gulfstream in Hallandale Beach, Fla., on Jan. 29.

The Barclay Tagg-trained lightly raced 7-year-old gelding was timed in 1:22.95 over a firm turf at Gulfstream's satellite training facility.

Three Diamond Farm's Atone and Calumet Farm's English Bee, Pegasus Turf reserve invitees who finished second and third, respectively, in the Fort Lauderdale, also breezed Sunday.

Mike Maker-trained Atone breezed five furlongs in 1:02.14 on dirt at Gulfstream, where Maker-trained Pegasus Turf invitee Field Pass also breezed five furlongs on the main track in 1:01.91. Graham Motion-trained English Bee breezed six furlongs in 1:12.05 on turf at Palm Meadows.

Sunday's Gulfstream worktab also included several other notable breezes. St. George Stable LLC's Letruska, a finalist for an Eclipse Award for Older Dirt Female, returned to the worktab for the first time since finishing off-the-board in the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1). The Fausto Gutierrez-trained mare, who won five straight races (three Grade 1 stakes) in a row prior to the Distaff, was timed in 37.20 seconds for three furlongs.

Grade 1 winner Drain the Clock breezed a half-mile in 48.14 seconds. Slam Dunk Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Wonder Stables and Michael Nentwig's 4-year-old son of Maclean's Music most recently came off a 3 ½-month layoff to win a six-furlong optional claiming allowance in 1:08.63. The Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained colt defeated Gatsby, who came back to score a dazzling victory in Saturday's $75,000 Sunshine Sprint at Gulfstream.

Red Oak Stable's Make It Big, an undefeated 3-year-old trained by Joseph, breezed a half-mile in 49.62. The son of Neolithic captured the $400,000 Remington Springboard Mile Dec. 17.

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Jockey Junior Alvarado Hoping To Build On Last Winter’s Success At Gulfstream

Having exceeded his own expectations in his full-time return to Gulfstream Park last winter, jockey Junior Alvarado is going about putting together an even better encore performance.

Alvarado was off to a strong start at the Championship Meet, ranking third in the rider standings with $1.4 million in purse earnings and fourth with 22 wins entering Wednesday's card. The 35-year-old has been in South Florida since opening day Dec. 3, after not arriving last year until the meet was nine days old.

“Even a month, month and a half before I came here [this year] I was looking forward to getting here,” Alvarado said. “You get the nice weather and you get to ride a lot of nice horses, too. I'm definitely very excited to be here.”

A native of Venezuela where he won his first career race in 2005, Alvarado ranked sixth with 53 wins and seventh with $2,355,580 in purse earnings during the 2020-2021 Championship Meet. Eight of his wins came in stakes, including Grade 3 triumphs in the Sweetest Chant, Canadian Turf, Hurricane Bertie and Appleton.

Alvarado notched a dozen multi-win days last winter, including a five-win day March 20 and a four-win day last Dec. 31. This winter he registered a double Dec. 5, 23, 26 and Jan. 9 and a triple Dec. 11, and scored his first stakes win in the Dec. 18 Fort Lauderdale (G2) aboard $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1) candidate Doswell.

“I would have to say last year was really kind of an unknown for me, just to come here and try for the first time after a while,” Alvarado said. “I didn't know what kind of trainers would ride me and I knew I had to put in a lot of work to get some trainers to look for me and give me a chance. I think we did pretty good last year.”

A year-round force in New York, where he has been a regular since 2010, Alvarado has worked his way to being a go-to rider for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. He rode 65 of Mott's starters last winter at Gulfstream with 17 wins, 18 seconds and five thirds, taking the Sweetest Chant with White Frost and the Cutler Bay and Palm Beach with Annex.

Overall, Alvarado won for 23 different trainers last winter with multiple victories for Antonio Sano, Jose D'Angelo, John Kimmel, Juan Carlos Avila, Carlos David, Carlos L. Perez and Hall of Famer Mark Casse.

Other wins came for Michael DePaulo, Francisco D'Angelo, Danny Gargan, William Tharrenos, Mark Hennig, Ron Spatz, Barclay Tagg, Armando De La Cerda, Jeremiah O'Dwyer, Gail Cox, Tom Bush, Hector Rodriguez, Antonio Cioffi and Hall of Famer Roger Attfield.

So far this year, Alvarado has won for Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, Matthew Williams, Tharrenos, D'Angelo, Gilberto Zerpa, Jane Cibelli, Mott, Tagg, Sano, David, Armando De La Cerda, Kathleen O'Connell, Chris Davis and Championship Meet leader Saffie Joseph Jr. Alvarado and Joseph are 6-for-12 together with two seconds and a third.

“With Billy Mott and with so many other trainers, I think [last year's meet] was actually beyond what I thought it was going to be,” Alvarado said. “It was definitely greater than I thought.”

Alvarado rode his first race in the U.S. at Gulfstream Feb. 2, 2007, and registered his first domestic win aboard Satira in a maiden claiming race two weeks later. He moved on to the Chicago circuit in 2008, winning the 2009 riding title at Arlington Park, before venturing to New York.

Approaching 1,900 career victories, Alvarado parlayed his strong winter showing at Gulfstream into a career-high 14 graded-stakes in 2021 including the June 5 Jaipur (G1) at Belmont Park aboard Mott-trained Casa Creed. His previous season high was 10 graded wins in 2020, 2019 and 2015.

“I might not get the number one, top horses year-round, but most of the time we're winning a lot of big races around the country. This year has been no exception. Hopefully we can keep picking up nice horses and winning big races,” he said. “Once you get the nice ones, we'll try to stay on them as long as we can and we'll go anywhere we have to go to keep the mount.”

One change from last winter is that Alvarado's wife and three children, ages 2, 6 and 10, were unable to spend the entire season with him in Florida.

“Last year, I brought them here and they did their schooling on-line,” he said. “This year we couldn't do that; they had to stay at school. So I just came by myself and I'll be going back and forth every other week to visit and they'll come on their [vacation] days off so we'll make it work.”

In the meantime, Alvarado is focused on the task at hand.

“My goal is to win at least the same amount of races and hopefully more,” he said. “A lot of people know me now. They weren't sure about my riding style. I gained confidence last year through the meet and showed that I can ride here and hopefully that will help a little bit to get more business going and win more races.”

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Doswell Does It in Ft. Lauderdale

Joseph Allen homebred Doswell (Giant's Causeway) hadn't seen the inside of a winner's circle since October 2020, however, marked his return with aplomb, scoring by a front-running, 1 1/2-length margin over longshot Atone (Into Mischief) in Saturday's GII Ft. Lauderdale S. at Gulfstream.

Sent to the front by Junior Alvarado straight away, the 9-2 shot showed the way as the stalking duo of GSW Analyze It (Point of Entry) and English Bee (English Channel) kept him in their sights. Still in front and moving well with a half mile left to negotiate, Doswell ramped up the tempo as 17-1 chance Atone burst on the scene approaching the quarter pole, spurted clear in early stretch and finished up with good energy late to win. English Bee held on for third, only a half-length adrift of the runner up.

“He broke good, I put him on the engine a little bit and then tried to slow him down, and he rated kindly for me,” said Alvarado. “When we turned for home, I asked him and he gave me a nice kick. I knew they were in trouble as soon as I started asking him, because he picked it up very quickly and I thought they'd have to be flying at the end to go by.”

A front-running victor in a Belmont allowance in October 2020, the dark bay finished runner up in this race last December before coming home third in the GIII W. L. McKnight S. in January. Sidelined after that effort, he didn't return to racing for nine months before running third in back-to-back optional claiming allowances Oct. 21 at Belmont and most recently, at Aqueduct Nov. 19.

“It was nice and easy,” added Alvarado of Saturday's effort. “Last year, they kind of told me to try to see if he would stalk to make sure he would finish strong, and we kind of took away his main [weapon]. Today, they told me, 'You're in the one [post], just leave out of there rolling,' and that's what I did.”

And is the GI Pegasus World Cup Turf in January in the cards for the 6-year-old?

“We're thinking about it. We'll probably go in it,” said winning trainer Barclay Tagg. “We'll see how he comes out of this. We'll see if he freshens up and if he's got [good] energy. I don't want to take him over there and just make a fool out of him if we can help it.”

Pedigree Notes:

The late, great Giant's Causeway, gone since the spring of 2018, continues to churn out stakes winners. The classy chestnut stood the whole of his career at Coolmore locations around the globe, but had his greatest success as a stallion during his longstanding engagement in Kentucky. The 6-year-old Doswell became the 164th Northern Hemisphere-foaled black-type winner for his sire and the 98th graded.

In contrast to Giant's Causeway was Doswell's broodmare sire Minardi, who was also a European champion raced by Coolmore connections, but hardly took the stallion ranks by storm. From 11 crops, he managed only three stakes winners from Malaysia to Europe, with Doswell's dam his only black-type winner in a major racing country (France). Doswell is the fourth black-type winner out of a daughter of Minardi. Doswell's half-brother Secretary At War (War Front) is one of the others.

In addition to her two stakes-winning sons, Ballet Pacifica has Grade III-placed Entrechat, a full-sister to Doswell, and a placed juvenile full-brother to Secretary At War named Fort Ticonderoga. Her yearling filly is named You're the Top (Into Mischief) and she visited both War Front and Not This Time for next term. Ballet Pacifica is out of Irish champion, three-time U.S. GISW, and $1.05-million broodmare Kostroma (Ire), making Ballet Pacifica a half to 2008 GI Santa Anita Oaks winner Ariege (Doneraile Court).

Saturday, Gulfstream Park
FT. LAUDERDALE S.-GII, $200,000, Gulfstream, 12-18, 3yo/up,
1 1/8mT, 1:45.60, fm.
1–DOSWELL, 121, g, 6, by Giant's Causeway
                1st Dam: Ballet Pacifica (SW & GSP-Fr, GSP-USA,
                $120,100), by Minardi
                2nd Dam: Kostroma (Ire), by Caerleon
                3rd Dam: Katie May (GB), by Busted (GB)
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN.
O/B-Joseph Allen LLC (KY); T-Barclay Tagg; J-Junior Alvarado.
$115,320. Lifetime Record: 12-3-5-3, $314,621. Werk Nick
Rating: B. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross
pedigree.*Full to Entrechat, GSP, $170,730; 1/2 to Secretary
At War (War Front), SW & GSP, $382,754.
2–Atone, 121, g, 4, Into Mischief–Captivating Lass, by A.P.
Indy. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($130,000
4yo '21 FTKHRA). O-Three Diamonds Farm; B-Godolphin
(KY); T-Michael J. Maker. $37,200.
3–English Bee, 121, h, 5, English Channel–Evil Kitten, by
Kitten's Joy. O/B-Calumet Farm (KY); T-H. Graham Motion.
$18,600.
Margins: 1HF, HF, 1 3/4. Odds: 4.50, 17.90, 21.20.
Also Ran: Space Traveller (GB), L'Imperator (Fr), Sole Volante, Renaisance Frolic, Breaking the Rules, Order and Law, Media Blitz, Analyze It, King Guillermo. Scratched: Brown Storm (Chi).
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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