Eight Belles S. | Horse Racing Free Tips

Godolphin's progressive Matareya (Pioneerof the Nile) parlayed a perfect inside trip into a facile success in Friday's $500,000 GII Eight Belles S. at Churchill Downs, the third winner of the event in the last six years for trainer Brad Cox.

The homebred filly was away without incident and raced worse than centerfield through the opening exchanges, as Pretty Birdie (Bird Song) set what appeared to be a strong early tempo in advance of Marissa's Lady (Violence). Racing well off the rail down the chute, Matareya was deftly maneuvered by Flavien Prat to her inside, across the heels of Wicked Halo (Gun Runner) and Ain't Easy (Into Mischief) and was guided down onto the fence linking up with the track proper. Asked for a bit more acceleration approaching the half-mile marker, Matareya was all the way into third and onto the back of the pacesetter while in hand for the run around the turn. Patiently handled while scraping the paint nearing the quarter pole, Matareya pushed away from the rail and into the two path to deliver her challenge in upper stretch. Pretty Birdie did everything in her power to match strides, but Matareya overtook her for good entering the final eighth of a mile and inched clear. Wicked Halo rallied for third.

“She broke well but I just got outrun in the first part,” said Prat. “Then I took a chance going to the inside where there were good horses to follow. Then we had a fair pace, was traveling well and when I tipped her out, she was there for me. I thought it was a really good run for her.”

Cox indicated the winner would stretch out to Belmont's one-turn mile for the June 11 GI Acorn S., where she could face her Grade I-winning stablemate Juju's Map (Liam's Map), an allowance winner earlier Friday beneath the Twin Spires.

“The Acorn's going to be interesting five weeks from now. Both are good fillies,” the conditioner said. “This filly is probably going to do her best going around one turn. Juju's Map definitely can handle two turns. At some point, they're going to sort themselves out, and if they meet up in the Acorn, I don't know.”

A distant runner-up to Secret Oath (Arrogate) in a one-mile Oaklawn allowance Dec. 31, Matareya aired by 5 1/4 lengths when cut back to six furlongs at the Fair Grounds Feb. 26 and most recently pummeled her rivals in the GIII Beaumont S. over an extended seven furlongs at Keeneland Apr. 10.

Pedigree Notes:

Matareya's Grade III-winning dam is a daughter of Golden Velvet, who was stakes-placed in France for Andre Fabre before adding a pair of graded victories and a runner-up effort in the GI Ogden Phipps H. once repatriated for Kiaran McLaughlin.

Golden Velvet was a daughter of Harbor View Farm's outstanding turf distaffer Caress, who was purchased by John Ferguson for $3.1 million at the 2000 Keeneland November Sale a handful of months after the mare foaled a Pulpit colt. That offspring, Sky Mesa, was raced by John Oxley to a victories in the GI Hopeful S. and GII Lane's End Breeders' Futurity, but lost any shot at a championship when scratched on the eve of the 2002 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Caress is also the dam of MGSP Monthir (Gulch), a sire of some note in South America; and of Velvety (Bernardini), whose son Maxfield (Street Sense) closed out his career victoriously in the GI Clark H. and now stands at Darley at Jonabell.

Innovative Idea is the dam of the 2-year-old filly Methodology (Uncle Mo), a yearling colt by the same stallion and visited him once again last season.

Friday, Churchill Downs
EIGHT BELLES S. PRESENTED BY TWINSPIRES-GII, $500,000, Churchill Downs, 5-6, 3yo, f, 7f, 1:21.86, ft.
1–MATAREYA, 120, f, 3, by Pioneerof the Nile
                1st Dam: Innovative Idea (GSW, $229,343), by Bernardini
                2nd Dam: Golden Velvet, by Seeking the Gold
                3rd Dam: Caress, by Storm Cat
O/B-Godolphin (KY); T-Brad H. Cox; J-Flavien Prat. $297,600. Lifetime Record: MGSW, 7-4-2-0, $671,867. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Pretty Birdie, 120, f, 3, Bird Song–Bird Sense, by Street Sense. O/B-Marylou Whitney Stables LLC (KY); T-Norm W. Casse. $96,000.
3–Wicked Halo, 120, f, 3, Gun Runner–Just Wicked, by Tapit. O/B-Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen. $48,000.
Margins: 2 1/4, 2, 4HF. Odds: 1.00, 7.70, 12.80.
Also Ran: Marissa's Lady, Sweet Dani Girl, Gerrymander, Awake At Midnyte, Lac Vieux Desert, Ain't Easy. Scratched: Sweet as Pie.
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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Considered one of the leading members of her division before she went to the sidelines this spring Donna Veloce (Uncle Mo) has reemerged as a serious candidate for the Sept. 4 GI Kentucky Oaks.

After finishing second as the favorite in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and again in the GI Starlet S., Donna Veloce began her 3-year-old campaign with a win over Speech (Mr. Speaker) in the GIII Santa Ysabel S.Mar. 8 at Santa Anita. Sidelined with what trainer Simon Callaghan called “a little minor thing,” she has not run since the March race.

“She is a possibility for the Oaks,” Callaghan said. “She will have an important breeze on Friday [at Del Mar]. We are actually planning on doing it just before the races begin and [jockey] Flavien Prat will breeze her. That will be a pretty good indicator of whether we think the Oaks is the right race for her or whether we go in the [Sept. 4 GII] Eight Belles [S.]. I am pretty sure she will be coming to Churchill for one race or the other.”

Donna Veloce worked three furlongs at Del Mar July 10, her first work since Apr. 4. Since her return she’s had six works, the last two at five furlongs.

Whether she goes in the Sept. 4 Oaks or the seven-furlong Eight Belles, Donna Veloce will face the difficult task of having to face top competition after a layoff of nearly six months. Callaghan said his filly is up to the task.

“Typically, this obviously would be a big ask for any horse,” he said. “This filly does seem to fire really good races fresh. She is that type of filly. She broke her maiden first time out after a relatively light breeze campaign. When we gave her some time off and brought her back this year for the Santa Ysabel she came back and won off a layoff. She gets herself pretty fit in the morning and she puts a lot into her breezes. She’s extremely clean winded and is definitely the type of filly that can get herself ready.”

Should she go in the Oaks, she’ll also have to prove she has the ability to beat what may be two of the best fillies to come around in years in Gamine (Into Mischief) and Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil)

“They are two super talented fillies,” Callaghan said. “There’s no doubt about that. Gamine might have some distance limitations. I’m not saying she does but she could, But she is insanely talented and so is Swiss Skydiver. It is without question a very, very deep field.”

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