elliott walden | Horse Racing Free Tips

Country Grammer, Life Is Good to WinStar for R&R

Following their performances in the GI Dubai World Cup, beaten favorite Life Is Good (Into Mischief) and race winner Country Grammer (Tonalist) are on their way to WinStar Farm for a freshening before they return to serious training. WinStar President and CEO Elliott Walden estimated that their stay at the farm will last from 30 to 45 days.

WinStar is the co-owner of both horses.

Colonel Liam (Liam's Map), who finished ninth in the GI Dubai Turf, is also being sent to WinStar.

The heavy favorite in the wagering, Life Is Good, who is also owned by the China Horse Club, suffered just the second defeat in his career. He led for most of the way but weakened in the final sixteenth of a mile, which suggests that the mile-and-a-quarter distance was not to his liking. He finished fourth, beaten 2 1/4 lengths.

“I thought he ran well,” Walden said. “We were obviously disappointed that he didn't win, but it's not like he laid down and threw in the towel. He ran hard. I think the track was not quite to his liking. They ran a mile-and-a-quarter in 2:04.97. In the Shaheen sprint they went in 1:11 and change. Those horses should have gone in 1:09. The mile-and-a-quarter on this type of track was a big factor.”

Before the Dubai World Cup, the GI Metropolitan S. had been mentioned as a possible starting spot for Life Is Good, but Walden said it was too early to make any plans so far as his future racing schedule.

Closing relentlessly in the final furlong, Country Grammer, also owned by Zedan Racing, drew clear to win by 1 3/4 lengths over Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow). He is trained by Bob Baffert, the former trainer of Life Is Good.

“Country Grammer ran super,” Walden said. “We felt like that if Life is Good stubbed his toe he could be a horse that could win and that's what happened.”

Walden said that no races had been picked out as of yet for Country Grammer but listed the GI Pacific Classic as a possibility.

As for Hot Rod Charlie, trainer Doug O'Neill said some time off at a farm is also a possibility for the four-year-old.

“He came back in good shape and I can tell you that we have no idea where we are going with him,” O'Neill said. “He'll come back to my barn and then we will go over him and talk with the owners. He may get a couple weeks at a local farm to graze and get some sun on his back. He's earned it. I was elated with how well he ran. We were so optimistic going into the gate and then mid-race it looked like it wasn't going to be his day. Then turning for him, he came running down the inside and I got to the point where I thought he might win. It was a whirlwind of emotions.”

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Will Life Is Good and Flightline Meet? Maybe

It's not too early to lump Life Is Good (Into Mischief) in with some of the best horses of the modern era. That's how good he was Saturday at Gulfstream when he dominated over a field that included the soon-to-be-named 2021 Horse of the Year Knicks Go (Paynter) in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. in what was nothing less than a sensational performance.

But is he even the best horse in training?

It's a rare and special time for horse racing, which has been blessed with not just one but two horses who appear to be generational talents who could go down as among the best that ever raced.

The other, of course, is Flightline (Tapit), the fabulously talented but lightly raced $1-million yearling buy whose effortless win in the GI Runhappy Malibu S. drew comparisons to superstars like Ghostzapper (Awesome Again). He was given a 118 Beyer in the Malibu win, better than Life Is Good's best figure, which is the 110 Beyer he picked up in the Pegasus.

Who's better? The debate has already begun, but it's a question that can only be answered on the racetrack. Unfortunately, the two aren't exactly on a collision course to meet.

Flightline returned to the work tab Sunday at Santa Anita. In his first work since Dec. 19, a week before the Malibu, he went four furlongs in 47.80. Afterward, trainer John Sadler told the Daily Racing Form's Jay Privman that Flightline would start next in the Mar. 5 GII San Carlos S. at seven furlongs. The next start after that will likely be the GI Metropolitan H. to be run June 11.

As for Life Is Good, his next start will likely come in the Mar. 26 G1 Dubai World Cup.

“We're going to huddle up this week and discuss it,” said Elliott Walden, the president and CEO of racing operations for WinStar Farm, the co-owner of Life Is Good. “He will not run in the Saudi Cup, back in four weeks. So, Dubai would be the next option. We're going to see how he comes back and then start to map out the whole year.”

So far as the Met Mile goes, Walden wouldn't rule it out, but said that, if Life Is Good is to run in Dubai, that may eliminate the Met Mile from consideration. The next spot that could bring Flightline and Life Is Good together is the GI Whitney S. Sadler has listed that as a possible start for Flightline and Walden said Sunday it is a race that is also under consideration for Life Is Good. If all else fails, there is always the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, a race both stars are pointing toward.

“It would be fabulous if those two were to meet,” Walden said. “It would be great for horse racing. I think it's more a question of when than if. We haven't ducked anybody. We said right after the Dirt Mile what we were planning on doing. We want to do right by our horse and I know John Sadler wants to do right by his horse. He's a tremendous trainer. At some point they will meet and it will be great for racing.”

Life Is Good made his first three starts for trainer Bob Baffert. When Baffert ran into problems with the New York Racing Association, which has been attempting to suspend him, Life Is Good was transferred to Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher.

“I can't think of a horse [I trained] better than him,” Pletcher said following the Pegasus.

“To me, Life Is Good is right up there with Justify,” Walden said. “Justify won the Triple Crown and was undefeated. Bob [Baffert] early on compared him to American Pharoah and Justify. You think about all of the good horses Bob has had and all the good horses Todd has had and it's pretty amazing to think he's in that elite company.”

Walden, a former trainer, sees in Life Is Good characteristics that set him apart from most every other horse.

“The thing that separates Life is Good from the rest of the good horses I've been around is the fact that he never had a bad day,” he said. “Most horses will have an average workout from time to time, even though they are a very good horses, or they might look flat. This horse has never had a bad day on the racetrack. That's something, the more I've been around and the more I see, that is a characteristic of the great ones.”

That Life Is Good, who was the 4-5 favorite under Irad Ortiz, Jr., won was hardly a surprise, but few could have imagined that he could have out-sprinted a horse as quick as Knicks Go and open up by 3 1/2 lengths on his rival. Walden said the plan was to do what it took to get the lead.

“That was the game plan,” Walden said. “I know people say that's hard to fathom that, but this horse was in front of Jackie's Warrior at Saratoga in the Allen Jerkens. Why wouldn't he be in front of Knicks Go? I know Knicks Go is a great horse and is a deserving champion, but I didn't have any doubt he could be up there with Knicks Go. I'm not saying I thought he'd be three or four lengths in front of him, but I never thought he'd take a back seat to his speed, just because of what happened at Saratoga. To be in front of Jackie's Warrior like he was, that showed the speed and athleticism that Life Is Good has.”

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Walden: ‘If I Thought Bob Was Doing Anything Wrong, I Would Not Have Sent Country Grammer Back To California’

WinStar Farm president Elliott Walden told the Daily Racing Form on Monday that Grade 1 winner Country Grammer will be returning to the barn of embattled trainer Bob Baffert in Southern California. The 4-year-old son of Tonalist has not raced since capturing the G1 Hollywood Gold Cup at the end of May.

In the aftermath of the Baffert-trained Medina Spirit failing a drug test following his first-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, including Churchill Downs' and the New York Racing Association's bans of Baffert from their premises, WinStar shipped Coutnry Grammer East to the barn of trainer Todd Pletcher in mid-June.

“With the ban on Bob in Kentucky and New York right now, our opportunities are limited to the Pacific Classic in late August,” Walden wrote in a text to DRF at that time. “We are continuing to evaluate the situation with Bob and will adjust as we need to.”

An ankle injury prevented Country Grammer from making a start in Pletcher's care, but he has since recovered and is now back in Southern California, recording a four-furlong breeze in :50.40 at Santa Anita on Dec. 11.

“I sent Country Grammer and Life Is Good [former Baffert trainee who won the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile for Pletcher] back East because of the legal issues Bob was having at that time,” Walden told DRF this week. “We didn't know where they would be able to run. If I thought Bob was doing anything wrong, I would not have sent Country Grammer back to California.”

Dec. 10 Insights: Nashville Returns at Oaklawn

8th-OP, $102K, Alw/Opt. Clm ($80K), 3yo/up, 5 1/2f, 4:46 p.m. ET

Nearly a year after suffering his first defeat in last winter's GI Runhappy Malibu S., China Horse Club and WinStar Farm's NASHVILLE (Speightstown) will return to the races as a likely prohibitive favorite in this sprint at Oaklawn. Starting his career with a devastating 11 1/2-length romp as a 3-10 favorite in the Saratoga slop last September–easily good enough for 'TDN Rising Star' honors–the $460,000 Keeneland September proved that was no fluke with an effortless 9 3/4-length allowance score at Keeneland and a facile 3 1/2-length victory in that track's Perryville S. in which he set a track record, clocking 1:07.89 for six furlongs. Favored in a highly-anticipated clash with Charlatan (Speightstown) in the Malibu, Nashville set sizzling early splits before retreating to finish a well-beaten fourth.

“It's just kind of a starting point,” WinStar President/CEO and racing manager Elliott Walden told the Oaklawn notes team Wednesday morning. “We want to get a race in him and see where we are. It looks like a good spot. There's some competitive horses in there and it will give us a good barometer.”

Nashville shows a half-dozen breezes for this return, capped by a maintenance four furlongs in :51 2/5 (14/20) over this track Dec. 6.
“It's been a long road,” added Walden. “Sometimes, horses make you wait. Nothing major, but had a couple of starts and stops this year. You're always concerned about a layoff, but Steve [Asmussen] knows how to handle these horses. He said he's ready. Just looking forward to getting him back.” TJCIS PPs

—@JBiancaTDN

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