Tag: fantasy stakes

Fast Anna’s Thorpedo Anna Stylish in Fantasy Win Off Layoff

'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna (f, 3, Fast Anna–Sataves, by Uncle Mo), off since a second Nov. 25 in the GII Golden Rod S., shook off any cobwebs with aplomb to notch a four-length score in the GII Fantasy S. at Oaklawn under a hand ride Saturday. West Omaha (West Coast) and Tapit Jenallie (Tapit), who filled out the trifecta in the reverse order behind Lemon Muffin (Collected)–seventh here–in the Feb. 24 GIII Honeybee S., finished second and third, respectively. The Fantasy is a Kentucky Oaks points race on a 100-50-25-15-10 basis, giving Thorpedo Anna a certain spot in the starting gate the first Friday in May.

Breaking from the outside 12th gate, Thorpedo Anna left her post in razor-sharp fashion to immediately join the first flight. Rider Brian Hernandez, Jr. kept her quiet and on the outside in third as previously unbeaten Recharge (Gun Runner), winner of the Sunland Park Oaks in her stakes debut Feb. 18, and Candy Aisle (Gun Runner), second at in that same race at Sunland, showed the way through :23.45 and :47.90 fractions. Still third on the turn, the Kenny McPeek trainee moved up on the outside with no visual urging, took control with ease long before Hernandez showed her the stick once to keep her mind on business, and left no doubt about the best filly in the race on the day. Her ears pricked, she eased up before the wire with a final time for the 1 1/6 miles of 1:44.24.

The Fantasy marked the fourth win on the card for the duo of McPeek and Hernandez.

McPeek, who has a long list of savvy buys to his credit, picked up Thorpedo Anna for $40,000 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling sale. Bred by Judy Hicks in Kentucky, who stayed in on the filly, the ownership team also includes Mark Edwards, Brookdale Racing, and the McPeek family's Magdalena Racing. She is reportedly named for a relative of Edwards who shares the name 'Anna' with the filly's sire and is a swimmer. 'Thorpedo' is a well-known nickname of multiple gold medalist Ian Thorpe, an Australian swimmer who is now retired.

The Fantasy winner debuted at Keeneland last October in a maiden special weight restricted to fillies who sold or RNA'd for $50,000 or less and promptly blew the field away by open daylight. She wowed again just over two weeks later in a Churchill optional allowance, netting her the 'Rising Star' tag. Intricate (Gun Runner), who has since been beaten twice by GI Kentucky Oaks favorite Tarifa (Bernardini), bested Thorpedo Anna in the Golden Rod and is the only horse to finish in front of the dark bay in her four starts. It was soon after the Golden Rod that McPeek indicated Thorpedo Anna needed time off due to a bruise on her hip. She began working again in earnest in February and had posted six works coming into the Fantasy, all at Fair Grounds, including a most recent 1:01 2/5 for five furlongs (17/36) Mar. 23. She is a regular work partner of Mystik Dan (Goldencents), the Feb. 3 GIII Southwest S. winner who was third in the GI Arkansas Derby one race after the Fantasy.

Pedigree Notes:

Thorpedo Anna is the first graded winner for the late Three Chimneys stallion Fast Anna, whose five modest-sized crops have netted 14 black-type winners, all in North America. The son of Medaglia d'Oro, second in the 2014 GI King's Bishop S., was out of 2006's champion 2-year-old filly Dreaming of Anna (Rahy). He lost a battle with laminitis just prior to the 2021 breeding season.

Thorpedo Anna is not the first prominent 3-year-old this season for Uncle Mo as a broodmare sire, as fellow 'TDN Rising Star' Muth (Good Magic), who won the GI Arkansas Derby one race later on the Oaklawn card, is also out of one of his daughters. Uncle Mo, who stands at Coolmore America, has a total of 18 stakes winners as a dam sire. Sataves is unraced, as is her dam, Pacific Sky. However, the latter is a half-sister to GISW Eskendereya (Giant's Causeway) and to English G1SW Balmont (Stravinsky).

Sataves has a 2-year-old Cloud Computing colt named McAfee, who sold to Maddie Mattmiller for $40,000 at Keeneland September, and a Known Agenda filly born Mar. 15 and already named After the Storm.

Saturday, Oaklawn Park
FANTASY S.-GII, $750,000, Oaklawn, 3-30, 3yo, f, 1 1/16m, 1:44.24, ft.
1–THORPEDO ANNA, 118, f, 3, by Fast Anna
                1st Dam: Sataves, by Uncle Mo
                2nd Dam: Pacific Sky, by Stormy Atlantic
                3rd Dam: Aldebaran Light, by Seattle Slew
   1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($40,000 Ylg
'22 FTKOCT). O-Brookdale Racing, Inc., Mark Edwards, Judy
Hicks, & Magdalena Racing (Sherri McPeek); B-Judy Hicks (KY);
T-Kenneth G. McPeek; J-Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr. $393,750.
Lifetime Record: 4-3-1-0, $584,363. Werk Nick Rating: A++.
   Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree or the
   free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–West Omaha, 122, f, 3, West Coast–Birthday Bash, by
Medaglia d'Oro. O-Gary and Mary West; B-Gary & Mary West
Stables Inc. (KY); T-Brad H. Cox. $131,250.
3–Tapit Jenallie, 122, f, 3, Tapit–Take Charge Tressa, by War
Front. O/B-Willis Horton Racing LLC (KY); T-Eddie Milligan, Jr.
$65,625.
Margins: 4, 3 1/4, NK. Odds: 2.70, 3.60, 27.20.
Also Ran: All Things Go, Recharge, Ba Dee Yah, Lemon Muffin, My Mane Squeeze, Candy Aisle, In Just My Heels. Scratched: Midshipman's Dance, Where's My Ring. Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

 

The post Fast Anna’s Thorpedo Anna Stylish in Fantasy Win Off Layoff appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

H. Allen Poindexter to be Inducted into Prairie Meadows Racing Hall of Fame

Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino will induct two horsemen into its Racing Hall of Fame on Saturday, July 9 including Quarter Horse jockey Stormy Smith and prominent Thoroughbred owner and breeder, H. Allen Poindexter. His maroon and grey silks have been carried by multiple stakes-winning horses at Prairie Meadows and other tracks across America, such as GIII Fantasy S. runner-up Chanel's Legacy (Dominus) and GIII Iowa Oaks victress Flat Out Speed (Flat Out). Both will be inducted in a ceremony on the second day of the 2022 Iowa Festival of Racing beginning at 4:00 p.m.

“I am thrilled and privileged to be inducted into the Prairie Meadows Hall of Fame,” said Poindexter. “Even though I knew my name was in the mix, I still got goose bumps when I received word that I would be part of the Class of 2022.”

The post H. Allen Poindexter to be Inducted into Prairie Meadows Racing Hall of Fame appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Fantasy Winner Pauline’s Pearl Has ‘Improved Every Time,’ On To Kentucky Oaks

Pauline's Pearl continued her ascent in the 3-year-old filly division with a victory in the $600,000 Fantasy Stakes (G3) Saturday at Oaklawn.

A homebred for Stonestreet Stables LLC (Barbara Banke) and Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, Pauline's Pearl earned a preliminary Beyer Speed Figure of 89, a career best, for her one-length victory over Ava's Grace to secure a spot in the $1.25 million Kentucky Oaks (G1) April 30 at Churchill Downs. The Kentucky Oaks is the nation's biggest race for 3-year-old fillies.

The royally bred Pauline's Pearl, by Tapit out of Grade 1 winner Hot Dixie Chick (a half-sister to 2017 Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming), was exiting a troubled second-place finish in her stakes debut, the $300,000 Honeybee (G3) March 6 at Oaklawn. Her Beyer figures, a numerical representation of performance, have improved throughout her five-race career, rising from 61 in her debut sprinting Dec. 19 at Fair Grounds, to 70, 74, 81 in the Honeybee and now 89. The last four starts for Pauline's Pearl have come at 1 1/16 miles.

“Just a tremendous pedigree,” Asmussen said. “Her mother, we had won a Grade 1 with, the Spinaway. Grade-1 winning mare for Stonestreet and the class shows.”

Pauline's Pearl ($3.80) represented Asmussen's record 94th career Oaklawn stakes victory and record fourth in the Fantasy. She was the 4-5 favorite after going off 18-1 in the Honeybee.

Pauline's Pearl was reunited with jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. for the Fantasy. Santana had ridden Pauline's Pearl in her career debut, but was aboard stablemate Willful Woman in the Honeybee (Will's Secret was a three-quarter length winner).

“She's a nice filly,” Santana said. “We've expected a lot from her since Day 1. I rode that filly short the first time at Fair Grounds and she ran good. We always expected to run her long. The last four races she's run long, she's improved every time.”

Pauline's Pearl collected 100 Kentucky Oaks qualifying points for her Fantasy victory and ranks No. 4 on the leaderboard with 120, according to Churchill Downs. The 1 1/8-mile Kentucky Oaks is limited to 14 starters, with starting preference given to horses with the highest point totals earned in designated races like the Fantasy. Will's Secret is No. 8 with 80 points. She also won Oaklawn's $200,000 Martha Washington Stakes Jan. 30.

Last year's Fantasy winner, Swiss Skydiver, finished second in the rescheduled Kentucky Oaks (COVID-19) en route to an Eclipse Award as the country's champion 3-year-old filly. Fantasy third Shedaresthedevil won the Kentucky Oaks for co-owner Staton Flurry of Hot Springs.

Santana, Asmussen and Stonestreet teamed to win the 2016 Fantasy with Terra Promessa, who finished 10th in the Kentucky Oaks.

Asmussen won Oaklawn's $60,000 Prima Donna Stakes for 3-year-old filly sprinters in 2010 with Hot Dixie Chick.

The post Fantasy Winner Pauline’s Pearl Has ‘Improved Every Time,’ On To Kentucky Oaks appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Cox Pleased With Essential Quality’s Blue Grass Performance: ‘I Liked That He Got A Test’

Trainer Brad Cox was a happy camper Sunday morning, pleased with all aspects of the gutty victory by Godolphin's undefeated champion Essential Quality in Saturday's $800,000 Toyota Blue Grass (G2) at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.

“He looks good this morning and I am happy with the way he came out of the race,” Cox said of Essential Quality, a son of Tapit who extended his unbeaten streak to five with his neck victory over Highly Motivated. “I liked that he got a test yesterday. It was not like he just galloped up to the leader and went on by.”

Cox said Essential Quality would go to Churchill Downs Monday morning after training hours to join his string there and continue preparations for the $3-million Kentucky Derby (G1) Presented by Woodford Reserve on May 1.

Essential Quality might be joined soon at Churchill by the Into Mischief colt Highly Motivated, according to Whit Beckman, assistant to trainer Chad Brown.

“He is good this morning,” Beckman said of Highly Motivated. “He put in a valiant effort yesterday going two turns for the first time. He took all the heat and kept battling.

“I am not sure (how long he will stay here), but knowing Chad I would not be surprised to see him go to Churchill for a couple of works.”

John and Diane Fradkin's Rombauer, who picked up 20 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby with his third-place finish in the Toyota Blue Grass, might wait for the Preakness (G1) on May 15, trainer Michael McCarthy said via text.

The Kentucky Derby is limited to the top 20 point earners that pass the entry box and Rombauer has 34 points, which is good for 21st on the leaderboard with two more points races to go on Saturday: the Arkansas Derby (G1), which awards 170 points on a 100-40-20-10 scale to the top four finishers, and Keeneland's Stonestreet Lexington (G3), which offers 34 points on a 20-8-4-2 scale.

Prior to the Toyota Blue Grass, Rombauer won the El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields and earned an automatic berth into the Preakness.

BBN Racing's Hidden Stash picked up 10 Derby points for his fourth-place finish to boost his total to 32, good for 23rd on the leaderboard.

“He is good this morning,” trainer Vicki Oliver said. “We will see what the owners want to do – either the Derby or, if he looks tired, wait for the Preakness or Belmont.”

The Kentucky Derby dream ended for Cypress Creek, Arnold Bennewith and Spendthrift Farm's Keepmeinmind with his fifth-place finish in the Toyota Blue Grass, a position that earned him no points toward the Run for the Roses. Keepmeinmind, runner-up to Essential Quality in the Claiborne Breeders' Futurity (G1) and third to him in the TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance here last fall, has 18 points and stands 28th on the leaderboard.

“I don't know what to tell you (about the Toyota Blue Grass performance),” trainer Robertino Diodoro said before heading back to his main string at Oaklawn Park. “Obviously we don't have enough points and what's next, that's the million-dollar question.”

The day was not a total loss for Diodoro as Cypress Creek's Ava's Grace finished second in the Fantasy (G3) at Oaklawn and picked up 40 points toward the Kentucky Oaks (G1) and a likely spot in the 14-horse starting gate.

“We are pretty excited about her,” Diodoro said. “I don't know if she will come here first and then go to Louisville but either way we have to get her up here ASAP from Oaklawn.”

The post Cox Pleased With Essential Quality’s Blue Grass Performance: ‘I Liked That He Got A Test’ appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights