flavien prat | Horse Racing Free Tips

McCarthy ‘Couldn’t Be Happier’ With Rombauer’s Five-Furlong Breeze

John and Diane Fradkin's homebred colt Rombauer had his final timed workout in preparation for the 146th Preakness Stakes (G1) Saturday morning, covering five furlongs in :59.80 under jockey Flavien Prat at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif.

Trainer Michael McCarthy said, “I couldn't be happier” with the breeze, which was the fourth-fastest of 56 recorded at the distance.

“He worked in company, settled in a length behind the other horse, passed him coming to the eighth pole and went on about his business,” McCarthy said.

Prat will ride the son of Twirling Candy for the first time in a race while making his Preakness debut. Prat entered Saturday tied with Luis Saez for third nationally in races-won at 99 and fourth in purse earnings.

Rombauer, who is scheduled to ship from California to Baltimore on Tuesday, most recently finished third in the April 3 Blue Grass Stakes (G2) at Keeneland. The Kentucky-bred colt previously captured the El Camino Real Derby, a Preakness 'Win & In' stakes at Golden Gate Fields.

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Trevor McCarthy Shifting Tack To Southern California

There will soon be a new face in the Southern California jockey colony, belonging to Trevor McCarthy.

The native of Wilmington, Delaware, who celebrates his 27th birthday on May 16, was born into racing, following his father Michael McCarthy as a jockey, and made his bones in Maryland, leading several campaigns at Laurel and Pimlico.

Married to jockey Katie Davis, daughter of former top rider Robbie Davis, Trevor was fourth in the standings at Belmont Park through last Sunday, and after due diligence by both he and his new agent, an accord was reached.

If all works out well, McCarthy could follow in the footsteps of other jockeys who began their careers in Maryland before heading for greener pastures, among them Chris McCarron, Kent Desormeaux, Edgar Prado and Ramon Dominguez.

“I needed a rider and was not going to take one away from another agent here,” said Derek Lawson, who will represent McCarthy. “I recruited him. I started looking at riders who might fit out here, called him up, he made calls to trainers to learn about me and here we are.

“This is something he definitely wants to do,” continued Lawson, who got the pink slip from Flavien Prat in mid-February after playing a significant role in developing the 28-year-old Frenchman into a world-class presence.

“Trevor had a great winter at Aqueduct but he wanted to try something completely different, that being California, and he wanted to work with me,” Lawson said. “He will start riding here Memorial Day weekend (May 28 through 31).”

Lawson wasn't resting on his laurels or smelling the roses during his sudden and enforced absence from the game he loves.

“I wanted to bring in someone new and Trevor filled the bill. I like developing good, young talent.

“I recruited him the best way possible, tried to show him the advantages here, and even though it's heavy with competition at the top, otherwise he fits right in with everybody else.”

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Tapwater, McCarthy Duo Top Marathon Santa Barbara Lineup

LNJ Foxwoods' Tapwater heads a field of eight fillies and mares going a marathon mile and one half on turf in Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Santa Barbara Stakes at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif. Trained by Hall of Famer Richard Mandella, Tapwater will be making her second career graded stakes appearance.

Trainer Michael McCarthy's recent allowance winner Go Big Blue Nation will also be making her second stakes appearance and will command considerable attention with turf ace Umberto Rispoli aboard for the first time and McCarthy's Rideforthecause, a Grade 2 winner in Canada this past September, could also figure prominently as the leading money earner in the field.

A 5-year-old mare by Tapit, out of the Indian Charlie mare Fiji Moon, Tapwater was most recently fourth, beaten 3 ¼ lengths by highly respected Charmaine's Mia going one mile on turf in the Grade 2 Royal Heroine Stakes at Santa Anita on April 3. A sharp classified allowance winner going a mile on grass two starts back on Feb. 12 with Flavien Prat, she'll be reunited with the meet's leading man on Saturday and will be stretching out off of six consecutive races at one mile.

Tapwater, who will be making her third start of the year, brings an overall mark of 9-3-2-0 and earnings of $154,940.

Owned by Cannon Thoroughbreds, LLC, Go Big Blue Nation flew late under apprentice Alexis Centeno to win a second condition allowance on April 4 at a mile and one quarter on turf by a half length and will hope to employ similar tactics when ridden by Rispoli for the first time on Saturday. Claimed out of a maiden $75,000 win eight starts back on Jan. 12, 2020, Go Big Blue Nation, a 4-year-old filly by Animal Kingdom, earned a career best 87 Beyer Speed figure and rates a huge chance stretching out a quarter of a mile.

Trained in Canada by Gail Cox, Rideforthecause was an even sixth, beaten 2 ½ lengths by multiple graded stakes winner Mucho Unusual in her first start for McCarthy, the Grade 3 Robert J. Frankel Stakes at a mile one eighth on turf Dec. 27. Subsequently seventh, beaten seven lengths in an even effort by Charmaine's Mia in the Grade 2 Royal Heroine, Rideforthecause will be ridden for the second time in a row by Mario Gutierrez.

A winner of the Grade 2 Canadian at a mile and one eighth over the Woodbine turf four starts back on Sept. 12, Rideforthecause was subsequently fourth as the 5-2 favorite in Woodbine's Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes Oct. 18 and will hope to regain her Canadian form in the Santa Barbara.

Phil D'Amato's Carpe Vinum, a close third to Go Big Blue Nation April 4, pressed the pace and was fifth, beaten 3 ¼ lengths two starts back going a mile and one half on turf in the Grade 3 Astra Stakes Jan. 17 and thus rates a solid chance in what will be her third start of the meet. Owned by MyRacehorse and Joey Platts, Carpe Vinum, a 4-year-old daughter of Carpe Diem, will be ridden for the third consecutive time by Jose Valdivia, Jr.

GRADE III SANTA BARBARA STAKES WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS
IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 7 of 9 Approximate post time 4 p.m. PT

Catch the Eye—Kent Desormeaux—122
Rideforthecause—Mario Gutierrez—124
Tapwater—Flavien Prat—122
Carpe Vinum—Jose Valdivia, Jr.—122
Star of Africa—Abel Cedillo—122
Neige Blanche—Juan Hernandez—124
Go Big Blue Nation—Umberto Rispoli—122
Dynapower—Cesar Ortega—122

First post time for a nine-race card on Saturday is at 1 p.m. For additional information, please visit santaanita.com or call (626) 574-RACE.

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Colonel Liam, Domestic Spending Dead-Heat In A Turf Classic Thriller

A pair of Grade 1-winning 4-year-olds – Colonel Liam from the barn of Todd Pletcher and the Chad Brown-trained Domestic Spending – hit the wire together in Saturday's Turf Classic Stakes at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., producing the first dead-heat in the 35-year history of the Grade 1 grass fixture run immediately prior to the Kentucky Derby.

Colonel Liam, ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., seized command from front-running Smooth Like Strait in the final sixteenth of a mile in the nine-furlong race, but Flavien Prat and Domestic Spending were in full flight after boring through a narrow opening in mid-stretch and switching to the outside. Domestic Spending was gaining ground with every strike and just caught Colonel Liam when the photo finish camera clicked at the wire. Time of the race on a firm turf course was 1:47.99.

Smooth Like Strait was a neck back in third, with Count Again 1 1/2 lengths further back in fourth in the field of nine older runners, edging Digital Age, Ivar and Cross Border in a photo finish, Masteroffoxhounds and Ride a Comet completed the order of finish.

Owned by Robert E. and Lawana Low, Colonel Liam paid $2.80 to win as the 7-5 favorite. Klaravich Stables' Domestic Spending, sent off at 5-1, paid $5.80 for a $2 win bet.

Umberto Rispoli guided Smooth Like Strait to the lead and set soft fractions of :24.40 for the opening quarter mile and :49.17 for the half. Colonel Liam was sitting in third position, saving ground along the inner hedge, with Domestic Spending near the back of the field and off the rail in the run down the backstretch.

Rounding the stretch turn after six furlongs in 1:12.83, Ortiz switched Colonel Liam to the outside and drew up alongside the front-runner at the furlong pole, the mile clocked in 1:36.22. He edged past that stubborn rival and looked to be on his way to victory.

Domestic Spending, meanwhile, had just two horses beat turning into the stretch. Prat had to guide his mount through a narrow opening, drawing alongside Brown stablemate Digital Age, switched to the outside and Domestic Spending kicked into high gear as both Smooth Like Strait and Colonel Liam were drifting out in deep stretch.

Photo finish for the Turf Classic win

For Colonel Liam, the win was his fourth in a row, dating back to his first stakes victory in the Tropical Park Derby at Gulfstream Park Dec. 26. He then scored a rich victory in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Jan. 23 and came back to win the Grade 2 Muniz Memorial at Fair Grounds on March 20.

The 4-year-old colt by Liam's Map, a $1.2 million 2-year-old purchase at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s April sale, has now won six of eight career starts. He was bred in Kentucky by Phillips Racing Partnership.

Domestic Spending, a 4-year-old Kingman gelding bred in England by Rabbah Bloodstock Limited, has won five of six career starts, including the Saratoga Derby Invitational last Aug. 16 and the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar Nov. 7. The Hollywood Derby was the most recent start for Domestic Spending, who trained at Palm Meadows in South Florida over the winter.

First run in 1987 after Churchill Downs installed a turf course, the Turf Classic has been won by three horses that would go on later in the year to Eclipse Award honors: Bricks and Mortar in 2019 (also voted Horse of the Year), Wise Dan in 2013, and Paradise Creek in 1994. It has been a Grade 1 since 1996.

The Turf Classic field drives toward the finish at Churchill Downs, with Domestic Spending (red and white cap) and the gray Colonel Liam dead-heating for the win

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