flavien prat | Horse Racing Free Tips

Donna Veloce Back in Kentucky Oaks Picture

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.”

The post Donna Veloce Back in Kentucky Oaks Picture appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Bodhicitta, Prat Nose Out Tonahutu In Yellow Ribbon At Del Mar

Calvin Nguyen's Bodhicitta, a filly on the rise, came running late to get up by a whisker and take honors in the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon Handicap at Del Mar Saturday afternoon.

The British-bred daughter of Showcasing packed 120 pounds and got a picture-perfect ride from Flavien Prat and caught DRJ Racing, Kenney or Strauss' Tonahutu just in the shadow of the wire. Finishing third was Agave Racing Stable's Harmless.

Race favorite Beau Recall put in only a mild late bid and finished fifth beaten just under two lengths in the seven-horse lineup.

The tally was the eighth stakes score in just 12 racing days for rider Prat, who now has 21 firsts at the session, second best among all riders to Umberto Rispoli, who won four races on the afternoon to forge to the top with 22 scores.

“I had a good post (#2) today, so I was able to get right on the fence and save ground,” said Prat. “I knew they were going slow, but my filly has a good turn of foot and we got it done.”

The 4-year-old Bodhicitta paid $11.20, $5.40 and $4.00 across the board and earned a winner's share of $90,000 from the Yellow Ribbon purse of $151,000. She now has amassed $265,808 in winnings with her fourth stateside score and initial stakes victory.

This was the 68th edition of the Yellow Ribbon for fillies and mares, aged 3 and up, and the winner covered the mile and one-sixteenth distance on the Del Mar turf course in 1:42.83.

“The race went about like I thought it would, I didn't see much speed in the race,” said Baltas. “She has more tactical speed than some of the horses, like Beau Recall and others who come from the back. He (Flavien Prat) saved a lot of ground and we needed all of it. When he won with her awhile back, he said 'This is my next (multiple-stakes winner) Vasilika'. It means a lot because he's ridden a lot of good horses. We may go here in the Mabee ($150,000, Grade 2 John C. Mabee Stakes, September 5).”

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My Girl Red, Prat Team For Sorrento Stakes Victory

Erich Brehm's homebred filly My Girl Red showed speed from the start and won the 52nd edition of the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes for juvenile fillies by 4 3/4 wide open lengths Friday at Del Mar near San Diego, Calif.

The bay daughter of 2014 Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Texas Red – owned in part by Brehm and trained by My Girl Red's conditioner, J. Keith Desormeaux – covered six furlongs in 1:12.12 in eased-up fashion and picked up a check for $90,000 from the $150,500 total purse.

My Girl Red is the first stakes winner from the first crop by Texas Red.

Flavien Prat, Del Mar's leading rider with 20 firsts in 11 days of racing, rode My Girl Red for his seventh stakes win of the meet, far and away the most by any jockey at the shore session.

“I didn't have any special instructions; just ride her with confidence,” said Prat. “She showed speed away from there, then we got a nice breather on the turn. From there she just went on and won in hand.”

Finishing second was Reddam Racing's first-time starter Get On the Bus and running third was Tricar Stables' Exchange Vows.

My Girl Red, a Kentucky-bred, paid $3.80, $2.40 and $2.20 across the board as the 9-10 favorite in the field of six fillies.

Desormeaux indicated that his charge would point next for the meet's top offering for young fillies, the Grade 1, $250,000 Del Mar Debutante on Sunday, September 6.

“I know it's still early and the time is average,” said Desormeaux. “But I think she can go even quicker and I sure don't want to complain. She has always shown signs of class and it's nice to see one duplicate in the afternoon what we see in the mornings.”

Prat won two races on the afternoon, as did riders Umberto Rispoli and Juan Hernandez.

In the Pick Six, a lone ticket holder had races 4 through 9 tabbed correctly and picked up a score of $181,849 for his/her efforts. The $9,216 winning ticket was sold to a Player Management Group wagering through Xpressbet at their Oregon hub.

The winning horses were: Race 4 – #2 Madame Barbarian ($8.40); Race 5 — #10 Nero ($7.60); Race 6 — #10 Tripple Shake ($8.00); Race 7 — #5 Solitaire ($36.40); Race 8 — #4 My Girl Red ($3.80), and Race 9 — #6 Leggs Galore ($12.20).

Racing resumes at Del Mar Saturday with an 11-race card starting at 2 p.m.

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Wesley Ward Ships Live Chance To Del Mar For Saturday’s Best Pal

When Wesley Ward ships one in – standby. Mr. Ward does not come to play, be it anywhere in the U.S., or Europe, too. The man fires bullets from coast to coast and across the ocean.

Eight times already he's rung the stakes bell at Del Mar and Saturday he's aiming for another gong with a quick 2-year-old colt named Roderick, who ran away and hid from a straight maiden field at Belmont Park in New York on June 21 in his lone outing and – in a lineup that lacks a stakes winner – looks like a solid favorite for the 50th edition of the Best Pal Stakes.

The race, a six-panel spin for juveniles that carries Grade II status and a $150,000 purse, has drawn a field of seven runners and Roderick has drawn post No. 4 and Del Mar's leading rider, Flavien Prat. Ward, the former Eclipse Award winning jockey (top apprentice, 1984), is likely to watch his charge run from his headquarters in Lexington as his west coast guy – trainer Blake Heap – saddles his Into Mischief colt Saturday for his ownership group that goes under the name Breeze Easy.

The local hope with the best chance to outfoot the youthful invader appears to be Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Herd Immunity, a Union Rags offspring who won at first asking in a straight maiden race at Santa Anita in early June, then was shipped to Churchill Downs where he ran third in the Bashford Manor Stakes on June 27. For his go in the Best Pal, the Peter Miller-trained colt will be partnered by Abel Cedillo and break from post No. 5.

Here's the full field (in post position order with riders and morning line odds) for the 2-year-old headliner that is a key prep to the meet's top event for the juvenile set, the Grade I, $250,000 Del Mar Futurity on closing day, Labor Day, September 7:

Strauss, Suarez or Tsukashima's Sonic Brees (Umberto Rispoli, 6-1); Reddam Racing's Ambivalent (Mario Gutierrez, 5-1); Kaleem Shah's Schnell (Ruben Fuentes, 12-1); Roderick; Herd Immunity; Drakos or Hanson's Weston (Drayden Van Dyke, 5-1), and Altamira Racing Stable's Girther (Ricky Gonzalez, 6-1).

Weston, who is trained by Ryan Hanson, broke his maiden in good fashion at Santa Anita on June 21. The Kentucky-bred gelding by the War Front stallion Hit It a Bomb, has had three solid works at Del Mar since and gets his chance to step up a notch Saturday.

Girther, also trained by Peter Miller, scored his initial victory in his second start here at Del Mar on July 11, hanging on for a nose tally at five furlongs. He's a Florida-bred colt by the Giant's Causeway stallion Brody's Cause.

The Best Pal will go as the sixth race on an 11-race card that also features the Grade II, $150,000 Yellow Ribbon Handicap for fillies and mares. First post Saturday is at 2 p.m.

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