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Pegasus Turf Contender Flavius Joins Mike Maker’s Barn

To trainer Mike Maker, you can never have enough horses for Gulfstream Park's $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1), so imagine his delight when owner Michael Iavarone called and told Maker that he'd purchased Flavius for $230,000 at Keeneland's November sale.

Maker said Flavius is his kind of horse, but one that just dropped into his shedrow out of the blue.

“I had nothing to do with it. They called me up and asked if I'd like to take him. That was it,” he said, adding cheerfully, “Good day for me.”

While owned by breeder Juddmonte Farms and trained by Chad Brown, the 6-year-old Flavius won four of 14 starts, with three seconds and two thirds, earning $737,673. After starting out in Ireland, he won his first U.S. stakes in Kentucky Downs' $750,000 Tourist Mile. Flavius finished fifth as the favorite in his attempt to repeat at Kentucky Downs, where the stakes now is the $1 million WinStar Mint Million Mile (G3). His only start since that Sept. 6 race was a third in Aqueduct's $150,000 Artie Schiller before being sold.

Flavius had his first recorded workout for Maker Dec. 11, powering five-eighths of a mile in 59.44 seconds, the fastest of 20 works at the distance that morning. He recorded another 'bullet' work Saturday, going five furlongs in 1:00.11. The horse has raced once before at Gulfstream Park, finishing fourth by a length in the 2019 Fort Lauderdale (G2) in his second U.S. start.

The Maker-trained Field Pass earned the right to pursue the Pegasus Turf by capturing Del Mar's Sea Biscuit (G2). Field Pass, owned by Three Diamonds Farm, has raced all over the country but only once before at Gulfstream, winning the 2020 Dania Beach.

“He's a model of consistency, sound, danced every dance,” Maker said. “Travels all over.”

Three Diamond Farms' Atone and Cross Border, both owned by Three Diamonds Farm, also are possible for the Pegasus Turf, Maker has said. Atone finished second Saturday in the Fort Lauderdale (G2). Cross Border, third in the 2021 Pegasus Turf, captured Saratoga's Bowling Green (G2). The 7-year-old horse won the Prairie Bayou Saturday at Turfway.

Maker said the Pegasus Turf fills an important void on the stakes calendar by offering a big-money Grade 1 grass race in January.

“There aren't very many options on the grass in the winter,” he said.

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Mandate Pulls Upset In Artie Schiller At Aqueduct

Longshot Mandate with jockey Andrew Wolfsont went to the far outside to find running room and sealed the deal with a late move for the lead to win the Artie Schiller at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.

The gelded son of Blame sat toward the back of the pack early in the one-mile turf stakes, content to wait for the far turn to make a move for position. Wolfsont took Mandate three-wide on the turn, with leader Rinaldi still on the front as they hit the stretch.

In the Aqueduct straight, though, Rinaldi could not hold on, with Tell Your Daddy gaining ground to bid for the lead as Mandate built up momentum on their outside. In late stretch, the longshot took over, pulling away to win by 1 3/4 lengths. Tell Your Daddy was second and Flavius got up at the end to take third.

The final time for the Artie Schiller was 1:39.07. Find this race's chart here.

Mandate paid $91.50, $30.40, and $10.00. Tell Your Daddy paid $4.50 and $2.60. Flavius paid $2.80.

“He made that outside move and in that same position as in his last race at Laurel. It just looked like a replay of his last race. When I saw those white blinkers making up ground on the outside, I got excited. I had faith in the horse, he was doing everything well,” trainer Robert Johnston said after the race. “His last race made him eligible for the Claiming Crown so we could still go there. Laurel still has grass, too. If we went to the Claiming Crown, we would go and come back. We're team players so if he needs to stay down there with someone else, so be it. Whatever is best for the horse.”

“I'm on cloud nine. This is the biggest stakes race I've won in my career. I won a few other state-bred stakes up in Pennsylvania, so this is pretty special for me, ” Wolfsont told the NYRA Press Office after the Artie Schiller.

Bred in Kentucky by International Equities Holding Inc., Mandate is out of the Empire Maker mare Bonnie's Empire. He is owned by Bruno Schickedanz. The 4-year-old gelding was consigned by Gainesway and sold to Michael C. Stinson for $200,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

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Pulsate Seeks Second Stakes Win In Friday’s Oyster Bay

Marc Keller's Pulsate will stretch out in distance while taking on a loaded field for Friday's inaugural $100,000 Oyster Bay for 3-year-olds and upward going seven furlongs over the Widener turf at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

Trained by Bobby Ribaudo, the 5-year-old Speightstown chestnut arrives of a runner-up effort in the Grade 3 Belmont Turf Sprint Invitational on October 2, where he displayed stalking tactics and finished a length behind pacesetter Arrest Me Red.

In his previous start, Pulsate captured his first stakes victory when taking the restricted Lucky Coin on September 3 going 5 ½ furlongs at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. He finished second in last year's Lucky Coin, 1 ¼ lengths behind Oyster Bay rival Battle Station.

The Oyster Bay will be a third overall start going seven furlongs on grass for Pulsate, who made his stakes debut with a close second in the seven-furlong Paradise Creek in May 2019.

Pulsate has consistently raced at the beginning of each month since finishing a close second in his seasonal debut going six furlongs over the inner turf in July at Belmont.

“Last time, there wasn't much pace and Wesley's [Ward] horse went wire-to-wire. He thinks highly of that horse, so it wasn't a bad race,” Ribaudo said. “My only question here is, he's run twice at Saratoga and the races are coming close together. But he seems to be doing well.”

Ribaudo added that the Oyster Bay could be a springboard to the $150,000 Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship on November 27 at the Ozone Park, N.Y., racetrack.

“You never know if the weather will cooperate during that time of year. We'll take this one first and if the weather holds up, we'll run in the Aqueduct Turf Sprint,” Ribaudo said.

Pulsate boasts a consistent 18-4-5-2 record with his first two victories taking place on dirt in early 2019 at Aqueduct. Ribaudo said a 6-year-old campaign is in play.

“He had been knocking on the door ever since he was a 3-year-old, so it's always nice to get a stakes win,” Ribaudo said. “He's doing so well as a colt, and he's not difficult to handle at all, so I'd like to bring him back next year.”

Manny Franco has piloted Pulsate in 10-of-18 starts and will return to the irons from post 5.

Chad Brown will saddle a trio of contenders in Value Proposition, Flavius, and Emaraaty.

Klaravich Stables' Value Proposition, a 5-year-old Dansili ridgling, scored at stakes level for the first time with a last-out triumph in the Red Bank on September 4 at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J. The consistent five-time winner has finished in the money in all five starts this season, including a late-closing second in the Grade 3 Forbidden Apple on July 14 at Saratoga.

Value Proposition will be ridden by Luis Saez from post 11.

Juddmonte's Flavius will attempt to make amends following a fifth as the beaten favorite in the Grade 3 Mint Million in September at Kentucky Downs in Franklin, Ky. Two starts back, the son of War Front was a wire-to-wire winner of the restricted Lure on August 7 at Saratoga.

Through a record of 13-4-3-1, Flavius brags the highest bankroll in the field with $719,651 in earnings.

Hall of Famer John Velazquez will ride from post 6.

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Emaraaty will seek two consecutive victories, arriving off a 1 ½-length optional claiming score on September 3 at Saratoga over next-out winner Voodoo Zip. The 6-year-old son of Dubawi, out of Group 1 winner Zee Zee Top, won his last effort emerging off a five-month layoff.

Leaving from post 4, Emaraaty will be piloted by Hall of Famer Javier Castellano.

Trainer John Terranova will saddle Gatsas Stables' Backtohisroots, who seeks his first stakes triumph since capturing an off-the-turf edition of the Atlantic Beach in 2018 at Aqueduct. The dark bay or brown son of Mark Valeski was a close second to Pulsate in the Lucky Coin off an 11-month hiatus ahead of a fourth in the Grade 3 Belmont Turf Sprint last out.

Backtohisroots will leave from post 8 under Jose Lezcano.

Completing the field are Ballydooley [post 1, Jorge Vargas, Jr.], Battle Station [post 2, Abner Adorno], Made You Look [post 3, Eric Cancel], Buy Land and See [blinkers off from post 7, Kendrick Carmouche], Maxwell Esquire [post 9, Dylan Davis], Guildsman [post 10, Hector Diaz, Jr.], and Fauci [post 12, Junior Alvarado].

Wendell Fong and Lil Commissioner are entered for the main track only.

The Oyster Bay is carded as Race 9 on Friday's 10-race program. First post is 12:35 p.m. Eastern.

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Somelikeithotbrown Among Top Choices For Labor Day’s Mint Million At Kentucky Downs

Louisville's Harvey Diamond and his partners in Skychai Racing will finally run their stable star Somelikeithotbrown at Kentucky Downs, with the multiple graded-stakes winner among the favorites for Monday's $1 million, Grade 3 WinStar Mint Million.

Last year's winner, Juddmonte Farm's Flavius, also is among the 11 older horses entered Tuesday for the Labor Day featured attraction, previously known as the Tourist Mile. The Chad Brown-trained Flavius won Saratoga's restricted Lure Stakes in his last start.

With the mile stakes enjoying Grade 3 status for the first time in 2021, the purse was increased from $750,000 and the name changed to reflect that amount and as a shout to The Mint Gaming Hall at Kentucky Downs.

Diamond, Skychai co-managing partner Jim Shircliff and frequent partner David Koenig of Sand Dollar Stable all love Kentucky Downs. Not only do they like to have a good time in a festive outdoor atmosphere at the races, but they won the $1 million Calumet Turf Cup in 2015 and 2016 with Da Big Hoss.

However, Somelikeithotbrown previously has raced in the summer at Saratoga, where he's eligible for New York-bred races and his owners earn additional incentives as the horse's breeder. The Big Apple has been very good to Somelikeithotbrown, including winning Saratoga's Grade 2 Bernard Baruch and Belmont's $150,000 Mohawk for New York-breds last year, along with an eight-length maiden victory and a pair of seconds in Grade 3 stakes as a 2-year-old in 2018.

The Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund is channeling millions of dollars into purse supplements at the six-date FanDuel Meet at Kentucky Downs for horses born in the commonwealth and by a stallion standing in the state. But the stakes' base purses — for which all horses can compete — alone would rank among some of the most lucrative in the country.

So while Somelikeithotbrown isn't eligible to compete for the $450,000 KTDF component of the Mint Million, “$550,000 isn't exactly chopped liver,” Diamond said. “It just seemed like the proper spot for him.”

Somelikeithotbrown last ran when a close second to Set Piece in Churchill Downs' Grade 2 Wise Dan on June 26.

“I thought he tried really hard all the way to the wire,” said Diamond, a retired occupational physician. “That race was a mile and a sixteenth around two turns. This will be a one-turn race, so we're looking forward to giving it a shot down there. We think he's a really nice horse, and he doesn't owe us a thing. So let's see how he runs at Kentucky Downs. Hotbrown doesn't need to take his track with him. He's won at multiple tracks, and he's good at the distance. So we're looking forward to running him at this European-style course. We love to come down there. We're excited the turf course has been renovated and can't wait to see it. And it's in an outdoor atmosphere that will fit with our COVID restrictions.”

The cleverly named Somelikeithotbrown is from the first foal crop sired by 2008 Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown in his first breeding season in New York. His dam is the Tapit mare Marilyn Monroan, her name a play on her gray color, who raced for Skychai's affiliated Hot Pink Stables and Sand Dollar. Overall he's 7-5-2 in 20 starts, earning $899,838.

Somelikeithotbrown spent the summer in Louisville at trainer Mike Maker's Trackside training center base, where he has uncorked four very strong workouts. Jose Ortiz, the 2018-2019 Kentucky Downs meet titlist, has the mount and is skipping closing day at Saratoga.

Alluding to bypassing Saratoga's $250,000 Albany for New York-breds to run in the Mint Million, Maker said the New York-bred turf horses “are no cupcakes, either. So, we figured with the difference in the purses, we might as well stay home where he's doing well. He's run on hard ground, yielding ground and performed well at different places. I do like the one turn for him.”

As Kentucky Downs' all-time winningest trainer with 63 victories, Maker's 356 starters also are a track record. Those horses have earned $8,259,886 at the all-grass meet, with no one else close.

Maker is coming off a huge meet at Saratoga, with 24 wins and $1.97 million in purse earnings and still having horses for that meet's final week. But it's a sign of how important the Kentucky Downs' meet is to the trainer that he's back in Kentucky. He has nine horses entered in six races on the Labor Day card.

That includes another Mint Million entrant in Michael Hui's Monarchs Glen, a $62,500 claim who in his last three starts won a second-level allowance race and Indiana Grand's Jon B. Schuster Memorial and finished second by a neck in the West Virginia Speaker's Cup.

Other contenders in the Mint Million include Chicago invader Betwithbothhands, who earned a fees-paid berth in the race by virtue of winning the stakes prep at Ellis Park; last year's Grade 2 Del Mar Derby winner Pixelate; and Bizzee Channel, who won the Grade 3 Arlington Stakes before finishing fifth in the Grade 1 Mr. D (formerly the Arlington Million).

Skychai, in partnership with Paradise Farms Corp. and David Staudacher, also is running Saratoga maiden-winner Kiss the Sky in Monday's $500,000 Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile. As a Kentucky-bred son of Twirling Candy, the Maker-trained Kiss the Sky will compete for the whole purse.

“He's shown some ability with that Saratoga win,” Diamond said.

The Kentucky Downs Juvenile also drew a field of 11, including the Kenny McPeek-trained Tiz the Bomb, who romped by 14 1/4 lengths in a mile maiden race that came off the grass at Ellis Park. Larry Rivelli will send out 2-for-2 Nobals, who won the Arlington-Washington Futurity winner this past Saturday. Mark Casse brings up On Thin Ice, an impressive debut winner on grass, up from Gulfstream Park for the stakes. Maker also entered the maiden Fan the Fire in the stakes.

Brad Cox has a strong 1-2 punch in the $500,000 Aristocrat Juvenile Fillies, running Turnerloose and Yin Yang, both Ellis Park debut winners at a mile on grass. The Randy Morse-trained Verylittlecents, winner of the RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Juvenile Fillies, makes her first start on turf in the mile stakes, which attracted a field of ten 2-year-old fillies.

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