Tag: fluffy socks

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! Heralds Close To Blockbuster Graded Weekend

With a nod to Chicago motorsport legend Jan Gabriel's famous call of Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!, the blockbuster weekend of horse racing isn't in the books just yet with 11 graded stakes scheduled. Out of those, three guarantee a starting spot in next month's 40th Breeders' Cup World Championships –'Win and You're In'.

In Toronto, Woodbine Racetrack cards the GI E.P. Taylor S. A renewal of the celebrated 1 1/4 grass event, this year's edition includes Godolphin homebred and Dubai multiple group stakes winner With The Moonlight (Ire) (Frankel {GB}). The 4-year-old filly ran second in the GI Jenny Wiley S. at Keeneland back in the spring before finishing out of the money the next month at Newmarket in the G2 Dahlia S.

Receiving Lasix for the first time, the Charlie Appleby trainee will tangle with Canadian Horse of the Year Moira (Ghostzapper), who won for the first time in over a year in the GII Canadian S. Sept. 9.

“She's doing well,” said Moira's trainer, Kevin Attard. “She's coming off a big win, obviously, and she's had some good works since then.”

With The Moonlight's stablemate, GISW Nations Pride (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), also returns to contest the GI Canadian International S. at Woodbine after winning a Group 1 in Germany over the summer. With Lasix too, the 4-year-old colt is up against GISW Adhamo (Ire) (Intello {Ger}) from Chad Brown's shedrow, who sends out Juddmonte homebred GSW Masen (GB) (Kingman {GB}) for the Sunday finale in the GII Nearctic S.

Nations Pride | Sarah Andrew

Elsewhere, the tip-top Sunday racing continues at both the Belmont at the Big A meet and at Keeneland.

First, Aqueduct hosts a trio of Grade III events. The Futurity S., which is an opportunity for 2-year-olds to earn a berth in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, is a chance for second out maiden breaker Apollo Ten (Violence) to strut his grass ability. The Christophe Clement trainee will have to grapple from the outside gate with SW Book'em Danno (Bucchero), who tries turf for the first time. Sticking with the lawn, the Noble Damsel S. features veteran MGSW Fluffy Socks (Slumber {GB}), while the Matron S. could be the stakes coming out party for Ever So Sweet (Ire) (Calyx {GB}).

The action at Keeneland isn't quite on the level of Saturday's, but the Association cards a pair of 'Win and You're In' contests. The GI Spinster S. is always a highlight in October, as older females look to gain entry into the GI Breeders' Cup Longines Distaff. A slugfest is in the offing, as champion 3-year-old Nest (Curlin) looks to avenge her loss in the GI Personal Ensign S. Aug. 25 at Saratoga when Idiomatic (Curlin) took home the prize from the first jump. The daughters of multiple leading sire Curlin are in for an epic battle.

“We know she likes this track,” said Nest's Hall of Fame trainer, Todd Pletcher. “We feel good about her that we got two races in her.”

Moving to the Haggin Course where the GII Castle & Key Bourbon S. will fill a position in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, we find a well-matched field of 2-year-olds. Noted (Cairo Prince) recorded his first stakes victory in the Sapling S. at Monmouth Aug. 26 for Repole Stable and should be the favorite come post time. However, don't miss First World War (War Front) who debuted a winner coming from just off the pace at Kentucky Downs last month for trainer Brendan Walsh.

Finally, swinging out to Santa Anita Park, the GIII Zuma Beach S. includes four 2-year-old colts who will be making their first start, while their filly counterpart, the GIII Surfer Girl S. beckons a pair of undefeated runners making their third start in SW Flattery (Flatter) and GSW Dreamfyre (Flameaway).

The post Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! Heralds Close To Blockbuster Graded Weekend appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Twirling Candy’s Evvie Jets Upsets Ballston Spa at 29-1

She may not have been the longest shot on the board–that title fell to intent-on-the-lead pacesetter and 55-1 shot Sister Bridget (Ire) (Galileo Gold {GB})–but Mertkan Kantarmaci's 29-1 trainee Evvie Jets (m, 5, Twirling Candy–Natchez Trace, by Consolidator) was still an afterthought in the public eye's at 29-1 behind a trio of Chad Brown entrants and one shipped stateside by Ireland's Joseph O'Brien in Saratoga's GII Mohegan Sun Ballston Spa S. Thursday. Longshot or not, Evvie Jets set the Spa lawn on its ear with a bold win up the rail as MGSW & MGISP Fluffy Socks (Slumber {GB}) and Ascot GSW Jumbly (GB) (Gleneagles {Ire}) followed in a tight finish.

Evvie Jets broke like a jet when the gates flew, but stepped aside as Sister Bridget and the accomplished Technical Analysis (Ire) (Kingman {GB})–a 'TDN Rising Star', MGSW, and MGISP–fought for the lead. Those two pulled more than a half dozen lengths clear of the field with Sister Bridget getting the first fractions of :23.50 and :48.67 as Technical Analysis backed off. As the field closed in and swarmed the two leaders in the stretch, Evvie Jets snuck up the inside from fifth under Manny Franco and collared Technical Analysis, who had taken over from a tiring Sister Bridget as MGSW Gam's Mission (Noble Mission {GB}) attacked from the outside. It looked to be anyone's race a sixteenth from home, but Evvie Jets kept her head in front, despite being on her wrong lead, as Fluffy Socks and Jumbly closed in. Less than a length and a half covered the first seven under the wire in a wild blanket finish. Final time for the 1 1/16 miles was 1:43.06, a new course record.

Franco picked up the ride on Evvie Jets from Luis Saez, who was injured Wednesday and is out indefinitely.

“Manny [Franco] did the right thing–just save and save and our plan was only stick to the rail, and he did–and save in the second turn also,” said Kantarmaci. “She just made the stretch run today after the hot pace. She can do that. She showed that a long time ago already, but she ends up in fights in the slower pace. Today was the day for her to close.”

The winning trainer continued: “Since the first day, we took care of her like a stakes horse because I knew she was going to come to that level, but we wanted to go step by step with her. Now, of course, she's extra special after this race. Unbelievable she did that today.”

A winner two back of Belmont's July 2 Perfect Sting S. over Ballston Spa 6-5 favorite Technical Analysis, Evvie Jets was winning the second graded race of her career following a 2022 win in the GIII Noble Damsel S. She'd kicked off her 2023 campaign Apr. 16 at Aqueduct with a win in the Plenty of Grace S. and was last seen Aug. 2 in defeat to Technical Analysis in the De La Rose S. Originally trained by Anthony Dutrow until claimed for $80,000 in 2021, Evvie Jets has run exclusively in stakes company for the past 11 months and also placed in the GIII Athenia S. last fall.

 

Pedigree Notes:

Evvie Jets is one of 18 graded winners for Lane's End sire Twirling Candy, a son of fellow Lane's End stallion Candy Ride (Arg). With 43 black-type winners bred in the Northern Hemisphere and eight Grade I winners spread from coast to coast, Twirling Candy last had a graded winner at the Spa in 2018 with GII Honorable Miss H. scorer Finley'sluckycharm. Although Evvie Jets is his only stakes winner out of a Consolidator mare, Twirling Candy has a number of his top stakes winners out of mares by Consolidator's extended Storm Cat sire line. Consolidator himself was exported to stand in the Philippines ahead of the 2012 season and has 10 stakes winners out of his daughters.

From the family of MGISW and $1.85-million Keeneland broodmare Kalookan Queen (Lost Code), the Ballston Spa winner's dam was unraced and is, like her daughter, a Farfellow Farms-bred. Natchez Trace's 2-year-old colt by Catalina Cruiser was a $240,000 OBS March juvenile and has since been sent to Japan after being purchased by Katsumi Yoshida. With no foals in the meantime, Natchez Trace was bred to Airdrie's Upstart for next term.

Thursday, Saratoga
MOHEGAN SUN BALLSTON SPA S.-GII, $300,000, Saratoga, 8-24, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16mT, 1:43.06 (NCR), fm.
1–EVVIE JETS, 120, m, 5, by Twirling Candy
                1st Dam: Natchez Trace, by Consolidator
                2nd Dam: Crystal Cream, by Secretariat
                3rd Dam: Clear Copy, by Copy Chief
($75,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-The Estate of Robert J. Amendola;
B-Farfellow Farms Ltd. (KY); T-Mertkan Kantarmaci; J-Manuel
Franco. $165,000. Lifetime Record: 22-7-6-2, $698,680. *1/2
to Forever Mo (Uncle Mo), MSP, $248,315. Werk Nick Rating:
A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Fluffy Socks, 122, m, 5, Slumber (GB)–Breakfast Time, by
Kitten's Joy. O/B-Head Of Plains Partners (KY); T-Chad C.
Brown. $60,000.
3–Jumbly (GB), 120, f, 4, Gleneagles (Ire)–Thistle Bird (GB), by
Selkirk. (1,250,000gns 3yo '22 TATMA). O-Doreen Tabor;
B-Emily Rothschild (GB); T-Joseph Patrick O'Brien. $36,000.
Margins: HD, HF, NK. Odds: 29.25, 6.30, 5.60.
Also Ran: Gam's Mission, Technical Analysis (Ire), Consumer Spending, Surprisingly, Sister Bridget (Ire). Scratched: Into Happiness, Speak of the Devil (Fr).
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

The post Twirling Candy’s Evvie Jets Upsets Ballston Spa at 29-1 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

At Los Alamitos, Kumin the Breeder Beats Kumin the Owner

As the field crossed the wire in Saturday's GII Los Alamitos Futurity, Sol Kumin experienced the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat all at once. Kumin is the co-owner of second-place finisher Carmel Road (Quality Road) and third-place finisher Fort Bragg (Tapit). They ran well but couldn't outrun Practical Move (Practical Joke). Along with Chad Brown, Kumin bred, but does not own, the race winner.

“It was cool because I always loved the winner's dam, Ack Naughty (Afleet Alex),” he said. “Would I have loved to see one of the two horses we had in there with Baffert win and run off the screen? I probably would have been happier had that happened. But to look up and be able to say you bred the winner and owned the horses that ran second and third is fun. But I still enjoy the racing part of it more. I sometimes wish I still owned the horse than won.”

Kumin, one of the most prominent owners in the sport, is known for being a partner on dozens of top horses every year. He says he has no intention of becoming a breeder on a large scale, but will keep the occasional mare for breeding purposes.

“I don't think I'll ever have a commercial breeding business,” he said. “I'm too emotional and I know myself well enough to know what my limitations are.”

He did, however, keep Ack Naughty. Trained by Brown and a New York-bred, she debuted in 2014 and won four times from 15 starts. She finished second in the Chelsea Flower S. and the Mount Vernon S. and was third in the John Hettinger S.

“We raced the horse and loved her,” Kumin said. “She was among one of the first crops of horses that we owned. When it came time to sell her, I didn't want to. We put a value on her and bought out our partners. Chad loved her, too. She ran a bunch and always tried really hard. We had a little crooked yearling who turned into this big, pretty horse.”

When Brown was told of Kumin's plans he asked if he could stay involved and the two went in as partners on the mare. In her first year, she was bred to Violence and produced a colt who has yet to race. Her second foal is Practical Move. She was bred to Practical Joke because Brown trained the sire and owns a share in him.

Normally, with Kumin, the plan is to race the horses he bred. But he explained that Brown prefers that the foals are sold at auction. Practical Move RNA'd for $90,000 at the 2021 Keeneland September sale and then sold for $230,000 as a 2-year-old at the OBS April sale. His owners are Pierre Jean Amestoy Jr., Leslie A. Amestoy and Rogers Beasley. He is trained by Baffert's former assistant, Tim Yakteen.

Coming into the Los Alamitos Futurity, Practical Move had yet to cross the wire first but was placed first through disqualification in an Oct. 10 maiden at Santa Anita in which Kumin's Fort Bragg was taken down. After that, he ran third in the GIII Bob Hope S.

“I knew this horse really well,” Kumin said. “Not only did I breed him but every time he ran we had horses in there against him. I had watched all of his races.”

Kumin started out with five to seven mares which he boards with Des Ryan at Dell Ridge Farm. But from such small numbers he has enjoyed considerable success. He bred and owns Fluffy Socks (Slumber {GB}), the winner of the GII Sands Point S., the GIII Jimmy Durante S. and the Selima S. He also bred and owns Grade III winner Sy Dog (Slumber {GB}).

“We have had three graded stakes winners out of something like ten horses that we bred,” he said. “It's been pretty outrageous so far.”

His collection of home breds is about to grow. Brown was the co-owner of Slumber (Cacique {Ire}), who won the GI Manhattan S. in 2015. Slumber began his stallion career at Calumet Farm but, Kumin said, the farm considered retiring him and sending him to Old Friends because he was breeding to only a small number of mares. When told of that, Kumin said he bought the stallion for $1 and sent him to Rockridge Stud in New York, where he stands for $7,500. Kumin is optimistic that Slumber can be a success and is supporting him at stud.

“We bred 20 mares to Slumber last year and 16 or so the year before so we're really starting to pump things up,” he said. “We have him in New York and will keep breeding 15 to 20 mares to him every year. Let's see if they will be as good as we think they can be. This has been my first real effort as a breeder. We're not going to sell many. We are breeding them to race. They will go to top trainers and, hopefully, we'll get some good horses out of this.”

Whether it's with Carmel Road, Fort Bragg or National Treasure (Quality Road), who was third in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, Kumin has an excellent shot of having a horse in next year's Kentucky Derby, where they might meet Practical Move. He'll root first for the horses he owns. But if he has to lose, it might as well be to the horse he bred.

“I look at it like this, we have a mom that I loved the whole time we had her and now she's turned out to be a producer,” he said. “There's nothing wrong with that.”

The post At Los Alamitos, Kumin the Breeder Beats Kumin the Owner appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Going Global the One to Beat, Again, in American Oaks

With a 7-6-1-0 record since being imported from Ireland, and having already bested a number of these foes previously, Going Global (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) is strictly the one to beat in Sunday's concluding event at Santa Anita, the GI American Oaks. The Phil D'Amato trainee's lone runner-up effort in the States came when she was beaten a half-length in the GII San Clemente S. over a Del Mar mile in July, but she bounced back with a victory in that venue's nine-panel GI Del Mar Oaks Aug. 21. Closing Remarks (Vronsky) was second that day–her third time playing second bridesmaid to Going Global–and Fluffy Socks (GB) (Slumber {GB}) and Ivy League (Medaglia d'Oro) were third and seventh, respectively. Going Global earned a career-best 99 Beyer Speed Figure for her GII Goldikova S. wins over older foes back at a mile at Del Mar Nov. 6 last out. She's never tried this 1 1/4-mile distance, but seems as likely as anyone to handle it. D'Amato will also saddle last-out GIII Autumn Miss S. heroine Burgoo Alley (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}) for some of the same partners as Going Global.

Trainer Michael McCarthy has four of the field's 11 entrants, and none would be a shock–especially at this distance. Katsumi Yoshida's Nicest (Ire) (American Pharoah) was third in the G1 Juddmonte Irish Oaks while in the care of Donnacha O'Brien, and finished fourth over yielding ground in Keeneland's GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup S. before being transferred to McCarthy. She was third beaten just a half-length in the 1 3/8-mile GIII Red Carpet H. Nov. 25 at Del Mar. Single Soul (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) broke her maiden going this distance in New York, and was transferred from Graham Motion to McCarthy after finishing last of five in the Red Carpet. Charges Dropped (Lemon Drop Kid), a daughter of MGSW Criminologist (Maria's Mon), has been on the board in three straight allowances against her elders. Lightly raced Queen Goddess (Empire Maker) comes off a close third in a Del Mar optional claimer Nov. 25.

The post Going Global the One to Beat, Again, in American Oaks appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights