Flying P Stable | Horse Racing Free Tips

Lone Rock Works Out In Anticipation Of Next Start At Del Mar

Flying P Stable and R.A. Hill Stable's Lone Rock, winner of the Grade 2 Brooklyn and two other stakes going 1½ miles or more, worked an easy half-mile in :52.80 over a muddy main track at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., Saturday morning for trainer Robertino Diodoro.

It was the first work for Lone Rock since finishing second in the 1 5/8-mile Grand Prix American Jockey Club Invitational at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., on Sept. 18. Lone Rock is being pointed to the $250,000 Grade 2 Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., on Nov. 6 going 1 5/8 miles.

“He will have two more works here and leave Nov. 2 for Del Mar,” said Diodoro, who claimed Lone Rock for $40,000 last November at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Lone Rock has five victories and two seconds in his seven starts for Diodoro.

Diodoro also said that Cypress Creek Equine and Arnold Bennewith's Dream Lith, who finished in a dead heat for fifth in the Grade 1 Darley Alcibiades on Oct. 8, is being pointed to the $400,000 Grade 2 Golden Rod at Churchill Downs on Nov. 27.

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Locally Owned Upsets Lone Rock In Grand Prix American Jockey Club Invitational Stakes

Since trainer Tom Morley claimed Locally Owned in February, the 5-year-old gelding had seen the inside of the winner's circle only once in five starts until Saturday, when the son of Distorted Humor made his rail trip in the 1 5/8-mile Grand Prix American Jockey Club Invitational Stakes a winning one. Under jockey Dylan Davis, Locally Owned bided his time in last throughout the early running, picked up his pace on the final turn, and took over the front early in the stretch at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

With Lone Rock going into the gate as the 1-9 favorite, all eyes were on the last-out winner of the Birdstone at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. After a clean break, Mo Gotcha took the lead, with Lone Rock stalking him, Davis sitting chilly on Locally Owned in last. Lone Rock stayed close to Mo Gotcha throughout the first mile, poised to bid for the lead coming out of the final turn as Davis moved Locally Owned on the rail.

Into the stretch, they were three across briefly with Locally Owned finding his closing kick as Mo Gotcha tired. Lone Rock made his bid on the outside, but could not find enough to catch the winner, who crossed the wire a length in front. Mo Gotcha, Chris and Dave, and Empty Tomb rounded out the field.

The final time for the 1 5/8 miles was 2:44.60. Find this race's chart here.

Locally Owned paid $39.00 and $4.10. Lone Rock paid $2.10.

Bred by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings in Kentucky, Locally Owned is out of the Pulpit mare Fiftyshadesofhay. Owned by Flying P Stable, the gelding has two wins in seven starts in 2021, for a lifetime record of five wins in 24 starts and career earnings of $461,431.

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Tell Your Daddy Leads All The Way In Bernard Baruch

Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez sent Flying P Stable's Tell Your Daddy to the front and the Scat Daddy gelding did not relinquish the lead, posting a gate-to-wire victory by a half length in the Grade 2, $200,000 Bernard Baruch for 3-year-olds and up on Monday, Closing Day of the summer meet at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

The 63rd running of the Bernard Baruch, contested over 1 1/16 miles on the Mellon turf course, saw morning-line favorite and early speed threat En Wye Cee scratch before the race after an early afternoon rainstorm. Tell Your Daddy, who ran second to Flavius going the same distance at Saratoga in the Fasig-Tipton Lure on August 7, moved to the front after breaking from the inside post, leading the four-horse field through an opening quarter-mile in 24.92 seconds and the half in 50.75 over a yielding course.

Tell Your Daddy, off at 5-2, maintained the advantage out of the turn, with No Word giving pursuit along the rail in the stretch. But Tell Your Daddy pressed on under Velazquez's right-handed encouragement, fending off No Word to hit the wire in 1:44.61 for his first stakes win overall and first victory in his last 13 starts.

“It [the lack of other pace] made all the difference today,” Velazquez. “Last time, he ran a winning race and ran a good race, but the other horse that day [Flavius] went to the lead and kept running. Today, our plan was to go to the lead and hope to hold off the other horses, and he did.”

Tell Your Daddy, whose previous victory came against allowance company in February 2020 at Fair Grounds, returned $7.90 on a $2 win bet. He improved his career record to 4-4-2 in 24 starts.

“We were going to try and go to the lead anyway, but [En Wye Cee] coming out was a big help in terms of the fact that we thought we'd be able to clear,” trainer Tom Morley said. “I wasn't going to give Johnny any instructions, but Jay [Jason Provenzano, owner Flying P Stables] and I had discussed the fact when he rode him last time [second in the Lure], I'd love to see what he could do on the front end in one of these races.

“En Wye Cee coming out probably helped our cause as well and it's a yielding turf course and hard to close,” Morley added. “I was very dubious about how he would handle this ground. He's run very well on very fast ground, but he has got some form on yielding turf.”

Morley claimed Tell Your Daddy for $40,000 out a fourth-place finish on January 28 at Fair Grounds. Since coming into his barn, the 5-year-old has earned black type in three of his five starts, including a third-place effort in the one-mile Seek Again in May at Belmont Park before notching consecutive on-the-board finishes during the Saratoga meet.

“We were looking for horses with some real back class to them and this horse ran a huge race in the Shakertown at Keeneland [finishing sixth in 2020],” Morley said. “He was flying at the end going five-and-a-half in what looked like a very good Shakertown and got beaten a length [1 1/2 lengths]. I rang Jay and I said, 'if we can get this horse to Belmont and go six or seven or a one-turn mile, he's already won two mile-and-a-sixteenth allowance races.' So, that was our plan. We started at seven, went to a mile and then we came up here and went a mile and a sixteenth and Johnny said, 'I think he'll go further.' So, it worked out brilliantly and it was great to see him getting his head in front. He's run some huge races in defeat for us, but that was massive.”

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Velazquez, who has the most wins by a jockey all time at Saratoga, picked up the mount on Tell Your Daddy for the first time in the Fasig-Tipton Lure in his previous best-ever finish in a stakes before getting his picture taken for the Bernard Baruch.

“The turf is soft. You have to expect that with the rain we just got,” Velazquez said. “I was a little concerned. I was looking at his soft turf and yielding turf form and he was OK. But you just never know. When he ran on soft turf it was in shorter races. Going two turns helped him today, too.”

No Word, ridden by Manny Franco, topped 3-5 favorite L'Imperator by one length for second. Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, who also was set to saddle En Wye Cee before scratching him, No Word made just his second start of his 4-year-old campaign following an eighth-place finish against allowance company on August 6 at the Spa off a nine-month layoff.

“The pace was slow, but at the same time I wanted to give my horse a chance,” Franco said. “I know the other horse [L'Imperator] was the favorite, so I wanted to give a nice trip. That's what I did and he ran well.”

L'Imperator, trained by Chad Brown, who has clinched the H. Allen Jerkens title for most wins by a conditioner in the Saratoga meet, was 2 1/4 lengths clear of Dreams of Tomorrow for third.

Live racing returns Thursday, September 16 for Opening Day of the 28-day fall meet at Belmont Park, featuring the Grade 1, $150,000 Lonesome Glory, a 2 1/2-mile steeplechase handicap for 4-year-olds and up.

The Belmont Park fall meet, which will run from Thursday, September 16 through Sunday, October 31, will include five Grade 1 races and five “Win and You're In” qualifiers to the Breeders' Cup in November at Del Mar.

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Moretti Goes For Second Straight Birdstone At Saratoga

Repole Stable and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' multiple graded stakes placed Moretti will attempt to defend his title against a talented field of older horses in Thursday's $120,000 Birdstone, a 1 3/4-mile main-track marathon at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, the Medaglia d'Oro bay, out of the Grade 1-winning Concerto mare Rigoletta, is a half-brother to millionaire 2017 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Battle of Midway.

Purchased for $900,000 at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale, Moretti blossomed last season, posting a record of three wins and three seconds in six starts, including stakes scores in the Flat Out at Belmont Park and Birdstone at Saratoga to go along with a runner-up effort in the Grade 2 Suburban at Belmont.

Pletcher, a five-time Birdstone winner, said Moretti is working well into Thursday's repeat bid, including a five-eighths breeze in 1:01.88 on July 29 on the Spa main track.

“He's doing well. We know he likes the distance,” Pletcher said. “It's just a matter of keeping him happy and fit. He's coming off a couple of solid efforts and we're looking forward to giving it a try again.”

Irad Ortiz, Jr. will be tasked with engineering the title defense from post 4.

“I think the main thing is to get into a comfortable rhythm rather than worry about who's on the lead or stalking,” Pletcher said. “In these types of races, you just want to get into a good rhythm. You don't get many opportunities at this distance, so we'll give it our best shot.”

Flying P Stable's Lone Rock made the grade last out, romping to an 11 1/4-length score in the 12-furlong Grade 2 Brooklyn presented by Northwell Health on Belmont Stakes Day June 5.

Claimed back by trainer Robertino Diodoro for $40,000 out of a winning effort in November at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., Lone Rock captured a 1 1/16-mile optional claimer in February at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., in his next outing.

The 6-year-old Majestic Warrior gelding has made his last four starts at 1 1/2-miles, finishing second in the Temperence Hill in March ahead of an optional claiming score on April 11, both at Oaklawn Park. He returned on short rest to capture the Isaac Murphy Marathon on April 27 at Churchill Downs ahead of an eye-opening effort in the Brooklyn that registered a career-best 100 Beyer Speed Figure.

Lone Rock posted a bullet half-mile on the main track in :46.60 on July 22 and worked an easy half-mile in :52.19 Friday over sloppy going on the Oklahoma training track.

“He's a horse that loves his job and he's training great. He bounced out of that race like it was nothing,” Diodoro said. “On Belmont day, it was a little warm, and to run that far, you'd think it would take a little bit out of him but he's come back like a monster.”

Ramon Vazquez retains the mount from post 3.

Centennial Farms' multiple graded stakes-winner Rocketry has finished third in the last two editions of the Birdstone.

Trained by Jimmy Jerkens, the 7-year-old Hard Spun bay finished off-the-board last out in the Brooklyn and will look to return to the form that saw him capture the 1 5/8-mile Grade 2 Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance in November at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky.

“That one horse [Lone Rock] looks like a standout in that category. If ever he's going to beat horses like that, it's going this distance,” Jerkens said. “That's what happened in Kentucky. The pace was just too sharp for going that far and they came back to him and he went by them in the very end.”

Ricardo Santana, Jr. picks up the mount from post 7.

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Lothenbach Stables' Ry's the Guy, sixth last out in the Brooklyn, broke through at stakes level in September, taking the 12-furlong Champions Day Marathon at Churchill Downs.

Trained by Ian Wilkes, the 5-year-old Distorted Humor bay breezed a half-mile in :48.44 Thursday on the Saratoga main track.

“He came out of the last race good and I'm happy with him. It won't be an easy assignment; we'll be facing some of the same horses,” Wilkes said. “He has no problem with the track. He's trained here and got over it fine. His works have been solid. I'm very pleased with his breezes here. We've had a little bit of cool weather and that's helped.”

Ry's the Guy will exit the inside post under Chris Landeros.

Final Turn Racing Stable and Noda Brothers' You're to Blame, runner-up in last year's Birdstone, made an impressive first start Sunday for trainer Orlando Noda with a 9 1/2-length off-the-turf optional claiming romp traveling nine furlongs over a fast main track.

The 7-year-old Distorted Humor bay, a veteran of 37 career starts who captured the 2018 Grade 3 Greenwood Cup at Parx, will exit post 6 under Jose Ortiz.

Rounding out the field are graded-stakes placed He's No Lemon [post 2, Manny Franco], and stakes-placed Shooger Ray Too [post 5, Joel Rosario]

The Birdstone is slated as Race 9 on Thursday's 10-race card. First post is 1:05 p.m. Eastern.

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