Gam's Mission | Horse Racing Free Tips

Plum Ali Scores Gate-To-Wire Win In Winter Memories

After winning the first three starts of her career, Plum Ali had been winless in her last seven starts until Sunday's Winter Memories. The daughter of First Samurai grabbed the lead in the early strides of the 1 1/16-mile stakes and made every pole a winning one at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.

Jockey Manny Franco sent Plum Ali to the lead out of the gate, a departure from her usual racing position behind horses. The 3-year-old filly set early fractions of :23.77, :49.72, and 1:15.28, a moderate pace that allowed Plum Ali to stay a length ahead of the field of ten others.

Into the stretch, the filly was able to stretch her lead out to three lengths, her moderate early pace ensuring she had plenty left in the tank to hold off the closers. At the wire, she was 3/4 of a length in front of the bunched trio of White Frost, Miss Dracarys, and Gam's Mission. Runaway Rumour, Invincible Gal, Bipartisanship, Flown, Out of Sorts, Quinevere, and Batyah rounded out the order of finish.

The final time for the 1 1/16 miles over good turf was 1:45.11. Find this race's chart here.

Plum Ali paid $11.20, $5.40, and $3.40. White Frost paid $4.40 and $3.60. Miss Dracarys paid $6.20.

The idea was to be forwardly-placed. She ran very well. He [Manny Franco] gave her a great ride. She's been very unlucky and the filly deserved this,” trainer Christophe Clement said after the race. “The idea was to be 1-2-3 and, if possible, on the lead. If anybody took us on, then sit second or third. Nobody took them on and when I saw the 49 and change and 1:15, I knew she was going to be pretty tough. She's a very nice horse.”

“She broke sharp and I let her do her thing. We ended up on the lead and it worked out,” Franco told the NYRA Press Office after the Winter Memories. “After we broke like that, I wasn't thinking to take back. If they wanted to take the lead, they would have to go faster than me. In the second part of the race, they let me slow down the pace and that was it. She handled it really well.

Bred in Kentucky by Stone Farm, Plum Ai is out of the Stroll mare Skipping. She is owned by Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables, and Michael J. Caruso. Consigned by Stone Farm, Plum Ali was purchased by Cromwell Bloodstock for $65,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Her win in the Winter Memories is her first in seven starts in 2021, for a lifetime record of four wins in 11 starts.

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Lady Speightspeare, Gam’s Mission Headline Friday’s Valley View

Charles Fipke's undefeated Lady Speightspeare, scratched at the gate for the Oct. 16 Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Presented by Dixiana, headlines an overflow field of 14 3-year-old fillies plus two also-eligibles entered Sunday for Friday's 31st running of the Grade 3 Rubicon Valley View at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky.

Slated to be run at 1 1/16 miles on the turf, the Rubicon Valley View will go as the ninth race on Friday afternoon's 10-race program with a 5:16 p.m. ET post time. First post Friday is 1 p.m.

Trained by Roger Attfield, Lady Speightspeare has won all three of her starts highlighted by a victory in last year's Grade 1 Natalma at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario. Emma-Jayne Wilson, who has been aboard for all of Lady Speightspeare's starts, will ride Friday and break from post 11.

The other graded stakes winner in the field is Lazy F Ranch's homebred Gam's Mission.

Trained by Cherie DeVaux, Gam's Mission returns to the races for the first time since finishing fifth in the Grade 3 Saratoga Oaks Invitational in August at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Prior to that, Gam's Mission was fourth in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., after winning the Grade 3 Regret at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

Adam Beschizza will have the mount Friday and break from post 14.

Six other grass stakes winners in the field are Godolphin's Adventuring (Dueling Grounds Oaks), BBN Racing's Core Values (Preview Dueling Grounds Derby), Peachtree Stable's Saranya (Curtis Sampson Oaks), G. Watts Humphrey Jr.'s Navratilova (Tepin), EuroLindy Syndicate's Queenship (IRE) (Navigation Stakes in Ireland) and Terry Hamilton, Gary Barber, and trainer Brian Lynch's three-time stakes winner Tobys Heart.

Also entered is Phoenix Thoroughbred III's Crazy Beautiful, a three-time graded stakes winner on dirt who won going a mile on the grass in her racing debut last year at 2 for trainer Kenny McPeek.

The field for the Rubicon Valley View, with riders and weights from the inside, is: Core Values (Rafael Bejarano, 118 pounds), Saranya (Joe Talamo, 118), Crazy Beautiful (Brian Hernandez Jr., 118), Tobys Heart (Joel Rosario, 118), Navratilova (Colby Hernandez, 118), Oliviaofthedesert (Corey Lanerie, 118), Adventuring (Florent Geroux, 118), Breaker of Chains (Tyler Gaffalione, 118), Arm Candy (Ricardo Santana Jr., 118), Oyster Box (James Graham, 118), Lady Speightspeare (Wilson, 118), Queenship (IRE) (Julien Leparoux, 118), Flown (Jose Ortiz, 118), Gam's Mission (Beschizza, 118). Also eligibles: Princess Theorem (Jose Ortiz, 118), Wait for Nairobi (Edgar Morales, 118).

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Gam’s Mission, Plum Ali Lead List For Valley View At Keeneland

Lazy F Ranch's Gam's Mission and Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables and Bethlehem Stables' Plum Ali, both graded stakes winners on the grass, head a list of 42 3-year-old fillies nominated to the 31^st running of the $150,000 Grade 3 Rubicon Valley View to be run Oct. 29 at 1 1/16 miles on the turf at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky.

Cherie DeVaux trains Gam's Mission, winner of the Grade 3 Regret at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., this spring who since has finished fourth in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., and fifth in the Grade 3 Saratoga Oaks Invitational at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Plum Ali, trained by Christophe Clement, won the Grade 2 Miss Grillo last fall and this year has two graded stakes placings.

Also scheduled for Oct. 29 is the new $150,000 Myrtlewood for 2-year-old fillies going 6 furlongs on the main track.

The Myrtlewood drew 24 nominations headed by Barry and Joni Butzow's undefeated Sea Level. Trained by Brad Cox, Sea Level won the E.L. Gaylord Memorial Stakes at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla., in her most recent start.

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Con Lima Sets Pace, Holds Off Higher Truth To Win Saratoga Oaks

After being inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame on Friday, Todd Pletcher visited another familiar spot Sunday, the winner's circle at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. His 3-year-old graded stakes winner Con Lima added another stakes win to her resume, taking the Grade 3 Saratoga Oaks Invitational by three-quarters of a length over Higher Truth.

Gam's Mission broke fastest, but Flavien Prat had Con Lima on the lead with a few strides of the gate, taking over before the first turn of the 1 3/16-mile Saratoga Oaks. Running easily on the front, Prat and Con Lima controlled the pace, setting fractions of :23.64 for the first quarter and :50.02 for the first half-mile. Behind her, Gam's Mission and Higher Truth stalked in second and third, poised to challenge Con Lima in the stretch.

Around the final turn, Gam's Mission made her move first but was not able to pass Con Lima, fading in the stretch. Higher Truth pursued the front runner in the last furlong, making up ground to get within a three-quarters of a length of Con Lima at the wire. Creative Flair, who was taken up early and had to go wide to find running room, was able to pass horses in the stretch to grab third. Plum Ali, Gam's Mission, Out of Sorts, Messidor, and Rocky Sky rounded out the field of eight.

The final time for the 1 3/16 miles was 1:54.42. Find this race's chart here.

Con Lima paid $8.10, $5.00, and $3.30. Higher Truth paid $6.80 and $4.00. Creative Flair paid $3.30 to show.

“I was analyzing the race beforehand and we were the only speed but I wasn't 100 percent sure with a couple of the Euros if they would show some initiative. I left it in Flavien's [Prat] hands and Plan A was to break well and see if anybody would try to take the lead away from us and if they didn't, we'd be happy to have it. It worked out really well,” Pletcher said after the Saratoga Oaks.

“The speed was pretty much me and the Godolphin filly [No. 7, Creative Flair] and it seems she broke a step slow. I broke better than her and I ended up on the lead,” jockey Flavien Prat told the NYRA Press Office after the race. “Going to the first turn I felt really comfortable. I was really pleased with the way she was traveling and I felt we were doing some easy fractions. She really kicked on well.”

Bred in Texas by Lisa Kuhlmann, Con Lima is a 3-year-old filly by Commissioner out of Second Street City, by Consolidator. Purchased for $22,000 from Niall Brennan Stables at the March 2020 Ocala Breeders Two-Year-Olds In Training Sale, she is owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Joseph Graffeo, Del Toro, Eric Nikolaus, and Troy Johnson. With her win in the G3 Saratoga Oaks Invitational, Con Lima has five wins in eight starts in 2021, for a lifetime record of seven wins and five seconds in 13 starts, with career earnings of $884,865.

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