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Gretzky the Great Skates to Win in GI Summer S.

Gretzky the Great (Nyquist), who became freshman sire Nyquist (Uncle Mo)’s first stakes winner in August, became his second Grade I winner less than a month later with a victory in Sunday’s GI Summer S. at Woodbine. The score in the “Win and You’re In” event punched Gretzky the Great’s ticket to the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf and gave Japanese-born jockey Kazushi Kimura his first career Grade I triumph.

Unveiled going five furlongs on the local turf July 12, the Ontario-bred was runner-up to re-opposing rival Ready to Repeat before graduating by open lengths in an off-the-turfer there Aug. 2. Getting up late to capture the 6 1/2-furlong Soaring Free S. three weeks later, Gretzky the Great was made a narrow favorite here.

Coming away well, the bay deferred to draft in behind of Ready to Repeat in the two path for the long run up the backstretch. Traveling comfortably past fractions of :24.10 and :47.82, he was given just a nudge by Kimura three-eighths out and sidled up alongside the pacesetter soon after straightening for home as the top two separated themselves from the pack. Overtaking Ready to Repeat past the three-sixteenths pole, he quickly kicked clear while briefly lugging into his foe’s path and cruised home much the best. An inquiry was taken into the winner’s drifting, but the result stood.

“He is such an amazing horse,” said Kimura. “Through the final stretch, he had a tremendous explosion. He sometimes was lugging in a little bit, but he’s just still a baby. First time out it was only five furlongs, then when he won I was like, ‘Oh, that will be a stakes horse for the future.’ And then winning a stakes and now he’s got a Grade I, he’s such a nice horse.”

Pedigree Notes:

Already the second Grade I winner for Darley’s first-crop sensation Nyquist–following GI Spinaway S. victress Vequist–Gretzky the Great is the second foal to race out of MSP Pearl Turn. Bought by Anderson Farms for $310,000 at Keeneland November in 2016, she has a yearling Quality Road colt and visited Uncle Mo this spring.

Sunday, Woodbine
SUMMER S.-GI, C$280,500, Woodbine, 9-20, 2yo, 1mT, 1:34.53, fm.
1–GRETZKY THE GREAT, 122, c, 2, by Nyquist
              1st Dam: Pearl Turn (MSP, $182,560), by Bernardini
                2nd Dam: Turn Me Loose, by Kris S.
                3rd Dam: Adoradancer, by Danzig Connection
   1ST GRADED STAKES WIN, 1ST GRADE I WIN. ($295,000 RNA
Ylg ’19 FTKOCT). O-Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners & Gary
Barber; B-Anderson Farms Ont. Inc. (ON); T-Mark E. Casse;
J-Kazushi Kimura. C$180,000. Lifetime Record: 4-3-1-0,
$252,205. Click for eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk
   Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*
2–Ready to Repeat, 122, g, 2, More Than Ready–Christine
Daae, by Giant’s Causeway. ($60,000 Ylg ’19 KEESEP). O-Gail
Cox, John Menary, Michael James Ambler, and Windways
Farm; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY); T-Gail
Cox. C$50,000.
3–Dolder Grand, 122, c, 2, Candy Ride (Arg)–Tamboz, by Tapit.
($800,000 2yo ’20 OBSAPR). O-D. J. Stable LLC; B-Dell Ridge
Farm, LLC (KY); T-Mark E. Casse. C$27,500.
Margins: 3 1/4, 1, HF. Odds: 2.40, 4.85, 5.85.
Also Ran: American Monarch, Heat of the Night, Secret Potion, Download. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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Got Stormy Handles Soft Turf, Shorter Distance In Kentucky Downs Ladies Sprint Stakes

One thing trainer Mark Casse has had on a wish list for his charge Got Stormy in 2020 was for the 5-year-old mare to finally get the foot-rattling ground she has done her best running over. So when rain began soaking the turf at Kentucky Downs in Franklin, Ky., over the course of Saturday afternoon, turning the conditions to soft in the process, one could forgive the Hall of Fame conditioner if he started to get a twist of dread in his stomach heading into the Grade 3 Real Solution Ladies Sprint Stakes.

Class can overcome a lot of would-be setbacks and for Got Stormy, her superiority would not be dulled this day even if the ground beneath her was. The multiple Grade 1-winning daughter of Get Stormy exploded down the lane to take the $500,000 Ladies Sprint Stakes by 3 1/4 lengths, ending a five-race losing skid and earning her first victory of 2020.

Prior to the 6 1/2-furlong Ladies Sprint, the only time Got Stormy had raced at shorter than a mile was her debut as 2-year-old in a 7 1/2-furlong race, which at Gulfstream Park is staged around two turns. Since capturing the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes last December to close out a 2019 campaign that also saw her best males in the Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap, the chestnut mare hadn't been able to find the form that made her an Eclipse Award finalist for champion turf female last season.

“For her to get a mile, she needs it extremely, extremely hard. And she hasn't gotten that once this year,” Casse said. “We always felt that way (that she'd sprint) but there's never been an opportunity. For $500,000, we figured this would be a good time to do it. I've always said she'd handle soft going; it just limits how far she can run.

“The bit of the give in the ground (today) was a little worrisome, but it kind of played to her favor.”

With her regular pilot Tyler Gaffalione in the irons on Saturday, Got Stormy indeed looked at home as the 9-5 favorite rated between horses in fourth through the opening quarter mile in :22.54 in the Ladies Sprint. After pacesetter Surrender Now took the field 12-horse field through a half mile in :46.27 and into the stretch, Got Stormy was angled to the outside around rivals by Gaffalione, striking the front near the eighth pole and continuing to draw clear en route to covering the distance in 1:15.41.

“The filly broke great today. We were worried about the soft ground, but she handled it beautifully,” Gaffalione said. “She felt like a winner every step and when I got her out she finished the job. She's got so much class and is a tremendous filly. Great job by Mark and his team having her ready.”

“She's hard not to love,” Casse added. “I've felt bad for her this year because she's gotten some bad 'rap,' that she isn't what she was. And it's not true. Like when she won the Fourstardave last year the track was so hard and so fast. And she just hasn't gotten that. That's what she likes. The softer it is, the shorter she needs to run.”

Winning Envelope ran on from well back to get second in the Ladies Sprint with Into Mystic third.

Owned by Gary Barber, Got Stormy improves her record to nine wins from 24 starts with $1,901,378 in earnings.

“I'll talk to Gary (owner Gary Barber) but we'll probably come back and run her 5 1/2 (furlongs) in the Breeders' Cup” (Turf Sprint at Keeneland),” Casse said “I think she'll like that 5 1/2. (Gaffalione) said he could have been on the lead, no problem. I know she cannot go a mile at Keeneland in the fall. We know that.”

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Noble Mission’s Spanish Mission On Top In the Doncaster Cup

Tackling near two and a quarter miles for the first time, Team Valor and Gary Barber’s Spanish Mission (Noble Mission {GB}) excelled at the trip to win Friday’s G2 bet365 Doncaster Cup and stake his claim as a major player in the staying category. Always travelling easily in fifth for William Buick, the 6-4 favourite who had won the Aug. 20 Listed Chester S. after his move to Andrew Balding loomed alongside Selino (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}) with purpose having already travelled two miles. Sent into the clear from there, he surged to a three-length success from that rival, with the long-time leader The Grand Visir (GB) (Frankel {GB}) four lengths adrift in third. “He was over-racing at stages, but he was never really doing too much,” Buick said. “He was always going to come into the race easily, it was just whether he’d see it out and he did see it out very well. He’s got that bit of class against these stayers, that turn of foot. That together with his stamina is a good combination. I’m sure all those races will be on his radar. Who knows, potentially next year he might even make up into a Gold Cup horse.”

Coming to the fore when beating that solid yardstick Nayef Road (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) by four lengths in Newmarket’s 13-furlong G3 Bahrain Trophy in July, Spanish Mission was third behind him in Goodwood’s G3 Gordon S. before annexing the Jockey Club Derby Invitational at Belmont in September. Second to this stable’s Dashing Willoughby (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) in Sandown’s G3 Henry II S. over two miles July 5, the bay was sixth on his final start for David Simcock in the July 28 G1 Goodwood Cup before his confidence-restoring three-length defeat of Selino on his bow for Kingsclere at Chester. Repeating that form to the exact margin here, he entered into the picture for the G2 QIPCO Long Distance Cup at Ascot. “That is really the only race for him if he is going to run again this year, but the ground might have gone too soft for him by then, so we’ll see,” Balding said.

The first foal out of the listed-winning dam Limonar (Ire) (Street Cry {Ire}) was the Listed Rose Bowl S. winner and G2 Gimcrack S. runner-up Mokarris (More Than Ready). She is a half-sister to the GI Shoemaker Mile winner Talco (Fr) (Pivotal {GB}) from the family of the G1 Irish 2000 Guineas hero Bachelor Duke (Miswaki) and the G1 National S.-winning sire Fatherland (Ire). Her 3-year-old filly Dame Iris (Medaglia d’Oro) is unraced, while her yearling colt by Mastery is due to sell on Thursday at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. She has been bred to Uncle Mo this year.

Friday, Doncaster, Britain
BET365 DONCASTER CUP S.-G2, £80,000, Doncaster, 9-11, 3yo/up, 17f 197yT, 3:55.84, gd.
1–SPANISH MISSION, 131, c, 4, by Noble Mission (GB)
1st Dam: Limonar (Ire) (SW-Fr, $124,447), by Street Cry (Ire)
2nd Dam: Trylko, by Diesis (GB)
3rd Dam: Gossamer, by Seattle Slew
($125,000 Ylg ’17 KEESEP; 60,000gns RNA 2yo ’18 TATBRE). O-Team Valor LLC & Gary Barber; B-St Elias Stables LLC (KY); T-Andrew Balding; J-William Buick. £45,368. Lifetime Record: GISW-US, 12-5-2-2, $814,535. *1/2 to Mokarris (More Than Ready), SW & GSP-Eng. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Selino (GB), 131, g, 4, Champs Elysees (GB)–Air Kiss (GB), by Red Ransom. O-Qatar Racing Ltd; B-St Clare Hall Stud (GB); T-James Fanshawe. £17,200.
3–The Grand Visir (GB), 131, g, 6, Frankel (GB)–Piping (Ire), by Montjeu (Ire). (€750,000 Ylg ’15 ARAUG; 170,000gns 4yo ’18 TATAHI; £40,000 6yo ’20 GOFJAN). O-Andy Bell & Fergus Lyons; B-Qatar Bloodstock, Ecurie des Monceaux & Ecurie Skymarc Farm (GB); T-Ian Williams. £8,608.
Margins: 3, 4, HF. Odds: 1.50, 12.00, 10.00.
Also Ran: Revolver (Ire), Eagles By Day (Ire), Island Brave (Ire), Red Verdon. Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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From Oak Bluff To The Queen’s Plate: Cole Bennett Is A Truebeliever

Regardless of the number he sees displayed beside his horse's number on the toteboard when the Queen's Plate gates open, 23-year-old trainer Cole Bennett will be smiling.

It's a day he's dreamed of the moment he watched jockey Patrick Husbands and super filly Lexie Lou win the 2014 Plate for owner Gary Barber and trainer Mark Casse.

'What if that were me one day?' the then teenager from Oak Bluff (population 1,051), Manitoba, said to himself as he watched Lexie Lou surrounded by her elated connections in the Woodbine winner's circle after the 155th edition of Canada's most famous horse race.

That was one year before Bennett, raised on a 27-acre hobby farm, launched his own training career at Assiniboia Downs in Winnipeg.

Now, in his sixth year as a trainer, and based at Woodbine, he doesn't have to ask himself that question any longer.

Bennett, who at age of 14 bought a racehorse with his father, Glen, has his answer.

“I'm pretty excited to be in the Queen's Plate. It's always been a dream and now it's turned into a reality.”

His hopes in the 161st edition of the “Gallop for the Guineas” are carried on the hooves of the aptly named Truebelieve, who sports a 2-1-0 record from five starts for owner Centennial Farms (Niagara) Inc.

The son of Nephrite (GB), bred by Laurel Byrne, delivered a 64-1 score (for different connections) in his debut last November at Woodbine, crossing the wire a 1 ½-length winner at five furlongs over the Tapeta.

Truebelieve earned his second career win two starts ago when the colt rallied for a half-length victory at six furlongs over the Woodbine main track.

Bennett believes the bay, second in the Kingarvie Stakes last December, will be up for the challenge when he contests one of horse racing's most iconic events.

The same can also be said of the conditioner.

Launching his training career in 2015 at Assiniboia Downs in Winnipeg, Bennett has already made a name for himself in racing circles.

Confidence in his abilities is complemented by an open mind and an unwavering commitment to self-improvement.

These days, the man who won a career-best 15 races four years ago is taking a measured approach in the lead-up to Saturday's $1 million classic.

He knows the butterflies will come sooner rather than later.

Even so, Bennett, who has a pair of added-money wins to date, isn't the type to be rattled.

For the past six years, the Plate has been a pursuit, albeit a back-of-mind hope, for him. Whether that dream would ever come to fruition felt like a 99-1 longshot at times.

Last winter, that all changed.

“I actually really liked Truebelieve last year when he first ran,” said Bennett, of the dazzling debut on November 2 at Woodbine. “The person who had him before us, I know he was trying to sell him. I had a couple of clients that I was trying to get to buy him. But we could just never get the deal done.

“I started talking to Dominic (DiLalla, of Centennial Farms), and he had purchased the horse in January. There were no definite plans for me training the horse at that point, but I knew I liked the horse, so I mentioned to Dominic that if he was ever in a spot, and if he was trying to figure out what he was going to do with horse, I really like him and I'd love to train him. It turned out that I got to train all the Centennial horses starting this March.”

Bennett has no shortage of praise for Truebelieve.

“He's a horse that you just know he's good. He's smart. He's very much a horse that likes his routine. He liked being at the racetrack – he's all racehorse. But everything has to go his way in order to keep him happy. He's a serious horse. He looks the part, he's really well built, he has a great body, and he just has a great attitude about everything.”

Whether it all adds up to a Plate shocker like the 82-1 jaw-dropper T J's Lucky Moon and jockey Steven Bahen delivered in the 2002 running remains to be seen.

For the man who mapped out Truebelieve's date in the big dance, all of it is, quite literally, a dream come true.

“As a kid, I was a big Patrick Husbands fan and I remember that Plate in 2014 as if it were yesterday. That was the one that really stuck out for me. A filly winning it, I admired Mark Casse – it's one that I'll always remember.”

One that will now slot into the runner-up spot on Bennett's list of most memorable Queen's Plates.

“I think… it's not proof to other people, but proof to myself that I can do this. I started training when I was really young. There was doubt from a lot of other people, but also from myself, in that you can make a living being a trainer and get to bigger places and run in bigger races. It was almost a pipe dream at one point.”

Not anymore.

Two days ahead of the Queen's Plate post position draw and five days before the biggest day of his career, odds are Bennett will soon envision another dream.

“To be in this race, it really is a dream come true. To win it, that would be the ultimate.”

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