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Sutherland Enters Jockey Challenge In Saudi

The Saudi Cup International Jockeys Challenge, led by defending champion Caitlin Jones, plus a mix of international female and male riders like Victoria Alonso, Joanna Mason, Frankie Dettori, Luis Saez, Joao Moreia, and Chantal Sutherland, is set for King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Saudi Arabia on Friday.

The jockeys will compete to receive 15% of prize-money for each of the four $400,000 races in they win with a further $100,000 going to the overall champion.

“It is my first time in Saudi Arabia and I'm actually blown away by the hospitality and the kindness people have shown” said the Florida-based and Canadian-born Sutherland.

The daughter of a Standardbred trainer, Sutherland is no stranger to making history. She was the first woman to win the GI Santa Anita H. and also the first to ride in the G1 Dubai World Cup, both aboard Game On Dude (Awesome Again). Sutherland also piloted him to a second-place finish in the 2011 GI Breeders' Cup Classic behind Drosselmeyer (Distorted Humor), who was ridden by then-boyfriend Mike Smith.

“I was second in the Breeders' Cup Classic and I thought that was around the time to maybe have a child,” said Sutherland. I stopped racing and took about four years out and didn't ever get to have a kid. The marriage [to Dan Kruse] didn't work out either, so I went back to racing, got injured, then got back from the injury, then Covid happened.”

Sutherland's decision to return to the track was prompted by a move to the Sunshine State over the course of the winter in early 2021.

“I was going to ride just before Covid. I was going to ride Turfway [Park] and that was freezing,” she said. “I'd frozen for I don't know how long in my career, in Canada, at Aqueduct. I thought, 'I'm going to Florida,' and I just loved it. It felt like home.”

As far as her mounts for Friday in Saudi Arabia, Sutherland will be aboard the appropriately-named, Fighter (KSA) (Official Flame) in race two over 1600 meters and Inhimr (KSA) (Pomeroy) in race three going 1400 meters, both on dirt. Then in the pair of turf races, she will guide Go Fast Traou Land (Fr) (George Vancouver) in the 1200-meter race five and finish off with Billy Batts (City Zip) in race six over 2100 meters.

She added, “I'm really looking forward to the Jockeys Challenge. I've already worked out the races, watched all the replays and I've spoken to some key handicap people who have put the races together. I feel I am ready, physically, mentally and preparation-wise. I've done my homework. It's going to be exciting.”

Sutherland is looking forward to staying put at Gulfstream Park once she returns from the Middle East, especially since year-round racing continues to draw jockeys from all quadrants.

“I'm very happy in Florida and very happy to be doing what I'm doing again,” Sutherland said. It has been stop-start, but now everything, with the flow, I feel there is an alignment in my life and everything is going well.”

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Life Is Good, The Newest Addition at WinStar Farm

They could have entered him in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile or the Sprint, where he would have been a top choice in either spot, but the connections of Life Is Good (Into Mischief – Beach Walk, by Distorted Humor) opted to send their versatile 4-year-old to the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic.

While there was no beating Flightline (Tapit) that day, Life Is Good threw it down with his undefeated competitor, forcing Flightline to chase him through blazing early fractions of :22.55 and :45.47. The Classic marked only his third defeat, but Life Is Good was far better than good in his final career start.

“It was a tough decision to decide which was the right race for Life is Good on Breeders' Cup Day,” said his trainer Todd Pletcher. “We felt like with his body of work and his success leading into it, he deserved a chance for champion older horse and Horse of the Year. We let him do his thing with his running style, which is a high cruising speed, and he took it to Flightline. I think he went out in style.”

Campaigned by China Horse Club and WinStar Farm, Life Is Good was the winner of nine races from 12 career starts. A 'TDN Rising Star' on debut at two, the eye-catching bay remained in graded stakes company from there, earning eight graded victories over his career. His resume includes four Grade I wins, starting with a definitive score in last year's edition of the Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and then this year adding the Pegasus World Cup Invitational S., Whitney S. and Woodward S.

“What made Life Is Good so special is that he had that unique ability to go fast and carry that speed over a distance of ground,” Pletcher reflected. “From a trainer's perspective, he was very healthy, very sound and just loved his job. Every day he came out, he trained exceptionally and had a great attitude.”

Last year's edition of the GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S., where Life Is Good ran second by a neck to the season's eventual Champion Male Sprinter Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music), is a race that WinStar's Elliott Walden remembers as one of the colt's most impressive performances.

“That race, to me, was one of his best,” Walden said. “He was just beat coming off a 170-day layoff. I think when people remember Life Is Good as a racehorse, they will remember that he participated in all the big races. We were not afraid to run him at distances that maybe didn't suit him best, whether it was seven furlongs against Jackie's Warrior or a mile and a quarter against Flightline. He's one of the greats that we've had at WinStar.”

Life Is Good arrived at WinStar Farm the morning after the Breeders' Cup and received a warm welcome from his WinStar and China Horse Club connections. Todd Pletcher also stopped by to send off his pupil, who was known as 'Scooter' around the barn.

“He was such a huge part of our stable for almost the last two years that literally our schedule was built around his schedule,” Pletcher explained. “We're going to miss him a lot, but at the same time we're really pleased that he's able to retire to a farm like WinStar and get an opportunity to prove himself as a stallion. We look forward to seeing his babies.”

The son of Into Mischief was bred by Gary and Mary West Stable and sold for $525,000 as a yearling in 2019. His dam Beach Walk (Distorted Humor) is out of the multiple Grade I-placed Mineshaft mare Bonnie Blue Flag, whose family includes multiple Grade I winner Diamondrella (GB) (Rock of Gibraltar {Ire}), Group 3 victor Spectroscope (Medaglia d'Oro) and multiple graded stakes-placed runner Highest Honors (Tapit).

Life Is Good gets his fourth Grade I score in the Woodward S. | Sarah Andrew

“He's about 16'1, so he's a little bigger than Into Mischief,” Walden said. “He has a little bit more scope and range, but all the parts of a fast-looking horse. You can see when he moves how he just springs off with great, quick action that should translate to athletic foals. The Into Mischiefs have a real desire to run and Life Is Good showed that he wanted to compete at every level, every race and every work. Being by Into Mischief and also having Distorted Humor on the bottom, he gets a double dose of that competitiveness.”

Life Is Good's initial stud fee of $100,000 will be among the highest of this year's incoming crop, however Walden said that they have been conservative in their selection process as they begin filling the young sire's first book.

“We plan to breed him to about 160 mares,” Walden said. “We have a lot of requests each week, but we're not taking every mare. We're thinking about where each mare would fit into his whole group. We're making him worthy of a $100,000 stud fee, so we've turned down a lot of mares and are being very critical on that.”

He continued, “I think from a standpoint of what we've had here at Winstar, he would be at the very top as far as the great horses that we've had. Being by Into Mischief and with his physical presence and athleticism, we're super excited about his next career.”

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Flightline the 4-5 Choice in Pool #2 of Classic Future Wager

Undefeated Flightline (Tapit) closed as the 4-5 favorite following the completion of betting Monday in Pool #2 of the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Future Wager. After a 19 1/4-length victory in Saturday's GI TVG Pacific Classic at Del Mar, Flightline led the listing of 23 horses and one “all others” wagering interest in the second Future Wager pool for the $6-million Longines GI Breeders' Cup Classic, which will be run at Keeneland Nov. 5.

Pool #2 of the Future Wager generated $437,147 in total handle, more than doubling the $205,349 wagered in Pool #1, in which Flightline closed as the 2-1 favorite. The Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Future Wager was a win bet only with a $2 minimum.

Flightline was followed in the Pool #2 Future Wager by Epicenter (7-1), winner of the GI Runhappy Travers S. at Saratoga. GI Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Olympiad closed as a slight 8-1 choice over GI Whitney S. winner Life Is Good (8-1). GI Santa Anita Derby winner Taiba (33-1) was the fifth choice. The “all others” wagering interest closed at 36-1.

Complete Longines Breeders' Cup Future Wager information is available at www.BreedersCup.com/FutureWager.

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Artorius Has Arrogate-Sized Shadow to Outrun in Travers

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY–During a pre-season interview in early July, trainer Chad Brown offered another colt–at that point, with a low profile–to a discussion of his deep bench of GI Travers prospects: Zandon (Upstart), Early Voting (Gun Runner) and Jack Christopher (Munnings).

“I have a late -bloomer, a horse named Artorius (Arrogate), that I really like,” Brown said. “He's going to run in the Curlin Stakes. Much like the dad, he's late bloomer. I'm not saying he's a threat to win the Travers, but I'm going to tell you: he's lightly raced and he's very good. And his mother was very good, Paulassilverlining (Ghostzapper), who won two Grade Is for us. Obviously, Arrogate was a great race horse, that I didn't train. He's very well bred. He's a horse we've always liked all winter. He just got started a little late.”

Seven weeks to the day later, Artorius, will be entered Tuesday with Zandon and Early Voting in the Travers, which will be run for the 153rd time on Saturday. Following a third as the favorite in the GI Haskell S. July 23, Jack Christopher returns to sprint distances in the seven-furlong GI H. Allen Jerkens on the Travers program.

Artorius thoroughly confirmed Brown's assessment that he was of Travers quality with a 4 3/4-lengths score in the 1 1/8 miles ungraded Curlin July 29. He has continued to train well, most recently a :47.00 half-mile on Saturday, and just like his famous father did in 2016, will make his graded stakes debut in the Travers.

In what was his fifth career start, Arrogate (Unbridled's Song) cruised into Saratoga history for trainer Bob Baffert in 2016 with a stakes and course record of 1:59.36 for the 1 1/4-miles Travers. He broke the record of 2:00 set in 1979 by General Assembly over a very wet track. The Travers was the launching pad for Arrogate, who died in 2020 during his third season at stud. He followed that 13 1/2-length Travers score with wins in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, the GI Pegasus World Cup and the GI Dubai World Cup. The week of his victory in the Pegasus in an anticipated showdown with California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) that never materialized, he won the Eclipse Award as 3-year-old male champion.

Brown said that Artorius had typical 2-year-old shin issues in 2021 and had another problem that delayed his arrival to the races. He broke slowly in his first start on Apr. 16 in a six-furlong race at Keeneland and finished second. The maiden-breaker came at a mile at Belmont Park June 10 and he followed that up with what turned out to be an easy victory at nine furlongs in the Curlin.

“He's doing great,” Brown said. “His last race was terrific, first race around two turns. I was very pleased with it. ”

Brown acknowledged that it is a big ask to send Artorius into the Travers against an accomplished field whose headliner is GI Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike. His stablemates Early Voting, victor of the GI Preakness S., Zandon, third in the Derby after a win in the GI Blue Grass S. will be in the gate, along with Epicenter (Not This Time), second in the Derby and Preakness and the winner of the GII Jim Dandy, and GI Arkansas Derby and GI Haskell winner Cyberknife (Gun Runner).

“I'm having to step him up. He seems like he's willing to do it,” Brown said. “I don't feel like I'm doing anything to compromise his development by doing it. Yes, it's a really tough race, but he's got a nice race over this track, albeit against lesser horses than he's going to meet in the Travers. He did it the right way and came out of it the right way. The Travers is a once-in-a-lifetime for a horse to try. You only get one shot to run in it when you're three. So, if they're sound and doing well, and their numbers look like they're heading the right way, have a race over the track, which is in this particular case is possibly beneficial, and a leading jockey riding the horse, you've got to take a shot.”

Juddmonte purchased Paulassilverling from breeder-owner Vincent Scuderi prior to her 5-year-old season in 2017 and turned her over to Brown. She promptly won the GI Madison and the GI Humana Distaff. Artorius is her first foal.

“He's not real big now,” Brown said. “He'd be more of his mom's size than his father's size, but he's good combination between the two. He's got the stamina and the movement of his father, who moved like a cat. His mother was a smaller filly, not the best mover, but had a lot of heart. When you're breeding the best of the best, you hope for the best. This horse got a good blend of both, which is what you really hope for in a lot of cases when you breed Grade I horses to Grade I horses.”

An hour or so after Artorius worked alongside multiple GI winner Search Results (Flatter) Saturday, Brown said he was certain that the colt had the physical tools for the Travers and it just was a matter of timing whether he would make it to Saratoga's signature race.

“It's not a surprise at all. We always thought that he's talented enough,” Brown said. “I'd use the word “relieved” that he was able to do it. There was a small percentage chance that he'd be able to advance this quick. We knew he had the ability, but things happen. Horses have setbacks, right? Horses don't always run the way you think they're going to run. For him to actually hit all the marks and really get there, the only way was if everything sort of went right. Everything went right along the way with his works and spacing and weather, health of the horse. Everything has for this horse. I've been relieved. We gave it a shot to put him on a path to get here and he hit it.”

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