GII Rachel Alexandra S. | Horse Racing Free Tips

Sophomore ‘Stars’ Line Up at Fair Grounds Saturday

The road to the Triple Crown heats up in New Orleans Saturday with the GII Risen Star S. and GII Rachel Alexandra S.

A full field of 14 will line up in the former, led by unbeaten 'TDN Rising Star' Victory Formation (Tapwrit). One of three entered for Brad Cox, the 3-1 morning-line favorite heads to the post off a front-running tally over stablemate Angel of Empire (Classic Empire) in the Smarty Jones S. going a mile at Oaklawn Jan. 1.

Drawn on the outside in post 13, Victory Formation figures to have plenty of company on the front end if similar tactics are employed in this first attempt at 1 1/8 miles.

“I think he should be able to break well and get a good position,” Cox said. “I'm not too worried about the outside post. He's very quick from the gate and broke really sharp in all three of his starts. Obviously, Flavien [Prat] is a great rider; we're not going to give him too many instructions, and he rode him last time so he does know the horse.”

Cox will also saddle second-choice Tapit's Conquest (Tapit), who looks primed for a breakthrough performance following a strong second with a less-than-ideal trip behind the re-opposing Determinedly (Cairo Prince) in his sophomore debut at Fair Grounds Jan. 21.

“I think he got a lot out of it and he hadn't run since October,” Cox said. “He needed the last race, he's still learning. He didn't really get involved as much as we'd like last time, but ultimately came running, and I think he got a lot out of it from an educational standpoint. He should love a mile and an eighth even more.”

Only two Risen Star entrants–Curly Jack (Good Magic) and Two Phil's (Hard Spun)–have posted wins versus graded stakes company so far.

Curly Jack, winner of the GIII Iroquois S. Sept. 17 and a well-beaten fifth in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, capped his 2-year-old campaign with a very good second behind subsequent GIII Lecomte S. winner Instant Coffee (Bolt d'Oro) in the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. Nov. 26. Last term's GIII Street Sense S. winner Two Phil's, meanwhile, completed the exacta in the Lecomte last time.

The six-deep Rachel Alexandra is headlined by the highly regarded Hoosier Philly (Into Mischief), who puts a perfect three-for-three record on the line. She concluded her juvenile campaign with a dominating win in Churchill's GII Golden Rod S. Nov. 26.

“We have a lot of expectations for her based on what she's done so far, so there's a lot of anticipation about how she's going to come back at three,” trainer Tom Amoss said. “Her morning preparation has been just as it was when she was two, so that gives us some feeling of confidence going into the race. But still, it is just her first race at three.”

Hoosier Philly closed at 11-1 in the Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 4, the third choice in wagering.

“That's just noise,” Amoss said. “We're not looking at anything other than this race right now.”

The 13-race card at Fair Grounds also includes the GIII Mineshaft S. and GIII Fair Grounds S.

There are four other graded stakes around the country Saturday–the GIII Royal Delta S. at Gulfstream; the GIII Barbara Fritchie S. and GIII General George S. at Laurel; and the GIII Razorback H. at Oaklawn.

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Tom Amoss Joins the TDN Writers’ Room Podcast

Trainer Tom Amoss has never been shy about sharing his feelings about his filly Hoosier Philly (Into Mischief), saying she's the best horse he has ever trained. With Hoosier Philly ready to make her 3-year-old debut in Saturday's GII Rachel Alexandra S. at the Fair Grounds, the TDN team called upon Amoss to join them for this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland to get his latest thoughts on a filly who could be a superstar. Amoss was this week's Green Group Guest of the Week.

It didn't take him long to figure out that Hoosier Philly was going places.

“When she was getting ready to run at the beginning of September, we worked her quite a bit with other horses,” he said. “What she was doing in the mornings in her workouts and her strong moves against competition was unlike anything that we had seen in our barn. I'm not going to tell that I've had all these champions, but we've had a lot of good horses. We've had enough of them through the years since 1987 when I started that I knew this one was just different. Hoosier Philly was different than anything I've had before.”

When last seen, Hoosier Philly was romping to a five-length win in the GII Golden Rod S. at Churchill Downs on Nov. 26. She returned to the worktab on Jan. 28 at the Fair Grounds, posting the first of three straight bullet works. Amoss knows the expectations will be huge come Saturday, but he feels that Hoosier Philly will be ready.

“The expectations have now become so high with her,” he said. “It's almost as if anything less than a win is going to be a huge disappointment, not only to the barn and the ownership but to the general racing public. Hoosier Philly has gone through her preps just as she should. If there's any hesitancy in my voice at all, it's only because she hasn't run since the end of November and this is her first start off the bench. I just want her to show me that she's the same horse she was at two, if not a more mature, better version of that. In the mornings, that's what she's telling us. So, hopefully, we'll see that on Saturday.”

Hoosier Philly has been nominated to the Triple Crown and Amoss has said he will consider a start in the GI Kentucky Derby. (Hoosier Philly closed at 11-1 in the latest round of Derby Future Wager betting). For now, though, Amoss said he's not looking past the Rachel Alexandra.

“She's going to run in this race on Saturday, the Rachel Alexandra,” Amoss said. “What she does after that race is so dependent on how she performs and how she comes out of the race. We'll have a long discussion with the owners so far as what we're going to point to next. But that would be the case with any horse. Getting ahead of yourself and beginning to do this or that is silly. When you think about those odds, the 11-1 in the Future Wager, if we were to go to the Derby I think she might be 11-1 at post time. So why would you want to bet on something like that now? All the talk about the Derby is just a lot of noise. I'm looking forward to Saturday and in her coming back as a healthy horse after the race and, hopefully, a successful one.”

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by Coolmore, Lane's End, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, XBTV and West Point Thoroughbreds, Randy Moss, Zoe Cadman and Bill Finley took a look back at the stunning upset by Dreaming of Snow (Jess's Dream) in the Suncoast S. at Tampa Bay Downs and the wins by Litigate (Blame) and Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}) in their Derby preps. Looking ahead, the team previewed the Rachel Alexandra S. and the GII Risen Star S. Moss, Cadman and Finley also shared their memories of three notable figures who passed away during the week, Burt Bacharach, Diana Firestone and John Veitch.

Click here to listen to the audio version.

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Key Race for Turnerloose in Fair Ground Oaks

It's a tough spot, going up against Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) in the GII Fair Grounds Oaks, but as owner Ike Thrash puts it, it's not every day that you get to take on the Eclipse Award-winning champion 2-year-old filly.

So Ike and his wife Dawn are eager to make the two-hour trip from their home in Mississippi to Fair Grounds on Saturday to watch their filly Turnerloose (Nyquist) go up against a talented field of sophomore fillies vying for points on the road to the Kentucky Oaks. Thrash is confident in his filly's potential upside.

“It wouldn't surprise me if she improved in her second time on dirt,” Thrash said.

The Brad Cox-trained dark bay pulled the upset in the GII Rachel Alexandra S. last month, stalking along the inside with Florent Geroux aboard and digging in down the lane to win by half a length.

Turnerloose was successful on the grass as a juvenile. After winning on debut, she claimed the Aristocrat Juvenile Fillies S. and placed third in the GII Jessamine S. Following an unplaced finish in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and a brief layoff, she returned to the racetrack for her sophomore campaign in the Rachel Alexandra.

“Of all the crazy stuff we've tried, running for the first time on dirt after a layoff in a Grade II is not the recommended path, but it worked out this time,” Thrash joked. “She had to tap on the breaks a few times and I was just sitting there the whole time with one eye closed hoping that she would like the dirt, but she ran really well.”

Ike and Dawn Thrash have been involved in horse racing for 35 years. They've made it to the winner's circle with several Grade I winners, including GI Arkansas Derby winner Line of David (Lion Heart), who took them to the 2010 GI Kentucky Derby, 2015 GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup S. winner Her Emmynency (Successful Appeal) and 2010 GI Debutante S. victress Tell a Kelly (Tapit).

Ike and Dawn Thrash | Hodges Photography

Today, the Thrash racing stable includes eight horses at the track and another nine 2-year-olds training with Paul Sharp in Ocala . While the Thrashes were prominent owners in California for many years, they have since relocated their stable to circuits closer to home.

The couple takes pride in the fact that they pick out all of their racing prospects themselves, attending the various sales and making up their short lists together.

“I always say that I know a lot about horse racing and Dawn knows more about horses,” Thrash explained. “She zeros in on a couple and I just try to get a short list and pick the ones that the universe lets you have. For us, 99% of it is how they are physically. I'm sure that is the opposite of what other people with good sense do, but the last thing we look at is the page. I'm happy if they have a good family, but I'd rather buy a nice individual.”

Turnerloose was the exception to this rule. At the Keeneland September Sale, the Nyquist filly had a nice physical but also an impressive female family as the granddaughter of GISW Game Face (Menifee). They were expecting that she might be out of their budget, but were surprised when they had the winning $50,000 bid.

“You always think that you're paying too much or that the world knows more than you do, but this was one of those times where I looked at my wife when they brought the hammer down and thought that we must have missed something,” Thrash recalled.

Turnerloose was never a standout during her early training, so it wasn't until she made her debut that her connections realized her potential.

“Some of them just don't jump out of you,” Thrash said. “We had another Nyquist filly who we thought was prettier than Turnerloose, so every time we had a conversation [with Cox], it was about the other Nyquist filly. Now Turnerloose could beat her for fun, so it's funny how it worked out.”

As the daughter of an A.P. Indy mare, debuting the filly on the turf was far from the original plan.

“When she got to Ellis Park, the only choices we had were five furlongs on dirt or a mile on the grass,” Thrash explained. “People ask us why we ran her on grass, well it was the only thing there. Then when they had the race with the big purse at Kentucky Downs [the Aristocrat Juvenile Fillies S.], you feel silly not to go there.”

Rolling the dice to let the filly try the dirt paid off, and now Turnerloose could take her owners to their third Kentucky Oaks. Their first was with Dawn After Dawn (Successful Appeal), who ran fourth in the 2007 edition, and in 2018 they were represented by Kelly's Humor (Midnight Lute).

“The year before Dawn After Dawn ran in the Oaks the horse paid like $40 to win, but of course we picked to run our first Oaks when Rags to Riches was there and I don't think I could have beat her with my car,” Thrash said with a laugh. “I've always said that if we are going to win one of these, it's more likely to be the Oaks because we buy 10 fillies for every colt.”

Like all of the horses in the Thrash racing stable, Turnerloose is named after a member of the family.

“Turner is my grandson,” Thrash explained. “We have four children and their spouses and then 12 grandchildren, so we don't run out of names.”

Thrash said that if they can break even in this business while having some fun, campaigning the occasional standout runner is an added bonus.

“When our horse Her Emmynency sold for over $1 million a few years ago, my CPA called and told me that I almost did it. After 30 years in the business, I was only $8,000 behind. I told him that was great; it was a lot better than I expected. It's a tough business and we try as hard as we can to break even, but it's been a lot of fun. You don't win many of those big races. We've done well over the years, but it's always exciting to get there.”

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