GIII Robert B. Lewis S. | Horse Racing Free Tips

Busy Weekend For Derby Preps on Both Coasts

Saturday's graded stakes races stretch out from coast to coast and feature significant GI Kentucky Derby implications, but not entirely for the reasons we've come to expect. In South Florida, it is business as usual for the Derby preps while on the West Coast all things Kentucky Derby took an unprecedented turn.

On the heels of a very successful GI Pegasus World Cup weekend, Gulfstream Park offers a tremendous card with five graded races, including the 34th running of the GIII Holy Bull S. named for the Hall of Famer and 1994 Horse of the Year, who won that year's GI Florida Derby. Forty Kentucky Derby points are on the line with the winner collecting the lion's share.

Cyclone Mischief (Into Mischief) enters off a 5 3/4-length allowance romp at a mile over this surface Jan. 8. The $450,000 KEESEP yearling purchase is out of a half to GSW Suddenbreakingnews (Mineshaft) and hails from the female family of MGIW Composure (Touch Gold).

“I think he's one of the best 3-year-olds in the country, and he's training like one,” trainer Dale Romans said. “There are a lot of good horses out there, but we're in a good spot right now.”

Legacy Isle (Shackleford) would be undefeated and the only stakes winner so far of the bunch after wiring the Mucho Macho Man S. on New Year's Day, but was disqualified for bothering a rival in the lane and was placed second.

Hall of Fame conditioner Bill Mott entered two in the Holy Bull, Rocket Can (Into Mischief) and Shadow Dragon (Army Mule).

The GIII Claiborne Swale S. doesn't offer any Derby points and isn't considered a Derby prep, but it is named after the 1984 Derby winner and Hall of Famer who died suddenly eight days after the GI Belmont S.

The streaking Super Chow (Lord Nelson) drew the outside in the six-runner test, which will be contested at seven furlongs. The winner of five of his six career races is coming off three straight listed stakes wins and makes a jump back into graded company. He broke his maiden in his debut July 2 at Gulfstream and was third in the GII Saratoga Special S. before shipping back to Florida to collect his last three wins.

“He's in his best shape ever,” trainer Jorge Delgado said. “He's been maturing race to race. He's been showing a lot of class. From race to race, he's a more professional horse. He's becoming a man.”

Not to be overshadowed by the boys, 10 fillies are set to race seven-eighths on the main track in the GIII Forward Gal S.

Atomically (Girvin) is the likely favorite in her first start since an even seventh-place finish in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Nov. 4. It was her first start for trainer Todd Pletcher after being sold privately to a group headed by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners after winning the Florida Sire My Dear Girl S. over the Gulfstream Park main track Oct. 1.

Ginger Brew S. winner Cairo Consort (Cairo Prince) is the 2-1 morning-line favorite against eight other sophomore turf fillies in the 1 1/16-mile GIII Sweetest Chant S. The Todd Pletcher-trained filly won Woodbine's Catch A Glimpse S., was second in the GI Natalma S. and third in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. This race will be her first start beyond a mile.

Only four will line up in the GIII Robert B. Lewis S., a 1 1/16-mile test offering 41 Road to the Derby points to the top-four finishers on a 20-8-6-4-2 scale. This is where the race's Kentucky Derby implications take a turn. Each of the four runners are trained by a single trainer and that trainer–currently–is forbidden from participating in racing at Churchill Downs.

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, who has saddled a record 10 winners of the Robert B. Lewis–including the last four in a row–sat in a Louisville courtroom for two days this week. His team of attorneys is seeking an injunction against his two-year ban from competing at Churchill Downs following Medina Spirit's post-race positive for the prohibited steroid betamethasone after crossing the wire first in the 2021 Derby. Medina Spirit also won the 2021 Lewis.

Arabian Lion (Justify) will lead his stablemates. The $600,000 OBSAPR 2-year-old was a dismal fifth in the GII Los Alamitos Futurity Dec. 17 at odds of 2-5 but has been working lights out for his return here.

Newgate (Into Mischief) hasn't reached the winner's circle since breaking his maiden at Del Mar but was a short second in the GIII Sham S. a month ago. The $850,000 KEESEP yearling was also second to last week's GIII San Vicente S. winner and stablemate Havnameltdown (Uncaptured) in the GIII Bob Hope S. at Del Mar Nov. 20. Maiden winner Hard To Figure (Hard Spun) and maiden Worcester (Empire Maker) round out the Baffert quartet.

The post Busy Weekend For Derby Preps on Both Coasts appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Baffert Has 14 Of 16 Nominees In Robert B. Lewis

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert will attack next Saturday's GIII Robert B. Lewis S. at Santa Anita with quality and an awful lot of quantity. The nominees for the $200,000 race were released Saturday and 14 of the 16 nominated for the race hail from the Baffert stable.

This Lewis will be run just six days after the GII San Vicente S. In that race, also for 3-year-olds, Baffert trains four of the five starters. The lone horse to take on Baffert in the San Vicente will be 20-1 shot Man Child (Creative Cause) from the barn of Ryan Hanson.

All four of Baffert's San Vicente starters are nominated for the Robert Lewis, but that still leaves 10 potential starters. Among the top names for the Lewis are the Baffert trio of Reincarnate (Good Magic), Newgate (Into Mischief) and National Treasure (Quality Road), who finished one-two-three in the GIII Sham S.

Baffert will come into the Lewis having won the race four straight years and 10 times overall.

The post Baffert Has 14 Of 16 Nominees In Robert B. Lewis appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Thousand Words A Veritable Picture at Spendthrift

It took just two words for Mark Toothaker to explain why he believes Thousand Words (Pioneerof the Nile) will excel in the Spendthrift stud barn: looks and pedigree.

Those same characteristics are what kept the Albaugh-Spendthrift partnership bidding at the Keeneland September Sale until they brought the colt home for $1 million.

It didn't take long to find an appropriate name for the youngster.

“Eric Gustavon, our president, named him,” Toothaker recalled. “He's such a beautiful horse that the name was easy to come by. A picture is worth a thousand words because there's so much that you could say about this horse with his looks and his pedigree. So it's a cool name for what we hope turns out to be a very good stallion.”

The new Spendthrift colorbearer embarks on his career at stud as a three-time stakes winner and will stand his first season for $7,500.

At the 2018 Keeneland September Sale, Spendthrift and the Albaugh Family Stables were on the lookout for a yearling they could partner on and, as Toothaker recalled, Thousand Words fit the bill.

“We had bought Brody's Cause and Free Drop Billy from the Albaughs and had talked about teaming up if we found something we both landed on,” he said. “The first time we saw Thousand Words, he was such a beautiful yearling and one that we were both definitely on. So it made for a great partnership and we were thrilled to get the horse purchased.”

A member of one of the last crops from the late top sire Pioneerof the Nile, the January foal was bred in Florida by Amy Tarrant's Hardacre Farm and produced by the farm's homebred sprinter Pomeroys Pistol (Pomeroy), a multiple graded stakes winner who was runner-up in both the GI Prioress S. and GI Test S. in 2011.

As the youngster began training with Bob Baffert, the team at Spendthrift anxiously awaited a report from the Hall of Fame trainer.

“When the lightbulb finally came on for Thousand Words, Bob called Flavien Prat and told him `this is your Derby horse for next year,'” Toothaker said. “When Bob starts talking Derby, you start listening, so there was a lot of excitement around here leading up to that.”

After a winning debut in October, the speedy bay next took the GII Los Alamitos Futurity for an undefeated juvenile season.

The colt's sire won the same race in 2008, and Toothaker spoke on other current stallions who have thrived in the Los Alamitos Futurity, which was just downgraded to a Grade II in 2019.

“It's the same race Into Mischief won,” Toothaker noted. “Horses like Mor Spirit and Violence had won that race as well. So there are a lot of really nice horses that have won this race and certainly gone on to make a name for themselves.”

The son of Pioneerof the Nile continued his winning streak in his sophomore debut in the GIII Robert B. Lewis S., but then ran unplaced in his next two starts.

After a short layoff, he gave a runner-up effort behind stablemate and 'TDN Rising Star' Uncle Chuck (Uncle Mo) in the GIII Los Alamitos Derby and then took on Del Mar for a gutsy score in the Shared Belief S. over Honor A. P. (Honor Code) in his final prep before the GI Kentucky Derby.

While he claimed the number four spot in the TDN's Derby Rankings leading up to the first Saturday in September, two slots ahead of stablemate and eventual winner Authentic (Into Mischief), the sophomore reared and fell in the paddock minutes before stepping onto the track and was subsequently a late defection.

Toothaker recalled the unfortunate events of the day. “When we left the backside with Authentic and Thousand Words, we really didn't know which one of the two was our best shot. We were just thrilled that we had two chances and both of the horses were coming into the race fantastic, so we thought, who knows what's going to happen here? And then of course, you know the rest of the story. We're devastated, the Albaughs are devastated, we were 20 minutes from post time for the Derby and now here we are scratched. So it was about as low as you can get at that point.”

While the colt returned for two more Grade I starts in 2020, he ran unplaced in both and Toothaker explained that since the horse had not been the same after the paddock incident, the decision was made for him to retire.

When the announcement was made that the new addition would be a part of Spendthrift's Share The Upside program, Toothaker said they sold out of the program's portion of his book in under an hour.

“It was unbelievable,” he said. “Our phones were just blowing up with texts and calls. We've probably got a waiting list of about 40 people for the Share the Upside portion. So his reception has been unbelievable.”

“He is that million-dollar yearling- he's gorgeous,” Toothaker continued. “He's just so correct. A beautiful head on him with a beautiful neck and shoulder. He's going to get a tremendous chance with the looks that he has and then with Pioneerof the Nile as a sire and out of a dam as good as Pomeroys Pistol. You could look up in a few years, and this horse could be right there at the top of the sire list.”

The post Thousand Words A Veritable Picture at Spendthrift appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post