graceful princess | Horse Racing Free Tips

Whisper Hill Farm's Graceful Princess is among fourteen entered in the $100,000 Obeah Stakes at Delaware Park this Wednesday, June 9. The mile and a sixteenth affair is the local prep for the filly and mare summer classic – the mile-and-a-quarter Grade 2 Delaware Handicap to be run on Saturday, July 10.

Graceful Princess is a daughter of the 2011 Horse of the Year Havre de Grace. Havre de Grace, who broke her maiden at Delaware Park in 2009, won the Obeah Stakes before finishing second beaten a nose against her arch rival Blind Luck in the Delaware Handicap in 2011. Tapit, the sire of Graceful Princess, broke his maiden at Delaware Park in 2003 before winning the 2004 Wood Memorial.

In her only outing this year, Graceful Princess finished third beaten a neck in the mile and a sixteenth Grade 3 Doubledogdare Stakes at Keeneland in April 16.

“She has trained very well since the Doubledogdare,” said her trainer Todd Pletcher. “That was a huge effort and we are optimistic coming in.”

Last year, the 5-year-old Kentucky-bred had a record of a win from four starts. Her career record is two wins, a second and a third from 11 starts with earnings of $108,474.

Todd Pletcher has won the Obeah Stakes five times – Isola Piu Bella in 2005, Fleet Indian in 2006, Unbridled Belle in 2008 & 2009, and Love and Pride in 2012. Pletcher has used the Obeah Stakes as a prep for three of his four record equaling Delaware Handicap victories. In 2001, Irving's Baby ran third in the Obeah Stakes before winning the Delaware Handicap; in 2006, Fleet Indian won the Obeah Stakes before winning the DelCap; and in 2007, Unbridled Belle ran second in the Obeah Stakes before her Delaware Handicap score. In 2010, Life at Ten did not run in the Obeah Stakes before winning the Delaware Handicap.

The race is named in honor of the two-time Delaware Handicap winner in 1969 and 1970 and the dam of the Hall of Fame filly Go For Wand who was locally owned by Jane and Harry duPont's Christiana Stable. Horses finishing first, second, third or fourth in the Obeah Stakes will automatically earn a free nomination to the Delaware Handicap.

Since the Obeah Stakes was inaugurated in 1996, only the 2006 older female champion Fleet Indian and I'm a Chatterbox, who won the race in 2016, have won the race and followed with a victory in the Delaware Handicap. Two fillies have finished second in the Obeah and won the Delaware Handicap. They were Unbridled Belle in 2007 and Power Play in 1997. Three winners of the Obeah Stakes have followed by running second in the Delaware Handicap. They were 2011 Horse of the year Havre de Grace, Your Out in 2002 and Under the Rug in 2001.

$100,000 Obeah Stakes

PP	HORSE	OWNER	TRAINER	JOCKEY	Wg	OD
1	Shyza	Carguys Racing	John Servis	Mychel Sanchez	119	20-1
2	Crystall Ball	WinStar Stablemates	Rodolphe Brisset	Luis Saez	121	5-1
3	Bajan Girl	R. Stack & D. Walters	Rohan Crichton	Kendrick Carmouche	119	6-1
4	Promised Storm	Jennifer Truehart	Regina Brennan	Luis Ocasio	119	20-1
5	Jilted Bride	Bradley Thoroughbreds	Steven Asmussen	Jaime Rodriguez	123	12-1
6	Trolley Ride	James Eshleman	T. Bernard Houghton	Inoel Beato	119	20-1
7	Sweet Sami D	ABL Stable	Patrick McBurney	Paco Lopez	119	20-1
8	Miss Marissa	Cammarota Racing	James Ryerson	Daniel Centeno	119	8-1
9	Queen Nekia	Ken Copenhaver	Joseph Saffie Jr	J.C. Diaz Jr	123	7/2
10	Dream Marie	Miracle's International	Matthew Williams	Joe Bravo	119	15-1
11	Market Rumor	Bloch & Six Column	Ian Wilkes	Chris Landeros	119	20-1
12	Graceful Princess	Whisper Hill Farm	Todd Pletcher	Irad Ortiz Jr	119	9/2
13	Lucky Stride	Sonata Stable	Michael Trombetta	Julian Pimentel	123	15-1
14	Artfull Splatter	James Wolf	Kieron Magee	Carol Cedeno	119	15-1

The post Havre De Grace Daughter Graceful Princess Entered In Wednesday’s Delaware ‘Cap Prep appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Juddmonte Farms homebred Bonny South, winless in four starts since capturing the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks in March 2020, returned to her winning ways in Friday's Grade 3 Baird Doubledogdare Stakes for older fillies and mares at Keeneland racecourse in Lexington, Ky.

The Brad Cox-trained daughter of Munnings was kept off the rail by Florent Geroux throughout the 1 1/16-mile stakes, rallying from mid-pack in the field of six and just edging Royal Flag and pacesetter Graceful Princess in a three-horse photo. The margins were a head from first to second, with runner-up Royal Flag defeating Graceful Princess by another head. Eres Tu was fourth, with High Regard fifth. Speech, winner of the G1 Ashland Stakes in 2020, was bet down to 3-2 favoritism but was finished before far turn and eventually eased in her first start since finishing sixth in the G1 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at Keeneland.

Bonny South covered 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in 1:43.46 and paid $9.40 for the win. Speech, winner of the G1 Ashland Stakes at Keeneland for trainer Michael McCarthy, was bet down to 3-2 favoritism

Todd Pletcher-trained Graceful Princess, a 5-year-old Tapit mare searching for her first stakes victory, secured an early lead, outrunning Speech before the first turn and setting fractions of :24.11, :48.02 and 1:12.06 for the first six furlongs. Bonny South raced several lengths behind the front-runner in fourth and began to make her move with three-eighths of a mile remaining. The Munnings 4-year-old ranged up alongside Graceful Princess at the top of the stretch and Royal Flag – who had just one filly beaten in the early going – came to their outside. The three raced as a team to the wire with Bonny South just prevailing after passing the mile marker in 1:37.09.

The victory was the fourth from nine career starts for Bonny South, who chased Speech in the Ashland before runner-up finishes in the G1 Alabama at Saratoga (to Swiss Skydiver) and G2 Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico (to Miss Marissa). She completed her 2020 campaign with another second-place finish, this time to Envoutante in the G2 Falls City at Churchill Downs.

Post-race quotes:

Florent Geroux (winning rider of Bonnie South)
On the difference today compared to her strong efforts in the past “Just her breaking good and putting me in the race a little bit closer than she has been. Today there wasn't much pace. The idea with her was to see how she broke and I couldn't really rush her but at the same token I couldn't be too far back and try to make a late run. She had a nice trip. When I asked her turning for home, she gave me a nice kick. She was very brave at the end to hold off (runner-up) Royal Flag. She was fighting at the end.”

Brad Cox (winning trainer: “I felt like physically she'd moved forward from (age) 3 to 4. She's certainly been working that way in the mornings. She had a big work last weekend at Churchill and was kinda touting herself. Florent did a good job realizing there wasn't a lot of pace. She had a little bit of a wide trip and dug in late. I was very proud of her.”

On what he sees for the remainder of her 2021 campaign: “Hopefully (it's) one full of Grade 1s – that would be the goal. The (Juddmonte) Spinster (G1 during the Keeneland Fall Meet) would be a race that definitely would be on the radar, having the Juddmonte connections. Hopefully we can get her there and off to the Breeders' Cup.”

Todd Pletcher (trainer of third-place finisher Graceful Princess): “She ran dynamite off the layoff. She got the trip we were hoping for. She really fought hard and we are very pleased with her effort. (Jockey Luis Saez) said it was a battle and our filly dug down deep but just could not quite get there. The fractions were what we were hoping for. She made the lead the right way. She relaxed nicely.”

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