Tag: gulfstream park

Chantal Sutherland ‘In A Zone’ With Five Straight Multi-Win Days At Gulfstream Park

Chantal Sutherland is riding a streak of five consecutive multi-win days at Gulfstream Park while continuing her inspired resurgence by climbing into second place in the jockey standings for the fall meeting.

“I feel like I am in a zone. I'm super-happy. When you have a lot of experience, you go to bed early, take care of your body,” the 46-year-old jockey who launched her career in her native Canada in 2000. “I live an actual boring life, other than racing. I'm so focused on racing. I'm so happy here. I'm in a good place.”

The multiple Grade 1 stakes-winning jockey with nearly 1150 career victories, has ridden 12 winners over the past five racing days at Gulfstream, including a pair of three-win days and three days with two winners.

Sutherland's winning mounts have produced a $12.30 average win payoff, by far the highest average in the Top 10 standings.

Sutherland, who had a four-win day Oct. 24, returned to Gulfstream after a long absence to ride full time during the Spring/Summer Meet, during which finished seventh with 46 winners. With her double on Sunday, Sutherland pulled into second place in the jockey standings with 22 winners, good for second behind perennial leader Edgard Zayas' 30 victories.

“I feel more into it. I'm watching the races, studying my replays. I'm so much more present to everyone and everything,” Sutherland said. “I'm trying to learn Spanish as fast as I can. Communication is everything. If a trainer can feel like they can communicate with me, they'll feel like I'm listening and giving 150 percent. I know how hard they work.”

Sutherland has ridden more winners in 2021 than in any year since 2010 while developing a rabid fan base at Gulfstream Park, where she is routinely greeted back to the winner's circle with cheers and applause and where she graciously grants fan requests for photos and selfies on her way back to the jockey's room.

“I'm just so grateful and proud,” Sutherland said. “It's so good to see everyone happy in racing. I love it here.”

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Knicks Go May Target Pegasus World Cup For Final Start

Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Classic winner and defending G1 Pegasus World Cup champ Knicks Go could cap his brilliant career in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 29 at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The Pegasus may turn into a showdown between two of the standouts of the 38th Breeders' Cup, Knicks Go, the likely 2021 Horse of the Year, who won the Classic by 2 ¾ lengths, and Life Is Good, who cruised to a 5 ¾ length victory in the G1 Dirt Mile.

Trainer Brad Cox said Sunday morning at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., that the Korea Racing Association star was a possibility for the Pegasus before heading off to start his stud career at Taylor Made Farm.

“If he comes out of it good and he trains well, we'll point for the Pegasus,” Cox said. “It's a good purse, it's a surface he likes and if he's doing well, there have been horses that won the Breeders' Cup and ended their careers with that, between the likes of Gun Runner and City of Light. It's always a nice race that you can pick off hopefully before going off to stud.”

Knicks Go kicked off a superb 2021 season with a 2 ¾ length gate-to-wire score in the Pegasus World Cup. He won five of seven starts during the season and has 10 wins from 24 career starts.

Spendthrift Farm's Life Is Good was knocked off the Triple Crown trail in March when a bone chip was found in his left rear ankle. The chip was removed by surgery and during his recovery he was transferred from Bob Baffert in California to Todd Pletcher in New York. Life Is Good was a narrow second in his comeback race, the seven-furlong G1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial at Saratoga  Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and won the one-mile G2 Kelso Handicap by 5 ½ lengths at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., on Sept. 25. The Dirt Mile was his return to two-turn racing and should set him up for Gulfstream's big race.

“That's what we'd spoke about prior to the race that our sort of two-race plan was the mile and then stretch him out further in the Pegasus,” Pletcher said Sunday. “He certainly ran well enough to proceed in that direction if everything goes smoothly, but we haven't really had any time to really firmly discuss our entire plans yet. I'm sure once everybody gets back to their headquarters, we'll have that conversation.”

Life is Good came into the Breeders' Cup with a big reputation and he delivered a strong performance, leading from gate to wire under Irad Ortiz, Jr. He completed the mile in 1:34.12 after opening fractions of :21.66, :44.94, and 1:08.76.

“It was everything that we were hoping for and then maybe even more,” Pletcher said. “The horse had trained spectacularly coming into the race and I felt like he was sitting on a big race. When he broke cleanly, you could tell they were going quickly and there were some other horses trying to be involved. My first concern was just, hopefully, he hadn't gone too fast, but it seemed like he was relaxed and settled. In spite of the fact that he was rolling right along, he was doing it comfortably.

“I think that's kind of what we've come to expect from him. It's one of those horses that's extremely fast, has a very high cruising speed, and the ability to continue doing it. What was even more impressive to me than the :21 and four and 44 and change and 1:08 and change, is that he essentially won geared down. Then Irad had to reach up and grab a hold of him in the middle of the turn. Galloping out, he was still full of horse. I don't think he could have been any more impressive.”

Trainer Bob Baffert said Sunday that Classic runner-up Medina Spirit is a possibility for the Pegasus World Cup. He said the primary goal is the Saudi World Cup because the colt's owner is from Saudi Arabia and that it was too early to decide whether to run at Gulfstream first.

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Knicks Go Possible for Pegasus

Korea Racing Association's Knicks Go (Paynter), fresh off an emphatic victory in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar Saturday, could cap his career in the Jan. 29 GI Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park, trainer Brad Cox confirmed Sunday.

“If he comes out of it good and he trains well, we'll point for the Pegasus,” Cox said. “It's a good purse, it's a surface he likes and if he's doing well, there have been horses that won the Breeders' Cup and ended their careers with that, between the likes of Gun Runner and City of Light. It's always a nice race that you can pick off hopefully before going off to stud.”

Knicks Go is expected to begin his stud career at Taylor Made Farm next year.

The $3-million Pegasus could also be the target of Saturday's GI Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Life Is Good (Into Mischief).

“That's what we'd spoke about prior to the race that our sort of two-race plan was the Mile and then stretch him out farther in the Pegasus,” trainer Todd Pletcher said Sunday. “He certainly ran well enough to proceed in that direction if everything goes smoothly, but we haven't really had any time to really firmly discuss our entire plans yet. I'm sure once everybody gets back to their headquarters, we'll have that conversation.”

China Horse Club and WinStar Farm's Life is Good, knocked off the Triple Crown trail earlier this year by an ankle chip, was a narrow second in his comeback race, the seven-furlong GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial at Saratoga and won the one-mile GII Kelso H. by 5 1/2 lengths Belmont Park Sept. 25 before his Breeders' Cup victory.

“It was everything that we were hoping for and then maybe even more,” Pletcher said of Saturday's victory at Del Mar. “The horse had trained spectacularly coming into the race and I felt like he was sitting on a big race. When he broke cleanly, you could tell they were going quickly and there were some other horses trying to be involved. My first concern was just, hopefully, he hadn't gone too fast, but it seemed like he was relaxed and settled. In spite of the fact that he was rolling right along, he was doing it comfortably. I think that's kind of what we've come to expect from him. He's one of those horses that's extremely fast, has a very high cruising speed and the ability to continue doing it. What was even more impressive to me than the :21 and four and :44 and change and 1:08 and change, is that he essentially won geared down. Then Irad [Ortiz] had to reach up and grab a hold of him in the middle of the turn. Galloping out, he was still full of horse. I don't think he could have been any more impressive.”

The post Knicks Go Possible for Pegasus appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Gulfstream Rainbow 6 Jackpot Guaranteed At $400,000 Sunday

The 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot pool will be guaranteed at $400,000 Sunday at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., where the popular multi-race wager went unsolved Saturday for the 15th racing day following a $461,035.47 jackpot payoff Oct. 9.

Sunday's Rainbow 6 sequence will span Races 5-10, kicked off featuring three optional claiming allowances. Carlos David-trained Gatsby is rated as the 2-1 morning-line favorite in the Race 8 feature, a six-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds and up. Gatsby, who most recently followed up a win with a second-place finish, has a claim to fame of debuting with an April 17, 2020 upset victory over heavily favored Golden Pal, who captured Saturday's Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint in a romp.

The Rainbow 6 jackpot is paid out when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 70 percent of that day's pool goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners, while 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.

In Saturday's featured $65,000 Showing Up, King of Dreams followed up a victory in the $60,000 Oakland Park Handicap with an open-lengths triumph to run his record to 2-for-2 on Gulfstream's Tapeta track.

Owned by former MLB star Victor Martinez's Victoria's Ranch, King of Dreams ($16) chased pacesetter Moonlite Strike before taking over on the turn into the homestretch and drawing away to a comfortable score under Leonel Reyes.

The Florida-bred son of Air Force Blue ran a mile and 70 yards in 1:41.40 while prevailing over 11 other 3-year-olds. Fighting Force finished second after making a brief challenge at the top of the stretch. Siglioso finished third.

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