Gulfstream | Horse Racing Free Tips

Pegasus Turf Contender? Social Paranoia Scores Off The Layoff For Pletcher

The Elkstone Group LLC's Social Paranoia distinguished himself as a serious candidate for the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1), scheduled for Jan. 23 at Gulfstream Park, with a gutsy triumph in Wednesday's feature race at the Hallandale Beach, Fla. track.

The 4-year-old son of Street Boss, sent to post at the even-money favorite in a field of nine, came off a five-month layoff to score a hard-fought half-length victory in the 7 ½-furlong optional claiming allowance on turf.

“It's always nice to have a win off a layoff like that. He came back and we got a quality win out of him. We were hoping for a good effort,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “We'll see how he comes out of it and maybe keep an eye on the Pegasus Turf.”

Social Paranoia joined Pletcher trained Largent, the winner of last Saturday's Fort Lauderdale (G2) at Gulfstream, on the list of Pegasus Turf candidates. He ran 7 ½ furlongs over a firm course in 1:27.48.

Social Paranoia rated off the early pace before making a five-wide sweep on the turn into the homestretch, outkicking Olympic Runner to the wire while galloping out strongly under Irad Ortiz, Jr.

Wednesday's victory was Social Paranoia's third in four starts over the Gulfstream turf. He broke his maiden by eight lengths in May 2019 and won the Appleton (G3) last March over the grass course.

“It feels great. Todd did a great job getting him ready, but he's won on the layoff before, so I was very confident in Todd,” said The Elkstone Group's Stuart Grant. “We're very excited. As you know we have our eye on late January back here and I think he showed that he deserved a spot there. This is his third win out of four [on Gulfstream turf].”

The post Pegasus Turf Contender? Social Paranoia Scores Off The Layoff For Pletcher appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Orphaned, Bottle-Fed Filly Court Return Headlines Saturday’s Via Borghese Stakes

Ivan Dalos' stakes-winning homebred filly Court Return, beaten a neck in the E. P. Taylor (G1) last time out at Woodbine, will race south of the border for the first time in her career facing eight rivals in Saturday's $100,000 Via Borghese at Gulfstream Park.

The fifth running of the 1 3/16-mile Via Borghese for fillies and mares 3 and up on the grass serves as a supporting stake to the $100,000 Mr. Prospector (G3), which features a lineup led by Grade 1 winners Firenze Fire and Mind Control and defending champion Diamond Oops.

Post time for the first of 11 races is 12:05 p.m.

Trained by Canadian Hall of Famer Josie Carroll, Court Return is a younger half-sister to multiple Grade 1 turf winners Channel Maker and Johnny Bear, both Sovereign Award winners in Canada. The 4-year-old filly has run exclusively at Woodbine, with 10 of her 12 lifetime starts coming on the grass.

Court Return has breezed once on the turf at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream's satellite training facility in Palm Beach County, since arriving in South Florida. She is out of the late Horse Chestnut mare In Return, the Sovereign Award winner as Canada's champion broodmare of 2018. The same year, Dalos was voted champion breeder.

“She shipped down very well and seems to be training forwardly,” Carroll said. “We're very excited about her. She is the last foal from that mare. The mare died shortly after giving birth, so [Court Return] was actually orphaned and bottle-raised. Mr. Dalos doesn't have any more out of that mare, so he's counting on her.”

Court Return debuted in September 2018 and needed eight tries to break her maiden, graduating in a maiden optional claimer last November. The daughter of Court Vision became a stakes winner in her second start of 2020, rallying for a 1 ¼-length triumph in the 1 1/16-mile Eternal Search.

“Mr. Dalos bred this whole family and they all develop late in their careers. I think this is a filly that's just now starting to come into her own,” Carroll said. “I think she was just one that needed to mature. She's just a filly that needed some time and Mr. Dalos was very patient with her.”

Carroll stepped Court Return up to graded company off her stakes victory, and she finished third in the 1 1/8-mile Canadian (G2) Sept. 12 after getting away slowly. Stretched out to 1 ¼ miles for the E. P. Taylor, Court Return was again tardy from the gate but came with a strong rally only to fall just short of winner Etoile.

“I felt really good going into the race. That was certainly her best performance yet,” Carroll said. “I think the rider did a good job of not letting her get out of touch too much with the field, which is a danger with her. Sometimes they let her get too far back. You really sort of have to nudge her to stay in touch with the field, so that when she does make her run she is in a position to get there.”

Two-time Championship Meet leading jockey Luis Saez will get that assignment Saturday from Post 3.

“She gets away slow and that's just her,” Carroll said. “It just takes her a while to get into gear. She's never forwardly placed.”

Christophe Clement won the inaugural Via Borghese with Paige in 2016, and the trainer has Stone Farm homebred Traipsing for this year's edition. The 4-year-old daughter of Grade 1 turf winner Stroll comes back three weeks off a runner-up finish to stablemate Mutamakina after setting the pace in the 1 3/8-mile Long Island (G3) at Aqueduct.

“It's back a little bit quick, but she arrived at Payson Park well and she looks well. I think she's a nice mare,” Clement said. “Because it is a little bit quick we'll monitor her doing the week and as long as she's doing well we plan on running.”

Traipsing will be trying stakes company for the third time in what will be her eighth start; she finished sixth in the 1 1/8-mile Treasure Coast in June at Gulfstream in her stakes debut. Robby Albarado is named to ride from Post 2.

“She's very versatile. You can do whatever you want with her. She can be forward or she can come from out of it,” Clement said. “She's good enough that she can be versatile and she's a very good mover, which makes her even more efficient going longer.”

Gulfstream's 16-time training champion Todd Pletcher entered the pair of Always Shopping and Cap de Creus. Gainesway Stable's Cap de Creus is winless with four seconds in seven career tries at Gulfstream, and ran fourth in last year's Orchid (G3). The 4-year-old Tapit filly was fifth last out in the 1 ½-mile Zagora Oct. 31 at Belmont Park.

Repole Stable's Always Shopping won the 1 1/8-mile Gazelle (G2) on the dirt in 2019, finished off the board in the Black-Eyed Susan (G2) and didn't race again for 11 months, returning in April. Three of her last five races have come on the turf, winning the 1 1/16-mile Monroe Sept. 7 at Gulfstream and most recently running second by a head in the 1 ½-mile Dowager (G3) Oct. 18 at Keeneland.

Rounding out the field are 2020 Ginger Punch winner Kelsey's Cross, third to Always Shopping in the Monroe; Great Island, winner of two straight making her stakes debut; Gun Society, second to Court Return in the Eternal Sunshine; Cambeliza and Lady Panda.

The stakes is named after the daughter of Seattle Dancer trained by Angel Penna Jr. who won 11 of 22 starts, including Gulfstream's Suwannee River (G3) and the Hialeah Budweiser Breeders' Cup Handicap.

The post Orphaned, Bottle-Fed Filly Court Return Headlines Saturday’s Via Borghese Stakes appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Firenze Fire, Mind Control, Diamond Oops Set For Clash In Saturday’s Mr. Prospector

Mr. Amore Stable LLC's Firenze Fire, Red Oak Stable and Madaket Stables LLC's Mind Control, and Diamond 100 Racing Club LLC and partners' Diamond Oops are set for a highly anticipated clash in Saturday's $100,000 Mr. Prospector (G3) at Gulfstream Park.

The trio of multiple graded stakes-winning veterans will headline a deep field of 12 sprinters for the 66th running of seven-furlong race for 3-year-olds and up on an 11-race card that will also feature a mandatory payout of the 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot pool.

Kelly Breen-trained Firenze Fire, who was scratched from the Dec. 5 Cigar Mile (G1) at Aqueduct due to a sloppy track, is coming off a third-place finish at Keeneland in the Nov. 7 Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1), in which he rallied from 11th to just miss catching C Z Rocket for second in the six-furlong race won by Whitmore.

“Whitmore was able to get through. We were just behind him, but it closed up on us and we couldn't get there. He ran a great race. He always does. He tries all the time,” Mr. Amore Stable's Ron Lombardi said. “The slop is obviously difficult for him. That's what led to the decision to skip the Cigar Mile and ship him to Florida.”

The homebred 5-year-old son of Poseidon's Warrior, who has earned $2.2 million while winning 12 of 30 career starts against top-class company, had previously captured the Vosburgh (G2) at Belmont Park by 2 ¾ lengths.

Firenze Fire, who captured the Champagne (G1) at Belmont Park during his juvenile campaign, has been an enduring sprint star while capturing graded stakes in each of the next three years, including three in 2020. Since joining Breen's stable in March, his only two poor showings in six starts came over sloppy tracks.

Firenze Fire is scheduled to run at Gulfstream Park for the first time in his career.

“He's won on seven tracks. Of his 12 wins, seven have been at different tracks,” Lombardi said. “I think he likes a harder surface better than a softer surface, so I think Gulfstream will serve him well.”

Irad Ortiz Jr. has the mount.

Greg Sacco-trained Mind Control was also scratched from the Cigar Mile due to his dislike for sloppy tracks. The 4-year-old son of Stay Thirsty won Grade 1 stakes at Saratoga in each of his first two years of racing, capturing the Hopeful at 2 and the H. Allen Jerkens at 3.

Mind Control kicked off his 2020 campaign with back-to-back graded-stakes victories at Aqueduct in the Toboggan (G3) and Tom Fool (G3) but is winless in five subsequent starts. After finishing eighth in the Carter (G1) over a sloppy Belmont track, the Red Oak homebred turned in a strong third-place finish behind Volatile and Whitmore in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt (G1) at Saratoga. In his last three starts he finished off-the-board over a sloppy Saratoga track in the Forego (G1); finished third in the ungraded Mr. Prospector at Monmouth; and was a disappointing ninth in the seven-furlong Lafayette at Keeneland on the Breeders' Cup undercard.

“It's been a little bit of a hard luck year. He started out the year super and then COVID hit. The Carter got pushed back and he hit the slop and he hates the slop. We ran him back in the Vanderbilt and he ran super. We were back on track and we hit the slop again,” Sacco said. “We brought him back to Monmouth to give him an easier race to give him a confidence booster. He got a rough trip that day and got checked back on the backstretch. The race at Keeneland, a horse gave way right in front of him and Johnny [Velazquez] had to snatch him up. We've been sort of a victim of circumstances this year.”

Hall of Famer Velazquez has the return call aboard Mind Control.

Patrick Biancone-trained Diamond Oops is coming into the Mr. Prospector off an even sixth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1), in which he finished 4 ½ lengths behind Whitmore and a length behind Firenze Fire after breaking from an outside post position.

“He came back good,” Biancone said. “He got a bad draw that day, but he came back good.”

The versatile Diamond Oops, who won last year's Mr. Prospector, went into the Breeders' Cup off back-to-back victories in the Churchill Downs Turf Sprint (G2) and the Phoenix (G2) over Keeneland's main track. In 2019, the 5-year-old son of Lookin At Lucky was Grade 1 stakes-placed in back-to-back starts on dirt (Alfred G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga) and on turf (Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland).

“He's just a good horse,” Biancone said.

After winning the Mr. Prospector last year, Diamond Oops came back to finish a credible fourth in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) at Gulfstream Park in January.

“We go one race at a time,” Biancone said. “We're going race by race. We'll see how we go. It's a long way. We'll see. I cannot say, 'yes.' I cannot say, 'no.'”

Julien Leparoux has the call aboard Diamond Oops.

David Bernsen LLC and Jeffrey Lambert's Lasting Legacy also enters the Mr. Prospector after running in the Breeders' Cup Sprint, in which he was beaten by 6 ¾ lengths in a ninth-place finish after being claimed for $80,000 out of his previous race. The 6-year-old son of Tapizar finished second behind Diamond Oops in the Mr. Prospector last season.

Trainer Bob Hess Jr. named Paco Lopez to ride Lasting Legacy.

Thumbs Up Racing LLC's Sleepy Eyes Todd enters the Mr. Prospector off a victory on the Nov. 7 Breeders' Cup card, having captured the Lafayette by 1 ½ lengths after closing from 12th. True Timber, who finished second, came back to win the Cigar Mile. The Miguel Silva-trained 4-year-old son of Paddy O'Prado had won the Charles Town Classic (G2) two starts prior. Tyler Gaffalione is scheduled to ride Sleepy Eyes Todd for the first time Saturday.

R. A. Hill Stable's Majestic Dunhill finished seventh in the Fall Highweight (G3) at Aqueduct in his most recent start but rates consideration Saturday off a victory in the Bold Ruler (G3) at Belmont in his previous start. Trainer George Weaver awarded the mount aboard the 5-year-old son of Majesticperfection to Joe Bravo.

Shadwell Stable's Haikal, who captured the Gotham (G3) at Aqueduct last year for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin, is scheduled to make his first start for trainer Todd Pletcher Saturday off nearly a 10-month layoff. Luis Saez is slated to ride the 4-year-old son of Daaher for the first time.

My Purple Haze Stables' Cool Arrow, the winner of the Sept. 6 Smile Sprint (G3) at Gulfstream, is scheduled to seek his fifth victory in eight starts over the Gulfstream strip in the Mr. Prospector. The Terri Pompay-trained son of Into Mischief will be ridden by Edgard Zayas.

Rounding out the field are Wind of Change, Last Judgment, Ebben and Zenden.

The post Firenze Fire, Mind Control, Diamond Oops Set For Clash In Saturday’s Mr. Prospector appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Graded Stakes Double Propels Emisael Jaramillo To Jockey Of The Week Honors

A Gulfstream Park graded stakes double helped propel Emisael Jaramillo to Jockey of the Week honors for the week of Dec. 7 through Dec. 13. The award, which is voted on by a panel of racing experts, is for jockeys who are members of the Jockeys' Guild, the organization which represents more than 950 active riders in the United States as well as retired and permanently disabled jockeys.

Jaramillo won both stakes in which he was entered on Saturday, Dec. 12 at Gulfstream Park. First, he was aboard Letruska for trainer Fausto Gutierrez in the Grade 3 Rampart Stakes. Racing without blinkers for the first time in her career and favored at 3-2 in the field of six, Letruska completed the one mile in 1:35.03 over a fast main track. He returned later in the card to win the Grade 3 Sugar Swirl with Lady's Island who ran six furlongs in 1:10.46 for trainer Georgina Baxter.

This past May, Jaramillo registered his 1,000th victory in North America. The 43-year-old Venezuelan rode more than 4,000 winners in his native country, where he was a 13-time champion and all-time leading rider. He rode his first professional race in 1996 and the next year was competing at his country's premier racetrack, La Rinconada in Caracas where he won his first title in 1999. He has ridden more than 200 winners in each of the last five years primarily at Gulfstream Park and Gulfstream Park West where he has been a mainstay since moving his tack to south Florida in 2015.

Weekly stats for Jaramillo were 30-3-4-3 with total purse earnings of $187,800.

Jaramillo out-polled fellow riders Adam Beschizza who won two stakes races at Fair Grounds, Kendrick Carmouche who won the Bay Ridge Stakes at Aqueduct, Marcelino Pedroza who won two stakes races at Fair Grounds and Tim Thornton who topped all riders in wins with 11.

The post Graded Stakes Double Propels Emisael Jaramillo To Jockey Of The Week Honors appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post