Gulfstream | Horse Racing Free Tips

Saturday Insights: Ready to Make a ‘Grande’ Entrance

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency

2nd-FG, $65k, Msw, 3yo, f, 6f, 1:30 p.m. ET
EVERGRANDE (Uncle Mo) cost Don Adam's Courtlandt Farms $1.1 million at Keeneland September in 2021, the priciest of the operation's 12 purchases (for $7.55 million) over the course of the opening week of the sale. Produced by a winning Forestry mare, the Apr. 6 foal is bred on the exact cross as champion and GI Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist and hails from the deeper female family of Grade I-winning juvenile Greenwood Lake (Meadowlake). A then-yearling full-brother to Evergrande fetched $600k from Japanese interests at KEESEP last fall. TJCIS PPs

3rd-GP, $84k, Msw, 3yo, 1 1/16mT, 1:09 p.m. ET
IDLE CHATTER (Justify) draws one from the outside in a field of 10 sophomores for this career debut for the Jack Sisterson stable. The chestnut is the latest foal out of Storm Dixie (Catienus), who was signed for by the late Olin Gentry for $1.9 million in foal to Tapit at the 2014 Fasig-Tipton November Sale about 18 months after the mare's foal Princess of Sylmar (Majestic Warrior) upset the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks. Princess of Sylmar fetched $3.1 million at the same event and has bred two winners from four to race in Japan. TJCIS PPs

4th-TAM, $32k, Msw, 3yo, 1m 40yds, 2:22 p.m. ET
RINGSIDE (Curlin), a $1.3-million KEESEP acquisition by M.V. Magnier, is the latest to race out of the stakes-winning Dashing Debby, one of two second-crop juvenile stakes winners for Medaglia d'Oro, and who went on to produce SW Bronze Star (Tapit) as well as Dawn the Destroyer (Speightstown), a stakes-winning sprinter who was second in the 2019 GI Ballerina S. and third in a GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint while racing in the Stonestreet silks. The bay ships up from Palm Meadows off a steady worktab. TJCIS PPs

4th-FG, $65k, Msw, 3yo, f, 6f, 2:30 p.m. ET
SUPER LUXE (Candy Ride {Arg}) was another of the Courtlandt purchases at Keeneland in 2021, hammering for $725k. The March-foaled chestnut has a bit more pedigree power than Evergrande in the first dvision of this race, as she is out of a winning half-sister to SW & MGSP Easyfromthegitgo (Dehere) and GSW Sue's Good News (Woodman), the dam of GISW Tiz Miz Sue (Tiznow) and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint winner Bulletin (City Zip). The filly's third dam includes champion Cozzene (Caro {Ire}), GISW Free Drop Billy (Union Rags) and dual Group 1 winner Hawkbill (Kitten's Joy). TJCIS PPs

7th-FG, $65k, Msw, 3yo, 6f, 4:00 p.m. ET
Milestone-maker Tyler Gaffalione is in town to ride 'TDN Rising Star' Echo Again (Gun Runner) in the GIII Lecomte S. and takes the call here about that one's stablemate FIRST DEFENDER (Quality Road). The bay races as a homebred for Three Chimneys Farm, who purchased the colt's two-time Grade I-winning dam Love and Pride (A.P. Indy) for $4.9 million in foal to Distorted Humor at FTKNOV in 2013. A half-brother to 2022 Zia Park Oaks winner Bella Runner (Gun Runner) and SW Princesinha Julia (Pioneerof the Nile), First Defender hails from the family of Cara Rafaela (Quiet American), the dam of the late and influential sire and broodmare sire Bernardini (A.P. Indy). The competition includes Guadalajara (Justify), a $250k FTKOCT yearling who is out of a half-sister to Japanese Group 1 winner Mr Melody (Scat Daddy). TJCIS PPs

9th-AQU, $80k, Msw, 3yo, 1m, post time: 4:16 p.m.
LIGHT THE WAY (Justify), a homebred for Jay Em Ess Stable, looks to become the seventh winner from eight foals to race from the Siegel family's nine-time SW and GISP By the Light (Malibu Moon), whose dual Grade I-winning daughter By the Moon (Indian Charlie) is responsible for Full Moon Madness (Into Mischief), runner-up to Champions Dream (Justify) in last year's GIII Nashua S. over this course and distance. TJCIS PPs

10th-FG, $65k, Msw, 3yo, 1 1/16m, 5:30 p.m.
KAUAI DAN (Quality Road), bought back on a bid of $240k at KEESEP in 2021, is a son of 'TDN Rising Star' Kauai Katie (Malibu Moon), a $490k Fasig-Tipton Florida juvenile purchase by Stonestreet who would go on to take four graded stakes and finish third in the 2013 GI Acorn S. Kauai Katie is the year-younger full-sister to Winding Way, who achieved the unprecedented and never-since-matched feat of being named a 'Rising Star' just one day and 3000 miles to the west after Kauai Katie. Validating her 'Rising Star' tag, Winding Way won the GIII Rancho Bernardo H. and has since produced Skinner (Curlin), a $510k OBSAPR breezer who was third in last year's GI Runhappy Del Mar Futurity. TJCIS PPs

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GISW Proxy Heads Pegasus Workers

Godolphin's Proxy (Tapit) had his last major workout at the Fair Grounds Saturday in preparation for the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Jan. 28. The 5-year-old official time for the six-furlong move to the seven-eighths pole was 1:13.20, the fastest of two works at the distance Saturday morning.

Working in tandem with stablemate Global Sensation (Into Mischief), the pair covered five-eighths in 1:00.40, with Proxy working an additional eighth-mile past the wire. With a crush of horses working right after the track's renovation break, exercise rider Arturo Aparicio ran into traffic past the wire and had to steer Proxy around a couple of horses galloping out from their own workout.

“Basically Proxy had to go around those horses and weave a little bit to navigate around the turn,” Stidham explained. “It probably cost him a length or two in the final time. But a very nice work. He finished up well and went on out real nice and continued to gallop out well down the backside.”

He added, “The last work [five-eighths in a minute flat] and this work were the two important works. I just wanted to see him finish up willingly and then continue around the turn with good energy. He did that last time and this time really well.”

Runner-up in the GIII Lecomte S. and GII Risen Star S. in the spring of his sophomore season, the homebred finished fourth in the GII Louisiana Derby and GIII Lexington S. before bowing out for the remainder of the season. In 2022, he returned with an allowance win in New Orleans in February before hitting the board in his next four starts, including a third in the GII Stephen Foster S. last summer. Trying Grade I company for the first time in the Nov. 25 Clark, he came home a 3/4-length winner going nine furlongs, the same distance as the Pegasus.

“We talk about it, that Proxy wasn't quite where he needed to be to go into the Triple Crown,” Stidham explained. “It wasn't 'Oh well, why don't we do this or that?' It was a done deal. Believe me, the reason [2021 G1 Dubai World Cup scorer] Mystic Guide [Ghostzapper] did what he did was because of that, allowing us to go slow with him and skip some of the big races, including the Breeders' Cup. With Proxy, skipping the Triple Crown has allowed us to get to winning the Clark. I don't think a lot of people realize how important those decisions are in a horse's career, for their future.”

Also working toward the Pegasus, Saffie Joseph Jr. sent out Daniel Alonso's Skippylongstocking (Exaggerator) and Fernando Vine Ode and Michael and Jules Iavarone's O'Connor (Chi) (Boboman) to the main track at Palm Meadows for easy half-mile breezes Saturday morning.

Skippylongstocking breezed a half-mile in :48.50 (18/99), while O'Connor was caught in :51.05 (88/99) at Gulfstream's satellite training facility in Palm Beach County. Both horses were breezing for the first time since running in the GIII Harlan's Holiday S., won by Skippylongstocking. O'Connor finished fourth in the 8 1/2-furlong test Dec. 31. Joseph Jr. also trains White Abarrio (Race Day), who prepped for the Pegasus at Gulfstream Friday morning with a five-furlong work in :59.24.

Joseph also sent Ken Ramsey and the Estate of Sarah Ramsay's Artie's Princess (We Miss Artie) to Palm Meadows' main track for a half-mile breeze in :48.45 in preparation for a start in the GIII Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf invitational.

At Santa Anita Saturday, GI Awesome Again winner Defunded (Dialed In) also worked in advance of the Pegasus World Cup. The Bob Baffert trainee drilled six furlongs in 1:12.6.

Taking on the Pegasus Turf

At Santa Anita Saturday morning, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Speaking Scout (Mr Speaker), victorious in the Dec. 3 GI Hollywood Derby, breezed a half-mile in :48.20 for a start in the GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational. Also pointing toward the Turf, Three Diamonds Farm's Atone posted his third straight bullet workout Saturday at Gulfstream, powering through five-eighths of a mile in :59.96 (1/48). The prior two weeks, Atone worked in :59.04 and :59.20.

A $130,000 Fasig-Tipton July purchase, he led all the way through a leisurely pace to win his last start, an Aqueduct turf allowance Nov. 10.

“He's in top form. The freshening did him well, so I expect another big performance from him,” said trainer Mike Maker, who won the 2020 Pegasus Turf with Zulu Alpha. “He's always been a straightforward horse, works well, puts a bunch into his gallops.”

For the second straight year, Atone needed defections from the Pegasus Turf's original invitees in order to run. Last year, he finished fourth, losing by a total of 1 3/4 lengths to two-time winner Colonel Liam (Liam's Map).

While the 6-year-old gelding has never won a stakes, he has hot the board five times in graded-stakes over the past 13 months.

“He's been a little bit of a hard-luck horse,” Maker said. “He's a lot more mature this year than he was last year.”

Maker also indicated Mark Breen's Endorsed (Medaglia d'Oro), fourth in last year's Pegasus World Cup at 85-1 odds, and Nice Guy Stables' GIII Knickerbocker S. winner King Cause (Creative Cause), who is awaiting a spot in the Pegasus Turf, would run if they get into their respective races.

Both horses are currently on the reserve list. The final invitational lists will be released Wednesday, Jan. 18 with the draw for all Pegasus races to take place Sunday, Jan. 22.

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Pletcher Confirms Colonel Liam For ’23 Pegasus

Colonel Liam (Liam's Map) remains on course for a three-peat effort in the GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Jan. 28. Now 6-years-old, Colonel Liam was among a dozen horses on the initial invite list to the Pegasus Turf, released Wednesday.

“He seems like he's in good shape, so we're still planning on the Pegasus Turf assuming that he trains accordingly,” Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said.

Pletcher also said the Pegasus World Cup is under consideration for Pioneer of Medina (Pioneerof the Nile).

“I think it's on the radar,” he said. “We'll see how he trains. I've got to talk to the owner, and we'll come up with a plan. He's not a horse that really shows that much speed but he got a good start and put himself in a good spot, and he was traveling well. I thought it was a good effort from him. It looked like he fought on hard to the wire and was able to get [up] for second.”

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Weekly Stewards & Commissions Rulings – Dec. 27-Jan. 2

Every week, the TDN publishes a roundup of key official rulings from the primary tracks within the four major racing jurisdictions of California, New York, Florida and Kentucky. Here's a primer on how each of these jurisdictions adjudicates different offenses, what they make public (or not) and where. With the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) having gone into effect on July 1, the TDN will also post a roundup of the relevant HISA-related rulings from the same week.

California

Track: Santa Anita

Date: 12/31/2022

Licensee: Kazushi Kimura, jockey

Penalty: Three-day suspension

Violation: Careless riding

Explainer: Jockey Kazushi Kimura, who rode Luminiferous in the first race at Santa Anita Park on December 30, 2022, is suspended for 3 racing days (January 7, 8 and 13, 2023) for altering course without sufficient clearance and causing interference in the stretch. This constitutes a violation of California Horse Racing Board rule #1699 (Riding Rules – careless riding). Pursuant to California Horse Racing Board rule #1766 (Designated Races), the term of suspension shall not prohibit participation in designated races.

NEW HISA STEWARDS RULINGS

The following rulings were reported on HISA's “rulings” portal, except for the voided claim rulings which were sent to the TDN directly. Some of these rulings are from prior weeks as they were not reported contemporaneously. One important note: HISA's whip use limit is restricted to six strikes during a race.

Violations of Crop Rule

Gulfstream Park

Leandro Moises Briceno – violation date December 29; $250 fine, suspension not yet available, eight strikes

Tampa Bay Downs

Urbardo Jose Casique – violation date December 28; $250 fine and one-day suspension, seven strikes

Jose Luis Alonso – violation date December 28; $250 fine and one-day suspension, nine strikes

Richard M Mitchell – violation date December 30; $250 fine and one-day suspension, nine strikes

Turfway Park

Alice Beckman – violation date December 20; $250 fine and one-day suspension, seven strikes

Joseph De Jesus – violation date December 29; $250 fine and one-day suspension, seven strikes

Perry Wayne Ouzts – violation date December 29; $250 fine and one-day suspension, seven strikes

Alice Beckman – violation date December 30; $250 fine and one-day suspension, seven strikes

Oaklawn Park

Isaac Castillo – violation date December 30; $250 fine, wrist above the helmet

Angel Rodriguez – violation date December 30; $250 fine, wrist above the helmet

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