Gun Runner | Horse Racing Free Tips

Bloodlines: Gun Runner Sets A Blistering Pace In Freshman Sire Race

After his offspring won both of the Grade 1 stakes for 2-year-olds on the Labor Day weekend at Saratoga, freshman sire Gun Runner (by Candy Ride) has rebroken on his competition, and the Three Chimneys Farm stallion has a margin of more than $400,000 in progeny earnings over second-place Practical Joke (Into Mischief), who stands at Coolmore's Ashford Stud in Kentucky.

The third- and fourth-place positions on the freshman sire rankings are taken by fellow Ashford stallions Classic Empire (Pioneerof the Nile) and Caravaggio (Scat Daddy). Then, well-separated from the leading quartet, are a six-pack of young sires who have progeny earnings within $100,000 of each other. These are Connect (Curlin) at Lane's End, Klimt (Quality Road) at Darby Dan, Unified (Candy Ride) at Lane's End, Mohaymen (Tapit) at Shadwell, Gormley (Malibu Moon) at Spendthrift, and Stanford (Malibu Moon) at Tommy Town Thoroughbreds in California.

The weekend results added emphasis to the unexpectedly precocious showing of the first-crop racers by Gun Runner, who was a good racer at two but improved greatly at three and thereafter. Now the sire of four stakes winners from his first crop, all graded winners, Gun Runner has had three of those stakes winners at Saratoga, the fourth at Del Mar.

A tidy four-length victory in the Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga made Echo Zulu the first Grade 1 winner for her sire, and then Gunite powered through the stretch to win the Hopeful by 5 3/4 lengths on Labor Day to become a second Grade 1 winner for Gun Runner, the 2017 Horse of the Year and champion older horse for Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC and Three Chimneys Farm.

Having Gunite as a homebred, Winchell Thoroughbreds bought Echo Zulu for $300,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September yearling sale. Echo Zulu was one of two Gun Runner yearlings that Winchell Thoroughbreds bought last year. After racing Gun Runner with partner Three Chimneys, Winchell Thoroughbreds already had several young prospects coming along last year.

David Fiske, the racing manager for Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC, said that “we had taken the position that you don't go out on a limb with a young stallion” prior to Gun Runner. But he thought “if we were ever going to breed a bunch of mares to a single stallion, this was the one. I managed to convince Ron of this, and to his credit, Ron loves to gamble, and we ended up with 17 foals from the first crop.

“The good news was they all looked alike. None of them were bad; all looked like they'd be trainable, and of the 15 that survived to go into training, I told a fellow last year that I thought we could win with every one of them. They grew up well, kept good proportions, stayed sound, and appeared to have good minds.

“Off the results of that group, we bred another 17 mares to him the second year, didn't sell any mares in foal, have hung onto the ones we've had, and we're getting rewarded for doing that.

“Because Gun Runner is having a fairytale beginning to his stud career,” Fiske concluded.

The fairytale has only begun, but it is getting seriously exciting for all involved.

Although he improved markedly at three and four, Gun Runner was unbeaten at two in his first two starts, winning a maiden special at Churchill Downs on Sept. 11, then an allowance at Keeneland on Oct. 17. The effect of those two performances was enough for bettors to make the chestnut colt the third favorite at 4.9-to-1 in the G3 Iroquois for his third start. After laying up with the pace, Gun Runner had a narrow lead at the stretch call, then was ambushed by winner Airoforce (Colonel John), Mor Spirit (Eskendereya), and Mo Tom (Uncle Mo) to finish fourth, beaten 3 1/4 lengths by the winner.

None of those made progress comparable to Gun Runner over the coming months, who won both the G2 Risen Star Stakes and Louisiana Derby, and the son of Candy Ride finished third in the Kentucky Derby behind juvenile champion Nyquist (Uncle Mo) and subsequent Preakness winner Exaggerator (Curlin).

Subsequently third in the G1 Travers and second in the G1 Breeders' Cup Mile, Gun Runner won the G1 Clark at the end of his second season, and of the final eight races in his career, Gun Runner lost only one, when second in the G1 Dubai World Cup to Arrogate, who performed miracles after a dodgy start to get up and win the race by 2 1/4 lengths.

After winning the Breeders' Cup Classic and the Horse of the Year award, Gun Runner signed off on his racing career at five with a victory in the second running of the Pegasus Stakes at Gulfstream, retiring to stud at Three Chimneys. For his fourth season at stud in 2021, Gun Runner stood for $50,000 live foal. That is virtually certain to increase for 2022.

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This Week in Review: Can Gunite Break the Curse of the Hopeful

There's no doubt that Gunite (Gun Runner) is a quality horse and he secured an important win Monday at Saratoga in the GI Hopeful S when upsetting the highly regarded colts Wit (Practical Joke) and High Oak (Gormley). But is he a GI Kentucky Derby winner? If the last 43 runnings of the Hopeful mean anything, the answer is no.

The Hopeful is the first Grade I race for 2-year-old males run each year on the NYRA calendar and always brings together groups of horses who were impressive winners in Saratoga or someplace else. Every year, the field represents what seems to be unlimited potential.

That would suggest that a win in the race is a ticket to stardom as a 3-year-old, but that has not been the case for a long time. The last time a Hopeful winner won the Kentucky Derby was way back in 1978 when Affirmed swept the Triple Crown. Since then, only 11 Hopeful winners have made it to the Derby and only three have done so since 2005. None of those three finished in the money.

The 2004 Hopeful winner was Afleet Alex, who finished third in the Kentucky Derby in 2005 before winning the GI Preakness S. and the GI Belmont S. Sixteen years since he last raced, he is the last Hopeful winner to have had any sort of impact in any of the Triple Crown races.

That wasn't always the case. First run in 1901, the Hopeful has produced seven Kentucky Derby winners and three Triple Crown winners (Affirmed, Secretariat, Whirlaway). Foolish Pleasure, Secretariat and Affirmed combined to give the Hopeful three Derby winners over a six-year period. Hall of Famers like Man o'War, Nashua and Native Dancer also used the Hopeful as a springboard to stardom during the 3-year-old seasons and beyond.

There's no secret when it comes to what is happening here. Two-year-olds are trained and campaigned much differently than they were during the days of Affirmed. The Hopeful was the sixth start of Affirmed's career, which began May 24, and it was his fourth stakes win. His pre-Hopeful campaign even included a ship to California, where he won the GII Hollywood Juvenile Championship. By the time he got to the Hopeful, he was already a seasoned horse.

Fast forward 44 years and the horses who compete in the Hopeful usually have had no more than two prior starts. While they have talent, they also win the Hopeful because they are precocious and fast. Eight months later in the Kentucky Derby, the rest of the class has usually caught up to them if not passed them.

None of this is to say that the Hopeful is a ticket to nowhere. The 2020 winner Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music), who typifies the type of horse that now excels in the Hopeful, is a Grade I winner at three, in the thick of the race for champion sprinter, and has emerged as a valuable sire prospect. That probably wouldn't have happened if he had not been managed beautifully by Steve Asmussen. Asmussen didn't pretend to have something he didn't. He gave Jackie's Warrior only one shot to prove that he was a Derby horse and the result was a distant third in the GIII Southwest S. That was the last time he ever raced around two turns and he has been on a tear ever since. Had Asmussen pressed on and tried to make the Derby there's no telling what might have happened with Jackie's Warrior.

Gunite, who was Asmussen's third straight winner in the Hopeful, will no doubt be given the opportunity to show if he's a viable Triple Crown horse. Being by Gun Runner, maybe he can do it. It's just more likely than come Derby week 2022, he'll be eyeing something like the GII Pat Day Mile S.

Mattress Mack Scores at Monmouth

It's impossible not to root for Jim McIngvale.

When Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana last week, there he was again, traveling from Houston to Louisiana with badly needed supplies for those hard hit by the hurricane. He also opened his Houston furniture store as a safe haven to dozens of families who needed shelter. A humanitarian, he never fails to come to the recsue when his part of the globe is hit by a violent storm.

Eight days after Ida struck and with the situation getting more back to normal, McIngvale could turn his attention back to racing.

While the offspring of Runhappy (Super Saver) are having a much better year than they did in 2020, McIngvale had yet to come up with a top son or daughter of his stallion of his own. That all changed Saturday at Monmouth when Runup (Runhappy) won the $200,000 Sorority S., the first stakes win for a McIngvale-owned offspring of Runhappy. She didn't beat the best field and managed to get an uncontested lead, but she improved and showed enough in her first start around two turns to suggest that even better days are ahead.

“She runs a lot like her dad,” McIngvale said via text.

Let's hope so. It would be a ton of fun to have McIngvale connected to another good horse.

Thoughts on Handle Numbers at Saratoga and Del Mar

For both Saratoga and Del Mar, the 2021 meets were ones to remember, highlighted by record wagering.

The final all-sources handle for Saratoga was $815,508,063, a 15.6% increase over last year and the first time Saratoga had eclipsed the $800 million mark. At Del Mar, the average daily handle was a record $18.38 million for the meet. The total handle was $569.98 million.

That's great news for Saratoga and Del Mar, which have never been more popular. It would stand to reason that both meets should peak at sometime, but it just doesn't happen.

The hope for racing is that Del Mar and Saratoga are creating new fans, ones that will keep betting once racing shifts to Santa Anita and Belmont. But that doesn't appear to be the case as racing's overall handle has been more or less stagnant for years. That means that what is happening is that Saratoga and Del Mar are simply grabbing a bigger share of the pari-mutuel wagering market every year.

Racing has found out that it's not hard to get people to turn out for and bet on high-quality short meets, like Saratoga, Del Mar and Keeneland. But the Thursday afternoon at Belmont, Santa Anita, or just about anywhere else, remain a tough sell and something the sport continues to need to work on.

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Gunite’s Hopeful Triumph Completes Grade 1 Saratoga Weekend Double For Gun Runner

Winchell Thoroughbreds' Gunite provided Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen his third consecutive score in the Grade 1, $300,000 Hopeful, a seven-furlong sprint for juveniles, on Closing Day Monday at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Asmussen, who won the Hopeful with Basin [2019] and Jackie's Warrior [2020], was joined by Gunite jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. in securing their respective fifth Grade 1 win of the 40-day Spa summer meet.

Wit, the 3-5 mutuel favorite out of a convincing score in the Grade 3 Sanford here July 17, stumbled at the break and dropped back to ninth in the 11-horse field as Headline Report led through an opening quarter-mile in 22.23 seconds on the good and harrowed main track.

Gunite, runner-up to Hopeful-rival High Oak last out in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special, was jostled at the start exiting post 3 but quickly rushed into contention by Santana, Jr. to mark the half-mile in 44.49.

Wit, with Irad Ortiz,Jr. up, advanced into fourth position through the turn as Gunite put away pace-pressers Headline Report and Defend, opening up a 2 1/2-length advantage at the stretch call with High Oak launching his bid from fifth and Kevin's Folly, hugging the rail under Jose Lezcano, advancing with menace.

Gunite continued to find more down the lane under Santana, Jr.'s right-handed encouragement and drew off impressively to win by 5 3/4-lengths in a final time of 1:23.08. Wit stayed on strong to complete the exacta by three-lengths over Kevin's Folly.

“I loved how he went through the wire. He didn't get away great today. Ricardo said there was just a little bit of bumping,” Asmussen said. “Going 22 and 1 to 44 and 2, and to look how he did it to the wire, it's going to be exciting going forward. I was concerned we weren't where we expected to be in the first hundred yards. But I watched the race from up the stretch and Ricardo, coming into the stretch, moved his hands a bit but had him plenty gathered up. I felt really good then.

“It's state of mind,” added Asmussen regarding Gunite's development. “We've been aggressive with him and he's put on weight and gotten stronger the whole time. We've been through the roof with how well he's doing.”

The Asmussen-trained and Santana, Jr. piloted Echo Zulu provided Gun Runner – the 2017 Horse of the Year under Asmussen's care – with his first Grade 1-winner as a sire by capturing Sunday's Grade 1 Spinaway at the Spa and Gunite doubled that number with a dominant Hopeful score.

Asmussen said Gunite, who graduated at third asking sprinting six furlongs at Churchill Downs on June 26, improved with added ground.

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“The distance; it was a little too short,” Asmussen said of Gunite's first two starts. “But we were anxious to get the Gun Runners running. He's from a solid sprint family of the Winchells with Gun Runner giving him some endurance. But he's very durable, mentally and physically. As much pressure as we put on him, he accepted it.”

Ortiz, Jr. tipped his cap to the winner after a troubled trip aboard the previously undefeated Wit.

“He got beat by a nice horse. He stumbled a little bit at the beginning and he tried hard to overcome that,” Ortiz, Jr. said. “I had to hustle him and ask him to get position to get there on time, but it was too much. It looks like he can [stretch out].”

Pletcher said Wit performed well under difficult circumstances.

“He probably compromised himself,” Pletcher said. “I thought he put in a good, sustained run. It was a tough spot to come from.

“He took a decent chunk out of both quarters,” added Pletcher. “I'm not saying he felt it during the race. It was the result of stumbling away from there.”

Asmussen became North American racing's all-time winningest conditioner in August when Stellar Tap won on Whitney Day to provide the Hall of Famer his 9,446th win, eclipsing the mark of 9,445 victories held by the late Dale Baird.

The 55-year-old Asmussen, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016, enjoyed a stellar Spa summer meet, additionally winning Grade 1s with Jackie's Warrior [H. Allen Jerkens Memorial], Yaupon [Forego] and Max Player [Jockey Club Gold Cup].

Santana, Jr, who was aboard for the Grade 1 wins with Yaupon and Max Player, also engineered a top-flight victory with Maracuja in the Coaching Club American Oaks.

The 28-year-old Santana, Jr. said he was in awe of his accomplishments at Saratoga this summer.

“It's special. Saratoga is one of the best tracks in North America. I'm really blessed. Five Grade 1 wins in one meet is unreal,” Santana, Jr. said.

High Oak, Power Agenda, Big Scully, Volcanic, Headline Report, Kitodan, Defend and Street Fight rounded out the order of finish.

Out of the stakes winning Cowboy Cal mare Simple Surprise, Gunite, a Kentucky homebred, banked $165,000 in victory while improving his record to 5-2-2-1. He returned $25.20 for a $2 win ticket.

Asmussen said Gunite will now target the one-mile Grade 1, $500,000 Champagne on October 2 at Belmont Park, which offers a “Win and You're In” berth to the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile in November at Del Mar.

“I love him for more 2-year-old races this year. We know what we want his next two races to be and we feel really good about them,” Asmussen said. “The Champagne and the Breeders' Cup are what we're hoping his next two races are. I love his style for the Juvenile. He's going to travel and we'll try to take it. We're very proud of him.”

Live racing returns Thursday, September 16 for Opening Day of the 28-day fall meet at Belmont Park, featuring the Grade 1, $150,000 Lonesome Glory, a 2 1/2-mile steeplechase handicap for 4-year-olds and up.

The Belmont Park fall meet, which will run from Thursday, September 16 through Sunday, October 31, will include five Grade 1 races and five “Win and You're In” qualifiers to the Breeders' Cup in November at Del Mar.

The post Gunite’s Hopeful Triumph Completes Grade 1 Saratoga Weekend Double For Gun Runner appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Gunite Caps Grade I Double For Gun Runner in Hopeful

Gunite (Gun Runner) capped off a remarkable summer for both his freshman sire and his trainer on closing day Monday at Saratoga, shaking off pace pressure and kicking away in the stretch to an 11-1 upset of the GI Hopeful S. His well-earned victory made it a clean sweep of the Spa's annual marquee 2-year-old races for Three Chimneys Farm's freshman sensation Gun Runner after Echo Zulu dominated the GI Spinaway S. Sunday, and was the icing on the cake for Steve Asmussen, who had his most successful Saratoga season yet, highlighted by his becoming the all-time winningest trainer in North America earlier in the meet.

Lagging back early in his first two starts before rallying to finish third and then second, Gunite found his early foot third out June 26 at Churchill, dueling through a :21.68 quarter and edging away to a 1 1/2-length graduation. Going toe to toe with favored Doctor Jeff (Street Boss) in the GII Saratoga Special S. here last out Aug. 14, he won the battle with that rival fading to fifth, but lost the war, as he proved no match in the final furlong for re-opposing High Oak (Gormley).

Let go as the fourth choice in this Labor Day feature as the money poured in on 3-5 GIII Sanford S. romper Wit (Practical Joke) and 5-2 High Oak, Gunite was sent through a rail opening by Ricardo Santana, Jr. to be part of a three-way pace battle through a :22.23 quarter. Meanwhile, High Oak found a perfect spot tracking that trio in fourth while Wit landed in midpack after stumbling at the start. Getting rid of his pace rivals past a salty :44.46 half, Gunite arrived at the top of the lane in command, but appeared ripe for the picking as Wit navigated into the clear after saving ground on the bend. But the favorite could never muster a serious threat to the Winchell Thoroughbreds colorbearer, and Gunite kept to his task past the teeming Saratoga stands to finish the meet's stakes schedule with an exclamation point. Wit was able to hold second over 28-1 longshot Kevin's Folly (Distorted Humor), while High Oak checked in a disappointing fourth.

“I loved how he went through the wire,” said Asmussen, who won his third straight Hopeful. “He didn't get away great today. Ricardo said there was just a little bit of bumping. Going 22 and 1 to 44 and 2, and to look how he did it to the wire, it's going to be exciting going forward. I was concerned we weren't where we expected to be in the first hundred yards. But I watched the race from up the stretch and Ricardo, coming into the stretch, moved his hands a bit but had him plenty gathered up. I felt really good then. It's state of mind. We've been aggressive with him and he's put on weight and gotten stronger the whole time. We've been through the roof with how well he's doing.”

“He's a really nice horse,” said Santana. “He can go to the lead, he can come from behind. He can do whatever you want. Today, I decided to take him back. [Early leader Defend] tried to blow the turn a little bit, so the rail opened. I made my move, and he was making his move by himself. I was really comfortable with him the whole race. He's getting better and better and better.”

The win gave Santana, who spends most of the year in Kentucky and is one of the last remaining Kentucky riders to summer in Saratoga, a fifth Grade I score at the meet.

“It's special,” he said. “Saratoga is one of the best tracks in North America. I'm really blessed. Five Grade I wins in one meet is unreal.”

Asmussen added that Gunite's next target will be the one-mile GI Champagne S. Oct. 2 at Belmont, a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, saying, “I love him for more 2-year-old races this year. We know what we want his next two races to be and we feel really good about them. The Champagne and the Breeders' Cup are what we're hoping his next two races are. I love his style for the Juvenile. He's going to travel and we'll try to take it. We're very proud of him.”

Pedigree Notes:

Not only the second Grade I winner already for 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner, Gunite is also a remarkable fourth graded stakes winner already for the chestnut, following aforementioned Echo Zulu, GII Adirondack S. heroine Wicked Halo and GII Best Pal S. victor Pappacap. He is the first foal to race out of Simple Surprise, who annexed the Bolton Landing S. for these connections over the local turf as a juvenile in 2015 and later added two stakes placings sprinting on the Fair Grounds lawn. Second dam Simplify captured the restricted Loudonville S. on the Saratoga dirt in 2009 and placed in six other black-type events. Gunite has a yearling full-sister and produced a filly by Copper Bullet this season before being bred to Tapiture.

Monday, Saratoga
HOPEFUL S.-GI, $300,000, Saratoga, 9-6, 2yo, 7f, 1:23.08, gd.
1–GUNITE, 120, c, 2, by Gun Runner
          1st Dam: Simple Surprise (SW, $185,446), by Cowboy Cal
          2nd Dam: Simplify, by Pulpit
          3rd Dam: Classic Olympio, by Olympio
   1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN, 1ST GRADE I
   WIN. O/B-Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC (KY); T-Steven M.
Asmussen; J-Ricardo Santana, Jr. $165,000. Lifetime Record:
5-2-2-1, $293,988. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click
   for eNicks report & 5-cross catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Wit, 122, c, 2, Practical Joke–Numero d'Oro, by Medaglia
d'Oro. 'TDN Rising Star' ($575,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Repole
Stable, St. Elias Stable & Gainesway Stable (Antony Beck);
B-Rosilyn Polan (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $60,000.
3–Kevin's Folly, 120, c, 2, Distorted Humor–Santa Vindi, by
Vindication. ($80,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Michael McLoughlin;
B-Stonehaven Steadings (KY); T-Thomas M. Amoss. $36,000.
Margins: 5 3/4, 3, HF. Odds: 11.60, 0.65, 28.75.
Also Ran: High Oak, Power Agenda, Big Scully, Volcanic, Headline Report, Kitodan, Defend, Street Fight. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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