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Mating Plans, Presented by Spendthrift: Mulholland Springs

The TDN's popular annual series 'Mating Plans, presented by Spendthrift,' continues today in a conversation with Mulholland Springs' John Mulholland.

MEAL TICKET (10, Malibu Moon–Rainbow's Song by Unbridled's Song) to be bred to Into Mischief
Second in the GII Royal Heroine S. at Santa Anita and the listed Golden Poppy S. at Golden Gate, we purchased this mare privately after her final start of her career. Meal Ticket was bred her first year to Into Mischief and produced an absolutely stunning colt that we sold to BC Stables for $850,000 at the Fasig Tipton Saratoga Sale last August. She produced a filly last year by the same sire and is currently pregnant to Gun Runner for this foaling season. After the success of her first foal and again so pleased with her now yearling filly, we booked Meal Ticket back to Into Mischief for this year. Some additional exciting news for this pedigree is that Meal Ticket's half-brother El Grande O is now a multiple stakes winner in New York and was just recently a strong second in the Jerome S. We will continue to strongly support Meal Ticket in her breedings and we are so excited about all the recent stakes activity in the immediate family. Hopefully, her own foals will run to their exceptional looks!

TOUCHY FEELY (12, Bernardini–Touched by Touch Gold) to be bred to Gun Runner
This is a family near and dear to our collective hearts for over 30 years. From the immediate family of Grade II winner Indian Firewater, Touchy Feely herself was debut maiden special weight winner. She had a minor injury and subsequently became a member of the broodmare band. Her first two foals were modest winners but her daughter Life Talk (Gun Runner) has truly resurrected this family with her smashing victory in the GII Demoiselle S. Going back four generations in this pedigree have all called Mulholland Springs home. Touchy Feely has a 2-year- old filly by Maclean's Music that was a $140,000 Keeneland January short yearling purchase and a yearling filly by Bolt D'Oro that just recently sold for $250,000 at the Keeneland November sale. Touchy Feely is carrying a Cyberknife in the belly and is booked back to Gun Runner for this breeding season. With Life Talk clearly cemented on the Kentucky Oaks trail, we are beyond excited to see new life breathed into a pedigree that has so richly rewarded us for over three decades.

MIDNIGHT UNION (10, Union Rags–Midnight Visit by Henny Hughes) to be bred to Cody's Wish
A recent $350,000 Fasig Tipton November purchase for the farm, Midnight Union is the dam of Grade I placed and multiple graded-placed Awake At Midnyte, who sold for $825,000 to Japanese interests at the same sale. This is a family that we have a lot of direct experience with in recent years. Awake At Midnyte was sold by Mulholland Springs (on behalf of longtime clients) as a yearling and Midnight Union has resided at Mulholland Springs for several past breeding seasons.

Midnight Union | Sarah Andrew

Midnight Union has a Tapit yearling filly, is pregnant to Jackie's Warrior and will be bred back to Cody's Wish this season. After having foaled and raised several of Midnight Union's foals, we are so excited at the opportunity to have acquired this mare and we will continue to strongly support this pedigree that we believe in so much. We were the direct under-bidders (on behalf of clients) when Awake At Midnyte recently went through the auction ring. She was just absolutely stunning to look so we know very well what this mare can produce both commercially and at the race track.

REINA MARIA (15, Songandaprayer–Maria's Pride by Maria's Mon) to be bred to Into Mischief
We acquired this mare privately several years ago and she truly rewarded us to say the least. A half-sister herself to Grade I winner Secret Compass, Reina Maria is the dam of Grade II winner and young leading sire Maximus Mischief. Reina Maria is due to foal an Into Mischief this year and is booked right back to the perennial leading sire again. She has a very precocious 2-year-old colt by Into Mischief that will undoubtedly resurface at one of the spring sales in Ocala. This mare has been so good to us and we firmly believe she has another superstar up her sleeve.

BLAME IT ON ALPHIE (10, Blame–Miss Alphie by Candi's Gold) to be bred to Cody's Wish
Purchased for $200,000 at the 2018 Keeneland November sale, this mare was a very high caliber winner and stakes performer on the west coast. We had originally purchased her with the plan to breed to City Of Light his first season at stud but those hopes were dashed late in the summer when she slipped the foal. So, we decided to keep the mare and it has been a great decision overall. Blame It On Alphie's 3-year-old named Nullify (American Pharoah) was a $325,000 Fasig Tipton Saratoga graduate and her 2-year-old filly by Into Mischief was a $350,000 Keeneland September purchase. Her yearling filly, also by Into Mischief, was a recent $600,000 Keeneland November purchase. This foal was absolutely stunning and one of the most balanced and athletic babies that we have ever bred and raised. Blame It On Alphie is currently pregnant to Life Is Good and is booked back to Cody's Wish for this breeding season. Lots to be excited for with this young mare.

SISTER (7, Fort Larned–Langara Lass by Langfuhr) to be bred to Elite Power
We purchased this mare a few years ago because she is a half-sister to our Grade I-placed mare Battlefield Angel, the dam of Grade II winner and multiple graded-placed Manny Wah. This has been such a great family to us for over 10 years now. Unfortunately, we lost Battlefield Angel to colic a few years ago so we naturally jumped at the opportunity to get right back into this highly-productive family. When we bought Sister, she was carrying an Arrogate in the belly. That foal went on sell for $200,000 at the Fasig Tipton Saratoga sale and was eventually named Saratoga Secret. The filly would go on to be a smart debut winner and followed up with a second in the GII Schuylerville S. at Saratoga. She is being pointed to the Martha Washington S. at Oaklawn. Sister has a beautiful Maclean's Music yearling filly, pregnant to Jack Christopher at the moment and booked back to Elite Power.

BICAMERAL (5, Constitution–Humble Song by Songandaprayer) to be bred to Bolt d'Oro
Bicameral was a $375,000 Keeneland November purchase in 2022. She was second on debut and then subsequently placed third in the Del Mar Debutante.

Bicameral selling at the 2022 Keeneland November Sale | Keeneland

She would go on to break her maiden at Santa Anita and win an allowance at Del Mar. Bicameral is a tall, powerful mare with great balance and loads of class. She is carrying her first foal by Uncle Mo and is booked back to Bolt D'Oro for this season.

HEAR MY PRAYER (7, Big Beast and out of Additional Prayer by Songandaprayer) to be bred to Cody's Wish
Purchased privately last spring, Hear My Prayer is a listed stakes winner at Gulfstream and Grade III-placed at Santa Anita. She is an absolutely stunning mare with a powerful shoulder, beautifully balanced top line and a strong hind end. Here My Prayer was bred last year to Gun Runner and is booked back to Cody's Wish for this season. We feel this drop dead mare could make a wonderful addition to our broodmare band long term.

ASK BAILEY (7, Run Away and Hide and out of Puype's Dream by Kris S.) to be bred to Taiba
A $255,000 2021 Keeneland November purchase, we tried to send her right back into training but she got sick on us, so we sent her immediately to the farm to join the broodmare band. Ask Bailey was second at Kentucky Downs as a juvenile and then subsequently third in the GII Jessamine S. at Keeneland. Ask Bailey would go on to win a listed stakes at Canterbury Park. We bred Ask Bailey her first year to Medaglia D'Oro and got a rather strong and handsome colt. I'm very pleased with this foal. She is currently pregnant to Life Is Good and is booked back to Taiba for this breeding season. We feel both Life Is Good and Taiba complement Ask Bailey very well physically. This is an exciting mare for us and we will support her strongly to get her breeding career off and running.

Interested in sharing your own mating plans? Email garyking@thetdn.com.

The post Mating Plans, Presented by Spendthrift: Mulholland Springs appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Zero Tolerance Will Head Down The Hill In Sunday’s Las Cienegas

A stakes winner over the course, Zero Tolerance heads a field of eight older fillies and mares going 6 ½ furlongs down Santa Anita's hillside turf in this Sunday's Grade 3, $100,000 Las Cienegas Stakes.

Vladimir Cerin's Hear My Prayer and Bob Baffert's Ginja, a pair of distaffers in good recent form, also rate big chances in what will be their initial tries down Santa Anita's unique hillside layout. Throw in Baffert's classy comebacker Beautiful Gift and John Sadler's newcomer, Gold for Kitten, as well as his veteran stakes winner Constantia, and the Las Cienegas has the look of a wide open affair.

A Kentucky-bred 4-year-old filly by Mizzen Mast, Zero Tolerance stalked the pace and rallied impressively to take the ungraded Unzip Me Stakes over the course three starts back on Oct. 3 and was subsequently a close fourth going one mile on turf in the G3 Autumn Miss Stakes on Oct. 30.

Ridden for the first time by Umberto Rispoli, she sped to a 1 ¼ length win at 3-5 in a second condition allowance on Nov. 20 at Del Mar. Originally trained by Peter Miller, she'll be saddled by Ruben Alvarado on Sunday as she seeks her first graded win and her fourth overall from six starts. Owned by Custom Truck Accessories, Jason Hall, Joe Kelly and Michael Riordan, Zero Tolerance will be reunited with Flavien Prat, who was aboard for the Unzip Me win as well as a maiden score four starts back on Aug. 20.

Owned by Holly and David Wilson, Hear My Prayer has been idle since rallying for a solid third place finish, beaten three quarters of a length in the five furlong turf Senator Ken Maddy Stakes at Del Mar on Nov. 5. Originally based at Gulfstream Park, Hear My Prayer made her first start for Cerin two starts back in five furlong turf classified allowance Aug. 26, a race in which she pressed the pace and prevailed by a half length.

A two-time ungraded stakes winner sprinting on turf at Gulfstream, Hear My Prayer enters the Las Cienegas as a fresh commodity with a solid resume and will be ridden for the third consecutive time by Juan Hernandez. A 5-year-old Florida-bred mare by the Yes It's True stallion The Big Beast, Hear My Prayer is 11-5-0-3 overall with earnings of $218,975.

Idle since well beaten as the 2-1 favorite in the G2 Black Eyed Susan May 14 at Pimlico, Baoma Corporation's Beautiful Gift, who was a close second in the G2 Santa Anita Oaks April 3 and a game head winner of the G3 Santa Ysabel three starts back on March 7, should be attentive to the pace coming off the bench in what will be her first try on grass.

Although ridden by John Velazquez in her last three starts, Beautiful Gift will be handled for the first time by Drayden Van Dyke on Sunday. Favored in three out of her five starts, Beautiful Gift has the class to rate a major contender.

Perhaps the biggest question mark in the field due to the fact she'll be trying turf for the first time, Ginja nonetheless is in solid form and with Mike Smith riding her back, well-spotted. In a gutty effort, she was pressed every step of the way when second, beaten a neck by her stablemate Velvet Slippers in a one mile first condition allowance Nov. 19 at Del Mar.

Owned by Jill Baffert, Ginja is a 4-year-old filly by Quality Road, out of the Forestry mare Sequoia Queen. With an overall mark of 9-1-5-1, she'll be looking for her first graded stakes win.

Idle since a close third in an ungraded stakes going a mile and one sixteenth on synthetic at Woodbine Oct. 31, Gold for Kitten, who was claimed five starts back for $50,000 at Churchill Downs May 6, has never been worse than third in six starts—winning four, and she'll get the first time services of a red hot John Velazquez. A 4-year-old filly by Kitten's Joy, she's owned by DARRS Inc.

With her last win coming five starts back in the ungraded Mizdirection Stakes going six furlongs on turf here April 17, Sadler will also be well represented by Constantia, who takes a significant drop in class off a sixth place finish going one mile on grass in the G2 Goldikova Stakes at Del Mar Nov. 6. A 5-year-old mare by Munnings, Constantia was bred in Kentucky by her owner, Keith Abrahams. Although second going 6 ½ furlongs in the G2 Monrovia Stakes four starts back on June 5, Constantia, who has four wins from 16 starts, will be making her first start down the hillside turf course.

THE GRADE 3 LAS CIENEGAS WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 7 of 9 Approximate post time 3:30 p.m. PT

Tapwater—Joe Bravo—120
Hear My Prayer—Juan Hernandez–120
Constantia—Umberto Rispoli—122
Quiet Secretary—Tyler Baze—120
Beautiful Gift—Drayden Van Dyke—122
Ginja—Mike Smith—120
Zero Tolerance—Flavien Prat—122
Gold for Kitten—John Velazquez–120

First post time for a nine-race card on Sunday is at 12:30 p.m., admission gates will open at 10:30 a.m.

The post Zero Tolerance Will Head Down The Hill In Sunday’s Las Cienegas appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Despite On-Track Success, Irad Ortiz Jr. Says ‘2020 Was Sad For Everyone,’ Hopeful About Year Ahead

WinStar Stablemates Racing's Gulf Coast successfully stretched out after a pair of sprints to start her career and became a stakes winner for the first time in Friday's $75,000 Cash Run at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The one-mile Cash Run for newly turned 3-year-old fillies was the second of three $75,000 stakes on the New Year's Day program, preceded by Imprimis winning the Janus for 4-year-olds and up and followed by Hear My Prayer's victory in the Abundantia for fillies and mares 4 and older, both sprinting on the turf.

Irad Ortiz Jr. swept all three stakes as part of a five-win afternoon to open the calendar year. The Championship Meet's two-time defending leading rider, Ortiz is favored to win a third straight Eclipse Award later this month as North America's champion jockey.

Ortiz began his big day notching back-to-back wins aboard 4-year-old first-time starter and 4-5 favorite Luann ($3.80) in Race 5 and 3-year-old filly Lionessofbrittany ($13.20) in Race 6.

“I have to thank all the trainers and owners for all the opportunities, honestly. Thank God, he keeps me healthy,” Ortiz said. “I'm living my dream right now. I'm so happy, all the trainers and owners they keep riding me. It's been a hard year to follow all the horses, and I just feel blessed.”

Ortiz led all North American jockeys with 300 wins and $21,050,726 in purse earnings in 2020, a year where racing was paused and reshuffled across the country due to the coronavirus pandemic. Ortiz finished with 1,266 mounts, the fewest since his rookie year of 2011 (1,016).

At Gulfstream, he has led the Championship Meet standings with 135 wins in 2018-19 and 115 in 2019-20. He ranks second at the current stand which began Dec. 2, trailing Luis Saez, 34-30.

“Last year, we had a good year, but there were a lot of things going on, honestly. I lost my grandfather. 2020 was sad for everyone. A start like this, hopefully, we can start the new year and forget everything that was bad last year and get going with a regular life, hopefully,” Ortiz said.

“I always come here trying my best on all the horses. You never expect it, they just come up. I just keep riding and riding the whole day,” he added. “I try to win every time. Thank God, we got five winners.”

Gulf Coast ($6.40), a bay daughter of Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Union Rags trained by Rodolphe Brisset, completed the distance in 1:37.46 over a fast main track to win by a half-length over late-running Honorifique. It was 3 ¾ lengths back to Honorifique in third, followed by Shea D Summer, Orbs Baby Girl, Gladys, Sky Proposal and Quinoa Tifah.

“I think everything set up the way we were looking [for]. Irad got her in the clear after the first quarter, I think that was a good move,” Brisset said. “She's a pretty big filly and we were really looking forward to running her a little bit longer than we did the first two times.”

Adios Trippi, racing first time for Gulfstream-based trainer Peter Walder after two starts in the Mid-Atlantic at 2, was quickest from the gate and led through fractions of 23.08 seconds for a quarter-mile pressed by fellow long shot Orbs Baby Girl and 45.71 for the half, when previously undefeated stakes winner and 8-5 favorite Shea D Summer picked up the chase.

Breaking from Post 2 inside all but one of seven rivals, Ortiz let the speed go and raced in mid-pack before tipping into the clear three wide down the backstretch. Gulf Coast began passing horses with little urging around the far turn and was set down at the top of the lane, powering through the stretch to her second win from three starts.

Irad Ortiz swept the three stakes on Gulfstream Park's New Year's Day program, including the Cash Run aboard Gulf Coast

“I had a perfect trip. I broke good and was able to get my filly where she wants to be,” Ortiz said. “She was a little more comfortable outside. We were there and I took my time and when I asked her to run, she was there. She started picking it up from the half-mile all the way to the quarter pole. After that I worked hard on her and she kept going.”

“[Brisset] just told me, 'She's not going to give you anything easy, you're going to have to work for it.' I don't like to get in the horse's way, so I just got her out of there and let her find her stride on the backside,” he added. “We were back a little farther than we wanted early but she was comfortable. He said to ride her with confidence and give her the chance, and she did it.”

Gulf Coast broke her maiden Nov. 10 at Indiana Grand before overcoming some early trouble to be second in the Sandpiper Dec. 5 at Tampa Bay Downs, both going six furlongs. Brisset said Gulf Coast, purchased for $300,000 as a 2-year-old in training last March who began her career on the West Coast with Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, will get some time leading up to her next start.

“We ran her back in 26 days, 27 days and that's not usually what we do, but we were looking for some black type,” Brisset said. “She showed class and quality to us, but now we've got the win in a stakes out of the way. I think two turns, yes, but I think six weeks, too.”

Cara Oliver's stakes winner Hear My Prayer ($21), who has typically raced on or near the lead through seven starts, split horses at the top of the stretch and came with a sweeping move on the outside through the lane to reel in Tracy Ann's Legacy and Lenzi's Lucky Lady and edge clear to a 2 ½-length victory in the Abundantia.

The winning time was 55.27 seconds over a firm turf course. It was the fourth career win and third from four starts on the grass at Gulfstream for Hear My Prayer, who is trained by David Fisher.

“She broke good, put me right there. The trainer said she was doing great,” Ortiz said. “She put me in a good position. I held her together and she relaxed and came back to me. She waited for the time to go, when I asked her turning for home, she responded.”

The post Despite On-Track Success, Irad Ortiz Jr. Says ‘2020 Was Sad For Everyone,’ Hopeful About Year Ahead appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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