Honor Code | Horse Racing Free Tips

Shackleford Filly Tops OBS July Sale’s Opening Session

Hip No. 15, Shack's Lil Mishap, a daughter of Shackleford consigned by Coastal Equine LLC (Jesse Hoppel), Agent, went to Donato Lanni, Agent, for $375,000 to top the first session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2020 July Sale of 2-Year-Olds and Horses of Racing Age.

The bay filly, whose quarter in :20 4/5 seconds was the fastest work at the distance at Monday's under tack session, is out of Peace Queen, by Indian Charlie, a half sister to graded stakes winner Tizaqueena.

Patrice Miller, EQB, Inc., Agent, paid $350,000 for Hip No. 115, a daughter of Malibu Moon, whose eighth in :10 flat was co-fastest at the distance at Monday's under tack session. Consigned by Wavertree Stables, Inc., (Ciaran Dunne), Agent, the chestnut filly is out of Samsational, by Unbridled's Song, a half-sister to Grade 1 winner I Want Revenge.
Hip No. 200, a son of Honor Code consigned by Dark Star Thoroughbreds (Stori Atchison), Agent, was purchased by Speedway Stable for $340,000. The dark bay or brown colt, who breezed a quarter in :21 2/5 on Tuesday, is a half-brother to stakes winner Wake Up Nick out of Storm Hearted, by Lion Hearted.

Hip No. 103, a son of Not This Time consigned by Ocala Stud, was sold to Breeze Easy LLC for $250,000. The half-brother to stakes winner Softly Lit, who worked a quarter on Monday in :21 1/5, is out of Running Creek, by Cape Town, a daughter of graded stakes winner Palliser Bay.
Hip No. 331, a daughter of Kantharos consigned by de Meric Sales, Agent, went to Parker Place Racing for $220,000. The chestnut filly, who breezed an eighth in :10 flat on Tuesday, is out of stakes winner Wildcat Heiress, by Wildcat Heir, a half-sister to stakes winner Babaganush.
Hip No. 158, a daughter of Medaglia d'Oro consigned by All In Line Stables, Agent, was sold to Joseph Brocklebank, Agent, for $200,000. The dark bay or brown filly, who turned in an under tack quarter on Monday in :21 2/5, is out of Sigurwana, by Arch, a half-sister to stakes winner Token of Love (GB).
J. Stable LLC paid $170,000 for Hip No. 228, a daughter of Flatter who breezed an eighth in :10 1/5 on Tuesday. The chestnut filly, consigned by de Meric Sales, Agent, is out of Sweet Carrie, by Sidney's Candy, a half-sister to Grade 1 winner The Factor.
Hip No. 342, a son of Cairo Prince consigned by Eddie Woods, Agent, brought $150,000, going to Carolyn Wilson. The gray or roan colt, who breezed an eighth in :10 1/5 on Tuesday, is out of Written Request, by Arch, a daughter of stakes winner Petition the Lady.

For the session, 147 horses grossed $4,788,800, compared with 204 selling for a total of $6,119,500 at last year's first session. The average was $32,577 compared with $29,998 a year ago, while the median price was $13,000, compared to $17,500 in 2019. The buyback percentage was 32.6 percent; it was 22.4 percent last year.

The July Sale continues Wednesday at 10 a.m. Hip No.'s 361 – 720 will be offered.

To view the full results from Tuesday's session, click here.

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Connections Of Belmont Third Max Player ‘Leaning Towards’ Travers Rematch With Tiz The Law

George E. Hall and SportBLX Thoroughbreds' Max Player, who ran third in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes on June 20, is being pointed towards the Grade 1, $1 million Runhappy Travers, trainer Linda Rice said.

Max Player, who finished only behind Dr Post and winner Tiz the Law in last month's first leg of the Triple Crown, registered his first breeze since the Belmont Stakes, going four furlongs in 49 seconds on Sunday over Belmont Park's dirt training track.

“He's doing very well. That was his first breeze since the Belmont and it was just a nice, comfortable breeze, and he's in good order,” Rice said.

Never off the board in four career starts, Max Player could next make his Saratoga debut by running in the “Mid-Summer Derby.” He made his first two starts at Parx, running second in his debut at one mile on November 12 before winning at the same distance at second asking on December 17.

In his sophomore debut, he bested an eight-horse field by 3 ¼ lengths in the 1 1/8-mile Grade 3 Withers on February 1 at Aqueduct Racetrack. That was his previous start since the Belmont Stakes, which was shortened from its famed 1 ½-mile distance to a one-turn 1 1/8 miles to accommodate the revised schedule for 3-year-olds in training.

With the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby set for September 5 and serving as the middle jewel of the Triple Crown this year, Max Player can accumulate even more qualifying points, with the Travers offering a 100-40-20-10 scale to the top-four finishers.

Max Player has accumulated 40 qualifying points for the “Run for the Roses” and is 12th on the current leaderboard for a race that has traditionally taken as many as 20 entries.

Contested at 1 1/4 miles, the Travers would be the longest race Max Player has run, but Rice said she is optimistic the Honor Code colt could handle it.

“We're leaning towards running in the Travers,” Rice said. “We looked at some other options with the [Grade 1] Haskell [at Monmouth] or the [Grade 3] Peter Pan [July 16 at Saratoga], but we are going to point right to the Travers.”

Wicked Trick, who finished fourth in the Grade 2 True North on June 27 at Belmont, will be getting a freshening after three races to start his 5-year-old campaign. The Hat Trick gelding won his seasonal bow against allowance company on January 20 at Aqueduct before running fifth in the Stymie on March 7.

After stepping up to graded stakes company for the first time in 23 career starts in the True North, Rice said she decided to give the Kentucky bred who she co-owns with Stephen Cooper a respite.

“He's just been a little dull lately, so I just sent him to the farm to give him some time off,” Rice said.

Rice has saddled four winners during the Belmont spring/summer meet, which started June 3 and will conclude on Sunday, July 12. She will gear up for the Saratoga meet that runs from July 16 through September 7. Rice has enjoyed success at the Spa, highlighted by the 2009 meet in which she captured the training title.

“I think we were all very happy to just get back to racing in these unusual times,” Rice said. “It's given a lot of relief to the horsemen and the owners so that we can maintain these horses in our stables. Saratoga will be unusual this year as well for sure, but we're just all happy to be back to racing.”

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Not Even a Pandemic Can Push Rice Off Course

ELMONT, N.Y.–Linda Rice is as meticulous as they come in preparing her horses. The conditioner knows every detail about each and every horse in her care and maps out very specific plans for them. But, as organized as Rice is, she is equally as adaptable, as every horse trainer must be, and those qualities have served her well as she prepares Max Player (Honor Code) for a step up to the big leagues in an unconventional edition of the GI Belmont S. Saturday.

Max Player’s unique journey to the top started early on when he failed to meet his reserve at Keeneland September, RNAing for $150,000. Sent to Rice in late May of his 2-year-old season, the lanky bay did not show his trainer much in the mornings.

“As a 2-year-old, he was a bit of an enigma as he did not show much ability or talent,” Rice said from her beautifully decorated office beside Barn 44 at Belmont. “I had to explain to George Hall on multiple occasions that Max Player was making progress, but it was slow and steady. I really couldn’t tell him how much ability this horse had. We finally got him as far along as we could and we put him in a race at Parx, trying to give him an easier race to start out with, and he showed a big, closing kick, which he has done in all of his races at this point, like his father, Honor Code.”

The main word that could be used to describe Max Player’s Nov. 12 debut at Parx is green. Racing wide and at the back of the pack most of the way, the George Hall colorbearer came flying late to be second by a half-length. Back in at Parx Dec. 17 going a mile in the slop, Max Player made good on the promise he showed in his unveiling, unleashing a powerful late turn of foot to win going away by 4 1/4 lengths.

That victory gave Rice the confidence to run Max Player back home in New York, entering him in the Feb. 1 GIII Withers S. over nine furlongs at Aqueduct. Sitting off the pace again, but a bit closer than his previous races, the sophomore powered past his competition in deep stretch for a 3 1/4-length success (video).

After Max Player rallied to victory in the Withers, Rice had her eye on the GII Wood Memorial S. in early April, choosing to take the New York route to the GI Kentucky Derby. While Rice’s star colt certainly had her dreaming of roses, he also had her thinking further ahead to the Test of a Champion. However, the leading conditioner did not envision that this would be the route she would take to get there.

Enter COVID-19. Racing was halted in New York in mid-March and the entire world was put on pause. This forced Rice to not only call an audible, but to call them just about daily as the pandemic kept racing in a state of constant fluctuation.

“After we won the Withers, we were pointing towards the Wood Memorial,” Rice said. “It would have given him a two-month break and it was run on the same track, Aqueduct, where he won the Withers and was at a mile and an eighth. That was canceled because of the pandemic and we were training towards something.”

The horsewoman continued, “With racing canceled in New York, we discussed going to the [GI] Arkansas Derby [May 22] and the [GIII] Matt Winn [S. May 23], but elected to wait for racing to open up in New York. It looks like there will be a lot of opportunity from this point forward and we didn’t want to travel our horse and wear him out before then.”

Racing finally returned to the Empire State June 3 and the Belmont was pushed from its original June 6 date to June 20. In addition, it was shortened from 1 1/2 miles to 1 1/8 miles. In keeping with the topsy turvy nature of 2020, the Belmont had also now become the first leg of the Triple Crown instead of the last as the GI Kentucky Derby was moved to Sept. 5 and the GI Preakness S. was pushed to Oct. 3.

“I think he will be fine at1 1/8 miles and I think he would have been fine at 1 1/2 miles,” Rice said. “But coming off a five-month layoff, I am glad it is 1 1/8 miles. I think that is a distance that more horses are able to compete at.”

Max Player will break from post three on Saturday with Joel Rosario in the irons for the first time. Rosario looks for back-to-back Belmont wins after capturing last year’s renewal with Sir Winston (Awesome Again). He also won the race in 2014 with Tonalist (Tapit).

“I think Joel is going to fit the horse very well,” Rice said. “Joel has won a lot of Grade Is and most of them have been at a route of ground. He won the Belmont last year with Sir Winston and a few years back with Tonalist. So, I think he fits this horse really well. He is very good on a strong closer.”

Max Player will still be coming from behind in Saturday’s test, but, Rice said she believes he will be closer than he was in his past races. The colt has matured into his large frame, making him quite impressive to look at, and has also made quite a bit of progress in his training during quarantine. He enters the Belmont off a six-furlong breeze on the main track in 1:12.25 June 13.

“I am hoping they will set an honest pace in front of him,” Rice said. “I don’t think he will be as far back as he was in his earlier races. He has more tactical speed than he used to.”

Rice has been asked many times over the past week what it would be like to be the first woman to win a Triple Crown race. While Rice has been breaking down doors for females in the racing industry for decades, such as becoming the first woman to win a Saratoga training title and the first to win a Grade I at Keeneland, the third-generation conditioner prefers to focus on what a Belmont victory would mean for her as a trainer.

“Everyone would love to be on the Triple Crown trail, man or woman,” said Rice, who secured her 2,000th win in January. “It is very exciting to have a horse you really want to run and that you know can get the distance. I’ve won seven training titles in New York, but I’ve never won a Triple Crown race, so we are hoping to get that done.”

At the Belmont draw Wednesday, Rice said they had just not given women enough time to win a Triple Crown race. But, with Rice’s knowledge and diligence and Max Player’s ever-improving talent, the time may just be now.

The post Not Even a Pandemic Can Push Rice Off Course appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Belmont Stakes: Max Player Breezes Quick Six Furlongs For Rice

George E. Hall's Grade 3 Withers Stakes winner Max Player breezed six furlongs in 1:12.25 Saturday morning on Big Sandy in preparation for the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes on June 20 at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

Max Player will be trainer Linda Rice's first Belmont Stakes entrant since Supervisor finished fifth in 2003. His owner, George E. Hall, has enjoyed success in the Classic, with Ruler On Ice capturing the 2011 edition.

Rice said she was impressed with Max Player's final Belmont Stakes prep, working solo under exercise rider Oscar Gomez.

“He went the first three-eighths in 36.3 and I instructed Oscar to ask him to finish a little bit from the sixteenth pole through the wire,” said Rice. “We did the same thing 10 days ago and we just wanted to let him stretch out a little bit on the main track. He went 59.3 and out in 1:12.1 for three-quarters. It seems fast, but the clockers told me the track is very fast today. He went very well.”

Max Player closed to finish second on debut in November at Parx in a one-mile maiden and graduated at second asking on December 17 over a sloppy Parx surface ahead of his Withers win.

Rice said Max Player has matured mentally and physically heading into the biggest race of his career.

“He's grown up a lot,” said Rice. “He's changed tremendously since he was a 2-year-old. He ran at Parx twice and was very green then. We used to breeze him in company to get him focused and at this point he's changed a lot mentally and physically.”

Max Player is currently 32nd on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 10 points and will look to add to those totals in the Belmont Stakes, offering 150-60-30-15 Derby qualifying points to the top-four finishers.

The talented Honor Code colt has now breezed 11 times since winning the nine-furlong, two-turn Grade 3 Withers last out on February 1 at the Big A. Rice said she has taken great care to ensure Max Player has the foundation to be successful in the Belmont.

“He hasn't run in five months and I had spaced his works out every two weeks during the pandemic, having no target in sight and not knowing what we were pointing towards,” said Rice. “This last month, I've given him three breezes, ten days apart, and I was very pleased with his last two works on the main track.”

A talented Belmont Stakes field will include Grade 1 winners Basin and expected race favorite Tiz the Law, but Rice said she is confident in her colt's readiness for the one-turn nine-furlong test in the Belmont.

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