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Backsideofthemoon Shines Bright In Aqueduct’s Queens County

Repole Stable's Backsideofthemoon went nearly 12 months between victories. But after earning a winner's circle trip last out going 1 1/8 miles on November 13, the Rudy Rodriguez trainee capped his 2020 with a second straight score, leading gate-to-wire to win Saturday's $100,000 Queens County for 3-year-olds and up at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.

Backsideofthemoon broke sharp from post 4 under Jose Lezcano, surging to the front and angled near the rail with even-money favorite Musical Heart in close pursuit with the opening quarter-mile in 24.18 seconds, the half in 48.39 and three-quarters in 1:13.17 on the fast main track.

Out of the final turn, Lezcano kept Backsideofthemoon to the inside and opened up in the final furlong to draw away a six-length winner. The 8-year-old son of Malibu Moon completed the 1 1/8-mile course in 1:52.94, earning his first stakes win in 11 attempts dating to the Jazil in January 2018.

“He broke very well,” said Lezcano, who registered his third win of the day. “I sent him a little bit and after that he just jumped right in the bridle. He seemed very confident the whole way around. When I asked him, he gave me everything he had and just kept on going.”

Off at 7-2, Backsideofthemoon returned $9.20 on a $2 win wager for winning the 115th edition of the Queens County. He improved his career earnings to $722,216.

The Kentucky bred won for the sixth time in 19 starts over the Big A main track.

“All the credit goes to [owner] Mike [Repole]. We were going to scratch and run tomorrow,” Rodriguez said. “I called Mike and he said, 'You know what, Rudy? Just leave him there. I think he'll be good in there.' So, I have to give the credit to Mike. He plays the game very aggressively. We'll see what he wants to do next out.”

After winning last month at the same distance in a race moved off the turf, Rodriguez said Backsideofthemoon handled the return to stakes company with aplomb. Rodriguez is 2-for-2 with his charge after claiming out of a second-place effort on September 24 at Belmont Park.

“We never expected to see him on the lead, but Jose said he broke so sharp and was really in the bridle,” Rodriguez said. “He just left him alone. He always tries; that's why we claimed him.”

Musical Heart, trained by Rob Atras and ridden by Kendrick Carmouche, cruised to a second-place finish, 12 ¼ lengths in front of Empty Tomb. Mirinaque, Danny California and So High completed the order of finish. Forewarned was scratched.

Live racing resumes Sunday at Aqueduct with a 10-race card. First post is 11:50 a.m.

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Spielberg Gives Baffert Seventh Consecutive Victory In Los Alamitos Futurity

Trainer Bob Baffert ran his winning streak to seven in the Los Alamitos Futurity on Saturday, but it wasn't easy.

Spielberg, a $1-million yearling purchase by Union Rags, needed every inch of the 1 1/16 miles of the Grade 2 race at the Cypress, Calif., track to catch the front-running 30-1 long shot The Great One, but jockey Flavien Prat got him up in the final jump. The victory was the 13th in the Futurity for the Hall of Fame trainer since Real Quiet won in 1997, when the race was run at Hollywood Park. The Inglewood, Calif., track ran its last race in 2013 and is now the site of an NFL football stadium.

Spielberg ran the 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in 1:42.56. The Great One held second, with Petruchio a distant third and 4-5 favorite Red Flag fourth in the field of six 2-year-old colts and geldings.

Spielberg paid $5.80 as the second choice in the wagering.

In addition to the $120,000 earned for the win, Spielberg earns 10 qualifying points for the 2021 Kentucky Derby. The second- through fourth-place finishers get 4, 2, and 1 point, respectively. None of the six starters raced on Lasix, a new requirement set by Churchill Downs for horses to be eligible for Derby points.

Updated Kentucky Derby points leaderboard.

Spielberg is owned by SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Golconda Stables, Siena Farm LLC and Robert Masterson. Out of the Smart Strike mare Miss Squeal, Spielberg was bred in Kentucky by G. Watts Humphrey Jr. and purchased at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale from the consignment of Lane's End, which stands Union Rags.

The Great One, a Nyquist colt who came into the Futurity winless in three starts, went straight to the lead under Abel Cedillo and carved out fractions of :23.01 for the opening quarter mile, :47.76 for the half, and 1:10.66 for six furlongs. Red Flag raced along the rail as Weston chased the front runner from in between horses, and Spielberg was kept clear on the outside.

Into the far turn, Red Flag failed to enter contention as Spielberg began to make his bid and Weston, who was making his first start around two turns, faltered.

The Great One clung to the lead into the long Los Alamitos stretch, passing the mile marker in 1:35.81 and still in front. But Spielberg was eating into the margin as The Great One began to shorten stride and was just up in a desperate finish.

The victory was the second in six starts for Spielberg, who ran second to Dr. Schivel twice at Del Mar in an Aug. 8 maiden race and the Sept. 7 G1 Del Mar Futurity. He was still a maiden when third behind Get Her Number at Santa Anita in the G1 American Pharoah Stakes on Sept. 26, then defeated maidens at Del Mar Nov. 2, edging the highly regarded Parnelli by a neck. He came out of a fourth-place finish Nov. 15 going seven furlongs at Del Mar in the G3 Bob Hope Stakes. Red Flag won by 7 1/4 lengths for trainer John Shirreffs.

“I'd never ridden him before, but (trainer) Bob (Baffert) told me he was doing great,” said Prat. “The outside was a good draw for him. He broke well and was able to relax. I thought we had it all the way down the stretch but it was close.''

“That horse (runner-up The Great One) was tough to get by,” said Baffert. “We needed every bit of that stretch and we were fortunate to get there. I didn't know if I was going to run him here and I didn't decide until after he worked well this week (six furlongs in 1:13 2/5 Dec. 13 at Santa Anita). I knew he was going to run well because he had shipped well over here and he was really on it in the paddock. I'm just happy for everybody in the ownership group.

“Now we can start thinking (Kentucky) Derby,” Baffert continued. “It starts here for us. I thought it was an easy spot last time (fourth as the 3-5 favorite in the Bob Hope) and he didn't ship well. He got nervous when he got in the stall there and was just flat. We ran him back too quick. I asked Prat if there's more there and he said there's a lot more. I think he'll get better with maturity. He's a beautiful horse.''

Of Baffert's 13 winners of the Futurity, only Real Quiet, the 1997 winner, would go on to win the G1 Kentucky Derby.

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Always Shopping Shows Her Versatility With Via Borghese Triumph

Repole Stable's Always Shopping, a graded-stakes winner on dirt last spring, continued her success story since being moved to the turf this summer by rolling to a second straight grass stakes victory in Saturday's $100,000 Via Borghese at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The fifth running of the 1 3/16-mile Via Borghese for fillies and mares 3 and up served as a supporting stakes to the $100,000 Mr. Prospector (G3), where Sleepy Eyes Todd bested a field that included Grade 1 winners Firenze Fire and Mind Control and defending champion Diamond Oops.

Always Shopping ($7.40) was the third win of the day for jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. and first in the Via Borghese for both Ortiz and trainer Todd Pletcher. The winning time was 1:54.34 over a firm turf course.

Ortiz settled Always Shopping in third as Traipsing broke sharply and took the field through moderate fractions of 24.31 and 50.11 seconds, tracked by 99-1 long shot Lady Panda. Always Shopping tipped to the outside on the turn and took over the lead once straightened for home, powering through the stretch to win by three lengths.

“It worked out perfect,” Ortiz said. “I thought I was going to sit second but [Traipsing] broke sharp and I didn't want to use my horse to get position. So I stayed third. She was comfortable. I waited for the time to go and when I asked her she responded very well.”

Pletcher was impressed with the way Always Shopping finished up to earn her fourth career win and third in a stakes. She won the 1 1/8-mile Gazelle (G2) last April on dirt and the 1 1/16-mile Monroe Sept. 7 at Gulfstream in her second career try on turf.

“We anticipated [Traipsing] would be on the lead. I thought we might be laying second but Irad was in a comfortable spot and he said she was taking him wherever he wanted her to go throughout the race,” Pletcher said. “She really jumped in at the top of the stretch and kicked on hard. They weren't going very fast early, but they were late.”

Great Island outran Always Shopping's stablemate, Cap de Creus, to be second, but was disqualified for bearing out in the stretch and placed third behind Cap de Creus, ridden by Hall of Famer John Velazquez.

“I was delighted to get her stakes-placed. We've knocked on the door a few times, so that was big,” Pletcher said. “It looked like Johnny had to steady her pretty hard at one point but it was a good effort.”

Always Shopping, a daughter of Awesome Again out of multiple stakes winner Stopshoppingmaria, by More Than Ready, was bred by Repole. She now owns two wins from three tries over the Gulfstream turf and pushed her career bankroll over $400,000.

“She seems to like the course here,” Pletcher said. “There's a great program of stakes here so we'll look to keep her going in those.”

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Spielberg Up to Give Baffert Seven Straight Futuritys at Los Al

After 8 1/2 furlongs of Saturday’s GII Los Alamitos Futurity, it was a ‘Close Encounter’ with pacesetting outsider The Great One (Nyquist)–playing ‘Catch Me If You Can’–but $1-million Keeneland September yearling purchase Spielberg (Union Rags) managed to snatch victory from the ‘Jaws’ of defeat, as he was the recipient of the kindest of headbobs to give Bob Baffert his seventh consecutive victory in the event, now held at the Orange County oval.

Drawn widest in a field of six, the second betting choice attended the pace three wide outside of GII Best Pal S. hero Weston (Hit It a Bomb) as the maiden The Great One made play from the fence. The front-runner hit the three-eighths going great guns and took them into the stretch, daring them to catch him. Spielberg emerged as the lone chance to do so as favored Red King (Tamarkuz), impressive in romping in the GIII Bob Hope S. last time out, began to paddle at midstretch. The Great One kicked on gamely into the final sixteenth of a mile, but the blaze-faced Spielberg dug in resolutely and dove home just in front. The win was the 14th overall in the race formerly known as the Hollywood and then CashCall Futurity and the winner represents a seventh different ownership group in the seven years the race has taken place at Los Al.

Second in the Sept. 7 GI Del Mar Futurity and third in the Sept. 26 GI American Pharoah S. as a maiden, Spielberg was more workmanlike than brilliant in graduating by a neck going a mile at Del Mar Nov. 1 and he was exiting a fourth, beaten 9 1/2 lengths, when last seen in the Bob Hope Nov. 15.

“I knew he was going to run well because he had shipped well over here and was really on it in the paddock,” said Baffert. “I thought it was an easy spot last time and he didn’t ship well. He got nervous when he got in the stall there [Del Mar] and was just flat. We ran him back too quick. I asked [jockey Flavien Prat] if there’s more there and he said there’s a lot more. I think he’ll get better with maturity.”

Pedigree Notes:

Spielberg becomes the 16th black-type winner and ninth at the graded level for Union Rags and is bred like his sire’s Grade I winner Union Strike. The winner’s dam is a daughter of SP Miss Kate (Storm Cat)-the cross of Union Rags over the late Overbrook sire is responsible for another two of Union Rags’s GISWs-also the dam of the SWs Outplay (Bernardini), Raconteur (A.P. Indy) and Katerbug (Pulpit). Spielberg’s dual Grade I-winning third dam produced Clear Mandate (Deputy Minister), herself a three-time winner at the highest level and dam of MGSW/MGISP Newfoundland (Storm Cat), GISW Strong Mandate (Tiznow) and SW Full Mandate (A.P. Indy). Miss Squeal is the dam of a yearling filly by Honor Code, a weanling filly by Bernardini and was most recently bred to City of Light.

Saturday, Los Alamitos
LOS ALAMITOS FUTURITY-GII, $200,500, Los Alamitos, 12-19, 2yo, 1 1/16m, 1:42.56, ft.
1–SPIELBERG, 120, c, 2, by Union Rags
1st Dam: Miss Squeal, by Smart Strike
2nd Dam: Miss Kate, by Storm Cat
3rd Dam: Dream Deal, by Sharpen Up (GB)
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($1,000,000
Ylg ’19 KEESEP). O-SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket
Stables LLC, Golconda Stables, Siena Farm LLC & Robert E.
Masterson; B-G. Watts Humphrey (KY); T-Bob Baffert; J-Flavien
Prat. $120,000. Lifetime Record: MGISP, 6-2-2-1, $257,200.
Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–The Great One, 120, c, 2, Nyquist–Little Ms Protocol, by El
Corredor. ($125,000 Ylg ’19 OBSOCT; $185,000 2yo ’20
OBSOPN). O-ERJ Racing, LLC, Train Wreck Al Racing Stables,
Niall J. Brennan, Tom Fritz & William Strauss; B-Coteau Grove
Farms (LA); T-Doug F. O’Neill. $40,000.
3–Petruchio, 120, g, 2, Into Mischief–Satirical, by Distorted
Humor. O-Perry R. Bass II & Ramona S. Bass; B-Bass Stables,
LLC (KY); T-Richard E. Mandella. $24,000.
Margins: NO, 3HF, 5. Odds: 1.90, 33.60, 6.00.
Also Ran: Red Flag, Weston, Positivity.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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