Horse racing news | Horse Racing Free Tips

First Stakes Winner for Awtaad Comes in California

Ebeko, who was second in the Del Mar Juvenile Turf in his Stateside debut Sept. 7, went one better and came out on top of a tight one to become the first black-type winner for his Derrinstown Stud-based freshman sire (by Cape Cross {Ire}). A third-up winner for trainer Paddy Twomey at Leopardstown July 16, the bay was acquired privately thereafter and brought to Del Mar, where he showed a completely different running style than he had in Europe to rally from last. Showing a bit more early zip this time to sit perched in third, the bay mounted a four-wide rally into the lane and was one of five who appeared in with a chance at that point. The top three emerged from the pack late, and Ebeko made the last and winning move get up in the final jump.

“We’ve been on an incredible run,” said trainer Peter Miller, whose wins on Saturday included an impressive victory with Mo Forza (Uncle Mo) in the GII City of Hope Mile. “We’ve won with our last four, just everything is falling into place right now. I thought Ricky [Gonzalez] rode an incredible race. We knew this horse was doing well and Ricky saw that the pace was pretty slow, so he had him closer today.

Miller added, “To be honest, there’s no doubt in my mind that he could’ve won much easier today if we didn’t have the new [whip] rules… I’m just being honest… We’re definitely going to look at the [Nov. 6 GI] Breeders’ Cup [Juvenile Turf] with this horse. He deserves it and we’re looking forward to going.”

The winner is out of a half-sister to French Group 2 winner Canticum (GB) (Cacique {Ire}) and hails from the female family of highest-level winners Distant Music, African Rose and Vanlandingham. He has a yearling half-brother by Gleneagles (Ire). Awtaad took the 2016 G1 Irish 2000 Guineas for Shadwell.

ZUMA BEACH S., $101,000, Santa Anita, 10-4, 2yo, 1mT, 1:36.55, fm.
1–EBEKO (IRE), 118, c, 2, by Awtaad (Ire)
                1st Dam: Allegrezza (GB), by Sir Percy (GB)
                2nd Dam: Allegro Viva, by Distant View
                3rd Dam: Musicanti, by Nijinsky II
(20,000gns RNA Ylg ’19 TATOCT). 1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN.
O-Altamira Racing Stable, CYBT, Marc Lantzman & Michael
Nentwig; B-Roundhill Stud & J. S. Investments (IRE); T-Peter
Miller; J-Ricardo Gonzalez. $60,000. Lifetime Record: 5-2-2-0,
$106,430. *First black-type winner for freshman sire (by Cape
Cross {Ire}).
2–Tarantino, 120, c, 2, Pioneerof the Nile–Without Delay, by
Seeking the Gold. ($610,000 Ylg ’19 KEESEP). O-SF Racing LLC,
Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Stonestreet Stables LLC,
Golconda Stables, Siena Farm LLC & Robert E. Masterson;
B-Fred W. Hertrich III & John D. Fielding (KY); T-Bob Baffert.
$20,000.
3–Cotopaxi (Ire), 118, c, 2, Sir Prancealot (Ire)–Beth (GB), by
Deportivo (GB). (£22,000 Ylg ’19 GOFFPR). O-Red Baron’s Barn
LLC & Rancho Temescal LLC; B-Tally Ho Stud (IRE); T-Jeff
Mullins. $12,000.
Margins: NO, 3/4, NK. Odds: 3.40, 3.30, 6.10.
Also Ran: Caisson, Big Fish, Ingest, Dennis Celery.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

The post First Stakes Winner for Awtaad Comes in California appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Valiance Earns Breeders’ Cup Berth with Spinster Win

Valiance lived up to her name Oct.

Valiance Earns Spot In Distaff With First Graded Win In Spinster

Prior to Sunday's Grade 1 Spinster Stakes at Keeneland, the only two times Valiance had competed on dirt in seven career starts for trainer Todd Pletcher were when races were taken off the turf because of wet conditions. She was 1-for-2 in those contests, most recently winning the Eatontown Stakes at Monmouth Park over a sloppy track.

Campaigning for Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Martin Schwartz and CHC Inc., Valiance had no trouble handling the dirt at Keeneland in the fall meet's biggest race for fillies and mares, the Spinster. In addition to its G1 status and $400,000 purse, the Spinster had the added benefit of being a Win and You're In Challenge Series race for the Breeders' Cup Distaff, to be run at the Lexington, Ky., track on Nov. 7 as part of the two-day world championships.

Coming from off the pace while kept in the clear by Luis Saez, Valiance battled past the 3-year-old Shedaresthedevil, winner of the G1 Kentucky Oaks, in a stretch duel, then held off a furious late charge from Ollie's Candy to win by three-quarters of a length.

Valiance, a 4-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Tapit out of G1 Madison Stakes winner Last Full Measure, by Empire Maker, stopped the timer in 1:49.76 and paid $14.80 for the win. She was bred by China Horse Club International Ltd.

Unlucky Ollie's Candy, with four consecutive narrow defeats in G1 races for trainer John Sadler, finished second, with 6-5 favorite Shedaresthedevil third. Completing the order of finish were Lady Kate, Saracosa and Our Super Freak.

Shedaresthedevil outhustled Lady Kate for the lead under Florent Geroux and set fractions of :23.62, :46.97 and 1:10.85 for six furlongs. Lady Kate was lapped to her outside much of the way, with Ollie's Candy tucked behind the leader along the rail and Valiance three paths off the rail and in the clear.

With Lady Kate still in pursuit of the leader on the turn for home, Valiance ranged up three-wide and took on the Oaks winner. Joel Rosario, aboard Ollie's Candy, had to bide his time behind the top pair before swinging off the rail when Lady Kate began to fade.

Valiance gradually edged past Shedaresthedevil and opened a clear lead in the final furlong, but Ollie's Candy began to eat up ground though came up short in the end.

The win was the sixth for Valiance in eight starts. She was purchased for $650,000 by Eclipse and Schwartz from the Bluewater Sales consignment at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sale.

The post Valiance Earns Spot In Distaff With First Graded Win In Spinster appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Tapit Filly Books Trip to Breeders’ Cup With Spinster Win

Valiance, previously a turf specialist who earned her first stakes win in a washed-off event last out, rallied from off the pace to upset the GI Juddmonte Spinster S. Sunday at Keeneland. The win sealed a berth in the GI Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff for the gray and capped off a monster weekend at Keeneland for jockey Luis Saez.

Beginning her career with three straight turf triumphs last year, including a score in Monmouth’s Open Mind S., the $650,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga buy had to be shelved for over 10 months after that and suffered her first defeat when fourth in the off-the-turf Powder Break S. May 16 at Gulfstream. A non-factor sixth in the GII New York S., she got back on track against optional claiming company July 28 at Colonial and earned a career-high 93 Beyer when annexing the Eatontown S. in the Monmouth slop Aug. 27.

Off as the fourth choice in this sextet, Valiance was caught widest going into the clubhouse turn and maneuvered into a stalking third as favorite and GI Kentucky Oaks victress Shedaresthedevil dictated terms through a reasonable :23.62 quarter. Dropping back a spot as the pace quickened past a :46.97 half, she was given her cue approaching the three-eighths pole and sidled up alongside the frontrunner at the head of the stretch. Starting to wear that filly down passing the furlong grounds, she inched clear entering the final sixteenth only to be set upon by second choice Ollie’s Candy, but dug in to stave off that rival for the half-length victory.

“Just blown away. It’s been such an emotional year dealing with the craziest times that the world has seen. We’re just so honored to win a race like this with such a regally bred filly,” said Aron Wellman of winning co-owner Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners. “We’ve just been waiting and waiting and waiting to swing for the fences with her. We started her off last year as a turf filly. She trained well on the dirt all along, but the way things played out schedule-wise, option-wise, we kept her on the turf. She won a stakes last year on the turf as a 3-year-old, and we gave her a lot of time to come into her 4-year-old season.

“We never really ruled out the possibility that she was a good dirt horse. When she won the Eatontown in the slop, you know slop isn’t normal , but it gave us the confidence to take this monumental leap because she was a stakes winner on turf and then she was a stakes winner on dirt. We had nothing to lose by trying to go for the Grade I. We were going for it even though we knew [Midnight Bisou] was pointing for the Spinster and our hearts go out to the connections of that champion mare since she obviously couldn’t make the race. We felt that much more confident once she was out of the race that we would be live to make some noise.”

“It seemed like she had simply been training better on dirt than she ever did previously,” said trainer Todd Pletcher, who swept the two graded stakes on Sunday’s Keeneland card. “When she won her first three starts on the turf, it was logical to keep her on there. But when she didn’t fire her A race in the New York and when the Eatontown came off the turf, it was very impressive the way she did that that day. The margin doesn’t do justice to how easily she won that day. That’s when we started thinking about taking a shot in a big one. That was kind of the one thing missing on her resume was that graded stakes win. With a filly of her quality and pedigree, something like that was so valuable to her and we felt like in light of how well she was doing, it was worth taking a shot.”

Pedigree Notes:

One of 136 stakes winners for Tapit, Valiance becomes his 84th graded stakes winner and 27th Grade I scorer. She is the second foal to race out of Last Full Measure, who rallied from last to upset the GI Madison S. at 17-1 over the local synthetic track in 2013. Second dam Lazy Slusan was a two-time Grade I victress. Valiance has a 2-year-old Exaggerator half-brother named Harbor Bay and a yearling half-sister by Mastery who sold for $220,000 at last month’s Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Select Yearlings Sale. Last Full Measure, bought by China Horse Club for $1.5 million at Keeneland November in 2014, was bred to Constitution this season.

Sunday, Keeneland
JUDDMONTE SPINSTER S.-GI, $400,000, Keeneland, 10-4, 3yo/up, f/m, 1 1/8m, 1:49.76, ft.
1–VALIANCE, 124, f, 4, by Tapit
1st Dam: Last Full Measure, by Empire Maker
2nd Dam: Lazy Slusan, by Slewvescent
3rd Dam: Three Flights Up, by Topsider
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN, 1ST GRADE I WIN. ($650,000 Ylg ’17 FTSAUG). O-Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Martin S Schwartz & CHC Inc; B-China Horse Club International Limited (KY); T-Todd A Pletcher; J-Luis Saez. $240,000. Lifetime Record: 8-6-0-0, $469,575. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Ollie’s Candy, 124, m, 5, by Candy Ride (Arg)
1st Dam: Afternoon Stroll, by Stroll
2nd Dam: Gertie, by Danzatore
3rd Dam: Granny Ruth, by Key to the Mint
($45,000 RNA Ylg ’16 KEESEP). O/B-Paul & Karen Eggert (KY); T-John W Sadler. $80,000.
3–Shedaresthedevil, 121, f, 3, by Daredevil
1st Dam: Starship Warpspeed, by Congrats
2nd Dam: Andria’s Forest, by Forestry
3rd Dam: Andriana B., by Far North
($100,000 Wlg ’17 KEENOV; $20,000 RNA Ylg ’18 KEESEP; $280,000 2yo ’19 KEENOV). O-Flurry Racing Stables LLC, Qatar Racing Limited & Big Aut Farms; B-WinStar Farm LLC (KY); T-Brad H Cox. $40,000.
Margins: 3/4, 2HF, 5 3/4. Odds: 6.40, 1.90, 1.20.
Also Ran: Lady Kate, Saracosa, Our Super Freak.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

The post Tapit Filly Books Trip to Breeders’ Cup With Spinster Win appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post