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Gerald Bennett Wraps Up Both Trainer, Owner Titles At Tampa Bay Downs

If it's June, Gerald Bennett must be at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale (moved from April this year due to COVID-19), looking to strengthen his Winning Stables, Inc., roster with future Thoroughbred standouts.

Or he could be driving back from Delaware Park with wife Mary after delivering a shipment of 13 runners from Tampa Bay Downs for the Wilmington, Del., meeting that began Wednesday.

With a few days remaining in the Oldsmar oval's 2019-2020 season, Bennett still can be found at his barn overseeing a few dozen horses, many of which have helped him capture a fifth consecutive Tampa Bay Downs training championship with 60 victories (the current season concludes with racing Wednesday and June 30, with the 2020-2021 meeting beginning July 1).

The 76-year-old conditioner shared his first Oldsmar training title in 2010-2011 with Jamie Ness, the track's all-time record-holder with nine titles, won consecutively from 2006-2015.

What's different this season: Bennett has also wrapped up his first Tampa Bay Downs owners title with 23 victories. Bennett, who sent out 15 winners under his Winning Stables, Inc., banner and eight in various partnerships, is four ahead of both Godolphin, LLC (19 victories) and owner-trainer Juan Arriagada, who won 11 races individually and eight in various partnerships.

“It's great to be able to keep going strong year after year,” said the Springhill, Nova Scotia native, who ranks 14th all-time in North America with 3,903 victories. “You need that fire and desire to do it right because it's a lot of work to stay successful, and right now I still have it.”

Bennett, the father of trainer Dale Bennett, has recruited new owners to the sport virtually from the start of his career, when he competed in Canada. “It's important for the sport to bring in new owners,” he said. “You get those friendships established and win some races, and they bring more of their friends into it. I'm fortunate to have owners who like to run their horses where they can win, and hopefully you can buy more young stock that you can turn into stakes horses.”

Owners who partnered with Winning Stables on victories this season included James Georgeades and Ron Pugliese, Jr., of JPG2 and Mr. Pug, LLC; Harold L. Queen; Arnoriver Racing (Mike Arnone); Martin Goodell; and Mary Thomas and Michael Vitello.

While Bennett maintains an excellent rapport with his owners, it is in the barn area where he seems most at home. His reputation for turning claiming horses into allowance winners and allowance horses into stakes performers has been honed through years of study, dedication to his profession and subscribing to the belief that no detail is too small.

Among his best horses are millionaire Beau Genius, who won the Grade I Philip H. Iselin Handicap and the Grade II Michigan Mile and One-Eighth in 1990; Secret Romeo, a multiple-stakes winner who earned $865,790; Bucky's Prayer, a mare who won the 2007 Lightning City Stakes; Fast Flying Rumor, who set a Tampa Bay Downs Beyer Speed Figure record of 108 (since bettered) while winning the 2016 Turf Dash; and R Angel Katelyn, who won three stakes races during the 2016-2017 meeting.

Bennett's lone stakes victory this season came with 6-year-old Florida-bred mare Lady's Island, who won the Minaret Stakes for owners Matties Racing Stable and Averill Racing on Feb. 15.

Win or lose, Bennett is back at the barn by 5 a.m. the next day to oversee each horse's regimen. “I'll be walking in the shed row when a horse stops in front of me, and the hot walker is amazed because the horse knows me,” he said. “Mary says it's because I feed them peppermints, but they get to know your voice and have confidence in what you're doing.”

In that regard, Bennett's Thoroughbred athletes aren't much different than the owners he trains for and the bettors who support his horses.

The post Gerald Bennett Wraps Up Both Trainer, Owner Titles At Tampa Bay Downs appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Kentucky Derby Consignor Standings Presented By Keeneland: Knowlton’s Million-Dollar Stretch For Tiz The Law

Since we've already examined the purchase of Belmont Stakes winner Tiz the Law from the perspective of consignor Sequel New York in this series – which can be read here – this time around, we'll look at the transaction from the viewpoint of Jack Knowlton of Sackatoga Stable and trainer Barclay Tagg.

Anytime someone whispers “one more time” in the ear of the person beside them at a Thoroughbred auction, the goal is to not become the unfortunate person that let the next great racehorse slip away over a few thousand bucks.

Most of the time, that “one more time” bid isn't the one that saves a superstar from the clutches of another owner, but Jack Knowlton's $10,000 stretch over budget to land Tiz the Law at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearling Sale swung the fate of a future Belmont Stakes winner and earner of more than $1.1 million to date.

Knowlton entered the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion that day with a $100,000 budget targeted for Hip 311, a first-crop Constitution colt out of the Grade 2-winning Tiznow mare Tizfiz. The colt had passed every physical, pedigree, and veterinary test that trainer Barclay Tagg and assistant trainer Robin Smullen put before him, and trusting a partnership that spans 25 years, Knowlton decided to bid on Tiz the Law one more time.

“We went to $95,000, and we were going to lose him when the other guy went to $100,000,” Tagg said. “Jack didn't really want to go over $100,000, and then I looked over at him and he said, 'Go $10,000 more.' I'm glad we did…Turned out, it was a pretty good price.”

Though it was more than he planned to spend, Knowlton said the hammer price on Tiz the Law was safely within the $50,000 to $150,000 range of a normal Sackatoga Stable purchase. Based out of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., the operation buys New York-bred yearlings and 2-year-olds almost exclusively, making Fasig-Tipton's New York-Bred Yearling Sale a destination event every year.

The Sackatoga operation tends to have about four horses in the stable at any given time, so with two fillies already on the team, Knowlton sent Tagg and Smullen looking for a colt at the New York-Bred Sale. The duo was responsible for Sackatoga's private purchase of dual classic winner and champion Funny Cide as a 2-year-old, which has earned them Knowlton's unflinching trust in the bloodstock realm.

“They have many, many decades of knowledge,” Knowlton said. “I have not tried to become an expert, because I have them at my side. My role is to make sure I can raise the capital to pay for the horses they pick out. I've learned I can go through the catalogs and we'll compare notes, but because I'm pretty much using the methodology that I learned from them, most of the time, we're on 80 or 90 percent of the same horses.”

Tiz the Law was stabled in consignor Sequel New York's usual corner of Barn 6 on Fasig-Tipton's Saratoga sales grounds. Tagg said he does not have a cookie-cutter picture of what he looks for in a horse at auction, but strong conformation and athleticism are musts.

“We just really liked him because he had such good bone on him, and his conformation was very correct,” Tagg said about a yearling Tiz the Law. “When you're trying to buy horses, you're trying to get the best conformation and the soundest-looking ones you can get, and they also have to have some pedigree to go with it, depending on what you're looking for.”

The colt was one of about four horses that passed muster with Tagg and Smullen after physical inspections. After the veterinarian's report came back with high marks, he was pegged as one of Sackatoga's primary targets in the catalog. It took a little bit more than expected to get the hammer to fall, but the result was life-changing.

Looking to the future, Tiz the Law would have easily qualified for the Kentucky Derby if it had been held in May, following a dominant spring campaign, but the 272 qualifying points that the colt sits on for the rescheduled classic in September all but guarantees him a spot in the gate. Tiz the Law's class-leading number of qualifying points also put Sequel New York safely on top in the latest Kentucky Derby Consignor Standings all on his own.

It's an exciting time for Tiz the Law's connections, but there is little time to rest on one's laurels in horse racing – especially on the accelerated calendar brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Not long after rounding the first turn in his chase for a Triple Crown, Knowlton said he and Tagg will be headed to Timonium, Md., next week for the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, with the aim of finding the next great New York-bred to team with the best New York-bred going today.

The post Kentucky Derby Consignor Standings Presented By Keeneland: Knowlton’s Million-Dollar Stretch For Tiz The Law appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Antonio Sano Readying Pair Of Promising 2-Year-Olds For Saratoga Meet

Trainer Antonio Sano started making plans for the upcoming Saratoga Race Course meet after saddling his fourth 2-year-old winner of the Spring Meet at Gulfstream Park Saturday.

The popular Venezuela native has been particularly impressed with Papetu, a five-length winner in his Saturday debut, and Hara, a filly who also graduated with a five-length victory Friday.

“The two horses are the best horses in my barn,” said Sano, who has saddled 21 winners, five fewer than leading trainer Todd Pletcher, during the Spring Meet. “I'm going to send Papetu and Hara to Saratoga.”

Papetu was always in control over his nine rivals under Leonel Reyes. Purchased by Magic Stables LLC for $80,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September sale, Papetu is by Dialed In, the sire of Sano-trained multiple graded-stakes winner Gunnevera. The first-out win hardly surprised his trainer, but the manner in which he dismissed his rivals was a bit of a revelation.

“I expected him to come from behind and close. The race came up different. It was a surprise to me,” Sano said. “He is a good horse. I told the owner that this was a very good horse.”

A day earlier, Sano sent out Hara, who scored a dominating front-running triumph in a 5 ½-furlong dash for fillies. The daughter of Hard Spun, who is owned by Briannjenn Racing LLC, was purchased for $30,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September sale.

Sano has enjoyed success in the past while sending promising 2-year-olds from South Florida to Saratoga, most notably with Gunnevera, who scored his first graded-stakes victory in the 2016 Saratoga Special (G2) on his way to earning $5.5 million.

Earlier in the meet, Sano saddled Swaggy George, a son of Not This Time, for a four-length triumph in a five-furlong maiden special weight race taken off the turf. The Sano-trained Espia, a son of Creative Cause who finished third behind Swaggy George, came right back to capture a 5-furlong maiden special weight event on turf.

The post Antonio Sano Readying Pair Of Promising 2-Year-Olds For Saratoga Meet appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Safety Protocols Announced Ahead of Midlantic 2YO Sale

Officials at Fasig-Tipton have announced a set of COVID-19 protocols that will be instituted in advance of next week’s Midlantic Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training and this week’s under-tack previews.

Screening measures, including temperature checks and health screening questions, will be in place to gain admittance to the sales grounds for all staff, participants and attendees;
Cloth face coverings are required in accordance with U.S. CDC recommendations;
Participants will not be allowed to congregate. At least six feet of distance must be maintained between people;
Seating capacity in the sales pavilion will be reduced below 50% of capacity;
No food service will be available in the sales pavilion;
Valet parking will not be available;
Increased cleaning and disinfection procedures will be implemented with regular sanitation of high-touch surfaces at least every two hours;
Frequent hand washing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds is recommended for all attendees;

The guidelines are intended as a supplement to assist with safe operations during the ongoing pandemic and are subject to change.

The post Safety Protocols Announced Ahead of Midlantic 2YO Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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