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Ruled Off In Hong Kong, Multiple G1 Winner Pakistan Star Makes Dubai Debut Thursday

One of the world's most famous racehorses makes a somewhat surprising resurfacing on Thursday when Kerm Din's Pakistan Star contests Meydan Racecourse's 10-furlong The Entisar (Listed), the first in a series of local races pointing toward the 25th Dubai World Cup (G1) in March. A multiple G1 winner in Hong Kong before being ruled off the jurisdiction for various infractions, including refusing to race, he was transferred from trainer Tony Cruz to multiple UAE champion conditioner Doug Watson at the beginning of the year.

“We got him in January and we were going to try to point to a race at the beginning of April, but obviously with COVID(-19), that was nixed,” Watson recalled. “His coat really came on during the summer. Since he started back, he's been no problem and has done everything right at home. His work has been exceptional and it's hard to find anything to really go with him. He's a pretty good work horse and looks like he gets across the (dirt) surface really well. We're just going to have to see how he takes it and if he gets kickback. He's a bit quirky, sure, because he looks at everything, but he hasn't stopped in his training, which is great.”

The 7-year-old German-bred son of Shamardal has been working steadily toward his first engagement, which will be on the dirt—a surface he has trialed on in Hong Kong, but never raced upon. Most of said trials were at shorter distances than the 1 1/4 miles he will travel Thursday evening, but he was remarkably consistent, beating a pair of Hong Kong Cup winners—Time Warp and Glorious Forever—in those runs. Three weeks ago, he went to Meydan to get a taste of the surroundings with a seven-furlong trial from the gate and was accompanied by a pair of stablemates, including recent HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum Cup winner Galvanize.

“We took him over to do a trial in front of the stewards and make sure he would do everything correctly, which he did,” Watson continued. “He broke great and worked with Galvanize and Dehbashi and basically pulled about seven lengths clear of Galvanize at the end of it, which is a pretty good gauge. He took a little kickback under Pat (Dobbs, jockey) and seemed to handle it alright. He trains right-handed at home, but he had no trouble turning left in the work. He didn't hang and Pat really was impressed with him.

“He came back (to Red Stables) and did his last two pieces of work—so I know he's fit enough,” he continued. “It's just a matter of if he wants to do it. We'll see on Thursday night. He moves really well across the dirt, so it will be good to get a race in him to see how he does on it, because turf races don't start until January here. If he really likes it, it does open other doors.”

From 27 starts, Pakistan Star has a 5-5-1 record. In addition to his long-winded G1 wins in the 10-furlong Queen Elizabeth II Cup and 12-furlong Champions & Chater Cup, he has shown ample speed, including a seven-furlong handicap win in which he ran the second-fastest final 400m (1/4 mile) in Hong Kong history (at the time), 21.44 seconds.

While he is not expected to show such foot early on Thursday, it would not be a surprise if stablemate Just a Penny took the initiative. Owned by Mohd Khalifa Al Basti, the 8-year-old nine-time winner has already raced twice this season, including a fifth over seven furlongs and an open-length win over nine furlongs—both at Jebel Ali Racecourse.

Watson said: “The first year we had him, we took him to Meydan and we didn't think he would get beat, but then he ran up the track. Since then, we've kept him mostly at Jebel Ali and he returned there (this season). He always needs that first race—we can't do enough with him at home—and then he won well in his second start. (The Entisar) is an opportunity to give him a start back at Meydan and see how he handles it now. He has plenty of pace, too.”

South American G1 winners Saltarin Dubai and For the Top, Listed winners Montsarrat and Zaman, and local handicap winners Firnas, Casey Jones and George Villiers complete the field. All carry 57kgs (126lbs) in what will be the fifth race of the card, slated for 8:50 p.m. local time (11:50 a.m. USA EST; 4:50 p.m. UK).

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Bloodlines Presented By Diamond B Farm’s Rowayton: The Long, Strange Journey Of Bodexpress

The wayward colt who was once known as “America's favorite maiden” is now a Grade 1 winner after his victory in the Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs on Nov. 27.

Bodexpress (by Bodemeister) had taken his first experience in a Grade 1, last year in the Florida Derby, so well that he finished second in the race behind eventual division leader Maximum Security, and great things were expected of the handsome bay who had leapt so quickly to national prominence. Breeders, fans, and the colt's connections shared that optimism.

As a result, Bodexpress trained up to the classics without a start and was still a maiden when he went to the Kentucky Derby. There, he was racing prominently about a quarter-mile from home when taken up sharply as part of the chain reaction from the Maximum Security incident, then was placed 13th in the initial 2019 classic. That placement in an exceptionally rough race did not deter the colt's connections from trying the Preakness, and Bodexpress heightened the drama by dropping his jock, John Velazquez, at the start, then racing prominently through the rest of the 9 1/2-furlong race.

Riderless but not reckless, Bodexpress did not cause any trouble in the Preakness, just disappointment among his supporters.

The magnificent maiden went to a maiden special for his return in October 2019 and won his first race, then returned to win an allowance and was third in the G3 Harlan's Holiday in December. Unplaced in the G1 Pegasus World Cup and the G2 Gulfstream Park Mile, Bodexpress then finished third in the G3 Hal's Hope Stakes at Gulfstream, the Alydar Stakes at Saratoga, and he was second in an allowance at Churchill before killing a field by 11 1/4 lengths at Gulfstream Park West prior to the Clark.

Bred in Kentucky by Martha Jane Mulholland, Bodexpress was sold at the 2017 Keeneland September yearling sale. Although the good-looking colt went through the ring and was bought back for $45,000, he sold privately shortly thereafter.

John Mulholland recalled that “Bode was a little small, and we had to do a stifle surgery four or five weeks before the September sale. It was bad timing but also drew a knock from vets; so we sold him privately for about the hammer price.”

The buyer was Global Thoroughbreds through J.R. Boyd of Brick City Thoroughbreds, “which took him to Florida for breaking and early training,” Mulholland recalled.

J.R. Boyd said, “I'd liked this colt when I'd seen him at the farm before, and we were a little hesitant to buy a Bodemeister, but we love to shop with the Mulhollands because Martha Jane and John Henry are always up front and candid about their horses, and they raise a really good horse.

“The first reason I wanted to see this colt was that we'd trained his half-brother by Stormy Atlantic,” Boyd said, “and he was a really nice horse. Then, Bodexpress was such a pretty individual who looked like he could become a really good athlete. When I showed Bodexpress to our client at the sale, the owner of Global made the decision to buy the colt. He was that nice.”

Once Boyd and his wife Katie put Bodexpress into training, the colt “was a phenomenal mover, just a really nice colt.” But once again, ill luck showed up.

Boyd said, “We wanted to showcase him, put him in the Fasig sale in Miami or OBS March, but he banged his knee, and when I called Global, they said to be patient, give Bodexpress all the time that the colt needed, and so, Maryland was the spot for him.

“Our clients at Global Thoroughbreds are very game; if there's a hiccup along the way, they don't mind racing one, but they do like to offer everything for sale. At the Timonium sale in Maryland, I tried to tell everyone at the sales how good this colt was, but it was almost like Bodemeister had a disease. Nobody wanted one. I told the gentlemen behind the colt that we weren't likely to get what the colt was worth.

“Their answer to me was: 'Put a $37,000 reserve, and if someone wants to take him at $40,000, he sells. We want people to know that Global Thoroughbreds is willing to put reasonable reserves and sell their horses.”

The bright bay didn't sell, shipped home, was given a month to relax from the sale, then shipped to trainer Gustavo Delgado, who's had the horse ever since.

The good-looking colt never seemed to take things the easy way. He initially missed winning a maiden, although his fourth outing in that condition brought a narrow loss to Shancelot (Shanghai Bobby), who is a Grade 2 winner and finished second in the G1 Breeders' Cup Sprint.

Bodexpress's fifth start was the G1 Florida Derby, which appeared to be a giant step up, and there, the luckless colt ran into the buzz saw named Maximum Security.

Mulholland Springs has not participated in the luck of Bodexpress, either. The farm had worked with a pair of yearlings from the mare that “I had liked but not loved,” Mulholland noted, and then the mare had gone barren in 2016 after foaling Bodexpress. So, at the Keeneland November sale of 2017, the farm sold the colt's dam, the City Zip mare Pied a Terre, for $17,000.

Mulholland said, “She was a nice-looking mare, or I wouldn't have bought her,” but the commercial market wasn't very responsive to her foals. So, in foal to the Tiznow stallion Gemologist, Mulholland Springs sold the mare, and the purchaser was the KOID, which exported her to Korea.

On March 28, 2018, Pied a Terre foaled a filly by Gemologist who's since been named Gangseo Princess, and in 2019, the mare foaled a colt by the Tapit stallion Concord Point and was barren for 2020 on a cover to Take Charge Indy.

Bodexpress is the second Grade 1 winner for his sire, Kentucky Derby runner-up Bodemeister (Empire Maker), after Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming, who stood his first season at stud in Kentucky at WinStar Farm in 2019.

In the fall of 2019, WinStar announced the sale of Bodemeister to the Jockey Club of Turkey, and the horse stands at their stud farm outside Istanbul for a fee of 12,500 euros, approximately $15,000.

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Asmussen: Mandatory Training Dark Days ‘Not In Racehorses’ Best Interest’

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen penned an op/ed for the Thoroughbred Daily News this week discussing some tracks' practice of closing for training one day per week. In a time of increased accountability for all racing participants, Asmussen argues that the mandatory dark days are a “short-sighted cost-cutting move” which is “not in racehorses' best interest.”

“Denying an opportunity to train on a schedule tailored to the individual horse, rather than for someone sitting in an office, hurts the health of our racehorses,” Asmussen wrote.

Asmussen goes on to share an opinion from his veterinarian, Dr. William C. Hawk: “Most horses can benefit from a day off. It just needs to be by the trainers' discretion… No athlete is scheduled to take a set day off every week because schedules change, weather changes and games are played on different days of the week. We find the same in horse racing.”

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.

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Graded Stakes Winner Silverfoot Euthanized At 20

Silverfoot, the aptly-named gelding who became a fan favorite in turf marathons at tracks in Kentucky and throughout the Midwest, was euthanized Tuesday morning at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital due to complications of aging and the debilitating hoof disease laminitis. He was 20 and had been spending the past decade in retirement, most recently at Ballyrankin Stud in Lexington.

Bred by owner Stephanie Clark and campaigned in the name of her Chrysalis Stables, Silverfoot won 11 of 40 starts spread over 10 seasons with trainer Dallas Stewart, earning $949,503 before his 2010 retirement.

“Silverfoot was a true champion,” Clark said. “I owe him so much. He gave me so many heartfelt moments.”

Silverfoot's five graded-stakes victories included three straight in Churchill Downs' Grade 3 Louisville Handicap at 1 3/8 miles, starting with his stakes debut in 2004. His richest score came in Kentucky Downs' $200,000 Kentucky Cup Turf in 2005, when he defeated the Grade 3, 1 1/2 mile stakes' two-time winner Rochester by 6 3/4 lengths. After missing his entire 7-year-old season with an injury, Silverfoot returned at age 8 to win Arlington Park's Grade 3 Stars and Stripes. His last of six stakes victories overall came as a 9-year-old in Arlington Park's Tin Man Stakes.

While not the best horse in his division, the gelding became one of the most popular, with his longevity and striking almost-white coat, flowing flaxen tail, and normally a late running style. It was largely all or nothing with Silverfoot, who accrued one second and two thirds in his long career while racing against America's top turf horses. His second came by only three-quarters of a length to 2004 Breeders' Cup Turf winner Better Talk Now in Monmouth Park's Grade 1 United Nations in 2005, a race in which Silverfoot uncharacteristically found himself on the lead in a race devoid of pace.

“Very sad to hear,” Stewart said of Silverfoot's passing. “He was and is truly one of my favorites.”

Silverfoot was foaled at and spent much of his retirement in a life of leisure on Ann Britt's Maresgate Farm in Finchville. The horse came by his ethereal coloring honestly, being a son of the roan or gray turf champion With Approval (a son of the gray Caro) and out of Clark's roan mare Northern Silver, herself a daughter of the silver-looking Silver Ghost.

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