Tag: Horse Racing

De Sousa, Marquand Share Longines IJC Title

Coronavirus dictated that it wasn't exactly business at usual at Happy Valley Racecourse for the staging of Wednesday's Longines International Jockeys' Championship. But there was a return to at least some semblance of normalcy, as a crowd of about 11,000 fans filed into the stands and into the beer garden to watch Silvestre de Sousa finish level with Tom Marquand to cause a dead heat for just the third time in the history of the event. The duo shared HK$700,000 (£73,544) in prize money.

COVID-19 had already resulted original IJC invitees Yuga Kawada and Jye McNeil being sidelined for the meeting, and the virus claimed a third would-be participant Wednesday when France's Mickael Barzalona tested positive. Zac Purton was a warm favourite to bag a third IJC, but at the end of the day, he struck out, and the competition saw a different jockey win each of the four legs, forcing a countback to decide the winner–or, in this case, winners.

Vincent Ho, who will team up with Golden Sixty (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro) for a three-peat attempt in Sunday's G1 Longines Hong Kong Mile, struck in the first leg of the sequence driving the 8-1 chance Handsome Rebel (Aus) (Denman {Aus}) to a narrow victory over Faribault (Aus) (Zoustar {Aus}) (video) for trainer Jamie Richards.

Derek Leung took Barzalona's place in the IJC and made the most of the opportunity in the second leg, scoring by a short head astride 135-pound topweight Win Win Fighter (Ire) (Elzaam {Aus}) after favoured Royal Pride (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro) slashed through one off the fence and looked on his way to victory (video) for McNeil's replacement Hugh Bowman. In was another feather in the cap for the homegrown Leung, whose previous crowning moment came aboard Beauty Generation (NZ) (Road to Rock {Aus}) in the 2017 Hong Kong Mile.

Neither Marquand nor De Sousa had pointed heading into the third of the IJC races, but that changed when Marquand's 11-1 chance Winning Dragon (Chi) (Ivan Denisovich) pegged back longshot Red Majesty (NZ) (Ferlax {NZ}), who was well-rated from the front by Lyle Hewitson–subbing for Kawada–but just failed to see it out at nearly 40-1 (video).

With as many as nine chances heading into the finale, it was De Sousa who capitalized from close range on Adios (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}), just holding off a late surge from Red Lion (Ire) (Belardo {Ire}) (video), a two-time winner and seventh in the Brittania H. at Royal Ascot this year for trainer Andrew Slattery when racing as Finach McHugh (Ire). Red Lion would have made Australia's Jamie Kah–who took a Class 3 handicap earlier in the evening for Douglas Whyte–the outright winner on the occasion of her 27th birthday, but the event was declared a tie, as both Marquand and De Sousa posted fourths in other legs of the series. Ho's best finish outside of his was a fifth-place effort, while Leung's next best was a sixth.

“To finish joint-top with Silvestre is pretty epic,” said Marquand, who finished tied for second behind Zac Purton here 12 months ago. “He's been champion jockey back home, he works so hard and is someone you look up to in the weighing room. It's a huge honour and sometimes you have to pinch yourself that these things are happening.”

Marquand's wife Hollie Doyle, third in the final IJC race after being under a COVID cloud until she was cleared to participate Tuesday, closed the Happy Valley meeting with a 9-1 upset of the Class 2 United Kingdom H. (1800m) on Spirited Express (Aus) (No Nay Never).

De Sousa, winner of the 2018 IJC, said: “I'm just delighted. It's my second time winning and I finished placed another time. In the last leg I just felt the crowd and although it was a long last half furlong, thank God he got his head down and we gave it everything.”

 

 

The post De Sousa, Marquand Share Longines IJC Title appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Doyle Gets All-Clear For Third Go at Longines IJC

Hollie Doyle may be the roughest chance in the field of 12 for Wednesday evening's Longines International Jockeys' Championship (IJC) at Hong Kong iconic 'city track' at Happy Valley Racecourse, but she'd be considering herself fortunate to take her chances at all.

The 26-year-old, who returned an 'indifferent' COVID test upon her arrival from Japan, was given the green light to compete Tuesday after the chief medical officer for the Hong Kong Jockey Club confirmed that the original result was a 're-positive' case, per a release.

“After careful clinical and laboratory assessments with the results having been communicated to the Government, the CMO is satisfied that Jockey Doyle is medically fit to fulfil her race riding engagements at the Happy Valley Racemeeting to be conducted on Wednesday, 7 December 2022,” the statement read.

Doyle became the first woman to record a victory in one of the four legs of the IJC in 2020 and has reached the podium in both her previous appearances, finishing in a tie for second that year and a joint-third in 2021.

Japan's Yuga Kawada misses the IJC after returning a positive test prior to his departure, while Jye McNeil is also sidelined on similar grounds. Lyle Hewitson takes Kawada's rides and Hugh Bowman, the 2016 IJC winner, slides in for his fellow Australian McNeil.

Over the last several years, the allotment of rides for the IJC has been altered to level the playing field, but, as luck would have it, two-time defending champion Zac Purton has been handed a strong book and is the $3.20 (11-5) favourite to take home the winner's share of HK$800,000 yet again. But he is taking nothing for granted.

“These are the best jockeys from around the world and they've had the most success in recent times as well,” said Purton, who currently sits on 54 winners, 32 clear of fellow IJC competitor Vincent Ho. “They're all in good form and it creates an element of interest for everyone.

“These are the biggest stars in our sport so to be able to compete with them on a night like this is an opportunity I appreciate. I enjoy having them in town and catching up with them as friends too, so it's good to see some familiar faces.”

Making her first IJC appearance is Australia's history-making Jamie Kah, the leading jockey in Melbourne in 2020/2021 and first to post 100 winners in a Melbourne metropolitan season.

“It's always been a dream of mine to ride in Hong Kong,” said Kah, “And this is my first time here. I literally had a stopover once but didn't set foot outside the airport. It's a buzz to be part of this IJC and The Hong Kong Jockey Club has looked after me amazingly well.”

Kah is rated an $18 chance for the IJC.

Along with Purton and Bowman, other past IJC winners looking to add to their totals include Silvestre de Sousa, who won it in 2018, and Ryan Moore, who shared the spoils with Christophe Lemaire and John Murtagh in 2009 before winning outright the following year.

The field is completed by Doyle's husband Tom Marquand, Mickael Barzalona, James McDonald and Matthew Chadwick.

The IJC kicks off with race four at 12:10pm BST (7:10 a.m. US Eastern Time) and features two Class Four (1000m, 1650m) and two Class 3 handicaps (1650m, 1200m).

The post Doyle Gets All-Clear For Third Go at Longines IJC appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

With His Exercise Rider Aboard, Promising Post Time Wins Again

The Week In Review, By Bill Finley

When Eric Camacho retired from riding in 2016, he thought he knew what his future would be. He'd work as an exercise rider in the mornings and step aside in the afternoons and let someone else get all the glory and the big paychecks. Never did he imagine he'd win another race, let alone get the mount on an undefeated 2-year-old who might just be good enough to be pointed toward the GI Kentucky Derby. But after Post Time (Frosted) won Saturday's Maryland Juvenile at Laurel with Camacho aboard, it's beginning to look like anything is possible.

“It's been amazing,” Camacho, 39, said. “Words can't express it.”

Camacho rode regularly from 2004 through 2016 and won 787 races and captured Laurel Park's 2005 winter meet riding title. But he won just 16 races in 2016 and was having a hard time lining up decent mounts.

“I needed to figure out what I was going to do with the rest of my life,” he said.

So he quit riding and took a job galloping horses for trainer Keith Nations. It was his first stop of many before he signed on to work for trainer Brittany Russell in May. That was just about the time that Russell was starting to prepare Post Time for the races. In the son of Frosted, she knew she had a talented prospect but one who was a handful and was immature and quirky. Someone needed to teach him the right way to go about things and she assigned the job to Camacho. The two hit it off.

“He liked to rear up, he liked to play around,” Camacho said. “This horse liked to do things way he liked to do things. I have a lot of experience with younger horses trying to get along with them. We had a bond. Don't get me wrong, we had our bouts. But he came to respect me. He's a very smart horse.”

Post Time's debut was delayed due to a quarter crack, but Russell, whose husband, Sheldon, is a jockey, had him ready to go by early fall. It was around then that Camacho came to her and said whoever would be riding Post Time in the afternoon needed to get on him in the mornings beforehand.

“I told her that if she put somebody on this horse they first need to come by and get on him in the morning,” Camacho said. “I don't want them to afraid of him in the afternoon.”

Russell considered his advice and started to think that maybe the best option was to let Camacho ride Post Time.

“I asked him if maybe he should ride the horse,” she said. “At first, I was kind of just joking around.  But then I thought, you know what, he has a good relationship with the horse's owner, Ellen Charles, and I know he'll get this horse to the starting gate. Whatever tricks this horse might have up his sleeve on race day I know Eric will remain confident in him and will let him run anyway.”

The Maryland-bred debuted Oct. 7, facing off against open company in a 5 1/2-furlong maiden race at Laurel. Camacho, who had one mount in 2017 and another in 2021, had not won a race for nearly six years, since Oct. 20, 2016. Post Time won by two lengths, but it was far from smooth sailing. After making a sweeping move on the turn and gaining the lead in upper stretch, he swerved in and out down the lane.

He returned for an allowance race on Oct. 27 and it was a case of more of the same, a bold move on the turn followed by his ducking in and out down the stretch. He won by 6 3/4 lengths.

The Maryland Juvenile was next. Facing fellow Maryland-breds, this time Post Time closed from last, made an eye-catching move on the turn and drew off to win by 3 3/4 lengths. Though the competition may not have been that strong, it was a very impressive effort. And it was delivered without any antics in the stretch, giving Camacho his third win on the year from just three mounts. He has not ridden anybody else this year.

“This horse really turned a comer in the last two weeks or so,” Camacho said.

With the worst behavior perhaps a thing of the past, maybe now is the time for Russell to go to a different jockey, maybe even her husband, who is one of the top riders on the Maryland circuit.  Russell said she has no plans to do so.

“I don't know where we'll go with him next, but it's kind of hard to pull somebody off a horse that knows him so well and has done nothing wrong on him,” Russell said. “I think this has meant a lot to Eric. And it should. He's done a lot of work with this horse, who has had his good days and his bad days. Yes, he has a lot of talent, but I'm sure there are a lot of days when Eric wakes up and thinks, 'Oh, gosh, I've got to get this sucker to the racetrack this morning.' We gave Eric an opportunity, but he has done a great job.”

It's clear that Post Time is ready for a tougher assignment, but it's hard to tell how good he is. He has been winning easily, but that doesn't mean that he can step up from Maryland-bred competition and be competitive in a prep for the Derby. Then again, Russell isn't ruling it out.

“That's why you're in this business,” she said. “Everybody wants a horse like this in the barn and everybody wants to dream. The Derby or Derby preps? I can't say no, but he has a lot to prove before you can start talking about something like that. He won the Maryland Juvenile against a horse that had just won a restricted race. He's going to have to step up. Ellen is Maryland through and through, so she might like to see him run through the series here in races like the Tesio. But it's not a far ship to New York, so something there might be in the cards.”

Wherever Post Time goes next, it will be with Camacho, his exercise rider aboard.

“People say this horse has so much ability, why do you let the exercise rider ride him in the afternoon?” Russell said. “You have to realize that Eric had to work really hard with the horse to get him to show his talent in the afternoon. I don't know where we'd be without him.”

 

In Appreciation of Mind Control

There have been better horses to run over the last few years than Mind Control (Stay Thirsty), the winner of Saturday's GI Cigar Mile H., but perhaps none tougher or more game. You don't want to get into a dogfight in the stretch with this horse because you will lose. That was the case Saturday when he was passed in the stretch by Get Her Number (Dialed In) only to fight back and win by a head. It was his 11th career stakes win and his third victory in a Grade I event.

In the last four races in which he has crossed the wire first, he has won by a head every time. The chart comments have included the following: “battled back gamely,” “bid stretch, came again,” and “dueled.” Outside of his maiden win, which he won by three lengths, he has never won by more than 1 1/2 lengths and he won both the GI H. Allen Jerkens S. and the GIII Toboggan S. by a nose.

He's also been remarkably durable, winning the GI Hopeful S. as a 2-year-old and the Cigar as a 6-year-old in his last career start.

“If you like horse racing, you've got to love this horse,” said winning trainer Todd Pletcher after the Cigar.

Well said.

The post With His Exercise Rider Aboard, Promising Post Time Wins Again appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Epicenter To Stand at Ashford Stud

Winchell Thoroughbreds' Epicenter (Not This Time–Silent Candy, by Candy Ride {Arg}), a leading candidate for champion 3-year-old honors, will enter stud in 2023 at Ashford Stud. He will stand for $45,000.

Bred at Mike, Brent and Kevin Harrises' Westwind Farms in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Epicenter was hammered down to the Winchell team for $260,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September sale and was ultimately turned over to the operation's Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. A maiden winner at second asking going the one-turn mile at Churchill Downs, the bay romped by 6 1/2 lengths to become a stakes winner for the first time in the Gun Runner S. at the Fair Grounds last December before dropping a narrow decision when making his graded stakes debut in the GIII Lecomte S. An all-the-way winner of the GII Risen Star S. in February, Epicenter showed a new dimension in the GII Louisiana Derby, settling a bit further off the pace before quickening home to score by 2 1/2 lengths.

Epicenter's winter efforts made him the 4.10-1 favorite for the GI Kentucky Derby and he raced better than midfield, surged to the lead at the furlong grounds and was outfinished by Rich Strike (Keen Ice). He was similarly unlucky to not win the GI Preakness S., finishing runner-up to recent Coolmore addition Early Voting (Gun Runner) after a slow start and some upper-stretch traffic, but he atoned for those defeats at Saratoga over the summer with some authority.

Epicenter was a romping winner of the GII Jim Dandy S., besting Grade I winner Zandon (Upstart), and, at even-money, the GI Runhappy Travers S., where dual GISW Cyberknife (Gun Runner) was left some 5 1/4 lengths behind. His Beyer Speed Figure of 112 was the highest of any of his generation on dirt this year. Epicenter, who was pulled up when the second pick to Flightline (Tapit) in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic and is recovering nicely from his injuries, retires with a record of 6-3-0 from 11 starts and earnings of $2,940,639.

“Epicenter was solid all year and the Travers was the breakout performance he needed and deserved, and he did it in an emphatic way,” said trainer Steve Asmussen. “He put everything together on a grand stage.”

“He was a brilliant horse whose best racing days were still in front of him,” said Ron Winchell who raced the colt. “Bred on the reverse of Gun Runner's Candy Ride/Giant's Causeway cross he's a hugely exciting stallion prospect.”

“Epicenter is the best son of Giant's Causeway's best sire son Not This Time and is out of a stakes winner by the sire of Gun Runner,” said Coolmore's Dermot Ryan. “His combination of speed and stamina made him a potent force and he's a very good-looking horse to boot. Breeders are going to love him.”

One of three top-level and one of nine graded winners for his boom stallion, Epicenter is the most accomplished foal from his stakes-winning and Grade III-placed dam, who fetched $625,000 carrying a full-sibling to Epicenter at this year's Keeneland November Sale. Westwind acquired Silent Candy for $130,000 in foal to Scat Daddy at KEENOV in 2014.

 

WATCH: Epicenter storms clear in the 2022 GI Runhappy Travers S.

The post Epicenter To Stand at Ashford Stud appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights