Tag: Horse Racing

Bejarano Fifteenth Jockey to 500 Winners at Churchill

Rafael Bejarano became just the 15th jockey to record as many at 500 victories at historic Churchill Downs when the debuting juvenile filly Just Cindy (Justify) validated 6-5 favoritism for trainer Eddie Kenneally Friday afternoon.

A native of Peru who will celebrate his 40th birthday June 23, Bejarano began riding at the Louisville oval in 2003 and earned three riding titles (Spring, 2004-5, Fall 2005) before shifting his tack to California in 2008. Arguably Bejarano's finest hour in the saddle came beneath the Twin Spires in 2010, when he shoved Blind Luck (Pollard's Vision) across the line for a narrow victory in the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks.

Just Cindy was the 4,281st career win for Bejarano, whose mounts have earned over $217 million in prize money.

Other members of the Churchill 500 club include Pat Day (2,482 Churchill Downs wins), Calvin Borel (1,232), Robby Albarado (1,192), Corey Lanerie (1,172), Julien Leparoux (1,002), Don Brumfield (925), Larry Melancon (914), Jim McKnight (883), Charlie Woods, Jr. (757), Brian Hernandez, Jr. (740), Shane Sellers (738), Shaun Bridgmohan (728), Julio Espinoza (642) and Jon Court (583).

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Roman, Wong, Tommy Town Tops at Golden Gate

Jockey Evin Roman, trainer Jonathan Wong and Tommy Town Thoroughbreds were the leading jockey, trainer and owner, respectively, at the Golden Gate Fields winter/spring meet that wrapped up Sunday, June 12.

The 24-year-old native of Puerto Rico, Roman rode 87 winners over the course of the meet, four better than Pedro Terro, with purse earnings of $1.745,152. Earlier in his career, Roman won five riding titles in Southern California and was the Eclipse champion apprentice of 2017.

Wong won his fifth consecutive training title, with 71 winners from 349 starters for a 20% strike rate. Among his victories were a pair at stakes level.

Tom and Debi Stull's Tommy Town Thoroughbreds LLC were represented by 19 winners from 90 runners to be the meet's leading owners. All of the Tommy Town horses are trained by Wong.

Northern California racing shifts to the fair meetings for the next two months at Pleasanton, Sacramento and Santa Rosa. Racing is tentatively scheduled to return to Golden Gate Friday, Aug. 26, pending final approval by the California Horse Racing Board.

The post Roman, Wong, Tommy Town Tops at Golden Gate appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Pletcher ‘Rising Star’ Pair Work For Belmont Derby

The Todd Pletcher-trained 'TDN Rising Star' duo of Emmanuel (More Than Ready) and Annapolis (War Front) worked in company in :48.04 over the inner turf course at Belmont Park Friday as they prepare for the $1-million GI Caesars Belmont Derby Invitational S. July 9.

“It was a good work. They went in 48 and change, finished up nicely and galloped out well. I was happy with it,” Pletcher said.

Owned by WinStar Farm and Siena Farm, Emmanuel acquitted himself well on the dirt during the buildup to the Triple Crown, finishing third to Zandon (Upstart) in the GI Toyota Blue Grass S. in April, but handled a switch to the grass with aplomb for his most recent appearance, a front-running defeat of Napoleonic War (War Front) and Limited Liability (Kitten's Joy) in the GII Pennine Ridge S. over nine furlongs. The top three finishers in the Pennine Ridge are guaranteed berths in the Belmont Derby.

Annapolis races as a homebred for Ramona Bass and is a son of the talented My Miss Sophia (Unbridled's Song), who became one of the top turf males of his generation last season with a 'Rising Star'-worthy debut at Saratoga Sept. 4 ahead of a very game success in Belmont's GII Pilgrim S. last October. He returned to action as the 1-2 favorite in the June 3 GII Penn Mile, but was forced to settle for second behind 83-1 Wow Whata Summer (Summer Front) after chasing that one throughout.

“I thought he ran well. Unfortunately, we caught a lot of rain, and it was an extremely heavy track,” Pletcher said. “It was tough to do that off that layoff, I thought he gave us a good effort. He just couldn't accelerate that last part with the boggy ground.”

In other news from the Pletcher barn, the conditioner indicated that 'TDN Rising Star' Shahama (Munnings) will make her next start GII Mother Goose S. at Belmont June 25. The $425,000 OBS April graduate, a half-sister to top sire Lookin At Lucky (Smart Strike), won the G3 UAE Oaks at Meydan Feb. 18 before her repatriation. In her lone appearance for Pletcher, the blaze-faced bay finished a respectable sixth to Secret Oath (Arrogate) from a high draw in the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks May 6.

“We zeroed in on the Mother Goose after the Kentucky Oaks and we felt like the mile and a sixteenth suited her a little better than the one-mile Acorn. I'm happy with the way she's doing,” Pletcher said.

The Hall of Famer has won the Mother Goose six times, including last year's running with 18-1 Zaajel (Street Sense).

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Ashford Stallions Front and Center Sunday in Japan

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Hanshin and Tokyo Racecourses. Sunday's racing at headquarters features the G3 Unicorn S., a race won in 2020 by future multiple Group 1 scorer Cafe Pharoah (American Pharoah) and which includes the progressive Ju Taro (Arrogate) trying stakes company for the first time. Also in the field are G2 UAE Derby participants Combustion (Jpn) (Discreet Cat) and Sekifu (Jpn) (Henny Hughes):

Sunday, June 19, 2022
2nd-HSN, ¥9,900,000 ($75k), Maiden, 3yo, 1400mT
LA LA GARGOUILLE (c, 3, Classic Empire–Sweet Saturday, by Any Given Saturday), a $150K Keeneland September acquisition, is out of a winning daughter of the stakes-placed Dawn Raid (Vindication), most notably the dam of 2016 GI Preakness S., GI Haskell S. and GI Santa Anita Derby hero Exaggerator (Curlin). The colt's three-times stakes-placed third dam was responsible for Sovereign Award and dual Grade III winner Embur's Song (Unbridled's Song) from this sire line. China Horse Club purchased dam Sweet Saturday for $70K at the 2016 Fasig-Tipton November Sale. B-China Horse Club International Limited (KY)

6th-TOK, ¥13,400,000 ($99k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1400m
ADVANCE PHAROAH (c, 2, American Pharoah–Fair Huntress, by Tiznow) was a $140K purchase by trainer Hideyuki Mori at KEESEP last fall and is out of an unraced half-sister to John Gunther's part-owned GIII Chicago H. victress Devil By Design (Medaglia d'Oro). Gunther's name was on the docket when this colt's dam fetched $22K at KEEJAN in 2017 and saw the mare's value increase when Devil By Design's daughter Competitionofideas (Speightstown) won the 2018 GI American Oaks. Yutaka Take has the debut riding assignment. B-John D Gunther & American Pharoah Syndicate (KY)

 

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