Tag: Horse Racing

Hades Guts It Out In the Holy Bull As Fierceness Folds

All eyes were on Eclipse Award and runaway GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile hero Fierceness (City of Light) making his seasonal debut in Saturday's GIII Holy Bull S. at Gulfstream Park.

The tote read 1-5 on the champ, but the Repole homebred and 'TDN Rising Star' was out of gas when push came to shove, and, in a bit of an oddly run race, D J Stable and Robert Cotran's unbeaten Hades (Awesome Slew) controlled a moderate tempo, slipped away from Fierceness in the final furlong and held off Domestic Product (Practical Joke) by two lengths for a 9-1 upset and 20 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby.

“This is what you hope for,” D J Stable's Jonathan Green said. “You hope you have a horse that's this good that can carry your dreams into another level for the Florida Derby and then the Kentucky Derby. The thing that was so exciting to me about this race was not only the way that (trainer) Joe (Orseno) campaigned the horse, which was outstanding. He knows how to handle a horse and get him into the Triple Crown races. But I was so happy that our horse went eyeball-to-eyeball with a champ and put him away. To me, that really shows something. It means the horse really wants to (win), and that's something you can't teach.”

Making his two-turn debut Saturday, Hades, a $130,000 OBS April purchase, was driven away from his rail draw by Paco Lopez, and Fierceness was also given a dig by John Velazquez in an effort to gain some forward position, but Fierceness did get fired up a bit as a result. Hades made the running from Inveigled (Enticed) and a three-wide Fierceness, and sensing a slow pace, Velazquez sent Fierceness into the lead a good three furlongs from home.

Right alongside and in with every chance, Fierceness and Hades appeared to lightly brush inside the eighth pole and while Fierceness had no more to give, Hades kicked on to cause the surprise. Domestic Product, making his first start since a well-beaten seventh in the GII Remsen S. Dec. 2, sat an inside trip and got through at the fence into the stretch before going on to claim second.

Hades rallied from last of seven to win at first asking going 5 1/2 furlongs in a $50,000 maiden optional claimer (not in for the tag) at Gulfstream Park Dec. 9. He dueled free from his rail draw to win by daylight in a first-level state-bred allowance going seven furlongs at Gulfstream last time Dec. 31.

“The plan was to go to the lead, but if somebody was pushing him he was going to rate him,” Orseno said. “It looked like he started to do that when that one horse went up to him, and then Paco had to go. He knew it. When the horse accelerates, he's just got another gear at the top of the stretch. He showed it to us last time. Of course, a champion eyeballs him and he dug in and took off. He ran away from a very good horse. It was our day today. We'll see next time, but right now we'll enjoy the moment.”

Orseno added, “I'm going to let the horse tell us (what's next). Right now, I would say no (to the Fountain of Youth), but if the horse is sharp… he's lightly raced. He's run five and a half and seven furlongs. It's not like he's been pushed.”

It wasn't the easiest of journeys for Fierceness, who was defeated by 3 1/2 lengths following a wide trip after getting pinballed at the start. His resume also includes a puzzling seventh as the heavy favorite in last fall's GI Champagne S.

“He didn't get off to a very good start,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “The inside horse bumped him pretty good and then he got sandwiched and kind of had to shove him into the race and try to get the position we wanted, which we eventually did. But, he had to overcome a pretty rough start to get there. It seemed like he got into a good rhythm and straightened away for home and just kind of flattened out a little bit. Disappointed in the outcome. I think if you watch the replay of the start, it was a pretty rough start, kind of similar to what happened in the Champagne. If he doesn't get away well, he doesn't get into the flow of the race the same way.”

He continued, “I don't think we're going to change any plans. We'll obviously assess how the horse comes out of the race. We know he's better than that, so we've got to regroup a little bit and do better next time. He's shown that he can recover from a subpar performance with a good one.”

Pedigree Notes:

Hades is the second stakes winner and first at the graded level for Awesome Slew. The win gave broodmare sire Quality Road his 11th black-type winner and fifth graded/group winner worldwide. D J Stable went to $130,000 (:21 1/5) to recruit Hades from the 2023 OBS April Sale. The year prior, his half-sister Devious Dame (Girvin) brought $240,000 from One Up Bloodstock out of the OBS March Sale. Devious Dame won her first two races by a combined 10 3/4 lengths and lived up to heavy favoritism with a sharp victory in the Astoria S. at Belmont Park. She brought $185,000 from Woods Edge Farm at the 2023 KEENOV sale. Hades's third dam is GISW Pretty Discreet (Private Account), herself the dam of GISWs Discreet Cat (Forestry) and Discreetly Mine (Mineshaft). Their unraced dam The Shady Lady is a half-sister to MSW & MGSP Courtesan (Street Sense). She is also represented by a 2-year-old full brother to Hades and a yearling filly by Girvin. She visited Win Win Win for 2024.

Saturday, Gulfstream Park
HOLY BULL S.-GIII, $260,000, Gulfstream, 2-3, 3yo, 1 1/16m, 1:46.07, ft.
1–HADES, 118, g, 3, by Awesome Slew
                1st Dam: The Shady Lady, by Quality Road
                2nd Dam: Lady Discreet, by Boundary
                3rd Dam: Pretty Discreet, by Private Account
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($130,000 2yo '23 OBSAPR). O-D. J. Stable LLC and Robert Cotran; B-Ocala Stud, Joseph M. O'Farrell III, David O'Farrell, et al. (FL);
T-Joseph F. Orseno; J-Paco Lopez. $161,900. Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0, $225,000. *1/2 to Devious Dame (Girvin), SW, $120,560. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Domestic Product, 118, c, 3, Practical Joke–Goods and Services, by Paynter. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. O/B-Klaravich Stables (KY); T-Chad C. Brown. $49,000.
3–Fierceness, 124, c, 3, City of Light–Nonna Bella, by Stay Thirsty. 'TDN Rising Star'. O/B-Repole Stable, Inc. (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $24,500.
Margins: 2, 1HF, 2HF. Odds: 9.20, 14.40, 0.20.
Also Ran: Inveigled, Dancing Groom, Otello, Sea Streak. Scratched: No More Time.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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Nysos Proves A Smooth Winner of the Robert B. Lewis

Things may not have gone strictly according to script for undefeated 'TDN Rising Star' Nysos (Nyquist) in Saturday's GIII Robert B. Lewis S., as he was perhaps a half-step slowly away, and with a trio of rivals hellbent on being part of the pace battle, was forced to sit farther off the speed than he'd done in either of his previous towering victories. At the end of the day, it mattered very little, as the Bob Baffert trainee came with a bold run three wide into the lane and went on to treat his six other rivals to a 7 1/2-length beating.

Though Nysos did lay fourth early on before bolting up in the GIII Bob Hope S. at Del Mar Nov. 19–having earned 'Rising Star' accolades when graduating by better than 10 lengths the previous month–those were sprinter-type splits ahead of him at Del Mar and he would need to prove he could switch off behind fractions that were sure to be slower on balance. Indeed, stretching out to a route of ground for the first time Saturday, Nysos settled nicely enough for Flavien Prat, about five lengths away from the hard-sent Scatify (Justify), his stablemate Wine Me Up (Vino Rosso) and Mc Vay (Constitution) down the backstretch and past the half-mile in :46.67.

Still fourth as they raced into the final three-eighths of a mile, Nysos gained inside of Mc Vay with under three furlongs to travel, was switched out wide under a full head of steam at the quarter pole and kicked home in a race of his own. Wine me Up won the battle for second over Scatify.

It was the sixth win in a row and 12th in the race for trainer Bob Baffert, who trained Silver Charm for Bob and Beverly Lewis to win the 1997 GI Kentucky Derby. General Challenge provided him with his first back in 1999, when the race was contested as the Santa Catalina S. It was renamed for Lewis following his passing in 2006. Nysos is ineligible for this year's Derby, having been left with Baffert at the Jan. 29th deadline.

“He stumbled a bit leaving there, but he was in a good spot,” the winning trainer commented. “Prat rode him with a lot of confidence, he knows the horse well. I love the fact that he has speed and he proved he can do two turns. He has a great mind. He is a really good colt. You can just sit there and push the button at any time. It makes it so much easier for the riders, but I still get a little nervous.”

Pedigree Notes:

One of 22 stakes winners and 11 graded winners for his Kentucky Derby-winning sire, Nysos is bred on the same cross that produced GI Summer S. hero Gretzky the Great from Nyquist's first crop to the races in 2020, and the cross over A.P. Indy and his stallions sons has resulted in fellow Grade I winner Vequist and Grade II victress Turnerloose. Bernardini dams have produced Grade I winner Mo Town and other graded scorers Modernist and Mopotism when bred to Nyquist's sire Uncle Mo.

The unraced Zetta Z, a granddaughter of GI Breeders' Cup Distaff upsetter Unbridled Elaine, is the dam of four winners from five to race and she has become increasingly popular from a commercial standpoint. Before Hades blossomed from a $130,000 Keeneland November weanling and $150,000 Fasig-Tipton October yearling into a $550,000 OBS April breezer, the mare's now 2-year-old Street Sense filly was a $70,000 KEENOV purchase turned $170,000 FTKOCT acquisition after Zetta Z changed hands for $35,000 at KEENOV in 2021. Zetta Z's colt by Uncle Mo's son Yaupon was knocked down for $450,000 at Keeneland last November, the priciest of 44 of the stallion's foals reported as sold in 2023. Zetta Z was covered by Cyberknife last year.

 

Saturday, Santa Anita
ROBERT B. LEWIS S.-GIII, $201,000, Santa Anita, 2-3, 3yo, 1m, 1:36.65, ft.
1–NYSOS, 120, c, 3, by Nyquist
1st Dam: Zetta Z, by Bernardini
2nd Dam: Seresa's Spirit, by Rahy
3rd Dam: Unbridled Elaine, by Unbridled's Song
'TDN Rising Star'. ($130,000 Wlg '21 KEENOV; $150,000 Ylg '22
FTKOCT; $550,000 2yo '23 OBSAPR). O-Baoma Corp; B-Atkins
Susie (KY); T-Bob Baffert; J-Flavien Prat. $120,000. Lifetime
Record: 3-3-0-0, $216,600. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple
Plus* Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for
the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Wine Me Up, 120, c, 3, Vino Rosso–Deanaallen'skitten, by
Kitten's Joy. ($115,000 Wlg '21 KEENOV; $300,000 2yo '23
OBSOPN). O-Michael E. Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul
Weitman; B-Kenneth L. & Sarah K. Ramsey (KY); T-Bob Baffert.
$40,000.
3–Scatify, 120, c, 3, Justify–Broadway Run, by Prospective.
1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($120,000 2yo '23
EASMAY). O-West Point Thoroughbreds; B-Doug & Felicia
Branham (KY); T-John W. Sadler. $24,000.
Margins: 7HF, 3/4, 4 1/4. Odds: 0.10, 6.50, 13.10.
Also Ran: Mc Vay, Moonlit Sonata, Better Than Gold, Ace of Clubs. Scratched: Coach Prime, Stronghold.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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Band of Gold a First Stakes Winner For Preservationist In Martha Washington

The 24-1 longest shot in a field of nine for Saturday's Martha Washington S. at a soggy Oaklawn Park, Dixiana Farms LLC's Band of Gold (Preservationist) became the first black-type winner for her young Airdrie Stud-based sire (by Arch) with an irresistible late run to best heavily favored Denim and Pearls (Into Mischief).

Content to drop down onto the fence from her low draw, the $70,000 Keeneland November weanling switched off nicely behind midfield for Brian Hernandez, Jr. and remained within striking distance for the run around the turn. In hand and going well nearing the stretch, she split horses a quarter-mile from home, angled out into the center of the rain-affected strip and did her best work through the line to cause the boilover.

“It's one of those deals, looking at it on paper, a lot of us were coming out of sprints, so there was going to be quite a bit of speed,” said Brian Hernandez Jr. “We ended up being 24-1. We had the two hole, so our advantage was just going to be to save every inch of ground. And if she was good enough from the head of the lane [coming] home, she was going to get there. That's what happened.”

Band of Gold became one of 14 first-crop 2-year-old winners for Preservationist when dropping her nose on the line to graduate over Churchill's one-turn mile in a race taken off the grass Nov. 25, but she never factored in her juvenile finale, a distant fifth in the Dec. 23 Untapable S. at the Fair Grounds.

Band of Gold is out of a half-sister to 2018 GIII Southwest S. hero My Boy Jack (Creative Cause) and her third dam was a winner of the GIII Fleur de Lis S. and runner-up in the GI CCA Oaks in 1996 for the late John Franks. The 2-year-old full-brother to Band of Gold, Chunk of Gold, was purchased for $2,500 at last year's Fasig-Tipton October Sale. Play for Gold is due to Airdrie's Upstart for 2024. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

MARTHA WASHINGTON S., $250,000, Oaklawn, 2-3, 3yo, f, 1 1/16m, 1:45.16, sy.
1–BAND OF GOLD, 118, f, 3, by Preservationist
1st Dam: Play for Gold, by Cairo Prince
2nd Dam: Gold N Shaft, by Mineshaft
3rd Dam: Gold n Delicious, by Gold Alert
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. ($70,000 Wlg '21 KEENOV). O-Dixiana Farms LLC; B-Brereton C Jones (KY); T-Kenneth G McPeek; J-Brian Joseph Hernandez Jr. $135,000. Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-0, $206,000.
2–Denim and Pearls, 122, f, 3, Into Mischief–Majestic Presence, by Majestic Warrior. ($500,000 Ylg '22 FTSAUG). O-Red White and Blue Racing LLC; B-Town & Country Horse Farms LLC (KY); T-Brad H Cox. $45,000.
3–Neom Beach, 118, f, 3, Omaha Beach–Giant's Causey, by Giant's Causeway. ($210,000 2yo '23 OBSAPR). O-Bloom Racing Stable LLC (Jeffrey Bloom) & The Line Racing; B-Tami Bobo (KY); T-Steven M Asmussen. $22,500.
Margins: 2 3/4, NK, HF. Odds: 24.30, 1.00, 7.10.

 

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Size Holds Strong Hand For Hong Kong Classic Mile

One of the best trainers in Hong Kong history, John Size is a three-time winner of the Hong Kong Classic Mile, a 1600-metre event that serves as the first of the three legs of the Classics series restricted to 4-year-olds from both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The 12-times champion conditioner, who is approaching 1500 career victories, has two bonafide chances to add a fourth Classic Mile Sunday in the form of Helios Express (Aus) (Toronado {Ire}) and Howdeepisyourlove (Aus) (Deep Field {Aus}).

Helios Express is the lone member of the nine-horse field rated north of 100, and he has earned it with four wins from his six starts dating back to last June, including a powerful 2 3/4-length victory in a Class 2 over Sunday's distance Jan. 7. That effort has stamped him as the $1.40 (2-5) jolly overnight and Hugh Bowman has the call before beginning a suspension.

“He made the adaption to 1600 (metres) more or less straight away, he seemed to travel not too bad,” the always matter-of-fact Size said of his latest effort. “He was a little bit strong, I guess, but still managed it in a slow-run race and he sprinted well off a slow speed, that's about all we expected from him.

“I don't think he's taken harm from the race. He seems to have coped with that pretty well. His trial was normal and he looks like he's going to run a race again.”

 

 

 

James McDonald is due to partner with Howdeepisyourlove, but suffered a foot injury before Saturday's G3 Widden S. at Rosehill and will be subject to an exam by the HKJC's chief medical officer upon his arrival. The gelding has four wins to his credit, all over the 1200-metre distance and each at Happy Valley, and he'll need to lift here to make his presence felt.

There are 34 stakes races held each season in Hong Kong, and the Classic Mile is the only one to have thus far eluded champion jockey Zac Purton. He takes the reins on Helene Feeling (Ire) (Sioux Nation) for Danny Shum and actually exits a try at group level when he was third as the favourite in the G3 January Cup H. at the city circuit Jan. 10. Winner of four from 10 in Hong Kong, he raced in England as Indian Dream and was a two-time scorer in the lower grades while under the care of Michael Bell.

Beauty Crescent (Ire), whose sire Acclamation (GB) was responsible for 2022 Classic Mile and now multiple Group 1 winner Romantic Warrior (Ire), won the Listed Blenheim S. in 2022 while under the care of Ger Lyons, and though he may not quite be up to winning this, can contend for a minor award. He exits a pair of luckless runs in Class 3 over 1400 metres and attacked the line on both occasions. Andrea Atzeni rides for the legendary Tony Cruz.

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