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Yaupon Injured, Retired

Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt's Yaupon (Uncle Mo–Modification, by Vindication), who became his sire's ninth Grade I winner with a tenacious victory in the Forego S. at Saratoga Aug. 28, suffered an injury while training towards the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint at Santa Anita Friday morning and has been retired from racing. It was previously announced that the 4-year-old would be entering stud at Spendthrift Farm for the 2022 breeding season.

Daily Racing Form was first to report the news.

Bred in Kentucky by the partnership of Betz, Lamantia, CoCo Equine, Magers and Burns and trained by Steve Asmussen, Yaupon ran the table through the first four starts of his career, including Saratoga's GII Amsterdam S., clocking 1:08.50 for the six furlongs. The dark bay colt added the GIII Chick Lang S. on the Preakness undercard last October, scoring by four lengths and cementing his status as the favorite for last year's GI Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland. He endured a troubled trip and finished down the field.

Yaupon bounced back from an often-taxing trip to Dubai for the G1 Golden Shaheen in March with a 1 3/4-length success in Pimlico's Lite the Fuse S. July 4 prior to the Forego, his first try over seven furlongs, in which he got the better of a stirring final-furlong tussle with and an attempted savaging by the classy Firenze Fire (Poseidon's Warrior).

At Spendthrift, Yaupon is slated to stand alongside the Heiligbrodts' champion sprinter Mitole (Eskendereya).

“Aside from being extremely fast, Yaupon is one of the best-looking sons of Uncle Mo you will find anywhere,” Spendthrift General Manager Ned Toffey said when news of Yaupon's addition to the stallion barn was announced earlier this month. “When breeders come out to the farm and see a fast Saratoga Grade I winner by Uncle Mo that is as beautiful as he is on the end of a lead shank, we believe we will get a lot of 'yeses'.”

“Yaupon is an absolutely stunning physical with an unbelievable pedigree, and he might have been one of the fastest horses we have ever seen at a 2-year-old-in-training sales,” added Bill Heiligbrodt at the time of the announcement. “Corinne and I have been racing horses since the 1980s and have been lucky to be represented by a lot of nice horses. Yaupon is our best ever when you combine speed, pedigree and conformation.”

One of 75 black-type winners and 40 graded winners for his emerging sire of sires, Yaupon is out of a Grade I-placed mare who has also been responsible for MGSP turfer Sawyer's Hill (Spring At Last). Yaupon's 2-year-old half-sister Royal Flower (American Pharoah) was purchased by Mike Rutherford for $1.2 million at Keeneland September last fall, while his yearling relation, a Good Magic colt already named Limits of Power, was knocked down to Alan Quartucci, agent, for $575,000 on the opening day of this year's September sale.

Yaupon heads to the breeding shed with a stellar record of 8-6-0-0 and earnings of $703,264.

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Racing ‘Rookie’ Speaker’s Corner Ready To Step Up In Pennsylvania Derby

The rookie of the Pennsylvania Derby, experience wise, is Godolphin Racing's Speaker's Corner.

When the son of Street Sense enters the starting gate for the Grade 1, $1 million race, it will be just the fourth start for Speaker's Corner and second this year. All of the eight other runners have more race day experience.

Of the other Derby runners, two of them – I Am Redeemed and Americanrevolution – will be making the Pennsylvania Derby their fifth career start.

The lack of seasoning might be cause for concern to those who like Speaker's Corner, but that anxiety should dissipate when you see who is training him. Hall of Famer Bill Mott is not sending Speaker's Corner to Parx because he wants to load up on Philly Cheese Steaks.

Speaker's Corner's highly anticipated return to the races came Aug. 14 at Saratoga in an allowance, a seven-furlong race he won easily by 5 ¼ lengths.

“It was everything we expected and a little bit more,” Mott said. “I was happy with it, for sure. I wasn't sure if the seven-eighths would be enough ground for him. I thought they would run him off his feet a little bit early in the race.”

That didn't happen. The talent the colt showed as a 2-year-old was still there despite a long layoff. He broke his maiden in his second start last October at Belmont and some of the horses he beat that day included Caddo River, Greatest Honour, Miles D and Pennsylvania Derby rival Bourbonic.

After that, an ankle injury put him on the equine disabled list for a while and a spring-time virus that went through Mott's barn delayed his return even longer.

It was worth the wait. Mott is asking him to take a gigantic step forward as he tries graded stakes company for the first time.

“We have always felt we belonged with this group,” Mott said. “We have the one race under our belt and it's working out well.”

Speaker's Corner, who will be ridden by Jose Ortiz, is 12-1 on the Derby morning line.

Mott will also saddle Juddmonte's Obligatory in the Grade 1, $1 million Cotillion. The daughter of two-time Horse of the Year Curlin finished fifth in the Grade 1 Test at Saratoga in her last start on Aug. 7.

“The big thing about her is that it is a two-turn test,” Mott said about the 1 1/16-mile Cotillion.

“We know she's quite effective at seven-eighths and a flat mile at one turn. This is a bit of a fact-finding mission for us to figure out if the configuration of the race is going to suit her. We'll see.”

Ortiz also has the mount on Obligatory, who is 10-1 on the Cotillion morning line.

The post Racing ‘Rookie’ Speaker’s Corner Ready To Step Up In Pennsylvania Derby appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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‘Rising Star’ Runs Up the Score in the Gimma

Robert and Lawana Low's Classy Edition (Classic Empire) became the second stakes winner for her freshman sire (by Pioneerof the Nile) with a popular victory in Friday's Joseph. A Gimma S. at Belmont Park.

Favored off a smashing 6 3/4-length debut success at Saratoga Sept. 5 for which she was named a 'TDN Rising Star', the $550,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic breezer was beaten for speed and trailed the field early before being steered to the outside of her rivals and improved into midfield to the turn. Niggled at into the final three furlongs, Classy Edition began to find her best stride four deep at the top of the lane, struck the front at the three-sixteenths pole and was ridden out to score by a wide margin.

“First time she backed up out of the dirt [kickback] a little bit like most first-time starters will do,” explained winning trainer Todd Pletcher. “She settled into it a little better here. He [Irad Ortiz, Jr.] ultimately had no other option but to go out four or five wide. It looked like she finished with good energy.”

The conditioner indicated that the $250,000 Maid of the Mist S. going a one-turn mile is the likely next start for the winner Oct. 30.

A half-sister to the treble stakes-winning Newly Minted (Central Banker) and to MSP New Girl In Town (Boys At Tosconova), Classy Edition has a yearling half-brother by American Pharoah from this same sire line. Newbie was bred to both Laoban and Vekoma this past season. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

JOSEPH A. GIMMA S., $150,000, Belmont, 9-24, (S), 2yo, f, 7f, 1:24.42, my.
1–CLASSY EDITION, 120, f, 2, by Classic Empire
1st Dam: Newbie, by Bernardini
2nd Dam: Changeisgonnacome, by Cherokee Run
3rd Dam: Top Tip, by Lost Code
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. 'TDN Rising Star' ($550,000 2yo '21
EASMAY). O-Lawana L & Robert E Low; B-Chester & Mary R
Broman (NY); T-Todd A Pletcher; J-Irad Ortiz Jr. $82,500.
Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $129,250. *1/2 to Newly Minted
(Central Banker), MSW, $516,738; and New Girl in Town (Boys
At Tosconova), MSP, $172,505. **Second stakes winner for
freshman sire (by Pioneerof the Nile).
2–Velvet Sister, 120, f, 2, Bernardini–Backslash, by Sharp
Humor. ($165,000 Ylg '20 FTKSEL; $500,000 2yo '21 FTFMAR).
O-Stonestreet Stables LLC; B-Michelle Nevin & Godolphin (NY);
T-Steven M Asmussen. $30,000.
3–Shesawildjoker, 120, f, 2, Practical Joke–Tarquinia, by
Speightstown. ($80,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Joseph Bucci;
B-Three Diamonds Farm (NY); T-David G Donk. $18,000.
Margins: 8, 6, 1 1/4. Odds: 1.35, 4.00, 6.20.

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Heavy Hitters Return in Japan

The once-beaten Lei Papale (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and reigning G1 Tokyo Yushun hero Shahryar (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) each return to begin their autumn preps in Group 2 events Sunday in Japan.

Carrot Racing's Lei Papale worked her way through the grades in under-the-radar fashion, missing the 3-year-old filly Classics while running the table in five starts, including a breakthrough success at group level as the lone female in a field of 11 in the G3 Challenge Cup at Hanshin last December. Connections could scarcely have selected a more demanding 4-year-old debut for Lei Papale in the G1 Osaka Hai, hooking a field that included 2020 Triple Crown champion Contrail (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), fellow Derby winner Wagnerian (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and multiple champion Gran Alegria (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}).

Contested in miserable conditions and in testing ground, Lei Papale made the lead beneath Yuga Kawada and had plenty left late to cause an 11-1 upset (see below). She has one run since, a third to the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe-bound Chrono Genesis (Jpn) (Bago {Fr}) in the G1 Takarazuka Kinen over 2200 metres June 27.

Lei Papale has gate 12 in a field of 16 for the G2 Sankei Sho All Comers S. at Nakayama and is drawn just to the outside of G1 Longines Hong Kong Vase hero Glory Vase (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in the 11-furlong test.

WATCH: Lei Papale dusts a classy field in the G1 Osaka Hai

Campaigned in the colours of Sunday Racing Co. Ltd., Shahryar makes his return to action in Sunday's age-restricted G2 Kobe Shimbun Hai (2200mT) at Chukyo. A maiden winner in a single juvenile appearance at Kyoto last October, the dark bay was third to future G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) hero Efforia (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}) at Group 3 level in February, took out the G3 Mainichi Hai the following month and became the second foal from Dubai Majesty (Essence of Dubai) to win the Japanese Derby, just nosing out Efforia in the Tokyo centrepiece when last seen May 30 (video). Shahryar's full-brother Al Ain (Jpn) was victorious in the 2017 Derby.

Shahryar breaks from the widest alley in a field of 10 in a field that also includes Stella Veloce (Jpn) (Bago {Fr}), a Group 3-winning juvenile who was third in both the 2000 Guineas and Derby.

Top-level racing returns to Japan a week from Sunday with the running of the G1 Sprinters' S. (1200mT) at Nakayama. The JRA tracks stage one Group 1 event on all but two weekends between now and the end of the year, highlighted by the US$5.8-million Longines Japan Cup at Tokyo Nov. 28.

WATCH: Shahryar gets up in time in this year's Japanese Derby

The post Heavy Hitters Return in Japan appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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