Tag: Horse Racing

Pirate’s Punch Returns To Face Ny Traffic In Saturday’s Salvator Mile

Pirate's Punch and Ny Traffic took turns with impressive performances a year ago at Monmouth Park. Now they'll match their considerable talents in the same race at the track.

Pirate's Punch, idle since the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 7, and Ny Traffic, who made his return to racing on May 2, top a field of 10 for the Grade 3, $150,000 Salvator Mile, the headliner on Monmouth Park's Saturday card.

When last seen at Monmouth Park, Pirate's Punch won the Salvator Mile in 2020 – a race after being disqualified from a victory in the Grade 3 Iselin Stakes. Ny Traffic was second in last year's Grade 1 TVG.com Haskell Stakes, beaten a nose by 2020 Horse of the Year Authentic.

Rounding out the Salvator Mile field are Bal Harbour, Basin, Croatian, Galerio, Green Light Go, Informative, War Stopper and West Will Power.

A 5-year-old Kentucky-bred, Pirate's Punch needed surgery to remove a chip from one of his knees shortly after the Breeders' Cup, with trainer Grant Forster now eager to get him started on his 2021 campaign.

“After his surgery we took our time with him and did the proper rehab. Hopefully we have a foundation in him,” said Forster. “He's doing fantastic. He seems like he's a bigger, stronger horse this year.

“Since we put him back in training he hasn't missed a day of training, hasn't missed a work, hasn't missed a gallop. He has been ultra-consistent and we think we have him ready to run and ready to get back in the game and get going.”

The 4-year-old Ny Traffic, in his first race since the Preakness Stakes on Oct. 3, impressed in his 2021 debut, blazing to a 6¾-length victory in an allowance optional claimer at Belmont Park on May 2.

“He came back in a big way. He won emphatically,” said trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. “We were hoping he would win but we never envisioned he would run like that in his first race back after seven months off.

“It's a long year and he has a lot in front of him. We're hoping this race can be a building block for the year.”

Ny Traffic, a son of Cross Traffic-Mamie Reilly by Graeme Hall, has a 3-3-2 line from 12 career starts, with lifetime earnings of $612,220. Despite that, he has yet to win a graded stakes race.

“He came close (in last year's) Haskell,” said Joseph. “He definitely has a graded stakes win in him. Hopefully it's this year – and maybe this weekend.”

Ny Traffic is owned by John Fanelli, Cash is King LLC, LC Racing, Paul Braverman and Team Hanley.

Pirate's Punch, a son of of Shanghai Bobby-Catch the Moon by Malibu Moon, sports a 5-3-4 line from 18 career starts with $332,751 in earnings. He is owned by Gulliver Racing LLC, Craig W. Drager and Dan Lehan.

Saturday marks the 74th running of the Salvator Mile.

The post Pirate’s Punch Returns To Face Ny Traffic In Saturday’s Salvator Mile appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Japan’s Loves Only You Programmed For Breeders’ Cup Run

Loves Only You (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) will pass the upcoming G1 Takarazuka Kinen and will instead be trained towards an appearance at the Breeders' Cup meeting at Del Mar in November, according to a report in the Sankei Sports (SANSPO) daily sports newspaper.

A ¥160 million ($1,404,800) purchase as a yearling at the 2017 JRHA Select Sales, the 2019 G1 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) winner has been ambitiously campaigned this season, with a popular victory at home in the G2 Kyoto Kinen (2200mT) in February ahead of a game third-place effort behind Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) and likely Takarazuka Kinen favorite Chrono Genesis (Jpn) (Bago {Fr}) in the G1 Longines Dubai Sheema Classic (2410mT) the following month. The mare's international travels most recently took her to Hong Kong, where she led home a Japanese 1-2-3 sweep of the G1 FWD QE II Cup (2000mT) at Sha Tin Racecourse Apr. 25 (see below).

According to the Sanspo report, Loves Only You will be spelled in the cooler climates of Hokkaido near-term before amping up preparations for a potential trans-Pacific journey. Tentative plans call for a return to Hong Kong for the Longines Hong Kong International Races meeting in December.

Loves Only You would become the third Japanese-based horse to compete in the Filly & Mare Turf and would be following a similar path to Nuovo Record (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}), who was 11th in the 2016 renewal at Del Mar before annexing that track's GIII Red Carpet S. less than three weeks later. She made her next start in Hong Kong, finishing fourth to compatriot Satono Crown (Jpn) (Marju {Ire}) in the G1 Longines Hong Kong Vase. Japan's Red Desire (Jpn) (Manhattan Cafe {Jpn}) was a close fourth to Shared Account (Pleasantly Perfect) at odds of 5-1 in the 2010 F/M Turf at Churchill.

A full-sister to G1 Dubai Turf hero Real Steel (Jpn), Loves Only You has a career record of 13-6-1-3 and earnings of $5,196,190.

 

WATCH: Loves Only You too strong in the FWD QE II Cup

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Argentinian Jockey Maria Scaldaferri ‘Chasing The American Dream’ At Monmouth

Trainer Luis Carvajal has a simple explanation for giving so many unproven – and often inexperienced – jockeys a chance with his horses.

“When you do good things for people it eventually comes back to you,” he said.

Maria Scaldaferri, a native of Argentina who has yet to win in the United States, is the latest aspiring rider to get an opportunity from Carvajal, getting the mount aboard Malibu Life in Friday night's fifth race at Monmouth Park.

It will mark the Monmouth Park debut for the 30-year-old native of Pergamino, Argentina.

“I was looking for an exercise rider and (trainer) Rafael Schistl recommended her to me,” Carvajal said. “So I put her on some horses in the morning and she started working for me. She has done a good job. She wants to ride. She was a jockey in Argentina and she wants to ride in the United States.

“She works hard. She looks good on a horse. The most important thing to me is that she has that edge, that inner drive, to succeed. I'm giving her a chance and we'll see how she does.”

Carvajal has a history of rewarding hard work for jockeys needing a break.

On the June 4 program at Monmouth Park, he gave apprentice Derbe Glass a leg up on Free Flayme.

Two years ago, he put Maria Maysonett on Malekith at Monmouth, resulting in her first career win. Last year he gave Sean Gilpin his first professional mount aboard Now I'm Broke, also at Monmouth Park.

“I like to help people who like to work,” said Carvajal, who has 16 winners overall from 96 starters this year after posting a career-best 24 victories a year ago. “If I see them motivated and working hard I feel like they deserve a chance.

“I always try to put myself in their shoes, thinking that if I worked hard enough someone would give me a chance. So I do what I can to help. It's not like I am putting them on (retired multiple Grade 1 winner) Imperial Hint. But they deserve a shot.”

Scaldaferri, who also rode in Brazil and Peru from 2011 through 2018, is 0-for-21 in the United States, having ridden just once last year.

“Of course I'm excited,” she said. “This is my first time riding at Monmouth Park and everyone has been very helpful. I am chasing the American dream. I know in this country that if you work hard enough people will give you a chance, whether you are a woman or a man.”

Scaldaferri is also working horses for Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer in the mornings.

“As long as I keep working hard I think people will give me a chance,” said, Scaldaferri, who does not have an agent. “I just want to be a jockey and win races.”

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Bloodlines: Tapit’s Belmont Stakes Legend Continues To Grow With Essential Quality

All hail mighty Tapit! The king of American classic stallions sired his fourth winner of the Belmont Stakes when last season's champion juvenile colt Essential Quality outran the game and good Hot Rod Charlie through the long stretch at Belmont Park to win the final classic of the 2021 season by a length and a quarter. It was another 11 1/4 lengths back of Hot Rod Charlie to last month's Preakness Stakes winner Rombauer (Twirling Candy).

Now a winner in six of his seven starts, Essential Quality added his third Grade 1 to an outstanding resume. A medium-sized gray, Essential Quality joined the previous Belmont Stakes winners by Tapit: Tonalist (2014), Creator (2016), and Tapwrit (2017). In addition to these, the young sire Frosted was second in the Belmont Stakes of 2015 behind Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, and Tacitus was second in the 2019 Belmont. Also, Tiz the Law, a member of the first crop by the Tapit stallion Constitution, won the 2020 Belmont.

Last year's Belmont, of course, will go into the record books with an asterisk because it was the first of the 2020 classics, and the classic was held at a distance other than 1 1/2 miles for the only time since 1925. A year later, Man o' War's son Crusader won the Belmont Stakes at 12 furlongs after years of renewals at a mile and three-eighths.

The dominance of the sons of Tapit at the international classic distance of a mile and a half by itself is a telling fact in the tale of Tapit's importance to the breed. The Belmont Stakes is the sole dirt stakes in North America for 3-year-old colts at 12 furlongs, and that is the race upon which the three-time leading American sire has exerted such great influence.

Without making too much of it, Tapit is an unwavering source of stamina and classic quality for the breed, and a breeder can only wonder what the sire's record might look like if North America had representative racing opportunities for horses of all types and aptitudes. At present, only sprinters and milers have proper opportunities to race and develop their talents; so it's no wonder that the stallions who succeed most often in the States are milers and very robust sprinters.

For a stallion such as Tapit's grandsire A.P. Indy to have raced and bred across the grain of the North American racing program and to have succeeded at the proportion and level he did is a tremendous accomplishment.

The proper cross for A.P. Indy was Mr. Prospector, the best domestic source of speed and classic quality aside from the Seattle Slew line of A.P. Indy himself, and Blue Grass Stakes winner Pulpit, an important sire in his own right, introduced quite a lot more speed into his own stock, including his fine son Tapit.

And Tapit himself does get horses with speed, but the majority of his sons and daughters also tend to show their best form at a mile and frequently farther. Many of them would also race effectively at much longer distances if a program of races (maidens, allowances, claiming, and stakes) were available to suit their needs.

Bred in Kentucky by Godolphin, Essential Quality is out of Delightful Quality, a daughter of the extremely fast miler Elusive Quality, from the Mr. Prospector line through Gone West. Delightful Quality is a half-sister to champion juvenile filly Folklore (Tiznow), and both are out of the Storm Cat mare Contrive. The third dam is by Metropolitan Handicap winner Fappiano (Mr. Prospector), and the fourth dam is by Metropolitan Handicap and Florida Derby winner In Reality, a sire of speed and quality.

This is a very fast, high-quality family that has returned to the championship level with the addition of Tapit, and now the family has added a new dimension with the classic success of Essential Quality.

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