Tag: Ian Wilkes

Jockey Brian Hernandez Takes on Breeding Game

Brian Hernandez, Jr. rode three races at Churchill Downs Wednesday. He made it to the winner's circle in race nine, but that wasn't the only excitement of the day for the jockey.

Earlier that morning, he and his family posed alongside a bay mare named Unbridledexplosion (Eddington) outside of Barn 46 at Keeneland. Hernandez had ridden the mare in all but three of her 18 career starts. Now, he is her new owner.

“This is the first mare my wife and I have purchased on our own,” Hernandez said. “We bought a farm in Simpsonville a few years ago and have been putting up lay-ups for the last couple of years, but we've always discussed that one of these years we were going to go over to Keeneland and buy a mare to learn a different aspect of the game.”

Hernandez and his wife Jamie were in Del Mar for the Breeders' Cup earlier this month when Jamie was flipping through the Keeneland November catalogue while sitting in their hotel one afternoon. She landed on Hip 2759.

“She loved this mare,” Hernandez said. “She's really high on Mitole and so she wanted a Mitole baby. When she showed me her catalogue page, I was like, 'Man, I think I rode that mare.' Sure enough, I'd ridden her for Ian [Wilkes] for her whole career.”

With Hernandez aboard, Unbridledexplosion broke her maiden as a 3-year-old at Churchill Downs in June of 2014. She ran second in five of her next six starts against allowance company before adding consecutive wins to her resume in the spring of 2015–both at Churchill Downs under Hernandez. Over her three-year career, which included five tries against stakes company, Unbridledexplosion ran in the money in 12 of her 18 starts, collecting over $200,000 in earnings.

“I always remembered her as a really hard-trying mare,” her jockey recalled. “She was second five different times in some pretty tough allowance races between Keeneland, Saratoga and Churchill. It was always in the back of my mind that she was a hard-trying mare.”

After retiring from racing, Unbridledexplosion produced a Wicked Strong colt in 2018 that has not raced followed by an Upstart colt named Unbridled Bomber who broke his maiden for Jim Ryerson at Belmont Nov. 7. She also has a yearling filly by Unified. The mare's female family includes GISW Declassify (Orientate) and GSW Life's a Parlay (Uncle Mo).

“Jamie had her heart set that she wanted this mare,” Hernandez said. “She and her mom were doing the bidding. We had agreed on a certain price and we got her below our limit, so we were all excited. My father-in-law [Jake Radosevich] signed the ticket. She was consigned by Lantern Hill Farm with Suzi Shoemaker. We sent her back to Suzi and we're going to let her foal her out. Then we'll breed her next year after we see what kind of baby we get.”

This week's purchase is not the Hernandez family's first foray in the breeding business. In partnership with Ian and Tracey Wilkes, they bred the War Front mare Social Amber to Hernandez's 2012 GI Breeders' Cup Classic-winning mount Fort Larned for the past two years. The 2-year-old, named Gus Gus, ran second to a next-out allowance winner at Ellis Park this summer. The yearling colt is already named Justblamethejock.

Hernandez said that their three children added further incentive to jump into the breeding game on their own.

“Our kids all have horses out at the farm and they love them,” he said. “They love going to the races too so we wanted to give them a different avenue with something that gets them excited that they can watch along the way.”

 

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Half to McCracken Impresses in Ellis Unveiling

6th-Ellis, $50,220, Msw, 8-29, 3yo/up, 7f, 1:21.96, ft, 8 lengths.
MILLIKEN (c, 3, Into Mischief–Ivory Empress {GSP, $189,402}, by Seeking the Gold), a half to 'TDN Rising Stars' McCraken (Ghostzapper), MGSW & GISP, $869,728; and Four Graces (Majesticperfection), MGSW, $261,246, got off to a belated but auspicious start to his own career here at 5-2 odds. Showing good tactical speed to draft behind the top flight while savig ground, the bay was guided through a wide-open rail around the bend and all of a sudden had the lead after a :45.16 half. He still plenty left in the tank from there, and widened at will to crush his overmatched competition by eight lengths. Crump (Into Mischief) was a clear second, completing the exacta for his super star sire. Milliken is also half to Bondurant (War Front), MGSP, $290,334; and With Dignity (Declaration of War), GSP, $177,381. His dam produced a Ghostzapper filly in 2020 and Uncle Mo filly this term before being bred back to Street Sense. The aforementioned McCracken, who stands at Airdrie, has first yearlings this year. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $30,600. Click for the Equibase.com chart.
O-Whitham Thoroughbreds LLC; B-Whitham Thoroughbreds, LLC (KY); T-Ian R. Wilkes.

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Wilkes Sends Out Modern Science, Princess Causeway In Kentucky Downs Previews At Ellis

Trainer Ian Wilkes will team with jockey and son-in-law Chris Landeros and Modern Science in Saturday's $100,000 Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Dueling Grounds and Princess Causeway in Sunday's $100,000 Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Ladies Mile.

Landeros is having a huge meet, his 13 wins out of only 38 mounts ranking second in the jockey standings behind Brian Hernandez Jr.'s 18 after taking Saturday's first race on his father-in-law's horse. Wilkes, whose son Brodie is also Landeros' agent, also is second in the trainer standings with 10 victories out of 34 starters. Only Brad Cox (11 for 28) has more wins.

Modern Science went from winning a maiden race to finishing third by two heads in Canterbury Park's Mystic Lake Derby.

“He's a big colt and an improving colt, just getting better with age,” Wilkes said. “Just very pleased with the way he's trained and since he's done since.”

Princess Causeway finished fifth in last year's Ladies Mile held over very soft turf. In her only start this year, she was second in the $100,000 Lady Canterbury.

“She's stakes-placed now, we'll see if we can get a stakes win on her,” Wilkes said. “Last year, she came back and won on the dirt and I was giving her a shot to be a dirt horse. But this year I'm concentrating on her being a grass horse at anything up to a mile. I think she's won five races. She's a Giant's Causeway and has some talent. She's not the easiest horse to train, but she's tough. If we can get her to do that in the afternoon, I think we'll be fine.”

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Jesus’ Team Returns In Friday’s Alydar At Saratoga

Group 7C Racing Stable's Jesus' Team, who has earned three placings in prestigious Grade 1 races, will return to stakes company on Friday as part of an eight-horse field of 4-year-olds and up who have not won a stakes other than state-bred in 2021 in the $120,000 Alydar contested at 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

The ninth edition of the Alydar, named for the 1989 Hall of Fame inductee who finished second to Affirmed in all three legs of the 1978 Triple Crown, will see Jesus' Team return to the Spa for the first time since running third in last year's Grade 2 Jim Dandy.

The Tapiture colt used that contest for sophomores as a prep for the 2020 Grade 1 Preakness Stakes, which was held in October last year, with Jesus' Team finishing third in the final leg of the Triple Crown behind Authentic and winner Swiss Skydiver. Trainer Jose D'Angelo saw him build on that effort in a Triple Crown classic to run second behind Knicks Go in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cut Dirt Mile in November at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., earning a 102 Beyer Speed Figure.

Jesus' Team closed out his year with his first stakes win, capturing the Claiming Crown Jewel in December at Gulfstream going 1 1/8 miles. Returning to the same track and distance, Jesus' Team again linked up with Knicks Go in his 2021 bow, again running second to his rival in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational in January that netted a 105 Beyer.

D'Angelo then shipped Jesus' Team to the United Arab Emirates, where he ran sixth in the Group 1 Dubai World Cup in March. After a four-month freshening, he returned to run fifth on July 11 at Gulfstream, prompting D'Angelo to skip the $1 million Grade 1 Whitney on August 7 at Saratoga in favor of the Alydar.

“The last race, for sure, he needed,” D'Angelo said. “After quarantine coming back from Dubai, he lost a little weight. It was a little hard to [improve] his conditioning again. He needed that race to be the horse he is now. He's bigger than his last race, and in that race, he was a little too close to the front. I think it helped him get him fit, though, and we're looking forward to this race.”

Junior Alvarado will pick up the mount from post 7.

Two-time graded stakes-winner Core Beliefs returned from a nine-month layoff to run third in an optional claiming contest going 1 1/16 miles in June at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Trainer Brian Lynch said the Quality Road bay needed that race after being given a freshening following a fifth-place finish in the Champions Day Marathon in September at Churchill Downs for then-trainer Scott Hansen.

“I think he ran well enough last out to give us the confidence to try him in a spot like this, because it was a credible effort off a long layoff,” Lynch said. “He's trained on well enough to get a shot. This will be the second time off the bench and it's at a distance that he really likes.”

Core Beliefs, owned by Gary Broad, won the 2018 Grade 3 Ohio Derby in a sophomore year that saw him run fourth in the Grade 1 Haskell at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., and fifth in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing in Bensalem, Pa. He then made his 2019 debut with a win in the Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap at Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, La., that March, which marked his last victory.

Running at Saratoga for the first time, Core Beliefs will be seeking his first victory in his last eight starts and enters after posting four workouts over the Saratoga main track in July.

“He's doing well and has great energy, and for an older horse, he's been very willing and trying hard in his works,” Lynch said. “I take that as a positive. He just acts like he's in good form. He's done so well since he's been here and the weather has been a little bit cooler, and he seems to enjoy that. His appetite has been fantastic, too. We're just hoping for good things.”

Hall of Famer Javier Castellano will have the call from post 3.

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Bruce Lunsford's Art Collector, who like Jesus' Team also competed in last year's Preakness and Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, will get his first opportunity to run at Saratoga and his first start for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. Art Collector commenced his 4-year-old year with a sixth-place finish in the Kelly's Landing on June 25 at Churchill Downs, marking his first race since running eighth in that Breeders' Cup appearance seven months prior.

Art Collector, who ran fourth in the Preakness, finished just a head back to Jesus' Team to fall just short of black type in the 1 3/16-mile classic. The winner of the 2020 Grade 2 Blue Grass at Keeneland will have the services of Luis Saez. on Friday, breaking from post 4.

Steve Landers Racing's Night Ops, off three consecutive runner-up efforts in the Grade 3 Ben Ali, Blame, and Grade 3 Monmouth Cup for reigning Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox, will make his Saratoga start in a well-traveled career.

Night Ops, who Manny Franco will ride out of post 8, has finished in the money in his last six starts, all against stakes competition, starting with a win in the 2020 Grade 3 Cornhusker at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa.

Bourbon Lane Stable's Bourbon War will be running in a stakes for the first time since 2019, when as a 3-year-old he found success on the Triple Crown trail by running second in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth before finishing fourth in the Grade 1 Florida Derby, eighth in the Preakness, and 10th in the Belmont Stakes. Trainer Ian Wilkes took over the conditioning duties for Bourbon War's 5-year-old campaign, which started with a strong second, by a neck, to Home Base in an optional claimer in May at Churchill Downs before running third under similar conditions at the same track on June 26.

“He came off a long layoff and ran two good races; I thought he ran really respectable in putting two good ones together back-to-back,” Wilkes said. “I'm getting to know him and he's getting to know me, so it's all good there. The horse has been happy, so that's the key. We're hoping to make that next progression. He needs to step up and pick up his game a little more. I feel good for him.”

Bourbon War, a son of Tapit, will have Brian Hernandez, Jr. in the irons from post 6.

Prioritize, sixth in the Grade 2 Suburban on July 3 at Belmont, will return to a familiar track that's near trainer H. James Bond's base, as the Tizway gelding ran twice here last year, winning an optional claimer before running third in the Grade 1 Woodward. The now 6-year-old will have jockey Tyler Gaffalione aboard for the first time, departing post 1.

Math Wizard will enter off a six-month layoff in his first start since finishing sixth in the Pegasus World Cup. The Saffie Joseph, Jr. trainee will be racing for just the second time as a 5-year-old as he seeks his first victory since the 2019 Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby [Irad Ortiz, Jr., post 5].

Limonite ran third in the Grade 3 Excelsior going the Alydar distance on April 3 at Aqueduct and after two fifth-place efforts will return to the Spa for trainer Gustavo Rodriguez [Joel Rosario, post 2].

The Alydar, slated as Race 8 on the 10-race card, is one of three stakes on a stacked Friday card that will feature a 1:05 p.m. Eastern first post.

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