Ian Wilkes | Horse Racing Free Tips

Moretti Goes For Second Straight Birdstone At Saratoga

Repole Stable and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' multiple graded stakes placed Moretti will attempt to defend his title against a talented field of older horses in Thursday's $120,000 Birdstone, a 1 3/4-mile main-track marathon at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, the Medaglia d'Oro bay, out of the Grade 1-winning Concerto mare Rigoletta, is a half-brother to millionaire 2017 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Battle of Midway.

Purchased for $900,000 at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale, Moretti blossomed last season, posting a record of three wins and three seconds in six starts, including stakes scores in the Flat Out at Belmont Park and Birdstone at Saratoga to go along with a runner-up effort in the Grade 2 Suburban at Belmont.

Pletcher, a five-time Birdstone winner, said Moretti is working well into Thursday's repeat bid, including a five-eighths breeze in 1:01.88 on July 29 on the Spa main track.

“He's doing well. We know he likes the distance,” Pletcher said. “It's just a matter of keeping him happy and fit. He's coming off a couple of solid efforts and we're looking forward to giving it a try again.”

Irad Ortiz, Jr. will be tasked with engineering the title defense from post 4.

“I think the main thing is to get into a comfortable rhythm rather than worry about who's on the lead or stalking,” Pletcher said. “In these types of races, you just want to get into a good rhythm. You don't get many opportunities at this distance, so we'll give it our best shot.”

Flying P Stable's Lone Rock made the grade last out, romping to an 11 1/4-length score in the 12-furlong Grade 2 Brooklyn presented by Northwell Health on Belmont Stakes Day June 5.

Claimed back by trainer Robertino Diodoro for $40,000 out of a winning effort in November at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., Lone Rock captured a 1 1/16-mile optional claimer in February at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., in his next outing.

The 6-year-old Majestic Warrior gelding has made his last four starts at 1 1/2-miles, finishing second in the Temperence Hill in March ahead of an optional claiming score on April 11, both at Oaklawn Park. He returned on short rest to capture the Isaac Murphy Marathon on April 27 at Churchill Downs ahead of an eye-opening effort in the Brooklyn that registered a career-best 100 Beyer Speed Figure.

Lone Rock posted a bullet half-mile on the main track in :46.60 on July 22 and worked an easy half-mile in :52.19 Friday over sloppy going on the Oklahoma training track.

“He's a horse that loves his job and he's training great. He bounced out of that race like it was nothing,” Diodoro said. “On Belmont day, it was a little warm, and to run that far, you'd think it would take a little bit out of him but he's come back like a monster.”

Ramon Vazquez retains the mount from post 3.

Centennial Farms' multiple graded stakes-winner Rocketry has finished third in the last two editions of the Birdstone.

Trained by Jimmy Jerkens, the 7-year-old Hard Spun bay finished off-the-board last out in the Brooklyn and will look to return to the form that saw him capture the 1 5/8-mile Grade 2 Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance in November at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky.

“That one horse [Lone Rock] looks like a standout in that category. If ever he's going to beat horses like that, it's going this distance,” Jerkens said. “That's what happened in Kentucky. The pace was just too sharp for going that far and they came back to him and he went by them in the very end.”

Ricardo Santana, Jr. picks up the mount from post 7.

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Lothenbach Stables' Ry's the Guy, sixth last out in the Brooklyn, broke through at stakes level in September, taking the 12-furlong Champions Day Marathon at Churchill Downs.

Trained by Ian Wilkes, the 5-year-old Distorted Humor bay breezed a half-mile in :48.44 Thursday on the Saratoga main track.

“He came out of the last race good and I'm happy with him. It won't be an easy assignment; we'll be facing some of the same horses,” Wilkes said. “He has no problem with the track. He's trained here and got over it fine. His works have been solid. I'm very pleased with his breezes here. We've had a little bit of cool weather and that's helped.”

Ry's the Guy will exit the inside post under Chris Landeros.

Final Turn Racing Stable and Noda Brothers' You're to Blame, runner-up in last year's Birdstone, made an impressive first start Sunday for trainer Orlando Noda with a 9 1/2-length off-the-turf optional claiming romp traveling nine furlongs over a fast main track.

The 7-year-old Distorted Humor bay, a veteran of 37 career starts who captured the 2018 Grade 3 Greenwood Cup at Parx, will exit post 6 under Jose Ortiz.

Rounding out the field are graded-stakes placed He's No Lemon [post 2, Manny Franco], and stakes-placed Shooger Ray Too [post 5, Joel Rosario]

The Birdstone is slated as Race 9 on Thursday's 10-race card. First post is 1:05 p.m. Eastern.

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Storms Interrupt Colonial Downs Card: Violenza, Eons Rally For Stakes Victories

A neck and a head were the difference makers at Colonial Downs in New Kent, Va., on Monday in the Andy Guest and Buckland Stakes, while Mother Nature was the difference maker in the Da Hoss Stakes, which was cancelled mid-card due to thunderstorms in the area. Both stakes were contested over the Secretariat Turf Course, which was labeled good after the rain departed.

Seven of the track's nine races scheduled were run. The fourth and fifth fell victim to the storms which caused an hour-plus delay.

Randall Bloch, Six Column Stables LLC, John Seiler, David Hall & David Kirk's Violenza edged Mucha Mezquina on the outside after a thrilling finish that saw the pair trailing by nine lengths halfway through the 5 1/2-furlong $100,000 Andy Guest Stakes. Both made moves together exiting the turn and at the top of stretch, moved into striking position. Violenza ended up prevailing in a blanket finish where the top five finished within 1 1/2 lengths of each other.

Regular jockey Chris Landeros came in from Kentucky solely to ride Ian Wilkes' winning 4-year-old Violence filly. Sheldon Russell piloted Anthony Spinazzola's Mucha Mezquina for trainer Mark Salvaggio. Beantown Baby, going for her fourth straight win, finished third, just a neck behind the runner-up.

“She's good, she's nice and she's as honest as they come,” said Landeros of Violenza. “I think the pace up front really helped us. She doesn't mind a little bit of soft going so it was in our favor today. I know they skip over it early when there's a little bit of moisture in the ground. It favors a closer so I knew I had a little bit of an advantage coming into it today.”

Mark Grier's Eons and BBN Racing LLC's Kentucky Ghost encountered a similar scenario in the 1 1/8-mile, $150,000 Buckland, which followed next on the card. Both were among the three trailing horses at the half in the field of seven and both powered forward coming out of the final turn. Eons edged Kentucky Ghost by a head while Godolphin, LLC's Pixelate, highest money earner in the field with $493,350, took third, 1 1/4 lengths behind the runner-up.

“After the rain delay, all horses had been coming off the pace,” said winning jockey Mychel Sanchez. “I really liked my horse. I started out in the middle of the pack and by the time we got to the half I was last. But I knew he would close. I just wanted him to relax because he can be really tough but he can run. We got a lot of rain but the turf course here is amazing.”

With his fifth lifetime win, Eons' career bankroll increased to $428,615. The 5-year-old Giants Causeway horse is trained by Arnaud Delacour. The Kentucky-bred is out of the Hansel mare, Golden Antigua.

Colonial Downs hosts a nine-race card Tuesday at 1:45 PM. The season continues through September 1 with racing every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

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Jockey Chris Landeros ‘Building For The Future’ With Agent, Brother-In-Law Brodie Wilkes

For those who say family and business don't mix, meet jockey Chris Landeros and his agent, Brodie Wilkes.

With his brother-in-law lining up his mounts, Landeros is off to one of his best starts at a meet since he moved his tack from the southwest to Kentucky in 2014. Landeros has won 11 of 31 starts at the RUNHAPPY Meet at Ellis Park. The wins tie him with Florent Geroux for second, three behind Brian Hernandez. Landeros' 35-percent strike rate and 61 percent in the money top the standings among regulars.

Landeros is married to Wilkes' sister, Shelby, their parents being trainer Ian Wilkes and Tracey Wilkes, who is heavily involved with her husband's stable. Brodie was serving as one of his dad's assistants, including overseeing the Ellis Park division last summer, with an eye on some day training on his own. Ian had another idea in the interim.

“I thought Chris just needed to settle down,” the elder Wilkes said. “He'd switched agents a few times, and that starts to hurt you sometimes. And Brodie also, he needed to learn the other aspects of the game. Learn the condition book. Understand where other people are going with horses. And get to talk to people. Understand how to communicate. That's why I pushed hard for him to do it, whether it's something he does all his life or a short time. But I think he's picked it up quite quickly.”

Brodie asked his brother-in-law over dinner one night last fall about working for him. Landeros admits being hesitant at first, including wanting to be sure Brodie was looking long-term.

Also: “Because family, you don't want to mix the two,” he said. “But then again, I ride for Ian, who's my father-in-law. Ian and I have a really good work relationship where we can separate the two, business and family time.

“The thing about Brodie and I is that we are not only family but really good friends. He puts me in my place when I need it, and I help him along the way when he needs it. We've got a good relationship as far as work goes, and friendship on the side. We're kind of growing together, and it's been fun.”

Shelby says any change is a gamble but that she's not surprised at the resulting success.

“I know Brodie works hard, and I know Chris is the kind of person who isn't going to allow him to slack,” she said. “If Brodie had decided that Chris is too much, then he'd have just moved on. But, no, he stuck with it.”

The 33-year-old Landeros already has won more races (52 through Saturday) this year than all of last year (40), with its COVID restrictions and cancelations.

It was Brodie who suggested that Landeros, who had ridden at Gulfstream Park the prior few winters, stay in Kentucky to ride at Turfway Park. That helped them get into barns such as Mark Casse, Rodolphe Brisset and Wesley Ward. Though he doesn't race in Kentucky much of the year, New York-based Jonathan Thomas proved the source of many victories at Turfway Park. Landeros also has been riding for Chad Brown since spring.

“I know Chris loves Florida,” Brodie said. “He's competitive, riding against the best jockeys in the country over the winter there. But there's just not a lot of Kentucky guys there to build your spring up.”

Said Landeros: “I didn't have the best year last year, not only because of COVID but my own business. I needed to take a step back and rebuild. This year has been very promising. We got into some outfits that last year I couldn't get in.”

Landeros said the guidance coming from a close friend made it easier to take to heart.

“Because Brodie truly wants the best for me,” he said. “Sometimes you get tunnel vision. He sees another avenue that could be better for me later on. You'll get some guys who want to be your agent, and they just see dollar signs for that meet. Brodie, it wasn't about the dollar signs in the moment. It was building for the future.”

Landeros said “the sky is the limit” for Wilkes as an agent, that Brodie is learning in his own way how to be more aggressive. He says his brother-in-law also has taught him patience.

“I have all the patience in the world on a horse,” Landeros said. “But off a horse, I have no patience for anything. I'm learning. I'm adjusting.”

Wilkes calls Landeros “definitely one of the strongest jockeys out there.” That can include being strong-willed.

“He's so aggressive and wants things to happen now, now, now,” Wilkes said. “I understand he wants to win. I look at it that we're trying to build business. It's going to take time… The way we're riding, who we're riding for, it shows that we're getting the opportunities. And he makes the most of what he's getting.”

Win or lose, the family gets together whenever schedules permit, with the Landeroses' young sons Beckham and Rory delighting in their grandparents and vice versa.

Shelby Landeros said she never had any concerns about her husband teaming with her brother.

“No,” she said. “I was just happy I finally had his agent's number.”

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Hernandez Bags Four Winners At Ellis Park

Jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. won on four his five mounts Friday on Ellis Park's eight-race card in Henderson, Ky., including with the promising 2-year-old colt Tiz the Bomb. The race he lost? Gus Gus, owned by trainer Ian Wilkes' wife, Tracey, and Hernandez's wife, Jamie. The two couples also bred the 2-year-old gelding.

But Gus Gus' second place in a $30,000 maiden-claiming race in his career debut was special in its own right. He's a son of Fort Larned, with whom Wilkes and Hernandez teamed to win the $6-million Breeders' Cup Classic in 2012 and two other Grade 1 races. In fact, Fort Larned gave Hernandez his first Grade 1 winner in Saratoga's Whitney Handicap, after which he was back riding at Ellis Park the next day.

“It was a good day,” Hernandez said of Friday's haul. “We rode five, and the first one was second. Which was pretty cool because it's a horse that Ian and I bred and we race. He was second today in the third race. And the rest of them, they all ran true to form. We got lucky and had a four-win day…. Third day of the meet and to get a four-win day, it's big.”

More on Gus Gus later. Here are the races Hernandez won:

// The fourth race as the Kenny McPeek-trained Tiz the Bomb blew up to a 14 1/2-length romp in a 2-year-old maiden race.

// The sixth aboard the 4-year-old filly Teenage Kicks, winner by three-quarters of a length in an off-the-turf allowance race for trainer Bernie Flint and owner Naveed Chowhan.

// The seventh by 2 3/4 lengths on Joseph Murphy's 4-year-old colt My Man Flintstone for trainer Brendan Walsh in another allowance race.

// The eighth in the $30,000 maiden-claiming race that served as the nightcap and which Island Boy smoked to a 10 3/4-length score for Wilkes and owner-breeder Anita Ebert.

Gus Gus closed from last of seven but was no threat as 9-5 favorite Bueno Bueno rolled to a 7 1/4-length romp. Off at 6-1 odds, Gus Gus finished three lengths in front of the next-closest horse.

Hernandez's streak started the next race, in which Tiz the Bomb led all the way at 3-5 odds in a mile maiden race taken off the turf. In his only other start, Tiz the Bomb finished seventh in a five-eighths of a mile dirt race at Churchill Downs. Undaunted, before the Ellis meet began, trainer Kenny McPeek said he had a really nice horse for the track's $125,000 Runhappy Juvenile Aug. 15 in Tiz the Bomb. Nothing that happened change that.

“He ran big,” Hernandez said after the victory. “We always thought he was going to run like that. The first time was a little short for him. When he got to go the mile today, he showed how good he is. I don't know what Kenny's going to do with him now, but it looks like he'll go forward from here.”

Said McPeek: “He was just a little clumsy in his first race. Nothing went right. He got off a little awkward, and he couldn't run them down. He just needed more ground. He'll definitely go in (the Juvenile), and we'll go from there.”

Tiz the Bomb is a poster boy for McPeek's use of mile maiden races over the Ellis Park turf, the trainer wanting the distance more than the surface and unconcerned if soggy grass moves them to the main track. Tiz the Bomb would seem suited to both surfaces, being a son of 2015 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner Hit It a Bomb, now part of Spendthrift Farm's stallion roster. His broodmare sire is two-time Breeders' Cup Classic winner Tiznow.

How Wilkes, Hernandez ended up in the breeding business
Here's how Hernandez found himself in the breeding business: “Ian called a few years ago and asked if we wanted to go in half on this mare with him,” he said. “We bred her to Fort Larned twice. We got the horse that ran today and we have a yearling over in Lexington.”

That mare, Social Amber, went 0 for 3 as a racehorse but is by the popular Claiborne Farm stallion War Front. Her owner at the time, Dennis Farkas, gave Social Amber to Wilkes, who as the trainer also has a free breeding right to Fort Larned.

“I gave half of the mare to Brian, and I had the breeding right,” Wilkes said. “So we got in at the right cost.”

Asked if their wives were “good pay” — racetrack parlance for owners who pay their training bills — Wilkes joked with a laugh, “Hmm, slow. They're tough. After the race, Trace wanted to know why Brian didn't move early enough.”

More seriously, he said, “He was very encouraging today to run second in his first start, because he's no five-furlong horse.”

Hernandez is now out of the breeding business. With Fort Larned moving from Kentucky to Ohio, Jamie Hernandez gave the mare to a friend in the Buckeye state.

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