idol | Horse Racing Free Tips

Big ‘Cap Latest In Purple Patch of Form For Top Line Sales

In the fall of 2018, Torie and Jimbo Gladwell, owners of the Ocala-based Top Line Sales, welcomed into their training program a colt by Curlin out of the stakes-winning Marion Ravenwood (A.P. Indy). Some 2 1/2 years later, the bay colt–now named Idol–is a Grade I winner, having flown home down the center of the track to take out the prestigious Santa Anita H. Mar. 6. The victory was the second leg of a unique triple for Top Line graduates over the last few weeks.

Idol was bred by Len Riggio's My Meadowview Farm and is out of a daughter of GSW & MGISP Andujar (Quiet American), who was acquired by My Meadowview for $2.5 million at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale in 2006. Denali Stud sold Idol for $375,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September Sale.

“He was very babyish when we got him,” said Torie Gladwell. “He was definitely going to need some time to mature and to fill out. Other than that, he was super smart and took everything in stride. He trained really, really well–the couple of breezes that we got into him, we were pretty high on the colt, and we were actually hoping we would be able to sell him as a 2-year-old at one of the later sales just to give him some time.

She continued, “While we had him, he was really laid back, just more of a two-turn type horse. Pretty good size, but didn't have that big muscle just hanging off of him like some of these horses that we buy for the 2-year-old sales. You could tell he was an immature, leaner-made type of horse than what we would normally go buy for ourselves. Curlin was going so well, so we knew when this guy came in that he'd be one to watch.”

Acquired privately by David Meah for his client Calvin Nguyen, Idol was something of a work in progress. Debuting with a runner-up effort on the GI Kentucky Derby undercard Sept. 5, he graduated smartly over seven furlongs three weeks later, then added a 9 1/2-furlong allowance by 5 3/4 lengths in new track-record time of 1:55.97. Second and running on in the Dec. 26 GII San Antonio S., Idol was third to Express Train (Union Rags) in the GII San Pasqual S. Jan. 30 and benefitted from a jockey change to Joel Rosario to reverse form in the Big 'Cap (see below).

WATCH: Idol rallies to win the GI Santa Anita H.

“They did right by the horse and the horse has done right by them,” Gladwell said. “They gave him a little time, which is what he needed, and he's shown up ever since. He's turned into a really nice horse. We're happy for all the connections.”

Top Line was represented by its second consecutive winner of the lucrative Riyadh Dirt Sprint when Copano Kicking (Spring At Last) rallied to best pacesetting Matera Sky (Speightstown) at King Abdulaziz Racetrack Feb. 20 (video). Top Line grad New York Central (Tapit) defeated the same rival in the inaugural running of that event in 2020.

A $19,000 buyback as a yearling at Keeneland September in 2016, Copano Kicking was sold to owner Sachiaki Kobayashi for $100,000 at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Florida Sale.

“He breezed really well for us at Gulfstream and we tried to get so many different people to buy him, but he ended up having a couple of issues that kept him from staying here,” she said. “They have done a fantastic job training the horse. The Japanese know Top Line because of Copano and it's great.”

A three-time winner at group level on the dirt in Japan, Copano Kicking was snapping a five-race losing streak in the $1.5-million Riyadh Dirt Sprint.

“I am just glad the connections decided to take him out there,” Gladwell said. “I really didn't think he had a shot of winning that race, because I wasn't sure his form was back to what it was when he was winning all those races in Japan. I was very proud of him that he ran as big as he ran.”

Copano Kicking makes his next start in the G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen at Meydan Mar. 27.

About seven hours after Idol gave Top Line its second Grade I-winning graduate (No Parole was their first), the Torie Gladwell-bred Chancheng Prince (Carpe Diem) proved victorious at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong (video). The Class 3 handicap paled in importance, but was no less thrilling for Gladwell.

“I bred that horse with my mom [in the name of Mystic Bloodstock] and when I bring my homebreds over to the 2-year-old sales, I get pretty attached to them,” she said. “When he in particular sold, I was devastated that he sold to Hong Kong. I didn't know anything about Hong Kong racing at the time. The underbidder was Dennis O'Neill and I was really excited that he might be going out to California and that Doug O'Neill was going to get him.

She added, “I was in the back ring and I saw Dennis bidding on the horse and the hammer dropped inside the ring. I go running around there to see who bought him and it was a gentleman I didn't recognize. My husband went up to him to say 'thank you,' came back and said he was going to Hong Kong and I just broke down in tears. I was so upset. I left the sale, but I am just so glad that it's worked out and that he's done so well over there.”

Chancheng Prince, a $150,000 purchase out of the 2019 OBS April Sale, now has a record of 3-2-2 from 10 starts and earnings of $338,571. Gladwell said the yearling half-sister to Chancheng Prince by Mastery “looks really fast” and is likely to be pointed to next year's breeze-up sales.

The Gladwells are looking forward to the beginning of this year's under-tack sales next week at OBS.

“I think it's going to be a good market,” Gladwell said. “[Wednesday], the day before the first breeze show, I am seeing a lot of new faces and the people are there doing their homework pre-breeze day. I don't know what kind of budget the agents are going to be on, whether they have big orders or small orders or if owners are cutting back, I really haven't heard that yet. The only thing that is going to affect the sales this year is the lack of the Korean buyers, but they don't buy too many out of March, so you won't see that impact until the April and Maryland sales.”

Top Line consigns 16 to OBS March, a half-dozen to Fasig-Tipton Florida Mar. 31 and about 50 head for OBS April.

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Bloodlines Presented By Mill Ridge Farm: Idol Was A Milestone Winner For Top Sire Curlin

Leading sire Curlin (by Smart Strike) picked up another first-time stakes winner over the weekend, and the victory came in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap. Idol was making his sixth start, and the Santa Anita Handicap came as the bay colt's third success from six starts, with two seconds and a third, for earnings of $416,464.

The 75th stakes winner by Curlin, Idol was bred in Kentucky by My Meadowview LLC and sold as a yearling for $375,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September yearling sale.

Lincoln Collins, the bloodstock adviser for My Meadowview, said that “Idol was always a strong, good-looking young horse who looked like he would mature into a colt who would thrive at 10 furlongs, and we had great hopes for him.”

The big bay did not immediately, however, prove out those high hopes for his success.

Unraced at two, Idol made his debut last year at Churchill Downs on Sept. 5 as a 3-year-old and finished second going six furlongs. The colt moved up to seven furlongs for his second start, on Sept. 26 at Churchill, and with the help of a swift early pace, he mowed down the opposition to win by 2 1/2 lengths in 1:22.04.

An allowance victory on Nov. 8 at 9.5 furlongs brought a new Churchill Downs track record of 1:55.95 as Idol won off by 5 3/4 lengths as the odds-on favorite at .50-to-1. The colt's three subsequent starts have all been in graded stakes at Santa Anita: the G2 San Antonio (second), G2 San Pasqual (third), and the Santa Anita Handicap.

Not only has Curlin made his name as a sire by producing high-quality performers at more than a mile but also having stock that stay sound and succeed as they mature. Idol has clearly followed the memo.

Collins said, “One of the challenges of breeding a horse like this is that one is treading a fine line between a horse that stays and a horse that is slow. And especially here in the States, a horse that stays has to be very high class; otherwise there's no place for him to race.”

By a two-time Horse of the Year, Idol is the third foal out of the listed stakes winner Marion Ravenwood (A.P. Indy), and he is the mare's first stakes winner, although her second foal, the Midnight Lute colt Ark in the Dark, has current earnings of $193,023.

The mare has an unraced 3-year-old colt by Pioneerof the Nile named Dr Jack. He sold for $250,000 at the 2018 Keeneland November sale as a weanling, then resold as a 2-year-old in training at the OBS spring sale last year (April sale in June) for $170,000.

Marion Ravenwood herself sold for $400,000 at the 2017 Keeneland November auction when Idol was a weanling. The mare was in foal to Pioneerof the Nile with Dr Jack at the time. In addition to the colt above, the mare's 2019 filly was a full sister to Idol who sold for $350,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September sale.

Last year, Marion Ravenwood produced a colt by Violence and she was bred to City of Light for 2021.

Although Idol missed out on the classics, he comes from a family with a grand classic tradition. The colt traces in the female line to Boudoir, a daughter of English Derby winner Mahmoud. Her most important foals were Your Host (Alibhai, by English Derby winner Hyperion, by wartime English Triple Crown winner Gainsborough). Your Host became the sire of five-time Horse of the Year Kelso, and Your Host's full sister Your Hostess was stakes-placed and became a famous broodmare.

Your Hostess produced four stakes winners, including T.V. Commercial (T.V. Lark), who won 15 of 55 races, including the Arlington-Washington Futurity and the Breeders' Futurity; Gallatia (Gallant Man), who won the Schuylerville Stakes at Saratoga; and Corragioso (Gallant Man), who won the Alcibiades and five other stakes.

More importantly for our story was the fourth foal of Your Hostess: Gay Hostess (Royal Charger). This striking mare produced Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Majestic Prince (Raise a Native), as well as the English highweight juvenile colt Crowned Prince, also by Raise a Native. Their full sister Meadow Blue was the last foal out of Your Hostess and was not raced.

At stud, Meadow Blue produced a stakes winner and a pair of stakes-placed racers. All five of her daughters produced stakes winners. The most immediately important was the Believe It mare Really Blue, who became the dam of champion Real Quiet (Quiet American), winner of the 1998 Kentucky Derby and Preakness, 1997 Hollywood Futurity, and the 1999 Pimlico Special and Hollywood Gold Cup.

Meadow Blue's stakes-winning daughter Nureyev's Best (Nureyev) is the third dam of Idol. Her best foal was the G2 stakes winner Andujar (Quiet American), who won the Milady, was third in the G1 Vanity at Hollywood Park and in the G1 Go for Wand at Saratoga. Andujar is the second dam of Idol, and her two stakes winners are Marion Ravenwood (A.P. Indy), dam of the Idol, and Abstraction, by A.P. Indy's high-class son Pulpit and a winner of the Federico Tesio Stakes.

The post Bloodlines Presented By Mill Ridge Farm: Idol Was A Milestone Winner For Top Sire Curlin appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Whether Riding in The Big ‘Cap or the Nightcap, Rosario Is a Master of Timing

The Week in Review, by T.D. Thornton

Generally speaking, when your horse is parked near last for most of the trip, fanned six wide on the far turn, fifth with a furlong to go, and still third 100 yards from the wire, your chances of winning are slim.

Unless Joel Rosario is riding, of course.

That was the exact scenario facing Idol (Curlin) in deep stretch of Saturday's GI Santa Anita H. at Santa Anita Park. Yet “Judicious Joel,” who at age 36 is without fanfare blossoming into the absolute master of timing in modern American racing, was once again confidently capable of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

If and when in-race wagering arrives on a large scale here in the States, discerning bettors are going to make a killing taking vastly overlaid odds on the late runners that Rosario rides, knowing that if the horse has it in him to close a seemingly insurmountable gap, Rosario is going to elicit that effort in the most efficient way possible.

Yes, the “Big 'Cap” has lost some of its luster over the last several decades because of the glut of global big-money races now scheduled during the first quarter of the year.

In 1996, the “world's richest race” lure of the G1 Dubai World Cup first made a dent in the stature of North America's premier dirt race for older horses.

Then the 2017 advent of the GI Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park coincided with The Stronach Group's trimming of the Big Cap's purse at sister track Santa Anita from its $1-million level and the selling of the race's sponsorship rights to a casino.

The arrival of the $20-million Saudi Cup in 2020 further crowded the international calendar at the Big 'Cap's expense. The 2021 edition run 10 days ago siphoned away America's top two older dirt males, Knicks Go (Paynter) and Charlatan (Speightstown), the latter of whom is stabled right at Santa Anita but instead shipped hallway around the planet to run for absurdly more purse money.

Yet even diminished, the Big 'Cap still resonates at a certain level of importance. Just ask an emotional Richard Baltas, Idol's trainer, who had to compose himself before saying in the winner's circle interview that “I've been coming here since I was 13 years old. Before I even got to be a horse trainer, I saw all the greats run here in the Big 'Cap and you never think that you're going to be here, but you keep working hard and God blessed you.”

Idol ended up winning the Big 'Cap by a well-timed half a length, which is a comparatively wide margin of victory for Rosario in Santa Anita's showcase race, which he has now won three years in a row.

In 2020, Rosario was aboard Combatant (Scat Daddy), who won the Big 'Cap by a neck with a stalking trip and a four-wide sweep off the turn.

In 2019, partnering with Gift Box (Twirling Candy), Rosario forced the issue on the front end, then held off a late charge by the 2-5 favorite to prevail by a nose.

The Big 'Cap victory Saturday boosted Rosario's wins in graded stakes races in 2021 to nine. You'd have to add together the totals of his next two closest rivals (Irad Ortiz Jr. and Luis Saez, who have five each) to top that fast start through the first 11 weeks of the year.

When Rosario doesn't win a graded stakes, he's infrequently far off the hunt. He's hit the board with nine other graded stakes mounts, which puts him at an ultra-impressive nation-leading 18-for-24 (75%) in-the-money clip among jockeys with at least 10 graded stakes starts.

Overall, those nine graded stakes wins account for 28% of all of Rosario's 32 victories this season so far.

“I knew [Idol] wanted all of a mile and a quarter, and the jockey made a bit of a difference too,” Baltas said. “We needed all of Rosario's power in the stretch to get him home.”

But while Baltas emphasized Rosario's strength, that's only part of his skill set. Even more remarkable is how Rosario meshes that power with patience.

He's also one of the most selective riders in the game about employing his stick. Although no one keeps statistics on this sort of thing, I'd be willing to wager that Rosario leads the nation in cocking his crop, looking back quickly to get a sense of where his stretch competition is, then putting the whip away after making a split-second decision that it's not needed.

Barely a half-hour after his emphatic win aboard Idol, Rosario gave another prime example of how to eke out a victory in disciplined fashion.

Riding the layoff maiden Defunded (Dialed In), Rosario sat chilly while eighth in a 12-horse field, biding his time atop a second-time starter who had been fractious as the beaten favorite under another jockey in his only other start.

Nudged to pick up the pace around the far turn, Defunded quickly inhaled half the field and had built enough steam to launch into contention at the top of the stretch. But he bumped and brushed repeatedly while bulling through traffic, and Rosario had to snatch his mount off the heels of a tiring foe, a move that might have been a momentum-staller for other riders.

Yet Rosario deftly kept his mount focused and barreling forward onward under a hand ride without overreacting and resorting to the whip. The pair coasted home to a measured half-length win at 8-1 odds, underscoring that whether it's the Big 'Cap or just an ordinary nightcap, “Judicious Joel” is truly on a roll.

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Baltas Savors Idol’s Big ‘Cap Triumph: ‘A Race You Dream About Winning’

Richard Baltas joined a long list of training luminaries who have won the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap when Idol stormed from behind to win Saturday's Big 'Cap by a half-length under Joel Rosario at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif.

Now the late-running son of two-time Horse of the Year Curlin is eligible for the inaugural “Wild West Bonus” of $1 million which goes to a horse winning the Big 'Cap, the Hollywood Gold Cup (at Santa Anita on May 31) and the TVG Pacific Classic (at Del Mar on Aug. 31).

All three races are at the classic American distance of a mile and a quarter.

“He came out of the race in good order,” the 59-year-old trainer said Sunday morning. “Of course, we're going to definitely look at it, although the Gold Cup is a long way off. I'm just happy he came out of the race very, very good.

“I knew he wanted all of a mile and a quarter, and the jockey made a bit of a difference, too. But a mile and a quarter is always what the horse wanted. He's just a big, long-striding horse.

“We needed all of Rosario's power in the stretch to get him home. It was a great win, a race you dream about winning. I've been coming to Santa Anita since I was 13 years old.

“Before I even became a trainer, I saw all the greats run in the Big 'Cap and you never think you're gonna be here, but you keep working hard and God blesses you.”

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