Iroquois S. | Horse Racing Free Tips

Major General Earns His Stripes in Iroquois

Major General took his record to two-for-two with a gutsy score in the GIII Iroquois S. at Churchill Downs Saturday, earning a spot in the gate for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile. The $420,000 KEESEP buy went gate to wire in his 6 1/2-panel unveiling at Saratoga Aug. 21 and was given a 9-2 chance for this step up in class. The bay raced off the rail in mid-pack as a pair of longshots battled through an opening quarter in :23.82. Moving into a joint fourth as the half went in :47.89, Major General charged to the lead alongside 'TDN Rising Star' Stellar Tap (Tapit) approaching the far turn and they entered the stretch in unison. A brief battled ensued, but Stellar Tap threw in the towel halfway home and a host of pursuers rallied up to take his place, but Major General held on for a narrow victory over Tough to Tame. Stellar Tap's jockey Ricardo Santana claimed foul for some bumping in the lane, but the result was left as is.

“You're always confident whenever Todd [Pletcher] puts you on a horse,” Javier Castellano said. “His team does a great job and this horse is just learning. He seemed to enjoy going two turns and when the other horses got to him in the stretch he started to re-break.”

Pedigree Notes:
Major General is the eighth graded and 17th black-type winner overall for WinStar stallion Constitution, whose third crop is two this year. Circular Road Breeders bred both Major General and his dam, the unraced No Mo Lemons, but sold them both in 2020. Major General went as a Keeneland January short yearling for $265,000 to Northface Bloodstock and was successfully pinhooked into a $420,000 September yearling, where Maverick Racing took him home. No Mo Lemons was hammered for $70,000 by Titletown Racing Stables at the Keeneland November sale and her now-yearling colt by Always Dreaming brought $95,000 at the same sale from Steven W. Young. No Mo Lemons didn't produce a 2021 foal, but was bred to Kantharos for next term. A number of stakes winners trace to the grandam of No Mo Lemons, a half-sister to GISW Well Chosen (Deputy Minister), including GISW Leofric (Candy Ride {Arg}) and MGSW & GISP Multiple Choice (Mt. Livermore). Uncle Mo, with just seven crops to race himself, is young for a broodmare sire, but Major General counts as the third stakes winner out of his daughters.

Saturday, Churchill Downs
IROQUOIS S.-GIII, $300,000, Churchill Downs, 9-18, 2yo, 1 1/16m, 1:44.88, ft.
1–MAJOR GENERAL, 118, c, 2, by Constitution
               1st Dam: No Mo Lemons, by Uncle Mo
               2nd Dam: Lemon Lady, by Lemon Drop Kid
               3rd Dam: Lady of Choice, by Storm Bird
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($265,000
Ylg '20 KEEJAN; $420,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-WinStar Farm
LLC & Siena Farm LLC; B-Circular Road Breeders (KY); T-Todd
Pletcher; J-Javier Castellano. $177,525. Lifetime Record:
2-2-0-0, $232,525. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Tough to Tame, 118, c, 2, Speightster–She'sa Tough Tiger,
by Tiger Ridge. ($75,000 2yo '21 OBSAPR). O-Rittdiculous
Gazmanian Stables; B-Elizabeth H. Muirhead (KY);
T-Christopher Davis. $57,750.
3–Red Knobs, 118, c, 2, Union Rags–Hokey Okey, by Lonhro
(Aus). ($75,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Jim Bakke & Gerald
Isbister; B-Caldara Farm Inc. & Flaxman Holdings Limited
(KY); T-Dale L. Romans. $28,875.
Margins: NK, 3/4, HF. Odds: 4.90, 37.30, 29.70.
Also Ran: Bourbon Heist, Stellar Tap, Guntown, Strike Hard, Husband Material, Roger McQueen, Magnolia Midnight. Scratched: Lucky Boss.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Brody’s Cause’s Sittin On Go Upsets in the Iroquois

Longshot Sittin On Go blew past his rivals in the stretch to become the first stakes winner for his freshman sire (by Giant’s Causeway), who was campaigned by these same connections. The chestnut was wheeling back on relatively short rest after an off-the-pace 4 1/4-length tally going five furlongs at Ellis Aug. 16–he earned just a 49 Beyer Speed Figure.

Unhurried early and guided a bit off the potentially dead rail, Sittin On Go traveled nicely on the bridle while far back as odds-on Therideofalifetime (Candy Ride {Arg}) zipped away through splits of :23.04 and :45.64. He was still hard held by Corey Lanerie heading around the turn, and circled up very wide into the lane. Midnight Bourbon wrestled the lead away from the chalk at the top of the lane, but Sittin On Go continued to gobble up ground and kick away convincingly to stamp his ticket to the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

“We’re having ourselves a great weekend,” said trainer Dale Romans, who also saddled ‘TDN Rising Star’ Girl Daddy (Uncle Mo) to a victory in Thursday’s GIII Pocahontas–the equivalent race to this one for fillies–for Dennis Albaugh and Jason Loutsch’s powerful stable. “This horse reminds us a lot of his father. We were pretty confident he’d be able to stretch out from his training and this race set up perfectly for us. We’re on to the Breeders’ Cup.”

Lanerie, who rode Brody’s Cause to an 11-1 victory in the 2015 GI Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity while employing very similar tactics, offered: “He broke really good and put me right where I thought he would be after watching his replay from Ellis Park. Down the backside, he was trying to get out on me. I don’t know why, but he settled in real nice. I was actually going to follow Dale’s other horse [Ultimate Badger {Commissioner}], but I had so much horse, I went to the outside and let him come on. Watching the races, it looked like the outside is the best place to be. I didn’t want any excuses for getting him stopped. I put him in the clear and he was just like his daddy.”

Dennis Albaugh said, “Man, to pick up the Pocahontas and then follow it up with the Iroquois two days later is unreal. We couldn’t be happier. That’s why we’re in the racing business. That horse was unbelievable coming around the turn. I was like, ‘Man, he’s moving.'”

Pedigree Notes:
Brody’s Cause was a $350,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase in 2014, and was third in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile after his Breeders’ Futurity win. He added the GI Toyota Blue Grass S. at three before checking in seventh in the GI Kentucky Derby. The Spendthrift Farm resident has been represented by three winners thus far.

More Than Ready has now sired the dams of 43 graded stakes winners. Dam Set’n On Ready–whose dam is by Brody’s Causeway’s sire Giant’s Causeway–was a precocious type who was claimed for $35,000 out of her final career start. She hails from the female family of European highweight sprinter Lucayan Prince, MGSW Comic Strip, and graded stakes winner and producer Silver Comic. Set’n On Rady was barren in her next two seasons before producing a Mor Spirit filly this January. She was bred back to Flameaway.

Saturday, Churchill Downs
IROQUOIS S. PRESENTED BY FORD-GIII, $200,000, Churchill Downs, 9-5, 2yo, 1m, 1:35.00, ft.
1–SITTIN ON GO, 118, c, 2, by Brody’s Cause
                1st Dam: Set’n On Ready (SP), by More Than Ready
                2nd Dam: Laughingly, by Giant’s Causeway
                3rd Dam: Now That’s Funny, by Saratoga Six
   1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($65,000
Wlg ’18 KEENOV; $62,000 RNA Ylg ’19 KEESEP). O-Albaugh
Family Stables LLC; B-Wynnstay LLC (KY); T-Dale L. Romans;
J-Corey J. Lanerie. $117,800. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0,
$145,520. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Werk Nick Rating: C+.
2–Midnight Bourbon, 118, c, 2, Tiznow–Catch the Moon, by
Malibu Moon. ($525,000 Ylg ’19 KEESEP). O-Winchell
Thoroughbreds LLC; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC
(KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen. $38,000.
3–Super Stock, 120, c, 2, Dialed In–Super Girlie, by Closing
Argument. ($70,000 Ylg ’19 KEESEP). O-Woolsey, Erv and
Asmussen, Keith; B-Pedro Gonzalez & P.J. Gonzalez (KY);
T-Steven M. Asmussen. $19,000.
Margins: 2HF, 1 3/4, 5 1/4. Odds: 24.00, 5.20, 8.30.
Also Ran: Therideofalifetime, Pico d’Oro, Notary, Ultimate Badger, Crazy Shot, Drop Anchor, Belafonte. Scratched: Dreamer’s Disease. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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Rising Star Holds Big Figure Edge in Iroquois

If he comes close to replicating his last two speed figures, it’s going to be pretty tough for anyone to best ‘TDN Rising Star‘ Therideofalifetime (Candy Ride {Arg}) in Churchill’s GIII Iroquois S.–which offers a “Win and You’re In” berth for the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. The Stephen Fidel homebred was second to Jackie’s Warrior (Maclean’s Music) going five panels here June 19 before breaking through by 8 1/4 lengths at Keeneland July 11, good for an 85 Beyer Speed Figure. He was most recently second to Jackie’s Warrior in the GII Saratoga Special S. Aug. 7, but the 81 Beyer he earned for that effort towers over his competition. Next-fastest on figures is the tough-to-read Dreamer’s Disease (Laoban). Hailing from the first crop of New York-based Laoban (Uncle Mo), the Southern Equine Stables homebred was a distant last after a rough journey sprinting at Ellis July 2. He switched to the turf and stretched out at the Pea Patch Aug. 8, and looked like a completely different horse, romping by four lengths, good for a 78 Beyer. Super Stock (Dialed In) and Pico d’Oro (Curlin) are the two who boast prior stakes wins. The former annexed the Texas Thoroughbred Futurity at Lone Star Aug. 11, while the latter–also bred by Southern Equine and eventually acquired for $255,000 at OBSMAR–broke his maiden with a strong pace set-up in the seven-furlong Runhappy Juvenile S. at Ellis Park Aug. 9. The remaining seven cast members all enter off maiden-breaking outings on the Ellis main track. One to have on the radar is Thomas Humphries-owned and trained Belafonte (Tonalist), who blew the break in his Aug. 2 unveiling in the slop but uncorked an impressive turn move to win going away at 49-1. The $20,000 FTKOCT bargain buy will sport blinkers for the first time.

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