Encino Takes to Dirt, Wires Stonestreet Lexington

Godolphin homebred Encino (Nyquist) took to dirt with aplomb, delivering a 3/4-length, wire-to-wire victory over favored The Wine Steward (Vino Rosso) in Saturday's GIII Stonestreet Lexington S. at Keeneland. With the win, good for 20 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, Encino is currently ranked 21st on the leaderboard with 40 points.

“Ultimately (whether he starts in the Kentucky Derby) will be up to the Godolphin team–Dan Pride, Michael Banahan, Sheikh Mohammed–and if it's something they want to do, we'll prepare him,” winning trainer Brad Cox said. “We'll ship him over to Churchill in a few days regardless. I'll tell you it will either be the Derby or the Preakness. He's sitting at 21st on the list right now and some things would have to happen (to make the Kentucky Derby field). But we'll watch him. Hopefully, he comes out of (the Stonestreet Lexington) in good shape and we'll march forward.”

The 3-1 chance cleared the field of nine beneath Florent Geroux from his outside draw and led through fractions of :23.55 and :47.28. He kicked for home as the one to catch and gamely turned back a challenge from The Wine Steward in the stretch to get the money.

Encino made all three of his previous starts over the synthetic at Turfway Park, led by a win in the John Battaglia Memorial S. last time Mar. 2.

“There was a little bit of a question mark about whether he would like the dirt, but he handled it today,” Cox said. “He had a few works at Keeneland leading up to this race and showed his hand. He seemed like he liked the surface, and he put it all together today.”

Geroux added, “He broke like a shot. I was expecting more speed. It was pretty much all him to the first turn; he pretty much controlled the race from there. He was cruising around there, and when he felt The Wine Steward outside of him, it gave him a little extra push. I think that's what he needed because he was getting a little lost out there on his own. But he had plenty left in the tank, the dirt felt great, and it looks like added distance shouldn't be a problem for him.”

Pedigree Notes:

Encino becomes the 13th graded stakes winner for Nyquist. The winning Bernardini mare Glittering Jewel, a half-sister to GI Kentucky Derby winner and Darley stallion Street Sense (Street Cry {Ire}), produced fillies by Street Boss in 2022-23. She was bred to Good Magic for 2024. The Nyquist x Bernardini cross is also responsible for GISW Gretzky the Great and unbeaten 'TDN Rising Star' Nysos.

Saturday, Keeneland
STONESTREET LEXINGTON S.-GIII, $365,500, Keeneland, 4-13, 3yo, 1 1/16m, 1:43.93, ft.
1–ENCINO, 118, c, 3, by Nyquist
                1st Dam: Glittering Jewel, by Bernardini
                2nd Dam: Bedazzle, by Dixieland Band
                3rd Dam: Majestic Legend, by His Majesty
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. O/B-Godolphin (KY); T-Brad H. Cox; J-Florent Geroux. $235,600. Lifetime Record: 4-3-1-0,
$378,315. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus* Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–The Wine Steward, 118, c, 3, Vino Rosso–Call to Service, by To Honor and Serve. ($70,000 Ylg '22 SARAUG; $340,000 2yo '23 OBSMAR). O-Paradise Farms Corp. and David Staudacher; B-Sequel Thoroughbreds LLC, Lakland Farm & Mark Toothaker (NY); T-Michael J. Maker. $57,000.
3–Dilger (Ire), 118, c, 3, Lope de Vega (Ire)–Post Perfection, by Majesticperfection. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. O-Michael J. Ryan; B-Demers Bloodstock (IRE); T-Saffie Joseph, Jr. $28,500.
Margins: 3/4, 8 1/4, HF. Odds: 3.31, 1.49, 36.38.
Also Ran: Secret Chat, Footprint, Liberal Arts, Hades, Lucky Jeremy, How's Ur Attitude. Scratched: Everdoit.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

 

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Godolphin’s Encino Gets By Epic Ride In John Battaglia Upset

Godolphin homebred Encino broke his maiden over course and distance Jan. 26 and parlayed that right into points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby with a win in Saturday night's John Battaglia Memorial S. at Turfway Park. Debuting as the beaten favorite, albeit by only a neck, over a mile on the Tapeta Dec. 29, the Brad Cox trainee stepped up with a gate-to-wire run second-time out in a better than it seemed half-length win. Sent at 5-1 Saturday behind race favorite Epic Ride, Encino broke nearly widest of the field but was able to tuck in on the run to the first turn and sit a stalking trip behind a quartet of pacers up front. Situated just off the hip of the favorite up the backstretch, he followed that one's move into the far turn, had to swing outside of him as they straightened away and dug in gamely to get by close to home.

“After I broke pretty well from the gate I was able to get over and begin to follow Epic Ride,” said winning rider and reigning Eclipse Award winner Axel Concepcion. “He relaxed very well down the backside and around the far turn I was able to ask him for his best run. I had a lot of horse still left down the lane and he continued to run hard all the way to the wire.”

His dam's second foal and first to race, Encino is the 23rd stakes winner for his sire and out of a half-sister to champion 2-year-old, GI Kentucky Derby winner and sire Street Sense (Street Cry {Ire}). Glittering Jewel has since produced back to back fillies by Street Boss before visiting Good Magic for this year. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

 

JOHN BATTAGLIA MEMORIAL S., $142,500, Turfway, 3-2, 3yo,
1 1/16m (AWT), 1:44.22, ft.
1–ENCINO, 118, c, 3, by Nyquist
                1st Dam: Glittering Jewel, by Bernardini
                2nd Dam: Bedazzle, by Dixieland Band
                3rd Dam: Majestic Legend, by His Majesty
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. O/B-Godolphin (KY); T-Brad H. Cox;
J-Axel Concepcion. $87,536. Lifetime Record: 3-2-1-0,
$141,971.
2–Epic Ride, 124, c, 3, Blame–Pick a Time, by Gio Ponti.
($160,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). O-Welch Racing LLC; B-Fred W.
Hertrich (KY); T-John Ennis. $28,560.
3–Blue Eyed George, 120, c, 3, Flameaway–Acting Naughty,
by Offlee Wild. ($50,000 Ylg '22 TTAYRL; $200,000 2yo '23
OBSAPR). O-BG Stables; B-Clear Creek Stud LLC (LA); T-Michael
McCarthy. $9,280.
Margins: 1, 1 3/4, 4 3/4. Odds: 5.69, 1.16, 3.88.
Also Ran: Mugatu, Ode to Balius, Bolt At Midnight, Mission Ready, Karlwithanarl, Good Bali, Fidget, Mr. Faversham. Scratched: Break Out, Gettysburg Address, Katheeb.

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Gotham Runners Look Ahead

Andrew and Rania Warren's Raise Cain (Violence) exited his 7 1/2-length victory in Saturday's GIII Gotham S. in fine shape, according to trainer Ben Colebrook. The colt, who earned 50 qualifying points for the GI Kentucky Derby with his win in the Gotham, could return to New York for the Apr. 8 GII Wood Memorial or run in the GI Toyota Blue Grass S. at Colebrook's home base at Keeneland that same day.

“We're based at Keeneland and if it wasn't for that, the Wood would be circled. I guess we'll just sit back and see how the nominations are,” Colebrook said. “If one is significantly easier than the other, that would change our thinking. If you don't have to ship, why do it? But the Blue Grass could come up significantly tougher. In which case, we would go to the Wood.”

Colebrook had a quick turnaround Saturday. The Gotham field left the gate at 5:01 p.m. and the trainer was back in Kentucky in time to saddle Scoobie Quando (Uncle Mo)–owned by the same connections–to a runner-up effort in the $150,000 John Battaglia Memorial at Turfway Park, which went off at 9:29 p.m.

“Luckily, it worked out. Going to JFK you pass the chute, so I got the Uber driver to stop and I watched them run down the backside,” Colebrook said. “I switched on to my phone and watched the rest of the race, so I got to the airport in plenty of time, luckily. The plane was on time, so I made it to Turfway as they were walking over to saddle, so everything worked out. I didn't really consider doing that until the overnights came out and they carded that race late at Turfway. So, I figured why not try it? I always really liked Scoobie, so I wanted to be there for that race.”

Scoobie Quando, who graduated on debut in the Jan. 7 Turfway Preview S. and was making his third lifetime start in the Battaglia, was behind a wall of horses late in the turn before angling out and rallying to finish second in the 1 1/16-mile test. He earned eight points on the Derby trail and could make his next start in the Mar. 25 GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks, which is a 100-40-30-20-10 Kentucky Derby qualifier.

“The timing isn't great, but he didn't really get to run last night. I don't think it was a tough race, so I'm leaning towards the Jeff Ruby,” Colebrook said. “If the race took a lot out of him, we would probably skip it and look for something on the dirt or the turf with him, eventually. When I had him on the main track at Keeneland, he worked really well on it. I still think the dirt is within his wheelhouse. But if not, we have synthetic and turf to fall back on. The way he ran last night, we have to at least consider the Ruby.”

Trainer Brad Cox said the Wood Memorial was the next likely start for Gotham runner-up Slip Mahoney (Arrogate). The gray colt, who was coming off a maiden-breaking score at Aqueduct Jan. 21, broke a step slow from post 10 in the 14-horse Gotham field and trailed in 13th through the first half-mile. He improved to eighth at the top of the stretch while racing eight wide in pursuit of stablemate Eyeing Clover (Lookin At Lucky) and Raise Cain, who made an inside rally from 11th and showed an impressive turn of foot down the center lane under Jose Lezcano. Slip Mahoney gained with each stride down the stretch and surged past Eyeing Clover, but could not collar Raise Cain.

“Overall, I thought for the first time facing winners, it was a positive race,” Cox said. “I never expected him to be that far back. Hopefully he gets a little better trip and a little better position in the Wood.”

Eyeing Clover, who came into his stakes debut off a dominant six-furlong optional-claiming victory at Fair Grounds Jan. 28, finished fourth in the Gotham.

“I'm not sure what we're going to do with him yet,” Cox said. “I'm not certain how far he wants to go, so we'll just regroup and come up with a game plan here in the near future.”

Imaginary Stables' Howgreatisnate (Speightster) arrived home to Fair Hill in good order after stumbling at the start of the Gotham. The bay gelding was unbeaten in four starts, including a win in the Future Stars S. at Parx in December, heading into the Gotham, but saw his streak end as the gates opened when he unseated jockey J.D. Acosta and completed the course before being collared by the outrider.

“He was fresh and a little too eager and he outbroke himself coming out of the gate. He pushed so hard, his front feet went underneath him and he just went down,” trainer Andrew Simoff said. “He came out OK. He got a little scrape on his pastern and we're keeping an eye on it, but other than that he looks good. If he's good in the next two or three days and there's no issues or inflammation, I'll look to run him right back.”

Of possible next starts for Howgreatisnate, Simoff said, “If he had run fifth or sixth yesterday, I could deal with it and say he's not what we thought. We were trying to get a line on him to see if he could compete with the bigger horses. Now that I didn't get that opportunity, it's hard to figure out what to do next. Had he run second or third, the Wood would be a no brainer.”

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‘Storm’ Rolling in For Jeff Ruby

A field of 11, headed by Joseph Morey Jr.'s Hush of a Storm (Creative Cause), aim to take advantage of the Kentucky Derby points on the line in Saturday's GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park. Drawing the 2 hole, the William Morey trainee kicked off his career finishing eighth against $150,000 maidens on the dirt at Churchill last November, but rebounded in fine style to win with ease while trying the Tapeta for the first time going a mile a Turfway in December. A narrow winner facing optional claiming company Jan. 6, the New York bred recorded his biggest success to date when winning the 8 1/2-furlong John Battaglia Memorial S. Feb. 26. Aboard for all three wins, Santiago Gonzalez gets the call.

Hoping to turn the tables on Hush of a Storm is Battaglia third Gretzky the Great (Nyquist), the sole Grade I winner in the field.  Campaigned by Gary Barber and Eclipse Thoroughbreds, the Ontario bred was runner up in his career bow over the Woodbine turf last July before graduating in an off-turf test over that track's synthetic surface the following month before eking out a win in the grassy 6 1/2-furlong Soaring Free S. Aug. 23.  Favored for the Sept. 20 GI Summer S., the bay came home an easy 3 1/4-length winner, but failed to carry that form in his seasonal finale, tiring to sixth in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Keeneland Nov. 6.

“After the Breeders' Cup, Gretzky had some minor ankle surgery and so, we missed some time with him,” said Mark Casse. “I knew if I was going to make a dirt start that I was going to have to race him two or three more times. So, the reason I went to the Battaglia was just simply because it's not as tiring.”

As for his Battaglia performance, Casse added, “He definitely was a little short, unfortunately. We drew the one [hole] and I told the rider, look, I want you to put him into the race. I don't like coming from the one and letting horses run by you and then they go in front of you and next thing you know, you're last. So, we asked him to run away from there. And unfortunately, he caught some pressure from a long shot that kind of ran ahead and was with him for three-quarters-of-a-mile. He put that horse away and then two more came at him, two more that had to be a lot fitter than we were, so I was proud of our horse.”

“I thought he tried and ran hard, staying back,” he concluded. “But more importantly, he's trained very well since then. And I'm excited. I'm very happy we picked up Chris Landeros to ride him. In my opinion, nobody rides Turfway Park like Chris Landeros. So, I think that's a big plus for us.”

While a top rung performance could pave the way to the Kentucky Derby starting gate, Casse indicated Canada's first jewel of the Triple Crown is far more likely for the colt.

“Is the derby a possibility? I wouldn't rule it out,” said Casse. “He would have to give us a tremendous performance though in the Jeff Ruby and then we'd have to come up with a plan on the Derby. But Queen's Plate is definitely in our crosshairs. And with him being a Canadian bred, it's a million dollars and it's such a prestigious race. We've been fortunate enough to win it a couple of times. We'd like to win it again.”

Also exiting the Battaglia, M Racing Group's Like the King (Palace Malice) makes the jump into graded company following a runner-up in the Battaglia. A runaway winner going a mile on the turf at Belterra last September, the Wesley Ward trainee finished third in an off-turf test at Keeneland a month later but found himself back in the winner's circle going a mile at Turfway Dec. 4. Drawing the inside stall this time, the colt will be ridden for the first time by Drayden Van Dyke.

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