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Curlin’s Undefeated Malathaat Scores Gutsy Victory in KY Oaks

LOUISVILLE, KY – His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum is smiling somewhere tonight.

Shadwell Stable's 'TDN Rising Star' Malathaat (Curlin) outslugged Search Results (Flatter) by a neck in a battle of unbeatens in a GI Kentucky Oaks for the ages Friday at Churchill Downs. It was another 2 3/4 lengths back to Will's Secret (Will Take Charge) in third.

Sheikh Hamdan, who campaigned countless champions and Classic winners across the globe, passed away at 75 in late March.

“A million things have been going through my mind,” Shadwell Stable's Vice President and General Manager Rick Nichols said. “You know, losing the boss the way we did and him coming off a great year–he was the leading owner in Europe last year. And we have many good horses in our stable this year. And having Malathaat step up and give him an Oaks win is, you know, more than we could ask for.”

Nichols continued, “He loved the sport. Even in his advanced years, he didn't lose his passion for it. He was a very, very close friend. He was a lot of times a father figure, sometimes like a brother, sometimes like a friend. But he was always the boss. I loved him dearly. He'll always be missed.”

Favored at 5-2, the $1.05-million Keeneland September Yearling purchase was squeezed and bumped at the start as the lively and pinked-out Oaks day crowd of 41,472 let out a roar as the field of 13 was on its way beneath sun-splashed skies.

Malathaat, who made it four-for-four in a hard-fought GI Central Bank Ashland S. victory at Keeneland last out Apr. 3, recovered nicely, and got into a good rhythm beneath Johnny Velazquez heading into the clubhouse turn in a four-wide fifth as Travel Column (Frosted) led through a :23.60 opening quarter.

Search Results, heroine of the GIII Gazelle S. Apr. 3, sat in third, meanwhile, ready to pounce with Irad Ortiz, Jr. in the irons as Malathaat was two spots back in fifth through a half mile in :47.47.

Search Results and Malathaat both began to rev up three and four wide to take on the pacesetter approaching the quarter pole and the stage was set.

Search Results briefly held a narrow advantage in the stretch and fought on bravely from the inside, but just couldn't withstand Malathaat, who ground her way by for the lilies.

In a touching moment just past the wire, Ortiz gave his highly respected elder statesman several pats on the back as the two galloped out in tandem.

“She didn't get away the best, but I got a spot with her,” Velazquez said. “She was running well and when I turned for home, I had a target [Search Results] to send her after. We got up next to her and my filly went by. Then she waited a bit; she does that. The other filly came back, but I could tell I was still in control. I never thought I was going to do anything but win.”

It was the fourth Oaks win for Pletcher and the second for Velazquez, who teamed with the future Hall of Famer to take the 2004 renewal with Ashado. Pletcher's other two Oaks victories were with Princess of Sylmar in 2013 and Rags to Riches in 2007.

Malathaat's ultra-talented dam Dreaming of Julia (A.P. Indy) was an unlucky fourth for Pletcher as the favorite in the 2013 Oaks.

“I commented coming over that her dam finished fourth in this race and got off to a really poor start, got basically eliminated,” Pletcher said. “When she didn't jump real well the first stride or two and then got jostled around, I was concerned we were going to have the same misfortune we had with her dam.”

Pletcher continued, “I thought Johnny made a key decision to quickly try to get her back into position after that. And I felt a lot better after about a sixteenth of a mile once he got to a good stalking position, had her in the clear, and had her in a rhythm. Then it was just a matter of hopefully there was enough pace on up front that they would come back to her a little bit. It was great ride for a great filly and a great team. We are very fortunate to have her.”

Pletcher began training for Shadwell just last year when longtime trainer and fellow former D. Wayne Lukas assistant Kiaran McLaughlin announced his retirement.

“I remember three or four days after the sale, I saw Kiaran McLauglin,” Pletcher said. “And I said, 'Kiaran, are you getting to get that Dreaming of Julia filly?' He said, 'I think so, yeah.' And I said, 'Man, great, I love that filly.' When I met with Rick and his team at Shadwell before we started training for them, I saw the filly was on the roster. I was really hoping she would come our way.”

Malathaat, a 'Rising Star' debut winner at Belmont last October, stretched to a one-turn mile with a flashy, runaway victory in Aqueduct's Tempted S. a month later. She made her two-turn debut a winning one, concluding her juvenile campaign with a 3/4-length tally in the GII Demoiselle S. Dec. 5. Originally ticketed to kick off her season in the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks, Malathaat was re-routed to the Ashland while observing a 10-day mourning period for Sheikh Hamdan.

Friday, Churchill Downs
LONGINES KENTUCKY OAKS-GI, $1,250,000, Churchill Downs, 4-30, 3yo, f, 1 1/8m, 1:48.99, ft.
1–MALATHAAT, 121, f, 3, by Curlin
1st Dam: Dreaming of Julia (GISW, $874,500), by A.P. Indy
2nd Dam: Dream Rush, by Wild Rush
3rd Dam: Turbo Dream, by Unbridled
'TDN Rising Star' ($1,050,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Shadwell Stable; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY); T-Todd A Pletcher; J-John R Velazquez. $713,000. Lifetime Record: 5-5-0-0, $1,125,150. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Search Results, 121, f, 3, by Flatter
1st Dam: Co Cola (GSP), by Candy Ride (Arg)
2nd Dam: Yong Musician, by Yonaguska
3rd Dam: Alljazz, by Stop the Music
($310,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Klaravich Stables Inc; B-Machmer Hall (KY); T-Chad C Brown. $230,000.
3–Will's Secret, 121, f, 3, by Will Take Charge
1st Dam: Girls Secret, by Giant's Causeway
2nd Dam: Well Monied, by Maria's Mon
3rd Dam: Queen of America, by Quiet American
O-Willis Horton Racing LLC; B-Willis Horton Racing LLC (KY); T-Dallas Stewart. $115,000.
Margins: NK, 2 3/4, NO. Odds: 2.50, 5.70, 26.50.
Also Ran: Clairiere, Travel Column, Millefeuille, Maracuja, Pauline's Pearl, Coach, Crazy Beautiful, Moraz, Pass the Champagne, Competitive Speed. Scratched: Ava's Grace.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

Pedigree Notes:

Malathaat is one of 14 Grade I winners for the mighty Curlin, who was represented two races earlier by GII Eight Belles S. winner Obligatory. She is bred on the same cross as last year's

GI Woodward H. hero Global Campaign and recent GI Santa Anita H. victor Idol.

The legendary A.P. Indy is the sire of the dams of no fewer than 30 highest-level winners, including recent G1 Dubai World Cup winner Mystic Guide (Ghostzapper).

Malathaat is the third foal–first to race–out of Dreaming of Julia, a daughter of MGISW Dream Rush. Dreaming of Julia has a 2-year-old colt by Medaglia d'Oro, a yearling full-sister to Malathaat and foaled a Medaglia d'Oro filly earlier this spring.

The ultra-talented Dreaming of Julia, a Stonestreet homebred and Pletcher-trained 'TDN Rising Star' herself, registered a career high in Belmont's GI Frizette S. at two. Her resume also included a 21 3/4-length victory in the GII Gulfstream Oaks, good for an astronomical 114 Beyer Speed Figure, a runner-up finish in the GI Mother Goose S. and a third-place finish in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.

This is also the same female family of MGSW Dream Pauline (Tapit) and stakes-winning young sire Atreides (Medaglia d'Oro).

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Super Agent Anderson Has Rosario In Position To Rock & Roll

The first Saturday in May belongs to the soldiers from Lilliput.

They spend the rest of the year strong-arming 1,000-pound thoroughbreds into disappearing holes. They starve themselves. They don't make shortstop money. When they get hurt, ambulances are called. They are there in front of you at least four times a week, risking themselves at least eight times a day, in a game that only pays three finishers. At the end they catch hell from the drive-by bettors.

They are jockeys. Dr. Robert Kerlan famously called them the greatest athletes in sports. The Kentucky Derby is their day.

“I try to explain to people how gifted they are,” said Ron Anderson, the jockey agent. “They're the elite. It's like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. They weren't taught to do what they do, and they can't sit down and explain it to you.

“It's not an easy go. I had Jerry Bailey from 2000 to 2006. He was always very edgy. He wanted to win so bad. He retired and told me later that people didn't realize how hungry he was. For 20 years.”

Bailey now analyzes the races for NBC.

“The day after I retired, I planned it out with my son Justin,” Bailey said. “People asked me what I wanted and I said, 'Lunch.' That's what I missed the most, so I had a turkey pastrami at Two Jays in South Florida. It was awesome. So big, I couldn't even have dinner that night.”

Anderson talks of the “20 races with 20 different animals” in the Derby, and the “18 decisions” that Bailey had to make when he won with Grindstone in 1996.

“Every one of them was right,” Anderson said, “But sometimes you need a horse that's nimble and athletic enough to get in and out of situations, too.”

A jock also needs an agent who can play the probabilities, to find the right horse in the right race. That's where Anderson comes in. His jocks have won 15 Triple Crown races, including five Derbies, and 37 Breeders Cup events. On Saturday he'll have Joel Rosario on Rock Your World, and John Velazquez on Medina Spirit.

He had Bailey, Gary Stevens, Fernando Toro, Corey Nakatani, Chris Antley and Garrett Gomez and, until recently, Umberto Rispoli, who was riding Rock Your World.

Rosario was aiming for a Derby ride with Concert Tour, trained by Bob Baffert. But when Concert Tour ran poorly at the Arkansas Derby, Baffert steered him away from Louisville. That freed up Rosario for John Sadler, Rock Your World's trainer. Rosario and Sadler have teamed for 247 victories, 34 of them in graded stakes, and nearly $21 million. With Anderson as a conduit, Rosario is on Rock Your World Saturday and Rispoli is out, a decision that Sadler called “agonizing.”

“These are business situations,” Anderson said. “I remember what D. Wayne Lukas would tell riders who would win a race and want to get back on the horse: 'These are one-race contracts, my boy.' Harry Silbert was Willie Shoemaker's agent, and they worked for 36 years on a handshake.”

Agents only represent two jocks at a time. Velasquez had been the regular rider for Malathaat, the favorite in Friday's Kentucky Oaks for 3-year-old fillies. He was riding Medina Spirit for Baffert in the Santa Anita Derby (and losing to Rispoli and Rock Your World), so Rosario took over Malathaat and won the Ashland Stakes. When it came time for the Oaks, trainer Todd Pletcher reached back for Velasquez.

“Joel totally understood,” Anderson said.

It's a long way from Mt. San Antonio College, and Anderson's goal of attending UCLA law. But he was a racetrack regular, and agent Chick McClellan gave him Toro's account, and Toro became Anderson's racetrack professor.

“Ronnie is successful because he's smarter than anyone else,” Bailey said. “He's able to interpret the data from the numbers, speed numbers, patterns. If your agent is wrong, it can cost you a lot of money. Maybe $5,000 in an allowance race, but maybe a million in a big race.

“Some agents will say, what do you have for me? Ronnie has already done the homework and says, 'I want horses A, C and F in races 1, 6 and 9.'”

On Saturday Anderson will sit back and watch Rosario and Velazquez and the others become the biggest men in the world. On Sunday he'll bury himself in charts and numbers again.

All days means money to racetrack people, but Anderson knows and understands why one day matters more.

“You tell somebody you're in racing and the first thing they want to know is, did you win the Derby?” he said. “That's the one that lasts forever.”

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Champion Gamine Headlines Derby City Distaff

Michael Lund Petersen's champion Gamine tops a field of six fillies and mares for the 35th running of the $500,000 Derby City Distaff presented by Kendall-Jackson Winery (G1) going seven furlongs on the main track.

The Derby City Distaff will go as the seventh race with a 1:56 p.m. post time.

Trained by Bob Baffert, Gamine has won six of her seven career starts and capped off her championship campaign with a track record-setting romp in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) at Keeneland in November.

Gamine opened 2021 with a five-length victory in the Las Flores (G3) April 4 at Santa Anita. John Velazquez has the mount Saturday leaving post four.

Her top challenger figures to be Bell's the One who is seeking to become the first repeat winner of the race.

Owned by Lothenbach Stables and trained by Neil Pessin, Bell's the One has compiled a 4-2-2-0 record at Churchill Downs. Regular rider Corey Lanerie has the mount and will exit post three.

The field for the Derby City Distaff, with riders and weights from the rail out, is:

Estilo Talentoso (Javier Castellano, 118 pounds)
Sconsin (Irad Ortiz Jr., 118)
Bell's the One (Lanerie, 123)
Gamine (Velazquez, 123)
Hibiscus Punch (Luis Saez, 120)
Unique Factor (Joel Rosario, 118)

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Malathaat Installed As 5-2 Morning Line Favorite For 147th Kentucky Oaks

Shadwell Stable's undefeated Malathaat has been installed as the 5-2 morning line favorite in a field of 14 3-year-old fillies entered Monday for the 147th running of the $1,250,000 Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) to be run at 1 1/8 miles Friday afternoon at Churchill Downs.

The centerpiece of Friday's 13-race program that features six graded stakes, the Longines Kentucky Oaks will go as the 11th race with a 5:51 p.m. (all times Eastern) post time. First post Friday is 10:30 a.m.

Live coverage of the Kentucky Oaks, which will reward the winner with a check of $767,250, will be provided by NBCSN's telecast from noon to 6 p.m.

Trained by Todd Pletcher, a three-time Kentucky Oaks winner, Malathaat comes into Friday's race off a victory in the Ashland (G1) at Keeneland on April 3 that served as her 2021 debut. John Velazquez, who won the 2004 Oaks for Pletcher on Ashado, has the mount and will break from post 10.

Co-second choice on the line at 3-1 are Klaravich Stables' Search Results and OXO Equine's Travel Column.

Trained by Chad Brown, Search Results is perfect in three starts with her most recent coming in Gazelle (G3) on April 3 at the Oaks distance of 1 1/8 miles. Irad Ortiz Jr., who has been aboard for two of those three victories, has the mount Friday and will break from post 12.

Travel Column could give the trainer-jockey combination of Brad Cox and Florent Geroux a third Oaks victory and second in a row.

Cox and Geroux teamed to win the 2020 Oaks with Shedaresthedevil and in 2018 won with the champion Monomoy Girl. Geroux has been aboard Travel Column for all five of her starts with the most recent being a victory in the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2). Travel Column will break from post six.

Cox will have one other starter in the race in Kueber Racing's Coach (50-1). Third in the Fantasy (G3) in her most recent start, Coach will be ridden by Luis Saez and break from post nine.

Fourth choice on the line at 5-1 is Clairiere, one of two entrants for Stonestreet Stables and trainer Steve Asmussen, who is seeking his third victory in the race.

Clairiere, who has faced Travel Column in her past three starts with a victory in the Rachel Alexandra (G2) and runner-up finishes in the Golden Rod (G2) and Fair Grounds Oaks, will be ridden for the first time Friday by Tyler Gaffalione and break from post three.

Pauline's Pearl (20-1), winner of the Fantasy in her most recent start, will be ridden by Ricardo Santana Jr., and break from post one.

In addition to Velazquez and Geroux, two other riders will be seeking another Oaks victory.

Jose Ortiz, who won the 2019 running on Serengeti Empress, will be aboard Phoenix Thoroughbred III's Crazy Beautiful (15-1) for trainer Kenny McPeek. Winner of the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) in her most recent start, Crazy Beautiful will break from post four.

Javier Castellano, who guided Cathryn Sophia to victory in the 2016 Oaks, has the call on Pass the Champagne (15-1) for trainer George Weaver. Owned by the partnership of R. A. Hill Stable, Black Type Thoroughbreds, BlackRidge Stables and James Brown, Pass the Champagne was second to Malathaat in the Ashland in her most recent start. She will break from post five.

Going for a second training win in the Oaks is Dallas Stewart, who saddled Lemons Forever to victory in the 2006 renewal. Stewart trains Willis Horton Racing's Will's Secret, (30-1) winner of the Martha Washington and Honeybee (G3) prior to running third in the Ashland. Jon Court has the mount and will exit post 11.

The field for the Longines Kentucky Oaks, with riders and morning line odds from the rail out, is:

Pauline's Pearl (Ricardo Santana Jr., 20-1)
Maracuja (Kendrick Carmouche, 20-1)
Clairiere (Tyler Gaffalione, 5-1)
Crazy Beautiful (Jose Ortiz, 15-1)
Pass the Champagne (Javier Castellano, 15-1)
Travel Column (Florent Geroux, 3-1)
Ava's Grace (David Cohen, 50-1)
Moraz (Flavien Prat, 30-1)
Coach (Luis Saez, 50-1)
Malathaat (John Velazquez, 5-2)
Will's Secret (Jon Court, 30-1)
Search Results (Irad Ortiz Jr., 3-1)
Competitive Speed (Chris Landeros, 50-1)
Millefeuille (Joel Rosario, 20-1)

All starters will carry 121 pounds.

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