Juddmonte Farms | Horse Racing Free Tips

Set Piece Rallies From Back of The Pack To Win Wise Dan Stakes At Churchill Downs

Weaving through horses like a car on a busy freeway, Florent Geroux moved Juddmonte's Set Piece from near the back of the ten-horse field to catch Somelikeithotbrown in the stretch and win the Grade 2 Wise Dan Stakes by a half-length at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. On a firm turf course, Set Piece overcame a disadvantageous start to find a hole on the hedge and pull out the win for trainer Brad Cox, who was leading all trainers going into the spring meet's final day.

At the start, Set Piece, breaking from post one, found himself squeezed back to next to last when several horses came over to find running positions for the first half of the race. Somelikeithotbrown, fresh off his winning performance in the Grade 2 Dinner Party Stakes on Pimlico's Preakness Stakes undercard, took the lead, with a half length back to Field Pass in second and then another two lengths back to Mutakatif in third.

Somelikeithotbrown maintained that lead through the stretch as Geroux moved Set Piece through the middle of the field, going first to the middle of the pack and then ducking to the inside of Mutakatif to take advantage of space on the hedge. Set Piece accelerated, closing the gap between him and Somelikeithotbrown. Jose Ortiz got Somelikeithotbrown to rally and try to hold off Set Piece, but the Juddmonte gelding was too much for the son of Big Brown. Set Piece passed Somelikeithotbrown in the race's final yards, hitting the wire a half-length in front. The time for the mile and a sixteenth G2 Wise Dan was 1:40.50.

Find this race's chart here.

Set Piece paid $5.40, $3.40, and $2.40. Somelikeithotbrown paid $3.80 and $2.80. Ride a Comet paid $3.00 to show.

Owned and bred by Juddmonte Farm, Set Piece was sired by Dansili out of Portodora, by King Mambo. His win in the G2 Wise Dan Stakes is his third win in five starts this year, with two other wins at Churchill Downs, the Douglas Park Overnight Stakes and the Opening Verse Overnight Stakes. Set Piece has nine wins in 16 lifetime starts for earnings of $300,996.

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Mandaloun Overcomes Tough Trip in Monmouth’s Pegasus

Juddmonte Farms' Mandaloun (Into Mischief), who may yet be named this year's GI Kentucky Derby winner should Medina Spirit (Protonico) be disqualified, held off a determined Weyburn (Pioneerof the Nile) to kick off the second half of his sophomore campaign with a win in the TVG.com Pegasus S. at Monmouth Park Sunday.

Sent off the 1-5 favorite while facing just four rivals, Mandaloun was squeezed back to last soon after the break and trailed the compact field as longshot Lugamo (Chitu) set a leisurely pace up front with Weyburn a threatening presence to his outside. Weyburn, upset winner of the GIII Gotham S. in March, took command on the far turn, but Mandaloun was making progress of his own under energetic handling from jockey Florent Geroux. The bay colt charged into the lane with a three-wide move and, despite being floated out farther on the track as Weyburn drifted at the top of the stretch, looked set to power clear to an easy victory. But he seemed to idle in deep stretch as Weyburn re-rallied to just miss catching the favorite in the final jumps.

“We didn't expect that [being pinched at the start],” said winning trainer Brad Cox. “We thought he might be on the lead or tracking a couple. We found ourselves last going into the first turn. But overall it was a big effort. I think he closed into a soft pace. He probably had to start his run a touch early given the fact that he was last. He ran a big race. Florent made the comment that he may have been looking around late. But he made the lead by himself. Overall it was a good effort for him to ship over here.”

Geroux added, “He was nice and relaxed during the race. It was nice to see that he was able to settle down on his and everything worked out great. The important thing was not to rush him too hard [after the start]. I had a lot of horse. He was passing horses one by one.”

Geroux said that Monmouth Park's new stringent whip rules may have led to Mandaloun idling in deep stretch.

“At the end when he made the lead maybe he was looking around a little,” Geroux said. “It was a new thing for him not having the whip for encouragement. I saw the other horse [Weyburn] coming inside of us. But he was still running pretty good at the end. He had to work for it but I don't think it was a really hard race on him. He did not come back blowing hard at all.”

Mandaloun came up just a half-length short when second behind Medina Spirit in the May 1 GI Kentucky Derby, but the results of that race remain in limbo following the first-place finisher's subsequent betamethasone positive.

The Juddmonte homebred was tabbed a 'TDN Rising Star' following his debut win at Keeneland last October and concluded his two-for-two juvenile campaign with an optional-claimer victory at Churchill Downs in November. He opened 2021 with a third-place effort as the 7-5 favorite in the Jan 16 GIII Lecomte S. and rebounded with a win in the Feb. 13 GII Risen Star S. He was a 26-1 longshot in the Derby off a dull sixth-place effort in the Mar.20 GII Louisiana Derby.

Mandaloun could be making a return trip to the Jersey Shore for the July 17 GI TVG.com Haskell S.

“I think ultimately we're going to figure out what toll it took on him once we get back home [to Churchill Downs],” Cox said of future plans for Mandaloun. “The ship over for the race, the ship back, things such as that. We'll put it all together and process it and let him tell us where he is over the next couple of weeks. It was a good effort and hopefully he can bounce out of it in good order and be ready in five weeks [for the Haskell].”

Pedigree Notes:
Mandaloun is a fourth-generation homebred for the late Juddmonte principal Prince Khalid Bin Abdullah. Juddmonte purchased his fourth dam Queen of Song (His Majesty) for $700,000 in foal to Seattle Slew at Keeneland November back in 1989. Mandaloun's dam Brooch is a two-time group winner in Europe and a half-sister to MSW & MGSP Caponata (Selkirk). The 10-year-old mare has a yearling full-brother to Mandaloun and produced a colt by War Front this year. This is also the family of Irish Highweight Emulous (GB) (Dansili {GB}) and group winner First Sitting (GB) (Dansili {GB}).

Sunday, Monmouth Park
TVG.COM PEGASUS S., $147,500, Monmouth, 6-13, 3yo,
1 1/16m, 1:44.63, ft.
1–MANDALOUN, 122, c, 3, by Into Mischief
        1st Dam: Brooch (MGSW-Ire, $217,059), by Empire Maker
        2nd Dam: Daring Diva (GB), by Dansili (GB)
        3rd Dam: Aspiring Diva, by Distant View
'TDN Rising Star' O/B-Juddmonte Farms Inc (KY); T-Brad H.
   Cox; J-Florent Geroux. $90,000. Lifetime Record: GSW & GISP,
   7-4-1-1, $1,051,252.
2–Weyburn, 122, c, 3, Pioneerof the Nile–Sunday Affair, by A.P.
Indy. O/B-Chiefswood Stables Limited (ON); T-James A.
Jerkens. $30,000.
3–Dr Jack, 116, c, 3, Pioneerof the Nile–Marion Ravenwood, by
A.P. Indy. ($250,000 Wlg '18 KEENOV; $170,000 2yo '20
OBSAPR). O-Harrell Ventures, LLC; B-Ashview Farm & Colts
Neck Stables (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $15,000.
Margins: NK, 2HF, 15HF. Odds: 0.30, 4.90, 5.30.
Also Ran: Brooklyn Strong, Lugamo. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

The post Mandaloun Overcomes Tough Trip in Monmouth’s Pegasus appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Bloodlines: Country Grammer Piles On Laurels For Deep Juddmonte Family

This year has been a good one for the family of the mare Nijinsky Star, a half-sister to stakes winner Six Crowns (by Secretariat) who became the dam of champion Chief's Crown (Danzig). Nijinsky Star herself became the dam of three stakes winners who all produced stakes winners themselves.

In addition, her unraced daughter Willstar (Nureyev) also produced a pair of stakes winners, (Etoile Montante and Uno Duo), and this branch of the family has been making hay in 2021. In addition to the graded stakes winners Bonny South (Munnings) and Obligatory (Curlin), Country Grammer (Tonalist) added further laurels to this set of the family by becoming its first G1 winner since Etoile Montante.

That Miswaki filly won the G1 Prix de la Foret, as well as taking seconds in the Prix Marcel Boussac, Prix Maurice de Gheest, and Matriarch. Speed was her forte, but Country Grammer has shone over more extended trips, and his best effort to date came in the Hollywood Gold Cup at Santa Anita on May 31.

This branch of the Miss Carmie family through champion Chris Evert (Swoon's Son) has been developed by Khalid Abdullah's Juddmonte Farms from the Nijinsky mare mentioned above, Nijinsky Star. Juddmonte purchased her for $700,000 at the Keeneland November sale out of the consignment of Bluegrass Thoroughbred Services (John Stuart), agent for Carl Rosen.

Entrepreneur and sportsman Rosen had purchased Chris Evert as a yearling, named her for the tennis star who had branded a line of sportswear through his clothing business, and bred both Six Crowns and Chief's Crown, among others.

Juddmonte bred the subsequent generations of mares leading to Country Grammer, including his second dam Prima Centauri (Distant View), a half-sister to Etoile Montante who had been unplaced in two starts in France. That put Prima Centauri among those who were surplus to needs for Juddmonte, and the mare subsequently sold for $270,000 at the 2005 Keeneland November sale to Dixiana Farm, carrying a foal by Forestry (Storm Cat). Prima Centauri's best racer was the Marju gelding Bodes Galaxy, who ran second in the G2 Richmond Stakes and third in the G2 Gimcrack as a 2-year-old.

The mare's later Forestry filly of 2008 was Arabian Song, a winner at three. She is the dam of Country Grammer and his half-sister Joyful Cadence (Runhappy), who is a winner this year and was third in the G3 Miss Preakness Stakes at Pimlico in May.

Bred in Kentucky by Dixiana Stables, Arabian Song had sold for $40,000 to Rabbah Bloodstock at the 2009 Keeneland September sale, won a maiden claiming race ($40,000) at three, and subsequently changed hands privately prior to foaling Country Grammer, who was bred in Kentucky by Scott Pierce and Debbie Pierce.

A May 11 foal, the 4-year-old Country Grammer is from the first crop by Belmont Stakes winner Tonalist (Tapit) and is his sire's first Grade 1 winner. The breeders sold the bay colt as a yearling for $60,000 at the Keeneland September sale, and he resold as a 2-year-old in training to Bradley Thoroughbreds, agent for Paul Pompa, for $450,000 out of the Wavertree Stables consignment at the 2019 OBS April sale.

Country Grammer raced for Pompa, winning the G3 Peter Pan last season, but after his death in 2020, Pompa's Thoroughbreds were dispersed by his estate. At the 2021 Keeneland January sale, Country Grammer sold for $110,000 to WinStar Farm, was sent to trainer Bob Baffert, and made his first start of the year in the G2 Californian, finishing second.

The Hollywood Gold Cup was the colt's second start of the year, and he won by a head over the Brazilian-bred Royal Ship (Midshipman), who had won the Californian on April 17 by a neck from Country Grammer.

One of a half-dozen stakes winners to date by Tonalist, who won four G1 races and earned $3.6 million, Country Grammer appears to be the best athlete from this branch of his famous family for a couple of generations and is the best racer to date for his young sire, who stands at Lane's End Farm outside Versailles, Ky.

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Connagh’s Quay Brings $65,000 To Top Keeneland May Digital Sale

Connagh's Quay, a 3-year-old colt from the first crop of champion Flintshire, brought a final bid of $65,000 from Kirkwood Stables, agent, to be the highest price of Keeneland's May Digital Sale, held today as part of Keeneland's Digital Sales Ring platform.

Consigned by owner and breeder Juddmonte, Connagh's Quay is out of the Empire Maker mare Routine. He is a half-brother to 2021 Grade 3 W. L. McKnight winner Tide of the Sea and from the family of multiple Grade 1 winners Tates Creek and Sightseek. The colt was offered as a racing or stallion prospect.

TEC Racing paid $35,000 for graded stakes-placed Salvator Mundi, a 5-year-old gelding by Artie Schiller. Out of the Horse Greeley mare Conquest Lil Miss, a half-sister to Grade 1 winner My Conquestadory, Salvator Mundi was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent.

The one-day mixed May Digital Sale grossed $144,000 for six horses. Summary results are available by clicking here.

Keeneland will host its next Digital Sale on June 29. Additional digital sales are scheduled for July, August, October and December.

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