Tag: Keeneland

Prevalence Captures the Commonwealth

'TDN Rising Star' Prevalence made the grade Saturday with a good-looking score in the Commonwealth at Keeneland. Away well from post 10, the bettors' second choice raced in a joint second as favored fellow 'TDN Rising Star' Nashville zipped through an opening quarter in :22.12. The bay turned up the heat on the chalk a bit through a :44.61 half-mile and they turned for home on even terms. Nashville threw in the towel at the top of the stretch, fading fast to the back of the field, but Prevalence had a head full of steam, rolling clear to score. Long Range Toddy completed the exacta with O Besos in third.

“I wasn't sure we'd get that close to [Nashville],” trainer Brendan Walsh said. “[The plan was] let [Prevalence] work his way into the race. They were going quick, but he looked comfortable the whole time. Tyler [Gaffalione] said he was just cruising along for him.”

“He's just a very smart horse,” Gaffalione said. “He does everything so easily. The first thing Brendan said was, 'Man, they went quick, but it looked like he was doing it well within himself,' and he really was.He has a high cruising speed, and he's a very intelligent horse. I had plenty left.”

Opening his account with a pair of flashy wins at Gulfstream last winter, Prevalence was off the board when stepped up in class for both the GII Wood Memorial S. and GII Pat Day Mile, after which he was shelved for the season. Returning Feb. 5 in a Gulfstream optional claimer, he finished fifth after a bad start and rebounded with a decisive score next out at that oval Mar. 5.

Pedigree Notes:
Prevalence is the 87th graded winner and the 163rd black-type scorer for Darley's Medaglia d'Oro. He is also the 17th graded victor and 28th black-type achiever out of a daughter of Ghostzapper. The Godolphin homebred is a half-sibling to Group 3 winner Estihdaaf and stakes winner Libreta (Girolamo). His 3-year-old half-brother Emirates Road (Quality Road) rallied to victory for Walsh and Godolphin in a seven-panel maiden special weight at Keeneland earlier on Saturday's card (video). Their dam Enrichment is a daughter of blue hen and Grade II winner Sahara Gold, making her a full-sister to MGISW Better Lucky and SW Final Frontier and a half to GSW Sahara Heat (A.P. Indy). Sahara Gold is a daughter of GI Breeders' Cup Sprint victress Desert Stormer (Storm Cat). Enrichment's recent produce includes a juvenile colt by Frosted and a yearling colt by Uncle Mo. She was bred back to Medaglia d'Oro.

Saturday, Keeneland
COMMONWEALTH S.-GIII, $300,000, Keeneland, 4-9, 4yo/up, 7f, 1:22.47, sy.
1–PREVALENCE, 118, c, 4, by Medaglia d'Oro
                1st Dam: Enrichment, by Ghostzapper
                2nd Dam: Sahara Gold, by Seeking the Gold
                3rd Dam: Desert Stormer, by Storm Cat
   1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN.
O/B-Godolphin, LLC; T-Brendan P. Walsh; J-Tyler Gaffalione.
$174,375. Lifetime Record: 7-4-0-0, $288,225. *1/2 to Libreta
(Girolamo), SW, $128,660; and Estihdaaf (Arch), GSW-UAE,
$183,491. Werk Nick Rating: F. Click for the
   eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. 'TDN Rising Star'
2–Long Range Toddy, 118, h, 6, Take Charge Indy–Pleasant
Song, by Unbridled's Song. O-Zenith Racing; B-Willis Horton
Racing LLC (KY); T-Dallas Stewart. $56,250.
3–O Besos, 118, c, 4, Orb–Snuggs and Kisses, by Soto.
O-Bernard Racing LLC, Tagg Team Racing, West Point
Thoroughbreds and Stephens, Terry L.; B-L. Barrett Bernard
(KY); T-Gregory D. Foley. $28,125.
Margins: 2 1/4, HD, 1. Odds: 2.50, 45.20, 4.30.
Also Ran: Surveillance, South Bend, Three Technique, Manny Wah, Endorsed, Atoka, Nashville. Scratched: Sir Alfred James. 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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More Than Ready Colt All The Way in New Zealand Trophy

Given a perfectly rationed ride from the front by the evergreen Yutaka Take, Jean Gros (More Than Ready) became the first winner at group level in Japan for his legendary sire in Saturday's $841,637 G2 New Zealand Trophy at Nakayama, a steppingstone to next month's G1 NHK Mile Cup at Tokyo Racecourse.

The 6-1 third favourite off a stalk-and-pounce success in listed company over 1200 metres Feb. 27, the full-brother to MGSW & GISP Tom's Ready was kicked straight into the lead from gate six and led through reasonable fractions of :23.5 for the opening quarter-mile and :46.8 for the first 800 metres. Going comfortably on the single right-handed turn, Jean Gros turned for home after six furlongs in 1:10.5 and finished strongly to cross the line a head better than favoured Matenro Orion (Jpn) (Daiwa Major {Jpn}). The latter, drawn gate one, was maneuvered to the outside past halfway and was forced to take the overland route on the bend. He kicked hard in the stretch, but could not quite overhaul the leader in the dying strides. Lubeck (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}), a full-brother to the globetrotting Deirdre (Jpn), was third. Take was riding his first winner of the race since landing the 2004 renewal–also for trainer Hideyuki Mori–atop fellow American-bred Seeking the Dia (Storm Cat). The 2021 winner was Bathrat Leon (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}), upset winner of the G2 Godolphin Mile Mar. 26.

Pedigree Notes:

Jean Gros is the 98th worldwide graded/group winner for WinStar's More Than Ready, still going strong at the age of 25.

Blackstone Farm acquired Goodbye Stranger carrying the foal that would become Tom's Ready for $40,000 at Keeneland January in 2013 and also bred the stakes-placed Wrong Color (Gemologist) from the mare before selling her to Nursery Place for $120,000 with Jean Gros in utero at KEEJAN in 2019.

Entered for but withdrawn from the Keeneland November Sale  eight months after his foaling date of Mar. 2, Jean Gros was bought back by John Mayer's operation on a bid of $130,000 at Keeneland September the following fall. Turned over to consignor Al Pike, the bay was knocked down to Mori for $265,000 at last year's OBS March Sale after breezing an eighth of a mile in :10 flat.

Mori, whose success with traveling American-bred gallopers is well-documented, signed for eight horses for over $2.2 million at OBS last March, including the $750,000 topper now named Clos de Mesnil (Practical Joke). She is a maiden winner from four starts to date. Six of the eight have won at least one race.

Barren to Arrogate for 2020, Goodbye Stranger is the dam of a yearling filly by Audible and is due to Horse of the Year Authentic this season.

 

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Diverse Cast Converges in Beaumont

A field of seven sophomore fillies who made their most recent starts in Florida, New York, Kentucky and Louisiana converge at Keeneland for Sunday's GIII Beaumont S. Godolphin's Matareya (Pioneerof the Nile) was second in last November's Fern Creek S. at Churchill Downs to the now five-for-six Marissa's Lady (Violence) and then completed the exacta (albeit 8 1/4 lengths back) behind leading GI Kentucky Oaks candidate Secret Oath (Arrogate) in a one-mile Oaklawn allowance on New Year's Eve. She most recently shortened back up to a sprint to air in a Fair Grounds optional claimer Feb. 26, good for a field's best 91 Beyer Speed Figure. Third that day was re-opposing Reagan's Decision (Unified).

On the opposite end of the speed figure spectrum is Gina Romantica (Into Mischief), who earned just a 64 Beyer for her successful Tampa unveiling Mar. 12. That number fails to tell the whole story, however. A $1,025,000 KEESEP purchase by Peter Brant and conditioned by Chad Brown, the half-sister to GISW Gift Box (Twirling Candy) and MGSWs Stonetastic (Mizzen Mast) and Special Forces (Candy Ride {Arg}) was very visually impressive rallying wide on the Tampa Bay Derby undercard and justifying 9-10 favoritism by 1 1/4 lengths.

Heading up the last-seen-at-Aqueduct contingent are Lady Scarlet (Union Rags) and Radio Days (Gun Runner). The former was a gutsy $150,000 claim by trainer Mike Maker, Paradise Farms Corp. and David Staudacher off of Matareya's conditioner Brad Cox out of a maiden-breaking effort at Churchill in November. She took an Oaklawn optional claimer two starts later Feb. 26, and added the Big A's Cicada S. by open lengths Mar. 19.

Joe Allen, Peter Brant's cousin, also gets in on the action with $750,000 September pick-up Radio Days. The dark bay at one point looked like Shug McGaughey's top GI Kentucky Oaks hopeful off a two-for-two start to her career, including a Dec. 2 Aqueduct optional claiming romp that earned her 'TDN Rising Star' status. Second at odds-on in the GIII Forward Gal S. at Gulfstream going this distance Feb. 5, she cuts back after fading to fourth at 1-2 in the mile-long Busher S. back in Ozone Park Mar. 5.

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Deja Vu All Over Again In the Ashland

If you think you've heard this story before, it's because you have.

On the opening weekend of the 2021 spring meeting at historic Keeneland, trainer Todd Pletcher led over a filly by leading sire Curlin out of an A.P. Indy mare in the GI Central Bank Ashland S. A little more than 102 seconds later, 'TDN Rising Star' Malathaat was being unsaddled and 27 days later, was getting her picture taken after the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks. The high-profile connections of Nest (Curlin) will certainly be hoping that lightning strikes twice after the bay filly blew the doors off her rivals in the opening-day feature, establishing herself as a top-three chance in what shapes a very competitive renewal of the Oaks four weeks and about 70 miles away down Interstate 64.

Indeed, Nest was campaigned on a near-identical schedule to Malathaat last season, winning her maiden going long at first asking in September (Malathaat graduated over seven furlongs in early October) before adding the Tempted S. and the GII Demoiselle S. Unlike her year-older stablemate who raced off the layoff in the Ashland, Nest was given a single lead-up run and she delivered in spades, outclassing her rivals by a half-dozen lengths in the Feb. 12 Suncoast S. at Tampa.

Narrowly favored in the Ashland at 17-10, Nest was away only fairly, but was asked for a bit of speed by Irad Ortiz, Jr. and that enabled her to get out into the clear, albeit four wide at the entrance to the clubhouse turn. Chief market rival Interstatedaydream (Classic Empire) showed the way in advance of the stretching-out Happy Soul (Runhappy), with Awake At Midnyte (Nyquist) not far away through even fractions. The latter launched a middle move to join the top two passing the half-mile pole, but Nest had the trio covered and tugged her way up outside to make more or less a line of four at the third corner. Interstatedaydream took them into the final three-eighths of a mile, as Happy Soul began to retreat, but Nest ranged up four deep at the 2 1/2-furlong pole traveling well despite the ground concession. Held together into the stretch, Nest was shaken up and stamped her authority on the race, drawing clear with every stride to prove a much-the-best winner. Cocktail Moments (Uncle Mo) rallied late to just beat out Interstatedaydream for second.

“Irad got her into a good, comfortable rhythm going down the backside, and we didn't want anyone to get away from us with the short run to the finish line,” said Pletcher, who–remarkably–had not won the Ashland until last year. “I knew when he had her revved up she was doing it pretty easily. Then she kicked on down the lane and he wrapped up on her late. So it was everything we could have hoped for.

The Hall of Famer added, “She's a filly that's improved all the time. We've always felt like as she matured and the races got longer, she was going to get better. I really liked the way she's been training since the Suncoast. She's just kept getting better and better.”

Pedigree Notes:

Nest, a full-sister to GI Santa Anita H. hero Idol, is the 17th top-level winner for her outstanding sire and is bred on the wildly successful cross over the legendary A.P. Indy that has also supplied Grade I winner and current WinStar stallion Global Campaign and GSW 'TDN Rising Star' First Captain, a live chance in Saturday's GI Carter H. at Aqueduct. Including mares tracing back to Seattle Slew, Curlin has also been responsible for Grade I winners Stellar Wind (champion), Classic winner Exaggerator, Clairiere, Paris Lights and Off the Tracks.

Nest's second dam is the talented Andujar, a Grade II winner and Grade I-placed in California and New York, who once sold for $2.5 million at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale. She was also the dam of SW & GSP Abstraction (Pulpit).

Marion Ravenwood was acquired by the Lysters' Ashview Farm for $400,000 in foal to Pioneerof the Nile at Keeneland November in 2017. That produce would go on to race for Pletcher as Dr Jack, third to Mandaloun in last year's Pegasus S. at Monmouth Park. Marion Ravenwood is the dam of the 2-year-old colt Lost Ark (Violence)–a $275,000 KEESEP yearling–was barren to City of Light last year and was most recently covered by Curlin and Quality Road.

Friday, Keeneland
CENTRAL BANK ASHLAND S.-GI, $587,488, Keeneland, 4-8, 3yo, f, 1 1/16m, 1:44.16, wf.
1–NEST, 121, f, 3, by Curlin
1st Dam: Marion Ravenwood (SW, $112,598), by A.P. Indy
2nd Dam: Andujar, by Quiet American
3rd Dam: Nureyev's Best, by Nureyev
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($350,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Repole Stable, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and House, Michael; B-Ashview Farm & Colts Neck Stables (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr. $358,050. Lifetime Record: 5-4-0-1, $623,050. *Full to Idol, GISW, $416,964. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus* Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Cocktail Moments, 121, f, 3, by Uncle Mo
1st Dam: River Maid (Ch. Female Sprinter-Can, GSW,$442,909), by Where's the Ring
2nd Dam: Rivermaid Dancing, by Riverman
3rd Dam: Perky Dancer, by Green Dancer
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($135,000 Wlg '19 KEENOV; $190,000 Ylg'20 KEESEP; $245,000 RNA 2yo '21 OBSMAR). O-Dixiana Farms LLC; B-Mark Stansell (KY); T-Kenneth G. McPeek. $115,500.
3–Interstatedaydream, 121, f, 3, by Classic Empire
1st Dam: Babcock, by Uncle Mo
2nd Dam: Captivating, by Arch
3rd Dam: Andrea Ruckus, by Bold Ruckus
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($105,000 Ylg '20 KEEJAN; $130,000 Ylg'20 KEESEP; $175,000 2yo '21 OBSAPR). O-Flurry Racing Stables LLC; B-William D. Graham (ON); T-Brad H. Cox. $48,125.
Margins: 8 1/4, NO, 2 3/4. Odds: 1.70, 9.30, 1.90.
Also Ran: Awake At Midnyte, Sterling Silver, Happy Soul, Miss Mattie B, Heavenly Hellos.
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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