Keeneland | Horse Racing Free Tips

Crazy Beautiful Returns to Turf in Deep Valley View

Four-time stakes winner Crazy Beautiful (Liam's Map), who raced once on turf in her career debut, will return to the lawn Friday at Keeneland in an extremely deep renewal of the GIII Rubicon Valley View S. for 3-year-old fillies going 1 1/16 miles on turf.

Running away to a 3 1/2-length score first out on the Ellis turf last summer, the gray repeated by 3 3/4 lengths in the Runhappy Debutante S. on dirt there to earn 'TDN Rising Star' honors before recording runner-up finishes in the GIII Pocahontas S., GI Darley Alcibiades S. and GII Davona Dale S. Back in the winner's circle after a score in the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks, the $250,000 Fasig-Tipton October grad has added victories in the GII Summertime Oaks, GIII Delaware Oaks and last out in the Seneca Overnight S. Oct. 1 at Churchill.

A fellow 'Rising Star', Tobys Heart (Jack Milton) is looking for her third stakes triumph and first going a route of ground. A dominant 6 3/4-length debut maiden winner despite early trouble last June at Churchill, the $45,000 OBS March bargain backed that up with a success in Saratoga's Bolton Landing S. and annexed the Limestone Turf Sprint S. over this course Apr. 9. Winless in her next three starts, she was last seen cruising to a 2 3/4-length victory with a field-high 92 Beyer in the Nelson's Green Brier Whiskey Music City S. over 6 1/2 furlongs at Kentucky Downs Sept. 12.

It speaks to the depth of this field that an undefeated Grade I winner in Lady Speightspeare (Speightstown) is pegged at 10-1 on the morning line. Also earning a 'Rising Star' badge thanks to a 3 3/4-length score debuting at seven furlongs on the Woodbine grass last August, the Chuck Fipke homebred validated that distinction with a conquest of the GI Natalma S. as the favorite less than a month later. Forced to the bench for nearly a year, the chestnut returned to capture a Woodbine allowance/optional claimer by two lengths over this distance Sept. 6.

Streaking Queenship (Ire) (Excelebration {Ire}) adds European flair to the field, making her North American debut for trainer Joseph O'Brien. Third at 14-1 when unveiled over six furlongs on all-weather last November at Dundalk in Ireland, the bay graduated by a head when stretching out a furlong there next out and took a handicap event by five lengths in her first turf try Apr. 7 at Gorwan Park. Facing males in her initial stakes attempt, she scored a half-length victory in the Navigaton S. Sept. 28 at Cork.

Another recent Euro import rates a big chance in Breaker of Chains (Bernardini). Third after a slow break debuting over a mile July 18 at The Curragh, the $30,000 Keeneland November buy improved a spot against males over nine furlongs on soft ground at Leopardstown Aug. 5 and rallied from last to first for an impressive maiden win with an 89 Beyer Sept. 11 at Kentucky Downs.

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‘Excitement Is Just Always There’: Tyler Gaffalione On Verge Of Fourth Title At Keeneland

With three days remaining in Keeneland's Fall Meet, Tyler Gaffalione is on his way to earning his fourth title as the track's leading rider. He has 24 victories, 11 more than Florent Geroux in second.

Gaffalione, 27, relishes the experience of competing at Keeneland, where he first won a race during the 2016 Fall Meet and topped the rider standings for the 2018 Fall Meet, 2020 Summer Meet and 2020 Fall Meet.

“There's just so much history here,” Gaffalione said. “The feeling you get when walking on the grounds is like nothing else. With all the colors and the people, it made my first win here very special. It could be a claiming race on a Wednesday, and that excitement is just always there.”

Gaffalione grew up in Ocala, Florida, and followed in the footsteps of his father, Steve Gaffalione, and grandfather, Robert Gaffalione, as a jockey. Immersed in the horse industry at a young age, he received a pony for his fourth birthday. He competed in barrel racing until he was old enough to start exercising racehorses. He began his career as a jockey in 2014 at Gulfstream Park and received the 2015 Eclipse Award as outstanding apprentice.

Through Oct. 27, Gaffalione has ridden 1,670 winners and the earners of more than $82 million. He rode War of Will to win the 2019 Preakness (G1). His other riding accomplishments include rider titles at Gulfstream and Churchill Downs.

“I've just been so blessed along the way,” Gaffalione said. “I have great support from trainers and owners and all of the horsemen. I don't really even know how to describe it, it's just really exciting.”

In the closing days of Keeneland's Fall Meet, Gaffalione is preparing for the Nov. 5-6 Breeders' Cup World Championships at Del Mar.

“You always go in there thinking you have a good chance, but I would say this year is my strongest,” Gaffalione, who has ridden in 28 Breeders' Cup races since 2016. “I've got a couple of nice young horses, and I'm really looking forward to these races.”

The post ‘Excitement Is Just Always There’: Tyler Gaffalione On Verge Of Fourth Title At Keeneland appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Oct. 28 Insights: Second-to-Last Leslie’s Lady Foal Debuts at Keeneland

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency

5th-KEE, $84k, Msw, 2yo, f, 6f, 3:08 p.m. ET

One of the most prolific broodmares of the 21st century will be represented by her penultimate foal Thursday at Keeneland when MARR TIME (Not This Time–Leslie's Lady) opens her account for Clarkland Farm and Brad Cox in this sprint. Famously the producer of international superstar stallion Into Mischief (Harlan's Holiday), four-time champion Beholder (Henny Hughes) and GISW multimillionaire Mendelssohn (Scat Daddy), the now 25-year-old Leslie's Lady was retired from breeding after foaling a Kantharos filly last year. Marr Time has trained as if she's yet another runner out of her dam, showing a half-dozen sharp breezes, highlighted by a five-furlong bullet from the gate over this track in :59 2/5 (1/30) Oct. 10. TJCIS PPs —@JBiancaTDN

The post Oct. 28 Insights: Second-to-Last Leslie’s Lady Foal Debuts at Keeneland appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Keeneland Icon Ted Bassett Celebrates 100th Birthday

James E. “Ted” Bassett III – “Mr. Bassett” to his many friends and admirers at Keeneland, throughout Central Kentucky and around the world who cherish his regal demeanor and graciousness – has added another accomplishment to his extraordinary life.

On Tuesday, Oct. 26, he turned 100.

Bassett has been synonymous with Keeneland for more than half that time – 53 years in fact. After serving as Kentucky's Director of State Police, he began working for the Keeneland Association in 1968 and was Keeneland President from 1970-1986 before becoming Chairman of the Board. In 2003, he was named a Keeneland Trustee and now is a Trustee Emeritus. Bassett still maintains an office at a cottage on the Keeneland grounds.

During Bassett's involvement with Keeneland, the track grew from an afterthought on the nation's racing calendar to one of the most prominent tracks in North America. Keeneland's sales arm experienced similar growth over the decades, becoming a major international auction house with a clientele from around the world.

Bassett welcomed many famous guests to Keeneland that included then-California governor Ronald Reagan in 1969, Queen Elizabeth II in 1984 and actors Elizabeth Taylor and George Hamilton in 1986.

Bassett's service to the Thoroughbred industry is unparalleled: former President of Breeders' Cup Ltd. and Thoroughbred Racing Associations of America; member of The Jockey Club; Trustee of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, University of Kentucky Equine Research Foundation and Transylvania University; and former Chairman of Equibase and the Kentucky Horse Park.

He has numerous national and international honors for his service to Thoroughbred racing. In 1996, Bassett received an Eclipse Award of Merit for his lifelong contributions. In 2019, he was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame, joining a select group of industry titans recognized as Pillars of the Turf.

Meanwhile, Bassett steered significant fundraising efforts for many worthy causes inside and outside the horse industry in Central Kentucky. Among them:

· Acquiring the Calumet Farm Trophy Collection to prevent it from being auctioned after the legendary farm declared bankruptcy. The collection is housed at the Kentucky Horse Park's International Museum of the Horse, which honored Bassett with an exhibit of his life in 2014.

· Establishing the University of Kentucky's Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center, the only scientific institute in the U.S. with nearly all faculty conducting full-time research in equine health and diseases. The Gluck Center's mission is scientific discovery, education and dissemination of knowledge for the benefit of the health and well-being of horses.

· Building two YMCA facilities in Lexington and upgrading the longstanding facility on High Street.

· Constructing a new facility for the Central Kentucky Blood Center.

· Placing a statue of Sgt Reckless, a horse who carried ammunition for the Marine Corps during the Korean War, at the Kentucky Horse Park.

These are just a few of Bassett's numerous accomplishments.

Bassett, who was born in Lexington, attended the prestigious Kent School in Connecticut and Yale University. A Marine infantry officer during World War II, he sustained injuries to his hand and knee during a tour in Okinawa that led to a Purple Heart for his service. He participated in the initial landing by Allied Forces on Japanese shores.

He met his wife, Lucy Gay (who died May 1, 2016), at her graduation party in Lexington in 1946. Her father, A.B. “Gus” Gay, was a founding member of the Keeneland Association and was a Keeneland Director for 48 years.

Ted and Lucy wed Dec. 2, 1950, and made their home in New York City, where he worked as a newsprint salesman. The couple moved back to Kentucky in 1954 to reside at her family's Lanark Farm, and Ted took up tobacco farming for three years. (Lucy Bassett was an accomplished Thoroughbred breeder, who bred 10 stakes winners, including 2003 Breeders' Cup Distaff-G1 winner Adoration.) The Bassetts had no children.

Stories of Bassett's remarkable life and achievements with lessons in Keeneland's history and traditions fill the book Keeneland's Ted Bassett: My Life, his collaboration with award-winning writer Bill Mooney that was published in 2009.

Click here for another look at the amazing Mr. Bassett.

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