Keeneland | Horse Racing Free Tips

Special Accommodations: QEII Entrant Micheline Prefers To Stay In Unique Outdoor Stall

With their superior intelligence, Thoroughbreds are as capable of training their people as much as their people train them. Such is the case with Godolphin's homebred Micheline, who is entered in Saturday's $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1) Presented by Dixiana.

The 3-year-old filly by Bernardini out of 2007 Juddmonte Spinster (G1) winner Panty Raid convinced her connections early on that she requires special accommodations to lessen her claustrophobia, and she has thanked them by earning $445,978 with four wins, including the Sept. 10 Dueling Grounds Oaks at Kentucky Downs.

Micheline and her companion horse, Colonel, arrived at Keeneland early Thursday morning from trainer Mike Stidham's base at Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland with some unusual baggage: a portable stall. The housing of four wood-lined farm gates and fitted gray tarp for a ceiling soon was assembled outside the Stidham barn, and Micheline took up residence inside with Colonel in the main barn.

“Whenever she ships to another track, that stall goes with her,” Stidham said.

During her early training in Florida, Micheline was so claustrophobic that she was turned out in a paddock instead of residing in a stall. Before she relocated to Fair Hill, an outdoor stall was built.

“She lived there for the summer and then last winter when we went to Tampa Bay Downs, Godolphin bought her a portable stall so she could live just outside the barn,” Stidham said.

While Micheline's situation is unusual, horsemen routinely conjure up clever methods to manage racehorses' individual behaviors. Some horses relax with a goat, small pony or donkey as a companion. Others enjoy a window in the stall between themselves and their next-door neighbor. Inquisitive types like to see plenty of activity, while introverts are more comfortable in a quiet section of the barn.

Micheline has excelled with her special treatment. Third in her career debut last year, she next won the Sorority at Monmouth Park. She opened 2020 with a runner-up effort in the Feb. 1 Sweetest Chant (G3) at Gulfstream Park, and she won Gulfstream's Honey Ryder on May 2. Overall, she has a 4-1-1 record from 11 starts.

“She has been at Fair Hill since her last race and has been training well,” Stidham said. “We are happy that we were invited to the Queen Elizabeth II.”

Florent Geroux will ride Micheline in Saturday's race. Stidham and Geroux won the 2015 QE II with Her Emmynency.

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Kenny McPeek Lets Loose On TDN Writers’ Room

It takes a certain kind of personality to enter a filly against the boys in a leg of the Triple Crown, and Kenny McPeek showed all of that personality on Wednesday’s TDN Writers’ Room podcast presented by Keeneland. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, McPeek talked about his successful, outside-the-box campaign of Peter Callahan’s GI Preakness S. winner Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil), why he subbed in Robby Albarado to ride the chestnut, his approach to training 2-year-olds and much more.

Swiss Skydiver has run nine times this year, starting her campaign Jan. 18 at Tampa. Winning five of those starts, she beat 22 of 23 males combined in her two attempts against them and raced at nine different tracks. Already a top contender for champion 3-year-old filly, Saturday’s scintillating and game Preakness victory over GI Kentucky Derby hero Authentic (Into Mischief) has vaulted Swiss Skydiver into a wide-open Horse of the Year discussion, and McPeek was asked what he thinks she has to do to earn that trophy.

“She needs to run well in the Breeders’ Cup,” he said. “We haven’t decided where we’re going to run yet [Classic or Distaff]. We’ve still got some analyzing to do of who’s going to be out there and possible starters, but she’s run all year. If they call it Horse of the Year, she ran all year, so what else can you do? I think it’d be fitting, but she’s just really solid and that’s more credit to her than it is me. She kept telling us she wanted to go and the schedule really lined up well for us over the course of the year. And the fact that she ran East Coast, West Coast, North, South, Midwest, she’s entertained the racing world all year, all over the country.”

In addition to bouncing around to different venues, Swiss Skydiver has been ridden by six different jockeys through this campaign, with Albarado taking the reins for the first time in the Preakness. McPeek aired his frustrations as to why Tyler Gaffalione didn’t take the call.

“I announced that we’re going to run in the Preakness and Tyler was on board,” he said. “By maybe 6:00 that night, his agent tells us that he can’t ride. And I’m like, ‘Look, you’ve given us a two-race commitment [GI Kentucky Oaks and Preakness].’ He said, ‘Oh well, sorry, I’ve got to ride for Chad Brown at Keeneland.’ I said, ‘You can’t do this. It’s dishonorable.’ I’ve been doing this for 35 years and I’ve never had something like that happen. I still find it dishonorable. Shame on Tyler Gaffalione and his agent. So all the riders in New York were taken, most of the Keeneland riders were taken, and Robby Albarado had been breezing horses for me on a regular basis. I called him and said, ‘Robby, here’s the deal, I’m going to tell Peter Callahan you’re going down to Baltimore, Rob is filling in for the Preakness.’ He says, ‘All right, I’m ready.’ It gives me goosebumps thinking that we pulled it off. Sometimes you’ve got to take a negative and turn it into a positive. Robby needed the break and he was hungry. He knows what to do, and he deserves to ride more horses than he’s been riding. And I think he pretty well proved it. Put him on a big stage and he can handle it.”

Also touched on in the wide-ranging interview were McPeek’s GI Darley Alcibiades romper Simply Ravishing (Laoban), why he stepped away from training in the mid-2000s and why making video and data more accessible is the improvement he sees as most necessary to change racing’s fortunes.

Elsewhere on the show, the writers recapped and analyzed the rest of the action from a monster weekend of stakes across the globe and, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, discussed how the demise of Calder is the latest in a troubling trend of Churchill-owned tracks shutting down. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.

The post Kenny McPeek Lets Loose On TDN Writers’ Room appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Aunt Pearl Serves Notice With Impressive Stakes Record-Setting Performance In Jessamine

Ensuring she will be one of the favorites in next month's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, Aunt Pearl led from start to finish in a stakes record-setting performance in Wednesday's Grade 2 Jessamine Stakes at Keeneland. The 2-year-old daughter of Lope de Vega shattered the old record of 1:42.21, stopping the clock in 1:40.86 over the firm turf course. Trained by Brad Cox and ridden by Florent Geroux, Aunt Pearl was the 3-2 favorite in the field of 11 fillies.

She defeated runner-up Spanish Loveaffair by 2 1/2 lengths on the wire, earning a fees-paid berth to the Breeders' Cup with her victory.

Aunt Pearl is campaigned by Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, Peter Deutsch, Peter, Michael Kisber, and The Elkstone Group (Stuart Grant).

Sent straight to the lead by Geroux, Aunt Pearl grabbed a two-length advantage in the early going. She set impressive fractions of :22.28 and :46.65, then took a slight breather in the third quarter to allow 8-5 second choice Spanish Loveaffair to close the gap to three-quarters of a length.

Set loose turning for home, Aunt Pearl pulled away from her rivals with ease. Geroux rode her out until about the sixteenth pole, then wrapped up to save something for next month's Breeders' Cup challenge. It was 2 1/2 lengths back to Spanish Loveaffair in second, while Ingrassia and Arm Candy filled out the superfecta.

Bred in Ireland by Ecurie Des Charmes and Ballylinch Stud, Aunt Pearl is out of the Hurricane Run mare Matauri Pearl. The filly was purchased by agent Bradley Weisbord for $358,766 at last fall's Tattersalls October sale, and won on debut at Churchill on Sept. 1. She lived up to that victory by winning the Jessamine, improving her record to two wins from two starts for earnings of over $130,000.

The post Aunt Pearl Serves Notice With Impressive Stakes Record-Setting Performance In Jessamine appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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‘Pearl’ Runs Them Off Their Feet in the GII Jessamine

Aunt Pearl (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) repeated her ‘TDN Rising Star’-worthy debut victory with a record-setting success in Keeneland’s GII J.P. Morgan Chase Jessamine S., a “Win and You’re In” event for the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf S. at this oval Nov. 6.

Running the field off their feet from the start, the 280,000gns TATOCT purchase graduated by five lengths going a mile on the lawn at Churchill Downs Sept. 1. She was hammered down to 3-2 favoritism to repeat in this black-type bow.

Taking up her preferred position at the head of affairs, Aunt Peal was strong on the engine, enjoying a loose lead as she doled out opening splits of :22.28 and :46.65. Turning for home in front under a hand ride from Florent Geroux, the bay was shaken up a bit in the lane and readily responded, effortlessly pulling clear in a new stakes record time of 1:40.86.

“She showed us a lot of talent in the mornings,” said winning trainer Brad Cox. “I told someone after the race that that’s the first time we ever cut her loose. She’s very gifted. She’s got a lot of natural speed–:46 and change, carrying speed two turns like that in the second start of her career–she’s obviously very special. It was a big effort.

“I was going faster than I thought,” said winning rider Florent Geroux. “Looking at the fractions, I was like ‘Wow.’ I thought they would be much slower than that. She has short legs, but they move very fast for sure. I’m very impressed with her.”

He continued, “We always loved her from the beginning. We thought she was a very nice filly. I had to make her work a little bit today down the stretch. In her first race, she didn’t get anything out of it. She was pretty much on cruise control the whole time. If we want to be a factor in the Breeders’ Cup, she needed to do a little something today. She was very impressive, and I’m very pleased with her.”

Pedigree Notes:

Aunt Pearl is the 41st graded winner and 76th black-type scorer for her sire Lope de Vega. Her dam, Scandinavian champion Matauri Pearl, is a half-sister to MGSW & MGISP Wekeela (Fr) (Hurricane Run {Ire}). The 11-year-old mare produced a Sea the Stars (Ire) filly in 2019 and a Lope de Vega colt in 2020. This is also the family of MG!SW Monsun (Ger) (Konigsstuhl {Ger}).

Wednesday, Keeneland
JPMORGAN CHASE JESSAMINE S.-GII, $150,000, Keeneland, 10-7, 2yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 1:40.86, fm.
1–AUNT PEARL (IRE), 118, f, 2, by Lope de Vega (Ire)
1st Dam: Matauri Pearl (Ire), by Hurricane Run (Ire)
2nd Dam: Moonrise (Ger), by Grand Lodge
3rd Dam: Morning Queen, by Konigsstuhl (Ger)
TDN Rising Star 1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. (280,000gns Ylg ’19 TATOCT). O-Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables LLC, Peter Deutsch, Michael Kisber and The Elkstone Group, LLC (Stuart Grant); B-Ecurie Des Charmes & Ballylinch Stud (IRE); T-Brad H. Cox; J-Florent Geroux. $90,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $132,784. Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Spanish Loveaffair, 120, f, 2, Karakontie {Jpn}–Spanish Bunny, by Unusual Heat. ($35,000 Ylg ’19 KEESEP). O-Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Michael Hernon and Gary Barber; B-Gainesway Thoroughbreds Ltd. (KY); T-Mark E. Casse. $30,000.
3–Ingrassia, 118, f, 2, Medaglia d’Oro–Infanta Branca, by Henrythenavigator. O-Don Alberto Stable; B-Don Alberto Corporation (KY); T-Chad C. Brown. $15,000.
Margins: 2HF, 2 3/4, 1HF. Odds: 1.50, 1.70, 5.50.
Also Ran: Arm Candy, Batyah, Navratilova, Taylor’s Tourist, Momentous Miss, Beautiful Star, Gambling Cat, Lazy Summer Day.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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