Keeneland | Horse Racing Free Tips

Moore Wins Bill Shoemaker Award

Ryan Moore, who guided three horses to Breeders' Cup victories during the Breeders' Cup World Championships at Keeneland Nov. 4-5, won the 20th Bill Shoemaker Award for the outstanding jockey of the two-day event. The Shoemaker Award goes to the jockey who rides the most winners in the 14 Championship races with the tiebreaker being 10-3-1 point system for second- through fourth-place finishes.

Moore, who also won the Shoemaker Award in 2015, won Saturday's GI Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf on Tuesday (Ire), and Friday's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf on Victoria Road (Ire) in addition to the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Meditate (Ire). He also finished three seconds with Stone Age (Ire) in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Turf, Emaraaty Ana (GB) in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint and Dramatised (Ire) in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.

Irad Ortiz Jr., winner of the past four Shoemaker Awards, also rode three winners, including a pair of winners Saturday, but only had one runner-up finish.

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Flightline Soars in Classic For the Ages

LEXINGTON, KY – You can add horse of a lifetime to the superlatives now, too.

Unbeaten 'TDN Rising Star' Flightline (Tapit) ran to his already unworldly reputation, and, dare we say, even more, with a spectacular 8 1/4-length victory in Saturday's $6-million GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland. Olympiad (Speightstown) and fellow 'Rising Star' Taiba (Gun Runner) filled out the minors.

“A great win today. He just ran beautiful; just like we thought he could,” said winning trainer John Sadler, who previously put to bed an 0-for-44 mark at the Championships with Accelerate's win in the 2018 Classic.

“This is one of the greatest horses of all time.”

Just as it figured on paper, the 2-5 favorite chased from second as the classy returning GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner 'TDN Rising Star' Life Is Good (Into Mischief) sped through punishing fractions of :22.55 and :45.47.

With the field down to seven midway through the backstretch run as top 3-year-old Epicenter (Not This Time) went wrong and was pulled up by Joel Rosario–more to come on the GI Runhappy Travers S. winner–the top two were in a race of their own as Life Is Good let it out a notch to lead by three lengths entering the far turn.

If you thought the place was already rocking from the sustained 20-plus mph winds throughout the day, you hadn't seen nothing yet.

Flightline, still on cruise control, made his move beneath Flavien Prat approaching the quarter pole and the crowd of 45,973 absolutely lost it. Life Is Good, out in the three path with Irad Ortiz, Jr. aboard, had no response as they straightened, and it was a sight to see from there.

Moving every bit as beautifully as 'Grand Slam' winner American Pharoah was down this same stretch in this race seven years ago, Flightline glided under the line all by himself while stopping the timer for 1 1/4 miles in 2:00.05, just a tick off the track record. Flightline was .02 of a second faster than American Pharoah's Classic.

“I felt like I was in control the whole race,” Prat said after piloting home his fourth winner at the Championships. “Once I broke well and was where I wanted to be, I was in control. You never know what to expect because it's horse racing. Sometimes it doesn't happen the way you think it will. I can't thank John Sadler and [assistant trainer and exercise rider] Juan Leyva enough.”

Campaigned in partnership by the all-star line-up of Hronis Racing, Siena Farm, breeder Summer Wind Equine, West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing, the $1-million Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling entered the Classic with a Herculean five-for-five record. The combined winning margin of those races was an incredible 62 3/4 lengths.

Flightline's resume was previously headed by a trio of runaway victories in the GI Runhappy Malibu S., GI Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan H. and a record-setting 19 1/4-length romp while making his two-turn debut in the GI TVG Pacific Classic S. The latter earned him an astronomic 126 Beyer Speed Figure and a negative 8 1/2 from Thoro-Graph, the fastest number the latter has ever given.

“He's been brilliant,” Sadler said. “Brilliant is his normal. He didn't disappoint. He never has. We're just really thrilled.”

Now, for the question on everyone's mind. Will we see Flightline back for a 5-year-old campaign? Neither co-owner Kosta Hronis or Sadler was quite ready to provide an answer in the post-race press conference.

“The team behind Flightline, I've said this before and I'm going to say it again in front of the world, as blessed as the partnership is to be all together as the partners, to have a horse like Flightline in our lifetime is just unbelievable and great,” Hronis said.

“We're in a partnership. We're very respectful people and we respect the partnership. We'll all get together and discuss it at a later time and decide. We'll always do what's best by the horse. I can promise you that.”

Sadler concluded, “I'll be there in the morning to check him out. And then we'll let him tell us what the best thing is.”

Epicenter Update…

Epicenter was pulled up after sustaining an injury to his right forelimb and was attended to by KHRC Chief Veterinarian Dr. Nick Smith. He walked onto the equine ambulance and was transported to nearby Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital. After further evaluation by Dr. Larry Bramlage and his counterparts, Epicenter was found to have sustained a repairable displaced condylar fracture. He will undergo surgery Sunday morning.

Pedigree Notes…

Future Lane's End stallion Flightline becomes the seventh Breeders' Cup winner and first in the Classic for leading sire Tapit. Indian Charlie is also the broodmare sire of Breeders' Cup Sprint winner and champion sprinter Mitole and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies runner-up Dayoutoftheoffice.

Breeder Jane Lyon bought Flightline's dam Feathered for $2.35 million at the 2016 Keeneland November sale. Feathered produced a 2-year-old full-brother to Flightline named Olivier, who RNA'd for $390,000 at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale.

Lyon is planning on racing him in partnership.

The 10-year-old mare also has a yearling colt by Curlin named Eagles Flight, a filly foaled May 17 by Into Mischief, and has been bred back to Tapit.

Flightline hails from a deep Phipps family. His third dam is MGISW Finder's Fee (Storm Cat), a daughter of GISW Fantastic Find (Mr. Prospector).

Saturday, Keeneland
LONGINES BREEDERS' CUP CLASSIC-GI, $5,340,000, Keeneland, 11-5, 3yo/up, 1 1/4m, 2:00.05, ft.
1–FLIGHTLINE, 126, c, 4, by Tapit
                1st Dam: Feathered (GSW & MGISP, $577,474), by Indian Charlie
                2nd Dam: Receipt, by Dynaformer
                3rd Dam: Finder's Fee, by Storm Cat
'TDN Rising Star'. ($1,000,000 Ylg '19 FTSAUG). O-Hronis
Racing LLC, Siena Farm LLC, Summer Wind Equine LLC, West
Point Thoroughbreds & Woodford Racing, LLC; B-Summer
Wind Equine LLC (KY); T-John W. Sadler; J-Flavien Prat.
$3,120,000. Lifetime Record: 6-6-0-0, $4,514,800. Werk Nick
Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Olympiad, 126, c, 4, Speightstown–Tokyo Time, by
Medaglia d'Oro. ($700,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Grandview
Equine, Cheyenne Stable, LLC & LNJ Foxwoods; B-Emory A.
Hamilton (KY); T-William I. Mott. $1,020,000.
3–Taiba, 122, c, 3, Gun Runner–Needmore Flattery, by Flatter.
'TDN Rising Star'. ($140,000 Ylg '20 FTKOCT; $1,700,000 2yo
'21 FTFMAR). O-Zedan Racing Stables, Inc.; B-Bruce C Ryan
(KY); T-Bob Baffert. $540,000.
Margins: 8 1/4, HF, 2HF. Odds: 0.44, 26.88, 8.26.
Also Ran: Rich Strike, Life Is Good, Hot Rod Charlie, Happy Saver, Epicenter.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Once A Dirt Demon, Now a ‘Rebel’ With a Cause On Turf

Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) began his 4-year-old season as Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum's best hope for the G1 Dubai World Cup, what with his towering success in the G2 UAE Derby as a sophomore. When things on the main track went belly-up over the winter at Meydan, trainer Charlie Appleby and team were compelled to call an audible and switched the gelding–clearly bred to handle the turf–to that surface. The decision has paid off in spades, as the lanky dark bay ran his grass record to five wins from as many starts with a defeat of 12-1 Stone Age (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) in Saturday's GI Longines Breeders' Cup Turf at Keeneland.

Rebel's Romance, favored on the morning line, but off at nearly 6-1, was not particularly fast away and found himself in the slipstream of his GI Saratoga Derby and GIII Jockey Club Invitational winner Nation's Pride (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) in the latter third of the field early on. Bye Bye Melvin (Uncle Mo) made the running in advance of Channel Maker (English Channel)–making his fifth straight start in the Turf and sixth Breeders' Cup appearance overall–and the pace was sensible for the distance.

Held up behind midfield and racing with the well-backed War Like Goddess (English Channel) to his inside and the swan-songing Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) to his outer, Rebel's Romance was patiently handled into the final half-mile by James Doyle and commenced an overland rally together with Mishriff as they entered the final five-sixteenths of a mile. Spun about six wide into the lane, Rebel's Romance showed a slightly better turn of acceleration than the 2021 Saudi Cup hero who tried to match strides in upper stretch and hit the front while racing on his incorrect lead with a furlong to travel before kicking on to a game score. Stone Age ran on strongly for second ahead of War Like Goddess, who took the gap between the tiring pacesetters inside the furlong marker and settled for third. Mishriff, who is off to stud in France next year, covered 34 feet (nearly four lengths) more than the winner and rounded out the superfecta.

Trainer Charlie Appleby completed a Breeders' Cup three-timer for the second year running, while James Doyle was winning a Breeders' Cup race for the first time.

“The horse is maturing and well traveled now,” said Appleby. “What he's done this season on the turf has been–rejuvenated from a horse that at one stage we looked like we might have been losing him for a moment.

“But a typical Dubawi, he's gotten stronger. But full credit to the team. Delighted for James to have his first winner.”

Added Doyle: “My sister [Sophie] has been over here a number of years. I hope I made her proud. I've let her down a few times coming over. Hopefully she enjoys this one. And obviously riding for the right team. Any ride for Charlie Appleby in the Breeders' Cup, as we've seen, is pretty dangerous.”

With his treble over the weekend, Appleby has now trained the winners of nine Breeders' Cup races.

After those two early-season dirt debacles at the Dubai World Cup Carnival, in which he was beaten by a combined 51 1/2 lengths, Rebel's Romance was the handy winner of Newmarket's Listed Fred Archer S. in his first spin on the turf June 25 ahead of a more narrow success in the G3 Glorious S. at Goodwood the following month. The hardy dark bay was back on the road just 16 days later, carrying Doyle to a neck score in the G1 Grosser Preis von Berlin at Hoppegarten and entered the Turf off a 3/4-length defeat of this year's G1 Deutsches Derby hero Sammarco (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) in the G1 Preis von Europa at Cologne Sept. 25.

Pedigree Notes:

Rebel's Romance is the fifth individual Breeders' Cup winner for Dubawi, whose progeny have teamed to take down six trophies altogether, when factoring in Modern Games's Mile victory a few races prior.

Rebel's Romance's stakes-placed dam is a daughter of multiple Group 3 winner Short Skirt, also third in the 2006 G1 Vodafone Epsom Oaks, who was purchased by Godolphin for 1.4 million gns out of the 2006 Tattersalls December Mare Sale. Short Skirt also went on to produce Volcanic Sky (GB) (Street Cry {Ire}), winner for Godolphin of the G3 Nad Al Sheba Trophy over 14 grassy furlongs.

Minidress is the dam of the 2-year-old colt Measured Time (GB) (Frankel {GB}). The mare's foal of 2021, a filly by 2015 Turf runner-up Golden Horn (GB), sadly passed away this year.

Saturday, Keeneland
LONGINES BREEDERS' CUP TURF-GI, $3,680,000, Keeneland, 11-5, 3yo/up, 1 1/2mT, 2:26.35 (NTR), fm.
1–REBEL'S ROMANCE (IRE), 126, g, 4, by Dubawi (Ire)
                1st Dam: Minidress (GB) (SP-Eng), by Street Cry (Ire)
                2nd Dam: Short Skirt (GB), by Diktat (GB)
                3rd Dam: Much Too Risky (GB), by Bustino (GB)
O/B-Godolphin (Ire); T-Charles Appleby; J-James Doyle.
$2,080,000. Lifetime Record: MG1SW-Ger, GSW-Eng, GSW-UAE,
12-9-0-0, $2,934,610. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the
free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Stone Age (Ire), 122, c, 3, Galileo (Ire)–Bonanza Creek (Ire),
by Anabaa. O-Peter M. Brant, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael B.
Tabor, Derrick Smith & Westerberg; B-White Birch Farm Sc
(Ire); T-Aidan P. O'Brien. $680,000.
3–War Like Goddess, 123, m, 5, English Channel–Misty North,
by North Light (Ire). ($1,200 Wlg '17 KEENOV; $1,000 RNA Ylg
'18 KEESEP; $30,000 2yo '19 OBSOPN). O-George Krikorian;
B-Calumet Farm (KY); T-William I. Mott. $360,000.
Margins: 2 1/4, 3/4, NK. Odds: 5.96, 12.05, 3.47.
Also Ran: Mishriff (Ire), Nations Pride (Ire), Broome (Ire), Channel Maker, Master Piece (Chi), Bye Bye Melvin, Gold Phoenix (Ire), Red Knight, Highland Chief (Ire), Nautilus (Brz).
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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No Maybe About It: Malathaat Wins as Distaff Delivers Again

LEXINGTON, KY – The Breeders' Cup Distaff, which has produced so many memorable moments over the years, delivered yet another race for the ages as Shadwell Stable's Malathaat (Curlin) got the bob over Blue Stripe (Arg) (Equal Stripes {Arg}) and Clairiere (Curlin) in a blanket three-horse finish. The 5-2 second choice behind her favored stablemate Nest (Curlin), Malathaat was unhurried from her inside post and settled well back as Society (Gun Runner) set the pace and Blue Stripe stalked the early leader down the backstretch. Nest began moving forward while some five wide as the field began to bunch up approaching the far turn and Malathaat shadowed her stablemate, while Clairiere continued to trail. It was Secret Oath (Arrogate) who took the lead out of the turn as Nest's rally began to fizzle, but the Oaks' winner began to tire with a furlong to run, leaving Blue Stripe with the lead in deep stretch. Malathaat was charging down the center of the track to her outside and Clairiere was sneaking up the rail as the wire loomed. All three hit the wire in near unison as track announcer Kurt Becker yelled, “Malathaat…Maybe! What a finish!”

“When we first watched the race, we thought we won, but they kept showing the replay and it got closer each time,” winning trainer Todd Pletcher said with a laugh. “She had a lot of momentum and I was hoping she had enough time to get there. She got her head down at the right moment.”

John Velazquez, who had the best seat in the house, also thought his filly had gotten to the wire first.

“I thought I got the bob and then I wasn't sure,” Velazquez said. “When you have that much trust from a guy like Todd Pletcher who gives me the opportunity to ride these good horses, it makes it easy when you have to make adjustments during the race.”

Of Malathaat, who has now won 10 of 13 starts, Velazquez said, “Every race she runs, she shows up. She is a tough mare and I will miss her if they retire her.”

Connections of the second and third-place finishers were justifiably proud of the efforts of their charges.

“She ran absolutely great,” said Blue Stripe's trainer Marcelo Polanco, while trainer Steve Asmussen said of Clairiere, “She ran a fabulous race. It was just inches… inches…”

The 2022 renewal will join the 2016 battle royale between Beholder and Songbird and the epic 1988 showdown between Personal Ensign and Winning Colors in the annals of Distaff history.

Malathaat won last year's GI Kentucky Oaks and GI Alabama S. before ending her sophomore season with a third-place effort in the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff en route to earning year-end championship honors. Second behind Clairiere in the GI Ogden Phipps S. and GII Shuvee S. this past summer, the regally bred filly came into this year's championship weekend off wins in the Aug. 27 GI Personal Ensign S. and over the Distaff's track and trip in the Oct. 9 GI Spinster S.

Asked if Malathaat had run her last race, Shadwell manager Gregory Clarke said, “Wouldn't it be lovely if she stayed in training? But what she's accomplished is just incredible. We're just so blessed. We've gotten this far with her. She's at the top of her game. We'll see what Sheikha Hissa and the family want to do. But she's a machine. She really is. We're over the moon.”

Pedigree Notes:

Malathaat's victory gave Curlin his third winner on the Breeders' Cup card Saturday, following Elite Power's win in the Sprint and Cody's Wish's win in the Dirt Mile.

Dreaming of Julia, winner of the 2012 GI Frizette S., produced a filly by Medaglia d'Oro last year and a filly by Curlin this year. A daughter of 2007 GI Test S. winner Dream Rush and a half-sister to graded winner Dream Pauline (Tapit), she was bred back to Into Mischief.

Saturday, Keeneland
LONGINES BREEDERS' CUP DISTAFF-GI, $1,800,000, Keeneland, 11-5, 3yo/up, f/m, 1 1/8m, 1:49.07, ft.
1–MALATHAAT, 124, f, 4, 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
($1,050,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). 'TDN Rising Star'. O-Shadwell Stable; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY); T-Todd Pletcher; J-John R. Velazquez. $1,040,000. Lifetime Record: Ch. 3yo Filly, 14-10-3-1, $3,790,825. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree or free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Blue Stripe (Arg), 124, m, 5, by Equal Stripes (Arg)
1st Dam: Blues for Sale (Arg) (MGSW-Arg), by Not For Sale (Arg)
2nd Dam: Key Cure, by Cure the Blues
3rd Dam: Dancer's Key, by Key to the Mint
O-Pozo de Luna, Inc.; B-La Manija (ARG); T-Marcelo Polanco. $340,000.
3–Clairiere, 124, f, 4, by Curlin
1st Dam: Cavorting (MGISW, $2,063,000), by Bernardini
2nd Dam: Promenade Girl, by Carson City
3rd Dam: Promenade Colony, by Pleasant Colony
O-Stonestreet Stables LLC; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen. $180,000.
Margins: NO, NO, 3 1/4. Odds: 2.88, 24.02, 6.13.
Also Ran: Nest, Secret Oath, Search Results, Society, Awake At Midnyte.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs.

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