Kentucky Derby | Horse Racing Free Tips

The Friday Show: Moonlighting On The Back Of A Pony

News editor Chelsea Hackbarth may be best known to readers of the Paulick Report for her feature stories and outstanding coverage of major races, but around Kentucky racetracks she's respected for her skills as a pony person escort, taking valuable Thoroughbreds out for morning training or afternoon races.

In this edition of the Friday Show, bloodstock editor Joe Nevills coaxes Chelsea to talk about some of her favorite moments in her “other” job, which she describes as taking horses to the starting gate “in as calm and safe a manner as possible with a 1,200-pound animal that is sitting on go. So it can be a bit of a challenge now and again.”

Chelsea took two-time European Horse of the Year Enable to the track for morning training at Churchill Downs and to the starting gate for her stirring victory in the 2018 Breeders' Cup Turf. She also recalls the “amazing amount of sound” she experienced ponying Uncle Sigh in the 2014 Kentucky Derby post parade after the singing of “My Old Kentucky Home” ends and the crowd erupted in a massive cheer. And of course there were those times she got to ride one of the most famous of the racetrack ponies, Harley.

We're sticking with the “homer” theme for Star of the Week, a 3-year-old Daredevil filly who won a $16,000 maiden claiming event recently at Gulfstream Park and is entered in the Hallandale Beach, Fla., track's third race on Friday.

A $16,000 claimer is Star of the Week, really? What we didn't say is that Sister Is Devil was the first pinhooking project for Chelsea and her business partner, Steph Settles, who joins Joe and Chelsea to talk about that experience buying the Daredevil filly as a January yearling and selling her for a modest profit nine months later. Joe rounds out the show with our weekly Toast to Vino Rosso and a profile of one of the arriving foals from the first crop of the son of Curlin.

This is one episode any horse lover won't want to miss. Watch below.

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Proxy Looms Large in Lexington

While trainer Mike Stidham isn't fully closing the door on a run in the GI Kentucky Derby for his pupil Proxy (Tapit), Saturday the colt will divert from the big-stage preps in an attempt for a confidence builder as he figures a prohibitive favorite in the GIII Stonestreet Lexington S. at Keeneland.

A second-out graduate Nov. 26 at Fair Grounds, the Godolphin homebred repeated in an allowance there Dec. 19 before passing the class test with a good second in the GIII Lecomte S. Runner-up in the GII Risen Star S. after that, he couldn't quite progress further when an even fourth in the GII Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby last out Mar. 23.

“We felt like he was really going in the right direction with the intention of trying to make it to the Kentucky Derby, but that last race, it wasn't really that big step forward that we really needed to have confidence going into the Derby,” Stidham told TDN's Katie Ritz. “With Godolphin having the favorite in Essential Quality, it wasn't as important to kind of force Proxy into a race that maybe he's not quite ready for. We're not really thinking hard about the Derby right now. I've learned in this business you never say never, so I'm not going to say definitely no. If he really ran well in this race, came out of it really well, certainly we would have to consider it. But right now, we're not thinking along those lines.”

A trio of twice-raced 3-year-olds look like the most probable beneficiaries if Proxy stumbles. Swiftsure (Uncle Mo) debuted as an 11-10 favorite Nov. 27 at Fair Grounds and ran to the money with a wire-to-wire, open-length victory before repeating over three next-out winners in another convincing score Jan. 23 at Oaklawn. Noble Reflection (Liam's Map) sports the best Beyer in the field outside of Proxy, earning an 89 for a sharp 4 1/2-length maiden tally off a near seven-month layoff Mar. 7 at Oaklawn, and Bezos (Empire Maker) rebounded from a disappointing seventh in his universally-touted debut with a dominant 4 1/2-length triumph going a mile at Santa Anita Mar. 26.

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Baffert Looking for ‘Concert’ Encore in Arkansas Derby

After losing presumptive GI Kentucky Derby favorite Life Is Good (Into Mischief) to injury for several months, Bob Baffert may still have the Derby chalk in his barn if his undefeated 'TDN Rising Star' Concert Tour (Street Sense) can follow up his dominant GII Rebel S. score with a similar performance against just five rivals in Saturday's $1-million GI Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn.

Unveiled as an even-money favorite going six furlongs Jan. 15 at Santa Anita, the Gary and Mary West homebred scored a good-looking wire-to-wire victory and repeated with a half-length triumph in the GII San Vicente S. there Feb. 6. Stretched out to two turns for the first time in the Rebel here Mar. 13, the bay set a sharp pace and drew clear strongly in the lane for a convincing 4 1/4-length success. Pegged as the even-money favorite on the morning line with regular rider Joel Rosario, he drilled six furlongs in 1:12 4/5 (1/5) at his Arcadia home base Apr. 3.

The Rebel was billed as a clash between Concert Tour and fellow promising 'Rising Star' Caddo River (Hard Spun), but that battle never materialized, as frontrunning Caddo River was taken off the lead and got rank before finishing a distant fifth. Trainer Brad Cox has promised more aggressive tactics in the Arkansas Derby for the Shortleaf Stable homebred, who previously crushed his Smarty Jones S. rivals by 10 1/4 lengths to follow up a 9 1/2-length third-out graduation. With just 10 Derby qualifying points, he needs a top two finish to punch his ticket to Louisville.

“We're going to try and be a little bit more involved early if we can,” he told the Oaklawn notes team. “That's really the tactics we're going to take into the race. We'll see if that works any different. He's probably more of a free-running horse. I think we found that out last time. Florent took a hold of him up the backside and that didn't really seem what he wanted to do.”

The second, fourth and seventh finishers from the Rebel also re-oppose. Hozier (Pioneerof the Nile) completed a Baffert exacta that day at 18-1 and another move forward is possible in just his fourth career start.

“I just feel fortunate that I have these two after losing Life Is Good,” Baffert said. “It's pretty tough, you know, but that's why everything works itself out for the Derby. The horse will get you there.”

Late-running Super Stock (Dialed In) rallied to be fourth in the Rebel and was third to champion Essential Quality (Tapit) three back in the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity. Get Her Number (Dialed In) was seventh with a troubled trip making his sophomore debut in the Rebel after winning the GI American Pharoah S. to close out his 2-year-old season.

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Arkansas Derby, Keeneland Grade 1’s Highlight TVG’s Weekend Coverage

The road to the Kentucky Derby will run through Arkansas this weekend and TVG will be broadcasting live from Oaklawn Park with full coverage of the $1 million Arkansas Derby as the undefeated Concert Tour puts his perfect record on the line. There will also be expanded coverage of Keeneland's Spring Meet which features a pair of Grade 1 events this weekend – the $300,000 Maker's Mark Mile (G1) on Friday and the $300,000 Coolmore (G1) Jenny Wiley on Saturday.

TVG's Britney Eurton, Matt Carothers and Caton Bredar will be live from Oaklawn Park with insights and analysis throughout the thirteen-race card. The Arkansas Derby (GI) offers 100-40-20-10 qualifying points to the top four finishers and has drawn a field of six including two contenders for trainer Bob Baffert who saddled Nadal to victory in this race last year. Rebel Stakes (G2) winner Concert Tour, undefeated from three starts, is a homebred for Gary and Mary West and will have Joel Rosario aboard. His rivals will include stablemate Hozier, the runner-up in the Rebel Stakes with Martin Garcia in the irons.

Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) winner and Eclipse Award winning sprinter Whitmore will get a rematch with C Z Rocket in the $500,000 Count Fleet Handicap (G3) after a narrow defeat in the $200,000 Hot Springs Stakes in March. Whitmore, trained by Ron Moquett, will be making his fifth appearance in the Count Fleet Handicap (G3) and has won it three times. Ricardo Santana, Jr. will be aboard.

Todd Schrupp, Simon Bray, Joaquin Jaime, Caleb Keller, Gabby Gaudet and Scott Hazelton will be broadcasting live from Keeneland with exclusive interviews, expert analysis and insights throughout the star-studded weekend of racing. The featured event of Friday's ten-race card is the $300,000 Maker's Mark Mile (G1) which has drawn a contentious field of nine turf specialists including Raging Bull (FR), the 7-2 morning line favorite for Chad Brown. Owned by Peter Brant, the Grade-1 winning millionaire has been freshened since a tenth-place finish in the FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) and will be ridden by Irad Ortiz, Jr.

There will also be Kentucky Derby points at stake on Saturday in the $200,000 Lexington Stakes (G3) with 20-8-4-2 qualifying points allocated to the top four finishers. The race has drawn a field of ten including Proxy who will be trying to break through and earn his first graded stakes victory for recent Dubai World Cup (G1) winning trainer Michael Stidham. The Godolphin-homebred was last seen finishing fourth in the Louisiana Derby (G1).

Fillies and mares will take center stage on Saturday at Keeneland in the $300,000 Coolmore Jenny Wiley (G1) which has attracted a field of six contenders. Micheline, a homebred daughter of Bernardini for Godolphin, will try to earn her first Grade 1 win and was last seen taking the Hillsborough Stakes (G2) at Tampa Bay Downs. Both she and Lexington Stakes (G3) Proxy are offspring of graded stakes-winning millionaire mare Panty Raid.

TVG's Mike Joyce, Christina Blacker and Dave Weaver will be reporting live from Santa Anita with full coverage of the nine-race card. The featured race is a one-mile allowance/optional claiming race with a competitive field of nine including graded stakes winner Grammer who will be returning to action for the first time since the 2020 Travers Stakes (G1) for trainer Bob Baffert.

Fans of international racing can also tune in for the action from Royal Randwick for Championship Day 1 featuring the $2 million Australian Derby (G1) and the $3 million Doncaster Mile (G1). Jason Witham will be anchoring the Australian coverage Friday night.

In addition to racing from Keeneland, Oaklawn and Santa Anita, TVG will feature racing from Gulfstream Park, Aqueduct and more. Fans can tune in on TVG, TVG2 and the Watch TVG app which is available on Amazon Fire, Roku and connected Apple TV devices.

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