Tag: Kentucky Derby

Candy Man Rocket ‘Smooth As Silk’ In Final Prep For Tampa Bay Derby

Candy Man Rocket, who burst onto the scene as a legitimate Triple Crown candidate by winning the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes here on Feb. 6, and Grade 3 2-year-old winner Sittin On Go are expected to head a large field in Saturday's Grade 2, $400,000 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby.

The 41st annual Tampa Bay Downs showcase is one of five stakes races scheduled on the Festival Day 41 Presented by Lambholm South card. The mile-and-a-sixteenth race for 3-year-olds on the main dirt track is a “Road to the Kentucky Derby” points race, with the top four finishers earning 50, 20, 10 and 5 points toward qualifying for a spot in the Run for the Roses starting gate at Churchill Downs on May 1.

As is always the case this time of year, the majority of attention will shift to the 3-year-old Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve hopefuls.

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott – who won the 2019 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby with Tacitus and that year's Kentucky Derby with Country House, with Tacitus finishing third – sent Candy Man Rocket out for a 4-furlong breeze Sunday at his Payson Park Training Center base in Indiantown, Fla., where the Frank Fletcher Racing Operations-owned colt turned in a time of 48 3/5 seconds, the best of 36 workouts at the half-mile distance.

“He was on his own, he went well and I'm very pleased with him. He looked as smooth as silk,” Mott said via telephone. “He is a good work horse anyway, but I liked the way he did it. The (Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby) has been on our minds since he won the Sam F. Davis. Any time you get a horse that runs well over that racetrack, you have to give it consideration.”

While Kentucky Derby qualifying points can be very crucial, Mott knows the important thing at this stage is to continue to build on the colt's foundation for a possible try at a mile-and-a-quarter at Churchill Downs.

“It seems like he is doing equally as well now as he was before the Davis,” Mott said. “He's got good natural speed away from the gate, which can always be an advantage for any horse, position-wise. The chances of getting a good trip might be better than they would for a deep closer, especially in a big field.”

Junior Alvarado will again come up from Gulfstream Park to ride Candy Man Rocket.

Mott said the owner, Frank Fletcher, is excited about Candy Man Rocket's chances to be the first horse to complete the Sam F. Davis-Tampa Bay Derby double since Destin in 2016.

“He is someone who is enthusiastic about his horses, loves the game and is happy just to have a horse in a race like this,” Mott said.

The trainer said he is still debating the next start for his Sam F. Davis runner-up, breeder-owner Michael Shanley's Nova Rags, who won the Pasco Stakes here on Jan. 16. Mott said the March 13 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn, the March 20 TwinSpires.com Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds and the March 27 Curlin Florida Derby Presented by Hill 'n' Dale Farms at Xalapa are all under consideration.

Sittin On Go, who won the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes last September at Churchill Downs, is expected to make his first start since a sixth-place finish on Jan. 30 in the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park. The Albaugh Family Stables-owned colt is trained by Dale Romans.

Also expected to compete in the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby are the third and fourth-place finishers in the Sam F. Davis, Hidden Stash and the gelding Boca Boy. Hidden Stash is owned by BBN Racing and trained by Victoria Oliver and Boca Boy is owned by Kenneth E. Fishbein and trained by Cheryl Winebaugh.

Trainer Todd Pletcher, who has won the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby a record five times, including three in a row from 2015-2017, is expected to return with Woodford Thoroughbreds and WinStar Farm's Promise Keeper. The colt broke his maiden on Feb. 6 at Gulfstream in his second start, winning a mile maiden special weight race by 5 lengths on a sloppy track.

Pletcher is also expected to enter Whisper Hill Farm's Unbridled Honor, who broke his maiden here on the Sam F. Davis undercard going a mile-and-40 yards.

King of Dreams, who broke his maiden at Gulfstream on Jan. 30, is expected to start for owner Victoria's Ranch and trainer Juan Carlos Avila, the same connections who won last year's Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby with 49-1 shot King Guillermo. Victoria's Ranch is the stable name for retired major league slugger Victor Martinez.

Mark Casse, who sent out Prospective to win the 2012 Tampa Bay Derby, is expected to enter D. J. Stable's Helium. The colt was 2-for-2 as a 2-year-old, winning the 7-furlong Display Stakes on Oct. 18 on the all-weather synthetic Tapeta track at Woodbine in Toronto.

Other likely Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby entrants include trainer Shawn H. Davis's Hello Hot Rod, a winner of three of four lifetime starts, including the Jimmy Winkfield Stakes on Jan. 31 at Aqueduct; Moonlite Strike, trainer Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.'s colt who is 2-for-4; Joseph's Super Strong, whose lone start on Dec. 19 at Camarero resulted in a victory in the Grade 1 Classico Agustin Mercado Revron Stakes; and My Liberty, a maiden winner from the barn of Maria Ines Mejia.

The post Candy Man Rocket ‘Smooth As Silk’ In Final Prep For Tampa Bay Derby appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Maxfield Headed to Big ‘Cap

Undefeated and widely considered among the top horses in training, Maxfield (Street Sense) will make his next start in Saturday's GI Santa Anita H.

The news was first reported by TVG's Christina Blacker.

“He'll head out there tomorrow,” trainer Brendan Walsh said. “We're looking forward to it. The race has been on our radar for a while. At 1 1/4 miles, it's a nice race for him and the timing is good. It gives us a chance to win a Grade I. The race makes sense.”

With Maxfield being owned by Godolphin, the Mar. 27 G1 Dubai World Cup seemed like a logical spot for Maxfield, but Walsh said the connections wanted to keep him closer to home.

“We kind of wanted to keep the horse in this country,” he said. “He's still a lightly enough raced horse. We wanted to keep him here, try to make progress and get a solid year's racing out of him. We want to get a good body of racing into the horse.”

Maxfield showed his talent at the outset, winning a maiden race before capturing te GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity as a 2-year-old. But he missed out on the 2019 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, the 2020 Triple Crown races and the 2020 GI Breeders' Cup Classic due to some minor setbacks. In December, he returned to win the Tenacious S. at the Fair Grounds and then the GIII Mineshaft S. It was the first time in his career he was able to run in back-to-back races without a long break in between.

“It's been great,” Walsh said. “We always thought that the horse was super talented. That's been there for everyone to see. We came to New Orleans this winter and I thought it was great we were able to get those couple of runs into him. No disrespect to the horses he ran against down there, but we didn't have to face the very top horses in the country. That was a super important stepping stone for him for us to go ahead and take a step like he is going to take next Saturday. This will be a good test for him and a good experience for him to have to travel out to California.”

Walsh also provided an update on another star in his stable, Prevalence (Medaglia d'Oro). After he broke his maiden by 8 1/2 lengths, he was considered a possible starter in the GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S., but had to miss the race after coming down with a temperature. He returned to the work tab Saturday, breezing a half-mile in :48.40 at Palm Meadows.

“It was a nice work and we were really happy with him,” the trainer said. “We'll probably try to find an allowance race at Gulfstream for him in the next book and go from there. We missed working him last week, so that eliminated any chance we might have had in running him in the Fountain of Youth. At the end of the day, he's only run one time, so it would have been a big ask to go against those horses. He's a lovely horse and I think he is progressing. He's going the right way.”

The post Maxfield Headed to Big ‘Cap appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Collaborate Earns Florida Derby Shot

Three Chimneys Farm and e Five Racing's Collaborate (Into Mischief), tabbed a 'TDN Rising Star' following his impressive maiden score at Gulfstream Park Saturday, has put himself on track for the Mar. 27 GI Curlin Florida Derby, trainer Saffie Joseph confirmed Sunday.

“The Florida Derby is at home and he just has to walk out of his stall,” Joseph said. “I talked to the owners briefly yesterday and it will probably be between the Florida Derby, the [GII] Wood [at Aqueduct Apr. 3] or the [GII Toyota] Blue Grass [at Keeneland Apr. 3], but the Florida Derby will be the front-runner. Off [Saturday's] race, we're probably going to take a chance somewhere. We feel like he's a Derby horse. I know we're a little behind schedule, but with the ability he has, he can probably overcome it.”

Collaborate was sixth as the beaten favorite in his troubled six-furlong debut in Hallandale Feb. 6. Going one mile Saturday, the colt broke sharply and set a measured pace under jockey Tyler Gaffalione, going in splits of :23.72 seconds, :46.57 and 1:11.12 before beginning to edge away from his 10 rivals. He hit the stretch six lengths in front and kept rolling to win by 12 1/2 and completing the mile in 1:36.35 over a fast main track (video).

“We weren't surprised. That's hard to say with a horse winning like that, but that's the horse we thought he was,” Joseph said.  “The first time out, we got him beat. It hurt to get him beat first time out, because we thought he was that good, but you always have to look at the positive in each scenario and the first time I thought he gained valuable experience.”

While Collaborate has joined the Triple Crown trail, stablemate Drain the Clock (Maclean's Music) will cut back in distance following his runner-up effort in Saturday's GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S.

“Talking to the owners briefly after the race, initially I think we're going to step back and keep him at one turn. We tried it and I think he handled the mile and a sixteenth, but I don't think we're going to try to push it,” Joseph said. “I think we have a really good horse. I feel like we have a Grade I horse and he's probably going to be best at one turn, so most likely we're going to stick to one turn.”

Trainer Butch Reid reported last year's champion juvenile filly Vequist (Nyquist) was doing well following her ninth-place effort in Saturday's GII Davona Dale S.

“We did scope her after the race and she was a little dirty,” Reid said. “She had some mucus in there and stuff that we can work with, and I think it definitely affected her performance a little bit. But, soundness-wise, she's great and is happy.”

Vequist got bumped at the start of the Davona Dale and was in range of the leaders racing in mid-pack, but never threatened and was eased to the finish by jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr.

“I'm glad Irad took care of her the last part of it when she was hopelessly beaten, so she came back great,” Reid said. “Irad did a great job. He saw that she wasn't really getting there. He gave her a little eighth of a mile to run, but I know she's better than that. We're going to keep looking at her and keep working her and fall back and regroup a little bit, that's all.”

The post Collaborate Earns Florida Derby Shot appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

The Week in Review: Tapit Supplies Favors for 20th Birthday Bash

Birthdays with a zero on the end are supposed to be momentous occasions, and 20-year-old Tapit sure knows how to celebrate in style.

On Saturday, the Gainesway stallion even supplied the party favors for a double-barreled bash in his honor on the GI Kentucky Derby trail.

Exactly two decades after Tapit's Feb. 27, 2001, foaling date, two of his sons delivered sky's-the-limit performances as winning favorites in key 3-year-old prep stakes that firmly established both atop of the current crop of aspirants to wear a blanket of roses on the first Saturday in May.

The near-term debate will now center on which colt–Essential Quality or Greatest Honour–deserves kingpin billing on the sophomore totem pole.

An equally intriguing subplot involves whether either can deliver a first Derby win for the sire who has evolved into the most influential stallion of the 21st Century. Tapit has produced eight divisional champions, six Breeders' Cup winners and three GI Belmont S. victors. But siring a Derby winner has thus far eluded the now-whitened gray, just as the Derby itself did in 2004 when Tapit splashed home ninth as one of the favorites.

Undefeated 'Quality'

   Essential Quality had his 3-year-old debut delayed by two weeks because winter weather thrice forced the rescheduling of the GIII Southwest S. at Oaklawn. Yet Mother Nature still managed to intercede by imposing a sloppy (sealed) racing surface Saturday.

The undefeated juvenile champ and 'TDN Rising Star' broke fluidly and responded to a cue to rate from rider Luis Saez, settling fifth into the clubhouse turn while vacating the rail and opting for a three-wide berth (in the gooey going, every jockey in the race avoided the rail like it was strung with barbed wire).

The big matchup in the Southwest was supposed to be the tear-away speed of 6-5 second favorite Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) versus the high-cruise stalking skills of 9-to-10 choice Essential Quality, and the race unfolded as scripted in the early stages with “Jackie” leading the charge through a :23.52 opening quarter that jockey Joel Rosario then milked to a :48.11 breather of a half mile.

“EQ” took firm hold of the bit and wanted to pull, but Saez harnessed that keenness effectively and got the champ to edge forward incrementally while outside and in the clear for the backstretch run. Against the hazy blur of fog, the gray made headway at a metronomic rate of one position per furlong, attaining and releasing each target in a measured manner before focusing adeptly on the next.

EQ had given up real estate on both turns, but was full of momentum coming over the top at the quarter pole, getting second run on the caving Jackie (whose Derby stock slipped considerably after a second failed try at two turns). But Essential Quality had to brace for a fresh challenge in the form of Spielberg (Union Rags), who was unwinding from last and finishing fast after getting off to a stutter-step start.

The champ was up to the task. Essential Quality switched leads and took off when Saez asked, widening to the wire to win by 4 1/4 lengths in 1:45.48 for 1 1/16 miles, which translated to a 96 Beyer Speed Figure, an improvement of one point over his Juvenile win back in November. (The other same-distance races on the card were the GIII Razorback H., run 90 minutes earlier for older males, which clocked :01.15 faster, and an allowance-optional claimer nightcap for older males one race after the Southwest that went :0.75 slower.)

The Apr. 3 GII Toyota Blue Grass S. at Keeneland (where Essential Quality is 2-for-2) or the Apr. 10 GI Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn are reportedly under consideration as final Derby tune-ups by trainer Brad Cox.

'Greatest' Without Ease

While Essential Quality's Southwest S. win stamped him as a Derby contender who is fluidly polishing his prowess, the even-money favored win by Greatest Honour in Gulfstream's GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S. (FOY) resonated more like an unleashing of brute force by a deep closer who ate a lot of kickback, totally lost his momentum on the far turn, then stormed home relentlessly despite a short-stretch configuration that does not play to off-the-tailgate tactics.

The raw power demonstrated by Greatest Honour in winning three 1 1/16 miles races this winter at Gulfstream has to be considered within the context that races at that distance at that track start very close to the first turn and end at the sixteenth pole. This often tilts the advantage to speed-centric runners, and the FOY in particular has been a house of horrors for well-backed “headline” horses. Prior to Saturday, FOY faves had lost the last four runnings and 13 of the previous 15 editions.

Jockey Jose Ortiz guided Greatest Honour to his customary spot near the back of the bunch in the FOY. Settling inside, the rugged bay wasn't crazy about being pelted with dirt, but he was hemmed in at the fence until the far turn. When Ortiz tried to edge out, Greatest Honour's back end got bumped by an outside rival, and the favorite appeared for a moment as if he was going to plummet back through the pack.

When a long-striding horse gets stopped like that, it can be difficult to get him back into rhythm. By the three-eighths pole (which is 2 1/2 furlongs from the wire on this configuration), Greatest Honour was still nine lengths adrift. He sparked back into stride when Ortiz switched him outside, but at the top of the lane, one furlong from the short-stretch finish, the colt was still five lengths off the action and under the whip.

Once in the clear on the straightaway though, Greatest Honour fully uncoiled. Granted, he ran down a tiring leader to win by 1 1/4 lengths in 1:44.02 (89 Beyer). But the visual impression he made carries more weight than any speed number. Watching him gobble up ground so voraciously led to automatic thoughts about what havoc a monster like this might be able to wreak given a longer stretch over extended distances.

Trainer Shug McGuaghey indicated the Mar. 27 GI Florida Derby was likely next. “I'm glad we don't have to run a mile and a sixteenth anymore,” he added. “When they're going farther, I think we might see a little better horse.”

Both Essential Quality (Godolphin) and Greatest Honour (Courtlandt Farms) are homebreds.

But for Courtlandt's Donald Adam, the connection to Tapit is gratifying on a different level.

“I bought the mare [Tiffany's Honour] in foal to a Tapit colt, and that colt hit the ground and was killed in a paddock accident,” Adam said post-race. “So, I bred her back to Tapit and got [Greatest Honour].”

The post The Week in Review: Tapit Supplies Favors for 20th Birthday Bash appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights