Tag: Kentucky Derby

Danon Pharaoh Too Strong in Japan Dirt Derby

The bettors had it right–well, in a sense.

They pounded the previously undefeated Cafe Pharoah (American Pharoah) into 1-10 favoritism for Wednesday’s Japan Dirt Derby, but Danon Pharaoh (Jpn) (American Pharoah) had other ideas, as he put away pacesetting Daimei Corrida (Jpn) (Eskendereya) in the final 150 meters en route to a 1 3/4-length success. Kitano Octopus (Jpn) (Fenomeno {Jpn}) rounded out a longshot trifecta that returned better than 7,700-1. The victory was worth 40 points on the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby.

Daimei Corrida jumped alertly from his high draw and crossed the field to lead through the stretch the first time as Danon Pharaoh and Cafe Pharoah raced in close attendance. The favorite, who took an awkward step entering the first turn, and began showing signs of distress 500 meters out, leaving Daimei Corrida and Danon Pharaoh to fight it out to the finish. The front-runner held firm into the final eighth of a mile, but Danon Pharaoh had all the answers, edging clear in the final stages. Cafe Pharoah split the field in seventh.

A maiden winner at second asking last November, Danon Pharaoh added a Kyoto allowance in February. A strong second to Barnard Loop (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) in the Listed Hyogo Championship S. at Sonoda May 6, the striking dark bay was well-beaten behind Miyaji Kokuo (Jpn) (Victoire Pisa {Jpn}) when last seen in the Listed Hosu S. at Kyoto May 24.

With victories in the Listed Hyacinth S. and in the G3 Unicorn S. last time, Cafe Pharoah has amassed 70 Kentucky Derby points and can claim the berth in the Run for the Roses if connections so choose. Should they decline the invitation, it will be extended to the connections of Danon Pharaoh.

Danon Pharaoh’s yearling half-brother by Screen Hero (Jpn) (walking video) and his Jan. 23-foaled half-brother by Lord Kanaloa (walking video) each go under the hammer at the JRHA Select Sale on Hokkaido July 13 and 14.

Danon Pharaoh becomes the eighth stakes winner for American Pharoah and his third on the dirt, joining Cafe Pharoah and Harvey’s Lil Goil, who recently added the GIII Regret S. on turf.

 

WATCH: Danon Pharaoh causes the upset in the Japan Dirt Derby

 

Wednesday, Ohi, Japan
JAPAN DIRT DERBY-Listed (Final Leg–Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby), ¥76,500,000, Ohi, 7-8, 3yo, 2000m, 2:05.9, my.
1–DANON PHARAOH (JPN), 123, c, 3, by American Pharoah
1st Dam: Crisp (GISW, $286,431), by El Corredor
2nd Dam: Cat’s Fair, by Sir Cat
3rd Dam: Very Fair, by Honest Pleasure
1ST STAKES WIN. ($350,000 in utero ’16 KEENOV; ¥180,000,000 Ylg ’18 JPNJUL). O-Danox Co Ltd; B-Northern Farm; T-Yoshito Yahagi; J-Ryusei Sakai; ¥45,000,000. Lifetime Record: 8-3-2-0, $644,903.
2–Daimei Corrida (Jpn), 123, c, 3, Eskendereya–Miracle Flag (Jpn), by Spicule (Jpn). (¥30,240,000 2yo ’19 JRA2YO). O-Noboru Miyamoto; B-Deguchi Bokujo; T-Naoyuki Morita; J-Kenichi Ikezoe; ¥15,750,000.
3–Kitano Octopus (Jpn), 123, c, 3, Fenomeno (Jpn)–Hiro Angelo (Jpn), by Grass Wonder. O-Naoto Kitasho; B-Mikami Bokujo; T-Noboru Takagi; J-Hironobu Tanabe; ¥9,000,000.
Margins: 1 3/4, 5, 1 3/4. Odds: 39.60, 19.50, 49.70.
Also Ran: Bravoure (Jpn), Miyaji Kokuo (Jpn), Aime Limite (Jpn), Cafe Pharoah, Barnard Loop (Jpn), Causey Son Rad (Jpn), Riko Seawolf (Jpn), Gamila’s Jackson (Jpn), Full Flat, Gold Bomber (Jpn).

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Kentucky Derby Week Stakes Purses Remain Even; $9.85 Million September Stakes Schedule Announced

A total of 18 stakes events, topped by the 146th runnings of the $3 million Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (Grade I) and $1.25 million Longines Kentucky Oaks (GI), are on tap for the 2020 September Meet at Churchill Downs.

The September Meet stakes schedule is led by the revised Kentucky Derby Week, which was moved from April 25-May 2 to Sept. 1-5 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The spectacular week of racing will feature 14 graded stakes, including five Grade I races that will be headlined by the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, Sept. 5 and Kentucky Oaks on Friday, Sept. 4.

Kentucky Derby Day will showcase seven graded stakes races including the Grade I, $1 million Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic at 1 1/8 miles on the Matt Winn Turf Course for older horses and the Grade I, $500,000 Derby City Distaff (formerly known as the Humana Distaff) for fillies and mares at seven furlongs.

A new addition to the revised Kentucky Derby Day stakes schedule is the $200,000 Iroquois presented by Ford (GIII), the launch of the Road to the 2021 Kentucky Derby (Top 4 points: 10-4-2-1) and a “Win and You're In Breeders' Cup Juvenile Division” race for 2-year-olds that will be run at one-mile. The winner will receive an automatic berth to the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile (GI) held on Nov. 6 at Keeneland.

Other stakes on Kentucky Derby Day are the $500,000 Longines Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (GII) for fillies and mares at one-mile on turf; the $500,000 American Turf (GII) for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles on turf; and the $500,000 Pat Day Mile presented by LG&E and KU (GII) for 3-year-olds at one mile.

Kentucky Oaks Day will feature six graded stakes events which includes the Grade I, $500,000 La Troienne for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles. Other stakes on the program are the $400,000 Alysheba (GII) for 4-year-olds and up at 1 1/16 miles; the $300,000 Eight Belles presented by Smithfield Foods (GII) for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs; the $300,000 Edgewood presented by Forcht Bank (GII) for 3-year-old fillies at one mile on turf (shortened from its previous 1 1/16 miles on turf); and the $250,000 Twin Spires Turf Sprint presented by Sysco (GII) for 3-year-olds and up at 5 ½ furlongs on turf.

While the Iroquois is set for Kentucky Derby Day, its filly counterpart, the $200,000 Pocahontas (GIII), will be run two days prior on “Thurby.” The one-mile event for 2-year-old fillies kicks off the Road to the 2021 Kentucky Oaks (Top 4 points: 10-4-2-1) and is a “Win and You're In Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Division” contest with the winner receiving an automatic berth to the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (GI) on Nov. 6 at Keeneland.

The Grade I Churchill Downs Stakes, which was previously run on Kentucky Derby Day, is tentatively scheduled to be run during the Fall Meet.

After the Sept. 1-5 Kentucky Derby Week, Churchill Downs will stage its annual nine-day September Meet from Sept. 17-27. The lone stakes event will be the $100,000 Ack Ack for 3-year-olds and up at one mile on Sept. 26.

For more information, visit www.churchilldowns.com.

Day/Date Running Grade Purse Race Age/Sex Distance Surface
Champions Day
Tuesday, Sept. 1 2nd   $100,000 Champions Day Marathon Overnight Stakes presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance 3&up 1 ½ M Dirt
 
Wednesday, Sept. 2 10th   $150,000 Unbridled Sidney 3&up f/m 5 ½ F Turf
Thurby Presented By Old Forester
Thursday, Sept. 3 52nd III $200,000 Pocahontas 2yo f 1 M Dirt
Thursday, Sept. 3 15th   $100,000 Opening Verse Overnight Stakes 3&up 1 M Turf
Longines Kentucky Oaks Day

Six stakes races cumulatively worth $3 million
Friday, Sept. 4 146th I $1,250,000 Longines Kentucky Oaks 3yo f 1 1/8 M Dirt
Friday, Sept. 4 35th I $500,000 La Troienne 4&up f/m 1 1/16 M Dirt
Friday, Sept. 4 17th II $400,000 Alysheba 4&up 1 1/16 M Dirt
Friday, Sept. 4 65th II $300,000 Eight Belles presented by Smithfield Foods 3yo f 7 F Dirt
Friday, Sept. 4 36th II $300,000 Edgewood presented by Forcht Bank 3yo f 1 M Turf
Friday, Sept. 4 26th II $250,000 Twin Spires Turf Sprint 3&up 5 ½ F Turf
Kentucky Derby Day Presented by Woodford Reserve

Seven stakes races cumulatively worth $6.2 million
Saturday, Sept. 5 146th I $3,000,000 Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve 3yo 1 ¼ M Dirt
Saturday, Sept. 5 34th I $1,000,000 Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic 4&up 1 1/8 M Turf
Saturday, Sept. 5 34th I $500,000 Derby City Distaff 4&up f/m 7 F Dirt
Saturday, Sept. 5 35th II $500,000 Longines Churchill Distaff Turf Mile 4&up f/m 1 M Turf
Saturday, Sept. 5 96th II $500,000 Pat Day Mile presented by LG&E and KU 3yo 1 M Dirt
Saturday, Sept. 5 29th II $500,000 American Turf 3yo 1 1/16 M Turf
Saturday, Sept. 5 39th III $200,000 Iroquois presented by Ford 2yo 1 M Dirt
               
Saturday, Sept. 26 28th III $100,000 Ack Ack 3&up 1 M Dirt

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Brisset Believes Extraordinary Has A Big Shot In Indiana Derby

Trainer Rodolphe Brisset's first words when asked about his Indiana Derby contender Extraordinary: “I love the horse.”

Extraordinary makes his stakes debut in the $300,000, Grade 3 Indiana Derby at 1 1/8 miles Wednesday. The son of sprint champion Speightstown certainly was intended as a top horse, selling as a yearling for $750,000, with WinStar Farm and China Horse Club teaming with breeder Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings to race the horse.

Extraordinary is 10-1 in the morning line, but Brisset thinks the chestnut colt will be more like 6-1. Extraordinary found all kinds of trouble in his last start, a late-running fourth out of 12 in a Churchill Downs allowance race. The winner, Man in the Can, is running in Keeneland's Grade 2 Toyota Blue Grass, second-place Dean Martini won the Ohio Derby and third-place Earner also is in the Indiana Derby.

“If you look at the replay the other day, he got in a lot of trouble,” the Keeneland-based Brisset said. “He broke sideways. I have no idea why. It was the kind of race, if you're not right up there, you're getting shuffled back. I think we'd have been up there with the winner to fight for the win. He only got beat (3 3/4) lengths and galloped out in front of everybody. The move he made from the three-eighths pole to the quarter pole, I thought it was very impressive.”

Extraordinary hurt his closing bid by running greenly through the stretch. “I don't like to make an excuse,” Brisset said. “I think we got tougher from that race. That's why we decided to go in there. Based on what we saw, we think we've got a shot.”

Extraordinary never began racing until Feb. 8. “We've been pointing to July, August and September,” Brisset said.

Does that include Sept. 5 – as in the rescheduled Kentucky Derby?

“We're giving him the opportunity to bring us there,” he said. “It's just a matter if he's good enough. It's a different year. Obviously, you don't want to peak too early. The horse was very late, didn't race as a 2-year-old. He won on talent, but it took him a couple of races to figure things out. You can feel he's doing just the minimum in the mornings.”

Brisset added blinkers for Extraordinary's last race and is satisfied with the result. The colt still doesn't work fast, the trainer said, “but it's the way he's doing it… He's showing us the right signs: That he's a two-turn horse, a dirt horse.”

WinStar Farm and China Horse Club know well that not every horse can even come close to being a Justify, their unbeaten 2018 Triple Crown winner (whom Brisset trained before the unraced 2-year-old was sent to Bob Baffert). Indeed, they have a Plan B, with Extraordinary entered in Monday's Fasig-Tipton sale of horses of racing age in Lexington.

“For the right price, they'll let the horse go,” Brisset said. “If he runs 1-2-3, I'm sure we'll get together and we'll talk. It's a long way before he gets sold.”

Brisset also entered Aurelia Garland in the Indiana Oaks but said she will scratch after finishing second in Sunday's Iowa Oaks.

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Evenly-Matched Group Contests Indiana Derby

It’s rare to see a GI Kentucky Derby prep on a weekday, much rarer to find it on a July weekday, but an evenly-matched field of 10 horses will contest the GIII Indiana Derby Wednesday at Indiana Grand with 34 qualifying points for the Run for the Roses up for grabs.

Lloyd Madison Farms’ Major Fed (Ghostzapper) looks for some racing luck after several wide trips along the Derby trail. A sharp maiden winner on New Year’s Day at Fair Grounds, the homebred was second in a division of the GII Risen Star S. and fourth after a wide journey while closing into a slow pace in the GII Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby. Hung out in the widest draw in the GIII Matt Winn S. last out May 23 at Churchill, he chased the pace before fading to finish last of 10.

Taishan (Twirling Candy) also looks to rebound while shipping in from the west coast for Richard Baltas. Fourth in the GII Sham S. and fifth in the GIII Southwest S. over the winter, the $150,000 OBS March buy scored in a sloppy Oaklawn optional claimer Mar. 14 with a field-best 92 Beyer before running a good third after moving early into a fast pace in the Oaklawn S. Apr. 11 in Hot Springs. He failed to build on those two efforts, however, when last in a division of the GI Arkansas Derby May 2.

Godolphin’s progressive Shared Sense (Street Sense) goes out for trainer Brad Cox. Sixth in the Smarty Jones S. and War Chant S. in his previous two stakes tries, he nevertheless earned the highest last-out Beyer when earning an 89 as runner-up to the promising Art Collector (Bernardini) last out in a Churchill optional claimer June 13.

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