kentucky oaks | Horse Racing Free Tips

Travel Column Circles Field, Overcomes Trouble To Win Golden Rod Stakes

OXO Equine's Travel Column made an impressive run to avoid trouble at the eighth pole in winning Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 Golden Rod Stakes at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. The 2-year-old daughter from the first crop of Frosted was last early and passed all eight of her rivals to win by a length, stopping the clock in 1:43.98 for 1 1/16 miles over the fast main track. Trained by Brad Cox, the filly was ridden to victory at odds of 5-1 by jockey Florent Geroux.

The win earned Travel Column 10 points on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks.

Last early after being crowded and pushed back at the start, Travel Column stayed wide near the rear of the pack during the early running. Longshot Farsighted lead the way through fractions of :23.77 and :48.21, tracked by the favorite Simply Ravishing.

Simply Ravishing, the G1 Alcibiades winner, grabbed the lead around the turn but couldn't hold on, and was headed by Clairere at the three-sixteenths pole. Meanwhile, Travel Column went wide to range into contention but still had five lengths to make up at the head of the lane.

Near the inside, Travel Column had to shift out four-wide at the eighth pole for clear running room, and was able to run down her foes in the final sixteenth of a mile. Beaten a length in second was Clairere, and the previously undefeated Coach finished third. Favorite Simply Ravishing was fourth.

Bred in Kentucky by Mr. and Mrs. Bayne Welker Jr. and Denali Stud, Travel Column was an $850,000 yearling at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select sale. Out of the multiple stakes-winning Victory Gallop mare Swingit, the filly is a half-sister to $2 million-earner Neolithic (Harlan's Holiday).

Travel Column won her debut at Churchill Downs by 4 1/4 lengths with a pace-pressing run, then missed the start and could do no better than third in the G1 Alcibiades at Keeneland. Her win in the Golden Rod improves her record to two victories from three starts and earnings of $209,184.

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Serengeti Empress Retires to Taylor Made

Taylor Made Farm welcomed dual Grade I winner Serengeti Empress (Alternation) home to her birthplace on Monday afternoon. The 2019 Kentucky Oaks victress will be bred to red hot sire Into Mischief.

Shipping in from the Tom Amoss barn at Churchill Downs, Serengeti Empress will become barnmates with several other high-profile maiden mares, including Larry Best’s recent $1.95 million Keeneland November purchase Concrete Rose (Twirling Candy).

“It’s just special,” said Frank Taylor, the Vice President of Boarding Operations for Taylor Made. “When you get these Grade I winners come to the farm, it’s what we thrive on. We’ve had some great ones here, but we’ve now raised close to 110 Grade I winners, and she’s one of them. So whenever they get to come back home, it’s special.”

Serengeti Empress was bred by Tri Eques Bloodstock, a group made up of agent Jacob West, Mike Hardig and Val Henson. Henson, Taylor shared, is the Director of Maintenance and Special Projects at Taylor Made Farm and Serengeti Empress was the first mating he was a part of.

“Unfortunately, I talked him into selling her because I thought the bills she would bring in would be too high to keep her,” Taylor admitted. “But he’s gotten a few checks along the way. That makes it even more special. Our team takes great pride in raising horses like this. And to have another Oaks winner here is special.”

The daughter of Alternation was a $25,000 weanling-turned-$70,000 yearling pinhook.

“She was a very good foal when she was born here, a great individual,” Taylor said. “She was a standout. She sold pretty well for her pedigree, but every time out she just exceeded expectations.”
A 5½-length winner first time out, Serengeti Empress was a dual stakes winner by the end of her juvenile season. At three, she took the GII Rachel Alexandra S. before giving trainer Tom Amoss his first GI Kentucky Oaks victory. Also as a sophomore, she ran second in two Grade I races in the Acorn S. and Test S. and then wrapped up the season with a third-place effort in the GI Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

This year, the fleet-footed bay added wins in the GII Azeri S. and the GI Ballerina S. to her resume before finishing out her racing career with a runner-up effort behind Gamine (Into Mischief) in the GI Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

The over-$2.1 million dollar earner is the first graded stakes winner for owner Joel Politi, an orthopedic surgeon from Columbus, Ohio. Upon her retirement, Politi opted to retain the mare instead of offering her at this fall’s breeding stock sales.

“She’s become part of his family,” Taylor said of Politi’s relationship with the talented filly. “Joel and his daughter and wife are all very excited to be part of her broodmare career. Joel is a super guy, and it’s going to be exciting to get that Into Mischief baby and see what happens.”

Of the stallion choice, Taylor added, “Basically you’re breeding the best to the best. I guess there’s no better choice to go with. You know, she got beat by Gamine in her last start so that just makes it more important to breed to Into Mischief. He’s a stallion that’s in his own league.”

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Vequist To Get Time Off After ‘Spectacular’ Breeders’ Cup Win, Then Aim For 2021 Kentucky Oaks

There were good vibes all around the far end of Barn 66 at Keeneland Saturday morning as the connections of Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Vequist basked in the achievements of the dark bay daughter of Nyquist.

Trainer Butch Reid reported that all was well with his charge in the aftermath of her 2-length triumph over budding rival Dayoutoftheoffice in the Juvenile Fillies, an effort that now puts Vequist in position to take home an Eclipse Award for divisional honors. While horses can sometimes fool their caretakers by flaunting one kind of form in the morning only to give off an entirely different impression in the afternoons, Vequist more than backed up the serious tout she had made for herself this week as one of the best looking horses during training hours.

“When I saw her in the morning jogging and stuff, I thought she looked really good but then when she got over there into the paddock in the afternoon, I thought she looked spectacular,” said Reid, who previously won the 2011 Breeders' Cup Marathon with Afleet Again. “In my mind, I thought she won the paddock show. She looked good, calm, relaxed. We felt pretty good.”

Vequist now has two wins from four career starts with both of her triumphs coming in top-level races. She broke her maiden by a jaw-dropping 9 ½ lengths in the Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga on Sept. 6 but was beaten in the Grade 1 Frizette by Dayoutoftheoffice.

Under heady handling from Joel Rosario Friday, Vequist used an inside trip to turn the tables on her rival and make her sire Nyquist one of now 24 stallions to win a Breeders' Cup race and sire a Breeders' Cup winner.

“We figured she would be laying close and it seemed like the inside was good all day,” Reid said. “And we had Joel in the irons. We had full confidence in the horse and the rider. This is my second Breeders' Cup win but this was really a special one because she's a homebred and I was able to do it for Tom McGrath and Gary Barber and Adam Wachtel. It makes it extra special.”

Vequist was bred by McGrath's Swilcan Stables with McGrath selling an interest in the filly to Barber and Wachtel after she finished second in her career debut at Parx on July 29. To Reid's delight, the new addition to the ownership had no intention of taking the filly out of his care.

“That's something rare in this business that something like that happens. Normally that's it and the horse is gone,” Reid said. “I didn't know them (Barber and Wachtel) until I talked to them on the phone. In fact I met Gary Barber for the first time yesterday.”

Reid added that Vequist will now head to Barry Eisman's farm in Florida for a freshening to prepare for what he hopes is a successful trip down the Kentucky Oaks trail in 2021.

“Four starts as a 2-year-old is plenty for me and we got her stretched around two turns, which is what I wanted,” Reid said. “She'll soak up some sun and pick on some grass.”

Trainer and co-owner Tim Hamm reported all was good with Dayoutoftheoffice the morning after her gutsy runner-up finish in the Juvenile Fillies.

Dayoutoftheoffice set a quick pace in the 1 1/16m Juvenile Fillies, throwing down the first quarter in 23.30 and an opening half mile in 47.12 before being caught by race-winner Vequist in the late stages. That loss marked the first defeat in four starts for Dayoutoftheoffice, but the daughter of Into Mischief figures to be in play for Eclipse Award honors with her prior wins in the Grade 1 Frizette — in which she bested Vequist — and Grade 3 Schuylerville Stakes.

“She'll take a little break and get ready for a 3-year-old campaign,” Hamm said.

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‘The Greatest Gift Ever’: Serengeti Empress Will Conclude Her Career In Breeders’ Cup

Joel Politi's Serengeti Empress galloped one mile on Wednesday morning at Churchill Downs before shipping to Keeneland's Barn 68, where she will prepare for Saturday's Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. The Kentucky Oaks champion of 2019 concludes her career in the race.

Trained by Tom Amoss, the dark bay daughter of Alternation has done her best running on the lead, including a gate-to-wire win in the Oaks and a gritty victory in August's Ballerina, her seventh career, sixth stakes and second Grade 1 win. Unraced since a nose loss to Bell's the One in the Derby City Distaff on Sept. 5, she breaks from post seven of nine in Saturday's seven furlong contest.

“I wasn't really too fixated on the post before the draw,” Politi said. “The reality is that (7-5 morning line favorite) Gamine has only shown one style of running, but (Bob) Baffert has said she doesn't have to be on the lead. I don't know what they'll do. All I know is that we're going for the lead. She's done that every time and she can go at a breakneck pace. If someone is going with her, they're on a suicide mission that might tire us all out and a closer wins. I hope that doesn't happen. She'll go as fast as she needs to.”

Politi, an orthopedic surgeon based in Columbus, Ohio, purchased the Kentucky-bred at Keeneland's September 2017 yearling sale for $70,000. Including the Derby City Distaff, she has placed in four G1 races, including last year's Breeders' Cup Distaff behind Blue Prize and Midnight Bisou. One year prior, she was seventh in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.

Known for her very kind and laid-back personality, Serengeti Empress has coupled said off-track disposition with a fierce will to win when competing. Such has resulted in a considerable following among racing fans.

“She's been the greatest gift ever,” he said. “We've had two years with consecutive Breeders' Cups and all the travel and great races. It's a dream come true having a horse like this, especially for a relatively small owner like me. My kids can go into the stall with her and stand and pet her and she is just a big old lover.

“On Saturday, we will celebrate her,” Politi continued. “She means the world to me and my family, as well as Tom, his career and personally for him. He's with her every day and I know she'll be really missed. I'll still have her and go see her anytime I want. She going to (Spendthrift stallion) Into Mischief and headed back to Taylor Made Farm, where she was born. She crosses so well with so many stallions, so we just hope she passes on her talent.”

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