Tag: kentucky oaks

Cody’s Wish Streaks Into Whitney

Cody's Wish (Curlin) will be heavily favored over five rivals to add another chapter to racing's feel-good story in Saturday's GI Whitney S. at Saratoga.

The Godolphin homebred, winner of last term's GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and the stallion-making GI Hill 'N' Dale Metropolitan H. at Belmont Park June 10, seeks his first career win beyond one mile in the nine-furlong Whitney, a 'Win and You're In' for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita.

The 1-2 morning-line favorite, named after Cody Dorman, who was born with the rare genetic disorder Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome and is unable to walk or communicate without utilizing a tablet, is currently riding a six-race winning streak. He will exit widest of all from post six with regular rider Junior Alvarado aboard.

“We have reason to believe he could do it,” Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said of Cody's Wish tackling the additional distance. “He's come a long way. He was terribly green when we ran him at three in his first few races. He just didn't know whether to go forward or that sort of thing.”

Mott continued, “This is a very good horse and hopefully for our sake, he can go on. There's a great story that goes with him with Cody Dorman, so the whole scenario turns out to be very special.”

The field for the Whitney also includes: last term's GI Blue Grass S. winner Zandon (Upstart), runner-up to Cody's Wish in the Met Mile; and 'TDN Rising Star' Charge It (Tapit), a last out winner of the GII Suburban S. July 8 and fourth-place finisher in the Met Mile.

Saturday's stacked 12-race program at the Spa also co-features a fantastic renewal of the GI Test S. Godolphin homebred and 'TDN Rising Star' Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief) cuts back to seven furlongs following top-shelf wins in the GI Kentucky Oaks May 5 and GI Acorn S. June 9. The rail-drawn, 9-5 morning-line favorite will face off versus unbeaten New York-bred Maple Leaf Mel (Cross Traffic), a sharp winner of the GIII Victory Ride S. downstate July 8.

A field of nine will line up for the GI Saratoga Derby Invitational over the Mellon Turf Course, led by LSU Stable's GI Belmont Derby Invitational S. winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Far Bridge (English Channel). Glen Hill Farm and Mrs. John Magnier's GI Fasig-Tipton Belmont Oaks Invitational S. winner Aspen Grove (Ire) (Justify), cross-entered in Friday's GIII Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Oaks Invitational, will instead take on the boys in the Saratoga Derby.

Last term's GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint upsetter and GI Jaipur S. heroine Caravel (Mizzen Mast), meanwhile, will take on males once again in the GIII Troy S. on the Whitney undercard.

“She's been able to beat the boys three out of her last four and hopefully four out of her last five,” trainer Brad Cox said. “It would be exciting if she can do it again.”

Saturday's graded stakes action also includes Del Mar's GI Clement L. Hirsch, a 'Win and You're In' for the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff. Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert will be represented by the imposing duo of Adare Manor (Uncle Mo) and Fun to Dream (Arrogate) in the five-horse field. Adare Manor captured her third straight win in the GII Santa Margarita S. June 10 while Fun to Dream just got tagged by a head in the GI Beholder Mile S. last time Mar. 11.

The weekend's graded stakes action rolls into Sunday with upset GIII Schuylerville S. debut winner Becky's Joker (Practical Joke) headlining a field of 10 in the GIII Adirondack S. at Saratoga; the GIII La Jolla H. at Del Mar; Mountaineer Park's GIII West Virginia Derby and GIII West Virginia Governor's S.; and Ellis Park's GIII Pucker Up S.

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Collected’s Conclude Strong in Oceanside on Del Mar’s Opening Weekend

Conclude (Collected) brought his stakes-winning form with him from Santa Anita and returned to the winner's circle in Del Mar's customary opening day feature–the Caesars Sportsbook Oceanside S.

A winner a black-type winner at the turf sprint distance last out May 21 in Santa Anita's Desert Code S., Conclude's first race after his freshening from that contest proved fruitful as the 9-2 second choice here. Showing some early speed after the jump but quickly overtaken and outrun by a loose leader on the clubhouse turn, the chestnut son of GI Kentucky Oaks heroine Believe You Can bided his time in second as Game Time (Not This Time) reeled off :22.17, :46.58 and 1:11.32 splits. Three furlongs out and locking horns with that one around the far turn, Conclude took over nearing the head of the stretch and drove clear to a stylish 1 1/4-length victory. The 5-2 favorite Classical Cat tried gamely to catch him but had to settle for second while 26-1 shocker Ah Jeez gave his sire two of the top three placings in the trifecta. Conditioner Philip D'Amato went 1-2 as well as picking up his 45th stakes victory and third Oceanside S.

“When he opened up a length or two at the top of the lane, I thought he was the horse,” said D'Amato after the race. “Classical Cat was coming on pretty good, but I think when Conclude felt him, he just spurted out again. I'm proud of both my horses.”

Conclude is his dam's most recent to the races as she aborted her 2021 American Pharoah. Believe You Can did have a yearling filly by Nyquist but her 2023 foal by Essential Quality was stillborn. The mare is a full-sister to the dam of GISP King Russell (Creative Cause) and a half to the dam of MSP Baytown Bear (Upstart). This is the family of MGSW Classic Elegance; MGISP Standard Deviation (Curlin); and multiple course record-setter GSP Summer to Remember (Summer Front). Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

 

CAESARS SPORTSBOOK OCEANSIDE S., $104,000, Del Mar, 7-21, (C), 3yo, 1mT, 1:35.09, fm.
1–CONCLUDE, 120, c, 3, by Collected
        1st Dam: Believe You Can (GISW, $1,280,324), by Proud Citizen
        2nd Dam: El Fasto, by El Prado (Ire)
        3rd Dam: Taegu, by Halo
($140,000 RNA Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-Little Red Feather Racing, Madaket Stables LLC and Brereton C. Jones; B-Brereton C. Jones (KY); T-Philip D'Amato; J-Hector Isaac Berrios. $60,000. Lifetime Record: 5-3-1-0, $179,600. *1/2 to Believe in Royalty (Tapit), SW & GSP, $194,385.
2–Classical Cat, 124, c, 3, Mendelssohn–Conquest Strate Up, by Not Bourbon. ($65,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-Michael House; B-Pippa's Hurricane LLC (KY); T-Philip D'Amato. $20,000.
3–Ah Jeez, 120, c, 3, Mendelssohn–Poetic, by Violence. ($80,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP; $55,000 2yo '22 OBSAPR). O-Great Friends Stables, LLC and Mark Davis; B-Machmer Hall (KY); T-Doug F. O'Neill. $12,000.
Margins: 1 1/4, 1HF, 3/4. Odds: 4.70, 2.50, 26.00.
Also Ran: Mas Rapido (GB), Game Time, Agency, Ze'bul, El Oro (Fr), Zalamo (Fr), Mr Fisk, Escape Artist, Kid Azteca, Ever a Rebel. Scratched: Panic Alarm (Ire).

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Skipping Shuvee, Secret Oath Targets Personal Ensign

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Though Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas rarely passes on big stakes opportunities, he is skipping the GII Shuvee S. Sunday with Secret Oath (Arrogate).

After she turned in an uncharacteristic dull performance in the June 10 GI Ogden Phipps S., Lukas and the 4-year-old filly's breeder-owners Robert and Stacy Mitchell are using a little-bit-less-is-more approach at Saratoga Race Course.

“She's really, really doing well,” Lukas said Wednesday morning, “but we have made a decision to run here only once. We're trying to space her program so it leads to the Breeders' Cup. What we've got mapped out is the [Aug. 25 GI] Personal Ensign and then the [GI] Spinster at Keeneland. [The Mitchells] live in Louisville, so the Spinster is like the Kentucky Derby to them, and then the Breeders' Cup. That's the program that they have asked me to follow and that's not bad.”

Lukas, who will turn 88 on Sept. 2, brought 19 horses–10 of them 2-year-olds–to Saratoga this summer. Typically, he has been active at the entry box. Through the first four days of the meet, he has three seconds from five starters.

It's a very safe bet that by the time Secret Oath goes into the gate for the Personal Ensign, the other 18 horses in the stable will have made at least one start. Lukas said that Saratoga is the ideal spot for Secret Oath to get ready for the Personal Ensign, where she is likely to re-engage with standouts Clairiere (Curlin), Nest (Curlin) and Played Hard (Into Mischief), who are headed to the Shuvee.

“She thrives here because we don't have an opportunity to graze for an hour every afternoon like we do here,” he said. “We've got a chance to get her out every afternoon.”

Last year, Secret Oath won the GI Kentucky Oaks and finished fourth in the GI Preakness S. At Saratoga, Nest avenged her loss in the Kentucky Oaks and trounced Secret Oath in the GI Coaching Club American Oaks and the GI Alabama S. Secret Oath was third in the GI Cotillion S. and fifth in the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff.

Beginning this season at Oaklawn Park, Secret Oath beat Clairiere by 2 3/4 lengths in the GII Azeri S. and was beaten a neck by that foe in the GI Apple Blossom. On Oaks Day, May 5 at Churchill Downs, Secret Oath and Tyler Gaffalione were second by a neck to Played Hard. In the Phipps on June 10 at Belmont Park, she never was able to muster her off-the-pace run. It was just the fourth off-the-board finish in her 17-race career.

“The other day, I definitely think it was the track, and so does Tyler, that she had a sub-par race,” Lukas said. “He said it was rolling underneath her. Every time he gathered her up, she moved. Every time he asked her to run, he said she didn't get a hold of it. What happens here in the Personal Ensign, who knows?”

Lukas saddled his first starters at Saratoga in 1984, launching a run of 36 consecutive years at the track. He skipped 2020 and 2021 because of Covid-19 and a downturn in the quality of his stable. With Secret Oath as the centerpiece of the stable, he returned last summer and compiled a 7-6-2 record from 31 starts. He picked up his 61st stakes win at Saratoga with Naughty Gal (Into Mischief) in the GIII Adirondack S.

Secret Oath breezed five furlongs in 1:01 Monday over the Oklahoma training track in the midst of her longest break between races this season.

“I think it helps her,” Lukas said. “She's a better horse this year. If you want to know the truth, she can probably take more, but we're not going to test that. We're just going to space it out and come into the Breeders' Cup. We're skipping the Shuvee. It would be pretty easy to drop into the Shuvee, test the waters and see how she handles the track. We're going to just go for broke in the Personal Ensign.”

The Mitchells had planned to sell Secret Oath last fall, though Lukas urged them to keep her in training as a 4-year-old. He said he told them Secret Oath could earn millions more in purses this season and still bring a multi-million price at auction. They did pull her out of the sale and she has earned $576,350 this year.

“Well, if she never did anything more that would be pretty good,” Lukas said, “but she's going to get more. Three more and they're all big [purses].”

Lukas picked up a pair of seconds with his 2-year-olds on opening day–Lady Moscato (Quality Road) in a maiden special weight and Saratoga Secret (Arrogate) in the GIII Schuylerville S. His third second came Sunday with Just Steel (Justify), a $500,000 yearling purchase, making his second career start.

An easy winner in her debut at Ellis Park, Lukas said that BC Stable's Saratoga Secret showed in the Schuylerville that she is a promising filly.

“I thought her race was good,” he said. “She's another Arrogate and she's very immature, even more so than Secret Oath was. She's small and slight. She will benefit from the time. She's going to go in the [Sept. 3 GI] Spinaway.”

Lukas never lacks enthusiasm for his young horses and he is high on this crop.

“I think it's the best bunch we've had since probably the mid-'80s or '90s when we were a lot stronger than most,” he said.

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Nest Tunes Up for Shuvee, Pretty Mischievous on Track for Test

Nest (Curlin), last year's Eclipse champion 3-year-old filly, tuned up for her expected seasonal debut in the July 23 GII Shuvee S. with a four-furlong work in :50.00 (13/38) in company with unraced stablemate Onlooker (Street Sense) over the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga Sunday.

“It was a good work and a nice, strong gallop out. She seemed to keep going,” trainer Todd Pletcher said.

Owned by Repole Stable, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Michael House, Nest has been off since finishing fourth in last year's GI Breeders' Cup Distaff. During her championship campaign, she won the GI Alabama S., GI Ashland S. and GI Coaching Club American Oaks. She was also second in the GI Belmont S.

Nest was initially targeting the GI Ogden Phipps S. at Belmont Park in June for her 4-year-old debut, but Pletcher said he is confident the filly is ready to run off the long layoff.

“We expect big things from her always,” Pletcher said. “It's a lot to ask of her, but she ran well in her debut going a mile and a sixteenth and she's basically run well pretty much every start of her career. Hopefully, we have her fit enough to perform well and this is the first step towards big goals.”

Also working at Saratoga Sunday, GI Kentucky Oaks winner Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief) went four furlongs in :49.00 (11/91) over the Oklahoma training track for trainer Brendan Walsh and owner/breeder Godolphin.

“She worked great and I'm very happy with her,” said Walsh. “It was just a half and we'll do more with her next week–she doesn't need to overdo it. She's doing good.”

Following her win in the nine-furlong Oaks, Pretty Mischievous cut back to 1 1/16 miles to win the GI Acorn S. last time out June 9. She will shorten up even further for her next start, the seven-furlong GI Test S. Aug. 5.

“She's got bags of natural speed, so I think the timing is very good,” Walsh said of the cut-back. “We were able to give her a little more time between races and we've always kicked around the idea of shortening her up, so this seems like a good opportunity. She's a good horse, and most of them when they're that good can go two turns or shorten up. She's just got that natural speed, so why not try to utilize it? We can always go back to two turns if it doesn't work.”

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