‘Breakfast At The Breeders’ Cup Returns To TVG Oct. 29

As the countdown to the Breeders' Cup World Championships on Nov. 5-6 from Del Mar begins, the popular morning workout show “Breakfast at the Breeders' Cup” returns on Friday, Oct. 29 on TVG, America's horse racing network.

The show will run from Friday, Oct. 29 through Thursday, Nov. 4 and air from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. ET daily. It will feature contenders working as well as the latest news and exclusive behind the scenes coverage. Todd Schrupp, Simon Bray, Christina Blacker, Caton Bredar, Michelle Yu, Mike Joyce, Scott Hazelton and Joaquin Jaime will be live on-site at Del Mar, Santa Anita, Keeneland and Churchill Downs.

TVG will also be premiering several new features showcasing Distaff contender Letruska as well as George Leonard and Kirk and Judy Robison, the owners of Jackie's Warrior who will compete in the Sprint. There will also be a feature on Tiznow commemorating the 20th anniversary of his triumph in the 2001 Breeders' Cup Classic.

The post position draw will be held on Monday, Nov. 1 and will air from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. ET. Todd Schrupp, Simon Bray, Caleb Keller and Joaquin Jaime will be on site with pre-coverage of the Breeders' Cup post position draw which will be hosted by Nick Luck and Britney Eurton.

The Players' Show, a live, wagering-focused telecast, will return on Nov. 5 and 6 and will be available to stream on the WatchTVG app. The Players' Show will also be simulcast at tracks, simulcast centers and off-track betting venues around the world.

The post ‘Breakfast At The Breeders’ Cup Returns To TVG Oct. 29 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Jackie’s Warrior ‘Rains’ Supreme in Amsterdam

Sunday, Saratoga
AMSTERDAM S.-GII, $200,000, Saratoga, 8-1, 3yo, 6 1/2f, 1:15.46, sy.
1–JACKIE'S WARRIOR, 124, c, 3, by Maclean's Music
1st Dam: Unicorn Girl, by A. P. Five Hundred
2nd Dam: Horah for Bailey, by Doneraile Court
3rd Dam: Horah for the Lady, by Rahy
($95,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-J. Kirk & Judy Robison; B-J & J
Stables (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen; J-Joel Rosario.
$110,000. Lifetime Record: MGISW, 9-6-1-1, $1,058,964.
Werk Nick Rating: A+++. Click for the eNicks report &
5-cross pedigree
2–Drain the Clock, 124, c, 3, Maclean's Music–Manki, by
Arch. O-Slam Dunk Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Wonder
Stables & Michael Nentwig; B-Nick Cosato (KY); T-Saffie A.
Joseph, Jr. $40,000.
3–Crowded Trade, 118, c, 3, More Than Ready–Maude S, by
Jump Start. ($185,000 Wlg '18 KEENOV). O-Klaravich
Stables, Inc.; B-Forging Oaks LLC (KY); T-Chad C. Brown.
$24,000.
Margins: 7 1/4, 1, HF. Odds: 0.50, 3.40, 7.30.
Also Ran: Flash of Mischief, Mister Luigi, River Dog.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

Leading 3-year-old sprinter Jackie's Warrior re-established his divisional supremacy following a tough-luck short-odds defeat last out with a comprehensive rout in the GII Amsterdam S. Sunday at Saratoga.

Starting his career with four open-lengths scores, including Grade I successes in the local Runhappy Hopeful S. and Champagne S. at Belmont, the $95,000 Keeneland September buy suffered his first setback when fading to fourth after moving into a fast pace in the GI TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Taken off the GI Kentucky Derby trail following a disappointing third in the GIII Southwest S. in his seasonal debut Feb. 27 at Oaklawn, the bay gamely held on to capture the GIII Pat Day Mile S. despite being pushed through sizzling fractions of :21.75 and :43.68. Again setting a scorching tempo in addition to navigating a troubled start last out in the GI Woody Stephens S., he was just worn down late by re-opposing Drain the Clock in a neck defeat.

Maintaining the confidence of the bettors as an overwhelming chalk against five rivals here, Jackie's Warrior engaged in a ding-dong battle with Drain the Clock through an enervating :21.46 quarter. Starting to do better than that rival inside the half-mile marker, he swiftly drew clear past an eye-popping :43.85 half, he entered the stretch in control while kept off the rail and finished with authority while wrapped up for the final sixteenth by Joel Rosario. Drain the Clock held second, giving Maclean's Music the exacta.

“He's a very special horse,” said winning trainer Steve Asmussen, who moved within three wins of Dale Baird's record of 9,445 victories. “I think that he's shown that on many occasions. He gets the respect I think he deserves and it's extremely fun to watch him run. He won on an off track today, which is the first time, and to get that variable out of the way knowing that weather doesn't care how important we think something is, that he'll be able to handle that going forward. With his performance today on top of what he did in the Pat Day Mile, he'll have a lot to say in the one-turn division the rest of the year. I wouldn't be scared to run him against anybody anywhere going one turn and how do I measure that? We've had some good ones, and he's one of them.”

“He broke really well today; better than last time,” added Rosario. “He's fast and then he just kept going. That's what he likes to do. He just got out of there and does it so easy. He's amazing. He's so fast. It doesn't even feel like he's going that fast.”

Pedigree Notes:

One of 24 stakes winners, six graded stakes winners and four Grade I scorers for Maclean's Music, Jackie's Warrior has a juvenile Candy Ride (Arg) half-sister named Lenni Girl and a yearling half-brother by American Pharoah. His dam was bred to Into Mischief for 2022.

The post Jackie’s Warrior ‘Rains’ Supreme in Amsterdam appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Jackie’s Warrior, Former King of the Hill, Looks to Reclaim His Perch

In the world's current state of affairs, a lot can change in a few months' time. Racing is no different. One only has to go back to November to remember when Kirk and Judy Robison's Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) was the undisputed leader of his age group. But an odds-on loss on the sport's biggest stage took the bloom off of his rose for some, and these days, despite being a multiple Grade I winner, one could argue he is a forgotten colt as the GI Kentucky Derby trail kicks into high gear.

But opportunity knocks this Saturday, in the twice-delayed GIII Southwest S. at Oaklawn, where the brilliant $95,000 Keeneland September grad will make his 3-year-old debut and get his long-awaited rematch with the rival who snatched away his Eclipse statuette with a conquest of the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, Essential Quality (Tapit).

“Steve [Asmussen]'s extremely happy with the horse, I personally love the draw, number four in a seven-horse field and you get the favorite down on the rail, so I think we're good to go,” Robison said Wednesday of the Southwest, which was originally supposed to run Feb. 15 but got pushed back two times due to inclement weather in Hot Springs. “Steve never considered another race. From 6-8 weeks ago, he was always on track for this race and I think when they announced Essential Quality was probably going there too, it scared a few people off, but that's where we wanted to go from day one. No excuses.”

After dominating a trio of historic 2-year-old stakes last summer and fall–the GII Saratoga Special S., GI Runhappy Hopeful S. and GI Champagne S.–Jackie's Warrior was regarded highly enough to be hammered down to 9-10 favoritism in the Juvenile, one of the shortest prices of the entire Breeders' Cup weekend. But the speedball was caught too close to a scorching pace of :22.58 and :45.31, and just faded late after making the lead in mid-stretch under Joel Rosario, ending up fourth, beaten 3 3/4 lengths by tripped-out closer Essential Quality.

The nature of that first defeat raised doubts about Jackie's Warrior's ability to see out two-turn races, considering his running style and sprint-leaning pedigree.

“I think there's always been some question about whether he could get a mile and a sixteenth against top-flight horses,” Robison said. “He was not able to do it that day, but I'm very confident he can get it done Saturday. It's a different circumstance, smaller field, and I think Rosario and Steve probably learned a lot from what happened in the Juvenile, so let's see what happens.”

As for potentially trying to throttle the horse's speed down to increase his staying chances, Robison said, “He really is freaky fast, and I remember Steve telling me a long time ago about horses, 'Never take away what they do well.' So if you have a horse who outbreaks the field, don't take that advantage away from the horse, let him go on. He's just a natural speed horse and I think that's what his style will be. The question is going to always be, how far can he take that kind of speed? We'll find out.”

And, if Jackie's Warrior doesn't continue on the Derby trail after Saturday, that will be just fine with Robison, a veteran of the game who deeply appreciates the prestige of big races beyond the Run for the Roses.

“If he turns into a multiple Grade I winner around one turn, that's not the end of the world,” he said with a laugh. “I don't get up in the morning dreaming about a Derby horse. People at cocktail parties only want to hear about the Derby, but most of us in the industry know with these Grade I sprints and one-turn mile races, how important they are. I'm not going to presume what Steve's going to do after this race, but having said that, I think he'll run extremely well.”

The post Jackie’s Warrior, Former King of the Hill, Looks to Reclaim His Perch appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Kirk Robison Talks ‘Horse of a Lifetime’ Jackie’s Warrior On Writers’ Room

Having been involved in horse racing for decades, Kirk Robison knows how much luck plays a part in finding success. He admits as much. But perseverance also pays, and Robison has finally seen the fruits of his labor pay off at the highest level of the game, as his undefeated Jackie’s Warrior (Maclean’s Music) is set to head into the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile as a heavy favorite, with a chance to solidify a divisional championship to boot.

Wednesday morning, Robison joined the TDN Writers’ Room presented by Keeneland as the Green Group Guest of the Week to discuss his emerging superstar, the breaking news of his deal with Spendthrift for the colt’s breeding rights and what it means to have a potential Breeders’ Cup or GI Kentucky Derby winner after all these years supporting the game he loves.

Already with runaway victories in the GII Saratoga Special S. and GI Runhappy Hopeful S., Jackie’s Warrior added a devastatingly easy 5 1/2-length victory in the GI Champagne S. Saturday at Belmont.

“I read that they’ve run the Champagne since 1867, and I appreciate the fact there’s a lot of horses that were in there that are in the history books,” Robison said. To win that race is just incredible. First Landing and Dehere were the only 2-year-olds in the last 60 years that swept the Saratoga Special, Hopeful and Champagne. And now our colt did it. So putting it in that perspective, I appreciate every one of these races.”

The score earned a 100 Beyer, giving the bay clearly the two top figures of all 2-year-olds this year, and stamped him as a clear Juvy favorite. Robison said that while he’s taking nothing for granted, he likes Jackie’s Warrior’s chances to run his record to five-for-five.

“He hasn’t gone two turns yet. He hasn’t run at Keeneland. That other colt [GI Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity hero Essential Quality] already won a two-turn race there at the distance, so that’s a huge advantage for him, but our numbers, if he can carry that speed around two turns, our colt’s going to be very, very hard to beat,” he said. “The numbers don’t lie. And I watched the replays of the Hopeful and Champagne a number of times–he’s just a blur out there. I never dreamed I’d have a Breeders’ Cup Juvenile favorite, now we’ve got to go out and do it. But I’m extremely confident.”

News broke Wednesday morning that Robison made a deal with Spendthrift Farm to stand Jackie’s Warrior at the top-flight stallion outfit after closing out his racing career.

“They wanted to buy a part of the horse early on, after he won the Special. And I said, I’m going to wait until maybe he wins the Hopeful,” he recalled. “I wanted to control his racing career, and I got that. They agreed to that. So Steve Asmussen and I are going to manage the horse until he’s retired. I get all the purse money during his racing career. I’ve got some bonus structure in there from Spendthrift. At the end of his racing career, he goes to them and they manage the stud career.”

Asked how early he knew his colt was a runner, Robison reflected on a conversation he had with a different Asmussen as the horse was being broken at the family’s Laredo, Texas training center.

“I talk to Keith once in a while about how they’re doing,” he said. “He doesn’t get too ahead of the curve on who’s running well because he doesn’t do much with them as far as asking for speed. But I told him early on, like February or March, ‘I want to win the Hopeful someday with a 2-year-old.’ He actually said, ‘This might be your colt.'”

While Robison can’t help but dream about winning the Derby, he’s realistic about his colt’s potential distance limitations. Sire Maclean’s Music is more of a sprint influence, and his dam never won beyond 6 1/2 furlongs, so while Robison would love to win the Derby, he’s only interested in running with a top chance.

“You can’t not think about it, but I think I’m pretty good about measuring and managing my expectations,” he said. “His mother was a pure stone cold sprinter. So to even get a mile or a mile and a sixteenth could be the upper limits of where this horse goes. If we could be lucky enough to win a Breeders’ Cup Juvenile or Breeders’ Cup Sprint later on, it’d be satisfying. I only want to go to the Derby with a horse that can run one, two, three. I don’t want to be 20-1 and run up the track.”

Robison reflected on when he and Asmussen bought Jackie’s Warrior for the bargain price of $95,000 at Keeneland September, and spoke about how that elusive force of luck shined on him with a horse who’s done everything right since the hammer dropped.

“Steve called him an old soul,” Robison said. “He’s like a 6-year-old gelding. He takes everything in. He’s easy on himself. He looks around the paddock like, ‘OK, got to go to work.’ He’s a very smart horse. Takes care of himself and doesn’t get too worked up and use up all of his energy. So he’s the horse of a lifetime for a guy like me. Other people may have multiple Grade I winners, I don’t. And he may be the last one I ever have. How much can you say about luck in this business? A lot of people were not willing to pay 100,000 for this horse. So they stopped at 95 and Steve got him. If this horse had gone to 150 or 200, we might not even own the horse. So I’m extremely grateful for what we have. When you get one, you have to say, ‘Thank my lucky stars, I got one.'”

Elsewhere on the show, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, the writers paid tribute to the great Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), who was retired from racing this week after an illustrious career. Plus they broke down the Ken McPeek vs. Matt Muzikar beef that stemmed from last week’s podcast and celebrated the Grade I success of the show’s unofficial mascot, Harvey’s Lil Goil (American Pharoah). Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.

The post Kirk Robison Talks ‘Horse of a Lifetime’ Jackie’s Warrior On Writers’ Room appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights