Lane's End | Horse Racing Free Tips

Party On Beats The Boys In Debut At Woodbine

1st-Woodbine, C$83,346, Msw, 7-13, 2yo, 5f (AWT), :58.15, ft, 8 3/4 lengths.
PARTY ON (f, 2, Twirling Candy–No Curfew, by Curlin) took on the boys in her debut, going off as the 2-1 choice and going right out to the early lead. Set down through fractions of :22.31 and :45.59, she easily dispatched pressure from Valyrian Sky (Sky Mesa) turning for home and easily the class of the field to the line to win by 8 3/4 lengths. The second impressive 2-year-old filly for Twirling Candy on the day, Party On is out of a half-sister to MGSW India (Hennessy) and her foal, MG1SW Mozu Ascot (Frankel {GB}). This is also the family of MGISW To Honor and Serve (Bernardini), GISW Angela Renee (Bernardini), and GISP Elnaawi (Street Sense). Party On is her dam's last reported offspring afer No Curfew was barren to both Game Winner and Tapit in 2022 and 2023 respectively. Sales History: $50,000 Ylg '22 FTKOCT. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $32,759. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
O-X-Men Racing 3, Madaket Stables LLC and SF Racing LLC; B-Summer Wind Equine LLC (KY); T-Kevin Attard.

The post Party On Beats The Boys In Debut At Woodbine appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Zenyatta Foals War Front Filly, Set to Retire as Broodmare

Beloved Hall of Famer Zenyatta (Street Cry {Ire}) produced her last foal, a filly by War Front, on June 9 at Lane's End Farm.

According to Zenyatta.com, the champion's co-owner Ann Holbrook (Moss), as well as Lane's End managers Todd Claunch and Jenn Laidlaw, were present for the successful foaling of the newborn, who sports a prominent blaze quite reminiscent of her dam's recognizable markings.

The post also stated that this will be Zenyatta's last foal as the 19-year-old mare enters into retirement.

The winner of 19 of 20 starts and the 2010 Horse of the Year, Zenyatta retired to the breeding shed in 2011 following her only career defeat after a famed battle with Blame in the 2010 Breeders' Cup Classic. Unfortunately the history-making racemare had a troubled career as a broodmare and only four of her offspring have made it to racing age thus far.

That blaze sure looks familiar! | Lane's End's Jenn Laidlaw

Her first two foals Cozmic One (Bernardini) and Ziconic (Tapit) both reached the starting gate. Cozmic One was unplaced in five starts, but forged his own path in the show ring. Watch the TDN's 'Catching Up with Cozmic One' here. From 12 starts, Ziconic earned two second-place finishes and followed in his elder half-brother's path when he too went on to become a successful show jumper.

Zenyatta's 2017 foal, a Medaglia d'Oro filly named Zellda, did not make it to the starting gate, but she went on to a breeding career and just produced her first foal this year. The colt by Twirling Candy was foaled April 27.

Zenyatta's 3-year-old Zilkha (Candy Ride {Arg}) also did not make the starting gate, but she did spend time in the John Shirreffs barn at Santa Anita last year (TDN checked in with her here).

In a TDN visit to Lane's End in 2020 when Zilkha was a foal, the farm's broodmare manager Jenn Laidlaw spoke on the personality of the gifted, brilliant, unforgettable Zenyatta.

“Zenyatta is probably the most intelligent horse on the farm,” she said. “She knows that she's important and she knows who she is. She has a real presence about her.”

Although her chapter as a broodmare now comes to a close, Zenyatta will continue to be an ambassador for the sport. Laidlaw told TDN how much of an impact the spotlight-loving mare has had on visitors to Lane's End.

“When the fans get the opportunity to meet her, they'll just start crying,” she explained. “It's really heartwarming to see how much she affected people's daily lives and how much they love her. There are stories people tell you about how she's helped them through situations or how she gave them motivation.”

The post Zenyatta Foals War Front Filly, Set to Retire as Broodmare appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Remi And Pierre (Peb) Bellocq Join The TDN Writers’ Room Podcast

It's not hyperbole to call cartoonist Pierre Bellocq a legend. Since he arrived in the U.S. from his native France in the mid-fifties he spent the next 50-plus years making readers of the old Morning Telegraph and the Daily Racing Form laugh. His cartoons were always creative, witty, thought-provoking and, most importantly, fun. Now 96, Peb lives in Princeton, New Jersey and, if you ask him to do so, he'll crank out a cartoon that is every bit as good as anything he's ever done. We brought in Peb and his son, Remi, who does a weekly cartoon for the TDN to join us this week on the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland. They were this week's Green Group Guests of the Week.

Peb explained how it all began for him, back when he was a young boy in France.

“I always tried to copy from the newspapers,” he said. “When I was a kid I was copying cartoons and it was my ambition to draw. I made albums of a caricature of politicians. I have albums full of those things. I had a great passion for that.”

Because his father was a head lad for a French stable, Bellocq was also interested in racing and capturing the sport through his cartoons. In 1954, John D. Schapiro became aware of Peb's work and brought him in from France to do the art work for the inaugural running of the Washington D.C. International, which would lead to a job with the Morning Telegraph. His accommodations on that first trip over weren't necessarily first class.

“They invited me to come to America, but they were wondering how they could bring me here,” he said. “I found that a friend of mine was putting together a plane in Chicago with four horses that were coming for the Washington, DC International. So, they said, if you want, you can take advantage of that. So I went on as cargo. I was sitting on the hay in cargo with the horses. This is how I came to America. It was absolutely wonderful. And as you know, I ended up here for good.”

At one point in his career, Peb was also doing political cartoons for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Walter Annenberg owned both the Inquirer and the Form. But he sold the Inquirer and the new owners told Peb he had to make a choice, racing cartoons or political cartoons. He chose racing.

“The paper soon got sold from Annenberg to Knight Ridder,” Remi Bellocq said. “He had to make a decision to go for one or the other. I want to point out that had my father decided to stay with the Philadelphia Inquirer, with Knight Ridder, he'd probably have a wall full of Pulitzers at this point. A lot of other cartoonists have said so. That might have been the loss of the political world, but our gain certainly in horse racing.”

The segment also included a contest between the two Bellocqs. Each was asked to draw a cartoon about the 50th anniversary of Secretariat winning the Triple Crown. The two cartoons are shown during the podcast and viewers were invited to vote for their favorite. A random drawing will be held among those voting for the winning cartoon and that person will win the original cartoon. To do so, friend Remi Bellocq on Twitter at @BellocqRemi. On his Twitter page, you can then cast your vote.

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by Coolmore,https://lanesend.com/ the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders, 1/ST Racing, WinStar Farm, XBTV, Lane's End, Three Chimneys and West Point Thoroughbreds, podcast regulars Zoe Cadman, Randy Moss and Bill Finley took a look at the GI Preakness S. The consensus was that Mage (Good Magic) will be tough to beat but that he's no lock. With Mage being the only Derby starter to return for the Preakness, the subject of changing the spacing of the Triple Crown races produced a lively debate, with all three arguing that the time has come to make some necessary adjustments and improvements. The reports that Forte (Violence) tested positive following his win in last year's GI Hopeful S. brought about strong condemnation of the New York Times for sensationalizing the story and using the word “doping” in the headline. And everybody was left scratching their heads over the fact that it took more than eight months before the matter was made public.

Click for the video of the latest podcast or the audio-only version.

The post Remi And Pierre (Peb) Bellocq Join The TDN Writers’ Room Podcast appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Leslie And Pierre Amestoy Join The TDN Writers’ Room Podcast

Owners Leslie and Pierre Amestoy have been involved with a bunch of good horses, some of them stakes-winning Quarter Horses, but never anything like Practical Move (Practical Joke). The winner of the GII San Felipe S. and the GI Santa Anita Derby so far this year, he will be among the favorites in the upcoming GI Kentucky Derby.

The TDN Writers' Room podcast, presented by Keeneland caught up with the Amestoys this week to find out more about their operation, their background and their thoughts on Practical Move. They were the Green Group Guests of the Week.

Their trainer Tim Yakteen, has been a big part of the story. While he has deputized for Bob Baffert the last two years with his potential Derby starters, he's not normally someone who you think of when it comes to having Derby starters. But the Amestoys believe he has been a perfect fit when it comes to Practical Move.

“One of my old racing partners, Mike Abraham, knew Tim,” Pierre said. “And then another friend of mine, Jaime Gomez from Los Alamitos, knew Tim. I told them that I wanted to go to a nice barn, but I don't want to be with one of those barns that has 300, 400 horses. I want a more on-hands trainer. They both recommended Tim.

“We didn't meet him Tim till last year's Del Mar meet, when Practical Move was running his first race was. He was just as nice as could be. And we could see the operation in the barn. Leslie trained for ten or 15 years. So we knew what we wanted and Tim was what we wanted. He had a great set up and a good operation.”

The Amestoys, who own Practical Move in partnership with Roger Beasley, bought the horse at last year's OBS April sale. They said he was their number one pick among all the horses in the sale, but almost didn't get him. They budgeted $175,000 for the purchase and wound up paying $230,000. They liked the horse enough that they kept bidding until they got him.

“He was our number one pick, which we never get when we got to sales,” Leslie said. “We always pick the number one and can't buy him. We got him and we had no buyer's remorse ever. Oh, we loved him from the start.”

And that's why they named him Practical Move, because, in the end they thought it was a practical move to buy the colt.

As far as the Derby goes, the Amestoys are already thinking strategy.

“I think he's tactical enough,” Pierre said. “Ramon (Vasquez) can put him where he wants him. I would hope we can get a good enough break that we hit the first turn and we have two thirds of them behind us. We want to be up in the first tier or right behind the first tier of horses. This horse has a really good, really strong, high cruising speed so we can get a good spot and then cruise on the backside and set ourselves up. So if we get our trip, I think coming out of the turn, we're going to be close to the leader and then they're going to have to come get us. If his horse switches leads like he's supposed to I think he'll finish strong.”

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by Coolmore, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders, 1/ST Racing, WinStar Farm, and West Point Thoroughbreds, the team of Randy Moss, Zoe Cadman and Bill Finley took a look back at the problems with the track surface at Laurel, the positive results coming out of Hawthorne since that track cut the takeout on win, place and show bets to 12% and the newest additions to the Hall of Fame. Not to be missed, the trio also discussed Proxy (Tapit)'s win in the GII Oaklawn H., and the decision by Jimmy Jerkens, who has been struggling to find the winner's circle the last few years, to start training in Saudi Arabia.

Click here to listen to the audio version of this podcast or click here to watch the video version.

The post Leslie And Pierre Amestoy Join The TDN Writers’ Room Podcast appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post