Las Virgenes S. | Horse Racing Free Tips

Agate Road Back To The Dirt For Sam F. Davis

The Tampa Road to the Kentucky Derby heats up Saturday afternoon, as a full field of 12 sophomore males is set to face the starter for the $250,000 GIII Sam F. Davis S., with 42 Kentucky Derby qualifying points (20-10-6-4-2) up for grabs.

When Litigate (Blame) took out the 2023 renewal, he was giving trainer Todd Pletcher a seventh victory in the Davis, having won the race for the first time in 2006 with Bluegrass Cat (Storm Cat). 'TDN Rising Star' Agate Road (Quality Road) will be the more-fancied of Pletcher's two runners as he returns to the dirt for the first time since missing by a nose in a rained-off maiden at Saratoga last August. A had-to-see-it-to-believe-it winner of his turf debut at the Spa the following month, the $650,000 Keeneland September purchase found his best stride late to take out the GIII Pilgrim S., but he was done no favors by the one-mile trip of the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, running on belatedly to finish fifth. Agate Road's seasonal debut is best taken with a grain of salt, as Tocayo (Always Dreaming) set a leisurely tempo in the Jan. 6 Dania Beach S. and was never threatened, with Agate Road chipping away late to be second. He certainly fits on class and figs, but he would be dodgy at a skinny number with Jose Ortiz in the irons. Pletcher also sends out Tireless (Not This Time), a local maiden winner over an extended mile Jan. 14.

Iowa-bred No More Time (Not This Time) broke his maiden impressively going a mile at Gulfstream in October, but was off slowly from the inside gate in the Jan. 1 Mucho Macho Man and loomed a wide threat at the head of the lane before fading into fifth. The dark bay tries the two-turn game for the first time, with Paco Lopez taking over from Ortiz for trainer Jose D'Angelo.

Courtlandt Farms' Change of Command (Into Mischief) blew the doors off a field of Gulfstream maidens going seven furlongs Dec. 17 and gutted out a neck victory trying a route of ground for the first time in Hallandale Jan. 5. Shug McGaughey elects to puts blinkers on the $1.05-million KEESEP acqusition.

Elysian Meadows (City of Light) is perfect in two starts to date, both over three-quarters of a mile at Aqueduct, and the form of his first-level state-bred allowance victory Dec. 15 was franked when the runner-up Mischief Joke (Practical Joke) returned to win the Rego Park S. It'll be up to Junior Alvarado to work out a trip from the 12 hole for trainer Bill Mott. That combination teamed to win the 2021 Davis with Candy Man Rocket (Candy Ride {Arg}).

Small, But Select Field For Rescheduled Las Virgenes

Saturday's GIII Las Virgenes S., postponed due to impending rains last Sunday, has lured a field of five, but what the race may lack in numbers, it appears to make up for in terms of quality.

Michael Lund Petersen's 'TDN Rising Star' Kinza (Not This Time) steps up in class and up in trip for this second go after earning a towering 96 Beyer Speed Figure in annexing her racecourse debut by 7 1/2 lengths going six furlongs Dec. 29. The $17,000 FTNOCT weanling, $30,000 OBSOCT yearling and $350,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic breezer will try to give trainer Bob Baffert an eighth Las Virgenes and third straight for Petersen following Adare Manor (Uncle Mo) in 2022 and Faiza (Girvin) last year.

Kopion (Omaha Beach) holds an experience edge over Kinza and exits a front-running, 5 3/4-length success in the seven-furlong GIII Santa Ynez S. Jan. 7. The $270,000 KEESEP graduate had previously defeated She's a Tempest (Connect) into second to open her account at first asking at Del Mar in late November, and She's a Tempest did her part to validate the effort with a tenacious victory over next-out maiden winner Ultimate Authority (Practical Joke) over this track and distance Jan. 5.

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100 Supplements Added to Fasig-Tipton Winter Mixed Sale

An additional 100 supplemental entries have been added to Fasig-Tipton's Winter Mixed Sale, which will be held Feb. 6 and 7 in Lexington. These latest entries, which are catalogued as hips 466-565, include: stakes winner and graded-placed Diamond Wow (Lookin at Lucky), a 4-year-old who is consigned as a racing/broodmare prospect by Grovendale Sales, agent. Grovendale also consigns 5-year-old stakes winner Por Que No (Wicked Strong), who is also offered as a racing/broodmare prospect.

Blake-Albina Thoroughbred Services will consign a yearling by Constitution out of Light of a Star, who is a full-brother to multiple graded stakes winner Laura's Light, while Hidden Brook will consign stakes winner Maries Melody (Point of Entry), carrying her first foal by Ghostzapper.

The supplemented offerings also include Broadway Girls (Army Mule), recent winner of the Blue Norther S. who is expected to make her next start in the Jan. 28 GIII Las Virgenes S. at Santa Anita. The 3-year-old is consigned by Highgate Sales, agent.

And Stay Out (Exchange Rate), the dam of multiple stakes winner Coach (Commissioner), has also been added to the Winter sale. The 12-year-old mare, who will be offered in foal to Upstart, will be consigned by Candy Meadows Sales, agent.

The supplement also includes mares in foal to Bolt d'Oro, Frosted, McKinzie, Mitole, Munnings, Paynter, Speightstown, Take Charge Indy, and Tiz the Law.

Yearling sires represented include Bolt d'Oro, Constitution, Curlin, Frosted, Girvin, Goldencents, Hard Spun, and Maclean's Music.

These entries may now be viewed online and will be available in the equineline sales catalogue app. Print versions of the supplemental catalogue will be available on the sales grounds.

Fasig-Tipton will continue to accept approved supplemental entries through the end of the month.

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Uncle Mo Filly All Alone in Las Virgenes

Adare Manor dominated the four-horse GIII Las Virgenes S. at Santa Anita Sunday, strolling home to an effortless 13-length victory and giving trainer Bob Baffert his sixth win in the race. Second and fourth in two sprint tries to kick off her career, the $375,000 OBS June acquisition put it all together and then some when airing by a dozen lengths over this track and trip Jan. 7, good for a 92 Beyer Speed Figure. Her odds dropped even further with the scratch of GISW stablemate Eda (Munnings), and the dark bay was off at prohibitive 2-5 odds. Away on top, she was headed by Gracelund Gray (Goldencents) into the first turn, but was content to share pacesetting duties with that foe down the backside before opening up into a :46.66 half. Queen of Thorns attempted to make a race of it from there, but Adare Manor never looked back and galloped home.

“Today I engaged her right from the gate and she got a little bit strong at the first turn, so I had to grab her a little bit, try to slow her down a bit the first part of the race,” said winning jockey John Velazquez. “Once we got to the half-mile pole, I kind of put my hands down on her and her long stride just kept going just like that. I just left her alone and let her get into her rhythm, and she just showed up today. Obviously, she stepped it up from one race to another one and she did it very nicely today.

Velazquez continued, “I looked back a couple of times and I slowed it down, I looked up saw they were pretty far [back] and I backed up thinking, I should save something here although she was breathing fire up front, I didn't want to ask her down the lane then Bob would get mad at me. I definitely wanted to save something.”

The dazzling victory would normally make Adare Manor a major GI Longines Kentucky Oaks contender, but Baffert's current Churchill ban made the filly ineligible to earn the Las Virgenes' 10 qualifying points to that Classic.

Baffert's sixth Las Virgenes tally broke a tie with fellow Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas. The trainer's most recent previous Las Virgenes winner (in 2018) was also a pricey 2-year-old sales grad by Uncle Mo in Dream Tree.

Adare Manor, bred by Town and Country Horse Farms and Gary Broad, was purchased by Broad for $180,000 as a short yearling at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton February sale. She RNA'd for $190,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase that September before selling for $375,000 following a :10 1/5 work at last year's OBS June sale.

She missed by just a neck when second after contesting the pace in her six-furlong unveiling Oct. 31 at Santa Anita. She was fourth over 6 1/2 furlongs at Del Mar Nov. 20 before her eye-catching 12-length maiden score over one mile in Arcadia Jan. 7.

“She duplicated her last race, you know, she's got that big, long stride on her,” said Baffert. “I sprinted her twice and I thought she'd win each of those times and then I thought, well she wants to go long…She's like an amazon, she's got that big, powerful [way of moving]. She's got that big frame, but she's quick. She relaxed nicely today…I think that time [1:37.11] is pretty serious on this track. Just gotta keep 'em healthy. I've run her twice now, I don't want to come back too quick with her.”

Pedigree Notes:

Adare Manor is the first foal out of multiple stakes winner Brooklynsway, who was four times graded placed. Town and Country Horse Farms purchased the mare, in foal to Into Mischief, for $95,000 at the same 2020 Fasig-Tipton February sale at which Adare Manor sold. That in-utero Into Mischief foal died, but the 10-year-old mare has a yearling filly by the Spendthrift stallion and she was bred back to Ghostzapper.

Adare Manor is the 42nd graded winner for Uncle Mo. In addition to Dream Tree, other daughters of the stallion who have found graded success at Santa Anita include multiple Grade I winner Bast, Harvest Moon, Mopotism, and Donna Veloce.

Sunday, Santa Anita
LAS VIRGENES S.-GIII, $196,000, Santa Anita, 2-6, 3yo, f, 1m, 1:37.11, ft.
1–ADARE MANOR, 120, f, 3, by Uncle Mo
1st Dam: Brooklynsway (GSW-USA, MSW & GSP-Can, $724,597), by Giant Gizmo
2nd Dam: Explosive Story, by Radio Star
3rd Dam: Maya's Note, by Editor's Note
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($180,000
Ylg '20 FTKFEB; $190,000 RNA Ylg '20 FTKSEL; $375,000 2yo
'21 OBSOPN). O-Michael Lund Petersen; B-Town & Country
Horse Farms, LLC & Gary Broad (KY); T-Bob Baffert; J-John R.
Velazquez. $120,000. Lifetime Record: 4-2-1-0, $176,600.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk Nick
Rating: A+.
2–Queen of Thorns, 120, f, 3, Violence–Royale Paradise, by
Unbridled's Song. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE.
($50,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP; $300,000 2yo '21 OBSAPR).
O-Exline-Border Racing LLC, Richard Hausman, William Dan
Hudock, Aaron Kennedy & Susanna Wilson; B-Pollock Farms
(KY); T-Peter Eurton. $40,000.
3–Miss Everything, 120, f, 3, Tiznow–Wynning Is Sweet, by
Candy Ride (Arg). 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE.
($40,000 Wlg '19 KEENOV; $40,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Don't
Tell My Wife Stables & J. Keith Desormeaux; B-TNIP LLC &
Tiznow Syndicate (KY); T-J. Keith Desormeaux. $24,000.
Margins: 13, 1 1/4, 2 1/4. Odds: 0.40, 2.50, 15.20.
Also Ran: Gracelund Gray. Scratched: Eda. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Moonlight d’Oro on Comeback Trail

Moonlight d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro), taken off the GI Kentucky Oaks trail with a knee chip following a visually impressive score in the GIII Las Virgenes S. at Santa Anita Feb. 6, is aiming for a return to Hall of Famer Richard Mandella's barn later this summer with an eye on a fall campaign.

“The surgery went well,” said Joe Mishak, MyRacehorse's Racing Operations Manager. “She's been doing great, filling out and looking really good. Just biding her time, which is standard operating procedure [following surgery], especially for the Mandella barn. The last 30 days or so she's been out at Bonnie Acres [in California] getting treadmill therapy building up her fitness. Hopefully in a couple of weeks if all things remain on course, she should go to an offsite facility to start training and get that foundation at the track. Then a month after that, she'll head back to the Mandella barn in early-to-mid August once she has the fitness.”

Campaigned in partnership with Spendthrift Farm, the $620,000 KEESEP yearling buy earned her diploma at third asking in her two-turn debut with a career-high 87 Beyer Speed Figure at Los Alamitos Dec. 13, then doubled up with a powerful last-to-first tally in the Las Virgenes.

Bred in Kentucky by Stonehaven Steadings, Moonlight d'Oro is a half-sister to the juvenile graded stakes-placed Olive Branch (Speightstown). Moonlight d'Oro's winning dam Venetian Sonata (Bernardini) is a full-sister to GSW Wilburn and SW & GSP La Appassionata and a half-sister to GSW Beethoven (Sky Mesa).

Any intended targets penciled in for Moonlight d'Oro's return to the races?

“We'll see where she is with her training, but it's kind of an awkward time of the year [for a 3-year-old filly to return],” Mishak said. “The surgery went well, but a little bit of extra caution gave her 120 days off rather than 90. Hopefully, she'll be coming back in the October timeframe, and at that stage, I think you're just looking for the right type of race to return in.

Mishak concluded, “She showed early in the year that she was the best 3-year-old filly on the West Coast. When she won the Las Virgenes, she didn't even have her best that day. It was rather exciting to get her to that level. I don't know if we'll make the Breeders' Cup this year–it's probably too close–but we'll have all of next year to have a really top filly in training.”

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