lope de vega | Horse Racing Free Tips

Trainer Chad Brown will have a strong hand in Friday's 17th renewal of the $85,000 De La Rose, saddling four of the eight contenders for the one mile event over the inner turf at Saratoga Race Course.

Brown, who won the De La Rose in 2018 with subsequent champion Uni, will send out a quality quartet headed by Noor Sahara, who will cut back in distance after finishing third against allowance optional claiming company going 1 1/8 miles on June 12 at Belmont Park.

The 4-year-old bay daughter of Lope de Vega made her North American debut last out as the favorite, tracking a slow pace up front, put herself in winning contention but was ultimately passed up in the final strides missing only a neck to Wegetsdamunnys. The effort was her first start of 2020 and first since September 19 where she was fifth against stakes company at Saint-Cloud in France for former trainer Fabrice Chappet.

“It might have been a little far for her,” Brown said of her last effort. “She hadn't run in a while off that effort so now she has that race under her belt. Cutting her back to a mile should do her some good.”

Owned by Sol Kumin and Jason Monteleone's Madaket Stable, Sienna Farm, Michael Dubb and Bethlehem Stables, Noor Sahara was a two-time winner in France, going one mile.

Three-time Saratoga leading jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. will pilot Noor Sahara from post 2.

Catch a Bid, winner of last year's Riskaverse over a yielding inner turf at the Spa, will try to keep her perfect record going one mile intact.

Owned by Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables, the bay daughter of Real Solution made her seasonal debut a winning one last out when leading an easy pace at every point of call in an allowance optional claiming event on June 14 at Churchill Downs. The running style was a different one for Catch a Bid, whose other two victories came when coming from well of the pace. After winning on debut over at Belmont Park last June, Catch a Bid was second to eventual graded stakes-winner Varenka before winning the Riskaverse.

Jockey Tyler Gaffalione retains the mount from post 1.

Peter Brant's Blowout has never finished off the board in eight career starts and will attempt to keep her consistent record unscathed from post 9.

The daughter of Dansili out of French Group 1-winner Beauty Parlour has never been beaten more than three-quarters of a length and will make her first start since finishing second in the Grade 3 Valley View on October 18 at Keeneland.
Blowout will attempt a third stakes victory having won the Wild Applause and the Pebbles over the Widener Turf Course at Belmont Park during her 3-year-old campaign.

Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, a three-time winner of the De La Rose, will pilot Blowout.

Rounding out the tetrad of Brown's contenders is Juddmonte Farm's Viadera, who made her North American debut last out finishing a distant fourth over a yielding turf to stablemate Newspaperofrecord in the Grade 3 Intercontinental at Belmont.

The 4-year-old daughter of Bated Breath was previously conditioned by G.M. Lyons overseas, where she won three starts, two of which took place going one mile. A Great Britain homebred, Viadera is out of the Beat Hollow broodmare Sacred Shield and comes from the same family as Group 1-winner Twice Over.

Jockey Joel Rosario, who sported Juddmonte's signature turquoise and pink colors when guiding Filimbi to a De La Rose win in 2014, will guide Viadera from post 6.

Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables and Wonder Stables' Clara Peeters will be making her North American stakes debut in the De La Rose after a half-length allowance optional claiming score going seven furlongs over Belmont's Widener turf course on June 4.

Trained by Brad Cox, the 4-year-old daughter of Epaulette won twice in Great Britain for former conditioner Gary L. Moore and has placed in her last five outings. She made her United States debut at Fair Grounds on March 19 going one mile and finishing second beaten a neck after a slow start.

Completing the field are Passing Out [post 3, Jose Ortiz], Hogans Holiday [post 7, Ricardo Santana, Jr.] and Xenobia [post 8, Manny Franco].

Bridlewood Cat is entered for the main track only.

The De La Rose pays homage to Henryk de Kwiatkowski's 1981 Champion Grass Filly who won six graded stakes races over five different tracks, including the Diana at Saratoga and the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby against colts at Hollywood Park. The daughter of English Triple Crown winner Nijinsky was trained by Hall of Famer Woody Stephens.

The De La Rose is slated as Race 7 on Friday's 10-race card, which offers a first post of 1:10 p.m. Eastern. Saratoga Live will present daily television coverage of the 40-day summer meet on FOX Sports and MSG Networks. For the complete Saratoga Live broadcast schedule, and additional programming information, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule.

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Klaravich Stables' Newspaperofrecord, undefeated as a juvenile en route to a score in the 2018 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, continued a perfect start to her 4-year-old campaign with a commanding frontrunning score in the Grade 1, $250,000 Just a Game at one-mile over the Widener turf course on a rainy Saturday at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

The 27th edition of the Just a Game capped a stakes-laden card that also featured the Grade 2, $250,000 New York, won by Mean Mary at 1 ¼ miles on the inner turf; the Grade 2, $150,000 True North for 4-year-olds and up going 6 ½ furlongs captured by Firenze Fire; and a 27-1 upset from Victim of Love in the Grade 3, $100,000 Vagrancy for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up sprinting 6 ½ furlongs on the main track.

Trained by four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown, Newspaperofrecord was winless in three sophomore starts, but the daughter of Lope de Vega returned to form in her 4-year-old debut with a four-length gate-to-wire win in the Grade 3 Intercontinental on June 6 at Belmont.

Sent to post as the even-money second choice behind stablemate Uni, the reigning Champion Turf Female, Newspaperofrecord zipped to the lead out of post 3 under regular pilot Irad Ortiz, Jr. and marked the opening quarter-mile in 23.79 seconds on the turf labeled firm.

Newspaperofrecord continued to lead the charge down the backstretch, reaching the half-mile in 48.13 with Valedictorian in close pursuit followed by a large gap back to stablemates Regal Glory and Uni.

Uni, with Joel Rosario up, and Regal Glory, under Belmont Stakes-winning rider Manny Franco, launched their bids in tandem through the turn as Valedictorian faded with Newspaperofrecord's lead diminishing. Ortiz, sensing the pressure, took a quick peek back at the competition and asked his talented filly for more and she instantly responded with a tremendous turn of foot to separate herself from the competition.

Newspaperofrecord bounded effortlessly away from the field down the lane to secure the three-length length victory in a final time of 1:35.62. Multiple graded-stakes winner Beau Recall rallied from last to earn place by a half-length over Uni. Regal Glory, Zofelle, and Valedictorian rounded out the order of finish. Got Stormy was scratched.

The victory marked the fourth consecutive Just a Game win for Brown, who won previously with Antonoe [2017], A Raving Beauty [2018] and Rushing Fall [2019].

Brown said he was proud of the impressive effort from Newspaperofrecord on three week's rest.

“We trained her lightly and she has been training very relaxed. Last time, she was going really fast and was a little fresh,” said Brown. “Irad was confident that he could get her to rate a little bit. I loved our post today, off the fence a little bit. The last-minute showers didn't hurt us either. We all know that she likes a little juice in the ground. It was a good effort after three weeks. I was very proud of her. My team has done a great job with her. She's never looked better. She's training so comfortably in the mornings.”

Ortiz said Newspaperofrecord could continue to carry her speed even further going forward.

“She's doing good and has come back really good,” said Ortiz. “Going seven-eighths to a mile is good for her; she can go further, too, and I would not be afraid to go a mile and a sixteenth. I just followed Chad's instructions.”

Ortiz enjoyed a remarkable day at the races with five wins from 10 mounts on the 11-race card. He secured the early double with Sun Summers and Foolish Ghost and notched his third with Flying Finish in the day's fifth race ahead of a score in the Grade 2 True North with Firenze Fire.

The veteran rider, who leads the Belmont spring / summer meet with 27 wins, has earned Eclipse Award honors as Outstanding Jockey the past two seasons. He said the five-win day is a continuation of his dedication to excellence.

“It feels great. I have great support from all the owners and trainers. I'm so happy,” said Ortiz. “It's a dream and I'm working really hard because right now I'm on top in my career. I try to stay focused and try to do the right thing. It's big for me; anytime you can get five wins, it's amazing.”

His brother, Jose Ortiz, said he was pleased with the effort to rally from last-of-six aboard Beau Recall to complete the exacta.

“It was a great effort. I broke OK. She got into a good position and a good rhythm. It's really soft out there,” said Jose Ortiz. “I followed Uni the whole way around there and had a great trip. The winner is just a freak on the soft turf. She loves it.”

Rosario, aboard beaten favorite Uni, said his mare would have appreciated a contested pace.

“She went nice around there and I started making my move early. It looked like the pace wasn't fast,” said Rosario. “I knew there was soft ground. She tried really hard, but today was not her day. I think she needed the race.”

Newspaperofrecord began her career with victories in a Saratoga turf maiden event, the Grade 2 Miss Grillo at Belmont Park and the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Churchill Downs by a combined 20 lengths. As a sophomore, the Lope de Vega bay completed the exacta in the Grade 3 Edgewood at Churchill Downs and the Grade 3 Wonder Again at Belmont ahead of an off-the-board effort in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational.

Bred in Ireland by Times of Wigan, Newspaperofrecord banked $137,500 in victory while improving her record to 8-4-2-0. She paid $4.10 for a $2 win ticket.

Live racing resumes Sunday with a nine-race card headlined by the $100,000 Bouwerie, a seven-furlong sprint for New York-bred sophomore fillies in Race 8 at 5:04 p.m. Eastern. First post is 1:15 p.m.

The post Newspaperofrecord Caps Five-Win Day For Irad Ortiz Jr. With Frontrunning Just A Game Score appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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