Luca Panici | Horse Racing Free Tips

Last Leaf Victorious In Hollywood Beach, Pro Quality Best In Wildcat Heir At Gulfstream

Trainer Ron Spatz admits he didn't know how Monarch Stables Inc's 2-year-old filly Last Leaf would handle the turf in Saturday's $75,000 Hollywood Beach Stakes at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

“My legs are tired. I've been doing a rain dance for three days,” said Spatz, whose filly won twice on the main track before facing colts and geldings in the Hollywood Beach. “They tell me top and bottom is good for [turf], but she has small feet so I really didn't know.”

Any doubts Spatz might have had were erased when Last Leaf drove past a game Nerve in the final sixteenth to win the Hollywood Beach by a head. Barone Cesco was a fast-closing third, another head behind Nerve.

A daughter of Not This Time who has now won three of five starts, Last Leaf covered a 'good' five-furlong course in :57.46 after chasing Nerve past fractions of :22.32 and :45.40. The filly has won at 5 ½ furlongs on a fast track, six furlongs on a sloppy track, and on the turf.

“I told [Monarch Stables Inc.] 'You have an all-terrain vehicle now. That's a good thing,” Spatz said.

In the $125,000 Wildcat Heir, Rodney Lundock's Pro Quality, a 4-year-old gelding trained by Ralph Catanese and ridden by Luca Panici, drove past Shivaree inside the final sixteenth pole to win by lengths

Pro Quality, a son of Exclusive Quality, came into the Wildcat Heir off third-place finishes in the City of Dania and Benny The Bull. Panici raced fourth down the backstretch past fractions of :23.91 and :46.91 before Panici moved Pro Quality three-wide entering the stretch and driving to the finish.

Pro Quality has won four races and has placed first, second or third in 11 of his 13 starts.

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Boland Gets Stakes Win With Perfect Silent Cat In Aventura At Gulfstream

Although Perfect Silent Cat entered Saturday's $60,000 Aventura at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., as a maiden, trainer Sharon Boland had a high level of confidence in the son of Tale of the Cat.

“I knew what I had,” Boland said. “You can make those moves when you know what you have running for you.”

Perfect Silent Cat rewarded Boland's faith by providing her with her first stakes victory on her own, although she is hardly a newcomer to the stakes game.

The daughter of Bill Boland, the Hall of Fame jockey who won the 1950 Kentucky Derby aboard Middleground, Sharon has been training and working with horses for more than 30 years.

“Unfortunately, because my father was a steward, they wouldn't let me run horses in my name. In those days, they thought it was a conflict of interest, so I took a back seat and let my [then] husband [multiple graded stakes-winning trainer Anthony Mitchell] run them in his name,” said Boland, who has 21 horses stabled at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream's satellite training facility in Palm Beach County, in her second year of training her own public stable.”

The Charles Fipke-bred Perfect Silent Cat ($27.20) was purchased for $6,000 in February at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Mixed Sale by Shamrock Highlands Thoroughbreds.

“The owner is a new client who bought him and brought him to our stable. We couldn't figure why he slipped through the cracks,” said Boland, whose 89-year-old father lives in Palm Coast, Fla., and plays golf frequently. “We found a few little things we were able to fix, and from the second we fixed his little issues, he's been a 100-percent performer who gives you everything. He's the nicest colt I've been around – just a class act.”

Perfect Silent Cat had run three prior races – an off-the-board debut on dirt, a third-place finish on turf, and a runner-up finish in the June 26 Not Surprising Stakes over a yielding Gulfstream turf course last time out. The Kentucky-bred colt was the beneficiary of a perfect trip under Luca Panici, pressing the pace outside Rabdan past fractions of :24.47 and :48.04 seconds for the first half mile of the mile overnight handicap before drawing away to a three-length score.

Perfect Silent Cat carried the low weight of 114 pounds, 10 fewer pounds than highweight Papetu, the 1-5 favorite who finished fourth following a rough trip in traffic. Perfect Silent Cat ran a mile over a sealed sloppy track in 1:36.35. Emperor's Cause finished second following a three-wide trip, a neck ahead of a tiring Rabdan, who was 1 ¼ lengths clear of Papetu, who had captured the Carry Back Stakes in his prior start.

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Pudding Much The Best In Handicap At Gulfstream

During her five-plus years of training on her own, Elizabeth Dobles has demonstrated a deft hand in bringing out the best in old-warrior Thoroughbreds.

The proof was in Pudding Sunday at Gulfstream Park, in Hallandale Beach, Fla., where she saddled the 6-year-old gelding for late-rallying victory in the featured $60,000 handicap for older horses, three weeks after claiming him for $25,000 for herself.

Pudding's upset victory over odds-on favorite Double Crown in the six-furlong race for 3-year-olds and up was Dobles' second high-profile success of the weekend with a recent claim. Saturday, Dobles saddled Harry's Ontheloose for a triumph in Saturday's $60,000 Miami Beach Handicap at Gulfstream three starts after claiming the 5-year-old campaigner for $35,000 for Imaginary Stables LLC.

“Pudding caught my eye. He had won a couple in a row, and he had some back class. Those are the ones that I really get attracted to,” said Dobles, who has enjoyed success with veteran performers, War Story, Royal Squeeze and My Point Exactly, among others, in the past.

Pudding broke from the No. 1 post position and saved ground under Chantal Sutherland along the backstretch, as One Fast and Jackson contested the pace during the first quarter of a mile in :22.26 seconds. Double Crown, a multiple-stakes winner who has been graded stakes-placed twice, raced a few lengths behind the pace into the far turn before making a three-wide sweep to the lead on the turn into the homestretch, as Pudding remained trapped behind the tiring pacesetters at the top of the stretch.

Just as Double Crown appeared on his way to victory, Sutherland sent Pudding through an opening that had developed inside the 1/8th-pole, and the son of Two Step Salsa accelerated quickly to catch the favorite by three-quarters of a length.

“I thought we were in a horrible spot to be in, but when it opened up, it was heaven,” Dobles said.

Pudding ran six furlongs in a swift 1:09.94 to win his fourth straight race. Double Crown, who was ridden by Luca Panici, finished 2 ½ lengths clear of third-place finisher Tonalism.

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Diamond Oops Looks Set For Another Smile Sprint Run Following Hollywood Lakes Win

Multiple graded-stakes Diamond Oops prepped for a scheduled start in the $200,000 Smile Sprint (G3) with a thoroughly professional triumph in the $60,000 Hollywood Lakes at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The Hollywood Lakes, a six-furlong overnight handicap for 3-year-olds and up, co-headlined Saturday's 12-race program with the $75,000 Game Face, a 6 ½-furlong sprint for 3-year-old fillies.

The Smile Sprint will be co-featured on the July 3 Summit of Speed card at Gulfstream with the $350,000 Princess Rooney (G2), a seven-furlong Breeders' Cup 'Win and You're In' sprint for fillies and mares.

Diamond Oops, who captured the 2019 running of the Smile Sprint, was rated a few lengths off the pace set by Willy Boi, who put up fractions of 22.71 and 45.28 (seconds) for the first half mile before being joined by Ournationonparade on the turn into the homestretch. Ournationonparade took the lead at the top of the stretch, only to meet challenges on the inside by Miles Ahead, the even-money favorite ridden by Edgard Zayas, and on the outside by Diamond Oops, the 2-1 second choice ridden by Luca Panici.

Miles Ahead made a strong rail bid in an effort to win his stakes debut but was unable to hold off Diamond Oops, a multiple graded-stakes winner on turf and dirt who has earned more than $1.1 million. The Patrick Biancone-trained 6-year-old gelding ran six furlongs in 1:09.31 to win by a head while carrying highweight of 124 pounds, five more than Miles Ahead.

“He just does his job. He's so versatile, he can do anything, but I do feel like six furlongs on dirt is his niche. That's truly where he belongs,” said assistant trainer Andie Biancone. “We're really going to focus on that and try to get him to the Breeders' Cup [Sprint]. We have the wonderful Smile coming up, so hopefully that will be his next win. He loves Gulfstream.”

Diamond Oops, who won his fifth stakes at Gulfstream Saturday, was making his second start of the year Saturday after finishing a late rallying fourth in the April 20 Churchill Downs' Turf Sprint (G2), a race he won last year. The son of Lookin At Lucky provided Panici with his first stakes success since recently returning to action following a three-month recovery and rehabilitation of a back injury sustained in a February accident.

“It feels great,” he said. “This is a good horse, a class horse.”

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