Tag: Luis Saez

‘TDN Rising Star’ Fierceness Drills for Florida Derby

Repole Stable's Fierceness (City of Light), who was named a 'TDN Rising Star' after he broke his maiden at first asking at Saratoga last August, breezed five furlongs Friday morning at Palm Beach Downs in preparation for the GI Curlin Florida Derby Mar. 30 at Gulfstream Park, the track said in a release late Friday afternoon.

The 2023 Eclipse Award 2-year-old champion, who finished third in the Feb. 3 GIII Holy Bull S., breezed in company with Spendthrift Farm's Tuscan Sky (Vino Rosso).

The Todd Pletcher-trained duo was timed in 1:01.3 with Fierceness galloping out six furlongs in 1:13.82 and seven furlongs in 1:28.19 with a lot of energy.

“He went really, really well, as he always does,” said Pletcher. “He's a very impressive horse to watch breeze. He finished strong and galloped out great.”

Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez was aboard Fierceness, who breezed outside Tuscan Sky and Luis Saez.

“The horse gives you a lot of confidence watching him breeze,” the Hall of Fame trainer said. “It seems like he's in really good form, so we're expecting a good performance from him.”

Fierceness currently sits in sixth place with 36 points on the Kentucky Derby Leaderboard.

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Casa Creed On Track For Al Quoz Sprint

LRE Racing LLC and JEH Racing Stable's four-time Grade I winner Casa Creed (Jimmy Creed) has recovered from the fever that forced him to miss last weekend's G2 1351 Turf Sprint in Saudi Arabia and is now being prepared for an appearance in the G1 Al Quoz Sprint on the Dubai World Cup undercard Mar. 30, co-owner Lee Einsidler confirmed Thursday.

“You know, it's funny, if the Saudi race had been in Florida, we wouldn't have had to miss it,” Einsidler said of last weekend's contest, in which Casa Creed was beaten a neck in 2022 and a head in 2023. “He had a fever for one day and we were on the cusp, but we didn't want to put that stress on him of shipping halfway around the world if he wasn't 100%. We didn't want him to get off the plane in Saudi Arabia not feeling good. He's been training great, he'd been training up to the [Saudi] race great, but we had the fortunate alternative of going to Dubai, so we said let's just wait.”

Casa Creed was a close fifth behind A Case of You (Ire) (Hot Streak {Ire}) in the 2022 Al Quoz.

Casa Creed, co-owned by New York radio personality Mike Francesa, returned to the worktab at Payson Park Feb. 23, breezing an easy half-mile in :50.20 for trainer Bill Mott.

“The plan was never to go to Saudi Arabia and then to Dubai,” Einsidler continued. “The plan was to go to Saudi and come home like we did last year, so we'll just go straight to Dubai instead. We're very excited. I've never been, so there's a good chance that my son Jeffrey, who is totally into it with me, is going to come with me.”

A two-time winner of the GI Jaipur S. over six furlongs and the two-time defending champion of the GI Fourstardave H. going a mile, the 8-year-old Casa Creed holds a special place in Einsidler's heart.

“He's meant so much to us in our lives. You think about a horse like Casa Creed every day,” he said. “He's just been so special to us. From the time we got him, he told us all that he loves to be a racehorse and for me, racing is the ultimate escape from the daily trials and tribulations of life. He's been a great separation from things you deal with in your life.”

Casa Creed has provided Einsidler, the CEO of the Casamigos brand of tequila, a measure of peace and joy after tragically losing his son Aaron in August 2020.

“Casa Creed brought us and continues to bring us so much joy and so much pleasure and excitement,” he said. “We're just thrilled to have him as part of our life. To be running at eight years of age and competing at the highest level, it's a dream come true for a horse owner, it's so rare. We've been truly blessed.”

Tentative plans call for Casa Creed to pass this year's Jaipur, as it has been shortened to 5 1/2 furlongs during the Belmont at Saratoga meeting and he is a candidate for the $350,000 GIII Poker S. on the Belmont S. undercard the same afternoon, June 8. The long-term goal would be the Fourstardave, where Casa Creed was third in 2020 and 2021 before winning the prestigious race the last two seasons.

“That would be just ridiculous,” Einsidler exclaimed. “Just to be in the race five times is incredible, to win it for a third time would be an amazing accomplishment.”

Luis Saez has ridden Casa Creed in his last 11 starts and has a return call for the 1200-meter Al Quoz.

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Defunded Owner Hopes to Reward Horse’s Fans

In Saturday's $20-million Saudi Cup, two-time Grade I winner Defunded (Dialed In) will be running for more than his owner, Dr. Muhaideb Al Muhaideb's HDB Racing. Should the horse win the Saudi Cup, the owner will give away 2 million Saudi Riyals to fans who follow him on the X site @muhadb1. Two million Riyals is worth US$533,000. The money will be divided among four winners.

If Defunded doesn't win but a Saudi-based horse does, Dr. Muhaideb will give away two Lexus SUV to his followers. If a horse without a Saudi connection wins, the prize will be one Lexus.

Muhaideb has 59,500 followers on X.

“Dr. Muhaideb is overwhelmed with excitement to be competing in the richest race in the world with his first horse as an owner,” said Muhaideb's stable manager Khalid Mishref. “He feels extremely honored to be representing Saudi Arabia on this world stage. Because of this he feels compelled to share this experience with the Saudi people and all racing fans around the world. From this, the idea of having a group of prizes to be drawn from engaging on social media was born. Horse racing is deeply ingrained in the culture of the Saudi people and we feel the future of horse racing is bound to benefit from the rapid development of Saudi racing with the help of the Saudi government, Prince Bandar and his esteemed team at the Jockey Club.”

In late December it was announced that Defunded, who is a gelding, had been privately acquired from owners Michael Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman by HDB Racing. Defunded left the U.S. on Dec. 17.

“Last year, Dr. Muhaideb Al Muhaideb entrusted me with the task of possibly securing a horse to compete in the 2024 Saudi Cup,” Mishref said. “With the assistance of Frankie O'Connor of Kildare Stud we managed to purchase Defunded for this mission.”

Defunded has not started since finishing second in the GI Awesome Again S. on Sept. 30 at Santa Anita for trainer Bob Baffert. He won the Awesome Again in 2022 and picked up another Grade I win in the GI Hollywood Gold Cup in May. He has career earnings of $1,666,600.

Luis Saez will have the mount for the race.

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Moore, Oliver, Saez Headline Saudi Jockeys’ Competition

Fourteen world-class jockeys from eight jurisdictions around the world will participate in the International Jockeys' Challenge to be held on the eve of the Saudi Cup meeting at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh Friday, Feb. 23. A team of seven male riders will compete against seven of their female counterparts in the four-race series.

Ryan Moore will feature in the Jockeys' Challenge for the first time in its brief history. The veteran reinsman, who was recognized as the Longines World's Best Jockey in Hong Kong last December, is one of five male participants based overseas, alongside the defending champion Luis Saez from the United States, Maxime Guyon from France and Japan's Ryusei Sakai.

Legendary Australian jockey Damien Oliver, the last of the overseas invitees, officially retired from the saddle Dec. 16, taking a Group 3 race named in his honour at Ascot in his hometown of Perth in Western Australia. But similar to his compatriot Glen Boss in 2022, Oliver–a three-time winner of the G1 Melbourne Cup–will pause his retirement to take part in the event, which is worth US$30,000 to the winner from a total pool of US$100,000. Oliver will look to add to the 3,168 winners he rode during an illustrious 34-year career in the saddle.

Eight-times Saudi champion Camilo Ospina and current titleholder Adel Alfouraidi round out the line-up for the males.

New Zealand's Lisa Allpress made history in 2020 when becoming the first female to win a race in Saudi Arabia, and the four-time leading rider returns to Riyadh for another crack. Australasia is also set to be represented by the Sydney-based Alysha Collett. America's Katie Davis makes her debut in the event and will be joined by South Africa's Rachel Venniker, Victoria Mota from Brazil, French jockey Maryline Eon and Great Britain's Saffie Osborne, the daughter of trainer Jamie Osborne, who was part of the female team that emerged victorious at last year's Shergar Cup at Ascot.

“The jockeys challenge on the Friday of Saudi Cup weekend is always one of the event highlights for me,” said HRH Prince Bandar Bin Khaled Alfaisal, Chairman of the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia. We are justifiably proud of the variety of racing showcased across the two days. To be in a position to offer a global stage to 14 of the world's best jockeys, seven men and seven women, is highly gratifying.

“We wish the best of luck to all the jockeys competing and hope that their feats on the racecourse serve to inspire new generations of riders both in Saudi Arabia and beyond.”

 

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