Malibu Moon Colt Gets Started at Tokyo

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this Sunday running at Kyoto and Tokyo Racecourses. The weekend feature takes place at the former venue, which hosts the final leg of the colts' Triple Crown, the G1 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St Leger). Click here for our preview:

Sunday, October 22, 2023
4th-TOK, ¥13,720,000 ($92k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1400m
AARU (c, 2, Malibu Moon–Ginza, by Kitten's Joy), a $53,000 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling and $50,000 OBS April juvenile, is out of a daughter of the unraced Unfold the Rose (Catienus), whose daughter Stephanie's Kitten (Kitten's Joy) won the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf in 2011 and four years later took out the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf before selling for $550,000 at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale. Unfold the Rose is also the dam of MGSW dirt marathoner Heywoods Beach (Speightstown). The colt's third dam was Bail Out Becky (Red Ransom), winner of the 1995 GI Del Mar Oaks for the Ramseys and Bill Mott. B-RGP Ocala Holdings LLC (FL)

10th-KYO, ¥35,040,000 ($233k), Allowance, 3yo/up, 1600mT
T O GRANVILLE (c, 3, Lea–All in Fun, by Tapit) has made a spectacular start to his career, with three wins from as many starts, all at this distance, including a 2-win allowance success at Niigata when last seen Aug. 27 (see below, SC 15). Purchased for $125,000 in utero by Winchester Farm at Keeneland November in 2019, the chestnut is out of a stakes-placed full-sister to the dual graded-stakes placed juvenile Tight Ten and his third dam is dual Grade I winner Fleet Renee (Seattle Slew). Takeshi Yokoyama, who rides favored Sol Oriens (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}) in the race immediately after this, takes over at the controls. B-Mishima Stud Ltd (KY)

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Gun Runner’s ‘Rising Star’ Locked Overcomes Wide Journey in Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Walmac Farm's 'TDN Rising Star' Locked (c, 2, Gun Runner–Luna Rosa, by Malibu Moon), a flashy Saratoga maiden winner at second asking Sept. 1, showed his class as the 3-5 favorite while overcoming a wide trip in Saturday's 'Win and You're In' GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity S. at Keeneland.

Drawn widest of all in post eight, the chestnut didn't get off to the sharpest of beginnings and raced five to three wide around the clubhouse turn. He was out in the clear and one from the back through fractions of :24.47 and :48.23. Under a ride by Jose Ortiz on the far turn, he made a flashy, five-wide sweep to hit the front at the top of the short stretch.

Locked looked well on his way to a runaway win, but the three-for-three The Wine Steward (Vino Rosso) wasn't going out without a fight. The Wine Steward fought on gamely along the rail down the stretch, but Locked proved too much and forged clear late to win by a well-earned half-length. Generous Tipper (Street Sense) was third.

Locked was featured in Steve Sherack's Second Chances series after rallying smartly from last after getting steadied at the start to finish a very promising third sprinting on debut at Saratoga Aug. 5. He romped by 7 1/4 lengths to earn his diploma in 'Rising Star' fashion out of Saratoga's one-mile Wilson Chute Sept. 1. The distant runner-up that day Drum Roll Please (Hard Spun) returned to break his maiden at Aqueduct on Friday.

“He's a colt that we always felt like the further, the better,” said winning trainer Todd Pletcher, who also captured this race with subsequent GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Forte (2022), Carpe Diem (2014) and We Miss Artie (2013). “He kind of got a little bit of two-turn experience in that sort-of two-turn mile race at Saratoga (his maiden win Sept. 1), which is always a difficult race. But I thought he was super-impressive at Saratoga, and he's just been a colt that's done everything right since day one.”

Pletcher added, “You like to think it moves them forward. He was hung out very wide on both turns. He didn't have a real easy trip, but he's talented enough to overcome it.”

Pletcher and winning co-owner Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners also got the money with Candied (Candy Ride {Arg}) in the female equivalent GI Darley Alcibiades S. on Friday's opening day program at Keeneland.

Pedigree Notes:

Locked, a $425,000 Keeneland September graduate, becomes the seventh Grade I winner for his leading young sire. Gun Runner was also represented by Saturday's GII Chandelier S. heroine Chatalas. Malibu Moon is now the broodmare sire of nine winners at the top level.

Locked was produced by a winning half-sister to MGISW Gabby's Golden Gal (Medaglia d'Oro) and MGSW & GISP Always a Princess (Leroidesanimaux {Brz}). The Gun Runner/Malibu Moon cross is already responsible for GSWs Shotgun Hottie and Runninsonofagun. Locked is also bred similarly to MGISW and 'TDN Rising Star' Taiba (Gun Runner), who is out of a Flatter mare.

Locked's dam produced a colt by Caravaggio in 2022 and a filly by Tiz the Law this year. She was bred back to Early Voting.

Saturday, Keeneland
CLAIBORNE BREEDERS' FUTURITY-GI, $580,750, Keeneland, 10-7, 2yo, 1 1/16m, 1:45.06, ft.
1–LOCKED, 122, c, 2, by Gun Runner
                1st Dam: Luna Rosa, by Malibu Moon
                2nd Dam: Gabriellina Giof (GB), by Ashkalani (Ire)
                3rd Dam: Paola Quatraro (Ire), by Cure the Blues
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN, 1ST GRADE I WIN. 'TDN Rising Star'. ($425,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). O-Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Walmac Farm; B-Rosa Colasanti (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher; J-Jose L. Ortiz. $358,050. Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-1, $428,400. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–The Wine Steward, 122, c, 2, Vino Rosso–Call to Service, by To Honor and Serve. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE, 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($70,000 Ylg '22 SARAUG; $340,000 2yo '23 OBSMAR). O-Paradise Farms Corp. and David Staudacher; B-Sequel Thoroughbreds LLC, Lakland Farm & Mark Toothaker (NY); T-Michael J. Maker. $96,250.
3–Generous Tipper, 122, c, 2, Street Sense–Stopshoppingdebbie, by Curlin. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE, 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($130,000 Ylg '22 FTKJUL). O-Walking L Thoroughbreds, LLC; B-Jeff Prunzik & Melissa Prunzik (KY); T-Kenneth G. McPeek. $57,750.
Margins: HF, 3 3/4, NK. Odds: 0.76, 3.96, 17.35.
Also Ran: Northern Flame, West Saratoga, Just Steel, Awesome Road, Baytown Chatterbox. Scratched: Timberlake.

Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

O-Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners & Walmac Farm; B-Rosa Colasanti (Ky); T-Todd A. Pletcher.

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Beautifully Bred Arrogate Filly Gets Going at Nakayama

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Hanshin and Nakayama Racecourses. Being a three-day weekend on the JRA, Japanese results will appear in next Wednesday's TDN:

Saturday, September 16, 2023
4th-NKY, ¥13,720,000 ($93k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1800m
SORREL BULLET (c, 2, Malibu Moon–Curluck, by Curlin), a $310,000 purchase by Katsumi Yoshida out of last year's Keeneland September sale, is out of a full-sister to the multiple Grade III-placed Lucky Curlin. The Jan. 31 foal's stakes-winning third dam Play Ballado (Saint Ballado) was responsible for SW Sweet Seventeen (Hard Spun), whose son Delta Barows (Into Mischief) was placed in Group 2 company in Japan. Of Malibu Moon's 23 Japanese winners (28 runners), four have succeeded at stakes level, including Paraiba Tourmaline, winner of this year's Listed Kanto Oaks on the dirt for owner Kazumi Yoshida. Sorrel Bullet carries the Silk Racing colors with the visiting Joao Moreira to ride. B-St Simon Place LLC & Scott Stephens (KY)

Sunday, September 17, 2023
5th-NKY, ¥13,720,000 ($93k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1600mT
SOKYU (JPN) (f, 2, Arrogate–Hightap, by Tapit) looks to become the sixth winner from eight to race from her dam, the 2009 GIII Iowa Oaks victress who was purchased by Big Red Farm with this filly in utero for $350,000 at the 2020 Keeneland November Sale. A May 2 foal, Sokyu–bred on the same cross as GI Belmont S. and GI Travers S. hero Arcangelo–is a half-sister to Halladay (War Front), all-the-way winner of the 2020 GI Fourstardave H. at Saratoga. Arrogate is the sire of 11 winners from 13 starters in Japan. B-Big Red Farm

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Ramatuelle in Deep Against the Boys in the Morny

One of only two French-trained juveniles in Sunday's G1 Sumbe Prix Morny at Deauville, Infinity Nine Horses' TDN Rising Star Ramatuelle (Justify) will need to draw on a significant amount of her abundant talent to maintain her sequence in one of the best renewals of the six-furlong feature in recent years. Out on her own at the end of Chantilly's G3 Prix du Bois and G2 Prix Robert Papin, the Christopher Head trainee now has to stand up to a collective of the best sprinting colts from Britain and Ireland on ground softer than she has encountered so far.

“We can't wait to go to the Morny with her and it has been part of the plan since the beginning,” Head said. “I think she's the type of horse who can box with this calibre of horse at this time in the season. There are going to be two fillies, two French horses and lots of good opposition, but she's doing fine and all the lights are green for the Morny.”

With the track hit by significant rain on Friday, ability to get through tacky ground is going to be a bonus and while race-fitness may be an issue following his minor setback, Ballydoyle's G2 Coventry S.-winning TDN Rising Star River Tiber (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) has at least proven that easy going is not a problem having won by 10 lengths on debut on soft at Navan in April.

Aidan O'Brien has his concerns, however. “He's good, I'm worried that he missed 10 days so he will run with a cloud over him,” he said. “I wouldn't be surprised at all if he did get tired. We are taking a chance on running him back, because if he doesn't run now he won't be out until the autumn. He came sounder quicker than we thought he would, he did a piece of work and that's why we let him take his chance, but there is a cloud over him. If he did run disappointing I wouldn't be surprised. He was lame for seven days, he came back sound but he missed all the work.”

It was soft when KHK Racing's Vandeek (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}) won the G2 Richmond S. during a rain-afflicted Qatar Goodwood Festival and there is a concern that Clive Cox withdrew Al Mohamediya Racing's G2 July S. winner Jasour (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}) from that race due to the ground. Karl Burke will have less worries about conditions for Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum's Elite Status (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}), who bounced out of a third in the G2 Norfolk S. won by Valiant Force (Malibu Moon) to take the course-and-distance G3 Prix de Cabourg from the other French runner Sajir (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}).

Chris Wall, racing manager for KHK Racing, said of Vandeek, “We're not kidding ourselves, we know we're in at the deep end, but he's done nothing but improve and physically he is getting stronger all the time. The ground at Goodwood last time was very soft and while he coped with that, I think he will be better on a sounder surface. I think he's going to run a nice race.”

Clive Cox said of Jasour, “We were unhappy to run at Goodwood with a penalty in what was effectively heavy ground and with this race on the horizon it was a sensible manoeuvre not to run him there. We've been placed in the race since winning it with Reckless Abandon. Nando Parrado and Golden Horde ran well in the race, as well as Tis Marvellous. I'm just thrilled I have a horse of this calibre to be running in the race again and of course it would mean the world to be getting involved in the finish, which we hope he will.”

Rain Welcome For Via Sistina…

Connections of the G1 Pretty Polly S. heroine Via Sistina (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) were delighted to see the heavy rain ahead of the G1 Sumbe Prix Jean Romanet as she steps back up from a mile having been third in the G1 Falmouth S. at Newmarket's July Festival. In light of subsequent events, her six-length defeat of Al Husn (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in Newmarket's G2 Dahlia S. in May looks even better than it did at the time and trainer George Boughey is approaching Sunday's race with confidence. “She had a little break after the Falmouth and I slightly regret running her back over a mile in hindsight,” he said. “She's a filly who hit the line really well in the Pretty Polly and arguably might get further, but she was an even-money shot and it was definitely worth a go. She added another bit of group one black-type to her pedigree and I think you will see the real Via Sistina back up at 10 furlongs.”

Testing ground would probably not have been what Andre Fabre wanted for Baron Edouard De Rothschild's G1 Prix Rothschild winner Mqse De Sevigne (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}), who is back up in trip having relished that mile trip. The Aga Khan's Darkaniya (Fr) (Frankel {GB}) had beaten her in Chantilly's 10 1/2-furlong Listed Prix de la Pepiniere last month and may be better suited to this test, while TDN Rising Star Above The Curve (American Pharoah) had Mqse De Sevigne two lengths in arrears in the G2 Prix Corrida at Saint-Cloud in May. The trouble for her is that she failed to land a blow on Via Sistina in the Pretty Polly and couldn't handle Al Husn in Goodwood's G1 Nassau S. so like everything else is up against it tryin again to stop the Hillens' star mare.

Jannah Rose Back In Action…

Also at Deauville, the 10-furlong G2 Sumbe Prix Alec Head sees the G1 Prix Saint-Alary heroine Jannah Rose (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) re-emerge following her disappointing effort in the G1 Prix de Diane. That also applies to the G3 Prix Penelope-winning TDN Rising Star Pensee Du Jour (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), one of the first of the Wildenstein-bred horses to run in the Wertheimer colours following their acquisition of the organisation's bloodstock.

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