Disarm was second in the GII Louisiana Derby in March and earned his spot in the Kentucky Derby with a third-place effort in the Apr. 15 GIII Lexington S.

Sunday, Ellis Park
MATT WINN S.-GIII, $400,000, Ellis, 6-11, 3yo, 1 1/8m, 1:49.59, sy.
1–DISARM, 118, c, 3, by Gun Runner
         1st Dam: Easy Tap, by Tapit
         2nd Dam: Easily, by Vicar
         3rd Dam: White Jasmine, by Whitesburg
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. 'TDN Rising Star'. O/B-Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen; J-Joel Rosario. $242,850. Lifetime Record: 7-2-2-2, $720,700. *1/2 to Tap Daddy (Scat Daddy), Ch. Stayer-Ven, SW & GSP-USA, MSW-Ven, $252,384; 1/2 to Total Tap (Candy Ride {Arg}), MSP, $221,112. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree or free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Verifying, 118, c, 3, Justify–Diva Delite, by Repent. ($775,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-Westerberg, Mrs. John Magnier, Jonathan Poulin, Derrick Smith and Michael B. Tabor; B-Hunter Valley & Mountmellick Farm, LLC (KY); T-Brad H. Cox. $78,500.
3–Bo Cruz, 118, c, 3, Creative Cause–Quick Breeze, by Ghostzapper. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. 'TDN Rising Star'. ($45,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-Skyscraper Racing, LLC, Racingwithbruno, Brian Pagano, and Patrick Grippo; B-Douglas Scharbauer (KY); T-Albert M. Stall, Jr.. $39,250.
Margins: HF, 4 3/4, 1 3/4. Odds: 1.12, 2.26, 4.06.
Also Ran: Raise Cain, Denington, Go Soldier Go, King Russell.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs.

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Trained by Brad Cox, Fulsome ran 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in 1:42.88 and paid $5.40 to win as the 8-5 favorite in his third consecutive victory. Second betting choice at 9-5, O Besos, coming off a fifth-place finish in the G1 Kentucky Derby, was second, with the Derby's eighth-place finisher, Helium, third at 5-2 odds.

Southern Passage, Ready to Pounce, Game Day Play and Sittin On Go completed the order of finish. Hello Hot Rod was scratched.

Helium, winner of the G2 Tampa Bay Derby in March, set the fractions, going :23.75, :48.69 and 1:13.26 for the first six furlongs under Julien Leparoux. Longshot Game Day Play applied pressure under David Cohen, with O Besos making a move on the leaders on the turn for home.

Fulsome began moving up approaching the far turn, rallied wide into the stretch and won geared down at the end after passing the mile marker in 1:36.78.

“I was pretty confident he could take some dirt in his face and got him to relax early,” said Geroux. “I was just hoping they were going fast up front after the slow break. He was able to go past those horses easily to win.”

This was the third consecutive victory for Fulsome, who made his first four starts on turf, winning just once in a maiden race at Fair Grounds on Jan. 16, 2021. He made his dirt debut at Keeneland on April 10 in a race that was taken off the turf because of rain. He drew off that day to win by  3 1/2 lengths in the slop and and came three weeks later to win the $300,000 Oaklawn Stakes by 1 1/4 lengths at Oaklawn Park.

“He had two solid works here at Churchill after winning the Oaklawn Stakes,” said Cox. “We were very confident in him by the way he was training. He got off a step slow but he really finished up fast today and was impressive doing so.”

The post Fulsome Edges O Besos, Helium In Matt Winn For Third Consecutive Victory appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The 1 1/16-mile Matt Winn shares the Saturday spotlight with the $150,000 Regret (G3), $150,000 Aristides (Listed), $150,000 Blame, $150,000 Shawnee, $150,000 Audubon and $110,000 Douglas Park Overnight Stakes. The action-packed program gets underway at 12:45 p.m. (all times Eastern) and the Matt Winn is carded as Race 9 at 4:55 p.m.

O Besos, a 3-year-old son of Orb, closed into the early Kentucky Derby pace but flattened in the final furlong to cross the wire fifth. Trained by Greg Foley, O Besos had several options on the table following the Derby but opted to stay at Churchill Downs for the Matt Winn.

“We love running at Churchill and this race gives us plenty of options going forward,” Foley said. “He worked an easy half-mile (in :49) Monday morning and is doing well from the Derby. We can lead him over for the race right from Barn 11.”

Jockey Marcelino Pedroza, who rode O Besos to a third-place finish in the $1 million TwinSpires.com Louisiana Derby (G2) and in the Kentucky Derby, has the call in the Matt Winn from post No. 3.

Chief among O Besos' rivals in the Matt Winn is D J Stable's $400,000 Tampa Bay Derby (G2) winner Helium. The Mark Casse trainee finished 10th in the Kentucky Derby. He'll be ridden in Saturday's race by Julien Leparoux from post 2.

Also entered in the Matt Winn field is Juddmonte's $300,000 Oaklawn Stakes winner Fulsome. Trained by Brad Cox, Fulsome broke his maiden on turf but was transitioned to dirt in April at Keeneland when a first-level allowance event changed surfaces due to inclement weather. Fulsome defeated six rivals by 3 ½ lengths that day, which catapulted him to a 1 ¼-length win in the Oaklawn Stakes on May 1.

Florent Geroux has the mount from post 5.

The complete field for the Matt Winn (from the rail out with jockey and trainer): Ready to Pounce (Brian Hernandez Jr., Neil Pessin); Helium (Leparoux, Casse); O Besos (Pedroza, Foley); Southern Passage (Corey Lanerie, Dale Romans); Fulsome (Geroux, Cox); Hello Hot Rod (Francisco Arrieta, Caio Caramori); Sittin On Go (Joe Talamo, Romans); and Game Day Play (David Cohen, Robertino Diodoro).

Churchill Downs' admission gates will open Saturday at 11:30 a.m. and tickets, starting at $5, are available on www.ChurchillDowns.com/tickets. For those outside the Louisville area, all 11 races are scheduled to be televised on Fox Sports 2 from 12:30-6 p.m. Fans can also watch the live simulcast feed and wager on www.TwinSpires.com, the official ADW of Churchill Downs Incorporated.

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Trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. has enjoyed seeing the colt move forward over the first half of the 2020 season, beginning with an allowance win at Gulfstream in January. Shipped over to New Orleans for the Risen Star, Ny Traffic finished third. In March, the colt ran a good second behind Wells Bayou in the Louisiana Derby.

After a short break, Ny Traffic returned to the races in the G3 Matt Winn Stakes at Churchill Downs on May 23. The colt ran a big race to finish second to top Derby contender Maxfield, beaten a length at the wire.

Ny Traffic currently has 70 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, likely enough to guarantee him a spot in the starting gate on the first Saturday in September. Should the colt continue to show improvement the way he did in the first part of the year, Ny Traffic could be a major player in the Haskell.

“It hasn't been huge jumps, but it's been just progressive jumps,” said Joseph. “And that's what you want to see from a 3-year-old because he's headed in the right direction. I don't think he was the best horse of the crop, but the way things have worked out, he's just climbing higher and higher.”

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John Fanelli, Cash Is King LLC, LC Racing and Paul Braverman's Ny Traffic returned to the worktab for the first time since finishing second in the May 23 Matt Winn (G3) at Churchill Downs. The son of Cross Traffic breezed three-furlongs in 37.50 seconds.

“He went an easy three-eighths,” Joseph said. “We're not sure where we're going to go yet – probably the [Grade 2] Blue Grass, [July 11 at Keeneland], the [Grade 1] Haskell [July 18 at Monmouth Park], the [Grade 3] Indiana Derby [July 8 at Indiana Grand] or the [Grade 3] Ohio Derby [June 27 at Thistledown]. We're going to talk it over.”

Ny Traffic, who finished a length behind Maxfield in the Matt Winn, previously finished second, 1 ½ lengths behind Wells Bayou in the Louisiana Derby (G2), and third in the Risen Star (G2) at Fair Grounds. In his first start for Joseph, the New York-bred colt scored a front-running 6 ¾-length romp in a 1 1/16-mile optional claiming allowance at Gulfstream Jan. 11.

Ny Traffic currently ranks seventh with 70 Kentucky Derby qualifying points.

Slam Dunk Racing, Doug Branham and Legacy Racing Inc.'s Tonalist's Shape breezed a half-mile in 46.75 seconds, the fastest of 68 recorded at the distance, following up a three-furlong workout in a solid 35.50 seconds a week earlier.

“She was never a super work horse, but her last two works have been really good,” Joseph said. “We haven't decided where we're going to go. The [Grade 1] Acorn [June 20 at Belmont Park] is a possibility. Maybe the [Grade 1] Ashland [Aug. 1 at Keeneland]. There's an outside possibility she could go in the [Grade 3] Delaware Oaks [July 4 at Delaware Park].”

Tonalist's Shape is coming off a sharp 3 ¾-length victory in the May 15 Hollywood Wildcat, her first around two turns, rebounding from sustaining her first career loss in the March 28 Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2). The Kentucky-bred filly had won her first five starts, including victories in the Forward Gal (G3) and the Davona Dale (G2) during the 2019-2020 Championship Meet at Gulfstream.

Tonalist's Shape currently ranks sixth with 60 Kentucky Oaks qualifying points.

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