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The Friday Show Presented By Diamond B Farm’s Rowayton: Showtime At Fonner Park

On this week's edition of The Friday Show, Ray Paulick and Joe Nevills are joined by Fonner Park CEO Chris Kotulak as opening day at the Nebraska track draws near. Kotulak discusses how the track has managed the nationwide polar vortex, how the recent approval of casino gaming will affect the operation, and what gives Fonner Park its unique charm.

Ray and Joe then salute Star of the Week Maxfield, and give a toast to Spendthrift Farm's Vino Rosso in a new segment spotlighting the stallion's first foals.

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Stablemates Knicks Go, Essential Quality Top First NTRA Polls Of 2021

Last month, Brad Cox earned his first Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer as a result of his barn's superior exploits during the 2020 season. The Louisville native looks primed to continue that stellar run this year as his trainees Knicks Go and reigning juvenile male champion Essential Quality rank as the top vote getters in the first editions of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) Top Thoroughbred Poll and NTRA Top Three-Year-Old Thoroughbred Poll, respectively, for 2021.

Knicks Go captured the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile in track-record setting fashion last November to cap off his 2020 campaign. The 5-year-old son of Paynter further signaled his presence as a leader in the handicap division when he began 2021 with a triumph in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes on Jan. 23, an effort that helped earn him 27 first-place votes and 341 total points.

Knicks Go is slated to be among the favorites for Saturday's $20 million Saudi Cup where he is set to face fellow Grade 1 winner Charlatan, who notched 4 first-place votes and 250 points to rank second on the year's first Top Thoroughbred Poll.

Godolphin's unbeaten homebred Maxfield, winner of the Grade 3 Mineshaft Stakes at Fair Grounds on Feb. 13, ranks third with 1 first-place vote and 232 points while champion distaffer Monomoy Girl (3 first-place votes, 223 points) sits fourth.

Colonel Liam, who captured the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes on January 23, is fifth with 146 points followed by champion filly Swiss Skydiver (124 points), Jesus' Team (102), and champion female sprinter Gamine (72).

Channel Maker, the champion turf male of 2020, is ninth with 56 points while champion male sprinter Whitmore (55 points) rounds out the top ten.

Godolphin homebred Essential Quality went unbeaten in three starts during his 2-year-old campaign, including victories in the Grade 1 Breeders' Futurity and Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Fittingly, the son of Tapit heads up the year's first Top Three-Year-Old Poll with 24 first-place votes and 325 points.

The Bob Baffert-trained Life Is Good ranks second with 5 first-place votes and 272 points while Mandaloun, winner of the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes this past weekend, is third with 4 first-place votes and 212 points.

Holy Bull Stakes winner Greatest Honour (1 first-place vote, 204 points) sits fourth with Medina Spirit (176 points) in fifth. Caddo River (1 first-place vote, 137 points) ranks sixth followed by Concert Tour (85 points), Keepmeinmind (84), and Jackie's Warrior (66). Risk Taking (63 points) completes the top ten.

The NTRA Top Thoroughbred polls are the sport's most comprehensive surveys of experts. Every week eligible journalists and broadcasters cast votes for their top 10 horses, with points awarded on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. All horses that have raced in the U.S., are in training in the U.S., or are known to be pointing to a major event in the U.S. are eligible for the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll. Voting in the Top Three-Year-Old Thoroughbred Poll concludes following the Belmont Stakes on June 5 and the Top Thoroughbred Poll is scheduled to be conducted through November 6.

The full results for the NTRA Thoroughbred Polls can be found on the NTRA website at:

https://www.ntra.com/ntra-top-thoroughbred-poll-february-16-2021/

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Maxfield Remains Unbeaten With Facile Triumph In Mineshaft

Godolphin homebred Maxfield registered his fifth career victory without a defeat, easily winning Saturday's Grade 3, $200,000 Mineshaft Stakes at Fair Grounds in New Orleans, La.

The 4-year-old Brendan Walsh-trained son of Street Sense, ridden by Florent Geroux, ran 1 1 1/6 miles on a fast track in 1:43.67 and paid $3.20 as the 3-5 betting favorite. Sonneman finished second at 18-1, with 12-1 shot Chess Chief third and 5-1 Blackberry Wine fourth in the field of six older horses. Wells Bayou was scratched.

Dinar was sent by jockey Shaun Bridgmohan to secure the early lead, going the opening quarter mile in :23.97, then opening up a sizable advantage in the run down the backstretch, the half mile in :47.49. Blackberry was a distant second at this point, just ahead of Maxfield, who broke inwardly at the start, and Chess Chief.

Approaching the far turn after six furlongs in 1:13.06, Dinar started to come back to the field, with Blackberry Wine and Maxfield moving as a team to tackle the frontrunner as they rounded the turn. Maxfield quickly took command, and after a mile clocking in 1:37.31 pulled away in the final sixteenth of a mile.

Mineshaft won his first two starts at two in 2019, including the G1 Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland, before going to the sidelines on the eve of the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita with a chip in an ankle that required surgery. He returned the following May to win the G3 Matt Winn Stakes at Churchill Downs, but wound up with a condylar fracture, not returning until taking the Tenacious Stakes at Fair Grounds last Dec. 19.

“It's great to get some nice successive runs into him and he's finally turning into the horse we always believed he was,” said Walsh. “He made a nice progression from that last race.”

Walsh was non-committal about Maxfield's next start, saying there are multiple options. “We'll enjoy tonight and we'll have a think about it, then come up with the next spot for him in the next few days.”

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Taking It to the Max: Maxfield Stays Perfect in Style in the Mineshaft

Maxfield (Street Sense) may as well be known as the comeback kid at this point in his career, which has been plagued by injury and misfortune, but he always comes back swinging. Saturday's GIII Mineshaft S. at the Fair Grounds was no exception as the Godolphin homebred scored another good-looking win, taking his perfect record to five-for-five with his second straight win since undergoing surgery for a condylar fracture this summer.

Hammered down to 3-5 favoritism against an overmatched field, Maxfield was antsy in the gate and hopped at the start, settling at the back of the sextet through a :23.97 opening quarter. The bay inched up a bit two wide as 26-1 shot Dinar (Union Rags) ran off on a loose lead, well clear of the field through a :47.49 half-mile. He ranged up alongside Blackberry Wine (Oxbow) on the backstretch run and the pair overtook the tiring Dinar at the top of the lane. Maxfield inhaled Blackberry Wine about a stride later and sailed clear with ease to win for fun. Sonneman (Curlin) rallied to be second.

A debut winner going a mile at Churchill Downs in September 2019, Maxfield romped by 5 1/2 lengths in Keeneland's GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity S. a month later. He was the early favorite heading into that season's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, but defected from the World Championships just days before the race with an ankle chip. Returning to action May 23, the homebred rallied to another convincing score in the GIII Matt Winn S. beneath the Twin Spires, but was forced off the GI Kentucky Derby trail a month later after suffering a condylar fracture to his right front leg during a work out. Making yet another comeback in NOLA Dec. 19, Maxfield proved as good as ever, registering a facile victory in the Tenacious S.

Pedigree Notes:

Maxfield's pedigree has Godolphin all over it from top to bottom, sired by Street Sense–a son of the operation's Street Cry (Ire)–and out of fellow Sheikh Mohammed homebred Velvety, a daughter of Street Sense's barnmate Bernardini. He is one of 11 Grade I winners, 35 graded winners and 77 black-type winners by Street Sense. Maxfield is also one of 11 Grade I victors, 24 graded scorers and 44 black-type winners out of a daughter of Bernardini, who has been increasing his prominence as a broodmare sire. Godolphin went to $3.1-million at the 2000 KEENOV sale to acquire Maxfield's second dam, MGSW Caress (Storm Cat), in foal to Coronado's Quest. Caress is responsible for Grade I-winning sire Sky Mesa (Pulpit) and MGSW Golden Velvet (Seeking the Gold), who is the dam of graded winners Lucullan (Hard Spun) and Innovative Idea (Bernardini). Maxfield was only Velvety's second foal and she has since produced the 3-year-old colt Dubai Vision (Medaglia d'Oro) and a juvenile filly by Medaglia d'Oro. Her 2020 colt by Street Sense died and she was bred back to Uncle Mo. This is also the family of graded winners Good Samaritan (Harlan's Holiday), Brave Nation (Pioneerof the Nile), Country Cat (Storm Cat), Della Francesca (Danzig) and Bernstein (Storm Cat).

Saturday, Fair Grounds
MINESHAFT S.-GIII, $200,000, Fair Grounds, 2-13, 4yo/up, 1 1/16m, 1:43.67, ft.
1–MAXFIELD, 122, c, 4, by Street Sense
1st Dam: Velvety, by Bernardini
2nd Dam: Caress, by Storm Cat
3rd Dam: La Affirmed, by Affirmed
O-Godolphin LLC; B-Godolphin (KY); T-Brendan P Walsh; J-Florent Geroux. $126,000. Lifetime Record: GISW, 5-5-0-0, $615,262. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*.
2–Sonneman, 118, c, 4, Curlin–Zardana (Brz), by Crimson Tide (Ire). ($375,000 Ylg '18 KEESEP). O-Courtlandt Farms (Donald & Donna Adam); B-Arnold Zetcher LLC (KY); T-Steven M Asmussen. $40,000.
3–Chess Chief, 118, h, 5, Into Mischief–Un Blessed, by Mineshaft. ($145,000 RNA Ylg '17 FTSAUG). O-Estate of James J Coleman Jr; B-Morgan's Ford Farm (VA); T-Dallas Stewart. $20,000.
Margins: 3 1/4, HF, 1. Odds: 0.60, 18.30, 12.90.
Also Ran: Blackberry Wine, Enforceable, Dinar. Scratched: Wells Bayou. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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