michael mccarthy | Horse Racing Free Tips

Breeders’ Cup Winner Ce Ce Kicks Off 2022 Campaign In Saturday’s Santa Monica Stakes

Fresh off the biggest win of her career, the Bo Hirsch homebred Ce Ce heads a field of five older fillies and mares going seven furlongs in Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 Santa Monica Stakes at Santa Anita.

A handy 2 ½ length winner of the G1 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint going seven panels at Del Mar Nov. 6, Ce Ce will be bidding for her third consecutive graded stakes win in what will be her first start at age six on Saturday.

With five wins from eight starts at Santa Anita, Ce Ce, who is by Elusive Quality and is out of Hirsch's Grade 1 stakes winning Miss Houdini, by Belong to Me, is a three-time Grade 1 winner who has earnings of $1,753,100 from an overall mark of 16-8-1-3.

Trained by Michael McCarthy, Ce Ce enjoyed a tremendous year at age five, winning four out of her six starts while banking $888,000. She'll again be ridden by Victor Espinoza, who has been aboard for all but two of her career starts.

Bob Baffert will be represented by a pair of distaffers, recent Grade 1 winner Kalypso and Merneith, who ran a big second in the ungraded Kalookan Queen at 6 ½ furlongs Jan. 2 following a nearly one year absence. A winner of last year's Santa Monica, Merneith, a 5-year-old mare by American Pharoah, will be ridden for the third consecutive time by Edwin Maldonado, who was aboard for last year's Santa Monica score.

Owned by HRH Prince Sultan Bin Mishal Al Saud, Merneith, who will hope to improve with a recent race to her credit, is 11-4-4-2 overall with earnings of $373,620.

A 4 ¾ length winner of the G1 La Brea Stakes at seven furlongs Dec. 26, Kalypso will nonetheless be facing tougher competition as she'll be competing against older distaffers for the first time. Owned by Rockingham Ranch, David Bernsen, Littlefield, et al, Kalypso, a 4-year-old daughter of Brody's Cause, has won two of her three starts, including last year's G2 Santa Ynez Stakes at seven furlongs. With an overall mark of 9-3-3-2 and earnings of $480,600, she'll be ridden back by John Velazquez.

Hronis Racing's Park Avenue, who had a two-game winning streak snapped when a well beaten second in the G3 La Canada Stakes going a mile and one sixteenth on Jan. 1, will shorten up out of five consecutive routes in what will be her second stakes engagement.

Trained by John Sadler, Park Avenue, a 4-year-old filly by Quality Road, will be ridden for the third consecutive time by Juan Hernandez.

THE GRADE 2 SANTA MONICA WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 6 of 9 Approximate post time 3 p.m. PT

Kalypso—John Velazquez—124
Ce Ce—Victor Espinoza—124
Merneith – Edwin Maldonado – 122
Full of Grace – Abdul Alsagoor – 120
Park Avenue – Juan Hernandez – 120

First post time for a nine-race card, which will include three graded stakes on Saturday is at 12:30 p.m. Admission gates will open at 10:30 a.m.

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Prat, Friar’s Road Reunite For San Marcos Triumph At Santa Anita

It was conditions to order for trainer Michael McCarthy's Friar's Road in Sunday's Grade 2, $225,000 San Marcos Stakes at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif. With a strong pace to run at, the 5-year-old horse by Quality Road did just that, as he wheeled three-deep turning for home and inhaled dueling leaders Bob and Jackie and Acclimate to register an emphatic 4 ¼-length win. Ridden by Flavien Prat, he got a mile and one quarter on turf in 1:58.67.

“I had been on him a few times in the morning and I was really happy with the way he was training,” said Prat, who hadn't ridden Friar's Road since finishing second on him in a maiden special weight on dirt at Oaklawn Park 10 starts back on May 2, 2020. “There was a strong pace today and he was there for me when it was time to make a move. The pace was key today. He's a big horse with a long stride and you don't want to take too much hold of him.”

Most recently second, beaten a nose in the Grade 3 San Gabriel Stakes which was switched to the dirt on Dec. 26, Friar's Road, who was twice graded stakes placed on turf last year, was off as the even money favorite in a field of five older horses and paid $4.20, $3.00 and $2.20.

“It was fantastic, a great way to end the weekend,” said McCarthy, who chalked up his third stakes win of the meeting.

Owned by Mr. and Mrs. W.K. Warren, Friar's Road, who is out of the Giant's Causeway mare My Sugar Bear, notched his first stakes win and improved his overall mark to 13-3-4-2. With the winner's share of $135,000, he increased his earnings to $346,500.

Ridden by Jose Valdivia, Jr., Bob and Jackie, who won the opening day San Gabriel in gate to wire fashion, was tasked with keeping speedy Acclimate honest on the early lead and tired to finish second, a head better than Say the Word. Off at 13-1, Bob and Jackie paid $9.80 and $4.40.

Say the Word, next to last after the first half mile, put in a mild bid to be third by a 1 ¼ lengths over Lincoln Hawk. Off at 2-1 with Umberto Rispoli, Say the Word paid $2.20 to show.

Fractions on the race were 22.69, 46.60, 1:11.09 and 1:34.98.

The post Prat, Friar’s Road Reunite For San Marcos Triumph At Santa Anita appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Eclipse Finalist Ce Ce Possible For Santa Monica

GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint heroine Ce Ce (Elusive Quality) could launch her 6-year-old campaign in the GII Santa Monica S. at Santa Anita, trainer Michael McCarthy told the Santa Anita notes team before adding that she remains a possibility for the GII Inside Information S. on Pegasus Day at Gulfstream Park next Saturday, Jan. 29.

A run in the Santa Monica would come five days before the 2021 Eclipse Award ceremonies, where Ce Ce is among the three candidates for champion female sprinter.

“We're very proud of her being a finalist for an Eclipse Award,” McCarthy said of the Bo Hirsch homebred. “I thought her year was very good. She shipped a few times and ran respectably wherever she went. Her Breeders' Cup performance was dominating.

“We're leaning this way [Santa Monica], but I'm going to keep all my options open,” he added.

The post Eclipse Finalist Ce Ce Possible For Santa Monica appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Preakness Stakes Winner Rombauer Retired; Stud Plans Pending

Rombauer, the upset winner of the 2021 Preakness Stakes, has been retired from racing after his comeback was halted by a Dec. 31 training injury at Santa Anita Park, Daily Racing Form and Thoroughbred Daily News report.

The 4-year-old son of Twirling Candy had not raced since a third-place effort in last year's Belmont Stakes, after which he'd developed some ankle issues. He'd returned to work in October with trainer Michael McCarthy, but following what owner John Fradkin called a “bad step” during morning training, it was decided to stop on the horse.

Fradkin told the TDN that Rombauer's projected 2022 campaign included the Dubai World Cup, the Grade 1 Pacific Classic, and perhaps a try on turf.

Rombauer retired with three wins in eight starts for earnings of $1,040,500. He won on debut as a 2-year-old at Del Mar, and he finished second in the G1 American Pharoah Stakes later in the year before ending his season with a sixth-place effort in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Keeneland.

He returned at three with a victory in the listed El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields, which earned him a guaranteed spot in that year's Preakness Stakes. Before that, he finished third in the G2 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, and his connections elected to skip the Kentucky Derby.

Rombauer came into the Preakness under the radar, with most of the attention going to Medina Spirit, Midnight Bourbon, and Concert Tour. However, his closing kick under jockey Flavien Prat engulfed the early speed of Medina Spirit and snuffed the stretch drive of Midnight Bourbon to win by 3 1/2 lengths at odds of 11-1.

The colt then finished third to Essential Quality in the Belmont Stakes in what would be his final start.

A homebred for John and Diane Fradkin, Rombauer is out of the unraced Cowboy Cal mare Cashmere, who is herself a Fradkin homebred.

Fradkin told DRF that stud plans were pending for the Preakness winner, acknowledging it was late in the commercial schedule to be making a deal on a new stallion and introducing him to the marketplace.