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Son of Midshipman ‘Reserves’ Spot in Sprint Starting Gate

Reformed claimer Special Reserve pressed, pounced and held on late to earn a guaranteed spot in the starting gate for the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint Friday.

Scooped up for $40,000 from Randy Morse and Doyle Williams out of an upset optional claiming tally at Oaklawn in February–good for what at the time was by far his best career Beyer Speed Figure of 92–the late-blooming 5-year-old won right back at that level (not in for the tag) in March before finishing second in the GIII Commonwealth S. over an additional furlong here Apr. 3. He made the grade in Pimlico's GIII Maryland Sprint Match Series S. May 15, bested Quick Tempo (Tapizar) and a next-out stakes winner in the Iowa Sprint at Prairie Meadows July 3 and had been off since finishing a close second in Saratoga's GI Alfred H. Vanderbilt H. four weeks after that.

Away on top, Special Reserve conceded the lead down the backside to freewheeling Quick Tempo through an opening quarter of :21.90. He took back over into a :44.69 half, opened up and then found the line just in time to hold off lightly raced Aloha West in the final strides.

“He broke really well, and it looked like [Sophie Doyle on Quick Tempo] came up right away, and he was fine with that,” said red-hot rider Joel Rosario. “He kind of settled a little bit there, nice and quiet, and then in the turn when the horse was backing up a little bit, he was just ready to go.”

When asked if he thought his charge could contend with Breeders' Cup-caliber sprinters, trainer Maker said, “I do believe that. I have a lot of faith in the horse. Joel did a fabulous job today I wasn't expecting to be on the lead today [out of the gate], but the horse was so quick.”

Saturday, Keeneland
STOLL KEENON OGDEN PHOENIX S.-GII, $250,000, Keeneland, 10-8, 3yo/up, 6f, 1:08.54, ft.
1–SPECIAL RESERVE, 120, g, 5, by Midshipman
                1st Dam: Love Spun, by Hard Spun
                2nd Dam: We Love Granny, by Home At Last
                3rd Dam: Granny Calling, by Blade
($60,000 Ylg '17 FTKJUL; $140,000 2yo '18 OBSMAR).
O-Paradise Farms Corp. and Staudacher, David; B-Russell L.
Reineman Stables Inc. (KY); T-Michael J. Maker; J-Joel Rosario.
$150,000. Lifetime Record: GISP, 22-8-2-7, $638,647. Werk Nick
Rating: C. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Aloha West, 120, c, 4, Hard Spun–Island Bound, by
Speightstown. ($160,000 Ylg '18 KEESEP). O-Eclipse
Thoroughbred Partners; B-Robert Manfuso & Katharine Voss
(MD); T-Wayne M. Catalano. $50,000.
3–Mucho, 120, h, 5, Blame–Extent, by Pulpit. O-WSS Racing,
LLC and 4 G Racing, LLC; B-Claiborne Farm & Adele B.
Dilschneider (KY); T-John Alexander Ortiz. $25,000.
'TDN Rising Star'
Margins: NK, 2, 3. Odds: 1.20, 1.70, 13.40.
Also Ran: Endorsed, Sir Alfred James, Just Might, Quick Tempo. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

Pedigree Notes:
A green :21 2/5 breezer at the 2018 OBS March sale, Special Reserve is one of 22 graded/group winners for his sire–seven of which have earned that achievement in the Northern Hemisphere. He is one of 13 graded/group winners out of mares by Hard Spun.

The winner's dam was well beaten in four career starts. She is a half to GSW/MGISP Original Spin (Distorted Humor) and MSW/GSP Humor at Last (Distorted Humor). Love Spun sold to Mapleton Thoroughbred Farm for $6,500 carrying a full brother to Special Reserve. She produced a Cowtown Cat colt Mar. 28 before being bred back to that Ohio-based stallion for 2022.

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Favored Special Reserve Delivers In Phoenix

Despite not making his stakes debut until his 5-year-old son, Paradise Farms and David Staudacher's Special Reserve has proven he deserves a chance against the world's best sprinters next month at Del Mar. This Friday, the son of Midshipman delivered as the 6-5 favorite in the Grade 2 Phoenix Stakes at Keeneland, earning an expenses-paid berth for the Breeders' Cup Sprint.

Jockey Joel Rosario never panicked when losing the early lead, and kept Special Reserve driving through the finish line to hold off the late charge of Aloha West by a neck. Special Reserve completed six furlongs over the fast main track in 1:08.54, giving trainer Mike Maker his first victory in the Phoenix.

Special Reserve was very quick out of the gate, leading for the first sixteenth of a mile until Quick Tempo rushed up the inside to take command by a length. Quick Tempo led through fractions of :21.90 and :44.69, with Rosario waiting patiently in second on Special Reserve. Just Might was close up in third, while Mucho stayed near the rail in fourth.

Rounding the turn, Rosario allowed Special Reserve to take over and set him down for the stretch run. Just Might went three wide but failed to sustain his bid. Mucho had to wait for racing room as he moved by the tiring Quick Tempo, while Aloha West began to unleash his rally way out in the center of the course.

Special Reserve was kept to task through the wire, and had just enough left to fend off the challenge from Aloha West, winning by a neck at the wire. Mucho checked in third, while Endorsed closed to fill out the superfecta.

Bred in Kentucky by Russell L. Reineman, Special Reserve is out of the Hard Spun mare Love Spun. He commanded $60,000 as a yearling at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July sale, and later brought a final bid of $140,000 at the OBS March 2-year-old sale. Special Reserve began his career in the barn of Randy Mores. He required six starts to break his maiden, and ran in the claiming ranks for a tag as low as $25,000.

Maker claimed Special Reserve for $40,000 in February of this year, and the horse has not finished worse than second since. He was second in the G3 Commonwealth at Keeneland in April, then won the G3 Maryland Sprint at Pimlico in July. Next out Special Reserve won the listed Iowa Sprint Stakes on July 3 at Prairie Meadows, and followed up that effort with a second in the G1 Vanderbilt at Saratoga on July 31, beaten just a half-length by Lexitonian.

Overall, Special Reserve's record stands at eight wins from 22 starts, with earnings of $638,647.

The post Favored Special Reserve Delivers In Phoenix appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Midshipman Filly Picks Up Where She Left Off in Skidmore

Averly Jane, whose half-brother Chattel (Giant Oak) belied 22-1 odds when he took this race in 2018, followed in big bro's hoofsteps while remaining unbeaten in her first start since April and beating the boys. An 8 3/4-length debut romper at Keeneland Apr. 5, the Fasig-Tipton October value buy returned just 13 days later to also best males in the Kentucky Juvenile S. during GI Kentucky Derby week Apr. 28. She returned to the worktab in Lexington at the end of June, and was the public's pick here as a main-track only entrant and one of three signed on for Wesley Ward.

Rocketing out of the gate to clear early, the bay was still in total control after a :45 flat half and glided home all by herself the easiest of winners.

“When you're riding for Wesley Ward, you know they have speed and just hopefully they last and today, she did,” winning rider Tyler Gaffalione said. “She broke on top and I was able to just put my hands down and let her relax and she did everything on her own. She's a rocket. I had plenty left in the tank. We could have went a lot quicker even early on but we only used what we needed.”

Ward said of the winner, “She's a nice filly. We were kind of going back and forth with the [Sept. 5 GI] Spinaway. We'll talk it over with Gatewood Bell [of Hat Creek racing]. He picked her out and he does a great job picking horses out. We'll get with him and make a plan from there. It'll probably be the [GI Darley] Alcibiades [at Keeneland Oct. 8], which is in Gatewood's hometown. That's where she's trained her whole life.”

Averly Jane has a yearling half-brother by Brody's Cause. Her dam was not bred for 2021 but most recently visited World of Trouble.

SKIDMORE S., $120,000, Saratoga, 8-20, 2yo, 5 1/2f (off turf), 1:03.79, ft.
1–AVERLY JANE, 119, f, 2, by Midshipman
                1st Dam: Sh Sh Shakin', by Richter Scale
                2nd Dam: Capote's Gift, by Capote
                3rd Dam: Bubbles Darlene, by Fappiano
($35,000 Ylg '20 FTKOCT). O-Hat Creek Racing; B-University of
Kentucky (KY); T-Wesley A. Ward; J-Tyler Gaffalione. $66,000.
Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0, $193,140. *1/2 to Chattel (Giant
Oak), SW, $111,540.
2–Pure Panic, 122, c, 2, Summer Front–Shock the World, by
Hansen. ($24,000 RNA Wlg '19 KEENOV; $42,000 RNA Ylg '20
KEESEP; $170,000 RNA 2yo '21 OBSMAR). O/B-Kendall E.
Hansen, M.D. Racing, LLC (KY); T-Michael J. Maker. $24,000.
3–Overbore, 122, c, 2, Speightstown–Galina Point, by Saffir.
($275,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Peter Leidel; B-WinStar Farm, LLC
(KY); T-Wesley A. Ward. $14,400.
Margins: 7 1/4, 3/4, HD. Odds: 1.60, 5.90, 3.90.
Also Ran: Golden Bell, Catch the Smoke, Backnthewoods, Bonus Appreciation, Baytown Warrior, Barone Cesco. Scratched: Kaufymaker. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Will Take Charge, Midshipman Shuttling To Uruguay For Southern Hemisphere Season

A pair of Eclipse Award-winning sons of Unbridled's Song will shuttle to Haras Phillipson in Uruguay for the upcoming Southern Hemisphere breeding season, in Will Take Charge and Midshipman, the South American publication Turf Diario reports.

Will Take Charge, an 11-year-old son of Unbridled's Song, will ship to Haras Phillipson for the second consecutive year. He is wrapping up his seventh Northern Hemisphere season at Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Ky., where he stood for an advertised fee of $5,000.

From four crops of racing age, Will Take Charge has sired 132 winners and he's compiled progeny earnings of more than $10.4 million. His runners are led by Grade 3 winner Will's Secret and Grade 1-placed Manny Wah. In South America, his offspring include Peruvian Group 2 winner Esidio.

Will Take Charge earned the Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old male in 2013 on the strength of a campaign that included wins in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes and Clark Handicap, the G2 Rebel Stakes and Pennsylvania Derby, and the G3 Smarty Jones Stakes, along with a runner-up effort in the Breeders' Cup Classic. At four, he won the G2 Razorback Handicap and ran second in the G1 Santa Anita Handicap, Donn Handicap, and Stephen Foster Handicap.

Midshipman is a veteran of the South American breeding ranks, having previously shuttled to farms in Brazil and Chile. The 15-year-old stands at Darley America in Lexington, Ky., where he was advertised in 2021 for $7,500.

With eight crops of racing age, Midshipman has sired 310 winners with combined progeny earnings of more than $28.4 million. Domestically, his highlights at stud include Grade 2 winner Princess Warrior, and Grade 3 winners including Lady Shipman and Sassy Sienna.

Midshipman has seen his greatest success in the Southern Hemisphere, including Brazilian 2,000 Guineas winner Royal Ship, who later shipped to the U.S. and became a Grade 2 winner. Other Southern Hemisphere runners of note include Brazilian Group 1 winners Tanganyka and Tweet, as well as Chilean Group 1 winner Succeso.

Midshipman was named champion 2-year-old male of 2008, after winning that year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile and the G1 Del Mar Futurity.

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