monmouth park | Horse Racing Free Tips

TVG Live At Keeneland For Major Stakes Coverage This Weekend

TVG, America's horse racing network and leading ADW platform, will be live at Keeneland for a loaded card this Saturday featuring two graded stakes races including the $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (GI). In addition to Keeneland, the award-winning network will also be trackside at Santa Anita and Monmouth Park.

At Keeneland, TVG will be live on site all weekend with Todd Schrupp, Scott Hazelton, Caleb Keller, Gabby Gaudet and Caton Bredar bringing behind-the-scenes coverage, selections and interviews to viewers watching from home. Friday's featured event at Keeneland is the $150,000 Buffalo Trace Franklin County Stakes (GIII) which has drawn a field of twelve including Got Stormy, the heavy favorite at odds of 6-5 on the morning line for trainer Mark Casse. The popular five-year-old mare was the runner-up in the TVG Breeders' Cup Mile (GI) in 2019 and was last seen winning the Kentucky Downs Ladies Sprint Stakes (GIII). Tyler Gaffalione will be aboard.

The ten-race card on Saturday will feature a pair of graded stakes races – the $200,000 Hagyard Fayette Stakes (GII) and the $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (GI). Scheduled to be run at a mile and an eighth on the turf, the race has drawn a contentious field of nine three-year-old fillies including Magic Attitude (GB) and Antoinette, the one-two finishers in the Belmont Oaks Invitational (GI) in September.

The action continues at Monmouth Park and TVG's Tom Cassidy will be live trackside. The featured event of the ten-race card is the $150,000 Monmouth Stakes (GIII) which will be contested at a mile and an eighth on the turf. Trainer Chad Brown will send out two contenders – Serve the King (GB) with Antonio Gallardo in the irons and Almanaar (GB) with jockey Joe Bravo aboard. Almanaar (GB) will be making his first start since winning this race in 2019.

At Santa Anita, the California breeding program will take center stage in the $100,000 California Distaff Handicap featuring California-bred or sired fillies and mares going five and a half furlongs on the turf. TVG will have Christina Blacker, Mike Joyce and Britney Eurton live at the track with analysis, interviews and selections. Simon Bray will be contributing to the broadcast remotely from home.

In addition to racing from Keeneland, Santa Anita and Monmouth Park, TVG will also be showing racing from Gulfstream Park West, Charles Town, Golden Gate and more.

The post TVG Live At Keeneland For Major Stakes Coverage This Weekend appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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It Can Be Done Among Ferrer’s Five Winners Sunday At Monmouth Park

The stakes were considerably higher but the tactics were exactly the same for jockey Jose Ferrer on Sunday at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J. Get to the lead, slow down the fractions and steal off with a grass route race.

The veteran rider did that in a Maiden Special Weight race early on the card at Monmouth Park from an outside post on Sunday at odds of 18-1 and the repeated the strategy with 6-1 shot It Can Be Done in the inaugural running of the $150,000 Nownownow Stakes, scoring a comfortable 2½-length victory over Mischievous Dream in the one-mile turf feature for 2-year-olds.

Ferrer won five races on the 12-race card.

“Jose is a master of getting to the lead and slowing it down on the turf,” said winning trainer Gregg Sacco. “He had to go a little fast the first quarter but he slowed it down the second quarter and when that happens if you have horse you have horse.”

Neither Sacco nor Ferrer was sure about It Can Be Done's lasting power since he had only sprinted his first three career starts, including a 41/2-length victory in a Maiden Special Weight race in his last start on Sept. 20.

Though Ferrer had to use the Kentucky-bred son of Temple City to get the lead from the outside post in the eight-horse field, going :23.38 for the first quarter, he backed down the half to :48.33 and was able to lope to three-quarters of a mile in 1:13.52.

The final time over the firm turf course was 1:37.57.

Sapling winner Mischievous Dream, a closer and the only filly in the field, could never make up ground in the stretch because of Ferrer's ability to control a leisurely pace.

“The game plan was just what happened – get to the lead and slow it down,” said Ferrer. “That was the intention, to walk the dogs. Coming from races at three-quarters to this I knew he was going to want to show some speed. The first quarter was a little quick but once he made the lead he settled down and I was able to nurse him on the backside. In the stretch he took off like a jet.

“I was a little worried about going two turns the first time with him coming from three quarters. Of course I was. But the race worked out the way we wanted it to and needed it to.”

Sacco said taking off the blinkers, worn by It Can Be Done his first two starts but not his past two victories, has made the difference for the gelding.

“We only sprinted him before this but the first two starts we had blinkers on him. The key was taking them off,” said Sacco. “He's bred to run all day. He's a medium-sized horse with a great length of stride. From his gallops in the morning we didn't think distance would be a limitation but we were jumping from a Maiden Special Weight race to a stakes race and there were some talented horses in the race so we knew were coming into a tough heat.

“He ran dynamite on the turf in his only grass start (prior to this). He ran right up to the leader but he wouldn't go by him with the blinkers. He put it all together in his last start. You don't know about two turns until you stretch them out but it was really nice.”

It Can Be Done, owned by Red Oak Stable, paid $14.00 to win.

Mischievous Dream held off No One To Blame for second by a nose.

Racing resumes for the Meadowlands-at-Monmouth Park meet with a 10-race card on Wednesday, Oct. 7. First race post time is 12:50 p.m.

The post It Can Be Done Among Ferrer’s Five Winners Sunday At Monmouth Park appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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New Jersey Lawmakers Cut Only 25 Percent Of Purse Subsidy For 2021 Racing Season

Though the initial budget proposal floated by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy cut the state's entire $20 million horse racing subsidy, the budget passed on Tuesday by state lawmakers reduced the subsidy by only $5 million. According to the Thoroughbred Daily News, the 2021 racing season will have a purse subsidy of $15 million, to be split evenly between Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds.

Dennis Drazin, Chairman and CEO of Darby Development, which manages Monmouth Park, said he believes the $5 million difference won't cause purse reductions for the track's 2021 season.

“I am pleased that the Governor has seen fit to give us back 15 of the $20 million that is going to go support purses next year,” Drazin told thoroughbreddailynews.com. “Since it was taken out of the budget, we have worked hard on this and, fortunately, through leadership in the Senate and the Assembly, as well as a lot of our local politicians who supported the effort, the Governor saw fit to put it back in the budget. We would have liked to have had the full $20 million, but given that he is cutting everybody, I am thrilled that the Governor has our back and recognizes the importance of the industry and how important it is to save a lot of jobs and keep us competitive.”

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.

The post New Jersey Lawmakers Cut Only 25 Percent Of Purse Subsidy For 2021 Racing Season appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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‘Highly Touted’ Early, Winchell Hopes Pneumatic Delivers On That Promise In Preakness

Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC's Pneumatic arrived at Pimlico early afternoon Tuesday for a start in Saturday's 145th Preakness Stakes (G1).

As racing manager for Winchell Thoroughbreds since 1980, David Fiske has seen horses such as Grade 1 winners Untapable, Tapizar and Summerly and graded-stakes winning millionaires Zanjero, Tapiture, Tenfold and Pyro come to hand.

In Pneumatic, who traveled by van from Saratoga, NY, Fiske sees a colt that is just now beginning to realize his potential.

A homebred by champion Uncle Mo out of the Tapit mare Teardrop, Pneumatic went unraced as a 2-year-old, spending time at the El Primero Training Center in Laredo, Texas owned and operated by Keith and Marilyn Asmussen. Their son, Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, is Pneumatic's trainer.

Pneumatic broke his maiden at first asking Feb. 15 at Oaklawn Park, getting up by a neck while sprinting six furlongs, then beat Captain Bombastic – already a stakes winner who would go on to win two more – his first time facing winners April 11.

“He came out of Laredo pretty highly touted and flashing some talent,” Fiske said.

Pneumatic made his stakes debut in the 1 1/16-mile Matt Winn (G3), battling for the lead through the Churchill Downs stretch before yielding and running third, beaten 1 ¾ lengths. That effort earned him a date in the June 20 Belmont Stakes (G1), the traditional third leg of the Triple Crown that was shortened to 1 1/8 miles and moved up to the leadoff spot due to the postponements of the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness, finishing fourth.

“Like everybody else, we've had a little bit of trouble kind of getting our horses where we want them this year,” Fiske said. “The stakes schedule just got put into a blender. We're talking about the Preakness and it's the end of September.

“It's just been hard to get on a schedule and a rhythm and get the right prep races and stepping-stones in place for where you want to be. [Pneumatic] has kind of suffered from that a little bit this year, but he's doing well so hopefully he'll run well.”

In his most recent start, Pneumatic rolled to a popular 2 ¼-length triumph in the 1 1/16-mile Pegasus Aug. 15 at Monmouth Park under Joe Bravo, who will return to ride in the Preakness. They drew Post 10 in a field of 11 and were installed at 20-1 on the morning line.

Bravo has ridden in the Preakness four times, his best finish being his most recent, running fifth with Teeth of the Dog in 2012. Pneumatic prepared for the Preakness at the Oklahoma training track in Saratoga, following a bullet five-furlong move in 1:00.85 Sept. 21 with a maintenance half-mile in 50.20 seconds Sept. 28.

“Pneumatic is doing great. He seems to be coming up to the race in great shape,” Fiske said. “He's typically forwardly placed and he usually breaks well … so we'll see how it goes.”

Asmussen is also scheduled to saddle Max Player and Excession in his quest to win a third Preakness, having previously been victorious with Curlin (2007) and Rachel Alexandra (2009).

William H. Lawrence's Preakness contender Liveyourbeastlife arrived by van from Belmont shortly after Pneumatic Tuesday afternoon.

The post ‘Highly Touted’ Early, Winchell Hopes Pneumatic Delivers On That Promise In Preakness appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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