mucho gusto | Horse Racing Free Tips

Mucho Gusto Returns in San Antonio

GI Pegasus World Cup S. victor Mucho Gusto (Mucho Macho Man) returns to action in Saturday’s GII San Antonio S. after 10 months on the sidelines. A three-time graded winner as a sophomore last term, the $625,000 EASMAY buy hit the board in both the GI Haskell Invitational S. and GI Runhappy Travers S. last summer. Closing out 2019 with a fourth as the favorite in the GIII Oklahoma Derby last September, the ‘TDN Rising Star’ was privately purchased from Michael Lund Petersen by HRH Prince Faisal Bin Khaled with an eye on the inaugural Saudi Cup. The chestnut prepped for that with a dominant score in the Pegasus World Cup Jan. 25 and was fourth to champion Maximum Security (New Year’s Day) in the $20-million Saudi Cup Feb. 29. Given some time off as his Hall of Fame conditioner Bob Baffert picked up some of the top trophies in the older dirt male division with Maximum Security and Improbable (City Zip), Mucho Gusto displays a bullet laden worktab leading up to this event, which his trainer is likely using as a prep for next month’s Pegasus.

The top three from the GIII Native Diver S.–Extra Hope (Shanghai Bobby), Midcourt (Midnight Lute) and Combatant (Scat Daddy)–take a crack at the Baffert heavy hitter here. Combatant scored a career-high earlier this year with a neck success in the GI Santa Anita H. Midcourt is still awaiting a top-level score, but has placed in several Grade Is this term, including the Aug. 22 GI Pacific Classic and Sept. 26 GI Awesome Again S.

The post Mucho Gusto Returns in San Antonio appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Comebacking Mucho Gusto Draws Services Of John Velazquez In Saturday’s San Antonio

A winner of more than $3.1 million this year, Bob Baffert's Mucho Gusto, idle since Feb. 29, heads a field of eight 3-year-olds and up going a mile and one sixteenth in Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 San Antonio Stakes at Santa Anita. One of five graded stakes on an 11-race program, the San Antonio, long a traditional prep to the G1 Santa Anita Handicap, will be contested for the 83rd time on Saturday.

A winner of the G` Pegasus World Cup Invitational two starts back at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 25, Mucho Gusto was a respectable fourth behind stablemate Maximum Security in the G1 $20 million Saudi Cup on Feb. 29 and will be ridden for the first time on Saturday by eastern-based John Velazquez.

Jay Em Ess Stable's homebred Extra Hope comes off an emphatic gate to wire score in the G3 Native Diver Stakes at Del Mar and seeks his third consecutive win for Richard Mandella and jockey Juan Hernandez.

Mark Glatt's versatile Sharp Samurai, an earner of more than $1.1 million, comes off a solid third place finish in the G1 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and rates a huge chance at age six.

MUCHO GUSTO

Owner: HRH Prince Faisal Bin Khaled

Trainer: Bob Baffert

Fourth, beaten 2 ¾ lengths in the Saudi Cup, Mucho Gusto is 12-6-2-2 overall. A 4-year-old colt by Mucho Macho Man, he should show plenty of his customary early zip in his first start in nearly nine months as Baffert seeks his record seventh San Antonio win.

EXTRA HOPE

Owner: Jay Em Ess Stable

Trainer: Richard Mandella

Unbeaten in two starts with hot-riding Juan Hernandez, Extra Hope, a 4-year-old colt by Shanghai Bobby, certainly rates as a “now” commodity. A gate to wire winner of the Native Diver, he'll no doubt be forwardly placed as he cuts back in distance a sixteenth of a mile. The San Antonio will be Extra Hope's fourth start of 2020 as he tries to improve upon an overall mark of 14-4-2-3.

SHARP SAMURAI

Owner : Red Baron's Barn LLC, Rancho Temescal LLC and Mark Glatt

Trainer: Mark Glatt

A winner of seven of 18 turf starts while second five times and third twice, Sharp Samurai will be making his second consecutive start on dirt, a surface that he's now 5-1-1-1 over. A solid second two starts back in the G2 City of Hope over the Santa Anita turf Oct. 3, he was beaten 3 ½ lengths in the G1 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile Nov. 7 and with his class and tactical speed, rates a big chance in the San Antonio.

THE GRADE II SAN ANTONIO WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 7 of 11 Approximate post time 2 p.m. PT

Take the One O One—Jose Valdivia, Jr.—121
Kiss Today Goodbye—Mike Smith—119
Extra Hope—Juan Hernandez—123
Sharp Samurai—Flavien Prat—121
Combatant—Ricardo Santana, Jr.—123
Midcourt—Victor Espinoza—123
Idol—Gabriel Saez–119
Mucho Gusto—John Velazquez—124

Although there is no public admittance, fans can watch and wager via 1st.com/Bet and they can watch all of Santa Anita's races free of charge at santaanita.com/live. Special early first post time on Saturday is at 11 a.m. For additional information, please visit santaanita.com or call (626) 574-RACE.

The post Comebacking Mucho Gusto Draws Services Of John Velazquez In Saturday’s San Antonio appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Baffert-Trained 2-Year-Olds Rate Most Attention In Weekend Stakes At Del Mar

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert is scheduled to send out 9-5 morning line favorite Private Mission and two other 2-year-old fillies in a field of eight for Saturday's $100,000 Desi Arnaz Stakes and 6-5 favorite Spielberg to face five 2-year-old male rivals in Sunday's Grade III, $100,000 Bob Hope this weekend at Del Mar.

Baffert increased his Breeders' Cup victory total to 17 last Saturday with the wins by Gamine in the $1 million Filly & Mare Sprint and the 1-2 finish of Authentic and Improbable in the $6 million Classic at Keeneland. He then spent a day or two saying good bye to Authentic, Improbable and Pacific Classic winner Maximum Security – fifth in the Breeders' Cup Classic – as they went off to Lexington, KY., area farms where they'll stand stud.

Authentic went to Spendthrift, Improbable to Winstar and Maximum Security to Ashford Stud.

Three's a crowd, even for Baffert, but seeing horses of great accomplishment off to second careers is a part of racing's annual cycle.

“You don't want to see them go, but we have more good horses around. I have great clients (who provide),” Baffert said this morning from Santa Anita. “You can't think about the past too much, you look ahead.”

Baffert has older horses like Mucho Gusto and Roadster to look forward to campaigning in 2021 and it will be no surprise to anyone who has followed racing to any degree recently if a heretofore unknown soon-to-be 3-year-old emerges from the shedrow as a major Kentucky Derby contender. (Especially if the Derby is held on the first Saturday in May again).

Of immediate concern to Baffert, however, are the upcoming stakes here. Having returned from Kentucky and undergone 72 hours of isolation before returning to work at Santa Anita, he'll be making his first Crosby season appearance here on Saturday.

In addition to Private Mission, an Into Mischief filly, Baffert has Varda (6-1) and Heels Up (8-1) to look after in the Desi Arnaz. Private Mission and Varda were both $750,000 auction purchases. Heels Up sold for $350,000.

“They're all winners, and it's not easy to win races out here,” Baffert said. “They're all training well, but it could be a tough race. Looks like Richard Mandella (Astute, 3-1) and John Sadler (Queengol, 4-1) have some good ones in there.”

Speilberg, a $1 million purchase a year ago, will be coming back two weeks after breaking his maiden in his fourth career start – two of them against Grade I competition. Baffert has saddled the winner four times in six runnings of the Hope, the initial graded stakes of the Crosby meeting. Spielberg, a son of Union Rags, will be shortened to seven furlongs and put on the same course where he finished second, 1 ¾ lengths behind Dr. Schivel, in the Del Mar Futurity on September 7.

“He came out of the last one very well and the seven-eighths should be OK for him,” Baffert said. “And he runs well at Del Mar.”

Spielberg has the maiden win and two runner-up finishes last summer on his record here.

The field from the rail for Saturday's Desi Arnaz: Plum Sexy (Heriberto Figueroa, 12-1); Private Mission (Drayden Van Dyke); Canoodling (Umberto Rispoli, 12-1); Varda (Abel Cedillo); Queengol (Juan Hernandez); Miss Costa Rica (Flavien Prat, 10-1); Astute (Mike Smith), and Heels Up (Victor Espinoza).

The field from the rail for Sunday's Bob Hope: Ambivalent (Mario Gutierrez, 7-2); Spielberg (Cedillo, 6-5); Weston (Van Dyke, 3-1); Coastal Kid (Tyler Baze, 15-1); Red Flag (Espinoza, 6-1), and Uncle Boogie (Prat, 5-1).

The post Baffert-Trained 2-Year-Olds Rate Most Attention In Weekend Stakes At Del Mar appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Pegasus Series Races To Offer Guaranteed Spots In Saudi Cup Day Events

The winners of four Graded races in the USA and Japan will be guaranteed spots in three Saudi Cup Day races, following an announcement made Friday by the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia (JCSA).

The Grade 1 $3m Pegasus World Cup, set to be run on dirt at Florida's Gulfstream Park on Jan. 23, 2021, once again offers its winner a confirmed place in the $20m Saudi Cup starting gate.

In 2020 the Pegasus top spot was taken by Saudi owner HRH Prince Faisal Bin Khalid Al Saud's Mucho Gusto, trained by US Hall of Famer, Bob Baffert. A popular competitor among the home crowds at King Abdulaziz Racecourse during Saudi Cup week a month later, Mucho Gusto finished fourth in the big race under US-based jockey, Irad Ortiz, earning $1.5m for connections.

Taking the Saudi Cup's association with Gulfstream Park and the prestigious Pegasus Series one step further in 2021 is the addition of the Grade 1 $1m Pegasus World Cup Turf as a qualifying race for the $1m Middle Distance Turf Handicap on Saudi Cup Day.

In 2020 this became the first turf race to be staged in Saudi history and took place on the purpose-built grass track. The win went to Port Lions trained in Bahrain by Fawzi Nass and ridden by Dutchman, Adrie de Vries.

Tom Ryan, the JCSA's Director of Strategy and International Racing said: “The Pegasus races have consistently attracted the best horses in the USA since they were established in 2017 and this is exactly the caliber of runner we want to continue to welcome to Riyadh for Saudi Cup on both the dirt and turf tracks.

“Nurturing an ongoing alliance between the Saudi Cup and established races with global followings such as the Pegasus World Cup and Pegasus World Cup Turf is key to our continued growth and development on the international racing stage.”

Craig Fravel, CEO of Racing Operations, The Stronach Group, the company behind the Pegasus World Cup said: “The Stronach Group is delighted that the winners of the 2021 Pegasus World Cup Championship Invitational Series races will be invited to participate in Saudi Cup Day.

“In four short years, the Pegasus World Cup has become one of sport's most exciting experiences and one of Thoroughbred racing's most pivotal events, bringing together the world's best racehorses. Races like the Pegasus World Cup and Saudi Cup encourage international competition and promote our sport to fans across the globe.”

The JCSA has also worked with the Japan Racing Association (JRA) to establish the Grade 1 $1.96m Champions Cup held over 1800m on dirt at Chukyo Racecourse on December 6, as a second qualifying race for the Saudi Cup.

In addition, the 1200m Grade 3 Capella Stakes, on December 13 at Nakayama Racecourse, which carries a purse of $703,000, has been announced as a qualifying race for the $1.5m Riyadh Dirt Sprint over the same distance on Saudi Cup Day.

Chrysoberyl_Trackwork_Saudi_Cup.jpg

Prominent Japanese trainer, Hideyuki Mori, who campaigned Full Flat to victory in the 2020 Saudi Derby on Saudi Cup Day welcomed the news: “It is exciting news to hear that Champions Cup and Capella Stakes are appointed as qualifying races for the Saudi Cup and the Riyadh Sprint,” he said. “It is the tendency that the rating of Japanese dirt horses are lower than turf horses and therefore we need these kind of races in Japan.

“I have just decided to withdraw Matera Sky from Breeders Cup to save him for the Riyadh Dirt Sprint and look forward to visiting Saudi again in February.”

Ryan said: “We are very excited to be able to announce these two high quality Japanese races as providing a guaranteed place to the Saudi Cup starting gate and the Riyadh Dirt Sprint respectively.

“The first two finishers in the 2019 Champions Cup, Chrysoberyl and Gold Dream came to Saudi Cup in 2020 proving an already established route for top class runners between the two races and the two jurisdictions.

“We are keen to encourage more international runners across all our races, not just the marquee Saudi Cup event, and so feel our association with this strong sprint in Japan is an important step for us as we build on the successes of year one.”

Adding to the international flavour across Saudi Cup weekend is the introduction of the $500,000 Saudi International Handicap, a race for horses from Part II and Part III racing countries as designated by the IFHA's Blue Book.

The Handicap will be held on Friday February 19, 2021, the day before Saudi Cup for horses rated 85-110.

“We are keen to provide as much interest and excitement across Saudi Cup weekend as possible for all our connections and also race fans,” said Ryan. “We had a good start in year one but we will continue looking at ways to evolve our race days and support worldwide horse racing. With the Saudi International Handicap we wanted to offer a global stage, to horses and connections that may not normally have this access, backed up by attractive prize money.”

The second renewal of Saudi Cup weekend will take place on Friday February 19 and Saturday February 20 2021 and the JCSA will announce any decisions regarding access to the event relating to Covid-19 restrictions at the earliest possible stage.

The post Pegasus Series Races To Offer Guaranteed Spots In Saudi Cup Day Events appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post