new orleans classic | Horse Racing Free Tips

‘Sky’s the Limit’ – Clairiere’s Full-Brother Judge Miller Nominated to a Pair of Graded Stakes

Trainer Mark Glatt is weighing his options for the promising Judge Miller (Curlin).

The lightly raced 4-year-old, a jaw-dropping winner while making his route debut in an optional claimer at Santa Anita Feb. 24, has been nominated to Oaklawn's $600,000 GIII Essex H. and the $500,000 GII New Orleans Classic at Fair Grounds. Both races will be contested at 1 1/8 miles and are slated for Saturday, Mar. 23.

“He's nominated to a couple of stakes coming up, but I don't know what we're doing with him yet for certain,” Glatt said.

“We're on the fence as to whether we take the next little step before we jump into the bigger stuff or whether or not it's time to go ahead and step into bigger and better things.”

Glatt added, “He's doing terrific.”

Judge Miller, a $550,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by Muir Hut Stables and a full-brother to MGISW Clairiere, has been perfect in a pair of attempts since kicking off his career belatedly with a second-place finish as the 3-2 favorite going six furlongs at Del Mar Nov. 19.

The blaze-faced chestnut ran hard every step of the way and graduated in game fashion at second asking going seven furlongs at Santa Anita Dec. 26. He equaled the year's top Beyer Speed Figure of 105 (Nysos, National Treasure, Saudi Crown, Senor Buscador and Skelly) while putting on a show winning by 11 lengths going a two-turn mile in Arcadia last time.

The Stonestreet-bred Judge Miller, a son of leading sire Curlin produced by three-time Grade I winner Cavorting (Bernardini), returned to the worktab with a four-furlong move in :50.40 (88/102) Mar. 10.

“I think the sky's the limit,” Glatt said. “He would've gotten started earlier than he did had it not been for a foot abscess that took quite some time to get right last summer. He probably would've debuted in the summer at Del Mar versus the fall. For his age and everything, he's a little bit behind the eight ball from a seasoning standpoint, but he's a very talented horse that's gonna run as far as they ever want to go.”

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LNJ Foxwoods’s Jaime Roth Talks Dual-Hemisphere Success On Writers’ Room

It's been a remarkable few weeks for LNJ Foxwoods and Jaime Roth, with the outfit accomplishing the rare double of graded/group stakes victories in both America and Australia during the month of March. Wednesday, Roth joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland as the Green Group Guest of the Week to discuss GII New Orleans Classic S. winner Olympiad (Speightstown), G1 Coolmore Classic heroine Lighthouse (Mizzen Mast), her affinity for naming horses and much more.

“He's always been a horse that showed tremendous ability,” Roth said of Olympiad, who was off for nearly a year before returning last September and has now recorded three straight open-length successes. “He broke his maiden impressively at Saratoga second time out in 2020 and was prepping for the [GI] Champagne after that. Unfortunately in racing, you have minor setbacks, and our stable personally likes to take as much time as we can and show patience, because we feel that will reward us in the end. He's a beautiful, well-bred horse and it's great, not just for us, but for the racing world to see what I think he can become. It sounds like the [May 6 GII] Alysheba is next. We just got his Ragozin number, which was a four-plus, so he's trending in the right way. He's running better numbers, but not so drastic that you have to worry about bouncing, and his numbers line up with top horses like Life Is Good. I'm not saying we are that by any stretch, but we're starting to fit into the picture of top older horses and I'm just so happy for the horse. For me, it's about him showing the racing community his ability and I'm happy he has a chance to do that now.”

In Lighthouse–a stakes winner in America as a 3-year-old in 2020–LNJ Foxwoods has found a budding down-under star, as the gray has picked up five wins and three seconds in eight starts since relocating across the world, culminating in her Mar. 12 Coolmore Classic conquest.

“LNJ is a very think-outside-the-box operation to try to take advantage of new markets and maybe do things that not everyone is doing,” Roth said. “She was a good horse in the U.S., she won the GIII Music City at Kentucky Downs, but after that, again, had some minor setbacks. I don't think a lot of people realize this, but we already had a few mares down in Australia, including one who had a ton of speed but couldn't quite get the distance here. So we had already had a good experience and thought [Lighthouse] would fit–she's got a lot of speed and is a very big, strong-bodied filly, and I think the change in environment was also key. She was a little high-strung here, and sometimes just doing something new, even going to another country, can be the trick. She trains at the beach, she's happy, she swims with dolphins. And now she's a mature, totally different horse. It's been great to see her excel.”

Elsewhere on the show, which is also sponsored by Coolmore, Lane's End, the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders, XBTV, West Point Thoroughbreds and Legacy Bloodstock, the writers analyzed the 2021 numbers from The Jockey Club's Equine Injury Database and NYRA's decision to kick Wayne Potts and Juan Vazquez off the Belmont grounds, then previewed the penultimate major prep Saturday on the GI Kentucky Derby trail. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version or find it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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Olympiad Stays Hot in NOLA Classic

Olympiad added to his 2022 hot streak with his third straight win Saturday in the GII New Orleans Classic at Fair Grounds. The heavy favorite stalked from second as Promise Keeper put up early splits of :23.69 and :47.25. Seizing command in early stretch, Olympiad rolled clear in the lane for a facile score over Proxy. Promise Keeper held third. Olympiad's final time of 1:47.74 just missed the track record for nine furlongs of 1:47.64.

Olympiad won a Keeneland allowance in October, for which he earned a 98 Beyer Speed Figure and a chance at graded company next out. Stepped up in class big time for the GI Cigar Mile Dec. 4 at the Big A, the bay checked in fourth to Americanrevolution (Constitution). Kicking off this term with a 7 1/4-length tour de force at Gulfstream Jan. 15, he was a decisive winner of this venue's GIII Mineshaft S. last out Feb. 19, breaking the track record in the process.

Pedigree Notes:
Olympiad is one of 128 black-type scorers and 63 graded winners for his timeless sire Speightstown. The $700,000 KEESEP buy is bred on the same Speightstown/Medaglia d'Oro cross as MGISW Rock Fall. Olympiad is out of GSP Tokyo Time, who is a half to MGSW Hungry Island and GSW Soaring Empire. This is also the family of GISW Preservationist (Arch). Tokyo Time is also responsible for a juvenile filly by War Front, who brought $450,000 at KEESEP, and a yearling colt by American Pharoah. She was bred back to Quality Road.

Saturday, Fair Grounds
NEW ORLEANS CLASSIC S.-GII, $485,000, Fair Grounds, 3-26, 4yo/up, 1 1/8m, 1:47.74, ft.
1–OLYMPIAD, 122, c, 4, by Speightstown
1st Dam: Tokyo Time (GSP, $249,177), by Medaglia    d'Oro
                2nd Dam: Flying Passage, by A.P. Indy
                3rd Dam: Chic Shirine, by Mr. Prospector
($700,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Grandview Equine, Cheyenne
Stable, LLC and LNJ Foxwoods; B-Emory A. Hamilton (KY);
T-William I. Mott; J-Junior Alvarado. $300,000. Lifetime
Record: GSW, 8-5-1-1, $648,440. Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click
   for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Proxy, 118, c, 4, Tapit–Panty Raid, by Include.
O/B-Godolphin, LLC; T-Michael Stidham. $100,000.
3–Promise Keeper, 118, c, 4, Constitution–Mira Alta, by Curlin.
($160,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Woodford Thoroughbreds LLC,
WinStar Farm LLC and Rock Ridge Racing LLC; B-Rock Ridge
Thoroughbreds, LLC (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $50,000.
Margins: 2, 2 3/4, 1HF. Odds: 0.60, 3.80, 3.90.
Also Ran: Super Stock, Happy American, Chess Chief. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Olympiad Tries to Keep Rolling in New Orleans Classic

Grandview Equine, Cheyenne Stable and LNJ Foxwoods' Olympiad (Speightstown) announced himself as a player in the handicap division with a fast-finishing score in the GIII Mineshaft S. last out at Fair Grounds, and will look for an encore as the favorite in Saturday's GII New Orleans Classic S. on the GII TwinSpires.com Louisiana Derby undercard.

Graduating at second asking in September of 2020 at Saratoga while besting future stakes winners Caddo River (Hard Spun) and Greatest Honour (Tapit), the $700,000 Keeneland September buy was laid up for 364 days and returned with a runner-up effort at the Spa Sept. 4 that earned him a 105 Beyer. Clearing his one-other-than allowance condition next out at Keeneland Oct. 14, he was a sneaky-good fourth with a wide trip in the GI Cigar Mile H. Dec. 4 at Aqueduct before running away with a Gulfstream allowance/optional claimer by 7 1/4 lengths Jan. 15. Returning to stake company in the Mineshaft, he kicked away to a 2 1/4-length score, clicking off his final five-sixteenths in a scorching :29.53 and setting a new track record for 1 1/16 miles.

Stretching out to nine furlongs for the first time, Olympiad's chief competition appears to come from Godolphin homebred Proxy (Tapit) and Woodford Thoroughbreds, WinStar Farm and Rock Ridge Racing's Promise Keeper (Constitution). Proxy appeared to be a GI Kentucky Derby contender last winter when running second in the local GIII Lecomte S. and GII Risen Star S., but was shelved following somewhat disappointing fourth-place runs in the Louisiana Derby and GIII Stonestreet Lexington S. Making his first start in over 10 months in a local allowance/optional claimer Feb. 25 and rallied from off the pace to triumph going away by 3 3/4 lengths.

“I couldn't be happier,” trainer Mike Stidham said. “He's had three really good works since his last race. He ran against top quality horses last year as a 3-year-old. It's just a matter of seeing if he's good enough to compete with the top horses this year, but he's given me every indication that he can. Given the way he ran in his last race, nine furlongs should absolutely be better than 1 1/16 miles for him. He was very relaxed and came home finishing nicely. I'm very much looking forward to the added distance with him.”

Promise Keeper recorded three open-lengths wins in his first five starts last year, culminating with a 2 1/4-length success in the GIII Peter Pan S. at Belmont before finishing a close fourth in the GIII Ohio Derby in his 3-year-old finale June 26 at Thistledown. Returning off the bench in the GIII Razorback H. Feb. 12 at Oaklawn, the chestnut overcame a troubled start and a wide trip, closing well to be fourth.

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