Four Tie For Fastest Furlong During Final Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Under Tack Show

The third and final session of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale under tack show featured four juveniles that breezed an eighth of a mile in :10 seconds flat to tie for the fastest time of the day.

Hip 394, a Maclean's Music colt out of the Grade 3-placed stakes-winning Storm Boot mare Coco Belle, whose six winners from seven foals to race includes stakes winner Cofactor and stakes-placed Coco Tiger. The colt sells as property of Shamrock Stable.

Hip 477, a first-crop Midnight Storm colt out of the stakes-placed Lit de Justice mare Freedom Come. The colt is a half-brother to Grade 3 winner Harlem Rocker, and he's consigned by James Layden, agent.

Hip 515, a Palace filly out of the Bluegrass Cat mare Honky Tonk Angel. The filly is a sibling to stakes-placed Tapiz Dream, and she's consigned by Top Line Sales, agent.

Hip 524, a Nyquist colt who is the first foal out of the winning Speightstown mare In It For the Gold. The New York-bred's second dam is the Grade 1-placed stakes winner All Due Respect. He is consigned by Wavertree Stables, agent.

Thursday's fastest worker at a quarter-mile was Hip 550, an Empire Maker colt who covered the distance in :21 4/5 seconds.

The bay colt is out of the Orientate mare Lady Pewitt, making him a half-brother to champion Jaywalk Grade 3-placed stakes winner Danzatrice. Grade 2 winner Mission Impazible is also in the extended family of this colt, who is consigned by de Meric Sales, agent.

The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale will take place May 17-18, with each session beginning at 11 a.m. Eastern.

To view the full breeze show results, click here.

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O’Neill Sending Lava Man (aka The Coach) To Assist Hot Rod Charlie In Kentucky

Doug O'Neill is nothing if not confident about Hot Rod Charlie's chances in Saturday's Grade 1 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky,

Of course, that's not headline-worthy information for the trainer who turns 53 on May 24. He already has two victories in the Run for the Roses on his growing resume, in 2012 with 15-1 outsider I'll Have Another and in 2016 with 2-1 favorite Nyquist.

It's also not breaking news that O'Neill generally and refreshingly sees the glass as half full, and such is the case with Hot Rod Charlie, who worked six furlongs in 1:13.68 at Santa Anita Saturday prior to the first race.

It was Hot Rod Charlie's final major breeze for the 147th Kentucky Derby, and O'Neill was still well-satisfied after he had a chance to sleep on it.

“I'm very happy,” O'Neill said by phone at 7 o'clock Sunday morning as he waited to board a plane that would lead him to the Bluegrass State. “He went very nice, very steady. It was exactly what we had hoped for, and Flavvy was very happy with it as well. That means a lot.”

“Flavvy” would be Flavien Prat, Santa Anita's runaway leading rider with a 93-54 bulge over runner-up Juan Hernandez. Prat was aboard Hot Rod Charlie for Saturday's workout and rides him in the first jewel of the Triple Crown.

“They're all individual horses, but we're optimistic,” O'Neill said when asked if there was a difference approaching Saturday's classic from his previous two experiences.

“But this year the Derby does seem like it's really wide open. It will be interesting to see where we draw (post positions will be announced on Tuesday) and how he settles in. He ships today and we're eager to see him at Churchill Downs and how he does.

“But like Nyquist and I'll Have Another, we're excited about the opportunity. He's a good shipper (having finished second by less than a length at odds of 94-1 to undefeated Eclipse Award champion Essential Quality in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Keeneland last year, and winning the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby at the Fair Grounds on March 20).”

Hot Rod Charlie, a Kentucky-bred son of Oxbow owned by Roadrunner Racing, Boat Racing, LLC and William Strauss, will have elite company on his journey.

“His mentor, Lava Man, is going with him,” O'Neill said, referring to the fabled gelding who celebrated his 20th birthday this year and is affectionately called “The Coach” by stable staff.

“He's funny,” O'Neill said of Lava Man, now a stable pony after a storybook career as a racehorse, once claimed for $50,000, winner of 17 of 47 races, earner of $5,268,706 and elected to the Hall of Fame in 2015.

“With his shirt on and a saddle on, he looks great. But like me, when you see him with his shirt off, you can tell he's 20.”

Not to worry. As Mark Twain once said, “Wrinkles should merely indicate where the smiles have been,” and for Team O'Neill, there have been plenty.

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O’Neill On Winning The Kentucky Derby: ‘It Is All Horse Driven’

Grade 2 Louisiana Derby winner Hot Rod Charlie had his penultimate Kentucky Derby (G1)  workout at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., on Saturday, going six furlongs under Flavien Prat in 1:14.20 as the son of Oxbow prepares for his Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., on May 1.

Doug O'Neill hopes the third time's the charm, even though the 52-year-old trainer has captured the world's most famous race twice before, with I'll Have Another in 2012 and Nyquist in 2016.

But it never gets old.

Hot Rod Charlie is sitting on go with 110 Kentucky Derby qualifying polnts and Prat committed as his rider. Hot Rod Charlie is scheduled to have his final major Derby breeze next Saturday at Santa Anita.

“Now it's day to day to day, keep him injury free and keep moving forward,” O'Neill said. “I would think having gone through the Derby twice before is an advantage.

“It is all horse driven, based on who you're going there with, but we're very optimistic with Hot Rod Charlie. He's already shown he can ship and perform well at the highest level.

“We're excited, and the previous experience definitely is a benefit, I would think.”

As to the origin of the colt's name, O'Neill attributes it in part to the dam's sire. “He's out of a mare (Indian Miss) by Indian Charlie, so I think that's where it comes from, but Hot Rod?

“I'm not sure about that, but for us it's got a good ring to it.”

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Notable US-Bred & -Sired Runners in Japan: Apr. 18, 2021

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this Sunday running at Hanshin, Niigata and Nakayama Racecourses, the last of which stages the first colts' Classic of 2021, the G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) over the metric 10 furlongs:

Sunday, April 18, 2021
1st-NII, ¥9,680,000 ($89k), Maiden, 3yo, 1800m
ALIENOR (JPN) (f, 3, Nyquist–Land Over Sea, by Bellamy Road), a well-beaten 12th in a 1600-meter newcomers' event on the turf at Tokyo last November, switches to the dirt for this second appearance and is bred top and bottom to appreciate the change. From her GI Kentucky Derby-winning sire's first crop, the January foal is out of Paul Reddam's 2016 GII Fair Grounds Oaks winner and GI Longines Kentucky Oaks runner-up who was acquired for $1.3 million with this filly in utero at Fasig-Tipton November in 2017. Land Over Sea is a half-sister to the durable MGSW & GISP War Story (Northern Afleet). B-Shadai Farm

5th-HSN, ¥13,830,000 ($127k), Allowance, 3yo, 1800m
TOP THE BILL (JPN) (f, 3, American Pharoah–Top Decile, by Congrats) has a record of 1-1-1 from four starts on the dirt, having broken her maiden from a near impossible position going this distance two back at Chukyo Jan. 11 (see below, gate 16) ahead of a third when trying winners for the first time over that track and trip 13 days hence. The chestnut is the first foal from her dam, runner-up in the 2014 GI Darley Alcibiades S. and a tough-trip second in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. Top Decile was sold for $950K with this filly in utero at Keeneland November in 2017. B-Shadai Farm

 

 

5th-NKY, ¥13,830,000 ($127k), Allowance, 3yo, 1800m
COSMIC MIND (c, 3, Into Mischief–Mystical Star, by Ghostzapper) opened his account in spectacular fashion, overcoming all sorts of trouble to graduate narrowly over this course and trip Jan. 17 (video, gate 4) and has not disgraced in two runs since, finishing fifth and fourth, respectively, while not beaten far. A $280K KEESEP yearling, the bay is out of the versatile Mystical Star, a Grade II winner on the grass and runner-up in a Polytrack renewal of the GI Juddmonte Spinster S. Remarkably, this colt's breeder is also represented in the same by Bourbon Highball (Curlin), who hails from the same crop of about 18 horses, according to Candy Meadows's Matt Lyons. B-Candy Meadows LLC (KY)

 

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