Tag: oaklawn park

Muth Lays Siege To Arkansas, Delivers Win But No Derby Points

A pair of 'TDN Rising Stars' in Muth (Good Magic) and Timberlake (Into Mischief) squared off on an overcast but warm Saturday afternoon at Oaklawn Park to contest the 88th running of the GI Arkansas Derby.

What the race turned out to be was a strong statement issued by Muth, as Zedan Racing's colt kicked for home, won by two lengths and collected the purse money. Of course–since the 3-year-old is a trainee in Bob Baffert's care–he will not receive his 100 Kentucky Derby points.

This was the Hall of Fame trainer's fifth Arkansas Derby win–with the last coming when he won both halves of the split Derby with Nadal (Blame) and Charlatan (Speightstown) during Covid in 2020.

Muth's road to Oaklawn started when he broke his maiden impressively by 8 3/4 lenghts at first asking last June at Santa Anita. That effort earned him a 'Rising Star' badge. However, in his next start the $2 million OBS March grad took on fellow 'Star' and stablemate Prince of Monoco (Speightstown), and finished as the runner-up by 4 1/4 lengths in the GIII Best Pal S. at Del Mar in mid-August.

Baffert scratched him from running in the GI Hopeful S. at Saratoga because he thought his colt needed more recovery time after his race at the seaside oval. Back at 'The Great Race Place', the colt stretched out to two turns successfully when he won by 3 3/4 lengths in the GI American Pharoah S. in early October, and then was second over the same surface in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile when he could not catch champion 2-year-old Fierceness (City of Light).

Muth in the early jumps | Coady Photography

After a two-month break, Muth returned to the Arcadia races Jan. 6 and took home the seven-furlong GII San Vicente S. Over the next month, as Baffert weighed his options for where to go next, he contemplated shipping the 3-year-old to Hot Springs for the GII Rebel S. However, a final workout shelved the trip and the trainer opted to wait for a potential shot at the Arkansas Derby.

Made the 8-5 morning-line favorite and saddled on behalf of Baffert by Rodolphe Brisset, Muth went off as the 2-1 second choice here with Timberlake garnering 1-1 favoritism. At the break, it was Time for Truth (Omaha Beach) who sped to the lead past the grandstand, but Muth was quickly into stride and tracked just to the outside of the early pacesetter into the first turn.

Suddenly at the top of the backstretch Timberlake shot between the two frontrunners, but Muth responded quickly and went with his rival. Posting fractions of :23.43 for the first quarter mile and :47.46 for the half-mile, it was the son of Good Magic who gained the upper hand around the far turn, which signaled that Timberlake was in trouble. Muth chopped up the ground down the lane and scampered home over Just Steel, who ran a game race in defeat followed by Mystik Dan.

“He got away and then he was in a good spot,” said Baffert. “The track–speed really wasn't playing well today–but he was in a good spot there. Down the backside, when I saw Timberlake sneak up in there, I thought maybe he was going to control the race from there because I figured he was the horse to beat. But Muth, he's just … the only that beat him was Fierceness and we saw what he did today (winning the Florida Derby). I'm just happy for everybody. It (Arkansas Derby) is very important. It's a very prestigious race, winning that. You know how we feel about Oaklawn.”

Pedigree Notes:
With nine graded stakes winners to his credit, Good Magic's other Grade I stakes winners include Blazing Sevens and last year's Kentucky Derby hero Mage. Muth, who tied an OBS sale record when he was purchased by Amr Zedan after he breezed during the under tack show going a furlong in :9 3/5, is the first foal out of Don Alberto homebred Hoppa (Uncle Mo). She RNA'd for $1.9 million at the Fasig-Tipton Fall Mixed Sale back in November. Hoppa is responsible for a 2-year-old filly by Violence, who went to Rigney Racing for $385,000 at the Keeneland September Sale, and a yearling filly by Tacitus. She was bred back to Good Magic this term.

Saturday, Oaklawn Park
ARKANSAS DERBY-GI, $1,500,000, Oaklawn, 3-30, 3yo, 1 1/8m, 1:49.54, ft.
1–MUTH, 124, c, 3, by Good Magic
                1st Dam: Hoppa, by Uncle Mo
                2nd Dam: Handoverthecat, by Tale of the Cat
                3rd Dam: Frayne, by Red Ransom
($190,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP; $2,000,000 2yo '23 OBSMAR). O-Zedan Racing Stables, Inc.; B-Don Alberto Corporation (KY); T-Bob Baffert; J-Juan J. Hernandez. $787,500. Lifetime Record: 6-4-2-0, $1,504,100. Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Just Steel, 124, c, 3, Justify–Irish Lights (Aus), by Fastnet Rock (Aus). 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($500,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). O-BC Stables, LLC; B-Summerhill Farm (KY); T-D. Wayne Lukas. $262,500.
3–Mystik Dan, 124, c, 3, Goldencents–Ma'am, by Colonel John. 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. O-Lance Gasaway, 4 G racing LLC, and Valley View Farm LLC; B-Lance Gasaway, Daniel Hamby & 4G Racing LLC (KY); T-Kenneth G. McPeek. $131,250.
Margins: 2, 4 1/4, HF. Odds: 2.30, 32.50, 4.00.
Also Ran: Timberlake, Informed Patriot, Time for Truth, Imperial Gun, Liberal Arts, Will Take It, Dimatic.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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Fast Anna’s Thorpedo Anna Stylish in Fantasy Win Off Layoff

'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna (f, 3, Fast Anna–Sataves, by Uncle Mo), off since a second Nov. 25 in the GII Golden Rod S., shook off any cobwebs with aplomb to notch a four-length score in the GII Fantasy S. at Oaklawn under a hand ride Saturday. West Omaha (West Coast) and Tapit Jenallie (Tapit), who filled out the trifecta in the reverse order behind Lemon Muffin (Collected)–seventh here–in the Feb. 24 GIII Honeybee S., finished second and third, respectively. The Fantasy is a Kentucky Oaks points race on a 100-50-25-15-10 basis, giving Thorpedo Anna a certain spot in the starting gate the first Friday in May.

Breaking from the outside 12th gate, Thorpedo Anna left her post in razor-sharp fashion to immediately join the first flight. Rider Brian Hernandez, Jr. kept her quiet and on the outside in third as previously unbeaten Recharge (Gun Runner), winner of the Sunland Park Oaks in her stakes debut Feb. 18, and Candy Aisle (Gun Runner), second at in that same race at Sunland, showed the way through :23.45 and :47.90 fractions. Still third on the turn, the Kenny McPeek trainee moved up on the outside with no visual urging, took control with ease long before Hernandez showed her the stick once to keep her mind on business, and left no doubt about the best filly in the race on the day. Her ears pricked, she eased up before the wire with a final time for the 1 1/6 miles of 1:44.24.

The Fantasy marked the fourth win on the card for the duo of McPeek and Hernandez.

McPeek, who has a long list of savvy buys to his credit, picked up Thorpedo Anna for $40,000 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling sale. Bred by Judy Hicks in Kentucky, who stayed in on the filly, the ownership team also includes Mark Edwards, Brookdale Racing, and the McPeek family's Magdalena Racing. She is reportedly named for a relative of Edwards who shares the name 'Anna' with the filly's sire and is a swimmer. 'Thorpedo' is a well-known nickname of multiple gold medalist Ian Thorpe, an Australian swimmer who is now retired.

The Fantasy winner debuted at Keeneland last October in a maiden special weight restricted to fillies who sold or RNA'd for $50,000 or less and promptly blew the field away by open daylight. She wowed again just over two weeks later in a Churchill optional allowance, netting her the 'Rising Star' tag. Intricate (Gun Runner), who has since been beaten twice by GI Kentucky Oaks favorite Tarifa (Bernardini), bested Thorpedo Anna in the Golden Rod and is the only horse to finish in front of the dark bay in her four starts. It was soon after the Golden Rod that McPeek indicated Thorpedo Anna needed time off due to a bruise on her hip. She began working again in earnest in February and had posted six works coming into the Fantasy, all at Fair Grounds, including a most recent 1:01 2/5 for five furlongs (17/36) Mar. 23. She is a regular work partner of Mystik Dan (Goldencents), the Feb. 3 GIII Southwest S. winner who was third in the GI Arkansas Derby one race after the Fantasy.

Pedigree Notes:

Thorpedo Anna is the first graded winner for the late Three Chimneys stallion Fast Anna, whose five modest-sized crops have netted 14 black-type winners, all in North America. The son of Medaglia d'Oro, second in the 2014 GI King's Bishop S., was out of 2006's champion 2-year-old filly Dreaming of Anna (Rahy). He lost a battle with laminitis just prior to the 2021 breeding season.

Thorpedo Anna is not the first prominent 3-year-old this season for Uncle Mo as a broodmare sire, as fellow 'TDN Rising Star' Muth (Good Magic), who won the GI Arkansas Derby one race later on the Oaklawn card, is also out of one of his daughters. Uncle Mo, who stands at Coolmore America, has a total of 18 stakes winners as a dam sire. Sataves is unraced, as is her dam, Pacific Sky. However, the latter is a half-sister to GISW Eskendereya (Giant's Causeway) and to English G1SW Balmont (Stravinsky).

Sataves has a 2-year-old Cloud Computing colt named McAfee, who sold to Maddie Mattmiller for $40,000 at Keeneland September, and a Known Agenda filly born Mar. 15 and already named After the Storm.

Saturday, Oaklawn Park
FANTASY S.-GII, $750,000, Oaklawn, 3-30, 3yo, f, 1 1/16m, 1:44.24, ft.
1–THORPEDO ANNA, 118, f, 3, by Fast Anna
                1st Dam: Sataves, by Uncle Mo
                2nd Dam: Pacific Sky, by Stormy Atlantic
                3rd Dam: Aldebaran Light, by Seattle Slew
   1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($40,000 Ylg
'22 FTKOCT). O-Brookdale Racing, Inc., Mark Edwards, Judy
Hicks, & Magdalena Racing (Sherri McPeek); B-Judy Hicks (KY);
T-Kenneth G. McPeek; J-Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr. $393,750.
Lifetime Record: 4-3-1-0, $584,363. Werk Nick Rating: A++.
   Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree or the
   free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–West Omaha, 122, f, 3, West Coast–Birthday Bash, by
Medaglia d'Oro. O-Gary and Mary West; B-Gary & Mary West
Stables Inc. (KY); T-Brad H. Cox. $131,250.
3–Tapit Jenallie, 122, f, 3, Tapit–Take Charge Tressa, by War
Front. O/B-Willis Horton Racing LLC (KY); T-Eddie Milligan, Jr.
$65,625.
Margins: 4, 3 1/4, NK. Odds: 2.70, 3.60, 27.20.
Also Ran: All Things Go, Recharge, Ba Dee Yah, Lemon Muffin, My Mane Squeeze, Candy Aisle, In Just My Heels. Scratched: Midshipman's Dance, Where's My Ring. Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

 

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Marylou Whitney Stables Homebred Debuts A Winner At Oaklawn

8th-Oaklawn, $115,000, Msw, 3-29, 3yo/up, f/m, 6f, 1:10.55, ft, 6 1/4 lengths.
TWEETSTER (f, 3, Practical Joke–Tweeterdini, by Bernardini) debuted with Lasix as the heavily backed 3-2 choice here. The homebred started slowly, but with the rail open she was able to lead the second pack up the backstretch. Rolling around the turn, the filly chased longshot Hurricane Fire (Can the Man), who appeared to be getting away. Moving from the rail towards the center of the course at the eighth pole, Tweetster closed like a freight train and won by 6 1/4 lengths. Out of an extended female family which includes champion 3-year-old filly Bird Town (Cape Town) and MGISW Birdstone (Grindstone), the winner's unraced dam is responsible for 2-year-old colt Spenard (Spun to Run). Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $69,000. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
O/B-Marylou Whitney Stables, LLC (KY); T-Norm W. Casse.

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The Two Towers Of Graded Stakes, Oaklawn And Gulfstream, Align Saturday

If you do not happen to be a Lord of the Rings devotee, then as a horse racing fan you might assume that Gandalf, Frodo, Saruman and Sauron were just names some eccentric owners concocted to toy with The Jockey Club.

Well, for true disciples of Tolkein, you understand the 'Two Towers' reference is a major theme in the trilogy, but for our purposes it simply denotes coverage.

This Saturday, both Oaklawn Park and Gulfstream Park are those poles of power when it comes to authoring graded stakes. Their cards feature Kentucky Derby and Oaks points races.

So, get your palantir ready–alright, alright–here is the slate for Saturday.

 

The Eye of Timberlake

The GI Arkansas Derby offers 100 Derby points to the winner at Oaklawn as the town of Hot Springs will be invaded by horse enthusiasts who are keen to watch a pair of 'TDN Rising Stars' do battle.

Timberlake (Into Mischief) earned that merit badge at second asking as a 2-year-old. Though he was fourth in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, the Brad Cox trainee certainly came out of the break to put on a show in last month's GII Rebel S. The WinStar and Siena-owned colt has the Beyer figures to prove he belongs among the top contenders for the first Saturday in May.

“I really like the timing of the Arkansas Derby to the Kentucky Derby,” said Cox. “Obviously, he has the experience there now after winning the Rebel. I kind of thought the Rebel was the spot when we were getting started this winter. That worked out well and it leads nicely to the Arkansas Derby.”

Muth | Benoit

Opposing him are some other strong candidates like the winner of the GIII Southwest S. Mystik Dan (Goldencents), as well as Liberal Arts (Arrogate) and Time for Truth (Omaha Beach), but Timberlake's main rival is Zedan Racing's Muth (Good Magic). The $2-million 2023 OBS March topper is the latest shipper to Oaklawn for trainer Bob Baffert. Though his connections cannot collect Derby points, his front-running speed makes him a threat. The 3-year-old began his career with a 'Rising Star'-effort at Santa Anita back in June. After running second to Fierceness (City of Light) in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, he cut back to take the GII San Vincente S. in early January.

The road to the GI Kentucky Oaks travels down Central Avenue and through the GII Fantasy S. The top three finishers from the GIII Honeybee S. return in Lemon Muffin (Collected), Tapit Jenallie (Tapit) and West Omaha (West Coast), but there are some true 'x-factors' drawn. One of them is Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna), who was last seen as the runner-up in the GII Golden Rod S. at Churchill Downs in November. Also making the Fantasy gate are the top two runners from the Sunland Park Oaks–undefeated Recharge (Gun Runner) and Candy Aisle (Gun Runner).

One other graded race on Saturday in Hot Springs is the GIII Oaklawn Mile.

 

Fierceness In His Voice

Coming into the GI Curlin Florida Derby, champion 2-year-old colt and 'TDN Rising Star' Fierceness is looking to get back to the winner's circle after running third in his only start this year. Owned by Repole Stable, the Todd Pletcher trainee is going to get another crack at the horse that won the GIII Holy Bull S. Feb. 3, Hades (Awesome Slew).

Fierceness | Ryan Thompson

“Normally I'd be afraid of the outside post but Forte won from the 11 last year so you can overcome that,” said Pletcher. “Everybody knows Gulfstream two-turn races are tricky and I think that's why the start is so important, getting away cleanly. I think what happens in a lot of these two-turn races is the jockeys are so conscious of having to get to the first turn in good position that it can get a little rough leaving the gate sometimes. … The horse gives you a lot of confidence watching him breeze. It seems like he's in really good form, so we're expecting a good performance from him.”

Among the other challengers who are chasing the 100-point Churchill Downs offering is another 'Rising Star'. Conquest Warrior (City of Light) garnered honors from the paper when he won by five lengths going nine furlongs against optional claimers in Hallandale Mar. 1.

“I feel good,” said Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey about Conquest Warrior. “We've had two good races here and I still have a pretty fresh horse. He's trained good over it. He's had a race going a mile and an eighth here, which he handled, obviously, very easily. He came out of it good. I don't think we took anything out of him.”

In the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks–the local 100-point Kentucky Oaks feeder–'TDN Rising Star' Ways and Means (Practical Joke) gets back on track for trainer Chad Brown. The Klaravich homebred debuted a winner by 12 3/4 lengths at Saratoga last summer and was last seen running second in the GI Spinaway S. upstate.

Standing in her way is the heroine of the GII Davona Dale S., Fiona's Magic (St Patrick's Day), and Power Squeeze (Union Rags), who returns to South Florida after raiding the Suncoast S. at Tampa Bay Downs.

The Gulfstream Park undercard has three other graded races as part of the program, including the GII Pan American S., the GIII Ghostzapper S. and the GIII Orchid S.

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