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Street Sense’s Windmill Stays Undefeated in Dixie Belle

Windmill, an impressive wire-to-wire debut winner in January at Oaklawn, showed her rating ability and remained unbeaten with a stalk-and-pounce score in the Dixie Belle S. Sunday in Hot Springs.

Breaking on top and never looking back in a four-length victory at 12-1 Jan. 23, the $330,000 Keeneland September buy was made the narrow second choice in this six-horse group and again left the stalls smartly. Taken in hand by Joe Talamo, the bay tracked from the three path in a close-up third as Goin' Good led narrowly through a :22.72 quarter. Pushed on to pick up past the five-sixteenths pole, Windmill poked her head in front of a three-way stretch duel with the frontrunner and favored Abrogate at the furlong grounds and edged away from there to prevail. Goin' Good turned back Abrogate for second money.

With the victory, Windmill becomes the 78th stakes winner for Darley's Street Sense. She is the first black-type performer out of Zaharias, a full-sister to GISW Visionaire and half-sister to GISW Tara's Tango (Unbridled's Song), GSW/MGISP Scarlet Strike (Smart Strike) and GSW Madison's Luna (Tapit). Selling to Nesco II for $270,000 at Keeneland November in 2014, Zaharias is responsible for a juvenile Nyquist colt named Ignitis and returned to that stallion last spring. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

DIXIE BELLE S., $150,000, Oaklawn, 2-28, 3yo, f, 6f, 1:11.14, sy.
1–WINDMILL, 117, f, 3, by Street Sense
1st Dam: Zaharias, by Grand Slam
2nd Dam: Scarlet Tango, by French Deputy
3rd Dam: Silver Tango, by Silver Badge
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. ($330,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Fox Hill
Farms, Inc.; B-Nesco II Limited (KY); T-J. Larry Jones; J-Joseph
Talamo. $90,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $139,200.
2–Goin' Good, 117, f, 3, Congrats–Good Deed, by Broken Vow.
O/B-Klein Racing (KY); T-Brad H. Cox. $30,000.
3–Abrogate, 119, f, 3, Outwork–Hot Coffee, by Burning Roma.
($75,000 Wlg '18 KEENOV; $270,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP).
O-Alex & JoAnn Lieblong; B-Sandra Sexton & Silver Fern Farm
(KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen. $15,000.
Margins: 1, 1, 5 1/4. Odds: 2.00, 5.60, 1.70.
Also Ran: Big Time, Mariah's Princess, Miss Twenty. Scratched: Heart Full of Soul, Someone Said So.

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The Week in Review: Tapit Supplies Favors for 20th Birthday Bash

Birthdays with a zero on the end are supposed to be momentous occasions, and 20-year-old Tapit sure knows how to celebrate in style.

On Saturday, the Gainesway stallion even supplied the party favors for a double-barreled bash in his honor on the GI Kentucky Derby trail.

Exactly two decades after Tapit's Feb. 27, 2001, foaling date, two of his sons delivered sky's-the-limit performances as winning favorites in key 3-year-old prep stakes that firmly established both atop of the current crop of aspirants to wear a blanket of roses on the first Saturday in May.

The near-term debate will now center on which colt–Essential Quality or Greatest Honour–deserves kingpin billing on the sophomore totem pole.

An equally intriguing subplot involves whether either can deliver a first Derby win for the sire who has evolved into the most influential stallion of the 21st Century. Tapit has produced eight divisional champions, six Breeders' Cup winners and three GI Belmont S. victors. But siring a Derby winner has thus far eluded the now-whitened gray, just as the Derby itself did in 2004 when Tapit splashed home ninth as one of the favorites.

Undefeated 'Quality'

Essential Quality had his 3-year-old debut delayed by two weeks because winter weather thrice forced the rescheduling of the GIII Southwest S. at Oaklawn. Yet Mother Nature still managed to intercede by imposing a sloppy (sealed) racing surface Saturday.

The undefeated juvenile champ and 'TDN Rising Star' broke fluidly and responded to a cue to rate from rider Luis Saez, settling fifth into the clubhouse turn while vacating the rail and opting for a three-wide berth (in the gooey going, every jockey in the race avoided the rail like it was strung with barbed wire).

The big matchup in the Southwest was supposed to be the tear-away speed of 6-5 second favorite Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) versus the high-cruise stalking skills of 9-to-10 choice Essential Quality, and the race unfolded as scripted in the early stages with “Jackie” leading the charge through a :23.52 opening quarter that jockey Joel Rosario then milked to a :48.11 breather of a half mile.

“EQ” took firm hold of the bit and wanted to pull, but Saez harnessed that keenness effectively and got the champ to edge forward incrementally while outside and in the clear for the backstretch run. Against the hazy blur of fog, the gray made headway at a metronomic rate of one position per furlong, attaining and releasing each target in a measured manner before focusing adeptly on the next.

EQ had given up real estate on both turns, but was full of momentum coming over the top at the quarter pole, getting second run on the caving Jackie (whose Derby stock slipped considerably after a second failed try at two turns). But Essential Quality had to brace for a fresh challenge in the form of Spielberg (Union Rags), who was unwinding from last and finishing fast after getting off to a stutter-step start.

The champ was up to the task. Essential Quality switched leads and took off when Saez asked, widening to the wire to win by 4 1/4 lengths in 1:45.48 for 1 1/16 miles, which translated to a 96 Beyer Speed Figure, an improvement of one point over his Juvenile win back in November. (The other same-distance races on the card were the GIII Razorback H., run 90 minutes earlier for older males, which clocked :01.15 faster, and an allowance-optional claimer nightcap for older males one race after the Southwest that went :0.75 slower.)

The Apr. 3 GII Toyota Blue Grass S. at Keeneland (where Essential Quality is 2-for-2) or the Apr. 10 GI Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn are reportedly under consideration as final Derby tune-ups by trainer Brad Cox.

'Greatest' Without Ease

While Essential Quality's Southwest S. win stamped him as a Derby contender who is fluidly polishing his prowess, the even-money favored win by Greatest Honour in Gulfstream's GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S. (FOY) resonated more like an unleashing of brute force by a deep closer who ate a lot of kickback, totally lost his momentum on the far turn, then stormed home relentlessly despite a short-stretch configuration that does not play to off-the-tailgate tactics.

The raw power demonstrated by Greatest Honour in winning three 1 1/16 miles races this winter at Gulfstream has to be considered within the context that races at that distance at that track start very close to the first turn and end at the sixteenth pole. This often tilts the advantage to speed-centric runners, and the FOY in particular has been a house of horrors for well-backed “headline” horses. Prior to Saturday, FOY faves had lost the last four runnings and 13 of the previous 15 editions.

Jockey Jose Ortiz guided Greatest Honour to his customary spot near the back of the bunch in the FOY. Settling inside, the rugged bay wasn't crazy about being pelted with dirt, but he was hemmed in at the fence until the far turn. When Ortiz tried to edge out, Greatest Honour's back end got bumped by an outside rival, and the favorite appeared for a moment as if he was going to plummet back through the pack.

When a long-striding horse gets stopped like that, it can be difficult to get him back into rhythm. By the three-eighths pole (which is 2 1/2 furlongs from the wire on this configuration), Greatest Honour was still nine lengths adrift. He sparked back into stride when Ortiz switched him outside, but at the top of the lane, one furlong from the short-stretch finish, the colt was still five lengths off the action and under the whip.

Once in the clear on the straightaway though, Greatest Honour fully uncoiled. Granted, he ran down a tiring leader to win by 1 1/4 lengths in 1:44.02 (89 Beyer). But the visual impression he made carries more weight than any speed number. Watching him gobble up ground so voraciously led to automatic thoughts about what havoc a monster like this might be able to wreak given a longer stretch over extended distances.

Trainer Shug McGuaghey indicated the Mar. 27 GI Florida Derby was likely next. “I'm glad we don't have to run a mile and a sixteenth anymore,” he added. “When they're going farther, I think we might see a little better horse.”

Both Essential Quality (Godolphin) and Greatest Honour (Courtlandt Farms) are homebreds.

But for Courtlandt's Donald Adam, the connection to Tapit is gratifying on a different level.

“I bought the mare [Tiffany's Honour] in foal to a Tapit colt, and that colt hit the ground and was killed in a paddock accident,” Adam said post-race. “So, I bred her back to Tapit and got [Greatest Honour].”

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Royally-Bred Mystic Guide Headlines Saturday’s Razorback Handicap

Unbeaten Essential Quality, the country's 2-year-old male of 2020, isn't the only stakes entrant for global power Godolphin LLC Saturday at Oaklawn.

About 90 minutes before Essential Quality's 3-year-old debut in the $750,000 Southwest Stakes (G3), Godolphin is scheduled to be represented by another homebred, Mystic Guide, in a major local event for older horses.

Mystic Guide is the 9-5 program favorite for the $600,000 Razorback Handicap (G3), a 1 1/16-mile race that is a major steppingstone toward the $1 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2) at 1 1/8 miles April 17. Probable post time for the Razorback, which goes as the seventh of 11 races, is 3:20 p.m. (Central).

The Razorback was originally scheduled to be run Feb. 13 before fierce winter weather shuttered racing at Oaklawn for two weeks. It will still mark the 4-year-old debut for the royally bred Mystic Guide, who is by 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper out of millionaire multiple Grade 1 winner Music Note.

Trained by Michael Stidham, Mystic Guide has already built a solid resume in six career starts, winning the $150,000 Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) Sept. 5 at Saratoga before concluding his 2020 campaign with a second-place finish, beaten three-quarters of a length, in the $250,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1) Oct. 10 at Belmont Park.

Stidham said the Razorback figures to lead to longer events because of maturity and Mystic Guide's pedigree. The colt, who didn't race at 2, broke his maiden at 1 1/16 miles, is a Grade 2 winner at 1 1/8 miles (Jim Dandy) and nearly a Grade 1 winner at 1 ¼ miles (Jockey Club Gold Cup).

“Those are the races we're going to focus on,” Stidham said. “After this, hopefully, we'll be looking at races, a mile and an eighth, mile and a quarter, those type of races.”

Stidham said he chose to start Mystic Guide's 2021 campaign in the Razorback because Maxfield, yet another unbeaten Godolphin homebred, was being pointed to the $200,000 Mineshaft Stakes (G3) for older horses Feb. 13 at Fair Grounds. Mystic Guide has recorded a series of sharp workouts at Fair Grounds leading up to his 2021 debut.

“The mile and a sixteenth, it'll be a little quicker than what he ran, fractions, in his last couple,” Stidham said. “But, I don't see him being worse than like mid-pack, laying third or fourth, something like that.”

The projected seven-horse Razorback field from the rail out: Silver Prospector, Ricardo Santana Jr. to ride, 117 pounds, 5-1 on the morning line; Hunka Burning Love, David Cabrera, 117, 9-2; Mailman Money, Joe Talamo, 115, 10-1; Owendale, Joel Rosario, 120, 2-1; Rated R Superstar, Ramon Vazquez, 115, 8-1; Long Range Toddy, Jon Court, 116, 12-1; and Mystic Guide, Luis Saez, 121, 9-5.

Millionaire multiple Grade 3 winner Owendale will be making his Oaklawn debut for owner Rupp Racing and Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox. Based most of the last two months at Oaklawn, Owendale hasn't started since finishing third in the $500,000 Clark Stakes (G1) Nov. 27 at Churchill Downs.

Cox said he thought about running Owendale in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) Jan. 23 at Gulfstream Park, but opted for Oaklawn because of its lucrative series of stakes races for older horses. Owendale has finished first, second or third in 13 of 20 lifetime starts and bankrolled $1,348,435.

“He can adjust,” Cox said, referring to Owendale's running style. “He's been close and still finishes well, when there's not a lot of pace. I feel confident that he'll be able to adjust to whatever the pace seems to be.”

Silver Prospector (2020 Southwest), Long Range Toddy (first division of 2019 Rebel) and Rated R Superstar (2019 Essex) are Oaklawn stakes winners. Hunka Burning Love finished second, beaten a nose, in the $150,000 Fifth Season Stakes for older horses Jan. 23 at Oaklawn.

Owendale, Silver Prospector, Mystic Guide and Long Range Toddy were entered when the race was originally scheduled to be run Feb. 13. It also drew seven entrants.

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Monomoy Girl’s Return Anchors Sunday Edition Of Cross Country Pick 5

The return of Champion Older Dirt Female Monomoy Girl in the Grade 3 Bayakoa from Oaklawn Park anchors Sunday's Cross Country Pick 5, hosted by the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA), featuring racing action from the Hot Springs, Arkansas-based oval and Aqueduct Racetrack.

Live coverage will be available with America's Day at the Races on FOX Sports. Free Equibase past performances for the Cross Country Pick 5 sequence are now available for download at https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/cross-country-wagers.

The sequence begins in Race 7 at Aqueduct (4:25 p.m. Eastern) with a seven-furlong allowance optional claiming race for older horses. Dennis Drazin's multiple graded stakes winning veteran Sunny Ridge, winner of the Grade 3 Withers in 2016, will try to make amends in his second start off a 12 ½-month layoff on February 4 when finishing a distant fourth. Trainer James Ferraro sends out Letmetakethiscall, who puts a three-race win streak on the line when facing colts.

Eight sophomore fillies assemble for the $150,000 Dixie Belle going six furlongs at Oaklawn Park [Race 6, 4:39 p.m.]. Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen will saddle Alex and JoAnn Lieblong's Abrogate, who defeated winners at the same track on January 24 after a career debut victory on November 12 at Churchill Downs. The daughter of Uncle Mo is out of the Burning Roma mare Hot Coffee and is from the same family as 2010 Champion Sprinter Big Drama as well as Grade 1-winner Sheer Drama. Fox Hill Farm's Windmill will attempt to replicate her gate-to-wire four-length maiden victory for trainer Larry Jones.

Action moves back to New York for the middle leg of the sequence, where West Point Thoroughbreds' Black 'n Tan sports blinkers and takes a drop in class for a $20,000 tag in a six-furlong maiden claiming race. The Asmussen-trained son of Elusive Quality last raced for a $40,000 tag and makes his fourth lifetime start. Ask Neal, who previously raced against stakes-placed Overtook and Return the Ring in maiden special weight events, will drop to his lowest level yet for trainer John Toscano, Jr. Carded as the finale of the Big A's eight-race card, the middle leg will have a post of 4:55 p.m.

A field of a dozen Arkansas-bred fillies and mares assemble for the $100,000 Downthedustyroad Breeders' [Race 8, 5:41 p.m.] and is headlined by Alex and JoAnn Lieblong's defending champion Bye Bye J. The daughter of Uncaptured takes blinkers off for Asmussen as she targets her fifth stakes victory. Shortleaf Stable's The Mary Rose attempts two straight wins after winning a six-furlong allowance on January 30 at Oaklawn Park.

Closing out the sequence is the anticipated return of two-time champion Monomoy Girl in the Grade 3, $250,000 Bayakoa going 1 1/16 miles at Oaklawn Park. Trained by Brad Cox and owned by B. Wayne Hughes' Spendthrift Farm, MyRacehorse Stable, and Madaket Stable, Monomoy Girl has put together a career ledger of 15-13-2-0, comprising of seven Grade 1 victories across four different racetracks and over $4.4 million in earnings. The daughter of Tapizar won two non-consecutive editions of the Breeders' Cup Distaff capturing the 2018 running to seal up Champion 3-Year-Old Filly honors. She did the same when taking last year's Distaff at Keeneland and was subsequently named Champion Older Dirt Female. The Bayakoa will go off as Race 9 at Oaklawn Park with a 6:11 p.m. post.

The minimum bet for the multi-track, multi-race wager is 50 cents. Wagering on the Cross Country Pick 5 is also available on ADW platforms and at simulcast facilities across the country. Every week will feature a mandatory payout of the net pool. The Cross Country Pick 5 will continue each Saturday throughout the year. For more information, visit NYRABets.com.

Cross Country Pick 5 – Sunday February 28:
Leg A: Aqueduct – Race 7 (4:25 p.m.)
Leg B: Oaklawn – Race 6, $150,000 Dixie Belle (4:39 p.m.)
Leg C: Aqueduct – Race 8 (4:55 p.m.)
Leg D: Oaklawn – Race 8, $150,000 Downthedustyroad Breeders' (5:41 p.m.)
Leg E: Oaklawn – Race 9, Grade 3, $250,000 Bayakoa (6:11 p.m.)

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