Obligatory | Horse Racing Free Tips

Longshot Exacta In Jaipur Highlight Of Successful Belmont Day For Hall Of Famer Mott

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott saddled a pair of longshot chances in Saturday's Grade 1, $400,000 Jackpocket Jaipur and ended up completing a personal exacta when Casa Creed [10-1] posted a two-length score over stablemate Chewing Gum [28-1] in the six-furlong inner turf sprint for 3-year-olds and up on Belmont Stakes day at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

Owned by LRE Racing and JEH Racing Stable, the 5-year-old son of Jimmy Creed registered a career-best 105 Beyer for his first win since capturing the one-mile Grade 2 Hall of Fame in August 2019 at Saratoga.

While Saturday's victory came with a “Win and You're In” berth to the five-furlong Grade 1, $1 million Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint in November at Del Mar, Mott said the distance is likely too short for Casa Creed, who may have found a new niche after winning the seven-furlong Elusive Quality in April on the Belmont green after a long string of races at one mile or greater.

“We'd been looking for some races that would be appropriate, he's not necessarily the greatest miler, I suppose,” said Mott. “We've known he doesn't want to get over a mile.

“He ran the seven-eighths here and ran good,” added Mott regarding the Elusive Quality score. “We'd meant to try him in shorter races in the past but it didn't work out for one reason or another, but it worked out yesterday.”

Mott said he was pleased with the condition of the turf for the Jaipur, which was rated as 'good' despite a deluge of rain on Friday that led to a yielding turf on Day Two of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival in which the Mott-trained Harvey's Lil Goil finished an even fifth in the 10-furlong Grade 2, $750,000 New York.

Over a drying-out course in the Jaipur, Bound for Nowhere rattled off swift splits of 22.06 and 44.65 to the half-mile, setting up Casa Creed for a sharp closing kick, stopping the click in 1:08.04.

“Given the New York handicap the day before, I thought they might go three-quarters in 11 or 12,” said Mott. “The course held up really well. They weren't kicking up anything. I'll give the NYRA turf man a pat on the back for that. It was in good shape and handled the water well.”

Mott said he has no immediate target for Casa Creed.

“Maybe we'll have a chance to shorten him up to 5 ½,” he offered.

Junior Alvarado, who engineered the winning Jaipur trip, was at the Mott barn Sunday morning and expressed his joy at seeing Casa Creed break through at the top flight.

“He's been right there knocking on the door for a Grade 1 and finally he got it,” said Alvarado.

The veteran rider said it was good to hear the roar of the crowd on Saturday with 11,238 fans in attendance.

“It makes it more exciting,” said Alvarado. “We're competitive athletes and to have the fans there screaming and yelling, it definitely gets you more excited. We needed that yesterday.”

Wachtel Stable, Pantofel Stable and Jerold Zaro's Chewing Gum rallied from last-of-9 to complete the exacta. The 6-year-old multiple graded-stakes placed son of Candy Ride earned a personal-best 99 Beyer.

“He ran a super race, take nothing away from him,” said Mott. “For me, he's the same [as Casa Creed]; a mile stretches him a little bit and five and a half [furlongs] is a little bit sharp – he's coming, it's amazing what they can do in that last sixteenth.”

The Mott-trained exacta returned $335.50 for a $2 wager.

Mott said the Estate of Harvey A. Clarke and Paul Braverman's multiple graded-stakes winner Harvey's Lil Goil, winner of the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup in October at Keeneland, didn't handle the yielding turf on Friday.

Michael Shanley's Nova Rags, runner-up in the nine-furlong Grade 3 Peter Pan in May at Belmont, turned back to seven-furlongs and finished third behind winner Drain the Clock and runner-up Jackie's Warrior in Saturday's Grade 1 Woody Stephens.

“Grade 1 placed and got a check,” said Mott, with a grin. “He wasn't good enough yesterday, but we took our shot. We knew they'd go fast and hoped they would back up more than they did, but they didn't. They kept going, two good horses.”

Juddmonte Farms homebred Obligatory, a sophomore daughter of Curlin, closed five-wide down the lane to finish second, by a half-length, to Search Results in Saturday's Grade 1 Acorn.

Dayoutoftheoffice posted moderate splits of 23.50, 47.23 and 1:11 in the one-turn mile before giving way to the Kentucky Oaks-runner-up, who got the jump on Obligatory.

“She ran well; no pace,” said Mott. “It was a pace-less race. Didn't suit her, but she still ran good. Take nothing away from the winner.”

Mott indicated Obligatory, winner of the Grade 2 Eight Belles in April at Churchill Downs, would target the seven-furlong Grade 1 Longines Test for sophomore fillies on August 7 at Saratoga.

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Search Results Snares Acorn Over Fast-Closing Obligatory

Coming off her only career loss in a hard-fought race against Malathaat in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks, Klaravich Stables Inc.'s Search Results dropped back to a one-turn mile for trainer Chad Brown and responded with her first Grade 1 triumph in Saturday's Acorn Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

The 3-year-old filly by Flatter was ridden to victory by Javier Castellano, named as a substitute for the injured Irad Ortiz Jr., who was involved in a spill on Thursday and will be out about two weeks. Search Results was the fourth winner in the first five races on the Belmont Stakes card that Ortiz had been named to ride, including Drain the Clock in the G1 Woody Stephen Stakes.

“I was at the right place at the right time,” said Castellano. “I was very fortunate to [get the mount from injured Irad Ortiz, Jr.]. I'm thankful to Chad Brown for the opportunity to ride this horse; we've had a lot of success in the past. I'm sorry for Irad Ortiz that he got hurt, but it gave me the opportunity to ride.”

Sent off the 4-5 favorite, Search Results paid $3.80 to win after running the one-mile in 1:35.50 on a track rated fast but which had taken on considerable rainfall Friday afternoon.

Juddmonte's Obligatory, coming off a last-to-first victory in the G2 Eight Belles at Churchill Downs on the same day that Search Results ran second in the Kentucky Oaks, finished a fast-closing second for trainer Brad Cox, falling a half-length short. Make Mischief, third in the Eight Belles, finished a length back in third, with Eight Belles runner-up Dayoutoftheoffice fourth – beaten a nose for third – after setting the pace. Travel Column rounded out the order of finish for the five 3-year-old fillies contesting a race first run in 1931.Miss Brazil was scratched.

Equibase chart of Acorn

This was Brown's second Acorn victory, having won the 2019 running with Guarana.

“I'm just so proud of her to come back in five weeks after a real dog fight with Malathaat,” said Brown. “To bounce right back and lay it on the line again, this filly has so much talent and so much heart. She's a very rare kind of horse to have, and we're so lucky to have her.”

Search Results was bred in Kentucky by Machmer Hall, which consigned the filly to the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale as part of the Select Sales consignment. She was purchased for $310,000 by Mike Ryan, agent, on behalf of Klaravich Stables owner Seth Klarman.

Dayoutoftheoffice jumped out to the early advantage in the long run down the Belmont backstretch, leading through an opening quarter mile in :23.50 and a half mile in :47.23. Make Mischief sat to her outside, with Search Results racing three wide into the far turn and just behind the top two. Obligatory, ridden by Jose Ortiz, lagged at the back of the field, never more than five lengths behind the leader.

Into the stretch, after six furlongs in 1:11.00, Search Results drew up alongside Dayoutoftheoffice, and gradually eased past that filly while Make Mischief fought to keep pace with the eventual winner. In the final sixteenth of a mile, with Search Result's victory seemingly assured, Obligatory came roaring down the outside and tried to make a race of a it, falling a half-length short at the wire.

“The pace wasn't fast but she was right there,” said Castellano. “That's the good thing about her. You can put her where you want. You can be a little closer to the pace or you can be a little bit off the pace. I don't think she's a difficult horse to manage. She's very easy and straightforward. I'm just lucky I had the opportunity to ride her.”

Obligatory's rider, Jose Ortiz, said of the filly by Curlin: “She ran huge. The pace was a lot slower today and when they started running at the three-eighths pole, they got the jump on me. It was very hard to keep her engaged with them, but she made a good run down the lane.”

The win was the fourth in five career starts for Search Results, who debuted at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 3, winning a six-furlong maiden race by four lengths. She shipped to New York to win the Busher Invitational on March 6, then won Aqueduct's G3 Gazelle by 2 3/4 lengths. She got a good trip under Irad Ortiz Jr. in the Kentucky Oaks, but came up a neck short of the Todd Pletcher-trained Curlin filly Malathaat in a battle of the unbeatens.

Search Results is by Flatter, a stakes-placed A.P. Indy stallion who stands at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Ky., where his 2021 fee was $35,000. The Acorn winner was produced from Co Cola, a Todd Pletcher-trained stakes-place filly by Candy Ride. Search Results come from the family of Canadian champion Kimchi and G1 winner Mind Your Biscuit, now standing at stud in Japan.

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Oaks, Eight Belles Runners Converge in Acorn

Five of the six runners in Saturday's prestigious GI Acorn S. at Belmont were last seen competing on the GI Kentucky Oaks card Apr. 30 at Churchill, and now they'll all run together. Busher Invitational S. and GIII Gazelle S. heroine Search Results (Flatter) missed by just a neck last time in the Oaks after a hard-fought battle with unbeaten Malathaat (Curlin).

“It's five weeks and [after the Kentucky Oaks] I said I'm going to point to the race under no pressure to run and [owner Seth] Klarman was fine with whatever I wanted to do,” trainer Chad Brown said. “She's come back and worked really well. I've been doing this long enough to know that even if they work well, you're going to find out how they're really doing at the quarter-pole and how much the last race did or didn't affect them. I just can't pass on a race where she would be favorite in a Grade I and she's training this well. I am looking at the five weeks wishing I had a little more time for my own comfort, knowing what a hard stretch duel it was, but she's doing well.”

Also exiting the Oaks is 'TDN Rising Star' Travel Column (Frosted). The GII Fair Grounds Oaks heroine could relish this one-turn mile configuration after setting the pace and fading to fifth at Churchill. Her sire turned in a powerhouse performance here give years ago when dominating the GI Met Mile by 14 1/4 lengths, good for a 123 Beyer Speed Figure.

The top three finishers from the GII Eight Belles S.–Obligatory (Curlin), Dayoutoftheoffice (Into Mischief) and Make Mischief (Into Mischief)–are also signed on. Obligatory was coming off a fourth-place run in the Fair Grounds Oaks when she belied 16-1 odds in the Eight Belles. The Juddmonte homebred went last to first that day after favored Dayoutoftheoffice chased hot splits. Dayoutoftheoffice took last year's GI Frizette S. over this strip last October before finishing second in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.

“She's doing great and coming in perfect,” Dayoutoftheofffice's conditioner Tim Hamm said. “We worked her on Sunday morning (four furlongs at Thistledown in :49 flat {4/13}) and she went just as prescribed, doing exactly what we wanted. We are confident, but when you get to this level of racing, you need a good trip. She's coming into the race in good shape.”

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Curlin’s Obligatory Comes From the Clouds to Upset the Eight Belles

Longshot Obligatory cut back and came flying to run down come-backing GISW Dayoutoftheoffice Friday. Fourth on debut after a rough start sprinting at Belmont in October, the Juddmonte homebred donned cap and gown over a one-turn mile at Gulfstream Feb. 7. She was last seen finishing a somewhat one-paced fourth in the Mar. 20 GII Fair Grounds Oaks behind Travel Column (Frosted), Clairiere (Curlin) and Souper Sensational (Curlin).

Obligatory dropped straight to the back early as last year's GI Frizette S. heroine and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies runner-up Dayoutoftheoffice chased a quick pace from third that yielded opening splits of :21.89 and :44.46. The favorite took over heading for home and looked on her way to victory, and Obligatory swung very wide but still had plenty to do. Like a grey blur, Obligatory inhaled foes down the center of the track and blew by Dayoutoftheoffice in the final strides.

“It was just like I planned it,” said winning jockey Jose Ortiz, who had piloted Maxfield (Street Sense) to victory earlier on the card in the GII Alysheba S. “I told [Juddmonte general manager] Garrett [O'Rourke] and [trainer] Bill [Mott] that there was going to be a lot of speed on the rail on paper. I was going to sit on her and give her one good move. The first part was nice and easy. The second part she came running. According to the numbers, and I don't know numbers, but they said she could win the race and they were right. She's a filly that is improving a lot.”

This was the third victory in this event for Mott.

“I think she was a little confused when she ran two turns in New Orleans,” the Hall of Famer said. “She ran a very big effort at Gulfstream, had a little trouble, had to check coming around, you could see visually it was a very good effort. We thought she was good enough to go to the Fair Grounds Oaks, I think she's good enough, but she's green and the two turns confused the heck out of her. Maybe we could find out down the road that she's a better one-turn horse. I think five weeks away, they run the [GI] Acorn. I have no reason to believe she can't get a mile. And sometimes the two-turn deal could be a greenness thing. The pace today turned out good. We both knew there was a tremendous amount of speed in the race. She was able to close into it. She had a good kick. You just hope it didn't take too much out of her, she got the win and I think she earned a ticket into a good race like the Acorn.”

Friday, Churchill Downs
EIGHT BELLES S. PRESENTED BY SMITHFIELD-GII, $300,000, Churchill Downs, 4-30, 3yo, f, 7f, 1:21.89, ft.
1–OBLIGATORY, 118, f, 3, by Curlin
1st Dam: Uno Duo (SW, $171,300), by Macho Uno
2nd Dam: Willstar, by Nureyev
3rd Dam: Nijinsky Star, by Nijinsky II
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. O-Juddmonte; B-Juddmonte Farms Inc (KY); T-William I Mott; J-Jose L Ortiz. $172,980. Lifetime Record: 4-2-0-0, $217,780. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk Nick Rating: A++.
2–Dayoutoftheoffice, 122, f, 3, Into Mischief–
Gottahaveadream, by Indian Charlie. O-Blazing Meadows Farm & Siena Farm LLC; B-Siena Farms LLC (KY); T-Timothy E Hamm. $55,800.
3–Make Mischief, 118, f, 3, Into Mischief–Speightful Lady, by Speightstown. ($285,000 Ylg '19 SARAUG). O-Gary Barber; B-Avanti Stable (NY); T-Mark E Casse. $27,900.
Margins: 1, 1 3/4, 2 1/4. Odds: 16.50, 3.10, 23.60.
Also Ran: Souper Sensational, Abrogate, Li'l Tootsie, Caramel Swirl, Slumber Party, Cantata, Euphoric, Windmill, Kalypso.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

Pedigree Notes:

The late Khalid Abdullah's operation paid $700,000 for Obligatory's third dam Nijinsky Star at the 1987 Keeneland November sale. Already the dam of that year's GI Kentucky Oaks runner-up Hometown Queen (Pleasant Colony), Nijinsky Star would later become the grand dam of Hometown Queen's GSW/GISP son Bowman's Band (Dixieland Band) and of the Grade I winners Sightseek (Distant View) and Tates Creek (Rahy). Second dam Willstar produced French Group 1 winner and graded producer Etoile Montante (Miswaki), as well as the dam of last year's GII Fair Grounds Oaks heroine and recent GIII Doubledogdare S. winner Bonny South (Munnings).

Obligatory is the second foal to race out of Uno Duo, who never raced beyond seven furlongs and was a restricted stakes winner on the Aqueduct inner track. Uno Duo has a 2-year-old filly by Arrogate and a yearling colt by the same late superstar. She most recently visited Into Mischief.

Obligatory is the 41st graded winner and 79th stakes winner for top sire Curlin. She is the third graded winner, second in the Northern Hemisphere, out of a mare by Macho Uno–2015 Eight Belles winner Promise Me Silver (Silver City) was the other.

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