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Grade 1-Winning Trainer Beau Greely Dies At Age 49

Christopher Beau Greely, a Grade 1-winning trainer and fourth-generation horseman, died Sept. 30 in Redondo Beach, Calif. He was 49.

Born in Lexington, Ky., and raised in nearby Midway, Ky., at his family's Wintergreen Farm, Greely was educated at Baylor School in Chattanooga, South Kent School in Connecticut and the University of Kentucky.

After college, Greely worked under leading French trainer Criquette Head, then relocated to California to work for Richard Mandella.

Greely branched out on his own as a trainer in 1997, and he was active through 2015. He won 131 races for combined earnings of $11,230,842.

His first Grade 1 victories as a trainer came in 2000, when he saddled the Irish-bred Manndar to victories in the G1 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic Stakes and G1 Manhattan Handicap. He won the G1 Hollywood Turf Cup Stakes with Sligo Bay, and he took the G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup and Pacific Classic Stakes with Borrego.

Other runners of note for Greely's stable included Grade 2 winners Tres Borrachos, Century City, Grammarian, Takarian, and Five Star Day.

Greely was also active in the breeding industry, founding Wintergreen Stallion Station in Midway with his brother John Joseph Greely IV. John died earlier this year on March 15 at age 54.

In recent years, Greely was involved in underwater and art photography.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, a private burial will take place at Calvary Cemetery in Lexington. In lieu of flowers the family requests contributions to God's Food Pantry (1685 Jaggie Fox Way, Lexington, KY 40511) in response to need for food during the pandemic.

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Brad Cox To Watch Pimlico Action From Keeneland, With Runners In Four Grade 1 Races

Brad Cox is loaded for bear this weekend at Pimlico with runners in eight stakes, but he will be watching the action from Keeneland.

“There are four Grade 1s here (in which we are entered), so I figured I'd better stay here,” said Cox, whose Grade 1 activity at Keeneland begins with Travel Column in Friday's Darley Alcibiades and concludes Sunday with Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Shedaresthedevil going in the Juddmonte Spinster. “I sent my son Blake and my assistant from Indiana Grand (Ricky Giannini) to Pimlico.”

Travel Column, owned by OXO Equine, will be trying to give Cox a second consecutive Darley Alcibiades victory following the 2019 triumph by Eclipse Award winner British Idiom.

“She worked with (Claiborne Breeders' Futurity-G1 entrant) Essential Quality last Saturday (at Churchill Downs) and it was the first time I had worked them together,” Cox said about Travel Column. “They went five-eighths in :59 and 4 and galloped out three-quarters in 1:12 and 2. I have done as much as I can with them in the morning.

“Now they have to get good trips. There are solid horses in both races.”

Godolphin, which won the Claiborne Breeders' Futurity with Maxfield last year, owns Essential Quality.

In Saturday's First Lady (G1) Presented by UK HealthCare, Cox sends out Beau Recall (IRE) for Slam Dunk Racing and Medallion Racing. Beau Recall is coming off a repeat victory in the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (G2) last month in which she ran down First Lady rival Newspaperofrecord (IRE).

“She has had two maintenance works since and is doing well,” Cox said. “I hope she gets the same setup that she had the last time.”

Cox has a 24 percent win rate in 2020 and ranks second among North American trainers with $11,945,923 in earnings. On Saturday, in addition to Keeneland and Pimlico, Cox will have runners at Belmont and Hawthorne.

His Pimlico invasion begins Friday afternoon with Owendale, the 2019 Stonestreet Lexington (G3) winner, in the Pimlico Special (G3). His biggest guns Saturday are Bonny South in the George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan (G2) and Factor This in the Dinner Party (G2).

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Four Graded Stakes Wins Net Flavien Prat Jockey Of The Week Title

After two graded stakes victories on Saturday and two on Sunday, Flavien Prat was voted the Jockeys' Guild Jockey of the Week for Sept. 21 through Sept. 27. The award is voted on by a panel of racing industry experts. This award is for jockeys who are members of the Jockeys' Guild, the organization which represents more than 950 active riders in the United States as well as retired and permanently disabled jockeys.

Flavien Prat, who was the leading rider from the winter/spring meet at Santa Anita, began opening weekend of the Fall Meet where he left off by dominating the southern California riding colony. Prat had mounts in nine stakes races over the weekend, taking the Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes with the Peter Miller-trained Get Her Number on Saturday as well as the Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship with regular mount, United, trained by Richard Mandella. On Sunday, trainer Simon Callaghan gave a leg up to Prat who guided Harvest Moon to their fourth consecutive win in the Grade 2 Zenyatta Stakes. He ended the weekend riding Cupid's Claw, trained by Craig Dollase to win in the Grade 3 Tokyo City Cup.

On Sunday, Prat summed up his weekend, “It's been a great weekend I thought. Yesterday we had some good runs with the two-year-old (Get Her Number) and also United. Today Simon Callaghan's filly (Harvest Moon) ran great.”

As for Cupid's Claw, Prat continued “I give all the credit to Craig (Dollase) I thought he made a great move going long on the dirt and it worked out well. You feel fortunate when you look at the program and you have such a great bunch of horses to ride all weekend long, it's a goal for every rider, I'm living the dream.”

Prat's weekly statistics were 7 wins, 7 seconds and 4 thirds from 24 mounts for a win percentage of 29.17, an in-the-money ratio of 75 percent and total purses of $708,100 for leading money-earner honors.

Prat out-polled fellow jockeys David Cabrera with two stakes wins at Remington Park, Glenn Corbett with three stakes wins at Prairie Meadows, Juan J. Hernandez who won two stakes races at Santa Anita including his first Grade I win with Mucho Unusual in the Rodeo Drive Stakes and Luis Saez who won two stakes races at Santa Anita.

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‘Surprised’ Irad Ortiz Tests Positive For COVID-19, Return To Racing Delayed

Serving a suspension from Sept. 18 through Oct. 3 for a pair of careless riding incidents earlier this year, champion jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. was scheduled to return to the saddle on Sunday. Instead, the Daily Racing Form's David Grening reported Wednesday that Ortiz tested positive for COVID-19 in a test taken Monday, and will be self-isolating for an additional 10 days.

Agent Steve Rushing said Ortiz is displaying no symptoms, and hopes to return by Oct. 8 at Belmont Park.

“He was as surprised as anyone when he found out,” Rushing told drf.com.