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Thursday Insights: 3-Year-Old Curlin Half To Midnight Bourbon, Girvin Debuts At Churchill

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10th-CD, $120K, Msw, 3yo/up, 1m, 5:35 p.m.

A $500,000 Keeneland September yearling out of the 2020 Stonestreet Thoroughbreds consignment, CAWKAB (Curlin) was purchased by Shadwell Stables and makes a belated debut out of the Brad Cox barn. A 3-year-old son of Catch the Moon (Malibu Moon), Cawkab is a half-brother to four graded-stakes winners including the late GSW & MGISP Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow), GISW & up-and-coming freshman sire Girvin (Tale of Ekati), GSW Cocked and Loaded (Colonel John), and GSW Pirate's Punch (Shanghai Bobby). His 2-year-old half-brother, Weyhill Road (Quality Road), was himself a $1.6m Keeneland September yearling, nearly topping the sale, and recently debuted fourth in maiden special weight company at Keeneland. TJCIS PPS

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Pirate’s Punch Returns To Face Ny Traffic In Saturday’s Salvator Mile

Pirate's Punch and Ny Traffic took turns with impressive performances a year ago at Monmouth Park. Now they'll match their considerable talents in the same race at the track.

Pirate's Punch, idle since the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 7, and Ny Traffic, who made his return to racing on May 2, top a field of 10 for the Grade 3, $150,000 Salvator Mile, the headliner on Monmouth Park's Saturday card.

When last seen at Monmouth Park, Pirate's Punch won the Salvator Mile in 2020 – a race after being disqualified from a victory in the Grade 3 Iselin Stakes. Ny Traffic was second in last year's Grade 1 TVG.com Haskell Stakes, beaten a nose by 2020 Horse of the Year Authentic.

Rounding out the Salvator Mile field are Bal Harbour, Basin, Croatian, Galerio, Green Light Go, Informative, War Stopper and West Will Power.

A 5-year-old Kentucky-bred, Pirate's Punch needed surgery to remove a chip from one of his knees shortly after the Breeders' Cup, with trainer Grant Forster now eager to get him started on his 2021 campaign.

“After his surgery we took our time with him and did the proper rehab. Hopefully we have a foundation in him,” said Forster. “He's doing fantastic. He seems like he's a bigger, stronger horse this year.

“Since we put him back in training he hasn't missed a day of training, hasn't missed a work, hasn't missed a gallop. He has been ultra-consistent and we think we have him ready to run and ready to get back in the game and get going.”

The 4-year-old Ny Traffic, in his first race since the Preakness Stakes on Oct. 3, impressed in his 2021 debut, blazing to a 6¾-length victory in an allowance optional claimer at Belmont Park on May 2.

“He came back in a big way. He won emphatically,” said trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. “We were hoping he would win but we never envisioned he would run like that in his first race back after seven months off.

“It's a long year and he has a lot in front of him. We're hoping this race can be a building block for the year.”

Ny Traffic, a son of Cross Traffic-Mamie Reilly by Graeme Hall, has a 3-3-2 line from 12 career starts, with lifetime earnings of $612,220. Despite that, he has yet to win a graded stakes race.

“He came close (in last year's) Haskell,” said Joseph. “He definitely has a graded stakes win in him. Hopefully it's this year – and maybe this weekend.”

Ny Traffic is owned by John Fanelli, Cash is King LLC, LC Racing, Paul Braverman and Team Hanley.

Pirate's Punch, a son of of Shanghai Bobby-Catch the Moon by Malibu Moon, sports a 5-3-4 line from 18 career starts with $332,751 in earnings. He is owned by Gulliver Racing LLC, Craig W. Drager and Dan Lehan.

Saturday marks the 74th running of the Salvator Mile.

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Breeders’ Cup Presents The News Minute: Vekoma’s Out, But The Devil’s All In On Pirate’s Punch

Saturday's $2-million, Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint lost Vekoma, the morning-line favorite, after trainer George Weaver reported the son of Candy Ride spiked a fever on Tuesday night and was treated with antibiotics. Vekoma won the G2 Blue Grass Stakes as a 3-year-old in 2019 and is unbeaten in three starts in 2020, with wins in the G1 Carter and G1 Met Mile Handicaps, but he'll be forced to miss the big show on Saturday at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.

Grant Forster appears to be having fun with the 666 saddle towel number assigned to his first Breeders' Cup starter, $1-million, G1 Dirt Mile contender Pirate's Punch, suggesting the son of Shanghai Bobby is “the devil's choice” in the race.

And can Chad Brown add to his record of 15 Breeders' Cup world championship race wins (second only to D. Wayne Lukas) in the Juvenile Turf on the Future Stars Friday program? Ray Paulick seems to think so.

Watch the Breeders' Cup News Minute to find out why.

The post Breeders’ Cup Presents The News Minute: Vekoma’s Out, But The Devil’s All In On Pirate’s Punch appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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‘Glad To Be In It’: Forster Excited For First Breeders’ Cup With Dirt Mile Hopeful Pirate’s Punch

Nestled five miles from Churchill Downs, trainer Grant Forster is eagerly preparing for the biggest race of his career at Trackside Louisville where Gulliver Racing, Craig Drager and Dan Legan's five-time winner Pirate's Punch will tackle a likely full field of competitors in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (Grade I) on Nov. 7 at Keeneland.

“Sort of like every horse trainer, I'm just holding my breath until we get there,” Forster said. “It's been a great ride so far with this horse and the (Dirt Mile) is shaping up to be a really competitive. It'll be a tough field but we're glad to be in it.”

Pirate's Punch had a unique two-race stand over the summer when Forster shipped the Shanghai Bobby gelding to Monmouth Park to compete in the $200,000 Philip Iselin Stakes (GIII) and one month later returned for the $155,000 Salvator Mile (GIII). In the Philip Iselin, the gutsy Pirate's Punch finished a half-length in front of Warrior's Charge but was subsequently disqualified and placed second following a stewards' inquiry and objection lodged by the runner-up finisher's jockey Paco Lopez.

Forster would return to Monmouth for redemption in the Salvator Mile where Pirate's Punch scored a convincing two-length score and sealed his likely starting gate position in the Dirt Mile.

In the Breeders' Cup, East Coast-based jockey Jorge Vargas Jr., who rode Pirate's Punch in each of his two starts at Monmouth, will ship to Kentucky to ride in the Breeders' Cup. The 26-year-old Vargas, whose grandfather and father both trained horses in his native Puerto Rico, is named to ride Shimmering (IRE) for trainer Graham Motion on Wednesday at Churchill Downs.

“He's rode Pirate's Punch perfectly in his last two starts, so why not continue to use him for the Breeders' Cup,” Forster said. “He's coming to Kentucky early and hopes to ride a few at Churchill before the Breeders' Cup.”

Starting on Friday, there will be a special training period from 7:30-7:45 a.m. for Breeders' Cup contenders. The special training session is scheduled to run through Wednesday, Nov. 4.

The post ‘Glad To Be In It’: Forster Excited For First Breeders’ Cup With Dirt Mile Hopeful Pirate’s Punch appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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