Tag: Racing

The inaugural running of the $150,000 Colonial Cup, scheduled at 1 1/2 turf miles with an 11-horse field, will highlight Wednesday (July 27) racing action at Colonial Downs.

The stakes originally was slated to be held Monday (July 25), but racing was cancelled due to anticipated high temperatures and heat indexes. The “Cup” will be run as originally drawn as the 8th race at 5:01 PM.

The marathon event attracted 11 entrants headed by Cellist, the 3-1 morning line favorite trained by Rusty Arnold. Julien Leparoux is expected to come in from his New York homebase to pilot the 4-year-old son of Big Blue Kitten who won the Grade 3 Louisville Handicap in his last start. The Calumet Farm color bearer has won three of 10 races in his career for earnings of $467,875.

Bruton-Street's Snap Decision, a Grade 1 winner over the jumps, will take to the flat for the Colonial Cup. The Jack Fisher-trained son of Hard Spun has banked more than $700,000 from his 12 wins out of 33 trips to the post. The 8-year-old gelding has finished first or second in 15 consecutive jump races. Forest Boyce has the mount.

It would hardly be a turf stakes without at least one from the Mike Maker barn and the veteran conditioner has two entrants here – graded stakes winner Red Knight making his first start since last August at Saratoga and '21 Kentucky Turf Cup Preview victor Bluegrass Parkway.

Horacio Karamanos is listed aboard the former while Victor Carrasco is named to ride the latter.

The Chris Block-trained Another Mystery makes his Colonial Downs debut off a winning effort against Illinois-breds in Hawthorne's Black Tie Affair Stakes last month. The 6-year-old Temple City horse won the Grade 3 John Connally at Sam Houston in January.

Wednesday's nine-race live card features another Pick-5 wager with a low 12% takeout. The bet covers the final five races of the afternoon and has a carryover provision should nobody select all five winners. The bet has averaged a healthy $175,000 through the first six programs.

The post Grade 1 Steeplechase Winner Snap Decision Takes To Flat In Wednesday’s Colonial Cup appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Owner Bjorn Nielsen is convinced that Stradivarius retains the ability and enthusiasm to win an unprecedented fifth Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup on Tuesday – provided that replacement rider Andrea Atzeni can negotiate a clear passage.

The trouble in running which Stradivarius encountered when third in last month's Gold Cup at Royal Ascot has led Nielsen to return to Atzeni, who partnered Stradivarius to his first two Goodwood Cup wins.

Nielsen, who said he is “making headway” promoting Stradivarius as a stallion prospect and concedes that Tuesday's race, which is part of the QIPCO British Champions Series, might be his last ever racecourse appearance, believes that Stradivarius has purposely been kept hemmed in on occasions, particularly at Ascot.

However, he hopes it will not be an issue here, where an outstanding field of nine for the £500,000 Group 1 includes the Gold Cup winner Kyprios, last year's Goodwood Cup winner Trueshan, whose participation hinges on the ground, the 2021 Gold Cup second Princess Zoe, and the much improved Coltrane.

Nielsen said: “The way the races have been run, really since October 2018, the tactics have been to put Stradivarius in a pocket, and that's a lot easier to do at Ascot as it's a short straight, whereas at York they can't hem him in as it's a long straight and they come up the middle.

“It happened the last time he won the Goodwood Cup too, as he was held in a pocket there until Frankie got out just in time. That's been the strategy and that's the way it is, but Andrea knows the score. He's ridden him three times and won every time.”

Reflecting on Stradivarius' career, and on the particular significance of the Goodwood Cup, Nielsen added: “When he beat Big Orange for his first Goodwood Cup was when he really announced himself. Winning The Queen's Vase had shown he was a good horse but when he beat the Gold Cup winner the way he did it was a changing of the guard and it was clear to me that day that so long as he stayed sound he was going to be a top, top stayer.

“I couldn't have visualized he would go on as long as he has, but he's been an amazingly sound and charismatic horse. If he could win the race for a fifth time it would be some redemption for what's happened at Ascot the last three times he's run there.

“He hasn't lost any of his ability or enthusiasm and if things had gone the right way at Ascot last month I have no doubt that he could have won another Gold Cup, as when they turned in the others were all being ridden along and he was sitting there with a double handful. I think he could have won on Champions Day last year too, but for not being able to get out.”

As for the possibility of Tuesday marking the end of a truly glorious racecourse career for the seven-time Group 1 winner, who has won a record 16 races in the QIPCO British Champions Series, he said: “It could be his last run, of course, but it depends on his performance now and he seems in really good form. I saw him go up Warren Hill the other day and he's in good nick. He did a bit more I think when Andrea had a sit on him the day afterwards, and everyone was very happy with him.

“I'm just taking it one race at a time and we'll see how it goes. If he gets properly beaten we'd probably call it quits, but he's not shown any signs of that and there's a chance that he'll run again, for sure. He has an entry in the Lonsdale at York, so we are keeping our options open.”

Kyprios will be bidding to follow in the footsteps of his trainer Aidan O'Brien's great stayer Yeats, who is the stable's only Goodwood Cup winner so far, and he still has untapped potential over Cup distances. Yeats only ran here twice, winning easily after his first Gold Cup win in 2006 and just as impressively when returning two years later after the third of his four wins at Royal Ascot.

O'Brien said: “Everything has gone well with Kyprios since the Gold Cup and we are very happy with him. It's a tough race to win and we haven't been successful since Yeats, but he's in good form and we are looking forward to it.”

Trueshan does not enjoy traditional midsummer ground – hence last month's return to Newcastle to race on Tapeta in the Northumberland Plate – so connections will have their fingers crossed that the odd showers which are currently in the forecast for Monday develop into something more significant.

Hollie Doyle has been beaten on the six-year-old only once in eight starts and was on board at Newcastle for one of the greatest handicap performances of modern times. She said: “Alan has said he'd be happy to run if it's good ground, and although it looks unlikely at the moment there is some rain around on Monday so we'll just have to wait and see.

“Last year's Goodwood Cup was excellent for us and he won very decisively. I know the race cut up and he had the soft ground he loves, but he handled the track very well and so if he does run I'll be very much looking forward to getting back on him.

“The Northumberland Plate last time was extraordinary. I know he's a dual Group 1 winner, but Alan had doubts about him giving away all that weight. He's just so tough. It was the first time when I've ridden him that he really had to dig deep to win, as usually he just takes you along and wins very decisively. He really dug deep at Newcastle, and that run will just have put him straight for Goodwood.”

Princess Zoe will be making her first appearance at Goodwood. She was only sixth in last month's Gold Cup, but her best form puts her in the mix. Her defeat of Quickthorn in Ascot's Sagaro Stakes in May (Enemy fifth) has worked out well and confirmed she can handle fast ground.

Coltrane is in the form of his life and by following a narrow success in the Ascot Stakes at Royal Ascot with a 10-length win in a Listed race at Sandown he showed that he is on a steep upward curve and should not be underestimated. His trainer Andrew Balding also saddles Group 3 runner-up Nate The Great.

The field is completed by last year's runner-up Away He Goes, who has not been seen to advantage on either of his starts since, and the former Dante Stakes winner Thunderous, who was second to Stradivarius in the Yorkshire Cup.

The post Nielsen Hopes ‘Amazingly Sound And Charismatic’ Stradivarius Gets Redemption In Goodwood Cup appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Rider Ramon Vazquez sat second to odd-on race favorite Tizamagician in the 12-furlong Cougar II Stakes Sunday at Del Mar, then surged late and held off his classy rival for a one-length tally with Hronis Racing's Heywoods Beach.

The 5-year-old horse – ironically by sprint champion Speightstown – ran the 1 1/2 miles in 2:30.09. He is trained by veteran John Sadler, who was winning the Grade 3 Cougar II for the fourth time. It was also Sadler's 83rd stakes win at Del Mar, second-most among all trainers.

Finishing second in the marathon was Tizamagician, who is owned by MyRacehorse and Spendthrift Farm. Running third, a neck farther back, was Jay Em Ess Stable's Extra Hope.

Heywoods Beach picked up a check for $75,000 for his work, increasing his lifetime bankroll to $289,251. He's won four of 18 outings and ran third in this same race last year when Tizamagician was the winner.

Heywoods Beach paid $8.20, $3.40 and $2.60 across the board. Tizamagician, who went off at 9-10, paid $2.80 and $2.20 and Extra Hope returned $3.00.

Vazquez, who has taken up residence at Del Mar for the first time this summer, has one other stakes win at the seaside track. That came last Nov. 6 on the Breeders' Cup undercard when he steered the classy router Lone Rock to a victory in the TAA Stakes marathon, besting Tizamagician in the process.

Following the Cougar II, longshot Irideo pulled off a $65 surprise in the Wickerr Stakes at a mile on the turf course. The homebred Argentinian horse races in the green, blue and yellow silks of Pozo de Luna. He was ridden by Hector Berrios, who last won a stakes at Del Mar in 2011 and is trained by Marcelo Polanco, whose most recent stakes victory locally was in 2009.

Del Mar goes dark now until Thursday when racing resumes with a 2 p.m. post.

---

RAMON VAZQUEZ (Heywoods Beach, winner) – “I had a lot of horse all the way. I could feel it. You love it when you know you've got that under you. I could feel it all the way. I like riding these long races. There's time to think and plan. You've got time to do what you need to do.”

JOHN SADLER (Heywoods Beach, winner) — “I told Ramon the two Mandella horses are tactical like us, just gonna have to have a jocks' ride. We just laid second off of him and we won. It's a great race; I've won this race several times (four) and I've always enjoyed it and it's a fun race. I'm grateful we have horses for it most years.”

---

FRACTIONS:  :24.98  :49.12  1:13.45  1:38.20  2:03.92  2:30.09

The stakes win was the first of the meet for both rider and trainer.

The stakes win was the second at Del Mar for rider Vazquez. He had won the Grade 2 TAA Stakes on Lone Rock on the Breeders' Cup undercard at Del Mar last Nov. 6, a mile and five-eighths race in which he bested today's race favorite, Tizamagician.

The stakes win was the fourth in the Cougar II for trainer Sadler. He now has 83 stakes wins at Del Mar, second-most among all trainers.

The winning owners are Hronis Racing of Kosta and Pete Hronis of Delano, CA.

The post Heywoods Beach Turns Tables On Tizamagician In Del Mar’s Cougar II appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post