Tag: Racing

Trainer Mark Casse continued his dominance of the Selene Stakes (G3) at Woodbine, scoring a fifth consecutive victory in Saturday's $150,900 edition of the race with Souper Hoity Toity.

The Uncle Mo filly won by three-quarters of a length from 11-10 favorite Catiche after both went were hung very wide on the first turn, six- and seven-wide respectively.

Sent off at 8-1 in the field of seven 3-year-old fillies, Souper Hoity Toity moved quickly into contention and stalked pacesetter Join the Dance from second on the backstretch while reigning Canadian champion 2-year-old filly Mrs. Barbara rated in third.

With Patrick Husbands at the reins, Souper Hoity Toity overtook the leader with a furlong to run and dug in to hold back the willing rally of Catiche, who was sixth at the half-mile mark. Catiche finished 1 ¾ lengths in front of Mrs. Barbara in third.

Making her season debut, Souper Hoity Toity completed the 1 1/16 miles in 1:45.11 on the all weather track for her third win from five career starts. She returned $18.

The Selene marked Souper Hoity Toity's second graded stakes appearance following her fourth in the Mazarine Stakes (G3) last November at Woodbine to conclude her 2-year-old season.

Campaigned by Live Oak Plantation, Souper Hoity Toity earned the $90,000 winner's share Selene purse to boost her lifetime earnings to $144,835. Bred in Kentucky by Dr. Richard Holder and Coolmore, she was a $550,000 purchase from consignor Pike Racing at the 2021 OBS March Sale of Two-Year-Olds In Training.

Souper Hoity Toity, who is out of the Speightstown mare Town Tour, joins Casse-trained Our Flash Drive (2021), Two Sixty (2020), Power Gal (2019), and Miss Mo Mentum (2018) as winners of the Selene.

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Jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson put it perfectly when she was interviewed in the winner's circle following Lady Speightspeare's dead-heat victory with Graham Motion-trained Crystal Cliffs in Saturday's Grade 2, $175,000 Nassau Stakes at Woodbine in Toronto, Ontario.

The win was No. 2,000 in trainer Roger Attfield distinguished career, one that includes eight Sovereign Awards as outstanding trainer in Canada, eight triumphs in Canada's biggest race, the Queen's Plate, and 14 victories in the Canadian Triple Crown's other two legs, the Prince of Wales Stakes and the Breeders' Stakes. Three of his runners swept Canada's Triple Crown. He is a member of the Canadian and U.S. Halls of Fame.

“Leave it to Mr. Roger Attfield, a dual Hall of Famer, to have his 2,000th victory have an epic story behind it,” Wilson said. “Roger is legendary.”

Canadian champion 2-year-old filly of 2020 for her owner and breeder, Charles Fipke, Lady Speightspeare came into the Nassau on a five-race losing streak dating back to last December.

Wilson put the daughter of Speightstown on the lead in the opening stages of the Nassau, but she never got much of a breather, pressured first by Dreaming of Drew through opening fractions of :23.26 and :45.85. Our Flash Drive and Patrick Husbands were next to challenge Lady Speightspeare, taking a narrow advantage after six furlongs in a quick 1:08.46. But Lady Speightspeare fought her off, too, and appeared to have the Nassau won until a late surge from Crystal Cliffs, ridden by Rafael Hernandez. The two hit the wire together and could not be separated by the photo finish camera.

Final time for the one mile on firm turf was 1:32.40. Our Flash Drive finished one length behind the top pair and two lengths ahead of Plum Ali in fourth. They were followed by Peace Seeker, La Libertee, Dreaming of Drew, Broadway Lady, Lady War Machine Perseverancia, and Saratoga Vision.

Lady Speightspeare, sent away the 5-2 favorite, paid $3.80, Crystal Cliffs, off at 3-1, paid $4.20 to win.

“This filly is pretty special,” Wilson said. “She tried her guts out all winter and to come back home, when I saw her walk into the walking ring under the willows of Woodbine, I said to Roger, 'She looks happy to be home,' and he said, 'Yes, she does.' She ran a gangbuster of a race.

“She fought tooth and nail when Patrick went by us on the outside, fought tooth and nail to get back in front of him and fought off a challenger to the best of her ability and still secured a win,” Wilson said.

Hernandez relished almost playing the role of spoiler. “I had to make it harder,” he said of Attfield's milestone win.

“I never really thought too much about (the 2,000-win milestone) until just recently when there's been so much written about it,” said Attfield, an 82-year-old native of Newbury, England, who came to Canada in 1970 following time as a steeplechase rider and international show jumper. “I'm very proud of it.”

Attfield turned his attention to Lady Speightspeare, who was coming off a fourth-place finish in the G2 Distaff Turf Mile over the new Churchill Downs turf course May 7.

“She's an interesting filly to train,” he said. “She was unlucky this winter, having a lot of different things happen that people really didn't know about, and then Churchill was a disaster with that turf course. It's funny, really, because the jockey that rode her (Luis Saez) came back and said she wasn't handling the turf course, that it was too loose. It turned out it wasn't really ready to run on I guess.” Churchill stopped racing over the course last month and is letting it rest for the remainder of its meet.

“I'm very proud of her and she trained well into this race,” said Attfield.

Lady Speightspeare was winning for the fifth time in 10 career races. Crystal Cliffs, a French-bred daughter of Canford Cliffs recorded her first graded/group stakes win and fourth overall from nine starts. The 5-year-old mare, coming off a second to Technical Analysis in the Galorette at Pimlico May 21, races for Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables LLC and Wonder Stables.

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Harrell Ventures' Main Event took charge soon after the start and led at every point of call to win in the $200,000 Kent Stakes (G3) Saturday at Delaware Park.

Jockey Eric Cancel guided Main Event to the front immediately in the 1 1/8 mile turf test for 3-year-olds, and the Bernardini colt was hounded throughout the early stages by Uncle Irish, who eventually faded to last. He asserted his dominance rounding the far turn, opening up by three lengths in early stretch, and held his command for a 1 ½-length triumph, his first graded stakes win.

French-bred Elizar, a maiden winner who was the 8-5 favorite after an unplaced finish at Belmont Park in the Penine Ridge (G2) June 4 in only his second start, settled next to last in the field of seven for the early running. He came four wide at the top of the stretch, and rallied strongly at the sixteenths pole before finishing second, three-quarter of a length in front of third-place finisher Tommy Bee.

Main Event, who is trained by George Weaver, covered the distance in 1:48:74 on turf rated as firm. He returned $10.60.

“I had a dream trip,” Cancel said. “I wanted to be forwardly placed with this horse because his best races have been on the lead or really close. I knew there was a lot of speed in the race, but I knew my horse was very game so I took it to them early. If they were going to beat me, they would have had to beat me running. Once I started making the turn at the three-eighths, I felt I still had plenty of horse so I let him go to get him more comfortable. By the quarter pole he kind of stayed steady like he was waiting for horses so I just tried to give him a very confident ride to the end.”

Since being moved to turf this year, Main Event broke his maiden January 30 at Gulfstream Park, then was second by a neck in the Palm Beach Stakes there March 5 before earning black type with victory in the Cutler Bay Stakes April 2. He came into the Kent after a lackluster ninth in the American Turf Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs May 7 but was ready to win Saturday.

With $120,000 winner's share of the Kent purse, Main Event earning improve to $246,333. He was a $130,000 purchase by agent Steve Young at the 2021 OBS Spring Sale of Two-Year-Olds In Training. His career was launched later that year at Aqueduct, where he was unplaced in two maiden special weight races on dirt.

Bred in Kentucky by Godolphin and Eric and Elizabeth Buckley.  Main Event  is out of the Unbridled's Song mare, Total Knockout.

The post ‘I Took It To Them Early’: Main Event Makes All To Earn First Graded Victory In Kent Stakes appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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CHC Inc. and WinStar Farm's multiple Grade 1 winner Life Is Good proved to be much the best Saturday in a showdown with Grade 1 winner Speaker's Corner in the $250,000 John A. Nerud, (G2) for older horses at Belmont Park.

Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher and piloted for the first time by Flavien Prat, the 4-year-old Into Mischief colt broke alertly from the inside post and never relinquished, drawing off to a five-length score over Speaker's Corner.

“You never take anything for granted. There's only one outcome that was OK and that was for him to win,” Pletcher said. “He ran against a Grade 1 winner and drew the rail, so you worry about all those things. He broke sharp, high cruising speed and just kept going. I loved the way he galloped out.”

Life Is Good, a dominant 5 3/4-length winner of last year's Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) in November at Del Mar, marked off splits of :22.19 and :44.70 under outside pressure from Speaker's Corner before coasting home in a final time of 1:21.70 for seven furlongs on the fast main track.

The Jose Ortiz-piloted Speaker's Corner completed the exacta by 2 ½ lengths over Repo Rocks, with Harvard rounding out the order of finish. War Tocsin was scratched.

Pletcher said the impressive score should propel Life Is Good to the $1 million Whitney (G1) on August 6 at Saratoga Race Course. The nine-furlong Whitney offers a “Win and You're In” berth to the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) in November at Keeneland.

“I felt like he was always very comfortable even though they were going pretty fast. Strategically, if you're Speaker's Corner, you can't let him [Life Is Good] get away the whole way,” said Pletcher, who won the Nerud last year with Mind Control. “We anticipated he would put some pressure on us and it was legitimate pressure. They went 44 and change for the half. It was a good race.

“We got a little something out of it. A nice strong gallop out. We'll come back in five weeks and see if we can make another step forward,” Pletcher added. “Watching him gallop out he was all the way over to the pony shed which was three-eighths of a mile past the finish line, so I was happy he [Prat] got him pulled up.”

Prat, who took over for the suspended Irad Ortiz, Jr., said he felt comfortable throughout.

“We avoided some trouble by breaking well and getting into the lead. After that, I was travelling super,” Prat said. “In the turn, I didn't know if he [Ortiz] had horse or if he was just trying to stay with me. But as soon as we hit the quarter pole, he responded right away. He galloped out great. I got a great impression of him. He's always been a talented horse and everyone has high hopes on him. He showed it again today.”

Life Is Good enjoyed a remarkable sophomore season, winning 4 of 5 starts led by scores in the Grade 3 Sham and Grade 2 San Felipe at Santa Anita along with a 5 1/2-length romp in the Grade 2 Kelso Handicap in September over Big Sandy. His lone loss last year came at Saratoga Race Course with a narrow neck defeat in the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial to Jackie's Warrior, who went on to be named last year's Champion Male Sprinter.

The talented bay launched his current campaign in January with a 3 1/4-length score over reigning Horse of the Year Knicks Go in the nine-furlong Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) at Gulfstream Park ahead of a fourth-place finish on March 26 in the Dubai World Cup (G1) over a slow and deep track at Meydan.

Elliott Walden, President/CEO and Racing Manager of WinStar Farm, commended Pletcher for having Life Is Good ready to roll off the layoff.

“He was ready to go. It was nice to see him back. He ran super and it's onward and upward,” Walden said. “Obviously, they wanted to try and take it to him a little bit early, but this horse's weapon is his speed, so damned if you do, damned if you don't. He's just an incredible horse and I'm excited to see what happens the rest of the year.”

Godolphin homebred Speaker's Corner was piloted by Ortiz with regular rider Junior Alvarado committed to fellow Bill Mott trainee Olympiad later today in the Stephen Foster (G2) at Churchill Downs. Speaker's Corner exited the outermost post 4 and pestered Life Is Good to the top of the lane before fading.

“He ran good. Life Is Good is a very nice horse,” said Ortiz, who had guided Speaker's Corner on two previous occasions, including a 5 1/4-length allowance win in August at Saratoga. “He just slid over a little bit and I was going to apply some pressure going to the second quarter. I did, but he [Life Is Good] was the better horse. He just couldn't keep up and ran evenly the whole time.”

Speaker's Corner launched his campaign with a trio of graded wins, taking the Fred W. Hooper (G3) and Gulfstream Park Mile (G2) ahead of a 4 1/2-length win in the Carter Handicap (G1) on April 9 at Aqueduct Racetrack. He entered the Nerud from a third-place finish to the streaking Flightline in the Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan Handicap (G1) on June 11.

Out of the Distorted Humor mare Beach Walk, Life Is Good was purchased for $525,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Bred in Kentucky by Gary and Mary West Stable, Life Is Good banked $137,500 in victory while improving his record to 7-1-0 from nine career starts. He returned $2.40 for Saturday's win.

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