The long-delayed start of the 2022 season for Flightline proved worth the wait for his connections and fans as the undefeated son of Tapit overcame a slow start to post a six-length victory in the $1 million Hill ‘n’ Dale Metropolitan Handicap June 11 at Belmont Park.
Tag: Racing
Matareya Cruises In Acorn After Champion Echo Zulu Scratched At Starting Gate
With the stunning late scratch of odds-on favorite Echo Zulu, the once-beaten 2-year-old filly champion of 2021, Godolphin homebred Matareya had an easy time of it against three other 3-year-old fillies in Saturday's Grade 1, $500,000 Acorn at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y. Ridden by Flavien Prat, the daughter of Pioneerof the Nile went straight to the front and was never threatened at any stage, pulling away down the stretch by 6 1/4 lengths for the easiest of wins.
The Brad Cox trainee covered the mile on a fast track in 1:35.77 after setting fractions of :23.39, :46.40 and 1:10.68. She paid $2.60 as the 1-5 favorite. Matareya was second in the betting at 9-5 when Steve Asmussen-trained Echo Zulu, who was 1-2 odds, was scratched.
Divine Huntress finished second, with Dream Lith another 5 1/2 lengths back in third. It was 16 lengths back to Investing in fourth.
Matareya improved her 2022 record to 4-for-4 following an allowance victory at Fair Grouns and two stakes successes in the G3 Beaumont at Keeneland and the G2 Eight Belles on the Kentucky Oaks card at Churchill Downs. The filly produced from the Bernardini mare, Innovative Idea, had won only once in four starts as a 2-year-old, with two of her defeats coming in two-turn races, including a fifth-place finish in Keeneland's G1 Alcibiades.
All five of her career wins have come around one turn.
Echo Zulu was scratched by the stewards on the recommendation of New York Racing Association veterinarian Dr. Anthony Verderosa, who was stationed at the starting gate. Jockey Joel Rosario told Acacia Clement on the FS2 telecast that the Gun Runner filly did not warm up the same as she had in the three previous races that he had ridden her. Echo Zulu came into the Acorn off her first career loss when fourth in the G1 Kentucky Oaks. She was voted an Eclipse Award as outstanding 2-year-old filly of 2021 after a perfect four-race campaign culminating with a 5 1/4-length victory in the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.
The post Matareya Cruises In Acorn After Champion Echo Zulu Scratched At Starting Gate appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Gaffalione Guides Caravel To Front-Running Intercontinental Score
Race favorite Caravel took advantage of the newly shortened distance of the Grade 3, $200,000 Intercontinental, scampering home to win the six-furlong turf dash for older fillies and mares in wire-to-wire fashion on Friday at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.
A turf sprinter brimming with ability, Caravel got back on the beam on Friday for her new connections – trainer Brad Cox and owners Qatar Racing, Marc Detampel, and Madaket Stables – after faltering in the Grade 2 Turf Sprint on May 6 at Churchill Downs last out. The ownership group purchased the Mizzen Mast mare for $500,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Mixed Sale in 2021 despite Caravel's form declining sharply at the end of her 4-year-old campaign, but she no doubt got back to her best races on Friday.
Breaking from post 5 with Tyler Gaffalione in the irons, Caravel shot to the front of the Intercontinental, formerly run at seven furlongs on the Widener Turf Course at Belmont, and rattled off moderate splits of 22.58 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 44.75 for the half over the firm going as she was pursued by Illegal Smile and Star Devine.
With those fractions seeming to have taken no toll on her, Caravel inched away from her pace rivals in the stretch and remained resolute on the lead all the way to the wire, which she hit in 1:07.59 having maintained a one-length advantage over Star Devine, who just nipped a hard-charging Jouster by a nose for runner-up honors.
“I was a little bit [surprised to see her on the lead],” said Cox. “I thought maybe there'd be one or two in front of her. When they broke, I couldn't find her early. I saw the eight horse [Assertive Style] had one beat and I was like well, we're inside the eight…so we've got to be close. Then she kind of placed herself in front and I thought it was a good spot. I saw the 22 and whatever and it was comfortable enough and left her enough to finish up with.”
The victory was a return to her winning ways for Caravel, who began the year with a synthetic score in the Queen at Turfway Park before taking a step back in the Turf Sprint. No stranger to success on the NYRA circuit, the gray mare won the Grade 3 Caress at Saratoga Race Course last summer, which capped off a three-race win streak for former trainer Elizabeth Merryman.
“She's been doing really well throughout the second half of the winter – when she ran at Turfway she was doing really well,” said Cox. “I only worked her four times, five times maybe before the Turfway race. It was one of those deals where she had some experience on synthetic and I thought let's just use this. She's a filly that doesn't carry a lot of weight, so therefore I thought if we could get a run into her, then we could circle back to Keeneland or wait for Churchill. She ran well enough at Turfway to warrant a little more time. She was training well enough to give us the confidence to try the boys [in the Grade 2 Twin Spires Turf Sprint]. It didn't work out, but nobody was kicking down the inside at Churchill at all. I think she showed today she's one of the best in the division.”
Bred in Pennsylvania by Elizabeth Merryman, Caravel returned $7.90 on a $2 win wager and bumped her bankroll to $563,777.
Despite having to settle for bridesmaid status again in her nascent 4-year-old season for trainer Jorge Abreu and owner Lawrence Goichman, Star Devine continues to signal that she's a filly on the improve. As a sophomore, the daughter of Fastnet Rock turned heads in her debut victory at Aqueduct and took the Galway at Saratoga to close out an abridged campaign, but she's come back even stronger in 2022 with a runner-up finish in the Giant's Causeway on April 16 at Keeneland to go along with today's result.
Just on Star Devine's heels, a turnback in distance has clearly agreed with Jouster, who finished a tough-luck sixth in the Giant's Causeway at Keeneland in her initial turf-sprint try before rallying strongly to get third in the Intercontinental, both efforts coming with Flavien Prat aboard for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher.
Trainer Christophe Clement's Lady Edith put in a strong run in the stretch, appearing at points as though she were destined for victory before flattening out late and settling for fourth, a head behind Jouster. The pace-pressing Illegal Smile checked in fifth, a neck ahead of Assertive Style, who was followed home by Tobys Heart, Miss J McKay, Flower Point, Miss Majorette and Nevisian Sunrise.
Live racing resumes Saturday at Belmont Park with a 13-race Belmont Stakes Day card boasting eight Grade 1 events, highlighted by the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets. First post is 11:20 a.m. Eastern.
America's Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the spring/summer meet at Belmont Park on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/tv-schedule.
NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Belmont Park, and the best way to bet every race of the spring/summer meet. Available to horse players nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.
The post Gaffalione Guides Caravel To Front-Running Intercontinental Score appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Second-Choice Bleecker Street Gives Brant, Brown New York Stakes Victory
Owner Peter Brant and trainer Chad Brown were in the winner's circle after the Grade 1, $750,000 New York Stakes on Friday at Belmont Park, but it wasn't with the entrant the tote board might have suggested.
The French-bred Rougir was the 1-2 favorite off her $3.4 million purchase price and winning U.S. debut in last month's G3 Beaugay, but it was her undefeated stablemate Bleecker Street who rallied from the rear of the field to score the win at odds of 5-2. Irad Ortiz, Jr. piloted the 4-year-old daughter of Quality Road to her half-length victory in the 1 1/4-mile contest, stopping the clock in 2:02.58 over the firm turf.
“What a remarkable horse,” Brown said of Bleecker Street. “I wasn't sure about a mile and a quarter. She finished her races like she would get it, but as you know, handicapping doesn't always work out that way. Just because they're closing and you keep on stretching them out, sometimes it has to do with pace, when they make their move and how long their move is. This filly does everything we put at her. What a remarkable horse – where she started and where she came from. She's moving up in the ranks of one of the better ones I've had.”
Of course, four of the seven New York Stakes entrants were wearing Brant's silks, so the odds were certainly in his favor. Rougir, co-owned by Michael Tabor, finished off the board; Flighty Lady ran third at 51-1; and Virginia Joy was fourth at 9-2.
“[Rougir] just didn't fire today,” Brown continued. “She was in a good spot, always ahead of Bleecker Street. We didn't have any excuse. We'll go back to the drawing board. Maybe the softer ground in her form suggested [she prefers softer turf[, but she certainly trained really well at Belmont.”
Breaking up the Brown team with a second-place finish was Family Way (10-1) for Tyler Gaffalione and Brendan Walsh.
“She ran a great race,” Walsh said of Family Way. “She ran super. She's absolutely a Grade 1 filly.”
Bleecker Street trailed the field early, while longshot Flighty Lady led the way from the start, cruising along on an uncontested lead through fractions of :24.54, :50.76, and 1:16.48. Family Way began to inch toward that leader entering the far turn, while Flavien Prat wound up sending the favored Rougir four-wide to make her bid.
Ortiz tracked Prat's move in the bend, angling out at the last possible moment to allow Bleecker Street to build up her momentum. She and Rougir turned for home on nearly even terms in fifth position, but Ortiz kept working away on Bleecker Street and she finally caught sight of her other rivals with enough time to run them down in the final sixteenth of a mile.
It was a big turn of foot that put Bleecker Street in front by a half-length at the wire, defeating Family Way. Flighty Lady hung on to be third over stablemate Virginia Joy, while Rougir did not engage and finished fifth.
“Her closing kick, especially with those slow fractions, was nice,” said Ortiz. “Not too many horses can go around a slow pace, slow fractions, like that. I made a wide move to go around and she still got there. She gave me a good kick. She's very nice. They were backing up into me a little bit and they were a little slow and then everybody was sprinting home, so it was hard to catch them. But she got the job done.”
Bred in Kentucky by Branch Equine, Bleecker Street is out of the stakes-placed Exchange Rate mare Lemon Liqueur. She commanded a final bid of $400,000 as a yearling at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select sale, and has now won all seven of her lifetime starts for earnings of $834,700. Bleecker Street's other three graded stakes triumphs include the G3 Modesty, G2 Hillsborough, and G3 Endeavour.
The post Second-Choice Bleecker Street Gives Brant, Brown New York Stakes Victory appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
