Tag: Racing

Calumet Farm homebred Cellist unleashed a bold bid nearing the stretch, collared the front-runner in lane and edged to a slim lead, then held off a fierce rally from 62-1 longshot Reigning Spirit to take the $200,000 Louisville Stakes (G3) Saturday at Churchill Downs.

Racing in sixth with a half mile to go, Cellist was ready to run when jockey Julien Leparoux gave the cue. Rallying three wide entering the lane, he overtook Cavalry Charge and inched to the lead with a sixteenth of a mile remaining and crossed the finish line with plenty of energy to prevail by head.

Reigning Spirit rallied from ninth early, swung five wide entering the lane, and unleashed a furious rally but could not get to the winner. He outfinished Highest Honors by 1 ¼ lengths for second.

Favorite Camp Hope tracked from fourth through the early stages, then finished seventh after he was bumped in the stretch and then weakened late.

Cellist covered 1 ½ miles in 2:32.12 on turf rated as good. He returned $13.

“We got settled in pretty well down the backside,” Leparoux said. “He seemed to handle the track pretty well early on in the race. I could feel around the turn I still had a lot of horse beneath me. I was able to get him to the outside and he had a really good kick home.”

Trainer Al Stall Jr. said Reigning Spirit ran a great race.

“We were second best,” he said.

Sharp from his runner-up finish in a 1 1/16 mile allowance test April 27 at Keeneland after checking in seventh in the Tampa Bay Stakes (G3) in his season opener, Cellist tallied his first graded win in the Louisville Stakes. He was creditable turf runner last year, placing third in the Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes (G1) in July following his first black-type victory in the Audubon Stakes at Churchill in May.

“He had a really good 3-year-old campaign last year,” Arnold said. “We came into this year with a bad race in Florida (in the Tampa Bay Stakes). He got back to Keeneland and (I) thought that race would be a good setup to going in the Louisville. He ran a good second that day and we knew there aren't too many allowance races at this distance. It was a good setup for the Louisville today.”

With Saturday's win, Cellist improved his career line to 3-2-2 from 10 starts and earnings of $467,875.

Cellist's dam is the English Channel mare Cello.

The post First Fiddle: Cellist Earns Breakthrough Graded Win In Louisville appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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It's been 10 years since 21-year-old Jorge Delgado arrived in the U.S. from Venezuela and on Saturday at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md., he scored his biggest career win when Lightening Larry, a Florida-bred colt by Uncaptured, took the Grade 3, $200,000 Chick Lang Stakes under Chantal Sutherland.  It was Delgado's first graded stakes success.

Lightening Larry prompted pacesetter Cogburn throughout, edging to the front in midstretch and holding sway to beat the 2-1 favorite by three-quarters of a length. Chasing Time, who like Cogburn is trained by five-time Chick Lang Stakes winner Steve Asmussen, finished another two lengths back in third, with Alottahope fourth and previously unbeaten Old Homestead fifth in a field of eight 3-year-olds.

Lightening Larry sped six furlongs in 1:09.86 after Cogburn led the way through fractions of :21.87, :44.14, and 56.52. Ownec by Lea Farms LLC, he paid $26 for the win, his fourth in nine career starts.

Sutherland, who like Delgado is based in South Florida,  was recording her first graded stakes victory since 2014. After launching her career in Canada in 2000 and enjoying considerable success there, Sutherland had her best years in California a decade ago, riding the likes of multiple G1 winner Game On Dude. Her career was revived with her decision to ride year-round in South Florida and she showed in the Chick Lang she can still get the job done in big races. She was riding Lightening Larry for the first time.

Lightening Larry, produced from the Malibu Moon mare Moon and Sun, was bred in Florida by Michelle Redding. He was a $50,000 OBS March 2-Year-Old Sale purchase from Pick View consignment. His only stakes triumph prior to the Chick Lang came in the Limehouse Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 1 of this year.

The race honors the memory of Charles John “Chick” Lang, known throughout the racing world as “Mr. Preakness” for his relentless promotion of Maryland racing in general and the Triple Crown's middle jewel in particular. Son of a Kentucky Derby-winning jockey, Lang spent his lifetime working at the track, retiring as Pimlico's general manager in 1987, then continuing to promote the sport until his death in 2010.

The post Lightening Larry Strikes With Chick Lang Upset, Giving Jorge Delgado Initial Graded Stakes Success appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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With a sweeping move from the outside deep in the Pimlico Race Course stretch, Set Piece pulled the tablecloth out from under the late leaders to win the Grade 2 Dinner Party Stakes on Saturday's Preakness Stakes undercard.

The 6-year-old Dansili gelding was unhurried out of the gate by jockey Florent Geroux, who allowed Set Piece to settle in second to last, while English Bee, Atone, and Tango Tango Tango vied for the early lead passing under the wire for the first time.

Atone took control of the pace heading into the first turn from the outside of Atone, clocking the opening quarter in :23.44 seconds. Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. let Atone get comfortable on the lead, and they distanced from the rest of the field through the turn and heading into the backstretch. They maintained a 3 1/2-length advantage over English Bee after passing the half-mile mark in :47.81 seconds. Set Piece remained near the back of the pack across the back straightaway, but he kept contact with the field as it settled together.

The running order went largely unchanged as Atone led the field into the final turn, and through three-quarters in 1:12.56. Geroux had kept Set Piece well off the rail up to the stretch drive, but he swung his mount even wider as they entered the straightaway, and by the time they took aim at the lead at the top of the stretch, they were five-wide.

Atone remained clear of his rivals under urging from Ortiz as they passed the three-sixteenths pole, and he remained in front with a furlong to go. However, Set Piece gained considerable ground on the outside as Geroux pushed his mount forward, and he got his head in front at the sixteenth pole. Atone had no answer for the challenge, and Set Piece carried on to win by 1 1/4 lengths over Tango Tango Tango, who carried on for second after a steady run. Tango Tango Tango finished a neck ahead of Atone.

Set Piece completed the 1 1/16-mile Dinner Party in 1:41.64 over a firm Pimlico turf course. He paid $6.20 to win as the post time favorite.

Set Piece races as a homebred for Juddmonte Farms, and he was trained by Brad Cox.

Saturday's Dinner Party victory propelled Set Piece to his 10th career win in 20 starts, and improved his earnings to $697,823. It marks a continued renaissance for the British-born horse, who competed in the 2019 British 2,000 Guineas, and was relocated to the U.S. a year later.

The Dinner Party was the second start of 2022 for Set Piece after he finished seventh in the G1 Maker's Mark Mile at Keeneland in April, just two lengths off winner Shirl's Speight. It was his first win since last June, when he employed a similar closing kick to take the G2 Wise Dan Stakes at Churchill Downs.

The post Late Sweeping Charge Leads Set Piece To Dinner Party Stakes Victory appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Native Trail returned to his imperious best to give Godolphin an English, French, and Irish 2,000 Guineas treble when landing the Tattersalls Irish 2,000 Guineas (G1) Saturday at the Curragh.

The imposing son of Oasis Dream, who ended his 2-year-old career as the unbeaten European champion after wins in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes and Group1 National Stakes, ran a massive race to finish second behind stablemate Coroebus in the 2,000 Guineas (G1) at Newmarket and duly made amends with a comfortable 1 3/4 length win from New Energy in the Irish equivalent. Godolphin also captured the French equivalent, the Poule d'Essai des Poulains (G1), with Modern Games.

Guided by William Buick, Native Trail covered one mile in 1:39.28 on turf rated as yielding.

Imperial Fighter was third in the field on nine.

Trainer Charlie Appleby is just the second trainer to win the English, French and Irish 2,000 Guineas in the same season, and the first to achieve the feat with three different colts.

“Everyone wants to see the champion 2-year-old hopefully fulfill their 3-year-old careers and that is what Native Trail has done,” Appleby said on Godolphin's website. ”He lost nothing in defeat in the English Guineas – Coroebus was a horse that we thought of highly – and we will never know if it would have been a closer contest if they had been drawn next to each other.

“It's nice to have conversations where, instead of trying to find one to win a race, you are trying to potentially keep them apart. Modern Games will head to the Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby) (G1) and Coroebus was always going to go to the St. James's Palace Stakes (G1).

“Now Native Trail will have to come into the Royal Ascot conversation as well over the next 10 days or two weeks. We all know that the St. James's Palace Stakes is a fantastic race and it's the last chance for the 3-year-olds to compete against each other over a mile.

“Native Trail has a racing head that gives himself a chance of getting 10 furlongs. He is doing nothing wrong over a mile at the moment, but going through the line is always the strongest part of his race. More importantly, I think we need a conversation over whether we let him and Coroebus take each other on in the St James's Palace Stakes first.”

Purchased from Oak Tree Farm by Godolphin at the 2021 Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up, Native Trail was originally bought from Kildaragh Stud by Mags O'Toole and Norman Williamson for 67,000 guineas at Book 1 of the 2020 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.

Out of the Observatory mare Needleleaf, a half sister to the Group 1 winning sprinter African Rose, Native Trail's classic success also represents a major triumph for breeder Jose Delmotte, who purchased Needleleaf from Juddmonte Farms at the 2015 Tattersalls December Mares Sale for 60,000 guineas.

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