Tag: Racing

It's back to the grass for J R Sanchez Racing Stable's Shake Em Loose after the claimer-turned-multiple stakes winner on dirt breezed over Laurel Park's world-class turf course Sunday morning.

Owner-trainer Rudy Sanchez-Salomon said Shake Em Loose will make his next start in the $100,000 James W. Murphy for 3-year-olds going one mile on the grass May 21 on the Preakness Stakes (G1) undercard at historic Pimlico Race Course. He had been under consideration for the middle jewel of the Triple Crown.

Working in company with 6-year-old stakes-winning mare Can the Queen, Shake Em Loose and his partner were timed in :51.20 over the yielding course, with Shake Em Loose and jockey Jevian Toledo galloping out five furlongs in 1:03.

“The filly doesn't usually breeze in company, but he's been breezing in company lately,” Sanchez-Salomon said. “It went very well for both my horses. They did pretty well over the course.”

By Shakin It Up, a Grade 1-winning dirt sprinter, Shake Em Loose has raced once before on the grass for his previous connections, a 1 1/16-mile maiden special weight at Laurel where he lost all chance after getting bumped and pinched back at the start and finished 11th.  Two starts later, Sanchez-Salomon claimed him for $16,000.

Since then, Shake Em Loose has won three of five races including the Dec. 26 Heft at odds of 59-1 in the first start for Sanchez-Salomon. Following his victory over Joe in the March 19 Private Terms, he was nominated to the Triple Crown by the late deadline for $6,000. He ran a troubled third behind Joe in the April 16 Federico Tesio, which offered a free pass to the Preakness for Triple Crown-nominated horses.

“I was pretty excited and very happy with his work on the grass, I'm going to go to the Murphy,” Sanchez-Salomon said. “I'm not going to force him too much. A race like the Preakness is really, really tough. Anybody can win the race; you saw what happened in the [Kentucky] Derby. Anything can happen, but I don't want to push him too much. I like this horse a lot and I want to protect him a little bit. I don't want to push him and break his heart.

“The horses that are coming in [for the Preakness], I don't want to go over there just to show up. I just want the horse to be happy and let him be a racehorse, and he can continue winning races,” he added. “There's a lot of races for him. I think he's a grass horse. I have this filly Foggy Dreams, who is by the same sire as Shake Em Loose, and she loves the grass. I think he will love it, too.”

The post Shake Em Loose To Bypass Preakness For Turf Stakes on Undercard appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Arzak made it 3-for-3 at Woodbine Sunday after leading at every point of call to capture the $151,200 Jacques Cartier Stakes (G3) for older runners.

​There's something about the Toronto oval that seems to bring out the best in the Arzak, a 4-year-old son of Not This Time. In November 2020, the Michael Trombetta trainee broke his maiden in his second career start. This spring, the chestnut won the Thorncliffe Stakes by 3 ¼ lengths.

​​On a picture-perfect afternoon, the Sonata Stable color bearer once again shone over Woodbine's synthetic Tapeta surface, earning his first graded stakes win.

​​Kazushi Kimura wasted little time in putting Arzak on the engine, with the duo on top by a length through an opening quarter-mile timed in :22.55, as Secret Reserve to the inside, and Silent Poet, to the outside, tracked the pacesetter.

​Arzak extended his lead to 2 ½-lengths after a half-mile reached in :44.99, as Souper Stonehenge, last year's Jacques Cartier victor, graded stakes winner Tap It to Win, and Striker, the LNJ Foxwoods' budding star, all took aim at the front-runner.

​​Ahead by four lengths at in early stretch, Arzak easily fended off his foes to post a 1 ½-length triumph in a time of 1:08.91 for six furlongs. Tap It to Win was second, and Souper Stonehenge was third, a neck in front of Striker. ​ ​

​​“He's a completely nice horse,” said Kimura, who won the 2021 Sovereign Award as Canada's top rider. “I just dropped the lines to show the natural speed and just go wire-to-wire. He doesn't have to go to the lead. I wanted to drop the lines and make it comfortable for him, and he's going to show up for the final stretch.” ​

​It proved to be the winning game plan against an accomplished group of sprinters. ​

​​Bred in Kentucky by John Oxley, Arzak has five wins, to go along with one second and a third, from 13 career starts.

​​“He's a nice horse,” Kimura said of the winner, who is out of the Tapit mare Delightful Melody. “I hope that he's going to be the next [now retired Canadian sprint superstar] Pink Lloyd.”

​​Arzak returned $6.

The post Arzak Goes Wire To Wire In Jacques Cartier To Keep Woodbine Record Perfect appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

If the betting public was surprised that the “other” Kelly Breen horse captured the John J. Reilly Handicap Sunday at Monmouth Park, the trainer insisted he wasn't.

Sent off at 17-1 following a 10-month layoff, Royal Urn outdueled No Cents – coming off a 17-month layoff – to score a half-length victory in the $85,000 feature race, a black-type race for New Jersey-breds. The other horse that Royal Urn held off? Stablemate and half brother Pickin' Time, the even-money favorite also trained by Breen.

Pickin' Time, idle since Nov. 27, was another three-quarters of a length back.

“No. I'm not surprised,” said Breen, seeking a fourth Monmouth Park training title. “This horse needed the rest. He hadn't had a rest since I had the horse. The horse needed his time off. He and Pickin' Time have been working together head and head for the last three workouts.

“I made a comment that I told (owner and breeder) John Bowers that Royal Urn is back. Not that Pickin' Time wasn't, but he does have a tendency to need a race off a layoff. So, no, I'm not surprised. He needed the rest. We gave him the time and the opportunity to recover and he came back the way he was two years.”

It was two years ago that Royal Urn, a 6-year-old son of Kantharos, won the Reilly Handicap. He was fifth in the race a year ago in his last start of the year.

Ridden by Jose Gomez, who is in his first full year as a jockey, Royal Urn was sixth early in a tight pack in the six-furlong race, with Gomez finding room outside entering the final turn. Royal Urn was in full flight coming wide out of the turn, engaging with No Cents, who had slipped through along the rail to take the lead.

The two went nose to nose for the final sixteenth of a mile.

“I broke well, just not as sharp as I wanted him to break. We were in a little tight. I had to get behind horses,” said Gomez, who served as Breen's exercise rider a year ago. “When I saw an opening coming into the turn I went for it and once I got him on the outside and clear he just started going. I didn't take away his momentum. I let him go however he wanted to and in the stretch he was tough.

“Honestly, yes, I was surprised he was this sharp off the layoff. You don't expect a horse to be this ready off a layoff like that. But Kelly was telling me he has been working really well against Pickin' Time.”

For the 21-year-old Gomez it marked his first stakes victory at Monmouth Park.

Royal Urn paid $37 to win. His time for six furlongs on a track listed as “good” was 1:10.36.

No Cents, 4-for-5 as a 2-year-old, was unraced at 3 last year. But trainer Cal Lynch had the son of Goldencents sharp off that prolonged layoff.

“No Cents was dynamite as a 2-year-old,” said Breen. “I didn't think they would have this horse as tuned up as much as he was. He's a quality horse. Those were two good horses dueling in the stretch.”

Third-place finisher Pickin' Time is a 4-year-old son of Stay Thirsty. He and Royal Urn were produced by Born to Royalty, by King of Kings. Both are homebreds of John Bowers Jr.'s Roseland Farm Stable.

The post Royal Urn Upstages Favored Half Brother In John J. Reilly Upset at Monmouth appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Kaneko Makoto Holdings Co. Ltd.'s homebred Sodashi powered to the front in deep stretch and prevailed by two lengths over Fine Rouge in the Victoria Mile (G1) at Tokyo Racecourse.

With the victory, the striking all white filly, dubbed the 'White Wonder,' earned an automatic starting position and fees paid into the $2 million Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1) in November at Keeneland through the Win And You're In Breeders' Cup Challenge Series.

A 4-year-old daughter of Kurofune trained by Nausuke Sugai and ridden by Hayato Yoshida, Sodashi joins Captain's Ransom, winner of the Cartier Paddock Stakes (G1) in South Africa on Jan. 8, as the first two horses this year to gain free berths into the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf.

Breaking sharply from stall five in a field of 18 fillies and mares as the 5-1 fourth choice, Sodashi raced along the rail in fourth behind pacesetter Rosa Noir, who stayed in front through the top of the stretch. Resistencia, the 12-1 sixth choice, then ranged up and moved into second. At this point, Yoshida maneuvered Sodashi slightly to the outside and she broke loose passing the 200-meter mark, powering in between Rosa Noir and Resistencia with an impressive late drive.

In winning her third Group 1 race, Sodashi completed the mile in 1:32.20 over a course listed as good to firm.

“The filly was relaxed and in good condition when I rode her in the post parade,” said Yoshida. “Once she entered the gate, she was focused and was able to make a good break and I was able to ride her in good rhythm while holding down her pace. She responded well in the stretch when I urged her to go. As today's race included a very strong field, it was like a dream for a white horse to be able to win a Group 1 race at Tokyo Racecourse.”

Sodashi improved her record to seven wins in 11 starts. She finished third last time out in the February Stakes (G1) on dirt at Tokyo on Feb. 20, a Win And You're In for the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1). Sunday's victory was her first since defeating last year's Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf winner Loves Only You in the 1 ¼-mile Sapporo Kinen (G2) on Aug. 22.

Runner-up Fine Rouge struggled to find a clear path on the turn for home, but showed a persistent turn of foot to close in on the winner, passing her rivals one by one. Though unable to catch Sodashi, Fine Rouge won a four-horse rally to secure a runner-up spot by a neck over Resistencia.  Rosa Noir finished fourth, followed by Songline in fifth. Daring Act, the 2020 Japanese Filly Triple Crown winner, who was making her first start in more than a year, finished sixth. Lei Papale (JPN), the 4-1 favorite, was in third place entering the stretch, but faded to 12th.

Sodashi's dam is the King Kamehameha mare Buchiko, who also is white as was her grandam Shirayukihime, by Sunday Silence.

The post ‘White Wonder’ Sodashi Thrills With Victoria Mile Win In Tokyo, Earns Breeders’ Cup Berth appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post