Tag: Racing

Emerging onto the scene in the final sixteenth of a mile under jockey Luis Saez, Charles Fipke's homebred Shirl's Speight put his head down at just the right time to beat 9-5 favorite Masen by a nose in Friday's Grade 1 Maker's Mark Mile Stakes at Keeneland racecourse in Lexington, Ky.

Trained by Hall of Famer Roger Attfield, Shirl's Speight – a lightly raced 5-year-old by Speightstown out of Fipke homebred Perfect Shirl (winner of the G1 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf in 2011) – covered one mile on good turf in 1:35.93 and paid $20.

Great Britain-bred Masen, making his North American debut for owner-breeder Juddmonte Farms and trainer Chad Brown, took the lead under Flavien Prat in midstretch from pacesetter Smooth Like Strait and got beat in the last jump. Smooth Like Strait, a Cannon Thoroughbreds homebred trained by Michael McCarthy and ridden by Umberto Rispoli, finished a neck back in third after leading throughout. They were followed by Atone, Mira Mission, Count Again, Set Piece and In Love.

Ivar, Somelikeithotbrown and Public Sector were scratched.

This was Attfield's third victory in the spring meet's premier turf race for older males, following another Fipke homebred, Perfect Soul (damsire of Shirl's Speight), in 2004 and Shudanz in 1992 when the race was known as the Fort Harrod.

Smooth Like Strait, making his first start since finishing a close second to Space Blues in the G1 Breeders' Cup Mile last November, set comfortable fractions of :24.95 and :49.63 for the opening half mile. Masen sat  in second, about a length behind the leader, while Saez took a hold of Shirl's Speight, keeping him well off the early lead while seventh of the eight runners.

Rounding the far turn, Prat – aboard Masen – turned up the heat on the front-runner as they passed the six-furlong marker in 1:13.38. Saez began riding Shirl's Speight in earnest going into the far turn, but still looked like he had too much to do when he swung his mount widest of all into the stretch and had just one horse beat at the eighth pole

Up front, Masen wrested command from Smooth Like Strait at the eighth pole (after seven furlongs in 1:24.44), but Shirl's Speight was flying down the outside to get the win by the narrowest of margins.

This was only the ninth career start for Shirl's Speight, who debuted with a maiden win at Woodbine in July of his 3-year-old season and followed that up with a victory in the G3 Marine Stakes. He was winless last year  in two starts at four, getting a lengthy vacation from January until December, but has been perfect in three starts in 2022, winning an allowance race at Tampa Bay Downs in January, then taking the G3 Tampa Bay Stakes on Feb. 5.

“He sort of lost his way there after winning his first two starts,” said Attfield. “He's a very quick horse, and he won those races all on the lead, easily; he didn't really gain any experience out of it. And then he had suspensory (ligament) problems and we put him away for a while – quite a while – and I appreciate Mr. Fipke giving him that amount of time. They need it when they have that kind of injury.”

Attfield said he learned from the Tampa Bay Stakes that Shirl's Speight may do his best running being held up early and making one big run. “he was shut off and came with one big run, and I realized that's probably the way this horse really wants to run,” Attfield said.

That strategy worked to perfection in the Maker's Mark Mile.

“I was watching the replays and Roger called me,” Saez said. “He said the best way is to come from behind, so I decided to take him back right when we broke. It looked like that was the best decision to make. In the end, he was coming. He ran pretty hard and got there in time. … He really took off when he came to the top of the stretch. Those horses on the lead were running pretty hard, but he came right there at the right moment. So it was great.”

Brown was trying to win back-to-back Maker's Mark Miles, having scored his first success in the race in 2021 with Raging Bull.

“I am disappointed. Such a tough way to lose by an inch,” Brown said. “He ran great off the layoff. Hats off to the winner. It was a very slow pace for him to close from that far back. The winner ran quite a race.”

 

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The champ is back.

Jackie's Warrior is scheduled to make his 2022 debut in the $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3) for older horses at six furlongs Saturday at Oaklawn for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen and owners Kirk and Judy Robison of El Paso, Texas.

Jackie's Warrior, a 4-year-old son of Maclean's Music, captured an Eclipse Award as the country's champion male sprinter of 2021 after winning 4 for 7 starts, including the $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes (G1) Aug. 1 at Saratoga and the $300,000 Gallant Bob Stakes (G2) Sept. 25 at Parx.

Jackie's Warrior hasn't started since finishing sixth as the heavy favorite in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) Nov. 6 at Del Mar. It was his first race against older horses. Jackie's Warrior had surgery to remove a knee chip following the Breeders' Cup Sprint and lands in the Count Fleet, a race Asmussen has won a record-tying three times.

“Steve wanted a good spot that he thought he would be effective in,” Kirk Robison said Thursday afternoon. “It's a good race, it's a lot of money and not a very big field. He's been working really well. He had a couple of bullets, maybe three. And he did have the knee chip taken out after the Breeders' Cup, but the vets say it's a perfect result, so we don't have any excuses. We're ready to go.”

Jackie's Warrior returned to the work tab Feb. 27 at Fair Grounds and had six subsequent published breezes leading up to the Count Fleet. The last two were at Oaklawn, notably a 5-furlong bullet drill (:59.40) from the gate April 3.

Regular rider Joel Rosario has the return call on Jackie's Warrior, the 6-5 program favorite who is scheduled to break from post 5 in the projected six-horse field.

“I feel very confident,” Robison said. “Steve wouldn't have put him back in training if he wasn't 100 percent, so it's not going to be an excuse. We're ready to go.”

Robison said the Count Fleet isn't a bridge to any specific race, but mentioned the $750,000 Churchill Downs Stakes (G1) for older horses at 7 furlongs May 7 as a possible next-race goal.

Jackie's Warrior began his 3-year-old campaign with a third-place finish behind champion Essential Quality in the $750,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) at 1 1/16 miles in February 2021 at Oaklawn. Asmussen targeted one-turn races with Jackie's Warrior following the Southwest and he and the Robisons, husband and wife, were rewarded with an Eclipse Award.

Jackie's Warrior received 110 first-place votes from members of the three voting blocs – National Thoroughbred Racing Association, Daily Racing Form and National Turf Writers and Broadcasters – in balloting for an Eclipse Award to easily outdistance runner-up Aloha West (50). Aloha West won his February 2021 career debut at Oaklawn and added the Breeders' Cup Sprint in November, beating Jackie's Warrior 4 ½ lengths.

“If he comes back and runs pretty well on Saturday, he could come right back for that sprint on the undercard on Derby Day at Churchill,” Kirk Robison said. “But long term, I want to win the Breeders' Cup Sprint next November. That's a long way away, but you've got to start somewhere.”

A three-time Grade 1 winner, Jackie's Warrior is 8 for 12 overall with earnings of $1,553,964. Jackie's Warrior, who was purchased for $95,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, will stand stud at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky upon retirement from racing.

Asmussen won the Count Fleet in 2013 with Justin Phillip, 2014 with Lemon Drop Dream and 2019 with Mitole for Texas owners William and Corinne Heiligbrodt. Mitole capped 2019 with a victory in the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) and was named champion male sprinter that year.

Asmussen and the Robisons teamed to win the $50,000 Pippin Stakes for older fillies and mares in 2007 at Oaklawn with Plaid.

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Undefeated Grade 1 Runhappy Malibu Stakes winner Flightline, who missed a scheduled start in the G2 San Carlos Stakes March 5 due to a strained right hock, will have his second workout on the comeback trail Sunday in preparation for the G1 Metropolitan Mile at Belmont Park on June 11.

The $1.2 million Metropolitan Handicap, or Met Mile, is a one-turn event first run in 1891 at Morris Park Race Track and moved to Belmont Park in 1904.

This will mark the 129th running of one of America's most historic and prestigious races.

Flightline, a $1 million son of Tapit, worked three furlongs last Sunday at Santa Anita Park in 37 seconds flat.

“He'll breeze a half-mile this Sunday,” said trainer John Sadler, who will have assistant trainer Juan Leyva aboard.

“The horse is doing well, but it' s a process to get him back to where he was. Step one was last Sunday, step two is this Sunday, so we're moving forward.”

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The historic Maryland Timber Triple gets underway this Saturday in Monkton, about 30 miles north of Baltimore, with the $50,000 My Lady's Manor Stakes, the marquee event on the four-race, $100,000 card.

The My Lady's Manor is the first of three grueling timber races at successively longer distances over a 15-day span. The second leg, the Grand National, will be contested on April 23 in Butler, at 3 ¼ miles. The crowning jewel is the 125th running of the Maryland Hunt Cup on April 30 in Glyndon, at 4 miles with a $100,000 purse.

The race has drawn an accomplished field of six, led by perennial powerhouses Upland Partners' Mystic Strike and Dolly Fisher's Schoodic, both 13-year-olds with 90 careers starts and 26 victories between them. Also entered is Leipers Fork Steeplechasers' Tomgarrow, who secured the 2021 timber championship with a score in the International Gold Cup at Great Meadow in Virginia. Also competing in the three-mile classic are Bruton Street-US' Preseli Rock, who finished second in both the My Lady's Manor and Maryland Hunt Cup in 2021; Michael A. Smith's Le Chevalier, who took the Grand National, the middle leg of the series last year; and Irv Naylor's Hooded, a maiden winner who takes a huge jump up in class.

Armata Stable's Vintage Vinnie, the 96-length, recording-setting winner of the 2021 Maryland Hunt Cup, had been listed among the starters in the overnights, too, but he's been rerouted to the fourth race on the card, the $10,000 John D. Schapiro Memorial allowance for apprentice jockeys. He'll be ridden by Teddy Davies, son of trainer Joe Davies.

Last year, Vintage Vinnie prepped for the Hunt Cup with a facile score in the My Lady's Manor. Since coming over from Europe early in 2018, the now-13-year-old Irish-bred son of Vinnie Roe has picked his spots carefully, running six times, with three victories, two seconds, and a third.

In addition there are two $20,000 maiden timber events on the day, the John Rush Streett Memorial and Thomas H. Voss. All of the races at The Manor are restricted to amateur or apprentice jockeys, and all are at 3 miles.

Returning to its usual slot on the Spring calendar following a schedule change to June last year due to Covid, the Tryon Block House meet at Green Creek Race Course in Columbus, N.C., offers four two-mile hurdle races that have drawn a total of 23 entries.

The feature is a $30,000 overnight handicap for horses rated 120 or less. There's a $20,000 handicap for runners rated at 110 or less, along with a maiden special weights hurdle and maiden claimer.

The main event offers a rematch between the first two finishers in the $30,000 Imperial Cup optional claiming allowance at Aiken on March 26. The race marked the U.S. debut of Paul and Molly Willis' Boulette, a four-year-old Irish-bred, trained by Keri Brion and ridden by Parker Hendriks, who led throughout and romped by 6 ¼ lengths. The runnerup, William Russell's Animal Kingston, put in a late rally to be second best, and last season captured two handicaps at a slightly lower level.

Allison Fulmer's The Happy Giant lost his rider early in the $50,000 Carolina Cup novice stakes two weeks ago, but was an impressive winner in a high-class handicap over this course last year. Irv Naylor's Mighty Mark makes his seasonal bow following a three-victory 2021 under the tutelage of trainer Kathy Neilson, who brought the son of Temple City from the claiming ranks to handicap winner at the 115 ratings level. Completing the field is Bruton Street-US' Bassmatchi, a French-bred son of Zoffany who after a 33-race career in his homeland relocated to the U.S. last fall, and competed against rising stars Historic Heart in the Harry Harris Stakes at Far Hills and Ritzy A.P., in the William Entenmann Novice Stakes at Belmont Park., finishing fourth in both. He completed his year with a third in an optional claiming allowance at Callaway Gardens.

For both meets, gates open at 10 a.m. and first-race post time is 1:30 p.m. If you are not attending the races in person, be sure to watch the live stream via the NSA's website. The live stream is sponsored by Brown Advisory, the Temple Gwathmey Steeplechase Foundation, Charleston's Post & Courier, and the Virginia Equine Alliance.

For the complete entries, click here.

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