When you're Thoroughbred racing's all-time leader in wins, it's logical that a host of the sport's major races will be attached to your name. Yet for trainer Steve Asmussen, who reached the Mount Everest of wins last year and now has 9,637 victories in his Hall of Fame career, there's one notable omission on his lengthy list of grade 1 triumphs: the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve.
Tag: Racing
Miles Ahead Upsets Drain The Clock In Gulfstream Park Sprint
Miles Ahead only beat heavily favored Drain the Clock by little more than a head in Saturday's $150,000 Gulfstream Park Sprint, but trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. had complete confidence that the vastly improved 4-year-old would be up to the task at the Hallandale Beach, Fla., track.
“He's just gotten better and better. Each race, he just seems to go forward,” said Plesa, who trains the son of Competitive Edge for his wife Laure, David Melin and Leon Elman. “I felt real confident going into this race that it was going to take an exceptional effort by somebody to beat him.”
Miles Ahead, the 3-1 second betting choice who captured the Smile Sprint (G3) at Gulfstream in July, ran six furlongs in 1:08.88 to capture his third straight race of the 2021-2022 Championship Meet.
Drain the Clock, a Grade 1 winner coming off a sharp victory in a Dec. 20 optional claiming allowance at Gulfstream, was sent to post as the 3-5 favorite in a field of five. The Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained 4-year-old broke sharply but was eased off the pace by Irad Ortiz Jr. as Francatelli and Gatsby dueled to his inside along the backstretch and Miles Ahead bided his time in fourth. Drain the Clock moved three-wide around the pacesetters to take a lead into the stretch with Miles Ahead in hot pursuit. The favorite kicked in through the stretch while drifting out late, but Miles Ahead would not be denied under Paco Lopez.
Drain the Clock, who won the Woody Stephens (G1) at Belmont last season, finished 4 ¼ lengths clear of multiple graded-stakes winner Diamond Oops, who finished third after lagging off the early pace.
Drain the Clock had won four of five previous starts at Gulfstream, his only loss coming in a second-place finish in last year's 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth (G1). The Kentucky-bred colt, who won the six-furlong Limehouse and seven-furlong Swale (G3) prior to the Fountain of Youth, went on to win the Bay Shore (G3) at Aqueduct and Woody Stephens (G1) at Belmont Park.
Plesa said he had no firm next-out plans for Miles Ahead, who won for the 11th time during a 21-race career,
“He's found his niche and we're taking advantage of it. Who knows what the future holds, but it makes you think about a lot of things,” Plesa said.
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Glass Ceiling Breaks Through For First Graded Win In Barbara Fritchie
Charlton Baker hadn't been in the Laurel Park winner's circle in nearly five years. Dylan Davis had never been. Saturday, the New York-based horsemen came together to win the biggest race for females on the winter calendar at the Laurel, Md., track.
Baker and Michael Foster's Glass Ceiling sat in behind Jakarta for three-quarters for a mile before forging a short lead, then dig in again when the multiple stakes winner and twice graded-stakes placed mare came back for more in deep stretch for a half-length victory in the $250,000 Barbara Fritchie (G3).
The 70th running of the Fritchie for fillies and mares 4 and older sprinting seven furlongs was the fifth of six stakes worth $900,000 in purses on a rich winter program co-headlined by the 46th edition of the $250,000 General George (G3) for 4-year-olds and up.
In earlier stakes, Local Motive won the $100,000 Miracle Wood for 3-year-olds, Luna Belle captured the $100,000 Wide Country for 3-year-old fillies, Galerio edged Forewarded in the $100,000 John B. Campbell for 4-year-olds and up and Kiss the Girl took the $100,000 Nellie Morse for fillies and mares 4 and older.
Glass Ceiling ($3.80) extended her win streak to three races including the six-furlong Garland of Roses in December at Aqueduct. It was her fourth win from seven tries since being claimed for $40,000 last May at Belmont Park by Baker, the Jamaica-born trainer that won the April 2017 Primonetta with Absatootly in his last trip to Laurel.
“The distance was the main thing why we came here. I was looking for a graded stake while she was running good, and this was the obvious race,” Baker said. “It was close. She's a fighter, so I was confident.”
Davis, whose sister, Katie, regularly rode in Maryland and is now married to jockey Trevor McCarthy, has been aboard for each of Glass Ceiling's last six races. It was his 12th career graded triumph and first win at Laurel.
“This is my first time in the winner's circle here. It's a good race to choose, right?” Davis said. “Major props to Charlie. He gets along well with her and he knows how to train her, and we were able to come in and get the money. It's great.”
Jakarta, third after setting the pace in the seven-furlong Inside Information (G2) Jan. 29 at Gulfstream Park, was able to get to the lead from her outside post and held it through fractions of 23.08 for the opening quarter-mile, 46.21 for the half and 1:11.04 for six furlongs. Davis had Glass Ceiling in striking position in second with Fille d'Esprit third on the rail.
“Sitting on the backside it looked like [Davis] was sitting real chilly,” Baker said. “But, the 23[-second] quarter I think was in favor of the speed horse, so she had to work down the lane.”
The top two hooked up once straightened for home and Glass Ceiling wrested a short lead in mid-stretch, but Jakarta dug in on her inside and stubbornly yielded late. It was a half-length back to Fille d'Esprit in third, and another three-quarters of a length to stakes winner Kaylasaurus in fourth.
Prodigy Doll, Belle of the North, Regal Retort and Bold Confection completed the order of finish. The winning time was 1:23.82 over a fast main track.
“I thought Jakarta was going to go and maybe Bold Confection, and I ended up seeing Jakarta on an easy lead. [Glass Ceiling is] pretty tactical so I was able to get to Jakarta pretty nicely, but when we turned for home Jakarta was fighting me pretty well,” Davis said. “I was able to just get away from her. [Jakarta] was engaging me pretty well but she was able to spurt on a little more, and she's a really game filly. I just feel like she's improved as an older mare. I never got on her earlier in her career but it just looks like she's really figuring things out. I think the maturity is really helping her.”
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Olympiad Records Initial Stakes Success In Mineshaft
Sent off the even-money favorite in a field of eight older runners, Grandview Equine, Cheyenne Stable LLC and LNJ Foxwoods' Olympiad scored his first stakes victory on Saturday at Fair Grounds in New Orleans, La., coming from just off the pace under Junior Alvarado to win going away by 2 1/4 lengths.
Pacesetter Silver Prospector finished second, with Miles D a length back in third and a neck ahead of O Besos in fourth. They were followed by Happy American, Untreated, Sprawl and Midcourt. Title Ready, Fort Peck and Big Dreaming scratched.
Olympiad ran 1 1/16 miles on a fast main track in 1:42.01 and paid $4 to win.
Trained by Bill Mott, Olympiad is a 4-year-old son of Speightstown out of the Medaglia d'Oro mare Tokyo Time. He was bred in Kentucky by Emory A. Hamilton and sold by Gainesway to Solis/Litt for $700,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
Silver Prospector and Joel Rosario seized command shortly after the start, with Olympiad lapped on his right flank as the field rounded the first turn. Silver Prospector maintained a comfortable advantage while setting fractions of :24.18, :48.11 and 1:12.48 for the opening six furlongs. But Alvarado had the frontrunner measured throughout and moved to the lead in the stretch, passing the mile marker in 1:35.98 and pulling away in the final sixteenth.
Olympiad ran twice at two, exiting the maiden ranks at Saratoga in his second start on Sept. 5, 2020, then didn't surface for another year, finishing second to Mott stablemate Baby Yoda in a highly rated allowance race and earning a 105 Beyer Speed Figure as runner-up. He won an October allowance race at Keeneland, then finished fourth behind Americanrevolution with a troubled trip in the G1 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct on Dec. 4. Olympiad aired by 7 1/4 lengths in a Gulfstream Park allowance on Jan. 15 in his most recent start coming into the Mineshaft.
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