Tag: Racing

‘Battler’s Heart’: Popular Louisiana-Bred Gelding Monte Man Retired

Over the last four years, one horse has been at the center of Louisiana racing – Ivery Sisters Racing's Monte Man. His trainer and Fair Grounds' 2021 title-winner Ron Faucheux has announced that it is time for this 9-year old gelding to step away from the racetrack. Monte Man will spend his retirement at Clear Creek Stud, where his sire Custom for Carlos stands.

“Val Murrel who owns Clear Creek, he bred Monte Man and is happy to take him in,” Faucheux said. “Clear Creek is the nicest farm in Louisiana–at this point, being a 9-year old, he's been so great to us, we'd rather see him have a happy life from this point forward.”

Connections had planned to run him in the Costa Rising Stakes, a race which Monte Man won twice and finished second by a nose, but the gelding did not come back from his Friday workout as well as his trainer had hoped.

“He's sound as can be,” Faucheux said. “Looks great, walks great, legs look good. He just has something a little faint. Something that some trainers would push through, but I'm not going to take any chances.”

Claimed for $25,000 by Ivery Sisters Racing and Faucheux in October of 2017, Monte Man won a local optional-claimer that December to kick off a seven-race winning streak for his new connections. Monte Man ended his career in stakes-winning fashion, scoring his ninth stakes win in the $100,000 Louisiana Champions Day Sprint on Dec. 11, 2021.

“I was looking at the win pictures last night,” Faucheux said. “He's beaten some great horses. He hasn't run worse than fourth since the end of his 4-year old career. Goes to show you how much heart that horse has. He might not run the best numbers as some of the Kentucky sprinters floating around the country, but he has been so consistent throughout the process. That's all you can ask–they run to their ability.”

All told, Monte Man finishes his career 50-18-8-9 with earnings of $794,223.

“I feel honored to have trained him throughout that process,” Faucheux said. “He's been a barn favorite, a fan favorite, a special horse–you could hear it in John Dooley's emotional call of his last race.”

“Here comes the gladiator, Monte Man with that battler's heart for Adam Beschizza. Monte Man now an 18-time winner–well done Monte Man!” — John G. Dooley, Fair Grounds Track Announcer

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Deja Vu All Over Again At Tampa Bay Downs? Pasco, Gasparilla Winners Continue To Make History

It's a funny thing about history: sometimes you don't know it's being made until years after it happens.

If that sounds like a Yogi Berra-ism, well, a horse named Yogi Berra (after the Hall of Fame Yankees catcher) was 2-for-2 at Tampa Bay Downs in 2014. Remember?

Here's something else you might have forgotten, or not even known. Since 2009, six winners of the seven-furlong Pasco Stakes for 3-year-olds at Tampa Bay Downs subsequently accounted for 10 graded-stakes victories.

Certainly, a lot of fans recall 2009 Pasco winner Musket Man, who not only won the (then)-Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby and G2 Illinois Derby, but finished third in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness.

Other Pasco winners to capture graded victories afterward include Prospective (2011); Dynamic Sky (2013); Catalina Red (2015); World of Trouble (who won two Grade 1 stakes after his 2018 Pasco victory); and Grade 1 winner Win Win Win (2019), who set the Oldsmar track record of 1:20.89 in his Pasco triumph.

OK, so you had a pretty good idea the Pasco has produced more than its share of top-quality winners (and a couple of runners-up who went on to much bigger and better things, General Quarters in 2009 and X Y Jet in 2015).

What you likely didn't know, though, is that the seven-furlong Gasparilla Stakes – Tampa Bay Downs's 3-year-old fillies counterpart, which shares top billing with the Pasco on the Jan. 15 Skyway Festival Day card – has just about an equally impressive record of producing winners who bathed themselves in greater glory later.

Since 2006, six fillies have won a combined eight graded stakes after their Gasparilla triumph, including subsequent G3 Florida Oaks winners at Tampa Bay Downs Awesome Chic (2008) and Diva Delite (2010), along with 2015 Gasparilla winner Irish Jasper, who went on to win three graded stakes.

That statistic fails to mention 2003 Gasparilla winner Ebony Breeze, who subsequently won four G3 stakes, including the Florida Oaks, for an owner who knew Yogi pretty well: George Steinbrenner.

Well, the point is (and we know you made it this far, or you wouldn't still be reading) that nominations have been released for the two $125,000 3-year-old races, along with the third stakes on the Jan. 15 program, the $50,000 Wayward Lass Stakes for older fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles.

The 24th running of the Pasco, technically for 3-year-olds of both sexes, closed with 29 colt and gelding nominees, including three of the first four finishers in the Dec. 4 Inaugural Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs: winner Cattin, a colt trained by Ralph Nicks; third-place finisher Grand Valley, a colt trained by Victor Barboza, Jr.; and fourth-place finisher Magical Mousse, a colt conditioned by Jesse Cruz.

Among the other Pasco nominees are two from Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, Oldsmar maiden winner Provocateur and Dean's List.

Here is the link for the nominations to the Pasco, followed by the link to their past performances:

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SN-TAM-20220115-573158

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SNPP-TAM-20220115-573158

The 38th running of the Gasparilla (first run in 1984, when Berra managed the Yankees), closed with 26 sophomore fillies nominated. Included are the first three finishers in the Sandpiper Stakes here on Dec. 4: winner Strategic Bird, trained by Hall of Fame conditioner Mark Casse; runner-up Devine Charger, trained by Jordan Blair; and third-place finisher Chasing Happiness, trained by David Fawkes, along with a two-time stakes winner trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, Outfoxed.

Here is the link for the nominations to the Gasparilla, followed by the link to their past performances:

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SN-TAM-20220115-573160

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SNPP-TAM-20220115-573160

The 38th running of the Wayward Lass has attracted 19 nominations, including Special Princess, the dead-heat winner of last year's Gasparilla. Here is the link for the nominations to the Wayward Lass, followed by the link to their past performances:

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SN-TAM-20220115-573159

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SNPP-TAM-20220115-573159

(Yogi and George, we miss ya.)

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Cabo Spirit, Victor Espinoza Team For Eddie Logan Victory

Handled patiently by Victor Espinoza, Kretz Racing's Cabo Spirit demonstrated a nifty turn of foot through the lane to take Sunday's $100,000 Eddie Logan by 1 ¼ lengths at Santa Anita.  Trained by George Papaprodromou, who swept Sunday's Late Double at the Arcadia, Calif., track, Cabo Spirit got one mile on turf in 1:36.38.

“First of all, I can't thank enough Mr. Kretz for supporting me these past 10 years and thanks to all my help who do a great job keeping the horses happy and going like this,” said Papaprodromou.  “I think the last time (when a close third going a mile on turf in the Grade 3 Cecil B. DeMille Nov. 28, he moved a little too soon, but what can you say, he ran a huge race that day, too.

“Today, what I did was put the cheaters (blinkers with a very minimal cup) on him a little bit.  Last time I had to put on the semis and he couldn't see the from the outside.  He kind of got a little confused I think, but today he just ran great.  He settled nicely on the backside and he did run huge at the end.”

Beaten just a half length in the DeMille, Cabo Spirit, a 3-year-old colt by Pioneerof the Nile, was off at 5-2 in a field of nine sophomores and paid $7.60, $4.00 and $3.20.

“The turf is a little soft, so I figured if I go to the front, my chances wouldn't be that great, so I decided to take him back a little bit and just let him run in the end,” said Espinoza, who has ridden Cabo Spirit in his last four starts, winning two.  “It seemed like he really liked that style and when I had a little room to let him run down the stretch, he opened up two lengths in no time.”

With his first stakes win, Cabo Spirit, who is out of the Shamardal mare Fancy Day, picked up $60,000 for his efforts, running his earnings to $136,220 while improving his overall mark to 7-2-1-2.

Irish-bred Maglev, who was making his U.S. debut, saved ground to the top of the lane but  raced erratically late, finishing well as the 2-1 favorite under Umberto Rispoli and paid $4.40 and $3.20 while finishing a neck in front of Handy Dandy.

Handy Dandy, fresh off of an impressive one mile maiden turf win Nov. 28, was attentive to the pace but lacked the necessary kick late.  Ridden by Kent Desormeaux, he was off at 5-1 and paid $3.80 to show.

Fractions on the race were 23.07, 47.26, 1:12.34 and 1:24.68.

Live racing resumes at Santa Anita on Friday, with first post time for a nine-race card at 12:30 p.m.

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