The 2-year-old portion of the Road to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve comes to an end at Fair Grounds in New Orleans Sunday with the running of the Gun Runner Stakes.
Tag: Racing
Former Claimer Greeley And Ben Named Remington’s Horse Of The Meet
Greeley and Ben has been named Remington Park's Champion Horse of the Meeting for the 2021 fall thoroughbred meeting, ending a three-year reign for the all-time winningest horse here, Welder.
Greeley and Ben, owned by End Zone Athletics of Mansfield, Texas, and trained by Karl Broberg, not only was Champion Horse of the Meet, but has to be considered for claim of the year in the country. Broberg picked him up for a mere $10,000 at Oaklawn Park in a waiver claiming race on March 7 this year and all he did was win 10-of-12 after that for Broberg and his conglomerate of End Zone Athletics. Greeley and Ben has earned $296,277 with 11 wins from 15 starts in 2021.
The 7-year-old gelded son of Greeley's Conquest, out of the Langfuhr mare Traci's Wild, extended his winning streak to nine in a row, taking the $150,000 David M. Vance Stakes at Remington Park on Sept. 26, a race in which Welder ran fifth. It was arguably the toughest David Vance Stakes in history at Remington Park as multiple stakes winner Mr. Money Bags ran second, beaten 2-1/2 lengths. The third-place finisher, Long Range Toddy, had won the $400,000 Springboard Mile in 2018 and followed that up with a victory in the Grade 2, $750,000 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn in Hot Springs, Ark., in 2019, beating a Kentucky Derby favorite, Improbable, in the process. Long Range Toddy then ran in the Kentucky Derby and was interfered with by the disqualified winner Maximum Security in the turn for home.
The 2021 Vance Stakes also included Share the Upside, who beat Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Whitmore, at Oaklawn two years ago in a stakes there, and, of course, Welder, who finished his career with 16 wins over this racing surface. Welder, owned by Ra-Max Farms (Clayton Rash) of Claremore, Okla., and trained by Teri Luneack, is the only horse to ever win Horse of the Meeting more than once.
The Vance Stakes was the first black-type win for Greeley and Ben. He won his championship at Remington winning both of his starts this season. Nationally acclaimed jockey Joe Talamo came in to ride this champion sprinter in the Vance and Remington's leading rider for the fourth year in a row, David Cabrera, was aboard in an open allowance win here on Sept. 4. The allowance was won by a full length over Empire of Gold, the fourth-place finisher in the Breeders' Cup Sprint, behind Whitmore in 2020.
“When did I know I had a stakes horse on my hands during the streak?” Broberg said on the night of the Vance Stakes. “Tonight, when he hit the finish line. I have worked very hard to keep this horse out of spots like this.”
Talamo was thrilled to get the call to ride Greeley and Ben for the first time in the horse's 26 starts and made a little joke in the winner's circle after the huge victory.
“I'll give you $10,000 for the horse right now,” Talamo said to Broberg. “Maybe more!”
Greeley and Ben earned nine times the price Broberg paid for him in the initial claim – $90,000 for the victory in the Vance.
“I just thought he was a horse that looked like he was worth $10,000,” Broberg said. “If I said there was anything genius to it, I'd be making up a story. I'll still be looking for a $10,000 starter allowance for him.”
The winner covered the six furlongs in 1:09.79 on the fast track and lit the track on fire in his allowance win, going 1:08.88.
Greeley and Ben was also voted the season's Champion Sprinter and Champion Older Male. He was bred in Kentucky by the Millard R. Seldin Revocable Trust.
The Remington Park seasonal divisional champions are selected by ballots submitted by media covering the season and track racing-affiliated personnel.
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Hot Rod Charlie Goes Without Blinkers In San Antonio
Hot Rod Charlie, who wore blinkers while finishing fourth in pursuit of victorious front-running favorite Knicks Go in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar Nov. 6, will race without them in Sunday's Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes, a major steppingstone to the G1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 5.
“He was a bit erratic down the lane in two races before the Classic so we figured the blinkers on would be beneficial in the Breeders' Cup, but we're removing them for the San Antonio and I think we'll know more after the race,” trainer Doug O'Neill said.
“His two races prior to the Breeders' Cup Classic resulted in wins with the blinkers off,” continued O'Neill, referring to the Haskell at Monmouth July 17 and the Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Sept. 25, although he was disqualified to second in the Haskell.
A 3-year-old son of Oxbow owned by Boat Racing LLC, Gainesway Stable, Roadrunner Racing and William Strauss, the $110,000 purchase has earned more than 20 times that amount with $2,471,200, despite winning only three of his12 career starts.
“He's training well and we're excited about opening day,” said O'Neill, who has a busy Sunday with 11 scheduled starters.
“If that's not a one-day high for me, it's right up in there,” he said.
The field for the San Antonio, race six of 11 with an 11 a.m. first post time: Extra Hope, Tyler Baze, 20-1 ; Express Train, Victor Espinoza, 7-2; Go On, Mario Gutierrez, 20-1; Hot Rod Charlie, Flavien Prat, 6-5; Eight Rings, John Velazquez, 4-1; Kiss Today Goodbye, Kent Desormeaux, 5-1; and Azul Coast, Juan Hernandez, 5-1.
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MATCH: Cordmaker Can Honor Breeder In Robert T. Manfuso; Belle Of The North Goes For Two Straight In Carousel
Hillwood Stable's multiple stakes winner Cordmaker, still going strong at the age of 6, looks to close out a solid campaign by stringing together back-to-back wins for the first time in more than two years in the $100,000 Robert T. Manfuso Dec. 26 at Laurel Park.
The inaugural Manfuso for 3-year-olds and up going about 1 1/16 miles and the return of the 1 1/8-mile Carousel for fillies and mares 3 and up, which carried Grade 3 status from 1988 through 1997 and was last run in 2002 at Laurel, are among six $100,000 stakes on a nine-race Christmastide Day program.
In addition to the Manfuso and Carousel, the Dave's Friend for 3-year-olds and up and Willa On the Move for fillies and mares 3 and older, both sprinting six furlongs, close out the 2021 Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship (MATCH) Series in their respective divisions.
First race post time is 12:25 p.m.
A gelded son of two-time Horse of the Year and 2014 Hall of Famer Curlin, Cordmaker has already clinched the MATCH Series older male long dirt division title. He leads 4-year-old filly Hello Beautiful – entered in the Willa On the Move – by nine points, 36-27, for the overall title.
Cordmaker was bred in Maryland by Manfuso and his life partner, trainer Katy Voss. A longtime owner and breeder and former owner of both Laurel and historic Pimlico Race Course who was instrumental in revitalizing Maryland racing, Manfuso passed away in March 2020.
“To win that would be really nice for the horse and the owner, Mrs. [Ellen] Charles,” trainer Rodney Jenkins said. “We've both seen quite a lot.”
Cordmaker has finished third or better 22 times in 33 career starts including 11 wins and $734,640 in purse earnings. He is 16-for-25 in the money at Laurel, his home track, picking up his eighth and most recent victory in the 1 1/8-mile Richard W. Small Nov. 27. He sat off the pace in third, took the lead at the top of the stretch and went on to a 1 ¾-length score.
The effort helped ease the sting of his prior start, when he finished second by a length to Captain Bombastic in the Sept. 18 Polynesian but was disqualified to sixth for interference after drifting out in the stretch. Before that, he won the 1 1/16-mile Victory Gallop Aug. 23 at Colonial Downs.
“I was happy with the last race. He ran well and he did what he had to do,” Jenkins said. “It was nice to see him come back and overcome the things that had happened to him. He had a rough go there for about a month. It didn't discourage him, I don't think.”
Cordmaker owns seven career stakes wins, five of them coming at Laurel. He has also placed in eight other stakes, running third in successive editions of the historic Pimlico Special (G3) in 2019 and 2020.
“He's sound and doing good,” Jenkins said. “I feel real good about him. I think he'll run good. He's been doing well.”
Jenkins gave Cordmaker one breeze between the Small and Manfuso, a five-furlong move Dec. 18 at Laurel that went in 1:01.60, seventh-fastest of 36 horses. He will break from the rail in a field of nine under regular rider Victor Carrasco.
“We don't do a lot with him. We gallop him if he needs it. If he gets too fresh we gallop him. I walk him some days, jog him some days. It just depends on what mood he's in, and he's stayed – knock on wood – real sound,” Jenkins said.
“I rest him when I see there's a big period before a race that we really want to go in. I'll just walk him and turn him out and stuff like that,” he added. “He's not a horse that's been really drilled through his career. He seems like he's got a lot of racing left.”
The only horse to rival Cordmaker's on-track success is Runnymoore Racing's 5-year-old gelding Alwaysmining, a 10-time winner from 32 lifetime starts with seven stakes victories. Most of his success came at 2 and 3, though he did capture the Jennings and John B. Campbell to open 2020. He has gone 1-for-14 since, finishing sixth last time out in the Howard and Sondra Bender Memorial Nov. 26 at Laurel.
Mohan Stable, Inc.'s Bobby G, 7, has earned 14 of his 16 lifetime victories in 47 starts at Laurel, with most of his success coming in starter races. He has run in four career stakes, finishing second in the 2020 Claiming Crown Iron Horse at Gulfstream Park and third in the 2019 Small at Laurel.
McCarty Racing's Doubleoseven will return to dirt in the Manfuso after finishing off the board in successive turf stakes, running fourth in the July 3 Kent (G3) at Delaware Park and eighth in the Aug. 31 Virginia Derby (G3) at Colonial, his most recent effort.
“It was just a planned break for him. He's not a real tall horse but he's kind of long and lean so we gave him a little time to let him grow. The owner is very good, very patient,” trainer Jerry O'Dwyer said. “I was hoping to run him in a two-other-than a couple of weeks ago as a prep and come back for the stake, but things didn't work out that way. We've just been sitting on him.
“We gave him a couple tries on turf. He ran well in the Kent Stakes so we said we'd give him another go. There wasn't a lot of options for him at the time for a 3-year-old stakes,” he added. “It didn't go as planned but he's equally effective on the dirt.”
Doubleoseven has had a steady string of works at Laurel since Oct. 31 for his comeback, which would mark just the second time the 3-year-old faced older horses. He won his only other try in a restricted 1 1/16-mile allowance May 29 over a sloppy Pimlico main track.
“He's doing very well,” O'Dwyer said. “We just gave him an easy breeze here [the other day]; he went in 1:01 and change. I didn't even breeze him the week before. I just left him alone because he's fairly fit and tied on. He's a light-framed horse so I don't want to overcook the goose.”
Stakes winners Everett's Song, who had a three-race win streak snapped when fifth as the favorite in the Nov. 27 City of Laurel, and Shackqueenking; Small runner-up Workin On a Dream; McElmore Avenue and Plot the Dots are also entered.
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Stronach Stable, Inc.'s Belle of the North, a homebred daughter of Street Boss that became a stakes winner in her previous start, will attempt to make it two in a row in the $100,000 Carousel Dec. 26 at Laurel Park.
The Carousel will be just the seventh start for Belle of the North, trained by Jose Corrales. She drew Post 4 in a field of eight and, as the lone 3-year-old filly in the field, will carry low weight of 119 pounds including jockey Horacio Karamanos.
“The filly is doing very well. She's doing very well,” Corrales said. “She's training good after the race, and she's a horse that has been an improving horse. I think we're going in the right direction.”
Belle of the North was making her stakes debut when she made a last-to-first move to capture the seven-furlong Safely Kept by a half-length over Fraudulent Charge Nov. 27 at Laurel. Runner-up in four stakes, Fraudulent Charge came back a popular 5 ¾-length allowance winner Dec. 18.
“I think she was in the right spot last time. I don't think I wouldn't have wanted her any closer. I think she was perfect where she was,” Corrales said. “As a matter of fact, I think she was probably closer than where I expected her to be. But she broke better this time, because she's slow out of the gate.”
Belle of the North has encountered early trouble in half of her races, part of the reason she didn't graduate until a Sept. 24 maiden special weight triumph at Laurel after going unraced at 2.
“She's improving every time. I think with this filly just the time will help her to mature and she will be even better,” Corrales said. “Now we're stretching her out going a mile and an eighth and I think that's' going to help her. I've been teaching her to go longer, to open up her air so that she has enough air to finish.”
Miss Leslie, Lookin Dynamic, Villanelle and Artful Splatter, the first four finishers from the Nov. 13 Thirty Eight Go Go at Laurel, will line up again in the Carousel along with Scatrattleandroll, who ran sixth. The top quartet was separated by only 2 ½ lengths, with favored Miss Leslie making a five-wide move to win by half a length, her second straight victory for fall meet-leading trainer Claudio Gonzalez.
Jeff Drown's Smooth With a Kick is entered to make her first start since Jan. 17, when the 5-year-old Candy Ride mare ran last of six in the Ladies Handicap at Aqueduct. A $270,000 yearling that sold for $650,000 as a 2-year-old in training, she put together a 3-3-3 record with $221,005 in purse earnings from 14 starts for previous trainer Chad Brown.
“This probably isn't the ideal starting point. She's a nice mare. She's done some good racing. The goal is to get her on the board in a stake but the mile and an eighth [is tough]. I wish I could have had her ready sooner,” trainer Brittany Russell said. “I would have liked to have gotten a run into her, per se, but it just hasn't worked out. She's training great, though. I think she's honest and I think she'll run well.”
Smooth With a Kick made her stakes debut at Laurel in the 2020 Twixt, finishing third as the favorite to Wicked Awesome, beaten 7 ½ lengths, after being bumped at the break. She followed that effort by winning an optional claiming allowance at Keeneland, then was fifth in the Falls City (G2) prior to her latest start.
“She was training down in Florida. Niall Brennan had her. I think they were planning on breeding her and she ended up getting some time off and they thought, 'Well, there's nothing wrong with her, let's put her back in training,'” Russell said. “It just took them probably a little bit longer to get her to the racetrack than they wanted. She's been in training for quite some time even though she's only been with me for eight weeks. She has plenty of works under her belt coming in. It's just the nature of the distance and the caliber of horse she'll be running against.”
Smooth With a Kick had the first timed breeze of her comeback Sept. 4 at Brennan's Ocala, Fla. farm, and has had eight works since Oct. 24 for Russell, six at Laurel and two at historic Pimlico Race Course.
“She's very classy. She does exactly what you ask in the morning,” Russell said. “Her work tab might not be flashy, looking at the times, but she's put up some good works beside some horses in the morning and she keeps going. She has really nice gallop-outs. She seems like there's quality to her and she's very straightforward. I'm hoping that kind of translates to the afternoon.”
Jevian Toledo has the call on Smooth With a Kick from the rail.
Rounding out the field is Three Diamonds Farm's Kiss the Girl, the Mike Trombetta-trained stablemate of Lookin Dynamic and Villanelle. Kiss the Girl was second in the 2019 Schuylerville (G3) at Saratoga, won the March 13 Conniver at Laurel and Aug. 21 All Brandy at Pimlico, and most recently scored a 4 ¾-length optional claiming allowance triumph Nov. 7 at the same course and distance.
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