Racing | Horse Racing Free Tips

Cilla Rallies In Saratoga Stretch To Win Prioress

After a stretch duel with Souper Sensational that saw the two brushing not once but twice, Cilla, last-out winner of the Blue Sparkler at Monmouth Park, rallied late to win by a half-length at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Under Tyler Gaffalione, Cilla broke sharp and then settled into fourth behind Oxana and Edie Meeny Miny Mo, who traded the lead early in the six-furlong Prioress. Victor Espinoza, in from California to ride Edie Meeny Miny Mo for a second time, took over entering the far turn, but could not hold on to the advantage entering the stretch. To her outside, both Cilla and Souper Sensational took up position for their stretch runs, with Ricardo Santana, Jr. poised to send Souper Sensational on as they hit the Saratoga straight.

Gaffalione and Cilla stayed with her, the two fillies dueling in the race's final furlong. As they approached the wire, Cilla rallied past Souper Sensational in the race's final yards to a half-length lead at the finish. Li'l Tootsie was third.

Ricardo Santana, Jr. claimed foul after the race, citing interference by Cilla and Gaffalione in the stretch, but the stewards dismissed the foul, allowing the final results to become official.

The final time for the six furlongs was 1:10.05 over a fast track. Find this race's chart here.

Cilla paid $23.40, $6.20, and $3.40. Souper Sensational paid $2.50 and $2.10. Li'l Tootsie paid $3.50.

“She's fast and she's a 3-year-old. There's limited opportunities for those fillies. We felt like after we got her on track a couple of races ago and that we were going to let her step along and buy her way to the next one. She's obviously bought her way to this one.” Brett Brinkman said after the Prioress.

“As soon as Ricardo [Santana, Jr., aboard Souper Sensational] put a head in front of me, I asked her and she surged back to them, so I was confident that we were going to be able to come back to them. I was confident that we were able to get back,” Gaffalione told the NYRA Press Office after the race. “She fought gamely and all the credit goes to the connections for having her ready.”

Bred in Louisiana by Brett A. Brinkman and P. Dale Ladner, the 3-year-old filly is by California Chrome out of the Into Mischief mare Sittin At the Bar, a black-type stakes winner in Louisiana. Owned by P. Dale Ladner, Cilla is trained by Charlton Baker. The Grade 2 Prioress is the filly's fourth win in six starts in 2021, for a lifetime record of five wins in ten starts.

The post Cilla Rallies In Saratoga Stretch To Win Prioress appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Connie Swingle Leads 1-2 Alexander Finish In Del Mar’s Generous Portion Stakes

Nick Alexander's homebred Connie Swingle grabbed a good spot early in the six-furlong Generous Portion Stakes Friday, then drew well clear in the lane to tally by 3 1/4 lengths Friday at Del Mar as the 7-10 favorite in a field of 10 2-year-old California-bred fillies.

Owner-breeder Alexander also ran second in the $102,000 feature with his Carmen Miranda. Finishing third was George Krikorian's homebred Big Novel.

Connie Swingle, who was ridden by Giovanni Franco and is trained by Phil D'Amato, had scored the initial victory of her career in a straight maiden race at Del Mar on August 6 and her winner's share of $57,000 in the dash increased her bankroll to $108,000.

Final time for the 29th edition of the six panels was a solid 1:10.89. The winner paid $3.40, $2.60 and $2.20. Carmen Miranda returned $6.80 and $4.00, while Big Novel paid $3.00.

The track's Pick 6 Single Ticket Jackpot wager went unsolved one more day and its carryover rose to $419,662 for Saturday's 11-race card, which will be off and running with an early first post of 1:30 p.m. PT.

GEOVANNI FRANCO (Connie Swingle, winner) – “Phil (trainer D'Amato) told me to play the break and get a good spot with her. We did that. She was running nice and easy and when we got to the turn, I think she was playing with them (other horses). When we straightened out in the lane she just went. She's very talented.”

PHIL D'AMATO (Connie Swingle, winner) “I think she showed her class down the lane. That's a very respectable time for Cal-bred 2-year-old fillies. I think she'll run on and the same for (runner-up) Carmen Miranda (whom he also trains). I think she's just kind of dying for two turns. On to Santa Anita.”

FRACTIONS: :22.23 :45.04 :57.76 1:10.89

The stakes win is the second of the meet for rider Franco, but his first win in the Generous Portion. He now has five stakes wins at Del Mar.

The stakes win was the third of the meet for trainer D'Amato, but his second (Long Hot Summer, 2014) in the Generous Portion. He now has 32 stakes wins at Del Mar.

The winning owner and breeder is Nick Alexander of Del Mar and Santa Ynez, Calif.

The post Connie Swingle Leads 1-2 Alexander Finish In Del Mar’s Generous Portion Stakes appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Pair Of Baffert Trainees Headline Sextet For Del Mar Futurity

Six colts were entered Friday for Monday's 74th running of the Grade 1, $300,000 Runhappy Del Mar Futurity, the traditional closing day feature of the summer meeting.

Six appears to be an operative number for the seven-furlong extended sprint for 2-year-olds that determines the 2-year-old champion of the meeting. If all leave the starting gate it will be the third time in the last four years, and the fifth in the last seven, that a six-pack comprised the field.

And the 2021 running may have more Hall of Fame trainers, per horse capita, than ever before.

Steve Asmussen, Hall of Fame Class of 2016, has dispatched a representative, American Xperiment, from Saratoga. The son of 2015 Runhappy Futurity winner Nyquist will have had five days to acclimate to Del Mar surroundings leading up to the race after being supplementally entered at a cost of $10,000.

“He got here Tuesday, he arrived in good order and we're hoping he runs well,” said Asmussen assistant Sarah Campion, who travelled with American Xperiment. “He broke his maiden impressively at Saratoga, so Steve decided to send him out.”

In his racing debut on July 30, American Xperiment went wire-to-wire over a muddy track in a race taken off the turf and won over six rivals by 5 ¼ lengths.

Mark Casse, Hall of Fame Class of 2020, has Pappacap, winner of the Best Pal Stakes on Aug. 7 in his second career start and second win.

And Bob Baffert, Hall of Fame Class of 2009 – who has 14 Futurity wins on his resume dating back to 1996 – will send out Murray and Pinehurst.

“They both broke their maidens here and they've both trained well since,” Baffert said.

Murray, a son of Street Sense who was a $300,000 yearling purchase at Keeneland last September, was a romping 10 ½-length winner on July 25. Pinehurst, a son of Twirling Candy acquired for $385,000 at the same sale, overcame bumping at the start for half-length victory at five furlongs on August 1.

The fifth entrant is Finneus, a California-bred son of Stay Thirsty who was a $200,000 purchase last year. He has one win in three starts and was the runner-up to Pappacap in the Best Pal last out. Trainer Walther Solis helped in the development of some of Baffert's earliest Futurity winners while serving as manager for the Golden Eagle Farm of John and Betty Mabee.

The sixth is Olympic Legend, a son of Street Boss owned by Larry Opas and Frank Sinatra and trained by Luis Mendez. Olympic Legend broke his maiden in his second career start on June 27 at Los Alamitos.

The post Pair Of Baffert Trainees Headline Sextet For Del Mar Futurity appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Futurity Colt Stirs Del Mar Memories For Hall Of Famer Casse

A fun story about the last time trainer Mark Casse had a colt win the Best Pal Stakes and then be favored for the Del Mar Futurity.

The year was 2014. The horse was John Oxley-owned Skyway, who was ridden to victory in the Futurity-prep Best Pal by Stewart Elliott. Casse, recently inducted into racing's Hall of Fame a year after being voted entrance, picks up the narrative from there.

“Skyway had won the Best Pal and he was going to be the favorite in the Futurity. Bob (Baffert) had an exercise rider get hurt and Stewart Elliott was walking over to exercise one for Bob and I guess he got too close to a horse on a hot-walking machine and he got kicked and broke his ribs.

“I had riders lined up to ride Skyway and Victor Espinoza was on the short list. A few days before, I told Espinoza's agent (Brian Beach) I was going to let Corey Nakatani ride.

“A few days go by and I see his agent and asked if he'd picked up anything for the Futurity. He goes, 'Aw, we picked up a maiden for Bob.”

That pick-up mount was eventual Del Mar Futurity and 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharaoh.

“I think Skyway ($2.30-1 in the Futurity) was the only horse ever to be favored over American Pharoah,” Casse said.

Seven years later, Casse has Pappacap, a homebred son of Gun Runner from the Rustlewood Farm of George and Karen Russell and 2-for-2 in a career with a 4 3/4-length victory in the Best Pal on Aug. 7 here following up a wire-to-wire debut win in May at Gulfstream Park in Florida. Pappacap is the likely favorite for the 74th running of the Runhappy Del Mar Futurity on closing day of the meeting, Labor Day Monday, September 6.

“Pappacap has been a horse, from the time we started breezing at our training center in Ocala, that always seemed a little extra special,” Casse said recently by phone from Saratoga. “George and Karen Russell are small breeders, but wonderful people and we're very excited for them.

“They're from South Florida and we had him here this spring and the plan was to run in South Florida and then maybe Saratoga.”

The plan was altered after the Gulfstream debut.

“I didn't know he would go right to the lead,” Casse said. “I didn't think they would beat him, but I thought he would settle and then make a run. I was kind of shocked by it, but good horses are very versatile and he's a good horse.

“We brought him back to Ocala, the Russells were there to watch him and I just ran it by them that there was a good series in California and I think this horse could be a Breeders' Cup horse. So why not send him out, and they said OK.”

With assistant Allen Hardy-Zukowski overseeing preparations at Del Mar, Pappacap, under Joe Bravo, rated nicely behind two front-runners, took over in mid-stretch and went on to a 4 ½-length victory

“I've seen much stronger Best Pals and I'm not sure he beat the greatest field in the world, but I liked the way he did it,” Casse said. “He settled, he finished, he galloped out strong. And I think it helped him. He's got a lot of confidence right now.”

If Papacap does well in the Futurity, the plan is to keep him in California, part of a small string for Casse at Santa Anita, and then back to Del Mar for the Breeders' Cup World Championships on November 5-6.

In the 2017 Breeders' Cup, the first as host for Del Mar, Casse was represented by seven horses in five races. A third, at odds of 14-1, in the Dirt Mile by Awesome Slew as part of the Friday program got the Casse contingent off to a good start. A sixth by Wonder Gadot, one of three Casse charges in the Juvenile Fillies, was the best result from the next five he saddled.

Then World Approval won as the favorite in the $2 million Mile on turf, which was worth $1.1 million for owner Charlotte Weber of Live Oak plantation, a longtime client whose father was a Florida neighbor and friend of Casse's faher.

It was the third year in a row that Casse had won a Breeders' Cup race. In the post-race press conference he had this to say of World Approval: “Obviously, to win this race you have to be a great horse and he proved that today. You can't train greatness. You can just kind of make sure you don't get in their way.”

Two months out, it's impossible to predict how many horses Casse will have when Del Mar serves as the Breeders' Cup venue for a second time. But he's hoping it will be similar, or even greater, in numbers to 2017.

Got Stormy punched a ticket to the FanDuel Mile with a 'Win and You're In' victory in the Fourstardave on August 1 at Saratoga. Casse has several prospects for the Woodbine Mile on September 18, and an assortment of 2-year-olds for the Natalma Stakes and Summer Stakes the following day in Toronto, all automatic qualifier events

“We have a lot of young horses and this is the time of year you look for them to step up,” Casse said. “I had a filly called Valadorna who didn't make her first start until September and she wound up second in the (2016) Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. I had a horse called Airoforce who didn't run until Kentucky Downs (early September) and he wound up getting beat a neck in the (2015) Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.

“So we've got horses out there that haven't started yet that have potential. You need a lot of luck.”

[Story Continues Below]

The 2017 Breeders' Cup was for Casse a return to the track where he had overseen a string in 2014. A proponent of artificial surfaces, Casse forged a western campaign for the final season before Del Mar switched back from Polytrack to dirt for the main track.

“I remember we had a bunch of seconds and no wins to start and it was being talked about,” Casse said. “I could run 15 at Woodbine and not win and nobody notices. (At Del Mar) you lose 15 in a row and you feel like everybody's watching.”

On the final weekend of the campaign, Casse – despite issues — wound up saddling the standout filly Lexie Lou to do battle with California Chrome in the first Hollywood Derby at Del Mar.

A normally short 10-minute trip from their rental house took more than twice as long and, arriving at the track, Casse was delayed further by a security guard who didn't recognize or believe him when he said he had a horse to saddle.

Lexie Lou put up a game fight before finishing second, two lengths behind California Chrome.

Win or lose, smooth sailing or hassles, Casse has always expressed an affinity for Del Mar on his visits.

“We love Del Mar,” Casse acknowledged. “If I said to my wife, Tina, 'Let's move to Del Mar,' she'd be packing in no time. She loves it there. I've said to a lot of people, it's where trainers die and go to heaven.”

The post Futurity Colt Stirs Del Mar Memories For Hall Of Famer Casse appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post