Medina Spirit won the 2021 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve by a half-length on May 1 at Churchill Downs.
Tag: Racing
Medina Spirit Strikes at 12-1 Odds to Give Baffert Seventh Kentucky Derby Victory
Preeminent trainer Bob Baffert has come to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve with far more expensive and far more accomplished colts that were the talk of the town.
Flagstaff Determined Winner In Breathtaking Churchill Downs Stakes Finish
The Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes on the Kentucky Derby undercard had one of those finishes that made one observer remark that it was a shame anyone had to walk away the loser. With a few strides left, six horses blanketed the width of the dirt track, and in another few steps, three were separated by a few inches, but it was Flagstaff who would emerge the victor.
Jockey Luis Saez hustled the gelding strongly out of the gate and he was initially part of a blazing battle for the early lead alongside Get The Prize, Tap It To Win, Lexitonian, and Basin. Halfway through the backstretch he dropped back behind those and would have seemed poised to begin reversing through the rest of the field in the remaining furlongs. Instead, Saez regrouped and made a wide move on the turn, sweeping into at least the five path to circle the field.
Flagstaff was one of a flurry of horses in contention through the final furlong, from the pacesetters and stalkers trying to hang on to late closers. He briefly held the lead but was challenged by closers. At the wire, Whitmore was to his outside and Lexitonian to his inside as Flagstaff lengthened his stride just enough to stretch his neck out at the right moment and win by a head.
Lexitonian was second, followed by Whitmore and Hog Creek Hustle. The final time was 1:21.82 after early fractions of :21.97, :44.21 and 1:08.04.
John Sadler trains Flagstaff for owners Lane's End Racing and Hronis Racing. The 7-year-old came to this race off a decisive win in the G3 Commonwealth at Keeneland in early April. This is his first Grade 1 win, and he also won the G2 San Carlos at Santa Anita last year.
Flagstaff was bred in Kentucky by Summer Wind Farm and is the son of Speightstown and Indyan Giving, who is by A.P. Indy. He was sold for $475,000 as a yearling at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale, where he was consigned by Lane's End and bought by Mayberry Farm.
Flagstaff went off at odds of 9-2 and paid $11.80 to win. Favored Tap It To Win finished second last. See the full chart here.
CHURCHILL DOWNS QUOTES, courtesy Churchill Downs press office
Luis Saez (Jockey, Flagstaff, winner) – “Getting settled off the pace was the key; they were going pretty fast up front. I tried to save ground into the turn and when there was a moment to go out so I had that good spot he came for me. I know Whitmore is a good horse but my horse really dug in. When I saw everybody coming past me I thought it was over but he never gave up and finally he gave me the last little bit and we got there. John told me to ride him with confidence and that he likes to fight and we broke and then you saw that at the end.”
John Sadler (Trainer, Flagstaff, winner) – “I'm thrilled. He's a real hard knocker; he always runs his race. He knocked it out today.”
Tyler Gaffalione (Jockey, Lexitonian, runner-up) – “He's a hard-trying horse. He's got a lot of natural speed and I just let him run his race. He fought hard to the wire. He gave me a good feeling at the eighth pole but we just didn't have enough today.”
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Tribhuvan Returns In Style To Take G2 Fort Marcy
The 10-month layoff was no issue for Tribhuvan, who shook off the rust with a 1 1/2-length victory going wire-to-wire in Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 Fort Marcy, a nine-furlong inner turf test for older horses at Belmont Park.
Owned by Wonder Stables, Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb and Michael Caruso, Tribhuvan was one of three Fort Marcy aspirants trained by Chad Brown, who also sent out Rockemperor and Devamani.
Tribhuvan made his first start since posting a narrow allowance optional claiming score over graded stakes winner Ballagh Rocks on July 4 at Belmont over the Widener turf course. The victory was a fourth lifetime win, and first at graded stakes level for the French-bred son of Toronado, who won twice in his native land for former conditioner Henri-Alex Pantall. He competed in last year's edition of the Fort Marcy, but was pulled up in mid-stretch after a buckle on his reins broke when hitting the gate at the start.
Tribhuvan broke sharply from post three under Eric Cancel, and commanded the field into the first turn with a six-length advantage through an opening quarter-mile in 23.56 seconds and the half-mile in 47.89 over the firm turf.
Down the backstretch, the field began gaining on the frontrunner, with New York-bred stakes-winner City Man poised to pounce in second along the hedge with Wissahickon to his outside.
Cancel was relaxed aboard his charge until upper stretch when he gave Tribhuvan his cue. City Man made a bid but was unable to catch the leader who completed the 1 1/8 miles in 1:46.11. City Man finished another two lengths clear of third-place finisher Rockemperor.
Completing the order of finish were Devamani, winner of last year's G2 Knickerbocker, and Wissahickon.
“They said they wanted me to go, and I did what I was told to do,” said Cancel, whose first graded stakes triumph came aboard Smooth Daddy in the 2017 Fort Marcy. “The trip worked out very well. I settled on the pace and got my horse to relax. He made a really nice run from the quarter-pole to the wire.”
Brown won his fourth consecutive Fort Marcy – and fifth overall – adding to a list which includes Big Blue Kitten [2015], Robert Bruce [2018], Olympico [2019] and Instilled Regard [2020].
Tribhuvan, along with Brown's other two runners, were saddled by his assistant Dan Stupp.
“I expected all three to run well as they all had trained well,” Stupp said. “The winner got a little lost in the wagering but he's a horse last year that we had high hopes for. He had a little trouble in this race last year when the buckle on the rein broke coming out of the gate, so it was nice to see him come back and start the year off the right way.
“There was no pace on paper and he's a horse that's very sharp in his training,” Stupp added. “He has a lot of energy and he was the logical horse to let him have his head a little bit and go to the front and back it down a bit. Eric did a great job executing that plan.”
Tribhuvan, who returned $22.40 as the longest shot in the field, improved his record to 17-4-2-3 and nearly doubled his lifetime earnings to $221,154.
Dan Stupp, assistant to trainer Chad Brown of winner Tribhuvan (No. 3, Tribhuvan, $22.40), third-place Rockemperor (No. 2) and fourth-place Devamani (No.1): “I expected all three to run well as they all had trained well. The winner got a little lost in the wagering but he's a horse last year that we had high hopes for. He had a little trouble in this race last year when the buckle on the rein broke coming out of the gate, so it was nice to see him come back and start the year off the right way.”
On sending Tribhuvan to the lead: “There was no pace on paper and he's a horse that's very sharp in his training. He has a lot of energy and he was the logical horse to let him have his head a little bit and go to the front and back it down a bit. Eric [Cancel] did a great job executing that plan.”
Eric Cancel, winning jockey aboard Tribhuvan (No. 3): “They said they wanted me to go and I did what I was told to do. The trip worked out very well. I settled on the pace and got my horse to relax. He made a really nice run from the quarter-pole to the wire.”
Trevor McCarthy, jockey aboard runner-up City Man (No. 4): “I can't knock him. He got a great trip. It was a fast pace in front of us and every time I got to Chad's horse [Tribhuvan], he seemed to have a little bit more. My horse was coming off a little bit of a layoff, so I was happy with him.”
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