Godolphin’s assault on Churchill Downs picked up potential reinforcements March 27 as Rebel’s Romance romped to a 5 1/2-length victory in the Group 2 UAE Derby Sponsored by Emirates NBD at Meydan.
Tag: Racing
Bezos May Be Ready For Prime Time After Stylish Maiden Win At Santa Anita
Highly regarded Bezos, Triple Crown nominated but late to the party, fought off a stiff challenge from his stablemate Fenway turning for home and promptly asserted his dominance, as he waltzed to a 4 ½ length win in Friday's $61,000 Santa Anita maiden special weight feature at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif.
Trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Flavien Prat, Bezos got a flat mile in 1:37.64.
“We missed the window, we were trying to get him there (Derby trail), but he's a beautiful horse,” said Baffert. “This was good what he did today. Going two turns, that's gonna be his game, so he'll develop. We'll just let him develop on his own now. We're not in a hurry now.
“Fenway… he ran his race, but he's definitely a one-turn horse. I think he'll go a one turn mile.”
Well beaten in his 6 ½ furlong debut at odds of 3-5 on Feb. 7, Bezos was sent from the gate by Prat and traded punches with Fenway on the front end through splits of 22.98, 46.37, 1:10.83 and 1:23.85.
Ridden for the first time by Prat, Bezos was off as the 7-5 favorite in a field of six sophomores and paid $4.80, $2.80 and $2.10.
Purchased for $400,000 as a Keeneland September Yearling, Bezos is owned by SF Racing, LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, LLC, Stonestreet Stables, LLC, Golconda Stable, Siena Farm, LLC and Robert Masterson, picked up $36,600 for the win. A striking physical specimen, Bezos is by Empire Maker out of the A.P. Indy mare A P Mink.
Ridden by Umberto Rispoli, There Goes Harvard was on the move while 1 ½ lengths off the lead three furlongs out, but never threatened the winner the final quarter mile. Trained by Michael McCarthy, There Goes Harvard was off as the 2-1 second choice and paid $3.20 and $2.20 while finishing 2 ¼ lengths better than Fenway.
Ridden by Mike Smith, Fenway, in his fourth career start, was the third choice at 2-1 and paid $2.40 to show while finishing a half length in front of Vantage Point.
Bezos provided Prat with his third win on the card and in race seven and he would notch his fourth of the day aboard Shes'a Perfectlady — giving him a meet-leading 72 wins, 24 better than runner-up Juan Hernandez.
First post time for a nine-race card on Saturday is at 1 p.m.
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Champion Vequist Recovered After Davona Dale Ninth, But Unlikely For Kentucky Oaks
Champion sophomore filly Vequist, winner of the 2020 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, disappointed in her sophomore debut on Feb. 27 at Gulfstream Park. The Butch Reid-trained daughter of Nyquist ran ninth as the 1-2 favorite in the G2 Davona Dale, and a post-race scope showed mucous in her lungs, indicative of a respiratory infection.
Reid told the Daily Racing Form that Vequist has since been shipped back north to Fair Hill training center in Maryland, under the care of Bruce Jackson. The filly has recovered and is doing well, but Reid said it would be difficult for her to make the Kentucky Oaks on April 30.
“Realistically, it's hard to see her doing enough over the next three weeks to make me lean towards running her in the Oaks,” Reid told DRF. “But obviously we haven't lost any faith in her off just the one bad race and we're looking forward to getting her back on the trail for the big races still to come later in the year.”
Read more at the Daily Racing Form.
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Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Winner Fire At Will Back To Grass, Aims For New York’s Turf Triple Series
Three Diamonds Farm's Fire At Will eyes a return to grass for his next start with the intention on making an eventual appearance in the Turf Triple series.
Trained by Mike Maker, the son of Declaration of War capped a stellar 2-year-old campaign with a victory in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Keeneland. Last out, Fire At Will switched to dirt in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth on Feb. 27 at Gulfstream Park but finished a distant eighth.
Jordan Wycoff, who manages Three Diamonds with his father Kirk Wycoff, said the Grade 2, $500,000 American Turf on the Kentucky Derby undercard at Churchill Downs could be his next start with the intention of spring boarding into the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Derby Invitational on July 10 – the first leg of the Turf Triple series.
“He will be back on the grass and we're looking at some of these grass races, but we're thinking the American Turf on Derby weekend would be a logical spot to then jump into the Turf Triple series,” Wycoff said. “We wanted him to try the dirt again and that question was answered and now we want to get him to the path that was the goal for him.”
Implemented by NYRA in 2019 as the turf equivalent of the Triple Crown series, with all the legs contested at Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course, the Belmont Derby Invitational will again launch the male division of the Turf Triple series that encompasses the Saratoga Derby this summer and the Jockey Club Derby during the Belmont fall meet.
Fire At Will has been back to work since his last start, recording two breezes over the Gulfstream Park main track. Last Saturday, he went five-eighths in 1:00.17 over the South Florida oval, the third fastest of 47 recorded works at the distance.
“All is well. It was a big ask especially off the layoff, but we clearly know that he will be a grass horse going forward,” Wycoff said.
Through a record of 5-3-0-0, Fire At Will broke his maiden in an off-the-turf edition of the With Anticipation on September 2 at Saratoga before winning the Grade 3 Pilgrim over the inner turf at Belmont Park, where he beat next-out stakes winner Step Dancer.
Bred in Kentucky by Troy Rankin, Fire At Will is out of the Kitten's Joy mare Flirt making him a close relative to Grade 1-winner Decorated Invader. He was bought for $97,000 from the Select Sales consignment at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
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