Oaklawn Park’s jockey colony has grown more competitive as the purses have increased throughout the past decade. Two recent notable additions are Joe Talamo, who is in Hot Springs for his second full season, and Florent Geroux, who is wintering at Oaklawn for the first time.
Tag: Racing
Harty Out To Prove Fair Maiden’s La Brea Upset Was No Fluke
Fair Maiden, a consistent daughter of Street Boss owned and bred by Godolphin LLC in Kentucky, is out to prove her victory at 20-1 in the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes last Dec. 26 was no fluke when she runs in Saturday's G2 Santa Monica Stakes at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif.
The prestigious seven-furlong race for fillies and mares four and older will be decided at seven furlongs in this, its 64th running.
“Her victory in the La Brea wasn't much of a surprise in the sense that her form was good,” trainer Eoin Harty said, alluding to her 4-1-1 record from eight starts, with earnings of $321,278. Her lone disappointing effort came in the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. She finished 12th when rank, steadying and wide in the race at Santa Anita on Nov. 1, 2019.
Other than that, the 4-year-old chestnut filly has never been worse than fourth and has been working forwardly for the Santa Monica.
“She's doing well,” Harty said. 'She's trained well since the La Brea and we're looking forward to the race.”
Fair Maiden began her career at Arlington Park, had two races at Woodbine after that before starts at Santa Anita, Churchill Downs, Keeneland and at Santa Anita for the aforementioned La Brea.
“She's been with me since Day One,” Harty said. “She came out of her Breeders' Cup race with a problem, which explains her layoff (of some 10 months before winning a sprint at Churchill Downs last Sept. 19).
“Seven-eighths should be perfect for her.”
Harty, a 58-year-old native of Dublin, Ireland, enjoyed perhaps his greatest victory in 2009 when Well Armed captured the $6-million Dubai World Cup by 14 lengths under recently retired Aaron Gryder.
Harty was a top assistant to the late John Russell and Bob Baffert before becoming private trainer for Godolphin Racing in 2000.
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Hit The Road Gives Blacker First Graded Stakes Win In Thunder Road
Idle since winning a restricted stakes at Del Mar July 10, Hit the Road hit the comeback trail running Saturday at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., as he strode home to a brilliant 3 ¾-length win in the Grade 3, $100,000 Thunder Road Stakes, providing trainer Dan Blacker with his first-ever graded stakes win. Ridden to his third consecutive win by Umberto Rispoli, Hit the Road got one mile on turf in a scintillating 1:33.35, eclipsing Om's 2018 Thunder Road record time of 1:33.54.
A comfortable third, about three lengths off the lead heading into the clubhouse turn, Hit the Road was in hand behind dueling leaders Sombeyay and Bob and Jackie three furlongs out and narrowed the gap to one length at the top of the lane. Taking his cue from Rispoli, Hit the Road, who was three-deep turning for home, engaged the leaders and in an instant, opened up by three lengths a sixteenth from home en route to a huge win.
“He's just a really special horse and I am so lucky to have him,” said Blacker, 38. “Like I said before the race, he was born a great horse. I'm just lucky to have him in my barn. Umberto worked the horse in 59 (seconds) a week ago and he called me after the work and said, 'He just worked okay.' I was kind of worried he didn't think he looked too good. Then after (today's) race he told me, 'I didn't want you to get too excited.'
“For me, the horse is a champion in my eyes and I'm just so thankful to the group of owners.”
The third choice in a field of six older horses at 3-1, Hit the Road paid $8.20, $4.40 and $3.40.
Owned D K Racing, LLC, Radley Equine, Inc., Taste of Victory Stables, Rick Gold and Dave Odmark, Hit the Road, a 4-year-old by More Than Ready, out of the U S Ranger mare Highway Mary, notched his first graded stakes win and his third overall added money victory. A perfect two for two last year, he's now five for eight lifetime and with the winner's share of $60,000, increased his earnings to $254,751.
“He's a nice horse,” said Rispoli. “We always believed in him and had faith in him. … I was on top of the race and by the five-furlong marker he was already pulling hard and I could understand he was fresh. He was so good today. At the top of the stretch, he had good acceleration and covered good ground. It was a good comeback, so now it's up to Dan (as to) what he is going to do.”
Bob and Jackie, who was in the fight from the gate, proved second best under Heriberto Figueroa and paid $4.00 and $2.60 as the 2-1 favorite.
Border Town, who was ridden by Flavien Prat, was just up to nip Sombeyay by a nose for third money and paid $4.00 to show.
Fractions on the race were 23.60, 46.80, 1:10.18 and 1:21.87.
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Great Island Overcomes Stumble To Win Off-The-Turf Suwannee River
Alpha Delta Stables LLC's Great Island overcame a bad stumble at the start to put her head in front at the finish of Saturday's $100,000 Suwannee River at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.
Making her first main-track start in the 1 1/8-mile stakes for older fillies and mares that was taken off the turf due to afternoon rain, the 4-year-old daughter of Scat Daddy collected her first career stakes victory while narrowly prevailing over pacesetter Drop a Hint on a sealed sloppy racetrack. The Chad Brown-trained filly provided jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. with his fourth of six victories on Saturday's 12-race program.
Sent to post as the 1-5 favorite in a field reduced to six by scratches, Great Island stumbled leaving the starting gate to drop several lengths behind the field heading into the first turn. Drop a Hint set fractions of 24.28 and 48.81 seconds without pressure for the first half mile and continued to show the way on the far turn after rebuffing a challenge by Loving Moment. Great Island steadily advanced along the backstretch and far turn to reach contention on the turn into the homestretch, but Drop a Hint wasn't showing any signs of weakening under Edgard Zayas.
“It's hard to overcome after that in the first part of the race,” Ortiz said. “She just stumbled, big-time, twice. After I said, 'Let me just see what she can do.' I just let her settle and by the backside she started moving really good so I didn't want to take too much hold of her after what happened in the beginning. I just let her roll and find her stride.”
It took the entire length of the stretch, but Ortiz succeeded in urging the Chad Brown trainee to victory by a head.
“By the quarter pole. I had to start working on her, but thank God, she kept coming. The trainer did a great job. She had a lot of stamina,” Ortiz said. “For a second, I thought she didn't want to go by the other horse probably, and she was looking at her, so I just tried to stay a little away in the stretch so she can feel free and go on and pass that horse. I got lucky I could go by.”
Great Island, who was placed third after finishing second in the Via Borghese at Gulfstream in her previous start, ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:52.51. Drop a Hint finished second, a half-length ahead of Mylastfirstkiss.
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