Tag: Racing

Breeders’ Cup Runner-Up Dayoutoftheoffice ‘Way Ahead Of Schedule’ For Sophomore Debut

Like the majority of Thoroughbred trainers, Tampa Bay Downs conditioner Tim Hamm is a realist. And he knows it is unlikely his filly Dayoutoftheoffice will be announced as the Eclipse Award Champion 2-Year-Old Filly on Thursday after her second-place finish to Vequist in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies on Nov. 6 at Keeneland.

After her dazzling 5-furlong breeze in 1:01 on Sunday at Tampa Bay Downs, Hamm expects Dayoutoftheoffice to earn another shot against Vequist in the near future. Dayoutoftheoffice had breezed 4 furlongs a week earlier in 49 3/5 seconds in her first workout of 2021.

“She's coming back incredibly well. Her work today (with exercise rider Alfredo Clemente aboard) was awesome,” Hamm said Sunday. “She just did it real easy and she galloped out super strong. She is way ahead of schedule, and it's a good feeling that we can handle her how we want and have her plenty fit for whatever race we choose (as her 3-year-old debut).”

Hamm said Dayoutoftheoffice will likely make her first 3-year-old start on either Feb. 27 in the Grade 2 Davona Dale at Gulfstream or on March 6 in the G3 Honeybee Stakes at Oaklawn Park. “We nominated her to the Suncoast (on Feb. 6 at Tampa Bay Downs), but that is probably a little too quick,” he said. Hamm added that the Grade 1, $1.25-million Longines Kentucky Oaks on April 30 at Churchill Downs is in his plans for the Kentucky-bred daughter of Into Mischief.

Although Dayoutoftheoffice is 1-1 against Vequist, having beaten her in the G1 Frizette Stakes on Oct. 10 at Belmont, and had a better record last year – three victories from four starts, with the lone second in the Juvenile Fillies, compared to Vequist's two victories and two seconds – Eclipse voters have traditionally given extra weight to winning a Breeders' Cup race.

“Just being nominated is great. It says you had one of the best 2-year-old fillies in the country,” said Hamm, who also co-owns Dayoutoftheoffice under his Blazing Meadows Farm banner in partnership with Siena Farm. “I'd love to say we have a chance, but if you're voting, you're going to see who won on championship day (at the Breeders' Cup).”

The third nominee in the 2-Year-Old Filly category is Aunt Pearl, whose 3-for-3 record includes a victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (voters have been known to lean toward dirt horses when push comes to shove, but you never know).

The 50th Eclipse Awards Ceremony honoring the sport's 2020 champions will be held Thursday as a virtual event, with portions hosted from Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Ky. Winners in 17 equine and human categories will be announced in a program streamed live on multiple outlets, including TVG and Racetrack Television Network, beginning at 7:30 p.m. (see below for the finalists).

Hamm had a previous brush with Eclipse Award glory, having sold Wait a While as an unraced 2-year-old in 2005 after purchasing her the previous year as a yearling. She was part of his pinhooking program and reaped a $210,000 profit. In 2006, Wait a While earned the Eclipse as Champion 3-Year-Old Filly for owner Arindel and trainer Todd Pletcher.

“We breed them, raise them, sell them and race them. It is all part of our plan,” Hamm said.

Here are the Eclipse Award finalists (in alphabetical order) in each category:

Horse of the Year: Authentic, Improbable, Monomoy Girl

2-Year-Old Male: Essential Quality, Fire At Will, Jackie's Warrior

2-Year-Old Filly: Aunt Pearl, Dayoutoftheoffice, Vequist

3-Year-Old Male: Authentic, Nadal, Tiz the Law

3-Year-Old Filly: Gamine, Shedaresthedevil, Swiss Skydiver

Older Dirt Male: Improbable, Maximum Security, Vekoma

Older Dirt Female: Midnight Bisou, Monomoy Girl, Serengeti Empress

Male Sprinter: Vekoma, Volatile, Whitmore

Female Sprinter: Gamine, Glass Slippers, Serengeti Empress

Male Turf Horse: Channel Maker, Order of Australia, Zulu Alpha

Female Turf horse: Audarya, Rushing Fall, Tarnawa

Steeplechase Horse: Moscato, Rashaan, Snap Decision

Owner: Godolphin, Klaravich Stables, and the partnership of Spendthrift Farm, MyRaceHorse Stable, Madaket Stables, and Starlight Racing

Breeder: Calumet Farm, Peter E. Blum Thoroughbreds, WinStar Farm

Trainer: Steve Asmussen, Bob Baffert, Brad Cox

Jockey: Irad Ortiz, Jr., Joel Rosario, John Velazquez

Apprentice Jockey: Luis Cardenas, Yarmarie Correa, Alexander Crispin

 

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Defending Lady Apple To Face Six Rivals In Houston Ladies Classic

The fields are set, and the excitement is building at Sam Houston Race Park for its most prestigious event of the 2021 Thoroughbred racing season. The Houston Racing Festival will take place on Sunday, Jan. 31 with a special afternoon post time of 1:45 pm (CT). The ten-race card includes six stakes, highlighted by the Grade 3, $300,000 Houston Ladies Classic.

Now in its ninth running, the Houston Ladies Classic, at a mile and one-sixteenth on the main track, has been a springboard for top older fillies and mares, and once again attracted a highly competitive field.

Defending champion Lady Apple is a 5-year-old daughter of Curlin out of the Clever Trick mare Miss Mary Apples owned by Phoenix Thoroughbred III and KatieRich Farms. Trained by Hall of Fame conditioner Steve Asmussen, the Kentucky-bred mare has won six of her 18 starts with earnings of $1,045,984. One year ago, she closed gamely to defeating a contentious field which included 2019 Kentucky Oaks champion Serengeti Empress and Street Band. Following her victory, Asmussen shipped her to Oaklawn Park where she competed in both the G2 Azeri and G1 Apple Blossom. Her third place finish in last month's Spanky Broussard at Fair Grounds served as a solid prep for her return to Sam Houston Race Park, where she will break from post position four under veteran rider Stewart Elliott at odds of 4-1.

“She needed that race, and I had no problem with the result,” said Asmussen. “Lady Apple is a quality filly who loves the track surface at Sam Houston and is training really well.”

Letruska, bred and owned by St. George Stable, LLC, has been installed as the even-money favorite. The 5-year-old mare by Super Saver out of the Successful Appeal mare Magic Appeal has won 11 of her 15 career efforts including the G3 Shuvee last August at Saratoga. She exits a victory last month in the Grade 3, $100,000 Rampart at Gulfstream Park and when her trainer Fausto Gutierrez began planning her 5-year-old campaign, he felt that the Houston Ladies Classic would be an ideal beginning.

“She's a filly with a great deal of speed,” explained Gutierrez. “We removed the blinkers and felt that she finished much better. I ran at Sam Houston twenty years ago and know it has an excellent track surface. They have always attracted quality fields for the Ladies Classic and I feel that this will be a perfect start for her year. Our plan is to head to Oaklawn Park and point to the (Grade 1) Apple Blossom.”

Letruska was flown from South Florida to New Orleans and vanned from Fair Grounds to Sam Houston Race Park early Sunday morning. Jockey Jesus Castanon has the call aboard the bay mare and will break from post position seven.

Asmussen will also saddle Motion Emotion for owners MyRacehorse.com and Spendthrift Farm LLC. The 5-year-old mare sired by Take Charge Indy has topped the half-million dollar mark in her 16 career starts and will be ridden by Miguel Mena at odds of 7-2. Sunday's race will be her first start since running fourth in the G1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga. She has been stabled at Asmussen's Sam Houston barn all month, with a solid work tab, including two bullet drills on Jan. 16 and 23.

“She's been training like a steam engine,” declared Asmussen. “We are fortunate that Spendthrift bought her at the Night of the Stars Sale (on Nov. 8) and look forward to running her in the Ladies Classic.”

A victory by Motion Emotion or Lady Apple would vault Asmussen into the record books as the only conditioner to win three editions of the Houston Ladies Classic. Asmussen, who is nominated for Eclipse Award winning trainer honors along with Brad Cox and Bob Baffert, won with Midnight Bisou in 2019. The remarkable champion went on to capture five Grade 1 stakes, banking $7.4 million and was honored as 2019 Eclipse Award winning Older Female. Larry Jones is the only other trainer to win two Ladies Classic titles.

Jeweled Princess is on target to ship to Houston and represent owners Walking L Thoroughbreds of The Woodlands, Texas. Trained by Kenny McPeek, the 4-year-filly by Cairo Prince, earned her fourth career win on Dec. 18 at Remington Park when she captured the $75,000 She's All In Stakes. Jockey Reylu Gutierrez has the call at odds of 8-1. He joined the Sam Houston jockey colony this year and is off to an excellent start, ranked second behind veteran Stewart Elliott. McPeek won the 2004 Great State Challenge Distaff at Sam Houston Race Park with Take Charge Lady as well as victories in the Maxxam Gold Cup with Unstoppable U in 2013 and Blueridge Traveler in 2018.

Trainer Michael Maker has entered Ujayji, a 5-year-old mare by Smarty Jones for her breeder and owner T. L. Wise. The Pennsylvania-bred mare exits a third-place finish in the $100,000 Ladies Handicap at Aqueduct on Jan. 17. She brings a record of four wins, four seconds and four thirds from 19 starts with earnings of $293,090. She drew post position three under rider Rafael Manuel Hernandez at odds of 6-1.

Trainer Tom Amoss, who ran second in last year's edition of the race with Serengeti Empress, will send in Figure It Out, a 5-year-old Paynter mare owned by Joel Politi. She began her year with an impressive allowance score at Fair Grounds on Jan. 1 prior to running sixth in the $150,000 Pippin Stakes at Oaklawn Park on Saturday. He has given the call to Houston-based rider Lane Luzzi, who is currently tied for third in the standings. This will be the third time Amoss has shipped in for the Houston Ladies Classic. He ran fifth in the 2015 edition of the race with Kiss to Remember.

Trainer Scott Gelner will saddle Norman Racing Stables, LLC's Shes Our Fastest who drew post position six and will be ridden by Ry Eikleberry. The Texas-bred daughter of Oratory has won five stakes in Texas and Louisiana, including the 2019 Texas Rose Stakes at Sam Houston Race Park. The 6-year-old mare has earned $344,537 in her 29 lifetime starts.

Inaugurated in 2013, the Houston Ladies Classic was awarded its graded status by the American Graded Stakes Committee in 2016. It anchors the annual Houston Racing Festival, which also includes the Grade 3, $200,000 John B. Connally Turf Cup, the $200,000 Texas Turf, the $100,000 Pulse Power Turf Sprint, the $75,000 Jersey Lilly Turf Stakes and the $75,000 Stonerside Sprint.

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Gregorian Chant Sings New Tune Sprinting To Clockers’ Corner Triumph

Well beaten in a Grade 2 stakes going a mile and one half on turf Nov. 27, trainer Phil D'Amato's English-bred Gregorian Chant shortened up in distance and rallied from last to first in Sunday's $70,000 Clockers' Corner Stakes at Santa Anita, winning by 2 ¼ lengths.  Ridden by the meet's leading rider Juan Hernandez, Gregorian Chant got six furlongs out of the Arcadia, Calif., track's turf chute in 1:08.42 over a course listed as firm.

Entered in his first sprint since breaking his maiden at first asking going seven furlongs on a synthetic surface in Ireland on December 7, 2018, Gregorian Chant was ridden confidently by Hernandez, despite the fact he was trying an entirely different game today.

Last, about seven lengths off the lead heading into the far turn, Gregorian Chant was into the bridle as Hernandez angled out while trying to exploit a fast early pace set by Mr Vargas and Thanks Mr. Eidson.  Six-wide turning for home, Gregorian Chant gained the advantage a sixteenth of a mile from home and won going away.

“Phil told me don't change his style,” said Hernandez, who had won aboard Gregorian Chant in a 1 1/16-mile turf allowance three starts back at Del Mar on Aug. 29.  “It looked like there was plenty of speed and there was.  The race set up good for us.  Turning for home, I had a lot of horse and he just exploded.  He passed those other horses pretty easy.”

Eleventh, beaten 15 ¾ lengths in the G2 Hollywood Turf Cup Nov. 27, Gregorian Chant was off at 10-1 and paid $23.00, $8.20 and $4.60.

“I gotta give Nick Cosato (Slam Dunk Racing) a lot of credit,” said D'Amato.  “He thought of this after his last race.  Just remembering what a big turn of foot he had from when we bought him, we thought it was worth a try.  Juan fits this horse really well.  Actually his brother, Jonathan, gallops him in the morning, so it's kind of a little family affair there.  Juan has a special touch there with him and gets everything out of him.”

Owned by Slam Dunk Racing, Old Bones Racing Stable, LLC and Michael Nentwig, Gregorian Chant, a 5-year-old gelding, picked up his first stakes win and improved his overall mark to 13-4-0-2.  Purchased privately following his maiden win in Ireland, Gregorian Chant picked up $43,920 for the win, increasing his earnings to $165,013.

Although passed by his stablemate at the top of the lane, Strike Me Down, who was five-deep at the time, kept to his task and overhauled Thanks Mr. Eidson by a head for second, giving D'Amato a one-two finish.  Off as the 2-1 favorite with Umberto Rispoli, Strike Me Down paid $4.80 and $3.00.

Ridden by Edwin Maldonado, Thanks Mr. Eidson, who tracked Mr Vargas to the quarter pole, stayed on gamely and paid $3.60 to show.

Fractions on the race were 21.76, 44.65 and 56.63.

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