Activity resumes Saturday on California’s Road to the Kentucky Derby and — surprise, surprise — trainer Bob Baffert is at the center of it.
Tag: Racing
Veteran Always Sunshine Runs ‘A Monster Race’ Off 541-Day Layoff
It was only about an hour before sunset when the sunshine blazed forth on a late winter afternoon at Laurel Park.
Always Sunshine, a Florida homebred of Gil Campbell's Stonehedge LLC trained by Pimlico Race Course-based septuagenarian Edward T. 'Ned' Allard, made his triumphant 9-year-old debut Jan. 24 off a 541-day gap between races.
Guided by jockey Carol Cedeno, his regular rider since the spring of 2019, Always Sunshine recovered from a slight outward bobble at the start of the 5 ½-furlong optional claiming allowance for 4-year-olds and up to press Stroll Smokin into the stretch. It wasn't until midway through the lane when the West Acre gelding out of the Awesome Again mare Sunny Again was able to clear the favored pacesetter and edge away to a 1 ¼-length victory.
“Carol knows the horse real well. She's ridden him a number of times. He can go to the lead if you want him to, but he seems like he runs a much better race if you let him get his act together, and he always fires big if you have him in a good spot,” Allard said.
“Around the sixteenth pole I thought, 'We're not going to get by this gray horse.' I said to Carol afterwards, 'I was afraid you wouldn't get by that horse,' and she said, 'I really hadn't asked him yet,'” he added. “She had a ton of confidence in him.”
It was the 11th career win from 31 starts dating back to his rookie season of 2015 for Always Sunshine, who boosted his bankroll past $650,000. It may have been one of the most satisfying of 2,724 career wins for the 75-year-old Allard, a New England native best known for his work with Hall of Famer Mom's Command.
“I didn't want to start him off in a stake after a year and a half and being a 9-year-old. I wanted to try to find something a little softer, and I thought that was a pretty good spot,” Allard said. “Although, it was still a very competitive spot and he still needed to come up with a good race to beat those horses, which he did. So, I was tickled pink.”
Always Sunshine hadn't raced since earning his fifth career stakes victory in the Senator Robert C. Byrd Memorial Aug. 3, 2019 at Mountaineer. It came just over a year after capturing the Tale of the Cat at Saratoga and well after earning his first-ever stakes triumph in the 2015 Dave's Friend at Laurel. Always Sunshine became a graded winner in the 2016 Maryland Sprint (G3) on the undercard of the 141st Preakness (G1).
“In September of 2019, instead of going to the Tale of the Cat which we had won the year before, I thought the Tale of the Cat came up a lot tougher than the year that I won it,” Allard said. “So, I chose to go for a little less money at Mountaineer. He won very nicely with Carol on him. He came out of the race not 100 percent sound, but nothing major. We couldn't find anything on X-rays, we couldn't really find anything on an ultrasound, but he was definitely off.
“We gave him some time off and put him back in training and the same thing cropped up on him again,” he added. “So, we gave him practically a year off on Mr. Campbell's farm in Williston, Florida and put him back in training. He's been in training for the last five months and he's been training super, so I was real pleased.”
The final time for Always Sunshine's comeback victory was 1:02.91, three-fifths of a second off the Laurel track record of 1:02.20 set in October 2018 by 6-year-old Siralfredthegreat.
“He just needed some time off. It wasn't really a big deal,” Allard said. “He seemed to come out of his race really well.”
The decision on what's next for Always Sunshine will be left up to the horse, Allard said. Laurel's $250,000 General's Stake (G3) at seven furlongs is Feb. 13, a span of just three weeks. The next open stake for older sprinters in Maryland is the $100,000 Frank Whiteley, also going seven furlongs, April 17.
“That's a good question. As a 9-year-old you have to be a little more careful. We'll just have to see how it plays out. Who knows. I might be back in again for [$50,000]; then again maybe we'll look for a stake,” Allard said. “He just ran a monster race, and I haven't completely swallowed it yet. I was hoping he'd run really well and I thought that he would but you still have to go out there and prove it. So often, we're wrong a lot more than we're right, that's for sure.”
Allard, inducted into the New England Turf Writers' Hall of Fame in 2009, has been thrilled with his decision to stable at Pimlico after spending last winter in Tampa, Fla. Based at Delaware Park from spring to early fall, he has two wins, one second and two thirds in five 2021 starts, all at Laurel.
“When Delaware closed, I thought the logical spot was to go to Maryland,” Allard said. “I started in 1970 and I think I've won over 150 stakes and I don't know how many stakes I've won in Maryland, but Maryland has always been very good to me. I'm there and I'm happy and things are going well.”
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‘She Has A Bright Future’: Soft Whisper Makes A Lot Of Noise In UAE 1,000 Guineas
The first classic of the UAE season took place in the UAE 1000 Guineas (Listed) this Thursday at Meydan, held over one mile on the dirt. Godolphin's Saeed bin Suroor-trained Soft Whisper vied for favoritism with Al Rashid Stables' Doug Watson-trained Mnasek before the race.
What set up as a great matchup never manifested as Soft Whisper screamed home a dominant seven-length winner under stalk-and-pounce Frankie Dettori tactics, while Mnasek missed the break before closing to a distant second under Dane O'Neill. Watson-trained Super Chianti was another 2 1/4 lengths back in third under Pat Dobbs after racing greenly during the final three furlongs.
The final time was 1:38.67 and the winner landed her second race of the season, following a one-sided tally in the UAE 1000 Guineas Trial three weeks ago. By Dubawi out of the Sea the Stars mare Placidia, the homebred gave Dettori his fourth win in the race this century and Bin Suroor his 12th. Bigger races may be on the horizon for the now four-time winner from six starts.
“She missed the kick last time, but this time she jumped really good into position and was always in control,” Dettori said. “When I kicked, she went–simply as that. I didn't have to do too much. She has a bright future. Saeed mentioned everything–Saudi (Derby), UAE Oaks, UAE Derby–who knows. When you win so impressively, you get excited and you think of big plans. I was just saying to Saeed that the last time I won a race this easily was probably Dubai Millennium in 2000. It took me 21 years to find one just as easy.
“That was good. We have big hopes for her. Maybe she didn't beat the best in the world, but the way she did it, you have to be impressed. We'll take one step at a time. Nothing has tested her today, so it would be wrong for me to say how good she is because I need some better competition, but at the moment everything is in the right place.”
“We got beat by a good horse on the night, there's no doubt about that,” O'Neill added about the runner-up. “We got a bit of kickback early on and they got a couple lengths on me on the turn, but when she saw daylight, she stayed on well. She's a timid little filly and likes a little bit of space and out of the kickback. She's a nice filly and she'll probably stay farther next time.”
Regarding Super Chianti, Dobbs added: “She was greener tonight than she was the first night. She travelled well, but when I went for her, she just stuck her head in the air and never went forward for me.”
The $1.5 million Saudi Derby is set for a similar one-turn, one-mile trip at King Abdulaziz Racecourse on Feb. 20 in Riyadh, while the UAE Oaks (G3) over 1 3/16 miles on Feb. 18. The UAE Derby is slated for Dubai World Cup day, March 27.
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Cox-Trained Coach Favored In Oaklawn’s First 2021 Kentucky Oaks Prep
Oaklawn's road to the Kentucky Oaks begins Saturday with the $200,000 Martha Washington Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 1 mile.
Probable post time for the Martha Washington, which drew a field of six, is 3:06 p.m. (Central). It goes as the fifth of nine races on the program. First post Saturday, Day 5 of the scheduled 57-day meeting, is 1 p.m.
The Martha Washington will offer 17 points (10-4-2-1, respectively) to the top four finishers toward starting eligibility for the Kentucky Oaks (G1) April 30 at Churchill Downs. The Kentucky Oaks is the country's biggest race for 3-year-old fillies. Oaklawn's Kentucky Oaks points series continues with the $300,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) March 6 and the $600,000 Fantasy Stakes (G3) April 3. The Honeybee will offer 85 points (50-20-10-5) to the top four finishers, with 170 points (100-40-20-10) up for grabs in the Fantasy.
Oaklawn-raced horses flourished on last year's revamped road to the Kentucky Oaks. Honeybee winner Shedaresthedevil captured the Kentucky Oaks, which was moved from early May to early September because of COVID-19. Fantasy winner Swiss Skydiver finished second in the Kentucky Oaks before toppling males in the Preakness, the traditional second leg of horse racing's Triple Crown, in her next start.
Trainer Brad Cox, who also trained Shedaresthedevil, has the 7-5 program favorite Saturday in Coach, who won her first three career starts before concluding her 2-year-old campaign with a third-place finish behind stablemate Travel Column in the $200,000 Golden Rod Stakes (G2) Nov. 28 at Churchill Downs.
“There's some speed in there and it's a small field,” Cox said. “Hopefully, the speed doesn't get too far away from her. It's a 1-mile race, it's a great purse, and, hopefully, she can start her march toward, what we hope, is the Kentucky Oaks. That would be the ultimate goal with her.”
After starting her career with two blowout victories at Indiana Grand, Coach won the $98,000 Rags to Riches Overnight Stakes Oct. 25 at Churchill Downs in her two-turn debut. She was beaten 3 ½ lengths in the Golden Rod, also at 1 1/16 miles.
“She does like Churchill,” Cox said. “She's a good filly. She stepped up and had a great 2-year-old season and, hopefully, she'll improve as a 3-year-old. She's definitely been training like she's improved. We like the way she's been training at Oaklawn. I feel like she's moved forward with her training. Hopefully, she can transfer that to the afternoons.”
The projected Martha Washington field from the rail out: Joy's Rocket, Ricardo Santana Jr. to ride, 122 pounds, 5-2 on the morning line; Novel Squall, Ramon Vazquez, 115, 15-1; Coach, Florent Geroux, 122, 7-5; Will's Secret, Jon Court, 115, 6-1; Lady Lilly, David Cabrera, 119, 9-2; and Sylvia Q, Martin Garcia, 115, 5-1.
Joy's Rocket will be making her two-turn debut for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen after winning the $75,000 Letellier Memorial Stakes Dec. 19 at Fair Grounds in her last start. Asmussen, a two-time Martha Washington winner, also will send out Golden Rod seventh Lady Lilly.
Will's Secret exits a 1 1/16-mile off-the-turf maiden special weights victory Dec. 20 at Fair Grounds for trainer Dallas Stewart and breeder/owner Willis Horton of Marshall, Ark.
Horton won the 2015 Martha Washington with champion Take Charge Brandi.
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