Tag: Racing
Black-Eyed Susan Winner Miss Marissa Among Seven In 150th Running Of Ladies Handicap At Aqueduct
Miss Marissa found a comfort level going two turns in a stellar sophomore campaign and will look to follow a similar recipe in her 4-year-old bow as part of a seven-horse field of fillies and mares 4-years-old and up in the 150th running of Sunday's $100,000 Ladies Handicap going nine furlongs at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.
Miss Marissa, sixth last out in the Grade 3 Comely on November 27 over an Aqueduct track rated good, is the field's most accomplished entrant, having won the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan on October 3, Preakness Day, at Pimlico Race Course for trainer James Ryerson.
Miss Marissa, owned by Cammarota Racing, won just once in her first nine starts. But the He's Had Enough filly found a comfort zone when placed at longer distances, winning three straight entering the Comely, including 1 1/8-mile victories against optional claimers on August 13 at Saratoga and the Black-Eyed Susan, where she edged Bonny South by a neck over a fast track.
After tiring in the stretch in the Comely to cap her sophomore year, Ryerson said Miss Marissa has been training forwardly at Belmont in anticipation of her 4-year-old bow. She breezed four furlongs in 47.40 seconds on Wednesday over the main track.
“We're happy with her. She breezed real well yesterday,” Ryerson said. “We're excited about running. We're hoping we get a good track, but whatever we get, we'll try either way and hopefully she'll show up.
“We'll race here and then I think we'll give her a break after this, but hopefully we'll be seeing her at Belmont later on,” he added.
Jose Lezcano will pick up the mount for the first time since riding her to a fourth-place finish in the seven-furlong Wide Country last February at Laurel Park. The duo will break from post 4 with Miss Marissa carrying the 122-pound highweight.
“We decided to make a change and Jose knows her; he got to ride her going seven-eighths and he never had the chance to ride her in a two-turn race, so we're really happy to have him,” Ryerson said.
Jeff Drown's Smooth With a Kick has finished in the money in three of her last four starts, including a victory against allowance company going the Ladies' distance on August 9 at the Spa and a 3 ¼-length score against optional claimers at 1 1/16 miles on October 11 at Keeneland.
Trainer Chad Brown moved the Candy Ride mare up to stakes company last out in the Grade 2 Falls City going nine furlongs on November 26 at Churchill Downs. Despite finishing fifth, she posted an 86 Beyer, the highest in her 13 career starts, and has trained at Belmont since December. Smooth With a Kick will carry 120 pounds.
“She's real straightforward,” said Whit Beckman, an assistant to Brown. “No bad habits and nothing too tricky about the filly. You just take her out there and she does the rest. She's easy to be around and has a professional attitude. That makes a good racehorse.”
Manny Franco will ride from post 2.
Bass Stables' Thankful earned black type in her stakes – and Aqueduct Racetrack – debut last out and will look to build on that effort in returning to the Big A.
Thankful capped her sophomore campaign with a third-place effort in the Grade 3 Comely. The Todd Pletcher trainee did not race as a juvenile but posted a 2-1-1 mark in five starts during her 3-year-old season, breaking her maiden at third asking on August 20 at Saratoga before edging next-out winner Mrs. Danvers in a one-turn mile on September 27 when facing older horses at Belmont Park, netting a personal-best 89 Beyer Speed Figure.
The daughter of 2015 Triple Crown-winner American Pharoah will look to register the trifecta at NYRA-operated tracks in her second start at Aqueduct as she seeks her first stakes win.
Thankful, a $625,000 purchase at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton New York Select Sale, will have the services of meet-leading rider Kendrick Carmouche from the outermost post 7 and carry 120 pounds.
Ten Strike Racing's Lucky Move dispatched fellow New York-breds in consecutive stakes, starting with the Empire Distaff Handicap in October at Belmont and the Bay Ridge last out on December 13 at Aqueduct, and will face open company for trainer Juan Guerrero.
Bred by Maltese Cross Stables and Stonegate Stables, Lucky Move will make the first start of her 7-year-old year, with the veteran compiling a 7-7-4 record through 32 starts. Jorge Vargas, Jr. will be in the irons from the inside post [121 pounds].
Ujjayi, a T.L. Wise Pennsylvania homebred conditioned by Mike Maker, bested optional claimers at the Ozone Park-based track on December 13 and has half of her four career wins at the Big A. The Smarty Jones mare will break from post 6 with Trevor McCarthy aboard carrying 120 pounds.
Am Impazible earned the right to try stakes company after returning from a 10-month layoff with a win against allowance company on December 18 going a one-turn mile at the Big A. Overall, the Kelly Breen trainee has won her last four starts dating to November 2019, with all those victories coming at Aqueduct.
Owned by Richard Troncone, Jr. and Troncone, Sr., the New York homebred will have jockey Eric Cancel's services from post 5 and carry 118 pounds.
Bridlewood Farm's Bridlewood Cat is seeking her first win since 2019 and will be making her third consecutive stakes appearance for trainer Jonathan Thomas. Dylan Davis has the call from post 3. Bridlewood Cat will carry 118 pounds.
The Ladies Handicap is slated as Race 8 on Aqueduct's nine-race program, which offers a first post of 12:20 p.m. Eastern.
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Hello Beautiful Kicks Off 2021 Campaign In Laurel Park’s What A Summer
With an eye on the future and a nod to her successful past, Madaket Stables, Albert Frassetto, Mark Parkinson, K-Mac Stables and Magic City Stables' multiple stakes winner Hello Beautiful will open her 4-year-old season in Saturday's $100,000 What a Summer at Laurel Park.
The 35th running of the What a Summer for fillies and mares 4 and older and 25th renewal of the $100,000 Fire Plug for 4-year-olds and up, both sprinting six furlongs, are among six stakes worth $550,000 in purses on a Winter Carnival program that kicks off Maryland's 2021 stakes calendar.
Post time for the first of nine races is 12:25 p.m.
Hello Beautiful, by Golden Lad, won back-to-back stakes to cap both her 2 and 3-year-old seasons, taking the Maryland Million Lassie and Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship in 2019 and last year's Maryland Million Distaff and Safely Kept.
Though she will be making her earliest season debut, not having started previously before May, Hello Beautiful enters the What a Summer not having run since the Nov. 28 Safely Kept, a seven-furlong sprint where she drew off to win by three lengths.
“She's doing really well. We spaced her races out a little bit more this time,” trainer Brittany Russell said. “It's exciting. We're looking forward to it. If she keeps doing the way she's done over the course of the last few months, I feel very good about everything.
“With horses, you just go day to day,” she added. “She's in that first stall, and it's just fun to walk in the barn and see her face every day.”
Hello Beautiful won three of her last four races at 2, the only defeat in that stretch coming by a neck on the grass to subsequent two-time turf stakes winner American Giant, and lost Maryland-bred champion honors to 2019 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) winner Sharing.
A planned break combined with a pause in live racing amid the coronavirus pandemic to push Hello Beautiful's 2020 debut to June, a failed turf try off a six-month layoff. She went back into stakes company after a runaway allowance win just 19 days later, but class and circumstance were too much to overcome in off-the-board finishes in the Audubon Oaks and Prioress (G2).
Hello Beautiful resoundingly returned to form to win the Distaff by 11 ¼ lengths, her first time reunited with regular rider Sheldon Russell in four months since breaking his wrist last July. They teamed up again in the Safely Kept and will break together from Post 3 in a field of nine.
Brittany Russell said the connections are hoping to use the What a Summer as a springboard to the $250,000 Runhappy Barbara Fritchie (G3) Feb. 13 at Laurel, a seven-furlong sprint for older females entering its 69th year. Hello Beautiful is a perfect 6-0 over Laurel's main track.
“The goal, obviously, is the Fritchie, so we were trying to figure out the best way to get there and it was kind of just going to be about what she was telling us in the morning,” Russell said. “She's begging to run right now. So, that's why we're going for this and, hopefully, it serves as a good setup for the Fritchie.”
Malibu Mischief, based in New York with owner-trainer Rudy Rodriguez, lost for the first time in seven races when third by less than three lengths to Dontletsweetfoolya in the six-furlong Willa On the Move Dec. 26, her second career stakes attempt. Four of the wins during her streak, the last two at Laurel, came after being claimed for $12,500 last summer.
Trainer Jonathan Thomas will ship in the pair of Escapade and Bridlewood Cat for the What a Summer. Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Escapade, who has raced primarily on grass and synthetic surfaces, was beaten a head when second to Jean Elizabeth, a winner of 10 stakes including two Grade 3s, in an off-the-turf edition of 2019 Abundantia at Gulfstream Park
Bridlewood Farm's Bridlewood Cat, by Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Street Sense, returned off a layoff to be fifth in the Garland of Roses Dec. 6 at Aqueduct. She was fourth, beaten only a half-length, in the 2020 Correction last March.
Mike Trombetta-trained stablemates Bella Aurora and New York Groove look to return to their stakes-winning form following a winless 2020. Country Life Farm's Bella Aurora won the 2019 Gin Talking on the dirt at Laurel while Commonwealth New Era Racing's New York Groove took the 2019 Presque Isle Debutante on the synthetic.
Stakes-placed Club Car, fourth last out in the Willa On the Move; Cause I'm Edgy and Tarawa round out the field.
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Louisiana Derby Winner Wells Bayou Makes Long-Awaited Return At Fair Grounds
It's been a long road back but Clint and Lance Gasaway, Madaket Stables, and Wonder Stables' Wells Bayou, who won last year's Louisiana Derby (G2), makes his much-anticipated return in Saturday's $125,000 Louisiana Stakes (G3) at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots IN New Orleans, La. The 1 1/16-mile race is a key supporting feature on the six-stakes Road to the Derby card and could prove the pivotal comeback race in a 2021 handicap division lacking any true standouts.
Carded as race 10, the Louisiana is the second leg of the $100,000 guaranteed “All Stakes Pick Five” and the first leg of the $150,000 guaranteed “All Stakes Pick Four”. Both sequences conclude with the Lecomte Stakes (G3), which is carded as the finale on a 13-race extravaganza.
Wells Bayou, who drew post 8-of-9, was installed by Mike Diliberto as the lukewarm 3-1 morning line favorite with regular rider Florent Geroux in tow. The 4-year-old son of Lookin At Lucky stamped himself as a legitimate Kentucky Derby (G1) contender for trainer Brad Cox when he won the local Derby in gate-to-wire fashion last March. Things didn't go accordingly to plan from there, however, as Wells Bayou was a distant fifth after dueling on the lead in the May 2 Arkansas Derby (G1) and hasn't been seen since.
“We worked him a time or two after the Arkansas Derby and we weren't happy with the works,” Cox said. “We sent him off for a bone scan. There was nothing major going on, just a little bone remodeling and young horse stuff, you know, some wear and tear. He just needed some time off and he got that.”
Should he rediscover his form, Wells Bayou, who is 3-for-6 lifetime, would be a major addition to a handicap division there for the taking at the start of 2021. The Louisiana is clearly just a start to what Cox hopes is a serious campaign, which is why he may not be at his absolute best Saturday.
“He's been a little slow to get back on track,” Cox said. “He was very heavy when he came in. His last few works at Oaklawn have been really sharp. The race (Louisiana) was there so we would enter and take a good look at it and it looks like a really good comeback spot for him.”
Calumet Farm's homebred Blackberry Wine (post 4 at 9-2 with Adam Beschizza), was an easy 5 ½-length winner of a local December 13 optional-claimer for trainer Joe Sharp. The 4-year-old son of Oxbow has long been held in high regard by his connections in a Jekyll and Hyde career that has seen some big wins and disappointing efforts as well. Blackberry Wine is 2-for-11 lifetime, which includes a distant seventh in the Risen Star here last February, but Sharp believes the arrow is pointing up leading into the Louisiana after such a dominant win.
“We felt really good coming into the Fair Grounds race last time,” Sharp said. “That was the old Blackberry Wine and numbers-wise, it was even better than the old Blackberry Wine. The timing is good. He's had a few good works since then. It doesn't look like there is a lot of speed in the race, which plays into our hand. He doesn't have to be on the lead, but he likes to be close early, that's for sure.”
Charles Fipke's homebred Title Ready (post 6 at 6-1 with Brian Hernandez Jr.) has been knocking heads with some of the best horses in the country the past few years for trainer Dallas Stewart. He enters Saturday's assignment off a seventh in the Breeders' Cup Classic November 7 at Keeneland in November and a 10th in the Clark at Churchill Downs 20 days later. The 6-year-old son of More Than Ready is 4-for-24 lifetime and has hit the board in seven stakes, including a third in the Fayette (G2) at Keeneland in October. There's little doubt Title Ready gets a decided drop in class in the Louisiana, which could result in a long-awaited initial stakes win.
“I think the company will be a little lighter for him and he tries hard every time he runs,” Stewart said. “That's the type of horse you want to be around.”
Courtlandt Farms' Sonneman (post 9 at 4-1 with James Graham) was a closing second to heavyweight Maxfield in the local December 19 Tenacious for trainer Steve Asmussen. The 4-year-old son of Curlin was making his first start against older horses and was much farther back than usual, yet he rallied nicely for the place spot and was well clear of third. Sonneman was second in Churchill's Pat Day Mile (G2) in September and is another who could be a big player in the older horse division this year.
Completing the Louisiana field from the rail out: trainer Gerard Perron's Grand Luwegee (20-1 with Colby Hernandez), who shocked the local December 12 Louisiana Classic over state breds; Lothenbach Stables' Captivating Moon (post 2 at 6-1 with Shaun Bridgmohan), fifth in the Tenacious for trainer Chris Block and also cross-entered in the Colonel E.R. Bradley in R11; Ed and Susie Orr's Silver Prospector (post 3 at 5-1 with Ricardo Santana Jr.), who drops in class after running sixth in Churchill's November 27 Clark (G1) for Asmussen;; Lea Farms' Indimaaj (post 5 at 12-1 with Joe Talamo), who enters off two straight dominant optional-claiming wins at Tampa Bay Downs for trainer Jeff Engler; and Don't Tell MY Wife Stables, Monomoy Stables, and West Point Thoroughbreds' My Boy Jack (post 7 at 12-1 with Gabriel Saez), a multiple graded stakes winning 3-year-old in 2018 who goes second-off a 13-month layoff and is also entered in the Bradley for trainer Keith Desormeaux.
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