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Landing Zone Ready To Start New Streak in Allaire Du Pont Stakes At Laurel

BB Horses' Landing Zone, who lost for the first time in five races in her most recent start, will get the chance to start a new streak when she lines up for her graded-stakes debut in Saturday's $150,000 Allaire du Pont (G3) at Laurel Park in Maryland.

The 27^th running of the 1 1/8-mile du Pont for fillies and mares 3 and up, the last graded event on the East Coast in 2020, headlines a Christmastide Day program of eight stakes worth $850,000 in purses.

Landing Zone, trained by Claudio Gonzalez, strung together four consecutive wins from Aug. 13 to Oct. 18, all facing older horses, at distances ranging from one to 1 1/16 miles. She made her stakes debut in the seven-furlong Safely Kept Nov. 28 at Laurel, running third behind multiple stakes winner Hello Beautiful.

“The last race I tried her at seven-eighths and I believe it's too short for her. Still, she didn't run bad, because the winner is a nice filly,” Gonzalez said. “Now we'll try her long and, for me, it's going to be much better for her. She'll love it.”

Landing Zone, a 3-year-old daughter of Grade 1-winning millionaire Morning Line, drew Post 3 in a field of seven where all six of her rivals are already stakes winners. Angel Cruz will ride.

“She's a nice filly. She's always improving. The last few races she's run really big,” Gonzalez said. “She's more relaxed. She was very nervous in the paddock before and now she's relaxed, she's more mature. Hopefully as a 4-year-old she's going to be much better.”

Another of Gonzalez's sophomores, Euro Stable's multiple stakes winner Lebda, will take on his elders for the first time looking to snap a four-race losing streak in the $100,000 Dave's Friend for 3-year-olds and up sprinting six furlongs.

Winner of the Miracle Wood and Private Terms at Laurel to open 2020, he finished off the board in the Ohio Derby (G3) and Haskell (G1) and, most recently, the Chick Lang (G3) Oct. 1 at Pimlico Race Course. Scratched from the seven-furlong Concern Nov. 28 at Laurel with a minor foot issue, he will race for the first time as a gelding.

“He had to scratch last time but he came back good. We breezed him [Dec. 20] and he breezed good,” Gonzalez said. “The last time he had a problem with his feet. I put glue-on shoes on him and he was doing better and he breezed good. That's why we decide to run. It would be beautiful to see him win again but it's a tough race. It's the first time he's going to run against older horses and there's some tough horses in there. We're going to be happy if he tries and he comes back good.”

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Jerkens Marathon Asks Unique Question Of 11 Entrants Saturday At Gulfstream

Saturday's $75,000 H. Allen Jerkens Stakes at Gulfstream Park will be a journey into the unknown for the vast majority of its 11 entrants, who will be asked to run two miles for the first time in their lives.

The Jerkens, a two-mile turf marathon that honors the memory of the beloved Hall of Fame trainer, will highlight Saturday's 11-race program at the Hallandale Beach, Fla. track. The $75,000 Tropical Park Derby and the $75,000 Tropical Park Oaks and will kick off the sequence of the 20-cent Rainbow 6 that will offer a $400,000 jackpot guarantee.

Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. will saddle High Noon Rider with the knowledge that the 8-year-old gelding has a two-mile victory on his 55-race resume, but he still has a big question heading into the Jerkens.

“He's won at two miles already at Presque Isle, but it was a much different class than he'll be running against Saturday,” said Joseph, whose trainee is rated second in the morning line at 9-2 in a most competitive renewal of the Jerkens.

GenStar Thoroughbreds' High Noon Rider, who has won 15 races and more than $600,000 in earnings, captured a two-mile starter optional claiming allowance by 2 ¼ lengths in October 2019. While the victory came over Presque Isle Downs' synthetic surface, the versatile gelding captured a 1 ½-mile starter handicap on turf at Laurel Park in his previous race.

“The owner wants to give him a shot in this race. I kind of believe he's best at a mile or a mile and an eighth, but he loves Gulfstream and he has won at two miles,” Joseph said. “We'll give it a try. He's in good form.”

High Noon Rider is coming off a fast-closing victory in the 1 1/16-mile victory in the Claiming Crown Emerald over Gulfstream Park's turf course, over which he has won six of 10 starts.

“He's coming off his best race and he loves Gulfstream,” Joseph said. “Those are the two reasons why I'm willing to give it a try.”

Edgard Zayas, who was aboard for the Emerald score, has the return call.

Goldigo Racing LLC, Rick Gold and Mark Mathiesen's Muralist is untested at two miles but will be saddled for the first time by a trainer with a record of marathon excellence. Among Brendan Walsh's growing list of accomplishments are victories in the Marathon (G2), a 1 ¾-mile race on dirt that was formerly a Breeders' Cup event but is still run on World Championships weekend. Walsh visited the Santa Anita winner's circle with Cary Street in 2014 and Scuba in 2016.

Muralist, a 4-year-old gelded son of Street Sense, won two of nine starts in Southern California before finishing a troubled fifth in the 1 5/8-mile Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (G2) on Breeders' Cup Weekend at Keeneland. Trainer Dan Blacker returned to his Southern California base, while Muralist remained behind in Walsh's care.

Paco Lopez is scheduled to ride Muralist for the first tie Saturday.

West Point Thoroughbreds and partners' Focus Group enters the Jerkens as a graded-stakes winner over the Gulfstream Park turf course but will also be returning from a 10-month layoff. The 6-year-old Kitten's Joy gelding has been out of action since finishing seventh in the March 29 Pan American (G2), a race the Christophe Clement-trained gelding won the year before over the Gulfstream course.

Focus Group, who will return as a gelding, will be ridden by Junior Alvarado.

Trainer Michael Maker is represented by four horses in the Jerkens, including David Staudacher's Conviction Trade, the 4-1 morning-line favorite who will be ridden by defending two-time Championship Meet titlist Irad Ortiz Jr.; Michael Dubbs' Hieroglyphics, Paradise Farms Corp. and Staudacher's Treasure Trove, and William Butler's Dante's Fire.

Clear Vision, Tintoretto, Cowtown and Sir Anthony round out the field.

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Romans Has Trio Nominated To Jan. 2 Mucho Macho Man At Gulfstream Park

Albaugh Family Stables LLC's Smiley Sobotka and Sittin On Go are prominent on the list of nominations for the $100,000 Mucho Macho Man, a one-turn mile stakes that will kick off the Road to the Florida Derby (G1) for newly turned 3-year-olds Jan. 2 at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The Mucho Macho Man will headline a program with four other stakes that will be renewed this year Lasix-free, including the $75,000 Ginger Brew, the $75,000 Dania Beach, the $75,000 Limehouse, and the $75,000 Glitter Woman.

Dale Romans-trained Smiley Sobotka and Sittin On Go are both sons of Albaugh Family Stables LLC's Brody's Cause, whom Romans saddled for victories in the 2015 Breeders' Futurity (G1) and 2016 Blue Grass (G1).

Smiley Sobotka followed up a dominating maiden score at Keeneland with a close-up second in the Nov. 28 Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) at Churchill last time out. The Ontario-bred colt was pressured while setting or prompting the pace from the inside throughout the 1 1/16-mile race but held gamely to finish less than a length behind Keepmeinmind.

Sittin On Go finished an even sixth in the Kentucky Jockey Club and finished well back in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) at Keeneland, but the Kentucky-bred colt had won his previous two races, including the Iroquois (G3) at Churchill.

Romans is also represented on the list of nominations by Jim Bakke and Gerry Isbister's Ultimate Badger, who finished off the board in the Kentucky Jockey Club.

Shadwell Stable's Mutasaabeq, a winner on both turf and dirt, is also a Mucho Macho Man nominee with a high profile. After 4 ½-length debut winner and third-place finisher over Saratoga's main track, Mutasaabeq earned graded-stakes status with a going-away 2 ½-length romp in the Bourbon (G2) over Keeneland's turf course. The Todd Pletcher-trained son of Into Mischief turned in a disappointing off-the-board finish in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) at Keeneland in his 2020 finale. Mutasaabeq is also nominated to the Dania Beach and the Limehouse.

Repole Stable, St. Elias Stable and Stonestreet Stables LLC's Likeable, an impressive maiden winner at Belmont prior to finishing off the board in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) at Keeneland, is also nominated.

Trainer Gustavo Delgado is represented on the noms list by a pair of impressive debut winners, OGMA Investments LLC and Off the Hook LLC's Jirafales and Top Racing LLC's Ocean Ride. Jirafales overcame a jump at the start of his Gulfstream Park West debut to pull away by nearly five lengths Nov. 19. Ocean Ride overcame the rail post, a slow start and a bump to graduate at first asking at Gulfstream Park West Nov. 28. Both colts are also nominated to the Limehouse.

Breeze Easy LLC's Easy Time, a Mark Casse-trained son of Not This Time, has been nominated to the Mucho Macho Man off a strong debut score at Woodbine.

Alex and Joanne Lieblong's Big Thorn, a David Fawkes-trained son of The Big Beast, earned a Mucho Macho Man nomination while winning the Gulfstream Park West Juvenile Sprint by 4 ½ lengths.

Trainer Kathy Ritvo, who saddled Mucho Macho Man for a victory in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at Santa Anita in 2013, is represented on the noms list by Raison d'Air, who graduated by 13 ½ lengths before finishing fourth in the Armed Forces. Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, who campaigned Mucho Macho Man, owns Raison d'Air.

The Ginger Brew, a mile turf stakes for 3-year-old fillies, drew 20 nominations, including multiple stakes-placed Con Lima, a Pletcher-trained daughter of Commissioner who scored by more than five lengths in her recent turf debut at Gulfstream.

The Dania Beach, a mile turf stakes for 3-year-olds attracted 21 nominations, including Patricia's Hope LLC's Like a Saltshaker, who finished second in the Awad on turf at Belmont two starts back and previously won a stakes over Presque Isle Downs' synthetic surface.

The Limehouse, a six-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds, received 18 including a trio of highly promising colts trained by Saffie Joseph Jr.

The Glitter Woman, a 6 ½-furlong sprint for 3-year-old fillies, draw 17 nominations, including Mark Casse-trained Dirty Dangle, a stakes winner at Woodbine before finishing off the board in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Filly Turf (G1).

Three stakes will ring in the New Year on the Jan. 1 program – the $75,000 Cash Run, a mile stakes for fillies and mares, the $75,000 Abundantia, a five-furlong turf sprint for fillies and mares, and the $75,000 Janus, a five-furlong turf dash for 4-year-olds and up.

Saturday Rainbow 6 Guarantee $400,000
The 20-cent Rainbow 6 will have a guaranteed pool of $400,000 when racing resumes Saturday, Dec. 26.

The sequence will begin with the H. Allen Jerkens at two miles and include the Tropical Park Derby and Tropical Park Oaks.

The jackpot pool is only paid out when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 70 percent of that day's pool goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners, while 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.

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Japan: Fan Votes Decide Which Horses Compete In Sunday’s Arima Kinen

The 65th running of the Grade 1 Arima Kinen (The Grand Prix) is set for Sunday, Dec. 27. With the 2-year-old G1 Hopeful Stakes scheduled for the previous day, the Arima Kinen, for the first time in four years, is once again back in its traditional spot as the year's final hurrah at Nakayama Racecourse in Japan.

Twenty-three horses, with eight Grade 1 champions among them, have been signed up for the race and 16 of those will find a berth in the 2,500-meter (about 1.55 miles) turf event that boasts a winner's prize of JPY300 million (about UA$2.89 million), an amount that ties the Japan Cup for the highest prize money of JRA races.

As with the Takarazuka Kinen in late June, racing fans vote for which horse they would most like to see race in the Arima Kinen. And their hopes will be largely met, with six of fans' top ten favorite picks set to appear. The 4-year-old filly Chrono Genesis was the fan-ballot favorite with a total 214,742 votes, a number that rewrote the record held by Oguri Cap from 1989. Five more of the fans' top 10 picks will compete in the “dream race” running — No. 2 pick Lucky Lilac, No. 4 Fierement, No. 6 Kiseki, No. 9 World Premiere and No. 10 Blast Onepiece.

Here's a look at the expected top picks.

Chrono Genesis: Looking to become the second female in a row to scoop both the Takarazuka Kinen and the Arima Kinen in the same year is Chrono Genesis. If she can win, she'll do it a year younger than last year's champ Lys Gracieux. Though in the Top 3 for all the classics and winner of the 2019 G1 Shuka Sho, it was from this year that the Bago-sired Chrono Genesis stepped decidedly into the spotlight. From four starts, three of them top-level, she has managed a formidable 1-2-1-3, putting her right in step for the winner's circle this Sunday. Her win by 6 lengths in the Takarazuka Kinen saw her beat five Arima hopefuls. And she shone bright in her last start, the Nov. 1 2,000-meter G1 Tenno Sho (Autumn), when she met superstar Almond Eye for the first time and finished just over half a length behind her and a neck off Fierement in third place. Though it will be her first time running over 2,500 meters, if her stamina in the Takaruzuka Kinen is any indication, Chrono Genesis should do just fine.

Fierement: Last year, Fierement, a 5-year-old son of Deep Impact, returned to Japan from a 12th-place showing in the Prix de l'Arc Triomphe. He was hurried into the Arima Kinen and finished in fourth place a good 6 1/2 lengths of the winner in what was a commendable effort given the rush and travel miles logged. Since then, he has had only two starts. He captured the Tenno Sho (Spring) for the second year in a row and was second to Almond Eye in the Tenno Sho (Autumn) in November. Jockey Kenichi Ikezoe rode Fierement in the last year's Arima Kinen, but 2020's run is expected to go to jockey Christophe Lemaire who, in winning eight Grade 1 JRA competitions over the span of the year, stands to top not only his own record for annual Grade 1 wins but also his record for money earned.

World Premiere: Beating Fierement to the finish line in the Arima Kinen last year was World Premiere, another son of Deep Impact and now 4 years old. World Premiere followed winner Lys Gracieux and runnerup Saturnalia, and with both the latter absent, World Premiere could well be set for the Arima winner's circle and his second Grade 1 victory following the 2019 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger). Last out, he returned after 11 months off and scored a sixth-place finish in the Japan Cup only 0.8 seconds behind Almond Eye. Set for the ride is Yutaka Take who is gunning for his fourth win of the Arima Kinen since his debut in 1987 and his first since winning aboard Kitasan Black in 2017.

Curren Bouquetd'or: The same age as Chrono Genesis, the Deep Impact-sired Curren Bouquetd'or followed the former over the finish line in the Queen Cup, the Shuka Sho and the Kyoto Kinen, but beat her rival in the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks), the longest of the four races and an indication that distance suits her. Although she last visited the winner's circle in February 2019, Curren Bouquetd'or has missed the Top 3 only once in the seven starts since. That was last out in the Japan Cup, where she finished fourth, behind Almond Eye, 2020 Triple Crown winner Contrail and by a nose behind 2020 filly triple crown winner Daring Tact. She is 2-2-4 in her three starts of the year and will go to the gate relatively fresh. Jockey Kenichi Ikezoe, who has the most Arima Kinen wins (four wins) among jockeys currently riding, will be in the saddle.

Authority: A son of Triple Crown winner Orfevre, the 3-year-old colt Authority has won four of his six starts thus far. Sidelined with a fracture suffered while winning the Grade 2 TV Tokyo Hai Aoba Sho in May, he returned to win by a length and a half the 2,500-meter Grade 2 Copa Republica Argentina at Tokyo in early November. Further improvement is expected and his 1-5-3 record at Nakayama and wins at both 2,400 and 2,500 meters bode well for this race. As a 3-year-old, he will also have the advantage of being saddled with only 55 kg, which is also, however, the weight Chrono Genesis will carry.

Lucky Lilac: Another Orfevre progeny is Lucky Lilac, now 5 years old, winner of four Grade 1 races, including back-to-back runs in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup, last year at Kyoto, this year at Hanshin. She has had a full year at home following her second place in the Hong Kong Vase last year. Three of her five starts in 2020 were at Grade 1 and saw her post 1-6-1. Those include a first in the Osaka Hai, a neck ahead of Chrono Genesis. Lucky Lilac is also getting a new partner, jockey Yuichi Fukunaga, who surprisingly has yet to win the Arima Kinen.

Others to keep an eye on are:

Mikki Swallow sat out the top-level competitions in 2019 but returned for two this year, a third in the Tenno Sho (Spring) and a seventh in the Japan Cup. Primed, happy over distance, and with three wins and two seconds from nine starts at Nakayama, he should not be underrated.

Kiseki was fifth here both last year and in 2018 and though he has remained winless this year, he has two seconds in Graded races, including the Takarazuka Kinen.

Loves Only You hasn't won since the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) six races back but she hasn't been far off the mark and has missed the Top 3 only twice. She has topped both Chrono Genesis and Curren Bouquetd'or in Grade 1 company. Only 0.1 seconds off the winner in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup last out, she's not one to ignore.

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