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‘We Have High Hopes For Him’: $900,000 Quality Road Colt Prime Factor Romps In Debut For Pletcher

WinStar Farm LLC and CHC Inc.'s Prime Factor appears ready for prime time following the Todd Pletcher's trainee's sparkling debut Saturday at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The 2-year-old son of Quality Road crossed the finish line under wraps while scoring by 8 ¾ lengths in the six-furlong maiden special weight race carded as Race 2 on a program that featured the $200,000 Fort Lauderdale (G2) and four other stakes.

Bred by Two Hearts Farm LLC and purchased for $900,000 from the Legacy Bloodstock consignment at the 2019 Keeneland September sale, Prime Factor broke alertly from the starting gate to sit alongside pacesetter Dr. Duke along the backstretch and around the far turn before assuming the lead on the turn into the homestretch. The Kentucky-bred colt quickly accelerated at the top of the stretch under mild encouragement from jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. before completing the final eighth of a mile under wraps.

“It was a very professional debut. He broke well and put himself in a good spot. It looked like he was taking Irad wherever he wanted him to go throughout the race,” Pletcher said. “He's been training exceptionally well. We were looking forward to a good debut. Honestly, he exceeded expectations.”

Prime Factor ($6.20), who ran six furlongs in 1:10.38, is out of the Bernardini mare Hailey Brae, a half-sister to Speightster.

“We'll talk to Elliott [Walden] and the guys at WinStar and CHC and come up with a game plan,” Pletcher said. “The good thing about this time of year is there's pretty good options all around. We have high hopes for him.”

Pletcher-trained Bracken, a debuting son of Speightster for Robert and Lawana Low, closed to finish second behind Prime Factor.

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Derby Prep: Remington’s Springboard Mile Draws Field Of 11 Juveniles

The $200,000 Springboard Mile, Remington Park's top stakes race for 2-year-olds, drew a field of 11 this morning. The contest will headline a program of 13 races on Friday night, Dec. 18, going as race 12 at approximately 10:28pm. The first race of the evening is at 5pm. All times are Central.

A pair of horses coming out of Breeders' Cup races last month at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky. have entered the Springboard. They are the top two in the morning-line odds for the co-richest race of the Remington Park season.

Outadore, third in the Grade 1, $1,000,000 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf on Nov. 6, has been tabbed as the morning-line favorite at 3-1 odds. The second horse in the line is Cowan, second in the Grade 2, $1,000,000 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, at odds of 4-1.

Owned by Breeze Easy and trained by Wesley Ward, Outadore will make his first attempt over dirt in the Springboard. All three of his career starts have been on turf. He broke his maiden at Saratoga in July, sprinting 5-1/2 furlongs. A colt by Outwork from the Tactical Cat mare Adore You, Outadore then won the $500,000 Juvenile Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 12 before his third-place effort in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.

Outadore worked a bullet five furlongs this morning at Keeneland, labeled a breeze, in :59.60 over a fast track. Remington Park's leading jockey, David Cabrera, has been named aboard Outadore for the Springboard.

Cowan has five career starts, sharing that distinction with Red N Wild, for the most of the Springboard entrants. Owned by the Houston partnership of William and Corinne Heiligbrodt, Madaket Stables and Spendthrift Farm, Cowan is trained by Remington Park's leading all-time trainer Steve Asmussen.

A colt by Kantharos from the Smart Strike mare Tempers Flair, Cowan broke his maiden in his career debut at Churchill Downs in May. He has competed solely in stakes races since that victory and is still in search of his second career score. He ran third behind Outadore in the Juvenile Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs, beaten by five lengths. His following two starts were at Keeneland, finishing second in both the $150,000 Indian Summer Stakes on Oct. 4 and then in the BC Juvenile Turf Sprint at 5-1/2 furlongs on Nov. 6.

The Springboard Mile will be the first attempt for Cowan at the distance and his first start back on a main track after three straight in turf stakes. Stewart Elliott, the regular first-call rider at Remington Park for the Asmussen operation, will have the mount on Cowan.

Trainer Brad Cox will try to pull off the 2020 Oklahoma Derby/Springboard Mile double at Remington Park, having won the $200,000 derby in September with Shared Sense. He will look for a knockout effort by sending Joe Frazier into the Springboard, in the first stakes attempt for the colt named after one of the most famous boxers of all-time.

Owned by Ike and Dawn Thrash, Joe Frazier won his career debut, a $150,000 maiden-claiming event at Keeneland, scoring the six-furlong sprint by three lengths. An allowance start going 1-1/16 miles at Churchill Downs on Nov. 22 produced a third-place effort. After leading into the stretch in that two-turn event, Joe Frazier faded late, finishing 6-1/4 lengths back.

Jockey Richard Eramia, who rode Shared Sense to the Oklahoma Derby score for Cox, has been named on Joe Frazier who is at 5-1 odds in the morning-line.

Oklahoma-bred hero Number One Dude is at 6-1 odds in the morning-line and will attempt to remain undefeated in the Springboard, his fourth start of the Remington Park season. Owned by Terry Westemeir of Broken Arrow, Okla. and trained by Kari Craddock, Number One Dude attempts to become the first Oklahoma-bred to win the Springboard since Ted's Folly in 2011.

Number One Dude won his career debut with Oklahoma-bred maiden special weight horses, going 5-1/2 furlongs, winning easily by 7-1/2 lengths on Sept. 18. He was entered in two subsequent stakes races – the $100,000 Oklahoma Classics Juvenile on Oct. 16 and the $75,000 Don McNeill Stakes on Nov. 13 – and won both of them. The Juvenile was at six furlongs for Oklahoma-breds and he finished one length ahead at the wire. Number One Dude then raced around two turns for the first time, blowing his competition away by six lengths at the Springboard Mile distance on a muddy track in the McNeill.

Jockey Ezequiel Lara has the mount on Number One Dude who also makes his first career attempt outside of the state-bred ranks.

Outadore is the top earner in the Springboard Mile with $424,100 from his three attempts. Number One Dude leads the field with three career wins.

The field for the Springboard Mile, by program and post-position order, with trainer, jockey and morning-line odds:

1. Senor Buscador: Todd Fincher, Luis Quinonez, 15-1

2. Number One Dude: Kari Craddock, Ezequiel Lara, 6-1

3. Vim And Vigor: Larry Stroope, Walter De La Cruz, 20-1

4. Gushing Oil: Danny Pish, Lane Luzzi, 15-1

5. Red N Wild: Terry Eoff, Sophie Doyle, 12-1

6. Game Day Play: Bret Calhoun, Lindey Wade, 10-1

7. Saffa's Day: Steve Asmussen, Iram Diego, 10-1

8. Cowan: Steve Asmussen, Stewart Elliott, 4-1

9. Outadore: Wesley Ward, David Cabrera, 3-1 (morning-line favorite)

10. Joe Frazer: Brad Cox, Richard Eramia, 5-1

11. Flash Of Mischief: Karl Broberg, Ramon Vazquez, 15-1

The Springboard will carry qualifying points for the 2021 Kentucky Derby. Long Range Toddy gained 10 points in the 2018 Springboard Mile and earned his way into the Kentucky Derby field in 2019.

The Springboard Mile program begins with a twilight 5pm-Central first-race. The other five stakes events on the program include:

Race 8 – $75,000 She's All In Stakes, fillies and mares, 3 and up, 1 mile-70yards

Race 9 – $70,000 Jim Thorpe Stakes, 3-year-old Oklahoma-breds, 1 mile

Race 10 – $70,000 Useeit Stakes, 3-year-old Oklahoma-bred fillies, 1 mile

Race 11 – $60,000 Trapeze Stakes, 2-year-old fillies, 1 mile

Race 13 – $60,000 Jeffrey Hawk Memorial, 3-year-olds and up, 1 mile-70 yards

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She Stands Out: Undefeated Sodashi Tops Sunday’s Hashin Juvenile Fillies

This coming Sunday and next, the Japan Racing Association turns the spotlight onto the budding talent in this season's 2-year-olds and it's ladies first with the Grade 1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies on Dec. 13, followed by the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes the week after, also at Hanshin Racecourse.

The 72nd Hanshin Juvenile Fillies sees 20 fillies nominated for a full deck of 18 with many of those set to take on their first top-level race having only a few starts underneath their belts – some only one. The runners will carry 54kg over 1,600 meters (one mile) on the outer turf course at Hanshin, located west of Osaka in neighboring Hyogo Prefecture.

The early favorites for the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies are:

Sodashi: Don't let the looks fool you. There's more to Sodashi than the color of her coat – a lot more. The daughter of gray Japanese dirt legend Kurofune, Sodashi heads to the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies as the widely expected betting favorite. The Naosuke Sugai-trained filly, 3-for-3 since her July debut, is on the cusp of making unique history. Should she win on Sunday, Sodashi will become the first white-colored horse to win a Grade 1 race in Japan.

“The white really stands out on grass,” Sugai said. “I think she's turning into a real star.”

Out of the King Kamehameha dam Buchiko, Sodashi is already the first white to win a graded turf race and to have multiple graded victories. The trainer has kept her at the stable since her previous start on Oct. 31, the Grade 3 Artemis Stakes at Tokyo, and is pleased with the way Sodashi has been.

“We like to keep her close because she can be sensitive,” Sugai said. “But physically, she's very stable.”

The only jockey Sodashi knows, Hayato Yoshida, worked her himself in the three weeks leading up to the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies and is giving his partner a thumbs up.

“She took the bit on her own on the straight. She was the one leading me,” Yoshida said after last week's fast work. “She's been sharp since the week before and I think she'll be in similar form compared to her last race.”

Yoshida knows a thing or two about whites; he is the JRA's all-time leader with six wins aboard white horses. Sodashi has taken the race to the competition in all three of her races and Yoshida is expecting more of the same this weekend.

“They're all very sensitive and high maintenance,” he said of white horses. “You do need to be careful with them but with her, that sensitive side is bringing out the best in her. She breaks well and is super responsive when you tell her to go. She's really smart and a very complete racehorse.”

Working in Sodashi's favor is Sugai's track record; the trainer has won two of the three Hanshin Juvenile Fillies he entered in the past – with Robe Tissage and Red Reveur in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Victory for Sodashi would make her the race's 13th unbeaten champion. Sugai is optimistic that she will come through and then some.

“I hope she passes all the tests that are thrown at her, but one by one. She needs to go through that to become a better racehorse,” he said. “We just want her to race the way she's capable of and if she wins, great. And as a result of that, if interest in racing increases, you couldn't ask for more.”

Meikei Yell: Sodashi won't be the only horse in this year's field eyeing a fourth successive win. Coming off victory in the Grade 3 Fantasy Stakes last month after her August debut, Meikei Yell will be taking the first steps in following her dad – new stud Mikki Isle, the JRA's 2016 Sprinter of the Year – on what will hopefully be a path to future stardom.

“The performances have been good in all three wins,” trainer Hidenori Take said. “There was an unstable side to her at one point but ever since her last start, the appetite is there and she's added some weight. All in all, this is the best I've seen her yet.”

If Take's last name rings a bell, he is part of Japanese racing's royal family heralded by Yutaka – the great jockey and the trainer's parents are cousins. Yutaka, who has ridden Meikei Yell in her last two races, likes what he sees in the filly – and he has ridden his share of some really good ones, unquestionably – which must be sweet music to Hidenori's ears.

“The most important thing is she won both races. She had a hard time settling, especially in the last race. So that is an area she needs work. Your average horse though wouldn't have won – but she did. Which speaks to a lot about her quality, her upside. She just runs really hard. But as long as she can stay under control then she has every chance. I've known Hide since we were kids, our parents are cousins. Would be great to win a Grade 1 race together.”

As noted by Yutaka, the key for Meikei Yell will be patience. The filly has been a little over aggressive than one would like in her three victories, having yet to run longer than 1,400 meters. The 200 meters that will be added in the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies will likely not be an advantage but the trainer has been encouraged by what he has seen in the run-up to the race.

“She has looked good in the workouts,” he said. “We will push her over the weekend and breeze during the week as usual. I hope practice does translate into results. She's physically sound and a good all-round horse. She hasn't filled out yet but I'm excited by the prospect. She's classy and gorgeous – almost like an actress. A win here hopefully will really get her name out there.”

Satono Reinas: From the tag team of Sakae Kunieda and Christophe Lemaire that brought you Almond Eye brings you Satono Reinas, by Deep Impact out of Balada Sale – who captured the Argentinian equivalent of the Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) and Japanese Oaks in 2011. Satono Reinas, 2-for-2 going into this weekend including a win in the Saffron Sho, is the full sister to Satono Flag who placed third in this season's Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger) – won by then unbeaten Triple Crown winner Contrail.

While it would be downright unfair to compare the 2-year-old Satono Reinas to her former stablemate Almond Eye, you know you have something special on your hands when compliments come from the jockey who rode the winningest thoroughbred in JRA history.

“She was a little uncertain and childish on her debut but the second time, she was all business,” Lemaire said. “There was a lot we had to work through when she travelled but she finished the race very strongly. I wouldn't expect anything less from the Kunieda Stable. She gets better and better and this being her third race, I'm sure this will be the best of her yet. She seems to have a real upside and I'm sure she'll handle the outer course at Hanshin just fine. I'm looking forward to it.”

It goes without saying that it is hard to read into a horse after just two starts. Not to mention it will be the first time Satono Reinas will be traveling outside of greater Tokyo and racing at Hanshin. Kunieda, though, remains confident of his latest prodigy.

“She's come along nicely so far and I think she'll be in the form she needs to be in for a Grade 1 race,” the trainer said. “She shouldn't be too different on the scale but she'll look sharper because she's taller. She won a couple of races in a row at the mile but would be even better if she had an extra 200 meters. A slightly gentler pace will probably be perfect for her.”

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Noble Drama Tops Saturday’s FTBOA Stakes At Tampa Bay Downs

Florida's historic Thoroughbred breeding and racing industry will be on display on Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs, with a pair of $100,000 stakes races sponsored by the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders' and Owners' Association highlighting the 10-race card.

Post time for the first race is 12:12 p.m. The FTBOA Marion County Florida Sire Stakes for colts and geldings is the third race, with the FTBOA City of Ocala Florida Sire Stakes for fillies and mares the seventh race. Both races are for registered Florida-breds 3-years-old and upward who are sired by an FTBOA-registered Florida stallion. Each race will be contested on the main dirt track at a distance of 7 furlongs.

With a forecast of sunny skies and temperatures climbing into the mid-70s, fans are encouraged to be part of the excitement. Spectators are required to wear masks and encouraged to practice social distancing.

Despite having only seven entrants, the Marion County might be the most wide-open race on the card. The 3-year-old gelding Legal Deal, 4-year-old colt Jackson and 3-year-old colt Shivaree – the first, second and fourth-place finishers, respectively, in the Nov. 14 Millions Sprint Preview Stakes sprinting 6 furlongs on a sloppy track at Gulfstream Park West – are set to resume their rivalry.

None of those three, however, are likely to be the betting favorite. That role should fall to 5-year-old gelding Noble Drama, who on that same Nov. 14 card was upset by 27-1 shot Quenane in the 1-mile Millions Classic Preview Stakes. Before that, Noble Drama had won the Benny The Bull Stakes and the FTBOA Florida Sire Wildcat Heir Stakes back-to-back at Gulfstream Park, giving him five career stakes victories.

Noble Drama races for his breeder, Harold L. Queen, and is trained by David Fawkes. He will be ridden by leading Tampa Bay Downs jockey Samy Camacho. Noble Drama's victories include the 2018 FTBOA Silver Charm Florida Sire Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.

Jackson, bred and owned by Tracy Pinchin and trained by her husband, Jose Pinchin, won the Grade III World of Trouble Sprint Stakes back in February at Gulfstream Park. He is 3-for-3 at Tampa Bay Downs, all state-bred stakes victories. His victory in the 2019 FTBOA Silver Charm Florida Sire Stakes was achieved in track-record time of 1:38.86 for the mile-and-40-yard distance.

Antonio Gallardo will ride Jackson.

Shivaree, bred and owned by Jacks or Better Farm and trained by Ralph Nicks, might be the most intriguing Marion County entrant. He's a multiple-stakes winner, and back in February and March he finished second in the Grade III Swale Stakes, the Hutcheson Stakes and the Grade I Curlin Florida Derby in succession, all at Gulfstream. He also competed in the Grade II Toyota Blue Grass at Keeneland and the Grade I Runhappy Travers at Saratoga. Roberto Alvarado, Jr., has the riding assignment.

The City of Ocala has attracted nine hopefuls, with 5-year-old mare Heiressall the probable favorite. Owned by My Purple Haze Stables and trained by Teresa Pompay, she won the Sheer Drama Stakes on Sept. 6 at Gulfstream before a fifth-place finish in the slop on Nov. 14 at Gulfstream Park West in the Millions Distaff Stakes. Gallardo will be the rider.

Other likely contenders include 5-year-old Tiz Possible Dear, who won that Millions Distaff Stakes; 4-year-old filly R Prerogative, who finished third in last year's City of Ocala; and 3-year-old Independent Miss, who has finished in the money in six consecutive starts.

Hector Diaz, Jr., will ride Tiz Possible Dear for owner Paradise Farms Corp. and trainer Peter Walder, while Camacho has the assignment on R Prerogative for owners Averill Racing and CCF Racing Stable and trainer Georgina Baxter.

Independent Miss races for her breeder-owner, Stonehedge LLC, and is trained by Michael Yates. Alberto Burgos is the jockey.

Bettors who choose to overlook 3-year-old The Goddess Lyssa, a supplemental entry, do so at their own risk. Although off since May 8, she is 3-for-4 for owner Team Equistaff, Inc., and leading Oldsmar trainer Gerald Bennett. Alvarado is the jockey.

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