Making the Grade, which will run through the 2021 Triple Crown races, focuses on the winners or top performers of the key races, usually from the previous weekend, who could make an impact the Triple Crown. We’ll be taking a close look at impressive winners and evaluating their chances to win classic races based upon ability, running style, connections (owner, trainer, jockey), and pedigree.
Tag: Racing
Fire’s Finale Returns From Two-Month Layoff To Capture Pennsylvania Nursery Stakes
Fire's Finale came from last with a half mile to go, swept past eleven rivals and went on to win Monday's $80,000 Pennsylvania Nursery Stakes for state-bred 2-year-olds at Parx Racing by a length. It was the second win in seven starts this year for the Jump Start colt, his first stakes victory, and pushed his freshman earnings to just over $101,000.
After a busy schedule, making six starts though mid-October, trainer Kelly Breen opted to rest Fire's Finale for nearly two months before returning to the races for the Nursery. Breaking his maiden in that sixth start here at Parx, winning in a special weight over a sloppy track, maybe he had started to figure things out. Returning to the work tab at Belmont in November, he posted a bullet work at five-eighths on Nov. 17 and then impressed with another bullet work at half-mile on Nov. 25, the 2-year-old working the best of 92 that day.
The colt's late season development continued into the Nursery.
Taken back in the early part of the race by winning jockey Mychal Sanchez, Fire's Finale began to make headway as the race entered the far turn. Able to make a run on the inside of horses in the bulky field, he followed the move of Kidnapped as they rounded the far turn. While Kidnapped got first run on the two tiring front runners, Just a Thought and Beren, Fire's Finale was still moving well and coming off the turn was able to angle out for a clear path and started to kick into high gear in the final furlong. Kidnapped held the lead briefly in the stretch, but Fire's Finale surged past with about 70 yards to go and moved away at the end to win by a full length.
The final time for the seven furlongs on a fast track was 1:25.35.
Owned by Kenwood Racing and Degaetano and Pastore, Inc., Fire's Finale went off at odds of 11-1 and returned $25.80 to win.
Kidnapped, the 5-2 second choice, was next to last early, ran a terrific race with another big run from the back but simply could not hold off the winner and settled for second. Just a Thought (18-1) in a pace duel with Beren, held on for third.
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After Hard-Luck Trip In Breeders’ Cup, Imprimis Gearing Up For 2021 Campaign
Breeze Easy LLC's two-time graded-stakes winner Imprimis, exiting a hard-luck trip in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (Grade 1), returned to the work tab with a three-furlong move over Gulfstream Park's inner turf course Sunday.
Imprimis covered the distance in 36.06 seconds for trainer Joe Orseno. The 5-year-old gelding was within striking distance in the stretch of the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint only to check sharply after being moved inside by jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. and lost all chance, finishing 13th.
“It was just a tune-up. We're going to scope him and we're going to look at him and see if we need to evaluate anything, so that's why I wanted to get this into him,” Orseno said. “I was real happy with him. I got 36 [seconds], the clockers just sent me 36-and-1 and out in 48, so it was excellent.”
A stakes winner in each of his three seasons of racing, starting with the 2018 Jim McKay Turf Sprint at Pimlico Race Course, Imprimis won the Shakertown (G2) in 2019 and the Turf Sprint (G2) Sept. 12 at Kentucky Downs as his prep for the Breeders' Cup.
Imprimis is undefeated in four starts at Gulfstream, including the 2019 Silks Run, his last time over the track. Orseno is looking at the $75,000 Janus on New Year's Day and the $100,000 Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint Feb. 13, both for 4-year-olds up sprinting five furlongs on the grass.
“We're talking about it. February, for sure, and then his races will be spaced out two months apart,” Orseno said. “We were thinking about Saudi Arabia for about a minute and a half and then decided we didn't want to do that to him at the risk of knocking him out for the rest of the year.
“He doesn't need to do that. If I keep him on that every two months, his next race will be Keeneland and then Belmont and then Saratoga and it's spread out pretty good,” he added. “At least we have a plan. Let's hope he cooperates.”
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Pegasus World Cup: Between Hard Races, Round Pen Plays Important Role For Jesus’ Team
On the morning after his hard-fought victory in Saturday's $150,000 Claiming Crown Jewel, Grupo 7C Racing Stable's Jesus' Team was very much on course for a planned start in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) at Gulfstream Park Jan. 23.
“Jesus came out of the race good and happy,” trainer Jose D'Angelo said.
Jesus' Team spent Sunday morning winding down in a round pen at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream's satellite training facility in Palm Beach, after grinding out a victory by three-quarters of a length in the 1 1/8-mile headliner of Saturday's 22nd Claiming Crown, a nine-race event that pays tribute to the claiming horses that provide the backbone of the daily racing programs at racetracks throughout the country.
“I'll give him a week in the round pen before preparing for the Pegasus World Cup,” said D'Angelo. “In between the hard races the last five months, I think the round pen has been very good for him. It's good for him mentally and physically,”
Jesus' Team, a 3-year-old son of Tapiture, became Claiming Crown-eligible when he started his career in the claiming ranks but has developed into a multiple Grade 1 stakes-placed performer, having finished third in the Preakness Stakes (G1) and second in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) in his two starts prior to the Jewel to earn the 2-5 favorite's role Saturday. The stretch-running colt worked hard to earn the victory over loose-on-the-lead pacesetting Storm Runner, who did his best to fight off the favorite. Jockey Luis Saez, who rode six winners Saturday, opted to keep Jesus' Team closer to the early pace than usual to closely monitor the dangerous Storm Runner.
“It was a hard race. He had only one work before the race. I chose only one work to keep him happy and healthy. I had confidence in him,” D'Angelo said. “In his last two races, he ran back to front – only one move. [Saturday] he made two runs, like he did in the Jim Dandy. He ran close to the front early. That's not good for him.”
D'Angelo said he expects the Jewel to set up Jesus' Team perfectly for the Pegasus.
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