Each week during the extended Triple Crown season and up to the Breeders' Cup in 2020, members of the media around the country voted on the nation's top contenders in the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll. Find out the final 2020 top 3-year-old rankings below. AMERICA'S TOP THOROUGHBREDS as of Nov. 9
Tag: Racing
King Guillermo Comeback Scheduled For Cigar Mile
Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby-winner King Guillermo, trained by Juan C. Avila for Victoria's Ranch, is aiming to make his comeback in the Grade 1, $250,000 Cigar Mile for 3-year-olds and up on December 5 at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.
Victoria's Ranch is the nom de course of retired baseball player Victor Martinez, a five-time All-Star who finished second in the MVP voting in 2014 when he hit 32 home runs. Martinez played for 18 seasons for a trio of teams – the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers – as a catcher, first baseman and designated hitter.
“We're going to train towards the Cigar Mile. We'd like to find him a Grade 1 win,” said Avila. “I think the one-turn mile suits him for his first race back.”
The Uncle Mo colt was scratched two days before a scheduled start in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby [won on September 5 by Authentic] after spiking a temperature. King Guillermo returned to the work tab on October 17 at Gulfstream Park breezing a half-mile in 51.78 seconds and fired a bullet half-mile in 46.48 on the Gulfstream main in his third recorded work on November 1.
“It was a very good breeze,” said Avila of the bullet work. “He's doing perfect.”
King Guillermo, named after Martinez's father, did not breeze this morning after Tropical Storm Eta brought heavy rain and gusty winds to South Florida.
A $150,000 purchase at the OBS April 2019 Spring Sale of Two-Year-Olds In Training, King Guillermo graduated last November at second asking on the Gulfstream Park West turf. After finishing third to the victorious Sole Volante in the Pulpit at one-mile on the Gulfstream turf on November 30, 2019, King Guillermo turned the tables on his rival with a 4 3/4-length score at odds of 49-1 in March in the Tampa Bay Derby at 1 1/16-miles on the main track.
King Guillermo exited his prominent Tampa Bay Derby coup to finish a game second to the undefeated multiple graded stakes winner Nadal in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby at nine furlongs at Oaklawn Park.
Avila said King Gullermo will ship to New York on November 29.
The Cigar Mile Day card also includes a pair of Grade 2, $150,000 nine-furlong events for juveniles in the Remsen and its filly counterpart, the Demoiselle, as well as the Grade 3, $100,000 Go for Wand Handicap for fillies and mares at one mile.
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Pickin’ Time Runs Down Ten For Ten To Win Nashua
Pickin' Time overtook the favorite and pacesetter Ten for Ten in the final furlong and powered home a 2 1/4-length winner to notch his first graded stakes victory in Sunday's Grade 3, $100,000 Nashua for juveniles at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.
Owned by John Bowers, Jr., Pickin' Time entered with ample stakes experience for trainer Kelly Breen, following his debut win at 4 ½ furlongs in July at Monmouth Park. After running eighth in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special on August 7, Breen returned the Stay Thirsty colt to Monmouth for consecutive stakes appearance, where he ran second in the one-mile Sapling on September 6 before winning the six-furlong Smoke Glacken on September 27.
Stretched back out to a mile for the first time since the Sapling, Pickin' Time broke sharp from post 4 under jockey Trevor McCarthy, who tracked initially in fifth position before moving up to fourth as 6-5 favorite Ten for Ten [pressured by Isolate] led the seven-horse field through the opening quarter-mile in 22.86 seconds with the half in 46.10 and three-quarters in 1:11.98 over the fast main track.
Out of the turn, jockey Eric Cancel kept Ten for Ten near the rail, while McCarthy made a strong bid from the outside at the top of the stretch. Pickin' Time picked off his rival and finished strong, completing the course in a final time of 1:39.89 to improve to 3-1-0 in five starts.
“We got a great break and that's what I wanted; get him out and make sure he had a comfortable spot, which he did,” said McCarthy, who also won the Grade 3 Turnback the Alarm on Saturday at Aqueduct. “Looking down the backside, I was very comfortable where I was. I wasn't getting too much kickback and that seems to be a pretty big key this weekend. I was able to get outside coming to the turn and let him get in his mojo. After that, he really accelerated strong for me and gave me a great effort through the lane. I was delighted.
“Kelly had him ready today,” he added. “He was the most experienced horse in the race, so I was really happy looking into that. Everything worked out perfect.”
Breen said the Grade 2, $150,000 Remsen on Cigar Mile Day on December 5 is the next target for the New Jersey homebred. The 1 1/8-mile test offers 10-4-2-1 qualifying points to the 2021 Grade 1 Kentucky Derby.
“He's just growing into himself,” Breen said. “He was kind of a big and gawky 2-year old. When he ran in Saratoga, he ran against that real nice horse of Steve Asmussen's [Jackie's Warrior]. We didn't get off great that day. Today was the right timing and everything worked out well for him. He's staying right where he's at. We'll look forward to the Remsen.”
Off at 9-1, Pickin' Time returned $21.00 on a $2 win bet. He improved his career earnings to $184,025.
Courtlandt Farms' Ten for Ten a $410,000 purchase at the 2019 Keeneland September Sale, was 10 ¼ lengths the best of Isolate for second in his stakes debut for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey.
“I had a really nice trip,” Cancel said. “The pace was a little bit quick at the beginning, but I went on with it. My horse was pretty comfortable, nice and focused and he seemed to be doing it easy until we got to the quarter pole and the other horse got to him quick. He just went by. My horse never gave up. He kept on trying but the other one flew by him.”
Nova Rags, Civil War, Irish Honor and Spectatorless completed the order of finish.
The Nashua, named for the Hall of Famer who won ran second in the 1955 Kentucky Derby before winning the Belmont Stakes and Preakness, was the final leg of a Cross Country Pick 5 with Churchill Downs, with a payout of $6,424.75 for selecting all five winners. The total pool was $52,913.
There will be a Cross Country Pick 5 offered every day in November that both Aqueduct and Churchill Downs offer live racing.
Live racing resumes Thursday at Aqueduct with a nine-race card that features a first post of 12:20 p.m. Eastern.
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56 Juveniles Nominated To Pair Of Juvenile Stakes At Laurel
Stakes winners Kenny Had a Notion, Pickin' Time, Singlino, Miss Nondescript and Street Lute, and a total of 28 horses coming off victories are among 56 combined nominations to the $100,000 James F. Lewis and $100,000 Smart Halo set for Saturday, Nov. 14 at Laurel Park in Maryland.
The ninth running of the Lewis for 2-year-olds and 24th renewal of the Smart Halo for 2-year-old fillies are each contested at six furlongs.
Louis Ulman and Neil Glasser's Kenny Had a Notion has won stakes in back-to-back starts and became a stakes winner on two surfaces with his triumph in the six-furlong Maryland Million Nursery Oct. 24 at Laurel. Just 15 days earlier, the Great Notion gelding captured the Jamestown Stakes sprinting 5 ½ furlongs over Laurel's world-class turf course for trainer Dale Capuano.
Roseland Farm Stable's Pickin' Time was a nose winner over fellow Lewis nominee Dalton in the six-furlong Smoke Glacken Stakes Sept. 27 at Monmouth Park, his most recent start. He has been worse than second once in four tries when he finished off the board in the Aug. 7 Saratoga Special (G2).
Maryland-bred Singlino, owned and trained by John Worsley, defeated Lewis nominees Maythehorsebwithu and Latin Spice in the 5 ½-furlong First State Dash Sept. 26 at Delaware Park. Most recently he was third to No Cents and Heir Port, both also nominated to the Lewis, in an open entry-level allowance going six furlongs Oct. 21 at Monmouth.
Also prominent among Lewis nominees is Lugamo Racing Stable's Lugamo, a winner of two straight at Laurel by 10 ¼ lengths whose only career loss came in debut to undefeated Jaxon Traveler; fellow Laurel maiden winners Ain't Da Beer Cold, Arrest Me Red, Depository, Town of Gold and Xtreme Mayhem; Pimlico Race Course maiden special weight winners Plamen and San Antone; and stakes-placed Basso and Newyearsblockparty.
Seventeen of 25 fillies nominated to the Smart Halo are exiting wins led by Barak Farm's undefeated Maryland homebred Miss Nondescript, who rallied to beat Street Lute by a neck with fellow nominee Trip to Freedom third in the six-furlong Maryland Million Lassie Oct. 24. It was the first loss for Lucky 7 Stables' Street Lute, winner of the 5 ½-furlong Small Wonder Stakes Sept. 26 at Delaware.
Trainer Kelly Breen, who has won two of the last three editions of the Smart Halo with Take Charge Paula in 2017 and Cofactor last year, nominated Screen Door Stables' Sky Proposal, a neck optional claiming allowance winner going six furlongs Sept. 25 at Pimlico.
Respect the Valleys' Out of Sorts, a $1,000 yearling purchase last fall, was nominated out of her 10 ¾-length maiden special weight romp Nov. 1 at Laurel for trainer Brittany Russell, who also nominated Cash is King and LC Racing's Juror Number Four, a last out fourth to Street Lute in the Small Wonder.
Laurel maiden winners Be Sneaky, Buckey's Charm, Infinite Reward, Kewpie Doll, Supreme Blessing, Swirling Dancer and Targe; Pimlico maiden special weight winner Whiskey and Rye; Small Wonder runner-up Plane Drunk and Moochie, scratched from the Maryland Million Nursery, are also nominated.
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