Tom Pedulla presents five takeaways from the $250,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes and other major races Saturday at Belmont Park that serve as a prelude to the Breeders’ Cup World Championships on Nov.
Tag: Racing
Galilean Emerges From Stretch Duel, Inquiry With California Flag Win
Trainer John Sadler's classy Galilean cut back in distance, added blinkers and survived a stewards inquiry to prevail in Sunday's $100,000 California Flag Handicap at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif. Ridden by Umberto Rispoli, the 4-year-old colt by Uncle Mo was up to nip Ultimate Bango by a head while getting 5 1/2 furlongs on turf in 1:02.13.
Away alertly from his outside post, Galilean tracked pacesetter Mikes Tiznow and Ricardo Gonzalez into and around the far turn and was one length off of him a quarter mile out. As Mikes Tiznow began to shorten stride, Galilean drifted inward some, causing Gonzalez to steady at the sixteenth pole and from there, Galilean was able to outrun Ultimate Bango late.
“Unfortunately, my horse didn't want to switch leads and he was hanging in the whole way,” said Rispoli, who had ridden him for the first time at Del Mar on Aug. 23. “I was obligated to just ride it with him and to try to make him as straight as I can, but he's a huge horse. I got (the win) because he was the (best) horse in the race.”
Fifth to world-class turf miler Mo Forza in the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile Handicap on turf Aug. 23, Galilean was off as the 3-2 favorite in a field of five California-bred or sired 3-year-olds and up and paid $5.00, $3.00 and $2.20.
Owned by West Point Thoroughbreds, Denise Barker, William Sandbrook, John Magnier, Michael B. Tabor and Derrick Smith, Galilean, who is out of the El Prado mare Fresia, notched his sixth win, all stakes, in his 12th career start. With the winner's share of $60,000, he now has earnings of $577,098.
“He's a really good horse,” said Sadler who took over training duties five starts back on Feb. 29, 2020. “This is the third stakes we've won with him. … He's got so much class. We changed things up today, running short, but we added blinkers and as you saw, he's got a ton of natural speed. Long range, it's exciting because these Uncle Mo's are becoming great stud prospects and that's very encouraging for him.
“We're excited about the new turf chute here at Santa Anita and we'll look at running him in a stake going six and a half (furlongs) this winter. We'll probably stick with the state-bred program, there's just so much money there.”
Ultimate Bango, who was also adding blinkers in his first start for Mark Glatt, tracked Galilean to the far turn, kept inside of Mikes Tiznow through the stretch drive while making the lead inside the furlong pole, but couldn't keep the winner safe late. Off at 9-2 with Abel Cedillo, Ultimate Bango paid $5.00 and $3.20 while finishing 1 1/4 lengths in front of Rookie Mistake.
Ridden by Mario Gutierrez, Rookie Mistake finished well at 9-1 and paid $4.60 to show.
Fractions on the race were 22.71, 45.09 and 56.29.
Named for the Hi Card Ranch-bred winner of the 2009 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, the California Flag is for eligible California-bred or sired 3-year-olds and up and is part of the lucrative Golden State Series, which is sponsored by the CTBA.
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Salute With Honor Complete Weekend Stakes Sweep For Husbands, Casse At Woodbine
Jockey Patrick Husbands and trainer Mark Casse completed a sweep of the Thanksgiving weekend stakes events at Woodbine in Toronto, Ontario, as Salute With Honor won the Grade 3, $125,000 Durham Cup in front-end fashion on Sunday.
Salute With Honor was followed by a hard-closing Skywire and Rafael Hernandez to complete a Casse exacta in the 1-1/16-mile main track test for horses three years old and up.
The Husbands-Casse duo also clicked in Saturday's $250,000 Cup and Saucer Stakes with Canadian-bred 2-year-old Master Spy.
In Sunday's graded stakes feature, Salute With Honor took command from the quick-leaving Inventing Blame into the first turn approaching the :23.43 quarter mark and clocked a half-mile in :47.36 and three-quarters in 1:11.78 en route to victory.
Skywire, who raced inside near the back of the seven-horse field, maneuvered outside on the final turn and came tearing home to finish second, one length behind his triumphant stablemate. Timeskip closed from last to nab the show honours for conditioner Rene Kierans ahead of another Casse trainee, Pioneer Man. Roaring Forties, Armistice Day and Inventing Blame completed the order of finish.
Salute With Honor was not far off Freitag's track record (1:42.16) as he posted a final time of 1:42.35.
First-time stakes winner Salute With Honor ($6, $3.20, $2.90) was the slight 2-1 favorite over Skywire ($3.10, $2.50), who won the Grade 2 Eclipse on July 4 over the same course and distance, and they combined here for a 3-1 exacta worth $19.10.
“He's a horse that likes to be forwardly-placed,” noted Husbands of the six-year-old chestnut son of To Honor and Serve. “I don't touch him, he just does what he's gotta do. I just be the pilot and relax on his back, and when I asked him, he gave me all he can give me.”
The Live Oak Plantation homebred gelding earned his seventh career win and has banked nearly $360,000 from 19 starts. Salute With Honor has now won two races in a row at Woodbine and sports a five-for-seven record here lifetime.
Husbands has won back-to-back editions of the Durham Cup on two occasions. He first accomplished the feat with the Casse pupil Delegation and the Josie Carroll-conditioned James Street in 2012-2013. Last year, he guided The Great Day to victory for trainer Arnaud Delacour. The veteran jockey and four-time winner Casse earned their first Durham Cup titles together in 2009 courtesy of Pool Play.
Live Thoroughbred racing continues on Thursday at Woodbine, with post time for the nine-race program set for 2:15 p.m. A reminder that the new Friday post time of 4:35 p.m. goes into effect this week and Racing Night Live returns on TSN with coverage from Woodbine Racetrack and Woodbine Mohawk Park from 7-9 p.m. ET.
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‘A Fun Horse To Have Around,’ Keefe Looking Ahead To Maryland Million With Coconut Cake
Sophomore filly Coconut Cake, two necks away from being undefeated in her young career, is under consideration to make her stakes debut in the $100,000 Maryland Million Distaff Saturday, Oct. 24 at Laurel Park.
Owned by NRS Stable, James Chambers and her trainer, Tim Keefe, Coconut Cake worked a half-mile in 48.80 seconds Saturday morning on Laurel's main track under jockey Kevin Gomez, who has been aboard for each of her last two races.
The time ranked 12th of 70 horses Saturday. Coconut Cake, a daughter of 2014 General George (G3) winner Bandbox bred in Maryland by Mr. and Mrs. Charles McGinnes, has strung together three consecutive wins sprinting on both turf and dirt.
Past winners of the six-furlong Distaff include Hall of Famer Safely Kept, who captured three straight editions from 1989-91; Grade 3 winner and Grade 1-placed Willa On the Move (2003); and multiple stakes winners Crabcakes (2017-18) and Anna's Bandit (2019).
“My intention right now is to run her in the Maryland Million Distaff,” Keefe said. “I love Maryland Million. It's my favorite day of the year, I've always said that. [She] makes it a whole lot more exciting. I don't want to get too far out there; we've still got two weeks to go. But, she worked this morning and had a super work. I was very pleased with her work. She looks good afterwards. We've got one more work with her, a little easier work next week. We'll kind of keep all our feet on the ground until the 24th.”
Keefe purchased Coconut Cake for $30,000 out of Fasig-Tipton's Midlantic Eastern fall yearling sale at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonum in October 2018. He brought in partners after she made her debut May 31 at Laurel, where she was beaten two necks while third at odds of 22-1 with Sheldon Russell up.
“The catalog page drew me to her. I liked her conformation, I liked her walk, I liked her demeanor; I liked everything about her,” Keefe said. “On top of that, I like buying horses from Charlie and Cynthia. They breed a good horse, they raise a good horse so there's no worries there. I've had good luck with that.
“I had to give more for her than I thought. I guess there was another person who liked her, as well,” he added. “Bandbox is a local stallion but he was still fairly young and he didn't have a lot out there running. Obviously I liked her that much that I bought her for myself and then split her up right after the race with two of my partners. They both wanted in so I sold them each a third. That's how we got her.”
Coconut Cake graduated by 1 1/4 lengths under Forest Boyce in a 5 1/2-furlong waiver maiden claiming sprint on the grass second time out July 18. She beat winners at first asking in an off-the-turf allowance at the same distance Aug. 22, getting up by a nose, and extended her streak with a half-length triumph going six furlongs on the dirt Sept. 17.
“In the beginning when Sheldon was working her he always liked her, and he's a real good judge of a horse in the morning. I've had great luck with him, getting his thoughts and opinions on horses, and she had always done what we had asked her to do in the morning,” Keefe said. “I wasn't really sure how good she was going to be but I thought she was going to be decent. To go out and watch her run, obviously she's got the ability. But, she's also got that desire which some horses have and some don't. You can't train that in a horse. The horse has to come with that, and she has that desire to really want to get there first.”
Keefe, who owns five career Maryland Million wins including three in the Classic with Eighttofasttocatch (2011, 2013-14), said talent is, well, just icing on the cake for his rising stable star who has banked $81,245 in purse earnings.
“On top of all that, she's got an awesome personality. She's always got her head out of the stall, she's always got her ears pricked, she's always happy,” Keefe said. “She's never grouchy, she's never in a bad mood, she's just a happy horse with a wonderful personality. She's just a fun horse to have around.”
Pre-entries are due Wednesday, Oct. 14 for the Jim McKay Maryland Million, celebrating its 35th anniversary in 2020.
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