Tag: Racing

Come Dancing Regains Winning Form In Honorable Miss

Blue Devil Racing Stable's Come Dancing sat patiently off a torrid pace and picked up a fifth graded stakes victory proving to be much the best in the 29th running of the Grade 2, $150,000 Honorable Miss for fillies and mares going six furlongs over the main track at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Guided by jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., Come Dancing broke sharply from her inside post but took back into fourth as graded stakes winner Lady's Island threw down swift splits of 21.64 for the opening quarter and 43.81 for the half-mile over the fast main track.

Around the far turn, Come Dancing began making up ground and moved a path to the outside of multiple graded stakes winner Blamed and got her cue from Ortiz, Jr. at the quarter pole.

With Lady's Island to catch, Come Dancing was under an all-out drive and charged in between rivals and took command just past the eighth-pole. She hit the wire a three-quarter length winner, stopping the clock in a time of 1:08.74.

Lady's Island finished second, 2 3/4 lengths ahead of Blamed. Unholy Alliance, Pink Sands, Bye Bye J and Pacific Gale completed the order of finish.

Come Dancing's last victory took place in the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom last September at Belmont Park. Prior to that effort, she won against graded stakes company at all three NYRA tracks taking the Grade 3 Distaff at Aqueduct Racetrack, the Grade 2 Ruffian at Belmont Park and the Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga.

“I was happy to see that Irad was able to get her to break and settle and he had her in the clear when he made his move,” said trainer Carlos Martin. “The track has been very fast, but I just wanted to see the old Come Dancing give us a run like the champion that she is. It's very gratifying that Marc [Holliday, Blue Devil Racing Stable] brought her back. A lot of naysayers were saying she lost a step but hopefully she can come back and finish the year strong and we can be vindicated. I'm so happy for Come Dancing, she's a special horse for us.”

Ortiz, Jr., who picked up his tenth stakes win of the meet, was piloting Come Dancing for the first time since October 2018, where she was fifth in the Grade 1 Beldame.

“I'm happy to be back on her today,” Ortiz, Jr. said. “I haven't ridden her in a long time but she's as good as she's ever been. Hopefully, she stays sound and healthy.”

Ortiz, Jr. said a clean break from the gate was instrumental in the victory.

“I thought I had the best filly, so I tried to stay close and not give them a chance to steal the race,” Ortiz, Jr. said. “She broke well today. Last time she missed the break and today she broke good and sat a little closer and I think that was the key.”

Returning $4.70 as the post time favorite, Come Dancing enhanced her lifetime earnings to $1,186,783 and her record to 18-8-3-0.

Live racing returns Monday with a 14-race card to close out the 40-day Saratoga summer meet highlighted by the Grade 1, $250,000 Runhappy Hopeful at seven furlongs for 2-year-olds; and the $85,000 Lure, a 1 1/16-mile turf test for older horses. First post is 11:30 a.m.

Live racing will then move to Belmont Park for the 27-day fall meet, featuring 38 stakes worth $5.58 million in purse money, that will kick off on Friday, September 18 and run through Sunday, November 1

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Vequist Crushes Her Opposition To Earn Maiden Diploma In Spinaway

Second, beaten a nose at Parx Racing in her only previous start, Vequist ran away from her five rivals under Luis Saez to win Sunday's Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga race course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., by 9 1/2 lengths.

Esplanade finished second, with lady Lilly third and Irish Constitution fourth. Time for seven furlongs on a fast main track was 1:22.29.

Trained by Robert “Butch” Reid, Vequist was sent away at odds of 6-1. She tracked Esplanade in second from the outset through fractions of :22.41 and :44.87 for the opening half-mile, took command at the top of the stretch and drew away down the stretch as she pleased after a six-furlong split of 1:09.33.

Bred in Florida by Thomas McGrath's Swilcan Stables, Vequist is from the first crop by Nyquist – the 2015 champion 2-year-old male champion and 2016 Kentucky Derby winner. She's out of the Mineshaft mare, Vero Amore, a graded stakes-placed runner for Swilcan whose best stakes performance came when second to Stopchargingmaria in the G2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico in 2014.

Following her first start at Parx on July 29 when second to Niente, Wachtel Stables and Gary Barber each bought an interest from McGrath

 

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Dr. Schivel Hoping To Put Freeze On Baffert’s Grip On Del Mar Futurity

Six young horses will run seven furlongs Monday in the 73rd edition of the shore oval's annual closer – the Runhappy Del Mar Futurity. The race will carry a purse of $250,000 and a Grade 1 ranking. And as it has many times before, it also likely will point out the winner for much bigger and better things to come on down the line.

The morning line favorite for the juvenile headliner will be Red Baron's Barn and Rancho Temescal's Dr. Schivel, a colt by Violence who was purchased privately by his current connections – father Jed and son Tim Cohen — in the past few weeks. The bay easily had won a straight maiden race at six furlongs at Del Mar on August 8 after running second and third in a pair of previous outings.

Following that win, the colt's then owners – and breeders – William Branch and Arnold Hill, heard an offer they couldn't refuse and ceded ownership to his current pair of owners. Dr. Schivel will race for trainer Luis Mendez once more in the Futurity, then shift to conditioner Mark Glatt's barn.

Here's the full field for the race from the rail out with riders and morning line odds: SF Racing, Starlight Racing or Madaket Stables' Spielberg (Abel Cedillo, 2-1); Brad Allshouse's Dyn O Mite (Victor Espinoza, 12-1); Drakos or Hanson's Weston (Drayden Van Dyke, 6-1); KMN Racing's Scooby (Umberto Rispoli, 12-1); Reddam Racing's Dixie's Two Stents (Mario Gutierrez, 3-1), and Dr. Schivel (8/5).

Spielberg, a $1,000,000 yearling purchase in Kentucky last September, is a son of Union Rags who has started only once, finishing second to Dr. Schivel in that one's winning heat here on August 8.  He has the distinct advantage, however, of racing out of the barn of conditioner Bob Baffert who has won the Del Mar Futurity a record 14 times.

Dixie's Two Stents was a weanling purchase for $60,000 in Kentucky in November of 2018. The son of Quality Road made his racing debut at Del Mar on August 1 and closed late to just miss in a five-furlong maiden special weight contest. He's worked well at the shore oval since.

Weston enters the fray with a two-for-two record, including a tally in the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar on August 8. The Hit It a Bomb gelding trains out of the barn of part owner Ryan Hanson and – in contrast to some of his Monday adversaries – was a bargain $7,000 purchase as a yearling last year in Kentucky.

Scooby is trained by Jerry Hollendorfer. Though still a maiden after two starts, he's closed well in both of those outings.

Dyn O Mite has run second in all three of his tries. The son of Goldencents is conditioned by J. Keith Desormeaux.

Monday's finale means that there will be a mandatory payout in the track's popular Pick Six bet. It will be held on races 6 through 11.

The headliner will go as the 10th event on an 11-race card. First post Monday goes at 1 p.m.

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