Tag: Racing

Brown Enters Three In Pursuit Of Fourth Straight Just A Game Victory

Trainer Chad Brown will bring a strong hand of cards to the table when he saddles turf champion Uni, Grade 1-winner Newspaperofrecord and two-time graded stakes winner Regal Glory in pursuit of a fourth consecutive win in the 27th running of Saturday's Grade 1, $250,000 Just a Game over the Widener turf course at Belmont Park.

The one-mile event for fillies and mares is one of four graded stakes events carded for Saturday afternoon's action packed program at beautiful Belmont Park, which also features the Grade 2, $250,000 New York at 1 ¼ miles on Belmont Park's inner turf; the Grade 2, $150,000 True North, for 4-year-olds and up going 6 ½ furlongs, and the Grade 3, $100,000 Vagrancy for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up contesting at 6 ½ furlongs on the main track.

Brown has saddled Antonoe (2017), A Raving Beauty (2018) and Rushing Fall (2019) to victory in the past three editions of the Just a Game, which is named in honor of Peter Brant's six-time graded stakes winning filly who was named Champion Grass Mare in 1980.

Defending Champion Turf Mare Uni will make her 2020 debut in the Just a Game, having not raced since taking last year's Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Mile at Santa Anita, where she became the sixth female to score a win in the race.

Known for her devastating late kick, the 6-year-old daughter of More Than Ready made up 11 lengths in the Breeders' Cup, where she broke sharply, was taken back in the early stages and put her sweeping turn of foot on display around the far turn with a five-wide move and stormed to victory by 1 ½ lengths. The impressive triumph registered a career-best 106 Beyer and was the fourth triple-digit speed figure recorded by the talented chestnut mare.

Uni, whose last eight starts took place at the Just a Game's distance, is a three-time Grade 1-winner with all three victories at such caliber taking place over different surfaces. Following a win in the Grade 1 Matriarch in December 2018 at Del Mar, where she made up 19 lengths, Uni secured a victory in the Grade 1 First Lady in October at Keeneland en route to her Breeders' Cup Mile triumph.

“She's doing well,” Brown said. “There's a little uncertainty with the layoff, but she seems to be training well. She has a great turn of foot and we'll just see how it plays out.”

Uni began her career in France for former conditioner Fabrice Chappet and has placed in 11 of her 12 starts in the United States for Brown.

Owned by Michael Dubb, Robert LaPenta, Sol Kumin's Head of Plains Partners and Michael Caruso's Bethlehem Stables, Uni has won at six different tracks in the United States and boasts the highest amount of lifetime earnings in the field with $2,347,880.

Uni is bred in Great Britain by Haras D'Etreham and is out of the Dansili broodmare Unaided.

Jockey Joel Rosario has been aboard for her last six outings and will pilot once more from post 6.

Owned by Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables, Newspaperofrecord arrives at the Just a Game off a wire-to-wire victory in the Grade 3 Intercontinental on June 6 over the Widener turf, where she recorded swift fractions but still had enough left in the tank to draw off to a four-length victory recording a career-best 103 Beyer Speed Figure.

The 4-year-old daughter of Lope de Vega made amends from a disappointing 3-year-old campaign where she went winless in three starts. Newspaperofrecord began her career with an unscathed 2-year-old campaign, which included victories in a Saratoga turf maiden event, the Grade 2 Miss Grillo at Belmont Park and the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Churchill Downs by a combined 20 lengths.

“She's doing fine,” Brown said. “She seems very settled in the mornings. She went fast fractions last time, which wasn't really what I wanted, but she doesn't need to do that. She's been pretty relaxed and settled.”

Favored in all seven of her career starts, Newspaperofrecord boasts a 7-4-2-0 record, with all four of her victories taking place over yielding turf courses.
Bred in Ireland by Times of Wigan, Newspaperofrecord is out of the Holy Roman Emperor broodmare Sunday Times.

Jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. has been aboard for all of her starts and will return to the irons from post 4.

Rounding out the Brown threesome is Paul Pompa, Jr.'s dual graded stakes-winner Regal Glory. The 4-year-old daughter of Animal Kingdom was second to Newspaperofrecord in the Intercontinental last out in her first start of the year. Her summer at Saratoga last year was a prosperous one as she took the Grade 3 Lake George over stablemates Blowout and Dogtag and followed up with a win in the Grade 2 Lake Placid over good ground, where she dead-heated for victory alongside Varenka.

Regal Glory has never finished worse than second in eight of her nine career starts. Her lone off the board effort was when she stretched out to a mile and an eighth in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II at Keeneland finishing sixth beaten four lengths to stable mate Cambier Parc.

“A mile is a good distance for her. It's a big step up for her, but hopefully can grab a piece of it,” Brown said.

A Kentucky homebred, Regal Glory is out of the dual turf graded stakes winning More Than Ready broodmare Mary's Follies who also produced multiple graded stakes-winner Night Prowler and unbeaten Japanese group stakes winner Café Pharoah.

Breaking from post 5, Regal Glory will be ridden by Manny Franco.

Looking to make amends after three losses in 2020 is Gary Barber's two-time Grade 1-winner Got Stormy who will attempt to put her best foot forward for trainer Mark Casse, who saddled 2015 Champion Turf Female Tepin to victory in the Just a Game five years ago.

The daughter of Get Stormy was a hard-fought second to Uni in the Breeders' Cup Mile and recorded six straight triple-digit speed figures last season, including a 109 from her victory in the Grade 1 Fourstardave at Saratoga against males.

The chestnut mare arrives off a fourth-place finish in the Grade 3 Beaugay at Belmont Park, which came after finishing second beaten a neck in the Grade 1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita.

Jockey Luis Saez will be aboard Got Stormy from post 2.

Trainer Brad Cox sends out last year's runner-up Beau Recall who will try to move forward off a ninth-place finish in the Grade 3 Mint Julep on May 30 at Churchill Downs.

The daughter of Sir Prancealot won the Grade 2 Distaff Turf Mile at Churchill Downs and the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon at Del Mar last season.
Jockey Jose Ortiz will be aboard from post 1.

Rounding out the field are Valedictorian [post 3, Jose Lezcano] and Zofelle [post 7, Javier Castellano].

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Malakeh Seeking Third Straight Victory In Woodbine’s Nassau Stakes

Malakeh, a five-year-old daughter of Harbour Watch (IRE), goes after her third straight score in Saturday's Grade 2 $175,000 Nassau Stakes, at Woodbine.

Bred by Gestut Gorlsdorf, the bay mare will make her first start in Canada when she goes postward in the one-mile E.P. Taylor Turf Course engagement that has drawn seven hopefuls. Trained by Graham Motion, who won last year's Nassau with Secret Message, the ultra-consistent Malakeh will shoot for the natural hat trick on Saturday.

After a polished performance to close the curtain on her 2019 campaign last August at Saratoga, Malakeh opened up her current season with another win, a gutsy neck score over firm going at Churchill Downs on May 22. Both victories came at the mile distance.

“I think we've decided that this is what she likes to do, distance-wise,” said Motion, who is closing in on 2,500 career wins. “I don't see why [Woodbine turf] wouldn't suit her. I'm sure it's in great shape.”

After a third-place debut at Chantilly in March 2018, the British-bred, owned by Heider Family Stables, Madaket Stables and Michael Kisber, headed to Germany for her next four engagements. Malakeh broke her maiden in her second German start, an efficient head score in the one-mile Henkel Stutenpreis on April 29, 2018.

She made her North American debut last April, finishing second, just a head back of the winner, in the one-mile race at Keeneland. In her next start, on May 24 at Belmont, Malakeh won by a neck at 1 1/8-miles. She arrives at the Nassau with a 4-3-2 record from 10 starts.

“She's so honest,” praised Motion. “To be truthful, I couldn't believe when I ran her in the allowance race at Keeneland that she was beaten. It turns out she was beaten by a pretty serious filly [Juliet Foxtrot]. So, I was very confused about her form right away because I liked her so much, that I couldn't imagine her not sailing through that condition. But it's funny how things work out. She's never run a bad race, really. She's very consistent and hard-trying.”

It was something that Motion discovered early on.

“When she was working in Florida last winter, she was very impressive.”

The Nassau is the first leg of Woodbine's Ladies of the Lawn Series, which offers $75,000 in bonuses to the top performers based on points accumulated in the designated graded turf routes for fillies and mares.

The series also includes the $175,000 Dance Smartly Stakes (Grade 2, on August 15), the $250,000 Canadian Stakes (Grade 2, September 12) and the $600,000 E.P. Taylor Stakes (Grade 1, October 18), which will serve as the series' final leg.

Eight horses have won the Nassau twice, including Eternal Search (1982-83) and Bold Ruritana (1995-96). Augustin Stable took a division of the 1985 edition with Annie Edge, who won the Grade 2 New York Handicap one year earlier.

The Nassau, Woodbine's first turf stakes of the meet, is Race 8 on Saturday's 10-race card. First post time is 1 p.m. Fans can watch and wager on all the action via HPIbet.com.

$175,000 Nassau Stakes (Grade 2)

Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer

1 – Nantucket Red – Gary Boulanger – Ashlee Brnjas

2 – Another Time – Jerome Lermyte – Barbara Minshall

3 – Amalfi Coast – Rafael Hernandez – Kevin Attard

4 – Lunar Garden – Justin Stein – Stuart Simon

5 – Elizabeth Way – Emma-Jayne Wilson – Roger Attfield

6 – Malakeh – Kazushi Kimura – Graham Motion

7 – Eyeinthesky – Patrick Husbands – Mark Casse

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Hello Beautiful: Russell-Trained Multiple Stakes-Winning Filly Earns Shot At Grade 1 Test

Rebounding off a disappointing start to the season with one of the best races of her career, multiple stakes-winning 3-year-old filly Hello Beautiful is expected to take a step up in competition for her next start.

Laurel Park-based trainer Brittany Russell said Madaket Stables, Albert Frassetto, Mark Parkinson, K-Mac Stable and Magic City Stables' Hello Beautiful earned a shot at a graded-stakes following her 8 ¼-length allowance romp June 20.

“I'm going to talk to the guys. We're going to definitely give her at least six weeks. She deserves it. Last year we spaced her races out pretty well and she really responded to that. We'll just see what the schedule looks like and how it fits timing-wise,” Russell said.

“I think we'll try and find something in graded company and see if she can step up outside Maryland. You're only 3 once, and if she's good we might as well take a shot soon,” she added. “It's exciting to have one that we feel like we can do big things with.”

Her regular rider, Russell's husband Sheldon Russell, hustled Hello Beautiful to the front for the six-furlong sprint and the dark bay or brown daughter of Golden Lad did the rest, keeping Fifteen Royals at bay through a half-mile in 45.85 seconds before opening up by five lengths at the head of the stretch. Despite being geared down approaching the wire, Hello Beautiful finished up in a sparkling 1:09.88 over a sealed, sloppy main track.

“She likes to run on the engine early on, so I wanted to make sure I got the good break,” Sheldon Russell said. “As soon as she gets in front she pricks her ears, and I just felt like she traveled nicely in my hands. I was never really worried, but it was nice for her to show that she's improved and she's trained on. Hopefully she stays healthy and we can have some fun with her this year.”

Bred in Maryland by Ellen Charles' Hillwood Stable, Hello Beautiful got a belated start to the year, first by design and then extended by the coronavirus pandemic which paused live racing in Maryland for 2 ½ months until late May. Anxious to get her going, the connections tried a 5 ½-furlong sprint on the grass June 1 where she ran seventh, the worst finish of her career.

“I don't really know what the options were for races, but Brittany opted to give her a run on the grass and I was just maybe a little too confident,” Sheldon Russell said. “I know it was short back and I know a couple people were worried about that, but she came out of that turf race like she hadn't even run. We worked her last week, she put in a bullet workout, and we had no options but to run her. Brittany and her team had her ready.”

For the effort, Hello Beautiful earned a 94 Beyer Speed Figure, second only to the 95 she was assigned following her 11 ¾-length score in the seven-furlong Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship Dec. 7 to close her 2-year-old campaign. She won the six-furlong Maryland Million Lassie one start earlier in her stakes debut.

“There's high expectations naturally after her 2-year-old year, and we kind of got off on the wrong foot with the turf race. You just had to toss that and just have to forget that that's even on her page now. It was one of those things where we wanted to see her [rebound] that so we know how to move forward,” Brittany Russell said.

“She was the most proven one of the bunch so she should win like that, given her 2-year-old races. So, seeing that was a bit of a relief. You feel like we have the same filly and she's taken a step forward, which is what you want to see as a 3-year-old,” she added. “She ran a big number, too. That's encouraging. That makes us feel like now we can try something bigger.”

The allowance win was the fourth victory from eight starts for Hello Beautiful, who was serenaded through the stretch by Maryland Jockey Club announcer Dave Rodman's call: “Here she is … a thing of beauty! Hello, beautiful!”

Though the 1 1/8-mile Kentucky Oaks (G1) has been rescheduled for Sept. 4, Brittany Russell said the plans call for keeping Hello Beautiful going short and targeting some of the bigger sprint races.

Among the options is the Aug. 8 Test (G1) at Saratoga, contested at seven furlongs and coming seven weeks out from her most recent win.

“She's proven that she can go seven-eighths. Some of the better races are seven-eighths, the sprints, so I think we're just going to do that right now. It'll look good for her if we can get a big one, even if she runs second or third,” Brittany Russell said. “With the Oaks being later in the year this year, you kind of hope that for some of them, that's their goal, so maybe the sprints will be off their radar. Hopefully things just work out for us.”

Her trainer said Hello Beautiful exited the race in good order and would have a couple of easy days before going back to the track by mid-week.

“We always go everything after they run just to make sure there's nothing jumping out at us that you wouldn't know until they go back to the track. She looked great,” she said. “That's kind of why we decided to run her back as quick as we did from the turf race, because I walked her a couple days and took her out and just tried to give her a jog day and she was jumping out of her skin so much I turned around and galloped her, just to keep her happy. We'll just see what her energy level is like and let her tell us what she wants to do.”

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