Tag: Racing

Pointing To Forego, Vekoma Takes Over NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll

With Midnight Bisou and Tom's d'Etat both suffering defeats in their respective Grade 1 races at Saratoga Race Course this past weekend, multiple top-level winner Vekoma gained the majority of support among voters to move into the No. 1 position on the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) Top Thoroughbred Poll.

Vekoma has been flawless in his 4-year-old campaign to date, winning all three of his outings including victories in the Grade 1 Carter Handicap and Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap. The son of Candy Ride (ARG) surged to the top of this week's poll with 13 first-place votes and 321 total points and is expected to make his next start in the Grade 1, $300,000 Forego on August 29 at Saratoga.

“We're trying to make it to the Breeders' Cup and the Forego is the most logical next spot,” trainer George Weaver told the NYRA publicity team regarding Vekoma. “So far, everything's looking good and we're looking forward to getting him back to the races. The sky's the limit for him.”

Tom's d'Etat could have made a case to move into the No. 1 slot with a victory in last Saturday's Grade Whitney Stakes but the 7-year-old stumbled out of the gate en route to a third-place finish. The son of Smart Strike still earned 6 first-place votes and 299 points to hold onto the No. 2 spot while his Whitney conqueror Improbable moved into the third position with 6 first-place votes and 278 points.

Champion Maximum Security (9 first-place votes, 256 points) maintains the fourth spot while fellow Eclipse Award-winner Midnight Bisou – who had held the top spot in the poll since March 10 – dropped to fifth with 1 first-place vote and 248 points after she finished second as the favorite behind Vexatious in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign Stakes.

Zulu Alpha (140 points) ranks sixth followed by Monomoy Girl, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2018, in seventh with 2 first-place votes and 120 points. Top-ranked sophomore Tiz the Law ranks eighth with 3 first-place votes and 118 points while By My Standards (112 points) and Volatile (56) round out the top 10.

Ahead of his expected run in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga this Saturday, Belmont Stakes winner Tiz the Law remains the clear choice in the NTRA Top Three-Year-Old Poll with 40 first-place votes and 400 total points. Honor A. P., who finished second in the Shared Belief Stakes on August 1, holds onto the No. 2 spot with 300 points.

Grade 1 Haskell Stakes victor Authentic (280 points) sits third followed by Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes winner Art Collector (276), who is expected to be the heavy favorite in the Ellis Park Derby on August 9.

Los Alamitos Derby victor Uncle Chuck (180 points) ranks fifth ahead of his planned start in the Travers Stakes while stablemate Thousand Words (138) rejoins the top 10 in sixth following his victory in the Shared Belief Stakes.

Haskell runner-up Ny Traffic (112 points) ranks seventh followed by King Guillermo, winner of the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby, in eighth with 106 points. Sophomore fillies Swiss Skydiver (89 points) and Gamine (84) complete the top 10.

The NTRA Top Thoroughbred polls are the sport's most comprehensive surveys of experts. Every week eligible journalists and broadcasters cast votes for their top 10 horses, with points awarded on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. All horses that have raced in the U.S., are in training in the U.S., or are known to be pointing to a major event in the U.S. are eligible for the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll. Voting in both the Top Three-Year-Old Poll and the Top Thoroughbred Poll is scheduled to be conducted through the conclusion of the Breeders' Cup in November.

The post Pointing To Forego, Vekoma Takes Over NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Del Mar Adds Make-Up Date On Monday, Aug. 31

Del Mar Thoroughbred Club has announced it will run a make-up day of racing on Monday, August 31. It expects to present a 10-race card starting at 2 p.m. The added date means Del Mar will finish up its 2020 summer race meet with two four-day weekends — August 28 to 31 and September 4 to 7.

On the heels of a recently announced 10% purse increase, the seaside track's extra day will bring the number of race days for its 81st summer season to 27. Originally, 28 racing days had been planned.

The track's racing office has been adding extra races to its regular cards to make up for the lost date as the meet moves through its scheduled Friday through Sunday timetable.

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Factor This Digs In To Win Kentucky Downs Preview Turf Cup

The pressure never let up on Factor This as he made his 1 ¼-mile trek around Ellis Park on Sunday. It was an expected byproduct that comes with the burden of heavy favoritism, but it still made trainer Brad Cox's nerves fray slightly as he watched it unfold from afar.

While being the target comes with the territory when one brings a streak of graded victories to the table, so too does having the mettle to turn back any attempts to thwart that momentum. So after sending one threat after another on its way during the $100,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Turf Cup Stakes, Factor This dug into the depths of his class in the final strides to keep the late-charging Hierarchy at bay by a half-length and notch his fourth straight triumph.

The Kentucky Downs Preview Turf Stakes was one of five turf stakes on Sunday's card comprising Kentucky Downs Preview Day at the RUNHAPPY Summer Meet at Ellis Park. A total of $4,118,000 was wagered on the 10-race card, one of the highest in track history.

Having earned consecutive wins in the Grade 3 Fair Grounds Stakes, Grade 2 Muniz Memorial Classic, and Grade 2 Wise Dan Stakes this season, Factor This came into the Preview Turf Stakes with the biggest reputation in the 11-horse field and, by extension, the most to lose. His front-running style is no secret so when the 4-5 favorite bounded away under jockey Shaun Bridgmohan, he was met first by longshot Phantom Currency, who kept his head in front through opening fractions of :24.99 and :50.25.

“There was obviously another horse up there on the pace. That's a tough post (10) to win from, the way they angle the gate at the quarter pole,” said Cox, who watched the race from his base in Louisville. “He had to overcome some things today. Laid in the two path around both turns. But overall, I was super pleased with the horse. He always shows up.”

Factor This put his neck in front of Phantom Currency past the half but just as that challenger began to drop back, Ry's the Guy started to come with his bid and drew even with the son of The Factor around the far turn.

The nimble turn of foot from Factor This allowed him to put a bit of daylight between himself and his rivals entering the lane but that reprieve was short lived as Hierarchy came to him in deep stretch. To Cox's relief, that's as far as an upset bid would get as Factor This hit the wire a half-length in front to capture the race for a second straight year.

“Our horse wears blinkers and I think wants he feels the pressure of the other horse, he's got a lot of fight in him,” Cox said. “He showed that this winter at the Fair Grounds and probably showed it more than ever this summer at Churchill in the Wise Dan.

“(The soft turf) was another thing he had to overcome today. There was some pace presence today, the post and he won this race last year and set the track record – I know the race has only been run a few times at that distance.”

The final time was 2:04.52 over a course rated soft. Split the Wickets was third, 3 ¾-lengths behind runner-up Hierarchy.

“He got a perfect trip saving a lot of ground and got out, but he was second-best,” said Corey Lanerie, jockey of Hierarchy. “We just couldn't go by him.”

Factor This has two fees-paid berths in $1 million races: the Grade 3 Calumet Farm Kentucky Turf Cup on Sept. 12 at 1 1/2 miles – a race he was fourth in last year – and the Grade 1 Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic at Churchill Downs on September 5 for winning the Fair Grounds' Grade 2 Muniz.

“We're going to let the dust settle. I think we'd like to take a shot in the Grade 1 on Derby Day,” Cox said. “I feel l like kept a pretty close eye on that division from a mile and an eighth to a mile and a quarter and I don't see anyone to be scared of, to be honest with you. I think this horse can win a Grade 1, given the right set up and the distance.”

Owned by Gaining Ground Racing and bred in Kentucky out of the Singspiel (IRE) mare Capricious Miss (GB), Factor This has won four of five starts in this his 5-year-old campaign with his lone defeat being a third-place run in the Colonel E. R. Bradley Stakes at Fair Grounds on January 18. He is also unbeaten in three starts at Ellis Park and improves his overall mark to 11 wins from 30 starts with $902,780 in earnings.

“He's a cool horse. I get along with him and he makes my job easy,” Bridgmohan said. “You just have to get him in position and he usually does it all. They come to him and he fights. He makes me look good every time. He's a hard-trying horse and as gutsy as they come. I'm just a passenger on him. He does all the work.”

Background: Factor This taking owners on “pretty crazy” ride

Quotes
Brad Cox, winning trainer, Factor This (by phone from Louisville): “There was obviously another horse up there on the pace. That's a tough post (11) to win from, the way they angle the gate at the quarter pole. He had to overcome some things today. Laid in the two path around both turns. But overall, I was super pleased with the horse. He always shows up. Very happy with Shaun and the position he put him in. We talked it over this morning how we thought the race would come up. Shaun had a good feeling the horse next to us on the lead would be right there, so he was prepared for that. He did a good job evaluating that. He really gets the most out of this horse.”

(On 1 Hierarchy coming on late) “Yeah he was. Our horse wears blinkers and I think wants he feels the pressure of the other horse, he's got a lot of fight in him. He showed that this winter at the Fair Grounds and probably showed it more than ever this summer at Churchill in the Wise Dan.”

Factor This has two fees-paid berths in $1 million races: the $1 million, Grade 3 Calumet Farm Kentucky Turf Cup on Sept. 12 at 1 1/2 miles (a race he was fourth in last year after setting the pace) from winning the Ellis race, and the 1 1/8-mile Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic at Churchill Downs on Sept. 5, Derby Day for winning the Fair Grounds' Grade 2 Muniz.

“We're going to let the dust settle. We'll talk to Tom and Brian Cutshall. I think we'd like to take a shot in the Grade 1 Derby Day. People are going to say it's a Grade 1. I feel l like kept a pretty close eye on that division from a mile and an eighth to a mile and a quarter and I don't see anyone to be scared of, to be honest with you. I think this horse can win a Grade 1, given the right set up and the distance.”

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