Racing | Horse Racing Free Tips

Cazadero Bids For Third Straight In Saratoga Special

A field of 11 juveniles will look to make their star turn in Friday's 114th running of the Grade 2, $150,000 Saratoga Special presented by Miller Lite going six furlongs over the main track at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Rich in history, the Saratoga Special has been a launching pad for eventual champion horses dating all the way back to 1907 when Hall of Famer Colin won the event en route to an undefeated 15-for-15 career. In 1914, Regret won the Saratoga Special before becoming the first filly to win the Kentucky Derby the following year. Other prominent winners of the historic race include champions Morvich (1921), Blue Larkspur (1928), Top Flight (1931), Whirlaway (1941), Native Dancer (1952), Nearctic (1956), Bold Forbes (1975), Conquistador Cielo (1981), and Favorite Trick (1997).

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen will attempt five victories in the Saratoga Special when saddling Cazadero, who is the lone starter in the field with a graded stakes triumph.

Owned and bred by Barbara Banke's Stonestreet Stables, the bay son of Street Sense won the Grade 3 Bashford Manor on June 27 at Churchill Downs in his most recent start, which came after an 8 3/4-length romp on debut at the Louisville oval.

Cazadero has gotten acclimated to the Oklahoma training track, recording three works including a three-eighths bullet in 37.60 seconds on August 2.

Asmussen and Stonestreet teamed up to win the 2010 Saratoga Special with Kantharos, who also entered the race off a first-out Churchill maiden win followed by the Bashford Manor.

“Its nice to have a couple of races under his belt heading into a race like this at Saratoga,” said Asmussen's chief assistant Scott Blasi. “He came in very well-respected and hasn't done anything wrong yet.”

Jockey Ricardo Santana, Jr. will retain the mount from post 6.

Asmussen also will saddle Jackie's Warrior, a bay son of Maclean's Music who won on debut on June 19 at Churchill Downs defeating next out winner and fellow Saratoga Special aspirant Therideofalifetime.

Owned by J. Kirk Robison, Jackie's Warrior registered an 81 Beyer for the effort, the same number that stablemate Cazadero recorded in his career debut.

“It was a very impressive maiden special weight at Churchill. Fast times and talented horses as well,” Blasi said. “With these babies you just have to get some experience in them and hope that they continue to move forward.”

Jockey Joel Rosario will be aboard from post 10.

Trainer Christophe Clement will attempt a seventh stakes win of the meet when saddling Momos for Ironhorse Racing Stable and Secure Investments.

The son of Distorted Humor was an impressive 6 ½-length winner in his Saratoga career debut on July 18.

“He's coming back a little quick with three weeks in between races,” Clement said. “I could have trained for the [Grade 1, $250,000 Runhappy] Hopeful [on September 7] going seven-eighths at the end of the meet, but this is the best of the choices, so to speak. I just would like to keep him going short in a stakes on dirt and this was the logical one. He seems to be very fast, so why change something that is working?”

Jockey Manny Franco retains the mount from post 7.

Stephen Fidel's Therideofalifetime boasts the highest career speed figure when registering an 85 Beyer in his second start when romping to an 8 ¼-length win at Keeneland on July 11.

Trained by Ignacio Correas IV, the chestnut colt is by Candy Ride and the first progeny out of the stakes-winning Proud Citizen broodmare Cosmic Evolution.

Jockey Jose Ortiz will pilot Therideofalifetime from post 9.

Breeze Easy's Roderick will attempt to mimic a sensational 8 ¼-length win on debut as he breaks from the far outside for trainer Wesley Ward.

The son of Into Mischief garnered a 73 Beyer for the win in the five-furlong maiden on June 21 Belmont Park, where he defeated next-out winner Zippy Baby.

A $550,000 purchase from last year's Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Roderick is out of the Cherokee Run mare Cayala and is a full-sister to graded stakes winner One Liner. He comes from the same family as Grade 1 winners Daredevil and Albertus Maximus.

Jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. returns aboard Roderick and will attempt a third Saratoga Special victory.

Trainer Antonio Sano sent out eventual multimillionaire Gunnevera to a 2016 Saratoga Special victory and will attempt to do the same with Magic Stables' Papetu, who breaks from post 1.

Like Sano's previous Saratoga Special winner, Papetu also is a chestnut son by Dialed In and arrives off a five-length maiden triumph at Gulfstream Park en route to an allowance optional claiming win on July 5 at the South Florida oval.

Papetu has trained forwardly heading into his graded stakes debut having recorded a half-mile drill over the main track at Gulfstream Park West in 47.60 seconds.

Hall of Famer John Velazquez will ride Papetu.

Completing the field are Hold the Salsa [post 2, Dylan Davis], Garoppolo [post 3, Luis Saez], Caramel Chip [post 4, Luis Cardenas], Pickin' Time [post 5, Javier Castellano], and Market Alert [post 8, Jose Lezcano].

The Saratoga Special is slated as Race 9 on Friday's 10-race card, which offers a first post of 1:10 p.m. Eastern. Saratoga Live will present daily television coverage of the 40-day summer meet on FOX Sports and MSG Networks. For the complete Saratoga Live broadcast schedule, and additional programming information, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Saratoga Race Course, and the best way to bet every race of the 40-day summer meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, NYRA Bets is currently offering a $200 new member bonus in addition to a host of special weekly offers. The NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.

The post Cazadero Bids For Third Straight In Saratoga Special appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Baffert: Saratoga Gate Crew Gets An Assist In Improbable’s Whitney

Winning a prestigious race takes the work of a team. After Improbable's victory in Saturday's Grade 1, $750,000 Whitney, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert said the assistant starter and the entire NYRA gate crew were his Most Valuable Players for settling his horse in the gate, allowing him to run his race and post a two-length score in the 1 1/8 mile contest for some of the top older horses in the country.

After rearing up once in the gate and acting fractious a second time, Improbable still managed to break sharp from post 2 in the five-horse field, which put him in a better position than even-money favorite Tom's d'Etat, who stumbled leaving the outermost post.

Improbable stayed off Mr. Buff's early fractions before taking command out of the final turn and repelling By My Standards' late bid to win his second consecutive Grade 1.

“You have to thank the gate crew, the guys they had in there with him. It's like being in the gate with a bull sometimes,” Baffert said with a laugh. “He could have easily turned over, but they did a tremendous job, so I give them a big assist there because they did a great job.”

Once away, Improbable showed top-class form under jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., who captured his second Whitney in three years after also winning aboard Diversify in 2018.

“As much as he acts up in the gate, he always breaks really well,” Baffert added. “He breaks like a shot. After that, Irad got him in a nice rhythm. He followed Mr. Buff on the lead and tightened him along there and turned for home. Improbable had been working so well down here at Del Mar. It was a big effort there.”

Improbable won his third career Grade 1, joining the Los Alamitos Futurity in December 2018 as a juvenile. The son of City Zip competed in the Triple Crown trail last year but finished out of the money in four Grade 1s, placing fourth in the Kentucky Derby, running sixth in the Preakness and finishing fourth in the Pennsylvania Derby and fifth in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile.

In his 4-year-old campaign, he ran second in the Oaklawn Mile in his seasonal bow in April before capturing the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup on June 6 going 1 1/4-miles at Santa Anita before earning a personal-best 106 Beyer Speed Figure for his Whitney win.

Owned by WinStar Farm, China Horse Club and SF Racing, Improbable improved to 6-3-0 in 13 career starts. Baffert said Elliott Walden, WinStar's CEO, said he had the Hollywood Gold Cup and then the Whitney route picked out for him.

“Elliott Walden does all my scouting and said this is where we need to run,” Baffert said. “We were going to run at Oaklawn but decided to scratch him there and wait for the Gold Cup. It's a team effort.”

The Whitney was just the second time Improbable won outside of California, with his second-start victory in the 2018 Street Sense at Churchill Downs marking the other.

“This is one of the few times he's won on the road, so that was a big effort,” Baffert said. “It was nice that the WinStar group was there. I didn't know they had never won the Whitney before; they had won everything else, so it was exciting for them.”

Baffert, who has won two Triple Crowns [American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify in 2018], has conditioned winners in almost every major race in the country. But until 2019, he had never trained a Whitney winner. After McKinzie won it last year and Improbable followed suit, Baffert became the first trainer to repeat in the Whitney since fellow Hall of Famer Scotty Schulhofer in 1994-95.

While Baffert has famously trained 3-year-olds, his stock of older horses this year continues to be strong, with Improbable part of a roster that also includes a still-racing McKinzie as well as Maximum Security.

“It's such a prestigious race, and to win it, it means a lot,” Baffert said. “I'm lucky enough to train for some big outfits, and when you train for them, you get a lot more chances at it. I'm excited to train older horses, because they usually go to stallion duty because they've done so well so they aren't around for the extra year. Unfortunately, the COVID situation has taken away some opportunities to run them, but I just feel blessed and fortunate that I do have these horses.”

But Baffert still has talented sophomores, including Uncle Chuck, who registered his final breeze yesterday before the Grade 1, $1 million Runhappy Travers on August 8.

The lightly raced Uncle Chuck is 2-for-2, with a seven-length score in his debut on June 12 going one mile and a four-length victory last out in his first stakes appearance in the Los Alamitos Derby at 1 1/8 miles on July 4.

Owned by Karl Watson, Michael Pegram and Paul Weitman, Uncle Chuck breezed a bullet five furlongs in 1:00.20 over Del Mar's main track, the fastest of 71 clocked at the distance.

“He worked really nice and I was really happy with the way he did it,” Baffert said. “He came out of his last race really well. We still have to ship and hopefully he doesn't get too stirred up. Hopefully, we get a good post and a good break.”

Unraced as a juvenile, Uncle Chuck has benefitted from starting his career later. A $250,000 purchase at the 2018 Keeneland September Sale, he was bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings.

“He wasn't ready and I remember buying him as a yearling, and Barry Eisaman, who broke him, said 'take your time with him. Don't break him right away,'” Baffert said. “We took our time with him. I didn't want to run him as a 2-year-old. [Eisaman] just took his time with him and sent him to me when he's ready. He then showed up and said he's ready. I can see he's just starting to mature now and figure it out. His work yesterday was probably one of his better works. He was focused the whole way around there. We've been tempted to put blinkers on him but I was afraid it might get him a little too rank, but we'll see how he does in the Travers.”

Baffert is a three-time Travers winner with Point Given in 2001, Arrogate,who set the 1 1/4-mile track record of 1:59.36 in 2016 and West Coast in 2017.

Another talented Baffert 3-year-old looking to make a mark on Travers Day is Michael Petersen's Gamine, who enters the Grade 1, $300,000 Longines Test for sophomore fillies off a dominating 18 ¾-length win in the Grade 1 Acorn on Belmont Stakes Day June 20.

Gamine earned a 110 Beyer for her win in the one-mile Acorn and will now cut back to seven furlongs. The $1.8 million purchase at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds-In-Training Sale breezed six furlongs in 1:12.80 at Del Mar on Sunday.

“She just breezed today and looked great,” Baffert said. “It looked nice. She's coming into the race really well.”

The post Baffert: Saratoga Gate Crew Gets An Assist In Improbable’s Whitney appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Mexican Star Letruska To Try Deeper Waters In Saratoga’s Ballerina

St. George Stable's Letruska, a multiple Group 1 winner in Mexico and two-time stakes winner in the U.S., will face the biggest test of her career when she makes her Saratoga debut in the Grade 1, $300,000 Ballerina presented by NYRA Bets on August 8.

The seven-furlong Ballerina for fillies and mares 3 and up is a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint in November at Keeneland, and is among four graded stakes on the undercard of the Grade 1, $1 million Runhappy Travers program.

Letruska, a 4-year-old daughter of 2010 Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver, arrived last week in Saratoga from South Florida, where she had been based at the Palm Meadows training center.

“I wanted to give her enough time to have a good adaptation,” trainer Fausto Gutierrez said. “She looks perfect. She was in Florida and there the weather conditions are very humid. Before that she was in Mexico City where the weather is a little bit similar to this. I think for any horse here, the weather is perfect for training.”

Under jockey Ricardo Santana Jr., who is signed on to ride in the Ballerina, Letruska breezed a half-mile in 47.04 seconds over Saratoga's main track Saturday, ranking fourth of 50 horses at the distance.

“I think she likes the track,” Gutierrez said. “When she breezed she breezed very easily, like she liked it a lot. I had the impression during the workout that she was just galloping, and when I checked the time I understand she was running. She came back perfect and scoped good. She's very, very happy and I think in very good form for this important race.”

Letruska owns nine wins from 11 career starts, winning each of her first seven in Mexico including the Group 1 Clasico Esmerelda and Group 1 Clasico Diamante last summer. Her American debut came against older males in the 1 1/4-mile Copa Invitacional del Caribe in December at Gulfstream Park, where she cruised to a front-running 4 1/4-length triumph.

Following a failed attempt on turf in the Tropical Park Oaks, Letruska was sent to Oaklawn Park for her seasonal debut and first race in 3 ½ months, leading all the way in a 1 1/16-mile optional claiming allowance triumph with Santana up. Last out, she was a gate-to-wire winner of the one-mile Added Elegance on June 27 at Gulfstream.

“She is a racehorse with exceptional speed. It's not easy to tell when the horses run in Mexico City, because you can't know the quality and you can't know the condition,” Gutierrez said. “We run high above sea level, and there is a lot of pollution. There she ran seven times and won the seven very easy in very good times.

“She won a tough allowance at Oaklawn Park after the layoff. The last race she had at Gulfstream, in my opinion, was spectacular. She ran very fast. She covered six furlongs in 1:08 and change,” he added. “This was the reason I came here. I'm sure she is ready for this level of competition.”

Gutierrez said Santana noticed a difference in Letruska in the 3 1/2 months since they were last together in Arkansas.

“He breezed her yesterday and he liked her a lot,” Gutierrez said. “She has grown up a lot and gotten stronger.”

The post Mexican Star Letruska To Try Deeper Waters In Saratoga’s Ballerina appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Collusion Illusion Noses Out Lexitonian In ‘Win And You’re In’ Bing Crosby

Rider Flavien Prat took advantage of a serious speed battle up front, dove for the rail in the stretch and pulled off a nose victory with the 3-year-old Collusion Illusion in Saturday's 75th running of the Grade I Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar near San Diego, Calif.

The colt by Twirling Candy just nosed out Calumet Farm's Lexitonian and rider Drayden Van Dyke who lagged far behind early, looped the field on the turn for home and fired in the lane to just miss in the six-furlong headliner. Final time for the dash was 1:10.41 after early splits of :21.58 and :44.73.

Prat was winning his sixth stakes of the nine-day old meet and his second victory of the day to assume command in the local jockeys' race with 16 firsts. He now has 50 stakes wins at Del Mar. For Collusion Illusion's trainer, Mark Glatt, it was his first Grade I stakes victory.

Lexitonian's trainer, Jack Sisterson, won his first G1 earlier in the day at Saratoga when Vexatious upset champion Midnight Bisou in the Personal Ensign Stakes.

“It set up nicely for me,” said Prat. “They were going fast up front; I could feel it. My horse was handling the dirt well today, too. Better than he usually does. When we turned for home I had horses in front of me and I was aware the inside was playing fast today so I went down there. I got through and at the eighth pole I thought I was going to be an easy winner. Then I saw that horse on the outside (Lexitonian) coming and I wasn't so sure. But we got there.”

Collusion Illusion is owned by a quartet of Washington State partners — Dan Agnew, Jerry Schneider, John Xitco and Dr. Rodney Orr.

Running third in the $250,000 Crosby was Law Abidin Citizen, who races for the same group that owns Collusion Illusion and also is trained by Glatt.

As the favorite, the Florida-bred winner paid $5.80, $3.60 and $2.80. He earned a check for $150,000 and moved his bankroll up to $398,751. He now has won five of his six lifetime starts. Collusion Illusion was bred by Don Dizney.

“We thought, looking on paper, they were going to go pretty fast,” said Glatt. “I didn't think my other horse (Law Abidin Citizen, 3rd) would be that close (early) but he hung in there very tough. He's a bit of an overachiever and I'm almost as proud of him as I am of Collusion Illusion. (Collusion Illusion) doesn't like dirt in his face and the way it set up he was going to have to go extremely wide to stay away from it. But the past couple days the rail has been getting better as a place to be and when he darted to the rail I knew he was going to be coming. I got a little worried if he was going to find a place to go, but he was able to and came through in the end.”

The Crosby was a Breeders' Cup “Win and You're In” Challenge Race meaning Collusion Illusion has won a guaranteed starting spot – with all fees paid – to the 2020 Breeders' Cup Sprint, which will be held at Keeneland in Lexington, KY, on Saturday, November 7.

Earlier on the card, the 2-year-old Governor Goteven scampered to a three and one-half length victory in the $100,000 CTBA Stakes for California-bred juvenile fillies.

She was ridden by Tiago Pereira and trained by Lisa Bernard, who was winning her first stakes race, as well as first race at Del Mar. Late last year the conditioner took over the horses of now-retired trainer Walther Solis and trains out of San Luis Rey Training Center.

The homebred daughter of Governor Charlie covered five and one half furlongs in 1:05.55 and earned a first prize of $57,000 to increase her earnings to $87,000 for her two wins in two starts. She paid $8.80, $3.00 and $2.20 across the board. Final time for the five and one-half furlong test was 1:05.55.

The winner is owned by her breeder – Templeton Horses – which is the nom du course of Linda Templeton of Warner Srpings, CA.

Finishing second was LeucadiaLand Stable's race favorite Big Andy and third went to C T R Stables Reign of Fire.

Prior to that race, Thousand Words beat favored Honor A.P. in the $100,000 Shared Belief Stakes, thus earning himself a starting spot in the Kentucky Derby if his connection choose to go.

Racing at Del Mar returns tomorrow with a first post of 2 p.m. PT

The post Collusion Illusion Noses Out Lexitonian In ‘Win And You’re In’ Bing Crosby appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post