Tag: Racing

Baffert-Trained Trio Tops Friday’s Chillingworth Stakes On Opening Day At Santa Anita

Bob Baffert holds a strong three-card hand in Friday's Grade III, $100,000 Chillingworth Stakes at Santa Anita, with his streaking 4-year-old Qahira, who is in search of her fourth consecutive win, rating top billing among a field of seven fillies and mares three and up going 6 ½ furlongs.

Due to air quality concerns resulting from the Bobcat Fire in the nearby San Gabriel Mountains, Santa Anita's 2020 Autumn Meet, originally scheduled to begin on Sept. 19, will instead open this Friday, with both the Grade III Chillingworth and the Grade II Eddie D Stakes headlining a 10-race card.

Baffert will also be well represented by classy Quality Response, a restricted stakes winner at two who will be making her second start of the year on Friday and by recent restricted stakes winner Message, a 4-year-old filly that will be shortening up out of four consecutive routes.

Richard Mandella's Amuse, most recently second in the Grade III Rancho Bernardo Handicap going 6 ½ furlongs, seeks her first graded stakes win at age five and rates a solid chance.

Formerly run as the LA Woman Stakes, the Chillingworth honors the memory of longtime Oak Tree Racing Association Executive Vice President Sherwood Chillingworth, who passed away in October, 2019 at the age of 93.

QAHIRA

Owner: Baoma Corporation

Trainer: Bob Baffert

A winner of four out of her six career starts, Qahira, who dominated her competition by taking a 6 ½ furlong classified allowance by three lengths on Aug. 16 at Del Mar, will be making her second start of the year and will also be trying stakes competition for the first time. Although ridden last time by Abel Cedillo, top eastern rider Luis Saez, who comes to town primarily to ride Maximum Security for Baffert in Saturday's Grade I Awesome Again, will be aboard for the first time. Dating back to her 4 ¾ length first-out maiden romp on Nov. 25, 2018, she has dominated her competition by a combined 13 ¼ lengths in her four victories. With speed to spare and Saez aloft, Qahira is the horse to beat in the Chillingworth.

QUALITY RESPONSE

Owner: Mike Pegram, Karl Watson & Paul Weitman

Trainer: Bob Baffert

A winner of her first two starts in September of last year by a combined 12 ¾ lengths, this daughter of Quality Road was subsequently dispatched at 7-2 in the Grade I Frizette Stakes going a one turn mile at Belmont Park on Oct. 6, 2019, but finished a well beaten last and did not resurface prior to running a respectable fourth, beaten 3 ¼ lengths in second condition allowance going 5 ½ furlongs on Sept. 6 at Del Mar. With a recent race under her belt, look for big improvement.

AMUSE

Owner: Claiborne Farm, Ramona Bass, Perry Bass & Adele Dilschneider

Trainer: Richard Mandella

A game second when beaten 3 ¾ lengths in the Grade III Rancho Bernardo on Aug. 21, this 5-year-old mare by Medaglia d'Oro, who has two wins from nine starts, will be making her fifth start of the year and with two wins from three lifetime starts at Santa Anita, rates a solid chance.

THE GRADE III CHILLINGWORTH, WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 6 of 10 Approximate post time 3 p.m. PT

  1. Message – Flavien Prat- 124
  2. Qahira – Luis Saez – 124
  3. Into Chocolate – Umberto Rispoli – 124
  4. Mucho Amor – Juan Hernandez – 124
  5. Hang a Star – Tyler Baze – 122
  6. Unique Factor – Heriberto Figueroa – 124
  7. Amuse – Drayden Van Dyke – 122

First post time for a 10-race program on Friday is at 12:30 p.m. For additional information, please visit santaanita.com or call (626) 574-RACE.

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This Time It Counts: Pirate’s Punch Proves Best In Salvator Mile

Pirate's Punch left no doubt about the outcome this time.

Disqualified from first for interference in the stretch in the Grade 3 Philip Iselin Stakes four weeks ago, Pirate's Punch drew away coming out of the final turn to win the $150,000 Grade 3 Salvator Mile by two lengths on Sunday at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J.

Now it's onto the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile on Saturday, Nov. 7, for the half-brother to 2017 Haskell Invitational winner Girvin, according to trainer Grant Forster.

“The Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile is definitely our plan based on these last two races,” said the Kentucky-based Forster. “For us here in Kentucky it's a home game this year. He does have one race at Keeneland when he ran very well as he was just starting to improve last fall. I know the owners and I are on board.

“We were treating this as our `win and you're in.' He won it, so I guess we have to put our money where our mouth is and give a horse the chance to show what he can do on the national stage.”

The speedy 4-year-old son of Shanghai Bobby, who generally races on the lead, was kept off the early quick pace set by Prendimi and Wind of Change, with the duo taking the eight-horse field to an opening quarter of :22.69 and a first half in :45.80.

Entering the final turn, jockey Jorge Vargas, Jr. gave Pirate's Punch his cue, with the gelding sweeping three wide and immediately getting a jump on the field as he made the lead. Final time for the mile was 1:37.19.

Top Line Growth, the Laurel Park record holder for a mile, was able to get second, a head in front of Bal Harbour.

“I'm pleased they gave me another chance to ride this horse after the Iselin,” said Vargas. “I didn't feel what happened that day was all that bad but I still felt bad about it and apologized to the owners afterward. They told me I did everything right and rode a good race.

“Obviously today we wanted to be on the lead because that's the best way he has run before, but they went quick early on. I didn't panic. I just tried to keep him clean. I knew I was on the best horse in the race. After the three-eighths he just took off. I wasn't going to challenge that fast early speed. I know this is a good horse and he will get in gear.”

Now with a 5-3-4 line from 17 career starts, Pirate's Punch earned his first graded stakes win. He paid $6.60 to win as the favorite in the field.

“He really validated that last race,” said Forster. “I said before the race I was concerned about bringing him back this quickly with the travelling (from Kentucky), but every day he has been a 10 out there on the track for us and he gave us every reason to come back.

“The jockeys who have ridden him have always said he will rate. He has run some very good races from just off the pace, but of course this is the first time to get a win doing it that way with such a fast early pace being set. Credit to Jorge Vargas, Jr. He rode a brilliant race. He didn't panic being on the favorite. He knew what he had underneath him. The horse runs the turns very well and Vargas asked him around the turn and he responded as we know he can.”

Owned by Gulliver Racing LLC, Craig Drager and Dan Legan, Pirate's Punch boosted his career earnings to $332,751 with the $90,000 winner's share of the purse.

He also moved Vargas a step closer to what would be a career riding highlight.

“The Breeders' Cup is one of my dreams so I am hoping this horse goes now,” said Vargas. “To be able to ride him in the Breeders' Cup would be a dream come true.”

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‘Yet To See The Best Of Her’: Cox Sending Bonny South To Black-Eyed Susan

Trainer Brad Cox said Juddmonte Farms' homebred Munnings filly Bonny South was rerouted from the Kentucky Oaks (G1) once it was announced in mid-August that the $250,000, Black-Eyed Susan (G2) would be on the Preakness undercard at Pimlico racecourse in Baltimore, Md.

“That was the spot that made the most sense, against 3-year-olds fillies, he said.

Cox won the Kentucky Oaks anyway with 15-1 shot Shedaresthedevil upsetting Swiss Skydiver and odds-on favorite Gamine. He said the fact that he had the Indiana Oaks (G3) winner in the Churchill Downs race had no bearing on Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) winner Bonny South, who was coming off a second behind Swiss Skydiver in Saratoga's Alabama (G1) at 1 1/4 miles on Aug. 15.

“The biggest thing with her not running in the Kentucky Oaks was coming back in 20 days, the quality of the race. It was a very, very good race,” Cox said. “Ultimately they made the decision to not run. The timing wasn't quite there. Since the Alabama, she's done really, really well.”

Bonny South worked five-eighths of a mile in 1:01 under jockey Florent Geroux Saturday morning at Churchill Downs. Cox timed her galloping out six furlongs in a strong 1:13 4/5, saying afterward, “She went fantastic. She's doing great. She's maturing. She's still somewhat lightly raced, only run six times in her life. I think we have yet to see the best of her. Hopefully she'll take a step forward. I don't know what's running in there yet, but I'd have to think she's one of the top choices.”

Cox edged two-time defending champion Steve Asmussen to collect Preakness weekend's trainer participation bonus last year, collecting $50,000. The bonus, which totals $100,000 is offered to trainers based on horses' performances in stakes races. Cox earned top prize by winning the Miss Preakness (G3) with eventual 3-year-old filly and female sprint champion Covfefe, the Allaire duPont Distaff (G3) with Mylady Curlin, second in the Black-Eyed Susan with Ulele, as well as third (Owendale) and fourth (Warrior's Charge) in the Preakness in the trainer's Triple Crown debut.

Cox has some excellent horses under consideration this year but said no final decisions have been made beyond Bonny South. The possibilities from his barn include Juliet Foxtrot for the Gallorette (G3), Mundaye Call for the Miss Preakness, and Landeskog in the Frank DeFrancis Memorial Dash (G3).

“I don't know if I'll have as many this year as last year,” he said, adding that the bonus doesn't impact running horses “but once you start running, you start watching. That's how it works out. But really, it comes down to whether the horse fits or not. We just had a really good weekend last year.”

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