The 2020 Road to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve continues its unprecedented summer tour with a stop this Saturday at a historic, picturesque locale that’s usually reserved for early spring – Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky.
Tag: Racing
Grade 1 Winner Wicked Whisper Seeking Oaks Points In Keeneland’s Beaumont
JoAnn and Alex Lieblong's Wicked Whisper, winner of last fall's Frizette (G1) at Belmont Park, will make her 2020 debut Friday when she headlines a field of six 3-year-old fillies in the 35th running of the $100,000 Beaumont (G3) Presented by Keeneland Select.
The race, to be run over the Beard Course of 7 furlongs, 184 feet, offers 34 points on the Road to the Sept. 4 Kentucky Oaks (G1) on a 20-8-4-2 scale to the top four finishers. The Beaumont Presented by Keeneland Select will go as the seventh race on Friday's nine-race program with a 4:24 p.m. post time.
Trained by Steve Asmussen and to be ridden by Joel Rosario, Wicked Whisper has not raced since finishing fifth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) at Santa Anita. She will break from post position four.
Looming as one of the main threats to Wicked Whisper is Whitham Thoroughbreds' Four Graces. Winner of the Dogwood (G3) last month at Churchill Downs, Four Graces has won three of four career starts for trainer Ian Wilkes. Julien Leparoux has the mount Friday and will exit post position three.
Invading from California is Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Madaket Stables' Speech. Trained by Michael McCarthy, Speech finished second in the Santa Anita Oaks (G2) and prior to that was beaten a neck in an allowance test at Oaklawn Park by runaway Acorn (G1) winner Gamine. Javier Castellano has the mount on Speech and will break from post two.
The field for the Beaumont Presented by Keeneland Select, with riders and weights from the rail out, is: Slam Dunk (Luis Saez, 118 pounds), Speech (Castellano, 118), Four Graces (Leparoux, 118), Wicked Whisper (Rosario, 123), Sconsin (James Graham, 118), Turtle Trax (Brian Hernandez Jr., 118).
The post Grade 1 Winner Wicked Whisper Seeking Oaks Points In Keeneland’s Beaumont appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Shoemaker Top Three Show Up For Rematch In Friday’s Maker’s Mark Mile
Peter Brant's Raging Bull (FR), winner of the Shoemaker Mile (G1) in his most recent start, headlines a field of 10 entered Tuesday for Friday's 32nd running of the $300,000 Maker's Mark Mile (G1) to be contested over the Keeneland turf course.
The Maker's Mark Mile, the first of four Grade 1 races during the five-day Summer Meet that begins Wednesday, is scheduled as the eighth race on Friday's nine-race program with a 4:57 p.m. ET post time. First post is 1:05 p.m.
Trained by Chad Brown, Raging Bull returns to Keeneland, where he finished fourth in last year's Maker's Mark Mile. A two-time Grade 1 winner, Raging Bull will be ridden by Joel Rosario and break from post position four.
Brown also trains Without Parole (GB), who finished third in the Shoemaker Mile. Owned by John Gunther and his daughter Tanya Gunther, Without Parole finished third in last year's TVG Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) in his U.S. debut. In 2018, Without Parole won the Group 1 St. James's Palace at Royal Ascot in England.
Irad Ortiz Jr. has the mount on Without Parole and break from post position eight.
Also in the field is the horse that split the Brown duo in the Shoemaker: Next Shares.
Trained by part owner Richard Baltas, Next Shares counts the 2018 Shadwell Turf Mile (G1) at Keeneland among his three graded stakes victories. An earner of more than $1.7 million, Next Shares will break from post nine and be ridden by John Velazquez.
Another horse returning to the Keeneland turf is Gary Barber's War of Will.
Trained by Mark Casse, War of Will finished fourth in the 2018 Dixiana Bourbon (G3) and also trained at Keeneland before embarking on a Triple Crown campaign that included a victory in the Preakness (G1).
War of Will finished sixth in the Shoemaker Mile in his 2020 debut that served as his first grass start since 2018. Tyler Gaffalione has the mount Friday and will break from post position 10.
The field for the Maker's Mark Mile, with riders and weights from the rail out, is: Hembree (Javier Castellano, 118 pounds), High Crime (Luis Saez, 118), Parlor (Florent Geroux, 118), Raging Bull (FR) (Rosario, 123), English Bee (James Graham, 118), Everfast (Ricardo Santana Jr., 118), Emmaus (IRE) (Brian Hernandez Jr., 118), Without Parole (GB) (Ortiz, 118), Next Shares (John Velazquez, 120) and War of Will (Gafflione, 118).
The post Shoemaker Top Three Show Up For Rematch In Friday’s Maker’s Mark Mile appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Curlin’s Voyage Remains Early Favorite Among 36 Fillies Eligible For Woodbine Oaks
Woodbine Entertainment released an updated list today of Canadian-bred three-year-old fillies eligible to the 65th running of the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks presented by Budweiser, set for Saturday, Aug. 15.
A total of 36 fillies, including four supplements, have been nominated to the 1 1/8-mile opening leg of the Canadian Triple Tiara following the July 1 sustaining payment deadline.
Sovereign Award winner Curlin's Voyage stamped herself as an early favorite for the mid-August affair following her Fury Stakes triumph on Sunday at Woodbine. The Curlin-Atlantic Voyage filly has won half of her eight career starts, including the Grade 3 Mazarine and Ontario Lassie, while earning nearly $365,000 for breeder Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings and co-owner Windsor Boys Racing.
Owlette was impressive in her season's debut, capturing the Star Shoot Stakes over Curlin's Voyage on June 13 for trainer Wesley Ward and Ten Broeck Farm. The daughter of Frac Daddy and Itstartswithadream has finished no worse than second in six career starts while earning just over $300,000 and boasts additional stakes wins in the Shady Well and Victorian Queen.
Other stakes-winning fillies that remain eligible to the Oaks include Princess Elizabeth champion Cool Shadows, a Chiefswood Stables homebred trained by Stuart Simon, and Roger Attfield's South Ocean Stakes winner Gun Society.
The high-profile filly Infinite Patience, co-owned by NHL star Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and breeder William DeCoursey, was a gutsy third in last weekend's Fury after going five-for-five in her freshman campaign at Hastings Racecourse. The Sungold-Montero filly has been supplemented to the Oaks for $2,500 along with Curlin's Tiger, Lasting Union and River of Pearls.
The list of eligibles includes Ann of Cleves, who is a half-sister to 2015 Woodbine Oaks champion Academic. Ricky Griffith trains the Verrazano-Awesome Lass filly for Racing Canada and John Phillip Brown.
NK Racing's contender Sansa's Vow is a full-sister to Tone Broke, winner of two-thirds of last year's Canadian Triple Crown (Prince of Wales and Breeders' Stakes). Unraced at two, the Broken Vow-Mendocino Beano miss broke her maiden when making her second career start in a 1-1/16 mile-turf race on June 21 for trainer Josie Carroll.
Sam-Son Farm, owner and breeder of last year's Oaks champion Desert Ride, has three nominees including Raven's Song. The Medaglia d'Oro-Song of the Lark filly is a half-sister to multiple graded stakes champion Up With the Birds, who was a close runner-up in the Queen's Plate and winner of the Breeders' Stakes during his 2013 Horse of the Year campaign.
Another filly with Triple Crown pedigree is Itskathiesluckyday, trained by Mike Keogh for The Estate of Gustav Schickedanz. Sired by Itsmyluckyday, the maiden filly's dam Half Sister is in fact a half-sister to Triple Crown winner Wando.
Fifty-eight fillies were originally nominated to the 2020 Woodbine Oaks.
The post Curlin’s Voyage Remains Early Favorite Among 36 Fillies Eligible For Woodbine Oaks appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
