Racing | Horse Racing Free Tips

‘So Great To See Her Back’: La Troienne Likely Next For Returning Champion Monomoy Girl

Michael Dubb, Monomoy Stables, The Elkstone Group, and Bethlehem Stables' Monomoy Girl returned to graded stakes-winning form on Saturday with a two-length triumph in the Grade 2 Ruffian at Belmont Park, earning a career-best 104 Beyer Speed Figure.

Owner Sol Kumin of Monomoy Stables said he was pleased with the winning effort.

“It was so great to see her back,” Kumin said. “She had been training so well going into the race and this was just so exciting to see.”

Monomoy Girl will look to build on Saturday's victory with a possible start in the Grade 1 La Troienne on September 4 at Churchill Downs going 1 1/16 miles.

Trained by Brad Cox, Monomoy Girl was crowned Champion 3-Year-Old Filly in 2018, winning five Grade 1 races including the Acorn and Coaching Club American Oaks on the NYRA circuit en route to a triumph against elders in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Distaff at Churchill Downs.

The 5-year-old Tapizar chestnut did not race at age 4 and was sent to WinStar Farm last spring after a mild case of colic and suffered an injury to her hamstring last fall when preparing for a potential comeback.

Prior to her Ruffian score, Monomoy Girl bested an optional claiming field over a sloppy main track going a one-turn mile at Churchill Downs by 2 ¾ lengths.

“Most likely she'll come back in the La Troienne,” Kumin said. “It's a good distance, there's good spacing between her races, and it's at Churchill Downs which is right at her front door. We'll discuss it further with the rest of the partners, but more than likely that's where you'll see her.”

Kumin is also a part owner of reigning Champion Older Filly Midnight Bisou as well as dual Grade 1 winner She's a Julie.

“Obviously the day is going to come where they'll have to face each other, but we'll keep them separate for the time being. I'm just very lucky to be involved with such great fillies. This is what the game is all about,” Kumin said.

The post ‘So Great To See Her Back’: La Troienne Likely Next For Returning Champion Monomoy Girl appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Brown Quartet Top Friday’s De La Rose At Saratoga

Trainer Chad Brown will have a strong hand in Friday's 17th renewal of the $85,000 De La Rose, saddling four of the eight contenders for the one mile event over the inner turf at Saratoga Race Course.

Brown, who won the De La Rose in 2018 with subsequent champion Uni, will send out a quality quartet headed by Noor Sahara, who will cut back in distance after finishing third against allowance optional claiming company going 1 1/8 miles on June 12 at Belmont Park.

The 4-year-old bay daughter of Lope de Vega made her North American debut last out as the favorite, tracking a slow pace up front, put herself in winning contention but was ultimately passed up in the final strides missing only a neck to Wegetsdamunnys. The effort was her first start of 2020 and first since September 19 where she was fifth against stakes company at Saint-Cloud in France for former trainer Fabrice Chappet.

“It might have been a little far for her,” Brown said of her last effort. “She hadn't run in a while off that effort so now she has that race under her belt. Cutting her back to a mile should do her some good.”

Owned by Sol Kumin and Jason Monteleone's Madaket Stable, Sienna Farm, Michael Dubb and Bethlehem Stables, Noor Sahara was a two-time winner in France, going one mile.

Three-time Saratoga leading jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. will pilot Noor Sahara from post 2.

Catch a Bid, winner of last year's Riskaverse over a yielding inner turf at the Spa, will try to keep her perfect record going one mile intact.

Owned by Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables, the bay daughter of Real Solution made her seasonal debut a winning one last out when leading an easy pace at every point of call in an allowance optional claiming event on June 14 at Churchill Downs. The running style was a different one for Catch a Bid, whose other two victories came when coming from well of the pace. After winning on debut over at Belmont Park last June, Catch a Bid was second to eventual graded stakes-winner Varenka before winning the Riskaverse.

Jockey Tyler Gaffalione retains the mount from post 1.

Peter Brant's Blowout has never finished off the board in eight career starts and will attempt to keep her consistent record unscathed from post 9.

The daughter of Dansili out of French Group 1-winner Beauty Parlour has never been beaten more than three-quarters of a length and will make her first start since finishing second in the Grade 3 Valley View on October 18 at Keeneland.
Blowout will attempt a third stakes victory having won the Wild Applause and the Pebbles over the Widener Turf Course at Belmont Park during her 3-year-old campaign.

Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, a three-time winner of the De La Rose, will pilot Blowout.

Rounding out the tetrad of Brown's contenders is Juddmonte Farm's Viadera, who made her North American debut last out finishing a distant fourth over a yielding turf to stablemate Newspaperofrecord in the Grade 3 Intercontinental at Belmont.

The 4-year-old daughter of Bated Breath was previously conditioned by G.M. Lyons overseas, where she won three starts, two of which took place going one mile. A Great Britain homebred, Viadera is out of the Beat Hollow broodmare Sacred Shield and comes from the same family as Group 1-winner Twice Over.

Jockey Joel Rosario, who sported Juddmonte's signature turquoise and pink colors when guiding Filimbi to a De La Rose win in 2014, will guide Viadera from post 6.

Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables and Wonder Stables' Clara Peeters will be making her North American stakes debut in the De La Rose after a half-length allowance optional claiming score going seven furlongs over Belmont's Widener turf course on June 4.

Trained by Brad Cox, the 4-year-old daughter of Epaulette won twice in Great Britain for former conditioner Gary L. Moore and has placed in her last five outings. She made her United States debut at Fair Grounds on March 19 going one mile and finishing second beaten a neck after a slow start.

Completing the field are Passing Out [post 3, Jose Ortiz], Hogans Holiday [post 7, Ricardo Santana, Jr.] and Xenobia [post 8, Manny Franco].

Bridlewood Cat is entered for the main track only.

The De La Rose pays homage to Henryk de Kwiatkowski's 1981 Champion Grass Filly who won six graded stakes races over five different tracks, including the Diana at Saratoga and the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby against colts at Hollywood Park. The daughter of English Triple Crown winner Nijinsky was trained by Hall of Famer Woody Stephens.

The De La Rose is slated as Race 7 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.

The post Brown Quartet Top Friday’s De La Rose At Saratoga appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Key Takeaways from Blue Grass Stakes Weekend

Tom Pedulla presents five key takeaways from the $600,000 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland Race Course and other developments this past weekend.

Turf Veteran Zulu Alpha Closes Out Keeneland Summer Meet With Elkhorn Win

Michael Hui's even-money favorite Zulu Alpha surged past longshot pacesetter Postulation in deep stretch by three-quarters of a length to win Sunday afternoon's 35th running of the $175,000 TVG Elkhorn (G2) for 4-year-olds and up in the final race of the five-day Keeneland Summer Meet in Lexington, Ky.

Trained by Mike Maker and ridden by Tyler Gaffalione, Zulu Alpha completed the 1 1/2 miles on a turf course rated as good in 2:30.82. The victory secured the Summer Meet riding title for Gaffalione with seven wins and gave Maker three winners on the afternoon, including the Kentucky Utilities Transylvania (G3) two races prior with Field Pass.

It was the fourth Elkhorn victory for Maker, who won last year with Bigger Picture with Gaffalione aboard, in 2016 with Da Big Hoss and 2013 with Dark Cove.

Postulation led the field of 11 through unopposed fractions of :25.56, :52.02, 1:18.14 and 1:43.20 as Zulu Alpha raced back in ninth.

Gaffalione began to pick off horses on the far turn and then swung six wide in the stretch for clear sailing at Postulation, who did not give way until inside the sixteenth pole.

The victory was worth $105,000 and improved Zulu Alpha's career earnings to $2,165,114 with a record of 34-12-5-5. Sunday's triumph was the seventh graded stakes victory for Zulu Alpha, who also won the 2018 Sycamore (G3) at Keeneland.

Zulu Alpha is a 7-year-old Kentucky-bred gelded son of Street Cry (IRE) out of the A.P. Indy mare Zori. He paid $4, $2.80 and $2.60. Postulation, ridden by Julien Leparoux, returned $22 and $11.40 and finished 1¼ lengths front of Nakamura, who paid $6.20 to show under John Velazquez.

Jais's Solitude finished another 1¼ lengths back in fourth and was followed in order by Ry's the Guy, Arklow, Oscar Dominguez (IRE), He's No Lemon, Apreciado, Henley's Joy and Hellorhighwater.

TVG Elkhorn Quotes
Tyler Gaffalione: “(Being the Summer Meet's leading rider) feels amazing. I'm so glad to be getting the opportunities that I've been getting.”

How straightforward is Zula Alpha to ride? “He's as easy as they come. He just drops his head and you let him do his thing. He knows where the wire is. He's got some turn of foot.”

Is this one of the more impressive wins that he's had? “He's just keeps getting better and better throughout the year. All credit goes to (trainer) Mike (Maker) and his team. I'm just blessed to be part of it.”

Mike Maker: “After Gulfstream (where he won the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational-G1 and Mac Diarmida-G2 and was second in the Kitten's Joy Pan American-G2), we sent him to the farm again. We got delayed with the virus. Going a mile and a half, you're always a little bit concerned. But even I can't mess this one up.”

What do you map out between now and the fall? “Beginning of the year, our plans got changed a little bit because of the virus. But it was Kentucky Downs and then the Breeders' Cup (at Keeneland).”

Michael Matz, trainer of runner-up Postulation: “We're quite proud of him the way he ran. He's been off for almost seven months. He's no spring chicken, so we were really pleased the way he ran today. It was a shame he couldn't last (on the lead) a little longer, but that's what happens. Sometimes you get beat. But we were really proud of him. He tried hard and didn't give up the whole way. We were pleased with his effort. He's been a good horse for us. He always tries and he does what he can do. That's all you can ask of a horse.”

Graham Motion, trainer of third-place finisher Nakamura: “I was very pleased with the race for him coming off that (eight-month layoff). He is very competitive with these types of horses. He ran like he was fit enough. The (very slow) pace probably did not help us, but winner came from about where we were.”

On Nakamura's next race: “Possibly the Bowling Green (G2) at Saratoga (on Aug. 1) would be an option for sure. (The Breeders' Cup at Keeneland) would be ambitious at this staloage, but never say never. I love the Breeders' Cup.”

The post Turf Veteran Zulu Alpha Closes Out Keeneland Summer Meet With Elkhorn Win appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post