Ridden by Cristian Torres for Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, Track Phantom won the $98,000 Gun Runner Stakes Dec. 23 at Fair Grounds. With his 1 1/4-length victory, Track Phantom earned 10 points on the Road to the 2024 Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve.
Tag: Racing
Spirit Wind Returns With Front-Running Sugar Swirl Victory
Off since May, Jacks or Better Farm Inc.'s Spirit Wind came back running in Saturday's $125,000 Sugar Swirl (G3) at Gulfstream Park, earning graded stakes credentials with a front-running victory.
Spirit Wind, who had demonstrated dazzling speed while winning four of her previous seven starts, ran to form Saturday, jumping to a clear early lead and setting fractions of :22.23 and :45.30 under Jose Ortiz while well clear of the field for the first half-mile. The Carlos David-trained 4-year-old daughter of Bahamian Squall began to shorten stride in midstretch but held on gamely to finish a half-length ahead of runner-up Intrepid Daydream.
“Carlos told me the works she's had here were very good work. Obviously has back class and she obviously has speed,” Ortiz said. “She gave me a good jump out of the gate. She broke very clean. She relaxed very good.”
Spirit Wind ($8.40) ran six furlongs in 1:10.58 to deny the late stretch bid by Intrepid Daydream, who finished a neck ahead of third-place finisher Olivia Darling.
Jacks or Better Farm's Florida homebred out of the Awesome of Course mare Sacred Psalm was a multiple stakes winner who finished second behind Ce Ce in the Princess Rooney (G2) during her 3-year-old season. She won an allowance in her 2023 debut at Gulfstream last March and finished fourth in the May 29 Winning Colors (G3) at Churchill Downs before going to the sidelines.
Spirit Wind was transferred to David's Palm Meadows-based stable approximately a month ago and entered the Sugar Swirl off one workout.
“I wanted to give her one more work, but we had the bad weather,” David said. “I told Jose, 'She might need the race. There's a lot of speed. Just break good. If some of the others go to the lead, just sit.' She grabbed the lead and as soon as she got the lead, she relaxed a little bit.”
David said he'd look for another graded stakes opportunity for Spirit Wind during the Gulfstream's Championship Meet.
The post Spirit Wind Returns With Front-Running Sugar Swirl Victory appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Be My Sunshine Strikes For First Stakes Win In Tropical Park Oaks
Ken Ramsey homebred Be My Sunshine, three weeks removed from a win over her elders at the same course and distance, got a heady ride from jockey Edgard Zayas in her return to spring an 8-1 surprise upset in Saturday's $125,000 Tropical Park Oaks at Gulfstream Park.
The 29th running of the 1 1/16-mile Tropical Park Oaks for 3-year-old fillies on the turf was the first of four $125,000 stakes on an 11-race program, followed by the seven-furlong Mr. Prospector (G3) for 3-year-olds and up and six-furlong Sugar Swirl (G3) for fillies and mares, both on the main track, and 1 1/16-mile Tropical Park Derby for 3-year-olds, also on the grass.
Trained by two-time defending Championship Meet titlist Saffie Joseph Jr., Be My Sunshine ($19.40) completed the distance in 1:39.94 over the firm going for her third win in four tries over the Gulfstream turf, and first in a stakes.
“Today she needed to step up and improve, and she did that,” Joseph said. “What a ride by Edgard. He was able to save all the ground, got the slip at the head of the lane and that was the difference between winning and losing – his ride.”
Back in against her own age group for the first time since the summer, Be My Sunshine broke from Post 11 of 12 and settled in fourth, racing between Grade 2-placed Dolce Sopresa to her inside and Grade 3-placed Startup Mentality as 90-1 long shot Speed Trap led through a quarter mile in :22.81 and a half mile in :47.22.
Speed Trap was still in front after six furlongs in 1:11.19 when Zayas gave Be My Sunshine her cue, ducking her down inside and splitting Speed Trap to her outside and Dolce Sopresa on the rail. Be My Sunshine surged through the opening and got a jump on late-running Grade 3-placed Breath Away and Alpha Bella to hold them off and win by a head.
“My only worry [was] I didn't want to rush her up. I just wanted to get her out of there fast enough so that I could cross over and get a good position,” Zayas said. “It worked out good. She helped me a lot the whole way. We found a hole on the rail and kicked in and held on.”
Breath Away edged Alpha Bella for second, with Grade 3 winner Cairo Consort fourth, and 35-1 long shot Sun Bee fifth.
Unraced at 2, Be My Sunshine, a daughter of Frosted, debuted with a win sprinting 7 ½ furlongs Jan. 8 on the Gulfstream turf, where she ran second next time out going 1 1/16 miles March 12. After running sixth in the Selene (G3) on Woodbine's all-weather surface July 1 she had faced older horses in each of her next three starts.
Zayas and Joseph have established a winning connection in recent years, connecting at 26 percent at Gulfstream and 25 percent overall in 2022-23.
“I ride [Zayas] a lot, I'm hard on him, and today he won the race. If he doesn't give her that ride, she probably doesn't win,” Joseph said. “He obviously had the horse, she did her job, too, but he was a big part of it.”
Kentucky-bred Be My Sunshine was produced by the Kitten's Joy mare Sisterhood.
The post Be My Sunshine Strikes For First Stakes Win In Tropical Park Oaks appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Letter To The Editor: Nick de Meric
I just wanted to express my frustration and disappointment that we, as an industry, seem incapable of presenting a meaningful response to the negativity we are currently facing in the mainstream media. For example, when the 60 Minutes documentary aired several weeks ago, it elicited a wave of legitimate outrage. But the industry's side of the story was nowhere to be seen outside the trade press. We have a collective tendency, at times like this, to wring our hands and shuffle our feet, figuratively speaking.
Surely the Thoroughbred Racing Industry, with all the fine bodies encompassed within it, with all their titles and acronyms, should have a public relations/damage control body tasked with countering some of the misinformation and negative reporting circulating in the free press?
We have so many positives to present: the improvements to injury detection, increased out of competition testing, the monitoring of training and workouts, more pre race veterinary oversight, the dedication of Thoroughbred Retirement facilities and the huge success of the Thoroughbred Makeover Project, stricter drug testing and uniformity of rules through HISA and HWIU, more stringent protocols at sales and the resulting improvements to horse and jockey safety, all of which are clearly reflected in independent studies. And while with most of these we are playing off the back foot, playing defense, none of it takes into account the many 'feel good' stories from this year's racing, the magnificent spectacle of Thoroughbreds racing on a big race day, the euphoria of backing a winning combination or the sheer joy of owning a competitive racehorse.
We now face the fallout from another damaging 'documentary' on racing, titled, 'Broken Horses', this time from the Disney Company, in which we are told that Thoroughbred horseracing's social license to exist is to be questioned, among other things. How many more such exposés in the mainstream media can we survive? Yet more fodder for the abolitionists. At what point will the New York State legislature decide to scrap plans for Belmont's renovation and spend the funds elsewhere?
It seems we are in desperate need of an intelligently choreographed, sustained PR campaign stressing the love of the animals that is inseparable from our fine sport, the significant economic impact of the industry in racing states, of the beauty of the horses themselves or of the farms that nurture them, the rich traditions of its history, the international competition between owners, trainers and racing jurisdictions globally and the excitement associated with owning, or just betting, a winner. These are significant talking points, of which we could make far better use.
We have industry insiders loudly and publicly calling for an overhaul of the sport, of purging 'the evildoers' and of the rampant use of performance enhancing drugs, which only adds fuel to the firestorm of public criticism. Yes, we need constantly to raise the bar and continue to make ongoing improvements in every aspect the sport, which, by the way, we are doing. We all agree on this.
But it seems to me that it is past time to link arms and present a united front that gives a more accurate portrayal of our beautiful sport, and its fine athletes, than that which is fed to the public by certain factions of the mainstream media. With the many powerful intellects and social influencers among our participants, it defies credibility that we seem unable to create an entity whose sole task is to present the multitude of positives our sport has to offer.
Perhaps now would be a really good time to form such a body.
Respectfully,
Nick de Meric.
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