Tag: Racing

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.

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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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Almendares Seeks First U.S. Stakes Victory In Mathis Mile

Phil D'Amato's hard-hitting English-bred Almendares retains the services of Flavien Prat and figures to be tough to deny among a field of seven sophomores in Tuesday's Grade 2, $200,000 Mathis Mile on the turf at Santa Anita.  The Mathis Mile is one of six graded stakes on an 11-race card on Santa Anita's Classic Meet opening day and has been carded as race nine.

A 3-year-old gelding with a terrific stretch kick, Almendares rallied from far back to win going away by three quarters of a length in a one mile turf second condition allowance Dec. 3 at Del Mar—earning a career best 95 Beyer Speed Figure in the process.

A hard-charging fifth, beaten one length two starts back at 1 1/8 miles on turf in the G2 Twilight Derby at Santa Anita Nov. 4, Almendares finished well to be third, beaten one length three starts back in the G2 Del Mar Derby on Sept. 3.

Two for five in Ireland and a winner of two of his four starts locally with D'Amato, Almendares is owned by CYBT, McLean Racing Stables, Saul Gervitz, et al.

An authoritative 2 ¼-length one-mile maiden turf winner in his eighth career start Sept. 9 at Del Mar, the Jeff Mullins-trained Dandy Man Shines rallied for another 2 ¼-length one-mile turf win in the restricted Let It Ride Stakes on Nov. 10 and thus seeks his third win in a row with Umberto Rispoli at the controls on Tuesday.

Owned by Red Baron's Barn, LLC and Rancho Temescal, Dandy Man Shines is a 3-year-old gelding coming to his best at a distance he relishes.

GRADE II MATHIS MILE WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 9 of 11  Approximate post time 3 p.m. PT
  1. Reiquist—Irad Ortiz, Jr.—120
  2. Panic Alarm—Hector Berrios—120
  3. Calm Sea—Mario Gutierrez—120
  4. Almendares—Flavien Prat—120
  5. Ah Jeez—Junior Alvarado—120
  6. Dandy Man Shines—Umberto Rispoli—122
  7. Watsonville—Antonio Fresu—120
First post time for an 11-race card that will include six graded stakes on Tuesday is at 11 a.m. with admission gates opening at 9 a.m.

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Argentine Star Subsanador Makes U.S. Debut in San Antonio

A three-time Group 1 stakes winner and favored in 10 out of his 12 starts in his native Argentina, John Sadler's Subsanador figures prominently as he makes his U.S. debut with Flavien Prat at the controls versus five rivals going 1 1/16 miles in Tuesday's Grade 2, $200,000 San Antonio Stakes at Santa Anita.

With Flavien Prat engaged, Subsanador, a 4-year-old chestnut colt, has been idle since winning a Group 2 stakes in Argentina on July 29, but he enters the San Antonio on the strength of a strong work tab that includes four consecutive bullet moves, the most recent a six-furlong clocking of 1:13.20 on Dec. 18.

Owned by Carlos Alejandro Vazquez, Subsanador's Argentine resume reads 12-7-1-1 with earning of $149,124.

A winner of this year's Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap and with career earnings in excess of $1.8 million, owner Steve Moger's Stilleto Boy has lofty credentials but comes off a pair of terrible starts, as he finished a distant last in the G1 Awesome Again at Santa Anita Sept. 30 and was eased two starts back in the G1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar.

Trained by Ed Moger, Jr., Stilleto Boy has long been based at Golden Gate Fields but will be relocating soon to Santa Anita with the rest of Moger's stable.  A 5-year-old Kentucky-bred gelding by Shackleford, Stilleto Boy, a three-time stakes winner, is 25-4-4-9 and is 8-2-2-2 at Santa Anita.

With leading man Juan Hernandez back aboard for the first time since September of 2022, look for Stilleto Boy to run a much improved race in the San Antonio, a race in which he finished second a year ago.

A runaway 8 ¼-length G2 winner going the seldom-run distance of a mile and five eighths at Santa Anita on Nov. 4, Richard Mandella was nonetheless in search of a new rider for his Irish-bred Salesman, as Flavien Prat has opted to ride newcomer Subsanador.

With Mike Smith engaged, Salesman, who earned a 92 Beyer Speed Figure on Nov. 4, seems to have found a new home on dirt as a 6-year-old gelding. Raced nearly exclusively on turf in France, Salesman was well beaten in his first two stateside assignments on grass with Mandella, finishing ninth in the G1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita May 29 and 12th in the restricted Wickerr Stakes July 23 at Del Mar.

Switched to dirt at a mile and one sixteenth in the restricted Los Alamitos Special Sept. 17 he ran a much improved third, followed by his rollicking win on Nov. 4.  Owned by Wertheimer and Frere, Salesman is 26-4-6-5 overall with earnings of $335,300.

GRADE II SAN ANTONIO WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 6 of 11 Approximate post time 1:30 p.m. PT
  1. Stilleto Boy—Juan Hernandez—123
  2. Salesman—Mike Smith—125
  3. Brickyard Ride—Umberto Rispoli—121
  4. Newgrange—Irad Ortiz, Jr.—123
  5. Subsanador—Flavien Prat—125
  6. Mixto—Antonio Fresu—119
With 11 races, six of them graded stakes on the opening day docket, first post time will be early at 11 a.m.  Admission gates will open at 9 a.m.

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