Tag: Racing

In racing parlance, it was a case of “walking the dog.”

Rider Tiago Pereira put his filly Linda's Gift on the lead out of the gate in the 1 3/8-mile Red Carpet (G3), then stayed there all the way around  en route to a three-quarter length victory in the Thanksgiving Day feature at Del Mar.

The 4-year-old daughter of Arrogate set slow fractions of :26.00 :51.62 1:17.30 1:41.97 2:05.98 and finished the distance in 2:17.80 on turf rated as good.

“They left me alone out there,” Pereira said of his filly controlling the pace. “That was fine with me. She was a runner all the way.”

Trained Richard Mandella for  an extended ownership group headed by John Cronin, Anthony DiMarco, and Michael Mandara, Linda's Gift picked up a first prize of $60,000 from the $101,000 purse and returned $7.80 to her backers as the second choice in the field of seven fillies and mares.

“I liked the looks of it all the way,” Mandella said of Linda's Gift's front-running win. “I didn't think they (the early fractions) were real. It's hard to gallop her that slow. She looked like she was comfortable. I always thought she was good enough and she rose to the occasion.”

Finishing second was Musical Rhapsody, who had three-quarters of a length on third-place finisher Sister Otoole.

Linda's Gift increased her bankroll to $194,936 with her third victory from her 11th start and earned her first stakes win while making her graded stakes debut. She entered off a fourth in the Kathryn Crosby while trying stakes company for the first time Nov. 11 at the seaside track.

Bred in Kentucky by Calumet Farm, Linda's Gift was produced by the winning Tapit mare Americana. She sold to George Weaver's agency for $50,000 at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Two-Year-olds in Training Sale, where she was consigned by SGV Thoroughbreds.

The post Linda’s Gift Takes Red Carpet On Front End For First Stakes Score appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Star Fortress (IRE) dominated Thursday's 48th running of the $267,500 Cardinal (G3) on Thanksgiving Day at Churchill Downs with a 10-length last-to-first romp over favored Saffron Moon.

Star Fortress, a 4-year-old Sea The Star filly owned by John D. Gunther and his daughter Tanya Gunther's Eurowest Bloodstock Services, ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:51:10 on turf rated as good to collect the first stakes win of her career in her first United States start.

Luis Saez rode the winner for trainer Cherie DeVaux.

Breaking from post  2 in the field of six fillies and mares, Star Fortress settled in last during the early stages as Walkathon set fractions of :23.35, :48.61 and 1:13.90. Full of run while leaving the final turn, Saez tipped Star Fortress out to the center of the track and the filly displayed an explosive late kick to collar Saffron Moon and a tiring Walkathon with a furlong to run. Her winning margin only widened inside the final stages of the race.

“The plan worked out how we drew it up,” Saez said. “We let the speed go and saved ground. Around the turn we swung out and just really exploded down the stretch.”

The triumph was worth $153,450 and increased her earnings to $175,775. Star Fortress boasts a record of 2-1-2 from eight starts.

Star Fortress returned $14.68 for the win as the 6-1 fifth betting choice.

Saffron Moon, the 9-5 favorite, outfinished Lovely Princess by a neck for second.

The order of finish was completed by Juncture (GB), Walkathon and Joyful Applause. Take a Stand was scratched.

Prior to the Cardinal, Star Fortress finished third in a weight-for-age event going 1½ miles at Newmarket in July. Her lone win from seven starts in England came in her second outing over Chelmsford City's all-weather track at 1¼ miles on July, 3 2022.

“She was training very well coming into this race and she won very impressively today,” DeVaux said. “We're not sure where we'll go next with her. Our plan was to get her to this race and focused on that.”

Gray filly Star Fortress is out of the El Prado (IRE) mare Lady Aquitaine and was bred in Ireland by Sahara Group/Eurowest/Sunderland Hldgs. Tanya Gunther bought her as a weanling for $176,234 at the 2019 Tattersalls December Foal Sale, where Newsells Park Stud consigned her.

The post Star Power: Star Fortress Rallies From Last For Authoritative Cardinal Win In U.S. Debut appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Richard Rigney's Xigera tracked pacesetter Jag Warrior early on, pounced to the lead at the top of the stretch, and drew away down the stretch to easily win Thursday's 108th running of the $400,000 Falls City (G3), the traditional Thanksgiving Day fixture for fillies and mares at Churchill Downs, by a widening 6 ½ lengths.

The victory was one of three wins on the card for Rigney Racing, which also annexed Race 12, a maiden special weight event, with Legadema ($10.46), and Race 9, an allowance optional claiming event, with Angkor ($9.24). All are trained by Phil Bauer.

Ridden by Julien Leparoux, Xigera ran 1 1/8 miles over a fast track in 1:50.75 while defeating longshots Music Street, who surged late for second, and Jag Warrior, who was another head back in third. Rigney and Bauer teamed to win last year's Fall City with the now-retired Played Hard.

“She's a special type of horse which makes our job easy,” Bauer said. “You hang a bridle on her and she knows what she needs to do. I'm so fortunate to be in the position I am with a great stable and owner. At the time we thought grass was her preferred surface as a 2-year-old, but she's proven us wrong. She has such a quick turn of foot which makes her so dynamic.”

After convincing back-to-back stakes wins in the Seneca Overnight Stakes Sept. 23 at Churchill Downs and last month's Mother Goose (G2) at Belmont at the Big A, Xigera was sent off as the odds-on 1-9 betting favorite Sunday in the field of seven.

Breaking from post six, Xigera settled in the clear in third down the backstretch as Jag Warrior dictated the terms through fractions of :24.03, :49.02, and 1:13.38. With a three-wide move on the final turn, Xigera dragged Leparoux to the front and emerged as the leader with a quarter of a mile to run. The only questions were who would run second, and how far the winning margin would be.

“We've always loved her since she was a 2-year-old,” Leparoux said. “May have made a mistake keeping her in the grass as long as we have, but she's had a great year overall. She's going to be even better next year. I think she's a very exciting horse.”

Xigera paid $2.30 for the win.

Misty Veil, Shezz Koldazice, Skratch Kat, Bellamore and Distinctlypossible completed the order of finish. Hidden Connection was scratched.

With the Falls City win, Xigera improved her overall record to six wins, one second, and one third in 10 starts. Thursday's $240,455 first prize increased her lifetime earnings to $817,056.

The La Troienne (G1), to be run next May at Churchill Downs, could be Xigera's next start after a freshening.

Xigera was bred in Kentucky by Cedar Hill LLC. She is a 3-year-old daughter of Nyquist out of the Black Tie Affair (IRE) mare Argent Affair. Farm Ridge bought her for $190,000 at the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, where she was consigned by Lisa and Tim Turney.

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The trend of the racing's superstars, the horses that capture the public's imagination, the winners of the big stakes races like the Kentucky Derby (G1) or the Breeders' Cup, to ship-off to the breeding shed too soon is a sore spot for many fans who have followed their careers.

But there's a horse capturing the hearts of Southern California racing fans who has built his reputation on winning California-bred races and his trainer has no intention of retiring his stable star.

While The Chosen Vron has won a Grade 1, the Bing Crosby this past summer at Del Mar, he has done his best work in Cal-bred company, winning eight Cal-bred races in-a-row including this past Saturday's popular victory in the Cary Grant Stakes. The story will continue in 2024 as trainer Eric Kruljac has announced he is bringing the Vronsky gelding back next year as a 6-year-old.

The Chosen Vron's climb to fame started in 2020 when he broke his maiden in his debut at Santa Anita. He would win four of his six races in 2021, including two Grade 3's. He started an eight-race win streak at Los Alamitos in September 2022. It ended with his fifth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) Nov. 4 at Santa Anita.

“I've put the Breeders' Cup behind me,” Kruljac said. “He was kind of covered up. He might have had a little trouble getting out. I think he was behind a couple of horses and when they took off he didn't have his customary kick. I think he was a few lengths better, a few numbers faster than some of his races, but that comes with the competition. I think possibly he felt like he was surrounded.”

Kruljac compared it to a scene from the movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”.

“When the railroad guy hired all the best guys in the world,” Kruljac joked. “Paul Newman says, 'Who are those guys?' That's what The Chosen Vron was saying about those East Coast horses.”

Kruljac is referring to the winner, Elite Power, and the runner-up, Gunite. Kruljac also believes maybe it was too much time between races for The Chosen Vron. He trained into the race off of the victory in the Bing Crosby at the end of July. That's three months.

“We took him back that day (in the Breeders' Cup),” Kruljac continued. “I think if I would have let him roll in there, I think he would have ended up a little better.”

Kruljac began entertaining thoughts of running The Chosen Vron back on just two weeks rest after looking at the upcoming stakes schedule.

“I looked forward two or three months and it's going to be a long time before the next Cal-bred race,” he says. “Another two months without running and we just did that. So I did something I've never done and let him run. We pulled blood and Dr. Araujo (his veterianarian) urged me to go ahead.”

The Chosen Vron returned to keep his win streak in Cal-bred races alive. He's won 14 races in his career, and Kruljac said after the Cary Grant win that it ranked right up there with the Bing Crosby.

“He's been unreal,” Kruljac noted after the race. “Coming back in two weeks. I was a little nervous, but the horse was so lively. Maybe we'll just let him roll early from now on.”

It's that energy and that effort that has Kruljac looking forward to 2024.

“Early in his career he had problems, he was slow in developing,” Kruljac recalled. “We had to give him some time, let him grow up. But since, he's been stone-cold sound. Three or four days after the Breeders' Cup he was jumping around playing and his coat was gleaming. He's always been happy training. Always been into the bit and still is. What a blessing this horse is.”

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