Tag: Racing

Despite an off track from the rain bands of Tropical Storm Ophelia, Next looked to have an easy time of it Saturday as he took the lead at the start and then widened his advantage through the stretch to win the $200,000 Greenwood Cup (G3) by 25 lengths Saturday at Parx Racing in Bensalem, Pennsylvania.

The 5-year-old Not This Time gelding, ridden by Luan Machado was chased most of the way in the 1 1/2-mile contest by last year's winner, Ridin With Biden, but effortlessly dispatched rival around the turn and strode clear.

Next returned $2.60 as the 1-5 favorite after completing the trip in 2:33.28 on a sloppy (sealed) track. He set early fractions of :25.72, :50.12, 1:15.51 and 1:40.91.

My Imagination, an 84-1 longshot who relaxed in fifth in the seven-horse field early, came on to take second by a nose from Ridin With Biden.

Trained by William 'Doug' Cowans for Michael A. Foster, Next entered Saturday's race off an 11 3/4-length romp going 1 3/4 miles in the Birdstone Stakes July 27 at Saratoga. The Greenwood Cup marked his fifth stakes triumph in races at 1 1/2 miles or longer since September 2022. His overall record improved to nine wins from 19 starts and purse earnings of $915,672

Bred in Kentucky by Silverton Hill LLC, Next was produced by the Awesome Again mare Bahia Beach.

Claimed for $62,500 by Foster and trainer Doug Cowans in April 2022, Next has won six of eight outings since the claim.

Greenwood Cup Quotes:

Winning owner Michael Foster: “We were looking forward to running in this race all year. The track has been deep and cuppy, and he's really never run on here and everything, but I was concerned. We don't take anything for granted. We know we've got a hell of a horse, but you know the two of them here, Calibrate and Riden for Biden, they were on this track, and they know about it. I was worried about it. When I saw the first fractions, I knew we had it. I saw :25 and then :50, we had an easy pace, then 1:40 on the mile, I knew we had it. Just clean it up and go home.”

“We won the Thoroughbred Aftercare (Grade 2, Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes) last year at Keeneland at the Breeders' Cup, so we want to go out there and defend it.”

Winning trainer Doug Cowans: “It was the same plan as always today: get him in a rhythm and once in his rhythm, I think he does his thing. I didn't care if he went to the lead or sat third, whatever he needed to do, as long as he got in his rhythm. He broke sharp. He is awful tough to beat because he has so much stamina. He'll keep running and running.”

Were there any concerns: “The track is always a concern when you see a sloppy track like that and he has not run on one. It was a concern, but there is no concern now.”

Run versus big names in division: “It has not been a thought process up to this point. At the beginning of the year there was a five-race plan for this horse and we have made every one. Lucky enough, he has stayed sound and healthy and has made every race. There is one more race (the Grade 2, $250,000 Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Marathon Nov. 4 at Santa Anita Park), from there I don't know where we will go.”

“For us, they don't come any better. He is so unique at what he can do and I have been training horses for 30 years and have never had a horse that is this unique and can run these kind of distances. To have a horse that can do this is really unique and fun. I have never seen him get tired. Every time, all the way to the races, he gives us confidence. Sometimes, you get overconfident. He makes me look good.”

Winning jockey Luan Machado: “It was super simple. He's a natural speed horse. He just drags me the whole way. He's a horse that used to sprint in the beginning of his career, so he always had natural speed. That makes it easier. He just puts himself on lead or pretty close. Pretty special horse. He was super sharp even warning up today.”

How easy of a win was it? “I couldn't do anything at all. I checked twice and no one was coming. He was still cruising.”

What riding Next (his only graded stakes winner) has meant to him: “He has been changing everything for me. All my business is up. He's a horse of a lifetime. I'm very thankful for all the connections.”

The post Next Makes All In Slop To Win Greenwood Cup By Wide Margin appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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In the days leading up to the 43rd running of the Grade 1, $1 million betPARX Pennsylvania Derby, trainer Uriah St. Lewis has heard the talk.

And, to be honest, he's heard it before.

He has absolutely no chance to win the race.

When St. Lewis, who has been training at Parx since 1987, hears that, he smiles.

“Everyone is talking, saying I'm crazy,” St. Lewis said Friday morning at his barn on the Parx backstretch.

Crazy because he is running a horse in the Derby named Modern Era, who is 50-1 on the morning line and is winless in eight career starts. Then, more grins from St. Lewis.

“I have been crazy before with Discreet Lover,” he said. “I have been crazy before with Informative.”

A little history lesson here. St. Lewis won the 2018 Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park with Discreet Lover, who was 45-1. St. Lewis rocked the tote board at Monmouth Park in 2021 when he won the Grade 3 Salvator Mile with 79-1 Informative.

Of course, for every blockbuster win, there might have been 20 losses. Or more. But know this: St. Lewis is not afraid to take a shot. Never has been, never will. For his career, he has 439 wins in 6,995 starts.

He wants to be a player in the biggest games. And here he is.

“Sometimes, you've got to be crazy to win it,” he said, still smiling. “If you don't buy a lottery ticket, you can't win. I bought my ticket.”

Modern Era, a son of Honor Code is owned by St. Lewis' Trin-Brook Stable. He isn't getting many second looks heading into the Derby although he is coming one of his better efforts, a third in his last start at Monmouth.

Early in his career, Modern Era was walking the shedrow at St. Lewis' Parx barn and endured one of the more bizarre injuries horse racing has seen. Modern Era got startled for an unknown reason and ended up smashing a barn window with his right back leg.

St. Lewis said it took a month before a piece of glass could be removed. Daily soaks with Epsom salts did the trick. They also cost the colt seven months before he could return to the races.

St. Lewis, originally from Trinidad, bought him for $50,000 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-year-old sale.

He isn't scared to run him in the premier event at his home track.

“We've got to get by Bobby (Baffert, who has the favorite in Reincarnate),” St. Lewis said. “There are a whole bunch of them in here … Brad Cox (Saudi Crown). But, hey, if you aren't in there, you don't have a chance.”

The post ‘I Have Been Crazy Before’: St. Lewis Shoots For Another Big Upset With 50-1 Modern Era In Pennsylvania Derby appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The first time LNJ Foxwoods' Scotland jumped into the deep waters of Grade 1 competition, the son of Good Magic got schooled pretty good in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.

Bill Mott, the gelding's Hall of Fame trainer, is hoping for a better result when Scotland runs in Saturday's Grade 1, $1 million betPARX Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing. Scotland, coming off a sixth in the Travers, is the 6-1 fourth choice on the Derby morning line.

“There's not much to say,” Mott said by phone from Saratoga about the Travers. “He went to the lead, got pressured and then backed up. Sometimes you have to go to war to get hardened.”

Before the Travers, Scotland had won four of his first five starts. When he won the Curlin Stakes July 21 at Saratoga, that got him his ticket to the Travers, his first start in a graded stakes. He won the Curlin by 3 1/4 lengths.

Before that, Scotland posted two narrow wins by a head in an allowance and a maiden and a loss by a nose in another allowance.

“He probably thought he won that one,” Mott said of the nose defeat to Tumbarumba in the seven-furlong allowance April 23 at Keeneland.

In the Curlin and the Travers, Scotland showed speed from the bell. He beat Il Miracolo, who is also running in the Pennsylvania Derby, in that race.

Scotland came from off the pace in his two other victories. Mott said it is not imperative that Scotland and regular rider Junior Alvarado have the lead in the Pennsylvania Derby.

“There is other speed in there,” he said. “In the Travers, there was only one horse that had any remarkable speed. It's a bigger field at Parx and someone will probably show some speed.”

Of the 11 horses entered in the Derby, those that have shown early speed in the past include Reincarnate, the 3-1 morning-line favorite for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert; Saudi Crown, the 7-2 second choice for trainer Brad Cox; and Magic Tap, the 5-1 third choice for Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen.

“I don't think we have to prove that we can make the lead here,” Mott said.

Scotland is expected to ship to Parx Friday from Mott's base at Saratoga.

The post Mott Tries Again With Scotland: ‘Sometimes You Have To Go To War To Get Hardened’ appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Godolphin's Pretty Mischievous made the trip south from Saratoga Race Course to Parx Racing Wednesday and got her first look at the racetrack where she'll contest the Grade 1, $1 million Cotillion Stakes on a perfect late September morning Thursday in Bensalem, Pennsylvania.

Accompanied to the track by trainer Brendan Walsh on his pony, Pretty Mischievous and exercise rider Roger Horgan galloped once around the 1-mile oval shortly after the track opened for training at 6 a.m.

“She handled it all very well, just one turn of the track,” Walsh said as Pretty Mischievous peered over her stall screen as Gilmore, who the trainer will run in Saturday's co-featured betPARX Pennsylvania Derby, walked the shedrow. “It wasn't a particularly hard trip for them, coming down yesterday.”

Pretty Mischievous, the 2-1 favorite on Parx Director of Racing and Racing Secretary David Osojnak's morning line, comes into the Cotillion on a three-race win streak in Grade 1 stakes. She won the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs and Acorn at Belmont Park this spring, and the Test at Saratoga Race Course after the breakdown of Maple Leaf Mel in the final strides.

The homebred daughter of Into Mischief could take a significant step toward the 3-year-old filly championship with a Cotillion victory. She's won four of five with a second this season, after a 2-year-old campaign where she won three of four with a third.

Walsh marveled at the filly's consistent career that started with a maiden win Sept. 18, 2022 at Churchill Downs through the Aug. 5 Test.

“I was looking at her record the other day and it's unbelievable,” Walsh said. “It's a testament to her. Look, you have to have the ammunition, but it is a testament to her. I haven't had too many of them that have been able to keep it that consistent for that long. Generally, you hit some bump, or they'll back up, something. She's won seven of nine and the couple times she got beat she was second or third. It will be nice if we can pull it off again Saturday.”

Tyler Gaffalione, aboard Pretty Mischievous in her last three starts, takes the call again Saturday from post three in the field of nine entered in the 1 1/16-mile Cotillion.

Walsh left Pretty Mischievous and Gilmore in Saratoga to finish preparations for their Parx engagements and heads into Saturday feeling confident.

“She's doing great,” Walsh said. “I was up there for a few days for her last couple of works. I just didn't want to bring her all the way down (to Kentucky) and back up again for the race. She was doing so well up there. It made sense to leave her.

“I've been very, very happy both times with what I've seen coming back there. She's doing as good as maybe she's done at any point in the year, which is remarkable considering she's had a busy year but it doesn't surprise me. She's just rock-solid.”

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