Tag: Racing

Brad Cox watched Saudi Crown finish second by the slimmest of margins in the Grade 3 Dwyer Stakes July 1 at Belmont Park – he still cringes at bit thinking about the replay – and started thinking about September in Philadelphia.

“I love how he's doing,” Cox said Thursday morning from Kentucky, two days before Saudi Crown runs in the Grade 1, $1 million betPARX Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing just outside Philly. “We've been pointing for this ever since he ran second at Belmont.”

The 7-2 second choice on the morning line set by Parx Director of Racing and Racing Secretary David Osojnak, Saudi Crown looks to improve off his second in the Dwyer and second in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy last time out at Saratoga Race Course. Cox considered another path to get to the nine-furlong Pennsylvania Derby, one direct through Parx, but took a different route.

“We didn't know how we were going to get there,” Cox said. “We thought we were going to take the Smarty Jones path, then back to the Pennsylvania Derby, but the way the Jim Dandy came up, we thought we'd take a run there and he ran well. Ran a winning race. Then came out of it in good order.”

Saudi Crown made all the pace in the Dwyer and Jim Dandy before losing both by a nose. The most recent came after a rough stretch run in the Jim Dandy, where Saudi Crown wasn't affected, as Forte got up in the final jump on a sloppy track.

Cox didn't seriously consider running Saudi Crown, a $240,000 purchase at last year's OBS April sale for FMQ Stables, back in four weeks in Saratoga's Travers. He preferred the eight-week gap between the Jim Dandy and Pennsylvania Derby.

“I'm hopeful he'll move forward now with some time between races,” Cox said. “Running back in four weeks would have been asking a lot of him. He ran huge (in the Jim Dandy), a great race.”

Saudi Crown earned triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures in his last two starts – a 106 in the Dwyer and 105 in the Jim Dandy. The son of Always Dreaming holds that edge over his 10 rivals in the Pennsylvania Derby, with only 10-1 longshot Gilmore earning a triple-digit figure when he recorded a 104 when third in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens at Belmont.

“Those are two serious numbers, and all of his numbers have been serious,” Cox said. “He's a good horse. A very good horse.”

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Moyglare Stud Farm's dual group stakes-winner Malavath will look to secure her first stateside score in Saturday's Grade 3, $150,000 Noble Damsel, a one-mile inner turf test for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up, at Belmont at the Big A.

Trained by Christophe Clement, the 4-year-old Irish-bred daughter of Mehmas captured the 2021 Group 2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte at Chantilly and the Group 3 Prix Impudence last April at Deauville for her former conditioner Francis-Henri Graffard.

Malavath completed her sophomore season with a trio of top-flight tries, finishing a close fourth in the Group 1 Prix Rothschild last August at Deauville and posting a runner-up effort to Kinross in October in the Group 1 Prix de la Foret. She was a rallying fifth in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Mile in November at Keeneland to close out her campaign when 1 3/4-lengths back of the victorious Modern Games.

Moyglare Stud Farm then purchased Malavath for more than $3.3 million from the Arqana December Breeding Stock Sale and sent her to Clement's care at Payson Park in Florida. She made her debut for current connections in April when a distant fifth in the one-mile Plenty of Grace here and returned two months later to land sixth in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 3 Eatontown at Monmouth Park, finishing 6 1/2-lengths back of next-out graded stakes-winner Consumer Spending.

The chestnut has breezed back 11 times, including a bullet half-mile in 49 seconds flat Friday over the Oklahoma training turf.

“She had two starts so far for us, they were rather disappointing,” said Clement, who shares the record for most Noble Damsel scores of five with Chad Brown. “We didn't run her after the race in New Jersey, we opted to give her some time and regroup. Her works have been nice on the turf at Saratoga and it's time to go on again.”

Out of the New Approach mare Fidaaha, Malavath is a full-sister to Group 3-winner Knight, who is currently in training with Simon and Ed Crisford.

Joel Rosario retains the mount from post 4 aboard Malavath, who is assigned 122 pounds.

Marylou Whitney Stables' Kentucky homebred Not So Close [post 3, Jose Lezcano, 122 pounds] enters from a gate-to-wire score traveling one mile over good going on August 17 at Saratoga Race Course.

Trained by Norm Casse, Not So Close made her first six starts over the main track, including frontrunning scores in an off-the-turf one-mile maiden special weight last July at Ellis Park and in an optional-claiming route in March at Fair Grounds. She finished a close second in her turf debut on July 1 at Ellis Park ahead of her Spa score which the third-place finisher, Sister Lou Ann, exited to win the One Dreamer at Kentucky Downs.

Not So Close, by Empire Maker, is out of the Mineshaft mare Bird Legacy, who is a half-sister to multiple Grade 1-winners Birdstone and Bird Town.

Four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown, who took this event five straight years from 2016-2020, will be represented by multiple graded stakes-winner Fluffy Socks [post 5, Manny Franco, 126 pounds], Grade 1-winner Gina Romantica [post 6, Flavien Prat, 122 pounds] and the Grade 2-winner Gerrymander [post 7, Jose Ortiz, 122 pounds], who makes her turf debut.

Head of Plains Partners' Kentucky homebred Fluffy Socks has enjoyed a lightly-raced but productive 5-year-old campaign, taking the Grade 2 Distaff Turf Mile in May at Churchill Downs and finishing a last-out second in the Grade 2 Ballston Spa on August 24 at Saratoga when a head back of Evvie Jets. Her other effort this year was a non-threatening fifth in July in the Spa's Grade 1 Diana.

The 5-year-old Slumber mare boasts past graded scores in the 2020 Grade 3 Jimmy Durante at Del Mar and the 2021 Grade 2 Sands Point at Belmont Park.

Peter Brant's Gina Romantica won 4-of-7 starts last year, including an impressive 1 3/4-length score over stablemate McKulick in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup in October at Keeneland to cap her campaign.

The 4-year-old Into Mischief bay, a half-sister to Grade 1-winning millionaire Gift Box, was purchased for $1,025,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. She has made two starts this year, finishing fourth in the Eatontown ahead of a runner-up effort to Fev Rover on August 12 in the Grade 1 Beverly D. at Colonial Downs.

Gerrymander, a 4-year-old Into Mischief bay, boasts a record of 13-3-4-2 for purse earnings of $509,500. She has done most of her best work over Big Sandy, finishing second to Echo Zulu in the 2021 Grade 1 Frizette and posting wins in that year's Tempted and the Grade 2 Mother Goose last June.

A half-sister to multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire Lone Rock, Gerrymander is out of the graded stakes-placed Hard Spun mare Ruby Lips, who is a half-sister to multiple turf stakes-winner Like a Gem – the dam of multiple Grade 1-winning turfer Hard Not to Like.

Rounding out the field is five-time winning New York-bred Sunset Louise [post 1, Kendrick Carmouche, 122 pounds] for trainer Bruce Levine; and the Linda Rice-trained multiple graded stakes-placed New York-bred Runaway Rumour [post 2, Dylan Davis, 122 pounds], who is cross-entered in Friday's $125,000 John Hettinger for state-breds.

With the National Weather Service calling for a 60 percent chance of rain Saturday in Ozone Park, additional main-track only entrants are graded stakes-winner Battle Bling, multiple graded stakes-placed Venti Valentine, stakes-winner Balpool, five-time winner Movie Moxy and stakes-placed Bustin Bay.

The Noble Damsel is slated as Race 7 on Saturday's 10-race card which also features the $125,000 Ashley T. Cole in Race 3. First post is 1:05 p.m. Eastern.

America's Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of every day of Belmont at the Big A on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule.

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Gold Standard Racing Stable's Hoosier Philly settled into her temporary home on Parx Racing's backside Wednesday with the hope of a clean trip and her first Grade 1 victory in Saturday's $1 million Cotillion Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.

The Tom Amoss-trainee will make her ninth start and enters off a disappointing eighth in the Grade 3 Charles Town Oaks August 26. The winner of four starts was expected make her first Grade 1 start in the Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga Race Course July 22, but a foot abscess found the morning of the race kept her sidelined that afternoon.

“She's coming off a poor performance, but it's a race where she really got beat up out of the gate,” Amoss said. “I knew from the gate when we didn't get into good position that we were in trouble. To me, that race is a throw out. She's trained well since.

“I've been watching the forecasters and there's a lot of rain expected, but it's going to be the same for everybody. It won't hurt her. I think she'll be fine as she goes.”

The seven-furlong Charles Town Oaks was the shortest distance the daughter of Into Mischief has tried since winning her debut at 5 1/2 furlongs at Churchill Downs. That victory launched a perfect 2-year-old campaign at her Kentucky base where she added a 7 1/2-length win in the Rags to Riches Stakes before adding the Grade 2 Golden Rod Stakes to her resume.

The Kentucky-bred returned fresh for her sophomore season and faced foes in three straight Grade 2 stakes before a third in the Rachel Alexandra at Fair Grounds then a fourth in the Fair Grounds Oaks before finishing as the runner-up in the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico. It was the first time in her career that she failed to be sent to the gate as the post-time favorite.

Amoss used the 2019 Cotillion as a prep for his multiple Grade 1-winning filly Serengeti Empress, who finished a disappointing sixth in the race before shipping to Santa Anita to finish third in the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff.

The Cotillion is a race that Amoss and his team are happy to point to before looking to a possible start in this year's Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita.

“We're looking forward to the challenge,” said Amoss. “It's a great race. It's a one-of-a-kind race. A $1-million race for 3-year-old fillies where, if you think you have a really good horse, it's a can't miss. You'd have to take your shot.”

Hoosier Philly, the 6-1 co-fourth choice in the morning-line will have Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez in the saddle for the first time replacing regular rider Edgar Morales.

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Reincarnate, the 3-1 morning-line favorite for Saturday's Grade 1, $1 million betPARX Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing, has a nickname.

“We call him Moby Dick,” Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert said by phone from California, referring to the giant whale from the classic Herman Melville novel. “He is a big, strong white horse … he has the same coloring as Moby Dick.”

Baffert hopes that Reincarnate is no fish tale in the Pennsylvania Derby. Owned by SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Robert Masterson, Stonestreet Stables, Jay Schoenfarber, Waves Edge Capital and Catherine Donovan, the son of Good Magic hasn't raced since winning the Los Alamitos Derby in front-running fashion July 8.

Baffert said he has no concerns with the long layoff. He likes the way the colt has worked this summer at Del Mar and, most recently, at Santa Anita Park.

His final pre-Pennsylvania Derby work was Saturday at Santa Anita when he went 6 furlongs in 1:12.40.

Reincarnate, who will be ridden by Juan Hernandez, has three wins, three seconds and two thirds in nine career starts. He has one win and three seconds in four starts this year. Reincarnate's two prior starts before the Los Alamitos race were Grade 1s – 13th in the May 6 Kentucky Derby and third in the April 11 Arkansas Derby.

“I have always been very high on the horse,” Baffert said. “We have always liked him. He is the kind of horse that will run up near the lead and be forwardly placed.”

One thing that Reincarnate and Hernandez will have to overcome is the post position. They drew No. 11 in the 11-horse field.

“It will be a little bit tough being way out there,” Baffert said. “Hopefully, he doesn't get hung out too wide. You can't do anything about the post position. If you train long enough, you are going to draw bad post positions. I have drawn bad and won and I have drawn really well and got beat.”

Reincarnate arrived from California Tuesday. Jimmy Barnes, Baffert's longtime assistant, accompanied the colt and will handle saddling Saturday.

On the opposite end of the tote board, trainer Saffie Joseph is hoping for another surprise when he saddles West Coast Cowboy in the Pennsylvania Derby.

West Coast Cowboy is 12-1 on the morning line. When Math Wizard pulled off his upset in 2019, he was a whopping 31-1 when he went to the starting gate for the 1 1/8-mile race.

As Joseph prepares West Coast Cowboy, a son of 2017 champion 3-year-old male West Coast, for this year's Derby, his mind, naturally, drifts back to Sept. 21, 2019.

“Most definitely,” Joseph said by phone from Kentucky, where he's attending the Keeneland September yearling sale. “That was my first graded stakes race win – ever – and it was a Grade 1. It was a good race. We beat a Preakness winner (War of Will) and we beat Improbable (who won the Grade 1 Whitney at Saratoga in 2020). That race definitely brought a lot of joy and it's one of the highs of my career. It will last forever.”

West Coast Cowboy is owned by Gentry Farms and will be ridden Saturday by Tyler Conner. Conner first rode the chestnut when he finished second in the Grade 3 West Virginia Derby behind Red Route One.

West Coast Cowboy has two wins in seven starts. He also ran in the Grade 3 Fountain of Youth (third) Feb. 4 and the Grade 1 Florida Derby (seventh) April 1, both at Gulfstream Park.

“He is a big, strong horse that seems to be improving,” Joseph said “He is not at the top level yet, but he seems to get better and better every time he runs. Sometimes you just have to take chances. Sometimes it works out, but most of the time it doesn't. You can't be afraid to run them in the race.”

Joseph's trip to Parx for the 2019 Pennsylvania Derby certainly proved that theory.

“For sure,” he said. “It's rare when you have a special moment like that. It never goes away.”

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