The fields for the 14 races that comprise the Breeders’ Cup World Championships really begin to come into focus in summer and fall and this regular feature will offer a snapshot profile of one of the previous weekend’s standout stars.
Tag: Racing
Revamped Schedule: Florida Sire Stakes Kicks Off Saturday At Gulfstream
The FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes will be featured on Saturday's program at Gulfstream Park, where the tradition-rich annual series for 2-year-olds sired by accredited Florida stallions will get under way a little later than usual.
Traditionally scheduled for the last Saturday of July or first Saturday in August, the $100,000 Dr. Fager and the $100,000 Desert Vixen for fillies will launch a revamped schedule that is designed to benefit horses, owners and breeders by a later start and more time between races.
“We thought as a horseman's group that it was important, and the breeders got on board,” said trainer Joe Orseno, president of the Florida Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association. “I think we'll see in the long run that horses will stay sounder and compete longer in life.”
The six-furlong Dr. Fager and Desert Vixen, will be followed on the new spread-out schedule by the $200,000 Affirmed and the $200,000 Susan's Girl for fillies at seven furlongs on Oct. 21 and the $300,000 In Reality and the $300,000 My Dear Girl for fillies at 1 1/16 miles on Dec. 2.
The new FSS schedule provides greater opportunity for late-developing 2-year-olds.
“The horses that were bought out of the June sale, those horses had no chance to compete in the first leg. Now, they have the opportunity just like the March and April babies,” Orseno said.
The revamped schedule is expected to make the long-standing juvenile series even better.
“It's a very important program. No 1, for the stallions. It gives them a chance to showcase their babies while running against the offspring of other Florida stallions,” Orseno said. “It's a good program for people who want to race Florida-breds and run them in South Florida.”
The FSS series has produced national stars in the past, including two Jacks or Better Farm homebreds — Awesome Feather, who swept the 2010 FSS series before winning the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) and an Eclipse Award, and Jackson Bend, who swept the FSS series in 2009 before going on to become a Grade 1 stakes winning millionaire. Harold Queen's Big Drama, who swept the 2008 FSS series, went on to capture the 2010 Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) and an Eclipse Award as North America's champion sprinter.
A field of 10 colts and geldings has been assembled for this year's Dr. Fager, including Leon King Stable Corp.'s undefeated Bentornato, who is coming off a sparkling 4 ½-length victory in the six-furlong Proud Man at Gulfstream, and BC Racing LLC's Dickens, a first-out winner who finished third in the Sanford (G3) at Saratoga after setting a pressured pace.
Averill Racing and Two Eight Racing LLC's R Harper Rose, who produced a dazzling a 6 ¼-length debut victory, will need to outrun seven other talented fillies to capture her stakes debut in the Desert Vixen.
The post Revamped Schedule: Florida Sire Stakes Kicks Off Saturday At Gulfstream appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Five Key Takeaways You Need to Know From Labor Day Weekend
Tom Pedulla presents five takeaways from a huge Labor Day weekend that featured major races from coast to coast and in between.
Red Knight Shoots For KY Turf Cup Repeat As Maker Seeks Record Sixth Win
Headed by four Grade 1 winners and a trio of Grade 2 victors, an overflow field of 16 was entered Monday for Saturday's $1.7-million FanDuel Kentucky Turf Cup (G2). The 1 1/2-mile event is a “Win and You're In” Breeders' Cup Challenge Series race for the $4-million Longines Breeders' Cup Turf in November at Santa Anita.4
The Kentucky Turf Cup anchors a 12-race program that also includes four Grade 2 stakes and two Grade 3s. The special first post is 11:30 a.m. (CT). FanDuel TV will televise all the races live from the FanDuel Meet at Kentucky Downs.
Twelve horses can start in the marquee race, with another four entries on the “also-eligible” list needing scratches in order to run.
Mike Maker, Kentucky Downs' all-time winningest trainer, entered four horses in pursuit of a record sixth victory in the Kentucky Turf Cup. That includes last year's winner Red Knight, who returns at age 9 as a Grade 1 winner after taking Belmont Park's Man o' War in May. Maker also is running Therapist, who at age 8 earned his first Grade 1 victory when he took Monmouth Park's United Nations in his last start, a race in which Red Knight was a late-running third.
The only horse entered who isn't a graded stakes winner is the Maker-trained Me and Mr. C, who got into the overflow field by virtual of capturing the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Downs Preview Turf Cup at Ellis Park. Even so, Me and Mr. C is a five-time stakes winner. Maker's fourth entrant, Grade 2-placed Red Run, needs four scratches to get into the starting gate.
Trainer Brendan Walsh entered two-time Grade 1 winner Santin and Keeneland's Elkhorn (G2) winner Verstappen. Santin, winner of last year's Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic (G1) and the Arlington Million (G1) staged at Churchill Downs, comes into the Kentucky Turf Cup off a second-place finish in the 2023 Arlington Million, which was relocated to Colonial Downs in Virginia.
Paulo Lobo, who teamed with jockey Joe Talamo to win the Kentucky Turf Cup two years ago with the Argentine-bred Imperador, returns to the 1 1/2-mile stakes with Nautilus, a Grade 1 winner last year in his native Brazil. Nautilus won an off-the-turf Ellis Park allowance race by a nose in his last start.
Other graded-stakes winners include Spooky Channel and Never Explain. Trainer Chris Block brings Another Mystery back for another crack at the Kentucky Turf Cup after the horse finished third last year by a nose and a neck. Kitodan, winner of last year's Dueling Grounds Derby (G3), will run back in the Turf Cup after finishing seventh in the meet's opening-day FanDuel Tapit Stakes.
The horse to catch could be the Mark Casse-trained Get Smoking, who finished second by a neck in the Grade 2 Wise Dan at Ellis Park and then was fourth by a total of a length in the Ellis Park prep for the Kentucky Turf Cup.
A Kentucky-bred winner of the Kentucky Turf Cup will bring home $1 million; a non-Kentucky-bred winner will still earn about $800,000.
The field for the Kentucky Turf Cup, including post position, (weight), trainer/jockey:
PP (weight) horse trainer/jockey
1 Foreign Relations (124) Conor Murphy/John Velazquez
2 Red Knight (124) Mike Maker/Tyler Gaffalione
3 Verstappen (124) Brendan Walsh/Declan Cannon
4 Santin (122) Brendan Walsh/Florent Geroux
5 Get Smokin (122) Mark Casse/Fernando De La Cruz
6 Me and Mr. C (124) Mike Maker/Gerardo Corrales
7 Kitodan (122) Eric Foster/Irad Ortiz
8 Never Explain (124) Shug McGaughey/Joel Rosario
9 Nautilus (122) Paulo Lobo/Joe Talamo
10 Another Mystery (122) Chris Block/Brian Hernandez
11 Therapist (124) Mike Maker/Javier Castellano
12 Spooky Channel (124) Jason Barkley/James Graham
13 AE Sy Dog (122) Graham Motion/Jareth Loveberry
14 AE Cellist (122) Rusty Arnold/Martin Garcia
15 AE Highest Honors (122) Chad Brown/Irad Ortiz
16 AE Red Run (122) Mike Maker/Vincent Cheminaud
The post Red Knight Shoots For KY Turf Cup Repeat As Maker Seeks Record Sixth Win appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
