Tag: Racing

Richard Bahde's graded stakes-winner Taxed will face a rematch with last-out Grade 3 Indiana Oaks-winner Defining Purpose, and takes on eight other talented rivals, in Saturday's Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama presented by Keeneland Sales, a 1 1/4-mile main track test for sophomore fillies, at Saratoga Race Course.

“She's shipped in great and everything is going really good,” said trainer Randy Morse. “She's trained well and has no excuses there.”

Taxed arrives from a game runner-up effort in the Indiana Oaks on July 8 at Horseshoe Indianapolis where she brushed at the start from the inside post and encountered traffic troubles before swinging out wide in the final turn and finishing 1 1/4 lengths back of Defining Purpose.

“We took her out to Indiana and she didn't have a very good trip,” said Morse. “She got pinched in behind horses with a really slow place and had to come real wide when she did make her run. She just couldn't run down Defining Purpose, but she came out of the race well and has trained just as good as ever.”

Taxed's efforts in the mornings since the Indiana Oaks include two sharp breezes over Churchill Downs' main track on August 1 and 11, covering a half-mile in 47.80 seconds both days.

Morse said he is hopeful a stronger pace will develop for Taxed on Saturday as she faces the longest test of her career.

“It looks like there's plenty of pace in the race and she's never gone that far, but she gives us every indication she'll go that far,” said Morse. “She trains like the further the better, but it's Saratoga and it's tough.”

Taxed has proven to be among the best claims of Morse's 42-year career after she was haltered for $50,000 out of a third-out graduation in November at Churchill when in the care of conditioner Matt Shirer. She finished fourth behind Defining Purpose in her first start for new connections in the Year's End on New Year's Eve at Oaklawn Park, but flashed her talents with a game runner-up effort to returning rival Wet Paint in the Martha Washington on January 28 at the Hot Springs oval.

“She's a nice-looking filly and we got lucky,” said Morse. “We shook for her and got lucky to win the shake.”

Taxed finished off-the-board in the Grade 3 Honeybee behind Wet Paint before putting in another brave performance to be second to her familiar foe in the Grade 3 Fantasy in April ahead of a breakout score when shipping to Pimlico Race Course for the nine-furlong Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan on May 19.

There, the daughter of Collected pounced from 3 3/4 lengths off the pace under returning rider Rafael Bejarano to swing four-wide in the final turn and set her sights on Hoosier Philly down the lane. The grey filly swept past her last remaining foe and drew clear at the eighth pole to score the 3 3/4-length triumph in a final time of 1:49.45.

“Oh, that was a great race,” recalled Morse. “She ran really, really good. She ran to the way she had been training and she ran good in Arkansas, but she really started changing and maturing after that race [the Fantasy] and showed it there in Baltimore.”

Taxed is out of the dual stakes-placed Yankee Gentleman mare Yankee Union and sold for $105,000 at the 2022 OBS March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. She has banked $418,844 through a lifetime record of 9-2-3-0.

The post ‘She Trains Like The Further The Better’: Taxed Game For Upset In Saturday’s Alabama appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The limited assessment that Michael Matz can make on Lagonisi after just one career race is this: She's a big filly, appearing to be better suited for two turns, with the hint of some real ability.

How much ability is something he will have a better handle on when the daughter of Uncle Mo takes on seven other 2-year-old fillies in Sunday's $200,000 Sorority Stakes at Monmouth Park.

Lagonisi enters the one-mile Sorority off an 8¾-length romp at Delaware Park in her career debut on July 26. That Maiden Special Weight race, originally scheduled to be run at 7½ furlongs on the grass, was switched to a mile on the main track.

“We were looking for a dirt race anyway, so it worked to our advantage,” said Matz. “She's a big two-turn filly. She's really quite big. We were looking for something to run her around two turns to start.

“She has always acted like she can run. I just don't know if we're biting off more than we can handle here after one race.”

The Sorority field includes the Butch Reid-trained Kiss for Luck and Wine on Tap from Todd Pletcher's barn. Both were off the board in the Grade 3 Schuylerville Stakes at Saratoga in their last start. Princess Indy enters off a fifth-place finish in the Grade 3 Adirondack, also at Saratoga, for leading trainer Claudio Gonzalez.

“I was talking to the owner (Stanley Gumberg of Skara Glen Stables) and said to him `we're taking a big jump here,' ” said Matz. “It's a prestigious race. If we can get a piece of it we'd be happy.”

Originally sold for $110,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale in 2022, Lagonisi was purchased by Skara Glen Stables for $350,000 at the Ocala Spring Sale of 2-year-olds in training in April.

“She worked pretty well down there,” said Matz.

Though Lagonisi won her debut in front-running fashion, with a pedestrian final quarter of 27 seconds flat, Matz said it's too early to make an assessment on either front.

“Delaware is a funny track. The last quarter-mile is sort of uphill and a lot of those horses get tired,” he said. “Maybe she's not fast enough for this group. I don't know. We'll see.

“But she doesn't have to have the lead. I really don't know what she beat at Delaware. This might be a whole different ballgame. It looks like there are some other fillies in this field that are coming out of sprints that should go for the early lead. So I'll leave that up to the jockey and we'll see how she breaks. We're just hoping to pick up the pieces at the end. She's a nice filly. Hopefully she doesn't disappoint us.”

Jorge Ruiz is listed to ride.

The post ‘We’re Taking A Big Jump Here’: Matz High On Lagonisi After Romping Debut appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The 67th edition of the Grade 1, $300,000 Del Mar Oaks has drawn a field of 10 for its nine-furlong run out of Del Mar's unique infield chute on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course. It will go as Race 8 on Saturday's 10-race program.

The likely favorite in Del Mar's 3-year-old filly championship is Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Anisette, a stretch-running daughter of the Irish stallion Awtaad who has gone two-for-two in a pair of stateside starts this year since coming over from a brief 2-year-old campaign in England.

French expat Leonard Powell does the training for Anisette. He put Umberto Rispoli up on her at Del Mar on July 22 in the G2 San Clemente Stakes and that resulted in a 2 1/2-length tally. So naturally enough, Rispoli will be back up Saturday.

The two chief threats to the top one appear to be the New York shipper Be Your Best and the Irish-bred Impact Warrior, who made her American debut at Del Mar July 23 and ran an impressive second in a two-turn grass allowance test.

Be Your Best, by the British sire Muhaarar, is owned by Michael Ryan and trained by Horacio De Paz. They've gotten Del Mar's leading rider, Juan Hernandez, to sign on for the Oaks run. Impact Warrior wears the silks of Martin Schwartz and races out of the barn of Phil D'Amato. Hall of Fame rider Kent Desormeaux was up for the daughter of Saxon Warrior's recent Del Mar run and he'll be up once more Saturday.

Here's the full field for the Oaks from the rail out with riders and morning line odds:

1. And Tell Me Nolies (Antonio Fresu, 12-1);
2. Window Shopping (Hector Berrios, 6-1);
3. Infinite Diamond (Mike Smith, 12-1);
4. Ruby Nell (Edwin Maldonado, 6-1);
5. Anisette (5/2);
6. Impact Warrior (4-1);
7. Big Pond (Ramon Vazquez, 8-1);
8. Absolutely Zero (Mario Gutierrez, 50-1);
9. Be Your Best (4-1), and
10. Paris Secret (Joe Bravo, 15-1).

Besides the Oaks, racing fans will get to see a pair of special presentations over the course of Saturday afternoon. Prior to Race 6, Hall of Fame rider Laffit Pincay, Jr. will present his coveted Pincay Award to Del Mar race caller Trevor Denman in a special winner's circle ceremony that will include video/audio footage of some of his most noteworthy race calls. Then, prior to Race 8, Fernando Toro, the 82-year-old riding star who was inducted into racing's Hall of Fame this year, will have that feat honored with a special ceremony in the winner's circle that is expected to attract many of the Hall of Fame horsemen and women who call Del Mar their summer home.

First post for the Saturday program goes at 2 p.m.

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