Racing | Horse Racing Free Tips

‘The Breeze Went Super’: Zandon Works Toward Whitney Bid

Jeff Drown's Zandon worked a half-mile in :49.24 Sunday over the Saratoga's main track in preparation for Saturday's $1-million Whitney (G1), a nine-furlong route for older horses. The Whitney offers a “Win and You're In” berth to the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) in November at Santa Anita Park.

“The breeze went super and the horse is doing great. I'm looking forward to running him,” said trainer Chad Brown, who is in search of his first Whitney win.

The 4-year-old Upstart colt captured the 2022 Blue Grass (G1) at Keeneland en route to a close third-place finish in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby (G1) when 1 1/2 lengths back of the victorious Rich Strike. He has hit the board in five of six starts since the Derby – all in graded events – including a last-out second to returning Whitney rival Cody's Wish in the Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan Handicap (G1) on June 10 at Belmont Park.

Brown said Zandon will benefit from a return to two-turns after showing determination to best Grade 1 winner White Abarrio by a head for place honors in the Met Mile.

“I was very pleased with his effort. He showed a lot of heart to be second. Clearly, he was second best in the race. Cody's Wish is arguably the best dirt horse in training in this country, so a lot of respect for him,” Brown said. “Our horse is doing fine and I think he's better around two turns. He's got a tall order here. It probably won't be a big field, but it's a very strong field with Cody's Wish and some other top horses. He's got his work cut out for him, but I really like the way the horse is doing and I like him at a mile and an eighth. I think that's his best distance. I'm just hoping he runs the race of his life and is able to spring an upset.”

Zandon, who sports a record of 2-5-3 from 11 career starts and purse earnings in excess of $1.7 million, made two Spa starts last summer – both in events won by eventual champion 3-year-old male Epicenter – when second in the Jim Dandy (G2) and third in the Travers (G1).

Bred in Kentucky by Brereton C. Jones, the $170,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase by Mike Ryan, agent, is out of the Creative Cause mare Memories Prevail, who is a half sister to dual graded stakes winner Cairo Memories.

The post ‘The Breeze Went Super’: Zandon Works Toward Whitney Bid appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

‘An Advertising Campaign For Curlin’: Offspring Cody’s Wish, Elite Power Point For Spa Grade 1s

If there is such a thing as perfect, trainer Bill Mott said he saw it in Godolphin's homebred Cody's Wish's final half-mile tune up for Saturday's $1-million Whitney (G1) at Saratoga Race Course. The Whitney offers a “Win and You're In” berth to the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) in November at Santa Anita Park.

Under clear skies and temperatures in the 60s on Sunday, Cody's Wish visited the Oklahoma training track following the renovation break under Neil Poznansky and clocked the first quarter mile in :24 2/5 seconds before finishing in :48.28. He galloped out five furlongs in 1:01 4/5 and seven furlongs in 1:27.

“I thought it was perfect. If there is such a thing as a perfect work. Neil did a perfect job. The warm up was good, the breeze went well, he went off easily enough,” Mott said. “He was off in :12 and (2/5 or 3/5). He came home well. He let him off the bridle a little bit at the eighth pole and he finished up his last quarter very nicely. We didn't make him gallop out too much today, obviously. We're right on top of the race.”

Mott said Cody's Wish can be a difficult horse to work and credited Poznansky for his safe hands and good judgment.

“He's not easy to work because he can go too fast. You have to have someone on him that knows what they're doing,” Mott said. “He looked beautiful when he was working. He was smooth as silk. But fortunately, we have someone as talented and experienced as Neil. Even he says the horse is a little bit difficult to judge in his works how fast he's going because he does it so easily, you don't realize how fast he's going sometimes. He's not the only horse that's been that way. Usually, you'll find the occasional good horse that's hard to read how fast they're going.”

Cody's Wish will attempt his seventh straight victory when he lines up in the nine-furlong Whitney. The Kentucky-bred bay horse enters from four consecutive Grade 1 scores, taking last year's Forego at Saratoga and the two-turn Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile before making his 5-year-old debut a winning one in the seven-furlong Churchill Downs on May 6. He last raced when capturing the Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan Handicap on June 10 at Belmont Park.

Cody's Wish will look to be the first horse to sweep the Met Mile-Whitney double since fellow Godolphin colorbearer Frosted in 2016.

While Cody's Wish is in the midst of a winning streak, the same can be said for Juddmonte's aptly named Elite Power, who captured his eighth straight victory in Saturday's Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G1) going six furlongs at the Spa. The 5-year-old chestnut has done no wrong since breaking his maiden by nine lengths last June at Churchill Downs. Following two wins at allowance-optional claiming level, he captured the Vosburgh (G2) at Belmont at the Big A before sealing champion male sprinter honors with a 1 1/4-length win in the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) at Keeneland.

Elite Power kicked off his year with a triumphant international endeavor in Saudi Arabia's Group 3 Riyadh Dirt Sprint at King Abdulaziz Racecourse before winning the True North (G2) on June 10 at Belmont Park en route to the Vanderbilt, where he earned a career-high 108 Beyer Speed Figure.

Things didn't come easy in the Vanderbilt for Elite Power, who contested a sloppy and sealed track for the first time. He settled in fourth down the backstretch and did not appear poised for victory at the quarter pole with Grade 1-winning millionaire Gunite three lengths in front. But Elite Power had dead aim on Gunite and collared his foe in the final strides to win by a head.

“He looked great this morning,” Mott said. “I was very impressed just because I feel that when you have a sloppy or muddy track like that, it gives the advantage to the horse three in front turning for home. If you have to make up that much ground on a sloppy or muddy track, it can be difficult, so I give the horse a lot of credit for being able to do that. The horse be beat was running and he's a very good horse, too. He's in good form. I have to be pleased and I am pleased.”

Mott indicated that the seven-furlong $500,000 Forego (G1) on August 26 at Saratoga would be Elite Power's likely next start. The last horse to sweep the Vanderbilt-Forego double was A.P. Indian in 2016.

In addition to being in winning form, both Elite Power, and Cody's Wish are sons of multiple champion-producing stallion Curlin, a two-time Horse of the Year who stands at Hill 'n' Dale Farms in Paris, Ky.

“We're trying to start an advertising campaign for Curlin,” Mott quipped.

The post ‘An Advertising Campaign For Curlin’: Offspring Cody’s Wish, Elite Power Point For Spa Grade 1s appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Forte In Good Order Day After Jim Dandy Win, Likely For Travers

Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's reigning champion 2-year-old male Forte was awarded a career-high 105 Beyer Speed Figure for his gutsy nose victory in Saturday's $500,000 Jim Dandy (G2) at Saratoga Race Course.

Trained by Todd Pletcher, Forte notched the win after stalking along the rail behind the pace set by Saudi Crown and angling around that foe into the turn to make his bid for the lead under regular pilot Irad Ortiz Jr. He brushed with Grade 1 winner Angel of Empire to his outside and needed to squeeze his way through as Saudi Crown drifted out, but found enough late to get his nose down first in a final time of 1:49.61.

“There was a lot going on and he was boxed in there for a little while and pushed his way through,” said Pletcher, who won a record-extending seventh Jim Dandy. “The horse on the lead drifted all the way from the rail to the six or seven path and was carrying everyone out with him. They came back together right at the end and fortunately he [Forte] was able to surge and get his head in front.”

Pletcher said despite a hard stretch battle, Forte emerged from the effort in good order.

“He came back very well and his energy level is good,” said Pletcher. “He had a well-deserved nap this morning, and I liked the way he looked last night after the race and this morning.”

Pletcher noted that a key takeaway from the effort was Forte's ability to hold position in the final turn, something he struggled with when winning the Florida Derby (G1) at Gulfstream Park and when finishing a rallying second in the Belmont Stakes (G1).

“The one thing that seemed to help him was that he maintained his position in the far turn, which was one of the things that we didn't like about the Florida Derby and the Belmont,” said Pletcher, who opted to add blinkers to the Violence colt for the first time in the afternoon in the Jim Dandy. “He had kind of put himself at a disadvantage in the far turn of those races, where in this case he held his ground. I think the blinkers helped to keep him more focused.”

Forte burst onto the scene last year with a strong three-length victory in the Spa's Hopeful (G1), and followed with additional Grade 1 coups when stretching out to two turns at Keeneland in the Breeders' Futurity and Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Forte has continued to excel around two turns as a sophomore, adding to his resume with wins in Gulfstream Park's Fountain of Youth (G2) and Florida Derby this spring ahead of his game runner-up effort in the Belmont.

Forte has flashed his talents both at sprint and route distances, and is just the second Hopeful winner in the past 10 years to have won around two turns. He is the only horse in that time frame to have won at distances beyond one-mile. The last Hopeful winner to have won beyond one-mile was the Pletcher-trained Shanghai Bobby, who, like Forte, won the 1 1/16-mile Breeders' Cup Juvenile in 2012.

Pletcher said Forte's success in stretching out beyond the recent trend for Hopeful winners proves his natural ability.

“I think it speaks of his quality that he was able to accomplish what he did early on,” said Pletcher. “He broke his maiden sprinting and came back and was able to win the Hopeful, but we always thought he was a horse looking for two turns. He proved that in the Breeders' Futurity and Breeders' Cup, and subsequently this year.”

Forte will face added ground again in his next likely start as Pletcher points the dark bay colt to the $1.25-million Travers (G1) going 1 1/4 miles on August 26 at the Spa. Pletcher is in search of his third win in the prestigious test for sophomores and successfully pulled off the Jim Dandy/Travers double with both of his Travers champions: Flower Alley in 2005 and Stay Thirsty in 2011.

“It's exciting and we've been fortunate that both our Travers winners came out of the Jim Dandy,” Pletcher said. “We'd love to do it again.”

The post Forte In Good Order Day After Jim Dandy Win, Likely For Travers appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

War Like Goddess To Seek Third Straight Glens Falls Victory

George Krikorian's dual Grade 1-winning multimillionaire War Like Goddess will strive for a threepeat in Thursday's 28th running of the $250,000 Glens Falls (G2) for older fillies and mares going 1 1/2 miles over the inner turf at Saratoga Race Course.

A triumph in this year's Glens Falls would put War Like Goddess in the company of horses that have captured as many as three straight editions of a Saratoga stakes race, including Exterminator, who won four straight runnings of the Saratoga Cup in 1919-22; three-time Whitney winner Discovery [1934-36]; and New York-bred Irish Linnet, who won four straight Yaddos from 1992-95.

A 6-year-old English Channel mare, War Like Goddess is no stranger to winning a stakes three times in a row, having captured her third straight win in the 12-furlong Grade 3 Bewitch 12 furlongs in April at Keeneland.

Trained by Hall of Famer and seven-time Glens Falls winning trainer Bill Mott, War Like Goddess boasts a highly consistent 15-10-1-2 record as well as field-high earnings of $2,170,184. Her 4-year-old season included her Bewitch and Glens Falls coups as well as victories in the Grade 3 Orchid at Gulfstream Park and Grade 1 Flower Bowl Invitational at Saratoga before finishing a close third as the favorite in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1) at Del Mar.

War Like Goddess made a triumphant return to action during her 5-year-old year in the Bewitch and Glens Falls before finishing second to returning rival Virginia Joy in last year's Flower Bowl. She bested males in the next-out Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational (G1) in October at Belmont at the Big A, registering a career-high 105 Beyer Speed Figure en route to a third-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1) at Keeneland.

War Like Goddess enters from an uncharacteristic sixth in the New York (G1) on June 9 going 10 furlongs at Belmont Park, where she tracked about eight lengths behind a moderate pace set by gate-to-wire winner Marketsegmentation.

She breezed a half-mile in :48.48 over the Oklahoma training track on Saturday.

“She seemed to go very well, the breeze was very good,” Mott said. “We're coming off a race that wasn't her best. It was a mile and a quarter, which is a little short for her and there wasn't a lot of pace. I went in knowing it wasn't her favorite distance, but it's the only Grade 1 for fillies on the grass going that distance, so we gave it a try. It didn't work out, but she's doing really well.”

Mott said War Like Goddess thrives at the Spa.

“We can turn her out here, train her late, and we have a lot of flexibility up here, which she likes,” Mott said. “She likes being out. She gets out in the round pen which is a good thing.”

War Like Goddess will leave from post 1 under Joel Rosario.

Trainer Graham Motion will seek his fourth Glens Falls triumph when saddling graded stakes winner Sopran Basilea [post 5, Manny Franco] and multiple graded stakes-placed Vergara [post 7, John Velazquez].

Madaket Stables and William Strauss' Sopran Basilea will make her third stateside start for Motion following a productive career in Italy under the care of her previous conditioner Gallopa Grizetti, for whom she won a pair of group stakes going 1 1/4 miles in 2021. She made her debut for Motion when a late-closing second in a strong edition of the Gallorette (G3) in May at Pimlico Race Course, a race that saw its winner Whitebeam capture the Spa's Diana (G1) next out.

Sopran Basilea, a 5-year-old Night of Thunder chestnut, enters from a narrow triumph over returning rival Ever Summer in the Robert G. Dick Memorial (G3) on July 1 at Delaware Park.

“She's doing really well and I'm very happy with her,” said Motion, who saddled previous Glens Falls victresses Humaita [2004], Rosinka [2007] and Mrs. Sippy [2019]. “She's been a little bit of a surprise for me – I was surprised just how well she ran in the Gallorette going a shorter distance and I was surprised and impressed with her performance the other day at Delaware going a distance that she obviously prefers. I think this is the logical step for her. Usually, the Robert Dick fits in with running the Glens Falls and is a natural progression.”

Gary Broad's Vergara will see added ground, entering from a close third beaten a neck in the Eatontown (G3) on June 17 at Monmouth Park. The 4-year-old Noble Mission bay set an easy early tempo and held command in upper stretch before giving way inside the final sixteenth to one-two finishers Consumer Spending and Surprisingly.

Fifth in the Gallorette in her 2023 debut, Vergara seeks her first win since capturing last year's Dueling Grounds Oaks at Kentucky Downs going 1 5/16 miles.

“She's a lovely filly who has improved, and I think going the longer distances is going to help her,” Motion said.

Four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown also unleashes a two-pronged attack with Grade 1-winning millionaire McKulick [post 4, Irad Ortiz Jr.] and last year's Glens Falls third-place finisher Virginia Joy [post 2, Flavien Prat].

Klaravich Stables' McKulick will stretch out following a third-place finish to stablemate and fellow Klaravich color-bearer Marketsegmentation in the New York. This effort came following her lone off-the-board placing in her 2023 debut when fifth in the Modesty (G3) going nine furlongs at Churchill Downs.

The 4-year-old Frankel bay captured two-thirds of last year's fillies' edition of the Turf Triple series, winning the Belmont Oaks Invitational (G1) over With The Moonlight before finishing second to that rival in the Saratoga Oaks Invitational (G3). She followed with a half-length score in the Jockey Club Oaks Invitational (G3) at Belmont at the Big A.

Peter Brant's German-bred Virginia Joy, a 6-year-old Soldier Hollow bay, will try for her first win since defeating War Like Goddess in last year's Grade 2 Flower Bowl in September at Saratoga.

Virginia Joy joined Brown's stable in 2021, following six starts in her native country for trainer Marcel Weiss which included a Group 3 victory and a third in the Group 1 German Oaks. Last year, she captured the The Very One (G3) at Gulfstream Park before a 14 1/4-length romp over yielding turf in Belmont's Sheepshead Bay (G2).

Four-time Glens Falls winning trainer Christophe Clement will saddle Moyglare Stud Farm's Amazing Grace [post 3, Tyler Gaffalione] who returns to the 1 1/2-mile distance for the first time since capturing her North American debut in Gulfstream's Orchid (G3) in April. The German-bred Protectionist chestnut was fourth in her prior two starts, entering from a start against males in the Belmont Gold Cup (G2) on June 9 at Belmont.

Amazing Grace enjoyed a prosperous campaign in her native land while racing for trainer Waldemar Hickst, including a victory in the T. von Zastrow Stutenpreis (G2) at Baden-Baden before finishing third to next out Breeders' Cup Turf winner Rebel's Romance in the Preis von Europa (G1) at Koln.

Completing the field is Janet Quaintance's Elegant Taste [post 6, Jackie Davis], who makes her turf and stakes debut off a string off three claiming events. The daughter of Oxbow is trained by Lawrence Smith.

The post War Like Goddess To Seek Third Straight Glens Falls Victory appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post