Tag: Racing

Tyson, a 4-year-old son of Tapit-Honouring, will tackle 1 1/16 miles on the Tapeta and five rivals in Saturday's $175,000 Seagram Cup (G2) at Woodbine.

The Seagram Cup, for 3-year-olds and up, marks the second straight graded engagement for Tyson, trained by Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee Josie Carroll.

On July 1, in his most recent effort, he rallied with authority to best talented stablemate Treason in the 1 1/8-mile Dominion Day Stakes, crossing the wire a 1 ¼-length victor in a time of 1:48.32 over the Tapeta.

“He ran against a quality field and probably didn't have the best of trips,” said John Sikura, who co-bred and co-owns Tyson under the Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings Inc. banner, along with Stretch Run Ventures, LLC. “But he finished with authority and beat a very good horse. All of those things are impressive and we're looking forward to this weekend to see if he can repeat that performance.”

Tyson is the first runner out of the winning Smart Strike mare Honouring. A half-sister to Grade 1 winner Streaming and stakes winners Treasuring and Cascading, as well as stakes performers Distracting and Gifting, she is one of five stakes producers out of Better Than Honour daughter Teeming.

Tapit has had great success with the family, including stakes performers by stallion under Tyson's first two dams, including Grade 2 winner Greatest Honour and stakes performers Sweet as Pie and Soaring. Honouring's Tapit half-sister, Modeling, is also the dam of this year's Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Arcangelo.

“He's a beautifully bred horse from a family cultivated for about 30 years,” started Sikura. “It's a family that means a lot to me and is very rewarding to the farm. It's a very important vehicle for our success.”

Sikura, inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2018, hadn't originally planned to keep the impeccably bred colt, but that changed after the 2020 Keeneland Association September Yearling Sale.

“It's very unusual for us to keep a colt. That wasn't the original plan. We offered him as a yearling at what I believe was a very reasonable reserve ($250,000). But he didn't get sold.”

Under the tutelage of Todd Pletcher, Tyson debuted last March at Gulfstream Park. Sent off at 6-1 in the 1 1/16-mile race on the Hallandale oval's main track, he turned back all challenges to notch a hard-earned one-length victory.

The connections, Sikura included, were impressed by the polished effort of Tyson.

“He was great in that first start. He won with authority. He was supposed to be in a race at Turfway, but he was on the also-eligible list and didn't get in. The horse had a little setback after that race, but Todd felt he'd be very successful on the synthetic. So, having had a very fruitful relationship with Josie Carroll for more than 20 years, we decided to send her the horse. She's done a fantastic job with him.”

Tyson won next time out in his first start for Carroll, this May, in his 4-year-old debut. That was followed by a gritty third in the Eclipse Stakes (G2) Presented by Don Julio on June 4.

With the Dominion Day win, the roan is now 3-0-1 from four starts to go along with $145,972 in earnings.

“We'll see if he can establish himself as the best dirt/synthetic older horse in Canada. We'll take one race at a time and if he is that we'll see if he's a horse that can travel and try to win a major graded stakes race outside of Canada. We'll focus on this one first. If he runs his race, I think he'll give a good account of himself.”

Sikura is grateful for his connection to the horse he named after one of boxing's greatest all-time heavyweights.

“I named him Tyson because of my admiration for Mike Tyson. Not his ability as a boxer, but his resiliency, reinvention of himself, and how he turned his life around when he retired from the ring. It's not easy to lose everything and bounce back. I relate to that, having lost my dad so young.”

First post for Saturday's card is 1:05 p.m. Fans can also watch and wager on all the action via HPIbet.com and the Dark Horse Bets app.

$175,000 SEAGRAM CUP STAKES (G2)
Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer

1 – Clear Destination – Ryan Munger – Patrick Dixon

2 – Seventysevenstone – Isabelle Wenc – Paul Lepiane

3 – Artie's Storm – David Moran – Paul Buttigieg

4 – Tyson – Rafael Hernandez – Josie Carroll

5 – Carrothers – Sahin Civaci – Martin Drexler

6 – Kingmax (IRE) – Emma-Jayne Wilson – Jorge Delgado

The post Tyson After Knock-Out Punch In Saturday’s Seagram Cup appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Blue Rose Farm's Arcangelo worked five-eighths in 1:01.23 Wednesday over the Saratoga Race Course main track in preparation for the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers slated for August 26.

Trained by Jena Antonucci and piloted through the work by Hall of Famer Javier Castellano, the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets-winner was caught by NYRA Clockers through splits of 24 1/5 and 36 2/5 before galloping out in 1:14 2/5 and 1:27 flat.

“He was great. It was a beautiful work. Javier was very pleased,” Antonucci said.

It was the third breeze over the main track here for the Arrogate grey.

“He loves it. We're so blessed with him, he doesn't seem to care what's underneath him,” Antonucci said of the Saratoga surface. “He handles it beautifully. Facilities has done a great job of keeping it very consistent and he's thriving off of that.”

Antonucci said Arcangelo has enjoyed breezing on a 10-day schedule as opposed to the more common every seven days routine.

“You have to pay attention to your horse and understand who they are,” Antonucci said. “This horse just needs that space because with his cruising speed and how he trains, he's thrived on more of a 10-day schedule. My job is to listen and stay out of his way.”

Antonucci, who became the first female trainer to win a Triple Crown race, said Arcangelo maintained his weight coming out of the grueling 12-furlong “Test of the Champion” and has thrived at Saratoga.

“He held really good. He's a good doer. He definitely hasn't regressed at all. He's definitely come forward,” Antonucci said. “Everything else is there – my job is to make sure that the happy and full-of-himself horse stays there.”

The $35,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase graduated at third asking in March traveling a one-turn mile at Gulfstream Park with Castellano aboard for the first time.

The talented colt stalked a sharp pace of 23.17 seconds and 45.55 set by Jonas' Dream before making a seven-wide bid in the stretch run en route to a 3 1/2-length score in a final time of 1:34.82. The winning effort garnered a then career-best 84 Beyer Speed Figure.

He has improved his Beyer in each start since, taking the nine-furlong Grade 3 Peter Pan [97] by a head over Bishops Bay ahead of his memorable run in the 12-furlong Belmont Stakes [102], overtaking the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes-winner National Treasure at the stretch call and holding off the reigning

Champion 2-Year-Old Colt Forte to secure a 1 1/2-length score.

Antonucci said Arcangelo, who will breeze twice more before the Travers, should have no trouble with the turnback in distance.

“We were one of the fastest miles at Gulfstream breaking his maiden, so cruising speed is definitely not an issue with him,” Antonucci said.

Out of the Tapit mare Modeling, Arcangelo's third dam is Better Than Honour, who produced two Belmont Stakes winners in Jazil [2006] and Rags to Riches [2007].

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Trainer Kelly Breen isn't sure how much longer he will have Vegas Magic in his barn but he intends to make the most of the opportunity that he has with the Grade 2-winning 3-year-old filly.

Trained by California-based Doug O'Neill for her first six career starts, Vegas Magic was shipped from the West Coast to Monmouth Park 10 days ago, settling into Breen's barn under an arrangement the two conditioners – and friends – have worked out.

She will make her East Coast debut in Saturday's $250,000, Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks, and will do so with Breen listed as the trainer.

“She kind of has dual citizenship now,” said Breen. “She's doing great. I talked to Doug about her when she first got here and found out as much as I could about her. She has been training very well.

“What happens to her after this race I don't know. That's up to Doug.”

O'Neill said he and Breen have had a solid working relationship for arrangements such as this for a while now.

“I've known Kelly for years,” said O'Neill, who won the 2012 Kentucky Derby with I'll Have Another and repeated with Nyquist in 2016. “He's a great guy. I try to help him any time I can when he comes to the West Coast and he has been a godsend to me with horses I send East.”

A Kentucky-bred daughter of Good Magic, Vegas Magic comes in off a sixth-place finish in the Grade 2 Lady M Stakes at Los Alamitos on July 4 in her seasonal debut. She started her career with three straight wins at 2, which included a victory in the Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes at Del Mar, before stepping up to company that proved to be a little too steep.

She was fourth in the Grade 1 TVG.com Debutante at Del Mar before ending her 2022 campaign with an off-the-board finish in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. To this point, that was her only start outside of California.

“We're just trying to run her against 3-year-olds now for as long as we can,” said O'Neill. “She's kind of average size but a very athletic filly who is an easy keeper. Kelly said he was happy with the breeze.”

“You can tell she is a classy filly,” said Breen, a three-time leading trainer at Monmouth Park.

The 99^th edition of the Monmouth Oaks, contested at a mile and a sixteenth, will offer Vegas Magic another test. Foggy Night, the recent winner of the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks; Occult, third in the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes on June 9; Promiseher America, the winner of the Grade 3 Gazelle Stakes; Miss New York, the winner of the Boiling Springs at Monmouth Park on July 2, and Boiling Springs runner-up Shidabhuti are among the runners expected in the field.

O'Neill said having just one start this year – and trying two turns for just the second time; the other being in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies – are both concerns, adding that “in this business you're concerned with everything.”

“We have a lot of concerns going into this race but we're excited and optimistic,” O'Neill said. “She's doing well and it would be good to see her have some success around two turns, especially on the road, so we'll see how that goes.”

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