Tag: Racing

Savethelastdance delivered on her favorite tag with Group 1 Irish Oaks glory at The Curragh Saturday as trainer Aidan O'Brien made yet more history.

O'Brien's charge came into the race as 10-11 favorite but she was made to work hard for the win, coming from four lengths back with only three furlongs to go before taking it at the finish line.

It was another fantastic ride from O'Brien's trusty in-race general Ryan Moore, never panicking, even when it appeared it may be too much to do, with the odds rising to 999-1 during the running.

He was able to guide Savethelastdance onto the left-hand side, first overtaking Joseph O'Brien's Lumiere Rock, then stablemate Library, before just having enough in the tank to see off Bluestocking.

Savethelastdance is the first foal out of American-trained Grade 1-winning millionaire Daddy's Lil Darling. The Galileo filly won the listed Cheshire Oaks in impressive fashion before her second-place finish in the Group 1 Epsom Oaks.

Now he leads Irish Oaks victories, with Savethelastdance following in the well-trodden footsteps of Alexandrova (2006), Peeping Fawn (2007), Moonstone (2008), Bracelet (2014), Seventh Heaven (2016) and Snowfall two years ago.

7⃣ @JuddmonteFarms Irish Oaks victories for Aidan O'Brien!

Savethelastdance keeps on gamely to capture the G1 Classic under Ryan Moore for team @Ballydoyle! pic.twitter.com/Pb39KukthD

— The Curragh Racecourse (@curraghrace) July 22, 2023

The post Daddy’s Lil Darling Daughter Savethelastdance Gets Up Just In Time To Win Group 1 Irish Oaks appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Order and Law, a 14-1 outsider, struck for his first graded stakes victory Sunday at Del Mar when capturing the $125,000 Cougar II (G3) by a comfortable 2 1/4 lengths.

Under Kent Desormeaux, the 7-year-old Violence ridgling stalked the early pace from third, then fourth, before advancing to second with a quarter mile to run in the 1 1/2-mile contest. Battling four wide into the stretch outside pacesetter Azul Coast and Bye Bye Bobby, he dug in when called upon,  took charge just before the eighth pole, and was unchallenged to the finish line.

Azul Coast finished second, 3 1/4 lengths in front of Bye Bye Bobby in third in the field of seven.

Favorite Kiss Today Goodbye was bumped repeatedly between rivals exiting the gate, was rank under Hector Berrios on the the first turn, and eventually trailed in last before being eased in the lane. He walked off the track.

Order and Law, who was fourth in last year's edition of the Cougar II, paid $31.60 for his unlikely victory after finishing the trip in 2:32.35 and won for the eighth time in 42 career starts. His victories include the 2018 Laurel Futurity. The $75,000 winner's share of the Cougar II purse elevated his lifetime bankroll to $456,804.

Robert B. Hess Jr. trains Order and Law for the partnership group of Larry S. Buckendorf, Jeffrey Lambert, Lawrence A. Rodriguez, Paul G. Schneider, Peter Stotland, and Matthew D. White. He was bred in Kentucky by Dell Ridge Farm LLC from the Shakespeare mare Poetic Kid.

With Sunday's win, Order and Law halted a 10-race winless stretch dating from a win in a claiming race Feb. 24 at Gulfstream Park. Two races later Hess claimed him for $62,500 out of a fifth-place finish in an allowance optional claimer May 6 at the Hallandale Beach, Fla. track and he went without success for Hess until pulling the surprise Sunday.

Cougar II (G3) Quotes:

KENT DESORMEAUX (Order and Law, winner) – “He galloped. I don't mean he was galloping. He galloped. He won this one easy. No special instructions from Bob (trainer Bob Hess, Jr.). We go back a long way. We've won a bunch of races together and I've got a great rapport with him. He just said 'Meet you in the winner's circle.”

ROBERT HESS JR. (Order and Law, winner) – “He does tend to hang a touch but by the eighth pole I thought we were golden. But you never know until the wire. Thank you, Kent Desormeaux. He loves the mile and a half, probably needs farther. I got to run back here before the end of the meet because this is his track…and my track.”

The post Outsider Order And Law Easily Makes The Grade In Cougar II At Del Mar appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Paramount Prince, racing beyond seven furlongs for the first time, made all the running and drew off for an emphatic five-length victory under Patrick Husbands in Sunday's 1 1/8-mile $150,000 Plate Trial at Woodbine Racetrack.

The Plate Trial, a race for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds, is the major local prep for the $1-million King's Plate, which will be run on August 20.

A field of 12 contested the Plate Trial, but Paramount Prince left his rivals reeling.

“Looking at the [Daily] Racing Form, it was fun for me,” said Husbands, who was riding his fourth Trial winner. “Looking at the race, seeing how it would unfold, all the trainers are going to say, 'Take back' and I can get everything my way. And the race unfolded that way.”

Paramount Prince carved out fractions of :23.83, :48.58, 1:12.93 and 1:37.40 en route to a final clocking of 1:49.99.

Cool Kiss rallied to take down second money by a head in a photo with closing Twin City.

Velocitor was prominent throughout and finished fourth, just another half-length back in an improved performance, with stablemate Phillip My Dear a length behind in fifth.

Stanley House, sent away as the even-money favorite, trailed the field into the backstretch and launched a wide move around the far turn only to come up empty and finish sixth.

Tiburon, Guns n' Rojas, Forest Buzz, Gran Spirited, Simcoe and Pat's Gamble completed the order of finish.

The Plate Trial win was the fourth for Casse, but his first three were unable to duplicate that success in the Queen's Plate, now to be run as the King's Plate. Big Red Mike, in 2010, was the most recent to convert the double.

Paramount Prince, a gelding by Society's Chairman out of Platinum Steel, by Eddington, was bred in Ontario by Ericka Rusnak. The Ontario-bred gelding was making his fifth career start and third of this season. He is campaigned by Michael J. Langlois and Gary Barber, the latter enjoying a victory in the Woodbine Oaks one race later as co-owner with Team Valor International of winner Elysian Field, who is possible for the King's Plate.

“A dream come true, an absolute dream come true,” said Rusnak. “I was just hoping he would hold on and he kept pulling away.

“Just having a horse being talked about in the same sentence as the King's Plate… this is a dream come true.”

The post ‘Dream Come True’: Paramount Prince Wins Plate Trial On Front End appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Elysian Field, under Sahin Civaci, unleashed a spirited stretch run to take all the spoils in the 68th running of the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks  for Canadian-bred fillies on  Sunday at Woodbine.

Trained by Mark Casse for Team Valor International and Gary Barber, Elysian Field took the lead just before the stretch call and confidently fended off a pair of late-running rivals en route to a 2¼-length score and with it, a possible date in the King's Plate on August 20.

Fashionably Fab and Friends for Life both broke sharply with the former emerging with a slim early advantage as the field of 14 moved past the wire for the first time and into the first turn. Ticker Tape Home was positioned third and Fortyfiveseventy settled into fourth, while Civaci had Elysian Field in sixth through an opening quarter reached in :24.02.

The lead pair continued their front-end tussle through a half-mile in :46.96 as Elysian Field was running comfortably and unhurried in seventh.

Ticker Tape Home pounced on the front-runners ahead of three-quarters and looked to dash away from her foes, but Elysian Field was rolling to her outside, wearing down her stablemate to hold a head advantage at the stretch call before powering away for the victory.

Wickenheiser, at 6-1, finished second and 50-1 Fortyfiveseventy, was three-quarters of a length back in third. Me and My Shadow took fourth.

“Honestly, the horse was great,” said Civaci of Elysian Field. “I just had a good trip overall, and she came running.”

The final time for 1 1/8 miles was 1:49.83.

“We bought her a month or two after her first start at Saratoga, and we had her here for about two days and she went into the clinic for about a week, almost a little touch and go, colic. I think it took its toll and we brought her home and she's got bigger and stronger. She's beautiful.

A chance to contest the $1-million King's Plate appears to be a strong possibility for the daughter of Hard Spun out of Elysian, by Smart Strike, according to Casse, who turned the Oaks-Plate double with Lexie Lou nine years ago.

“Gary [Barber] owns a part and he's game. I want to talk to Barry Irwin from Team Valor, but she's a big, strong filly and I'm extremely happy how we get a month between the Oaks and the King's Plate, so that's important. Three weeks is tough, so now we get four weeks, and I don't see why she wouldn't.”

The Woodbine Oaks has served as a King's Plate, formerly run as the Queen's Plare, steppingstone for fillies. Oaks-Plate winners include Holy Helena (2017), Lexie Lou (2014), Inglorious (2011) and Dancethruthedawn (2001). In 2018, Oaks runner-up Wonder Gadot went on to win the Queen's Plate. In 2022, Moira achieved the same feat en route to Canada's Horse of the Year title.

Bred by Anderson Farms Ont. Inc., the chestnut filly is now 2-2-0 from six starts. Elysian Field debuted at Saratoga last August, finishing second, at 50-1, in a 5 ½-furlong turf race. She broke her maiden this April at Woodbine in a 6 ½-furlong race over the Tapeta. ​

Elysian Field paid $13.60 for her Woodbine Oaks win.

The post ‘She Came Running’: Elysian Field Rolls To Woodbine Oaks Win, Possible For King’s Plate appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post