Tag: Racing

Under a patient ride from Paco Lopez early on, Shotgun Hottie swung four wide into the stretch and drove past favorite Search Results to take the $500,000 Molly Pitcher (G3) by a half length Saturday at Monmouth Park.

Sent off at 8-1 odds, the 4-year-old Gun Runner filly was winning for the fifth time in 15 career starts and came in off a victory in the Lady's Secret Stakes June 10 at the Oceanport, N.J. track. Saturday's triumph marked her first graded stakes victory after two seconds and a third in graded events last year.

Shotgun Hottie returned $18.40 after covering 1 1/16 miles 1:43 and change.

Chilean-bred Le Da Vida finished second after racing last of seven early, and Search Results finished third, three-quarters of a length back, after pressing the pacesetter Loved for the first half mile.

Shotgun Hottie is trained by Cherie DeVaux for owners Omar Aldabbagh and Jeff Ganje. She was bred in Kentucky by Vincent Colbert from the Malibu Moon mare Re Entry. She sold to Ganje out of the Gene Recio consignment at the 2021 OBS spring sale of 2-year-olds in training for $45,000.

Molly Pitcher Quotes:

WINNING TRAINER – Cherie DeVaux: “Paco looked like he had a lot of horse throughout the race and when he ranged up on the backside it then was just sustaining that run. She did sustain her run and I'm just really proud of her. I left her here (after she won the Lady's Secret here in her last on June 10) under the care of (trainer) Dan Ward. She's been working over this track and has a lot of experience on the track. She's run two races prior here (Serena's Song May 14) and she's just improving each subsequent week.”

WINNING JOCKEY – Paco Lopez: “I loved my position today. My position was great. But I never expected it to happen like that. I got lucky today. I had to wait outside. When we reached the final turn I just let her go. Cherie DeVaux told me she was ready today. The last time I rode her (in winning the Lady's Secret at Monmouth Park on June 10) nobody wanted the lead so I put her on the lead. Today I had to wait a lot more. Cherie told me she would be ready for this race. I said, 'OK.' I know this filly she tries hard, even after she didn't break well. She was loaded and waiting and waiting. I knew [Search Results] was inside us, but my filly was good today.”

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Godolphin's homebred Proxy make all the pace, determinedly shook off challenges from Whelan Springs and Calibrate, and powered to victory in the $400,000 Monmouth Cup (G3) Saturday at Monmouth Park.

The 5-year-old Tapit horse, the 1-5 favorite, was scoring for the sixth time in 18 career outings while rebounding from an unplaced finish in the Stephen Foster (G1) earlier this month at Ellis Park.  The Monmouth Cup standout, he took the  Clark (G1) at Churchill Downs last November, was second in the  Santa Anita Handicap (G1) in March, then took Oaklawn Handicap (G2) April 22 and before finishing eighth in the Stephen Foster July 1. He would not be denied Saturday, showing his class for Joel Rosario to get the victory after making all the pace in a race for the first time in his career..

Proxy returned $2.8o after covering 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.99. He set early fractions of :23.80, :48,13, 1:12.05 and 1:37.37 before cruising across the finish line 2 1/2 lengths in front of Whelen Springs. Calibrate finished third, another 4  3/4 lengths back.

Trained by Mike Stidham, Proxy earned the $240,000 winner's share of the Monmouth Cup purse, boosting his lifetime bankroll to $2,024,970.

Kentucky-bred Proxy is out of Grade 1 winner Panty Raid, by Include.

Monmouth Cup Quotes:

WINNING TRAINER – Michael Stidham: “He really showed some guts. He's never been on the lead in his life. He's laid close early on in his career so we knew he could be close and still finish. But he was never on the lead so I didn't know what to think. I was hoping for the best, and then when they hooked him at the three-sixteenths pole, I thought, `Oh Boy. here we go.' Then he dug in and class came through in the end.

“That was very gratifying because his last race (in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster at Ellis Park), with Ellis being speed favoring and getting shuffled back around the first turn he had no chance. We just felt like we're not going to sit around and wait 60 days and plan to hopefully run in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (Grade 1 at Saratoga) but that was another 60-day break. He had already had one of those. He ran big today.”

WINNING JOCKEY – Joel Rosario: “I think it was just a case of too much class. He was the best horse in the race. He broke well and I just kind of let him go and do his thing. He's a little tricky sometimes to ride. You have to let him do the work. I know he always tries. He never gives up. He just does what he does. I was on the best horse and I rode him that way. They put some pressure on us but I was never worried. He has so much class. I just let him show the way.”

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Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's Forte added blinkers to cover a half-mile in :50  flat in company Saturday at Saratoga in his final work ahead of next Saturday's $500,000 Jim Dandy (G2) at the upstate New York track.

Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, Forte, with Irad Ortiz Jr. up, went in company with four-time graded stakes-winning stablemate Emmanuel. It was Forte's second breeze this summer at Saratoga after covering a half-mile in :48.90 last Friday.

The dark bay son of Violence, a last out second in the Belmont Stakes (G1) on June 10, won Gulfstream Park's Fountain of Youth (G2) on March 4 and Florida Derby (G1) on April 1. He entered the Kentucky Derby (G1) on May 6 at Churchill Downs as the morning-line favorite but was scratched the morning of the race with a bruised foot.

Pletcher said he decided to make the equipment change following last week's work.

“In the Florida Derby, he lost concentration a little bit around the far turn and fortunately enough he was able to rally and get up in time. He sort of did the same thing in the Belmont,” Pletcher said. “We thought in his breeze last week, he was kind of more focused on what the horse next to him is doing rather than what he should be doing.

“Irad and I had a conversation after that work about possibly trying some blinkers on him,” Pletcher continued. “We galloped him in them one day this week and it seemed like that went fine. Irad felt like he was a little more focused on what he was asking him to do rather than what the horse next to him was doing. If we were going to try an equipment change, we felt like the Jim Dandy would be the race to do it in and not wait until the Travers if we felt we needed to make a change.”

Pletcher said the blinkers made a noticeable difference.

“He was locked in and more aggressive going to the pole and then he settled in a really good rhythm,” Pletcher noted. “But when Irad asked him, he responded right away. He didn't seem to care what his workmate was doing as much.”

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