Tag: Racing

Harold Lerner, Nehoc Stables, AWC Stables and Team Stallion Racing Stable's stakes-placed Mendelssohns March will be upset minded in Saturday's Grade 1, $750,000 Belmont Derby Invitational, a 10-furlong inner turf test for sophomores at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

Trainer Kenny McPeek won this event last year with 26-1 shot Classic Causeway, who posted a gate-to-wire score over favored Nations Pride and second-choice Stone Age. This year, he returns with the improving Mendelssohns March, who enters from a close runner-up effort to returning rival Webslinger in the nine-furlong Audubon on June 3 at Churchill Downs.

The Mendelssohn colt graduated on debut in February via disqualification traveling one-mile over firm Fair Grounds turf. He made his next two starts on dirt, winning an optional-claimer at Oaklawn in March over sloppy and sealed conditions before finishing sixth in the Grade 1 Blue Grass at Keeneland. Mendelssohns March returned to grass in May and finished ninth in the Grade 2 American Turf when defeated 4 3/4-lengths by Webslinger.

“He's coming off a really good run. We know it's a tough race, but we think he's going to like the added distance,” McPeek said. “He's acting like he's quite ratable. He started his career really well, 2-for-2. This is an ambitious spot for him, we realize that, but you're not going to get many opportunities to run a mile and a quarter.”

The $110,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase is out of the Galileo mare Unappeased, who is a half-sister to Grade 1-winner Sligo Bay.

“He's a beautiful moving horse,” McPeek said. “I bought him as a yearling and with a Galileo mare, how can you go wrong with that. I really thought he was one of my top 3-year-olds and this is an opportunity to prove himself at a high level.”

McPeek said Mendelssohns March, who will exit the inside post Saturday under Dylan Davis, has trained very well upstate at Saratoga Race Course over the Oklahoma trainer turf, working in company with Walking L Thoroughbreds and Three Chimneys Farm's promising filly Freydis the Red.

The French-bred daughter of Saxon Warrior will make her stakes debut in Saturday's co-featured Grade 1, $500,000 Fasig-Tipton Belmont Oaks Invitational.

The 10-furlong inner turf test for sophomore fillies kicks off the Fasig-Tipton Fillies Turf Triple series, which is followed by the 1 3/16-mile Grade 3, $400,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Oaks Invitational on August 4 at Saratoga Race Course and the Grade 3, $350,000 Fasig-Tipton Jockey Club Oaks Invitational on September 16 going 11 furlongs at Belmont at the Big A.

Freydis the Red completed the exacta on three occasions before breaking through last out at sixth asking on May 29 in a nine-furlong maiden special weight over firm Churchill turf. The 4 1/4-length score garnered a career-best 79 Beyer Speed Figure.

“I think she's a filly that's getting ready to move forward and I think she's another one we'd like to try at a mile and a quarter,” McPeek said. “The expectations are high for her. She ran really fast in her last race and if she can replicate that and maybe move a little bit forward off the added distance – obviously black type is important – to get her Grade 1-placed would be a big deal.”

McPeek purchased the chestnut, out of the Shirocco mare Songerie, for $147,403 from the Arqana Deauville August Yearling Sale.

“She was a real standout as a yearling,” McPeek said. “She was a little unlucky trying to get her maiden broke last year. But she really put it together in her last race.”

The late-running chestnut will exit post 8 under Junior Alvarado.

McPeek sent out a pair of multiple graded-stakes winning starters for Lucky Seven Stable in Saturday's Grade 1 Stephen Foster at Ellis Park with Rattle N Roll [2nd] and Smile Happy [5th] performing admirably in the nine-furlong route won by West Will Power.

“They both came out of it fine,” McPeek said. “Smile Happy wasn't very cooperative going to the gate. We may try blindfolding him going to the starting gate next time, but he's historically been tough to deal with. Rattle N Roll is a consummate professional.”

Rattle N Roll, a 4-year-old Connect colt, captured the 2021 Grade 1 Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland as a juvenile. He entered the Stephen Foster on a three-race win streak in Grade 3 events, taking the 1 3/16-mile Ben Ali in April at Keeneland, the 1 3/16-mile Pimlico Special in May and the nine-furlong Blame in June at Churchill.

He rallied from seventh in the Stephen Foster to finish a half-length in arrears of the winner, while earning a 101 Beyer Speed Figure – his fifth consecutive triple-digit figure.

Smile Happy, a 4-year-old Runhappy colt, made the grade at second asking in the 2021 Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs. He entered the Foster from a sharp score in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 2 Alysheba in May at Churchill Downs, besting multiple Grade 1-winner Art Collector by two lengths with West Will Power in third.

McPeek said both horses will be nominated to the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney, a nine-furlong rest for older horses on August 5 at Saratoga Race Course which offers a “Win and You're In” berth to the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Classic in November at Santa Anita Park.

MJM Racing's stakes-placed V V's Dream, a 2-year-old Mitole grey, romped by 6 1/4-lengths in her May debut sprinting five furlongs at Churchill Downs. She followed last out with a runner-up effort to Brightwork in the six-furlong Debutante on Sunday at Ellis Park.

McPeek said he wants to stretch out the $190,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase.

“She's a filly that needs longer than that,” McPeek said. “She has a huge future. We'll probably sit on her until they run a mile and a sixteenth.”

Back Racing, Run for LaRoses and Magdalena Racing's Call the Cavalryovercame a bobbled start to graduate on debut in a five-furlong maiden special weight here on June 4.

McPeek said Call the Cavalry will target the Grade 3, $175,000 Sanford, a six-furlong main track sprint for juveniles on July 15 at Saratoga.

The Florida-bred Khozan colt is out of the Songandaprayer mare Song and Delight, who is a half-sister to multiple graded-stakes winner Delightful Kiss and graded-stakes winner Delightful Mary.

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Gary and Mary West's West Will Power raced into the NTRA Poll's top 10 on July 1 with his half-length victory over a fast-closing Rattle N Roll in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Stakes — run this year at Ellis Park after the final weeks of the Churchill Downs meet were moved to the Henderson, Ky., track.

Under Flavien Prat, West Will Power was winning his first career Grade 1 stakes, defeating fellow G1 winners Rattle N Roll, Proxy, and Stilleto Boy, among others. Both Proxy (previously No. 8) and Smile Happy (No. 9) were knocked out of the top 10 with their losing performances in the Stephen Foster. Goodnight Olive moved up to the 10 spot.

West Will Power was sent away the 2-1 favorite in the 1 1/8-mile contest.

Cody's Wish, unbeaten in two starts this year, remains at the top of the NTRA Poll with 26  first-place votes.

This is Week 23 of the 2023 NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll conducted by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), covering racing performances through July 2. Voting is conducted by national media.

The Top Thoroughbred poll represents horses competing for Horse of the Year. The Top Thoroughbred Poll concludes on Tuesday, Nov. 7 following the Breeders' Cup World Championships.

Rankings is done on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-1 basis with first place votes in parentheses, 2023 record and total points. A-S: Age-Sex, Sex: C-colt, G-gelding, H-horse, F-filly, M-mare, R-ridgling.

Other horses receiving votes: RATTLE N ROLL (38), FORTE (17), PRETTY MISCHIEVOUS (16), MAGE (11), SMILE HAPPY (8), TWO PHIL'S (8), PROXY (8), GUNITE (7), ARCANGELO (7), ARABIAN LION (7), TAIBA (4), MODERN GAMES (3), COUNTRY GRAMMER (2), EMMANUEL (2), NEST (2), ZOZOS (2), PLAYED HARD (1)

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Prairie Meadows Racetrack in Altoona, Iowa, will host the 2023 Iowa Festival of Racing this Friday, July 7, and Saturday, July 8. The two-day affair features eight Thoroughbred stakes races highlighted by the Grade 3, $300,000 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap, carded as the eighth race on Saturday.

Multiple stakes winner Ain't Life Grand (Not This Time – Cat d'Oro by Medaglia d'Oro) is the lone Iowa-bred entrant in a field of 10 scheduled to contest the 2023 running of the Prairie Meadows Cornhusker at 1 1/8 miles over the Altoona oval.

Ain't Life Grand, owned by RPM Thoroughbreds of Prairie Meadows Hall of Famers Peggy and Ray Shattuck and conditioned by Prairie Meadows Hall of Fame trainer Kelly Von Hemel, will have the services of regular rider Elvin Gonzalez as he attempts to record his fifth consecutive local stakes victory.

The talented colt found himself in the national spotlight after his determined victory over a quality field of seven rivals in the 2022 Iowa Derby.

Ain't Life Grand shipped to Saratoga for the Grade 1, $1,250,000 Travers Stakes in August of 2022 where he finished seventh after prompting the early pace. He has won three of his four starts since then, including a facile victory in the Jim and Sandra Rasmussen Stakes over his home track on June 10.

“We're excited to see how Ain't Life Grand and the other locally based horses run in the Festival stakes races,” said Prairie Meadows Thoroughbred racing secretary Stuart Slagle. “Stakes coordinator Ray Lopez and the entire staff in the racing office worked overtime to recruit horses and fill the races. The fruits of their labors are obvious on the overnight.”
Slagle then singled out the $250,000 Iowa Derby, carded as the ninth race on Saturday July 8, for recognition.

That listed stakes race at 1 1/16 miles drew a full field of 14 horses including 3-year-olds from the barns of nationally recognized trainers Steve Asmussen, Kenny McPeek, Brad Cox, and Saffie Joseph, Jr., as well as horses handled by local conditioners Kelly Von Hemel, Jon Arnett, and Doug Anderson.

Asmussen entered a pair in the Iowa Derby, How Did He Do That and Black Powder, both exiting the $300,000 Texas Derby at Lone Star Park on May 29.

Three other Iowa Derby entrants, Bo Cruz, Raise Cain, and Denington, were the third, fourth and fifth-place finishers in their last starts in the Grade 3 $400,000 Matt Winn Stakes at Ellis Park on June 11.

Von Hemel will send out Big Luke, winner of the Gray's Lake on June 3. Arnett entered Ocean Of Storms, who broke his maiden at Prairie Meadows last season. Anderson 's Derby runner is Warren L, winner of the Prairie Mile on June 10.

The first day of the Iowa Festival of Racing on Friday includes the $100,000 Iowa Distaff at 1 1/16 miles, the $100,000 Iowa Sprint at six furlongs, the $100,000 Prairie Gold Lassie at 5 1/2 furlongs, and the $100,000 Saylorville at six furlongs

Saturday's Festival lineup of stakes races includes the $100,000 Prairie Gold Juvenile at 5 1/2 furlongs, the Grade 3 $225,000 Iowa Oaks at 1 1/16 miles, the $250,000 Iowa Derby at 1 1/16 miles, and the Grade 3 $300,000 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap at 1 1/8 miles.

Post time for the first race on both days of the 2023 Iowa Festival of Racing will be at 6:00 p.m. Central.

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August Dawn Farm's undefeated New York-bred Maple Leaf Mel will look to double up on graded victories while maintaining an unblemished record in Saturday's Grade 3, $175,000 Victory Ride, a 6 1/2-furlong sprint for sophomore fillies, at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

The Victory Ride marks Maple Leaf Mel's first outing for trainer Melanie Giddings, who the grey filly was named for. Giddings worked for several years as an assistant to the filly's former trainer, Jeremiah Englehart, before venturing out on her own in November. Maple Leaf Mel will be her first stakes starter.

“I just want to do the best job for this horse that I can,” Giddings said. “I've always done the same job for her and I hope the outcome is the same. Obviously, other people will see that it's some added pressure for someone like me that's only won two races and here I am with an undefeated graded stakes winner.”

Maple Leaf Mel was last seen scoring her first graded triumph in the six-furlong Grade 3 Miss Preakness on May 19 at Pimlico Race Course, leading at every point of call under Joel Rosario to land a tidy 1 1/2-length win over returning rival Topsy. She completed the course in 1:09.56 and earned a career-best 90 Beyer Speed Figure.

The Miss Preakness was the daughter of Cross Traffic's first foray outside of state-bred company and marked her second outing off a seven-month respite. She made her career debut with a dominant five-length score in August at Saratoga Race Course and followed 16 days later with her first stakes win in the Seeking the Ante. She did not return until March when she trounced a seven-horse field in Aqueduct's East View by 7 3/4 lengths.

Giddings said Maple Leaf Mel has made every logical step forward and that scoring a Grade 1 triumph in Saratoga's $500,000 Test on Aug. 5 is her main objective for both the filly and her owner, Hall of Fame NFL coach Bill Parcells.

“The goal is to get a Grade 1 for her and for Coach as well,” said Giddings. “He's put a lot of money into the game and he loves this game. He's at the track almost every day. It would be nice to see him get that. I'm sure he'd have a special place for it [the trophy] to go.”

Maple Leaf Mel, bred by Joe Fafone, will exit post 5 in rein to Rosario.

Dual graded stakes-winner Red Carpet Ready [post 8, Luis Saez] makes her first start in the Empire State off a determined head score in the Grade 2 Eight Belles at Churchill Downs on May 5 for trainer Rusty Arnold, who also trained this race's namesake to a victory in the 2001 Grade 1 Test at Saratoga.

Owned by Ashbrook Farm and Upland Flats Racing, the daughter of Oscar Performance pounced from just off the pace under Luis Saez to narrowly fend off the resurgent pacesetter Munnys Gold, earning a field-best 92 Beyer for the effort.

The dark bay filly is 4-for-5 lifetime, including her first graded coup in the Grade 3 Forward Gal in February at Gulfstream Park. Her lone loss came in the Grade 2 Davona Dale in March, where she finished third, seven lengths behind the victorious Dorth Vader, who went on to finish a close second to Pretty Mischievous in the Grade 1 Acorn presented by Great Jones Distilling Co. three starts later.

Two-time Eclipse Award-winning conditioner Brad Cox will send out Juddmonte's undefeated Dazzling Blue [post 2, Flavien Prat] as she steps up to graded company for the first time with a 3-for-3 record.

The Into Mischief bay arrives off a facile optional claiming conquest on May 19 at Churchill, where she coasted to a frontrunning 8 3/4-length win in a six-furlong sprint. She graduated on debut by 4 1/2 lengths in November at Churchill ahead of a successful stakes debut in Fair Grounds Race Course's Letellier Memorial. All three of her wins have come in wire-to-wire fashion going six furlongs.

Belladonna Racing, Edward Hudson, Jr., West Point Thoroughbreds, LBD Stable, Nice Guys Stables, Manganaro Bloodstock, Runnels Racing, Steve Hornstock and Twin Brook Stables' Vahva [post 3, Tyler Gaffalione] makes her return to the graded ranks after scoring an off-the-pace victory in a first-level optional claimer on May 5 at Churchill.

Trained by Cherie DeVaux, the daughter of Gun Runner earned her first victory against winners when pouncing from 2 1/2 lengths back and finding enough down the stretch to cross the wire first by a half-length over Undervalued Asset.

“She's doing really well,” said DeVaux. “We sent her out for a two-week vacation at Rebecca Maker's farm [after her last start]. If we're going to have a big summer, she just needed a little break. So, we sent her out and she came back and looked fantastic. She's trained forwardly since.”

Vahva will make her second start in graded company after finishing fourth in Fair Grounds' Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra at a two-turn 1 1/16 miles. She earned a stakes placing one start earlier when third in the one-mile and 70-yard Untapable, also around two turns at Fair Grounds.

A $280,000 purchase at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Vahva is out of the Harlan's Holiday mare Holiday Soiree, a graded stakes-placed mare who won the 2013 Shine Again sprinting six furlongs over Saratoga's main track.

“This [sprinting] seems to be more what she appreciates. We did try twice to go two turns and she just didn't seem to be really effective there,” said DeVaux.

Lady Sheila Stable's New York homebred Downtown Mischief [post 6, Jose Lezcano] was a last-out winner of the state-bred Bouwerie for trainer Linda Rice, adding to an open-company stakes score in the Cicada in March at Aqueduct. The Into Mischief bay has won 4-of-5 starts, with each victory coming in prominent fashion when either on or near the lead. Her only loss came in an off-the-turf edition of the Memories of Silver on April 29 going one-mile over a sloppy and sealed Big A.

Rice said Downtown Mischief's one-length Bouwerie win proved strong enough to warrant a start in graded company.

“She trained great into the Bouwerie and won pretty convincingly,” said Rice. “She's four for five now, won an open stakes so we're hoping to get some graded black type with her, whether it's a win or a placing.”

Completing the field are graded stakes-placed Interpolate [post 1, Irad Ortiz, Jr.] for four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown; maiden-winner Adeliese's Smile [post 4, Junior Alvarado] for conditioner Jose Jimenez; and graded stakes-placed Topsy [post 7, Jose Ortiz] for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen.

The Victory Ride is slated as Race 11 on Saturday's loaded 12-race card, which co-features the Grade 1, $750,000 Belmont Derby Invitational in Race 10; the Grade 1, $500,000 Fasig-Tipton Belmont Oaks Invitational in Race 8; and the Grade 2, $350,000 Suburban in Race 5. First post is 1:05 p.m. Eastern.

America's Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the spring meet at Belmont Park on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the best way to bet every race of the Belmont Park spring/summer meet. Available to horse players nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.

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