Tag: Racing

Grade 1 winner Last Call returns to the turf for Saturday's 6 ½-furlong Alywow Stakes at Woodbine, a race that also attracted Brendan Walsh trainee Secret Money.

Nine 3-year-old fillies, including Last Call, last year's upset winner of the Natalma (G1), a Breeders' Cup 'Win and You're In' event, will take to the E.P. Taylor Turf Course in the $100,000 Alywow.

Trained by Kevin Attard for X-Men Racing 2 LLC and SF Racing LLC, the daughter of English Channel-Over Served, who was a finalist for Canada's champion 2-year-old female award, heads into her latest test off a second in the Ruling Angel Stakes, a seven-furlong Tapeta race run on May 20 at Woodbine.

“It was good to get her 3-year-old season underway with the second in the Ruling Angel and now we'll get her back on the turf,” said Attard, who is closing in on 700 career wins. “She's been working well and we're hoping she can get it done on Sunday.”

A $30,000 (U.S.) purchase at the 2021 Keeneland Association September Yearling Sale, Last Call had a prosperous rookie campaign, one that produced a win and a second from four starts.

The chestnut filly, bred in Kentucky by English Channel Co-Owners and Jodi Cantwell, debuted on July 23, and finished second behind eventual Canadian 2-year-old champion filly Cairo Consort in a 6 ½-furlong sprint over the E.P. Taylor turf.

After a fourth one month later in a seven-furlong tilt over the same course, Last Call broke her maiden in style with a one-length victory in the Natalma. She was then sixth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, 5 ½ lengths back of the winner.

“We had a belief in her before she even raced,” said Attard. “The way she worked, her mindset and her ability to handle and adapt to any new things was obvious from the start. She had a very good runner-up effort in her first start. Her second race, she was a little headstrong, but she came back to win the Natalma in impressive fashion. We took the blinkers off for the Natalma and it worked out as we hoped. She went off at 21-1, but she ran with the confidence of a favorite. She was off a bit slow in the Breeders' Cup, but she was still game and ran a decent race.”

Secret Money will make her first start outside of the U.S. for owners Fortune Farm LLC (Richard Nicolai), Robert Hahn and Matthew Hand.

The daughter of Good Samaritan-Awesome Humor comes into the Alywow riding a two-race win streak, her latest victory coming in a 5 ½-furlong turf race at Churchill Downs on May 23. One month earlier, the bay filly broke her maiden courtesy of a half-length score at Keeneland over the same ground and distance.

Secret Money debuted on April 2 at Gulfstream where she rallied to finish fourth at five panels on the turf.

“I thought she ran well enough,” said Walsh, of her debut. “She won well in her next start at Keeneland, and she's moved forward ever since. I thought the last one [Churchill] was very impressive because she took on winners and older fillies. I thought that was a big test for her and she came through with flying colours. She's a nice, hard-knocking filly. She's tough. She's not overly big but she tries hard. She has a lot of admirable qualities.”

Now, she'll test out her fourth different turf course in as many starts.

“She's very adaptable, an easy filly to be around, so it shouldn't bother her shipping up there. It's a very good track at Woodbine. I always like to run horses there. It's a lovely track and it's very fair.”

Bred in Kentucky by WinStar Farm, LLC, Secret Money will be ridden by Jareth Loveberry. ​

Other starters include Mark Casse trainees Fearless Angel, Renegade Rebel, Ryder Ryder Ryder, and Star Candy.

Casse has won four editions of the Alywow with Road to Victory (2018), Mississippi Delta (2015), Dene Court (2012) and Silky Smooth (2007).

The Alywow is named for the talented turf performer who was Canada's Horse of the Year in 1994 for owner Kinghaven Farms and trainer Roger Attfield. Alywow was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2009. ​

Listed as race seven, the Alywow is part of a nine-race Sunday card. First post is 1:10 p.m. Fans can watch and wager on all the action through HPIbet.com and the Dark Horse Bets app.

$100,000 ALYWOW STAKES
Post-Horse-Jockey-Trainer

1 – Star Candy – Patrick Husbands – Mark Casse

2 – Secret Money – Jareth Loveberry – Brendan Walsh

3 – Up and Down – Kazushi Kimura – Chad Brown

4 – Renegade Rebel – Emma-Jayne Wilson – Mark Casse

5 – Collecting Flatter (S) – Luis Contreras – Josie Carroll

6 – Mohawk Trail – Adam Beschizza – Kelsey Danner

7 – Last Call – Rafael Hernandez – Kevin Attard

8 – Fearless Angel (S) – Sahin Civaci – Mark Casse

9 – Ryder Ryder Ryder – Patrick Husbands – Mark Casse

The post Grade 1 Winner Last Call Back On Turf In Woodbine’s Alywow appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Frankie Dettori sparked incredible scenes at Royal Ascot as he celebrated a ninth Gold Cup win on his final ride in the race with unexposed 4-year-old Courage Mon Ami (15/2). The John & Thady Gosden-trained winner defied convention by winning the blue-riband contest on just his fourth career start, having not even contested a Group race until today.

However, the unbeaten son of Frankel took the sharp rise in class in his stride by coming from well off the pace under Dettori to collar Coltrane and score by three-quarters of a length.

Dettori, whose first Gold Cup success came aboard Drum Taps in 1992, has now steered home the winner of the Gold Cup four times in the last six years, following three successive wins on Stradivarius.

The 11/4 favourite Coltrane posted a career-best in second, three and three-quarter lengths in front of long-time leader and 2021 victor Subjectivist, who battled on bravely after being headed early in the straight.

Dettori said: “I didn't expect it. The last five years I've had Stradivarius, so the pressure was on. This one I thought was a bit of a chancer coming from handicaps, but John was confident. I rode him cold and it just happened – I got the splits when I wanted to and he showed a turn of foot. The last half a furlong, I couldn't give in to Oisin, I thought: 'no, we've got this far, please keep going'.

“It's unbelievable, on my last year winning the Gold Cup. Myself, The King and Queen Camilla had a talk beforehand about his win and my relationship with his mother, Queen Elizabeth, then the next race I go on and win the Gold Cup and he presents the trophy. It's amazing, really amazing.

“I wanted to ride Courage Mon Ami to run well, because I really don't know the horse and I didn't know his capability or if he was able to stay. I knew there would be pace, I wanted to swing out wide but Stéphane [Pasquier] kept me in and actually won me the race, because I thought: 'I'll cut the corner and see what happens'. Then it happened!

“Nine Gold Cups, what can you say? Amazing. I'm speechless because I didn't expect it, to be honest with you.”

On receiving the Gold Cup from The King, he said: “It's my last year, so this is the only chance I had. It's pretty emotional. The King is a lovely man and Camilla is lovely. It is an honour to be able to ride for them in other races and to win the Gold Cup and be presented with the trophy by them.”

He added: “I didn't believe it, to go from a handicap to a Gold Cup. But John Gosden is a great trainer and he does things like that, sometimes if I don't believe it, I'll just go along with it!”

On taking his children up onto the podium with him, he said: “I said 'listen, we won the Gold Cup, we can go up there and shake hands with The King', so it's a great thrill for them. Now they are old enough to understand. For the last 18 years, they've just thought I was a guy on the TV, maybe like Peppa Pig or something! So they really know what I'm doing.”

John Gosden said: “You can't practise two and a half miles at home, but Frankie stayed cool and rode him cool in the dark down the inside, saving every inch. I saw he went to go outside turning into the straight and they said no, go back in, and luckily he managed to wriggle through and found a great run.

“Courage Mon Ami is a lovely horse who was bred by Mr [Anthony] Oppenheimer, who sold him. It costs a great deal of money for English breeders to keep their studs going. He's a gelding by Frankel, he's unbeaten, but he's gone from the all-weather to Goodwood to here, so full achievement to the horse.”

Asked to reflect upon the fact that it was Courage Mon Ami's fourth start, Gosden said: “I don't think I'll try it again. Richard Brown [bloodstock agent] has done a very clever job – he was asked to find horses to come to Royal Ascot [for the owners Wathnan Racing]. They are hard to buy but both horses he found, Gregory and Courage Mon Ami, were owner/breeder horses. The costs of keeping a stud going means owners have to sell, but Mr Oppenheimer is here and, of course, Mrs [Philippa] Cooper of Normandie Stud [who bred Gregory]. It's tough to run a stud and pay the stallion nominations and the whole deal, so they have to sell. They keep the fillies and sell the colts.

“A great ride for Frankie. It crowns his week – he's only good in long-distance races now! He's had a phenomenal career. Thirty years we've been working together on and off. We've had one argument in 30 years. How many marriages can say that? We patched that up after five days and were winning Group Ones in Deauville straight after that – we had a disagreement, that's fine, that's professional, and we kicked on after that. Look at the result today.”

He added: “Our office racing manager Peter Shoemark put Courage Mon Ami in the race. You don't know if they are going to stay two and a half miles. He looked quite mature at home but, look, he hasn't been easy to train. He didn't run at two, ran as a back-end three-year-old on the all-weather, and Mr Oppenheimer was very patient. He has the stud to run, which is very expensive, hence this horse is a gelding and he sold him. The form is solid with Coltrane, Subjectivist, and Emily Dickinson. It was a superb performance.”

Thady Gosden said: “Courage Mon Ami has always been a talented horse and he's very lightly raced; it's not very often you win the Gold Cup on your fourth start. He has improved with every run.

“It was a gutsy performance today and stepping up from handicap to Group One company, even though he was rated 106 before, is a pretty serious ask. He had a brilliant ride from Frankie – he looked as though he might be a touch unlucky for half a furlong there – but fortunately he got out of jail, and it was a very brave performance.

“He's always looked smart, but as you can tell by the size of him, he's taken plenty of time to mature. You'd like to think he's still maturing now and can still improve.”

Coltrane's rider Oisin Murphy said: “He relaxed great and travelled round super. I felt I could go and win the race. Frankie's come with me and it was a good battle, and Frankie came out on top.”

Charlie Johnston said of Subjectivist: “He's run a great race. I was sort of expecting he would win or we would be out with the washing! It's been a long road and just being here is pretty special. Let's hope he's OK and we can go again.”

The post ‘I’m Speechless’: Making Only His Fourth Career Start, Courage Mon Ami Wins Group 1 Gold Cup At Royal Ascot appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Canterbury Park's Northern Stars Turf Festival, featuring five turf stakes, attracted jockeys and trainers from around the country. Locally based horses stood their ground and won two of those stakes when Cupids Crush wired the field in the $75,000 Curtis Sampson Oaks and Golden Bandit won the $100,000 Canterbury Derby. The remainder of the evening belonged to Florent Geroux, one of the top riders in the country, who won the other three $75,000 stakes, the Brooks Fields, the Dark Star Turf Sprint and the Lady Canterbury, all for trainer Jonathan Thomas.

Cupids Crush, a Minnesota-bred filly owned by Xtreme Racing Stables LLC and trained by Mac Robertson, was making her sixth career start but had not raced a route of ground or on the turf. She broke alertly under Eduardo Gallardo and was never seriously challenged stopping the clock in stakes record time of 1:34.35 for a mile on the turf.

“I always really like her. She's done everything right,” Mac Robertson said. “She's always been fast.”

Robertson worked her over the turf course June 17 to allow Cupids Crush to see the course the trainer said. Cupids Crush paid $18.60 to win, the largest price of the evening.

Golden Bandit, the 2 to 1 third choice in the Canterbury Derby, stalked One in Vermillion, passed him coming out of the final turn, pulled away by 4 lengths mid-stretch and held on to win by 1 1/2 lengths as One in Vermillion attempted to rally. Favorite Worthington finished third, another 1 1/4 lengths back.

Golden Bandit was ridden by Adam Beschizza, trained by Coty Rosin and is owned and was bred in Kentucky by Barry and Joni Butzow. He paid $6.00 to win.

Geroux's wins came aboard Fuerteventura in the Brooks Fields for owners Robert LaPenta and Brereton Jones, Regal Realm in the Lady Canterbury and High Front in the Dark Star Turf Sprint, both owned by Augustin Stables. Fuerteventura paid $3.80, Regal Realm $4.80 and High Front $6.00, all as the betting favorites.

The evening ended with another winning favorite, the fifth on the card, as Sir Sterling won the $55,000 MTA Stallion Auction Stakes by 3 1/4 lengths with Lindey Wade aboard. Wade won his 1,500th career race earlier on the card aboard Wright Winged. Sir Sterling is trained by Tony Rengstorf for owner Chad Kuehn. He paid $3.80.

Total handle for the nine-race card was $2,522,806.

The post Locally-Trained Golden Bandit On Top In Canterbury Derby; Florent Geroux Pilots Three Stakes Winners appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post