Tag: Racing

Co-trainer Sam Freedman believes that Artorius is the one to beat in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes, the highlight on the final day of Royal Ascot.

Artorius came from near last to dead-heat for third in the six-furlong showpiece 12 months ago and arrives on the back of two excellent performances so far this year.

The Australian challenger registered a second G1 success in the Canterbury Stakes at Randwick on 4th March and was only three-quarters of a length behind Anamoe when fourth in the G1 George Ryder Stakes at Rosehill two weeks later.

Speaking from Charlie Fellowes' yard in Newmarket this morning, Freedman, who trains in partnership with his father Anthony, said: “Artorius travelled over well. He only lost 4kg on the flight, whereas last year he lost 9kg, and he has put on 6 or 7kg since he arrived in Newmarket last Thursday night – he is thriving. He had a little blow on the watered gallop on Tuesday morning, not a lot just quickening up a furlong, and tomorrow morning he will do his main bit of work at Ascot – that is the plan eight days out.

“He is definitely stronger than last year and has come back a better horse. He was probably not going as well last year on the back of the carnivals. We stretched him out over seven and a half furlongs when he met Anamoe last time and he was beaten only three quarters of a length. Previous to that, he had won a Group One over six and a half furlongs and what you will see, hopefully, in his run is a little more practical speed. I am not suggesting that he is going to be up near the pace or anything like that but, hopefully, if he can be three or four lengths closer than 12 months ago, it will help. That is what we have been trying to work on for the past 12 months.

“We knew we needed to work on his speed from the gate before last year, but we thought it was a real balancing act to get him to relax and in his comfort zone. Since that run, we have done a lot of work with him to see if he could still finish off riding him a lot closer and he did that when winning a Group One two starts back. It is something we have consciously been working on and, at the level we are going to be racing at in this race, being the best sprint race in Europe, you can't afford to be giving 12 lengths with a couple of furlongs to go – you are probably not going to pick them up.”

Artorius is the ante-post favorite for the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes, with Hong Kong raider Wellington, Highfield Princess and Kinross heading the likely opposition.

Freedman said: “If you look at the form, he looks to be the horse with the best credentials. Wellington has good form in Hong Kong and we would consider him a danger, but I think our horse has improved into his 4-year-old season.

“Artorius is a versatile horse – he is not a five-furlong horse but has placed in a Group One over a mile. I think a stiff six furlongs with a stiff tempo is ideal and, at the end of that as you saw last year, he really comes into his own.

“I am not so concerned about the opposition, but more where he will end up and where he will get to in the run. I am confident taking on any of the sprinters in the world, but it is a case of getting the right transit and a bit of luck.”

James McDonald has been booked to ride Artorius, with Jamie Spencer having partnered the colt in all three European starts last year.

Freedman explained: “James McDonald has done a bit of work with him at home and knows the horse pretty well. He has been keen to get on the horse for a while.

“We offered the ride to Zac Purton but he is trying to break the record in Hong Kong and next port of call was always going to be Jay Mac. That is not to say that Jamie Spencer didn't ride him correctly last year – he rode to instructions and rode him very well.

“I think Zac would be pretty confident that Artorius would be the horse to beat over here if you were going to line him up against Wellington. I would not swap him for anything.

“I am a bit more relaxed than last year and not under as much pressure. He is a lot shorter in the market and there is a bit more expectation but last year it was the unknown and whether he was going to measure up – this year we know he is good enough.

“The trainer probably always wants him to stay another season and I would love to take him home for the Everest if we were given that opportunity. He has just got better and better with a bit of age. He was a Group One winner at two, at three he was excellent, and he is getting even better at four. The decision would be up to the owners.”

The post Royal Ascot: Favored Australian Raider Artorius Has Improved Gate Speed Ahead Of This Year’s QEII Jubilee appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Winchell Thoroughbreds' Wicked Halo will square off once more with the reigning Champion Female Sprinter Goodnight Olive in Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 Bed o' Roses at Belmont Park.

The seven-furlong sprint for older fillies and mares drew a strong field with a cumulative nine graded stakes victories across five contenders, including Wicked Halo, who enters from a one-length defeat to Matareya in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff on May 6 at Churchill Downs for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. Goodnight Olive finished a troubled third in the same race after being boxed in down the lane by Wicked Halo.

The stacked field includes dual graded stakes winner Caramel Swirl, graded stakes-winner Dr B and graded stakes-placed Beguine.

“Two of the top older sprinting fillies are in a five-horse field, so forty percent of the field is top shelf,” said Winchell Thoroughbreds' racing manager David Fiske.

Wicked Halo, a 4-year-old Gun Runner grey, boasts a record of 13-7-1-4 and $1,181,200 in earnings. A winner of the Grade 2 Adirondack at Saratoga Race Course during her juvenile season, she captured the Spa's Grade 2 Prioress on September 2 and Grade 2 Raven Run at Keeneland on October 22 before finishing third to Goodnight Olive in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on November 5 at Keeneland.

Wicked Halo spent the past couple of years racing in the shadow of her Eclipse Award-winning stablemate Echo Zulu, who also is by Gun Runner and bears the colors of Winchell Thoroughbreds. Echo Zulu was unbeaten at two, which included a 5 1/4-length win in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar, and captured the Grade 3 Dogwood as a sophomore en route to a runner-up effort behind Goodnight Olive in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, finishing one length ahead of Wicked Halo.

Fiske believes Wicked Halo's career could see an even higher jump forward this season, which already includes a stakes triumph over Matareya in the March 31 Matron at Oaklawn Park.

“Wicked Halo seems to be a bigger, faster 4-year-old. I think figure wise and everything else, she's right there with the top,” Fiske said. “Matareya, Wicked Halo and Goodnight Olive finished pretty close together on Derby Day. That's a pretty good yardstick. Between Matareya, Goodnight Olive, Echo Zulu and Wicked Halo – I think one of those four is getting the [Eclipse Award] trophy this year.”

Echo Zulu and Wicked Halo are just two stars amongst the first crop of 2017 Horse of the Year and now leading North American stallion Gun Runner, who also was campaigned by Winchell Thoroughbreds and Asmussen.

“The early prognostication on Gun Runner is that they'll get better later, which surprised everyone when Echo Zulu, Wicked Halo and [Grade 1 winner] Gunite came out in the first crop,” Fiske said. “But two things can be true at the same time. They can be good 2-year-olds while also improve and be good older horses. Using the metrics and figures that we have, it's clear that Wicked Halo has upped her game.”

Fiske said he would ideally like to keep Echo Zulu, who captured the Grade 3 Winning Colors on May 29 at Churchill Downs, and Wicked Halo separate for the time being.

“We'll do that as long as we can, but hopefully we don't have to do that [square off] until the Breeders' Cup,” Fiske said. “Hopefully, they're still sound and racing by November. I'd certainly like to keep them apart but there aren't too many opportunities for Grade 1 older filly sprinters.”

Wicked Halo, a Kentucky homebred, is out of the Tapit mare Just Wicked who, like Wicked Halo, also captured the Adirondack at Saratoga.

Fiske said Disarm, who captured Sunday's Grade 3 Matt Winn at Ellis Park, is a likely candidate for either the Grade 1 Haskell on July 22 at Monmouth Park or the Grade 2, $500,000 Jim Dandy on July 29 at Saratoga. The Gun Runner chestnut was a closing fourth in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby in May at Churchill Downs.

“Good horses are pretty easy to manage. You just have to figure out where you want them to go and then work backwards from there,” Fiske noted. “It seems like coming up, the Haskell or the Jim Dandy would be the most logical spots. We'll see how he trains between now and then.”

Regardless of where or when the aforementioned horses run, Fiske said they will ship up to Saratoga at the beginning of July to join Asmussen's string stabled on the Oklahoma Training Track.

Fiske said the highly regarded Extra Anejo would accompany his stable stars at the Spa, following a 6 1/4-length allowance conquest going one mile on June 10 at Ellis Park.

“He'll show up in a stake somewhere,” Fiske said. “He's going to Saratoga with the rest of the string. He came out of his race great and he and Disarm are both exciting prospects.”

Fiske added that American Classic participant Red Route One will get a light breather following a respective fourth and eighth in the Grade 1 Preakness and Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets.

The post Bed O’ Roses: ‘It’s Clear That Wicked Halo Has Upped Her Game’ To Take On Champ Goodnight Olive appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Pura Vida Investments' Rhyme Schemes stamped himself as one of the top 2-year-olds in the country following his dazzling 9 ½-length romp in a maiden special weight contest Thursday at Ellis Park Racing & Gaming.

Trained by Norm Casse and ridden by Ricardo Santana Jr., Rhyme Schemes completed the 5 ½-furlong distance in 1:02.82, just .51 seconds off the track record set by Spycraft in 2021. Rhyme Schemes' victory earned a stout 93 Brisnet Speed Rating.

“We've gone about training our 2-year-olds a little bit differently this year than previous years,” Casse said. “This was Rhyme Schemes' second start and we haven't really cranked up any of our 2-year-olds going into their debut. We've been using their first start to build on their fitness. So, it was extremely impressive the way this horse won. We added blinkers for his second start and they seemed to help a lot as well.”

Rhyme Schemes was purchased at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale for $210,000 by Casse's longtime client and bloodstock advisor Deuce Greathouse. Some of the top horses on Greathouse's resume that he picked out includes Tepin, Shedaresthedevil and Southlawn.

Casse stated the July 2, $225,000 Bashford Manor (Listed) could be an option for Rhyme Schemes' next start.

The post Juvenile Rhyme Schemes Dazzles In ‘Extremely Impressive’ 9 1/2-Length Maiden Victory appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Entries have been taken for the Northern Stars Turf Festival, Canterbury Park's most prominent night of racing which will be conducted Wednesday, June 21. A nine-race program that begins at 5:07 p.m. central is headlined by the $100,000 Canterbury Derby at one mile on the turf and includes four additional $75,000 turf stakes: the Curtis Sampson Oaks, Dark Star Turf Sprint, Brooks Fields Mile and Lady Canterbury Stakes.

The races attracted horses stabled at the Shakopee, Minn. racetrack as well as several that most recently raced at the top tracks in the country including Belmont Park, Churchill Downs, Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita.

Jonathan Thomas trains six of the horses shipping in to race Wednesday including two in the Lady Canterbury, Regal Realm and Mouffy. Thomas, a multiple graded stakes winner, is sending horses to Canterbury for the first time.

“I like what they've done [at Canterbury] putting all those turf stakes on one night,” he said. “Every horse that we entered is training well and in a decent spot. They all have upside but will have to bring their best effort.”

Thomas is using rider Florent Geroux on four mounts and Adam Beschizza on two. Both know their way around the Canterbury turf course.

“Certainly better than I do,” Thomas said. “We're fortunate to get them.”

Geroux won the 2015 and 2022 Canterbury Derby and the 2021 Curtis Sampson Oaks and Brooks Fields Mile. Beschizza won last year's Dark Star Turf Sprint and the 2018 Oaks.

Jockey Jareth Loveberry will ride all five turf stakes, three for trainer Mike Maker and two for Chris Block. He is no stranger to Canterbury as Loveberry was leading rider in 2017 and has regularly shipped in for and won stakes races since leaving the local colony in 2020. He is currently riding in Kentucky. Loveberry finished second in the 2023 Kentucky Derby aboard Two Phils, a colt that he rode to victory in the 2022 Shakopee Juvenile. He has the mount Wednesday on 9 to 5 morning line favorite She Can't Sing for Block in the Lady Canterbury. That trio won the same stake last year for Canterbury's leading owner Bob Lothenbach's Lothenbach Stables Inc. Lothenbach also has Midnight Current, Canterbury's 2022 horse of the meet, and Let's Skedaddle in the Lady Canterbury. Both are trained by Joel Berndt.

Mac Robertson, Canterbury's all-time leading trainer by wins and purses earned, has entered six horses, four in the turf stakes and two in the undercard $50,000 MTA Stallion Auction Stakes.  He will saddle Tonka Warrior, owned by Xtreme Racing Stables LLC, in the Brooks Fields Mile. The 4-year-old won two races this spring racing on the main track at Oaklawn but won on the Canterbury turf last year and finished second in the $100,000 Hawthorne Derby also on the grass. Eduardo Gallardo has the mount.

More information is available at www.canterburypark.com .

The post Canterbury: Wednesday’s Northern Stars Turf Festival Features Five Stakes On Grass appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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