Tag: Racing

On the Saturday work tab at Belmont Park was Grade 1 winner and classic-placed Zandon, who has not raced since finishing fourth in the Cigar Mile Handicap (G1) Dec. 3 at Aqueduct.

The son of Upstart, trained by Chad Brown for owner Jeff Drown, had worked consistently at Payson Park Training Center in Florida since February before shipping north to record a half-mile in :48.44 Saturday over the Belmont main track. It was the second-fastest of 49 recorded works for that distance.

Brown said Zandon could target the $175,000 Westchester (G3) on May 5 at Belmont, a race that could also see the Brown-trained New York-bred stakes-winner Dr Ardito make his next appearance.

“He's doing fine and he's nominated to the Westchester, so we'll see,” Brown said of Zandon. “It looks like he's training good towards [his next start].”

Zandon has a 2-3-3 record from nine career starts that include victory in last year's Toyota Blue Grass (G1) at Keeneland and third-place finishes in the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Travers (G1).

In addition to Zandon and Dr. Ardito, the Westchester is also likely to attract a salty field with graded stakes winners White Abbario, Repo Rocks, and Weyburn among the possible contenders along with the graded stakes-placed Expressman.

Brown, who has won the training title at the past seven Belmont spring/summer meetings, including last year with a record 47 wins, appears poised for another strong showing at this year's meet with a host of horses pointing towards stakes engagements.

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Peter Brant's graded stakes-placed Shidabhuti, who was last seen finishing third in the Grade 3 Gazelle on April 8 for conditioner Chad Brown, had her first work back on Saturday over the Belmont Park main track, covering a half-mile in :49.92 in company with stakes winner Occult.

With Shidabhuti on the outside, the pair completed their exercise just after 6 a.m. (ET) under dense clouds with a handful of other horses on-track.

Shidabhuti, a Kentucky-bred daughter of Practical Joke, earned 50 qualifying points towards the Kentucky Oaks (G1) on May 5 at Churchill Downs for her victory in the Busher Invitational victory on March 4 over a muddy and sealed main track. She earned an additional 30 points when third in the Gazelle, giving her enough total points to be guaranteed a place in the Oaks starting gate.

Despite her ensured eligibility, Brown said he is still finalizing a decision on the filly's Oaks status.

“The work went fine and I will speak to Mr. Brant Sunday about it, see how she comes out of the work, and make a decision from there,” said Brown following the breeze on Saturday.

The Kentucky Oaks will feature a maximum field of 14, and several stars are still on the outside looking in, including reigning champion 2-year-old filly and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) winner Wonder Wheel, who would need one defection to make it into the starting gate.

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An odds-on multiple stakes winner who was expected to be on the lead in Saturday's $200,000 Californian Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita, Defunded took a crow-hop leaving the gate and instead of being in front, found himself last in a field of six, four lengths off the lead around the Club House turn.

It mattered not however, as the classy 5-year-old Dialed In gelding cruised into contention around the far turn and then fairly mowed down the competition in a command performance that enabled to him to win by three lengths. Trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Juan Hernandez, Defunded finished 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.91 and certainly appears headed to the Hollywood Gold Cup (G1) at Santa Anita on May 29 at 1 1/4 miles.

With Mr. Impossible and Midnight Mammoth battling for early supremacy, Midnight Mammoth took the lead heading up the backside and he was headed midway around the far turn by Brazilian-bred Royal Ship, but Defunded, under a vigorous hand ride, got on terms with both of them at the top of the lane and his class prevailed from there.

“He was standing really good and at the last moment, he decided to take a step back and at that time, they gave us the break, so he kind of hopped in the air,” said Hernandez, who registered his second stakes win of the day. “After the bad break, he relaxed very well behind those horses. He wasn't rank at all and down the backside, I felt like I had a lot of horse.

“Around the three eighths, I swung out and I put him in the clear and when I did that, he picked it up by himself. I just let him go and he caught the horses.”

Most recently a close third in the Santa Anita Handicap (G1) March 4, Defunded was off today at 1-5 and paid $2.40 for the win.

“He's always had a little issue at the gate,” said Baffert, who notched his fourth win in the Californian. “Juan said that he was standing perfect and right when they kicked it, he stepped back and that's why he hopped out of there…He said he was never rank. He was in the bridle, and he was just being patient with him…Down the backside, I wasn't sure, I thought we missed the race.

“I almost didn't run him in here, but he was doing so well I put him in the race to freshen him up a little bit…I'm just happy Karl Watson (co-owner) was here with his wife to watch the race, so it was exciting. I like the fact that he has always been one dimensional and it looks like now he's maturing, getting older, and he is starting to fill out. He's always been a little bit of a head case, but now he's figuring it out and he knows he's a good horse, so that's important.”

Out of the Touch Gold mare Wind Caper, Defunded was bred in Kentucky by Athens Woods LLC. He is owned by Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman. In garnering his third career graded stakes win, he improved his overall mark to 6-4-2 from 16 starts, and with the winner's share of $120,000 his earnings increased to $1,348,100.

Trained by Richard Mandella and ridden by Mike Smith, Royal Ship finished second by one length in front of Midnight Mammoth.

Ridden by Kyle Frey, Midnight Mammoth was off at 15-1 and finished a half length better than fellow longshot Kiss Today Goodbye.

Fractions on the race were :23.22, :47.35, 1:11, and 1:35.82.

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Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, who has had a milestone-filled meet, reached another milestone Saturday when Winchell Thoroughbred LLC's Red Route One made him the winningest trainer in Oaklawn's history with the victory in the $200,000 Bath House Row Stakes.

The victory was Oaklawn win 868 for Asmussen, who had tied the late Bob Holthus with a win on Friday. On Feb. 20, Asmussen became the first trainer in North America to reach 10,000 career wins when Bet He's Ready won at Oaklawn.

In the Bath House Row, Red Route One fell back early and raced in last place while Victory Formation led the field through fractions of :22.87 and :46.95 for the first half mile. Victory Formation held a narrow lead over stablemate Tapit Shoes entering the stretch and the two battled toward the wire. Tapit Shoes began to edge clear before being caught in the final jump by Red Route One, who got up late by a head. Victory Formation was third. The winning time was 1:50.94 for 1 1/8 miles over a fast track.

The win gave jockey Joel Rosario a sweep of all three stakes on Saturday's card. He also won the $150,000 Valley of Vapors with Merlazza and the $1-million Oaklawn Handicap (G2) with Proxy.

“I always had confidence in the horse,” Rosario said of Red Route One. “It looked like when we got to the sixteenth pole that we had the race won. Then, they kept moving. But he gave everything to me. It was just a close race.”

Red Route One, who was winning for the second time in nine starts, earned an automatic berth to the Preakness Stakes (G1) May 20 with the win.

“He ran straight through the wire.” Asmussen said. “He still gallops out so huge. It feels like there's more there. Maybe the victory, maybe the winning … Joel (Rosario) gave him a dream trip. I think that he waited until the (Kenny) McPeek horse (Interlock Empire) ran up outside of him and then just got some momentum with him.”

Red Route One will be considered for the Preakness, Asmussen said.

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