Tag: Racing

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen took a bite out of the apple Saturday at Oaklawn. A record-setting bite.

Asmussen won four races on the 12-race card, including the $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) with Stonestreet Stables' homebred Clairiere, who used an electrifying late kick under Joel Rosario to edge favored Secret Oath by a neck in the 1 1/16-mile event for older fillies and mares.

Clairiere ($5) represented a record-tying third Apple Blossom victory for Asmussen, following Untapable in 2015 and Midnight Bisou in 2019, and carried added significance because of her connections, record, and pedigree.

“Absolutely,” Asmussen said approximately 10 minutes after the race. “Being a Curlin out of Cavorting that's won a couple of Grade 1s, in training as a 5-year-old, I mean that is the Stonestreet sportsmanship ultimate – keeping something like her racing. And that's why when you're allowed to do something like that, you feel the responsibility of it and how much it means. That's what she's back in training for, a race just like that.”

Stonestreet Stables (Barbara Banke) is among Asmussen's most treasured clients. Clairiere is by Curlin, who Stonestreet campaigned to Horse of the Year honors in 2007 and 2008 with Asmussen. Cavorting is a millionaire multiple Grade 1 winner.

After finishing second in last year's Apple Blossom, Clairiere won the Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1) last June at Belmont Park in her next start and was poised for an Eclipse Award as the country's champion older dirt female when she entered the starting gate for the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) Nov. 5 at Keeneland. Clairiere was denied the hardware after finishing third, beaten two noses, in the 1 1/8-mile race.

Asked if he would be discussing Clairiere – the racehorse, not the broodmare – 5 ½ months following a Breeders' Cup victory, Asmussen said, “I don't know.”

“It would have made her champion,” Asmussen said. “Who knows? But I've known them (Stonestreet) to put a Horse of the Year (Curlin) back in training. Lucky me.”

Clairiere opened her 5-year-old campaign with a runner-up finish, beaten 2 ¾ lengths by Secret Oath, in the $350,000 Azeri Stakes (G2) for older fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles March 11 at Oaklawn.

In the rematch, Clairiere trailed Secret Oath by four lengths in midstretch before collaring the 2022 Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner in the shadow of the wire. The winning time over a fast track was 1:43.36.

“It (Azeri) was the first race of the year,” Asmussen said. “Of course, you wanted to win. I never want her to lose. When you have her, you don't think she's going to lose. She gives you that sort of confidence. We watched the race run. Kudos to Secret Oath. She's a great mare.”

The Apple Blossom, Clairiere's seventh victory from 18 lifetime starts, increased her earnings to $2,831,392. Asmussen said Clairiere will join his string at Churchill Downs, with next-race plans pending. The $500,000 Ogden Phipps (G1) for older fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles is June 10 at Belmont Park.

“We have the beautiful luxury of having Pauline's Pearl for Stonestreet, also,” Asmussen said. “I think Clairiere held up her end of the bargain today and we'll go from there.”

A millionaire Grade 1 winner, Pauline's Pearl won the $600,000 Fantasy Stakes (G3) for 3-year-old fillies in 2021 at Oaklawn and finished second in last year's Azeri.

Asmussen also won Saturday's fourth race with Kingdom ($10.20), fifth race with St. Andrews ($16.40) and the ninth race, the Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3) for older horses at six furlongs, with Skelly ($14).

The four-bagger pushed Asmussen's career Oaklawn victory total to 864. Asmussen entered Sunday, Day 59 of the scheduled 68-day meeting, needing only four victories to surpass the late Bob Holthus (867) as the all-time winningest trainer in Oaklawn history. Asmussen became the first trainer in Oaklawn history to reach $50 million in career purse earnings Saturday. Skelly represented Asmussen's record-extending fifth Count Fleet victory and the 100th stakes victory in his Oaklawn career, which is also a record. Asmussen, who has collected a record 12 Oaklawn training titles, waited only a little more than an hour for No. 101 with Clairiere.

“She's a tremendous mare,” Asmussen said.

The post Clairiere To Join Asmussen’s Churchill String, Next-Race Plans Pending appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, who will saddle Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's formidable multiple Grade 1 winner Forte in the Kentucky Derby (G1) on May 6, will also bring a strong contender for Repole Stable to the May 5 Kentucky Oaks (G1) in the New York-bred Gambling Girl.

The entries of Gambling Girl in the Oaks and the trio of the reigning champion 2-year-lld male Forte, Blue Grass (G1) winner Tapit Trice, and Louisiana Derby (G2) winner Kingsbarns in the Run for the Roses will give Pletcher a chance to become the first trainer since Ben Jones [1952] to sent out both the Derby and Oaks winner in the same year.

Bred by Gallagher's Stud, the multiple graded stakes-placed Gambling Girl finished second in the nine-furlong Gazelle (G3) on April 8 at Aqueduct Racetrack, awarding her 40 points towards the Kentucky Oaks and guaranteeing her a spot in the starting gate.

Gambling Girl added to the 21 points she earned for on-the-board efforts here in the Demoiselle (G2) and Busanda and a fourth in the Honeybee (G3) at Oaklawn Park. Jockey Jose Ortiz engineered a rallying trip in the Gazelle, guiding her from 4 1/2 lengths off the pace to show a strong turn-of-foot and finish a half-length back of the victorious longshot Promiseher America.

Pletcher said Gambling Girl, by Darby Dan Farm resident sire Dialed In, will head to Churchill Downs to make her final preparations for the Oaks.

“She's shipping to Louisville today and we're pointing to the Oaks,” said Pletcher. “She always tries hard and I thought we had dead aim at the winner, but we just couldn't quite get there. It was another good effort from her.”

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Stonestreet Stables' Twilight Gleaming returned to the races with authority Saturday by winning the Giant's Causeway (L) by 1½ lengths while posting a stakes-record time.

“She ran great, and she is good this morning,” trainer Wesley Ward said of Twilight Gleaming, who covered the 5 1/2 furlongs for fillies and mares in 1:01.74.

The victory put Twilight Gleaming, a 4-year-old Irish-bred National Defense filly, on a path to a possible return to Royal Ascot in England, where she ran second in the 2021 Queen Mary (G2).

Twilight Gleaming was making her first start since finishing fourth behind Caravel in the Franklin (G3), since upgraded to Grade 2 status, at Keeneland in October. Caravel came back three weeks later to beat the boys in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1).

Ward also saddled Gayla Rankin's Happy Soul in the Giant's Causeway, and she finished fourth.

“I think I am going to keep her on the grass,” said Ward, who ruled out coming back in the $300,000 Unbridled Sidney (L) at Churchill Downs on May 5. “That race comes back awful quick for me.”

Brownwood Farm's Querobin Dourada rallied to get second in the Giant's Causeway as the longest price on the board at 87-1.

“She had been training very well, and she ran good,” trainer Paulo Lobo said of Querobin Dourada, adding that a next start is to be determined.

The post Twilight Gleaming Possible For Royal Ascot Return appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Flurry Racing Stables' Interstatedaydream headlines a field of eight fillies and mares entered Sunday for Friday's 28th running of the $300,000 Baird Doubledogdare (G3) going 1 1/16 miles on the main track at Keeneland.

The Doubledogdare will be the ninth race on Friday's 10-race program with a 5:16 p.m. (ET) post time. First post on Friday is 1 p.m.

Malathaat won last year's Doubledogdare to kick off an Eclipse Award-winning campaign that concluded with a victory in the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) in November at the Lexington track.

Trained by Brad Cox, Interstatedaydream won the George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan (G2) at Pimlico and the Indiana Oaks (G3) last year. Third in the Azeri (G2) behind Secret Oath and Clairiere in her most recent start, Interstatedaydream will be ridden by Florent Geroux and break from post position four.

In her lone Keeneland start, Interstatedaydream finished third in last year's Central Bank Ashland (G1).

The other graded stakes winner in the field is Hidden Brook Farm and Black Type Thoroughbreds' Hidden Connection.

Winner of the 2021 Pocahontas (G3) and twice graded stakes-placed, Hidden Connection is trained by Bret Calhoun and will be ridden by Rey Gutierrez from post seven.

Also figuring to attract attention is Team Valor International's Green Up.

Trained by Todd Pletcher, Green Up will be making her 2023 debut. She defeated Interstatedaydream in last year's Cathryn Sophia Stakes at Parx before finishing fourth in the Cotillion (G1). Irad Ortiz Jr. has the mount and will break from post two.

The field for the Doubledogdare, with riders and weights from the inside, is: Traverse (Joel Rosario, 118 pounds), Green Up (Ortiz Jr., 118), Frost Point (Flavien Prat, 118), Interstatedaydream (Geroux, 118), Moon Swag (Luis Saez, 118), Music Street (Julien Leparoux, 118), Hidden Connection (Gutierrez, 118), Shotgun Hottie (Tyler Gaffalione, 118).

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