Tag: Racing

In a thrilling battle to the finish line, Nathan Hayden's homebred Here Mi Song edged past runner-up Hoist the Gold in the final strides and emerged the winner by a neck margin in the $300,000 Commonwealth (G3) Saturday at Keeneland.

A 5-year-old gray or roan gelding, Here Mi Song provided Spendthrift Farm resident sire Cross Traffic a second graded stakes winner on Keeneland's opening weekend following Defining Purpose's elite-level in the Central Bank Ashland (G1) Friday at the Lexington track.

Sent off at 11-1 odds under Alex Achard, Here Mi Song unleashed a torrid outside stretch rally and drew on even terms with Hoist the Gold, who had grabbed a narrow advantage. The winner dug in when called upon and in a powerful surge in the shadow of the wire stretched out his neck to get the win, his first in a stakes and fifth from 19 career starts. He covered the sevend-furlong test in 1:23.42 on a fast track.

Get Her Number finished third.

Here Mi Song, who was second in the Forego Feb. 4 at Turfway Park in his season opener subsequently was sixth in the Big Daddy Stakes there March 11 in his previous start, but was a determined winner in a breakthrough effort Saturday for trainer Billy Stinson Jr., who also gained his first career stakes win.

Kentucky-bred Here Mi Song, who paid 25.60, for the win, was produced by the Dehere mare Mi Viera.

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Magdalena Racing, Colette Marie Vanmatre, and James Ball's Defining Purpose, winner of Friday's Central Bank Ashland (G1), is scheduled to ship to Churchill Downs on Monday or Tuesday to prepare for her next start in the Kentucky Oaks (G1) on May 5.

Trainer Kenny McPeek said Defining Purpose will have her next timed workout there in a “couple of weeks.”

The daughter of Cross Traffic was bred by Vanmatre and offered as a newly turned yearling at the 2021 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale. When she did not bring Vanmatre's minimum appraisal, the breeder opted to keep the filly to race.

“Defining Purpose came to us in late spring last year,” McPeek said. “She is the first horse I have received from Collete Vanmatre. She told me to see what I thought of her and we put her in our program. From the beginning, she was always very forward. Very enthusiastic and liked her job. She did everything we ever asked.”

McPeek, who won the Ashland in 2002 with Take Charge Lady and 2014 with Rosalind, was quick to thank his team.

“I am like an orchestra conductor, and they play the music,” he said.

McPeek gave a special shoutout to assistant Kevin Glodowski, who has overseen Defining Purpose at Keeneland the past six weeks; Ray Bryner, who heads the crew at Oaklawn Park, where Defining Purpose wintered; and Alan Shell at McPeek's Magdalena Farm in Lexington. At Churchill, the filly will be under the care of key assistant Greg Geier.

The victory in the Ashland, the year's first Grade 1 race for sophomore fillies, is worth 100 qualifying points toward starting eligibility in the $1.25 million Kentucky Oaks (G1) to be run May 5 at Churchill Downs. Defining Purpose has 107 points and is third on the Oaks leaderboard with three points races remaining until the Run for the Lilies. The Oaks is limited to the top 14 point earners that pass the entry box.

Regarding the other top finishers in the Ashland:

Gary and Mary West's runner-up Punchbowl is scheduled to ship to Churchill on Sunday, according to Blake Cox, assistant to his father Brad.

Now it is a waiting game to see if Punchbowl can make the field for the Kentucky .

“She may not get in,” Cox said of Punchbowl, who picked up 40 points with her runner-up finish Friday, a total that is good for 16th in the standings with two 200-point races scheduled today.

Stonestreet Stables' Julia Shining is in a slightly better position for the Oaks than Punchbowl with 46 points that include the 30 she picked up Friday for finishing third, a neck behind Punchbowl. Julia Shining is 14th in the standings.

Amelia Green, assistant to Todd Pletcher, said Julia Shining came out of the race fine and would ship to Churchill on April 16. That is the day Pletcher is scheduled to ship Kentucky Derby (G1) contenders Forte and Kingsbarns to Louisville from their winter base at Palm Beach Downs in Florida.

Trainer Mark Casse said D. J. Stable's champion Wonder Wheel, who finished sixth in the Ashland, would head to Churchill on Sunday. Wonder Wheel has 48 points toward the Kentucky Oaks, good for 12th on the leaderboard.

“She's good this morning, but yesterday, it just wasn't her day,” Casse said. “We'll take her to Churchill and see how she trains, but she may not get in (the Oaks).”

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Ronald Stewart's Mommasgottarun returned off just five days rest to make the grade for trainer Linda Rice in Friday's Grade 3, $150,000 Distaff Handicap, a seven-furlong main track sprint for older fillies and mares, at Aqueduct Racetrack in South Ozone Park, N.Y.

Mommasgottarun finished a pacesetting fifth under returning rider Eric Cancel in the nine-furlong Top Flight on Sunday at the Big A, but raced with different tactics in the Distaff, rallying from off-the-pace to secure the 1 1/2-length victory. She cut back to sprinting for the first time since she was haltered for $50,000 by Rice out of an off-the-board effort going the Distaff distance in December.

“I didn't feel like she got the right trip and things didn't work out the way I'd hoped in the Top Flight,” Rice said. “I was looking at both races trying to decide which one to use and I decided to go to the longer race, but it didn't unfold how I'd hoped. But to get a graded placing for a filly is a big deal and that's what I was hoping for [today].”

The daughter of Maclean's Music emerged from the outermost post 7 as post-time favorite Rossa Veloce broke awkwardly to her inside under Jose Ortiz and trailed the field early. Gerrymander rushed up along the rail from her inside post to lead the field exiting the chute and through an opening quarter-mile in 23.60 seconds over the fast main track.

Rossa Veloce went six-wide in pursuit of the frontrunners down the backstretch while Mommasgottarun was held near the rear of the compact field. It was a three-way battle for the lead between Gerrymander, longshot Hydra and Rossa Veloce approaching the turn as Cancel began to coax Mommasgottarun to unleash a four-wide bid after a half-mile in 47.25. The Katie Davis-piloted Funny How was full of run through the turn, but could not find room along the inside and was forced to maneuver around foes.

Mommasgottarun took command at the top of the lane and drew clear from an all-out Rossa Veloce and Hydra while Funny How found her best stride late in the stretch and made one last try at the sixteenth pole, but could not make up the needed ground. Mommasgottarun remained well clear of her rival and crossed the wire first in a final time of 1:25.29.

Funny How held second by five lengths over Hydra, who bested Rossa Veloce out of show honors by a half-length. Gerrymander, Meraviglioso, and Easy to Bless completed the order of finish. Pass the Champagne was scratched.

Rice said she instructed Cancel to engineer a stalking trip after Mommasgottarun's Top Flight effort showed her pacesetting tactics are ineffective when facing stiffer competition.

“I told Eric in the paddock, we have a nice outside post and she's going to break and has natural speed away from the gate. So, just don't rush this filly,” said Rice. “This filly has sprinted a lot – they sent her to the lead all the time, and she could only beat claiming horses that way. So, just sit against her and just don't rush her.”

Cancel said Mommasgottarun showed a marked improvement in the short time from her last race.

“Last time, she didn't perform like I wanted her to, but going back to seven-eighths is the right distance for her and she proved it today,” Cancel said. “Today, she was on the bit from the get go. I was just trying to sit patient and time everything just right.”

The Distaff is the second time in recent months that Rice has sent out a stakes winner on short rest. She enjoyed a victory in the Garland of Roses on December 10 with Betsy Blue, who entered from a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Go for Wand just seven days earlier.

“You have to figure out between the first time they ran and the second time, if they're eating well enough, are they training well enough and sound enough? Are they happy or are they sulking? All those things go into play to lead them over here,” said Rice. “I trained this filly this morning. I watched her in the stall and I brought her back out before I left for Aqueduct to run one in the second race and jogged her up and down to look at her in the eye to decide if she could do it.”

Rice said she will consider either the one-mile Grade 2, $200,000 Ruffian on May 6 and the 6 1/2-furlong Grade 3, $175,000 Vagrancy, both at Belmont Park, as a potential next spot for Mommasgottarun.

“We'll look at both and try to figure out which one to run in,” said Rice. “My gut feeling is the mile would be a better place for her. I think there's fast sprinters out there, but we'll keep the options open.”

Bred in Ontario by Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings, Mommasgottarun is out of the Tiznow mare Love in Tokyo and hails from the family of 2010 Grade 1 Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver. She has hit the board in 4-of-5 starts since being claimed by Rice, including a one-mile optional claiming score on March 17 over the local going. She banked $82,500 for her Distaff victory, boosting her total purse earnings to $337,298 and improving her career record to 19-6-4-3. Mommasgottarun returned $16 for a $2 win ticket.

Katie Davis, who had ridden runner-up Funny How in two of her five consecutive wins heading into the Distaff, praised the Ray Handal trainee's ability.

“She's a very game filly so her confidence gives me confidence, knowing I can place her anywhere and knowing she can overcome anything,” said Davis. “She's game and I love that fight in her. I didn't want to get stuck down in there. I saw Eric kick on and I figured I might as well go to the outside and follow him, as opposed to sit and wait.”

Live racing resumes Saturday at the Big A with a lucrative 11-race card featuring the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino, a 100-40-30-20-10 Kentucky Derby qualifier, in Race 11; the Grade 1 Carter Handicap presented by NYRA Bets in Race 8; the Grade 3, $200,000 Bay Shore in Race 6; and the Grade 3, $250,000 Gazelle, a 100-40-30-20-10 Kentucky Oaks qualifier, in Race 3. First post is 12:15 p.m. Eastern.

America's Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of the Aqueduct spring meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule.

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

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Magdalena Racing, Colette Marie Vanmatre and James Ball's Defining Purpose posted a 20-1 surprise in Friday's Grade 1 Ashland at Keeneland, defeating the heavy favorite Punchbowl and the royally-bred Julia Shining by a half-length on the wire. The $42.68 win earned Defining Purpose 100 points on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks and essentially a guaranteed starting spot on the first Friday in May.

The 3-year-old daughter of Cross Traffic, trained by Ken McPeek and ridden by jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr., ran 1 1/16 miles over the fast main track in 1:43.31. A stakes winner at Oaklawn Park in the final start of her juvenile season, Defining Purpose had previously finished third and sixth in two of Oaklawn's Oaks preps, the Martha Washington and the G3 Honeybee, respectively. A $14,000 RNA at the 2021 Keeneland January sale, Defining Purpose heads to the Kentucky Oaks with a lifetime record of three wins and a third from seven starts for earnings of over $540,000.

“I'm not overly surprised,” McPeek said after the Ashland win. “She had a couple of reasons why: She fell off a little bit of form in her last two. She hooked a couple of muddy race tracks. The last trip (in the Honeybee) she had was really wide and wider.”

Bred in Kentucky by co-owner Vanmatre, Defining Purpose is out of the multiple stakes-winning Indiana-bred Strong Hope mare Defining Hope.

Defining Purpose had clear run on the leading Effortlesslyelgant all the way around the course, tracking through early fractions of :23.62 and :47.25. Hernandez guided her around that rival in the stretch, getting a bit of clearance headed toward the first finish line. When challenged by the favored Punchbowl and 5-1 Julia Shining, Defining Purpose dug deep and managed to hold off those rivals.

“(Her early position) was great,” Hernandez said. “When she went around the first turn and got her position so nice and smoothly and settled into a nice rhythm, going down the backside I was just thinking to myself, 'Be patient, just wait and wait and let her travel well.' And that's what she did. When she turned for home she kicked on, and with the short stretch to the sixteenth pole, I was pretty confident in her.”

Punchbowl, trained by Brad Cox and ridden by Flavien Prat, had to settle for a late-closing second as the 6-5 favorite. The Uncle Mo filly paid $3.46 to place. She'd entered the race undefeated in two lifetime starts, and the 40 points she earned toward the Kentucky Oaks may still allow her to enter the starting gate.

“Unfortunately she had to wait to get out (of traffic.),” said Prat. “I couldn't go by the winner. She made a good run.”

Julia Shining, sibling to champion Malathaat, is trained by Todd Pletcher and was ridden Friday by Luis Saez. Sent to post at 5-1 odds, she paid $3.74 to show afer finishing a neck behind the runner-up. Winner of the G2 Demoiselle to close out her juvenile season, Julia Shining finished third in the Suncoast to kick off her 3-year-old campaign. Champion Wonder Wheel finished second in the Suncoast.

“She's still learning. We came to the half-mile pole and I thought we were going to win the race, but the horse on the lead never stopped,” said Saez of Julia Shining. “(The blinkers) helped a lot. She was way better. She was in the bridle the whole way. I feel like she has so much talent, she just needs to put it together.”

Guns n' Graces checked in fourth for trainer Chad Brown, pacesetting Effortlesslyelgant was fifth, Breeders' Cup winner and champion Wonder Wheel finished sixth, and Pride of the Nile was seventh.

Tyler Gaffalione, who rode Wonder Wheel, said: “She broke well and put herself in a good spot. It just wasn't her day.”

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