The winter-spring meet at Fair Grounds wraps up this coming weekend with the track’s signature race, the $1 million, Grade 2 Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby set for Saturday, March 25.
Tag: Racing
Japan’s Reigning Horse Of The Year Equinox Back On Turf In Dubai; Breeders’ Cup Turf An Option Later This Year
The spring equinox, traditionally a time of renewal, is perhaps as fitting a moment as any to mark a new era at Meydan.
The Japanese media, omnipresent at every Dubai World Cup since the inaugural meeting at Nad Al Sheba in 1996, returned en masse for the first time since 2019 to witness their record contingent step out in the early hours.
Among 27 horses representing the country this year is the equine Equinox, making his maiden foray abroad for trainer Tetsuya Kimura. Set to contest the Group 1 Longines Dubai Sheema Classic, the reigning Japanese Horse of the Year had an easy bowl around the Meydan dirt ahead of Saturday's 2,400m (1 1/2-mile) test.
“This is his first overseas trip and he's still getting used to his new surroundings, although I think he's getting better day by day and I am happy with how he moved this morning,” Kimura said trackside. “I know that this horse has plenty of talent and I hope that he can live up to the expectations of Japanese race fans by winning the Dubai Sheema Classic.”
Fittingly, it is the first time since 2019 that Japan's leading horse of the previous season will step out on the Dubai World Cup card. Equinox, like that year's Group 1 Dubai Turf (sponsored by DP World) heroine Almond Eye, is raced by Silk Racing with 500 fans sharing in his ownership.
Christophe Lemaire, who rode Almond Eye throughout her career and also partnered Equinox to victories in the Group 1 Tenno Sho (Autumn) at 2,000m and the Group 1 Arima Kinen at 2,500m, retains the ride on Saturday.
“This is a tough race but Christophe knows Meydan and knows this horse so I am not concerned,” Kimura said. “There have been some very good winners of the Dubai Sheema Classic and so I respect how difficult it will be. It is an honor to be here with a horse like Equinox.”
Should he pass his Dubai Sheema Classic test with flying colors, the fan-voted Takarazuka Kinen over 2,200m at Hanshin in June looms as Equinox's next target.
However, Silk Racing chief executive Masashi Yonemoto is already looking further afield with his star colt, although a tilt at the Group 1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (2,400m) at Longchamp in October remains an unlikely option.
“There are quite attractive races at home, such as the Tenno Sho (Autumn) and the Japan Cup,” he told local media. “However, I think the Breeders' Cup Turf is an attractive option. It is important for him to do well here if we are to travel again but I think the Breeders' Cup would be better than the Arc, especially with the ground.
“I think this season is when we will see the best of him and I think this race is a good challenge for him. Hopefully, he can prove he is a great horse.”
Kimura also cast an eye over his Group 1 Dubai World Cup (sponsored by Emirates) runner Geoglyph, who actually boasts a top flight victory over his more established stablemate in last year's Satsuki Sho, the Japanese 2000 Guineas, over 2,000m.
The four-year-old enters off a last-start fourth in the Group 1 Saudi Cup (1,800m) to compatriot Panthalassa and will also be ridden by Lemaire on Saturday.
“I have been very happy with him since he arrived here,” Kimura said. “He was fourth by a close margin and it was his first dirt race so I was satisfied with that performance. I think his experience in Saudi Arabia will help him here.
“He worked well this morning along with Equinox. I think this is a more suitable race, stepping up to 2,000 metres, and I hope that he can run another good race on Saturday.”
Both Equinox and Geoglyph will complete their most testing hit-out of the week tomorrow morning, along with the majority of Japanese contenders.
The post Japan’s Reigning Horse Of The Year Equinox Back On Turf In Dubai; Breeders’ Cup Turf An Option Later This Year appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Forte Continues to Lead Triple Crown Poll Ahead of Major Prep Weekend
Each week, members of the national media vote on the nation's top contenders on the Triple Crown trail in the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) Top Thoroughbred Poll. Week 6 of the 2023 Top 3-Year-Old Thoroughbred Poll conducted by the NTRA covers racing performances through March 21, 2023. The 3-year-old poll represents horses competing up to and through the Triple Crown. Rankings are based on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-1 voting system. First place votes are in parentheses.
‘People Still Don’t Give Her The Credit She Deserves’: Pretty Mischievous Faces Four Rivals In Fair Grounds Oaks
With only one blemish to her otherwise perfect 4 for 5 record, Godolphin's homebred Pretty Mischievous looks to maintain her local dominance against a field of four other 3-year-old fillies in Saturday's $400,000 Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) at Fair Grounds in New Orleans, La.
The 1 1/16 miles Fair Grounds Oaks was carded as the 11th of 15 races on the Louisiana Derby Day card with a post time of 5:08 p.m. CT. Saturday's program also features the $1 million Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby (G2). Both races for 3-year-olds are the first preps to offer 100-40-30-20-10 qualifying points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve and the Longines Kentucky Oaks.
Along with the duo of 3-year-old stakes events, Saturday's program also includes the $500,000 New Orleans Classic (G2), the $300,000 Muniz Memorial (G2), the $100,000 Tom Benson Stakes, the $100,000 Costa Rising Stakes (LA), the $100,000 Crescent City Derby(LA), and the $100,000 Crescent City Oaks (LA).
Winning the Rachel Alexandra (G2) at 8-1 was evidence that Godolphin's filly Pretty Mischievous had flown under the radar as headlines and bettors have gravitated towards others in the 3-year-old filly division. Capping off her 3-2-0-1 freshman campaign with a win in the Untapable should have enlarged what might have been a blip on the screen, but in the Rachel, it was Hoosier Philly and Chop Chop, two fillies who had not yet replicated their 2-year-old talents, who garnered most of the attention. Logging a trio of local works since last raced, Pretty Mischievous has been training well, filling out, and maturing nicely for the Brendan Walsh barn ahead of her second start as a 3-year-old.
“Physically she's done super,” Walsh said. “Every time I've gone away and come back (to Fair Grounds), she's gotten stronger. That's what she's done all winter. People still don't give her the credit she deserves. You don't go four for five without being pretty good. I touted this filly from the get-go. I thought she was going to be really nice and I think she's proven to be.”
In the Kentucky Oaks Futures Wager, which closed three weeks after the Rachel Alexandra, Pretty Mischievous was made the seventh choice in the field at 15-1 behind Wet Paint, Wonder Wheel, Hoosier Philly, Punchbowl, Julia Shining, and “All Other 3-year-old Fillies.” As a 2-year-old she won the $100,000 Untapable, an allowance, and her maiden, both at Churchill Downs. Her only loss came in the Golden Rod (G2) where she stumbled out of the gates losing three lengths and ended in third, just over five lengths behind the winner Hoosier Philly.
“She's very adaptable,” Walsh said. “She's very easy to ride. She can go to the front; she can come from behind. She can do whatever. She's in great order. Sure looking forward to it. She's been working great, put in a great work yesterday (March 18). She's ready to roll. (The Fair Grounds Oaks) will be a good test, but again she's passed them all so far, and I would be amazed if she's not right there again on Saturday.”
The Into Mischief filly by the Tapit dam Pretty City Dancer will break from post No. 3 under her Untapable jockey Brian Hernandez Jr., looking to add to her 63 Oaks qualifying points.
The Triple Crown nominee Hoosier Philly has carried the high expectations of her connections and her backers into each of her four starts. A lot of the hype surrounding Gold Standard Racing Stables' Hoosier Philly extends from not just her open-length victories but also from the high praise of her trainer Tom Amoss, who said prior to kicking off her sophomore campaign that “if she stays healthy she is going to wow the world.” Sent off as the favorite in all of her races, most recently she was bet down to 2-5 in the Rachel Alexandra before stumbling out of the gate and finding herself tucked in behind horses. Hoosier Philly never mustered a serious bid, resulting in a distant third-place finish.
“I think we have a good post (in the Fair Grounds Oaks),” Amoss said. “Drawing outside the field of five in a race where there are quite a few horses who want to be forwardly placed. If something unusual were to happen at the start, as it did last time, the ability to recover and not be closed in by other horses is a benefit.”
Prior to her 3-year-old debut, the Golden Rod-winner fired three morning bullets, impressing onlookers with how easily she covered ground. Hoosier Philly has three breezes coming into the Fair Grounds Oaks, her first two at four furlongs, going 5th best on March 3 and 17th best on March 10. Her final morning prep produced a 1:00 flat five-furlong bullet.
“As with any Thoroughbred in trying to gauge how they're training, I think anything you see on Hoosier Philly is fairly subtle,” Amoss said. “But I think she's coming into the race enthusiastically and I like that.”
Currently ranked ninth with 15 points in the Kentucky Oaks standings, Hoosier Philly is in a good position to earn her spot in the gate the first Friday in May. Jockey Edgar Morales retains the mount. Amoss has an interesting history in the Fair Grounds Oaks. He won the 2018 edition with Chocolate Martini, a filly he claimed just six weeks prior for $30,000. In 2020, his Serengeti Empress ran seventh in the FG Oaks as the favorite, but returned to win the Kentucky Oaks at 13-1.
Ike and Dawn Thrash's The Alys Look has been a pleasant surprise for Brad Cox this winter. An easy maiden winner early in the meet, she finished a good second behind Pretty Mischievous in the Untapable in advance of a game win over her favored stablemate Chop Chop in the SIlverbulletday. The Alys Look passed on the Rachel Alexandra (G2) by design, and she is fresh and ready for Saturday. Cox won the Fair Grounds Oaks in back-to-back years – 2020 with Bonny South and 2021 with Travel Column.
Brad King, Randy Andrews, Chris Coleman, Jim Cone, Suzanne Kirby, and Lee Lewis' Christian d'Oro is a new addition to the Steve Asmussen barn. Going 4-2-2-0 while in the care of trainer Todd Fincher, the Bolt d'Oro filly has been racing at Zia Park and Sunland. Breaking her maiden in her last start as a 2-year-old, she followed it up with a gate-to-wire victory going 6 1/2 furlongs in the Borderplex Stakes at Sunland in January. In her first and only workout at Fair Grounds, Christian d'Oro breezed five furlongs in 1:01.20, the sixth best of 48 on Sunday, March 19.
“She appears to be the pace of the race,” Asmussen said. “We recently got her from Todd Fincher in good shape. She went over the (Fair Grounds) track nicely. She's a classy filly to be around. But this will be the first time we run her.”
Steve Asmussen has won the Fair Grounds Oaks four times including a score last year with Joel Rosario aboard Echo Zulu. Rosario returns to guide Christian d'Oro from post No. 2.
Robert E. Masterson's Southlawn earned her crack at this group with a resounding, local allowance victory on Feb. 17 for trainer Norm Casse. Fourth past the opening quarter, she dragged leading rider Rey Gutierrez to the front down the backstretch, and she extended that margin of victory to eight lengths across the wire.
Here is the complete field for the Fair Grounds Oaks from the rail out (with jockey, trainer and morning line odds):
- Southlawn (Rey Gutierrez, Norm Cassie, 8-1);
- Christian d'Oro (Joel Rosario, Steve Asmussen, 15-1);
- Pretty Mischievous (Brian Hernandez, Jr., Brendan Walsh, 8-5);
- The Alys Look (Luis Saez, Brad Cox, 2-1);
- Hoosier Philly (Edgar Morales, Tom Amoss, 2-1).
The post ‘People Still Don’t Give Her The Credit She Deserves’: Pretty Mischievous Faces Four Rivals In Fair Grounds Oaks appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
