Tag: Racing

An evenly matched field of 12 is entered in the $300,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles Saturday at Oaklawn.

Probable post time for the Honeybee, the 10th of 12 races, is 4:43 p.m. (Central). Racing begins at noon. The card also features the $1 million Rebel Stakes (G2) for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles and the $150,000 Carousel Stakes for older fillies and mares at 6 furlongs. The infield, weather permitting, will be open for the first time this season.

The projected Honeybee field from the rail out:

1. Effortlesslyelgant, Ricardo Santana Jr. to ride, 117 pounds, 20-1 on the morning line;
2. Towhead, Isaac Castillo, 122, 9-2;
3. Grand Love, Joel Rosario, 117, 3-1;
4. Gambling Girl, Irad Ortiz Jr., 117, 12-1;
5. Condensation, Francisco Arrieta, 122, 12-1;
6. Take Charge Briana, Mickaelle Michel, 117, 20-1;
7. Wet Paint, Flavien Prat, 122, 7-2;
8. Defining Purpose, David Cabrera, 119, 9-2;
9. Boss Lady Bailey, Florent Geroux, 117, 12-1;
10. Doudoudouwanadance, James Graham, 117, 20-1;
11. Olivia Twist, Cristian Torres, 119, 15-1; and
12. Taxed, Rafael Bejarano, 117, 15-1.

The Honeybee will offer 100 points (50-20-15-10-5, respectively) to the top five finishers toward starting eligibility for the Kentucky Oaks, the country's biggest race for 3-year-old fillies. The Honeybee is Oaklawn's second of three points races for the Kentucky Oaks, a series that concludes with the $600,000 Fantasy Stakes (G3) at 1 1/16 miles April 1.

Honeybee program favorite Grand Love will be making her first start since finishing sixth, beaten six lengths by eventual Eclipse Award winner Wonder Wheel, in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) at 1 1/16 miles Nov. 4 at Keeneland. The speedy Grand Love races for her breeder, Three Chimneys Farm (Goncalo Torrealba), and Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, who is seeking his record-tying sixth Honeybee victory.

“Talented filly,” Asmussen said. “Anxious to run her, get her 3-year-old year started.”

The Honeybee brings back Wet Paint, Taxed, Defining Purpose, Take Charge Briana and Olivia Twist, the 1-2-3-4-5 finishers, respectively, from the $200,000 Martha Washington Stakes at 1 1/16 miles Jan. 28. The Martha Washington was Oaklawn's first Kentucky Oaks points race.

Wet Paint is perfect in two career starts on dirt for trainer Brad Cox. Both starts, including the Martha Washington, were over an off track.

“She's doing well,” Cox said. “She had a good work this weekend. Looks like a larger field. Hopefully, that will give her a good pace to run into. It looks the track could be wet. She doesn't seem to mind that. See how it goes. I'm excited about her.”

Taxed was beaten two lengths in the Martha Washington for trainer Randy Morse, who claimed the daughter of Grade 1 winner Collected for $50,000 Nov. 20 at Churchill Downs. Taxed, in her first start for Morse, finished fourth in the inaugural $150,000 Year's End Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at 1 mile Dec. 31 at Oaklawn.

“If she'll go forward just a little bit more,” Morse said.

Defining Purpose was a 5 ¼-length winner of the Year's End, but weakened late as the even-money favorite in the Martha Washington.

“She wasn't as good as she is now,” said retired jockey Robby Albarado, who regularly gets on Defining Purpose in the morning for McPeek. “She's training a lot better now. Looking forward to that.”

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas won his record sixth Honeybee last year with heavily favored Secret Oath, who also captured the Kentucky Oaks and was one of three finalists for an Eclipse Award as the country's champion 3-year-old filly. Lukas will be represented Saturday by Take Charge Briana, who is seeking her first career stakes victory. Take Charge Briana was beaten 6 ½ lengths in the Martha Washington, her fifth consecutive stakes try. She also ran third in the Year's End.

“We keep looking for her to show her real form,” Lukas said. “She's training well enough to win that kind of a race. We just need her to step up and go for her 'A' game. Again, I keep looking for an improvement. Little bit immature, that filly is. Distance may help her. The extra sixteenth of a mile might help her.”

Towhead, trained by Mike Maker, bids for her third consecutive victory. She broke her maiden by 3 ¼ lengths at 1 1/16 miles Jan. 20 at Oaklawn in her last start.

Effortlesslyelgant exits a front-running 4 ¾-length maiden special weight victory sprinting for high-percentage trainer Norm Casse and prominent Arkansas owners Alex and JoAnn Lieblong. The Honeybee will mark just the third career start, and first around two turns, for Effortlesslyelgant, a daughter of Grade 1 winner Liam's Map.

“To me, this is a tough test,” Casse said. “We're jumping into the deep end of the pool. Skipping a condition; we're running her in a stake. All that being said, we're doing it while trying to route for the first time. But we've always felt like this filly was very, very talented. We've been excited about her from Day 1 and have always felt that she is a two-turn horse and here we are. Expecting her to run really well on Saturday.”

Shedaresthedevil, trained by Cox and co-owned by Staton Flurry of Hot Springs, also won the Honeybee and Kentucky Oaks in 2020.

The post Oaklawn: Honeybee Stakes Attracts 12 Fillies With Oaks Aspirations appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Maitha Salem Mohammed Belobaida Alsuwaidi's Meraas, trained by New York-based Chad Summers, will exit post 6 under Abner Adorno in Saturday's Group 3 $1.5 million Riyadh Dirt Sprint, a 1,200-metre test [about six furlongs] on the undercard of the $20 million Saudi Cup at King Abdulaziz Racecourse.

Meraas, a Group 3-winner at Meydan last February for his former conditioner Musabbeh Al Mheiri, made three NYRA circuit starts for Summers in 2022 led by a frontrunning optional-claiming score with Adorno up on Dec. 30 that garnered a 97 Beyer.

That effort followed a third-place finish in September at Saratoga in his North American debut, a six-furlong optional-claimer won by returning rival Elite Power; and a troubled off-the-board effort in the G3 Bold Ruler in October at Belmont at the Big A.

Elite Power, who drew post 5 Saturday under Frankie Dettori, exited his Saratoga effort to win the G2 Vosburgh at Belmont at the Big A and the G1 Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland en route to Champion Male Sprinter honors.

Chief among Meraas' rivals will be the Japan-based defending race winner Dancing Prince [post 7, Damian Lane] and multiple graded-stakes winner Gunite [post 2, Tyler Gaffalione], who won the 2021 Grade 1 Hopeful at the Spa.

“He shipped over well,” said Summers via phone from Saudi Arabia. “He has plenty of experience traveling before and has really blossomed since arriving. He had his final piece of work on Monday over the main track and was striding out beautifully. He's giving us a lot of confidence he will take to this deep track here in Saudi.”

Summers said Meraas should benefit from his post 6 draw with both his main North American rivals to his inside and Dancing Prince in the next stall over.

“We love the draw. The gates here are really narrow. So, the less time in there the better,” Summers said. “Dancing Prince we feel is the other main speed and he is drawn just to the outside. So, we can play the break and if we outbreak him, we go. If he outbreaks us, we will sit on his hip. I would imagine Gunite will try and work out a stalking trip from his inside draw, but may have to deal with significant kickback down in there. We will watch the races Friday and first part of Saturday and make final plans, but overall we're very happy with the draw.”

Summers has enjoyed past success in the Middle East, taking consecutive editions of the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen in 2017-18 at Meydan Racecourse with New York-bred Mind Your Biscuits, who is now a successful stud in Japan.

Summers said Saturday's test is reminiscent of the 2018 Golden Shaheen in which Joel Rosario guided Mind Your Biscuits to a rallying head score over X Y Jet in a track record time of 1:10.12. Roy H, winner of the 2017 Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint, finished less than a length back in third with multiple Grade 1-winner Wild Dude fourth and the well-regarded Japan-based Matera Sky finishing fifth.

“It feels very similar to the 2018 Golden Shaheen with a Breeders' Cup winner, a fast American horse coming off a huge speed figure, and top Japanese horses,” Summers said. “So, not necessarily a position we haven't been in before.”

The Riyadh Dirt Sprint is slated as Race 7 at approximately 11:45 a.m. Eastern on Saturday's eight-race card that concludes with the $20 million Saudi Cup. Coverage of the Saudi Cup card will be broadcast live from 8 a.m. – 1 p.m. Eastern on FS2.

The post Trainer Chad Summers In Familiar Position With Riyadh Dirt Sprint Contender Meraas appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Bob Baffert has a long list of big races he has conquered in America and the Middle East but the most valuable one, The Saudi Cup, has eluded him, including a pair of runner-up finishes and in the most frustrating of fashions.

This year, he brings Zedan Racing's three-time Grade 1 winner Taiba (USA), as well as 2022 runner-up and Dubai World Cup winner Country Grammer (USA), who is co-owned by Zedan Racing, Commonwealth Thoroughbreds and WinStar Farm.

Taiba enters off a one-sided victory in the Malibu Stakes on December 26, the same Grade 1 Baffert's 2021 runner-up Charlatan won in preparation for his Saudi Arabian sojourn. Last year, he won the Santa Anita Derby and Pennsylvania Derby – both Grade 1s – over The Saudi Cup's 1800m distance.

“He just has so much quality,” Baffert said. “He will do what you want with him – he can go forward or come from off the pace – I don't worry about him. He'll fool you, because he's such a lazy work horse in the mornings and is so laidback, but when he gets in that gate and the lights turn on – that's when his light turns on.

“Charlatan was a brilliant horse with just brilliant speed, but he got into a speed duel with Knicks Go, which cost him the race, but this horse has speed and stamina. The Gun Runners want to run longer, mostly, and this horse – while not as brilliant speed-wise as Charlatan – has that same class and he can go longer.

“He is tough to ride and that's why Mike Smith had to really get him out and get him going last time in the Malibu. Once you put him into the race, he has the stamina, and that's why, when he missed the break [when third] in the Breeders' Cup [Classic], it hurt him. He wasn't going to beat Flightline, but it cost him second.”

Earlier on the Boxing Day card at Santa Anita, Country Grammer returned to the winners' enclosure impressively in the Grade 2 San Antonio. Thus far, he is two-for-two with jockey Frankie Dettori in the saddle.

“I think both horses are doing really well and Jimmy [Barnes, assistant] is really happy with how they look there. Country Grammer is a horse who always runs his race. Frankie knows him really well and if the horse shows up, he'll get the job done if Taiba doesn't. This horse has never been better – he's a better horse this year, I think – and he likes this track, which is really key.

“The Saudi Cup is one of the toughest races to win,” Baffert continued. “I've never won it and I really want to. It's a long ship and a different surface and you have to keep them at their best the entire time.

“It's a challenge and that's what I love,” he concluded. “I'd love to win it for these owners. Amr [Zedan] and the Troutts [owners of WinStar Farm] and the rest of the connections have been so loyal to me and we have won some great races together – a Triple Crown with Justify – but to win this one would be an honor and I'm just blessed to have two good horses in the race.

“Everyone can really run in this race and it's a tough field, but expectations are high and we have some owners with a love and passion for the horse, itself, and for horse racing, so we hope we can win it for them.”

The post Country Grammer Will ‘Get The Job Done If Taiba Doesn’t’: Baffert Confident Ahead Of Saudi Cup appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Jun Park and Delia Nash's Sibelius, who became a graded-stakes winner in the Mr. Prospector (G3) on New Year's Eve at Gulfstream Park, is headed to Dubai to run in the $2 million Golden Shaheen (G1) March 25 at Meydan Racecourse.

“We have accepted an invitation to go to Dubai,” trainer Jerry O'Dwyer said. “He came out of his last race good and is doing really well.”

Sibelius has put together back-to-back wins for the first time in his 18-race career, both coming in stakes, starting with the seven-furlong Mr. Prospector, which was just his third graded-stakes attempt.

In that race, his fifth straight with jockey Junior Alvarado, Sibelius raced along the inside in second behind pacesetter Uncle Ernie before being swung out on the far turn to take the lead at the top of the stretch and go on to win by 2 ¼ lengths in 1:23.04. Uncle Ernie returns in Saturday's $125,000 Gulfstream Park Sprint.

“He put it all together that day,” O'Dwyer said. “The Mr. Prospector worked out a bit different than the way he had been running. He was in behind the speed getting dirt in his face and had to rate a little bit and then tip out and go do it. He had to do everything like a proper racehorse does. He didn't get everything his own way.”

Sibelius tuned up for Dubai with a 1 ¼-length victory in the Feb. 11 Pelican at Tampa Bay Downs, completing six furlongs in a stakes record 1:08.75, just .08 off the track record, with Alvarado aboard.

“I was very impressed with him, because he really had to battle off and fend off that other horse [Doctor Oscar] that put it to him the whole way,” O'Dwyer said. “He really had to dig in deep to put that horse away towards the wire.”

Sibelius has won four of his last six starts including his first stakes in the six-furlong Lite the Fuse last September at Pimlico Race Course, a front-running 7 ½-length romp over favored fellow Grade 3 winner Jaxon Traveler.

O'Dwyer said Sibelius will continue his preparations at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream's satellite training facility in Palm Beach County, before leaving for Dubai next month.

“He'll have a couple breezes here at Palm Meadows and then he'll ship out. He'll probably have his last breeze on [March] 10th. He doesn't need a lot of hard training,” he said. “He'll have a couple of half-mile breezes. The plan is to breeze him on the 10th, check him over on the 11th and, if all is well, get on the plane on the 12th. He might have a little blowout, maybe an easy three-eighths in 38 [seconds] or something, just to let him stretch his legs over the track out there.”

O'Dwyer traveled to Dubai in 2020 with Grade 2 winner Shotski, who ran fourth in Gulfstream's Fountain of Youth (G2), to take part in the UAE Derby (G2). The card was ultimately canceled following the outbreak of the global coronavirus pandemic.

“We're excited. I love shipping horses, but I don't like shipping them anywhere unless I think they're live, and I do think he's a very nice, genuine horse and hopefully he can get a nice piece of it out there,” O'Dwyer said.

“It was kind of our target all along if everything went according to plan,” he added. “Our long-term goal since the end of last year was to go to Dubai with him if he kept continuing to run well and progress.”

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