Tag: Racing

With trainer Al Stall hailing from New Orleans, it's appropriate that he uses the term 'lagniappe' when he discusses the 7-year-old German-bred mare Dalika running in Gulfstream Park's $500,000 TAA Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf Invitational (G3) presented by Pepsi. After all, the Cajun-French-inspired word, pronounced LAN-yap, means a gift or something extra.

The 1 1/16-mile grass stakes will mark the last race of Dalika's career, which started out with three races in Europe as a 2-year-old before she was purchased by Paul Varga's Bal Mar Equine LLC and sent to Stall. In America, Dalika has won nine of 28 races, with six seconds and nearly all of her $1.44 million in earnings.

Dalika's key race came in the Beverly D. Stakes last July at Churchill Downs, giving her the Grade 1 victory for which she was kept in training in 2022. The Beverly D. was held at Dalika's home track after the closing of Chicago's Arlington Park. With the switch, the distance was shortened to 1 1/8 miles over a course playing to speed, with the race having only five starters.

“The whole year was house money,” Stall said by phone from New Orleans. “We stumbled on the Beverly D. Everything was just lagniappe, as we say. [But] we wouldn't be doing this if she wasn't just perfectly sound and very happy with herself right now.”

Varga said via text that Dalika's stallion mating should be finalized in the next couple of weeks and that he'll be keep his options open whether to keep her or sell.

Dalika has rewarded Varga and Stall well for their patience and gambling on another season of racing after she won her first graded stakes in 2021 at Delaware Park. The result was winning three more graded-stakes — the Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf (G3) following the Beverly D. and Cardinal (G3) Nov. 25 in her last start — and just a few bucks shy of $850,000.

“She's been an enigma for most of the time,” Stall said. “This last season has been unbelievably gratifying for everybody. We made the conscious decision to keep her in training one more year to take some shots at Grade 1 races and things like that. We gave her a good freshening during the winter and she came back really, really good. To win the Beverly D. was really a fortunate thing for us. And to be able to knock out these big, fat purses since then, it's just been a great year for her. It makes you feel good about treating a horse properly, giving them a nice break and having them come back and deliver.”

Dalika, who will be ridden for the fifth straight race by Brian Hernandez Jr., has proven most effective racing on the lead.

“The ones they've added on to this field, it does seem like there's some speed in there, horses literally coming out of six-furlong races to go around two turns at this level,” Stall said of the Pegasus F&M Turf. “We're a front-running type of horse, so that's going to be interesting to see how that shakes out.

“She just needs to be comfortable. She's come from off the pace before and won. A lot of races, she's been rank, and now she's quite a bit kinder. I just want her to be comfortable, break well,” he added. “You can tell early whether she's getting over the ground like you'd want a horse to. If it goes that way, that's all we can ask for — she'll give it herself the best chance to win. If she's not comfortable at a new course like Gulfstream, if she gets trapped on the fence with some outside speed, things might not go well.”

Keeping Dalika comfortable is why the mare has spent the last month at an Ocala training center. That not only makes for a much shorter ship to Gulfstream Park the Wednesday before the race, but it's a quieter environment than Stall's main winter base of the Fair Grounds. It's the same reason that when Dalika was in Kentucky, she trained at the Skylight Training Center about 40 minutes from Churchill Downs.

Because she does so much in her daily training, Dalika only sporadically has timed workouts.

“She's just a horse that's tough to train,” Stall said. “She's very, very strong all the time. The gallop person earns their keep every time they get on her. That's just the way she's always been. That's why we keep her in the most tranquil, serene place you could possibly be. Just training on a day-to-day basis, we felt like she'd do herself more harm than good being in all the traffic on a narrow racetrack. We basically keep her all by herself.

“Once she gets fit, there's not a whole lot to do with her. The Beverly D was her third race off a freshening. All we've done literally since is just piddle around,” he added. “She seems to like that, so we're not changing anything.”

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When it comes to age and experience, Dalika has them all beat in the $500,000 TAA Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf Invitational (G3).

Whether that translates to victory in the 1 1/16-mile turf stakes for Bal Mar Equine's 7-year-old mare remains to be seen. A field of 11 is expected to line up for Saturday's grass event for older females, one of eight stakes – seven of them graded – worth $5.3 million on the Jan. 28 program.

Dalika is listed as the 7-2 second choice on the morning line behind Shantisara, the 2-1 favorite.

“There's not a horse in America that is more battle-tested than her,” said her trainer, Albert Stall Jr. “She couldn't be more fit and couldn't be more of a warrior, so we got that going for us, too.”

The German-bred mare will be making her 32nd career start in the Pegasus. No other member of the talented field of fillies and mares has as many as 20 lifetime starts, and Wakanaka tops the rest with 15 on her resume. Dalika will be ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr.

“Some of the horses in the Pegasus have just turned four,” Stall said. “We just feel like we have a little bit of an edge in that department.”

Dalika, who made her racing debut in Germany in 2018, is one of seven expected starters that began their careers in a country other than the U.S. The others include Artie's Princess (Canada), Justify My Love (Argentina), Shantisara (France), Wakanaka (Italy), and Lady Rockstar and Sweet Enough (Great Britain). Only Bay Storm, Mona Stella, Perseverancia and Queen Goddess started out in the U.S.

But Dalika boasts 10 lifetime victories and earnings of more than $1.4 million, easily surpassing any other member of the field in both categories. She won her most recent start, the Grade 3 Cardinal at Churchill Downs. Her 2022 resume also includes wins in the Beverly D (G1) at Churchill and Ladies Turf (G3) at Kentucky Downs.

One horse that looms as a top contender in the Pegasus is Steven Parkin's Lady Rockstar, who is coming out of a close second-place finish in Gulfstream's Suwannee River (G3) on Dec. 31, a race in which she lost by one length to Stolen Holiday.

“She has done great since the race,” said her trainer, Brendan Walsh. “I thought she ran great in the Suwannee River because we probably had just enough works in her. It was good to see her handle that well and I thought it was a good prep for the Pegasus.”

Tyler Gaffalione will handle the riding duties on Lady Rockstar, the fifth choice at 8-1 on the morning line.

Shantisara is the program favorite in large part due to her Grade 1 victory more than a year ago for owners Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, and Robert LaPenta. She will be ridden by Irad Ortz Jr. for trainer Chad Brown.

The 5-year-old Irish-bred mare has shined since arriving in the United States from France by winning three stakes, including the Queen Elizabeth II Cup (G1) at Keeneland in 2021. But she started just twice in 2022, with her most recent outing coming on Nov. 5 at Keeneland when she ran fifth in the Fall Harvest Stakes.

The winner of that Breeders' Cup undercard event, Team Valor International and Gary Barber's Wakanaka, also returns in the Pegasus event for older turf females. The 5-year-old Irish-bred mare started her career in Italy, where she won six of her nine starts. Since arriving in North America, Wakanaka has won a pair of stakes, including the Dance Smartly Stakes (G2) at Woodbine.

Wakanaka made her U.S. debut in last year's Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf, finishing sixth of 10th horses. She followed that performance with a second-place finish in the Honey Fox Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream and a runner-up effort in Belmont Park's Just A Game (G1).

“When she first came here, she wasn't that good around two turns,” said Barry Irwin, chief executive officer for Team Valor. “But as she's raced and trained, she's gotten smarter and better. She's physically improved. She's a lot better now than she was last year. She's got a really good turn of foot. She's not a very big filly, but she's got a lot of power when she turns it on.”

Bridlewood Farm's Bay Storm was third in the Suwannee River at Gulfstream after setting the pace in the one-mile stakes for trainer Jonathan Thomas. Listed at odds of 10-1, the 5-year-old mare will be ridden by Frankie Dettori in quest of her first graded stakes win.

Queen Goddess is the 5-1 third choice for owners Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Gary Barber. The 5-year-old mare is coming off a 2 1/2-length victory Dec. 31 in the Robert J. Frankel Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita for trainer Michael McCarthny. Luis Saez is scheduled to ride.

Perseverancia (15-1) was second to Dalika in her most recent start, the Cardinal (G3) at Churchill Downs in November for owner Georg D. Morgan.

Artie's Princess (20-1) is trained by South Florida trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. for owners Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey but will be making her first-ever start at Gulfstream after racing primarily in Canada. The 6-year-old mare won a pair of stakes last year at Woodbine.

Sweet Enough (20-1) will be looking for her first U.S. stakes win for owner Trevor Harris. Trained by Roger Attfield, the 5-year-old mare recorded three of her four career wins in Great Britain before arriving in the U.S. Junior Alvarado will ride.

Justify My Love (30-1) raced exclusively in Argentina before making her U.S. debut last September at Kentucky Downs for trainer Paulo Lobo while the Florida-bred Mona Stella (30-1) will be aiming for her first stakes win for owners Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Patrick Biancone, who trains the horse. She will be ridden by Mike Smith.

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Mama's Gold, a 3-year-old New York-bred Bolt d'Oro colt, drew off to break his maiden by 21 1/4-lengths in a six-furlong state-bred maiden claiming tilt on Saturday at Aqueduct.

Owner-trainer Chad Summers won a three-way shake to halter Mama's Gold for $25,000 out of the impressive third-out graduation that garnered a 96 Beyer Speed Figure.

Mama's Gold, with Jose Lezcano up, broke alertly from post 4 and marked off fractions of :23.15 and :47.03 over the fast main track, opening up a nine-length advantage at the stretch call en route to an eye-catching victory in a final time of 1:11.32.

Mama's Gold made his first two starts traveling six furlongs in state-bred company in the care of trainer Mike Maker for owner-breeder William Butler, finishing fifth in his August debut at Saratoga, a tilt that featured Curly Larry and Mo, who would end his campaign with a pacesetting off-the-board effort in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.

He followed with a seventh-place finish off a three-month layoff on November 26 at the Big A in a race that runner-up General Banker exited to win the $500,000 NYSSS Great White Way ahead of picking up Kentucky Derby qualifying points for a third-place finish in the Jerome.

“Mike Maker is an outstanding trainer and no matter where his horses are running, he always has the horse prepared to run,” Summers said of the impressive maiden score. “On paper, it looked like a one-horse race and he did what he was supposed to do. The way he did it, he was geared down throughout and the track wasn't very fast, but he made it look fast. That was encouraging to see.”

A half-sibling to multiple stakes winner Rotknee, Mama's Gold is out of the winning Speightstown mare In Spite of Mama, who is a half sister to graded stakes-placed A Freud of Mama. His third dam, Nothing Special, produced multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire Haynesfield.

“We knew the horse was a half to Rotknee, but so did they,” Summers said. “Looking at his first two races, they looked better on paper than his final results. In his first race, the horse that ran fourth ran in the Breeders' Cup and in the second race the horse that ran second came back and won the $500,000 stakes and has Derby points.

“Obviously, you're a little concerned about the drop from maiden special to maiden $25,000, but he's a New York-bred and he had all his conditions,” continued Summers. “We love Bolt d'Oro, and it's one of those ones where you take a look at him and if he's OK, you take a shot.”

Summers said Mama's Gold exited the race in good order and that he will take his time before planning a next start.

“We came to check on him at night check and he was hollering for more food. He seems like a happy horse,” Summers said. “We'll treat him like a good horse, but he has all his conditions so we'll take it step by step. We won't rush into anything and just let him take us where he takes us. Hopefully, that third race is an indication of who he is and not the first two.”

The post ‘He Did What He Was Supposed To Do’: Bolt d’Oro 3YO Colt Mama’s Gold Breaks Maiden By Eye-Catching Margin, Registers 96 BSF appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Stablemates have occupied the top two spots in the $1-million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1) for two years running and, if the local prep for one of the richest grass races in North America is any indication, a third year is not out of the question.

The fifth running of the Pegasus World Cup Turf and the seventh renewal of the $3-million Pegasus World Cup (G1) on dirt, both at 1 1/8 miles, and the second edition of the $500,000 TAA Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf (G3) presented by Pepsi comprise Saturday's Pegasus World Cup Championship Invitational Series at Gulfstream Park, headlining a blockbuster 13-race program featuring eight stakes, seven graded, worth $5.3 million in purses.

First race post time is 10:50 a.m. EST. NBC will provide live national coverage from 4:30 to 6 p.m. EST.

The Jan. 19 retirement of two-time defending champion Colonel Liam with an ankle injury means the Pegasus Turf will have a new winner this year. Colonel Liam beat Never Surprised in 2022 after defeating Largent in 2021 – all three horses trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher.

Despite the absence of Colonel Liam, Todd Pletcher can win a third straight Pegasus Turf with Repole Stable, St. Elias Stable and Gainesway Stable's Wit. A two-time graded stakes winner on dirt, the 4-year-old Practical Joke colt won the Better Talk Now, was second in the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame (G2) and Bryan Station (G3), and third by less than a length to Speaking Scout in the Hollywood Derby in his four turf tries.

Jose Ortiz has the assignment on Wit from the rail at morning-line odds of 8-1.

Also among the dozen contenders are multiple graded stakes winners City Man and Decorated Invader, both trained by Christophe Clement, who respectively ran 1-2 in Gulfstream's Dec. 31 Fort Lauderdale (G2).

Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Peter and Patty Searles' City Man is a 6-year-old New York-bred son of Mucho Macho Man, the 2013 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) winner also campaigned by Dean and Patti Reeves. City Man enters the Pegasus Turf riding a three-race win streak, all in stakes.

“We're looking forward to it. This is a tough group of horses in there, but I think we're up to the challenge,” Dean Reeves said. “I would love to get a Grade 1 for him. That would really, really be nice.”

Needing less than $13,000 to become a millionaire, City Man made his Gulfstream debut in the Fort Lauderdale, where he overcame an early bump to get an ideal inside stalking trip under Joel Rosario before finding room late and scooting through to win by 1 ½ lengths. Rosario returns to ride City Man, who was assigned outermost Post 12 Sunday and was made the 4-1 second choice on the morning line during Sunday's post position draw. Rosario has won six stakes on City Man.

“The ride by Joel was fabulous to set him up really well and give him a chance. Even for him to get a Grade 2 win, that's important. That was just a big, big effort. I think it showed us that we can run him the rest of this year in some other Grade 1 and Grade 2 races,” Reeves said. “I think he showed winning the Grade 2 that he likes the track and he's good enough to compete in this group.”

West Point Thoroughbreds, William Freeman, William Sandbrook, and Cheryl Manning's Decorated Invader drew outermost Post 12 in the Fort Lauderdale but was able to get into a pressing position in second and stayed there, yielding late but holding off Street Ready by a neck for the place.

The 6-year-old Decorated Invader earned Grade 1 credentials as a 2-year-old in the 2019 Summer (G1) at Woodbine, his third career start. Fourth by less than two lengths following a troubled trip in the Breeders' Cup, he reeled off three straight wins to start his 2020 campaign – the Cutler Bay at Gulfstream and back-to-back Grade 2 stakes in New York.

Decorated Invader has a win and two seconds from four starts this year since coming back from a 16-month break between starts in a one-mile optional claiming allowance Sept. 24 at Pimlico, where he closed to within a nose of winner English Tavern.

“He's got all the attributes you'd want in a racehorse. He's a big, strong, good-looking thing, he has tactical speed and a great turn of foot. Seeing get back to that level has really been monumental for us,” West Point executive vice president Tom Bellhouse said. “To have a chance to run in the Pegasus is quite a dream.”

Decorated Invader will have Junior Alvarado aboard from Post 9.

The narrow 5-2 program favorite for the Pegasus Turf is Bonne Chance Farm and Stud RDI's Ivar, a Brazilian-bred multiple Group 1 winner in Argentina that has won three of 12 starts in the U.S. topped by the 2020 Shadwell Turf Mile (G1) at Keeneland. He has run in the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) each of the last three years, running third in 2021 and fourth in 2020 and 2022, the latter to Eclipse Award finalist Modern Games. Ivar's total margin of defeat in those races was 4 ½ lengths.

“I think his [last] race was very good,” trainer Paulo Lobo said. “He lost to a very top horse. Javier Castellano was riding him for the first time. He rode a very good race, and since then we've pointed for the Pegasus Turf and we've never missed a day and never had a bad day. Everything that we planned is happening, no problems.”

Hall of Famer Castellano will climb back aboard Ivar from Post 10.

Third choice at 6-1 in the Pegasus Turf is Charles Fipke's Grade 1-winning homebred Lady Speightspeare, entered to face males for the first time. The 5-year-old daughter of champion Speightstown owns seven wins from 13 career starts, six of them in graded-stakes including the 2020 Natalma (G1) at Woodbine second time out. Last time out she had a three-race win streak snapped when third by 1 ½ lengths at odds of 32-1 in the 1 3/16-mile Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1).

Luis Saez, up in the Breeders' Cup, returns from Post 6 for Hall of Fame trainer Roger Attfield.

Another pair of stablemates, Graham Motion-trained Speaking Scout and Hurricane Dream, are also entered in the Pegasus Turf. Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Speaking Scout won two of his last three starts to end 2022, the Hawthorne Derby and Hollywood Derby (G1), both at 1 1/8 miles, the latter at Del Mar Dec. 3. In between, the 4-year-old Mr Speaker gelding was second by a half-length as the favorite in Santa Anita's Twilight Derby (G2).

The Pegasus Turf will be Speaking Scout's first race over older horses. Paco Lopez rides from Post 7 at morning-line odds of 8-1.

“He's such a versatile horse. He's gotten a lot of confidence in his last three races,” Eclipse founder and president Aron Wellman said. “He really broke through in the Hawthorne Derby. We sent him out to California and he just got tagged on the wire in the Twilight Derby and then came back and really validated his quality in the Hollywood Derby.

“Those are all against straight 3-year-olds and this will be is foray into the land of older horses, which is a whole different kettle of fish. But, there's no telling where his ceiling is right now,” he added. “There aren't that many options for him at present and he's doing great, so with a million dollars on the line we figured there's a whole lot to gain and not a whole lot to lose.”

Bred in France, Hurricane Dream will be making its North American debut in the Pegasus Turf for Team Valor International. The 6-year-old gelding won six of 18 starts in Europe where he was group-stakes placed four times, most recently beaten a head when second in the one-mile Brunner Oettingen Rennen (G2) last September in Germany.

“I brought him over here because I think he's a good horse anywhere between a mile and a mile and a half,” Team Valor founder and CEO Barry Irwin said. “He's very competitive with the best middle-distance horses in France. He just can't quite beat them. He's been working with Highland Chief, who won the Man o' War [G1] last year, and I think he could be that caliber of horse.”

British champion jockey Frankie Dettori rode Hurricane Dream in Germany and gets a return call from Post 4. They are 15-1 on the morning line.

Jordan Wycoff's Atone, 12-1 on the morning line, will join an exclusive group as just the sixth horse to compete in the Pegasus Turf more than once. The others are Channel Cat (2020, 2022), Colonel Liam (2021-22), Cross Border (2021-22), Next Shares (2019-21) and Sacred Life (2020, 2022).

Trained by Mike Maker, who won the 2020 Pegasus Turf with Zulu Alpha and also had Cross Border, Atone has yet to win a graded-stakes but has placed four times including a second in the 2021 Fort Lauderdale at Gulfstream as a prep for his fourth-place finish in last year's Pegasus Turf, when he was beaten 1 ¾ lengths. He followed up by running fourth by a length in the Maker's Mark Mile (G1).

Atone will be making his first start since a font-running 3 ½-length optional claiming allowance triumph going 1 1/8 miles Nov. 10 at Aqueduct. Irad Ortiz Jr., favored to win his fourth Eclipse Award as North American's champion jockey, rides from Post 3.

“He didn't have the cleanest of trips last year. He had a little trouble, but he seemed to get over the surface fine and the distance was perfect. No serious excuses, just maybe got outrun a little bit. Hopefully a little bit cleaner trip this year will help,” Maker's assistant trainer Nolan Ramsey said. “I think a little freshening, a little bit of time between races, probably helps him a little more this year.”

Michael Iavarone and partners purchased Chilean-bred Master Piece following the Breeders' Cup, where the 7-year-old gelding ran eighth in the 1 ½-mile Turf (G1) for 2021 Pegasus World Cup-winning trainer Michael McCarthy, with the Pegasus Turf in mind. A Group 2 winner in Chile, he won the 1 1/8-mile Eddie Read (G2) and was second by a head in the 1 3/8-mile Del Mar Handicap (G2) in his two efforts prior to the Breeders' Cup.

“He came to us in great shape and we were thankful to get a horse like that. We were surprised to be able to buy a horse like that,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “He's 2-for-2 at a mile and an eighth, and we feel like he goes into the race with a good shot. He's a class horse, already proven, and we just hope he can run as good for us as he did for Michael McCarthy.”

Rated at 10-1 on the morning line, Master Piece will be ridden by 2020 Pegasus Turf winner Tyler Gaffalione from Post X.

M Racing Group's Who's the Star (20-1) enters the Pegasus Turf off three consecutive graded-stakes wins over Woodbine's all-weather surface for Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse – the Durham Cup (G3) and Autumn (G2) going 1 1/16 miles and 1 ½-mile Valedictory (G3). The 5-year-old Tonalist gelding is two-for-three on turf including a victory in the 1 ¼-mile Niagara last summer at Woodbine. Canadian champion jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson rides from Post 8.

California Racing Partners, Ciaglia Racing and trainer Ryan Hanson's One More Bid (20-1) comes into the Pegasus Turf off back-to-back wins, a maiden special weight triumph over older horses at Del Mar and the Mathis Mile (G2) Dec. 26 at Santa Anita in his stakes debut. Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, winner of the inaugural 2017 Pegasus World Cup on Arrogate, is slated to ride from Post 5.

Completing the field is Foxbrook Farm's Good Governance (15-1), who drew into the main body following the defection of Colonel Liam. Bred in England, the 7-year-old was second by a neck in the 2019 Saranac (G3) and third in the 2020 Bernard Baruch (G2), and dead-heated for fourth by less than two lengths in the Fort Lauderdale, his first start for the new connections including trainer Anna Meah. Shaun Bridghoman rides back from Post 2.

On the also-eligible list, in order of preference, are Nice Guys Stables' King Cause, winner of the 2022 Knickerbocker (G3) last fall at Aqueduct, and Andrew Raycroft's Dark Shift, winner of the Royal Hunt Cup last summer at Royal Ascot.

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