Tag: Racing

G Laurie, third in the Grade 1 Natalma at Woodbine in her most recent start, has come west seeking a stakes victory in Friday's $100,000 Blue Norther as a field of 11 2-year-old fillies go a mile on the turf at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif.

Prior to her promising run in the one-mile Natalma, G Laurie debuted with a romping six-length victory going mile on grass at Colonial Downs on Aug. 23 for trainer Graham Motion. The Oscar Performance filly arrived at Santa Anita earlier this month and worked a bullet last Thursday when completing four furlongs in 48 seconds.

Madaket Stables' G Laurie will be ridden by Juan Hernandez, who won four races on opening day including two Grade 1's.

Manhattan Jungle is one of three trained by Michael McCarthy in the Blue Norther. Twice a stakes winner in Europe, Manhattan Jungle came stateside for the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Keeneland and checked in eighth at 80-1 for previous trainer Amy Murphy on Nov. 4. She is owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and will be ridden by Hall of Famer John Velazquez.

The local contingent has several that are exiting the G3 Jimmy Durante at Del Mar going this same trip on Dec. 3. Leading that group is Decorated My Life, who finished second at 20-1 in the Durante when making her U.S. bow for trainer Simon Callaghan. Owned by CYBT and Michael Nentwig, the Irish-bred daughter of Mehmas was 1-for-4 in her native country prior to shipping to the U.S.

Joe Bravo, who was aboard for the Durante, retains the mount on Decorated My Life.

Also exiting the Durante is Thebestisyettobe, who finished a troubled sixth at 4-1. She has top connections in her corner with trainer Phil D'Amato and jockey Flavien Prat but is relegated to the also-eligible list and would need a scratch to run.

THE BLUE NORTHER WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 9 of 9 Approximate post time 4 p.m. PT

1. Showtime Lynne B – Drayden Van Dyke – 118
2. Naughty Lottie – Kent Desormeaux – 118
3. Ragtime Rose – Kyle Frey – 118
4. Decorated My Life – Joe Bravo -118
5. G Laurie – Juan Hernandez -120
6. Manhattan Jungle – John Velazquez – 118
7. Broadway Girls – Edwin Maldonado -120
8. Tea N Conversation – Umberto Rispoli – 120
9. Spanning the Globe – Kazushi Kimura – 120
10. Pleasant Wave – Mario Gutierrez – 118
11. Ami Please – Lanfranco Dettori – 120
12. Also Eligible: Thebestisyettobe – Flavien Prat – 118

First post time for a nine-race card on Friday is at 12 noon, with admission gates opening at 10 a.m.

The post Grade 1-Placed G Laurie Ships West For Friday’s Blue Norther At Santa Anita appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Speed Boat Beach will look to add a third stakes win on grass for trainer Bob Baffert when he takes on seven rivals in Friday's $100,000 Eddie Logan Stakes going a mile on turf at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif.

Speed Boat Beach, winner of the five-furlong Speakeasy on the Santa Anita turf course in October, added another stakes triumph on Dec. 4 when edging Game Time by a half-length in the Grade 3 Cecil B. DeMille going a mile on grass at Del Mar. Sandwiched between those two wins was a ninth-place effort in the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Keeneland on Nov. 4.

Speed Boat Beach will have a new rider on Friday as Ramon Vazquez takes over for Flavien Prat, who opts to ride eastern shipper Nagirroc for trainer Graham Motion. By Bayern, Speed Boat Beach was a $200,000 auction purchase earlier this year for owners Michael Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman.

Nagirroc comes west following a solid third-place effort in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Keeneland on Nov. 4. He earned entry into the Breeders' Cup one start prior when winning the G3 Futurity on grass going six furlongs at Aqueduct. The son of Lea, who is owned by Little Red Feather and Madaket Racing, had one work at Santa Anita following his arrival.

In the DeMille, Game Time dueled with Speed Boat Beach throughout and came up just short in a game effort under Umberto Rispoli. Trained by John Sadler and owned by Hronis Racing, the Not This Time colt broke his maiden one start earlier at Santa Anita when going a mile on grass on Oct. 10.

Game Time will also have a new jockey this time. John Velazquez will replace Rispoli, who is named to ride Classical Cat for trainer Phil D'Amato.

As for Michael House's Classical Cat, he is exiting a sharp allowance win when going a mile on grass for the first time on Oct. 23 at Santa Anita. Prior to that effort, the Mendelssohn colt won his debut sprinting on dirt at Del Mar in August and came back to finish seventh in the G1 Del Mar Futurity.

The Eddie Logan is named in honor of Santa Anita's original shoeshine attendant, who operated his shoeshine stand at The Great Race Place from its opening in 1934 until shortly before his death at the age of 98 on Jan. 31, 2009. Logan, who often referred to himself as a “Footman,” was one of the most popular employees to ever work at Santa Anita.

THE EDDIE LOGAN WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 3 of 9 Approximate post time 1 p.m. PT

1. Malibu Coast – Lanfranco Dettori – 120
2. Tostado – Juan Hernandez – 118
3. Classical Cat – Umberto Rispoli – 120
4. First Peace – Mike Smith – 120
5. Nagirroc – Flavien Prat – 118
6. Game Time – John Velazquez – 120
7. Speed Boat Beach – Ramon Vazquez – 122
8. Ah Jeez – Tiago Pereira – 119

First post time for a nine-race card on Friday is at 12 noon, with admission gates opening at 10 a.m.

The post Speed Boat Beach Leads Seven Rivals In Friday’s Eddie Logan Stakes appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Frank Fletcher Racing Operations, Inc.'s multiple graded-stakes winning millionaire Frank's Rockette will get the chance to rebound from a disappointing Breeders' Cup and end the year on a positive note in Saturday's $125,000 Sugar Swirl (G3) at Gulfstream Park.

The six-furlong Sugar Swirl for fillies and mares 3 and up is the first of six stakes, five graded, worth $850,000 in purses on an 11-race New Year's Eve program. First race post time is 12:10 p.m.

Frank's Rockette, trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, ran 11th behind Goodnight Olive in the seven-furlong Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) Nov. 4 at Keeneland, having gone into the race off a six-length romp in the Aug. 26 Pink Ribbon, also sprinting seven furlongs, at Charles Town.

The Sugar Swirl will be only the fifth start this year for the 5-year-old Into Mischief mare, who ran second in the April 2 Carousel, May 14 Vagrancy (G3) and July 27 Honorable Miss (G2) – beaten a length and a nose combined.

“Billy Mott just takes it week by week. She's done great since the Breeders' Cup, really good,” Fletcher's racing manager Kathy Howard said. “My hat's off to her. She just always tries. The Breeders' Cup was a throwout race, but she always tries 100 percent.

“I think she runs best, and Billy's been great managing her, placing her every six to eight weeks,” she added. “She runs so hard and she gives her whole heart, she rewards us deeply and we want to reward her. She's made over a million dollars and she's going to be 6, so how can you ask anything more?”

Out of the Indian Charlie mare Rocket Twentyone, a Grade 3 winner who was trained by Howard's late husband, W.T. Howard, Frank's Rockette has won seven stakes including the Victory Ride (G3), Prioress (G2) and Gallant Bloom (G2) in succession in the summer and fall of 2020. She also placed in 12 other stakes, seven graded, including last year's Sugar Swirl as the favorite, coming up a length short of Center Aisle, who she beat in the Prioress.

Frank's Rockette has been third or better in 21 of 24 starts, nine of them wins, with $1,147,308 in purse earnings. She returns to a distance where she has five wins, five seconds and two thirds from 12 tries, and will have Luis Saez aboard from Post 4 in a field of six.

“She's very special. My late husband trained the dam, and it's just been a touching story,” Howard said. “She's doing really good, from all accounts I've heard. We're looking forward to it.”

Holly Hill Stables' Edie Meeny Miny Mo will be chasing her first graded triumph in the Sugar Swirl, having won the six-furlong Regret in front-running fashion July 2 at Monmouth Park. Pulled up after a half-mile in the Aug. 16 Seeking the Pearl at Colonial Downs, she returned to run second as the favorite behind local multiple stakes winner Dontletsweetfoolya in an open six-furlong allowance Oct. 30 at Laurel Park.

“The Virginia race was unfortunate. Some circumstantial things happened that caused us a problem there, but I think we've got everything under control,” trainer Michelle Hemingway said. “She should have won that race in Maryland. There were just a few errors that cost her. I think she's coming into this race better than I've ever had her.”

By Upstart, who won the Holy Bull (G2) and was second in the Fountain of Youth (G2) and Florida Derby (G1) in 2015 at Gulfstream, Edie Meeny Miny Mo has earned all four of her wins in nine career starts going six furlongs. She stretched out to 1 1/16 miles and was second in the Monmouth Oaks (G3) last summer.

“She's definitely a filly that wants to give you everything she's got. When you put an 'X' through everything that happened in that Virginia race, you know that basically counts for nothing. She wants to do everything she can to please you and she'll do whatever it takes,” Hemingway said.

“I think she's actually really rateable filly. I don't think she has to be on the lead at all. If you go back to when we won the Regret and watch that race, Club Car had her at the quarter pole. She just fought back and managed to nudge Club Car out that last jump,” she added. “She never quits. I don't think she has to be on the front end. If it goes that way and she can get that lead easily, that's fine. I think knowing Gulfstream and the surface it's going to be speed-favoring, and if she can sit just off them she's more competitive when she can look a horse in the eye.”

Irad Ortiz Jr. gets the call on Edie Meeny Miny Mo for the first time from Post 5.

“I think the surface will suit her great,” Hemingway said. “It's a very bouncy surface, it's not too deep, and I think she'll really like that. Monmouth she loved, which at the beginning of the meet was very similar. It wasn't a real deep track, faster in the afternoon and slower in the morning. I think it's going to be similar to that versus Laurel, which is a little bit of a deeper surface. I think that's kind of what caught her that last little bit coming back off the layoff.

“We're excited,” she added. “We're pleased that Irad's going to ride her, so we'll see what happens.”

Also entered are Coppelia and Joyful Cadence, respectively 1-2 in the six-furlong Dream Supreme Nov. 13 at Churchill Downs, separated by a length; stakes-placed My Destiny, who ran her win streak to three with a four-length triumph Dec. 8 at Gulfstream sprinting six furlongs; and Restofthestory, exiting a runner-up finish in the seven-furlong FSS City of Ocala Dec. 10 at Tampa Bay Downs.

Trained by late Hall of Famer Bobby Frankel, Sugar Swirl was an Ontario-bred daughter of 1997 Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Touch Gold that won 10 of 23 lifetime starts and seven stakes, including a sweep of the First Lady (G3), Hurricane Bertie (G3) and Shirley Jones (G2) handicaps in 2008 at Gulfstream.

The post ‘She Gives Her Whole Heart’: Millionaire Frank’s Rockette Chasing Rebound In Saturday’s Sugar Swirl appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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