Tag: Racing

Nine frisky sophomores will pull on their running shoes Friday at Del Mar for a one-mile spin around the Jimmy Durante Turf Course in the featured attraction – the $75,000-added Let It Ride Stakes – on the opening day program for the ninth fall racing season at the seaside course.

The four-week racing stand, fondly known as the “Bing Crosby Season” in honor of the track's iconic founder, will cover a total of 13 racing days with a primary MO of Friday, Saturday and Sunday sport starting at 12:30 in the afternoon. The lone exception to that arrangement is a Thanksgiving Thursday (November 24) card that starts at 11 a.m. and finishes up around 3 p.m., allowing time enough for fans to make it back home before the turkey gets cold.

Possible favorite for Friday's overnight feature could be CYBT, Lantzman or Nentwig, et al's Handy Dandy, a hard-trying son of the Florida stallion Fury Kapcori who has been there or thereabouts in his last 10 races. The gelding has a solid stretch kick and has put it to good use for in-the-money finishes in all of those 10 outings, amassing a bankroll of more than $216,000 in the process. He was last out in the Twilight Derby at Santa Anita less than two weeks ago where he ran into a world of trouble, yet still managed to get beaten just a little over two lengths in the Grade II stakes.

Del Mar training kingpin Peter Miller saddles Handy Dandy and he'll give a leg up Friday to Juan Hernandez, the shore track's runaway riding champ from this past summer season.

Here's the full field for the Let It Ride, which goes as race seven on the eight-race program:  C R K Stable's Clutch Hitter (Victor Espinoza in the irons); Handy Dandy; California Racing Partners, John Ford Racing, et al's Law Abiding (Mario Gutierrez); Patrick Brogan's Crazy Dreams (Abel Cedillo); Stone Farm's Script (John Velazquez); Alice Bamford's St Anthony (Flavien Prat); Bernsen or Weijland's Time To Party (Joe Bravo); Muir Hut Stales' Spycatcher (Ryan Curatolo), and Godolphin's Degree of Risk (Drayden Van Dyke).

Script is an interesting addition to the field. The homebred colt by Algorithms comes into the heat off an allowance tally at Keeneland last month at a mile on the lawn. He's conditioned by the highly respected H. Graham Motion and the fact that Hall of Famer Velazquez is named on board works in his favor also.

The lightly raced Spycatcher was a good second at 68-1 in the Del Mar Derby to Slow Down Andy locally on September 3 in his most recent try. This will be only his fifth start but the colt by Noble Mission – who is still a maiden – deserves some respect in this lineup.

St Anthony is a double stakes winner in Northern California and takes his lesson from Hall of Fame conditioner Neil Drysdale.

The Let It Ride is one of four turf races on the Friday program.

Reddam Racing's Team Merchants won the 2021 version of the Let It Ride.

The post Del Mar: Nine Signed One For Turf Stakes On Opening Day Friday appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Black Cloud Racing Stable's Bound by Destiny, undefeated through four starts, looks to extend her streak with a third consecutive stakes victory in Saturday's $100,000 Smart Halo at Laurel Park.

Based with trainer Anthony Pecoraro, Bound by Destiny will be venturing away from her Delaware Park home for the first time following wins in the 5 ½-furlong Blue Hen Aug. 31 and six-furlong Small Wonder Sept. 28, both against Delaware-bred/certified horses.

“She hasn't done anything wrong yet,” Pecoraro said. “Eveyrthing she's doing is right. She's doing very well and growing up. She's ready for the next step.”

Bound by Destiny debuted in a five-furlong maiden claimer July 1, romping by 14 lengths in front-running fashion. She returned in an optional claimer Aug. 10 and found herself behind horses before getting up to win by a neck going 5 ½ furlongs. Those two efforts led her to being favored in each of her stakes victories.

“We always liked her because she could run. What happened was I had her ready and the maiden special weight didn't go and then the [next race] didn't go and I thought, 'Let's just run this horse and go forward with that,'” Pecoraro said. “She's a waiver claimer anyway, so that's what we did. We ran her in there and she won by a pole.

“She came back in the allowance race and won again and won two stakes in a row. She does just enough to win, and not any more,” he added. “She's fast, but she's versatile. There's always those guys that want to be on the lead and she can sit off that if she has to, which is good.”

Jeremy Rose, aboard for all four of her starts, gets the return call from Post 4 in a field of eight.

“We were going to run her in this race and then give her the season off,” Pecoraro said. “It all depended on how she came out of the last race, and she came out of it good, so that's why we're in there. We're looking forward to it.”

Also among the entries is Morris Kernan and Jagger Inc.'s Chickieness. The daughter of second-year sire Blofeld ran second to Bound by Destiny in both Delaware Park stakes, beaten 5 ¾ and 1 ½ lengths, before stepping up with a popular 1 ½-length triumph in the Maryland Million Lassie Oct. 22.

Ness, who owns horses as Jagger Inc., bred Chickieness at his farm in Chesapeake City, Md. Approaching 3,800 career wins, Ness also trained the mare, Chickaletta, who finished third or better in 13 of 29 starts including five wins.

“We've got about 16 mares and [Chickieness] was the first one in the Maryland Million. We're pretty excited about her,” Ness said. “We just started a few years ago and we're getting more and more every year. It's good for me because the mares that I like and are good runners, at retirement time we take them to the farm and breed them. It's good for the horse.

“We've had a few 4-year-olds, a few 3-year-olds and now we're getting more 2-year-olds. We're just building it up,” he added. “I've been doing this a long time and it's kind of nice to change it up a little bit. It's good to see that the mares than can run are producing horses that can run.”

Runnymoore Racing's Dissolute is entered to make her second career start after going gate to wire to win a five-furlong off-the-turf maiden special weight by 9 ¼ lengths Oct. 13 at Delaware. Also exiting a win is Victorias Ranch's Shiny Slam, who went all the way on the lead in a 6 ½-furlong Parx optional claimer Sept. 26.

Godolphin homebred Twice as Sweet, trained by Brendan Walsh, broke her maiden second time out in a 5 ½-furlong turf sprint Aug. 28 at Ellis Park, and was second in a six-furlong dirt allowance Oct. 7 at Keeneland to Key of Life, who returned to win the Myrtlewood three weeks later.

Diamondsifyoudo was purchased by Glenangus Farm for $300,000 as a 2-year-old in training in March and has made one start for trainer Graham Motion, finishing second by a half-length as the favorite in an Oct. 12 maiden special weight sprinting seven furlongs at Keeneland.

Rounding out the field are JoAnn Smith's Gormley's Gabriela, promoted winner of a 5 ½-furlong optional claiming allowance Sept. 30 at Laurel, and Michael Eiserman, Earl Silver and Kenneth Fishbein's Miss Georgie, who ran third – 1 ¼ lengths behind Gormley's Gabriela – and was placed second in the same race.

Smart Halo, by top Maryland sire Smarten, won the first race on the inaugural Maryland Million Day program in 1986, beating In the Curl by a neck in the Lassie to cap a perfect 3-0 campaign. Bred in Canada by E.P. Taylor and owned by Sam-Son Farm, Smart Halo was trained by Canadian Hall of Famer Jim Day.

The post ‘She Does Just Enough To Win’: Undefeated In Four Stars, Bound By Destiny Headlines Smart Halo Stakes appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Honeyquist, a son and grandson of juvenile champions, will get a chance to further the family legacy when he faces stakes company for the second straight start in Saturday's $100,000 James F. Lewis III at Laurel Park.

The 11th running of the Lewis for 2-year-olds and 26th edition of the $100,000 Smart Halo for 2-year-old fillies, both sprinting six furlongs, join the $100,000 Thirty Eight Go Go for fillies and mares 3 and up on the 10-race program.

First race post time is 11:45 a.m.

Campaigned by Mammas Boys Thoroughbred Racing Group, Ultra Championship Racing and James Miller, who bred the horse in West Virginia, Honeyquist is by Nyquist out of the Invisible Ink mare Honey Chile. Nyquist won the Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old of 2015 while his sire, Uncle Mo, earned the same honors in 2010.

Honeyquist, based at Laurel with trainer Anthony Farrior, fetched $170,000 at auction last winter and debuted with a come-from-behind 5 ¼-length maiden special weight victory sprinting 4 ½ furlongs Sept. 24 at Charles Town. He stretched out to 6 ½ furlongs for his return in the Oct. 8 Vincent Moscarelli Memorial, also against state-breds, where he set the pace into deep stretch before grudgingly giving way to be second by less than a length.

“The first time we ran him he wasn't fit. We kind of rushed him because we wanted to run in that stake race at Charles Town, and he just came up short in the stake,” Farrior said. “He probably had only worked three times before he ran the first time. But he's a very smart horse.

“I sent him to the farm for 10 days after the stake race and gave him a little time,” he added. “We brought him back and he worked in 59 [seconds] on Sunday with [jockey Jevian] Toledo and did it really well, so he's going in the right direction. I think he's fit now. He's bouncing around there real good.”

Toledo, also up in the Moscarelli, gets the return call from outermost Post 7. Honeyquist will be racing on his home track after being sent off as the favorite in each of his first two starts.

“He can run out of his own stall. He doesn't have to go anywhere,” Farrior said. “I think this will be the first race where he's actually fit. The first race he was probably 60 percent and the stake race he might have been 70 percent. Now, he looks good. He's grown some and filled out.

“I think this will be the best race he's run in,” he added. “He should improve. He ran a 73 Beyer [Speed Figure] the first time and he only had three works. If he improves, we have a shot.”

ItsTheJHo's Heldish aims for a return to the winner's circle for the first time since his unveiling July 1 at Laurel, which was the first win for owner Justin Horowitz and first for jockey Sheldon Russell off a 296-day gap between races.

Bred in Maryland by Larry Johnson, the Great Notion colt has run second in each of his last three starts, beaten a half-length in the five-furlong Hickory Tree Aug. 9 at Colonial Downs and five lengths by Dale Capuano-trained Johnyz From Albany in the six-furlong Maryland Million Nursery last out Oct. 22 at Laurel.

“I thought he ran a big race in the Nursery. I thought he ran huge,” trainer Brittany Russell said. “His numbers seems to keep stepping forward each run. Dale's horse ran big. You can't take anything away from the winner. Running second to him that day, I'm happy with that. Of course we want to win, but Dale's horse is a racehorse so that's all right.”

Heldish beat Johnyz From Albany by a neck when second in a six-furlong optional claiming allowance Sept. 10 at historic Pimlico Race Course, a race where Heldish hit the gate at the break and found himself behind horses for the first time. The winner, Super Chow, ran third in the Saratoga Special (G2) and went on to win the Bowman Mill Oct. 29 at Keeneland.

Heldish drew the rail for his fifth start, all with Sheldon Russell aboard.

“That's just it. We're not down on our horse for running second a couple times to some good horses,” Brittany Russell said. “You don't know until the afternoon. If he leaves there running, hopefully he's the fastest horse this time.”

Trainer Cal Lynch won the Lewis in 2020 with No Cents and 2016 with subsequent multiple Grade 3 winner El Areeb and will be represented Saturday by Recruiter, undefeated in two starts. He graduated at first asking in a five-furlong maiden special weight Aug. 27 at Monmouth Park and captured a 5 ½-furlong optional claiming allowance in the slop Oct. 2 at Laurel over Johnyz From Albany, both in front-running fashion.

Also unbeaten at 2-0 is Where is Mike, owned and trained by Charles Town-based Mike Jones Jr. The Daddy Long Legs colt has been untested in both starts over his home track, winning his Sept. 17 unveiling by five lengths before a three-length allowance triumph Oct. 19, each going 4 ½ furlongs.

Sept. 1 Dover runner-up Riccio, third last out in the one-mile Rocky Run Oct. 15, both at Delaware Park; Coffeewithchris, whose trainer, John Salzman Jr., won last year's Lewis with Local Motive; and Tiz No Clown complete the field.

The James F. Lewis III honors the late longtime Maryland horseman and first president of Maryland Million Ltd. He bred and/or campaigned a number of prominent runners in the region, led by 1974 Test (G2) winner Maybelline, Flirtation (G3) winner Heartful and multiple stakes winner Swift Attraction. His daughter, Lisa, is a multiple graded-stakes winning trainer based in New York and Florida.

The post Finally Fit, Honeyquist ‘Should Improve’ In Laurel’s James F. Lewis Stakes appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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What first started in 2014 continues forward this year when Del Mar's ninth fall racing meet – the “Bing Crosby Season” in honor of the track's iconic founder – begins its four-week run Friday and goes through to Sunday, December 4.

Racing will be conducted over 13 days primarily on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday basis each week with a first post daily of 12:30 p.m. The lone exception to the routine is Thanksgiving Thursday, November 24, when racing will be held starting at 11 a.m. and finish around 3 p.m., allowing plenty of time for turkey dinner with the works.

Del Mar is coming off the heels of its most successful meeting ever, a 31-day summer stand that saw it establish a record daily average handle of $18.6 million and a remarkable average field size number of 9.1 horses per race, best among all major tracks in the nation.

The opening weekend will feature a trio of stakes, starting Friday with the $75,000 Let It Ride overnight stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile on the turf.

The track will offer its usual complement of betting options, starting with win, place and show wagers and going on through to a series of “exotic,' or multiple bets, including Pick 3s, Pick 4s, Pick 5s and the highly popular 'Rainbow Pick Six.' The last-named bet only costs 20¢ and can lead to five-, six- or even seven-figure payouts. It requires a bettor to be the lone ticket holder to capture the entire pool, but it will have one “mandatory payout” day on closing day when the entire jackpot will be distributed to those with the most winners.

The fall session's full stakes schedule – 13 major stakes and two overnight over the 13 days – is the most lucrative ever offer at a total of $2,450,000. The slate is highlighted by a pair of $400,000 Grade I headliners on closing weekend – the Hollywood Derby for 3-year-olds at nine furlongs on turf and the Matriarch Stakes for older fillies and mares at a mile on the lawn.

The final two weeks of the stand feature eight graded stakes on grass worth more than $1.4 million, a “turf meet' inside the regular meet that has proven to be a substantial lure to good turf runners from across the country.

Del Mar will offer a variety of special events on track over the course of the meet. There will be a Veterans Day salute on opening day, an “Uncorked: Derby Days Wine Festival” on Saturday, November 12, a unique “Brunch & Brews” happening on Saturday, November 19, College Day (with free admission for college students), also on November 19, and a Taste of the Turf Club program each Sunday. Seniors receive free admission, a program and a seat each Friday throughout the fall.

After opening week when Del Mar's solid back-up announcer John Lies will be at the mic, Triple Crown/Breeders' Cup announcer Larry Collmus will be in the stand once again for the balance of the session.

The post Del Mar’s Ninth ‘Bing Crosby Season’ Off And Running This Friday appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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