Red King, Ward Quartet Get Feel For Keeneland Grass Course

Little Red Feather Racing, Gordon Jacobsen and Philip Belmonte's Red King, pre-entered for the $4-million Breeders' Cup Turf (G1) on Saturday, worked five furlongs in 1:04 over a Keeneland turf course labeled good. The work was the fifth at the Lexington, Ky., oval for the Phil D'Amato trainee who has been stabled here for a month.

Trainer Wesley Ward worked four of his pre-entrants for Friday's program. Breezing together first were Three Chimneys Farm's Royal Approval (Juvenile Fillies Turf) and Rockingham Ranch's Gypsy King (Juvenile Turf), who were timed in 1:05.20 and 1:05.60, respectively.

Next were Ken and Sarah Ramsey's Trade Deal (Juvenile Turf Sprint) and M Racing Group's Into the Sunrise (Juvenile Turf), who were timed in 1:06.20 and 1:07.20, respectively.

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Higher Power Breezes Seven Furlongs In Breeze For Classic; Jackie’s Warrior Preps For Juvenile

Hronis Racing's Higher Power, third in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) last year at Santa Anita, worked seven furlongs in company in 1:25.40 over a fast track Sunday morning at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., which will host the 2020 World Championships Nov. 6-7.

“This was his big work before the Breeders' Cup (Classic),” said Juan Levya, who was aboard Higher Power. “I am very satisfied with it. He galloped out strong … I had him in 1:39 for the mile.”

Leyva, who has been overseeing trainer John Sadler's string of horses at Keeneland, also worked Hronis Racing's Chaos Theory five furlongs over a turf course rated as good in 1:02.80. Fourth in the Woodford (G2) Presented by Keeneland Select, Chaos Theory is under consideration for the $1 million Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1).

Other grass workers under Breeders' Cup consideration Sunday morning were Red King (Turf) going five furlongs in 1:05 for trainer Phil D'Amato and the Wesley Ward-trained duo of Outadore (:53) and Campanelle (IRE) (:53.40) in company for a half-mile for a 2-year-old turf race.

Pre-entries for the 37th World Championships close Monday at noon ET.

Highlighting other dirt works was the first local breeze from probable TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) favorite Jackie's Warrior, who worked five furlongs in company with Calibrate in 1:00.20.

Owned by J. Kirk and Judy Robison and trained by Steve Asmussen, Jackie's Warrior is undefeated in four starts with Grade 1 victories coming in the Hopeful at Saratoga and Champagne at Belmont.

Jackie's Warrior following his Sunday morning workout at Keeneland

Also working for Asmussen were Breeders Cup Sprint hopefuls Yaupon, who worked five furlongs in company with Little Menace in :59.60 (best of 41 works at the distance), and Echo Town, who worked a half-mile in :47.60 with Juvenile Turf Sprint (G2) possible runner Cowan.

Trainer Chad Brown opted to work FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) hopefuls Raging Bull (FR) and Flavius together a half-mile on the main track in :49.40. Also going on the dirt for Brown was Front Run the Fed (Turf Sprint-G1), who covered a half-mile in :49.

Sleepy Eyes Todd, under consideration for the Dirt Mile (G1), worked a half-mile in :48.40 under Robby Albarado. The Miguel Silva trainee galloped out 5 furlongs in 1:00.40 and 6 furlongs in 1:14.40.

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Red King Gives Red-Hot D’Amato Sixth Del Mar Handicap Victory In Seven Years

The victory by Red King in Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 Del Mar Handicap brought attention to the rise of Phil D'Amato in the Del Mar trainer standings and the increased success of his stable after a chilly start.

At the delayed start of the second week of the meeting, Friday, July 31, D'Amato runners had two wins in 23 starts. Subsequent start-the-weekend numbers were: 3-for-29 on August 7, 7-for-43 on August 14 and 11 for  51 last Friday.

With one win Friday and two Saturday – the D'Amato/Umberto Rispoli combination followed up the Handicap victory with Salvator Mundi ($11.20) in the 11th  race nightcap – D'Amato now has 14 wins from 60 starters and only trails Peter Miller by one on the leaderboard.

“Things have been clicking well the second half of the meet,” D'Amato said via text. “All those horses that finished second and third at the beginning of the meet have been able to come back and win. That really helps.

“Also, the ability to breeze turf horses on the turf here at Del Mar has really helped. I think it keeps the grass horses happier and they perform better in their races.”

Red King, a 6-year-old son of English Channel bred by Calumet Farm and owned by Little Red Feather Racing, had five works on the Del Mar turf leading up to his first start since a June 21 victory in the San Juan Capistrano at Santa Anita.

Given a masterful ride by Rispoli, Red King was able to pull off a $10.60 upset of heavy favorite United. The Handicap, sponsored by the Japan Racing Association, is a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the Breeders' Cup Turf in November at Keeneland.

D'Amato has now won the last four editions of the Del Mar Handicap and six of the last seven. After back-to-back victories in 2014-'15 with Big John B, D'Amato won with Hunt in 2017, Fashion Business in 2018 and Acclimate in 2019.

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Red King Holds Off United With Rispoli’s Perfectly Timed Ride In Del Mar Handicap

Jockey Umberto Rispoli rolled the dice, making a six-wide move toward the lead aboard Red King with a half-mile to go in Saturday's Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap, then had just enough left to hold off the late charge of odds-on favorite United and Flavien Prat in the 1 3/8-mile turf fixture at the seaside track north of San Diego.

The victory in the $200,000 race gave Red King – owned by Little Red Feather, Gordon Jacobsen and Philip Belmonte – an automatic, fees-paid berth in the Longines Breeders' Cup Turf at Keeneland on Nov. 7 as part of the “Win and You're In” Challenge Race Series that also provides a travel allowance to winning horses traveling to Kentucky.

Trained by Phil D'Amato, Red King covered 1 3/8 miles on firm turf in 2:15.75, winning for the seventh time in 28 lifetime starts. This was his second stakes win since D'Amato claimed him for $25,000 in February 2019. Earlier this year the English Channel 6-year-old horse won the 1 3/4-mile, G3 San Juan Capistrano at Santa Anita.

United finished second, with Originaire closing for third and Proud Pedro fourth in the field of 11 older runners.

Red King paid $10.60.

Longshots Big Buzz and Ward 'n Jerry carved out the slow early fractions, going :25.07, :49.94 and 1:15.09 for the first six furlongs. Rispoli swung Red King to the outside in the run down the backstretch, moving toward the leaders after a mile in 1:40.07. He took command from North County Guy at the top of the stretch, opened up a lead and just lasted over United for the win.

“I didn't like how slow they were going, so I decided to move earlier today,” said Rispoli. “It takes a really good horse to do that, but I knew he had the stamina. I did this when I was riding in Europe. It was close at the finish because he was trying to pull h imself up. I am very happy. This horse gave me a Grade 3 win in his last start, and today he gave me a Grade 2. I want to keep it going with him.”

The stakes win was the seventh of the meet for Rispoli, riding his first seaon at Del Mar. It was the first of the meet for D'Amato but his fourth straight (and sixth of the last seven) in the Del Mar Handicap. He now has 27 stakes wins at Del Mar.

“I could see going along the backstretch Flavien (on United) was on the inside and Umberto was about to make that move on the outside. (Rispoli) timed in perfectly. I give all the credit to him. After the last race he was so high on this horse. He chose Red King over Originaire and that gave me a lot of confidence that he felt the horse was climbing up the ladder and to win this race is really special.”

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