Red Smith Stakes | Horse Racing Free Tips

Serve The King Rallies Late To Win Red Smith At Aqueduct

Channel Cat looked poised to take the field gate to wire in the Red Smith at Aqueduct, but Serve the King's late rally in the stretch gave the Chad Brown trainee enough to pass Channel Cat in the final sixteenth of a mile and take the Grade 2 stakes by a neck at the Ozone Park, N.Y., track.

From the gate in the 1 3/8-mile Red Smith, Channel Cat took a one-length lead over the field of ten, setting early fractions of :24.96, :50.02, and 1:15.59, a moderate pace that left John Velazquez with plenty of horse for the stretch run. Serve the King hung back in fifth, nestled on the rail behind No Word and Price Talk. Around the far turn, No Word pulled within striking distance of Channel Cat, while Irad Ortiz Jr. moved Serve the King off the rail and to the outside of horses, six-wide into the stretch.

Down the Aqueduct straight, Channel Cat was able to shake off the challenge for No Word and increase his lead, but Ortiz had Serve the King set down for a drive, taking over the lead in the last strides to win by a neck over Channel Cat and a surging Soldier Rising. No Word was fourth and Shamrocket fifth. Corelli, Sanctuary City, Value Engineering, Price Talk, and Tide of the Sea rounded out the order of finish.

The final time for the 1 3/8 miles was 2:16.60. Find this race's chart here.

Serve the King paid $6.10, $3.80, and $2.60. Channel Cat paid $6.00 and $4.20. Soldier Rising paid $3.30.

“At a certain point of the race, he [Irad Ortiz, Jr.] said he just wanted to get him clear because he was losing the bit a little bit while inside. Once he got him to the clear, he picked up the bit again,
trainer Chad Brown said after the race. “A lot of credit goes to my Monmouth crew, who really did a good job helping this horse. As a younger horse, he was a little bit quirky and wouldn't want to train all the time and for whatever reason down there he has a comfortable situation and would train on. That's why he spent a lot of his time down there.”

“I had a really good trip. He broke sharp and was forwardly placed. He put me in a good position, so I saved all the ground for the whole race. At the half-mile, I started moving and he responded really well. I was able to tip him out and when he hit the clear, he was running,” Irad Ortiz Jr. told the NYRA Press Office after the Red Smith. “He was off the bit sometimes, but that's him. He's not a horse that's going to pull you all the way. That's not him. Sometimes, you have to wake him up and let him know he's running. He's there for you, that's the good thing.”

Bred in England by Normandie Stud, Serve the King is by Kingman (GB) out of the Galileo (IRE) mare Fallen In Love (GB). The 5-year-old horse is owned by Peter Brant. Consigned by Norris Bloodstock, the son of Kingman was purchased by White Birch Stable for $361,616 at the 2017 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale. With his win in the G2 Red Smith, Serve the King has two wins in five starts in 2021, for a lifetime record of five wins in 11 starts and career earnings of $406,180.

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Equibase Analysis: Lightly-Raced Price Talk Rates Highest In Red Smith

This Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 Red Smith Stakes drew a field of 10 running 11 furlongs on the Aqueduct turf course. Although it is a grade two race, there are few in the field proven at the level and/or distance.

One of those is Tide of the Sea, who on the Grade 2 William L. McKnight Stakes this past January and more recently won the Japan Turf Cup Stakes in October at a similar distance.
Another who is proven at the level is Channel Cat, who leads the field in career earnings at $1.4 million, including when victorious in the Grade 1 Man o' War Stakes at this distance on grass in May. However, Channel Cat has lost three races since then and the Man o' War was his only win this year (from six starts), with his last win before that coming in July, 2019.
Soldier Rising (GB) may fit with these based on his runner-up effort to eventual Breeders' Cup Turf winner Yabir in the Jockey Club Derby Invitational in September. However, his most recent effort was a disappointing fifth of 11 when favored in the Grade 2 Hill Prince Stakes last month.
Serve the King (GB) enters the Red Smith in excellent recent form, having won the John's Call Stakes one before last and then finishing second in the Grade 1 Turf Classic Invitational last month.
Shamrocket won the Point of Entry Stakes at a mile and one-half just one month ago and might be up to the task moving into graded stakes company.
Price Talk beat Shamrocket prior to the Point of Entry and is another untried at the distance but he has won two in a row.
No Word was competitive at the level when second this past summer in the Grade 2 Bernard Baruch Handicap but that was at a much shorter distance and he has never run farther than one mile and one-quarter.
Another who has never run the distance is Sanctuary City, but he did finish second in the Mohawk Stakes in his most recent start.
Corelli won the Grade 3 Singspiel Stakes at 10 furlongs on turf in August and may fit at this grade two level. He also may enjoy the longer distance as he missed by a head in a mile and one-half race in England before importing to the U.S. last year.
Value Engineering has never raced in a stakes but enters the race off a win and the one time he ran at this mile and three-eighths trip he missed winning by just a head on the wire.

Main contenders:

Given there are knocks with the horses likely to be favored by bettors, such as Soldier Rising (GB), who has yet to win in three U.S. starts, particularly when as the eight to five favorite last month in the Hill Prince Stakes, and with Tide of the Sea, who won the Japan Turf Cup takes in October but was beaten as the seven to five favorite last month in the Point of Entry Stakes, I'll go with Price Talk to win this year's Red Smith Stakes.

First, Price Talk is the second most lightly raced horse in the field, having run just eight times, but he's won four of those eight races, including two in a row. Price Talk won the first three races of his career, including when breaking his maiden at first asking, then breaking his maiden again after being disqualified from the first win. Last November, in only the fourth start of his career, Price Talk finished third in the Gio Ponti Stakes on the Aqueduct Turf, but when returning this spring did not run well in two races thereafter. Dropped into a claiming race in August, Price Talk won with a career-best 108 ™ Equibase® Speed Figure which was a stakes quality effort, as compared to the 109 figure Shamrocket earned winning the Point of Entry Stakes last month, the 106 figure Corelli earned winning the Singspiel Stakes in August and the 105 figure Serve the King (GB) earned when second in the Turf Classic Invitational last month.

Price Talk then bettered himself with a 113 figure winning near the end of September, in what turned out to a productive race from which Shamrocket came out of to win the Point of Entry. That 113 figure is tied for the best earned by any horse in this field in 2021 with the figure Channel Cat earned winning the Man o' War Stakes in May. As such, just repeating it is good enough to win the Red Smith, but I feel he may even better that effort and figure as this will be his third start off a layoff.

Serve the King (GB) has done very little wrong in 10 career starts, like Price Talk having won four times in his career. After winning the John's Call Stakes at the longer distance of one mile and five-eighths with a career-best 107 ™ figure, Serve the King (GB) finished well from sixth to second in the tougher Turf Classic Invitational with a similar 105 figure effort. Irad Ortiz, Jr. was aboard for both of the horse's “A” efforts and rides back in the Red Smith, giving Serve the King (GB) a strong chance for another competitive effort good enough to win.

Shamrocket has more second place finishes (6) in his 20 race career than wins (4), and even more third place finishes (7). Still, his win last month in the Point of Entry Stakes at a mile and one-half earned a career-best 109 figure competitive with the best in this field. Javier Castellano was aboard for that win, and for the colt's last win before that in June so that is a positive sign particularly as Castellano rode Value Engineering to victory last month as well as Price Talk in his two most recent wins. As such, Shamrocket rounds out a trio of horses I think stand out against the other seven in terms of their probability to win this race.

The rest of the field, with their best ™ Equibase Speed Figures, is Channel Cat (113), Corelli (106), No Word (103), Sanctuary City (107), Soldier Rising (GB) (110), Tide of the Sea (105) and Value Engineering (107).

Win Contenders (in probability/preference order):
Price Talk
Serve the King (GB)
Shamrocket

Red Smith Stakes – Grade 2
Race 9 at Aqueduct
Saturday, November 20 – Post Time 3:43 PM E.T.
One Mile and Three-Eighths on Turf
Three Years Olds and Upward
Purse: $200,000

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Sisterson Points Channel Cat To Red Smith At Aqueduct

Trainer Jack Sisterson said Calumet Farm's homebred Channel Cat will ship to New York for Saturday's $200,000 Grade 2 Red Smith at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.

Initially training for a start in the G1 Breeders' Cup Turf last Saturday at Del Mar, Channel Cat did not draw into the race and did not breeze last weekend. On Saturday morning, Channel Cat went a half-mile in :49.60 over the Keeneland main track.

“He's showing signs that he's coming up for a big effort,” Sisterson said. “We had his work schedule penned out to run in the Breeders' Cup. We missed a work with him because we didn't want to put him over the top.”

Last out, Channel Cat was a distant sixth in the G2 Kentucky Turf Cup on September 11 at Kentucky Downs in Franklin, Ky., when tracking the pace from third.

Sisterson said he would like to see Channel Cat, who will add blinkers, show the same early speed which earned him victories in the G1 Man o' War in May at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., and the G2 Bowling Green in August 2019 at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

“I felt like his last couple of starts he lacked that little bit of spark and the addition of blinkers will help him do that,” Sisterson said. “In the race at Kentucky Downs, he didn't make the lead and didn't really finish up. I felt that there was something missing the last two races and I think blinkers will help.”

Channel Cat boasts a ledger of 29-6-3-5 with earnings in excess of $1.4 million.

Sisterson spoke of the recent retirement of Grade 1-winner Lexitonian, who upset the G1 A.G. Vanderbilt field in July at Saratoga at 34-1 odds. The son of Speightstown, a Calumet Farm homebred, was ninth in the G1 Breeders' Cup Sprint last Saturday and will stand at Lane's End Farm in Midway, Kentucky for a $10,000 stud fee.

“It's a dream for myself, the barn, and the rest of the guys who do all the hard work for the horse to go on to a fantastic second career and to a farm like Lane's End,” Sisterson said. “It's very humbling that Calumet and Lane's End were able to work something out. He's every trainer's dream to have speed, be sound, and win a Grade 1. He should have a successful stud career.”

Lexitonian is the first progeny out of the Tapit mare Riviera Romper. His second dam is Swap Fliparoo, who captured the 2006 G1 Test at Saratoga.

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Bloodlines: Slow-Developing Red Smith Winner North Dakota Another Success For Broodmare Starry Dreamer

For the beautifully pedigreed North Dakota (by Medaglia d'Oro), success in the Grade 3 Red Smith Stakes at Aqueduct on Nov. 21 was like a spring thaw after a long, hard winter.

The 4-year-old colt won his first stakes in the Red Smith and capped a remarkable season in which the racer for the Joseph Allen Stables developed from a seemingly hapless maiden at the New Year tracks to graded stakes winner here in the penultimate month, with four victories from a half-dozen races.

In contrast, North Dakota had contrived to remain a maiden in a half-dozen previous races at 2 and 3 while being one of the most attractively bred horses in training and coming from the Hall of Fame barn of trainer C.R. “Shug” McGaughey.

Bred in Kentucky by Joseph Allen LLC, North Dakota is the 10^th and last foal out of Allen's star producer, the Rubiano mare Starry Dreamer. After the Red Smith, he is also the mare's fifth stakes winner.

Four of those won graded stakes, including leading sire War Front (Danzig), who stands at Claiborne Farm and is one of the most sought-after international stallions. Starry Dreamer's other stakes winners include G2 winner Teammate (A.P. Indy), who was also second or third in five G1 races; G3 stakes winner Ecclesiastic (Pulpit), who has been four times the leading sire in Uruguay; and Riviera Cocktail (Giant's Causeway), who was also twice placed in graded stakes. The mare also produced Jay Gatsby (also by Giant's Causeway), who was likewise twice placed in graded stakes but did not win one.

North Dakota seems to have progressed in strength and confidence from the first of the year, as well. Just viewing him on the screen, he appeared to have strengthened through the hindquarters and across the back, and there was no hesitation in the colt when jockey Jose Lezcano angled North Dakota out to challenge wide down the stretch.

The dark bay colt kept picking up horses and responded very willingly to the challenge of the towering Red Knight (Pure Prize) in the drive to the wire, and McGaughey noted after the race that “I wouldn't have thought he would be running in the Red Smith back when he broke his maiden at Tampa,” which came on on March 25. McGaughey added that North Dakota “had been training really well. I thought he had a big chance today. He's got the pedigree to do it and wants a distance of ground. Jose is a patient guy, and I said just take your time with him.”

Patience has paid off for all parties, and the colt is the greatest beneficiary. If there is further improvement in him, next season should offer some tempting options for a horse who wants to race 10 furlongs or longer on turf, and with his relations, someone will want to give him a chance at stud. If that happened, he would be the seventh son of Starry Dreamer to become a stallion.

A foal of 1994, Starry Dreamer was bred in Kentucky by Charles Nuckols & Sons from the first crop by champion sprinter Rubiano (Fappiano). Racing for Russell Reineman, she became the sire's first stakes winner with her victory in the 1996 Gold Digger Stakes at Hawthorne.

In April of 1997, Joe Allen acquired the filly privately, and she won the Palisades Stakes and Regret Stakes in her first two starts for him. In all, the gray won six of 31 starts, earning $564,789.

Retired to be a broodmare at Claiborne Farm, where Allen keeps his bloodstock, Starry Dreamer produced four stakes winners from her first four foals. Chronologically, they were Ecclesiastic, War Front, Teammate, and then Riviera Cocktail (who is a double post-barren, born after two barren years).

A couple of Storm Cat duds, one of whom was a $1 million RNA at the 2008 Keeneland September sale, were followed by an unraced Awesome Again filly named Gracie Square. The graded stakes-placed Jay Gatsby indicated that grand mare hadn't completely mislaid the plans for cooking a good one, and then North Dakota came along as the final foal after an unraced son of Smart Strike.

Both Jay Gatsby, who ran second in the G2 Bernard Baruch Handicap at Saratoga and the G3 Knickerbocker at Belmont, and North Dakota are post-barren foals themselves. Research that I conducted several years ago into the foals of mares produced after a barren year showed that the percentage of stakes horses was surprisingly high.

The kink, of course, is that breeders don't plan barren years. It's counter-intuitive to try to miss a year with a mare, more especially a very good mare. The mares do that on their own; either their reproductive or immune and endocrine systems need the time off, and they get it.

It is interesting, however, that breeders may get an added benefit when their mare does go barren.

Frank Mitchell is author of Racehorse Breeding Theories, as well as the book Great Breeders and Their Methods: The Hancocks. In addition to writing the column “Sires and Dams” in Daily Racing Form for nearly 15 years, he has contributed articles to Thoroughbred Daily News, Thoroughbred Times, Thoroughbred Record, International Thoroughbred, and other major publications. In addition, Frank is chief of biomechanics for DataTrack International and is a hands-on caretaker of his own broodmares and foals in Central Kentucky. Check out Frank's lively Bloodstock in the Bluegrass blog.

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