Richard Baltas | Horse Racing Free Tips

Evenly-Matched Group Contests Indiana Derby

It’s rare to see a GI Kentucky Derby prep on a weekday, much rarer to find it on a July weekday, but an evenly-matched field of 10 horses will contest the GIII Indiana Derby Wednesday at Indiana Grand with 34 qualifying points for the Run for the Roses up for grabs.

Lloyd Madison Farms’ Major Fed (Ghostzapper) looks for some racing luck after several wide trips along the Derby trail. A sharp maiden winner on New Year’s Day at Fair Grounds, the homebred was second in a division of the GII Risen Star S. and fourth after a wide journey while closing into a slow pace in the GII Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby. Hung out in the widest draw in the GIII Matt Winn S. last out May 23 at Churchill, he chased the pace before fading to finish last of 10.

Taishan (Twirling Candy) also looks to rebound while shipping in from the west coast for Richard Baltas. Fourth in the GII Sham S. and fifth in the GIII Southwest S. over the winter, the $150,000 OBS March buy scored in a sloppy Oaklawn optional claimer Mar. 14 with a field-best 92 Beyer before running a good third after moving early into a fast pace in the Oaklawn S. Apr. 11 in Hot Springs. He failed to build on those two efforts, however, when last in a division of the GI Arkansas Derby May 2.

Godolphin’s progressive Shared Sense (Street Sense) goes out for trainer Brad Cox. Sixth in the Smarty Jones S. and War Chant S. in his previous two stakes tries, he nevertheless earned the highest last-out Beyer when earning an 89 as runner-up to the promising Art Collector (Bernardini) last out in a Churchill optional claimer June 13.

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Shoemaker Top Three Show Up For Rematch In Friday’s Maker’s Mark Mile

Peter Brant's Raging Bull (FR), winner of the Shoemaker Mile (G1) in his most recent start, headlines a field of 10 entered Tuesday for Friday's 32nd running of the $300,000 Maker's Mark Mile (G1) to be contested over the Keeneland turf course.

The Maker's Mark Mile, the first of four Grade 1 races during the five-day Summer Meet that begins Wednesday, is scheduled as the eighth race on Friday's nine-race program with a 4:57 p.m. ET post time. First post is 1:05 p.m.

Trained by Chad Brown, Raging Bull returns to Keeneland, where he finished fourth in last year's Maker's Mark Mile. A two-time Grade 1 winner, Raging Bull will be ridden by Joel Rosario and break from post position four.

Brown also trains Without Parole (GB), who finished third in the Shoemaker Mile. Owned by John Gunther and his daughter Tanya Gunther, Without Parole finished third in last year's TVG Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) in his U.S. debut. In 2018, Without Parole won the Group 1 St. James's Palace at Royal Ascot in England.

Irad Ortiz Jr. has the mount on Without Parole and break from post position eight.

Also in the field is the horse that split the Brown duo in the Shoemaker: Next Shares.

Trained by part owner Richard Baltas, Next Shares counts the 2018 Shadwell Turf Mile (G1) at Keeneland among his three graded stakes victories. An earner of more than $1.7 million, Next Shares will break from post nine and be ridden by John Velazquez.

Another horse returning to the Keeneland turf is Gary Barber's War of Will.

Trained by Mark Casse, War of Will finished fourth in the 2018 Dixiana Bourbon (G3) and also trained at Keeneland before embarking on a Triple Crown campaign that included a victory in the Preakness (G1).

War of Will finished sixth in the Shoemaker Mile in his 2020 debut that served as his first grass start since 2018. Tyler Gaffalione has the mount Friday and will break from post position 10.

The field for the Maker's Mark Mile, with riders and weights from the rail out, is: Hembree (Javier Castellano, 118 pounds), High Crime (Luis Saez, 118), Parlor (Florent Geroux, 118), Raging Bull (FR) (Rosario, 123), English Bee (James Graham, 118), Everfast (Ricardo Santana Jr., 118), Emmaus (IRE) (Brian Hernandez Jr., 118), Without Parole (GB) (Ortiz, 118), Next Shares (John Velazquez, 120) and War of Will (Gafflione, 118).

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Neptune’s Storm Wears Down Kiwi’s Dream In San Francisco Mile

Neptune's Storm overtook stubborn Australian-bred Kiwi's Dream in deep stretch to win Sunday's Grade 3 San Francisco Mile Stakes, closing-day feature at Golden Gate Fields in Albany, Calif.

Trained by Richard Baltas and ridden by William Antongeorgi III, Neptune's Storm covered one mile on firm turf in 1:35.50, winning by a head and earning $150,000 from the San Francisco Mile's $251,350 purse. He paid $8 to win.

Kiwi's Dream, who similarly was caught in the final strides to lose by a head to Restrainedvengence in the May 25 All American on the Tapeta surface at Golden Gate, was 1 ¾ lengths clear of Camino Del Paraiso in second, with Restrainedvengence, the 8-5 favorite, finishing fourth. Arch Prince, Majestic Eagle, Simply Breathless and Murad Khan completed the order of finish in the race for 3-year-olds and up. All starters carried 125 pounds except for Simply Breathless, the lone mare in the field, who carried 120 under the weight for age conditions.

Neptune's Storm tracked Kiwi's Dream in second from the outset, the latter going right to the front under Golden Gate's leading rider, Juan Hernandez, and setting moderate fractions of :23.97, 48:11, and 1:11.91. Antongeorgi moved Neptune's Storm alongside the frontrunner at the top of the stretch, the seven furlongs clocked in 1:23.88, but Kiwi's Dream proved a tough foe to overtake, giving away grudgingly in the final yards for locally-based trainer Victor Trujillo.

A 4-year-old gelding by Stormy Atlantic out of the Irish-bred mare Immortal Life, by Iffraaj, Neptune's Storm was winning for the sixth time in 16 career starts. His only previous graded stakes victory came Oct. 19 at Belmont Park in the G2 Hill Prince. Neptune's Storm was a close second Nov. 30 in the G1 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar and he comes out of a seventh-place finish to Raging Bull in the G1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita May 25.

Neptune's Storm was bred in Kentucky by Tracy Farmer and races for CYBT, Saul Gevertz, Lynn Gitomer, Mike Goetz, Michael Nentwig and Daniel Weiner.

Live racing of the 2019-2020 Winter/Spring meet at Golden Gate concluded on Sunday with mandatory payouts in the Pick 5's, Rolling Super High Five and Golden Pick Six jackpot wagers. Racing resumes at Golden Gate Fields on July 29 with the “Sonoma County Fair Meet at Golden Gate Fields” which runs through August 11. The Golden Gate Fields Summer meet immediately follows with live racing from August 12 through October 6.

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