Rockemperor | Horse Racing Free Tips

Golden Glider Works for Belmont

Golden Glider (Ghostzapper), most recently second in the GIII Peter Pan S., tuned up for Saturday's GI Belmont S. with a four-furlong work in :49.90 (33/84) at Belmont Park Sunday. NYRA clockers caught the colt, with exercise rider Kylie Wellington up, through a quarter-mile in :26.20 and a gallop-out in 1:02.80.

“I thought he worked really well. He settled early, which is what you want out of a Belmont horse, and flew home,” trainer Mark Casse said.

Casse won the 2019 Belmont with Sir Winston (Awesome Again), who also finished second in the Peter Pan heading into the Test of the Champion. The Hall of Fame trainer expects Golden Glider will have no trouble with the Belmont's 1 1/2-mile distance.

“I'm not worried about the mile and a half, it's just how long it's going to take him,” said Casse, with a laugh. “He's a one-paced type of horse, so I'm hoping he'll have a similar trip like Sir Winston. In his previous races, Sir Winston used to come from the clouds, but in the Belmont, Joel Rosario kept him close enough and I could see the same thing happening Saturday with Dylan [Davis].”

Also working Sunday ahead of Saturday's stakes-packed card at Belmont, Speaker's Corner (Street Sense) went four furlongs in :48.01 (5/117) over the training track ahead of an engagement in the GI Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan H.

“I let him pick it up a little more,” trainer Bill Mott said. “He shaded :24 coming home today. He was off nice and I had him in :47 3/5. The gallop out was just normal. We let him finish up to the wire.”

Speaker's Corner, a Godolphin homebred, won the GIII Fred Hooper S. at Gulfstream in January, the GII Gulfstream Park Mile in March and is coming off a win in the Apr. 9 GI Carter H.

“We've had a nice schedule. We've got a good foundation and plenty of time to be fresh for this race, so hopefully it works out,” Mott said. “He seems to be doing well and we got all our works in and been fortunate enough that we haven't missed anything. We did what we wanted to do.”

Trainer Chad Brown sent out GI Resorts World Casino Manhattan S. hopeful Rockemperor (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) to work five furlongs in 1:01.80 (1/3) over the inner turf course at Belmont Sunday.

“He worked really good,” Brown said. “He likes Belmont quite a bit and the key with him is firm turf. If the turf is firm on Saturday, he will run.”

Rockemperor won the GI Joe Hirsch Turf Classic S. over the Belmont lawn last year.

Also working for the Manhattan, Gufo (Declaration of War) worked four furlongs in company in :49.60 (9/19) over the inner turf course at Belmont Sunday.

“Gufo worked great and is ready for the Manhattan,” trainer Christophe Clement said. “He tried very hard and ran very well in the Man o' War.”

Third in last year's Manhattan, Gufo is coming off a runner-up effort in the May 14 GI Man o'War S.

The post Golden Glider Works for Belmont appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Rockemperor Tabbed As Morning-Line Favorite In Hollywood Turf Cup

Madaket Stables, Wonder Stables, Dubb, Kisber and Caruso's Rockemperor will go favored in Friday's headliner at Del Mar – the $250,000 Hollywood Turf Cup – a Grade 2 crucible for 3-year-olds and up that has attracted seven long-winded competitors and will be contested at a testing mile and one half on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course.

The marathon will be run for the 40th time (the first 32 editions were conducted at now-closed Hollywood Park) on the holiday weekend nine-race card as the 7th Race and will reward its winner with $150,000.

Rockemperor, an Irish 5-year-old horse by the Danehill sire Holy Roman Emperor, comes into the headliner off a troubled trip in the $4 million Breeders' Cup Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 6. The bay horse could only finish eighth of 14 that afternoon but he's been a steady sort throughout his career with 15 in-the-money placings in his 21 starts. He's currently sporting a bankroll that reads $954,404 and either a first- or second-place finish Friday would make him a racing millionaire.

Rockemperor is trained by eastern kingpin Chad Brown, who has been a regular participant in the fall turf stakes at Del Mar in recent years and the conditioner has nabbed the saddle services of Del Mar's leading rider, Flavien Prat, for the Friday journey.

Here's the complete lineup for the feature from the rail out with riders and morning line odds:

Amerman Racing's Award Winner (Juan Hernandez, 12-1)
William and Suzanne Warren, Jr.'s Friar's Road (Umberto Rispoli, 3-1)
Agave Racing Stable or Sam-Son Farm's Say the Word (Kent Desormeaux, 4-1)
John M.B. O'Connor's Astronaut (Victor Espinoza, 8-1)
Pantofel Stable, Wachtel Stable or Gary Barber's Cupid's Claws (Abel Cedillo, 12-1)
The Ellwood Johnston Trust, Timmy Time Racing, et al's Acclimate (Ricky Gonzalez, 4-1)
Rockemperor

Acclimate also ran in the BC Turf, but finished far back in the field. The 7-year-old gelding by California sire Acclamation is a seven-time winner of $633,872. He was beaten only a whisker in the mile and one-quarter John Henry Turf Cup at Santa Anita on October 2 in his race before his Breeders' Cup try. He's conditioned by Phil D'Amato.

Friar's Road was just a nose behind Acclimate in the John Henry in his most recent attempt. The 4-year-old Quality Road colt works out of the barn of trainer Mike McCarthy and appears to have found a home running long on the grass.

Say the Word, a 6-year-old gelding by More Than Ready, has purse earnings of $672,792. He was a fast-closing third in the Hollywood Turf Cup last year. D'Amato trains him, also.

Astronaut was victorious in the Del Mar Handicap at 11 furlongs on turf on August 21. The 4-year-old colt is by Quality Road and races out of the barn of conditioner John Shirreffs.

Last year's Hollywood Turf Cup was captured by Donegal Racing, Bulger and Coneway's Arklow, who set a stakes record of 2:26.31 in the process.

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Acclimate, Rockemperor Among Seven Entered For Friday’s Hollywood Turf Cup

Phil D'Amato-trained Acclimate, John Shirreff's Astronaut, and Chad Brown-conditioned Rockemperor, last seen at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., in the $4 million Grade 1 Longines Breeders' Cup Turf, are among seven entered today for Friday's $250,000 G2 Hollywood Turf Cup.

A victory, or high placing, for Acclimate, Astronaut, or Rockemperor, would salve the sting of ill-starred efforts in the Breeders' Cup, in the case of Astronaut and Rockemperor after gaining entry through “Win and You're In” victories.

Astronaut rallied in the stretch for a half-length victory in the Del Mar Handicap at odds of 24-1 on Pacific Classic Day in August. Hall of Fame jockey Victor Espinoza found no clear path in the BC Turf, however, had to check hard before the quarter pole and finished 12th of 14. Rockemperor won the Turf Classic at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., in October but was in tight quarters throughout in the BC Turf and finished eighth.

Acclimate, with one win and three narrow losses in graded events leading up to the BC Turf, was close to the pace early before fading to last.

The post position draw was scheduled this afternoon. The entrants, in alphabetical order: Acclimate (Ricky Gonzalez); Astronaut (Espinoza); Award Winner (Juan Hernandez); Cupid's Claws (Abel Cedillo); Friar's Road (Umberto Rispoli), Rockemperor (Flavien Prat), and Say The Word (Kent Desormeaux).

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Del Mar Prepares For Turf Festival To Close Out Bing Crosby Season

The close of entries and post position draw for Del Mar's Thanksgiving Day card that includes the $100,000 Grade 3 Red Carpet Stakes is set for Satuday afternoon. On Sunday, similar procedures will be conducted for the Friday program with the $250,000 G2 Hollywood Turf Cup at the Del Mar, Calif., racetrack.

So begins the staging process for the four-day, seven-stakes Turf Festival that will wrap up the Bing Crosby Season at the track. And if the seven previous such closing stands of the fall meeting are any indication, the eager anticipation felt by horsemen and fans is more than justified.

A contingent of quality shippers from the east will arrive Monday or Tuesday in numbers that racing secretary David Jerkens expects will be similar to past years from the stables of trainers whose names top, or are highly stationed, on national lists.

Chad Brown has won nine Turf Festival races, with emphasis on the G1 events – Saturday's $400,000 Hollywood Derby and Sunday's $400,000 Matriarch – where he's notched three in each. He's expected to put seven or eight on the westbound plane, among them defending Matriarch champ Viadera. Brown has multiple graded stakes winner Public Sector and Sifting Sands nominated for the Hollywood Derby and Turf Cup nominee Rockemperor stabled at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., and available for the relatively short trip down the freeway.

Michael Stidham's Princess Grace, who shipped in to win the Yellow Ribbon in the summer and returned for a third-place finish as favorite in the G2 Goldikova during Breeders' Cup Week, has remained on the grounds and is nominated for the Matriarch. So has Goldikova runner-up Zofelle for trainer Brendan Walsh.

Trainer H. Graham Motion, who has notched Red Carpet, Jimmy Durante, and Seabiscuit Stakes wins in past Turf Festivals, has a handful of horses on-site and could bring in reinforcements considering his six stakes nominees. Ken McPeek has indicated he will be sending Camp Hope, a winner of two starts in October at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., and Greg Sacco is sending It Can Be Done off a third-place finish, beaten two lengths by Public Sector in the Hill Prince on October 23 at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

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