rushie | Horse Racing Free Tips

Rosario Fined for Misjudging Finish in Nose Loss on Stakes Favorite

Jockey Joel Rosario, who leads North America with 20 stakes wins this year, was fined $200 for misjudging the finish wire aboard a 9-5 favorite who lost an Apr. 10 stakes race by a nose at Oaklawn Park.

Rosario piloted Rushie (Liam's Map) in the $400,000 Oaklawn Mile S., but apparently forgot races at that distance at the track end at the sixteenth pole and not the traditional finish line.

Rushie had seized the lead off the turn and was getting reeled in by a fast-closing By My Standards (Goldencents) as the sixteenth-pole finish loomed.

By My Standards seemed to have the winning momentum regardless of where Rosario thought the wire was, but the head-on replay reveals that Rosario was still driving Rushie while Gabriel Saez rose in the saddle aboard By My Standards.

The two jockeys appeared to speak while galloping out on the far turn, with Saez reaching out left-handed to give Rosario a seemingly friendly post-race tap on the right shoulder.

The official Equibase chart notes that Rosario “continued riding well past the finish wire.”

The ruling was issued Sunday by the Oaklawn stewards.

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By My Standards Earns Nose Victory Over Rushie In Oaklawn Mile

A three-time graded stakes winner last year as a 4-year-old including a victory in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap, Allied Racing Stable and Spendthrift Farm's By My Standards successfully began his 5-year-old campaign with a hard-fought win in the $400,000 Oaklawn Mile, one of the co-features on Arkansas Derby day at the Hot Springs, Ark., track.

Ridden by Gabriel Saez for trainer Bret Calhoun, By My Standards – a 5-year-old by Goldencents – was up just in time to beat Rushie by a nose, covering one mile on a fast main track in 1:37.02 and paying $6.80 as the second choice in the wagering behind the runner-up, who was sent off the 9-5 favorite.

Wells Bayou finished third, followed by Gun It, and Blackberry Wine.

Pioneer Spirit, a 21-1 longshot, outran Rushie to get the early lead, going fractions of :23.21, :47.82 and 1:12.68 for the opening six furlongs. Blackberry Wine applied pressure from the outside on the final turn, with Rushie and jockey Joel Rosario getting through on the inside on the turn for home and quickly taking command. By My Standards was travelling well on the outside and came up to challenge the leader in mid-stretch. Rushie was not finished, however, fighting back gamely under Rosario and just losing the head bob at the wire.

The win was the seventh in 15 career starts for By My Standards, who was bred in Kentucky by Don Ladd. He won the G2 Louisiana Derby at 3 and added the G2 New Orleans Classic, Oaklawn Handicap and G2 Alysheba Stakes last year at 4.

Rushie, trained in Southern California by Michael McCarthy, was also making his seasonal debut after a 3-year-old campaign that included one stakes victory in the G2 Pat Day Mile at Churchill Downs Sept. 5.

Post-race quotes:

Winning Trainer Bret Calhoun, By My Standards: “Watching it live, I thought he did (win). But when I started watching the replay, I thought he might have gotten beat on the bob. He was really ready. He really was well prepared, but I was more concerned about the short stretch mile, honestly. He's just a really good horse and he keeps overcoming. Honestly, I thought he might get shuffled back a little farther than he did. I thought Gabe (Saez) did a great job getting him in a very good position early without having to use too much horse. It kind of played out like we thought. There was quite a bit of speed in there. Some of the horses on the outside had speed and they had to make some quick decisions. Gabe just rode a great race. Fortunate enough to get him in a good spot early. It took every bit of that stretch to get there. It was a great race.”

Winning jockey Gabriel Saez, By My Standards: “I was trying to get that one position I wanted on the first turn. I got bounced around a little bit, but I relaxed and just tried to keep in that striking position. I was worried about the four (Rushie) inside of me a little bit, but when I saw him go through, I started to go after him. When we turned for home, my horse just left them and kicked in the extra gear I was expecting from him. Luckily we got there.”

Trainer Brad Cox, third with Wells Bayou: “Ran real well. Thought it was a big effort. Kind of pulled a little bit up the backside, but when he caught daylight down on the inside he was able to get a clean run in the lane and ran on. I thought it was a very good effort.”

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McCarthy: Oaklawn Mile Could Propel Rushie To ‘Bigger And Better Things’

Southern California-based trainer Michael McCarthy will try to pad his sparkling Oaklawn resume when Rushie makes his 4-year-old debut in Saturday's $400,000 Oaklawn Mile for older horses.

McCarthy, a former Todd Pletcher assistant, has won half of his eight career Oaklawn starts, including the $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap (G2) for older horses in 2018 with City of Light and last year's $600,000 Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) for older fillies and mares with Ce Ce.

Rushie is a winner in Hot Springs, too, claiming a closing-day first-level allowance route last year when McCarthy sent a handful of promising young horses to Oaklawn late in the meeting after racing in California was shuttered (COVID-19).

Rushie went on to capture the $500,000 Pat Day Mile (G2) for 3-year-olds Sept. 5 at Churchill Downs and will be making his first start since finishing seventh in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) Nov. 7 at Keeneland. It was his first race against older horses.

“Had himself a nice break, 60-day break, after the Breeders' Cup,” McCarthy said Tuesday afternoon. “Horse has come to hand quickly. A spot like this for $400,000 over a racetrack we know he likes seemed to make sense and possibly propel him on to some bigger and better things here later in the year, hopefully.”

The consistent Rushie – first, second or third in 6 of 8 lifetime starts – competed against many of the country's top 3-year-olds last year, including Authentic, Swiss Skydiver, Charlatan, Honor A. P. and Art Collector.

Rushie's three victories have been at a mile or a mile and a sixteenth, but McCarthy said he believes the colt may be able to effectively handle longer distances later in 2021. The hope, McCarthy said, is in “bigger races going a little bit farther than at a mile.”

“I don't think a mile and an eighth is going to be a problem,” McCarthy said. “Hopefully in the fall of the year he's able to get a mile and a quarter. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Obviously, Pat Day Mile, one-turn mile, he was very good. He was good there around two turns. He's won at 3 of 4 racetracks that he's gone to, so I'm good with it. We've got plenty of options in front of us. If he stays healthy, he'll dictate where we go.”

From the first crop of Grade 1 winner Liam's Map, Rushie has earned $503,151 for owners Jim and Donna Daniell.

The projected nine-horse Oaklawn Mile field from the rail out: Long Range Toddy, Jon Court to ride, 117 pounds; Gun It, Ricardo Santana Jr., 117; Wells Bayou, Florent Geroux, 124; Rushie, Joel Rosario, 124; Blackberry Wine, David Cabrera, 121; By My Standards, Gabriel Saez, 124; Pioneer Spirit, Ramon Vazquez, 124; Home Base, Francisco Arrieta, 117; and The Sound, Martin Garcia, 121.

Long Range Toddy (first division of the 2019 Rebel at Oaklawn), Wells Bayou (2020 Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds) and By My Standards (2020 Oaklawn Handicap) are also Grade 2 winners.

Probable post time for the Oaklawn Mile, which goes as the ninth of 13 races, is 4:49 p.m. (Central). Last year's Oaklawn Mile runner-up, Improbable, went on to capture three Grade 1 events and was named the country's champion older dirt male.

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McCarthy’s Ascent In Training Ranks Has Been Steady And ‘Smooth’

Michael McCarthy's humility came to the fore after he sent out City of Light to a dominating 5 3/4-length victory in the $9 million Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 26, 2019.

“This horse is a gift,” the then 48-year-old trainer said. “Amazing.”

Modesty aside, McCarthy is a gift to racing. He added to his growing list of laurels last Sunday at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., when he saddled Smooth Like Strait to an impressive 1 1/2-length triumph in the Grade 2 Twilight Derby, a race the trainer had been pointing to from the get-go.

Next up, if all goes well, is the G1 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar on Nov. 28.

But first things first.

McCarthy is preparing Ce Ce, Speech, Rushie and Rombauer for starts in Breeders' Cup races at Keeneland on Nov. 6 and 7. Already G1 winners, Ce Ce and Speech will be cross-entered in both the Distaff at 1 1/8 miles and the Filly & Mare Sprint at seven furlongs, with Rushie bound for the Dirt Mile and Rombauer for the Juvenile.

Three worked five furlongs Friday morning, Ce Ce and Rushie going in company receiving an identical 59.20 clocking, while Speech breezed with Tembo in the respective times of 1:00.80 and 1:01.

“I'm very pleased with all of their works,” said McCarthy, including Rombauer, who went five furlongs Thursday in 1:03.60. “They'll have one more breeze here and most likely ship for Kentucky on Nov. 1.”

McCarthy spent some 12 years working for Todd Pletcher before going on his own with a one-horse stable six years ago.

That one horse was provided by Aron Wellman of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and McCarthy has steadily and readily moved forward since. In 2014 he won just over $200,000 in purses, doubled that in 2015, doubled it again in 2016 and yet again in 2017.

In 2018, with primary backing from the Eclipse group and Tulsa, Okla., businessman Warren K. Williams Jr. and his wife, Suzanne, McCarthy achieved a personal apex, thanks to City of Light.

The son of Quality Road earned $4 million for his Pegasus romp and put McCarthy on racing's global map. Not too shabby for a kid who was born in Youngstown, Ohio, moved with his family to Arcadia when he was five, graduated from Arcadia High School, then hit the track's backstretch, working his way up with the late Doug Peterson and trainer Ben Cecil.

But McCarthy reaped most of his knowledge as a neophyte with Pletcher. “He taught me dedication; total dedication,” McCarthy said. “He leads by example. He's there from sunrise to sundown. He's special.”

Said Pletcher: “Michael was a top-class assistant and I'm not surprised that he's succeeding now that he has his own stable.”

Or in a word, “amazing.”

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