Ruthless Stakes | Horse Racing Free Tips

Shotgun Hottie Noses Out Champagne Poetry In Ruthless

Omar Aldabbagh and Jeff Ganje's Shotgun Hottie got her nose on the wire in the nick of time, gunning down Champagne Poetry to capture the 43rd running of the $100,000 Ruthless for 3-year-old fillies going seven furlongs at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.

Shotgun Hottie made her first start for trainer William Morey, arriving off a fourth-place finish in the Untapable on December 26 going two turns at Fair Grounds Race Course for Tom Amoss. A third-out maiden winner in her two-turn debut at Churchill Downs, Shotgun Hottie handled the cutback in distance well, making a devastating rally under Trevor McCarthy in the final sixteenth to win by a nose.

Breaking from the outermost post 7, Shotgun Hottie settled in fifth as Lady Milagro commanded the field through an opening quarter-mile in 22.72 seconds over the good main track. McCarthy started to get busy aboard Shotgun Hottie around the far turn as Lady Milagro continued to lead through a half-mile in 45.95.

Lady Milagro maintained her advantage in mid stretch with Champagne Poetry in striking range and Shotgun Hottie looming large from the outside. Lady Milagro relinquished inside the final sixteenth as Champagne Poetry briefly held command in the final strides to the wire. But Shotgun Hottie's outside rally proved to be superior as the two fillies hit the wire in tandem, with Shotgun Hottie winning the photo finish in a final time of 1:24.91.

Champagne Poetry finished another 1 3/4 lengths ahead of third-place finisher Lady Milagro. Completing the order of finish were Landslid, Miss Interpret, Knowing Glance and Jet Force.

The victory was a second Aqueduct stakes winner this weekend for 2021 leading freshman stallion Gun Runner, who also sired Grade 3 Withers winner Early Voting. Bred in Kentucky by Vincent Colbert, Shotgun Hottie is out of the unraced Malibu Moon mare Re Entry and was bought for $45,000 out of Gene Recio's consignment at the 2021 OBS April Sale.

Returning $5.80 for a $2 win bet as the favorite, Shotgun Hottie banked $55,000 in victory, enhancing her lifetime earnings past the six-figure mark to $134,720. Her record stands at 5-2-1-0.

“She made a great run and so did the runner-up. We were charging at the wire and caught a good bob on the wire,” Morey said. “She's a nice filly and I think she wants to go further. Trevor is riding as good as anybody here so I trusted him. Our outside draw dictated where we would be. I didn't want to be quite that wide. I thought we could tuck over [into] a little tighter spot, but that's horse racing and it all worked out for us today.”

McCarthy picked up his third stakes winner of the meet aboard Shotgun Hottie, who he piloted for the first time.

“My filly ran good. Bill said to ride her like she's the best horse in here,” McCarthy said. “The rail got really good the last couple races, so I was a little worried being wide with her, but she's a filly that wants to run further. She's a bit of a grinder. That last eighth of a mile it was, 'Come on, come on,' but she just keeps grinding. She gave a great effort and all the credit to Bill and his crew for doing a great job.”

Morey said he would like to keep Shotgun Hottie in New York.

“We were dialed in on this race now and we haven't looked forward, but I'll talk to my clients and see. I think we'd like to keep her here but I'll have to talk to them,” Morey said.

Dylan Davis, aboard the Chad Summers-trained Champagne Poetry, said his filly wasn't as involved until Shotgun Hottie started matching strides.

“That's a tough way to get beat,” Davis said. “She felt good but it took her a little while to get running until that last eighth of a mile when Trevor's horse engaged her. She kind of re-rallied and she felt good there, but unfortunately she got nailed that last jump. She's still a nice horse and she's moving well. Chad does a good job. She progressed well from her last win.”

Live racing resumes Thursday at the Big A with an eight-race card. First post is 12:50 p.m. Eastern.

America's Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the winter meet at Aqueduct Racetrack on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Aqueduct Racetrack, and the best way to bet every race of the winter meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.

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Now In Morey Barn, Shotgun Hottie Aiming For Aqueduct’s Ruthless On Feb. 6

Omar Aldabbagh and Jeff Ganje's Shotgun Hottie recently made the move from the barn of Tom Amoss to conditioner William Morey's stable at Belmont Park, recording her first work in the Empire State on Jan. 25 in preparation for the $100,000 Ruthless for sophomore fillies going seven furlongs on Sunday, Feb. 6, at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.

A bay daughter of Gun Runner, Shotgun Hottie breezed a half-mile over Belmont's dirt training track in 49.78 seconds.

“The work went very well,” Morey said. “I train for the client and have another horse for them at Turfway. They called me and asked if I could take this filly and of course I said yes, so we sent her up to New York. She's easy to train and every horse I've had here has trained well over the training track at Belmont.”

A $45,000 purchase at the Ocala Breeders' Sale of 2-year-olds in training, Shotgun Hottie finished second in her 6 1/2-furlong debut in September at Churchill Downs before ultimately breaking her maiden at third asking when stretching out to 1 1/16 miles at Churchill.

Shotgun Hottie finished fourth last out in the Untapable at Fair Grounds on December 26 in her stakes debut, setting the pace for the mile and 70 yards before tiring and finishing 3 1/2 lengths behind winner North County, who is undefeated in three starts.

Morey's most recent win at the Big A came with 4-year-old filly Blushable, who took down a starter allowance on Jan. 6 for owners Mark Mathiesen, Sandra Benowitz, and Michael House.

“She's doing good and was supposed to run on Saturday but the card was canceled, so we entered her in one of the extras for Thursday and hopefully she gets in,” Morey said.

Blushable earned a career-best 70 Beyer Speed Figure for her allowance win and now boasts a record of 9-3-0-1 with earnings of $99,355.

A new addition to the Morey barn is veteran ridgling American Rule, who was claimed for $32,000 out of a well-beaten 11th in a claimer over a sloppy and sealed track at Aqueduct on Dec. 11. The 7-year-old son of Bernardini made his first start for Morey and new owners Robert Bone and Desperado Stables on Friday, getting back to a fast track and finishing a much-improved third in a one-turn mile claiming event.

“We were happy with his run and he came out of it good,” Morey said. “It was encouraging to see him get back to some of his old form. It looked like he didn't like the mud much the last time. I'm sure we'll look for a similar spot for his next race there at Aqueduct.”

American Rule has four wins from 45 lifetime starts with all but five of those starts occurring at NYRA tracks. Out of the stakes-placed Ghostzapper mare Myriad, American Rule is a half-brother to the multiple graded stakes-placed gelding Markitoff.

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Miss Brazil Easily Defeats Short Field In Monday’s Ruthless, Oaks Prep Up Next

Team D's Miss Brazil validated her heavy 2-5 favoritism, taking command from the gate and drawing away easily in the stretch for a 6 1/4-length victory in the $100,000 Ruthless for 3-year-old fillies on Monday at Aqueduct Racetrack.

The Ruthless, which was moved from Sunday to Monday after heavy snow forced the entire card to be pushed back a day, saw a three-horse field of Miss Brazil, Gulf Coast and Dealing Justice compete with It Can and Little Huntress scratched.

Miss Brazil, with Eric Cancel aboard from the inside post, led the compact field through the opening quarter-mile in 23.32 seconds and the half in 46.34 on the fast main track. Miss Brazil led handily out of the turn and had plenty left in the stretch, completing the seven furlongs in 1:24.92 in her sophomore bow.

Miss Brazil made her debut on Oct. 25, running third on the Belmont Park turf. Trainer Tony Dutrow said he thought the Palace Malice filly would prefer the main track, and she took to the surface with a maiden-breaking score on Aqueduct's dirt on Nov. 29.

Well-rested for her first start of 2021, Miss Brazil improved to 2-for-2 on the main track and returned $2.90 on a $2 win wager, besting Gulf Coast, who finished 45 3/4 lengths ahead of Dealing Justice, who was eased through to the wire.

“She's been very good in all three of her races,” Dutrow said. “Both her maiden win and today shows plenty. She's always promised to be a nicer kind of filly, so getting her ready for this race was easy. She's a better kind of horse and she does it all.”

Purchased for $170,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Miss Brazil will now look to stretch out to a mile in the $250,000 Busher Invitational on March 6 at Aqueduct. The Busher offers 50-20-10-5 qualifying points to the top-four finishers towards the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks on April 30 at Churchill Downs.

“I'm feeling good about her at one mile at Aqueduct in the Busher,” Dutrow said. “I feel that won't be an issue for her. As far as two turns goes and her future after that, we'll have to wait and see how she does in the Busher.”

Cancel won his second consecutive stakes win after the rider piloted Risk Taking to victory in Saturday's Grade 3 Withers.

“I wanted to be on the lead to dictate the pace and take it from there,” Cancel said. “She's a very honest filly so I didn't have any doubts about her today. She's pretty straightforward and I had plenty of gas in the tank. I just wanted to give her a good ride and it worked out well.”

WinStar Stablemates Racing's Gulf Coast, conditioned by Rodolphe Brisset and ridden by Manny Franco, is 2-2-0 in four career stats, including runner-up efforts in the Sandpiper in December at Tampa Bay Downs and a stakes win in the Cash Run on New Year's Day at Oaklawn Park.

“The scratch of the speed [Little Huntress] hurt us a little bit given we were looking to stalk the pace,” Brisset said. “Nobody else could go with the favorite, so we had to go after her. Manny rode a great race. She may have broke a little slower than we were hoping for, but after that we just went on and tried to put pressure on the winner. But the winner was much the best.

“It's a long way to come to run second, but I'm happy with her race,” he added. “She tried hard. Hopefully, she can regroup and try another spot.”

Live racing at Aqueduct will continue on Friday with a first post of 1:20 p.m. Racing will be conducted four days this week, starting Friday and concluding Monday with a special Presidents Day holiday card.

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With Storm On Horizon, NYRA Moves Aqueduct Sunday Card To Monday

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) has moved the entirety of Sunday's live racing program at Aqueduct Racetrack to Monday due a winter storm slated to impact the New York metropolitan area throughout the day on Sunday.

The National Weather Service (NWS), which aligns with NYRA's independent weather services, is calling for heavy snow with accumulation of 5 to 9 inches as well as wind chill values between 20 and 25 for the downstate New York region on Sunday.

As a result, NYRA has moved Sunday's eight-race card to Monday in the interest of the safety of all participants. Monday's card is highlighted by the $100,000 Ruthless, a seven-furlong sprint for sophomore fillies. First post is 1:20 p.m. Eastern.

For additional information on the 2020-21 winter meet at Aqueduct, as well as a complete stakes schedule, visit NYRA.com.

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