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Friday’s Stronach 5 Turns Into $196.30 ‘Chalkfest’ With Five Short-Priced Winners

Short prices resulted in 863 winning tickets in Friday's Stronach 5 with each ticket worth $196.30.

The Stronach 5 featured races from Gulfstream Park, Santa Anita Park and Laurel Park as well as an industry-low 12-percent takeout and two stakes races.

The sequence started with Laurel's eighth race and Belle Tapisserie ($7) winning off the claim for trainer Kieron Magee. The $2.50-1 Belle Tapisserie turned out to be the largest-priced winner of the day.

The $75,000 Janus, run as Gulfstream's ninth race and the second leg of the sequence, was won by 4-5 favorite Imprimis ($3.60), coming off a horrible trip in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1) in which he was stopped and steadied down the stretch.

The third leg of the sequence was Laurel's ninth race and 2-5 favorite Lady Fox ($2.80) won as easy as she pleased for the Claudio Gonzalez barn. The fourth leg of the Stronach 5 moved to Santa Anita and its third race. Translate ($3.40), a 4-year-old who had finished second in all three of her previous starts at Belmont Park, broke through and made it to the winner's circle.

The Stronach 5 wrapped up at Gulfstream with the $75,000 Cash Run. Gulf Coast ($6.40), second last out in the Sandpiper at Tampa Bay and a $300,000 yearling, rolled to his second win in three starts.

Friday's races and sequence

Leg One – Laurel Park 8^th Race: Belle Tapisserie $7
Leg Two –Gulfstream Park 9th Race: Imprimis $3.60
Leg Three –Laurel Park 9^th Race: Lady Fox $2.80
Leg Four – Santa Anita Park 3^rd Race: Translate $3.40
Leg Five –Gulfstream Park 10^th Race: Gulf Coast $6.40

Fans can watch and wager on the action at 1/ST.COM/BET as well as stream all the action in English and Spanish at LaurelPark.com, SantaAnita.com, GulfstreamPark.com, and GoldenGateFields.com.

The Stronach 5 In the Money podcast, hosted by Jonathan Kinchen and Peter Thomas Fornatale, will be posted by 2 p.m. Thursday at InTheMoneyPodcast.com and will be available on iTunes and other major podcast distributors

The minimum wager on the multi-race, multi-track Stronach 5 is $1. If there are no tickets with five winners, the entire pool will be carried over to the next Friday.

If a change in racing surface is made after the wagering closes, each selection on any ticket will be considered a winning selection. If a betting interest is scratched, that selection will be substituted with the favorite in the win pool when wagering closes.

The Maryland Jockey Club serves as host of the Stronach 5.

The post Friday’s Stronach 5 Turns Into $196.30 ‘Chalkfest’ With Five Short-Priced Winners appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Recently Claimed Hembree Takes Joe Hernandez Stakes With Last-To-First Move Under Rosario

Claimed for $62,500 out of a one turn mile win at Churchill Downs Nov. 19, 7-year-old Hembree, in his 40th career start, rallied from last to take Friday's Grade 2, $200,000 Joe Hernandez Stakes at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., covering 6 ½ furlongs on turf in 1:13.80. In his first start for trainer Peter Miller and owner Tom Kagele, Hembree, who had routed on turf in 14 consecutive starts prior to his one turn dirt mile Nov. 19, collected his second career graded stakes win.

Last, about 6 ½ lengths off the lead heading to the three-furlong pole, Rosario hugged the rail and slipped through a narrow opening three sixteenths of a mile out and unleashed a powerful stretch run while repelling a stout late challenge from runner-up True Valour.

“Brilliant, it really was just a fantastic ride by Joel, that's why he's one of the world's best,” said Miller. “He's a very fast horse, he runs fast figures and fast Beyers. The question to me was, whether the six and a half was too short for him, but he answered that question today.”

Off at 5-1 in a field of seven older horses, Hembree paid $12.40, $6.20 and $3.60.

A Grade 2 stakes winner going six furlongs on turf at Woodbine at age 4, Hembree picked up $120,000 for the win, increasing his earnings to $927,371 while improving his overall mark to 40-8-10-8.

“Pete told me to let him be early and try and make one run with him,” said Rosario, who had ridden Hembree on four other occasions in New York, Florida and Kentucky, with his most recent partnership coming seven starts back on March 28 at Gulfstream Park. “He broke well and I thought we were in a good spot, not too far off the lead. He made a nice move around the turn and when that other horse came to him, he tried very hard.”

Ridden by Drayden Van Dyke, Irish-bred True Valour ran too good to lose as he rallied four-wide through the stretch to finish 3 ¼ lengths in front of Blitzkrieg. Off at 7-1, True Valour paid $7.40 and $5.00.

Blitzkrieg, who had been routing on turf in five out of his last six starts, made the lead briefly a furlong out and checked in third, a half length clear of Texas Wedge. Off at 4-1 with Victor Espinoza, he paid $4.00 to show.

Fractions on the race were 21.56, 44.13 and 1:07.95.

The Joe Hernandez is named in honor of the original Voice of Santa Anita, who called 15,587 consecutive races from the track's opening on Dec. 25, 1934, until he collapsed while calling what would be his final race on Jan. 27, 1972.

First post time for a nine-race card on Saturday is at 12:30 p.m. All of Santa Anita's races can be watched free of charge at santaanita.com/live and fans can watch and wager at 1^st.com/Bet.

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Newlywed Lerner Says Uncle Boogie Not In Sham Stakes ‘Just To Fill The Race’

Andrew Lerner didn't go on a honeymoon after he got married last Sunday. The 31-year-old trainer will celebrate later, but he could get an early start if longshot Uncle Boogie wins Saturday's Grade 3 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif.

It will take some doing, however. Uncle Boogie, at 12-1 on Jon White's morning line, is the longest shot in the one-mile Kentucky Derby prep. He faces two promising colts trained by John Shirreffs and two by Bob Baffert, including 2-5 morning line favorite Life Is Good, already earmarked for the Hall of Fame in the opinion of some insiders, although he has had only one race.

Lerner and his bride, Katie, will have a “mini-honeymoon” at Cabo San Lucas in a couple weeks, since training requires a 24/7 commitment and “it's really tough to get away,” Lerner noted.

“Uncle Boogie is a longshot, but he's done nothing wrong so far and he definitely deserves a chance. He broke his maiden first out (by 6 ¼ lengths in a $32,000 claimer at Santa Anita last Oct. 12), then ran two seconds. He had trouble at the start in the (G3) Bob Hope and was too far back … so we're not in the Sham just to fill the race.”

Uncle Boogie is owned by Eric Homme, who “got into the game two years ago taking fractional percentages of horses. Uncle Boogie is the first horse he owns solely,” Lerner said.

Lerner already has had one winner this meet but it came while he was getting married, so he didn't have a chance to enjoy it. Octopus, of which Lerner owns a share along with Alydom Racing LLC, won Sunday's sixth race by a length and a quarter as the 4-5 favorite under Joel Rosario.

“I didn't get to watch it,” Lerner said, “My best man was giving his speech but my Dad (Ross) was behind him watching it on his phone simultaneously, and no one knew. But he gave me a signal that we won, so I knew what was going on.

“I was under the chuppah at the time but we were in the reception area kind of doing dinner and speeches with the best man and the bridesmaids. I didn't have my phone. I lost my phone privileges for the day, but my Dad came through like he always does.”

Shalom and Happy New Year.

The field for the Sham, race eight of nine with a 12:30 p.m. first post time: Medina Spirit, Abel Cedillo, 6-1; Waspirant, Umberto Rispoli, 15-1; Parnelli, Drayden Van Dyke, 5-2; Uncle Boogie, Flavien Prat, 12-1; and Life Is Good, Mike Smith, 2-5.

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Baffert Has Four Of Seven Starters In Sunday’s Santa Ynez

In a race that as much as anything else underscores the depth of the Bob Baffert stable, his stakes winning Kalypso, who will shorten up out of a second-place effort in a Grade 1 stakes, appears the tepid choice among a field of seven sophomore fillies going seven panels in Sunday's Grade 2, $200,000 Santa Ynez Stakes at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif.

Baffert, who will send out a total of four fillies in the Santa Ynez, has the one-two finishers from an oddly-run G1 Los Alamitos Starlet on Dec. 5, as his heavily favored Princess Noor, who appeared to be well on her way to victory, was suddenly pulled up at the top of the lane, leaving Kalypso on a lonely lead until rundown by stablemate Varda, who won by 1 ½ lengths at 18-1.

Kalypso, a $240,000 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky yearling purchase in July of 2019, was an impressive gate to wire winner of the ungraded Anoakia Stakes going six furlongs two starts back and will likely go favored in the Santa Ynez, despite the fact she was second to Varda in the Starlet. In what will be her fifth career start, Kalypso, a Kentucky-bred filly by Brody's Cause, will be ridden for the first time by Joel Rosario.

A handy 3 ¼-length first out maiden winner going six furlongs Aug. 30, Varda came back to be a well beaten second by Princess Noor in the G2 Chandelier Stakes at a mile and one sixteenth Sept. 26. In her second time around two turns, she lagged early in the Starlet prior to picking up the pieces late. Owned by Baoma Corporation, Varda, a New York-bred daughter of Distorted Humor, was purchased for $700,000 at the Ocala Breeders Sales Co.'s Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training in 2020. She has two wins and a second and will be ridden for the fourth consecutive time by Drayden Van Dyke.

Baffert's third entrant is the Gary and Mary West homebred Exotic West, who showed good speed, battled throughout and seemed to find her best stride late in breaking her maiden at Del Mar Nov. 21 going 6 ½ furlongs at first asking by a half length as the 2-1 favorite with Abel Cedillo up.

Although still a maiden following second-place finishes in all three of her previous starts, Baffert's Frosteria, a Godolphin homebred filly by Frosted, earned an 82 Beyer Speed Figure when second going a flat mile on Dec. 13 and thus holds the best last out Beyer in the field. With Cedillo riding Exotic West, Frosteria, who sprinted in her first two starts, will be ridden for the first time by Mike Smith.

John Sadler's Queengol, second as the 5-2 favorite to Kalypso two starts back in the Anoakia and most recently a well beaten second in a 6 ½ furlong stakes at Del Mar Nov. 14, rates a fighting chance with Flavien Prat aboard. Michael McCarthy's Nasreddine, third, beaten 5 ½ lengths in the Starlet, would appear to be a live longshot with Tiago Pereira up.

Claimed out of a half length win going six furlongs for a maiden $50,000 claiming tag Nov. 20 at Del Mar, Doug O'Neill will roll the dice with Brilliant Cut, a daughter of Champion Sprinter Speightstown.

G2 SANTA YNEZ WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 8 of 9 Approximate post time 4 p.m. PT

Brilliant Cut—Ricky Gonzalez—120
Nasreddine—Tiago Pereira—120
Exotic West—Abel Cedillo—120
Queengol—Flavien Prat—120
Varda—Drayden Van Dyke—124
Frosteria—Mike Smith—120
Kalypso—Joel Rosario—122

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