Tag: saratoga

Daughter of Outwork Remains Undefeated in Spinaway

It was always billed as a potential match race in Saratoga's closing weekend feature for the 2-year-old fillies. And so it came down to GIII Adirondack winner Brightwork (Outwork) and 'TDN Rising Star' Ways and Means (Practical Joke) in a stretch duel. In the end, experience won out and Brightwork kept her perfect record intact with a gusty effort to win Sunday's GI Spinaway S.

A flashy maiden winner at Keeneland over G2 Queen Mary S. winner Crimson Advocate (Nyquist), Brightwork earned her next win in stakes company with a half-length score in Ellis's Debutante S. July 2. She immediately moved up into graded-stakes company at Saratoga and was a no-doubt winner in a five-length roll to take the GIII Adironack S. Aug. 6. Drawn outside of her main rival in Sunday's contest, the 3-1 chance raced just ahead of Ways and Means up the backstretch with the pair coming into tight quarters as Flavian Prat had to check his filly back off of heels to avoid disaster. Sugar Hi (Twirling Candy) had a clear trip to the lead from an inside gate and led the compact group alongside Lemorian (Coal Front) through a quarter in :22.40. Brightwork stayed outside of that pair but was quickly joined by Ways and Means as the fillies went four across the track midway around the far turn as the half ticked by in a brisk :45.09. The top two wagering choices hit the quarter pole together but Brightwork always seemed to have the measure of the 1-2 favorite, turning back her challenge to pull out the win.

“There are really no words to describe it,” said winning owner Bill Simon of WSS Racing. “I'm so proud of Johnny and what he's done with the horse; Jared [Hughes], who picked her out; Daniel Ortiz, Johnny's brother, has been living up here with Brightwork for the summer and they deserve all the credit. It's just a phenomenal feeling. There were some great horses in this race trained by some great trainers, and we won. It's really special.”

“The horse beside me [No. 10, Lemorian], last time she broke from the one-hole at Indiana but she outbreak everybody and I know she's going to be quick,” added Irad Ortiz, Jr. “So, I say, maybe I let her go and stalk there and maybe I can bide my time and I know the horse I have to beat is the horse inside of me [Ways and Means]. That's what I tried to do and it worked out perfect.”

Pedigree Note:

Brightwork becomes the second-straight daughter of WinStar stallion Outwork to take the Spinaway following Leave No Trace's victory last year. She is out of a half-sister to several stakes winners but most notably to the dam of GSW/MGISP Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) and GISW and successful young sire Girvin (Tale of Ekati). Clarendon Fancy saw her yearling Volatile filly bring $285,000 at last month's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale and she reported a Yaupon filly this spring.

Sunday, Saratoga
SPINAWAY S.-GI, $300,000, Saratoga, 9-3, 2yo, f, 7f, 1:23.17, ft.
1–BRIGHTWORK, 122, f, 2, by Outwork
                1st Dam: Clarendon Fancy, by Malibu Moon
                2nd Dam: Catch My Fancy, by Yes It's True
                3rd Dam: Walk Away Rene, by Gold Alert
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($95,000 Wlg '21 FTKNOV). O-WSS Racing,
LLC; B-Wynnstay Inc. & H. Allen Poindexter (KY); T-John
Alexander Ortiz; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr. $165,000. Lifetime Record:
4-4-0-0, $444,051. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the
free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Ways and Means, 120, f, 2, by Practical Joke
                1st Dam: Strong Incentive (SW, $123,568),
                                by Warrior's Reward
                2nd Dam: G G's Dolly, by Comic Strip
                3rd Dam: Parfait, by Kingmambo
1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE, 1ST G1 BLACK 
TYPE. 'TDN Rising Star' O/B-Klaravich Stables (KY); T-Chad C.
Brown. $60,000.
3–Wonder Ride, 120, f, 2, by Gun Runner
                1st Dam: Wonderment (GSW, $394,870),
                                by Cosmonaut
                2nd Dam: A Wonder She Is, by Three Wonders
                3rd Dam: Video Devil, by Devil's Bag
1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE, 1ST G1 BLACK
TYPE. O-Walking L Thoroughbreds, LLC; B-Walking L
Thoroughbreds LLC & Fest Miles (KY); T-Kenneth G. McPeek.
$36,000.
Margins: HF, 6 1/4, 1 3/4. Odds: 3.00, 0.45, 31.75.
Also Ran: Alys Beach, Closing Act, Sugar Hi, Lady Moscato, Lemorian, Miz Sense. Scratched: Becky's Joker.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

 

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Solomini Stamps Himself as Sire to Watch in Saratoga

Just a few miles from where her freshman sire stands at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, Soloshot had an auspicious start to her career when the daughter of Solomini wired the field to break her maiden by 7 3/4 lengths on Aug. 27 at Saratoga. Trained by George Weaver, the filly was a $290,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic purchase for Bregman Family Racing, Jackpot Farm and Swinbank Stables.

Fast and Frisky, another daughter of Solomini, completed the exact with Soloshot in the New York-bred juvenile contest and later on the same card, another filly by the first-crop sire made a strong showing when My Shea D Lady ran third in the Seeking the Ante S. The Carlos David trainee was Solomini's first winner back at Gulfstream on July 1.

With the support Solomini received from breeders that led to a first book of 123 mares in 2020, the team at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds believes that their son of Curlin has much more to show as the year continues and beyond.

“Solomini has had a really great start to his career based upon mares bred,” said the farm's John McMahon. “We're very enthusiastic about his success. I think the initial attraction was the Curlin, at the rate that he pumps out Classic-style horses, and his Grade I, 2-year-old form.”

Initially campaigned by Zayat Stables and Bob Baffert, Solomini was a debut winner at two and he went on to run second to MGISW Bolt d'Oro in the GI Frontrunner S. and was runner-up behind champion Good Magic in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile. He was third via disqualification in the GI Cash Call Futurity to close out his 2-year-old season and as a sophomore, placed in three graded contests including the GI Arkansas Derby.

The only son of Curlin in New York, Solomini also boasts a pedigree the includes active sires Midshipman and Frosted under his second dam.

When Solomini's first foals arrived, McMahon said the farm was thrilled to see that their sire was stamping his progeny.

“The stallion tends to throw very consistent,” he explained. “They're good-sized individuals and he puts a lot of chrome on a foal.”

In the sales ring last year, the stallion's yearlings averaged just under $30,000 from 29 sold, making him the leading first-crop yearling sire outside of Kentucky.

This year his progeny fared even better at auction. His $99,000 average from a $6,500 initial stud placed him in the top 10 leading first-crop stallions. A colt out of Timberlea (Flatter) now named Wynstock brought $700,000 at the OBS April Sale, selling to agent Donato Lanni for Dr. Edward Allred and Jack Liebau. Bumped at the start, he finished fourth on debut on Aug. 25. Also at OBS April, a colt out of Miss Bonnie (Officer) brought $290,000 and at OBS March, a filly out of Passeporta (Rockport Harbor) brought $200,000.

Solomini has three winners on the year thus far. Along with Soloshot and My Shea D Lady, the Rob Falcone-conditioned Nicky Jolene showed an affinity for turf when she broke her maiden at second asking on July 9 at Belmont.

Labor Day could be another important day of racing for Solomini as he has two juveniles entered for closing day of Saratoga. Solo Rye'd will try turf for David Donk in Race 1 and Solo's Fury is the morning-line favorite in his debut for Jeremiah Englehart in Race 6.

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The Week In Review: The Year In Which Saratoga Lost Its Mojo

At the conclusion of racing on Monday, Saratoga will have handled about $800 million for the meet, the third highest handle figure ever for the track. On-track attendance was at 1,055,543 after Saturday's GI Jockey Club Gold Cup Day card, setting an all-time record with two racing days to go.

Yet, by just about any measure, it was not a good meet. Saratoga came into 2023 with the wind at its back. Every year the racing seemed to get bigger, the handle would grow and more and more fans would pile into the historic racecourse. Taking out the covid year, handle had risen at Saratoga for five straight years.

Would Saratoga ever lose its momentum or would it keep growing exponentially?

It turned this year. The 12 fatalities, including two particularly gruesome ones that occurred in full view of packed grandstand and before a national TV audience, were as bad as it gets. How many racing fans were turned into ex-racing fans on those days? NYRA has always taken the safety of the horses and jockeys very seriously and will no doubt continue to put in place measures to keep both safe.

They have some control over horse safety, but none over the weather, which was a huge problem at the meet. During the 2022 meet, only 15 races came off the grass. Through Sunday of the 2023 meet, 65 races had come off the grass. There had been 189 grass races run in 2022 versus 129 this year. That always leads to the same problems. When races come off the turf there are always a number of scratches, typically creating off-the-turf races with four or five-horse fields. On Aug. 10, an off-the-turf race actually turned into a match race. This is stuff no one wants to bet on.

NYRA is ready to do what it can to address that problem. NYRA President and CEO Dave O'Rourke has said that there is serious interest in installing a synthetic track at Saratoga by the 2025 meet. It wouldn't replace either the dirt main track or the two turf courses but would give NYRA a third option when it comes to racing surfaces and the synthetic track would largely be put to use when the rains washed races off of the turf.

The weather has been a problem, but if you dig a bit further you can find some signs that Saratoga handle was affected by more than the rain. On GI Travers Day 2023, when two races came off the turf, the handle was $50,183,71. In 2022, the handle was $55,559,315 when one race came off the grass. This past Saturday, on GI Jockey Club Gold Cup Day, they bet $27,400,509 on a day not impacted by weather. The year before the handle was $32,505,600.

“I think what happened is with all the earlier rain we lost some momentum and when that happened it's hard to get it back,” O'Rourke said.

Field size fell by 2.5 percent, from 7.75 to 7.56. A more telling number was the average handle per betting interest. It was $255,773 this year and $272,599 last year, for a drop of 6.2%.

What's done is done and there's nothing to do now but turn the page and hope Saratoga 2024 is one of the safest meets in history and the weather is gorgeous from opening day to closing day. The place is still magical and popular, but everything peaks at some point. Maybe that's happened to Saratoga.

European Dominance On The Turf

This is getting a bit ridiculous. U.S. racing is used to second-flight European horses coming over and winning some of our biggest grass race, but the year European shippers are having this year shows that our grass horses are vastly inferior. Take Saturday's GIII $2 million Mint Millions at Kentucky Downs. There was only one European shipper in the field, Ancient Rome (War Front), who is trained by Charlie Hills and was ridden by Jamie Spencer. Facing the likes of GI winner Annapolis (War Front), he came into it off a win in a handicap race. Before that you had to go all the way back to 2021 for his last graded win, a victory in the GIII Prix des Chenes in France. He won that by a half-length. He won the Mint Millions by a half-length.

A week earlier, it was Bolshoi Ballet (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). He came into the GI Sword Dancer after losing by 21 1/2 lengths in the GI King George VI and Queen Elizabeth I Stakes, where he went off at 125-1. Yet, that was good enough to win the Sword Dancer by 4 1/2 lengths. The win broke a nine-race losing streak, going back to the 2021 GI Belmont Derby where he also took advantage of a weak group of U.S. turf horses.

Then there's Aspen Grove (Ire) (Justify). She was sent off at 50-1 in the GI Irish 1,000 Guineas and finished last beaten 14 1/2 lengths. But that was good enough for her to take home first prize of $500,000 in the GI Belmont Oaks Invitational in her next outing.

Good luck to our horses in the Breeders' Cup turf races.

Surprise, Surprise, Still No News Out Of Saudi Arabia

Back in 2020, Maximum Security (New Year's Day) crossed the line in front in the 2020 $20 million Saudi Cup. Just a few days later, his trainer, Jason Servis, was arrested and charged with using performance-enhancing drugs on most of the horses in his barn. When that news broke, the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia said it was withholding the purses until it could investigate the situation

It's been 29 months since Servis was indicted, he has pled guilty and in November will begin a four-year prison sentence. The case is over, but the Saudis still haven't paid out the purse. Presumably, the winner's share of $10 million will eventually go to Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute). But no one has been paid as the Saudis, who should have all the evidence they'll ever need, do nothing and don't seem to be in any hurry to write a check. We tried to get an update on the situation this week, but the answer we got didn't really answer anything.

“Due to the extended nature of the judicial process in the USA, the JCSA has been unable to fully conduct its own investigation into the awarding of the winner's prize for The Saudi Cup 2020,” wrote the JCSA's Sarah Tregoning in response to an email sent by the TDN. “Now that the legal process in the USA has finished, the JCSA expects to swiftly conclude its own investigation and make an announcement in the coming weeks.”

I wouldn't hold your breath.

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Mendelssohn Filly Graduates at the Spa

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A narrow loser in her debut on Aug. 6, Klaravich Stables's 2-year-old chestnut filly Weigh the Risks (Mendelssohn) showed grit again Sunday to break her maiden in the first race of the afternoon at Saratoga Race Course.

At the end of a nose-to-nose battle through the stretch with Appellate (Constitution), Weigh the Risks reached the wire first with the margin of victory listed as a head. Appellate's Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano claimed foul, alleging interference in the stretch of the 1 1/16 miles turf race, but after a lengthy review the stewards did not change the order of finish. Later Darling (More Than Ready) closed from six lengths back at the top of the stretch to finish third by a neck.

Progeny (Goldencents) and Appellate set the pace with splits of 24.53, 51.14 and 1:16.28. Weigh the Risks was three or four paths off the rail in the backstretch, but had clear running. She went after Appellate in the stretch and they came close to each other three times, which prompted the claim of foul by Castellano.

“She was quite wide in the race off a slow pace,” Brown said. “I'm not saying it was a dream trip, but she didn't have as much trouble.”

Weigh the Risks, the 3-5 favorite, reached the wire in 1:45.49. She paid $3.50 to win. Klaravich purchased Weigh the Risks for $205,000 at Fasig-Tipton October. She was bred by Porta Pai Stables.

“She had a rough trip first time out,” Brown said. “We've always thought a lot of her. An ugly, slow pace today, but she was able to grind it out against another filly who looks like

she's got a bright future. We were just lucky to get our nose down first.”

Weigh the Risks was leading trainer Brown's sixth 2-year-old maiden winner of the Saratoga meet. Five of them have been for Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables.

 

1st-Saratoga, $105,000, Msw, 9-3, 2yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 1:45.49, fm, head.
WEIGH THE RISKS (f, 2, Mendelssohn–Beautiful Liar, by Candy Ride {Arg}) was favored in her career unveiling over this course and distance Aug. 6, closing from far off the pace to just get pegged a neck by Ozara (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}). Sent off the 3-5 choice to get the job done this time, the chestnut settled into a stalking fifth behind the leading pair of Progeny (Goldencents) and Appellate (Constitution) through a sensible opening quarter in :24.53. Biding her time two wide down the backstretch, she took aim at the leaders from the four-path approaching the quarter pole. Straightening for home, Progeny began her retreat, while Appellate hung tough as Weigh the Risks reached even terms midstretch. With the leading pair seemingly alternating on the front end with each stride, it was the Chad Brown trainee that gained the narrow victory over Appellate at the wire. Arguably the best performance, however, was produced by Later Darling (More Than Ready), who closed like a freight train after a problematic run early on to finish third.  The winner, a half to Cheapskate Diva (Animal Kingdom), MSW, $188,040, is also half to a yearling filly by Protonico and a 2023 colt by Flameaway. Beautiful Liar, who sold for $23,000 carrying a Goldencents colt at Keeneland November in 2019, was bred back to Hard Spun this season. Sales History: $205,000 Ylg '22 FTKOCT. Lifetime Record: 2-1-1-0, $78,750.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuelTV.
O-Klaravich Stables, Inc.; B-Porta Pia Stables, LLC (KY); T-Chad C. Brown.

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