Tag: say the word

Pletcher Lands Three, McGaughey Two On Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitation List

Grade 1 winners Say the Word and Storm the Court, and three stakes winners from the barn of trainer Todd Pletcher, lead a list of 16 horses invited Sunday to the $1-million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1) at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The third running of the 1 3/16-mile Pegasus World Cup Turf, introduced in 2019 to serve as a companion race to the $3-million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1), will be run Jan. 23. The Pegasus Turf has been won previously by eventual Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar (2019) and Zulu Alpha (2020).

The Pegasus World Cup Turf and Pegasus World Cup will be part of an extraordinary program featuring seven graded stakes, four contested on the turf. Stakes on Pegasus Day will also include the $200,000 Inside Information (G2), $125,000 William L. McKnight (G3), $125,000 Marshua's River (G3), $125,000 La Prevoyante (G3) and $125,000 Fred Hooper (G3).

The 12 horses given first preference for the Pegasus World Cup Turf are (in alphabetical order):

  • Anothertwistafate – Owned by Peter Redekop B.C., Ltd. Trained by Peter Miller
  • Breaking the Rules – Owned by Phipps Stables. Trained by Shug McGaughey
  • Colonel Liam – Owner by Robert and Lawana Low. Trained by Todd Pletcher
  • Cross Border – Owned by Three Diamonds Farm. Trained by Mike Maker
  • Doswell – Owned by Joseph Allen LLC. Trained by Barclay Tagg
  • Largent – Owned by Twin Creeks Racing Stables, LLC, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners. Trained by Todd Pletcher
  • North Dakota – Owned by Allen Stable Inc. Trained by Shug McGaughey
  • Pixelate – Owned by Godolphin, LLC. Trained by Michael Stidham
  • Say the Word – Owned by Agave Racing Stable and Sam-Son Farm. Trained by Philip D'Amato
  • Sharp Samurai – Owned by Owned by Red Baron's Barn LLC, Rancho Temescal LLC, Mark Glatt. Trained by Mark Glatt
  • Social Paranoia – Owned by The Elkstone Group, LLC. Trained by Todd Pletcher
  • Storm the Court – Owned by Exline-Border Racing, LLC, David Bernsen LLC, Susanna Wilson and Dan Hudock. Trained by Peter Eurton

The also eligible horses (in order of preference):

  • Next Shares – Owned by Debby Baltas, Richard Baltas, Christopher Dunn, Jules Iavarone, Michael Iavarone, Jerry McClanahan, Ritchie Robershaw, Mark Taylor. Trained by Richard Baltas.
  • Field Pass – Owned by Three Diamonds Farm. Trained by Mike Maker
  • Analyze It – Owned by William H. Lawrence. Trained by Chad Brown
  • Greyes Creek – Owned by OXO Equine LLC. Trained by Chad Brown

Limited seating is available and tickets can be purchased at Pegasusworldcup.com.

Fans can watch and wager on the Pegasus World Cup at 1stbet.com and xpressbet.com.

Trainer Todd Pletcher, winner of 16 of the past 17 Championship Meet titles at Gulfstream Park, has an intriguing trio of contenders for the Turf in Largent, Social Paranoia and Colonel Liam.

Largent is an improving son of Into Mischief who enters the Pegasus off a victory Dec. 12 in the Fort Lauderdale (G2). The gelding has won six of nine career starts and has won four of his five starts at Gulfstream.

Pletcher-trained Social Paranoia, a 4-year-old son of Street Boss, prepped for the Pegasus at Gulfstream Dec. 16 by winning an allowance optional claiming event off a five-month layoff. Social Paranoia earlier in the year won the Appleton (G3) at Gulfstream.

Pletcher's third entry is the lightly raced Colonel Liam, a 4-year-old son of Liam's Map who enters the Pegasus off an impressive 3 ¼-length victory Dec. 26 in the Tropical Park Derby at Gulfstream Park.

Trainer Barclay Tagg, who trained the recently retired Tiz the Law to victories in last year's Florida Derby (G1), Belmont Stakes (G1) and Travers (G1), comes into the Turf with Doswell. The lightly raced 6-year-old raced only once as a 2-year-old. The son of Giant's Causeway broke his maiden as a 5-year-old and ended 2020 with a second-place finish behind Largent in the Fort Lauderdale.

It took seven races for North Dakota to win his first race, but the Shug McGaughey-trained 5-year-old has since won three of five races with his last being the Nov. 21 Red Smith (G3) at Aqueduct. McGaughey will also send out Breaking the Rules, a 6-year-old son of War Front who comes off a fourth-place finish in the Knickerbocker (G2) in October and a third-place finish in the Fort Lauderdale (G2).

Say the Word, a 6-year-old Ontario-bred by More Than Ready, enters off a third-place finish Nov. 27 in the Hollywood Turf Cup (G2) for trainer Philip D'Amato after winning the Northern Dancer Turf (G1) in October at Woodbine. The gelding finished fourth in his only other race at Gulfstream, that coming in 2018.

Storm the Court ships in from Santa Anita for trainer Peter Eurton. Winner of the 2019 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1), the son of Court Vision was sixth in the Kentucky Derby (G1) last year before moving to turf and finishing seventh in the Hollywood Derby (G1) and second last time out in the Mathis Brothers Mile (G2)

Cross Border will attempt to give trainer Mike Maker back-to-back wins in the Pegasus Turf after saddling last year's winner, Zulu Alpha. The 7-year-old son of English Channel was second in last year's Sword Dancer (G1) and won the Bowling Green (G2), both at Saratoga. He comes into the Pegasus off a second-place finish in the Buddy Diliberto Memorial Dec. 19 at Fair Grounds.

Sharp Samurai was beaten a nose by Jesus' Team for the place in the Breeders' Cup Mile. The 7-year-old gelding, based at Santa Anita with trainer Mark Glatt, was second last year in the Pacific Classic (G1), Eddie Read (G2) and City of Hope (G2). His last victory was the 2018 City of Hope. Sharp Samurai is also on the invitation list for the Pegasus.

Pixelate, trained by Michael Stidham, comes into the Pegasus off a victory Dec. 26 in the Woodchopper at Fair Grounds. The Godolphin homebred and son of City Zip won the Del Mar Derby (G2) in September and was fifth in the Belmont Derby (G1) in October.

Anothertwistafate, winner Jan. 2 of the San Gabriel (G2) at Santa Anita and Sept. 10 Longacres Mile (G3), is invited to the Turf and is on the reserve inviation list for the Pegasus.

The Pegasus Turf also-eligible list is led by Next Shares, who will try to make his third trip to the Pegasus Turf the charm after a seventh-place finish in the 2019 edition and a 12th place finish last year. The 8-year-old would enter this year's event off a third-place finish Jan. 2 in the San Gabriel.

The reserve invitation list also includes Field Pass. The Ontario Derby (G3) winner is trained by Mike Maker, who saddled last year's Pegasus Turf winner Zulu Alpha. Trainer Chad Brown, who won the inaugural Pegasus Turf with Bricks and Mortar, has two on the reserve list in Red Bank (G3) winner Analyze Itand OXO Equine's Greyes Creek.

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From The Horse’s Mouth: D’Amato Assesses His Hollywood Turf Cup Quartet

Phil D'Amato is ready to tee it up with a foursome and take a big swing hoping to find the 'Cup.

But, rather than golf, the Thoroughbred trainer is sticking to his primary game and saddling four horses for Friday's featured $200,000, Grade 2 Hollywood Turf Cup. D'Amato's quartet for the 1 ½-mile grass marathon, all with different ownership going as separate betting interests, is comprised of Red King, Say the Word, Gregorian Chant and Acclimate.

“They're all running,” D'Amato confirmed this morning. “They're all kind of uniquely different horses and have different running styles and they've all trained well for the race.”

A capsule look alphabetically, with D'Amato's comments.

Acclimate. A son of Acclamation and an Old English Rancho homebred, the 6-year-old gelding will be making his first start in over a year but last season here won the Grade 2, 1 3/8 mile Del Mar Handicap. “He had a bunch of little things to take care of and then it (comeback) got complicated by the COVID situation and the fires near Santa Anita,” D'Amato said. “One setback after another; but his last few works have indicated to me that he's back close to being his old self.”

Gregorian Chant. The 4-year-old English-bred hit the board in his last three starts for owners Slam Dunk and Old Bones Racing and comes in off a third-place finish in the Lure Stakes at Santa Anita that produced a career-best Beyer Speed Figure. “He was gelded (in May) and he's improved every race since,” D'Amato said. “We want to stretch him out (first time beyond 1 1/8 miles) and see what he can do.”

Red King. A victory this past summer in the Del Mar Handicap provided entrée to the $4 million Breeders' Cup Turf at Keeneland. But things didn't work out when he finished ninth of 10. “He needs some pace to run at and there was zero pace in the race,” D'Amato said. “We were stuck wide on a slow pace and couldn't kick with those other really good horses. He's back here now, happy and healthy and hopefully we'll get the kind of effort we did last summer.”

Say the Word. The 5-year-old gelded son of More Than Ready, owned in partnership and bred by Sam-Son Farm, is a newcomer to D'Amato's stable and comes in off a victory in the Grade 1 Northern Dancer at Woodbine. “He's worked twice here and looked very good,” D'Amato said. “We're looking forward to seeing what he can do.”

The field from the rail with jockeys and morning line odds in parenthesis: North County Guy (Mario Gutierrez, 15-1); Oscar Dominguez (Irad Ortiz, Jr., 15-1); Red King (Umberto Rispoli, 5-1); Say the Word (Flavien Prat, 5-1); Arklow (Joel Rosario, 5-2); Gregorian Chant (Ricardo Gonzalez, 20-1); Acclimate (Tyler Baze, 12-1); Laccario (Manuel Franco, 3-1); Ward 'n Jerry (Jose Valdivia, Jr., 20-1); Proud Pedro (Juan Hernandez, 20-1); Marckie's Water (Tiago Pereira 30-1), and Another Mystery (Mike Smith, 10-1). Listed as also eligible are Tartini (Tyler Baze 30-1) and Fivestar Lynch (Abel Cedillo, 30-1).

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Black Friday’s Hollywood Turf Cup Features Wide-Open Field Of 12 At Del Mar

A wide-open edition of the $200,000 Hollywood Turf Cup – a handicapping delight for those who like the challenge of a well-matched and highly competitive field – will be the day-after treat this Friday at Del Mar as a dozen turfers will ramble a mile and one-half in the seventh local running of the Grade II offering.

The marathon will go as Race 7 on the nine-race Thanksgiving Friday card. Though 14 horses have been named to run, only 12 will go due to safety considerations. The two also-eligibles will get a chance if there is a scratch in the main body of the field.

A trio of out-of-towners add special spice to the handicapping stew – Donegal Racing, Bulger and Coneway's Arklow, Manfred Ostermann's Laccario and Agave Racing Stable or Sam-Son Farm's Say the Word. They'll all be making their Del Mar debuts.

The race also has drawn its defending champion – Messineo or Sands' Oscar Dominguez, who rallied through the lane to win by a neck over turf star United in last year's running. It additionally has lured back a pair of runners who have been there before – Mr. & Mrs. Larry Williams' Ward 'n Jerry, third in the Turf Cup last year, and Little Red Feather and Tavares' Marckie's Water, fourth in the 2018 edition of the race.

Here's the lineup for the feature from the rail out with riders and morning line odds: Messino and Sands' North County Guy (Mario Gutierrez, 15-1); Oscar Dominguez (Irad Ortiz, Jr., 15-1); Little Red Feather, Jacobsen or Belmonte's Red King (Umberto Rispoli, 5-1); Say the Word (Flavien Prat, 5-1); Arklow (Joel Rosario, 5/2); Old Bones Racing Stable, Slam Dunk Racing or Nentwig's Gregorian Chant (Ricky Gonzalez, 20-1); The Ellwood Johnston Trust, Timmy Time Racing or Tevelde's Acclimate (Tyler Baze, 12-1); Laccario (Manny Franco, 3-1); Ward 'n Jerry (Jose Valdiva, Jr., 20-1); Benowitz Family Trust, Madaket Stables or Mathiesen's Proud Pedro (Juan Hernandez, 20-1); Marckie's Water (Tiago Pereira, 30-1), and Team Block's Another Mystery (Mike Smith, 10-1). The two also-eligibles are Red Baron's Barn or Rancho Temescal's Tartini (Baze on a second call, 30-1) and CYBT, Nentwig or Weiner's Fivestar Lynch (Abel Cedillo, 30-1).

If you look in the money-won column, it is “no contest” in this one with the 6-year-old Arch horse Arklow the biggest of the big dogs. The bay named for an Irish seaside town about 35 miles south of Dublin has banked $2,546,116 in his stellar career so far and shows seven wins and seven seconds from 30 starts. Twenty-four of those starts have been in stakes races, including outings in the last three runnings of the Breeders' Cup Turf. This will be the 12th different racetrack where the stretch runner has performed and the 11th time he's run a mile and one half. He's trained by Brad Cox, currently the second-leading trainer in the country with more than $17 million in purses this year.

Say the Word, a 5-year-old Canadian-bred gelding by More Than Ready, comes into the race off a smart win in the Grade I Northern Dancer Stakes at Woodbine on October 18. A winner of five races and $445,292 in purses, the stretch runner has been shifted to the barn of trainer Phil D'Amato for his West Coast debut.

Say the Word is one of four horses D'Amato has entered in the marathon. The others are Red King, winner of the Del Mar Handicap here on August 22; Gregorian Chant, a 4-year-old gelding looking for his first stakes win, and Acclimate, a 6-year-old gelding making his first start since running in the Breeders' Cup Turf in 2019 at Santa Anita.

Loccario is a German-bred 4-year-old colt who ran in his homeland up until an allowance start at Belmont Park on October 3. He was a Group I winner overseas and now takes his training from H. Graham Motion.

First post for the Friday card is 12:30 p.m.

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Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Wilson Making The Most Of ‘Bizarre’ Year

One of the unique challenges presented by this year's pandemic has been the restricted travel of jockeys between different racetracks. At Woodbine in Canada, jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson found a way to turn that restriction into an opportunity.

“We always like to root for the horses who ship from here to run out of town,” Wilson said. “This year it's been far more rare, so we've been watching them a lot more closely. It's always fun to root for your home team.”

Wilson was glued to a television screen when trainer Gail Cox sent Sam-Son Farm's Say the Word to Saratoga in August, running the 5-year-old son of More Than Ready in a 1 3/16-mile allowance race on the grass.

“Junior Alvarado rode him and he came last to first with a wicked run,” Wilson recalled. “I was extremely impressed, and I mentioned to Gail that I liked the way he'd run and that I'd like to ride him.

“Woodbine only had five Grade 1's this year, and quite often we get a lot of ship-in horses, so the locals have to step up their game. I'm always on the lookout for serious horses, and I thought he'd be a tough horse.”

Wilson first rode Say the Word in the G3 Singspiel Stakes over 1 1/4 miles on the grass, beaten just 1 1/2 lengths overall to finish third.

“I got to know him a little bit; he's a little bit unique so I had to find that happy balance and get on the same page with him,” said Wilson. “It's like in hockey, if you take a left wing and place him on the right, it's going to take him a little bit of time to get used to that side.”

Cox and Wilson's end goal was to stretch the horse out to the 1 1/2 miles of the Grade 1 Northern Dancer Turf, held last Saturday, Oct. 17, and Say the Word responded brilliantly. Making his signature last-to-first move, Say the Word made a big run in the stretch to win by a length.

“Say the Word was definitely coming into his own this year,” Wilson said. “I'm grateful to have gotten the mount when I did.”

Say the Word and Emma-Jayne Wilson winning the Northern Dancer Turf Stakes

Of course, big race days don't feel quite the same this year without the presence of spectators at the Ontario oval.

“When I walk up on big race days at Woodbine, I enjoy that moment looking up at the grandstand and its totally full,” Wilson explained. “Normally on Queen's Plate day, you come on the gap at the seven-eighths pole and the grandstand is packed, just thousands and thousands of people, and you can feel each and every one of them, their energy.

“This year was bizarre. You can feel the energy of the horses, the jocks, the anxiety, but it wasn't the same. It didn't have the anticipation, that buzz of the crowd, and I definitely miss that. It's a big part of our game; the fans are massive and we wouldn't be there without them.”

Though Wilson has earned both an Eclipse Award and multiple Sovereign Awards for her riding career, last weekend's Northern Dancer Turf is just the third Grade 1 win added to her resume. The first came in 2015, also in the Northern Dancer Turf aboard Canadian champion Interpol. It took five years until she rode her second Grade 1 winner, Lady Speightspeare, victorious in last month's G1 Natalma Stakes.

“Lady Speightspeare is a pretty significant horse,” said Wilson. “I think you're going to be hearing her name quite a lot down the road.”

A Charles Fipke homebred out of his multiple graded stakes-winning mare Lady Shakespeare, the 2-year-old daughter of Speightstown won both her starts this year for trainer Roger Attfield. Lady Speightspeare earned an expenses-paid berth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf via her Natalma victory, but an ill-timed knee injury will keep her from making the trip to Keeneland.

“She's an athlete and a competitor, and she wasn't taking any prisoners (in the Natalma),” Wilson said. “It's disappointing that she's not able to go to the Breeders' Cup, because she was definitely one that I was willing to sit out races for, just to ride that one race; she is that good.”

Were Wilson to have made the Breeders' Cup trip with the filly, it would likely have cost her a total of 24 days away from Woodbine because of COVID-19 quarantine protocols. The jockey is currently tied for third in the standings with 72 victories this year, so her willingness to give up those days of riding indicate just how special she believes Lady Speightspeare could be.

What has made her two Grade 1 victories and strong 2020 season even more special, Wilson said, is the fact that she missed significant portions of the last two seasons with injuries.

“I'd been pretty lucky,” Wilson said. “I had a liver laceration in 2010 that kept me out of the saddle for three months, and it was serious, but physically I was okay. I didn't have any broken bones or anything, so I just had to maintain my physical fitness while being careful.”

In 2018, Wilson took a spill the morning before the meet started at Woodbine that resulted in the worst injuries of her career. She broke her humerus (upper arm) all the way through and required surgery with a 5 1/2-inch metal plate and nearly a dozen screws to put it back together.

“I wasn't expecting the challenges that came along with it,” Wilson admitted. “I was thinking it would take about six to eight weeks for the bone to heal, which was accurate, but then I remember trying to take my arm out of the sling and straighten it and I just couldn't.

“It was immobilized from the moment I hit the ground until a few weeks after surgery. After a trauma like that and then it gets seized up, it was disconcerting that my arm wasn't working the way I wanted it to. I wasn't prepared for the rehab; the muscle atrophy and loss of range of motion were just shocking.”

Four months after the injury Wilson was able to get back in the saddle, and she wound up winning 48 races at Woodbine in 2018.

Last year, her injury occurred on Sept. 8 in an afternoon spill. She fractured her left clavicle and three bones in her right hand, also requiring a surgical repair.

“The severity of those wasn't nearly as bad, but they're still injuries,” Wilson said. “I've learned over the years that I'm a professional athlete, and part of my job is knowing how to rehab. Most importantly, the rest days are just as important as the working ones.

“When I was a kid I was just, 'Go go go!', but you come to appreciate the days of healing. I made healing my job, and it was essentially eight weeks to the day that I was back in the saddle, so that was reassuring.

“I really have a great team behind me. My wife (equine chiropractor Laura Trotter) is just phenomenally supportive, and my personal trainer Matt Munro is a physiotherapist as well. When you have such a passion and a love for the sport like I do, it makes it easy to work harder and be ready to go as soon as you return.”

Wilson showed she was definitely ready to return, capping her 2019 season with 59 wins to finish sixth in the standings last year.

The jockey used to travel south in the winters to work the Fair Grounds meet, but that changed when she and Trotter started a family. Now, Wilson prefers to stay home with her 3-year-old twin daughters, Avery and Grace. She'll still fly to Florida a couple times a month as the weather starts to warm up, staying for the weekend to breeze a few horses for regular clients, then returning home to her family.

Until this spring, of course. The coronavirus pandemic put the entire Woodbine meet in jeopardy, so like the rest of her fellow jockeys based at the Ontario track, Wilson was grateful to be riding when the season started in June, about six weeks later than usual.

The hard-working 39-year-old has since turned the abbreviated meet into a successful one, making it one of her best years in the saddle yet. Wilson says she's far from finished, though.

“This game's been good to me, and I enjoy it every single day, every single leg up,” Wilson said. “I think I'll keep riding for as long as I'm healthy and happy. When you're winning races for great connections it's easy to have a love for the sport, and being in the winner's circle always helps you pull out of tough times, so there's no better reason to keep going.”

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