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‘Rising Stars’ Rendezvous at the Jersey Shore

The 'second season' for this year's crop of 3-year-olds–both boys and girls–gets underway in earnest with the running of the $1-million GI TVG.com Haskell S. at Monmouth Park for the males and the GI CCA Oaks about 2 1/2 hours earlier at Saratoga. And intriguing matchups between the top two morning-line choices loom in each of the nine-furlong tests.

Zedan Racing Stable's 'TDN Rising Star' Taiba (Gun Runner) was made the narrow 7-5 Haskell favorite by oddsmaker Brad Thomas and was utterly brilliant in his first two career starts, winning his Mar. 5 debut by a wide margin for Bob Baffert before belying his relative inexperience to take out the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby Apr. 9 after being switched to the barn of Tim Yakteen. Somewhat surprisingly sent out the 5.80-1 second-elect in the GI Kentucky Derby, the $1.7-million Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream purchase retreated to finish a well-beaten 12th after racing in a prominent position early on.

The chestnut is now back with Baffert, who certainly knows his way to the Monmouth winner's circle, having won the Haskell on nine previous occasions. Can Taiba add to the record?

“We know he's lightly raced but I feel he's doing really well,” Baffert said. “I wanted to watch him train. I wasn't really convinced he was going to the Haskell. He breezed really well. He's a big, strong heavy horse who won't light it up in the mornings, but I was surprised what he did first out [to breeze]. I let him dictate if he was ready or not. I wasn't going to throw him into the deep end of the pool.

“I would have liked an extra week with him,” Baffert admitted. But he's doing really well. He has speed and he doesn't get tired. The two turns won't be a problem for him. The Kentucky Derby was a tall order for him. I don't know what happened in the Derby. I wasn't around. The Haskell is a great race and there are some really good horses in here. I hope the horse shows up.”

Even if he does fire his best shot, he will be made to work for it given the presence of undefeated 'Rising Star' Jack Christopher (Munnings), who could well jump the Haskell favorite. Perfect in four trips to the post, the bald-faced chestnut was the likely choice in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile last year after gliding home much the best in the GI Champagne S., but was sidelined by injury on the eve of the race. Winner of the GII Pat Day Mile first off the seven-month hiatus May 7, he stormed home to take the seven-furlong GI Woody Stephens S. by double digits June 11, earning some high praise from his trainer.

“This horse is an exceptional talent,” Chad Brown said following the Woody Stephens. “This is my 15th year of training and I've never had a dirt horse with this much pure brilliance. He reminds me a lot of Ghostzapper when I worked for Bobby Frankel. He's a brilliant horse that can probably run any distance.

“Everybody wants to have horses like this–horse of a lifetime– including me.”

The Haskell serves as a 'Win and You're In' qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland the first weekend of November.

An equally inviting battle is in the cards at the Spa, where Secret Oath (Arrogate) and Nest (Curlin), both winners of important Grade Is and each exiting a run against the boys in a Triple Crown race, go head to head in the CCA Oaks. Mike Kane has our detailed preview.

UN Highlights Haskell Undercard…

The first three home in the June 11 GI Resorts World Casino Manhattan S. at Belmont renew acquaintances in the GI United Nations S. Tribhuvan (Ire) (Toronado {Ire}), who led every step of the 10 furlongs at Belmont, looks to join the likes of English Channel, Presious Passion and–going back to the days when the race was held as the Caesars at Atlantic City–Sandpit (Brz) as back-to-back winners of the race. Stablemate Adhamo (Ire) (Intello {Ger}) has a gap of 3 1/2 lengths to bridge, while Gufo (Declaration of War) should find Saturday's mile and three-eighths journey more to his liking. The two Grade Is anchor a run of five consecutive graded events, beginning with the GIII Monmouth Cup–where Brown fields the two market leaders–continuing with a contentious renewal of the GIII WinStar Matchmaker S. and concluding with GISW Search Results (Flatter) getting a fair bit of class relief in the GIII Molly Pitcher S.

In Other Action…

In Saturday's GII Connaught Cup at Woodbine, one of two steppingstones to the GI Woodbine Mile in September, 'TDN Rising Star' Shirls Speight (Speightstown) will have to overcome gate 14 and 13 other rivals, including last year's 1-2 finishers Avie's Flatter (Flatter, gate 13) and Olympic Runner (Gio Ponti, gate 12). The road to the GI Del Mar Oaks begins with the GII San Clemente S., where Phil D'Amato saddles four European imports, led by Bellabel (Ire) (Belardo {Ire}), who makes her first start since thumping her competition in the Jan. 2 Blue Norther S. at Santa Anita. Saratoga also stages the GIII Caress S. in which defending champion Caravel (Mizzen Mast) faces a challenge from 'TDN Rising Stars' Star Devine (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) and Tobys Heart (Jack Milton) as well as the progressive Bout Time (Not This Time).

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Some Old, Some New As Saratoga Opens For Summer 2022

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY – D. Wayne Lukas is back and so is the Wilson Chute, after a much, much longer absence, for the 154th summer of Thoroughbred racing in Saratoga.

The 40-day season at historic Saratoga Race Course launches Thursday and runs through Labor Day, Sept. 5. It will be the 77th consecutive year of competition at Saratoga–since the closing for three years during World War II–which coincidentally makes it the second half of the very long run since the first meet was held in 1863. During the eight-plus weeks of racing, 77 stakes worth $22.6 million in purse money will be contested.

In 2020, the Saratoga season was conducted without fans to comply with COVID-19 protocols in place at the time. With fans back on the grounds last summer, the meet was a smashing financial success. Even though 45 races were moved off the turf due to wet conditions, Saratoga had a record all-sources handle of $815,508,063. Luis Saez was the leading rider for the first time and Chad Brown won his fourth training title.

Lukas, 86, was stabled at Saratoga for 36 consecutive years, but missed the last two seasons due to a combination of the pandemic and a drop in quality of his long-powerful stable.

After his 3-year-old filly Secret Oath (Arrogate) won the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks and finished fourth in the GI Preakness S., he talked about shipping her to Saratoga for the GI Coaching Club American Oaks and the GI Alabama S. Instead, the typically enthusiastic Hall of Famer brought a crew of runners from Kentucky and is back at his longtime Saratoga base, Barn 83, on the northeast corner of the Oklahoma training track stable area.

“We're a little bit deeper than that one horse,” Lukas said. “That's one of the reasons. You cannot survive here financially if you don't have a couple of horses that are competitive. If you try to come up here with one horse, this place is just right under the national debt as far as expenses. We've got a little depth. We've got a couple of 2-year-old fillies that have already exposed themselves and can run and we've got a couple of colts that we think can run. So, we brought 16 head trying to think that we were somewhat competitive. The racing here is good but it's not overwhelming. It's awful good in Kentucky right now, too.”

Lukas debuted at Saratoga in 1984 and made an immediate impact, finishing 1-2 in the Alabama with Life's Magic (Cox's Ridge) and Lucky Lucky Lucky (Chieftain) and won the GI Spinaway S. with Tiltalating (Tilt Up). He has won at least one race every year at Saratoga, is a six-time training champ and has 254 victories, 60 in stakes. Three of those stakes wins came in Saratoga's signature race, the GI Runhappy Travers S. He could have his 21st Travers runner on Aug. 27, Ethereal Road (Quality Road), who is headed to the GII Jim Dandy S. on July 31.

Briland Farm's Secret Oath will have her final work for the $500,000 July 23 GI CCA Oaks on Friday or Saturday.

Lukas suggested using capital letters for his comments on how the filly is doing a week out from the race.

“Very, very good,” he said. “Very good.”

Lukas will saddle BC Stables's 'TDN Rising Star' Summer Promise (Uncle Mo) in the GIII Schuylerville S. for 2-year-old fillies on Thursday. He has won the six-furlong opening day feature six times and sits in a tie with his former assistant and fellow Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher. Summer Promise, a $500,000 yearling purchase, won her debut by five lengths June 25 at Churchill Downs. His most-recent win in the Schuylerville was in 2004 with Classic Elegance (Carson City).

This will be the eighth summer that the Fitch brothers, Patrick, Jason and Adam, have operated King's Tavern on Union Avenue, across from the main entrance to the track. They leased a drab seasonal bar and turned into a busy year-round venue that is popular with track fans. They managed to get through the difficult first pandemic year in 2020 and had a solid 2021.

“We're looking at this meet and the only real concern we have is the weather,” Jason Fitch said. “If we can, let's get some sunny days and have the rainy days be on Monday and Tuesday. We're hoping that it's smooth sailing and the buzz has been–even throughout the hard winter with foot snow storms–that people are coming out.

“People just want to be out of the house. That whole post-COVID-locked-up-let-me-be-free vibe is still going on. I think this is going to be our busiest Spa meet yet. Hands down, I think it's going to be the busiest one.”

In January, NYRA announced plans to rebuild the Wilson Chute, which would bring back one-mile dirt racing back to Saratoga. The chute, which runs parallel to Nelson Avenue, provides jockeys and horses a straight run before entering the main track on the first turn. The original Wilson Chute was first used in 1902 after the track, which opened in 1864, was reconfigured and expanded from one mile to 1 1/8 miles by the new ownership group headed by William C. Whitney. It was named for Richard T. Wilson, Jr., a prominent horseman and partner in Whitney's group. Wilson, a three-time winner of the Travers, served 20 years as the president of the Saratoga Association and was instrumental in rebuilding the clubhouse and Turf Terrace, which opened in 1928. The chute was closed after the 1972 season and the space it occupied used for parking.

With the Wilson Chute gone, NYRA could not card dirt races at distances between seven furlongs and 1 1/8 miles. It was also an issue when one-mile turf races had to be moved off the grass and run at either seven furlongs or nine furlongs.

In 1992, NYRA experimented with one-mile races, ran 25 of them during the season, then scrapped the plan amid criticism that the configuration favored horses that drew inside.

“It wasn't a chute,” said retired jockey Richard Migliore, who was in the midst of his long career that season. “They basically just put the starting gate on the outside fence. They backed it up as far as they could with room enough, obviously, to load the horses, but there was no true chute there at all.”

Migliore said he was skeptical at first when he heard about the new chute, but changed his opinion after seeing images of how it was constructed.

“It appears to be a proper chute where the angle's good,” he said. “It shouldn't be bad on the horses and the riders to get position and it looks like there's actually a straightaway into the bend, not that it's a long one.”

A half-dozen jockeys tested the chute on Tuesday. A decision on how many horses will be allowed to start from that gate will be made after some races are run. NYRA would like a maximum of 10 starters. The first one-mile dirt race in 30 years will be the inaugural running of the Wilton S. for 3-year-old fillies on opening day. The Wilton drew nine starters, three of them from Pletcher.

A new permanent two-story building on the west side of the horse path from the paddock to the track will open Thursday. The Post Bar and Paddock Suites replace The Post Bar, which operated under a canopy for several seasons. The Post Bar will remain an open-air facility, while the suites above it are climate controlled.

A year after he won the GI Saratoga Derby Invitational with State of Rest (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}), Irish trainer Joseph O'Brien is scheduled to have six stalls for a satellite division at Saratoga this summer. O'Brien, the son of legendary trainer Aidan O'Brien, and Freddy Head are the only two people to ride and train Breeders' Cup winning horses.

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D. Wayne and Laurie Lukas Join ‘Let’s Talk’

The TDN's 'Let's Talk'–a podcast series featuring TDN's Christina Bossinakis and TVG's on-air analyst Gabby Gaudet, offers candid discussion on personal and professional issues often faced within the racing community.

The latest edition features Hall of Fame horseman D. Wayne Lukas, who collected his latest Grade I victory with Secret Oath in the May 6 Kentucky Oaks.

Wayne Lukas is no stranger to success. Inducted into racing's Hall of Fame in 1999, the Antigo, Wisconsin native has spent over four decades reshaping and even defining the sport of horse racing. And while the victories may not be as plentiful as they may have once been, the 86-year-old continues to find himself on center stage on the big days, as was the case with Secret Oath when running fourth in the latest running of the GI Preakness S. While many other octogenarians are content with enjoying the fruits of their labors in retirement, Lukas continues to forge ahead with the same passion and intensity that he displayed during the zenith of his training career.

“I still get up at 3:30 every morning and now at my age, that alarm doesn't go off–I usually beat it,” he said. “But if it does go off, at 3:30 in the morning at my age, you might [want to] tip back and say, 'Woah boy.” But I refuse to let myself do that. I refuse to let the old man in.”

Well lauded for the string of assistants who have gone on to become top-level trainers in their own right, Lukas remains very forthright about the influence he has tried to exact over his team throughout the years. The one-time basketball coach underscored that it wasn't only the star graduates like Todd Pletcher, Kiaran McLaughlin, Dallas Stewart, et al that he tried to mentor, but also the ones that may not have been able to reach the heights of some of their contemporaries. Often referred to as 'The Coach,' Lukas has certainly earned that moniker.

“It bothered me that I was able to develop six or seven kids and give them a certain experience and there were seven or eight or 10 on the team that I really couldn't influence in that area,” he explained. “They just weren't good enough but they were good, hard-working kids. Kids that had the dream as much as the ones that were playing. And it always bothered me a little bit. I tried to influence all my players.”

And that philosophy branched over to racing.

“So when I got into horse racing, I was very upset if we had two or three horses that didn't turn out, especially if I bought them. And I wanted to make everyone of them profitable.”

Also during the discussion, Lukas addressed several of the pressures of training, often magnified with age, and many of the present-day player's tendency to migrate toward a younger trainer with a higher win percentage.

He said, “When you get to my age, most people wonder, is he out? Is he still doing it? They often turn to a younger person.”

Later in the program, Lukas is joined by his wife, Laurie. Candid about her first impression of Lukas, the lifelong horsewoman was quick to point out that the man was, in many ways, quite different than that of his public persona.

“When I first met him, it was just a chance meeting and I wasn't super impressed..I thought he was really full of himself,” she admitted. “I'd known of him for years and years like everyone else. I just thought he had a bit of an ego.”

She continued, “But the first time we had a conversation on the phone, it was a totally different deal. He has so much depth. The conversations were fascinating. He's so engaging and very intelligent. And that was my surprise. I didn't expect that.”

And what makes the relationship work?

“I have such great respect for her as a horseperson,” affirmed Lukas. “I don't have to go home at night and hold a clinic or a seminar on what we're trying to do or where we're trying t go.”

Laurie added, “We both get it. I understand that passion and that drive. And I won't be complaining about why we can't go to dinner tonight or why we can't do this or that because I get it. That really helps.”

The show is sponsored by 1/ST Racing and Healthnetics.

To watch the entire 'Let's Talk' podcast, click here. And for the audio only version, click here.

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Taking Stock: Gun Runner in Heady Company

Two weeks ago, when I wrote the column “First Crops Yield Derby and Oaks Winners,” I'd expected to write about Taiba (Gun Runner) and Secret Oath (Arrogate), the two I'd liked the most in the Gl Kentucky Derby and Gl Kentucky Oaks, respectively. I'd spoken mainly about those two on Steve Byk's popular SiriusXM program “At the Races,” and my feeling was that Gun Runner in particular was on a trajectory to get a first-crop Classic winner. His start at stud had been exceptional with his first juveniles, and the momentum was carrying forward with his 3-year-olds, headed by Taiba, who'd won the Gl Santa Anita Derby in only his second start; Cyberknife, who'd accounted for the Gl Arkansas Derby from a field that included Secret Oath; and Early Voting, who'd lost the Gll Wood Memorial in a photo to Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) in only his third start. Instead, my column was about Rich Strike (Keen Ice) and Secret Oath.

Last week, Byk asked for my opinion on the Gl Preakness. My choices, I told him, were Early Voting (Gun Runner) and Secret Oath. There were plenty of reasons and handicapping angles for which to like Early Voting, entering the Preakness on a similar path traveled by his connections' 2017 Preakness winner Cloud Computing, a first-crop Classic winner for Maclean's Music. But my primary reason for picking Early Voting, like Taiba in the Derby, was all about Gun Runner. “I just think, Steve, that Gun Runner is such a good stallion, and he's going to get a first-crop Classic winner,” I'd said.

Early Voting defeated race favorite Epicenter (Not This Time) to land the Classic, his first top-level win.

After the race, Steve Asmussen, who trains Preakness and Derby runner-up Epicenter and conditioned Gun Runner, told the Pimlico media team: “The silver lining on that is Gun Runner is probably the greatest sire of all time. He's incredible.”

That's hyperbole, of course, but Gun Runner is certainly on a special trajectory, and who knows? Before Early Voting, Gun Runner had already sired four Grade l winners from his first crop, and now he has an astonishing five, with plenty of racing yet to come for his 3-year-olds, who could become even better at four and five, as he did. Gun Runner didn't win his first top-level race until late in his 3-year-old season, and at four he was outstanding, winning four Grade l events. At five, he won the Gl Pegasus World Cup in January before entering stud at Three Chimneys, which campaigned the horse with Winchell Thoroughbreds, the owner of Epicenter.

Could Gun Runner end up with six or seven Grade l winners from his first crop? It's a jaw-dropping possibility, but having five already is heady enough. With the massive books stallions cover these days, it's unfair to compare horses from different eras purely by first-crop Grade I winners, but suffice to say Gun Runner has sired more of them than any other active sire in North America, which includes such outstanding stallions as Into Mischief, Tapit, War Front, Curlin, Uncle Mo, Quality Road, Speightstown, Medaglia d'Oro, and his own sire, Candy Ride (Arg), who got four in his first crop.

In a different era, Gainesway's Blushing Groom (Fr), a foal of 1974, sired five first-crop Grade/Group 1 winners, and in Europe, the iconic Sadler's Wells, a foal of 1981, got six. More recently, Sadler's Wells's son Montjeu (Ire), a foal of 1996, got five Northern Hemisphere-bred Group 1 winners from his first crop, and Frankel (GB), who was born in 2008 and is by Sadler's Wells's greatest sire son, Galileo (Ire), got six. This isn't necessarily a comprehensive list, but it paints the picture of the company that Gun Runner is rubbing shoulders with as his stud career unfolds, and it's safe to say he's sired his first five Grade l winners quicker than any of them. All of these named here with five or more also sired a first-crop Classic winner.

Sire Line
Most stallions tend to have their best results in their first crops. Three Chimneys is certainly aware of this, having stood Slew o' Gold, who got four Grade l winners in his first crop and nothing thereafter approaching that level of success. Exceptional stallions, however, will gut it out with their second, third, and fourth crops and rebound as they get better mares again.

Likewise, exceptional sires will sometimes appear from unlikely branches of major stallions. This was the case with California-bred Tiznow, the broodmare sire of Early Voting. Tiznow was sired by the stakes-placed California stallion Cee's Tizzy, a son of the In Reality horse Relaunch.

More recently, Uncle Mo is such an example. His California-bred sire Indian Charlie was by California-based In Excess (Ire), a son of the Caro (Ire) stallion Siberian Express.

Both Caro and In Reality were outstanding sires who had a number of top sons at stud, but the existence of their lines in North America now runs through obscure branches that resuscitated them after the bigger names failed to carry on the lines. The same paradigm is true for Gun Runner, who traces to Fappiano through the sequence Candy Ride/Ride the Rails/Cryptoclearance/Fappiano.

Fappiano is mainly represented in North America through Unbridled's sire sons Empire Maker and Unbridled's Song, both of whom are now dead. Empire Maker's son Pioneerof the Nile, also dead, is the sire of American Pharoah, while Unbridled's Song's son Arrogate, also dead, is the sire of Secret Oath. Candy Ride, who entered stud for only $10,000, improbably brought his branch of Fappiano to the fore to compete with the established lines of Fappiano, and now his son Gun Runner is blowing it up to a level that may surpass the tail-male influences of Empire Maker and Unbridled's Song. And Gun Runner isn't the only one; Candy Ride is also the sire of the excellent Twirling Candy–responsible for last year's Preakness winner Rombauer– plus a bunch of other young stallions with runners on the way.

Here's something else that makes this story even more interesting: Bred by Haras Abolengo, Candy Ride, who isn't a particularly eye-catching or sizable individual, had several veterinary issues and twice failed examinations before selling to Gumercindo Alonzo for the equivalent of $12,000 as a yearling. Nonetheless, he was an exceptional if brittle racehorse, undefeated in three starts in Argentina and three starts in North America.

At stud, Candy Ride had a great affinity for mares with Storm Cat in their pedigrees, and Gun Runner, who's from a Giant's Causeway mare, is one such example.

This same affinity for Storm Cat is evident in Gun Runner's early success as well. Early Voting's second dam is by Storm Cat, who's also in the pedigrees of two other Grade l winners by the stallion. In fact, five of Gun Runner's Graded winners have Storm Cat in their pedigrees, and altogether six of his 11 black-type winners do.

After Gun Runner was first retired to Three Chimneys, I had the opportunity to inspect him and was struck by how balanced he was, so much so that he didn't appear to the eye to be as tall as the 16.2 hands he is. At the time, he was five and had furnished significantly from his days as a somewhat immature-looking 3-year-old, but nonetheless he carried some refinement to him that seemed as if it would complement more muscular physiques, like the ones provided by Storm Cat. It made sense then, and judging by results, it makes sense now.

Sid Fernando is president and CEO of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, Inc., originator of the Werk Nick Rating and eNicks.

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