share the ride | Horse Racing Free Tips

Majestic Dunhill Takes Bold Ruler On Penultimate Day Of Belmont Fall Meet

R.A. Hill Stable's Majestic Dunhill, under a confident ride from Joel Rosario, made the grade with a smart head score over multiple graded-stakes placed Share the Ride in Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Bold Ruler, a seven-furlong test for 3-year-olds and up at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

Trained by George Weaver, the 5-year-old Majesticperfection gelding started a step slow but tucked into second position as Share the Ride, third last out in the Grade 2 Vosburgh Invitational, marked off splits of 23.37 and 47.13 seconds on the muddy main track.

Share the Ride, with Manny Franco up, maintained the lead through the turn as Arch Cat threatened to the outside with Rosario opting for an inside run with Majestic Dunhill. A game Share the Ride stayed on strong down the lane, but the patient Rosario angled Majestic Dunhill off the rail late in the lane and surged outside his rival to secure the narrow score in a final time of 1:22.48.

Share the Ride completed the exacta four lengths in front of Arch Cat, with Mihos completing a compact running order. Wendell Fong and Phat Man were scratched.

Rosario said he was pleased with the effort from the hard-trying Majestic Dunhill, the regular workout partner for Breeders' Cup-bound Vekoma.

“He ran really well,” said Rosario. “I thought the Franco horse would have a little bit of speed. Going seven furlongs, I thought I would be laying second behind him and see where we go from there. He broke a little bit slow but he got going right away and I was able to find my spot where I wanted to be.

“When it was time to go, I asked him and he really moved nice and went on.”

Blair Golen, Weaver's Belmont-based assistant, praised Majestic Dunhill's versatility.

“This horse has been good for us from when he was 2 to now. He's won races on the turf and dirt and always runs his best race even when we put him in a tough spot,” said Golen. “We got fortunate here today and he really deserved a graded stakes win.

“Joel is a great rider,” added Golen. “He has great hands and he's very smart. He knows when to let a horse run and he's good at feeling in the bridle where the horse is at and in a race like this closing and pace are important, he fits this horse well.”

Majestic Dunhill, bred in Kentucky by Hargus Sexton, Sandra Sexton and Silver Fern Farm, banked $55,000 in victory while improving his record to 21-5-4-4. He paid $5.90 for a $2 win ticket.

Live racing resumes Sunday at Belmont with a nice-race card to close out the fall meet featuring the $80,000 Pumpkin Pie, a seven-furlong sprint for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up; and the $80,000 Chelsey Flower, a 1 1/16-mile turf route for juvenile fillies.

Closing Day will also be highlighted by a mandatory payout of the Empire 6, which boasts a jackpot of $419,254 heading into Sunday's racing action. The Empire 6 sequence kicks off in Race 4 with an approximate post time of 1:45 p.m. The card will also feature mandatory payouts for both the Early Pick 5 and Late Pick 5 wagers. First post is 12:15 p.m.

Live racing will then move to Aqueduct Racetrack for the 18-day fall meet, featuring 29 stakes, including 11 graded events, worth $3.41 million in purse money, which will kick off on Friday, November 6 and run through Sunday, December 6.

The post Majestic Dunhill Takes Bold Ruler On Penultimate Day Of Belmont Fall Meet appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Equibase Analysis: Majestic Dunhill Vs. Phat Man In Bold Ruler

A strong field of six sprinters takes to the track in the Grade 3, $100,000 Bold Ruler Handicap at Belmont Park on Saturday, Oct. 31.

Majestic Dunhill and Phat Man lead the field in terms of top efforts in these types of races. Majestic Dunhill won the City of Laurel Stakes earlier in his career before a runner-up effort in the G3 General George and most recently missed by a head at the distance at Belmont in preparation for this race. Phat Man, who returns from an eight month rest, leads the field in earnings, having banked more than a half-million, and won the G3 Fred W. Hooper Stakes in January.

Arch Cat has won 13 career races, the most in the field, and was competitive at the level last fall when second in the Dave's Friend Stakes. Share the Ride won the Mr. Prospector Stakes last month and appears to fit nicely with these. Mihos won the Mucho Macho Man Stakes in January 2019 but his only win since then came in April, and he was beaten nearly two lengths last month when third behind Majestic Dunhill. Wendell Fong won three of his first four races including the Gold Fever Stakes in May, 2019, but is winless in six races since then.

Majestic Dunhill gets preference over Phat Man as the one to beat in this year's Bold Ruler Handicap because he has won once at this seven furlong trip and been in the top three five times while Phat Man is trying the distance for the first time. Majestic Dunhill made his 2020 debut in April and finished third, then was entered in the G1 Carter Handicap in June but was scratched in favor of the First Defence Stakes the following day. Rallying strongly from sixth in a 13 horse field, Majestic Dunhill nearly posted the 11 to 1 upset in that race, earning a career-best 110 Equibase Speed Figure in the process, before two poorer efforts. However, Majestic Dunhill returned to strong competitive form last month when leading late and beaten a neck on the wire in a race at this distance at Belmont which appears to set him up for a top effort in the Bold Ruler.

Phat Man hasn't been seen since February but has run well of layoffs, as when second in December of last year and second last August. Since adding blinkers in the summer of 2019, Phat Man has won or placed in four of five races. The last two before the layoff were the best of his career, first winning the Fred W. Hooper Stakes then when second in the Gulfstream Park Mile. Both efforts earned the same 110 figures Majestic Dunhill earned in his best effort. With a series of strong workouts in the morning for his return to the races, Phat Man could easily pick up where he left off in the winter and be a force to reckon with in this race.

Arch Cat won three of four races this year but was disqualified from one of them. He won six of 15 last year and in seven of his last eight races earned figures from 101 to 108 so it appears he could be competitive with the main contenders here. His win in August was at this seven furlong distance and trainer Velazquez doesn't ship often from his base in Delaware but has won two of three at Belmont this year. Jockey Kendrick Carmouche rode Arch Cat to victory the last three times he was in the saddle and given the right scenario, Arch Cat could be capable of posting the mild upset in the Bold Ruler.

The rest of the field, with their best Equibase Speed Figures, is Mihos (102), Share the Ride (108) and Wendell Fong (108).

Win Contenders:
Majestic Dunhill
Phat Man
Arch Cat

Bold Ruler Handicap – Grade 3
Race 9 at Belmont Park
Saturday, October 31 – Post Time 4:57 PM E.T.
Seven Furlongs
Three Year Olds and Upward
Purse: $100,000

The post Equibase Analysis: Majestic Dunhill Vs. Phat Man In Bold Ruler appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Arriaga Hopes $16,000 Claim Share The Ride Continues To Improve In Vosburgh

Share the Ride, trained by Antonio Arriaga for Silvino Ramirez, enters Saturday's Grade 2, $150,000 Vosburgh at Belmont Park off a sparkling front-running performance in the Mr. Prospector at Monmouth Park that garnered a career-best 101 Beyer Speed Figure.

The 5-year-old Candy Ride gelding, bred in Kentucky by Dixiana Farms, set splits of 22.45 and 44.94 under Ferrin Peterson in the six-furlong Mr. Prospector en route to a 3 3/4-length win in a final time of 1:09.18.

Arriaga said he was surprised to see such fast fractions last out.

“We didn't expect that,” said Arriaga. “He was supposed to go easy to the front, but she sent him all the way and the horse was doing it comfortable.”

Manny Franco will take over on Saturday from post 4 in a six-horse field led by Firenze Fire and the John Terranova-trained duo of Funny Guy and Stan the Man.

Arriaga said he will let the 2020 Belmont Stakes-winning rider dictate the tactics.

“He can come from off the pace too but let's see what Manny has to say. He's been riding really good,” said Arriaga.

Share the Ride was claimed for $16,000 on July 5 out of a winning effort in a Monmouth Park sprint. He followed with a good second in an optional-claiming sprint on August 9 at first asking for new connections ahead of two even efforts on the Monmouth turf when fourth in the 5 1/2-furlong Get Serious on August 23 and fifth in the one-mile Grade 3 Red Bank on September 5.

Arriaga said the addition of blinkers for his last two starts is the only major change in equipment for Share the Ride since the claim.

“We put the blinkers on but other than that it took him a month to start eating well when we first claimed him,” said Arriaga. “Some horses when they get older, they get better. Good horses get better if you take care of them the right way, feed them the right way and spoil them and they're happy.”

After winning the Mr. Prospector on one week's rest, Share the Ride returns to action in the Vosburgh with two weeks between starts.

“He's doing good,” said Arriaga. “He gallops and jogs. With these fast horses, I try not to work them too much because they can blow their race in the workout if they go fast.”

The post Arriaga Hopes $16,000 Claim Share The Ride Continues To Improve In Vosburgh appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Peterson Notches First Stakes Win Aboard Share The Ride In Mr. Prospector

When trainer Antonio Arriaga convinced Silvino Ramirez to claim Share the Ride for $16,000 on July 5 it was with the belief that the 5-year-old gelding had the ability to be a stakes winner.

It took four starts – two on the turf, which the horse had never tried before – but Arriaga's faith was rewarded when Share the Ride dominated the field in a gate-to-wire victory to capture Saturday's $100,000 Mr. Prospector Stakes at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., by 3 3/4 lengths, giving jockey Ferrin Peterson the first stakes win of her career.

Ridden aggressively from the outset, Share the Ride broke sharply from the outside in the six-horse field, which included multiple Grade 1 winner Mind Control, and cruised through fractions of :22.45 to the opening quarter and :44.94 to the half.

He was never seriously threatened, with even-money favorite Awesome Anywhere chasing to get second, 1 1/4 lengths ahead of 6-5 shot Mind Control.

The winning time for the six furlongs was 1:09.18, with Share the Ride paying $19.40 to win in notching the first stakes victory of his 16-race career.

“Part of it was being aggressive on my part,” said Peterson, riding the horse for the first time. “He had just run long on the turf and now he was back going short on the dirt, which (agent) Julie Krone has told me it can make them sharp when they do that. (Arriaga) told me I needed to be aggressive leaving the gate because he tends to follow.

“So I gave him a really big warmup, got away from the pony, and he was really sharp. Honestly, though, the trainer and I were both surprised he broke on the lead. But then I was able to get him to relax and he had that the big kick when I asked for it. He was strong today.”

In his first start for Arriaga on Aug. 9 going six furlongs on the dirt in an optional $50,000 claimer, Share the Ride came off the pace to finish second, a length behind Awesome Anywhere. He was then off the board in the first two turf tries of his career, the most recent being a fifth-place finish in the Grade 3 Red Bank Stakes one week ago.

“We didn't expect him to go wire to wire like this,” said Arriaga. “I think he needed his last race going longer to open up his lungs. Then we cut him back from a mile to six furlongs for this race. I think that made a difference. He was very sharp today.

“We put him back on the dirt because I think he is better there. But I still believe he can be good on the turf. He's been eating well and he didn't back up on anything and he has been acting good. He was nominated to this race all along, so that's why we decided to bring him back in a week.”

A Kentucky-bred son of Candy Ride, Share the Ride notched his sixth career victory. It was the third stakes win of Arriaga's 421-race career, though he said “this is the biggest one so far.”

The post Peterson Notches First Stakes Win Aboard Share The Ride In Mr. Prospector appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post