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Saturday Preview: Brown Returnees Feature On Haskell Preview Day

While the $150,000 Pegasus S. (more on that below) serves as the local feeder into next month's GI TVG.com Haskell Invitational S., the graded events on Saturday's Haskell Preview Day at Monmouth Park are set to mark the seasonal debuts for a pair of Chad Brown-conditioned Grade I winners from last term as well as a 'TDN Rising Star' from the same shedrow looking to kick start what connections hope will be a productive 4-year-old campaign.

Peter Brant's Gina Romantica (Into Mischief) makes her first appearance since taking out the GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland last fall. The $1.025-million KEESEP yearling flashed ample ability on dirt, winning twice from four starts, but was reinvented as a grass filly in the second half of 2022. Upset winner of the Riskaverse S. at Saratoga when making her turf debut last August, she was a pace-compromised second in the GIII Pebbles S. before accounting for stablemate McKulick (GB) (Frankel {GB}) in the QE II. Florent Geroux replaces fellow Frenchman Flavien Prat in the boot.

Tribhuvan (Fr) (Toronado {Ire}) returns to the site of his victory in the 2021 GI United Nations S. and can give Brown a remarkable seventh consecutive victory in the GIII Monmouth S. The all-the-way winner of last year's GI Manhattan S. was a pacesetting fourth behind stable companion Adhamo (Ire) (Intello {Ger} in defense of his United Nations title and makes his first trip to the races since a weakening sixth in the GI Sword Dancer Invitational S. at Saratoga last August. Among the competition is Never Explain (Street Sense), who annexed the GIII Dinner Party S. at Old Hilltop May 18.

Sandwiched between those races is the GIII Salvator Mile S. Artorius (Arrogate), who carries the famed Juddmonte silks, progressed rapidly at three, winning his maiden and 'Rising Star' honors at second asking before streaking away to win the restricted Curlin S. at Saratoga last July. Allowed to take his chance in the GI Runhappy Travers S., he was a not-quite-ready-for-prime-time sixth to Epicenter (Not This Time) and was a latest fourth in the seven-furlong Perryville S. at Keeneland last fall.

Quality Over Quantity in Bed o' Roses

It would be easy to say the connections of the four others entered for Saturday's GII Bed O'Roses S. at Belmont Park were dismayed when champion Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper) was entered Wednesday, but given the strength of the competition, the reverse might also be true.

Last year's GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint heroine was the victim of some race riding and was forced to settle for third in the GI Derby City Distaff S. at Churchill Downs May 6, so revenge will be on their mind, but it may not be straight-forward. Derby City runner-up Wicked Halo (Gun Runner) lines up a few doors down, while the in-form Beguine (Gun Runner) and GII Vagrancy S. victress Caramel Swirl (Union Rags) add to the intrigue.

Pegasus, Monomoy Girl Lure Big Names

The Pegasus has attracted a field of eight mostly exposed 3-year-olds, topped by a pair of shippers from the barn of Todd Pletcher. Kingsbarns (Uncle Mo) looks a standout and is unlikely to jump at anything close to his 8-5 morning line, having wired the field in the GII Louisiana Derby before wilting to 14th after attending the sizzling pace in the GI Kentucky Derby six weeks ago. Classic Catch (Classic Empire) was a wide-trip and creditable fifth in the GII Wood Memorial S. two back, and his fourth in the GIII Peter Pan S. looks considerably better given what Arcangelo (Arrogate) did around Big Sandy last weekend.

Saturday's relocated Monomoy Girl S. also looks a two-horse affair on paper. Wet Paint (Blame), who made a belated run to be fourth behind the commonly owned 'TDN Rising Star' Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief) when favored in the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks May 5, squares off against Hoosier Philly (Into Mischief), who failed to make the Oaks cut but hinted at a return to form with a runner-up effort in the GII Black-Eyed Susan S. at Pimlico May 19.

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Tiger Moth Filly Gets Going at Hanshin

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Hanshin and Hakodate Racecourses:

Saturday, June 17, 2023
5th-HSN, ¥13,720,000 ($97k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1200m
ECORO GAIA (c, 2, Speightstown–Charge of Angels, by Distorted Humor) is a full-brother to the stakes-placed Winning Number and is out of an unraced daughter of the outstanding producer She's A Winner (A.P. Indy), whose offspring include GISW Bluegrass Cat (Storm Cat), MGSW Lord of the Game (Saint Ballado) and GSW Dramedy (Distorted Humor). She's A Winner's full-siblings include GISW Girolamo, MGSW/GISP Daydreaming– the dam of GISW Imagining (Giant's Causeway)–MGSW & GISP Acclerator and the dam of GI Kentucky Derby hero Super Saver (Maria's Mon). A $120,000 Keeneland September purchase, Ecoro Gaia is the 50th Japanese starter for this sire and looks to become his 42nd winner. Charge of Angels was purchased by Chad Schumer in foal to Charlatan for $40,000 at KEENOV last fall. B-Spry Family Farm (KY)

Sunday, June 18, 2023
2nd-HSN, ¥10,480,000 ($74k), Maiden, 3yo, 1400mT
MERITITES (f, 3, American Pharoah–Gem Gem, by Tapit) cost JS Company $140,000 at the 2021 Keeneland September Sale and is out of a full-sister to GISW Careless Jewel who was knocked down to R. J. Bennett on behalf of breeder Charles Fipke for $625,000 in foal to Uncle Mo at the 2016 KEENOV sale. The pensioned Careless Jewel is the dam of Reframe (American Pharoah), who made up for some single-minded ways to become a listed winner of over $670,000 in Japan. B-Charles Fipke (KY)

5th-HAK, ¥13,720,000 ($96k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1200mT
THREE TIGER (f, 2, Into Mischief–Tiger Moth, by Street Sense) is the second foal out of her dual Grade III-winning dam, a half-sister to the classy MGSW Last Gunfighter (First Samurai) and to the dam of Grade II-placed juvenile filly Dancing Belle (First Samurai). Herself a $375,000 graduate of last year's Keeneland September Sale, Three Tiger is the year-younger half-sister to $675,000 KEESEP buy Harbour Bridge (Justify), a latest second in a Churchill maiden allowance June 2. B-John D Gunther (KY)

7th-HSN, ¥15,200,000 ($107k), Allowance, 3yo/up, 1600mT
T O GRANVILLE (c, 3, Lea–All in Fun, by Tapit) belied odds of 34-1 to score a visually impressive three-length victory when debuted over a mile at Niigata May 20 (see below, SC 10) and gets a positive rider change to Mirai Iwata for this second go. The stakes-placed All in Fun, a sister to MGSP Tight Ten, was purchased by Winchester Farm for $125,000 with this colt in utero at the 2019 Keeneland November Sale and has since been exported to Japan, where she foaled a Justify filly in 2021. The colt's third dam is two-time Grade I winner Fleet Renee (Seattle Slew). B-Mishima Stud Ltd (KY)

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This Side Up: First Among Equals

They talk about the glass ceiling, though back in 1992 Shelley Riley ran into something more like a glass wall. For a few strides, it looked as though she was going to make history as she watched Casual Lies–a Lear Fan colt she had found as a short yearling for $7,500–lead into the stretch with most of the Kentucky Derby field in trouble. But then that invisible barrier came down, and Lil E. Tee ran by to win by a length.

Her reward? Later that year, somebody claiming to represent a movie star approached Riley offering to buy into the horse, in the same breath mentioning the gentleman whose barn Casual Lies would then be joining. Naturally, the horse stayed where he was. And, whatever the progress meanwhile made by wider society, so did horse racing.

As has been pretty universally recognized, our community could not have been more fortunate in where fate finally found a female trainer to win a Triple Crown race. Jena Antonucci knows that her gender should be as irrelevant to everyone else as it is to Arcangelo (Arrogate), and it feels somewhat disrespectful that she should be constantly required to interpret such a momentous personal milestone as though she has arrived in our midst as some kind of gender token. But she has generously reconciled herself to that particular indignity, in order to help articulate and address those shared by all women.

And while it's embarrassing that the American sport had to wait until 2023 for this moment, actually the situation is still more flagrant in my homeland. With the likes of Criquette Head-Maarek and Jessica Harrington having won so many big races in Europe, guess how many women currently feature among the top 30 of the British trainers' championship? Two, maybe? (As is the case, thanks to Linda Rice and Brittany Russell, in the American standings.) Surely not just one?

Well, close, but the answer is one fewer than that.

That deplorable state of affairs suggests that the people investing in British stables, along with their management teams, are an even more stubborn crew than the handicappers. For the latter have grasped that Rachel Blackmore, who has raised the bar so high in jump racing, is not just the best female jockey but the best jockey, period.

If I had to confess to a candidly sexist generalization, simply from the demographics prevailing in a particular culture in a particular time, it would be that women, if anything, might have a more natural engagement with horses. Be that as it may, it would plainly be impossible for anyone to maintain the slightest coherence in proposing that they might, in any way, be less qualified to train racehorses.

Historically, admittedly, women trainers may have had to meet additional challenges, in terms of asserting the kind of authority they were chronically denied in so many other workplaces. And it is not as though those battles have been definitively won elsewhere, for instance in politics or business. But their current profile in this profession suggests a culpable failure, in our community, to match even such progress as has been painfully achieved in other walks of life.

Jena Antonucci with Arcangelo the day before the Belmont S. | Sarah Andrew

So much so, that arguably it should be incumbent on those in a position to influence behaviors to exercise some positive discrimination. Given the gender ratio among licensees, after all, that's nothing like as tough as it should be. But perhaps these billionaires should be saying to themselves: “Right, my team is about to hit the sales. At the end, I'm going to ensure that at least [for instance] two of my eight new yearlings go to female trainers.” Is that so much to ask in a world containing, say, Josie Carroll and Cherie DeVaux?

We know the chicken-and-egg element in any trainer's reputation: get some good material, win some good races, get better material. Of course, I'm not saying that all trainers would do equally well with the same material. But if we truly believe in merit, then the only way for the training profession to become a true meritocracy-and to achieve the requisite volume of female entry-is for the role models to have proper respect and opportunity. As it is, Antonucci had to seize her moment with a $35,000 yearling, hardly an exponential leap from the $7,500 Casual Lies.

Out of nowhere, and in its hour of need, Antonucci has stepped up to the plate not just for her sex but also for her sport. This is a person who had already shown exemplary ambition in terms of a more holistic, acorn-to-oak approach to the Thoroughbred's career. But even her uninhibited exhibition of excitement and joy, during the race last Saturday, offered us something valuable. This was not female joy; it was human joy. It was something that anybody would aspire to share.

A year before a woman named Jena found her platform in the Belmont, the same race had allowed one named Jana to share her experiences in a world dominated by men. Jana Barbe and her husband Roy had raised a Belmont contender, We the People (Constitution), despite being relative newcomers to the game.

She acknowledged the Turf to have proved a conservative environment, in need of more diversity in every way. But this is a corporate highflier who used to come home from work “picking shards out of my head” from that notorious glass ceiling. When she graduated law school, in 1987, the percentage of female equity partners at big law firms was 15 to 18 percent, and the goal was 20 percent. The goal today? Still 20 percent.

So, what Jena did last Saturday was what Jana urged last year, when discussing the only way to achieve change. “One person at a time, one foot in front of the other, and being really smart in how we go about it,” she said. “We will get there. Because we have to. In the end the sport will become integrated because it can't not.”

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Patience Breeds Success for Murphy’s Emerging Stable Star

GIII Louisville S. winner and Saturday's Chorleywood Overnight S. morning-line favorite Foreign Relations (Karakontie {Jpn}) very easily could have been retired from racing not long after his debut had it not been for the patience and perspective of his connections.

A $1,500 short yearling-turned-$25,000 2-year-old, Foreign Relations was not the biggest physical standout when he first arrived at trainer Conor Murphy's barn. While he did run a promising second in his debut the summer of his 3-year-old season, he incurred a minor injury soon after and his owner Double O Racing had to make a decision. They could either cut their losses and move on to the next horse or give Foreign Relations the time he needed to return to the racetrack.

Fortunately, they chose to give the maiden a year off and when the gelding returned to training last year as a 4-year-old, he took an upward trajectory that led him to the winner's circle in the GIII Louisville S. on May 20.

“The owners just gave him time,” explained Murphy. “And that was the big thing, giving him time and patience to help him get over it. The more we trained him, he showed that he had some potential. I don't think we ever thought he was as good as he has turned out to be, so it's always a nice surprise when they keep improving.”

In February, Foreign Relations broke his maiden at Turfway in his third start off the layoff. He later crossed the wire first in a Keeneland first-level allowance in his first start on turf since his debut at Ellis Park nearly two years earlier, but was disqualified after an incident in the stretch.

Murphy describes Foreign Relations as a bit of a quirky trainee, but said that the 5-year-old is finally putting the pieces together this summer.

“Even in his first couple of races back at Turfway, he raced behind the bridle a bit and he was still quite green,” he said. “I think he's finally got the hang of it. Physically as well, he has really filled into his frame. He's a big, strong horse and now we're seeing the best of him.”

Murphy initially planned to send the gelding to an allowance at Churchill Downs, but after drawing the outside post position in a 12-horse field, he opted to take a chance and go for the Grade III.

With Declan Cannon aboard, Foreign Relations stalked three wide for the mile-and-a-half turf contest before driving clear in the stretch to earn a career-best 92 Beyer Speed Figure.

The win gave Murphy his first graded stakes score at his home track. It was also the first graded win for Declan and Cassandra Orpen's Double O Racing, whose current stable roster includes the four-for-five Tom Morley trainee Grannys Connection (Connect).

“This is my first horse for them, so a good start,” noted Murphy. “They're getting their reward for giving the horse time and being patient with him. Same as any horse, if we can keep him in one piece and keep him on the right track, hopefully he can keep improving.”

While Murphy said that Foreign Relations came out of the Louisville in top form, he felt that the 5-year-old needed one last race under his belt before jumping into Grade I company. Saturday's nine-horse $175,000 Chorleywood field at Ellis Park also includes the Mike Maker-trained trio of Therapist (Freud), who was eighth in the Louisville but won the GII Pan American S. in his prior start, as well as Pan American runner-up Bay Street Money (Street Sense) and GSP Media Blitz (Medaglia d'Oro).

“This race was originally a mile and three-eighths at Churchill, so that probably would have suited him a little better but I don't think a mile and a quarter will be an issue for him,” Murphy explained. “It's a tough field again, but he's in good form.”

Murphy said that if all goes as planned on Saturday, the GI United Nations S. at Monmouth on July 22 is penciled in for the gelding's next start.

Foreign Relations and Declan Cannon take the GIII Louisville S. | Coady

Murphy could be gearing up for a big summer with Foreign Relations and another potential stable star in Dark Shift (GB) (Dark Angel {Ire}).

Raced in his home continent at two through four, the horse was a winner at Ascot for Charles Hills last summer before arriving at Murphy's barn soon after. Now campaigned by Craycroft Racing and Riverside Bloodstock, the 5-year-old broke a step late in the GIII Thunder Road at Santa Anita on Feb. 4, but still got up to show the way through most of the mile-long contest before yielding late to run fifth in a tight finish. Kept from the starting gate since due to a quarter crack, Dark Shift is now back in training and looking to return to the races this summer.

“There's the GIII Connaught Cup S. at Woodbine going seven furlongs and the GIII Kelso S. at Saratoga, so they'd be two [to consider],” Murphy said. “But if he's not ready for those, we'll give him a little longer. I think he'll be worth the wait.”

Patience is a defining quality of Murphy's operation, but a parallel trait is his stable's knack for bringing out longevity in their top-level trainees.

When Murphy, who is a native of Cork, Ireland, moved to the U.S. to open his stable in 2012, he brought with him a 4-year-old named Dimension (GB) (Medicean {GB}). The gelding raced for Murphy from four through 10. From 32 starts in the States, he produced five stakes wins including three Grade II contests and he took Murphy to two Breeders' Cups.

The 15-year-old now lives across the street from Murphy's base at Tyrone Thoroughbred Training Center (formerly Skylight Training Center) and can often be seen grazing from Murphy's barn.

Just when Dimension was retiring, another European import in Great Wide Open (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) began to make his mark for Murphy. The gelding also made his first start in the U.S. at age four and brought home several wins over the next four years including a stakes score in the 2018 Buddy Diliberto Memorial S. He was also second in the 2018 GI Shadwell Turf Mile S.

Murphy said he is hopeful that perhaps Foreign Relations could be the next longstanding star for his stable.

“The good thing with him is that he has only run seven times,” Murphy noted. “He's a 5-year-old, but I feel like there is a lot of improvement to come from him. He's an exciting horse and he loves what he does. He stands in his stall every day just looking out at the track. Fingers crossed we can win some nice races with him.”

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