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GISW Gift Box Gets First Mare in Foal

The first mare has been confirmed in foal to Lane's End's first-year covering sire Gift Box (Twirling Candy). Winner of the 2019 GI Santa Anita H., as well as two editions of the GII San Antonio S., Gift Box retired a millionaire for Hronis Racing and trainer John Sadler. He is the first son at stud by Twirling Candy.

Millennium Farm's Chelsea Road (Speightstown) is the first mare scanned in foal to Gift Box. When he retired, the gray joined his sire and his grandsire–Candy Ride (Arg)–in the Lane's End stallion barn. Gift Box stands for $10,000.

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West Coasters ‘Highly Motivated’ to Invade Gotham City

After capturing Aqueduct's GIII Withers S. with Risk Taking (Medaglia d'Oro), Klaravich Stables and trainer Chad Brown will continue on the road to Louisville through New York with the talented Highly Motivated (Into Mischief) in Saturday's GIII Gotham S. The one-turn mile contest awards the top-four finishers GI Kentucky Derby qualifying points via a 50-20-10-5 scale.

Highly Motivated defeated subsequent GII Remsen S. third-place finisher Known Agenda (Curlin)–a recent 11-length optional claiming winner at Gulfstream–in his Belmont maiden breaker at second asking Sept. 27, then most recently posted an ultra-impressive victory in the 6 1/2-furlong Nyquist S. with a 96 Beyer Speed Figure on Breeders' Cup Friday at Keeneland.

A trio of next out winners from the Nyquist include runner-up Quick Tempo (Tapizar), who followed up with a sharp, wire-to-wire score in the Sugar Bowl S. at Fair Grounds Dec. 19.

Javier Castellano, aboard Highly Motivated in all three of his previous starts at two, makes the trip from South Florida to ride the 8-5 morning-line favorite.

“All three of his races have been excellent, they have been outstanding efforts,” Brown said. “He certainly has kept good company. It looks to be a real solid group of 3-year-olds everywhere, and he's one of them. We rested him a bit and brought him back slowly. We're ready to get his 3-year-old campaign underway.”

Klaravich Stables and Brown will also be represented by promising Jan. 28 Aqueduct debut winner Crowded Trade (More Than Ready), who stormed home nicely to graduate by a length after breaking slowly going six furlongs.

The speedy Freedom Fighter (Violence), second choice at 5-2 on the morning line, invades from Hall of Famer Bob Baffert's Santa Anita base. A narrow, wire-to-wire debut winner at Del Mar last summer, he returned from the bench with a very game runner-up finish behind highly regarded stablemate and 'TDN Rising Star' Concert Tour (Street Sense) in the seven-furlong GII San Vicente S. Feb. 6. The dark bay fired a five-furlong warning shot for the Gotham in :59 1/5 (1/63) in Arcadia Feb. 27.

“He ran a pretty courageous race after some time off to finish second to Concert Tour, who I think is a nice horse,” Baffert said. “I wanted to keep him one turn for now. I'm not sure what his distance limitations are going to be, but I think the Gotham is a good step up going from seven-eighths to a mile. He should be ready for that.”

Wipe the Slate (Nyquist), a well-beaten sixth in the GIII Robert B. Lewis S. at Santa Anita Jan. 30, should appreciate this turnback in distance. He was a good-looking maiden winner going seven furlongs two starts back at second asking in Arcadia Dec. 26. Doug O'Neill removes the blinkers for this.

Capo Kane (Street Sense), a much-the-best, front-running winner of the track-and-trip Jerome S. Jan. 1, also cuts back in trip after setting the pace and finishing third in the nine-furlong Withers.

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Life Is Good Puts Perfect Record on the Line in San Felipe

Unbeaten 'TDN Rising Star' Life Is Good (Into Mischief), the 7-1 individual favorite in Pool 3 of the GI Kentucky Derby Future Wager, will look to go three-for-three in Saturday's GII San Felipe S. The 1 1/16-miles contest offers 50-20-10-5 points on the road to the Kentucky Derby.

The blowout debut winner at Del Mar Nov. 22 set an uncontested pace while making his two turn-debut in the GIII Sham S. Jan. 2, and, after very confident handling beneath Mike Smith in the stretch, held a 3/4-length advantage over stablemate Medina Spirit (Protonico). The rail-drawn, 4-5 morning-line favorite tackles an additional sixteenth of a mile in the San Felipe.

Life Is Good, owned by CHC Inc. and WinStar Farm, is on the same trajectory, to this point at least, as another Bob Baffert-trained son of Into Mischief, the brilliant Authentic, who pulled off the Sham/San Felipe double in 2020 en route to a Horse of the Year campaign, which also included wins in the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Breeders' Cup Classic.

The bargain $35,000 OBSOPN buy Medina Spirit, meanwhile, proved his effort in the Sham was certainly legit with a refuse-to-lose, front-running tally by a neck after taking heat through fast fractions in the GIII Robert B. Lewis S. Jan. 30.

“He's a good horse and I could tell that Mike was just cruising out there,” Baffert said of Life Is Good after the Sham. “It reminded me a lot of Authentic last year, when he did the same thing, and he looked like a drunk out there coming down [the stretch]. I think Mike did a great job just sort of cruising around there and it was just the kind of race we were looking for. They ran pretty fast, these are two good horses.”

'TDN Rising Star' Roman Centurian (Empire Maker) closed from last of six and made a flashy, four-wide rally on the far turn to finish a strong second in a blanket photo after bumping with a rival in the stretch in his stakes debut in the Robert B. Lewis.

“He's a very talented horse,” trainer Simon Callaghan said. “I think the San Felipe will reveal a lot, but again, Roman Centurian is a very good horse. I'm happy with him and looking forward to the race.”

Dream Shake (Twirling Candy) heads straight to the deep end for trainer Peter Eurton following an eye-catching 'TDN Rising Star' debut score at 20-1–good for a 96 Beyer Speed Figure–going 6 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita Feb. 7. The stacked field that day included the very hyped Baffert-trained firster Bezos (Empire Maker), who never fired in seventh.

The Great One (Nyquist), second, beaten a nose as a maiden in the GII Los Alamitos Futurity Dec. 19, enters off a blowout 14-length graduation for Doug O'Neill over three rivals at Santa Anita Jan. 23.

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Candy Man Rocket to Beat in Tampa Bay Derby

After recording a stalk-and-pounce victory in the GIII Sam F. Davis S. Feb. 6, Candy Man Rocket (Candy Ride {Arg}) will have 11 rivals standing in his way to double up in Saturday's GII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby. The Tampa Bay Derby carries 50-20-10-5 qualifying points on the road to the GI Kentucky Derby.

The Frank Fletcher colorbearer previously romped by 9 1/4 lengths at second asking going six furlongs at Gulfstream Park Jan. 9. He received 85 Beyer Speed Figures in both efforts.

The Sam Davis was Candy Man Rocket's first start around two turns. The fifth-place finisher that day Known Agenda (Curlin) returned with a daylight optional claiming tally at Gulfstream Feb. 26.

Candy Man Rocket, the 2-1 morning-line favorite for the Tampa Bay Derby, worked a bullet four furlongs in :48 3/5 (1/36) at Payson Park Feb. 28. He is drawn in post three with Junior Alvarado aboard.

“The [Tampa Bay Derby] has been on our minds since he won the Sam F. Davis,” Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said. “Any time you get a horse that runs well over that racetrack, you have to give it consideration.”

He continued, “It seems like he is doing equally as well now as he was before the Davis. He's got good natural speed away from the gate, which can always be an advantage for any horse, position-wise. The chances of getting a good trip might be better than they would for a deep closer, especially in a big field.”

After completing his juvenile campaign with two straight route wins in Kentucky, Hidden Stash (Constitution) rallied smartly from eighth after a ground-saving trip to finish third–beaten just 1 1/4 lengths–while making his stakes debut in the Sam Davis. The addition of more speed types in this full field should certainly play in his favor.

Helium (Ironicus) tries dirt for the first time in his sophomore debut. He was perfect from two tries for Mark Casse going seven furlongs over the Woodbine synthetic last term, most recently dominating six rivals in the Display S. Oct. 18.

Promise Keeper (Constitution), a well-beaten fourth behind Candy Man Rocket sprinting on debut, stretched to a mile with a sharp, front-running maiden victory for Todd Pletcher in the Gulfstream slop Feb. 6. He will have to work out a trip in his two-turn debut from post 11. Pletcher has won the Tampa Bay Derby a record five times and will also tighten the girth on Unbridled Honor (Honor Code), who took a big step forward to annex a local two-turn maiden special weight at third asking Feb. 6.

After saddling King Guillermo (Uncle Mo) to a shocking 49-1 victory in last year's Tampa Bay Derby following a third-place finish in the grassy Pulpit S., trainer Juan C. Avila will go turf-to-dirt once again with Jan. 30 wire-to-wire Gulfstream maiden winner King of Dreams (Air Force Blue).

Super Strong (Super Saver), winner of the Classico Agustin Mercado Revron S. first out in Puerto Rico Dec. 19, shows up in this ambitious spot for his U.S. debut. He worked a bullet five furlongs for trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. in :59 3/5 (1/30) at Palm Meadows Feb. 13.

“He has trained well enough to give it a shot,” said Joseph, who will also saddle longshots Awesome Gerry (Liam's Map) and Moonlite Strike (Liam's Map). “It's hard to judge his form in Puerto Rico, but he acts like the distance will be no problem. We aren't giving up much experience to most of the other horses in the race. We definitely would like him to have another race in him, but we have to play the hand we're dealt.”

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