skippylongstocking | Horse Racing Free Tips

Saturday Preview: Charge It Gets Blinkers On For Oaklawn ‘Cap

He is the most talented horse–pound for pound–in a field of seven that was drawn earlier this week, but Whisper Hill Farm's 'TDN Rising Star' Charge It (Tapit) nevertheless has a fair bit to prove as the 8-5 morning-line favorite in Saturday's $1-million GII Oaklawn H. in Hot Springs.

The 23-length winner of last year's GIII Dwyer S., the homebred returned with a stylish Gulfstream allowance victory first off a seven-month absence Feb. 5, but exits a disappointing runner-up effort in the GII Gulfstream Park Mile Mar. 4. The blinkers go on for this return to nine panels.

“He's always been a little bit of a curious colt,” said trainer Todd Pletcher, a two-time winner of the race. “We contemplated putting blinkers on him after [finishing second in] the Florida Derby last year. We just didn't think doing in the Kentucky Derby was the right move and then came back and won the Dwyer so impressively. It's hard to make a change off that, but it's something that's been in the back of our mind. We've worked him with them since his last race and I think they may make a difference.”

Not since Gay Revoke in 1964 and 1965 has a horse gone back-to-back in the Handicap, but Last Samurai (Malibu Moon) has a shot to put pay to that streak Saturday. If anything, the 5-year-old is in even better form this time around, having bested next-out, big-figure GII New Orleans Classic romper West Will Power (Bernardini) and subsequent SW Law Professor in the GIII Razorback H. Feb. 18 before reeling in Classic Causeway (Giant's Causeway) last time in the GIII Essex H.

“We've gone from winning the Essex to probably fourth choice in the Handicap,” said Hall of Famer Wayne Lukas, who took over the training of Last Samurai from Dallas Stewart after last year's race and registered the most recent of his record four wins in the race with Willis Horton's Will Take Charge (Unbridled's Song) nine years ago. His first? Imp Society in 1985.

“It's a very, very tough race. But for a million dollars, it should be,” Lukas said.

Were Stilleto Boy (Shackleford) to emerge victorious Saturday, he would become the first horse since Best Pal in 1992 to complete the GI Santa Anita H./Oaklawn H. double. In addition to the presumable market leaders, he'll also need to hold off Godolphin's Proxy (Tapit), who came with a stinging late rally at the Great Race Place six weeks ago only to fall a neck short.

'Skippy' Looking Like A Million Bucks for Ben Ali

Handicap horses also head to the post at Keeneland for the GIII Ben Ali (ally as in friend, not the late pugilist) S., lengthened to a mile and three-sixteenths for the first time. The hard-knocking Skippylongstocking (Exaggerator) looms a warm favorite and would surge past the $1-million mark in career earnings if adding this to his latest comprehensive score in the GIII Challenger S. at Tampa Mar. 11.

“He came out of the Challenger well and gave us the confidence to put him in here,” said Beau Chapman, assistant to trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. “He has improved with age. He is a big, lanky horse and he has grown into himself and really developed.”

Keeneland also stages the GIII Elkhorn S. for male marathon turfers and attracts last year's one-two finishers, 9-year-old Channel Maker (English Channel) and 7-year-old Another Mystery (Temple City), who between them have made 84 career starts for 17 trips to the winner's circle.

In California, Big 'Cap third Defunded (Dialed In) squares off with 2021 winner Royal Ship (Brz) (Midshipman) in the GII Californian S., while top Cal-bred Brickyard Ride (Clubhouse Ride) takes on the progressive Anarchist (Distorted Humor) in the GIII Kona Gold S.

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Cyberknife Named 5-2 Favorite For Career Finale In Pegasus World Cup

Gold Square LLC's MGISW Cyberknife (Gun Runner), last seen finishing a narrow second to Cody's Wish (Curlin) in the GI Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, is scheduled to make the final start of his racing career Saturday at Gulfstream Park as the 5-2 morning-line favorite for the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational.

The Pegasus World Cup will headline a 13-race program also featuring the GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational, the GIII TAA Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf, and four other graded-stakes races totaling $5.3 million in purses.

Following a similar pattern as his sire, Cyberknife–who drew Post 10 in the 12-horse field–will be retired after the race to begin stallion duty at Spendthrift Farm.

Cyberknife's trainer Brad Cox, who was victorious in the 2021 GI Pegasus World Cup with Knicks Go (Paynter), finished second behind WinStar's Life Is Good (Into Mischief) in last year's renewal.

“It's really amazing he's been able to stay as good as he has physically and mentally,” said Cox. “He's improved a tremendous amount mentally over the last six, seven, eight months. Physically he looks amazing. He's given us all the signs – and maybe even more so now, working better than he ever has leading up to this. He is older. He's stronger than he was throughout his 3-year-old season. And he's going to need to be.”

Florent Geroux, who rode Gun Runner in his own Pegasus World Cup victory, is named to ride Cyberknife.

Godolphin LLC's Proxy (Tapit), rated second on the morning line at 9-2, enters the Pegasus World Cup off his first career Grade I victory in the GI Clark S. Nov. 25 at Churchill Downs.

“Certainly, I feel like the Pegasus is going to come up tougher overall, a tougher race, so we have to pick our game up from the Clark,” said trainer Michael Stidham. “I don't think we can run the same race we ran in the Clark and expect to win. I think we need to do a little bit better, and I'm hoping my horse will move forward from the Clark. That's what we need to see.”

Joel Rosario, who rode Knicks Go for his 2021 Pegasus World Cup score, has the call on Proxy from the rail.

Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., who leads all trainers with victories during the current meet at Gulfstream, is represented in the field by three horses: Daniel Alonso's Skippylongstocking (Exaggerator) (5-1; Post Seven), C2 Racing Stable LLC and La Milagrosa Stable LLC's White Abarrio (Race Day) (10-1; Post Four), and Fernando Vine Ode and Michael and Jules Iavarone's O'Connor (Chi) (Boboman) (10; Post 12). Jose Ortiz has the call on Skippylongstocking, while Tyler Gaffalione and Javier Castellano are named to ride White Abarrio and O'Connor, respectively.

Trainer Bob Baffert will send Michael Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman's Defunded (Dialed In) (6-1; Post Five) to the Gulfstream Park track Saturday in search of his third success in the Pegasus World Cup after being victorious with Arrogate in 2017 and Much Gusto in 2020.

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas has made a late change in jockeys for Willis Horton Racing LLC's Last Samurai (Malibu Moon) (20-1; Post Nine), who will be ridden by Frankie Dettori.

Bruce Lundsford's Art Collector (Bernardini) (10-1; Post Six) will be ridden by Junior Alvarado, who celebrated his 2000th career victory Saturday at Gulfstream.

Completing the field are Gary Barber's Get Her Number (Dialed In) (15-1; Post Eight), Tami Bobo and Tristan de Meric's Simplification (Not This Time) (15-1; Post Two), Steve Moger's Stilleto Boy (Shackleford) (30-1; Post 11), and Cash is King LLC and LC Racing LLC's Ridin With Biden (Constitution) (20-1; Post Three), who drew into the 12-horse field Sunday upon the defection of Super Corinto (Super Saver).

Dream Team One Racing's Hoist the Gold (Mineshaft) and Mark Breen's Endorsed (Medaglia d'Oro) are also eligible in the listed order.

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GISW Proxy Heads Pegasus Workers

Godolphin's Proxy (Tapit) had his last major workout at the Fair Grounds Saturday in preparation for the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Jan. 28. The 5-year-old official time for the six-furlong move to the seven-eighths pole was 1:13.20, the fastest of two works at the distance Saturday morning.

Working in tandem with stablemate Global Sensation (Into Mischief), the pair covered five-eighths in 1:00.40, with Proxy working an additional eighth-mile past the wire. With a crush of horses working right after the track's renovation break, exercise rider Arturo Aparicio ran into traffic past the wire and had to steer Proxy around a couple of horses galloping out from their own workout.

“Basically Proxy had to go around those horses and weave a little bit to navigate around the turn,” Stidham explained. “It probably cost him a length or two in the final time. But a very nice work. He finished up well and went on out real nice and continued to gallop out well down the backside.”

He added, “The last work [five-eighths in a minute flat] and this work were the two important works. I just wanted to see him finish up willingly and then continue around the turn with good energy. He did that last time and this time really well.”

Runner-up in the GIII Lecomte S. and GII Risen Star S. in the spring of his sophomore season, the homebred finished fourth in the GII Louisiana Derby and GIII Lexington S. before bowing out for the remainder of the season. In 2022, he returned with an allowance win in New Orleans in February before hitting the board in his next four starts, including a third in the GII Stephen Foster S. last summer. Trying Grade I company for the first time in the Nov. 25 Clark, he came home a 3/4-length winner going nine furlongs, the same distance as the Pegasus.

“We talk about it, that Proxy wasn't quite where he needed to be to go into the Triple Crown,” Stidham explained. “It wasn't 'Oh well, why don't we do this or that?' It was a done deal. Believe me, the reason [2021 G1 Dubai World Cup scorer] Mystic Guide [Ghostzapper] did what he did was because of that, allowing us to go slow with him and skip some of the big races, including the Breeders' Cup. With Proxy, skipping the Triple Crown has allowed us to get to winning the Clark. I don't think a lot of people realize how important those decisions are in a horse's career, for their future.”

Also working toward the Pegasus, Saffie Joseph Jr. sent out Daniel Alonso's Skippylongstocking (Exaggerator) and Fernando Vine Ode and Michael and Jules Iavarone's O'Connor (Chi) (Boboman) to the main track at Palm Meadows for easy half-mile breezes Saturday morning.

Skippylongstocking breezed a half-mile in :48.50 (18/99), while O'Connor was caught in :51.05 (88/99) at Gulfstream's satellite training facility in Palm Beach County. Both horses were breezing for the first time since running in the GIII Harlan's Holiday S., won by Skippylongstocking. O'Connor finished fourth in the 8 1/2-furlong test Dec. 31. Joseph Jr. also trains White Abarrio (Race Day), who prepped for the Pegasus at Gulfstream Friday morning with a five-furlong work in :59.24.

Joseph also sent Ken Ramsey and the Estate of Sarah Ramsay's Artie's Princess (We Miss Artie) to Palm Meadows' main track for a half-mile breeze in :48.45 in preparation for a start in the GIII Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf invitational.

At Santa Anita Saturday, GI Awesome Again winner Defunded (Dialed In) also worked in advance of the Pegasus World Cup. The Bob Baffert trainee drilled six furlongs in 1:12.6.

Taking on the Pegasus Turf

At Santa Anita Saturday morning, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Speaking Scout (Mr Speaker), victorious in the Dec. 3 GI Hollywood Derby, breezed a half-mile in :48.20 for a start in the GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational. Also pointing toward the Turf, Three Diamonds Farm's Atone posted his third straight bullet workout Saturday at Gulfstream, powering through five-eighths of a mile in :59.96 (1/48). The prior two weeks, Atone worked in :59.04 and :59.20.

A $130,000 Fasig-Tipton July purchase, he led all the way through a leisurely pace to win his last start, an Aqueduct turf allowance Nov. 10.

“He's in top form. The freshening did him well, so I expect another big performance from him,” said trainer Mike Maker, who won the 2020 Pegasus Turf with Zulu Alpha. “He's always been a straightforward horse, works well, puts a bunch into his gallops.”

For the second straight year, Atone needed defections from the Pegasus Turf's original invitees in order to run. Last year, he finished fourth, losing by a total of 1 3/4 lengths to two-time winner Colonel Liam (Liam's Map).

While the 6-year-old gelding has never won a stakes, he has hot the board five times in graded-stakes over the past 13 months.

“He's been a little bit of a hard-luck horse,” Maker said. “He's a lot more mature this year than he was last year.”

Maker also indicated Mark Breen's Endorsed (Medaglia d'Oro), fourth in last year's Pegasus World Cup at 85-1 odds, and Nice Guy Stables' GIII Knickerbocker S. winner King Cause (Creative Cause), who is awaiting a spot in the Pegasus Turf, would run if they get into their respective races.

Both horses are currently on the reserve list. The final invitational lists will be released Wednesday, Jan. 18 with the draw for all Pegasus races to take place Sunday, Jan. 22.

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White Abarrio Works Towards Pegasus

C2 Racing Stable LLC and La Milagrosa Stable LLC's White Abarrio (Race Day) tuned up for his expected next start in the Jan. 28 GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. with a five-furlong move over the Gulfstream Park main track Friday morning that was timed in :59.24.

“It was a good solid work. Tyler [Gaffalione] was on him this morning. He was in good order, finished well,” said trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. “He had a good gallop-out. We're pleased with where we're at. Things have gone well so far. We need another good 15 days.

“I think right now, coming into this race, he's as good as ever,” the Barbadian conditioner added. “He's coming off his best race number-wise. That was the fastest he ever ran, even faster than his wins. So, he's coming off his fastest race; he's had good spacing and runs well fresh; and he's coming back to the track he's 4-for-4 on. I think everything is aligning properly.”

Narrowly beaten into third when last seen in the GI Cigar Mile H. at Aqueduct in early December, the 4-year-old is one of three from his barn on the Pegasus invitation list. He is joined by recent GIII Harlan's Holiday S. hero Skippylongstocking (Exaggerator) and O'Connor (Chi) (Boboman). Both are scheduled to work Saturday.

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