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Beau Recall Runs Down Favored Newspaperofrecord In Churchill Distaff Turf Mile

Slam Dunk Racing and Medallion Racing's Beau Recall was impressive late to upset Saturday's Grade 2 Churchill Distaff Turf Mile at odds of 8-1, defending her 2019 title with a late move to pass 1-2 favorite Newspaperofrecord and win by about two lengths on the wire. Ridden by Manny Franco, the 6-year-old daughter of Sir Prancealot covered a mile over firm turf in 1:35.39.

It was trainer Brad Cox's fifth win in the past two days at Churchill Downs, after saddling a pair of maiden special weight winners in Travel Column and Essential Quality, Monomoy Girl to win the G1 La Troienne, and Shedaresthedevil to win the G1 Kentucky Oaks.

“I thought she had a big shot midway down the lane,” said Cox. “She did exactly what Manny (Franco) was instructed to do. He actually did exactly what Irad (Ortiz Jr.) did in the race last year when she won it. The race in California (the Grade II Yellow Ribbon Handicap) she never had a shot. I want to thank those owners for allowing her to run here at Churchill. She loves it here. We sort of knew coming into this week that it could be a big week for our stable. This is our home and to have this sort of weekend on the biggest stage in the sport is really special.”

Ridden for the first time by Javier Castellano, the Chad Brown-trained Newspaperofrecord went straight to the lead out of the gate. She pulled away to an easy two-length lead around the clubhouse turn, setting her own fractions of :23.99 and :47.93 under a moderate hold. Juliet Foxtrot and Belle Laura were up close in second and third, while La Signare, Beau Recall, and Daddy Is a Legend made up the rest of the field.

Rounding the far turn, La Signare was making up a lot of ground on the outside but never appeared to be a threat to the loose-on-the-lead Newspaperofrecord. The heavy favorite pulled away by several lengths at the top of the stretch, but appeared to idle on the front and was caught by the giant late rally of Beau Recall.

Beau Recall blew by Newspaperofrecord in the final sixteenth, crossing the wire about two lengths in front. Newspaperofrecord had to settle for second, with La Signare checking in third. Juliet Foxtrot finished fourth.

“She knows how to get it done,” Franco said. “I just rode her with confidence. I let her have the target in front of us. I was patient until we got in the clear and that's when I asked her to run and she just exploded.”

Bred in Ireland by Tom Wallace, Beau Recall is out of the Great Commotion mare Greta d'Argent. She was a $19,025 yearling at the Tattersalles Ireland sale, and broke her maiden in her home country before shipping to the United States. Under the care of trainer Simon Callaghan, the mare tallied a Grade 2 victory and a trio of graded stakes placings through November of 2018, and then was transferred to trainer Brad Cox.

Beau Recall won a listed stakes at the Fair Grounds, then was entered in the 2019 Keeneland January sale but did not meet her reserve when bidding stopped at $385,000. She returned to the track and racked up wins in the G2 Distaff Turf Mile and G2 Yellow Ribbon in 2019, and this year's edition of the Distaff Turf Mile is her first victory of 2020.

Overall, Beau Recall's record stands at 8-8-0 from 29 starts for earnings of over $1.4 million.

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Cosato Hoping Sales Are a Slam Dunk, Too

Nick Cosato, who has made a habit of hitting the winner’s circle with graded stakes victors from his Slam Dunk Racing partnership, will aim for big-time success in the sales ring when he offers a colt from the first crop of champion Arrogate during the second session of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale Sept. 14. Consigned by War Horse Place, the gray yearling (hip 280) is a half-brother to Grade I winner Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect).

The hard-trying speedster Whitmore has become a fan favorite with six graded stakes wins over the last four years and he continues to have success into his 7-year-old season, most recently finishing second in the GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. But it was the venerable gelding’s very first start back in November of 2015 that first attracted Cosato’s attention.

“When Whitmore ran in his debut race, I loved the way he ran,” Cosato said. “I reached out to [trainer] Ron Moquett and tried to buy him. This was early on in Slam Dunk’s existence. It kind of sounded like they were going to sell, but then they got an internal partner to buy in, so he wasn’t for sale. I thought the next best thing would be his dam.”

Whitmore’s dam Melody’s Spirit (Scat Daddy) had failed to sell at that year’s Keeneland January Sale when offered by his breeder, John Liviakis.

“I reached out to John Liviakis, who at the time was racing in California,” Cosato said. “I asked John if he would be interested in selling the mare and he initially said no. But two weeks later, he called me back and he said, ‘You know what, I am interested in selling her.’ So I bought her.”

Cosato’s first foal out of the unraced mare was Kid Sis (Atriedes), who sold for $135,000 at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton July Yearling Sale and eventually joined Moquett’s barn after selling for $130,000 at the OBS June sale the following year.

The mare’s colt by Liam’s Map sold to Alex and JoAnn Lieblong for $190,000 at last year’s Keeneland September sale. Now named Skip Intro, the bay colt is training with Moquett at Churchill Downs and most recently worked five furlongs in 1:01.20 (12/19) Aug. 23.

“The Liam’s Map, from what I’ve been told, has had three or four and they are pretty high on that one,” Cosato said.

Of the decision to send Melody’s Spirit to Arrogate, Cosato said, “He was a phenomenal racehorse. I would say, in my lifetime, Secretariat’s GI Belmont S. win, Arazi’s win in the Breeders’ Cup, and you’d have to put Arrogate’s win in the G1 Dubai World Cup right up with those two. There was a lot of buzz and I thought it would be great to go to a stallion like that. Here we are a couple of years later and hopefully he represents us well at the sale.”

Now 11, Melody’s Spirit is in foal to Constitution.

“She throws an absolutely beautiful foal and she has been an absolute treat to have. We are looking forward to the Constitution–knock on wood that it comes out safe and healthy,” Cosato said.

A California native, Cosato was a jockey’s agent for two decades, handling the books of leading riders like Pat Valenzuela, Victor Espinoza, Corey Nakatani, Garrett Gomez and Michael Baze. After a hiatus from the game to raise his son Ryan, he started his Slam Dunk Racing in 2013. The partnership’s silks have been carried to victory by graded stakes winners Beau Recall (Sir Prancelot {Ire}), Madame Dancealot (Ire) (Sir Prancelot {Ire}), Maxim Rate (Exchange Rate) and Axelrod (Warrior’s Reward). In partnerships, Slam Dunk enjoyed graded success last year with GII Triple Bend S. winner Air Strike (Street Sense) and this year with GII Davona Dale S. winner Tonalist’s Shape (Tonalist), who goes postward in Friday’s Charles Town Oaks.

While Slam Dunk is a racing partnership, the breeding operation is all Cosato’s.

“Melody’s Spirit is my best broodmare,” Cosato said. “I play at a lower level on a lot of the others, based on pedigree. I try to race most of them, but the higher-end ones, I can’t afford not to sell them. We have 80 horses, total, broodmares, weanlings, yearlings and horses in training. We probably have 35 to 40 in training. When you race a lot, you have to generate some revenue, so some of them, even though I would love to keep them and race them, they just get too expensive to keep and race.”

Melody’s Spirit was acquired from Liviakis, but she’s not the only one and Cosato credits the California breeder with the creation of his own broodmare band.

“We started talking pedigrees,” Cosato recalled of his introduction to the breeding side of the industry. “John is a big out-cross guy and he taught me a decent amount about the whole out-cross breeding. Before I knew it, I had a lot of his mares. John is a pretty excitable guy when things are going good. When things go south, he lets go of a lot of things. So if you catch him at the right time, you can get a pretty decent deal. He is a fair man. Things were going really well for me and I grabbed a few of his broodmares.”

He continued, “It’s a crap shoot, it’s an expensive part of the game. The game is expensive generally, but the breeding-like they say, if you want to make a billionaire a millionaire, tell them to get a farm.”

Cosato will be hoping to make the breeding industry work for him when he sends his lone yearling offering of the year through the ring at Keeneland.

“Hopefully there are many more to follow, but this will be our first Book 1 offering,” he said. “Obviously, if this colt doesn’t bring what I think he should, then I would consider racing him. But I think he’s going to. He’s a really good-looking individual.”

The Keeneland September Yearling Sale begins Sunday, Sept. 13 and continues through Sept. 25. The two Book 1 sessions which open the auction begin at noon. Following a dark day Tuesday, the sale resumes with sessions beginning daily at 10 a.m.

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‘Timing’ Is Right For Beau Recall To Repeat In Yellow Ribbon Handicap

Nick Cosato, a former jockey agent who is now head of the Slam Dunk Racing partnership organization, was introduced to the sport at a young age via weekend trips to Santa Anita with his father.

His father was good friends with Eduardo Inda, the right-hand man for Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally and an integral part of the team that campaigned John Henry to the Hall of Fame as well.

“So I was able to be around John Henry quite a bit,” Cosato said. “I've got pictures with me and John Henry before and after he won the Santa Anita Handicap in 1982. John Henry was my lifelong favorite – until Beau Recall came along. For her to be at that level, in my mind, speaks volumes.”

Beau Recall, a 6-year-old Irish-bred mare, is the defending champion in Saturday's $150,000, Grade II Yellow Ribbon Handicap at Del Mar, a 1 1/16-mile turf test for older fillies and mares which will be run for the 68th time.

In the 2019 Yellow Ribbon, Beau Recall rallied along the rail to win a by a margin so narrow it took several minutes to verify the photo, then several more for stewards to deny an objection for interference by the rider whose horse had finished last.

“It was a lengthy inquiry for something I didn't think merited being brought up in the first place,” Cosato recalled. “But in the end, the stewards' decision was the one we were hoping for.”

The Yellow Ribbon was one of three victories and three runner-up efforts in a six-race 2019 campaign for Beau Recall that accounted for $605,600 of her `more than $1.1 million in career earnings. The Yellow Ribbon was her second Grade II victory of the year, coming three months after a 10-1 upset in the Distaff Turf Mile, which gave Cosato and partners the thrill and prestige of going to the winner's circle before 150,729 spectators at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day.

Cosato doesn't favor one over the other. He savors both.

“Any time you win one of those big races it's just a complete blessing,” Cosato, who grew up in Temple City and now lives in Sierra Madre, said. “Nothing beats winning at home, and I'm a Californian who has been coming to Del Mar since I was a kid.”

Beau Recall has raced twice in 2020. She finished ninth of 14, albeit beaten only 2 ¼ lengths, in the Mint Julep at Churchill Downs on May 30 and second in the Grade I Just a Game Stakes at Belmont Park on June 27.

“Her comeback race (Mint Julep) turned out to be nothing more than a workout,” Cosato said. “She never had room to run, never got to unleash the late kick that makes her so good.”

In the Just a Game, Beau Recall's late charge came up three lengths short against front-running Newspaperofrecord but a half length ahead of Uni, winner of the 2018 Matriarch Stakes at Del Mar and an Eclipse Award as the top female turf runner last year.

Beau Recall prevailed over five rivals, among them multiple stakes-winning Vasilika, in the 2019 Yellow Ribbon. There are seven others entered Saturday, among them Jolie Olimpica, winner of two graded turf sprints at Santa Anita this year and Keeper Ofthe Stars, who took the Grade I Gamely in May.

Beau Recall may carry the colors of Slam Dunk – a name Cosato chose because of the many friends/clients he has with NBA or college basketball backgrounds – but a victory Saturday is nowhere near such a high percentage opportunity.

“It's a tough race,” Cosato conceded. “We're trying to get her a Grade I win, but for that at a mile, you'd almost have to run against the boys. Timing-wise, the Yellow Ribbon is right and we're hoping it works out for her again.”

The field from the rail: Summering (Drayden Van Dyke, 12-1); Bodhicitta (Flavien Prat, 6-1); Tonahutu (Victor Espinoza, 15-1); Lady Prancelot (Juan Hernandez, 5-1); Harmless (Ricardo Gonzalez, 15-1); Keeper Ofthe Stars (Abel Cedillo, 7-2); Beau Recall (Umberto Rispoli, 3-1), and Jolie Olimpica (Mike Smith, 5-2).

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