Speightstown | Horse Racing Free Tips

Nashville and Charlatan Face Off in Malibu

Unbeaten ‘TDN Rising Star’ Nashville (Speightstown) has been nothing, but sensational in his three racetrack appearances thus far and he looks to take his career to the next level in the GI Runhappy Malibu S. at Santa Anita Saturday. Romping by 11 1/2 lengths in the slop in his Saratoga unveiling Sept. 2, the $460,000 KEESEP purchase demolished a Keeneland allowance by 9 3/4 lengths next out Oct. 10. His Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen decided to take a more sensible route with his pupil and bypassed the GI Breeders’ Cup Sprint in favor of the Perryville S. on the undercard at Keeneland Nov. 7. Nashville ran the field off their hooves right from the get-go, completing the six-furlong event in a new track record time of 1:07.89. That time was almost a full second faster than the BC Sprint, which Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect) finished in 1:08.61.

Nashville faces another speedy son of Speightstown who has yet to be beaten to the finish line in Charlatan. A dazzling debut winner in Arcadia Feb. 16, the ‘TDN Rising Star’ made a mockery of a one-mile allowance at Santa Anita Mar. 14, coasting home to a 10 1/4-length victory. The $700,000 KEESEP acquisition crossed the line six lengths clear when taking his division of the GI Arkansas Derby May 2, but was later disqualified for a lidocaine positive. Pointed towards the GI Belmont S. in June, Charlatan was knocked off the Triple Crown trail by an ankle chip that required surgery, but displays a speedy series of drills since returning to the Bob Baffert barn.

Baffert also sends out Thousand Words (Pioneerof the Nile) in this event. Runner-up in the GIII Los Alamitos Derby July 4, the $1 million KEESEP buy captured the Shared Belief S. at Del Mar Aug 1. A late scratch from the GI Kentucky Derby Sept. 5 after rearing up and flipping over in the paddock, the bay could only manage eighth when seeking redemption in the GI Preakness S. Oct. 3.

GSW Independence Hall (Constitution) makes his second start for trainer Mike McCarthy after winning a Del Mar optional claimer Nov. 8. Rounding out the field is GI Bing Crosby S. victor Collusion Illusion (Twirling Candy) and Express Train (Union Rags), who was last seen finishing eighth when trying turf in the GII Twilight Derby Oct. 18.

The post Nashville and Charlatan Face Off in Malibu appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Breeders’ Cup Winner Sharing Headlines Field Of 10 In American Oaks

Trainer Graham Motion's Sharing is the filly to beat in Saturday's Grade 1, $300,000 American Oaks at Santa Anita. Originally run at Hollywood Park in 2002 and transferred to Santa Anita in 2014, the Oaks, the final G1 event of the year for 3-year-old fillies, has attracted a field of 10 and will be run for the 19th time on Saturday, opening day of Santa Anita's Winter/Spring meeting.

A winner over the course in the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at one mile on Nov. 1, 2019, Sharing, a Maryland-bred daughter of Speightstown, who is owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Gainesway Stable, will be trying a mile and one quarter for the first time as she seeks her sixth win from nine career starts.

Eclipse will also be well represented by the Paddy Gallagher-trained Red Lark, who comes off a close fourth place finish in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Keeneland Oct. 10 and who won the G1 Del Mar Oaks on Aug. 22.

Eastern-based Chad Brown looms dangerous with English-bred Capital Structure, who although she'll be making her stakes debut in the Oaks, exits a solid allowance win going 1 1/16 miles on turf at Belmont Park Oct. 25 and rates a big look with Joel Rosario aboard in what will be her fourth career start.

THE G1 AMERICAN OAKS WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 9 of 11 Approximate post time 3 p.m. PT

Red Lark—Drayden Van Dyke—124
Miss Addie Pray—Mike Smith—124
Capital Structure—Joel Rosario—124
Going to Vegas—Mario Gutierrez—124
Luck Money—Ricardo Santana, Jr.—124
Guitty—Juan Hernandez—124
California Kook—Ricardo Gonzalez—124
Duopoly—Flavien Prat—124
Sharing—John Velazquez—124
Neige Blanche—Umberto Rispoli–124

The G1 American Oaks is one of five graded stakes on an 11-race card Saturday. Although there is no public admittance, fans can watch and wager via 1st.com/Bet and they can watch all of Santa Anita's races free of charge at santaanita.com/live. Special early first post time on Saturday is at 11 a.m. For additional information, please visit santaanita.com or call (626) 574-RACE.

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Charlatan ‘Healthy’ For Highly-Anticipated Matchup With Nashville In Saturday’s Malibu

Charlatan, one in a battalion of bluebloods based in Bob Baffert's barn, faces off against Nashville in the Grade 1 Runhappy Malibu Stakes on opening day, Saturday, Dec. 26, the marquee event as historic Santa Anita ushers in its 84th season of world-class racing.

This year's Malibu is arguably one of the most anticipated in the event's 70 runnings, pitting two immensely talented sons of 2004 Eclipse Award champion male sprinter Speightstown against one another.

The Malibu has been won in the past by a Who's Who of Thoroughbreds, among them Runhappy (2015), Ferdinand (1986), Precisionist (1984), Spectacular Bid (1980), Ancient Title (1974), Damascus (1968), Buckpasser (1966) Native Diver (1962), Olden Times (1961), Hillsdale (1958), Round Table (1957) Determine (1955) and Calumet Farm's star filly A Gleam (1953).

Last year it was won by star-crossed Omaha Beach, whose potential for further greatness on the track ended when he was retired to stud after a filling in his right hind leg prevented him from running in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational on Jan. 25 of this year.

Santa Anita's traditional opening day is saturated with stakes, six in all, three of them Grade 1's: the $300,000 Malibu for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs; the $300,000 La Brea for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs; and the $300,000 American Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at 1 ¼ miles on turf.

The Malibu, La Brea and American Oaks are the final three Grade 1 stakes to be run in the United States this year.

First post time on opening day will be 11 a.m.

Charlatan, a $700,000 chestnut colt, finished first in each of his three starts by a combined margin of 22 lengths but was disqualified from his six-length triumph in a division of the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby May 2 on a medication violation. He has not raced since but is firing bullets for his return, a display as synonymous with Baffert as his signature white hair.

Through Dec. 6, Baffert led all trainers in Grade 1 wins this year with 15, four more than Chad Brown.

”Charlatan is doing really well,” said Baffert, who will be seeking his fourth Malibu victory, having won in 2018 with McKinzie, 2013 with Shakin It Up and 2011 with The Factor. “You can only do so much coming off a layoff going seven eighths…

“He's healthy and that's the main thing; he should run well.”

Baffert had to stop on Charlatan after May 2 due to a minor filling in a front ankle that he described at the time as “not even a flake.”

Saturday at Santa Anita, Charlatan worked five furlongs in :59.80, a tad off the time of Malibu contender Independence Hall, who went the same distance in a bullet :59 flat for Michael McCarthy.

Baffert also plans to run multiple graded stakes winner Thousand Words in the Malibu with John Velazquez aboard. Thousand Words last raced Oct. 3 in the Preakness, finishing eighth after pressing the pace. The son of Pioneerof the Nile has been working lights out for the Malibu, as two bullet breezes on Nov. 12 and Nov. 28 would attest, in addition to his five-furlong drill Friday in 59.80.

Nashville, a bay colt trained by Steve Asmussen, also has had three starts, winning by a combined margin of nearly 25 lengths, including the restricted Perryville at Keeneland by 3 ½ lengths on Nov. 7, in which he set a track record for six furlongs of 1:07.89. He has been working brilliantly since, including a bullet five furlongs in a minute flat, breezing, at Fair Grounds on Dec. 1.

Nashville is owned by China Horse Club and WinStar Farm and was bought for $460,000 by CHC and Maverick Racing, the purchasing arm of WinStar, from the Lane's End consignment to the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

He will be ridden by 28-year-old Ricardo Santana Jr. from the Panamanian town of El Chorrillo. Santana, a 2008 graduate of the Laffit Pincay Jr. school for jockeys in Panama, also will do honors for Asmussen on Finite in the La Brea.

Strongly supporting the Malibu, La Brea and American Oaks are the Grade 2, $200,000 San Antonio Stakes for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/16 miles, a major steppingstone to the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 6; the Grade 2 Mathis Brothers Mile for 3-year-olds on turf; and the grassy $75,000 Lady of Shamrock Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at a mile. Overall, $1,375,000 in stakes money will be up for grabs.

Baffert has four horses nominated to the La Brea and plans to run all four: Merneith, who worked five furlongs Saturday in :59.80; Golden Principal, Himiko and Provocation. Himiko breezed four furlongs in :48 flat and Provocation in :47.40, both on Sunday, while Golden Principal went six furlongs Friday in 1:13.20.

Santa Anita's stakes spectacular continues on Sunday with the Grade 3 Robert J. Frankel Stakes for fillies and mares, three and up at 1 1/8 miles on turf and the $75,000 Eddie Logan Stakes for 2-year-olds at a mile on the grass.

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Two Unbeaten Sons Of Speightstown Head Entries For Malibu Stakes

A pair of unbeatens, Bob Baffert's Charlatan and Steve Asmussen's Nashville head a powerful group of probable starters in Santa Anita's Grade 1, $300,000 Runhappy Malibu Stakes at seven furlongs on opening day, Saturday, Dec. 26. Santa Anita's traditional opening day headliner, the Malibu, the final Grade 1 of the year for 3-year-olds, will be run for the 74th time. (The race was run in divisions in 1972, 1975, 1977 & 1984).

Idle since taking a division of the G1 Arkansas Derby by six lengths on May 2, Charlatan was subsequently disqualified from purse money due to a medication violation, so he thus officially has two wins from three starts. Including the Arkansas Derby, Charlatan, who broke his maiden and took a first condition allowance here this past winter, has won his three starts by a combined 22 lengths.

In a performance that had the racing world abuzz on Breeders' Cup Classic Day at Keeneland Nov. 7, Nashville powered to a 3 ½ length victory in a six furlong ungraded stakes, stopping the clock at 1:07.80 and thus earning a solid 102 Beyer Speed figure—two points less than Whitmore's 104 Beyer in the Grade I Breeders' Cup Sprint over the same surface. Heavily favored in three starts, all sprints, Nashville, like Charlatan, is a son of champion sprinter Speightstown. A first-out maiden winner Sept. 2 at Saratoga, he has won all three of his races in gate to wire fashion by a combined 24 ¾ lengths.

Baffert will also be represented in the Malibu by three-time stakes winner Thousand Words, who has been idle since well beaten in the G1 Preakness Stakes Oct. 3.

Mark Glatt's Grade 1 stakes winning sprinter Collusion Illusion is also listed as probable and although he was well beaten by Whitmore when shuffled back early in the Breeder's Cup Sprint, he ran a much better-than-looked race and should give a good account of himself back on his home ground.

Nominations closed Dec. 10 and among those also listed as probable for the Malibu are the John Shirreffs-trained Express Train, Michael McCarthy's Independence Hall and Doug O'Neill's Strongconstitution.

Opening day entries for the Runhappy Malibu and five other stakes, the G1 La Brea, the G1 American Oaks, the G2 Mathis Brothers Mile, the G2 San Antonio and the Lady of Shamrock Stakes, will be taken at Santa Anita on Monday, Dec. 21.

Although there is still no public admittance due to continuing restrictions relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, Santa Anita's races can be viewed live at santaanita.com/live and fans can watch and wager on these races via a number of ADW platforms, including 1st.com/Bet.

Special early first post time on opening day is at 11:00 a.m. For additional information, please visit santaanita.com or call (626) 574-RACE.

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