Tamara Back on Worktab, ‘Eager to do More’ for Mandella

Spendthrift Farm homebred and 'TDN Rising Star' Tamara (Bolt d'Oro), sidelined with a fractured splint bone in her left hind leg after fading to seventh as the 4-5 favorite in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, has begun to gear up for her sophomore campaign.

The talented daughter of Hall of Famer Beholder (Henny Hughes) has posted a pair of two-furlong breezes for trainer Richard Mandella over Santa Anita's all-weather surface this month, most recently stopping the timer in :23.80 (1/1) Apr. 10.

How are the initial reports so far?

“Really good,” Spendthrift Farm's General Manager Ned Toffey replied. “You know Richard. We certainly weren't gonna put any pressure and Richard is a guy who's gonna give them all the time they need. She's gotten a chance to heal up. She just needed time. There was a fracture of the splint bone on the hind leg. It wasn't anything too dramatic, but just needed plenty of time. She got that and hopefully is ready to move forward now.”

He continued, “He's breezed her twice now and has been very happy with what he's seen so far. He simply said that, 'she's eager to do more,' which I think is a great sign. Obviously, it will be a bit before she's ready to run, but we know she's in good hands. It's enough to be excited about her 3-year-old year.”

Tamara overcame a stumble at the start from her rail draw to launch her career in style with a 'Rising Star' performance at Del Mar Aug. 19. She ran to the billing as the 6-5 favorite with a 6 3/4-length tour de force over 11 rivals in the GI FanDuel Racing Del Mar Debutante S. Sept. 9, good for a 91 Beyer Speed Figure. She set the pace and tired to finish a disappointing seventh, beaten 8 1/4 lengths, behind champion Just F Y I (Justify) while making her two-turn debut in the Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita Nov. 3.

“We're still at a point where we're gonna just continue to let her dictate to us,” Toffey said. “She's certainly a filly who's shown enough that she can be anything. Obviously, we'd love to see her land in the Breeders' Cup at the end of the year, she's the kind of filly that could put you there. Richard will listen to her and let her tell us when she's ready to roll. Hopefully, she stays sound and we can have the kind of year that you would hope that a filly like that can give you.”

Tamara is the fourth foal from the aforementioned four-time champion and three-time Breeders' Cup winner Beholder. Beholder's colt by Curlin, now two, brought a sale-topping $4 million from Zedan Racing at Fasig-Tipton's Saratoga Sale last summer. Beholder has also produced 2023 GIII Senorita S. heroine Teena Ella (War Front). She had a filly by Jackie's Warrior Feb. 13, and, according to Toffey, is currently in foal to Gun Runner for the 2025 season.

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Tiz the Law Filly Zips Fastest Quarter at OBS Tuesday

A filly from the first crop of multiple Grade I winner Tiz the Law (hip 365) tied the track record when working a quarter-mile in :20 1/5 during the third session of the under-tack preview for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, while 17 juveniles shared the session's fastest furlong time of :9 4/5, Tuesday in Central Florida.

“It was pretty special,” consignor Tom McCrocklin said of the bullet quarter-mile work. “I have one disability that keeps me knowing that one will go that fast and that is that I don't clock my horses at any point. But I did know that she could really run. She's been doing extremely well for the last month, getting better and better. So she obviously peaked at the right time and put in a stellar performance.”

The bay filly is out of stakes-placed Moonlight Sky (Sky Mesa), a half-sister to champion Abel Tasman (Quality Road) and a full to graded winner Sky Girl. Moonlight Sky is also the dam of graded-placed Urban (Quality Road).

McCrocklin purchased the juvenile for $170,000 on behalf of Jim Tilton at last year's Keeneland September sale.

“She looked like an athlete, looked like a runner,” McCrocklin said of the filly's appeal last fall. “She's got pedigree as well. She is a half to a black-type filly and has Abel Tasman in the second dam. So there is a lot of quality there. For a first year stallion, it's a little bit of a gamble, but he was a very high-quality racehorse and she was a beautiful physical horse. She brought a lot of money as a yearling and, right now, I feel good about the purchase.”

Tiz the Law, winner of the GI Belmont S. and GI Runhappy Travers S. in the COVID-delayed 2020 season, has 12 juveniles expected to breeze at OBS this week.

“This filly has a lot of Tiz the Law in her,” McCrocklin said. “She is a strong, stout filly. There is nothing feminine about her. She's easily mistaken for a colt. She's real quiet. I checked in on her first thing this morning and she's in there sleeping like it's just another day at the office.”

The :20 1/5 mark was most recently set by a filly by Win Win Win, who went on to top the OBS March sale when selling for $1.8 million to Zedan Racing.

A Trio of Bullet Workers for Vekoma

Of the 17 juveniles to work the furlong in :9 4/5 Tuesday, three were by Spendthrift Farm's first-crop sire Vekoma. Leading off that trio was a filly out of stakes-placed Our Jenny B (Tale of the Cat) (hip 435) who was the second horse to work Tuesday morning. She is consigned by Grassroots Training & Sales, which purchased her for $60,000 in Louisiana last fall.

Just a few hips later, a colt by Vekoma out of Newbie (Bernardini) (hip 411) also turned in a :9 4/5 work. Consigned by Sequel Bloodstock, as agent for Chester and Mary Broman, he is a half-brother to graded winner Classy Edition (Classic Empire) and to multiple stakes winner Newly Minted (Central Banker).

A filly by Vekoma (hip 479) completed the stallion's three bullet workers midway through the session's second hour. She is consigned by Mayberry Farm on behalf of Nice Guys Stables, which purchased her for $130,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.

“She's always been a lovely, honest filly,” Summer Mayberry said of the juvenile. “We were expecting that she would work very well. She tries every single time. She's got a great disposition. She just makes our job look easy.”

Out of Pray for Leslie (Bernardini), the filly is a half-sister to last year's GI Darley Alcibiades third-place finisher Alys Beach (Omaha Beach).

“She is an average-sized filly with a very racy body,” Mayberry said. “She has beautiful confirmation. She's got all the parts that you look for.”

Of the first-crop Vekoma juveniles that she has seen, Mayberry said, “We have three still at the farm. They all seem like they are pretty nice horses. They have great dispositions, good conformation. Just very nice racehorses.”

Steve Spielman's Nice Guys partnership has already enjoyed seven-figure success at OBS, having sold a daughter of Arrogate for $1 million to Katsumi Yoshida at the 2021 Spring sale. The operation has four fillies still to work this week at OBS with Mayberry Farm.

Twice as Nice

Both Grassroots Training & Sales and Sequel Bloodstock doubled up on bullet workers Tuesday. Grassroots sent out a colt by Improbable (hip 517) to hit that mark, while Sequel sent out a New York-bred son of Game Winner (hip 487), also for the Bromans.

First-crop sire Game Winner had a second bullet worker Tuesday with hip 389, a son of the 2018 champion 2-year-old champion consigned by Julie Davies.

Eddie Woods had a pair of bullet workers Tuesday: hip 454 is a daughter of Practical Joke; and hip 460 is a filly from the first crop of Thousand Words.

Thousand Words had his second bullet of the session when hip 506, a filly by the Spendthrift stallion, worked in :9 4/5 for Britton Peak. Thousand Words has already had his first winner on the racetrack after The Queens M G's victory at Keeneland Sunday.

Also sharing the :9 4/5 bullet Tuesday: hip 372, a filly by St Patrick's Day consigned by Sweet River Thoroughbreds; hip 392, a filly by Khozan consigned by Shanbally Acres; hip 407, a colt by Bernardini consigned by Envision Equine; hip 448, a filly by Mendelssohn consigned by Paul Sharp; hip 477, a colt by Oscar Performance consigned by Wavertree Stables; hip 489, a filly by Mendelssohn consigned by Randy Miles; hip 502, a colt by Global Campaign consigned by Top Line Sales; and hip 511, a filly by Ride On Curlin consigned by Blue River Bloodstock.

The under-tack show continues through Saturday with sessions beginning daily at 8 a.m. The OBS Spring sale will be held next Tuesday through Friday. Bidding commences each day at 10:30 a.m.

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‘TDN Rising Star’ Fierceness Drills for Florida Derby

Repole Stable's Fierceness (City of Light), who was named a 'TDN Rising Star' after he broke his maiden at first asking at Saratoga last August, breezed five furlongs Friday morning at Palm Beach Downs in preparation for the GI Curlin Florida Derby Mar. 30 at Gulfstream Park, the track said in a release late Friday afternoon.

The 2023 Eclipse Award 2-year-old champion, who finished third in the Feb. 3 GIII Holy Bull S., breezed in company with Spendthrift Farm's Tuscan Sky (Vino Rosso).

The Todd Pletcher-trained duo was timed in 1:01.3 with Fierceness galloping out six furlongs in 1:13.82 and seven furlongs in 1:28.19 with a lot of energy.

“He went really, really well, as he always does,” said Pletcher. “He's a very impressive horse to watch breeze. He finished strong and galloped out great.”

Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez was aboard Fierceness, who breezed outside Tuscan Sky and Luis Saez.

“The horse gives you a lot of confidence watching him breeze,” the Hall of Fame trainer said. “It seems like he's in really good form, so we're expecting a good performance from him.”

Fierceness currently sits in sixth place with 36 points on the Kentucky Derby Leaderboard.

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Saturday Insights: First Foal Out Of MGISW Bast Debuts At Santa Anita

4th-SA, $65K, MSW, 3yo, f, 6f, 5:32 p.m.

QUICK BROWN FOX (Justify), the first foal out of MGISW Bast, debuts Saturday for owner/breeder Spendthrift Farm and trainer Richard Mandella. Spendthrift went to $4.2m, a top-four price, at FTKNOV in 2020 for the daughter of Uncle Mo who earned over $850,000 on the track for trainer Bob Baffert. Bast herself is out of $1.5m Eaton Bloodstock broodmare buy Laffina (Arch) and the family has plenty of graded-stakes caliber runners led by GISW and $1.2m FTKNOV broodmare Fault (Blame) and SW/MGSP South Bennd (Algorithms). Quick Brown Fox fired a best-of-five bullet in her most recent work, going six furlongs in 1:13 Feb. 29 for Mandella who puts Joel Rosario aboard on the debut. TJCIS PPS

1st-GP, $89K, MSW, 3yo, 1m, 1:10 p.m.

Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable went to $360,000 to secure Whiskey N Soda (Vino Rosso) as a yearling at Keeneland in 2022 and the Triple Crown-nominated colt debuts Saturday with trainer Todd Pletcher. Dam Bible Belt has already produced several stakes horses including MSP Gospel Way (Brody's Cause), SP Happy Boy Rocket (Runhappy) and GSP Hardworkcleanlivin (Colonel John). TJCIS PPS

8th-FG, $57K, MSW, 3yo, 1 1/16m, 5:15 p.m.

Making his second start, Gun Party (Curlin) was a $1.7m yearling at Keeneland in 2022 and ran a good second at 10-1 odds over a sloppy Fair Grounds track behind next-out GIII Gothan S. runner up Just a Touch (Justify). The Steve Asmussen trainee, who posted an 80 Beyer Speed Figure in that loss, lines up on the rail inside another son of Curlin looking for redemption in Cornishman. That Godolphin homebred, starting for the third time Saturday off a pair of seconds, keeps Florent Geroux aboard for Brad Cox and also hopes for a dry track off catching the slop at 1 1/16 miles over the local course Feb .17. TJCIS PPS

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