Tag: TDN Rising Star

Dark Angel’s Night Raider Another TDN Rising Star

Steve Parkin's Clipper Logistics have live Guineas contenders of both sexes in 2024 as the Karl Burke-trained Night Raider (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}–Dorraar {Ire}, by Shamardal) produced a sensational display to obtain TDN Rising Star status at Southwell on Wednesday evening. Off the mark in style by nine lengths this track and seven-furlong trip on debut in December, the 1-4 favourite tanked his way to the front under Danny Tudhope from the outset. Chased entering the straight by his only serious rival, last year's G3 Acomb S. fifth Cogitate (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}), the 155,000gns Tatts December Foal purchase simply extended away to score by five lengths, registering a penultimate split of 10.98 and a final three-furlong sectional of 34.12 in the process.
Burke, who is preparing the owner's G1 Moyglare Stud S. winner Fallen Angel (GB) (Too Darn Hot {GB}) for the May 5 G1 1000 Guineas, is planning on sending Night Raider for the previous day's Newmarket Classic. “He's a horse of huge potential, we know that and he's not fully wound up by any stretch of the imagination,” he said of the half-brother to Farhh's G3 Palace House S.-winning first-season sire Far Above (Ire).
“His weight was identical to first time out and all of ours improve for their first time. Nadir, who leads him up, said he has taken more of a blow tonight than he did the first time. He was a second-and-a-half faster this time and I don't know if that is down to ability or the track riding faster. The Guineas isn't the be all and end all for him and he's a horse with a big future.”
“He may have been on grass at the beginning of his two-year-old career, but he certainly wouldn't have been on grass in the last 10 months or so. The idea was to go to the Guineas with a racecourse gallop at the Craven meeting–I don't want to go a mile or go for the Craven itself and if we went for the seven-furlong race at Newbury [the Greenham], that only gives us two weeks before the Guineas–or there is a seven-furlong conditions race for horses that haven't run more than twice. I have to speak to connections, but if we do go anywhere, I would be pointing that way.”
“Danny [Tudhope] just said there he could do with another run. He's still green in front and was lugging away up the straight. Another run is probably the right way to go. Laurens was pretty good in her first two runs, but he's a lovely horse with a great temperament and there's a lot of scope there, so we've just got to look after him, do the right thing by him and hopefully he reaches his full potential.”
Night Raider, who was one of colleague Adam Houghton's Ten 2024 Three-Year-Olds To Follow, is the sixth TDN Rising Star for Dark Angel. The grey's best Rising Star so far is G1 Phoenix S. runner-up Dr Zempf (GB). The winner is out of a granddaughter of the G2 Ribblesdale S. scorer and G1 Oaks, G1 Irish Oaks and GI Flower Bowl Invitational-placed Bahr (GB) (Generous {Ire}). That links him to the Group 1-winning mother and son Nahrain (GB) (Selkirk) and Benbatl (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), with the latter also registering a wide-margin debut success before being thrown straight into the deep end. Also in the pedigree is the aforementioned talented sprinter Far Above, whose career was cut short by injury, and the precocious and tough Go Bears Go (Ire) (Kodi Bear {Ire}) who captured the G2 Railway S. and G3 Pavilion S. and was also placed in the G1 Phoenix S. and GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. Dorraar's 2-year-old full-brother to the winner is catalogued in next month's Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up.
1st-Southwell, £11,400, Novice, 3-20, 3yo/up, 7f 14y (AWT), 1:26.77, st.
NIGHT RAIDER (IRE), c, 3, by Dark Angel (Ire)
     1st Dam: Dorraar (Ire), by Shamardal
     2nd Dam: Dorrati, by Dubai Millennium (GB)
     3rd Dam: Bahr (GB), by Generous (Ire)
Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $12,306. O-Clipper; B-Linden Bloodstock Ltd (IRE); T-Karl Burke. *155,000gns Wlg '21 TADEWE. **1/2 to Far Above (Ire) (Farhh {GB}), GSW-Eng, SW-Fr. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

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Kentucky Oaks Future Wager Favorite Impel Pointing for Ashland

Unbeaten Juddmonte homebred and 'TDN Rising Star' Impel (Quality Road), favored at 7-1 in last weekend's lone Kentucky Oaks Future Wager pool, is being aimed to make her stakes debut in the GI Central Bank Ashland S. on opening day at Keeneland Apr. 5.

“Brad is saying that he wants to go to the Ashland with her next, which she would have to do and perform well there to get to the Oaks,” Juddmonte USA General Manager Garrett O'Rourke said.

Brad, of course, is two-time GI Kentucky Oaks-winning trainer Brad Cox (Monomoy Girl 2018 & Shedaresthedevil 2020).

“If things don't go right, there's no pressure to keep moving forward,” O'Rourke continued. “If they do go right, well, it sets her up, you know? We'll see what happens.”

Betting on the Kentucky Oaks Future Wager totaled $69,717 ($48,334 in the win pool and $21,384 in exactas). Last year's champion 2-year-old filly Just F Y I (Justify), unraced since capping her perfect season with a win in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita, closed as the second choice at 8-1. Just F Y I was scratched due to a fever just hours before what was to be her much-anticipated 3-year-old debut for Bill Mott in the GII Davona Dale S. at Gulfstream Mar. 2.

“Obviously, look, I was a little surprised that's the way people bet it,” O'Rourke said. “It puts the pressure on when I saw that she was favored.”

O'Rourke added with a big laugh, “Also, remember, it wasn't a huge pool, so it only would've taken one or two of Brad's exercise boys to just put a few bets on her and ruin the price for the rest of us.”

Impel earned her 'Rising Star' badge with a visually impressive debut victory at a generous 7-2 sprinting at Fair Grounds Jan. 1. She aced her two-turn test with an explosive stalk-and-pounce 8 1/2-length victory in a deep optional claimer going 1 1/16 miles at Oaklawn Park Mar. 3. She earned a 91 Beyer Speed Figure in the latter. Impel returned to the worktab with a four-furlong breeze in :49.80 (52/74) at Fair Grounds Mar. 15.

Impel's leading sire Quality Road is responsible for 15 Grade I winners worldwide, including 2017 Kentucky Oaks heroine Abel Tasman. Juddmonte acquired Impel's Claiborne Farm-bred and stakes-winning dam/GII Gallant Bloom H. runner-up Your Love (Flatter) for $480,000 out of the ELiTE consignment on behalf of the late Paul P. Pompa, Jr. and WinStar Farm at the 2019 Keeneland November sale.

Your Love, a half-sister to GSW & MGISP Well Monied (Maria's Mon); GSW & GISP Happy American (Runhappy); MSW & GSP Jimmy Simms (Lost Soldier); and a full-sister to GSW & GISP Economic Model, is also responsible for a yearling filly by Curlin. After losing her pregnancy to Not This Time this year, Your Love recently checked back in foal to the promising young Taylor Made stallion, per O'Rourke. Impel is her first foal.

“She's come along beautifully,” O'Rourke said of Impel. “She's a lovely, big scopey filly. The well-bred ones that look good are the ones that are supposed to be good. It's nice when they are. I guess there was always a doubt in the back of mind about her staying. Her mother was a sprinter and the Quality Roads can go both ways. She was so impressive when she broke her maiden and also when she went the two turns so readily.”

O'Rourke concluded, “But from here on in, she's gonna have to step it up to be confident that she's an Oaks winner.”

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The Curragh Welcomes Back the Flat

No sooner is the Cheltenham Festival wound up than the Flat Turf season begins at The Curragh on Monday, leaving no time to draw breath. Offering the ultimate contrast to the recent jumping spectacles is the opening five-furlong Castle Star And Alkumait At Capital Stud Irish EBF Maiden for 2-year-olds, where a clutch of the entries are by the first-season sires Sergei Prokofiev, Verbal Dexterity (Ire), Far Above (Ire) and Arizona (Ire). It is Whitsbury Manor Stud's resident Sergei Prokofiev who could have the favourite in the Adrian Murray-trained colt Arizona Blaze (GB), sporting the silks of AMO Racing Limited and Giselle De Aguiar, but this is a race that Jim Bolger likes to make an early statement in and it is significant that he saddles Verbal Dexterity's son Monotone (Ire) in his colours. A half-brother to his former TDN Rising Star and G1 Irish 2000 Guineas fourth Wexford Native (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), it would be no surprise to see him emulate Dawn Approach (Ire), who gave his sire New Approach (Ire) his first winner in this back in 2012.

Ballydoyle roll out the first of their turf runners in the well-tried Old Faithful (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) in the seven-furlong maiden for 3-year-old colts and geldings and the filly Mayfair (Ire) (Justify) in the fillies' version. A daughter of the G1 Cheveley Park S. winner Clemmie (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), she is chosen to represent the yard in the maiden won three years ago by the subsequent G1 Prix de Diane heroine Joan Of Arc (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), so there could be a hint there. In the G3 Lodge Park Stud Irish EBF Park Express S., the Rosegreen establishment puts forward the G3 Newtownanner Stud Irish EBF S. runner-up Brilliant (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}) and the Galway maiden scorer Everlasting (Ire) (Kingman {GB}), both entered in the 1000 Guineas, while there is a G1 Irish Oaks entry involved in Gerard Kervick's Gowran Park winner Alpheratz (Ire) (Phoenix Of Spain {Ire}) from the Joseph Murphy stable. The intrigue begins again.

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WinStar Farm Stallion Improbable Euthanized

WinStar Farm stallion Improbable (City Zip), the champion older male of 2020 and a 'TDN Rising Star', was euthanized late last night at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington after suffering from ataxia behind, a condition which causes poor voluntary muscle control, the farm said in a release early Sunday.

“He was sent to Rood and Riddle yesterday morning to determine the exact cause of the ataxia,” said Elliott Walden, president, CEO, and racing manager of WinStar Farm. “He was responding well to treatment, but went to lie down in his stall, and fell awkwardly. As a result, he broke his right tibia, which could not be repaired.”

Improbable won three consecutive Grade I races in 2020, taking the GI Hollywood Gold Cup at Santa Anita, the GI Whitney S. at Saratoga and the GI Awesome Again S. at Santa Anita en route to Eclipse honors at season's end.

Undefeated at two, Improbable broke his maiden at first asking at 'The Great Race Place' in late September of 2018. He followed that up with a score in the Street Sense S. at Churchill Downs in early November, which earned him a 'TDN Rising Star' badge for the effort.

Improbable winning the Whitney | Sarah Andrew

Improbable's juvenile year ended with a five-length win going 1 1/16 in the GI Los Alamitos Futurity. His time of 1:41.18 was the fastest in over a decade.

A stakes winner each season from two to four, Improbable concluded his career with a runner-up finish in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic in 2020.

All told, he won seven starts, six of them stakes, and earned $2,729,520 for owners WinStar Farm, China Horse Club and SF Racing.

“These horses are our life, and we work every day to take care of them the best way we know how,” said Dr. Natanya Nieman, general manager and resident veterinarian at WinStar Farm. “The whole team is reeling. Improbable gave us many great moments to share with our partners, our team, and the whole racing community. It is tragic.”

Bred in Kentucky by St. George Farm and G. Watts Humphrey Jr., Improbable was acquired by Maverick Racing and China Horse Club for $200,000 out of the Taylor Made Sales Agency consignment at the 2017 Keeneland September Sale.

Out of the A.P. Indy mare Rare Event, the 8-year-old stallion was bred to 329 mares in his first two books and is represented by his initial crop of 2-year-olds this year, including a colt out of the stakes-placed Inaugurate (Empire Maker) that was purchased by trainer Jimmy DiVito, agent, for $475,000.

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