thomas bush | Horse Racing Free Tips

Front-Running Get Smokin Takes Seek Again Foes Wire To Wire

Entering the $100,000 Seek Again for 4-year-olds and up going one mile on Belmont Park's Widener turf course, trainer Tom Bush said he was optimistic Get Smokin would benefit from a more compact schedule between starts. The ability to get in a rhythm paid off, as the Get Stormy gelding led the eight-horse field through every point of call and held off 9-5 favorite Flavius to post a three-quarters of a length score on Saturday at the Elmont, N.Y., track.

Get Smokin, who won the Grade 3 Tampa Bay going 1 1/16 miles on the Tampa Bay Downs turf on February 6, ran eighth after a nearly two-month respite in the Grade 1 Maker's Mark Mile on April 9 at Keeneland. Bush said Get Smokin can better demonstrate his ability when wheeling back in just five or six weeks, and the schedule adjustment resulted in his second win in three starts of his 4-year-old campaign.

Get Smokin broke sharp under jockey Junior Alvarado, leading the field through the opening quarter-mile in 24.25 seconds and the half in a moderate 48.61 over the firm turf as the Chad Brown-trained Flavius pressured the pacesetter from the second position.

Out of the turn, Alvarado kept his charge alert, maintaining the edge as Flavius made a stretch-drive bid from the outside. But Get Smokin did not wilt under pressure, finishing strong to the wire in a final time of 1:33.96.

“He's very quick,” Alvarado said. “If anyone else wants the lead, they have to work very hard. He broke sharp today again, which makes my job easy. I just had to nurse him along. Turning for home, I knew I had plenty of horse left and he gave me that nice kick that he has.

“You can never get too excited until you cross the wire first, but I was very happy with the pace I was going with him,” he added. “He was traveling comfortable enough that I knew he'd have a kick at the end.”

Bush, who also trained Get Stormy to nine stakes wins from 2009-'12, said the pace scenario set up well for Get Smokin.

“He's dangerous on the front end, that's for sure,” Bush said. “When they're loping along like that and they aren't using themselves too much, you're always happy to see that. I knew they'd be laying a little closer, too, since we were the only speed, but they couldn't get by him. It was a terrific effort.”

Owned by Mary Abeel Sullivan Revocable Trust, Get Smokin won for the third time in four career Belmont starts, going 2-for-2 in stakes at the Elmont-based track after winning the Grade 2 Hill Prince in October. Bred in Kentucky by Hurstland Farm and James Greene, Jr., Get Smokin improved to 4-3-2 in 14 career starts and increased his career earnings to $376,040.

“Junior was saying after the race that he would love for this horse to have a target and just lay second or third, but he's so good leaving the gate that you can't take the gate away from him,” Bush said. “This is what we were looking for today. That's the class of the horse. He didn't get discouraged and that's what good horses do.”

Off at 9-2, Get Smokin returned $10.80 on a $2 win wager in the Seek Again's inaugural edition. Bush said the effort could set him up for a start in the Grade 3, $250,00 Poker going one mile on June 20 at Belmont.

Flavius, a close fourth last out in the Grade 1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita, was making just the second start of his 6-year-old year after ending 2020 with a second in the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap in November at Del Mar. Flavius edged the Tom Morley-trained Tell Your Daddy by a nose for second on Saturday.

“It was a fun race because the two best horses fought all the way from the beginning to the finish,” said Flavius' Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano. “There was no pace in the race and he [Get Smokin] had pace and went pretty slow. With no pace and the winner being able to go 24 and 48, that probably cost us the race.”

Fellow Brown trainee Delaware finished fourth, with Grade 1-winner Decorated Invader running fifth. Tiberius Mercurius, Olympic Runner and Epic Dreamer completed the order of finish.

Main track-only entrants Danny California and Yankee Division were scratched.

Live racing continues Sunday with a nine-race card and a 1 p.m. Eastern first post.

Starting on May 1, Belmont Park re-opened to a limited number of spectators. All admission must be purchased in advance at nyra.com/belmont/tickets/.

For comprehensive information on health and safety protocols in effect for the Belmont Park spring/summer meet, please visit: https://www.nyra.com/belmont/visit/plan-your-visit.

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Get Smokin Sharp Off Layoff, Wins Tampa Bay Stakes

Making his first start since late November, Mary Abeel Sulllivan Revocable Trust's Get Smokin sat just off the lead for the first six furlongs, took command on the turn for home, then drew off comfortably to win Saturday's Grade 3, $175,000 Tampa Bay Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in Oldsmar, Fla.

Ridden by Junior Alvarado, the Thomas Bush-trained 4-year-old gelded son of Get Stormy covered 1 1/16 miles on firm turf in 1:40.75. He returned $10 for the win, his third in 12 starts and second graded stakes triumph.

Eons checked in second, three-quarters of a length behind the winner, with a fast closing Admission Office a neck back in third, Talk or Listen fourth and 5-2 favorite Greyes Creek fifth in the field of 12 older runners.

Usually a front-runner, including his last start when fourth in the G1 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar, Get Smokin settled into second when longshot Proven Strategies forged to an early lead. The latter went an opening quarter mile in :22.75, a half in :46.39 and six furlongs in 1:10.65.

Alvarado sent Get Smokin after the pacesetter into the far turn and the gelding spurted away from the field with a strong move at the top of the stretch. He hit the mile marker in 1:34.44 en route to his final clocking.

“I had to get out of there running,” said Alvarado. “He's a fast horse and he likes to be on the lead, but I knew (Proven Strategies) has a lot of speed too, so it wasn't necessary for me to keep going after him and go head-to-head. So I took a hold and my horse came back to me beautifully and relaxed so well. I knew the whole way around I had plenty of horse under me and by the three-eighths pole, when I put him outside and started picking it up, I had plenty of horse left. Turning for home, I was just a passenger and keeping him happy and he started picking it up on his own without me asking, so I knew I was in good shape.”

“We're thrilled,” Bush said. “We were worried about the speed in there and I knew that one horse (pace-setter Proven Strategies) would be a little bit of a thorn in our side today, but (Get Smokin) was ready today. We were pretty confident. (Junior Alvarado) rode a beauty for sure. Our horse was coming into it great, we gave him a little freshening after California and he has really responded since he got to Florida. He's been in the feed tub and we were really hoping he would run this race and he did. We're probably going to hold off on him and hopefully he will be ready for Keeneland. (Owner Mary Abeel Sullivan) lives in Vero Beach and just watched it on TV and she just called and is very excited. She will be 92 on Monday and is thrilled.”

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Three Graded Stakes On Turf Highlight Saturday’s Blockbuster Card At Del Mar

Headed by the $300,000, Grade 1 Hollywood Derby, Del Mar will present one of the best racing cards seen at the Southern California shore oval in decades Saturday on the penultimate day of sport for the seventh Bing Crosby Season.

Nine races – averaging more than 10 horses apiece – including three graded turf stakes will make for a delightful afternoon of competition and wagering at the seaside oval with the fun kicking off at 12:30 p.m. PT.

The Hollywood Derby, run at nine furlongs on the turf, has drawn 13 3-year-olds – eight colts, four geldings and one filly. All the males will carry 122 pounds, while the filly gets a three-pound sex allowance. It will be run as the ninth and final race on the program.

A trio of Eastern-based trainers should have a big say in the headliner – Christophe Clement, Chad Brown and Thomas Bush. Clement has sent out a pair for the Grade 1 in Otter Bend Stables' Gufo and West Point Thoroughbreds, Freeman, Sandbrook or Manning's Decorated Invader. Brown has entered Klaravich Stables' Domestic Spending and Bush will be represented by the Mary Abeel Sullivan Revocable Trust's Get Smokin.

Here's the full field for the seventh local running of the race from the rail out with riders and morning line odds:

Wertheimer & Frere's Kanderel (Giovanni Franco, 30-1); Cannon Thoroughbreds' Smooth Like Strait (Umberto Rispoli, 7/2); Little Red Feather Racing or Naify's Scarto (Manny Franco, 10-1); Nguyen or Tran's Taishan (Jose Valdivia, Jr., 12-1); Exline-Border Racing, Bernsen, Hudock or Wilson's Storm the Court (Juan Hernandez, 8-1); Wachtel Stable or Gary Barber's California Kook (Ricky Gonzalez, 20-1); Roadrunner Racing or Sayjay Racing's Strongconstitution (Abel Cedillo, 20-1); Domestic Spending (Irad Ortiz, Jr., 5-1); Get Smokin (Mike Smith, 12-1); Decorated Invader (Joel Rosario, 3-1); R A Hill Stable or Reeves Thoroughbred Racing's Ever Dangerous (Victor Espinoza, 12-1); MyRacehorse.com or Spendthrift Farm's Lane Way (Drayden Van Dyke, 20-1), and Gufo (Flavien Prat, 4-1).

This actually will be the 79th edition of the Hollywood Derby with the first 72 presentations having taken place at the now-demolished Hollywood Park facility in Inglewood near LAX airport. When the race shifted to Del Mar in 2014, it got a big boost in its first local edition when soon-to-be Horse of the Year California Chrome won it smartly and thus ensured himself the first of his two HOY titles.

The chestnut colt Gufo, a son of the War Front stallion Declaration of War, shows four wins and a photo-finish second on his ledger for 2020. The stretch runner won the Grade I Belmont Derby last out on October 3 at the big New York track. Stablemate Decorated Invader has won five of nine starts and more than $500,000.

The Kingman gelding Domestic Spending has won three of four lifetime outings, including a tally in the Saratoga Derby Invitational in his most recent effort on August 15 at the upstate New York track.

Get Smokin, by Get Stormy, comes into the race off a score in the Grade 2 Hill Prince on the lawn at Belmont Park on October 18.

The local contingent is headed by multiple-stakes winner and $397,823 earner Smooth Like Strait and 2019 Juvenile champion Storm the Court, who has more than $1.3 million in the bank. That pair finished one-two in the Grade 3 La Jolla Handicap at Del Mar this summer, with the winner Smooth Like Strait coming back to capture the Grade 2 Twilight Derby at Santa Anita on October 18.

Earlier on the Saturday program there are a pair of grass stakes that also have drawn full fields.

The day's seventh race is the seventh local running of the Seabiscuit Handicap, a $200,000, Grade 2 offering that has drawn 13 older runners for a mile and one-sixteenth on the green.

Topweighted for the test is the eastern invader out of the powerhouse Chad Brown barn Flavius, a Juddmonte Farms homebred who'll pack 123 pounds and the nation's top money-winning jockey, Irad Ortiz, Jr., as he tries to add to his $541,151 bankroll.

Among his rivals are Agave Racing Stable, ERJ Racing, Madaket Stables or Rockin Robin Racing Stable's Bowies Hero, a multiple-stakes winner of more than $1.5 million; Sayjay Racing, Hall or Hubbard's One Bad Boy, last year's Queen's Plate winner; Peter Redekop's multiple-stake winner Anothertwistafate, who'll be making his first grass start, and Don't Tell My Wife Stables, Monomoy Stables or West Point Thoroughbreds' comebacking My Boy Jack, a now 5-year-old who was the buzz horse on the 2018 Derby Trail and who will be making his first start in more than a year.

Here's the full field for the Seabiscuit in post postion order with riders and morning line odds:

My Boy Jack (Victor Espinoza, 30-1); Paradise Road Ranch's Camino Del Paraiso (Tiago Periera, 15-1); Klaravich Stables' Spirit Animal (Manny Franco, 8-1); Bonne Chance Farm or Stud R D I's Imperador (Drayden Van Dyke, 15-1); Agave Racing Stable or Sam-Son Farm's Count Again (Juan Hernandez, 8-1); Lindley or Morton's Majestic Eagle (Mario Gutierrez, 15-1); R3 Racing or Calara Farms' Blitzkrieg (Abel Cedillo, 10-1); Anothertwistafate (Joel Rosario, 4-1); Baltas, Baltas, Ivarone, Ivarone, McClanahan, et al's Next Share (Jose Valdivia, Jr., 12-1); One Bad Boy (Flavien Prat, 12-1); Red Baron's Barn or Rancho Temescal's Tartini (Edwin Maldonado, 30-1); Flavius (5/2), and Bowies Hero (Umberto Rispoli, 6-1).

The afternoon's fifth race is for 2-year-old fillies and is named the Jimmy Durante Stakes. Fittingly, the $100,000 Grade 3 test is run at a mile on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course. Both the race and the grass course were named for the multi-talented entertainer who for many years made Del Mar his summer stop of choice.

Again, trainer Brown's entrant well could be the one to beat in the juvenile feature. That would be Head of Plains Partners' homebred Fluffy Socks, shipped in from Belmont and with a stakes tally on the grass – and a close miss in another – already on her ledger. Once again top rider Irad Ortiz, Jr. has the call and they'll break from Post 8 in the 13-horse lineup.

Here's the field for the Durante in post position order with riders and morning line odds:

Red Baron's Barn or Rancho Temescal's Inner Beauty (Tiago Pereira, 20-1); C T R Stables, Wonderland Racing Stables, Bambauer, et al's Plum Sexy (Juan Hernandez, 6-1); Harris Farms' Closing Remarks (Umberto Rispoli, 15-1); Altamira Racing Stable, CYBT, Lantzman or Nentwig's Nimbostratus (Ricky Gonzalez, 12-1); Godolphin's Javanica (Flavien Prat, 6-1); Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners or Winners' Consternation (Drayden Van Dyke, 20-1); Perry or Ramona Bass' Pizzazz (Mike Smith, 6-1); Fluffy Socks (5/2); Red Baron's Barn or Rancho Temescal's Quattroelle (Tyler Baze, 8-1); Bridlewood Farm's Bay Storm (Joel Rosario, 5-1); Breeze Easy's Polished Lady (Victory Espinoza, 30-1); Slam Dunk Racing's Magical Thought (Abel Cedillo, 12-1), and Ryan, Drown or Team Hanley's Invincible Gal (Manny Franco, 6-1).

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Decorated Invader, Gufo Among East Coast Invaders For Saturday’s Hollywood Derby

Befitting its Grade 1 status, a field of 3-year-olds of both quality and quantity was entered Sunday for next Saturday's 79th running of the Hollywood Derby at Del Mar.

The 1 1/8-mile turf event, won by California Chrome in its initial edition at the seaside track north of San Diego, Calif., in 2014 as a springboard to Horse of the Year honors, had 13 set as the entry deadline approached Sunday morning. Among the group were five shippers from East Coast-based trainers with two from Christophe Clement and one each from Chad Brown, George Weaver and Thomas M. Bush.

Clement is sending out Decorated Invader, a winner of the Grade 2 Pennine Ridge Stakes at Belmont Park and the G2 Hall of Fame Stakes at Saratoga last summer and Gufo, a winner as the favorite of the Belmont Derby on October 3.

Brown is dispatching Domestic Spending, a winner of the Saratoga Derby Invitational in August by a head over Gufo; Weaver will be represented by Ever Dangerous, fresh from a win in a $150,000 stakes at Keeneland on November 6, and Bush sends Get Smokin, a wire-to-winner of the Grade II Hill Prince on a yielding Belmont turf on October 18.

Joel Rosario, who has ridden Decorated Invader for Clement for the son of Declaration of War's last five starts, was in the irons for a four-furlong workout in 51.66 seconds Sunday morning at Belmont Park. Stablemate Gufo also worked the same time and distance.

“He put in a good work,” Rosario said by phone while en route from Belmont to Aqueduct for the Sunday card. “He's doing very well and hopefully he'll make the trip well and run a good race.”

A supplemental entry, at a $3,000 cost, was Roadrunner Racing and Sayjay Racing's Strongconstitution. The Kentucky-bred son of Constitution, a $220,000 purchase at a 2-year-old in training sale last spring, was second in the Bob Hope last year and won the Let It Ride Stakes on the second day of the current meeting.

“The Let It Ride was a really good race for him and we're hoping he can step it up another notch because obviously he's going to have to against the horses he'll be up against this time,” trainer Doug O'Neill said.

The entrants, in alphabetical order with jockeys in parenthesis: California Kook (Juan Hernandez); Decorated Invader (Rosario); Domestic Spending (Irad Ortiz, Jr.); Ever Dangerous (Victor Espinoza); Get Smokin (Mike Smith); Gufo (Flavien Prat); Kanderel (Geovanni Franco); Lane Way (Drayden Van Dyke); Scarto (Manuel Franco); Smooth Like Strait (Umberto Rispoli); Storm The Court (Juan Hernandez); Strongconstitution (Abel Cedillo), and Taishan (Jose Valdivia, Jr.).

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