thoroughbred racing | Horse Racing Free Tips

Wedding Vows, Sham Stakes Highlight Busy Week For Lerner

Andrew Lerner is looking forward to next Saturday when he runs Uncle Boogie in the Grade 3 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., but he has greater anticipation at stake on Sunday. The 31-year-old trainer is getting married to his long-time love, Katie.

“We've been together for seven years and we were going to get married in June,” Lerner said Saturday morning after working Uncle Boogie four furlongs under Flavian Prat, who rides the Florida-bred son of the Curlin sire Ride the Curlin in the $100,000 Sham for 3-year-olds at one mile.

“We expected to have a bigger wedding with about 200 people back then but the venue in Malibu called us and said if we want it with dancing and no masks, no social distancing, we're going to have to wait until 2022.

“We didn't want to do that so we decided on Dec. 27 which is tomorrow with just immediate family, so it will be a small wedding with about 19 people.”

Meanwhile, back on the track, Uncle Boogie breezed this morning “and Flavien liked his work,” Lerner said. “The horse went well in company sitting outside Miss Glorious. I got him in 48 and change and he galloped out nicely. Provided he comes out of the work good we plan to run.”

Otherwise, Lerner is “trying to reload for the upcoming meet with some incoming two-year-olds coming and recycling our stock a bit.”

Uncle Boogie won his debut race, a $32,000 maiden claimer on Oct. 12 at Santa Anita, by 6 ¼ lengths, and was second in his last two including the G3 Bob Hope going seven furlongs at Del Mar on Nov. 15.

His running style indicates he should like the added distances of the Sham, a starting point on the Triple Crown trail which offers 10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the winner, four to the runner-up, two to the third-place finisher, and one to the fourth.

The colt is owned by Eric Homme, “a good owner and a really nice guy,” Lerner said. “He got into the game two years ago taking fractional percentages of horses. Uncle Boogie is the first horse he owns solely.”

Seems like congratulations are in order all around.

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‘A Monumental Step In The Right Direction’: Tygart Hopes USADA Can Help Reform Horse Racing

There has been a recent spike in discussion following passage of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) by Congress last week. Some may be skeptical on whether the creation of a national Authority truly will have an impact on the regulation of medication and safety policies in American racing, but Travis Tygart, CEO of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), believes USADA's involvement could be just what the industry needs, according to columnist Dan Wolken in USA Today.

“I think it should be night and day because the current system is a myriad, a patchwork of different rules and regulations and it's not applied evenly across any of the 38 different racing jurisdictions,” Tygart told Wolken. “Our hope is to absolutely professionalize it and give those in the sport confidence that it works and that there is no choice other than to win the right way, which is clean and ultimately that's going to benefit the sport itself as well as the health of the animal.”

Two scandals within the racing industry this year involving Bob Baffert's four separate medication violations and the FBI probe that led to 27 people being indicted for illegally conspiring to dope racehorses have amplified the need for intervention from the government and the USADA. Wolken wrote. An independent oversight program can eliminate the conflicts of interest within the current state horse racing boards, which are typically occupied by people with financial interests in racing or involvement in some way.

“it created a perfect storm where there's no other solution,” Tygart said. “The status quo is unacceptable and this is a monumental step in the right direction.

“There's a lot of money being made under the status quo and we saw that when we took over the Olympic world as well,” Tygart told Wolken. “So are we going to be able to get people off their little fiefs that are churning money? Let's hope they come along and get on board, but if they are earning that money the wrong way they're going to get sanctioned and that's the way it ought to be.”

‘She Was A Queen’: Group 1 Winner Magical Retired To Join Broodmare Band At Coolmore

Brilliant seven-time Group 1 winner Magical (Galileo) has been retired and will join the broodmare band at Coolmore Stud, with mating plans yet to be decided.

In September, the Aidan O'Brien-trained mare became the second dual winner of the Irish Champion Stakes and was last seen finishing a close third in the G1 Hong Kong Cup. She retires with an impressive record of 12 wins and 10 placings from 28 starts; her achievements earning connections over £4.8million ($6.4million) in prize money.

“Her mum (Halfway To Heaven) was a queen, she was a queen and she was by Galileo, so I suppose you could call him the king,” O'Brien said of his stable star, adding, “It would be exciting to train her offspring.”

On the highlight of Magical's illustrious career, he said, “The days that stand out are the Champion Stakes. She was amazing, she always turned up. She was tough, she was consistent and had a super mind and was very sound.”

Magical is one of two G1 winners bred by Coolmore out of top-class race mare Halfway To Heaven, herself a daughter of King's Stand Stakes heroine Cassandra Go.

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Pimlico Special Winner Harpers First Ride Aiming To Close Out 2020 With Native Dancer Win

MCA Racing Stable's Harpers First Ride, winner of the historic Pimlico Special (Grade 3) over Preakness (G1) weekend in October, will get one more chance to add to what has been a spectacular season in the $100,000 Native Dancer Saturday, Dec. 26 at Laurel Park.

The 53^rd running of the 1 1/8 mile Native Dancer, first held at old Bowie Race Course in 1966, is among three stakes for 3-year-olds and up on the undercard of a Christmastide Day program featuring eight stakes worth $850,000 in purses led by the $150,000 Allaire du Pont (G3).

Sprinters three and older will go six furlongs in the $100,000 Dave's Friend for males and $100,000 Willa On the Move for fillies and mares. Post time for the first of nine races is 12:25 p.m.

A gelded 4-year-old son of G1 winner Paynter, Harpers First Ride has won six of 10 starts with two seconds, one third and more than $435,000 in purse earnings in 2020. Three of those wins have come in stakes – the 1 3/16 mile Pimlico Special Oct. 2 at Pimlico Race Course and the Sept. 5 Deputed Testamony and Nov. 28 Richard W. Small, each going 1 1/16 miles at Laurel Park.

Maryland's three-time defending year-end training champion Claudio Gonzalez claimed Harpers First Ride for $30,000 out of a Sept. 14, 2019 win at Churchill Downs in his third career start, and he has amassed a lifetime record of 9-2-1 and a $513,055 bankroll in 16 races.

“Everybody likes to dream, but all the time he proves he can run with the good horses. He showed class since the day we claimed him,” Gonzalez said. “He came into the barn and every day he improved. He got better and better and he has never been a problem for us.”

Harpers First Ride has won three of his last four races, the exception being a runner-up finish to Monday Morning Qb in the 1 1/8 mile Maryland Million Classic Oct. 24 at Laurel, beaten 3 ¼ lengths. He bounced back with a three-length triumph in the Richard Small that produced the second-highest speed figure of his career.

“He had a perfect trip the last time. The time before he was on the outside the whole race and the last time it was much better,” Gonzalez said. “For me, the distance is not a problem. He's the kind of horse that can run all day.

“I cannot say anything bad about him. He does everything right. He's more mature,” he added. “Even when he breezes, if you ask him a little, he goes, and if you relax with him, he relaxes. You can see it in the races. When he runs, if you push him he can take the lead or he can come from behind. The horse is just a nice horse.”

Harpers First Ride will face a familiar foe in Hillwood Stable's Cordmaker, a fellow multiple stakes winner that he beat in the Deputed Testamony, Richard Small and Pimlico Special, the latter a race where Cordmaker has run third two consecutive years, beaten three lengths combined. Winless in seven tries this year, the 5-year-old son of Hall of Famer Curlin is one of three horses in the field to have banked more than a half-million dollars, the third being Tri-Brook Stables Inc.'s G3-placed Forewarned.

Air Token, owned and trained by Jose Corrales, takes a three-race win streak into the Native Dancer, the most recent coming Dec. 13 in a 1 1/16 mile optional claiming allowance at Laurel against older horses. The 3-year-old Golden Lad gelding's only previous try at 1 1/8 miles came on the grass, when he ran second in the Maryland Million Turf Starter Handicap Oct. 24 after taking a 5 ½ length lead into the stretch.

“I think the horse will be fine. He's been running the distance and he's also run the short distances,” Corrales said. “I think the horse is going to perform OK. He's got enough air for that. I think the first race that he ran on the grass he opened up too much and he just got caught.”

Included in Air Token's win streak is a victory in the seven-furlong Concern Stakes Nov. 28 at Laurel by a neck over Francatelli. He came off the pace to win that race as well as a restricted allowance against his elders one start prior, but last out won in front-running fashion. Air Token has four wins, two seconds and a third from nine starts since being claimed by Corrales for $10,000 out of an Aug. 1 win at Laurel.

“He doesn't need to be in front. He's a horse that if he can sit back he'll have a kick at the end,” Corrales said. “I'm just going day by day with this horse. This horse is showing me something every time. When I claimed this horse for [$10,000], I'm thinking if he can win for [$16,000] I'll be happy or I'll drop him back for [$10,000]. But he's getting better. Horses to me are like people, they need opportunity. You never know how far you can go and this horse has done that.”

Hall Pass, Saratoga Jack and V.I.P. Ticket complete the field.

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