Tag: thoroughbred

‘She’s A Monster’: Monomoy Girl On Target For Feb. 15 Bayakoa At Oaklawn

Champion Monomoy Girl remains on track to make her 2021 debut in the $250,000 Bayakoa Stakes (G3) for older females Feb. 15 at Oaklawn Park, trainer Brad Cox said Thursday.

Monomoy Girl is based at Fair Grounds, where she has recorded two workouts since completing an unbeaten 2020 campaign (4 for 4) with a 1 ¾-length victory in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) Nov. 7 at Keeneland.

Spendthrift Farm, Kentucky's famed racing/breeding operation, purchased Monomoy Girl for $9.5 million the following day at Fasig-Tipton's Kentucky Fall Mixed Sale and opted to keep her in training with Cox in 2021, with the 1 1/16-mile Bayakoa now her first confirmed target.

“Honestly, with her breeze this past weekend, she's probably a little ahead of schedule, as far as where I thought she would be,” Cox said. “We never took her out of training. We just backed off of her. She's as good as ever, to be honest with you. She's a monster.”

A 6-year-old daughter of Tapizar, Monomoy Girl has won 13 of 15 lifetime starts and bankrolled $4,426,818. She was the country's champion 3-year-old filly of 2018, and after missing 2019 with injury and illness, likely clinched her second Eclipse Award, this time as champion older dirt female, with a second Breeders' Cup Distaff victory in November.

Monomoy Girl returned to the work tab Dec. 27 at Fair Grounds, covering 3 furlongs in :37. She breezed a half-mile in :48.80 over a fast track Sunday morning.

“She's really training well,” Cox said. “Looks amazing. Her weight's great. Her breeze this weekend was spectacular. If we can continue to see that throughout the year, we're going to have a great year again.”

The Bayakoa is Oaklawn's second of three preps for the $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) April 17. The final stepping stone is the $350,000 Azeri Stakes (G2) March 13. A seven-time Grade 1 winner, Monomoy Girl has never raced at Oaklawn or faced males. The Apple Blossom will be run the same day as the $1 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2) for older horses.

Cox said the Azeri could be a loose comeback target for Monomoy Girl's younger stablemate, Shedaresthedevil, who is scheduled to return this month to Hot Springs to continue preparations for her 4-year-old campaign.

Shedaresthedevil, who was based last winter and spring at Oaklawn, was among the country's top 3-year-old fillies after winning four races, including the $300,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) in March at Oaklawn and the $1.25 million Kentucky Oaks (G1) Sept. 4 at Churchill Downs.

Shedaresthedevil, in her first start against older horses, completed 2020 with a third-place finish in the $400,000 Spinster Stakes (G1) Oct. 4 at Keeneland. Shedaresthedevil then received a 60-day break, co-owner Staton Flurry of Hot Springs said, before resuming training in mid-December in Kentucky.

“Just kind of knocking the dust off of her,” said Cox, Oaklawn's third-leading trainer last year. “She got a good break, a well-deserved break. No physical issues. Just thought she deserved some time. There was no sense going into the Breeders' Cup. That was really the only thing left. I thought it was a wise decision by the ownership group to just give her the break. Our goal this year is to get her to the Breeders' Cup in San Diego, at Del Mar. We'll work our way back from that.”

Cox has divisions at Oaklawn and Fair Grounds and in New York and Florida.

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Gagliano: HISA Cost Shouldn’t Come From Horseplayers

As American racing prepares for a new era under the recently-passed Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA), many in the sport are wondering how the new group will be paid for. The text of the bill did not make clear what the funding mechanism would be, except that the new authority would oversee drug testing and track safety nationwide with the aid of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

Jockey Club president Jim Gagliano recently joined the Thoroughbred Daily News's Writers Room podcast to answer his and other questions about the industry's future.

“I don't think it should come out of the horseplayers' pockets,” Gagliano said of the HISA cost. “Every state funds its regulation differently. The problem that we faced when we were considering that matter, is there's really no one-size-fits-all that we could push down to the states. The most important thing we want to do is make sure we capture first the current expenses, and then that those were brought forward. After that, the Authority will work with each state and through its racing commission to determine what the number is. I suggest the simplest way is to share [the costs] between the tracks and the horsemen. But honestly, there's a lot of details to be considered.”

HISA has been a big focal point for The Jockey Club through out 2020. Now that HISA has been passed, Gagliano was asked what organization's focus will be.

“There's plenty,” Gagliano said. “How we market the sport. The opportunity of television, which thank goodness, during this pandemic, to see the amount of live televised hours of horse racing has been a godsend. We've talked about scheduling. We need to put the product in a place where it can have the best showcase. Other areas: HISA is going to put USADA into a role and there are now rules that will be in place that will change the sport, we believe. Investigations, that's something that racing has not done very well over the last bunch of years. I anticipate The Jockey Club will continue to invest in those kinds of resources to make sure that things we don't want to happen in our sport, don't happen.”

Read more at thoroughbreddailynews.com.

Listen to the full podcast episode here.

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Francia Announces Short-Term Closure Of Grass Track At Turf Paradise

Turf Paradise general manager, Vincent Francia, announced via Twitter this week that the facility's turf track would be closing for about 2 1/2 weeks starting on Dec. 7.

Francia writes that when Turf Paradise shut down in mid March of 2020, so did the watering system for the turf course. This caused a lack of Bermuda grass, which typically grows when the track is watered over the summer, and left only rye grass with no base to keep the track lush and strongly rooted. If Francia had continued to allow racing on the turf, it would soon become unusable and unsafe.

The 2021 meet at Turf Paradise has been in doubt at various times last year after lengthy and contentious negotiations between the horsemen and the racetrack. An air of uncertainty has hung over Arizona's horsemen in recent months due to ongoing disputes over simulcasting signals which have limited wagering in some places in the state.

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Jolie Olimpica, Oleksandra Prepare For Rematch In Las Cienegas

Separated by a half length when they last met in May, Brazilian-bred Jolie Olimpica and Australian-bred Oleksandra head a field of seven older fillies and mares going six furlongs on turf in Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Las Cienegas Stakes at Santa Anita.

Originally run at about 6 ½ furlongs down the track's Camino Real Hillside Turf Course, the 47th edition of the Las Cienegas will be contested for the first time ever out of Santa Anita's all-new turf chute.

Idle since running a big second in the G1 Jenny Wiley Stakes at Keeneland going a mile and one sixteenth on turf July 11, the Richard Mandella-trained Jolie Olimpica took last year's Las Cienegas at 5 ½ furlongs on turf in her U.S. debut four starts back on Jan. 11, 2020 and is a two-time graded stakes winner over the Santa Anita lawn.

A Group 1 winner in her native Brazil, Jolie Olimpica, in her third start for Mandella, held off a late surge from Oleksandra to prevail by a half length in the G2 Monrovia Stakes going 5 ½ furlongs on turf here May 25. Although Oleksandra had a full head of steam, she never got by Jolie Olimpica on the gallop-out in what was a very impressive win.

Trained by Neil Drysdale, Oleksandra was most recently ninth in the G1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint versus males on Nov. 7 and returns to her home turf with the services of regular rider Joel Rosario. A winner of the G1 Jaipur Stakes going six furlongs on the Belmont Park turf two starts back, she rallied from far back to be second, beaten a half length by Jolie Olimpica in the Monrovia.

In what will be her first stakes assignment, veteran trainer Art Sherman's Acting Out will be bidding for her third consecutive win with regular rider Abel Cedillo up. Forwardly placed in all three of her wins to date, this 4-year-old Kentucky-bred filly by Blame seems to relish a fight and has won her last two allowance sprints by a combined 10 ¼ lengths. A maiden 5 ½ furlong turf winner here in her second start, Acting Out has three wins from five starts.

THE GRADE 3 LAS CIENEGAS WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 9 of 10 Approximate post time 4 p.m. PT

  1. Bohemian Bourbon—Juan Hernandez—120
  2. Charmaine's Mia—Drayden Van Dyke—120
  3. Acting Out—Abel Cedillo—120
  4. Lighthouse—Umberto Rispoli—122
  5. Superstition—Flavien Prat—120
  6. Oleksandra—Joel Rosario—122
  7. Jolie Olimpica—Mike Smith—122

Early first post time for a 10-race card on Saturday is at 12 noon. All of Santa Anita's races are offered free of charge at santaanita.com/live and fans can watch and wager at 1st.com/Bet.

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