Tiz the Bomb Takes Bourbon Stakes, Punches Ticket To BC Juvenile Turf

Tiz the Bomb overcame his premature pop at the starting gate to navigate through a full field of fourteen and find the winner's circle for the Grade 2 Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky. With this victory, the 2-year-old son of Hit It a Bomb earns a spot in the starting gate for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, the same race his sire won in 2016, on Nov. 5 at Del Mar.

An anxious Tiz the Bomb popped open the doors to his stall in the starting gate just after the last horse had loaded and only got a few yards down the lane before an outrider grabbed him. After a vet check, the Kenny McPeek trainee was loaded back into the gate with no trouble.

After a clean break, Heaven Street was fastest to the front on the first turn, with Tiz the Bomb's outside post allowing him to settle behind the front four around the first turn. Sitting fifth, jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr. waited for the far turn to improve their position, going around horses to find a running lane for their stretch run.

In the Keeneland straight, Play Action Pass took over the lead from Heaven Street, as Tiz the Bomb ran down the center of the track and taking over the lead in the last furlong to win by a three-quarters of a length. Stolen Base came on late to take second, with Credibility third. The final time for the 1 1/16 miles over the firm turf was 1:43.69.

Tiz the Bomb paid $7.80, $4.60, and $3.80. Stolen Base paid $8.20 and $6.40. Credibility paid $20.40. Find this race's chart here.

The G2 Bourbon is part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series. Winners of Challenge Series events earn a fees-paid, guaranteed spot in the starting gate for the corresponding race at the Breeders' Cup World Championships Nov. 5-6 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

Bred in Kentucky by Spendthrift Farm, Tiz the Bomb is out of the Tiznow mare Tiz the Key. Owned by Phoenix Thoroughbreds III Limited, the 2-year-old colt was consigned by Eaton Sales and sold to Kenny McPeek, agent, for $330,000 at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Select Yearlings Showcase. With his win in the Bourbon, Tiz the Bomb has three wins in four starts and career earnings of $447,841.

The post Tiz the Bomb Takes Bourbon Stakes, Punches Ticket To BC Juvenile Turf appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Bombs Away in the Bourbon

Tiz the Bomb broke through the gate before the start and had to overcome a wide post, but those obstacles proved no matter as the improving colt picked up his second straight stakes win in Sunday's GII Castle & Key Bourbon S. at Keeneland, punching his ticket for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.

Easily the most expensive progeny of his sire to sell in 2020 when hammering for $330,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearling Sale, the bay only beat one horse home debuting over five furlongs on the Churchill dirt May 14, but improved drastically stretching out to a mile in an Ellis off-the-turfer July 2, cruising to a 14 1/4-length graduation. Stepping up in his first start on turf and initial try against winners to annex the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile S. Sept. 6, Tiz the Bomb was made a fractional favorite in this full 14-horse field despite breaking through his stall and running off for about a furlong before being corralled and reloaded.

Finding a good spot racing in the clear in fourth behind fractions of :22.94 and :47.54, he got shuffled back a bit midway around the far turn and appeared to be spinning his wheels in sixth as the field straightened for home. Starting to find his best stride passing the three-sixteenths marker, Tiz the Bomb drew alongside a trio of battling leaders a furlong out, forged to the front soon after and inched clear to prevail. Stolen Base rallied late to get into second.

“It's not a good omen, typically, and yeah, it makes a trainer nervous when it happens, but [jockey] Brian [Hernandez] did a great job wrangling him up and keeping him under control,” winning trainer Ken McPeek said of Tiz a Bomb breaking through the gate. “It's worse if he comes off or something like that. This horse has got a lot of talent and we're fortunate to have a guy like Brian who handles things on the oval. He does a great job.”

“We were ready, we were set up, and as the last horse was walking in, I turned his head to set him to where we could leave the gate in good order,” related Hernandez. “He got a little anxious and just charged forward one step and the gate popped open. Most of the time when that happens, horses have a hard time recovering from it, but when we finally reloaded and he left the gate in good order the second time, we were able to get around the first turn in good order. I was really confident in him, and he took care of it from there.”

The win capped a big weekend at Keeneland for McPeek, whose Rattle N Roll (Connect) ran away to an impressive success in Saturday's GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity. McPeek, however, said that Rattle N Roll may pass on the Breeders' Cup while indicating that Tiz the Bomb will be on a plane to Del Mar.

“I think for this horse definitely the Breeders' Cup Juvenile [Turf] is ideal,” he commented. “Everything happens for a reason. You could have made the case that Tiz the Bomb could have run yesterday for sure, and Rattle N Roll–of course, they're apples and oranges. It's a high-level problem we've got right now. We're just going to enjoy this, relish the moment and make those decisions as we get closer.”

Pedigree Notes:

One of seven stakes winners for Spendthrift Farm's Hit It a Bomb, Tiz the Bomb becomes his fifth graded stakes winner with the victory. He's the second foal to race out of his dam, who was fourth at 22-1 in the 2014 GI American Oaks. A $330,000 Keeneland September buy by Spendthrift, she has a yearling Free Drop Billy filly and foaled a colt by Mor Spirit this season before being bred to Gormley.

Sunday, Keeneland
CASTLE & KEY BOURBON S.-GII, $200,000, Keeneland, 10-10, 2yo, 1 1/16mT, 1:43.69, gd.
1–TIZ THE BOMB, 120, c, 2, by Hit It a Bomb
   1st Dam: Tiz the Key, by Tiznow
   2nd Dam: Cabbage Key, by A.P. Indy
   3rd Dam: Mayville's Magic, by Gone West
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($330,000 Ylg '20 FTKSEL).
O-Phoenix Thoroughbred, LTD; B-Spendthrift Farm, LLC (KY);
T-Kenneth G. McPeek; J-Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr.
$120,000. Lifetime Record: 4-3-0-0, $447,841. Werk Nick
Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Stolen Base, 118, c, 2, Bodemeister–Running Wild, by
Indian Charlie. ($45,000 2yo '21 OBSAPR). O-Three
Diamonds Farm & Deuce Greathouse; B-Peter E. Blum
Thoroughbreds, LLC (KY); T-Michael J. Maker. $40,000.
3–Credibility, 118, c, 2, Nyquist–Class Edge, by Indygo Shiner.
($32,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP; $15,000 2yo '21 OBSAPR). O-Harry
Rosenblum; B-DJ Stable, LLC (KY); T-Mark E. Casse.
$20,000.
Margins: 3/4, HF, 3/4. Odds: 2.90, 7.90, 45.00.
Also Ran: Red Danger, Dowagiac Chief, Rocket One, Play Action Pass, Lucky Boss, On Thin Ice, Brit's Wit, Martini'nmoonshine, Heaven Street, Fast N Steady, Waita Minute Hayes. Scratched: Red Run, Vivar.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

The post Bombs Away in the Bourbon appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Turf 2-Year-Olds Make a Splash in Bourbon

A field of 14 juveniles look to sort themselves out in Sunday's GII Castle & Key Bourbon S. at Keeneland, a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. Tiz the Bomb (Hit It a Bomb) is one of two stakes-winning juveniles in the field, following up a spectacular 14 1/4-length off-the-turf maiden special weight at Ellis Park July 2 with a hard-fought score in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile S. Sept. 6. As a $330,000 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky yearling, he remains the highest-priced yearling–by nearly $200,000–by his sire and was picked out of the sale by that astute judge of horseflesh, Kenny McPeek. Tiz the Bomb owns the highest Beyer (76) among these young runners and has bulleted in two of his last three works, one bullet each on turf and dirt.

As the only other black-type winner among these nascent runners, Red Danger (Orb) also has a two-race win streak. He overcame bumping and steadying to break his maiden at the Spa, then also came back at Kentucky Downs to edge to a win in the Sept. 9 Global Tote Juvenile Sprint S. Both his victories are on the lawn, but he hasn't gone farther than 6 1/2 furlongs for trainer Brian Lynch.

If Tiz the Bomb falters, McPeek also sends Lucky Boss (Street Boss), who won a July 17 off-the-turf Ellis maiden, then was runner-up Aug. 15 at the same track in the Runhappy Ellis Park Juvenile S. The Bourbon will mark his first start on the grass. Rocket One (Into Mischief) kicked off his career in the deep end, losing on the dirt to eventual GISW Gunite (Gun Runner), then lost to re-opposing Play Action Pass (Cairo Prince) on the turf before winning handily while closing late in a Sept. 6 Kentucky Downs maiden special weight. Play Action Pass was in that same Gunite maiden, beat Rocket One when moving to the lawn, and grudgingly yielded the lead and the win to Tiz the Bomb in the Juvenile Mile S. Heaven Street (Street Sense) has the most starts under his belt with five, and has won two of his last three, all on the grass, with a placing in Woodbine's Soaring Free S.

The post Turf 2-Year-Olds Make a Splash in Bourbon appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

McPeek Hopes Tiz The Bomb Can Copy Sire’s Win In Bourbon Stakes At Keeneland

Like father, like son?

Trainer Kenny McPeek hopes that is the case Sunday afternoon at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., when he sends out Tiz the Bomb in the Grade 2 Castle & Key Bourbon, a “Win and You're In” race for the $1 million Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf to be run Nov. 5 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

“He's a very good horse,” McPeek said about the son of Hit It a Bomb, winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf here in 2015. “I would have run him in the (Grade 1 Claiborne) Breeders' Futurity if the owner (Phoenix Thoroughbred III Ltd.) didn't have another one (Double Thunder) in there.”

Tiz the Bomb enters Sunday's Castle & Key Bourbon off a victory in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile on Sept. 6 in his turf debut. Prior to that victory, Tiz the Bomb won an off-the-turf maiden race at Ellis Park by 14¼ lengths.

McPeek has won the Bourbon three times, most recently with Lawn Ranger in 2014.

In the race preceding the Bourbon, McPeek will send out Three Chimneys Farm and Walking L Thoroughbreds' Envoutante in the Grade 1 Juddmonte Spinster.

McPeek is seeking his third victory in the race, having repeated with Take Charge Lady in 2002-2003. “It's a tough race,” he said.

The post McPeek Hopes Tiz The Bomb Can Copy Sire’s Win In Bourbon Stakes At Keeneland appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights