Todd Pletcher | Horse Racing Free Tips

Perfect Munnings Leads Pletcher Exacta In Aqueduct’s Rego Park

Trainer Todd Pletcher sent out a trio of contenders in Sunday's $100,000 Rego Park Stakes for New York-bred 3-year-olds at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.. While Pletcher conditioned the favorite in Uno, his other two entries completed the exacta, with Perfect Munnings besting Storm Shooter by two lengths.

Owned by JP Racing Stable, Perfect Munnings shined in his main track debut, building on his two-length debut score on November 29 over the Big A turf. The Munnings sophomore broke well from the outermost post and was forwardly placed by jockey Manny Franco in third position as stablemate Storm Shooter led the eight-horse field through a contested opening quarter-mile in 23.35 seconds and the half in 47.81 on the fast track under pressure from Lookin for Trouble.

In the final furlong, Franco kept Perfect Munnings to task, overtaking Lookin for Trouble to his immediate inside and Storm Shooter along the rail and completed the 6 1/2-furlong sprint in a final time of 1:20.24.

“We were pretty optimistic because of the way he breezes on the dirt,” Pletcher assistant Byron Hughes said. “He showed that ability today. He had a good post and Manny [Franco] kept him in the clear and he ran well. Obviously, he's won on turf and dirt. We'll keep him up here for now and then we can go back to turf if we have to.

“I told Manny before the race that we probably should use the post to our advantage,” he added. “He got a clean trip and Manny did a good job keeping him out there.”

Perfect Munnings, bred by Tammy and Robert Kilmasewski, improved to 2-for-2 overall. The $50,000 purchase at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Preferred New York-bred Sale, more than doubled his career earnings to $93,500.

Franco said he has benefitted from the brisk pace battle.

“I was really happy stalking the two horses and when I asked my horse to go before the quarter-pole, he started running for me,” Franco said.

My RaceHorse Stable's Storm Shooter, bred by Dr. Jerry Bilinski and ridden by Dylan Davis, bested Lookin for Trouble by 1 ¼ lengths for second.

“It was contentious, but I wanted to lead here. He does well on the lead,” Davis said. “I had to get into him early around the three-eighths pole. I didn't want to get him collared too early because he doesn't like too much company early.

“He keep finding more and more and for a second I thought we were going to get there but the other Pletcher horse had to come and grab me,” he added. “He ran a great race.”

Said Hughes: “He keep finding more and more and for a second I thought we were going to get there but the other Pletcher horse had to come and grab me,” he added. “He ran a great race.”

Uno gave Pletcher three-quarters of the superfecta with his fourth-place effort.

“He broke just a tick slow and looked like he got shuffled back,” Hughes said. “He also made a good run and I thought he got third when I first saw it. I thought he ran a big race, considering the start.”

Windy Nations, Blue Gator, New York One and Halpert completed the order of finish.

Live racing resumes Friday at Aqueduct with an eight-race card. First post is 12:50 p.m. Eastern. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday card is slated for Monday, January 18 and features the $100,000 Interborough for fillies and mares 4-years-old and up. There will be no live racing on Thursday, January 14 to accommodate the special holiday card.

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‘Like Getting A Horse From Mars’: Breeders’ Cup Winner Bulletin To Make Australian Debut

The 2018 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint winner Bulletin is preparing to make his Australian debut this Saturday at Randwick Racecourse, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. A 4-year-old son of City Zip, the colt is now trained by Gai Waterhouse and will start in the A$125,000 (about US$97,200) Heineken H. over 1200 meters (six furlongs).

Post time will be 12:20 a.m. Eastern on Saturday morning.

Bulletin broke his maiden on debut in the listed Hollywood Beach Stakes at Gulfstream Park, while trained by Todd Pletcher and owned by the partnership of China Horse Club, WinStar Farm, and SF Racing. Following his 2 3/4-length triumph in the Breeders' Cup, Bulletin won the listed Palisades Turf Sprint to kick off his 3-year-old campaign. He has not found the winner's circle since, however, despite switching to the barn of Steve Asmussen for two starts in 2020.

Bulletin hasn't raced since a second-place effort in a Churchill allowance race on June 12, 2020, but did finish second in a pair of barrier trials at Randwick ahead of the Heineken. He is now campaigned by the China Horse Club and Australia's Newgate Stud Farm.

Waterhouse said the colt has finally acclimated to Australian-style racing and weather, and should give a good account of himself on Saturday.

“I once had a very famous trainer say to me 'you don't ask much about the horse', and I said 'well it's like an upside-down cake, what you did in the northern hemisphere doesn't count in Australia,” Waterhouse told the Sydney Morning Herald. “The climate and the conditions of racing and everything about it is so dramatically different. It's like you're getting the horse from Mars.”

Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald.

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Pletcher Lands Three, McGaughey Two On Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitation List

Grade 1 winners Say the Word and Storm the Court, and three stakes winners from the barn of trainer Todd Pletcher, lead a list of 16 horses invited Sunday to the $1-million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1) at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The third running of the 1 3/16-mile Pegasus World Cup Turf, introduced in 2019 to serve as a companion race to the $3-million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1), will be run Jan. 23. The Pegasus Turf has been won previously by eventual Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar (2019) and Zulu Alpha (2020).

The Pegasus World Cup Turf and Pegasus World Cup will be part of an extraordinary program featuring seven graded stakes, four contested on the turf. Stakes on Pegasus Day will also include the $200,000 Inside Information (G2), $125,000 William L. McKnight (G3), $125,000 Marshua's River (G3), $125,000 La Prevoyante (G3) and $125,000 Fred Hooper (G3).

The 12 horses given first preference for the Pegasus World Cup Turf are (in alphabetical order):

Anothertwistafate – Owned by Peter Redekop B.C., Ltd. Trained by Peter Miller
Breaking the Rules – Owned by Phipps Stables. Trained by Shug McGaughey
Colonel Liam – Owner by Robert and Lawana Low. Trained by Todd Pletcher
Cross Border – Owned by Three Diamonds Farm. Trained by Mike Maker
Doswell – Owned by Joseph Allen LLC. Trained by Barclay Tagg
Largent – Owned by Twin Creeks Racing Stables, LLC, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners. Trained by Todd Pletcher
North Dakota – Owned by Allen Stable Inc. Trained by Shug McGaughey
Pixelate – Owned by Godolphin, LLC. Trained by Michael Stidham
Say the Word – Owned by Agave Racing Stable and Sam-Son Farm. Trained by Philip D'Amato
Sharp Samurai – Owned by Owned by Red Baron's Barn LLC, Rancho Temescal LLC, Mark Glatt. Trained by Mark Glatt
Social Paranoia – Owned by The Elkstone Group, LLC. Trained by Todd Pletcher
Storm the Court – Owned by Exline-Border Racing, LLC, David Bernsen LLC, Susanna Wilson and Dan Hudock. Trained by Peter Eurton

The also eligible horses (in order of preference):

Next Shares – Owned by Debby Baltas, Richard Baltas, Christopher Dunn, Jules Iavarone, Michael Iavarone, Jerry McClanahan, Ritchie Robershaw, Mark Taylor. Trained by Richard Baltas.
Field Pass – Owned by Three Diamonds Farm. Trained by Mike Maker
Analyze It – Owned by William H. Lawrence. Trained by Chad Brown
Greyes Creek – Owned by OXO Equine LLC. Trained by Chad Brown

Limited seating is available and tickets can be purchased at Pegasusworldcup.com.

Fans can watch and wager on the Pegasus World Cup at 1stbet.com and xpressbet.com.

Trainer Todd Pletcher, winner of 16 of the past 17 Championship Meet titles at Gulfstream Park, has an intriguing trio of contenders for the Turf in Largent, Social Paranoia and Colonel Liam.

Largent is an improving son of Into Mischief who enters the Pegasus off a victory Dec. 12 in the Fort Lauderdale (G2). The gelding has won six of nine career starts and has won four of his five starts at Gulfstream.

Pletcher-trained Social Paranoia, a 4-year-old son of Street Boss, prepped for the Pegasus at Gulfstream Dec. 16 by winning an allowance optional claiming event off a five-month layoff. Social Paranoia earlier in the year won the Appleton (G3) at Gulfstream.

Pletcher's third entry is the lightly raced Colonel Liam, a 4-year-old son of Liam's Map who enters the Pegasus off an impressive 3 ¼-length victory Dec. 26 in the Tropical Park Derby at Gulfstream Park.

Trainer Barclay Tagg, who trained the recently retired Tiz the Law to victories in last year's Florida Derby (G1), Belmont Stakes (G1) and Travers (G1), comes into the Turf with Doswell. The lightly raced 6-year-old raced only once as a 2-year-old. The son of Giant's Causeway broke his maiden as a 5-year-old and ended 2020 with a second-place finish behind Largent in the Fort Lauderdale.

It took seven races for North Dakota to win his first race, but the Shug McGaughey-trained 5-year-old has since won three of five races with his last being the Nov. 21 Red Smith (G3) at Aqueduct. McGaughey will also send out Breaking the Rules, a 6-year-old son of War Front who comes off a fourth-place finish in the Knickerbocker (G2) in October and a third-place finish in the Fort Lauderdale (G2).

Say the Word, a 6-year-old Ontario-bred by More Than Ready, enters off a third-place finish Nov. 27 in the Hollywood Turf Cup (G2) for trainer Philip D'Amato after winning the Northern Dancer Turf (G1) in October at Woodbine. The gelding finished fourth in his only other race at Gulfstream, that coming in 2018.

Storm the Court ships in from Santa Anita for trainer Peter Eurton. Winner of the 2019 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1), the son of Court Vision was sixth in the Kentucky Derby (G1) last year before moving to turf and finishing seventh in the Hollywood Derby (G1) and second last time out in the Mathis Brothers Mile (G2)

Cross Border will attempt to give trainer Mike Maker back-to-back wins in the Pegasus Turf after saddling last year's winner, Zulu Alpha. The 7-year-old son of English Channel was second in last year's Sword Dancer (G1) and won the Bowling Green (G2), both at Saratoga. He comes into the Pegasus off a second-place finish in the Buddy Diliberto Memorial Dec. 19 at Fair Grounds.

Sharp Samurai was beaten a nose by Jesus' Team for the place in the Breeders' Cup Mile. The 7-year-old gelding, based at Santa Anita with trainer Mark Glatt, was second last year in the Pacific Classic (G1), Eddie Read (G2) and City of Hope (G2). His last victory was the 2018 City of Hope. Sharp Samurai is also on the invitation list for the Pegasus.

Pixelate, trained by Michael Stidham, comes into the Pegasus off a victory Dec. 26 in the Woodchopper at Fair Grounds. The Godolphin homebred and son of City Zip won the Del Mar Derby (G2) in September and was fifth in the Belmont Derby (G1) in October.

Anothertwistafate, winner Jan. 2 of the San Gabriel (G2) at Santa Anita and Sept. 10 Longacres Mile (G3), is invited to the Turf and is on the reserve inviation list for the Pegasus.

The Pegasus Turf also-eligible list is led by Next Shares, who will try to make his third trip to the Pegasus Turf the charm after a seventh-place finish in the 2019 edition and a 12^th place finish last year. The 8-year-old would enter this year's event off a third-place finish Jan. 2 in the San Gabriel.

The reserve invitation list also includes Field Pass. The Ontario Derby (G3) winner is trained by Mike Maker, who saddled last year's Pegasus Turf winner Zulu Alpha. Trainer Chad Brown, who won the inaugural Pegasus Turf with Bricks and Mortar, has two on the reserve list in Red Bank (G3) winner Analyze Itand OXO Equine's Greyes Creek.

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From Turf To Dirt: Mutasaabeq Shows Versatility With Mucho Macho Man Victory

Shadwell Stable's Mutasaabeq made a successful transition from turf back to dirt in Saturday's $100,000 Mucho Macho Macho Man at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., establishing himself as a candidate for the 2021 Triple Crown.

The Mucho Macho Man, a mile stakes for 3-year-olds that headlined an 11-race program with five stakes, was the first stop on the Road to the Florida Derby (G1).

Mutasaabeq, who debuted with a victory over Saratoga's main track in August, was making his first start since finishing off-the-board in the Nov. 7 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) at Keeneland.

“We've been targeting this. We're glad he responded,” trainer Todd Pletcher said.

Mutasaabeq, the even-money favorite in a field of 10, broke well from the gate to obtain a close stalking position behind pacesetter Awesome Gerry along the backstretch. The son of Into Mischief continued to chase the pacesetter leaving the turn into the homestretch after fractions of 23.20 and 46.15 seconds for the first half-mile. The homebred colt briefly seemed to stall on the turn but would respond to strong handling from jockey Luis Saez and draw away to a 1 ½-length victory.

“He tends to break a bit slow, so today we tried to warm him up good. When he broke, he broke sharp and we were right there,” Saez said. “At the three-eighths, I thought we were done, but I put him on the bridle again and he came back. He ran big, I never give up, I always ride till the end. When I pushed him he gave me that kick. It was a good race.”

Mutasaabeq ran a mile in 1:35.96 to win his first stakes on dirt.

“I thought he ran great. We wanted to make sure he got away from the gate cleanly – that hasn't always been his best first step. I thought he broke pretty well today and put himself in a good spot,” Pletcher said. “Luis had to get after him a little bit on the turn and kept responding and finding more. I thought it was a big effort.”

Papetu, who won his first two starts at Gulfstream before finishing out of the money in the Saratoga Special (G2) and Hopeful (G1) at Saratoga, finished second, 1 ¼ lengths ahead of Awesome Gerry,

After winning his debut, Mutasaabeq finished a distant third in the Hopeful. Pletcher moved him to the turf for his next start, and he responded with a late-surging victory in the Bourbon (G2) at Keeneland. However, he was unable to duplicate that effort after a slow start in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.

“We'll look to try another one on dirt. I'll talk to the team at Shadwell and come up with a plan,” Pletcher said. “I think today he showed his versatility. He's now a stakes winner on both surfaces. It's exciting to have one like that.”

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