Todd Pletcher | Horse Racing Free Tips

Valiance Earns Spot In Distaff With First Graded Win In Spinster

Prior to Sunday's Grade 1 Spinster Stakes at Keeneland, the only two times Valiance had competed on dirt in seven career starts for trainer Todd Pletcher were when races were taken off the turf because of wet conditions. She was 1-for-2 in those contests, most recently winning the Eatontown Stakes at Monmouth Park over a sloppy track.

Campaigning for Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Martin Schwartz and CHC Inc., Valiance had no trouble handling the dirt at Keeneland in the fall meet's biggest race for fillies and mares, the Spinster. In addition to its G1 status and $400,000 purse, the Spinster had the added benefit of being a Win and You're In Challenge Series race for the Breeders' Cup Distaff, to be run at the Lexington, Ky., track on Nov. 7 as part of the two-day world championships.

Coming from off the pace while kept in the clear by Luis Saez, Valiance battled past the 3-year-old Shedaresthedevil, winner of the G1 Kentucky Oaks, in a stretch duel, then held off a furious late charge from Ollie's Candy to win by three-quarters of a length.

Valiance, a 4-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Tapit out of G1 Madison Stakes winner Last Full Measure, by Empire Maker, stopped the timer in 1:49.76 and paid $14.80 for the win. She was bred by China Horse Club International Ltd.

Unlucky Ollie's Candy, with four consecutive narrow defeats in G1 races for trainer John Sadler, finished second, with 6-5 favorite Shedaresthedevil third. Completing the order of finish were Lady Kate, Saracosa and Our Super Freak.

Shedaresthedevil outhustled Lady Kate for the lead under Florent Geroux and set fractions of :23.62, :46.97 and 1:10.85 for six furlongs. Lady Kate was lapped to her outside much of the way, with Ollie's Candy tucked behind the leader along the rail and Valiance three paths off the rail and in the clear.

With Lady Kate still in pursuit of the leader on the turn for home, Valiance ranged up three-wide and took on the Oaks winner. Joel Rosario, aboard Ollie's Candy, had to bide his time behind the top pair before swinging off the rail when Lady Kate began to fade.

Valiance gradually edged past Shedaresthedevil and opened a clear lead in the final furlong, but Ollie's Candy began to eat up ground though came up short in the end.

The win was the sixth for Valiance in eight starts. She was purchased for $650,000 by Eclipse and Schwartz from the Bluewater Sales consignment at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sale.

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Tapit Filly Books Trip to Breeders’ Cup With Spinster Win

Valiance, previously a turf specialist who earned her first stakes win in a washed-off event last out, rallied from off the pace to upset the GI Juddmonte Spinster S. Sunday at Keeneland. The win sealed a berth in the GI Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff for the gray and capped off a monster weekend at Keeneland for jockey Luis Saez.

Beginning her career with three straight turf triumphs last year, including a score in Monmouth’s Open Mind S., the $650,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga buy had to be shelved for over 10 months after that and suffered her first defeat when fourth in the off-the-turf Powder Break S. May 16 at Gulfstream. A non-factor sixth in the GII New York S., she got back on track against optional claiming company July 28 at Colonial and earned a career-high 93 Beyer when annexing the Eatontown S. in the Monmouth slop Aug. 27.

Off as the fourth choice in this sextet, Valiance was caught widest going into the clubhouse turn and maneuvered into a stalking third as favorite and GI Kentucky Oaks victress Shedaresthedevil dictated terms through a reasonable :23.62 quarter. Dropping back a spot as the pace quickened past a :46.97 half, she was given her cue approaching the three-eighths pole and sidled up alongside the frontrunner at the head of the stretch. Starting to wear that filly down passing the furlong grounds, she inched clear entering the final sixteenth only to be set upon by second choice Ollie’s Candy, but dug in to stave off that rival for the half-length victory.

“Just blown away. It’s been such an emotional year dealing with the craziest times that the world has seen. We’re just so honored to win a race like this with such a regally bred filly,” said Aron Wellman of winning co-owner Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners. “We’ve just been waiting and waiting and waiting to swing for the fences with her. We started her off last year as a turf filly. She trained well on the dirt all along, but the way things played out schedule-wise, option-wise, we kept her on the turf. She won a stakes last year on the turf as a 3-year-old, and we gave her a lot of time to come into her 4-year-old season.

“We never really ruled out the possibility that she was a good dirt horse. When she won the Eatontown in the slop, you know slop isn’t normal , but it gave us the confidence to take this monumental leap because she was a stakes winner on turf and then she was a stakes winner on dirt. We had nothing to lose by trying to go for the Grade I. We were going for it even though we knew [Midnight Bisou] was pointing for the Spinster and our hearts go out to the connections of that champion mare since she obviously couldn’t make the race. We felt that much more confident once she was out of the race that we would be live to make some noise.”

“It seemed like she had simply been training better on dirt than she ever did previously,” said trainer Todd Pletcher, who swept the two graded stakes on Sunday’s Keeneland card. “When she won her first three starts on the turf, it was logical to keep her on there. But when she didn’t fire her A race in the New York and when the Eatontown came off the turf, it was very impressive the way she did that that day. The margin doesn’t do justice to how easily she won that day. That’s when we started thinking about taking a shot in a big one. That was kind of the one thing missing on her resume was that graded stakes win. With a filly of her quality and pedigree, something like that was so valuable to her and we felt like in light of how well she was doing, it was worth taking a shot.”

Pedigree Notes:

One of 136 stakes winners for Tapit, Valiance becomes his 84th graded stakes winner and 27th Grade I scorer. She is the second foal to race out of Last Full Measure, who rallied from last to upset the GI Madison S. at 17-1 over the local synthetic track in 2013. Second dam Lazy Slusan was a two-time Grade I victress. Valiance has a 2-year-old Exaggerator half-brother named Harbor Bay and a yearling half-sister by Mastery who sold for $220,000 at last month’s Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Select Yearlings Sale. Last Full Measure, bought by China Horse Club for $1.5 million at Keeneland November in 2014, was bred to Constitution this season.

Sunday, Keeneland
JUDDMONTE SPINSTER S.-GI, $400,000, Keeneland, 10-4, 3yo/up, f/m, 1 1/8m, 1:49.76, ft.
1–VALIANCE, 124, f, 4, by Tapit
1st Dam: Last Full Measure, by Empire Maker
2nd Dam: Lazy Slusan, by Slewvescent
3rd Dam: Three Flights Up, by Topsider
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN, 1ST GRADE I WIN. ($650,000 Ylg ’17 FTSAUG). O-Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Martin S Schwartz & CHC Inc; B-China Horse Club International Limited (KY); T-Todd A Pletcher; J-Luis Saez. $240,000. Lifetime Record: 8-6-0-0, $469,575. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Ollie’s Candy, 124, m, 5, by Candy Ride (Arg)
1st Dam: Afternoon Stroll, by Stroll
2nd Dam: Gertie, by Danzatore
3rd Dam: Granny Ruth, by Key to the Mint
($45,000 RNA Ylg ’16 KEESEP). O/B-Paul & Karen Eggert (KY); T-John W Sadler. $80,000.
3–Shedaresthedevil, 121, f, 3, by Daredevil
1st Dam: Starship Warpspeed, by Congrats
2nd Dam: Andria’s Forest, by Forestry
3rd Dam: Andriana B., by Far North
($100,000 Wlg ’17 KEENOV; $20,000 RNA Ylg ’18 KEESEP; $280,000 2yo ’19 KEENOV). O-Flurry Racing Stables LLC, Qatar Racing Limited & Big Aut Farms; B-WinStar Farm LLC (KY); T-Brad H Cox. $40,000.
Margins: 3/4, 2HF, 5 3/4. Odds: 6.40, 1.90, 1.20.
Also Ran: Lady Kate, Saracosa, Our Super Freak.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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Into Mischief Colt Flies Home in Bourbon

‘TDN Rising Star’ Mutasaabeq took advantage of a fast pace and produced a last-to-first rally to take the GII Bourbon S. Sunday at Keeneland, punching his ticket to the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf in the “Win and You’re In” qualifier.

Cruising to a 4 1/2-length debut score going 5 1/2 furlongs on the Saratoga main track Aug. 8, the $425,000 Keeneland November weanling buy finished a well-beaten third in the GI Runhappy Hopeful S. there Sept. 7 and was backed down to favoritism in this turf bow.

Last out of the stalls, the Shadwell colorbearer steadied off heels a bit going past the wire the first time and caboosed the field behind quick splits of :22.62 and :47.09. Starting to pick it up while swinging six wide approaching the stretch, the bay closed steadily on his left lead, then switched over outside the eighth pole and soon overtook the tiring pacesetter before edging clear to triumph. Abarta finished well to get up for second, completing an Into Mischief exacta.

“The first 100 yards didn’t go very well, but he was able to save a little bit of ground around the first turn and it looked like Luis [Saez] was biding his time and trying to figure out whether he should find a seam to go through or ultimately he just decided to circle the field and kind of sling-shotted them,” said winning trainer Todd Pletcher. “He delivered an explosive turn of foot. Great to see and great for the Shadwell team. His maiden win was very impressive and his gate work prior to his maiden win was as good as any 2-year-old we’ve had at Saratoga ever. We felt that [in] the Hopeful, they kind of ran away from him and he couldn’t really close the way we hoped he would. Kind of looking into his pedigree, the Into Mischiefs run on anything.”

“We broke a little slow. Last time he did the same thing, but I knew I had a lot of horse,” Saez added. “The distance was great for him. He was working so good on the turf. We knew what we had. When we came to the half-mile I was trying to [decide] where we were going to go–inside or out–but inside we had so many horses. I felt like I had the horse to go out and let him roll. When he came to the straight, he just took off. He did it easy.”

Pedigree Notes:

With the victory, Mutasaabeq becomes the 80th stakes winner and 34th graded stakes winner for Into Mischief. He is the first foal out of Downside Scenario, a half-sister to MGSW Cool Cowboy (Kodiak Kowboy) who was claimed for $40,000 out of her final career start in 2016. From the female family of Brazilian champion Juno (Brz) (Setembro Chove {Brz}), she has a yearling California Chrome filly and produced a colt by Uncle Mo this season before being bred to Audible.

Sunday, Keeneland
BOURBON S.-GII, $200,000, Keeneland, 10-4, 2yo, 1 1/16mT, 1:43.13, fm.
1–MUTASAABEQ, 118, c, 2, by Into Mischief
                1st Dam: Downside Scenario, by Scat Daddy
                2nd Dam: Grand Breeze, by Grand Slam
                3rd Dam: Breeze Lass, by It’s Freezing
‘TDN Rising Star‘ 1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES
   WIN. ($425,000 Wlg ’18 KEENOV). O-Shadwell Stable;     B-BlackRidge Stables LLC (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher; J-Luis Saez.
$120,000. Lifetime Record: GISP, 3-2-0-1, $189,600. Werk Nick
   Rating: F. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Abarta, 118, c, 2, Into Mischief–Dame Marie, by Smart Strike.
($200,000 Ylg ’19 KEESEP). O-Donegal Racing & Newtown
Anner Stud Farm; B-Mt. Brilliant Broodmares II, LLC (KY);
T-Brad H. Cox. $40,000.
3–Nathan Detroit, 118, c, 2, Union Rags–Gracie Square, by
Awesome Again. O-Joseph Allen LLC; B-Mr. Joseph Allen LLC
(KY); T-J. Reeve McGaughey. $20,000.
Margins: 2 1/4, 3/4, HD. Odds: 2.00, 17.40, 24.60.
Also Ran: Into the Sunrise, Arrest Me Red, Private Island, Spyglass, Barrister Tom, Blame the Booze, Indy Tourist, Really Slow. Scratched: Hidden Enemy (Ire). Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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Chances Galore in Deep Shadwell Mile

Last-out Grade I winner Halladay (War Front) is favored on the morning line for Saturday’s GI Shadwell Turf Mile S. at Keeneland, but there are strong contenders up and down the lineup of the 11-horse “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the GI Breeders’ Cup Mile.

Dual stakes placed last fall as a sophomore, Harrell Ventures’ gray captured the Tropical Park Derby at Gulfstream to close his season before running fourth in the GIII Tampa Bay S. Feb. 8. Scoring victories with triple-digit Beyers in an optional claimer and the Sunshine Forever S. this spring in Hallandale, he settled for fourth when taken off the lead in the GII Bernard Baruch H., then reverted to his previous tactics and went wire to wire in the GI Fourstardave H. Aug. 22 at Saratoga.

Chad Brown, who failed to crack the superfecta with a quartet of challengers in the Fourstardave, is back with another foursome here. ‘TDN Rising Star’ Analyze It (Point of Entry) leads the charge in his second start off a long layoff. Winning his first three outings by a combined 15 3/4 lengths, the bay then finished second by a neck in the GIII Pennine Ridge S., by a head in the GI Belmont Derby Invitational S. and again by a neck in the GI Secretariat S. Fourth as the chalk in this event two falls ago, he went to the bench after a third in the 2018 GI Breeders’ Cup Mile and returned after over 22 months off to take the GIII Red Bank S. last out Sept. 5 at Monmouth.

Lightly-raced Flavius (War Front) dons the Juddmonte colors for Brown. Two-for-three in Ireland for Dermot Weld, he was fourth in his first two Stateside starts before running third with late traffic trouble in the First Defence S. June 7 at Belmont. The homebred put it all together with a late-running triumph in the Tourist Mile S. last out Sept. 7, earning a career-high 105 Beyer. Rounding out the Brown contingent are MGISW Raging Bull (Dark Angel {Ire}), who removes blinkers following a mild fifth in the Fourstardave, and Without Parole (GB) (Frankel {GB}), a Group 1 winner in Great Britain who is winless so far in five North American starts.

Longshot contenders include Casa Creed (Jimmy Creed), Born Great (Scat Daddy) and Ivar (Brz) (Agnes Gold {Jpn}). Casa Creed, last year’s GII Hall of Fame S. winner, ran two sneaky-good races to start his 4-year-old campaign and closed well to be third in the slow-paced Fourstardave. Born Great, who has run just three times, looks to strike while the iron’s hot after scoring two sharp successes in a seven-day span at Kentucky Downs. Ivar, a dual Group 1 winner in Argentina, upset a Churchill optional claimer with a 100 Beyer two back and was a strong third after dueling on a fast pace in the Tourist Mile.

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