Todd Pletcher | Horse Racing Free Tips

Uncle Mo’s Kingsbarns Stays Perfect, Wires Louisiana Derby

Spendthrift Farm's Kingsbarns (c, 3, Uncle Mo–Lady Tapit, by Tapit) made it a perfect three-for-three in a dominating, front-running performance in Saturday's GII Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds. 'TDN Rising Star' Disarm (Gun Runner) was second; 'TDN Rising Star' Jace's Road (Quality Road) was third.

Well-backed at odds of 9-2 from a 6-1 morning-line quote, Kingsbarns was sent to the front by Flavien Prat from post six and led the way through easy fractions of :24.71 and :49.60 with Jace's Road shadowing in second. Kingsbarns began to shake free from the aforementioned Gun Runner S. winner as they straightened and streaked under the wire a powerful, 3 1/2-length winner. Disarm, making only second start of the year, ran well to rally from sixth to complete the exacta.

Kingsbarns was a game debut winner going a one-turn mile at Gulfstream Park Jan. 14, then aced his two-turn debut versus six overmatched optional claiming rivals at Tampa Feb. 12. He was favored on both occasions.

Pedigree Notes:

Kingsbarns, an $800,000 2-year-old purchase by Spendthrift Farm out of the Tom McCrocklin consignment at last year's Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale after breezing a quarter in :20 3/5, becomes the 49th graded/93rd stakes winner for leading sire Uncle Mo. Broodmare sire Tapit is now responsible for 41 graded/84 stakes winners. Kingsbarns is bred similarly to GI Belmont S. winner Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo), who was produced by the Pulpit mare Callingmissbrown. Lady Tapit, a half-sister to GI American Oaks Invitational S. heroine Gozzip Girl (Dynaformer), is also responsible for a 2-year-old colt by Union Rags and a yearling colt by Gun Runner. She was bred to Munnings for 2023. Lady Tapit RNA'd for $675,000 as a KEESEP yearling. Spendthrift also went to a sale-topping $1.2 million at the Gulfstream Sale for the McCrocklin-consigned Ruby Nell (Bolt d'Oro), who has finished second in both of her tries thus far at Santa Anita this term.

Saturday, Fair Grounds
TWINSPIRES.COM LOUISIANA DERBY-GII, $1,000,000, Fair Grounds, 3-25, 3yo, 1 3/16m, 1:57.33, ft.
1–KINGSBARNS, 122, c, 3, by Uncle Mo
1st Dam: Lady Tapit (GSP), by Tapit
2nd Dam: Temperence Gift, by Kingmambo
3rd Dam: Shapiro's Mistress, by Unpredictable
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN.
($250,000 Ylg '21 FTSAUG; $800,000 2yo '22 FTFMAR).
O-Spendthrift Farm LLC; B-Parks Investment Group, LLC (KY);
T-Todd A. Pletcher; J-Flavien Prat. $600,000. Lifetime Record:
3-3-0-0, $657,300. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus* Click
for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free
Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Disarm, 122, c, 3, Gun Runner–Easy Tap, by Tapit.
1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. O/B-Winchell
Thoroughbreds LLC (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen. $200,000.
3–Jace's Road, 122, c, 3, Quality Road–Out Post, by Silver
Deputy. ($510,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-West Point
Thoroughbreds and Albaugh Family Stables LLC; B-Colts Neck
Stables LLC (KY); T-Brad H. Cox. $100,000.
Margins: 3HF, 2 3/4, 2. Odds: 4.50, 7.80, 6.20.
Also Ran: Shopper's Revenge, Sun Thunder, Instant Coffee, Tapit's Conquest, Cagliostro, Baseline Beater, Denington, Curly Jack, Single Ruler.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Champion Forte Favored at 4-5 for Curlin Florida Derby

Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's champion and 'TDN Rising Star' Forte (Violence) has been installed as the 4-5 morning-line favorite from post 11 in a field of a dozen 3-year-olds entered in next Saturday's $1-million GI Curlin Florida Derby presented by Hill 'n' Dale Farms at Xalapa at Gulfstream Park.

The GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner established himself as a clear early favorite for the GI Kentucky Derby following an impressive win while making his sophomore debut in the GII Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park.

Trainer Todd Pletcher has saddled a record six Florida Derby winners–Scat Daddy (2007), Constitution (2014), Materiality (2015), Always Dreaming (2017), Audible (2018) and Known Agenda (2021).

“We love the positioning of the Florida Derby five weeks out,” Pletcher said. “We're happy about that. It gives us a little more time to stay in Florida before we ship north and hopefully have a couple more weeks of good weather before we need to move up. The Florida Derby on its own is a very important race. Historically, it's been a stallion-making race and an important Grade I on any horse's resume.”

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Forte Breezes for Curlin Florida Derby

Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's Forte (Violence) returned to the worktab at Palm Beach Downs Friday in preparation for a scheduled start in the $1-million GI Curlin Florida Derby Apr. 1 at Gulfstream Park.

The Todd Pletcher-trained 2022 Eclipse Award-winning 2-year-old male breezed for the first time since his tour-de-force 2023 debut in the GII Fountain of Youth S. Mar. 4 at Gulfstream Park. He breezed a half-mile in :50.72 under regular jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr.

“I thought it was super. The horse is doing extremely well. He came out of the Fountain of Youth in great shape. He had a nice breeze this morning, just a half-mile. He finished up strongly with a good gallop-out,” Pletcher said. “He's very happy and moving well.”

Pletcher added, “He came back with really good energy. His appetite has been super. He's doing all the things the way you'd want him to be doing them. He's coming out of a big race and leading up to another big one. I couldn't be more pleased.”

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Kiaran McLaughlin Joins TDN Writers’ Room Podcast

It's been a memorable few months for trainer-turned-jockey-agent Kiaran McLaughlin. He's been nominated to the Hall of Fame for the first time and, as the agent for Luis Saez, has his client lined up with many of the top horses in the sport, including top candidates for the GI Kentucky Derby in Tapit Trice (Tapit) and Instant Coffee (Bolt d'Oro). With plenty to talk about, McLaughlin joined this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland. McLaughlin was this week's Green Group Guest of the Week.

McLaughlin was asked his opinion of Tapit Trice's win in the GII Tampa Bay Derby, which has not necessarily drawn rave reviews.

“I want to hope that he gets out of the gate a little better next time,” he said. “He was slow to break and was last, but he stayed out of trouble. I never thought he was going to win until the sixteenth pole. But he's got a beautiful stride and a great mind for a Tapit. Luis likes him a lot.”

A Derby win would be Saez's first. He crossed the finish line in front in 2019 aboard Maximum Security (New Year's Day), but was disqualified for interference. Has that experience made Saez even hungrier to win a Derby?

“That was a tough one,” said McLaughlin, who was not Saez's agent at the time. “He handled it great. He doesn't bring it up. He does not want to look back on it. He's always looking to the next Saturday and the Saturday after that. But everybody in the industry wants to win the Kentucky Derby. And for him, I'm sure that he wants to win it even more since he lost it in a disqualification.”

In order to ride Tapit Trice, McLaughlin had to take off the Wayne Lukas-trained GI Kentucky Oaks winner Secret Oath (Arrogate), who won the GII Azeri S. at Oaklawn in her 4-year-old debut. McLaughlin said the decision was all about sticking with a top horse for the Kentucky Derby. Tyler Gaffalione rode Secret Oath.

“We also had to take off Frank's Rockette (Into Mischief), who won the (GIII) Hurricane Bertie at Gulfstream,” McLaughlin said. “So we lost two very nice fillies. But at Derby time, you're always trying to get to the Kentucky Derby. Wayne was hard on me when I first called him and told him that we were not going to be out there on her. He said, 'You're riding the second best one for Todd (Pletcher). What are you thinking?' I said, 'You're probably right.' He got after me a little bit thinking I was making the wrong decision. I was happy that he won and we won.”

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by Coolmore, the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, Woodford Thoroughbreds, The Kentucky Thoroughbred Association, XBTV, 1/st Racing, WinStar Farm, Lane's End and West Point Thoroughbreds, Randy Moss, Zoe Cadman and Bill Finley took a look back at the win in the Tampa Bay Derby by Tapit Trice and the victory by Secret Oath in the Azeri, which the group deemed the most impressive performance of the week. The ever versatile Moss and Cadman also covered what has been a memorable Cheltenham Festival in the U.K. and raved about the wins by Honeysuckle (GB) (Sulamani {Ire}) and Constitution Hill (GB) (Blue Bresil {Fr}). In other news, the group covered the story of the alarming dip in handle that has been on-going since October and tried to figure out what is going on. A possible answer may be the level of play from the Computer Robotic Wagering players, who, by some estimates, now account for 33% of the total handle in the U.S. The trials and tribulations of former owner Ron Paolucci also made the podcast. Paolucci faces up to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of tax fraud and tax evasion.

Click for the Writers' Room Podcast's Audio or Video.

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