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Hit It a Bomb Gets First Stakes Winner with Weston in Best Pal

Weston became his sire (by War Front)’s first winner at Santa Anita in June, and the Spendthrift freshman’s first stakes and graded stakes winner Saturday, while also providing young trainer Ryan Hanson with his first graded trophy. The bay defied 21-1 odds to run away with a 4 1/2-furlong heat June 21 over the much pricier Ambivalent (Constitution), and was backed as the best local hope to defeat heavily favored Wesley Ward trainee Roderick (Into Mischief).

Bouncing out abruptly, Weston was shuffled back in the early scramble for position but moved back up to be part of the leading vanguard with Girther along the rail and the chalk three deep. Roderick backed out of it abruptly heading for home, and Weston and Girther battled it out at the top of the lane as Ambivalent appeared a major danger for the stretch drive. Ambivalent shifted in sharply and bumped with Sonic Brees, however, effectively leaving the top two to sort it out. Girther looked the winner until late, as Weston made one last lunge to notch the decision. Ambivalent was subsequently disqualified from third to fourth.

“Boy, I had to work hard for that one. But I’m glad I did,” said winning rider Drayden Van Dyke. “I was happy to win it for Ryan Hanson. He’s such a kind man and a good horse trainer. And this horse showed some class, too. Ryan told me he never got to paddock him [before the race], but he was just standing in there like an old pro. I knew I got there in the end and I’m real glad I did.”

Hanson added, “He broke sharp, just like we wanted him to, but then it looked like he just sat there for a minute. I got a little nervous when he got shuffled back, but then he got back up there and fought on. The time was not very impressive, but that doesn’t matter. I didn’t think we were going to win it. I thought we’d be second to the Peter Miller horse [Girther], who had had a trip over the track. But I’m just really happy. We’ll see how he looks tomorrow and let him tell us what to do [regarding the GI Mar Futurity Sept. 7]. ”

Saturday, Del Mar
BEST PAL S.-GII, $151,000, Del Mar, 8-8, 2yo, 6f, 1:12.72, ft.
1–WESTON, 120, g, 2, by Hit It a Bomb
                1st Dam: Elke (MSP, $122,970), by Dixie Union
                2nd Dam: Call to the Post, by Mt. Livermore
                3rd Dam: Trumpet’s Blare, by Vice Regent
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($7,000 Ylg
’19 KEEJAN; $7,000 Ylg ’19 KEESEP). O-Chris Drakos & Ryan
Hanson; B-EVADI Farm Team (KY); T-Ryan Hanson; J-Drayden
Van Dyke. $90,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $120,000.
Werk Nick Rating: F.
   Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Girther, 120, c, 2, Brody’s Cause–Tea Dancer, by Afternoon
Deelites. ($2,500 Wlg ’18 KEENOV; $4,000 Ylg ’19 OBSOCT;
$20,000 2yo ’20 OBSMAR). O-Altamira Racing Stable; B-Farm
III Enterprises LLC (FL); T-Peter Miller. $30,000.
3–Sonic Brees, 118, r, 2, Maclean’s Music–Miss Hetty, by
Congrats. ($80,000 Ylg ’19 KEESEP). O-William Strauss, Kyle
Suarez & Darin Tsukashima; B-Springhouse Farm, Olin Gentry
& John F. Goldthorpe (KY); T-Doug F. O’Neill. $18,000.
Margins: NK, 1 1/4, 1 1/4. Odds: 5.10, 32.90, 22.00.
Also Ran: Ambivalent, Schnell, Herd Immunity, Roderick.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

Pedigree Notes:
A winner of both of his Irish starts at two for Aidan O’Brien and owner/breeder Evelyn Stockwell, Hit It a Bomb overcame the 14 hole to take the 2015 GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Keeneland. He was twice Group-placed back overseas as a sophomore, is a full-brother to Europe’s 2016 champion 2-year-old filly Brave Anna.

Weston is the 19th graded stakes winner out of a Dixie Union mare. Dam Elke was MSP as a juvenile, and was successful both dirt sprinting and turf routing. Third dam Trumpet’s Blare was a GISW juvenile. Weston has a yearling half-sister by Tapiture and a foal half-brother by Speightster.

Runner-up Girther’s sire Brody’s Cause also stands at Spendthrift and is represented by first 2-year-olds this year.

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New York’s Finest

Sackatoga Stable’s Tiz the Law (Constitution) continued his unconventional path to Louisville in this upside down year with a jaw-dropping, geared-down 5 1/2-length victory in Saturday’s GI Runhappy Travers S. at a spectator-free Saratoga.

‘TDN Rising Star’ Caracaro (Uncle Mo) was second; Max Player (Honor Code) finished third.

“I’ve been doing this a long time and I’ve always wanted to win the Travers,” winning trainer Barclay Tagg said. “This has been in my head my whole life. And now it happened so it couldn’t be better. You always have some doubt because many different things can happen. That’s always in the back of you’re a mind, but I was very confident in the horse.”

Sackatoga’s Jack Knowlton added, “It’s just so exciting. To be in the race and to be 1-2, there’s a lot of pressure. We had well-wishers from everywhere. We saw a performance today that just blows me away. We know we had a nice horse. We thought we had the best horse. To do what he did today, we’re looking forward to going to Kentucky now [for the GI Kentucky Derby].”

Knowlton continued, “It’s fabulous. We’re getting redemption 17 years later [Funny Cide, the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, ran third in the Belmont S. and did not run in the Travers]. Tiz won the Belmont, now he won the Travers. It’s quite an accomplishment for our little stable of New York-breds, for Barclay Tagg training our New York-bred to win the biggest races in New York. We’re just thrilled to death.”

The last out GI Belmont S. hero left the stalls in good order and was kept in the clear three wide by Manny Franco as Bob Baffert’s highly regarded unbeaten West Coast invader Uncle Chuck (Uncle Mo) led them into the clubhouse turn.

Tiz the Law, sent off as the 1-2 favorite in the seven-horse affair, chased on the outside in third through an opening quarter in :23.65 and loomed large in that same position through a :48.36 half mile. The New York-bred turned up the heat on the pacesetter, the 5-2 second choice, under confident handling heading into the far turn and the East vs. West showdown was set. Or so it seemed.

Franco remained motionless as Luis Saez was already all in aboard a tiring Uncle Chuck as they hit the quarter pole with Tiz the Law’s big white blaze now in front. It was only a question of by how far from there as Franco took a peek under his shoulder.

Tiz the Law, winner of Gulfstream’s GIII Holy Bull S. and the GI Curlin Florida Derby in his two other appearances earlier this term, was in complete control as they straightened. Franco briefly shook the reins and a single backhander from there was all it took as he eased down late on the early GI Kentucky Derby favorite in the lane to win for fun.

“He gave me chills,” Franco said of the $110,000 SARAUG yearling graduate. “When I pressed the button, he just took off. He accelerated really hard. After that, I took a peek back and he was going away and I just saved horse.”

Tiz the Law will look to collect the second jewel of this rescheduled COVID-19 Triple Crown on the first Saturday in September.

“I don’t think we’ll change a whole lot,” Tagg said. “We’ll give him 10 days of easiness and then get a few more breezes in him before we go out there. That’s about all we can do.”

Pedigree Notes:

Constitution, the runaway leading second-crop sire of 2020 by earnings and heir-apparent to his sire Tapit, is the sire of Tiz the Law and five other black-type winners, including Alexandria, who won the Best of Ohio Miss Ohio S. also on Saturday, and Laura’s Light, who won the July 25 GII San Clemente S. at Del Mar. Five of Constitution’s six stakes winners are graded and five more of his eight additional stakes horses are graded-placed. Constitution shares stallion duties at WinStar Farm with Horse of the Year Tiznow, who is Tiz the Law’s broodmare sire and is also the damsire of Constitution’s additional stakes horses Our Country (GIII Pilgrim S.) and Kansas Kis (Busher Invitational S.). Winner of the 2009 GII San Gorgonio H. at Santa Anita and full-sister to GSW and GISP Fury Kapcori, Tiz the Law’s dam, Tizfiz, hails from the female family of Horse of the Year Favorite Trick (Phone Trick). She also has 2-year-old filly Angel Oak (Mission Impazible) and a yearling colt by that same sire. Although she was bred to Constitution for 2020, no foal has been reported for Tizfiz this year. Tiz the Law will stand at Coolmore America’s Ashford Stud upon his retirement, it was announced in late June.

Saturday, Saratoga
RUNHAPPY TRAVERS S.-GI, $980,000, Saratoga, 8-8, 3yo, 1 1/4m, 2:00.95, ft.
1–TIZ THE LAW, 126, c, 3, by Constitution
1st Dam: Tizfiz (GSW, $410,944), by Tiznow
2nd Dam: Gin Running, by Go for Gin
3rd Dam: Crafty and Evil, by Crafty Prospector
($110,000 Ylg ’18 SARAUG). O-Sackatoga Stable; B-Twin Creeks Farm (NY); T-Barclay Tagg; J-Manuel Franco. $535,000. Lifetime Record: 7-6-0-1, $2,015,300. *1/2 to Awestruck (Tapit), MSP, $357,116. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk Nick Rating: A.
2–Caracaro, 126, c, 3, Uncle Mo–Peace Time, by War Front. ($95,000 Wlg ’17 KEENOV). O-Global Thoroughbred & Top Racing LLC; B-SF Bloodstock LLC (KY); T-Gustavo Delgado. $185,000.
3–Max Player, 126, c, 3, Honor Code–Fools in Love, by Not For Love. ($150,000 RNA Ylg ’18 KEESEP). O-George E Hall & SportBLX Thoroughbreds Corp; B-K & G Stables (KY); T-Linda Rice. $100,000.
Margins: 5HF, 2, 2. Odds: 0.50, 11.00, 11.40.
Also Ran: South Bend, Country Grammer, Uncle Chuck, Shivaree. Scratched: First Line.
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’s Gamine Gallops Again in Test

Michael Lund Petersen’s ‘TDN Rising Star‘ Gamine (Into Mischief) turned in her second jaw-dropping performance in a row as she dominated Saturday’s GI Longines Test S., covering seven furlongs at Saratoga in a blazing 1:20.83. That time matched the stakes record set by Lady Tak in 2003, and was significantly faster than the 1:21.63 last year’s GI Kentucky Oaks heroine Serengeti Empress (Alternation) went in the GI Ballerina S. for older fillies a few races earlier. Kept well off the rail with formidable foe and chief market rival Venetian Harbor (Munnings) hard held while applying the pressure through splits of :22.70 and :45.14, last year’s $1.8-million Fasig-Tipton Midlantic topper shook loose at the top of the lane and cantered home under a hands-and-heels ride to cruise under the line seven lengths in front, as easily as her 3-10 odds suggested she might. Venetian Harbor was a clear-cut second best with late-running Up in Smoke (The Big Beast) filling out the trifecta.

Saturday, Saratoga
LONGINES TEST S.-GI, $291,000, Saratoga, 8-8, 3yo, f, 7f, 1:20.83, ft.
1–GAMINE, 123, f, 3, by Into Mischief
               1st Dam: Peggy Jane (SP, $102,050), by Kafwain
2nd Dam: Seattle Splash, by Chief Seattle
3rd Dam: Grand Splash, by Bucksplasher
‘TDN Rising Star‘ ($220,000 Ylg ’18 KEESEP; $1,800,000 2yo
’19 EASMAY). O-Michael Lund Petersen; B-Grace
Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY); T-Bob Baffert; J-John R.
Velazquez. $165,000. Lifetime Record: 4-3-0-0, $363,000.
Werk Nick Rating: A++.
   Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Venetian Harbor, 121, f, 3, by Munnings
                1st Dam: Sounds of the City, by Street Cry (Ire)
                2nd Dam: Welcome Home, by Dixieland Band
                3rd Dam: Safe Return, by Mr. Prospector
($110,000 Ylg ’18 KEESEP; $205,000 RNA 2yo ’19 OBSAPR).
O-Ciaglia Racing LLC, Highland Yard LLC, River Oak Farm &
Dominic Savides; B-Colts Neck Stables LLC (KY); T-Richard
Baltas. $60,000.
3–Up in Smoke, 129, f, 3, by The Big Beast
                1st Dam: Therese, by Exchange Rate
                2nd Dam: Proud Ciel, by Septieme Ciel
                3rd Dam: Proud Encore, by Tri Jet
($45,000 Ylg ’18 OBSOCT; $230,000 2yo ’19 EASMAY). O-Black
Type Thoroughbreds & R. A. Hill Stable; B-John D Rio & Carole
A Rio (FL); T-George Weaver. $36,000.
Margins: 7, 6HF, 7. Odds: 0.30, 3.00, 16.50.
Also Ran: Perfect Alibi, Mrs. Danvers. Scratched: Wicked Whisper. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

“Obviously, she’s very good,” said Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez, who also piloted Gamine in the Acorn. “You love to be on these kinds of horses. I have to thank [trainer] Bob [Baffert] and the owners for the opportunity. Bob said she breaks well and to kind of let her do her thing. If another horse wants to go too fast, we just let her sit second and she’ll be fine sitting second. But she broke so good and the other horse kind of stayed right next to me and didn’t press the pace very much, so I just kind of let her do what she wanted to do the first quarter-mile. Once we got to the turn, I let her get into the turn and she got really comfortable and really smooth and got away from the other horse and kept going. Very nice.”

Gamine brought a record price at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale last term off a bullet :10 flat breeze, but missed some time in the summer of her juvenile season before getting back to working in late November. She debuted a 6 1/4-length winner sprinting at Santa Anita Mar. 7, and crossed the line a neck to the good of eventual GI Central Bank Ashland S. heroine Speech (Mr Speaker) in a two-turn Oaklawn optional claimer May 2, only to be later disqualified from purse money for a Lidocaine positive. The bay could not have been more dominant in the GI Longines Acorn S. over a one-turn mile at Belmont June 20, running up the score to 18 3/4 lengths while earning a 110 Beyer Speed Figure.

“She’s rising straight to the top,” said assistant trainer Jimmy Barnes. “For what she’s accomplished so far for such a lightly raced filly, we look forward to stretching her out and see what comes of that.”

Gamine is expected to take on a strong field in next month’s nine-furlong GI Kentucky Oaks.

Pedigree Notes:
Spendthrift stalwart Into Mischief is the leading general sire in North America this year, and was represented earlier in the day Saturday by impressive debuting juvenile Mutasaabeq, who garnered the ‘TDN Rising Star‘ distinction.

Gamine’s New York-bred dam Peggy Jane was a $200,000 OBSAPR ’11 juvenile buy and was stakes-placed going an extended mile on the Aqueduct inner track. Peggy Jane’s now 2-year-old colt Splashtown (Speightstown) was a $300,000 Fasig-Tipton October purchase by Starlight and recorded his first published breeze at Pimlico Saturday morning (4f, :52.80, 9/9).

Gamine has a yearling half-sister by Ghostzapper and a foal half-brother by Kantharos. Peggy Jane was bred back to Into Mischief for 2021.

The post Into Mischief’s Gamine Gallops Again in Test appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Serengeti Empress Scores Gutsy Victory in Ballerina

Last year’s GI Longines Kentucky Oaks heroine Serengeti Empress (Alternation) punched her ticket to the GI Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint with an ultra-game, front-running performance while turning back in distance in Saturday’s GI Ballerina S. at the Spa.

The dark bay wasn’t off to the sharpest of beginnings from her rail draw, but was quarter-horsed to the front by Luis Saez to hold a narrow advantage over the pride of Mexico Letruska (Super Saver) through an opening quarter in a blazing :21.75.

Getting scrubbed on and appearing to be in deep water with the others swarming in–including favored California invader Bellafina (Quality Road)–as they hit the quarter pole, Serengeti Empress wasn’t going out without a fight.

Longshot Victim of Love (Speightstown) began to shoot up the inside while Bellafina took dead aim to the outside of Serengeti Empress as they straightened for home.

Last term’s GI Breeders’ Cup Distaff third-place finisher kept on finding while drifting some down the stretch, however, and refused to lose while stopping the timer in a sparkling 1:21.63.

“That was very valiant,” winning trainer Tom Amoss said. “She didn’t break on time. She was a step slow, but when you go seven-eighths and you have that opening on the track before you hit the main track, you get an opportunity to catch up, and she did. She was able to regain her position, but I really thought that opening half-mile in [:43.74] was going to be her doing in. I thought we learned a lot about her today. What we learned is that this is a real good middle-distance filly.”

A too-good-to-lose second behind brilliant two-time champion Covfefe (Into Mischief) in last year’s GI Longines Test S. at the Spa, the Joel Politi colorbearer ran away and hid from them in a sloppy renewal of Oaklawn’s GII Azeri S. Mar. 14, but disappointed in her next two trips to the post.

She entered the Ballerina following double-digit defeats in both Oaklawn’s GI Apple Blossom H. Apr. 18 and the GII Fleur de Lis S. at Churchill last time June 27.

The Ballerina was her first start around one turn since last year’s Test.

“Speed is her game, and she used it today,” Amoss said. “She was able to hold off a very good filly from California. I look forward to staying at the seven-eighths distance, maybe getting one more start in her before the Breeders’ Cup.”

Pedigree Notes:

Serengeti Empress is the top runner for four-time graded winner Alternation, whose other graded victor from eight black-type winners is 2018 GIII Super Derby winner Limation. Alternation’s four crops of racing age have averaged only 50 foals each year. The homebred stands at Pin Oak Stud as the fourth generation of his female family to be associated with the Central Kentucky nursery owned by Josephine Abercrombie. Other sires in his immediate family to stand at Pin Oak include Canadian Horse of the Year Peaks and Valleys (Mt. Livermore), as well as Alternation’s current barnmate Broken Vow (Unbridled). Serengeti Empress herself is one of only three reported foals out of the unraced Bernardini mare Havisham, who hails from an Argentinean family although she was foaled in the U.S. Havisham was sold at the 2016 Keeneland November sale when Serengeti Empress was a weanling who brought $25,000 at the same sale. Carrying a full-sister to the Ballerina winner, Havisham brought $12,000 and was subsequently sent to Korea, where her last reported foal is a juvenile filly by Tiz Wonderful.

Saturday, Saratoga
BALLERINA S.-GI, $300,000, Saratoga, 8-8, 3yo/up, f/m, 7f, 1:21.63, ft.
1–SERENGETI EMPRESS, 122, f, 4, by Alternation
1st Dam: Havisham, by Bernardini
2nd Dam: Love Dancing (Arg), by Salt Lake
3rd Dam: Le Midi (Arg), by Fitzcarraldo (Arg)
($25,000 Wlg ’16 KEENOV; $70,000 Ylg ’17 KEESEP). O-Joel Politi; B-Tri Eques Bloodstock LLC (KY); T-Thomas M Amoss; J-Luis Saez. $165,000. Lifetime Record: 17-7-3-1, $1,907,653. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus* Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Bellafina, 121, f, 4, by Quality Road
1st Dam: Akron Moon, by Malibu Moon
2nd Dam: Akronism, by Not For Love
3rd Dam: Jerry Bomb, by Explosive Bid
($220,000 RNA Ylg ’17 KEESEP; $800,000 2yo ’18 FTFMAR). O-Kaleem Shah Inc, Mrs John Magnier, Michael B Tabor & Derrick Smith; B-JSM Equine LLC (KY); T-Simon Callaghan. $60,000.
3–Victim of Love, 120, f, 4, by Speightstown
1st Dam: Spacy Tracy, by Awesome Again
2nd Dam: Tracy, by Theatrical (Ire)
3rd Dam: Daring Bidder, by Bold Bidder
($160,000 Ylg ’17 KEESEP). O-Tommy Town Thoroughbreds LLC; B-Daniel J Burke (KY); T-Todd M Beattie. $36,000.
Margins: 1, 1HF, HF. Odds: 3.15, 2.70, 10.90.
Also Ran: Come Dancing, Letruska, Pink Sands, Cookie Dough.
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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