Top News | Horse Racing Free Tips

Tom’s d’Etat to WinStar Farm

Leading GI Breeders’ Cup Classic contender Tom’s d’Etat (Smart Strike–Julia Tuttle, by Giant’s Causeway), hero of the 2019 GI Clark S. and an impressive last out winner of the GII Stephen Foster S. with a career-best 109 Beyer Speed Figure, will stand at WinStar Farm upon the conclusion of his racing career.

Campaigned by Gayle Benson’s G M B Racing and trainer Al Stall, Jr., he has compiled a record of 18-11-2-1 and earnings of $1,627,272. Tom’s d’Etat is currently on a four-race winning streak and has his sights set on the GI Whitney S. at Saratoga for his next target.

“I have been honored to be able to train two great horses in [2010 Champion Older Horse and leading stallion] Blame and Tom’s d’Etat,” said Stall. “[Tom’s d’Etat] has been brilliant winning four in a row, and I can’t wait to lead him back over there in the Whitney.”

Bred in Kentucky by SF Bloodstock LLC., the 7-year-old brought $330,000 as a KEESEP yearling. He is produced by the stakes-winning and multiple stakes-placed Giant’s Causeway mare Julia Tuttle, who is out of Candy Cane (Arg), a full sister to GI Pacific Classic winner and leading sire Candy Ride (Arg).

“When my late husband, Tom, decided in 2014 that we were going to enter the horse racing business, the first place we came to was WinStar Farm to see their operation,” said Gayle Benson, owner of the New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Pelicans. “G M B Racing is extremely excited that our best horse, Tom’s d’Etat, will begin his stud career with Kenny Troutt and his entire team at WinStar. We look forward to watching the second half of his career be just as successful as his first, and we know he will get that opportunity at WinStar. I am also eager to bring many of our mares from Benson Farm to breed to him in the coming years.”

Elliott Walden, WinStar’s president, CEO, and racing manager, added, “Tom’s d’Etat has proven over the last two years to be of the highest quality. Eleven of his last 12 Thoro-Graph figures are negative numbers. He has nine triple-digit Beyers and eight in a row. He was .02 off the track record in his last start at historic Churchill Downs, and he won two of the best races in the country at 1 1/8 miles in the Stephen Foster and the Clark.

“Any way you slice it, he is top class,” Walden continued. “He is the last great son of Smart Strike from the family of Candy Ride. We walked Speightstown into the stallion barn at age seven and Distorted Humor at age six. Hopefully, he will be another story we can tell how he defied the odds like them.”

The post Tom’s d’Etat to WinStar Farm appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Curlin Filly Impresses in Keeneland Debut

6th-Keeneland, $69,123, Msw, 7-9, 3yo/up, f/m, 7f, 1:23.17, gd.

PALIO FLAG (f, 3, Curlin–Private Ensign {GSP, $124,384}, by A.P. Indy) showed she had plenty of class in her unveiling Thursday with a good-looking victory. Breaking sharply from stall 10, the 4-1 shot stalked from a two-wide third through a :22.28 opening quarter and :45.27 half-mile. Drawing alongside the top two entering the turn, the chestnut rolled clear in the lane, holding off a belated bid from 3-2 chalk Movie Moxy (Street Sense) to win by a neck. It was 4 1/4 lengths back to the third-place horse. Grade II-placed Private Ensign is a half-sister to GSW & GISP Ocho Ocho Ocho (Street Sense). She produced a full-sister to the winner in 2018 named Salute the Flag; a yearling filly by Uncle Mo; and a Justify colt born Jan. 14 of this year. This is also the family of undefeated champion and Hall of Famer Personal Ensign (Private Account); champion Storm Flag Flying (Storm Cat); MGISW My Flag (Easy Goer); and GISWs Miner’s Mark, Traditionally (Mr. Prospector) and Mr Speaker (Pulpit). Sales history: $350,000 Ylg ’18 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $233. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

O-Stonestreet Stables LLC; B-Siena Farms LLC (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen.

The post Curlin Filly Impresses in Keeneland Debut appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Fourstardave Possible for Uni

Reigning champion turf mare Uni (GB) (More Than Ready), who finished third in her seasonal debut in the June 27 GI Just A Game S., may make her next start against colts in the GI Fourstardave S. Aug. 22 at Saratoga Race Course. The Chad Brown trainee, who suffered her only loss of 2019 in last year’s Fourstardave, wrapped up her championship-earning season by taking the GI First Lady S. at Keeneland in course-record time and the GI Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita.

“The only Grade I going a flat mile on the grass at Saratoga is against boys. Will we try it? Probably,” said Bradley Weisbord of BSW/Crow Bloodstock, who manages Uni on behalf of owners Michael Dubb, Head of Plains Partners, Robert LaPenta and Bethlehem Stables. “She was an unlucky loser last year to Got Stormy. We could take that route again this year and try to protect our title in the First Lady at Keeneland and the Breeders’ Cup Mile.”

Since joining Brown in 2017, Uni has placed in all but one of her 13 starts for the trainer, including eight stakes wins at six different tracks. In 2018, Uni won twice over soft and yielding turf in Saratoga’s De La Rose S. and the GIII Noble Damsel S. at Belmont. While the turf was listed as “firm” for the Just a Game, there were rain showers in the Elmont area earlier in the day.

“She’s won on soft turf before, but [jockey] Joel [Rosario] said she was struggling with the turf that day,” said Weisbord of the 6-year-old’s latest start. “She probably needed the race. She had a splint issue in April and breezed four or five times heading into the Just a Game, so she wasn’t super cherry heading into the race and you have to be cherry to beat a filly like Newspaperofrecord. Hats off to Chad for getting her back to Grade I form. She’ll be tough the rest of the year.”

Fellow Brown trainee Rockemperor (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}), a close second in the GI Manhattan to stable mate Instilled Regard (Arch), could target the Sept. 5 GI Forester Turf Classic at Churchill Downs. The 4-year-old is campaigned by Madaket Stable, Michael Dubb, Wonder Stables, Michael Kisber and Bethlehem Stables.

“It’s hard to know what his best distance his, but a mile and an eighth should hit him right over the head,” Weisbord said. “We’ve gotten beat a lot in stakes, but what made that such a brutal beat [last time] was because he had the horses in front of him collared. I don’t think the horse or Johnny saw Instilled Regard coming.”

Rockemperor has placed in four of his five starts in the United States, including a third in last season’s GI Belmont Derby. He made his seasonal bow in the GII Muniz Memorial Classic at Fair Grounds Mar. 21 before being demoted to third in the May 23 GII Charles Whittingham at Santa Anita.

The post Fourstardave Possible for Uni appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Bill Filed to legalize Poker at NJ Tracks

A stand-alone bill that would specifically authorize New Jersey’s horse tracks to conduct poker games for the first time was filed in the state’s legislature July 2.

According the explanatory statement included in the one-page Assembly Bill No. 4365, “This bill authorizes poker to be played in poker rooms at horse racetracks in this State. The bill states that the Legislature finds and declares that the card game poker is a game of bluff and skill and is not restricted by the gambling provisions of the State Constitution.”

The poker news site Cardschat reported July 9 that poker rooms are a “monopoly” currently limited to Atlantic City casinos, and that the inclusion of the phrase “poker, as conducted under the bill, will not violate any criminal law of this State,” would allow poker rooms to open in existing gaming facilities without a referendum by voters.

Cardschat also noted another key distinction of the bill: The Division of Gaming Enforcement, and not the New Jersey Racing Commission, would have jurisdiction over poker rooms at racetracks.

The bill, filed by Republican Assemblyman Ronald Dancer, was referred to the Assembly’s Tourism, Gaming and the Arts Committee.

“Dancer has tried to expand poker in the state before, first introducing similar legislation in 2016,” Cardschat reported. “None of his bills made it past legislative committee discussion. His new bill doesn’t offer a provision for the state’s tracks to offer online poker,” which is noteworthy considering current COVID-19 protocols restricting on-site casino gaming.

The post Bill Filed to legalize Poker at NJ Tracks appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post