Tag: Top News

Godolphin’s Knightsbridge Newest ‘TDN Rising Star’ For Nyquist

Knightsbridge (c, 2, Nyquist–Tyburn Brooke, by Bernardini) aired out in his Churchill Downs debut Saturday to become the newest 'TDN Rising Star' and the second overall for his sire. The Godolphin homebred, a half-brother to GISW Speaker's Corner (Street Sense), was outrun out of the chute and raced covered up against the rail in mid pack. Moving up under his own power, the 5-2 second choice ran into a wall of horses all gunning for the lead and had to check back out of a tight spot right at the half-mile marker. Shuffled back to fifth, James Graham finally had a gap open up for his mount between horses midway around the far turn and, once he said go, Knightsbridge swept up three wide and hit the quarter pole under only a hand ride from Graham. Straightened for the run home, the dark bay was visually impressive, motoring into the final sixteenth to win by as much as he pleased.

Tyburn Brook, though unraced herself, hit a home run with her first foal being GI Carter H. winner and now Darley America stallion Speaker's Corner. Out of a daughter of GI Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Round Pound–who Godolphin purchased for $5.75m as a broodmare out of the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Sale–Knightsbridge's dam is herself a half to G1SW Long River (A.P. Indy) and to SW/GSP Lake Lucerne (Dubawi {Ire}). Tyburn Brook reported a full-sister to Speaker's Corner this year and visited both Street Sense and Curlin for 2024.

7th-Churchill Downs, $118,875, Msw, 11-4, 2yo, 7f, 1:22.96, ft, 10 1/2 lengths.
KNIGHTSBRIDGE, c, 2, Nyquist
                1st Dam: Tyburn Brook, by Bernardini
                2nd Dam: Round Pond, by Awesome Again
                3rd Dam: Gift of Dance, by Trempolino
Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $69,000. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
O/B-Godolphin (KY); T-William I. Mott. *1/2 to Speaker's Corner (Street Sense), GISW, $739,963.

 

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Master of the Seas Leads Home Godolphin 1-2 in the Breeders’ Cup Mile

Under normal circumstances, drawing the outside gate in a one-mile race, on turf, going two turns is a kiss of death. At Santa Anita, well, maybe not so much.

Sent off as the 33-10 second betting favorite behind Japan's superstar miler Songline (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}), Godolphin's Master of the Seas (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) produced a stunning late burst of speed to run down the commonly owned Mawj (Ire) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}), whose half-brother Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) was victorious in last year's Mile at Keeneland and in that wild Juvenile Turf at Del Mar the year prior. Adding to Space Blues (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire})'s success in the 2021 Mile–one of his three winners that afternoon–it was a third straight score in the race for Sheikh Mohammed's far-flung operation and the third on the trot for Dalham Hall's irrepressible Dubawi.

The 5-year-old was void of early speed and was angled down into about the three path before settling at the back of the field early on as Win Carnelian (Jpn) (Screen Hero {Jpn}) was kept company by Astronomer (Air Force Blue). When the latter went on with it into the turn, that allowed Mawj, victorious in the GI QE II Challenge Cup when last seen, to sit the ideal stalk-and-wait trip from third. Master of the Seas, meanwhile, was still back second-last down the backstretch as the leaders went past the half in a searching :45.37, and Buick sat against him, preparing to roll the dice with one long run.

Asked to kick passing the three-eighths, Master of the Seas had a single option–take the overland route into the lane and hope for the best. Set down outside of Du Jour (Temple City) once heads were turned for home, Master of the Seas sprinted right past Songline at the furlong grounds, and although Mawj was still going great guns up front, Master of the Seas was up on the wire to take it by a long-nose margin in a finish that looked a fair bit closer to the naked eye. Casa Creed (Jimmy Creed), perhaps a bit handier to the pace than expected in his third trip to the Mile, turned in his typically honest effort to round out the trifecta.

Lure, Six Perfections (Fr), Goldikova (Ire) and Karakontie (Jpn) each overcame double-digit gates to win at Santa Anita.

“We had to go out there with a slight plan from that draw,” said trainer Charlie Appleby, registering a 10th victory at the Breeders' Cup. “The plan was that were going to have to try and go for that sling shot ride, and that would've only have ever materialized if the pace is there to be able to do that. Thankfully, the pace was on.

“Far from saying I was confident, but the pace was setting up for that start of the finish for him. William [Buick] obviously gave him a great ride round there, got him in that position. It was a coffee book sort of sling shot.

“Once that horse got the momentum, we all know what sort of an engine he's got. He's been a bit frustrated. He's been beaten three short heads in Grade I. It's just nice for him to get it done today.”

Winner of the G2 Zabeel Mile and a close third in a roughly run G1 Jebel Hatta over the winter, Master of the Seas beat one home in the G1 Dubai Turf in March and got a vacation. An easy four-length winner of the G2 Summer Mile at Ascot July 15, the bay was tons the best when accounting for last year's Mile runner-up and 'TDN Rising Star' Shirl's Speight (Speightstown) in the GI Ricoh Woodbine Mile and was on the wrong end of a bobber with eventual GI Breeders' Cup Turf runner-up Up to the Mark in the GI Keeneland Turf Mile Oct. 7.

Pedigree Notes:

Providing Dubawi with a seventh Breeders' Cup race win, Master of the Seas is one of 10 winners from 12 to the races for his dam, a listed winner and runner-up in the2002 G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches in France and later twice placed in this country at the graded level while under the care of Eoin Harty. Firth of Lorne's G3 UAE Oaks-winning daughter Falls of Lora is not only the dam of Godolphin's treble Australian Group 1 winner Cascadian (GB) (New Approach {Ire}), but also of Albahr (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), winner of the 2019 GI Summer S. at Woodbine. Another daughter of Firth of Lorne, Bint Almatar (Kingmambo), produced G1 Metropolitan S. hero Just Fine (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}).

Firth of Lorne's final foal is the 3-year-old filly Sithchean (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), a debut winner over the Chelmsford all-weather Mar. 2.

Saturday, Santa Anita Park
FANDUEL BREEDERS' CUP MILE PRESENTED BY PDJF-GI, $1,840,000, Santa Anita, 11-4, 3yo/up, 1mT, 1:32.45, fm.
1–MASTER OF THE SEAS (IRE), 126, g, 5, by Dubawi (Ire)
                1st Dam: Firth of Lorne (Ire) (SW & G1SP-Fr, MGSP-USA, $163,189), by Danehill
                2nd Dam: Kerrera (Ire), by Diesis (GB)
                3rd Dam: Rimosa's Pet (GB), by Petingo (GB)
O/B-Godolphin (IRE); T-Charles Appleby; J-William Buick. $1,040,000. Lifetime Record: GISW-Can, MGSW & G1SP-Eng, GSW & G1SP-UAE, 16-8-3-2, $2,214,457. *1/2 to Latharnach (Iffraaj {GB}), SW & G1SP-Eng, $217,472; 1/2 to Falls of Lora (Ire) (Street Cry {Ire}), GSW-UAE, SW-Eng, $246,417; 1/2 to Etive (Elusive Quality), SW-Ger, MSP-Fr, $126,693. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Mawj (Ire), 120, f, 3, Exceed And Excel (Aus)–Modern Ideals (GB), by New Approach (Ire). O/B-Godolphin (IRE); T-Saeed bin Suroor. $340,000.
3–Casa Creed, 126, h, 7, Jimmy Creed–Achalaya, by Bellamy Road. ($15,000 Ylg '17 OBSWIN; $105,000 Ylg '17 KEESEP). O-LRE Racing LLC and JEH Racing Stable LLC; B-Silver Springs Stud, LLC (KY); T-William I. Mott. $180,000.
Margins: NO, HF, HF. Odds: 3.30, 4.90, 6.30.
Also Ran: Gina Romantica, Songline (Jpn), More Than Looks, Lucky Score, Shirl's Speight, Kelina (Ire), Du Jour, Win Carnelian (Jpn), Astronomer, Masteroffoxhounds. Scratched: Exaulted.

Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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Breeders’ Cup Friday Aftermath

All five of the 'Future Stars Friday' winners at Santa Anita appeared to emerge from the efforts unscathed, with connections looking forward to their Classics campaigns in 2024.

The very domination of the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Fierceness (City of Light) will likely have put the colt at the head of the class for champion 2-year-old honors, and the Repole Stable homebred looked good Saturday morning.

“We were extremely happy with the way Fierceness ran,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “The race kind of unfolded the way we envisioned it would. We wanted to get involved and get to the first turn in good position, which he was able to do. Just a powerful performance.”

'Rising Star' Locked (Gun Runner) looked to be going nowhere at short odds on the Juvenile, but got going late to finish a respectable third.

“Locked got shuffled back a little more than we wanted and then got stuck inside,” Pletcher said. “There was a lot of kickback. I thought once he kind of got into the clear down the lane he started closing pretty well. At that point, the race had kind of gotten away from him. He was a couple strides away from being second, but he just had too much to do at that point.”
Pletcher said both colts will return first to Churchill Downs before shipping to the trainer's South Florida base at Palm Beach Downs to chart a course towards the new year.

There will be no such gray area where it comes to the Eclipse Award-winning juvenile filly after George Krikorian's Just F Y I (Justify) stamped her authority on her race Friday, lowering the colors of the previously undefeated divisional front-runner 'TDN Rising Star' Tamara (Bolt d'Oro). If he wasn't totally surprised that his filly proved best, he was slightly taken aback with the way she did it.

“She actually showed a bit more early speed than I expected,” Mott said. “She put herself right up there, which was great.”
The connections of Tamara confirmed that she emerged with a 'small knot' and the back of her rear hind.

“We'll take a look at it and see what it is,” said trainer Richard Mandella. “That will determine whether we may need to give her a rest. I could see at the half-mile pole that she wasn't running her race. I thought Mike (Smith) would have a tight hold on her.”

Chad Brown said that Hard to Justify, who gave her sensational young stallion a second straight Breeders' Cup winner on Friday in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, would get a rest with an eye on her sophomore season.

European horses unsurprisingly made their presence felt in the afternoon's other grass races. Big Evs (Ire) (Blue Point {Ire}) gave her sire, trainer Mick Appleby and jockey Tom Marquand their first Breeders' Cup winner with their first starter.

“It hasn't sunk in yet, it really is a dream come true,” trainer Michael Appleby said. “I'm still pinching myself. It was the best day of my career and I'm just so proud of all my team at home, Tom Marquand and Big Evs's owners Rachael and Paul Teasdale.”

Trainer Aidan O'Brien was dealt a disappointing blow when River Tiber (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) was withdrawn from the Juvenile Turf Friday morning, but the team was mollified some when Unquestionable (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) validated favoritism in the final Breeders' Cup event of the day.

“It's very tough to win here, but I'm delighted for the lads as they put so much into it,” O'Brien said. “It's hard to explain because when things start bad like what happened with River Tiber as it usually goes down because there are a lot of areas you can't control.”

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Goodnight Olive Repeats In the Filly and Mare Sprint

ARCADIA, CA – You've got company Groupie Doll.

Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper) successfully defended her title at Santa Anita on Saturday and joined the 2012-13 champion female sprinter as the only repeat winners of the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. Longshots Yuugiri (Shackleford) and Three Witches (Into Mischief) collected the minors.

Favored at even-money, Goodnight Olive broke nicely from her rail draw and found a good spot beneath Irad Ortiz, Jr. in a joint third behind the first-time blinkered Eda (Munnings) and second-choice Society (Gun Runner) through an opening quarter in :22.29. Locked and loaded on the far turn, Goodnight Olive revved up with a menacing three-wide sweep and took over with ease passing the quarter pole. She turned for home in complete command and was kept to her task with a couple of needless left-handers from Ortiz, Jr. to win by 2 3/4 lengths dominating lengths.

Trainer Chad Brown picked up his third victory in the race and 18th Breeders' Cup victory overall. He also saddled Hard to Justify (Justify) to a win in Friday's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.

“It's very satisfying,” Brown said. “She trained perfect her last two works. Really beautifully. When she broke good and got behind Society, which I was really happy to see because we knew she was the second choice in the race and really fit on paper. If we could find her, she was going to take us at least to the quarter-pole. And I said to Irad (Ortiz, Jr.), it's likely that other horses will be tired around you at that point and when she got outside of her, she was able to put the race to bed. Rarely does 'Plan A' go into effect and actually finish all the way through. That was our plan and Irad executed it perfectly.”

“Beautiful trip,” Ortiz Jr. said of his 18th career winner at the Championships. “She was there for me every time I asked. She gives me confidence. I knew I was on the best horse. She did it again.”

The First Row Partners and Team Hanley colorbearer, a complete steal for $170,000 as a FTKOCT yearling, will head into the ring for Tuesday's Fasig-Tipton's 'Night of the Stars' November Sale.

“It was obviously the goal that we started after last year's win,” winning co-owner Steve Laymon of First Row Partners said. “A lot of folks were thinking we'd retire her, and it was never a consideration with this group. We're sad to see her go, but what a career for this mare.”

Goodnight Olive faced the starter four previous times since concluding her 2022 season with a powerful victory over Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) at Keeneland last fall. Goodnight Olive returned to the site of her first Filly & Mare Sprint victory and successfully launched her 5-year-old campaign with a win in the GI Madison S. Apr. 8. With absolutely nowhere to run down the stretch, her seven-race winning streak, however, came to a frustrating end after finishing a luckless third in the GI Derby City Distaff S. on the GI Kentucky Derby undercard. Goodnight Olive got there in time with a neck victory in the GII Bed o' Roses S. at Belmont June 17, then earned a career-best 108 Beyer Speed Figure while finishing 2 1/2 lengths adrift the aforementioned recently retired 2021 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies heroine while failing to repeat in the GI Ballerina H. at the Spa Aug. 26, a race she won impressively in 2022.

Pedigree Notes:

Horse of the Year Ghostzapper, an unforgettable winner of the 2004 GI Breeders' Cup Classic, is now a three-time winning sire of this contest. He is also responsible for 2014 Filly & Mare Sprint heroine Judy the Beauty. Goodnight Olive is one of 14 top-level winners for Ghostzapper. Goodnight Olive is one of two winners from three to the races out of dual Grade III winner Salty Strike, who was acquired by the Stonestreet team for $800,000 at the Keeneland January Sale in 2013. A half-sister to the stakes-winning Salty Response (Cozzene) and to the stakes-placed dam of MSP Mohawk Trail (Pioneerof the Nile), Salty Strike is also the dam of the unraced Katie's Keepsake (Medaglia d'Oro), who was sold for $250,000 in foal to Ghostzapper to D. C. Goff at this year's Keeneland January Sale. Goodnight Olive is two of three Breeders' Cup winners out of a daughter of the late Smart Strike, joining GI Filly & Mare Turf upsetter Shared Account (Pleasantly Perfect).

 

 

Saturday, Santa Anita Park
PNC BANK BREEDERS' CUP FILLY & MARE SPRINT-GI, $910,000, Santa Anita, 11-4, 3yo/up, f/m, 7f, 1:22.97, ft.
1–GOODNIGHT OLIVE, 124, m, 5, by Ghostzapper
          1st Dam: Salty Strike (MGSW, $485,266), by Smart Strike
            2nd Dam: Lake Huron, by Salt Lake
            3rd Dam: My Rainbow, by Lyphard
($170,000 Ylg '19 FTKOCT). O-First Row Partners and Team Hanley; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY); T-Chad Brown; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr.. $520,000. Lifetime Record: Ch. Female Sprinter, 12-9-2-1, $2,196,200. Click for the http://www.werkhorse.com/free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Yuugiri, 124, f, 4, by Shackleford
             1st Dam: Yuzuru (SW, $105,759), by Medaglia d'Oro
             2nd Dam: Macarena Macarena, by Gone West
             3rd Dam: Angelic Song, by Halo
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. O/B-Sekie & Tsunebumi Yoshihara (KY); T-Rodolphe Brisset. $170,000.
3–Three Witches, 124, f, 4, by Into Mischief
             1st Dam: Layreebelle, by Tale of the Cat
             2nd Dam: Voodoo Lily, by Baldski
             3rd Dam: Cap the Moment, by For The Moment
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($350,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-e Five Racing Thoroughbreds; B-Machmer Hall (KY); T-Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.. $90,000.
Margins: 2 3/4, 1 1/4, HF. Odds: 1.10, 26.20, 34.40.
Also Ran: Society, Kirstenbosch, Clearly Unhinged, Eda, Matareya, Meikei Yell (Jpn).
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by Fanduel TV.

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