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Churchill Downs Workers Continue Derby/Oaks Preps

Spendthrift Farm's duo of GII TwinSpires.com Louisiana Derby winner Kingsbarns (Uncle Mo) and GII Jeff Ruby Steaks runner-up Major Dude (Bolt d'Oro) had their penultimate works prior to Kentucky Derby Day when they each breezed five furlongs in 1:00.80 Thursday morning at Churchill Downs. The duo clipped through opening eighth-mile fractions of :12.60, :24.40 and :36.20. They galloped out together through six furlongs in 1:13.40.

“I think people gave Kingsbarns a discount because of the time of the Louisiana Derby,” Spendthrift Farm President Eric Gustavson said. “I don't think you should be penalized by going to the front and putting everyone else to sleep like he did. We're pretty confident coming into the Derby.”

“Both of them went pretty well,” added trainer Todd Pletcher. “I thought it was a good, steady work with a strong gallop out. Kingsbarns accomplished a lot in a short period of time. I thought his debut was very professional. It's hard to win going one-mile first time out and he did it getting an education being behind horses. For his first start I thought that was impressive. We went the Tampa Bay Downs route to get a two-turn allowance race into him. I thought that worked out well. He made a big step forward then in the Louisiana Derby.”

 

 

 

Pletcher reported Kentucky Derby favorite Forte (Violence) will breeze Friday along with GI Blue Grass Stakes winner Tapit Trice (Tapit).

Not to be outdone, the fillies pointing towards the GI Kentucky Oaks also occupied the work tab Thursday.

At 7:30 a.m., Botanical (Medaglia d'Oro) (five furlongs, 1:00.20), Southlawn (Pioneerof the Nile) (five furlongs, :58.80), The Alys Look (Connect) (five furlongs, 1:00.60) and Wet Paint (Blame) (five furlongs, 1:00.20) all recorded published workouts. About 90 minutes later, Gambling Girl (Dialed In) breezed a half-mile in :49.40.

Wet Paint, with jockey Flavien Prat aboard, began two lengths back of her stablemate Wet Paint, who was ridden by Florent Geroux, and finished even at the wire. Wet Paint completed a six-furlong gallop out in 1:13 while her stablemate finished in 1:13.40. Immediately following their work, Botanical, with jockey Chris Landeros in the irons, worked outside stablemate Flashy Gem. The duo galloped out six furlongs together in 1:13.40.

“I thought it was a really good morning for all of our fillies,” said trainer Brad Cox. “The Alys Look began about two lengths in front of Wet Paint and they finished well together and galloped out well together. I thought it was a very solid move. I let Botanical do a little bit more today than last week just to see how she'd really handle the dirt. She was actually here at Churchill last summer and we breezed her on the turf then and thought she handled it well. She didn't quite have a lot of early speed so that's why we started her going long on turf. Flashy Gem is a very good work horse and the two fillies ran first and second last time out at Turfway.”

 

 

 

Southlawn, trained by Norm Casse, started five lengths back of stablemate Burning Bright. The winner of the GII Fair Grounds Oaks worked through fractions of :24 and :35.20 with rider Rey Gutierrez in the saddle. She galloped out six furlongs in 1:11.60, according to Churchill Downs Clocker John Nichols.

Gambling Girl worked with jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. on board and was outside her Todd Pletcher-trained stablemate Cairo Consort (Cairo Prince). The duo completed early fractions of :12.60 and :24.60 and galloped out five furlongs in 1:02.20.

GIII UAE Oaks winner Mimi Kakushi (City of Light) is on her way from Dubai to the U.S. and is scheduled to arrive at Churchill Downs on Saturday.

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Raise Cain Works Five Furlongs In Kentucky Derby Tune Up

Raise Cain (Violence) worked five furlongs in 1:03.40 Thursday at Keeneland in preparation for an expected run in the GI Kentucky Derby. With regular work rider Isael Garcia aboard for trainer Ben Colebrook, Raise Cain produced fractions of :13.60, :26.80, :38.60, :51.40, 1:03.40 and galloped out 6 furlongs in 1:15.80.

“Nice and easy… finished well and galloped out well. Just what you're looking for,” said Colebrook. “He started out slow and then finished well.”

Colebrook, who will be saddling his first Kentucky Derby starter, plans to work Raise Cain next Thursday or Friday depending on weather before vanning to Churchill Downs May 1.

 

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Straight Line Equine Sales To Debut at Fasig-Tipton July

Colin Brennan Bloodstock and Wolf Creek Farms, with Jay Goodwin as a contributor, will launch Straight Line Equine Sales beginning with this year's Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Sale in July. The new venture will be represented by drafts at yearling and breeding stock sales, with a 'focus on providing individual sales and management services' to each of its clients.

The consignment and client relations component of Straight Line will be managed by Colin Brennan, who launched a bloodstock agency in his own name in 2019, Kristin Brennan, who helped to launch sales consignments for Calumet Farm, and Austin Winfrey, who gained experience in a variety of facets of the sales before joining his father Troy at Wolf Creek Farm once the operation was moved back to Kentucky. Troy Winfrey and Goodwin will manage horses behind the scenes.

“I am excited for the unique opportunity to co-found Straight Line Equine Sales,” said Brennan, a graduate of the Godolphin Flying Start program who spent five years as assistant to his father, noted 2-year-old consignor Niall Brennan, and two years at Stonestreet's racing and training division in Florida. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for everyone on our team and I believe collectively we will be able to satisfy clients in various sectors of the market.”

Following Fasig-Tipton July, Straight Line expects to have a presence at Saratoga and Texas in August and the Keeneland September Sale.

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Speightstown Filly Blazes Quarter-Mile at OBS Wednesday

A filly by Speightstown (hip 618) zipped a quarter-mile in a track record-tying :20 1/5, while six horses shared the day's fastest furlong time, during the fourth session of the under-tack show for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training in Central Florida Wednesday. Hip 618, who worked just after 11:30 a.m. and with temperatures approaching 80 degrees, is consigned by Juan Centeno's All Dreams Equine.

“You never know if they can go that fast, but she prepped pretty fast,” Centeno said. “I knew she could at least tie that prep or improve on it and obviously, she improved. But she's always been that filly who gives her all every time. She just has a natural talent. Every time she goes up there, it's all business. When she is in the stall, she's nice and relaxed. I think she has a brilliant future.”

The filly is out of the unraced Last Dance (Revolutionary), who is a half-sister to graded winner Speightster (Speightstown) and is out of a full-sister to Dance Smartly.

Centeno purchased the filly for $17,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.

“She is not perfect,” Centeno said. “Her conformation wasn't perfect. That's probably why people passed on her last year. But we took our chances because she has a beautiful body. And you never know how they are going to come out. You have to play and see what happens. In the early days, you start seeing which ones really start shining from the rest and she was one of those. She was not that fast, but she was always better than the rest.”

The filly's :20 1/5 breeze ties the record for the fastest quarter-mile over the OBS surface, matching, among others, the time of future Grade I winner Princess Noor (Not This Time), who sold for $1.35 million at the 2020 Spring sale.

Asked what it was like to lead his speedy filly up to the track Wednesday morning, Centeno said, “Before you go, you feel sick. You just hope she doesn't take a bad step or anything. It's just nerve-wracking. And after it, you feel so proud for her. She's the one who did it all. It's just a special feeling in your heart to say, 'Wow. Look at these beautiful things.' They can make you feel so wonderful.”

A Day at the Beach for Wavertree

Six juveniles shared the fastest furlong time of :9 4/5 during Wednesday's session of the under-tack show and two were fillies from the first crop of Omaha Beach from the Wavertree Stables consignment, which also sent out a colt by the multiple Grade I winner to work the day's second-fastest quarter-mile time of :20 3/5.

“We went up there with high expectations,” said Wavertree's Ciaran Dunne. “They were horses who had trained really well all year and had advertised themselves in their works as fast horses. And I think they all showed up.”

Working during the day's first set, hip 532 was first to hit the :9 4/5 mark on the day for Wavertree. The bay filly is out of Intelyhente (Smart Stride), a full-sister to graded winner Bel Air Beauty and dam of stakes-placed Count Alexander (Scat Daddy), who Wavertree sold at the 2017 OBS June sale.

“She is huge,” Dunne said of the filly. “She looks like a colt. She's probably 16 hands, plus. We had her half-brother and that probably played a part in us being as strong as we were [in buying her last year]. We thought he was a very good horse. I think he was a better horse than his race record probably panned out to be–he was very unlucky in a couple of races. But she is a bigger, stronger version of him. You could have passed him off as the filly and her as the colt.”

Hip 667 turned in her :9 4/5 work around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. The chestnut filly is out of Malibu Pride (Malibu Moon), a full-sister to By The Light, who produced multiple Grade I winner By the Moon (Indian Charlie).

“She's a medium-sized filly,” Dunne said. “She's real compact and very well-balanced. She's been lightning fast since the first time we said, 'Go.' We spent the spring trying to slow her down. She's really, really quick with a beautiful female family underneath.”

Both fillies were purchased by Paul Reddam and Dunne's Red Wings Enterprises pinhooking partnership for $200,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.

“Paul has been my partner in Red Wings for many years,” Dunne said. “He is a guy who really goes with his gut feeling. He was very high on Omaha Beach going into the yearling sales and his marching orders were to buy as many Omaha Beaches as I could. I think I called him at one point and said, 'Is that enough?' and the response I got was, 'no.' So we have to give him the credit–or the blame–for the number of Omaha Beaches we have.”

On behalf of Houston third baseman Alex Bregman, Wavertree sent out a son of Omaha Beach (hip 617) to work a quarter-mile in :20 3/5 in the opening minutes of Wednesday's session of the under-tack show. The bay colt is out of stakes-placed Lantiz (Tizway).

Bloodstock agent Mike Akers purchased the colt on behalf of Bregman Family Racing for $185,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton July sale.

“This is a lovely horse. He doesn't necessarily look fast, which is interesting for as fast as he is,” Dunne said. “He looks like a horse with a bit of stretch that will go a route of ground.”

Bregman was represented by a bullet worker by No Nay Never who worked in :20 4/5 during Monday's second session of the under-tack show.

“Mike Akers has done a really job for Alex sourcing racehorses and obviously now pinhooks,” Dunne said. “I think they are good team and they work together well.”

Omaha Beach now has three juveniles to work in :9 4/5 this week at OBS. Mayberry Farm sent out a colt by the freshman sire (hip 466, video) to work in that time Tuesday.

Omaha Beach, winner of the GI Arkansas Derby and GI Santa Anita Sprint Championship, was scratched as the morning-line favorite three days before the 2019 GI Kentucky Derby. He stands at Spendthrift Farm for $30,000.

“They are lovely horses,” Dunne said of the first-season sire's progeny. “They have a shape to them. They have a bit of size and scope. They move really well. Thankfully, all of those things have transferred as you would want them to from yearlings to 2-year-olds. Once we started training them, we were very pleased. They are nice horses to be around and mentally very easy to deal with. They thrive on work. The more we've done with them, the better they were and the happier they were. Obviously, I am a big fan today.”

Also working the furlong bullet Wednesday was a filly by Divining Rod (hip 544, video) who is a half-sister to GI Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Aloha West (Hard Spun) consigned by Best a Luck Farm; a colt by Maximus Mischief (hip 632, video) consigned by Kings Equine; a colt by Tapwrit (hip 634, video), who is a half to multiple graded-placed Dream Marie (Graydar) and consigned by Top Line Sales; and a colt by Solomini (hip 692, video), who is a half to graded winner Lookin to Strike (Lookin at Lucky) and consigned by Randy Miles.

The under-tack show continues through Saturday with sessions beginning each day at 8 .m. The Spring sale will be held next Tuesday through Friday. Bidding commences at 10:30 a.m. daily.

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