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Faiza For Fun In the Santa Anita Oaks

Michael Lund Petersen's 'TDN Rising Star' Faiza (Girvin) was never really asked for a full effort by Flavien Prat in extending her unbeaten streak to five with a facile success in Saturday's GII Santa Anita Oaks at the Great Race Place.

Beaten for speed and content to sit wide off a longshot front-runner, the $90,000 Fasig-Tipton July yearling turned $725,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic breezer was patiently handled down the backstretch before making a run towards the front on the turn. Dueling briefly with Clearly Unhinged (Into Mischief) into the stretch, Faiza put the race to bed within a few strides, scampering clear to win as much the best. And Tell Me Nolies (Arrogate) ran on for second ahead of Window Shopping (American Pharoah) in third. Clearly Unhinged faded to fourth. Faiza remains under the care of Bob Baffert, making her ineligible for a start in the GI Kentucky Oaks.

“I'm very excited,” said Petersen, who also campaigned champion and fellow Fasig-Tipton purchase Gamine (Into Mischief). “Five out of five that's more than you ever dream about. It's very nice being on day like this and winning a race. It makes it all worth it.”

A supremely easy winner of her Nov. 12 debut at Del Mar, for which she was accorded 'Rising Star' status, Faiza was fully extended in winning the GI Starlet S. at Los Alamitos Dec. 10. A hard-fought, half-length winner of the GIII Las Virgenes S. Jan. 28, Faiza remained in this barn past the Feb. 28 transfer deadline that would have allowed her to run in the GI Kentucky Oaks and went on to best And Tell Me Nolies by 2 1/4 lengths in the GIII Santa Ysabel S. Mar. 5.

Pedigree Notes:

Faiza is out of a daughter of MGSW & MGISP Pomeroy's Pistol, also the dam of $1-million KEESEP yearling Thousand Words (Pioneerof the Nile), a graded winner at ages two and three and now standing stud at Spendthrift Farm. Sweet Pistol, who was purchased by Brereton C. Jones for $33,000 at the 20176 Keeneland November Sale, is the dam of the 2-year-old filly Her Best Friend (Cairo Prince), a $160,000 graduate of last year's Keeneland September sale and currently in training at The Thoroughbred Center. She produced a Complexity filly in 2022 and was most recently bred back to the son of Maclean's Music.

Saturday, Santa Anita
SANTA ANITA OAKS-GII, $401,500, Santa Anita, 4-8, 3yo, f, 1 1/16m, 1:43.27, ft.
1–FAIZA, 124, f, 3, by Girvin
1st Dam: Sweet Pistol, by Smart Strike
2nd Dam: Pomeroys Pistol, by Pomeroy
3rd Dam: Prettyatthetable, by Point Given
'TDN Rising Star' ($90,000 Ylg '21 FTKJUL; $725,000 2yo '22 EASMAY). O-Michael Lund Petersen; B-Brereton C Jones (KY); T-Bob Baffert; J-Flavien Prat. $240,000. Lifetime Record: GISW, 5-5-0-0, $642,000. Werk Nick Rating: B+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–And Tell Me Nolies, 124, f, 3, Arrogate–Be Fair, by Exchange Rate. ($70,000 Ylg '21 KEEJAN; $230,000 2yo '22 OBSAPR). O-Peter Redekop B C Ltd; B-Lara Run LLC (KY); T-Peter Miller. $80,000.
3–Window Shopping, 124, f, 3, American Pharoah–Delightful Joy, by Tapit. 1ST BLACK-TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK-TYPE. ($700,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-Perry R Bass II & Ramona S Bass; B-International Equities Holding Inc. (KY); T-Richard E Mandella. $48,000.
Margins: 6HF, HF, 4 1/4. Odds: 0.80, 6.40, 5.30.
Also Ran: Clearly Unhinged, Venganza, Don't Get Pickled, Cliquish, Gila. Scratched: Princess Bettina. Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

The post Faiza For Fun In the Santa Anita Oaks appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Curlin Colt Shocks at 59-1 in Wood Memorial

Lord Miles (c, 3, Curlin–Lady Esme, by Majestic Warrior) outslugged the top two choices on the board to spring a massive upset in a roughly run renewal of Saturday's GII Wood Memorial S. at the Big A.

Disregarded at 59-1 following a sixth-place finish in the GIII Holy Bull S. Feb. 4 and a fifth-place finish in the GIII Tampa Bay Derby Mar. 11, the Peter Vegso homebred was hustled early by Paco Lopez and raced in second rounding the clubhouse turn. Ridden along in an outside fourth down the backstretch, Lord Miles began to rally while four wide on the far turn as the New York-bred Arctic Arrogance (Frosted) and the Todd Pletcher-trained maiden Dreamlike (Gun Runner) started to throw down approaching the quarter pole.

Four across the track down the stretch, Arctic Arrogance was the first to blink on the inside. Dreamlike narrowly hit the front as favored Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}), a dominant winner of Aqueduct's GIII Withers S., and Lord Miles continued to rally in tandem. Racing shoulder to shoulder with Hit Show, Lord Miles was going the best of all in deep stretch, and, after the trio played a bit of bumper cars close to home, Lord Miles surged late while widest of all to get there by a nose in a wild, three-horse photo finish. Hit Show was second. It was another head back to Dreamlike in third. Lord Miles earned 100 points on the road to the GI Kentucky Derby.

The result stood following a stewards' inquiry.

“I knew they got in tight,” winning trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. said. “Watching the head on, I thought we were good, but you're dealing with opinion. You never want to be in that position, but I accepted that if something happened at least we would be second. But I didn't think there should be a change.”

Lopez added, “[Dreamlike] came out and [Manny] Franco [aboard Hit Show] was looking for room and so he bumped into my horse. My horse stayed in line all the time and stayed fighting for the line. It was a tight race. He gave me a beautiful run today.”

Lord Miles was a sharp debut winner going six furlongs at Gulfstream Park Nov. 19, then was a rallying third in the Mucho Macho Man S. Jan. 1 prior to his pair of aforementioned graded stakes attempts in the Sunshine State.

“He ran huge [today],” Joseph said. “After his first start, I was dreaming Derby. The Mucho Macho Man was good, but from there everything was derailed. The Holy Bull went wrong, the Tampa Bay Derby was a step in the right direction, but we were probably running out of time. Today, here we are, one more time and it worked out.”

Pedigree Notes:

Lord Miles becomes the 52nd graded winner for leading sire Curlin. The two-time Horse of the Year sired back-to-back winners of this race in 2017 with Irish War Cry and in 2018 with Vino Rosso. Out of the unraced Majestic Warrior Vegso homebred Lady Esme, Lord Miles is bred on the same wildly successful Curlin x A.P. Indy cross as top-level winners Malathaat, Nest, Global Campaign, Stellar Wind, Clairiere, Paris Lights and Idol. Lady Esme, from the immediate female family of champion 2-year-old filly Caledonia Road (Quality Road), is also responsible for the 2-year-old filly Lazar's (Twirling Candy) ($170,000 KEESEP yearling purchase by Solis/Litt) and a yearling filly by Connect. She was bred to Quality Road for 2023. Lord Miles is her first foal.

Saturday, Aqueduct
WOOD MEMORIAL S. PRESENTED BY RESORTS WORLD CASINO-GII, $750,000, Aqueduct, 4-8, 3yo, 1 1/8m, 1:51.17, ft.
1–LORD MILES, 123, c, 3, by Curlin
                1st Dam: Lady Esme, by Majestic Warrior
                2nd Dam: Come a Callin, by Dixie Union
                3rd Dam: Twilight Service, by Horse Chestnut (Saf)
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. O/B-Vegso
Racing Stable (KY); T-Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.; J-Paco Lopez.
$400,000. Lifetime Record: 5-2-0-1, $451,100. Werk Nick
Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the
free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Hit Show, 123, c, 3, Candy Ride (Arg)–Actress, by Tapit.
O/B-Gary & Mary West Stables Inc. (KY); T-Brad H. Cox.
$140,000.
3–Dreamlike, 123, c, 3, Gun Runner–Time to Tap, by Tapit.
1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($975,000 Ylg '21
KEESEP). O-Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable; B-Winchell
Thoroughbreds LLC (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $75,000.
Margins: NO, HD, 5 1/4. Odds: 59.25, 1.70, 3.30.
Also Ran: Arctic Arrogance, Classic Catch, Slip Mahoney, Shadow Dragon, Knox, Crupi, General Banker, Mr. Swagger, Uncle Jake. Scratched: Clear the Air.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

The post Curlin Colt Shocks at 59-1 in Wood Memorial appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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It’s Practical Move Narrowly in Santa Anita Derby

Even-money favorite Practical Move (Practical Joke) solidified his role as California's best GI Kentucky Derby hope as he parlayed a ground-saving trip into a narrow victory in Saturday's GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby over fast-charging Japanese raider Mandarin Hero (Jpn) (Shanghai Bobby).

Seeking his third-straight victory off of clear-cut successes in both the Dec. 17 GII Los Alamitos Futurity and Mar. 4 GII San Felipe S., Practical Move was unhurried early and worked his way down to the fence and into a joint third around the first bend. He tugged his way up a wide-open rail and into second after a :46.30 half, and was quietly handled at that point by Ramon Vazquez as Skinner (Curlin) launched a sweeping move and Mandarin Hero caught the eye in behind Practical Move. Having left a sliver of daylight to his inside while cornering, Practical Move and Vazquez angled back down to the rail in upper stretch, forcing Mandarin Hero to the two path with Skinner keeping that one hemmed in slightly. Mandarin Hero kept grinding away as Practical Move called out for the line, and the former got there just in the time, stopping the clock in 1:48.69. Skinner was another half-length back in third.

San Felipe runner-up and morning line co-second choice Geaux Rocket Ride (Candy Ride {Arg}) was forced to scratch due to a fever.

“I made the move a little early because I saw [Hector] Berrios [on pacesetter One In Vermillion {Army Mule}] look at me from the inside. I knew he wanted to put me inside a little bit tight, so I just moved my horse to the outside take a new position, made him relax a little bit and when I asked him the last quarter he responded really well. The other horse (Mandarin Hero) is a nice horse too and ran really well. I'm feeling amazing. When you ride a good horse like that, that's your dream always to go to the Kentucky Derby.”

While conditioner Tim Yakteen has seen a number of flashy colts enter his barn due to trainer Bob Baffert's current Kentucky Derby ban, Practical Move has been his from the start. The $230,000 OBSAPR acquisition was a well-beaten second by brilliant Baffert trainee and future MGISW Cave Rock (Arrogate) in a Del Mar sprint last August that also produced recent 'TDN Rising Star' Ultimate Gamble (Medaglia d'Oro). He was third to future stablemate National Treasure (Quality Road) next out at the end of that meet, graduated via DQ over a local mile Oct. 10, and was third in Del Mar's seven-furlong GIII Bob Hope S. Nov. 20 before putting it all together at Los Al.

Yakteen won last year's Santa Anita Derby with Taiba (Gun Runner), who was transferred back to Baffert after finishing 12^th in the Kentucky Derby.

“It's a great feeling to go back-to-back in this race,” said Yakteen. “The rush you get–that's why you get in the game! You're calling wire when you're on the lead, and you're looking for more when you're closing ground.”

With the victory, Practical Move now owns 160 Kentucky Derby qualifying points and is second in the standings.

“We were a little worried that he didn't get through early enough, but he finally made it through,” Practical Move's co-owner Jean-Pierre Amestoy, Jr. said. “He opened up a little bit, but those are good horses. They came up to him in the end but he was tough enough. Got his head in front and won the race. I think we are confident. I think we will catch the distance and he's proven he's a fighter, he's a winner, so we're going to go to Kentucky with our heads high and hope to bring the trophy back to this side of the country.”

As for the runner-up, trainer Terunobu Fujita said, “We're going to the Kentucky Derby! I'm so proud of him. I thought he would not handle the early pace, but he did. I believed he would have a good acceleration in the final stretch as usual. And he did it. [Jockey] Kazushi Kimura gave a really good ride. He made him accelerate at the final stretch. I thought he was going to win. I'm just so excited right now.”

Saturday, Santa Anita
RUNHAPPY SANTA ANITA DERBY-GI, $751,500, Santa Anita, 4-8, 3yo, 1 1/8m, 1:48.69, ft.
1–PRACTICAL MOVE, 124, c, 3, by Practical Joke
                1st Dam: Ack Naughty (MSP, $310,450), by Afleet Alex
                2nd Dam: Dash for Money, by General Meeting
                3rd Dam: Hot Lear, by Lear Fan
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($90,000 RNA Ylg '21 KEESEP; $230,000 2yo
'22 OBSAPR). O-Leslie A. & Pierre Jean Amestoy, Jr. and Roger
Beasley; B-Chad Brown & Head of Plains Partners (KY);
T-Tim Yakteen; J-Ramon A. Vazquez. $450,000. Lifetime
Record: 7-4-1-2, $884,200. Werk Nick Rating: A.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the
free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Mandarin Hero (Jpn), 124, c, 3, Shanghai Bobby–Namura
Nadeshiko (Jpn), by Fuji Kiseki (Jpn). 1ST BLACK TYPE,
1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE, 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. O-Hiroaki Arai;
B-Hirano Bokujo (JPN); T-Terunobu Fujita. $150,000.
3–Skinner, 124, c, 3, Curlin–Winding Way, by Malibu Moon.
($40,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP; $510,000 2yo '22 OBSAPR). O-C R K
Stable LLC; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY);
T-John A. Shirreffs. $90,000.
Margins: NO, HF, 2 1/4. Odds: 1.00, 8.10, 3.60.
Also Ran: National Treasure, One in Vermillion, I Don't Get It, Dazzlemesilver, Low Expectations. Scratched: Geaux Rocket Ride.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

Pedigree Notes:

Practical Move, a :10 1/5 OBSAPR breezer, is one of four Northern Hemisphere graded winners for his sire (13 overall). Practical Joke had a solid OBS March sale, led by a $925,000 colt. Practical Move is one of nine worldwide graded/group winners out of a mare by GI Preakness S. and GI Belmont S. hero Afleet Alex. Also among that group is 2019 Belmont winner Sir Winston.

Dam Ack Naughty was just a $20,000 SARAUG RNA, but racked up more than $310,000 in New York turf events for Sol Kumin and partners and trainer Chad Brown, who had Practical Joke in the barn at the same time. Ack Naughty produced a Complexity colt in 2022 before selling to Chester and Mary Broman for $500,000 at this year's Keeneland January sale. The Upstart foal she was carrying at the time was unfortunately stillborn. Ack Naughty hails from the family of champion older horse Vino Rosso.

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Citing Surface Concerns, Laurel Cancels Saturday’s Card

In a press release sent out just 50 minutes before the post time for the day's first race, Laurel Park management announced that the Saturday card had been postponed. The reason given was an “abundance of caution to do a full evaluation of the racing surfaces.”

According to multiple sources, two horses broke down during training hours Saturday. One of the horses had to be euthanized and the other did not. There were no incidents during racing on Thursday and Friday.

Maryland Jockey Club Acting President Mike Rogers sent a group text to horsemen Saturday at 11:10 a.m, which read: “I have received feedback from some of the horsemen that they have concerns about the track, and we are going to take the next couple of days to investigate those concerns.”

The track will be closed Sunday and Monday, but is expected to re-open for training on Tuesday. Live racing resumes Thursday.

The condition of the main track at Laurel has been an issue in recent years. In 2021, seven horses died at Laurel over a four-week period after a new racing surface was installed.

According to the Racingbiz.com, Rogers addressed concerns horsemen had with the track in an April 4 meeting of the Maryland Racing Commission, saying the company was in the midst of repairs to a spot near the first finish line.

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