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Forte Made 3-1 Favorite In KDFW Pool Five

Eclipse Award winner Forte (Violence), impressive 4 1/2-length winner of the GII Fountain of Youth S. in his 3-year-old debut Mar. 4, closed as the 3-1 favorite ($8.76 will pay) in the fifth pool of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, with Saturday's GIII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby hero and 'TDN Rising Star' Tapit Trice (Tapit) the distance second choice at 8-1 ($18.32).

The 'All Other 3-Year-Olds', encompassing any horse not listed among the individual betting interests, closed as the 10-1 ($22.08) third pick, while others to close at 30-1 or lower included GII San Felipe S. hero Practical Move (Practical Joke, 12-1, $27.04); Instant Coffee (Bolt d'Oro, 19-1, $40.04); Red Route One (Gun Runner, 24-1, $50.46); Reincarnate (Good Magic, 24-1, $51.18); GIII Withers S. winner Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}, 28-1, $59.22); Geaux Rocket Ride (Candy Ride {Arg}, 30-1, $62.92); and GII Rebel S. upsetter Confidence Game (Candy Ride {Arg}, 30-1, $63.98).

In the lone Kentucky Oaks Future Wager, which was conducted concurrently with the KDFW, GIII Honeybee S. winner Wet Paint (Blame) closed as the 4-1 ($10.66) favorite over champion filly Wonder Wheel (Into Mischief), who was 6-1 ($15.70). Hoosier Philly (Into Mischief) was the 7-1 ($16.92) third choice.

Betting on all future wagers over the three-day period was $479,559. Total handle for the March 10-12 KDFW pool–the fifth of six wagering pools in advance of the 1 1/4-mile GI Kentucky Derby–was $341,638 ($250,906 in the win pool and $90,732 in exactas). Betting on the Oaks Future Wager totaled $70,209 ($53,340 in the win pool and $70,209 in exactas). The Oaks/Derby Future Double, which requires fans to correctly select the winners of both the $1.25-million GI Longines Kentucky Oaks May 5 and the next day's Kentucky Derby, handled $67,712.

The year's sixth and final Kentucky Derby Future Wager pool is set for Thursday, Mar. 30 through Saturday, Apr. 1. Different from the first five pools of the KDFW, the sixth and final pool will close prior to the first Road to the Kentucky Derby Championship Series race on Apr. 1.

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National Horseplayers’ Championship Crowns A Winner

Edited Press Release

Paul Calia, a retired disability advisor for Social Security from Kansas City, Missouri, toppled a field of 779 entries to take home the grand prize of $800,000, in addition to finishing in fourth place with his second entry–good for another $150,000– to earn an Eclipse Award and Horseplayer of the Year honors during the NTRA National Horseplayers' Championship which concluded Sunday in Las Vegas. This is the first contest that Calia has ever won.

Calia amassed winnings of $362.50 on his first entry, and $305.50 on his second entry, over the three-day tournament from 53 mythical $2 win and place bets–18 each on Friday and Saturday, 10 in Sunday morning's semifinal round, and seven at the exciting Final Table which ultimately yielded his victory. He is the first winner to also finish in the top 10 with a second entry.

“I started a little slow on Friday, thought I handicapped okay with some seconds and thirds,” said Calia. “But Saturday I was pretty hot, and pretty much hit every longshot. It's hard to put into words how many winners I picked on Saturday.”

When asked his approach to playing two cards in the final table he said, “I don't know how to describe it. I didn't switch a lot of picks, I don't let the odds affect me. I only switched about 10-15% of my picks between cards, one or two a day that's it.”

With this victory, Calia also earns an exemption into next year's NHC and a berth to the 2023 Breeders' Cup Betting Challenge worth $10,000. In lieu of winning a second BCBC entry, which he won from finishing first on day two (Saturday), he will instead take home $10,000 cash. That makes his full earnings from the weekend a whopping $960,000 and a 2024 BCBC seat valued at $10,000.

“There are three pillars to the sport of Thoroughbred racing–you have the horse and its connections, the racetracks and the horseplayer,” said NTRA President and CEO Tom Rooney. “So, if horse racing is a three-legged stool, we aren't anything without the horseplayer. My family's relationship with this sport and with football all traces back to playing horses. The excitement at the NHC is vital to everything we do as an industry. This year's NHC is bigger than ever before and I'm proud that the NTRA has this unique opportunity to showcase the best of the best in handicapping and celebrate what it means to be a horseplayer.”

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Medaglia d’Oro’s Ballet Dancing Perfectly En Pointe In Santa Ana

Ballet Dancing earned her first stakes victory in style, skipping clear to an authoritative victory in the GIII Santa Ana S. at Santa Anita Sunday. Stretching out to a 1 1/4 miles for the first time, the bay filly was away well and was in hand while stalking pacesetting longshot Annaghlasa (Ire) (Estidhkaar {Ire}) through fractions of :24.01, :47.22 and 1:12.07. Finally let loose into the far turn, she ricocheted to the lead off the turn and was quickly beyond the reach of all pursuers. Favored Australia Mia (Street Sense), making her second North American start, was stalking the pace, but fell back on the far turn before being eased at the top of the lane.

“This was certainly the distance we've been waiting for,” said winning trainer Simon Callaghan. “During her 3-year-old career, they pretty much kept the races at a mile and an eighth and that was just the bare minimum, so I think now as an older mare she's just going to flourish and I think these longer distances, a mile and a quarter and a mile and a half, they are going to be right in her wheelhouse.”

An $800,000 Keeneland September yearling, Ballet Dancing graduated going one mile of the Santa Anita turf last spring before finishing third in the GIII Honeymoon S. in May. She returned to the winner's circle with a 2 1/2-length victory in a Dec. 29 allowance and she was coming off a fourth-place effort in a nine-furlong optional claimer Feb. 3.

Pedigree Notes:

Ballet Dancing, the 90th worldwide graded winner for her sire, Medaglia d'Oro, is the fourth foal out of Fully Living, who was purchased by Ashview Farm for $425,000 at the 2011 Keeneland September sale and finished third for Ashview and Old Oak Farm in the 2012 GII Adirondack S. The mare, who is also the dam of last year's GII Suburban S. third-place finisher Untreated (Nyquist), produced a filly by Justify in 2021 and a filly by Tiz the Law in 2022 before being bred back to Constitution.

Richard Knight signed for the Justify filly for $1.05 million at last year's Keeneland September sale and she was one of six being reoffered by the sales company due to non-payment. The mare's once-raced 6-year-old daughter Night on the Town (Street Sense), in foal to Essential Quality, sold to Siena Farms for $450,000 at last year's Keeneland November sale.

The winner's third dam, Half Queen, produced champion Halfbridled (Unbridled).

Sunday, Santa Anita
SANTA ANA S.-GIII, $101,000, Santa Anita, 3-12, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/4mT, 2:01.25, gd.
1–BALLET DANCING, 120, f, 4, by Medaglia d'Oro
        1st Dam: Fully Living (GSP, $172,417), by Unbridled's Song
        2nd Dam: Half A. P., by Pulpit
        3rd Dam: Half Queen, by Deputy Minister
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($800,000
Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Westerberg, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael
Tabor, & Derrick Smith; B-Ashview Farm & Old Oak
Farm (KY); T-Simon Callaghan; J-Flavien Prat. $60,000. Lifetime
Record: MGSP, 9-3-1-2, $191,060. *1/2 to Untreated
(Nyquist), MGSP, $291,433. Werk Nick Rating: B+. Click for
   the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free
   Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Queen Ofthe Temple, 120, m, 5, Temple City–Queenameina,
by Read the Footnotes. ($3,500 Ylg '19 FTKFEB; $14,000 RNA
Ylg '19 FTKOCT). O-Radley Equine, Inc., Roger Featherston,
Rick Gold & Tony Maslowski; B-Erv Woolsey & Ralph Kinder
(KY); T-Dan Blacker. $20,000.
3–Duvet Day (Ire), 122, f, 4, Starspangledbanner (Aus)–Je
T'Adore (Ire), by Montjeu (Ire). 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE.
(47,000gns Wlg '19 TATFOA; £45,000 Ylg '20 GOFOR; $72,000
3yo '22 KEEAPR). O-Jane Bacharach & Richard Schatz;
B-John Yarr (Ire); T-Michael W. McCarthy. $12,000.
Margins: 3HF, HD, NO. Odds: 4.70, 5.10, 5.70.
Also Ran: Buzz of New York (Ire), Ascendancy, Annaghlasa (Ire), Australia Mia. Scratched: Harper's Gallop, Myfavoritedaughter.Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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O’Connell Moves Ahead as Winningest Female Trainer

With her victory in the fifth race at Tampa Bay Downs Sunday, Kathleen O'Connell surpassed Kim Hammond to become the winningest female trainer in North America. My Eagle Soars (Khozan) became O'Connell's 2,386th winner when he crossed the line first in the six-furlong maiden claimer.

“It's just been a wonderful ride,” O'Connell said of her training career. “It's not only about the destination, it's the journey getting there.”

O'Connell, who began training on her own in 1981, has twice been the leading trainer at Tampa Bay Downs. She also won a title at Calder. She currently trains about 60 horses between Tampa Bay Downs and Gulfstream Park.

She has won nine graded stakes, three from 1997-2000 by Blazing Sword, as well as the 2011 GII Tampa Bay Derby with Watch Me Go; the 2003 GII Bonnie Miss S. with Ivanavinalot; the 2019 GIII Sam F. Davis S. with Well Defined; and back-to-back runnings of the GII Princess Rooney in 2018 and 2019 with Stormy Embrace.

Hammond, who has yet to win a race in 2023 from 16 starts, will have a chance to go back into a tie with O'Connell when she saddles a runner in the fifth race at Turfway Park Friday.

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