Tag: track record

Warm Heart Beats Boys, Sets Course Record In Pegasus World Cup Turf

As farewell tours go, this was a pretty good one.

Four years after the Coolmore contingent's Magic Wand (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) gave the GI Pegasus World Cup Turf a mighty shake when second to upset-minded Zulu Alpha (Street Cry {Ire}), the globetrotting Warm Heart (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) was given an A-plus steer from Ryan Moore, showed plenty of heart and guts when in very tight approaching the entrance to the final furlong and stayed on courageously to become the first female winner of the $1-million GI Pegasus World Cup Turf.

The final time of 1:44.45 for the nine furlongs on firm turf broke the previous record of English Channel back in 2007.

Made the 12-5 second favorite behind the previously undefeated Integration (Quality Road), Warm Heart secured a forward position, with Integration a few lengths in her wake, as Main Event (Bernardini) and Catnip (Kitten's Joy) came across from their double-digit draws to fight out an opening quarter in :23.47. Jerry the Nipper (Liam's Map) went up to spilt that pair, and when he did, Moore made a critical decision to hustle his filly along for a stride or two, enabling her to secure a ground-saving rail position just behind the pacesetters.

Remaining glued to the fence through the middle furlongs and with no real changes to the plot, Warm Heart began to zero in on the dueling front-runners rounding the turn, and Moore opted to ride her for luck nearing the stretch, attempting to work the same sort of magic as he did aboard Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in the GI Breeders' Cup Turf. Main Event was holding firm as they hit the stretch, but Javier Castellano had left a sliver of daylight for Warm Heart at the inside if she was good enough to capitalize. She sliced through there gamely to lead a furlong out and held safe to the wire as 'TDN Rising Star' I'm Very Busy (Cloud Computing)–who didn't enjoy the clearest of stretch runs–came running late. Frankie Dettori also put an outstanding ride on the outposted Catnip, riding him for speed before sitting a wide trip and staying on for third.

Integration, perfect in three tries prior to this, raced ahead of midfield and enjoyed a decent inside trip for the opening seven furlongs. But whereas Moore was able to get through, the runs never came for Integration, as he was stymied behind Jerry the Nipper and inside of Catnip when push came to shove and he flashed home full of run for fifth once clear.

“She's always traveling very comfortably,” said Moore. “I didn't want to be there too early, and I didn't want to be tipping out into the straight, and I thought I'd rather just wait. She's a great filly. She's had an incredible year. She hasn't had a bad race.

“The leader, he was always leaning out, and he was weakening and I knew I had plenty of horse, so no problem. I was happy to wait.”

A maiden winner over a mile and two furlongs in the soft at Leopardstown last May, Warm Heart took the 12-furlong G2 Ribblesdale S. at the Royal Meeting and belied odds of 9-1 to defeat older females in the G1 Yorkshire Oaks Aug. 24. A neck winner despite a stumble at the start of the G1 Prix Vermeille at ParisLongchamp Sept. 10, she was set for the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf and the quick ground at Santa Anita as opposed to the oft-easy conditions for the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. The plan nearly came together perfectly, as Warm Heart snuck through inside and looked home in the 10-furlong event Nov. 4, only to be stung on the wire by the fast-finishing Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who would go on to be crowned at the Eclipse Awards. Sent over to Hong Kong for the G1 Longines Hong Kong Vase, she made the lead a long way from home and was there for the taking late, finishing third to Junko (GB) (Intello {Ger}).

“She's an incredible filly,” said trainer Aidan O'Brien. “Ryan said it just didn't work for her the last race, but she's tactical, she's tough and she quickens. She doesn't do an awful lot when she gets there, but that's the way she's always been. She's very classy and very hardy, loves the fast ground, fast track.”

Much to the Ballydoyle maestro's chagrin, Warm Heart heads up to Kentucky to begin her second career.

“She's incredible. We'd love to have her and to be racing her, but the lads business is breeding these horses and she's an absolutely incredible broodmare to be going to Justify, who looks probably the most incredible stallion that ever was based on what he's done so far. It's so exciting, really,” O'Brien said.

Pedigree Notes:

A three-time Group 1 winner in Australia over sprint trips, Sea Siren was sent to the Northern Hemisphere in late spring 2013, finishing eighth in the G1 Diamond Jubilee S. before taking the Listed Belgrave S. to conclude her racing career.

A half-sister to Australian Group 3 winner Oratorio (Aus)–not to be confused with the eponymous Irish-bred–and New Zealand Group 2 winner Lady Dehere (NZ), Sea Siren is also responsible for Warm Heart's 3-year-old brother Bremen (Ire), a maiden winner at second asking for Donnacha O'Brien at Killarney last July. Sea Siren was bred to Camelot (GB) on Southern Hemisphere time and was returned to Australia, where she foaled a colt by the sire of G1 Cox Plate winner Sir Dragonet (Ire) in August 2022. Chris Waller Racing/Mulcaster Bloodstock went to A$275,000 for that produce at the recently concluded Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale. After producing a colt by Home Affairs (Aus) (I Am Invincible {Aus}) last August, Sea Siren was covered by Justify at Coolmore Australia in September.

As stated above, Warm Heart has a date with Justify this year, and with good reason. The cross over Galileo has resulted in three winners at the graded level, including champion and G1 Dewhurst S. winner City of Troy, GII Jessamine S. victress Buchu and Group 3 winner Red Riding Hood (Ire). G1 Prix Marcel Boussac winner Opera Singer is out of a mare by Galileo's sire Sadler's Wells, while Group 2 winner Statuette has a second dam by Sadler's Wells.

 

Saturday, Gulfstream
1/ST BET PEGASUS WORLD CUP TURF INVITATIONAL S.-GI, $952,300, Gulfstream, 1-27, 4yo/up, 1 1/8mT, 1:44.45, fm.
1–WARM HEART (IRE), 118, f, 4, by Galileo (Ire)
                1st Dam: Sea Siren (Aus) (Hwt. Older Mare-Ire-at 5-7 f.,
                                MG1SW-Aus, SW & MGSP-Ire, $1,743,772),
                                by Fastnet Rock (Aus)
                2nd Dam: Express A Smile (Aus), by Success Express
                3rd Dam: Hold That Smile (Aus), by Haulpak (Aus)
O-Westerberg, Mrs. John Magnier, Derrick Smith and Michael
Tabor; B-Coolmore (IRE); T-Aidan P. O'Brien; J-Ryan L.
Moore. $531,000. Lifetime Record: G1SW-Eng, G1SW-Fr,
G1SP-HK, 11-6-2-1, $2,194,994. Werk Nick Rating: A.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–I'm Very Busy, 123, c, 4, Cloud Computing–Two Kisses, by
Kissin Kris. 'TDN Rising Star'. 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($50,000 Ylg
'21 EASOCT; $135,000 2yo '22 OBSMAR). O-Team Hanley,
Richard Schermerhorn and Paul Braverman; B-Glenn E. Brok
LLC & Mark Toothaker (PA); T-Chad C. Brown. $177,000.
3–Catnip, 123, g, 5, Kitten's Joy–Masquerade, by Silent Name
(Jpn). O/B-John & Susan Moore (KY); T-Michael Stidham.
$88,500.
Margins: HF, NK, 1. Odds: 2.40, 14.50, 46.50.
Also Ran: Atone, Integration, Webslinger, Kingmax (Ire), Shirl's Speight, Jerry the Nipper, Adhamo (Ire), Main Event, Master Piece (Chi). Scratched: Anglophile, Grand Sonata.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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Turcotte: Secretariat Was Better

Secretariat vs. Flightline (Tapit): Who was better?

“I think Secretariat would have beat him,” Secretariat's jockey Ron Turcotte said of a hypothetical match up between the two legendary horses. “That's no knock against the other horse. He's a beautiful horse. Well put together. I can't fault him in any way. But he has hasn't done enough for me to say he is better than Secretariat.”

That's not to say that Turcotte isn't a Flightline fan.

“He's a fabulous horse,” he said. “We don't know how fast he could run.”

Turcotte, 81, resides in Drummond, New Brunswick, Canada. He watched the GI Breeders' Cup Classic live on television and took a look back at Flightline's previous races on YouTube. He sees some similarities between Flightline and Secretariat.

“He's very muscular like Secretariat,” Turcotte said. “He's got a real large stride like Secretariat and it looks to me than he's taller than Secretariat was.”

But Turcotte added that he finds it difficult to compare a horse who ran only six times to Secretariat, who made 21 career starts.

“There aren't enough races for me to really judge him,” he said. “It's very hard to judge a horse against Secretariat when he only had six races. Secretariat was a machine  The same goes for some of the great horses like Kelso. He won the Gold Cup five times in a row. I rode against him and know what a great horse he was.

“I would have loved to see Flightline run another year because it's very hard to judge him on just six races. it would have been much better for racing if they ran him another year, but I can understand why the people did what they did, with all the money there is now in breeding.”

Turcotte said another factor that makes a comparison difficulty is that Secretariat did not run as a 4-year-old while Flightline did.

“Comparing a 4-year-old and a 3-year-old, that's awful hard to do,” he said. “Secretariat was just maturing when he was retired. His last two races were just unbelievable.”

He also pointed to Secretariat's versatility and the track records Secretariat set in his three Triple Crown wins.

“Secretariat would run in the slop , the mud, on a fast track, the grass. He would run on anything.” he said. “The other horse only ran on fast tracks. And he never broke a track record, like Secretariat did.”

It's been 49 years since Turcotte rode Secretariat and there have been some tremendous horses that have come after him, like Seattle Slew, Affirmed, Spectacular Bid, Cigar, Zenyatta and, of course Flightline. But will there ever be a horse that compares to Secretariat?

“I've always said we'd never see a horse as good as Secretariat,” Turcotte said. “But you never know.”

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Flurry Filly Flies at First Asking

4th-Louisiana Downs, $23,000, (S), Msw, 6-20, 2yo, f, 4 1/2f, :51.63, ft, 9 lengths.
LADY FLURRY (f, 2, Lord Nelson–Patchofbadweather {SW}, by Storm and a Half) blew out three furlongs from the gate in a bullet :35 4/5 (1/36) over this strip June 14 and was the 1-2 mortal to kick her career off on a winning note. Showing good speed to race widest in a line of four early, the Flurry homebred poked her red blinkers in front entering the turn and from there, it was lights out. Firmly in front as they reached the quarter pole, Lady Flurry was the recipient of a couple of superfluous cracks of the crop in the final furlong before easing home tons the best. The final time of :51.63 is just 0.03 of a second slower than the posted 4 1/2-furlong track record of :51.60 set by Sondor in the pre-hundredths days in 1984. Hot Springs native Staton Flurry raced this filly's Arkansas-bred dam with Broberg to a victory in the 2014 Lady Razorback S. and Lady Flurry is the mare's second winner from as many to start. She is also the dam of the Louisiana-bred yearling colt Loudthundrhevyrain (Star Guitar) and an Arkansas-bred colt by Army Mule foaled Mar. 12. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $13,800. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
O-Flurry Racing Stables LLC; B-Staton Flurry (LA); T-Karl Broberg.

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Track Records: Was Keeneland’s Dirt Course Faster Than Average On Breeders’ Cup Weekend?

Four track records were set on Keeneland's dirt course during the Breeders' Cup this year, leading concerned fans as well as several horseplayers and turf writers to publicly question the the surface. Those questions led Jim Mulvihill to seek out answers, which he compiled in a feature for the Thoroughbred Racing Commentary.

The facts, Mulvihill said, are that three of the four records were set by heavy favorites, and the dominant nature of those wins led credence to the idea that the winners had run exceptionally fast. Mulvihill also explained that there is a relatively limited sample size of relevant races, since Keeneland reinstalled and reconfigured the dirt course in 2014, rendering previous dirt records non-comparable.

A few racing professionals' answers included:

  • Champion horseplayer Paul Matties, who makes his own figures for Keeneland races, said: “It was definitely the fastest Keeneland that I've seen in a long time. Even compared to the end of the meet, which was a little fast for them, it was still probably a second faster than those days. It was definitely different, so there was some truth to what the people speaking up were saying.”
  • Timeform and DRF Chief Speed Figure Maker Craig Milkowski noted that the track condition rating, a measure of final average times, was 9 on Breeders' Cup Saturday. “That was higher than average for Keeneland,” he said. “During the spring, they're usually 6-7 and for the summer meet they were more like 7-8. So it wasn't just the horses; the track was definitely fast.”

Meanwhile, the official response from the Breeders' Cup was that the track surface was no faster than normal on Breeders' Cup weekend.

“Breeders' Cup, Keeneland and third-party experts, including Dr. Mick Peterson and the University of Kentucky, worked together for many months to have a safe and consistent racing surface and there were never any discussions on producing fast race times,” a statement from Breeders' Cup read. “On event days, Dr. Mick Peterson was in constant communication with both Keeneland and Breeders' Cup racing teams to keep us apprised of all conditions. The racing surface and moisture levels were consistent throughout both race days. The fast times are reflective of the best horses in the world competing.”

Read more at the Thoroughbred Racing Commentary.

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