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Spooky Channel Overhauls Two Emmys In Sycamore To Give Jason Barkley First Graded Victory

NBS Stable's Spooky Channel eased past longtime leader Two Emmys just before the finish line after a protracted stretch duel to prevail by a neck and win the 27^th running of the $150,000 Sycamore (G3) for 3-year-olds and up Friday afternoon at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.

Trained by Jason Barkley and ridden by Julien Leparoux, Spooky Channel covered the 1½ miles over a turf course labeled as good in 2:29.71.

The victory is the first graded stakes win for Barkley and his first Keeneland stakes win. It is the second Sycamore victory for Leparoux, who won in 2012 on Kindergarden Kid.

Two Emmys was first out of the gate under James Graham and led the field of 11 uncontested through fractions of :24.87, :49.51, 1:14.52 and 1:39.81 with Ry's the Guy and Spooky Channel tracking in the second and third spots.

The running order remained unchanged until the top of the stretch when Ry's the Guy dropped out of the pursuit and Spooky Channel took up the chase. Two Emmys maintained a narrow edge until deep stretch when Spooky Channel pushed by.

This is the third Grade 3 victory for Spooky Channel, whose previous scores came when trained by Brian Lynch for different ownership. Barkley claimed Spooky Channel for $80,000 at Churchill Downs in April.

Spooky Channel is a 6-year-old gelded Kentucky-bred son of English Channel out of the Kitten's Joy mare Spooky Kitten. With Friday's $90,000 check, he increased his earnings to $601,722 with a record of 25-11-4-0.

Spooky Channel returned $16.40, $6.80 and $5. Two Emmys returned $4.80 and $4.40 and finished 4¼ lengths in front of Ry's the Guy, who paid $5.20 to show under Chris Landeros.

It was another 1¾ lengths back to Bama Breeze, who was followed in order by Another Mystery, Sole Volante, Kentucky Ghost, Ajourneytofreedom, Glynn County, Yamato and Breakpoint (CHI).

Spooky Channel (left) races past front-running Two Emmys in deep stretch to win the Sycamore

Racing continues Saturday with a 10-race program beginning at 1 p.m. ET and featuring two stakes for 3-year-olds: the $250,000 Lexus Raven Run (G2) for fillies going 7 furlongs on the main track and the $150,000 Perryville going 7 furlongs on the main track. The Perryville is scheduled as the seventh race (4:12 p.m.), and the Lexus Raven Run is the ninth (5:16 p.m.).

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Claudio Gonzalez Records 1,000th Career Victory

On his way to leading all Maryland trainers in wins for a fifth consecutive year, Claudio Gonzalez earned his 1,000th career victory when MCA Racing Stable's He's a Shooter rolled to his third straight triumph in Thursday's seventh race at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md.

Ridden by Kevin Gomez, He's a Shooter ($5.60) was sent off as the 9-5 favorite in a field of seven. He ran seven furlongs on a fast main track in 1:23.80 to win the entry-level allowance for 3-year-olds and up by 6 ¼ lengths. It was Gonzalez's only starter of the day.

“It's special. It's not easy to win one race, but to win 1,000 races is something special,” Gonzalez said by phone from his native Chile, where he watched Thursday's race with his parents. “I came last week to celebrate my mother and father and today is my last day here. I was waiting a week for 1,000 and on my last day, we did it.”

Breaking from the far outside, Gomez positioned He's a Shooter, a 3-year-old gelded son of noted Maryland sire Great Notion, in the clear three wide as 18-1 long shot Benandjoe went the opening quarter-mile in 23.30 seconds with Going to the Lead racing third in between the two leaders. He's a Shooter rolled up to challenge and take the lead midway around the turn, straightened for home in front and opened up through the lane.

He's a Shooter has now won three of his four starts since returning from a four-month freshening in August. His win streak has come by 28 ½ combined lengths.

“He needed some time off and once he came back he proved that he's a nice horse,” Gonzalez said. “Kevin did a good job. He got good position on the outside and there wasn't a lot of speed, so he did the right thing and kept him just off the lead and rode him just right.”

Gonzalez, a 44-year-old cancer survivor, has been Maryland's overall leading trainer by wins since he relocated full-time from New Jersey in 2017. He owns or shares 17 training titles between Laurel and historic Pimlico Race Course, including both full meets in 2021 – Laurel's winter stand and the extended Preakness Meet at Pimlico.

Based at Laurel, Gonzalez has won stakes this year in Maryland with Harpers First Ride in the Deputed Testamony, Miss Leslie in the Weber City Miss, and Completed Pass in the King T. Leatherbury.

“It's not only me. All my team does a really good job,” Gonzalez said. “We do the right thing with the horses all the time and try every day to get better and better. I want to say thank you to everyone. Everyone sees my name there but there's a lot of people behind me.”

Gonzalez originally aspired to be a jockey until he grew too big. He first came to the U.S. as a teenager in November 1995 and soon found work galloping for countryman Juan Serey, New Jersey's leading trainer at the time, staying until 2002.

Following a short stint under trainer Gary Contessa, Gonzalez landed with another leading New Jersey trainer in Ben Perkins Jr. Among the top horses that came along during their time together were multiple graded-stakes winners Wildcat Heir and Wild Gams, Grade 3 winner Max Forever and popular local 12-time stakes-winning millionaire Joey P.

While with Perkins, Gonzalez missed six months after being diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2008. Following surgery and treatment, he has been in remission since.

According to Equibase statistics, Gonzalez's first career win came at Laurel with Quiet Tiara on Nov. 14, 2012. He went out on his own the following year and scored his first stakes victory with Princess Perfect in the Jersey Girl Handicap Sept. 21, 2013 at Monmouth Park.

Gonzalez has reached the $1 million mark in season purse earnings every year since 2013 with a high of $5.2 million to go along with 154 wins in 2020. He won a career-best 174 races in 2019.

A multiple stakes winner over his career, Gonzalez has three graded victories on his resume – the 2017 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) with Chublicious, and the historic Pimlico Special (G3) with Harpers First Ride and Charles Town Oaks (G3) with Fly On Angel, both in 2020.

Other stakes winners for Gonzalez include Afleet Willy, Never Stop Looking, Sweet On Smokey, Completed Pass, Eastern Bay, Lebda, Behemoth, My Magician, Next Best Thing and Miss Leslie.

“When I started, I just wanted to win my first race,” Gonzalez said. “After that, like I say all the time, if you work hard, you're going to win races.”

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Asmussen First Trainer To Win 800 Races At Churchill Downs

In the midst of a milestone-filled 2021, Steve Asmussen became the first trainer in Churchill Downs history to saddle 800 winners beneath the Twin Spires when promising 2-year-old Dr. Perry won Saturday's sixth race at the Louisville, Ky., track.

Asmussen, who scored his record-breaking 9,446th career win on Aug. 6, is the all-time leading trainer in races won at Churchill Downs.

The record 24-time training champion at Churchill Downs, won his first race at the Louisville oval on May 16, 1993, with Snake Eyes. He won his 100th local race in June 2003; 200th in June 2006; 300th in July 2008; 400th in May 2011; and 500th in May 2014; 600th in May 2017; and 700th in June 2019.

Among Asmussen's 800 Churchill Downs wins are 83 local stakes triumphs, including two victories in the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1): Summerly in 2005 and Untapable in 2014. He also won 2008 Stephen Foster (G1) with Curlin and the 2016 Clark Handicap presented by Norton Healthcare (G1) and 2017 Stephen Foster (G1 with Gun Runner.

His longtime Churchill Downs assistant is Scott Blasi.

Overall, Asmussen, 55, has won 9,503 races and his horses have amassed $368.2 million from 46,252 starts during a 35-year training career that began at New Mexico's Ruidoso Downs in 1986. The two-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer (2008-09) was enshrined in horse racing's Hall of Fame in 2016.

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Serve The King Completes Brown’s Five-Win Day At Saratoga

Trainer Chad Brown won one for the proverbial thumb, notching his fifth victory on the card when Peter Brant's Serve the King overtook Ry's the Guy in deep stretch and pressed on for a half-length win in Wednesday's $120,000 John's Call going 1 5/16 miles over Saratoga Race Course's Mellon turf in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

The 17th running of the John's Call – for 4-year-olds and up who have not won a graded stakes on turf in 2021 – saw Brown extend his meet total to 27, putting him in the top spot among conditioners with 10 race days remaining in the 40-day meet.

Serve the King, under jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., broke from the outermost post and stalked in third position as Ry's the Guy led the seven-horse field through an opening quarter-mile in 25.85 seconds over firm going. Conviction Trade took the lead on the first pass in front of the grandstand, logging a half-mile in 50.92, and maintained the advantage through three-quarters in 1:15.09 and a mile in 1:40.55.

Heading out the final turn, Ortiz, Jr. tipped Serve the King out, allowing him to take aim at Ry's the Guy. Under right-handed encouragement, Serve the King steadily gained before taking the lead for good in the final sixteenth, completing the course in 2:43.49 for his first win in his last five starts.

“We've been trying to get this horse around three turns since last year and we just didn't have the races available,” said Brown, who is aiming for his fourth career Saratoga training title. “He got started a little late last year and by the time we were really ready to start him, it was going to be in the Red Smith and he got injured so I had to stop on him. Mr. Brant has just been so patient, he always is with these horses and lets us give them the time and he came back really well this year.”

The British-bred Serve the King capitalized on class relief after consecutive fourth-place finishes in the Grade 3 Monmouth on June 5 and the Grade 1 United Nations on the same track on July 17. The 5-year-old son of Kingman improved to 4-1-1 in nine starts and increased his career earnings to $196,180.

“I thought this horse should have been second in the United Nations,” Brown said. “He got in some trouble around the eighth pole and we thought he should've been second. That went into my decision to bring him up here to Saratoga for a race of this caliber. Even though this isn't the Sword Dancer, it's still a real race at Saratoga. If I'm going to bring that horse all the way up here off a fourth on paper in the U.N., it better be a good fourth.”

Brown said Serve the King could now target the Grade 1, $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic on October 9 at Belmont Park.

“Domestic Spending might train up to the Breeders' Cup maybe, so that race might be a little bit open for a horse like this,” Brown said. “He used this restricted race to really have his coming out party so to speak, so it's time to go back in a real race again. I think that's probably the most logical.”

Serve the King was the third consecutive win Brown saddled on the card and fifth overall. Off at 3-1, he was the lone non-favorite winner on the day for the four-time Eclipse Award winner, returning $8.90 on a $2 win wager. Pocket Square [$2.30] won Race 3, Digital Future [$4.20] was the Race 5 winner, Gandy Dancing [Race 7, $6.50] and Winter Pool [Race 8, $4.50] also earned winners' circle trips.

“It's one of those things that I put in the pile of highlights of my career so far,” Brown said. “Five really diverse winners, too. Long, short, dirt, turf. My team and my horses were able to showcase today. When the weather is right and the horses are there, we can get the job done with any type of horse. It was really on display today.”

Ortiz, Jr. teamed with Brown for three of his wins, riding Pocket Square and Digital Future. The veteran rider won his fourth career John's Call after posting three straight victories from 2015-17.

“I got a perfect trip,” Ortiz, Jr. said. “Honestly, I saved all the ground. I was outside and by the first turn I was already on the rail. He broke so good I was already in position right there. I saved as much ground as I could. I had to move a little early because they opened up a little bit on me but he was catching up, little by little. He's not the kind of horse that you're going to ask and he's going to respond right away. He takes some time, so I started moving a little early. When I hit him, he let me know that I had some horse, and when I tipped him out, he just went on from there.”

Ry's the Guy, trained by Ian Wilkes and ridden by Luis Saez, bested Argentinian-bred Fantasioso by two lengths for second.

“We had a pretty nice trip,” Saez said. “We broke from there and we had some pressure early. I guess that was the plan. I had to take a little hold. He went pretty quick, but he still ran big. I'm pretty happy with him. He was very tired but he tried hard.”

Shamrocket, the 5-2 favorite, finished fourth. Ajournettofreedom, Red Knight and Conviction Trade completed the order of finish. Moretti, entered for the main track only, scratched.

Live racing resumes Thursday at Saratoga with a 10-race card featuring the $120,000 Riskaverse for 3-year-old fillies who have not won a stakes at one mile or over in 2021 in Race 9 at 5:39 p.m. Eastern. First post is 1:05 p.m.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Saratoga Race Course, and the best way to bet every race of the 40-day summer meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.

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