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Courvoisier Digs In For Jerome Victory In Stakes Debut

Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings and James Spry's regally-bred Courvoisier overcame a wet track to take Saturday's $150,000 Jerome for sophomores going a one-turn mile over the sloppy and sealed main track at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.

The Jerome awarded 10-4-2-1 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top four finishers, respectively. By Tapit and out of the 2014 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and Eclipse Award-winner Take Charge Brandi, Courvoisier splashed over the slop and through a dense fog under Jose Ortiz to win his stakes debut for trainer Kelly Breen after breaking his maiden going nine furlongs last time out at the Big A.

Breaking from post six in the field of eight, Courvoisier found himself mid-pack a few strides from the gate before splitting horses and moving to the outside of pacesetter Hagler, who was piloted by Trevor McCarthy. Racing down the backstretch, Ortiz kept Courvoisier close to Hagler through a half-mile in a speedy 45.78 seconds.

Ortiz showed Courvoisier the crop to his right side rounding the turn, giving him the signal to make his move at Hagler as McCarthy began to give his mount a strong hand ride. Hagler battled back on the inside at the top of the lane but began to tire as Courvoisier found more and overtook the lead at the eighth pole.

Driving to the finish with two right-handed taps of the crop from Ortiz, Courvoisier widened his margins briefly at the sixteenth pole before needing to fend off one last bid from runner-up Smarten Up under Anthony Salgado in the center of the racetrack. Courvoisier had enough left in the tank to finish strongly, besting Smarten Up by 1 ¼ lengths with post-time favorite Cooke Creek checking in two lengths back in third. The final time for the mile was 1:38.86.

“He broke good but the eight-horse [Hagler] had some speed too, and it looked like he wanted it,” Ortiz said of his battle for the lead. “Crossing the chute, my horse was traveling really well and I was really happy with the position I had.

“Passing the three-eighths pole, I had to ask him a little bit but Kelly gave me the warning – he said, 'he's not going to give you anything you don't ask for, so you have to keep pedaling and he will dig in,'” Ortiz added. “And he did. He kept digging in and I'm just happy we got the win.”

Ortiz, who rode Courvoisier for the first time in the Jerome, said he was unsure of the mile distance for the chestnut colt.

“I was a little bit concerned,” Ortiz said. “Personally, I'm not a fan of stretching to a mile and an eighth and cutting back to a mile, but he's sharp. He's got tactical speed – which helps him – and I think those kinds of horses you can play around with them. He's the right kind of horse to do it and he did it successfully, so kudos to Kelly and the team.”

Salgado said Smarten Up still had something left to give in the final stages despite a poor break and being forced six-wide in the turn.

“He broke a little bit slow,” said Salgado. “It wasn't a perfect trip. He was getting dirt in the face and jumping a little bit, but in the stretch, when I asked him, he kept coming. Once we got clear, he kept going.”

Rounding out the order of finish were Unbridled Bomber, Hagler, Mr Jefferson, Ohtwoohthreefive, and Rumble Strip Ron.

The Jerome was the second career win for Courvoisier, who had won or finished on the board in each of his prior four starts. The colt put on blinkers to earn two runner-up finishes by small margins at Delaware Park before breaking through in a December 2 maiden special weight at Aqueduct by a neck.

Breen said despite the off-going on Saturday, Courvoisier has shown a fondness for the Big A.

“He does everything right,” said Breen. “He just needed to put it all together. He was being very juvenile in his first couple of races and I think this is the beginning of him moving forward.”

Breen said Courvoisier will now target a start in the Grade 3 $250,000 Withers, a nine-furlong test on February 5 at the Big A offering 10-4-2-1 Kentucky Derby qualifying points.

“In two weeks, he'll have two more workouts and we'll be right on line to run,” said Breen. “Right now, it looks like has a nice affinity for Aqueduct and in four more weeks is the Withers going two turns. We're excited for it because it's where we were pointing him. We didn't know if we were even going to run in the Jerome because we believe he is a two-turn horse.”

Bred in Kentucky by Elevage II and Hill 'n' Dale, Courvoisier earned $82,500 in victory and brought his total purse earnings to $147,450 with a record of 2-2-1 from five starts. A $2 win wager placed on Courvoisier returned $10.

Live racing at the Big A resumes Sunday with nine-race card, featuring the La Verdad for state-bred fillies and mares in Race 8. First post is 12:20 p.m. Eastern.

America's Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the winter meet at Aqueduct Racetrack on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Aqueduct Racetrack, and the best way to bet every race of the winter 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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‘Huge Year Ahead Of Him’: Trainer Desormeaux Bullish On Sham Contender Oviatt Class

Oviatt Class was an apparent “steam horse” in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Del Mar on Nov. 5, the “wise guys” bearing down on him at the windows and sending him off at 9-1, less than half his morning line program odds of 20-1.

Paring of his price in part was due to the scratch of 9-5 morning line Juvenile favorite Jack Christopher.

Oviatt Class did finish an eventful fifth, beaten 8 ½ lengths by undefeated Bob Baffert trainee Corniche, a prohibitive favorite to be named Eclipse Award winner as champion 2-year-old male at the 51^st annual Eclipse dinner Feb. 10 at Santa Anita.

One person more disappointed in Oviatt Class than his mutuel backers in the Juvenile was his trainer, Keith Desormeaux, who hopes the son of the A.P. Indy stallion Bernardini makes amends in Saturday's Grade 3 Sham Stakes, the West's first significant offering on the Triple Crown trail.

Oviatt Class has victimized himself with tardy starts or wide trips in each of his five races, including a third by 3 ¾ lengths behind Corniche in the G1 American Pharoah at Santa Anita last Oct. 1, rallying from seventh and last at the half-mile marker.

“Maybe the horse is just not the greatest gate-breaker,” said Desormeaux, who has given his brother, Hall of Fame member and three-time Kentucky Derby winner Kent a leg up in all of the bay colt's starts, “but I don't consider that a problem for him.

“As far as him coming wide, I think that's more due to Kent's style. The horse didn't run his race at Del Mar (in the Juvenile) and I still haven't figured it out.

“We were so excited and pumped up expecting a huge race based on the way he'd been training, and that wasn't only my opinion. He was 20-1 on the morning line and ended up 9-1, so he was a hot horse, an insider's horse, and I think the gamblers were right on, but he didn't produce and I don't have an answer.

“The horse is doing great and I think he's got a huge year ahead of him, so we've taken our time, let him freshen and the Sham seems like a good spot to get it rolling.”

Oviatt Class was bought for $60,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sales and is owned by financial magnate James E. Downey of Newport Beach, Calif. The horse could become another of Keith's burgeoning bargains, already more than doubling his purchase price with earnings of $137,620.

“I met James through a friend,” Keith said. “He had owned horses some 30 years ago and with Oviatt Class, it looks like he's hit a home run in his first at bat on his return.”

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Keith, a regular at Santa Anita in recent years, now also operates in Kentucky and his home state of Louisiana, where this interview was conducted by phone, before he departed for Santa Anita where he will be on hand for the Sham.

“To tell you the truth, I'd prefer to be based at Santa Anita full time,” Keith said, “but the economics necessitates me splitting the stable, and I'm doing the best I can in this manner.”

Little wonder Keith has a fondness for Santa Anita. With Kent in the saddle for his brother, Texas Red won the 2014 Breeders' Cup Juvenile and Exaggerator the 2016 Santa Anita Derby, before going on to capture the Preakness.

As to the revival of Kent's riding career at age 51 after overcoming a myriad of personal and substance abuse issues, Keith, who turns 55 on Jan. 27, offered this: “Kent's so talented and his ability has always been there.

“It's personal BS that's a problem. He's got to take care of that and I don't have the answers, but the riding ability is God-given and an absolute gift. He's got it working full force right now.

“Hopefully, we can see that on Saturday.”

The Sham goes as race seven of 10 with a 12 noon first post time. Here's the field: Mackinnon, Juan Hernandez, 3-1; Oviatt Class, Kent Desormeaux, 7-2; Newgrange, John Velazquez, 2-1; Rockefeller, Flavien Prat, 8-5; and Degree of Risk, Umberto Rispoli, 12-1.

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Weekend Lineup: Kentucky Derby Prep Season Heating Up

The racing spotlight focuses on the Road to the Kentucky Derby this weekend, with three qualifying points races to be run on New Year's Day at Aqueduct, Oaklawn and Santa Anita. A total of 17 points are offered in each race on a 10-4-2-1 basis to the top four finishers.

A fourth race for 3-year-olds, the Mucho Macho Man at Gulfstream Park, is not a points race but kicks off the road to the G1 Florida Derby, traditionally one of the most productive races that leads to Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May.

Aqueduct's $150,000 Jerome, run at one mile around one turn, has drawn a field of eight 3-year-olds. Fourteen have been entered in Oaklawn's $250,000 Southwest, run at a mile around two turns. Five are scheduled to go postward in the $100,000 Sham, a Grade 3 race run around two turns at one mile at Santa Anita. Two of the five are trained by Bob Baffert, whose horses are not eligible for Kentucky Derby points due to his being excluded from all Churchill Downs tracks after Medina Spirit, first-place finishers in the 2021 Kentucky Derby, failed a post-race drug test.

In addition to the races for Triple Crown hopefuls, there are two other graded stakes on Santa Anita's New Year's Day program: the G2 Joe Hernandez for older turf sprinters running on the picturesque downhill turf course; and the G3 Robert J. Frankel for fillies and mares going 1 1/8 miles on the infield grass oval.

Here's a brief look at the four 3-year-old races (all times Eastern).

Saturday

3:50 p.m. – Jerome at Aqueduct

The Jerome was first run in 1866 and has been won by some legendary horses, but that was when it was contested during the fall. Since being moved to January, it has not attracted classic prospects.

This year's field is led by Jeremiah O'Dwyer-trained Cooke Creek, an Uncle Mo colt who was 2-for-2 at Delaware Park before a good second to Baffert-trained Rockefeller in the G3 Nashua Stakes Nov. 7. He draws the inside post and will be ridden by Manny Franco. Starting from the outside post will be the Rudy Rodriguez-trained Hagler, the expected pacesetter who won back-to-back sprint races at Belmont and Aqueduct and is making his stakes debut. Jorge Vargas Jr. rides.

Jerome entries

4:42 p.m. – Mucho Macho Man at Gulfstream Park

Morning line favorite Strike Hard has a win over the Gulfstream surface at the same distance as the Mucho Macho Man but disappointed in his only stakes start for trainer Matthew Williams when sent to Churchill Downs for a seventh-place finish in the G3 Iroquois Stakes in September. Junior Alvarado rides. Graphic Detail, a Practical Joke colt trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, won at first asking at Belmont Park Nov. 6 and has been training steadily at Payson Park. Red-hot Luis Saez has the mount.

Mucho Macho Man entries

6:13 p.m. – Smarty Jones at Oaklawn

Oaklawn has built a formidable series of races for 3-year-olds leading to the Triple Crown. After Saturday's Smarty Jones comes the $750,000, G3 Southwest Stakes on Jan. 29; the $1 million, G2 Rebel on Feb. 26; and the $1,250,000, G1 Arkansas Derby on April 2.

The Smarty Jones appears to be a wide open contest, with Chris Hartman-trained Kavod – a $50,000 claim at Churchill Downs in November – the only stakes winner in the field of 14. He won the six-furlong Advent Stakes at Oaklawn Dec. 3. Home Brew, a Street Sense colt from the Brad Cox barn, comes off a solid allowance win going a mile at Oaklawn Dec. 4 and is the morning line favorite. He began his career in Maryland with Kelly Breen and was transferred after that race to Cox, finishing second in a Nov. 14 Churchill Downs allowance race before his local win. Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen has a trio entered in the Smarty Jones, but two of them – Cairama and Cool Papa G – drew the 11 and 12 posts, respectively, posing a serious challenge for their riders. His best hope may rest with All in Sync, breaking from the two post under Ricardo Santana Jr. A 12-1 longshot breaking from the rail is Kenny McPeek-trained Dash Attack, a Munnings colt who captured his debut at Oaklawn by 1 1/4 lengths. David Cohen rode him that day and will be aboard again on Saturday.

Smarty Jones entries

7:00 p.m. – Sham at Santa Anita

Rockefeller and Newgrange represent the barn of Bob Baffert, who dominates California races for 2- and 3-year-olds on dirt. Rockefeller comes off a win in the G3 Nashua after being sent to Belmont in November and Newgrange won at first asking at Del Mar. Mackinnon, third in the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf for trainer Doug O'Neill, is testing the main track for the first time since his debut at Santa Anita last May. Oviatt Class is a talented horse who would benefit from a quick pace. He was an unlucky fifth behind Corniche in the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile for trainer Keith Desormeaux and his brother, Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux.

Sham entries

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Mucho Macho Man Stakes: Strike Hard Aiming For Strong Start On Road To Florida Derby

For Miracle's International Trading, Inc.'s Strike Hard and Matthew Williams, the trainer for his family's stable, Saturday's $150,000 Mucho Macho Man at Gulfstream Park could prove to be a milestone race.

The 11th running of the one-mile Mucho Macho Man, the first step on Gulfstream's road to the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby April 2, headlines five stakes for newly turned 3-year-olds worth $550,000 in purses on the New Year's Day holiday program.

Post time for the first of 11 races is noon.

Both Strike Hard, a gray or roan son of Grade 2 winner Flashback, and Williams, a 25-year-old native of Kingston, Jamaica, are chasing the first stakes victory of their young careers. Williams has started 143 horses since November 2018 with 13 wins, while Strike Hard has raced five times with two wins, one second and one third.

“Going into the Mucho Macho Man, I have a lot of confidence. I definitely think he's up to the challenge and the level, especially based on his last performance,” Williams said. “This race will help us decide what's next.”

Strike Hard enters the Mucho Macho Man off a popular four-length optional claiming allowance triumph Dec. 5 at Gulfstream, with Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained stablemates A. P.'s Secret and Skippylongstocking a nose apart in second and third, respectively.

It was Strike Hard's second career win at a mile, coming in 1:35.60. The winning time would rank as the second-fastest in Mucho Macho Man history behind the 1:34.39 posted in 2013 by Itsmyluckyday, who went on to run second in the Florida Derby, win three graded-stakes including the 2014 Whitney (G1), and earn more than $1.7 million in purses.

“I thought he ran a very good race,” Williams said. “They regarded A. P.'s Secret pretty well and he beat him by four lengths, and he did it in good time, too. He went in [1:22.64] for seven furlongs and 1:35 and change for a mile. That was pretty good, I thought.”

Purchased for $25,000 as a 2-year-old in training at OBS in March, Strike Hard came back to breeze five furlongs in 1:01.13 Dec. 24 over Gulfstream's main track, eighth-fastest of 34 horses.

“He's doing great. I'm happy with him,” Williams said. “I'm as happy as I can be with him.”

Strike Hard ran seventh, beaten 6 ¾ lengths, in the Sept. 18 Iroquois (G3) at Churchill Downs, his only previous stakes attempt. Junior Alvarado is named to ride from Post 2 in a field of six.

“I'd like to draw a line through that race,” Williams said. “I think we shipped him a little too close to the race, just because we were uncertain whether we'd actually get in. They were expecting a big field, there were a lot of nominations, so we didn't ship him when we had initially planned. I hope that means he didn't give us his best that day.”

Williams' best horse to date has been Dream Marie, a 4-year-old mare that has won four of 23 starts with $278,420 in purse earnings. She has placed in five stakes including seconds in the Rampart (G3) and Hollywood Wildcat and a third in the Davona Dale (G2) in 2020 at Gulfstream. Williams is hopeful Strike Hard will be even more successful.

“From early on we thought he'd be a really nice horse. He trains really professionally,” he said. “He's shown us good interest when training. I definitely like his competitiveness. The times when he was breezing in the early stages and the way he did it, the riders were always impressed with him and so was I.”

The Championship Meet's leading trainer with 17 wins since Dec. 3, Joseph is keeping the likes of Remington Springboard Mile winner Make It Big, Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) show finisher White Abarrio and A. P.'s Secret on the bench for the Mucho Macho Man, but he will be represented by Daniel Alonso's Skippylongstocking.

Joseph is seeking his second Mucho Macho Man victory in three years following Chance It in 2020, who would go on to be Grade 1 placed. Skippylongstocking may have a change of equipment following his loss to Strike Hard last time out.

“He ran a decent race last time,” Joseph said. “We're probably going to try some blinkers on him this time, so hopefully it will help him jump forward. The horse that beat him last time beat him pretty convincingly … so he has to improve.”

Skippylongstocking finished ahead of Strike Hard when they ran second and third, respectively, separated by two lengths in an Aug. 7 maiden special weight at Gulfstream. Like Strike Hard, Skippylongstocking would also graduate in his subsequent start, a 10 ½-length maiden special weight romp over Rod Two Rod going a mile Sept. 26 at Gulfstream. Rod Two Rod was fourth, two lengths behind Skippylongstocking, in the Dec. 5 allowance.

“His maiden win was good. The horse he beat came back to win but the time was slow and he beat that horse [again] the other day,” Joseph said. “That horse kind of actually gained a few lengths on him, so the form hasn't been that strong. That's the concern. I know he's a decent horse, but can he make that jump? We're going to give him one more try to find out and, hopefully, blinkers can help him move forward a bit.”

Tyler Gaffalione, who also rode Chance It in the Mucho Macho Man, gets the return call from Post 5.

Lanes Mark Racing Stable and Danny Pate's Mr Rum Runner has never been worse than third in four starts and enters the Mucho Macho Man off his first win, a Nov. 21 maiden special weight at Gulfstream going one mile. He pressed the pace before taking a short lead, lost it at the top of the stretch and came back through the lane to win by a neck.

In his prior start, Mr Rum Runner set the pace along the inside and opened a clear advantage before being chased down and finished second to Peter D in the one-mile, 70-yard Juvenile over Gulfstream's Tapeta surface Oct. 23. Peter D has gone on to win two subsequent starts.

“He's training good. Hopefully, he can take the next step. He's a nice horse. He has never disappointed us so far. We'll see how good he is,” trainer Patrick Biancone said. “He's a horse that when he takes the lead he has a tendency to pull up, so the jockey has to time the race perfectly.”

Romero Maragh is set to ride back from Post 4.

OXO Equine's Graphic Detail is entered to make his second career start and first since rallying for a half-length maiden special weight triumph sprinting six furlongs Nov. 6 at Belmont Park for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. The fourth-place finisher in that race, Provocateur, came back to break his maiden by 4 ½ lengths as the favorite Dec. 23 at Tampa Bay Downs. Graphic Detail's sire, Practical Joke, won the 2016 Hopeful (G1) and Champagne (G1) and was third in the 2017 Fountain of Youth (G2) at Gulfstream before taking the Allen Jerkens (G1) at Saratoga.

Graphic Detail drew outside Post 6 under Luis Saez.

Tami Bobo's Simplification ran fifth in his unveiling Oct. 1 over the Tapeta at Gulfstream before graduating by 16 ¾ lengths against fellow Florida-breds in an Oct. 23 maiden special weight over the main track. Most recently, the Not This Time colt finished third as the favorite in a Nov. 13 optional claiming allowance and will be stretching out beyond six furlongs for the first time.

Rounding out the field is Peacock Stable's Sport Pepper, owned and trained by Kerry Zavash. The Classic Empire gelding broke his maiden on the turf and won an optional claiming allowance on the dirt in successive starts at Arlington Park and Keeneland, respectively, this fall before finishing off the board in the Oct. 31 Street Sense at Churchill Downs and Dec. 3 Pulpit on the grass at Gulfstream.

Sport Pepper will break from the rail with Corey Lanerie.

Contested as the Gulfstream Park Derby from 2012-14, the Mucho Macho Man was renamed in honor of the Gulfstream-based winner of nine of 25 career starts and more than $5.6 million in purse earnings. Seven of his victories came in stakes – the 2013 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) and Awesome Again (G1), 2012 Suburban (G2) and Gulfstream Park Handicap (G2), 2011 Risen Star (G2) and 2014 and 2012 Sunshine Millions Classic.

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