Triple Crown | Horse Racing Free Tips

Mott: Both Candy Man Rocket, Nova Rags ‘Earned Their Way Into Another Prep Race’

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, who sent out 1-2 finishers Candy Man Rocket and Nova Rags in Saturday's Grade 3, $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes, said he hopes to return to Tampa Bay Downs with at least one of the 3-year-old colts on March 6 for the Grade 2, $400,000 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby.

“It was gratifying to see both horses pass the two-turn test,” said Mott, who sent his son Riley Mott to Oldsmar from south Florida for saddling duties. “They both ran big races and it looked like they were strong at the finish. They came out of the race well, so I think both horses would be possible for the (Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby).”

The March 6 card will feature five stakes, four graded, worth a total of $1-million in purse money. The other stakes include the Grade 2, $225,000 Hillsborough Stakes for older fillies and mares on the turf; the Grade 3, $200,000 Florida Oaks for 3-year-old fillies on the turf; the Grade 3, $100,000 Challenger Stakes for horses 4-years-old-and-upward on the main track; and the $75,000 Columbia Stakes for 3-year-olds on the turf.

The victory by Candy Man Rocket was the first for Mott, jockey Junior Alvarado and owner Frank Fletcher Racing Operations in the Sam F. Davis. Alvarado also won Saturday's Grade 3, $175,000 Tampa Bay Stakes on the turf with 4-year-old gelding Get Smokin, owned by Mary Abeel Sullivan Revocable Trust and trained by Thomas Bush.

Alvarado and Mott teamed to finish second with 4-year-old filly New York Girl in the Grade 3, $175,000 Lambholm South Endeavour, won by Counterparty Risk.

Mott said he would prefer Candy Man Rocket and Nova Rags not square off again in the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, run at the identical mile-and-a-sixteenth distance of the Sam F. Davis.

“It would be nice to run one of them there, knowing they both like the track, but maybe we will try to split them up next time,” he said.

Hidden Stash, who rallied for third, also looks like a good candidate for the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby.

Candy Man Rocket came into the Sam F. Davis off a 9 ¼-length, 6-furlong maiden special weight score on Jan. 9 at Gulfstream Park, while Nova Rags was attempting to duplicate his victory here on Jan. 16 in the 7-furlong Pasco Stakes. The winner received 10 qualifying points on the “Road to the Kentucky Derby,” while Nova Rags, bred and owned by Michael Shanley, earned 4 points.

The points increase dramatically for the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, with 50, 20, 10 and 5 awarded to the first four finishers.

Mott stressed that both horses still have much to prove before entertaining serious thoughts of making it to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve starting gate on May 1.

“I know everybody this time of year is thinking of the Triple Crown, but there is still a long road ahead for that,” said Mott, who finished 1-3 in the 2019 Run for the Roses with Country House (moved up via disqualification) and that year's Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby winner, Tacitus. “You just have to take things one step at a time.

“Put it this way: I think both horses earned their way into another prep race.”

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Bargain Buy Medina Spirit More Than Paying His Way Thus Far

Medina Spirit could become one of racing's all-time bargains.

Whether he will someday rank with the likes of Carry Back and Seattle Slew in that category, only time will tell, but at this early point, he is moving in the right direction.

For the record, Carry Back, who won the Kentucky Derby in 1961, was obtained for tip money, a $700 investment, $400 of it a stud fee to a nondescript stallion named Saggy, whose solitary moment of racing glory came in an upset of 1948 Triple Crown king Citation in the Chesapeake Trial Stakes that year.

Carry Back raced an incredible 21 times as a two-year-old. A stone closer, the plain brown colt retired with 21 wins, 11 seconds and 11 thirds from 61 starts. He earned $1,241,165 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1975.

Seattle Slew was purchased for $17,500, became the first undefeated Triple Crown winner in 1977 when he was Horse of the Year and earned $1,208,726 from a career record of 14 wins and two seconds in 17 starts. Going on half a century later, he remains a gold standard among Thoroughbred greats both as a race horse and a stallion.

Although he has already earned more than three times his purchase price of $35,000, Medina Spirit has miles to run before reaching the lofty pinnacles of Carry Back and Seattle Slew.

His connections are optimistic, however. One is private clocker and bloodstock agent Gary Young, who purchased the Florida-bred son of the Giant's Causeway stallion Protonico for owner Amr Zedan as a two-year-old in training at last year's Ocala Breeders' Sale.

“Mr. Zedan had given me $2 million to spend and I had exceeded the budget,” said Young, 59, a clocker since he was 18 and an agent for more than 30 years. His best buy to date was 1993 Breeders' Cup Juvenile champion Brocco, who raced for the late Albert and Dana Broccoli, producers of the iconic James Bond movies.

“Because of Covid and because it was July, the sale did not have as much depth as usual,” Young said. “At the end of six days with six-hour daily previews I would usually have looked at 50 to 80 horses; I saw 10.

“After the previews, Mr. Zedan called me and asked if I remembered seeing a horse by Protonico and I told him, yes, that horse made my list. He asked me to look at the horse again, and I did. He was OK, but he wasn't going to be the sales topper or anything.

“Protonico raced about 10 years ago when trained by Todd Pletcher, and was owned by Mr. Zedan's friend, Oussama Aboughazale, who has a breeding operation called International Equities Holding in Kentucky where Princess Noor was bred.”

Both men are from a city in Saudi Arabia called Medina, which as a girl's name is of Arabic origin meaning “city of the Prophet,” and is where Muhammad began his campaign to establish Islam.

“Protonico had a very small crop and Medina Spirit was the only one of his progeny at the sale,” Young said. “He had worked three-eighths in 33 flat which was decent time, but he had a nice rhythm and a stride like a route horse. Mr. Zedan asked what I thought and I said, 'Buy him.'

“We did the barn check, did the vet check with my doctor, Pug Hart, everything was in order and we bought him for $35,000, which is 2.5 percent of what we paid for Princess Noor (now retired due to a soft tissue injury after a brief but sensational racing career for Bob Baffert).

“Medina Spirit went to Baffert's assistant Mike Marlow at Los Alamitos, and Mike is brutally honest, and he has to be because he's preparing these horses for Baffert.

“Mike said the horse kept surprising him because he was outworking more expensive and better-bred horses and definitely holding his own.

“They brought him to Santa Anita, Bob worked him out of the gate with Life Is Good a couple of times, and he got beat as expected, but he didn't get disgraced, and I kind of thought to myself, this might make a man out of him. After that, Bob worked him with a couple other horses and he handled them, didn't get discouraged or anything.

“When he ran at Los Alamitos (winning his debut race by three lengths at 5 ½ furlongs last Dec. 11), we thought he'd be even-money and he was 3-1. He won pretty easy, but his second (by three-quarters of a length behind Life Is Good) in the Sham at one mile is what really opened our eyes as to how good he was.

“He was stretching out after one 5 ½ furlong race with one five-eighths work in between at 1:02 to go a mile against Life Is Good, and he ran his butt off. Whether he would have passed him or not is open to debate, but you can't deny he did run unbelievably considering he didn't have a whole lot of preparation for the race.

“We didn't want him in front (in the Lewis). When they hung a 46 and three (46.61 for a half mile), I thought he was finished, because 46 and three on that track was like 45 and change.

“He was about a length in front from the one hole in the Sham with a really easy run to the turn. In the Lewis, he broke half a step slow and Abel (Cedillo) kind of punched him a little and he was gone. He wasn't a runoff, but he definitely had his mind on running.

“When they went 46 and three, I didn't think we had much chance, and when the two horses (late-running Roman Centurian, second by a neck, and Hot Rod Charlie, a nose further back in third) came to him at the eighth pole, I didn't think we had much chance, either.

“But the horse obviously has a lot of fight in him. He showed an amazing amount of heart. He had every right the next day to be lying down in his stall and sleeping the way he ran, but he wasn't.

“Whether we'll go one start or two starts before the Kentucky Derby, we'll figure that out. I'd prefer to have him running at a horse like he did in the Sham as opposed how he ran in the Lewis, but that's how the race came up. Still, they weren't even passing him after the wire, either, and the two horses behind him are OK.

“Roman Centurian can definitely make some noise down the road.”

That might be true, but he won't be any bargain.

He cost $550,000.

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Dream Shake Crushes Santa Anita Maiden Field; Highly Touted Bezos Seventh

With most all of the pari-mutuel attention focused on Bob Baffert's first-time starter Bezos, trainer Peter Eurton's longshot Dream Shake stole the show on Big Game Sunday at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., as he powered to the lead turning for home en route to an emphatic 4 ¾-length win that could serve as an onramp to the 2021 Derby Trail. A 3-year-old first time starter by Twirling Candy, Dream Shake got 6 ½ furlongs geared down under Joel Rosario in 1:17.34.

“The things that he did in in his first half miles (works) were quite impressive, but we never (had) really tested him, we've always worked him against mediocrity most of the time and he's done that pretty easily, so we were all optimistic about him, but you really don't know until you put 'em in the gate against the quality (competition) that we had today,” said Eurton.

So, does this win against a highly regarded field of sophomores that also included Mr. Impossible, who was second in his debut versus Saturday's Grade 2 San Vicente winner Concert Tour suggest Dream Shake could be headed to the Derby Trail?

“Against a field of this stature today, I would've been happy with anything fourth and above,” he said. “Now that he's done this, it's just a question of how he comes back. I think anything further, seven furlongs to a mile, would be very good. We'll just try to enjoy this for now, but trust me, we'll probably be looking for a race before the evening has ended.

“He's such a smart horse. At the beginning he was a little bit green, he wouldn't run inside, so we put blinkers on him. As soon as he started becoming aware of things, he did everything pretty handily.”

Out of the Street Cry mare Even Song, Dream Shake sold for $75,000 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s April 2020 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. Dismissed at 20-1 among a field of nine sophomores, Dream Shake paid $42.00, $13.40 and $6.80.

Owned by Exline-Border Racing, LLC, SAF Racing and Richard Hausman, Dream Shake banked $36,600 for today's win.

Trained by Mike Puype and ridden by Jose Valdivia, Jr., Harbored Memories was attentive to the pace, trading early punches with Bezos and Mr. Impossible. In his second start and first on dirt, Harbored Memories was off at 13-1 and paid $10.20 and $6.20 while finishing 3 ¼ lengths in front of Mr. Impossible.

Ridden by Umberto Rispoli for Simon Callaghan, Mr. Impossible had a half length lead after the first half mile and was clearly third best on the day. The second choice at 7-2, he paid $3.40 to show.

Bezos, who was heavily favored with Mike Smith at 3-5 and who has generated a good deal of hype in Kentucky Derby future wagering, broke alertly from his number five post and appeared to a have perfect trip but was done at the top of the lane, finishing seventh.

Fractions on the race were 23.40, 46.19 and 1:10.99.

Racing will resume with a four-day week on Friday. First post time for an eight-race card is at 12:30 p.m.

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Blinkers, Added Distance Making The Difference For Withers Winner Risk Taking

Klaravich Stables' Risk Taking earned a career-best 89 Beyer Speed Figure for his triumphant stakes debut in Saturday's Grade 3, $250,000 Withers at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.

Trained by Chad Brown, the son of Medaglia d'Oro broke well from post 5 and settled in sixth in between horses before inching his way closer to the front under little asking from Eric Cancel. Nearing the sixteenth pole, Risk Taking confronted and overtook pacesetter Capo Kane en route to a 3 ¾-length win as the post-time favorite. He earned 10 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby.

“He came out of the race good. He doesn't look too tired so I'm very happy with how he came out of the race,” said Dan Stupp, Brown's Belmont Park-based assistant.

Risk Taking arrived at the Withers off a third-out nine-furlong maiden special weight score where he sported blinkers for the first time to defeat next-out winners The Reds and Unbridled Honor, both of whom also broke their maidens at two turns.

Stupp said blinkers and added distance have benefitted Risk Taking.

“He's always been a forward training horse in the morning, but the blinkers and the added distance were beneficial,” Stupp said. “The blinkers helped him focus a bit more. It really brought out what we saw in the morning. That combination has certainly worked well for him.”

Following the Withers, Brown said Risk Taking would likely target the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino on April 3 at the Big A. The nine-furlong Wood Memorial is the final local prep for the Grade 1, Kentucky Derby and awards the top-four finishers qualifying points according to a 100-40-20-10 scale.

Bred in Kentucky by G. Watts Humphrey, Jr., Risk Taking was purchased for $240,000 from the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and is out of the Distorted Humor mare Run a Risk, who was twice stakes-placed on grass. He comes from the same extended family as Grade 1-winner and champion producing sire Seeking the Gold.

Runner-up Overtook Handles Two Turns
The Todd Pletcher-trained Overtook rallied from last-of-9 to finish second in Saturday's Grade 3 Withers, earning a career-best 83 Beyer.

“He came out of the race in good shape and ate up last night. His energy level looks good walking around, so I was happy with his effort,” said Pletcher assistant Byron Hughes.

Owned by Repole Stable, St. Elias Stable, Michael Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier and Derrick Smith, Overtook showed a strong closing kick under Manny Franco in the stretch run in pursuit of the victorious Risk Taking.

“That seems to be how he wants to run,” Hughes said. “Manny did a good job of getting him to settle down the backside and got a good run at him. He seems to be steadily improving and getting sharper. That was a big jump up from his maiden win. I don't know what the next step is but two turns looks like what he wants to do.”

Bred in Kentucky by Hill 'n' Dale Farm and Phillip J. Steinberg, Overtook is by dual Horse of the Year and champion producing sire Curlin and out of the Grade 1-winning A.P. Indy mare Got Lucky, making him a direct descendant of La Troienne. He was purchased for $1 million from the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Capo Kane May Shorten Up Next Out In Gotham
Bing Cherry Racing and Leonard Liberto's Capo Kane came out of his third-place effort in the Withers in good order, trainer Harold Wyner said Sunday morning. The veteran conditioner said the Street Sense colt could cut back in distance next out in the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham going a one-turn mile on March 6 at Aqueduct.

The Withers, offering 10-4-2-1 qualifying points to the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby, marked Capo Kane's first start at nine furlongs after posting two wins and a runner-up finish between seven furlongs and a mile and 70 yards through his first three starts.

Under jockey Dylan Davis, Capo Kane led the nine-horse Withers field through the first mile before tiring in the stretch. Capo Kane still pressed on, earning a pair of qualifying points after finishing behind Overtook and winner Risk Taking.

After earning an 81 Beyer for his first start at two turns, Capo Kane will likely be shortened up in the Gotham, which offers 50-20-10-5 qualifying points to the first Saturday in May.

“He came out of it good and ate up his dinner last night and seems fine this morning,” Wyner said. “The track wasn't speed-favoring, that's for sure and it caught up to him in the last sixteenth of a mile. We're going to point him towards the Gotham.”

Capo Kane ran second on debut in October at Parx going seven furlongs and capped his juvenile year with a maiden-breaking 4 1/2-length score on November 25 at the same track stretched out to a mile and 70 yards.

On New Year's Day, Capo Kane won his first stakes start – and sophomore bow – in gate-to-wire dominance, besting a five-horse Jerome field by 6 1/4 lengths at one mile. That win, which earned a personal-best 84 Beyer, coupled with Saturday gives Capo Kane 12 total qualifying points; tied for sixth-most on the leaderboard with Jackie's Warrior.

“I just think he's learning every race and has talent and natural speed,” Wyner said. “He's just training nicely and moving forward from each race.”

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