Tag: Triple Crown

Woodford Racing, Lanes End Farm, Phipps Stable, Ken Langone and Edward J. Hudson, Jr.'s stakes-winner Perform posted his final breeze in preparation for the Grade 1, $1.5 million Preakness Stakes when covering a half-mile in 48.09 seconds over the Belmont Park main track on Sunday.

Trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, Perform worked just after the renovation break under partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the mid 60s, completing his exercise to the outside of his maiden workmate Weyhill Road.

McGaughey said the work was just what he hoped to see ahead of the colt's graded stakes debut.

“I was very pleased with the way he worked and they did exactly what I wanted,” said McGaughey. “I said to let them go in 25 and change [for the first quarter-mile] and let them finish up, and that's what they did. They galloped out good and I thought they were going along very easy.”

Perform steps up to the graded ranks off a determined victory in the nine-furlong Federico Tesio on April 15 at Laurel Park. Ridden by Feargal Lynch, who will return to ride in the Preakness, Perform stumbled at the break and rallied from as far as 10 lengths off the pace to roll home late and nail Ninetyprcentmaddie at the wire by a head in a final time of 1:52.18. The effort was awarded a career-best 85 Beyer Speed Figure.

“I think he grew up in that race,” said McGaughey. “I'm very pleased with the way he's doing and I'm excited about going down there to see what happens.”

The son of Good Magic began his career sprinting last year and debuted in a 5 1/2-furlong maiden on July 3 at Belmont where he posted a prominent runner-up effort to next-out stakes-winner Lost Ark. He made three of his next four outings at seven furlongs before graduating at sixth asking in a one-mile and 40-yard maiden at Tampa Bay Downs when making his first start around two turns.

McGaughey said maturity and getting around two turns has made the difference for the improving Perform.

“As a 2-year-old, he didn't really train that way,” said McGaughey. “I thought he was a sprinter and I ran him on 4th of July weekend where he ran second. I was a little bit disappointed in his races after that. But I think the sprint races helped get him to the long races.”

McGaughey said the extra half-furlong will benefit Perform, who was supplemented to the Preakness for a fee of $150,000.

“I don't think it will hurt him,” McGaughey said.

McGaughey recently celebrated graded success with Courtlandt Farms' General Jim, who earned a 100 Beyer for an impressive win under regular pilot Luis Saez in the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile on May 6 at Churchill Downs. The son of Into Mischief is now a perfect 2-for-2 since adding blinkers, including his first graded triumph with an off-the-pace trip in the Grade 3 Swale on February 4 at Gulfstream Park.

“He came back good and he's back up here at Belmont,” said McGaughey. “I couldn't be any more pleased with the way he's been running. I think the blinkers really helped, and in the Swale, I told Saez to sort of take him back and let him finish, and I think that helps him, too. He's kind of learning to run by horses instead of hanging on horses. He's going to learn, and when he does, it's going to be fun.”

McGaughey said he will now point General Jim to the Grade 1, $400,000 Woody Stephens presented by Mohegan Sun sprinting seven furlongs over Big Sandy on June 10.

The June 10 Belmont Stakes Day Card could also see the McGaughey-trained Dreams of Tomorrow contest the Grade 3, $200,000 Poker at one-mile on the turf after posting a tidy two-length victory in a third-level allowance Thursday at Belmont. The 6-year-old Speightstown bay made his second start of the year a winning one after pouncing from just off the pace under Manny Franco. The performance garnered a 94 Beyer.

“He came back great,” said McGaughey. “He went back to the track today and galloped a mile. I think everything is good with him. His talent has always been there, it just needs to come together. Watching him the other day, maybe a mile to a mile and a sixteenth is really what he wants to do. Manny rode him great and in the right position.”

McGaughey added that Grade 3 La Prevoyante-winner Personal Best is spending time at Fair Hill in light training and will target a return this summer at Saratoga Race Course with the Grade 2, $250,000 Glens Falls on August 3 as a potential landing spot. The daughter of Tapit was last seen finishing third in the Grade 3 Bewitch on April 28 at Keeneland.

The post McGaughey: Preakness Hopeful Perform ‘Grew Up’ In Federico Tesio appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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By Mike Kane

Even after Secretariat unleashed a jaw-dropping rush from last to the lead on the first turn of the 1973 Preakness (G1), jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. figured he could win the middle jewel of the Triple Crown with Sham.

Pincay was 26 on that third Saturday of May, in the midst of a fabulous career that carried him to the Hall of Fame just three years later. He was well aware of Secretariat's brilliance. Two weeks earlier, Secretariat and jockey Ron Turcotte had stormed past Sham in the stretch at Churchill Downs to win the Kentucky Derby (G1) by 2 ½ lengths.

Fifty years following Secretariat's epic stakes record-shattering sweep of the Triple Crown series, Pincay recalls being confident that Sham could upset the Meadow Stable star at Pimlico. Secretariat and Sham were the standouts in the 13-horse Kentucky Derby and had moved on to Baltimore. Our Native, third under jockey Don Brumfield, eight lengths behind Sham, was entered, too, a few days before the race. The Derby veterans comprised half of the Preakness field.

Since Secretariat had emphatically answered questions about whether a son of Bold Ruler could handle the 1 ¼ miles distance of the Derby, Pincay plotted a different strategy in the 1 3/16th miles Preakness. Rather than aggressively press the pace as he did in the Derby pursuing speedy Shecky Greene, Pincay planned a more tactical ride to have Sham better rested for Secretariat's expected run coming off the second turn.

“I thought probably that less distance would benefit my horse,” Pincay said. “That is what I went into the race thinking, that a shorter distance would be better.”

Pincay paused for a split second for emphasis. “Well, you saw what happened,” he said.

“Going to the first turn, I was just going to try to lay second or third and save as much as I could for the stretch,” Pincay said. “Secretariat moved prematurely in the first turn, really fast. When I saw that, I liked it even more, because you don't see horses do that. You don't see horses make a move like that in the first turn and last.

“So, I just said, 'well, I'm just gonna lay close to him and at the head of the stretch I'll get him.' At the head of the stretch, when I asked my horse, he responded. I could feel he was trying, but he just couldn't get to Secretariat. That's the type of horse he was, that he could do something like that in the first turn and still have enough to win the race. That was fantastic race for him.”

Brumfield, whose fine 35-year career earned him a place in the racing's Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. in 1996, has a vivid memory of how the Preakness unfolded.

“I remember going up there and going to the first turn I was laying right alongside Secretariat,” Brumfield, 84, said. “And Ronnie just moved his hands on him and he was gone. And that was the end of that. As far as catching him or anything, I didn't have any idea of doing that. I would have liked to, but he was just too much for everybody in the race.”

Our Native was bred by Dr. Edwin Thomas, who was a co-owner with Elizabeth Pritchard and trainer Bill Resseguet Jr. A closer, he did make his rally in the final few furlongs of the Preakness to secure third place. Remarkably, just like the Derby, the first three to the wire in the Preakness were Secretariat, Sham and Our Native, separated by the identical 2½ and eight lengths.

Pincay had reason to be optimistic about Sham's chances in Maryland. While the bay colt did not have the star power Secretariat earned as Horse of the Year as a 2-year-old, he had a very strong pedigree and a terrific race record. Like Secretariat, Sham's roots were at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Ky. Secretariat, a son of Claiborne's renowned stallion Bold Ruler, was born in Virginia at the Chenery family's Meadow Stable farm. Sham was a member of the first crop of the Claiborne stallion Pretense. The dams of both colts were sired by Claiborne's important late stallion Princequillo.

Sham started his career with trainer Woody Stephens in the colors of Claiborne Farm, but he was sold at Belmont Park in November 1972 at the dispersal of the racing stock following the death of Claiborne owner Arthur “Bull” Hancock. New York real estate developer Sigmund Sommer, the nation's leading owner in 1971 and 1972, purchased Sham, still a maiden with a third and two seconds, for $200,000 and turned him over to top trainer Frank “Pancho” Martin. The native of Cuba put blinkers on Sham and he promptly won by six lengths. Martin shifted the colt to California and on Jan. 1 in his first race under Pincay he won an allowance race by 15 lengths.

On March 31, Sham handled the favorite Linda's Chief by 2½ lengths in the Santa Anita Derby, equaling the nine-furlong stakes record of 1:47 set by 1965 Kentucky Derby winner Lucky Debonair. In an unorthodox move, Martin brought him back to New York for the Wood Memorial, where he was second by a head to Angle Light and four lengths in front of Angle Light's famous stablemate Secretariat. Pincay did not ride in the Wood because he had business commitments in California but was back up on Sham at Churchill Downs.

In the Derby, Pincay and Martin opted to try to take the race to Secretariat and challenge him to deliver in the stretch. Sham banged his head in the starting gate, losing two teeth. Despite that incident, he was never more than a few lengths behind Shecky Greene early. Pincay had Sham second by a length after six furlongs in :47 2/5 seconds. He and his colt had a half-length lead after a mile in 1:36 1/5, but Secretariat was looming.

Through the years, analysts have said that Sham couldn't withstand Secretariat's rally because Pincay had been too anxious to tackle Shecky Greene. Pincay disagrees.

“I tell you, I was going beside him, but I was going very easily,” he said. “My horse was doing it so easily, even though he was fighting there. I moved a little bit sooner because Shecky Greene with Larry Adams was trying to get out really bad. It didn't show in the movie that he was fighting him, but I saw him and he was really, really trying to hold him on the rail. I said, 'if he bolted, if he goes out, he's going to take me with him.' So, I kind of put pressure on him, to try to keep him inside.

“As soon as I kind of nudged my horse to go by him a little bit and keep him inside my horse just went on. He was doing it very easily, so I didn't feel like he was taking a lot from him. At the head of the stretch, when I asked him, he just responded again. He was really reaching out.”

In front with less than a quarter mile to go and feeling his colt running well under him, Pincay had reason to believe he was on his way to his first win in the Derby. The situation changed quickly.

“It surprised me when I saw Secretariat right beside me and he started going by me,” Pincay said. “I just couldn't believe it. As hard as my horse was trying, he was still going by me very easily.”

Secretariat and Turcotte went on and reached the wire in a spectacular 1:59 2/5, eclipsing Northern Dancer's record 2:00 set in 1964. Sham was next at 1:59 4/5

“You saw the time. These two horses both broke the track record,” Pincay said. “Only Secretariat was better.”

Though he was a loser at Churchill Downs, Pincay felt Sham had shown he had the ability to reverse the outcome if they met again.

“That's why going to Baltimore, I thought that if I could save a little bit for in the stretch, I could beat him,” Pincay said.

The public was eager for the third meeting of Secretariat and Sham, and the Preakness drew a record crowd of 61,657, a 26.5-percent increase over the record set the previous year. Secretariat drew Post 3 and was the 1-5 favorite. Sham started on the rail as the second choice at 3-1. Secretariat got away last, but Turcotte said that he sensed the pace was slow and let the chestnut run. The dynamic of the race changed in about a quarter of a mile. Instead of Secretariat pursuing Sham, as Pincay had hoped, Sham was doing the chasing.

“Once he made that move, I wanted to kind of just stay close to him,” Pincay said. “I let my horse run a little bit and he responded and I got right where I wanted to. The race was shaping up the way I thought it would. I placed my horse in a beautiful position that if I had enough, and he would've been a better horse, he would have gone by.”

Sham did make up a little ground between the quarter pole and the three-sixteenths pole, but Secretariat extended his advantage without any urging from Turcotte. There was a malfunction of the teletimer and his winning time was initially listed as 1:55, a second off the track record. Two days later, the stewards changed the time to 1:54 2/5, which the track clocker had on his stopwatch. Two other independent clockers, including the Daily Racing Form clocker Frenchy Schwartz, had the time as 1:53 2/5. The debate continued for decades until the state racing commission reviewed the video of the race in 2012 and made the winning time 1:53.

Pincay and Sham went on to the Belmont Stakes (G1) and once again tried to take the race to Secretariat, who had no problem with his rival. Secretariat won by a record 31 lengths in a time of 2:24 that is still the benchmark at Belmont Park. Prominent early, Sham ended up last in the Belmont, which was his 13th and final race. He was injured in training and retired with a record of 5-5-1.

“Sham could have been the best horse I ever rode, if he would've won more races,” Pincay said. “If we would have been traveling around the country and winning here and winning there I probably would've called him the best horse that I ever rode. But I couldn't call him that because I rode Affirmed, and Affirmed could do anything. Affirmed won in Hollywood Park, in Santa Anita, in New York. Every place. And carrying a lot of weight so he was very, very consistent. But when it comes to speed, and, I've said this before, if Affirmed had run in the Kentucky Derby that year he would have finished third. Definitely. That's how much I thought of Sham.”

Brumfield agrees with Pincay that Secretariat is the unquestioned standout of the horses he has competed against and seen in his lifetime.

“None better,” Brumfield said. “He was the best.”

The post Secretariat In The Preakness: ‘…And He Was Gone’; Jockeys Recall Chasing A Triple Crown Legend appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Gustavo Delgado and Gustavo Delgado Jr. arrived at historic Pimlico Race Course by car Sunday morning seconds after their Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Mage made the scene following an overnight van ride from Louisville, Ky.

The younger Delgado, assistant trainer to his father, recalls being in Baltimore “no more than three times before.”

The first time came four years ago when the Delgados had their first Preakness (G1) starter in Bodexpress. Unfortunately, the Florida Derby (G1) runner-up reared at the start and unseated Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez. The good news is that Bodexpress galloped around the track safely, didn't impede anyone in the race and went on to become a Grade 1 winner the next year in Churchill Downs' Clark to cap a career with just shy of $700,000 in earnings.

The Delgados' fortunes fared far better last year, when Delgado Jr. returned to Baltimore not to run a horse but to go to Fasig-Tipton's Midlantic 2-year-old in training sale in nearby Timonium at the Maryland State Fairgrounds. It was his first time attending that sale, he said.

Three days after Early Voting won the Preakness, the colt Delgado Jr. and partner and bloodstock agent Ramiro Restrepo liked the best came into the sales ring. By then it was so late that Delgado Jr. already was at the airport to catch a flight when bidding began on Hip No. 592, a chestnut son of Good Magic out of the Big Brown mare Puca. They'd agreed upon a limit of $200,000, with Restrepo giving Delgado the play-by-play over their cell phones. The $200,000 bid came and was passed.

“I liked the horse a lot and felt we shouldn't let him go,” Delgado Jr. reflected recently. “I had a feeling, you might say, and just followed my intuition. I had to catch a plane back to Lexington. I was at the airport. Boarding time had already passed, and I didn't want to get on the plane yet. So, I was just waiting for the horse. I was on the phone and kept telling him, 'Go ahead! Go ahead! Go ahead! Don't let him go!' Then he said, 'We got him.' Then it was 'Where do we find the money?' We knew we had so little time to find a partner.”

They had purchased the colt for $290,000, which Delgado Jr. said was just about as high as they could afford to go. It was actually higher than they could afford. So Restrepo brought in two other groups to make it four ownership entities at 25 percent apiece. The others are Miami real estate investor Sam Herzberg and the CMNWLTH micro-shares partnership founded by Chase Chamberlin and Brian Doxtator.

“Thank goodness Sam Herzberg and CMNWLTH came along,” Delgado Jr. said. “That's thanks to Ramiro, because he's the one who contacted them and had the good relationships with them prior to the sale.”

Bodexpress stamped his place in Preakness history, too, albeit the type trainers want to avoid. A loose horse might delight the crowd when it keeps running with its rivals that still have jockeys on their back, but it is a horrifying experience for horsemen, for fear the horse might get hurt or somehow alter the outcome of the race.

“With Bode, he got famous,” Delgado Jr. said with a wry smile. “Last year we attended the sale, looking for the right horse. I didn't go to the track, though. Let's see how this year goes. We're trying to change our luck at the track.”

Bodexpress had yet to win a race when he finished second behind Maximum Security in the Florida Derby. He lost all chance in the Kentucky Derby when caught up in the melee triggered when Florida Derby winner Maximum Security veered out, interfering with War of Will. Maximum Security was disqualified, promoting 65-1 runner-up Country House into the victory, while War of Will moved up to seventh and Bodexpress to 13th. War of Will in his next start won the Preakness, while Bodexpress ran into more misfortunate.

“He was doing so well for that race,” Delgado Jr. said of Bodexpress. “We had the feeling he could have run very well. Bode was special in his character; most people probably would have gelded him, but we wanted to stick with horsemanship, give him time, being patient, understanding that's his way and eventually he would mature. Which he did.”

Delgado Jr. said Mage's character is completely different. “Both talented, though,” he said. “Both fast.”

Mage arrived at Pimlico at 6 a.m. Sunday following an 11-hour trip from Churchill Downs, where the son of Good Magic has been stabled since winning the Derby.

The Delgados – with the elder Delgado driving – followed behind their Derby winner's van the entire way.

Delgado Jr. said two stops were made.

“We stopped for gas and we stopped to check (Mage's) water,” Delgado Jr. said. “We left when we did because we wanted to beat traffic. It was a good, smooth trip. He is a good traveler.”

Once Mage got to Pimlico, he walked after exiting the van and laid down in his new stall for a bit. By 8:30, he was up and alert, checking out his new surroundings. The plan is for Mage to make his first appearance on the track early Monday morning.

Blazing Sevens Arrives At Pimlico Following 'Pretty Easy Ship'

Rodeo Creek Stables LLC's Blazing Sevens was led off a Sallee Horse Van at 9:20 Sunday morning at Pimlico to prepare the Preakness. The son of Good Magic left trainer Chad Brown's Belmont Park base at 5 a.m.

“Good trip, pretty easy ship,” said Jose Hernandez, Brown's assistant, who met Blazing Sevens at Pimlico. “I flew down and got here almost at the same time as the van. I was parking the car and the van was coming right behind.”

Blazing Sevens last ran in the April 8 Blue Grass (G1) at Keeneland, finishing third. Even though he had enough points to run in the Kentucky Derby, Brown opted to skip that race and point to the Preakness.

Brown used the same tactics to win the Preakness last year with Early Voting and in 2017 with Cloud Computing.

Blazing Sevens has two wins in six career starts. He is one of three offspring of Good Magic being pointed to the Preakness. The other two are Kentucky Derby winner Mage and Perform, who won the Federico Tesio at Laurel on April 15. The Tesio is a win-and-in Preakness prep.

Hernandez said that Blazing Sevens will get his first look at Pimlico on Monday when he heads to the track just after 8:30 a.m. to jog.

Brown is expected to arrive at Pimlico Thursday or Friday.

National Treasure Walks On First Morning At Pimlico

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert's Preakness candidate National Treasure arrived at Pimlico Saturday evening and walked the shedrow in the stakes barn Sunday morning. The son of Quality Road is expected to visit the track Monday morning.

National Treasure and three other Baffert horses headed to stakes on Preakness Weekend were flown from California to Baltimore Saturday. All four worked for Baffert Friday at Santa Anita Park. Accompanying National Treasure were Michael Lund Peterson's unbeaten filly Faiza, who is the headliner in Friday's Black-Eyed Susan (G2) on Friday and Havnameltdown for the Chick Lang (G3) and Arabian Lion for the Sir Barton on Saturday's Preakness program.

Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez will ride National Treasure in the Preakness. Velazquez, the leading money-earning jockey in North American racing history, has three wins in the Kentucky Derby and two on the Belmont Stakes (G1) but he is winless in 12 starts in the Baltimore classic. He has a record of 0-3-1 in the Preakness. His most recent runner-up finish was on the Baffert-trained Kentucky Derby winner Authentic in 2019.

Baffert is tied with 19th century trainer R. Wyndham Walden with a record seven victories. His most recent victory was in 2018 with Triple Crown winner Justify.

National Treasure has one win in five career start but has three graded-stakes placings. In his most recent start, he was fourth in the Santa Anita Derby (G1).

Red Route One Breezes; Disarm Gallops At Churchill

Red Route One had his final major training move for the Preakness Sunday morning, breezing at Churchill Downs in :49.20 in trainer Steve Asmussen's well-established pattern of an easy half-mile the week of a race.

Red Route One earned his first stakes victory in his last start, taking Oaklawn Park's $200,000 Bath House Row to earn a fees-paid berth in the Preakness. Going out when the track opened at 5:30 a.m., Red Route One avoided the rain and thunder that swept through soon afterward.

His stablemate, Kentucky Derby fourth-place finisher Disarm, galloped as rain started to fall. He'll have his own “easy half” Monday morning. The horses are scheduled to van to Baltimore Tuesday. Both colts are sons of 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner and owned by breeder Ron Winchell, the co-owner of Gun Runner with Three Chimneys Farm.

Perform Breezes Half Mile At Belmont Park

Westford Racing LLC and Lanes End Farm, Phipps Stables, Ken Langone and Edwin Hudson Jr.'s Perform prepared for a planned start in the Preakness with a half-mile breeze Sunday morning at Belmont Park.

The Shug McGaughey-trained colt was timed in :48.08 seconds, the second-fastest clocking of 42 workouts at the distance.

The son of Good Magic, who captured the Federico Tesio at Laurel last time out, has been supplemented to the Triple Crown for a $150,000 fee.

Perform is scheduled to ship to Pimlico Tuesday.

First Mission Walks Following Saturday's Breeze

First Mission, winner of Keeneland's Stonestreet Lexington (G3) in his last start, had a walk day Sunday after working a bullet five-eighths of a mile in :59.20 Saturday morning in company. Jorje Abrego, trainer Brad Cox's top assistant at Churchill Downs, reported via text that First Mission came out of the work in good order.

First Mission and Cox's other horses headed to Preakness Weekend stakes will train Monday morning and then van to Pimlico.

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