Turf Sprint | Horse Racing Free Tips

Michelle Lovell ‘Just Might’ Take Her Shot In Dubai

After crossing the finish line first in the Kenner Stakes at the Fair Grounds last weekend, Just Might's trainer Michelle Lovell is considering shipping him to Dubai for the $1.5 million Al Quoz Sprint on the March 26 Dubai World Cup undercard.

Impressively taking over early and winning the turf sprint by 2 ¾ lengths geared down late, Just Might was disqualified and placed 8th after the stewards ruled his move to the rail as impeding a foe's ability to get out of harm's way. Winning or finishing 1st in 7 out of his last 8 starts, his lone miss came in the Phoenix (G2) when he grabbed his quarter.

“People don't send me horses that could to go to Dubai,” Lovell said. “I had to raise one, which is crazy. I got to make every call in this horse's career and it makes me feel good that we got this far.

“Yeah, Dubai,” Lovell mused and spoke to Just Might in his stall. “It's a big step, Pappa. I think they have to give an official invite, too–they've asked me a few times to nominate. I think they want me to nominate.”

“It's a straight six furlongs,” Lovell continued. “We have nowhere to practice, but you know he probably will be okay. He runs his turns pretty good and he does make his little move right there sometimes. But he leans out in the turns so maybe he will be a little better going in a straight line. He leans out in every race just because he is going pretty fast and the turns on the turf are just sharper. He just runs.”

“He has really matured a lot this past year,” Lovell said. “I think one of his best races maturing in his brain as a race horse, not just raw talent but figuring it out, was when he ran and beat Johnny Ortiz' horse, Mucho, at Colonial. It was on the dirt which was a little scary for me, six furlongs which was stretching him out more. He actually dug in and won that race. And he lost his shoe somewhere in the race, too. He never took a bad step, he never tore his foot up but he did run the race with his left shoe off. And he dug in really hard–that day he grew up, really fighting that nice horse that Johnny has. And he broke the track record, which they don't really say a new track record because they didn't run a lot of races on the dirt there. He ran a 1:07 and change.”

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Gear Jockey Delivers Course-Record Performance In Kentucky Downs’ Turf Sprint

On Calumet Saturday at Kentucky Downs, the farm's homebred Gear Jockey delivered a timely performance to triumph in the Grade 3 FanDuel Turf Sprint. Crossing the wire 2 1/2 lengths the best at odds of 5-1, Gear Jockey lowered the track record for six furlongs by over a second: his final time was 1:07.90 over the firm turf. Jose Lezcano piloted the Rusty Arnold trainee to victory.

The 4-year-old son of Twirling Candy earned the first graded stakes victory of his career in the Turf Sprint, as well as an expenses-paid berth to the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar in November.

Third by a length in the 2019 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf as a maiden, Gear Jockey has continued to improve with age. The colt broke his maiden in January of 2021, and hadn't run worse than fourth in seven starts this year as he entered the starting gate at Kentucky Downs. Most recently, Gear Jockey ran third after a poor start in the G3 Troy Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 6.

Coming from well off the pace that day, Gear Jockey was much closer to the pace in this pace-less edition of the Turf Sprint. Bombard grabbed the lead at the start, and Lezcano kept Gear Jockey right on his heels through fractions of :22.38 and :45.14. Rounding the far turn Gear Jockey drew even with the frontrunner, and Lezcano sent him up the hill to the wire an easy winner by 2 1/2 lengths.

Diamond Oops, also up close early, made up ground in the lane to out-finish Bombard by a nose for the place. Troy Stakes winner Fast Boat finished another head back in fourth. Race-favorite Got Stormy, the filly taking on the males, finished sixth, beaten 3 1/4 lengths.

Bred in Kentucky by owner Brad Kelley's Calumet Farm, Gear Jockey is out of the winning Tapit mare Switching Gears, from the family of Grade 1 winner Stroll. Calumet purchased the mare with Gear Jockey in utero for $20,000 at the 2017 Keeneland January sale. With a record of four wins, two seconds, and five fifths from 15 career starts, Gear Jockey has earned a total of $902,875.

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‘We’ve Never Backed Down From A Challenge’: Got Stormy To Face Males Again In Kentucky Downs’ Turf Sprint

Got Stormy, fresh off her second triumph in three years in Saratoga's Grade 1 Fourstardave against males, is returning to Kentucky Downs for her next start on Sept. 11. But in a twist, Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse doesn't plan to run the 6-year-old mare in The Mint Ladies Sprint that she won last year but back against the boys in the $1 million FanDuel Turf Sprint.

Both races are part of Kentucky Downs' blockbluster Sept. 11 card featuring five graded stakes.

The six-furlong FanDuel Turf Sprint (G3), part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series, offers $400,000 more in purse money than the $600,000 Ladies Sprint (G3) at 6 1/2 furlongs. The FanDuel winner also receives an automatic, fees-paid berth in the $1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint on Nov. 6 at Del Mar. But that doesn't seem the overarching motivation for taking the tougher route.

“Obviously, she's not afraid of colts,” Casse said Tuesday evening. “I really don't think it matters if she runs 6 or 6 1/2 furlongs. We've never backed down from a challenge.” And, too, he said, “It is a much bigger purse.”

But more than the money, the owners and Casse welcome an opportunity to add to the legacy of Got Stormy, who already was the only female to win the Fourstardave, that coming for the first time in 2019. No filly or mare has won Kentucky Downs' Turf Sprint, first run in 1998.

“Doing things that others haven't done,” Casse said. “I think we're wanting to prove that she is one of the elite turf mares of this century. Maybe with her Fourstardave, another (win against males) might get her into the Hall of Fame.”

Got Stormy has won 12 of 30 starts, with five seconds and three thirds, and $2,398,403 in purse earnings. In addition to her Fourstardave victories, Got Stormy has finished second four times against males in Grade 1 stakes in New York, California and Canada.

Casse said Got Stormy will target the $2 million Breeders' Cup Mile on turf, a race for which she already received a “Win And You're In” spot from the Fourstardave victory. Got Stormy finished second in the 2019 Breeders' Cup Mile at Santa Anita.

The only reason Casse ran her in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint last year at Keeneland was his belief that the mare isn't as effective at a mile if the turf is not firm, which can often be the case in Kentucky in the fall. In preparation for shortening up, he ran Got Stormy in last year's Ladies Sprint at Kentucky Downs, her first time racing less than 7 1/2 furlongs since her first start in 2017. She won by 3 1/4 lengths over soft turf.

Soft turf should not be a factor back in California. Got Stormy also is 1-for-1 at Del Mar, winning the Grade 1 Matriarch.

Spendthrift Farm paid $2.75 million for Got Stormy at Fasig-Tipton's November sale and campaigns the mare with My Racehorse Stable, which sells micro-shares in stakes-quality horses to allow thousands of people to experience participating at the top end of the game. Gary Barber was her previous owner.

Got Stormy started her 2021 season with victory in Gulfstream Park's Grade 3 Honey Fox. However, she came into the Fourstardave off a pair of fifth-place finishes at Churchill Downs and Belmont Park. Casse and jockey Tyler Gaffalione were not among those assuming the mare finally lost a step to age.

“Just kind of the way she trained,” Casse said of his confidence. “Then Tyler made me feel really good, too, because he breezed her about two weeks out. He came back with the biggest smile and said, 'She's back.' After I saddled her Saturday and she was walking around in the paddock, I looked at (Spendthrift general manager) Ned Toffey and said, 'They better be tied on. Because she's got her game face on today.'”

Off at 12-1 odds, Got Stormy beat Set Piece by 1 1/2 lengths.

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Kentucky Downs: Three Million-Dollar Races Top 2021’s $10 Million Stakes Schedule

For the first time in its 31-year history, Kentucky Downs is offering three $1 million races during its six-date 2021 meet. Added to the track's signature Grade 2 Calumet Turf Cup, whose purse was first raised to seven figures in 2019, Kentucky Downs' $1 million trio also will feature the Grade 3 Turf Sprint and Grade 3 WinStar Mint Million.

Kentucky Downs will stage 16 stakes worth a track-record total of $10 million, including $4.85 million in purse supplements for registered Kentucky-bred horses. The all-grass meet runs Sept. 5, 6, 8, 9, 11 and 12 over Kentucky Downs' undulating, kidney-shaped 1 5/16-mile race course.

The WinStar Mint Million, formerly the Tourist Mile, presently stands as the United States' second-richest eight-furlong grass stakes behind only the $2 million Breeders' Cup Mile (G1). The race was worth $750,000 last year, while the six-furlong Turf Sprint was $700,000.

Kentucky Downs for the first time has a pair of Grade 2 stakes in the Calumet Turf Cup for older horses at 1 1/2 miles and the Franklin-Simpson for 3-year-old sprinters, now worth $600,000.

“Purses are the economic engine of the racing industry, and Kentucky Downs is proud to be a leader helping Kentucky stamp itself as the premier racing circuit in America,” said Ron Winchell, Kentucky Downs' co-owner and managing partner with Marc Falcone. “We're only six days, but winning one of our stakes – or even one of our overnight races – can make the entire year for an owner. Many horsemen tell us that money they earn at our meet gets promptly reinvested in the industry the next week at Keeneland's September Yearling sale. Such investment impacts countless small businesses that are part of Kentucky's equine agribusiness.”

A total of nine Kentucky Downs stakes received purse hikes. That includes the Ladies Turf (Grade 3) jumping from $500,000 to $750,000. Each of Kentucky Downs' six graded stakes is worth at least $600,000, with the Grade 3 Ladies Sprint joining the Franklin-Simpson in getting $100,000 increases to reach $600,000. The Music City for 3-year-old fillies and Untapable for 2-year-old fillies, worth $400,000 in their inaugural runnings last year, now enjoy $500,000 purses.

The Kentucky Downs' stakes purses reflect contributions of up to 50 percent from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund (KTDF) for horses born in and sired by stallions in the Commonwealth. That includes the vast majority of the horses racing in Kentucky and easily the largest group running in America. The 2021 meet's Kentucky-bred stakes supplements were approved Tuesday by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission's KTDF Advisory Committee.

“The KTDF Advisory Committee aspires to be good stewards of the funds entrusted to their approval and direction,” said Bill Landes, the long-time chair of the KTDF committee and general manager of Oldham County's Hermitage Farm. “As such we applaud Kentucky Downs proposed KTDF supplement to their 2021 stakes, allowance and maiden race program. Their program enhances the value of Kentucky-bred racehorses not only at the Kentucky Downs meet but also enhances the value of Kentucky-bred yearlings that will sell in central Kentucky following their meet.”

Horses that aren't registered Kentucky-breds still can compete in some of the most lucrative stakes in North America and beyond. For instance, the $1 million races each reflect a base purse of $550,000 for which all horses run.

The increases were possible because the Kentucky General Assembly in February passed legislation that for the first time defined pari-mutuel wagering, including Historical Horse Racing's innovative technology that allows guests to bet on previously run races in an electronic game format.

“We can't thank the Kentucky Legislature enough,” Falcone said. “We are able to offer among the highest purses in the world because they understood the importance of Historical Horse Racing and passed legislation that ensures a bright future for live horse racing and the Commonwealth's signature industry. The lawmakers' leadership and members of both parties in both chambers saw the big picture and how higher purses lead to a lot of good things happening. That includes increased jobs, economic development, enhanced tourism opportunities and more dollars to the General Fund that ultimately benefit all Kentuckians.”

The lowest stakes purse Kentucky Downs will have is $400,000 each for the Tapit Stakes and the One Dreamer for fillies and mares, both restricted for horses that have not previously won a stakes in 2021. Those races received $100,000 increases.

The condition book for Kentucky Downs' 2021 meet will be available later this month.

Kentucky Downs 2021 stakes schedule

(all stakes include KTDF* purse supplements)
All races on turf

Sunday, Sept. 5 — $500,000 Dueling Grounds Oaks, 3-year-old fillies, 1 5/16 miles; $750,000 Gun Runner Dueling Grounds Derby, 3-year-olds, 1 5/16 miles.

Monday, Sept. 6 — $500,000 Juvenile Fillies, 2-year-old fillies, mile; $500,000 Juvenile, 2-year-olds, mile; $1 million WinStar Farm Mint Million Mile (G3), 3-year-olds & up, mile.

Wednesday, Sept. 8 — $400,000 Tapit Stakes, 3-year-olds & up non-winners of a stakes in 2021, mile and 70 yards.

Thursday, Sept. 9 — $500,000 Juvenile Sprint, 2-year-olds, 6 1/2 furlongs; $400,000 One Dreamer, fillies & mares 3 years old & up non-winners of a stakes in 2021, mile and 70 yards.

Saturday, Sept. 11 — $1 million Calumet Turf Cup (G2), 3-year-olds & up, 1 1/2 miles; $600,000 Franklin-Simpson (G2), 3-year-olds, 6 1/2 furlongs; $600,000 Ladies Sprint (G3), fillies & mares 3yo & up, 6 1/2 furlongs; $750,000 Ladies Turf (G3), fillies & mares 3 years old & up, mile; $1 million Turf Sprint (G3), 3-year-olds & up, 6 furlongs.

Sunday, Sept. 12 — $500,000 Music City Stakes, 3-year-old fillies, 6 1/2 furlongs; $500,000 Ladies Marathon, fillies & mares 3 years old & up, 1 5/16 miles; $500,000 Untapable Stakes, 2-year-old fillies, 6 1/2 furlongs.

*Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund

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