Tag: Tyler Gaffalione

Keeneland Features Ashland Showdown As Spring Meet Opens Friday

Kentucky Senator Henry Clay might be considered one of the premier American politicians pre-Lincoln, but what is not up for debate was his fervent commitment to breeding equine athletes and attending the races.

You cannot actually visit his home–Ashland–because the structure that stands on the Clay Estate just south of downtown Lexington is not original to “The Great Compromiser” and his time. However, interpretations of Clay-related objects enliven the tour.

Ashland in name was imported as a stakes race when Keeneland opened in 1936. Some familiar female runners who graced the winner's circle at the old Keene Farm include Myrtlewood, Bewitch and Doubledogdare, and more recent fillies like Inside Information, Take Charge Lady and a personal favorite of mine, Bushfire.

As Keeneland kicks off racing on Friday, the GI Central Bank Ashland S. boasts a showdown with 3-year-old fillies looking to deposit 100 points into their Kentucky Oaks account.

For starters, the top three finishers from the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies are present, including winner Just F Y I (Justify). The champion 2-year-old filly almost made the races this spring to kick start her 2024, but trainer Bill Mott was forced to wait until Keeneland.

Also Ashland bound is Jody's Pride (American Pharoah), who was second to Just F Y I at Santa Anita, and last month won the Busher S. at Aqueduct. She will be joined by the third-place finisher from the Juvenile Fillies, Candied (Candy Ride {Arg}), who also has not made a start this year for trainer Todd Pletcher. The filly returns to the site of her win in the GI Alcibiades S. last fall.

Impel | Coady Photography

In an effort to put her own stamp on an Oaks run, 'TDN Rising Star' Impel (Quality Road) will look to keep her record unblemished. Under Brad Cox's tutelage, the Juddmonte homebred  broke her maiden at Fair Grounds Jan. 1 and then posted an 8 1/2-length score and a 91-Beyer against optional claimers at Oaklawn Mar. 3.

Finally, Candied's stablemate Leslie's Rose (Into Mischief) justifiably earned her 'TDN Rising Star' when she broke her maiden by 9 1/4 lengths at Aqueduct last fall before returning to finish third in the GII Davona Dale S. at Gulfstream Park Mar. 2. Halina's Forte (Mitole) will seek to raise her game for Rigney Racing, as she attempts to capitalize on her first black-type win in the Ruthless S. at the 'Big A' Feb. 17.

Keeneland's Friday slate includes the GIII Transylvania S., which draws 12, plus a pair of also-eligibles. The field for the 3-year-old turf route includes Musical Act (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), the first of several overseas arrivals in Kentucky for Godolphin and trainer Charlie Appleby.

With a packed stakes schedule, plus everything from the baby races to lower daily double takeout, these are just some of the storylines on tap at Keeneland. As for past April meet leaders, Jockey Tyler Gaffalione recorded 21 victories to secure his second consecutive spring meet riding title in 2023, while last year conditioner Wesley Ward earned his sixth consecutive training honor and ninth total.

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American Pharoah’s Sweet Rebecca Overcomes Trouble To Become Newest ‘TDN Rising Star’

SWEET REBECCA (American Pharoah–Sweet N Discreet, by Discreet Cat) made it harder than it needed to be but still got the job done on debut Sunday at Gulfstream to become the newest 'TDN Rising Star'. After missing the break and rushing up rank through the opening quarter, she circled the field around the far turn and won going away under Tyler Gaffalione. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0.

O-Michael J. Ryan and Mt. Brilliant Farm LLC; B-Mt Brilliant Farm & Ranch, LLC; T-Brendan P. Walsh. Sales History: $250,000 ylg '22 KEESEP.

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Klaravich’s Domestic Product Wins Wild Tampa Bay Derby

In a GIII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby delayed more than 30 minutes due to a tote issue plaguing much of the East Coast, Klaravich Stables homebred DOMESTIC PRODUCT (c, 3, Practical Joke–Goods and Services, by Paynter) won in a wild scramble at the finish. Recent GIII Sam F. Davis S. winner No More Time (Not This Time) was nosed out for the win and held second over recent Swale S. third Grand Mo the First (Uncle Mo), while pacesetter Good Money (Good Magic) just missed the board. The final time for the 8 1/2 furlongs was 1:45.47 in a race where the top five finishers all earned qualifying points on a scale of 50-25-15-10-5 for the Road to the Kentucky Derby.

As the Tampa Bay Derby runners circled for about 30 minutes in the saddling paddock prior to the race as the extent of the tote outage became apparent, officials at Tampa Bay Downs finally opted to run the Kentucky Derby points race as a non-wagering event. The final race on the card, scheduled to be run after the Tampa Bay Derby, was canceled altogether.

Most recently the runner-up to Hades (Awesome Slew) in the GIII Holy Bull S. Feb. 3, Domestic Product broke outward at the Tampa Bay Derby start, bumped slightly, and was unbothered as jockey Tyler Gaffalione eased into a covered-up position midpack while keeping his mount under a strong hold. Domestic Product's stablemate, fellow Chad Brown trainee Good Money, showed the way through tepid :25.25 and :51.14 early fractions as Gaffalione continued to ask Domestic Product to wait. Tipped wide off the turn, the winner joined a calvary charge bearing down on Good Money with the photo showing mere inches between Domestic Product and No More Time, as Grand Mo the First and Good Money also made noise as part of the final fray.

It was the first Tampa Bay Derby win for both Brown and Gaffalione, as well as for Klaravich Stables. Inaugurated in 1981 with a current purse of $400,000, the Tampa Bay Derby has featured one victor to date (Street Sense, 2007) who went on to win the roses on the first Saturday in May in Louisville.

Prior to his Holy Bull second last month, Domestic Product–an open-daylight winner in a nine-furlong maiden special weight Oct. 27 at the Belmont at Aqueduct meet–finished an unheralded seventh in the GII Remsen S. Dec. 2. The Remsen is proving to be a key race, as the winner, Dornoch (Good Magic), won last week's GII Fountain of Youth S.; the runner-up, 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner), won the Feb. 17 GII Risen Star S.; and the third-place finisher, Drum Roll Please (Hard Spun), won the Jerome S. in his last start in January. Domestic Product's first start since, that runner-up trip in the Holy Bull, involved a bumpy start and a six-wide bid in which he outslugged Eclipse champion 2-year-old Fierceness (City of Light).

Pedigree Notes:

The first stakes winner out of a daughter of the late Paynter, Domestic Product is by Coolmore America's Practical Joke, the continent's current-leading fourth-crop sire of 2024 by both earnings and black-type winners. A son of Into Mischief, Practical Joke has 25 career graded winners and 37 stakes winners worldwide.

Unraced Goods and Services, the Tampa Bay Derby winner's dam, sold at the 2021 Keeneland November sale for $37,000 to Railway Street when Domestic Product was a weanling. The mare produced a 2022 filly by Complexity in New York, aborted to Honest Mischief for 2023, and was bred to Drain the Clock for this term.

 

Saturday, Tampa Bay Downs
LAMBHOLM SOUTH TAMPA BAY DERBY-GIII, $350,000, Tampa Bay Downs, 3-9, 3yo, 1 1/16m, 1:45.47, ft.
1–DOMESTIC PRODUCT, 120, c, 3, by Practical Joke
                1st Dam: Goods and Services, by Paynter
                2nd Dam: Indian Legend, by Cherokee Run
                3rd Dam: Virginia Bee, by Virginia Rapids
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN.
O/B-Klaravich Stables (KY); T-Chad C. Brown; J-Tyler
Gaffalione. $210,000. Lifetime Record: 5-2-1-0, $314,200.
Werk Nick Rating: D+.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–No More Time, 120, c, 3, Not This Time–Baroness Juliette,
by Speightstown. ($40,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). O-Morplay Racing
LLC; B-MAMAS Thoroughbreds, LLC (IA); T-Jose Francisco
D'Angelo. $70,000.
3–Grand Mo the First, 120, c, 3, Uncle Mo–Lilies So Fair,
by Giant's Causeway. ($125,000 RNA Ylg '22 KEESEP; $135,000
Ylg '22 FTKOCT; $335,000 RNA 2yo '23 OBSMAR). O-Granpollo
Stables LLC; B-John D. Gunther (KY); T-Victor Barboza, Jr.
$35,000.
Margins: NK, HD, HF. Odds: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00.
Also Ran: Good Money, Heartened, Sturdy, Crazy Mason, Everdoit, Catire Vizcaya, Give Me Liberty.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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The Week in Review: From Out of New Orleans Gloaming, Sierra Leone Splashes into Derby Relevance

'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) checked off quite a few boxes on his GI Kentucky Derby development checklist with Saturday's half-length score in the GII Risen Star S. at Fair Grounds. In just his third career start, he handled shipping away from his home base, winning as the 5-2 favorite off an 11-week layoff, rating from mid-pack while equipped with blinkers for the first time, and racing under the lights on a sloppy, sealed and eerily shadowy track.

And yet, jockey Tyler Gaffalione still believes there's room for improvement–which is exactly what you want to hear if you fancy the chances of this $2.3-million Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale-topper on the first Saturday in May.

“He's a very special horse. We haven't even gotten close to the bottom of him,” Gaffalione told FanDuel TV's Caton Bredar post-win. “He's still learning. He's still green. You can see when he made the lead, he still wanted to lug in a little bit. But [he was] much more professional today. He honestly didn't hit his best stride until the gallop-out.”

After winning his one-turn-mile debut Nov. 4 at Aqueduct, trainer Chad Brown tried Sierra Leone in the Dec. 2 GII Remsen S., where the colt uncorked a sweeping, seven-wide move over a muddy surface that produced a heavily speed-slanted bias (five wire-to-wire and five on-the-pace winners). Sierra Leone sling-shotted to the lead, but bore in once it looked like he'd blow past Dornoch (Good Magic), who clawed back to the lead to win in the shadow of the wire.

It was an unfortunate loss-of-focus result for Sierra Leone, but Brown shrugged off the second-place finish and immediately suggested he'd equip the colt with blinkers to start his sophomore season.

The blinkers weren't intended to suddenly transform this deep closer into a speed freak. But on Saturday the equipment change did make a mid-pack trip easier to attain under the patient Gaffalione.

The second-favorite in the Risen Star, the 3-1 Track Phantom (Quality Road), was sent to the lead as expected, and Joel Rosario was able to milk a moderate tempo at the head of affairs, splashing through catch-me-if-you-can splits of :24.32, :25.35 and :25.07 for the first three quarter-miles of the nine-furlong race.

As a come-from-behinder, Sierra Leone might end up being one of those Derby hopefuls who is always going to be at the mercy of the pace and potential traffic. Three-eighths out, it became apparent that trying to reel in a relatively untaxed Track Phantom would be a good test of Sierra Leone's ability to overcome exactly that sort of adversity.

Going into the Risen Star, Track Phantom had won three straight two-turn races while controlling the cadence and then having to swat back legitimate stretch challenges, and he turned for home in the New Orleans gloaming still looking strong with the additional benefit of having taken no kickback at the front of the slop-spattered pack.

Sierra Leone takes a long while to unwind, but there was no panic in Gaffalione's tactics as he let his colt build momentum starting three-eighths out. Turning for home, Gaffalione was still content to be choosy about picking his path, spinning four-, six-, eight- and then nine wide for the drive, exchanging all that lost real estate for being able to get a clear shot at the hard-trying Track Phantom.

Sierra Leone was still four lengths in arrears at the eighth pole. But he sliced that margin in half a sixteenth from the finish while edging inward toward Catching Freedom (Constitution) and then Track Phantom despite left-handed urging from Gaffalione to stay straight.

With the line looming, Gaffalione knew he had Track Phantom zeroed in on his striking sights 50 yards from home, and Sierra Leone seemed to relish the task of inhaling that rival, striding out powerfully to stop the timer in 1:52.13.

Don't judge Sierra Leone's effort by that raw final clocking on a quagmire of a track that got more sluggish after sunset. By .66 seconds, it was the slowest Risen Star in six runnings (including split divisions in 2020) since the Risen Star got elongated to nine furlongs from 1 1/16 miles five years ago.

The winning Beyer Speed Figure came back as 90, which is more or less on par with the 91 Sierra Leone earned in the Remsen.

The timing to take note of out of the Risen Star is the fourth quarter clocked in :24.66.

For comparison, of the nine points-awarding Derby qualifying stakes run at 1 1/8 miles during the entire 2022-23 campaign, only one of those races (the GI Santa Anita Derby in early April) yielded a sub-25 seconds fourth quarter.

And the final furlong, during which Sierra Leone gained 2 1/2 lengths to win, was clocked in a respectable (given the course conditions) :12.73.

The Apr. 6 GI Toyota Blue Grass S. at Keeneland will be next for Sierra Leone.

“What we had planned on win or lose–but assuming a good race–is to use the Blue Grass as our Kentucky Derby prep,” Brown said after the Feb. 17 win. “So things went well today and we'll stick to that, but having the points is a nice-to-have in case there's a rough trip or something doesn't go according to plan in the Blue Grass.”

History could be on Sierra Leone's side in the Blue Grass. The last six times Brown has started a horse in that stakes, the results have been two wins, three close seconds, and a third.

But another recent angle–winning the Kentucky Derby off of just two starts at age three–could pose a historical hurdle.

After that game plan produced eight Derby winners between 2007 and 2016, horses with only two sophomore starts prior to trying their luck in Louisville have been a collective 0-for-39 since 2017.

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