Tag: upset

Nutella Fella Another Stakes Upsetter For Contessa In Hopeful

Trainer Gary Contessa, who sprang a 21-1 upset in the opening-day GIII Schuylerville S., brought the curtain down on the 2023 Saratoga season with another shocker when 54-1 outsider Nutella Fella (Runhappy) ran down the field late to take the GI Hopeful S. Monday in upstate New York. Fractious behind the gate and away slowly, Nutella Fella was well back in last as a four-way speed battle developed up front. After tacking onto the rest of the field approaching the three-eighths pole, Nutella Fella was committed to an inside run into the stretch before swinging out in search of running room. Favored 'TDN Rising Star' Timberlake (Into Mischief), who had raced keenly up on the heels of the pacesetters through fractions of :22.19 and :44.89, and was mired in traffic down the lane, was finally muscling his way to the lead inside the final furlong, but Nutella Fella was making eye-catching progress on the far outside to edge past the favorite late while racing on his incorrect lead. 'TDN Rising Star' Pirate (Omaha Beach) covered ground and ran on bravely for third.

“We kind of figured he was going to break slow from the gate because he's a moron in the gate, and I just was hoping there'd be plenty of speed, which there was,” Contessa said. “When they said :22 flat, I was thinking, 'This is great.' Then Junior [Alvarado] went from the inside to the outside and I thought he rode him masterfully. He saved ground when he could and then ultimately went outside and got the money.”

Nutella Fella, owned by Nick and Delora Beaver's Bell Gable Stable, was a first-out winner going 5 1/2 furlongs at Delaware July 26 for the couple's trainer Richard Sillaman. Contessa had been serving as the Bell Gable private trainer since 2021, but gave up day-to-day operations earlier this year and now serves as the operation's general manager. Bell Gable was the leading owner at Delaware Park in 2022 and 2023.

Despite his 2 1/4-length victory, it was not all smooth sailing for Nutella Fella in his debut.

“That [his gate issues today] was a minor incident today compared to what he did at Delaware, so it's a work in progress, but it's a big improvement over the last time,” Contessa said. “When I looked at the field I said, 'This is a salty field, but if you look at his workouts, they've been phenomenal.' So, it's kind of like [Schuylerville winner] Becky's Joker. He had the workouts and the question was, is he good enough? Sure enough, he is.”

As for next targets for Nutella Fella, Contessa said, “[Oct. 7 GI] Champagne to [Nov. 3] Breeders' Cup, unless he throws us a curve. He's going to stay up here the next six weeks with me and we'll be racing in the Champagne from here. I think [he'll get two turns]. It looked like it today.”

The Hopeful lost a potential headliner when 'TDN Rising Star' Muth (Good Magic), the 5-2 morning-line favorite, was scratched by trainer Bob Baffert Monday morning.

The $2-million OBS March topper romped by 8 3/4 lengths in his June 18 debut at Santa Anita and was coming off a runner-up effort behind stablemate Prince of Monaco (Speightstown) in the Aug. 13 GIII Best Pal S.

“I was coming back a little quick and I looked at that field and it's pretty salty,” Baffert told Daily Racing Form's Dave Grening, adding the colt will be re-routed to the Oct. 7 GI American Pharoah S. at Santa Anita.

Pedigree Notes:

Nutella Fella is the fourth graded winner for champion sprinter Runhappy, who had been the title sponsor of the Hopeful for the last four years. He is the eighth Grade I winner for broodmare sire Candy Ride (Arg).

Krissy's Candy, a half-sister to graded-placed Meal Penalty (Tale of the Cat) and Danny Boy (Harlan's Holiday), has a yearling colt by War of Will–who is catalogued as hip 2588 at next week's Keeneland September sale–and a weanling colt by Yaupon. She was bred back to Uncle Mo.

The mare was bred by the Lyster family's Ashview Farm and Colts Neck Stables and was purchased by Mike Ryan on behalf of e Five Racing for $210,000 at the 2015 Keeneland September sale. She made two starts in the e Five colors before being claimed by Stephen Lyster for $50,000 at Churchill in the fall of 2017. She made one start for Lyster and was bred to Street Sense in 2019. Nutella Fella is her second foal.

Ashview purchased Nutella Fella's second dam, 2003 GII Adirondack S. runner-up Unbridled Beauty, for $135,000 at the 2011 Keeneland November sale. The winner's third dam, Dreamscape, produced Sophia's Song (Bellamy Road), the dam of Saturday's GI Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Bright Future (Curlin).

Monday, Saratoga
HOPEFUL S.-GI, $300,000, Saratoga, 9-4, 2yo, 7f, 1:24.41, ft.
1–NUTELLA FELLA, 120, c, 2, by Runhappy
                1st Dam: Krissy's Candy, by Candy Ride (Arg)
                2nd Dam: Unbridled Beauty, by Unbridled's Song
                3rd Dam: Dreamscape, by Mt. Livermore
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN, 1ST GRADE
I WIN. ($12,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). O-Bell Gable Stable LLC;
B-Ashview Farm (KY); T-Gary C. Contessa; J-Junior Alvarado.
$165,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $187,800.
Werk Nick Rating: B.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Timberlake, 120, c, 2, Into Mischief–Pin Up (Ire), by Lookin At
Lucky. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE,
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. 'TDN Rising Star'. ($350,000 Ylg '22
KEESEP). O-Siena Farm LLC and WinStar Farm LLC; B-St. Elias
Stables, LLC (KY); T-Brad H. Cox. $60,000.
3–Pirate, 120, c, 2, Omaha Beach–Treasure, by Medaglia d'Oro.
1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE, 1ST G1 BLACK
TYPE. 'TDN Rising Star'. ($350,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). O-Harrell
Ventures, LLC and Starlight Racing; B-Peter E. Blum
Thoroughbreds, LLC (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $36,000.
Margins: 1HF, NK, 2HF. Odds: 54.50, 2.15, 10.10.
Also Ran: Be You, Mission Beach, Gold Sweep, Just Steel, Baytown Chatterbox, Valentine Candy, Yo Yo Candy. Scratched: Muth.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

 

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A Better Bran Mash? Avoid Digestive Upset With These Tips

Though many adults grew up feeding bran mashes to horses on cold winter nights, the tradition has faded from favor – for good reason.

Once believed beneficial as a laxative for horses that had worked hard in colder weather, wheat bran mashes were often fed once a week. This addition of a “new” feed to the horse's diet once a week goes against the guidelines horse owners are given to change a horse's feed safely: horses should have their feed changed gradually over multiple days to avoid stomach upset and gastrointestinal distress, reports The Horse.

Another issue is that wheat bran has a high phosphorous level; out of balance calcium-phosphorus levels can cause hyperparathyroidism, also called “big head” and “bran” disease. This disease can lead to lameness, painful movement, and difficulty breathing. Though unlikely that a horse would develop this condition being fed one bran mash a week, many wheat brans have been replaced by rice brans that are fortified with additional calcium carbonate.

Bran mashes were also used to entice picky eaters and ill horses to eat, but the same can be done by adding warm water to a horse's normal pelleted or textured feed to create a mash. If the horse doesn't get fed a grain diet, adding water to hay pellets can create a mash.

Adding salt or electrolytes to the warm concoction can make it even more valuable to a horse that has been exercising heavily. Adding a carrot or apple peels to the mash may entice a horse to eat.

[Story Continues Below]

If feeding a bran mash is still desirable, it's worth a conversation with an equine nutritionist to make sure the horse is being fed a balanced mineral profile.

Read more at The Horse.

The post A Better Bran Mash? Avoid Digestive Upset With These Tips appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Needs Supervision Could Play Upset Card In Barbara Fritchie

Encouraged by her most recent effort, trainer Jerry O'Dwyer is giving Howling Pigeon Farms, Gary Barber, Wachtel Stable and Madaket Stables' multiple stakes winner Needs Supervision another shot at graded success in Saturday's $250,000 Runhappy Barbara Fritchie (G3) at Laurel Park.

The 69th running of the Fritchie for fillies and mares 4 and older and the 45th edition of the $250,000 General George (G3) for 4-year-olds and up co-headline a Winter Sprintfest program of six stakes worth $900,000 in purses. First race post time is 12:25 p.m.

In addition to Needs Supervision, a 12-1 long shot on the morning line, Madaket's Sol Kumin also has an ownership stake in the Fritchie's 8-5 program favorite, five-time stakes winner Hello Beautiful. The two horses will break side-by-side respectively from Posts 7 and 8.

Needs Supervision, 5, ran fourth behind Majestic Reason in last year's Fritchie then was third in the Nellie Morse, held in mid-March prior to live racing being paused 2 ½ months in Maryland amid the coronavirus pandemic. Minor issues kept her from racing again for eight months.

“She's never had any major issues, just little niggly things,” O'Dwyer said. “She had a back issue that was bugging her and it was kind of causing her to break slow and she wasn't as comfortable as she could be. We seem to have a handle on that now.

“I think she's moving super now,” he added. “It's hard to find when there's something wrong with her because she's such a tough filly. She never shows any signs of distress or pain, but it's when she underperforms you know there's more there. That's when you really start going over her with a fine tooth comb to try and find something.”

Needs Supervision ran third to Fritchie contender Dontletsweetfooya, a winner of her last five races including two stakes, in the Nov. 28 Primonetta, then stretched out to 1 1/8 miles for the Allaire du Pont (G3) Dec. 26, where she tired to be fifth after setting the pace. Most recently, she closed to be second by a length behind Bella Aurora in the seven-furlong Interborough Jan. 18 at Aqueduct.

“She came out of her last race great. She ran a super race up there. I liked the way she finished up and came through horses. The winner got the clear path on the inside and she couldn't get out until the top of the lane,” O'Dwyer said. “We would have liked to get out a little bit sooner, but I was just glad to see her come back and run a race like that and finish up good.”

Needs Supervision won the seven-furlong Safely Kept in November 2019 at Laurel over next-out winners Hey Mamaluke and Victim of Love, the latter going on to win the Vagrancy (G3) and run second in the Fritchie and third in the Ballerina (G1) before going to the sidelines.

“She's won at seven furlongs, she likes the surface, and she seems to be training good and doing really well,” O'Dwyer said. “It's going to be a tough race, with lots of good fillies and mares in there. I think there's going to be lots of speed in there which should help us. We're not the quickest into stride, but I'd like to see her five or six lengths off them. That'd be nice. You're going to have Hello Beautiful and Dontletsweetfoolya, both of those are very fast fillies and I'm sure no rider will want to take their horse out of their comfort zone. So, I'm hoping it'll set up a little bit for us with something to run at.

“It's going to be a very nice race, very competitive. You just want to see the best horse win and everybody get a fair shake of the dice,” he added. “We still have a lot of faith in our filly, how she is right now. The owners have been great people to me. I'd just like to get her back in a bit of form and to get a graded-stakes win would be huge for her as a broodmare.”

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Upset Beat Man o’ War, But Did He Really Coin A New Sportswriting Phrase?

On Oct. 12, 1920, the race of the century took place at Kenilworth Park just outside Windsor, Ontario. It was between the first ever Triple Crown winner, Sir Barton and the incomparable 'Big Red' ­­– Man o' War. It was a match between two champions: a battle of titans.

It was also Man o' War's last race before he went off to stud. 'Big Red' won it easily by an impressive margin of seven lengths.

The race captured the imagination of a continent 100 years ago. There would be nothing like it until a grandson and son of Man o' War squared off 18 years later, in Maryland. The son was War Admiral and the grandson was Seabiscuit.

The 4-year-old Sir Barton was thought to be a worthy opponent for Man o' War. Even though Sir Barton took the first Triple Crown in 1919 and won more money than Man o' War that year, he lost seven races in 1920. Yet he had beaten Exterminator in the Saratoga Handicap, carrying 133 pounds, and set a world record for the classic distance of 1 3/16 miles in the Merchants and Citizens Stakes at the Spa on Aug. 20, 1920.

Those who seek perfection might find it unfortunate that the mystique of being undefeated evaded both horses. Man o' War had also tasted defeat.  It happened on Aug. 13, 1919, at the hoofs of an unlikely opponent whose name was Upset – a horse he had beaten easily on four other occasions.

He should have won.

Here is how Fred Van Ness of the New York Times chronicled Man o' War's only lifetime defeat in the Sanford Stakes:

“He was forced to bow to Harry Payne Whitney's Upset in a neck-and-neck finish in this six-furlong dash. Though defeated, Man o' War was not discredited. On the contrary, the manner in which he ran this race stamped him, in the opinion of horsemen, as the best of his division without question. Though failing to get his nose in front, he stood out as the best horse in the race by a large margin, for he had all the worst of the racing luck.” 

Did Upset's victory originate the term 'upset'?

The controversy surrounding Man o' War's unfair start against Upset is long over, but a minor controversy remains: Was Man o' War's loss to Upset the beginning of the term 'upset' in sports argot, used to denote an unlikely winner?

Lexicographer Ben Zimmer clarified the matter once and for all back in 2013:

“I surveyed New York Times articles that used the word upset, and it was clear that it was already in use in horse-racing and other sports like baseball before the famous 1919 race.”

I am fond of observing that “most famous quotes and coined terms get attributed to the most prominent person who used them.” (And if some well-known person repeats my little buzz phrase, it will doubtless be attributed to them, and not to me.)

The best example of this phenomenon is the celebrated admonition by John F. Kennedy in his 1961 inaugural address:

“Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

Certainly Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. and such lesser presidents as Warren Harding spoke much the same lines decades before. In fact, many of Kennedy's most renowned phrases are characterized as fragmented misremembrances. Ralph Keyes noted this in The Washington Post in 2006:

“Even though JFK routinely garbled his quotations, it took us years to figure this out. Meanwhile, the young president launched any number of misworded, misattributed or completely mystifying quotations into the public conversation that have stuck around to this day.”

But who cares? The grainy film of that cold January day in 1961 and the magnificent delivery of those 17 words is what's important.  Our language has a long and well-recorded history. No line of speech will ever be completely original.

What does this all mean for that one little word 'upset'?

Many have viewed the horse named 'Upset' as being appropriately named. And many have inaccurately declared that Man o' War's defeat marks the origin of the term 'upset' to denote an unlikely winner.

But we overblow our need for originality in a term. Ben Zimmer went on to quote Washington Post sports columnist Bob Addie from 1962:  “The term 'upset' in sports gained considerable stature back in 1919 when a horse actually named Upset beat the wonder horse, Man o' War.”

“That may in fact be true,” writes Zimmer. “Certainly upset gained traction in sports reporting starting in the '20s, and Upset may have had something to do with that. So let's give some credit to the scrappy colt…”

And as for Man o' War, his legend only grew with his 14 consecutive victories following his 'upset by Upset'. As we get closer to the 100th anniversary of Big Red's monumental win against that first ever Triple Crown winner, Sir Barton, let's remember that the origins of words and phrases are much less important than the memorable events and the heroes –  both human and equine – that bring focus and glory to their times and make a stamp on history.

2023 will mark an anniversary for another 'Big Red' – Secretariat. It will be the 50th anniversary of his last race, which he won in Canada by an identical seven lengths to Man o' War's win in his own last race, against Sir Barton. The celebration will be enhanced – not diminished – by the fact that the first Big Red won just as easily 100 years ago.

That's also true of Upset's historic race against Man o' War. The great tale is in no way diminished by the fact that Upset's name popularized, rather than originated, a sports term.

The origins of a term are an interesting thing to explore. But it's the heroes, equine and human, that we celebrate in racing history.

John Stapleton is an income security benefit designer in Toronto. Stapleton's work has appeared in the Globe & Mail, the National Post and the Toronto Star. He has owned racehorses for 37 years and is past president and current board member of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of fame.

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