Victor Espinoza | Horse Racing Free Tips

Tamarkuz Colt Red Flag Cruises To Bob Hope Victory At Del Mar

The million-dollar yearling Spielberg went off as the odds-on favorite, but it was Red Flag – who “only” cost $220,000 at the same Kentucky sale – flying home the winner Sunday in the seventh edition of the Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes for 2-year-olds at Del Mar.

Red Flag, from the first crop of the Speightstown stallion Tamarkuz, battled early with his more-expensive rival, but assumed command under Victor Espinoza approaching the quarter pole and drew out under a hand ride to an easy 7 1/4-length triumph. The victory was worth $60,000 from the $100,500 purse and pushed the youngster's earnings to $94,100 after three starts. He covered the seven furlongs in 1:23.56.

Red Flag is owned by Tina and Jerome Moss of Los Angeles and is trained by John Shirreffs. The chestnut colt's green and pink colors were familiar ones to those who followed the amazing career of the champion mare Zenyatta, co-owned by Jerome Moss and trained by Shirreffs.

Finishing second was Eric Homme's Uncle Boogie and third was Reddam Racing's Ambivalent. Spielberg, who is owned by a group that includes SF Racing, Starlight Racing or Madaket Stables and others, and went off at 3-5, finished fourth nearly 10 lengths behind the winner.

Red Flag paid $23.40, $9.60 and $9.40 across the board. Uncle Boogie returned $6.00 and $5.60, while Ambivalent paid $6.60 to show.

“John (trainer Shirreffs) said, 'You know him (Espinoza broke his maiden on him last out on Oct. 10 at Santa Anita), go ahead and see what you can do with him.' He broke running and he wanted to go. He seemed to be more professional today than last time. He's still a baby and he was fooling around before. Be he was good today and did all the right things. He'll go farther, for sure. With the way he ran today, why not?”

“I didn't really expect that kind of performance,” said Shirreffs. “I was hoping to get a placing. He broke his maiden from way off the pace and he's been doing better and better in the mornings, but he's not a brilliant work horse. So this was a pleasant surprise. You always hope but you never know. He's gone from 5 1/2-furlongs to seven, so it looks like he'll be able to go longer. It's special because (owners) Mr. and Mrs. Moss were here today and got to see him run.”

Leading rider Abel Cedillo and leading trainer Peter Miller won the nitecap together with Magical Thought ($20.60) and stayed on top in each of their categories after eight days of the current 15-day session. Cedillo now has 13 firsts and Miller has seven. Cedillo was the top rider at last fall's Bing Crosby meet and Miller has won four different versions of the “second season” at Del Mar.

Del Mar will return to action on Friday with first post at 12:30 p.m.

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C Z Rocket Edges Flagstaff In Santa Anita Sprint Championship

In a head and head thriller, trainer Peter Miller's C Z Rocket prevailed by a hard-fought head over John Sadler's Flagstaff in Sunday's Grade 2, $200,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., final prep to the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland on Nov. 7. Ridden for the first time by Luis Saez, C Z Rocket, who is now unbeaten in five starts with Miller since being claimed for $40,000 last April at Oaklawn Park, covered six furlongs in 1:09.14.

Breaking sharply from his number four post position in a field of five 3-year-olds and up, C Z Rocket was immediately into contention and while under restraint, sat three quarters of a length off Flagstaff as they left the half mile pole.

Turning for home, Flagstaff, with Victor Espinoza up, drifted out a bit, carrying C Z Rocket into the three path and from there, it was game on in the run to the wire, with neither horse giving an inch in great stretch duel.

“I didn't expect to be that close, but he broke so sharp and he took me there,” said the eastern-based Saez. “I decided to let him settle and keep him happy. When I pulled the trigger turning for home, he took off. I love this horse, now he's ready for the real deal.”

A winner of the G2 Pat O'Brien Stakes going seven furlongs on Aug. 29 at Del Mar, C Z Rocket, a 6-year-old Florida-bred gelding by City Zip, was off as the 7-5 favorite and paid $4.80, $2.80 and $2.10.

“There were a lot of things involved in this,” said Miller, who is off to a tremendous start at Santa Anita's Autumn Meet, winning his third stakes dating back to Friday and his fourth overall, good for a tie with Bob Baffert for the lead in the trainer standings. “We recently sold a part of him to Gary Barber and Sol Kumin and I really wanted to win for those two gentlemen. Flavien (Prat) took off him (to ride third place finisher Collusion Illusion) and I wanted to prove that he made the wrong move.

“I just wanted to win this race … It was the owner, Tom Kagele, who picked this horse (to claim on April 30). I wouldn't have picked him, his form was too bad to claim him, but I did like that he had run some fast races in the past … We're definitely leaning toward the Sprint, he's won the last (five) going one turn. We're going to keep him one turn.”

With his second consecutive graded stakes win in-hand, C Z Rocket, who is out of the Successful Appeal mare Successful Sarah, is now 22-9-1-2 and with the winner's share of $120,000, he has earnings of $551,641.

Flagstaff, who ran too good to lose, was off as the third choice in the wagering and paid $3.00 and $2.10.

Ridden by Prat and off at 9-5, Collusion Illusion, who broke from the rail, couldn't go with the top two late and finished 1 ¼ lengths behind Flagstaff while paying $2.10 to show.

Fractions on the race were 22.33, 45.27 and 57.13.

The Santa Anita Sprint Championship is a Breeders' Cup “Win & You're In” Challenge Race qualifier, with the winner earning a fees-paid berth to the Grade I Breeders' Cup Sprint on Nov. 7 at Keeneland.

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Princess Noor Cruises To Third Consecutive Victory In Chandelier

Zedan Racing Stables' unbeaten Princess Noor stretched out to two turns for the first time in her third career starts, making short work of her four rivals in the Grade 2 Chandelier Stakes at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., on Saturday.

Ridden by Victor Espinoza, the Bob Baffert-trained daughter of freshman sire Not This Time won by 8 1/4 lengths, covering 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in 1:45.59 and paying $2.40 as the heavy favorite. Varda completed a Baffert-exacta, finishing second ahead of Miss Costa Rica, with Illumination fourth and Make Mischief trailing the field.

This was Baffert's 12th win in the Chandelier, formerly known as the Oak Leaf Stakes.

The Chandelier is a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series race, giving an automatic, fees-paid berth in the Juvenile Fillies to the winner.

Breaking from the rail, Espinoza allowed Princess Noor to settle in just behind another Baffert runner, Illumination, who took the field through early fractions of :23.51, :48.28 and 1:12.95 for the opening six furlongs.

Princess Noor shifted to the outside approaching the far turn, quickly put away Illumination on the turn for home and cruised to the wire in hand after a mile fractional time of 1:45.59.

Bred in Kentucky by International Equities Holding Inc., Princess Noor was purchased for $1,350,000 at the OBS April Sale of 2-year-olds in training earlier this year.

“The talent, the energy, the speed!” Espinoza said. “She dominated everyone with the energy she created during the race and I had a lot of confidence in her. Bob knows how to train his horses. She's really kind, and she doesn't need much. She does everything on her own, I'm just the pilot trying to find a way to have a little room to let her run and stretch her legs. It's so easy to ride these types of horses.

“It's my job to ride her with confidence, because I know she was the best filly in the race and I had to ride her like she was the best filly in the race.

“She reminds me of other great horses I used to ride like American Pharoah and California Chrome. The talent is there, we just have to let them be happy around the racetrack. I've been riding amazing horses, but as a filly, she's the best one I've ever ridden.

“It takes a team to have an amazing horse like this. It creates better energy when you have a good team. When all the team is happy and working together and pushing forward, things work out much better.”

Said Baffert: “I talked to Victor (Espinoza) before and I talked to all my riders I told them, 'Just ride your races'. When you are in the one hole they usually don't break as well but I think Victor rode her with a lot of confidence. He's been on enough good horses and he knows. He took his time and I saw the other filly (Illumination) go to the lead and they just rode their own race.

“I saw Victor get behind and I saw that nice move before the three-eighths and you can only do that when you have a Ferrari under you. Turning for home I was one-two-three and I thought, 'This is a nice feeling'. I was hoping the other one (Illumination) would have held on for third.

“This filly is just incredible and very talented. I don't train her as hard and I run her into shape. You never know if they can go two turns until they do it and it looks like that's not going to be a problem.

“This was perfect for her. If you don't have the clientele behind you its hard to get a filly like this but she was just a knock-out, she was something else.”

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Princess Noor Lights ‘Em Up in Chandelier

The GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies will go through unbeaten ‘TDN Rising Star’ Princess Noor (Not This Time) following a third straight tour-de-force victory in Saturday’s GII Chandelier S. at Santa Anita.

Making her two-turn debut following an eye-catching debut win at Del Mar Aug. 22 and runaway score in the GI Del Mar Debutante S. Sept. 6, the $1.35-million OBS Spring topper wasn’t the quickest away from her rail draw beneath Victor Espinoza.

She rode the rail into the first turn, but was no better than third. Princess Noor did not appear completely at ease being stuck down inside, but she jumped into the bridle when taken out into the three path, quickly making progress to sit second into the final turn.

She easily claimed the front-runner with about five-sixteenths of a mile to race and was not asked for her best in strolling through the final 100 yards en route to an 8 1/4-length victory. Stablemate Varda (Distorted Humor) was second.

Princess Noor provided Hall of Famer Bob Baffert with his record 12th Chandelier victory.

“When you are in the one hole, they usually don’t break as well, but I think Victor rode her with a lot of confidence,” Baffert said. “He’s been on enough good horses and he knows. This filly is just incredible and very talented. I don’t train her as hard and I run her into shape. You never know if they can go two turns until they do and it looks like that’s not going to be a problem.”

Princess Noor drew high praise from her rider as well.

“She reminds me of other great horses I used to ride like American Pharoah and California Chrome,” Espinoza said. “The talent is there, we just have to let them be happy around the racetrack. I’ve been riding amazing horses, but as a filly, she’s the best one I’ve ever ridden.”

Pedigree Notes:

It’s a contentious race between the top three freshman sires of 2020, with each sporting two black-type winners to date and their earnings all within range of each other. Not This Time, a son of Giant’s Causeway, leads the list by individual winners with 11 and has two undefeated stakes winners in Princess Noor and Dirty Dangle, who won last week’s Woodbine Cares S., plus the Grade III-placed Hopeful Princess.

Princess Noor made headlines before she even ran as Not This Time’s most expensive sales horse to date when she brought $1.35 million at OBS this spring (:20 1/5), but Not This Time hasn’t done badly in this curtailed yearling sales season either, with 32 sold this year in North America for an average of $135,504 on a $15,000 stud fee. Princess Noor was previously a $135,000 KEESEP yearling.

Princess Noor is out of the 2014 GIII Senorita S. winner Sheza Smoke Show, who has a yearling colt named Protonic Power (Protonico) and delivered a filly by Tapwrit this year. She was bred back to Protonico for 2021. International Equities Holding purchased Sheza Smoke Show, carrying Princess Noor, for $185,000 at the 2017 KEENOV sale.

For a recent profile on breeder Oussama Aboughazale’s International Equities Holding’s operation from Jessica Martini, click here.

Saturday, Santa Anita
CHANDELIER S.-GII, $200,000, Santa Anita, 9-26, 2yo, f,
1 1/16m, 1:45.59, ft.
1–PRINCESS NOOR, 122, f, 2, by Not This Time
                1st Dam: Sheza Smoke Show (GSW, $150,644), by Wilko
                2nd Dam: Avery Hall, by A. P Jet
                3rd Dam: Royal Form, by Dynaformer
‘TDN Rising Star‘ ($135,000 Ylg ’19 KEESEP; $1,350,000 2yo
’20 OBSAPR). O-Zedan Racing Stables Inc; B-International
Equities Holding, Inc. (KY); T-Bob Baffert; J-Victor Espinoza.
$120,000. Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0, $303,000. Werk Nick
Rating: C+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Varda, 122, f, 2, Distorted Humor–She’ll Be Right, by Sky
Mesa. ($100,000 Ylg ’19 SARAUG; $700,000 2yo ’20 OBSAPR).
O-Baoma Corporation; B-Masters 2013 LLC & Distorted Humor
Syndicate (NY); T-Bob Baffert. $40,000.
3–Miss Costa Rica, 122, f, 2, Hit It a Bomb–Five Star Daydream,
by Five Star Day. ($95,000 Ylg ’19 KEESEP; $200,000 2yo ’20
OBSMAR). O-Carroll Boys Racing, Sayjay Racing LLC, Jerry
McClanahan & Richard Baltas; B-Spendthrift Farm LLC (KY);
T-Richard Baltas. $24,000.
Margins: 8 1/4, 9 1/4, NK. Odds: 0.20, 6.20, 9.30.
Also Ran: Illumination, Make Mischief. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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