Tag: Videos

Bubble Horse O Besos Will Be ‘Ready To Go’ If Kentucky Derby Opportunity Arises

Third last out in the G2 Louisiana Derby, O Besos is currently 22nd in the Kentucky Derby points standings with 25. However, several horses ahead of him are expected to skip the Run for the Roses in favor of the Preakness Stakes, and it appears likely that the 3-year-old son of Orb will make the 20-horse starting gate on the first Saturday in May.

“I'd say we've got a good chance,” trainer Greg Foley told Jennie Rees in a video for the Kentucky HBPA earlier this week. “Another jump and we'd have been second in the Louisiana Derby, and we wouldn't have to worry about getting in the race. But our horse is doing good, so we're just gonna watch him. We'd love to run, and if we get that chance we'll be ready to go.”

O Besos, a chestnut homebred for Barrett Bernard also campaigned by West Point Thoroughbreds and Tagg Team Racing, breezed five furlongs in an official 1:00 3/5 on Tuesday at Churchill Downs (see video below). Up for the workout was jockey Marcelino Pedroza,

“I didn't have him go real fast or anything, just want him to finish up good the last eighth and gallop out good and strong, which he did that,” Foley said. “On the video you can see he picked it up pretty good.”

Pedroza complimented the colt's workout as well.

“I asked him just a little bit after the wire,” Pedroza said. “He did respond like I wanted him to, galloped out really strong, and then he was enjoying himself again, looking around. I'm really happy with the way that he worked today.”

Out of the 12-time winner Snuggs and Kisses (Soto), O Besos shouldn't have a problem with the 1 1/4 miles over the Kentucky Derby.

Pedroza added: “He will love it.”

O Besos would be the second Kentucky Derby starter for the Louisville native Foley, who sent out Major Fed to finish 10th in last year's Sept. 5 edition.

Foley likes his chances with O Besos for this year's race.

“It's anybody's race, I think. It's a wide, wide open race,” Foley said. “Our horse is ready he's doing good. We're gonna train like we're going in the race.”

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The Friday Show: Delayed Opening At Woodbine

Saturday was supposed to be opening day of the Thoroughbred meet at Woodbine racetrack near Toronto in Ontario, Canada. Instead, just as the 2020 season was halted prematurely by government order in the midst of a spike in the coronavirus pandemic, so too is the 2021 opening.

Jennifer Morrison, a longtime Ontario-based handicapper and turf writer (you can read her at www.canadianthoroughbred.com), joins publisher Ray Paulick and bloodstock editor Joe Nevills in this week's Friday Show to discuss how horsepeople are reacting to the latest setback – a lockdown, or stay-at-home order that has temporarily derailed live racing.

The Canadian lockdown comes at a time when more U.S. tracks are able to open to limited attendance and many Americans see light at the end of the dark COVID-19 tunnel.

We've also got our star of the week and a Toast to Vino Rosso that looks at another first-crop foal by the Breeders' Cup Classic-winning son of Curlin standing at Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Ky.

Watch this week's Friday Show below:

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The Friday Show: Moonlighting On The Back Of A Pony

News editor Chelsea Hackbarth may be best known to readers of the Paulick Report for her feature stories and outstanding coverage of major races, but around Kentucky racetracks she's respected for her skills as a pony person escort, taking valuable Thoroughbreds out for morning training or afternoon races.

In this edition of the Friday Show, bloodstock editor Joe Nevills coaxes Chelsea to talk about some of her favorite moments in her “other” job, which she describes as taking horses to the starting gate “in as calm and safe a manner as possible with a 1,200-pound animal that is sitting on go. So it can be a bit of a challenge now and again.”

Chelsea took two-time European Horse of the Year Enable to the track for morning training at Churchill Downs and to the starting gate for her stirring victory in the 2018 Breeders' Cup Turf. She also recalls the “amazing amount of sound” she experienced ponying Uncle Sigh in the 2014 Kentucky Derby post parade after the singing of “My Old Kentucky Home” ends and the crowd erupted in a massive cheer. And of course there were those times she got to ride one of the most famous of the racetrack ponies, Harley.

We're sticking with the “homer” theme for Star of the Week, a 3-year-old Daredevil filly who won a $16,000 maiden claiming event recently at Gulfstream Park and is entered in the Hallandale Beach, Fla., track's third race on Friday.

A $16,000 claimer is Star of the Week, really? What we didn't say is that Sister Is Devil was the first pinhooking project for Chelsea and her business partner, Steph Settles, who joins Joe and Chelsea to talk about that experience buying the Daredevil filly as a January yearling and selling her for a modest profit nine months later. Joe rounds out the show with our weekly Toast to Vino Rosso and a profile of one of the arriving foals from the first crop of the son of Curlin.

This is one episode any horse lover won't want to miss. Watch below.

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The Friday Show Presented By Diamond B Farm’s Rowayton: Feeling Preppy

The Kentucky Derby is less than one month away and this weekend's Big Three prep races – the G2 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, G2 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland and G1 Santa Anita Derby at Santa Anita – figure to sort out the leading contenders and help fill the Churchill Downs starting gate on May 1, as each race awards 100-40-20-10 qualifying points to the top four finishers.

Join Paulick Report publisher Ray Paulick, news editor Chelsea Hackbarth and bloodstock editor Joe Nevills for a lively discussion on these key races and their historical significance in terms of serving as a launch pad for Kentucky Derby winners.  Two of the three races – the Wood and the Santa Anita Derby – are seen as wide open, while unbeaten Essential Quality, last year's 2-year-old champion, appears to tower over the field in the Blue Grass.

The Star of the Week is recognized for his influence in American classic races and in the two most recent Derby preps at Gulfstream and Turfway Parks, and Nevills makes his latest Toast to Vino Rosso taking a look at first-crop foals sired by the G1 Breeders' Cup Classic-winning stallion standing at Spendthrift Farm.

Watch this week's Friday Show, presented by Diamond B Farm's Rowayton.

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