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Tax Chasing Clean Break In Second Pegasus Shot

Tax, a big bay gelding who returned from a six-month layoff to impressively win the Harlan's Holiday (G3) Dec. 12, gets his second shot at Pegasus glory Saturday when he lines up with 11 others for the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Championship Invitational (G1).

Owned by R.A. Hill Stable, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Hugh Lynch and trained by Danny Gargan, Tax was claimed out of his second race for $50,000 in October of 2018. The son of Arch has since won three graded races and nearly $1 million.

After stumbling at the start of last year's Pegasus and finishing ninth, Tax was off for six months after a fifth-place finish in the Oaklawn Handicap (G2). Gargan said the plan originally was to run at Keeneland in the fall and then the Breeders' Cup, but a temperature kept the colt away from the races until his victory in the Harlan's Holiday.

Gulfstream host and analyst Acacia Courtney talked to Gargan about Tax getting a clean break in this year's Pegasus under jockey Luis Saez, the big colt's maturity, and the ownership group.

The post Tax Chasing Clean Break In Second Pegasus Shot appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The Friday Show Presented By PHBA Stallion Seasons Auction: The Optimists Club

For the last three years as the calendar pages turned from December to January, the Paulick Report took the pulse of its readers, asking how they felt about the future health of the Thoroughbred industry: Were they optimistic or pessimistic?

In January 2019, 43% expressed optimism. In January 2020, that number fell to 30%. Currently, 54% of our readers said they are optimistic heading into 2021 – a significant shift in just 12 months.

While this online poll is not a scientific survey, its results are revealing, if not head scratching, considering all that society has been through the last 10 months since the World Health Organization declared that the coronavirus was a pandemic.

In this week's episode of the Friday Show, presented by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association's stallion season auction, Paulick Report publisher Ray Paulick and bloodstock editor Joe Nevills search for reasons why the “optimists club” may have so many new members. What is there to be optimistic or pessimistic about when it comes to the Thoroughbred industry?

They also discuss the long comeback road by this week's “star of the week,” Grade 3 Tropical Turf winner Ride a Comet.

Watch the Friday Show below.

The post The Friday Show Presented By PHBA Stallion Seasons Auction: The Optimists Club appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The Friday Show Presented By PHBA Stallion Seasons Auction: 2021 Predictions

Given the circumstances of the past year, we decided to not take that obligatory editorial trip down memory lane with a look back at all the good things that happened in 2020. Come to think of it, I suppose we could have fit them all into one of bloodstock editor Joe Nevills' popular horse racing haikus.

Let's face it: for the most part, 2020 was a year many of us wish had never happened. We were happy to turn the page.

With that in mind, and with the Friday Show freshened up for its first gallop around the track in 2021, the Paulick Report editorial team decided to look ahead with some insights into what may be in store for the Thoroughbred industry this coming year.

But instead of showing our cards here and letting you know what our fearless predictions are for 2021, you'll have to watch the show. We will tell you that this week's edition of the Friday Show is brought to you by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association's 11th annual PA Stallion Seasons Auction that gets under way on Tuesday, Jan. 12, offering approximately 75 seasons to stallions in five different states.

Watch the Friday Show below to get the skinny on what's coming in 2021.

The post The Friday Show Presented By PHBA Stallion Seasons Auction: 2021 Predictions appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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You Be The Judge: Did Delta Stewards Make The Right Call?

If a horse clips heels and a jockey falls during the running of a race, even when, as in the following case, both horse and rider walk away with no more than bumps and bruises, stewards are often called upon to adjudicate the outcome.

During Monday's fourth race at Delta Downs in Vinton, La., stewards made the call to disqualify the winner, Miss Nitap (7), for interference in mid-stretch after a claim of foul from the rider of the second-place finisher, K R Lucky Day (6). Miss Nitap was placed second, while K R Lucky Day was moved up to first.

The race chart is available here.

A head-on replay of the stretch run shows Mrs. Judy (5), inside K R Lucky Day at the eighth pole, darted across several paths to bump K R Lucky Day from the inside and impede the path of oncoming rival Birdie Call (8). Birdie Call subsequently clipped heels and stumbled, losing rider Daniel Flores in the process. The incident looks ugly on video, but both Birdie Call and Flores walked off the track under their own power. Flores took off the rest of his mounts for the day, complaining of minor pain in his left arm and shoulder.

Stewards may yet impose sanctions on the rider of Mrs. Judy, Gerard Melancon, as well as the rider of Miss Nitap, Thomas Pompell, but those sanctions will not affect bettors whose wagering dollars rode on the outcome of this race.

Did the Delta Downs stewards make the right call here? You be the judge!

The post You Be The Judge: Did Delta Stewards Make The Right Call? appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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