Full Brother To Songbird Will Debut Saturday At Saratoga

OXO Equine's Galt, a full-brother to two-time champion Songbird, will make his career debut in a seven-furlong maiden special weight on Saturday [Race 7, 3:53 p.m.] at Saratoga.

Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, the son of Medaglia d'Oro, out of the graded stakes-winning West Acre mare Ivanavinalot, was purchased for $400,000 as a weanling from the 2019 Keeneland November Sale, where he was consigned by Eaton Sales.

Galt has breezed consistently over the Oklahoma training track since late June and most recently went a half-mile in 48.15 seconds on Aug. 29.

Mott said Galt has developed well in his time at Saratoga.

“He's made a lot of progress,” Mott said. “He was very backwards when he came in, and he's progressed probably as rapidly as you could possibly expect. He still is a big, gangly colt, but we have enough work into him and he's improved enough that we think we can get a start in him. He's a big, handsome leggy colt that's come around well enough that makes us think we can get him started.”

Jockey Joel Rosario has the mount from post 8.

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher will saddle Misbehaved for owners Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Robert V. LaPenta.

The bay son of leading sire Into Mischief was bought for $875,000 from the OBS April Sale from DeMeric Sales. He is out of the Medaglia d'Oro mare Loveofalifetime, making him a full brother to Into Mystic – a multiple turf sprint stakes winner.

Misbehaved worked a half-mile from the gate over the Oklahoma training track in 49.21 on August 21 before drilling through a half-mile over the main track in 47.66 on August 29.

“He's trained like a horse that will run well in his debut,” Pletcher said. “His last gate work was particularly good, so hopefully he gets away cleanly and runs the way he's been training.”

Leading rider Luis Saez will ride from post 4.

Olympian, owned by Gatsas Stables, R. A. Hill Stable and Swick Stable, makes his debut for trainer George Weaver.

The gray or roan son of American Pharoah worked a half-mile in 48 seconds flat from the gate on August 29 over the Saratoga main track.

Olympian is out of the Unbridled's Song mare Alpha Mama, who produced turf graded stakes-winner Alpha Kitten.

Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano will ride from post 5.

One race prior, juveniles will contest 1 1/16 miles on the inner turf course featuring Bass Racing's regally-bred Annapolis for Pletcher.

The homebred son of War Front is out of graded stakes winner My Miss Sophia, who also was Grade 1-placed on turf.

Annapolis has several turf works under his belt, including a seven-furlong move on August 15, where he went the distance in 1:28 flat. He last went five furlongs in 1:02.77 over the Oklahoma training turf on August 29.

“He's been training well. He seemed to take to the turf course when we breezed him,” Pletcher said. We're looking forward to getting him going. He's a big, strong colt. There could be dirt in his future but right now, it looks like he's a little better on the turf.”

Jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. will ride from post 6.

Mott will send out Juddmonte homebred Calloway Peak. A son of Arrogate, who won the 2016 Grade 1 Travers in record time, Calloway Peak is out of the Mizzen Mast mare Filimbi, who was a graded stakes winner at one mile over the grass. Her grand dam is 2001 Kentucky Oaks winner Flute.

“He's worked well,” Mott said “He's still a very immature colt. He's green, but we feel like we'll benefit from getting him started.”

Breaking from post 3, Calloway Peak will be piloted by Joel Rosario.

The post Full Brother To Songbird Will Debut Saturday At Saratoga appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Veteran Always Sunshine Runs ‘A Monster Race’ Off 541-Day Layoff

It was only about an hour before sunset when the sunshine blazed forth on a late winter afternoon at Laurel Park.

Always Sunshine, a Florida homebred of Gil Campbell's Stonehedge LLC trained by Pimlico Race Course-based septuagenarian Edward T. 'Ned' Allard, made his triumphant 9-year-old debut Jan. 24 off a 541-day gap between races.

Guided by jockey Carol Cedeno, his regular rider since the spring of 2019, Always Sunshine recovered from a slight outward bobble at the start of the 5 ½-furlong optional claiming allowance for 4-year-olds and up to press Stroll Smokin into the stretch. It wasn't until midway through the lane when the West Acre gelding out of the Awesome Again mare Sunny Again was able to clear the favored pacesetter and edge away to a 1 ¼-length victory.

“Carol knows the horse real well. She's ridden him a number of times. He can go to the lead if you want him to, but he seems like he runs a much better race if you let him get his act together, and he always fires big if you have him in a good spot,” Allard said.

“Around the sixteenth pole I thought, 'We're not going to get by this gray horse.' I said to Carol afterwards, 'I was afraid you wouldn't get by that horse,' and she said, 'I really hadn't asked him yet,'” he added. “She had a ton of confidence in him.”

It was the 11th career win from 31 starts dating back to his rookie season of 2015 for Always Sunshine, who boosted his bankroll past $650,000. It may have been one of the most satisfying of 2,724 career wins for the 75-year-old Allard, a New England native best known for his work with Hall of Famer Mom's Command.

“I didn't want to start him off in a stake after a year and a half and being a 9-year-old. I wanted to try to find something a little softer, and I thought that was a pretty good spot,” Allard said. “Although, it was still a very competitive spot and he still needed to come up with a good race to beat those horses, which he did. So, I was tickled pink.”

Always Sunshine hadn't raced since earning his fifth career stakes victory in the Senator Robert C. Byrd Memorial Aug. 3, 2019 at Mountaineer. It came just over a year after capturing the Tale of the Cat at Saratoga and well after earning his first-ever stakes triumph in the 2015 Dave's Friend at Laurel. Always Sunshine became a graded winner in the 2016 Maryland Sprint (G3) on the undercard of the 141st Preakness (G1).

“In September of 2019, instead of going to the Tale of the Cat which we had won the year before, I thought the Tale of the Cat came up a lot tougher than the year that I won it,” Allard said. “So, I chose to go for a little less money at Mountaineer. He won very nicely with Carol on him. He came out of the race not 100 percent sound, but nothing major. We couldn't find anything on X-rays, we couldn't really find anything on an ultrasound, but he was definitely off.

“We gave him some time off and put him back in training and the same thing cropped up on him again,” he added. “So, we gave him practically a year off on Mr. Campbell's farm in Williston, Florida and put him back in training. He's been in training for the last five months and he's been training super, so I was real pleased.”

The final time for Always Sunshine's comeback victory was 1:02.91, three-fifths of a second off the Laurel track record of 1:02.20 set in October 2018 by 6-year-old Siralfredthegreat.

“He just needed some time off. It wasn't really a big deal,” Allard said. “He seemed to come out of his race really well.”

The decision on what's next for Always Sunshine will be left up to the horse, Allard said. Laurel's $250,000 General's Stake (G3) at seven furlongs is Feb. 13, a span of just three weeks. The next open stake for older sprinters in Maryland is the $100,000 Frank Whiteley, also going seven furlongs, April 17.

“That's a good question. As a 9-year-old you have to be a little more careful. We'll just have to see how it plays out. Who knows. I might be back in again for [$50,000]; then again maybe we'll look for a stake,” Allard said. “He just ran a monster race, and I haven't completely swallowed it yet. I was hoping he'd run really well and I thought that he would but you still have to go out there and prove it. So often, we're wrong a lot more than we're right, that's for sure.”

Allard, inducted into the New England Turf Writers' Hall of Fame in 2009, has been thrilled with his decision to stable at Pimlico after spending last winter in Tampa, Fla. Based at Delaware Park from spring to early fall, he has two wins, one second and two thirds in five 2021 starts, all at Laurel.

“When Delaware closed, I thought the logical spot was to go to Maryland,” Allard said. “I started in 1970 and I think I've won over 150 stakes and I don't know how many stakes I've won in Maryland, but Maryland has always been very good to me. I'm there and I'm happy and things are going well.”

The post Veteran Always Sunshine Runs ‘A Monster Race’ Off 541-Day Layoff appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights