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Morning Twilight Stays Undefeated With Oklahoma Classics Lassie Win

Just nine days after breaking her maiden status in a hard-fought effort, Morning Twilight made things look easier in winning her second start, the $130,000 Oklahoma Classics Lassie, sponsored by Coors Light, on Friday, Oct. 15 at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Owned by the Saratoga Springs, N.Y. partnership of West Point Thoroughbreds, Edwin Barker, and Titletown Racing Stables, Morning Twilight was bred in Oklahoma by Joe Merrick of Sayre. The filly was a $310,000 purchase at the Ocala Breeders' 2-year-old in training sale this year. Trained by racing's all-time leading winner Steve Asmussen, Morning Twilight was confidently ridden by Stewart Elliott.

When Morning Twilight won her first career race to break her maiden status on Oct. 6 at Remington Park, she scored a six-furlong event by one length. In the Lassie, the 2-year-old filly by Morning Line from the Medaglia d'Oro mare Sweet Golden Carol won by a widening 7-1/2 lengths.

After stalking the early pace set by Bring It On Baby, Morning Twilight made her move coming off the lone turn of the six-furlong event. The pair rolled to the top of the stretch together before Morning Twilight had enough of her company and kicked forward to an open lead, finishing in 1:11.20 over the fast track. Hits Pricey Legacy made a wide move down the stretch to gain second while Circle Back Girl (50-1 odds) came up the rail and just missed getting into the exacta, settling for third a head behind the runner-up.

Bring It On Baby set the opening fractions of :22.30 for a quarter-mile and then :45.70 for the half-mile. She would fade to finish fourth, beaten 9-3/4 lengths.

Morning Twilight was at 6-1 in the wagering and paid $15 to win, $5.80 to place and $4.20 to show. Hits Pricey Legacy paid $2.20 to place and $2.10 to show as the beaten wagering favorite at 1-2 odds. Circle Back Girl returned $9.80 to show.

The remaining order of finish in the Lassie was Smokin' Okie (5th), Lil' Jimmi Sue (6th), Tiptoe Henny (7th), Boujee Britt (8th), Take Me Serious (9th), Freccia d'Argento (10th), and Presley's Artwork (11th).

The Lassie win was the first for the owners of Morning Twilight. It was the second Lassie win for Asmussen and his fourth overall win in the Oklahoma Classics series. Jockey Stewart Elliott won his first Oklahoma Classics race.

The Oklahoma Classics is a million-dollar night of stakes racing, featuring the top Oklahoma-bred Thoroughbreds.

Remington Park racing continues Saturday, Oct. 16 with the first race at 7:07 pm-central.

The post Morning Twilight Stays Undefeated With Oklahoma Classics Lassie Win appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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NBC, NYRA TV Host Laffit Pincay Joins Writers’ Room

As one of the most recognizable television personalities in racing, Laffit Pincay has a front-row seat to some of the grandest spectacles in the sport, and as the son of one of the greatest jockeys who ever lived, he also has had first-hand experience with some of racing's most iconic moments from a very young age. Wednesday, the excellent broadcaster for NBC and the New York Racing Association joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland as the Green Group Guest of the Week to preview next month's Breeders' Cup, relive some of his favorite memories from growing up in a household steeped in racing and talk about how his perspective has shifted as he has become one of the faces of the sport.

Asked about his upbringing and when he figured out that he wanted to work in racing, Pincay said, “I didn't grow up following [racing] all that closely. I was a huge baseball, football, basketball fan. I always knew I wanted to be involved in sports in some capacity. Riding was never an option. I was wearing my dad's suits to the track on the rare occasion when I would go when I was 12 or 13. Even if I wanted to ride, he wouldn't have allowed it. He said, 'If you do it, you'd better be really good, because it's a really difficult life.' It's not quite what it's made out to be. The way he had to starve himself. No offseason.

“It wasn't something, even if I was built to be a jockey, that he would have allowed. It wasn't until my teenage years that I took an interest in the sport and that was just father and son figuring out a way to bond. It was me taking an interest in his business. I found cabinets full of VHS tapes of big races he had won. I watched those over and over and over again. So I kind of taught myself the history of the sport in that way. When it came time to decide what I wanted to do for a living, as much as I love sports, I wasn't going to be an athlete. Television seemed like the right avenue. My first job was at News 12 in The Bronx. Covering high school sports and occasionally the Yankees. Then I fell into horse racing just looking for a job when I got back from New York, and it's gone on from there.”

Pincay also reflected on the importance of being able to broadcast racing last year during the COVID-induced shutdown, saying, “We were going through such a trying time and the anxiety that comes with that, with no other sports going on. So many people told us that was their escape on a day-to-day basis. To just check out. We didn't have to watch the news and worry about everything for those few hours during the course of an afternoon and what a difference that made to [people], it was special for us to hear that. If ever there was a sport designed to thrive during the course of the pandemic, it was horse racing, where you don't have a lot of human-to-human contact. We were fortunate to be distracted and be able to do our jobs. I can't tell you how many people I know in the media, in sports media specifically, who weren't able to work or who were laid off or lost jobs, adding more anxiety to an already anxious situation.”

Elsewhere on the show, which is also sponsored by Coolmore, West Point Thoroughbreds and Legacy Bloodstock, the writers appreciated the consistency of presumptive champion Letruska (Super Saver), debated the idea of penalizing trainers for equine fatalities and discussed the alleged Gulfstream betting coup that led to a jockey suspension. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version or find it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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Galilean, Son Of Uncle Mo, Retires To New York’s Hidden Lake Farm

Galilean, a multiple stakes-winning and graded stakes-placed son of perennial leading sire Uncle Mo from the female family of the influential Smart Strike, has been retired from racing and will take up his new career as a stallion at Hidden Lake Farm in New York where he will stand the 2022 breeding season for a stud fee of $7,000 S&N.

“We are proud of what Galilean accomplished on the racetrack,” said West Point Thoroughbreds' Terry Finley, “and we're excited for him to write his next chapter as a stallion. He was precocious, fast, and he proved his class repeatedly in top company. We believe he has the looks, the pedigree, and the type of dangerous miler speed to make his mark as a stallion. We are committed to supporting Galilean with some of our top mares, and we're excited to offer him to New York breeders.”

The handsome bay colt kicked off his racing career in auspicious fashion, competing exclusively in stakes as a juvenile. Galilean won the $100,000 Barretts Juvenile Stakes at Los Alamitos on debut for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. In a determined effort, Galilean proved a game winner in his bow, getting 6 ½ furlongs in a lively 1:15.28 with an interior six-furlong clocking of 1:08.75.

He closed out his freshman campaign with a tremendous performance in the $100,000 King Glorious Stakes, also at Los Alamitos, leading the one-mile test from start to finish. He sprinted to the lead, set the pace down the backstretch, and repelled a bid from his nearest pursuer on the far turn before powering away from his rivals in the stretch to win by nine lengths in 1:35.06 as the odds-on favorite.

Galilean commenced his 3-year-old season with a 4 ½-length victory in the $200,000 California Cup Derby at Santa Anita. After pressing the pace three-wide into the stretch of the 1 1/16-mile event, Galilean drew off under a hand ride from Flavien Prat to win as much the best. The win earned him a trip to Hot Springs, Ark., for the Rebel Stakes (G2) at Oaklawn Park where he finished a close third behind winner Long Range Toddy and runner-up and subsequent multiple Grade 1 winner Improbable.

In 2020, Galilean added three additional stakes scores to his already impressive resume, taking the Soi Phet Stakes at Los Alamitos by four lengths under the tutelage of trainer John Sadler, the California Dreamin' Stakes at Del Mar, and the California Flag Handicap at Santa Anita. He made the final start of his career on Sept. 12 at Los Alamitos, finishing fourth in the E.B. Johnston Stakes. He retires with a record of 16-6-1-3 and boasts a career bankroll of $592,522.

Bred in California by Bar C Racing Stables, Galilean is produced from the El Prado (IRE) mare Fresia, a half-sister to Ontario Derby (G3) and Seagram Cup Stakes (G3) winner His Race to Win, an earner of $509,349. Galilean hails from the prolific Sam-Son female family of Canadian champion Classy 'N Smart, a half-sister to Sky Classic and the dam of Smart Strike, Dance Smartly and others, and the granddam of Dancethruthedawn and promising young sire Speightster.

For more information on Galilean or to schedule a viewing, contact Chris Bernhard at (914) 850-9769 or by email at cjbern@hotmail.com.

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Galilean to Stand at Hidden Lake Farm

Multiple stakes winner Galilean (Uncle Mo–Fresia, by El Prado {Ire}), who hails from the female family of the influential Smart Strike, has been retired from racing and will take up his new career as a stallion at Hidden Lake Farm in New York, where he will stand the 2022 breeding season for a stud fee of $7,000 S&N.

Campaigned by West Point Thoroughbreds, Denise Barker, and William Sandbrook, Galilean was bought by West Point Thoroughbreds for $600,000 out of Eddie Woods' consignment at the 2018 Barretts 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. He picked up victories in the Barretts Juvenile S. and King Glorious S. as a juvenile and added a score in the California Cup Derby as well as a third in the GII Rebel S. at three in 2019. He also captured the Soi Phet S., California Dreamin S. and California Flag H. last year. The bay, who was trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, retires with a record of 16-6-1-3 and earnings of $592,522.

For more information on Galilean or to schedule a viewing, contact Chris Bernhard at (914) 850-9769 or by email at cjbern@hotmail.com.

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