Whiskey Double | Horse Racing Free Tips

Silver State May Bring Five-Race Win Streak To Met Mile On Belmont Stakes Card

While Grade 1 Preakness Stakes runner-up Midnight Bourbon will likely take his show on the road, red-hot Silver State could give Winchell Thoroughbreds and trainer Steve Asmussen noteworthy representation on Belmont Stakes Day in the Grade 1, $1 million Hill 'N' Dale Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

Silver State would bring a five-race win streak to New York for the Met Mile for Winchell and Asmussen. Owned by Winchell in partnership with Willis Horton Racing, the 4-year-old Hard Spun colt was given an extended break following a run in the series of Kentucky Derby prep races at Fair Grounds Race Course last year and has done no wrong since returning to action.

Following two allowance triumphs at seven furlongs at Keeneland and Churchill Downs, Silver State began building a prominent resume with a trio of stakes victories at Oaklawn Park this winter, capturing the Fifth Season on January 23, the Essex on March 13, and the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap on April 17.

“We've got the Met Mile under consideration,” said David Fiske bloodstock and racing adviser for Winchell Thoroughbreds. “He went seven-eighths in 1:21 and some change when he won at Churchill, so we feel that anything around seven-eighths to a mile and an eighth would be within his ability.”

Should he make the trip to New York for the Met Mile, Silver State would aim to give Asmussen his third victory in the prestigious race. He previously won back-to-back editions with Bee Jersey [2018] and Mitole [2019].

Fiske added that dual graded stakes-placed Whiskey Double could ship to Belmont Park later in the summer for the Grade 3, $250,000 Dwyer on July 5 if performs well in a Thursday allowance race at Churchill Downs. The son of Into Mischief was second in the Grade 3 Bay Shore at Aqueduct before finishing third to stable mate Jackie's Warrior in the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile at Churchill Downs.

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Drain The Clock Under Wraps Taking Bay Shore As Heavy Favorite

Saturday's stakes action at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y., kicked off when Drain the Clock solidified his 1-5 favoritism while capturing his second graded stakes triumph, going gate-to-wire in the Grade 3, $200,000 Bay Shore for 3-year-olds.

The Maclean's Music chestnut colt cut back in distance for the seven-furlong sprint after finishing second in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 2 Fountain of Youth on February 27 at Gulfstream Park.

Drain the Clock was a step slow leaving the gate under jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., but quickly established command. Two-time winning Parx invader Beren, who stumbled at the start, kept close company to the outside in second as Drain the Clock led the compact five-horse field through opening fractions of 23.68 and 47.97 seconds over the fast main track.

Around the turn, Drain the Clock extended his advantage as Beren began to relinquish. Ortiz, Jr. got busy aboard his charge nearing the quarter pole and opened up a 4 ½-length lead in upper stretch.

Drain the Clock lugged out slightly nearing the furlong marker as Ortiz, Jr. went to the left hand with Whiskey Double launching a late bid to the outside. By the sixteenth pole, Ortiz, Jr. had Drain the Clock under wraps as he strolled past the finish line a 1 3/4-length winner in a final time of 1:25.97. Whiskey Double made up considerable ground to get second, 5 3/4 lengths ahead of Too Boss in third.

Beren and Garoppolo rounded out the order of finish.

Owned by Slam Dunk Racing, Madaket Stables, Wonder Stables and Michael Nentwig, Drain the Clock improved his record to 7-5-1-0, with his other graded stakes win coming two starts back in the Grade 3 Swale on January 30 at Gulfstream Park, which also was at seven furlongs.

“He just wants to break out of there. He broke a little [slow] out of there but he put himself right away into the race and took me to the lead,” said Ortiz, Jr., who returned to New York fresh off a riding title at Gulfstream Park. “I let him relax and then I asked him to go and he was running hard to the wire.”

The victory was a first graded stakes win in New York for Florida-based trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr., who will have a string at Belmont Park this summer for the first time.

“I thought he kicked away well at the top of the lane and did what he had to do. If you ease up on him, he's going to relax,” Joseph, Jr. said. “The five [Beren] didn't get a good break, unfortunately, and we didn't get pressed. If that horse went, we were going to sit. He's a very versatile horse and he doesn't need the lead.”

A NYRA Grade 1 could be in order for Drain the Clock, as Joseph, Jr. listed the $400,000 Woody Stephens on June 5 at Belmont Park and the $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial on August 28 at Saratoga as long terms goals for the talented colt.

“I'll talk it over with the ownership group. The Woody Stephens was in play even before this race but this puts it even more up there,” Joseph, Jr. said. “It's definitely on the radar. The Woody Stephens and Allen Jerkens are the types of races you want to be in. If we could win one it would be nice, if we could win both it would be great.”

Bred in Kentucky by Nick Cosato, Drain the Clock is the third offspring out of the Arch mare Manki, whose two other progeny of racing age are winners.

Drain the Clock banked $110,000 in victory while improving his lifetime earnings to $319,550. He returned $2.70 for a $2 win ticket.

Live racing resumes Thursday at Aqueduct with an eight-race card. First post is 1:20 p.m. Eastern.

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$875K Into Mischief Colt Graduates in Churchill Unveiling

4th-Churchill Downs, $80,750, Msw, 6-27, 2yo, 6f, 1:10.70, ft.
WHISKEY DOUBLE (c, 2, Into Mischief–Lake Sebago {MSW, $243,225}, by Munnings), an $875,000 KEESEP buy, was sent off the 7-5 choice in this unveiling and settled in a stalking position as Medicine Tail (Kantharos) led through initial fractions of :21.81 and :45.78. Three wide turning for home, the Steve Asmussen trainee took aim in upper stretch and wore down the 7-2 shot late to score by 3/4 of a length. Windcracker (Super Saver) was third. The bay’s dam is MSW Lake Sebago (Munnings) and hails from the family of Canadian champion Hollinger (Black Minnaloushe). She produced a filly by Ghostzapper last season followed by a full-sister to Whiskey Double earlier this spring. Sales history: $875,000 Ylg ’19 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $45,064. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
O-Phoenix Thoroughbred III and Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC; B-Buck Pond Farm, Inc. & Richard M. Seale (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen.

The post $875K Into Mischief Colt Graduates in Churchill Unveiling appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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