winchell thoroughbreds | Horse Racing Free Tips

Pappacap Brings Strongest Juvenile Form Into Lecomte

Much to the delight of owner/breeder Rustlewood Farm and trainer Mark Casse, Pappacap (Gun Runner) will face nothing of the quality of the likes of 'TDN Rising Star' and likely Eclipse Award winner Corniche (Quality Road) when he makes his sophomore debut in Saturday's GIII Lecomte S. at the Fair Grounds.

The homebred was off the board just once from five runs in 2021, winning the GII Best Pal S. by open lengths at second asking before completing the exacta underneath the OBS April topper when beaten 3 1/4 lengths in the GI American Pharoah S. Oct. 1 and again in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Del Mar Nov. 5, where he sat a perfect trip, but could not quite match strides late and was 1 3/4 lengths adrift at the wire.

Casse is a two-time Lecomte winner, having unsaddled future Classic winner War of Will (War Front) in 2019 and Enforceable (Tapit) the following January.

“I never questioned where I wanted to go after the Breeders' Cup,” Casse said. “I feel really comfortable at Fair Grounds. We had a lot of success over that track. I think it's a great atmosphere and I have a lot of confidence in [assistant trainer] David Carroll. I think the track there suits him. He's a horse that wants to settle a little bit and not have to hustle a whole lot. He gets over the ground really well there.”

Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow), who runs one race prior to the Lecomte this weekend (see below), won last year's event for Winchell Thoroughbreds and Steve Asmussen and that formidable duo will be represented here by Epicenter (Not This Time). A speed-and-fade sixth in his seven-furlong debut at Churchill Sept. 18, he overcame the widest gate in a field of 10 to graduate by 3 1/2 lengths going the one-turn mile Nov. 13. The second choice to the dramatically overbet Rocket Dawg (Classic Empire) in the first running of the Gun Runner S. Dec. 26, the bay prompted the pace of Surfer Dude (Curlin) to the outside and powered home to take it by 6 1/2 lengths. Joel Rosario, who broke the colt's maiden, is back aboard this weekend.

Trafalgar (Lord Nelson) is an interesting new shooter for trainer Al Stall, Jr. and Andrea Pollack's Columbine Stable. The $100,000 FTKSEL yearling turned $310,000 OBS April breezer was a distant runner-up to the impressive and subsequently GISP Classic Causeway (Giant's Causeway) sprinting on Saratoga debut Sept. 4, then rallied stoutly–albeit with a strong pace to chase–to don cap and gown by 2 1/4 lengths in a one-mile test at Churchill Oct. 2. Conservatively spotted in a first-level allowance over course and distance Dec. 2, Trafalgar attended a much softer pace, looked in all sorts of trouble as first-out winner Naval Aviator (Tapit) rolled up to him late, but turned back that bid to score by a hard-fought head.

“He clearly waited on horses from the three-sixteenths to the sixteenth [pole],” Stall, Jr. said. “Here comes a Brad Cox horse [Naval Aviator] with a full head of steam, and I'm thinking, 'well there goes a 3-5 shot down the drain,' but he just re-engaged when he saw him and had to run hard the last part. I like the fact that he went from lollygagging around straight to fighting.”

Cyberknife (Gun Runner) is another with a two-turn victory to his credit, having idled in the final stages before clinging on for a half-length maiden breaker over track and trip on Dec. 26. Trainer Brad Cox adds blinkers to try to sharpen to colt's focus.

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Saturday’s Racing Insights: Well-Bred Medaglia d’Oro Colt Debuts at Gulfstream

11th-GP, $60K, Msw, 3yo, 1mT, 5:14 p.m. ET

Juddmonte, Winchell Thoroughbreds and Bridlewood Farm's PRINCIPE D'ORO (Medaglia d'Oro), a $650,000 KEESEP yearling and half-brother to 'TDN Rising Star' and GIII Allaire DuPont Distaff Match Series S. heroine Spice Is Nice (Curlin), draws the fence in this grassy debut run for Todd Pletcher. The 7-2 morning-line favorite was bred by B. Flay Thoroughbreds.

Pletcher also campaigned the dark bay's dam, the Bobby Flay colorbearer and 'TDN Rising Star' Dame Dorothy (Bernardini) to a win in the 2015 GI Humana Distaff S. Dame Dorothy RNA'd for $3.1 million at the 2019 KEENOV sale. Her Uncle Mo colt sold for $1.6 million to Robert and Lawana Low, the second most expensive lot, at last summer's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale.

Principe d'Oro is bred similarly to Medaglia d'Oro's GISWs Plum Pretty, Bolt d'Oro and Dickinson, who were produced by daughters of A.P. Indy.

TJCIS PPs

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Gun Runner Season Raises $130,000 For Western Kentucky Tornado Recovery

The right to breed a mare to 2017 Horse of the Year and record-breaking freshman sire Gun Runner sold for $130,000 — all going to relief and recovery efforts from last month's tornado devastation in Western Kentucky — on Tuesday's opening day of Keeneland's January Horses of All Ages Sale.

Winchell Thoroughbreds and Three Chimneys Farm, the partnership that campaigned Gun Runner, offered the 2022 breeding season to benefit tornado recovery efforts. It was auctioned as Tuesday night's last offering, with Keeneland forgoing its customary sales commission. The winning bidder was owner-breeder Bill Layni, who was not at Keeneland and was represented by an agent.

In addition, Three Chimneys and The Mint Gaming Hall at Kentucky Downs in Franklin are contributing an additional $50,000 apiece toward tornado recovery in the region. Ron Winchell, Kentucky Downs' co-owner and co-managing partner with Marc Falcone, and Three Chimneys vice chair Doug Cauthen said they would like to distribute the funds among multiple entities in Bowling Green and elsewhere in the region after identifying areas and urgent needs that might otherwise get neglected.

The Mint Gaming Hall opened a satellite historical horse racing facility in Bowling Green in late December at 2475 Scottsville Road. While The Mint Bowling Green sustained little damage, other areas in Warren County were decimated by the historic weather system that ripped a 200-mile swath of destruction through the state. Seventeen of at least 77 storm-related deaths in Kentucky were in Bowling Green.

“Our hearts ache for the thousands of people impacted by the most violent tornados in Kentucky's history and their horrific losses,” Winchell said. “We were blessed to have Gun Runner, a champion on the racetrack and now also in the breeding shed. Three Chimneys and I wanted our good fortune to help assist those whose worlds have been up-ended.

“Having a lot of team members in the Bowling Green area, we've heard a lot of first-hand stories about people who have lost loved ones or houses. It really hits home, the devastation and what people have lost, not only lives but their personal effects. It's changed a lot of people in that immediate area. There are so many unfathomable needs right now. ”

Gun Runner stands at Three Chimneys in Midway, Ky., with a $125,000 stud fee for 2022, payable if the mating produces a live foal that stands and nurses. The auctioned breeding did not include that guarantee, making the $130,000 price even more impressive.

With the North American breeding season starting in mid-February, Gun Runner already is completely booked. So Tuesday's auctioned breeding provided an opportunity to breed a mare this year to the wildly popular stallion.

Cauthen praised Keeneland for making the charity auction happen and promoting it on short notice.

“Everyone in Kentucky, at every level, wanted to do the right thing for folks that were hit by the disaster,” Cauthen said. “This, and another $50,000 from Kentucky Downs and $50,000 from Three Chimneys, will at least be a step in the right direction. The whole horse community has done a great job. The Torrealba family (Three Chimneys' owners) and Ron Winchell just wanted to do their part, and it was a good way to do it with the sale being here and with no more Gun Runner seasons around. That was a great price and it will go to a great cause.”

Gun Runner's 2-year-olds last year set a record for first-crop progeny earnings of $4,279,402; his six stakes-winning horses including Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies heroine Echo Zulu and Saratoga's Grade 1 Hopeful winner Gunite, Del Mar's Grade 2 Best Pal winner Pappacap and Saratoga's Grade 2 Adirondack winner Wicked Halo.

Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, Gun Runner raced three seasons from 2015-2017, adding victory in the 2018 Pegasus World Cup (G1) then worth $16 million, before retiring to Three Chimneys. The horse won 12 of 19 races for earnings of $15,988,500, including the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) in 2017. He finished third in the 2016 Kentucky Derby, but only improved throughout the rest of his career.

Tony Lacy, Keeneland's vice president for sales, called Gun Runner “an amazing stallion,” with bidders showing a lot of enthusiasm for the cause.

“I thought it was a wonderful gesture by Ron Winchell and Three Chimneys, going to an amazing cause,” Lacy said. “It's great for the industry to be able to give back to this endeavor. One hundred percent is going to the victims. We were just happy to facilitate the process.”

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Optionality Gets Third Consecutive Win In Trapeze Stakes At Remington

Optionality has turned into a machine, winning her third race in a row, all by more than six lengths. Her win Friday night was trainer Steve Asmussen's second in the last three years in the $101,100 Trapeze Stakes for 2-year-old fillies going one mile at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Asmussen also won this race in 2019 with Princesinha Julia. It was the first win in the Trapeze for jockey Jose Ortiz and owner Winchell Thoroughbreds (Ron Winchell) of Las Vegas.

On Friday night, Optionality got home a city block in front of everyone. She cruised to the lead just past the half-mile marker in the race and the rest of the field never heard from her again as she drew off to an impressive 8-1/4 lengths victory.

This daughter of the prolific sire Gun Runner, out of the Pulpit mare Simplify, broke her maiden at Indiana Grand in Shelbyville, Ind., two races back on Oct. 26, a victor by 6-3/4 lengths. Her subsequent start was on Oct. 26 at Zia Park in New Mexico in stakes company. She won the $50,000 Zia Princess Stakes also by daylight, checking in 6-1/2 lengths in front.

“She's a very versatile filly,” said the country's all-time winningest trainer Steve Asmussen. “I'm so proud to have another Gun Runner that can do this. She's won at three tracks, at two distances with three different jockeys. This was a good effort at one mile.”

Ortiz was equally impressed. His brother, Irad Ortiz, No. 2 in the nation in earnings in 2021, was in the saddle for the Zia win.

“She broke good,” Jose Ortiz said, “and Steve really had her ready. She started looking around at the end with it being nighttime and the lights and the shadow at the wire, but she got the job done.”

Optionality was the second betting favorite in the race at 2-1 odds and paid $6.20 to win, $3.20 to place, and $2.80 to show. Golden Sights, a distant runner-up, was the 6-5 favorite, three-quarters of a length ahead of Hits Pricey Legacy (4-1) in third. Running time for the mile was 1:41.10 over the fast track, a tad faster (.13) than the Springboard Mile a race later. Interior fractions for the race were :23.91 for the first quarter-mile, :48.49 for the half-mile, 1:13.87 for three-quarters of a mile and 1:27.13 for seven eighths.

The remaining order of finish in the Trapeze was Ring Me Darling (4th), Rollin Chrome (5th), Morning Twilight (6th), Diamonds N Aces (7th), Lilly's Bidness (8th), and Brodie Baby (9th).

It took Optionality four tries to win for the first time, but she hasn't lost since. Her record improved to six starts, three wins, one second, and two thirds for $124,000 earned. She won $60,000 for the trip to the winner's circle in the Trapeze. She is a Kentucky home-bred for the Winchells.

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