winchell thoroughbreds | Horse Racing Free Tips

Red Route One Rolls Home In the West Virginia Derby

Sent off the third betting choice at just shy of 4-1, Red Route One (Gun Runner) sustained a run for the better part of the final five furlongs and shot past the dueling pacesetters to give his owner Winchell Thoroughbreds a third win and trainer Steve Asmussen a sixth success in the GIII West Virginia Derby.

Outrun early, the homebred was third-last to make the first turn as Iowa Derby first-past-the-post One In Vermillion (Army Mule) and West Coast Cowboy (West Coast)–fifth in Altoona–eyeballed one another through honest splits. Red Route One began to make progress as he weaved his way through at the midway stage and was up into sixth, but still a good 10 lengths off the leaders as they hit the second turn. Going clearly the best of them nearing the stretch, though with several lengths to find, Red Route One was thrown onto his correct lead by Cristian Torres in the vicinity of the eighth pole and inhaled the front-runners shortly thereafter before kicking clear to score by daylight.

Runner-up in the GIII Southwest S. and again in the GII Rebel S., both sloppy-track affairs at his winter base at Oaklawn, Red Route One was left with too much to do in the GI Arkansas Derby and could do no better than a well-beaten sixth to Angel of Empire (Classic Empire). Winner of the Apr. 22 Bath House Row S. after failing to make the cut for the GI Kentucky Derby, Red Route One was a sound fourth to National Treasure (Quality Road) in the GI Preakness S. May 20 and was eased home a distant eighth when last seen in the GI Belmont S. June 10.

Pedigree Notes:

The 13th graded winner for his Three Chimneys-based stallion, Red Route One is out of an unraced daughter of Grade II winner Fun House, the dam of 2014 Eclipse champion 3-year-old filly and five-times Grade I winner Untapable, whose two most recent foals are Gun Runner colts of 2021 and 2023. Fun House also dropped GISW Paddy O'Prado (El Prado {Ire}) and the dam of GSW Majestic Eagle (Medaglia d'Oro). The deeper family includes Winchell standouts Olympio, Call Now and Early Flyer.

It comes as little surprise that the cross of Gun Runner over Tapit has proved fruitful, having accounted for the likes of GISW Society and other graded scorers Wicked Halo and Disarm. Another half-dozen of Gun Runner's black-type winners descend from other A.P. Indy-line sires. Red House sadly passed away at just five years of age in 2020.

Sunday, Mountaineer Casino & Resort
WEST VIRGINIA DERBY-GIII, $500,000, Mountaineer Casino & Resort, 8-6, 3yo, 1 1/8m, 1:49.49, gd.
1–RED ROUTE ONE, 118, c, 3, by Gun Runner
                1st Dam: Red House, by Tapit
                2nd Dam: Fun House, by Prized
                3rd Dam: Bistra, by Classic Go Go
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. O/B-Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC
(KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen; J-Cristian A. Torres. $297,500.
Lifetime Record: GISP, 12-3-2-1, $1,045,025. *Full to Red Run,
SW & GSP, $385,598. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–West Coast Cowboy, 118, c, 3, West Coast–Coco's Sweetie,
by Tenpins. ($35,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP; $170,000 2yo '22
OBSAPR). O-Gentry Farms (A.P. Gentry); B-Gary & Mary West
Stables Inc. (KY); T-Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. $100,000.
3–One in Vermillion, 118, c, 3, Army Mule–Given Star, by
Any Given Saturday. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($26,000 Ylg
'21 ARZNOV). O-Jonathan Kalman; B-Richard Barton
Enterprises (CA); T-Esteban Martinez. $50,000.
Margins: 3, HD, 3HF. Odds: 3.90, 7.50, 3.30.
Also Ran: Raise Cain, Groveland, Lord Miles, Timesatappin, Knockout Guy, Looka Looka, Fartlek. Scratched: Dreaming of Kona, My Man Biggie, Russian Hammer, Tapit's Conquest.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. https://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/race-replays/0/202202261821OPM11/

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Asmussen Hopes for Gun Runner Double on Saturday

A few weeks before the opening of the Saratoga meet, Steve Asmussen paid a visit to Lexington to see an old friend. The Hall of Fame conditioner stopped by Three Chimneys Farm, as he does regularly, to check in on Gun Runner.

“It's Three Chimneys,” Asmussen explained with a shrug from his barn at the Oklahoma earlier this week. “It's a beautiful place and Gun Runner deserves the adulation. He is a very special horse.”

A few hours after he made that statement, Asmussen's star filly Echo Zulu, of course a daughter of Gun Runner, earned her seventh career graded stakes victory in the GII Honorable Miss H. on Wednesday. The 'TDN Rising Star' and champion juvenile was gearing down at the wire as she won by 7 1/4 lengths.

The Asmussen and Winchell Thoroughbreds camp is hoping that win was just the start of a big weekend for their Horse of the Year-turned-sire sensation.

On Saturday, two sons of Gun Runner will sport the Winchell silks at Saratoga while facing graded stakes company. Gunite looks to get his second career Grade I victory in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt S. while Disarm returns to the track where he first saw the winner's circle for the GII Jim Dandy S.

Disarm has struggled to cross the wire first as a 3-year-old, but he put in solid efforts throughout the year when he was second in the GII Louisiana Derby, third in the GIII Lexington S. and fourth in the GI Kentucky Derby. He got his first win on the year over a sloppy track in the GIII Matt Winn S. on June 11.

“It was good to see him win,” said Asmussen. “He has run competitively, but has not been in the winner's circle since his maiden race, which was here in Saratoga last summer. With the fact that he has run at Saratoga and won, we're comfortable with how he'll handle the circumstances on the racetrack, but it's a very talented group for the Jim Dandy.”

As defining of a race for the 3-year-old crop as ever, the Jim Dandy drew the third, fourth and fifth-place finishers of this year's GI Kentucky Derby with Angel of Empire (Classic Empire), Disarm and Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}), but they'll all have to face reigning juvenile champion and GI Belmont S. runner-up Forte (Violence). Disarm and Forte will stand together in the starting gate, drawing the first and second post positions, respectively, for Saturday's mile and an eighth contest.

The ever-consistent Gunite has always put in strong performances at the Spa. As a juvenile he was second there in the GII Saratoga Special S. and went on to dominate in the GI Hopeful S. Last year at three, he claimed the GII Amsterdam S. at odds of 7-1 and then finished second to Jack Christopher (Munnings) in the GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S.

Disarm breaks his maiden in Saratoga last summer | Sarah Andrew

This year, Gunite returns to Saratoga with a two-for-four record as a 4-year-old and is coming off a win in the June 3 Aristides S. at Churchill Downs.

The seven-horse Vanderbilt field includes Juddmonte's champion sprinter Elite Power (Curlin), who bested Gunite earlier this year in the G3 Riyadh Dirt Sprint in February, but Asmussen is as confident as ever in his star sprinter.

“He's coming off probably his fastest race ever with his win at Churchill,” he said. “He gets to run against Elite Power again, but Gunite has seen the best and it doesn't bother him. He brings it all the time.”

Asmussen has always a big believer in Gunite and the grit the dark bay has shown throughout his career. He recalled how Gunite made the trip west for the Breeders' Cup in 2021 not to compete himself, but to help prepare Echo Zulu for her winning bid in the Juvenile Fillies.

“We took him to California because I didn't want to change Echo Zulu's workmate before the Breeders' Cup,” Asmussen explained. “For him to still be running at this level is so rare.”

Asmussen finds several similarities in these two sons of Gun Runner.

“As far as what their specialty is, that might separate them, but their similarities are their attitude and their approach to training,” he explained. “They're extremely hardy–their appetite, how they take pressure. It's a quality that I think they definitely get from Gun Runner.”

Saratoga seems to be a productive place for Gun Runner, who earned two Grade I victories there in 2017 in the Whitney S. and the Woodward S. In 2021, two of the top performers out of his first crop made a statement on closing weekend when Echo Zulu claimed the GI Spinaway S. and the next day, Gunite took home the Hopeful.

“How could you top that one?” Asmussen said with a laugh. “I don't think it's possible, but that actually did happen. You couldn't be a bigger Gun Runner fan than I am, but to see him come out setting records like he does is extremely special.”

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A Jim Dandy Of A Graded Stakes Weekend

Equine or human, history is always about the six degrees of someone in racing's world. For instance, at 100-1 Jim Dandy beat Triple Crown champion Gallant Fox in the 1930 edition of the Travers S., which only featured four entries total.

The horse who set up the longshot by engaging in a speed duel with the favorite over the mud was Whichone, a colt owned by Harry Payne Whitney (yes, that important family). And what other Thoroughbred did Whitney own? Well, that would be Upset, who did just that, when he handed the great Man o' War his only career loss. And that is a minor example of a nexus.

As part of the Saratoga weekend card, it seems fitting that Saturday's GII Jim Dandy S. is the main prep for next month's GI Travers S. Horse racing, like life, always reflects irony of some type.

In this year's edition, Saudi Crown (Always Dreaming) isn't going to be 100-1. However, compared to the experience of GIII Matt Winn S. victor and 'TDN Rising Star' Disarm (Gun Runner), Eclipse champion 2-year-old and 'TDN Rising Star' Forte (Violence), who will be wearing first-time blinkers, Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}), winner of the GIII Withers S. and second in the GII Wood Memorial S., and GI Arkansas Derby star and GI Kentucky Derby third Angel of Empire (Classic Empire), the 3-year-old colt has something to prove after running second last time out in the GIII Dwyer S. July 1 at Belmont Park. The Brad Cox trainee passed the eye test in his debut at Keeneland in April and against allowance company May 21 at Churchill Downs.

Not to be missed on the Saratoga Saturday card is another race with historical connections in spades. This year's GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. will feature a rematch from February's G3 Riyadh Dirt Sprint in Saudi Arabia in which the reigning Eclipse champion dirt sprinter and GISW Elite Power (Curlin) stepped away as GISW Gunite (Gun Runner) gave chase for second. The $900,000 Keeneland September buy built on that win with another impressive display in the GII True North S.

Elite Power | Sarah Andrew

Elite Power worked a half mile alone in :51.22 Sunday over the Oklahoma training track in a breeze that Mott indicated was similar to the chestnut's half-mile work in :51.11 on Oct. 28 over the same surface ahead of his Breeders' Cup victory. “That's him by himself,” Mott said. “He's run well off of those kind of works right before his races. He did that in Saudi. He was working :51 before he won the Breeders' Cup. He wouldn't wow anyone when he's working by himself.”

Looking elsewhere on Saturday in North America, Monmouth Park will card its own Oaks. The Grade III includes Promiseher America (American Pharoah) from Ray Handal's stable and Occult (Into Mischief), who was last seen running third to MGISW Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief) in the GI Acorn S. on the Belmont S. undercard.

In the wake of cancellations due to heat the past couple of days, Woodbine Racetrack will hope to run the GII Seagram Cup for 3-year-olds and up. Tyson (Tapit) will garner much attention since the 4-year-old gray colt won the GIII Dominion Day S. last time out for trainer Josie Carroll.

Del Mar Thoroughbred Club will have plenty of action to contribute as their program includes the GII San Diego H. and the GI Bing Crosby S., which offers a Breeders' Cup 'Win and You're In' voucher for the GI BC Qatar Racing Sprint.

Both Del Mar races sport field sizes of 10-plus. The San Diego includes MGISW Defunded (Dialed In), who won Santa Anita's GI Gold Cup May 29 and will carry the most weight here at 125. With 12 hopefuls entered for the Bing Crosby, Anarchist (Distorted Humor) returns to California after running second to Elite Power in the GII True North S. The 4-year-old colt will face some veteran runners in G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen hero Sibelius (Not This Time) and MGISW and '21 winner Dr. Schivel (Violence).

Rebel's Romance works at Saratoga | Sarah Andrew

Shifting to Sunday, not to be missed on the stakes slate are a pair of Grade IIs for 3-year-olds and up over the turf. Saratoga's Bowling Green S. has enticed GI Breeders' Cup Turf conqueror Rebel's Romance (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) for trainer Charlie Appleby. Last seen running a well-beaten seventh in the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic in March, the 5-year-old gelding will look to get his second half of his season off on the right foot.

“He's a well-traveled horse; Germany, Keeneland, England and Dubai,” said Appleby's traveling assistant Chris Connett. “He's traveled this trip pretty well and he's settled in good shape. He's a typical Dubawi, he's got better with age. He's a big horse that's really grown into his frame. Hopefully, we'll get to see him at his best on Sunday.”

Count Again | Horsephotos

Meanwhile the Eddie Read S. at Del Mar includes four entries from Phil D'Amato's shedrow, including MGISW Count Again (Awesome Again), winner last time out of the GI Shoemaker Mile S. May 30 at Santa Anita Park, and MGSW Balnikov (Ire) (Adaay {Ire}), who is looking to bounce back after finishing eighth in that same race. The competitive Leo Powell trainee and MGSW Dicey Mo Chara (GB) (Adaay {Ire}) goes out for a barn that won last weekend's GII San Clemente S. The 5-year-old gelding's last start yielded a finished third-place finish at Santa Anita May 13 in the GIII San Luis Rey S.

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MGISW Echo Zulu Earns Fastest Six Furlong Beyer Of The Year, Ballerina Could Be Next

Winchell Thoroughbreds and L and N Racing's Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) has won three Grade Is and earned an Eclipse Award, but in Wednesday's GII Honorable Miss H. the 4-year-old filly added to her resume when she posted a Beyer Speed Figure of 112–the fastest number recorded by any horse going six furlongs this year.

“I'm extremely proud of her race. That obviously was an impressive race and that would put a [big] number on it,” Asmussen said. “I'm very happy with how she came out of the race yesterday. I'm unbelievably impressed with her and I honestly didn't expect anything less.”

While the GI Ballerina H. Aug. 26 at Saratoga is the likely next target for Echo Zulu, neither Asmussen nor Winchell Thoroughbreds' racing manager David Fiske ruled out a future start against males.

“It probably has everything to do with how Gunite [by Gun Runner, who is entered in Saturday's GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H.] does in the division with the common ownership,” Asmussen said. “But I'm definitely not scared to run her against anybody. We'll do whatever is best for the other horses that Winchell and L and N own.”

Winchell and Asmussen also campaign MGSW and MGISP Wicked Halo (Gun Runner), who won last weekend's Twin Bridges S. at Ellis Park.

“The plan last week was that if Wicked Halo ran well and Echo Zulu ran well, they would both show up in the Ballerina,” said Fiske. “We'll try to keep everyone healthy and go on down the path. People are speculating that Echo Zulu should go to the [GI] Breeders' Cup Sprint and pass the [GI Breeders' Cup] Filly and Mare Sprint. We do have Wicked Halo, but I don't know what we would do with Gunite because he could win the Sprint, too.”

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