Avenue De France Gets Second Stakes Win In Miss America At Golden Gate

5-year-old mare Avenue de France saved ground the whole way around the racetrack and shot by the early pace players to win the $50,000 Miss America Stakes on Sunday afternoon at Golden Gate Fields in Berkeley, Calif. The Miss America, originally scheduled for the turf, was transferred to the Tapeta main track after a steady rainfall hit the Bay Area throughout the day on Sunday.

Avenue de France, who won the Luther Burbank Stakes on turf in August, sat in fourth position early on in the race and hugged the rail for the entire one-mile journey. Down the stretch, a seam opened up for Avenue de France, who darted forward, pushed past runner-up finisher and 7-5 favorite Brooke in the final stages, and won the mile and a sixteenth contest by a length. Avenue de France stopped the clock for the 1 1/16 miles in 1:45.19 seconds. Early pacesetter Sloane Garden finished third, followed by Reiwa, Tapwater, and Blue Diva.

Avenue de France paid $17.00 to win, $5.40 to place, and $3.60 to show. Brooke paid $3.40 to place and $2.60 to show while Sloane Garden returned $4.20 to show.

Avenue De France, guided to victory by Assael Espinoza, is trained by Southern California condition Leonard Powell. She is owned in partnership by the Benowitz Family Trust, Convergence Stables, Madaket Stables LLC, Wonder Stables, and Mathilde Powell. With the stakes victory, Avenue de France improved her lifetime record to five wins and four third-place finishes from 14 lifetime starts, with career earnings of $157,612. Avenue de France was bred in France by SARL Jedburgh Stud and Theirry de Heronniere.

Sunday concludes the 2021 Fall Meet at Golden Gate Fields. Live racing resumes the day after Christmas, Sunday, December 26, commencing the upcoming Winter/Spring meet which runs from late December to mid-June. First post is 12:45 PM PT.

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Marion Francis Looks For First Stakes Win In She’s All In Friday At Remington Park

Marion Francis has yet to enjoy the sweet taste of stakes success, but she hails from the barn of the top trainer in the country. The 3-year-old filly ships into Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla., and has been established as the 9-5 morning-line favorite in the $100,000 She's All In Stakes on the final night of the season, Friday, Dec. 17.

Brad Cox leads all trainers nationally with earnings of $30,932,681 this year. He has yet to win the She's All In Stakes.

Marion Francis has made $222,578 in 2021 and has lifetime earnings of $232,118 despite never winning in black-type company. Her record is 10 starts, three wins, three seconds, and three thirds.

A daughter of Constitution, out of the Two Punch mare Sophie's Destiny, has been stakes-placed twice. She ran third two races back in the $200,000 Plum Pretty Stakes at Parx Racing in Philadelphia on Sept. 25. Cox's filly also got third in the $150,000 Cathryn Sophia Stakes at Parx on Aug. 24. She broke her maiden at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., this spring on March 28 as the 6-5 favorite. Her margin of victory was 1-1/4 lengths.

Marion Francis picked up her next win at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. against allowance/optional $75,000 claiming fillies. She won that one by three-quarters of a length on May 28 over a wet fast track. She will be entering the She's All In off her third win, beating optional $100,000 claiming fillies under allowance conditions, at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., by a mere neck on Oct. 21. She's been off almost two months since then but has a series of works to prep for this comeback, three of them at Keeneland and her last on Dec. 5 at Oaklawn where she breezed in :48.40 for a half-mile.

Jockey Florent Geroux has been in the saddle for all three Marion Francis wins and all 10 of her starts. Cox will once again give him a leg up in the She's All In. Marion Francis is owned by Madaket Stables, Kent Spellman, and Wonder Stables. She was bred in Pennsylvania by Blackstone Farm. This filly was last purchased for $150,000 in the Ocala (Fla.) Breeders' Spring Sale for 2-year-olds in Training in 2020.

Marion Francis was made the slight favorite over Casual (2-1) from the barn of the nation's second-leading trainer and the all-time winningest conditioner in history, Steve Asmussen. Casual also is a multiple stakes-placed filly and ran fourth in the 2020 She's All In. Asmussen, who is second behind Cox in a heated battle for top-earning trainer this year at $30,523,870, has won the She's All in twice and will be going for his third victory in the past four years. He won with Magical in 2019 and Clever Serve in 2018. Ricardo Santana, Jr., booted home the 2019 winner while David Cabrera, the track's leading rider the past four years, 2018-2021, was aboard Clever Serve. This year, Asmussen will use the riding services of Jose Ortiz, who is fourth in the country among jockeys in money earned ($23,721,025). He trails only Joel Rosario in first, followed by Jose's brother Irad, and Luis Saez.

Casual is owned by Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings (J.G. Sikura), Stretch Run Ventures (Ed McGee), and Windsor Boys Racing (Faheem Hasnain). The 4-year-old daughter of two-time Horse of the Year, Curlin, is out of the Mutakddim mare Lady Tak. She was bred in Kentucky by the first two owners. She may not yet be a stakes winner, but she has finished second or third in six of her last seven tries against stakes company.

Casual ran second in Oaklawn's $200,000 Spring Fever Stakes on Feb. 27 and third in the Carousel Stakes on April 10, followed by a runner-up finish in the $100,000 Skipat Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md., on May 15. She continued her run with a third in the $120,000 Shine Again Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Asmussen decided to jump her up into the Grade 1 Ballerina Handicap there, where she ran seventh, beaten 11 lengths by champion Gamine on Aug. 28. Her next stop came here at Remington Park where she finished second to Cinnabunny in the $50,000 Flashy Lady Stakes on Sept. 26.

Casual was shipped out to Zia Park in Hobbs, New Mexico for her final start before the She's All In. She was a distant second in the $75,000 Zia Distaff there, beaten 5 3/4 lengths on Nov. 23.

The filly carrying the local flag in the She's All In will appropriately be She's All Wolfe, a 4-year-old daughter of the mare whose name is on this stakes race. She's All Wolfe, by Magna Graduate, was bred in Oklahoma by owner Dr. Robert Zoellner. All this filly has done for Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Famer trainer Donnie Von Hemel is win five of her eight starts at Remington on the main track. She is the 6-1 fourth favorite in the morning line.

She's All Wolfe is the lone Oklahoma-bred in the She's All In and leads in career victories and earnings. The 4-year-old's record is 20 starts, seven wins, five seconds, and a pair of thirds for a bankroll of $390,761. Her wins at Remington Park include the $30,000 Oklahoma Stallion Stakes for fillies on Sept. 11, 2020, and the $145,000 Oklahoma Classics Distaff last year and this year. Richard Eramia gets the return call on She's All Wolfe. Von Hemel has won the She's All In once since its inception in 2014. He sent out Ready to Confess for Pin Oak Stable in 2017.

She's All In reached millionaire status during her racing career, as well as being dominant in the Oklahoma Classics, winning the Distaff in four consecutive years from 2010-2013.

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Here's a look at the She's All In Stakes field from the rail out with post position, horse, jockey, trainer, and odds:

My Bets, Lane Luzzi, Philip Sims, 12-1
Lady Gwen, Carlos Montalvo, Brent Davidson, 20-1
Island Hideaway, Julien Leparoux, Karl Broberg, 12-1
She's All Wolfe, Richard Eramia, Donnie Von Hemel, 6-1
Paige Anne, Sophie Doyle, John Ennis, 5-1
Casual, Jose Ortiz, Steve Asmussen, 2-1
Marion Francis, Florent Geroux, Brad Cox, 9-5
Content, Danny Sorenson, Tina Hurley, 15-1

The She's All In goes as the 10th race on a 13-race card with an approximate post time of 9:25 p.m.

There are four other stakes races on Dec. 17:

Race 8, $70,000 Jim Thorpe Stakes, 3-year-olds, 1 mile (Oklahoma-breds)

Race 9, $70,000 Useeit Stakes, 3-year-old fillies, 1 mile (Oklahoma-breds)

Race 11, $100,000 Trapeze Stakes, fillies, 2-year-olds, 1 mile

Race 12, $400,000 Springboard Mile, 2-year-olds, 1 mile

The total closing day card will begin at 5 pm. on Friday, Dec. 17. Prior to the final night, racing will take place Wednesday and Thursday, Dec. 15-16 starting at 7:07 pm. All times are Central.

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Orglandes Catches Beautiful Lover, Candy Flower Late To Take Zagora

Candy Flower held the lead from the race's opening strides, but did not have enough left to hold off a late-stretch bid from favorite Orglandes (FR) in the Zagora Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

Mike Maker trainee Candy Flower was on the lead first time under the wire in the 1 1/2-mile Zagora, with Always Shopping and Orglandes taking up second and third. Maintaining a three-length advantage throughout, Candy Flower set a steady pace, logging fractions of :24.92 for the first quarter, :49.63 for the half-mile, and 1:15.10 for six furlongs. She looked poised to take the field gate to wire into the far turn, where her lead shrunk to a length as the field entered the stretch.

Irad Ortiz Jr. took Orglandes to the outside on the far turn, as Beautiful Lover pulled even with Candy Flower in the Belmont straightaway. Candy Flower battled back, even with Beautiful Lover, but Ortiz Jr. had Orglandes set down for a drive. She caught the two frontrunners in the race's final strides, getting up to win by a neck. Beautiful Lover was second, while Candy Flower held on for third. Hungry Kitten, Lovely Lucky, Always Shopping, and Go Big Blue Nation rounded out the order of finish.

The final time for the 1 1/2 miles was 2.29.28. Find this race's chart here.

Orglandes paid $3.50, $2.90, and $2.40. Beautiful Lover paid $5.00 and $3.40. Candy Flower paid $6.70.

Bred in France by SA Franklin Finance and Elisabeth Vidal, Orglandes is by Le Havre (IRE) out of the Dansili (GB) mare Influence (FR). Trained by Chad Brown, she is owned by Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables, Wonder Stables, and Michael J. Caruso. Orglandes was consigned by Coulonces Sales and sold to Sylvain Vidal for $88,245 at the 2017 Arqana Deauville October Yearlings Sale. Her win in the Zagora is the 5-year-old mare's first victory of 2021, for a lifetime record of five wins in 14 starts and career earnings of $307,022.

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Public Sector Targets Hollywood Derby Next, Raging Bull Preps For BC Mile

Klaravich Stables' Public Sector maintained a streak of graded stakes victories by capturing Saturday's $400,000 Grade 2 Hill Prince, a nine-furlong inner turf test for sophomores at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

Expertly piloted by Irad Ortiz, Jr., the bay son of Kingman settled five lengths back in third down the backstretch before making a sweeping move in the stretch to wear down Never Surprised to win by a neck. The victory garnered a career-best 91 Beyer Speed Figure.

Public Sector arrived at his nine-furlong debut off two sharp Saratoga graded stakes coups, taking the Grade 2 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame on August 6 and the Grade 3 Saranac four weeks later.

“He had been training really well and he's a horse that just continues to improve,” Brown said. “It was a great ride. Irad gave him a great trip and the horse really responded well to him.”

The victory marked a ninth graded-stakes triumph during the month of October for Brown, seven of which were at Belmont.

Brown applauded the pacesetting runner-up Never Surprised, who also rounded out the exacta in the Saranac.

“The pacemaker is a good horse and runs fast numbers and, I thought, a legitimate contender to win the race,” Brown said. “When they kicked on for home, there was a moment there I didn't think we'd be able to reel him in. I have a lot of respect for that horse.”

Public Sector is scheduled to make his next start in the $400,000 Grade 1 Hollywood Derby on November 28 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif. He will be following a familiar path as Brown and Klaravich Stables teamed up to capture last year's Hollywood Derby with multiple Grade 1-winner Domestic Spending, one of the likely favorites for the upcoming Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf.

Peter Brant's three-time Grade 1-winner Raging Bull breezed five-eighths in 1:01.80 in company Sunday with graded stakes winner Orglandes over firm Belmont inner turf.

“They both worked great,” Brown said.

Raging Bull, a last-out third in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile on September 18, will make his next start in the $2 million Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Mile on November 6 at Del Mar. The 6-year-old Dark Angel bay was 10th in last year's Mile.

Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables, Wonder Stables, and Michael J. Caruso's Orglandes finished a game second in the Grade 3 Fasig-Tipton Waya last out and will target the $100,000 Zagora on October 31. The daughter of Le Havre won her graded stakes debut last year when shipping to Del Mar to capture the Grade 3 Red Carpet going 11 furlongs.

“It was nice to get her back on track in her last race,” Brown said. “We had some high hopes for her and things just didn't pan out. Hopefully, she can continue to turn things around.”

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