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Horse Racing Recap: Animal Kingdom travels from US seeking a final win

June 18, 2013 By

64767412d4c7978baad5df520f308e51 Horse Racing Recap: Animal Kingdom travels from US seeking a final win

, England (AP) – Animal Kingdom is coming a long way to Royal , chasing one last win.

The in 2011 and the $10 million Dubai World Cup this year is to be retired to stud after running in the Queen Anne Stakes on Tuesday.

Not since 1936 has a competed at . On that occasion, 1935 Omaha finished second in the Gold Cup – the at .

“ is a bonus for me because I thought Dubai was his last race,” trainer Graham Motion said. “I feel very fortunate that (the owners) have taken on this very sporting challenge at .

“In the States, we have a lot of opportunities for easy pickings so it’s more of a sporting challenge to come here. It would be a shot in the arm for America if he was to win at Royal Ascot.”

Victory, though, will not come easy for Animal Kingdom, the odds-on favorite by British bookmakers. Accustomed to racing on dirt and on a left-turn track, he will have to contend with the up-and-down nature of Ascot’s famous straight mile.

“Animal Kingdom is a very good horse, but this will be a for him,” said Patrick Barbe, racing manager for Animal Kingdom’s biggest rival, Elusive Kate.

A second win abroad will clearly boost the injury-prone horse’s value as a stallion. It will also be a milestone for Motion, who is based in the U.S. but was brought up 6 miles from the racing hotbed of Newmarket in England.

Motion’s was , one of Britain’s greatest trainers who died last week of cancer. Cecil won a record 75 races on this track – including ’s sensational 11- in the Queen Anne Stakes in 2012 – and will be honored during the five-day meet that starts Tuesday.

“It’s tremendous to be running in a race that Frankel won last year and Cecil was one of the people I admired the most when growing up in Newmarket, so it’s quite emotional,” Motion said.

A minute’s silence will be held for Cecil on Tuesday after the arrival of the royal procession in the parade ring. Friday’s Queen’s Vase race, won a record eight times by Cecil, will be titled “The Queen’s Vase In Memory of Sir .” Jockeys riding in that race will wear black armbands.

Last year, unbeaten Black Caviar ran at Ascot for her first appearance outside Australia, winning the Diamond Jubilee Stakes for her 22nd straight win. She was retired this year with a 25-0 record.

Estimate, owned by Queen Elizabeth II, was the winner of the Queen’s Vase last year. This time, the will be running in Thursday’s Gold Cup, the meet’s feature race. The queen is seeking a 22nd win at Royal Ascot.

The meet, with total prize money of $7.9 million, also marks the return to racing of Dawn Approach. The Godolphin horse won the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket in May before flopping in the English Derby this month over a longer distance. Dawn Approach is running in the St. James’s Palace Stakes on Tuesday.

“Hopefully, Dawn Approach can reproduce his Guineas effort,” said Simon Crisford, racing manager of Godolphin.

Horse Racing Recap: Animal Kingdom travels from US seeking a final win is a post from: PhatzRadio.com

Horse Racing Recap: Animal Kingdom travels from US seeking a final win Horse Racing Recap: Animal Kingdom travels from US seeking a final win Horse Racing Recap: Animal Kingdom travels from US seeking a final win Horse Racing Recap: Animal Kingdom travels from US seeking a final win Horse Racing Recap: Animal Kingdom travels from US seeking a final win

Horse Racing Recap: Animal Kingdom travels from US seeking a final win

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Horse Racing Recap: Verrazano wins first race since Kentucky Derby

June 17, 2013 By Leave a Comment

6b38670ec61892986231860e84df8a72 Horse Racing Recap: Verrazano wins first race since Kentucky Derby

, N.J. (AP) – Coming off a disappointing race in the , Verrazano cruised to a front-running 91/4 length victory in the Grade 3, $150,000 Pegasus Stakes at .

Ridden by John Valazquez, Verrazano ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:41 3-5 before a Father’s Day- of 28,951. The -trained winner of the Wood Memorial returned $2.80, $2.20 and $2.10.

“It feels good to have him back,” Velazquez said. “There didn’t look to be that much speed on paper at all. I talked to Todd this morning and he said just to come out running and make them chase you. His ears were wagging every step of the way and around the 3/8ths pole I gave him a little nudge and he knew it was time to go.”

A 3-year-old by More Than Ready from the Giant’s Causeway mare Enchanted Rock, Verrazano was making his first start since finishing 14th in the . Prior to that, he was 4 for 4.

Verrazano is expected to make his next start in the Grade 1, $1 million William Hill Invitational, centerpiece of the Monmouth Park season on July 28th.

“I think we got exactly what we wanted to set us up for the Haskell,” said Brian Sullivan, co-owner of Let’s Go Stable. “I think it makes the next six months interesting with a sprint to see who’s . I think we’re squarely within that picture. He’ll train at the Spa (Saratoga) and bring him back for the Haskell.”

Reporting Star, with Angel aboard, finished second and $9 and $10. Bethel was another 41/4 lengths back in third and paid $13.20 to show.

Itsmyluckyday, who was sent off the 6-5 second choice and was coming off a runner-up finish in the , moved toward Verrazano down the but was pulled up by .

“It felt like a left hind,” Smith said. “He actually broke really sharp and was just about to go up to press Verrazano and I felt something behind. I wasn’t going to take a chance and decided it was better to be safe than sorry so I just took the cautious road.”

In the day’s other stakes event, Richiefromshoprite took the lead early and never looked back, going wire-to-wire in the $60,000 Dan Horn Handicap for owner Joel Kligman. The win marked the 55th consecutive year that Kligman has one at least one race at Monmouth Park.

Trained by Stacy Machiz and ridden by Gabriel Saez, Richiefromshoprite covered the mile over firm turf in 1:35 2-5 and paid $35.20, $17 and $9. Hop Skip and Away finished second and returned $8.20 to place and $5 to show. Favored Javerre finished third but was disqualified and placed 11th for interference in the stretch. Fine Friends was moved into the show spot and paid $3.60.


Include Me Out wins Desert Stormer

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) – Include Me Out won the $77,070 Desert Stormer Handicap by three-quarters of a length Sunday at Betfair Hollywood Park in her first start since Nov. 2.

Ridden by Joe Talamo, Include Me Out ran six on Cushion Track in 1:10.32 and paid $10.40, $5.40 and $2.80.

Shumoos returned $8.80 and $3, while Teddy’s Promise was another head back in third and paid $2.10 to show as the 4-5 favorite.

The victory was the eighth in a stakes race for Talamo at the spring-summer meet.

Include Me Out has seven wins in 14 career starts and earnings of $956,030. She had been idle since finishing third in the Breeders’ Cup Classic last fall at Santa Anita.

Maximova wins Belmont’s Bit of Whimsy Stakes

NEW YORK (AP) – Maximova improved to 3 for 3, edging Mariel N Kathy by a head Sunday in the $90,000 Bit of Whimsy Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on the turf at Belmont Park.

Maximova and jockey Jose Lezcano rallied up the hedge, squeezing through a narrow opening past the pacesetting Mariel N Kathy. Trained by Christophe Clement, Maximova ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.74 over the firm course.

Maximova paid $4.70, $3.10 and $2.20. Mariel N Kathy returned $4.50 and $2.70, and Caroline Thomas paid $2.60 to show.

Horse Racing Recap: Verrazano wins first race since Kentucky Derby is a post from: PhatzRadio.com

Horse Racing Recap: Verrazano wins first race since Kentucky Derby Horse Racing Recap: Verrazano wins first race since Kentucky Derby Horse Racing Recap: Verrazano wins first race since Kentucky Derby Horse Racing Recap: Verrazano wins first race since Kentucky Derby Horse Racing Recap: Verrazano wins first race since Kentucky Derby

Horse Racing Recap: Verrazano wins first race since Kentucky Derby

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Horse Racing Recap: Fort Larned wins Stephen Foster, qualifies for Classic

June 16, 2013 By

4bc775c5e0941fc9991fef06fa6c8952 Horse Racing Recap: Fort Larned wins Stephen Foster, qualifies for Classic
, under Brian Hernandez, rolls to a runaway victory in the Handicap at on Saturday night(Photo: , AP)

Story Highlights

Defending Breeders’ Cup Fort Larned qualfied for the 2013 Classic
Fort Larned easily defeated a top field in the Handicap at

(PhatzRadio / TLC) — LOUISVILLE — Executing a that worked so well in last fall’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, Fort Larned led all the way under jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. for a 6¼- over in the $536,300 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs on Saturday night.

The 5-year-, trained by Louisville-based Ian Wilkeiff pace — including the mile in 1:34.53 — Fort Larned motored 1 1/8 miles in 1:47.45 over a track where winners came from a variety of positions.s for owner Janis , jumped out front from his No. 2 post and had a clear lead throughout. After setting a stExecuting a game plan that worked so well in last fall’s

It was a stunning display of power over a high-quality field.

“I talked to Ian and we thought the best plan was to go ahead and take it to ‘em, let him do his thing,” Hernandez said. “We decided the best way was just to let him be fast. He’s a fast horse, and that’s what he showed tonight.”

In fact, it’s the second-fastest time in stakes history, behind Victory Gallop’s track-record 1:47.28 in 1999. The ratesonly behind Street Cry’s 6½-length romp in the 2002 Foster.

Fort Larned, earning his third Grade I victory, made amends for a dull fifth-place showing in the Oaklawn Handicap in his last start. That came after a disastrous 2013 debut, when he stumbled two strides out of the gate in the , dumping Hernandez.

“That’s what I expected the first time out,” Wilkes said of the Stephen Foster performance. “We were unfortunate with the stumble, but that’s racing. That’s something we have to live with and move on.

“I second-guessed myself a lot after Oaklawn. I had a horse who was just a little flat that day, just wasn’t himself.”

Before Churchill’s boisterous Downs After Dark crowd, Fort Larned looked like the horse who won the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic in front-running fashion last fall at Santa Anita — except that the margin that day was a half-length over Mucho Macho Man.

“Tonight I thought he was the best horse, and we thought he’d show up to the Fort Larned of last year,” Hernandez said. “And he did. We’ve figured out that if you let him be fast early, he kind of finishes faster.”

The performance also made up in spades for Fort Larned’s only poor effort last year, when he was last of eight in the Stephen Foster. “It’s very gratifying, an unbelievable feeling,” Wilkes said.

Fort Larned paid $8.60 to win as the fourth choice in extremely close odds among the top four choices in the field of six older horses.

Golden Ticket, ridden by Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Joel , rallied from 10 lengths back after a half-mile to take second at 11-1 odds.

“No shame in running second to a Breeders’ Cup ,” said Phil Bauer, assistant to Kenny McPeek, trainer of the diminutive Golden Ticket. “He’s about half the size of the rest of the field. But he gives you everything he’s got every time.”

Ron the Greek, last year’s winner, was back with Golden Ticket after a half-mile but couldn’t rally as strongly and finished third, albeit another four lengths back. Trainer Bill Mott all week had been unhappy that Ron the Greek got only one pound of weight from the Breeders’ Cup Classic winner’s 121-pound assignment when Mott’s champion mare Royal Delta had to carry 125 in the Fleur de Lis, in which she was defeated. “But I don’t think another four pounds was going to matter to him today,” Mott said afterward.

Rounding out the strung-out field were program favorite Successful Dan, 2011 Foster winner Pool Play and Take Charge Indy, who went off the betting choice at just under 2-1 odds and who applied the most early pressure.

Fort Larned not only picked up the $329,181 winner’s check, but he gets his entry fees waived as he seeks a repeat in this year’s $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita, where he won by a half-length last year over Mucho Macho Man. In addition, he’ll receive a $10,000 travel stipend.

Rees also writes for The (Louisville) Courier-Journal

Captaintreacherous wins North America Cup

CAMPBELLVILLE, Ontario (AP) – Captaintreacherous won the $1 million North America Cup on Saturday night at Mohawk Racetrack, rallying to take the world’s richest pacing event in 1:48.3.

Driven by Tim Tetrick, the son of 2008 Cup champion Somebeachsomewhere earned $500,000. The favorite improved to 3-0 this year and has 11 victories in 13 career starts.

“He’s such a ,” Tetrick said. “At times he doesn’t always show it but he’s always great. I put a lot of confidence in my and when I called on him, he did his job.”

Twilight Bonfire, a 90-1 shot, was second in the 10-horse field. Wake Up Peter finished third.

Captaintreacherous paid $4.80, $3.30 and $2.70. Twilight Bonfire returned $44 and $15.40, and Wake Up Peter paid $4.80 paid to show.

Tetrick took Captaintreacherous wide in the stretch and the 3-year-old pacer pulled ahead.

“That’s the main thing,” Tetrick said. “They have to want to do it. They have to want to be champions. They have to be able to put the moves out in front. You know, he doesn’t always win by much, but he gets the job done and he’s good.”

Captaintreacherous won the $1 million Metro Pace last season, and trainer Tony Alagna figured the race Saturday would play out much like the Metro – the country’s top race for 2-year-old pacers.

“I talked to Timmy before the race and said, `The way it looks like it’s going to unfold out exactly how the Metro did last year,”’ said Alagna, who also conditioned Wake Up Peter. “A couple of horses are going to run from the outside and they’re going to carry you into it.

“And that’s how the race worked out. Tim worked out a masterful trip and the horse showed up. Every time this horse gets a question mark he comes back and answers with an exclamation mark.”


Dance to Bristol, Notacatbutallama win at Belmont

NEW YORK (AP) – Dance to Bristol and Notacatbutallama won the $150,000 stakes Saturday at Belmont Park.

Dance to Bristol, the 8-5 favorite, extended her winning streak to five, beating Fantasy of Flight by 2 3/4 lengths in the Bed o’ Roses Handicap for fillies and mares. Xavier Perez was aboard for Maryland-based trainer Ollie Figgins III as the 4-year-old ran seven in 1:20.81. She paid $5.30 to win.

Notacatbutallama held off Play It Loud by a neck in the Hill Prince for 3-year-olds on the turf.

John Velazquez, one day after recording his 5,000th win, rode for trainer Todd Pletcher as the colt improved to 4 for 10. Notacatbutallama ran the mile in 1:34.82, paying $11.80 to win.

Horse Racing Recap: Fort Larned wins Stephen Foster, qualifies for Classic is a post from: PhatzRadio.com

Horse Racing Recap: Fort Larned wins Stephen Foster, qualifies for Classic Horse Racing Recap: Fort Larned wins Stephen Foster, qualifies for Classic Horse Racing Recap: Fort Larned wins Stephen Foster, qualifies for Classic Horse Racing Recap: Fort Larned wins Stephen Foster, qualifies for Classic Horse Racing Recap: Fort Larned wins Stephen Foster, qualifies for Classic

Horse Racing Recap: Fort Larned wins Stephen Foster, qualifies for Classic

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Horse Racing Recap: Fort Larned wins Stephen Foster, qualifies for Classic

June 16, 2013 By

4bc775c5e0941fc9991fef06fa6c8952 Horse Racing Recap: Fort Larned wins Stephen Foster, qualifies for Classic
, under jockey Brian Hernandez, rolls to a in the Handicap at on Saturday night(Photo: , AP)

Story Highlights

Defending Breeders’ Cup qualfied for the 2013 Classic
Fort Larned easily defeated a top field in the Stephen Foster Handicap at

(PhatzRadio / TLC) — LOUISVILLE — Executing a that worked so well in last fall’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, Fort Larned led all the way under jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. for a 6¼- over in the $536,300 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs on Saturday night.

The 5-year-, trained by Louisville-based Ian Wilkeiff pace — including the mile in 1:34.53 — Fort Larned motored 1 1/8 miles in 1:47.45 over a track where winners came from a variety of positions.s for owner Janis , jumped out front from his No. 2 post and had a clear lead throughout. After setting a stExecuting a that worked so well in last fall’s

It was a stunning display of power over a high-.

“I talked to Ian and we thought the best plan was to go ahead and take it to ‘em, let him do his thing,” Hernandez said. “We decided the best way was just to let him be fast. He’s a fast horse, and that’s what he showed tonight.”

In fact, it’s the second-fastest time in stakes history, behind Victory Gallop’s track-record 1:47.28 in 1999. The ratesonly behind Street Cry’s 6½-length romp in the 2002 Foster.

Fort Larned, earning his third Grade I victory, made amends for a dull fifth-place showing in the Oaklawn Handicap in his last start. That came after a disastrous 2013 debut, when he stumbled two strides out of the gate in the Handicap, dumping Hernandez.

“That’s what I expected the first time out,” Wilkes said of the Stephen Foster performance. “We were unfortunate with the stumble, but that’s racing. That’s something we have to live with and move on.

“I second-guessed myself a lot after Oaklawn. I had a horse who was just a little flat that day, just wasn’t himself.”

Before Churchill’s boisterous Downs After Dark crowd, Fort Larned looked like the horse who won the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic in front-running fashion last fall at Santa Anita — except that the margin that day was a half-length over Mucho Macho Man.

“Tonight I thought he was the best horse, and we thought he’d show up to the Fort Larned of last year,” Hernandez said. “And he did. We’ve figured out that if you let him be fast early, he kind of finishes faster.”

The performance also made up in spades for Fort Larned’s only poor effort last year, when he was last of eight in the Stephen Foster. “It’s very gratifying, an unbelievable feeling,” Wilkes said.

Fort Larned paid $8.60 to win as the fourth choice in extremely close among the top four choices in the field of six older horses.

Golden Ticket, ridden by Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Joel , rallied from 10 lengths back after a half-mile to take second at 11-1 odds.

“No shame in running second to a Breeders’ Cup Classic winner,” said Phil Bauer, assistant to Kenny McPeek, trainer of the diminutive Golden Ticket. “He’s about half the size of the rest of the field. But he gives you everything he’s got every time.”

Ron the Greek, last year’s winner, was back with Golden Ticket after a half-mile but couldn’t rally as strongly and finished third, albeit another four lengths back. Trainer Bill Mott all week had been unhappy that Ron the Greek got only one pound of weight from the Breeders’ Cup Classic winner’s 121-pound assignment when Mott’s champion mare Royal Delta had to carry 125 in the Fleur de Lis, in which she was defeated. “But I don’t think another four pounds was going to matter to him today,” Mott said afterward.

Rounding out the strung-out field were program favorite Successful Dan, 2011 Foster winner Pool Play and Take Charge Indy, who went off the betting choice at just under 2-1 odds and who applied the most early pressure.

Fort Larned not only picked up the $329,181 winner’s check, but he gets his entry fees waived as he seeks a repeat in this year’s $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita, where he won by a half-length last year over Mucho Macho Man. In addition, he’ll receive a $10,000 travel stipend.

Rees also writes for The (Louisville) Courier-Journal

Captaintreacherous wins North America Cup

CAMPBELLVILLE, Ontario (AP) – Captaintreacherous won the $1 million North America Cup on Saturday night at Mohawk Racetrack, rallying to take the world’s richest pacing event in 1:48.3.

Driven by Tim Tetrick, the son of 2008 Cup champion Somebeachsomewhere earned $500,000. The favorite improved to 3-0 this year and has 11 victories in 13 career starts.

“He’s such a good horse,” Tetrick said. “At times he doesn’t always show it but he’s always great. I put a lot of confidence in my and when I called on him, he did his job.”

Twilight Bonfire, a 90-1 shot, was second in the 10-horse field. Wake Up Peter finished third.

Captaintreacherous paid $4.80, $3.30 and $2.70. Twilight Bonfire returned $44 and $15.40, and Wake Up Peter paid $4.80 paid to show.

Tetrick took Captaintreacherous wide in the stretch and the 3-year-old pacer pulled ahead.

“That’s the main thing,” Tetrick said. “They have to want to do it. They have to want to be champions. They have to be able to put the moves out in front. You know, he doesn’t always win by much, but he gets the job done and he’s good.”

Captaintreacherous won the $1 million Metro Pace last season, and trainer Tony Alagna figured the race Saturday would play out much like the Metro – the country’s top race for 2-year-old pacers.

“I talked to Timmy before the race and said, `The way it looks like it’s going to unfold out exactly how the Metro did last year,”’ said Alagna, who also conditioned Wake Up Peter. “A couple of horses are going to run from the outside and they’re going to carry you into it.

“And that’s how the race worked out. Tim worked out a masterful trip and the horse showed up. Every time this horse gets a question mark he comes back and answers with an exclamation mark.”


Dance to Bristol, Notacatbutallama win at Belmont

NEW YORK (AP) – Dance to Bristol and Notacatbutallama won the $150,000 stakes Saturday at Belmont Park.

Dance to Bristol, the 8-5 favorite, extended her winning streak to five, beating Fantasy of Flight by 2 3/4 lengths in the Bed o’ Roses Handicap for fillies and mares. Xavier Perez was aboard for Maryland-based trainer Ollie Figgins III as the 4-year-old ran seven in 1:20.81. She paid $5.30 to win.

Notacatbutallama held off Play It Loud by a neck in the Hill Prince for 3-year-olds on the turf.

John Velazquez, one day after recording his 5,000th win, rode for trainer as the colt improved to 4 for 10. Notacatbutallama ran the mile in 1:34.82, paying $11.80 to win.

Horse Racing Recap: Fort Larned wins Stephen Foster, qualifies for Classic is a post from: PhatzRadio.com

Horse Racing Recap: Fort Larned wins Stephen Foster, qualifies for Classic Horse Racing Recap: Fort Larned wins Stephen Foster, qualifies for Classic Horse Racing Recap: Fort Larned wins Stephen Foster, qualifies for Classic Horse Racing Recap: Fort Larned wins Stephen Foster, qualifies for Classic Horse Racing Recap: Fort Larned wins Stephen Foster, qualifies for Classic

Horse Racing Recap: Fort Larned wins Stephen Foster, qualifies for Classic

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Horse Racing Recap: Tough to pick a top 3-year-old after Belmont upset

June 10, 2013 By

f7ee67497412a2fa7263865e7bc2c68e Horse Racing Recap: Tough to pick a top 3 year old after Belmont upset

NEW YORK (AP) – Once again, the “Test of the Champion” proved otherwise.

A day after Palace Malice pulled off an upset in the Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the Triple Crown, the race for a championship is wide open now that each of the classics has been won by a different 3-year-old.

“Everyone goes into the rest of the summer and fall with similar resumes,” said , declaring that his Belmont winner is “feeling very good.

“I don’t think there’s a clear-cut leader.”

In a Belmont featuring a rematch between winner Orb and Preakness winner Oxbow, it was one of Pletcher’s record five entries that handled the 1 1/2-mile marathon the best.

The son of two- of the Year Curlin took the lead from Oxbow on the far turn and barreled down the stretch for a 3 1/4- Saturday. Orb made a run at the leaders from way back in the field of 14, but didn’t come close and finished third, 1 3/4 lengths behind Oxbow.

“To try to make up that much ground is almost impossible because it’s so tiring,” Orb’s trainer said. “Those horses shook loose and we couldn’t catch them.”

The Belmont has been a for decades. This one prevented Orb or Oxbow from rising to the top of the 3-year-old class. Other Belmonts, though, have done in 11 horses who tried and failed to become a , leaving the sport without one for .

Orb was feeling the effects of the Triple Crown grind of three races in five weeks at different tracks and different .

“I went down and looked at him a little later (after the race), and he was kind of hanging his head,” he said. “He was tired. He’ll get a good month of rehab time and see where it takes us.”

Orb, Oxbow and Will Take Charge, who was 10th in the Belmont, ran in all three . They will get their time off. Palace Malice, meanwhile, was full of energy and Pletcher said his would be back on the track in four days to resume training.

Having a well-rested horse for the Belmont seems to have its benefits. Since 2000, there have been seven Belmont winners who ran in the Derby but skipped the Preakness. And, all four of the Triple Crown tries during that time were spoiled by horses who did not run in the Preakness.

“It’s not coincidental at all,” said Pletcher, who also won the 2007 Belmont with Rags to Riches. “If you want to win the Belmont, it makes a lot of sense to sit out the middle one. The fresh horse is always going to have an edge, in my opinion.”

Which is exactly the way Pletcher played it this year. He sent out a record-tying five horses in the Derby, and his best finisher was third-place Revolutionary. Palace Malice ran 12th. He sat out the Preakness, and came back with a record five horses for the Belmont. Fortunately, one of them was Palace Malice, who finally came through with the big race Pletcher thought he was capable of producing.

“If you look back at his races, he ran well in the allowance (to start the year). He almost got there in the Risen Star. The Louisiana Derby was a nightmare trip, and he came really close to winning the Blue Grass,” Pletcher said of the colt he trains for Cot Campbell’s Dogwood Stable. “His Derby race wasn’t that bad, he just went too fast. He was still right there at the eighth pole, so when he came back and trained like he did, there was never any consideration about not trying the Belmont.”

For now, the leading 3-year-old looks to be Orb, who won five in a row – including the Fountain of Youth, Florida Derby and Kentucky Derby – before finishing fourth in the Preakness and third in the Derby. Oxbow has two other wins to go with his Preakness, along with a sixth in the Derby and a second in the Belmont.

Oxbow came out of the race in , and was already on his way back to Kentucky, along with trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

“Everyone was tickled with his performance,” Lukas’ assistant Leigh Bentley. “He ran super and seemed to come back great. Everyone was quite pleased.”

A few more wins by Palace Malice, or soon to be returning 3-year-old Verrazano (also trained by Pletcher) could put them in the mix as well.

“He is a remarkable horse,” Pletcher said of Palace Malice. “He bounces out of his races really well. It was a tough race, a demanding race, and he surprises me how resilient he is.”

So let the summer season begin. The highlight is the Travers at Saratoga on Aug. 24, the next time the might meet again. And before that there’s the Jim Dandy at the Spa on July 27 and the Haskell Invitational at on July 28.

Asked if he’ll have five more horses for the Travers, Pletcher smiled.

“We’ll see how it shakes out,” he said.

Unlimited Budget, the who finished sixth under Rosie Napravnik, came out of the race in good shape. Pletcher said her next start would be back against fillies in the Coaching Club American Oaks on July 20.

Horse Racing Recap: Tough to pick a top 3-year-old after Belmont upset is a post from: PhatzRadio.com

Horse Racing Recap: Tough to pick a top 3 year old after Belmont upset Horse Racing Recap: Tough to pick a top 3 year old after Belmont upset Horse Racing Recap: Tough to pick a top 3 year old after Belmont upset Horse Racing Recap: Tough to pick a top 3 year old after Belmont upset Horse Racing Recap: Tough to pick a top 3 year old after Belmont upset

Horse Racing Recap: Tough to pick a top 3 year old after Belmont upset

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Horse Racing Recap: Belmont Stakes: Oxbow vs. Orb in the cards

May 20, 2013 By

c504aebfa64eb41eb2adbfced6c12551 Horse Racing Recap: Belmont Stakes: Oxbow vs. Orb in the cards

BALTIMORE (AP) – Another year, another Triple Crown hopeful unable to come through.

After Oxbow upset winner in Saturday’s Preakness to extend racing’s Triple Crown drought to 36 years, the next best alternative for the Belmont Stakes is a rematch.

And, it appears one is in the making. Both trainers are giving every indication their classic-winning colts will run in the Belmont on June 8.

“You know me,” Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas said after Oxbow’s 1 3/4-length victory over Itsmyluckyday, with 3-5 favorite Orb finishing fourth. “I like to rack them up in the big events. So, I’ll probably go.”

Trainer Shug McGaughey says he’d like to run Orb in the Belmont as long as the colt is doing well.

“The Belmont Stakes is on our radar screen,” McGaughey said Sunday after arriving back at and checking on his Derby winner, who was vanned back earlier in the day.

After a talk with Orb’s owners Ogden Mills “Dinny” Phipps and III, McGaughey said, “We just all came to the conclusion that we should just watch Orb and see. I think everything is in . We’d like to run.

“But yesterday took a little bit out of him and he’s already run five times this year and it’s only the middle of May. I’d sure like to have him fresh for Saratoga and a /Travers kind of a go.”

A year ago, there was great anticipation for a Triple try after I’ll Have Another won the Derby and Preakness, but the colt was scratched the day before the Belmont because of a .

The most recent of 20 rematches between in the Belmont was two years ago, with Derby winner Animal Kingdom and Preakness winner Shackleford hooking up – but 24-1 long shot Ruler On Ice pulled the upset.

Hours after Oxbow’s win at 15-1 gave Lukas his record 14th win – and sixth Preakness – the trainer and his colt where on the road back to .

If both show up for the 1 1/2 -mile Belmont, a formidable lineup of could be waiting. Todd Pletcher has five possible : Derby runners Revolutionary (third), Overanalyze (11th) and Palace (12th), as well as a pair of fillies in Dreaming of Julia and Unlimited Budget.

Other possibles include Derby runner-up Golden Soul, Mylute (fifth in the Derby, third in the Preakness), Freedom Child, Power Broker and Code West.

McGaughey was disappointed he couldn’t follow up his first Derby win with his first Preakness win, but said, “Winning the Derby was my lifetime dream and we won it. I would have loved to have won yesterday and taken it to the next level.”

Lukas, meanwhile, won his first Triple Crown race since 2000, when Commendable won the Belmont. Since that win, Lukas was 0-for-31 in 22 before Saturday.

“I still enjoy doing this so much,” he said. “I don’t wake up every day anymore trying to prove I can train a racehorse. When you’re younger, you keep trying to prove yourself. I’m very comfortable with where I’m at.”

Oxbow, ridden by Gary Stevens, took the lead just after the start and led every step of the way. Orb never seemed to get into his long-striding running style after leaving from the inside No. 1 post and didn’t make a serious run for the lead.

The winning time of 1:57.54 was the slowest since 1961, when Carry Back won in 1:57.60. No matter, it gave Stevens his third Preakness win to go along with his three Derby and three Belmonts wins. Not bad for a guy coming back after a seven-year retirement.

“I can’t say that we thought we were going to win,” the 50-year Hall of Fame rider said, “but we knew we had a chance to win.”

The win was a big one for Calumet Farm, too, the iconic stable being revitalized by new owner Brad Kelley. The stable that produced Triple Crown champions Whirlaway in 1941 and Citation in 1948 won its first classic since Forward Pass took the Preakness in the 1968.

“They’re all special because they were with a different client,” Lukas said when asked to compare his Preakness wins. “The key is to get one every once in a while for the new guy. We’ve got a new guy in Brad Kelley at Calumet. And to know he was watching at home and put Calumet, who we all know that name, back on the front pages of the racing publications is very special.”

Column: Hard work gets Lukas a record

BALTIMORE (AP) – The old guy still gets up crack-of-dawn early.

Not because D. Wayne Lukas has something left to prove, or anything more to gain. He already has it all: Fame, fortune, a bronze plaque in the Hall of Fame and – after lightly-regarded Oxbow stunned Orb on Saturday at the Preakness – he has the top spot in the Triple Crown trainer’s record book, too, passing “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons with No. 14.

“It’s been a while,” Lukas chuckled, “but it never gets old.

“I ran last with the first horse I started. The second one doesn’t even finish,” he added a moment later. “What a roller coaster.”

Lukas was thoroughbred racing’s first organization man, a former Wisconsin high school basketball coach who brought the principle of “flooding the zone” from the court to the race track.

When he cracked the big time with a horse named Codex at the Preakness in 1980, fans of the sport still thought of it as art, but Lukas relied on cold-blood science. The top trainers at the time were folksy guys like Woody Stephens and wise-cracking Charlie Whittingham, but Lukas was undeniably corporate.

The gravel outside his barns was always perfectly raked, his buttoned-down shirts pressed to match. While his more famous rivals focused on one or two quality horses, Lukas overwhelmed the game with quantity, setting up cookie-cutter operations in dozens of barns from coast to coast and bringing three, four and sometimes even five mounts to the Kentucky Derby.

By the mid-1990s, he perfected the approach, at one point winning six Triple Crown races in a row with four different horses. He shuffled jockeys like a deck of cards and balanced the competing demands of those owners, all the while never taking his eye off the ball or the business. But then rivals like Bob Baffert and disciple Todd Pletcher, who borrowed liberally from Lukas’ playbook, began stealing his thunder.

Now 77, Lukas hadn’t won a Triple Crown race since 2000 and became a sort of eminence grise, holding court regularly outside his barn at the classic races, more charming than competitive. His return to Derby year after year, despite not having a real shot to win it, became a kind of running joke.

Just two weeks ago at Churchill Downs, Lukas poked fun at himself on that very topic. When someone reminded him he’d brought 44 horses to the Derby – a race he’d last won with Charismatic in 1999 – he laughed and said, “I lied to you; 35 of `em I didn’t want to run.”

Yet Lukas never lost his zeal. He’s still the first trainer up on a horse and out on the track in the morning, and every bit as gracious as always. While the entire sport was focused on Orb, trainer Shug McGaughey and the potential to see the sport’s first in 36 years, Lukas sidled up to him two mornings ago and said “We got another one on the agenda.”

Standing outside his barn in shirt sleeves, McGaughey told the tale after getting beat, without being entirely sure whether that encouraging bit about another big win was meant for him or for Lukas himself. Either way, McGaughey was hard-pressed to think of someone more deserving. That sentiment rippled through the trainers’ ranks.

“We were out of it early,” said Baffert, who became a close of pal of Lukas’ over the last few years, “and after it was clear Orb couldn’t win it, we all got behind Wayne and (jockey) Gary Stevens.”

That part of this win will go largely unnoticed by some, but not Stevens. At 50, the jockey now has nine Triple Crown wins on his resume – three at each of the classics – but Stevens was out of the sport for seven years. In a nice bit of symmetry, Lukas gave Stevens his first Triple Crown-winning mount with Winning Colors.

“Wayne put me on the map,” Stevens recalled. “When you win that first classic, your phone starts ringing, people want you. … This is super, super sweet and it happened for the right guy.”

Not long after, the “right guy” was asked about his travel plans for Oxbow, who’s likely headed for the Belmont after a stop at Churchill Downs.

“4:30 tomorrow morning,” Lukas announced, “if you want to watch him load on that van. My truck driver and I will get in that big old truck, and we’ll head down the road and make about two Wendy’s stops on the way and be in Louisville, Ky., but 5:30 tomorrow night.

As a few reporters rolled their eyes, Lukas continued, “Some of us in this great nation get up and get after in the morning. Others sleep in.”

None of that would have surprised Baffert, or any of the other members of the fraternity.

“Wayne loves it so much, when he goes, I’m pretty sure we’re going to find him lying in the shed row one morning and holler, `Hey Wayne, why are you sleeping?”’

—

Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke(at)ap.org and follow him at Twitter.com/JimLitke.

Horse Racing Recap: Belmont Stakes: Oxbow vs. Orb in the cards is a post from: PhatzRadio.com

Horse Racing Recap: Belmont Stakes: Oxbow vs. Orb in the cards Horse Racing Recap: Belmont Stakes: Oxbow vs. Orb in the cards Horse Racing Recap: Belmont Stakes: Oxbow vs. Orb in the cards Horse Racing Recap: Belmont Stakes: Oxbow vs. Orb in the cards Horse Racing Recap: Belmont Stakes: Oxbow vs. Orb in the cards

Horse Racing Recap: Belmont Stakes: Oxbow vs. Orb in the cards

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Triple Crown 2013: Oxbow has won the 138th running of the Preakness Stakes.

May 18, 2013 By Leave a Comment

41dd85ac33acfa6f90119bc1f251e50f Triple Crown 2013: Oxbow has won the 138th running of the Preakness Stakes.


STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Oxbow leads the entire race and wins
He had 15-1 odds
Favorite Orb loses bid for
With Orb finishing out of the money Saturday, the last remains Affirmed in 1978
Oxbow won his ninth race, three in each race

(PhatzRadio / ) — BALTIMORE — winner Orb was carrying the weight of the racing world in Saturday’s .

Oxbow was carrying only Gary Stevens. Advantage Oxbow and a pair of Hall of Famers in Stevens and trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

The outcome — Oxbow’s 1¾ and Orb’s fourth-place finish — means the horse racing world remains without a since Affirmed in 1978.

“I would be disappointed any time you had that kind of of opportunity and didn’t get it done,” said Orb’s trainer, Shug McGaughey. “It is highs and lows, probably more lows than highs.”

Those rooting for a Triple Crown contender knew it was going to be a low very early on Saturday.

Orb broke well, but was never better than fifth in the nine-horse field and finished eight lengths behind Oxbow, a 15-1 longshot, who was followed by Itsmyluckyday and Mylute.

“I get paid to spoil dreams,” Lukas said. “You can’t mail it in. It’s a different surface, a different time. You gotta line them up and run them.”

Orb, one of the most dominant Derby winners, had been on a five-race win streak, but was never really a factor with about 800 yards to go. He got bumped, and by then Stevens had Oxbow cruising — for Stevens’ ninth Triple Crown victory, three each in the , Preakness and .

That is when Orb jockey Joel said he was “kind of worried a little bit” and that “today he never took off. He just steadied. Today was not his day.”

Stevens, who put Oxbow on the lead and never relinquished it, was celebrating early with a three-length lead in the stretch. He would finish the 1 3/16th mile race in 1:57.54 and a 1¾ over Itsmyluckday. He said, “I was smiling pretty good midway down the backside,” and he never lost that glee.

“When I hit the half-mile pole, I said, ‘Are you kidding me? Is this happening?’ The race was over at the point. I just walked the dog from the half-mile pole.

I didn’t expect him to go to the lead. This horse was so right today. He pulled me to the lead. His ears were up. He was happy.”

Oxbow, at 15-1, paid $32.80, $12 and $8.80. Itsmyluckyday paid $7.80 and $5. Mylute, with Rosie Napravnik making her first Preakness start, paid $5.20 to show.

Stevens felt coming into Preakness week that “we were flying under the radar after the Derby,” after Oxbow was sixth two weekends ago.

For Lukas, the win was a record-breaker. He has won 14 (four Kentucky Derbys, six and four ), breaking the mark of Hall of Famer Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons.

Stevens, coming off a seven-year retirement, guaranteed that he was the first grandfather to win a Preakness.

“I didn’t know whether I would get the opportunity,” Stevens said about winning more Triple Crown races. “And here we stand on the Preakness . I came back for the classics.”

Racing fans may not be as joyous as Lukas and Stevens, with horse racing approaching four decades since having a Triple Crown winner.

And no one was as disappointed as McGaughey, who had the 3-5 favorite and a date to win the Triple Crown on his home track at Belmont if Orb won Saturday.

The trainer, who said Friday that “freaky” things happen in racing and “there are a lot of ways to lose,” said after Saturday’s race that he’ll probably be “more disappointed tomorrow,” but “I know the game.”

The Triple Crown, racing’s ultimate prize for horses in their 3-year-old seasons, requires wins in the Derby (1¼ miles), Preakness (1 3/16) and Belmont (a long haul at a mile and a half). Eleven horses have won it since Sir Barton first pulled it off in 1919. None has done it since Affirmed in 1978, the last of three horses to accomplish it in the 1970s.

One theory about why the Triple Crown hasn’t been clinched since is that priorities in breeding horses have changed to emphasize speed and attractiveness at sale, overlooking the stamina and durability required to win the Derby, Preakness and Belmont.

The started his day from the No.1 post position where only two horses — Bally Ache (1960) and Tabasco Cat, trained by Lukas — have won in the past half-century.

The final race of the Triple Crown is June 8 at the Belmont Stakes, where Orb is projected to get a rubber match with Oxbow.

“We haven’t gotten a chance to cool him out yet and I’ve got to talk to (owner) Mr. Kelley,” Lukas said of Oxbow. “But you know me. I like to rack them up in the big events, so I’ll probably go.”

Triple Crown 2013: Oxbow has won the 138th running of the Preakness Stakes. is a post from: PhatzRadio.com

Triple Crown 2013: Oxbow has won the 138th running of the Preakness Stakes. Triple Crown 2013: Oxbow has won the 138th running of the Preakness Stakes. Triple Crown 2013: Oxbow has won the 138th running of the Preakness Stakes. Triple Crown 2013: Oxbow has won the 138th running of the Preakness Stakes. Triple Crown 2013: Oxbow has won the 138th running of the Preakness Stakes.

Triple Crown 2013: Oxbow has won the 138th running of the Preakness Stakes.

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Horse Racing Recap: Orb trying to stay on course to make Triple Crown history

May 18, 2013 By

b2ba7c9a5d2afba6aff3e2a09be90056 Horse Racing Recap: Orb trying to stay on course to make Triple Crown history

Story Highlights

hasn’t had a since Affirmed in 1978
Trainer had not in his thoughts
No. 1 post position has not been kind to Preakness runners

(PhatzRadio / ) — BALTIMORE – Trainer spent most of his adult life dreaming and working toward someday winning the Kentucky Derby in his home state. The Lexington product did not fantasize about sweeping the Triple Crown.

Hey, even dreams have their limits.

Two weeks ago at Churchill Downs, on a gloomy day in the slop, McGaughey’s long-time desire came to fruition as Orb and Joel came from almost 20 lengths back to power to a 2 1/2 over Golden Soul.

In the 138th , they will try to stay on course to become the to sweep racing’s Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978 – the longest gap ever between horses pulling off the parlay of the Derby, Preakness and New York’s .

If Orb prevails over the field of nine 3-year-olds, the 1 ½-mile final leg of the Triple Crown comes June 8 over McGaughey’s home base of Belmont Park.

“The Kentucky Derby was on my list. I’m not sure the Triple Crown was,” said McGaughey, whose last of two prior Preakness was , who lost here by a nose to 1989 . “In Louisville I said ‘what will happen will happen.’ And what will, did. I’m looking at it that way.

“I asked Reeve if that Orb sign was still up there when he was at Churchill the other day,” he said of his son who works for trainer Charlie LoPresti. “He said, ‘Still there. I guess it will be there until there’s no more Churchill Downs.’ That was a pretty good feeling.”

The forecast is for a chance of showers and high of 72, with a crowd exceeding 100,000 expected.

After the Derby, rival trainers suggested that the Preakness might be Orb’s toughest race, given the shortening of distance from the Derby’s 1 ¼ miles to 1 3/16 miles, with cavernous Belmont Park and the Belmont Stakes distance seemingly up his alley.

However, in the past 16 years, eight Derby winners repeated in the Preakness, a run starting with Silver Charm in 1997 through I’ll Have Another last year. None could seal the deal in the Belmont, with I’ll Have Another not even running after being retired with a tendon injury the day before the race.

In fact, the last Derby winner to capture the Belmont was Thunder Gulch in 1995.

“This is always the easiest,” said Bob Baffert, looking to win a sixth Preakness with Sunland Derby winner Govenor Charlie and whose prior victories include his three Derby heroes. “Because they’re in the zone. You can’t really mess them up in two weeks.”

“Everybody kind of knocks the two weeks, but that form is strong from the Derby to the Preakness,” said trainer Al Stall Jr., whose once-beaten Illinois Derby winner Departing is among three who did not run in the Kentucky Derby. “I know Orb is going to run his race, no doubt about that. It’s not like I’m thinking he’s going to take a step backward. We’ll just have to take a forward step also.”

As Orb seeks his sixth straight triumph, McGaughey is as “quietly confident” of a big performance as he was in Louisville. Making the Preakness possibility more poignant is that co-owner and breeder Stuart Janney III is from nearby Butler, Md.

“There are a lot of ways to lose; freaky things can happen,” McGaughey said. “I think we’re in the position where we can kind of dictate the race and hope that he can make his run and then see what happens. We hope he doesn’t get in trouble. We hope he handles the track. We hope he handles the kickback of dirt. We hope he handles the day.

“If he does all that, I would have to think it’s going to take a pretty darn to beat him.”

Orb will break from the No. 1 post, which since 1960 has produced only one Preakness winner, though most of the horses starting from the rail were longshots. McGaughey said he expects a cleanly run race, with rival jockeys not ganging up on the even-money favorite.

That doesn’t mean they won’t pay close attention.

“Shug said he wanted a target on his back. He got his wish,” Stall said cheerfully, adding while moving his head to the left, “There will be eight heads doing this coming out of the gate. They’ll just keep an eye on him.”

Brian Hernandez Jr. rides Departing, the Churchill Downs’ jockey’s first mount in a Triple Crown race.

History could break out on other fronts:

, who started her fast-ascending career at Pimlico, could be the first female jockey to win the Preakness with the Tom Amoss-trained Derby fifth-place finisher Mylute.

Trainer D. Wayne Lukas sends out the triumvirate of Derby sixth-place finisher Oxbow, eighth-place finisher Will Take Charge and the Paul Hornung-co-owned Derby Trial fourth-place horse Titletown Five.

If one should win, Lukas will break out of a tie with the late “Sunny” Jim Fitzsimmons for the most combined Triple Crown race victories, a standard now at 13. It also would be Lukas’ sixth Preakness, trailing only R. W. Walden’s seven in the late 1800s.

Doug O’Neill, who trained I’ll Have Another, is back with his second straight Santa Anita Derby winner, Goldencents, in whom Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino is a minority owner. Goldencents finished 17th in the Derby, one of the poor performances attributed to the wet and sticky surface (15th-place Itsmyluckyday being another).

Goldencents – the only Grade I winner in the field besides Orb — now attempts to become the Preakness winner with the worst Derby placing. Louis Quatorze, 16th in the 1996 Derby, holds that distinction.

Goldencents’ jockey, Kevin Krigger, also would be the first African-American to take the Preakness since 1902.

But they’ve got to beat Orb, whom Baffert calls “a freak.”

“Right now everybody should be rooting for Orb,” he said, “except the connections of the other horses.”

Jennie Rees also writes for The Louisville Courier-Journal

Horse Racing Recap: Orb trying to stay on course to make Triple Crown history is a post from: PhatzRadio.com

Horse Racing Recap: Orb trying to stay on course to make Triple Crown history Horse Racing Recap: Orb trying to stay on course to make Triple Crown history Horse Racing Recap: Orb trying to stay on course to make Triple Crown history Horse Racing Recap: Orb trying to stay on course to make Triple Crown history Horse Racing Recap: Orb trying to stay on course to make Triple Crown history

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Horse Racing News and Notes: Itsmyluckyday upsets Shanghai Bobby in Holy Bull

January 27, 2013 By

f1271d39c9ec20bedf630b8960102074 Horse Racing News and Notes: Itsmyluckyday upsets Shanghai Bobby in Holy Bull
Itsmyluckyday, left, with Elvis Trujillo aboard, passes Bobby, ridden by , on the way to a victory in the Holy Bull Stakes on Saturday. Itsmyluckyday gets 10 points toward a spot in the 2013 on May 4.(Photo: Coglianese Photo)

Story Highlights

Itsmyluckyday won the $400,000 Holy Bull Stakes Saturday
Itsmyluckyday was ridden by Elvis Trujillo
The loss was the first for Bobby, who finished second

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Eddie Plesa Jr. has saddled exactly one starter in a long and distinguished training career.

Itsmyluckyday, an impressive winner of the Holy Bull Stakes on Saturday at , appears determined to give Plesa another sniff at the roses.

“Words can’t describe it,” Plesa said. “It’s something that everybody should feel. Anybody in this game deserves this feeling, and I wish them all to have this feeling sometime – not today.”

ROAD TO DERBY : Updated Kentucky Derby points standings

Shanghai Bobby went off as the even-money favorite, but Itsmyluckyday caught the unbeaten -trained at the top of the stretch and surged to a two-. The winner paid $11.40 as the in the $400,000 prep race for the .

The son of Lawyer Ron, who finished 12th at the 2006 Kentucky Derby, broke the track record by three-fifths of a second. Itsmyluckyday covered the 1 1/16-mile distance in 1:41.81 with Elvis Trujillo aboard for the first time in the colt’s nine-race career.

“I thought it was a big race,” Pletcher said. “The winner was very good. We were second-best.”

Purchased as a 2-year-old for $110,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sale, Itsmyluckyday is owned in partnership by Trilogy Stable and Laurie Plesa, the trainer’s wife.

David Melin, 85, heads up Trilogy along with Olga, his wife of 43 years, and Ocala breeder Marion Montanari. While Plesa took Three Ring to the 1999 Kentucky Derby, the Melins have never had the experience during their quarter century in the business.

They are hoping that is about to change.

“That’s all I’m thinking about,” a smiling David Melin said after leading his horse into the winner’s circle.

Clearly Now finished a distant third. Bern Identity, sent off at 9-2, finished fifth under Paco Lopez, who had ridden Itsmyluckyday in his two previous starts.

That included a nearly 7-length win in the Derby on New Year’s Day.

“Everybody’s excited because of the Kentucky Derby,” Plesa said. “It’s hard not to get wrapped up in that.”

Plesa said he wasn’t sure when his fast-improving contender would run next. He seemed to be leaning toward the March 30 Florida Derby, but the new system might dictate entering the Fountain of Youth Stakes on Feb. 23.

Both races are at Gulfstream Park.

Plesa, a member of the at nearby Calder Race Course, has saddled more than 2,000 winners in a training career that dates back more than three decades.

NOTES: The Irish-bred Cerro, winner of Saturday’s third race, is partly owned by Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps and his longtime coach Bob Bowman. … All-Pro defensive lineman Vince Wilfork of the New England Patriots was in the winner’s circle with Itsmyluckyday.

Twice the Lady wins Affectionately Stakes

NEW YORK (AP) – Twice the Lady overcame a stewards’ inquiry and two objections Saturday to win the $71,250 Affectionately Stakes for fillies and mares at Aqueduct.

Spooked by a shadow on the track in deep stretch, Twice the Lady shied into the path of Withgreatpleasure. Cornelio Velasquez quickly got Twice the Lady straightened away, and she kicked clear to a two-length victory.

The stewards blinked the inquiry light and David Nunn and Travis Dunkelberger, the trainer and jockey of runner-up Withgreatpleasure, both filed objections.

After a video review, the order of finish stood, giving Twice the Lady her sixth win in 20 starts. Trained by Tony Dutrow, the 5-year-old ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.05, paying $7.20 and $4.40.

Withgreatpleasure returned $4. Stephanie Jayne was third followed by 3-5 favorite R Gypsy Gold. There was no show wagering on the four-horse field.

Fiftyshadesofhay wins Santa Ysabel stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) – Fiftyshadesofhay won the $100,000 Santa Ysabel Stakes for 3-year-old fillies by 5 3/4 lengths at Santa Anita on Saturday.

Ridden by Rafael Bejarano, Fiftyshadesofhay ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.89 on a dirt surface listed as wet-fast after earlier rain. She paid $14.40, $4.80 and $2.40 as the 6-1 fourth choice in the field of five for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.

Heir Kitty returned $3.40 and $2.20 while finishing second for the second straight race. Scarlet Strike was another 1 1/2 lengths back in third and paid $2.10 to show as the 3-2 favorite.

Fiftyshadesofhay finished eighth in the mile Blue Norther Stakes on the turf at Santa Anita on Jan. 1, an experiment Baffert labeled “kind of disastrous.”

Russell Baze rides 50,000th race in Bay Area

ALBANY, Calif. (AP) – Hall of Fame jockey Russell Baze has ridden the 50,000th thoroughbred race of his career.

The 54-year-old rider finished third in his historic race on Friday at Golden Gate Fields near San Francisco, although he was allowed in the winner’s circle afterward to pose for a photo. He swept the first three races on the eight-race card.

Baze notched 11,839 victories from his 50,000 mounts, and both totals are North American racing records, according to Equibase.

“I don’t think it’s any big thing just going out there that many times, but going out there and really being successful at it, that’s what is important,” he said.

Baze said he thinks he’s riding as well now as he ever has.

“I don’t think my physical skills have diminished any at all,” he said. “I get the odd ache and pain here and there but it’s manageable.”

Baze said he still has a great passion for riding races and doesn’t plan to quit anytime soon.

“I’m the kind of guy that likes playing games and winning,” he said. “And when I can do it against the younger guys, it kind of adds a little extra thrill to it. I figure in 2016 I’ll have 40 years in, and so that might be enough. But I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.”

Equibase, horse racing’s official recordkeeper, determined the distance of Baze’s races total more than 42,924 miles and the total elapsed time of those races equals nearly 48 days. Because the circumference of the earth is 24,901.55 miles, Equibase’s stats show that Baze has raced around the world 1.72 times.

3 soccer players banned in British racing scandal

LONDON (AP) – Three professional soccer players were among nine people banned from British horse racing Friday after an investigation into an elaborate race-fixing scandal.

The case centered on allegations that jockey Andrew Heffernan, who has recently been riding in Australia, fixed races in Britain between Nov. 1, 2010, and March 31, 2011.

Heffernan was banned for 15 years after being found guilty of receiving bribes, giving inside information and preventing three horses – Wanchai Whisper, Gallantry and Silver Guest – from running their best.

Ipswich striker Michael Chopra and former Manchester United midfielder Mark Wilson were both disqualified for 10 years for offering bribes to Heffernan and placing bets based on information provided by the jockey that his horse would lose. Doncaster midfielder James Coppinger drew a three-year ban for the latter charge.

Five other unlicensed individuals – Paul Garner, Yogesh Joshee, Douglas Shelley, Kelly Inglis and Pravin Shingardia – were found in violation of racing rules after a four-day hearing.

“The findings of the disciplinary panel confirm that an elaborate network of corruption has been identified and successfully prosecuted,” said Adam Brickell, the director of integrity, legal and risk of the British Horseracing Authority. “Investigations of this scale are extremely complex, especially when we are faced with a lack of cooperation, evasion, and untruthful accounts from many of those being investigated.”

Chopra, who used to play for Newcastle and Cardiff, is in line to play for Ipswich in a second-tier League Championship match Saturday. He did not give evidence in the hearing, which took place from Jan. 14-17, because he couldn’t afford to pay the legal fees. He has acknowledged a gambling addiction.

Horse Racing News and Notes: Itsmyluckyday upsets Shanghai Bobby in Holy Bull is a post from: PhatzRadio.com

Horse Racing News and Notes: Itsmyluckyday upsets Shanghai Bobby in Holy Bull Horse Racing News and Notes: Itsmyluckyday upsets Shanghai Bobby in Holy Bull Horse Racing News and Notes: Itsmyluckyday upsets Shanghai Bobby in Holy Bull Horse Racing News and Notes: Itsmyluckyday upsets Shanghai Bobby in Holy Bull Horse Racing News and Notes: Itsmyluckyday upsets Shanghai Bobby in Holy Bull

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Horse Racing Roundup – Road to the Derby: Oxbow roars to Lecomte Stakes win / Eclipse awards: Wise Dan named Horse of the Year

January 20, 2013 By

2a1030f6b1d82cd44b77bef9189a96e6 Horse Racing Roundup – Road to the Derby: Oxbow roars to Lecomte Stakes win / Eclipse awards: Wise Dan named Horse of the Year
Oxbow, right, ridden by Jon Court, led the pack into the stretch and went on to win the $200,000 Grade III Stakes at by more than 11 lengths.(Photo: Alexander Barkoff, Hodges Photography)

Story Highlights

Oxbow won the Lecomte Stakes by a whopping 11 1/2 lengths Saturday at Fiargrounds Race Track
The win was the second in six starts for Oxbow, who is trained by D. Wayne Lukas
Golden Soul finished second, 1½ lengths in front of Fear the in a field of nine 3-year-olds

(PhatzRadio / ) — NEW ORLEANS – Oxbow took the drama out of the Lecomte Stakes in a hurry, grabbing the lead soon after the start and cruising to an 11½- Saturday at the .

The $200,000, Grade III race, the first two-turn stakes prep for the Louisiana Derby, was also the year’s first points race in Louisiana under ’ new qualifying system for the .

“I wasn’t contested on the front end, so I was able to dictate the pace the way I wanted,” said Jon Court, who rode Oxbow for trainer D. Wayne Lukas and owner Brad Kelley’s Bluegrass Hall, LLC. “He’s really progressed. It’s just a matter of how he progresses forward.”

ROAD TO DERBY : Points leaders for Kentucky Derby

Lukas, who watched the race on television from Hot Springs, Ark., said of Oxbow: “The thing about him is, he has such an efficiency of motion, He has such a high cruising speed, which you always like with a horse going a mile and quarter and beyond.”

Oxbow, who won for the in six starts, ran the -mile in 24.44 seconds, the half in 48.58 and six in 1:13.37. He completed the mile and 70 yards in 1:43.30 to score his first stakes victory.

Golden Soul finished second, 1½ lengths in front of third-place Fear the Kitten in a field of nine 3-year-olds. Ive Struck a Nerve finished fourth.

Lukas, a Hall of Famer who has won 13 , has four Kentucky Derby victories. Charismatic in 1999 was his last.

“It’s been a while since the Kentucky Derby, so let’s go,” he said.

But first, he has to map out the rest of Oxbow’s pre-Derby campaign. Because Oxbow, who shipped to the Fair Grounds from Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, showed he can handle the traveling and the Fair Grounds track, Lukas said, he’ll strongly consider the Risen Star Stakes for the colt.

The Risen Star on Feb. 23 is the final prep for the Louisiana Derby, which will be run March 30. Lukas has won the Louisiana Derby twice, the last time with Grindstone in 1996. He went on to win the Kentucky Derby.

Under the Kentucky Derby qualifying system, the top four finishers in the Lecomte earned points – 10 for first place, four for second, two for third and one for fourth. Oxbow, who had earned a point for a fourth-place finish in the Grade I Cash Call Futurity on Dec. 15 at Hollywood Park, increased his total to 11 points.

The maximum field size for the Kentucky Derby is 20 horses. If the race attracts too many entrants, points earned in designated prep races will determine the qualifiers. Previously, the field was selected according to graded-stakes earnings.

a9a6c0ea62f7d796449794b304c6b4ca Horse Racing Roundup – Road to the Derby: Oxbow roars to Lecomte Stakes win / Eclipse awards: Wise Dan named Horse of the Year
(Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea, USA TODAY Sports)

Eclipse awards: Wise Dan named Horse of the Year

Story Highlights

Wise Dan, who won 5 of 6 races in 2012, was named horse of the year
Dale Romans was named trainer of the year
I’ll Have Another, winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, was named top 3-year-old colt

Wise Dan was named North American Thoroughbred racing’s 2012 Horse of the Year Saturday night at the Eclipse Awards Dinner at , the first gelding to be so feted since the great John Henry in 1984.

The now 6-year-old Wise Dan also became the first Horse of the Year to also win the older male and male turf divisional crowns since John Henry earned his first Horse of the Year in 1981. With 194 first-place votes out of 254, Wise Dan easily outdistanced the other finalists: Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner I’ll Have Another (30 votes) and Breeders’ Cup Fort Larned (12) to earn the gold trophy of the great 18th-century racehorse and foundation sire Eclipse, signifying Horse of the Year.

“When you get to be my age, you need something to get up in the morning and look forward to,” said Morton Fink, Wise Dan’s elderly owner and breeder who produced the triple champ from his lone broodmare, a $29,000 purchase he named for his granddaughter. “This horse has made me so happy that I can’t even express it in words.”

Wise Dan captured five of six races last year, going 4 for 4 on the turf, including the Grade I Woodbine Mile, Shadwell Turf Mile and the Breeders’ Cup Mile (in course-record time). He also set Keeneland’s track record in the 1 1/8-mile Ben Ali on Polytrack. His lone defeat was by a head in a troubled trip in Churchill Downs’ Grade I Clark Handicap on dirt.

The gelding became only the fourth Horse of the Year to have raced primarily on turf since the Eclipse Awards were inaugurated in 1971 and the first since Kotashaan in 1993. Wise Dan also is the first grass mile specialist to win North American racing’s top honor, with Kotashaan, the French mare All Along (1983) and John Henry (’84 and ’81) racing at much longer distances.

Horse of the Year traditionally has been the province of the top older dirt male, or in absence of such a standout, the top male 3-year-old on dirt. Wise Dan marks the fourth straight year that voters have gone for what historically is considered an unconventional choice, with fillies or mares prevailing the prior three years in Havre de Grace, Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra.

The son of the low-profile stallion Wiseman’s Ferry is out of Lisa Danielle, Fink’s broodmare.

“I’d have never thought it in a million years,” Keeneland-based trainer Lopresti said in a phone interview last week about the possibility of Wise Dan being Horse of the Year. “Somebody asked me if five years ago I’d have thought I’d ever have these kinds of horses, this kind of success. It’s like a dream come true. And to come away with a trophy like that, that’s what every trainer works for, every trainer hopes for: to have a horse like that. It’s hard to believe, that he’s one of the favorites for Horse of the Year. To actually win it, I don’t know how anything could get any better.”

Lopresti said the likely target for Wise Dan’s 6-year-old debut would be Keeneland’s Grade I Maker’s 46 Mile on turf. “If he stubbed his toe, or if there was bad weather and he didn’t make, he would go in the Ben Ali as his first race,” he said. “Keeneland is going to tell me a lot, once we run there.”

He said it’s possible Wise Dan, who captured Churchill’s Grade I Clark Handicap to end his 2011 season, could try the Stephen Foster again. He also said he thinks Wise Dan can be effective at the Classic’s distance of 1¼ miles.

“I’d like to try him on the dirt again,” he said. “If that’s the only knock on him right now, maybe that’s a goal you set for yourself. We know he can run on any surface. We’ve already seen that.”

Other Kentuckians were in the spotlight at the Eclipse Awards ceremony before a sell-out crowd at the South Florida track:

Dale Romans earned his first Eclipse as outstanding trainer for a season that included victories in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, Arlington Million and Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (all with Little Mike), the Metropolitan Mile and Clark Handicap (Shackleford) and Pacific Classic and Blue Grass (Dullahan), along with two Grade I victories by long-time client Frank Jones’ Tapitsfly.

Bobby, the unbeaten winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, proved the most dominant victor, garnering 253 of the 254 first-place votes. His Starlight Racing ownership includes managing partner Jack Wolf, as well as Ed and Clinton Glasscock, all of Louisville.

Groupie Doll, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint winner and two other Grade I races, also was a near unanimous winner (250 votes) as champion female sprinter. The now 5-year-old mare is the first champion for Louisville-based trainer Buff Bradley, who bred and owns Groupie Doll with his father, former Kentucky state senator Fred Bradley of Frankfort. The Bradleys last year sold minority interest to Carl Hurst of Madisonville, Ky., and Brent Jones of Gulfshores, Ala., both long-time clients.

Fort Larned, trained by Churchill Downs-based Ian Wilkes, finished a strong second (139-109) to Wise Dan as older male. Wise Dan enjoyed a bigger margin as male grass champ, 170-78 over Little Mike.

I’ll Have Another – whose bid ended when he was retired with a tendon injury the day before the Belmont Stakes – was the overwhelming choice as champion 3-year-old male. By contract, the closest vote was for 3-year-old filly, where Questing (winner of the prestigious Coaching Club American Oaks and Alabama) edged Ladies’ Classic winner My Miss Aurelia 106-102.

Ramon Dominguez earned the Eclipse Award as outstanding jockey for the third straight year, even as he was in a New York hospital after sustaining a skull fracture in a spill Friday. His fellow finalists, Hall of Famer John Velazquez and Javier Castellano, accepted the award for Dominguez.

2012 Eclipse Awards winners

Horse of the Year: Wise Dan

Voting: Wise Dan 194; I’ll Have Another, 30; Fort Larned, 12; Royal Delta 8; Little Mike, 6; 1; Groupie Doll, 1; Shanghai Bobby 1; abstentions, 1.

Category Horse (Trainer) Starts-1-2-3 Earnings

Two-year-old male: Shanghai Bobby (Pletcher) 5-5-0-0 $1,687,000

Won G1 Champagne in NY, BC Juvenile in Calif.

Voting:Shanghai Bobby, 253; Uncaptured, 1.

Two-year-old filly: Beholder (Mandella) 5-3-1-0 $1,215,000

Won BC Juv. Fillies; lost Del Mar Debutante by nose

Voting: Beholder, 225; Executiveprivilege, 27; Dreaming of Julia, 1; So Many Ways, 1.

Three-year-old male: I’ll Have Another (O’Neill)*4*4-0-0*$2,629,600

Won Santa Anita Derby, Ky. Derby, Preakness

Voting: I’ll Have Another, 247; Bodemeister, 3; The Lumber Guy, 1; Paynter, 1; Union Rags, 1; abstention, 1.

Three-year-old filly: Questing (McLaughlin)*7*3-1-0*$792,320

Won G1 Coaching Club American Oaks, Alabama

Voting: Questing, 106; My Miss Aurelia, 102; Believe You Can, 17; Contested, 13; Dance Card, 6; Lady of Shamrock, 5; In Lingerie, 4; Zo Impressive, 1.

Four-year-old & up male: Wise Dan (Lopresti)*6*5-1-0*$2,622,037

3 G1 turf victories included BC Mile; set Poly record; 2nd G1 Stephen Foster

Voting: Wise Dan, 139; Fort Larned, 109; Little Mike, 4; Game On Dude, 1; Shackleford, 1.

Four-year-old & up female: Royal Delta (Mott)*7*4-2-0*$2,009,251

1st BC Ladies’ Classic, G1 Beldame, two G2 stakes

Voting: Royal Delta, 231; Groupie Doll, 22; It’s Tricky, 1.

Male sprinter (3yo&up) Trinniberg (Parbhoo)*8*4-2-0*$1,382,000

Won BC Sprint against older horses, 3 other graded stakes

Voting: Trinniberg, 233; Shackleford, 11; The Lumber Guy, 8; Caixa Eletronica, 1; abstention, 1.

Female sprinter (3yo&up)Groupie Doll (Bradley)*9*5-2-2*$1,385,314

Won G1 Madison, Humana, BC Filly & Mare Sprint

Voting: Groupie Doll, 250; Mizdirection, 3; Contested, 1.

Male turf (3yo&up):Wise Dan (Lopresti)*6*5-1-0*$2,622,037

Won G1 Woodbine Mile, Shadwell, BC Mile; G2 Fourstardave

Voting: Wise Dan, 170; Little Mike, 78; Point of Entry, 5; No Vote, 1.

Female turf (3yo&up):Marketing Mix (Proctor)*7*4-2-0*$1,120,692

Zagora (Brown)*8*5-1-1*$1,689,000

Won BC F&M Turf, four other graded stakes

Voting: Zagora, 242; Marketing Mix, 5; Lady of Shamrock, 4; Dayatthespa, 2; abstention, 1.

Steeplechase:Pierrot Lunaire (Davies)*5*2-0-1*$253,000

Won G1 Lonesome Glory, Grand National

Voting: Pierrot Lunaire, 116; Demonstrative, 99; Arcadius, 1; Divine Fortune, 1; Woodmont, 1; abstentions, 36.

Jockey:Ramon Dominguez * 1,398 * 341-245-203 * $25,582,252

1st earnings; 2nd earnings, G1 wins (10); 3rd graded stakes (28)

Voting: Dominguez, 201; John Velazquez, 37; Rosie Napravnik, 4; Russell Baze, 2; Rafael Bejarano, 2; Javier Castellano, 2; Mario Gutierrez, 1; Mike Smith, 1; abstentions, 3; no vote, 1.

Trainer:Dale Romans*763*125-100-109*$11,834,249

1st BC Turf, Met Mile, Arlington Million, Pacific Classic, Blue Grass

Voting: Romans, 119; , 87; Bob Baffert, 35; Chad Brown, 2; Bill Mott, 2; Jamie Ness, 2; Doug O’Neill, 2; Steve Asmussen 1; Ian Wilkes, 1; abstentions, 3.

Owner:Godolphin Racing*48*15-7-9*$3,749,075

1st in earnings, G1 wins (8), graded stakes (15)

Voting: Godolphin Racing, 138; Midwest Thoroughbreds, 50; Reddam Racing, 26; John C. Oxley, 13; Morton Fink, 12; Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey, 2; Janis Whitham, 2; Zayat Stables, 2; Repole Racing, 1; Starlight Racing, 1; abstentions, 7.

Breeder:Darley *523 * 96-75-66 * $7,526,855

1st earnings, G1 wins (7), graded stakes (18)

Voting: Darley, 170; Adena Springs, 25; Morton Fink, 20; Brereton C. Jones, 15; Janis Whitham, 4; Phipps Stable, 3; Harvey Clarke, 2; Fred and William Bradley, 1; William D. Graham, 1; Palides Investments, 1; Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey, 1; Stonestreet Thoroughbreds, 1; abstentions, 10.

Apprentice jockey:Jose Montano*899*187-184-141*$2,981,906

Led in victories as apprentice

Voting: Montano, 127; Irad Ortiz, Jr., 34; Angel Suarez, 25; Eswan Flores, 16; Wilmer Garcia, 4; Eliska Kubinova, 4; C.J. McMahon, 2; Jose Ortiz, 2; Hugo Sanchez, 2; Nicolas Milford, 1; abstentions, 37.

The Eclipse champions are determined in voting by National Thoroughbred Racing Association-member designates (racing secretaries and Equibase personnel), members of the National Turf Writers And Broadcasters and Daily Racing Form employees, who vote for a top three in 17 equine and human categories. Winners are based solely on receiving the most first-place votes, with second- and third-place votes used to determine finalists. Ballots were cast by 254 of the 272 eligible voters for 93.38 percent participation. Source: NTRA, equineline.com, Equibase, Daily Racing Form

Rees writes for The Louisville Courier-Journal

Horse Racing Roundup – Road to the Derby: Oxbow roars to Lecomte Stakes win / Eclipse awards: Wise Dan named Horse of the Year is a post from: PhatzRadio.com

Horse Racing Roundup – Road to the Derby: Oxbow roars to Lecomte Stakes win / Eclipse awards: Wise Dan named Horse of the Year Horse Racing Roundup – Road to the Derby: Oxbow roars to Lecomte Stakes win / Eclipse awards: Wise Dan named Horse of the Year Horse Racing Roundup – Road to the Derby: Oxbow roars to Lecomte Stakes win / Eclipse awards: Wise Dan named Horse of the Year Horse Racing Roundup – Road to the Derby: Oxbow roars to Lecomte Stakes win / Eclipse awards: Wise Dan named Horse of the Year Horse Racing Roundup – Road to the Derby: Oxbow roars to Lecomte Stakes win / Eclipse awards: Wise Dan named Horse of the Year

Horse Racing Roundup – Road to the Derby: Oxbow roars to Lecomte Stakes win / Eclipse awards: Wise Dan named Horse of the Year

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