Of SEATTLE SEAHAWKS (the favourite team of yours truly) and equine Hawks!
Congratulations to trainer MARK FROSTAD who won the 8th race at Gulfstream on Friday with the promising filly LADY ROUGE (Ghostzapper), owned by Stronach Stables. The filly had won her maiden in her previous race at Woodbine on Polytrack and she took to dirt with flair. GULFSTREAM PARK PHOTO
EURICO ROSA DA SILVA won his first race at Oaklawn Park on opening day on Friday when guiding THUNDERGRAM, owned by John Oxley/trained by Mark Casse to a maiden win – 76 Beyer Figure. JOSE PAYE PHOTO, thank you Jose!
MIDNIGHT HAWK SOARS IN SHAM
Los Angeles Times
By Eric Sondheimer
January 12, 2014
Mike Tice, hired as the offensive line coach for the Atlanta Falcons earlier this week, could have an exciting few months ahead with some distractions off the field.
Tice is co-owner of the 3-year-old colt Midnight Hawk, who is two for two after taking the Grade III, $100,000 Sham Stakes by 13/4 lengths over Kristo on Saturday at Santa Anita.
It was the first stakes for 3-year-olds during the winter-spring meeting and gained Midnight Hawk, a son of Midnight Lute, 10 points toward a possible start in the Kentucky Derby. Only four horses were entered after two scratches, and the way Midnight Hawk was able to harness his natural speed in the one-mile race made his trainer, Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, feel good.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-santa-anita-races-20140112,0,5234823.column#ixzz2qC1AEbYW
CONSTITUTION, from slow start, to rush to win
First time starter CONSTITUTION lived up to the hype at Gulfstream yesterday as the son of Tapit – Baffled, Distorted Humor won his debut with an 85 Beyer Figure after a less than perfect trip. Meanwhile, CANADIAN-OWNED colt JUBA, also by Tapit, was 2nd for Centennial Farms.
LEA, on a fast dirt track for the first time, stretches it out and wins the Hal’s Hope with a 101 Beyer Figure. Raced a lot on grass for another trainer, now trained by Bill Mott…hmmmm. DONN HANDICAP next? GULFSTREAM PARK PHOTO
IS LEA THE NEXT CIGAR?
HALLANDALE BEACH, FL– Jockey Luis Saez won a lot of big races in the past year for several trainers while emerging as a rising riding star, but Bill Mott wasn’t one of them…until Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
“I think he’s a good rider, a good young rider. I think he’s going to be in the top echelon of the jocks,” Mott said. “I actually hadn’t had much luck with him up until today – maybe I just didn’t put him on the right kind of horses – but I’m glad we’ve finally broke through in a graded stakes.”
Saez, who had just missed pulling off a front-running upset aboard the Mott-trained Tetradrachm in the $200,000 Fort Lauderdale (G2) won by heavily favored Summer Front one race earlier, came through for the Hall of Fame trainer in a big way in the $100,000 Hal’s Hope Stakes (G3). The 21-year-old jockey not only posted a 3 ¼-length victory aboard Lea, a $6.40-1 longshot, he registered a personal milestone by visiting the winner’s circle for the 1000th time during his relatively brief career.
“It’s amazing! I thank God,” said Saez, whose most high-profile triumphs of 2013 came aboard Travers and Clark Handicap winner Will Take Charge. “I need to thank the trainers, the owners and my agent (Richard Depass) too.”
Making his first start for Mott and only his third career start on dirt, Lea pressed the pace set by Csaba along the backstretch and around the final turn before taking over at the top of the stretch and continuing on to a convincing victory.
“It went really well. My horse broke so good. We followed Csaba because I knew he was the horse to beat,” said Saez, who rode Csaba to a victory in the 2013 Hal’s Hope. “At the three-eighths (pole), I had a lot of horse and when I asked him, he ran. He handled the dirt really well.”
Jackson Bend, ridden by Javier Castellano, closed to finish a non-threatening second, a half-length ahead of Neck ‘n Neck and jockey Julien Leparoux. Csaba, the 3-1 favorite and defending champion ridden by Paco Lopez, faded to sixth.
Lea, who had previously raced on turf and synthetic surfaces for trainer Al Stall Jr., ran the mile in 1:35.30 after pressing fractions of :24.15, :47.03 and 1:10.87 for the first six furlongs. Bred and owned by Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider, Lea earned $60,000 for his fifth victory in 11 starts.
“We’ve had him about 60 days and initially we were pointing him to either the El Prado Stakes or the Fort Lauderdale (on turf), and then we started looking at it and examining his dirt form, which was pretty good. He’s got two races that are actually quite good,” Mott said. “Discussing it with Walker Hancock (of Claiborne Farm), we both decided to give him a shot early in the year on the dirt just to see what direction we want to go the rest of the year.”
The 5-year-old son of First Samurai had won an off-the-turf allowance over a Churchill Downs sloppy track last June and finished a respectable fourth in the Forego (G1) over a sloppy Saratoga track in August.
“I think the way he gave us good reason for trying that (running on dirt again). I suppose now we have to decide how far we want to run him. But he looks like he’s one of those unusual horses that handles turf and dirt,” Mott said. “Obviously, there are some big races on the dirt. His dam (Greenery) ran a mile and three furlongs, a mile and a half, so he’s got a pedigree to run further. First Samurai is doing well and starting to kick in as a stallion, so maybe he’s got the pedigree to carry him nine furlongs anyway.”
The $500,000 Donn Handicap (G1) at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 8 will be run at 1 1/8-miles or nine furlongs. “I was just kind of considering that,” Mott said through a broad smile. “We’ll have to talk to the owners about that.”
WHAT IS IT WITH CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS AND HORSE RACING?
