TRULY A GOOSEBUMPS kind of day in horse racing on Saturday from the great CALIFORNIA CHROME, to the huge betting day at Gulfstream and the wild charge to the Kentucky Derby…
California Chrome (USA) (Art Sherman – Victor Espinoza) wins the Group 1 Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline at the Dubai World Cup meeting on March 26th 2016. (Credit: Dubai Racing Club // Andrew Watkins)
HOLY CHROME!
Contested pace, wide trip and almost no saddle but no matter, CALIFORNIA CHROME proved once again he is the Horse of the World with a handy score in the $10 million DUBAI WORLD CUP at 1 1/4 miles on the Meydan desert dirt.
More notes: THOROUGHBLOG had a nice following on the site yesterday as the races were updated and notes made during the card. Go to yesterday’s post to see all the notes from the winners (www.canadianthoroughbred.com/thoroughblog/packed)
An exciting winner was LANI, even if jockey Yutaka Take said the colt was “lazy and I am tired”. The Tapit grey colt with four bandages won the UAE Derby for Japanese interests and is headed to the Kentucky Derby (see points list below).
The colt is out of a Sunday Silence mare who was a Grade 1 winner.
In the ‘poor winner’ category: PERRY MARTIN said about the $6 million winner’s share “money’s not important” but then he added he wants to win a Win and You’re In race so he can avoid paying the $100,000 supplemental fee – gadzooks (Barb Minshall reminded me, if you are not eligible, even if you win a WYI race, you still have to pay!)
California Chrome set to fly out to CHICAGO and then he has an appointment at Rood & Riddle for a checkup to determine how he is and when he will return to the races;
Oh, and Perry Martin (co-owner) also says they are interested in the $12 million race that Frank Stronach is trying to get together in January on the grass at Gulfstream..
CALIFORNIA CHROME is 20-12 – 3 – 1 and has $12,532,650 in earnings.
Postponed (IRE) (Roger Varian – Andrea Atzeni) wins the Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic Sponsored by Longines at the Dubai World Cup meeting on March 26th 2016. (Credit: Dubai Racing Club // Andrew Watkins)
ONTARIO-BRED ROSE’S DANCER pays big price in the record RAINBOW6
It was an Ontario-bred 5-year-old maiden gelding who paid the biggest price in the RAINBOW 6 at Gulfstream Park yesterday, helping the payout reach $89,000 for some 147 winning tickets, or knocking out zillions of players.
Over $10 million was bet INTO the Pick6 carryover of $5 million and the results were all very formful, except for the Ivan Dalos-bred Mike DePaulo owned and trained son of Northern Afleet.
Making his 3rd start off the layoff but shortening up after flopping at 9 to 2 in his atest, Rose’s Dancer got the jump on heavily favoured Prime Time Tony and won in his 7th career race under 10-pound big rider A. Donis.
Mighty Mo ($8.60) kicked off the six-race sequence with a victory in the seventh over 6-5 shot SIR DUDLEY DIGGS, the Queen’s Plate hopeful,, followed by Deer Dog ($15.60) in the eighth, Rose’s Dancer ($31.80) in the ninth, Bibbo ($18.80) in the 10th, Harmonize ($6) in the 11th , and Appa ($14.20) in the 12th.
KENTUCKY DERBY POINTS – Pretty cool edition is on tap
BIG SHOT – GUN RUNNER by Candy Ride, blasts to victory in the Louisiana Derby – FAIR GROUNDS MEDIA PHOTO
GUN RUNNER (Candy Ride (Arg)) zoomed to the top of the leaderboard with his 2nd straight big win yesterday; he took the Louisiana Derby with a lovely trip and great power in the stretch run.
Of course poor Gun Runner, who won very nicely, was not getting as much press as MO TOM, who trailed the field, launched a rally from far back but took an inside trip where he was blocked and steadied several times. It was the 3rd troubled trip in succession for the Uncle Mo colt.
“It was a good race, but the pace didn’t set up the same this time,” trainer Tom Amoss said. “I really thought he ran a prepared race and a great race, I was just puzzled as to why Corey went down to the rail. I just hope he didn’t hurt my horse. I am surprised. There were other choices and I don’t understand why he did what he did. Watching this was like going to the schoolyard and watching your kid get beat up by another kid. It’s so hard to watch something like that with all the preparation we do. We will make sure he’s okay before we make any other decisions.”
“It was a bad ride and totally my fault,” Lanerie said. “He came underneath me and I had more horse than I knew what to do with and I got him in trouble and went inside when I shouldn’t have. I doubt they’ll let me sit on him again. He’s a great horse.”
So what’s on tap so far for the Derby?
GUN RUNNER and 3 grey sons of TAPIT, that’s what.
LANI, MOHAYMEN and CUPID are all contenders and in the top 5 by points.
Oh, and MOHAYMEN and champion NYQUIST meet next Saturday in the Florida Derby.
1. Gun Runner 151 Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC (Ron Winchell) & Three Chimney Farms (Goncalo Borges Torrealba) Steve Asmussen $849,200
2. Lani 100 Ms. Yoko Maeda Mikio Matsunaga $1,300,119
3. Mohaymen 70 Shadwell Stable (Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum) Kiaran McLaughlin $760,350
4. Destin 51 Twin Creeks Racing Stables LLC (Randy Gullatt) Todd Pletcher $338,000
5. Cupid 50 Michael Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier & Derek Smith Bob Baffert $540,000
6. Danzing Candy 50 Halo Farms (Teddy Aroney), Jim Bashor & Diane Bashor Cliff Sise Jr. $240,000 (Career: $308,650)
7. Shagaf 50 Shadwell Stable (Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum) Chad Brown $240,000 (Career: $298,800)
8. Mor Spirit 44 Michael L. Petersen Bob Baffert $416,800
9. Tom’s Ready 44 G M B Racing (Gayle Benson) Dallas Stewart $270,670
10. f-Polar River 40 Valentin Bukhtoyarov & Evgeny Kappushev Doug Watson $700,000
11. Mo Tom 32 G M B Racing (Gayle Benson) Tom Amoss $328,326
12. Nyquist 30 Reddam Racing LLC (J. Paul Reddam) Doug O’Neill $1,700,000
13. Exaggerator 26 Big Chief Racing LLC (Matthew W. Bryan) Keith Desormeaux $1,028,000
14. Whitmore 24 Robert V. LaPenta, Harry T. Rosenblum & Southern Springs Stable (Ron Moquett) Ron Moquett $300,000
15. Sunny Ridge 23 Dennis A. Drazin Jason Servis $525,600
16. Laoban 22 Southern Equine Stable LLC (Michael Moreno) & McCormick Racing LLC Eric Guillot $92,000 —
+Yu Change-JPN 20 K. Aitetsu Hideyuki Mori $377,583
17. Forevamo 20 Brittlyn Stable Inc. (Evelyn Benoit) Al Stall Jr. $230,000
18. Dazzling Gem 20 Steve Landers Racing LLC Brad Cox $100,000
19. Zulu 20 Michael Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier & Derek Smith Todd Pletcher $79,200
20. Outwork 20 Repole Stable (Mike Repole) Todd Pletcher $70,000
21. Flexibility 15 Klaravich Stables Inc. (Seth Klarman) & William H. Lawrence Chad Brown $232,500
22. Brody’s Cause 14 Albaugh Family Stable (Dennis Albaugh) Dale Romans $500,000
23. Greenpointcrusader 14 St. Elias Stable (Vincent Viola), MeB Racing Stables LLC & Brooklyn Boyz Stables (Mary Ellen and Anthony Bonomo) Dominick Schettino $379,300
AND THEN WAS OTHER ACTION…
SHAKE DOWN BABY, an Ontario bred by Wando – Megavista bred by Gus Schickedanz and recently sold by Bill Tharrenos and partners to Cheyenne Stables, had a dreadfully unlucky run in the Sanibel Island Stakes at Gulfstream and was placed 2nd through disqualification. The winner, Harmonize, had run well against Catch a Glimpse last season.
Trainer JUSTIN NIXON saddled a winner at Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday. BEAVER TRAPPER came back on in a 1 mile, 40 yard maiden allowance to win by a length under Melanie Pinto to score in his 3rd career start. The Kentucky-bred son of Trappe Shot, owned by Secure Investments ran in 1:40.97, good for a 56 Beyer Figure. Beaver Trapper went through 4 horse sales and was originally a $48,000 yearling purchase.
QUEEN’S PLATE CONTENDER BATTERY (see replay above) was not a happy horse in the Louisiana Derby. The son of Bernardini was literally leaping away from the dirt in his face heading into and around the first turn of the 1 1/8 mile race, stayed inside and then faded to last place. Perhaps the colt will enjoy a move to the Tapeta surface should that new Woodbine track prove to now have any kickback.
CANADIAN owned LAND OVER SEA got out of dodge, as in California/Songbird territory and romped in the Fair Grounds Oaks:
Reddam Racing’s Doug O’Neill-trained Land Over Sea shipped in from California, dodged divisional champ Songbird and annexed a big win in The Big Easy with a 4½-length sigh of class relief Saturday afternoon in the Grade II $400,000 Twinspires.com Fair Grounds Oaks at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.
The daughter of Bellamy Road sat in sixth before slowly moving her way toward the front and passing Winchell Thoroughbreds’ Steve Asmussen-trained Adore in mid-stretch with methodical momentum. She then extended her lead in the final eighth of a mile to win comfortably. The determined winner scored the second victory of her career and first in a stakes after chasing Fox Hill Farm’s aforementioned champion in her previous five races, including two Grade I efforts.
Ridden by John Velazquez for the first time, the chestnut Kentucky-bred and $130,000 OBS April purchase also won for the first time on dirt, having initially graduated on the Del Mar turf in July, while returning $5.60, $3.40 and $2.60 to the loyal fans who made her the 9-5 choice.
