BIG GAME

$19.9 million bet on Gulfstream racing yesterday from all-sources – great racing, great betting

LUKES ALLEY reaches to victory in the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap, a 4350,000 and first Grade 1 win for owner/breeder Eugene Melnyk since 2006. Gulfstream Park photo

ALLEY SCRAPPER
Ontario bred Lukes Alley takes down Grade 1 GP Turf

The handsome, long striding bay horse LUKES ALLEY was one of a few horses kept by breeder Eugene Melnyk when that owner disperse his racehorses and breeding stock two years ago. The Ontario bred son of Melnyk’s own Flower Alley from his stakes winning mare Vaulcluse (by A.P. Indy) had shown promise in a brief career having won the 2nd and 3rd starts of his career in the late summer of 2013.
When most of the Melnyk horses were sold, trainer Josie Carroll continued to develop the horse and sent him out to three straight wins in 2014 from only 4 races. Two of those wins came in graded stakes: the Grade 2 Autumn and Grade Durham Cup over Woodbine’s Polytrack.

Yesterday, Lukes Alley was up in time to win the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap at 1 1/8 miles on a big Saturday of racing at Gulfstream. Paco Lopez guided the horse to a well timed move to catch the front running Shining Copper, owned by Ken and Sarah Ramsay.

Josie Carroll said, “It was close. This is a gutsy horse. I knew he’d go down fighting if he lost. This is a horse that always shows up. I was confident he’d run his race and we were lucky enough to win it. He’s a very, very honest horse and I think he really deserves this.”

Lopez admitted the trip was not totally smooth, “I wasn’t sure if I was going to get there. It was a tough race and I knew my horse was going to run big because I rode him last time and he was second. He didn’t like the rail then, but he liked the rail today,” Lopez said. “I didn’t have a perfect trip—I had to go forward, then behind, but when I got him outside nobody was coming. It was the perfect move for my horse. I got a little lucky and I had the best horse today.”

Lukes Alley has now won 8 of 14 races and over $760,000. It was the second Grade 1 win for trainer Carroll, who sent out Careless Jewel to win the Alabama a few years back for Donver Stables.

His time of 1:48.20 was good for a 103 Beyer Speed Figure, matching his previous top earned when he was 2nd in the Ft. Lauderdale (Grade 2) in his last outing.

Lukes Alley’s mum, Vaulcluse, won the Suncoast Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs and was unbeaten in 3 races. Lukes Alley is her first foal.

She has produced 3 runners since then: Wanstead Gardens, $173,585, Dottins Alley (74,041) and the placed Barahona.
Ontario/Canada’s other big gun racing on Saturday, AMI’S FLATTER, was trying to avoid the big bounce off a giant return outing when favoured for the Grade 3 Fred Hooper. The 4-year-old colt, also trained by Carroll, tracked the speed from the rail in the 1 mile race, was just about 1 length off most of the way but he faded on the turn. The colt actually did re-rally in the stretch and tried to mount a bid in the late stages but he wound up 4th, beaten 10 lengths to Tommy Macho, a son of Macho Uno trained by Todd Pletcher.
The Ivan Dalos owned and bred colt went from a 105 Beyer Figure in his allowance win at 7 furlongs in his return to an 86 on Saturday.

GULFSTREAM TURF HANDICAP = GRADE 1 REPLAY

SCHOLAR ATHLETE, 3rd in the Coronation Futurity last fall at Woodbine for West Point Thoroughbreds, overcame a crazy-wide trip in a 7 1/2 furlong turf race to be a closing 3rd beaten just over a length for trainer Graham Motion.
The Adena Springs-bred son of Einstein – Creme Catalan by El Prado posted a 79 Beyer Figure despite the tough trip which he started from post 11.
SCHOLAR ATHLETE won his maiden at 1 mile and 70 yards on the Polytrack at Woodbine last September in his 2nd careerrace.

Later, HAPPY’S CAUSEWAY, bred by Bill Graham, ran his best career race when 2nd by 3/4 of a length in a 1 1/8 mile maiden allowance. The son of Giant’s Causeway – Hello Maggie May by Lemon Drop Kid earned a 76 Beyer Figure for his near miss. The 1 1/8 miles was run in 1:51.
Happy’s Causeway is owned by Happy Alter and trained by Marty Wolfson.
The colt is the second foal of Hello Maggie May, a 2-time stakes winner at Woodbine.

SONGBIRD CRUISES

SONGBIRD, by Cindy Pierson Dulay

The unbeaten filly SONGBIRD, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2015, made an awesome debut to the races on Saturday at Santa Anita. The daughter of Medaglia d’Oro (also the sire of MSHAWISH, the Donn winner)  simply cantered to a 10 length win over a badly overmatched field (her series of triple-digit Beyer Figures were some 20 points better than any of her rivals) and barely took a deep breath. She posted an 87 beyer Figure as she was not hard pressed to win.

Still, there’s a long way to go for this gal to prove herself one of the greats as that race was, while visually impressive, came against a very weak field.

FROM LA TIMES: Eric Sondheimer 

There are those rare moments in horse racing when even the losing bettors stand up and applaud when they are witnessing greatness. That was the scene on a gorgeous, cloudless Saturday afternoon at Santa Anita, where the unbeaten 3-year-old filly Songbird, sent off at odds of 1-9, showed why she is drawing comparisons to the likes of Ruffian and Rachel Alexandra.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-santa-anita-stakes-20160207-story.html

MOR SPIRIT WINS MORE

The dark bay Eskenderya ridgling MOR SPIRIT scored a workmanlike win in the Grade 3 Robert Lewis one race before Songbird’s race. The $650,000 2-year-old in training won in 1:43.21 for a 92 Beyer Figure, a new top. He i a Bob Baffert trained 3-year-old with 24 Kentucky Derby points.
Mor Spirit is owned by Michael Peterson.

Interestingly, Mor Spirit, a Pennsylvania-bred, is from the mare Im a Dixie Girl, by Dixie Union, who has had 4 winning foals but this is not the powerhouse pedigree you would associate with a $650,000 purchase.

Mor Spirit was born on April Fool’s day in 2013.

MSHAWISH – DONN WINNER has intriguing background

Kentucky-bred 6-year-old MSHAWISH, likely headed to Dubai after his strong win in the Grade 1 Donn Handicap at Gulfstream on Saturday, is one of those very intriguing horses who have done a lot, done it everywhere and, well, is not one of those fancy, high-priced horses.

At one time a $10,000 KEENELAND SEPTEMBER SALE YEARLING after selling for $25,000 as a weanling. he then went overseas and sold for $219,589 as a 2yo in training at the 2012 Arqana Saint-Cloud Breeze- up sale in France.

He had a solid racing campaign in Europe and then won races like the Ft Lauderdale and Gulfstream Park Turf a year ago. He was off form last summer and fall  when 5th to Grand Arch and then 4th in the Breeders’ Cup Mile to Tepin but he has got a bit better since he moved to the dirt. He has 2 wins from 3 starts on the main track. His Donn win earned him a career best 106 Beyer Figure. His dam Thunder Bayou earned $7,000 on the track and is by Thunder Gulch.