It’s Saturday and that means more great racing from around the world – from New York, to Florida to California to Barbados!
News, photos and picks for some races on today’s Thoroughblog…
BARBADOS SANDY LANE GOLD CUP – listen at http://horseracingradio.net/
$200,000 about 1 1/8 miles, turf
*PAST PERFORMANCES FROM BRISNET….http://horseracingradio.net/sites/default/files/BARCUP2016.pdf..(*BARBADOS RUNNING LINES ARE MISSING FROM MOST HORSES)
PATRICK HUSBANDS and KEN RAMSAY on Friday evening at the Garrison Savannah – PHOTO BY SIMON WILLIAMS
PATRICK HUSBANDS rides WATCHYOUROWNBOBBER, a front running HARD SPUN fellow for Mike Maker and the Ramsays and Rico Walcott is on the Ramsay’s SAYLER’S CREEK, who won it last year but has not raced since because of injury. Mario Pino rides the Wes Ward trainee War Envoy.
The race is at 3:55 EST.
ANDY THORNHILL takes a look at this year’s Gold Cup
NATION NEWS..
A YEAR AGO I stuck my neck out on Just A Fashion to make an affirmative statement in the Sandy Lane Gold Cup and because he failed to make a favourable impression, I haven’t been allowed to forget it.
I believed then that his credentials of winning ten of 13 career starts at that point were a sound recommendation. Not to mention, too, that he also won the Coolmore in spectacular style, leaving dust in the face of his opponents.
Those with a different opinion felt that he ran his Gold Cup in that race and wouldn’t be able to reproduce the same form on the day of reckoning. To some extent, I surmised that part of that analogy was born out of the superstition that animals which win the Coolmore hardly ever take the Gold Cup.
Superstition apart, the naysayers were proved correct. One of the key, underlying factors in their reasoning is that he was just too sharp in the dress rehearsal to repeat in prime time.
– See more at: http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/78460/thorny-issue-eye-fashion#sthash.jBW9xSRN.dpuf
Former Canadian-owned DORSETT is in Barbados for the Madoo family and trainer Robert Peirce – HAYLEY MORRISON PHOTO
POOCH’S PICK – only on Thoroughblog! -Special race picks by our special friends.
Today’s guest doggy-capper is TRULY..and she has a treat for you:
RALLY CRY – Gotham Stakes – race 9 Aqueduct!
This Kentucky Derby prep race is a very competitive event so get value on your pick. Unbeaten SHAGAF (Bernardini) could be any kind and SUNNY RIDGE (Holy Bull) is a tough grey.
Rally Cry is by Uncle Mo and coming off a terrible trip behind Shagaf. Get 5 to 1!
Woof!
THIS MORNING AT 9:55 A.M. DON’T MISS KEEN ICE in his final DUBAI WORLD CUP PREP RACE..
Saturday, Meydan, UAE, post time: 6:55 p.m (9:55 a.m. ET)
AL MAKTOUM CHALLENGE-R3 SPONSORED BY EMIRATES-G1, $400,000,
NH4yo/up, SH3yo/up, 2000m
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER
1 Gun Pit (Aus) Dubawi (Ire) Moreira Fownes
2 Munaaser (GB) New Approach (Ire) Hanagan al Raihe
3 Watershed Bernardini Doyle McLaughlin
4 Mubtaahij (Ire) Dubawi (Ire) Soumillon de Kock
5 Haatheq Seeking the Gold O’Neill al Raihe
6 Special Fighter (Ire) Teofilo (Ire) Jara al Muhairi
7 Gold City (Ire) Pivotal (GB) Mullen Seemar
8 Faulkner (GB) Pivotal (GB) Dobbs Watson
9 Golden Soul Perfect Soul (Ire) Smith de Kock
10 Storm Belt More Than Ready Hitchcott Watson
11 Keen Ice Curlin Moore Romans
12 Pylon (SAf) Fort Wood Ffrench de Kock
CANADIANS GEARING UP THERE..and HERE
Gorgeous image from JANIS MAINE at Palm Beach Downs as trainer READE BAKER watched his Queen’s Plate hopeful GLEN COCO get ready for his first workout of 2016. Glencoco is owned by Zayat Stables.
BREAKING LUCKY works on Saturday morning at Palm Meadows – beautiful colt won the Prince of Wales Stakes last year and is headed to the Challenger Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs shortly – JANIS MAINE PHOTO
WOODBINE WORKOUTS – Photos by GITA FIONA PHOTOGRAPHY/WOODBINE RACETRACK
DEPAULO QUARTET SIZZLE IN WOODBINE PREPS
Biamonte and DePaulo barn very busy in workouts
A four-pack of runners from the Mike DePaulo barn had big speed on the training track on Friday, speeding 3 furlongs in 35 flat, the fastest time of 6 other workers in the morning.
MISS BOA TO U (unraced by Philanthropist) and Sunny’s Rainbow (also unraced by Philantropist) hit the mark along with 2 stablemates who have raced: Shot Gun Phil and Waverley Too.
On Thursday, all 16 workers on the Woodbine training track came out of the DePaulo barn but 2 that came from trainer Ralph Biamonte.
On Wednesday, all 8 workers were from the Nick Gonzalez barn including EMPRYEA who went in 36 flat for the bullet.
His name is WES and he is by Judith’s Wild Rush, a multiple champion. How does WES feel about getting ready for his introduction to racing? Hmmmm..not sure. GITA FIORDA Photography was on hand to say hello.
AT GULFSTREAM – CANADIAN-BRED KAIGUN keeps tryin’
But Twilight Meteor is tough in MacDiarmida
HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Still going strong at the age of 7, West Point Thoroughbreds’ Grade 1 winner Twilight Eclipse is scheduled to kick off his fifth season of racing in Saturday’s $200,000 Mac Diarmida (G2) at Gulfstream Park.
The 21st running of the 1 3/8-mile Mac Diarmida for 4-year-olds and up on the grass is one of three stakes on the 13-race program, joining the $500,000 Gulfstream Park Handicap (G2) for older horses on dirt and $150,000 The Very One (G3) for females 4 and up over the turf course.
A gelded bay son of Grade 1 winner Purim, Twilight Eclipse will be making his seasonal bow in the Mac Diarmida for the fourth straight year. Fourth in 2013, he was a one-length winner as the favorite in 2014 and finished second to multiple Eclipse Award champion Main Sequence in 2015.
Twilight Eclipse finished in the money six times in eight starts last year with one win – the Man o’ War (G1) at Belmont Park, also at 1 3/8 miles – and earnings of $528,200 to push his career bankroll over $1.8 million.
It was similar to 2014 where Twilight Eclipse ran second behind Main Sequence three times, all in Grade 1 races, winning the Mac Diarmida and posting five top-three finishes from seven starts for earnings of $702,000.
“The last two years he’s had a great season,” trainer Tom Albertrani said. “He’s been probably the most unlucky horse on the track. He always seems to run his race, but there’s always a race or two where he’s found himself in some trouble. Hopefully we can get a little better racing luck with him and if he keeps his form I think we’ll have another great season with him.”
Albertrani gave Twilight Eclipse his annual winter vacation after an eighth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) Oct. 31, and he shows a regular string of works since Jan. 8 at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream’s satellite training facility in Palm Beach County.
“Twilight is doing super. For 7 years old, he couldn’t be better,” Albertrani said. “You would never know it. Being around him, he looks better now than I think I’ve ever seen him. He’s just physically really filled out. The horse looks super.”
Albertrani said he continues to use the same training program for Twilight Eclipse, who began his career with a pair of wins 17 days apart at Indiana Grand Race Course in June 2012. He made his debut for Albertrani and West Point that August at Saratoga, finishing sixth in the Equalize Stakes, and ended the year with his first stakes victory, the W.L. McKnight Handicap (G2) at Gulfstream Park West.
“We’re doing exactly the same thing. The way he’s training right now, he’s as strong as I’ve ever seen him. I don’t know the reason why but maybe he’s just maturing later. I know when I first got him he was kind of an immature-looking type of horse. Maybe maturity is just kind of catching up with him a little bit late in his age,” Albertrani said. “I think he just has a great attitude, that’s probably basically it. He has a great attitude and he really must enjoy what he’s doing otherwise he wouldn’t act like this.”
Four of Twilight Eclipse’s five career graded-stakes wins have come in South Florida, the 2014 Mac Diarmida and 2013 Pan American – in which he set the world record for 1 ½ miles (2:22.63) – at Gulfstream Park, and the 2013 and 2014 McKnight at Gulfstream Park West.
He is one of two dozen graded-stakes winners trained by Albertrani, a list that includes 2006 3-year-old male champion Bernardini and Grade 1 winners Brilliant Speed, third in the 2010 Belmont Stakes (G1), Better Lucky, Zo Impressive, Gozzip Girl and Balleto.
“You’d have to put him toward the top of the shelf, really. This horse, he’s a Grade 1 winner. He’s been beaten inches in several other Grade 1 races. You have to really think of him as one of your horses that would be at the top of your list,” Albertrani said. “Hopefully if we have another good year with him it’s going to be exciting.”
Luis Saez will ride from Post 6 at 119 pounds, four less than co-highweights Da Big Hoss and Mr Maybe.
Gary Barber, Quintessential Racing Florida and Horse’n Around Racing Stable’s millionaire gelding Kaigun enters the Mac Diarmida on an eight-race winless streak since taking the Seabiscuit (G2) in November 2014 at Del Mar. Trained by Mark Casse, he has finished second in each of his last three starts, all Grade 3 stakes, including the W.L. McKnight Dec. 26 at Gulfstream and the John B. Connally Jan. 30 at Sam Houston.
“He’s a versatile horse. He can do a little bit of anything,” Casse said. “We need to get lucky and win one of these.”
Kaigun will break from the rail under Joe Bravo at 119 pounds.
THOROUGHBLOG PICKS –
1 – Taking a pass on Twilight Meteor off the layoff and Kaigun rarely wins so going with the hot horse MR MAYBE by Ghostzapper out of a With Approval mare.
FROM CALIFORNIA – SONGBIRD READY TO SING AGAIN
THOROUGHBLOG PICKS – As a racing fan, it is fun to see a horse like SONGBIRD come along – 5 for 5 and so dominant. She romped in modest time in her return over a weak field and catches another ho-hum group in the Grade 3 Santa Ysabel.
The return race was interesting for Songbird in that, it was a pretty easy task. She might have a bit more of a tustle in this larger field. Will consider, for our longshot play CODE WARRIOR, by Ontario sired Society’s Chairman – 20- to 1 in the morning line!
LA TIMES – JOHN CHERWA
The word around the racetrack is the best 3-year-old in the country isn’t even trying to run in the Kentucky Derby.
The assessment is based partly on facts known, partly on the unknown, with a dash of sentimentality.
It’s known that Songbird is undefeated in five starts, having won those races by a total of 28 1/2 lengths. Three of the races were Grade 1 stakes and another was a Grade 2.
What’s unknown is how a still-growing horse could handle the rigors of a full-blown 20-horse charge in May at Churchill Downs, plus all the lead-up prep races considering Songbird’s late birth date of April 30, 2013.
The sentimentality is easy. Songbird is a filly.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-horse-racing-songbird-20160305-story.html
