WAKE UP! Welcome to the world – a filly by Speightstown out of Broodmare of the Year PICO TENERRIFE. The filly is a ha;f-sister to champion MARCHFIELD.
Dave Landry photo taken at Curraghmore Farm
STERWINS UPDATE
STERWINS, an exciting winner of the BARBADOS GOLD CUP last weekend over Grade I winner BRIBON AND JOCKEY JOHNNY MURTAGH is off to owner EUGENE MENYK’S farm in Ocala, WINDING OAKS.
“Sterwins is going to Winding Oaks for a bit of a rest and then start a campaign to have him ready for the 2011 Barbados Gold Cup,” said trainer MARK CASSE, who obtained the horse from trainer MALCOLM PIERCE at the end of last year to get ready for this year’s Gold Cup.
Farm manager at Winding Oaks – PHIL HRONEC reports that STERWINS’ dam, SWEET VALE, by WILD AGAIN, is currently in foal to SMART STRIKE and is headed to Speightstown.
Hronec reports there is a 3yo full brother to STERWINS getting ready to race also.
WANT TO WATCH THE RACE?
It’s a good one…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HMoGjidugo
CO-CHAMPION 2YO FILLY IN CANADA BIOFUEL works 3 furlongs in :38.00 under Eurico Rosa Da Silva last weekend at Palm Meadows.
Photo courtesy of Janis Maine.
THE GALS ARE BACK!
ZENYATTA, getting ready tomorrow for her Rachel meeting
Terence Dulay photo
RACHEL winding up too.
This is it – the gals are making their 2010 debuts and should light up the sports pages in cities everywhere.
ZENYATTA will carry a solid weight of 127 pounds in the SANTA MARGARITA for her season debut. Meanwhile RACHEL ALEXANDRA, the HORSE OF THE YEAR, meets just 4 rivals in New Orleans.
Saturday, Santa Anita
SANTA MARGARITA INVITATIONAL H.-GI, $250,000,
4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/8m (AWT)
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER WT
1 Dance to My Tune Stravinsky M Garcia Hollendorfer 111
2 Pretty Katherine Vindication Rosario Hollendorfer 111
3 Made for Magic Cape Canaveral Berrio Avila 111
4 Pretty Unusual Unusual Heat Sutherland Abrams 113
5 Striking Dancer Smart Strike Solis McPeek 115
6 Powerofvoodoo Unusual Heat Kaplan Abrams 108
7 Gripsholm Castle Dynaformer Espinoza Cecil 112
8 Zenyatta Street Cry (Ire) Smith Shirreffs 127
9 Floating Heart Giant’s Causeway Talamo Pletcher 111
FROM SAN BERNADINO SUN
HORSE RACING: Zenyatta is Smith’s ride of a lifetime
By Art Wilson, Staff Writer
Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith will be aboard Zenyatta for the 12th consecutive race Saturday at Santa Anita when the 6-year-old mare makes her 2010 debut in the $250,000 Grade 1 Santa Margarita Handicap.
But if not for the racing gods, it might very well be David Flores who would be getting a leg up from trainer John Shirreffs in the paddock. It just as easily could have been Flores riding Zenyatta to that historic victory in last November’s Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Yes, it was Smith who originally was scheduled to ride Zenyatta in her 6<MD+,%30,%55,%70>1/<MD-,%0,%55,%70>2-furlong maiden debut on Thanksgiving Day in 2007 at Hollywood Park, but he thought the daughter of Street Cry would need a race and elected to travel to Churchill Downs that day to ride the Frank Brothers-trained Tessa Blue in the $300,000 Grade 2 Falls City Handicap.
Tessa Blue didn’t fire that day, but Zenyatta sure did under Flores.
As is her style, Zenyatta was last early in the 12-horse field, moved up to seventh by the head of the stretch and then gave us all a glimpse of what was to come when she unleashed that powerful closing kick to win by three lengths at 5-1 odds. She hasn’t gone postward higher than 9-5 since.
Read more: http://www.sbsun.com/sports/ci_14658336#ixzz0hxuJL8cD
AND RACHEL IS IN NEW ORLEANS READY TO ROCK:
from Fair Grounds press
Rachel Alexandra Draws Post Two for Saturday’s New Orleans Ladies
by Graham Ross | March 08, 2010
Based on her unprecedented success as a 3-year-old filly last year, Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra has been installed as the prohibitive 1-5 morning line choice when she faces four female rivals in Fair Grounds’ inaugural running of the $200,000 New Orleans Ladies this Saturday in the super filly’s first start of the 2010 racing season.
The Ladies will be contested at 1 1/16-miles over the main track at the historic Crescent City oval – the same venue where Rachel Alexandra underlined her initial 2009 success with a facile 1 3/4-length win in the Grade II Fair Grounds Oaks a year ago. It will go at 5:15 p.m. CST as Race 10 on an 11-race program with first post set for 12:40 p.m. CST.
Following her score in the 2009 Fair Grounds Oaks, Rachel Alexandra journeyed to Hot Springs, Arkansas, where she captured the Grade II Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn Park. After that, it was on to Churchill Downs, where she became the fourth of the last five Fair Grounds Oaks winners to go on and capture the Grade I Kentucky Oaks. However, her win under the Twin Spires was by 20 1/4-lengths with a dominant performance on the day before the Kentucky Derby.
That Kentucky Oaks win proved to be the genesis of a private sale to Jess Jackson of Stonestreet Stable and his partner Harold McCormick, who redirected her campaign under their trainer Steve Asmussen toward a start against male rivals in the Grade I Preakness as the middle jewel of the 2009 Triple Crown. There she beat Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird by a length on May 16.
Back in against members of her own sex June 27 at Belmont Park, Rachel Alexandra was dominant again in the Grade I Mother Goose, winning by 19 1/4-lengths, a performance that set up a challenge against older males in the Grade I Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park Aug. 2. That time she defeated Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird by six lengths, setting up her final start of the year – again against older males in Saratoga’s Grade I Woodward Stakes – where she withstood last year’s Grade II New Orleans Handicap winner Macho Again by a head at the wire.
Her opponents Saturday in the New Orleans Ladies, where she will be ridden once again by regular rider Calvin Borel, are headed by Arnold Zetcher’s Brazilian-bred Zardana, fourth in Santa Anita Park’s Grade II Santa Maria Handicap on Feb. 13 but winner of Hollywood Park’s Grade II Bayakoa Handicap before that. She will be ridden by Southern California jockey David Flores and is pegged at 5-1 in the morning line.
Next in the morning line odds in the New Orleans Ladies at 6-1 is Coteau Grove Farms’ Clear Sailing, heroine of Fair Grounds’ $60,000 Pelleteri Stakes Feb. 13 and a winner by 8 3 /4-lengths here before that in a first-level allowance race Jan. 17. Shane Sellers retains the mount.
Completing the New Orleans Ladies field is a pair of 15-1 long shots – Robert Adams’ Unforgotten, seventh in the Sunshine Millions Distaff at last asking Jan. 30 who will have Miguel Mena aboard; and Jim Tafel’s Fighter Wing, second behind Clear Sailing in the Pelleteri. She will have Corey Lanerie astride.
$200,000 New Orleans Ladies
Race 10 (5:15 p.m. CST) 1 1/16 Miles
For fillies and mares 4-years-old and upward
Post Position, Horse (Jockey, Trainer, Weight, Morning Line Odds)
1. Fighter Wing (Corey Lanerie, Greg Geier, 117, 15-1)
2. Rachel Alexandra (Calvin Borel, Steve Asmussen, 123, 1-5)
3. Zardana (David Flores, John Shirreffs, 121, 5-1)
4. Unforgotten (Miguel Mena, Dalas Stewart, 117, 15-1)
5. Clear Sailing (Shane Sellers, Glenn Delahoussaye, 117, 6-1)
BIG DEBUT FOR KNOB HILL COLT
MARKABAH (chariot) was given lots of time to get to the races by Knob Hill Stables and its trainer KEVIN ATTARD and boy, did the son of Theatrical make it worth the wait. The first foal to race of turf champ CHOPININA, Markabah led all the way to win a 1 1/16 mile turf maiden race yesterday at Gulfstream in 1:41 flat – good for an 86 Beyer Figure.
He was 14 to 1.
REDEKOP BUYS ROMAN CHESTNUT
Busher Stakes winner ROMAN CHESTNUT, who was 45 to 1 when she won that event at Aqueduct, has been bought by Canadian owner Peter Redekop and will make her next start in the April 10 Comely Stakes.
This is according to a report in the Daily Racing Form.
The filly will eventually be sent to Canada and trainer TERRY JORDAN.
She was a $7,500 yearling and is by ROMAN RULER out of Silverdew by Silver Deputy.
She earned an 80 Beyer Figure when she won the Busher Stakes.
REDEKOP won a stakes race recently at OAKLAWN PARK when the very fast Posse colt COMEDERO won his 3rd stakes race in the Mountain Valley. He is trained by Mike Stidham.
He will race next on March 28 in the Rainbow Stakes.
CANADIANS THIS WEEKEND
Wales winner back in action
Adena Springs’ HARLEM ROCKER, the 2008 Prince of Wales Stakes winner, is in the Grade II Gulfstream Park
Handicap on Saturday at his favourite distance of 1 mile. The delicate grey won the Grade I Cigar Mile in the fall of 2008 also but was disqualified. He has been lightly races in the last year.
Saturday, Gulfstream Park
GULFSTREAM PARK H.-GII, $300,000, 4yo/up, 1m
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER WT
1 Congressional Page Orientate Marquez Jr Trombetta 116
2 Past the Point Indian Charlie Prado McLaughlin 115
3 Le Grand Cru Dynaformer Velasquez H Jerkens 115
4 Motovato Proud Citizen Trujillo Ma Wolfson 116
5 Harlem Rocker Macho Union Coa Pletcher 117
6 Supreme Summit Cactus Ridge Lopez O’Neill 114
7 Inkado Yankee Gentleman Castanon Nihei 114
8 Grasshopper Dixie Union Garcia McLaughlin 118
9 Cool Coal Man Mineshaft Castro Zito 118
10 You and I Forever A.P. Indy Castellano Ma Wolfson 116
11 This Ones for Phil Untuttable Velazquez Dutrow Jr 117
Saturday, Tampa Bay Downs
HILLSBOROUGH S.-GIII, $150,000, 4yo/up, f/m, 9fT
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER WT
1 Coulee Vicar Lebron Booker 118
2 Tottie (GB) Fantastic Light J Lezcano Brown 122
3 Cure for Sale (Arg) Not for Sale (Arg) J Alvarado Malek 116
4 Little B Rosson Bernstein Villa-Gomez Ness 116
5 Liberally (Ire) Statue of Liberty Maragh Albertrani 116
6 Mushka Empire Maker D’meaux Mott 120
7a Sweet and Flawless Unbridled’s Song No Rider Reed 116
8a Satans Quick Chick Sky Mesa No Rider Reed 116
9 Phola Johannesburg Dominguez Pletcher 116
10 In My Glory Honour and Glory Martinez Peery 116
11 Lady Shakespeare Theatrical (Ire) Homeister Attfield 116
12 Ainamaa Lemon Drop Kid Montalvo Griffith 116
CICADA S.-GIII, $100,000, 3yo, f, 6f
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER WT
1 Romantic Hideaway City Zip Pino Sacco 120
2 Donna Getyourgun Stormy Atlantic Napravnik Wilkes 118
3 Female Drama Indian Charlie Cohen Pletcher 118
4 Liam’s Dream Saint Liam Lopez A Dutrow 118
5 Fuzzy Britches Pollard’s Vision Hill Dutrow Jr 120
6 Seaside Fortune Forest Danger Jara R Preciado 118
7 Indian Burn Indian Charlie Migliore Hertler 118
8 Bickersons Silver Deputy Bravo Breen 122
KENTUCKY DERBY PREPS!!
Saturday, Santa Anita
SAN FELIPE S.-GII, $150,000, 3yo, 1 1/16m (AWT)
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER WT
1 Stephen’s Got Hope Stephen Got Even T Baze O’Neill 115
2 Interactif Broken Vow Bejarano Pletcher 117
3 Erbeia Pulpit Solis R Mandella 115
4 American Lion Tiznow Leparoux Harty 117
5 Sidney’s Candy Candy Ride (Arg) Talamo Sadler 117
6 Dave in Dixie Dixie Union Rosario Sadler 115
7 Caracortado Cat Dreams Atkinson Machowsky 119
DERBY NOTE: Unbeaten in 5 races, CARACORTADO is a California-bred with style and flair. Wow.
Saturday, Tampa Bay Downs
TAMPA BAY DERBY-GIII, $300,000, 3yo, 1 1/16m
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER WT
1 Uptowncharlybrown Limehouse Centeno Seewald 116
2 Tuvia’s Force Mineshaft J Lezcano Zito 116
3 Gleam of Hope City Zip Martinez Reinstedler 122
4 Slammy Boy Grand Slam Lebron Reinstedler 116
5 Schoolyard Dreams Stephen Got Even Rose Ryan 122
6 Super Saver Maria’s Mon Dominguez Pletcher 122
7 Odysseus Malibu Moon Maragh Albertrani 116
DERBY NOTE – ODYSSEUS won his latest at Tampa by 15 lengths in fast time – looks too good.
REBEL S.-GII, $300,000, 3yo, 1 1/16m
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER WT
1 Cardiff Giant Yankee Gentleman Santiago Periban 115
2 Lookin at Lucky Smart Strike Gomez Baffert 119
3 Royal Express Royal Academy Compton Broussard 117
4 Uh Oh Bango Top Hit Corbett Owens 117
5 Pleasant Storm Pleasant Tap Court Petalino 117
6 Noble’s Promise Cuvee Albarado McPeek 119
7 Dublin Afleet Alex Nakatani Lukas 117
Rebel notes – LOOKIN AT LUCKY will be heavily bet off the short layoff but watch out for DUBLIN as he has already done well on a traditional dirt track.
PARAGALLO CHARGED
Horse Owner Convicted of Animal Cruelty
By JOE DRAPE
Ernie Paragallo, a prominent thoroughbred breeder and owner, was convicted on 33 charges of animal cruelty
Wednesday morning for starving and neglecting his horses on his Hudson Valley farm.
Judge George J. Pulver Jr. reached the verdict in the nonjury trial after hearing testimony from veterinarians
and horse rescue workers about the poor condition of many of the 177 horses on Paragallo’s Center Brook Farm in Climax, N.Y., about 20 miles south of Albany.
In a videotaped statement from Paragallo, taken by the New York State Police shortly after the raid on his farm in April 2009 and offered as evidence, Paragallo acknowledged he had mismanaged the farm.
“I’m not denying it; if they want to lock me up, maybe they should,” Paragallo said. “Whether it’s my fault or
not, it happened and it’s my responsibility.”
READ THE REST AT NEW YORK TIMES HERE:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/sports/11paragallo.html
CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL NEXT WEEK
If you follow CANADIAN THOROUGHBRED MAGAZINE, you will have been reading OVER THE POND, a montly feature on racing overseas by Nigel Griffiths. The column has detailed the upcoming stars for the Cheltenham Festival including the big names for the meetings big event, the Gold Cup.
Here are gold cup odds from Skybet.com:
Horse Win / Each Way
* Horse: Kauto Star
4/6 SP
* Horse: Denman
7/2 SP
* Horse: Cooldine
9/1 SP
* Horse: Imperial Commander
9/1 SP
* Horse: Tricky Trickster
16/1 SP
* Horse: What A Friend
25/1 SP
* Horse: Carruthers
40/1 SP
* Horse: Madison Du Berlais
66/1 SP
* Horse: Calgary Bay
66/1 SP
* Horse: My Will
66/1 SP
* Horse: Albertas Run
66/1 SP
* Horse: Casey Jones
100/1 SP
* Horse: Mon Mome
100/1 SP
* Horse: Aran Concerto
100/1 SP
* Horse: Cerium
300/1 SP
* Horse: Mr Pointment
300/1 SP
MORNING-LINE ODDSMAKERS STUDIED
An intriguing study of tracks last year and the winning percentage of morning favourites.
http://linemakers.net/20100304.html
