Oscar night but we saw some good performances that will not get awards yesterday on the track. UPSTART and INTERNATIONAL STAR are the top contenders for the Kentucky Derby in the east currently but they have a lot of work to do yet
The deep freeze went away for 2 days in southern Ontario but is back to the -30s tonight through to at least Tuesday (when more snow comes). Woodbine horsepeople have shipped a few horses, about 100, but Mother Nature continues to play havoc with water pipes and some stalls/shedrows became flooded on Friday.
FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH STAKES (head-on follows race) – You be the Judge..(Thoroughblog says yes, he had to come down, thanks to whip)
UPSTART was under heavy whipping left-handed before rider switched to right-hand when he realized he was bearing out badly – GULFSTREAM PARK PHOTO
IRISH MISSION – Canadian bred, born in Milton Ontario, wins the Grade 3 The Very One – could be bred next or race once more – GULFSTREAM PARK MEDIA PHOTO
MEET YOUR DERBY POINTS LEADER – INTERNATIONAL STAR
Grey Stakes (grade 3) winner INTERNATIONAL STAR won the Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds on Saturday and will gofor the N’oleans sweep in the Louisiana Derby in a few weeks. Once again, Ken and Sarah Ramsay have a possible Kentucky Derby contender as the son of Fusaichi Pegasus won in 1:43.84 – a career best 93 Beyer Speed Figure.
The bay, $85,000 yearling purchase has races at Belmont, Saratoga, Woodbine, Santa Anita, Churchill and Fair Grounds now, winning 4 of 8. He is a New York bred out of Parlez by French Deputy and from the Canadian family of COLD REPLY, his 4th dam who produced HALO REPLY and others including HALORY (3rd), dam of BRUSHED HALORY, HALORY HUNTER, KEY LORY, PRORY and VAN NISTLEROOY.
2nd dam is Speak Halory, a modest producer and dam of winner Parlez, who has 2 other stakes winning foals.
The ‘Star’ was bred by Katharine Voss and Robert Manfuso.
The Grey Stakes has produced a few Kentucky Derby winners believe it or not.
How about MINE THAT BIRD? or SUNNY’S HALO? and DANCER’S IMAGE (well, kind of).
This colt has won on turf, Polytrack and dirt and he is trained by Mike Maker.
NOLA.COM STORY
By Jeff Duncan, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
International Star might not be the best 3-year-old colt in the country. But he’s arguably the most versatile.
The speedy son of Fusaichi Pegasus has won races on three surfaces – dirt; turf; and polytrack – at three different races tracks in two difference countries. The leggy bay colt is the utter definition of a runner.
“He’s kind of an any-kind of horse,” owner Ken Ramsey said after watching International Star win the Grade II Risen Star Stakes, his second consecutive stakes victory on the dirt course at the Fair Grounds Race Course. “I’m impressed.”
Who wouldn’t be impressed after watching International Star dominate the field of Triple Crown hopefuls from the No. 10 post on Saturday.
Thanks to a resourceful handling of jockey Miguel Mena, International Star was able to quickly navigate across the track after the start and find a cozy spot on the rail just ahead of War Story as the field raced into the first turn. He raced in the middle of the field down the back stretch, skimmed the rail on the far turn, then accelerated through a hole just inside of pace-setting St. Joe Bay at the top of the stretch. From there, it was only a matter of determining the size of the final margin as he held off War Story by a length for the win.
http://www.nola.com/horseracing/index.ssf/2015/02/international_star_wins_risen.html
KNOCK OUT DECISION DOES NOT SIT WELL
Upstart wins F.O.Y. win 95 Beyer but…
Stretch run drama aside, this year’s Fountain of Youth Stakes seemed more like watching the end of a 3 mile contest where horses were simply gasping to get tot he wire. UPSTART managed to win again, even though he looked like he was all done on the far turn. Frosted glided to the lead, looked like a winner then somehow stopped. Bluegrass Singer set the pace with It’saknockout (by Lemon Drop Kid) and faded despite soft splits and the latter kept plugging, got pushed out and then was awarded the win.
The decision was probably worse because there were 2 other incidents onthe same card that were not dissimilar and the stewards did nothing. Roger Attfield trainee Danish Dynaformer won the final race on turf and was blatantly interfering with Dreaming of Gold coming to the wire. Sheer Drama was pested by House Rules in the Rampart Handicap.
UPSTART was drifting out like a very, very weary young boy who was feeling a very hard whip on the left-side for a while (then rider switched to right hand) and he probably should have come down. The problem rests with consistency for calls – based on what the stewards did during the day in other races – no he should not have come down.
Gulfstream recap:
After scuffling with favored Upstart in the stretch, Starlight Racing’s Itsaknockout had to settle for a second-place finish in Saturday’s $400,000 Besilu Stables Fountain of Youth (G2) at Gulfstream Park. However, the Todd Pletcher-trained 3-year-old won the decision of the track stewards following their video review of the stretch run and was awarded the victory in the major prep for the Triple Crown and the $1 million Besilu Stables Florida Derby (G1; March 28).
Ralph M. Evans’ Upstart, who captured the $400,000 Lambholm South Holy Bull (G2) on Jan. 24, drifted to mid-track after being bumped by a tiring Frosted, taking over the lead, only to be quickly challenged by Itsaknockout to his outside. The two horses exchanged bumps, causing jockey Luis Saez to check Itsaknockout as Upstart drew away to finish 2 ¾ lengths clear under jockey Jose Ortiz.
Saez claimed foul and the stewards posted the inquiry that took several minutes of deliberation before disqualifying Upstart and declaring Itsaknockout the official winner.
“I feel bad for the connections of the other horse. He crossed the finish line first, but definitely we got impeded a bit and Luis had to stop riding for a couple strides,” Pletcher said. “I don’t know how it would eventually affect the outcome.”
Upstart’s trainer, Rick Violette, disagreed with the decision of the stewards, which resulted in the second disqualification of a Fountain of Youth winner. Corinthian finished first and was placed third in 2006.
“Bad call. They (the stewards) have to understand that when the horse gets hit behind the girth, the only place the horse can go is to the right,” said Violette, who stated his view that Itsaknockout made first contact. “It’s disappointing. The horse ran great; we just don’t get credit for it.”
The disqualification aside, Itsaknockout impressed his trainer with his stakes debut in the 1 1-16-mile Fountain of Youth that followed a pair of one-turn victories over the Gulfstream Park surface.
“The thing I’m most proud of is for this horse to run this well in his third lifetime start, first time around two turns and first time in a stake,” Pletcher said. “It was a very, very good effort. He was in between horses in a situation he hasn’t been in before, so it was a big effort.”
Itsaknockout, the 5-1 third choice in a field of eight, broke well and tracked the pace as Bluegrass Singer showed the way around the first turn and onto the backstretch, pressed by Frosted. Upstart pulled alongside Itsaknockout in mid-backstretch and took off after the leaders leaving the backstretch. Leaving the turn into the homestretch, Frosted moved to the lead under a motionless Irad Ortiz Jr. as Bluegrass Singer dropped out of contention. The Kiaran McLaughlin-trained Frosted appeared on his way to victory, only to suddenly shorten stride after straightening out for the stretch run. Upstart caught up quickly and was bumped by the tiring 7-2 second choice, setting up the skirmish between the 4-5 favorite and Itsaknockout.
“That was a tough decision. I did think (Upstart) would get taken down because he really bothered me. When we came into the stretch, I felt like my horse wanted to run, so I thought we’d win the race,” Saez said. “But the other horse came out and bothered me. I couldn’t ride my horse. He’s a little better on the outside. Today there was a little speed outside of us so we had to play with that. At the three-eighths he really responded.”
Upstart ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:46.28.
YOU OKAY? YES! ROGER ATTFIELD has Queen’s Plate contender
DANISH DYNAFORMER, owned and bred by Charles Fipke, is a Queen’s Plate contender for Hall of Fame trainer Roger Attfield who will be bidding to win a record 9th Plate win in July.
Danish Dynaformer won a maiden allowance on the grass at Gulfstream in 1:49.01, good for a career best 78 Beyer Figure. It was the colt’s 3rd career race and 2nd with blinkers. He debuted on Polytrack and was 5th to US Marshall.
Danish Dynaformer is impeccably bred as he is the 3rd foal of DANISH WILDCAT, winner of her only race and a daughter of Grade 1 winner HOLLYWOOD WILDCAT, dam of star runner and top sire WAR CHANT.
Luis Contreras rode the winner who exchanged bumps with favoured Dreaming of Gold through the late stages of the stretch run.
MISSION MAKES A STATEMENT
one more race or bred to Tapit next for champ
Champion IRISH MISSION won the Grade 3 The Very One Stakes on Saturday for her 4th win in the last 2 seasons and 2nd straight graded stakes win. Owned by Robert Evans and bred by Sam-Son Farms, the Canadian bred was a champion while trained by Mark Frostad and had struggled for her new barn, trainer Christophe Clement until she won the Grade 3 Glens Falls last summer.
She could race once more, in the Orchid Handicap, or be retired and bred to TAPIT.
Irish Mission has won 7 of 29 races and over $1.35 million.
She is by Giant’s causeway out of Misty Mission by Miswaki and is a half sister to FRENCH BERET.
More from Saturday…
WORKOUTS – how do you approach them?
If you have ever watched a morning of workouts at your local racetrack, you know that the horse can earn a slow time for a work that is visually impressive and a fast workout under a heavy whip and looking poor. And vice versa.
Workouts serve various purposes. Horses are working early in the morning, sometimes with medication, or equipment or company. Is it a maintenance workout? Is it a big prep in company? Is it a prep off a layoff?
So putting all your eggs in workout baskets is a dicey way to play horses, especially those hyped-up “clocker’s specials” that almost never offer value.
JAPAN, who appeared to be a big, gorgeous Medaglia D’Oro colt, made his debut yesterday at Gulfstream Park in race 3, was heavily bet off some good workout times. He was picked almost across the board by handicappers based on buzz but he was sluggish out of the gate and he lacked any speed and was well beaten. Bred for longer on the grass, he was well behind the much more speedily-bred DATA DRIVEN, yet another Chad Brown 1ster to win at the meeting.
Seek value, take the clocker-hype horses with a grain of salt – especially if they are made “Best Bets” in publications for no reason other than some fast times in the early morning.
ROAD TO THE PLATE airs first Episode
CHRB blog, run by Santino DiPaola, launches its first Episode of ROAD TO THE PLATE featured Handel Viarruel and produced in part by Julie Wright.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4jXtcojUDM&feature=em-upload_owner
