NO FOOLIN – It’s April 1, a day after an emotional racing day around the world. How about TAKE CHARGE INDY winning the Florida Derby? He was unsold at a yearling auction and his owners have been in racing for only 2 years.
Florida Derby photo by Amber Chalfin
35 to 1 MONTEROSSO WINS DUBAI WORLD CUP
2 breakdowns, wild jockey cloud racing card
It was a full day of exciting racing from all over the world. A racing fan could not help but love flipping from page to page with the Daily Racing Form to follow along.
It was also a day to feel heartsick. Again, horse racing got some undesirable headlines when 2 horses died during 2 runnings of the same race.
Yep, for some reason, the 2 mile Dubai Gold Cup, with plenty of older fellows in the race, was run again after it was cancelled halfway through the running earlier in the evening.
Godolphin’s FOX HUNT had a horrific breakdown (the photos were soon on-line through the Globe & Mail newspaper locally) and the race was stopped by outriders.
Later, the race was run again, and Ramzan Kadryov’s BRONZE CANNON broke down and was put down while another horse was pulled up.
If this was not enough to make a passionate racing fan feel ill once again, it was almost as hard to watch the display of winning jockey Mikael Barzelona as he realized his horse was going to win the World Cup.
His antics made it all over the racing forums from fans who were aghast. (the jock did fall off after the wire anyway)
from Brisnet:
The young jockey stood bolt upright in the saddle well before the wire, in an exaggerated reprise of his antics aboard Pour Moi in last year’s Group 1 Epsom Derby. Monterosso continued on unfazed and completed about 1 1/4 miles in 2:02 3/5, posting the fastest of the three World Cups at Meydan and missing the track record by a tick.
“I couldn’t believe when no one was coming after me,” Barzalona said. “This is a dream. I have no words to describe what I feel right now.”
When asked about his dramatic celebration on the line, the jockey grinned, “I just had to, I had no choice.”
Thoroughblog’s timeline during yesterday’s racing:
1:50 – not going to watch the Dubai Gold Cup, again,
1: 41 – GAME ON DUDE is briefly up with the pacesetters but plummets to the back of the field while Godolphin wins the World Cup with MONTEROSSO, who was a close 3rd last year.
The winner’s jock stands up 50 yards from the finish, ??, and then falls off later.
“head shake”
1:02 p.m. First woman trainer to win a Dubai World Cup race – Corine Barande Barbe sent otu CIRRUS DES AIGLES to win the Sheema Classix worth $5,000,000. He held to beat St Nicholas Abbey who just got started up a bit too late after some traffic trouble. The winner is a super 6yo gelding who is now 14 for 41 in his career.
12:30 CITYSCAPE -gallops in the Duty Free, white faced fellow looks like daddy Selkirk; owned/bred by Juddmonte, now 6 for 17, comes off 2nd in Hong Kong Mile in Dec. – CITY STYLE solid 3rd….
11:56: Canada’s GLOBE & MAIL newspaper online runs picture of Fox Hunt and his broken leg from the Gold Cup earlier on the card
11:46 – KRYTPON FACTOR beats the Rocket!!!! 4yo gelding from Dubai runs down the Rocket in late stretch and wins going away under Kieran Fallon for Fawzi Nass
11:01 – ORTENSIA storms down far side of course to win 5 fur. Al Quoz Sprint, 7-year-old mare now 11 for 30 – Aussie bred by Testa Rossa – 9yo JOY AND FUN 3rd for Hong Kong
10:29 – Daddy Long Legs stalked slow pace in 2nd, wins UAE DERBY, lots of Daddy’s around for the Kentucky Derby! By Scat Daddy out of Dreamy Maiden – 3yo colt was very sweaty before the race – note he was 12th, blown out in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile
10:29: Canada probably a better idea for MARITIMER… good start, bit rank, stalked in 3rd under hard hold – 26 1/5 first 2 furlongs, faded through the stretch, beat 2
DUDE A BIG DUD AT DUBAI
Ed Fountaine, Associated Press
All things considered, trainer Bob Baffert would rather have been in Philadelphia.
Any fears that too much excitement might cause a relapse of the heart attack Baffert suffered Monday evaporated when his gelding Game On Dude folded on the far turn to finish 12th of 13 in the $10 million Dubai World Cup, the world’s richest race,run yesterdayatMeydan Racecourse.
Three races earlier, Baffert’s colt The Factor also failed to fire, finishing sixth in the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen, one of eight stakes on the WorldCupCarnival card that offered total purses of $27 million and drew an international cast of equine allstars.
“Tough day,” Baffert posted on Twitter. “But so happy to be outdoors again enjoying the sport I love.”
INDY TAKES CHARGE
TAKE CHARGE INDY was a handsome 7 to 1 winner of the Florida Derby as he sped away to an early lead and never wilted, winning the 1 1/8 mile event worth $1 million with a 95 BEYER FIGURE.
UNION RAGS had a lovely schooling race (tongue in cheeck) as he was covered up and then shuffled well back at the quarter pole before he rallied well. He should be ready to peak on Kentucky Derby day.
It was easy to like the winner, however. He was this corner’s pick to take the Tampa Bay Derby but he was scratched for this race.
Intriguing story on this colt – he’s by A.P. Indy out of Take Charge Lady, she won over $2 million and was a top class racemare. She has not produced much on the track, however, and this is her 4th foal.
For that breeding, it’s surpsing TAKE CHARGE INDY was an RNA at Keeneland 2 years ago at $80,000.
Bred by Eaton Sales, the colt will now head to the Kentucky Derby. His owners, Maribeth and Chuck Sanford, will provide a cool story for the Derby broadcast – Maribeth went rages-to-riches after inventing logos on bags and she now has her own company. They have been in horse racing all of just 2 years.
CANADIAN BITS
DADDY LONG LEGS comes from a popular Canadian racing family…
As a hotwalker for Kinghaven Farms/Roger Attfield in the late 1980s, early 1990s, i fell in love with many a horse. One of those was SPARROW LAKE, (the ‘Bird’), a lovely bay filly who won the Wonder Where and Ontario Colleen Stakes on the grass at Woodbine. She was a doll.
She was a Kinghaven homebred, out of Stray Flight, a mare who produced a lot of interesting runners for Kinghaven (Mr. Jovial, Pluralist and stakes winner Ever Steady). Stray Flight was produced by Barn Swallow.
Whats does this have to do with possible Kentucky Derby starter DADDY LONG LEGS? Well his 2nd dam is Sparrow Lake. Her daughter Dreamy Maiden, is the dam of Daddy Long Legs. Dreamy Maiden, who recently sold for $42,000 at auction to McMahon Thoroughbreds, is one of just 4 foals for Sparrow Lake.
Dreamy Maiden has had 6 other foals including stakes winner Tres Dream and the good winner Lake Ontario.
STRIKE SMARTLY (Mr. Prospector – Classy ‘n Smart) is the sire of Slumdogmillionaire, who won the Group 1 S A Classic in South Africa yesterday. Strike Smartly has sired 5 crops of foals.
