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PEGASUS WORLD CUP – 2 weeks, race still needs one more entry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Stronach Group has sold 2 of the 3 spots for its own race, the Pegasus World Cup, and needs just one more entry to fill the 12 slots for the $16 million race.

According to drf.com, TSG marketed those three remaining spots to horse owners for free but with the condition the new owner would receive only half of the horse’s earnings above the $1 million price of the spot. The other half of those earnings will be distributed to owners who purchased slots prior to the deadline.

There has yet be any word on who the last horse will be for the race and whether the horse has been preparing for such a daunting task, competing against the best horse in trianing right now. Probable 2017 Horse of the Year GUN RUNNER continues to work like a bear and will be odds-on for the race, some good handicap horses have been putting in preps to prepare for the test.

Giant Expectations recorded the fastest five-furlong workout at Santa Anita Friday morning in preparation for a scheduled start in the World Cup at Gulfstream Park Jan. 27

The Peter Eurton-trained 5-year-old covered the five furlongs in 58.80 seconds under exercise rider Jose Aragon, registering the fastest of 64 clockings at the distance.

“We were pretty pleased with it. We’re happy with his energy. All systems go so far,” Eurton said by phone from Santa Anita. “He worked by himself. There were some horses working in front of him that he ended up catching up with.”

It was the first recorded workout for the son of Frost Giant since his stunning 3 ¼-length front-running victory in the San Antonio (G2) at Santa Anita Dec. 26. Pegasus World Cup contender Collected finished third, a neck behind Accelerate, in the San Antonio.

Giant Expectations, who is owned by Exline-Border Racing, Gatto Racing and Garrett Zubok, is scheduled to remain at Santa Anita for his final Pegasus workout next Friday before shipping to South Florida Wednesday, Jan. 24.

“I just don’t want to go there and gallop a few days and breeze him over the track. If I don’t like the way he works over the track when he breezes, I’d feel terrible,” Eurton said. “This way if he doesn’t run good, I’ll feel terrible that day, but I won’t feel terrible the whole week.”

Gary Stevens, who was aboard for the 1 1/16-mile San Antonio, has the mount for the 1 1/8-mile Pegasus World Cup.

Probable field

Giant Expectations cycled up to a career top Beyer Figure of 106 in his recent victory.
His last 3 Beyer Figures read 106,94, 81.

Collected – 101, 115, 114
Owner: Speedway Stable LLC. | Trainer: Bob Baffert

Hall of Fame trainer Baffert, who saddled Arrogate to victory last year, returns with two starters including Collected, a multiple-graded stakes winner who finished second Nov. 4 at Del Mar in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. The son of City Zip has won eight of 13 starts and is currently training at Santa Anita.

Game Over – 92, 93, 94

One of 2 Loooch racing horses entered and this 4-year-old by Mineshaft has not raced since september when 4th beaten 9 lengths to West Coast in the Pennsylvania Derby.

Gunnevera – 109. 104, 86
Owner: William C. Gallo, et al. | Trainer: Antonio Sano

The popular colt won the Fountain of Youth (G2) and was second in the Travers (G1) at Saratoga this summer and finished in a dead-head for fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. He has three victories over Gulfstream Park and is training at Gulfstream Park West.

Gun Runner 117, 115, 112
Owner: Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC/Three Chimneys Farm.| Trainer: Steve Asmussen

Just two days before the running of Pegasus, Gun Runner is favored to be crowned 2017 Horse of the Year at the 47th Eclipse Awards at Gulfstream. Under the care of Hall of Fame horseman Asmussen, Gun Runner won five of six races in 2017, including four consecutive Grade 1 events. He capped off his season with a gate-to-wire victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. The son of Candy Ride is training in New Orleans.

Seeking the Soul 103, 103, 93
Owner: Charles E. Fipke. | Trainer: Dallas Stewart

Bred by Fipke, Seeking the Soul will enter the Pegasus off his biggest win, a half-length victory in the Clark Handicap (G1) at Churchill Downs November 24. The son of Perfect Soul is currently training in New Orleans.

Sharp Azteca 115, 107 112
Speedster recently was put in the race in a spot purchased by Loooch racing. Won the Cigar Mile in New York recently.

Stellar Wind 80, 103, 101
Owner: Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith (Coolmore). | Trainer: Chad Brown

The lone filly or mare in the Pegasus as of now, Stellar Wind earned an Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old filly in 2015. She reeled off three consecutive Grade 1 victories earlier this year and is the daughter of two-time Horse of the Year, Curlin. The mare is currently in training at Palm Meadows Training Center in Palm Beach.

Toast of New York – n/a
Owner: Al Shaqab, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, R.A. Hill, Eric Young. | Trainer: James Osborne

Toast of New York returned from a three-year layoff earlier this month to win at Lingfield Park in Surrey, United Kingdom. After finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2014, the 6-year-old was retired for stallion duties in Dubai but was returned to training in April. He has finished first or second in seven of his nine career starts. He remains in the U.K.

War Story 112 94. 92
Owner: Ron Paolucci and Ashley Quartarolo. | Trainer: Jorge Navarro

West Coast 112. 107. 108
Owner: Gary and Mary West. Trainer: Bob Baffert

Winner of the Travers Stakes and third in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, this 3-year-old has won six of nine starts and has never finished worse than third. Currently training at Santa Anita.

TBA – The Stronach Group

 

IT’S RAINBOW PICK 6 TIME!

$1.8 million carryover today for the Rainbow 6 at Gulfstream park.

A 20 cent base bet, it begins in race 7 today, a maiden allowance with a ton of first time starters in the field.

Thoroughblog offers up some ideas for the bet:

Race 7 – Checking the early betting support is a must here. Beginner UNDER A SPELL, MAGNUM MOON, PRINCESS POWER and RAISING THE FLAG all bear consideration. DIRTY is best of the experienced ones.

Race 8 – Extremely wide open grass race – looking at longshot #1 On Cruise Control plus  7 and 8 and 10.

Race 9 –  4, 5, 7, 8

Race 10 – $6,250 claimers..  #6, 4, 13 and 14

Race 11 –  Heart to Heart is the best speed so he’s a must use. All Included and Shakhimat.

Race 12 – Big field of young guys on turf..MARAUD is a major player. Longshots are BANTU and CEEVEE

Good luck!

 

WONDER GADOT GETS 3-YEAR-OLD CAMPAIGN STARTED

Ontario-bred filly WONDER GADOT (Medaglia D’Oro-Loving Vindication by Vindication) competes in the Silverbulletday Stakes today at Fair Grounds, her first race since late last year when she won the demoiselle at Aqueduct. The probable juvenile filly Champion at the April Sovereign Awards is the 2 to 1 morning line favourite but in a very competitive field. The filly was bred by Anderson Farms and she is owned by Gary Barber.

RACE 7 – POST TIME – 4:05 PM Silverbulletday S.
Exacta / $0.50 Trifecta / $0.10 Superfecta / Daily Double $0.50 Pick 3 (Races 7-8-9) / $0.50 Pick 4 (Races 7-8-9-10)

Purse $150,000. For Fillies Three Years Old. One Mile And Seventy Yards.

1 Blonde Bomber (FL) 3/F L J Lezcano 122 S I Gold 7/2
2 Wonder Gadot (ON) 3/F L J R Velazquez 122 M E Casse 2/1
3 Saguaro Row (KY) 3/F L C J Lanerie 116 B P Walsh 20/1
4 Remember Daisy (LA) 3/F L M Murrill 116 G M Scherer 30/1
5 Stellar Moon (KY) 3/F R Albarado 116 M Stidham 15/1
6 America’s Tale (KY) 3/F L B J Hernandez, Jr. 120 B S Flint 8/1
7 Heavenly Love (KY) 3/F L J R Leparoux 122 M E Casse 3/1
8 Shes Our Fastest (TX) 3/F L J Valdivia, Jr. 120 S Gelner 20/1
9 Missive (KY) 3/F L J Bravo 116 M Stidham 15/1
10 Stronger Than Ever (KY) 3/F L F Geroux 122 K G McPeek 12/1
11 Noblame (WV) 3/F L A Beschizza 120 J Sharp 20/1
12 Terra’s Angel (KY) 3/F L S Risenhoover 122 T Eoff 30/1

Owners: 1 – Arindel Farm (Alan Cohen); 2 – Gary Barber; 3 – Newtown Anner Stud (Samantha Regan) and Mark D. Breen; 4 – Al and Bill Ulwelling; 5 – Godolphin Racing, LLC (Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum); 6 – Naveed Chowan; 7 – Debby M. Oxley; 8 – Norman Stables, LLC (Robbie Norman) and Mark Norman; 9 – Pin Oak Stud, LLC (Josephine Abercrombie); 10 – Fern Circle Stables (Paul Fireman); 11 – Wayne R. Sanders and Larry Hirsch; 12 – Terry Eoff and Johnnie Evans

Breeders: 1 – Arindel; 2 – Anderson Farms Ont. Inc.; 3 – Mark Breen; 4 – Al Ulwelling & Bill Ulwelling; 5 – Godolphin; 6 – Madeline Auerbach & Catherine Parke; 7 – Debby Oxley; 8 – Euerka Thoroughbred Farm; 9 – Pin Oak Stud, LLC; 10 – J. Stuart, P. Bance, J. Amling &C. Noell; 11 – James Miller Jr.; 12 – Hargus Sexton, Sandra Sexton &Silver Fern Farm, LLC

 

CHIRCOP, MATTINE WINNERS ON FRIDAY

Steven Circop sent out HE STARTED IT to win a $15,000 claiming race at Penn National on Friday. The Kentucky bred by Proud Citizen was 3 to 1 and he won by a head under Angel Rodriguez. Chircop is 1 for 2 this year and that was his 83rd career win.
JOHN MATTINE sent out BUDDING to win a turf dash at Gulfstream on Friday for owner Howard Walton and Mattine is represented again today with Opening Remark.

 

SUTHERLAND HORSE TO RACE FOR $75,000.00. FORMER OUTRIDER HELPS WITH PREPARATION

from WPCA.COM – BRYAN HEBSON

The talented thoroughbred horses fans witness throughout the WPCA Pro Tour every season started their racing careers at some point on a race track within North America. While a number of horses owned by WPCA drivers will race on tracks in Western Canada during the spring, summer and fall, a potential future wagon horse owned by WPCA driver Mitch Sutherland has spent the winter racing in Phoenix, AZ

Sutherland owned POWER CORRUPT may or may not be a wagon horse in the future, however, the 5 year old bay gelding who has experienced recent success in Vancouver and Phoenix is now entered in the $75,000.00 COTTON FITZSIMMONS MILE at Turf Paradise in Phoenix, AZ on Saturday afternoon.

Sutherland claimed the horse for $4,000.00 in July of 2017 at Hastings Park in Vancouver, BC. Following that claim Sutherland entered Power Corrupt 5 times at Hastings Park winning 3 of those 5 races. At the conclusion of the 2017 Hastings Park race meet Sutherland sent the horse to Phoenix where he ran his first race on November 18th. Coming out of the #3 post position Power Corrupt was among the top 4 leaders during most of the race then drew clear down the stretch to win by just under 2 lengths.

Seeing the potential in Power Corrupt Sutherland decided to enter the horse in the 30,000.00 Walter R Cluer Memorial Stakes race on November 25th. Similar to his race on November 18th, Power Corrupt was among the leaders throughout the race sitting 3rd then with a 1/4 of a mile to go he drew off to win by just over 6 lengths.

Sutherland credited an adjusted feeding program, the training and the jockey for the win and emphasized the horses passion and heart to race for the victory.

Now with Power Corrupt entered in the biggest race of his career, Sutherland has called on one of the best in equine therapeutic care to prepare Power Corrupt for his big race.

Like any professional athlete, race horses train, follow a diet plan and are treated with care and well being. For Power Corrupt’s big race, Sutherland has called upon former WPCA outrider Reo King to provide additional care and preparation on his horse.

King, a 5 time Calgary Stampede Champion Outrider is an Equine Therapist who has worked on horses at the Dubai World Cup, Santa Anita Race Track in California, Spruce Meadows in Calgary, AB and the US Open Polo Championship in Florida. In 2012 King worked on the horse “I’ll Have Another who won the 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.

Power Corrupt was foaled in British Columbia and is one of only two Canadian bred horses in an 11 horse field made up primarily of Kentucky breds.

Only time will tell if Power Corrupt, the grandson of 1998 Breeders Cup Classic winner Awesome Again will be part of Sutherland’s wagon team in the future. Until then the Sutherland/Power Corrupt connection will look to continue their winning ways.

The $75,000.00 race will be run at 3:47PM Saturday and can be viewed through the Turf Paradise website.

Follow the WPCA website and social media for more on the equine superstars owned and cared for by the WPCA drivers in 2018.

 

SPEED SHOWDOWN AT GULFSTREAM
Ontario breds Heart to Heart and Shakhimat in ‘Lauderdale matchup

Terry Hamilton’s Heart to Heart, who has won the hearts of racing fans while compiling a resume of longevity as well as excellence, will embark on his sixth racing season in Saturday’s $200,000 Fort Lauderdale (G2) at Gulfstream Park.

The 7-year-old son of English Channel, the pride of Alberta’s Hamilton (and breeder Daryl Bauder) will seek to win his 10th graded-stakes and 12th overall stakes in the 61st running of the 1 1/16-mile turf stakes that will highlight a 12-race program that will also offer the $100,000 Marshua’s River (G3).

“He’s not a very big horse. He’s not very hard on himself. He doesn’t take a lot of training,” trainer Brian Lynch said. “Fortunately, through the grace of God, he’s been a lovely sound horse that keeps getting better with age.”

Heart to Heart has been a multiple-stakes winner in each of the past four racing seasons since joining Lynch’s stable following a promising 2-year-old season.

“Physically, each year as he’s gotten older – he’s still a full horse, so physically, he’s got more substance to him – he’s a little bit stronger as he’s matured,” Lynch said. “He’s still got the 1 and 2’s in his program, so it shows he still enjoys his job and there’s still a lot of run in him.”

Heart to Heart hasn’t seen action since finishing 10th in the Breeders’ Cup Mile (G3) at Del Mar Nov. 4. The Ontario-bred turf specialist set a pressured early pace between horses before tiring in the stretch, finishing only three lengths behind victorious World Approval.

“The heat was on in the kitchen from the get-go. They got the half in 45 (seconds). You’d have to be a super horse to finish coming off those early fractions,” Lynch said. “The margin wasn’t so bad. He got beat by three lengths for everything. In the grand scheme of things, he ran very, very big to hang on as well as he did off the fractions he had to carve out early.”

Heart to Heart earned a trip to Del Mar during a season that included victories in the Canadian Turf (G3) at Gulfstream and the Bernard Baruch (G2) at Saratoga, as well as Grade 1 placings in the Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita and the Shadwell Mile at Keeneland.

Heart to Heart has shown a distinct fondness for the Gulfstream Park turf course, over which he has won four stakes, including the 2016 Fort Lauderdale, from five starts – his only loss coming in a tiring fourth-place finish in last year’s Fort Lauderdale.

Saturday, Gulfstream Park, post time: 5:00 p.m. EST
FT. LAUDERDALE S.-GII, $200,000, 4yo/up, 1 1/16mT
PP HORSE SIRE OWNER TRAINER JOCKEY WT

1 Summer Causeway K Giant’s Causeway Thoroughbred Champions Training Center LLC Mejia Ulloa 117
2 One Go All Go K Fairbanks Rodney Paden Dickey Landeros 117
3 Heart to Heart English Channel Terry Hamilton Lynch Ortiz, Jr. 123
4 Diamond Bachelor K War Front Diamond 100 Racing Club, LLC, Trussell, Robert Biancone Luzzi 119 Patrick L. Biancone, LLC
5 Shining Copper Aragorn (Ire) Ramsey, Kenneth L. and Sarah K. Maker Ortiz 123
6 All Included Include Wertheimer and Frere Pletcher Saez 119
7 Team Colors Street Cry (Ire) Joseph Allen LLC Sweezey Rosario 117
8 Shakhimat K Lonhro (Aus) Gale, Dan, Attfield, Roger L. and Werner, William K. Attfield Zayas 123
9 Beneficiary Wildcat Heir Nancy Mastronardi Mastronardi, Jr. Prado 117
Breeders: 1-Clearsky Farms, 2-Albert P. Coppola, 3-Red Hawk Ranch, 4-Jamm, Ltd., 5-International Equities Holding Inc., 6-Wertheimer Et Frere, 7-Joseph
Allen, 8-Adena Springs, 9-Stella Thayer

NYRA OFFERING BONUSES TO BOOST FIELD SIZE
from drf.com

http://www.espn.com/horse-racing/story/_/id/22068336/nyra-offering-bonuses-boost-field-size

CAMARERO, SAN LUIS REY RESPONDERS TO RECEIVE SPECIAL ECLIPSE AWARD

In recognition of countless acts of heroism, bravery, and benevolence in the face of tragedy, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters (NTWAB) today announced that the Special Eclipse Award will be awarded to all responders who assisted in mitigating the year’s worst racehorse-related disasters – the hurricane that left more than 800 Thoroughbreds stranded with limited food and clean water at Puerto Rico’s Hipódromo Camarero in September and the wildfire that claimed 46 Thoroughbreds at Southern California’s San Luis Rey Training Center in December.

The Special Award honors extraordinary service, individual achievements in, or contributions to the sport of Thoroughbred racing.

Representatives of the Camarero and San Luis Rey relief efforts will be on hand to accept the Special Award at the 47th Annual Eclipse Awards dinner and ceremony on Thursday, January 25, in the Sport of Kings Theatre at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla. The Eclipse Awards are presented by Daily Racing Form, Breeders’ Cup and The Stronach Group, produced by the NTRA, and will air live on TVG at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

CARIBBEAN THOROUGHBRED AFTERCARE LED INDUSTRY-WIDE RESPONSE IN PUERTO RICO

Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico on Sept. 20, a Wednesday, as a Category 4 storm with wind gusts up to 118 miles per hour. All 3.4 million residents lost power and nearly all communications networks were knocked out of service. Storm surge and flash flooding left entire towns trapped until military relief could reach them as much as 24 hours later.

Maria laid waste to the island’s only sanctioned racetrack, Hipódromo Camarero, formerly known as El Comandante, where Bold Forbes debuted in 1975 before winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness the following season and where Puerto Rican natives Angel Cordero Jr. and John Velazquez rode early in their Hall of Fame careers. The grandstand of the Canóvanas track was destroyed, with the winner’s circle and clubhouse “in ruins,” as track administrator Jose A. Maymó Azize said.

Azize also estimated that 90 percent of the racehorse pens lost their roofs. There were 1,100 registered Thoroughbreds on the track grounds – more than half of which were bred in the U.S. – with limited access to food or clean water. And with so much human suffering on the island many of the horses no longer had caretakers. Miraculously no horses died during the storm, but for many the hardest days were still to come.

In stepped Kelley Stobie and Shelley Blodgett of Caribbean Thoroughbred Aftercare, the nonprofit organization with more than a decade of experience transitioning hundreds of racehorses from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands for post-racing lives, both on the islands and back on the U.S. mainland.

“I got to the racetrack on the Friday after the storm and I was completely shocked at the devastation,” said Stobie, an equine therapist who works at Camarero and lives on the island. “I had no idea those barns were going to collapse the way they did. I went barn to barn and broke locks, broke chains, climbed over fences. Some horses we couldn’t get to so all I could do was climb over the rubble to give them water. A lot of them had gone two days without water. That day I must have given water to a hundred horses by myself.”

Stobie recruited help from the few grooms she could find that were still there tending to their horses.

“A lot of people couldn’t get to the track because they were trapped in their homes,” she said. “My husband owns a heavy equipment company so we were able to move fallen trees and everything so we could get to the main highway.”

By Monday, five days since Maria first made landfall, Stobie was still clearing access to horses who hadn’t had any water.

“We were just trying to keep the horses hydrated,” she said. “People didn’t realize how bad it was going to be. Nobody had stored anything and those that did had their roofs ripped off. There was no hay to be found so they would just give horses 10 pounds of grain with no water and no forage.”

Stobie was able to call her CTA co-founder Blodgett, a racing fan and recently retired clinical psychologist in Wellington, Fla., who had helped re-home several horses from Puerto Rico to the U.S.

“I just started messaging various industry organizations,” Blodgett said. “I wrote to Sue Finley [of Thoroughbred Daily News] and sent her pictures. When she published that letter it immediately got the attention of the industry and then the response came.”

Major support and coordination throughout came from Thoroughbred Charities of America (TCA), The Jockey Club, the American Association of Equine Practitioners, and Ranch Aid, a FEMA-appointed organization that assists with logistics and care for large animals during natural disasters.

Among many others that stepped up to answer Blodgett’s plea with donations of feed, veterinary supplies, aircraft, warehouse space, and other needs were: Bonnie Heath Farm, Brook Ledge Horse Transportation, Cargill Animal Nutrition, Eisaman Equine, Horse America, Heidel Hollow Farm, JetBlue, MWI Animal Health, Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company, Purina Animal Nutrition, Texas Equine Veterinary Association, TFB Equine, The Ark at JFK, Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, and U.S. Equestrian Federation. Terry Finley and Vince Viola, partners in Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming, helped cut through bureaucratic red tape for relief flights to be cleared to land on the devastated island.

On Oct. 3, a charter jet arrived in Puerto Rico with 20 tons of alfalfa, veterinary supplies, including fluids and penicillin, and two satellite phones. It was the first of three planeloads that would come bearing donations from individuals and industry organizations.

“We would have lost a lot more horses to starvation if we hadn’t gotten the help that we did,” Blodgett said. “We got this plane in and it took Erin Crady of TCA and others moving heaven and earth to make it happen. It is a mini-miracle that this plane actually got in and it is a credit to people in this industry who have a lot of influence.”

At least 98 horses from the Camarero backside have been euthanized, nearly all from colic or laminitis, with more likely to follow. Track veterinarian Dr. Ricardo Loinaz has worked nonstop at the on-site equine hospital caring for horses with serious injuries or requiring antibiotics. While nutritional needs have been addressed, most of the damaged barns remain unrepaired.

“Some trainers and owners have gone and made repairs, but others don’t have the means,” Blodgett said. “They’re dealing with their own devastation from the hurricane and disruption to their finances. Not having good shelter for these horses is making it so much worse.”

Said Stobie: “It was mostly colic to start, and then about a month after the storm they were foundering from standing in water and on cement for so long. That was when we had no choice but to start euthanizing horses. Not a lot of them have been euthanized for other ailments or fractures or anything.

“The euthanasia rate right now is the highest it’s been. We’re getting more horses than ever with laminitis now that the races are back up and running. I’m still begging the racetrack to rebuild the roofs.”

Stobie and Blodgett will attend the Eclipse Awards ceremony to accept the Special Eclipse Award on behalf of countless individuals that participated in the relief effort.