ON THE BLOCK
A couple of weeks ago, this corner had an interview with Lou Tucci about his Queen’s Plate winner MIDNIGHT ARIA entered in the upcoming Fasig-Tipton Mixed Sale in early February. The Midnight Lute horse is a stallion prospect (although he is also selling as a racing prospect).
The catalogue for the 2016 Winter Mixed Sale at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales also has some familiar names among the 630 entries.
The sale is January 27 and Jan. 28.
KAIGUN, a graded stakes winner for Gary Barber and Quintessential Racing and Mark Casse, is hip no. 562 and selling by Casse racing, agent to dissolve a partnership.
REPORTING STAR, a finalist for Champion Turf Male in Canada for 2015 and recently a stakes winner and stakes placed during his current stint at Gulfstream, is offered by Michael Cooke, agent.
The gelding is hip 639, the last horse in the sale.
QUEEN’S PLATE WATCH
SCHOLAR ATHLETE continues his steady work with a 5 furlong breeze at Palm Meadows on Saturday in 1:00.30 for West Point Thoroughbreds. The son of Einstein was 3rd in the Coronation Futurity in his last race. Graham Motion trains.
CANADIANS – WOODBINE LOCALS ELSEWHERE
DESERT SUMMER, an Ontario bred by Queen’s Plate winner Wild Desert, won for the second straight time at Tampa Bay Downs when taking a $6,250 claiming dash on Saturday. Owned by Candice Warwick and trained by Steven Cathcart, the mare was claimed.
Gary Barber’s latest private purchase, R GIRLS A CHARMER, jumped up from her maiden win to a score in the Gasparilla Stakes at Tampa on Saturday. The Florida bred 3yo is by In Summation out of a Montbrook mare. She won the 7 furlong dash in 1:25.71 by 4 lengths and Mark Casse is the trainer.
HOP ON THE BUS
Huge longshot sparks $1 million payoff in Pick 6 bet
Longshot Lost Bus proved ultra game in winning Saturday’s Grade II, $200,000 Santa Monica Stakes at Santa Anita by a head under Fernando Perez. Trained by Gary Sherlock, the 4-year-old California-bred filly was tested the length of the stretch and just prevailed over Finest City while covering seven furlongs in 1:21.78.
Sent from her number four post position in a field of nine older fillies and mares, Lost Bus, who was claimed three starts back for $32,000 on Nov. 19, was pressed throughout at the rail through splits of 22.42, 44.93 and 1:09.08.
“Lost Bus was pretty much going to run before I learned (probable favorite) Sunday Rules wouldn’t be entered, but I was running for third, and it turned out better than that,” said Sherlock, who won the Santa Monica in 2008 with Intangaroo. “There wasn’t a lot of speed in the race, and I told Fernando to go to the front.”
One of only two Cal-breds in the lineup, Lost Bus was the longest shot in the field at 60-1 and following a claim of foul lodged by Finest City’s jockey, Corey Nakatani, she paid $131.20, $42.20 and $14.80.
Owned by Terry Lovingier, Lost Bus, who is by the In Excess stallion Bring the Heat, notched her first-ever stakes win and improved her overall mark to 11-3-2-2. With the winner’s share of $120,000, she increased her earnings to $256,018.
“I got a clean break, I took her to the lead and she was comfortable the whole time,” said Perez. “At the end, she was still trying. Corey was pushing me. We were bumping a little bit down the stretch, but not much to be honest. He just had to take a shot (by claiming foul) to see if he could get the disqualification.”
With a two-day Pick Six carryover contributing to a massive total Pick Six pool of $1,852,098, there was just one winning ticket, worth $1,132,476.80. Purchased for an as-yet undisclosed amount, the ticket was generated through a Kentucky-based wagering hub.
ONTARIO BRED COUNTY LINEMAN IN ACTION OUT WEST
Sunday, Santa Anita, post time: 6:30 p.m. EDT
CLOCKER’S CORNER S., (R), $75,000, 4yo/up, 6 1/2fT
PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER ML
1 Rocket Heat Latent Heat Maldonado Belvoir 7-2
2 Holy Lute Midnight Lute Espinoza Cassidy 6-1
3 Cape Wolfe (GB) Piccolo (GB) Prat D’Amato 10-1
4 County Lineman Silent Name (Jpn) Quinonez Cerin 8-1
5 Fleet Eagle Don’t Get Mad Pereira Capestro 30-1
6 Silentio Silent Name (Jpn) Smith Mandella 8-1
7 Coastline Speightstown Baze D’Amato 4-1
8 Home Run Kitten Kitten’s Joy Talamo Hofmans 4-1
9 Ocho Ocho Ocho Street Sense Gonzalez Cassidy 8-1
10 Bench Warrant Street Boss Van Dyke Sadler 12-1
OBS CHAMPIONSHIP RACES ON TUESDAY
Overnight..Mark Casse has several entries including Woodbine maiden winner OUR NATION
http://obssales.com/OBSPAGES/2016Overnight.pdf
