Tag: Dangerfield

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HOLY BULLetproof

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Go For Gin at the Kentucky Horse Park
Go For Gin at the Kentucky Horse Park

The Road to the Kentucky Derby is on fire today! Three races at 3 different tracks are passing out KY Derby qualifying points! Only 37 select races award points, therefore today, 2/4/17, is definitely important. When the day is done, 12 horses will have received points for the day’s races and there will only be 20 races left for the competition to build on. Right now, Classic Empire sits on top of the KY Derby Leaderboard. Today, he will face off against 8 other Thoroughbreds in the Holy Bull Stakes. Is he HOLY BULLetproof?

Go For Gin's paddock
Go For Gin’s paddock

The Holy Bull stakes was inaugurated in 1996 to replace the former Preview Stakes that had already succeeded the Flamingo Stakes that dated back to 1972. It is a Grade II race for 3 year-olds of 1 and 1/16 miles (8.5 furlongs) on the dirt at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, FL. The Holy Bull derived it’s name from a Thoroughbred, Holy Bull. Holy Bull was foaled in 1991 to Great Above and Sharon Brown. Holy Bull won 13 of 16 starts, many of these wins were major graded stakes races, including a win in the KY Derby. He won Eclipse Awards for Champion 3 Year-Old Colt and the Horse of the Year in 1994. By 2001 he was inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall Of Fame. Holy Bull was an active stallion at Darley’s Jonabell Farm from 1995 until 2012. He then retired at the same farm. His offspring include several graded stakes winners.

Go For Gin's stall plate
Go For Gin’s stall plate

Go For Gin, holds the speed record for the Holy Bull at the current distance with a time of 1:41.62 minutes. He won the Holy Bull in 1994 and has retired to a nice life at The Kentucky Horse Park. I have had the pleasure of visiting with him there. His pictures are featured in this webpost.

Go For Gin poses for his fans
Go For Gin poses for his fans

The 2017 edition of the Holy Bull Stakes will post at 5:35 P.M. EST. It is race 12, the final race of the day, at Gulfstream Park. The purse this year is $350 thousand dollars. The field is as follows by post/horse/jockey/trainer/morning-line odds:
1. Gunnevera/Javier Castellano/A.Sano/9-2
2. Perro Rojo/Nik Juarez/N.P. Zito/30-1
3. Classic Empire/Julien Leparoux/M.E.Casse/3-5
4. Talk Logistics/Paco Lopez/E. Plesa Jr./12-1
5. Irish War Cry/Joel Rosario/H.G. Motion/15-1
6. Fact Finding/John Velazquez/T.A.Pletcher/6-1
7. Shamsaan/Luis Saez/K.P.McLaughlin/20-1
8. Cavil/Jose Lezcano/K.P.McLaughlin/15-1
9. Fire For Effect/Corey Lanerie/D.L.Romans/20-1

Classic Empire is the favorite to win the Holy Bull. He already has 30 KY Derby points from when he gained 10 points winning the Breeders Futurity and 20 more winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Classic Empire is sired by Pioneer of the Nile, just like the famous champion, American Pharoah. Classic Empire will face off against another horse on the leaderboard, Gunnevera is 5th on the KY Derby leaderboard with 10 points.

The Holy Bull Stakes, the Withers Stakes and the Robert B. Lewis Stakes all offer 10 points to the winner, 4 to 2nd place, 2 to third place and 1 point to the 4th place finishers. All 3 races cover the same distance, surface and are open to 3 year-olds. El Areeb is the favorite in the Grade 3 Withers with post position 4 in the race and tenth on the KY Derby leaderboard. He will face off with 9 other competitors at 4:20 P.M. EST in race 8 on Aqueduct’s card. Also, in the Withers, J Boys Echo and Bonus Points are both on the KY Derby Leaderboard as well.

Meanwhile, the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis Stakes will take place at Santa Anita Park. It is race 2 on the card and posts at 3:59 P.M. EST. Only 5 horses are entered. Royal Mo is favored here although Irap and Dangerfield already have KY Derby points too.

It will be outstanding to see who racks up all the points today. I’m hoping Classic Empire keeps proving himself and jumps up to 40 points. Check back often too see my next post and have a fantastic weekend.

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Field of Fillies

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Farrell at Churchill Downs
Farrell at Churchill Downs

Christmas came early for 8 lucky Thoroughbreds yesterday.  Two races held at Los Alamitos, in California, on December 10th were the end of the road to the Kentucky Derby and Oaks for this year.  Fortunately, on 1/7/17 prep races continue as they will until mid April.

I covered the top of the KY Derby leaderboard in my last post.  The Grade 1 CashCall Futurity held yesterday awarded 10 points to Mastery, 4 points to Irap, 2 points for Dangerfield and 1 point to Bobby Abu Dhabi.  This resulted in some changes in the top of the leaderboard bumping Mastery into 5th place and knocking Klimt out of the top ten.  The KY Derby top ten as 2016 ends:

  1. Classic Empire
  2. Practical Joke
  3. Gunnevera
  4. Lookin At Lee
  5. Mastery
  6. Gormley
  7. Mo Town
  8. McCraken
  9. Wild Shot
  10. No Dozing

Changes in the top ten KY Oaks contenders were similar.  The Grade 1 Starlet Stakes gifted 10 points to Abel Tasman, 4 to American Gal, 2 to Mopotism and 1 point for Tapped.  This moved Farrell from the 8th to 9th position as Abel Tasman took over the 8 spot and Ever So Clever fell to 12th as American Gal filled in the 11th position.  The current KY Oaks contenders:

  1. Champagne Room
  2. Daddys Lil Darling
  3. Miss Sky Warrior
  4. Dancing Rags
  5. Yellow Agate
  6. Shane’s Girlfriend
  7. Noted and Quoted
  8. Abel Tasman
  9. Farrell
  10. Valadorna

Unlike the KY Derby where the favorite is my favorite, Classic Empire, I’m uncertain as to which filly in this field I’m a fan of?  The KY Oaks was inaugurated on 5/19/1875.  The 143rd Oaks will be held 5/5/17.

Champagne Room won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and that is where she picked up 20 of her 21 points. Valadorna was second, American Girl was third , Daddys Lil Darling finished fourth, Noted and Quoted was 7th, Dancing Rags ran 8th and Yellow Agate finished 10th.  Therefore, Champagne Room beat many in this field once but she didn’t win it by lengths.  She has finished in the top 4 in her 5 career races, 4 of which were graded stakes.  She got just 1 point when she finished fourth in the Chandelier Stakes.  Noted and Quoted won that race.

Daddys Lil Darling has worked hard for her 20 points.  She has finished in the top 4 of 4 KY Oaks prep races.  She was 1st in the Pohahontas, 2nd in the Alcibiades and the Golden Rod and 4th in the BC Juvenile.

Miss Sky Warrior has finished 1st in the last 3 of her 4 starts.  The last 2 were graded stakes and she took her Oaks points when she won the Demoiselle Stakes.

Dancing Rags won the Alcibiades but finished near the back in the BC Juvenile.  She has won 2 of her 4 starts.

Yellow Agate has only raced 3 times.  She won the Frizette Stakes grabbing 10 points but then did poorly in the BC Juvenile.

Shane’s Girlfriend is undefeated in her 2 starts.  She won the Delta Downs Princess Stakes less than a month after breaking her maiden.

Noted and Quoted has raced 5 times.  She got her Oaks points when she won the Chandelier but she did not excel in the BC Juvenile.

Abel Tasman won the Starlet yesterday.  It was her 1st graded stakes race.  She has won 3 of her 4 lifetime races.

Farrell is my homegirl, LOL.  All 4 of her starts have been at Churchill Downs.  I saw her there this Fall.  It is her picture at the top of the post.  She broke her maiden that day.  The following month she won the Golden Rod Stakes.

Valadorna broke her maiden her 2nd time out.  That was on opening day at Keeneland.  Her next race was the BC Juvenile Fillies where she took 2nd place.  She has not raced since.

With just 9 preps finished and 21 to go I have a while to go before I pick my favorite KY Oaks horse.  2017 is going to be very interesting!  Keep checking my page out as we continue down the road.  Who do you like?

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