Sharing with you my fascinating discoveries about Thoroughbred racing, sales, fashion, food, beverage, tips and more.
Good morning, racing fans! The action never stops. Last weekend was a wrap for the Triple Crown series. Congratulations to Tapwrit for winning the Belmont Stakes. Now, we can turn our attention towards the collecting of contenders for the next Breeders’ Cup World Championships as the Challenge Series is underway.
Continue reading “Churchill’s Champions”
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It is hard to contain my enthusiasm with only 2 days to go until the 142nd Kentucky Derby. Post time is 6:34 P.M. EST on 5/7/16 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY. The KY Derby Undercard can be watched from 12 PM to 4 PM on NBCSN and then NBC will broadcast coverage from 4 PM to 7:30 PM EST.
The Longines Kentucky Derby has taken place annually since 1875. The race is held on the first Saturday of May. The track is dirt and is raced 10 furlongs, 1 and 1/4 miles. Contenders are 3 year old Thoroughbreds that were selected from a points system in 35 qualifying races. Points are awarded to the 1st four finishers on those races. The first race, on the road to the KY Derby, was the Iroquois held at Churchill Downs on 9/12/15. The last race to qualify in was the Lexington at Keeneland on 4/16/16. Last evening 22 horses drew post positions. 20 will race, the final 2 are “also eligible” if there is a scratch before 9 A.M EST on 5/6/16. The field is as follows:
Post position. Horse/Jockey/Trainer/Owner
Trojan Nation has not even broken his maiden in 6 starts but he received his qualifying Derby points when he finished 2nd in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial Stakes at Aqueduct on 4/9/16. His dam sire, Summer Squall, was 2nd in the KY Derby in 1990. Ferdinand was the last horse that won the KY Derby from post position 1 and that was back in 1986.
Suddenbreakingnews has raced 8 times with 7 times winning or placing. He is experienced in 3 graded stakes races that are all KY Derby select races. He got his points in the Arkansas Derby, 2nd, and the Southwest Stakes, 1st, while he was a disappointing 5th place finisher in the Rebel Stakes. His dam sire, Afleet Alex, was 3rd in the 2005 KY Derby.
Creator also has 8 starts behind him. He has finished in the top 3 in 7 races. He is a lovely grey son of Tapit. Juba, my favorite horse is sired by Tapit. Lani and Mohaymen are also sired by Tapit. Creator did better in both the Rebel, 3rd, and the Arkansas Derby, he was the winner, than Suddenbreakingnews who ran 5th and 2nd respectively.
Mo Tom has finished 1st or 3rd in 6 of 7 races. He is the offspring of Uncle Mo as are Nyquist and Outwork. Mo Tom ran in 4 KY Derby qualifying graded stakes races and gathered points in each of them. He was 3rd in the KY Jockey Club, 1st in the LeComte, 3rd in the Risen Star and 4th in the Louisiana Derby.
Gun Runner, son of Candy Ride, has participated in 5 races and won all but the KY Jockey Club Stakes when he came in 4th, right behind Mo Tom. He beat out Mo Tom in 2 other graded stakes when he won both the Risen Star and the Louisiana Derby. He shares a trainer with Creator. California Chrome won the KY Derby from post 5 in 2014!
My Man Sam has only raced 4 times. It took him twice to break his maiden and he placed twice since then. He has only been in one graded stakes and he finished 2nd. It was the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on 4/9/16 that gave him his KY Derby points.
Oscar Nominated has finished 4th or better in his 7 races. In his 3rd stakes race he won the Grade 3 Spiral Stakes and earned his KY Derby points. The Ramsey’s are frequent winners at Keeneland and Churchill but they have never had a KY Derby horse yet.
Lani is another Tapit colt. He is also a champ on an international level. He has raced 6 times in Japan and in the United Arab Emirates. It was his win in the U.A.E. Derby that qualified him to “Run for the Roses. In all 142 KY Derbys he is only the 2nd Japan based entry. Ski Captain was the other Japan based horse. He came in 14th in 1995 in the KY Derby with the same jockey as Lani has now, Take.
Destin has 3 wins and 1 show finish is his 5 starts. Two of his 3 graded stakes races were part of the KY Derby prep series. He was 4th in the LeComte, where Mo Tom won, and he was 1st in the the Tampa Bay Derby. He is a pretty grey.
Whitmore will be have the winner of the past 2 KY Derbys on his back, Espinoza! Espinoza won with California Chrome and again with American Pharoah. Whitmore has 2 firsts, 2 seconds and 1 third place finish out of his 6 races. 4 of his races were KY Derby prep stakes. He earned no points in the Delta Downs Jackpot where he finished 5th. He was 2nd in both the Rebel Stakes and the Southwest Stakes. In the Arkansas Derby he finished 3rd. He lost to Suddenbreakingnews in the Southwest but beat him in the Rebel. Whitmore beat Creator in the Rebel too.
Exaggerator has had a whopping 9 starts in his lifetime. 5 of these races were for KY Derby points. He was 1st in the Santa Anita Derby and the Delta Downs Jackpot. He took second in the Breeders’ Futurity. He was 3rd in the San Felipe Stakes and 4th in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. He has beat out Whitmore in the Delta Down Jackpot. Nyquist beat Exaggerator in the San Vicente Stakes. Exaggerator’s sire Curlin was 3rd in the 2007 KY Derby.
Tom’s Ready has had 9 starts too. He is a Pennsylvania bred horse. His dam sire, Broad Brush, was 3rd in the 1986 KY Derby. He is owned by the same owner as Mo Tom. He hasn’t won since he broke his maiden his 3rd time out. He participated in 4 KY Derby preps. He finished 8th in the KY Jockey Club. He was 2nd in the LeComte and the Louisiana Derby and 7th in the Risen Star. He finished behind Mo Tom in the KY Jockey Club and the Risen Star but bested him in the LeComte and the Louisiana Derby. Gun Runner has beat him in 3 prep races. Tom’s Ready beat Destin in the LeComte.
Nyquist is the favorite to win and I have agreed with that for some time. I have seen Nyquist on several occasions and written a great deal about him. He is pictured at the top. He is undefeated in seven races. He drew lucky post 13 which is the post he won from in the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, where I first saw him. Three of his races were in the KY Derby prep series, the FrontRunner Stakes, the BC Juvenile and the Florida Derby. He has beaten Exaggerator in the San Vicente and Mohaymen in the FL Derby.
Mohaymen is another lovely grey sired by Tapit. He has raced 6 times and was undefeated until his last race. Nyquist beat him in the Florida Derby where he can in a very unexpected 4th place. His other 3 Derby preps were the Remsen Stakes, the Holly Bull Stakes and the Fountain of Youth Stakes where he dominated them all.
Outwork is a fine colt of Uncle Mo. He has only 4 career starts. He did 2 KY Derby preps. He was 2nd in the Tampa Bay Derby and 1st in the Wood Memorial Stakes, when he beat Trojan Nation. Outwork drew post 15, the post that American Pharoah won from last year! Outwork’s dam sire, Empire Maker, was 2nd in the 2003 KY Derby.
Shagaf has the same trainer as My Man Sam and the same owner as Mohaymen. Shagaf took on two KY Derby prep races in his slim 4 starts. He won the Gotham Stakes but he scored no points in his 5th place finish in the Wood Memorial Stakes. Trojan Nation beat him in his last race.
Mor Spirit is trained by Baffert, winner of last year’s KY Derby. He has 3 1st place finishes and 4 2nd place races in his 7 starts. 5 of these were KY Derby prep races. He was 2nd in the KY Jockey Club, San Felipe Stakes and Santa Anita Derby. Mor Spirit was 1st in the Los Alamitos and Robert B. Lewis Stakes. He has beaten Mo Tom, Tom’s Ready,Exaggerator and Gun Runner.
Majesto has raced 6 times. It took 5 times out to break his maiden but then his next time out he was 2nd in the Florida Derby. Nyquist beat him out that day but he still bested Mohaymen.
Brody’s Cause also has had 6 starts. 4 of them were on the road to the KY Derby. He won the Breeders’ Futurity and the Blue Grass Stakes. He was 3rd in the BC Juvenile and a sad 7th in the Tampa Bay Derby. He has lost to Nyquist, Outwork, Exaggerator and Destin. He has beaten My Man Sam.
Danzing Candy has put in 5 races with 2 KY Derby preps. He won the San Felipe Stakes but was 4th in the Santa Anita Derby. He has lost to but also beaten both Exaggerator and Mor Spirit.
Finally, if there is a scratch by tomorrow morning there are 2 also eligibles and I will add an update if that happens.
KY Derby Fun Facts:
I hope everyone has an opportunity to do something special for the Kentucky Derby. I will be cheering for Nyquist as I could never get enough of watching him win. Just as I mentioned with my KY Oaks story, you may want to bookmark Thoroughbred U for a quick reference for this information on race day. Who is your Derby favorite?
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I am on pins and needles about all of the fun things going on this weekend. I am a marshal in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade this Saturday! It is March Madness time and I love the Kentucky Wildcats, go Big Blue Nation! Finally, we have 2 of the 13 remaining Kentucky Derby prep races this Saturday too!
On March 12, 2016 we have the Tampa Bay Derby and the San Felipe Stakes. We can watch some of our favorites and plenty of our less well known 3 year olds battle it out for KY Derby points to become one of the 20 contenders. Each of these races will reward 50 points to the winner, 20 points for 2nd place, 10 points for third place and 5 points for the 4th place finisher. Currently, Mohaymen is at the top of the leaderboard with 70 points followed by Gun Runner with 51 points and Shagaf with 50 points. That being said, the winner of these races will take a nice jump near the top of the leaderboard.
The 36th Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, Grade II, will be held at Tampa Bay Downs in Florida, race 11, at 5:24 P.M EST on 3/12/16. The purse is $350,000 and the race is 8 and 1/2 furlongs on the dirt. This race was inaugurated in 1981. Last year’s winner, Carpe Diem, was my 2015 KY Derby pick. However, he ran 10th and American Pharoah kept on winning! In 2007 Street Sense won both the Tampa Bay and Kentucky Derbys. Street Sense still holds the speed record for the Tampa Bay Derby. This year, the Tampa Bay Derby has 10 horses in competition. Riker and Brody’s Cause competed against each other before, as seen in the photo above, in the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in 2015. Currently, Destin has 1 point on the leaderboard. Riker has 10 points and Brody’s Cause has 14. The full field, by post position, followed by jockey and trainer, is as follows:
As a side note, tune in earlier, at 3:54 P.M. to see Silver Magnolia in the Florida Oaks, race 8 and at 4:54 P.M. to watch Tepin in race 10, the Hillsborough Stakes, both at Tampa Bay. Neither are KY Derby prep races but Silver Magnolia won by 8 and 1/2 lengths in her last race at Tampa Bay. While, Tepin is 5 years old and she is awesome. She has won multiple graded stakes including the Breeder’ Cup Mile. I really enjoy watching her. The entire race card at Tampa Bay on Saturday should be fun. It will be the biggest day of racing ever at that track. Saturday is Festival Day at Tampa Bay with a total purse of $760,000.
Switch over to the West coast for the next KY Derby prep race at 6 P.M EST. Watch the San Felipe Stakes, Grade II, at Santa Anita in California, part of Big ‘Cap Day! This is the 7th race on the card for Santa Anita on 3/12/16. The purse is $400,000. This 8 and 1/2 furlong race on dirt has 7 horses entered. The San Felipe was inaugurated in 1935. Consolidator owns this race’s speed record, established in 2005. Dortmund won the San Felipe stakes in 2015 and then showed third in the KY Derby. In 2014 California Chrome won both the San Felipe and the KY Derby! Right now, I Will Score has 2 points towards the KY Derby. Uncle Lino has 4 points, Exaggerator has 16 points and Mor Spirit already holds 24 points. Exaggerator was in the pack photographed above as well. I focused on Exaggerator and Mor Spirit in my last story, seen here:
There are some strong contenders in the San Felipe Stakes field, listed here:
I am thrilled to see how these last lucky 13 KY Derby prep races resolve. I hope you all have a great weekend at the races. If you are lucky enough to see these races live, tell us about it. I would love for you to share your stories. Please, follow and like my pages on Facebook and Twitter. Thank you in advance!
Update: Cupid has scratched.
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As I write this, we have just 67 full days until the Kentucky Derby and 17 days until my favorite holiday, Saint Patrick’s Day! There are many reasons I love this holiday. One is directly connected to my love of Thoroughbred horse racing.
Generally, when 3/17 roles around, the weather in the Bluegrass is improving. Then 3 weeks later, Keeneland opens for the live Spring Meet leading right into the KY Derby, the 1st Saturday of May. I have the house decorated for St. Patrick’s now but it is pretty easy for me to pull that off as my home is fairly Irish themed to begin with. Getting ready for St. Patrick’s Day is so easy and that’s a huge part of the appeal to me. However, getting ready for racing and KY Derby takes a lot more planning. I’ve been watching the road to the KY Derby since it started, 9/12/15, where it will end, at Churchill Downs on 5/7/16. 21 Derby prep races are finished now. Only 14 races remain to determine which horses will have the points needed to place them in the 20 available post positions. There is still way too much in the air to cover all the Thoroughbreds in a blog but only 4 in the current top 20 of the leaderboard will have riders dressed in green! These 4 are ready for St. Patrick’s Day.
St. Patrick was a 5th century missionary and bishop in Ireland. He is believed to have died on 3/17 and that is why he is celebrated on this day. Ireland has fun folklore and superstition including fairies and leprechauns. Legend has it, that for St. Patrick’s Day, you must wear green to be invisible to the leprechauns which will pinch you if they see you. In fact, people will pinch you as well if your not in green, as a reminder. Mor Spirit, Exaggerator, Greenpointcrusader and Swipe have the fortune of being owned by green silk farms.
Mor Spirit is the Pennsylvania bred colt of sire, Eskenderey and dam Im a Dixie Girl by Dixie Union. He is 4th on the KY Derby leaderboard with a score of 24 points. He is trained by Bob Baffert. Baffert has trained several KY Derby winners. He was 2nd with Cavonnier in 1996. Silver Charm won in 1997. He trained 3rd place winner, Indian Charlie in 1998. That same year he trained the 1st place winner Real Quiet. In 2001 Congaree showed 3rd. The following year, 2002, he worked with War Emblem to come in 1st. Pioneer of the Nile was 2nd in 2009. He trained 2nd place Bodemeister in 2012. In 2015 he was responsible for both Dortmund, in 3rd, and American Pharoah, the huge winner! Mor Spirit is owned by Michael Lund Peterson. Peterson’s silks are green and white with stripes in V like formations on the front and horizontal stripes on the sleeves. His jockey is Gary L. Stevens. Stevens was 1st 3 times in the KY Derby. He won in 1988 with Winning Colors, in 1995 with Thunder Gulch and 1997 with Silver Charm. Mor Spirit got his points in 3 races. On 11/28/15 in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes(G2) at Churchill Downs he ran 2nd for 4 points. On 12/19/15 he was 1st in the Los Alamitos Futurity(G1) at Los Alimitos for 10 points. Then on 2/6/16 he got 10 points for winning the Robert B. Lewis Stakes(G3). In 5 career starts he has always achieved 1st or 2nd place.
Exaggerator is 9th on the leaderboard with 16 points. He has had 7 career starts. I saw him run at the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland, seen above. That is where he picked up 2 points for his 4th place finish in the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on 10/31/15. Before that he was 2nd at the Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity also at Keeneland on 10/3/15, earning 4 points. He earned 10 points finishing 1st at the Delta Down Jackpot Stakes at Delta Downs on 11/21/15. Exaggerator is the KY Bred son of Curlin and Dawn Raid by Vindication. Curlin was 3rd in the KY Derby in 2007. Exagerrator has Kent J. Desormeaux for a rider. Desormeaux has had several KY Derby successes. In 1990 he was 3rd with Pleasant Tap. Real Quiet was 1st in 1998. In 2000 he was 1st with Fusaichi Pegasus. He was 1st again on Big Brown in 2008. He finished 3rd in 2004, 2010 and 2012 on Imperialism, Paddy O’ Prado and Dullahan respectively. The brother of the jockey is the trainer, J. Keith Desormeaux. Big Cheif Racing, LCC. own Exaggerator. They have a green cap and a green silk with a white hoop with green sleeves with a white hoop.
Greenpointcrusader finished 7th at the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland, pictured ahead of the pack above. He gained no points for that effort but he got 10 points for winning the Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park on 10/3/15 and 4 points for placing 2nd at the Holly Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park om 1/30/16. His score of 14 puts him 12th on the leaderboard. He is KY bred. His sire is Bernardini. His dam is Ava Knowsthecode by Cryptoclearance, who was 4th in the 1987 KY Derby. Greenpointcrusader has John R Velazquez for a jockey. The rider was 2nd in the KY Derby on Invisible Ink in 2001 and 1st in 2011 with Animal Kingdom. He is trained by T. Dominick Schettino and owned by St. Elias Stable, MeB Racing Stables, LCC and Brooklyn Boyz Stables. This partnership uses a green cap with a green silk having 2 white hoops on the sleeves.
Lucky 13 on the leaderboard is Swipe. He is sired by Birdstone who ran 8th in the 2004 KY Derby. Swipe is KY bred and his dam is Avalanche Lily by Grand Slam. Swipe is also trained by J. Keith Desormeaux. His owner is also Big Chief Racing, LCC with James C. Justice and Billy R. Shelton. Having the same owner, they use the same silks as Exaggerator. Swipe, seen above was also in the Sentient Jet BC Juvenile. He placed 2nd scoring 8 points and then was 2nd again in the Front Runner at Santa Anita on 9/26/15 for 4 more points. He has a career of 7 starts. He has not raced in 2016 but he did have a workout on 2/27/16 at Santa Anita. Swipe has Victor Espinoza for a jockey. He was 3rd in the KY Derby with Congaree in 2001. He won the KY Derby in 2002 on War Emblem. He has won the KY Derby back to back the past 2 years with California Chrome in 2014 and American Pharoah in 2015.
These KY Derby contenders are rocking the green. Don’t forget to wear green on St. Patrick’s or you may suffer a pinch. To be safe, wear it all month. I will!
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Wow! I still can’t get over the rush of American Pharoah’s Triple Crown and Grand Slam wins. Meanwhile, today marks only 100 days until the next running of the Kentucky Derby. Just in time, the early nominees have been announced! Will we get another big winner? Will it be Nyquist, pictured above following his undefeated 2015 season after winning the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Juvenile? He does look nice in the crown!
On Saturday May 7, 2016 Churchill Downs will host the 142nd running of the Kentucky Derby. Early nominees for all 3 legs of the Triple Crown were due on 1/16/16. Early nominees pay a fee of $600 while later nominees can enter until 3/21/16 but that fee is $6,000. The fee jumps to a large sum of $200,000 if entered after that. The deadline for the latest entry is 5/4/16. Today, the 368 select 3 year-old Thoroughbreds were revealed. Eclipse Award Juvenile Male, Nyquist, tops the list of contenders. He is owned by Reddam Racing, LCC. His trainer is Doug F. O’Neill and his jockey is Mario Gutierrez. He won twice at Santa Anita and twice at Del Mar prior to his BC win at Keeneland. He had a nice workout at Santa Anita on 1/24/16. Nyquist is preparing for the Saint Vincente Stakes on 2/15/16 at Santa Anita and he is a top nominee for the Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds on 4/2/16.
368 nominees are considered low for an early selection. Brody’s Cause, Mor Spirit, Greenpointcrusader, Mohaymen, Hit It A Bomb, Ralis and Swipe are some of the other early favorites. Swipe is seen at the top of the second photo just barely losing to Nyquist at the BC races. Only 3 fillies were nominated. These little ladies are Northwest Tale, Royal Obsession and Flora Dora.
On the road to the Kentucky Derby, Nyquist leads in points with a score of 30. He is followed by Exaggerator, Brody’s Cause, Mor Spirit, Flexibility, Swipe, Mo Tom, Airoforce, Mohaymen and Greenpointcrusader for the top 10 of 20 available positions. Urban Bourbon is nominated from Bourbon Lane Stable.
In regards to trainers, who have nominated horses, Bob Baffert leads with 35 entries. He was the trainer for our 2015 Triple Crown winner, American Pharoah. One of his entries this year is Southern Pharaoh, another colt sired by Pioneer of the Nile. Todd Pletcher, Chad Brown, Mark Casse, D. Wayne Lukas (my favorite with 10 entries) and Mike Maker round out the top trainers, by number of entries. Kellyn Gorder is entered with Torrontes.
Again we find the American Pharoah connection when we see the owners with the most entries. It is Zayat Stables that owns 15 entries. Zayat is followed by Calumet Farm, Charles Fipke and Keeneland’s biggest winners, Ken and Sarah Ramsey.
Following the Kentucky Derby, the 141st Preakness Stakes takes place on 5/21/16 and then the 148th running of the Belmont Stakes is on 6/11/16. The full list of nominees for the Triple Crown is available here: 2016 Triple Crown Nominees
These 100 days are going to be so exciting. I love watching all of the prep races and the leaderboard on the road to the Kentucky Derby. Who is your favorite? Please, share this and share with me.
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