Kenny McPeek and Corey Lanerie had a nice finish with Eskimo Kisses in second place in the Ashland Stakes!
Are you ready for my favorite fourteen filly face-off on Friday, the 4th? I have a quick breakdown on the facts, fun, food, fashion, feelings and fortune that awaits in the 144th Kentucky Oaks. Please, follow along with my easy outline for the Oaks.
Share This: Zing Zang, competes in a maiden for Steve Asmussen at Keeneland.
Although it seems we have only just begun, Keeneland initiates its final week of the Fall meet today. The meet is brief but jam packed with quality racing. Thoroughbreds took to the track for live racing on October 7th and will continue to race there until the 28th. I will be present for the final two days of action. There have been several stand out horses, trainers, jockeys and owners involved in this October racing season. I met and had my picture made with one of my long time favorite jockeys, Big Money Mike Smith. A stand out trainer I have been following this Fall, at Keeneland, is Steve Asmussen.
The celebration is in full swing! I started out Kentucky Derby week right. On Sunday, I went to Churchill Downs for Fan Fest. The Kentucky Derby Museum hosted a special day with museum access, tours of Churchill Downs and presentations by famous horsemen. So many activities are taking place right now ahead of the KY Derby but certainly don’t miss out when the Fillies Run for the Lillies in the 143rd Kentucky Oaks.
At long last, there was a nice break in the Bluegrass winter that allowed me to get out and enjoy some of the top stallions that the Horse Capital of the World has to offer. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Darley at Jonabell Farm in Lexington, KY.
It’s just a few days now until the Bluegrass State hosts the 142nd running of the Longines Kentucky Oaks! Friday, 5/6/16 at 5:49 P.M. EST be sure to watch the run for the lillies at Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY.
The Kentucky Oaks is a 1 and 1/8 mile (9 furlong) race on a dirt track at Churchill for 3 year old fillies. Competition began with the Pocahontas race on 9/12/15 at Churchill Downs and ended with the Beaumont at Keeneland 4/17/16. 30 races are qualified to provide the points needed to receive a nomination for the KY Oaks. 14 horses have been selected with an additional “also eligible” horse. Post positions have been drawn and the field is as follows: Post position. Horse/Jockey/Trainer/Owner
Terra Promessa/Ricardo Sanatana Jr./Steven M Asmussen/Stonestreet Stables, LLC
Weep No More/Corey Lanerie/George R. Arnold/Ashbrook Farm
Lewis Bay/Irad Ortiz, Jr./Chad C. Brown/Alpha Delta Stables
Go Maggie Go/ Luis Saez/Dale L. Romans/Mike Tarp
Dream Dance/Brian Hernandez Jr./Neil J. Howard/Stoneway Farm
Mo Kat/Flaven Prat/Richard Baltas/JK Racing Stable
Mo d’Amour/Joel Rosario/Todd Pletcher/King of Prussia Stable
Royal Obsession/Florent Geroux/Steven M. Asmussen
Paola Queen/Emisael Jaramillo/Gustavo Delgado/Grupo 7 C Racing Stable
Venus Valentine/Shaun Bridgmohon/Thomas M. Amoss/Rosemont Farm LLC
Cathryn Sophia/Javier Castellano/John C. Servis/Cash Is King LLC
Land Over Sea/Mario Guiterrez/Doug F. O’Neill/Reddam Racing LLC
Taxable/Mike Smith/Steven M. Asmussen/Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC
“Also Eligible”Dothraki Queen/Gary Stevens/Kenneth G. McPeek/Magdalena Racing
Terra Promessa has had 5 career starts and won her last 4 races including two Grade 3 races, The Honeybee and the Fantasy Stakes. She is sired by Curlin.
Weep No More raced for her first time at Churchill but she broke her maiden at Tampa Bay and has not lost a race since then. In 4 of her 5 career starts she has won including her last race, the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes. In that race she beat Rachel’s Valentina and Cathryn Sophia.
Lewis Bay has always been 1st or 2nd place in her 5 career starts. Her last 3 races were all Grade 2. In her final race, the Gazelle Stakes, she beat both Royal Obsession and Mo d’Amour.
Go Maggie Go has only raced twice. That being said she is undefeated and the only horse in the Oaks with that title. She beat Paola Queen in the Grade 2, Gulfstream Park Oaks.
Dream Dance has raced 9 times before. She has finished all over the board but has the experience of 4 graded stakes and she did win her last race, an allowance, at Keeneland.
Mo Kat is one of 2 Uncle Mo sired fillies in the Oaks. The Kentucky Derby is heavy with Uncle Mo progeny as well. She has had 7 starts and though she has not won since her maiden she has placed or showed in 3 graded stakes.
Mo d’Amour is the other Uncle Mo offspring in this field. She has raced 6 times with 3 wins and 2 times in 3rd. Two of these races were graded stakes.
Royal Obsession has had only 4 starts but has won twice and been 2nd in another race. She has been beaten by Venus Valentine before in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes and LewisBay in the Gazelle.
Paola Queen has 5 races behind her. It took her the 1st four times to break her maiden but then she jumped right into a second place finish in the Gulfstream Park Oaks. Maybe her time has come?
Venus Valentine has been 1st, 4th or 5th in her last 5 of 6 races. She was the winner of the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra however. In her other graded stakes race, her last race, she came in 5th.
Rachel’s Valentina is the favorite. Her dam is Rachel Alexandra, winner of the 2009 KY Oaks. No Oaks winning dam has ever foaled an Oaks winning filly. This could be the 1st time? In her 4 career starts she has won twice and placed twice. Her last 3 races have all been graded stakes races. Pictured above is from her 2nd place finish behind Songbird in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies races. Land Over Sea and Dothraki Queen finished behind her.
Cathryn Sophia won her 1st of 4 races but in her 3rd graded stakes she was 3rd in a tight finish with Weep No More and Lewis Bay. She probably still has what it takes.
LandOver Sea is trained by Doug O’Neill who also trains the KY Derby Favorite, Nyquist. She is experienced with 8 starts. 7 times she has finished in the top 3. Her last 3 races were all graded stakes. This horse has the practice and she won her last time out at the Grade 2, Fair Ground Oaks.
Taxable has only 3 starts to her name. She broke her maiden at Churchill. She shares her trainer, Asmussen, with Terra Promessa. Taxable was 2nd behind Terra Promessa in the Grade 3 Fantasy Stakes.
Finally, should there be a scratch, Dothraki Queen may get a chance at the Oaks. She has raced 6 times before. Her first race, after her maiden, put her on the path to the Oaks. She won the Pocahontas, the 1st of 5 stakes races but she has never been 1st since and in her last race, the Appalachian stakes, she was 8th.
Fun Facts:
Lovely Maria won last year
Rachel Alexandra has the largest winning margin at 20 1/4 lengths
The flower is the Stargazer Lilly, the winner will be blanketed in these
The Charity is “Bright Pink”, to raise funds for fighting breast and ovarian cancer
The prizes: a sterling silver statue kept at the Kentucky Derby Museum and engraved with all the winners names, 12 Julep Cups to share and purse money
The purse is 1 million dollars
The color is pink
The channel to watch is NBCSN from 12:30 to 6 PM EST
Race 1 of the 13 race card at Churchill posts at 10:30 A.M EST
Enjoy the Kentucky Oaks and the Kentucky Derby Post positions were announced as I was writing this. That story shall follow tomorrow. Keep Thoroughbred U bookmarked as a quick reference for the information you may need.
Saratoga is having a big summer! I won’t be able to make it there myself, but our regularly contributing handicapper friend did. He spent the end of the week and last weekend visiting and got us some great pictures. Saratoga is the place to be for Thoroughbred racing right now.
Saratoga Race Course was established in 1864 in Saratoga Springs, New York. It had its first race over 150 years ago. Today, 8/5, the city of Saratoga Springs will celebrate its Centennial. The city was founded in 1915. The Saratoga Sales, put on at Fasig-Tipton, will take place in Saratoga Springs on August 10th and 11th. This Saratoga race course meet started on July 24th, with live racing, and will remain open through September 7th. Above we see a welcoming sign and the backyard where Saratoga’s sweet summer is savoured. The race course motto is, “Health, history and horses”. The racetrack is located on 350 acres of land. The main track is 1 and 1/8th mile. The turf track is 1 mile in length. Other smaller courses are located throughout. In the many stables, there are over 1,800 stalls. The facility can hold about 70 thousand fans but the record attendance has exceeded that. The largest one day handle was over 10 million dollars. That was on Travers Day in 2003 which brings us to yesterday’s big news. AmericanPharoah’s next race will be the grade 1 Travers Stakes on August 29th!
AmericanPharoah just won his 8th straight graded Stakes race while at Monmouth Park in New Jersey this past weekend. He easily beat out KeenIce in the grade 1 William Hill Haskell Invitational Stakes on Sunday, 8/2. KeenIce riden by Kent Desormeoux and trained by Dale Romans put in a great effort. KeenIce was 7th in the KY Derby and 3rd in the Belmont is showing improvement. That race gave the park a record crowd of over 60 thousand fans. Meanwhile, over 3 million viewers tuned in to television to watch the live race on NBC. The plan is to race AmericanPharoah in the Breeders Cup in October at Keeneland in Lexington, KY. We are all waiting on pins and needles to see where he goes next, in the meantime. For now, we know he made it safely back to Del Mar in California and he will make his Saratoga debut later this month in the Travers.
Back in Saratoga last week, Thursday was a bit wet and the live racing that day included the John Morrissey won by MoonlightSong with Jose Ortiz riding. Friday Saturday and Sunday featured some big races too but those weren’t limited to just the horses. There were several activities to raise money for the Permanently Disabled Jockey Fund and one of those events was a jockey foot race. Above, see a photo of the gates being loaded for a soggy Thursday race and a shot of the jockeys running.
When the fans weren’t watching PDJF events or Thoroughbred racing they could check the Walk of Fame. Above we see a display for Angel Cordero, Jr. and D. Wayne Lukas. Cordero was born May 8, 1942 in Puerto Rico. He had over 7 thousand career wins as a jockey. He won 3 Kentucky Derby races, 2 Preakness Stakes, 1 Belmont Stakes and 4 Breeders’ Cup races in addition to many other graded stakes. He has 3 Eclipse Awards, he is a member of the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame, he was the leading rider at Saratoga for 13 years and he was the jockey for Triple Crown winning Seattle Slew when Cordero had his best ride ever in the 1978 Marlboro Cup Handicap. I have had a lot of good things to say about D. Wayne Lukas before and I met him in June and covered that in my post Birthday, Breezing, Betting and Backside. I also met several of his horses that day too. One was Hillbilly Style who ran 2nd in a claiming race at Saratoga this weekend. Lukas also took the stage in the finale of the jockey karaoke fundraiser for the PDJF this weekend. He will have another entry in at Saratoga on 8/7 in a maiden special weight allowance optional claiming race. Lukas is a top trainer and top class in my book.
So, what about those big races at Saratoga last weekend? Well, Texas Red beat out Frosted in the grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes seen in the two pics above. Texas Red was riden by Kent Desormeaux and trained by the jockey’s brother. He is looking like a fine runner and has placed in multiple graded stakes including a win in the Sentient Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in 2014 and ranked 16th in earnings that year. Frosted, sired by Tapit, a descendant of Secretariat, riden by Joel Rosario and trained by Kiaren McLaughlin has a fine racing history as well with a win in the grade 1 Wood Memorial Stakes, 4th in the KY Derby and 2nd in the Belmont Stakes. Not pictured, but I must mention, Rachel’s Valentina’s win in the Maiden Special Weight at Saratoga too. I am excited about this Todd Pletcher trained and Joel Velazquez riden daughter of Rachel Alexandra. Rachel Alexandra won the Kentucky Oaks, Mother Goose and Haskell in 2009. She was an amazing runner in her day. I hope her little girl does as well. Her sire, Bernardini swept the Preakness, Jim Dandy and Jockey Club Gold Cup in 2006 with a 2nd place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Classic that year too. Another big filly win at Saratoga this past weekend went to Stopchargingmaria over Untapable in the grade 3 Shuvee Handicap. Stopchargingmaria won the Black-Eyed Susan, Alabama Stakes and the Coaching Club of American Oaks last year. Untapable has an Eclipse Award and a win in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff as well as a win in the Kentucky Oaks and Mother Goose. That was quite a showdown of great fillies.
I wish to extend thanks to our friend and tipster with the photos. I hope someone wants to share some info on the Saratoga Sale and other fine races ahead. Tapit has yearlings for sale with hips 24, 34, 51, 70, 160, 177, and 182. The Tapit filly at Fasig-Tipton’s July Sale brought in the most money. I hope you all enjoyed this peek at Saratoga as much as I did. Have a great week!
Saratoga is having a big summer! I won’t be able to make it there myself, but our regularly contributing handicapper friend did. He spent the end of the week and last weekend visiting and got us some great pictures. Saratoga is the place to be for Thoroughbred racing right now.
