Rachel's Valentina Archives

May 4, 2016May 4, 2016

Observations On The Oaks

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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
Rachel’s Valentina/John Velazquez/Todd Pletcher/Stonestreet Stables, 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 Lewis Bay 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.

Land Over 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 1st race was May 19, 1875
The official drink is the Grey Goose Oaks Lilly
The Song is My Old Kentucky Home
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.

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April 30, 2016April 30, 2016

Nyquist Loves and Leaves Keeneland

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Over all too soon. Yesterday was the closer for Keeneland’s Spring Meet. Live racing took place from April 8-29, 2016. I was there for the final day of racing and it was too much of a good time to be sad that it was all about to end.

Keeneland’s meet was quite a success story with plenty of excitement and quality races, horses, owners, trainers and jockeys. The handle was up over 23% versus last Spring and the attendance was up over 4%. I had the pleasure of attending 6 times and the weather was quite pleasant each of those days. Keeneland credits the appeal of the Breeders’ Cup, that they hosted in October, with the returning fans and Thoroughbreds. They also believe that having Nyquist, the 2016 Kentucky Derby favorite, living and training on the grounds added a special attraction. I certainly agree. Nyquist had his last Derby prep work at Keeneland on closing day and then shipped to Churchill Downs today. He is featured in most of the pictures throughout this post. I watched him work once again prior to the races yesterday. He breezed a mile in 1:41 with Mario Gutierrez on board.

45 horses that participated in the Breeders’ Cup in October returned to Keeneland this meet to race or train. Ralis is seen in the top photo with Nyquist. Other BC horses on the grounds this meet were Tepin, Ready for Rye, Barbados, Rachel’s Valentina, Nickname, Camelot Kitten, Ma Can Do It, Limosine Liberal, I’m A Chatterbox, Dacita, Azar, Thrilled, Private Zone, Land Over Sea, Bradester, Green Mask, Riker, Recepta, Holly Boss, Dothraki Queen, Fioretti, Gilding By, Red Rifle, Salama, Shinning Copper, Curlina, Right There, Grand Arch, Siding Spring, Catch A Glimpse, Wavell Avenue, Stopchargingmaria, Sheer Drama, Undrafted, Brody’s Cause, Da Big Hoss, Something Extra, Swipe, The Great War, War Envoy, Twilight Eclipse, Super Majesty and Tourist.

As for the people who help make this sport awesome, many big names were present this meet. Javier Castellano was the leading jockey with 17 wins. He won that title last Spring as well. Ken and Sarah Ramsey are owners who won 9 races at Keeneland this meet. They are Keeneland’s leading owners for the 17th time. The leading trainer was won by Michael Maker, his 4th time earning this title. Many more Hall of Fame, Eclipse Award and Graded Stakes winning jockeys, owners and trainers were in attendance for this Spring as well.

I really had a great time at Keeneland, as always. I am really going to miss the track that won’t have live racing again until October. I thought that watching Nyquist work was a real joy. I appreciate that the horse’s connections and Keeneland were kind enough to share the experience. I wrote a story about a prior work a few weeks ago

My Eye On Nyquist

I hope Nyquist wins the Kentucky Derby next week on May 7th. The success of American Pharoah has me eager for another Grand Slam. Nyquist is a champion and he looks ready to win. The 20 horse field won’t be finalized until Wednesday, 5/4/16. Look for me to bring you the information you may need for the 142nd running of the Kentucky Derby.

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January 9, 2016January 14, 2016

A Tepin Time

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With just a few days/steps in time, this year is off to a fantastic start! I had a great response to my post I wrote on New Year’s Eve and there are so many good things going on in the Thoroughbred racing industry. I am so thrilled that today brings the return to racing for California Chrome at Santa Anita. At this same track and this same day, Mrs. Penny Chenery will present the Secretariat Vox Populi Award to the connections of American Pharoah. We have had several new Thoroughbred babies born in the last week. The January Keeneland sale starts Monday and I made it out to the barns to see some of those horses today. Also, the finalist for the Eclipse Awards were announced on January 6th and on the 16th the winners will be announced. Shew, there is just so much to enjoy. Speaking of enjoyment, I’m pretty happy to see that Tepin is up for an Eclipse Award and I hope she wins!

The 45th annual Eclipse Awards will be presented to the winners of 17 horse and human categories including 6 media categories, Horseplayer of the Year and a lifetime achievement/award of merit winner. The awards dinner will be held at Gulfsteam Park. The 6 media winners have been chosen. They are; Jennie Rees, Mary Simon, Tim Sullivan, NBC Sports, Scott Serio and Brad and John Hennegan. The Horseplayer of the Year Award goes to John O’Neill. Leonard Lavin takes the Eclipse Award of Merit. The other 17 categories are up for grabs! Here are the nominees:

Horse of the Year: American Pharoah, Runhappy, Beholder
2 Year Old Filly: Rachel’s Valentina, Songbird, Catch a Glimpse
2 Year Old Male: Airoforce, Nyquist, Mohaymen
3 Year Old Filly: Found, Stellar Wind, I’m a Chatterbox
3 Year Old Male: Dortmund, Runhappy, American Pharoah
Female Sprinter: Lady Shipman, LeVerdad, Wavell Avenue
Male Sprinter: Rockfall, Private Zone, Runhappy
Female Turf Horse: Found, Stephanie’s Kitten, Tepin
Male Turf Horse: The Pizza Man, Big Blue Kitten, Cold Horn
Older Dirt Female: Sheer Drama, Beholder, Stopchargingmaria
Older Dirt Male: Honor Code, Liam’s Map, Tonalist
Steeplechase Horse: Dawalan, Demonstrative, Bob Le Beau
Jockey: Victor Espinoza, Irad Ortiz, Jr., Javier Castellano
Apprentice Jockey: Angel Cruz, Eric Cancel, Tyler Gaffalione
Trainer: Bob Baffert, Todd Pletcher, Chris Brown
Owner: Zayat Stables, Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey, Midwest Thoroughbreds, Inc.
Breeder: Zayat Stables, Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey, Darley

I can’ t blog on forever so I picked the Female Turf Horse category. I am crazy about all 3 entries, heck I love all these Thoroughbreds. I had the pleasure of watching Tepin, Stephanie’s Kitten and Found on the last day of the Breeders’ Cup this past year. Read on to see the pictures I took and a small bio on each horse.

Found is a lovely Irish filly. She was born in March of 2012. Her sire is Galileo and her dam is Red Evie, both are Irish as well. She won 1st place in the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Turf. This is the first time a 3 year old filly has won this race. She has not raced since but she has had 11 career starts in which she won 4 times, placed 5 times and showed 1 time. Found has over $2 million dollars in earnings and is ranked 9th in earnings for 2015. Her jockey is Ryan L. Moore. Found is trained by Aidan O’ Brien and owned by Michael B. Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier and Derrick Smith. Her breeders were Roncon, Wynatt and Chelston. She is up for 3 Year Old Filly too! Last I read, she should race again in 2016.

Stephanie’s Kitten was foaled in March of 2009. She is the progeny of Kitten’s Joy and Unfold the Rose. Stephanie’s Kitten is now at Northern Farm in Japan. She was formerly Kentucky bred and owned by Ken and Sarah Ramsey. She won the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf in 2015. This horse had Irad Ortiz, Jr, for her jockey and was trained by Chad C. Brown. She was 2nd in the same BC race in 2014 and won the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf in 2011. She ranked 8th in earnings in 2015. She has earned over $4 million dollars. Stephanie’s Kitten has had 25 career starts. She won 11 times, was second 4 times and came in third 4 times. I hope she has a happy life as a broodmare in Japan and perhaps she can someday retire back home in Kentucky.

Tepin was also born in March but in 2011. She is the Kentucky bred daughter of Bernstein and Life Happened. Tepin was owned by Robert E. Masterson when she won the BC Mile in 2015. She is second in earnings for 2015. She has gross earnings of over $2 million dollars. During her career she has 7 wins, placed 3 times and showed once in 15 starts. I saw her win on October 3rd this past year at Keeneland in the Grade 1, First Lady Stakes. She has not raced since the BC win but she had a nice workout at Palm Meadows Training Center yesterday. Julien R. Leparoux is her jockey. Machmer Hall is Tepin’s breeder and she is trained by Mark E. Casse. I’m hoping she has a nice 2016 career and I’d like to see this Eclipse Award granted to her. I thinks it is Tepin’s time! Click the link for Disney’s Mary Poppins song, “Step In Time”.

Step In Time

I like all the choices for Female Turf Horse as well as the other award candidates. I am looking forward to the reveal on the 16th. I hope some of you have a great time live at Santa Anita today and I wish others will join me at the Keeneland Sales starting on 1/11/16 but already bustling in the barns, see below. I will share with you all about the auction. Have a great weekend!

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December 3, 2015December 3, 2015

Jotting For Juba

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Greetings racing fans! It is good to be home but there has not been much action for me since I returned other than Thanksgiving and lots of shopping. Yesterday, I had some down time and I started to think about what I wanted to check out and what I wanted to write about. My favorite horse, Juba, had a race that day and that was where my mind was set.

Juba is “Twitter’s favorite race horse” and since my first “tweet” this past February he has quickly become my favorite horse too. Twitter is one of the more popular social media networks. It was created in the summer of 2006 and by this summer it had over 500 million users. I joined to have an outlet to share my blog with. I found out fast that Twitter is the best way for me to get the latest information on current events in the Thoroughbred racing industry. I am happy to have over 200 followers on Twitter. Juba has over 2,200 followers. He is found on Twitter here @Jubacolt . Juba (the Gray), can not do his own tweets, since he is a horse, so an anonymous person handles that for him. He has created hash tags such as #GoJubaGo for his races and #haikujuba to write poetry and inspire others to do the same. Juba, the horse, still strikes the best poses and lights up for the cutest videos.

The real Juba is a 4 year old colt. He is gray with a black mane. He is so fair he looks white on photos and television. He is the Kentucky bred son of Tapit and Adoradancer. He grew up on Lane’s End Farm in Versailles, KY after his birth on 5/25/2011. He was sold to Centennial Farms at Keeneland’s September Yearling Sale in 2012. He lives at Belmont Park in New York now. Juba has had 11 starts with 2 wins, 3 second place finishes and 3 times at 3rd. He has raced at 4 tracks: Aqueduct, Gulfstream Park, Saratoga and Belmont. Juba’s jockey is Jose L. Ortiz. He is trained by Jimmy Jerkins. Yesterday he ran at Aqueduct again. It was a nasty day. The track was muddy and the fog was thick. Centennial Farm tweeted #GreyColtsBlendIntoGreyFog. He was in the 8th race. The 9th race was cancelled because weather conditions were so bad. Juba finished 7th in a field of 11 horses. He was doing well at second place early in the race. It was an odd race to watch because the fog was so dense. Sometimes fog can be exciting like on the top of Mount Humphreys, seen at the top, when I took that climb but in yesterday’s race it looked dangerous. It is very hard to even see. Click watch video here Race 8 Aqueduct 12/2/15

I have never seen Juba live. Centennial broke my heart this past October when it was decided at the last moment that he would not be racing at Keeneland shortly before the Breeders’ Cup. That put Juba and myself in a huff. I hope that I can pet his pretty face someday but it is a long trip from Kentucky to New York. I called Gainesway Farm in Lexington, KY yesterday to see if I could tour, meet his sire Tapit and see 8 other stallions but they responded that they are not currently doing public tours. Too bad, I hope they change that soon. Tapit is gray too. He has been the leading sire in the United States for 3 years now. He has the highest stud fee at $300,000. In 2015 he was bred to 135 mares. This year 5 of his off-spring have won Grade 1 stakes races: Frosted, Tonalist, Untapable, Ring Weekend and Constitution. He is the leading sire of G1 winners. Juba’s dam, Adoradancer, had 19 starts at 8 tracks including Keeneland, my home track. She raced there twice in 1997 so perhaps I have seen her.

Despite yesterday’s race I still wanted to do some jotting for Juba. I wanted to share that even horses that don’t win every race are still ever so wonderful. Penny Chenery, owner of the great Secretariat, is wise to stress this truth and award accordingly. She created the Secretariat Vox Populi award in 2010. Vox Populi is a latin term meaning the voice of the people. The winners from the 1st year to 2014 have been: Zenyatta, Rapid Redux, Paynter, Mucho Macho Man and California Chrome, respectively. She noted that while most awards for Thoroughbreds are based on statistics and performance measures she thought some horses should be honored for being a favorite of the public and an ambassador for the sport. Thru an on-line poll, done by the public, votes are collected. You can vote here now Vox Populi Award . Voting is open until 12/6/15 then the votes are reviewed by Ms. Chenery and a panel of 8 experts. On 1/9/16 the recipient will be announced at Santa Anita Park. American Pharoah, Beholder and Rachel’s Valentina are the horses on the ballot but write-ins are accepted. The horses listed are all lovely and deserving choices but Juba is “Twitter’s favorite horse” and I think that is quite a distinction in the popularity department.

Who will you vote for? Give Juba a thought or share who means the most to you. I will be blogging again before next week’s end and I will share the people’s choice with you in January as well. Please, keep following and sharing. Thank you!

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November 2, 2015November 2, 2015

Firsts, Favorites, Famous and Fun

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Breeders’ Cup 2015 was held for the 1st time ever in Lexington, KY at Keeneland this past week. The track featured a Prelude to the Cup on Thursday with 9 live races followed with 2 more days of graded stakes races with 4 Breeders’ Cup races on Friday and 9 BC races on Saturday. The dates spanned October 29th thru 31st of 2015. I was present for all 3 days. The events were wonderful!

For the Prelude to the Cup the weather was gorgeous. I walked the grounds and marveled at the sea of purple that had taken over and all of the new and temporary structures. It was a quiet event and a good day for mingling with my friends, old and new. All the photos above except for the program and lanyard collection were taken that day.

The BC Juvenile Turf was the 6th race on the 30th but the 1st BC race of the series. Hit It a Bomb, #14, won the race. He is seen above as is the 7th place finisher, Manhattan Dan, in his coat.

Race 7 was the Las Vegas BC Dirt Mile. Liam’s Map shown in the top picture above won. Two of my personal favorites ran this race as well. Mr. Z, #4, I met and petted following my birthday, earlier this year. I shouted out my love to him from the rail pre-race and I got his attention. #8, wearing pink, is 4th place finisher Wicked Strong. He was the barn friend of Twitter’s favorite horse, Juba. Wicked Strong has now retired to stud at Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, KY.

Catch a Glimpse, #4 above, won the 8th race. This was the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf. Last year’s winner was Take Charge Brandi. I petted her too this past summer at D. Wayne Lukas’ barn at Churchill Downs. She is for sale at the Keeneland November Sale that starts today. I hope she has a long happy life as a broodmare.

Friday’s BC races wrapped with race 9, the Longines BC Distaff. Stopchargingmaria won. She is wearing #4 in the picture above. She is trained by Todd Pletcher and has had an amazing year winning multiple grades stakes. This was her third Grade 1 stakes win in a career of 16 starts. There was one more stakes race that day as the sunset.

On the final day of the BC the 1st BC race was race 3, the 14 Hands Winery Juvenile Fillies race. This race was won by Songbird, #10 above. I fell in love with Rachel’s Valentina, # 9 in the above photo, who placed 2nd in this race, when she won both of her only other races at Saratoga this summer.

Race 4 was the Twin Spires BC Turf Sprint. This race was won by Mongolian Saturday. The rail made it hard to see him wearing #14 in the photo above. His connections were dressed out and seated in the loge box behind me during the BC Classic. They were having fun with a selfie stick in the middle photo. Lady Shipman placed 2nd. She was a pretty girl as seen from the Enclosure, a temporary spot near the walking ring.

Wavell Avenue wearing orange #7 managed to fight her way up from middle of the pack, as seen above at the turn, to 1st place. She was ridden by Joel Rosario. Race 5 was the TwinSpires Filly and Mare Sprint.

In the 6th race, the BC Filly and Mare Turf, a local favorite won. #11 Stephanie’s Kitten is owned by Sarah and Ken Ramsey, Keeneland’s leading owner award winners. This is the third BC win for Stephanie’s Kitten. She is seen in the paddock area and winning her race above.

A new track record was set by Runhappy when he won the TwinSpires BC Sprint. This was race 7. He is shown about to cross the finish in the green #5 above. Runhappy won a graded stakes race at Keeneland the same month for opening weekend of the Fall meet.

Tepin was a fast filly that beat out the males to win the BC Mile. She is seen taking the title above, in race 8. She won a grade 1 stakes race at Keeneland on the opening weekend of this last Fall meet at Keeneland too!

Nyquist, #13, barely beat Swipe, #12, to win the the 9th race. This race was the Sentient Jet BC Juvenile. Neither horse had the lead from the start, in fact they were plenty behind but Nyquist held out his nose to win. Look how close they are in the photo above!

Found is the beautiful Irish filly that beat her male counterparts to win the Longines BC Turf. She is definitely an international champion. Race 10 had a $3 million dollar purse. She is one lucky and talented filly. See her two paddock pics above.

Then, in Race 10, the BC Mile, I’m pretty sure we all know who our star is, above. That is American Pharoah. I gave him his very own BC story in my post Grand Slam? Yes, Ma’am!

Plenty of celebrities were on hand to witness history in the making as well. I got photos of Jean Cruguet (top right), Seattle Slew’s Triple Crown jockey, and Ritchie Sambora (middle left), the rocker from Bon Jovi. I also saw Bobby Flay, famed chef and caught word that Kate Upton, a model, was there too. My parents recognized Kenny Mayne, from Dancing with the Stars (top left).

Finally, I just want all of you to know that there were no break downs and all the horses, their connections and the fans really had a lot of fun at the Breeders’ Cup. I will always remember my time at BC 2015. I have literally thousands of pictures and so much to share but this is a blog post, not a novel. Keep following for an upcoming post on my Kentucky Horse Park visit from yesterday.

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