Track Times Today - With Bernie Dickman - Racing, Breeding, Pari-Mutuels

Tuesday, November 19, 2024

Will stand for $5,000 . . .

Morriston - Pleasant Acres Stallions has announced the arrival of CHAMPIONS DREAM (Justify / Dancinginherdreams, by Tapit) – to Florida for the 2025 breeding season at a $5,000 fee.

“It’s always a great day when a talented and well-bred stallion arrives at Pleasant Acres Stallions. When a graded stakes winning, TDN Rising Star, son of Justify arrives, you can imagine our excitement,” said Director of Stallion Services Christine Jones. “CHAMPIONS DREAM has an exceptional pedigree with a lot of black type on his dam side. We are confident he will be a great addition for Florida breeders commercially and at the racetrack.”

CHAMPIONS DREAM was named TDN Rising Star during his well-bet front-running debut score at Saratoga at seven furlongs on dirt. He went on to finish best of all in the Gr. 3 Nashua Stakes at Aqueduct going 1 mile on the dirt. He placed 2nd in the black-type Pasco Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs at three. Competing against tough company during his career, CHAMPIONS DREAM beat winner of the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile Stakes and MGSW TIZ THE BOMB.

CHAMPIONS DREAM was a $425,000 OBS March juvenile off a sharp :20 4/5 breeze. He was the 12th winner for JUSTIFY, his fifth stakes-winner, first male stakes-winner, and the third to follow his Triple Crown-winning sire in being named a ‘Rising Star.’ *

“From the very start, CHAMPIONS DREAM was a special horse. He broke his maiden at first asking in Saratoga and moved forward from there. His last race was another indication of his true ability, determination, and excellent physique. He is intelligent and his demeanor is easy-going,” said Rafael Weiss, Rosedown Racing. “We plan to breed a number of our better mares to him and are purchasing several more for him. We are convinced his brilliant early speed and pedigree are a great fit for Florida.”

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Tampa Bay Downs Returns Wednesday

Monday, November 18, 2024

First post is 12:40 . . .

Racing returns to Tampa Bay Downs on Wednesday with a nine-race program and a first post of 12:40 p. m.

The jockey colony is a familiar one, which includes several of the leading riders from past years - Daniel Centeno, Antonio Gallardo and Samy Camacho - long-time veterans Vernon Bush and Jose Ferrer, plus Ademar Santos, Hubert Villa-Gomez, Pablo Morales, Joe Rocco Jr. and talented youngster Melissa Iorio.

Leading trainers Kathleen O'Connell and Gerald Bennett have runners in on opening day, as do Robert Smith, Greg Sacco, Ken Rice and Gary Contessa.

Ocala owners with Wednesday mounts are Smith, Rice, Don Ming and Team Equistaff, while breeders are represented by Jacks or Better Farm, Shadybrook Farm, Joe and Helen Barbazon (Pleasant Acres) Stonehedge Farm and Francis and Barbara Vanlangendonck.

Florida's present and former top stallions have runners entered, including leading sire Khozan from Journeyman Stud, plus Adios Charlie, Cajun Breeze, Valiant Minister, St. Patrick's Day, Social Inclusion, The Big Beast, Noble Bird, Awesome of Course, and Pleasant Acres freshman Curlin's Honor.

There are two races on the card with purses of $53,000.

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Mr Fisk Arrives at Pleasant Acres Stallions

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Roster now at 10 . . .

Pleasant Acres Stallions Announces the Arrival of multiple graded stakes-winner MR FISK – son of 4X Gr. 1 winner of nearly $17.5 million ARROGATE – to its Florida stallion roster for the 2025 breeding season at an $8,500 fee.

“We are so excited to bring this talented, multiple graded-stakes-winning son of famed ARROGATE to Florida for our breeders,” said Director of Stallion Services Christine Jones. “With ARROGATE completing just three breeding seasons as a stallion, there are only a few select opportunities to breed to one of his sons. Furthering his line at Pleasant Acres Stallions is a win for his legacy, as well as a win for Florida.”

Trained by Bob Baffert, MR FISK broke his maiden at Santa Anita and a few months later placed second in the Affirmed Stakes going one and one sixteenth miles on the dirt at the same track. He won the Shared Belief Stakes and Gr. 3 Native Diver Stakes at Del Mar. At four, MR FISK went back to Santa Anita to capture the Gr. 3 Californian Stakes and Gr. 2 Hollywood Gold Cup Stakes – earning a Triple Digit Beyer. MR FISK was on the board 64% of the time in 7 out of 11 starts.

MR FISK’s sire ARROGATE only had three crops. He was a 4X G1W – including the Travers Stakes, Breeders’ Cup Classic, Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes, and Dubai World Cup. He placed second in the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic. ARROGATE averaged nearly $2.7 million earnings per start as a three-year-old and overall averaged $1.58 million earnings per start throughout his career for a total of $17,422,600 in 9 out of 11 starts.

MR FISK’s is out of PLEIN AIR (IRE), who is by world champion racehorse, MANDURO (GER). A powerful European success, MANDURO was a MG1 winner in Germany and in 2008, the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) ranked MANDURO #1 in the world for 2007. Sheikh Mohammad paid a reported $25 million ($23 million euros) to acquire the breeding rights to MANDURO in the summer of 2007. MANDURO is by MONSUN – four-time champion German sire who is considered the most successful stallion in the history of Germany.

First dam PLEIN AIR is a two-time black type stakes winner on two continents. She was on the board 10 out of 14 starts (8 wins) and is half-sister to two-time black type stakes winner and four-time black type placed CLOSE YOUR EYES (ITY).

“MR FISK is a physically outstanding individual who has graded stakes-winning success at the track. He also brings to Florida a pedigree line on his dam side that has provided stakes-winning speed, soundness, stamina, and durability throughout Europe,” said Jones. “We are proud to expand both sides of this impeccable and winning pedigree – filled with black type – to our breeders.”

Mr Fisk (Arrogate) joins stallions Chess Chief (Into Mischief), Curlin’s Honor (Curlin), Doppelganger (Into Mischief), Gunnevera (Dialed In), Leinster (Majestic Warrior), Magic on Tap (Tapit), Neolithic (Harlan’s Holiday), Simplification (Not This Time) and Verifying (Justify).

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Racing Back at Gulfstream Friday

Monday, November 4, 2024

Vasquez wins 3 . . .

HALLANDALE BEACH - The 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot pool is expected to grow to an estimated $100,000 when live racing returns to Gulfstream Park on Friday, Nov. 8.

Following a mandatory payout that yielded multiple $40,299 payoffs on Oct. 26, the multi-race wager went unsolved for a fourth consecutive day Sunday.

Friday’s sequence will span Races 4-9 and includes a third-level optional claiming allowance feature in Race 8 for 3-year-olds and up scheduled for five furlongs on the grass.

All seven horses entered have won stakes led by 8-year-old geldings and 13-time career winners Yes I Am Free and Xy Speed. Winless in five straight, Yes I Am Free is looking to get back to the form that saw him capture the Gr. III Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint in 2022 and 2023.

After a pair of out-of-town starts Xy Speed returns to Gulfstream where he has won three straight races, each sprinting five furlongs on the grass, and six of 13 lifetime with three seconds and two thirds.

Race 5 is a maiden special weight for 2-year-olds scheduled on the grass at five furlongs that drew a field of 11 including second-time starter Fling Ready, a $350,000 son of More Than Ready who ran sixth in his debut on Oct. 19 at Keeneland.

Starting Friday, first-race post time moves from noon to 12:20 p.m.

Saturday’s $75,000 Awesome Banner Draws Field of Nine

Gr. 3-placed Mr Skylight, stakes-winner Divieto and stakes-placed Secret Lover, Big Effect and Roar Ready are among a field of nine entered for the $75,000 Awesome Banner handicap for 3-year-olds sprinting seven furlongs Saturday, Nov. 9.

Peter Vegso’s Mr Skylight graduated in his second career start, a six-furlong maiden special weight on March 16 at Gulfstream, then beat winners in his first try on April 20 at Keeneland and rallied to be third by three lengths in the May 18 Gr. III Chick Lang at Pimlico. Most recently, he was seventh following a slow start in a six-furlong optional claimer on Sept. 18 at Churchill Downs.

Divieto was a front-running winner of the one-mile Aventura two starts back on Oct. 18. Secret Lover was fourth in the one-mile Gil Campbell Memorial on Oct. 19, where he had finished second in the FSS In Reality last December. Big Effect, third in the 2023 Juvenile Sprint at Gulfstream, won an optional claimer last out on a Sept. 28 first off the claim for trainer Rohan Crichton. Roar Ready ran third in Gulfstream’s seven-furlong on Carry Back July 5.

Notes: Jockey Miguel Vasquez registered a Sunday hat trick aboard Como ($11.20) in Race 5, Black Fury ($4.60) in Race 7 and Smile Po ($4.40) in Race 10 … Trainer Rohan Crichton won twice with Sudoku Terry ($20.80) in Race 1 and Light Fury ($10.80) in Race 8.

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Prevent

Thursday, October 31, 2024

HALLANDALE BEACH - Disappointed by Prevent’s most recent runner-up effort, trainer...

HALLANDALE BEACH - Disappointed by Prevent’s most recent runner-up effort, trainer Jorge Delgado is looking for the son of Neolithic to show up in Saturday’s $95,000 Showing Up at Gulfstream Park.

BC Racing’s Prevent was upset as the 4-5 favorite in an Oct. 5 optional claiming allowance in his first start since being transferred to Delgado. The Florida-bred colt will face 11 other 3-year-olds in the Showing Up, a 1 1/16-mile turf stakes that will co-headline Saturday’s 11-race program with the $95,000 Armed Forces, a mile turf stakes for 2-year-olds.

“We were expecting more that day. It was raining during the race. Maybe it wasn’t the best setup for him. It was a small field,” said Delgado of the four-horse field. “He is training very well. He should be competitive. He doesn’t have the best post position with the 12.”

Delgado is hopeful that Prevent can take advantage of a quick start with no one to his outside. “He’s a horse that wants to be on the lead and he wants to be free,” Delgado said. “He’s a horse that the longer he goes the better he will do.”

Prevent, who will be ridden back by Edgard Zayas, is rated at 6-1 on the morning line in the well-matched Showing Up field behind 4-1 morning-line favorite Silent Heart.

Terry Hamilton and Koocanusa Ventures’ Silent Heart has shown a distinct fondness for the turf at Gulfstream in the past – something that runs in his bloodlines. Silent Heart is a homebred son of Heart to Heart, who was a force on Gulfstream turf between 2016 and 2018 for Hamilton and trainer Brian Lynch. The multiple Gr. 1 stakes-winning son of English Channel captured the 2018, Gr. I Gulfstream Park Turf, currently contested as the Gr. I Pegasus World Cup Turf, after winning the El Prado and Canadian Turf (G3) in 2017 and the Canadian Turf and the Ft. Lauderdale (G2) in 2016.

Silent Heart, who finished second at Horseshoe Indianapolis and Churchill Downs in his first two starts, graduated impressively in a five-furlong maiden special weight on turf last Dec. 7 before coming right back to win a five-furlong optional claiming race on Tapeta a month later. Back on turf, Silent Heart was beaten by just a neck while finishing third in the Colonel Liam March 2.

The Lynch trainee has gone winless in three subsequent starts, including a third-place finish in an Oct. 6 allowance while returning from a five-month layoff. Edgar Perez is scheduled to ride Silent Heart, whose best showings have been at the five-furlong distance for the first time Saturday.

Gary Barber’s In a Jam also returns to Gulfstream, where he captured the 1 1/16-mile Not Surprising on Tapeta June 8. The son of Preservationist hasn’t won in four subsequent out-of-town races, but he did finish a troubled third in the Secretariat (G2) at Colonial Downs three starts back.

Trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, In a Jam won back-to-back starts on turf during the Championship Meet, graduating at a mile and coming back to capture a 7 ½-furlong optional claiming allowance. In a Jam, who is rated at 5-1 on the morning line, will be ridden by Emisael Jaramillo.

Breeders’ Cup Simulcast at Gulfstream Park Friday and Saturday

Full Breeders’ Cup programs will be simulcast from Del Mar Friday and Saturday at Gulfstream Park in conjunction with live cards highlighted by three highly competitive turf stakes.

Friday’s 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot pool is expected for grow to an estimated $50,000 on the second racing day following last Saturday’s mandatory payout that yielded multiple winning tickets of $40,299.

Friday’s Rainbow 6 sequence will span Races 5-10, anchored by the $95,000 Cellars Shiraz, a 1 1/16-mile turf stakes for fillies and mares featuring a highly anticipated clash between Vive Veuve and Majestic Venezuela.

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