Saturday, August 28, 2010
Contact: NYRA Press Office
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- Get Stormy in good shape following Bernard Baruch
- Borel confident in Rachel Alexandra
- What's in a name? For Life At Ten, something different
- What's in a name, Part II: Classofsixtythree has interesting bloodlines
- Lukas arming Mine That Bird with blinkers for Woodward
- Hennig points Settle for Medal to Hopeful
- Sovereign Default on target for Hopeful
- Nihei looking to close meet on another high note
"I don't know what we're doing, but it's working!" Bush said. "It was a really exciting performance, for sure, and he's doing well this morning."
Yesterday's race fell within a few days of the anniversary of Get Stormy's win in the Lure Stakes at the Spa last year, which was his second victory of that meet and part of a five-race win streak the Stormy Atlantic colt kept going through early the summer. A fourth-place finish in the Grade 2 King Edward at Woodbine on June 27 is Get Stormy's only loss in his last eight starts.
"I was so proud of him yesterday because he was so quiet in the paddock, too," Bush said. "Usually when we saddle him everything is a fight, so that was a good sign."
* * *
Big things could be in store at Saratoga Race Course this weekend for Calvin Borel, who will ride Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver later today in the Grade 1 Travers and Rachel Alexandra in tomorrow's Grade 1 Personal Ensign.
Borel, who compared his time in
"I'm here because of Rachel," said Borel. "We've had a few seconds in some big races, but we're having a good time."
Since 2007, Borel has won the Travers,
"She looks so good," said Borel. "She's blossomed – put some muscles on. I think we'll see the real Rachel. She's not the type of horse to let you down."
Regardless of how many Grade 1 races he ends up winning at
"The big horses are good, but you also have to worry about the horses that got you here," he said.
* * *
Life At Ten, who carries a six-race winning streak into tomorrow's Grade 1 Personal Ensign showdown with reigning Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra, had already been named and re-named when trainer Todd Pletcher purchased her for Candy DeBartolo in the fall of 2007.
"Something about a show, I think," Pletcher said when asked about the origins of her new moniker.
As it turns out, Life At Ten was indeed named after a television show - Life, a crime drama created by Rand Ravich that aired on NBC. Ravich's brother, Jess, was one of her previous owners and redubbed her after the show, which was telecast at 10 p.m. on Friday nights, hence Life At Ten..
During the show's two seasons on the air, Life At Ten won one race from four starts; after its cancellation on May 4, 2009, she went 6-2-0 from nine starts, including victories in the Rare Treat at Aqueduct, the Grade 3 Sixty Sails at Hawthorne, the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps and most recently, the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap at the Personal Ensign distance of 1 ¼ miles.
* * *
Fans of pedigree might look at the field for the Grade 1 Personal Ensign and find the parentage of the runners instantly recognizable, except one. The broodmare sire of long shot Classofsixtythree is an obscure horse named Blush Rambler, a U.S.-bred son of Blushing Groom out of the Alleged mare Romanette.
As a racehorse, Blush Rambler won two starts as a 2-year-old in
As a stallion, Blush Rambler produced a moderate list of offspring and then stood in Brazil, where he produced Uapybo, a Group 1 stakes race-winning colt by the same dam who produced champion turf male Leroidesanimaux, winner of a Group 1 race in Brazil.
In 1997, he was mated with the Vigors mare Whip Cream and produced Rambling Rose, who has thrown four winners including Classofsixtythree.
Rambling Rose would be single-handedly keeping the Blush Rambler name alive –
except there is another Blush Rambler, also by Blushing Groom, this one an Irish-bred mare. Confusing matters more, the female Blush Rambler produced her own filly named Rambling Rose, the dam of three-time European Group 1 winner Notnowcato who stands at stud in
* * *
Mine That Bird, winless since shocking the 2009 Kentucky Derby at odds of 50-1, remains on target for the Grade 1 $750,000 Woodward at
"He's being pointed in that direction at this point, between now and next week," Lukas said.
In his last start, the second since being transferred to Lukas from trainer Chip Woolley, Mine That Bird ran fifth of six, beaten 12 ½ lengths in the Grade 1, $750,000 Whitney Handicap at Saratoga on August 7.
"I thought he got totally out of touch with the race, frankly, he got so far back," Lukas said. "I think it was a conditioning experience; I don't think it was a learning experience."
Since the Whitney, Lukas has worked Mine That Bird with blinkers, which he will wear in the Woodward, and has been pleased with the results.
"He had a really nice work the other day in 1:11 4/5 on the training track," Lukas said. "We put little cutback cup blinkers on him, and we think that may let him lay a little bit closer to the pace. I think he's responded well to it. I liked the way he's worked. He worked alone the other day, and he was much more focused, I thought. He's very genuine."
* * *
Trainer Mark Hennig said he will try his recent maiden graduate Settle for Medal in the Grade 1, $250,000 Three Chimneys Hopeful for 2-year-olds on
In his first start on July 2, Settle for Medal broke awkwardly and was last through the first quarter of a mile before rallying to be a distant third to Boys At Tosconova, who is expected to be the favorite in the seven-furlong Hopeful.
"I think my horse ran a good race despite what he had to overcome," Hennig said. "He got off slow, got dirt kicked in his face, and managed to be third."
Four weeks later, Settle for Medal broke well, rated, and made a strong stretch run to draw off by two lengths at 21-1 at the Spa on July 31. While Hennig knows the Hopeful will be a challenge, he is hoping the added eighth-mile and a strong pace will set it up for his colt.
"The Hopeful will be a tough race," Hennig said. "I think the more horses with speed that are thrown into the race, the more it will help my horse. I also think the added ground will benefit him as well."
* * *
Sovereign Default remains on target for the Three Chimneys Hopeful, according to trainer Rick Violette.
A two-length winner at
"We just wanted to have him go five-eighths and gallop out well, and that's what he did," said Violette, who conditions the colt for Klaravich Stables and William H. Lawrence.
Sovereign Default was entered in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special on August 16, but was scratched and his stablemate Bail Out the Cat competed instead, finishing second to Kantharos.
"Bail Out the Cat was doing very well, and I thought Sovereign Default could benefit from the three additional weeks," said Violette.
Sovereign Default will have a formidable opponent in the Three Chimneys Hopeful in Boys At Tosconova, but Violette has been encouraged by the subsequent performances made by Sovereign Default's vanquished opponents following the July 15 maiden race. Stay Thirsty, second in that heat, broke his maiden by 5 ½ lengths at Saratoga on August 14, while fifth-place finisher Air Support returned to prevail by nose at Saratoga on August 13 in a 1 1/16th-mile turf event.
"It's certainly been a key race," said Violette. "He beat some nice horses that day."
* * *
Trainer Michelle Nihei, who scored her first
The 3-year-old son of Victory Gallop was a fast-closing third in his turf debut on August 7, rallying from last to miss by 1 ¾ lengths as the lukewarm favorite in the field of 12. Owned by Casa Farms, Prince Will I Am would be making his fourth graded stakes appearance in the 1 3/16th mile race, having finished eighth behind Eskendereya in the Fountain of Youth; fifth, beaten 2 ½ lengths, in the Grade 2 Coolmore Lexington and fifth in the Grade 3 Northern Dancer.
Saturday morning, Prince Will I Am breezed five furlongs in 1:02.45.
"He's changed so dramatically in the three weeks he's been at
Nihei, who gave up a career as a neuroscientists at Johns Hopkins to gallop horses for Todd Pletcher, has had 25 winners since going out on her own several years ago.
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