3 year old ALONZO MOSELY (Tonalist) was part of the Kirkwood Gulfstream Gallop contingent last March. He hit the board in his first start last month running 3rd in a MSW at Tampa Bay at a mile on the turf. He broke greenly from the gate but closed well in the stretch. Starting again in a very salty MSW at Gulfstream and stretching out to a mile and a sixteenth, he overcame a check and then charged from off the pace to miss the win by a whisker. Watch for him next out!
JEFFNJOHN’STHUNDR (Union Rags) has been on the board in all 5 starts and today he broke his maiden at Golden Gate racing 6 furlongs and winning by 2 1/2 lengths. He was consigned and sold by Kirkwood at FT Timonium for $170,000 to his current owner Del Secco DCS Racing. He is trained by Jeff Bonde.
ROCKIN READY (More than Ready) brought $280,000 at the OBS March Sale in 2017. Now owned by Agave Racing Stable and trained by Philip D’Amato, he is now working his way through his allowance conditions and today wired the field at Oaklawn racing a mile on the dirt. He won easily by over 5 lengths. ROCKIN READY has earned over $154,000.
Courtesy of the TDN
7th-Fair Grounds, $46,000, Alw (NW1X)/Opt. Clm ($17,500), 2-24, 4yo/up, 1 1/16m, 1:43.57, ft.
CHESS CHIEF (c, 4, Into Mischief–Un Blessed, by Mineshaft), second in last year=s GIII West Virginia Derby and third in the GIII Oklahoma Derby, was most recently second over this track and trip in a Jan. 4 optional claimer. The prohibitive 1-10 favorite settled within striking distance along the rail through a quarter in :24.45 and a half in :48.42. Tipped out three wide at the top of the lane, the bay colt forged to the lead in upper stretch and powered clear to win by 4 3/4 lengths. Irish Wind (Daaher) was second. Chess Chief RNA’d for $145,000 as a FTSAUG yearling.
Morgan’s Ford Farm purchased Un Blessed, in foal to Sidney’s Candy, for $110,000 at the 2014 Keeneland November sale. Her Ghostzapper colt sold for $150,000 as a weanling at the 2018 Keeneland November sale and for $430,000 at last year’s Keeneland September sale. The mare, a daughter of Grade I winner Plenty of Grace (Roberto), also has a yearling filly by Gun Runner and was bred last year to Ghostzapper. Plenty of Grace also produced the dam of multiple graded stakes winners Diabolical (Artax) and What a Name (Ire) (Mr. Greeley), as well as the dam of Grade I placed Grace Anatomy (Aldebaran).
Lifetime Record: MGSP, 15-2-3-2, $314,830
O-Estate of JamesJ. Coleman, Jr.
B-Morgan’s Ford Farm (VA)
T-Dallas Stewart
Sadly MGSW, Millionaire and GS producer KEEPER HILL died at 20. Proud to have been associated with her early training and to have sold her at Keeneland April Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale 1997 for $250K. Today the BloodHorse
looks back at her shocking Las Virgenes win.
Anne M. Eberhardt
Ummmmmm. Good tasting canary. Bobby Frankel had everything but yellow feathers sticking out from the corners of his grin after John and Alice Chandler’s Keeper Hill paid $114.20 in winning the $200,000 Las Virgenes Stakes (G1) at a mile on Feb. 15. The daughter of Deputy Minister, fresh from her maiden win, effectively drove a stakes through the heart of the California 3-year-old filly division with a 5 1/2-length victory that discouraged the idea that anything out West would be catching her soon.
“I wanted to see if we had an Oaks-type filly,” Frankel said, explaining his jump to a grade 1 race. He found out he had a Guineas filly in the bargain.
Michael Tabor’s Love Lock, winner of the Starlet Stakes (G1) and Santa Ysabel Stakes (G3), had a throat-hold on the local division, but she got sick and went to the farm. Wayne Lukas tried to replace her with Star of Broadway, the Broad Brush filly who was 3-for-3 in the Midwest. The fans went along for the ride, making her 8-5, while Career Collection went off at 9-5.
Keeper Hill raced three times in the East last year for Shug McGaughey and was never embarrassed. She finished second to Ninth Inning, subsequent winner of the Astarita Stakes (G2). McGaughey, who owns a piece, and the Chandlers, decided Keeper Hill could get more chances on the grass in Southern California than in Florida. Since John Chandler works with Frankel through the Juddmonte Farm horses, Bobby was their man. She broke her maiden first crack on the grass Jan. 14.
“I looked at this race,” Frankel said of the Las Virgenes, “and it looked like there were nothing but sprinters going in there. She’s bred for the dirt, and she had that good race to the filly who won the Astarita. My only real worry was that it might be too short for her. But the Chandlers kept urging me to go ahead and enter her. They gave me the confidence to try.”
Frankel also added blinkers. “The jock had to ride her hard last time,” the trainer said. “The last time I breezed her, with the blinkers, she went much better. I think that made the biggest difference.”
Keeper Hill also got one of those trips sent straight from racing heaven. Breaking from post one, under David Flores for the first time, she hugged the rail behind a fast pace around the turn and onto the backstretch. Up front, Star of Broadway was being pestered by Mishill, whose unbeaten record from Portland Meadows was worth 32-1 in the tote, compared to 56-1 on Keeper Hill.
Flores was able to stay inside without effort as his filly gradually gained on the leaders. Around the final turn, Star of Broadway shook loose as Mishill gave way. Career Collection put in a run on the outside, but it was Keeper Hill on the rail who had the momentum. Flores pulled alongside Star of Broadway to make a race for it. Then suddenly, it was over. Keeper Hill galloped away in the final sixteenth of a mile to win by 5 1/2 lengths, as Star of Broadway saved second over Occhi Verdi. The winner was timed in 1:36.94 and lit up the board.
“Leaving the paddock she was 90-1,” Frankel said with a shake of his head. “I said to myself, ‘If you’re ever gonna bet, now’s the time.'” So, how hard did he play?
“Not a dollar.”
SPECIAL LADY (Pioneerof The Nile) won her first start racing across the pond at Newcastle Races. She is trained by John Butler and owned by Mrs. Anita Nicol. SPECIAL LADY was prepared at Kirkwood and offered for sale at the 2019 Fasig Tipton Midlantic Two-Year-Olds In Training Sale. We send Congratulations to all her connections!
Idle since fourth in the Grade III Oklahoma Derby Sept. 29, Bob Baffert’s Santa Anita-based Mucho Gusto ran the race of his life in yesterday’s Grade I, $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream, winning by 4 ½ lengths while getting a mile and one eighth in 1:48.85.
Ridden for the first time in his 11th career start by recent Eclipse Award winning Jockey Irad Ortiz, Mucho Gusto was hustled from the gate, soon found the rail and had a 2 ½ length advantage turning for home.
“Irad Ortiz did a pretty masterful job,” Baffert, who opted not to travel to Gulfstream, said yesterday from Santa Anita. “He had me a little worried the way he was down inside like that, but he knew what he was doing. When he tilted out at the quarter pole, all I could say was ‘Damn, I wish I would have flown down there.
“I am really happy, I was really surprised because it was a last minute thing,” Baffert told XBTV yesterday at Santa Anita. “I just thought about (the Pegasus) and I was watching the race closely. I gave him a good work and I was going to run him next week in the San Pasqual (Grade II, 1 1/8 miles Feb. 1) and I thought, ‘You know what, he worked so well today (Jan. 16), I think I’ll take a shot at it and he hadn’t gotten an invite from the Saudi Cup…So I thought maybe if he runs well (in the Pegasus), he’ll get an invitation.”
As expected, the Saudi Cup invitation has been extended and Baffert said that both Mucho Gusto and McKinzie would depart from Santa Anita on Feb. 18.
“The race is $20 million at a mile and one eighth on Feb. 29,” he said.
Coglianese Photos
The mood was light and the spirit even lighter as horses and riders waited to enter the gate for the $2.94 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes Presented by Runhappy (G1) Jan. 25 at Gulfstream Park.
Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano stood on the sideline dressed in a sharp suit, having lost his mount when Pegasus hopeful Spun to Run scratched two days before the race. Castellano called out to his fellow jockeys as they waited to load, heckling them with jibes and jokes that drew smiles from all.
Dressed in the silks of Prince Faisal Bin Khaled astride Mucho Gusto, Irad Ortiz Jr. waved and laughed at Castellano. Less than two minutes later, the two-time Eclipse Award-winning jockey blew past the crowd with astounding ease as he and Mucho Gusto claimed the fourth running of the Pegasus World Cup by 4 1/2 lengths.
“Those are the most exciting ones, when you don’t expect it,” trainer Bob Baffert said via phone after the race. “He just showed up. We’ve always wanted to see him run a race like that, but he got beat by Maximum Security and he’s been chasing some really good horses. It was a different field today.”
Leaving from post 8 in the 10-horse field, Ortiz and Mucho Gusto broke on top before the veteran jockey shifted his mount sharply to the rail to occupy third behind Mr Freeze and Bodexpress, respectively. Despite being crowded by Bodexpress after the break, Mr Freeze set the pace, clicking off easy fractions of :23.77 and :47.78 through the half-mile.
Mucho Gusto dropped back to fourth briefly at the half-mile mark and swung out three wide. Favorite Higher Power moved in to take over the open position left by Mucho Gusto but soon found himself blocked out of the running and began to drift back.
Within striking range of the leaders, Mucho Gusto found another gear and surged forward to overtake Bodexpress and then Mr Freeze. At the top of the stretch, Mucho Gusto held sway by 2 1/2 lengths and increased his margin from there. He blew past the wire with a flourish, completing the 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.85 on a track rated fast for his first grade 1 victory.
“I had a great trip,” Ortiz said. “He got a great start and felt good. He relaxed so well, and we were able to save ground. At the three-eighths pole, I tipped him out and he took off. He was much the best. I think he just took off and opened up easy. He’s a nice horse.”
The hard-running Mr Freeze never wavered and held for second to the delight of trainer Dale Romans.
“That was the plan (to go to the front). He didn’t break as clean as I would have liked, but he got there and he had a good pace and ran a good race,” Romans said. “He was training as good as a horse can train, and he ran huge. I thought he ran a beautiful race. We’ve had confidence in him, and he ran the way we thought he would.”
“He never gave up,” said Mr Freeze’s jockey, Luis Saez. “He was brave. He was trying very hard. I thought we were going to win for a second. He never gave up. He missed the break a little, but then when he saw the clear, he went pretty nice. I felt like he was very comfortable.”
War Story, who broke slowly from the gate, made a late rally to get up for third. Diamond Oops saved ground in the backstretch and had enough in reserve to overtake Bodexpress for fourth. Tenfold, Seeking the Soul, True Timber, Tax, and Higher Power completed the order of finish.
Mucho Gusto paid $8.80, $5, and $3.80 on a $2 wager.
Bred in Kentucky by Teneri Farm and Bernardo Alvarez Calderon, Mucho Gusto is the third foal out of the Giant’s Causeway mare Itsagiantcauseway. The 4-year-old has made several trips through the sales ring, the last when he was purchased by Michael Lund Petersen for $625,000 from the consignment of Kirkwood Stables to the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale.
Mucho Gusto impressed off the bat at 2 and has been remarkably consistent ever since. The Mucho Macho Man colt broke his maiden on debut for Baffert and then-owner Petersen before taking the Bob Hope Stakes (G3) at Del Mar next out. He ran second in the Los Alamitos Cash Call Futurity (G1) at Los Alamitos Race Course and followed with another victory at 3 in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita Park.
After running third in the Sunland Park Derby (G3) at Sunland Park, Mucho Gusto scored back-to-back wins in the Lazaro Barrera Stakes (G3) and Affirmed Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita. He placed second in the TVG.com Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1) at Monmouth Park behind champion 3-year-old Maximum Security before hitting the board once more in the Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course. He closed his sophomore season with a fourth in the Oklahoma Derby (G3) at Remington Park.
Before making his start in the Pegasus World Cup, Mucho Gusto was purchased privately by Prince Faisal Bin Khaled, governor of the Asir Region of Saudi Arabia and a member of the House of Saud.
With new connections and a new goal to start his 4-year-old campaign, Mucho Gusto trained well leading up to the Pegasus, posting four bullet works at Santa Anita between Dec. 29 and Jan. 16 ahead of shipping to Florida.
“He has just been training so well,” Baffert’s assistant Jimmy Barnes said. “After that freshening, he really seemed to grow and get back to the way he was when we first got him. Did I think he was going to crush them like that? No. That was impressive.”
“The horse shipped really well and I wasn’t really planning on taking him there, but he worked really well the other day,” said Baffert, who also won the inaugural running of the Pegasus in 2017 with Arrogate . “I loved his work, and I was going to run him in the San Pasqual (G2) next week. But after he worked so well, I thought, ‘You know what, I’m just going to take a shot at the mile-and-an-eighth and maybe that gets him ready.’ He didn’t get an invite to the Saudi Cup, so I thought if he runs well enough, he’ll get an invitation, and who would know that the race fell apart there at the end (with the scratch of Omaha Beach and Spun to Run), unfortunately.
“That’s the best he’s ever looked. He looked great in the warm-up, and Irad Ortiz did a pretty masterful job. He had me a little bit worried when he was down inside like that, but he knew what he was doing. When he tilted out at the quarter pole, all I could say was, ‘Damn, I wish I would have flown down there!’ But it was pretty exciting.”
Mucho Gusto’s win boosted his earnings to $2,579,800. He has a 6-2-2 record from 11 starts.
Mucho Gusto | Lauren King
Courtesy of the TDN
Following the high-profile defections of Omaha Beach (War Front) and Spun to Run (Hard Spun) earlier this week, the GI Runhappy Pegasus World Cup appeared to be a wide-open affair. But apparently nobody told Mucho Gusto (Mucho Macho Man). Sent off the 3-1 second choice behind Higher Power (Medaglia d’Oro), who went off at 5-2, Mucho Gusto took over with consummate ease, strolling home an 4 1/2 -length winner over Mr Freeze (To Honor and Serve). It was 3/4 of a length farther back to War Story (Nothern Afleet).
“Those are the most exciting ones, when you don’t expect it,” said Baffert, speaking via telephone from California. It was Baffert’s second win in the race since taking the inaugural edition with Arrogate in 2017.
Mucho Gusto broke like a shot from post 10 and was hustled over to the inside by the piping hot Irad Ortiz Jr. navigating the first turn. Soon headed by Mr Freeze and Bodexpress (Bodemeister) through an opening quarter in :23.77, Higher Power ranged up to the outside flank of Bodexpress following a :47.78 half. The two front runners spurted a length clear approaching the quarter pole, and while Mucho Gusto appeared to keep pace with the leaders, High Power began his backward retreat. Three-abreast with the pacesetters at the quarter pole, the chestnut quickly vaulted past those two, was clear at the top of the lane and was given a pair of left handers and one on the right, but those seemed more for reassurance as he glided home a much-the-best winner.
“I had a great trip,” said Irad Ortiz Jr., who earned his second consecutive Eclipse Award Thursday night. “He got a great start and felt good. He relaxed so well and we were able to save ground. At the three-eighths pole I tipped him out and he took off. He was much the best. I think he just took off and opened up easy. He’s a nice horse.”
Baffert was equally pleased with his charge’s performance, “[Mucho Gusto] looked great in the warm up, and Irad Ortiz did a pretty masterful job. He had me a little bit worried the way he was down inside like that, but he knew what he was doing. When he tilted out at the quarter pole, all I could say was ‘Damn I wish I would have flown down there!’. But it was pretty exciting.”
A graded stakes winner and Grade I placed at two, the chestnut took the Robert B. Lewis S. at Santa Anita in February before finishing third in the GIII Sunland Derby the following month. Victorious in the GIII Laz Barerra S. and GIII Affirmed S., he found subsequent 3-year-old champion Maximum Security (New Year’s Day) too tough in the July 20 GI Haskell Invitational S. Third in the 10-furlong GI Travers S. Aug. 24, he rounded out the season with a fourth-place finish in the GIII Oklahoma Derby Sept. 29. Given time some time off and purchased privately by HH Prince Faisal bin Khaled in the interim, Much Gusto recorded three consecutive bullet breezes recently, including a five-furlong move in :59 4/5 (1/58) Jan. 4 (XBTV) followed by a six-panel work in 1:12 4/5 (1/4) Jan. 10 (XBTV).
“The horse shipped really well and I wasn’t really planning on taking him there, but he worked really well the other day,” said Baffert, explaining the decision to ship in for the race. “I was going to run in the [GII] San Pasqual next week, but after he worked so well, I thought you know what, I’m just going to take a shot at the mile and an eighth and maybe that will get him ready. He didn’t get an invite to the Saudi Cup, so I thought maybe if he runs well enough, he’ll get an invitation. Who would know that the race fell apart [with the scratch of Omaha Beach and Spun to Run], unfortunately.”
When asked about his pre-race instructions, Baffert added, “The way he broke, I told Irad to warm him up well so that he would get away from there and he did. He could have won from the 12 hole. He just showed up. We’ve always wanted to see him run a race like that, but he got beat by Maximum Security, he’s been chasing some really good horses. It was a different field today. I want give a shout out to Flavien [Prat]. He worked him for me and was going to ride him in the San Pasqual.”
The win was the first Grade I score for Mucho Gusto’s sire, Mucho Macho Man, who stands at Adena Springs. Purchased for $625,000 by Michael Lund Petersen at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale in 2018, he was the highest-priced offspring by the sire that season. This is one of two winners for the mare, Itsagiantcauseway.
PEGASUS WORLD CUP INVITATIONAL S. PRESENTED BY RUNHAPPY-GI, $2,940,000, Gulfstream, 1-25, 4yo/up, 1 1/8m, 1:48.85, ft.
1–MUCHO GUSTO, 124, c, 4, by Mucho Macho Man
http://www.fasigtipton.com/ 1st Dam: Itsagiantcauseway, by Giant’s Causeway
2nd Dam: Countervail, by Seeking the Gold
3rd Dam: Strike a Balance, by Green Dancer
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($14,000 Ylg ’17 KEEJAN; $95,000 Ylg ’17
KEESEP; $55,000 RNA 2yo ’18 OBSMAR; $625,000 2yo ’18
EASMAY). O-HRH Prince Faisal Bin Khaled; B-Teneri Farm Inc.
& Bernardo Alvarez Calderon (KY); T-Bob Baffert; J-Irad Ortiz,
Jr. $1,800,000. Lifetime Record: 11-6-2-2, $2,579,800.
CARMELTINI (f, 3, Orb) rallied wide from off the pace to graduate racing 6 1/2 furlongs at Parx Racing. She is trained by John Servis for owner Carguys Racing LLC. The filly was bred by Stone Farm (KY).