Civil Liberty
The form of the Mar. 7 maiden won by 'TDN Rising Star' presented by Hagyard Crude Velocity (Beau Liam) continues to read extremely strong, as Great Friends Stables and Mark Davis's Decisive Win (c, 3, Nyquist--Weekend Away, by Malibu Moon) made light work of five rivals when graduating by the better part of a half-dozen lengths en route to his own 'Rising Star' Friday at Santa Anita. Beaten seven lengths into fourth on that occasion--an effort still strong enough to grade out at a 75 Beyer Speed Figure--the $200,000 Keeneland...
Civil Liberty (Independence Hall), third-place finisher in last summer's GI Del Mar Futurity and a maiden of four career starts, will look to graduate in the GII Wood Memorial S. at Aqueduct Apr. 4. The 1 1/8-mile Wood Memorial offers 100-50-25-15-10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points. "That's definitely our goal," trainer Doug O'Neill said of the Wood Memorial. "He acts like the distance won't be a problem for him at all. It wasn't a problem for his pops--his dad could run the distance. We're excited about him." Carrying the colors of...
A Baffert longshot in a Santa Anita maiden race (that isn't a misprint) tops this week's list. 5). MAYKOMOTION, TAM, 3/7, 7 furlongs (VIDEO) Beyer Speed Figure- 84 (c, 3, by Vekoma--Maymont, by Unbridled's Song) O-Bona Venture Stables and Bianco Stable. B-Dominique Damico (Fla). T-George Weaver. J-John Velazquez. He couldn't match strides with the likes of Jackson Hole in his first start in December, but outran these from the start and was drawing away through the final quarter. His five half-siblings to race have been predominantly cheap claimers, but this...
Four of the six 2-year-old runners in Saturday's GI American Pharoah Stakes at Santa Anita had graded stakes experience, but it was one of the two maiden winners making his stakes debut who came home with the victory and secured a 'Win and You're In' spot for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Del Mar in four weeks time. Intrepido (c, 2, Maximus Mischief--Overly Indulgent, by Pleasantly Perfect), named a 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' in his Aug. 23 Del Mar win, rated and showed fight in between horses...
Bob Baffert will send out a capable quartet in Sunday's closing-day GI Del Mar Futurity, a race he has won the last four years and a remarkable 18 times overall. After sending out future GI Kentucky Derby winner Silver Charm (Silver Buck) to scoop the event for the first time back in 1996, he added the next six renewals. His personal honor roll is a veritable Hall of Fame, including champions Midshipman (1998), Lookin At Lucky (1999) and American Pharoah (2014) among the champions to have succeeded at the seaside....
NOBLE CONFESSOR, SAR, 7/24, 1 3/16 miles (turf) (VIDEO) Beyer Speed Figure- 83 (c, 3, by Quality Road--Sweeter Than Wine, by Noble Mission {GB}) O/B-St Elias Stable. T-Todd Pletcher. J-Irad Ortiz Jr. Prior to his Wednesday wire-to-wire victory on the stretch-out to 9 1/2 furlongs, the Vinny Viola product was a six-race maiden despite losing to Zulu Kingdom by a neck in last September's Grade II Pilgrim Stakes (and blowing past on the gallop-out) then finishing 6th while beaten 2 1/4 lengths in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (the third-best...