SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2020 EASY >MUNNY= IN THE RAVEN RUN >STARS= ALIGN FOR Venetian Harbor (Munnings) was hustled to the front by SHADWELL, PLETCHER Manny Franco and made all the running, holding off Finite (Munnings) by a neck to lead home a one-two finish for her in- form, young sire in the GII Lexus Raven Run S. at Keeneland Saturday. The bay, favored at 8-5 while seeking her first win since a blowout victory in the GII Las Virgenes S. at Santa Anita back in February, led the field of eight through early fractions of :23.06 and :46.17, and was traveling nicely as they hit the quarter pole. She kicked for home with a two-length advantage, but was looking for the wire as GII Golden Rod S. and GII Rachel Alexandra S. heroine Finite came with a menacing rail run in deep stretch. Venetian Harbor had just enough left in the tank to hold on, however, and punch her ticket to next month=s GI Breeders= Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. Cont. p6 >TDN Rising Star= Mutasaabeq will head to the IN TDN EUROPE TODAY GI Breeders= Cup Juvenile Turf as one of the choices for Shadwell Stable & Todd Pletcher | Coady ADDEYBB IS THE CHAMPION AT LAST Addeybb, a dual Group 1 winner in Australia earlier this year, by Steve Sherack relished the soft going at Ascot on Saturday to earn a first When Kiaran McLaughlin announced his retirement earlier this domestic Group 1 in the Champion S. spring, Shadwell Stable=s Vice President and General Manager Click or tap here to go straight to TDN Europe. Rick Nichols already had a trainer=s name in the back of his mind who could potentially fill the void. AActually, it was kind of a no-brainer,@ Nichols said. AThrough Kiaran, I got to know Todd [Pletcher] quite well and always had tremendous respect for him. I would have always liked for him to train for us, but since Todd and Kiaran were such good friends, it was a line that I didn=t want to cross, and Todd had similar feelings.@ Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum=s high-powered global operation and McLaughlin enjoyed a tremendous run together through the years campaigning standouts such as Horse of the Year Invasor (Arg) (Candy Stripes), GI Belmont S. winner Jazil (Seeking the Gold), GI Breeders= Cup Dirt Mile winner Tamarkuz (Speightstown), GI Hill >n= Dale Cigar Mile H. winner Daaher (Awesome Again), GI Donn H. winner Albertus Maximus (Albert the Great), et al. With McLaughlin exiting the training ranks to take the book of leading rider Luis Saez in April, the Shadwell/Pletcher era was officially underway. Cont. p3 PUBLISHER & CEO Sue Morris Finley @suefinley [email protected] SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT Gary King @garykingTDN [email protected] EDITORIAL [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Jessica Martini @JessMartiniTDN Managing Editor Sunday, October 18, 2020 Alan Carasso @EquinealTDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack @SteveSherackTDN Racing Editor Brian DiDonato @BDiDonatoTDN Deputy Editor Christie DeBernardis @CDeBernardisTDN Associate Editors Christina Bossinakis @CBossTDN Joe Bianca @JBiancaTDN News and Features Editor In Memoriam: Ben Massam (1988-2019) ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Best Advertising Designer Amanda Crelin Advertising Assistant/Dir. Of Distribution Rachel McCaffrey Advertising Assistants Amie Newcomb Kristen Lomasson Photographer/Photo Editor Sarah K. 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Taylor S.-GI, WO TJCIS PPs TVG WORLDWIDE INFORMATION 4:47p Hill Prince S.-GII, BEL TJCIS PPs TVG/FOX International Editor 4:57p Rood & Riddle Dowager S.-GIII, KEE TJCIS PPs TVG Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN 5:45p Nearctic S.-GII, WO TJCIS PPs TVG [email protected] European Editor 8:15p Twilight Derby-GII, SA TJCIS PPs TVG Emma Berry [email protected] Associate International Editor Heather Anderson @HLAndersonTDN Newmarket Bureau, Cafe Racing Sean Cronin & Tom Frary [email protected] 60 Broad Street, Suite 100 Red Bank, NJ 07701 732-747-8060 | 732-747-8955 (fax) www.TheTDN.com TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 3 OF 13 • THETDN.COM SUNDAY • OCTOBER 18, 2020 Shadwell & Pletcher cont. from p1 the highest regard. I was fortunate enough to get a positive endorsement from Kiaran and touched base with Rick Nichols when Kiaran decided to pursue another career. It=s a great organization and they have nothing but the highest quality of horses.@ High quality, indeed. The seven-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer has hit the ground running for his new client, led by the GI Breeders= Cup Juvenile Turf-bound >TDN Rising Star= Mutasaabeq (Into Mischief). The $425,000 KEENOV graduate, the first foal from Downside Scenario (Scat Daddy), earned his >Rising Star= badge with a flashy debut victory going 5 1/2 furlongs at Saratoga Aug. 8, good for a very strong 84 Beyer Speed Figure. He had already tipped his hand in the mornings and earned some awfully high praise from his two-time GI Kentucky Derby- Todd Pletcher | Sarah Andrew winning trainer. AWhen Kiaran announced his retirement, Todd was one of the AOne of his gate works (Click for XBTV video of Mustasaabeq=s first ones to reach out to me and I jumped at the chance,@ July 19 gate breeze) in particular was one of the best I=ve seen Nichols said. AWe=re very happy for Kiaran--he=s doing well--and from any of our 2-year-olds,@ Pletcher said. AWe were we=re very excited to have Todd as one of our trainers. We=re anticipating a good debut.@ looking forward to a lot of great things.@ Following a well-beaten third behind the unbeaten division Pletcher added, AKiaran was always very excited about training leader Jackie=s Warrior (Maclean=s Music) in the GI Runhappy for Shadwell and holds the whole team and Sheikh Hamdan in Hopeful S. Sept. 7, however, Pletcher decided to call an audible. TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 13 • THETDN.COM SUNDAY • OCTOBER 18, 2020 AWe were a little bit frustrated with the Hopeful result,@ and it=s great that he has a win over the course. He=s a Pletcher said. ANot that finishing third is bad, but we felt like gentleman around the barn and is a pleasure to train.@ maybe he wasn=t quite to that level on the dirt. So I said, >You Mutasaabeq, bred in Kentucky by BlackRidge Stables LLC, know what? He=s out of a Scat Daddy mare who won on the turf. returned to the worktab for his Breeders= Cup preparations with Why don=t we breeze him on the turf and see how that goes?=@ a four-furlong breeze in :48.75 (4/63) over the Belmont training Spoiler alert: it went quite well. track Thursday. Mutasaabeq shared the bullet for five furlongs over Saratoga=s The regally bred $1.05-million Keeneland September graduate Oklahoma training turf course with the 3-year-old No Word Malathaat (Curlin), meanwhile, also carried the royal blue and (Silent Name {Jpn}), who subsequently posted a game runner-up finish in the GI Belmont Derby Invitational S. AHe worked head and head with him,@ Pletcher said. AI said, >OK, I think we know what to do now.=@ Mutasaabeq handled the surface switch with aplomb and punched his ticket to >Future Stars Friday= in style, slingshotting his way from last to first after missing the break in Keeneland=s GII Dixiana Bourbon S. Oct. 4. He was the 2-1 favorite that day and was piloted by McLaughlin=s aforementioned jockey, Luis Saez. AI=ve watched [the Bourbon] about 20 times already,@ Nichols said with a laugh. AWe=re extremely excited. He=s such a nice horse.@ AI was a little worried when he was out the back door early on,@ Pletcher said. AHe turned in a very impressive turn of foot to really inhale the field in a hurry. He=s come out of it really well Rick Nichols | Keeneland TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 5 OF 13 • THETDN.COM SUNDAY • OCTOBER 18, 2020 because she was my first-round draft choice of the [2019] Keeneland September Sale,@ Pletcher said of Malathaat. AI loved that filly as a yearling. We put together a group to try to buy her and we were in the hunt, but we didn=t quite get it done. Her mother was a special talent, a very gifted filly. This filly is a slightly bigger and slightly stronger version of her mother. It=s exciting that she was able to break her maiden going seven furlongs and you would certainly anticipate that she=ll get even better stretching out. She=s all class.@ Other Pletcher-trained Shadwell runners to get their picture taken thus far include: Prairie Wings (f, 3, by Tapit) ($800,000 KEESEP yearling), a Saratoga maiden winner in an off-the-turfer Aug.