TVG Pacific Classic Draws Contentious Field of Nine
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Saturday & Sunday • August 21 & 22, 2021 FEC/FTBOA PUBLICATION www.wiretowire.net FLORIDA’SDAILYRACINGDIGEST FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION or to subscribe, please call Antoinette at 352-732-8858 or email: [email protected] In This Issue: Wide-open Queen’s Plate Attracts 13 Hopefuls Headed by Keep Grinding Malathaat Seeks Redemption Against Maracuja in Alabama Woodbine Starts Stakes Weekend with Saturday Quartet Hydra Looks For Upset in Saratoga’s Smart N Fancy Oaks, Del Mar Handicap Top Sparkling Express Train/BENOIT PHOTO Undercard on Classic Day TVG Pacific Classic Draws Gulfstream Park Charts Track Results & Entries Contentious Field of Nine Florida Stallion Progeny List BY DEL MAR PRESS OFFICE _______ eastern shipper Dr Post for St. Elias Stable. First post Saturday is 2:00 p.m. PDT Florida Breeders’ List DEL MAR, CA—The $1,000,000 TVG Pa- (5:00 p.m. EDT) and the Classic—is sched- cific Classic (Grade 1) will be presented for uled to go off at approximately 6:30 p.m. Wire to Wire Business Place the 31st time Saturday as the featured at- (9:30 EDT). traction on an 11-race program that offers The race is a Breeders’ Cup “Win and four other graded stakes and nearly $2.5 You’re In” event providing its winner an all million in purse money. The Pacific Classic expenses paid entrance into the $6 million Featured Advertisers will be run at a mile-and-one-quarter and Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), which will be has drawn a highly contentious field of nine run this year at Del Mar on Nov. 6. Florida Department of Agriculture older horses. Express Train earned his role as favorite Del Mar’s morning line maker, Jon by compiling and ultra-steady mark of four FTBOA White, has hung C R K Stable’s Express wins, four seconds and two thirds from 12 Train a slight favorite at 3-1 for the head- lifetime races with earnings of $659,300. Ocala Breeders’ Feed & Supply liner, pegging him just a notch ahead of Fox He also was the horse home first in the key Hill Farms and Siena Farm’s Royal Ship prep for the Classic, the Grade 2 San Diego Peterson Smith Equine Hospital (Brz) at 7-2. Just a tad behind them at 4-1 is See TVG PACIFIC CLASSIC on page 3 Seminole Feed Wire to Wire August 21 & 22, 2021 Back to Top Page 3 TVG Pacific Classic Continued from COVER Handicap at Del Mar on July 17. trainer Doug O’Neill’s barn where he is affectionately known as He finished a half-length to the ‘Coach.’ good that afternoon going a In the 30 prior runnings of the race, the average field size has mile-and-one-sixteenth and beat been 8.7, so this year’s grouping falls right in line with that. The four of the runners he’ll be fac- fastest running of the race on dirt was the 1:59.11 turned in by ing Saturday. John Shirreffs Candy Ride (Arg) in 2003. Last year’s winner was Gary and Mary trains Express Train and he’s West’s Maximum Security. once again named regular rider The remaining contenders are Magic on Tap for trainer Bob Baf- Juan Hernandez aboard the 4- fert at 20-1 with Abel Cedillo; Sheriff Brown, who is 30-1 in the year-old Union Rags colt. program and will be saddled by Todd Fincher; and Cupid’s Claw at Express Train has drawn post 15-1 from the barn of trainer Craig Dollase. five. Royal Ship (Brz) is a gelding by Midshipman who has steadily gotten better since coming north from his native land last year. He’s won six of 14 starts and John Shirreffs/BENOIT PHOTO earned $293,305 in his career so far and was third, beaten a length-and-a-quarter, in the San Diego. Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella has once again named Hall of Fame rider Mike Smith to guide Royal Ship on Saturday. Royal Ship is set to depart from post four. Dr Post is in from the east coast where he’s proven to be a solid stakes competitor with four victories in nine starts for earnings of $700,635. His most recent outing was a tally in the Grade 3 Mon- mouth Cup at Monmouth Park on July 17. Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher has commissioned Joel Rosario to ride the Quality Road colt in the Classic. Rosario, a three-time Del Mar riding champ prior to shifting his tack to the east, has twice come west to capture the Classic—with Dullahan in 2014 and Accelerate in 2018. Dr Post will begin from post three. Tripoli, a 4-year-old colt by Kitten’s Joy who races out of the barn of trainer John Sadler, was a closing second in the San Diego behind Express Train. That was the chestnut’s first try against stakes horses in his 13th start and he acquitted himself well. Tripoli has the inside post and jockey Tiago Pereira. They are 5-1 in the morning line. Tizamagician is also trained by Mandella and gets the extra benefit of Del Mar’s leading rider in Prat. Royal Ship (Brz)/BENOIT PHOTO The 4-year-old Tiznow colt came home first in the Grade 3 Cougar II Stakes at 12 furlongs at Del Mar on July 18 in his most recent outing. Tizamagician is at 5-1 in the program and has post two. Independence Hall will be making his first start in four months. The Constitution colt has won four of 10 starts and has banked $233,800 working under the tute- lage of conditioner Mike McCarthy. Independence Hall will be ridden by Flo- rent Geroux from post seven and they are also 5-1 in the morning line. As part of the festivities around the track’s signature event, the grand old war- rior Lava Man — now in his 20th year — will lead the parade to the post for the race. He won the Pacific Classic in 2006 and fol- lowing his Hall of Fame racing days transi- tioned to the role of chief stable pony at Wire to Wire August 21 & 22, 2021 Back to Top Wire to Wire August 21 & 22, 2021 Back to Top Page 5 Wide-open Queen’s Plate Attracts 13 Hopefuls Headed by Keep Grinding BY WOODBINE PRESS OFFICE________________________ TORONTO—Thirteen hopefuls, including four Kevin Attard trainees, will vie for top prize in the $1 million Queen’s Plate, first leg of the OLG Canadian Triple Crown, highlighting a stakes-laden Sunday card at Woodbine. The 162nd edition of the Queen’s Plate, North America’s oldest continually run race, contested at a mile-and-one-quarter on the Woodbine Tapeta, is the curtain raiser for the tri-surface series for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds. Wando, bred and owned by the late Gustav Schickedanz, was the last horse to accomplish the feat, in 2003, while becoming the seventh to record the unique triple. The $400,000 Prince of Wales, run at a mile-and-three-sixteenths on the dirt at Fort Erie on Sept. 14, is the second leg. The $400,000 Breeders’ Stakes, at a mile- and-one-half over the E.P. Taylor Turf Course at Woodbine on Oct. 3, concludes the series. Trainer Kevin Attard, seeking his first Plate triumph, will be rep- resented by four starters, including Munnyfor Ro, winner of the Woodbine Oaks Presented by Budweiser on Aug. 1. To be ridden by Justin Stein for owner Raroma Stable, the daughter of Munnings will look to follow in the hoofsteps of other Munnyfor Ro (Inside)/COADY PHOTO fillies who have notched the Oaks-Plate double, a list that includes his first Queen’s Plate crown. Luis Contreras, the first rider to win Inglorious (2011), Lexie Lou (2014) and Holy Helena (2017). all three Canadian Triple Crown races with different horses, gets Munnyfor Ro, sporting a mark of two wins, two seconds and the call on Sunday. two thirds in nine starts, is in good order heading into the race. There are plenty of other intriguing Attard storylines in this “She’s here and we’re excited,” Attard said. “We waited to see year’s Plate running. how she came out of the [Woodbine Oaks]. She seemed to handle Kevin’s father, veteran trainer Tino Attard, will send out Keep the race really well in the Oaks. She had a good work in the interim Grinding, a dark bay son of Tizway who has a win, a second and a and she’s been doing really well. She’s in the feed tub and it seems third from five starts. Kevin’s teenage son Joshua owns the colt. like she’s ready to fire again.” Keep Grinding has been installed as the 4-1 morning line Attard’s three other hopefuls come in the form of Haddassah, favourite. Harlan Estate and H C Holiday. Hall of Fame conditioner Sid Attard, seeking his first Plate vic- Haddassah, to be ridden by Canadian Horse Racing Hall of tory, rests his hopes on Stronach Stables’ homebred Riptide Rock, Fame inductee Gary Boulanger, who won the 2001 Queen’s Plate a chestnut son of Point of Entry. The gelding won his most recent with Dancethruthedawn, is owned by Al & Bill Ulwelling. start on July 16 at Woodbine. “He’s indicated to me that he should [get the distance],” said At- Avoman, trained by Don MacRae, who co-owns with Jim and tard.