HEADLINE NEWS • 6/7/09 • PAGE 2 of 16
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Biomechanics & Cardio Scores HEADLINE for Yearlings, 2YOs, Racehorses, Mares & Stallions NEWS BreezeFigs™ at the Two-Year-Old Sales For information about TDN, DATATRACK call 732-747-8060. www.biodatatrack.com www.thoroughbreddailynews.com SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 2009 Bob Fierro • Jay Kilgore • Frank Mitchell TDN Feature Presentation PLAIN SAILING Ending the 20-year spell of waiting since Nashwan GRADE 1 BELMONT STAKES completed the heralded 2000 Guineas-Derby double, J “TDN Rising Star” J Sea the Stars (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}) made the task look straightforward as he emerged from yesterday=s G1 Epsom Derby with his GRADE 1 JUST A GAME HANDICAP: reputation skyward. Christo- pher Tsui=s homebred, a half 1ST - LANE’S END BRED & SOLD DIAMONDRELLA (GB) to the 2001 Blue Riband 2ND - BELONG TO ME’S FOREVER TOGETHER hero Galileo (Ire) (Sadler=s Wells), had doubts surround- THE OTHER BIRD IS THE WORD ing his stamina, but was al- All eyes were on Mine That Bird (Birdstone) as he lowed to start as the second swept to the front at the top of the stretch in the 141st favorite. He made 11-4 look Getty Images running of the GI Belmont S., and it seemed the little big when traveling with ease gelding would follow his sire and rolling to the front approaching the furlong marker. into the Belmont history All fears about staying power were quashed there as he books. But it was another carried veteran jockey Mick Kinane to a comfortable from Birdstone=s first crop that 1 3/4-length success from the 9-4 pick Fame and Glory found himself in the winner=s (GB) (Montjeu {Ire}), who led home a Ballydoyle blanket circle. Summer Bird for the placings. John Oxx, who saddled Sinndar (Ire) (Birdstone) did as his father (Grand Lodge) to an Epsom Derby score in 2000, re- had done just five years ago, marked on Sea the Stars=s Classic double. AYou daren=t grinding past the betting and dream that it might happen when you see that some sentimental choice in the final great horses didn=t quite pull it off,@ Oxx said. ASinndar Horsephotos yards to take the third leg of was a dream, but there was more expectation this time, the Triple Crown. It was and [Sea the Stars] has never let us down.@ Cont. p3 sweet vindication for jockey Kent Desormeaux, erasing the memory of his aborted Triple Crown bid on Big Brown last year; and sweet celebration for rookie trainer Tim Ice, who turned 35 yesterday. Cont. p2 Mine That Bird Gets the Bronze... Mine That Bird, obviously leg weary in the waning yards, could not stave off the re-rallying pacesetter Dunkirk (Unbridled=s Song), who battled back from the inside to get second. But the bay once again demon- strated that his shock victory in the GI Kentucky Derby hero was far from a fluke. The 6-5 chalk, he was not as agreeable to rating off the slower fractions on the speedy Belmont surface, and jockey Calvin Borel opted to give him his head earlier than planned. Mine That Bird closed the gap on the turn and drove to the front as they straightened for home, but the move had cost him, and he had no answer when first Summer Bird and then the determined Dunkirk came at him in the final sixteenth. AI had to let him go a little down the backside--he was fighting me a little bit,@ Borel ex- plained. AHe had the lead at the sixteenth pole and I thought we were home free, but [Summer Bird] just galloped past. He=s a little tired, but he ran his race.@ P TDN HEADLINE NEWS • 6/7/09 • PAGE 2 of 16 Saturday, Belmont Park BELMONT S.-GI, $1,000,000, BEL, 6-6, 3yo, 1 1/2m, 2:27 2/5, ft. 1--#@sSUMMER BIRD, 126, c, 3, by Birdstone 1st Dam: Hong Kong Squall, by Summer Squall 2nd Dam: Hong Kong Jade, by Alysheba 3rd Dam: Ruby Slippers, by Nijinsky II O/B-Dr Kalarikkal K & Dr Vilasini D Jayaraman (KY); T-Tim A Ice; J-Kent J Desormeaux; $600,000. Lifetime Record: 5-2-0-1, $723,040. *Second GISW for sophomore sire (by Grindstone). Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk Nick Rating: A+. 2--Dunkirk, 126, c, 3, Unbridled=s Song--Secret Status, by A.P. Indy. ($3,700,000 yrl '07 KEESEP). O-Mrs John Magnier, Michael Tabor & Derrick Smith; B-W S Farish, James Elkins & W T Webber Jr (KY); T-Todd A Pletcher; $200,000. 3--Mine That Bird, 126, g, 3, Birdstone--Mining My Own, by Smart Strike. ($9,500 yrl '07 FTKOCT). O-Double Eagle Ranch Inc & Buena Suerte Equine; B-Lamantia, Blackburn & Needham/Betz Thoroughbreds (KY); T-Bennie Woolley Jr; $100,000. Margins: 2 3/4, NK, 3 3/4. Odds: 11.90, 4.60, 1.25. Also Ran: Charitable Man, Luv Gov, Flying Private, Brave Victory, Mr. Hot Stuff, Chocolate Candy, Miner's Escape. Summer Bird was making just the fifth start of his career in the Belmont, but had shown promise in his first four outings. Fourth after a wide trip in his debut at Oaklawn Mar. 1, the rangy chestnut--the polar oppo- site of his compact crop mate Mine That Bird--came back to break his maiden by 2 1/4 lengths over Luv Gov The Battle of Dunkirk... (Ten Most Wanted) 18 days later. The Jayaraman Looking to regain his reputation after a lackluster homebred earned a chance in the Apr. 11 GII Arkansas 11th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, Dunkirk sur- Derby with that victory, and outran his 26-1 odds to be prised just about everybody by shooting straight to the third, just 1 1/4 lengths behind Papa Clem (Smart front. The grey Strike) and Old Fashioned (Unbridled=s Song). That cut out fractions effort gave him just enough earnings to sneak into the of :23.41, field for the May 2 GI Kentucky Derby. Off at 43-1, :47.13, 1:12.43 Summer Bird closed from 16th to be sixth, beaten and 1:37.86. He 13 lengths. Trainer Tim Ice never considered a run at was caught by the GI Preakness S., instead pointing for the Belmont. Mine That Bird as AThis has been the goal,@ Ice said before the race, and they rolled out of the final jewel in the Triple Crown proved attainable. the turn, but Sporting blinkers for the first time, Summer Bird found stayed on reso- himself caught in traffic for nearly 10 furlongs of the lutely and surged Dunkirk Leads On The First Turn Horsephotos Belmont. The colt was steadied on the first turn and again while tucked in at the fence on the backstretch. past that rival He was shuffled back at the half-mile pole, finding nearing the wire to get second. AHe battled every step himself in ninth, but Kent Desormeaux manuevered his of the way,@ said John Velazquez. AI couldn=t believe I mount to the outside on the far turn and the race was was on the lead early. There was no pace. The way he on. The lightly campaigned three-year-old dug in from broke, he was already there on the lead, so I didn=t the far outside and fought his way past the leaders to want to hold him back.@ Velazquez added, AI didn=t see win going away. AAll I could hear was my hollering, I Mine That Bird when he came to me, but I got after my couldn't hear anybody else,@ Ice said. AIt was surreal to horse and he put up a real good fight. He just ran his see the red cap, blue blinkers coming the outside--it eyeballs out, but unfortunately, we just got beat.@ The was just a thrilling, exciting finish.@ Click for the brisnet.com effort did take its toll. AHe was definitely tired when I chart, the brisnet.com PPs or the free brisnet.com catalogue-style pulled him up, and he tied up,@ the rider explained. AI pedigree. Video, sponsored by Taylor Made. hosed him down, and he seemed to be okay.@ P TDN HEADLINE NEWS • 6/7/09 • PAGE 3 of 16 Seeing Stars... INVESTEC DERBY Sent off at 8-1 in the G1 2000 Guineas, Sea the 6 June 2009 Stars outran the speedy favorite Delegator (GB) (Dansili {GB}) in a performance that said Derby, but there were Saturday, Epsom, Britain fears that his pedigree, compounded by his free-running INVESTEC DERBY-G1, ,1,250,000, Epsom, 6-6, 3yo, style, would fall short. True to form, the bay was at the c/f, 12f 10ydsT, 2:36.74, gd. fore of the main group racing adrift from the Ballydoyle 1--SEA THE STARS (IRE), 126, c, 3, by Cape Cross (Ire) duo Golden Sword (GB) (High Chaparral {Ire}) and Age 1st Dam: Urban Sea (Hwt. Older Mare-Fr at 11-14f, of Aquarius (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) yesterday. And, despite G1SW-Fr, GSP-Ger & GB, $1,713,548), by Miswaki the enthusiasm he had shown to the bottom of the hill, 2nd Dam: Allegretta (GB), by Lombard (Ger) when Kinane let out some rein in early stretch it was 3rd Dam: Anatevka (Ger), by Espresso (GB) clear that Sea the Stars was far from emptying. Sweep- O-Christopher Tsui; B-Sunderland Holdings Ltd; ing by Colm O=Donoghue on the pacesetter, he domi- T-John Oxx; J-Michael Kinane; ,802,444. Lifetime nated the final furlong as Fame and Glory chased in Record: 5-4-0-0, ,1,114,056.