THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 2017 AMERICAN LONGSHOTS NEW APP SEEKS TO STREAMLINE SHIPPING PROCESS by Brian DiDonato IN DUBAI The best ideas and inventions are usually born out of the necessity to fix or improve a situation, and the new horse transportation app EQUIRIDE seeks to do just that. The Alightbulb moment@ for the founders of EQUIRIDE came when trainer Stephen Lyster voiced his frustrations to Chris Woodside, a college friend and fellow graduate of the University of Kentucky. AStephen and I had always played around with ideas of starting companies together, and one day out of frustration dealing with horse shippers, he said, >We just really need to come up with a service where we can connect trainers to van drivers,=@ recalled Woodside, a Chicago-based commercial banker. AI laid in bed and thought about it for a long time and decided I really liked the idea.@ Cont. p5 Hoppertunity joins top-rated stablemate Arrogate in the G1 Dubai IN TDN EUROPE TODAY World Cup starting gate Saturday | Sarah K. Andrew ARROGATE IN NINE FOR WORLD CUP by Michael Adolphson Juddmonte Farms’s Arrogate (Unbridled’s Song), the Sakhee (Bahri), California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit), Street Cry highest-rated horse to ever run in the G1 Dubai World Cup, (Ire) (Machiavellian), The Factor (War Front), Silver Charm (Silver has drawn gate nine of 14 for Saturday’s feature. Buck) and Main Sequence (Aldebaran) were all phenomenal Click or tap here to go straight to TDN Europe. racehorses when they competed. They were also imposing favorites on Dubai World Cup night who failed to cross the wire first. While it is true that Street Cry (Ire), Silver Charm and California Chrome carried the banner of American racing to victories a year separated from said failures, a case can be made for looking at those shipping from the United States who may offer more value. In the World Cup, look no farther than >the other Baffert,= Hoppertunity (Any Given Saturday), who is owned by Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman and returns to the UAE a year after a solid third to California Chrome in the $10 million G1 Dubai World Cup. A bona fide grinder, his reliability and anticipated market value make him an attractive insurance policy along with his lightly raced, ultra-talented stablemate Arrogate (Unbridled=s Song). Third in last year=s renewal of the carnival centerpiece, the winner of last fall=s GI Jockey Club Gold Cup loves the 10-furlong distance of the Dubai World Cup, appreciates deeper surfaces like that of Meydan Racecourse and is in top form for the Pegram/Baffert team that annexed the 2001 Dubai World Cup with Captain Steve (Fly So Free). Cont. p3 PRESIDENT & CO-PUBLISHER Barry Weisbord @barryweisbord [email protected] SR. V.P. & CO-PUBLISHER Sue Morris Finley @suefinley [email protected] V.P., INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS Gary King @garykingTDN [email protected] Thursday, March 23, 2017 EDITORIAL [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Jessica Martini @JessMartiniTDN Managing Editor Alan Carasso @EquinealTDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack @SteveSherackTDN Racing Editor Brian DiDonato @BDiDonatoTDN Associate Editors Christie DeBernardis @CDeBernardisTDN Ben Massam @BMassamTDN Assistant Editors Heather Anderson @HLAndersonTDN Joe Bianca @JBiancaTDN ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Best Advertising Designer Amanda Crelin Advertising Assistants Throwback Thursday. On March 23, 2002, Godolphin Racing’s homebred Street Cry Alexa Reisfield Michelle Benson (Ire) fired along the inside approaching the stretch and kicked clear to take the G1 Dubai World Cup at Nad al Sheba Racecourse by 4 1/4 resounding lengths. Street Cry Photo Editor/Dir. of Distribution was the second World Cup winner sired by Machiavellian and the fourth World Cup- Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew [email protected] winning mount for jockey Jerry Bailey. | Horsephotos Social Media Strategist Justina Severni THUNDER SNOW TOPS LATE TRIPLE CROWN NOMS 6 Director of Customer Service Godolphin’s Thunder Snow (Ire), winner of last fall’s G1 Criterium Vicki Forbes International at Saint-Cloud and the G3 UAE 2,000 Guineas at Feb. 11, [email protected] tops a list of six 3-year-olds made eligible to participate in the American Triple Crown earlier this week. Director of Information Technology Ray Villa [email protected] COMPLETE PEGASUS 2YO SALE WRAP 7 WORLDWIDE INFORMATION Steve Sherack provides a comprehensive recap of the Pegasus International Editor 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, which wrapped up Tuesday evening. Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN [email protected] European Editor Emma Berry [email protected] 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 8 • THETDN.COM THURSDAY • MARCH 23, 2017 American Longshots in Dubai (cont. from p1) Stallwalkin= Dude (City Place) has flourished since arriving in Arguably the most impressive statistic in Hoppertunity=s Dubai for trainer and co-owner David Jacobson. Looked after by 25-race, nine-win career is that he has raced in 13 Grade I son and assistant Howard Jacobson, the son of City Place is events and never finished worse than fourth. getting very little buzz in comparison to fellow Americans Mind AHe is doing better than he ever has, believe it or not,@ Baffert Your Biscuits (Posse) and St. Joe Bay (Saint Anddan) in the said. AI expect him to run a big $2 million G2 Dubai Golden Shaheen for dirt sprinters going six race. He loves it here and he=s a furlongs. It is worth noting that big strong, older horse who between the three Americans, carries his flesh really well. He multiple graded stakes-winner needs the full mile and a quarter Stallwalkin= Dude has held his and a little luck up front, but he=s own against arguably tougher always right there. He=s like competition more often over the Pac-Man eating away at them at last year, including two Grade I the end. placings. The 7-year-old appears AMike Smith told me that one to be in career-best form and it is day Hoppertunity was going to giving his connections confidence. win one of these big ones and I AWe really like how he=s doing,@ told him that he came an inch Howard Jacobson said. AHe=s just within winning a $10 million race a classy, tough old horse who Stallwalkin= Dude | Chelsea Durand/NYRA last year [in the World Cup],@ tries hard every time. I really like Baffert quipped. AIf California Chrome=s saddle would have how he=s training and we haven=t really changed any of his slipped another inch, I think he would have got all the money routine here. We=ve kept him comfortable and he is doing as once he started bucking and getting in the way of [runner-up well as you can ask for.@ Mubtaahij (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire})].@ TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 8 • THETDN.COM THURSDAY • MARCH 23, 2017 It is difficult to put the words longshot and Bill Mott together, but such is the case with Wachtel Stable, George Kerr and Gary Barber=s Long On Value (Value Plus), who enters a salty renewal of the $1 million G1 Al Quoz Sprint over a straight grassy six furlongs with a positive form trajectory. The multiple graded stakes winner had a perfect prep when a driving late-on-the-scene third in the Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint Jan. 28 at Gulfstream Park and must be respected if his Hall of Fame conditioner deemed him worthy of the trip. AHis last race was very encouraging,@ said assistant trainer Riley Mott. AIt was five furlongs and the increase to six furlongs for this race will certainly suit him. He ran a great number on the Sheets and we think he fits. He=s in with an outside shot, but we really like him. We=re very happy with how he traveled, as well.@ The$2 million G2 UAE Derby is often one of the more complex races on the card and 2017 is no different with a full field of young horses from across the globe. Perhaps the most global of all is Brazilian Group 1 winner and Southern Hemisphere 3-year-old Vettori Kin (Brz) (Vettori {Ire}), who was acquired in the fall by trainer Kenny McPeek for Haras Old Friends LTDA and is trained in Florida at Payson Park. A leggy, well-balanced type who has moved well over the Meydan dirt course this week, Vettori Kin (Brz) is a Group 1 winner on the grass, Group 3 winner on dirt and faced older horses in one of the toughest races in South America last out Dec. 17, the G1 Carlos Pellegrini, finishing respectably in mid-pack. AIt=s a Southern Hemisphere 3-year-old against younger horses, so he carries more weight, but that doesn=t bother me,@ McPeek said. AHe did win a [Group 1] on the grass, but I think he likes the Long On Value | Sarah K. Andrew dirt better than the turf. He=s just a really nice animal who races for a nice group of people. I purchased him because I really liked what I had seen him do and what he looked like as an individual. I=ve also had some great luck with acquiring horses from down there and tend to keep my finger on the pulse of South American racing, especially in Brazil and Argentina. I=ve had some pretty good horses like Hard Buck (Brz) (Spend a Buck) and Einstein (Brz) (Spend a Buck) I=ve got from there, and my hope is that he could be like them.