WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 2012 732-747-8060 $ TDN Home Page Click Here EPSOM UNVEIL WILD CARD INITIATIVE FEATURE PRESENTATION • GIII VINERY RACING SPIRAL S. Officials at Epsom racecourse yesterday announced that the winner of this year=s Investec Derby Trial will be handed a wildcard entry for the blue riband. Run over the Derby course and distance Apr. 25, the conditions event, which was won in 2009 by Debussy (Ire) when staged over an extended 10 furlongs, will also enjoy a purse of ,50,000. Also revealed yesterday were increases to the prize money for the G1 Oaks and G1 Coronation Cup, with the former up to ,350,000 and the latter to ,300,000. Epsom=s MD Rupert ‘DAY’ OF RECKONING Trevelyan commented, AWe are delighted to announce Exactly one year ago, trainer Graham Motion came an additional investment in the Investec Oaks, which into Turfway=s GIII Vinery Racing Spiral S. with an remains the highlight of Investec Ladies Day. The unproven 3-year-old Team Valor colt whose only win in Investec Coronation Cup is a race we have targeted for three career starts was a maiden victory. Animal development, so it is pleasing to add ,50,000 to its Kingdom (Leroidesanimaux {Brz}) won the Spiral, came prize fund, particularly in light of its renaming to mark back five weeks later to give Motion his first GI Her Majesty=s Diamond Jubilee. We hope the addition Kentucky Derby winner, and, at the end of the year, of ,20,000 to the Investec Derby Trial will in time help was honored with an Eclipse Award. the race reach listed status.@ The parallels are obvious as Motion returns to the CRAVEN TEST FOR IMPROVED 2012 Spiral with Went the Day Well (Proud Citizen). Most Improved (Ire) (Lawman {Ire}) is on course for a Another Team Valor-owned colt, Went the Day Well return in the Apr. 19 G3 Craven S., it was revealed comes into the race with a single victory in four lifetime yesterday. Iraj Parvizi=s G1 Dewhurst S. third was the starts, and like Animal Kingdom, he ll have to win the = subject of a favorable bulletin on trainer Brian Meehan=s race in order to have the earnings to make the May 5 website as he is geared toward the G1 2000 Guineas Kentucky Derby. course-and-distance trial. AHe has grown and filled out. AI feel like we need to give him a chance,@ Motion We are very pleased with how he looks and he is now said during an NTRA national doing fast work,@ his conditioner stated. teleconference yesterday. AHe looks like a horse who wants to go the distance.@ The similarities don=t end with experience. Animal Kingdom had familial roots in Europe; Went the Day Well has physical ones. He began his career in Britain in trainer Ed McMahon=s yard and Graham Motion ran close-up seconds in both of Steve Sherack his starts there, first going a mile at Haydock Sept. 24 and then at a touch farther at Leicester Oct. 11. Purchased by Team Valor=s Barry Irwin privately thereafter, the New York-bred Went the Day Well was then shipped to America. AWe bought him with the idea of running him over here on the dirt, certainly with his pedigree it seemed like something he would handle,@ said Motion. The colt=s unraced dam, Tiz Maie=s Day, is by two-time GI Breeders= Cup Classic winner Tiznow, and is herself a daughter of GSW and GI Breeders= Cup Juvenile Fillies= runner-up Sweet Roberta (Roberto). Cont. p3 In This Issue Louisiana Derby 60 Broad St., Suite 100 Red Bank, NJ 07701 Godolphin’s Alpha (Bernardini) looks likely (732) 747-8060 to contest the Apr. 1 GII Louisiana Derby. The (732) 747-8955 (fax) GIII Withers S. winner will likely face Mark www.thoroughbreddailynews.com Valeski (Proud Citizen), who sizzled in a five- www.thetdn.com furlong work at Fair Grounds yesterday. Barry Weisbord, co-publisher Alpha [email protected] Coverage begins page 5 A Coglianese Sue Finley, co-publisher [email protected] Ill Conceived Editorial [email protected] Jessica Martini, Editor-in-Chief John Servis says the colt will have to prove he deserves a shot at Derby in Alan Carasso, Managing Editor Saturday’s GII Vinery Racing Spiral S. Marie Kizenko, Senior Editor Christina Bossinakis, Senior Editor Coverage begins page 4 Lucas Marquardt, Features Editor Steve Sherack, Racing Editor Brian DiDonato, Racing Analyst/Soc. Media Dir. Advertising [email protected] Louise I. Humphrey passes away Alycia Borer, Director of Advertising Lia Kusch, Senior Advertising Designer Co-breeder of Kentucky Derby hopeful Gemologist (Tiznow) and Sarah K. Andrew, Adv Assistant/Distribution mother of G. Watts Humphrey Jr. dies at 93. Amanda Crelin, Advertising Assistant Page 7 Customer Service [email protected] Vicki Forbes, Director of Customer Service Information Technology Robert Williams, Director of IT Bill Oppenheim [email protected] Looks at the second-crop sires standings and compares the racing careers Gregg Casillo, DB Administrator, Programming of Scat Daddy, Street Sense and Hard Spun to the start each has gotten off to [email protected] at stud. Marketing Gary King, Marketing Manager [email protected] Coverage begins Page 8 TDN Newmarket Bureau: Cafe Racing [email protected] Sean Cronin Tom Frary P TDN HEADLINE NEWS • 3/21/12 • PAGE 3 of 12 • thoroughbreddailynews.com Day of Reckoning (cont. from p1) AWe wanted to keep the option open for him to run in Quarantine issues delayed Went the Day Well=s U.S. [the Spiral] because of the uncertainty of Went the Day debut. When he finally made it to the races in a nine- Well getting in...but my gut feeling is that three weeks= furlong Gulfstream maiden special Feb. 4, he was back is a little quick,@ compromised by a dawdling pace, but made a strong Motion explained. late run to finish fourth, beaten 1 1/2 lengths by Teeth The soft-spoken Motion of the Dog (Bluegrass Cat). admitted on the call that last A month later, he returned going 1 1/16 miles at year=s Derby win has Gulfstream and graduated as the even-money choice. elevated his status within Now he faces an acid test Saturday at Turfway, and Thoroughbred circles, Motion hopes his charge can rise to the occasion, just though he said it isn=t very State of Play as Animal Kingdom did. often that he=s recognized in Horsephotos AThis is a horse who has benefitted from his races in public. He also said the this country without a doubt,@ said Motion. AI=ve seen experience hasn=t altered the improvement in him from before we ran him the first way he approaches training. time at Gulfstream. I saw significant improvement after AI don=t think so,@ he said. ACertainly, it gives you the race, and I think more confidence, because once you=ve won the I=ve seen Kentucky Derby, people feel you=re perhaps a more improvement since capable trainer. Has it changed my outlook? No, I don=t then. And I think think so. I don=t think it=s given me any more desire to we were in a very get back. I still feel like I have the same principles. It=s similar situation last actually a little easier, having accomplished what I did year with Animal with Animal Kingdom, not to feel the pressure to get Kingdom. Animal back.@ Kingdom was a very green, laid- NBC’s 2012 ROAD TO THE back horse at this Animal Kingdom KENTUCKY DERBY time last year. I Horsephotos would never have Saturday, March 24 imagined, to be honest, that he=d be my first Kentucky Vinery Racing Spiral S. & Bourbonette Oaks, 5-6 p.m., NBC Derby winner had you asked me at this time last year. Sports Network Developmentally, they=re probably at similar stages. Saturday, March 31 Perhaps Went the Day Well is a little further ahead, Florida Derby and Gulfstream Oaks, 5-6 p.m., NBC Sports even.@ Network Went the Day Well will likely face a full field in the Spiral. One horse he won=t line up against, however, is Saturday, April 7 stablemate State of Play (War Front). Last year=s grassy Resorts World Casino New York City Wood Memorial, Santa GII With Anticipation S. winner came back to beat Ill Anita Derby & Central Bank Ashland S., 4:30-6 p.m., NBC Conceived (Spanish Steps) in the John Battaglia Saturday, April 14 Memorial S. over Turfway=s Polytrack Mar. 3, and while Toyota Blue Grass S. & Arkansas Derby, 6-7 p.m., CNBC he has a win over the surface, Motion said he=ll probably send the colt to Keeneland=s GIII Transylvania (all in Eastern Time) S. on the sod Apr. 6. To nominate today, call 626-574-6356 or e-mail: [email protected] P TDN HEADLINE NEWS • 3/21/12 • PAGE 4 of 12 • thoroughbreddailynews.com Derby Run? Ill Conceived Needs to Convince Servis... John Servis won the 2004 renewal of the GI Kentucky Derby with Smarty Jones (Elusive Quality), and while he admits getting back there would be as sweet Aas a Hershey=s bar,@ he isn=t about to return to Churchill with a rank outsider. That means that Ill Conceived (Spanish Steps), a close second in the John Battaglia Memorial S. at Turfway in his latest Mar. 3, will have to put up a huge effort in the track=s GIII Vinery Racing Spiral S. on Saturday just to get his trainer to consider a Derby run.