MONDAY, MAY 30, 2016 NINE SEEK FIRST GRADE I IN GAMELY SI SAGE A DECISIVE Monday=s Gamely S. is the lone Grade I event on the national WHITTINGHAM WINNER racing calendar over Memorial Day weekend, and the Santa Anita turf fixture features nine distaffers seeking their first win at the highest level. No entrant brings sharper form to the table than Hronis Racing=s Nancy From Nairobi (GB) (Sixties Icon {GB}), winner of her last three starts, including a score in the one-mile GII Royal Heroine S. over the Arcadia turf May 5. Nancy From Nairobi began her career in England campaigning for trainer Michael Channon and was privately purchased and transferred to the John Sadler barn following a victory at Newmarket last August. The bay took three starts to hit her best stride in America, but has since put forth a series of impressive efforts over the local lawn. In the Royal Heroine, the 5-year-old defeated three of her Gamely rivals, including stablemate and seventh-place finisher Elektrum (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}). Cont. p5 Si Sage | Benoit Photo IN TDN EUROPE TODAY Si Sage (Sageburg {Ire}) earned the second graded stakes MIDDLEHAM PARK RACING’S GROWING ARMY triumph of his career Sunday afternoon at Santa Anita, seizing Emma Berry profiles the growing force that is Middleham control in the opening quarter-mile and never looking back in Park Racing, which campaigns current smart 3-year-old the 1 1/4-mile GII Charles Whittingham S. The 6-year-old was Viren’s Army. Click or tap here to go straight to TDN Europe. making his second start under the care of trainer Jim Cassidy, and gave both the trainer and Hall of Fame pilot Mike Smith their first respective wins in the race. Let go at odds of 11-1 on the heels of a fourth-place finish in the off-the-turf GIII American S. going a mile in Arcadia, Si Sage was carried a bit wide by Bal a Bali (Brz) (Put It Back) cornering into the homestretch for the first time, but quickly spurted clear to establish control through a half-mile in :47.02 and six furlongs in 1:11.23. Confronted by Bal a Bali on the final turn, the bay shook loose from that rival turning for home and kicked clear to notch a decisive score. Patentar (Fr) (Teofilo {Ire}) made up good ground late to complete the exacta in his initial North American graded stakes try. Si Sage began his career in native France, and has been a stalwart on the Southern California circuit ever since being privately purchased in the spring of 2013. The turfer placed in a pair of graded events over this course for trainer Darrell Vienna the following winter and traveled to Singapore to run sixth in the G1 Singapore Airlines International Cup at Kranji in May 2014. Cont. p3 JOE D’ORIO © There are more than 100 opportunities in June to own a quality NY-bred 2-year-old . and millions of reasons to race in the Empire State. nytbreeders.org | 518.587.0777 Belmont Park SIX STAKES RACES AND MORE THAN $1 MILLION IN RESTRICTED PURSE MONEY ON THE MAY 30TH CARD For more information visit our website or call 518.388.0174 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] Monday, May 30, 2016 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 Editor Christie DeBernardis @CDeBernardisTDN Assistant Editors Heather Anderson @HLAndersonTDN Ben Massam @BMassamTDN Joe Bianca @JBiancaTDN ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Kusch Advertising Designer GI Preakness Stakes winner Exaggerator (Curlin) steps off the van at Belmont Amanda Crelin Park Sunday afternoon. | NYRA Advertising Assistants Brittlan Wall @bwallTDN LEXIE LOU BACK ON TRACK IN NASSAU 4 August Pons @APonsTDN 2014 Canadian Horse of the Year Lexie Lou returned to the winner's Alexa Reisfield circle for the first time in over a year and a half Sunday, capturing Photo Editor/Dir. of Distribution Woodbine's GII Nassau S. in rallying fashion. Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew [email protected] ‘NEWS’ CONTINUES BELMONT PREP 6 Social Media Strategist Samuel F. Henderson's Suddenbreakingnews (Mineshaft), a fast- Nichola Henry @NicholaHenryTDN closing fifth in the GI Kentucky Derby May 7, continued his preparations [email protected] for a start in the June 11 GI Belmont S. with a six-furlong breeze in 1:12.40 Sunday morning at Churchill Downs.. Director of Customer Service Vicki Forbes [email protected] TODAY’S GRADED STAKES EDT Race Click for TV Director of Information Technology 6:58p Lone Star Park H.-GIII, LS TJCIS pps TVG2 Ray Villa [email protected] 7:14p All American S.-GIII, GG TJCIS pps TVG2 8:29p Gamely S.-GI, SA TJCIS pps TVG WORLDWIDE INFORMATION International Editor 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 7 • THETDN.COM MONDAY • MAY 30, 2016 Si Sage in the Whittingham (cont from p1) 3--Montego Bay, 121, g, 7, War Chant--Exotic Point, by Point Given. O-Shawn L. Dugan & Stone Farm; B-Stone Farm & Neil He was unable to recover his top form in the immediate Drysdale (KY); T-Neil D. Drysdale. $24,000. aftermath of that trip, but broke through in a big way with a 42- Margins: 2HF, HF, 1 1/4. Odds: 11.50, 32.50, 20.60. 1 upset score in the course-and-distance GIII Last Tycoon S. last Also Ran: Bal a Bali (Brz), Finnegans Wake, Royal Albert Hall April. (GB), Quick Casablanca (Chi), Blingo, A Red Tie Day, Play Hard to Sent to the sidelines following that effort, Si Sage was a tiring Get. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the eighth going a mile over a yielding course in the Apr. 9 GIII free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, Thunder Road S., and recently set a pressured pace and leveled sponsored by Fasig-Tipton. off to check in fourth in the American, his first start for Cassidy. In Sunday=s event, Si Sage set a quick--albeit comfortable--pace Sunday, Woodbine and had plenty of gas left in reserve when the real running NASSAU S.-GII, C$230,800, WO, 5-29, 3yo/up, f/m, 1mT, began. 1:32.98, fm. AI don=t think there=s any problem with him, no matter the 1--LEXIE LOU, 118, m, 5, by Sligo Bay (Ire) distance,@ Cassidy said of his charge. AHe=s just a very honest 1st Dam: Oneexcessivenite, by In Excess (Ire) horse. Darrell [Vienna] told me when he retired that this is a 2nd Dam: Favored One, by Son of Briartic very nice horse and he couldn=t have been more right.@ 3rd Dam: Highly Favored, by Favorecidian (C$5,500 Ylg '12 CANSEP). O-Gary Barber; B-Paradox Farm Sunday, Santa Anita (ON); T-Mark E. Casse; J-Patrick Husbands. C$144,000. Lifetime CHARLES WHITTINGHAM S.-GII, $201,725, SA, 5-29, 3yo/up, Record: Horse of the Year, Ch. 3yo filly & Ch. grass mare-Can, 1 1/4mT, 1:59.48, fm. GISP, 21-8-4-4, $1,594,491. 1--SI SAGE (FR), 121, h, 6, by Sageburg (Ire) Registered Ontario-Bred/CTHS Grad 1st Dam: Sans Rien (Fr), by Poliglote (GB) 2nd Dam: Sans Tune (Fr), by Green Tune 2--Mississippi Delta, 118, f, 4, Giant=s Causeway--Texas to a Tee, 3rd Dam: Battani, by Top Ville (Ire) by Purge. O-Jackpot Ranch & Mike Rutherford; B-Mike G. Rutherford (KY); T-Mark E. Casse. C$40,000. O-Red Baron's Barn LLC, Rancho Temescal & Vayaconsuerte, 3--Strut the Course, 122, m, 6, Strut the Stage--Bold Course, by LLC; B-Ecurie D (FR); T-James M. Cassidy; J-Mike E. Smith. Trajectory. O/B-John Unger (ON); T-Barbara J. Minshall. $120,000. Lifetime Record: MGSW, 26-5-6-2, $381,795. Werk C$24,000. Nick Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Registered Ontario-Bred Hubert Guy Bloodstock Private Purchase • www.hubertguybloodstock.com Margins: 3/4, NK, NK. Odds: 12.25, 6.55, 2.65. Also Ran: Moon Rainbow, Stormy Victoria (Fr), Uchenna (Ire), 2--Patentar (Fr), 121, h, 5, Teofilo (Ire)--Poppets Sweetlove (GB), Dyna's Recoleta, Fuscetta (Ger), London Tower. Scratched: by Foxhound. (220,000gns Ylg '12 TAOCT). O-Saleh Al Homaizi Academic. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs & Imad Al Sagar,; B-Peter Dane Player (FR); T-Simon Callaghan. or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, $40,000. sponsored by Fasig-Tipton. TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 7 • THETDN.COM MONDAY • MAY 30, 2016 2014 Canadian Horse of the Year Lexie Lou returned to the winner=s circle for the first time in over a year and a half Sunday, capturing Woodbine=s GII Nassau S. in rallying fashion. Winner of the 2014 Queen=s Plate over male contemporaries, the bay made just one start in 2015 due to a series of issues and finally put together a steady string of races leading up to Sunday=s triumph.