FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 2017 STELLAR WIND RETURNS GREEN GRATTO DELIVERS, AND SO DOES HIS TRAINER By Bill Finley IN APPLE BLOSSOM Less than 48 hours after he won a Grade I race, trainer Gaston Grant was back at work, not tending to a string of million-dollar 2-year-olds or graded stakes winners, but delivering packages for UPS in the East Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn. It=s his real job. For every Todd Pletcher, Bob Baffert, Chad Brown, there are probably five trainers like Grant, trainers with stables so small and, normally, so unproductive that they cannot make ends meet at the racetrack. Grant didn=t train Big Brown (Boundary), but he drives for Big Brown. But it just so happens that this small stable includes one of the top 10 sprinters in the country, one that, more or less was given to Grant for free. Plagued by inconsistency throughout much of his career, Green Gratto (Here=s Zealous) has put things together this year at seven. Cont. p8 Stellar Wind | Zoe Metz by Joe Bianca After trading decisions with four-time champion Beholder IN TDN EUROPE TODAY (Henny Hughes) in four starts last season, Eclipse winner Stellar ASCOT ASSIGNMENT FOR JACK HOBBS Wind (Curlin) will look to take an early stranglehold on the older G1 Dubai Sheema Classic winner Jack Hobbs (GB) (Halling) will mare division when she makes her 5-year-old debut in the head to Royal Ascot without another run, according to trainer GI Apple Blossom H. Friday at Oaklawn. John Gosden. Click or tap here to go straight to TDN Europe. Hronis Racing purchased the chestnut from Barbara Houck and the Donald Barr barn out of an 8 3/4-length graduation at Laurel in December 2014. She cruised in the 2015 GI Santa Anita Oaks the following spring, captured three other graded events that season and was a neck second in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff to earn champion 3-year-old filly honors. Second to Beholder in the GI Vanity Mile S. in her 4-year-old bow June 4, she bested that rival in the GI Clement L. Hirsch S. and GI Zenyatta S. before running fourth behind her in the Distaff Nov. 5. AWe gave her a vacation after the Breeders= Cup, and with Southern California having such a wet January and February, we were going to be pressed to have her ready for the [Mar. 18 GI] Santa Margarita,@ trainer John Sadler told the Oaklawn notes team. AThe Apple Blossom is such a classic and prestigious race too.@ With Beholder enjoying a well-deserved retirement and a dearth of older filly/mare stars out there, the division likely will go through Stellar Wind in 2017, but to assert herself, she must first conquer the Apple Blossom with no previous experience over the Hot Springs surface. 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] Friday, April 14, 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 “TDN Rising Star” and GI Kentucky Derby contender McCraken (Ghostzapper) is Amanda Crelin bathed in the early morning sunlight at Churchill Downs. | Coady Photography Advertising Assistants Alexa Reisfield Michelle Benson 12 HORSES, 12 CHANCES IN MAKER’S 46 MILE 3 Photo Editor/Dir. of Distribution There may be only one Grade I winner in the GI Maker’s 46 Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew [email protected] Mile, but the 12-horse affair offers plenty of quality and depth with runners from across the country flocking to Keeneland. Social Media Strategist Justina Severni LA CORONEL ROMPS IN APPALACHIAN 7 Director of Customer Service John Oxley’s La Coronel (Colonel John) returned to winning Vicki Forbes [email protected] ways with a dominant victory over a loaded field in Keeneland’s GIII Appalachian S. Thursday afternoon. Director of Information Technology Ray Villa [email protected] WORLDWIDE INFORMATION TODAY’S GRADED STAKES International Editor EST Race Click for TV Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN 5:30p Maker’s 46 Mile S.-GI, KEE TJCIS PPs TVG [email protected] 5:42p Fantasy S.-GIII, OP TJCIS PPs TVG European Editor 6:10p Apple Blossom H.-GI, OP TJCIS PPs TVG 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 10 • THETDN.COM FRIDAY • APRIL 14, 2017 Stellar Wind Returns in Apple Blossom cont. from p1 Home field advantage decidedly belongs to Stellar Wind's chief competition, Stonestreet Stables' Terra Promessa (Curlin). The bay 4-year-old went three-for-three at Oaklawn last winter and spring, including victories in the GIII Honeybee S. and APPLE BLOSSOM H.-GI, 4yo/up, f/m 1 1/8m GIII Fantasy S. She PP Horse Sire added tallies in the 1. Terra Promessa Curlin local Pippin S. and 2. Durango K First Samurai GIII Bayakoa S. this 3. Stellar Wind Curlin term before being 4. Divine Elegance Uncle Mo taken out of her 5. Tiger Moth Street Sense game when 6. Streamline Straight Line wrangled off the (see Graded Stakes Entries) pace to run a troubled fifth in the GII Azeri S. Mar. 18. With a rail draw and no other clear speed signed on, Terra Promessa figures to be back in her preferred front-running position in the Apple Blossom. Streamline (Straight Line), who upset Terra Promessa in the Azeri, has her work cut out for her to topple the big two, but the Illinois-bred did run a career-high when second at almost 20-1 in the Apple Blossom last spring. 12 HORSES, 12 CHANCES IN MAKER'S 46 What a View | Benoit by Joe Bianca While there is only one Grade I winner among the dozen horses set to do battle in Friday's GI Maker's 46 Mile at Keeneland, that doesn't mean the field lacks for quality, and it certainly doesn't lack for intrigue. Even the longshots in the field aren't without a realistic win prospect, setting the stage for a fascinating and unpredictable feature. Cont. p4 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 10 • THETDN.COM FRIDAY • APRIL 14, 2017 Maker=s 46 Mile cont. What a View (Vronsky) is that lone top-level winner, having captured the GI Frank E. Kilroe MAKER’S 46 MILE S.-GI, 4yo/up, 1mT Mile last March at PP Horse Sire Santa Anita. The 1. Blacktype (Fr) Dunkerque (Fr) 6-year-old gelding, 2. What a View Vronsky off the board in his 3. American Patriot K War Front final three starts of 4. Bolo Temple City 2016, has rebounded 5. Conquest Enforcer KInto Mischief with a trio of 6. Conquest Panthera KKitten’s Joy runner-up finishes so 7. Calculator In Summation far this year, and he 8. Inspector Lynley Lemon Drop Kid missed repeating in 9. Heart to Heart English Channel the Kilroe by just a 10. Ballagh Rocks K Stormy Atlantic head Mar. 11. 11. Western Reserve K Indian Charlie The dark bay does 12. Bondurant War Front his best running on (see Graded Stakes Entries) the lead, however, where he is likely to have to deal with Terry Hamilton's millionaire Heart to Heart (English Channel). Trained by Brian Lynch, the Ontario-bred speedball was last seen annexing his eighth career graded stake in the GIII Canadian Turf S. Mar. 4 at Gulfstream. An enervating pace would play into the hands of many, including Jump Sucker Stable's Blacktype (Fr) (Dunkerque {Fr}). Competing mostly in allowance company for almost two years after coming to America in 2014, the Christophe Clement trainee turned a corner last summer and Blacktype | Equi-Photo fall, earning back-to-back graded victories in the GIII Oceanport S. and GII Commonwealth Turf Cup S. He makes his 2017 debut here after closing out his 5-year-old campaign with five consecutive triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures. Golden Pegasus Racing and Earle Mack's Bolo (Temple City) looks for a signature win in his third start since being shelved for nearly seven months following a ninth-place finish in the GII Eddie Read S. July 17. The imposing dark bay traded decisions with What a View this winter, out-nodding that one in the GII Arcadia S. Feb. 11 before running third in the Kilroe. Cont. p5 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 5 OF 10 • THETDN.COM FRIDAY • APRIL 14, 2017 Maker=s 46 Mile cont. VEXATIOUS BACK ON SHORT REST IN FANTASY Stuart S. Janney III and Phipps Stable's Inspector Lynley (Lemon Drop Kid) will look to build on a career-best effort in winning the GIII Tampa Bay S. Feb. 11. The homebred, who also took the GIII Saranac S. last summer, has drilled three consecutive bullets for trainer Shug McGaughey, capped off by a half-mile turf spin at Payson Park in :47 1/5 (1/18) Apr. 8. A pair of lightly-raced longshots merit consideration. Ian Wilkes will lead over Whitham Thoroughbreds' Bondurant (War Front), an up-and-coming 4-year-old who ran a strong second at 12-1 behind Heart to Heart in the Canadian Turf last out.