G1 Belmont-bound Bravazo breezes a mile ahead of rematch with 'Goliath' & more

by NYRA Press Office

• G1 Belmont-bound Bravazo breezes a mile ahead of rematch with 'Goliath'
• California-based D'Amato has trio of Grade 1 contenders for BSRF
• Manitoulin tunes up for G1 Manhattan with five-furlong turf breeze
• Oscar Performance works towards G3 Poker; Unchained Melody to breeze Sunday in preparation for G1 Ogden Phipps
• Justify, Restoring Hope resuming training with jog around the track
• Just what Romans wants: Uneventful mornings for Free Drop Billy
• Stewart seeks second G2 Woody Stephens with Givemeaminit
• Hofburg 'relaxed,' 'well within himself' in Thursday gallop at Saratoga
• Arkansas Horse of the Year Heavenly Score targets G3 Intercontinental

Old school was in session Thursday at Churchill Downs, as Preakness Stakes runner-up Bravazo worked a methodical mile in 1:42 3/5 in his major training for the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets on Saturday, June 9.

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, a four-time winner of the Belmont Stakes, said he wanted to have Bravazo going along in a relaxed manner in preparation for the 1 1/2-mile Triple Crown finale.

“Beautiful,” he said afterward. “I just wanted to open his lungs a little bit. He’s fit. It wasn’t a fitness thing. But I want to get him mentally where I want him. Now I’m pretty much through.

“He wasn’t blowing much at all,” Lukas added. “It was really a nice morning for him, very pleased. Everybody who works a horse usually has something nice to say, but it was a good work.”

Horses working farther than three-quarters of a mile have become increasingly infrequent, with today’s trainers more likely to add a stiff “gallop out” onto a shorter work. Lukas, arguably the most influential trainer in modern times for how he transformed the sport, is not beyond taking pages from bygone years, when horses routinely worked almost as far as they would run.

Lukas said he doesn’t stage mile works on a regular basis but has been known to throw one into a horse. He said he wanted exercise rider Danielle Rosier to go through 13-second eighth-miles, and that’s pretty much what Bravazo did as he started off and finished at the wire of the mile track.

Churchill clockers caught Bravazo’s splits in 13 1/5 seconds for the first eighth-mile, 25 3/5 for the quarter-mile, 38 1/5 for three-eighths, 50 3/5 for the half-mile, 1:03 2/5 for five-eighths, 1:16 3/5 three-quarters of a mile and 1:30 for seven-eighths. The gallop-out time for 1 1/8 miles was 1:58.

“She was worried about it,” Lukas said of Rosier. “I told her, ‘We’re not saving lives here. We’re not going to get the Nobel Peace Prize for this. You’re just working a horse.’ She was really nervous. I drew out what I wanted her to do: hit ’em in 13, 13, 13 and 1, 13s.’ She was worried she wouldn’t get it, and she got it darn near perfect. 

“It was even all the way,” he continued. “I told her to get the half in 50 and change, 1:15-1:16 for three-quarters and she was right on the money.”

Bravazo, who was bred by Brad Kelley’s Calumet Farm, finished sixth in the Kentucky Derby after running poorly in the Louisiana Derby following his victory in the Grade 2 Risen Star. Lukas has said Bravazo got nothing out of the Louisiana Derby and probably paid the price for it in the Kentucky Derby. He promised an improved performance for the Preakness, and got it when Bravazo surged out of the fog to fall within a half-length of nailing Justify.

Lukas said it’s a narrow line between having a horse at his best for a race and nudging them over the top. 

“There’s a fine line between performance and staleness,” he said, referencing one of the quotes in his soon-to-be released anthology with Christina Bossinakis titled “Sermon on the Mount.”

“You have to be really careful you don’t cross over it,” he said. “That’s true of the NFL teams, NBA teams, anybody in athletics. You can push them for fitness and getting them as good as you can, but you have to be really careful you don’t go over that line. Because when they get a little bit sour or stale, boy, you’re not going to get them back in two weeks. That’s really tough.”

Lukas says he thinks the best chance at upsetting Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Justify came in the Preakness, where Bravazo just missed. That’s because he believes the distance, which will slow down the pace, and Belmont Park’s sweeping turns will prove ideal for Justify’s tactical speed.

“This horse is pretty tough,” Lukas said of Bravazo, continuing, “We’re taking on Goliath, you know. This is not the junior prom we’re dealing with. We’re going to have a tough chore. I don’t see any chinks in the armor.

“I think we had a chance to beat Justify in the Preakness. Now he’s going to be really tough. I think it’s a lot tougher order to beat him now.”

Still, he said looking for an easier path with a talented horse who is doing well is not how he’s wired.

“The Ohio Derby may be a pretty good idea, but it doesn’t fit my personality,” he joked, adding, “He won’t embarrass us. Brad Kelley said, ‘Don’t worry about that,’ that he got over embarrassment in fourth grade.”

California-based D’Amato has trio of Grade 1 contenders for BSRF

Trainer Phil D’Amato doesn’t often make the trek from California to New York, with only a handful of stakes starters over the past few years. His record, though, has been solid, with two victories, one second and one fourth in six races, including Coppa’s win in Grade 3 Victory Ride and Obviously’s triumph in the Grade 3 Poker, both in 2016.

On Belmont Stakes Day, Saturday, June 9, the 42-year-old D’Amato is hoping to improve on that record when he saddles Grade 1 winner Fault in the Grade 1, $750,000 Ogden Phipps, Grade 1 winner Ransom the Moon in the Grade 1, $1.2 million Runhappy Met Mile and graded stakes winner Spectator in the Grade 1, $700,000 Acorn, presented by Nassau County IDA.

Fault, a 4-year-old Blame filly, has reeled off three straight graded stakes wins (and earned $420,000) since being transferred to D’Amato’s barn over the winter, taking the Grade 2 Buena Vista on the Santa Anita turf, followed by a pair of victories on the dirt: a last-to-first win the Grade 1 Santa Margarita at 1 1/8 miles and a similar score in the Grade 3 Adoration at 1 1/16 miles.

“From Day 1 when we got her she trained like a horse who would love the dirt, not like a grass horse who just trains all right on dirt,” said D’Amato, a former assistant to Mike Mitchell in California. “She proved she’s legit on dirt when she won the Santa Margarita [by 6 ½ lengths] and then when she won the Adoration, it reinforced that.”

A “Win and You’re In” race for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, the Ogden Phipps is contested at 1 1/16 miles, albeit around one turn, and is expected to attract, among others, last year’s Acorn winner, Abel Tasman, Grade 1 Humana Distaff winner American Gal, Grade 2 Ruffian winner Pacific Wind, and Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap winner Unbridled Mo.

D'Amato, however, is confident in his filly's ability.

“She has that big run, and the big sweeping turns at Belmont should suit her,” said D’Amato of Fault, who will have Giovanni Franco in the irons. “It would be nice to get another Grade 1 win on the dirt.”

As well, the prestige of the Met Mile made the race difficult to pass up for Ransom the Moon, beaten favorite in the Grade 2, 6 1/2-furlong Kona Gold in his 2018 debut. The 6-year-old son of Malibu Moon complied a 6-3-1 record in 2017 for D’Amato, including wins in the Kona Gold and the Grade 1 Bing Crosby at six furlongs. The one-mile Metropolitan will be his first start at the distance since a third-place finish on the Woodbine turf in 2016.

“He’s got tactical speed and Flavien [Prat] knows him well,” said the trainer. “It’s a great race and certainly worth taking a swing at.”

Spectator has been no worse than third in five career starts, with victories in a maiden race, an optional claimer and the Grade 2 Sorrento as well as a third in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante to close out her 2-year-old campaign. Last time out, the Jimmy Creed filly was second to Midnight Bisou in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks at 1 1/16 miles.

“She’s graded-stakes placed around two turns,” said D’Amato. “She got a little late the last sixteenth [in the Oaks], and again I think the mile and the one-turn race in the Acorn might play to her advantage.”

D’Amato said Javier Castellano, aboard in the Oaks, will ride in the Acorn. All three are scheduled to arrive at Belmont Park on Tuesday.

Manitoulin tunes up for G1 Manhattan with five-furlong turf breeze

Darby Dan Farm Racing’s Manitoulin turned in a five-furlong breeze during the special turf training session for Belmont Stakes Racing Festival contenders on Thursday morning at Belmont Park in preparation for the Grade 1, $1 million Woodford Reserve Manhattan at 1 ¼ miles on Saturday, June 9.

A 5-year-old gelding by Awesome Again and out of 1999 Champion Turf Mare Soaring Softly, Manitoulin covered the distance in 1:01.26 on the inner turf, finishing well ahead of his workmate, 4-year-old allowance runner Momentiempo.

Winner of the Grade 2 Hollywood Turf Cup last fall, Manitoulin will be making his second start of the year following the 1 1/8-mile Grade 3 Fort Marcy on May 5. In that race, the Jimmy Toner trainee was bumped near the start and settled in seventh early. He made a wide run in the stretch but had to settle for sixth, finishing 3 ¼ lengths behind fellow Manhattan candidate Robert Bruce. 

“Not for nothing, it was kind of a crazy race,” said Toner. “I think it won with 21 and change [seconds for the final quarter-mile],” said Toner. “The first five finishers all came home under 22, so it wasn’t like he didn’t have a kick, they were just kicking in front of him the last part of it. I think he finished in 21.63 or something, so it wasn’t like he wasn’t closing. So, I was satisfied with his race and it was a set-up race for him.

“It was his first race off the bench last time and the distance was short,” he added. “I thought he still ran a decent race and I think he’s going to improve off that. He’s coming along well and we’re looking for a good effort from him.”

Toner said that Manitoulin has been more focused in his training after being gelded ahead of his 2017 campaign, in which he recorded four wins and a second from seven starts.

“Since we’ve cut him, it’s changed his attitude and made a better horse out of him. He always had ability but he never gave you a 100-percent effort,” he said. “So last year, we did cut him and since he’s been gelded, he’s been more consistent in his races. He had a good year last year and we’re looking forward to a good year this year.”

Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, in town to ride Triple Crown hopeful Justify in the Belmont, will reprise his Hollywood Turf Cup mount in the Manhattan.

In his previous breeze on May 22, Manitoulin worked in company with fellow stakes contender Hawkish. In that move, the pair worked five furlongs in tandem in 1:00.23.

Owned by Robert V. LaPenta, AJ Suited Racing Stable, and Madaket Stables, Hawkish is entered in this weekend’s Grade 3 Pennine Ridge at Belmont but will run in the Grade 2 Penn Mile at Penn National, both on Saturday, said Toner.

The 3-year-old Artie Schiller gelding shares a common owner in LaPenta with fellow Pennine Ridge entrant Catholic Boy. He is a two-time winner at a mile, with the only defeat of his short career coming in his second start, the Grade 3 Palm Beach on March 3 at Gulfstream Park. Toner said he hopes to use the race to prepare his lightly raced charge for a bid in the Grade 1, $1.2 million Belmont Derby Invitational on Stars & Stripes Day, July 7.

“I think he’s got a big future in front of him,” said Toner. “He’s a nice horse. I was hoping to be able to see if we could stretch him out, which I think he can do. But we know he can do a mile, he’s 2-for-2 at a mile.”

Oscar Performance works towards G3 Poker; Unchained Melody to breeze Sunday in preparation for G1 Ogden Phipps

Amerman Racing’s multiple Grade 1 winner Oscar Performance continued to work towards the Grade 3, $300,000 Poker on June 17, breezing five furlongs in 1:00.01 on Belmont Park’s inner turf Thursday morning.

Oscar Performance will be making his first start since capping his 3-year-old season with a ninth-place finish in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf on November 4 at Del Mar. Before that, the son of Kitten’s Joy had recorded a stellar campaign in which he won three consecutive graded stakes, capturing the Grade 3 Pennine Ridge and winning the Grade 1 Belmont Derby Invitational and the Grade 1 Secretariat on August 12 before returning to Belmont to run in the third in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic in his last prep heading into the Breeders’ Cup.

Oscar Performance worked in company with Infinite Wisdom on the inner turf labeled firm. In 2017, the Kentucky-bred and turf specialist tied with West Coast and Always Dreaming for the most Grade 1 wins among 3-year-old males.

“I didn’t get a chance to see him work, I’ll talk to my barn at some point tonight but they know I’ve been busy today,” said Lynch by phone from Lexington, Kentucky, where he is attending his son’s high school graduation. 

The French-bred La Signare also breezed Thursday, going four furlongs in 49.93 seconds. After breaking her maiden at second asking in her native country, the Siyouni filly ran second against allowance company in her North American debut on April 11 at Keeneland.

Lynch said La Signare will make her first stakes appearance in the Grade 3, $200,000 Wonder Again on Opening Day of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival on June 7. The race is slated to be contested at 1 1/8 miles on turf.

Unchained Melody continues to ready for the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps on Belmont Stakes Day, and could put in her final work on Sunday, when Lynch said he would like to drive back up to see the work in person.

The 4-year-old Smart Strike filly ran fifth in the Grade 2 Ruffian on May 6 at Belmont, marking her first start since being eased in the Grade 1 Alabama on August 19 at Saratoga Race Course. 

Since arriving from Keeneland earlier in the month, Unchained Melody, who won the Grade 1 Mother Goose last year at Belmont, has recorded two works, including a five-furlong breeze in 1:00.44 on the training track May 25.

Justify, Restoring Hope resuming training with jog around the track

Kentucky Derby and Preakness hero Justify, who could give trainer Bob Baffert a second Triple Crown winner three years after pulling off the feat with American Pharoah, returned to the racetrack after the routine day off that followed his half-mile work in 46 4/5 seconds Tuesday. Accompanied by assistant trainer Jimmy Barnes aboard his pony Sunny, Justify jogged once around the mile track under exercise rider Humberto Gomez.

“He had a very good jog day,” Barnes said. “He stayed with the pony the whole way. Very strong, very happy. Couldn’t be happier.”

Restoring Hope, third in Aqueduct’s Grade 2 Wood Memorial before finishing 12th in the Grade 3 Pat Day Mile on the Derby undercard, had an identical training session in jogging a mile. “Very good,” Barnes said.

Trainer Bob Baffert is expected back from California this weekend, with Justify likely to have his final workout on Monday before flying to New York on Wednesday, June 6.

Just what Romans wants: Uneventful mornings for Free Drop Billy

Free Drop Billy had an uneventful morning galloping 1 5/8 miles under Juan Segundo during Churchill Downs’ 7:30-7:40 a.m. slot restricted to Belmont Stakes horses — and that’s the way trainer Dale Romans wants it.

“Very uneventful,” Romans said. “He did what he was supposed to do, and he did it the way he’s supposed to do it. That’s all I’m asking for.”

He called preparing a horse for the Belmont Stakes “a balancing act.”

“Very few people know how to prepare a horse for a mile and a half,” he said. “You only do it once a year. I’ve kind of learned to back off a bit more, like [D. Wayne Lukas] is talking about, not pushing them over the hump.”

While genetics come into play at the longest distances most of these horses will ever race, Romans said of training regimen, “you have to help them a little bit, but you just don’t want to get into that spot of overdoing it.”

Also at Churchill, Winchell Thoroughbreds’ Tenfold, who finished third by a total of three-quarters of a length in the Preakness in his fourth career start, had a typical 1 1/2-mile gallop under exercise rider Angel Garcia.

“He’ll go two miles tomorrow and breeze on Saturday,” said Scott Blasi, who oversees the Churchill Downs operation for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, the 2016 Belmont Stakes winner with Creator. “The horse is doing great. His weight’s good; he’s putting on weight. We hopefully will get a good race in him.

“He has a lot of personality to him right now, a lot of life. I like what I see so far.”

Stewart seeks second G2 Woody Stephens with Givemeaminit

Givemeaminit proved he’s more than just a very good Louisiana-bred when in his second start he was third by a total of a half-length in Saratoga’s Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes last summer behind the talented duo of Sporting Chance and Free Drop Billy. Now he’ll attempt to earn his first stakes victory in the Grade 2, $400,000 Woody Stephens presented by Mohegan Sun on the Belmont Stakes card.

Expectations were high for Givemeaminit after Murray Valene’s colt finished fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar. But his Kentucky Derby aspirations ended with a well-beaten fourth in the Louisiana Derby, with trainer Dallas Stewart deciding the horse is better-suited to shorter races. Givemeaminit ran Derby Day, but in the Pat Day Mile (G3), finishing third.

“Nice horse. We ran him in the Pat Day Mile, and he ran really good,” said Stewart, who won the Woody Stephens for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs two years ago with Tom’s Ready. “This is the next logical spot. Similar to Tom’s Ready, maybe backing up in distance a little bit. He’s on his game. He ran really well the other day; it was a hard-fought race. It’s going to be a hard-fought race in the Woody Stephens, so we have to give him a shot.”

Givemeaminit is a son of 22-time stakes-winner Star Guitar, at $1.7 million the all-time wealthiest racehorse born in Louisiana and who is off to a fast start as a stallion in his home state. While Stewart races at New Orleans’ Fair Grounds in the winter, his base the other eighth months of the year is Kentucky and New York, so Givemeaminit has only raced twice against fellow Louisiana-breds. After being second in his debut at Saratoga (also to Sporting Chance), Givemeaminit ran in four straight graded stakes before finishing second in the December 31 Louisiana Futurity against state-breds. 

Stewart put him in a six-furlong Louisiana-bred maiden race Jan. 28 to give him a confidence booster, with Givemeaminit romping by eight lengths. He subsequently was a troubled eighth in the Risen Star and improved to fourth in the Louisiana Derby.

“Murray likes to try to win big races, and he’s a nice horse,” Stewart said. “It would be a big thing if he would win the Woody Stephens and win for Star Guitar. And $400,000 — let’s go for it.”

Stewart said Javier Castellano will ride Givemeaminit in the Woody Stephens. Castellano was on the colt in the Breeders’ Cup and Louisiana Derby.

“He made a big move coming off the turn in the Breeders’ Cup and just kind of ‘hung,’” Stewart said of Givemeaminit. “That’s what he’s done with two-turn races.”

Hofburg ‘relaxed,’ ‘well within himself’ in Thursday gallop

Juddmonte Farm’s Belmont Stakes probable Hofburg has continued to train well at Bill Mott’s Saratoga base, said the Hall of Fame trainer. Hofburg, second in the Grade 1 Florida Derby in his stakes debut and seventh in the Kentucky Derby last time out, galloped 1 5/8 miles over the Oklahoma training track Thursday morning.

“He looked really good. He was relaxed, which is a good thing, well within himself,” said Mott. “So far, we feel pretty good about him.”

With rain forecasted in the Saratoga Springs area Thursday evening into Friday morning, Mott is weighing his options when to breeze the chestnut Tapit colt this weekend. Hofburg worked last Friday, going six furlongs in 1:13.43 in company.

“He’s going into this race nicely,” Mott said. “Of course, we need to breeze again and make the move down to Belmont. We hope the ship goes good and he adapts well down there. But it seems like when we move him , he falls into the routine pretty well. He’s pretty good about everything.”

Arkansas Horse of the Year Heavenly Score on target for G3 Intercontinental

Triple Crown hopeful Justify is scheduled to arrive at John Terranova’s Belmont Park barn on Wednesday, but the trainer is well aware of Bob Baffert’s other incoming stakes candidates for the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, including the Intercontinental-bound Faypien, winner of the Grade 2 Summer Oaks.

Terranova has his own contender for the Grade 3, $200,000 Intercontinental in Heavenly Score, who will be seeking her first stakes score in the seven-furlong turf race for fillies and mares, one of three stakes on Thursday, opening day of the festival.

The Arkansas-bred Even the Score filly, out of the Holy Bull mare Celestial Crown, comes into the Intercontinental off a seventh-place finish in the Interborough at Aqueduct back in January, her lone 2018 start.

“In that race, she didn’t get off well and didn’t fire,” said Terranova. “The time before [a seven-length optional claiming victory in December 2017] she got away comfortably. But, after the Interborough, we decided to back up and freshen her for the spring and summer, and she’s been training lights out.”

At ease on both grass and dirt, Heavenly Score is 1-for-1 on the Widener Turf at Belmont, winning an optional claimer going the Intercontinental distance on October 9. She’s had three straight works on the turf this month, said Terranova, most recently covering five furlongs on 1:01.12 on May 28.

“I know it’s a quality group but she’s on top of her game,” said Terranova. “The one-turn, seven-eighths is perfect for getting her back on grass.”

Last year, the Curragh Stables miss won four of 10 starts, with one second and one third, bankrolling $222,750 and earning Arkansas Horse of the Year honors in the process.

“We got a phone call, and she got an award and everything,” said Terranova. “I don’t think she’s set foot in Arkansas since she was a foal, but she’s their 2017 Horse of the Year!”