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Woodward (G1) winner Global Campaign to train up to Breeders' Cup

by NYRA Press Office

• G1 Woodward winner Global Campaign to train up to Breeders' Cup
• G1 Preakness a possibility for Mystic Guide after G2 Jim Dandy win
• G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup likely next for Prioritize
• Code of Honor, Performer breeze three-eighths over Oklahoma training track
• Saturday's Cross Country Pick 5 returns $2,190; handles $43K

Sagamore Farm and WinStar Farm's Global Campaign earned a 104 Beyer Speed Figure for his frontrunning score in Saturday's Grade 1, $500,000 Woodward Handicap at Saratoga Race Course.

Trained by Stanley Hough and forwardly ridden by Luis Saez, Global Campaign was tracked throughout by Juddmonte Farms' regally-bred multiple graded-stakes winning millionaire Tacitus through splits of 24.65, 48.89 and 1:11.90 on the fast main track. 

A busy Saez kept to task on Global Campaign late in the final turn and repelled the challenge from Tacitus to secure a 1 ¾-length win. He covered 10 furlongs in a final time of 2:01.40

"It was quite a performance. I'm so proud of him," said Hough. "He came out of the race great and will be coming back to Churchill Downs later this morning."

A six-time winner from nine starts with purse earnings of $781,080, Global Campaign made the grade in the 2019 Grade 3 Peter Pan at Belmont Park and entered the Woodward from a frontrunning score on July 18 over Math Wizard in the Grade 3 Monmouth Cup.

Hough said Global Campaign overcame some minor issues and is now living up to his early promise.

"He's had a lot of issues with nagging kinds of things, but at Monmouth I think he turned the corner," said Hough. "He's been doing very well and his feet are better. We had a little problem with his feet after Monmouth with the shedding of a 'frog' [located on the underside of a horse's hoof], but that happens at some racetracks. For him, it's something that happens, but we were able to shoe him regularly for this race and he went into it fine."

Hough said Global Campaign will now train up to the Grade 1, $7 million Breeders' Cup Classic on November 7 at Keeneland Race Course.

"We're hoping if everything stays good that we can take him to the Breeders' Cup," said Hough. "We have 60 days, so the timing is good."

By Curlin, Global Campaign is out of the late A.P. Indy mare Globe Trot, who passed away from complications giving birth to Global Campaign. Globe Trot produced three foals including multiple stakes winner and multiple graded-stakes placed Sonic Mule and multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire Bolt d'Oro, who now stands at Spendthrift Farm.

Hough said Global Campaign has the credentials to be a successful stallion.

"I think Global Campaign is a really talented horse and with that pedigree, as far as being a stud goes, I don't think there's anybody more qualified than him," said Hough.

Hough said a more mature Global Campaign will hopefully be a handful for his opponents, rather than himself, in the Breeders' Cup.

"He's been his own worst enemy in the past," said Hough. "As a young horse he could be a little playful and some of the things that bothered him, he caused himself. But he's maturing, so I'm hoping he has at least one more good one in him."

G1 Preakness a possibility for Mystic Guide after G2 Jim Dandy win

Godolphin's Mystic Guide emerged from his triumph in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy at Saratoga in good order and shipped back to Fair Hill Training Center on Saturday evening, where trainer Michael Stidham is primarily stabled.

The sophomore Ghostzapper chestnut earned his first graded stakes victory in the 1 1/8-mile event over the Saratoga Race Course main track and arrived off a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Peter Pan on July 16 to Country Grammer.

Stidham said the Grade 1, $1 million Preakness Stakes on October 3 at Pimlico Race Course is a possibility for Mystic Guide.

"We're going to look at it and see how he trains these next couple of weeks," Stidham said. "He's already back at Fair Hill and looked good this morning. He came out of the race in good shape."

Never off the hoard in five career starts, Stidham said Mystic Guide had always touted himself as a horse with a bright future. Following a five-length maiden score at second asking in his two-turn debut in March at Fair Grounds, he finished third in a one-turn first level allowance race at Belmont Park which was won by Tap It to Win en route to the Peter Pan.

"He always showed us a lot of promise right from the beginning," Stidham said. "We stayed patient with him. We didn't put him in spots that he wasn't ready for. We tried to do the right thing by the horse, and it paid off yesterday. There was temptation in thinking about the Derby, but he didn't advance quickly enough to be in that picture."

Following Saturday's Grade 1 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, which was won by Authentic who kept heavy favorite Tiz the Law at bay, Stidham said the 3-year-old division appears to be wide open.

"I don't think that there's a big difference in a lot of the three-year-olds," Stidham said. "Tiz the Law was certainly the leader of the group, and then obviously he got beat yesterday. I think it opens the picture up and I think our horse is lightly raced and could be coming into his peak now and coming up to his best racing."

A Kentucky homebred, Mystic Guide is out of the three-time Grade 1-winning A.P. Indy mare Music Note. Stidham currently has Mystic Guide's half-brother Gershwin in his barn. The unraced 2-year-old son of Distorted Humor has been training forwardly at Fair Hill and Stidham said he could make his career debut soon.

"He's showing some early promise. He hasn't started yet but he's had some nice works," Stidham said. "There are a lot of similarities. They're big, strong colts and Gershwin has shown some early talent. He's another one that's going to be a two turn horse. We aren't in any rush with him. He'll make his first start in the month to six weeks."

G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup likely next for Prioritize

After making a good showing with a late-closing third in the Grade 1 Woodward at Saratoga Race Course, William L. Clifton, Jr.'s Prioritize will seek another engagement at such caliber in the Grade 1, $250,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup on October 10 at Belmont Park.

The 5-year-old son of Tizway was four to five wide heading into the first turn and tracked in fourth before making a late bid in upper stretch to complete the trifecta, finishing three lengths behind the victorious Global Campaign.

Never off the board in five starts over the main track, Prioritize made his debut over dirt for a $35,000 tag on December 20 going a one-turn mile at Aqueduct. Two starts later, he defeated a tough allowance bunch going 1 1/8 miles on July 25 at Saratoga.

Trainer H. James Bond said that the effort in his 1 ¼-mile debut in the Woodward gave him encouragement to try the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

"That's what we'll be pointing towards, we'll see what happens," said Bond, who finished second in the 1999 Jockey Club Gold Cup with Behrens. "He's a grinder and grinders are those mile and a quarter type horses to me. He came back excellent and the goal is to hopefully have him ready for the tenth of October."

The trip didn't go quite the way Bond envisioned it, but he said he was still happy with the effort that his horse put forth.

"The plan was to break and to get to the inside, save ground like we did in his last races," said Bond. "I thought he lost way too much ground to have a chance to win it and he still ran fantastic."

Bond expressed gratefulness in training for Clifton, who also owned Prioritize's sire Tizway - the winner of the 2011 Met Mile and Whitney Handicap.

"Mr. Clifton has always backed us and he said, 'You don't think you're biting off more than you can chew?' and I said 'Boss, this horse is really worthy of this chance' and needless to say he was," Bond said. "We've been together a long time and he's always let me play the play and throw the ball. That's ninety percent of it."

On Friday, Bond Racing's Rinaldi won his third stakes event when besting his New York-bred counterparts in the West Point, where he garnered a career-best 99 Beyer.

The son of Posse had worked in company with Prioritize in his past couple of breezes. 

"Both horses worked together the past couple of weeks and they both showed me so much positivity. Mentally and physically they were doing awesome," Bond said.

Rinaldi, who won last year's NYSSS Spectacular Bid at Belmont Park and the NYSSS Cab Calloway at Saratoga, was under consideration to be nominated for the Grade 1, $1 million Woodbine Mile on September 15, but instead will remain against New York-bred competition and target the $150,000 Mohawk on October 24 at Belmont Park.

"That will most likely be his next area," Bond said. "I was going to nominate to the Ricoh [Woodbine Mile] and I didn't because it comes up in 15 days. He looked like he came out of it well and it gives us some time to regroup. We're very lucky, we had a very, very fantastic Saratoga."

Code of Honor, Performer breeze three-eighths over Oklahoma training track

Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey breezed dual Grade 1 winner Code of Honor and graded stakes winner Performer over the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga Race Course on Sunday morning.

Owned by W.S. Farish, Code of Honor went three-eighths of a mile in 37.38 seconds while Performer, owned by Phipps Stable and Claiborne Farm, recorded his three-furlong move in 38.72 seconds.

Fourth in the Grade 1 Whitney last out, Code of Honor is on target for the Grade 2, $150,000 Kelso on October 3 at Belmont Park, which McGuaghey won with Hall of Famer Lure in 1993, when it was contested over the turf. 

Performer has not raced since winning the Grade 3 Discovery on November 30 at Aqueduct, and no definite future plans have been made for the son of Speightstown's next start. 

"They both worked fine," said McGaughey. "Performer is getting there. He's a big, heavy horse and Code of Honor is more of a light, efficient horse. He's a bit more advanced than Performer at this time, but Performer hasn't run in almost a year. Code of Honor has run three times this year so that's to be expected. But I was very pleased with both of their works."

A winner of last year's Grade 1 Runhappy Travers and Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup, Code of Honor is out of the graded stakes winning Dixie Union mare Reunited. 

Performer, a Kentucky homebred, is a half-brother to turf stakes winner Breaking the Rules and is out of the graded stakes placed A.P. Indy mare Protesting. He also is a direct descendant of undefeated Hall of Famer Personal Ensign.

Saturday's Cross Country Pick 5 returns $2,190; handles $43K

Saturday's Cross Country Pick 5, featuring action from Saratoga Race Course, Monmouth Park, Woodbine Racetrack, and Delaware Park returned $2,190 for selecting all five winners for the 50-cent wager. The sequence's total pool was $43,842.

Saturday's Cross Country Pick 5 kicked off with the Grade 2, $150,000 Jim Dandy where Goldophin homebred Mystic Guide [No. 7, $6.60] rallied from last-of-6 under Jose Ortiz to secure a three-quarter length score over late-running Liveyourbeastlife.

In the second leg, Make a Stand [No. 7, $10.80], with Jose Ferrer up for trainer Mike Trombetta, utilized a prominent trip to secure a narrow victory over deep-closing Beach Traffic in a full field of 3-year-olds and upward going one mile on the firm Monmouth Park turf.

Action then switched to Delaware Park as Lagom [No. 2, $21.20] provided the biggest price of the sequence when upsetting favored Bramble Bay by 4 ¾-lengths in an allowance races for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up at one mile and 70 yards on good turf.

In the penultimate leg from the Spa, Frank's Rockette [No. 5, $5.10], who was pipped to the point by Hello Beautiful, stalked from second before taking command and kicking clear to a 2 ½-length win in the Grade 2, $200,000 Prioress. Frank's Rockette, perfectly piloted by Junior Alvarado for Hall of Famer Bill Mott, covered the six-furlong sprint for sophomore fillies in a rapid 1:08.89, garnering an 89 Beyer.

Pink Lloyd [No. 7, $3.80], the prolific sprinter who earned Canada's Horse of the Year honors in 2017, surpassed the $2 million mark in earnings with a one-length win in the Grade 3, $125,000 Vigil at Woodbine Racetrack to close out the sequence. Trained by Canadian Hall of Famer Robert Tiller and piloted by Rafael Hernandez, the 8-year-old Pink Lloyd carried 128 pounds while covering six furlongs in 1:08.06 to earn his 23rd career stakes win and extend his current win streak to 10.

The minimum bet for the multi-track, multi-race wager is 50 cents. Wagering on the Cross Country Pick 5 is also available on track, on ADW platforms, and at simulcast facilities across the country. Every week will feature a mandatory payout of the net pool.

The Cross Country Pick 5 will continue each Saturday throughout the year. For more information, visit NYRABets.com.