Horse of the Week: Stopchargingmaria

Posted on by DerbyMateo

Owner Mike Repole has had good luck with at least two fillies named after his free-spending wife, Maria. The stakes winner Stopshoppingmaria earned nearly four times her $100,000 purchase price and ran second in the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1).

Now comes Stopchargingmaria. This filly came to Repole Stables with a $220,000 price tag that now seems a bargain after her dominant score in the July 20 Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) at Saratoga. The three-year-old miss now has four graded wins and $1,054,000 in the bank.

Winning a prestigous two-turn Grade 1 like the CCA Oaks didn’t seem likely early on based on Stopchargingmaria’s pedigree. She’s a daughter of Tale of the Cat, a speedy son of Storm Cat who is more known for siring speedy and early-developing runners. Stopshoppingmaria doesn’t get any stamina from her immediate female line either as she’s a daughter of the good sprinter and sprint sire Montbrook. In the CCA Oaks she came home in a respectable :13 and earned a 92 Beyer Speed Figure. She may really need to channel her second and third damsires, Kris S. and Sir Ivor, to capture he next expected assignment, the mile and one quarter Alabama Stakes (G1) on August 16.

Once consisdered a ‘classic’ for three-year-old fillies, the Coaching Club American Oaks has been won by such greats as Chris Evert, Ruffian, Davona Dale and Mom’s Command when it was still run at a mile and a half at Belmont Park. Stopchargingmaria is the fourth winner of the CCA Oaks in it’s current incarnation as a nine furlong event at Saratoga. The past two winners, Questing and Princess of Sylmar, have both gone on to capture the Alabama, the long-time Saratoga fixture for two-turn sophomore fillies.

While Stopchargingmaria will likely never be considered in the same class as Ruffian and Chris Evert etc., she has more than done her part to help keep Repole Stables in the black and to keep her namesake shopping and charging.

(originally published on http://www.myfantasystable.com)

The Mid-Year Awards

Posted on by DerbyMateo

We’re halfway through 2014 so it’s time for the Mid-Year Awards:

Older Male

Two-time defending Eclipse Award Horse of the Year Wise Dan earned a pair of Grade 1 victories in Kentucky this spring before his scary bout with colic. However, we’ll give this one to Palace Malice who has four graded wins this year by a combined 16 1/2 lengths. He overcome some trouble to conquer a stellar field in the Met Mile on Belmont Stakes Day and that win puts him over the top.

Older Female

The Belmont Stakes undercard had a very Breeders’ Cup feel to it and the Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1) essentially decided the Mid-Year Award in this division. Close Hatches fended off Princess of Sylmar with Eclipse Champion Beholder back in fourth. The First Defence filly is unbeaten in three starts this year, including another Grade 1 tally in the Apple Blossom Stakes (G1) at Oaklawn Park.

3YO Male

Three Grade 1 wins, including the Derby and Preakness make California Chrome a no-brainer here. But…we’ve always thought Shared Belief was a superstar and these two could meet twice later this year in California. It’s been over 40 years since a dual Classic winner didn’t get the Eclipse Award for champion 3YO male, but…

3YO Female

Untapable, no other filly is close. No other filly is a threat to her the second half of the year.

Sprinter

This division is very much up in the air. 2014 Grade 1-winning sprinters like Dads Caps (Carter S.) and Declassify (Triple Bend S.) don’t have an additional graded win to back up their claims. Dads Caps was in the field when Clearly Now dominated the Belmont Sprint Championship (G2) on July 5. There have been an awful lot of good horses who have run 7 furlongs at Belmont Park over the years but the track record for the distance now belongs to Clearly Now. Let’s give nod to him. Honorable mention goes to the three-year-old Bayern who posted perhaps the most impressive sprint performance of the year in the Woody Stephens Stakes (G2) on Belmont Day.

Turf

Two Grade 1’s for champ Wise Dan in 2014 keeps him on top of this division.

Filly & Mare Turf

A slight nod to the much-improved Coffee Clique here. Although both at a mile, she does have Grade 2 and Grade 1 wins over strong fields this year.

Horse of the Year

Califorina Chrome’s three important Grade 1 wins are certainly formidable but it’s hard to go with him when I think Palace Malice is simply a better horse. Palace Malice is the pick while for Mid-Year Horse of the Year while we look ahead to an exciting second half of 2014!

(originally published on http://www.myfantasystable.com)

Horse of the Week: Jojo Warrior

Posted on by DerbyMateo

There’s no doubt that Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Untapable is the clear leader of the 3YOF division in North America. However, after her next start against fillies in the upcoming Mother Goose Stakes (G1) she may well take on the boys in the Haskell Invitational (G1) and/or Travers Stakes (G1). This would leave the door open for some other sophomore lasses to take down the summer Grade 1’s at Saratoga and Summertime Oaks (G2) winner Jojo Warrior is one of several nice fillies who could benefit from and absent Untapable.

Formerly known as the Hollywood Oaks, the Summertime Oaks was contested at 8.5F over the Santa Anita main track for the first time on Saturday, June 21. It was also the first two-turn race for the well-traveled Jojo Warrior. The Zayat Stables colorbearer made her first four starts from distances ranging from 5.5F to 7F at Del Mar, Oaklawn Park, Churchill Downs and Pimlico. She scored in her debut at Del Mar last September and picked up a couple of blacktype checks in Oaklawn Park’s Instant Racing Stakes and the Miss Preakness Stakes at Pimlico. Her only off-the-board finish was a fifth-place run in a deep edition of the Eight Belles Stakes (G3) on Kentucky Oaks Day.

Trainer Bob Baffert put blinkers back on Jojo Warrior for her two-turn debut which may have helped her focus and harness her natural speed. Under Martin Garcia, JoJo Warrior went right to the front after the break in the Summertime Oaks and there was no catching her from there. The final margin of victory was 5 1/4 lengths.

The filly is the fourth stakes winner from 94 first crop foals by Pioneerof the Nile, a multiple Grade 1 winner by Empire Maker, who too raced in the powder blue and yellow Zayat Stables silks. Jojo Warrior is also the fourth stakes winner out of the mare Carson Jen, who now has to be considered a major contender for Broodmare of the Year honors. She’s already the dam of Bernardini’s first North American Grade 1 winner, 2010 Frizette Stakes (G1) victress A Z Warrior. Also to her credit is the graded stakes-winning juvenile E Z Warrior (by Exploit) and the four-time listed winner J Z Warrior (Harlan’s Holiday).

Behind Jojo Warrior on Saturday were a couple of other well-bred fillies. Runner-up Live for Now is by Tiznow out of the mare Turko’s Turn, making her a half-sister to 2001 Horse of the Year Point Given. Third-place finisher Front Range is a daughter of three-time leading sire Giant’s Causeway out of the multiple Grade 1-winning Seattle Slew mare Lakeway. Lakeway, in fact, took the 1994 edition of Hollywood/Summertime Oaks when it was still rated a Grade 1.

Surprisingly, the Summertime Oaks is the last main track Graded stakes in Southern California for sophomore fillies. With this being the case we’ll likely see Jojo Warrior hit the road once again to Saratoga where Baffert will have the option of keeping her at two turns in races like the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) and Alabama Stakes (G1) or target Grade 1 sprints like the Prioress Stakes and Test Stakes. Much will likely depend on where Untapable ends up and Baffert and the Zayats are no doubt hoping that filly tries her mettle against the boy

Originally published on http://www.MyFantasyStable.com

Horse of the Week: Moonshine Mullin

Posted on by DerbyMateo

While rumors swirl over exactly where the Breeders’ Cup will be held after 2014, we know for sure that this fall the big event will be held at Santa Anita. And we also know that Moonhine Mullin has already earned a berth in the Classic field after his gutsy win in the Stephen Foster Handicap (G1) on Saturday night.

The modestly-bred Moonshine Mullin has run for $40,000 claiming tag year but was a runner with apparent promise earlier in his career. After breaking his maiden in his second start as a juvenile in November of 2010, he was runner-up in the Display Stakes in his next outing. During his sophomore campaign he was the winner of the Victoria Park Stakes by a nose over eventual Sovereign Award winner Alpha Bettor. His following start was a second place finish (at 37-1) to multiple Grade 1 winner Stay Thirsty in the Jim Dandy S. (G2) at Saratoga. For the next two-plus seasons, though, the bay horse could manage only a pair wins at the Allowance/Optional Claiming level.

Then the calendar turned to 2014 and Moonshine Mullin turned into a monster. 

On January 20 the Randy Morse-trainee placed third in an Optional Claimer at Oaklawn Park. He hasn’t lost since, winning an Optional Claimer next time (in which he was entered for a $40,000 tag), then a straight $80,000 claimer, then another Optional Claimer (no tag this time). Then came the stakes races. There were two Grade 1 winners and two more Classic-placed runners in the Alysheba Stakes (G2) on Kentucky Oaks Day but Moonshine Mullin beat them all. Those two Grade 1 winners, champion Will Take Charge and fellow Travers Stakes (G1) winner Golden Ticket, were back again for the Stephen Foster along with multiple Graded winners like Revolutionary and Departing. Moonshine Mullin again used his speed and grit under jockey Calvin Borel to repulse all challengers to get the money. His speed and courage are traits he likely inherited from his sire.

Moonshine Mullin is by Albert the Great, a son of 1994 Kentucky Derby winner Go For Gin. A leading runner of his generation for the owner/trainer combination of Tracy Farmer and Nick Zito, Albert the Great won the 2000 Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) and placed in six other Grade 1 events, including the Breeders Cup Classic (G1). After spending his early days at Three Chimneys Farm in Kentucky he now stands at Pin Oak Lane Farm in Pennsylvania. While he’s averages but a single stakes winner in each of his first nine crops, Moonshine Mullin is Albert the Great’s third career Grade 1 winner after Wood Memorial winner Nobiz Like Shobiz and Donn Handicap/Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Albertus Maximus. 

The Whitney Handicap (G1) is the next logical spot for any top handicap horse in the midwest and east coast. Moonshine Mullin has proven he belongs in a race like that and, more importantly, he’s proved he’s Breeders’ Cup-worthy.

(originally published on http://www.myfantasystable.com)