Posts Tagged ‘julio canani’

The upcoming long holiday weekend provides an opportunity for three tracks–Hollywood Park, Aqueduct and Churchill Downs—to run a combined total of 16 graded stakes, many with entrants coming out of the Breeders’ Cup Championships held earlier this month at Santa Anita.

Churchill Downs has carded the 1 1/8-mile G2 Falls City as the 11th of 12 races on Thursday. Unbridled Belle hopes to go out a winner before she heads for the breeding shed. The 6-year-old mare has accumulated almost $1.9 million in earnings and will face off against another millionaire, Swift Temper, who has gotten the best of Unbridled Belle in their three previous meetings this year.

Friday’s feature race, the G2 Clark Handicap, has attracted a stellar field of competitors, including Macho Again, Bullsbay, Etched, Blame and Einstein, the highweight in the 1 1/8-mile dirt event. The 7-year-old will start from the far outside post (14) in what will be the 30th and final race of his career. With regular rider Julien Leparoux in Japan, Rajiv Maragh will take over in the irons. The G3 River City Handicap (race 9) at 1 1/8 miles on the turf, is on the undercard.

Churchill’s meet closes on Saturday with the running of twin G2 stakes, the Golden Rod for fillies, and the Kentucky Jockey Club for colts and geldings. Sassy Image, winner of the opening weekend’s Pocahontas Stakes, as well as the runner-up in that race, Decelerator, are expected to start. The upset winner of the Iroquois, Thiskyhasnolimit, is the 2-1 favorite in the field of nine in the Kentucky JC. Both races are 1 1/16 miles on the main track.

Aqueduct hosts the G3 Fall Highweight on Thursday, the G2 Top Flight Handicap on Friday, and a quartet of graded stakes on Saturday, highlighted by the G1 Hill ‘n’ Dale Cigar Mile. Pyro, winner of the Forego and Kodiak Kowboy, victor of the Vosburgh, are co-highweights at 120 lbs. They will be facing DeFrancis winner Vineyard Haven, Bribon and Driven By Success. With the coupling of Pyro and Vineyard Haven, there will be only four betting interests.

Also on the Aqueduct’s Saturday card is the running of the 1 1/8-mile G1 Gazelle for 3-year-old fillies. Stardom Bound will be in the spotlight here; she had a string of five consecutive G1 wins to her credit, before finishing third in the Ashland in April. This will be her first start on the dirt. The other two graded stakes will focus on juveniles–the G2 Demoiselle for fillies, and the G2 Remsen for males, both run at 1 1/8 miles on the dirt. The winners of these races may be pointing to a race on the first Saturday in May next year.

The G1 Citation kicks off the three-day Hollywood Park Turf Festival on Friday and features a field of ten older horses going 1 1/16 miles. Cowboy Cal, winner of the Oak Tree Mile, will attempt to redeem himself in the Citation after a 10th-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. Proudinsky and Fluke, also entered in the Citation, will both be saddled by Bobby Frankel’s long-time assistant Humberto Ascanio, who is now the trainer of record for the late Hall of Famer’s starters.

Saturday’s Hollywood stakes are the G1 Matriarch for fillies and mares going a mile on grass, supported by the G3 Generous, for two-year-olds, also at a mile. The Matriarch pits two outstanding mares against each other—Ventura and Diamondrella. Both were last seen at the Breeders’ Cup; Ventura was second in the Filly & Mare Sprint, while Diamondrella ran a disappointing 11th in the Turf Sprint. Following the Breeders’ Cup, Diamondrella changed barns and is now with jockey-turned-trainer Gary Stevens.

Hollywood’s Turf Festival concludes on Sunday with the running of the G1 Hollywood Derby and the G3 Miesque (a mile for 2-year-old fillies). In the 1 ¼-mile Hollywood Derby, we can expect to see Take the Points square off against Battle of Hastings. Another intriguing entry is Black Bear Island. Now with Julio Canani, the son of Sadler’s Wells was previously conditioned by Aiden O’Brien.

By Ray Paulick
The Pamplemousse turned in a dominating performance over Santa Anita’s Pro-Ride surface Saturday, winning the Sham Stakes easily by six lengths in a wire-to-wire victory that stamped him as a serious contender for the upcoming Santa Anita Derby and perhaps the Kentucky Derby. Florida shipper Take the Points finished second after chasing the winner throughout, with Mr. Hot Stuff third and Bourbon Bay fourth in the nine-furlong event that attracted a field of 10 3-year-old colts and geldings.

The Pamplemousse, owned by a partnership that includes Alex Solis Jr., son of the winning rider, is trained by Julio Canani. The colt’s name, which means grapefruit in French, comes from a Del Mar, Calif., restaurant whose owners Jeffrey and Bill Strauss are also part of the colt’s ownership team, along with Carol Bienstock and Ann Winner.

The Pamplemousse covered the distance in 1:47.86 after setting fractions of :23.08, :46.51, 1:10.29, and 1:35.09. The son of the Cherokee Run stallion Kafwain out of Comfort Zone, by Rubiano, was bred in Kentucky by Fred and Nancy Mitchell’s Clarkland Farm, which sold him for $80,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July yearling sale to a pinhooking outfit, Vision Sales. The latter sold him at the OBS March sale of 2-year-olds in training to Alex Solis II Bloodstock for $150,000.

The Sham was The Pamplemousse’s second graded stakes victory following his wire to wire win in the San Rafael Stakes Jan. 17. It was his third win overall from five starts. He began his career with a fourth place effort in a maiden sprint Oct. 4 during the Oak Tree meeting at Santa Anita, then improved to third in another maiden sprint at Hollywood Park Nov. 8. The colt broke his maiden going 1 1/16 miles Dec. 14 at Hollywood, then came back one month later to win the San Rafael. Off that impressive victory he was sent off the 1-2 favorite in the Sham and paid $3 for the win.