Honey Creek Farms

DUBAI, UAE—A 6-year-old gelding with 11 Group wins to his name and 13 in total has very little left to prove, but when Vazirabad (Fr) (Manduro {Ger}) lines up for Saturday’s G2 Dubai Gold Cup he has history to make. No horse in the 22-year span of the Dubai World Cup meeting has ever won in three consecutive years but the Aga Khan’s homebred is currently a very short-priced favourite to do just that.

This year, however, it could be harder than ever, with a high-class field assembled to take him on at Meydan, including the Ascot Gold Cup winner Big Orange (GB) (Duke Of Marmalade {Ire}). The Godolphin flagbearer Rare Rhythm (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), who got the better of Vazirabad on his first run for 130 days back on March 1 in the G3 Nad Al Sheba Trophy, is another of the six of the first seven home in that race, run over two furlongs shorter than the two-mile Gold Cup, who will meet again on Saturday.

“What happens in the race, the tactics of the race, will be very important for him,” says trainer Alain de Royer Dupre as the sun rises over the main track at Meydan and Vazirabad completes an easy canter behind his lead horse Canndera (Fr) with just over two days to go until his date with destiny.

“I think we have three big opponents: Big Orange, Torcedor—he looks very good—and Charlie Appleby’s horse [Rare Rhythm]. He beat him very easily but the distance is longer this time and there wasn’t enough pace for Vazirabad that day. But it’s always difficult to win the same race three times.”

In Vazirabad’s early days, it was perhaps difficult for the trainer to imagine that he would win even one race, let alone a prestigious contest on the other side of the world. Unraced at two, Vazirabad was reluctant to participate initially. A gelding operation helped slowly to change his mind, though when he eventually consented to race he finished an unpromising sixth of nine on debut in the May of his 3-year-old season.

“The second time he raced he was second but after that he won seven races—bang, bang, bang,” de Royer-Dupre recalls.

That septet of wins included his Dubai Gold Cup debut when making his first start after winning the G1 Prix Royal-Oak the previous October. The following season, he preceded his Gold Cup appearance with a second-place finish to a Godolphin runner, Beautiful Romance (GB). Omen-seekers will take comfort in the fact that he subsequently overhauled the filly in the Gold Cup, with Sheikhzayedroad (GB) and Big Orange back in the minor places.

On the track in the mornings, Vazirabad, though gelded and now a grown-up, still doesn’t look the most straightforward of rides, often carrying his head askew and cocking his jaw. His trainer heaps praise on the horse’s regular rider Eric Alloix, who helps keep at bay his wayward tendencies of old.

De Royer-Dupre says, “He’s not difficult to train. In fact, he’s very amusing. When he’s with his normal rider he does the minimum and is relaxed. If you put another rider on him he’s completely different. It’s incredible. He knows the job and he’s very intelligent. If you change his routine he is not happy. He likes to have a say in what’s happening.”

There’s a twinkle in the trainer’s eye as he speaks and, despite a list of major race victories around the world, de Royer-Dupre clearly has a fondness for the equine rascal.

He adds, “It’s so different to train a horse for a long time because we know everything about him. It’s very easy to understand what he likes and what he is capable of doing. We are like a couple.”

Indeed, having a horse in training through to the age of six for his principal owner the Aga Khan is unusual. Dolniya (Fr) (Azamour {Ire}) stayed in training at four to give de Royer-Dupre the first of three consecutive wins at Dubai’s biggest meeting when winning the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic in 2015. Since then, the trainer, the Aga Khan Studs’ French manager Georges Rimaud and racing manager Nemone Routh have been regular visitors to the UAE in March.

“In quiet times it keeps the flag up there and it gives us the opportunity to travel a bit,” says Rimaud. “From the breeding perspective this is not necessarily what we look for but for racing it’s really nice to have a horse like Vazirabad who carries on. Generally in racing we are so quick to take them out of training at three.”

For Visorama (Ire), the Jean-Luc Lagardere-bred dam of Vazirabad who has inherited his grey coat from his paternal sire Linamix (Fr), there have been lean times since producing her most talented son. However, on the way through she has a 2-year-old colt by the pensioned Sinndar (Ire) and a yearling colt by Charm Spirit (Ire). Her loyalty to the home team at Haras de Bonneval continues with her covering sire for 2017, the G1 Prix Ganay winner Dariyan (Fr), another graduate of de Royer-Dupre’s training establishment.

While his young half-brothers wait in the wings, Vazirabad should continue to provide some high-class outings for his entourage.

“I think it could be good timing to go to Ascot for the Gold Cup this year but only if the weather is not too hot,” says his trainer. “It’s such a demanding track and I don’t want to injure the horse because he’s very generous and I don’t want to ask too much. And now that the Goodwood Cup is a Group 1 that could be a good one for him as you have to be malleable to race at Goodwood and you have a long straight for the finish.”

De Royer-Dupre will not be asking his old friend, consistent though he is, to take a shot at winning the inaugural Weatherbys Hamilton Stayers’ Million, which was launched on Monday.

He says, “It’s impossible because we have to go for the preparation race in England and then come back. If you like your horse it’s too much to ask. I would prefer to have a preparation race in France and then to go for the big one [Ascot Gold Cup] in England after that. It’s not easy to move all the time, especially travelling when it’s hot. It takes up a lot of a horse’s energy.”

With the mercury predicted to nudge the 35-degree mark in Dubai on Saturday, Vazirabad will need every ounce of Gallic sangfroid he can muster. In Christophe Soumillon, his partner for every stakes victory, including three Group 1 wins in France, he has found the perfect ally with whom to keep calm and carry on into the history books.

Larry Best’s OXO Equine came out on top for a $1.2-million 2-year-old colt by Into Mischief at Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Wednesday.

He is the second foal out of the winning Lawyer Ron mare Assets of War. His second dam is GSW Added Asset (Lord At War {Arg}). Irish Smoke (Smoke Glacken), winner of the 2007 GI Spinaway S., appears under the third dam.

The :10 flat bullet breezer brought $190,000 as a yearling from Eddie Woods’s Quarter Pole Enterprises at last year’s FTKJUL sale. Hip 77, bred in Kentucky by Stoneway Farm, was consigned by Eddie Woods, Agent XVIII.

Australia’s 17-time Group 1 winner and the world’s co-highest rated horse, Winx (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}), will not embark on an international campaign this year, trainer Chris Waller announced on Wednesday. The mare will race next in the G1 Queen Elizabeth S. at The Championships on Apr. 14.

“Following lengthy discussions between the owners, [jockey] Hugh Bowman and I, it has been decided that Winx will remain in Australia following the Queen Elizabeth S. and not embark on an international campaign,” Waller said. “It is our plan to continue to race her into the spring and hopefully Australia can play host to international visitors during our carnival. We are humbled by the level of support, respect and compassion that has been offered by the international representatives looking to attract Winx and congratulate each of them on the professionalism displayed  towards us during this process.”

“As a group we have all held ambitions to travel horses internationally and it has been our dream to have  a horse race in front of Her Majesty The Queen at Royal Ascot, however this decision is not about us and must be based on the best interests of Winx.”

The Emirates Racing Authority held its single-session Horses-In-Training Sale on Monday, which grossed AED3,041,500 (US$828,182/£585,084/€667,730). Topping proceedings was Galvanize (lot 18a), who sold for AED525,000 (US$142,954/£100,998/€115,260) to Hamid Radan.

By Medaglia d’Oro, the four-time winner is out of MGSW Enthused (Seeking the Gold) and originally brought 48,000gns from Abdul Mohsen Al Abdul Kareem back in the 2016 Tattersalls October Autumn Horses in Training Sale. The Kentucky-bred has recently saluted twice at Meydan, winning a pair of 1600-metre dirt handicaps on Nov. 9 and Dec. 7, respectively for Kareem and trainer Doug Watson. He is a half-brother to GSW Norman Invader (War Chant) and to the dam of G3 Tercentenary S. scorer Energizer (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}). G1 Coronation S. heroine Magic of Life (Seattle Slew) is the 5-year-old entire’s second dam, while triple GI Pattison Canadian International S. hero Joshua Tree (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}) and South African MG1SW Inara (SAf) (Trippi) also trace to her.

Lot 60, MGSW Le Bernardin (Bernardini) was the second dearest lot on the day and will be joining the Russian stallion ranks. The 9-year-old was purchased by Zalim Kashirgou for AED220,000 (US$59,904/£42,317/€48,296). Successful in Monmouth’s GIII Pegasus S. in 2012, the half-brother to GSW Taittinger Rose (Menifee) captured the 2016 and 2017 runnings of the G2 Al Maktoum Challenge Round 1 in 23 starts, but has not been seen in action this season. The $325,000 2010 FTSAR yearling’s second dam is GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies victress Twilight Ridge (Cox’s Ridge).

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Fasig-Tipton hosted the under-tack show for its Gulfstream Selected 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale under bright sunny skies and temperatures in the 70s Monday in South Florida. A total of 11 juveniles shared the fastest furlong time of :10 flat, while a filly by Orb was the quickest of seven to drill a quarter-mile when she completed the distance in :21 flat.

“We had a really good day,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. “Conditions were fair throughout, the track was very consistent from beginning to end and conditions were very similar from beginning to end. The horses seemed to breeze really well consistently across the board.”

Gulfstream’s grandstand was crowded with a wide swathe of potential buyers, from overseas shoppers, to trainers, bloodstock agent and prominent owners. Among conditioners in attendance were Mark Casse, Steve Asmussen, Jonathan Thomas, Wesley Ward, Ken McPeek, Kiaran McLaughlin, Barclay Tagg, Chad Brown and Patrick Biancone. Bloodstock agents in attendance included Alex Solis, Patti Miller, Tom McGreevy, Jamie McCalmont, Marette Farrell, Donato Lanni, Pete Bradley, David Loder, Kerri Radcliffe, Patrick Lawley-Wakelin, Hubert Guy, Kim Valerio, Deuce Greathouse, Ben McElroy, Jacob West and Jane Buchanan.

Larry Best, whose OXO Equine LLC purchased the $1.5-million topper at last year’s Gulfstream sale, watched the breezes Monday, as did Stonestreet owner Barbara Banke and WinStar Farm President Elliott Walden. Bob LaPenta’s racing manager John Panagot was in attendance, as well as Little Red Feather Racing’s Billy Koch and Gainesway’s Brian Graves.

Ciaran Dunne’s Wavertree Stables sent out 17 juveniles to work over the Gulfstream oval Monday and came away with five of the 11 fastest furlong workers on the day.

“For the most part we were happy,” Dunne said of his day. “We had a lot of very solid breezes. There were one or two we thought might have gone a hair better, but when you’ve got that many of them, nothing ever goes totally the way you want. But for the most part, they showed up like we thought they would.”

Steve Venosa’s SGV Thoroughbreds sent out five horses to work Monday and came away with a bullet worker and four horses who went in :10 1/5. Venosa agreed conditions remained consistent throughout the under-tack show.

“We had five horses here, so we had one horse in each set and they each went up there and all worked equally,” Venosa said. “I don’t think there was really any difference from the first set to the last set.”

SGV’s bullet worker was hip 31, a New York-bred colt by Scat Daddy. The juvenile is out of Sanford Bacon’s homebred multiple stakes winner Risky Rachel (Limehouse) and it’s a family Venosa knows well.

“We had that horse’s mother on the farm,” Venosa explained. “We ran her off the farm over at Tampa Bay Downs and she broke the track record over there. With the help of some people, we were able to get her to Scat Daddy. We had the foal up in New York and the colt has been on our farm since he was a weanling. He’s been a pleasure to be around. It’s kind of unique that we were able to train the mother and then to have the son come here and perform the way he did. They both have a lot of stretch, a lot of size, but the best quality is his mind. They both have the same mind and nothing but class.”

Heading into Wednesday’s auction, activity at the barns has already been brisk, according to Dunne.

“The traffic has been really good,” he said. “We’ve been showing throughout the week. It seems like the usual faces are here and a few different ones and a lot of overseas buyers. So I think they’ll have the market. It’s just a question of having what they want. It’s going to be the same thing, between the works and the vets and the gallop-outs and the inspections, there are a lot of bridges to cross. The ones that fall into the patterns they are looking for, will sell really, really well. Hopefully there are enough guys who are willing to think outside the box a little bit and give a horse a chance or measure their buying to their budget. Just from my perspective, having been here throughout the week watching horses train, I think there are a lot of really nice horses here. Hopefully they are received that way.”

The Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale will be held Wednesday in the track’s paddock beginning at 3 p.m.

A trip to Royal Ascot for the G1 Diamond Jubilee S. is on the agenda for dual Group 1 winner Shoals (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}). According to her trainer Anthony Freedman the 3-year-old filly will point towards the G1 Robert Sangster S. at Morphettville in May as a stepping stone towards the Ascot race, last won by an Australian horse when Black Caviar (Aus) (Bel Esprit {Aus}) was successful in 2012. “We are just treading water with her at the moment,” Freedman told Racing.com on Monday. “She’ll probably go to the Sangster so won’t go back to Sydney. We just thought Sangster was the perfect race and if she won there, I think there would be a strong push to do the UK thing. It’s certainly still an option,” he added. Shoals boasts an impressive race record, only once finishing out of the top two in nine starts and having won the G1 Myer Classic at Flemington last November, she atoned for her only below par run when winning the G1 Surround S. at Randwick on her last start earlier this month.

Trainer Todd Fincher had sent out 26 winners from 109 starters at the Sunland Park meet when the field went to post for Sunday’s GIII Sunland Derby, but his 27th victory was undoubtedly the sweetest when Runaway Ghost bounded home a decisive winner of the New Mexico track’s signature race. The Joe Peacock homebred made a swift move to bust the race open coming off the far turn and held resolutely to give both owner and trainer their respective first graded stakes tallies ever.

Taking solid play as the 7-2 second choice as the lone local-based horse in a field of 12, Runaway Ghost went around the first turn in the five path and made steady progress on the outside in midpack behind a half-mile carved out by All Out Blitz (Concord Point) in :45.80. Wide again into the second turn, he swept past the leaders in the four path and opened up a sizable advantage turning for home. With no real threats in midstretch, he coasted across the wire safely clear of Dream Baby Dream.

“We know he’s legit,” Fincher said. “The problem with him is he’s a little headstrong early in the race. We tried to work to get him to relax better. We had a long run to the first turn and I figured we’d be a bit wide, but that’s better than having a horse laying on us…Credit to the jockey [Tracy Hebert], he did a great job.”

Joe Peacock Sr., a Texan who initially became involved in racing through Quarter Horses in the ’60s and ’70s, eventually moved on to breeding and racing Thoroughbreds [click here for a December 2017 story by TDN‘s Jessica Martini] with his son Joe Peacock, Jr. After Runaway Ghost began his career with two wins from four starts in California with trainer Mike Machowsky, Peacock elected to transfer Runaway Ghost to Fincher, who also campaigned the colt’s dam, 10-time winner and $626,035 earner Rose’s Desert, from 2010-2013. The colt immediately responded with a score in the Jan. 28 Riley Allison S. and a runner-up finish in the Feb. 25 Mine That Bird Derby.

“He’s number one in the Thoroughbreds I’ve ever had,” said Peacock in the winner’s circle after the Sunland Derby. “When I sent him over to Todd, Todd thought he might be a nice horse. If he thought so, I know I thought so.”

For his win, Runaway Ghost earned 50 qualifying points toward the GI Kentucky Derby, effectively guaranteeing the colt a spot in the starting gate on the first Saturday in May. When asked about future plans, Fincher said he would wait to see how Runaway Ghost emerged from Sunday’s effort before making any commitments.

“We all want to go to the Kentucky Derby,” Fincher said. “We’ll put the horse first and let him tell us where we should go.”

Pedigree Notes:

Rose’s Desert–the only broodmare owned by the Peacocks–produced a colt by Curlin in 2016 and a filly by Ghostzapper in 2017. She was bred back to Mineshaft.

Sunday, Sunland Park

SUNLAND DERBY-GIII, $800,000, SUN, 3-25, 3yo, 1 1/8m, 1:49.20, ft.
1–RUNAWAY GHOST, 122, c, 3, by Ghostzapper
1st Dam: Rose’s Desert (MSW, $626,035), by Desert God
2nd Dam: Miss Glen Rose, by Peaks and Valleys
3rd Dam: Snippet, by Alysheba
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($240,000 RNA Ylg ’16 KEESEP).
O/B-Joe R Peacock (KY); T-Todd W. Fincher; J-Tracy J. Hebert.
$400,000. Lifetime Record: 7-4-2-0, $563,510. Werk Nick
Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Dream Baby Dream, 122, c, 3, Into Mischief–Galetoire, by
Songandaprayer. ($20,000 Wlg ’15 KEENOV; $210,000 Ylg ’16
KEESEP; $210,000 2yo ’17 OBSMAR). O-Dream Baby Dream
Racing Stable; B-Pegasus Stud LLC (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen.
$176,000.
3–Peace, 122, c, 3, Violence–Queen’s Triomphe, by Cure the
Blues. ($37,000 RNA Wlg ’15 KEENOV; $50,000 Ylg ’16 FTKJUL;
$75,000 Ylg ’16 FTKOCT; $280,000 2yo ’17 OBSAPR).
O-Spendthrift Farm LLC & Town and Country Racing, LLC;
B-Grade I Bloodstock & Tony Holmes (KY); T-Richard E.
Mandella. $96,000.
Margins: 2 3/4, 6, NK. Odds: 3.90, 16.30, 4.20.
Also Ran: Seven Trumpets, Dark Vader, Choo Choo, Shane Zain, All Out Blitz, Prince Lucky, New York Central, Hollywood Star, Fortified Effort. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.

Ed DeRosa of TwinSpires.com takes on TDN’s Steve Sherack and Brian DiDonato as they handicap each prep race leading up to the GI Kentucky Derby. The three will make $100 Win/Place bets –highest bankroll after the Lexington S. wins.

DeROSA: GII Louisiana Derby Result – Noble Indy refused to lose at 5-2.
DeROSA BANKROLL: $2930.

GIII Sunland Derby – We’ll stick with picking an also ran from the local prep in the big race in the Sunland Derby and favor Mine That Derby runner-up Runaway Ghost. The Ghostzapper colt should like the added distance, and local connections won’t attract the money the national outfits do when shipping in to New Mexico. Runaway Ghost on top! Selection: #11 Runaway Ghost (8-1).

SHERACK: GII Louisiana Derby Result – And I thought that was a rough beat last weekend with Pony Up. I guess I’ll take more place money (Lone Sailor was second at 9-1) for now, though.
SHERACK BANKROLL: $1910.

GIII Sunland Derby – Peace, always held in high regard by Hall of Famer Richard Mandella, may be primed for a breakthrough effort returning on surprisingly short notice here. While all eyes were on McKinzie and Bolt d’Oro, and rightfully so, Peace made a flashy move from far back on the far turn and came home in a very good :31.29 (only Bolt d’Oro was finishing faster in :31.20) while a well-beaten fourth in a GII San Felipe S. for the ages Mar. 10. I’m willing to give him a pass for his disappointing fifth with first-time blinkers in the GIII Robert B. Lewis, but it’s time for him step up now. Selection: #5 Peace (12-1).

DiDONATO: GII Louisiana Derby Result – Retirement Fund never threatened.
DiDONATO BANKROLL: $2590.

GIII Sunland Derby – With all the out of town shippers, it seems like Runaway Ghost might not get quite as much respect as he deserves. But he’s pretty much just as fast as anyone in here, and boasts an experience edge over a track that can be a bit quirky. I loved the way he sat patiently turning for home two back when a pair of rivals swarmed him before opening back up and cruising to victory. He took a lot of heat early last time, but ran on admirably to settle for second to underrated ‘TDN Rising Star’ Reride, who’s apparently running in the UAE Derby. Nine panels shouldn’t be an issue for this son of Ghostzapper, so if Runaway Ghost is able to sit a trip, he’s got just as good a shot as anyone. Selection: #11 Runaway Ghost (8-1).