Sunday, November 25, 2007
Anak Nakal, Zito Standouts Ready to Ship Out
Louisville, KY (November 25, 2007) --TODAY’S HEADLINES:
§ ANAK NAKAL, ZITO STANDOUTS READY TO SHIP OUT
§ HOLTHUS LOOKS TO FUTURE FOR UNBEATEN PURE CLAN
§ ROAD TO NEW ORLEANS LOOKS BRIGHTER FOR CARROLL BARN
ANAK NAKAL, OTHER ZITO STANDOUTS READY TO SHIP OUT – It was a quiet morning at Barn 36 on the day after Anak Nakal’s victory in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (Grade II) and Aquarian’s victory in the meet finale.
“They all came out of their races good,” said Heather Stark, an assistant to trainer Nick Zito. “They will leave Wednesday for Palm Meadows.”
Owned by Four Roses Thoroughbreds, Anak Nakal became the second major 2-year-old stakes winner on the grounds for Zito, who saddled Strike the Gold and Go for Gin to Kentucky Derby triumphs in 1991 and 1994, respectively.
The son of 1998 Belmont Stakes winner Victory Gallop arrived at Churchill Downs in early November after finishing second in his stakes debut in the Nashua (GIII) at Aqueduct on Oct. 28. He shipped in with Robert LaPenta’s undefeated War Pass, who likely locked up divisional honors with his victory in the Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (GI) at Monmouth Park on Oct. 27.
LaPenta already had one other runner here in Cool Coal Man, an allowance winner over the track Nov. 3. Cool Coal Man got caught up in a three-horse speed duel in the Kentucky Jockey Club and faded to seventh and last.
“He’s a better horse than that,” Zito said after the race. “Don’t write him off yet. I think you will hear from him next year.”
HOLTHUS NOW KNOWS WHAT HE HAS IN PURE CLAN – Lewis Lakin’s Pure Clan capped off a banner 2-year-old season on Saturday with her decisive two-length victory in the Golden Rod Stakes (GII) over C J’s Leelee.
The victory ran her undefeated streak to four and put her in line to try to become only the second filly to complete a Golden Rod-Kentucky Oaks double joining Silverbulletday, who accomplished the feat in 1998-99.
The successful year was one that veteran conditioner Bob Holthus could not have predicted as recently as three months ago.
“She has really been a surprise,” said Holthus, who won his 11th Churchill Downs stake Saturday. “She broke her maiden on the grass at Ellis Park, but winning at Ellis doesn’t exactly give you a very good line on what you have.”
He had a better idea after Pure Clan won a mile allowance test over the grass at Keeneland with Julien Leparoux up for the first time. She has followed that up with victories in the Pocahontas (GIII) and the Golden Rod.
“It will be about 90 days before she runs again and then the Fantasy (GII) at Oaklawn Park,” Holthus said. “Julien said he would like to stay on her and would come in from California to ride her.”
ROAD TO FAIR GROUNDS BRIGHTER FOR CARROLL BARN – The runner-up effort in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes by Blackberry Road and a dazzling, first-out maiden victory by Denis of Cork on Saturday put a spring in the step of members of trainer David Carroll’s barn Sunday morning as preparations were made to ship the majority of the stable to the Fair Grounds in New Orleans.
“The meet started off dreadfully; it was very tough on us,” said Carroll, whose barn was placed in quarantine because a colt on his shedrow tested positive for the equine herpes virus (EHV-1) forcing Carroll to miss six days of training. “I am very happy for the owners. Everybody’s head is picked up today.”
Owned by Dogwood Stable, Blackberry Road was making his first start in eight weeks in the Kentucky Jockey Club. He rallied to finish second under Calvin Borel, falling a half-length short of Anak Nakal.
“We are very proud of him,” Carroll said. “He was a long way back there and Calvin was working to get him to relax. He has a tendency to want to do too much the first part.
“I was delighted with his race. He galloped past all of them past the wire. He came back great. We will regroup and point to the Lecomte (GIII), Risen Star (GIII) and Louisiana Derby (GII) if everything goes well. He is a little immature and not real big so he just needs to put it all together and get a little stronger. He’s a nice horse, and who knows how it will end.”
Denis of Cork, owned by William Warren Jr., may have been a $23 surprise to the closing-day crowd, but his three-quarter length score under Borel in the sixth race was no stunner to Carroll.
“We would have been disappointed if he had gotten beat,” Carroll said of the son of Harlan’s Holiday, who completed the seven furlongs in a swift 1:22.42.
“He is a nice colt and he had trained with Blackberry Road. Calvin had never ridden him, but had ridden against him in three works. He was ready to run the first of the meet, but the quarantine put that on hold. He is a big, leggy horse and I didn’t even plan to run him at Keeneland and that’s why I was shooting for the first of this meet. I wanted to run him before we left. I will look to stretch him out at the Fair Grounds.”
BARN TALK – Jockey Kent Desormeaux has done a lot in his 37 years on Earth: Two Kentucky Derby wins, three Breeders’ Cup victories, nearly 5,000 riding wins, induction into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame. But, there is still plenty of time to experience something new, as Desormeaux found out Saturday. Heading back to the jocks’ room after riding Lawrence Carroll’s Old Man Buck to victory in the $65,000 Grand Canyon, a lone fan running through the lower grandstand tried to get Desormeaux’s attention. “Great ride, man,” the man told Desormeaux. “I got something I want you to do. I want you to autograph a hundred dollar bill. Could you make to Joe … oh, yeah, could you date it?” Mission accomplished. “First time for everything,” Desormeaux said. “I’ve never had a request like that.” … Old Man Buck was one of three runners trained by Ken McPeek to run well Saturday. Sarah Lyn Stables’ C J’s Leelee ran second in the Golden Rod and Jerry Carroll and Stan Kaplan’s Racecar Rhapsody was a strong-finishing third in the Kentucky Jockey Club. “They all came back good and will eventually head to Florida for the winter,” said Lars Becdelamotte, assistant to McPeek. … Also soon to be Florida bound is the Zayat Stables’ Halo Najib, who ran fifth as the Kentucky Jockey Club favorite for trainer Dale Romans, and Blue Nine Stables’ Ballynoe, who won at first asking Saturday for trainer Steve Margolis. “It was really cool because the owners (John Cox and William Fritz) were here,” Margolis said. “They paid a lot of money for her ($310,000) and she’s got a great pedigree (by Distorted Humor out of a Dynaformer mare). Seven-eighths is a tough distance for a debut, but she was doing good and I wanted to run her before the end of the meet. We were hoping she would run good and she did better than that.” Margolis said even though Ballynoe has a good turf pedigree, he would likely keep her on the dirt for her second start which would likely come early in the Gulfstream Park meeting. Ballynoe won by a length, covering the seven furlongs in 1:23.50. The runner-up was James Tafel’s Elusive Sparkle, a half-sister to 2007 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (GI) winner Street Sense.
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