Training Track Graduate News

Courtesy of the BloodHorse

The daughter of Twirling Candy was injured while playing coming off the track.

• By Byron King

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Courtesy of the BloodHorse

Double Crown defeats Green Light Go in the Roar Stakes at Gulfstream Park

Coglianese Photos/Lauren King

The Maryland-bred 3-year-old son of Bourbon Courage is now 2-for-3 – Started by Cary Frommer at the Aiken Training Track

• By Byron King

Double Crown  purchased privately by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing after a debut victory in September at Laurel Park, is running like money well spent.

Racing at Gulfstream Park May 16 in the $75,000 Roar Stakes, the 3-year-old Bourbon Courage  gelding picked up his first black-type victory in just his second start for his new connections. Taking command with a three-wide rally leaving the turn, he turned back a resolute favorite in Green Light Go to score by a half-length.

Double Crown, b, 3/g
Bourbon Courage — Two Columbus, by Two Punch

Owner: Reeves Thoroughbred Racing
Breeder: Dr. & Mrs. Thomas Bowman & Rebecca Davis (MD)
Trainer: Katherine Ritvo
Jockey: Cristian A. Torres

Pedigree Notes
Bourbon Courage stands at Anchor & Hope Farm for $5,000 (2020).

Compared to his previous race at Gulfstream April 26, when Double Crown was wide and forced to steady to avoid a loose horse, his trip was relatively smooth in the Roar. Fourth of six down the backstretch, he was always within striking range of early leader Cajun Casanova as 3-5 choice Green Light Go pressed two wide through splits of :22.39 and :45.19.

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OXIDE (Golden Lad) made the most of opening up KY racing by winning on opening day at Churchill. He pressed the pace and then broke his maiden  by 5 1/2 lengths. OXIDE was pinhooked by Cary from a  $50,000 yearling purchase to a $120,000 2-year-old sale at Timonium last May. He is owned by Joe Sutton and trained by  Eddie Kenneally. The 3-year-old colt was bred by Dark Hollow Farm.

Mike Keogh was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in April 2020. Keogh began training horses for Gus Schickedanz in 1993 and trained horses at Aiken Training Track during the winter months. Keogh reflects on his career in this article, originally published in May 2020 in The 2020 Special. Read the complete article here.

Aiken Standard looks back at record-setting race horse, Whirlaway and Hall of Fame jockey Eddie Arcaro. During his time as a contract rider for Greentree Stables, Arcaro also rode Devil Diver and Shut Out to victory. Both horses were conditioned by legendary trainer John M. Gaver Sr. at the brand-new Aiken Training Track.

Read full article here.

Courtesy of the TDN

IN ORDER OF PURSE: 4th-Oaklawn, $61,000, Alw (NW1$X)/Opt. Clm ($80,000), 4-11, 3yo, 1m, 1:36.66, ft.
SHOOTERS SHOOT  – sold by CARY  FROMMER for $300,000 – (c, 3, Competitive Edge–Repeat, by Bernardini) was a well-beaten second behind Baffert=s unbeaten buzzsaw Charlatan (Speightstown) at Santa Anita Feb. 16, then successfully stretched to two turns with a powerful maiden breaker in Arcadia last time Mar. 15. Off at 5-2 in this first attempt outside of Southern California, he was sent to the front from his inside draw, but was quickly greeted by favored Blackberry Wine (Oxbow), who has been a lightning rod for conversation since getting disqualified from a pair of wins for medication violations by trainer Joe Sharp while remaining eligible for this condition. Those two threw down through fractions of :23.10 and :45.87, and kept on sluggging it out down the stretch. Shooters Shoot wanted it just a little bit more and got the better of that rival by a neck in a race that didn’t deserve a loser.

Sales history: $90,000 Wlg ’17 KEENOV; $70,000 Ylg ’18 KEESEP; $300,000 2yo ’19 OBSAPR.
Lifetime Record: 6-2-1-1, $94,880.
O-ERJ Racing, LLC, Exline-Border Racing LLC & Dan Hudock
B-Nancy C. Shuford (KY)
T-Peter Eurton.

BOURBON BAY (Bayern) graduated at Aqueduct in his second start as a 2 year old. Racing back in the Jerome going a mile on the dirt also at Aqueduct, he dead-heated for second. Getting underway at 3, he added black-type running third in the Gander S. at Aqueduct and today added a 3rd in the Damon Runyon.  BOURBON BAY was started at the Aiken Training Track and consigned at Fasig Tipton Gulfstream by Cary Frommer.
O-Bourbon Lane Stable (J. Hill, M. McMahon), Seidman Stables LLC and Lake Lonely Racing
B-Oak Bluff Stables, LLC & Christophe Clement (NY)
T-Mark A. Hennig.

Racing a mile and a sixteenth, TOY (Tapizar) ran in second early and then drew away to an easy win at a gallop – by 6 widening lengths. He was started by Cary Frommer at the Aiken Training Track and sold at Fasig Tipton Midlantic Two Year Old in Training Sale for $45,000. He is a Dark Hollow Farm homebred.

Three-year-old MONTAUK TRAFFIC (Cross Traffic) broke his maiden last out and followed that up earning his first black-type circling the field to win the MONTAUK TRAFFIC. He is owned by Chris Fountoukis and trained by  Linda Rice.

Twirling Candy filly is pointed toward the Jenny Wiley (G1T) at Keeneland Apr. 11.

Courtesy of the BloodHorse

By Byron King

At a midwinter stage in February when many Kentuckians are dreaming of warmer climates, trainer Rusty Arnold is in Florida, thinking about Kentucky.

Bluegrass native Arnold has the spring meet at Keeneland on his mind, training four high-class turf horses that are just now gearing up for 2020 returns. Leading the charge for his squad is millionaire Concrete Rose, a four-time stakes winner in 2019 who resumed breezing Feb. 17 at Palm Meadows Training Center in South Florida. The filly worked three furlongs on grass Sunday in :36 4/5 and is being pointed toward a start in the April 11 Coolmore Jenny Wiley Stakes (G1T) at the Lexington oval.

The 4-year-old daughter of Twirling Candy , owned by Ashbrook Farm and BBN Racing, is already proven at the grade 1 level, having won the Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes (G1T) last summer at 3. Other triumphs last year included the Edgewood Stakes Presented by Forcht Bank (G3T), the Florida Oaks (G3T), and the $750,000 Saratoga Oaks

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