Closeout

MINE THAT BIRD WORKS SIX FURLONGS IN 1:13 – Double Eagle Ranch and Buena Suerte Equine’s Mine That Bird continued to work toward his first start of 2010 by breezing six furlongs in company in 1:13 over a fast Churchill Downs track on Tuesday morning.

With jockey Calvin Borel up, Mine That Bird worked after the renovation break in company with the 3-year-old Bird Empire for the second consecutive week. The 2009 Kentucky Derby winner spotted Bird Empire two lengths when breaking off at the three-quarter pole and tracked his workmate to the top of the stretch where he easily dispatched his company on the inside and finished five lengths in front.

Churchill Downs clockers caught Mine That Bird in fractions of :12.80, :25, :37.60, :49.60 and galloping out seven furlongs in 1:27.20. Bird Empire was given a clocking of 1:14.40 time for his six-furlong effort.

Trainer D. Wayne Lukas was all smiles after the work, the fifth for Mine That Bird since joining the Lukas barn on May 20.

“When they started training horses 300 years ago, this is what they had in mind,” Lukas said. “His last quarter was in 23 and 2 and his last eighth, it had to be 11 and change. He was flying.”

There is an allowance optional claiming race in the condition book for which Mine That Bird fits for July 3 and Lukas also has nominated Mine That Bird to the Firecracker Handicap (GII) on grass for closing day, July 4. Lukas has not committed to a start in either spot.

“I am not sure where we’ll go,” Lukas said. “He is nominated to the ($250,000) Salvatore Mile (GIII at a mile on July 3 at Monmouth), which is a nice option. He is nominated to everything but the Tokyo Fair. Our goal is the Whitney (Handicap, GI on Aug. 7 at Saratoga). We are going to dive right into the deep end.”

LOCUST GROVE ATTRACTS 47 NOMINEES INCLUDING MINT JULEP TOP THREE – The top three finishers from the June 5 Early Times Mint Julep Handicap (GIII) – Hot Cha Cha, Acoma and Keertana – headline a list of 47 fillies and mares nominated to the 29th running of the $100,000-added Locust Grove Handicap (GIII) to be run at a mile on the Matt Winn Turf Course on July 3.

The top three finished within three-quarters of a length of each other with Acoma carrying 122 pounds and Hot Cha Cha and Keertana 120. Weights for the Locust Grove will be announced Saturday.

Closeout won the 2009 Locust Grove, and the 5-year-old mare is nominated to this year’s renewal. Should Closeout win, she would join Colstar (2000-01) as the only repeat winner of the Locust Grove.

The Locust Grove is one of three graded stakes on the closing weekend of the 42-day meet. Sharing top billing with Locust Grove on July 3 is the 109th running of the $100,000-added Bashford Manor (GIII) for 2-year-olds going six furlongs.

Headlining the list of 22 nominees for the Bashford Manor is Dogwood Stable’s Lou Brissie, winner of the Kentucky Juvenile (GIII) here on April 30. Trained by Neil Howard, Lou Brissie is undefeated in two starts.
Entries for the Bashford Manor, as well as the Locust Grove, will be taken next Wednesday.

The closing-day feature is the 20th running of the $175,000-added Firecracker Handicap (GII) at a mile on the Matt Winn Turf Course. Thirty horses were nominated to the Firecracker, won last year by Mr. Sidney.

Topping the nominations are Don Benge’s Wise River, winner of the Dallas Turf Cup Handicap on May 31 at Lone Star Park in his most recent start, and Michael Cooper and Pamela Ziebarth’s Tizdejavu, a two-time graded stakes winner on the turf at Churchill Downs and winner of the Opening Verse here on June 11.

Weights for the Firecracker will be announced Sunday and entries will be taken Thursday, July 1.

Glen Hill Farm’s Closeout coasted to a three-length victory over Gloria Goodbody to win the 28th running of the $114,900 Locust Grove Handicap (Grade III) to close out the 45-day Spring Meet at Churchill Downs.

            Trained by Tom Proctor, who was winning the Locust Grove for the second time, Closeout covered the mile on a Matt Winn Turf Course labeled as “yielding” in 1:38.38. The victory was worth $71,238 and increased Closeout’s earnings to $310,671 for her fifth victory in 10 starts. Proctor’s other Locust Grove win came in 2006 with Rich In Spirit for Glen Hill Farm.

            Ridden by Robby Albarado, Closeout was content to trail the field through the first half-mile as Tensas Yucatan cut out fractions of :23.84 and :47.99 with Zee Zee and Stealin’ Kisses in closest pursuit.

            Approaching the far turn, Albarado began to move after the leaders and turning into the stretch Closeout moved four wide to quickly collar Stealin’ Kisses, who had taken a brief lead. Closeout quickly opened a daylight advantage and was never threatened in the run to the wire.

            Closeout, who shared the starting high weight of 116 pounds with two others, returned $3.60, $2.40 and $2.10. Gloria Goodbody paid $4.40 and $3 in finishing two lengths ahead of Stealin’ Kisses, who paid $4.20 to show under Tony Farina. Completing the field in order were Zee Zee and Tensas Yucatan. The field was reduced to five when Leamington, Tizaqueena and Namaste’s Wish were scratched.

            Jockey Julien Leparoux rode 62 winners in the meet to edge Calvin Borel, who finished with 61. The leading rider title was the third spring crown for Leparoux and fifth overall.

            Steve Asmussen saddled 29 winners to claim his third spring leading trainer title and sixth overall. Ken and Sarah Ramsey won their record eighth spring leading owners title and 15th overall by notching 18 winners.

            Racing resumes at Churchill Downs on Sunday, Nov. 1 for the Fall Meet that runs through Saturday, Nov. 28.

POST-RACE QUOTES – THE LOCUST GROVE HANDICAP

ROBBY ALBARADO, jockey of CLOSEOUT (winner)

            “She was a little rank early so I just rode her very patiently. We had an honest pace up front and she showed a lot of confidence when she tugged on me at the three-eighths pole. It was just a matter of her staying on her feet and getting over the soft going. It was a Cadillac ride so I didn’t have to do much on her. I’m not going to take credit for this one. Give all the credit to the barn and everyone that did all the hard work. I was just a passenger.”

TOM PROCTOR, trainer of CLOSEOUT (winner)

Q: Last time she looked a little rank and this time she relaxed nicely. . .

“It looked that way. There was speed . . . You know what, she hadn’t run in a long time and a lot of times they’ll be rank coming off that. I actually kind of was expecting that.”

Q: Was there a reason for her layoff at the end of last year?

“Good trainers give horses time off.”

Q: What kind of filly is she; is she a late bloomer?

“Well, actually, she is turf all the way. I think she’s got two or three full brothers that have all won stakes. But she showed right off the bat that she could run when I got her. I didn’t get her until December of her two-year-old year, but she showed she could run a little bit. I mean, I wasn’t surprised when she won first time out. She showed a lot in the mornings. She’s the best of her brothers and sisters and they were pretty good.”

JOHN GLENNEY, co-owner & trainer of GLORIA GOODBODY (runner-up)

“She’s been running well, but there was a short time between her last race and this one, but she had done well running off a short time between races before.  She had never been on this yielding a turf and a mile is probably not her thing.  When she runs a little bit longer it undoubtedly is going to help her.  But she won her last race and was at the top of her game, training super, so you had to give it a shot.  I was hoping she was going to get the lead, but when she didn’t, I was hoping at least she’d relax and Jon (Court) had her relaxed.  Apparently she settled real well and that bodes well for the future because if she has to have the lead, she’s one-dimensional.  But if she can sit back a little bit and wait, that’ll be to her advantage.  She came running down the lane, so I was real happy.  Coming from an allowance race to a stakes and to see her step up and get a good second is fantastic.  You can’t complain when you get beat by a 3-5 or a 4-5 horse in really her first stakes on the turf, which is her preferred surface.”

Q: Are you going back to Del Mar this summer?

“We’ll go back to Del Mar.  There are a couple of spots she might possibly get to.  There’s a California Thoroughbred Trainers stake a mile and three-eighths toward the end of the meet. I hope we can find something at the beginning.  But that’s a hard and fast turf course and I think she’s going to like that.”

JON COURT, jockey on GLORIA GOODBODY (runner-up)

“She broke good, sat behind the speed and rallied up right there with the winner, but the winner kicked away.  He had the jump on us and ended up putting up a pretty good margin of daylight winning the race, so she ran a valiant second.  She’s stakes-placed in a graded race, so she did really good.”

TONY FARINA, jockey on STEALIN KISSES  (third)

“Mr. (D. Wayne) Lukas asked me to take a little hold.  It was just a five-horse field and she was a little bit quick at the first quarter; she was running very easy as I came to the quarter pole.  She started to tire a little bit when she turned for home and maybe that cost me second place, but she ran very good.”

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Lewis Lakin’s Pure Clan, a model of consistency on both turf and dirt throughout her career, headlines a stellar cast entered for Saturday’s 33rd running of the $100,000-added Early Times Mint Julep (Grade III) to be run at 1 1/16th miles over the Matt Winn Turf Course at Churchill Downs.

    The Early Times Mint Julep, which goes as the 10th race on the 11-race card that opens with a 12:45 p.m. (EDT) post time, has attracted four graded stakes winners to its field of seven fillies and mares 3-years-old and up.

    The Bob Holthus-trained Pure Clan, the only Grade I stakes winner in the field, looms as the marquee attraction as she makes her 2009 debut in the Early Times Mint Julep.  

Pure Clan placed ninth behind eventual filly and mare turf champion Forever Together in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (Grade I) at Santa Anita in her most recent start on Oct. 24.  But the versatile 4-year-old daughter of Pure Prize has always run well at Churchill Downs, where she took the Pocahontas (Grade III) and Golden Rod (Grade II) on dirt as a 2-year-old in 2007, and returned last year to run third to eventual 3-year-old filly champion Proud Spell in the Kentucky Oaks (GI) and later added a win in the Grade III Regret on turf to her local resume.  She followed her Regret victory with a trip to Southern California, where she scored a dramatic win in the American Oaks (GI) at Hollywood Park, an effort that serves as her career highlight to this point.
    
    Pure Clan is the only millionaire in the field as she has earned $1,052,416 while compiling a career record of 6-2-2 in 11 races.  Shaun Bridgmohan will ride Saturday and make up most of the 122-pound impost for Pure Clan, who will spot from 2-9 pounds to her rivals. Pure Clan will break from post position one.

    Other turf graded-stakes winners at Churchill Downs in the Early Times Mint Julep are Helen Alexander and Helen Groves’ Acoma, Darley Stable’s Tizaqueena and Glen Hill Farm’s Closeout.

    Trained by David Carroll, Acoma returns to the sod for the first time since winning the Grade II Mrs. Revere here last fall. The regally bred daughter of Empire Maker will carry 120 pounds and be ridden by Corey Lanerie.  Acoma, who breaks from post three, will be running for the first time since a disappointing third-place finish as the favorite behind Seventh Street in the $500,000 Apple Blossom (GI) over traditional dirt at Oaklawn Park on April 4.

    Tizaqueena, who scored her first graded-stakes victory in the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (GII) on Kentucky Derby Day, is 3-for-3 on the grass for trainer Michael Stidham and boasts an overall record of five wins in six career starts. Brian Hernandez Jr. has the mount on Tizaqueena, who will carry 119 pounds and drew the outside post in the field of seven fillies and mares.  

    The remaining graded stakes winner in the field Saturday is Glen Hill Farm’s Closeout, who took the Grade III Pucker Up on the Arlington Park grass last September. The Early Times Mint Julep will serve as the 2009 debut for Closeout, who concluded her 2008 season with a fourth-place finish to Alwajeeha in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (Grade I) at Keeneland in October.  

The homebred daughter of Repriced has a win and a runner-up finish in two starts over the Matt Winn Turf Course for trainer Tom Proctor.  Veteran Larry Melancon will be in the saddle aboard Closeout, who was assigned 116 pounds.

Pure Clan will be joined in the Early Times Mint Julep starting gate by stablemate Day of Victory, a 4-year-old daughter of Victory Gallop who is also owned by Lakin and trained by Holthus.  She is coming off an allowance win on the dirt at Oaklawn Park, her fourth win in 17 races, and will be ridden Saturday by Larry Sterling Jr.

    The field for the Early Times Mint Julep, from the hedge out, is as follows: Pure Clan (Bridgmohan, 122 pounds), In My Glory (Jesus Castanon, 113), Acoma (Lanerie, 120), Sugar Baby Love (GER) (Jon Court, 114), Closeout (Melancon, 116), Day of Victory (Sterling, 114) and Tizaqueena (Hernandez, 119).