MARTEDÌ 18 APRILE 2017. Newmarket: #Khalidi vince le Feilden come Golden Horn, per John Gosden e Frankie Dettori. Cavallo da Derby?
Il day 1 del Craven Meeting si è risolto con una vittoria ancora una volta nelle Feilden Stakes per John Gosden e Frankie Dettori. Stavolta, a far posto a Golden Horn, c’è stato Khalidi (High Chaparral) che hanno concluso all’esterno del favorito Salouen (Canford Cliffs), che ha iscrizioni nel Derby, mentre terzo è giunto Law And Order (Lawman).
Khalidi, che non ha iscrizioni Classiche, probabilmente correrà il Derby ma non prima di aver maturato altra esperienza a Chester nel Chester Vase G3, altro trial interessante, come confessato dal suo allenatore. Si tratta di un cavallo che ha un pizzico di italianità in quanto allevato dall’Aston House Stud e prodotto della fattrice Bezique (Cape Cross) che in Italia vinse Seregno (con sfortunata prestazione per Danedream) per Marco Gasparini e prima ancora Repubbliche Marinare a 2 anni.
Khalidi è di proprietà di Nizar Anwar, ed è stato pagato £170,000 alle aste da yearling. Attualmente vanta 3 vittorie in 6 uscite, ed era rientrato in questo 2017 con un terzo in handicap a Doncaster.
Exceed and Excel’s Sound and Silence Garners Newmarket Unveiling
| 2nd at NEW, Cond, £7,000 | Montaz Restaurant EBF Stallions Novice S. | (5f) | Winner: Sound and Silence (GB), c, 2 by Exceed and Excel (Aus) |
Sound and Silence | Racing Post
By Sean Cronin
2nd-NEW, £7,000, Cond, 4-18, 2yo, 5fT, :59.89, g/f.
+SOUND AND SILENCE (GB), (c, 2, Exceed and Excel {Aus}–Veil of Silence {Ire}, by Elusive Quality) was smartly into stride and raced in a prominent third from the outset of this debut. Arriving on the front end approaching the final quarter mile, the crowd’s 7-2 pick was shaken up at the foot of the hill and ridden out in the closing stages to assert by a half length from Never Back Down (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}). Sound and Silence, half to a yearling filly by Pivotal (GB), is the third scorer produced by an unraced daughter of MG1SW British and Irish highweight distaffer Gossamer (GB) (Sadler’s Wells), who registered a career highlight in the G1 Irish 1000 Guineas. Gossamer is a full-sister to MG1SW European Horse of the Year and sire Barathea (Ire), and her three black-type performers are headed by G1 Racing Post Trophy hero Ibn Khaldun (Dubai Destination). Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, £4,528. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
O/B-Godolphin (GB); T-Charlie Appleby.
Two-Time Champion Tepin Retired from Racing
Tepin following her historic win in the Queen Anne | Horsephotos
By Alan Carasso
Tepin (Bernstein–Life Happened, by Stravinsky), a graded winner on the dirt at two who went on to thrash the boys in the GI Breeders’ Cup Mile and became the first American-based winner of the G1 Queen Anne S. at Royal Ascot, has been retired from racing, owner Robert Masterson told the TDN Tuesday.
“Tepin is being retired. There is nothing physically wrong with her. She just isn’t interested in running any more,” Masterson told the TDN. “There are no plans to breed her this year. It’s too late, and we’ve not made any decision on her future.”
Bred in Kentucky by Machmer Hall, Tepin was a $140,000 purchase by Masterson out of the 2012 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale and broke her maiden at second asking over the Keeneland Polytrack before closing nicely to win the GIII Delta Downs Princess S. in November 2013. Switched to the grass midway during her sophomore season, Tepin was runner-up in the GII San Clemente H., but blossomed at four, leading throughout to annex the GII Distaff Turf Mile S. on the Kentucky Derby undercard before rallying from slightly off the pace for a maiden Grade I victory in the Just a Game S. on Belmont S. day (video). The bay endured tough-luck losses in the GI Diana S. and in the GII Ballston Spa S., but relished easy ground when romping home by seven against her peers in Keeneland’s GI First Lady S. (video) before a 2 1/4-length tally in the Breeders’ Cup Mile (video).
Tepin picked up in 2016 where she left off, with soft wins in the GIII Endeavour S. and GII Hillsborough S. at Tampa, a barnstorming five-length tour-de-force in the GI Jenny Wiley S. (video) and a successful defense of her title in the Distaff Turf Mile. Having overcome all challenges on these shores, connections readied Tepin for a start in the Queen Anne, the first race of the Royal Ascot meeting. Never far from the front over ground on the heavy side of soft, she surged to the lead in the final 100 yards and had a half-length on Belardo (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) at the wire (video).
Originally penciled in for a return to action in last year’s Ballston Spa, Tepin ultimately missed that engagement and was instead trained up to the GI Woodbine Mile, where she called on all her class to prevail by a half-length (video). Not quite able to reel in loose-on-the-lead Photo Call (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in defense of the First Lady, Tepin settled for second there and concluded her career with a gallant and tough-trip second behind Tourist (Tiznow) when in search of a second Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita last November (video).
With an eye on a return trip to the United Kingdom this spring, Tepin returned to training in early 2017, but was ruled out of this year’s Endeavour in February after a minor colic attack, also dashing any plans of an appearance in the G1 Dubai Turf in late March. Tepin refused to break off into a work at Palm Meadows Mar. 27 and was subsequently relocated to Churchill Downs, but after mulling over their options since, the decision was made to retire the mare.
“After she refused to work at Palm Meadows, she was moved to Churchill to see if a change of venue would improve her attitude towards racing, and she basically has no interest in it any more,” Masterson explained. “She was always an enthusiastic worker, and enthusiastic in the mornings and about racing, and she is not any more.
“It’s time to let her retire. She’s done so much for us. She’s done everything she can possibly do. I think she’s been one of the greatest turf mares that has ever been. She doesn’t owe us anything. It’s all about the horse. She owes us nothing, and if that’s what she wants to do , that’s what we’re going to let her do. I appreciate all the fan support she’s had over the last few years. The joy she brought to people, her way of running and the successes that she’s had.”
Masterson said that Tepin remains in her stall at Churchill Downs, with a decision to come later as regards her relocation.
Trained throughout her career by Mark Casse, Tepin retires with a record of 23-13-5-1 and earnings of $4,437,918. —Additional reporting by Sue Finley
Two-Time Champion Tepin Retired
At every point of call, Tepin gave her connections definitive signals of what she was capable of when she was feeling her very best. After providing trainer Mark Casse and owner Robert Masterson once-in-a-lifetime moments across the globe the last two seasons, the 6-year-old daughter of Bernstein let them known she was done with the racetrack portion of her storied career.
Tepin, the two-time defending champion turf female, has been retired, Casse announced April 18, bringing an end to a career that became the touchstone of greatness for all those associated with the fan-favorite bay mare.
Masterson’s champion distaffer had not raced since her runner-up effort in the Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1T) last November and she had only been in light training since missing her planned seasonal bow in the Lambholm South Endeavour Stakes (G3T) Feb. 11 due to a mild bout of colic.
Taking the attitude of letting her tell them if and when she was ready to return to racing, Tepin’s future was further evaluated when she refused to break off for a workout at Palm Meadows Training Center March 27. Though bright and happy since returning to her base at Churchill Downs, the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Mile heroine wasn’t showing the same competitive fire that allowed to win grade/group 1 races in three different countries last season, including becoming the first North American-based horse to take the Queen Anne Stakes (G1) at Royal Ascot last June.
“We just think she doesn’t want to do it anymore. She’s happy and healthy,” Casse said Tuesday. “She just doesn’t have the same desire to train and we said all along if she showed that to us we would listen. We’ve given her the opportunity, we took her to Churchill which definitely made her happy but she still…it’s just time.”
Casse added Tepin would not be bred this season and there are no mating plans set yet for 2018.
Heeding Tepin’s wishes has paid extraordinary dividends for all involved. Notoriously sweet in her personality, she still proved a bit of a challenge to get a handle on during her early development.
Before she became the “Queen of the Turf” with six grade/group 1 victories to her credit, Tepin was actually a graded stakes winner on dirt having captured the 2013 Delta Downs Princess Stakes (G3) in what was her fourth career start. After an eighth-place finish in the Miss Preakness Stakes the following May, Tepin was switched to the turf for the first time in the 2014 Regret Stakes (G3T)—and didn’t exactly hint at what was to come after having to steady sharply while coming home eighth.
She would end that season with another disappointing run in the Del Mar Oaks (G1T) but by her 4-year-old season, she had a new partner in jockey Julien Leparoux and a maturing mindset starting to kick in. In her 2015 seasonal bow, she captured an allowance race over the Gulfstream Park turf by a more-impressive-than-it-looked length. Once she prevailed in the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile Stakes (G2T) in gate-to-wire fashion that May, the Casse shedrow was feeling quietly confident that top-level glory would be next on her agenda.
“I knew she was a nice filly because I remember when she was a 2-year-old, I was riding another nice filly for Mark at the time and I remember (assistant trainer) Norman (Casse) saying ‘You’re going to have a tough choice between the two’ and I said ‘No, because I’m going to pick (Tepin),” Leparoux said. “She impressed me from Day One, and the way she won that day (at Gulfstream) was very impressive to me. The feeling I always had with her was a lot of confidence.
“When I would breeze her in the mornings, a couple times I was going easy in like :49, :50 and everyone was doubting her. That was actually when I knew she was doing really good, when I could get her to relax and go with whatever I wanted to do. Even though we were going slow, she always felt very powerful doing it.”
Lost in the brilliant whirlwind that was American Pharoah ‘s Triple Crown-clinching triumph in the 2015 Belmont Stakes (G1) was Tepin’s emergence that day as one of the most fearsome milers of either sex. Following her score in the Longines Just a Game Stakes (G1T) on the Belmont undercard, Tepin would rebound from a pair of narrow beats at Saratoga Race Course to close out her season with victories in the First Lady Stakes (G1T) and Breeders’ Cup Mile en route to becoming Casse’s first Eclipse Award champion.
“I don’t even know what to say, it’s been a dream really,” Casse said. “For her to win two Eclipse Awards, what a ride it has been. And Mr. Masterson needs to be applauded because a lot of owners would have retired her after her 4-year-old year.”
Impressive as she was at the end of her 4-year-old season, Tepin showed last year she had only scratched the surface of her potential. After rattling off four straight graded stakes wins from February to May—including a five-length triumph in the grade 1 Coolmore Jenny Wiley Stakes—Tepin took her show overseas and brought her connections to their emotional knees when she rated patiently off the early going before striking the front a half-furlong from the finish en route to a half-length victory in the Queen Anne Stakes over a rain-drenched Ascot course.
“If you watch her Royal Ascot race even, she didn’t have to win that day. She laid it on the line, she struggled with the track then and she still won because that’s what she is,” Norman Casse, son and top assistant to Mark Casse, said of Tepin last September. “She’s a champion, and that’s what champions do.”
Tepin’s final career triumph came when she bested males rivals once more in the Ricoh Woodbine Mile (G1T) last September—an effort that defined her widespread appeal as the grandstand chanted her name upon her return to the winner’s circle. Though she would suffer defeats in the First Lady Stakes and 2016 Breeders’ Cup Mile, her body of work of six wins from eight starts was enough to earn her a second Eclipse Award for champion turf female.
“What a joy this mare’s been,” said Masterson as he accepted his mare’s second piece of year-end hardware. “The only thing she wants in return is a peppermint.”
Bred in Kentucky by Machmer Hall, Tepin retires with 13 wins from 23 starts and $4,437,918 in earnings.
For the time being, she will remain in her spot in the first stall in the Casse Racing barn at Churchill before likely heading to Denali Stud. Her presence in the hearts and minds of those who adored her most is something that will remain steadfast.
“She has a special place in my heart for sure, she’s amazing,” Leparoux said. “Everybody is sad because weren’t not going to see her every day. But we’re happy for her too. It’s time for her retire and at least she retired being happy and without anything to prove.
“She goes out as the champion that she is.”
Tags: Tepin, Mark Casse, Robert Masterson
