Apr
3
Magnificience is Magnificent
Filed Under Uncategorized
Wow! We may have witnessed a superstar in the making when MAGNIFICIENCE blew away a shallow field in Sunday’s Santa Paula, running 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:14.61 to shatter Sardula’s stakes record. After her sensational maiden victory, the Headley-trained filly broke much better this time, showed excellent tactical speed to press leader COCO BELLE, then turned on the afterburners at the top of the lane to dominate. The scary thing is that she looks and strides like a router, so we may not have seen her best yet. Trainer Bruce Headley has his hands on a good one, and it couldn’t come along at a better time for him or rider Alex Solis. Solis has had a slow few months but this might be the kind of horse to jump start his business.
Another impressive 3-year-old filly on the card was easy winner YOU ARE THE ANSWER, who dominated allowance foes coming down the hill in the 8th race. She was one of two winners on the card for Doug O’Neill, who has opened up a 20-win margin in the trainer standings.
The public had it right all day, with six betting favorites reporting home on top…Steve Knapp snapped a prolonged losing streak (excluding Bettersweetmoment) when LITE MAN took the opener…have you ever seen a worse weekend race than the maiden claimer wrapping up the card? Absolutely embarrassing when STERLING ASSET, who ran last beaten 14 lengths in her debut nearly 14 months ago, was sent off at 4/5 and looked every bit of it…it looks like Joe Talamo, the sensational 17-year-old apprentice who won four races last week, will return to SoCal after fulfilling a week or so of commitments in New York. Wise decision, young man.
Trainer Melody Conlon has had a very productive meet, winning at least a couple of races for owner John Leviakis. We first became aware of this owner’s affinity for huge wagers back at Del Mar when he crushed his import Captain Kurt, who had to settle for second that day. On Sunday, Leviakis reportedly cashed a check for $125,000 at the track, put it all through the windows and cashed out for somewhere in the neighborhood of $350,000. How much did he tip the clerk who shut down his window to handle all the action? Would you believe $100? How about for the security guard who escorted him to his car after the windfall score? A handshake and a thank you. Now I know why this guy has so much money.
Thanks to reader Ira for this scoop, taken from UAE trainer Satish Seemar’s website:
The only other thoroughbred runner on the night was Thor’s Echo, who managed sixth to Kelly’s Landing in the US$2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen.
“Everything was fine with him, and he ran okay,” commented Seemar. “I just don’t think he got fully acclimatised. So he will go back to America now, and resume his career with Doug O’Neill.â€Â
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