O'Brien, Brown Square Off in La Prevoyante
Image:
Description:
Photo: Coglianese Photos
Lady Paname wins the 2018 Long Island Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack
Roughly two hours before Aidan O'Brien and Chad Brown race participants in the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes Presented by Runhappy (G1T) Jan. 25 at Gulfstream Park, the two champion trainers have a matchup on the Gulfstream grass in the $200,000 La Prevoyante Stakes (G3T).
It could prove a sampling of a battle to come. As in the Pegasus Turf, where O'Brien is represented by 7-2 morning-line favorite Magic Wand and Brown starts the trio of 4-1 Without Parole, 10-1 Instilled Regard, and 12-1 Sacred Life, they both hold strong hands with a runner apiece in the 1 1/2-mile La Prevoyante. The O'Brien-trained Simply Beautiful is 9-2, and the Brown-trained Lady Paname is 3-1.
Lady Paname has compiled a 3-for-8 record in both France and the U.S., where she won the Long Island Stakes (G3T) at Aqueduct Racetrack in November 2018 for owners Madaket Stables, James Covello, Kent Spellman, and Doheny Racing Stable. The 6-year-old daughter of Soldier of Fortune has not run since, though she has trained smartly at Palm Meadows Training Center leading up to her return.
Video: Long Island S. (G3T)
Riding is Irad Ortiz Jr., who, like Brown, was honored with an Eclipse Award Jan. 23. It was the second straight for Ortiz and the fourth consecutive for Brown.
Simply Beautiful, invading from the legendary Ballydoyle Stables in Ireland, has not won a stakes race, though she was third in the Darley Pride Stakes (G3) at Newmarket last year. Prone to secondary prizes, having gone 1-4-3 over her 15-race career, she races with the anti-bleeding medication Lasix for the first time.
Under rules established this year by The Stronach Group, which operates Gulfstream Park, no horses can race with Lasix in the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf and Saturday's major dirt race, the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes Presented by Runhappy (G1).
Ryan Moore, who is at Gulfstream for the mount on Magic Wand, is aboard Simply Beautiful, a 4-year-old daughter of Galileo owned by some of the principals in Coolmore Stud—Derrick Smith, Susan Magnier, and Michael Tabor.
She returns from a fall and winter break, as does Kelsey's Cross, away since a seventh in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes Presented by Lane's End (G1T) at Keeneland Oct. 12.
"Maybe it's a bit gutsy for me to run her a mile and a half in a comeback race," trainer Patrick Biancone said. "I think she's going to be a very good horse in the future."
Other contenders in the 10-horse field are Mean Mary, Touriga, War Cabinet, and Get Explicit.
The La Prevoyante is one of six graded races Saturday at Gulfstream, and nine stakes altogether. Before the graded stakes begin over the second half of the card, three $150,000 ungraded contests are staged over the first half of the day: the World of Trouble Turf Sprint Stakes, Ladies' Turf Sprint Stakes, and South Beach Stakes.
The World of Trouble is perhaps the most compelling, drawing Shekky Shebaz, who was third in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T); graded winners Texas Wedge and Vision Perfect; and 10-year-old Pay Any Price, a winner of 18 of 29 starts.
Gulfstream Park, Saturday, January 25, 2020, Race 8Entries: La Prevoyante S. (G3T)
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1La Australiana (KY)
Emisael Jaramillo
118
Juan Carlos Avila
20/1
2
2Simply Beautiful (IRE)
Ryan L. Moore
118
Aidan P. O'Brien
9/2
3
3Kelsey's Cross (FL)
Romero Ramsay Maragh
118
Patrick L. Biancone
8/1
4
4Mean Mary (KY)
Luis Saez
118
H. Graham Motion
8/1
5
5Touriga (BRZ)
John R. Velazquez
122
H. Graham Motion
6/1
6
6Lady Paname (FR)
Irad Ortiz, Jr.
118
Chad C. Brown
3/1
7
7War Cabinet (KY)
Jose L. Ortiz
118
Claude R. McGaughey III
12/1
8
8Latest Version (KY)
Joel Rosario
118
Victoria H. Oliver
20/1
9
9Raining Lemons (KY)
Tyler Gaffalione
118
Michael R. Matz
12/1
10
10Get Explicit (KY)
Edgard J. Zayas
118
Barbara J. Minshall
7/2
