Fair Grounds: Tarifa, I’m Very Busy, Red Route One win stakes

Roughed up a bit early and rank on the backstretch, Godolphin homebred Tarifa eventually would settle, stalk, pounce and wear down pacesetting Our Pretty Woman to win Saturday’s Grade 2 $400,000 Fair Grounds Oaks.

Away cleanly as the 3-2 favorite under jockey Flavien Prat, Rachel Alexandra (G2) winner Tarifa traded bumps with long shot Midsummer March into the first turn.

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Eager on the backstretch and chasing the front-running Our Pretty Woman through reasonable fractions of 23.84 and 47.93 seconds, Tarifa was all in nearing the quarter pole.

The daughter of Bernardini eventually wore down a stubborn Our Pretty Woman to prevail by three-quarters of a length with a final time of 1:43.25 for the 1 1/16 miles on a fast track.

V V’s Dream, who sat a loose pocket trip on the backstretch, was another 3 1/4 lengths back in third. It was a long way back to the Louisiana-bred Accommodate Eva in fourth. Intricate, the 2-1 second choice off her win the in Golden Rod (G2) as a 2-year-old and her runner-up performance in the Rachel Alexandra (G2), finished a disappointing fifth. Midsummer March was last in the field of six.

Tarifa earned 100 Kentucky Oaks (G1) qualifying points for Saturday’s win, and she leads all 3-year-old fillies with 150. Our Pretty Woman earned her first 50. V V’s Dream added 25 to raise her total to 48. Accommodate Eva banked her first 15 points. Intricate, who had 35 coming in, added 10 more to bring her total to 45 despite her poor performance.

Tarifa returned $5.00, $3.20 and $2.60; Our Pretty Woman $4.00 and $3.60; and V V’s Dream $3.20.

Perfect from three starts as a sophomore with all of her wins coming at Fair Grounds, Tarifa raised her career totals to 5: 4-0-0 for $518,935.

“She showed some early speed, but once we got to the first turn, she was very keen,” Prat said. “Then she relaxed well when we got to the backside, and she made a nice run down the lane. It was good to see her get competitive when she needed to. It will be a different deal when there are a lot of horses around her.”

It was the third Fair Grounds Oaks win in the last five years for Cox. He won the 2020 edition with Bonny South and followed the next year with Travel Column.

“I would like to tell you she is settling down and relaxing, but that didn’t work out well in the first turn,” Cox said of Tarifa’s performance. “Still she was able to overcome it. She needs to learn to relax in the race, and obviously next time we will be facing a larger field. She needs to learn to chill out and relax. We will continue to work with her. She is a young filly who is still learning, and I am proud of what she has accomplished thus far. She is not a real big filly, but she has handled everything we’ve asked from her, and hopefully she steps forward.”

I’m Very Busy closes to win Muniz

Overcoming the outside post of 13 older males entered in the Muniz Memorial (G2) presented by Horse Racing Nation, I’m Very Busy produced a magnificent late kick to win the race by 3 3/4 lengths.

Second last out to international star Warm Heart in the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1), the 4-year-old colt owned by Team Hanley, Richard Schermerhorn and Paul Braverman and trained by Chad Brown has shown all the signs of what could be a stunning campaign.

Piloted by Irad Ortiz Jr., I’m Very Busy traveled the 1 1/8 miles in 1:47.57 over a turf course rated good.

Strong Quality led the early charge through opening fractions of 22.80 and 47.33 seconds with Johny’s Fireball hot on his tail. I’m Very Busy found himself settled near the back and traveling in tight quarters a couple paths of the rail. Once tipped out, I’m Very Busy began producing in the clear of the far turn.

Having stalked throughout, Gigante busted to the front at the eighth pole and briefly appeared to be on his way to the win. But having circled the field, I’m Very Busy unleashed a dominant late effort to prove best.

“It was hard with the post position,” Ortiz said. “But we got lucky, saved some ground in the first turn. We wanted to be a little closer, but the horse made it look easy. He’s always been nice. This year he’s probably doing better since he has more experience. Chad has loved this horse since day 1, to be honest. He always told me to ride this horse, because he is so nice, and he was right.”

Gigante ran on for second. Webslinger came late for third, and Beatbox got up late for fourth.

I’m Very Busy was sent off as the post-time favorite and returned $6.80, $5.00, and $3.40. From a career record of 9: 3-3-1, the Pennsylvania-bred, Cloud Computing colt has $590,450 in earnings.

Red Route One wins New Orleans Classic

Eighth of nine in the early going of the $500,000 New Orleans Classic (G2), Winchell Thoroughbreds homebred Red Route One scraped the paint on the backstretch, picked off horses one by one, switched off the heels of the pacesetter Touchuponastar in the stretch and rattled home to win by two lengths with a final time of 1:49.14 for the 1 1/8 miles on a fast main track.

Pressed hard throughout by 5-2 favorite Best Actor, the Louisiana-bred Touchuponastar campaigned by Set Hut Stables of former NFL quarterback Jake Delhomme and brother and trainer Jeff set fast early fractions of 23.16 and 46.87 seconds. The duo took their battle into the far turn as Louisiana Stakes winner Money Supply and Red Route One inched closer, stride by stride.

Touchuponastar, the close 5-2 second choice, eventually disposed of Best Actor, who would finish fifth. But he could not fend off the late charge of Red Route One, who rallied off the leader’s heels in mid-stretch before kicking away in the end. It was another 1 1/2 lengths back to Money Supply in third.

“That was very good,” jockey Joel Rosario said. “I tried to save ground, and he did it very well. Down the stretch I had to come out a little bit, but he did everything wonderfully.”

It was the first win since last year’s West Virginia Derby (G3) in August at Mountaineer and only the second graded-stakes score in the career of Red Route One. Well managed from the start, the well-traveled 4-year-old boasts a career record of 18: 4-4-2 with earnings of $1,507,425. He is the sixth-leading earner for the stud sensation Gun Runner with four of those trained by Asmussen with Echo Zulu, Gunite and Society being the others.

“He’s another incredible homebred of Winchell Thoroughbreds,” Asmussen said. “He’s campaigned a lot, traveled a lot. When given the opportunity he will show up. Joel gave him the right trip for the horse. He got a nice set up today, but he was good enough to take advantage of it.”

As the 9-2 third choice in the field of nine, Red Route One returned $11.80, $5.20 and $2.80. Touchuponastar paid $4.60 and $3.20. Money Supply paid $3.60 to show.