Ivan Fallunovalot Postpones Count Fleet Breeze

 

“Everything’s good with him,” Howard said Sunday morning. “We just want a good track.”

 

Howard said Hall of Fame jockey Calvin Borel will again breeze the gelding.

 

Ivan Fallunovalot has won 2 of 3 starts this year, including the $100,000 King Cotton Stakes Feb. 7. He finished second in the $100,000 Hot Springs Stakes March 7 in his last start. He has recorded three of the country’s top 22 Beyer Speed Figures (108, 105, 105) in races up to a mile this year, according to Daily Racing Form.

 

Trainer Ron Moquett said Den’s Legacy is being considered for the $600,000 Oaklawn Handicap (G2) April 11 following his front-running 1 ¾-length allowance victory at a mile Wednesday. It snapped a 19-race losing streak for Den’s Legacy, a 5-year-old son of Medaglia d’Oro, who was a Grade 3 winner at 2 for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert. Den’s Legacy had been with Baffert in Southern California before joining Moquett’s barn late last year.

 

“I think some horses take a while to figure it out,” Moquett said. “He was one of those guys that was doing enough to pay the bills, but not over exceeding.”

 

Hall of Fame jockey Calvin Borel hustled Den’s Legacy to the front Wednesday and was able to control the pace over a wet-fast surface. He completed the mile in a sharp 1:37.77 and paid $24.80. Among the horses he beat in that race was Triple Crown nominee I Spent It, the only 3-year-old in the six-horse field, who finished last in his for co-owners Alex and JoAnn Lieblong.

 

A day earlier, Moquett and Alex Lieblong were in Florida attending the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s March sale of 2-year-olds in training. Moquett flew back to Arkansas on the Lieblongs’ plane, joking that it was “rude” of him to then beat their horse.

 

“Alex told me I owe him airfare,” Moquett said. “I fly Lieblong air.”

 

Wednesday’s victory was the third in 27 starts for Den’s Legacy and pushed his career earnings to $537,675. He had run fifth and fourth in two previous allowance/optional claiming races at the meeting. The win was also his first on dirt. He broke his maiden as a 2-year-old on Polytrack at the 2012 Del Mar meeting before winning the $100,000 Generous Stakes (G3) on the grass that fall at Hollywood Park.

 

Den’s Legacy, who finished third in the 2013 Rebel and sixth in that year’s Arkansas Derby, is one of four horses Moquett trains for Little Rock, Ark.-based Westrock Stables LLC (Joe and Scott Ford). Moquett said he hopes to run Den’s Legacy again at Oaklawn before the meeting ends April 11 and will look at the Oaklawn Handicap, “if it was a real short field.”

 

“He’s run against a bunch of real good horses,” Moquett said.

Will VanMeter’s sixth career victory as a trainer was a family affair. VanMeter co-owns Remember Lucy, a dazzling debut winner Saturday at Oaklawn, with father Tom, a prominent Kentucky sales consigner. The filly was named for his late aunt, Lucy Elliott Bryans VanMeter, who died of a brain aneurysm in July 2010 in Lexington, Ky. She was only 49.

 

“She was a very beautiful person, inside and out,” VanMeter said Sunday morning. “She was in great health, very vibrant, very active in the community. She just woke up one morning, was walking to the bathroom and just fell over dead.”

 

VanMeter, 31, said he and his girlfriend/assistant, Kristin Fischer, chose the name “Remember Lucy,” a 3-year-old Tale of Ekati filly, as a tribute to the trainer’s late aunt.

 

“Our family is very close,” VanMeter said.

 

Remember Lucy was making her career debut Saturday, and like many first-time starters breaking from the rail in six-furlong races at Oaklawn, was off slowly. She only had one horse beaten after a quarter-mile, but began to advance toward the leaders on the turn. Remember Lucy rolled six-wide into the stretch and took command in the final furlong under Terry Thompson to win by 4 ¼ widening lengths.

 

“Our filly can really kick,” VanMeter said.

 

Remember Lucy ran six furlongs over a good track in 1:12.69. She paid $22.20 as a 10-1 shot in the nine-horse field. VanMeter said he believed Remember Lucy would run well because she outworked stablemate Radiant Ruby “a couple of times.” Radiant Ruby, a 4-year-old Tale of the Cat filly, won her Jan. 30 career debut at Oaklawn.

 

“It really flattered what Lucy was doing in the morning,” VanMeter said. “We were like, ‘We’ve got a really nice horse here.’ ”

 

Remember Lucy is one of 10 horses VanMeter, a former assistant to Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, has at Oaklawn. VanMeter saddled his first career winner March 14, 2014, at Oaklawn (Pearl Turn) and has 4-0-1 record in 10 starts at the 2015 meeting.

 

“It’s a fun game, as long as I have two nickels to rub together,” VanMeter said.

Multiple stakes winner Kiss Moon worked 3 furlongs in :37.20 after the renovation break Sunday morning for trainer David Vance. Kiss Moon had been a candidate for the $600,000 Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) April 10, but Vance said weather-related training setbacks have pushed her 4-year-old debut to possibly around May 1 at Churchill Downs. … Trainer Robertino Diodoro said unbeaten 3-year-old sprinter Subtle Indian emerged from Saturday’s $100,000 Gazebo in good order and will be pointed toward the $100,000 Bachelor Stakes April 10. The Gazebo marked the first Oaklawn stakes victory for Diodoro, 41, who has a string at Oaklawn for the first time this year. … Trainer Ron Moquett said Heykittykittykitty is being pointed for the $100,000 Carousel Stakes April 8. Heykittykittykitty ran second behind Spring Included, another scheduled Carousel starter, in the $100,000 Spring Fever Stakes Feb. 21. … Oaklawn surpassed 300 claims at the meeting Saturday, its 38th day of racing.