{"id":24299,"date":"2014-08-24T22:17:44","date_gmt":"2014-08-25T03:17:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blacktypebugler.com\/?p=24299"},"modified":"2014-08-24T21:18:37","modified_gmt":"2014-08-25T02:18:37","slug":"whirl-around-storms-to-win-the-gr-1-ca-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/?p=24299","title":{"rendered":"Whirl Around Storms To Win The Gr. 1 CA Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"

REVIEW:<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

California (CA)<\/p>\n

Saturday, August 23, 2014 \u00a0— \u00a03:00 PM EST \/ Race ID \u00a01233090<\/p>\n

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Grade 1 \u00a0CA CLASSIC<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Purse: \u00a0 $1,000,000<\/p>\n

Restricted To 3 YO’s and Up<\/p>\n

10 Furlongs \/ About 2000 Metres \/ One Mile and One-Quarter<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For Crystal and her Tisjuliet Racing Stables group, Saturday was a great day, indeed, as she watched her 4 year old colt Whirl Around romp and stomp his way to an easy 2 \u00bc length win over #1 ranked Lepe in the $1,000,000 CA Classic this weekend.<\/span><\/p>\n

But then again, for Crystal, it\u2019s been that kind of a year.<\/p>\n

It was the stable group\u2019s fourth grade 1 winner of the year, including two in the Equinics in February, and Crystal couldn\u2019t have been happier after Saturday\u2019s race that almost clinched her colt a spot in the Breeders\u2019 Bowl Classic in November, should she decide to take him there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really did think he was going to fire today,\u201d said Crystal after she watched her scratch-bred Medaglia D\u2019Oro colt make a huge move on the backstretch to take command of the race about a furlong and a half from the wire and cruise to what looked like a pretty effortless win. \u201cHis best race to date was at 10 furlongs, and he hadn\u2019t been the distance in a while. \u00a0Luckily, he appreciated it as much as I\u2019d hoped!\u201d<\/p>\n

There was very little luck involved in the monstrous performance by Whirl Around in the prestigious Grade 1 CA Classic, one of the more important preps for older colts and horses who fancy a shot at the Breeders\u2019 Bowl Classic in November.<\/p>\n

After trailing by nearly a dozen lengths early in the race, Whirl Around made a huge move on the back stretch, splitting Shady Miner and Sea The Magic, before he simply ran past early pacesetter VT Indycat between the 1\/8 and 1\/16 poles. After that, Lepe (the #1 ranked colt in the dirt handicap division) came with his usual strong late run. But it just wasn\u2019t enough to overtake Whirl Around, who was actually putting distance between himself and Lepe at the end of Saturday’s race.<\/p>\n

Crystal said she thought the field in the CA Classic on Saturday was \u201ceven better than the ones he ran against in Dubai and the Equinics. For whatever reason, he wasn\u2019t himself in Dubai. Maybe he didn\u2019t take to the track, but he showed he belonged with these today. He gave it his all, and I couldn\u2019t be prouder of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whirl Around, who was sent off as an 8\/1 shot at post-time, broke alertly out of the two hole and eased over to the rail, while VT Indycat was having a pretty easy time of it in on the front end in Saturdays CA Classic.<\/p>\n

There wasn\u2019t anyone to really challenge VT Indycat early, so that one was content to set some pretty pedestrian fractions on the front end early. At one point, VT Indycat opened up as much as a four-length lead on Harper II, the seven year old New York-bred who ended up settling for third place in Saturday\u2019s million dollar race.<\/p>\n

But neither of those two could withstand the furious late rush of Whirl Around, as he bounced out to the front and romped down the center of the course in California, clocking the ten furlongs in a time of 2:00.76.<\/p>\n

The 2-6 exacta with Lepe paid $176.70, and the 2-6-4 trifecta with Harper II paid a walloping $1,525.10.<\/p>\n

Evil Sunrise, Recoup, Shady Miner and Lemon Vodka were all tightly grouped behind the top three finishers. Then came Slick Candidate, VT Indycat, Imminence, Ello Guvnor, Pee Huzz, Sea The Magic and Natural Spring.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was scared of all of them,\u201d said Crystal after the race. \u201cYou had the proven grade 1 types like Lepe, Hello Guvnor and Evil Sunrise in there, but any of the others in there today could have had a good day. You just never know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whirl Around was her first colt to accomplish the grade 1 trick this year, Crystal said after the race.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s got three other grade 1 winners this year, but they were all fillies.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe (Whirl Around) was bred a couple weeks prior to his first start,\u201d said Crystal, when she was explaining why her four year old was so lightly raced.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2018t debut until the middle of his three year old season.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t win his first race, but the way he ran in his debut made me very happy. \u00a0I suspected then he was going to be a very good. \u00a0He marched right through his conditions after that, and he made his first listed stakes appearance right before the Equinics. \u00a0It was the Duke Ali Stakes in Maryland, and Lenny had a good colt in there. \u00a0I thought if we could beat that horse, Whirly was going places. And he did. \u00a0Smoke (the All Stars Racing Residency Manager) selected Whirl Around to compete for the ASR rez in the Equinics, and the rest is history.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not exactly quite history yet, for Crystal and Whirl Around. \u00a0Since this colt is so lightly raced, it would appear he\u2019s just getting started.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe came out of the race ready to rumble,\u201d said Crystal, who said we would see the colt next in the Grade 1 Jockey Guild Gold Cup.. \u201cWhirly is 2-3 in New York, and he loves the 10 furlongs. It\u2019s an ideal spot for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crystal’s other grade 1 winners this year are all four year old fillies. \u00a0Falling Stars won the 8-furlong Grade 1 Equinics SIM WIDE Contests on the dirt, Cosmic Oasis won the 8-furlong Grade 1 Start Up Stakes a month ago in Deauville on the turf, and Blissfully won the marathon 12-furlong Equinics dirt event for fillies, the Grade 1 Tipsheet Writers in February.<\/p>\n

Crystal has had a monster year, winning nearly three Equinics races for the All Star Racing residency. \u201cI love them at ASR,\u201d said Crystal. \u201cThere\u2019s no better group of guys and girls to play the game with. \u00a0Jimmy and Tom really care about the residency, and you can see it in the efforts they make to keep it getting better. In a big event like the Equinics, those are special wins, because it\u2019s not like winning a race for myself. \u00a0I consider it a win for the residency, too. \u00a0I\u2019m just as happy when other ASR residents win. \u00a0My ASR flag is flown proudly.\u201d<\/p>\n

All in all, it\u2019s been a very good year for horses from Tisjuliet Racing and Crystal, who says she really loves the breeding end of the game best.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe, strangely, I\u2019ve always had a preference for fillies,\u201d said Crystal. \u201cUp until this year, my best have normally been colts, so it\u2019s really nice to have a few graded quality fillies. However, it\u2019s a challenge restraining myself from breeding just fillies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to talk about the girls,\u201d said Crystal, when she was asked about her three grade 1 winning fillies this year. \u201cCosmic Oasis is very exciting. She\u2019s a bit of an up and comer. I think her best days are ahead. She\u2019s pointing at a grade 2 in Ireland, and if all goes well there, it\u2019ll be a grade 1 in either England or France afterwards. \u00a0The Equinics gutted Falling Stars. \u00a0She\u2019s been getting a lot of time between races. \u00a0She became a bit of a piggy for a while, and she\u2019ll run in an allowance race soon. \u00a0If she doesn\u2019t come back to form, she\u2019ll be retired to breed a late 2014 2-year old. \u00a0And, Blissfully is a bit of an enigma. \u00a0She\u2019ll run a brilliant race, and then she\u2019ll throw in a clunker or two. She came out of her last race needing rest, so she\u2019ll be getting a good deal of that. \u00a0Hopefully, she\u2019ll come back a bit more formful after that.\u201d<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s one that Crystal seems really excited about most of all, and that\u2019s Perilous War, a two year old by War Front, out of the Grade 3 winning Seeking The Gold mare Black Pearls. \u00a0All that one\u2019s done is win four of its first five starts, including two group 2 races in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerilous is probably my best two year old ever,\u201d said Crystal. \u00a0\u201cI\u2019ve never had one (a 2 year old) win more than a single graded race. \u00a0He is going in the Golden Slipper next. It\u2019s already looking like a tough race, so we\u2019ll be able to see what he\u2019s got or doesn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Crystal, it looks like she might have at least two, maybe as many as three, pointed for the Breeders\u2019 Bowl races come November. \u00a0But Crystal said she\u2019s being cautious about that, at least for the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI pushed a two year old to get there last year,\u201d said the patient owner of Tisjuliet Racing, \u201cand he hasn\u2019t been the same since. \u00a0So I won\u2019t be doing that again. Sure, it would be nice to win one (a BB race) one day, but I won\u2019t be pushing any of them to get there. \u00a0We\u2019ll see who\u2019s going well and if the timing fits.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

REVIEW:   California (CA) Saturday, August 23, 2014 \u00a0— \u00a03:00 PM EST \/ Race ID \u00a01233090   Grade 1 \u00a0CA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":162,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/162"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24299"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24310,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24299\/revisions\/24310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}