Paradise looks to keep it rolling in G3 Gazelle

NK Racing and LNJ Foxwoods’ Paradise was a decisive winner of the one-mile Listed Busher on February 28 at Aqueduct Racetrack, and will stretch out an extra furlong in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Gazelle for sophomore fillies.

The nine-furlong Gazelle [Race 11], which offers 100-50-25-15-10 qualifying points towards to Kentucky Oaks to the top-five finishers, is part of a stacked 12-race program headlined by the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino, a nine-furlong 100-50-25-15-10 Kentucky Derby qualifier for sophomores in Race 12. Also featured on the five-stakes card are the Grade 2, $300,000 Carter presented by NYRA Bets in Race 6, the Grade 3, $150,000 Distaff in Race 10, and the Listed $150,000 Excelsior in Race 3. First post is 12:40 p.m. Eastern.

Trained by dual Eclipse Award-winner Brad Cox, Paradise earned her first stakes win in the Busher when stalking 1 1/2 lengths off the early pace under Manny Franco as Current Yield marked splits of 23.38 seconds and 46.75 over the good footing. Interstatelovesong took command as three-quarters elapsed in 1:11.56, but Paradise gave game chase three-wide into the stretch and dug in gamely to put away the new leader and drive home a 3 3/4-length winner over returning rival Nycon in a final time of 1:38.53. She earned 37.50 Oaks points, as well as a career-best 78 Beyer Speed Figure, for the effort.

Paradise has since worked three times at Belmont Park, including half-mile efforts on March 21 and March 28 in a respective 48.44 seconds and 48.96. 

“She’s doing great and her last two works have been very good,” Cox said. “She’s given us the confidence that she she’ll handle the mile and an eighth. I thought her race in the Busher was very good. It’s going to be a better group, but that’s part of it. I think she’s improved off the Busher based off what she’s shown us in the mornings, and I think she’s going to run a big race.”

The lightly-raced daughter of Gun Runner finished second on debut sprinting six furlongs in November at Churchill Downs where she broke outward and made a late bid from seventh-of-11. She changed tactics next out when setting the pace en route to a three-length graduation in a one-mile maiden on January 4 at Gulfstream Park ahead of the Busher.

“She’s straightforward and I thought her first race at Churchill was a really good run knowing that she wanted more ground; she obviously got that at Gulfstream with the one-turn mile,” Cox said. “I didn’t know what to make of that race – it was a good race, but it wasn’t a quickly-run race. I liked her going into the Busher and thought she was set up for a big effort.”

Cox said he was pleased to see the filly show adaptability with wins as both the pacesetter and a stalker.

“I like that she’s got enough speed to put herself where she needs to be,” Cox said. “She’s got a good mind and I think she’s set up for a big effort. I’m looking forward to getting her around two turns.”

Paradise was a $700,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale and is of the multiple Grade 1-placed Munnings mare Venetian Harbor, a dual-surface three-time Grade 2-winner. Her female family goes back to Hall of Famer and influential broodmare Safely Kept.

Cox said despite the sprint influence on her damside, Paradise has always appeared like a horse who would appreciate more ground.

“I think the mare had me thinking she might be a seven-eighths to a one-turn mile type, but the Gun Runners can definitely get you a mile and an eighth, mile and a quarter horse,” Cox said. “Looking at her physically, she’s got enough length to her and doesn’t look like a sprinter at all. I liked the idea of starting her short and then getting her a stamina race going a one-turn mile. We thought the Busher was a good opportunity to get black type, which she did, and now it’s time to step into graded stakes.”

Franco returns to the irons from the inside post.

Paradise will face a rematch with Icon Racing Stable’s Nycon [post 3, Jaime Torres], who is in search of her first stakes win for trainer Whit Beckman.

The Nyquist dark bay tracked alongside Paradise through the early stages of the Busher, and was still 4 1/2 lengths behind at the stretch call. She made a game run under Jaime Torres to earn 18.75 Oaks points, and the effort garnered a 71 Beyer, one point below her career-best earned for a neck second to Haute Diva in the one-mile Cash Run on New Year’s Day at Gulfstream Park.

Beckman said the late-running filly should appreciate the added distance and two-turns.

“We've never thought she was a filly that was going to sit close up,” Beckman said. “That was a pretty quick track that day and we thought she closed a ton of ground. She made a really nice move and galloped out really strong. She looks like two turns will be her deal. She should be alright around two turns for sure.”

Nycon, who graduated at second asking going a one-turn mile in November at Churchill Downs, was a $375,000 purchase at the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and is out of the winning Awesome Again mare Raise the Flag, with her third dam being Hall of Famer Personal Ensign. 

Red White and Blue Racing’s Pashmina [post 6, Ramon Vazquez] earned an 81 Beyer for a last-out third to Bottle of Rouge in the one-mile Sunland Park Oaks on February 15 at its namesake course for trainer Rob Atras.

The daughter of Constitution endured a troubled trip around the New Mexico oval, traveling wide around the first turn under Cristian Torres and tracking in mid-pack down the backstretch. She stayed wide through the last turn and made a bid in the center of the course, but was steadied as Bottle of Rouge veered out in mid-stretch. Pashmina had her momentum stopped and could only manage third, while Bottle of Rouge survived a steward’s inquiry and an objection from Torres. 

"New Mexico was not her fault,” Atras said. “The horse [Bottle of Rouge] veered out sharply in front of her and Cristian did a great job - split-second timing - getting her out of the way because she could have clipped heels there. I don't know if we would have won, but it definitely would have been pretty close at the line if that hadn't happened to us. After it happened, it took the wind out of her, and she never really got back on the bridle and it took her a while to get back going again.”

Atras said he is hopeful Pashmina, who currently has 13 Oaks points, will relish the added distance on Saturday.

"She's a decent sized filly and has a strong hind-end on her. She seems like she has the tactical speed to be a miler, but also has the pedigree, the stride and just watching her move in the morning and some of her races - the way she keeps coming - to go long,” Atras said. “This will tell us which direction we need to go, going forward, for the rest of the year."

Pashmina was a $350,000 purchase at the 2024 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale and is out of the Super Saver mare Panthera Onca, who finished second in the Ruthless and third in the Listed Busher in 2020 at the Big A. Her second dam is Grade 3-winner Molto Vita, who was twice Grade 1-placed.

"She came out of the race really well which is important,” Atras said of the Sunland Park Oaks. “She handled it really well and shipped up here good. Hopefully, she handles the Aqueduct track good."

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher is hoping Repole Stable’s Baffle [post 5, Kendrick Carmouche] will graduate in style off a deep-closing third in the one-turn 1 1/16-mile Virginia Oaks on March 14, where she earned 11.25 Oaks points.

The Violence chestnut will make her seventh start in the Gazelle, her best finish a second when closing from last-of-10 in a local one-turn mile maiden in December where she raced with blinkers off after a one-race experiment with them yielded an even third. 

"She doesn't seem to show a lot of interest early on in her races,” Pletcher said. “We tried some blinkers on which didn't really help, so we've come to the point where we'll let her run the race that she wants to run, which is hopefully finishing up strongly."

A $130,000 purchase at the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Baffle is out of the Grade 3-placed Munnings mare Please Flatter Me.

Completing the competitive field are state-bred Maddie May-winner Victory Hall [post 8, Ricardo Santana, Jr.] for conditioner Tom Morley; local Ruthless-winner Two Bits [post 4, Jaime Rodriguez] for trainer Amelia Green; the Linda Rice-trained two-time winner Hot Gossip [post 7, Jose Lezcano]; maiden-winner Always a Runner [post 2, Dylan Davis], a $1.05 million yearling purchase trained by five-time Eclipse Award-winner Chad Brown; and the Saffie Joseph, Jr.-trained maiden Slow Kara [post 9, Javier Castellano]. 

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