MAJOR FED A PROMISING 3-YEAR-OLD FOR THE FOLEY’S
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Grant LaGrange
Racing Media Relations Coordinator
MAJOR FED A PROMISING
3-YEAR-OLD FOR TEAM FOLEY
The Greg Foley-trained son of Ghostzapper hails from a
stakes-winning family that his barn is very familiar with
New Orleans (January 4, 2020) – This time of year, when a newly turned 3-year-old colt wins impressively, particularly around two turns, the connections cannot help but think about it.
The Road to the Kentucky Derby, that is.
On Wednesday afternoon at Fair Grounds, in what was just his second career start, Lloyd Madison’s Major Fed won going away, and in doing so he turned hope into expectation for trainer Greg Foley and his team.
“We’re in the game,” assistant trainer Travis Foley, oldest son of Greg, would say following the race.
Three-wide on the first turn, the son of Ghostzapper stalked a moderate pace from fifth of seven early on under Brian Hernandez, Jr. Five-wide on the bend for home, he took full command late and won going away by 4 ¼ lengths. For the effort, Major Fed earned an 87 Bris speed figure and a serious late pace number of 106.
In his only other start on November 23 at Churchill, Major Fed finished a late closing third behind Gold Street, who would return four weeks later to take the Sugar Bowl Stakes at Fair Grounds.
“He’s a big, good looking horse and he’s always been sound,” Foley said. “We knew he had some talent right from the start. We sprinted him first time out and he was just kind of green and ran into some really nice horses but still put in a good third. Even his win here the other day, I thought he got a good schooling and was a little unexperienced and figuring things out. He’s getting better and better and just hope to keep him happy and going the right direction.”
Major Fed’s dam Bobby’s Babe won only once from 11 lifetime starts, but she’s turned out to be a fantastic broodmare.
“We were lucky to have raced the mare,” said Greg’s son and assistant trainer Travis Foley. “(Bobby’s Babe’s owner) Lloyd Madison has been with us for years. They had (millionaire and multiple graded stakes winner) Champali in the early 2000’s and have just built up their home-bred program.”
Bobby’s Babe has produced Clairenation (2012 * 12-5-0-1 for $192,723), the multiple stakes-placed Zapperini (2013 * 32-3-4-6 for $261,471), the stakes winner May Lily (2014 * 21-4-5-3 for $271,926) and Attorney Tim (2016), who recently broke his maiden over the Fair Grounds turf. Of those, only Zapperini has a dirt win on the resume.
“There are all nice horses in this family,” Foley said. “They’ve all been stakes caliber and have just been knocking on the door waiting for a breakthrough. Most of this mare’s good runners have been turf, which isn’t a bad thing, but it’s nice to have Major Fed showing so much talent over the main track.”
“It pumps you up and puts you in the game,” Foley continued. “The way that he did it was visually impressive and it makes it exciting. That’s why you get in this game, to have chances at the big ones and obviously we have a long way to go to get where we want to be but he gives us a chance and that’s all you can ask for.”
As far as where to go next, Foley is uncertain.
“Time wise, it’s not the best,” he said. “It’s a little too quick back for the Lecomte (January 18 at Fair Grounds). We’re still trying to map it all out. He came out of the race really good and is sound.”
“I think he’s bred to go all day,” Foley continued. “Some of his relatives could get a mile and a half and just seeing him kick home the other day you get excited to see how he finished. It looked like he had a ton left in the tank and I think the further the better with him. We’ll see how good he is but distance should not be an issue with this horse.”
ON THE WORKTAB:
Arklow (Brad Cox) – Four furlongs in 48.80 B. $1.8 million earner, multiple graded stakes winner including the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic (G1), 8th in Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) last out.
Blended Citizen (Brad Cox) – Four furlongs in :48 B. Multiple graded stakes winner, 2nd in the Tenacious Stakes at Fair Grounds last out.
Mr. Misunderstood (Brad Cox) – Four furlongs in 48.80 B. Multiple graded stakes winner, victorious in the River City Handicap (G3) at Churchill Downs last out.
Mr. Monomoy (Brad Cox) – Four furlongs in 48.20 B. Half-brother to champion Monomoy Girl. Second in allowance last out. Probable for the Lecomte (G3).
Portrait – (Brad Cox) — Four furlongs in :49 B. Third in the Pocahontas (G3) at Churchill last out.
Shedaresthedevil (Simon Callaghan) – Four furlongs 48.20 B. Third in Sorrento Stakes (G3) at Del Mar. Second in Anoakia Stakes last out at Santa Anita.
Warriors Charge (Brad Cox) – Four furlongs 49.80 B. Fourth in 2019 Preakness (G1). Winner of and allowance race off the layoff last out at Fair Grounds.
Seeking the Soul (Dallas Stewart) – Five furlongs 1:00.80 B. Earner of $3.4 million, multiple graded stakes winner including the Stephen Foster (G2) at Churchill Downs in 2019.
BY THE NUMBERS:
In a racing rarity, Bret Calhoun scored a natural hat trick on Saturday’s Fair Grounds program, nearly doubling his win total for the meet (7). He won race three with Bold Rey ($7.80), race four with Lawton ($4.40) and race five with Special Blessing ($6.00).
-30-
About Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots: Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, one of the nation’s oldest racetracks, has been in operation since 1872. Located in New Orleans, LA, Fair Grounds is owned by Churchill Downs Incorporated (NASDAQ Global
Select Market: CHDN); it also operates a slot-machine gaming facility and 13 off-track betting parlors throughout southeast Louisiana. The 148th Thoroughbred Racing Season – highlighted by the 107 th running of the Louisiana Derby – will run from November 28, 2019 through March 29, 2020. More information can be found online at www.FairGroundsRaceCourse.com.
Information set forth in this press release contains various “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the “Act”) provides certain “safe harbor” provisions for forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements made in this press release are made pursuant to the Act. The reader is cautioned that such forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time and/or management’s good faith belief with respect to future events, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in the statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date the statement was made. We assume no obligation to update forward-looking information to reflect actual results, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by the use of terms such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “predict,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “will,” and similar words, although some forward-looking statements are expressed differently.
Although we believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include the following: the effect of economic conditions on our consumers’ confidence and discretionary spending or our access to credit; additional or increased taxes and fees; public perceptions or lack of confidence in the integrity of our business; loss of key or highly skilled personnel; restrictions in our debt facilities limiting our flexibility to operate our business; general risks related to real estate ownership, including fluctuations in market values and environmental regulations; catastrophic events and system failures disrupting our operations, including the impact of natural and other disasters on our operations and our ability to obtain insurance recoveries in respect of such losses; inability to identify and complete acquisition, expansion or divestiture projects, on time, on budget or as planned; difficulty in integrating recent or future acquisitions into our operations; legalization of online real money gaming and sports wagering in the United States, and our ability to capitalize on and predict such legalization; the number of people attending and wagering on live horse races; inability to respond to rapid technological changes in a timely manner; inadvertent infringement of the intellectual property of others; inability to protect our own intellectual property rights; security breaches and other security risks related to our technology, personal information, source code and other proprietary information, including failure to comply with regulations and other legal obligations relating to receiving, processing, storing and using personal information; payment- related risks, such as chargebacks for fraudulent credit card use; compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or applicable money-laundering regulations; compliance with payment processing and payment transmission regulations; work stoppages and labor issues; difficulty in attracting a sufficient number of horses and trainers for full field horseraces; inability to negotiate agreements with industry constituents, including horsemen and other racetracks; personal injury litigation related to injuries occurring at our racetracks; the inability of our totalisator company, United Tote, to maintain its processes accurately, keep its technology current or maintain its significant customers; weather conditions affecting our ability to conduct live racing; increased competition in the horseracing business; changes in the regulatory environment of our racing operations; declining popularity in horseracing; seasonal fluctuations in our horseracing business due to geographic concentration of our operations; increased competition in our casino business; changes in regulatory environment of our casino business; the cost and possibility for delay, cost overruns and other uncertainties associated with the develop.m.ent and expansion of casinos; concentration and evolution of slot machine manufacturing and other technology conditions that could impose additional costs; impact of further legislation prohibiting tobacco smoking; geographic concentration of our casino business; changes in regulatory environment for our advanced deposit wagering, sports wagering, or online gaming businesses; increase in competition in the advanced deposit wagering, sports wagering, or online gaming businesses; inability to retain current customers or attract new customers to our advanced deposit wagering, sports wagering, or online gaming businesses; uncertainty and changes in the legal landscape relating to our advanced deposit wagering, sports wagering, or online gaming businesses; and failure to comply with laws requiring us to block access to certain individuals could result in penalties or impairment in our ability to offer advanced deposit wagering, sports wagering, or online gaming.
