Recepta Continues a Firm Partnership

Recepta | NYRA Photo

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Recepta (Speightstown), the latest in a long line of successful filly and mare turf competitors for Darby Dan's Phillips Racing Partnership and trainer Jimmy Toner, will head west in search of firm ground in the GI Matriach S. at Del Mar Sunday. Winner of the GIII Noble Damsel S. at Belmont Sept. 19, the 4-year-old is coming off a 12th-place finish in the wake of Tepin (Bernstein) in the Oct. 31 GI Breeders' Cup Mile over a giving Keeneland turf course–a condition that Phillips Racing manager John W. Phillips said was far from ideal.

“We were in trouble as soon as it rained on Wednesday [of Breeders' Cup week],” Phillips acknowledged. “She's training better and better, and she's more sound than she's ever been. That's why it was a bold reach to go from a Grade III to the Breeders' Cup, but she had trained so well. She likes firm going and that just didn't work, and we knew that was a real possibility.”

Phillips said that the dark bay, who also annexed the one-mile De La Rose S. at Saratoga prior to her Noble Damsel triumph, came out of the Breeders' Cup in good order, leading the partners and co-owner Pam Gartin to search for a final race prior to Recepta's scheduled freshening over the winter months. After the experience over the rain-softened lawn in Lexington, climate played a major role in their decision to target the Matriarch.

“There was one other race, [the GIII Cardinal H. this past Saturday] at Churchill,” Phillips said. “But the risk of getting soft ground was greater, so we thought going to California was a wiser option.”

Although Recepta was already a stakes winner as a juvenile and graded stakes-placed as a 3-year-old, the owner added that he believes his filly continues to develop with age and maturity under the watchful care of Toner.

“She'll do one more race this year, and then she'll come home and be on the shelf for several months to do some [rest and recovery],” said Phillips, who also manages family-owned Darby Dan Farm. “She's improved quite a bit and continues to improve, so we'll see where we are here in the Matriarch, and then give her a rest and start her over again at midsummer next year.”

A glance at Recepta's pedigree speaks to the long-standing relationship between Phillips Racing and Toner. The filly's dam, Honor Bestowed (Honor Grades), is a half-sister to MGISW Soaring Softly (Kris S.), who captured the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf en-route to championship honors for the same connections in 1999. In more recent memory, the pair campaigned another trio of multiple Grade I stakes winners in Memories of Silver (Silver Hawk) and her daughter Winter Memories (El Prado {Ire}), as well as Wonder Again (Silver Hawk). According to Phillips, the enduring nature of the owner-trainer partnership is unique, but not necessarily planned.

“Every time I turn around, we have another daughter whose dam [Toner] trained,” Phillips reflected. “It wasn't really by design as much as it was dictated by success. It's worked out really well, and he understands me very well–what I'm looking for in terms of a broodmare band, the patience that I would prefer a trainer to have, and the style of racing that is consistent with the pedigrees we have. It's been a great association and, God willing, we will continue it for years to come.”

As for the possibility of another female turfer coming along to compete at the highest level for Phillips and Toner?

It's hardly a stretch to speculate that the 2-year-old filly Time and Motion (Tapit) may be waiting to carry the torch. Although the bay remains a maiden after three starts, she closed fastest of all to secure third-place honors in the GIII Miss Grillo S. Sept. 27 and recently rallied stoutly from post 14 to finish a deceptively close fifth behind Catch a Glimpse (City Zip) in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf Oct. 30. Consistent with the patient approach of her connections, Phillips said that Time and Motion is currently resting up ahead of her 2016 campaign.

“She's at the farm now and we'll have a game plan for her,” he explained. “For now, she's going to take 60 days, a couple of months, and just relax on the farm. She'll go down to the training center in Florida right after the January sales.”

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