Distorted Humor

By Christie DeBernardis & Jessica Martini The four-day Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale got off to a strong start Tuesday. A colt from the first crop of Horse of the Year Gun Runner (Hip 118) was the day's hottest commodity, bringing $850,000 from Donato Lanni, acting on behalf of Michael Lund Petersen. Hip 118 was one of 181 juveniles to sell for a gross of $17,829,500. The average was $98,506 and the median was $50,000. Of the 304 catalogued, 225 were offered with 44 horses leaving the ring unsold...

The card for the 84th GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby produced all-sources pari-mutuel handle of $24,282,400 Saturday. This was the largest Santa Anita Derby day handle since 2007. In addition, fans returned to the Arcadia oval on a restricted basis, with 8,246 on-track for the 12-race program. It was the first time in over a year that fans were allowed back at Santa Anita since the COVID-19 pandemic began last winter. Rock Your World (Candy Ride {Arg}) saluted in the day's feature event, the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby for...

Stepping up into graded company fresh off a debut maiden victory over six furlongs, SOOTHSAY (f, 3, Distorted Humor--Spellbound, by Bernardini) was given a tremendous ride by leading jockey Flavien Prat, met the late-stretch bid of favored Beautiful Gift (Medaglia d'Oro), and went on to a gutsy victory in Saturday's GII Santa Anita Oaks in Arcadia. While Beautiful Gift and Moraz (Empire Maker) took the bulk of the betting and battled up front in a rematch of the GIII Santa Ysabel S., Soothsay tracked those two from behind. The opening quarter...

6th-Santa Anita, $62,000, Msw, 2-26, 3yo, f, 6f, 1:11.19, ft, 1 1/2 lengths. SOOTHSAY (f, 3, Distorted Humor--Spellbound {GSW, $231,750}, by Bernardini) prepped for this with a :59.40 best-of-32 breeze from the gate Feb. 19, and while she didn't show much speed from the blocks here, she had plenty of zip when it mattered. The 3-1 shot seemed to be climbing a bit in the early stages as she had just one beaten while racing out in the clear. She began to take closer order while still with plenty of work...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 7th-GP, $50K, Msw, 3yo, 6f, 3:10 p.m. Todd Pletcher sends out a pair of flashy firsters in what looks like a particularly salty maiden event. Dupuis (Distorted Humor) will carry the same Robert and Lawana Low silks as his stablemate Colonel Liam (Liam's Map), winner of last month's GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational S. A $165,000 FTKOCT yearling, Dupuis topped the OBS July 2-year-old sale at $700,000 off of a :10 flat work. The Apr. 30 foal hails from the family of Florida speedsters...

GEORGE ADAMS, Housatonic Bloodstock Instagrand (Into Mischief), $7,500, Taylor Made    Of the first-years, Instagrand is a really interesting horse and priced competitively at $7,500 at Taylor Made. If he'd retired after his first two starts, folks would have knocked him on soundness but they'd have bred to him because of that brilliance and the Into Mischief factor, and his fee would've been higher. Nothing he did after that changes anything about his juvenile campaign, and physically he's a beast. Plus, Into Mischief has only gotten hotter. I think the commercial...

Kudos to whoever was creative and subtle enough to name GERVAIS a horse by DISTORTED HUMOR. The winner of a handicap race at Meydan last week has just that almost risqué name. English actor Ricky Gervais is the creator of The Office, a TV program that stretched the borders of mainstream humor in the UK and in the US. Moreover, Ricky Gervais has presented the Golden Globes five times, always under the threat of being fired because of his outrageous sense of humor and his cutting, take-no-prisoner jokes. With Gervais...

Matthew Schera's stakes-winning and MGSP 7-year-old Vorticity (Distorted Humor--Tar Heel Mom, by Flatter) has been retired. A $220,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic juvenile purchase in 2015, and later that year annexed the Marylander S. before seconds in the GIII Jerome S. and GIII Withers S. as an early season 3-year-old. He added a third in the 2018 GII Pat O'Brien S., and retires with a record of 18-4-6-3 and earnings of $347,040. "I look at a lot of stride data, and Vorticity had a very large stride and he had a very...

'TDN Rising Star' Momos (Distorted Humor) will switch to grass for Sunday's GIII Futurity S. at Belmont Park, a 'Win and You're In' for the GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Keeneland. A runaway debut winner at Saratoga July 18, the $180,000 OBSMAR graduate pressed a hot pace and stayed on for third behind ultra-impressive unbeaten MGISW Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) in the GII Saratoga Special S. last time Aug. 7. "He's been training well," trainer Christophe Clement said. "I trained him on the grass and thought he worked...

3rd-Del Mar, $55,000, Msw, 8-30, 2yo, f, 6f, 1:11.67, ft. VARDA (f, 2, Distorted Humor--She'll Be Right, by Sky Mesa), sent off at 5-1 in this debut, battled with I'm the Boss of Me (Midshipman) just in front to her inside for the first quarter mile and soon led by a half-length. After a half in :46.36, she jetted away from her foes to win going away by 3 1/4 lengths. Heels Up (Twirling Candy) ran second, 7 1/2 lengths in front of I'm the Boss of Me. The $700,000...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency FULL BRO TO ANALYZE IT UNVEILED BY BROWN AND PARCELLS 10th-SAR, $72K, Msw, 2yo, 1 1/16mT, 6:18 p.m. ET Shirelle (Point of Entry) will carry the colors of Bill Parcells's August Dawn Farm for this first go. The $150,000 KEESEP yearling is a full brother to Brown-trained Analyze It, a 6 1/4-length debut romper in October of his juvenile season, earning 'TDN Rising Star' honors. Analyze It took a pair of Grade III events in his next starts, and just missed in a trio of...

6th-Saratoga, $72,000, Msw, 8-15, 2yo, 6 1/2f, 1:17.55, ft. CALIBRATE (c, 2, Distorted Humor--Glamour and Style, by Dynaformer) was backed from a morning line of 5-1 to be off as the 2-1 chalk in this salty-looking Saratoga maiden and galloped home a 4 1/2-length winner for the in-form Steve Asmussen barn. Ridden for speed by first-call jockey Ricardo Santana, Jr., the $340,000 Keeneland September purchase argued the pace to the inside of the once-raced Unitedandresolute (Violence) as Restored Order (Frosted) stalked that duo from the three path. Shaken up off...