October, 2003 Racing Front News Archives Track Photo Credits: Saratoga-Adam Coglianese Belmont-Adam Coglianese • Finger Lakes-Tom Cooley

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(10/31) Elyon runs down rival - wins first 2-turn attempt
Heavily favored at .55-to-1 for his first two-turn attempt in Aqueduct's sixth race on Friday, a $44,000 restricted N1X allowance for six three-year-olds and up going a mile and an eighth, three-year-old ELYON pursued 2.30-to-1 second choice Quiet Challenge to the contest's final strides, winning by a neck. The dark bay gelding had hinted at significant routing ability in his latest previous start at Belmont on September 24, when he had ventured beyond seven furlongs for the first time in a one-turn mile and a sixteenth N1X allowance and had placed second as the 3.35-to-1 second choice.
Race-ridden for the first time by Javier Castellano, Elyon broke on top from the number two post position but then veered out, bumping with four-year-old 19.50-to-1 fourth choice I'llruinya and possibly causing Quiet Challenge to bump with 5.70-to-1 third choice True Patriot coming out of the fifth post. Quiet Challenge, who had broken his maiden on September 26 at Belmont by opening up a big lead at a mile and a sixteenth, went out quickly despite being bumped and had a 5 1/2-length advantage after the opening quarter and a six-length margin after a half-mile. Trailing the front-runner were 44.20-to-1 fifth choice Wonderful Victory on the inside and Elyon a half-length back on the outside, and those two cut 2 1/2 lengths from Quiet Challenge's margin entering the second turn with Elyon continuing to gain, but Quiet Challenge still led comfortably entering the stretch. Down Aqueduct's 385-yard final straightaway and into a 16-mph southerly headwind, Elyon steadily cut into Quiet Challenge's advantage, finally pulling even inside the final sixteenth and pushing his head and neck in front at the wire, with 10 3/4 lengths separating Quiet Challenge from third-place finisher True Patriot. For jockey Castellano, it was the second winning ride of the day, and for Quiet Challenge, who was top-weighted under 120 pounds because of his mile and a sixteenth maiden victory on September 26, it was another indicator of continued improvement.
For Elyon, who races for Sanford and Irwin Goldfarb, William Vidro, and Michael Casper under the care of 2002 New York Thoroughbred Breeders Trainer of the Year Richard Dutrow Jr., the victory increased his earnings by $26,400 to $80,440 and improved his record to 2 - 2 - 2 in seven starts. Elyon has never finished worse than fourth (once) since debuting at Aqueduct in March, but since June he has seemed noticeably fitter, and following his September 24 second-place effort he had drilled through two solid half-mile workouts at Aqueduct followed by a five-furlong turf work at Aqueduct on October 23. Elyon was the first of two winners on Aqueduct's Halloween Friday card sent out by Dutrow, who later saddled the winner of the featured eighth race.
Sold for only $800 to John Neal at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's 2001 February mixed sale when he was still more than two months shy of being a yearling chronologically, Elyon two months earlier as a weanling had brought even less -- $700 -- at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's 2000 December mixed sale in Timonium, Maryland. The bargain racehorse was bred by Dr. Einar Paul Robsham, a physician whose address is in Cochituate, Massachusetts, and who qualified for a $5,280 breeder award as a result of Elyon's latest victory. Elyon is among 12 winners from the 2000 crop of syndicated New York stallion Polish Pro (Mr. Prospector - Polish Holiday, by Danzig), who stands at Dr. Jonathan Davis' Milfer Farm in Unadilla and whose syndicate connections qualified for a $1,848 stallion award. Other winners from Polish Pro's 2000 crop include 2003 multiple stakes-winning filly Glory Be Good and Aqueduct stakes-placed colts Ruby's Pro and Polish Jewel plus Finger Lakes 2003 stakes-placed filly Ruby's Rocket. Elyon is the first winner produced from New York-bred Cool Skater, a twice-winning daughter of British-bred stallion Mawsuff (by Known Fact) and a half-sister to graded-placed 10-time winner Federal Court ($132,970). A Hypo-Mating check of Elyon's pedigree reveals some route-running ancestry, with a dosage profile of 11-4-11-1-1 and distant inbreeding (4 x 5) to Nashua and Native Dancer. Sire Polish Pro is inbred 3 x 4 to Native Dancer and to the mare Raise You -- a pair whose most famous offspring was Raise a Native.

(10/31) Ryan Is Flying rolls away in stretch for 2 1/2-length maiden win
After three non-earning Belmont efforts on dirt and turf, Teresa Maher's homebred RYAN IS FLYING seemed headed for a similar fate early in Aqueduct's ninth race nightcap on Halloween Friday, a $42,000 restricted maiden special for three-year-olds and up, but instead he gave Maher a 2 1/2-length winning treat. Race-ridden for the first time by Josiah Francis Hampshire Jr. and sent off by trainer Leo O'Brien as the 6-to-1 third choice among 10 starters in the two-turn mile and an eighth contest, the three-year-old gelding broke from the ninth post position and was eighth after the opening quarter-mile. Approaching the second turn, he starting passing his competition, circling the field and taking command on the outside while still on the turn and then entering the stretch with a narrow advantage over 11.40-to-1 fifth choice September Hero and 2.80-to-1 second choice Emotrin. Remaining on his left lead for almost the entire stretch run, Ryan Is Flying edged out to a decisive victory margin and was under a hand ride as he approached the wire, finally switching to his right lead just a few strides from the finish. Emotrin held on to place second.
O'Brien, a three-time New York Thoroughbred Breeders Trainer of the Year, had first saddled Ryan Is Flying for a Belmont turf mile in early July, then gave him two months off before trying him at a mile on dirt, followed by a mile and an eighth on grass September 21. After Ryan Is Flying's latest previous start, O'Brien had put the bay gelding through three half-mile Belmont workouts in October, two of which were faster than average. O'Brien also had trained Ryan Is Flying's New York-bred multiple stakes-winning dam, Tiffany's Taylor ($581,862), for owner Maher.
Ryan Is Flying's first money-earning effort in four starts brought in $25,200 in purse funds for owner-breeder Maher, who also qualified for a $5,040 breeder award. The gelding is the 28th winner from the 2000 crop of deceased New York stallion Dixie Brass, qualifying Dixie Brass's owner, Michael Watral of Central Islip, Long Island, for a $1,764 stallion award. Ryan Is Flying is the first offspring produced from Tiffany's Taylor, who beat New York-bred males in Saratoga's 1995 West Point Handicap at a mile and an eighth on turf while equaling Fourstardave's still-standing stakes record of 1:46 and won Belmont's Mt. Vernon Handicap on grass by six lengths. Tiffany's Taylor, who is by the Alydar stallion Titanic, compiled a record of 13 - 15 - 6 in 67 starts, winning nine races on turf and four on dirt and placing in eight other stakes contests, including Grade 2 events at Aqueduct and Saratoga and a Grade 3 race at Belmont.

(10/30) Glory Be to Winloc gets 2 1/2-length N1X win
Entered for the main track only in Aqueduct's seventh race on Thursday, a $44,000 restricted N1X allowance for three-year-olds and up going a mile and an eighth originally carded for turf, Script R Farm's and Leslie Roncari's homebred GLORY BE TO WINLOC looked dominant in scoring his first allowance victory. Ridden for the third -- and second consecutive -- time by Javier Castellano and sent off the 7.70-to-1 fourth choice as one of seven three-year-olds among nine starters, the bay gelding broke from the outside post and raced close behind the leaders in fifth place while in hand for a half-mile. On the second turn, he advanced to fourth behind three three-year-olds that had been vying for the lead throughout most of the race: front-running seventh choice Chute the Breeze (15-to-1), 1.90-to-1 favorite Seaquarius, and 19.10-to-1 ninth choice Kinjet. Glory Be to Winloc swung widest of all the runners in the contest to circumvent that trio approaching the stretch, then quickly took command and gained a half-length lead over Chute the Breeze at mid-stretch. In the final furlong, the improving New York homebred extended his margin to 2 1/2 lengths over Chute the Breeze, who held on to place a clear second, as Seaquarius seemed not able to sustain his speed on a main track as effectively as he has on turf, finishing fifth.
For Castellano, who had ridden Glory Be to Winloc in the gelding's latest previous outing, a third-place finish on October 16 in a N1X allowance over a yielding Belmont turf course, it was the first of two winning rides for the day. Castellano also had ridden Glory Be to Winloc in the gelding's juvenile debut at Belmont in June of 2002.
Trained by Michael Miceli, Glory Be to Winloc appears to have an affinity for Aqueduct regardless of whether he races on the inner or outer track, having compiled a record of two wins, two seconds, two thirds, and one fourth in seven starts at the Big A in 2003. He broke his maiden by 2 1/4 lengths going seven furlongs in the slop at Aqueduct in April, but at Belmont has fared best while racing on turf, with two third-place efforts in big fields. Glory Be to Winloc's first allowance victory increased his earnings by $26,400 to $90,450 and improved his record to 2 - 2 - 4 in 15 starts, and it also qualified his owner-breeders, Raymond Roncari and Leslie Roncari -- both of Script R Farm of Windsor Locks, Connecticut -- for a $5,280 breeder award.
Glory Be to Winloc is by former New York stallion Anjiz, who had stood at Louis Salerno's Questroyal Stud in Hudson and whose owners of four years ago -- Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid al Maktoum's Kentucky-based Gainsborough Farm and Questroyal #100 LLC -- qualified for a $1,848 stallion award. He is a full brother to Script R Farm's New York homebred stakes-winning filly, Winloc's Glorious ($246,061), being among eight New York-bred winners produced from stakes winner Cherokee Chill ($244,032), a Cherokee Fellow mare that raced for Script R Farm. Florida-bred Cherokee Chill graduated into stakes competition as a four-year-old after being claimed for $25,000 at Saratoga and then for $17,500 at Aqueduct late in her three-year-old season.

(10/30) Sage's Fifty Six regains lead for maiden victory
Stretched out to a mile and an eighth and equipped with blinkers for the first time, S J Bee Stable's two-year-old SAGE'S FIFTY SIX came home a winner in her fourth start, regaining the lead to capture Aqueduct's second race on Thursday, a $42,000 restricted maiden special for juvenile fillies. Cautiously favored at 2.50-to-1 among the six evenly-regarded starters, the chestnut filly broke from the outside post and got hung out extremely wide on the first turn following a start that was less than quick. Jockey Edgar Prado, who had ridden Sage's Fifty Six to a second-place finish going a one-turn mile at Belmont on September 19, nevertheless hustled the filly forward to challenge for the lead held by 5.80-to-1 fifth choice Richie's Cat, who had broken on top from the number two post. The field was extremely close-packed going down the backstretch and into the second turn, as Sage's Fifty Six wrested the lead from Richie's Cat while on the outside and dueled with that filly all the way to the stretch. In the final furlong, 3.10-to-1 second choice Tough City Girl advanced between rivals and overtook Sage's Fifty Six on the outside, but then cocked her head noticeably to the right and switched to her left lead, losing momentum and finishing a nose behind Sage's Fifty Six at the wire. Richie's Cat held on to finish third.
The victory boosted the earnings for Sage's Fifty Six by $25,200 to $38,580 while advancing her record to 1 - 1 - 0 in five starts for the S J Bee Stable of Stephen J. Barberino of Bristol, Connecticut. Trained by Joseph Orseno, the New York-bred filly had tried turf in her latest previous outing on October 3 at Belmont in a one-turn mile, but Thursday's contest marked her first two-turn effort and first race at Aqueduct as well as her first outing with blinkers. Following her October 3 start, trainer Orseno had given Sage's Fifty Six a half-mile Belmont workout that obviously was not intended to crank up any speed (51 seconds).
Bred by Bill Casner's and Kenny Troutt's WinStar Farms, LLC -- also breeder of New York-bred 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness hero Funny Cide -- Sage's Fifty Six qualified the WinStar Farm organization for a $2,520 breeder award as a result of her maiden victory. The filly had been consigned as a weanling by Joe and Anne McMahon's McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, LLC, agent, to Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's 2001 December mixed sale in Timonium, Maryland, where she had been purchased for $50,000 by Gibraltar Group. Sage's Fifty Six is from the first crop of 1998 Belmont Stakes winner and 1999 Eclipse Champion Older Male Victory Gallop, who stands at WinStar Farm in Kentucky. She is the seventh winner produced from Grade 2-placed winner Queen of Bronze, being a half-sister to stakes winner Danzig Queen ($104,988) and Grade 2-placed winner Eugene Eugene. Queen of Bronze, who is by Roberto, was acquired privately by WinStar Farms and is a half-sister to Grade 2 winner Kingpost ($598,966 and second to Risen Star in the 1988 Belmont Stakes) and to the dams of five stakes winners. The pedigree of Sage's Fifty Six could be classified as somewhat long-winded, with a dosage profile of 6-6-21-2-1 and such stamina stalwarts as Cryptoclearance, Roberto, Hail to Reason, and Graustark within the first three generations of her pedigree.

(10/30) Lusi Pond leads at all calls for 2 1/4-length maiden win
For her third start, Michael Mulligan's two-year-old LUSI POND encountered more excitement than her trainer, Scott Lake, would have preferred, as a filly two starting stalls away threw her jockey in the gate and was a late scratch, but once the race was underway, Lusi Pond never saw her competition. Odds-on at .60-to-1 among 11 starters in the six-furlong contest, a $41,000 restricted maiden special for two-year-old fillies that went off as the fourth race on Aqueduct's Thursday card, the dark bay filly broke from the eighth post and got a length lead with an opening quarter-mile in 22.42. She also set all the fractions thereafter, clocking 46.52 and 59.28 en route to a 2 1/4-length victory under a hand ride from jockey Jose Santos, who was aboard her for the second consecutive time and later rode the winner of the day's feature allowance contest. Placing a clear second was 7.40-to-1 second choice What a Form.
Fifth in her 6 1/2-furlong Saratoga debut and a contentious second at Belmont under Santos going six furlongs on October 8, Lusi Pond boosted her earnings by $24,600 to $34,030 for her victory, which came three weeks after her three-year-old half-sister, La Tina, had won a Belmont turf allowance. The tally also qualified Lusi Pond's breeder, the Netherbloom Farm, LLC of Sunny Comfort of Salt Point, for a $2,460 breeder award. Lusi Pond had been consigned by Joe and Anne McMahon's McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, LLC, agent, to Fasig-Tipton's 2002 Saratoga preferred New York-bred yearling sale, where she was purchased by Leprechaun Racing, agent, for $67,000. Leprechaun Racing then had pin-hooked the filly -- unsuccessfully -- when she was a two-year-old, selling her for $50,000 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March sale.
From the second crop of top-five lifetime second crop sire Elusive Quality, Lusi Pond is the seventh winner -- and sixth New York-bred winner -- produced from Ohio-bred restricted stakes winner Tina Pond, who is by Super Moment and was purchased by Comfort for $16,500 at Keeneland's 1993 November sale. Lusi Pond's winning half-siblings in addition to New York-bred La Tina include Ohio-bred multiple stakes winner Cunningham Road ($196,413) plus two multiple allowance-winning New York-breds: Saratoga-Belmont-Meadowlands turf allowance winner Chloe Pond ($242,555) and Sam Houston (dirt) and Louisiana Downs (turf) allowance winner Wolf Factor. Comfort has bred all of the New York-bred winners out of Tina Pond, who is a half-sister to the winning dams of five stakes performers, including 2003 stakes winner Billy Idel, multiple stakes winner Hang Shame, and multiple stakes-placed winner Elvis Rocks ($201,937).

(10/29) Clever Electrician sparkles at Aqueduct
Gumpster Stable's CLEVER ELECTRICIAN romped in the slop today over a sloppy Aqueduct main track, easily defeating state-bred allowance horses, three year-olds and upward. The NW-1X condition had a field of 9-horses go to the starting gate with Clever Electrician being sent off as the 8-5 race-time favorite. The race was run at seven furlongs and trainer Bruce Levine named Jose Santos to ride the four-year old bay colt, who was making his 15th career start.
Breaking from the rail position, Clever Electrician forged to the lead down the backstretch. Irish Laughter and Jol took up the early chase but were no match for Clever Electrician as he raced past the half-mile pole in 46.2 seconds. Unchallenged throughout the early going, Clever Electrician hit the top of the stretch on top by three-lengths and lengthened the margin with every powerful stride. Clever Electrician raced under the wire a 10-1/4-length winner, stopping the timer in 1:24.3.
Bred by the partnership of Caroline (Bunty) Ferguson and Monica Driver, who together qualified for a breeder's award of $2,580, Clever Electrician is by Clever Trick, out of the multiple stakes producing Ruritania mare, Loose Wire. The prolific Loose Wire produced multiple graded stakes winner Scottish Monk (Duns Scotus) winner of $688,701 and multiple stakes winner Wire Me Collect (Clever Trick) winner of $626,452. The New York Thoroughbred Breeders Association named loose Wire the 1999 Broodmare of the Year. Clever Electrician was originally sold as a weanling for $75,000 at the 1999 Keeneland November Mixed Sale in Lexington, Kentucky.

(10/29) Yourstocommand draws in to break maiden
Its not very often a horse draws into a race when they are fourth on the also-eligible list, however, that's exactly what transpired today for Robert Jocelyn's YOURSTOCOMMAND. The state-bred maiden race was originally carded for the turf but was switched to the main track at Aqueduct when rain pelted the New York metropolitan area. A field of 11-horses, three year-olds and upward, went to the post in the mile and an eight race with Yourstocommand going to the post as the lukewarm 5-2 favorite.
Jockey Shaun Bridgmohan hustled Yourstocommand to the lead easily winning the run into the first turn and quickly opened up by three-lengths. On a free and easy lead, Yourstocommand increased his lead over Life At Sea, who was four-lengths in front the second tier of horses. In his previous race, Yourstocommand had a similar lead only to falter nearing the wire, however today's outcome finished with a happy ending for his connections as he splashed through the stretch to win by 3-1/4-lengths over a fast closing Dr. Richard Walker. Final time was 1:54.4.
Trained by Edward Barker, Yourstocommand is a three-year old bay gelding by Key Contender, out of Gateholme, by Gate Dancer. The bay gelding was making his 10th career start. Dr. Carl Juul-Nielsen, who qualified for a $5,040 breeder's award, bred Yourstocommand. The sire, Key Contender, stands at Carl Lizza and Joseph Bartone's Highcliff Farm in Delanson, New York and qualifies the owner, Mr. Lizza, for a stallion owner's award of $1,764. Key Contender won the 1995 running of the Surburban Handicap - Gr. I and earned over $839,260 in 56-starts. His 2003 progeny earnings are nearing the $1 million.

(10/26) Thanasi wires field - has wins on dirt & turf
Even with blinkers off, Katina P. Sarris' and Steven Kouray's three-year-old THANASI did not spend any time gawking in Belmont's third race on Sunday, a $44,000 restricted N1X allowance for three-year-olds and up going a one-turn mile and an eighth, opening up a big early lead and winning by a length and a half. Ridden for the second time in 15 days by apprentice jockey Pedro Luis Cotto Jr., whose allowance is seven pounds, the dark bay colt broke on top and had six lengths on odds-on (.35-to-1) Gone to War -- running in second place for the entire race -- after the opening half-mile. The favorite, one of five three-year-olds among six starters in the contest, closed ground on the turn, as Thanasi switched to his right lead while running into a 23-mph southerly headwind and drifted out slightly, eventually forcing Gone to War to swing wider than his jockey might have planned. At the three-eighths pole, Gone to War was within a length and a half of Thanasi, but Cotto's mount responded and edged out to a two-length margin at mid-stretch and then stayed clear after switching back to his left lead about 50 yards from the wire. The margin from Gone to War to the third-place finisher was 18 3/4 lengths.
A maiden winner on Belmont turf in July, Thanasi now has two wins and a close second-place finish (beaten only a neck in an off-the-turf maiden special) in the three times that he has raced at a mile and an eighth at The Big Sandy -- whether on dirt or turf. His first allowance victory, scored as the 6.40-to-1 second choice, boosted his earnings by $26,400 to $80,940 and improved his record to 2 - 1 - 1 in 10 starts -- all in 2003 -- and it also qualified his breeder, Athena Kouray of Schenectady, for a $5,280 breeder award. Thanasi's trainer is Del Carroll II.
Thanasi is among 71 winners in 2003 sired by deceased leading New York sire Dixie Brass, who eight days earlier was represented by two stakes winners on New York Showcase Day, and his victory qualified Dixie Brass's owner, Michael Watral of Central Islip, Long Island, for a $1,848 stallion award. The late-foaled (May 18, 2000) New York-bred is the third offspring and third winner produced from 1996 New York-Bred Champion Juvenile Filly Aristie ($116,249), who set stakes records in Belmont's Joseph A. Gimma and Aqueduct's Maid of the Mist while racing for Athena Kouray. Aristie, who is by Loustrous Bid, was a $6,000 sales two-year-old at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic in May of 1996 -- just months before she went on her stakes record-setting spree -- and she also raced under the care of trainer Carroll. Thanasi's winning half-brothers are stakes-placed New York-breds Stellianos ($222,060) and Levendis ($160,750), both of whom Athena Kouray also bred and Carroll has trained.

(10/26) Belladumaani breaks maiden on dirt after 2 placings on turf
Returning to main track sprinting, Gerald Goodman's and John Pregman Jr.'s BELLADUMAANI stumbled while breaking on top at the start of Belmont's Sunday opener, a $41,000 restricted maiden special for two-year-olds going six furlongs, and then he had to come wide, but none of this prevented him from winning. Race-ridden for the first time by Victor Carrero and sent off the 4.50-to-1 fourth choice among 12 starters, the bay colt came out of the number one post position and raced close behind three front-end contenders that were led through the opening half-mile by 4.30-to-1 third choice Calculator. Belladumaani had to swing wide for the stretch drive and was still behind those same three rivals -- also including 11.90-to-1 seventh choice Costly Castle and 4.20-to-1 second choice Whizbang -- approaching the eighth pole, but once he switched leads he began closing with authority. At the finish, the strong stretch-running colt was in front by a half-length over Costly Castle, who set a five-furlong fraction of 59.62 while carrying seven pounds less because of his jockey's apprentice allowance, with Whizbang holding on for third.
Trained by his co-owner, Pregman, and put through two half-mile Aqueduct workouts following a second-place finish going a mile on Belmont turf on October 2, Belladumaani picked up $24,600 for his victory, boosting his total earnings to $47,290 while improving his record to 1 - 2 - 1 in five starts. The New York-bred had placed third in his August 6 debut going 5 1/2 furlongs on Saratoga's sloppy main track while setting most of the pace, and his three subsequent outings had all been in longer maiden special contests on turf. His second start was a purse-earning effort going a two-turn mile and a sixteenth on turf against nine open rivals at Saratoga, and that was followed by two second-place finishes -- both times going a virtual one-turn mile on grass against 11 New York-breds. Trainer and co-owner Pregman, of Thoroughbred Racing Stable, Inc., in Elmont, had purchased Belladumaani as a weanling for $5,000 at Keeneland's 2001 November sale, to which the colt had been consigned by his breeder, Dr. Patricia Staskowski Purdy of Ivy League Farm in Ithaca, through Hedgewood Farm, agent. Dr. Purdy, selected 2002 Breeder of the Year by the New York Thoroughbred Breeders, qualified for a $2,460 breeder award as a result of Belladumaani's victory.
By graded-winning turf millionaire Dumaani, Belladumaani is the first winner produced from Bellona, who is by former New York stallion Hansel and is a half-sister to French Group 3-placed winner Melting Gold.

(10/26) Flying Pickle relishes adversity - rallies 8-wide to break maiden
Although her only top-three finish had been in July at Belmont going a mile and an eighth on turf while wearing blinkers, trainer Thomas Bush took the shades off Nyala Farm's homebred FLYING PICKLE and sent the three-year-old filly out for a her first victory going six furlongs on dirt. The occasion was Belmont's fourth race on Sunday, a $41,000 restricted maiden special for a dozen fillies, three-year-olds (11 of the 12 starters) and up, for which Flying Pickle was the 4.30-to-1 second choice but seemed to have everything going against her even before the break. Race-ridden for the first time by Jorge Chavez and reluctant to load into the gate, she had to be pushed into her number eight starting stall and then broke almost last, bumping with the only four-year-old in the contest, 126.25-to-1 last choice Newyorkssweetheart, on her outside. Flying Pickle was eleventh after the opening quarter and no better than eighth with just the final quarter-mile to run, but she rallied eight wide approaching the stretch and took command before reaching the final furlong, where she drew off decisively to win by 5 3/4 lengths. Placing second was 10.10-to-1 sixth choice Katies Danza, followed by 2.90-to-1 favorite April Trust.
The victory increased Flying Pickle's earnings by $24,600 to $32,910 while improving her record to 1 - 0 - 1 in seven starts, all in 2003. In her latest previous start going a mile on Belmont turf three weeks earlier, the bay filly had finished 11th, but on October 22 Bush had put her through a creditable three-furlong workout (37 4/5) at Belmont, and off that drill and no more blinkers she found new life. Flying Pickle races for the Nyala Farm of Ruth Bedford of Greens Farm, Connecticut and Kathleen O'Connell of Easton, Connecticut, and her breeders are listed as O'Connell and Nyala Farm -- also qualifiers for a $4,920 breeder award. She is the first offspring and first winner produced from O'Connell-Nyala Farm New York homebred It's a Gherkin, who won three times on turf at Belmont -- twice in restricted allowance races. It's a Gherkin, who is by deceased New York sire Ends Well, is a full sister to two stakes-placed winners, including New York-bred Bien Sucre ($124,206), dam of stakes-placed winner Dulce de Leche and Saratoga open allowance winner Le Bourget ($155,890) -- the latter by Flying Pickle's sire, A. P Jet.
Flying Pickle is the 27th winner from the 2000 crop of A. P Jet (Fappiano - Taminette, by In Reality), who is owned by John Nerud, Howard Kaskel, John Hettinger, and Taylor Made Farm -- joint qualifiers for a $1,722 stallion award -- and stands at Kaskel's Sugar Maple Farm in Poughquag. A Hypo-Mating check of Flying Pickle's pedigree reveals that her dam, It's a Gherkin, is inbred 3 x 4 to Stage Door Johnny and 4 x 4 to Tom Fool, and that A. P Jet is inbred 4 x 4 to Rough'n Tumble with a cross of Tom Fool. Flying Pickle's dosage profile is 10-7-13-1-1.

(10/26) Wonderful Prospect regains lead for gutsy open claiming win
As long-anticipated Sunday afternoon showers began to fall, Paraneck Stable's homebred WONDERFUL PROSPECT had the benefit of a fast track long enough to successfully do what most handicappers had expected him to try in Belmont's seventh race, a 6 1/2-furlong open claiming contest: steal it on the front end. The wagering public was not overly optimistic about his chances, sending off the bay five-year-old -- who in six races over wet tracks has never won -- as the 6.20-to-1 fourth choice among five starters with apprentice jockey Timothy Thornton, who has a seven-pound allowance, race-riding him for the first time.
Entered with a $35,000 claiming price along with the two other New York-breds in the contest, which was open to three-year-olds and up even though only four-and-five-year-olds competed (two with $30,000 tags), Wonderful Prospect got the initial lead and held the rail position from 11.70-to-1 fifth choice challenger Ungoverned. After a half-mile, the latter had his head in front, but Wonderful Prospect responded by re-taking the lead and drawing off to a 3 1/2-length mid-stretch advantage, then dug in to hold off the outside charge of 4.80-to-1 third choice Suave Devil, winning by a neck. New York-bred Y Two J, the 1.80-to-1 second choice, finished third, and New York-bred 1.35-to-1 favorite Love Less also picked up purse money, as New York-breds garnered 74 percent of the race's $34,000 purse. The contest marked the second winning ride of the day aboard a New York-bred in open competition for apprentice jockey Thornton.
The victory increased Wonderful Prospect's earnings by $20,400 over the $200K mark to $202,030, and the race likewise boosted the earnings of New York-breds Y Two J and Love Less to $171,180 and $231,525, respectively. Trained by Jennifer Pedersen, Wonderful Prospect twice this year had won open Aqueduct allowance races -- at a mile and at six furlongs -- and had placed second in an open N3X allowance going six furlongs at Belmont in May, but Sunday's victory marked his first tally away from Aqueduct. In addition to improving his record to 6 - 3 - 4 in 25 starts, the win also qualified Wonderful Prospect's owner-breeder, the Paraneck Stable of investment banker and computer software executive Ernie Paragallo, of Lloyds Neck, for a total of $4,080 in open race owner ($2,040) and breeder ($2,040) awards. Paragallo also owns Center Brook Farm in Climax.
By Grade 2-winning Saratoga sprinter Prospect Bay, Wonderful Prospect is the first of two New York-bred NYRA winners bred and raced by Paraneck Stable from three-time open turf allowance winner (at Saratoga and Belmont) Just Wonderful ($99,597), who also raced for Paraneck Stable. Just Wonderful, who is by Strike the Anvil, is a full sister to stakes winner Oh So Striking ($101,904) and to stakes-placed winners Faligone (a track record-setter in Florida) and Keep Striking.

(10/26) Bay Dragon holds off Alittlebitbrassy as NY-breds run 1-2 in open claimer
Georgica Stable's six-year-old BAY DRAGON scored her first main track victory -- and first better-than-fifth-place finish in four attempts on dirt -- in Belmont's second race on Sunday, a $23,000 seven-furlong open contest for fillies and mares, three-olds and up, with claiming prices of $20,000 to $18,000. Entered for $20,000 and race-ridden for the first time by apprentice jockey Timothy Thornton, who has a seven-pound allowance, the bay mare went off as the 13-to-1 fifth choice among seven wagering interests and eight starters, getting the lead and then gaining the rail position midway around the turn. Challenging her after a flat-footed start was another New York-bred five-year-old, 4.80-to-1 fourth choice Alittlebitbrassy, who initially held the rail and stayed within a half-length of Bay Dragon until the upper stretch, at which point Bay Dragon drew off to a 2 1/2-length advantage at the eighth pole. In the final furlong, Alittlebitbrassy made another run at Bay Dragon, getting to within a neck of her at the wire, as the two New York-breds finished one-two and picked up 80 percent of the race's total purse. For apprentice jockey Thornton, it was the first of two winning rides aboard New York-breds in open competition on a Belmont Sunday card that closed out The Big Sandy's 2003 fall meeting.
Owned by the Georgica Stable of New York City investment banker Peter Minikes, which also campaigns New York-bred 2003 Grade 1 winner Buy the Sport, Bay Dragon boosted her earnings to $163,431, improving her record to 5 - 1 - 2 in 31 starts, while Alittlebitbrassy elevated her earnings to $110,560. For Bay Dragon, whose turf record is 4 - 1 - 2 in 27 starts, it was her first victory since 15 starts earlier in May of 2002, when she had won a $50,000 open N3X allowance mile on turf at Belmont while racing two tiers above her allowance condition level. Trainer Robert Barbara, who conditions Bay Dragon as well as Buy the Sport for Georgica Stable, had claimed the New York-bred mare for $35,000 on behalf of Fathernson Stable at Belmont this past May. Bay Dragon previously had raced for her breeders, the Philip G. Johnson family's Amherst Stable of Elmont, Jeffrey Foong's Belle Meadows Farm of Oakland, New Jersey, and Mun-Yet Lum, and those breeders jointly qualified for a $2,760 breeder award as a result of Bay Dragon's latest victory.
By former New York stallion Anjiz, whose owners at the time of Bay Dragon's conception -- Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid al Maktoum's Gainsborough Farm and Louis Salerno's Questroyal Farm -- qualified for a $966 stallion award, Bay Dragon is the first of two winners produced from Irish-bred She's a Dragon. The mare has a four-year-old half-sister, Micmaceuse, who has won at Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga in 2003. Dam She's a Dragon, a daughter of Infantry bred by Howard Kaskel of Sugar Maple Farm in Poughquag, is a half-sister to stakes winners Distinct Habit (New York-Bred 1992 Champion Juvenile Filly, Grade 2 winner, dam of multiple stakes winner Mr. Routine) and Terroir (winner in France and Germany).

(10/26) NY-bred Bobbie Use places close 2nd to NY-conceived Please Take Me Out in Miss Grillo
Belmont's meet-closing Sunday stakes, the open $84,400 Miss Grillo for two-year-old fillies going a mile and an eighth on turf, featured Empire State connections running one-two, as New York-conceived Please Take Me Out -- by New York stallion TAKE ME OUT -- and New York-bred Bobbie Use finished a head apart. The former became the 12th stakes winner -- and fifth in 2003 -- to represent her syndicated multiple graded-winning sire, who is by deceased record-setting New York sire Cure the Blues, and the latter gained her first black-type-placed stakes credentials in her second start on turf and first effort at two turns.
Please Take Me Out, who races for owner-breeder Robert Perez under the care of trainer Alfredo Callejas, was ridden for the second consecutive time in the Miss Grillo by Aaron Gryder and went off as the 13-to-1 seventh choice among the nine starters in the inner turf contest. Bobbie Use, the 7.60-to-1 fourth choice who drew in from also-eligible and broke from the outside post, races for Sanford Goldfarb of Old Westbury under the care of 2002 New York Trainer of the Year Richard Dutrow Jr. and was race-ridden for the first time by Jorge Chavez.
Trainer Callejas' obvious plan for Please Take Me Out should a slow pace develop was to steal the race off a big early lead, so Gryder got the filly to break on top -- despite a bobbling start -- and opened up a five-length lead following a half-mile in a casual 50.10. Tracking the front-runner in second place was Bobbie Use, who got to within a length and a half of Please Take Me Out at the three-eighths pole, prompting Gryder to urge his mount to an accelerated quarter-mile split of 23.45 through the showery weather but over the still-firm turf. That spurt of speed put Please Take Me Out three lengths in front of Bobbie Use at mid-stretch, but the New York-bred would not back off, and in the final furlong she closed to within a diminishing head of the winner while at equal wesights with her. To hold onto her victory, Please Take Me Out covered her final three-eighths of a mile in 35.61 seconds, as 4.60-to-1 third choice Lucifer's Stone finished third.
"She did everything right," remarked winning jockey Gryder in reference to the New York-conceived Please Take Me Out. "She settled and was relaxed down the backside. I knew I had horse; I was just hoping it was enough. She had a good turn of foot." The victory increased Please Take Me Out's earnings by $50,640 to $93,190 and improved her record to 2 - 1 - 1 in six starts, while Bobbie Use boosted her bankroll to $44,540 off a record of 1 - 1 - 0 in four starts and a two-start turf record of 1 - 1 - 0. Bobbie Use also qualified her owner, Goldfarb, for a $1,688 open race owner award and her breeders, Becky Thomas and Lewis Lakin of Lakland North, LLC in Hudson, for a $1,688 breeder award. In her first start on turf on October 3 at Belmont, Bobbie Use had broken her maiden by three lengths going a virtual one-turn mile over a "good" course.
Please Take Me Out, the third starter and third winner but first stakes winner produced from her winning dam, Ponca, by Palace Music, follows Take Me Up ($370,194), Don't Countess Out ($368,951), Take Out the Trash, and Joe Me the Money among 2003 stakes winners sired by Take Me Out. The son of Cure the Blues - White Feather, by Tom Rolfe, whose 2003 progeny earnings have just exceeded $1.6-million to boost his total progeny earnings to over $8.3-million from six crops, stands at Dr. Jonathan Davis' Milfer Farm in Unadilla, where his 2003 fee was $5,000, live foal.
Bobbie Use, who was foaled at Lakland North, was consigned by Becky Thomas' Sequel Bloodstock, agent, to the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's selected two-year-olds in training sale at Calder this past February, where she was purchased for $110,000 by Anthony Gordon as agent for Alfred Hemlock of Manhattan. At an under tack show prior to the sale, the bay daughter of Not For Love - Truth and Beauty, by Private Terms, had worked a furlong in 10 2/5 seconds. Bobbie Use, who is the third starter and third winner produced from unbeaten Truth and Beauty -- an open Aqueduct allowance winner who won twice in two starts as a juvenile -- had been offered at Fasig-Tipton's 2002 Saratoga preferred New York-bred yearling sale with a $48,000 reserve but was not sold. Dam Truth and Beauty is a full sister to 10-time stakes winner La Reine's Terms ($675,266) and a half-sister to turf course record-setting stakes winner Sunset Party, and she had been purchased by Lakland for $20,000 at Keeneland's 2000 November sale while she was carrying Bobbie Use.

(10/24) Lady Libby pulls off upset in Belmont finale
LADY LIBBY, making her first start over the turf, upset a NW-2X condition allowance for state-bred fillies and mares, three year-olds and upward, today at Belmont Park. Run over the Widener turf course at a mile and a sixteenth, Lady Libby, with Jorge Chavez aboard, went to the gate at 7-1 odds in the 9-horse field. The turf course was labeled "good".
Chavez sent Lady Libby up to take the lead with race-time favorite Little Buttercup and Bound On Bi sitting second and third, respectively. Running cautiously over the off going, Lady Libby strolled through pedestrian fractions of 26.2, 52.1 and 1:16.1 to the three-quarter pole before rolling through the stretch in a European style finish out gaming Little Buttercup by 3/4s of a length at the wire, who was two-lengths in front of Buck Mountain. Final time was 1:45.2.
Owned by the partnership of Barry Seinfeld and Elizabeth Dodson, Lady Libby was bred by Roger Toffolon, who qualified for a breeder's award of $5,520 and as owner of the sire, Sea Salute, qualified for a stallion owner's award of $1,932. Sea Salute (Danzig) stands at Liberty Stud in Ghent, New York and his 2003 progeny has earned over $1.2 million dollars.
Trained by Steven Kappes, Lady Libby is out of the His Majesty mare, Reigning Lady, a half-sister to multiple stakes winners Highland Appeal (Highland Blade) and Cash Twenty (Star de Naskra). Kappes removed the blinkers in May, and Lady Libby has responded with three victories and two second-place finishes in 7-starts. The three year-old dark bay filly has now earned $125,280 with a respectable Lifetime Record: 13-3-4-2.

(10/24) Gata Be Patient romps in allowance
Paula Ann Hallman's GATA BE PATIENT easily defeated state-bred allowance fillies and mares, three year-olds and upward, today at Belmont Park. The NW-1X condition race was switched from the turf to the main track at a distance of 1-1/8th mile around one-turn. Trainer John Hertler named apprentice jockey Pedro Cotto, Jr., to ride the three year-old dark bay filly, who was making her 7th career start. A field of 8-horses went to the starting gate.
Breaking sharply, Gata Be Patient took the lead as the horses left the chute onto the main track. Gata Be Patient went unpressured fractions of 24.4 and 49 seconds to the half-mile pole and had a 2-length lead over Banner Queen and Seraphic Too as she turned for home. Roused by Cotto, Gata Be Patient drew off through the stretch to win by 7-lengths, stopping the timer in 1:54 flat. Lucky Signal closed to be second and Seraphic Too held for third money.
Ms. Hallman bred the talented filly at her Merrylegs Farm in Old Brookville, New York, and qualified for a breeder's award of $5,280. Mrs. Hallman's father, Seymour Cohn, owns the sire, Daygata (Dayjur), and qualifies for a stallion owner's award of $1,848. Daygata stands at Highcliff Farm in Delanson, New York. Gata Be Patient is out of Vin Dia, by Bold Skipper, and has now earned $77,220 with a Lifetime Record: 7-2-2-2.

(10/23) Nevaeh - impressive in debut
NEVAEH spelled backwards is heavenly and she was all of that while making her two-year old maiden debut against state-bred fillies today at Belmont Park. Owned by Mike Mulligan and trained by Steven Asmussen, Nevaeh was purchased for $75,000 at the 2002 Keeneland Yearling Sale in Lexington, Kentucky, and off today's performance appears to be a bargain. The state-bred maiden race for two year-old fillies was run at six-furlongs and had a field of 11-horses go to the gate, with Bold Cooler the even-money favorite.
Nevaeh stumbled coming out of the gate, however jockey Aaron Gryder managed gather her in before streaking to the lead. Nevaeh opened up by two-lengths over Emma M. and Bold Cooler down the backstretch setting fractions of 23 and 47.3 seconds to the half-mile pole. Coming off the far turn, Nevaeh maintained her advantage and while under a hand ride drew off from the field, widening the margin with every stride to the finish line, on top by almost 7-lengths. Polish Crown, making her debut, finished second and Dance All Night was third. Final time was 1:12.4.
Bred by the partnership of Becky Thomas and Lewis Lakin, who together qualified for a breeder's award of $2,460, Nevaeh is by Honor Grades, and is the first foal out of the Hansel mare, Hanyah, who won 3-races, a sprint race, a route race and a race over the grass. Thomas and Lakin are partners in Lakland North of Hudson, New York.

(10/23) Kooka Munga returns to break maiden
Richard Englander's KOOKA MUNGA, vanned off the Saratoga's turf course on August 29th, returned to the races today and easily defeated state-bred maiden fillies and mares, three year-olds and upward. Run at a mile, around one-turn, over Belmont Park's main track, the field had 10-horses load into the starting gate, with Kooka Munga going to the post as the 2-1 favorite. Trainer Scott Lake named second-leading jockey Edgar Prado to ride the three year-old dark bay filly, which was making her 9th career start.
Lottsa Appeal went to the front in the run down the backstretch but gave way to Kevin's Decision nearing the half-mile pole, reached in 48.1 seconds. Kooka Munga tracked closely in second-position around the far turn and went to the lead at the top of the stretch. Under a drive, Kooka Munga pulled away from the field and coasted under the wire a 5-3/4-length winner. Kevin's Decision held for second and Blonde Dynamite closed to be third. Final time, with a chill in the air and under winding conditions, was 1:42.1.
Bred by Richard Zwirn of Rainbow Stable, who qualified for a breeder's award of $5,040, Kooka Munga is by Personal Flag, and is the fourth foal out of Sis Henry, by Exceller. Kooka Munga has elevated her earnings to $53,700 in 9-starts. Sis Henry is a 100% producer, which includes the hard-hitting gelding, Show Me The Monte (Future Storm), winner of over $329,000. Personal Flag stands at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbred Farm and is the leading New York-based stallion with foal crops sired in New York, with 2003 progeny earnings now surpassing $2,000,000.

(10/22) Raffie's Dream romps in state-bred allowance
Majesty Stud's RAFFIE'S DREAM went wire to wire today to defeat state-bred allowance horses at Belmont Park. Run around one-turn at a mile and a sixteenth, the NW-1X condition race for fillies and mares, three year-olds and upward, had a field of 7-horses go to the starting gate. Trainer Dominic Galluscio named Edgar Prado to ride the three year-old chestnut filly, who was sent to the post as the even-money favorite.
Breaking from the rail position, Raffie's Dream went to the lead soon after entering the main track from the chute and led the field through fractions of 23.3, 47.3 and 1:12.4 at the three-quarter pole. As the field turned for home, it was all Raffie's Dream who lengthened her lead through the stretch run to win by 4-lengths over Zukiniki. Final time was 1:45.4.
Bred by the partnership of Henry Prieger, Digby Barrios, David Lester (Majesty Stud) and Laura Vukovich, who together qualified for a breeder's award of $5,280, Raffie's Dream is by Raffie's Majesty, out of Triunfante, by Mt. Livermore. Raffie's Dream is from the first crop of Raffie's Majesty. who finished third, by a head, in the 1998 running of the Gr.I - Travers Stake at Saratoga, and was voted the 1998 New York-bred Champion three year-old. Raffie's Majesty stands at Sugar Maple Farm in Poughquag, New York. To date, his progeny, which includes stakes winner Bo Bo's Vice, has earned over $450,000.

(10/22) On The Bus rolls home at Belmont Park
Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey's homebred, ON THE BUS, charged through an opening along the rail and raced to daylight to capture a state-bred maiden race for three year-old fillies and mares, three year-olds and upward, over Belmont Park's inner turf course, labeled "good." The race was run at a distance of a mile and an eighth, and a field of 9-horses went to the starting gate with Edgar Prado riding On The Bus, trained by Dale Romans.
Shesasoprano and Rototiller battled head to head in the down the backstretch through pedestrian fractions of 24.4 and 50.1 seconds to the half-mile pole with Prado rating On the Bus well off the early leaders. Saving ground around the far turn, On the Bus was locked in behind horses as the field straightened for home before finding a seam to run through. After finding racing room, On the Bus stormed to the lead, drawing off to win by 3-lengths over Special Wife, with Homah Hansel up for third-money. Final time was 1:52.4.
Bred by the Ramsey's, who qualified for a breeder's award of $2,520, On the Bus is a three year-old dark bay filly by Ghazi, out of the Dynaformer mare, Just Like Jill, a half-sister to stakes winners Fighting Fast (Fighting Fit), and Bobby's Buckaroo (Tricky Creek). Just Like Jill has produced two stakes performers, the stakes placed Growth Stock (Known Fact) and stakes winner Private Lap (Private Terms). On the Bus now has earnings of $37,720 in four-starts.

(10/22) Evening Edition breaks maiden in second outing
Majesty Stud had a fun-filled afternoon today at Belmont Park, winning the 5th race with homebred Raffie's Dream and taking the finale with another homebred, EVENING EDITION. Both horses are trained by Dominic Galluscio, who named Jorge Chavez to ride the two year-old dark bay filly, who was making her second-career start. The six-furlong state-bred maiden race for two year-old fillies had a field of full field of 11-horses load into the starting gate.
A Bag On Top streaked to the lead but was quickly challenged on the inside by Atm Angie's Rodeo. Tomorrows Beauty and Take Her Out sat third and fourth, respectively as Chavez guided Evening Edition on an outside path. After a half-mile in 46.4, Evening Edition moved into third position behind the early leaders before swinging three wide at the top of the stretch to gain command. Under a drive, the race-time favorite at 8-5, drew off to win, stopping the timer in 1:13.3. A Bag On Top held for third money and Brassy Shirley closed to be third.
Bred by Majesty Stud at Henry Prieger's Prantlack Farm in Millbrook, New York, Evening Edition is by Diligence, and is the second foal out of the unraced Treasure Always, by Summer Squall. The dam is a half-sister to the multiple stakes winner Acceptable (Capote) winner of the Gr. 3 - Kentucky Cup Classic Preview. Majesty Stud is a partnership of Henry Prieger, Digby Barrios and David Lester, and together they qualified for a breeder's award of $2,460.

(10/19) Safari soars to big lead for handy maiden win
Twice second, once third, and never worse than fourth in four previous NYRA seven-furlong outings, three-year-old SAFARI drew off decisively in Belmont's second race on Sunday, a $41,000 restricted maiden special for three-year-olds and up going seven furlongs, showing talent and maturity that had been emerging and is now converging. Breaking from the number two post position as the 3.25-to-1 second choice among 12 starters with jockey Javier Castellano race-riding him for the first time, the improving bay colt raced inside behind a pair of pace-prompting longshots and 3.65-to-1 third choice Trading Hours. The latter had beaten Safari by daylight while placing second in a seven-furlong Belmont maiden special 15 days earlier -- even though Trading Hours was carrying five more pounds -- but this time he tired after a half-mile at equal weights (120 pounds) with Safari, who angled outside on the turn. The angling-out maneuver caused Safari to bump with one of the two longshots that had been setting or prompting the early pace, 72.75-to-1 tenth choice Got a Beep, but that encounter did not prevent Castellano's mount from gaining the lead while racing four wide turning for home. By mid-stretch, Safari had a seven-length advantage over second-place T. M. Frank, the 12.90-to-1 fifth choice, and in the final furlong Castellano allowed him to ease up, winning by a length and a quarter over T. M. Frank, who finished two lengths ahead of 81.25-to-1 (11th choice) Uncalculated.
The first three finishers were all three-year-olds, which comprised 10 of the 12 starters, with the two older participants both being four-year-olds. The race marked the first of three winning rides on Belmont's Sunday card for Castellano, who previously had ridden third-place finisher Uncalculated to second-place and third-place efforts going six furlongs at Aqueduct last winter. The 2.10-to-1 favorite in the contest, Tomorrows War Cry, got shuffled back early from an outside post position and raced four wide to finish fifth under apprentice jockey Pablo Fragoso, who had ridden Safari in four previous races, including the colt's third-place finish behind Trading Hours on October 4.
The victory added $24,600 in purse money to the bankroll of Safari, who has earned $53,880 for a partnership consisting of his breeder, Dennis Brida (Executive Director of the New York Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc. in Saratoga Springs), along with Debra Roma (of Endicott, New York), Pat Scultz, and Gerald O'Brien. In addition, Brida, who had been an active trainer on the NYRA circuit through the 1990s, qualified for a $4,920 breeder award. Brida's wife, Juliane Brida, trains Safari, whose record is now 1 - 2 - 2 in nine starts, with one of those third-place finishes having come in his only effort on turf or at a mile while racing at Belmont in July.
Safari was the third winner at Belmont over the October 18-19 weekend sired by deceased 2003 leading New York sire Dixie Brass, whom Dennis Brida had trained for Michael Watral of Central Islip, Long Island. Dixie Brass won Belmont's Grade 1 Metropolitan Mile and Grade 2 Withers Mile in 1992, becoming the only horse ever to run sub-1:34 miles consecutively (clocking 1:33 3/5 both times) and the only winner of the Withers (for three-year-olds) to also win the Metropolitan in the same year. On Belmont's New York Showcase Saturday the day before, Dixie Brass's four-year-old offspring, Princess Dixie and One N Three, won the Iroquois and Hudson Handicaps respectively, with the latter becoming his sire's 33rd stakes winner. On Belmont's Sunday card three races after Safari's victory, a five-year-old New York-bred Dixie Brass mare, Dixie Doree -- bred and co-owned by Dennis Brida and trained by Juliane Brida -- placed second in open claiming company going a mile and an eighth on turf, beaten a diminishing half-length. Safari's victory and Dixie Doree's second-place effort qualified Dixie Brass's owner, Watral, for a total of $2,226 in stallion awards (and breeder Brida for a total of $6,360 in breeder awards). On Showcase Day, Watral qualified for a total of $10,500 in stallion awards as a result of the exploits of Princess Dixie and One N Three.
Inbred 3 x 4 to Northern Dancer, Safari is the first winner produced from Iron Pixie, a Northern Prospect mare that Dennis Brida also owned and trained after purchasing her for $38,000 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 1993 March sale of two-year-olds in training in Florida. Iron Pixie, who placed four times (twice second and twice third) on turf at Belmont, Aqueduct, and Delaware Park, is a half-sister to stakes winner T. V. Wizard ($217,256).

(10/18) CLICK HERE FOR SHOWCASE DAY RACING RECAP & PHOTOS 

(10/18) Showcase Extended: NY-bred 2yo Awesome Joy wins Keeneland MSW
On a day when 104 New York-breds competed for $1,127,000 in purse money at Belmont's New York Showcase Day, yet another registered New York-bred, John Rooker's two-year-old filly AWESOME JOY, won her second start by capturing a $45,125 open maiden special at Keeneland going a two-turn mile and a sixteenth. Dismissed as the 13.60-to-1 fifth choice among nine starters with Calvin Borel race-riding her for the first time, the bay filly got the early lead and set the pace to the final furlong, as 2-to-1 second choice My Allegiance tracked a half-length back for most of the race. In the deep stretch, the two fillies really hooked up, and My Allegiance -- a $400,000 Keeneland July sales yearling in 2002 -- leaned in on Awesome Joy, apparently bumping the New York-bred and causing her to check in the final sixteenth before reaching the wire with a three-quarter-length advantage. Borel lodged a claim of foul against My Allegiance for interference in the stretch, and the stewards upheld the claim, disqualifying My Allegiance to second and awarding Borel his first of two winning rides on Keeneland's Saturday card.
The victory was worth $26,350 in purse money and came four weeks after Awesome Joy's only previous start, at Arlington Park in a six-furlong maiden special, where she was unplaced. In the interim, trainer Eric Reed had sent the filly through three October workouts at Keeneland, including a "bullet" drill three days prior to her victory, and also put her on Lasix medication for her second start. Awesome Joy has been based at Keeneland at least since early August, and her first recorded workout was a "bullet" effort going three furlongs from the gate at Keeneland over an off track on August 9.
Acquired privately by her owner, Awesome Joy was bred by Joseph Sansone of Wildwood, Missouri and was foaled at Glenn DiSanto's Summit View Farm in Greenwich. The daughter of 1998 Breeders Cup Classic winner Awesome Again is the first winner produced from multiple stakes winner Copelan's Joy ($123,268), who is by Copelan and is a half-sister to California multiple stakes winner Alki Joe ($287,768). Breeder Sansone had purchased Copelan's Joy for $45,000 at Keeneland's 2000 November sale when she was carrying Awesome Joy.

(10/18) Leedle Dee tries one-turn mile and gets 4 3/4-length maiden wins
Jaz Kidz Stable's two-year-old filly LEEDLE DEE had been unplaced -- though a check-earner -- in three previous maiden contests going 6 1/2, six, and then seven furlongs at Saratoga and Belmont consecutively, but in Belmont's one-mile opener on Showcase Saturday, a $42,000 restricted maiden special, she won by 4 3/4 lengths. Initially, the scenario seemed less than ideal. The one-turn contest for 12 juvenile filly starters and 11 wagering interests originally had been carded for turf, but it was switched to a drying-out main track that was labeled "good", and Leedle Dee had never raced on an off track nor even worked on one this past summer. Race-ridden for the first time by Edgar Prado, she bumped with rivals on either side -- 2-to-1 favorite Bold Jubilation and 11.70-to-1 fifth choice What a Form -- but quickly took command and was never headed, although 4.50-to-1 third choice Toasttofriendship (half of an entry) repeatedly tried to challenge. Placing second was 12.60-to-1 sixth choice Tough City Girl, who was one of three starters entered for the main track only. It was the first of two winning rides on the Showcase card for Prado, who for the day's finale rode Well Fancied to a popular victory in the $250,000 Empire Classic Handicap.
Campaigned by the Jaz Kidz Stable of Mitchell Zimmerman of Staten Island, Leedle Dee earned $25,200 for her first top-three finish in four starts, boosting her bankroll to $31,350 under the care of trainer Robert Barbara, who also conditions New York-bred 2003 Breeders' Cup Distaff entrant Buy the Sport. Jaz Kidz Stable had purchased the dark bay filly through agent Ed Gregory of Carapan Farm, LLC in Freehold for $30,000 at Keeneland's 2002 September yearling sale, to which her co-breeder, Robert Losey, had consigned her through agent Stony Point. Losey bred Leedle Dee in partnership with Paul McGinty, and the two jointly qualified for a $5,040 breeder award. The New York-bred filly is the first winner produced from Artiste, a Norquestor mare that won three races by 12, 5 1/4, and four lengths at Laurel and Colonial Downs and was claimed for $6,500 by McGinty at Laurel in January of 1999. Artiste is a half-sister to stakes-winning fillies Banner Hit ($166,815 and dam of stakes winner and Grade 2-placed El Gran Papa, earner of $490,756) and Anacreontic ($146,990 and a 100 percent producer of winners).
Leedle Dee is the 434th winner sired by ageless New York stallion Distinctive Pro (Mr. Prospector - Well Done, by Distinctive), and she is his 43rd winner in 2003, qualifying the syndicate owners of Distinctive Pro, who stands at Howard Kaskel's Sugar Maple Farm in Poughquag, for a $1,764 stallion award. Distinctive Pro has sired 42 stakes winners and has progeny earnings of almost $33.5-million, and he is New York's leading living sire in lifetime Average-Earnings Index (AEI) according to statistics compiled by The Jockey Club Information Systems and published in The Blood-Horse. A Hypo-Mating check of Leedle Dee's pedigree reveals that she is inbred 2 x 4 to Mr. Prospector.

(10/18) West Virginia rolls by 11 1/2 to break maiden in 2nd start
Bumped and unplaced in his seven-furlong Belmont debut on October 1, Donald and Mary Zuckerman's homebred WEST VIRGINIA came back with a vengeance in Belmont's third race on Showcase Saturday, a $42,000 restricted maiden special for two-year-olds going a one-turn mile, winning by an astounding 11 1/2 lengths. Favored at 2.10-to-1 among 11 starters with jockey John Velazquez on board for the second time, the dark bay colt broke quickly from the 10th post-position and immediately contended for the lead with pace-setting 7.10-to-1 third choice Fierce Storm on his inside. The opening quarter-mile went in 23.22 and the half-mile in 46.74 before West Virginia took over and drew off at will, leading by seven lengths at mid-stretch and by 11 1/2 at the wire while covering the distance in 1:37.65 over the drying-out "good" track. Fierce Storm continued on to place second, finishing 5 1/4 lengths ahead of his closest pursuer. For Velazquez, voted 2002 Jockey of the Year by the New York Thoroughbred Breeders (NYTB), the race marked the first of three winning rides on Belmont's Showcase Saturday card.
The first of two consecutive juvenile mile winners saddled by Todd Pletcher, who was voted 1999 Trainer of the Year by the NYTB, West Virginia earned $25,200 and also qualified the Zuckermans, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida and listed as breeders "as Tenants by the Entireties", for a $5,040 breeder award. The Zuckermans bred the colt, who is by New York stallion Tomorrows Cat, from Wild and Wonderful, a winning Kennedy Road mare that they had purchased for $39,000 at Keeneland's 1999 November sale. West Virginia is the fourth winner produced from Wild and Wonderful, who is a half-sister to Grade 2 winner Pampered Star ($339,221 and dam of multiple stakes-winning Japanese millionaire Silver Cockpit) and to stakes winner Special Kinda Guy ($133,620), being a half-brother to the winners of 10 races to date.
West Virginia is the 11th two-year-old winner of 2003 from the second crop of Tomorrows Cat (Storm Cat - Tomorrow's Child, by Al Nasr), a syndicated Grade 2 winner who stood the 2003 season at Louis Salerno's Questroyal Stud, LLC in Hudson and whose connections qualified for a $1,764 stallion award. Tomorrows Cat is New York's leading second-crop sire for 2003. A Hypo-Mating check of West Virginia's pedigree reveals that he is inbred 4 x 5 to both Northern Dancer and to Northern Dancer's sire, Nearctic.

(10/18) Simplytruth slips through on rail for allowance tally
Claimed consecutively on August 25 at Del Mar and September 13 at Fairplex Park, Roddy Valente's New York-bred acquisition, four-year-old SIMPLYTRUTH, shipped East to win her first start in her native state, capturing a $43,000 restricted N1X allowance that was the second race on Belmont's New York Showcase Saturday card. She was no surprise, going off as the 2.15-to-1 favorite among 11 wagering interests and 12 starters, all fillies -- nine of them three-year-olds -- and the race's only participant with multiple wins, having already scored three times in southern California, including a Hollywood Park starter allowance tally as a juvenile.
Race-ridden for the first time by Michael Luzzi and breaking from the inside post position in the seven-furlong contest, the gray/roan filly ran close behind pace-setting second choice Over the Transom (2.65-to-1) on the inside in third or fourth place all the way to mid-stretch. At that point, 3.90-to-1 third choice Fly With Karakorum (half of an entry) gained command on the outside, but slipping through along the rail in the final furlong after rallying out of the turn was Simplytruth, who used long ground-devouring strides to power her way to a half-length victory. Placing second on the outside was 32-to-1 ninth choice Puma's Pride, followed by Fly With Karakorum and Over the Transom. It was Simplytruth's first outing over an off track (labeled "good" for the first five races on Saturday's card), and it marked the first of two winning rides on Belmont's Showcase Day for Luzzi, who later piloted Princess Dixie to victory in the Iroquois Handicap.
Trained by Bruce Levine, Simplytruth increased her earnings by $25,800 to $76,680 and improved her record to 4 - 4 - 1 in 15 starts, which had begun with a first-out victory as a two-year-old at Santa Anita while running for a $40,000 price prior to her Hollywood Park starter allowance score. Her current four-year-old season had commenced in February following a layoff of almost 14 months after she had lost her rider in a one-mile turf stakes at Santa Anita early in her three-year-old season. Simplytruth had won with a $10,000 tag when she was claimed at Del Mar on August 25 and had placed second among 10 while running for $12,500 at Fairplex 19 days later on September 13, when current owner Valente claimed her. Trainer Levine had put Simplytruth through two Belmont workouts in October in preparation for her Showcase Day outing.
Simplytruth was bred by the Monhill Farm, LLC of Bernardo Mongil III of Millbrook, which qualified for a $5,160 breeder award and had sold the filly for $5,000 as a weanling at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's 1999 December mixed sale. The New York-bred transcontinental winner is among 25 winners sired by New York stallion Halissee (Cozzene - Hedonic, by Fappiano), a multiple graded winner on turf at Belmont whose progeny earnings recently went over $1-million. Halissee stood the 2003 season both at and as the property of Meadow Hill Lane Farm in Pine Bush of Diane Szymczak, who lives in Valley Stream, but qualifying for a $1,806 stallion award was Halissee's owner at the time of Simplytruth's 1998 conception -- Pleasant Valley Farm in Goshen. Simplytruth is the first winner produced from New York-bred stakes-placed four-time winner World Truth, who is by deceased New York sire Transworld and is a half-sister to the winning dam of multiple stakes winner The Maccabee ($389,689). A Hypo-Mating check of Simplytruth's pedigree reveals that she is inbred 3 x 4 to Prince John, whose leading money-earning son was New York-bred national juvenile champion Silent Screen ($514,388).

(10/17) Behrnik takes allowance at Belmont Park
John Behrendt's homebred, BEHRNIK, easily defeated state-bred fillies and mares, three year-olds and upward, in a NW-2X condition allowance. Eight horses were entered in the mile and a sixteenth affair, run around one-turn, over the main track at Belmont Park, with Behrnik going to the post as the race-time favorite at even-money. Trainer David Donk named leading jockey John Velazquez to ride the three year-old bay filly.
Sovereignoftheseas and Counting Visions raced as a team down the backstretch with Behrnik and Board Elligible tracking the leaders in 3rd and 4th, respectively. The half-mile was reached in 47.2 seconds. After Sovereignoftheseas fended off the challenge by Counting Visions, Behrnik moved into second-position while on cruise control followed closely by Board Elligible. Swinging three wide at the top of the stretch, Behrnik coasted to the lead and coasted to the wire to win by over 3-lengths over Board Elligible, stopping the timer in 1:45 flat.
Venturing beyond 7-furlongs for the first time in her 11-race career, it was reported here in a June 20th article, by Rab Hagin, that Behrnik has both the running style and some of the pedigree of a distance filly and she proved Mr. Hagin correct with today's easy score. Sired by multiple NYRA Grade 2-winning dirt sprinter Chimes Band, who was a Group 3 winner on turf in France as a two-year-old, Behrnik is the first of two New York-bred winners produced from New York-bred stakes-placed winner Lady Mondegreen, a daughter of New York stallion Personal Flag. Lady Mondegreen, who is a full sister to the dam of Texas stakes-placed winner Victory Dawn and a half-sister to New York-bred eight-time stakes winner Packett's Landing ($799,769), also raced for Behrendt under the care of trainer Donk. A $35,000 purchase at Fasig-Tipton Florida's 1994 February sale of two-year-olds, Lady Mondegreen won three times as a three-year-old -- never at under a mile -- capturing allowances by six lengths at a mile and an eighth at Saratoga Race Course and by 2 1/2 lengths at a mile and a sixteenth at Belmont Park.
Today's purse money pushes Behrnik over the century mark in earnings at $126,282 with a respectable Lifetime Record: 11-3-2-4. As breeder, Mr. Behrnik has earned breeder awards amounting to $12,628. Breeder awards along with owner awards, stallion owner awards and purse enrichment, are all part of the rich incentives provided by the New York Breeding and Racing Program.

(10/16) Platinum Setting wins turf allowance
The Gary Contessa trained PLATINUM SETTING, under strong restraint in the early going, forged to the lead in the final few strides to defeat state-bred allowance horses, three year-olds and up, over Belmont Park's Widener turf course. The NW-2X condition race, run at a distance of 1-1/16th mile, had a field of 8-horses go to the starting gate with Platinum Setting going off at odds of 2-1. Contessa named leading apprentice jockey Pablo Fragoso, who qualifies for a 5lb weight allowance, to ride the seven year-old gray gelding.
Five horses were strung out along the track in the run around the first turn and up the backstretch before Atticus Star emerged as the leader. Alongside raced Saf Link, Lost in the Woods and Edgefield with Fragoso rating Platinum Setting at the back of the field. The "yielding" track slowed the pace as the field reached the half-mile pole in 50.2 seconds and the three-quarters in a pedestrian 1:15.2. As the field neared the middle of the far turn, Platinum Setting was fanned out six-wide and was under a full head of steam as he came off the turn. Just to his inside, Blues Highway charged to the lead and the duo gamely battled down the stretch and as the wire neared, Platinum Setting put his head in front for the score. Final time was 1:45.3.
Bred by Joseph Lostritto, who qualified for a breeder's award of $2,760, Platinum Setting was making his fourth start for Ms. Maggi Moss, who claimed the gelding for $50,000. The $27,600 winner's share boosted Platinum Setting's earnings over $215,000 with a Lifetime Record: 43-6-7-8. Platinum Setting is by Silver Ghost, out of the Theatrical (Ire) mare, Broadway, who has produced the hard-hitting race horses Lyndsey Love (Distinctive Pro) winner of $152,070 and Any Scoop (Torrential) winner of $165,520.

(10/16) Pogolotti Hill charges to victory
POGOLOTTI HILL conditioned smartly by Mike Hushion, charged through the stretch over a "yielding" turf to defeat state-bred NW-1X condition allowance horses, three year-olds and upward, today, at Belmont Park. Ridden to victory by Richard Migliore, Pogolotti Hill went off at odds of 2-1 in the 10-horse field and broke from the 9-post position.
The Falcon was sent winging out of the gate and led the field around the first turn and down the backstretch through fractions of 24.4 and 49 seconds to the half-mile pole. The Falcon had a two-length lead over Unbridled Drive as Pogolotti Hill moved into contention around the last turn. As the field turned for home, The Falcon maintained his advantage as Pogolotti Hill moved to the middle of the course to begin his assault on the leader and after a prolonged drive raced to the lead and drew off to win by two-lengths. Because of the track conditions the final time was a pokey 1:46.3 for the 1-1/16th mile affair.
Bred by Hall of Fame trainer John Nerud, who qualified for a breeder's award of $5,280, Pogolotti Hill is the first foal out of the Devil's Bag mare, Gigg, a daughter of multiple stakes winner Wakonda. The sire, Husband, raced in Europe before returning to the states for Mr. Nerud and stood at Pleasant Valley Farm in Goshen, before leaving New York. Mr. Nerud, qualified for a stallion owner's award of $1,848. Owned by the partnership of John and Marilyn Guerrera and Carmine Telesca, Pogolotti Hill raised his lifetime earnings to $71,000 with 11-career races to his credit.

(10/16) Rodney Bay a wire to wire winner
Team Solaris Stable's RODNEY BAY was a determined winner today at Belmont Park. Making his third-career start against state-bred two year-olds, Rodney Bay was sent to the post as the 8-5 favorite in the 12-horse field. Rodney Bay, a second-place finisher in his two starts, was ridden, once again, by jockey Jose Santos. The race was run over Belmont's main track, labeled "fast".
Breaking from the 9-post position, Rodney Bay streaked out of the gate to gain command down the backstretch. In close pursuit were Disorderly Conduct, Seattle Willy and My Kinda Town through fractions of 22.4 and 47.1 seconds to the half-mile pole. As the field came off the final turn, Rodney Bay still had the lead as Seattle Willy and My Kinda Town challenged from the outside but determinedly held onto the lead to the wire, winning by a æ-length over My Kinda Town. Final time was 1:13.1.
Bred by Ramzi Abuhaidar, who qualified for a breeder's award of $2,460, Rodney Bay was sold at this year's March OBS two-year old in training sale for $110,000. The bay colt is by Elusive Quality, out of the Private Account mare, Count Tootsies, a half-sister to multiple stakes winner Footing (Forty Niner), winner of $309,219.
Rodney Bay has now earned $41,000 in three starts.

(10/16) First Sign of Rain breaks maiden at Belmont Park
Flying Zee Stable's FIRST SIGN OF RAIN, returned to the races today after an 8-month layoff to break his maiden in the last race at Belmont Park. The six-furlong race had a full field of 12-state-bred horses go to the gate, with First Sign of Rain the lukewarm favorite at odds of 5-2. Trainer Phil Serpe named Javier Castellano to ride the four year-old dark bay gelding, who broke from the rail position.
Machinegunmoutandy, sporting blinkers for the first time, went to the front, opening up by four-lengths over Laird Angus down the backstretch. Setting quick fractions of 22.2 and 46.1 seconds to the half-mile pole, Machinegunmoutandy controlled the race to the top of the stretch with First Sign of Rain racing in third. Machinegunmoutandy had what appeared to be a safe lead past the eighth-pole but Castellano, aboard First Sign of Rain, continued to drive to the lead and with a final last gasp effort won by a nose. Final time was 1:13 flat.
Bred by Carl Lizza at his Highcliff Farm in Delanson, New York, First Sign of Rain is by Thunder Puddles, out of Emma's First, by Premiership. The dam is a half-sister to the multiple stakes winner, Oro De Mexico (Well Decorated), an 11X winner of over $664,000. Thunder Puddles, sire of 1992 Travers Stakes winner Thunder Rumble, stands at Highcliff Farm. Mr. Lizza qualified for a breeder's award of $4,920 and as owner of the stallion, qualifies for a stallion owner's award of $1,722.

ADD IT UP winning last May

(10/13) Add It Up comes up with game N1X win
In his first start off a 75-day layoff, Peter Karches' and Michael Rankowitz's ADD IT UP survived a front-end duel with Cargo Ship in Belmont's eighth race on Columbus Day Monday, a $43,000 restricted N1X allowance for three-year-olds and up going six furlongs, prevailing after a tough stretch battle. Breaking on top from the inside post-position as the 2.80-to-1 favorite among nine starters with jockey Edgar Prado race-riding him for the first time, the four-year-old colt was immediately challenged on his outside (out of the number two post-position) by three-year-old Cargo Ship, the 3.70-to-1 third choice. The latter, a first-out winner in August who had placed third in his two subsequent starts after leading most of the way, proved to be quicker, setting the opening quarter-mile fraction of 22.78 and drawing off to a brief length and a half lead to gain the rail position. After a second quarter-mile split in 23.36 for a 46.14 half-mile fraction, Add It Up was back to within half a length of Cargo Ship, and he came wide turning for home before getting his head in front of his younger rival at mid-stretch with a five-eighths fraction of 58.34. At that juncture, the chestnut colt switched to his left lead but kept edging ahead, and within about 40 yards from the finish he switched back to his right lead and continued driving to the wire for a three-quarter-length victory in 1:11.38 over the drying-out "good" track. The relentless Cargo Ship placed 6 1/4 lengths ahead of his next closest pursuer. It was Prado's third winning ride of the day.
Trained by Lisa Lewis, the late-foaled (May 22, 1999) Add It Up had placed second and third in middle distance turf contests over four starts as a three-year-old but had broken his maiden by 2 3/4 lengths on a muddy Belmont main track going six furlongs last May. After an unplaced six-furlong effort in the slop at Belmont and a third-placing as the favorite at a mile and a sixteenth on turf at Belmont on July 2 -- both in restricted N1X allowance company -- Lewis had given him a break and brought him back with four September-October Belmont workouts. Add It Up's second Belmont victory of 2003 going six furlongs over an off track increased his earnings by $25,800 to $76,460 and improved his record to 2 - 2 - 2 in nine starts, with three of his four placings having come on grass. The colt was a $75,000 purchase by co-owner Karches at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's 2001 May sale of two-year-olds in training in Timonium, Maryland, prior to which he had been a $23,000 yearling at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's 2000 October yearling sale from Thomas J. and Nadine Gallo's consignment as agent for Skytop Farm.
Add It Up was bred by the 100-acre Skytop Farm in Roscoe of retired orthopedic surgeon Dr. Frank Ariosta and Peggy Thony-Ariosta in partnership with the Quarter Keg Stable of executive research specialist William Garbarini of Westfield, New Jersey, who jointly qualified for a $2,580 breeder award. The New York-bred is by Maryland stallion Polish Numbers, whose other New York-bred offspring include graded winners Biogio's Rose and Roman Dancer, and he is the third offspring and third New York-bred winner produced from Suffolk and Rockingham multiple allowance winner Trysail, who is by Afleet. Skytop Farm and Quarter Keg Stable privately acquired Trysail, who is a half-sister to stakes winner Stark Ridge ($147,199), in the late 1990s, and the mare's two offspring preceding Add It Up -- both fillies -- also are allowance winners, including two-time Aqueduct allowance winner Belongs to J D ($140,921). If Add It Up is as durable as his two older half-sisters, he will have an extensive career, since they each started more than 30 times and collectively have had 75 race-outings -- to date.

(10/13) Luz Lane makes late charge to decisive maiden victory
Returning to the mile and a sixteenth turf conditions under which he had placed second at Aqueduct in early May, Richard Bomze's homebred LUZ LANE overtook five rivals in the final five-sixteenths of Belmont's sixth race on Columbus Day Monday, a restricted maiden special for three-year-olds and up, winning decisively. Race-ridden for the first time by red-hot apprentice jockey Pablo Fragoso, who has a five-pound apprentice allowance, and sent off the 4.50-to-1 third choice among 10 starters while breaking from the ninth post position in the turn-and-a-half contest, the four-year-old gelding trailed the entire field for a half-mile. He rallied four wide on the second turn, getting up to sixth place with five-sixteenths of a mile to run, then made a late charge through the stretch on the outside that propelled him to a length and three-quarters victory over 2.80-to-1 favorite Captain Smith. The latter, also a four-year-old gelding who had drawn in off the also-eligible list, led by three lengths when Luz Lane was still sixth, but Luz Lane bolted to the front by zipping his final sixteenth in close to six seconds flat over the "good" turf course. What also was noticeable about the gelding's late charge was his running style: He actually seemed to be lengthening his strides as he neared the wire. For Fragoso, it was the second consecutive winning trip of the day aboard a New York-bred maiden that he was riding in a race for the first time.
Trained by Keith O'Brien, Luz Lane had placed second going a mile and a sixteenth on turf at Belmont in his second career outing in early May, and then after an unplaced effort in an off-the-turf contest at Belmont in late May had been given most of the summer off. He returned for a third-place effort in an off-the-turf mile and an eighth contest on a "good" main track at Saratoga on Labor Day, then had three Belmont workouts in preparation for his Columbus Day outing, which increased his earnings by $25,200 to $36,770. Luz Lane's record is 1 - 1 - 1 in five starts and 1 - 1 - 0 in three outings on turf, and his victory also qualified his owner-breeder, sports publisher Bomze of Long Beach, for a $5,040 breeder award. Luz Lane is by deceased New York stallion Compliance (Northern Dancer - Sex Appeal, by Buckpasser), whose syndicate connections qualified for a $1,764 stallion award. Bomze, who currently divides his time between New York and Florida, was a shareholder in Compliance and bred and co-owned that stallion's two most famous offspring (see Millionaires Club): New York-bred millionaire brothers Fourstardave ($1,636,736) and Fourstars Allstar ($1,600,048).
Luz Lane is the first offspring produced from New York-bred Singular Purpose, an Afleet mare that raced for Bomze and won at Aqueduct under the care of three-time New York Thoroughbred Breeders Trainer of the Year Leo O'Brien -- father of Keith O'Brien and also trainer of Fourstardave and Fourstars Allstar. Singular Purpose had been a $38,000 sales yearling at Fasig-Tipton's Saratoga preferred sale in 1995, where she was purchased by Joan O'Brien, wife of Leo and mother of Keith.

(10/13) Little Matth Man ($66.00!) calculates perfect move for maiden win
Two-year-olds ineffective in five previous starts that have never raced on off tracks do not typically come from eighth place to break their maidens going six furlongs in the mud while altering course, but Vincent Papandrea's LITTLE MATTH MAN did just that in Belmont's fifth race on Columbus Day Monday. Anyone predicting such an outcome could have capitalized on the dark bay colt's odds of 32-to-1, which made him the sixth choice among eight wagering interests and nine starters in the $41,000 restricted maiden special (one participant ran for purse money only after his entry-mate was a late scratch).
Race-ridden for the first time by "bug" jockey Pablo Fragoso, whose apprentice allowance is five pounds, Little Matth Man broke from the seventh post-position and had only one rival barely beaten in the tightly-packed field after the opening quarter-mile, as 1.30-to-1 favorite Confident Cat set the pace. The surprising-to-be juvenile raced three wide on the turn, then rallied along the rail to get up to fourth at mid-stretch before altering course to the outside in the deep stretch and overtaking the front-running contenders for most of the race, Confident Cat and 10.80-to-1 co-fourth choice Karakorum Keepsake. The latter eventually fought to a half-length margin at the wire over Confident Cat, who set a five-furlong fraction of 59.54 in the mud, but Little Matth Man advanced fastest of all through the final sixteenth of a mile to win by a length. It was the first of two winning rides aboard New York-bred maidens on Belmont's Columbus Day card for Fragoso.
In five previous starts beginning 12 days prior to his chronological two-year-old birthday of May 13, Little Matth Man had finished no better than third and no closer to the winners than 7 1/2 lengths, even though he had raced close to the early pace in two of those outings. The colt had returned from a three-month layoff to finish a tiring seventh going 5 1/2 furlongs (the longest distance he had raced at that time) at Belmont on September 21, after which trainer Leah Gyarmati had put him through a solid five-furlong Belmont workout on October 8. Little Matth Man's graduation to the winner's circle bumped his earnings up by $24,600 to $34,150 while advancing his record to 1 - 0 - 1 in six starts.
Bred by Jill and Edward Michaels, who qualified for a $2,460 breeder award, Little Matth Man was consigned by his breeders through agent Beth Bayer to the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's (OBS) 2002 January mixed sale as an "official" yearling but still four months shy of being a yearling chronologically. He was purchased at the OBS sale for $11,000 by Florida pin-hooker Murray Smith but did not change hands through any sales rings thereafter. Little Matth Man is by Grade 1 Hollywood Futurity winner Matty G and is a half-brother to 2003 Santa Anita six-furlong stakes-winning filly Shameful ($241,345), being the third offspring and third winner produced from stakes-placed winner Lady's Legacy, by Matchlite. Edward Michaels had purchased Lady's Legacy for $6,500 at the OBS January mixed sale of 2001 when she was carrying Little Matth Man and had no offspring yet to race (Shameful was then a young unraced two-year-old). The produce record of Lady's Legacy has improved considerably in 2003, with Shameful becoming a stakes winner and Little Matth Man's three-year-old full sister, Trumpeting Chelle, breaking her maiden at Gulfstream Park six months before her New York-bred two-year-old brother would score his first career victory at Belmont.

(10/12) Ring Bearer rallies for 2-length maiden score
Showing dramatic improvement in just 16 days, Our Sugar Bear Stable's RING BEARER tracked a front-running Yourstocommand in Belmont's fifth race on Sunday, a $42,000 restricted maiden special for three-year-olds and up going a one-turn mile and a sixteenth in the slop, then took over to win by two lengths. Although the race was open to older competitors, the nine starters were all three-year-olds, including 1.60-to-1 favorite Voir Dire, who had beaten Ring Bearer by a length and a quarter while placing second in a Belmont restricted maiden special at a mile and a sixteenth on September 26. In that race -- run over a fast surface with a first-place finishing time of 1:44.53 -- Ring Bearer had finished third, beaten 7 1/2 lengths by the winner while under the guidance of apprentice jockey Pablo Fragoso, who was race-riding him for the first time and has a five-pound apprentice allowance. Barely more than two weeks later -- despite an off track and carrying two pounds more weight -- Ring Bearer ran a winning time over the same one-turn mile and a sixteenth in 1:43.60 with Fragoso aboard, bettering the winning time in his previous outing by almost a full (.93) second.
Sent off the 3.40-to-1 third choice, Ring Bearer pursued 2.60-to-1 second choice Yourstocommand all the way to the stretch, as the latter opened up a six-length advantage in the first half-mile and had a six-furlong fraction of 1:11.69 while still leading by 3 1/2 lengths. Ring Bearer came wide into the stretch and initially looked like he was going to hang in second place for the remainder of the race, but then he switched to his right lead and started gaining rapidly on Yourstocommand, overtaking that rival on the outside in the final furlong. Favored Voir Dire rallied for third, finishing a length and a quarter behind Yourstocommand and also running significantly faster (by about a second and a half) than in his September 26 outing against Ring Bearer -- but finishing 3 1/4 lengths behind him instead of a length and a quarter ahead.
Trained since the beginning of the fall by Jeremiah Englehart -- his third conditioner since making one start last year as a two-year-old -- Ring Bearer picked up $$25,200 in purse money for the Our Sugar Bear Stable of William Terrill of New Hyde Park. The effort increased the dark bay gelding's total earnings to $35,800 and improved his record to 1 - 1 - 1 in six starts. Ring Bearer has been based much of the year at Finger Lakes, and his record includes a fast-closing second-place finish going six furlongs at Finger Lakes in his second career start (and three-year-old debut) on July 4. Among other New York-breds campaigned by Our Sugar Bear Stable is three-year-old filly Travelator ($209,557), who won Belmont's $108,000 Schenectady Handicap for New York-bred fillies and mares by 2 1/2 lengths on September 21.
Purchased for $16,000 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2002 April sale of two-year-olds in training -- after having gone for $26,000 as a Keeneland November sales weanling in 2000 -- Ring Bearer is by Canadian champion and Grade 1 Travers winner Runaway Groom. His breeder is Gary Mottola of Glen Grey Farm in Oakland, New Jersey, who qualified for a $2,520 breeder award. In the name of Glen Grey Farm, Mottola had purchased Ring Bearer's multiple stakes-winning dam, Demis Silent Love ($147,396), for $16,000 at Keeneland's 1999 November sale when she was carrying Ring Bearer. Demis Silent Love, who is by Play Fellow, is a half-sister to two stakes winners, including Grade 3 Prioress winner Firey Challenge ($173,003), and Ring Bearer is the fourth winner that she has produced.

(10/12) Doc's Option completes NY-bred trifecta in Belmont opener
Dr. Eric Myer's homebred DOC'S OPTION showed in Belmont's Sunday opener that he can carry his speed seven furlongs and win on a sloppy track, going gate-to-wire in a $20,000 contest for three-year-old $18,000 claimers while completing a $465.50 trifecta of New York homebreds sired by New York stallions. Placing second and third, respectively, among the eight starters were New York-breds One Momento and Luvnluk, as three-year-olds bred in the Empire State picked up 91 percent of the race's total purse. Doc's Option was race-ridden in the contest for the first time by Jorge Chavez and went off as the 4.90-to-1 fourth choice, while One Momento was the third choice at 4.50-to-1, and Luvnluk offered double-digit odds of 11.40-to-1 as the sixth choice.
Breaking on top from the fourth post position, Doc's Option set fractions of 22.41, 45.41, and 1:10.57 en route to a winning final time of 1:23.97, staying well off the rail and finishing three-quarters of a length ahead of One Momento, who raced three wide for most of the way. Luvnluk, who advanced from next to last through the slop and encountered traffic trouble in the stretch, finished 7 1/2 lengths behind One Momento. The victory by Doc's Option, whose trainer is Bruce Levine, boosted his earnings to $51,410 and improved his record to 2 - 0 - 2 in 10 starts -- all in 2003 -- and it also qualified Dr. Myer for a $2,400 breeder award. The race marked the first of four victorious rides on Belmont's Sunday card for jockey Chavez, whose winning mounts included unbeaten Spectacular Moon (yet another stakes winner out of a daughter of deceased New York stallion Spectacular Bid) in the Grade 2 Astarita Stakes for two-year-old fillies.
Doc's Option is a son of Michael Martin's New York-bred champion and New York-based stallion, Scarlet Ibis (Cormorant - Fifties Galore, by Cornish Prince), and his performance pushed the progeny earnings for Scarlet Ibis to just short of the $8-million mark while qualifying Martin for a $840 stallion award. Scarlet Ibis stands at Carl Lizza Jr.'s and Joseph Bartone's Highcliff Farm in Delanson, and his other winners this year include 2003 stakes winners Little Time and Miss Royal Ibis. Doc's Option is the seventh winner and fifth New York-bred winner produced from Dr. Myer's winning New York homebred mare, Roseville, who is by Misty Flight and is a half-sister to New York-bred graded winner and seven-time stakes winner Landing Plot ($666,484), whom Dr. Myer also bred. Doc's Option is a full brother to New York-bred open Aqueduct allowance winner Dolfmeister ($197,965). A Hypo-Mating check of the ancestry of Doc's Option reveals a classically balanced dosage profile of 3-4-8-2-1 and a pedigree that is an outcross (no inbreeding) for five generations, although sire Scarlet Ibis is distantly inbred (4 x 4) to Alibhai.

(10/11) Rodeo Spirit rallies to 1:34.39 Belmont mile
In his first start off a layoff of almost eight weeks, Wayne Ewald's three-year-old RODEO SPIRIT exploded through the stretch in Belmont's fifth race on Saturday, a $44,000 restricted N1X allowance for three-year-olds and up, winning by a daylight margin in 1:34.39 for a virtual one-turn mile on turf. The victory was no surprise, since Rodeo Spirit was the 2.60-to-1 favorite among eight wagering interests and nine starters with jockey Jose Espinoza on board for the fourth consecutive time, but the chestnut gelding ran 2.73 seconds faster than his winning time over the same course three months earlier.
The early part of the contest featured a brutal speed duel between Thanasi -- half of an entry that was the 4.50-to-1 fourth choice -- and stakes-placed 3.20-to-1 second choice Winloc's Nelson, as those two went head-to-head through fractions of 22.26, 44.77, and 1:08.97. Espinoza rated Rodeo Spirit in seventh place for half a mile, then allowed the gelding to rally three wide on the turn, getting up to fourth with a quarter-mile to run, shortly after which the Ewald standard-bearer simply took off, blowing by his competition despite staying on his left lead. At mid-stretch, Rodeo Spirit held a 2 1/2-length advantage over second-place Hristoforos, a five-year-old 11.30-to-1 sixth choice who had advanced from eighth place, and that was a sufficient safety margin to allow him to reach the finish a length and a quarter in front. Third choice Rosie's Big Boy (3.30-to-1) closed for third. It was the second winning ride of the day for Espinoza, who had first ridden Rodeo Spirit in June at Belmont and had been on board for the gelding's 7 3/4-length Belmont maiden victory going a mile on turf on July 9.
The victory was worth $26,400 in purse money to owner Wayne Ewald of Tudor Acres Racing in Kingston, New Hampshire, almost doubling Rodeo Spirit's bankroll to $54,240 and improving his record to 2 - 0 - 0 in eight starts. The New York-bred had come off a layoff of about 2 1/2 months last June for an off-the-turf mile and a sixteenth maiden contest, where he was ridden by Espinoza and wore blinkers -- both for the first time -- and finished sixth among 11. He had won his first chance on turf a month later, then at Saratoga in mid-August had finished fourth in a restricted N1X allowance at a mile on grass, closing on the outside to within a length and a half of the winner in his first and only two-turn outing. In the ensuing 55-day period between that effort and Rodeo Spirit's winning race on Saturday, trainer Richard DeStasio had put the gelding through four Belmont workouts -- two slower than average but two in the middle during September that were noticeably faster than average.
Purchased at Fasig-Tipton's 2001 Saratoga preferred yearling sales for $32,000 by agent Webb Carroll from the consignment of Harry L. Landry Bloodstock, LLC, agent, Rodeo Spirit is among 22 winners from the first two crops of syndicated New York stallion Rodeo (Gone West - Wewarrenju, by Damascus). Rodeo, who got his latest winner when three-year-old Chute the Breeze won at Belmont on Friday, also has sired New York-bred two-year-old filly Rodeo Licious, winner of Belmont's Fashion Stakes in June and one of 17 New York-breds that have won open (to horses bred anywhere) stakes events in 2003. Another of those 17 New York-bred open stakes winners of 2003 is Rodeo Spirit's four-year-old half-sister, Perfect Energy ($170,860), who won Belmont's Via Borghese Stakes at a mile and an eighth on turf on September 10. Rodeo Spirit's Saturday score qualified the syndicate connections of Rodeo, who stood the 2003 season at Gus Schoenborn Jr.'s Contemporary in Coxsackie, for a $1,848 stallion award.
The breeders of Rodeo Spirit and his stakes-winning half-sister, Perfect Energy, are Elaine Peck's and Richard Quinn's Rhapsody Farm in Plymouth in partnership with Peter Trapp, who jointly qualified for a $5,280 breeder award as a result of Rodeo Spirit's victory. The two-time winning Belmont grass miler is the sixth winner produced from Visionneuse, who is by Vice Regent, and he also is a half-brother to New York-bred Belmont main track allowance-winning miler Counting Visions ($128,960). Rhapsody Farm had purchased Visionneuse, who is a sister to stakes winner Noble Regent ($335,630) and to the granddam of two more stakes winners and a half-sister to the winning dam of stakes winner Attraction Fatale ($204,979), for $14,000 at Keeneland's 1997 November sale when she was carrying Counting Visions.

(10/11) Kings Empress beats open claimers in Belmont opener
Put on Lasix medication for the first time by Hall of Fame trainer Allen Jerkens and reunited with apprentice jockey Shannon Uske, Hardwicke Stable's homebred KINGS EMPRESS was a favored (3.25-to-1) winner in Belmont's Saturday opener, a $35,000 contest for three-year-old fillies with claiming prices of $40,000 to $30,000. Entered with a $40,000 tag along with seven of the other nine starters (with one coupled entry, there were nine wagering interests) in the 6 1/2-furlong contest, the dark bay filly raced three wide in third place before drawing off to a daylight lead midway around the turn. She gained a sufficient margin to get clear of all rivals to her inside and then angled straight into the stretch coming out of the turn after Uske had glanced quickly left to confirm they were out of traffic, and by mid-stretch Kings Empress had a 4 1/2-length lead. In the final furlong, she set a three-quarter-mile fraction of 1:10.58 while running in her low-headed and digging-in style, but closing with a rush on the outside was 4.10-to-1 third choice Vanity Fair, who got to within a head of Kings Empress at the wire. It was the second victory and seventh race aboard the New York-bred filly for jockey Uske, who rides with a seven-pound apprentice allowance. Finishing third was New York-bred Our Tune, the 21.40-to-1 eighth choice, as fillies bred in the Empire State picked up 71 percent of the race's total purse.
The youngest filly in the contest with a June 10, 2000 birth date, Kings Empress earned $21,000 for her owner-breeder, Elisabeth Jerkens of Hardwicke Stable in Bellrose, who qualified for another 47 percent of that figure ($9,870) in open race owner ($4,200), breeder ($4,200), and stallion ($1,470) awards. The front-running filly boosted her earnings over the six-figure mark to $110,250 and improved her record to 3 - 3 - 3 in 14 starts. She had won a restricted N1X allowance at Belmont going six furlongs with Uske up on July 4 and had broken her maiden going six furlongs on Aqueduct's inner track in February. Trainer Allen Jerkens, husband of Elisabeth Jerkens, had thought enough of Kings Empress to send her in Belmont's $108,000 six-furlong Schenectady Handicap for New York-bred fillies and mares, three-year-olds and up, on September 21, but she had stumbled at the start of that extremely competitive event and had finished unplaced. A solid six-furlong workout at Belmont on Monday (October 6) might have helped restore her confidence.
Sired by Elisabeth Jerkens' now-deceased New York-based stallion, Kings Fiction, who stood at Carl Lizza Jr.'s and Joseph Bartone's Highcliff Farm in Delanson, Kings Empress is the sixth winner and second New York-bred winner bred by Elisabeth Jerkens from Decorated Empress, a winning daughter of Well Decorated. Allen Jerkens had purchased Decorated Empress for $3,500 as a four-year-old broodmare prospect at a 1990 Fasig-Tipton paddock sale shortly after that mare had made her final start. Kings Empress' five winning half-siblings have captured a total of 21 races, and her eight-time winning maternal granddam (second dam) is a daughter of leading sire Mr. Prospector.

(10/10) Manhattan Express gets 2nd Belmont win of '03
In his third start under the care of trainer Scott Lake, Melvin Ross' three-year-old MANHATTAN EXPRESS flashed the form that had made him a stakes-winning juvenile in 2002, winning Belmont's fifth race on Friday, a $45,000 restricted N2X allowance for three-year-olds and up, while drawing clear by a length. Lake, the colt's fourth trainer in 2003, had first saddled Manhattan Express for a mile and a sixteenth restricted N2X Belmont allowance on September 14, giving a leg up to jockey Edgar Prado, who in his first ride aboard the New York-bred had guided him to a close second-place finish. Twenty days later on October 4 at Belmont, Manhattan Express had placed third while stretching out to a mile and an eighth with the same allowance conditions, prompting Lake to run him back six days later in Friday's contest, for which the bay colt was shortening up to seven furlongs.
Favored at 1.80-to-1 as one of three three-year-olds among seven starters with Prado aboard for the second time, Manhattan Express trailed the dueling front-runners, 6-to-1 fourth choice Majestic Miesque and 11.70-to-1 last choice Cape Pogue, along the inside in fourth and then fifth place through a half-mile. The two pacesetters drifted out slightly turning for home, allowing 3.20-to-1 second choice Connecting to come through along the rail and take command -- with Manhattan Express just a couple of lengths behind him. Connecting, a five-year-old carrying five pounds less weight than three-year-old Manhattan Express because of his jockey's seven-pound apprentice allowance, also drifted out slightly in the upper stretch, and Prado elected to steer his mount to the outside of the older rival. The final furlong split went in 12.37, but Manhattan Express -- who was two lengths behind Connecting at the eighth pole -- had to cover his final furlong in under 12 seconds, propelling him to the wire with a one-length victory margin in the time of 1:23.52. It was the third winning ride of the day for Prado.
Winner of Fairplex's three-turn mile and a sixteenth Gateway to Glory Stakes by 7 1/4 lengths in his juvenile maiden victory a year ago, Manhattan Express in May had won his first New York outing, capturing a sloppy one-mile restricted N1X allowance at Belmont by a length and a half. Attempts to stretch him beyond a mile in six subsequent starts yielded limited success, with his second-place effort for Lake on September 14 -- when he had lost by only a head under Prado -- clearly being his best effort at a distance longer than eight panels since his juvenile stakes score. Friday's victory increased Manhattan Express's earnings by $27,000 to $130,895 while improving his record to 3 - 3 - 2 in 18 starts.
Bred by former New York state Senator Howard Nolan's Blue Sky Farm LLC in Delmar, which qualified for a $5,400 breeder award, Manhattan Express was a $17,000 purchase by owner Ross at the Barretts Equine 2002 May sale of two-year-olds in training in Pomona, California. About six months earlier at that same sales pavilion, he had been a $5,000 yearling purchase out of the Barretts Equine 2001 October mixed sale. Manhattan Express is by former New York stallion Comet Shine (Fappiano - Hangin On a Star, by Vice Regent), who now stands in California, but his victory still qualified the partnership that owned Comet Shine at the time of Manhattan Express's conception in New York for a $1,890 stallion award. Manhattan Express is the third New York-bred winner sired by Comet Shine and produced from two-time winner Senorita Verde, an Irish River mare that Senator Nolan had purchased as a four-year-old for $2,400 at Keeneland's 1994 November sale. One of Manhattan Express's two winning New York-bred full brothers, six-time winner Senor Shine, had scored his fourth win of 2003 a week earlier (October 3), going a mile at Fresno Fair in central California. Manhattan Express's maternal granddam (second dam) is North American stakes winner Faisana ($126,854), who was Group 1-placed in her native Argentina.

(10/10) Chute the Breeze breaks maiden in first turf effort
Twice entered in Saratoga contests this year that came off the turf, Cedar Meadow's homebred three-year-old, CHUTE THE BREEZE, finally got his chance on a lawn in Belmont's ninth race nightcap on Friday, winning a $42,000 restricted maiden special for three-year-olds and up at a virtual one-turn mile on grass. Fidgety at the gate and next-to-last to load into the ninth starting stall among 10 starters, the big long-striding gelding broke awkwardly and almost last under apprentice jockey Shannon Uske, who was race-riding him for the first time and has a seven-pound apprentice allowance. He also was noticeably rank early on and took off down the backstretch on his own accord in pursuit of quick-breaking Hay Matt, the 7-to-1 third choice who was wearing blinkers for the first time, gaining a short lead on the outside with an opening quarter-mile split in 23.85. Hay Matt held his rail position and regained the advantage following a second quarter-mile split in 24.29 (for a half-mile fraction of 48.14), but Chute the Breeze started settling down and had his head back in front entering the stretch. Hay Matt did not back off, and advancing on the outside was 3.50-to-1 second choice Red Down South, prompting the competitive Chute the Breeze to run his final furlong almost as fast as his first -- 23.90 -- which got him to the finish in front by a head in 1:36.89. Red Down South nosed out the relentless Hay Matt for second place, with another 5 1/4 lengths separating the first three finishers from the rest of the field.
The 15.50-to-1 seventh choice in his maiden-breaking effort, Chute the Breeze picked up $25,200 in purse money, boosting his total earnings to $27,660 following his first top-three finish in five starts since debuting at Saratoga in late July. The Michael Sedlacek trainee also qualified his owner-breeder, Cedar Meadow, Inc. of Paul Giardina of East Hampton, for an additional $5,040 breeder award. Cedar Meadow (www.Cedar-Meadow.com) offers racing partnerships, but it retains at least half-interest in all of its racing prospects.
Chute the Breeze is the 17th winner from the first crop of syndicated New York stallion Rodeo (Gone West - Wewarrenju, by Damascus), and he is that stallion's 22nd winner overall and 20th winner in 2003. Chute the Breeze's victory qualified the syndicate connections of Rodeo, who stood the 2003 season at Gus Schoenborn Jr.'s Contemporary in Coxsackie, for a $1,764 stallion award. The big dark bay gelding is the sixth offspring and sixth winner produced from Breezethruthetrees, a Big Spruce mare that raced for Cedar Meadow and was a two-time Aqueduct winner (including her two-year-old debut) and a second-place finisher in Philadelphia Park's Villager Stakes for juvenile fillies. Among Chute the Breeze's five winning half-siblings are two six-figure earners, including New York-bred Peconic Breeze ($109,277).

(10/9) La Tina draws clear for 2nd successive win
Introduced to turf racing -- and to apprentice jockey Pablo Fragoso -- almost 12 weeks ago, Netherbloom Farm's homebred three-year-old filly, LA TINA, showed some late interest and earned her first check; in Belmont's seventh race on Thursday, she scored her second consecutive grass win at Belmont within 22 days. Trainer Robert Ribaudo obviously knew a winning combination, but horseplayers were skeptical, sending the bay filly off at 9.90-to-1 as the third choice among nine wagering interests and 10 starters in the $44,000 restricted N1X allowance for fillies and mares, three-year-olds and up, going a virtual one-turn mile. With Fragoso, who rides with a five-pound apprentice allowance, on board for the fourth consecutive time, La Tina was rated well back on the outside -- eventually dropping back to next-to-last after a half-mile -- as 13.30-to-1 fifth choice Deesalia galloped through easy splits of 24.38 and 24.42. The pace picked up on the turn, with Deesalia running her third quarter-mile split in 23.88, at which point La Tina started rallying four wide with six rivals remaining ahead of her. At mid-stretch, Deesalia was still in front, but La Tina was only about a half-length back in third place while moving fastest of all in the middle of the course. The last quarter-mile split was identical to the third -- 23.88 -- but La Tina covered her own final quarter almost a full second faster than that, reaching the finish with a length margin in 1:36.56 while switching back to her left lead late. Finishing a neck apart for second and third places respectively were two four-year-olds: Gebb's Dixie -- half of an entry that was favored at 1.15-to-1 -- and 2.45-to-1 second choice Lady Nelson, who edged out a tiring three-year-old Deesalia by a neck.
The victory boosted La Tina's earnings by $26,400 to $57,480 and improved her record to 2 - 0 - 1 in six starts while also qualifying her owner-breeder, Sunny Comfort of Netherbloom Farm in Salt Point -- who breeds under the name of S. J. Comfort, Inc. -- for a $2,640 breeder award. La Tina's racing career had begun with a pair of unplaced main track efforts at Belmont in May and June before trainer Ribaudo had tried her in a two-turn mile and an eighth contest on turf at Belmont with Fragoso up on July 18. For most of that race, she had run dead last, but then showed a surprising late kick to finish fifth and earn her first check. Ribaudo had sent her back for another mile and an eighth turf contest at Saratoga on August 11 under Fragoso, and although that race came off the turf (and onto the mud), La Tina still had placed third despite being bumped shortly after the break. On September 17 with Fragoso again in the irons, she had broken her maiden by a length and a half at Belmont going a two-turn mile and an eighth on turf as the favorite at 1.60-to-1 among nine starters. La Tina's Thursday grass victory against older winners while shortening up a furlong in distance suggests a bright future on lawns.
Sired by Grade 1 Hollywood Derby (on turf) winner Labeeb, La Tina is the sixth winner -- and fifth New York-bred winner -- produced from Ohio-bred main track restricted stakes winner Tina Pond, who is by Super Moment and was purchased by Comfort for $16,500 at Keeneland's 1993 November sale. La Tina's winning half-siblings include Ohio-bred multiple stakes winner Cunningham Road ($196,413) plus two multiple allowance-winning New York-breds: Saratoga-Belmont-Meadowlands turf allowance winner Chloe Pond ($242,555) and Sam Houston (dirt) and Louisiana Downs (turf) allowance winner Wolf Factor. Comfort has bred all of the New York-bred winners out of Tina Pond, who is a half-sister to the winning dams of five stakes performers, including 2003 stakes winner Billy Idel, multiple stakes winner Hang Shame, and multiple stakes-placed winner Elvis Rocks ($201,937).

(10/9) Out of Sort's gets out in front to break maiden
Third in her Belmont debut 19 days earlier despite being bumped at the start, Andrew Farm's and David Cassidy's three-year-old OUT OF SORT'S returned as the 2-to-1 favorite to win Belmont's second race on Thursday, a $41,000 restricted maiden special for fillies and mares, three-year-olds up, going seven furlongs. Race-ridden for the first time by Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey, the bay filly broke from the seventh post position and raced just behind and outside of 3.45-to-1 second choice Tomorrow's Star in fourth place through the opening quarter-mile. She rallied three wide on the turn, getting to within a length of front-runner Kevin's Decision and then -- as is not uncommon on Belmont's big sweeping far turn -- switched to her right lead about midway around the turn. Bailey had to work to keep Out of Sort's from bearing out, but she took command from Kevin's Decision at the head of the stretch and drew off to a 2 1/2-length lead at the eighth pole, at which point she started looking leg weary. In the final furlong following a 1:11.92 six-furlong fraction, Bailey glanced back to keep an eye on a rallying Blonde Dynamite, the 8.80-to-1 fifth choice who -- although a four-year-old -- was carrying three pounds less weight than Out of Sort's because of her jockey's five-pound apprentice allowance. About 50 yards from the wire, Out of Sort's switched to her left lead, but she finished comfortably with a solid winning margin of a length and three-quarters, as Blonde Dynamite placed second and Kevin's Decision held for third. For Bailey, it was the first of three winning rides on Belmont's Thursday card.
Owned by the Andrew Farm of Richard Brodie of Warren, Michigan in partnership with television and singing star David Cassidy, who maintains an address in Saratoga Springs, Out of Sort's earned $24,600 for her maiden victory, bringing her bankroll in two starts to $29,110. Gary Contessa trains the New York-bred filly, who was purchased for $45,000 by agent Robert Scanlon at Fasig-Tipton's 2001 Saratoga preferred yearling sales from the consignment of her breeder, Dr. Patricia Staskowski Purdy through Jeffrey T. Minton Bloodstock LLC, agent. Dr. Purdy, who qualified for a $2,460 breeder award as a result of Thursday's victory by Out of Sort's, owns and operates Ivy League Farm in Ithaca with her husband, Dr. Chris Purdy (both have dental degrees, but only Dr. Chris Purdy currently practices). Dr. Purdy also bred the 2002 New York-Bred Horse of the Year, Carson Hollow.
Sired by the graded-winning Cox's Ridge stallion Out of Place, Out of Sort's is the third offspring and third winner produced from Arlington Park multiple allowance winner As It May ($232,905), an indestructible campaigner who compiled a 15 - 13 - 14 record in 66 starts while winning through her eight-year-old season. As It May, who is by Gold Stage and is a half-sister to stakes winner Native Nova ($216,645) and to track record-setter Strumming ($114,645), was purchased by Drs. Chris and Patricia Purdy for $30,000 at Keeneland's 1999 November sale when she was carrying Out of Sort's.

(10/8) Sonny the Sailor sails home at 17-1
SONNY THE SAILOR, overlooked by the bettors at 17-1, charged to victory today against state-bred NW-1X condition allowance horses at Belmont Park. The race was run around one-turn at a mile and had a field of 10-horses go to the gate. Bred and owned by Joanne Foresta, the six year-old bay gelding is trained by Edward Miller and was ridden to victory by jockey Filiberto Leon. Leon journeyed from Saratoga Springs, where he is the proprietor of the successful Mexican restaurant appropriately called Leon's Restaurant, where they'll be celebrating tonight! Filiberto, gratiously, donated two-dinners at his restaurant for the upcoming New York Thoroughbred Breeder's Golf Tournament, which will be held at the Saratoga National Golf Club on Sunday, Oct. 11th.
Olympic Contender went to the lead followed closely by race time favorite Geometry, Austin's Awesome and Pert Reply, while Sonny the Sailor cruised near the back of the field in the early going. After a half-mile in 47.3 the field reached the three-quarters in 1:11.3, with five-horses spread across the track at the top of the stretch. Fanning out six-wide, Sonny the Sailor stormed down the track blowing by horses one-by-one to gain the lead and raced under the wire a two-length winner. Austin's Awesome, who finished second paid $54 to place and Givensilver paid $21.20 to show. The triple paid a very happy $13,910 for a two-dollar ticket!!
Ms. Foresta qualified for a breeder's award of $5,280 for today's score. Sonny the Sailor is by the late Double Negative, out of the stakes-placed winner Fawn Lake, by Full Pocket. Double Negative stood at Jim Edward's The Stallion Park in Millbrook, New York before being sent to Kentucky, where he passed away before breeding any mares in Kentucky.

(10/8) War Paint wins second consecutive open claimer
Barry K. Schwartz' homebred, WAR PAINT, entered for a tag of $35,000 defeated open claimers today at Belmont Park. After almost an eight-length score in his previous outing against $20,000 claimers, trainer Mike Hushion entered the three year-old Devil's Bag colt for the higher tag and stayed with rider Javier Castellano.
War Paint was sent to the post as the 9-5 favorite in the field of 7-horses, breaking from the outside post in the one-turn mile and a sixteenth race run over the main track.
Toscani took a short lead over War Paint, who tracked closely on the outside. The pair raced through early fractions of 23.1 and 46.3 seconds to the half-mile pole and had two-lengths on the rest of the field. War Paint was relentless in his pursuit of the front-runner, Toscani, and moved alongside to engage at the top of the stretch. Battling head-to-head through the stretch, War Paint edged his way clear nearing the finish line and drew off to win by a length. Final time was 1:43.3.
Bred at Mr. Schwartz' Stonewall Farm in Granite Springs, New York, War Paint is out of the 1996 Gr. 2 - Schuylerville Stakes winner, How About Now, by Pentelicus.
Mr. Schwartz qualified for both a breeder and owner's award of $2,100 for each category. War Paint has now topped the century mark in earnings with today's victory. His lifetime earnings are $113,020 with a Lifetime Record: 11-4-2-1.

(10/8) French Dish sweet in victory
Donald and Mary Zuckerman's homebred, FRENCH DISH, was a first-out winner today at Belmont Park. Racing against state-bred two year-old fillies at a distance of six-furlongs over the main track, the first time starter broke from the 6-post position in the 12-horse field and although listed at odds of 4-1 in the morning line, went to the post at 11-1. Trainer Mark Hennig named leading rider John Velazquez to ride.
A three-horse battle for the lead between Money Trust, Lusi Pond and Gold Like U led the balance of the field through opening fractions of 22.4 seconds at the first quarter and 46.2 at the half-mile pole. French Dish rated in seventh-position in the early going before swinging five wide nearing the top of the stretch gaining ground with every stride before racing to the lead at the sixteenth-pole and crossed the wire a 1-1/2 length winner. Lusi Pond held on for second-money and Distinctive Livin was up for third. Final time was 1:12 flat.
The Zuckerman's qualified for a breeder's award of $4,920 and as owner's of the sire, Tomorrows Cat, qualified for a stallion owner's award of $1,722. The chestnut filly is out of the Majestic Light mare, Fifi La Boom Boom, a half-sister to the multiple stakes winner Buck 'N Bronc (Bold Forbes) and stakes winner Pertsemlidis (Naskra). Tomorrows Cat (Storm Cat) stands at Metropolitan Stud in Pine Plains, New York and is has two crops to the races. Tomorrows Cat's progeny earnings for 2003 are over $740,000.

(10/8) High Peaks no longer a bridesmaid
Berkshire Stud's homebred, HIGH PEAKS, made it into the winner's circle today after having finished second in both of her previous races. Facing a field of 12 two year-old state-bred fillies, High Peaks, breaking from the 10-post, was sent off as the odds-on favorite as trainer Tom Bush named Jerry Bailey to ride, once again. The race was run at a distance of six-furlongs over the main track at Belmont Park.
Reverberation and High Peaks broke on top and led the field through an opening quarter in 22.3. Nearing the far turn, High Peaks moved up easily to take command while under a hand ride and reached the half-mile pole in 46 seconds flat and a three-length lead. The bay filly lengthened her lead throughout the stretch run and coasted under the wire and eight-length winner, stopping the timer in 1:12 flat. Rumba Numba, who had to check coming sharply soon after the break, nosed out Pro Occident for the place-money.
Bred at Dr. Douglas Koch's Berkshire Stud Farm in Pine Plains, High Peaks is by Peaks and Valleys, and is the first foal out of Phari, by Black Tie Affair (Ire).
High Peaks has earnings of $44,690 in five starts and Dr. Koch, former President of the New York Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc, and board member of the New York State Thoroughbred Breeding and Development Fund, Inc. has now qualified for a breeder's awards of $4,469 to date.

(10/5) Cimarron Rain rallies in stretch to win N1X
When she has a decent start and runs close to the pace, three-year-old CIMARRON RAIN performs like a potential stakes filly, and those requirements were met for her victory in Belmont's fourth race on Sunday, a $43,000 restricted N1X allowance for fillies and mares, three-year-olds and up, going six furlongs. Race-ridden for the first time by Michael Luzzi and favored at 1.45-to-1 among 11 starters, the dark bay filly broke slowly but was hustled forward to challenge three wide against Rescue Five (19.70-to-1) and Charm Appeal (17.80-to-1) into a 15-mph westerly headwind gusting to 22 mph. Charm Appeal got a narrow lead after a half-mile and carried Cimarron Rain wide out of the turn, but Luzzi's mount kicked in through the stretch, gaining a half-length mid-stretch lead with a 58.72 five-furlong fraction and drawing clear to win by a length and a quarter in 1:11.76. Second choice Fly With Karakorum (4.40-to-1) finished strongly on the outside to place second, followed by 6.40-to-1 third choice Over the Transom and seventh choice Charm Appeal. Seven of the 11 starters were three-year-old fillies, including the first four finishers.
Owned by Robert Scanlon, trainer Scott Lake, and Brian Morgan and trained by Lake, Cimarron Rain increased her earnings by $25,800 to $59,000 while improving her record to 2 - 1 - 0 in four starts. Purchased by Morgan for $35,000 at Fasig-Tipton's 2001 Saratoga preferred yearling sales, the New York-bred had won her debut by 10 lengths at Saratoga on August 4, then 20 days later had started slowly and finished unplaced -- beaten by four fillies in Sunday's contest -- in a six-furlong Saratoga N1X allowance. In her third start on September 17 going seven furlongs at Belmont in another N1X allowance, Cimarron Rain had contested the pace all the way racing three wide and had held on to place second while spotting four pounds to both the winner and the third-place finisher. She has been favored in all of her starts and was odds-on for her first two outings.
From the first crop of 1998 Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby winner Indian Charlie, Cimarron Rain is the sixth multiple winner produced from Santa Anita allowance winner Gee Toto, who won on both dirt and turf at Santa Anita and is by Slew o' Gold. Cimarron Rain's breeder is Barry Ostrager of New York City, who qualified for a $2,580 breeder award and had purchased her dam, Gee Toto, for $35,000 at Keeneland's 1999 November sale when she was carrying Cimarron Rain.
From various perspectives, Cimarron Rain's purchase as a yearling was particularly shrewd. Not only has she won two of her first four starts, but early last year she picked up graded-placed black-type under her first dam when her Santa Anita allowance-winning half-sister, Tamarack Bay ($140,505), placed second in Santa Anita's Grade 3 Santa Ysabel Stakes, missing victory by only a neck. In three consecutive outings this past summer, Tamarack Bay has placed in three more stakes, but her name did not appear on the catalog page for Cimarron Rain at the 2001 Saratoga preferred sale because she then was more than two months away from breaking her maiden. Cimarron Rain also has substantial credentials under her winning second dam, with Gee Toto being a half-sister to Grade/Group 2 winners Half a Year (English highweight) and Winning Pact ($257,197) and to dams of Event of the Year ($1,095,200), Really Happy (Grade 3, $215,688), and Cat's Career (Grade 3).

(10/5) Lucky Signal sends message that her talent is on turf
Although she had placed second twice this year going six furlongs on dirt at Aqueduct and Belmont, Robert Coakley's four-year-old LUCKY SIGNAL indicated in Belmont's 10th race Sunday nightcap that she prefers stretching out on a lawn, winning a one-mile $42,000 restricted maiden special for fillies and mares on turf. Ridden by Raul Rojas, who had been on board for her second-place six-furlong outing on Belmont's main track 15 days earlier, the dark bay filly was sent off by trainer Brian Brennan as the 19.90-to-1 sixth choice among 12 starters, three-year-olds and up, breaking from the sixth post position. She raced in hand on the inside in sixth place through the opening quarter-mile and advanced to fourth after a half-mile, as the field spread out behind 38.50-to-1 ninth choice Princess A. P., whose rider obviously was hoping to steal the race off a big early lead. Nearing the stretch, Lucky Signal rallied three wide to get up to third, and by mid-stretch she had her head in front with a six-furlong fraction of 1:11.43, after which she drew clear to win by a length and a quarter in a creditable 1:36.52 for the virtual one-turn mile. Placing second was 150.50-to-1 last choice Bidding Pro, completing a $2 exacta that paid $3,826.00.
The victory more than doubled Lucky Signal's earnings, which increased by $25,200 to $45,320, and it boosted her record to 1 - 2 - 0 in eight starts. Lucky Signal had been tried on turf once before -- in her fifth career outing on April 30 -- finishing fifth at Aqueduct at a mile and a sixteenth after running second for most of the way, but that was her first (and only) two-turn effort. The four-year-old filly was a private acquisition by owner Coakley and did not make her first start until late January of 2003 at Aqueduct, finishing fourth. She has been training this past summer at Monmouth Park.
Lucky Signal is the 28th winner from the 1999 crop of New York stallion Signal Tap (Fappiano - South Sea Dancer, by Northern Dancer), whose 2003 stakes-winning daughters from that same crop are New York-conceived Grade 1 winner Got Koko ($710,946) and New York-bred open (bred anywhere) stakes winner Perfect Energy. Signal Tap is a multiple graded turf winner and a Hialeah course record-holder whose syndicate owners qualified for a $1,764 stallion award as a result of Lucky Signal's victory, and he stood the 2003 season at Louis Salerno's Questroyal Stud, LLC in Hudson.
Qualifying for a $5,040 breeder award was Lucky Signal's breeder, William Sise, who also raced her turf stakes-winning dam, Lycka Dancer ($147,799), by British-bred Noble Dancer. Lucky Signal is the second New York-bred winner that Sise has bred from Lycka Dancer, being a half-sister to open allowance winner Dolabella. Lycka Dancer, a $20,000 Keeneland September sales yearling in 1982, won twice on Aqueduct's main track before tallying three more times on Belmont's turf course and scoring a turf stakes victory at Monmouth Park. A Hypo-Mating check of Lucky Signal's pedigree reveals that she is an outcross (no inbreeding) through five generations, although her sire, Signal Tap, is distantly inbred (4 x 4) to the great Native Dancer.

(10/5) Scary Bob scores front-running tricky treat debut
Candy Stables' homebred SCARY BOB surprised horseplayers in Belmont's second race on Sunday, a $41,000 restricted maiden special for 10 two-year-olds going 5 1/2 furlongs, winning his debut in front-running fashion by a length and a quarter over heavily-backed (.40-to-1) Rodney Bay. The latter had placed second in his August 17 debut at Saratoga to super-quick Read the Footnotes -- who would win an open Belmont allowance by 2 1/2 lengths three weeks later -- and had drilled a four-furlong "bullet" workout of 47 2/5 (fastest of 28) at Saratoga on September 25. Scary Bob was sent off the 13-to-1 third choice among 10 starters with jockey Aaron Gryder in the irons, breaking towards the back of the pack from the fifth post position. Breaking closer to the front on Scary Bob's immediate outside was Rodney Bay, but Gryder hustled his mount to the front to get the lead -- and the rail -- with Rodney Bay running right at his throatlatch. The two juveniles took off on their own personal duel, leaving the rest of the field 5 1/2 lengths back in the next furlong, but Scary Bob kept his head in front and drew off to a two-length advantage at mid-stretch en route to a five-furlong fraction of 58.87. Rodney Bay continued to run on his left lead through the stretch, which might have compromised his effort, but at the finish he was within a length and a quarter of Scary Bob, who won in the time of 1:05.67. Fourth choice Mumbles (13.80-to-1) -- one of four first-time starters in the race along with Scary Bob -- finished third, followed by another first-time starter, 5.30-to-1 second choice Eyeofthehunter.
The generous 13-to-1 odds for Scary Bob might have been attributable to the nine casual Belmont workouts that trainer Thomas Bush had put him through starting in mid-July -- especially compared to Rodney Bay's "bullet" drill 10 days earlier -- but he was fit enough to earn $24,600 in his debut. Bred by the CandyLand Farm of Herbert and Ellen Moelis of Middletown, Delaware in partnership with Donald Jones and raced in the name of the Moelis' Candy Stables, the chestnut gelding also jointly qualified his owners/co-breeders for an additional $4,920 breeder award.
Scary Bob is from the first and only New York-conceived crop sired by New York-bred Lucky Roberto, who won Saratoga's Grade 1 Hopeful in 1998 but did not get the New York-Bred Champion Juvenile Male title for that year despite being a Grade 1 winner (Incurable Optimist received the honor). Lucky Roberto was purchased privately by a syndicate managed by Gus Schoenborn Jr.'s Contemporary Stallions, which qualified for a $1,722 stallion award because of Scary Bob's maiden victory, and the stallion stood at Contemporary in Coxsackie for the 2000 breeding season before being sold to South African interests that fall.
Candy Stables/CandyLand Farm also bred and raced Scary Bob's now nine-year-old dam, Hallow Wean, and he is that mare's first winner. Hallow Wean, who is by Clever Trick and out of stakes winner Five Star Night ($116,958), is a half-sister to stakes winners Five Star Deputy ($273,864) and Time to Dream ($112,540).

(10/4) Bo Bo's Vice holds on for 3rd Belmont win
Back at Belmont, where he has never lost, James F. Edwards' three-year-old homebred BO BO'S VICE beat older winners in Saturday's second race, a $46,000 restricted N2X allowance at a one-turn mile and an eighth, stubbornly holding off My Legal Alien as the 3.35-to-1 third choice among eight starters. Race-ridden for the first time by "bug" jockey Pedro Luis Cotto Jr., who has a seven-pound weight allowance, the route-loving bay gelding raced just outside of front-running three-year-old duelers Manhattan Express and Back to Work for half a mile. He took command midway around the turn while going three wide into a showery 21 mph south-southwesterly headwind that was gusting up to 26 mph, appearing to utilize his long-striding and low-headed running style effectively. Bo Bo's Vice entered the stretch with a half-length lead over sixth choice Back to Work (15.50-to-1), who was a head in front of 3.25-to-1 second choice Manhattan Express. He subsequently drew clear of those two -- the only other three-olds in the contest -- but was challenged almost immediately on his outside by four-year-old My Legal Alien, the 3.75-to-1 fourth choice who through most of the final furlong looked about ready to reach the front in one more stride. With his head cocked slightly to the right -- as though he was glaring at My Legal Alien -- Bo Bo's Vice dug in and refused to let his older rival get by, winning by a neck.
Manhattan Express stayed on to finish third, followed by Back to Work and then 2.95-to-1 favored five-year-old River Spirit. A unique feature of the race was the nearly even regard the wagering public had for the top four choices -- which finished first, second, third, and fifth -- with odds for those four varying by no more than 80 cents on the dollar (2.95-to-1 to 3.75-to-1). For jockey Cotto aboard Bo Bo's Vice, it was the first of two winning rides on Belmont's Saturday card.
The victory increased Bo Bo's Vice's earnings by $27,600 to $222,259 while improving his record to 3 - 0 - 1 in seven starts, and it also qualified Edwards, who bred the gelding in the name of CBF Corporation, for an additional $5,520 breeder award. Conditioned by New York Thoroughbred Breeders four-time Trainer of the Year Harold James Bond, Bo Bo's Vice has scored all his wins at Belmont, breaking his maiden there in May and capturing Belmont's $250,000 Cab Calloway New York Stallion Stakes by a length and a half on June 8. Following unplaced but purse-earning efforts in Finger Lakes' $142,200 New York Derby on July 26 and Saratoga's $168,250 Albany Stakes on August 20, Bond put the gelding through three sharp Belmont workouts in preparation for Saturday's start.
Qualifying for a $1,932 stallion award was the partnership that owns the eight-year-old New York-based sire of Bo Bo's Vice, Raffie's Majesty (Cormorant - Raffinierte, by Surumu), who also was trained by Bond and was voted the Champion New York-Bred Three-Year-Old Male of 1998. That stallion partnership, headed by Henry Prieger of Prantlack Farm in Stanfordville, who bred and raced Raffie's Majesty, is named Four Partners Stable. Bo Bo's Vice is among six three-year-old winners in 2003 from six three-year-old starters out of the first crop of Raffie's Majesty, who stands at Howard Kaskel's Sugar Maple Farm in Poughquag.
Bo Bo's Vice is the third six-figure-earner bred by Edwards' CBF Corporation from middle distance turf specialist Bo Bo's Sister, being a half-brother to Belmont allowance-winning colt On the Fan ($129,095), who has scored on both dirt and turf, and to Edwards' multiple Aqueduct allowance-winning filly, Bo Bo's Thunder ($116,130). Bo Bo's Sister, a Talc mare bred and raced by Edwards, captured allowance races on turf at a mile and a sixteenth at both Saratoga and Belmont and is a full sister to two of Edwards' New York homebred multiple stakes winners, Kate's Valentine ($496,629) and Talc's Coventry ($161,485). Bo Bo's Sister also is a full sister to multiple stakes-placed winner Talc Power ($449,039) and a half-sister to multiple stakes-placed winners Crafty Coventry ($285,637) and Katie's Cure ($138,383). A Hypo-Mating check of the pedigree of Bo Bo's Vice reveals a balanced 3-1-7-0-1 dosage profile -- and it also shows that dam Bo Bo's Sister is inbred 4 x 4 to Northern Dancer through Lyphard and Viceregal, although she outcrosses significantly with the uniquely-bred Raffie's Majesty.

(10/4) Deputy Thief instructed to go straight - breaks maiden
Conscientiously held on a straight course by jockey Jose Espinoza until he had cleared his competition in the stretch, Our Metro Stable's and David Leno's three-year-old DEPUTY THIEF won Belmont's Saturday opener, a $41,000 restricted maiden special for 10 three-year-olds and up going seven furlongs, by 3 1/2 lengths. As one of three participants with only two previous starts, the bay gelding went off as the 4.40-to-1 co-third choice, breaking first from the seventh post position and contesting the pace while three wide behind 10-to-1 fifth choice Trading Hours and 2.50-to-1 second choice Nick the Vest. He was somewhat late changing leads, and Espinoza kept a snug right-handed hold on the three-year-old to prevent him from lugging in on Nick the Vest, but once clear he drew away, as Trading Hours -- one of two other starters with only two previous outings -- held on to place second. It was the first of two winning Saturday rides for Espinoza, who had piloted Trading Hours to a second-place finish at Belmont 20 days earlier and later would guide Freefourinternet to a nose tally over Proud Man (by New York stallion Manlove) in the Grade 2 Kelso Breeders' Cup.
Owned by Dan Schmidt's Our Metro Stable of East Rockaway in partnership with David Leno and trained by Richard DeStasio, Deputy Thief picked up $24,600 for breaking his maiden, boosting his total earnings to $32,800 in three starts. He had been pulled up in his debut at Saratoga on August 15, but had come back a month later to place second under Espinoza at 6 1/2 furlongs, missing by only a neck despite lugging in repeatedly after having led at mid-stretch
Deputy Thief's breeder is Dr. Patricia Staskowski Purdy of Ivy League Farm in Ithaca, who qualified for a $2,460 breeder award and had sold the New York-bred through Jeffrey T. Minton Bloodstock LLC, agent, for $29,000 to agent Webb Carroll at Fasig-Tipton's 2001 Saratoga preferred yearling sales. Deputy Thief, who is by Defrere, is the fourth New York-bred winner that Dr. Purdy has bred from Paterby, a daughter of Pancho Villa and a half-sister to stakes winners Snooky's Taylor ($152,095), Bertha Fay ($130,865) and Plenty a Dreams ($119,206) and to two stakes-placed winners. Paterby was acquired privately by Dr. Purdy, who also is the breeder of 2002 New York-Bred Horse of the Year and Grade 1 winner Carson Hollow.

(10/4) Buy the Sport places 3rd in G1 $750K Beldame - 1st U.S. encounter with older females
Georgica Stable's New York-bred Buy the Sport proved on Saturday that her 48-to-1 victory in Belmont's Grade 1 Gazelle Handicap against some of North America's best three-year-old fillies on September 6 was no fluke, placing third behind four-year-old Sightseek and Bird Town in Belmont's $750,000 Grade 1 Beldame Stakes. Race-ridden for the first time by Corey Nakatani and sent off by new trainer Robert Barbara as the 7.30-to-1 second choice among seven starters for the one-turn mile and an eighth event, she raced through showers over a Belmont surface that seemed not as fast as four weeks earlier. Third choice Bird Town (11.20-to-1), a 2003 multiple Grade 1 winner, set the pace for six furlongs, as Buy the Sport raced close behind the leaders in fourth place after breaking from the number one post position. Coming out of the turn, the New York-bred filly was boxed in on the rail, but odds-on Sightseek (.30-to-1) was free on the outside, and she collared Bird Town in the upper stretch to take command and draw away for her fourth consecutive Grade 1 victory. Sightseek's winning time, 1:49.27, was seven-tenths of a second slower than Buy the Sport's winning time in Belmont's Gazelle at the same distance -- although in the Gazelle, Buy the Sport had carried seven pounds less than she shouldered in the weight-for-age Beldame.
Trainer Barbara was pleased with Buy the Sport's effort despite her having to break from an unfavorable post-position: "Corey was happy with the way she ran, and I'm happy. I didn't like the one-hole -- it just always seems like you're in a bad spot. We got beat by two nice horses."
Barbara also indicated that the Breeders' Cup for Buy the Sport is doubtful at this point, but it will be discussed with the owners in the coming days.
Jockey Nakatani acknowledged that some factors in the race had been less than ideal, and he implied that Buy the Sport might relish two-turn route racing: "The track has been playing from behind all day, unless the pace was slow. There was legitimate pace in this race, so I was trying to get her to relax, which is what we planned. I had to keep my eye on Sightseek, obviously. I would have liked to have gotten to the outside, because the track seemed better out there, but it just didn't happen. I like to save ground; the horse in front of me was getting out, and I was patient with her. She is a pleasure to ride, very honest, but I think two turns will be better for her. Hopefully, down the road, we'll do better."
The third-place finish was worth $82,500 in purse money for Peter Minikes' Georgica Stable, which also qualified for a $8,250 open race owner award, boosting Buy the Sport's purse earnings (exclusive of her New York program awards) to $296,145 while putting her record at 3 - 0 - 1 in 10 starts. The dark bay daughter of Devil's Bag - Final Accord, by D'Accord, likewise qualified Patricia Calandro of Barely Able Farm in Holmes for a breeder award of $8,250. Buy the Sport is a half-sister to New York-bred stakes winners Haggs Castle ($259,613), Try N Sue ($236,590) and Winter Dreams ($142,824). Co-consigned by Calandro in partnership with Judi Nelson and Marcy Roberts to Fasig-Tipton's 2001 Saratoga preferred sale, the filly was purchased for $82,000 by agent Eddie Woods, who six months later sold her for $155,000 to Meehan/Newmarket at Fasig-Tipton Florida's 2002 Calder sale of two-year-olds. Buy the Sport was among four New York-bred juveniles sold at that Fasig-Tipton Florida sale for six-figure prices.

(10/3) Mischieviously wins again
Padau Stable's MISCHIEVIOUSLY easily won her second consecutive state-bred allowance, although they were spaced apart by over two-months. The three year-old bay filly won by six-lengths on July 28th at Saratoga Race Course and returned to the races today in obviously fine form. Trainer Steve Asmussen named Jerry Bailey to ride the talented filly, who broke from the 6-post position in the 10-horse field. The race for fillies and mares, three year-olds and upward, was run over Belmont Park's main track at a distance of seven-furlongs.
Cologny went to the front with Mischieviously running in second down the backstretch and Distinctive Kitten rating in third-position past the half-mile pole in 46.1 seconds. Cologny had a two-length lead around the last turn as Bailey positioned Mischieviously into striking-position on an outside path. Roused at the top of the stretch, Mischieviously easily ran by Cologny on her way to a 2-1/2-length victory. Distinctive Kitten was up for second money and Cologny held on to third. Final time was 1:25.1. Mischieviously was jockey Jerry Bailey's fourth win on the Friday afternoon card.
Purchased by Satish Sanan at the 2001 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select sale for $210,000, Mischieviously has won $91,976 in 10-career starts. Bred by Sugar Maple Farm, who qualified for a breeder's award of $5,400, Mischieviously is by A. P Jet, out of Mrs. Filio, by Eastern Echo. Mrs. Filio is a half-sister to stakes-placed winners Saratoga Madame (Mr. Prospector) and It's Chemistry (Private Account). The sire, A. P Jet stands at Sugar Maple Farm in Poughquag, New York, and today's score qualifies Mr. Howard Wachtel for a stallion owner's award of $1,890. A. P Jet (Fappiano) has progeny earnings of $1.7 million dollars for 2003.

(10/3) Bobbie Use breaks maiden over turf
After two sprint efforts, BOBBIE USE was entered into a state-bred maiden race for two year-old fillies and the talented filly responded positively winning by three-lengths. Run over Belmont Park's Widener turf course, a full field of 12 fillies went to the starting gate with Bobbie Use the 9-5 betting favorite. Trainer Richard Dutrow, Jr. named Jerry Bailey to ride.
Indelible Image and Take Her Out took turns sharing the lead past the half-mile pole in 46.2 seconds with Berkshire Princess rating in third-position. Bailey kept Bobbie Use in fifth position in the run down the backstretch before drawing closer around the far turn. As the field hit the top of the stretch, Bobbie Use angled off the rail and was roused by Bailey. Responding willingly, the bay filly accelerated to gain the lead by the eighth-pole and drew off for the victory. Hollywood Wonder closed for second money and Miss D Flawless was up for third. Final time was 1:37.2.
Bred by Becky Thomas and Lewis Lakin at their Lakland North Farm in Hudson, New York, Bobbie Use is by Not For Love, out of the Private Terms mare, Truth and Beauty, who was undefeated in two-starts. Out of the graded stakes winner La Reine Elaine (King's Bishop), Truth and Beauty is a sister to the multiple stakes winner La Reine's Terms, winner of $652,256. Consigned at the Feb. 2003 OBS two year-old in training sale, Bobbie Use was purchased by current owner Sanford Goldfarb for $110,000 and the filly looks to have a bright future. The partnership of Thomas and Lakin, together qualified for a breeder's award of $2,520.

(10/2) Lady Bi Bi takes second consecutive turf allowance
Tri County Stable's LADY BI BI continues to improve over the turf, winning her second consecutive state-bred allowance stepping up in class today at Belmont Park. The NW2X condition allowance was run at a mile over the Widener turf course, labeled "good". A field of 10 fillies and mares, three year-olds and upward, loaded into the starting gate with Jose Santos on board Lady Bi Bi, once again, for trainer John Hertler.
Our Tune streaked to the lead soon after the break opening up by two-lengths over Little Buttercup and Buck Mountain. Board Elligible unseated her rider, apprentice jockey Carlos Deyan, soon after the break, and moved between horses to the front of the pack causing some anxious moments before moving to the outside fence on the far turn. Our Tune was moving nicely through soft fractions of 24.2 and 48.2 seconds past the half-mile pole with Buck Mountain moving into second past Little Buttercup, making a strong run in mid-turn to take command at the top of the stretch, opening up a short lead. Lady Bi Bi, who sat sixth in the early going, along the hedge, saved ground around the last turn and moved into contention at the head of the stretch, while still down on the hedge. Santos angled the four year-old chestnut filly out to the four-path and once straightened for home, blew by the field, drawing off to win by three widening lengths. Little Buttercup ran by Buck Mountain in the late going to finish second. Final time was 1:35.2.
Today's victory was Lady Bi Bi's third turf score of 2003, increasing her earnings by $27,600 to $100,580, and qualified her owner-breeders, Richard Rosee and Charles Goldberg of Tri County Stables, for a $2,760 breeder award. Sired by Eclipse Champion Lord Avie, Lady Bi Bi is the third named offspring and third New York-bred winner produced from Shambidextress, being a half-sister to Tri County Stables' 2003 seven-year-old stakes-placed winner, Say It Both Ways ($110,760), and its 2003 Aqueduct inner main track allowance winner, Bound On Bi. Dam Shambidextress is a winning daughter of Sham and a half-sister to New York-bred stakes winner Rough Rogue ($261,645), who won Aqueduct's 1990 Alex M. Robb Handicap.

(10/2) Gratiaen surges to victory against open claimers
New York-bred GRATIAEN gamely defeated open claimers ($75,000 - $65,000) today at Belmont Park. The six year-old son of Cure the Blues was coming off of a second-place finish to the highly regarded Well Fancied in the General Douglas MacArthur run on September 5th and trainer Gregory Martin, who claimed Gratiaen for $20,000 this past February, dropped him in for a $75,000 claiming tag. Run at a distance of seven-furlongs over the main track, Gratiaen had the services of jockey Jorge Chavez and broke from the six-post in the eight-horse field.
Final Table went to the lead tracked closely by Gratiaen and Shake the Dice down the backstretch. Final Table led the way through fractions of 23.1 and 46.2 seconds at the half-mile pole and continued past the three-quarter-pole in 1:11.2 with Gratiaen a persistent presence drawing closer to challenge for the lead at the top of the stretch. Final Table dug in through the stretch along the rail as Gratiaen drew alongside, changing leads twice through the stretch. Nearing the wire, Gratiaen gamely edged his way past Final Table, winning by a neck crossing the wire and stopping the timer in 1:24.2. New York-bred Ahpo Here finished third.
Bred by Gallagher's Stud in Ghent, New York, thus qualifying Mrs. Brody, owner of Gallagher's Stud, for a breeder's award of $5,640. Gratiean, winner of the 2000 Albany Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, is out of the black-typed Deputy Minister mare, Adorable Minister, who's two year-old Absolutely Joe (Rodeo) broke his maiden yesterday at first asking. Adorable Minister is a half-sister to graded stakes winner New York-bred Adcat (Storm Cat), who now stands in Florida. Gratiaen's victory pushes his lifetime earnings to $287,830 in 26 starts. The owners, Team West Side Stables, qualified for an open owner's award of $5,640, and the syndicate members of the late Cure the Blues, also qualified for a stallion owner's award of $1,974. Cure the Blues, who died in 1999, stood at Dr. Jon Davis' Milfer Farm in Unadilla, New York and his progeny earnings continue near the top of the New York-bred stallion standings at over $1.6 million dollars. Gerald and Janet Carrus, owners and breeders of third-place finisher, Ahpo Here, also qualified for owner's and breeder's awards of $517 for each category.

(10/2) Shhh Please breaks maiden over turf
Joseph W. Gerrity, Jr.'s homebred, SHHH PLEASE, defeated two year-old state-bred maidens today over Belmont Park's Widener turf course, labeled "good". The one-mile affair had a full field of 12-horses go to the starting gate with trainer Ramon (Mike) Hernandez naming leading apprentice jockey Pablo Fragoso to ride the bay gelding.
Belladumaani, the race time favorite, challenged longshot Derby for Darby for the early lead as they raced past the half-mile pole in 47.4 seconds. Fragoso rated Shhh Please near the back of the pack in the early going before moving through along the inside to seventh-position, only to be bottled down along the hedge and forced to check. As the field hit the top of the stretch, Belladumaani was on top with Shhh Please still looking for racing room, which he found once angled off the rail to the outside, where he put in a strong run to take command in deep stretch, drawing off to win by 2-1/2 lengths over Belladumaani. Final time was 1:37.3.
Bred at Mr. Gerrity's Little Farm in Kinderhook, New York, the cleverly named Shhh Please is by Williamstown, out of the Irish River mare, Majestic River, a half-sister to stakes winners Royal Sporan (Full Pocket) and Runs Like A Prince (Limit to Reason). Mr. Gerrity qualified for a breeder's award of $5,120. Williamstown (Seattle Slew) stands at Metropolitan Stud in Pine Plains, New York, and John and Lorna Mack qualified for a stallion owner's award of $1,792.

(10/1) Foreverness captures grass allowance
Red Oak Stable's FOREVERNESS charged through the stretch to capture a state-bred turf allowance today at Belmont Park. The NW2X condition allowance was run over Belmont Park's Widener turf course, labeled "yielding", at a distance of one-mile. A field of 12-horses went to the post with Foreverness going to the post as the 8-5 favorite. Trainer Gregory Sacco named Jerry Bailey to ride the four year-old chestnut gelding, which was making his third start of 2003 and first at Belmont's Fall Championship Meet.
To Go and Sea Cloud battled for the lead past the half-mile in 47 seconds with Dazzling Spirit and Atticus Star in close pursuit. Bailey rated Foreverness in seventh-position down along the rail, saving ground around the far turn. After three-quarters in 1:11.3, the lead horses began to tire as a host of challengers forged into contention with Foreverness now locked in and looking for racing room. Angling off the rail, around a tiring To Go, Foreverness went into overdrive and exploded to the lead and the wire, winning by 2-1/2 lengths over Golden Commander. Final time was 1:35.4.
He broke his maiden for his breeders, Louis and Patrice Wolfson's Harbor View Farm, on June 30 at Belmont and nine days later was consigned by Harbor View to Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's sale of two-year-olds and horses of racing age, where John Brunetti bought him for $102,000. Foreverness has now earned $104,600 in 9-lifetime starts. As breeders of Foreverness, the Wolfsons qualified for a $2,760 breeder award.
Sired by multiple Grade 1-winning router Island Whirl (also a Grade 2 winner at seven furlongs), Foreverness is the fourth winner produced by Harbor View Farm's homebred winner Dearness, who is by Harbor View Farm's legendary Triple Crown champion, Affirmed. Dearness won four races -- all on turf -- capturing an Aqueduct maiden special at a mile and an eighth and allowances at Hialeah and Calder at a mile and a sixteenth (twice) and a mile and an eighth, earning $70,020. Dearness is a half-sister to the winning dam of two stakes-placed 2002 winners in Texas -- four-year-old Brother Julius ($111,297) and three-year-old Royal Honey.

(10/1) Sovereignoftheseas sails to victory
Patricia Purdy and R. Nortons Farm's SOVEREIGNOFTHESEAS was a determined winner today as she beat state-bred fillies and mares, three year-olds and upward, in a NW1X condition allowance at Belmont Park. A handy 6-length winner in a seven-furlong race at Saratoga in August, when she broke her maiden, the three bay filly was entered in a one-turn one-mile race, which was run over the main track. A field of 8-horses loaded into the starting gate.
Karakorum Kiss went to the front closely tracked by Sovereignoftheseas, ridden by jockey Richard Migliore. Sovereignoftheseas went to the lead after the quarter-pole and reached the half-mile in a pokey 48 seconds and an equally pokey 1:13.4 seconds at the three-quarter pole marker. As the field hit the top of the stretch, Sovereignoftheseas and Karakorum Kiss were joined by Tap Machine, racing on the far outside. Migliore urged Sovereignoftheseas through the stretch battle, and she edged her way clear past the sixteenth-pole holding on to her advantage to the wire by three-quarters of a length over Tap Machine, who finished a length in front of Karakorum Kiss. Final time was 1:39.4.
Bred by Patricia Purdy, who qualified for a breeder's award of $2,640, Sovereignoftheseas is a half-sister to the multiple graded stakes winner Carson Hollow (Carson City), winner of $500,110. The ill-fated Carson Hollow was also bred by Mrs. Purdy at her Ivy League Farm in Ithaca, New York, which she owns with her husband Dr. Chris Purdy. Sovereignoftheseas is by Boston Harbor, out of the Hold Your Peace mare, Lizeality.

(10/1) Absolutely Joe is absolutely first
George J. Ruggieri and Marjak Pino Stable's ABSOLUTELY JOE was a first out winner at Belmont Park, today, easily beating state-bred two year-old maidens going seven furlongs over the main track. Trainer Mike Miceli had the son of Rodeo sharp for his debut and named Richard Migliore to ride the bay colt. Absolutely Joe broke on the far outside of the 11-horse field. Little Smokey, breaking from the 5-post, took the early lead and led past the quarter-pole reached in 23 seconds flat. Sinbad took a brief lead nearing the half-mile before giving way to Gratz Park. Absolutely Joe, unhurried early on, moved easily into contention on the far outside and, once asked, blew by the field at the top of the stretch, increasing his lead with every powerful stride. The margin of victory was 4-1/2 lengths in a final time of 1:25.1.
Bred by the partnership of Mia Gallo and Deborah Petrisak, who together qualified for a breeder's award of $4,920, Absolutely Joe is by the second crop sire, Rodeo, who stands at Gus Schoenborn, Jr.'s Contemporary Thoroughbreds in Coxsackie, New York. Owned by a syndicate, who qualified for a stallion owner's award of $1,722, Rodeo (Gone West) has over $530,000 in progeny earnings, to date, in 2003. The talented colt is out of Adorable Minister, by Deputy Minister, and is a half-brother to the 2000 Albany Stakes winner at Saratoga Race Course, Gratiaen (Cure the Blues). Adorable Minister is out the black type mare, Adorable Micol (Riverman) and is a half-sister to graded stakes winner Adcat (Storm Cat). Absolutely Joe was named after the affable Joe Pino, who worked in the NYRA accounting department for 20 years before passing away suddenly last year. Guess the New York-bred youngster received a little help from his namesake from up above.

(10/1) Texas Pro captures state-bred maiden
E. Paul Robsham's homebred, TEXAS PRO, making his second career start, defeated two year-old state-bred maidens in a seven-furlong race run over the main track at Belmont Park. After being bumped in his first start, finishing sixth, trainer Stanley Hough stretched the chestnut colt out from 5-1/2 furlongs to 7-furlongs and named jockey Edgar Prado. A full field of 11-horses went to the post.
Creative Dance and West Virginia hooked up in an early duel and set quick fractions of 22.1 and 46.1 seconds to the half-mile pole. Fierce Storm and Texas Pro sat three lengths off the early leaders to the middle of the far turn. The early battle took its toll on West Virginia at the top of the stretch as Texas Pro began to move strongly on the far outside. After straightening for home, Texas Pro took command of the lead and drew off to win by 3-lengths over Creative Dance, who nosed out Lethimthinkhesboss for second money. Final time was 1:25.4.
Mr. Robsham qualified for a breeder's award of $4,920 and as owner of the stallion Polish Pro, qualified for a stallion owner's award of $1,722. The sire, Polish Pro stands at Milfer Farm in Unadilla, New York and his progeny this year have earned over $650,000 to date. Texas Pro is the fourth foal out of 100% producer Houston Elegance, by Houston, and is a brother to stakes-placed winner Houston Pro.