Sept. 2004 Racing Front News Archives STAKES VIDEOS Track Photo Credits: NYRA Tracks- Adam Coglianese Finger Lakes-Tom Cooley

(9/30) Panina prevails in tough allowance stretch battle
Vastly improved since learning to race beyond a mile, Patrick Leuci's PANINA gained the rail and then the lead in Belmont's fifth race on Thursday for New York-bred allowance fillies going a one-turn mile and a sixteenth under showery skies and never relinquished either in her first effort wearing blinkers. The three-year-old filly was the 2-to-1 second choice among six wagering interests and seven starters in the $44,000 restricted N1X allowance with jockey Richard Migliore race-riding her for the first time, breaking from the number two post and advancing to the throatlatch of early frontrunner Stars and Spice. The latter, who was half of an entry that was favored at 1.90-to-1 and forced to race two wide, began falling back when Panina covered the second quarter-mile in about 23.50, and five-sixteenths from the finish Migliore's mount had a two-length advantage over Stars and Spice's entry-mate, Such Grace. By mid-stretch, Such Grace had cut Panina's margin in half, but in the final furlong she made little headway on the tenacious bay filly, who responded to Migliore's right-handed urging to reach the wire with a three-quarter-length lead, as Such Grace finished four lengths ahead of third-place Priscilla's Flag. Six of the seven starters in the contest were three-year-old fillies, although the race was written for New York-bred fillies and mares that were three-year-olds and up.
Trained by Patrick Reynolds, a New York native who has conditioned New York-bred stakes winners Shawklit Mint and Tom's Thunder, Panina boosted her earnings by $26,400 to $70,648 while improving her record to 2 - 2 - 0 eight starts. The New York-bred filly had debuted at Aqueduct in March and had broken her maiden by 7 1/2 lengths going a one-turn mile and an eighth on a "good" track at Belmont on July 14 in her fifth career start. Tried at a mile on soft turf at Saratoga, Panina had been unplaced, but stretched out to a two-turn mile and an eighth on Saratoga's main track in a restricted N1X allowance on September 2, she had placed a strong second while being beaten by only three-quarters of a length. Over the next four weeks, trainer Reynolds had given Panina one solid three-furlong workout at Belmont on September 25 in preparation for Thursday's victory -- in addition to adding blinkers.
Bred by Ted Shapiro, who qualified for a $2,640 breeder award, Panina is by the Cox's Ridge stallion Sultry Song, who won the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup, Woodward, and Whitney in 1992, and she is the first offspring produced from Explosive Prospect, by Fortunate Prospect (by Northern Prospect). Dam Explosive Prospect is a half-sister to juvenile stakes-placed nine-time winner He's Explosive ($141,530). Panina's pedigree is somewhat unusual in that she is a complete outcross (no inbreeding) through five generations. Brisnet Chart

(9/30) Tax the Queen tallies by 2 1/4 as maiden special "main track only" entrant
When Belmont's sixth race on Thursday for New York-bred maiden fillies and mares going a mile on turf was switched to the main track, six fillies not on the also-eligible list scratched out, but the two entered "for main track only" -- including Paraneck Stable's homebred TAX THE QUEEN -- finished one-two. The Paraneck Stable standard-bearer went off as the 2.20-to-1 second choice among seven remaining starters in the $42,000 restricted maiden special contest at a one-turn mile under showery skies, breaking from the sixth post position with jockey Edgar Prado on board for the first time in two starts. Although bumped at the break by 13.40-to-1 fifth choice Rushing Force on her inside, Tax the Queen managed to get close to the pace and near the rail in the early going, as 1.85-to-1 favorite Wayward Liz -- the other "main track only" entrant -- set the early pace. Wayward Liz stayed well off the rail going into the turn, allowing Tax the Queen to slip through and engage her on the inside, but she did not relinquish her front-end position willingly. Tax the Queen, who switched to her right lead while still on Belmont's big sweeping turn, looked like she wanted to bear out when she entered the stretch, but Prado kept her on course to gain a half-length advantage over Wayward Liz by the time the two reached mid-stretch. In the final furlong, Tax the Queen pulled away to win by 2 1/4 lengths over Wayward Liz, who beat third-place finisher Rushing Force, the 13.40-to-1 fifth choice and only four-year-old filly in a contest that was open to fillies and mares, three-year-olds and up.
The victory was worth $25,200 in purse money, putting Tax the Queen's total bankroll in two starts at $25,318, and it also qualified the Paraneck Stallions of her owner-breeder, Ernie Paragallo of Lloyds Neck, for additional breeder ($5,040) and stallion ($1,764) awards totaling $6,804. The New York-bred's trainer is Jennifer Pedersen, who had given the dark bay filly a couple of useful Aqueduct workouts going a half-mile and then five furlongs following her sixth-place Saratoga debut going six furlongs on a muddy track 32 days prior to Thursday's victorious effort. Paragallo, whose principal businesses include computer software and investment banking, also has raced 1995 Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Unbridled's Song and 1999 Breeders' Cup Sprint winner and Eclipse Champion Sprinter Artax -- sire of Tax the Queen, who is the 24th New York-conceived winner from Artax's first crop. Artax was syndicated following his 2000 season in New York, where he had stood as the property of Paraneck Stallions at his owner's Center Brook Farm in Climax.
Tax the Queen is the first offspring produced from Find the Queen, a turf sprint-winning daughter of Lost Code (by Codex) who is a half-sister to graded-placed five-time route winner Phone the King ($320,587). Her maternal granddam (second dam), Gale the Queen, is a winning daughter of pensioned New York stallion Dr. Blum and a half-sister to Grade 1-winning millionaire King's Swan ($1,924,845). Tax the Queen is inbred 4 x 4 to Dr. Fager. Brisnet Chart

(9/30) No Way No How shows how to break maiden by 9 3/4 lengths
Acquired privately by Robert Kaufman after a third-place Woodbine six-furlong debut on July 29 with a $40,000 claiming tag, NO WAY NO HOW came back to win her first start off a nine-week layoff, capturing Belmont's fourth race on Thursday for New York-bred maiden two-year-old fillies by 9 3/4 lengths. Trainer Richard Stoklosa equipped the chestnut filly with blinkers and named New York Thoroughbred Breeders 2003 Jockey of the Year Jose Santos to ride her in the $42,000 restricted maiden special contest at a one-turn mile, for which she was relatively dismissed at 7.70-to-1 (fourth choice) among nine starters. Breaking from the inside post under showery skies, No Way No How was kept in hand along the inside in a tightly-bunched pack through the opening half-mile, which she completed in sixth place, and then advanced past three rivals -- including even-money favorite The End Is Clear -- in the next quarter-mile. She stayed on her left lead with her head turned to the right through most of the stretch -- veering slightly even though she was 2 1/2 lengths in front at the eighth-mile pole -- but finally switched to her right lead near the sixteenth pole in response to Santos' left-handed encouragement. Finishing 9 3/4 lengths behind No Way No How was the 6.50-to-1 third choice, Lauren's Charm, followed by 2.40-to-1 second choice The Main Wife.
No Way No How's first victory advanced her earnings by $25,200 to $28,753 in two starts, and it also collectively qualified her breeders, James Iselin's J.I. Racing Inc. and Double R Stables, for a $5,040 breeder award. Since the New York-bred filly's acquisition from former owner-trainer Mark Casse following her Woodbine debut, trainer Stoklosa had given her three easy half-mile workouts at Aqueduct in preparation for her dominating Thursday appearance on the New York Racing Association circuit. As a yearling, No Way No How had been purchased for $10,000 by Eugene Downs at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's 2003 October sale in Lexington.
No Way No How is the eighth winner of 2004 to represent her syndicated New York-based sire, multiple stakes winner Goldminers Gold (Crafty Prospector - Miss Secreto, by Secreto), whose partnership owners at the time of the filly's conception qualified for a $1,764 stallion award. Goldminers Gold stands at Metropolitan Stud (managed by Michael and Debra Lischin) in Pine Plains, where his 2004 fee was $2,500, live foal. No Way No How's multiple winning half-siblings include New York-bred gelding Thebigapple ($183,221 through 2003) and filly/mare Don't Pinch Me ($146,370). Her dam is sprint winner Fire Opal, who is by Strawberry Road and is inbred 4 x 4 to multiple stakes winner Flower Bowl, the dam of multiple champion filly Bowl of Flowers as well as major sires Graustark and His Majesty. Brisnet Chart

(9/29) Seven Come Eleven is 4 1/4-length N1X victor
Showing he came stay with an easy pace as well as come from well off a quicker tempo, Estrorace Stable's three-year-old SEVEN COME ELEVEN rallied three wide on the turn and then pulled away in Belmont's ninth race nightcap on Wednesday, a $44,000 restricted N1X allowance for three-year-olds and up. The dark bay colt was race-ridden for the first time by jockey Cornelio Velasquez and went off at odds-on (.95-to-1) among nine starters in the one-turn mile and an eighth contest, which had been switched from a two-turn test on turf to the main track. Breaking from the seventh post, he raced just outside of pacesetting 2.70-to-1 second choice Gone to War -- prompted by 31.20-to-1 seventh choice Fintastic Lite -- for a half-mile before taking command on the turn and opening up a 2 1/2-length advantage over Gone to War at mid-stretch. In the final furlong, Seven Come Eleven drew off to a 4 1/4-length winning margin, with 16.70-to-1 fifth choice Wellgiven coming from far back to make an early stretch challenge before giving way and running erratically while switching leads through the final three-sixteenths but still placing second. Seven Come Eleven's winning time for the mile and an eighth distance was 1:50.50, and his mile fraction was 1:37.79.
Campaigned by the Estrorace Stable of Amy Bondon-Peltz of Citra, Florida, a career horsewoman and long time advocate and supporter of women's issues, Seven Come Eleven boosted his earnings by $26,400 into six figures at $111,783 for his latest victory, improving his record to 2 - 2 - 1 in nine starts. Bondon-Peltz had formed Estrorace.com in 2001 to designate a percentage of earnings to regional programs like Riding For A Cure that focus on breast cancer survivors, special needs of women undergoing treatment and recovery, and special events focusing on fundraising for research and development of a breast cancer cure. Five percent of all Estrorace proceeds from sales or purse money are donated to chosen charities that are unique to the tracks or sales grounds where the funds have been generated. At the 2003 Women in Racing held at Arlington Park, Bondon-Peltz received the inaugural Penny Chenery Distinguished Woman in Racing Award. Seven Come Eleven races under the care of trainer Michael Maker, who previously had saddled the New York-bred for a restricted maiden special victory at Aqueduct in March and a close second-place finish to Don Corleone -- beaten only a neck -- in Finger Lakes' $164,000 New York Derby on July 17. Following the New York Derby, Seven Come Eleven had finished fourth among 11 in Saratoga's Albany Stakes on August 25, and over the next five weeks Maker had given the colt three workouts at Churchill Downs, including a five-furlong "bullet" drill on September 15.
Bred by Gus Schoenborn Jr., who qualified for a $5,280 breeder award, and foaled at Schoenborn's Contemporary Stallions in Coxsackie, Seven Come Eleven is from the first crop of New York-bred Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes winner Lucky Roberto, whom Schoenborn had syndicated to stand at Contemporary Stallions. Those original syndicate owners of Lucky Roberto, who had been bred by Dennis and Lorie Mark and raced for Jesse Mack Robinson before standing the 2000 season in New York and was sold to South African interests the following fall, qualified for a $1,848 stallion award. Seven Come Eleven, who had been a $24,000 RNA (reserve not attained) sales two-year-old at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2003 June sale of juveniles in training in Florida, is the third starter and third winner produced from 11-time winner Marypats Secret ($167,671), by Secret Prince (by Cornish Prince). One of his two winning half-sisters is New York-bred Belmont six-furlong allowance winner Soon Soon ($148,101). Dam Marypats Secret, an "iron mare" who started 84 times and specialized in route racing, is inbred 3 x 4 to Bold Ruler. Brisnet Chart

(9/29) Buff Naked scores first main track win in N1X allowance
Tri Noble Stable's homebred BUFF NAKED had not raced on dirt since a fourth-place effort in Belmont slop while still a maiden in May, but five starts later when Belmont's seventh race on Wednesday for New York-bred allowance runners came off the turf, he stayed in and still won. Five runners not on the also-eligible list for the $43,120 restricted N1X allowance contest scratched out, but Buff Naked -- the only three-year-old facing four four-year-olds which all had more than twice as many starts as he had -- was odds-on (.90-to-1) for the one-turn mile and an eighth contest. Race-ridden for the fourth consecutive time by Edgar Prado, Buff Naked broke from the inside post and never yielded his rail position, eventually wresting the lead from early front-runner Shoalihs Tale -- the 3.70-to-1 second choice -- in the second quarter-mile. With three-eighths of a mile left to run, Shoalihs Tale was at Buff Naked's throatlatch, but that four-year-old faded over the next furlong, and 8.40-to-1 fifth choice Hunter's Tale angled outside and came on to issue a new challenge, getting to within a half-length of Buff Naked at mid-stretch. In the final furlong, Prado continued to confidently ride his well-favored mount, who reached the finish with a three-quarter-length margin over Hunter's Tale. It was the first of two consecutive winning rides for Prado.
Bred and raced by the Tri Noble Stable of Joseph Bartone of Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina and Carl Lizza Jr. of Wharton, New Jersey, Buff Naked increased his earnings by $26,400 to $79,820 for his victory in the contest that originally had a total purse of $44,000 ($880 reverted). He also improved his record to 2 - 3 - 0 in eight starts while qualifying Tri Noble Stable for an additional $2,640 breeder award. Buff Naked, who had finished first or second in his latest four previous outings at Belmont and Saratoga, with his most recent effort having been five weeks prior to Wednesday's race, is trained by Philip Serpe, who had given the bay gelding an easy six-furlong Belmont workout a week earlier.
Owner-breeders Bartone and Lizza also own Highcliff Farm in Delanson, where Buff Naked was foaled. Sired by 1992 Preakness winner Pine Bluff, Buff Naked is the first offspring produced from Demi Buff, who is by Triocala (by Tri Jet) and is a sister or half-sister to four New York-bred winners, including Lord Ibis ($120,093). Demi Buff's dam -- Buff Naked's maternal granddam or second dam -- is Black Beaver, a multiple route-winning daughter of Vebatim and a half-sister to Horse of the Year Charismatic ($2,038,064), Grade 1 winner Millennium Wind ($769,920), and Grade 2 winner Tossofthecoin ($808,159). Brisnet Chart

(9/29) Secret Troika slips through along rail to break maiden
In her first outing on an off track, Austerbrook Farm LLC's homebred SECRET TROIKA came from last along the rail to slip through for a half-length victory in Belmont's second race on Wednesday for New York-bred maiden fillies and mares going a one-turn mile over a "good" main track. Race-ridden for the fifth -- and second consecutive -- time by New York Thoroughbred breeders 2003 Jockey of the Year Jose Santos but dismissed as the 7.40-to-1 fifth choice among six starters, the three-year-old filly saved ground by staying next to the rail throughout the $42,000 restricted maiden special contest. As the tightly-packed field entered the turn, she trailed all of her competition, which consisted exclusively of three-year-old fillies even though the race was open to older fillies and mares, and turning for home a huge opening developed along the inside as front-running Contenders Emotion and Rumba Numba drifted wide. Contenders Emotion, the 24.75-to-1 last choice, faded to fifth in the stretch, but Rumba Numba, the 4.40-to-1 third choice who had been racing three wide with the early pace, pushed her head in front at the quarter-mile pole before being challenged on her inside by Secret Troika. In the upper stretch, Rumba Numba appeared to have her smaller rival on the rail measured, as Secret Troika stayed on her left lead and seemed to be short-striding, but inside the final furlong Secret Troika switched to her right lead and starting edging ahead. The wiry filly appeared to take charge decisively in her final few strides to the wire, moving out to a half-length winning margin, as Rumba Numba placed second by a length over 3.60-to-1 second choice La Jefa and 1.20-to-1 favorite Little Miss Amanda came in fourth.
Bred and owned by Eunice Raifstanger's Austerbrook Farm LLC of Austerlitz, Secret Troika increased her purse earnings by $25,200 to $44,288 for her victory while improving her record to 1 - 1 - 2 in seven starts, and she also qualified her owner-breeder for an additional $2,520 breeder award. The bay filly had made her debut at Belmont in May and had first hit the board two starts later with a second-place effort going a one-turn mile at Belmont on June 30. She had placed third in subsequent efforts at a mile and a sixteenth at Belmont and a mile and an eighth off the turf at Saratoga and had finished fourth when dropped back to seven furlongs at Saratoga on September 2 when she had advanced five wide. During the ensuing 27 days leading up to Wednesday's outing, trainer Linda Rice had given the New York-bred filly one solid five-furlong workout at Belmont on Friday morning, September 24.
Sired by 1996 Kentucky Derby winner Grindstone, Secret Troika is the sixth winner produced from Three Secrets, a Secretariat mare that Louis Salerno's Questroyal Stable had purchased for $18,000 at Keeneland's 2000 November sale in Lexington, Kentucky when she was carrying Secret Troika. The three-year-old filly's winning half-siblings include six-time winner (twice on wet tracks) Lorraine's Secret ($111,067). Dam Three Secrets is a half-sister to French Group 3 winner Three Angels, Grade 3-placed winner Oregon, the winning dam of French black-type stakes winner Thames (nine wins), and to the dam of Singapore stakes-placed winner Calibre. Three Secrets' dam -- Secret Troika's maternal granddam or second dam -- is French Horse of the Year and 1979 Group 1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Three Troikas, by Lyphard. Secret Troika is inbred 3 x 5 to the renowned broodmare Somethingroyal through that mare's two most famous sons -- 1962 Kentucky Derby morning line favorite Sir Gaylord and 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat. Brisnet Chart

(9/26) Sugar Punch scores 5th straight in Schenectady VIEW VIDEO
Getting faster and stronger, three-year-old SUGAR PUNCH again faced her elders in Belmont's $107,700 Schenectady Handicap for New York-bred fillies and mares, three-year-olds and up, on Sunday, and this time she pulled away, winning by 3 1/2 lengths in her best time yet (1:09.46) for six furlongs. The swift filly had jockey Edgar Prado on board for the fifth consecutive time and scored her fifth consecutive victory of 2004 in six career starts, going off as the 1.65-to-1 favorite among six starters -- four of them four-year-olds and three of those multiple stakes winners. Breaking on top from the number two post position was 6.20-to-1 co-third choice and co-topweighted Cologny, who opened up a length and a half lead with a first quarter-mile in 22.20, with Sugar Punch tracking her in second place. Cologny's second quarter went in 22.78 for a 44.98 half-mile fraction, but at that point Sugar Punch was only a length back and gaining, and the two reached the head of the stretch nearly dead even, after which Prado's mount edged ahead while setting a five-furlong fraction of 56.96. Cologny, winner of Belmont's open (to fillies and mares bred anywhere) Scotzanna Stakes in July, held second place by three-quarters of a length over a strong-closing Beautiful America, the 1.95-to-1 second choice. Sugar Punch's winning time was about a fifth of a second off multiple Grade 2-winning millionaire Lottsa Talc's 1995 stakes record of 1:09 1/5, set when that New York-bred champion was a five-year-old.
"Things went according to plan," observed Prado. "I wanted to track Cologny, but didn't want to take the lead too soon because I didn't want to set it up for Beautiful America. She's getting better. She's a real nice filly."
Winning trainer Richard Dutrow Jr., who had given Sugar Punch a half-mile "bullet" workout of 47 1/5 over Aqueduct's inner track on September 10, indicated that the filly was exceeding all expectations: "I never would have dreamt this would have happened when we bought her. I was just looking to get a nice, solid horse. She's a nice filly. Watching the rerun, when they turned for home, it looked like she dropped down a little bit and said, 'Let's get rolling.' She did everything the right way. If everything goes well, she'll come back and run in the Iroquois ($125,000 guaranteed for New York-bred fillies and mares at seven furlongs, on New York Showcase Day, Saturday, October 23)."
Owned by Michael Iavarone's IEAH Stables, New York Yankees manager Joe Torre (whose team, unfortunately, lost to Boston 11-to-4), Robert Speranza, and Robert Petronella, Sugar Punch added $64,620 to her earnings, boosting her bankroll to $190,120 and improving her record to five wins and a second in six starts. Dutrow, voted 2002 New York Thoroughbred Breeders Trainer of the Year when he was in charge of another super-fast New York-bred filly, the late Carson Hollow, had trained the winner of the only race in which Sugar Punch was beaten, a six-furlong restricted maiden special at Aqueduct in early December. When Sugar Punch returned to competition under new ownership to win as a three-year-old at Belmont on June 26 following a 6 1/2-month layoff, Dutrow was her new trainer. The fleet filly's second stakes outing and second stakes victory also qualified her breeder, D'Arrigo & Lynch Racing, LLC, based in Vineland, New Jersey, for a $6,462 breeder award.
Sired by former graded juvenile winner K. O. Punch (by Two Punch), Sugar Punch is the second offspring and second multiple winner produced from 11-year-old Wading Maggie, a Magesterial (by Northern Dancer) mare who won both sprinting and routing. Wading Maggie, who is a half-sister to multiple stakes winners Wading L'Enjoleur ($196,448) and Thanks to Randy ($195,767), was purchased for $4,600 as an eight-year-old by Connie Nesteruk at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's December 2001 mixed sale in Timonium, Maryland when she was carrying a colt by New York stallion Personal Flag. Brisnet Chart

(9/26) Inter Galactic comes out of nowhere to land allowance win on a lawn
Stretched to a turn-and-a-half mile and a sixteenth in her second effort on turf, Dr. Zacarias and Elizabeth Aragon's homebred INTER GALACTIC came from dead last among 10 to win Belmont's fourth race on Sunday for New York-bred allowance fillies and mares, three-year-olds and up, scoring by a neck. The three-year-old filly was race-ridden for the third consecutive time by newly-turned journeyman jockey Jose Lezcano, who previously had piloted her as an apprentice with a five-pound allowance, going off as the 8.80-to-1 sixth choice among nine wagering interests and 10 starters in the $44,000 restricted N1X allowance contest. In the second quarter-mile, Inter Galactic dropped from next-to-last to last while 2.60-to-1 favorite Urbane Hustle took command, but she rallied five wide approaching the stretch and advanced to third at the eighth pole in the middle of the course, getting within a half-length of new leader Cat's Roar. In the final furlong, the smaller gray/roan filly utilized quicker strides to overtake her larger multiple stakes-placed rival on the rail, who was carrying two pounds less weight under the race's conditions and was the 4.30-to-1 third choice, edging that chestnut three-year-old with a winning time of 1:42.86.
Inter Galactic's first victory on turf increased her earnings by $26,400 to $65,430 while improving her record to 2 - 1 - 1 in six starts, and it also qualified her breeder and co-owner, Dr. Aragon of West Hempstead, for a $5,280 breeder award. Trained by Victor Cuadra, who had given her a moderate half-mile Aqueduct workout on September 19 following her third-place grass debut going a two-turn mile on soft Saratoga turf on August 16, the quick-striding filly had broken her maiden in a one-turn off-the-turf Belmont main track mile on July 25.
The sire of Inter Galactic, New York-bred graded winner Incurable Optimist, raced for John and Theresa Behrendt of New York City and stood at Carl Lizza Jr.'s and Joseph Bartone's Highcliff Farm in Delanson before going to Argentina, and the filly's victory qualified the Behrendts for a $1,848 stallion award. Incurable Optimist also has sired 2004 New York Derby winner Don Corleone. Inter Galactic is the third named offspring and third New York-bred winner produced from Princess Nova, by Morning Bob, being a half-sister to stakes-placed four-time winning router Galactic ($233,473 through 2003) and to multiple winning router My Girl Natalie ($140,407 through 2003), but she is Princess Nova's first turf-winning offspring. Princess Nova is a half-sister to multiple graded turf winner Cuzzin Jeb ($259,470). Brisnet Chart

(9/26) Watrals Lady Hanne gets shades and 6-figure earnings
Re-equipped with blinkers after five non-hooded outings since March, Jeffrey Tucker's WATRALS LADY HANNE broke poorly in Belmont's seventh race on Sunday, a $44,000 restricted N1X turf allowance for fillies and mares going a mile and a sixteenth, but scored her first win since debuting successfully almost 22 months earlier. The five-year-old mare was race-ridden for the first time by jockey Pablo Fragoso and went off in the turn-and-a-half grass contest for distaff New York-breds, three-year-olds and up, as the 8-to-1 fourth choice among 10 starters, breaking dead last from the seventh post position. Fragoso had to steady her after the start, but she advanced on the outside from eighth to fourth in the second quarter-mile into the turn and with five-sixteenths of a mile to go had her head in front of the pace-setting favorite, 1.80-to-1 Will Flirt. With rivals on either side of her, the bay mare held on to set a mile fraction of 1:37.16 and reached the finish with a half-length margin over 6.30-to-1 third choice Pierian Spring in the time of 1:43.41, as a tiring Will Flirt hung on for third. For jockey Fragoso, it was the second winning ride of the day aboard a filly or mare.
Trained by John Morrison, Watrals Lady Hanne has raced for owner Tucker of Stone Bridge Farm and New York City since being acquired privately from her breeder, Michael Watral of Central Islip, Long Island, late last winter. The mare's first grass victory boosted her earnings by $26,400 into six figures at $111,116 while improving her record to 2 - 5 - 3 in 16 starts, and it also qualified Watral, a fire-fighting veteran and excavating business operator, for a $5,280 breeder award and a $1,848 stallion award ($7,128 total). Watral had raced and stood the New York-based sire of Watrals Lady Hanne, Dixie Brass, whose New York-bred-and-conceived progeny had qualified Watral for a total of $180,224.63 in stallion awards in 2003. Under her breeder's colors, Watrals Lady Hanne had won her debut by 2 3/4 lengths going six furlongs in a restricted maiden special on Aqueduct's inner dirt track as a three-year-old in December of 2002.
Watrals Lady Hanne is among three New York-bred starters -- all sired by Dixie Brass and all winners -- produced from stakes-placed winner Hello Hanne, who broke her maiden at Belmont going a mile and a sixteenth. Her older full brother, Jimeric, won on turf, and her four-year-old full sister, Hello Karakorum, won sprinting on dirt. Dam Hello Hanne, who is by Dancing Again (by Nijinsky II) and is a half-sister to stakes winner Hay Hanne ($173,380), was acquired privately by Watral in the mid-1990s. Brisnet Chart

FRIENDLY ISLAND #5 on inside winning in DH

(9/26) Friendly Island dead heats in open allowance - NY-breds earn 57% of purse
Conceding a pound in actual weight and five pounds by scale to My Poker Player, New York-bred three-year-old FRIENDLY ISLAND reached the wire in a dead heat with that four-year-old second choice, scoring his third consecutive victory in Belmont's six-furlong sixth race on Sunday, a $47,000 open N1X allowance. The swift colt went off at odds-on (.60-to-1) among six starters with jockey John Velazquez on board for the fifth time in five starts and spent most of the race pursuing New York-bred and 11.10-to-1 fifth choice Show Boot, who ripped through fractions of 22.47, 45.27, and 56.88. Friendly Island raced a half-length behind and outside of Show Boot from the quarter pole to mid-stretch and finally overtook that rival -- who was carrying four pounds less weight -- in the final furlong, only to have 2.85-to-1 My Poker Player close on the outside for the dead heat win. For Velazquez, the New York Thoroughbred Breeders (NYTB) 2002 Jockey of the Year and the only rider Friendly Island has ever had in competition, it was the first of two winning trips on Belmont's Sunday card. Show Boot placed third and was followed by New York-bred Joshua's Jet, as New York-breds picked up a total of 57 percent of the race's $47,000 purse.
Owned by the Anstu Stables, Inc. of Stuart and Anita Subotnick of New York City, who also own Anstu Farm in Millbrook, Friendly Island increased his earnings by $18,800 (half of first-place and second-place purse money combined) to $96,656 and improved his record to four wins in five starts. The chestnut colt campaigns under the care of NYTB 1999 Trainer of the Year Todd Pletcher, who had given him a half-mile "bullet" workout of 48-flat at Belmont on September 5, followed by two easy five-furlong drills over the subsequent 15 days. Friendly Island had drawn attention in his 17 1/4-length Belmont-winning debut on June 6, when he had zipped six furlongs in 1:08.48, but had attempted Belmont's seven-furlong Mike Lee Stakes for his next outing 20 days later and had tired to finish seventh after an early speed duel. Returned to restricted allowance competition, the New York-bred had scored back-to-back victories at Saratoga by 4 1/4 and two lengths, with his latest previous start having been 36 days prior to Sunday's outing. Other winners campaigned by Anstu Stables include Mellow Roll ($555,772), who captured NYTB Champion Two-Year-Old Male honors for 1997 and won Belmont's $250,000 Empire Classic against older New York-breds in 1998. Stuart Subotnick is a general partner and executive vice president of Metromedia Company, serving as chief operating officer and chief financial officer for one of the largest privately held companies in the U.S., and he is a member of the New York Racing Association board of trustees.
A former $85,000 sales two-year-old at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2002 March auction of juveniles in Florida, Friendly Island also qualified Anstu Stables for an additional $1,880 open race owner award and his breeders, Kildare Stud and Adrian Regan, for a $1,880 breeder award. Third-place finisher Show Boot qualified his owners and breeder for open race owner and breeder awards of $470 each, and homebred fourth-place finisher Joshua's Jet (earnings now $108,770) likewise qualified his connections for owner and breeder awards of $470 each as well as a $164.50 stallion award. All awards qualified for in the New York Breeding and Racing Program as a result of outcomes in Belmont's sixth race on Sunday totaled $5,804.50.
Friendly Island is from the first crop of Crafty Friend ($967,700), a multiple Grade 2-winning Crafty Prospector stallion who equaled a Hollywood Park track record of 1:40.12 for a mile and a sixteenth. The speedy New York-bred is the first offspring produced from Island Queen ($148,890), an Ogygian mare who won five sprints and is out of British-bred Irish black-type stakes winner Regal Peace. Island Queen had sold for $16,500 as a five-year-old broodmare prospect at a Fasig-Tipton New York horses of racing age sale in November of 1999. Friendly Island is inbred 4 x 4 to In Reality and 4 x 5 to Francis S., and his sire, Crafty Friend, is inbred 3 x 3 to Raise a Native and 4 x 4 to Nashua. Brisnet Chart

(9/26) Drinkwater wins like turf veteran instead of 2YO first-timer
Seven first-time starters among a total of 12 participants competed in Belmont's fifth race on Sunday, a $42,000 restricted maiden special for two-year-olds going a virtual one-turn mile on turf, but the only one finishing in the top three was Newcal Stable's DRINKWATER, who won by 3 1/4 lengths. Ridden by Cornelio Velasquez and sent off the 8.40-to-1 fourth choice as the most highly regarded debut starter, the bay colt raced in fourth place through a half-mile and was third by default when early pacesetter and first-time starter Eyes On Target, the 27.50-to-1 sixth choice, quickly faded. Taking command from that longshot was the 1.70-to-1 favorite, Storm N Lightning, who narrowly led another longshot, 28.25-to-1 eighth choice Look At Me Go Now, from about the end of the second quarter-mile until inside the final furlong, which he reached after setting fractions of 45.87 and 1:11.22. Velasquez angled Drinkwater over towards the rail in the upper stretch, and his mount responded by scooting through and drawing clear in the final sixteenth of a mile, winning in the time of 1:37.24, with Storm N Lightning placing second and Look At Me Go Now third.
A late foal (May 23, 2002), Drinkwater earned $25,200 for the Newcal Stable of David Nolan of New York City and campaigns under the care of trainer Robert Barbara, who had given the colt an April workout followed by seven works from July to mid-September, including one Saratoga turf drill. Drinkwater had been a $32,000 purchase at Fasig-Tipton's 2003 Saratoga preferred New York-bred yearling sales, going to Patrick Everard from the Akindale Farm consignment of his breeder, John Hettinger, who qualified for a $2,520 breeder award as a result of Drinkwater's winning debut.
Sired by Grade 1 turf winner Joyeux Danseur, Drinkwater is the eighth winner out of multiple stakes producer Syrian Dancer, by Damascus, being a half-brother to stakes winner Exotic Moves ($221,854 and dam of stakes winner Tap Your Feet) and Angel in the Night ($192,000) plus stakes-placed winner Windedawler. Breeder Hettinger, whose Akindale Farm is located in Pawling, had purchased Syrian Dancer for $40,000 at Keeneland's 1991 November sale in Lexington, Kentucky when she was carrying future New York-bred multiple stakes winner Angel in the Night. Syrian Dancer is a full sister to multiple Grade 2 winner Honorable Miss ($437,973), Grade 2 winner Bailjumper, Grade 3 winner Syrianna, and to the winning dams of New York-bred graded winners Lady D'Accord ($590,138) and Missymooiloveyou. Brisnet Chart

(9/25) Provincetown sets pace in record Ashley T. Cole VIEW VIDEO
In his first successful front-running effort ever, Flying Zee Stable's four-year-old PROVINCETOWN set all the fractions in Belmont's $111,700 Ashley T. Cole Handicap for New York-bred three-year-olds and up going a mile and an eighth on turf Saturday, winning by a length and three-quarters in stakes record time of 1:46.43. The bay gelding had blinkers back on for the first time in 21 months and was race-ridden for the second time in 20 months by Tony Farina, who sent him from the inside post to a length and a half lead in the opening quarter-mile, covering that distance in 23.37. That was as close as any of the other eight starters ever got to Provincetown, who went off in the two-turn event as the non-stakes-winning half of an entry that was favored at 1.85-to-1 among eight wagering interests -- with four of the starters having already won stakes. The gelding gained a 2 1/2-length advantage off a slowed-down second quarter in 24.37 for a half-mile fraction of 47.74, and he extended that lead to five lengths following an accelerated third quarter in 23.50 for a six-furlong clocking of 1:11.24. From the three-eighths pole to mid-stretch, Farina let Provincetown take off, as the four-year-old covered his fourth quarter-mile in a fastest-of-all 23.13 seconds to reach a mile in 1:34.37 with a 5 1/2-length cushion. Although Provincetown's closest pursuer, 18.60-to-1 fifth choice Certifiably Crazy, closed in the final furlong, that graded-placed competitor never seriously threatened the Flying Zee Stable standard-bearer, who ran his final furlong in 12.06 seconds. Provincetown's winning time was .05 of a second faster (about a neck) than the 2003 stakes record set by future Grade 2-winning turf miler Quantum Merit. Stakes winner and multiple graded-placed Irish Colonial, the 2.55-to-1 third choice carrying top weight of 120 pounds, advanced to within a nose of Certifiably Crazy at the wire to place third.
Jockey Farina, who had last previously race-ridden Provincetown in an unplaced effort at Santa Anita in late January of 2003, pointed out that the race went exactly according to plan: "This horse has got a big stride. The plan was to ask him to go from the start. Everything went perfectly. When I asked him to quicken up (in the third and fourth quarter-miles), he gave me a big burst. I checked the TV monitor in mid-stretch and thought that everyone else had a lot to do to get me. It worked out great."
Pierre Bellocq, assistant to winning trainer Patrick Biancone, observed that the addition of blinkers, which Provincetown had worn when he won an open maiden special going a mile on Belmont turf as a two-year-old two years earlier, was an important factor: "The blinkers obviously made a big difference. Tony (Farina) did a great job of getting him to relax on the front end. The horse was more on the muscle because of the blinkers. Tony knew exactly what he had left."
Jockey Edgar Prado, who had ridden Provincetown in six previous outings, including allowance victories over both slop and turf at Belmont, was aboard the other half of the Flying Zee Stable entry, 2004 West Point Handicap winner Golden Commander, who was never a factor. Prado surmised that his mount might not have been totally healthy for the contest, and the four-year-old's trainer, Philip Serpe, concurred: "He was going nice and easy on the backside," observed Prado. "I gave him a chance to kick it in around the five-sixteenths pole, but I didn't feel anything underneath. I hope he's fine, because that wasn't him."
"He just had no kick," agreed Serpe. "Coming through the backside, he looked good. But he had nothing on the turn. We'll see how he comes out. We've had a few horses in the barn get sick, so we'll have to see what he looks like the next couple of days."
Provincetown had been a tiring fourth in the $114,700 West Point for New York-bred three-year-olds and up going a mile and an eighth over "good" Saratoga turf on August 15. Nineteen days later, he had finished a strong-closing fifth in Saratoga's open (to horses bred anywhere) Troy Stakes at a two-turn mile on turf, which had been his last start prior to the Ashley T. Cole.
Provincetown's first stakes victory and first tally going a full two turns boosted his earnings by $67,020 to $187,171 while improving his record to 4 - 2 - 1 in 14 starts -- 13 of which have been for the Flying Zee Stable of Carl Lizza Jr. of Wharton, New Jersey. The improving gelding had earned open stakes money at Aqueduct (main track) and Santa Anita (turf) as a two-year-old in 2002. Lizza, who owns Highcliff Farm in Delanson in partnership with Joseph Bartone, has had his Flying Zee Stable colors carried to victory at Belmont for four days in a row from Wednesday, September 22 through Saturday's Ashley T. Cole -- with three of those wins having been contributed by New York-breds. Provincetown's breeders, Donald Jones and Jeanne Polese, jointly qualified for the maximum $10,000 breeder award as a result of the Ashley T. Cole result, and the previous Topsmeade.com syndicate owners of the gelding's formerly New York-based sire, Crimson Guard, qualified for a $4,691.40 stallion award. Turf stakes winner Crimson Guard had been standing at Jerry Herron's Cobble Creek Farm in Saratoga Springs, but he was purchased this past spring and moved to Michigan.
Provincetown is the fifth New York-bred winner produced from New York-bred Pour Popsie, a daughter of London Company (by Tom Rolfe) acquired privately in the late 1990s by the gelding's co-breeder, Jones, who owns LoAnJo Farm in Sugar Loaf. Pour Popsie is a half-sister to New York-bred multiple Grade 2-winning millionaire Lottsa Talc ($1,211,996) and to New York-bred multiple stakes winner Appealing Guy ($220,003). Provincetown's pedigree indicates that he is a complete outcross (no inbreeding) through five generations, and he has a classically symmetrical dosage profile of 3-6-9-5-3. Brisnet Chart

(9/25) Maidez breaks maiden by 4 off of 69-day layoff
Second in four of her six latest previous outings prior to a 69-day layoff, Joseph Titone's homebred MAIDEZ was relentless in Belmont's six-furlong third race on Saturday, a $41,000 restricted maiden special for fillies and mares, three-year-olds and up, running the pacesetter into submission and winning by four lengths. The three-year-old filly was justifiably respected as the 2.75-to-1 second choice among 11 wagering interests and 12 starters and immediately went head-to-head with fifth choice frontrunner Factual Contender (19.30-to-1) under the guidance of jockey Javier Castellano, who had ridden her to a second-place finish at Belmont in June. Factual Contender, who had broken on top from the number two post position, raced through fractions of 22.91 and 46.57 while next to the rail with Maidez right at her throatlatch all the way, and in the stretch Castellano's mount took command and pulled away. At mid-stretch, Maidez's margin was two lengths off a five-eighths fraction of 58.99, and she doubled that advantage in the next furlong to tally in a winning time of 1:11.79. Factual Contender, who was racing with blinkers off following two previous outings with shades on, held her second-place position by three-quarters of a length over 3.80-to-1 third choice Sweet Juliet, a promising first-time-starter who had been feisty at the gate and was bumped shortly after the start.
The victory was worth $24,600 in purse money to owner-breeder Joseph Titone, who also qualified for a $4,920 breeder award, boosting Maidez's career purse earnings to $53,480 and improving her record to 1 - 4 - 0 in nine starts -- three of which (including one second-placing) had been made as a two-year-old. The flashy-looking chestnut filly with four white stockings/socks had placed second three consecutive times at Belmont in May and June going six furlongs, but following a tiring fifth-place effort going that distance at the Big Sandy on July 18 had been given a breather by trainer Michael Miceli. Nineteen days after her unplaced outing, Maidez had a three-furlong "bullet" workout at Belmont, and over the next six weeks she had three more Belmont works at two-week intervals -- two sharp half-mile drills with an easier five-furlong breeze in between.
Sired by Anthony and Yvonne Turchiarelli's Preacherman (Deputy Minister - Corsage, by Native Royalty), who stands at the Turchiarelli's Highland Farm in Montgomery for a 2004 fee of $2,000, Maidez also qualified Preacherman's owners at the time of her conception, Al Delpozzo and Dan Joyce III, for a $1,722 stallion award. Maidez is the first winner produced from allowance winning sprinter Frank's Spirit, who is by Exclusive Era (by Exclusive Native). A Hypo-Mating check of Maidez's pedigree reveals that she is inbred 4 x 4 to Raise a Native and also has three crosses of Nasrullah in her pedigree. Brisnet Chart

(9/24) Commentator crushes Belmont's 7 1/2F record
In his third successive romp in three starts -- this time against seasoned competition that included four six-figure-earners and two stakes-placed winners -- Tracy Farmer's three-year-old COMMENTATOR again went unchallenged, shattering Belmont's 7 1/2-furlong track record in Friday's second race, a $45,000 restricted N2X allowance for three-year-olds and up. The powerful chestnut was odds-on (.70-to-1) among seven starters while stretching out an extra sixteenth of a mile beyond his two previous runaway efforts at Saratoga, and as usual he did not break on top -- but in the opening quarter-mile (clocked in 22.87) he was again in front. Jockey Javier Castellano, who was on board Commentator for the third time in three starts, guided the easy-striding gelding through fractions of 45.37 and 1:09.19, and within five-sixteenths of a mile his mount's margin had increased from 2 1/2 lengths to 10 lengths. Continuing under a hand ride, Commentator reached the wire with 9 3/4 lengths separating him from his closest pursuer, multiple stakes-placed second choice Work With Me, covering his final three-sixteenths in 18.25 to register a winning time of 1:27.44 that broke New York-bred Clever Electrician's track record by 1.22 seconds. For jockey Castellano, it was the first of two winning rides at Belmont on Friday.
Now three-for-three with earnings of $77,400 after picking up $27,000 for Friday's victory while completing his New York-bred allowance conditions, Commentator campaigns under the care of trainer Nicolas Zito, who had given him two moderate workouts on Saratoga's Oklahoma training track following his second Spa victory on August 29. Owner Farmer, who with his wife Carol owns Shadowlawn Farm in Kentucky, had bought Commentator for $135,000 at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's 2002 July yearling sale, even though as a weanling eight months earlier at Keeneland's 2001 November sale the powerful-looking youngster had been purchased by pin-hookers for only $45,000. At Keeneland's 1998 September yearling sale, Farmer had spent $85,000 to purchase future Grade 1 winner Albert the Great ($3,012,490) -- a Zito-trained son of New York-conceived Kentucky Derby winner Go for Gin.
Bred by Michael Martinez of Meriden, Connecticut, who qualified for a $2,700 breeder award, Commentator was foaled and raised at Thomas Gallo's Blue Stone Farm in Cambridge. He is another impressive-looking New York-bred sired by Distorted Humor, whose Empire State-bred sons include Eclipse Champion Funny Cide and Grade 2 winner Go Rockin' Robin, and he is the first offspring produced from Outsource, a daughter of Storm Bird and a half-sister to multiple turf stakes winner Cogburn ($153,910). Commentator's maternal granddam (second dam), True Grit, is by classic sire Woodman and is a half-sister to three stakes winners, including multiple graded winner Hot Novel ($380,227), who is the dam of multiple Grade 1-winning router Behrens ($4,563,500). Commentator is inbred 3 x 4 to two popular stallion bloodline match-ups: Northern Dancer and Mr. Prospector. Brisnet Chart

(9/24) Square Dancing dances from 10th to 1st in 2YO debut
One of four first-time starters among 12 fillies in Belmont's fourth race on Friday for New York-bred maiden juvenile fillies going a virtual one-turn mile on turf was Flying Zee Stable's homebred SQUARE DANCING, who broke from the outside post position and went from 10th to first by a length. Ridden by jockey Edgar Prado and sent off the 2.70-to-1 second choice among 11 wagering interests in the $42,000 restricted maiden special contest, the distinctively-colored gray/roan broke toward the back and advanced from 10th after the opening quarter-mile to seventh after a half-mile and sixth after three-quarters. She rallied four wide on the turn, but at the top of the stretch still looked out of contention until switching to her right lead near the eighth-mile pole, after which she moved between rivals to reach the wire in the impressive winning time (for a two-year-old filly) of 1:37.41. Tenth choice T V Fan (87.50-to-1) got second-place money by a neck over mid-stretch leader Sue Me, the 16.30-to-1 seventh choice who looked confused on the turn in her first start on turf, switching leads about four times before turning for home. For jockey Prado, it was the first of two winning rides aboard a filly or mare on Belmont's Friday card.
Owned and bred by the Flying Zee Stables of Carl Lizza Jr. of Wharton, New Jersey, Square Dancing earned $25,200 and also qualified her owner-breeder for an additional $6,804 in breeder ($5,040) and stallion ($1,764) awards, since Flying Zee Stables owns her sire, New York stallion Western Expression. Square Dancing races under the care of trainer Patrick Biancone, who had given the eye-catching New York-bred eight moderate workouts at Saratoga -- only one of them on turf -- starting in mid-June in preparation for the relatively late-foaled (May 10, 2002) filly's winning debut.
Square Dancing, who was foaled and raised at Highcliff Farm in Delanson that Lizza owns in partnership with Joseph Bartone, is the first turf winner from the first crop of Grade 1-placed winner Western Expression (Gone West - Tricky Game, by Majestic Light), who stands at Highcliff Farm. Western Expression, a leading freshman sire whose 2004 fee was $10,000, live foal, also has sired New York-bred Belmont open maiden special winner Winning Expression, who has placed second in Belmont's Grade 3 Flash and open Tremont Stakes. Square Dancing is the third starter and third New York-bred winner that Flying Zee Stables has bred from Dancing Approval, who is by With Approval (by Caro) and was an open Aqueduct allowance winner going a mile and an eighth on a muddy track but never won on turf. Square Dancing's three-year-old half-sister, Flying Zee Stables' homebred Dance All Night, had broken her maiden by 3 3/4 lengths going six furlongs at Aqueduct in March. Dam Dancing Approval is a half-sister to the winning dam of two stakes-placed winners, and her dam is stakes winner Dancing Tricia ($115,011). A Hypo-Mating check of Square Dancing's pedigree reveals that she is inbred 4 x 4 to Buckpasser and that Western Expression is inbred 3 x 4 to Raise a Native. Brisnet Chart

(9/23) Save the Profit sizzles in turf allowance nightcap
Returning from a 52-day layoff, Green Hills Farm's three-year-old SAVE THE PROFIT romped by three lengths as the 1.95-to-1 favorite among nine starters in Belmont's ninth race allowance nightcap for New York-bred three-year-olds and up going a turn-and-a-half mile and a sixteenth on turf Thursday. For the fifth time in five starts, he again had the services of jockey John Velazquez, who kept the chestnut colt in hand through a half-mile that 14.20-to-1 sixth choice True Crimson led with accelerating fractions of 23.63 and 46.55. Racing close to the pace was 4.50-to-1 third choice Unbuckle, who rallied three wide on the far turn to take the lead with a 1:10.30 six-furlong fraction, but Save the Profit advanced four wide to take command at the head of the stretch and pulled away with authority. Save the Profit covered the fourth quarter-mile in about 23.60 to set a mile fraction of 1:33.95, and he zipped his final furlong in 6.12 seconds to win by three lengths over Unbuckle in an impressive final time of 1:40.07. Save the Profit was the least experienced participant in the race. For Velazquez, the New York Thoroughbred Breeders (NYTB) 2002 Jockey of the Year, it was the second winning ride of the day.
Victory in the $46,000 restricted N2X allowance contest increased Save the Profit's earnings by $27,600 to $88,000 while improving his record to 3 - 1 - 0 in five starts, with his only worse-than-second-place effort being his 2003 six-furlong juvenile debut on Saratoga's main track, when he was bumped at the start. Owned by the Green Hills Farm of Leo Liaskos, the stylish, high-headed runner had been purchased for $145,000 at Keeneland's July yearling sale in Lexington, Kentucky by John McCormack Bloodstock -- reportedly on behalf of Hesmonds Stud in England. He is conditioned by NYTB 1999 Trainer of the Year Todd Pletcher, who had given Save the Profit four half-mile workouts over Belmont and Saratoga training tracks following the colt's two-length victory going a mile and an eighth on grass at Saratoga in a restricted N1X allowance on August 2.
Bred by Jacob Yuzari and Angela Yurkzary, who jointly qualified for a $2,760 breeder award, Save the Profit was foaled at Tom Gallo's Blue Stone Farm in Cambridge. He is by Grade 1 juvenile winner and popular international sire Hennessy and is the first offspring produced from Meadowlands allowance winner Hedge Ratio, an Unbridled mare who won on dirt and turf and is a half-sister to multiple stakes winner Grand Forks and to stakes-placed winner Angelus Sunset. Save the Profit, who has a classically shaped dosage profile of 3-3-6-2-2, is inbred 4 x 4 to Northern Dancer. Brisnet Chart

(9/23) Jaming the Blues ($52) jaunts off to 2 1/4-length maiden win
The oldest and most experienced starter in Belmont's fourth race on Thursday for New York-bred maiden three-year-olds and up going a turn-and-a-half mile and a sixteenth on turf was Tri Richard Stable's homebred JAMING THE BLUES, who jumped out to a big lead in the upper stretch and won decisively. The five-year-old gelding was top-weighted under 123 pounds and went off as the 25-to-1 seventh choice among 10 starters in the $42,000 restricted maiden special contest with jockey Victor Fernandez race-riding him for the third consecutive time. He stayed close to the pace that was set by 37.70-to-1 ninth choice Eastern Pilot under prompting from 28.50-to-1 eighth choice Regal Pro, as those three separated noticeably from the rest of the field in the run down the backstretch and into the far turn. Entering the stretch, the two early front-end contenders faded, but Jaming the Blues quickly jumped out to a daylight margin lead in the upper stretch and drew off down the middle of the course, gaining a five-length advantage at mid-stretch while setting a mile fraction of 1:36.66. He reached the finish with a 2 1/4-length lead over late closer Ross to Dublin, the 4-to-1 third choice, while clocking a winning time of 1:43.09.
Jaming the Blues' belatedly impressive victory increased his earnings by $25,200 to $49,557 while improving his record to 1 - 2 - 1 in 19 starts, and it also qualified owner and co-breeder Lewis Friedman of New York City, who campaigns as Tri Richard Stable, to participate in a $5,040 breeder award. Friedman had bred Jaming the Blues in partnership with Dr. Jonathan Davis' Milfer Farm Inc. in Unadilla, where the gelding's now-deceased New York record-setting sire, Cure the Blues, had stood. Trained by Michael Sedlacek, who had given the bay gelding a half-mile "bullet" workout of 47 2/5 over Aqueduct's inner dirt track eight days earlier, Jaming the Blues has registered all of his on-the-board finishes and picked up 99 percent of his earnings in his 10 outings on grass. Thursday's victory followed his latest previous outing -- going seven furlongs in an off-the-turf maiden special contest at Saratoga -- by exactly five weeks.
Jaming the Blues is from the last crop of Cure the Blues, who died in January of 1999 but whose syndicate owners at the time of Jaming the Blues' 1998 conception in New York qualified for a $1,764 stallion award. Jaming the Blues is the sixth winner among six starters produced from dirt and turf winner Jamara, by J. O. Tobin, being a full brother to a three-time main track sprint winner and a half-brother to six-figure-earning filly/mare Unknown Fact. Jaming the Blues is inbred 3 x 4 to Hail to Reason and 4 x 5 to Nasrullah. Brisnet Chart

(9/23) Wholehearted survives tough stretch duel - wins MSW in 1:22.91 for 7F
Twenty-four days earlier, Flying Zee Stable's WHOLEHEARTED had been bumped at the start and forced to race four wide in a seven-furlong Saratoga maiden special, finishing fifth -- a length and a half behind second-place Rapid Rickey, who figured to be his chief rival in Belmont's sixth race on Thursday. Those two three-year-old geldings went at each other with gusto in the $41,000 restricted maiden special for three-year-olds and up going seven furlongs once again, and the wagering public expected about as much, making Wholehearted the 4.60-to-1 second choice among 11 starters and Rapid Rickey the 4.10-to-1 favorite. Wholehearted, with jockey Fernando Jara race-riding him for the fifth consecutive time, broke on top but was overtaken in the run down the backstretch by Rapid Rickey, who set fractions of 22.90 and 45.87. The closely pursuing Wholehearted angled outside in the stretch to pull even with his front-running rival and pushed his head in front near the eighth-mile pole while setting a six-furlong fraction of 1:10.01 -- but Rapid Rickey would not back off and came back at Wholehearted. In the final furlong, the lead literally appeared to swap with every stride and head-bob, as the smaller Wholehearted raced in unison with his larger but younger (by two months) rival to a finish that was so close that some observers thought Rapid Rickey had prevailed. Wholehearted's winning time of 1:22.91 was easily his fastest in six outings at that distance.
Campaigned by the Flying Zee Stable of Carl Lizza Jr. of Wharton, New Jersey, who also owns Highcliff Farm in Delanson in partnership with Joseph Bartone, Wholehearted increased his earnings by $24,600 to $46,866 for his first victory in 10 starts under the care of trainer Philip Serpe. Flying Zee Stables had purchased the dark bay New York-bred for $70,000 at Keeneland's 2002 September yearling sale in Lexington, Kentucky. The wiry little gelding had placed second in both of his Saratoga outings preceding his bumped fifth-place effort on August 30 -- going seven furlongs in each -- including one in which he also had been bumped soundly at the start, and those efforts had marked his career's first top-three finishes.
Sired by Carson City, whose graded-winning offspring include New York-breds Carson Hollow (Grade 1) and Ormsby (Grade 2 record-setter), Wholehearted was bred by Albert Fried Jr., who owns Buttonwood Farm in Rhinebeck and qualified for a $2,460 breeder award as a result of Wholehearted's Thursday victory. Fried, honored by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association as outstanding New York breeder for 2002, also had raced Wholehearted's Grade 2-winning dam, Stolen Beauty ($299,451), who is by Deputy Minister and is the dam of Wholehearted's two winning half-sisters, including Fried's New York homebred stakes winner Moonlightandbeauty ($228,053). Dam Stolen Beauty had been purchased by Fried as a yearling for $30,000 at Keeneland's 1990 September sale, and her dam, Finally Found, had been purchased by Fried for $70,000 at Keeneland's 1992 January mixed sale. Maternal granddam (second dam) Finally Found later produced Grade 2 winner Finality ($375,075) -- also bred by Fried -- and that recently-retired-to-stud stallion was voted New York Thoroughbred Breeders Champion Turf Male for 2002. Brisnet Chart

(9/22) Twinkie Zone holds off older rival for N1X win
Returning to Belmont for her second six-furlong victory there in 66 days, Very Un Stable's homebred TWINKIE ZONE showed she could win a tight contest on the outside as well as a romp on the rail, capturing Wednesday's sixth race for New York-bred fillies and mares by a hard-fought neck. The three-year-old filly went off as the 2.95-to-1 second choice among nine starters in the $43,000 restricted N1X allowance test for distaff runners, three-year-olds and up, with jockey Javier Castellano on board her for the second consecutive time in competition. She broke from the seventh post and raced in second place on the outside through a half-mile, as 3.30-to-1 third choice Town Charmer set fractions of 22.85 and 46.31. By mid-stretch, Twinkie Zone was a half-length in front of Town Charmer while setting a five-eighths fraction of 58.49, and in the final furlong she held off the inside rail threat of four-year-old Angel in Harlem, the 4.80-to-1 fourth choice, to win in the time of 1:11.11. Angel in Harlem, who had broken her maiden going a mile on turf at Belmont at the end of June, was carrying one actual pound less than three-year-old Twinkie Zone and five pounds less by weight-for-age scale. Town Charmer held for third place, and 2.40-to-1 favorite Keesler, who had won a six-furlong open maiden special at Keeneland last April by a length and a quarter, ran in fourth place throughout the contest. For jockey Castellano, it was his second winning ride of the day aboard a New York-bred.
The victory boosted Twinkie Zone's earnings by $25,800 to $56,700 while improving her record to 2 - 0 - 1 in four starts, and it also qualified her owner-breeder, the Very Un Stable of waterproofing contractor Joseph Gioia of North Woodmere, for an additional $2,460 breeder award. After breaking her maiden by five lengths at Belmont on July 18, the dark bay filly had been tried in a restricted N1X allowance at Saratoga going a mile on turf, but the surface was soft for her first two-turn effort, and she had finished a tiring fourth among 10. Trainer Del Carroll II subsequently had given Twinkie Zone two moderate three-furlong workouts at Saratoga and Belmont followed by a sharper half-mile drill at Belmont on September 15, and the result was a six-furlong victory in faster time than her maiden-breaking effort and under more testing circumstances.
Consigned to the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2003 April sale of two-year-olds in training in Florida but not sold after bringing a $25,000 final bid, Twinkie Zone is by Wild Zone, whose turf stakes victories included Canadian record-setting performances at six (1:07 3/5) and seven (1:20 1/5) furlongs. She is the third New York-bred winner that Gioia/Very Un Stable has bred from 10-time winner I'm So Agreeable ($187,600), by I Enclose, being a half-sister to New York-bred multiple turf winner and multiple turf stakes-placed Longingtobeme ($214,812). Dam I'm So Agreeable, whose sire, graded winner I Enclose, was one of the first stakes winners sired by pensioned New York stallion Cormorant, scored nine times on grass, mostly at middle distances, and Gioia, who raced the mare under his Very Un Stable colors, obviously regarded her highly. When I'm So Agreeable was a seven-year-old in May of 1993, Very Un Stable lost her for a $35,000 claiming price at Belmont. Five days later, the mare was back in at Belmont for a $45,000 tag, and Very Un Stable claimed her back. I'm So Agreeable, who is a half-sister to Mexican multiple stakes winner I Keep Abreast, was retired to the broodmare ranks later that year. Brisnet Chart

(9/22) Nick the Noodge powers way to maiden victory in first grass effort
Bred for turf on both sides of his pedigree, Joseph Parisi's three-year-old NICK THE NOODGE returned to competition 47 days after his unplaced Saratoga effort when he had been fractious in the gate and was bumped at the start, this time breaking his maiden decisively in his first grass outing. The dark bay gelding went off as the 4.10-to-1 second choice among 10 starters in Belmont's fourth race on Wednesday, a $42,000 mile and an eighth turf test for maiden New York-bred three-year-olds and up but contested exclusively by three-year-olds. He broke from the eighth post position with jockey Javier Castellano on board for the second consecutive time and was well back for a half-mile while 95-to-1 ninth choice Tony's Flag set the early pace. On the second turn as the field started bunching up in front, Nick the Noodge rallied four wide, brushing with 6.20-to-1 third choice Here's Ya Souvenir at the head of the stretch before digging in and powering to the front to take command at mid-stretch. The long-striding gelding covered his final furlong in 12.10 seconds to beat Here's Ya Souvenir by a length and a quarter in 1:50.77, with 8.10-to-1 fourth choice Rose's Jet Stream finishing a nose back in third place and edging odds-on favorite Be My Prince (.75-to-1) by a neck. For jockey Castellano, it was the first of two winning rides aboard New York-breds on Belmont's Wednesday card.
A close and closing third in his debut on Belmont's main track going a mile and a sixteenth on July 17, Nick the Noodge boosted his earnings by $25,200 to $30,660 for his first victory in three starts under trainer Steven Jerkens' care. Jerkens had given Nick the Noodge five moderate Belmont workouts following the gelding's fractious Saratoga effort under Castellano on August 6, but none of those works had been on grass. Twenty-five months earlier, Nick the Noodge had been a $70,000 purchase at Fasig-Tipton's 2002 Saratoga preferred New York-bred yearling sale, where pin-hooker Crupi's New Castle Farm of Ocala, Florida had bought him as agent.
Bred by Ed and Diane Gregory's Carapan Farm of Freehold, New York, which qualified for a $2,520 breeder award, Nick the Noodge is by Grade 1 main track winner Atticus, a Nureyev stallion who also set a world turf mile record of 1:31.89 while scoring a Grade 2 victory. He is the fifth offspring, fifth winner, and third New York-bred winner produced from stakes-placed winner Turn East, by Far Out East (by Raja Baba), and is a half-brother to Canadian turf graded stakes winner Mema's Turning Red ($152,325) and to five-time winner (three on turf) Eastern Shamrock ($113,660). Ed Gregory had purchased dam Turn East for $8,500 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 1997 January mixed sale in Florida when she was carrying future graded winner Mema's Turning Red.Brisnet Chart

TRIAL PREP (on inside) winning by a nose

(9/22) Trial Prep shows his class against open claimers
In his first start off a 52-day layoff, New York-bred TRIAL PREP showed why he can never be underestimated, willing his way to a nose victory in Belmont's Wednesday opener for three-year-olds and up going seven furlongs with $50,000 claiming prices. Race-ridden for the first time by Cornelio Velasquez and somewhat overlooked as the 4.50-to-1 third choice among seven starters, the competitive five-year-old cruised right behind and outside the early pace set by New York-bred multiple stakes-winning fourth choice Smokieisabandit (8.30-to-1), who clocked fractions of 22.95, 45.89, and 1:10.18. On his outside was 14.90-to-1 10th choice Zavalla Dandy, who dropped out of contention after a half-mile, but in the stretch a more formidable outside rival emerged in 2004 stakes winner On the Game, the 8.20-to-1 fifth choice, while Smokieisabandit showed little inclination to surrender his inside lead. In the final furlong, the three charged towards the wire almost abreast, with Smokieisabandit grudgingly yielding and Trial Prep outgaming On the Game to get his nose in front with a winning time of 1:23.04. Smokieisabandit finished a half-length back in third place, as the two New York-breds picked up 70 percent of the total purse in the contest. For jockey Velasquez, it was the first of three winning rides on Belmont's Wednesday card.
Owned in partnership by the Hemlock Hills Farm of Manhattan residents Alfred and Lupe Hemlock, John Acierno's Gabrielle Farm, and Sanford Goldfarb of Old Westbury, Trial Prep has campaigned since early this past summer under the care of trainer Bruce Levine. After placing third at Saratoga with a $50,000 claiming price going a mile and an eighth on August 1, which was his second outing under Levine's supervision, the bay horse had gotten 18 days off followed by three sharp half-mile workouts at Belmont spaced eight-to-nine days apart. Trial Prep's latest victory increased his earnings by $23,400 to $339,917 and improved his record to 6 - 2 - 4 in 19 starts, and it also collectively qualified his owners for an additional $4,680 open race owner award. Trial Prep had won an open Aqueduct N2X allowance going a one-turn mile on March 22 and 41 days later had placed third in Aqueduct's Kings Point Handicap, and as a three-year-old he had captured Finger Lakes' $143,733 New York Derby and Aqueduct's $100,000 New York Stallion Times Square Stakes. The only other time he had tried seven furlongs besides Wednesday's outing was in Belmont's $122,034 Mike Lee Stakes in June of 2002, when he had placed second, and later that summer he also had placed second in Saratoga's $181,284 Albany Stakes at a mile and an eighth. Trial Prep was the only New York-bred three-year-old of 2002 to finish no worse than second in all three legs of The OTBs' Big Apple Triple: the Mike Lee Stakes, the New York Derby (which he won), and the Albany Stakes.
Bred by trainer Louis Meittinis of Mill Neck, who qualified for a $4,680 breeder award, Trial Prep had been purchased by co-owner Goldfarb for $40,000 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's April 2001 sale of two-year-olds in training in Florida. Meittinis had purchased Trial Prep's dam, I Fooled Em, for $8,000 at a Fasig-Tipton paddock sale shortly after the three-year-old had broken her maiden by 8 1/2 lengths with a $30,000 claiming tag at Aqueduct in 1992. For Meittinis, the daughter of Broad Brush won four more times at Aqueduct in two-turn races ranging up to a mile and a quarter, retiring with earnings of $107,075. Trial Prep is among three offspring produced from the mare -- all New York-bred winners -- before she was exported to Venezuela.
Trial Prep is among 15 winners in 2004 sired by New York stallion Ormsby (Carson City - Sois Sage, by Broadway Forli), and his Wednesday victory collectively qualified the owners of that stallion, James Iselin's J.I. Racing, Inc. and Howard Kaskel's Sugar Maple Farm, for a $1,638 stallion award. Ormsby, a Grade 2 record-setter whose progeny earnings recently went over $2.3-million and whose 2004 New York-bred winners also include stakes winner Top Shoter ($241,150), stands at Sugar Maple Farm in Poughquag, where his 2004 fee was $3,000, live foal. A Hypo-Mating check of Trial Prep's pedigree reveals that he is an outcross (no inbreeding) through five generations, although his broodmare sire, Broad Brush, is inbred 3 x 3 to Turn-to. Brisnet Chart

(9/19) French Hideaway wins second straight by 5 3/4
Prior to mid-August, Anstu Stables' FRENCH HIDEAWAY was just a nicely-bred mare that had won once at Aqueduct as a three-year-old in November 2002, but following Belmont's fourth race on Sunday going a one-turn mile and a sixteenth, she is a stakes winner (as of August 28) with six-figure earnings. For Sunday's outing, a $46,000 restricted N2X allowance for fillies and mares, three-year-olds and up, which originally had been scheduled for turf but was switched to the main track, the five-year-old mare was favored at 2.45-to-1 among nine starters with jockey Jose Santos race-riding her for the first time. Never an early speed-dueler, she raced in hand on the outside in fifth and sixth place through three-quarters of a mile, as 8.70-to-1 fifth choice Wild Berry and 6.60-to-1 fourth choice Schemer alternated for the lead. French Hideaway rallied four wide approaching the stretch and within three-sixteenths of a mile advanced from fifth to first out in the middle of the track, gaining a length and a half lead at mid-stretch that she extended to 5 3/4 lengths at the finish. A brisk 17-mph northerly crosswind that was gusting up to 26 mph across the stretch obviously had little effect on the powerful New York-bred mare. For Santos, the New York Thoroughbred Breeders 2003 Jockey of the Year, it was the first of two consecutive winning rides on Belmont's Sunday card -- both aboard New York-breds.
Winner of Finger Lakes' Jack Betta Be Rite Stakes by a length and a quarter in her latest previous outing 22 days earlier, French Hideaway boosted her earnings by $27,600 into six figures at $110,379 for her second consecutive victory, improving her record to 3 - 2 - 1 in nine starts. The stakes outing had been her second start and first win following a layoff of almost 13 months, which had been preceded by a 2003 three-start summer campaign that had come after a layoff of more than six months. Owned by the Anstu Stables, Inc. of Stuart and Anita Subotnick of New York City, who also own Anstu Farm in Millbrook, she had been purchased by her owners for $187,000 at Fasig-Tipton's 2000 Saratoga select yearling sale. Anstu Stables has campaigned such other Empire State-bred standouts as New York Thoroughbred Breeders 1997 Champion Two-Year-Old Male Mellow Roll ($555,772), who won Belmont's Empire Classic against older New York-breds as a three-year-old in 1998. French Hideaway's trainer is James Moloney, who also has been the manager of Anstu Farm. Stuart Subotnick is a general partner and executive vice president of Metromedia Company, serving as chief operating officer and chief financial officer for one of the largest privately held companies in the U.S., and he also is a member of the New York Racing Association's board of trustees.
French Hideaway's breeder is the Berkshire Stud in Pine Plains of Drs. Douglas and Christine Koch, which qualified for a $2,760 breeder award and also is the breeder of French Hideaway's two older half-siblings, New York-bred three-time winners Private Enterprise ($114,185) and Coney Island Girl.
Sired by Grade 2-winning Belmont miler French Deputy, French Hideaway is the third offspring and third winner produced from Caribbean Hideway, who is by Mogambo (by Mr. Prospector) and is a half-sister to stakes winner Frankly Classic ($171,420) and to the winning dam of stakes winner Hidden City ($146,190). Caribbean Hideway's dam -- French Hideaway's maternal granddam -- is Grade 1 winner Officer's Ball. Brisnet Chart

(9/19) Hoosick Falls roars to 6 1/4-length maiden special victory
Twice second in previous outings and coming off four solid Saratoga workouts that included three "bullet" drills, HOOSICK FALLS was nearly even money (1.10-to-1) among eight maiden New York-bred juvenile fillies in Belmont's third race on Sunday, and she proved well worthy of the favoritism. With jockey Cornelio Velasquez race-riding her for the first time, the dark bay speedster was bumped at the start of the $41,000 six-furlong contest by 8-to-1 fourth choice Karakorum Splendor on her inside but quickly gained a length and a half lead with an opening quarter in 22.55. From there on, she was unchallenged, as Hoosick Falls cruised under a hand ride, setting fractions of 46.27 and 58.59 over the "good" track and reaching the finish with a 6 1/4-length margin in 1:11.26. The late-foaled filly (May 28, 2002) was the only May foal in the contest, and she gave jockey Velasquez his first of two winning rides on Belmont's Sunday card.
Hoosick Falls' first victory in three starts over 59 days advanced her earnings by $24,600 to $41,000 for the Our Canterbury Stables of Tom Daly of New Fairfield, Connecticut, television and singing star David Cassidy (whose addresses include Saratoga Springs), Marc Grubard, and Jennifer Contessa of Lincroft, New Jersey. Named for a New York town north of Saratoga Springs, Hoosick Falls campaigns under the care of trainer Gary Contessa, husband of part owner Jennifer Contessa and signer of the sales slip purchasing the filly for $37,000 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March 2004 sale of two-year-olds in training.
Bred by the Sez Who Thoroughbreds in Stillwater of Richard Simon of Aventura, Florida, which qualified for a $4,920 breeder award, Hoosick Falls is the ninth juvenile winner of 2004 sired from the first crop of New York stallion Precise End (End Sweep - Precisely, by Summing). She also is the third winner by Precise End bred by Sez Who Thoroughbreds that has won at Saratoga or Belmont on the last three consecutive Sundays -- following colts Accurate (September 5) and Freddy the Cap (September 12). Graded winner Precise End, who stands at Becky Thomas' and Lewis Lakin's Lakland North, LLC in Hudson, where his 2004 fee was $6,000, live foal, continues to rank as North America's eighth-leading first crop sire in 2004 progeny earnings -- a status he held prior to Hoosick Falls' winning effort. As a result of Sunday's victory, the partnership owners of Precise End qualified for a $1,722 stallion award.
Hoosick Falls is the second winner produced from Aaron's Terms, by Private Terms, being a half-sister to stakes-placed Manor Prospect. Dam Aaron's Terms, who is a half-sister to stakes winner Aaron's Concorde ($160,692) and to stakes-placed winner Aaron's Halo, was purchased by Sez Who Thoroughbreds for $34,000 at Keeneland's 2001 January mixed sale in Lexington, Kentucky. A Hypo-Mating check of Hoosick Falls' pedigree reveals that she is an outcross (no inbreeding) through five generations, but her dam Aaron's Terms is inbred 3 x 3 to Bold Ruler and 4 x 4 to Native Dancer. Brisnet Chart

(9/19) Speed Bag delivers 11 1/4-length knockout punch in maiden-winning effort
It was not that Dragon Squared Stable's SPEED BAG ran exceptionally fast early on while winning Belmont's fifth race on Sunday for New York-bred maiden juvenile fillies going six furlongs -- it was that she never slowed down, and at the finish she was 11 1/4 lengths beyond her closest competition. Sent off the 3.10-to-1 second choice among 10 wagering interests and 11 starters in the $41,000 restricted maiden special contest with jockey Jose Santos on board for the second time in four starts, the bay filly broke from the seventh post and had a half-length opening quarter-mile lead. She separated from the rest of the field on the turn and continued to lengthen her advantage, leading by eight lengths at mid-stretch off a five-eighths fraction of 59.75 and extending her margin by 3 1/4 additional lengths in the final furlong. For Santos, the New York Thoroughbred Breeders 2003 Jockey of the Year who had ridden Speed Bag in the filly's third-place Belmont debut on July 8, it was the second consecutive winning ride on Belmont's Sunday card aboard a New York-bred filly or mare.
Campaigned by the Dragon Squared Stable of Clinton Chan of Montclair, New Jersey under the care of trainer Jeff Odintz, Speed Bag earned $24,600 for her maiden victory, putting her earnings in four starts at $38,130 off a record of 1 - 1 - 1. The obviously maturing filly had placed second among 13 in her latest previous start going six furlongs at Saratoga just 13 days earlier (September 6).
Bred by the Fiddlers Green Stable of Joan Simpson of Sagamore Beach, Massachusetts, which qualified for a $4,920 breeder award, Speed Bag is the second winner produced from Thorette, an Affirmed mare that Louis Salerno's Questroyal Stable had purchased for $17,500 at Keeneland's 2000 November sale in Lexington, Kentucky. Thorette's dam -- Speed Bag's maternal granddam or second dam -- is multiple stakes winner Barbara's Nemesis, by Sovereign Dancer.
Speed Bag is by former New York stallion Abaginone, a son of Devil's Bag who had stood at Questroyal Stud in Hudson prior to being sold to Mexican interests for the 2004 breeding season, but the filly's victory qualified the former syndicate owners of Abaginone for a $1,722 stallion award. Although a multiple graded-winning sprinter, Abaginone was bred along the lines of a router, and Speed Bag appeared on Sunday to be capable of going in that direction. Brisnet Chart

(9/18) True Patriot triumphs in the rain - wins by 6 1/2
When it rains, Chester and Mary Broman's homebred TRUE PATRIOT shines, scoring his second showery victory in Belmont's fifth race on Saturday, a $44,000 restricted N1X allowance for three-year-olds and up at a one-turn mile over a "good" track and under a sudden downpour. Favored at 1.80-to-1 among nine starters with Pablo Fragoso race-riding him for the second consecutive time off a layoff of almost eight months, the four-year-old colt was bumped at the break when 3.15-to-1 second choice Sea the Truth bumped 3.95-to-1 third choice Hero's Task on his inside. He raced in fifth and then fourth place through a half-mile, as 12.20-to-1 fifth choice Irish Voyage set the pace, and advanced along the inside going around the turn before swinging exceptionally wide into the stretch. In the final quarter-mile, True Patriot charged down the middle of the track over what appeared to be the wettest part of the stretch, catching Irish Voyage right before the eighth pole and then drawing off to a 6 1/2 length victory. Fourth choice Ron Greschner (6.10-to-1) edged a tiring Irish Voyage by a half-length to place second.
Trained by John Kimmel, True Patriot increased his earnings by $26,400 to $66,900 while improving his record to 2 - 0 - 3 in eight starts, and he also qualified his owner-breeders, the Bromans of Babylon, Long Island and Palm Beach, Florida, for a $2,640 breeder award. The Bromans, who own 300-acre Chestertown Farm in Chestertown -- north of Saratoga Springs -- recently received the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association award as outstanding New York breeders for 2003, and their colors had been carried to victory at Belmont just two days earlier by another Kimmel-trained homebred, Confident Cat.
True Patriot, who had broken his maiden in the rain at Saratoga on Labor Day of 2003 in his second start, is by Grade 1 winner/sire Wild Again and is a half-brother to Grade 1 winner Stephen Got Even ($1,019,200) and to New York-bred stakes winner Indy Glory ($283,422). He is the fourth winner produced from Grade 1-placed winner Immerse ($108,343), by Cox's Ridge. The Bromans also bred and raced Indy Glory, who captured Aqueduct's open (to horses bred anywhere) Videogenic Stakes in 2003, having purchased the dam, Immerse, in the name of Chestertown Farm for $350,000 at Keeneland's 1997 November sale when she was carrying Indy Glory. Immerse has a younger stakes-placed full sister, and her dam is Grade 3 winner Baroness Direct ($202,734), by Blushing Groom. Brisnet Chart

(9/18) Quiet Challenge skims over slop for 5-length allowance win
In his third start off a layoff of more than nine months, Marbet Farm's four-year-old QUIET CHALLENGE saved ground and then took off through the sloppy stretch to win Belmont's 10th race Saturday nightcap, a $44,000 restricted N1X allowance for three-year-olds and up, by five lengths going a one-turn mile. With New York Thoroughbred Breeders 2003 Jockey of the Year Jose Santos race-riding him for the first time but overlooked as the 11.80-to-1 sixth choice among eight starters, the dark bay gelding stayed near the rail and away from the pacesetting battles up front until reaching the turn. He advanced to third along the inside to get to within less than a length of the dueling 6-to-1 co-third choices, Seaside Salute and Fiddlers Pride, at the top of the stretch, where he angled out to gain a 2 1/2-length lead at mid-stretch. In the final furlong, Quiet Challenge glided through the showery weather and over the sloppy strip to double his mid-stretch margin at the wire, as 21.50-to-1 seventh choice Platinum Case overtook Seaside Salute to place second.
Owned by Richard Horigan's Marbet Farm and trained by Edward Plesa Jr., Quiet Challenge increased his earnings by $26,400 to $84,133 while improving his record to 2 - 3 - 1 in 11 starts. As a three-year-old in 2003, he had finished first by three lengths and by 6 1/4 lengths in restricted maiden specials at Saratoga and Belmont, respectively, but had been disqualified to second in the first of those efforts. The stretch-running gelding had returned to competition in early August at Saratoga after having placed second -- beaten only a neck on Halloween at Aqueduct -- in his last start of 2003. Agent John Servis had purchased Quiet Challenge for $7,700 at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's 2001 October yearling sale in Timonium, Maryland, to which he had been consigned by his breeder, Frank Maner, through Thomas J. and Nadine Gallo, Agent. Maner, of Quiet Oaks Farm in Esperance, bred Quiet Challenge at his farm in Campbell Hall and qualified for a $5,280 breeder award as a result of the gelding's Saturday nightcap victory.
Quiet Challenge is the 53red winner of 2004 sired by now-deceased New York stallion Dixie Brass, and his victory qualified Dixie Brass's owner, former firefighter and excavating business owner Michael Watral of Central Islip, Long Island, for a $1,848 stallion award. For 2003, Watral qualified for $180,224.63 in stallion awards as a result of the racing exploits of Dixie Brass's New York-bred-and-conceived offspring. Quiet Challenge is out of New York-bred five-time-winning router Doublerose, who is by former New York stallion Double Negative and is a full sister to two multiple winners, including seven-time winning filly/mare Hollywood Reversal ($140,439). Doublerose also is a half-sister to another six-figure-earner, Star Goldminer ($109,880). Brisnet Chart

(9/18) Distinctive Trick demonstrates distinctive class in maiden win
Coming off a "bullet" Philadelphia Park workout following a solid third-place Delaware Park debut on September 1, owner-trainer Uriah St. Lewis' DISTINCTIVE TRICK captured Belmont's fourth race on Saturday, a $41,000 restricted maiden special for two-year-olds going six furlongs, as the 7.20-to-1 fourth choice among seven starters. How the dark bay son of one of New York's most popular all-time sires (Distinctive Pro) managed to go off at such generous odds remains a mystery, but he was never out of contention despite breaking from the outside post with jockey Cornelio Velasquez race-riding him for the first time. Distinctive Trick raced right with the pace set by 11.70-to-1 fifth choice A Very Young Jet through fractions of 22.85, 46.30, and 58.91 over the "good" track while three wide and got carried extra wide out of the turn when the frontrunner drifted out. Saving ground along the rail was the 4.70-to-1 third choice, Inevitably True, who looked like the eventual winner inside the final furlong, but Velasquez's mount maneuvered around A Very Young Jet and scored by a neck over Inevitably True, who stayed on his left lead through the stretch. Favored Western Galaxy (1.20-to-1) finished third. For jockey Velasquez, it was the second winning ride of the day aboard a New York-bred maiden juvenile.
The victory elevated Distinctive Trick's earnings by $24,600 to $25,620 for two starts in September under the guidance of his owner-trainer, Philadelphia Park-based St. Lewis, who had purchased the colt for $14,000 at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's May 2004 sale of two-year-olds in training in Timonium, Maryland. Distinctive Trick also collectively qualified his breeders, Brendan Mullery and Howard Kaskel's Sugar Maple Farm in Poughquag, for a $4,920 breeder award. Sugar Maple Farm had been one of the co-consignors of the colt to the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale.
Distinctive Trick is the 31st winner of 2004 and the 454th winner overall sired by ageless New York stallion Distinctive Pro (Mr. Prospector - Well Done, by Distinctive), who stands at Sugar Maple Farm and whose syndicate connections qualified for a $1,722 stallion award. The colt's victory also pushed the 2004 progeny earnings for Distinctive Pro, whose 2004 fee was $10,000, live foal, to over $1.1-million, and it boosted the stallion's cumulative progeny earnings to more than $35.1-million. Distinctive Trick is the third New York-bred winner bred by Mullery either individually or in partnership from the mare Doyourthing, who is by Known Fact and is a half-sister to stakes winners Imps Gift ($277,089), Majesty's Imp ($260,057), and to the stakes-placed dams of three more stakes winners. Doyourthing was purchased for $11,500 by Thomas Gallo, agent, as a three-year-old at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's 1998 November sale in Lexington, Kentucky when she was carrying her first foal and first New York-bred winner. A Hypo-Mating check of Distinctive Trick's pedigree reveals that he is inbred 4 x 5 to Native Dancer and that sire Distinctive Pro is inbred 4 x 4 to Nasrullah. Brisnet Chart

(9/18) Geyser Road cruises to 6 1/4-length maiden special victory
Rank in the gate in his August 22 Saratoga debut and then bumped, two-year-old GEYSER ROAD still managed to place third going five furlongs, and when he came back to break sharply in Belmont's Saturday opener for New York-bred maiden juveniles going six furlongs, he romped by 6 1/4 lengths. The chestnut colt again had jockey Cornelio Velasquez in the irons, and the obvious talent he had exhibited previously resulted in odds-on favoritism (.60-to-1) among nine starters in the $41,000 restricted maiden special contest, for which he was equipped with blinkers for the first time. Breaking from the seventh post, he raced outside of eighth choice pacesetter Look At Me Go Now (33.50-to-1) in second place for a half-mile and was carried wide coming out of the turn when the tiring front-runner drifted but took command in the upper stretch and pulled away. At mid-stretch, Geyser Road led by 3 1/2 lengths while setting a five-eighths fraction of 59.25 over the muddy track, and in the final furlong -- run partially against a 26-mph east/northeasterly wind that was gusting up to 36 mph -- he increased his margin by almost another three lengths. For jockey Velasquez, it was the first of two winning rides aboard New York-bred maiden juveniles on Belmont's Saturday card.
Owned by Thomas Chiota's Meadowlane Stables, John Pompay Jr., and John Lane, Geyser Road races under the care of trainer Teresa Pompay, who had given him two workouts at Monmouth -- an easy five furlongs followed by a half-mile "bullet" drill on September 14 -- after his third-place debut on August 22. Trainer Pompay had signed the sales slip purchasing the New York-bred for $70,000 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March 2004 sale of two-year-olds in training in Florida from pin-hooking consignor Classic Bloodstock, which had bought him for $30,000 seven months earlier at Fasig-Tipton's Saratoga preferred New York-bred yearling sale. Geyser Road -- previously named Boston Billy -- earned $24,600 for his maiden victory, putting his earnings in two starts at $28,700.
Geyser Road is by Horse of the Year Conquistador Cielo and out of New York-bred winner Mama Nook, who is by former New York stallion Belong to Me and is a half-sister to stakes winner Pleasant Too ($183,368) and to a stakes-placed winner plus the dam of a stakes-placed winner. His breeder is Mary Jo Herbert of Hopewell Heritage Farm in Titusville, New Jersey, who qualified for a $2,460 breeder award. Herbert had purchased the colt's New York-bred dam, Mama Nook, for $12,500 at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's 2001 December mixed sale in Timonium, Maryland when she was carrying Geyser Road. Brisnet Chart

(9/18) NY-breds Cologny and Travelator place 2nd and 3rd in G3 Floral Park H.
New York-bred four-year-old fillies Cologny and Travelator led to the final furlong in Belmont's Grade 3 Floral Park Handicap for fillies and mares, three-year-olds and up, going six furlongs through showery weather and over a sloppy track on Saturday, but they were overtaken late by the more lightly-weighted Feline Story. The latter, racing for Mrs. Einar Paul Robsham under jockey Edgar Prado and favored at 1.35-to-1 among five starters while in receipt of one pound from Cologny and two from top-weighted Travelator, edged Cologny by a neck for her third wet track victory and second wet track graded tally. Cologny was the 3.25-to-1 third choice, and Travelator was the 3.15-to-1 second choice.
Cologny, owned by Evan Gewirtz and trained by Scott Lake, picked up $21,280 for her second place effort under jockey Aaron Gryder, boosting her earnings to $314,690 with a record of 9 - 4 - 6 in 29 starts, and she also qualified Gewirtz for an additional $2,128 open race owner award. Since being claimed by Gewirtz for $25,000 while winning at Aqueduct on February 11, the bay filly has earned $179,250 in purse money plus qualified Gewirtz for an additional $17,260 in open race owner awards. She also qualified her breeders, Dr. Jerry Bilinski of Waldorf Farm in North Chatham, Martin Zaretsky of Pine Ridge Stables in Old Chatham, and Joseph Cornacchia, for a $2,128 breeder award. Cornacchia also is one of the owners of Cologny's New York-conceived sire, 1994 Kentucky Derby winner Go for Gin ($1,380,866), a son of New York stallion Cormorant, who currently resides at Waldorf Farm as a 30-year-old pensioner.
Top-weighted Travelator, who races for the Our Sugar Bear Stable of William Terrill of New Hyde Park under the care of trainer Stanley Hough, increased her earnings by $10,704 to $377,015 for finishing third under jockey Cornelio Velasquez, putting her record at 8 - 5 - 2 in 18 starts. She also qualified Our Sugar Bear Stable for an additional $2,140.80 open race owner award and her breeders, Michael and Raylene Anchel of Victory Lake Farm in Skaneateles, for a $2,140.80 breeder award. Travelator, a $52,000 purchase out of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2002 April sale of two-year-olds in training, is by New York stallion A. P Jet (Fappiano - Taminette, by In Reality), whose syndicate connections qualified for a $749.28 stallion award as a result of the filly's third-place Floral Park finish. A. P Jet, who was a Group 3 winner of $1,622,369 in Japan, stands at Howard Kaskel's Sugar Maple Farm in Poughquag, where his 2004 fee was $5,000, live foal.
New York-breds earned a total of $35,176 in purse money in the $104,400 Floral Park and qualified their various connections -- owners, breeders, and stallion owners -- for an additional total of $9,286.88 in awards through the New York State Breeding and Racing Program.

(9/17) Galloping Grocer romps by 12 1/2 to go 2-for-2
In what could only be described as a glorified workout, Robert Rosenthal's and Bernice Waldbaum's homebred GALLOPING GROCER turned in another uncontested performance in Belmont's third race on Friday, a $43,000 restricted N1X allowance for two-year-olds, stretching out to 6 1/2 furlongs and winning by 12 1/2 lengths. The big chestnut was bet down to the lowest odds possible -- five cents on the dollar -- against four rivals with New York Thoroughbred Breeders 2002 Jockey of the Year John Velazquez again on board for an effort at a furlong-and-a-half longer than his five-furlong debut (in 56.88) 26 days earlier. Lathery and feisty at the gate (he had almost run off with Velazquez prior to his August 22 Saratoga debut), Galloping Grocer stumbled at the start but quickly recovered and was at the throatlatch of the early pacesetter, 12.90-to-1 third choice Keep Sam in Cheq, in the opening quarter-mile. Velazquez obviously had received instructions from trainer Dominick Schettino that Friday's outing was to be a training drill for longer distances, and he kept his long-striding mount in check until the stretch, where Galloping Grocer quickly opened up a lead that almost doubled in distance in the final furlong. After crossing the finish line, Galloping Grocer galloped out an additional furlong in 13.10 for a 7 1/2-furlong clocking of 1:32-flat. Placing second after being pinched back at the start was 11.50-to-1 second choice Chanceux Vous, who shared co-topweight honors with Galloping Grocer and whose three-year-old full brother, Gone to Be King, had broken his maiden at Belmont less than 23 hours earlier. For jockey Velazquez, it was the first of four winning rides on Belmont's Friday card -- two aboard New York-breds.
Galloping Grocer's second victory in two starts -- preceded by a 59-flat five-furlong workout at Belmont six days earlier -- increased his earnings by $25,800 to $50,400 and also jointly qualified his breeders, co-owner Rosenthal of Jericho and the estate of Ira Waldbaum, for a $5,160 breeder award. Rosenthal, who is chairman of First Long Island Investors, had met the late Ira Waldbaum about 15 years earlier when the latter, who was the co-founder and CEO of the grocery chain bearing his name, noticed that his investment advisor was also a reader of Daily Racing Form. Waldbaum persistently asked Rosenthal if he could become a partner in a horse, and after repeated rejections, Rosenthal made him a partner in the dirt-and-turf-winning stakes-placed mare, New York-bred Little Evie, whom Rosenthal had purchased privately as his first broodmare. Galloping Grocer, who is named for Ira Waldbaum and races for Rosenthal in partnership with the late grocery founder's widow, Bernice, is the fifth New York-bred winner produced from Little Evie, who is by Northrop (by Northern Dancer). Little Evie won twice on dirt and once on turf and placed third as a three-year-old in two turf stakes for New York-bred fillies and mares: Saratoga's Yaddo and a division of Belmont's Mount Vernon. Her four other New York-bred winning offspring include nine-time-winning route specialist Little General ($158,675), but Galloping Grocer is the first of her foals to win as a two-year-old. Galloping Grocer was foaled at Janet Durrschmidt's Indigo Farm in Clinton Corners, where Rosenthal boards four broodmares.
Galloping Grocer is among 55 winners in 2004 to represent his New York-based sire, syndicated A. P Jet (Fappiano - Taminette, by In Reality), and is among 116 winners overall sired by that stallion, whose connections qualified for a $1,806 stallion award as a result of the gelding's Friday victory. A. P Jet was a group stakes-winning miler in Japan, where he earned $1,622,369, and Galloping Grocer's second tally in two starts has boosted that stallion's 2004 progeny earnings to over $1.7-million and his cumulative figure to well over $7.1-million from five crops of racing age. A. P Jet stands at Howard Kaskel's Sugar Maple Farm in Poughquag, where his 2004 fee was $5,000, live foal. A Hypo-Mating check of Galloping Grocer's pedigree reveals that he is inbred 4 x 4 to Intentionally and that A. P Jet is inbred 4 x 4 to Rough'n Tumble. Brisnet Chart

(9/17) Ms. Will a Way has her way in 3 1/4-length maiden special victory
Stretched out to a one-turn mile only 19 days after her second consecutive second-place effort going six furlongs at Saratoga, Capstone Stables' and Debra Lebarron's four-year-old MS. WILL A WAY scored decisively in Belmont's second race on Friday, a $42,000 restricted maiden special for fillies and mares, three-year-olds and up. The rangy, long-striding filly was the only older competitor among nine starters in the contest, and although consequently top-weighted under 122 pounds, she also was the near even-money favorite at 1.05-to-1 with jockey Cornelio Velasquez race-riding her for the fourth -- and third consecutive -- time. Breaking on top from the eighth post, Ms. Will a Way dropped back to sixth after the opening quarter-mile, as 2.50-to-1 second choice Emptor led the way before starting to tire on the turn, at which point Velasquez's mount began advancing along the inside to fourth and then third. Ms. Will a Way came wide into the stretch and in the final furlong caught the new leader, 48.50-to-1 seventh choice Wayward Liz, who in an excellent effort had dueled Emptor into submission but had switched to her right lead while still on the turn and was noticeably leg-weary. At the wire, the dark bay four-year-old filly was ahead of Wayward Liz by 3 1/4 lengths, with Emptor coming in third.
Campaigned by Thomas Miceli's Capstone Stables in partnership with Debra Lebarron, Ms. Will a Way increased her earnings by $25,200 to $58,000 for her first victory in six career starts, which includes four second-place efforts at six furlongs -- twice as a juvenile in 2003 and twice at Saratoga in 2004. Her trainer, Melvin Winney, had purchased the potential route-runner (her dosage profile of 11-4-15-3-1 suggests distance ability) for $2,600 as a weanling from the consignment of Thomas J. and Nadine Gallo, agents, at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's 2000 December mixed sale in Timonium, Maryland.
Ms. Will a Way is from the first crop of Saratoga two-time Grade 1 winner Will's Way and is the second winner produced from Filimint, a Key to the Mint mare who is a half-sister to a Group 3-placed winner and out of multiple stakes winner Really Royal ($167,058). The filly's breeders, Louis Salerno's Questroyal Stable, Inc. and Richard Gallagher, jointly qualified for a $2,520 breeder award as a result of Ms. Will a Way's maiden victory. Co-breeder Gallagher had purchased the broodmare Filimint for $15,000 at Keeneland's 2000 January sale in Lexington, Kentucky when she was carrying Ms. Will a Way. Brisnet Chart

(9/17) Call the Lark dons blinkers and breaks maiden
In his third start as a three-year-old following an eight-month layoff and wearing blinkers for the first time, Albert Fried Jr.'s homebred CALL THE LARK showed stretch-running ability that heretofore had been missing, breaking his maiden in Belmont's Friday nightcap ninth race despite a slow break and an outside post. With New York Thoroughbred Breeders 2002 Jockey of the Year John Velazquez on board for the third time, the dark bay gelding went off as the 4.60-to-1 fourth choice among 12 starters in the $41,000 restricted maiden special for three-year-olds and up going six furlongs. He broke slowly from the 11th post position but advanced quickly to just outside the three early front-end contenders, where he raced through a half-mile. Rallying four wide as he approached the stretch, Call the Lark gained command in mid-stretch while setting a five-furlong fraction of 59.60 and edged clear in the final furlong in his distinctive high-headed running style, winning by a length and a quarter over 11.10-to-1 sixth choice Run Along Sonny. For jockey Velazquez, it was the fourth winning ride of the day and his second victorious trip aboard a New York-bred.
The victory was worth $24,600 in purse money, boosting Call the Lark's career bankroll to $38,950 in six starts, and it also qualified owner-breeder Fried of Buttonwood Farm in Rhinebeck for an additional $2,460 breeder award. Trainer Richard Schosberg, who had decided on blinkers for Call the Lark and had named the gelding's two-time rider as a juvenile, Velazquez, to be on board for Friday's winning effort, has conditioned the New York-bred since his return to competition at Saratoga in late July, when he placed second.
Call the Lark is the 118th winner of 2004 and the 584th winner overall sired by syndicated New York stallion Phone Trick (Clever Trick - Over the Phone, by Finnegan), who stands at Dr. Jonathan Davis' Milfer Farm, Inc. in Unadilla, where his 2004 fee was $25,000, live foal. The gelding's victory bumped the 2004 progeny earnings for Phone Trick over the $1.5-million mark and elevated his lifetime offspring earnings to more than $46.4-million. Call the Lark is the second offspring and second New York-bred winner produced from Marc's Lark, by Miner's Mark, being a half-brother to owner-breeder Fried's homebred stakes-winning filly, Marc's Rainbow ($164,303). Fried, recipient of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA) award as outstanding New York breeder for 2002, had purchased Marc's Lark for $7,500 as a two-year-old not-bred broodmare prospect at Keeneland's 1998 January sale in Lexington, Kentucky. "Actually, we thought we could get her to the races," Fried had revealed in reference to the mare who never raced but is a half-sister to Grade 2-placed winner Courageous Maiden and whose winning dam is a half-sister to 1989 Grade 1 Hollywood Derby winner Live the Dream. A Hypo-Mating check of Call the Lark's pedigree reveals that sire Phone Trick is inbred 4 x 4 to Nearco.

(9/16) No Parole beats open claimers for first turf win
Surprise! Thomas Mina's New York-bred NO PAROLE, a Belmont main track stakes-winning sprinter, is also a formidable turf miler. Overlooked as the 16.80-to-1 seventh choice among 12 starters in Belmont's sixth race on Thursday for open four-year-olds and up with claiming prices of $50,000 to $60,000, the five-year-old gelding broke from the ninth post position in the virtual one-turn mile grass contest and immediately pressured the early pace. Trying to get loose on the front end was 33.75-to-1 eighth choice Love to Tango, who ran remarkably even quarter-mile splits of 23.53, 23.37, and 23.51, but No Parole was right at the front-runner's throatlatch by the second quarter with jockey Jorge Chavez keeping him in hand. Midway around the turn, the New York-bred pushed his head in front, but Love to Tango stayed with him before falling back in the final furlong, as the fourth quarter-mile split went in an impressive 23.57 to give No Parole an eye-catching final time of 1:33.98. Finishing a length back was Love to Tango, with the two producing a $2 exacta that paid $1,235. It was the second consecutive outing under Chavez for No Parole, who was entered into the $44,000 contest with a $60,000 claiming tag, and it marked his first turf victory in three outings over grass.
No Parole's first victory since winning an open allowance in the mud at Aqueduct in November of 2002 increased his earnings by $26,400 to $391,349 and improved his record to 5 - 2 - 9 in 29 starts, which also includes a victory in Belmont's 2002 Mike Lee Stakes plus three graded-placings. It also qualified owner Mina of Five Oak Farm in Saratoga Springs, who had purchased the New York-bred for $20,000 at Fasig-Tipton's 2000 Saratoga sale of preferred yearlings, for a $2,640 open race owner award. No Parole races under the care of trainer Joseph Aquilino, who after the gelding's August 19 fifth-place effort under Chavez in Saratoga's 6 1/2-furlong John Morrissey Stakes for New York-bred non-stakes winners of 2004 had given him a three-furlong "bullet" workout over Saratoga's Oklahoma training track on September 2. No Parole has two wet track wins and had placed second in Meadowlands' Grade 2 Pegasus -- beaten only a head -- in slop, so Aquilino probably would not have minded if rain had forced the contest off the turf and onto slop, but rain was delayed, and No Parole won anyway.
Bred by Dr. William Coyro Jr. of Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan, who qualified for a $2,640 breeder award, No Parole is by Eclipse Champion Sprinter Lit de Justice and is the first of two New York-bred offspring -- both winners -- produced from stakes-placed winner Suddenly Victoria, by Bates Motel. Dr. Coyro initially acquired Suddenly Victoria through the claiming ranks for $25,000 after she had won with claiming tags at Delaware and Garden State, and when the then three-year-old filly eventually was tried at five furlongs on turf, she won a Meadowlands allowance and placed third in a stakes. She later was claimed for $20,000 at Aqueduct by Frank Stronach, who the following year bred her to Lit de Justice (standing at Stronach's Adena Springs Farm in Kentucky for a $20,000 fee) and consigned her to Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's 1998 November sale, where Dr. Coyro re-acquired her for $21,000. The foal that Suddenly Victoria was carrying at the time Dr. Coyro bought her was No Parole, who was foaled at Dr. Jerry Bilinski's Waldorf Farm in North Chatham. Brisnet Chart

(9/16) Confident Cat cruises gate-to-wire in one-mile turf allowance
Royally-bred to be a main track sprinter but now two-for-two on turf in his latest pair of outings, Chester and Mary Broman's homebred CONFIDENT CAT went gate-to-wire in Belmont's nightcap ninth race on Thursday, a $44,000 restricted N1X allowance for three-year-olds and up going a virtual one-turn mile on turf. The three-year-old colt went off as the 5.30-to-1 third choice among 12 starters with Richard Migliore race-riding him for the first time and broke on top from the sixth post position, opening up a clear lead while hugging the hedge and setting fractions of 23.13, 46.24, and 1:10.25. At mid-stretch, Confident Cat's margin was up to seven lengths, which 8.90-to-1 sixth choice Shhh Please narrowed to one length in the final furlong but never seriously threatened the winner, who reached the wire in a final time of 1:35.26. It was the second winning ride of the day for jockey Migliore, who also had piloted the winner of Thursday's opening race.
Trained by John Kimmel, who had given the colt three workouts over Saratoga's turf training course after he had broken his maiden going a mile and a sixteenth on Saratoga grass on August 4, Confident Cat increased his earnings by $26,400 to $74,970. He also qualified the Bromans for a $5,280 breeder award while improving his overall record to 2 - 2 - 1 in six starts, with his only unplaced effort having come in his 5 1/2-furlong debut at Belmont last year as a two-year-old, when he had finished fourth among 10. After almost a 10-month layoff following his last outing as a juvenile in October at Belmont, Kimmel -- who is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Veterinary School -- had brought the bay colt back to competition at Saratoga in August as a middle distance grass runner.
Confident Cat's owner-breeders, the Bromans of West Babylon, own Chestertown Farm in Chestertown along with a general contracting business and also bred and raced New York-bred 2004 Grade 1 Florida Derby winner Friends Lake -- named after a lake adjacent to their property. Confident Cat is from the first crop of Eclipse Champion Sprinter and former New York stallion Artax, whose owner at the time of the colt's conception at Center Brook Farm in Climax, Ernie Paragallo's Paraneck Stallions, qualified for a $1,848 stallion award. Confide