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

(10/31) Shhh Please shines in Halloween allowance
Coming off two consecutive second-place efforts on Belmont turf, Joseph Gerrity Jr.'s homebred SHHH PLEASE rallied three wide on the second turn to capture Aqueduct's sixth race on Halloween Sunday, a $44,000 restricted N1X allowance for three-year-olds and up going a mile and an eighth on grass. The three-year-old gelding had jockey Shaun Bridgmohan on board for the second successive time and went off as the 3.75-to-1 second choice among 11 wagering interests and 12 starters in the two-turn turf contest, breaking towards the back from the ninth post position. Bridgmohan hustled him forward to contend with the pace from the outside, as almost a 10-horse traffic jam developed going into the second turn, but Shhh Please held his third-place position through the first half-mile as 11.75-to-1 11th choice Dynomynt set the pace. Coming out of the second turn, Bridgmohan's mount had both the lead and the rail, and through the stretch the long-striding and high-headed runner steadily increased his advantage, winning by a length and a quarter over six-year-old 82.25-to-1 tenth choice Royal Rapids. Favored Nick the Noodge (2.20-to-1), who had been agitated in the starting gate prior to the break, closed from ninth place but was beaten by a neck out of third place by 5.90-to-1 third choice Redefined, who finished a neck behind Royal Rapids.
Shhh Please's victory increased his earnings by $26,400 to $75,926 while improving his record to 2 - 2 - 1 in 12 starts and also qualified owner-breeder Gerrity of Little Farm in Newtonville for an additional $5,280 breeder award. Just four days earlier, another of Gerrity's New York homebreds, May-foaled two-year-old Swell, had won a six-furlong restricted maiden special at Aqueduct by 3 1/4 lengths as the youngest participant among eight starters. Both are conditioned by New York Thoroughbred Breeders 1979 Trainer of the Year Ramon (Mike) Hernandez, who had given Shhh Please an easy five-furlong workout on Belmont's dirt training track on October 26 -- 12 days after the gelding's second consecutive runner-up effort. The bay New York-bred had broken his maiden by 2 1/2 lengths going a virtual one-turn mile on grass at Belmont in October of 2003.
Sunday's victory by Shhh Please increased the 2004 progeny earnings for his New York-based sire, syndicated Williamstown (Seattle Slew - Winter Sparkle, by Northjet), to over $1.2-million, and it boosted Williamstown's cumulative progeny earnings to almost $9.9-million from seven crops to race. Williamstown, whose partnership owners at the time of Shhh Please's conception qualified for a $1,848 stallion award as a result of the gelding's victory, stands at Metropolitan Stud (managed by Michael and Debra Lischin) in Pine Plains, where his 2004 fee was $5,000, live foal. Shhh Please is the fourth winner and second New York-bred winner produced from Majestic River, a winning daughter of Irish River that Gerrity apparently had purchased for $3,700 (through Tyson Gilpin, agent) at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's 1996 December mixed sale in Timonium, Maryland. Majestic River is a half-sister to stakes winners Royal Sporan and Runs Like a Prince and to the granddam of multiple stakes winner French Teacher ($398,030 through 2003). A Hypo-Mating check of Shhh Please's pedigree reveals that he is distantly inbred (4 x 4) to Royal Charger, to whose son, Turn-to, sire Williamstown is inbred 3 x 5. Brisnet Chart

(10/31) Soft Expression expresses love of distance in maiden win
Stretched out an extra quarter-mile to a full one-turn mile for her second start and put on Lasix medication, Marbet Farm's homebred SOFT EXPRESSION romped by 4 3/4 lengths under jockey Jorge Chavez in Aqueduct's $42,000 Sunday Halloween opener for New York-bred maiden two-year-old fillies. Seventeen days earlier, Chavez had taken her up in her Belmont debut to avoid fallen rivals, resulting in an unplaced finish, but trainer Edward Plesa Jr. had maintained her fitness with an easy mile workout at Belmont and sent her off as the 8-to-1 fourth choice among seven starters. From the end of the opening half-mile to mid-stretch, the contest looked like a match-up between the top two choices, odds-on What's Your Point (.55-to-1) and 3.85-to-1 pacesetter Champagne Ending, with Soft Expression pursuing in fourth place and dropping over to the rail on the turn. She reached the upper stretch with only the two front-end contenders ahead of her but looked destined to finish third before a late switch to her right lead as Chavez angled her out from the rail, after which Soft Expression seemed to kick in, taking command and pulling clear. Champagne Ending and What's Your Point placed second and third, respectively.
Campaigned by the Marbet Farm of Richard Horigan but bred by Elizabeth Tesiero of Marbet Farm in Amsterdam, Soft Expression picked up $25,200 in purse money for her maiden victory, establishing her earnings in two starts at $25,472, and she also qualified breeder Tesiero for a $5,040 breeder award. The dark bay filly is the sixth New York-bred two-year-old winner at Belmont or Aqueduct sired from the first crop of New York-based Western Expression (Gone West - Tricky Game, by Majestic Light), whose owner, Carl Lizza Jr.'s Flying Zee Stable of Wharton, New Jersey, qualified for a $1,764 stallion award. Other winners by Western Expression, who stands at Lizza's and Joseph Bartone's Highcliff Farm in Delanson, include Winning Expression, who also has placed second in Belmont's open Flash (Grade 3) and Tremont Stakes, plus other mile winners Square Dancing (on turf at Belmont) and Everythings Groovy (at Aqueduct, October 28). Although Western Expression, who stood the 2004 season for a fee of $10,000, live foal, missed by only a head from being a Grade 1 winner at seven furlongs (in Aqueduct's 2000 Carter Handicap), even his most precocious progeny seem to thrive as the distances stretch out.
Soft Expression is the second multiple winner bred in New York by Tesiero from Soft Turquoise, a route-winning daughter of the Grade/Group 1 turf winning Mr. Prospector stallion, Procida. Soft Turquoise, who is a half-sister to multiple stakes winner Accomodator ($217,707 through 2003), stakes-placed winner Yen for Gold ($176,267 and dam of two stakes-placed winners), and to the granddam of stakes winner Field Cat ($309,833), had been purchased at a Saratoga two-year-olds in training sale for $25,000 in 1993. A Hypo-Mating check of Soft Expression's pedigree reveals that she is inbred 3 x 3 to Mr. Prospector and 4 x 4 x 5 to Mr. Prospector's sire, Raise a Native. Brisnet Chart

(10/31) Gates Avenue swings to forefront vs. open claimers as NY-breds run 1-2
Two New York-breds among nine starters ran in Aqueduct's fifth race on Halloween Sunday, a 6 1/2-furlong contest for three-year-olds with claiming prices of $40,000 (eight starters) and $35,000 (one starter), and those two Empire State-breds -- winner GATES AVENUE and Sum Marval -- finished 1-2 and only a half-length apart. Gates Avenue, a homebred competing with a $40,000 tag for William Punk Jr. and Philip DiLeo and race-ridden for the 12th time by jockey Jose Espinoza, went off as the 9.30-to-1 fifth choice among eight wagering interests and raced on the outside in third place through a 45.93 half-mile. He rallied three wide out of the turn and opened up a three-length mid-stretch advantage off a 1:11.60 six-furlong fraction, but then had to dig in to hold off So Madcapt Stable's homebred Sum Marval, who closed 2 1/2 lengths on his fellow New York-bred rival in the final furlong. New York-breds picked up 80 percent of the race's total purse of $35,000.
Trained by David Donk, Gates Avenue boosted his earnings by $21,000 to $137,578 off a record to 5 - 1 - 0 in 13 starts, and he also qualified his owners for an additional $4,200 open race owner award and his breeder and co-owner, Punk of Manhassett, for a $4,200 breeder award. Sum Marval's owner and breeder, the So Madcapt Stable and Michael Cascio, qualified for open race owner and breeder awards totaling $1,400 ($700 each) as a result of the effort by that colt, who also ran with a $40,000 claiming price. Gates Avenue has won four races on dirt at Aqueduct -- three times on the outer track and once on the inner -- and this past July he had tallied at Belmont going a two-turn mile and a sixteenth on turf with a $50,000 claiming price, scoring all his victories under Espinoza.
Gates Avenue is among 36 winners in 2004 from three crops of racing age sired by New York stallion Rodeo (Gone West - Wewarrenju, by Damascus), whose syndicate owners qualified for a $1,470 stallion award as a result of the chestnut colt's Halloween afternoon victory. Sire of New York-bred open Fashion Stakes winner Rodeo Licious, Rodeo stands at Gus Schoenborn Jr.'s Contemporary Stallions in Coxsackie, where his 2004 fee was $3,000, live foal, and Gates Avenue's Halloween victory has pushed Rodeo's cumulative progeny earnings to about $2,225,000, with his 2004 progeny earnings exceeding $1.3-million. Punk and DiLeo also are the owners and breeders of Gates Avenue's four-year-old full brother, Nick the Vest, who broke his maiden at Aqueduct in February by coming from off the pace at a mile and a sixteenth under Espinoza. Nick the Vest and Gates Avenue are the first two offspring produced from Erins Eyes, who is by Boundary (by Danzig) and was purchased by Punk and DiLeo for $135,000 at Fasig-Tipton's 1997 Saratoga select yearling sale. A Hypo-Mating check of Gates Avenue's pedigree reveals that he is inbred 3 x 4 x 4 to Hall of Fame member and prominent sire Damascus, with dam Erins Eyes being inbred 3 x 3 to Damascus and sire Rodeo being out of a Damascus mare. Brisnet Chart

(10/31) Indelible Image dominates open claimers with gate-to-wire win
Twelve days after placing third going a sloppy off-the-turf mile and a sixteenth at Meadowlands with a $40,000 claiming price, New York-bred INDELIBLE IMAGE went gate-to-wire in Aqueduct's $35,000 third race on Sunday for three-year-old fillies with $35,000 claiming tags at a two-turn mile on turf. With jockey Aaron Gryder, who had ridden her in nine previous races, again on board and favored at 1.30-to-1 among seven wagering interests and eight starters, the bay filly broke on top and opened up a lead that grew to seven lengths at mid-stretch -- despite being under wraps. Allowed to just gallop out her final furlong but still completing her final quarter-mile split in 24.78 seconds, Indelible Image reached the wire with a length and three-quarters margin over Let's Roll Lady, who was half of an entry with third-place finisher Brackenber that was the 3.90-to-1 second choice.
Owned by the partnership of Craig Allison, Mitchell Greenspan, and Mitchell Klafter and trained by Scott Lake, Indelible Image increased her earnings by $21,000 to $92,842 while improving her record to 3 - 2 - 3 in 17 starts and also qualified her owners for an additional $2,100 open race owner award. The New York-bred had been purchased for $11,000 out of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2003 April sale of two-year-olds in training in Ocala, Florida and had broken her maiden going a one-turn mile on Aqueduct's outer main track in November of 2003. Introduced to turf racing at Belmont on May 26 of 2004, she had won with a $50,000 claiming price and subsequently has compiled a turf record of 2 - 2 - 2 in nine starts.
Sired by Irish-bred U.S. Grade 2 turf winner Sword Dance, by Nijinsky II, Indelible Image was bred by the Sez Who Thoroughbreds of Richard Simon of Aventura, Florida, who owns Sez Who Thoroughbreds North LLC in Stillwater and qualified for a $2,100 breeder award because of the filly's Halloween victory. Indelible Image is the first offspring produced from Musical Diablo, a winning daughter of Diablo (by Devil's Bag) that Simon's New Dawn Stud had purchased for $22,000 at Keeneland's 2000 November sale in Lexington, Kentucky when she was carrying Indelible Image. Musical Diablo is a half-sister to juvenile stakes winner Musical Sweep ($133,672). Indelible Image is inbred 4 x 5 to Somethingroyal through that champion broodmare's two most famous sons, Secretariat and Sir Gaylord. Brisnet Chart

(10/29) Joshua's Jet captures open allowance at Aqueduct
Adam and Donald Newman's JOSHUA'S JET made his third appearance against open company allowance horses a winning one, today, at Aqueduct Racetrack. Taking advantage of the favorable "Restricted" company condition, trainer Tom Bush entered Joshua's Jet into a 6-1/2-furlong race and named journeyman jockey Pablo Fragoso to ride the 6-year-old chestnut gelding. A small field of six-horses went to the post over the main track, listed "fast".
New York-bred Show Boot, who won his first three starts, before being sidelined with some physical problems, went to the front and led the field through an opening first quarter in 22.4 seconds. Joshua's Jet rated at the back of the field during the early running before making a four-wide move on the far turn. At the top of the stretch, Show Boot opened up by three-lengths but couldn't hold off a determined Joshua's Jet, who drew off in the late stages to win by 2-lengths. Show Boot held for second to complete the New York-bred exacta and Runs in the Family finished third. Final time was 1:17.1 seconds.
Bred by Donald Newman, who qualified for a $5,640 breeder's award, and together with partner Adam Newman, qualified for a $5,640 open owner's award for today's score. Joshua's Jet, now the winner of $139,320 in 20-starts, is by A. P Jet, and is out of the Dr. Blum mare, Rebecca Lauren, an allowance winner of $167,479 and a half-sister to the stakes-placed and multiple allowance winning Rebecca's Gal, by Lord Durham. Owned by a syndicate, who qualified for a $1,974 stallion owner's award, A. P Jet stands at Howard Kaskel's beautiful Sugar Maple Farm in Poughquag, New York. Sire of the undefeated stakes winning two-year-old standout, Galloping Grocer, A. P Jet has progeny earnings of over $2-million in 2004, which places him fifth on the leading New York-based stallion standings, which is updated weekly by the courtesy of Blood-Horse publications. Checking the Hypo-mating feature on the nybreds.com homepage reveals that Joshua's Jet crosses 4 X 3 to the brilliantly fast Dr. Fager. Hypo-Mating | Brisnet Chart

(10/29) Blues Highway prevails in state-bred turf allowance at Big A.
Joanne T. Nielsen's homebred, BLUES HIGHWAY, winless since May 9, 2003, defeated a field of state-bred allowance horses, today, at Aqueduct Racetrack under journeyman jockey Pablo Fragoso, who won four races on the Friday racing card. The NW-2X condition allowance for state-breds was run at a mile over Aqueduct's turf course, listed "firm," and had a field of 10-horses go to the starting gate. Trainer H. James Bond, four-time winner of the NYTB Trainer of the Year honors, worked the four-year-old dark bay gelding three-times in a period of 13-days leading up to today's race.
True Crimson opened up a clear lead in the run around the first turn and down the backstretch reaching the half-mile pole in a snappy 46.4 seconds. Ryan is Flying, part of the Leo O'Brien trained entry along with Theconfidenceman, tracked in second and Blues Arrow rated in third. Fragoso kept Blues Holiday down along the hedges in fourth-position throughout the race and as the field entered the top of the stretch began to gain on Theconfidenceman who had circled the field around the far turn. Under a strong drive, Blues Highway put a head in front inside the sixteenth-pole and resolutely held his advantage to win by a neck over game Theconfidenceman, who finished four-lengths in front of Nooligan. Final time was 1:35.2 seconds.
Joanne Nielsen, of Darien, Connecticut, and owner of Sunnyfield Farm in Bedford, New York, bred Blues Highway in partnership with her late husband, Jerry, former President of the New York Thoroughbred Breeders. The colt is a half-brother to 2001 New York-Bred Champion Turf Male I'm All Yours ($385,912) and 2002 Grade 3 Bay Shore Stakes winner Roman Dancer ($267,949), being the fifth winner bred by the Nielsens in New York from their New York homebred multiple allowance winner, Phalanopsis, by Cormorant. Phalanopsis, who won twice at Aqueduct, was named after a butterfly orchid.
Today's victory boosts Blues Highway's earnings over the century mark, now at $110,250 in 11-starts, and qualified Mrs. Nielsen for a $5,520 breeder's award. The victory also qualified Michael Watral of Central Islip, Long Island, who had owned the three-year-old's now-deceased New York-based sire, Dixie Brass, for a stallion award of $1,932. Grade 1 NYRA winner Dixie Brass had raced for Watral, a fire-fighting veteran of 40 years who owns an excavating business. Brisnet Chart

(10/29) Polish Crown breaks maiden at Big A.
Mrs. E. Paul Robsham's POLISH CROWN, making her sixth career start, defeated a field of state-bred maiden fillies and mares at Aqueduct Racetrack. The one-turn one-mile affair was run over the main track, listed "fast," and had a field of 8-horses go to the starting gate. Polish Crown, who finished second in her last start over the turf, is trained by Stanley Hough and was ridden to victory by journeyman jockey Joe Bravo.
Longshot (64-1) Berkshire Princess led the field onto the main track from the chute reaching the half-mile in 46.3 seconds before giving way to Wayward Liz who took the field to the top of the stretch with Polish Crown rating in second. Under a drive, Polish Crown dug in and caught Wayward Liz inside the eighth-pole and prevailed by three-quarter lengths over a fast closing Rushing Force, who trailed the field in the early going. Wayward Liz held for third money. Final time was 1:39.1 seconds.
Bred by the late E. Paul Robsham, whose estate qualifies for a $5,040 breeder's award, Polish Crown is by Polish Pro, and is out of the Cox's Ridge mare, Winter Crown, a half-sister to the multiple Grade 1 - winner Bien Bien (Manila) who earned $2,331,875. Sired by Mr. Prospector, Polish Pro, whose connections qualify for a $1,764 stallion owner's award, stands at Jonathan Davis' Milfer Farm in Unadilla. Hypo-Mating | Brisnet Chart

(10/28) Ginger N Sugar wins by 2 1/4 off 8-month layoff
Showing she has not lost a step and might even be faster, Gabrielle Farm's and Dennis Kalick's three-year-old GINGER N SUGAR came off an eight-month layoff to score a front-running 2 1/4-length victory in Aqueduct's six-furlong sixth race on Thursday, a $45,000 restricted N2X allowance for fillies and mares. The swift filly broke from the inside post position under jockey Eibar Coa as the odds-on (.95-to-1) choice among eight distaff starters, three-year-olds and up, and although challenged by 2.90-to-1 second choice Hurricane Hannah through fractions of 22.04 and 45.25, she never relinquished the rail or the lead. At mid-stretch, Ginger N Sugar led Hurricane Hannah by a length off a five-eighths fraction of 57.49, and she pulled away in the final furlong, finishing in 1:10.75 as 9-to-1 fourth choice Nevaeh overtook a weakening Hurricane Hannah for second-place money.
Ginger N Sugar's third win under a different jockey in four starts increased her earnings by $27,000 to $86,000 for the Gabrielle Farm of John Acierno of Brooklyn and co-owner Kalick while under the care of 2002 New York Thoroughbred Breeders Trainer of the Year Richard Dutrow Jr. She had won her juvenile debut by three lengths at Aqueduct last December, had placed a close second almost seven weeks later at Aqueduct, and had romped by 9 1/2 in a restricted N1X Aqueduct allowance five weeks after that in February -- all going six furlongs on the inner track. In preparation for her return, trainer Dutrow had given the dark bay filly easy three-furlong and half-mile workouts on Aqueduct's inner track on September 2 and 10, respectively, and then had put her through a sharp five-furlong drill on Aqueduct's outer track a week prior to Thursday's victory (October 21). Dutrow had signed the sales slip at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's 2003 May sale of two-year-olds in training in Timonium, Maryland, purchasing Ginger N Sugar for $40,000 -- 18 months after the filly had been sold for $5,000 as a weanling at Keeneland's 2001 November sale.
Bred by Michael Sloan of Las Vegas, Nevada, who qualified for a $5,400 breeder award, Ginger N Sugar is among 36 winners from the first two crops of Gold Token (Mr. Prospector - Connie's Gift, by Nijinsky II), a record-setting stakes winner standing at Howard Kaskel's Sugar Maple Farm in Poughquag. Gold Token, whose syndicate connections qualified for a $1,890 stallion award as a result of Ginger N Sugar's latest victory, has out three stakes winners in 2004, and another of his stakes winners, New York-bred Golden Damsel ($241,502), is graded-placed in 2004. The stallion stood for a fee of $3,500, live foal, in 2004. Ginger N Sugar was conceived and foaled at Louis Salerno's Questroyal Stud in Hudson, where Gold Token was standing in 2000, and she is the fourth starter and fourth winner produced from multiple stakes-placed winner Northern Nation, whom Questroyal Stable had purchased for $10,000 at Keeneland's 1999 November sale. Northern Nation, who is by Northrop (by Northern Dancer) and out of stakes winner Great Nation, is a half-sister to stakes-placed winner Onward and to the dam of stakes winner Imallzealedup ($339,324). A Hypo-Mating check of Ginger N Sugar's pedigree reveals that she is inbred 3 x 4 to Northern Dancer and 4 x 5 to both Nashua and Native Dancer. Brisnet Chart

(10/28) Everythings Groovy pulls away by 3 in maiden mile opener
Stretched out to a one-turn mile and put on Lasix medication, Flying Zee Stable's homebred juvenile, EVERYTHINGS GROOVY, pulled away to win by three lengths in his second start, thoroughly dominating Aqueduct's Thursday $42,000 opener for New York-bred maiden two-year-olds. With Cornelio Velasquez race-riding him for the first time, the dark bay colt went off as the 3.05-to-1 second choice among nine starters, racing near the back of the tightly-packed field (less that four lengths separated first from ninth after the opening quarter) going down the backstretch. Setting the pace was 3.10-to-1 third choice Dr. Quirk, but Everythings Groovy rallied three wide into the stretch and wrested command from that frontrunner before reaching mid-stretch although he continued running on his left lead and looked like he wanted to drift in through the upper stretch. In the final furlong, Velasquez's mount doubled his margin over Dr. Quirk, who placed a clear second, even while continuing to stay on his left lead. Favored Frankie Peppers (2.55-to-1), who had stalked Dr. Quirk in second place through most of the race, finished third.
Bred and owned by the Flying Zee Stable of Carl Lizza Jr. of Wharton, New Jersey, Everythings Groovy earned $25,200 to put his total bankroll in two starts at $25,318, and he also qualified Flying Zee Stable for a total of $6,804 in breeder ($5,040) and stallion ($1,764) awards. The colt had finished seventh in his October 10 Belmont debut going seven furlongs, and 13 days later trainer Carlos Martin had given him a fairly solid five-furlong workout at Belmont. Everythings Groovy is the fifth NYRA two-year-old winner from the first crop of Flying Zee Stables' New York-based Western Expression (Gone West - Tricky Game, by Majestic Light), who stands at Lizza's and Joseph Bartone's Highcliff Farm in Delanson, where his fee was $10,000, live foal, in 2004. Western Expression's other runners include Belmont debut winners Winning Expression, who also has placed second in Belmont's open Flash (Grade 3) and Tremont Stakes; Square Dancing, a filly who won going a mile on turf; and three-length Belmont winner Summerland, plus four-length Belmont winner (in his second start) Western Galaxy.
Everythings Groovy is the fifth offspring and fifth New York-bred winner produced from Flying Zee Stables' New York homebred broodmare, Groovy's Fairest, by Groovy, being a half-brother to six-time route winner Apt Contender ($135,245) and to 2004 Philadelphia Park allowance winner Fair Prospect (four wins in 2004). Dam Groovy's Fairest is a half-sister to two six-figure-earning New York-breds, and her dam, the turf-winning Tom Rolfe mare Fairy Queen, had been purchased by Lizza as a yearling for $45,000 at Keeneland's 1989 September sale in Lexington, Kentucky. A Hypo-Mating check of Everythings Groovy's pedigree reveals that he is distantly inbred to stamina sires Buckpasser (4 x 4) and Ribot (4 x 5) as well as to Kentucky Derby-Preakness winner Majestic Prince (4 x 5) and that Western Expression is inbred 3 x 4 to Raise a Native. Brisnet Chart

(10/28) Be My Prince arrives in time for nose win in turf maiden
Equipped with blinkers for the first time and honed with three October workouts at Belmont, Parma Stable's three-year-old BE MY PRINCE got up in the final stride to win Aqueduct's ninth race nightcap for New York-bred maidens, three-year-olds and up, going a mile and a sixteenth on turf. In five previous outings, he had never turned in a bad effort while sprinting on Saratoga's fast main track or routing on Belmont slop or turf (all his dirt starts had come off the turf), and those credentials earned him 2.40-to-1 favoritism among 10 starters in the $42,000 contest. Race-ridden for the first time by Javier Castellano, Be My Prince raced in hand in third and fourth place while 2.75-to-1 second choice Dave set most of the pace and rallied three wide out of the turn, advancing to within a length and a half of Dave at mid-stretch. Dave, who had made a bold move going into the second turn but was late switching leads in the stretch, stayed in front almost to the wire, with his gray/roan rival catching him on the outside at the finish. For jockey Castellano, it was the second consecutive winning ride on the card.
Owned by James DiDonato's Parma Stable and conditioned by New York Thoroughbred Breeders 1995 co-Trainer of the Year Angel Penna Jr., Be My Prince increased his earnings by $25,200 to $52,500 and improved his record to 1 - 2 - 2 in six starts. His only unplaced effort had been a close fourth-place finish 36 days earlier going a mile and an eighth on Belmont turf, when the fourth-place and six-place finishers in Thursday's nightcap, 6.30-to-1 Here's Ya Souvenir and 5.70-to-1 Rose's Jet Stream, had placed third and fourth, respectively. Trainer Penna had signed the sales slip purchasing Be My Prince as a two-year-old for $7,200 at Fasig-Tipton's October 2003 horses of racing age sale at Belmont, to which RGH Partnership and co-breeder Rita Nash had consigned the colt.
Sired by former New York stallion Husband, Be My Prince qualified the owner of Husband at the time of Be My Prince's conception at Howard Kaskel's Sugar Maple Farm in Poughquag, the John A. Nerud Revocable Trust, for a $1,764 stallion award. Be My Prince is the first winner produced from English-bred Princess Pamgaddy, who won three times on English turf at two and three before crossing the pond to race for Be My Prince's co-breeders, Rita Nash and Robert Hamilton -- the latter of Allamuchy, New Jersey -- while being trained by Nash. For Nash and Hamilton, who jointly qualified for a $5,040 breeder award as a result of Be My Prince's Thursday victory, Princess Pamgaddy had won going a mile and a sixteenth on Belmont's main track in 1998. Princess Pamgaddy, who is by Petong and is inbred 3 x 4 to Tudor Melody, is a half-sister to Norwegian classic St. Leger-placed winner Cherubini. Be My Prince has a dosage profile (3-1-2-1-1) that suggests he might be able to run all day. Brisnet Chart

(10/28) Emptor outgames open maiden claimers with $35K tag
Hall of Fame Trainer John A. Nerud increased his assets four different ways at Aqueduct on Thursday: His "Revocable Trust" qualified for a $1,764 stallion award because the New York-bred nightcap winner was by a New York-based stallion it had owned, and the fourth race winner was his homebred EMPTOR. The latter, a three-year-old filly that had been knocking on the door in restricted maiden special company on the NYRA circuit, was dropped by trainer Michael Hushion into an open six-furlong maiden claiming contest for fillies and mares, three-year-olds and up, with claiming prices ranging from $35,000 to $45,000. Hushion named Pablo Fragoso, who had guided Emptor to a third-place finish going a one-turn mile at Belmont in restricted maiden special company 41 days earlier, to ride her again, and the wagering public made the New York-bred with the $35,000 tag the 2.95-to-1 third choice among five starters. Emptor pressed the testing pace (22.30, 46.19, 58.89) of 2.05-to-1 second choice Winning Foursome while three wide through five furlongs and then got up on the outside to out-gut the new leader and 1.55-to-1 favorite, four-year-old Duck Down Under, in the final furlong, winning by a head. The favored four-year-old was spotting a pound in actual weight to her younger New York-bred rival as a result of her jockey's five-pound apprentice allowance, but Emptor was relentless as the wire approached and prevailed.
Emptor was the third consecutive winner sent out on Thursday by Hushion, the New York Thoroughbred Breeders 2000 Trainer of the Year who had given the dark bay filly sharp Belmont workouts going a half-mile and three furlongs on October 14 and 23 following her third-place finish on September 17. The victory increased Emptor's earnings by $11,400 to $36,649 and improved her record to 1 - 2 - 4 in 11 starts, and it also qualified Nerud, of Glen Cove, for an additional $2,280 open race owner award and his "Revocable Trust" for a $2,280 breeder award ($4,560 total). In addition, Nerud is a major shareholder in the New York-based sire of Emptor, A. P Jet (Fappiano - Taminette, by In Reality), whose syndicate connections qualified for a $798 stallion award. Emptor is the 127th winner from five crops sired by A. P Jet, who stands at Howard Kaskel's Sugar Maple Farm in Poughquag, where his 2004 fee was $5,000, live foal, and the stallion's three stakes winners in 2004 include Tavelator ($380,246) and unbeaten two-year-old sensation Galloping Grocer.
Emptor is the second offspring and second New York-bred winner produced from New York-bred multiple stakes-placed winner Berkshire Shopper ($124,730), by former New York stallion Carr de Naskra, being a half-sister to New York-bred four-time Belmont-Aqueduct winner Crouching Tiger. Berkshire Shopper, who is a half-sister to New York-bred stakes winners Shopping for Love ($613,669) and Shoppers Gold ($176,314) in addition to New York-bred stakes-placed winner Instant Genius, had been purchased $100,000 by the Nerud Revocable Trust at Keeneland's 1999 November sale when she was carrying Crouching Tiger. A Hypo-Mating check of Emptor's pedigree reveals that her sire, A. P Jet, is inbred 4 x 4 to Rough'n Tumble, and her dam, Berkshire Shopper, is inbred 4 x 4 to Bold Ruler. Brisnet Chart

(10/27) Red Snoony gets perfect trip in Big A allowance
In her second start off a two-month layoff for new trainer Scott Lake, three-year-old RED SNOONY enjoyed a perfect rail trip in Aqueduct's seventh race on Wednesday, a $44,000 restricted N1X allowance for fillies and mares, three-year-olds and up, winning the two-turn turf mile contest by a length and three-quarters. The chestnut filly was no surprise, going off as the 2.10-to-1 favorite among nine wagering interests and 10 starters with New York Thoroughbred Breeders 2002 Jockey of the Year John Velazquez -- the leading rider at Belmont's just-concluded fall meeting -- race-riding her for the first time. Velazquez kept the lawn-loving filly in third place and within three lengths of the pacesetter, 3.35-to-1 second choice (as half of an entry) Will Flirt, after an opening quarter-mile in 23.45 and allowed her to draft down the backstretch behind that front-runner and 26.25-to-1 ninth choice Schematic Design. For about a half-mile (the second quarter-mile split accelerated to 23-flat) and into the second turn, this drafting tactic also shielded Red Snoony from another draft -- a 12-mph north/northwesterly headwind -- and when Will Flirt drifted extremely wide approaching the stretch, it was like a gate had opened. Quickly slipping through along the rail, Velazquez's mount took command shortly after Will Flirt had set a six-furlong fraction of 1:11.55 and gained a length advantage over her at mid-stretch. At the finish, which she reached in a winning time of 1:37.05, Red Snoony's margin over the pacesetter had doubled, as 6.20-to-1 fourth choice Hollywood Wonder closed under co-topweight of 120 pounds to edge out a gamely hanging-on Will Flirt by a neck for second-place money.
Owned by the partnership of Ben Mondello, James DiNapoli and Prisco DeMercurio's Thrilling Finish Stables, Red Snoony boosted her earnings by $26,400 to $67,408 and improved her record to 2 - 0 - 3 in 16 starts with her second daylight margin victory of 2004 going a mile on turf. The filly had broken her maiden by 2 1/4 lengths when she was first tried on grass going a virtual one-turn mile at Belmont on May 21. After July, she was away from competition for almost two months, returning under Lake's care to finish fourth in a late course-altering effort at the restricted N1X level going a mile and a sixteenth on turf at Belmont on September 26. Lake had given Red Snoony one solid half-mile workout on Belmont's dirt training track on October 18 prior to sending her off for Wednesday's winning effort at the same distance she had raced in her maiden-breaking effort -- but this time going two turns.
A $17,000 purchase at Fasig-Tiption Midlantic's 2003 May sale of two-year-olds in training in Timonium, Maryland, Red Snoony had been a $6,000 sales yearling at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's auction in Ocala, Florida nine months prior to selling as a juvenile. Her breeder, the B. E. Stables of Boston entrepreneur and philanthropist Steve Belkin, qualified for both a $5,280 breeder award and a $1,848 stallion award ($7,128 total) as a result of the New York-bred filly's victory. B. E. Stables had stood Red Snoony's sire, the former New York-based Storm Cat stallion Storm of Angles, at Anne Morgan's and Tim Little's Mill Creek Farm in Stillwater at the time of Red Snoony's conception. Red Snoony is the first named offspring produced from B. E. Stables' homebred Nicky Soup, a multiple stakes-placed four-time route-winning daughter of Time for a Change whose winning half-siblings include stakes winners Bouncing Brave ($259,118), Choper ($137,916), and Long Suit ($136,962) as well as eight-time winner Thermopylae ($179,710). Brisnet Chart

(10/27) Slippery Slick rallies 3-wide to break maiden by 2 1/4
In his first start for new owners Saul and Max Kupferberg of Flushing, three-year-old SLIPPERY SLICK looped around front-end duelers Positive Gold and Storm Boot Gold coming out of the turn to capture Aqueduct's six-furlong Wednesday opener for New York-bred maidens by 2 1/4 lengths in 1:11.33. The dark bay colt had jockey Cornelio Velasquez race-riding him for the first time and looked like he had the two pacesetting contenders measured throughout the race, confirming his 1.40-to-1 favoritism among eight wagering interests and nine starters in the $41,000 restricted maiden special for three-year-olds and up. After setting a five-furlong fraction of 58.49, Slippery Slick reached the wire in 1:11.33, as Storm Boot Gold held on to place second and Positive Gold faded to fourth.
Trained by John Parisella since changing hands following three consecutive third-place efforts at Saratoga on August 9 and September 4 and at Belmont on October 7, Slippery Slick increased his earnings by $24,600 to $37,270 in five starts -- all in 2004 beginning with an unplaced Monmouth debut on July 17. He also qualified his breeder and former owner through his first four starts, Dennis Drazin, for a $4,920 breeder award. Slippery Slick is the 36th winner to represent recently pensioned New York stallion Distinctive Pro (Mr. Prospector - Well Done, by Distinctive) in 2004, pushing that stallion's progeny earnings for the year to almost $1.3-million and his cumulative progeny earnings to well over $35.3-million. Twenty-five-year-old Distinctive Pro resides at Howard Kaskel's Sugar Maple Farm in Poughquag, where his 2004 fee was $10,000, live foal, and his syndicate owners qualified for a $1,722 stallion award as a result of Slippery Slick's maiden victory.
Slippery Slick is the second offspring and second New York-bred winner that Drazin has bred from stakes-winning sprinter Know B's ($147,198), by Island Whirl, being a half-brother to multiple winner Sunnyridge Sam. Know B's had been purchased for $42,000 by Louis Salerno's Questroyal Stable at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's 1998 December mixed sale in Timonium, Maryland when she was a not-bred six-year-old mare right off the track. A Hypo-Mating check of Slippery Slick's pedigree reveals that he is inbred 3 x 4 to Raise a Native and that his dam, Know B's, is inbred 4 x 4 to Native Dancer. Brisnet Chart

(10/27) Swell lives up to name in 3 1/4-length maiden-breaking effort
In his second start wearing blinkers and dropping from seven furlongs to six, Joseph Gerrity Jr.'s homebred SWELL gained the rail position and held it through Aqueduct's entire third race on Wednesday for New York-bred maiden juveniles, winning by 3 1/4 lengths as the youngest participant in the six-furlong contest. He was coming off three consecutive unplaced efforts at Saratoga and Belmont going 5 1/2 furlongs (his debut) and seven furlongs (twice), and the betting public was understandably skeptical, sending the bay gelding off as the 5.20-to-1 fourth choice among seven wagering interests and eight starters. With jockey Jose Espinoza on board for the third consecutive outing, Swell broke from the seventh post position and immediately became engaged in a front-running duel with the top-breaking 1.65-to-1 favorite coming out of the eighth post, Jimmy the K, who was wearing blinkers for the first time. Espinoza's mount pushed his head in front in the opening quarter-mile, which he covered in 23.23, but Jimmy the K gained a brief and short lead on the turn while setting a half-mile fraction of 47.33. In the stretch, Swell drew clear, leading second choice challenger Goodtimes At Home (2.55-to-1) by 3 1/2 lengths at the eighth-mile pole off a 59.79 five-furlong fraction and basically maintaining that margin to the wire, as 3.40-to-1 third choice Tougher 'n Most edged Jimmy the K for third.
Conditioned by New York Thoroughbred Breeders 1979 Trainer of the Year Ramon (Mike) Hernandez, Swell picked up $24,600 for his maiden victory to put his earnings in four starts at $27,163 and also qualified his owner-breeder, Gerrity of Little Farm in Newtonville, for an additional $4,920 breeder award. He is the fourth winner and second New York-bred winner bred by Gerrity from seven-time winner Down South ($136,376), being a half-brother to New York-bred route-running filly But ($175,300), whom Down South was carrying when Louis Salerno's Questroyal Stable had purchased her for $30,000 at Keeneland's 1997 November sale. Gerrity also is the breeder of But. Swell was a late foal, arriving on May 31 of 2002.
Swell is the seventh winner of 2004 sired by New York-based Rage (Gulch - Waya, by Faraway Son), whose owner, former fire-fighting veteran and excavating business owner Michael Watral of Central Islip, Long Island, qualified for a $1,722 stallion award. Swell was conceived at James Edwards' The Stallion Park in Millbrook, where Rage stood the 2001 season, but Rage stood in 2004 at Elaine Peck's and Richard Quinn's Rhapsody Farm in Plymouth, where his fee was $2,500, live foal. Rage is a son of two Eclipse Champions and is a full or half-brother to three stakes winners. Swell's dam, Down South, is by Dixieland Band and is a half-sister to the dams of stakes winners Danger Crocodile ($255,231) and Timeless Twister. A Hypo-Mating check of Swell's pedigree reveals that he is distantly inbred (5 x 5) to both Native Dancer and Princequillo. Brisnet Chart

(10/24) Angel in Harlem shows versatility in 6F dirt win
A turf mile maiden special winner at Belmont in June, David Cassidy's and Edward Lipton's homebred ANGEL IN HARLEM proved her versatility by capturing Belmont's Sunday allowance opener for New York-bred fillies and mares going six furlongs on the main track, winning by a length and a quarter. The four-year-old was no surprise, going off as the 1.85-to-1 favorite among 10 starters in the $43,000 restricted N1X allowance event for female three-year-olds and up, and jockey Cornelio Velasquez, who had ridden her to third-place and second-place efforts at Saratoga and Belmont during September, obviously knew her well. Although 8-to-1 third choice Show Ready sprinted to a two-length lead with a 22.03 opening quarter-mile after ducking out and breaking last from the outside post, Angel in Harlem initially raced within about three lengths of the pacesetter and cut her margin to a length following a 45.20 half-mile. Velasquez's mount rallied three wide approaching the stretch to gain command near the eighth-mile pole and set a 57.57 five-eighths fraction, and in the final furlong she pulled clear under right-handed urging to score in 1:10.89, with 18.30-to-1 eighth choice Too Many Bubbles placing second over Show Ready.
The victory was worth $25,800 in purse money, increasing Angel in Harlem's bankroll to $91,226 and improving her record to 2 - 4 - 1 in nine starts while also qualifying the filly's breeder and co-owner, television and singing star David Cassidy, for an additional $2,580 breeder award. Angel in Harlem campaigns under the care of trainer Gary Contessa, who had given the New York-bred a half-mile "bullet" workout of 48 3/5 (fastest of 11) at Aqueduct a week earlier on October 17 and sent out two New York-bred winners on Belmont's Sunday fall meet closing-day card. The dark bay filly's latest previous outing had been 32 days earlier at Belmont on September 22, when she had placed a strong-closing second -- beaten only a neck -- in a restricted N1X allowance going six furlongs under Velasquez. Angel in Harlem did not race as a two-year-old or three-year-old, making her debut with the first of three consecutive second-place efforts on May 2 of 2004 at Aqueduct.
Angel in Harlem is by graded turf winner General Meeting and is a half-sister to five winners, including the dam of graded winner Crowned Dancer ($210,949 through 2003), being out of stakes winner Princess Caveat ($208,709), by Caveat. Breeder and co-owner Cassidy, who starred in the 1970s television sitcom The Partridge Family and has been active in racing and breeding for decades, had purchased Princess Caveat for $13,902 (in U.S. equivalent funds) at the 1998 Canadian Breeders Sales' September mixed sale at Woodbine. The mare is a half-sister to stakes winners King's Deputy ($247,379) and Misty Magic ($164,643). Princess Caveat's allowance-winning New York-bred daughter, Angel in Harlem, is inbred 4 x 4 to Raise a Native. Brisnet Chart

(10/24) Successfully Sweet tastes success by 8 1/2 lengths in MSW
Returning to competition just 13 days after a second-place Belmont debut in which she had closed more than five lengths on the winner in the final furlong, Richard Simon's homebred SUCCESSFULLY SWEET romped by 8 1/2 lengths in Belmont's six-furlong fifth race on Sunday for New York-bred maiden two-year-old fillies. Again ridden by Ariel Smith and favored at 1.60-to-1 among eight starters while on Lasix medication for the first time, the bay filly split rivals on the turn in time to set a 46.11 half-mile fraction and pulled away thereafter, clocking a 58.42 five-furlong fraction before finishing in 1:11.30. Second choice Great Lady K (2.05-to-1), who had tracked closely behind the winner for most of the race prior to losing contact with her in the stretch, placed second.
Successfully Sweet was the second New York-bred filly sent out to win at Belmont on Sunday by trainer Gary Contessa -- also conditioner of the victor in the allowance opener, Angel in Harlem. Her successful tally in the $41,000 restricted maiden special contest increased her earnings by $24,600 to $32,800 in two starts and also qualified owner-breeder Simon, who bred the filly in the name of his Sez Who Thoroughbreds, Inc., for an additional $2,460 breeder award. Simon, whose address is in Aventura, Florida, also maintains Sez Who Thoroughbreds North, LLC in Stillwater, where Successfully Sweet was foaled.
Sired by the multiple Grade 2-winning Valid Appeal stallion, Successful Appeal, Successfully Sweet is the first winner produced from Princess Meadowlak, a Meadowlake mare who is a half-sister to recent (October 17) Keeneland Grade 3 winner Molto Vita ($357,410) and out of graded winner Princess Polonia ($455,213), by Danzig. Simon had purchased Princess Meadowlak for $18,000 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 1999 April sale of two-year-olds in training in Ocala, Florida. Brisnet Chart

(10/24) Imafavoritetrick breaks maiden in first NYRA start
Claimed for $25,000 at Arlington Park on September 8, given four sharp Belmont half-mile workouts, and equipped with blinkers for the first time, Gumpster Stable's IMAFAVORITETRICK made his first NYRA outing a winning one, capturing Belmont's tenth race Sunday nightcap for New York-bred maiden three-year-olds and up. On the Arlington-Hawthorne circuit, the three-year-old had attempted a six-furlong sprint only in his May 1 debut before being tabbed as an eight-to-nine-furlong runner with turf possibilities, but trainer Bruce Levine confidently entered the gelding in Sunday's six-furlong nightcap, and Belmont fans favored him at 2.10-to-1 among 11 starters. Race-ridden for the first time by New York Thoroughbred Breeders 2003 Jockey of the Year Jose Santos, Imafavoritetrick raced close up and inside of the tightly-packed front-end contenders (only 3 1/4 lengths separated first from seventh following the opening quarter-mile) while 12.50-to-1 seventh choice Dirty Martini set the pace. The latter reeled off testing fractions of 22.80, 46.39, and 58.92, but Imafavoritetrick came wide for the stretch drive and advanced steadily down the middle of the track despite switching leads twice (to his left lead and then back to his right) in the final three-sixteenths of a mile. He collared a tiring Dirty Martini in the final furlong and drew clear to prevail by a length and a half over strong outside closer Run Along Sonny -- a four-year-old and the 5.20-to-1 third choice -- at the finish, winning in the time of 1:11.80. Dirty Martini finished third. For jockey Santos, it was the fourth winning ride on Belmont's fall meet-closing Sunday card.
Victory in the $41,000 restricted maiden special was worth $24,600 in purse money for Andrew Berg's Gumpster Stable LLC -- almost equaling Imafavoritetrick's acquisition claiming price 46 days earlier -- and boosted the bay gelding's earnings to $34,760 while improving his record to 1 - 1 - 1 in seven starts. The win also jointly qualified Imafavoritetrick's breeders, Becky Thomas and Lewis Lakin, for a $2,460 breeder award. Thomas and Lakin, who own Lakland North, LLC in Hudson where Imafavoritetrick was foaled, had consigned the New York-bred as a just-turned yearling through Lakland, agent to the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2002 January mixed sale in Florida, where Mac Fehsenfeld, the gelding's owner in Illinois, purchased him for $30,000.
Sired by 1997 Eclipse Champion Horse of the Year Favorite Trick -- one of 52 stakes winners sired by New York stallion Phone Trick -- Imafavoritetrick is the third starter and third winner produced from Colony Rose, a route-winning daughter of Pleasant Colony. Colony Rose, who is a half-sister to stakes-placed winners Ben Ali's Rullah ($175,362) and Tropico Cielo (dam of $1,025,243-earning Japanese stakes winner Ekolu Place) and to 20-time winner Superb Moment ($360,916), was purchased by Lakland Farm for $40,000 at Keeneland's 2000 November sale when she was carrying Imafavoritetrick. This also is the female family of New York-bred multiple stakes winner Judge Costa ($445,354). Brisnet Chart

(10/23) Click here for SHOWCASE DAY STAKES RECAP

(10/23) Pa Pa Da again shows excellent ability as turf miler
In his second start off a four-month layoff, John and Theresa Behrendt's homebred PA PA DA made a three wide move rounding the turn in Belmont's one-mile turf allowance opener on New York Showcase Saturday and finished with a half-length winning margin in 1:36.96 over the "good" grass course. The three-year-old gelding had New York Thoroughbred Breeders (NYTB) 2002 Jockey of the Year John Velazquez on board for the eighth -- and fourth consecutive -- time and went off as the 1.70-to-1 favorite among nine starters, three-year-olds and up, in the $44,000 restricted N1X allowance going a virtual one-turn mile. He raced close up on the outside while in hand for most of the contest and in the final furlong out-gutted fellow three-year-old Unnerving, the 3-to-1 co-second choice, for the victory, running with his distinctive head-bobbing and loping stride. For Velazquez, it was the first of four winning rides aboard New York-breds on Belmont's New York Showcase Day card.
As a 2003 juvenile, Pa Pa Da had won a Belmont maiden special turf mile by 3 1/2 lengths in 1:34.30 before placing second to future Grade 1 winner Friends Lake in Belmont's main track Sleepy Hollow Stakes and third in Aqueduct's six-furlong New York Stallion Great White Way Stakes. Introduced to turf at Gulfstream Park last winter, the New York-bred had placed third in the Grade 3 Palm Beach Stakes going a mile and an eighth on grass -- finishing only two lengths behind the expected 2004 Breeders' Cup Turf favorite, Kitten's Joy. Obviously, Pa Pa Da has stood up to some serious talent, but after he had finished fourth in a restricted N1X allowance turf mile at Belmont in early June, trainer David Donk had given him some time off. The bay gelding had returned to competition with a good-finishing second-place effort in a seven-furlong restricted N1X main track allowance at Belmont on October 2, and 15 days later Donk had given him a solid three-furlong workout on Belmont's training track. Pa Pa Da's second grass mile victory at Belmont increased his earnings by $26,400 to $128,390 and improved his record to 2 - 4 - 3 in 13 starts while also qualifying his breeder and co-owner, John Behrendt of New York City, for additional breeder ($5,280) and stallion ($1,848) awards totaling $7,128.
Among previous New York-breds raced by the Behrendts is Pa Pa Da's multiple graded-winning sire, Incurable Optimist, who as a 1998 juvenile won graded grass stakes at Belmont and Hollywood Park -- by 4 1/2 and nine lengths -- to earn three NYTB championship honors for 1998, including Horse of the Year. Incurable Optimist entered stud for the 2000 season as the property of the Behrendts at Carl Lizza Jr.'s and Joseph Bartone's Highcliff Farm in Delanson and was purchased by Argentine interests to stand in that country shortly after the conclusion of his first breeding season. Pa Pa Da is the fifth winner produced from Sligo River, who is by Mac Diarmida and whose stakes-winning half-sister, A Dream Above ($159,841), is the dam of millionaire graded winner Nite Dreamer ($1,149,841). Brisnet Chart

(10/23) Acey Deucey grabs big lead and holds on to break maiden
C D and G Stable's ACEY DEUCY gave a classic demonstration of how to steal a race in Belmont's second contest on New York Showcase Saturday, a seven-furlong restricted maiden special for two-year-old fillies going seven furlongs, opening up a 4 1/2-length mid-stretch lead before winning by a head. The architect of this tactic was jockey Diane Nelson, who was on board the filly for the second time in two starts, urging her through fractions of 22.75, 46.04, and 1:11.40 while racing well off the rail. In closest pursuit through most of the $41,000 contest was the 1.50-to-1 favorite among 11 starters, Chester and Mary Broman's regally-pedigreed homebred, Seeking the Ante (daughter of two multiple Grade 1-winning millionaires), who began rapidly closing the gap on Acey Deucy in the final furlong. Nelson glanced back and immediately utilized left-handed urging to drive her 3.85-to-1 second choice mount to the wire before time ran out. As the two fillies completed the race almost together, there was a 7 1/4-length gap back to the third-place finisher.
Owned by the C D and G Stable of Christopher Gallagher and trained by Robert Klesaris, who had given her a solid half-mile workout at Belmont five days earlier, Acey Deucey upped her earnings by $24,600 to $32,800 in two starts. The bay filly had made her debut under Nelson 34 days earlier at Belmont on September 19, placing second at six furlongs on a "good" track after chasing three wide down the backstretch and running greenly through the stretch. Trainer Klesaris had purchased Acey Deucy as agent for $35,000 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's April 2004 sale of two-year-olds in training in Ocala, Florida.
Bred by the Glen Gray Farm of Gary Mottola of Oakland, New Jersey, which qualified for a $4,920 breeder award, Acey Deucey is by former New York stallion Abaginone, whose syndicate owners when Acey Deucey was conceived at Louis Salerno's Questroyal Stud in Hudson qualified for a $1,722 stallion award. The juvenile filly is the sixth starter and sixth winner produced from Misty Mountains, by Al Nasr, and her five winning half-siblings include six-figure-earners Jim's Mistake ($210,060) and Eagle Peak ($133,255). Glen Gray Farm had purchased Misty Mountains, who is a half-sister to Grade 2 winner Glacial Stream ($273,203) and Grade 3 winner Cascading Gold ($225,050) and to the dams of millionaire sprinter Big Jag ($1,132,171) and Group 1 winner Republic Lass, for $20,000 at Keeneland's 2000 January sale. Brisnet Chart

(10/23) Cherokee Chief rules by 6 in maiden-breaking effort
Improving with each start, Chester and Mary Broman's homebred CHEROKEE CHIEF held his rail position and set all the fractions in Belmont's third race on New York Showcase Saturday, a $41,000 restricted maiden special for two-year-olds going seven furlongs, pulling away in the late stretch to win by six lengths. The wagering public had expected him to romp, sending the dark bay colt off as the odds-on (.90-to-1) favorite among seven starters with New York Thoroughbred Breeders (NYTB) 2003 Jockey of the Year Jose Santos race-riding him for the first time. The only surprise might have been the extent of his winning margin.
Conditioned by NYTB 1979 Trainer of the Year Ramon (Mike) Hernandez, who had given him a solid five-furlong workout on Belmont's training track five days earlier, Cherokee Chief increased his earnings by $24,600 to $34,130 in four starts while qualifying his owner-breeders, the Bromans, for an additional $2,460 breeder award. The colt had placed third in the slop in his August 13 Saratoga debut, then was steadied at the quarter-mile pole and finished fifth in a six-furlong Saratoga September 5 outing, followed by another third-placing -- beaten just 2 1/2 lengths for everything -- going a one-turn Belmont mile on October 1.
Cherokee Chief is by Eclipse Champion Sprinter Cherokee Run and out of Wild Gal, who is by Wild Again and is a half-sister to Grade 3 winner Positive Gal ($231,841) and to juvenile stakes winner Blacktie Bid, with his maternal granddam (second dam) being Grade 2 winner Degenerate Gal ($936,393). The Bromans, recently honored as outstanding New York breeders for 2003 by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, operate 300-acre Chestertown Farm in Chestertown and also reside in Babylon, Long Island near their construction trucking business. In the name of Chestertown Farm, they had purchased Cherokee Chief's dam, Wild Gal, for $125,000 at Keeneland's 1996 September yearling sale. Cherokee Chief's pedigree shows that he is an outcross (no inbreeding) through five generations, even though his sire, Cherokee Run, is inbred 4 x 4 to Nasrullah, and his dam, Wild Gal, is inbred 4 x 4 to Native Dancer. Brisnet Chart

(10/22) Star Celebrity captures open allowance feature
STAR CELEBRITY, making her eighth-career start and third against open company, won today's featured 8th race at Belmont Park. The NW-1X for fillies and mares who had never won a race other than Maiden, Claiming, Starter, or Restricted condition allowance, was contested by 9-horses, who raced over the main track at seven-furlongs. Edgar Prado rode the three-year-old daughter of Louis Quatorze, trained by the meet's leading trainer Todd Pletcher, to victory.
Edit It and Deputy Squealie vied for the early lead with Star Celebrity, who broke from the far outside post-position, rating just behind in third. The two front runners battled through an opening first half-mile in 46.4 seconds before Prado confidently moved Star Celebrity up to engage the leaders and once straightened for home took command. Under a drive, Star Celebrity held off a late run by Lawful Nice by half-length under the wire. Deputy Squealie held for third-money. Final time was 1:24.1 seconds.
Owned by the Green Hills Farm of Leo Liaskos of Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Star Celebrity was a $25,000 Keeneland November sales weanling in 2001 and a $47,000 Keeneland September sales yearling in 2002. Star Celebrity's fourth victory in eight-starts boosted her earnings by $28,200 and moves her lifetime earnings to $129,170 and also qualifies Liaskos for a $2,820 open company owner's award.
Bred by Greg Garofalo, who qualified for a breeder's award of $2,860, the talented New York-bred bay filly is the first offspring produced from Grade 3-placed winner Powerful Nation ($176,245), a Turkoman mare that breeder Garofalo bought as agent for $130,000 at Keeneland's 2000 November sale when she was carrying Star Celebrity. Powerful Nation is a half-sister to two stakes-placed winners. Brisnet Chart

(10/22) South Wing wires allowance field at Belmont Park
SOUTH WING, owned by the partnership of Howard T. Whitbred and Christine Brennan, led at every call to defeat a field of state-bred fillies and mares, today, at Belmont Park. The NW-2X condition allowance race was run at 8-1/2-furlongs over the main track, listed "fast" and had a field of 7-horses go to the post. Journeyman jockey Norberto Arroyo, Jr. was aboard the three-year-old dark bay filly, who went to the starting gate as the even-money favorite, and broke from the outside post-position.
South Wing was hustled to the front and led the field onto the main track from the chute as the field raced down the backstretch as Dixie Can Can and Watrals Lady Hanne, tracked in second and third, respectively. South Wing arrived at the three-quarter pole in 1:12 seconds flat opening a clear lead as the field straightened for home. Dixie Can Can and Bundle of Roses, in the middle of the track, began to gain on South Wing inside the sixteenth-pole and was all-out under a vigorous ride by Arroyo, prevailing by æ-length crossing the wire. Dixie Can Can finished second and Bundle of Roses was a close-up third. Final time was 1:44.2 seconds.
The victory was worth $27,600 in purse money and also qualified South Wing's breeder and co-owner, Whitbred of ATOKA Chase Farm in Middleburg, Virginia, for a $5,520 breeder award. South Wing is by deceased New York stallion Dixie Brass, sire of 33 stakes winners and owned during both his racing and stud career by Michael Watral, a 40-year fire-fighting veteran and operator of an excavating business in Central Islip, Long Island, who qualified for a $1,932 stallion award.
South Wing is the third offspring and third winner produced from New York-bred Palace Lady, a Belmont debut-winning daughter of His Majesty that Whitbred also bred, and is a half-sister to five-time winner (four of them in 2003) Lord Burleigh ($108,336) in addition to Lord Langfuhr. Dam Palace Lady is a half-sister to two New York-bred stakes winners bred by Whitbred -- Grade 2 winner Dr. Kiernan ($298,266) and Majesty's Time ($240,790) -- as well as to the winning New York-bred dam of 2003 stakes winner Waupaca ($141,565 through 2003). Trained by James Jerkens, the stakes-placed and multiple allowance winner has now banked $133,407 in only 7-races. Brisnet Chart

(10/22) Legendary Squire breaks maiden in Belmont Park nightcap
So MADCAPT Stable's LEGENDARY SQUIRE, making his second-career start and first over the turf, broke his maiden with a strong late move through the stretch. The state-bred maiden affair was run at nine-furlongs over Belmont Park's inner turf course, listed "yielding," and had a field of 10-horses load into the starting gate. Two of trainer Todd Pletcher's New York-breds made up the late daily double at Belmont.
Longshots Of All Time (40-1) and Slow Signal (75-1) dueled for the lead, as Legendary Squire rated in third-position under the guidance of the meet's leading jockey John Velazquez. The longshots continued to the three-quarter pole, reached in 1:13.2, before Velazquez moved Legendary Squire between horses to take the lead. While under a strong drive, the three-year-old chestnut colt, raced to the wire, holding off a late charge from Lethimthinkhesboss by a head. Final time was1: 51.3 seconds.
So MADCAPT Stable is a racing partnership, managed by Michael Cascio, and has had success campaigning New York-breds, which includes stakes winning fillies Maddie May and Capeside Lady, who both won the $100,000 Maid of the Mist Stakes run on New York Showcase Day. Bred by Martin Scheinman, who qualified for a $2,520 breeder's award, the promising colt is by Tale of the Cat, and out of the multiple turf winning allowance mare A Shaky Queen, by Wavering Monarch. A Shaky Queen raced 50-times over the turf, with a remarkable record of 12 - 8 - 3, and earned $231,191. So MADCAPT Stable purchased the colt out of the 2003 April OBS two-year-old in-training sales for $30,000. Brisnet Chart

(10/21) Say Cousin Lenny takes Belmont Park feature
Sandy Bacon's SAY COUSIN LENNY, under jockey Fernando Jara, won today's Belmont Park feature, a one-turn 8-1/2-furlong race for NW-2X condition allowance horses. The race was run over the main track, listed "fast", and had a field of six-horses go to the starting gate. Say Cousin Lenny is a half-brother to New York-breds Say Florida Sandy, winner of over $2-million and multiple open stakes winner Dancin Renee, winner of almost $500,000 and was bred by Sanford Bacon of Boca Raton, Florida. Mr. Bacon has been a longtime supporter of the New York Breeding and Racing Program and keeps his mares at Mill Creek Farm in Saratoga, New York.
Yourstocommand led the field off the chute and onto the main track with Mike's Greenfields and Say Cousin Lenny in close pursuit. True Patriot, the race time favorite, trailed the field by five lengths in the run down the backstretch as Yourstocommand controlled the pace through an opening half-mile in 47 seconds flat. Say Cousin Lenny moved into second rounding the far turn and was positioned perfectly as the field passed the three-quarter pole in 1:11.1 seconds. Say Cousin Lenny drew even with Yourstocommand nearing the eighth-pole and continued to the finish line to win by a half-length. Mike's Greenfields held for third-money. Final time was a respectable 1:42.3 seconds.
Trained by Stanley Hough, Say Florida Lenny is by Smart Strike and his $27,600 winner's share of the purse elevates his earnings to $157,180 in 25-career starts. Mr. Bacon qualified for a breeder's award of $2,760 for today's score. Brisnet Chart

(10/21) Priscilla's Flag captures state-bred allowance
Herbert and Carol Schwartz' PRISCILLA'S FLAG charged through the stretch to capture a NW-1X condition allowance race for state-bred fillies and mares, today, at Belmont Park. The three-year-old dark bay filly is trained by Scott Schwartz and was ridden to victory by journeyman jockey Javier Castellano. The 8-1/2-furlong race was run over the main track, listed "fast", and had a field of 7-horses load into the starting gate. Such Grace was heavily supported at the windows going to the post as the odds-on 3-5-favorite.
Raffie's Storm took the early lead but gave way to Such Grace nearing the half-mile pole reached in 47.3 seconds. Tax the Queen moved strongly through the far turn to take the lead and opened up by three-lengths at the top of the stretch chased by Ms. Will a Way on the rail and Priscilla's Flag who raced in the middle of the track. Ms. Will a Way and Priscilla's Flag were full of run in deep stretch with Ms. Will a Way taking the lead inside the sixteenth-pole only to give way to a determined Priscilla's Flag in the final few strides. Priscilla's Flag won by a neck over Ms. Will a Way, who finished three-lengths in front of Tax the Queen. Final time was 1:46.1 seconds.
Bred by Frank Cipriano's Magic Grits Stable, who qualified for a $5,280 breeder's award, Priscilla's Flag is out of Javara, an $118,535 winner, by Distinctive Pro. The winner's purse of $26,400 boosts Priscilla's Flag lifetime earnings to $141,260 in 21-career starts. The sire, Personal Flag, is owned by a syndicate, who qualifies for a $1,848 stallion owner's award, and stands at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds in Saratoga Springs, New York Personal Flag's progeny earnings were once again in the top-five percentile with 2003 earnings of $2,478,725 and is closing in on $1.5million progeny earnings in 2004. Hypo-Mating | Brisnet Chart

(10/21) Renamed no longer a bridesmaid
Although she's raced forwardly in her previous 11-races, hitting the board (1-2-3) in 7 of those races, the winner's circle has alluded RENAMED until today's second race at Belmont Park. In a move favored by many handicappers, trainer Jennifer Pedersen entered the three year-old dark bay filly in a six-furlong race after running her on the turf in her previous effort. Pedersen named Norberto Arroyo, Jr. to ride Ernie Paragallo's homebred, which he races under the name of Paraneck Stable. A field of 8-state-bred fillies went to the post with Sweet Juliet going to the post as the odds-on favorite.
Shesmiopie went to the front, shortly after the break and raced through an opening half-mile in 46.3 seconds. Sweet Juliet and Queen's Temper tracked in second and third, respectively, as Arroyo rated Renamed in fourth before making a move midway on the last turn. As the field straightened for home, Renamed powered to the lead and drove to the wire to win by 3-3/4-lengths over Shesmiopie, who put in a promising performance in her first career start. Final time was 1:12.3 seconds.
Bred by Paraneck Stable, who qualifies for a $4,920 breeder's award, Renamed is by Breeder's Cup Sprint Champion Artax, and is out of the stakes winning Carson City mare, Concealed City. Originally named Bumbleclaud, Renamed has now banked $72,572. Brisnet Chart

(10/21) Factual Contender takes Belmont Park nightcap
Flying Zee Stable's FACTUAL CONTENDER broke her maiden against state-bred fillies and mares in a six-furlong race run over the main track at Belmont Park. The final race on the Thursday race card had a field of 9-horses go to the starting gate, with Rather Bee Good the race time favorite at 7-5-odds. Trainer Frank Martin named journeyman jockey Pablo Fragoso to ride the three year-old dark bay filly, who was making her sixth-career start and second under Fragoso.
Randamm was hustled to the front with Factual Contender rating in second while down on the rail and Go See Michelle sitting third on the outside. As the field neared the half-mile pole, reached in a snappy 46 seconds flat, Fragoso sent Factual Contender up to take command and once straightened for home began to lengthen her lead with every powerful stride winning by 7-lengths under the wire. Randamm finished second and Eye Stopper closed to be third. Final time was 1:11.3 seconds.
Bred by Carl Lizza, Jr. (Flying Zee Stables), who qualified for a $4,920 breeder's award, Factual Contender is by Thunder Puddles, and is out of the Triocala mare, Factuallychallenge. Thunder Puddles, sire of the 1992 Travers Stakes - Gr. 1 winner Thunder Rumble stands at Carl Lizza and Joseph Bartone's Highcliff Farm in Delanson, New York and his connections qualified for a $1,722 stallion owner's award. Hypo-Mating | Brisnet Chart

(10/20) Wellgiven easily scores in Belmont Park nightcap
The Carl Domino trained WELLGIVEN took today's last race on the Belmont Park Wednesday race card in an impressive manner, charging from next to last midway on the far turn while under a hand ride. Formerly owned and trained by the late Louis Meittinis, Wellgiven was making his second start for the partnership of Robert Hoyer and Dino Messina and was ridden to victory by journeyman jockey Pablo Fragoso. The one-turn 8-1/2-furlong race for NW-1X condition allowance was run over Belmont's main track, listed "good", and had a field of 8-state-bred horses go to the starting gate.
Gone to Be King, winner of his last race was sent up to take the lead from mid-pack but was under heavy pressure from Texas Pro, Shady Devil and Always a Hero. The tightly bunched field raced past the half-mile pole in 47 seconds flat with Wellgiven sitting six-lengths back in seventh-position. As the field began its run around the last turn, Wellgiven kicked into gear circling the field with a 5-wide move and was on top as the field straightened for home and won easily by 2-3/4-lengths, while much the best. Big Feathers finished second and Texas Pro held for third. Final time was 1:44.4 seconds.
Bred by Louis Meittinis, who's estate qualifies for a $5,280 breeder's award, Wellgiven is by Ends Well, and the second foal out of the Talc mare, Give and Talc, a half-sister to the stakes-placed allowance winner Rebecca's Gal (Lord Durham). Wellgiven's half-brother Givensilver (Silver Music) has earnings of $88,707 and with today's winner's purse of $26,400 Wellgiven has moved closer to his sibling's earnings at $88,200 in 14-career races. Ends Well was the property of a syndicate, who qualified for a $1,848, and stood at Gus Schoenborn's Contemporary Stallions from 1997 through the 2000 season. Brisnet Chart

(10/20) Sort It Out figures it out to break maiden
Lewis Lakin's SORT IT OUT, bet down to the 3-2-favorite, battled all the way of the 8-1/2-furlong maiden race to break his maiden. Originally carded for the turf, the state-bred maiden race was run over Belmont Park's main track, which was upgraded from "muddy" to "good" after the opening portion of the race card. Allen Iwinski's assistant, Brad Wallace, gave a "leg-up" to journeyman jockey Edgar Prado as 11-state-bred horses went to the post. Sort It Out, a chestnut colt by Out of Place, was making his fourth-career start and first at the distance.
Sort It Out was hustled between horses to take command nearing the half-mile pole reached in 48 seconds flat while under pressure from Nazda Jet and Hesneasternclassic to his outside and Flight Ready down on the rail. As the field turned for home, it was still Sort It Out leading the way as Flight Ready angled off the rail for a clear shot but couldn't match strides with Sort It Out, who drew off to win by 4-1/4-lengths. Lycense to Win was up for third-money. Final time was 1:47.2 seconds.
Bred by the partnership of Lewis Lakin and Becky Thomas, who together qualify for a breeder's award of $2,520, the two-year-old chestnut colt is out of the Kris S. mare, Vex, a half-sister to stakes winner Forty Nine Deeds (Alydeed). Lakin and Thomas own the lovely Lakland North Farm in Hudson, New York and have wisely supported the stallions they've decided to bring to New York State to participate in the lucrative New York Breeding and Racing Program. Currently standing at Lakland North are this year's first-crop leading sire, Precise End, currently ranked 8th nationally with 2004 progeny earnings of over $500,000. Other stallions standing at Lakland include Grade 2 - winner Dream Run, Freud, who's a full-brother to the "Iron Horse" Giants Causeway, Good and Tough, a horse that ran 100-plus Beyers thirteen times and Grade 2 - winner Hook and Ladder, owned by Chester and Mary Broman, recipients of this year's TOBA New York Breeders of the Year award.Brisnet Chart

(10/20) Thunderprince breaks maiden at Belmont Park
THUNDERPRINCE, making his second-career start and first at the one-mile distance, defeated a field of 2-year-old state-breds, today, at Belmont Park. The one-turn event was run over a "muddy" main track and had a field of 10-horses go to the starting gate. Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin named Richard Migliore to rid the bay son of Indian Charlie, winner of 4 out of 5 races including the Grade 1 - Santa Anita Derby as a three-year-old.
Nastyattitude and Saratoga Evan, both sporting blinkers for the first time, battled head to head down the backstretch as Migliore rated Thunderprince on an outside path in fourth-position. After a contentious half-mile reached in 46.2 seconds, Thunderprince began to move on the leaders and moved into second around the far turn. As the field straightened for home, Thunderprince moved to Saratoga Evan and began to draw clear at the eighth-pole on his way to a 3-3/4-length victory. Urban Conquest closed for third money. Final time over the off going was 1:40.3 seconds.
Owned by West Point Stable, a racing partnership managed by Terrence Finley, and Savario Pugliese, who together purchased the colt for $240,000 at the 2004 May Fasig-Tipton Midlantic two-year-old in training sales. Thunderprince was odds-on favorite in his debut, run at Saratoga Race Course at six-furlongs, finishing third; and, since then breezed twice over Saratoga's Oklahoma track, which is known for its beneficial conditioning surface. Leo Chasse, who qualifies for a $2,520 breeder's award, and is out of Princess Robyn, by Ferdinand, bred Thunderprince. Brisnet Chart

(10/17) Rhythmic Motion runs down $50K claimers
Now with a record of first-through-fourth-place finishes in three-fourths of his career turf starts, Robert Spiegel's New York-bred RHYTHMIC MOTION showed Belmont fans why New York-breds that have gone through their state-bred allowance conditions should not be overlooked when they face open company. Dismissed as the 18.40-to-1 last choice among six starters in Sunday's third race for four-year-olds and up -- all racing with $50,000 claiming prices -- going a two-turn mile and a sixteenth over a yielding inner turf course, the four-year-old gelding rallied from last in the early going to win decisively. He trailed the field after a sluggish opening quarter-mile split of 26.39 but was less than seven lengths off the 2.95-to-1 second choice pacesetter, stakes-placed Love to Tango, and from there gradually improved his position on the outside. Although fifth on the second turn, the chestnut gelding even then looked like the eventual winner, utilizing his long strides to rally wide into the stretch, where at the eighth-mile pole he still had three rivals ahead of him, including new leader and 3.75-to-1 third choice Holy Panache. In the final furlong, Rhythmic Motion closed on the outside to win by a half-length over Holy Panache, with 5.20-to-1 fifth choice Point Prince a nose behind that rival, scoring under a hand ride from jockey Pablo Fragoso, who was the ninth rider in Rhythmic Motion's 13-start career. These were formidable foes that the New York-bred ran by with surprising ease, including a Grade 2 turf winner at Gulfstream (Point Prince) and a Grade 3 winner at Aqueduct (4.20-to-1 fourth choice Fast Decision, who finished fifth).
Rhythmic Motion was the second New York-bred open company winner on Belmont's Sunday card, following Very Un Stable's three-year-old filly Above the Devil's 3 1/4-length victory in the opener, and his first tally on yielding turf boosted his earnings by $24,000 to $128,652. Now with a record of 4 - 1 - 2 in 13 starts, the stretch-running gelding also qualified owner Spiegel of Weston, Connecticut for an additional $2,400 open race owner award. Rhythmic Motion has campaigned throughout his career under the care of trainer David Donk and had won his only two starts as a juvenile -- both going a mile on Belmont turf in the fall of 2002 -- after which he had been away from competition for more than 16 months. In Rhythmic Motion's second juvenile outing going against open Belmont allowance company, he had beaten six future stakes horses, including future grass stakes winners Stroll (multiple Grade 2 winner) and Hypnotist, even though his jockey had lost his whip in the stretch. The gelding had won at the restricted N2X allowance level going a turf mile at Belmont in 1:34.29 on July 11 and had finished second and fourth, respectively, in Belmont grass outings on September 17 (with a $40,000 claiming price) and October 2 (with a $50,000 tag on yielding turf).
Bred by the late John Valentino, whose estate qualified for a $2,400 breeder award, Rhythmic Motion is by French champion Irish River, who has sired four champions either in Europe or on North American turf, and he is the sixth winner produced from K.'s Solution, by Bailjumper. Breeder Valentino had claimed K.'s Solution, who was an allowance winner at Aqueduct, for $15,500 after she had scored her sixth -- and final -- career win. Rhythmic Motion is a full brother to New York-bred Belmont mile and a quarter turf winner River's Solution and a half-brother to New York-bred multiple graded winner Restored Hope ($287,266) and to the winning dam of New York-bred stakes winner Common Objective ($117,438). He also was the first offspring out of K.'s Solution to win as a two-year-old, and he is a complete outcross (no inbreeding) through five generations. Brisnet Chart

(10/17) Rapid Rickey rolls by 10 1/4 in impressive maiden-breaking effort
Odds-on (.65-to-1) among nine starters for his first effort beyond seven furlongs, Hemlock Hills Farm's homebred RAPID RICKEY ran off to a 10 1/4-length victory in Belmont's fourth race on Sunday for New York-bred maiden three-year-olds and up going a one-turn mile and a sixteenth. The three-year-old colt was coming off a second-place nose loss in virtual seven-furlong stakes time (1:22.91) 24 days earlier at Belmont and for the second race in a row had jockey Richard Migliore on board, and those factors combined to make him the prohibitive favorite in the $42,000 contest. Compared to the early fractions Rapid Rickey had set in his seven-furlong September 23 effort (22.90, 45.87), the comparable fractions he clocked on Sunday (23.63, 47.44) must have seemed like a breeze -- especially with an eight-length lead after a half-mile while racing well off the rail throughout the contest. The dark bay colt reached the finish with his ears pricked, giving jockey Migliore his second winning ride of the day in a maiden race.
Trained by Bruce Levine, who had given him a sharp five-furlong Belmont workout a week earlier, Rapid Rickey increased his earnings by $25,200 to $$37,892 while improving his record to 1 - 1 - 1 in five starts, with his second-and-third-place finishes coming at seven furlongs in his latest previous outings. The colt also qualified his owner-breeder, the Hemlock Hills Farm LLC of Alfred and Lupe Hemlock of New York City, for an additional $5,040 breeder award. A relatively late foal (May 21, 2001), Rapid Rickey was one of only two May-foaled three-year-olds among nine starters in Belmont's fourth race on Sunday.
Rapid Rickey is the 26th New York-conceived winner from the first crop of Eclipse Champion Sprinter Artax, who stood the 2000 season in New York as the property of Paraneck Stallions of Ernie Paragallo of Lloyds Neck, which qualified for a $1,764 stallion award. Artax stood at his owner's Center Brook Farm in Climax, where 2004 Grade 1 winner Friendly Michelle ($399,294) also was conceived. Rapid Rickey is the second offspring and second New York-bred winner produced from his dam, Okie Dokie Rosie, being a half-brother to Hemlock Hills Farm's homebred 2004 Aqueduct inner track allowance winner, four-year-old Rosie's Big Boy ($105,980), who placed second in a Belmont restricted N2X allowance race on October 8. Okie Dokie Rosie, by graded-winning Belmont router and stamina sire Strolling Along (by Danzig), is a half-sister to Prospectress ($226,694), who won Calder's Grade 2 La Prevoyante Handicap at a mile and a half on turf in 2:26.97 in 2000, and to stakes-placed winner Trick of Ace ($133,758). Brisnet Chart

(10/17) Innseattle shows grass talent in 2 3/4-length maiden win
Back on turf after showing promise on Belmont's lawn this past June, Coffeepot Stables' homebred INNSEATTLE looked right at home in Belmont's ninth race Sunday nightcap for maiden New York-bred fillies and mares going a virtual one-turn mile on turf, winning by 2 3/4 lengths. The dark bay filly went off as the 8.90-to-1 third choice among 10 starters in the $42,000 maiden special that was open to older competitors but contested exclusively by three-year-old fillies, and her pickup rider for his first race aboard the Coffeepot Stables homebred was Cornelio Velasquez. Reserved in sixth and then fifth place through the first half of the race, Innseattle engaged the front-end contenders, 10.60-to-1 fifth choice Polish Crown and 1.05-to-1 favorite Round the Horn, while three wide on the turn and took command at the top of the stretch. She pulled clear the rest of the way, skimming over the yielding turf in her high-headed running style and covering her final quarter-mile in 24.68 to clock an impressive winning time -- considering the soft surface -- of 1:37.92 after switching back to her left lead a few strides from the wire. Polish Crown placed second and was followed by 3.20-to-1 second choice Little Miss Amanda. All starters in the contest carried 120 pounds.
Innseattle increased her earnings by $25,200 to $40,592 in seven starts while recording her first top-three finish since her lone placing, which had come on August 12 at Saratoga when she had finished second going a mile and an eighth in a sloppy off-the-turf restricted maiden special. She also qualified her owner-breeder, the Coffeepot Stables of Robert Cummings, for an additional $2,520 breeder award. Innseattle was the second winner sent out on Belmont's Sunday card by trainer William Turner Jr., who also had trained the filly's Hall of Fame paternal grandsire, Triple Crown champion Seattle Slew.
Coffeepot Stables, which also owns New York-based stallion The Wicked North and stands him at Jim Edwards' The Stallion Park in Millbrook, had purchased the dam of Innseattle, dirt and turf router Litchfield Inn ($123,254), for $4,700 at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's 2001 February mixed sale when she was carrying Innseattle. The sire of Innseattle is the Texas-based Seattle Slew stallion, Seattle Sleet, and her dam, Litchfield Inn, by Golden Act (by Gummo), is a half-sister to stakes winners That Tat ($363,585 on dirt and turf) and High Timer ($229,996 sprinting) and to stakes-placed Dynaboy ($185,277 routing on dirt and turf). Brisnet Chart

(10/16) Jet Prospector regains lead for allowance win
Always tenacious on the front end, Jerry Campbell's odds-on (.75-to-1) JET PROSPECTOR was bumped at the start and overtaken in the stretch of Belmont's seventh race on Saturday, a $43,000 restricted N1X allowance for three-year-olds and up going six furlongs, but he came again to score by a half-length. Despite bumping at the break with 24-to-1 fifth choice Safari on his inside after that four-year-old had bumped with 5.30-to-1 third choice Jet Alert on his inside, the three-year-old gelding secured the lead and the rail with an opening quarter-mile split of 22.50. At Jet Prospector's throatlatch through a 46-flat half-mile was top-breaking 2.50-to-1 second choice Scenic Wonder, but entering the stretch a more serious outside threat loomed in 33.50-to-1 sixth (and last) choice Take Me Out John, who edged ahead near the eighth-mile pole with a 58.21 five-eighths fraction. Take Me Out John also continued running on his left lead and began tiring, while Jet Prospector rallied to regain command under jockey Eibar Coa -- who was race-riding the dark bay gelding for the first time -- and reached the finish with a half-length advantage in a winning time of 1:11.22. Four-year-old Scenic Wonder finished third behind the top two -- both three-year-olds.
Jet Prospector's first allowance victory in two efforts at the restricted N1X level boosted his earnings by $25,800 to $84,137 and improved his record to 2 - 4 - 0 in eight starts, which includes a front-running 6 3/4-length maiden special Valentine's Day tally going six furlongs on Aqueduct's inner track. Following an unplaced five wide effort in Churchill Downs slop against open N1X competition at the end of April, the front-running three-year-old had almost 4 1/2 months off, returning to competition to place a close second in a restricted N1X allowance at Belmont going six furlongs on September 12. His new trainer, New York Thoroughbred Breeders 2002 Trainer of the Year Richard Dutrow Jr., subsequently gave the gelding a five-furlong "bullet" workout at Aqueduct on October 7 and had him ready to fire nine days following that drill. Owner Campbell had purchased Jet Prospector for $50,000 at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's 2003 May sale of two-year-olds in training at Timonium, Maryland, nine months prior to which the New York-bred had sold for $26,000 at Fasig-Tipton's 2002 Saratoga preferred New York-bred yearling sale.
A relatively late foal who arrived on May 12, 2001, Jet Prospector was bred by the John A. Nerud Revocable Trust, which qualified for a $5,160 breeder award. He is among at least 62 winners in 2004 and 121 winners lifetime sired by New York stallion A. P Jet (Fappiano - Taminette, by In Reality), who stands at Howard Kaskel's Sugar Maple Farm in Poughquag and whose syndicate connections qualified for a $1,806 stallion award. A. P Jet, a group stakes winner of $1,622,369 in Japan whose 2004 fee was $5,000, live foal, has out 2004 stakes winners Travelator, Jini's Jet, and Volley Ball in addition to dazzling two-year-old Galloping Grocer, whose two wins in two starts have been by margins totaling 24 1/4 lengths. A. P Jet's 2004 progeny earnings are closing in on $2-million, and his cumulative progeny earnings from five crops to race have climbed to almost $7.4-million.
Jet Prospector is a half-brother to New York-bred Belmont and Aqueduct allowance winner Byback ($105,373), being the fourth winner -- and second sired by A. P Jet -- produced from four-time winner Eastern Connection, who is by Danzig Connection and was a two-turn allowance winner at Pimlico and Laurel. Jet Prospector's now six-year-old half-sister, Our Chelsea Blue, came into her own on Lingfield's all weather track in England in 2003 after a frustrating career on turf, scoring three winter wins while racing at six and seven furlongs. His dam, Eastern Connection, is a half-sister to stakes winners Carrolls Favorite ($323,711) and Our Friend Hidayet (dam of $518,710-earning stakes winner Your Out) and was a $115,000 purchase by Frankie O'Connor (former manager of Sugar Maple Farm, where Nerud maintains breeding stock) at Keeneland's 1998 November sale. A Hypo-Mating check of Jet Prospector's pedigree reveals that his sire, A. P Jet, is inbred 4 x 4 to Rough'n Tumble, and that dam Eastern Connection is inbred 4 x 4 to Admiral's Voyage. Brisnet Chart

(10/16) Stonewood ships in to lead all the way vs. open $50,000 claimers
One of nine New York-bred out-of-state open allowance winners during the three-week span from September 20 to October 11 was Gumpster Stable's STONEWOOD, who 26 days after capturing a Delaware allowance in front-running fashion by 2 3/4 lengths, used that tactic to win at Belmont with a $50,000 claiming price. Sent off the 3.50-to-1 third choice among six three-year-olds -- all with $50,000 tags -- in the $37,000 six-furlong contest that was the second race on Belmont's Saturday card, Stonewood was race-ridden for the first time by Aaron Gryder and broke sharply from the inside post. On his outside, top-breaking Snub the Devil, the 2.25-to-1 favorite who had missed by only a neck while placing second in a Delaware stakes in May, raced close by through the opening quarter-mile, after which Stonewood held a half-length advantage in 23 seconds flat over the "good" track. Following a half-mile fraction of 46.08, Stonewood led by a length and a half with Snub the Devil dropping back, and he maintained that margin over 2.70-to-1 second choice Call Me Moe -- carrying two pounds less weight -- to the finish, setting a 58.19 five-furlong fraction and winning in 1:11.13. The New York-bred's pacesetting performance was accomplished while spotting two pounds to half the field because of his recent allowance win and also running against a 24-mph west/southwesterly wind -- gusting to 29 mph -- through the first two-thirds of the contest. For the jockey-trainer combination of Gryder and Scott Lake, it was the first of two winning races on Belmont's Saturday card.
Stonewood's third victory in his last four starts increased his earnings by $22,200 to $88,905 while improving his record to 5 - 1 - 4 in 16 starts, and it also qualified his owner, Andrew Berg's Gumpster Stable LLC, for an additional $4,440 open race owner award. Trainer Lake had claimed Stonewood on behalf of Gumpster Stable for $16,000 when the three-year-old gelding had won at Delaware Park on August 10 and 29 days later had sent him out to a third-place finish in an open N1X allowance race at Delaware. Twelve days after that effort (September 20), Stonewood had raced again at that same N1X allowance condition level at Delaware, setting fractions of 22.07, 44.67, and 56.81 en route to winning by 2 3/4 lengths in 1:09.44 for six furlongs. Since being claimed by Gumpster Stable, Stonewood has earned $47,760 in purse money. The chestnut gelding's victory also qualified the estate of his late breeder, John Franks, for a $4,440 breeder award and the members of the Questroyal Stud syndicate that owned his sire, Tomorrows Cat, at the time of Stonewood's conception for a $1,554 stallion award. Another New York-bred in the same contest qualifying his connections for open race owner, breeder, and stallion awards in addition to purse earnings was William Punk Jr.'s and Philip DiLeo's homebred fourth-place finisher, Gates Avenue (earnings now $116,578 in 12 starts).
Tomorrows Cat (Storm Cat - Tomorrow's Child, by Al Nasr), the sire of Stonewood, stands at Metropolitan Stud (managed by Michael and Debra Lischin) in Pine Plains, where his 2004 fee was $7,500, live foal, and Stonewood is among 50 winners in 2004 and 69 winners overall sired by that stallion. Tomorrows Cat's 2004 progeny earnings recently went over the $2-million mark, and his cumulative progeny earnings figure is now well beyond $3.6-million from three crops of racing age. Stonewood, who was sold for $11,000 as a weanling at Keeneland's 2001 November sale in Lexington, Kentucky, is the first offspring produced from Theheartofdixie, who is by Crafty Prospector and is a half-sister to Grade 2 winner Arabian Light ($431,944). The gelding's maternal granddam (second dam) is graded stakes winner Heartlight ($194,238), by Majestic Light. A Hypo-Mating check of Stonewood's pedigree reveals that he is the offspring of inbred parents that are relative outcrosses to each other: his sire Tomorrows Cat is inbred 3 x 4 to Northern Dancer, and his dam Theheartofdixie is inbred 3 x 4 to Raise a Native. Brisnet Chart

(10/15) Cat's Roar captures turf allowance
Chester and Mary Broman's homebred, CAT'S ROAR, making her second start over the turf, charged through the stretch to capture a NW-1X condition allowance for state-bred fillies and mares. In his previous race, which was her initial attempt over the grass, Cat's Roar was beaten a neck in an 8-1/2-furlong race. Trainer Ramon (Mike) Hernandez worked the three-year old chestnut filly five-furlongs in 1:02 breezing and stretched her out to nine-furlongs for today's race naming journeyman jockey Pablo Fragoso to ride. The race was run over Belmont Park's inner-turf course, listed "firm", and had a field of 11-state-breds go to the starting gate.
Will Flirt was intent on the lead and raced wide around the first turn to take command as the field arrived at the top of the backstretch. Cat's Roar, who broke on top, was taken back to race in fourth-position down the backstretch as Will Flirt led the field through fractions of 24, 47.4 and 1:12.3 seconds to the three-quarter pole. Kevin's Decision tracked Will Flirt to the top of the stretch as Fragoso wisely kept Cat's Roar down on the hedge and waited until the eighth-pole before turning her loose. Once asked, Cat's Roar pounced on the leaders to take control, winning by 2-3/4-lengths under the wire. Kevin's Decision held for second and Miss D Flawless closed for third. Final time was 1:50.4 seconds.
Bred by the Broman's, who qualify for a $5,280 breeder's award, at their handsome Chestertown Farm in Chestertown, New York, Cat's Roar is the fifth registered New York-bred winner from the turf-winning dam, Whiskey Whisper, an Affirmed mare who has produced a total of six racing age offspring -- all winners. Whiskey Whisper, who was acquired privately by the Bromans in the mid-1990s, is a half-sister to stakes winners Triocala ($465,660) and Tri Argo (dam of graded winner Tee Kay and granddam of Japanese Horse of the Year Symboli Kris S) and to the winning dam of two more stakes winners. The $26,400 winner's share boosts the talented filly's lifetime earnings to $95,840 in 11-career starts.
Cat's Roar is the 70th winner sired by syndicated New York stallion Tomorrows Cat (Storm Cat - Tomorrow's Child, by Al Nasr), who stands at Metropolitan Stud. The syndicate is managed by Questroyal Stallions, whose syndicate connections qualify for a $1,848 stallion owner's award. Grade 2 winner Tomorrows Cat has sired six stakes winners from his first three-crops and has progeny earnings of over $3.6-million to date. A Hypo-Mating check of the pedigree of Cat's Roar reveals that Tomorrows Cat is inbred 3 x 4 to Northern Dancer and that the filly's multiple stakes-producing granddam (second dam) is inbred 3 x 3 to War Admiral. Hypo-Mating Pedigree | Brisnet Chart

(10/15) Half Heaven breaks maiden over Belmont turf
Two year-old filly HALF HEAVEN, making her second career start, broke her maiden today against state-bred fillies in an 8-1/2-furlong race run over Belmont Park's Widener turf course. Owned by the partnership of David Cassidy and Edward Lipton, the two-year-old bay filly is trained by Gary Contessa, who gave a "leg-up" to journeyman jockey Aaron Gryder. Half Heaven was bred by David Cassidy, who qualified for a $5,040 breeder's award, and is the from the first New York foal crop of Regal Classic. A field of 10-fillies went to the post.
Lauren's Charm went to the front followed by Fighting Speedy and She's All Talk in second and third, respectively, as Half Heaven was rated in fifth-position while down along the hedges. Setting pokey fractions of 24.4, 49.4 and 1:15 seconds to the three-quarter pole, Lauren's Charm continued on the lead with She's All Talk racing in second as they arrived at the top of the stretch. Half Heaven advanced steadily along the rail before angling off the rail to the middle of the track and once straightened for home began to eat away at the lead, gaining control in deep stretch to win by æ-lengths. Ms Homer Point, who trailed the field at the three-quarter pole, made an impressive stretch run through the stretch winning a narrow nose decision over Lauren's Charm to finish second. Final time was 1:45.1 seconds.
Half Heaven is the second foal and second winner out of the 7-time winner Sand Pirate, by Desert Wine. Sand Pirate is a half-sister to Sharp Looking Lady (Glaros) dam of Grade 2 winner and multiple stakes winner Continental Red (Flying Continental), who earned $1,047,558 in 56-career races. Half Heaven is Regal Classic's 74th winner in 2004 and 487th winner overall with 12-crops to the races and has now amassed over $38-million in progeny earnings. Regal Classic, who to date has 45-stakes winners, which includes 11-graded stakes winners, moved to New York State for the 2001 season and stands at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds. Hypo-Mating Pedigree | Brisnet Chart

(10/15) Bubba Sparks guts it out to win open claimer
Partingglass Stable's BUBBA SPARKS, making his first foray against open company horses, defeated a small field of open claimers ($75,000-$65,000) today at Belmont Park in a one-turn one-mile event run over the main track, listed "fast". Trainer Bruce Levine, who's having a super fall meet winning with 35% of the horses he sends to the track, named Richard Migliore to ride the three-year-old dark bay colt. Partingglass Stable is a racing partnership, ably managed by Thomas J. Gallo, III, a bloodstock agent and owner, along with his wife Mia, of Blue Stone Farm in Cambridge, New York.
Coined for Success along with Brush With Fame led the field onto the main track from the chute with the New York-bred Coined for Success taking command in the run down the backstretch through an opening first half-mile in a snappy 46 seconds flat. Bubba Sparks moved into second around the far turn as Coined for Success continued to show the way. Under strong urging by Migliore, Bubba Sparks began to close the gap as Coined for Success valiantly battled back and looked to have won the scrimmage only to lose in the final stride as a gutsy Bubba Sparks put his head in front at the wire. Pay Attention closed for third-money. Final time was 1:38 seconds.
Bred by the late Gerald Nielsen and his wife Joanne at their beautiful Sunnyfield Farm in Bedford, New York, Bubba Sparks was purchased privately by the racing partnership of Partingglass Stable, named after a favorite watering spot in Saratoga Springs. With his second consecutive victory and fourth victory in eleven-career starts, Bubba Sparks boosts his lifetime earnings to $126,260 and Joanne Nielsen and Partingglass Stables for $5,280, each, in breeder's and open owner's awards. Out of the Distinctive Pro mare, Elise', who is a half-sister to multiple stakes winners Copper Mount (Cormorant) and Currency Arbitrage (Green Dancer). The sire, Williamstown, is owned by a syndicate, who qualified for a $1,848 stallion owner's award, and stands at Metropolitan Stud in Pine Plains, New York. With seven-crops to the races, Williamstown has now sired 166 winners including 15-stakes winners of which two were victorious in graded stakes. The son of Seattle Slew has progeny earnings of $1,060,000 in 2004 and over $9,800,000 lifetime in progeny earnings. Hypo-Mating Pedigree | Brisnet Chart

(10/15) Storm N Lightning charges to maiden score
Albert Fried, Jr.'s, homebred, STORM N LIGHTNING, making his fourth-career start, easily defeated a full field of 12 state-bred two year-olds today at Belmont Park. The two-year-old dark bay gelding was ridden to victory by Belmont's leading jockey John Velazquez for trainer Todd Pletcher, and as a team, Velazquez and Pletcher have won at a remarkable 47-percent. The maiden race was run at six-furlongs over a "fast" main track with Storm N Lightning going to the starting gate as the race-time favorite.
A Very Young Jet was hustled to the front under jockey Aaron Gryder with Storm N Lightning in close pursuit while on an outside path. After a half-mile in 46.4 seconds, Storm N Lightning was sent up to take the lead and while under a vigorous ride won by 1-1/2-lengths over A Very Young Jet with Nimble Wit up for third-money. Final time was 1:14 seconds flat.
Bred by Mr. Fried at his beautiful Buttonwood Farm in Rhinebeck, New York, Storm N Lightning is by Storm Creek, and is the first foal out of the stakes-placed allowance winner Light the Lamp, by Mt. Livermore. Light the Lamp was raced by Mr. Fried and is a half-sister to stakes winner Lamplight (Spectacular Bid). Brisnet Chart

(10/15) Karakorum Patriot breaks maiden in Belmont opener
Karakorum Farm's KARAKORUM PATRIOT, making his 16th career start, easily defeated a field of state-bred horses in today's first race at Belmont Park. The seven-furlong race was run over a "fast" main track and had a field of 8-horses go to the post with trainer Jeff Odintz naming journeyman jockey Jose Santos to ride the four year-old bay gelding. Karakorum Farm, a racing partnership managed by Bill Di Scala of Staten Island, New York, enjoyed their second winner in as many days, winning with two-year-old filly Karakorum Splendor on Belmont's Thursday card.
Xatra and Givemesomegoodnews battled each other into submission nearing the half-mile pole reached in an ordinary 47 seconds flat with Karakorum Patriot charging to the lead. Roused by Santos at the top of the stretch, Karakorum Patriot drew off easily to win by 6-3/4-lengths crossing the wire. Golden Derek closed to be second and Quayle, who was forwardly placed throughout, held for third money. Final time was 1:26.4 seconds.
Bred by Rainbow Stable, who qualifies for a $4,920 breeder's award, Karakorum Patriot is by Personal Flag, and is the second foal out of the two-year-old stakes placed mare Lucky Lady Susita and was purchased for $6,000 at the 2001 October Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Yearling Sales.
Owned by a syndicate, who qualifies for a $1,722 stallion owner's award, Personal Flag stands at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds. Personal Flag entered stud in 1989 and has perennially been among the leaders in progeny earnings for New York-based stallions. Karakorum Patriot's winner's share of the purse ($24,600) boosts Personal Flag's 2004 progeny earnings over the $1,400,000 mark. Hypo-Mating Pedigree | Brisnet Chart

Photo: Courtesy Keeneland by Bill Straus