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Sat
- Dec 31, 2005
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| (12/31) Epigrammatic closes with late rush in N1X allowance
at 21.70-to-1 With blinkers on for the first time and stretching out to his first two-turn competition, Weatherwatch Farm's EPIGRAMMATIC closed on the outside with a late rush to win Aqueduct's New Years Eve opener, a restricted N1X allowance for two-year-olds going a mile and 70 yards. The long-striding youngster was overlooked as the 21.70-to-1 seventh choice among eight wagering interests and nine starters with jockey Orlando Mojica race-riding him for the first time, and his effort increased his earnings by $26,400 to $58,393 while improving his record to 2 - 0 - 1 in six starts. Since breaking his maiden with a late run over a sealed sloppy track going six furlongs at Belmont in September, Epigrammatic twice had been off the board in one-turn mile efforts -- Belmont's Sleepy Hollow Stakes on New York Showcase Day and an N1X Aqueduct allowance on November 18. At regular intervals in December (December 7, 15, and 22), trainer Bruce Levine had given the bay colt workouts over Belmont's training track. Epigrammatic races for the Weatherwatch Farm of Jared and Sherrie Abbruzzese of Loudonville (outskirts of Albany). Jared Abbruzzese, of Capital and Technology Advisers, LLC and a member of Friends of New York Racing, had purchased Epigrammatic for $77,000 from the colt's breeders, France and Irwin Weiner of the Florida-based Wingate Sales Agency, at Fasig-Tipton's 2004 Saratoga New York-bred preferred yearling sale. Epigrammatic is among 20 New York-conceived juvenile winners from the first crop of North America's leading freshman sire of winners in 2005, City Zip. His dam is sprint and route winner Concise, who is by Corporate Report and is a half-sister to turf multiple stakes winner and dirt and turf winner Freight Bill ($202,038). Winning a restricted N1X allowance for three-year-olds and up with surprising ease at six furlongs was FRANK'S FUSE, who in his first outing under apprentice jockey Kyle Kaenel -- riding with a five-pound apprentice allowance -- romped by 5-3/4 lengths. Sent off the 3.40-to-1 third choice among 11 starters, the three-year-old gelding increased his earnings by $25,800 to $70,681 while improving his record to 2 - 1 - 2 in nine starts and also qualified his breeder and part-owner, Sanford Goldfarb of Old Westbury, for an additional $2,580 breeder award. Frank's Fuse races for a partnership consisting of Goldfarb, Anthony Bertucci, Ralph DePalma, Michael Dubb of Jericho, New York, and Louis and J. Marino. Goldfarb and Dubb also were the owners of the winner of the ninth race (nightcap) on Aqueduct's Saturday New Year Eve's card. The bay gelding campaigns under the care of New York Thoroughbred Breeders 2002 Trainer of the Year Richard Dutrow Jr., who had given him an easy five-furlong workout over Belmont's training track on December 17 following a fourth-place Aqueduct effort at the restricted N1X level on December 3. Frank's Fuse had broken his maiden by 4-1/4 lengths going 5-1/2 furlongs at Aqueduct on November 2. He is by the Pennsylvania-based two-time winner of the Grade 1 Carter Handicap, Lite the Fuse, and is the first offspring produced from Flag On the Gate, who captured six sprints and won or placed in 14 of 24 starts. Frank's Fuse is inbred 4 x 5 to recognized stamina sire Tom Rolfe, and his dam Flag On the Gate is inbred 4 x 4 to another stamina stalwart, Princequillo. Leading at all calls in his second career start was Puglisi Stables' three-year-old TALE OF WONDER in a six-furlong restricted maiden special for three-year-olds and up, as that odds-on (.90-to-1) favorite among 11 wagering interests and 12 starters won decisively following a 73-day layoff. For jockey Ramon Dominguez, who was riding the chestnut gelding for the first time in competition, it was the first of two winning rides on Aqueduct's New Years Eve card. Tale of Wonder increased his earnings by $24,600 to $28,700 in two starts for the Puglisi Stables of Jeffery Puglisi of New York City, which had purchased him through trainer/agent Steve Klesaris for $130,000 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2004 March sale of two-year-olds in training. The full brother to New York-bred 2005 Grade 2 winner West Virginia ($641,570) had placed third in his October 19 Belmont debut, and from December 3 through Christmas Eve Klesaris had given him four workouts over Aqueduct's inner track, including a half-mile "bullet" drill on December 17. Bred by Donald and Mary Zuckerman of Fort Lauderdale, Florida "as Tenants by the Entireties", Tale of Wonder was foaled at James Edwards' Keane Stud in Amenia. He is the 68th winner of 2005 and 111th winner overall sired from four crops of racing age by syndicated Tomorrows Cat (Storm Cat - Tomorrow's Child, by Al Nasr), who is managed by Questroyal Stud and stands at Metropolitan Stud in Pine Plains. The May-foaled three-year-old's maiden victory pushed the 2005 progeny earnings for Tomorrows Cat to over $2.6-million, with cumulative earnings approaching $6.7-million. Tale of Wonder is the fifth winner produced from Wild and Wonderful, a route-winning Kennedy Road mare that the Zuckermans had purchased for $39,000 at Keeneland's 1999 November sale. Wild and Wonderful is a half-sister to Grade 2 winner Pampered Star ($339,221 and dam of multiple stakes-winning Japanese millionaire Silver Cockpit) and to stakes winner Special Kinda Guy ($133,620). Placing a game second in Calder's Grade 3 Frances A. Genter Stakes for three-year-old fillies going a two-turn 7-1/2 furlongs on turf was the only New York-bred among 12 starters, Sovereign Stable's and Gatsas Stables' Champagne Ending, who was making her first effort against open company. She broke slowly (next-to-last) in her first outing under jockey Jorge Chavez as the 9.10-to-1 fifth choice and was carried extremely wide around the first turn but advanced on the backstretch to gain a length and a half lead with a half-mile fraction in 45.25. The chestnut filly still held a half-length advantage after setting a 1:09.90 six-furlong fraction, but in the final furlong she could not hold off the more lightly-weighted winner, Laurafina, who scored by three-quarters of a length under five pounds less weight. Champagne Ending carried scale weight (121 pounds) because she had won Aqueduct's $100,000 New York Stallion Perfect Arc Stakes at a mile on turf on November 6, whereas Laurafina, who had placed second in Belmont's Grade 3 Sands Point on turf, carried 116 following just two overnight Belmont victories. Champagne Ending increased her earnings by $20,000 to $172,223 off a record of 3 - 3 - 5 in 16 starts for the Sovereign Stable and Gatsas Stables horseracing management company that is operated by Michael and Matthew Gatsas of Manchester, New Hampshire. She had been given a brief break by trainer John Terranova II following her Perfect Arc win but was kept fit with five workouts from November 20 through December 19 -- three over Belmont's training track followed by dirt and turf drills at Palm Meadows in Florida. Bred by the Sez Who Thoroughbreds of Richard Simon of Aventura, Florida and purchased by her owners for $33,000 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2004 June sale of two-year-olds, Champagne Ending is the 89th New York-bred to win or place in non-state-bred stakes competition in 2005. Those 89 New York-breds have recorded a total of 134 on-the-board finishes (first, second, or third) in stakes events outside of state-bred company during the calendar year. |
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Fri
- Dec 30, 2005
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| (12/30) Stellianos resumes reign of Big A's inner track Slipping through along the rail like the veteran that he is, owner-trainer Linda Fisher's STELLIANOS drew off to a 6-1/4-length victory in a mile and a sixteenth restricted N2X allowance/optional claiming contest for three-year-olds and up, scoring his ninth career victory on Aqueduct's inner track. Fisher had claimed the seven-year-old gelding just 52 days earlier for $12,500, and since then the stakes-placed New York-bred has earned $30,900 for his new owner-trainer, boosting his earnings on Friday by $27,600 to $393,567 while improving his overall record to 11 - 11 - 11 in 57 starts. It was Stellianos' second Aqueduct outing within two weeks under apprentice jockey Randall Toups, who rides with a seven-pound allowance and had guided the hard-knocking dark bay to a third-place finish on the inner track on December 16. Obviously far past the restricted N2X condition level, Stellianos ran with a $30,000 claiming price and went off as the 3.90-to-1 second choice among 11 wagering interests and 12 starters. The gelding was bred by Athena Kouray of Schenectady, who qualified for a $5,520 breeder award, and his victory also qualified the Questroyal Stud syndicate that had stood his sire, Belong to Me, in New York for a $1,932 stallion award. Stellianos is the first of five New York-bred-and-conceived offspring -- all winners -- bred by Kouray from 1996 New York-Bred Champion Juvenile Filly Aristie ($116,249), who raced for Kouray and set stakes records in Belmont's Joseph A. Gimma Stakes and Aqueduct's Maid of the Mist Stakes. Aristie had been a $6,000 sales two-year-old at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's 1996 May auction -- just months before she went on her stakes record-setting spree. Stellianos' half-brothers are stakes-placed Levendis ($303,225) and Thanasi ($163,504 through 2004), three-year-old Christian X., who won a maiden special at Belmont this past September, and two-year-old Phillip X., who won a maiden special at Aqueduct on November 23. REDDY FOR RUBYS came off a layoff of almost 15 months to win the six-furlong N1X nightcap for New York-bred fillies and mares, three-year-olds and up, breaking on top from the outside post among 11 starters and prevailing in a hard-fought stretch duel with 27.50-to-1 tenth choice Jump Judy. The latter, whose apprentice jockey allowed her to carry seven pounds less weight, gained the lead on the turn and proved to be a stubborn foe. Reddy for Rubys, who races for the Winter Park Partners of Anthony Grey of Winter Park, Florida along with Darrin O'Connor and Buchi Reddy, was favored at 1.95-to-1 despite her long layoff, and the victory kicked the stakes-winning filly's earnings by $25,800 to over the century mark at $106,034. Her record of 2 - 0 - 1 in four starts includes a maiden-breaking victory in Finger Lakes' $126,133 Lady Fingers Stakes for New York-bred juvenile fillies in August of 2004. In preparation for the light gray/roan filly's return to competition, trainer Dominic Galluscio had given her five workouts over Belmont's training track from November 25 through December 18 (five furlongs in 59-flat from the gate). Reddy for Rubys was ridden for the first time in competition by jockey Eibar Coa, who had two winning mounts on Aqueduct's Friday card. Bred by Becky Thomas and Lewis Lakin and foaled at her breeders' Lakland North, LLC in Hudson, the game competitor was consigned by Thomas's Sequel Bloodstock, agent, to the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's (OBS) 2004 April sale of two-year-olds in training, where she was sold for $33,000. Reddy for Rubys is the second named offspring and second winner produced from winner Diamondsandrubys, whom Lakland Farm had purchased for $23,000 at Keeneland's 2000 November sale. Diamondsandrubys is a half-sister to stakes winner Tempered Halo ($277,714) and to the dam of stakes winner My Poker Player ($187,940 through 2004) and Lovesmelovesmenot ($163,595). Chester and Mary Broman's homebred STOLEN STAR came off a 69-day layoff and stretched out three-sixteenths of a mile beyond her debut distance to a mile and a sixteenth, setting most of the pace in a restricted maiden special for two-year-old fillies and winning by three-quarters of a length. Race-ridden for the first time by jockey Jose Espinoza, the chestnut filly went off as the 3.75-to-1 second choice among 11 starters and increased her earnings by $25,200 to $29,300 in two starts. She had placed third on a sloppy track in her seven-furlong debut at Belmont on October 22, after which trainer John Kimmel had given her five workouts over Belmont's training track from November 7 through December 27. Stolen Star's victory also qualified her owner-breeders, the Bromans, for an additional $2,520 breeder award. The Bromans, who own Chestertown Farm in Chestertown and reside in Babylon, Long Island, were honored by the New York Thoroughbred Breeders as Breeders of the Year for 2004 and were named by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association as outstanding New York breeders for 2003. Stolen Star is from the second crop of 1999 Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Cat Thief and is the first offspring produced from multiple stakes-placed dirt and turf winner Unbridled Star, who is by Unbridled and is a half-sister to three-time 2005 stakes winner Silver Haze ($207,205). The Broman's Chestertown Farm had purchased Unbridled Star for $115,000 at Keeneland's 2002 November sale when she was carrying Stolen Star. Obviously relishing a mile and an eighth, Paraneck Stable's homebred INTERIOR DESIGNER came from tenth place to win a nine-furlong restricted maiden special for three-year-olds and up by 2-1/4 lengths as the 23.90-to-1 sixth choice among 11 wagering interests and 12 starters. The three-year-old gelding had not hit the board in three previous Aqueduct outings, but trainer Jennifer Pedersen had given him half-mile workouts over the inner track on December 21 and 28. Pedersen named apprentice jockey Kyle Kaenel, who has a five-pound allowance and had been aboard for Interior Designer's November 3 debut, to ride him again, and this time the dark bay came from further back than ever, boosting his earnings by $25,200 to $26,860 in four starts. Interior Designer was the second Aqueduct homebred three-year-old winner in two days -- both sired by 1999 Wood Memorial winner Adonis -- for the Paraneck Stable of Ernie Paragallo of Lloyds Neck, Long Island, who breeds in the name of Paraneck Stallions and qualified for breeder and stallion awards totaling $6,804. Adonis (Kris S. - Dixie Card, by Dixieland Band) was last reported as standing at Paragallo's Center Brook Farm in Climax. Interior Designer is out of seven-time sprint winner Finely Decorated, whom Paragallo/Paraneck had purchased for $80,000 at Keeneland's 1994 April sale of two-year-olds in training in Lexington, Kentucky. New York-breds dominated an open claiming contest at a mile and 70 yards for three-year-olds and up, as veterans Halo Malone and MOUNT INTREPID finished one-two but had that order reversed because the former lugged in on the latter in the upper stretch. The victory for Mount Intrepid pushed that gelding's earnings to $397,442 while improving his record to 10 - 9 - 13 in 61 starts, and Halo Malone's bankroll went over the $200K mark to $200,549 off a record of 11 - 5 - 4 in 34 starts. New York-breds comprised four of the contest's nine starters and earned 85 percent of the purse money while qualifying for an additional $3,714.50 in breeder and stallion awards, with Mount Intrepid and Halo Malone going off as the 6.10-to-1 third choice and 2.90-to-1 second choice, respectively. It was Mount Intrepid's first outing under jockey Julian Pimentel, who was the eight-year-old gelding's 11th jockey over the past two years. Mount Intrepid currently campaigns for the Stop Twenty-One Stable of John Panza in partnership with trainer Joseph Imperio. Winner of a division of Aqueduct's 2002 Kings Point Handicap (over millionaire Gander) and twice placed in Aqueduct's Alex M. Robb Handicap, the durable chestnut also qualified his breeder, Edwin Wachtel of Suffern, New York and Boca Raton, Florida, for a total of $3,078 in breeder and stallion awards. Wachtel had owned Mount Intrepid's now-deceased New York-based sire, Grade 2 winner Claramount, who was the New York-Bred Horse of the Year for 1988. Mount Intrepid is among five runners, all New York-bred winners, produced from Ms. Stalwart and is a full brother to Grade 2 winner Stalwart Member ($783,807). Wachtel had purchased Ms. Stalwart privately in July of 1987 shortly after she had been claimed for $75,000 as a three-year-old at Belmont. The allowance-winning half-sister to a multiple stakes-winning steeplechaser in France eventually won five races, including three at Belmont and one at Aqueduct. |
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Thur
- Dec 29, 2005
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| (12/29) Samsincharge charges through fog for 3rd 2005
win & 6-figure earnings Pulling away in the slop and fog while staying on her left lead through the stretch, Robert Cohen's homebred SAMSINCHARGE scored her first Aqueduct win in a restricted N2X allowance/optional claiming contest for fillies and mares going a mile and a sixteenth, showing an unexpected affinity for the inner track. The June 6-foaled three-year-old filly was the youngest among 11 starters (10 wagering interests) in the two-turn test and went off as the 4.10-to-1 second choice with New York Thoroughbred Breeders (NYTB) 2003 Jockey of the Year Jose Santos riding her for the first time in competition. Her victory bumped her earnings up by $27,600 into six figures at $105,468 while improving her record to 3 - 2 - 1 in nine starts and also qualified owner-breeder Cohen for an additional $5,520 breeder award. Samsincharge previously had broken her maiden by 5-1/4 lengths going a one-turn mile on a "good" track at Belmont in July and had won a restricted N1X allowance at a virtual one-turn mile and a sixteenth on turf at Belmont in September. In the 41 days since her latest previous outing on Aqueduct turf, where she had placed second, trainer Heriberto Cedano had given the bay filly five workouts over Belmont's training track. Samsincharge is by the late New York stallion Dixie Brass, who was owned by the late Michael Watral of Central Islip, Long Island, qualifying the Watral estate for a $1,932 stallion award. She is a half-sister to four New York-bred winners, including stakes-placed filly Sam's In Control ($131,136), and she also is a half-sister to the unraced dam of New York-bred stakes-placed winner Robbie's Rockin ($194,209). The versatile stretch-running filly's dam is Chilean Group 1 winner Wagers Delight, who is by Worldwatch (by Nijinsky II). All the New York-bred winners at Aqueduct on Thursday were also New York-conceived, and Mrs. Einar Paul Robsham's two-year-old HOUSTON REQUEST pushed the 2005 earnings for his sire, Take Me Out (Cure the Blues - White Feather, by Tom Rolfe) to over $1.4-million with his victory in a restricted N1X allowance. Relatively dismissed as the 8.90-to-1 fifth choice among 10 starters in the six-furlong contest despite having broken his maiden gate-to-wire by almost two lengths at Aqueduct three weeks earlier with then-apprentice jockey Channing Hill aboard, Houston Request again appeared to lead the way (it was hard to tell). Hill was again in the irons -- this time without the five-pound apprentice allowance -- and the win boosted the juvenile gelding's earnings by $25,800 to $54,500 in three starts while qualifying the estate of Mrs. Robsham's late husband for an additional $5,160 breeder award. Houston Request's recent week-apart (December 17 and 24) workouts over Belmont's training track included a three-furlong "bullet" drill on the earlier date. The promising two-year-old is among 44 winners in 2005 and 171 winners overall sired by Take Me Out, who stands at Dr. Jonathan Davis's Milfer Farm, Inc. in Unadilla and is owned by a syndicate that qualified for a $1,806 stallion award. Houston Request is the fifth offspring and fifth winner (all bred by Mr. Robsham) produced from Houston Elegance, a wet track-winning daughter of Houston and a half-sister to stakes winner Search ($147,266). His half-sister, Houston Pro, won nine sprints and placed in a stakes, and his four-year-old half-brother, Texas Pro, won an allowance on Aqueduct's inner track almost exactly a year ago for Mrs. Robsham. The first of two Aqueduct restricted maiden special winners on Thursday sired by former New York stallion Precise End was Wise Rock Stable's JOMARKEL, who secured the rail and the lead entering the first turn of the mile and a sixteenth contest for fillies and mares, three-year-olds and up. Never headed thereafter despite lurching back to her left lead just before reaching the sixteenth pole, the three-year-old filly had never run on a sloppy track in 15 previous starts, and her victory increased her earnings by $25,200 to $57,473 off a record of 1 - 3 - 2. It had been three weeks since her latest previous outing, a fourth-place effort at Aqueduct going a mile and 70 yards, and she went off in her maiden-breaking effort as the 6-to-1 third choice among nine starters. Jomarkel was bred by the Sez Who Thoroughbreds of Richard Simon of Aventura, Florida, which qualified for a $5,040 breeder award, and she is at least the 47th winner from two New York-conceived crops sired by current Japan-based Precise End, who ranks as North America's eighth-leading 2005 second-crop sire. Her victory qualified the former partnership owners of Precise End, who had stood at Becky Thomas's and Lewis Lakin's Lakland North, LLC in Hudson, for a $1,714 stallion award. A $32,000 purchase at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2004 April sale of two-year-olds in training in Florida, Jomarkel is the second offspring and second of three New York-bred winners produced from turf and dirt-winning router Chap Slewy, a four-time winner daughter of Tsunami Slew. Chap Slewy, whom Simon's New Dawn Stud had purchased for $18,000 at Keeneland's 2000 November sale when she was carrying her first foal, is a half-sister to multiple stakes winners Noble Novice ($211,258, with 19 wins in 99 starts!) and Best Game ($168,973). Jomarkel's two-year-old half-sister, Our Canterbury Stables' Nikkis Halo, won her debut gate-to-wire by 6-1/4 lengths at Aqueduct on November 19. The second Aqueduct maiden special winner on Thursday sired by Precise End was William Punk Jr.'s two-year-old PRECISE TACTICS, who charged from out of nowhere in the fog to win his debut by almost two lengths as the 13.90-to-1 sixth choice among 12 starters and 11 wagering interests. Coming off a dozen workouts over Belmont's training track from late July through Christmas eve and including a six-furlong "bullet" drill on December 18, the dark bay gelding was among seven first-time-starters in the six-furlong contest and was the second most highly-regarded debut choice behind a two-colt entry. Precise Tactics was bred by Becky Thomas and Lewis Lakin and was consigned by Thomas's Sequel Bloodstock to the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2005 March sale of selected two-year-olds in training, where he was purchased for $40,000. Conditioned by three-time NYTB Trainer of the Year Leo O'Brien, the stretch-running juvenile is owned by Punk of Manhassett, Long Island, who also campaigns New York-bred allowance-winning full brothers Gates Avenue and Nick the Vest. Precise Tactics is at least the 48th winner sired by Precise End, and he is the fifth winner produced from graded-placed winner Daily Routine, being a half-brother to multiple juvenile stakes winner Calldara and to 2005 Saratoga turf-winning three-year-old filly Heresheis. Lakland Farm had purchased Daily Routine for $17,000 at Keeneland's 2002 January sale when she was carrying Heresheis -- in yet another bloodstock transaction that almost suggests the farm possesses clairvoyance. By the summer of 2002, Daily Routine had become a stakes producer, with then two-year-old Calldara capturing two black-type stakes events on the West Coast. Daily Routine is a half-sister to stakes winners Chinoiserie ($124,445 in England and the U.S.) and Lotus Blossom. Beating open claiming fillies and mares at a mile and a sixteenth was Paraneck Stable's homebred TWO TOED SLOTH, who in her first outing under jockey Antonio Vega upped her earnings to $58,061 off a record of 2 - 2 - 3 in 18 starts, which includes an August Finger Lakes win. Dismissed as the 16.10-to-1 seventh choice among 10 wagering interests and 11 starters following an unplaced effort in a restricted N1X allowance going six furlongs on a muddy Aqueduct track just 13 days earlier, the May 12-foaled three-year-old filly was the youngest starter in the contest. She ran with a $25,000 tag and was the first of two winners at Aqueduct on Thursday owned by the Paraneck Stable of Ernie Paragallo of Lloyds Neck, Long Island and trained by Jennifer Pedersen. Two Toed Sloth was bred by Paragallo's Paraneck Stallions, which qualified for an additional $2,916 in breeder ($2,160) and stallion ($756) awards, since Paraneck Stallions had stood the filly's sire, 1999 Wood Memorial winner Adonis (Kris S. - Dixie Card, by Dixieland Band), at its Center Brook Farm in Climax. The dark bay filly is out of graded-placed winner Ensign Joanne ($240,311), who is by Blue Ensign and is a half-sister to Grade 2 winner Divine Answer ($272,997 and dam of $236,161-earning multiple stakes winner Too Too Divine) and to stakes-placed winner Tocar. Ensign Joanne is inbred 3 x 4 to Bold Ruler. |
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Wed
- Dec 28, 2005
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| (12/28) Two Sixty Four romps gate-to-wire - wins Alex Robb in first
stakes start In his first stakes outing and first start in New York, Arnold Heft's TWO SIXTY FOUR broke on top from the inside post and led all the way in Aqueduct's $84,875 Alex M. Robb Handicap for New York-bred three-year-olds & up going a two-turn mile and a sixteenth on the inner track. The four-year-old gelding was the 7-to-1 fourth choice among 10 starters and was the only runner in the event that had not raced within the last 31 days, but he had won his latest previous outing, an allowance optional claiming contest at Laurel on November 6. Winning jockey Abel Castellano Jr., who has ridden Two Sixty Four in seven races and five victories (previously all on the mid-Atlantic circuit), revealed confidence that his long-striding mount could score on the front end: "If I ever thought we would be in front, today was the day. We had the inside post and he is quick. I put him on the lead, and he was going on the lead so nice. He relaxed. I felt comfortable. No one was really pushing me. When we got to the quarter pole, he just kept going. "He's a nice, nice horse," Castellano pointed out. The victory increased Two Sixty Four's earnings by $50,925 to $182,725 and improved his record to 7 - 2 - 2 in 13 starts, which includes five feature or co-feature wins over distances ranging from eight to nine furlongs on the Pimlico-Laurel-Delaware circuit. Carefully campaigned by trainer Rodney Jenkins, who had given him solid workouts going five and then six furlongs at Laurel on November 26 and December 18, the dark bay gelding has finished worse than fourth only once in his career -- all against open company prior to the Robb. Owner Heft had purchased Two Sixty Four for $40,000 at Fasig-Tipton Florida's February 2003 sale of two-year-olds in training at Calder. The latest Robb winner was bred by Becky Thomas and Lewis Lakin, who own Lakland North, LLC in Hudson, and had been consigned to the Fasig-Tipton Florida auction by Thomas's Sequel Bloodstock, agent. Lakland Farm had purchased Two Sixty Four's dam, Uppity, for $21,000 at Keeneland's 2000 November sale when she was carrying the future New York-bred six-figure-earner, who is by the Mr. Prospector stallion Dance Brightly. Two Sixty Four is the second runner and second multiple winner produced from Uppity, who is by Colony Light and is a half-sister to stakes-winning fillies/mares Top Secret (multiple Grade 2 winner of $997,647), Tate ($199,788), and West's Secret ($176,381). Uppity also is a half-sister to the winning dam of New York-bred graded winner Megascape ($283,673 to date) and stakes winner Richest Half ($155,371 through 2004) and to Puerto Rican stakes-placed seven-time winner Renacer de Caoba. In Aqueduct's six-furlong Wednesday nightcap, a restricted N2X allowance optional claiming contest for fillies and mares, Marty Cunningham's and Eugene Hauman's SHOW READY scored a decisive front-running victory and was promptly claimed for $30,000 by trainer Dominick Schettino on behalf of new owner Joseph Parisi. It was the third winning ride of the day -- and second aboard a New York-bred filly -- for apprentice jockey Kyle Kaenel, who rides with a five-pound allowance and had booted Show Ready to victory 25 days earlier at Aqueduct when the four-year-old filly also ran with a $30,000 tag. Wednesday's nightcap score marked Show Ready's best six-furlong time of her career (1:10.30), and it increased her earnings by $27,000 to $240,522 while improving her record to 9 - 5 - 5 in 35 starts. Since being claimed by Cunningham and Hauman for $20,000 at Belmont on September 23, Show Ready has earned $60,400. Conditioned during that period by New York Thoroughbred Breeders (NYTB) 2000 Trainer of the Year Michael Hushion, Show Ready was bred by the Flying Zee Stables of Carl Lizza Jr. of Wharton, New Jersey, which qualified for a $5,400 breeder award. She was conceived and foaled at Highcliff Farm in Delanson that Lizza owns in partnership with Joseph Bartone and also where her now-deceased sire, Prosper Fager, had stood, qualifying Prosper Fager's former owners, The Billings Partnership of Robert and Michele Billings of Naples, Florida, for a $1,890 stallion award. The former $13,000 purchase at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2003 June sale of two-year-olds in training in Florida has now been claimed five times. Show Ready is the first winner produced from Pilfer Proof, who is by Gate Dancer and out of six-time stakes winner Tri Bowl ($205,221). Jockey Eibar Coa rode three different New York-breds for the first time in competition on Wednesday, and all three won, but the only gate-to-wire winner among them was Brian and Kerry Novak's VASA, who held on to capture a six-furlong N1X allowance contest for New York-bred juvenile fillies. Overlooked as the 17.10-to-1 fourth choice among 11 starters, the bay daughter of City Zip increased her earnings by $25,800 to $54,150 in three starts. Trainer Richard Stoklosa had tried Vasa in Aqueduct's $125,000 New York Stallion Fifth Avenue Stakes on November 6 after her first-out victory at Belmont on October 16, but she had raced wide throughout and had finished fifth. In the 52-day interim, Stoklosa had given the smallish filly three workouts over Aqueduct's inner track, punctuated by a half-mile "bullet" drill (47 3/5) on December 19. Purchased for $51,000 at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's 2005 May sale of two-year-olds in training, Vasa was bred by Gus Schoenborn Jr., who qualified for a $4,920 breeder award, and was conceived at Schoenborn's Contemporary Stallions in Coxsackie. She is among 20 first-crop juvenile winners conceived in New York to represent City Zip -- North America's leading first-crop sire of 2005 winners. Vasa is the first offspring produced from six-time winner Canadian Flagship, by the closely inbred Northern Flagship (3 x 3 to Native Dancer), and is herself inbred (4 x 4) to Native Dancer's son Raise a Native. Vasa's dam, Canadian Flagship, is a half-sister to stakes-winning router Soldieroffaith and out of stakes winner Key Bid ($275,046). Coa's second winning ride of the day aboard a New York-bred came on Our Blue Streaks Stable's PRINCE RAFFIE in a restricted maiden special for two-year-olds going a mile and an eighth, for which the chestnut colt was favored at 2-to-1 among 12 starters. The victory, coming 32 days after Prince Raffie's fourth-place debut going seven furlongs at Aqueduct, increased the juvenile's earnings by $25,200 to $27,250 for the Our Blue Streaks Stable that is run by managing partner Neal Galvin of Saratoga Springs and is comprised mainly of partners from that area. Galvin had purchased Prince Raffie as a weanling for $5,000 at the J. T. Minton Auctions' 2003 mixed sale in Saratoga Springs from the consignment of the colt's breeder, the Majesty Stud of Digby Barrios of Ridgefield, Connecticut, which qualified for a $5,040 breeder award. Trained by Bruce Levine, who had given him moderate workouts over Belmont's training track on December 13 and 22, Prince Raffie is the 27th winner of 2005 and 31st winner overall sired by Raffie's Majesty (Cormorant - Raffinierte, by Surumu), whose partnership connections qualified for a $1,764 stallion award. Prince Raffie is the third winner produced from Saratoga Princess, who is by Seattle Dancer and is a half-sister to Grade 1-placed winner Weekend Money ($200,922), and his New York-bred three-year-old full sister, Raffamuffin (also bred by Majesty Stud), was a winner at Belmont last May. Saratoga Princess arrived in New York after being purchased for $20,000 at Keeneland's 2000 November sale. Coa's first winning ride on Wednesday came in a stalking trip aboard Jay Em Ess Stable's YANKEE MAGIC in an open claiming contest for three-year-olds and up going a mile and 70 yards with claiming prices of $40,000 to $35,000. Entered with a $40,000 tag and the only New York-bred among nine starters, the bay colt went off as the 4.90-to-1 fourth choice and boosted his earnings by $24,000 into six figures at $114,672 while improving his record to 4 - 0 - 2 in nine starts. It was Yankee Magic's first outing in 64 days, during which time NYTB 2002 Trainer of the Year Richard Dutrow Jr. had given him four moderate workouts over Belmont's training track from November 25 through December 14. The victory also qualified the Jay Em Ess Stable of Samantha Siegel of Santa Monica, California for an additional $4,800 owner award, and it collectively qualified the colt's breeders, Mr. and Mrs. James Didonato and Mr. and Mrs. Tony Everard of Ocala, Florida, for a $4,800 breeder award. Jay Em Ess Stable had purchased Yankee Magic for $220,000 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's (OBS) 2004 February sale of two-year-olds in training at Calder, prior to which the New York-bred had been a $55,000 acquisition at Fasig-Tipton's 2003 Saratoga preferred New York-bred yearling sale. Yankee Magic was foaled at James Edwards' Keane Stud in Amenia and is among at least 39 winners in 2005 sired by the late syndicated New York stallion Distinctive Pro. He is a half-brother to two stakes-placed winners, being the seventh offspring and seventh winner produced from juvenile stakes winner Cherokee Mist, whom one of Yankee Magic's breeders, James Didonato, had purchased for $28,000 at the OBS 1999 October mixed sale. The first of two New York-bred open company winners at Aqueduct on Wednesday was Richard Bennett's CROOKED WOMAN, who went gate-to-wire from the outside post among nine starters to win the six-furlong opener for fillies and mares, three-year-olds and up -- all with $25,000 claiming prices. Favored at 2.25-to-1 with apprentice jockey Kyle Kaenel on board for the third consecutive time in competition, the three-year-old filly provided Kaenel with his first of three winning rides for the day and increased her earnings to $28,833 off a record of 2 - 1 - 1 in nine starts. Crooked Woman had broken her maiden by five lengths on November 30 over Aqueduct's inner track with Kaenel on board for the first time, but when NYTB 2004 Trainer of the Year Gary Contessa had run her back seven days later at Aqueduct, the bay filly had finished fifth. Placing second in the opener was New York-bred Nolo Contendere, as New York-breds comprised almost 56 percent of the contest's starters but earned 84 percent of the total purse while qualifying for another $2,176 in breeder and stallion awards. Crooked Woman had been purchased for $37,000 at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's 2004 May sale of two-year-olds in training in Timonium, Maryland. She was bred by the Sez Who Thoroughbreds of Richard Simon of Aventura, Florida, which qualified for a $1,020 breeder award, and is by Grade 2 winner Straight Man. Crooked Woman is the second winner produced from winner Caravannsis, who is a half-sister to stakes winner My Caravann ($284,471) and to two other six-figure-earning fillies/mares, including the dam of stakes-placed winner Yourfinalanswer. Sez Who Thoroughbreds had purchased Caravannsis for $11,000 at an OBS 2000 October mixed sale in Ocala, Florida. |
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