|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
January's contingent of NY-bred open SWs is stronger than in 2006 by Rab Hagin
Emphasizing the strength of the New York-bred crop of 2002, five-year-olds CARMINOOCH ($362,738) and Successful Affair ($293,929) finished one-two in Aqueduct's Proud Appeal Stakes on Sunday, bringing to five their state-bred crop's number of top-three open stakes finishers in 2007 -- two in graded events. In the New Year's first four weeks, five New York-breds from four different crops have won open stakes races -- one Grade 2 contest -- and another six have placed (second or third) in open stakes, including graded events (Grade 2 and Grade 3) on both coasts. New York Minute: In 2006 through January, three New York-breds had won open stakes. The Proud Appeal marked the second time that horses owned by the Three Amigos and Winning Move Stables -- both with family thespian connections to the hit television series "The Sopranos" -- have finished one-two in an open Aqueduct stakes, and Carminooch has been involved both times. In Aqueduct's graded Stuyvesant Stakes at a mile and an eighth on November 18, the son of New York stallion Tomorrows Cat had placed second behind Winning Move Stable's and Harold Lerner's Accountforthegold in an event that featured New York-breds finishing one-two-three. Successful Affair was already an established router going into Sunday's mile and quarter Proud Appeal, having won Aqueduct's open Coyote Lakes Stakes at a mile and a half and open Gallant Fox Handicap at a mile and five-eighths plus a two-mile open Aqueduct allowance -- all in November and December. As recently as late October, however, neither Carminooch nor Successful Affair -- who faced off for the first time in the Proud Appeal -- had ever tried a distance longer than a mile and an eighth and had not won at longer than a mile and a sixteenth. How many more potential state-bred standouts at ten furlongs and up are lurking out there? Zabeel Racing International's multiple graded-winning West Virginia (see New York-bred Millionaires Club) -- also a son of Tomorrows Cat -- seems a likely candidate, and Fox Ridge Farm's Naughty New Yorker already is a Grade 3 winner at a mile and a quarter. New York Minute: Carminooch's winning Proud Appeal time, an excellent 2:03.87 on Aqueduct's tight-turn inner track, generated a 104 Bloodstock Research Information Services (BRIS) speed rating that was unsurpassed among the week's mile-and-up dirt races -- equaling Gulfstream Park's $1-million Sunshine Millions Classic and bettering Sam Houston Race Park's $100,000 Maxxam Gold Cup. Winning a seven-furlong allowance for four-year-olds and up at Philadelphia Park on Sunday was Michael Cimini's New York-bred LOOKMEINTHEEYE, who advanced from next-to-last among six starters to score going away by two lengths as the 1.40-to-1 favorite with jockey Frankie Pennington aboard for the sixth time in competition. The four-year-old gelding improved his record to 2 - 4 - 1 in 11 starts -- all under trainer Michael Aro's care -- becoming the third allowance winner (or better) produced from Aaron's Terms, whom breeder Sez Who Thoroughbreds (Richard Simon) had purchased for $34,000 at Keeneland's 2001 January mixed sale. Lookmeintheeye had won a restricted maiden special going a one-turn mile at Belmont last September. The late May-foaled son of Precise End is a full brother to New York-bred eight-time winner Hoosick Falls ($142,744) -- whom Aaron's Terms was carrying when Sez Who Thoroughbreds purchased her -- and a half-brother to stakes-placed winner Manor Prospect. Aaron's Terms, who is inbred 3 x 3 to Bold Ruler, is a half-sister to stakes winner Aaron's Concorde ($160,692) and to stakes-placed winner Aaron's Halo. Winning restricted N2X allowance/optional claiming contests at Aqueduct were four-year-old filly GONE GOODBYE going a mile on Wednesday, five-year-old gelding TERGESTI going a mile and sixteenth on Thursday, four-year-old colt TRADING PRO on Saturday, and five-year-old mare R B'S TOKEN on Sunday -- the last-named two both going 5-1/2 furlongs. Gone Goodbye ($100,526), a daughter of Gone for Real racing for the Michael Iavarone-founded IEAH (International Equine Acquisition Holdings) Stables, boosted her earnings into six figures with a three-wide rally on the second turn, scoring by 2-1/2 lengths in her first start wearing blinkers. Bred by Jane Griffin of Our Empire Stable in Saratoga Springs and a first-out Aqueduct winner a year earlier, the stretch-running filly improved her record to 3 - 1 - 2 in eight starts, which includes a third-placing in Belmont's New York Stallion Cupecoy's Joy Stakes at a one-turn mile last June. Tergesti ($176,349), Heatherwood Farm's (Edna Bensen of Belleair, Florida) homebred, raced with a $50,000 tag because he had gone through his restricted N2X allowance condition a year and a half earlier and led all the way to improve his record to 4 - 4 - 6 in 27 starts. The fifth New York-bred six-figure-earner produced from his indestructible dam -- herself $267,286-earning ten-time winner -- Tergesti was making his first start in 59 days and his seventh outing under New York Thoroughbred Breeders 2003 Jockey of the Year Jose Santos. Trading Pro ($156,082), a $100,000 purchase at Fasig-Tipton's 2004 Saratoga preferred New York-bred yearling sale by Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables, Inc. (buying through an agent), was coming off a 15-week layoff and raced with a $30,000 tag because he had gone through his restricted N2X allowance condition in September. Eighth among 10 with five-sixteenths of a mile to go, the late-running sprinter closed quickly to improve his record to 4 - 2 - 4 in 14 starts, which includes a close runner-up effort in Belmont's 2005 Bertram F. Bongard Stakes, and he was claimed by Jay Lieberman. R B's Token ($160,355) also raced with a $30,000 tag -- having gone through her restricted N2X allowance condition a year earlier -- but she led on the front end in her 4-1/2-length victory, improving her record to 4 - 3 - 6 in 17 starts. Owned by the E El R Stable that is managed by Richard Balfour, who had purchased her for $30,000 at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's 2003 September yearling sale, the bay mare is a full sister to 2006 stakes-winning mare Gold Like U ($290,883) and a half-sister to a six-figure-earning four-year-old filly. Favored four-year-old winners of restricted N1X allowance races at Aqueduct were geldings UNCONCERNED going six furlongs on Thursday and STARHUMOR going a mile and a sixteenth on Saturday and front-running filly ARISTO by 3-1/2 lengths under top weight at a mile and a sixteenth on Sunday. Unconcerned, a homebred owned by the Castle Village Farm of Stephen Zorn of Hialeah, Florida, advanced his record to 2 - 3 - 3 in 13 starts and is the second offspring and second New York-bred multiple winner produced from stakes winner Flippy Diane ($202,249), who also raced for Castle Village Farm. Starhumor, a $100,000 Keeneland 2004 September yearling sale purchase by the Five Star Stable of Vincent Stanzione of Muttontown, was odds-on (.45-to-1) among six starters and improved his record to two wins and three seconds (his latest three previous starts) in seven outings. Aristo, a homebred for Marlene Brody's Gallagher's Stud in Ghent, scored her second consecutive big-margin Aqueduct victory in 31 days and is the second offspring and second winner produced from winner Blond Lady, being a half-sister to Gallagher's Stud's homebred 2006 open turf stakes winner Bestowed ($140,831). New York-bred open claiming winners from Thursday, January 25 through Monday, January 29 included: SYDSATIONAL ($140,423) by seven lengths at Aqueduct with a three-wide second-turn rally for her sixth career victory, and homebred TRUELY WICKED from last-to-first in the final 5/16ths of a mile at Turfway Park under co-topweight and at near even-money to give him a main track win in addition to a victory on Belmont turf last October -- both on Thursday; SMOKIN' KELLY ($101,474) with a four-wide move out of the eighth post among nine starters at Mountaineer Park at near even-money for his fourth victory and pushing his earnings into six figures, on Saturday evening; TOUCHY BROAD in a front-running odds-on performance at Charles Town that was her third daylight-margin win in five starts since late September to improve her overall record to 6 - 5 - 3 in 27 starts and claimed, on Sunday; homebred REGAL ONYX (sired by Regal Classic) from last-to-first among nine starters at Fair Grounds with a big circling rally on the second turn, and MAJESTY RIDGE by a front-running eight lengths "ridden out" at Turf Paradise for his second consecutive five-length-plus win in 23 days since returning from more than a year's layoff and his third career big-margin victory -- both on Monday. New York-bred maiden-breakers from Wednesday, January 24 through Sunday, January 28 included: UPSTATE CAT (sired by Catienus) in a front-running effort at Aqueduct for the May-foaled three-year-old filly, on Wednesday; BETTER FOR US from the outside post among eight starters for the half-brother to a five-time stakes winner of $377,717, and homebred KICKIN STONES from fifth-to-first among nine starters in his debut -- both at Aqueduct -- plus MANHATTAN MOON by 7-1/2 lengths gate-to-wire and "ridden out" at Laurel Park from the outside post among eight starters at odds-on -- all three on Thursday; homebred COCKY STOCKY at Laurel Park, and SIDESTEPPER at Beulah Park -- both on Friday; BELLY RUB in his debut at Aqueduct and from the seventh post among 10 starters for the half-brother to six-time stakes winner Princess Dixie ($513,289), on Saturday; Sugar Maple Farm's homebred-and-conceived MRS. GOTTLIEB by a front-running 3-3/4 lengths for the second offspring and second winner produced from a stakes-winning mare, homebred WHAT'S THAT MARNIE from fifth-to-first with a three-wide rally despite stumbling badly after the start, and DOCTOR FREUD (sired by Freud) "drew clear" going gate-to-wire in his second start and first effort at two turns -- all three at Aqueduct on Sunday. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
NY-breds Carminooch and Successful Affair run 1-2 in Proud Appeal by Rab Hagin
Hooking up in the final strides while possibly launching a new routing rivalry, New York-breds CARMINOOCH and Successful Affair finished one-two and heads apart in Aqueduct's open $65,950 Proud Appeal Stakes at a mile and a quarter on Sunday, leaving their next closest competitor almost two lengths behind. Incredibly, the two five-year-olds had never faced each other in previous competition, and their connections only recently have discovered their distance-running proclivities, but the wagering public was on to them, sending Carminooch off as the 1.85-to-1 favorite among five starters and Successful Affair the 2.05-to-1 second choice. For the first half-mile, the jockeys of the two New York-breds were content to have their mounts next-to-last (Carminooch) and last (Successful Affair), as 6.20-to-1 fourth choice Silver Prospector set the pace. Carminooch saved ground advancing to third place entering the second turn, while Successful Affair quickly split rivals and was suddenly three-wide with the leaders approaching the stretch. Third choice Tall Story (2.20-to-1) gained a brief lead at the eighth-mile pole but was overtaken in the next 100 yards by Successful Affair, who looked like the obvious winner until Carminooch exploded into action after jockey Michael Luzzi had angled him off the rail and into the clear. Possibly benefiting from a five-pound weight advantage that had resulted from Successful Affair's four consecutive previous wins since October -- two in open Aqueduct route stakes -- Carminooch closed strongly on his fellow New York-bred rival and pushed his head in front in the final strides. It was the third stakes victory on Aqueduct's inner track for the son of New York-based stallion Tomorrows Cat -- but his first open-company win ever and his first tally at beyond a mile and a sixteenth (in Aqueduct's restricted Ave's Flag Stakes in February 2006). Carminooch races for the Three Amigos Stable of Joseph Scarpinito that in the past has also been affiliated with brothers Carmine and Tony Sirico -- the latter known for portraying Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri on the hit television series, "The Sopranos". The dark bay horse seems to have a special relationship with jockey Luzzi, who has ridden him in five races and three victories, including a four-length romp in Aqueduct's Ave's Flag plus a runner-up effort in Aqueduct's restricted Mellow Roll Stakes and a third-placing in Belmont's 2005 Empire Classic. The Proud Appeal increased Carminooch's earnings by $40,350 to $362,738 while improving his record to 6 - 4 - 3 in 17 starts. Runner-up Successful Affair, who races for the Winning Move Stable of Brian and Steve Sigler (whose daughter, Jaime-Lynn Sigler, plays Meadow Soprano on "The Sopranos"), increased his earnings to $293,929 off a record of 7 - 9 - 5 in 30 starts and has picked up $150,886 since being claimed for $16,000 at Aqueduct last October. In addition, the two New York-breds qualified their various connections for a total of $21,654.50 in owner, breeder, and stallion owner awards. Carminooch was the first of two New York-bred winners at Aqueduct on Sunday ridden by Luzzi and trained by Seth Benzel, as that team also combined to win the nightcap, a one-mile maiden special for state-bred three-year-olds. In preparation for Carminooch's first open stakes victory, Benzel had given the improving stretch-runner a pair of sharp half-mile workouts on Belmont's training track on January 14 and 22 -- the latter an eye-catching "bullet" drill. Purchased twice as a yearling for $5,000 -- the second time at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's October yearling sale on the reported recommendation to Three Amigos Stable by Jack Brothers of Breezy Point -- Carminooch was bred by the Glen Gray Farm of Gary Mottola of Oakland, New Jersey. He is among eight winners produced from two-time California winner Open Flap, whom Mottola had purchased for $10,000 at Keeneland's 2001 January sale when she was carrying future New York-bred multiple Belmont allowance winner Boundary Bay. Carminooch's four-year-old New York-bred half-brother, Tapped, won a 6-1/2-furlong allowance race at Del Mar last Labor Day. Open Flap is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Catatonic ($437,431), whose winning offspring include two stakes winners plus two stakes-placed six-figure-earners. Carminooch is the fifth New York-bred open stakes winner in January, and Successful Affair is the 11th New York-bred to win or place (second or third) in an open stakes within that same time frame. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Chestoria, Admiral Bird, Chief Officer, and What a Tale on Experimental by Rab Hagin
The highweighted New York-bred filly and colt on the Experimental Free Handicap for 2006 two-year-olds, CHESTORIA and ADMIRAL BIRD respectively, both were bred by and foaled at Dr. Douglas Koch's Berkshire Stud in Pine Plains; other state-breds on the Experimental are filly CHIEF OFFICER and colt WHAT A TALE. All four won or placed in open stakes during the 2006 season, and three won against open company. Chestoria, weighted at 111 pounds, races for the E El R Stable of Richard Balfour of Springfield, New Jersey, who had purchased her for $40,000 at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's 2006 May sale of two-year-olds from Fair Hill Bloodstock, which had bought the May-foaled filly for $20,000 at Keeneland's 2005 September sale. Bred by Berkshire Stud in partnership with the Oak Cliff Breeders Inc. of Houston businessman Tom Tatham, who had purchased her dam for $130,000 at Keeneland's 1998 July yearling sale, Chestoria won her second start and turf debut by nine lengths at Belmont on October 6. Sixteen days later, New York Thoroughbred Breeders (NYTB) 2005 Trainer of the Year Bruce Levine sent Chestoria into her first stakes and first open company effort in Belmont's $84,375 Miss Grillo Stakes at a mile and an eighth on yielding turf, which she won by a length. The dark bay daughter of Chester House is the second offspring and second winner produced from turf winner R D Fille, who is a half-sister to Grade 2 turf record-setter Talloires ($960,269 in the U.S., France, Italy, and Brazil). Admiral Bird, a $250,000 purchase at Keeneland's 2006 April sale of two-year-olds by the Cot Campbell-managed Dogwood Stable, started four times at a mile and a sixteenth, winning on both Saratoga's and Keeneland's turf courses (no easy feat in itself) and placing in two stakes outside state-bred company. The dark bay colt closed from seventh among eight after being steadied on the first turn to miss by a nose in Saratoga's With Anticipation Stakes on turf and made a five-wide move to place third in Keeneland's off-the-turf (and onto Polytrack) $125,000 Woodford Reserve Bourbon Stakes. Admiral Bird, a son of Royal Academy and a $50,000 Keeneland September sales yearling in 2005, is the first starter produced from Berkshire Stud's New York homebred Sea Puffin, who is a half-sister to the dams of NYTB champions Private Emblem ($783,152) and Rhum ($306,234).
Chief Officer, a $230,000 purchase by Egyptian beverage entrepreneur Ahmed Zayat (Zayat Stables) at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2006 March sale of two-year-olds, was the leading earner ($262,076) among New York-bred 2006 juveniles, winning three of four starts and placing third among eight in Saratoga's graded Schuylerville Stakes. The dark bay filly won first-out by 10 lengths at Belmont, captured Finger Lakes' Lady Fingers Stakes against fellow state-bred two-year-old fillies by 6-1/4 lengths, and trounced state-bred juvenile males with equal ease while winning Finger Lakes' $250,518 New York Breeders' Futurity by 5-1/2 lengths. Her Schuylerville placing in her second start -- in which she was among six debut winners -- came following a speed duel that caused her to weaken in the stretch. Bred by Becky Thomas's Sequel 2003 and Lynda Richter of Florida and foaled at Lakland North, LLC (now Sequel Stallions New York) in Hudson, the daughter of Officer is a half-sister to Grade 2-winning filly Ready to Please ($276,522), being the second named offspring produced from Guilty Pleasure. Lakland had purchased Guilty Pleasure, who is by Pine Bluff and is a half-sister to two multiple stakes winners (one graded), for $42,000 at Keeneland's 2004 January sale when the mare was carrying Chief Officer and when Ready to Please was a just-turned "winter" yearling. What a Tale, a $750,000 purchase by Thomas VanMeter II (who owns him in partnership with Maurice Miller) of Stockplace at Keeneland's 2006 April sale of two-year-olds, shipped from New York to Kentucky to break his maiden in his second start by 4-1/4 lengths on Keeneland's Polytrack surface. Twenty-three days later (October 29), the New York-bred made a five-wide move to place second among seven in Churchill Downs' graded Iroquois Stakes at a one-turn mile. The dark bay son of Tale of the Cat was bred by and foaled at Howard Kaskel's Sugar Maple Farm in Poughquag, which had sold him for $575,000 (through Eaton Sales, agent) to current co-owner and subsequent Keeneland consignor Miller at Fasig-Tipton's 2005 Saratoga select yearling sale. What a Tale, whom co-owner Miller had described as his "favorite individual at Saratoga -- big, strong, and fast," is a half-brother to two six-figure-earning New York-breds, including the indestructible quarter-million-plus earner Quatre Dix Neuf, being out of three-time winner Mrs. Filio, by Eastern Echo. Sugar Maple Farm had purchased Mrs. Filio for $65,000 at Keeneland's 1997 November sale when she was carrying her first foal, a future 15-time winner. New York-bred juvenile standouts typically do not rank high on annual Experimental ratings and some recent ones have not made the Experimental at all because of less necessity to send them into open stakes when a rich array of alternative events for state-bred two-year-olds is available. Eclipse Champion Funny Cide, voted North America's best three-year-old male for 2003, did not make the 2002 Experimental even though he was undefeated in three starts as a 2002 two-year-old, winning two stakes and taking the NYTB Champion Two-Year-Old Male title. NYTB 2003 Two-Year-Old Filly Champion Capeside Lady did not make the 2003 Experimental but subsequently was a Grade 2 winner in both 2004 and 2005, and NYTB 2005 Champion Two-Year-Old Male Sharp Humor -- a Grade 2 winner in 2006 -- did not make the 2005 Experimental. Trainers of top New York-bred two-year-olds who want to avoid pushing their charges as juveniles but still aspire to avail them of significant stakes money during those seasons have the luxury of choosing other options. New York Showcase Day's Sleepy Hollow Stakes for state-bred two-year-olds -- a prime example of this scenario -- has a history of being one of the best predictors of three-year-old success on the entire North American juvenile stakes calendar. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
NY-bred older males hit the boards in G2 and G3 stakes on both coasts by Rab Hagin
Compared to 2006 through January's fourth weekend, when three New York-breds had scored open stakes victories on the East and West coasts, in 2007 through January's third weekend, four New York-breds have registered open stakes wins on both coasts, highlighted on Saturday by Grade 2 winner FRIENDLY ISLAND ($969,714). Anstu Stables' latest state-bred contender for Eclipse championship honors drew off to a 2-1/2-length tally under co-topweight in Santa Anita's six-furlong Palos Verdes Handicap, improving his record to 8 - 2 - 2 in 18 starts while looking like the virtually certain next (19th) New York-bred millionaire. His connections only recently have begun figuring out the speedy six-year-old's quirks and preferences. Like the most recent New York-bred Eclipse Champions Funny Cide and Fleet Indian, Friendly Island -- besides having a name that begins with "F" -- prefers cool weather to hot. His proclivity for stalking and making a big final run was discovered inadvertently in Saratoga's Grade 1 Forego Stakes according to the horse's co-breeder, Frankie O'Connor (Kildare Stud), who revealed that Friendly Island missed the break in that event but still placed a surprising third among 11 at 36.75-to-1. The horse's next main track dash came in the TVG Breeders' Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs, in which he placed second among 14 as the 58.60-to-1 next-to-last choice and best across-the-board bet (yielding $82.80 on a $6 combination wager) on the entire Breeders' Cup World Championships card. On Preakness Day at Pimlico (May 20) before his "stalk-and-charge" preference had been recognized, Friendly Island had won the Grade 3 Maryland Breeders' Cup Sprint at six furlongs for his first open stakes victory to go along with 2004-2005 tallies in New York Showcase Day's Hudson Handicap. Foaled at Howard Kaskel's Sugar Maple Farm in Poughquag, which co-breeder O'Connor was then managing, and bred in partnership with Adrian Regan of Lexington, Kentucky, Friendly Island is the first offspring produced from five-time sprint winner Island Queen ($148,890), a daughter of Ogygian and Irish black-type stakes winner Regal Peace. O'Connor had purchased Island Queen for $16,500 as a five-year-old not-bred broodmare prospect at Fasig-Tipton's horses of racing age sale at Belmont in November of 1999. The auction -- held some years and not others and colorfully referred to in various circles as the "broken down" sale and by O'Connor as "Belmont's parking lot auction" -- nevertheless has provided excellent opportunities for acquiring promising potential breeding stock. According to O'Connor, Friendly Island's owners, Stuart and Anita Subotnick (Anstu Stables, Inc.) of New York City and Anstu Farm in Millbrook, are interested in standing the stallion in New York after his ever-more-promising racing career has been concluded. New York Minute: In addition to being the fourth New York-bred open stakes winner of 2007, Friendly Island was the ninth New York-bred to finish in the top-three in an open stakes in the first three weeks of the New Year. The eighth New York-bred to win or place in an open 2007 stakes was Fox Ridge Farm, Inc.'s Naughty New Yorker ($664,845), who finished third under top weight in the Grade 3 Aqueduct Handicap about an hour prior to Friendly Island's Palos Verdes victory. The five-year-old whose seven stakes victories include Aqueduct's Grade 3 Red Smith Handicap at a mile and a quarter in November and Alex M. Robb Handicap on New Year's Eve now has a record of 8 - 5 - 6 in 30 starts and wins or placed efforts in 16 stakes. Naughty New Yorker and another New York-bred participant in the Aqueduct Handicap, Trinacria USA Stable's Shuffling Maddnes ($200,515), also qualified their connections for a total of $3,294 in owner, breeder, and stallion owner awards in addition to their purse earnings in the event. Another New York-bred bi-coastal winner scoring over the weekend was five-yea r-old TOUCHDOWN KID ($147,639), who overcame a bumpy beginning to tally by 2-1/2 lengths in Aqueduct's Sunday feature, an open $47,000 N2X allowance/optional claiming contest for four-year-olds and up going six furlongs. Owned by Brous Stable (Nils Brous), Wachtel Stable (Adam Wachtel), Weyhill Farms (Robert Johnson), and Paula and Andrew Capestro, the chestnut gelding was the 5.60-to-1 third choice among seven wagering interests and eight starters -- two of them stakes winners plus three other stakes-placed winners. In his first outing under jockey Eibar Coa, the Richard Schosberg-trained New York-bred improved his record to five wins -- at Santa Anita, Belmont, and Aqueduct's inner (twice) and outer tracks -- and one second (his debut in California) in 10 starts. Touchdown Kid was bred by Kathleen Schonefeld and is a half-brother to Schonefeld's homebred 2003 Bertram F. Bongard Stakes winner, Flagshipenterprise, being the fourth offspring and fourth winner produced from College Year, whom Schonefeld had purchased for $7,500 at Keeneland's 2001 January sale when she was carrying Flagshipenterprise. Under the colors of his then-trainer and current part-owner, Paula Capestro, Touchdown Kid had won a seven-furlong maiden special at Santa Anita by 5-1/4 lengths in 1:22.93 in his second career start as a just-turned three-year-old in January of 2006. Two months later, the May-foaled New York-bred won going a two-turn mile on Aqueduct's inner track while racing above his existing condition level (restricted N2X) for his current owners. Touchdown Kid has won twice at six furlongs, once at seven furlongs, and twice at a mile. Winning restricted N1X allowances at Aqueduct were three-year-old unbeaten colt GANSEVOORT by 8-1/4 lengths at a mile and a sixteenth on Thursday, homebred four-year-old gelding BENLAYLA going six furlongs on Saturday, and new six-figure-earning four-year-old filly MAMA THERESA ($105,315) going six furlongs on Sunday. Gansevoort, the latest entry into the intriguing ranks of unbeaten and unchallenged New York-breds with two or more starts, races for Steven Wecker and William Achenbaum and is now two-for-two (by a total of 14-1/2 lengths) at six and 8-1/2 furlongs on Aqueduct's inner track within a 40-day span. Benlayla, a homebred for Dr. Herbert and Sheila Sherry of North Hills and the first offspring produced from the Sherry couple's homebred New York Thoroughbred Breeders (NYTB) champion mare and graded winner Pentatonic ($601,860), advanced from eighth-to-first among 11 starters after breaking from the 10th post. Mama Theresa -- William Butler's and Timothy Twomey's $65,000 purchase at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2005 April sale of two-year-olds and coming off three consecutive Aqueduct runner-up efforts -- has three wins and five seconds in 15 starts and is the second six-figure-earner produced from stakes winner Nothing Special ($266,589). New York-bred open claiming winners from Thursday, January 18 through Tuesday, January 23 included: EXTRA IMPACT in a front-running performance under co-topweight of 124 pounds at Laurel Park despite breaking outward from the outside post among seven starters in her first two-turn effort on a main track, RAJA'S JET (sired by A. P Jet) by five lengths at Delta Downs to improve his multiple-winning record on both dirt and turf to 13 - 5 - 5 in 38 starts with earnings of $111,574, and FINTASTIC LIFE by two lengths at Penn National for his fourth win in a record that also includes a victory on turf -- all on Thursday; homebred MAIDEZ (sired by Preacherman) from seventh-to-first among 10 starters at Charles Town to boost her earnings to $119,696, on Friday; SHEER SILK (sired by Western Expression) by 3-3/4 lengths gate-to-wire for her first victory for her new owners since being claimed three times during a 16-week span in the summer-fall of 2006 and improving her record to 8 - 4 - 3 in 27 starts with earnings of $164,629, ERNIE'S CHOICE from 10th-to-first among 11 starters with huge strides on the outside and with blinkers back on following an unproductive two-start experiment without the hood -- both at Aqueduct -- plus homebred INCA IS CALLING from last-to-first among 10 starters at Tampa Bay Downs after breaking from the ninth post, and GOLDFINGERSTOUCH from the outside post among seven starters at Delta Downs for his third career victory -- all on Saturday; J B OF THE SEA by five lengths at Mountaineer Park off a 59-day layoff as that son of pensioned New York stallion and NYTB champion Scarlet Ibis improved his record to 9 - 5 - 1 in 22 starts after having won seven times in 2006, on Monday; YANKEE TRICK ($176,338) by six lengths gate-to-wire at Mountaineer Park while "never challenged" in his "convincing" ninth career victory, and Y TWO J ($273,700) at Philadelphia Park to improve his "iron horse" record to 11 - 10 - 8 in 54 starts -- both on Tuesday. New York-bred maiden-breakers from Thursday, January 18 through Sunday, January 21 included: TAKEMYWIFE PLEASE at Aqueduct in his third start on the inner track following two consecutive runner-up efforts on that inner winter surface, homebred-and-trained TOP RATED in a front-running effort out of the sixth post among seven starters at Laurel Park following a second-placing at that track just two weeks earlier, and GETAWAY ISLAND by a front-running 5-1/4 lengths at Penn National with blinkers on for the first time -- all on Thursday; homebred ALLEY SINGER (sired by Tomorrows Cat) by three lengths "under a hand ride" for the half-sister to multiple graded-winning mare El Prado Essence ($890,280), homebred IN BY TWO by a front-running 2-1/4 lengths for the colt who is inbred 3 x 3 to Danzig, TIME PIECE by 4-1/2 lengths "wrapped up late" after advancing from eighth-to-first despite breaking from the outside post among nine starters -- all at Aqueduct -- and homebred BENEATH THE CROWN (sired by Regal Classic) by 3-1/4 lengths "going away" from sixth-to-first at Tampa Bay Downs even though he was the 26.20-to-1 seventh choice among eight starters -- all on Friday; homebred SEE MORE SPIRIT (sired by A. P Jet) by 3-1/4 lengths in the third start for the half-brother to New York-bred open multiple stakes winners Chasin Wimmin ($418,558) and Pentelis ($239,925), HE'S A RAY by a front-running 7-3/4 lengths in his debut at near even-money and under a hand ride -- both at Aqueduct -- and MISS FREUD (sired by Freud) by 4-3/4 lengths at Philadelphia Park in her second start after placing third among nine in her debut 17 days earlier -- all on Saturday; SALT WATER REIGN "drew away in hand" by 6-1/4 lengths at near even-money, home-trained EXPLOSIVE IMPACT "drew clear when roused" to score a daylight-margin winning debut despite breaking from the outside post among 10 starters, and BAZOOKA BOB went gate-to-wire at even money for his daylight-margin victory -- all three at Aqueduct -- plus MISS FREUD (sired by Freud) romped by 4-3/4 lengths at Philadelphia Park in her second start after having placed third among nine in her debut 17 days earlier -- all on Sunday. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Fleet Indian is Eclipse Champion Older Mare (Courtesy of The Blood-Horse)
When Paul Saylor purchased FLEET INDIAN at the 2006 Keeneland January mixed sale, he had modest expectations and plans for the then five-year-old mare. The Atlanta businessman hoped she could win some New York-bred stakes races and then be bred to Claiborne Farm stallion Purge, a Grade 1-winning son of Pulpit in whom he owns a part. What he was not expecting was that his $290,000 purchase would become a multiple Grade I winner, a standout in her division, and be named Champion Older Female for 2006. For a solid year, the Indian Charlie mare was unbeatable. Her major wins came in the Personal Ensign and Beldame Stakes (both Grade 1), and the Todd Pletcher trainee took an eight-race win streak into the Emirates Airline Breeders' Cup Distaff (Grade 1) November 4 at Churchill Downs. Hopes were high going into the Distaff, and Fleet Indian entered the starting the gate as a slight favorite over Pine Island, but neither mare would finish the race. Fleet Indian turned out to be the lucky one as she suffered an injury to her left front suspensory ligament, but survived, while Pine Island was euthanized on the track. "I wanted a good race and a safe race and didn't get either," Saylor said. "I went from being on a high because I was confident she could win the race to an absolute low because when I reached her, the first prognosis was that there was bone damage, not just soft tissue damage. I was absolutely elated a half-hour later, after she was examined in the stall. I felt like I had won the race after that." Although Fleet Indian's fairy tale season ended on a sour note, Saylor prefers to focus on the positives of the year. While proud of her front-running victories in the Personal Ensign and the Delaware (Grade 2), Sixty Sails (Grade 3), Next Move (Grade 3), and Obeah Handicaps, which she won by a combined 31 lengths, Saylor mentioned his favorite race was Fleet Indian's closest -- the Beldame, which she won by a head. "She broke poorly, was running fourth most of the way, had to go four wide on the far turn, passed horses like Round Pond, and then had to gut it out in deep stretch with Balletto," Saylor said. "It just added a whole new dimension to her. I thought she had made her statement, created her value if you will, in the Beldame." Round Pond would go on to win the Distaff and finish second behind Fleet Indian in the Eclipse Award voting with 48 votes. Fleet Indian ended her racing career with $1,704,513 in earnings and a record of 13 - 0 - 1 in 19 starts. After beginning her career with owner Stan Fulton and trainer Jimmy Toner, she never lost a race she finished for Saylor. Bred in New York by Becky Thomas and Lewis Lakin in the name of Thomas/Lakin, Fleet Indian is the last foal out of her dam, the Afleet mare Hustleeta, who died in 2001. Having a champion race mare is not a new experience for Saylor, yet he never expected to have another so soon after owning Ashado in partnership with Jack and Laurie Wolf's Starlight Stable and Johns Martin, the same partnership that raced Purge. Ashado, a daughter of Saint Ballado, was the 2004 champion three-year-old filly and 2005 champion older mare. The partners decided to sell Ashado at the conclusion of her career, and she brought a then-record $9-million as a broodmare prospect at the 2005 Keeneland November sale to Sheikh Mohammed's Darley at Jonabell. Now Saylor is faced with another hard decision. Fleet Indian was originally scheduled to be sold at the Keeneland November sale, but was withdrawn following her injury. She is now being hand-walked at the Taylor family's Taylor Made Farm near Nicholasville, Kentucky, and is expected to make a full recovery after having her left front fetlock fused November 20. The now six-year-old mare will be bred to Storm Cat this spring, and Saylor will use the following months to decide whether or not he can part with her. "I am tempted to keep her now, and I would probably be tempted to keep at least her first foal and see what happens, but I think the chances are more likely she will be offered for sale," Saylor said. "The thought process has always been to sell her because I am not in the breeding business except in a very minor way. That is the process, but the longer I keep her, the more I get attached, which is a dangerous thing in this business." |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Friendly Island cruises by 2-1/2 lengths in Santa Anita's G2 Palos Verdes by Rab Hagin
Returning from his excellent runner-up effort in the $2-million Breeders' Cup Sprint 11 weeks earlier, Anstu Stables' New York-bred FRIENDLY ISLAND stalked the light-weighted early leader before taking command in Santa Anita's Grade 2 Palos Verdes Handicap while under co-topweight on Saturday, winning the six-furlong event by 2-1/2 lengths. The handsome chestnut was odds-on (.50) among four starters, including Grade 2 winner Harvard Avenue exiting a Santa Anita graded victory just 19 days earlier, but the wagering public quickly recognized his class -- in contrast to his Breeders' Cup venture, when he went off at 58.60-to-1. At mid-stretch, Friendly Island had a one-length margin over pacesetter Limited Creole while setting a five-eighths fraction of 56.68, and he drew clear in the final furlong despite staying on his left lead through the stretch, clocking 1:08.95 as second choice Harvard Avenue closed for second place. It was Friendly Island's third outing and second win under red-hot West Coast jockey Garrett Gomez, who had guided the New York-bred to victory in Pimlico's Grade 3 Maryland Breeders' Cup Sprint on Preakness Day and to a strong-finishing third-placing in Saratoga's Grade 1 Forego Stakes. Gomez also had been the recent regular rider for Limited Creole but went with Friendly Island for the Palos Verdes and seemed pleased with how the scenario unfolded: "I know that other horse (Limited Creole) like the back of my hand," Gomez explained. "Believe it or not, I wanted him to make an easy lead, and that my best option would be (to) sit second like I did. I thought the ideal situation would be to go after him at about the half-mile pole or three-eighths, and that's exactly what happened. He's a very talented horse, and he's in very good hands," concluded Gomez, who had five winning rides on Santa Anita's Saturday card.
Trainer Michael McCarthy, who is handling two-time Eclipse Award winner Todd Pletcher's West Coast string while that trainer is on suspension, acknowledged that Friendly Island's 11-week layoff and not getting in a fifth workout might have been evident in the stretch: "He was laboring a little bit," McCarthy observed. Originally, the plan was to point the New York-bred for Gulfstream Park's Grade 3 Deputy Minister Handicap at 6-1/2 furlongs on February 3, but now the goal is the $2-million Dubai Golden Shaheen at 1,200 meters (basically six furlongs) at Nad Al Sheba on Saturday, March 31. McCarthy, who has described Friendly Island as "a really cool horse," indicated they know now how the six-year-old performs best: "I think taking him back and letting him make one run is kind of something we discovered last year. It seems to have worked for him. It obviously worked for him in the Breeders" Cup (Sprint). He didn't get (all) the money, but he got enough."
The Palos Verdes victory increased Friendly Island's earnings by $90,000 to $969,714 and improved his record to 8 - 2 - 2 in 18 starts, giving him graded wins on both coasts in addition to rare back-to-back victories in New York Showcase Day's six-furlong Hudson Handicap (2004 and 2005). He races for the Anstu Stables, Inc. of Stuart and Anita Subotnick of New York City, who own Anstu Farm in Millbrook and had campaigned 1997 New York Thoroughbred Breeders Champion Two-Year-Old Male Mellow Roll, three-year-old winner of Belmont's 1998 Empire Classic Handicap against older New York-breds. Stuart Subotnick is a general partner and executive vice president of Metromedia Company and a member of the New York Racing Association board of trustees. Friendly Island, who was bred by Kildare Stud and Adrian Regan, was an $85,000 sales two-year-old at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2002 March auction of juveniles in Florida. The son of Grade 2 winner Crafty Friend is the first offspring and first of two winners produced from Island Queen ($148,890), an Ogygian mare that won five sprints and is out of British-bred Irish black-type stakes winner Regal Peace. Island Queen had been purchased for $16,500 as a five-year-old broodmare prospect at a Fasig-Tipton New York horses of racing age sale in November of 1999. Friendly Island is the first New York-bred 2007 West Coast stakes winner and the year's first state-bred male open stakes winner -- following state-bred Aqueduct open stakes-winning fillies Oprah Winney (Interborough Handicap, January 1), Golden Dreamer (Ruthless Stakes, January 7), and Sagamoon (Busanda Stakes, January 14). |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
New guard asserts itself in first half of January by Rab Hagin
Emerging as serious New York-bred Aqueduct stakes competitors during January's second weekend and preceding Friday were three-year-old fillies SAGAMOON and My Kitty running one-two in Sunday's open Busanda, three-year-old colt SMASH 'EM SAMMY winning Friday's restricted Fabersham, and four-year-old filly Homerette placing a fast-closing second in Saturday's open Affectionately. Empire State-bred representatives from the crops of 2003 and 2004 were especially effective in stakes events and allowance races during the span of Wednesday, January 10 through Tuesday, January 16. The planets must have aligned for New York-breds on Sunday, when they won 13 races (only four were state-bred restricted) at five different tracks, highlighted by the one-two finish of Country Life Farm's homebred Sagamoon and Darlene Bilinski's and Martin Zaretsky's My Kitty in Aqueduct's mile and 70-yard Busanda Stakes. For Sagamoon ($111,110), it was her first stakes outing, first open company effort, first competition beyond a mile, and first race off a 57-day layoff, improving her record to three consecutive daylight-margin wins since breaking her maiden on New York Showcase Day (October 21) following two runner-up performances. My Kitty ($126,737), a 2006 juvenile stakes-winning daughter of Catienus, advanced from last among eight to edge the favorite for second-place money in the Busanda and shows every indication that she will improve significantly with maturity and longer distances. New York Minute: Sagamoon was the third New York-bred filly to win an open stakes in the first two weeks of 2007; My Kitty was the seventh New York-bred filly or mare to finish in the top-three in an open black-type stakes event in the just-begun New Year. Also looking like he will improve with distance and maturity was Bonnie Jo Wooster's Smash 'Em Sammy in Aqueduct's six-furlong Fabersham Stakes for New York-bred three-year-olds on Friday, as that son of Rizzi rallied three-wide to win by a half-length over his previous nemesis, Landofopportunity. The stalking colt's latest prior victory had come in an open juvenile claiming contest going six furlongs on Aqueduct's inner track on December 8 with a $40,000 tag, which he had won by 4-1/2 lengths. Fox Ridge Farm's homebred Homerette ($239,270) had struggled in restricted N1X allowance competition through early 2006 but has three wins since the summer solstice, capturing Saratoga's Irish Linnet Stakes against fellow state-bred three-year-old fillies on turf and Aqueduct's inner track Flat Fleet Feet Stakes outside state-bred company on November 30. Her next outing came in Aqueduct's open Affectionately Handicap for fillies and mares at a mile and a sixteenth on Saturday, in which two-to-three more strides might have produced a victory over favored multiple Grade 2 winner Great Intentions at equal weights. The four-year-old filly currently has a record of 4 - 7 - 4 in 20 starts, with stakes wins on dirt and turf plus three stakes-placed efforts -- one each on Belmont's main track (seven furlongs) and yielding turf (mile and a sixteenth) and now on Aqueduct's inner track. The versatile half-sister to New York-bred open two-turn stakes winner Dulce de Leche seems to have reached a level where she can do just about anything and will have a vast array of opportunities awaiting her when NYRA turf racing resumes in the spring. New York Minute: Homerette was the fifth New York-bred filly or mare to finish in the top-three in an open black-type stakes event in the first 13 days of 2007. On the same Sunday that Sagamoon and My Kitty were running one-two in Aqueduct's Busanda and other state-breds were winning open races at Aqueduct, mid-Atlantic tracks, and in Florida, New York-bred RUNAWAY COZZENE scored a front-running two-length N1X allowance victory going about 6-1/2 furlongs on Santa Anita's downhill turf course. The four-year-old filly who races for owner-trainer Moon Suk Han in partnership with Moon Oh was the overlooked 11.50-to-1 sixth choice among nine older fillies and mares but had a head margin over favored Sumthingtotalkabt while setting an opening-quarter fraction of 21.86 and was in command thereafter. She set subsequent fractions of 43.82 and 1:06.86 (Santa Anita's downhill turf is obviously speed-inducing for horses that can handle it) en route to her first grass victory in six starts in addition to a first-out main track win at Santa Anita as a just-turned three-year-old. Runaway Cozzene, who is by Runaway Groom, had been purchased by Han for $27,000 at Keeneland's 2004 September yearling sale from the filly's breeder, Marlene Brody's Gallagher's Stud (Denali Stud, agent), and is the first offspring produced from Gallagher's Stud's Saratoga-winning New York homebred, Monina, by Cozzene. Monina's dam is a half-sister to New York Thoroughbred Breeders (NYTB) turf champion and graded winner Adcat ($435,597) and out of NYTB turf champion and graded winner Adorable Micol ($249,388 in France and the U.S.). Winning restricted N2X allowance/optional claiming contests at Aqueduct were four-year-old colt PRECISE ACTION ($119,190) going a mile on Thursday, six-year-old gelding CALCULATOR ($263,997) going six furlongs on Saturday, and four-year-old filly ICE COOL KITTY (sired by Tomorrows Cat) going six furlongs on Sunday. Precise Action, acquired privately by Alan Reis's Red Diamond Stable early last fall, broke from the seventh post among eight starters as the 8.70-to-1 fifth choice and prevailed in a protracted stretch duel over favored Rapid Rickey, improving his record to three wins and four seconds in 12 starts. Bred by Jo Halleck Finley and Glen Brok and a $12,000 purchase at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's 2005 May sale of two-year-olds, the new six-figure-earner has gone through his restricted allowance conditions in 10 months with NYRA wins at six furlongs, seven furlongs, and a mile. Calculator, a homebred racing for Heatherwood Farm (Edna Bensen of Belleair, Florida) with a $30,000 tag because he had gone through his restricted N2X condition last April at Aqueduct, broke dead last among 11 but still got up to score his fourth win in five starts since mid-September. The effort improved his overall record to 7 - 6 - 11 in 46 starts and furthered his lead as the top money-earner among four six-figure-earning New York-breds produced from the amazingly-consistent Aqueduct multiple allowance winner, S. S. Sparkle ($267,286), who also raced for Heatherwood Farm. Ice Cool Kitty, a $65,000 purchase at Fasig-Tipton's 2004 Saratoga New York-bred preferred yearling sale racing for Lansdon Robbins III and Kevin Callahan, advanced from sixth-to-first after breaking from the outside post among nine starters, improving her stakes-placed record to three wins and a second in six starts. Bred by William Garbarini, the half-sister to New York-bred 2006 juvenile stakes-placed winner Icy City is the first named offspring produced from two-time juvenile winner Icy Chris, who is a full sister to stakes winner Cold Snap and a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Plenty of Light ($510,420). Winning restricted N1X Aqueduct allowances were seven-year-old RAFFIT ($176,429) going a mile and a half (Wednesday), four-year-old colt and filly NOT ON MY TURF and GATTINARA going a mile and 70 yards (Saturday, Sunday), three-year-old filly MARGIES SMILE going a mile (Sunday), and three-year-old colt CITIFEST going six furlongs (Monday). Raffit, Tina Marie Bond's homebred son of Raffie's Majesty, raced with a $30,000 tag under the optional claiming conditions and won by 4-1/2 lengths for his third consecutive Aqueduct victory in 45 days, improving his overall stakes-placed record to 5 - 3 - 1 in 16 starts. Not On My Turf, Robert Zollars' $60,000 purchase at Keeneland's 2004 September yearling sale from the consignment of Thomas J. Gallo Sales Agency, romped by six lengths as the 2.15-to-1 favorite among nine, improving his record to 2 - 4 - 4 in 12 starts and boosting his earnings into six figures. Gattinara, a homebred daughter of Raffie's Majesty racing for Tina Marie Bond in partnership with Thomas Qualtere's Crown Stable, broke from the seventh post as the 1.20-to-1 favorite among nine four-year-old fillies and raced wide most of the way but still prevailed. Margies Smile, Gabrielle Farm's (John Acierno III of Brooklyn) unbeaten homebred daughter of Wheelaway, scored a front-running two-length tally at odds-on (.80-to-1) among eight wagering interests and nine starters (all three-year-old fillies) for her second consecutive significant-margin Aqueduct win in five weeks and appears to have championship potential. Citifest, a homebred racing for Charles Goldberg's Tri County Stables and a half-brother to a graded winner of $398,010 and to a stakes producer, got his second consecutive Aqueduct win in nine days despite being the 6.10-to-1 fourth choice among five three-year-old starters on Martin Luther King Monday. New York-bred open claiming winners with $30,000-to-$40,000 tags at Aqueduct were three-year-old gelding GOLD AND BLUE BOX going a mile (Wednesday), five-year-old gelding RUN WITH THE LARK going a mile and 70 yards (Sunday), and four-year-old fillies GO JERSEY GINNY and SWEET LA RIZZI dead-heating at six furlongs (Monday). Gold and Blue Box, a semi-homebred racing with a $40,000 tag for Winning Move Stable, Jennifer Contessa, and Who's Next Racing Team, was half of a one-two New York-bred favored entry finishing a neck apart -- also qualifying their connections for an additional $8,560 in owner, breeder, and stallion owner awards. Run With the Lark, Albert Fried Jr.'s homebred half-brother to New York-bred stakes winner Marc's Rainbow, scored by 7-1/2 lengths for his second consecutive tally in 51 days and first two-turn victory, improving his record to three wins and four seconds in 10 starts. Go Jersey Ginny, a daughter of New York-conceived Kentucky Derby winner Go for Gin racing for Herbert and Carol Schwartz, was odds-on (.90-to-1) among six starters but could not quite overtake fellow New York-bred Sweet La Rizzi, dead-heating with that front-running last choice (8.10-to-1) rival. The latter, a May-foaled four-year-old daughter of Rizzi and the youngest filly in the contest, races for Robert Hoyer, Daniel DelMastro, David Smith, and Greg Coenen and was making her first start off a seven-month layoff. New York Minute: New York-breds comprised five of the six starters in the contest in which Go Jersey Ginny and Sweet La Rizzi dead-heated, and in addition to purse earnings they qualified their connections for an additional $5,538.50 in owner, breeder, and stallion owner awards. Other New York-bred open claiming winners from Wednesday, January 10 through Tuesday, January 16 included: Homebred CAT'S LAD in a front-running performance at Aqueduct for the full brother to stakes winner Pick of the Pack running with a $25,000 tag, and WOODEN ANGEL by 3-1/4 lengths from seventh-to-first among eight starters at Laurel Park for her fourth career victory -- both on Wednesday; SEA LAWYER ($126,215) in a front-running performance at odds-on for his fifth career victory and claimed, and homebred TAKING THE REDEYE ($243,804) by 4-1/4 lengths gate-to-wire for the eighth career victory recorded by the Highcliff Farm-conceived-and-foaled son of pensioned New York-based stallion Scarlet Ibis -- both at Aqueduct on Friday; SWEET NICOLE by 3-1/2 lengths from fifth-to-first among seven at Beulah Park while being "taken in hand" in the closing strides to improve his record to 3 - 1 - 2 in eight starts, on Saturday; HONORABLE TAM by nine lengths from ninth-to-first among 10 starters at Aqueduct to give him big-margin wins on both dirt and turf, L C TORNADO by a front-running three lengths at odds-on at Laurel Park to improve his record to 3 - 4 - 1 in 13 starts, STORM THIEF ($136,043) from the outside post among seven starters at Tampa Bay Downs with a $25,000 tag in a mostly front-running effort but regaining the lead from the favorite inside the final furlong for his fifth career victory, SCARLET BILLOWS ($101,909) by three lengths from seventh-to-first among nine starters for her fifth career win despite a sluggish dead-last start, and TIFFANY GOLD ($147,026) by eight lengths gate-to-wire and "ridden out" under top weight from the sixth post among eight starters for his third consecutive big-margin win in 26 days and 19th career victory -- all on Sunday, and the last two (both offspring of pensioned New York-based sire Scarlet Ibis) at Charles Town; WIND JET (sired by A. P Jet) at Beulah Park for his fourth career victory by dueling the near-even-money favorite into defeat at equal weights, and SO SAHM by 4-1/4 lengths from the ninth post among 12 starters at Penn National for his second big-margin win in 10 weeks -- both on Tuesday. New York-bred maiden-breakers from Wednesday, January 10 through Tuesday, January 16 included: WHERES WHITEY from the outside post among eight fillies to become the third winner produced from an Italian champion, homebred MIZ LINZER (sired by Rizzi) from last-to-first among nine three-year-old fillies with riders (one lost hers at the break), and FREE OF SECRETS by two lengths with blinkers on despite breaking dead last among 10 starters for the half-brother to a Grade 2 winner and inbred 3 x 3 to Mr. Prospector -- all on Wednesday at Aqueduct; ZIPPEROO by 8-1/2 lengths gate-to-wire out of the seventh post among eight starters at odds-on despite being bumped shortly after the break in his third career outing following two runner-up efforts at Aqueduct, BRUCE TICKETS by a front-running five lengths in his debut, and MARK THE TRICK by 6-3/4 lengths with blinkers on in a three-wide rally after breaking dead last among seven starters and getting bumped -- all at Aqueduct on Thursday; LEADFOOT LIZZIE gate-to-wire from the outside post among nine starters as that May-foaled three-year-old filly became the second consecutive winner on Aqueduct's Friday card sired by Rizzi and bred by Sez Who Thoroughbreds and ridden by Charles Lopez, LOVE COVE from the sixth post among seven starters and showing significant improvement since the recent addition of blinkers to the equipment of the half-sister to New York-bred stakes-winning fillies Half Heaven ($277,461) and Doll Baby ($151,144), and homebred MISSED THE TOWER in her third start despite being bumped shortly after the break -- all three at Aqueduct -- plus homebred TAKMEOUTODABALGAME (sired by Take Me Out) with a four-wide move at Tampa Bay Downs, and NEWYORKBABE at Charles Town -- all on Friday; homebred DEVILISH TOM despite being bumped at the start, and BIRD OF PLAY (sired by Watch the Bird) in his second start by retaking command in the stretch despite staying on his left lead all the way to the wire -- both at Aqueduct on Saturday; homebred SKATERS BRUSH with a four-wide rally from the outside post among 10 starters at Aqueduct, and homebred TWO FULL POCKETS from sixth-to-first among 10 starters at Laurel Park in his debut despite breaking dead last -- both on Sunday; homebred FOOSE by 7-1/4 lengths "with something left" in his second start, PORT ROCK (sired by Rock and Roll) "cruised home" by 2-1/2 lengths, and homebred FLIGHTOFTHEPELICAN (sired by Catienus) by a front-running 4-3/4 lengths from the seventh post among eight starters to improve her never-unplaced record to 1 - 2 - 1 in four NYRA starts for the full sister to stakes-placed winning filly Storm Rolling In who is inbred 2 x 3 to Storm Bird -- all three at Aqueduct on Martin Luther King Monday; ASEA by 2-3/4 lengths at Penn National, on Tuesday. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Sagamoon wins Big A's Busanda - NY-breds run 1-2 among 8 starters by Rab Hagin
Highlighting a nine-race Aqueduct Sunday card that had seven state-bred winners (three open, four restricted), Country Life Farm's New York homebred SAGAMOON captured the Big A's 34th Busanda Stakes for three-year-old fillies going a mile and 70 yards and was followed in second place by New York-bred My Kitty. The never-worse-than-second Sagamoon broke from the seventh post among eight starters as the 2-to-1 second choice among seven wagering interests and raced a half-length behind pacesetting sixth choice Shelby's Memory through three-quarters of a mile before taking command and drawing clear. She appeared to get somewhat lackadaisical in the deep stretch, as favored That Girl Is Mine (1.75-to-1) and third choice My Kitty (5-to-1 as half of an entry) closed to within a length and a quarter, with the latter overtaking the favorite despite conceding that rival two pounds. Sagamoon's first start off a 57-day layoff, first open company effort, and first stakes outing boosted her earnings by $42,510 to $111,110 while improving her record to three wins and two seconds in five starts for her owner-breeder, the Pons family's Country Life Farm of Bel Air, Maryland. Winning jockey Eibar Coa, who was riding Sagamoon for the first time in competition in the Busanda, acknowledged that his mount seemed to get distracted after reaching the front more quickly than originally planned: "I didn't want to take the lead too early," Coa explained. "She started looking around and playing. She was much the best today. I had to take the lead a little earlier because I couldn't hold her any longer." Andy Rehm, assistant to winning trainer Thomas Albertrani, concurred that the Busanda unfolded less than optimally for Sagamoon: "She's probably better with a target," Rehm admitted. "I wish she didn't get the lead as soon as she did, but Eibar (Coa) stayed after her. She was just a little better than these, and she found herself in front. Tom (Albertrani) has always been high on her. The longer she goes, the better she is going to be." In preparation for the Busanda, trainer Albertrani had given Sagamoon six easy-to-moderate half-mile workouts over Belmont's training track during a five-week span from December 6 through January 10. The Busanda runner-up, Darlene Bilinski's and Martin Zaretsky's New York-bred My Kitty ($126,737), closed from last with about a half-mile to go and appeared to kick into another gear once she switched to her right lead in mid-stretch. The daughter of Catienus -- bred by Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey -- had won Aqueduct's mile and a sixteenth East View Stakes for New York-bred juvenile fillies in her latest previous outing six weeks earlier. The two New York-bred fillies earned 80 percent of the Busanda's total purse and qualified their connections for an additional $15,161.90 in owner, breeder, and stallion owner awards ($8,502 for Sagamoon; $6,659.90 for My Kitty). Like other 2007 open Aqueduct stakes won by New York-bred fillies (Interborough, Ruthless), the Busanda has a proud history, having been won by Eclipse Champion Wayward Lass in that filly's championship 1981 season and in 1988 by the New York Thoroughbred Breeders Champion Three-Year-Old Filly for that year, Beru. Sagamoon is a great-great-great-great-granddaughter of the event's namesake, Ogden Phipps' homebred Busanda, whose seven stakes victories included a win over males in Belmont's 1951 Suburban Handicap and whose stakes-winning offspring included the great Buckpasser. Busanda runner-up My Kitty is a great-great-great-granddaughter of the filly/mare Busanda. A daughter of Eclipse Champion sire Malibu Moon, Sagamoon is the third runner, third winner, and second six-figure-earner produced from New York-bred Aqueduct allowance winner (at a mile and 70 yards) Hey Up There, by pensioned New York-based stallion Cormorant. Country Life Farm had purchased Hey Up There, who is a half-sister to New York-bred six-time stakes winner Ewer All Wet ($435,883) and out of New York-bred stakes winner Tall Glass O'Water, for $18,000 from the late Alfred G. Vanderbilt's estate at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's 2000 February mixed sale. Hey Up There was not in foal at the time of that purchase. Sagamoon is the third New York-bred filly to win an open stakes at Aqueduct in 2007 -- following Oprah Winney in New Year's Day's Interborough and Golden Dreamer in the Ruthless on January 7. My Kitty became the seventh New York-bred female to finish in the top-three in an open 2007 stakes -- following other state-breds Magnolia Jackson (third in the Interborough), Rahys' Appeal (second in Santa Anita's Grade 2 San Gorgonio Handicap, January 7), and Homerette (second in Aqueduct's Affectionately Handicap, January 13). |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Smash 'Em Sammy gets gritty first stakes win in Aqueduct's Fabersham by Rab Hagin
Finally getting the better of a rival that had beaten him in three previous encounters, Bonnie Jo Wooster's SMASH 'EM SAMMY fought to a half-length victory over 1.20-to-1 favorite Landofopportunity in Aqueduct's six-furlong Fabersham Stakes for New York-bred just-turned three-year-olds on Friday, scoring his first stakes victory. The dark bay colt was the 2.05-to-1 second choice among five starters with jockey Charles Lopez race-riding him for the third consecutive time, briefly dropping back to last after the break before advancing along the rail behind front-end duelers Lights of Broadway (an open 2006 stakes winner) and Landofopportunity. As Landofopportunity edged ahead of Lights of Broadway on the turn, Smash 'Em Sammy rallied three-wide and caught the favorite in the upper stretch, where he temporarily switched back to his left lead and looked like he wanted to lug in before Lopez got him straightened out. In the final furlong, Smash 'Em Sammy finally bested the gelding that had beaten him badly in their first two encounters and by a daylight margin in their latest previous match-up, a one-two finish in a six-furlong restricted Aqueduct allowance just eight days earlier. A four-pound weight reduction for Smash 'Em Sammy from his January 4 allowance runner-up effort -- putting him at equal weights with Landofopportunity instead of spotting that rival four pounds -- might have been a factor in the Wooster standard-bearer's hard-fought stakes victory. His effort in the Fabersham -- named for the indestructible New York-bred graded winner of the early 1990s who won 22 races -- improved his record to three wins and a second in six starts with earnings of $89,930. Smash 'Em Sammy has raced exclusively for Wooster -- also owner of New York-bred 11-time winner Look Out Evan ($270,882) -- under the guidance of trainer Scott Schwartz, whose father, Herbert Schwartz, had purchased the colt for $17,000 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's (OBS) 2006 April sale of two-year-olds. He had won first-out at Saratoga last August as a two-year-old and had been dominant against open $40,000 juvenile claiming company at Aqueduct on December 8, capturing a six-furlong contest by 4-1/2 lengths despite having to be steadied on the backstretch. Bred by the New York Thoroughbred Breeders 2005 Breeder of the Year, Richard Simon's Sez Who Thoroughbreds, Smash 'Em Sammy is the 16th stakes winner sired by syndicated Rizzi, who stands at Sez Who Thoroughbreds North, LLC in Stillwater and has progeny earnings of about $15.7-million. The improving three-year-old is out of Abstain, a nine-year-old half-sister to stakes-winning sprinters Chart Topper ($239,715), Jimie Son ($235,100), and Chief Whitehair ($123,143) and to stakes-placed eight-time winner Coup ($242,960). Chief Whitehair and Coup were both turf-sprinting specialists. Sez Who Thoroughbreds had purchased just-minted stakes producer Abstain -- who also is the dam of a two-year-old full brother to Smash 'Em Sammy -- for $5,500 at an OBS 2001 October mixed sale when she was a three-year-old. Smash 'Em Sammy was the first of two New York-bred three-year-old winners going six furlongs on Aqueduct's Friday card bred by Sez Who Thoroughbreds, sired by Rizzi, and ridden by Lopez -- the other being Michael Imperio's and Elizabeth Loftus's LEADFOOT LIZZIE, who broke her maiden gate-to-wire in the next race. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
4 NY-bred open stakes females emerge in NY & CA in 2007's first week by Rab Hagin
New York-breds GOLDEN DREAMER in New York and Rahys' Appeal in California drew notice on the first Sunday of 2007 by winning and placing second, respectively, in Aqueduct's open Ruthless Stakes for three-year-old fillies and Santa Anita's Grade 2 San Gorgonio Handicap for fillies and mares on turf. Those two were the third and fourth state-bred females to win or place in open 2007 stakes events and among six state-bred open stakes performers in three states within nine days -- following Successful Affair and J'ray (December 30) and Oprah Winney and Magnolia Jackson (January 1). New York Minute(s): Depending on the appeal of Rahys' Appeal, who finished first in Aqueduct's Grade 2 Top Flight Handicap on November 24 but was disqualified to second because her jockey inadvertently struck a drifting-out rival with his whip, there were 29 or 30 New York-bred stakes winners outside state-bred company in 2006. Their 43 or 44 victories in open (to horses bred anywhere, exclusive of the New York Stallion Stakes series) 2006 stakes events were scored in New York, California, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Delaware, Arkansas, South Carolina, Ontario (Canada), Manitoba (Canada), and Italy. Paraneck Stable's top-weighted Golden Dreamer ($119,959) is now four-for-five and unbeaten in sprints, having won Aqueduct's six-furlong Ruthless by 3-3/4 lengths as the 1.45-to-1 favorite among five starters even though most professional prognosticators overwhelming preferred debut winner and fourth-place finisher Dorm Fever (is there a pattern here?). Bred by Jeffry and Stuart Morris's Highclere and a $25,000 Keeneland weanling purchase, Golden Dreamer has potential turf talent from her sire (Malabar Gold) and stamina throughout her pedigree, being the first offspring produced from a daughter of Indian Charlie (sire of New York-bred probable Eclipse Champion Fleet Indian). Paraneck Stable authorized agent Ernie Paragallo acknowledged that the quick-striding filly had been rushed into New York Showcase Day's one-mile Maid of the Mist Stakes (October 21) eight days after winning her debut but feels certain she can stretch out in distance. Gallagher's Stud's homebred Rahys' Appeal ($337,009 or $397,009 depending on the Top Flight appeal) is compiling an impressive resume, with her second-placing in Santa Anita's Grade 2 San Gorgonio being her eighth top-three stakes finish -- five on turf (one graded) and three on dirt (two graded) -- in 17 months. Winner of New York Showcase Day's off-the-turf Ticonderoga Handicap on a sloppy Belmont track in 2005, the now five-year-old mare appeared to blossom last summer for Marlene Brody's Gallagher's Stud (in Ghent) and now seems better than ever. Her dam, Gallagher's Stud's New York homebred Appealing Kris, had missed winning Belmont's open mile and an eighth Pebbles Handicap on turf by a half-length in 1998, and her maternal granddam, Appealing Missy ($450,187 in North America and France), was a multiple graded turf winner in California. Michael Martin's New York homebred RACELAND ($157,816) was favored at 1.95-to-1 among five starters, four-year-olds and up, in an open mile and a sixteenth N1X allowance/optional claiming contest on Saturday and led throughout to win by daylight in his fourth outing (second victory) under jockey Norberto Arroyo Jr. The four-year-old Richard Violette Jr.-trained gelding's record improved to 4 - 5 - 1 in 13 starts, which includes 2006 wins by 5-1/4 lengths in a six-furlong restricted maiden special on Aqueduct's inner track and by five and 4-1/2 lengths in restricted N1X and N2X allowances going one-turn Belmont miles. Sired by City Zip, Raceland is a half-brother to multiple stakes-placed five-year-old winner Summerland ($149,251) -- those two being the only reported offspring produced from owner-breeder Martin's stakes-winning mare, Laken ($209,655), who is a daughter of New York Thoroughbred Breeders (NYTB) champions Scarlet Ibis and Anniron. Winning restricted N2X/allowance optional claiming contests going a mile and 70 yards at Aqueduct were five-year-old mare HOOSICK FALLS ($142,744) on Friday with a $30,000 tag and suddenly-emerging five-year-old horse GO FERNANDO GO ($117,557) on Saturday for his third win in his latest four starts over a 65-day span. Hoosick Falls has raced for Jacalyn Aaron's Aaron Racing Stables since last July and had been sent out by four different trainers for unplaced outings at Finger Lakes, Delaware Park, Laurel Park, and Philadelphia Park during September, November, and December. Latest conditioner Steven Krebs discovered something, because the half-sister to stakes-placed winner Manor Prospect was a front-running 4-1/2-length winner as the 10.20-to-1 fifth choice among six wagering interests and seven starters in her first outing under jockey Charles Lopez, scoring her eighth victory along with three seconds in 20 starts. Go Fernando Go had returned from a year's layoff in late September to race for Irving Kalensky, winning a Meadowlands maiden special by 7-1/2 lengths and a restricted N1X Aqueduct allowance -- both in November -- prior to his gate-to-wire Saturday victory as the 7.10-to-1 fifth choice among nine. Bred and initially campaigned by Robert Perez, the dark bay was making his first venture at two turns and beyond a mile after having registered sprint times (1:09.33 for six furlongs on an off track and 1:22.22 for seven furlongs in his allowance win) in the stakes-caliber range. A $45,000 Aqueduct allowance on Friday for New York-bred four-year-olds and up that had started for a claiming price -- no matter how high or when -- might have been mistaken for a stakes event, considering how much the seven six-figure-earning starters, including winner LETHIMTHINKHESBOSS ($330,226), have collectively earned: $2,210,692. Claimed for $35,000 last April by William Hirsch Jr.'s Trackman Golf Club Stable, the six-year-old gelding has earned $99,840 since changing hands, garnering $27,000 of that by advancing from last-to-first as the 5.40-to-1 fourth choice in Friday's mile and 70-yard contest. The Bruce Levine trainee was bred by Carl Lizza Jr.'s Flying Zee Stables and has a record of 8 - 9 - 11 in 38 starts, which includes a victory in his only stakes outing, Finger Lakes' restricted Genesee Valley Breeder's Handicap at a mile and a sixteenth last September. Front-running favored winners of restricted N1X allowance races at Aqueduct were three-year-old gelding LANDOFOPPORTUNITY going six furlongs on Thursday, four-year-old gelding SOUTHERN PRINCE going 5-1/2 furlongs on Saturday, and four-year-old three-time stakes-placed filly ZIPPY MISSY ($120,840) going 5-1/2 furlongs on Sunday. Merrylegs Farm's homebred (Paula Ann Cohn Hallman) Landofopportunity -- out of state-bred open stakes winner Pentelis ($239,925) -- had been a close runner-up in Aqueduct's $100,000 New York Stallion Great White Way Stakes last November and now has five consecutive winning or placed efforts, improving to 2 - 2 - 1 in eight outings. Bill and Vicki Poston's Southern Prince -- a $75,000 weanling purchase at Keeneland's 2003 November sale -- came off a six-month layoff and broke from the seventh post among eight starters to win by 5-1/4 lengths, improving his never-worse-than-fourth record to 2 - 1 - 1 in five NYRA starts. Zippy Missy, acquired privately by Millennium Farm (Ro Parra of Austin, Texas) late in 2005 and coming off an 11-month layoff, stubbornly withstood successive challenges after breaking from the seventh post among nine fillies and mares, improving her never-worse-than-fourth record to 2 - 4 - 1 in eight starts. Led by winner SUNSET COCKTAIL, New York-breds comprised five of nine starters in a six-furlong open Aqueduct claiming contest for just-turned three-year-old fillies running with $35,000-to-$40,000 prices on Friday, and they earned 84 percent of the purse while qualifying for an additional $12,558 in owner, breeder, and stallion owner awards. Sunset Cocktail, who campaigns for Daniel McKillop and Tom Cullen and had a $40,000 tag, was the race's youngest starter (foaled May 20, 2004) and the 7.20-to-1 fourth choice following an unplaced experiment with blinkers in a six-furlong restricted N1X Aqueduct allowance on November 30. The former $15,000 purchase at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2006 April sale of two-year-olds in training won by 4-1/4 lengths over fellow New York-bred filly Court and Spark for her second NYRA victory in five starts since late September. Other New York-bred open claiming winners from Wednesday, January 3 through Tuesday, January 9 included: ZERO PROBABILITY ($109,405) by 13-1/2 lengths at Laurel Park for her first two-turn victory and improving her record to 3 - 2 - 7 in 18 starts while boosting her earnings into six figures, on Wednesday; homebred SIDEWAYS GLANCE (sired by Western Expression) by a front-running 4-3/4 lengths at Aqueduct under co-topweight for his second big-margin win in 47 days and seventh career victory and pushing his earnings to $181,932 while also being claimed, JUST BAGIN IT by 2-1/2 lengths from last-to-first among 10 starters going a three-turn mile and an eighth for his fifth career victory after trailing the field by daylight in a race that saw three horses claimed, NATIVE REDMAN (sired by Rock and Roll) by five lengths to improve his record to 2 - 3 - 3 in 13 starts, and GIRLFRIENDCALLING by a front-running four lengths from the eighth post among 10 starters to improve his record to 5 - 2 - 3 in 20 starts -- all on Thursday, and the last-named three at Charles Town; COINED FOR SUCCESS ($314,033) by 5-3/4 lengths at odds-on from the outside post among six starters at Laurel Park for his second consecutive win in two weeks and improving his stakes-winning record to 7 - 9 - 4 in 35 starts while boosting his six-month earnings beyond the price he was claimed for last June, MAJESTY RIDGE by a front-running 5-1/4 lengths from the 10th post among 11 starters at Turf Paradise in his first start off more than a year's layoff, and EMPTOR (sired by A. P Jet) in a front-running effort at Sam Houston Park despite being jostled after the break to improve her record to 6 - 7 - 6 in 31 starts and one of two mares (the race's first two finishers) claimed out of the contest -- all on Saturday; NUNZIONIC (sired by Nunzio) by a front-running two lengths at Philadelphia Park for his third daylight-margin victory since the end of July, and BROADWAY SCARLET at Penn National for her third win and first two-turn tally -- both on Tuesday. New York-bred maiden-breakers from Wednesday, January 3 through Sunday, January 7 included: Just-turned three-year-old D. S. LION in a front-running effort at Penn National at almost even-money in his third career start and claimed, on Wednesday; REGAL PLAYTIME by 2-1/4 lengths at Aqueduct with blinkers on for the first time to improve her never-worse-than-fourth record to 1 - 1 - 3 in six starts, and AD MUSTER from the seventh post among nine starters going a mile at Laurel Park in her first effort beyond six furlongs -- both on Thursday; homebred MY AIKEN CAT (sired by Tomorrows Cat) by 4-1/4 lengths in his third start despite bobbling at the start while breaking from the outside post among seven starters, and MATSIBI by 9-1/4 lengths "in hand" in what appeared to be a gate-to-wire romp in the fog from the outside post among eight starters in his first two-turn effort and first start beyond six furlongs -- both at Aqueduct -- and homebred AMERICAN SENOR by 4-1/2 lengths from fifth-to-first among eight starters at Gulfstream Park in his third career start -- all on Friday; homebred MAJOR DEEGAN by a front-running 2-3/4 lengths to improve his persistent "seconditis" record to 1 - 8 - 3 in 21 starts, WALLY WORLD (sired by Prime Timber) by eight lengths from the sixth post among eight starters in his first start since being claimed at Oak Tree-Santa Anita last September, and homebred CITIFEST from the ninth post among 11 starters with a three-wide move for the half-brother to a graded winner of almost $400K -- all three at Aqueduct -- and THE COBBLERS SON by three lengths from the sixth post among seven starters at Laurel Park, and GHETTO SMURF in a front-running performance at Philadelphia Park from the ninth post among 10 starters -- all on Saturday; CITY IN THE CLOUDS by a front-running 5-3/4 lengths "ridden out" in the third start for the second offspring and second winner produced from a New York-bred earner of $158,793, and homebred WESTERN DEED (sired by Western Expression) by 8-1/4 lengths "ridden out" as the youngest (foaled May 16, 2004) three-year-old among eight starters to become the fourth winner among his four-time-winning dam's first four offspring -- both at Aqueduct on Sunday. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Golden Dreamer turns in glittering Ruthless win by Rab Hagin
It took about a quarter-mile for Paraneck Stable's New York-bred GOLDEN DREAMER to assert her superiority under top weight in Aqueduct's open six-furlong Ruthless Stakes for three-year-old fillies on Sunday -- named for the New York-bred 19th Century Hall of Fame filly -- but after that the race was essentially over. Charging out of the fourth post as the 1.45-to-1 favorite among five starters, the quick-striding filly zipped the opening quarter in 21.98, quickly disposing of highly-regarded recent debut winner Dorm Fever, who broke on top, and then running recent 10-3/4-length Aqueduct winner Marquis Diamond into submission. After a half-mile, she was in front by a length and a half, and at the wire her margin was up to 3-3/4 lengths over runner-up Special Dream, drawing away under a hand ride. Golden Dreamer was the third New York-bred open stakes winner at Aqueduct in nine days and the second of 2007 -- following Oprah Winney in New Year's Day's Interborough Handicap -- boosting her earnings to $119,959 while scoring her fourth win in five starts and keeping her sprint record perfect. Golden Dreamer gave Paraneck Stable a clean sweep of Aqueduct's inner track stakes events over the weekend, with the stable's Pink Viper having won Saturday's Count Fleet for three-year-olds going a mile and 70 yards. Ernie Paragallo, the authorized agent for Jennifer Paragallo's Paraneck Stable, could not have been more complimentary about the New York-bred filly and obviously has ambitious future plans for her: "She's a classy filly. She'll do whatever you want. She can go to the lead or come from behind. She's as professional as they come. She'll stretch out. We rushed her into the New York Stallion Stakes (sic; he meant New York Showcase Day's Maid of the Mist at Belmont on Oct. 21) going a mile, but there was too much speed in there. We'll see how she comes out and go from there." Winning jockey Norberto Arroyo Jr., who was race-riding Golden Dreamer for the first time, seemed surprised at how quickly his mount had taken command of the contest: "I thought the 3 and 6 (Dorm Fever and Marquis Diamond, respectively) might show some speed because they had aggressive riders. If they went, I was going to sit off them. She is so fast, she really had no trouble getting to the lead. Going into the turn, it was pretty noisy because everyone was chasing me. Once she switched to her left lead (leaning into the turn), it got quiet. I knew she had gotten away." Golden Dreamer had won first-out at Belmont by 4-1/4 lengths going 5-1/2 furlongs on October 13, then eight days later tried the Maid of the Mist and followed that ambitious venture with length and a quarter and 4-3/4-length victories in six-furlong Aqueduct allowances on November 8 and December 1. Her former effort had come on Aqueduct's sloppy sealed outer track, and her latter tally had been scored on the inner track against open N1X allowance company even though she still was eligible for restricted N2X competition. Trainer Alan Klanfer subsequently had given the muscular bay filly four workouts over Aqueduct's inner track within a 24-day span, including "bullet" drills going five furlongs on December 11 and a half-mile on January 4. Bred by Jeffry and Stuart Morris's Highclere and a $25,000 weanling purchase at Keeneland's 2004 November sale by sales agent Buzz Chace, Golden Dreamer has the breeding to develop into a possible turf router, being from the first crop of Highclere-based graded turf winner Malabar Gold. She is the first offspring produced from West Indian, an Indian Charlie mare that had been purchased for $10,000 at Keeneland's 2003 November sale when she was carrying Golden Dreamer, whose dosage profile is a relatively long-winded 2-3-5-0-2. West Indian's dam is New Jersey four-time stakes winner Forever Pals ($145,666). Golden Dreamer is an outcross (no inbreeding) through five generations. Rahys' Appeal places 2nd in Santa Anita's G2 San Gorgonio in first West Coast outing by Rab Hagin In her first outing west of the Mississippi, Gallagher's Stud's New York homebred Rahys' Appeal registered her first graded-placing on turf and eighth top-three stakes effort within a 17-month span by placing second in Santa Anita's Grade 2 San Gorgonio Handicap at a mile and an eighth on Sunday. The now five-year-old mare has gone off at double-digit odds in her latest two starts -- Aqueduct's Grade 2 Top Flight Handicap on dirt on November 24 and the San Gorgonio on turf -- and has finished first or second both times. Her three-length first-place finish in the Top Flight and subsequent disqualification to second because her jockey had inadvertently struck a drifting-out rival with his whip in the stretch is still under appeal. With jockey Aaron Gryder on board for the first time in competition, Rahys' Appeal was the 13.40-to-1 sixth choice among seven fillies and mares in the San Gorgonio, stalking close up in fourth place before advancing on the second turn to place second behind gate-to-wire winner Citronnade. Finishing third and fourth were the 1.20-to-1 favorite and 4.20-to-1 second choice respectively, Grade 2 turf winners Three Degrees and Grande Melody, as 4.60-to-1 third choice Citronnade ran the third-fastest San Gorgonio ever under its current conditions -- 1:46.80 -- and missed the 24-year-old stakes record by two-fifths of a second. Rahys' Appeal increased her earnings by $30,000 to $337,009 off a 4 - 6 - 2 record in 19 starts, which includes an 8-1/2-length victory in Belmont's 2005 off-the-turf Ticonderoga Handicap plus a new count of seven other top-three stakes performances -- five on turf and two in main track graded events. A homebred for Marlene Brody's Gallagher's Stud in Ghent trained by Thomas Bush, Rahys' Appeal is by Rahy and is the second offspring and second winner produced from stakes-placed winner Appealing Kris, who is by Kris S. and is a half-sister to New York-bred California stakes winner Statement ($374,068). She is the fourth New York-bred to win or place (second or third) in an open stakes in the first seven days of 2007 -- following Interborough winner and third-place finisher Oprah Winney and Magnolia Jackson, respectively, at Aqueduct on New Year's Day and Golden Dreamer in Aqueduct's Ruthless. |
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
NY-breds conclude 2006 and begin '07 by scoring top stakes performances by Rab Hagin
New Year's Eve weekend and New Year's Day featured consecutive stakes-winning performances at Aqueduct by New York-breds SUCCESSFUL AFFAIR in the open mile and five-eighths Gallant Fox, NAUGHTY NEW YORKER in a record-setting Alex M. Robb at a mile and a sixteenth, and OPRAH WINNEY in the open six-furlong Interborough. In Florida and New Mexico, New York-bred J'ray placed a close second in Calder's Grade 3 Frances A. Genter Stakes on turf, and two-year-old The Zipster became the 79th New York-bred 2006 open stakes performer by placing third in Sunland Park's $136,499 Riley Allison Futurity. State-bred 2006 Grade 2 winner Magnolia Jackson placed third in Monday's Interborough -- an event in which New York-breds finished one-three. Winning Move Stable's Successful Affair ($280,479) set the three-day weekend's tone with a hard-fought top-weighted win in Saturday's historic Gallant Fox for his fourth consecutive Aqueduct victory (and second stakes tally) at a different distance in 64 days -- all scored since being claimed for a mere $16,000 on October 19. The next day at the Big A, another excellent routing state-bred four-year-old, Fox Ridge Farm's Naughty New Yorker ($653,865), broke Grade 2 winner Turnofthecentury's six-year-old stakes record in the mile and a sixteenth Alex M. Robb Handicap for New York-breds, winning by 2-3/4 lengths in 1:42.64. Naughty New Yorker won more stakes (four) in 2006 than any other state-bred older male and counts Aqueduct's graded Red Smith Handicap going an off-the-turf mile and a quarter in November among those daylight-margin victories, but the Robb might have been his best effort of the year. New Year's Day featured New York-breds Oprah Winney ($227,930) and Magnolia Jackson ($440,738) finishing one-three in Aqueduct's Interborough Handicap -- the former clocking a sloppy inner track time of 1:09.51 that bettered three and equaled one of the four Interboroughs won by Hall of Fame members Affectionately and Ta Wee. Just-turned-four-year-old Oprah Winney, who races for Michael Dubb, Sanford Goldfarb, and the Bunch of Characters Stable of Pamela Caliendo et al, had never previously faced competition outside her own crop but had won Aqueduct's open Randaroo Stakes as a 2005 juvenile 12-1/2 months earlier. In her latest previous start in May, she had captured Belmont's seven-furlong Bouwerie Stakes for New York-bred three-year-old fillies, prior to which she had placed third in Aqueduct's graded Cicada Stakes in March following a stumbling start, giving her a never-worse-than-fourth record of 4 - 2 - 2 in nine starts. Ted Taylor's Magnolia Jackson, a $51,000 purchase at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's 2004 May sale of two-year-olds and winner of five 2006 stakes -- four open, including Aqueduct's Grade 2 Bed o' Roses Breeders' Cup -- was the Interborough topweight and has a never-worse-than-fourth record of 9 - 2 - 2 in 15 starts. New York Minute(s): Successful Affair and Naughty New Yorker were among 29 or 30 New York-bred winners of 2006 stakes events outside state-bred company, depending on the outcome of the appeal of the Rahys' Appeal disqualification from first to second in Aqueduct's Grade 2 Top Flight Handicap on November 24. The Gallant Fox was the 43rd or 44th open (to horses bred anywhere, exclusive of the New York Stallion Stakes series) stakes race in 2006 captured by a New York-bred. During the 2005 racing season, 28 New York-breds won 37 stakes events outside state-bred company. The first New York-bred open stakes winner of 2006, Lawrence Goichman's homebred J'ray ($280,218), missed by a fast-closing head of being the latest state-bred graded winner when she charged from 10th-to-second within seven-sixteenths of a mile to place in Calder's 7-1/2-furlong Frances A. Genter on turf. Voted New York Thoroughbred Breeders (NYTB) 2005 Champion Juvenile Filly and Turf Female, the 2006 Tropical Park Oaks winner had back-to-back close runner-up e fforts in graded turf events late in 2006, having missed by a neck in Churchill Downs' Grade 2 Mrs. Revere in November. Patsy Symons' New York-bred-and-based The Zipster might have given his best effort 15 days too soon in his campaign to capture Sunland Park's rich Riley Allison Futurity on New Year's Eve Sunday, placing third in that event -- won by a colt he had beaten in an allowance trial. The chestnut colt also bumped late with another rival, as favored Sir Five Star won in a 6-1/2-furlong time that was more than a fifth of a second slower (.29) than The Zipster's time while beating Sir Five Star in a December 16 Sunland Park Futurity trail. Curiously, even though The Zipster had beaten then-odds-on Sir Five Star in their trial encounter, the latter still was favored among nine starters in the Riley Allison Futurity, and the New York-bred was the 4.30-to-1 fourth choice. Symons had purchased The Zipster, who had won first-out at Belmont in June, for $160,000 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's (OBS) March 2006 auction of two-year-olds in training. New York Minute: The Zipster was the 79th New York-bred to win or place (second or third) in a 2006 stakes outside state-bred company; his third-placing in the Riley Allison Futurity was the 127th top-three finish in an open (to horses bred anywhere, exclusive of the New York Stallion Stakes series) 2006 stakes. In addition to Oprah Winney's Interborough victory, another front-running open tally by a New York-bred on Aqueduct's New Year's Day card came from Albert Fried Jr.'s homebred TOWERING ESCAPE ($162,620) in a N2X allowance/optional claiming contest for fillies and mares going six furlongs. Ridden to victory for the second consecutive time in 40 days by jockey Ramon Dominguez and getting her third successive NYRA allowance win in 75 days, the just-turned-four-year-old filly carried co-topweight of 123 pounds to a 3-1/4-length score, improving her stakes-placed record to 5 - 1 - 3 in 12 starts. Another New York-bred four-year-old filly earning money in that contest and pressuring Towering Escape early was 2006 restricted stakes winner How 'bout No ($109,316), as those two garnered two-thirds of the available purse and qualified their connections for an additional $6,744.50 in owner, breeder, and stallion owner awards. Winning restricted N2X allowance/optional claiming contests going six furlongs at Aqueduct -- both running with $30,000 tags because they had gone through their restricted N2X conditions -- were Ervin Rodriguez's four-year-old gelding, PRECISE STAR ($147,878), on Saturday and Clear Stars Stable's four-year-old filly, WHAT'S YOUR POINT ($237,675) on Sunday. Precise Star broke from the 10th post as the 2.65-to-1 favorite among 11 starters and 10 wagering interests and scored his third consecutive victory in 14 weeks, improving his record to seven wins and a second-placing in 11 starts. Bred by Becky Thomas and Lewis Lakin and foaled at his breeders' Lakland North, LLC (now Sequel Stallions New York) in Hudson, the son of former New York-based stallion Precise End had won open six-furlong allowances at Gulfstream Park and Calder last spring. What's Your Point, a stakes-placed open Aqueduct allowance winner last March who had been claimed three times for $25,000 during 2006, overcame a bumpy beginning to romp by six lengths as the 9-to-1 fourth choice among seven starters, improving her record to 6 - 5 - 4 in 24 starts. Bred by Richard Simon's Sez Who Thoroughbreds, Inc., the former bargain $4,500 purchase at the OBS 2003 August yearling sale is the first offspring produced from allowance-winning sprinter Herrenchiemsee, whom Sez Who Thoroughbreds had purchased for $6,000 as a not-bred broodmare prospect at Keeneland's 2001 January sale. Scoring come-from-behind victories in restricted N1X allowances at Aqueduct were three-year-old gelding LOG JAM on Wednesday, top-weighted three-year-old filly ACCREDITING ($109,496) on Thursday, two-year-old filly STREET SASS on Thursday, two-year-old colt GOOD PROSPECT on Friday, and four-year-old gelding BRAVE SIR ROBIN ($119,846) on Saturday. Log Jam, who races for Barbara Iannucci's Windhover Farm and was making his first start for NYTB 2004 Trainer of the Year Gary Contessa with blinkers off as the 8.90-to-1 fourth choice, rallied three-wide through the stretch of his mile and a sixteenth contest to register his first two-turn tally. Accrediting, Anthony DePaula's daughter of pensioned New York stallion Scarlet Ibis, advanced from last-to-first among eight fillies going a mile and a sixteenth as the 6.20-to-1 co-fourth choice after being rank in the early stages, registering her second consecutive Aqueduct two-turn win in 20 days. Street Sass, a $55,000 purchase by the Cot Campbell-managed Dogwood Stable at Fasig-Tipton Florida's 2006 February two-year-old sale, broke from the outside post as the 19.20-to-1 eighth choice among 10 juvenile fillies going six furlongs and has won sprinting and routing (mile and a sixteenth at Belmont) within 11 weeks. Good Prospect, Gene Stuchbury's (Cedar Bridge Stable) $1,200 purchase at the New York Breeders' Sales Company's 2005 August yearling sale and a stakes-placed stalking son of Good and Tough, won by a length and a half at a mile and 70 yards at 16.90-to-1 among 10 starters. Brave Sir Robin, Castle Village Farm's $28,000 purchase from breeder Gallagher's Stud at Fasig-Tipton's 2003 Saratoga preferred New York-bred yearling sale, overcame a bumpy break to circle six-wide from eighth-to-first among nine starters going six furlongs, edging his homebred stablemate, Unconcerned, by three-quarters of a length. New York-bred open claiming winners from Wednesday, December 27 through New Year's Day Monday, January 1 included: Two-year-old CITY AVENGER at Charles Town for his second consecutive daylight-margin win in 18 days, and TIFFANY GOLD ($133,226) by a f |
