NY-bred graded SWs in early '07 are contenders in 3 specialty divisions by Rab Hagin

Photo: Lou Hodges, Jr.

J'RAY - 3rd NY-bred graded SW in '07

The 4-3/4-length odds-on romp by Lawrence Goichman's homebred J'RAY ($360,218) in Fair Grounds' Grade 3 Bayou Breeders' Cup Handicap on Saturday raised the number of New York-bred 2007 graded winners to three -- each in different specialty divisions and geographic locales (West Coast, East Coast, central Gulf Coast). Those three divisions and their respective New York-bred contenders are Male Sprint (six-year-old Friendly Island), Female Sprint (four-year-old filly Oprah Winney, who can expect a challenge from five-year-old mare Magnolia Jackson), and Female Turf (J'ray). The next day on Aqueduct's Sunday card, Country Life Farm's homebred Sagamoon ($125,059) placed second following a stumbling start under top weight in the Big A's mile and a sixteenth Busher Stakes for three-year-old fillies -- the 20th top-three open stakes finish by a New York-bred in 2007's first eight weeks.

J'ray ($360,218), who like Sagamoon in the Busher was top-weighted in the Bayou Breeders' Cup, was exiting three consecutive near-miss runner-up efforts in graded grass events in mid-November, late December, and early February and was the obvious class in the approximately mile and an eighth Bayou. The four-year-old filly improved her record to 5 - 3 - 1 in 11 starts, with all nine of her wins and placed efforts coming in her nine starts on turf. Some pedigree reports do not indicate that J'ray's eight-year-old half-sister, Dadeland, won Saudi Arabia's Riyadh Region Governorate Cup and was champion older female in that country -- in addition to winning in England and France and placing third in France's Grand Prix du Nord -- scoring six victories in three countries. J'ray's winning dam is a half-sister to the dam of graded winner Millennium Dragon ($503,604 in North America and England), and her distaff family also is that of 1993 Eclipse Horse of the Year and Champion Turf Male Kotashaan.

Sagamoon and fellow New York-bred Margie's Dancer stumbled from the outside posts among six in Aqueduct's Busher, but Sagamoon -- top-weighted because of having won Aqueduct's open mile and 70-yard Busanda Stakes six weeks earlier -- salvaged second to put her record at three wins and three seconds in six starts. She also qualified her owner-breeder, the Pons family's Country Life Farm (CLF/Hall LLC is co-breeder), for an additional $2,789.80 in owner and breeder awards.

New York Minute: New York-breds have registered a total of 20 top-three open stakes performances in 2007 in New York, California, Maryland, Kentucky, Florida, and Louisiana.

New York-breds captured open non-claiming contests at three different tracks during the last full week of February, starting with Rossi Racing's five-year-old mare, LEI DIAVALO, who won from the eighth post among nine fillies and mares (eight wagering interests) in a six-furlong N1X allowance at Philadelphia Park on Wednesday. The 8.80-to-1 fourth choice off a strong second-placing at that condition level 32 days earlier, followed by a half-mile "bullet" workout on February 13, Lei Diavalo had broken her maiden as a three-year-old at Belmont and had been claimed last July at Philadelphia Park. Victories by 3-1/2 and 4-1/4 lengths last fall had boosted the New York-bred into allowance competition, but it appears her connections have not yet recognized that she is bred to develop late, to run long, and to compete on turf. The second New York-bred winner on Philadelphia Park's Wednesday card, Lei Diavalo was bred by New York Thoroughbred Breeders (NYTB) president Barry Ostrager and had been sold for $5,000 as a weanling at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's 2002 December mixed sale through sales agent Thomas J. Gallo.

Rarely is a multiple open stakes winner in a starter handicap for horses that had raced for maximum $16,000 claiming prices (in 2005-2007), but Winning Move Stable's New York-bred SUCCESSFUL AFAIR ($314,329) won a mile and an eighth Aqueduct contest with those conditions at odds-on by 2-1/2 lengths on Friday. In a race dominated by New York-bred geldings, the recent routing stakes star shouldered top weight of 127 -- spotting 11-to-15 pounds to four rivals -- and prevailed at 70 cents on the dollar, scoring his fifth victory in his last six starts. The five-year-old improved his overall record to 8 - 9 - 5 in 31 starts, which includes victories during December in Aqueduct's open Coyote Lakes Stakes at a mile and a half and open Gallant Fox Handicap at a mile and five-eighths under top weight -- both three-turn inner track events. He had placed a close second to New York-bred Carminooch in Aqueduct's open mile and a quarter Proud Appeal Stakes on January 28 -- all these recent accomplishments garnered by a runner who had never tried stakes competition prior to December. Successful Affair had been claimed by Winning Move Stable (Steve and Brian Sigler, et al) for $16,000 in October and since then has earned $171,286 of his $314,329 bankroll, scoring Aqueduct victories at distances ranging from a one-turn mile to two miles. Placing second in Friday's starter handicap was New York-bred Taking the Redeye ($278,604), and finishing fourth was New York-bred Delta Sea ($289,685), as the three state-breds picked up 86.7 percent of the contest's total purse and qualified their connections for an additional $7,616 in owner, breeder, and stallion awards.

Although eligible in New York for restricted N2X allowance competition and then open N1X company at the next level, John Oxley's New York-bred LOVELY DREAM waltzed into an open N2X allowance for fillies and mares going a one-turn mile at Gulfstream Park on Sunday and won by 2-1/2 lengths. The four-year-old daughter of Freud -- a $220,000 purchase by Oklahoma oilman Oxley at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's (OBS) 2005 February sale of two-year-olds at Calder -- was the 6.30-to-1 third choice among six starters and pulled away from the odds-on runner-up after forcing a 47.08 intermediate half-mile. Lovely Dream now has three wins by more than two lengths each on main tracks -- two in 6-1/2-furlong sprints at Belmont -- and two runner-up efforts, including one in a Saratoga turf allowance. She went into Gulfstream's contest off a 129-day layoff following a frustrating fifth-place effort among 10 starters on yielding Keeneland turf in which she was bumped at the start and forced five-wide. Bred by Becky Thomas and Lewis Lakin and foaled at Lakland North, LLC (now Sequel Stallions New York, where sire Freud stands), Lovely Dream had been sold by Lakland for $48,000 as an OBS 2004 January "winter yearling" and had brought a $172,000 pinhooking profit (358 percent) 13 months later. She is the second winner produced from multiple stakes-placed winner Saralil, a Saratoga Six mare that Lakland had purchased for $13,000 at Keeneland's 2002 January mixed sale.

Front-running four-year-old winners of restricted N2X/allowance optional claiming contests going six furlongs at Aqueduct were two purchases out of 2005 spring sales of two-year-olds: Mitre Box Stable's (Robert Jacoff) gelding, FIFTY FRAME ($107,770), on Saturday and Our Canterbury Stables' (managed by Thomas Daly) filly, BABY GRAY ($158,617), on Sunday. Fifty Frame, a $52,000 purchase by Jacoff at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's 2005 May sale, boosted his earnings into six figures and now has wins on Aqueduct's inner and outer tracks and at Belmont. Bred by Richard Simon's Sez Who Thoroughbreds, the Richard Schosberg-trained gelding is the second of three racing-age offspring, all winners, produced from 10-time winner C B Carm ($135,075), who is a half-sister to a stakes winner, a stakes-placed 12-time winner, and to a seven-time-winning stakes producer. Baby Gray, purchased by Our Canterbury Stables for $80,000 at the OBS 2005 April sale, was co-topweighted under 123 pounds and the youngest (foaled May 19, 2003) among six starters in her contest for fillies and mares, four-year-olds and up. It was her second front-running daylight-margin Aqueduct win in 17 days (following a six-length N1X tally going six furlongs), improving her record to 3 - 5 - 2 in 20 starts, which includes second-and-third-place efforts in two New York Stallion Stakes Series' two-turn turf events and a two-turn main track maiden victory. Both Fifty Frame and Baby Gray were conceived at Lakland North, LLC (now Sequel Stallions New York) in Hudson in the second crop of Precise End, whose first-crop juveniles were so impressive (12 winners, two stakes winners) that Japanese breeders purchased him in late 2004.

Winning restricted N1X Aqueduct allowances: three-year-old filly MICHELE THE GREAT going a mile on Thursday, three-year-old colt BELLY RUB on Friday, four-year-old colt EXECUTIVE SEARCH on Saturday -- both going six furlongs -- and five-year-old mare LADY ELAINE and three-year-old colt DOCTOR FREUD, both at a mile and a sixteenth on Sunday. Michele the Great, a homebred for Michael and Patricia Palenscar of Whitehall Farm in Marcellus, went gate-to-wire to win by 10 lengths at odds-on (.85-to-1), improving her never-unplaced record to 2 - 2 - 2 in six starts. Belly Rub, who races for Alvin Akman, Dove Houghton, and Andrew Eisenberg and was bred by Elaine Peck's Rhapsody Farm in Plymouth, is two-for-two in 27 days, scoring his second victory with a last-to-first advance among seven starters despite being steadied on the turn and altering course in the stretch. Executive Search (sired by Regal Classic), who races for Gregory Burns' Lake Star Stable, Peter Cosgrove, Michael McMahon, and John Veitch and was bred by Harry and Nancy Stanyon of Castleton, Vermont, won by nearly two lengths to boost his earnings into six figures at $111,198. Lady Elaine broke from the outside post among seven starters to win drawing away by 5-3/4 lengths for her second consecutive big-margin Aqueduct score in 18 days and fifth career victory by more than four lengths each (totaling over 28 lengths) for her owner-breeder, John Murray. Doctor Freud, Dogwood Stable's Freud colt purchased for $140,000 at the OBS 2006 February Calder sale of two-year-olds, stretched beyond a mile for the first time and scored his second consecutive Aqueduct victory in four weeks in his third career start.

Scoring his 23rd career victory under the 20th jockey to ride him in competition was Lee Racing Stable's regally-bred and unusually durable and versatile New York-bred nine-year-old, SONG DANCER ($286,987), who won from the outside post among seven starters going a mile and a sixteenth at Oaklawn Park on Friday. The gray/roan stallion ran with a $35,000 claiming tag, improving his overall record to 23 - 10 - 3 in 49 starts, which includes five wins in seven main track efforts at a mile and a sixteenth-or-70 yards, two turf tallies, and nine dirt sprint victories. In his lone stakes outing, Sunland Park's one-mile Winsham Lad Handicap in January of 2006, Song Dancer had placed third, beaten three-quarters of a length for everything. The son of Unbridled's Song is a half-brother to Grade 1 winner and NYTB Horse of the Year and multiple champion Carson Hollow ($500,110), being among four winners and three six-figure-earners bred by Dr. Patricia Staskowski Purdy from four-time winner Lizeality, by Hold Your Peace.

Other New York-bred open claiming winners -- all on Friday, February 23, were:

OF ALL TIMES by 3-1/2 lengths gate-to-wire at Aqueduct despite stumbling after the start for his third daylight-margin victory and first main track win to go along with back-to-back turf tallies at Saratoga, THAT BELONGS TO ME ($158,306) "closed gamely" at Tampa Bay Downs under top weight despite being blocked and shuffled back to last among 10 starters with a quarter-mile to go to score her fourth turf victory and second consecutive tally in six days while improving her overall multiple stakes-placed record to 11 - 7 - 10 in 55 starts, and SCARLET BILLOWS ($116,909) by 2-1/4 lengths under top weight at Charles Town for the second big-margin win in 40 days and sixth career victory for the daughter of pensioned New York stallion Scarlet Ibis.

New York-bred maiden-breakers from Wednesday, February 21 through Tuesday, February 27 included:

Homebred CAMMY'S CHOICE (sired by Take Me Out) by 6-3/4 lengths in 1:10.77 for six furlongs in her debut at Philadelphia Park "to prove clearly best" at odds of 25.10-to-1, on Wednesday; FIND THE CHESTNUT by 8-1/2 lengths "ridden out" at odds-on in her third start and first effort beyond six furlongs despite being bumped after the start, homebred GINGER'S VICTORY by a front-running four lengths, RAVEN H by 3-1/2 lengths "ridden out" gate-to-wire in his first effort beyond a mile, and MARLINSPIKE by 6-1/4 lengths from seventh-to-first among 10 starters despite being bumped at the break -- all at Aqueduct on Thursday; PASQUALINA with blinkers off, and POSEY PARK from eighth-to-first out of the eighth post among 11 starters at 62.50-to-1 in her debut -- both at Aqueduct on Friday; GRAND REFER by 13 lengths at odds-on and "ridden out" from the seventh post among nine starters four weeks after having placed third among 10 following a stumbling start in his debut, and homebred SAL THE PAL (sired by Aristotle) by 4-1/2 lengths -- both at Aqueduct on Saturday; homebred PARISIAN AIRESS (sired by Adonis) at odds-on in her third start following two promising runner-up efforts on the Big A's inner track in January, and CALI JEAN in her second career start -- both at Aqueduct on Sunday; PEGASUS PROSPECTOR (sired by Deputy Cat) regaining the lead to win by daylight at odds-on at Mountaineer Park, and WILD WHEEL (sired by Wheelaway) by 2-1/2 lengths at odds-on from the outside post among eight starters at Philadelphia Park with a wide rally into the stretch to win "going away" following consecutive runner-up efforts in big fields over the previous 30 days -- both on Tuesday.

J'ray totes top weight to 4-3/4 length win in G3 Bayou Breeders' Cup by Rab Hagin

Photo: Lou Hodges, Jr.

J'RAY

Well-placed and traffic-free for the first time since her Tropical Park Oaks victory almost 14 months earlier, Lawrence Goichman's New York homebred J'RAY scored a top-weighted 4-3/4-length victory in Fair Grounds' Grade 3 Bayou Breeders' Cup Handicap at about a mile and an eighth on turf on Saturday. It was the four-year-old filly's first outing under six-time leading Fair Grounds jockey Robby Albarado, who clearly had a close stalking strategy in mind, and she went off heavily backed as the odds-on (.70-to-1) choice among nine older fillies and mares.

Breaking on top from the eighth post, J'ray stayed within three lengths of the pace-setting third choice, Candy Ball (6.50-to-1), through three-quarters despite having to go three-wide around both turns. As Candy Ball's closest early pursuer, sixth choice Cat Alert, began to fade, J'ray quickly caught the frontrunner in the upper stretch, from which point she scampered away in her distinct, quick-footed style, increasing her margin with every stride. The New York-bred has been so prominent among her crop's turf fillies since her 2005 juvenile season that it seemed almost surprising that this was her first graded victory.

Photo: Lynn Roberts

J'RAY

Jockey Albarado, who has now ridden four Bayou Breeders' Cup winners and had two winning rides on Fair Grounds' Saturday card, implied the race had developed the way he had foreseen, since he was well aware of J'ray's stretch speed: "She got in a great spot," the jockey reported. "She was able to relax in a good position. When I called on her, she overpowered the speed."

Anthony Tamburino, the traveling assistant to J'ray's trainer, Todd Pletcher, reported that the filly had shipped well from south Florida, where she has been based since December: "We arrived early Thursday and jogged her that morning," recounted Tamburino. "She pretty much did all the work after that. We were only concerned about the weather."

J'ray's first graded victory -- following three consecutive near-misses in graded grass competition by two necks and a head -- increased her earnings by $60,000 to $360,218 and improved her multiple stakes-winning record during her previous two seasons to 5 - 3 - 1 in 11 starts. All of her wins and placed efforts have been on turf -- a surface over which she has never finished outside the top three. Voted New York Thoroughbred Breeders (NYTB) Champion Turf Female and Champion Two-Year-Old Filly for 2005, the chestnut lawn-lover is noticeably stronger and much more muscular now than during her NYTB dual championship season.

Owned and bred by Lawrence Goichman of Greenwich, Connecticut, who is in the computer and technology equipment leasing business, J'ray is a half-sister to Saudi Arabian older female champion Dadeland, being out of French-bred winner Bubbling Heights, who is a half-sister to the dam of graded winner Millennium Dragon. She was foaled at Keane Stud in Amenia. Goichman, who also bred New York-bred Grade 2 winner Read the Footnotes and named J'ray after his wife Jennifer (middle name Ray), makes a practice of acquiring European broodmares to breed to North American stallions, which is how he bred both Read the Footnotes and J'ray.

J'ray is the seventh New York-bred open stakes winner of 2007 -- in New York, California, Maryland, and now Louisiana -- and the third New York-bred graded winner in the first eight months of the year.

Photo:Jim McCue, Maryland Jockey Club

OPRAH WINNEY - 2nd NY-bred G2 SW in '07

Victory in Laurel Park's Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie Breeders' Cup Handicap for fillies and mares on Saturday by the consistent and dramatically improving OPRAH WINNEY ($407,930) put Grade 2 wins by New York-breds on both coasts in 2007, as she extended her current stakes-winning streak to three straight. Scoring their first stakes victories at Aqueduct were two older males that already were multiple stakes-placed: four-year-old SHUFFLING MADDNES ($241,465) in Friday's mile and 70-yard Champagneforashley Stakes, and the veteran seven-year-old INTROSPECT ($364,031) in Sunday's 29th running of the Big A's six-furlong Hollie Hughes Handicap. On Presidents' Day Monday, Merrylegs Farm's New York homebred Landofopportunity ($105,642) increased the count of state-bred top-three finishers in open 2007 stakes to 16 when he survived a stumbling and bumpy start to place third in Aqueduct's six-furlong Fred "Cappy" Capossela Stakes for three-year-olds. Those 16 state-bred stakes performers are from four different crops and have won or placed in 18 open stakes through the first seven weeks of 2007.

Two intriguing questions are now up for speculation about Oprah Winney, who races for Sanford Goldfarb of Old Westbury, Michael Dubb of Jericho, Long Island, and Bunch of Characters Stable (Pamela Caliendo, et al). They are: 1) is this four-year-old filly starting a lengthy win streak similar to New York-bred Eclipse Champion Fleet Indian's?; and 2) when will she again face the feisty New York-bred mare Magnolia Jackson, whom she beat on a wet track in Aqueduct's open Interborough Handicap on January 1?

Shuffling Maddnes and Introspect again proved that consistent on-the-board stakes competitors are eventually likely to win stakes, even though the former, who races for Camillo Pizzo's Trinacria USA Stable, is still eligible for open N1X allowance competition, and the latter's first stakes victory came at age seven. Although Shuffling Maddnes had won a restricted N1X allowance by 7-1/2 lengths at Belmont and had placed second in the last two legs of the OTBs' Big Apple Triple at Finger Lakes and Saratoga last summer, his biggest improvement came on Aqueduct's inner track last November. The four-year-old colt benefited in the Champagneforashley (for New York-bred four-year-olds and up) when recent Aqueduct open stakes winner and graded runner-up Carminooch ($376,388) encountered stretch traffic, and the event's mile and 70-yard distance was apparently too short for Aqueduct graded winner Naughty New Yorker ($667,849). Shuffling Maddnes, who was bred by Joe Gioia of Very Un Stable in North Woodmere, is the fourth runner and fourth winner produced from multiple stakes winner Splashing Fancy, but he is that mare's first New York-bred offspring and first stakes winner.

Castle Village Farm's Introspect, who had placed in two open and two restricted stakes prior to his Hollie Hughes victory among state-breds, epitomizes what an inexpensive yearling purchase ($15,000 from Thomas J. and Nadine Gallo, agent at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's 2001 October sale) can accomplish with basic speed, consistency, and soundness. Following the Hollie Hughes, trainer William Turner Jr. observed that Introspect previously had placed second behind such top New York-bred sprinters as graded winner and Breeders' Cup runner-up Friendly Island ($969,714), open stakes winner and Grade 1-placed Big Apple Daddy ($413,006), and three-time Hollie Hughes winner Papua ($649,558). The 2007 Hollie Hughes actually marked the fourth time that seven-year-old Introspect and eight-year-old Papua -- who finished fifth in the event's latest renewal -- have met in competition, with the score now even. Papua's third Hollie Hughes victory was in 2005, when Introspect finished fifth. They met again eight months later in New York Showcase Day's Hudson Handicap, with Introspect placing second behind Friendly Island and Papua third. A year later in the 2006 Hudson, Papua placed third, and Introspect finished fourth. Other excellent state-bred sprinters that Introspect has beaten include graded winner Uncle Camie and multiple stakes winner and Grade 1-placed Clever Electrician.

New York-breds comprised three of six three-year-old starters in Aqueduct's Capossela on Presidents' Day Monday, but only the winner had a clean break from the outside post, and the top-finishing state-bred, Merrylegs Farm's homebred Landofopportunity, came in third for his third stakes-placing in his first open company effort. Now with a record of 2 - 3 - 2 in 10 starts, the gelding bred by Paula Ann Cohn Hallman (Merrylegs Farm) has won or placed in his last seven consecutive outings. He is the second offspring and second state-bred winner produced from New York-bred open Aqueduct stakes winner Pentelis ($239,925), a homebred that raced for owner-breeder Hallman's late father, Seymour Cohn.

New York Minute: Landofopportunity is the 16th New York-bred to win or place (second or third) in an open stakes in 2007; those 16 New York-breds have finished in the top three in 18 open stakes in New York, California, Maryland, Kentucky, and Florida in the first seven weeks of the year.

New York-breds also captured open allowances or allowance/optional claiming contests at Aqueduct on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and at Charles Town in the Saturday evening feature race.

The only New York-bred in Thursday's open Aqueduct feature, a N2X allowance/optional claiming contest for fillies and mares going six furlongs, was Sullivan Lane Stable's (Kenneth Page) and Vincent Scuderi's fortuitous $50,000 claim from 26 months earlier, stakes winner GOLD LIKE U ($319,083), who since being haltered has earned $223,433. Because her open N2X condition was long gone, the six-year-old mare ran with a $60,000 tag as the 3.80-to-1 second choice among six wagering interests and seven starters, advancing from last-to-first to win drawing away while improving her record to 9 - 3 - 5 in 24 starts. Although Gold Like U had become a stakes winner last August by capturing Saratoga's Union Avenue for New York-bred fillies and mares and has a six-figure-earning full sister and a six-figure-earning half-sister plus a stakes-winning maternal granddam (second dam), she was not claimed in her latest outing. Saddled for her victory by trainer Juan Rodriguez, the bay mare was bred by Questroyal Crusader LLC and had been a $6,000 sales weanling at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's (OBS) 2001 October mixed sale.

Scoring his second consecutive open Aqueduct allowance victory in 41 days on Friday was Michael Martin's New York homebred RACELAND ($186,616), who went gate-to-wire at a mile and 70 yards to win a N2X allowance/optional claiming contest for four-year-olds and up by 5-3/4 lengths under co-topweight of 123 pounds. Now with a record of 5 - 5 - 1 in 14 starts, the late April-foaled gelding was the only four-year-old and only New York-bred competing and had no weight allowances because of his open N1X allowance/optional claiming victory going a mile and a sixteenth on January 6. Raceland has won sprinting (in his second career start as a three-year-old) and going two turns (twice) on Aqueduct's inner track and had gone through his state-bred allowance conditions (N1X and N2X) with big-margin victories in one-turn mile contests at Belmont. He is the second offspring produced from owner-breeder Martin's stakes-winning New York-bred Laken ($209,655), being a half-brother to Martin's stakes-placed New York homebred Summerland ($149,251).

New York homebreds comprised three of eight starters in an open Aqueduct N1X allowance/optional claiming contest for four-year-olds and up going a mile and a sixteenth on Saturday and finished first, third, and fifth, led by Gatsas Thoroughbreds LLC's 1.15-to-1 WHO WHAT WIN ($173,415), who romped by 8-1/4 lengths. In addition to purse earnings, the state-breds also qualified their connections for an additional $7,682 in owner, breeder, and stallion owner awards, as Who What Win improved his record to four wins and seven seconds in 13 start s. On New Year's Eve, the four-year-old gelding had placed second behind recent graded winner Naughty New Yorker in Aqueduct's mile and a sixteenth Alex M. Robb Handicap for New York-bred three-year-olds and up. The dark bay's owner-breeder, the Gatsas Thoroughbreds LLC of Michael and Theodore Gatsas of Manchester, New Hampshire -- founders of Sovereign Stable, Inc. and also breeders of Oprah Winney -- had purchased the winning dam of Who What Win for $45,000 at Fasig-Tipton Florida's 1999 February sale of two-year-olds at Calder.

Cruising gate-to-wire to tally by four lengths "ridden out" in Charles Town's Saturday evening feature, a 6-1/2-furlong N1X allowance for four-year-olds and up, was owner-trainer Steve Klesaris's near even-money (1.10-to-1) favorite, SPEED OF SOUND -- the first of two consecutive New York-bred big-margin winners on the card. The May-foaled four-year-old improved his record to 2 - 3 - 1 in 11 outings, which includes a close third-placing (missing everything by two noses) in Belmont's graded Flash Stakes in his second juvenile start followed by a runner-up effort among eight state-bred two-year-olds in Finger Lakes' $128,275 Aspirant Stakes. Speed of Sound was bred by New York Thoroughbred Breeders President Barry Ostrager and Steven Mukamal -- both of New York City -- and had been sold for $550,000 at the OBS 2005 February sale of two-year-olds at Calder after working a pre-sale "bullet" quarter-mile in 21 2/5. The son of the late New York-based stallion Phone Trick appeared to be on track for major events prior to an 11-month layoff between his two-year-old and three-year-old seasons but now seems to be rounding back into form.

Scoring by 3-1/4 lengths in a restricted N2X allowance/optional claiming contest for four-year-olds and up at a mile and a sixteenth at Aqueduct on Presidents' Day Monday was Robert Urrutia's $20,000 Big A claim 11 days earlier, SIDEWAYS GLANCE ($215,532), who led throughout from the outside post among six starters. The five-year-old son of Western Expression has been claimed twice in three starts in 2007 and ran with a $30,000 tag on Monday because he was well past his restricted N2X condition, but he still went off as the 5.60-to-1 fifth choice among six evenly-regarded starters. Bred and originally raced by Carl Lizza Jr.'s Flying Zee Stable and foaled at Highcliff Farm in Delanson that Lizza owns with Joseph Bartone, Sideways Glance registered his second big-margin Aqueduct win in 46 days and eighth career victory over distances ranging from six to nine furlongs.

Winning restricted N1X Aqueduct allowances were six-year-old gelding TAKING THE REDEYE ($271,804) at a mile and a sixteenth with a $25,000 optional claiming tag on Thursday plus three at six furlongs: five-year-old gelding PRECISE ALLOY on Saturday, four-year-old filly LIGHT CLASSIC on Sunday, and three-year-old filly SUNSET COCKTAIL on Monday. Taking the Redeye, another Flying Zee Stable homebred, romped by 3-1/4 lengths for his second big-margin Aqueduct victory in 34 days and now has nine career wins along with five seconds and five thirds. Roddy Valente's Precise Alloy, bred by Becky Thomas and Lewis Lakin and foaled at Lakland North (now Sequel Stallions New York) in Hudson, began his career (2 - 4 - 2 in 12 starts) in California and was odds-on (.80-to-1) among nine despite breaking from the outside post for his 3-1/4-length victory. Light Classic, John Spendolini's and Richard Sinkler's homebred daughter of Regal Classic and the first offspring produced from multiple stakes winner Moonlighting ($244,163), improved her record to 3 - 1 - 2 in 10 starts. Sunset Cocktail, a $15,000 OBS April 2006 two-year-old purchase now racing for Daniel McKillop and Tom Cullen and bred by Sez Who Thoroughbreds, tallied by 5-1/2 lengths for her third big-margin win in seven starts and second decisive romp at Aqueduct in 45 days.

Notable New York-bred open claiming winners were: Coastal Racing Stable's four-year-old gelding, R CLEAR VICTORY, going a mile and 70 yards at Aqueduct on Thursday with a $30,000 tag; Monty Armi's and Stewball Stable's eight-year-old TOUGH GAME ($269,270) sprinting six furlongs at Bay Meadows with a $25,000 tag on Sunday. R Clear Victory, a $100,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2005 sales purchase, scored by a front-running 4-1/2 lengths in a contest in which state-breds finished one-two, getting his first main track win to add to turf tallies at Lone Star Park and Belmont. Tough Game, a $270,000 purchase from the consignment of Thomas J. and Nadine Gallo, agent at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's 2000 July yearling sale who had equaled Hollywood Park's six-furlong record (1:07.52) in 2003, was making his second start off nearly a 16-month layoff and won by two lengths in 1:09.72.

Other New York-bred open claiming winners from Thursday, February 15 through Tuesday, February 20 included:

SEA LAWYER ($137,015) under co-topweight for his second consecutive Aqueduct win in 34 days to improve his record to 6 - 4 - 1 in 20 starts and claimed for the second consecutive time in 2007, on Thursday; WOOD WINNER (sired by Prime Timber) for his fourth NYRA victory but first two-turn win, and PRESSING ISSUE (sired by Freud) by a front-running 5-1/2 lengths for his second big-margin win on the Big A's inner track -- both at Aqueduct on Friday; multiple stakes-placed THAT BELONGS TO ME ($149,486) from seventh-to-first among eight starters after angling out five-wide at Tampa Bay Downs for her third turf victory and improving her overall record to 10 - 7 - 10 in 54 starts, on Saturday; ROB'S BOY MAT ($125,873) in a front-running effort at Aqueduct for his fourth victory, LOOK OUT EVAN (sired by Take Me Out) from the ninth post among 10 starters at Charles Town to improve his exceptionally-consistent record to 12 - 8 - 8 in 36 starts with earnings of $282,882, and homebred PETERS BLUE WAY from seventh-to-first among 10 starters at Mountaineer Park despite "advancing while continuing to lose ground" in his third career win and first victory since being claimed back by his owner-breeders last August -- all on Sunday; KEY TO SUSAN (sired by Key Contender) by a front-running seven lengths from the outside post among seven starters despite a bobbled start for her second daylight-margin win at Aqueduct in 67 days, and BONUS SIZE (sired by Rizzi) by 3-3/4 lengths from sixth-to-first among eight starters for his second NYRA win by three or more lengths -- both at Aqueduct -- and CAUSE I LIKE IT by 3-3/4 lengths at Laurel Park in her first effort beyond a mile -- all on Presidents' Day Monday; SPEEDY FREDDIE by a front-running 7-1/4 lengths at Philadelphia Park despite a bobbled start to give him wins by more than seven lengths on both dirt and turf, on Tuesday.

New York-bred maiden-breakers from Thursday, February 15 through Presidents' Day Monday, February 19 included:

MISS VANITY by 15-3/4 lengths at Aqueduct 36 days after having placed second at the Big A following a badly stumbled start, and SHE'S ON FIRE (sired by Smokin Mel) from the outside post among seven at Tampa Bay by twice challenging and finally overtaking the even-money front-runner -- both on Thursday; RUSTICATE by a front-running 2-1/2 lengths, and homebred SILVERCUP BABY by a front-running 4-3/4 lengths at odds-on after having placed second three times in three previous career starts -- both at Aqueduct -- and ELIMINATOR by a front-running four lengths at Bay Meadows after having placed second six times in 2006 -- all three on Friday; homebred LOVE ABROAD by 4-1/2 lengths from seventh-to-first among nine starters despite being bumped after the start, and homebred TIMELY PUNCH in her third start -- both at Aqueduct -- and JACKIE JAM by six lengths at odds-on at Charles Town in her first start off a 51-day layoff -- all on Saturday; homebred-and-trained TWO G'S "drew clear" in a front-running performance at Aqueduct, ECOUTEZ REPETEZ by two lengths from ninth-to-first among 12 starters with a quick five-wide move at Tampa Bay Downs, and VESAK MOON by 8-1/2 lengths from ninth-to-first among 10 starters at Philadelphia Park despite being bumped at the top of the stretch -- all on Sunday; homebred SMOKIN WARRIOR (sired by Smokin Mel) by 2-1/2 lengths gate-to-wire in open maiden claiming company with a $50,000 tag and ultimately earning almost as much as he would have in restricted maiden special competition because of a $3,480 open-race owner award, homebred TALKING TREASURE (sired by Catienus) re-gaining command on the outside in her second start and first two-turn effort, and WAY OF AN EAGLE (sired by Tomorrows Cat) by 3-1/4 lengths gate-to-wire in his third start and first two-turn effort -- all three at Aqueduct -- and homebred TURN ON THE CHARM by 2-1/4 lengths "going away" at Philadelphia Park -- all on Presidents' Day Monday.

On-line balloting contest for selecting NY-bred champions runs to March 10

(2/21) An on-line balloting contest for selecting the 2006 New York Thoroughbred Breeders (NYTB) New York-bred divisional champions -- as determined by the New York Turf Writers -- will run through Saturday, March 10, with winners receiving four free clubhouse passes to either Belmont Park or Saratoga Race Course. The free contest is offered through the New York Breeding & Racing Program's website (www.nybreds.com), which lists the 53 final candidates for 10 championship divisions: Two-Year-Old Colt/Gelding, Two-Year-Old Filly, Three-Year-Old Colt/Gelding, Three-Year-Old Filly, Four-Year-Old & Up Male, Four-Year-Old & Up Female, Male Turf, Female Turf, Male Sprinter, Female Sprinter.

Twelve of the 53 candidates are in the balloting for two divisions -- their respective age/gender categories plus one of two specialties (Turf or Sprinter) available for each gender. The NYTB 2006 New York-bred championships mark the first time that separate gender divisions -- male and female -- have been created for the sprint specialty, with each of those sprint divisions having six candidates, including 2006 graded winners in both divisions. The NYTB Male and Female Turf divisions, which have been separate by gender since 1984, likewise each have 2006 graded-winning candidates.

In addition to ballot listings for all championship candidates in the 10 divisions, Daily Racing Form 2006 past performances for each candidate also are available for downloading and printing (Adobe Reader software required) off the website's balloting link at the top of the homepage. The NYTB 2006 New York-bred champions will be announced at the annual awards banquet at the Desmond Hotel in Albany, New York on Monday evening, May 14.

Introspect puts up game effort to get first stakes win in Hollie Hughes by Rab Hagin

Photo:Adam Coglianese

INTROSPECT

Castle Village Farm's INTROSPECT has been knocking heads with so many top New York-bred sprinters that his first stakes victory in Aqueduct's six-furlong Hollie Hughes Handicap for state-bred three-year-olds and up on Sunday -- while carrying co-topweight -- came as no surprise. The seven-year-old gelding went off the 2.50-to-1 second choice among eight six-figure-earning starters with jockey Eddie Martin Jr. race-riding him for the second time in 30 days, stalking the pace set by 8.30-to-1 fourth choice Scary Bob and prompted by 11.50-to-1 sixth choice Johnie Bye Night through a half-mile. By mid-stretch he was up to Scary Bob's shoulder and leading Johnie Bye Night, after which he held off outside closer and 5.50-to-1 third choice Ferocious Won, who had captured two legs of last summer's OTBs' Big Apple Triple (New York Derby and Albany Stakes).
Winning jockey Martin, who piloted two winners -- both New York-breds -- on Aqueduct's Sunday card, indicated that the close stalking strategy employed in the Hollie Hughes had worked effectively: "The last time, he got cooked in a speed duel. Today, I wanted to take him back a little because he can stalk and win. He's a game horse who tries hard, but he likes to hang a little. I knew they were coming after him, and I thought he might get beat. He dug in the last part. He's a tough horse."

Winning trainer William Turner Jr. agreed: "I thought Eddie (Martin) did a good job. Introspect has run big seconds to some good horses like (graded-winning sprinter) Friendly Island (in Belmont's 2005 Hudson Handicap) and Big Apple Daddy (in the 2006 Hollie Hughes at equal weights). He's been second to Papua a couple of times. He's a nice horse. He's so consistent. This horse deserved it. We'll probably run back in the next three-quarter (six furlongs) race he is eligible for."

Like the late Hall of Fame trainer and New York native namesake for Aqueduct's Sunday stakes sprint for New York-breds, Hollie Hughes (1888 - 1981), Turner was involved with steeplechasers early in his career.

Purchased for $15,000 by Castle Village Farm (a partnership managed by Stephen Zorn of Dania, Florida) from Thomas J. and Nadine Gallo, agent, at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's 2001 October yearling sale in Timonium, Maryland, Introspect boosted his earnings by $43,455 to $364,031 with his Hollie Hughes victory. The bay gelding's record of 6 - 6 - 13 in 45 starts includes second-place efforts in the 2006 Hollie Hughes and 2005 Hudson plus third-place performances in two open stakes -- Aqueduct's Fall Highweight Handicap last November and Monmouth Park's Wolf Hill Stakes.

Bred by Questroyal #100, LLC, Introspect is among eight known starters, all winners, produced from Axspect, who won Philadelphia Park's non-black-type Dunmore Stakes as a four-year-old and placed second in Garden State's black-type Woodcrest Stakes at three. Introspect's allowance-winning half-siblings include To Dy Fore ($250,833) and Polish Outlaw ($125,279). Questroyal Farm had purchased Axspect for $15,000 at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's 1999 December mixed sale in Timonium when she was carrying Introspect, whose sire is the Storm Cat stallion In Case.

Oprah Winney takes G2 Barbara Fritchie for 3rd consecutive stakes win by Rab Hagin

Photo:Jim McCue, Maryland Jockey Club

OPRAH WINNEY

How much tougher can the New York-bred female sprint division get? For the third consecutive time at a different racetrack, New York-bred OPRAH WINNEY has led at all calls, pulling it off on Saturday in Laurel Park's Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie Breeders' Cup Handicap for fillies and mares going seven furlongs while repelling successive bids from three graded winners. Sent off the 3.10-to-1 second choice among eight starters with Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith on board for the second successive time in competition, the four-year-old filly did not break with her customary quickness but darted to the front before exiting the seven-furlong chute. Grade 2 winner Carmandia issued the first challenge but began fading from contention after a half-mile. Multiple Grade 2 winner Great Intentions loomed as the next threat but soon tired, and finally graded winner Silmaril ($684,153) tried to exploit an opening along the rail but could not advance quickly enough to gain position, finishing three-quarters of a length back in second place. The $285,000 event's 2.40-to-1 favorite, Grade 2 winner Leah's Secret, was never a factor.

Oprah Winney's second tally in 47 days increased her earnings by $180,000 to $407,930 while improving her record to 5 - 2 - 2 in 10 starts, giving her a Grade 2 victory along with three earlier New York stakes scores -- two open, including Aqueduct's six-furlong Interborough Handicap on New Year's Day. Jockey Smith, who had won the Barbara Fritchie in 1990, was not surprised at Oprah Winney's performance: "I knew she was going to run well today," confirmed Smith. "She warmed up like a million bucks in the post parade. Our plan was to go to the front. My only concern was that there was some other speed in the race. I was worried that they might press us a little, and they did, but she relaxed good for me. Going into the far turn, I started to nudge away. When they came to me at the top of the lane, I just shook the reins at her, and she responded and just dug right in. She was actually pulling away the last hundred yards. We weren't sure if she'd get seven-eighths of a mile, but I knew from her last race when I hit her in the mid-stretch, she kind of resented the whip, so I thought maybe today if that situation comes up and I leave my stick down, she might finish better. It turned out to be the right move. I never had to touch her once."

Owned by Michael Dubb of Jericho, Long Island, Sanford Goldfarb of Old Westbury, and the Bunch of Characters Stable that is identified with Pamela Caliendo, Oprah Winney is currently trained by Anthony Dutrow and was exiting two February workouts on Aqueduct's inner track, including a three-furlong "bullet" drill on Thursday. The daughter of Royal Academy was bred by the Gatsas Thoroughbreds of brothers Michael and Theodore Gatsas of Manchester, New Hampshire -- founders of Sovereign Stable, Inc. -- and is the first offspring out of Mere Presence, whose dirt-and-turf-winning dam, Flying Wish, is a half-sister to South African champion Icona. Gatsas Thoroughbreds had purchased Mere Presence, who is by Irish champion and Eclipse Champion sire Woodman, for $115,000 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2000 February select sale of two-year-olds in training at Calder.

Oprah Winney is the first New York-bred Barbara Fritchie winner since Lottsa Talc (see New York-bred Millionaires Club) in 1996. Other previous Barbara Fritchie winners include Eclipse Champion Xtra Heat and Hall of Fame filly Tosmah. Oprah Winney is among six New York-bred open stakes winners in 2007 that have now won seven open stakes in three states in the first seven weeks of the year, and she is the second state-bred Grade 2 winner in 2007 -- following Friendly Island.

Shuffling Maddnes wins Champagneforashley over graded stakes rivals by Rab Hagin

Photo:Adam Coglianese

SHUFFLING MADDNES

In a contest that was expected to showcase the ninth match-up between five-year-old graded stakes rivals Carminooch and Naughty New Yorker, Trinacria USA Stables' SHUFFLING MADDNES slipped by on the outside to take Aqueduct's mile and 70-yard Champagneforashley Stakes for New York-bred four-year-olds and up on Friday. The $66,509 event had been rescheduled from Wednesday because of snowstorms, leaving five contestants regarded with remarkable equality by the wagering public, which made co-topweights Carminooch and Naughty New Yorker the first and second choices at 1.75-to-1 and 2.10-to-1 respectively but gave no starter double-digit odds. Shuffling Maddnes, the 3.30-to-1 third choice with jockey Eibar Coa race-riding him for the second consecutive time in 27 days, was next-to-last early and marginally ahead of Naughty New Yorker but advanced quickly down the backstretch and rallied three wide on the second turn. Staying on his left lead and lugging in late but still closing relentlessly, the four-year-old caught front-running fourth choice Go Fernando Go (5.40-to-1) in mid-stretch and was a length clear at the wire over a rallying and formerly blocked Carminooch.

It was Coa's second winning ride aboard a New York-bred four-year-old on Aqueduct's Friday card -- and Shuffling Maddnes was the youngest starter (only four-year-old) in the event. Coa had first ridden Shuffling Maddnes to a fourth-place finish behind Naughty New Yorker (third) in the Grade 3 Aqueduct Handicap on January 20, when the colt was bumped and had to be steadied but still beat three rivals, including a Grade 2 winner.

Victory in the Champagneforashley -- named for the New York-bred 1989 graded-winning juvenile and 1990 Tampa Bay Derby winner -- boosted the earnings for Shuffling Maddnes to $241,465 while improving his record to 4 - 5 - 4 in 17 starts, which includes runner-up efforts in Finger Lakes' New York Derby and Saratoga's Albany. Following an off-the-board two-year-old debut on turf in 2005, the bay colt has never finished worse than fourth. He races for the Trinacria USA Stable of Camillo Pizzo that also has been associated with Enzo Gioia and was bred by Joe Gioia of Very Un Stable in North Woodmere. Trained by Del Carroll II, who had given the colt two brisk half-mile workouts on Belmont's training track on February 1 and 9, Shuffling Maddnes showed improved speed ratings last November when Aqueduct racing switched to its inner track, where he has scored three of four career victories.

A son of Real Quiet, whose sire, Quiet American, also is the sire of Naughty New Yorker, Shuffling Maddnes is the fourth runner and fourth winner produced from multiple stakes winner Splashing Fancy ($119,430) -- a winner on dirt and turf -- but he is her first New York-bred offspring. Splashing Fancy is a half-sister to stakes winner Sal Bruno ($121,118) and is out of a stakes-winning mare.

NY-bred distaff runners look formidable for 2007 by Rab Hagin

Photo:Adam Coglianese

MAGNOLIA JACKSON - gets 6th stakes win

New York-bred female sprinters -- comprising such a strong 2006 contingent that they prompted formation of their own state-bred championship division -- again were prominent on the second Sunday of February, as MAGNOLIA JACKSON ($482,663) and Towering Escape ($169,567) finished first and third in Aqueduct's open six-furlong Correction Handicap. Aqueduct's same Sunday card featured an exciting four-way photo finish in the six-furlong Dat You Miz Blue Stakes for state-bred three-year-old fillies -- won by BECKY'S FLUTE ($100,493). At out-of-state tracks on Saturday, two other New York-bred older females, Half Heaven ($287,461) and Rahys' Appeal ($367,009), placed second and third in their respective stakes outings -- the latter in Santa Anita's Grade 1 Santa Maria Handicap on dirt and already among two state-bred turf graded-placed females in 2007.

Ted Taylor's Magnolia Jackson, whose five stakes wins in 2006 included Aqueduct's Grade 2 Bed o' Roses Handicap going seven furlongs last April, was odds-on under top weight in the Correction and won by almost two lengths despite a stumbling start. New York Thoroughbred Breeders 2004 Trainer of the Year Gary Contessa said that the Sez Who Thoroughbreds-bred five-year-old mare would be pointed towards Aqueduct's Broadway Handicap for state-bred fillies and mares on March 4 and Grade 2 Distaff Breeders' Cup on March 24 -- both at six furlongs. After that, a rich array of graded distaff stakes from six-to-seven furlongs await consideration -- five at NYRA tracks and three more in Kentucky -- prior to the inaugural $1-million guaranteed Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at six furlongs on October 26 just across the Raritan Bay at Monmouth Park.

New York Minute: Magnolia Jackson's Correction performance generated the highest Bloodstock Research Information Services (BRIS) speed rating -- 103 -- for any filly or mare stakes winner on dirt or turf regardless of distance during the week of February 5-11 -- despite there being seven six-figure open stakes for fillies and/or mares during that time span.

Hardwicke Stable's (Elisabeth Jerkens) homebred Becky's Flute closed from next-to-last among seven to win Aqueduct's Dat You Miz Blue under top weight for her second consecutive six-furlong victory in 10 days under apprentice jockey Jesus Ponce, whose seven-pound "bug" was not allowable in stakes competition. Overlooked as the 10.80-to-1 sixth choice, the three-year-old filly has the running style and pedigree that suggests she will be even more effective when she eventually stretches out beyond six furlongs.

Saturday stakes-placed efforts by Stronach Stables' Half Heaven and Gallagher's Stud's homebred Rahys' Appeal occurred about an hour and a half apart in Kentucky and California. Half Heaven, a five-year-old Regal Classic mare bred and originally co-raced by television/singing star David Cassidy before being purchased for $180,000 by Frank Stronach at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky last November, was top-weighted and returning from a nine-week layoff in her runner-up effort in Turfway Park's one-mile Likely Exchange Stakes. The four-time turf winner with consecutive two-turn stakes victories on Woodbine's and Turfway Park's all-weather tracks late in 2006 conceded four to six pounds to nine Likely Exchange rivals and has now won or placed in seven stakes, compiling a 6 - 7 - 1 record in 21 starts. Rahys' Appeal has twice shipped from her Belmont training base to Santa Anita for recent graded competition, and both ventures have proven fruitful, resulting in a second-placing in the Grade 2 San Gorgonio Handicap on January 7 on turf and a third-placing in Saturday's Grade 1 Santa Maria. Carried wide into the stretch by the favored runner-up but refusing to yield to pursuing rivals, the five-year-old mare added a Grade 1-placing to a stakes-winning record that now includes eight stakes-placed efforts -- five on turf (one Grade 2) and three on dirt (Grade 1, 2, and 3). Rahys' Appeal's overall record is now 4 - 6 - 3 in 20 starts, and her disqualification from first to second in Aqueduct's Grade 2 Top Flight Handicap on dirt the day after Thanksgiving, when her jockey inadvertently struck a drifting-out rival with his whip, is still under appeal.

New York Minute: Six New York-breds have won open stakes -- one Grade 2 -- in 2007's first six weeks, and another nine have placed in open 2007 stakes -- four graded -- with Rahys' Appeal having graded-placed turf and dirt efforts in California, and New York-bred filly J'ray being turf graded-placed at Gulfstream Park in February.

New York-breds also won five open allowances or open allowance/optional claiming contests at Aqueduct, Laurel Park, Tampa Bay Downs, and Fair Grounds on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Three of those five contests were feature or co-feature races.

Capturing Aqueduct's Thursday feature, an open N1X allowance/optional claiming contest for fillies and mares going a mile and a sixteenth, was Paraneck Stable's New York homebred FUEGO GRANDE ($215,869), a daughter of Adonis who rallied from sixth-to-first among seven starters to win by 2-3/4 lengths as the 3.75-to-1 second choice. Her beaten rivals included New York-bred 2006 stakes winner and near even-money favorite How 'bout No ($112,733), who was the race's lone starter with a $75,000 tag and was claimed by the Sequel Racing of Becky Thomas, owner of Sequel Stallions New York in Hudson. Now with seven NYRA wins at distances ranging from six furlongs to a mile and a sixteenth, Fuego Grande twice in two months has scored big-margin Aqueduct victories outside state-bred company for Ernie and Jennifer Paragallo's Paraneck Stable and last November placed third in Aqueduct's restricted Montauk Handicap. The five-year-old Alan Klanfer-trained mare is out of winner Shotanabeer, a daughter of the late record-setting New York-based sire Cure the Blues and a half-sister to 2000 Eclipse Champion Sprinter Kona Gold ($2,293,384).

Highlighting a New York-bred contingent of three winners at Laurel Park on Thursday was TradeWinds Stable's six-year-old COINED FOR SUCCESS ($337,373), who scored his third victory in his latest four starts over a 47-day span with a front-running tally in the featured seven-furlong N2X allowance/optional claiming contest. The open stakes-winning gelding has now earned $65,580 for his current owner since being claimed for $35,000 from his breeder, Steven Peskoff (who breeds in the name of Underhill Investment Company), last June. Winner of Delaware Park's Nick Shuk Memorial Stakes in 2004 and runner-up among 10 to recent open stakes winner Carminooch in Aqueduct's 2005 restricted Gander Stakes, Coined for Success is trained by Scott Lake and apparently has found a niche going seven furlongs at Laurel Park. He was the 2.30-to-1 second choice among six starters for his Thursday victory, which improved his overall record to 8 - 9 - 5 in 37 starts.

Scoring his second consecutive victory in 26 days by capturing Tampa Bay Downs' Friday co-feature, a mile and a sixteenth N2X allowance/optional claiming contest, was New York-bred five-year-old gelding STORM THIEF ($146,183), who almost went gate-to-wire but was headed in mid-stretch before coming on again to win by daylight. Sent off the 2.70-to-1 third choice among seven with a $32,000 tag because he had gone through his N2X condition two years earlier, the versatile chestnut improved his record to 6 - 3 - 2 in 21 starts for the Equest Racing Stable of Jerry Campbell of Jackson, Michigan. Storm Thief's latest previous victory on January 14 at Tampa Bay Downs had been at seven furlongs, and his three Aqueduct wins include a one-turn mile tally at the restricted N2X level. The Ronald Allen Sr.-trained son of Cat Thief was bred by Joanne and the late Gerald Nielsen of Sunnyfield Farm in Bedford, who also bred his stakes-placed half-brother, Bond Arbitrage, and his dam, Deputy Dear -- the latter a half-sister to three stakes winners, including a Grade 1 winner.

Magnolia Jackson's Correction performance notwithstanding, the fastest six furlongs for a New York-bred during February's first full week belonged to WHATDREAMSRMADEOF, who romped by 4-3/4 lengths in 1:09.72 in a Fair Grounds N1X allowance on Saturday at odds-on (.60-to-1) among five three-year-old fillies while wearing blinkers for the first time. Owned by Casa Farms I, LLC, the Thomas Amoss-trained speedster had won first-out by 9-1/2 lengths at Saratoga before shipping to Kentucky, where she had placed second in Turfway Park's $100,000 Kentucky Cup Juvenile Fillies Stakes and in Keeneland and Churchill Downs allowances. Whatdreamsrmadeof was bred by Richard Simon's Sez Who Thoroughbreds and had been a $65,000 purchase at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's (OBS) 2006 June sale of two-year-olds, and she had changed hands privately following her eye-opening debut. The daughter of Graeme Hall is a half-sister to multiple stakes winner and Grade 2-placed Ladyecho ($381,186), being the second winner produced from Eastern Ruckus, a half-sister to record-setting three-time stakes winner Gold Star Deputy ($416,188) purchased by Simon for $40,000 at Keeneland's 2000 November sale.

In her first start since being claimed for $30,000 by the Winning Move Stable of Brian and Steve Sigler (et al) two weeks earlier, stakes-placed WAYTOTHELEFT ($165,167) scored her first victory in 18 months, winning an open Aqueduct N1X allowance/optional claiming contest by 4-3/4 lengths on Sunday. Curiously, although the five-year-old mare had won at 6-1/2 furlongs at Aqueduct, seven furlongs at Belmont, and 5-1/2 furlongs on Saratoga turf and had placed second in Meadowlands' five-furlong off-the-turf P. G. Johnson Stakes in 2005, this was her first tally at six furlongs. Sent off the 7-to-1 fourth choice among seven fillies and mares, the Gary Contessa-trained mare had to be steadied on the backstretch after breaking from the inside post but eventually advanced inside from fifth place and then altered course to the outside to win going away. The daughter of Abaginone was bred by Questroyal Stables Inc. and is among two winners produced from winner Waywayanda, who is by Belong to Me and is a full sister to Belongs Fast ($270,120) and Alarm Code ($208,261) and a half-sister to Private Code ($146,734) and Smart Tap ($132,715).

Front-running daylight-margin winners of restricted N2X/allowance optional claiming contests at Aqueduct were New York-conceived homebreds WING MAN ($255,125) -- a five-year-old horse -- going a mile and 70 yards with a $50,000 tag on Friday and MR. BOURBON STREET -- a four-year-old gelding -- sprinting six furlongs in 1:10.26 on Saturday. Wing Man, a son of A. P Jet owned by retired Hall of Fame trainer John Nerud and trained by James Jerkens, went gate-to-wire to score by 5-1/4 lengths, improving his dirt-and-turf-winning record to 7 - 6 - 2 in 23 starts. The versatile and consistent campaigner (he has finished first-through-fourth 19 times and won on fast and wet main tracks going one or two turns) is among seven winners produced from Grade 1 winner Clabber Girl ($1,006,261) and is a full brother to two winners, including stakes-placed Running Dog ($132,210). Mr. Bourbon Street was favored at 1.30-to-1 among eight starters in his length and three-quarters tally, which improved his record to 3 - 3 - 1 in 11 starts for his owner-breeders, Howard Kaskel's Sugar Maple Farm (in Poughquag) and H. Lewis Rappaport. The Charlton Baker-trained son of Ormsby is the first offspring produced from three-time winner Cajun Kitty, who has a strong New York breeding-connected family and had been purchased for $35,000 by John Nerud (owner of an interest in Sugar Maple Farm) at Keeneland's 1999 September yearling sale.

Winning restricted N1X Aqueduct allowances were two at six furlongs -- four-year-old filly BABY GRAY on Thursday and four-year-old gelding ENERGICO on Saturday -- and three at a mile and 70 yards -- three-year-old gelding WESTERN DEED on Friday, four-year-old gelding JACK ATAX on Saturday, and four-year-old filly MY AIKEN CAT on Sunday. Our Canterbury Stables' Baby Gray ($131,617) was a favored front-running six-length winner among nine fillies and mares and now has sprint and route (mile and 70 yards) victories on Aqueduct's inner track in addition to having placed in turf stakes at both Saratoga and Aqueduct. Stretching beyond a mile for the first time on Friday was Flying Zee Stable's homebred Western Deed (sired by Western Expression), who as the 18.10-to-1 next-to-last choice among eight starters went gate-to-wire to score his second consecutive big-margin Aqueduct victory in 33 days, winning by 2-3/4 lengths. Stretching beyond seven furlongs for the first time on Saturday was Circle C Group Stables' (Jeffrey Cooper, et al of Illinois) $275,000 purchase at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's May 2005 sale of two-year-olds, Jack Atax, who led throughout and improved his never-worse-than-fourth record to 2 - 1 - 1 in five starts. Saturday's other restricted N1X Aqueduct allowance winner, Francis Paolangeli's Energico, has earned back well over his $25,000 tag since being claimed at Calder seven weeks earlier, rallying to a 2-1/2-length victory to improve his record -- never unplaced following his debut -- to 4 - 4 - 2 in 11 starts. Louis Solferino's homebred My Aiken Cat (sired by Tomorrows Cat) relished her first effort beyond six furlongs on Sunday, scoring gate-to-wire by 4-3/4 lengths as the 10.80-to-1 fourth choice among nine for her second consecutive four-length-plus victory in 37 days and four starts (including a runner-up debut) beginning in mid-November.

Returning to the winner's circle for the first time since April of 2005 was Teresa Maher's New York homebred TIFFANY'S RODEO ($137,937), who captured an open six-furlong claiming contest at Aqueduct on Friday for eight fillies and mares with $30,000 tags -- six of them New York-breds. In addition to earning almost 80 percent of the total purse, the state-bred contingent also qualified their connections for an additional $7,119 in owner, breeder, and stallion owner awards. Tiffany's Rodeo, a daughter of Rodeo and a half-sister to Maher's New York homebred four-time winner Ryan Is Flying ($194,996), is out of Maher's multiple stakes winner and 13-time winner Tiffany's Taylor ($581,862), who beat New York-bred males in Saratoga's West Point Handicap on turf while equaling Fourstardave's stakes record. The six-year-old mare is still eligible for restricted N2X allowance competition -- a condition under which she already has placed second twice and third five times.

Other New York-bred open claiming winners from Wednesday, February 7 through Monday, February 12 included:

Homebred LADY ELAINE by a front-running seven lengths for her fourth career win by more than a four-length margin in a race in which New York-breds finished first through sixth among eight starters and the second-and-third-place finishers (both six-figure-earners) were claimed, and homebred MT. MAJESTY (sired by Raffie's Majesty) at even-money from the outside post in a field that was 80 percent New York-breds to improve his record to 8 - 5 - 1 in 21 starts with earnings of $131,036 and claimed -- both at Aqueduct on Wednesday; NATIVE REDMAN (sired by Rock and Roll) with a four-wide move at Laurel Park for his third daylight-margin victory to improve his overall record to 3 - 3 - 4 in 15 starts despite being the youngest runner in the race, on Thursday; WOODEN ANGEL from seventh-to-first among 10 starters at Laurel Park despite going wide on the turn under top weight of 124 pounds and one of two mares claimed out of the contest, on Friday; LOVELY SENORITA by 7-3/4 lengths in a "convincing win" from the outside post among 10 starters at Mountaineer Park for the fourth big-margin victory of her career, on Saturday evening; TOP RADIO STAR from last-to-first in the final five-sixteenths of a mile at Fair Grounds from the seventh post among eight starters in a race in which three runners were claimed, on Monday.

New York-bred maiden-breakers from Wednesday, February 7 through Sunday, February 11 included:

ABSOLUTE HEAVEN from last-to-first among seven starters in the second career outing for the three-year-old half-sister to the dam of a graded winner despite having to be steadied shortly after the break, AGAINST THE GRAIN (sired by Prime Timber) by 2-1/4 lengths from the outside post among 10 starters in her first effort beyond a mile, and KETTLE TWO from 10th-to-first by 2-1/2 lengths among 11 starters in his third career outing and first effort beyond a mile -- all three at Aqueduct on Wednesday; FIVE SIBLINGS by a front-running 9-3/4 lengths at odds-on in her second start despite being bumped after the break and the least-experienced runner in her contest, and homebred KARAKORUM TORNADO -- both at Aqueduct -- and homebred MS. EMMA by 5-1/2 lengths gate-to-wire from the outside post among five starters at Laurel Park and the first effort at seven furlongs for the full sister to New York-bred stakes winners Stalwart Member (multiple graded winner of $783,806) and Mount Intrepid ($397,442) -- all on Thursday; FREAKAZOID by 2-1/4 lengths from seventh-to-first among eight starters despite being bumped repeatedly in the stretch and stumbling in traffic and having to alter course, and FIGHT ON by a front-running 8-1/4 lengths -- both at Aqueduct -- and MAKE A WAY (sired by Western Expression) at Turfway Park despite losing his footing at the start in his first effort beyond a mile -- all on Friday; HICKORY STICK (sired by Prime Timber) at Aqueduct despite being roughed up between rivals shortly after the start and looking well-worth his $100,000 sales price at the OBS 2005 April auction of two-year-olds, OPTIMISTIC STEVE with a last-to-first rally among seven at Gulfstream Park in his second career start and first outing off an 83-day layoff, NICKI MIG by a "relaxed" 2-3/4 lengths at Philadelphia Park after having placed second four times and third once, and PHONE ME IN OZ in a front-running performance at almost even-money at Fonner Park in his third career start and first effort off a 32-week layoff -- all on Saturday; OUR TOP CAT by six lengths gate-to-wire in 1:10.84 for six furlongs, and MISS DEE BEE TEE (sired by Take Me Out) by daylight in her six-furlong debut at odds of 53-to-1 but inbred to stamina source Ribot and probably destined to race at much longer distances -- both at Aqueduct on Sunday.

Magnolia Jackson and Becky's Flute win Big A stakes under top weight by Rab Hagin

Photo:Adam Coglianese

MAGNOLIA JACKSON

Faster, stronger, and probably meaner than a year ago, Ted Taylor's New York-bred MAGNOLIA JACKSON again captured the event that in 2006 had marked her first career stakes victory -- Aqueduct's six-furlong Correction Handicap for fillies and mares -- scoring by a length and three-quarters under top weight despite a stumbling start. The 67th Correction originally had been scheduled for the previous weekend but was cancelled twice because of weather and track conditions and was slated as Aqueduct's third Sunday race because Magnolia Jackson's anticipated odds-on favoritism (.80-to-1) made it unsuitable for the later pick-six combinations. The feisty five-year-old mare did not disappoint her backers even though she had her third bobbled start in stakes competition, quickly advancing along the rail to set an opening quarter-mile split of 22.24 and drawing off from her four rivals thereafter. Once again, Magnolia Jackson's early intimidation seemed to dishearten her competition, allowing her to cruise to the wire in 1:10.18 -- marginally faster than her 2006 Correction (1:10.24), when she had won by three-quarters of a length on a "good" track under eight pounds less weight.

Winning jockey Alan Garcia, aboard Magnolia Jackson for the first time in competition in the Correction, described her bad start and subsequent acceleration: "She stumbled coming out of there," acknowledged Garcia, who had three winning rides on Aqueduct's Sunday card -- two aboard New York-bred females. "Rather than getting trapped behind horses, I sent her through. After that, she did everything herself. She's a real nice filly."

Aqueduct meet-leading trainer Gary Contessa has obvious admiration for the mare he labeled "mean as a junkyard dog" late last year: "I thought she stumbled really bad coming out of the gate, which would have been enough to get a normal horse beat. I'm glad (Alan) Garcia had the mindset to continue on with the game plan and be on the lead. She's such a war horse. She's a great mare to be around. I thank Mr. (Ted) Taylor for having her here this winter, because she could have gone to run in graded stakes out of town. I plan on pointing to (the) Broadway ($65,000-added, six furlongs, March 4 for New York-bred fillies and mares), with the Distaff Breeders' Cup (Grade 2, six furlongs, $150,000, March 24) the ultimate goal," concluded Contessa, who saddled two New York-bred five-year-old mares for open-company wins on Aqueduct's Sunday card.

Magnolia Jackson's sixth career stakes victory increased her earnings by $41,925 to $482,663 while improving her record to 10 - 2 - 2 in 16 startsand 5 - 1 - 1 in seven outings on Aqueduct's inner track. The bay mare has won threeof six starts on wet tracks but is "simply much better on a dry track," according to Contessa, and is the sixth New York-bred open stakes winner of2007. Placing third in the Correction in her first open company stakes effort was Albert Fried Jr.'s New York homebred four-year-old filly, Towering Escape ($169,567), who became the 15th New York-bred to finish in the top-three inan open stakes this year (for a total of 16 stakes-winning-or-placed efforts). Thetwo state-breds earned 70 percent of the Correction's total purse and qualified their connections for an additional $9,792.40 in owner and breeder awards.

Magnolia Jackson is the third New York-bred to win the Correction in the past dozen years, following two-time New York Thoroughbred Breeders (NYTB) champion Lottsa Talc (see New York-bred Millionaires Club) in 1995 and Fickle Fanny in 2001. Previous Correction winners also include Hall of Fame members Ta Wee, Affectionately (twice), and Searching (who also won it twice and is the dam of Affectionately) -- but Magnolia Jackson's winning Correction clocking was faster than all the Correction times for those three champions.

Owned by Ted Taylor of Birmingham, Alabama, who had purchased her for $51,000 at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's 2004 May sale of two-year-olds in training, Magnolia Jackson is a half-sister to Taylor's winning New York-bred filly Magnolia's Sister, whom he had bought for $38,000. Those two are among the first three starters, all winners, produced from stakes-placed winner Just a Bullet, whom breeder Richard Simon of Sez Who Thoroughbreds had purchased (through New Dawn Stud) for $20,000 at Keeneland's 2000 November sale when she was carrying her first winner.

Becky's Flute closes to win Dat You Miz Blue Stakes in 4-way photo-finish

Photo:Adam Coglianese

BECKY'S FLUTE

With ears pinned flat back in the same style as the namesake for the first stakes event to go into her win column, Hardwicke Stable's homebred BECKY'S FLUTE closed quickly on the outside to capture Aqueduct's six-furlong Dat You Miz Blue Stakes for New York-bred three-year-old non-stakes-winning fillies. The dark bay was top-weighted because she already had two previous victories -- including a restricted six-furlong N1X Aqueduct allowance just 10 days earlier at 53.25-to-1 -- but the wagering public doubted improvement off that effort and made her the 10.80-to-1 sixth choice among seven starters. For the first half-mile, the public's assessment seemed accurate, but after launching an inside rally on the turn, Becky's Flute was angled outside by apprentice jockey Jesus Ponce and closed through the stretch to poke her head in front of 7-to-1 fourth choice Cordilleran Ice at the wire. The latter, wearing blinkers for the first time, had to be taken up on the turn while in tight quarters next to the rail but advanced along the inside to edge 2.15-to-1 second choice Love Cove, who nosed out 4.20-to-1 third choice Nordberg for third-place money.

Winning trainer Bernardo Callejas, who has handled Becky's Flute's conditioning since December, suggested her performance was similar to her February 1 victory, even though her stakes time was over three-quarters of a second faster under nine more pounds: "She ran the same way when she won 10 days ago. She got a nice ride (from jockey Ponce, whose seven-pound apprentice allowance was not applicable to stakes competition). She has a short, final burst. I wasn't worried about bringing her back quick because she was doing well after her last race. I want to see how she comes back before making a decision on her next race."

Victory in the Dat You Miz Blue -- named for the NYTB 2002 Champion Older Female and graded winner who scored on dirt and turf and was competitive under a variety of conditions -- bumped the earnings for Becky's Flute into six figures at $100,493 with three wins in 10 starts. Inbred 3 x 3 to Mr. Prospector, the daughter of Parade Ground is the sixth New York-bred winner that Elisabeth Jerkens of Bellrose -- racing as Hardwicke Stable -- has bred from Seattle Cielo, who is a winning half-sister to English stakes winner and Group 1-placed Redoubtable. All five of Becky's Flute's winning half-siblings also are inbred -- three within the first three generations of their pedigrees -- including nine-time winner Double Conquest ($155,002), who is inbred 2 x 3 to Mr. Prospector.

Owner and namesake take next step By David Grening

Photo: Adam Coglianese

LAWRENCE THE ROMAN flies toward the wire an 11-length winner in the Damon Runyon Stakes.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Lawrence Roman nearly let the big horse get away.

Though he is one of three men listed as the breeder of the talented colt named Lawrence the Roman, Roman, the human, had to buy the horse back through the auction ring. And he is certainly glad he did.

After watching Lawrence the Roman gallop to three victories from as many starts, trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. told Roman he believes he has a potential Kentucky Derby horse in his stable. Lawrence the Roman will try to take another step down the Derby trail on Saturday when the New York-bred son of Point Given makes his first start against open company in the $65,000 Whirlaway Stakes at Aqueduct.

Lawrence the Roman is 3 for 3, having won three statebred races by a combined 25 1/4 lengths. But it was his 11-length score in the Damon Runyon Stakes on Dec. 10 that caught the attention of Dutrow and Roman.

"It was after the Damon Runyon that Rick said he thinks this is a Kentucky Derby horse," Roman said. "He said he is planning this horse for the Kentucky Derby. I do everything on a race-by-race basis."

If Roman does get to Churchill Downs on May 5, he will certainly have a story to tell. Roman, a third-generation plumbing contractor who owns WDF Inc., one New York City's leading plumbing and mechanical contracting services companies, is a longtime owner of Standardbred horses.

He sold his previous contracting company in the late 1980's for a huge profit and eventually got into the Thoroughbred business in the mid-1990's. He and two business partners agreed to put up $100,000 apiece. The partnership bought two horses, including Carly Lee and Wholesale Harry. Carly Lee won 4 of 15 races and earned $117,650. Wholesale Harry went 0 for 6 for Roman before being claimed away for $75,000.

By the time Carly Lee was bred to Point Given and produced a foal in 2004, Roman's partners wanted out of the game. So the decision was made to put the foal in the Saratoga preferred yearling sale in August 2005. Roman intended to buy the horse back, but said he forgot the horse was in that sale. Becky Thomas of Sequel Bloodstock bought the horse for $22,000. She put the horse back in the Ocala Breeders' Sales auction the following March, and Roman bought him for $35,000.

"I was honestly ready to go to $200,000 or maybe more," Roman said. "I never wanted to sell the horse in the first place."

Roman gave the horse to Dutrow. The people who break horses for Dutrow in Florida told him that this horse was as good as Silver Train, whom Dutrow saddled to win the 2005 Breeders' Cup Sprint and 2006 Metropolitan Handicap.

When this horse was ready to race, Roman needed to come up with a name. All of the names he submitted were already taken, so he decided to name the horse after himself.

"I've never named a horse after myself," Roman said. "I said you know what, 'Lawrence the Roman,' that sounds good. I didn't know the horse was going to be a really good horse. Nobody had the name, and it's exciting to listen to your name, especially that first race."

Lawrence the Roman debuted on Sept. 27 at Belmont in a six-furlong race. Under Edgar Prado, Lawrence the Roman broke slowly, raced four wide down the backstretch, and with Prado simply waving his stick at him, cruised home a four-length winner. In his second start, a one-mile statebred allowance race on Nov. 16, Lawrence the Roman again broke slowly, under Cornelio Velasquez, sat just off two speed horses, and galloped on his own to the lead en route to a 10-length score.

In the Damon Runyon, Roman discussed with jockey Mike Smith the idea of putting the horse on the lead because of the speed-favoring nature of the track. Lawrence the Roman easily struck the front entering the first turn, maintained a slight advantage down the backstretch, and put the field away entering the far turn. He covered 1o1/16 miles in 1:44.48 and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 96.

"The horse had his head turned toward the rail like he was waiting for another horse to get up to him," Roman said. "As [Premier Perfection] comes up the inside, he straightens his head out, then he goes on and wins by 11 lengths. He wants to run, he wants competition - that's when I got high on the horse. I love a horse that is a fighter."

It will catch the attention of many handicappers that Prado, winner of last year's Kentucky Derby, is giving up a Saturday at Gulfstream Park to ride Lawrence the Roman in the Whirlaway.

"First of all, I ride for Dutrow, he's been one of my biggest supporters over the years," Prado said. "He asked me to go ride the horse. The horse is a very nice horse. I remember when I broke his maiden, I was very impressed. He hasn't done anything wrong. Hopefully, he stays undefeated."

Photo: Jim Lisa Photos

J'RAY - winning '06 Tropical Park Oaks

A dozen New York-breds have won or placed in open stakes in New York, California, and Florida through 2007's first five weeks -- four in graded events, including Lawrence Goichman's homebred J'ray ($300,218), who missed by a neck under co-topweight in Gulfstream Park's Grade 3 Suwannee River Handicap on Saturday. These dozen state-breds come from four different crops (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004), and four have finished one-two in open Aqueduct black-type events two weeks apart.

J'ray, who had the lead at mid-stretch in the mile and an eighth Suwannee River for fillies and mares but lost it in the final strides to multiple Grade 2 winner and near even-money favorite Naissance Royale, is among two New York-bred runner-up graded grass females in 2007. The other, Gallagher's Stud's homebred Rahys' Appeal ($337,009), placed second in Santa Anita's Grade 2 San Gorgonio Handicap on January 7 and has been training so well at Belmont that trainer Thomas Bush is pointing her for Santa Anita's Grade 1 Santa Maria Handicap on February 10. J'ray has started 10 times, but her record on turf is a never-unplaced 4 - 3 - 1 in eight starts.

Although live Aqueduct racing was cancelled on Saturday, February 3 following a multiple spill in the fifth race and for all of Sunday -- reducing weekend racing opportunities for New York-breds -- state-breds still won open allowance features by daylight margins in New York, Florida, and Ohio on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey's HER ROYAL NIBS ($176,700) started the streak with a front-running tally in a six-furlong N1X Aqueduct allowance for fillies and mares on Wednesday, beating an open stakes-placed filly coming off two consecutive wins on the Big A's inner track. The six-year-old mare had never raced prior to March of 2006 but had broken her maiden at Aqueduct in her second start and gone through her restricted N1X and N2X allowance conditions with big-margin back-to-back Saratoga wins before earning black-type with a close second-placing in Belmont's Schenectady Handicap. Her Royal Nibs' latest victory improved her only-once-worse-than-fourth (fifth) record to 4 - 4 - 1 in 13 starts. Bred by Steven Peskoff's Underhill Investment Co. and purchased by the Ramsey couple for $65,000 at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's 2002 October yearling sale, the daughter of Grade 1-winning millionaire Formal Gold is the first offspring produced from New York-bred multiple stakes-placed eight-time winner Slews Majesty. Trainer Charlton Baker has handled the bay mare's conditioning since late 2006.

Winning Tampa Bay Downs' featured N3X allowance for fillies and mares going a mile and a sixteenth on turf on Thursday was John Cummins' New York-bred MARIEVAL, who carried co-topweight to a two-length victory as the near even-money favorite (1.10-to-1) despite getting boxed in on the second turn. It was the four-year-old filly's second consecutive Tampa Bay turf allowance tally under jockey Daniel Centeno in 44 days and fourth daylight-margin victory overall, following a maiden-breaking effort on Mountaineer Park's main track last June and a restricted N1X allowance score on Saratoga turf in August. Trainer Joan Scott had given Marieval four five-furlong workouts on Tampa Bay's main track, including two "bullet" drills, following the gray/roan filly's latest previous victory on December 19. The daughter of turf champion-siring El Prado had been a $350,000 Keeneland 2004 September yearling sale purchase from her breeder, Marlene Brody's Gallagher's Stud in Ghent (selling through Denali Stud), and is the second offspring and second winner produced from Gallagher's Stud's New York homebred winner Adorahy, by Rahy. Adorahy is a half-sister to stakes winners Adcat ($435,597) and Adorydar ($231,425) and to the dams of stakes winners Ruthian ($212,592) and Gratiaen ($288,164).

The intriguing top-weighted winner of Beulah Park's Friday feature, a six-furlong non-winners-of-three allowance for three-year-olds and up, was Bivian Hancock's and Ron Hirsch's New York-bred FAMOUS ARTIST, who romped by 5-3/4 lengths in 1:10.52 as the 2.70-to-1 second choice among five starters for his second victory under jockey Edgar Paucar. The five-year-old son of the late New York-based Hall of Fame member Spectacular Bid began coming into his own late last summer and has not been unplaced in his last nine consecutive starts, winning three of his latest five outings by substantial margins totaling 14 lengths. Now with an overall record of 3 - 6 - 5 in 29 starts, Famous Artist was bred by Marvin Markman and was conceived and foaled at Dr. Jonathan Davis's Milfer Farm in Unadilla. He is the second offspring and second winner (both by Spectacular Bid) produced from two-time winner Miss Lilly Copelan, a daughter of Copelan and a half-sister to two stakes-placed 10-time winners and purchased by breeder Markman for $13,000 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 1997 June sale of two-year-olds. Famous Artist is not registered with the New York Breeding and Racing Program but is fully eligible for registration, so trainer John Hancock could consider trying him against state-breds for significantly more purse money than he has been running for -- possibly in restricted N2X/allowance optional claiming competition.

New York homebred winners of restricted six-furlong Aqueduct allowances were three-year-old filly BECKY'S FLUTE in N1X competition on Thursday, six-year-old multiple stakes-winning gelding SCARY BOB ($263,737) in a starter allowance (no maximum claiming price) on Friday, and three-year-old colt BAD BOY RISING (sired by Freud) in N1X competition on Saturday. Becky's Flute, who races for Elisabeth Jerkens' Hardwicke Stable and has been saddled by trainer Bernardo Callejas for her latest two outings, rallied from last-to-first among eight three-year-old fillies as the 53.25-to-1 last choice with blinkers off for the first time since six starts earlier last summer. Scary Bob, who has won or placed in seven stakes -- six outside state-bred company -- while compiling an 8 - 5 - 7 record in 27 starts for Herbert and Ellen Moelis' Candy Stables, was even-money among six for his front-running victory under the supervision of trainer Chris Englehart. Bad Boy Rising, who races for Lansdon Robbins II and Thomas Hansen under the care of trainer Juan Rodriguez, was the 4.30-to-1 second choice among six three-year-old starters and won by daylight to improve his stakes-placed record to 2 - 2 - 1 in seven starts.

Although curtailed in the Northeast and Midwest because of track cancellations due to snowstorms and cold weather, New York-bred open claiming winners on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, February 1, 2, and 3, included:

DR. KRIS from sixth-to-first among nine starters with a four-wide rally at Tampa Bay Downs to give him a win on dirt as well as turf, and JUST BAGIN IT at Charles Town for his second consecutive win in four weeks and sixth career victory after stalking three-to-four-wide early -- both on Thursday; MAMAS ICECREAM MAN (sired by Well Noted) from fifth-to-first among six starters at even-money at Laurel Park after racing wide on the second turn of a mile and an eighth contest for his second win in 41 days and first effort beyond seven furlongs, on Friday; EXTRA IMPACT under top weight at Laurel Park for her second consecutive win in 16 days and third career victory in a race from which two runners were claimed, and ROMANCE BY RAIL (sired by Rizzi) at Charles Town after stalking three-to-four-wide most of the way -- both on Saturday.

New York-bred maiden-breakers from Wednesday, January 31 through Saturday, February 3 included:

Homebred-and-trained SKI ALEXIS SKI by 4-1/2 lengths out of the eighth post among nine starters, COCKNEY GAMBLER by three lengths from the outside post among 10 starters for the half-brother to recent New York-bred stakes winner Smash 'Em Sammy, homebred JET RACER (sired by A. P Jet) in a front-running effort at near even-money despite a bobbled start and then getting bumped in his second start off a 14-month layoff and 18 days after missing victory by a nose, and homebred-and-trained INDECISIVE MISS off the also-eligible list and breaking from the outside post among 12 starters -- all at Aqueduct on Wednesday; homebred PSYCHOTIC COLORS (sired by Freud) at almost even-money despite being bumped after the break in her first start for new trainer Steven Asmussen, homebred JUNKANOO PARTY (sired by Catienus) in the first mile and a sixteenth effort on dirt for the first offspring out of a winner of $216,127, VOW TO GREATNESS from sixth-to-first among nine starters with a three-wide rally in his second start and first two-turn effort -- all three at Aqueduct -- and homebred FRENCH TRANSITION by 2-3/4 lengths on the other side of the continent from his Highcliff Farm birthplace to advance from sixth-to-first among nine starters at Santa Anita in his first effort off a 117-day layoff -- all on Thursday; JOAQUIN MEMPHIS by 4-1/2 lengths in the third career start for the second offspring and second winner out of a $117,980-earner, ALMAVIVA by 6-3/4 lengths in the first main track mile effort for the half-brother to a multiple stakes winner of $337,162, REYANA'S JET (sired by A. P Jet) by 7-1/4 lengths going a mile in her first effort beyond six furlongs, and homebred FRIDAY TRICK by 4-1/2 lengths for the first offspring out of New York-bred stakes winner Ruby Friday ($211,927) -- all at Aqueduct on Friday; homebred-and-sired NINE POSITIVES (sired by Adonis) with a three-wide rally at Aqueduct to advance her improving record to 1 - 3 - 2 in nine starts, at Aqueduct on Saturday.

Saylor to fund scholarship named for Fleet Indian (Courtesy of Thoroughbred Times and The Blood-Horse)

Photo: Adam Coglianese

FLEET INDIAN (on the inside) winning the Beldame Stakes (Gr.I)

Prominent Thoroughbred owner Paul Saylor has created a new scholarship in the name of his multiple Grade 1 winner Fleet Indian, who was recently honored with the Eclipse Award as champion older female of 2006.

The Fleet Indian Scholarship, in the amount of $24,000, is for New York students planning to pursue a career in the racing industry. It will be administered by The Race for Education.

Bred in New York by Thomas/Lakin, Fleet Indian entered the Emirates Airline Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) at Churchill Downs with an eight-start unbeaten streak dating back to November 2005. She tore suspensory ligaments in the Distaff and was pulled up in the turn by jockey Jose Santos.

The injury was not life-threatening, and she is recovering at Taylor Made Farm in Nicholasvillle, Kentucky. She is booked to Storm Cat in 2007.

Saylor, who in conjunction with Jack and Laurie Wolf established the Ashado Scholarship in 2006, is a member of The Race for Education's board of directors.

"Fleet Indian, in addition to receiving the Eclipse Award for champion older female, will also receive New York horse of the year honors," Saylor said of the six-year-old Indian Charlie mare.

"In recognition of the fact that The Race for Education would like to increase its support for students in New York, I felt this would be a great opportunity to utilize Fleet Indian's banner year in an effort to gain more awareness of The Race for Education in the state of New York as well as show appreciation for the Big Apple Award and support New York-breds and New York racing."

Fasig-Tipton also has made a contribution to this scholarship.

In addition to being New York residents pursuing a racing-related career, students interested in the Fleet Indian Scholarship must meet the following eligibility requirements: be under 25 years old as of Sept. 1, 2007; have at least a 2.85 cumulative GPA; and have an annual household income of less than $50,000 or be financially independent from their parents.

The Fleet Indian Scholarship application can be found at www.racingscholarships.com. Hard copies of the application can be requested by contacting The Race For Education at (859) 252-8648. The deadline to apply is March 30.

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