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Run With the Lark gets 1st stakes win in Big A's Turnofthecentury by Rab Hagin
Eleven days after a close second-placing under co-top weight while beating stakes winners in a two-turn open Aqueduct allowance, Albert Fried Jr.'s homebred RUN WITH THE LARK overtook front-runner R Clear Victory in the Big A's mile and a sixteenth Turnofthecentury Stakes for New York-breds, scoring his first stakes victory. The six-year-old gelding was considered a possible factor for combination wagering in Sunday's $66,750 feature but was dismissed as a serious win contender, going off as the 7.40-to-1 third choice among seven starters, four-year-olds and up, before scoring by 2-3/4 lengths. The Turnofthecentury marked Run With the Lark's fourth consecutive outing under jockey Norberto Arroyo Jr. and his second multiple-margin victory in eight weeks going two turns on Aqueduct's inner track with that rider in the irons. The pacesetting runner-up in the Turnofthecentury, 4.10-to-1 second choice R Clear Victory, was obviously ridden with a plan in mind, leading by up to six lengths through a 23.46 opening quarter-mile, an accelerated 23.38 second split, and a tiring third split in 24.81. Run With the Lark, who had stalked in second place to the final furlong, rallied outside while exiting the second turn, as R Clear Victory's fourth quarter-mile wilted to 26.13. The Fried homebred was in front and drawing clear through the final sixteenth, scoring his first stakes victory in his second stakes outing and increasing his earnings to $178,604 while improving his record to 5 - 7 - 3 in 23 starts. Run With the Lark has registered all four of his NYRA wins at Aqueduct -- three of them on the inner track. Victory in the Turnofthecentury -- named for Barry Schwartz's and Eugene Hauman's Grade 2 and Empire Classic winner who was voted New York Thoroughbred Breeders Champion Three-Year-Old Male for 2000 -- also qualified owner-breeder Fried for a $4,005 breeder award and made Fried's 12-year-old mare, Marc's Lark, a multiple stakes producer. Fried, owner of Buttonwood Farm in Rhinebeck and named outstanding New York breeder for 2002 by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, had purchased Marc's Lark for $7,500 as a two-year-old not-bred broodmare prospect at Keeneland's 1998 January sale. The mare was then barely more than a yearling, and the original plan was to race her, but she never started, producing as her first foal the winner of Aqueduct's 2002 East View Stakes, Marc's Rainbow, who in 2004 was sold as a Keeneland November broodmare for $220,000. Run With the Lark, who is by Runaway Groom and is trained by Richard Schosberg, is among the first five offspring that Fried has bred from Marc's Lark -- all five have won for Fried (Marc's Rainbow captured the East View under her breeder's colors), and three have six-figure earnings. Marc's Lark is a half-sister to Grade 2-placed winner Courageous Maiden, and her winning dam is a half-sister to Grade 1 Hollywood Derby winner Live the Dream and to the winning stakes-placed dam of Grade 1 Arlington Million winner Kicken Kris ($1,326,600). The broodmare value of Marc's Lark, who has a New York-bred two-year-old daughter by Forest Wildcat and a New York-bred yearling daughter by Saint Liam, continues to appreciate. |
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Bustin Stones wires foes in Thepromonroe to go 4-for-4 with Big A win by Rab Hagin
Returning from a 257-day layoff to score his third consecutive stakes victory and run his record to four-for-four, Roddy Valente's homebred BUSTIN STONES dueled with recent open Aqueduct allowance winner Whistlin' before drawing clear in Aqueduct's six-furlong Thepromonroe Stakes for New York-bred four-year-olds and up on Martin Luther King Monday. The four-year-old colt was odds-on (.85-to-1) among six six-figure-earners in the $67,500 event, and he again led gate-to-wire, although the more seasoned Whistlin' gave him a run for his money to mid-stretch through a five-furlong fraction of 56.80 over the Big A's inner track. The Valente homebred still has never been headed, scoring three of his four victories -- including his latest -- with jockey Ramon Dominguez in the irons. Bustin Stones broke on top from the outside post and got the lead and the rail with a 22.75 opening quarter-mile split but was immediately challenged by 3.75-to-1 third choice Whistlin', who 23 days earlier had beaten open six-furlong allowance sprinters at Aqueduct by 4-3/4 lengths. The second quarter-mile accelerated to 22.24, but Whistlin' was still right there even as the two separated from the rest of the field by more than five lengths. At the top of the stretch, the quick-striding chestnut (Bustin Stones) and the big powerful gray (Whistlin') seemed almost even, and not until the final furlong did the former separate from the latter, as Bustin Stones tallied with a length and a half in 1:09.46. For jockey Dominguez, who had ridden Bustin Stones in the colt's debut and a 4-1/4-length tally in the New York Stallion Times Square Stakes -- both at Aqueduct last spring -- it was the first of two winning rides on the card aboard New York homebreds going six furlongs. Victory in the Thepromonroe -- named for Barry Schwartz's six-year-old winner of Aqueduct's 1998 Hollie Hughes Handicap (that New York-bred's first stakes victory) -- increased Bustin Stones' earnings to $165,150 in four outings at three different distances (six furlongs twice, 6-1/2 furlongs, seven furlongs). Bustin Stones is conditioned by New York Thoroughbred Breeders 2005 Trainer of the Year Bruce Levine, who had given the City Zip colt four workouts over an all-weather training track during December -- followed by two solid five-furlong drills on Belmont's training track on January 6 and 16. Bustin Stones was the second consecutive homebred winner sent out at Aqueduct on Monday by Levine. The unbeaten late-foaled (May 9, 2004) four-year-old campaigns for his owner-breeder, Roddy Valente of Troy, New York, who owns and operates R. J. Valente Gravel Inc. and also qualified for an $8,100 breeder award as a result of Bustin Stones' latest stakes victory. Bustin Stones is the third offspring and third winner that Valente has bred from Shesasurething, a three-time winning daughter of Prospectors Gamble and a half-sister to multiple stakes winner Ryan's Moment ($134,669), who is inbred 3 x 4 to Native Dancer. Bustin Stones is inbred 3 x 4 to Mr. Prospector. There now are two pairs of New York-bred unbeaten stakes winners representing two different divisions: three-year-old colts Giant Moon and Z Fortune are four-for-four and three-for-three respectively, with both having won open stakes in 2008; Bustin Stones and Ferocious Fires (six-for-six) are two unbeaten state-bred sprinters. None of these unbeaten stakes winners have yet faced their intra-divisional state-bred rivals in competition. |
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Commentator sets mile record (1:33.71) - romps by 14 at Gulfstream by Rab Hagin
Never a horse to do anything in an understated way when all his cylinders are firing, Tracy Farmer's New York-bred COMMENTATOR romped to a 14-length win in Gulfstream Park's Thursday allowance/optional claiming feature, lowering the track's one-turn mile record by almost a fifth of a second to 1:33.71. It was the seven-year-old gelding's second track record; in October of 2004, he had set a record despite a muddy track while winning Keeneland's Perryville Stakes by seven lengths. Nine of Commentator's 10 career wins have been by margins of more than six lengths each and totaling an astounding 90-1/4 lengths; his lone close tally was a neck victory over eventual 2005 Horse of the Year Saint Liam in Saratoga's Grade 1 Whitney Handicap. When Commentator is on his game, he almost always makes a statement. Thursday's Gulfstream outing marked Commentator's first race since an ill-fated effort in the $1,832,000 TVG Breeders' Cup Sprint in October, when the hyper-competitive gelding had burst through the starting gate barrier prior to the break and had to be re-loaded, after which he had finished seventh among 10. Odds-on (.40-to-1) among six wagering interests and seven starters for his 2008 debut, the swift New York-bred broke almost on top and seized command from Calder stakes winner Delosvientos on his outside with an opening quarter-mile split in a surprisingly casual 23.98. An accelerated second quarter-mile in 22.13 put daylight between Commentator and everyone else, after which it was an easy gallop through subsequent splits of 23.32 (for a 1:09.43 six-furlong fraction) and 24.28 to a victory that was more impressive in style than in margin or time. The new record of 1:33.71 broke the old standard of 1:33.87 set by Chatain under less weight in a hard-fought victory in Gulfstream's graded Hal's Hope Handicap (his first of two consecutive wins in that event) a year earlier. It was Commentator's first outing under two-time Eclipse Award-winning jockey John Velazquez, who had two winning rides on the card, and it increased his earnings to $851,936 while improving his record to 10 - 0 - 2 in 16 starts. The smooth-striding gelding has been plagued with shin problems but was the only horse in North America to register 2005 Daily Racing Form Beyer figures above 120 for beyond a mile (123 in the Whitney) and less than a mile (121 for seven furlongs at Belmont in 1:20.23). Commentator is conditioned by Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito, who had given him four workouts -- including three "bullet" drills -- at Palm Meadows Training Center in Florida from December 8 through January 10 and seemed almost ecstatic after Thursday's win: "God Bless America," remarked Zito. "Only in America can you do things like this: Take a seven-year-old and have him come back running like a two-year-old. I was talking with a friend of mine the other day, and I said he was going to break the track record. I looked at what they had in the program, and I knew that was out of here. "He did it, and the track (today) wasn't exceptionally fast either," continued Zito. "It would be wonderful to have some fun with him this year. If we can keep him like this, he can beat any horse in the world. He beat horses like Saint Liam. What's next? We'll figure it out. He does like Gulfstream. This track is like a Saratoga track, and he likes that, but he can run on any track when he's right like this." Owner Farmer, who with his wife Carol owns Shadowlawn Farm in Kentucky, had purchased Commentator for $135,000 at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's 2002 July yearling sale, prior to which the son of Distorted Humor had been sold as a weanling at Keeneland's 2001 November sale for $45,000. Bred by Michael Martinez of Meriden, Connecticut, Commentator was foaled and raised at Thomas Gallo's Blue Stone Farm in Cambridge and is the first offspring produced from Outsource, who is by Storm Bird and is a half-sister to multiple turf stakes winner Cogburn. The speedy chestnut is inbred 3 x 4 to two ancestors comprising one of the most popular sire "nicks" in breeding -- Northern Dancer and Mr. Prospector -- and is from the immediate female family of three-time Grade 1-winning router Behrens ($4,563,500). Commentator was voted New York Thoroughbred Breeders Horse of the Year and Champion Older Male for 2005 and Co-Champion Three-Year-Old Male for 2004 and is from the exceptional New York-bred crop of 2001, which has produced four Grade 1 winners, three millionaires (to date), and an Eclipse Champion. |
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NY-bred Z Fortune wins G3 LeComte at Fair Grounds - is now 3-for-3 by Rab Hagin
Now there are two unbeaten New York-bred three-year-old open stakes winners in 2008 -- both at two turns -- but Zayat Stables' Z FORTUNE became the first state-bred graded winner of the year when he decisively captured Fair Grounds' one-mile LeComte Stakes by 2-3/4 lengths on Saturday. Shipped to Louisiana following impressive maiden and allowance victories against state-breds at Belmont on New York Showcase Day (October 20) and at Aqueduct on December 7 respectively, the big gray/roan colt was relatively dismissed as the 5-to-1 fifth choice among eight three-year-old starters. He likely will not be dismissed again. Restrained in fifth place through three-quarters of a mile by jockey Shaun Bridgmohan -- his third rider in three starts -- Z Fortune saved ground on the first turn and was eased outside entering the second turn, but he appeared to be blocked approaching the stretch with runners in front and outside. Bridgmohan finally got him clear of traffic in the upper stretch, and in the final quarter-mile Z Fortune quickly overtook four rivals to gain command in the final furlong, where he pulled away. Favored Blackberry Road (3-to-1), who was coming off back-to-back placed efforts in Grade 2 and Grade 3 events last fall, closed for second, and the other three starters that had been favored over Z Fortune -- one of them a graded winner in 2007 -- were non-factors. Z Fortune's winning time, 1:37.79, was the fastest in the LeComte since 2003. The 2007 LeComte winner, Hard Spun, went on to have a Grade 1-winning season in which he earned more than $2.5-million.
For jockey Bridgmohan, it was the second winning ride on Fair Grounds' Saturday card aboard a three-year-old colt trained by Steven Asmussen, and he reported an ideal trip in what was Z Fortune's first off-the-pace effort: "I got him to relax," Bridgmohan explained. "We had a great trip; we were just sitting pretty. When I showed him some room, he just got running." Winning trainer Asmussen, who sent out four winners -- three in stakes -- at Fair Grounds on Saturday, did not hesitate to reveal that he has classic plans for Z Fortune: "He's a very good three-year-old who shipped from New York," Asmussen pointed out. "My job is to try to figure out how to win the (Kentucky) Derby with him. We'll try to map out a plan. He's a good horse." Asmussen had given Z Fortune moderate half-mile workouts at Fair Grounds on New Year's Eve and a week later on the first Monday of January. Victory in the Grade 3 LeComte boosted Z Fortune's earnings to $117,600 in three starts for the Zayat Stables, LLC of Egyptian/American beverage entrepreneur Ahmed Zayat, a resident of Hackensack, New Jersey, whose other New York-breds include stakes winners Chief Officer, Premium Wine (by Prime Timber), and Sherine. The distinctive-looking son of Brazilian-bred North American multiple Grade 1 winner Siphon had been an $80,000 purchase at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's 2006 July yearling sale. He is the sixth winner and second six-figure-earner -- all of them New York-breds -- produced from Fortunate Faith ($251,635), who had won Aqueduct's Grade 2 Demoiselle Stakes as a Minnesota homebred two-year-old in 1992. As a four-year-old, Fortunate Faith had won at Belmont under the colors of the future breeder of Z Fortune and his five winning half-siblings, the Delehanty Stock Farm in Amenia of renowned international artist Frank Stella, who resides in New York City. Z Fortune is the second New York-bred three-year-old open stakes winner in a week's span -- following unbeaten Count Fleet winner Giant Moon at Aqueduct the previous Saturday. Z Fortune had won first-out on New York Showcase Day going seven furlongs in the race immediately preceding the one-mile Sleepy Hollow Stakes, which Giant Moon had won with a Daily Racing Form Beyer speed rating of 84. Z Fortune's Beyer figure that same day in his debut was 93 -- but Giant Moon seems never to run any faster than necessary. The 2008 season could get very interesting. |
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Karakorum Starlet takes Big A's Ruby Rubles for 3rd NYRA stakes win by Rab Hagin
Returned to competition just 10 days after placing second to 2007 graded winner Control System in Aqueduct's open six-furlong Interborough Handicap for fillies and mares on New Year's Day, Karakorum Farm's KARAKORUM STARLET dominated the Big A's six-furlong Ruby Rubles Stakes for distaff New York-breds, winning by two lengths. The just-turned five-year-old mare was cautiously favored at 1.50-to-1 among five wagering interests and six starters -- four of them stakes winners in 2007 -- while again being ridden by her pilot in the Interborough, jockey Stewart Elliott. The $67,700 Ruby Rubles marked the first Aqueduct victory for Karakorum Starlet, who in the past 144 days also has captured stakes for state-bred fillies and mares at Saratoga (six-furlong Union Avenue) and Belmont (seven-furlong Iroquois on New York Showcase Day). Never off the board in eight consecutive sprint stakes against both open and state-bred competition since late August, the big chestnut mare during that span has won three times, placed second twice and third once, and has finished fourth twice. The early pace in the Ruby Rubles was set by 2.50-to-1 third choice Tamberino, who ran an ambitious opening quarter-mile split of 22.31 over the sloppy and sealed inner track surface while Karakorum Starlet stalked closely behind on the outside. Tamberino in two previous Aqueduct outings in November and December had captured the seven-furlong New York Stallion Staten Island Stakes and a six-furlong open allowance on the inner track, but she dropped back to second on the turn and faded thereafter, as Elliott's long-striding mount rambled home unchallenged. For jockey Elliott, who prior to this year had never ridden Karakorum Starlet in competition, it was the third of four winning rides on Aqueduct's Friday card -- three of them aboard New York-breds and three aboard female runners. Victory in the Ruby Rubles -- named for basketball coach Rick Pitino's New York-bred winner of Aqueduct's 2000 graded Bed o' Roses Handicap -- increased Karakorum Starlet's earnings to $383,521 and improved her record to 7 - 8 - 1 in 24 starts, which includes wins or placed efforts in six stakes events. It is an impressive record considering that the rangy mare twice has won handily going one-turn miles at Belmont, where she also has trounced open allowance competition at seven furlongs, and had been a mere $13,000 purchase at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's 2004 October yearling sale. Karakorum Starlet races for the Karakorum Farm of racing partnerships managed by William DiScala, with offices in Rosedale, Long Island. She has been trained throughout her career by Jeff Odintz, who once before -- in April-May of 2007 -- had sent the New York-bred mare out in races less than a dozen days apart, and she had placed second both times -- at Aqueduct and Belmont. Karakorum Starlet was among 78 New York-breds that won or placed (second or third) in 2007 stakes events outside state-bred competition, and she already is among six New York-breds that have won or placed in open stakes races in 2008. Karakorum Starlet is the fifth offspring, fifth winner (four of them New York-breds), and second $200K-plus-earner produced from New York-bred sprint-and-route winner Amaryllis, but she is the first winner bred from Amaryllis by Jim Jam Thoroughbreds and Marvin Little Jr., who had consigned her to the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky auction. The daughter of Skip Away descends from a female family that has produced New York-bred stakes winners for three consecutive generations. Amaryllis, by the late leading New York sire Cormorant, is a full sister to graded winner and New York Thoroughbred Breeders 1994 Horse of the Year Mr. Angel ($378,662); Amaryllis' dam, Cupid's Play (by New York-bred national champion Silent Screen), is a half-sister to 1981 Bouwerie Stakes winner Cupid's Way. |
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NY-breds Giant Moon & Spanky Fischbein run 1-2 in open Count Fleet by Rab Hagin
New York-breds GIANT MOON and Spanky Fischbein ran one-two in Aqueduct's open Count Fleet Stakes for three-year-olds going a mile and 70 yards on Saturday, separating from five rivals by more than three lengths, as the top-weighted winner remained unbeaten, and the runner-up still has never finished worse than second. The Count Fleet marked the first open company outing for Albert Fried Jr.'s homebred Giant Moon, but his only serious competition came from the same state-bred rival that had challenged him in Aqueduct's restricted Damon Runyon Stakes at a mile and a sixteenth 27 days earlier. The last previous time an undefeated colt won the Count Fleet, his name was Smarty Jones -- but Giant Moon won in a faster time and with more weight. Breaking from the outside post as the 2.75-to-1 co-second choice among seven, Giant Moon cleared almost all of his inside rivals except for Spanky Fischbein, who as the 4.30-to-1 fourth choice coming out the number two post led through even splits of 24.04 and 24.26. Surprisingly for just-turned three-year-olds this early in the season, the pace actually picked up through the third quarter-mile of the two-turn event, as Spanky Fischbein accelerated that split to 23.81, with Giant Moon only a half-length back. The two approached mid-stretch virtually dead-even and more than four lengths in front of everyone else before Giant Moon edged ahead while switching to his left lead in response to right-handed urging from jockey Ramon Dominguez, who also had piloted the colt to victory in the Damon Runyon. Giant Moon's winning time for the mile and 70 yards, 1:41.14, was slightly more than a fifth of a second (.28) faster than future Eclipse Champion Smarty Jones' clocking over a fast track in the 2004 Count Fleet with four pounds less weight. Smarty Jones was three-for-three following the 2004 Count Fleet. Giant Moon is four-for-four. Winning jockey Dominguez suggested that the laid-back Giant Moon is one-of-a-kind: "It (the Count Fleet) wasn't as physically as demanding as the Damon Runyon, but it was still tough," Dominguez explained. "He's very unique; as big as he is, he does as little as he has to. He is very responsive, though, when you ask him to go. He'll give you one big stride and then turn himself off. It's great that he is still undefeated. It was a great race." Jockey Michael Luzzi, Spanky Fischbein's rider in the Count Fleet, had praise for both New York-bred one-two finishers: "He (Spanky Fischbein) came back like a horse that gave everything, and he did. I thought I had Giant Moon for a second, but he's a pretty good grinder. I think my horse is a pretty nice colt, and hopefully, we'll get to meet Giant Moon again." Seth Benzel, assistant to Spanky Fischbein's Hall of Fame trainer, Todd Pletcher, agreed with Luzzi: "He (Spanky Fischbein) showed a lot of guts there. He fought on. We wanted to take advantage of his natural speed. We were able to get the lead and control it. He really gave 110 percent." Giant Moon trains under the care of Richard Schosberg, who had given the colt two solid half-mile workouts over Belmont's training track on December 22 and 30 and likes the progress the son of Giant's Causeway has shown: "He really proved that he is improving," pointed out Schosberg. "He improved today in the race the way he improved in his training. He was calm in the paddock, but Ramon (Dominguez) said he warmed up very sharp. Ramon said that this horse is very unique because he feels like he's falling asleep on you down the backside. But once he gets a little tap, he'll just take off on you. He does that in the mornings, too, which isn't a bad thing. But we want to get it under control. "'Spanky' gave us all we could handle today," continued Schosberg. "This was a great race for the New York-bred program. (Giant Moon) has done nothing wrong; he's an undefeated three-year-old. We might go to the Whirlaway ($100,000-added at Aqueduct, for three-year-olds at a mile and a sixteenth on Saturday, February 2) or skip the Whirlaway and go to the (Grade 3) Gotham ($250,000-added at Aqueduct, for three-year-olds at a mile and a sixteenth on Saturday, March 8). This was a little shorter notice than we like to do." The Count Fleet result increased Giant Moon's earnings to $184,785 in four starts and elevated Spanky Fischbein's earnings to $177,900 with a record of two wins (one stakes) and five seconds in seven starts. The Count Fleet marked the second runner-up open stakes performance for Spanky Fischbein; the son of New York-based Hook and Ladder had placed second in Monmouth's Tyro Stakes last summer after overcoming a bumpy start. In addition to earning 80 percent of the Count Fleet's $81,525 purse, the two New York-breds also qualified their connections for a total of $17,446.35 in owner, breeder, and stallion owner awards ($9,783.00 for Giant Moon; $7,663.35 for Spanky Fischbein). Bred and owned by Fried of Buttonwood Farm in Rhinebeck, who was named Outstanding 2002 New York Breeder by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association, Giant Moon is the first offspring produced from Fried's stakes-winning New York homebred, Moonlightandbeauty ($228,053), who scored five of six wins beyond sprint distances. Fried had purchased Moonlightandbeauty's dam, future Grade 2 juvenile winner Stolen Beauty ($303,894), for $30,000 at Keeneland's 1990 September yearling sale and later bought Stolen Beauty's dam, Finally Found, at Keeneland's 1992 January sale for $70,000. From Finally Found, Fried bred Grade 2 stakes record-setter and New York Thoroughbred Breeders 2002 Champion Turf Male Finality ($375,075). Giant Moon was the second undefeated New York-bred three-year-old to perform impressively against open company within just over 24 hours; the first, Gary and Mary West Stables' speedy filly KEEP THE PEACE, romped by seven in 1:09.89 for six furlongs at Gulfstream Park on Friday. Bred by Berkshire Stud and purchased for $65,000 at Keeneland's 2006 September yearling sale, Keep the Peace is out of New York-bred stakes-placed winner Look Upon and had won her only previous outing, a six-furlong maiden special at Churchill Downs in November, by 4-1/2 lengths. Giant Moon and Spanky Fischbein were the fifth and sixth New York-breds, respectively, to finish in the top-three in open stakes competition in 2008. Preceding them were five-year-old mares Karakorum Starlet and Oprah Winney (second and third, respectively, in Aqueduct's Interborough Handicap on January 1), three-year-old gelding Cannonball (third in Calder's Grade 3 Tropical Park Derby on January 1), and four-year-old gelding Stunt Man (second in Aqueduct's Brushing Up Stakes on Thursday, January 3). |
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