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NY-breds run like mad in March - win or place in 10 open stakes events by Rab Hagin
March 2008 was a whirlwind month for New York-breds, as they won two graded stakes in Florida plus open black-type events in England and at Aqueduct -- while six more placed second or third in open black-type stakes at Turfway Park, Philadelphia Park, Aqueduct, and Hanshin in Japan. Highlighting the state-bred contingent were COMMENTATOR in a Grade 2 event, BIG TRUCK in a Grade 3, listed English route winner MALT OR MASH, and open Aqueduct stakes winner SWEET VENDETTA. Tracy Farmer's Grade 1 winner Commentator ($971,936) has achieved unique accomplishments, registering 2008's highest Daily Racing Form Beyer figure (119) while setting a Gulfstream Park mile record (1:33.71) on January 17 and capturing Gulfstream's Grade 2 Richter Scale Sprint Handicap by 13-3/4 lengths under top weight on March 8. Commentator's 119 Beyer figure is easily the highest of the year through March, and his 13-3/4-length winning advantage in the seven-furlong Richter Scale is by far the widest winning margin in any North American graded stakes in 2008. Bred by Michael Martinez of Meriden, Connecticut and foaled and raised at Thomas Gallo's Blue Stone Farm in Cambridge, the seven-year-old gelding is almost certain to become the 20th New York-bred millionaire in the near future (see New York-bred Millionaires Club). Sooner or later if he stays sound, Commentator can expect to face Roddy Valente's unbeaten and Grade 2-winning New York homebred, BUSTIN STONES ($300,150), who is scheduled to start next in Aqueduct's Grade 1 Carter Handicap at seven furlongs on Saturday, April 5.
Eric Fein's three-year-old Big Truck ($336,880) won the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby on March 15 -- a week after Commentator's Richter Scale romp -- in what was designated an upset but which looks in retrospect to have been highly predictable. Previously unbeaten Eclipse Champion Juvenile Colt War Pass went into his first-ever two-turn effort on a fast track at .05-to-1, but the winner by a neck over 2007 stakes winner and Grade 2 runner-up Atoned was Fein's homebred son of New York stallion Hook and Ladder. Bred by "A. Lakin & Sons" -- a nom-de-course under which Lewis Lakin frequently breeds -- and foaled at what is now Sequel Stallions New York in Hudson where sire Hook and Ladder stands, Big Truck might make his next start in the Kentucky Derby. His conditioner, New York Thoroughbred Breeders (NYTB) 2003 Trainer of the Year Barclay Tagg, also has the interim option of stretching Big Truck out another furlong from the Tampa Bay Derby distance by running him in Gulfstream's mile and three-sixteenths Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes on Saturday, April 12.
A. P. Putey's Malt or Mash ($183,360 in U.S. equivalent earnings) won his 2008 debut by 2-1/4 lengths in the listed intercasino.co.uk Dragonfly Stakes going a mile and a half on the all-weather track at Kempton Park in London, England on Saturday, March 22. The big four-year-old gray appears to be a natural fit for some of the 30-odd group races for three-year-olds and up at beyond a mile and a quarter in the United Kingdom -- the most famous being Ascot's Group 1 Gold Cup at 2-1/2 miles in June. Malt or Mash also has won on turf courses at four major racing facilities in the UK. Bred by the Delehanty Stock Farm in Amenia of internationally renowned artist Frank Stella -- also breeder of 2008 graded-winning New York-bred three-year-old Z FORTUNE -- the improving colt had been sold at the 2005 September Doncaster Bloodstock St. Leger yearling sale in England for 38,000 guineas ($73,292 U.S. equivalent).
Team Penney Racing's and David Cassidy's homebred SWEET VENDETTA skipped over at least four allowance conditions to capture Aqueduct's open Andover Way Stakes for three-year-old fillies at a mile and 70 yards by four lengths on Wednesday, March 19 after being runner-up in Aqueduct's open Busher Stakes 24 days earlier. A factor in the filly's dramatic emergence might have been NYTB two-time Trainer of the Year Gary Contessa's decision to equip her with blinkers for her third start, leading immediately to a maiden-breaking victory followed by the Busher second-placing and the Andover Way win. Sweet Vendetta is the fourth top-three stakes performer and third stakes winner that television and singing star Cassidy has bred from Sand Pirate, whose seventh career victory had come under Cassidy's colors in her final start after being claimed about eight weeks earlier for $9,000 at Hollywood Park. Sand Pirate foaled Sweet Vendetta at Dr. Jerry Bilinski's Waldorf Farm in North Chatham. Winning Aqueduct's always-tough Broadway Handicap for New York-bred fillies and mares going six furlongs on Sunday, March 2 was Karakorum Farm's KARAKORUM STARLET ($440,761), who scored her fourth stakes victory in less than seven months. Bred by the New Jersey-based Jim Jam Thoroughbreds and Marvin Little Jr. of Virginia and a $13,000 purchase at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's 2004 October yearling sale, the five-year-old mare had not even been tried in stakes competition prior to late last summer. Previous Broadway winners Magnolia Jackson, Sensibly Chic, and Shawklit Mint all went on to capture Grade 2 stakes. Now four-for-four is Rosalie DiRico's homebred DANCE GAL DANCE, who led throughout under top weight and at odds-on (.90-to-1) in Aqueduct's six-furlong Love Is Eternal Stakes for New York-bred three-year-old fillies on Friday, March 14, boosting her earnings into six figures at $137,940. The unbeaten filly's New York-based sire, Disco Rico, is owned by Alfred and Joseph DiRico and stands at Keane Stud Operations in Amenia. A late foal (May 28, 2005), Dance Gal Dance had won Aqueduct's six-furlong Dewars Rocks Stakes for state-bred three-year-old fillies on February 6 and scored her second consecutive front-running stakes victory -- in the Love Is Eternal -- 75 days prior to her chronological three-year-old birthday. Returning to the stakes-winning ranks after a 22-1/2-month hiatus was Script R Farm et al's homebred PRINCE OF PEACE ($209,545) in Aqueduct's mile and a sixteenth Instant Friendship Stakes for New York-bred four-year-olds and up on Saturday, March 15. As the 23.30-to-1 last choice among six, the five-year-old provided the biggest straight wagering payoff on the Big A's 10-race pre-Palm Sunday card. Five of the six starters in the Instant Friendship had scored stakes victories, and the six-figure bankrolls of all six totaled almost $1.9-million going into the event. New York-breds placing second or third in open black-type stakes events in March were led off by Hirotsugu Hirai's A Shin Forward ($276,220), who was runner-up among 12 in the 1,600-meter (about a mile) Arlington Cup for three-year-olds on turf at Hanshin racecourse in Japan on Saturday, March 1. On March 6, Alan Brodsky's six-year-old mare, Morning Gallop (now $255,835), earned her second of three consecutive open black-type stakes credentials by placing second in Aqueduct's Limit Out Stakes at a mile and 70 yards. Less than four weeks later, she placed second in yet another open stakes at Aqueduct, the Perfect Poppy for fillies and mares going a one-turn mile on the Big A's outer main track on Wednesday, April 2. On March 15, Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey's homebred and co-top-weighted Self Made Man ($116,258) placed second to a rival he was spotting six pounds to in Turfway Park's mile and an eighth Tejano Run Stakes -- that effort coming four weeks after the four-year-old gelding had captured Turfway's Dust Commander Stakes. On March 18, Henry Gregory's homebred six-year-old gelding, Gold and Roses ($847,665), came off his Hollie Hughes Handicap win at Aqueduct a month earlier to place second among eight in Philadelphia Park's $75,000 Bensalem Stakes at 6-1/2 furlongs. Gaining her first open black-type stakes credential in Aqueduct's Grade 2 Distaff Handicap at six furlongs on March 22 was Backwards Stable's homebred five-year-old mare, Scatkey ($219,901), who seven months earlier had earned her initial black-type by placing second in Saratoga's Union Avenue Stakes for state-bred fillies and mares. Placing third among nine in his first stakes outing, first start outside New York, first effort on a synthetic surface, and first attempt at a mile and a sixteenth was Earle Mack's Icabad Crane in Turfway Park's Rushaway Stakes for three-year-olds going a mile and a sixteenth on March 22. The Gallagher's Stud-bred colt had won his previous two starts, breaking his maiden on Aqueduct's outer main track last November and winning a restricted N1X allowance at a mile and 70 yards on the inner track on January 20. Finishing fourth in that $100,000 event was another New York-bred, Dr. Paul Giacopelli's homebred Cape of Storms. |
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NY-bred Malt or Mash wins listed Dragonfly S. at Kempton in England by Rab Hagin
Winning his 2008 debut off a 19-week layoff for his third consecutive victory and fifth tally overall was A. P. Patey's New York-bred MALT OR MASH in England's listed Dragonfly Stakes for four-year-olds and up going a mile and a half over Kempton's all-weather track on Saturday, March 22. The four-year-old colt was odds-on among six starters in the featured event and scored by 2-1/4 lengths under jockey Ryan Moore after advancing from just off the pace set by fleet German filly Miramare, who placed 15 lengths ahead of the third-place finisher. Moore has been on board for the latest three wins by Malt or Mash, who is trained by Richard Hannon and was bred by the Delehanty Stock Farm in Amenia of internationally renowned artist Frank Stella -- also breeder of 2008 graded-winning New York-bred three-year-old Z Fortune. Victory in the Dragonfly -- run at Kempton Park in London and sponsored by intercasino.co.uk -- improved Malt or Mash's record to 5-1-2 in 11 starts and increased his U.S. equivalent earnings to $183,360, which includes turf wins at Goodwood (breaking his maiden against winners), Sandown, Newmarket, and Doncaster. The Dragonfly marked the colt's second outing over an all-weather track -- the other being a runner-up effort going a mile at Kempton last June while still a maiden. Malt or Mash had placed third twice in three starts as a juvenile in 2006, but last year as a three-year-old he started coming into his own at a mile and a quarter to a mile and a half. A big, strong gray/roan router, he has been described as "imposing" and "looks very much the sort to go on improving," according to favorable comments following his latest victory. A son of multiple Group 1 English winner Black Minnaloushe -- a South African-based Storm Cat stallion inbred 3 x 4 to Northern Dancer -- Malt or Mash had been consigned as a weanling to Keeneland's 2004 November sale but did not meet his reserve with a $42,000 final bid. He subsequently was sold at the 2005 September Doncaster Bloodstock St. Leger yearling sale in England, going for 38,000 guineas ($73,292 U.S. equivalent). Malt or Mash is the fourth winner and second six-figure-earning multi-surface winner bred in New York by Delehanty Stock Farm from three-time graded turf winner Southern Tradition ($379,125), who had raced for Delehanty Stock Farm. His current six-year-old half-sister, With a Passion, won sprints on dirt but also scored on turf. Dam Southern Tradition, who is by Family Doctor (by Dr. Fager), is a half-sister to multiple graded winner Ski Dancer ($578,344), stakes-placed 18-time winner Fortunate Streak ($424,153), and to the dams of another stakes winner and two more stakes-placed runners. Malt or Mash is the ninth New York-bred winner of an open black-type stakes in 2008 and the fourth state-bred stakes winner within a two-week span in March -- following Grade 2 winner Commentator, Grade 3 winner Big Truck, and recent (Wednesday, March 19) Aqueduct stakes winner Sweet Vendetta. His Dragonfly victory actually preceded open stakes-placed efforts on Easter Eve Saturday by two more new Empire State-bred open stakes horses. Hours later, Backwards Stables' New York homebred five-year-old mare, Scatkey ($219,901), earned her first graded black-type by placing third in Aqueduct's Grade 2 Distaff Handicap, and Earle Mack's three-year-old state-bred colt, Icabad Crane, placed third among nine in Turfway Park's $100,000 Rushaway Stakes. A total of 23 New York-breds have registered 29 top-three open stakes performances through the first 82 days of 2008 at 10 tracks in New York, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Japan, and England. |
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Sweet Vendetta pulls off 4-length win in Big A's open Andover Way S. by Rab Hagin
Although eligible for entry-level state-bred allowance competition, Team Penney Racing's and David Cassidy's New York homebred SWEET VENDETTA instead has contested two open Aqueduct stakes for three-year-old fillies since breaking her maiden on Valentine's Day, initially placing second and then convincingly capturing the Andover Way by four lengths on Wednesday. In both stakes efforts, the blossoming filly has been piloted by jockey Channing Hill, who appeared to ride the New York-bred with complete confidence in the two-turn mile and 70 yards event, for which she was sent off as the 2.85-to-1 second choice among six starters. The $67,500 contest in pouring rain over a sloppy, sealed track was expected to develop into a two-filly fight between recent 11-3/4-length maiden-breaker Serious Vow, the even-money favorite, and Sweet Vendetta, but what transpired was a surprisingly easy romp for the New York-bred. As expected, Serious Vow was sent immediately to the lead and set fairly quick quarter-mile splits of 23.95 and 23.68 while Sweet Vendetta saved ground under wraps in third place before advancing on the outside when the field rounded the second turn. Serious Vow's third quarter-mile wilted to 24.26, following which Sweet Vendetta looked almost ready to inhale her, and by mid-stretch Hill's mount was in front by 3-1/2 lengths and pulling away. As Sweet Vendetta continued drawing clear, Laurel Park allowance winner Love You Not -- the 18.70-to-1 last choice -- overtook Serious Vow to place a clear second. It was the second winning ride of the day for Hill and the third victory by a New York-bred in a race outside state-bred company on Aqueduct's rainy Wednesday card. Victory in the Andover Way -- named for the Grade 1-winning dam of major sire Dynaformer, whose Grade 1 winners include New York-bred Critical Eye (see New York-bred Millionaires Club) -- increased Sweet Vendetta's earnings to $86,596 with a record of two wins and a second in six starts. Two-time New York Thoroughbred Breeders Trainer of the Year Gary Contessa had first equipped the bay filly with blinkers for her seven-length maiden win at Aqueduct on February 14. In two subsequent outings -- Aqueduct's mile and a sixteenth Busher Stakes 10 days later and the Andover Way -- Sweet Vendetta has finished second and first. Contessa also had given her maintenance workouts over Belmont's training track on March 11 and 16. Sweet Vendetta races for her breeder, television and singing star David Cassidy, in partnership with the Team Penney Racing of Shirl Penney of Weehawkin, New Jersey, and she was bred by Cassidy in partnership with Edward Lipton of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The daughter of Grade 1-winning millionaire Stephen Got Even is the fifth offspring, fifth New York-bred winner, fourth top-three stakes performer, and third stakes winner that Cassidy has bred from Sand Pirate, who must rank as one of the best bargain broodmares of the current decade. Sand Pirate, a Canadian-bred, had raced in western Canada and Washington state, winning six times at distances ranging from six furlongs to a mile and a sixteenth before heading to southern California, where in November of 1999 she was claimed for $9,000 at Hollywood Park. In January of 2000, the then seven-year-old mare won her final start by three lengths going a mile at Turf Paradise in Arizona with a $12,500 tag under Cassidy's colors before shipping to Dr. Jerry Bilinski's Waldorf Farm in North Chatham to begin her broodmare career. Sand Pirate is out of a graded winner, Wayward Pirate, but what initially enhanced her female family after Cassidy's acquisition of her was the emergence of one of her half-sister's offspring, Continental Red ($1,383,788), a late-developing Grade 2-winning turf router who also was a stakes winner on dirt. Sand Pirate is a complete outcross (no inbreeding) through five generations, as is Sweet Vendetta, who also has no Raise a Native/Mr. Prospector or Northern Dancer ancestry in her pedigree, making her a rare gem as a future broodmare. Sweet Vendetta is the eighth New York-bred open black-type stakes winner of 2008, and following a runner-up effort by New York-bred Gold and Roses ($847,665) in Philadelphia Park's $75,000 Bensalem Stakes the previous day (Tuesday), she also is among 20 state-bred top-three finishers in open stakes competition this year. Another recent runner-up New York-bred in open stakes company is Self Made Man ($116,258), who placed second to a rival he was spotting six pounds to in Turfway Park's mile and an eighth Tejano Run Stakes on Saturday, March 15. The 20 New York-bred open stakes performers of 2008 have registered 26 top-three efforts in open stakes at nine tracks in New York, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Japan. |
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NY-bred Big Truck rolls into Derby picture in G3 Tampa Bay Derby win by Rab Hagin
In what the general sports media might consider a shocker but a foreseeable outcome in retrospect, Eric Fein's New York-bred BIG TRUCK advanced from sixth-to-first among seven in the $300,000 Tampa Bay Derby on Saturday to score his first graded victory and thrust himself into the 2008 Kentucky Derby picture. The son of Hook and Ladder performed like a pro in his second consecutive stakes outing under New York Thoroughbred Breeders (NYTB) 2006 Jockey of the Year Eibar Coa, breaking from the sixth post and tucking behind the leaders (the lead changed three times to mid-stretch). In the final 40 yards, the mile and a sixteenth contest came down to 9-to-1 third choice Atoned, who had beaten Big Truck by almost five lengths in Aqueduct's Grade 2 Remsen last November, and the 7.20-to-1 New York-bred with ground-devouring strides. At the wire, Big Truck was a neck in front and continuing to increase his advantage. Heavily favored (.05-to-1) War Pass, the previously unbeaten Eclipse Champion Juvenile Male for 2007, was bumped at the start and then again in the early running and was never a factor -- but questions about his ability to handle a two-turn route as a three-year-old had lingered beforehand. Speculation about what might have happened to the favorite almost overshadowed Big Truck's accomplishment, but winning owner Fein, whose other New York-bred winners have included six-figure-earners Dylans Destiny and Evening Edition, did not seem to mind: "Unbelievable. Unbelievable," was Fein's refrain. "You hope for this; you root for it. I've had a lot of them that haven't panned out, but this is absolutely amazing.
"We knew what we had in the mornings," Fein continued. "He hasn't proven it unbelievably in the afternoons, but we knew what we had. We were just waiting for that breakout day, and I guess today is that day. We (Big Truck and Coa) were at the turn when we finally got out of the trouble (traffic, causing Big Truck to angle out four-wide into the stretch) we were in. We got clear, and I thought, 'I know this horse can come.' I certainly have Derby fever, but we have to make a decision for what's best for the horse. We're hoping 'the truck' stops (off) in Louisville." Jockey Coa, who had piloted Big Truck to a close second-placing in Tampa Bay Downs' $200,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes four weeks earlier and also had ridden the 2003 Tampa Bay Derby winner, seemed unsurprised: "I knew my horse was going to improve from the last race," Coa explained. Big Truck is the second New York-bred Kentucky Derby contender in five years conditioned by NYTB 2003 Trainer of the Year Barclay Tagg, who had given the colt three workouts at Gulfstream Park following the Sam F. Davis runner-up effort, including five-furlong "bullet" drills on March 3 and 9. Tagg's previous New York-bred Derby contender was 2003 Eclipse Champion and Kentucky Derby-Preakness winner Funny Cide. Tagg characteristically refrains from being overly optimistic: "I told (Coa) to ride for second," Tagg acknowledged. "I told him if something happens to War Pass, if you ride for second, he'll (Big Truck) win the race. "We thought he (Big Truck) was a little less mature than some of our other horses are," Tagg recalled. "It just took him a little while. He's moved forward every time." Victory in the Tampa Bay Derby -- won in 1990 by New York-bred Champagneforashley, in 2000 by New York-based stallion Wheelaway, and in 2007 by eventual Kentucky Derby and Travers winner Street Sense -- boosted Big Truck's earnings to $336,880 while improving his record to 3 - 1 - 1 in seven starts. Owner Fein had purchased the colt for $90,000 at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's 2007 May sale of two-year-olds in Timonium, Maryland. Bred by "A. Lakin & Sons" -- generally identified with Lewis Lakin -- and foaled at what is now Sequel Stallions New York in Hudson where sire Hook and Ladder is currently standing his fifth consecutive season, Big Truck is a half-brother to New York-bred stakes-placed winner Logic Way. Those two are the first named offspring produced from multiple dirt route and turf winner Just a Ginny, who is by New York-conceived Kentucky Derby winner Go for Gin and clearly has imparted some of her stamina to Big Truck. Just a Ginny is a half-sister to a Grade 2-placed winner and to the dam of a stakes-placed six-figure-earner. Big Truck is the seventh New York-bred open black-type stakes winner in 2008, the fourth state-bred graded winner of the year, and the third state-bred graded winner within a 26-day span. Prince of Peace ($48.60) rules by refusing to back off in Big A's Instant Friendship by Rab Hagin Closely pursuing a pace-setting rival that averaged nearly 24-flat through four even quarter-mile splits, Script R Farm et al's homebred PRINCE OF PEACE eventually prevailed in Aqueduct's mile and a sixteenth Instant Friendship Stakes for New York-breds on Saturday -- 22-1/2 months after scoring his first stakes victory. As the 23.30-to-1 last choice among six state-bred older starters, the five-year-old provided the biggest straight wagering payoff on the Big A's 10-race pre-Palm Sunday card. The son of Regal Classic appears to be regaining the form that had carried him to victory in Aqueduct's seven-furlong New York Stallion Times Square Stakes early in his three-year-old season. Reunited with jockey Norberto Arroyo Jr., who had ridden him to a maiden-breaking juvenile win on Aqueduct's inner track in 2005, Prince of Peace immediately took up pursuit of the front-running third choice, 3.90-to-1 R Clear Victory, who was coming off runner-up Aqueduct stakes efforts in January and February. Through quarters that varied barely more than a half-second (24.02, 23.94, 24.06, 24.45), R Clear Victory led the way and Prince of Peace closely followed, and by mid-stretch (after a 1:36.47 mile) the two were heads apart and six lengths in front of everyone else. In the final furlong, Arroyo's mount gained command and drew clear, as 3.50-to-1 second choice Lord Langfuhr closed to within a half-length of R Clear Victory, with near even-money favorite Successful Affair (1.10-to-1) another half-length back in fourth place. This was a solid field; five of the six starters in the Instant Friendship had scored stakes victories, and the six-figure bankrolls of all six totaled almost $1.9-million going into the event. Victory in the Instant Friendship -- named for the 1997 NYTB Champion Older Male who won Belmont's Empire Classic for My Jo Lee Stable and Aqueduct's Grade 2 Red Smith for Sultan Al Kabeer -- increased Prince of Peace's earnings to $209,545 with a record of 5 - 2 - 5 in 26 starts. Now a winner for four consecutive seasons, the versatile campaigner had scored back-to-back allowance victories last fall at Finger Lakes going a mile and 70 yards and six furlongs and had placed third in Aqueduct's six-furlong Hollie Hughes Handicap in his latest previous start on February 16. Following that effort, trainer Michael Miceli had given the horse a pair of moderate five-furlong workouts over Belmont's training track on March 2 and 10. Prince of Peace races for his breeder -- the Script R Farm of Raymond Roncari and Leslie Roncari-Marconi of Windsor Locks Connecticut -- in partnership with trainer Miceli and four other individuals identified as J. J. Alampi, W. Sciara, G. J. Ruggeri, and E. Mazur. He is the first winner produced from Script R Farm's New York homebred winner of Aqueduct's 1999 New York Stallion Park Avenue Stakes (also trained by Miceli), Winloc's Glorious ($246,061), who is among five six-figure-earning New York-breds produced from stakes winner Cherokee Chill ($244,032) -- another Script R Farm campaigner. Prince of Peace is inbred 3 x 4 to Northern Dancer. |
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Dance Gal Dance takes Big A's Love Is Eternal to put record at 4-for-4 by Rab Hagin
Showing measurable improvement in her intermediate speed, Rosalie DiRico's homebred DANCE GAL DANCE again led throughout in a six-furlong Aqueduct stakes, doing it this time under top weight in the Love Is Eternal for New York-bred three-year-old fillies on Friday while advancing her record to four-for-four within 117 days. The late-foaled filly's second consecutive front-running stakes victory came 75 days prior to her chronological three-year-old birthday and boosted her earnings to $137,940. For the first time in her career, Dance Gal Dance was odds-on (.90-to-1), with three rivals that she had beaten in previous competition -- one a three-time stakes winner and another graded-placed -- showing up to take on the DiRico homebred again. The only potential opponent entered in the event that Dance Gal Dance had not previously encountered, graded-placed Meriwether Jessica, was scratched after having won a restricted Aqueduct allowance just six days earlier. Breaking from the number two post with jockey Rajiv Maragh on board for the second consecutive time in stakes competition, Dance Gal Dance set an opening quarter-mile split of 22.53 with 2.30-to-1 second choice Expect the End -- a three-time stakes winner as a juvenile -- a half-length back. Maragh's mount then ran her first-ever sub-23 second quarter, covering the distance in 22.98 to put three lengths between herself and her three nearly side-by-side rivals. In the final furlong, another improving state-bred filly, 7.50-to-1 fourth choice I Promise, closed the gap on Dance Gal Dance to a length and three-quarters to add a second stakes runner-up effort to a resume that includes a nose miss in Saratoga's graded Schuylerville last summer. Dance Gal Dance covered the third-through-fifth furlongs of the Love Is Eternal in 35.05 seconds, which was instrumental in producing her fastest time thus far for six furlongs, 1:10.40 seconds. For jockey Maragh, it was the third of four winning rides on Aqueduct's Friday card -- three aboard New York-bred fillies and two of those trained by Timothy Ritvo, who had given Dance Gal Dance five-furlong workouts over Belmont's training track on February 29 ("bullet" drill) and March 9. The Love Is Eternal -- named for Paula Cohn Hallman's New York homebred three-time stakes winner in 1980 -- marked Dance Gal Dance's second career stakes outing in 37 days following her front-running tally in Aqueduct's six-furlong Dewars Rocks on February 6. Dance Gal Dance's latest victory pushed the progeny earnings for the DiRico family's New York-based Disco Rico -- standing at Keane Stud Operations in Amenia -- to over $3.1-million from three crops to race. Those three crops include Dance Gal Dance's six-figure-earning and turf stakes-placed full brother, four-year-old Dr Rico, who is the first winner produced from Alfred DiRico's homebred and New York-conceived six-time stakes-winning mare, Dr Margaret ($181,100). Dr Margaret is a half-sister to stakes winner Hanover Street ($136,290) as well as to the dam of another stakes winner sired by Disco Rico, Auntie Millie. The father-son team of Alfred and Joseph DiRico -- the former listed as breeder of Dance Gal Dance -- also are involved in the family business, the Hub Folding Box Company founded by Alfred's father, Frank DiRico -- inventor of six-pack drink carriers and first person to put cellophane windows on boxes. The company's packaging manufacturing clients include Titleist golf balls and Bacardi spirits. |
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Commentator romps by 13-3/4 under top weight in G2 Richter Scale H. by Rab Hagin
Scoring his second consecutive runaway victory at Gulfstream Park in 51 days but this time in a Grade 2 event, Tracy Farmer's New York-bred COMMENTATOR captured the seven-furlong Richter Scale Sprint Handicap by 13-3/4 lengths under top weight on Saturday to boost his bankroll to within $28,064 of millionaire status. As he drew off under a hand ride, track announcer Larry Collmus called Commentator "the fastest horse in America" -- possibly referring to the gelding's track record-setting mile (1:33.71) at Gulfstream on January 17, when he recorded the highest Beyer speed figure (119) of 2008. The seven-year-old chestnut was odds-on (.30-to-1) among six starters, including four other stakes winners, in the $190,000 Richter Scale and broke from the fifth post with two-time Eclipse Award-winning jockey John Velazquez on board for the second consecutive time in competition. It was not a gate-to-wire performance. After the opening quarter-mile, stakes winner Elite Squadron held a short lead and the rail position following a 22-flat split over the fast but dull track, but then Commentator started edging ahead around the turn, and when he reached the stretch he was pulling away. For jockey Velazquez, it was the fourth of five winning rides on Gulfstream's Saturday card -- all aboard males -- and his third winning trip (second consecutive) in the Richter Scale. Velazquez's first race aboard Commentator had come in the New York-bred's record-setting mile performance in January, and the rider was in Florida on March 8 because of what he had experienced in that overnight contest.
"I stayed in town this weekend specifically to ride him," Velazquez revealed after the Richter Scale. "Before the race, he (Commentator) tried to run off with the pony because there was a horse ahead of us warming up. I wasn't worried about the other horses putting pressure on me. His owner (Farmer) told me just to make sure he breaks good and then to let him do his own thing. Each time another horse would come to him, he would dig in a little bit; he just got into a rhythm. I gave him a few kisses at the quarter pole, and he took it from there." Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito, who had given Commentator four half-mile
workouts at nearby Palm Meadows Training Center from the end of January
to the first of March, again spoke in superlatives about his smooth-striding
star: "He's just a tremendous horse with so much ability and class.
I'm a fan. With the (physical) problems he had early in his career,
he's only got to run (an average of) about 2-1/2 times a year. Dr. (Larry)
Bramladge deserves a lot of credit. He operated on him a couple (of)
times (for cannon bone fractures), and he came back great. It is Mr.
Farmer's wish for him to win the (Grade 1) Whitney again. When he did
it before (in 2005), he beat the horse (Saint Liam) that went on to
be Horse of the Year. I don't know whether we can do it, but that's
his (Farmer's) wish, and we're going to try. He's a seven-year-old gelding,
and he's a New York-bred. There are a lot of options to get him there."
Previous winners of the Richter Scale -- formerly the Gulfstream Sprint Championship Handicap -- include Eclipse Champions Deputy Minister and Cherokee Run, New York Thoroughbred Breeders Champion Hot Cop (in 1986), and current New York stallion Hook and Ladder. The event was renamed for the millionaire winner of its 2000 renewal. The victory pushed Commentator's earnings to $971,936 while improving his record to 11 wins and two third-place efforts in 17 starts for Farmer, who with his wife Carol owns Shadowlawn Farm in Kentucky and had purchased the gelding for $135,000 at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's 2002 July yearling sale. Bred by Michael Martinez of Meriden, Connecticut, Commentator was foaled and raised at Thomas Gallo's Blue Stone Farm in Cambridge. The son of Distorted Humor has a yearling full sister but is the first offspring produced from Outsource, who is by Storm Bird and is a half-sister to multiple turf stakes winner Cogburn. Commentator could have his best season ever as a seven-year-old. Say Florida Sandy's best season was as a seven-year-old in 2001 even though he was a three-time stakes-winning juvenile. Kelso was Horse of the Year for the fifth consecutive season as a seven-year-old in 1964. Commentator has been more lightly raced than either of those champions. The Richter Scale romp by Commentator brought the number of New York-bred open black-type stakes winners in 2008 to six, including three graded winners and two Grade 2 winners (Bustin Stones is the other) within a 19-day span. The 2008 open stakes victories have been scored in New York, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, and Louisiana. |
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Number of NY-breds to win/place in open stakes through March's first 6 days reaches record 18 by Rab Hagin Through the first six days of March 2008, a record number of 18 New York-breds have won or placed (second or third) 21 times in open black-type stakes at eight tracks in New York, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, Louisiana, and Japan. Another has broken a major track record in Florida. Two have won graded stakes. Two of the open stakes winners are undefeated. There are more open New York-bred stakes performers in 2008 than through the first week of March 2007, when there were more open state-bred stakes performers than through the first week of March 2006. In terms of bench strength through early March, the roster of New York-bred stakes performers in 2008 appears to be stronger than ever. Listed below are the 2008 New York-bred stakes winners -- in either open stakes competition or in stakes restricted to state-breds (with one exception) -- plus the New York-bred open stakes-placed performers, all through March 2:
BUSTIN STONES, unbeaten four-year-old colt bred and owned by Roddy Valente of Troy, who had claimed this Grade 2 winner's Del Mar-and-Hollywood Park-winning dam, Shesasurething, for $50,000 as a three-year-old in that mare's final career start. Now five-for-five with four stakes wins, including Laurel Park's Grade 2 General George Handicap at seven furlongs in his most recent outing on February 18 (Presidents' Day Monday), this smooth-running sprinter is being pointed for Aqueduct's Grade 1 Carter Handicap -- also at seven furlongs -- on April 5. The son of formerly New York-based City Zip is the third of three offspring -- all small in stature but all winners -- produced from Shesasurething, who was not bred in 2004 and was off giving pony rides during the 2005 and 2006 breeding seasons. Shesasurething was hurriedly reactivated back into the broodmare ranks after Bustin Stones' seven-length winning debut at Aqueduct on March 24 of 2007 and is soon due to produce a 2008 foal (conceived April 14, 2007) sired by New York-based Hook and Ladder. She reportedly has been booked to three-time Grade 1 winner Empire Maker (who stands 16:1 hands tall) for the 2008 breeding season, but that has not yet been confirmed. Bustin Stones currently has earnings of $300,150. Z FORTUNE, three-year-old colt bred by Frank Stella's Delehanty Stock Farm and owned by the Zayat Stables, LLC of Egyptian/American beverage entrepreneur Ahmed Zayat of Hackensack, New Jersey. Scored his third win in as many starts in Fair Grounds' graded LeComte Stakes at a mile on January 12 and placed second to stablemate Pyro -- to whom he was conceding six pounds as the co-topweight among 11 -- in Fair Grounds' graded Risen Star Stakes on February 9. Trainer Steven Asmussen reportedly is pointing Z Fortune ($177,600) for Oaklawn Park's Grade 2 Rebel Stakes at a mile and a sixteenth on March 15. GIANT MOON, unbeaten three-year-old colt bred and owned by Albert Fried Jr. of Buttonwood Farm in Rhinebeck, who was named Outstanding New York Breeder of 2002 by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. Four-for-four with three stakes wins, including a neck victory over fellow New York-bred Spanky Fischbein in Aqueduct's open Count Fleet on January 5, this laid-back bay is scheduled to start in Aqueduct's graded Gotham Breeders' Cup at a mile and a sixteenth on Saturday, March 8. He probably would have contested Aqueduct's mile and a sixteenth Whirlaway on February 2, but the short-sighted "graded earnings" qualification for gaining one of the Kentucky Derby's 20 starting berths make the open two-turn Count Fleet and Whirlaway meaningless -- unlike finishing fifth in a graded juvenile sprint the previous July. Giant Moon is by champion Giant's Causeway and is the first offspring produced from Fried's New York homebred stakes winner Moonlightandbeauty ($228,053). Both sides of his pedigree show class and two-turn routing ability. KARAKORUM STARLET, five-year-old mare bred by Jim Jam Thoroughbreds and Marvin Little Jr. and campaigned by Karakorum Farm (racing partnerships managed by William DiScala), she has won two six-furlong Aqueduct stakes for state-bred fillies and mares in 2008 and placed second in Aqueduct's open Interborough Handicap on January 1. Her latest victory came on Sunday, March 2 in Aqueduct's Broadway Handicap -- an event from which three winners since 2003 have gone on to win Grade 2 stakes. Karakorum Starlet has won eight races, including four stakes within less than seven months, and earned $440,761. SELF MADE MAN, four-year-old gelding bred and owned by Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey, he beat five stakes winners, including two graded winners, among nine rivals in Turfway Park's one-mile Dust Commander Stakes on February 16, scoring his fifth win in Kentucky -- four on synthetic surfaces and one on turf. His dam has a strong stamina-oriented pedigree, so Self Made Man might try longer distances in the near future. LOVE CO, three-year-old filly owned by Darlene Bilinski and Richard Fields and bred by the Prantlack Farm of Henry Prieger in partnership with David Lester, she romped by 12-3/4 lengths in her stakes debut in Aqueduct's mile-and-70-yard Glory in Motion Stakes for open three-year-old fillies on February 3. That was her first open-company effort and came just 31 days after she had broken her maiden at Aqueduct by 5-1/4 lengths. GOLD AND ROSES, six-year-old homebred gelding racing under the banner of Henry Gregory and bred by his owner's son, Seth Gregory of Saratoga Springs, he scored his 10th win and eighth stakes victory while carrying top weight in Aqueduct's six-furlong Hollie Hughes Handicap for state-breds on February 16. With earnings of $832,965, this indestructible sprinter could become a millionaire in 2008. DANCE GAL DANCE, unbeaten three-year-old homebred filly racing under the banner of Rosalie DiRico and bred by Alfred DiRico of Mansfield, Massachusetts, she scored her third victory in as many starts in Aqueduct's six-furlong Dewars Rocks Stakes for New York-bred three-year-old fillies on February 6. The late-foaled (May 28) filly is the sixth stakes winner -- second in 2008 -- from the first three crops sired by recently-arrived New York-based stallion Disco Rico, who also is owned within the DiRico family. BE BULLISH, three-year-old gelding bred and owned by Herbert and Carol Schwartz, he overcame a slew of adversities to charge from last-to-first among eight in Aqueduct's six-furlong Appealing Guy Stakes for state-bred three-year-olds on February 7, scoring his first stakes victory. He was bumped on the outside at the break and then collided with an inside rival before being blocked by a drifting-in opponent midway down the backstretch and almost lost his jockey -- but he still came from out of nowhere to win by 3-1/4 lengths. Be Bullish's multiple stakes-winning half-brother, New York-bred Tom's Thunder ($463,485), was effective at a mile and up. RUN WITH THE LARK, six-year-old gelding and one of two New York-bred stakes winners in January (along with Giant Moon above) bred and owned by Albert Fried Jr. of Buttonwood Farm in Rhinebeck. Scored his first stakes victory in Aqueduct's mile and a sixteenth Turnofthecentury Stakes for state-breds on January 27, winning by 2-3/4 lengths to establish his inexpensively-purchased dam, Marc's Lark, as a multiple stakes producer. COMMENTATOR, seven-year-old Grade 1-winning gelding owned by Tracy Farmer and bred by Michael Martinez, he has not (yet) won a 2008 stakes through March 7, but his 1:33.71 clocking for a mile at Gulfstream Park on January 17 -- when he romped by 14 lengths -- gave him his second track record. Has won 10 of 16 starts and earned $851,936. New York-bred open stakes-placed performers in 2008, listed in chronological order of their stakes-placed efforts, are as follows: Cannonball, three-year-old gelding, placed third in Calder's Grade 3 Tropical Park Derby (New Year's Day) and Gulfstream Park's Hallandale Beach Stakes (February 16) -- both going two turns on turf. He was a stakes winner outside state-bred company on Belmont turf as a juvenile. Oprah Winney, five-year-old mare, placed third in Aqueduct's six-furlong Interborough Handicap on New Year's Day and was a Grade 2 winner in 2007. Stunt Man, four-year-old gelding by Western Expression, he placed second in Aqueduct's Brushing Up Stakes at a mile and 70 yards on January 3 and won three stakes in 2007 -- two of them open. Spanky Fischbein, three-year-old ridgling by Hook and Ladder, he placed a close second to New York-bred Giant Moon in Aqueduct's Count Fleet Stakes at a mile and 70 yards on January 5 and was a stakes winner in 2007. Morning Gallop, five-year-old mare who recently has blossomed into a legitimate stakes performer, placing third in Aqueduct's open Squan Song Stakes (February 1) and second in Aqueduct's open Limit Stakes (March 6) -- both at a mile and 70 yards and the first stakes outings of her career. Now with earnings of $242,335 and a record of 6 - 4 - 6 in 28 starts, she has been a worthy $100,000 yearling purchase by owner Alan Brodsky, and her multiple stakes-winning half-sister, New York-bred Wake Up Kiss ($248,997), has a New York-bred stakes-placed three-year-old in Japan (see below). J'ray, five-year-old mare, placed third in Gulfstream Park's Grade 3 Suwannee River Handicap at a mile and an eighth on February 3; scored three open stakes victories on turf in 2007 -- two of them graded. Deities Day, three-year-old filly, placed third behind New York-bred winner Love Co in Aqueduct's Glory in Motion Stakes at a mile and 70 yards on February 3. Keep the Peace, three-year-old filly, placed second in Gulfstream Park's Grade 2 Forward Gal Stakes at seven furlongs -- beaten a nose -- on February 9. Big Truck, three-year-old colt by Hook and Ladder, he placed a closing second in Tampa Bay Downs' $200,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes at a mile and a sixteenth on February 16 and was a stakes-winning juvenile in 2007. He currently is regarded as a bona fide 2008 Kentucky Derby contender. Premium Wine, four-year-old colt by Prime Timber, he placed third behind undefeated New York-bred Bustin Stones in Laurel Park's Grade 2 General George Handicap at seven furlongs on February 18. Winner of an open $250,000 sprint stakes in 2007, he has earned $336,450. Sweet Vendetta, three-year-old filly, placed second in Aqueduct's Busher Stakes at a mile and a sixteenth on February 24. A Shin Forward, three-year-old colt, placed second in the $730,769 Arlington Cup at Hanshin in Japan going 1,600 meters (about a mile) on turf on March 1, boosting his earnings to the U.S. equivalent of $155,386 in his second career start -- and he is still a maiden. Bred by Vivien Malloy's Edition Farm and purchased for $290,000 by Hirotsugu Hirai of Oasak-Fu, Japan at Fasig-Tipton's 2006 Saratoga selected yearling sale, he was the 34.30-to-1 ninth choice among 12 starters in the Arlington Cup. His New York-bred stakes-winning dam, Wake Up Kiss, has two multiple stakes-placed half-sisters, including recently-emerging state-bred mare Morning Gallop (see above). |
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Karakorum Starlet fights to gritty pace-setting win in 29th Broadway by Rab Hagin
A tough competitor as a front-running sprinter who rarely surrenders her lead willingly or easily, Karakorum Farm's KARAKORUM STARLET led at all calls under top weight in Aqueduct's six-furlong Broadway Handicap for New York-bred fillies and mares on Sunday, scoring her fourth stakes victory in less than seven months. The five-year-old mare broke from the inside post as the 1.65-to-1 favorite among six starters with jockey Stewart Elliott on board for the third time in competition and immediately established her pace-setting position with an opening quarter-mile in 22.79. That was quick enough to take the starch out of her first challenger, 4.80-to-1 third choice Tamberino, who started dropping back in the second quarter, but 2.05-to-1 second choice Wishing Wishes -- coming off three consecutive six-furlong wins at Aqueduct -- pulled almost even with the front-runner at mid-stretch. Pounding away with her ground-devouring strides, Karakorum Starlet refused to yield command and in the final sixteenth began edging away from Wishing Wishes, who held on at the wire against a steadily-closing Scatkey, the 15-to-1 last choice making her first start off a 14-week layoff. Winning jockey Elliott has now ridden Karakorum Starlet to two wins and a second-placing in three stakes outings, having piloted the chestnut mare to a two-length tally in the slop in Aqueduct's six-furlong Ruby Rubles Stakes for state-bred fillies and mares 51 days earlier. The rider appears to have an astute understanding of the competitive New York-bred and acknowledged her willingness to put forth another excellent effort: "She tries hard and puts herself right in the race," Elliott explained. "She broke great, and she was right where she was supposed to be. It was all a question of whether she could hold them off at the end, and she did. It was fun -- once I got to the wire." Winning trainer Jeff Odintz, who sent out two New York-bred winners for Karakorum Farm on Aqueduct's Sunday card, was generous in his praise for the big mare whose first stakes effort had come seven months earlier: "She's just a nice horse, and I am glad for Karakorum," Odintz remarked. "We have a nice mare that just keeps ticking along. Just like a car, all we have to do is change the oil on her. Karakorum (Farm) puts a lot of hard work into this, and this one has been our best horse so far. Hopefully, she has a lot more races in her." Victory in the $80,400 Broadway increased Karakorum Starlet's earnings to $440,761 and improved her record to 8 - 8 - 1 in 26 starts, which includes three six-furlong stakes wins, one at seven furlongs ($125,000 Iroquois on New York Showcase Day 2007), plus two one-mile allowance wins at Belmont. Sunday's score marked her first effort in the Broadway -- an event in which earlier victories by Magnolia Jackson, Sensibly Chic, and Shawklit Mint had preceded subsequent Grade 2 wins by each of those relatively recent Broadway winners. Karakorum Starlet, who had been a $13,000 purchase at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's 2004 October yearling sale, races for the Karakorum Farm of racing partnerships managed by William DiScala, with offices in Rosedale, Long Island. 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, by the late leading New York sire Cormorant. The daughter of Skip Away is the first winner bred from Amaryllis by the New Jersey-based Jim Jam Thoroughbreds and Marvin Little Jr. of Virginia, who had consigned her to the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky auction. Karakorum Starlet descends from a female family that has produced New York-bred stakes winners for three consecutive generations. Dam Amaryllis is a full sister to graded winner and New York Thoroughbred Breeders 1994 Horse of the Year Mr. Angel ($378,662), and maternal granddam 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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