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Dagnabit! NY-bred 2yo wins Belmont's historic Tremont in game effort by Rab Hagin
Although an odds-on rival wilted from adversity, Lansdon Robbins III's and Thomas Hansen's New York homebred DAGNABIT simply dug in after breaking last from the outside post among five two-year-olds in Belmont's $105,300 Tremont Stakes on Sunday, then ran down a stubborn front-runner to score despite being carried wide late. The still-unbeaten juvenile son of Freud was a well-respected 4.40-to-1 second choice in the historic (116th running) 5-1/2-furlong event, but the "smart money" was backing Keeneland 9-1/4-length debut winner and $1.5-million sales two-year-old Mr Mistoffelees down to 35 cents on the dollar. In truth, neither colt had a good beginning: Mr Mistoffelees stumbled (stumbled "badly" is conjecture) after breaking on top from the inside post; Dagnabit broke flat-footed and spotted the rest of the field about a length two strides out of the gate. The New York-bred recovered and took off in three-wide pursuit of front-running 6-to-1 third choice Regardlesofoutcome, who by mid-stretch had extended his lead to 2-1/2 lengths, but Dagnabit was not to be denied. With 70 yards to go, the Robbins-Hansen homebred collared Regardlesofoutcome and raced alongside of that rival before suddenly gaining a half-length margin at the wire despite being carried out by the drifting front-runner. There was a nine-length gap back to the third-place finisher. Michelle Nevin, an assistant to winning trainer Richard Dutrow Jr., seemed nonchalant about what might have been perceived as a major upset: "It wasn't that much of a surprise, because he ran well the first time out, and he's been training really well up to this point," observed Nevin. The assistant added: "I don't know what's next for him." Winning jockey Cornelio Velasquez, who rode Dagnabit for the first time in competition in the Tremont for his second consecutive winning ride of the day, was obviously impressed: "I put him in a good spot early. I think he is a really nice horse." Dagnabit had won his debut against New York-breds going five furlongs at Belmont two weeks earlier, advancing from last among four after being steadied from the inside post and scoring by daylight against competition that included another Freud colt that won by 2-1/2 lengths at Belmont 11 days later (Thursday). Victory in the Tremont increased the colt's earnings in two starts to $92,580, and it also qualified his owner-breeders for an additional $22,876 in open race owner and breeder awards. The Tremont has a storied tradition rivaling any North American juvenile stakes event -- despite what mental machinations might transpire in the minds of the graded stakes committee members. Tremont winners in 2007 and 2005, Ready's Image and Henny Hughes respectively, captured Grade 2 stakes at Saratoga by big margins in their next starts, and Henny Hughes went on to become a multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire. Earlier Tremont winners include some serious heavy hitters: Man o' War, Buckpasser, Hail to Reason, Alydar, Track Barron, Gulch. Dagnabit is the second new stakes winner in 11 days and sixth overall to represent Freud, who stands at Becky Thomas's Sequel Stallions New York in Hudson and whose current year progeny earnings have reached $1.1-million, with cumulative offspring earnings from four crops of racing age at more than $5.2-million. The bay two-year-old is the second offspring and second winning son of Freud that Robbins and Hansen have bred (and raced) out of the winning mare Cool Ghoul, being a full brother to stakes-placed current four-year-old Bad Boy Rising ($112,962). Dagnabit has neither the running style nor the pedigree of a typical juvenile sprinter, with Cool Ghoul being a half-sister to Grade 2 Remsen winner Comeonmom ($230,350 in North America) and to the dams of Japanese stakes winner Cosmo Marvelous plus two stakes-placed winners, including Grade 1-placed Nolan's Cat ($382,307). His maternal granddam (second dam) is Grade 1 winner Single Blade ($294,218). The co-owner-breeder of Dagnabit, Robbins, is the founder and board chairman of Service Net Solutions, a warranty and service-management company based in Indiana right across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky. Robbins also raced previous New York-bred stakes winners Ice Cool Kitty ($367,821) and Message Red ($240,722) either individually or in partnership, but neither of those were homebreds. Dagnabit is the 16th New York-bred open black-type stakes winner of 2008, and the Tremont was the 19th open black-type event captured this year by a runner bred in the Empire State. Dagnabit also was the 40th New York-bred to finish in the top-three in a 2008 black-type stakes outside of state-bred competition. In 2007 through the first six months of the year, 11 New York-breds had captured 14 open black-type stakes events. |
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I Lost My Choo scores 1st stakes win with late rally in 1-mile Elmont S. by Rab Hagin
Coming off consecutive graded-placed grass efforts in April and May, Flying Zee Stable's homebred I LOST MY CHOO scored her first black-type victory in Belmont's one-mile Elmont Stakes for New York-bred three-year-old fillies on Saturday but found state-bred company almost as challenging as -- and possibly rougher than -- graded competition. The talented daughter of Western Expression was odds-on (.65-to-1) among seven in the virtual one-turn turf event but was bottled up near the back and next to the rail until exiting the turn, when she trailed a wall of rivals with nowhere to go. Jockey Edgar Prado, who was race-riding I Lost My Choo for the fourth consecutive time and had to steady her repeatedly on the turn, steered her outside at the three-sixteenths pole, allowing his mount to unleash a devastating stretch drive from near-last-to-first despite a 22.95 final quarter-mile. The Flying Zee homebred's head victory over Delehanty Stable's royally homebred third choice, Blitzen Too (6.70-to-1), was achieved by sprinting her own final quarter-mile split in about 22-1/5 seconds, getting her to the wire in 1:34.26. I Lost My Choo's April stakes debut -- following consecutive January-February-March wins on Gulfstream Park grass -- had been in Keeneland's graded Appalachian at a mile on turf, when she was rank on the first turn but placed third among 10 in a three-way photo-finish, missing victory by a head. The New York-bred missed out in another photo 45 days later in Belmont's Grade 2 Sands Point at a mile and an eighth on grass, getting nipped by a nose for second by a favored rival that was carrying two pounds less weight. In the four-week interval between the bay filly's Sands Point placing and her Elmont tally, trainer Philip Serpe had given I Lost My Choo grass workouts at Belmont on June 16 and 22, punctuating the latter work with a five-furlong "bullet" drill over five furlongs. Victory in the $77,750 Elmont increased I Lost My Choo's earnings to $151,640 and improved her record to four wins and two thirds in seven turf starts, with her only off-the-board effort coming in her juvenile debut last November at Aqueduct. A homebred for the Flying Zee Stable of Carl Lizza Jr. of Wharton, New Jersey and foaled at Highcliff Farm in Delanson that Lizza owns with Joseph Bartone, I Lost My Choo also qualified her owner-breeder for $12,595.50 in breeder and stallion owner awards because of her Elmont victory. Flying Zee Stable owns the filly's sire, Western Expression, whose other stakes winners include New York Thoroughbred Breeders 2007 Champion Three-Year-Old Male Stunt Man ($370,589) -- also bred by Flying Zee Stables (see 2007 NYTB Division Champions). Western Expression, who in a recent three-day span (Monday-Wednesday, June 23-25) had been represented by four winners, currently has progeny earnings of more than $5.9-million from four crops to race. Inbred 3 x 5 to unbeaten European superstar Ribot, I Lost My Choo is the eighth winner bred by Flying Zee Stables from turf winner Fairy Queen, who was from one of Tom Rolfe's last crops and had been purchased by Lizza for $45,000 at Keeneland's 1989 September yearling sale. I Lost My Choo has two winning full siblings, and her half-sister Kevin's Decision ($218,374) captured turf stakes at Belmont and Aqueduct, but Lizza has indicated that his current three-year-old filly possesses significantly more talent than any of Fairy Queen's previous offspring. There are at least five other winners by Western Expression produced from half-sisters to I Lost My Choo, including stakes-placed Everythings Groovy and recent (Wednesday, June 25) top-weighted Presque Isle Downs winner Dazzle Me Darlin ($119,486). Dam Fairy Queen is a half-sister to Puerto Rican champion Don Serafin ($140,521) and to stakes-placed seven-time winner Some Runaway. This is the old Meadow Stud (C. T. Chenery -- co-founder of the New York Racing Association) distaff family of two-time Eclipse Champion Riva Ridge. |
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Mission Approved and Tin Cup Chalice score pace-setting wins in G3 Singspiel at Woodbine and Belmont's Mike Lee by Rab Hagin
Free-wheeling front-runners MISSION APPROVED and TIN CUP CHALICE led throughout in length-and-a-half stakes victories on Sunday at Woodbine and Belmont respectively, as the former captured the Grade 3 Singspiel at a mile and a half on Canadian turf, and the latter took the seven-furlong Mike Lee for state-bred three-year-olds. Neither New York-bred was favored -- nor overlooked -- but somewhat surprising was the dominance that both showed while venturing into new venues against proven 2008 stakes-winning competition. The Singspiel marked the first outing away from the New York-New Jersey environs (and second start outside New York) for four-year-old Mission Approved, who is now a multiple graded winner on grass and ultimately is being pointed for the Breeders' Cup Turf, according to his owner-breeder. Unbeaten (five-for-five) Tin Cup Chalice was making his first start outside of Finger Lakes and his first effort beyond six furlongs in the Mike Lee, but he handled Belmont's big turn like a NYRA veteran to secure the first leg of the never-swept OTBs' Big Apple Triple. Could 2008 be the year of a New York-bred Breeders' Cup winner and/or a three-year-old that can sweep the OTBs' Big Apple Triple of the Mike Lee, Finger Lakes' mile and a sixteenth New York Derby, and Saratoga's mile and an eighth Albany Stakes -- thereby earning a $250,000 bonus? Neither has ever happened. The possibilities have never seemed more favorable. Dr. William Coyro Jr.'s homebred Mission Approved was supplemented to the Singspiel by three-time New York Thoroughbred Breeders Trainer of the Year Gary Contessa and then ridden in the $153,624 (U.S. funds) event for the first time by pick-up jockey Ramon Dominguez, who was substituting for injured Eibar Coa. Despite having been unplaced following a bad trip in Belmont's Kingston Handicap for state-breds going a mile and a sixteenth on yielding turf six weeks earlier, the bay colt was a well-respected 4.25-to-1 third choice among 12 in the Singspiel. Under rainy skies, the New York-bred immediately did what he does best in grass routes: Go to the front; dare any rival to go with him. Running six consecutive quarter-miles that varied in time by less than half a second, Mission Approved clicked off even splits of 25.20, 25.21, 24.87 (down Woodbine's long turf backstretch), 25.09, 25.29, and 24.97 over the "good" going while under strong restraint early. Fifth choice Tap Show (11.15-to-1) pursued closely before fading, and then 3.40-to-1 second choice Rahy's Attorney -- coming off a graded Woodbine turf win four weeks earlier -- challenged, but he could not close beyond a length and a half despite separating from the third-place finisher by almost six lengths. Mission Approved, who had been given four workouts -- three on turf -- at Saratoga after his unplaced effort in Belmont's Kingston off a 32-week layoff, was the first of two New York-bred winners on Woodbine's Sunday card, followed later by a three-year-old Freud colt that won on the main track. Owner-breeder Coyro, of Grosse Points Park, Michigan, was complimentary of his homebred graded winner and of Woodbine: "We were very confident in him," revealed Dr. Coyro. "It's very nice to bring a horse by With Approval (Mission Approved's sire had won the 1989 Canadian Triple Crown) back to Canada and win a big race. I can't be happier. The way Woodbine has treated us has been fantastic. "He (Mission Approved) really goes to the front, but he's got a tremendous amount of stamina," continued Dr. Coyro. "So we were pretty confident once he got the lead that he was going to keep it. I think we're going to look at a couple of graded stakes -- a mile and three-eighths, a mile and a half -- and (then) point for the Breeders' Cup (Turf, at a mile and a half), hopefully," concluded Dr. Coyro. Victory in the Singspiel increased Mission Approved's earnings to $308,275 and improved his record to 6 - 1 - 1 in 12 starts, which includes front-running turf tallies in Saratoga's graded Saranac Stakes at a mile and three-sixteenths and Meadowlands' mile and three-eighths Princeton Stakes plus dirt wins at Aqueduct and Belmont. The colt is the third of four racing-age offspring, all winners (six-year-old half-brother Spectacular Dixie won in Barbados), bred in New York from two-time dirt route winner Fortunate Find, whom Dr. Coyro had purchased for $27,000 as a two-year-old at an Ocala Breeders' Sales Company auction. For most of her racing career, Fortunate Find was trained by Contessa. Fortunate Find is a half-sister to a stakes-placed five-time turf winner of $172,885, and her dam -- a daughter of Spectacular Bid -- is a half-sister to four-time Grade 1 turf winner and course record-setter El Senor ($1,769,215). The late great Spectacular Bid, who stood in New York at Milfer Farm in Unadilla, also is the broodmare sire of Mike Lee winner Tin Cup Chalice. Mission Approved is the 15th New York-bred open black-type stakes winner of 2008 and the eighth graded state-bred winner this year, and the Singspiel was the 18th open stakes event captured in 2008 by a New York-bred. Those 18 open 2008 stakes victories have been scored at 11 tracks and racing facilities in New York, Ontario (Canada), Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, and Louisiana plus England. Mission Approved's Singspiel victory also highlighted the recent out-of-state success by New York-breds coast-to-coast and particularly in Canada. On an almost surrealistic Friday the 13th of June nine days earlier, 21 New York-breds had scored victories at 10 different tracks in seven U.S. states plus Saskatchewan and Manitoba (Canada), and five were allowance winners outside of state-bred competition. In number of New York-bred out-of-state winners on a single day, that was probably a record. Tin Cup Chalice looks sterling in front-running Mike Lee victory at Belmont
He's for real -- although he might not even be a sprinter. Michael Lecesse's and Scott Van Laer's homebred-and-trained Tin Cup Chalice made his first start outside of Finger Lakes a winning one in Belmont's $109,700 Mike Lee Stakes for New York-bred three-year-olds going seven furlongs, leading throughout and turning back three rivals after being bumped at the start. The Crusader Sword gelding probably took the worst of a bumper car break initiated by 20.70-to-1 Motor Patrol, who veered in from post five at the start and into Tin Cup Chalice in post four, resulting in bumping that ricocheted all the way down to post one. Tin Cup Chalice, who twice had beaten older foes in big-margin allowance wins at Finger Lakes in May and was bumped severely in the first of those outings, recovered quickly and sprinted to an opening quarter lead with a split just under 23 seconds (22.99). Jockey Pedro Rodriguez, who had ridden the bay gelding in his two 2008 Finger Lakes wins and had made the downstate trip for his mount's NYRA debut, allowed the unbeaten three-year-old to coast through a second quarter-mile in 23.53. Staying off the rail but negotiating Belmont's big turn like a pro and switching leads right on cue, Tin Cup Chalice drew off from early challenger Be Bullish -- a 2008 Aqueduct sprint stakes winner -- and reached mid-stretch with a two-length advantage over the 3.30-to-1 third choice, never-unplaced Megapixel. The last challenge came from near even-money (1.05-to-1) favorite Groomedforvictory, winner of Belmont's 6-1/2-furlong Screenland Stakes in May, but that rival closed barely more than a half-length through the final furlong, finishing a daylight margin behind Tin Cup Chalice, who won as the 4.50-to-1 third choice among eight. The victory more than doubled the gelding's earnings to $129,960 while putting his unbeaten record at five-for-five, which includes a victory in the open Finger Lakes Juvenile Stakes last November in his second of two outings in 2007 as a two-year-old. Tin Cup Chalice is owned by breeder-trainer Lecesse in partnership with Van Laer of Corra Cavalo Thoroughbreds LLC in Lake Placid, who bred the Mike Lee winner's two-year-old half-brother (Sultan of Dubai) that topped the first session of Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's 2008 May sale of juveniles at $230,000. Tin Cup Chalice's two half-siblings to race, both New York-bred winners, include Don Corleone, who won the 2004 New York Derby for owner-breeder Carmine Iorio at odds of 59-to-1. Although the seven-furlong Mike Lee was Tin Cup Chalice's longest effort to date, the gelding seems bred to handle two-turn distances up to nine furlongs at least, and Lecesse has been eagerly awaiting the OTBs' Big Apple Triple with its $250,000 bonus for sweeping the 59-day three-race series. "This series and the bonus are what we have been waiting for," acknowledged Lecesse prior to the Mike Lee. "If we can win on Sunday, then we have the New York Derby right back at Finger Lakes," continued Lecesse, who had given Tin Cup Chalice "bullet" workouts at Finger Lakes on June 9 and June 17 in preparation for the Mike Lee. "This horse loves Finger Lakes, and his half-brother, Don Corleone, won the New York Derby there in 2004." Among Tin Cup Chalice's previous outings, Lecesse felt his May 11 three-year-old debut off a 190-day layoff in a five-furlong open allowance against older rivals -- which he won by 4-1/4 lengths -- was his most impressive: "He actually got left at the gate," Lecesse recalled. "He got bumped and had to check, but he won anyway and showed us that he could rate if he had to. "This (the Mike Lee) is a step up for him because he will be facing tough horses," Lecesse had acknowledged beforehand, "but he is doing well, and he is a good horse, too," concluded Lecesse in what appears in retrospect to have been an understatement. Tin Cup Chalice's sire, Grade 1 winner Crusader Sword, stands at Beverly and Gary Least's Foggy Bottom Farm in Geneseo and scored his biggest victories at Saratoga. The stallion's leading money-earning offspring to date, Grade 2-winning millionaire and world record-setter Isitingood ($1,219,430), excelled at eight to nine furlongs (a mile to a mile and an eighth). The multiple stakes-producing New York-bred dam of Tin Cup Chalice, the Spectacular Bid mare Twice Forbidden, won twice at Finger Lakes as a three-year-old -- both times going two turns at a mile and up. Twice Forbidden is from the first New York-conceived crop of Hall of Fame member Spectacular Bid, who has sired the dams of about 90 stakes winners, including the dam of 2006 Eclipse Champion Bernardini. |
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Wishing Wishes holds on to capture $50,000 Susan B. Anthony Handicap by Matt Church
Edward Lipton's WISHING WISHES rallied to take the lead and then outran Talking Treasure to the finish line to capture the 29th running of the $50,000 Susan B. Anthony Handicap by a neck. Trained by Donna Bireta, Wishing Wishes shipped in from Aqueduct with his last on April a runner-up finish to Boss Tiffany. Wishing Wishes came into this $50,000 Handicap lightly raced with a record of four wins, two seconds, a third out of only ten starts and $128, 569 in earnings. Today's contest was for fillies and mares bred in the state of New York and going six furlongs. Seven rivals were set to go with last years winner Hoosick Falls the luke warm choice at $2.35 to 1. Hoosick Falls is coming into this race with a wire-to-wire four and one-quarter length score on Memorial Day in an $26,500 overnight Handicap at six furlongs. Hoosick Falls is not the only speed in today's test. Carmen Sequin's Sweet Lorena was making her first start of the year and in search of her sixth straight tally. All those scores were in front-running fashion. Sweet Lorena with Robert Messina astride, rushed out and contested the lead with Hoosick Falls and stopped the timer for the first quarter in a very quick 21.92. Sweet Lorena shook free from Hoosick Falls on the turn with the half mile clocked in 45.31. Sweet Lorena was collared into the lane by Wishing Wishes and Talking Treasure was ready to pounce at any moment. The three reached the eighth pole together with Wishing Wishes in between. Wishing Wishes responded to steady pressure and outran Talking Treasure to the wire for a neck decision. Sweet Lorena weakened some but finished a respectable third. Wishing Wishes covered the distance over a fast track in 1:11.39 and earned $30,000. Wishing Wishes was the fourth choice in the wagering and returned $11.60. Bred by Sez Who Thoroughbred, the four year old filly by Graeme Hall out of Arunforyourmoney by Runaway Groom now has five career scores out of only 11 tries and $158,569 in money won. Also, the lightly raced runner qualified for $3,000 in breeders' awards. |
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Weathered wins by 4-1/2 in $160,300 Susan's Girl at Delaware Park by Rab Hagin
Unleashing an accelerated third quarter-mile that put away one rival and demoralized the rest of her competition, Chevalier Stable's New York homebred WEATHERED romped to a 4-1/2-length gate-to-wire victory in Delaware Park's $160,300 Susan's Girl Stakes for three-year-old fillies going a mile and a sixteenth on Saturday. The talented chestnut had captured Aqueduct's open 6-1/2-furlong Lizzy Cool Stakes by 2-1/4 lengths nine weeks earlier and was coming off a 10-length Finger Lakes romp just 20 days earlier, but she somehow was dismissed as the 12.10-to-1 fifth choice among six for the Susan's Girl. All signs pointed towards a front-running upset, which is exactly what happened. Breaking on top from the inside post under jockey Anna Napravnik -- her fifth rider in eight starts -- Weathered set an easy 25.32 opening quarter before quickening her second quarter-mile slightly to 24.84, as 2.10-to-1 second choice and previously unbeaten (two-for-two) Never Retreat pressed the pace from the outside. The New York-bred's third quarter-mile of 23.70 was negotiated so effortlessly that the move was not readily apparent, but when she deftly cut the corner into the stretch like a star punt returner, her margin over her pursuing foes suddenly became gaping and growing. Favored African Violet (1.70-to-1), who was exiting a 2-3/4-length stakes win at Delaware Park a month earlier at the same distance as the Susan's Girl, edged out Never Retreat for second, and 2008 two-turn graded winner Awesome Chic -- the 2.80-to-1 third choice -- finished fourth. It was the third winning ride on Delaware Park's Saturday card for jockey Napravnik. The victory boosted Weathered's earnings over the $200K mark to $206,373 and improved her record to six wins and one third-placing in eight career starts at Laurel (where she has won twice), Aqueduct (where she has won on the outer and inner main tracks), Belmont, Finger Lakes, and Delaware Park. The filly had been given a five-furlong "bullet" workout at Suffolk Downs six days prior to the Susan's Girl by trainer Karl Grusmark, who has big summer goals for Weathered: "I thought this race came up tough, but I thought we would run good," acknowledged Grusmark. "She has been doing real good," the trainer continued. "Every race she has run has been a good race. Her only poor race was in New York (Belmont) a couple of races back (the seven-furlong Bouwerie Stakes for New York-bred three-year-old fillies on May 4), and she was in heat. We came back and had her run at Finger Lakes just to get her sharp for this race. We had been looking at this race (the Susan's Girl) for a couple months. "We will certainly nominate (Weathered) to the Delaware Oaks," added Grusmark in reference to the $500,000 Grade 2 event for three-year-old fillies at a mile and a sixteenth scheduled to be run at Delaware Park on Saturday, July 12. The 2007 winner of the Susan's Girl, four-time 2007-2008 stakes winner Moon Catcher, had won the Delaware Oaks in her next start. Weathered's owner-breeder, Edward Shapoff of Chevalier Stable in Pelham, is a long-time client of Carl Lizza Jr.'s and Joseph Bartone's Highcliff Farm in Delanson, where Weathered was foaled and where the filly's syndicated Grade 1-winning sire, Key Contender, stands. Key Contender's stakes winners also include another versatile filly/mare, New England-based icon Ask Queenie ($565,725), and the Susan's Girl victory by the stallion's latest distaff dynamo has pushed his progeny earnings to close to the $7-million mark. Weathered -- a half-sister to stakes-placed nine-time winner Dare to Be Great ($191,441) -- is the fifth winner produced from New York-bred stakes-placed winner Thunder Stand, who was trained by Stanley Shapoff. Thunder Stand, who is by former leading New York-bred money-earner Thunder Puddles (last reported to be enjoying life as a pensioner at Highcliff Farm), is a half-sister to New York-bred stakes winners Liver Stand ($248,106) and Endsaseeket and to three other stakes-placed winners, including Boundanddetermined ($205,503). Weathered is among 14 New York-bred winners of 2008 black-type stakes outside state-bred competition, and the Susan's Girl was the 17th open black-type event captured this year by a New York-bred. Those 17 stakes victories have been scored at 10 different tracks in New York, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, Louisiana, Delaware, and England. Shortly after the Susan's Girl, another New York-bred four-year-old filly, E El R Stable's Chestoria ($165,330), missed by a neck as runner-up in Monmouth's graded Eatontown Handicap for fillies and mares going a mile and a sixteenth on turf, finishing with winner Social Queen in a near stakes record 1:40.40. Bred by Dr. Douglas Koch's Berkshire Stud in Pine Plains in partnership with Tom Tatham's Oak Cliff Breeders Inc. and trained by William Badgett Jr., the May-foaled Chestoria had been an open stakes winner on Belmont's lawn as a 2006 juvenile. Her graded runner-up effort as the 4.90-to-1 fourth choice among eight starters in the Eatontown put the dark bay filly's record at 3 - 2 - 1 in eight starts. Chestoria is among 36 New York-breds that have finished in the top-three in open (to horses bred anywhere) black-type stakes in 2008, and her Eatontown placing was the 59th top-three effort by a New York-bred outside state-bred competition this year. Those 59 top-three performances have been registered at 22 different tracks and racing facilities in 12 U.S. states plus England and Japan. |
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Stormin Normandy gets first stakes win in Papua by Rab Hagin
Now with six wins at five different distances by margins totaling 26 lengths, IEAH Stables', Andrew Cohen's, and Pegasus Holding Group Stables' odds-on STORMIN NORMANDY led at all calls to score his first stakes victory in Belmont's 6-1/2-furlong Papua Stakes for New York-breds on Thursday. The four-year-old had finished first in Belmont's six-furlong Hudson Handicap on New York Showcase Day last October but was placed second for drifting into undefeated Ferocious Fires, and in 2008's first four months he had won Aqueduct allowances at 5-1/2 furlongs, six furlongs, and a one-turn mile. Although the Papua's seven starters included an eight-time stakes winner (3.45-to-1 third choice Gold and Roses) and an open stakes winner (Coined for Success), Stormin Normandy was bet down to .85-to-1 to register his first stakes tally and did not disappoint. Breaking from the sixth post in his seventh career outing under jockey Cornelio Velasquez, Stormin Normandy was hustled to a short lead over top-breaking Market Psychology -- the 3.15-to-1 second choice -- on his outside by sprinting a near-suicidal opening quarter-mile in 21.75. Although his next quarter dropped off almost a full second to 22.74 for a still-fast 44.49 half-mile fraction, the odds-on colt extended his margin over Market Psychology to a full length and then put daylight between himself and that rival, who was carrying two pounds less weight. Stormin Normandy was slow to switch to his right lead while continuing to decelerate through the stretch, and four others behind Market Psychology continued narrowing the gap, but at the wire Velasquez's mount remained clear of his closest pursuer, who was still clear of everyone else. It was Stormin Normandy's fourth victory with Velasquez on board and his first encounter with Market Psychology -- a son of Freud and youngest starter in the Papua -- since the two had debuted at Saratoga in 2006, with Market Psychology winning and Stormin Normandy finishing fifth. Victory in the Papua -- named for Barry Schwartz's homebred winner of Aqueduct's Hollie Hughes Handicap for three consecutive years (2003-2004-2005) -- increased Stormin Normandy's earnings to $244,310 and improved his record to six wins and three runner-up efforts in 12 starts. Just 13 days earlier, the dark bay front-runner had missed by only a half-length while spotting two pounds to winner Stud Muffin in Belmont's mile and a sixteenth Noble Nashua Stakes for New York-breds, which had been his first effort at beyond a mile. Stormin Normandy is owned by the IEAH (International Equine Acquisitions Holdings) Stables that are managed by Michael Iavarone of Holbrook, Long Island, Andrew Cohen, and the Pegasus Holding Group Stables, LLC of asset manager James Tagliaferri of Saint Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He is conditioned by New York Thoroughbred Breeders 2002 Trainer of the Year Richard Dutrow Jr. These connections also are involved in 2008 Kentucky Derby-Preakness winner Big Brown. Stormin Normandy had been purchased for $100,000 by the Circle C Stables of Jeffrey Cooper of East Alton, Illinois at Fasig-Tipton's 2005 Saratoga preferred sale of New York-bred yearlings and subsequently had been the top-priced New York-bred at Fasig-Tipton Florida's 2006 February sale of selected two-year-olds at Calder, bringing $375,000. Despite his reported change in ownership for a $275,000 pinhooking profit, the colt's two starts as a juvenile and his maiden-breaking three-year-old seasonal debut at Belmont in June of 2007 had been under the colors of Circle C Group Stables. He had broken his maiden in his first outing under Dutrow's care and had made his first start for IEAH Stables and Cohen in the 2007 Hudson in which he had finished first and was placed second. Bred by the Fiddlers Green Stable of Joan Simpson of Sagamore Beach, Massachusetts and foaled at Christopher Bernhard's Hidden Lake Farm LLC in Otisville, Stormin Normandy is the fourth offspring, fourth winner, and second six-figure-earner produced from Patriotism, whom Questroyal Stable had purchased for $14,500 at Keeneland's 2000 November sale. Patriotism -- a half-sister to the dam of juvenile stakes winner Treasureathend -- had been carrying her first New York-bred at the time of that purchase. The mare's third offspring, Fiddlers Pleasure ($142,125), won an Aqueduct allowance going a mile and a sixteenth on turf, but Stormin Normandy has never been tried on grass. |
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Rewrite reveals sprint speed with swift stretch rally in Dynamic Lisa by Rab Hagin
In her second start off a six-month layoff and first victory in a sprint, Amherst Stable's homebred REWRITE rallied from fifth-to-first among six New York-bred fillies and mares to win Belmont's seven-furlong Dynamic Lisa Stakes by 2-1/2 lengths on Thursday, clocking 1:22.67 over a "good" turf course. It was the five-year-old mare's fourth win and third stakes tally on a grass strip other than firm, and she was the logical favorite at 1.30-to-1 in her seventh career outing and third stakes score under jockey Garrett Gomez. The damp course and Rewrite's proven talent over moist sod apparently prompted defections of four regular starters from the $80,500 event, including Them There Eyes, who 18 days earlier had won Belmont's mile and an eighth Mount Vernon Handicap, with Rewrite placing third under five pounds more weight. The six remaining starters in the Dynamic Lisa -- five of them already stakes winners -- produced a contest that was as fast and formful as any graded distaff turf sprint. Reserved on the outside in fifth place for a half-mile while 16.10-to-1 last choice Tamberino set brisk quarter-mile splits of 23.45 and 23.27, Rewrite exited the turn angling towards the middle of the course and overtook four rivals within the next quarter-mile, which she covered in close to 23-flat. At mid-stretch, her head was in front of 2.10-to-1 second choice Mohegan Sky, who was coming off a six-furlong turf stakes win at Belmont 33 days earlier, and she drew off with ears pinned through the final furlong, running her last three-eighths in about 35.25. Victory in the Dynamic Lisa -- named for Herbert and Carol Schwartz's homebred winner of a division of Saratoga's 2003 Yaddo Handicap and previously run at a mile at Belmont last September -- increased Rewrite's earnings to $397,695 and improved her record to 8 - 1 - 3 in 15 starts. It was her fifth stakes score overall and third black-type tally on Belmont's lawn in a record that includes a runner-up effort in the 2007 Dynamic Lisa and a third-placing in her only other turf sprint venture, Belmont's seven-furlong Stage View for state-bred females almost a year earlier. Rewrite was the second consecutive homebred turf winner sent out on Belmont's Thursday card by trainer Christophe Clement. Rewrite is a homebred for the one-horse Amherst Stable of sisters Karen and Kathy Johnson, whose late father, Hall of Fame trainer Philip G. (P.G.) Johnson, had selected the mating of Amherst Stable's homebred multiple graded-placed Fickle Friends ($254,130) with Grade 1 winner Editor's Note -- resulting in Rewrite. According to the two sisters, Rewrite was among the last horses for which P. G. Johnson had arranged the pedigree: "Dad had always liked Editor's Note and thought he would be a good sire and supply stamina," recalled Karen Johnson to The Blood-Horse magazine. The Amherst Stable homebred is the first offspring and the first of two winners produced from Fickle Friends, who scored six of her seven wins on turf and is a half-sister to Amherst Stable's homebred Volponi ($3,187,232), 6-1/2-length winner of the 2002 Breeders' Cup Classic at odds of 43.50-to-1. P. G. Johnson had purchased the New York-bred dam of Volponi and Fickle Friends, Prom Knight, for $8,000 from Howard Kaskel's Sugar Maple Farm at Fasig-Tipton's 1993 Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale. Because Rewrite had been a big favorite with P. G. Johnson, the Johnson sisters kept her out of the dispersal of Amherst horses: "Dad had talked about Rewrite a lot and was always showing pictures of her as a weanling," Karen Johnson further recalled. "It's nice we kept the one who turned out to be a good one and kept the legacy going." Included in the Amherst dispersal was Rewrite's dam, Fickle Friends, who was purchased by Nobuo Tsunoda of Japan for $425,000 at Keeneland's 2005 January sale while carrying a filly by Cryptoclearance -- later named Fickle Berry -- that subsequently won her juvenile debut in Japan in 2007. |
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Brookhaven's Money and Study Abroad win divisions of NY Stallion Stakes convincingly by Rab Hagin
New York-bred stalkers scored their first stakes victories off devastating stretch runs in Belmont's one-mile New York Stallion Stakes divisions for New York-conceived three-year-olds on Sunday -- the Spectacular Bid for males and the Cupecoy's Joy for fillies -- as BROOKHAVEN'S MONEY captured the former, and STUDY ABROAD romped in the latter. Other than the fact that neither winner had contested the early leads, the two have widely divergent backgrounds: Study Abroad is a homebred with previous proven stakes class; Brookhaven's Money had been claimed only 16 days prior to his first stakes venture and victory. Both appeared almost eager to stretch out to longer, two-turn distances. Gabrielle Farm's homebred Study Abroad was coming off a mini-layoff following her last-to-almost-first nose miss after being bumped at the break in Aqueduct's seven-furlong New York Stallion Park Avenue Stakes seven weeks earlier. With new jockey Garrett Gomez on board for the first time in competition, the daughter of Wheelaway broke on top from the outside post as the 2.35-to-1 second choice among eight starters and raced in sixth place for a half-mile before making a dramatic four-wide move on the turn. Sweeping around four rivals within a quarter-mile, Study Abroad engaged 4.10-to-1 third choice and new leader Megadeed at the quarter-pole and quickly took command, drawing off to a 5-1/2-length margin at the wire. It was Gomez's second winning ride in the Cupecoy's Joy -- named for Robert Perez's New York homebred multiple Grade 1-winning three-year-old filly of 1982 -- in the past three years. Bred and owned by the Gabrielle Farm of John Acierno III of Brooklyn, Study Abroad increased her earnings to $85,660 with her first stakes score and improved her record to 2 - 1 - 1 in five starts -- all in 2008. She had broken her maiden by 10-1/2 lengths going a two-turn mile and 70 yards on Aqueduct's inner track in March and 20 days later had placed third going a one-turn allowance mile on Aqueduct's outer track prior to dropping back to seven furlongs for the Park Avenue. During the gray/roan filly's subsequent seven-week hiatus from competition, New York Thoroughbred Breeders (NYTB) 2002 Trainer of the Year Richard Dutrow Jr. had given her four workouts at Belmont and Aqueduct. Study Abroad is the second New York homebred stakes winner sired by syndicated Wheelaway to race for Gabrielle Farm under Dutrow's care -- following 2007 Aqueduct sprint stakes winner Margies Smile. Her Cupecoy's Joy victory pushed the progeny earnings from two crops to race by Wheelaway -- winner of the 2000 Tampa Bay Derby and standing at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, LLC in Saratoga Springs -- to about $1.8-million. Study Abroad, who had been consigned to Fasig-Tipton's 2006 Saratoga sale of New York-bred preferred yearlings but did not meet her reserve off a final bid of $27,000, is the first winner produced from three-time winner Our Lady T, who had raced for Gabrielle Farm. At the end of her racing career in late 2002, Our Lady T had been running with some inexpensive claiming tags even though she was a winning half-sister to the dams of three six-figure-earning stakes winners and out of a stakes-winning mare. Brookhaven's Money bulls past more experienced rivals in Spectacular Bid
As the lowest money-earner in Belmont's New York Stallion Spectacular Bid Stakes and the only starter with fewer than five previous outings, Herbert and Carol Schwartz's recently-claimed Brookhaven's Money was overlooked at 8.80-to-1, but after his "get-outa-my-way" winning stretch drive, he probably will not be overlooked again. Sixteen days earlier in a four-length win at Belmont, the Precise End colt had been claimed for $35,000 by the Schwartz couple -- who generally race homebreds -- from the 2006-2007 leading North American owner in races won, Maggi Moss, who is known for making successful claims. Brookhaven's Money has now won three consecutive races -- all at different distances -- by daylight margins totaling 12-1/4 lengths within a 53-day span at Aqueduct and Belmont. His $45,000 in purse money for winning the Spectacular Bid handily covered his $35,000 claiming price, but the chestnut colt also had earned $39,200 for Moss in the four-month span since she had claimed him for $25,000 in his January debut at Aqueduct. Brookhaven's Money's Spectacular Bid score boosted his total bankroll to $84,288 while improving his overall record to three wins and one second in five starts. The first owner under whose colors Brookhaven's Money had raced was Mark Lewis, who had purchased the colt for $45,000 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2007 April sale of two-year-olds in training in Florida. In retrospect, that appears to have been a wise purchase. Race-ridden in the Spectacular Bid for the first time by jockey Javier Castellano, Brookhaven's Money remained in fourth place until reaching the quarter-pole, at which point he appeared to have no avenue for advancement -- so he made his own opening. Bulling past front-running second choice Fort Drum on his inside and new leader Fortune Faded on his outside, the Schwartz standard-bearer gained command in the final furlong and drew off to a length-and-a-half victory that was made official after an objection lodged by Fort Drum's rider had been disallowed. The owners of Brookhaven's Money, the Schwartz couple of Woodmere, have bred and raced such New York-bred standouts as Critical Eye (see New York-bred Millionaires Club) and Thunder Puddles ($791,695). Herbert Schwartz was honored by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders as the New York Breeder of the Year for 2001 and also the Small Breeder of the Year (20 or fewer runners) for that same season. Brookhaven's Money is trained by Herbert Schwartz's son, Scott Schwartz, who also conditioned Critical Eye. Brookhaven's Money is the third winner of a June Stallion Stakes event (Spectacular Bid or Cupecoy's Joy divisions) sired by current Japanese-based Precise End, whose 2003 offspring, One Way Flight and No Reason, captured the 2006 versions of the Spectacular Bid and Cupecoy's Joy, respectively. The improving three-year-old was bred by the NYTB three-time Breeder of the Year, Richard Simon's Sez Who Thoroughbreds, and is the seventh starter and seventh winner produced from six-time winner Foxy Grand, whom Simon's New Dawn Stud had purchased for $14,500 at Keeneland's 2000 November sale. Brookhaven's Money's winning half-siblings include graded-placed 17-time winner Grand End Sweep ($632,360) and stakes-placed New York-bred filly/mare Sweeping Glance. His dam is a half-sister to stakes winners Boldly Dared and Adam Blue and to the stakes-placed dam of multiple stakes winner Delray Dew ($313,312) as well as to the unraced dam of stakes winner Barrister. The female family of Brookhaven's Money features several hard-hitting runners that seem blessed with soundness. In Belmont's open Beautiful Pleasure Stakes for fillies and mares going a mile and a sixteenth on turf and run between the two Stallion Stakes divisions, E El Stable's New York-bred Chestoria closed from sixth among eight to place third after having won her 2008 Belmont debut 24 days earlier. Now with earnings of $135,330 off a 3 - 1 - 1 record in six starts -- five on grass -- the four-year-old filly that was bred by Berkshire Stud and Oak Cliff Breeders became the 36th state-bred to finish in the top-three in a 2008 black-type stakes outside state-bred competition. Her third-placing in the Beautiful Pleasure was the 56th top-three performance registered this year in an open (to horses bred anywhere) black-type event by a runner bred in the Empire State. |
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