EMPIRE CLASSIC H. - 10th Race - $250,000 - WELL FANCIED

WELL FANCIED

(10/18) Well Fancied stays in front in Empire Classic by Rab Hagin

VIDEO REPLAYS

Maid of the Mist S. (modem) (broadband)

Sleepy Hollow S. (modem) (broadband)

Iroquois H. (modem) (broadband)

Hudson H. (modem) (broadband)

Mohawk H. (modem) (broadband)

Ticonderoga H. (modem) (broadband)

Empire Classic H. (modem) (broadband)

Stretching out to the longest distance effort of his career, favored WELL FANCIED got the lead and the rail and never gave up his advantage in Belmont's $250,000 Empire Classic Handicap for New York-bred three-year-olds and up Saturday, holding off the event's two-time winner, Gander, by half a length. Ridden for the fourth consecutive time -- and fourth victory -- by Edgar Prado, the 1.45-to-1 gelding withstood repeated challenges from gray 68.50-to-1 Mr. Determined, to whom he was conceding 12 pounds as the 124-pound topweight, and had a 2 1/2-length mid-stretch lead following a mile in 1:36.23. Making a late outside charge in the final furlong, though, was an older gray, the now almost white Gander, who had been steadied on the turn and had to drop back to fourth before making another run. Gander, the 4.40-to-1 third choice among the nine Empire Classic starters and winner of that one-turn mile and an eighth event in 1999 (as a three-year-old) and 2002, closed on his front-running rival like a Halloween ghost, but at the wire, Well Fancied was safe by a diminishing margin. Mr. Determined, the last choice in a stellar field that included two Grade 2 winners (Gander and 3.80-to-1 second choice Private Emblem) and a Grade 3 winner in 2003 (23.10-to-1 eighth choice Spite the Devil, who finished fourth) held on to finish third, 3 1/4 lengths behind Gander. Well Fancied's winning time over a track that had been classified "good" five races earlier was 1:49.49.
"The first part of the race unfolded the way I thought it would," remarked winning trainer Richard Dutrow Jr., who was voted New York Thoroughbred Breeders Trainer of the Year for 2002. "It looked like (trainer) Mike Hushion's horse (Traffic Chief) was going to keep Gander down on the inside, and that worked out to our favor. Everything went our way. We might be stretching him going a mile and an eighth with a lot of weight, but he came through."
Prado continues to be impressed with Well Fancied's well-documented speed: "He was pretty comfortable. He's a fast horse, but he does things easy. I was trying to save as much as I could for the stretch. I knew someone was coming, but I didn't know it was Gander. He still had enough to hold on."
Dutrow has ambitious plans for Well Fancied, but they apparently do not include two turns: "I think we are going to run him back in the Cigar Mile (Grade 1, $350,000, Saturday, November 29, HolidayFest, at Aqueduct). He likes Aqueduct a lot, and one turn is his game. We couldn't be happier with him right now."
Well Fancied, who races for Brooklyn native Sanford Goldfarb of old Westbury in partnership with Stewart Hoffman and Jonathan Flesig, picked up $150,000 in purse money for his biggest stakes victory to date, boosting his earnings to $628,606 and improving his record to 10 - 4 - 4 in 26 starts. Goldfarb, New York's leading owner in races won in 2001 and 2002, is a commodities floor trader on the New York Mercantile Exchange who earlier this year had received the inaugural Paul Mellon Award as Outstanding Owner of 2002 from the New York Turf Writers Association. Well Fancied's last four starts this year -- all victories -- have including tallies by 4 1/2 lengths and by 5 1/2 lengths, respectively, in Belmont's Evan Shipman and General Douglas MacArthur Handicaps, and at Belmont's 2002 New York Showcase Day he had captured the six-furlong Hudson Handicap. Well Fancied has won the General Douglas MacArthur Handicap the last two years in a row. Gander's latest effort increased his earnings by $50,000 to $1,749,050, vaulting him past New York-bred L'Carriere ($1,726,175) to make him the third-leading New York-bred of all time behind multi-millionaires Funny Cide and Say Florida Sandy (see Millionaires Club).
Bred by Seymour Cohn of New York City, who previously had raced the now five-year-old gelding in his own colors and qualified for the maximum $10,000 breeder award, Well Fancied is among five stakes winners sired by New York stallion Prosper Fager (Mr. Prospector - Princess Fager, by Dr. Fager). Prosper Fager, whose progeny earnings have just gone over $4.9-million, was last reported as standing at Diane Szymczak's Meadow Hill Lane Farm in Pine Bush as the property of that farm. Prosper Fager's owners at the time of Well Fancied's conception, the Billings Partnership of Robert and Michele Billings of Naples, Florida, qualified for the maximum $10,000 stallion award. Well Fancied is the only offspring produced from Patty's Fancy Tric, a daughter of Tricky Creek (by Clever Trick) who placed once at Aqueduct in two starts as a two-year-old for breeder Cohn. Well Fancied's second dam is Elpaso Patty, who won three stakes at Suffolk Downs.

MOHAWK H. - 9th Race - $150,000 - QUIET RULER

QUIET RULER

(10/18) Quiet Ruler again an upset ruler in Mohawk with 4 1/2-length win by Rab Hagin
The combination of crisp New York fall weather and soft-or-yielding turf apparently work wonders for QUIET RULER, whose back-to-back wins last year under those conditions included a victory in Belmont's Mohawk Handicap at 45.50-to-1, because on Showcase Saturday 2003 he again won the Mohawk -- at a mere 20.40-to-1. Ridden for the 13th time by John Velazquez, who had been aboard for his 2002 victories, the five-year-old gelding broke on top in the $150,000 two-turn mile and an eighth event and relaxed in third place behind front-running second choice Quantum Merit (2.65-to-1) and favored Irish Colonial (1.70-to-1). After three-quarters of a mile, Quiet Ruler was at Quantum Merit's throatlatch, but he took off over the soft turf once he reached the stretch, drawing away to a five-length lead at the eighth pole and winning by 4 1/2 lengths over 33.20-to-1 ninth choice Salute Him. The eighth choice chestnut covered his final furlong over the squishy going in 11.93 seconds, as the last two picks among the nine starters in the grass event, which was for three-year-olds and up, finished first and second.
Winning trainer Russell Mueller acknowledged that conditions were ideal: "He's a cool-weather horse that likes soft ground. He bled in his last race, so we treated him a little different. I couldn't get anyone to ride, so I tried to give the kid (Wilson Dieguez) a chance, but he left town. He's a nice horse who is pretty tough when he gets the right conditions."
Velazquez, who has now ridden Quiet Ruler to five victories (four times on turf other than firm) and picked up the mount for the Mohawk, was obviously happy with his third winning ride on Belmont's Showcase Day card: "He ran great. I asked him, and it was there. It was a real easy ride."
The victory earned $90,000 for owners Randy Sarf and Catalina Mueller's Old Brookside Farm, boosting Quiet Ruler's earnings to $384,279 and improving his record to 7 - 5 - 2 in 40 starts. Bred by Marlene Brody's Gallagher's Stud in Ghent, which qualified for a $9,000 breeder award, the chestnut gelding had been a $17,000 purchase out of Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's 1999 October yearling sale. Quiet Ruler is by former Irish juvenile champion Woodman and is the only winner produced from New York-bred Rivermorn, a Riverman mare bred and owned by Gallagher's Stud. Rivermorn is a full sister to German stakes winner Magical River and a half-sister to stakes winners Alphabatim (Grade 1 and Group 1 winner of $1,300,384), Puzzle Book (dam of three graded winners), Gran Alba (in Ireland), and 2003 Group 3 Norwegian winner Royal Experiment.

HUDSON H.- 8th Race - $125,000 - ONE N THREE

ONE N THREE

(10/18) One N Three charges late to get first stakes win in Hudson by Rab Hagin
A lightly-raced four-year-old who had scored three of his four previous wins at seven furlongs, D and B Stable's homebred ONE N THREE capitalized on a sizzling early pace to register his first stakes victory in Belmont's $125,000 Hudson Handicap for New York-breds going six furlongs on Showcase Saturday. Setting things up nicely for the dark bay colt was the only three-year-old in the contest, odds-on (.70-to-1) favorite Bossanova, who had won Belmont's $117,000 Mike Lee Stakes for New York-bred three-year-olds going seven furlongs by an astounding 13 1/4 lengths in his latest previous effort on June 28. Bossanova ripped off fractions of 21.72 and 44.91 and held a 3 1/2-length mid-stretch lead following a 57.21 five-eighths clocking, but was caught late by Impeachthepro (17.80-to-1) along with second choice No Parole (4.80-to-1) and One N Three (11.40-to-1) -- the fifth choice among nine starters. The D and B Stable homebred had been running in sixth place for most of the race before jockey Shaun Bridgmohan swung him wide into the stretch, where he passed five rivals on the outside -- four in the final furlong -- to win pulling ahead by three-quarters of a length. Impeachthepro (now $538,269), who was coming off an open allowance victory at Fort Erie on September 23 and was the sixth choice in the contest, placed second, a neck ahead of 2002 Mike Lee Stakes winner No Parole, who likewise finished a neck ahead of Bossanova. One N Three's winning time was 1:10.26.
Winning trainer Jonathan Buckley, who is based at Finger Lakes, acknowledged that Bossanova's blistering early pace was a help to One N Three -- a colt that appears to have the running style and pedigree of a miler: "Everything worked out well. This horse got the pace he needs to run at. I really don't know what we're going to do with him next. I'll talk it over with the owners, and if they want to bring him down again, we'll do that. I like to take each day as it comes. I'm really enjoying this win. It's great."
Jockey Bridgmohan, who last had ridden One N Three in the colt's latest previous win on November 5, 2002, at Aqueduct, pointed out that his mount ran well in the early part of the Hudson even though he was towards the back: "He broke good," Bridgmohan observed. "I had to hustle him along for the first part of the race because the pace up front was going pretty quick. But it worked out really well for him. Once I wheeled him out and got him to the outside, he came with a really nice run."
One N Three's first stakes victory increased his earnings by $75,000 to $229,950 and improved his record to 5 - 6 - 2 in 13 starts, and it also qualified owner-breeder Andrew Kruger, who campaigns the colt in the name of D and B Stable, for the maximum $10,000 breeder award. One N Three had placed second twice in two starts as a two-year-old in 2001 before being laid off for almost seven months, then had won four of eight starts as a three-year-old -- at Belmont, Saratoga, and Aqueduct (twice) -- before being given another 10 months off. He had returned to competition to place second in a restricted Finger Lakes allowance at six furlongs on September 7 and had finished third in an open seven-furlong Belmont allowance on October 4.
One N Three is the 33rd stakes winner sired by deceased New York stallion Dixie Brass, whose daughter from that same 1999 crop, Princess Dixie, had scored her sixth stakes victory two races earlier in Belmont's $125,000 Iroquois Handicap for fillies and mares going seven furlongs. In one afternoon, the progeny earnings for Dixie Brass have gone over $21.4-million cumulatively and topped $3.1-million for 2003, and One N Three's Hudson Handicap tally qualified Dixie Brass's owner, Michael Watral of Central Islip, Long Island, for a $5,250 stallion award (Watral's second such award for Saturday). One N Three is among four New York-bred winners produced from durable New York-bred Belmont allowance winner Patsy McCann Can ($143,472), who is by Secret Prince. He is a full brother to 2003 one-start winning three-year-old filly Dixie Can Can (4 1/2-length winner at Belmont in July) and a half-brother to two other winners, including 2003 stakes-placed winner Lady Button Eyes. Dam Patsy McCann Can, whom One N Three's owner-breeder, Kruger, had acquired privately in the late 1990s, won 10 races at Aqueduct and Belmont -- eight of them at beyond a mile -- in the early 1990s.

TICONDEROGA H. - 7th Race - $150,000 - LADY BI BI

LADY BI BI

(10/18) Lady Bi Bi scores first stakes victory in Ticonderoga by Rab Hagin
Tri County Stables' homebred LADY BI BI extended her 2003 fall winning streak to three in a row on Showcase Saturday, capturing Belmont's $150,000 Ticonderoga Handicap on turf for New York-bred fillies and mares to notch her first stakes victory and first tally at a mile and an eighth. Ridden for the sixth -- and third consecutive -- time by Jose Santos, the four-year-old filly broke towards the back of the pack among 12 starters from the eighth post position in the two-turn event, going off as the 12.50-to-1 fifth choice. She was rated on the outside in eighth and seventh place until the second turn, where she rallied three wide and advanced from sixth to first at the upper stretch, then drew off to a length and a half lead that provided enough cushion for her to win comfortably. Rallying to place a half-length behind Lady Bi Bi at the finish was 27.75-to-1 ninth choice Brandala, followed by two of the three fillies in the event that were three-year-olds: Beebe Lake (the 24.25-to-1 seventh choice) and Alleged Whisper (the 18.80-to-1 sixth choice).
"She's just very good right now," pointed out winning trainer John Hertler. "She loves the grass. She's on a good roll. Now we know that she wants to come from behind. A couple of times, she was on the lead, and she got tired. She's better from behind. She was very eager to run and finished up nicely. I'll probably bring her back in the Stallion Stakes ($100,000 Perfect Arc Division of the New York Stallion Series, one mile, turf, Sunday, November 9, at Aqueduct)."
Santos, who previously had ridden Lady Bi Bi to restricted Belmont turf allowance victories, observed that she had relaxed well and ran mostly on her own accord: "She didn't break too well, but I knew we weren't going to be last today because there didn't seem to be much pace. She settled beautifully in fifth or sixth position, and on the turn, she started making up a lot of ground without me asking her. When I asked her, she gave enough to win the race."
Lady Bi Bi's first stakes victory increased her earnings by $90,000 to $190,580 while improving her record to 4 - 2 - 0 in 11 starts, and it also qualified her owner-breeders, Richard Rosee and Charles Goldberg of Tri County Stables, for a $9,000 breeder award. The chestnut filly did not start until late March of 2003 as a four-year-old, which is not unusual for horses owned by Tri County Stables. All four of her victories have been scored on turf at a mile or longer, and her Belmont wins on September 7 and October 2 had both been accomplished over "good" grass courses.
Sired by Eclipse Champion Lord Avie, Lady Bi Bi is the third named offspring and third New York-bred winner produced from Shambidextress, being a half-sister to Tri County Stables' 2003 seven-year-old stakes-placed winner, Say It Both Ways ($111,044), and its 2003 Aqueduct inner main track allowance winner, Bound On Bi. Say It Both Ways missed winning Finger Lakes' George W. Barker Stakes by just a neck on May 26 while registering his first career stakes-placing. Dam Shambidextress is a winning daughter of Sham and a half-sister to New York-bred stakes winner Rough Rogue ($261,645), who won Aqueduct's 1990 Alex M. Robb Handicap for owner-trainer Richard Violette Jr.

IROQUOIS H.- 6th Race - $125,000 - PRINCESS DIXIE

PRINCESS DIXIE

(10/18) Princess Dixie re-proves her sprinting talent in Iroquois by Rab Hagin
Previously winless at seven furlongs although twice a stakes winner at six, James F. Edwards' homebred PRINCESS DIXIE showed an astonishingly effective finishing kick in Belmont's $125,000 Iroquois Handicap for New York-bred fillies and mares going seven furlongs on Showcase Saturday, coming from 11th place to win by a neck. A lukewarm favorite at 4.30-to-1 among the 13 starters with jockey Michael Luzzi race-riding her for the first time, the four-year-old filly broke dead last and seemed totally out of contention after the opening quarter-mile and still trailed eight rivals with just three-eighths of a mile to run. Swinging wide for the stretch drive, she overtook six competitors in the next quarter-mile, including 5.20-to-1 co-second choice Grab Bag, 2003 Grade 2-winning sprinter Shawklit Mint (the 6.70-to-1 sixth choice), and front-running 56.50-to-1 Storm On the Lake, who had led through an opening half in 45.38. Princess Dixie caught the new leader, 5.20-to-1 co-second choice and top-weighted She's Got the Beat, in the final strides, giving jockey Luzzi his second winning ride on Belmont's New York Showcase Day card. Grab Bag finished third and was followed by three-year-old Travelator and Shawklit Mint.
Luzzi revealed that the race had developed just as expected: "We figured that there would be a fast pace. That's what happened. I think she can go a little farther if she wanted to, because after the race she was still galloping pretty strong. I really got a perfect trip today."
Winning trainer Harold James Bond, a four-time New York Thoroughbred Breeders Trainer of the Year, was effusive in his praise for Princess Dixie, whose dam, Princess Halo, will be offered at Keeneland's November sale in foal to 2002 Wood Memorial winner Buddha: "Dixie (Princess Dixie) has been an angel. She's been here at two (years old), three, and four, and hopefully she gets to come back here for us. Mr. (James) Edwards is a great owner . . . when she needs time off, she gets time off. And when she is right . . . she really fires hard. She's class. I'll probably sit on her until early December. There is a race at Aqueduct that she will probably come back in (the $75,000-added Montauk Handicap at a mile and an eighth, November 30)."
Princess Dixie's sixth stakes victory increased her earnings by $75,000 to $486,731 while improving her record to 7 - 6 - 2 in 17 starts, and it also qualified Edwards, who bred the filly in the name of his CBF Corporation, for the maximum $10,000 breeder award. As a two-year-old, the Dixie Brass filly had won Belmont's one-mile Maid of the Mist Stakes on Showcase Day and then Aqueduct's Fifth Avenue New York Stallion Stakes at six furlongs; as a three-year-old, she had won Finger Lakes' mile and a sixteenth New York Oaks and six-furlong Niagara Stakes. In June of 2003, Princess Dixie had captured Belmont's $114,300 Mount Vernon Handicap at a mile and an eighth on a muddy track. Following a third-place effort in a $55,000 open classified allowance at Belmont on September 5, Bond had put the New York-bred filly through four Belmont workouts, including a 59 1/5 five-furlong "bullet" drill (fastest of 19) six days prior to Showcase Day on October 12.
Princess Dixie is the 10th offspring and 10th New York-bred winner that Edwards has bred from Princess Halo, a June-foaled Halo mare that never raced but whose progeny have won 54 races and earned $1,331,383 to date. Princess Dixie's half-siblings include stakes-placed Queen's Halo and six-figure-earners Rhinestone Dewey ($318,803), Listen to Ken ($216,688), and Staple Queen ($136,909). Dam Princess Halo is a half-sister to stakes-placed winner Lilac's Star ($222,920), whose winning offspring include New York-bred multiple stakes winner Queen of Millbrook ($213,540), and to the winning dams of stakes winners Classic Olympio ($336,578), Claramount Hill ($155,301), and Mr. Felipe.
Dixie Brass, the deceased New York-based sire of Princess Dixie, picked up his 33rd stakes winner two races later when One N Three captured the Hudson Handicap, which -- like Princess Dixie's Iroquois victory -- qualified Dixie Brass's owner, Michael Watral of Central Islip, Long Island, for a $5,250 stallion award. Both Princess Dixie and One N Three were conceived at The Stallion Park in Millbrook that is owned by Edwards, who also owns Keane Stud in Amenia.

SLEEPY HOLLOW S.- 5th Race - $100,000 - FRIENDS LAKE

FRIENDS LAKE

(10/18) Friends Lake set stakes record in classy Sleepy Hollow effort by Rab Hagin
Stretching out to a mile 55 days after his maiden victory by a head over Pa Pa Da going 6 1/2 furlongs at Saratoga, Chester and Mary Broman's homebred FRIENDS LAKE set a stakes record in Belmont's $100,000 Sleepy Hollow Stakes for New York-bred two-year-olds on Showcase Saturday. Pa Pa Da had come back to break his maiden impressively at Belmont going a mile on grass on September 18 and was installed the 2.90-to-1 favorite among nine wagering interests and 10 starters, with 4 1/2-length Bertram F. Bongard Stakes winner Flagshipenterprise the 2.95-to-1 second choice. Friends Lake, ridden for the second consecutive time by Richard Migliore, who had been on board for the chestnut colt's August 24 maiden victory, was sent off the 3-to-1 third choice as half of an entry with his stablemate, Belmont September 21 first-out winner Salty Character.
For almost six furlongs in the one-turn contest, the two top choices alternated for the lead on either side of 8.10-to-1 fourth choice Bond Arbitrage, who had placed second in the Bongard, but turning for home Friends Lake -- who was seventh early and bumped on the turn -- took command. At mid-stretch, Friends Lake led Pa Pa Da by a length, and at the wire his margin was 3 1/2 lengths, as the Bromans' homebred clocked a 1:36.39 winning time that shaved an official one-fifth second off the 1996 stakes record held by multiple Grade 2 winner Kashatreya ($541,589). Despite the off going (a drying out "good" track) and surviving the bumping on the turn, Friends Lake set a stakes record in the only juvenile stakes event to date which last year featured future graded-winning three-year-old males (Funny Cide, Spite the Devil, and Go Rockin' Robin). Considering his pedigree (both his sire and dam are Grade 1-winning millionaires), Friends Lake could have an exceptionally bright future. Trainer John Kimmel seems to think so.
"He powered by those horses today," pointed out Kimmel. "You look at the time of the race, and it was a serious time. The fillies ran in 1:41 (and change) -- that's a five-second difference. This is a nice horse. Richie (Migliore) couldn't pull him up. I don't know what I'm going to do with him. We'll see how he comes out. He's getting more wound up. We want to have a nice, fresh horse. He's growing a lot. We'll weigh the pros and cons, but the Remsen (Grade 2, $200,000, for two-year-olds at a mile and an eighth, Saturday, November 29, on Aqueduct's HolidayFest weekend) would certainly not be out of the question."
Migliore echoed and amplified Kimmel's comments: "I had so much horse at the three-eighths pole; I was going better than the three in front of me. I wanted to get him outside before that second wave came. He was a man amongst boys on the turn. I said, 'I better go when the opportunity presents itself.' He was very impressive."
The second consecutive victory for Friends Lake boosted his earnings by $60,000 to $84,600 in three starts and also qualified his owner-breeders, the Bromans of West Babylon and Chestertown Farm in Chestertown, for an additional $6,000 breeder award. The royally bred colt had been unplaced in a bumpy July 25 debut at Saratoga before breaking his maiden, which had been followed by six Belmont workouts that included a five-furlong "bullet" drill of 1:00 (fastest of 22) on October 7.
By Eclipse Champion and leading North American sire A. P. Indy, Friends Lake is the first winner produced from three-time Grade 1 winner Antespend ($1,011,953), a Spend a Buck mare that Chestertown Farm purchased as a four-year-old for $900,000 at Keeneland's 1997 April dispersal of Jack Kent Cooke's Elmendorf Farm. Antespend as a three-year-old scored all of her Grade 1 victories by margins of at least two lengths, and she campaigned under Kimmel's care while racing for the Bromans as a four-year-old. Antespend's dam is Argentine-bred multiple North American Grade 1 winner Auspiciante ($409,395). Friends Lake is inbred 4 x 4 to Hall of Fame member Buckpasser.

MAID OF THE MIST S.- 4th Race - $100,000 - CAPESIDE LADY

CAPESIDE LADY

(10/18) Capeside Lady stumbles but scores game Maid of the Mist win by Rab Hagin
Heavily-backed at .40-to-1 among seven starters in Belmont's $100,000 Maid of the Mist Stakes for New York-bred two-year-old fillies on Showcase Saturday, So Madcapt Stable's top-weighted CAPESIDE LADY gave her supporters a scare when she stumbled almost to her knees at the start, but somehow managed to win anyway. Breaking from the outside post position under jockey John Velazquez and finding her nose almost on the ground one stride out of the gate, the bay filly quickly recovered and drew almost even with front-running third choice Front Line (8.10-to-1) going down the backstretch in the one-turn mile event. Front Line, who had shipped in off a 2 1/2-length second-time-out maiden special win at Turfway Park, covered her opening quarter in 23.66 and then accelerated to a 23.56 split over the drying-out "good" track, but in the next quarter-mile Capeside Lady gained command. At mid-stretch, she lost the lead to 12.20-to-1 fourth choice Schemer -- a 12 3/4-length Belmont maiden winner on September 19 -- and appeared beaten but made another run along the rail at her rival who was carrying seven pounds less weight and got up to win by a neck. "This is a very good filly," marveled Belmont track announcer Tom Durkin at the conclusion of the contest.
Velazquez, who has ridden Capeside Lady in all three of her victories, was uncertain exactly how his mount stayed on her feet: "I thought I was off; I don't know how she got back on her legs. My knee was in the saddle, and I didn't really want to move; I wanted to sit chilly. She dug in. I'm very proud of her. I've got to give her the credit here. She banged herself pretty hard at the start. It was a great effort," concluded Velazquez, the 2002 Jockey of the Year as selected by the New York Thoroughbred Breeders and rider of three winners, including Mohawk Handicap victor Quiet Ruler, on Belmont's 2003 New York Showcase Day card.
Winning trainer Todd Pletcher, the 1999 New York Trainer of the Year as voted by the New York Thoroughbred Breeders, was equally impressed: "It was a gutsy, gutsy effort. I thought she was going down at the beginning, but luckily, she got back up, and Johnny (Velazquez) did a really great job just to stay up. I thought she was a beaten horse at the eighth-pole; she basically won on guts alone. She obviously wasn't herself today after that start. The start cost us so much that she was getting antsy at the quarter-pole."
For future plans, Pletcher is considering Grade 2 competition: "I thought she ran well enough the other day (Joseph A. Gimma Stakes, September 28) to deserve a chance in the Demoiselle (Grade 2, $200,000, for two-year-old fillies at a mile and an eighth, Saturday, November 29, on Aqueduct's HolidayFest weekend). "We'll have to see how she comes out of this," continued Pletcher, who also saddled New York-bred juvenile maiden special winner West Virginia in the race immediately preceding the Maid of the Mist.
Capeside Lady's third victory in four starts and second consecutive stakes tally boosted her earnings by $60,000 into six figures at $149,940 for the So Madcapt Stable racing partnership that is managed by Michael Joseph Cascio. So Madcapt Stable previously campaigned New York-bred filly/mare Maddie May ($408,551), who won the Maid of the Mist in 1999, the Iroquois Handicap in 2001, and Belmont's Schenectady Handicap in 2002. Capeside Lady had won first out by 8 3/4 lengths at Saratoga on August 7, then was unplaced in Monmouth's Grade 3 Sorority on August 30 over a harrowed wet track before capturing Belmont's $108,900 Joseph A. Gimma for New York-bred fillies by nine lengths in new stakes record time. Following the Gimma on September 28, Pletcher had put her through a solid five-furlong workout of 1:00 2/5 at Belmont on October 12 in preparation for the Maid of the Mist.
A $65,000 purchase at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's May sale of two-year-olds in training in Timonium, Maryland, prior to which she had been a $30,000 yearling at Fasig-Tipton's 2002 Saratoga preferred New York-bred sale, Capeside Lady was bred by Becky Thomas and Lewis Lakin, who jointly qualified for a $6,000 breeder award. Thomas and Lakin co-own Lakland North, LLC in Hudson, and Capeside Lady is the second winner produced from stakes winner Gray Lady Type, whom Lakland had purchased for $37,000 at Keeneland's 2000 November sale when she was carrying Capeside Lady from the cover of 1998 Florida Derby winner Cape Town. Gray Lady Type, who is by Zen, is a full sister to multiple stakes winners Unique Type ($456,736) and Magnetic Type ($370,737 and dam of $294,783-earning stakes winner Exclusive Garth), and she is a half-sister to multiple stakes winner Liberada ($258,876) and stakes-placed winner Electronic Type ($202,171).