EMPIRE CLASSIC H. - 10th Race - $250,000 - SPITE THE DEVIL

SPITE THE DEVIL

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Empire Classic H. (modem) (broadband)

Ticonderoga H. (modem) (broadband)

Hudson H. (modem) (broadband)

Mohawk H. (modem) (broadband)

Iroquois H. (modem) (broadband)

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

Sleepy Hollow S. (modem) (broadband)

MOHAWK H. - 7th Race - $150,000 - IRISH COLONIAL

IRISH COLONIAL

(10/23) Irish Colonial captures Mohawk under top weight by Rab Hagin
Blue Sky Farm's and Fred Martin's homebred IRISH COLONIAL came off four consecutive strong-finishing third-place efforts -- three in stakes and one in a Grade 2 event -- to win Belmont's $150,000 Mohawk Handicap on turf for New York-breds on Saturday's New York Showcase Day as the top-weighted 1.85-to-1 favorite. Ridden by New York Thoroughbred Breeders 2002 Jockey of the Year John Velazquez, under whom he had placed third in Belmont's $111,700 Ashley T. Cole Handicap for New York-breds on grass four weeks earlier, the five-year-old trailed front-running 5-to-1 fourth choice Certifiably Crazy through most of the nine-furlong event. At mid-stretch, Certifiably Crazy was still holding on, and Irish Colonial was third and on the rail, but Velazquez quickly angled his mount to the outside and sent him after the pacesetter. In the final strides, the elegant, high-headed homebred runner got up to win by a half-length in the excellent time of 1:48.96 for a two-turn mile and an eighth over "good" turf, giving jockey Velazquez his third of four winning rides on the Showcase Day card. Certifiably Crazy, who was carrying 115 pounds to Irish Colonial's top-weighted impost of 119, placed second by a neck over No Parole, the 9.10-to-fifth choice among the 11 wagering interests and 12 starters.
"He's (Irish Colonial) a little difficult to ride," acknowledged Velazquez. "But I rode him once (in the Cole, on September 25), so I learned a little about him that time. The first time, he gave me a hard time. We had a perfect trip. Last time, he was misbehaving in the gate, and he broke awkwardly. Today, he behaved a little better. I popped him a couple of times coming out of the gate. He got surprised, and we were in good position after that."
Irish Colonial was the fourth winner of the Mohawk Handicap piloted by Velazquez, who had guided Quiet Ruler to back-to-back victories in the event's 2002 and 2003 renewals and had been on board Pebo's Guy when that New York-bred had dead-heated for a stakes record in 1998. The five-year-old bay has won or placed in 62.5 percent of all his starts, but he had not been in the winners' circle since capturing Belmont's $113,600 Kingston Handicap for New York-breds going a mile and an eighth on soft turf in May of 2003.
Irish Colonial's trainer, Randy Schulhofer, was obviously pleased with the outcome: "It's great to get him back in the winners' circle. He hasn't had much luck, but today, everything fell into place. Today was our day -- and it's my little boy's birthday today, too. I got a little concerned in (the) upper stretch, but he's game and kept on digging. I guess the soft turf isn't carrying speed all that well. We'll bring him back in the Red Smith Handicap (Grade 2, $150,000 guaranteed, a mile and three-eighths on turf at Aqueduct on Saturday, November 20)."
In preparing Irish Colonial for the Mohawk, Schulhofer had given him four sharp half-mile main track workouts at Belmont on October 3, 8, 13, and 18, with the horse's October 13 drill going in 47 3/5.
Irish Colonial's Mohawk victory increased his earnings by $90,000 to $388,655 while improving his record to 6 - 2 - 7 in 24 starts and also qualified his owner-breeders, former state senator Howard Nolan of Blue Sky Farm in Delmar and Fred Martin of White Plains, for a $9,000 breeder award. The New York-bred is by three-time NYRA Grade 1 winner Colonial Affair, who currently stands in Japan, and he is the first offspring produced from Calder turf allowance winner A Rose for Shannon, by Private Account. A Rose for Shannon was bred by the internationally-renowned Claiborne Farm and had been purchased by Irish Colonial's co-breeder, Nolan, as a juvenile for $15,500 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's April 1994 sale of two-year-olds in training. The mare is a half-sister to the dam of Venezuelan champions Gran Abuelo and Demons Cloak, and her dam is Grade 1-placed winner Cope of Flowers, a Tom Rolfe mare who is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Great Neck (formerly a New York stallion). Irish Colonial has a definite distance-oriented pedigree, with a dosage profile of 3-4-15-2-4. Brisnet Chart

TICONDEROGA H. - 9th Race - $150,000 - ON THE BUS

ON THE BUS

(10/23) On the Bus cruises to 2-length Ticonderoga score for first stakes win by Rab Hagin
In her first start off a 66-day layoff, Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey's homebred ON THE BUS made a quick move on the second turn of Belmont's $150,000 Ticonderoga Handicap on turf for New York-bred fillies and mares Saturday and drew clear in the stretch, scoring her first stakes victory. The four-year-old filly broke from the 11th post as the 2.60-to-1 favorite among 11 wagering interests and 12 starters with jockey Pablo Fragoso race-riding her for the first time, and Fragoso kept her under wraps on the outside through the first three-quarters of the mile and an eighth event. Advancing from fourth to third to second through each quarter-mile split, On the Bus was suddenly in front of tiring early pacesetter Ma Femme -- the 63.25-to-1 tenth choice -- nearing the stretch, and from there she pulled away, covering her final furlong in 12.12 seconds over the "good" turf. The dark bay filly switched back to her left lead near the eighth-mile pole in response to Fragoso's right-handed urging, but she had a two-length margin over 4.60-to-1 third choice Sabellina at the wire, with 4-to-1 second choice (half of an entry) Little Buttercup finishing a closing third.
Fragoso indicated that his Ticonderoga-winning mount was still going strong at the end: "I had plenty of horse left. She's nice, and I was allowed to put her wherever I wanted. She's easy to ride. I wanted to stay outside because she is a nice filly, and I didn't want to get into any trouble. I saved as much as I could, and turning for home, when I asked her, she gave me everything she had."
Trained by Dale Romans, On the Bus picked up $90,000 for her first stakes victory, boosting her total earnings to $208,940 and improving her record to 4 - 2 - 2 in 10 starts while also qualifying the Ramseys for an additional $9,000 breeder award. She had broken her maiden on "good" Belmont turf almost exactly a year earlier and in January had taken an open Gulfstream allowance on turf by a length and three-quarters. The New York-bred filly had won again on yielding Belmont turf in May, scoring by 6 1/2 lengths while going a virtual one-turn mile at the restricted N2X allowance condition level. Following third-place and second-place efforts, respectively, against New York-bred fillies and mares in Belmont's Mount Vernon Handicap and Saratoga's Yaddo Handicap -- both at a mile and an eighth on turf and missing by only a nose in the latter event -- On the Bus had gotten her 66-day break. During that interim, Romans had given the filly two workouts at Belmont, including a six-furlong September drill on turf in 1:12 1/5.
Sired by Grade 1 turf winner Ghazi, On the Bus is the third of four offspring and four winners bred by the Ramseys from Just Like Jill, being a half-sister to multiple main track stakes winners Private Lap ($484,130) and Kat Kool (New York-conceived) and to stakes-placed Growth Stock. Kenneth Ramsey had purchased Just Like Jill, who is by Dynaformer, for $65,000 at Keeneland's 1994 September yearling sale, at which time she was a half-sister to an Ak-Sar-Ben juvenile stakes winner of the year before, Fighting Fast ($106,120). Just Like Jill raced for the Ramseys, breaking her maiden by eight lengths at Belmont and winning an allowance race at Calder -- both as a three-year-old -- and the following year became a broodmare. Before her first foal, Growth Stock, was even a two-year-old, Just Like Jill had another stakes-winning half-brother -- Bobby's Buckaroo ($438,354) -- and in 2003 her then three-year-old half-sister, Rubianos Image ($112,818), won four races and placed in two stakes against colts. Just Like Jill foaled On the Bus at Dawn Lane's Victory Lane Farm in Millbrook. The mare has a two-year-old filly and a yearling colt sired by the Ramseys' current New York-based stallion, Catienus, who stands at Carl Lizza Jr.'s and Joseph Bartone's Highcliff Farm in Delanson and has sired 10 two-year-old winners -- one stakes winner -- from his first crop as of mid-October. Brisnet Chart

HUDSON H.- 8th Race - $125,000 - FRIENDLY ISLAND

FRIENDLY ISLAND

(10/23) Friendly Island goes gate to wire in 3 1/4-length Hudson win by Rab Hagin
In Belmont's $125,000 Hudson Handicap for New York-bred three-year-olds and up going six furlongs on New York Showcase Saturday, Anstu Stables' three-year-old FRIENDLY ISLAND again served notice that his 1:08.48 six-furlong Belmont debut in early June was no fluke, leading gate to wire to win by 3 1/4 lengths. Sent off the 3.05-to-1 second choice among seven starters with jockey John Velazquez on board for the sixth time in six starts, the three-year-old colt broke on top from the inside post and set fractions of 22.58, 45.59, and 57.42 en route to his ears-pinned and leveled-out 1:09.49 victory. Top-weighted five-year-old favorite Clever Electrician (1.30-to-1) placed second under 121 pounds after consecutive sprint stakes victories against New York-breds at Saratoga and Belmont during August and September. For Velazquez, the New York Thoroughbred Breeders (NYTB) 2002 Jockey of the Year who also had ridden 2002 Hudson Handicap winner Well Fancied, it was the fourth winning ride on New York Showcase Day.
Despite four winning rides in five previous races aboard Friendly Island, Velazquez was impressed with the colt's first stakes victory: "He was awesome," Velazquez said. "We talked in the paddock and didn't know what everyone was going to do. There was so much speed in there. I said if he breaks slow, I am going to take him back and see how he does. I went to take him back a little bit, and he took off. Once we turned down the lane, he went."
Friendly Island campaigns under the care of NYTB 1999 Trainer of the Year Todd Pletcher, who had been concerned about his charge's first-ever effort from the inside post: "I felt like we took the worst of it with the post position," explained Pletcher. "I was worried because it looked like there was so much speed in here. He didn't break great, but crept up the right way and responded when called upon. It is hard to do what he has done in such a short period of time. He is awfully good. The only time he got beat was my fault when I ran him back too quick in the Mike Lee (at Belmont on June 26 -- 20 days after the colt's debut). I think he has enough quality to contend in open stakes down the road."
Trainer Bruce Levine, who conditions Hudson runner-up Clever Electrician for Andrew Berg's Gumpster Stable, felt that the five-year-old had put in a creditable effort against his younger and more lightly-weighted rival: "Our horse ran a good race today," Levine observed. "We gave the winner six pounds, and he had the jump on us at the top of the stretch. We just got moving a little too late."
Friendly Island's fifth tally in six starts following a September 26 dead-heat victory in open N1X allowance company at Belmont against a four-year-old to whom he was spotting actual weight increased his earnings by $75,000 to $171,656. After the dead-heat victory, Pletcher had given the chestnut colt two October half-mile workouts at Belmont -- one quick and one leisurely. Friendly Island races for the Anstu Stables, Inc. of Stuart and Anita Subotnick of New York City, who also own Anstu Farm in Millbrook and had campaigned 1997 NYTB Champion Two-Year-Old Male Mellow Roll ($555,772), winner of Belmont's 1998 Empire Classic Handicap against older New York-breds as a three-year-old. Stuart Subotnick is a general partner and executive vice president of Metromedia Company, serving as chief operating officer and chief financial officer for one of the largest privately held companies in the U.S., and he is a member of the New York Racing Association board of trustees.
A former $85,000 sales two-year-old at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2002 March auction of juveniles in Florida, Friendly Island also qualified his breeders, Kildare Stud and Adrian Regan, for a $7,500 breeder award. The front-running speedster is from the first crop of Crafty Friend ($967,700), a multiple Grade 2-winning Crafty Prospector stallion who equaled a Hollywood Park track record of 1:40.12 for a mile and a sixteenth. Friendly Island is the first offspring produced from Island Queen ($148,890), an Ogygian mare who won five sprints and is out of British-bred Irish black-type stakes winner Regal Peace. Island Queen had sold for $16,500 as a five-year-old broodmare prospect at a Fasig-Tipton New York horses of racing age sale in November of 1999. Friendly Island is inbred 4 x 4 to In Reality and 4 x 5 to Francis S., and his sire, Crafty Friend, is inbred 3 x 3 to Raise a Native and 4 x 4 to Nashua. Brisnet Chart

IROQUOIS H.- 6th Race - $125,000 - SUGAR PUNCH

SUGAR PUNCH

(10/23) Sugar Punch runs like 100 proof in top-weighted Iroquois win by Rab Hagin
Scoring her sixth consecutive victory and third straight stakes win, three-year-old SUGAR PUNCH took command while three wide on the turn in Belmont's $125,000 Iroquois Handicap for fillies and mares going seven furlongs on New York Showcase Saturday and pulled away decisively to win by 3 3/4 lengths. The fleet filly was odds-on (.65-to-1) among seven starters despite carrying actual top weight and spotting four and eight pounds by scale to four-year-old rivals Beautiful America (the 6.30-to-1 third choice) and Distinctive Kitten, respectively, and also breaking from the sixth post position. With jockey Edgar Prado on board for the sixth consecutive time, Sugar Punch tracked early pacesetter and 10-to-1 fifth choice Then She Laughs while outside of Beautiful America before gaining the lead after a half-mile and setting a 1:10.36 six-furlong fraction en route to a winning time of 1:23.10. Four-time stakes winner Beautiful America placed second and was followed by fellow four-year-old filly Distinctive Kitten (49.25-to-1).
Jockey Prado had nothing but praise for the filly on which he has never experienced defeat: "That was beautiful. She proved one more time that she is something special. She broke sharp; she was in hand. I took my time. She wanted to take the lead on the turn, and I let her go. She did everything by herself."
Winning trainer Richard Dutrow, who was voted the New York Thoroughbred Breeders Trainer of the Year for 2002, was equally effusive: "She can run. We got lucky to get her. It looked like it could have been her toughest race today. There were some newcomers with talent. I guess our filly is just better. Everything went her way today. She broke well and sat behind the speed. That's really what she likes to do."
Owned by Michael Iavarone's IEAH Stables, New York Yankees manager Joe Torre (whose team, unfortunately, had lost the American League pennant to the Boston Red Sox), Robert Speranza, and Robert Petronella, Sugar Punch boosted her earnings by $75,000 to $265,120 and improved her record to six wins in seven starts. Dutrow had trained the winner of the only race in which Sugar Punch was beaten, a six-furlong restricted maiden special at Aqueduct in early December in which she had placed second following a three wide move. When Sugar Punch returned to competition under new ownership to win as a three-year-old at Belmont on June 26 after a 6 1/2-month layoff, Dutrow was her new trainer. The bay filly's third stakes outing and third stakes victory to go along with tallies in the restricted Union Avenue and Schenectady Handicaps at Saratoga and Belmont respectively also qualified her breeder, D'Arrigo & Lynch Racing, LLC, based in Vineland, New Jersey, for a $7,500 breeder award. Dutrow had given Sugar Punch an eye-popping six-furlong workout of 1:10 1/5 at Belmont six days prior to the Iroquois -- and 21 days following her 3 1/2-length victory in Belmont's $107,700 Schenectady.
Part owner and Yankees manager Torre had never seen Sugar Punch in a live race, and although he regretted Saturday's particular circumstances, he seemed to savor the experience: "This is the first race I have had a chance to see her in person," Torre explained. "We've been working every time she's run. Unfortunately, I should have been working today, too.
"I've been friends with Rick (Dutrow) for a few years. He introduced me to some of the people who owned horses that he trained, and we forged a relationship. I love horse racing. It is very exciting. I'm not in this to make a living; I'm in it for the sport. Certainly, it is an exciting experience. I was exposed to racing in the time I've been working for the Yankees because of Mr. (George) Steinbrenner's racing and breeding operation.
"It is so exciting watching outside and in person. I got goose bumps when she turned into the stretch. I was supposed to come out here with my eight-year-old daughter (Andrea Rae), but she had a virus. My older daughter, Cristina, was here, so that made this special. I have five horses in training -- four here and one in California."
Sired by former graded juvenile winner K. O. Punch (by Two Punch), Sugar Punch is the second offspring and second multiple winner produced from 11-year-old Wading Maggie, a Magesterial (by Northern Dancer) mare who won both sprinting and routing. Wading Maggie, who is a half-sister to multiple stakes winners Wading L'Enjoleur ($196,448) and Thanks to Randy ($195,767), was purchased for $4,600 as an eight-year-old by Connie Nesteruk at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's December 2001 mixed sale in Timonium, Maryland when she was carrying a colt by New York stallion Personal Flag. Brisnet Chart

SLEEPY HOLLOW S.- 4th Race - $100,000 - GALLOPING GROCER

GALLOPING GROCER

(10/23) Galloping Grocer gallops to 7 1/2-length Sleepy Hollow win
Just how good is Robert Rosenthal's and Bernice Waldbaum's homebred GALLOPING GROCER? The question remains intriguingly open, as the brilliant two-year-old has now won three starts by 31 3/4 lengths, with his latest being a 7 1/2-length under wraps romp in Belmont's $100,000 Sleepy Hollow Stakes for New York-bred juveniles going a one-turn mile on New York Showcase Day Saturday. Again ridden by New York Thoroughbred Breeders 2002 Jockey of the Year John Velazquez and again odds-on (.15-to-1) even while top-weighted among six starters, the chestnut gelding broke next-to-last but was unchallenged in his stakes debut, crossing the finish in 1:37.34, after which Velazquez rode him out another furlong.
The Sleepy Hollow has a recent history of winners that is the envy of any juvenile stakes in North America -- its last two victors, Funny Cide and Friends Lake, both went on to become Grade 1-winning three-year-olds, and the event's 2002 running featured future graded three-year-old winners finishing 1-2-3. Velazquez, who had four winning rides on Belmont's 2004 Showcase Day card and had piloted the 1999 winner of the Sleepy Hollow, future Grade 2-placed Entepreneur (now a New York stallion), envisions a promising future for Galloping Grocer: "He broke a step slow," recalled Velazquez. "I wasn't going to choke him down. I said, 'Let them chase me, and let them get tired,' because he was just galloping around. I made him do a little bit after the wire because he is not doing enough -- just so he gets something out of it. He still has to improve and face open company, but he seems like he is going to be something special."
Trainer Dominick Schettino, who conditions Galloping Grocer for Rosenthal and Waldbaum, indicated that Velazquez had handled the situation perfectly: "I left everything up to Johnny (Velazquez)," explained Schettino. "With an inside post, he did the right thing and put the horse on the lead. I'm confident that he could sit (back) if you wanted him to. This horse is awesome; he keeps doing everything right. Johnny galloped him out to make sure he got something out of this and (to) get (him) fit to go a mile and an eighth. If he (Galloping Grocer) comes out of this race well, we'll go in the Remsen (Grade 2, $200,000 guaranteed, going a two-turn mile and an eighth at Aqueduct on Saturday, November 27). It's a real treat to be around a horse like him."
Galloping Grocer's first stakes effort and third victory in three starts since August 22 boosted his earnings by $60,000 into six figures at $110,400 and also jointly qualified his breeders, co-owner Rosenthal of Jericho and the estate of Ira Waldbaum, for the maximum $10,000 breeder award. Rosenthal, who is chairman of First Long Island Investors, had met the late Ira Waldbaum about 15 years earlier when the latter, who was the co-founder and CEO of the grocery chain bearing his name, noticed that his investment advisor was also a reader of Daily Racing Form. Waldbaum persistently asked Rosenthal if he could become a partner in a horse, and after repeated rejections, Rosenthal made him a partner in the dirt-and-turf-winning stakes-placed mare, New York-bred Little Evie, whom Rosenthal had purchased privately as his first broodmare. Galloping Grocer, who is named for Ira Waldbaum and races for Rosenthal in partnership with the late grocery founder's widow, Bernice, is the fifth New York-bred winner produced from Little Evie, who is by Northrop (by Northern Dancer). Little Evie won twice on dirt and once on turf and placed third as a three-year-old in two turf stakes for New York-bred fillies and mares: Saratoga's Yaddo and a division of Belmont's Mount Vernon. Her four other New York-bred winning offspring include nine-time-winning route specialist Little General ($158,675), but Galloping Grocer is the first of Little Evie's foals to win as a two-year-old, and according to Rosenthal he also is the largest offspring produced from the New York-bred broodmare. Galloping Grocer was foaled at Janet Durrschmidt's Indigo Farm in Clinton Corners, where Rosenthal boards four broodmares.
Galloping Grocer is among 65 winners in 2004 -- 11 juveniles -- representing his New York-based sire, syndicated A. P Jet (Fappiano - Taminette, by In Reality), and he is among 124 winners overall sired by that stallion, whose connections qualified for a $4,200 stallion award because of the Sleepy Hollow result. A. P Jet was a group stakes-winning miler in Japan, where he earned $1,622,369, and Galloping Grocer's first stakes victory has boosted the stallion's 2004 progeny earnings to over $2.1-million and his cumulative figure to well over $7.5-million from five crops of racing age. Galloping Grocer is A. P Jet's seventh stakes winner overall and third stakes winner of 2004. A. P Jet stands at Howard Kaskel's Sugar Maple Farm in Poughquag, where his 2004 fee was $5,000, live foal. A Hypo-Mating check of Galloping Grocer's pedigree reveals that he is inbred 4 x 4 to Intentionally and that A. P Jet is inbred 4 x 4 to Rough'n Tumble. Brisnet Chart

MAID OF THE MIST S.- 5th Race - $100,000 - PELHAM BAY

PELHAM BAY

(10/23) Pelham Bay pulls away by 4 1/2 lengths in Maid of the Mist by Rab Hagin
Evelyn Pollard's PELHAM BAY rebounded from an unplaced effort in Belmont's $113,400 Joseph A. Gimma Stakes 20 days earlier -- when she had a bothered start and ran wide -- to beat that event's top three finishers in Belmont's $100,000 Maid of the Mist Stakes for New York-bred two-year-old fillies on Saturday. Her victory in the one-turn mile event was decisive, apparently helped by her outside post position as the 4.50-to-1 third choice among nine starters -- with the Gimma's top-two finishers, Megascape and Social Virtue, going off as the most preferred choices at 1.10-to-1 and 3.45-to-1, respectively. Pelham Bay broke quickly under jockey Shaun Bridgmohan, who was race-riding the filly for the fifth -- and fourth consecutive -- time, and immediately advanced forward to challenge pacesetting Megascape while three wide. The favorite maintained a narrow advantage through fractions of 22.95, 46.15, and 1:11.59, but at the top of the stretch Pelham Bay took command, leading a briefly-rallying Royal Fudge -- who had placed third in the Gimma and went off as the 12.70-to-1 fifth choice -- by six lengths at mid-stretch. At the wire, Bridgmohan's mount had a 4 1/2-length margin over her closest pursuer, 8.70-to-1 fourth choice Karakorum Splendor, with Social Virtue coming in third, Royal Fudge fourth, and a tiring top-weighted (122 pounds) Megascape fading to sixth. It was Pelham Bay's first racing effort while wearing blinkers.
"Blinkers made the difference, and the post position obviously helped," observed Bridgmohan. "I let her find her stride. Midway down the backside, she grabbed me and wanted me to do something. Coming to the quarter-pole, I knew I had the favorite. I didn't want to open up and have someone nail me late."
Trainer Patrick Kelly, who had given Pelham Bay two solid half-mile workouts at Belmont on October 13 and 18, also felt that blinkers had been beneficial, but considered the filly's trip in the Maid of the Mist a crucial factor: "She had a clean trip from the outside. In her last start, she got bumped around pretty good. She trained well with the blinkers, and I was pretty sure the distance would help. The race worked out fine. We thought there would be some speed, and we would be sitting third or fourth. We figured we could make a move at the end, and that is pretty much how it worked out. There is another little stake at Aqueduct in December ($75,000-added East View Stakes for New York-bred two-year-old fillies going a two-turn mile and a sixteenth on the inner track, Sunday, December 5)."
Pelham Bay's first stakes victory boosted her earnings by $60,000 into six figures at $118,702 and improved her record to 3 - 0 - 1 in six starts for owner Pollard, who had purchased her for $75,000 at Fasig-Tipton's 2003 Saratoga preferred New York-bred yearling sale. The dark bay filly had been consigned to the Saratoga preferred sale by the Akindale Farm of her breeder, John Hettinger, who qualified for a $6,000 breeder award as a result of the Maid of the Mist outcome. Akindale Farm, which is located in Pawling, had offered its consignment through Jeffrey T. Minton Bloodstock LLC, agent. Pelham Bay had broken her maiden by 2 3/4 lengths going five furlongs in 58.40 in her June 23 Belmont debut and had won a 6 1/2-furlong restricted N1X allowance by 6 1/2 lengths at Belmont on September 26 prior to her troubled Gimma stakes effort on October 3.
Sired by Smart Strike, a Grade 1-winning Mr. Prospector stallion, Pelham Bay is the third named offspring and third New York-bred filly/mare winner bred by Hettinger from Grade 2 winner Brazen ($252,296), by Artichoke, being a half-sister to 11-time winner Teaseme ($114,479) and Aqueduct allowance winner Hussy. Brazen is a half-sister to three-time Grade 2 winner Recusant ($476,543) and is inbred 3 x 3 to Bold Ruler through her two grandsires -- Jacinto (sire of Artichoke) and Cornish Prince (sire of Brazen's winning dam, Queens Lace). Hettinger purchased Brazen for $65,000 at Keeneland's 1996 November sale in Lexington, Kentucky, when she was carrying Teaseme. Brisnet Chart