Jolting Joe clips competition in Cab Calloway
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Jolting Joe, son of New York-based sire Mission Impazible, scores maiden victory in Cab Calloway division of New York Stallion Series. NYRA Photo.
By Melissa Bauer-Herzog
Second in his first four starts, Jolting Joe timed his maiden-breaking victory to perfection Thursday in the Cab Calloway division of the New York Stallion Series Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.
Already stakes-placed in his second start, the 3-year-old colt by the Sequel New York-based Mission Impazzible broke strong in the 1 1/16-mile turf race and slotted into third under Tyler Gaffalione as the favorite. Bellamy Road’s Stuy Town Baby set the pace when covering the first quarter in :25.19 before feeling some pressure from Dream Bigger when stopping the clock in :49:24 for the half.
Stuy Town Baby yielded the lead around the far turn as Jolting Joy swung ride to try and chase down Dream Bigger. It turned into a three-way battle with Dream Bigger, Jolting Joe, and Turbo Drive dueling down the stretch until the final sixteenth. Finding another gear, Jolting Joe broke away from his rivals and started to pull away in the final stage to cross the line 1 3/4 lengths in front with a final time of 1:43.07.
The victory led to a 1-2 finish for Mike Maker with the trainer’s Turbo Drive finishing second and three-quarters of a length in front of Zipalong.
“With a short run into the first turn, I was trying to be a bit more forwardly placed but we didn’t get away the cleanest,” Gaffalione said. “I looked to my inside and there were two going at it, so I figured I would just sit behind them and let them do the dirty work. He was traveling nicely throughout, and when I asked him for run at the top of the lane he gave me an extra punch. I still think there’s more in the tank. We haven’t seen the best of him yet. Hopefully, he just keeps improving.”
A Kentucky-bred half-brother to New York-bred champion and fellow Mike Maker trainee Somelikeithotbrown, Jolting Joe is the second stakes winner of the Saratoga meet for Marilyn Monroan alongside his half-brother who took the Grade 2 Bernard Baruch July 26.
Jolting Joe, a 3-year-old Mission Impazible son bred by Hot Pink Stables, races for his breeder and Skychai Racing. Skychai co-owns Somelikeithotbrown and co-owned their dam with Hot Pink Stable and Sand Dollar Stable during her racing career.
A $255,000 weanling, Marilyn Monroan’s family is headlined by U.S. champions Stevie Wonderboy and Big Blue Kitten. The mare has an unnamed 2-year-old Temple City colt, a yearling Palace Malice colt and had a Hard Spun filly in April. She was bred to Mendelssohn in 2020.
Endnotes:- [Image]: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/JoltingJoe.jpg
Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2020/08/06/jolting-joe-clips-competition-in-cab-calloway/
Bluewater’s Levy relishes strong run with NY-breds
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Bowling Green winner Cross Border (right) was part of magical weekend for Bluewater’s Meg Levy. Joe Labozzetta/NYRA Photo.
By Melissa Bauer-Herzog
What do a weanling, a lay-up and a $500 mare have to with a top weekend at the races? For Meg Levy they led to an unforgettable 72-hour stretch at Saratoga last weekend with New York-breds.
The biggest personal win came Sunday when Levy-bred Simply Ravishing won on debut for trainer Ken McPeek and owners Harold Lerner, Magdalena Racing and Nehoc Stables. Bred on a stallion right her husband owns in Laoban, the New York-bred filly was also sold by Bluewater Sales for $50,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling sale.
The victory was a fitting next chapter in the story of Simply Ravishing’s dam Four Wishes, who had been abandoned at a boarding facility and purchased for just $500 by Levy on her birthday in 2017.
“It was on my birthday in February and we were driving over to the Fasig-Tipton February sale,” Levy said. “Someone called me and said ‘there’s a mare by More Than Ready that is in a bad place, she’s been abandoned and the boarding farm is just trying to sell her for whatever they can get.’ I asked what her name was and they said ‘Four Wishes’ and I thought ‘Oh my gosh, how can I resist stopping by to see a mare named Four Wishes on my birthday?’ I arrived and she was pretty thin and something just told me that she deserved a better place so I gave the guy $500 and we picked her up.”
Feeling that being in the New York-bred program would help both the mare and her foal, Four Wishes was shipped up to New York to foal out a Revolutionary colt and be bred to Laoban.
“I have felt that the weanlings and the yearlings in the last few years being New York-bred has made them 20 percent more valuable so that was the decision,” she said. “She came out with a great looking baby that we got lucky with. (Simply Ravishing) was supposed to go to the New York-bred sale in Saratoga and when the staff went to load her on the van, she kicked the wall so hard she cracked her foot so she couldn’t ship and had to go to the October sale.
“It was great that Kenny was around to buy her because where they go is obviously very important. We were pleasantly surprised. Kenny had been sending us some videos over the last couple of the days before the race and I thought to myself ‘he isn’t sending videos because he doesn’t like her.’ ”
Simply Ravishing’s victory was the final touch on a strong weekend of racing in Saratoga for Levy connected horses.
The winning started Friday when New York-bred Jewel of Arabia won her second straight start impressively. Sold by Levy’s Bluewater Sales for $140,000 as a weanling on behalf of breeder SF Bloodstock at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale, Levy still remembers the filly handling everything beautifully.
“We sold her as a foal and she was awesome,” Levy said. “SF Bloodstock bred her and the market was strong, it was Daredevil’s first year. She was so attractive and strong, we sold her for $180,000. She was such a strong filly, great, very intelligent. She was pretty special, it was fun to see her win.”
Only 24 hours later, another horse connected to Levy visited the winner’s circle when New York-bred Cross Border won the Grade 2 Bowling Green for his second victory in 10 days. Owned by Bluewater client Three Diamonds Farm, Cross Border spent time laying up at the Levys’ Kentucky farm and eased some of the pain of having to watch the races from home.
“It’s at those moments that you feel so amazingly grateful,” she said. “We were sitting here watching the races here in Kentucky on the television and we had our friends win with Cross Border and he was a lay-up here as well. It’s just fun to be rooting for horses that you’ve been around. Whoever they’re owned or bred by, when you can claim to have touched a hair on that body it’s really, really exciting and that’s kind of what we do it for.”
Based in Lexington, Ky. Levy admits she hasn’t had many New York-bred foals but that hasn’t kept her from admiring the program from afar. Simply Ravishing also provided her an exciting first as the first she’s bred by a New York stallion. Levy was even more impressed by the program once she saw the additional awards given to New York-sired horses.
“Every time I have bred a New York-bred, we’ve had some great luck,” she said. “I’ve never had a New York-sired New York-bred before and when I read what the breeders’ reward is, I was like ‘holy moly.’
“You actually get 30 percent of what they win! The first time I had a New York-bred I couldn’t believe I got a check in the mail immediately. She was a mare called Pronto Pronto that had several babies and I just couldn’t believe it. You go to the mailbox and there’s a check for like $5,000. It’s unbelievable, truly. We’ve had great luck in New York and we love New York and our people there.”
Endnotes:- [Image]: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/BowlingGreen2020.jpg
Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2020/08/06/bluewaters-levy-relishes-strong-run-with-ny-breds/