Red Knight returns with Colonial Cup victory

Trinity Farm’s homebred Red Knight returned from almost a year on the sidelines and won Wednesday’s $156,000 Colonial Cup Stakes at Colonial Downs.

The 8-year-old Pure Prize gelding hadn’t been out since finishing sixth and 10 3/4 lengths back in the John’s Call Stakes in late August at Saratoga Race Course. Red Knight also made his first start for trainer Mike Maker in the 12-furlong Colonial Cup after running previously for Hall of Fame conditioner Bill Mott.

The Colonial Cup was run two days later than originally scheduled after extreme heat forced officials from Colonial Downs to cancel racing Monday. The fixture was run as it was originally drawn with 11 runners led by multiple steeplechase Grade 1 winner Snap Decision, recent Grade 3 Louisville winner Cellist, former English Group 3 winner La Lune and Red Knight.

A three-time stakes winner coming in to the Colonial Cup, including the Grade 3 Sycamore at Keeneland in 2020, Red Knight went of 9-2 in his comeback under Horacio Karamanos. He settled toward the back of the field, which was disrupted in the early stages when Nathan Detroit lost jockey William Humphrey.

Karamanos kept Red Knight covered up in the early stages while Cellist and La Lune battled through the opening half-mile in :48.27. La Lune wrested a short lead from Cellist after a mile, with Bakers Bay, Bluegrass Parkway, Another Mystery and Snap Decision following the top pair.

Karamanos guided Red Knight to the outside around the far turn the final time, launching a four-wide bid past the stalkers and eventually the leaders. Less than a length behind with a quarter-mile to run, Red Knight collared Another Mystery outside the sixteenth pole and drew off to a 1 1/2-length win in 2:27.31 over the firm turf. Another Mystery held second, a head in front of Snap Decision.

“I got a good break and saved ground early,” Karamanos said. “The trainer told me the horse is ready to win so save ground and wait for your moment. In the second turn he wanted to go but I wouldn’t let him go. I tried to hold him back as best I could. At the top of the stretch, I finally let him go. He gave me a nice kick. He’s got a long, beautiful stride so I just let him go.”

Red Knight added the Colonial Cup to his victory in the 2020 Sycamore at Keeneland in stakes-record time of 2:28.81 for 12 furlongs. He also won the H. Allen Jerkens Stakes going 2 miles at Gulfstream Park in 2018 and the Point of Entry Stakes at 1 1/2 miles in 2019 at Belmont Park. He improved to 9-for-27 with eight seconds and one third and earned $90,000 to boost his earnings to $893,258 in the Colonial Cup.

Foaled at Keane Stud in Amenia, Red Knight is one of five winners produced by the late Skip Away mare Isabel Away.

Isabel Away’s first stakes winner was Macagone, a finalist for champion New York-bred turf male honors in 2016 after a season highlighted by the first of two wins in the Danger’s Hour Stakes carrying Trinity’s colors. Macagone ran until late in his 9-year-old season and won 11 of 47 starts and earned $654,981.

Other winners for Isabel Way are Birchwood Road, a $252,002 earner on the New York circuit who became a steeplechaser; Jaye Jaye, the winner of her first two starts before trying stakes company; and Rosssellini, a filly by Freud who sold for $40,000 as a yearling at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed sale. Isabel Away is also the dam of Druid, a 4-year-old New York-bred gelding by Magician entered for his fifth start Friday at Saratoga.

Trinity Farm’s Tom Egan was confident heading into the Colonial Cup.

“I had high expectations because this horse is a terrific racehorse,” he said. “Mike Maker thought he’d run a very big race and he did. He was coming off a long layoff. He needed every bit of that layoff. … He has a lot of zest for racing. We bred him and we owned his mother.”

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2022/07/27/red-knight-returns-with-colonial-cup-victory/

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Galaxina stretches out to win New York Oaks

By Tom Law

The late money proved the right money in Monday’s $75,000 New York Oaks at Finger Lakes.

Galaxina, who hovered around 3-1 and 5-2 with about 12 minutes to post for the 1 11/6-mile Oaks, eventually was hammered down to 6-5 favoritism. She backed up the support in her first try beyond 7 furlongs with a three-quarter-length victory over Eros’s Girl and six others in the 34th renewal of the Western New York fixture.

The win didn’t come easy for Ascendant Farm’s homebred daughter of Giant Surprise.

Galaxina, shipped to Finger Lakes from trainer Jim Bond’s Gridley Street private barn just off the grounds of Saratoga Race Course, stalked early under Dylan Davis and withstood late runs from Eros’s Girl, Curly Girl and Shesascoldasice. She then withstood about a five-minute stewards inquiry and jockey’s objection from Kevin Navarro, the rider of Eros’s Girl, before adding the Oaks to her growing resume.

Eighth and 9 lengths behind Dream Central last time out in her turf debut in the Cupecoy’s Joy division of the New York Stallion Series June 19 at Belmont Park, Galaxina returned to the dirt for the New York Oaks. She’d won her last two on the main track before the Cupecoy’s Joy, including a 24-1 upset of the Park Avenue division of the NYSS in late April at Aqueduct.

Curly Girl came in a bit from post two at the break, brushing Galaxina down on the rail and Silent Invasion wound up in front heading past the finish the first time and into the first turn. Silent Invasion led Galaxina by a length through the opening splits of :23.98 and :48.60. Charge Nurse and Sister Linda, who opened up as the early favorite at 3-5 before drifting up to 9-5 at post time, tracked from there with Eros’s Girl fifth and Sweet Maeve sixth.

Davis gave Galaxina her cue around the far turn and was within a head of the leader through 6 furlongs in 1:13.98. They took the lead into the stretch, racing about two paths off the rail as Silent Invasion retreated and Eros’s Girl revved up.

Davis gave Galaxina a couple taps of the whip left-handed, she drifted out a bit and exchanged a light bump with Eros’s Girl. The two battled side-by-side through the lane with Galaxina eventually edging away to win in 1:49.68. Curly Girl finished a head back of the runner-up in third, with Shesascoldasice another half-length behind in fourth. Silent Invasion, Charge Nurse, Sister Linda and Sweet Maeve completed the field.

Galaxina earned $45,000 for the victory – her third in five starts – and boosted her bankroll to $208,250.

A second generation homebred for Ascendant and foaled at Rockridge Stud in Hudson, Galaxina is out of the Lawyer Ron mare Strange Magic.

Ascendant and Don Manuchia purchased the unraced Artax mare Lokoya Red, in foal to Saarland, for $28,000 at the 2005 OBS October mixed sale. Bred to Lawyer Ron in his second season at stud three years later, the mare produced Galaxina’s dam Strange Magic.

Strange Magic never made it to the track but has produced two runners with Galaxina her first winner. She’s also the dam of the New York-bred 2-year-old colt Incantation, who breezed a half in :51 Monday morning at Colonial Downs, and a New York-bred yearling colt by Frank Conversation.

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2022/07/25/galaxina-stretches-out-to-win-new-york-oaks/

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Robin Sparkles dazzles in Grade 3 Caress

By Tom Law

Robin Sparkles rewarded her supporters – owners, breeders, trainer and gamblers – in a big way in Saturday’s Grade 3 Caress Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.

Dismissed at 21-1 in a field of nine that included defending champ Caravel, graded stakes winner Souper Sensational and six other stakes winners, Robin Sparkles won for the ninth time in 16 starts in the 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint stakes. The 5-year-old Elusive Quality mare won by a head over Souper Sensational with Lady Edith third, Miss J McKay fourth and 2-1 favorite Caravel last.

“It’s huge,” said Jon Taisey of Hibiscus Stables, which bred Robin Sparkles out of the Dehere mare My Sparky. “It’s our biggest win as a breeder. We’ve had a lot of big wins. I think the Albany was our biggest before this with Funny Guy. This is our biggest. It doesn’t get any better than this.”

Taisey was first to congratulate trainer Bruce Brown after he finished his post-race interviews with the team from Fox Sports’ Saratoga Live and the assembled print media. Brown collected his first graded stakes win with Robin Sparkles, who finished third in last year’s Caress.

“It’s awesome,” said Brown, who trains Robin Sparkles for Michael Schrader.

Robin Sparkles came into the Caress off a third in the 5-furlong Goldwood Stakes at Monmouth Park, where she set what Brown called a “suicidal” early pace of :21.43 and :43.49 before fading to finish 3 1/2 lengths behind the winner Bout Time. She’d won her 2022 debut in the off-the-turf Politely Stakes going 5 furlongs May 21 at Monmouth.

Javier Castellano took the mount on Robin Sparkles for the first time in the Caress, reuniting with Brown after the two teamed to win with Saratoga’s Troy and Lucky Coin at the 2014 meet.

“He rode my good sprinter Spring To The Sky and won a few races on him and I told him in the paddock, ‘let’s try to do that and get her out there,’ ” Brown said. “She doesn’t like to be held too tight, just a loose reign and nurse her around there and that’s exactly what she did.”

Robin Sparkles and Castellano broke well from the gate, while Caravel got off just a smidge slow in search of back-to-back graded wins after taking Belmont Park’s Grade 3 Intercontinental in June.

Robin Sparkles led through the opening quarter-mile without any serious pressure in :21.54 and by the same 1-length margin to the half in :44.21. She opened up 3 lengths in midstretch while Souper Sensational, Lady Edith, Miss J McKay tried to rally. Souper Sensational came closest, but a head short. Robin Sparkles won in 1:01.98 over the firm turf.

“I really like the horse and the way she did it today,” Castellano said. “The horse is a free-running horse. She only likes to go to the lead. She broke so well out of the gate, I took a big advantage and put her on the lead and tried to slow down the pace the best I could. I like the way she finished. She is such a game horse. Today, she put in 100 percent and Bruce did such a good job.”

Foaled at Waldorf Farm in North Chatham, Robin Sparkles is the third foal out of the five-time winner My Sparky.

Hibiscus purchased My Sparky in foal to Frost Giant for $5,700 at the 2014 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed sale. Cold Sober, a gelding by Frost Giant, sold for $20,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale and won two of 18 starts. My Sparky’s second foal, the Majestic Warrior mare G’s Warrior, raced for Hibiscus Stables and won one of nine starts.

Robin Sparkles sold for $30,000 at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale. She picked up $110,000 for the Caress victory to boost her bankroll to $530,668.

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2022/07/23/robin-sparkles-dazzles-in-grade-3-caress/

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Upstart’s half-brother Practice Squad wins Rick Violette

By Tom Law

Rick Violette left an indelible mark all over the Thoroughbred industry.

Take your pick between the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, National Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, Take2 Second Career Thoroughbred Program, Take the Lead Thoroughbred Retirement Program or any number of advocacy groups and initiatives for backstretch workers, horsemen, horseplayers. Don’t forget trainer of Grade 1 winners like Diversify, Dream Rush and Man Of Wicklow.

Add the 2022 edition of Rick Violette Stakes to the ledger.

Even without all the family and friends who turned out and scores of others for the second annual New York Thoroughbred Aftercare Day, Violette’s stamp was all over the race named in his honor as a former claimer narrowly edged the heavy favorite in the $125,000 stakes. Maybe Violette would have scoffed at the almost Hollywood outcome after Practice Squad, a half-brother to a colt that got the late trainer to the Kentucky Derby for the third time, edged a colt running out of his former barn still decked out in his signature turquoise and black albeit for another conditioner.

That’s how it shook out, Practice Squad winning by a determined head over 2-5 Dakota Gold in the third renewal of the Rick Violette. Claimed by Joe Sharp for $30,000 in late February at Fair Grounds, the 3-year-old Malibu Moon gelding ended a string of five defeats dating back to New Year’s Eve in New Orleans.

“We are big into aftercare and he was definitely on the forefront of that,” Sharp said of Violette. “We’re proud to win it, of course. He was a wonderful horseman, so it’s an honor to win a race like that, especially with a New York-bred.”

Bred by Joanne Nielsen and out of the Touch Gold mare Party Silks, Practice Squad was a $100,000 purchase at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Select Yearling Showcase – which featured yearlings that would have sold at the Saratoga Select and Saratoga New York-bred sales – during the Covid-19 pandemic. A half-brother to New York-bred champion, multiple graded stakes winner and Kentucky Derby starter Upstart, Practice Squad started his career for Bill Parcells’ August Dawn Farm and trainer Robbie Medina before being claimed in his second start for $40,000.

Sharp and Jordan Wycoff reached in to claim him for $30,000 after he won a maiden special weight and finished sixth in an off-the-turf optional for Larry Romero and Chris Hartman.

“The pedigree was definitely there,” said Carl Fiebig, a partner with Wycoff. “We thought he fit our program pretty well. The day we claimed him was a Monday at Fair Grounds. We probably should not have been watching races and handicapping but Jordan is a shrewd guy in the claim box and found a diamond in the rough.”

Freshened for two months after the claim, Practice Squad returned to the races in his home state and placed in three straight starts against older horses on the grass for his new connections. He returned with 3-year-olds for the Rick Violette, which had been run for 2-year-old New York-breds and known as the Rockville Centre from 2014 to 2018 when run at Belmont Park before being renamed and move to Saratoga.

Sent off as the 5-1 third choice in the field of five behind multiple stakes winner and 2-5 favorite Dakota Gold and Grade 3 winner Coinage, Practice Squad and jockey Flavien Prat lingered in fourth in the early stages as longshot Stop The Spread set the pace. Stop The Spread led Coinage through the opening splits of :24.59 and :50.02, with Dakota Gold and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. keeping tabs about 2 lengths back up the backstretch.

Coinage made the first run at Stop The Spread just past 6 furlongs in 1:14.91, taking a narrow lead as the field rounded the far turn. Coinage led into the lane with Stop The Spread trying to stay on at the rail, while Dakota Gold ranged up three paths off the rail.

Prat guided Practice Squad between a Stop The Spread and Coinage at the eighth pole and Dakota Gold passed Coinage at the sixteenth pole. The two raced almost on even terms from there, with Practice Squad never giving up his advantage to the wire. He won in 1:44.69 over the inner turf labeled good after being softened up a bit with a few quick rainstorms Thursday afternoon.

“(Coinage) came out and floated him, but that’s horse racing,” said Dakota Gold’s trainer Danny Gargan, who trains in Saratoga out of Violette’s former barn near the Morning Line Kitchen on the main track. “Sometimes, you have to overcome things. He didn’t overcome it. We’ll come back later on in the meet, there’s another stakes race. He ran his race, but we lost the head bob. We took a little bit of the worst of it. I don’t know particularly if he’s a soft turf horse, but it is what it is. I’m happy he ran and showed up. You can’t win ‘em all.”

Sharp’s history with the Wycoff family goes back to his days as an assistant to Mike Maker.

Practice Squad is the first horse he claimed for Jordan Wycoff, who watched the race with his wife and daughter at home in Philadelphia. Fiebig and Jordan Wycoff’s parents, Kirk and Debra Wycoff, stood in with Violette’s family that included his sister Patricia and brother Chris, former assistant Melissa Cohen and others for the winner’s circle photo.

Practice Squad is the seventh foal out of the unraced Party Silks, who is also the dam of the stakes-placed $126,480-earner New York Hero, four-time winner Party On and Party Season, a New York-bred son of American Pharoah who sold for $1 million at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Sale and was a winner in Ireland in the fall of 2020.

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2022/07/21/upstarts-half-brother-practice-squad-wins-rick-violette/

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Dream Central in time again to win Suzie O’Cain

By Tom Law

Eddie Fazzone likes to come to trainer Gary Sciacca with the occasional suggestion, nudge if you will, about where to run his horses.

“He’ll come to me with this and that and I’ll tell Paul, ‘put it on the list,’ ” Sciacca said , referring to his longtime assistant Paul Barone. “We laugh about it all the time. He gets mad, well, not really mad. It’s fun, we have a great time. He’s a great guy.”

Fazzone asked Sciacca to put the inaugural Suzie O’Cain Stakes on the list for Dream Central, before she even ran in and won the Cupecoy’s Joy division of the New York Stallion Series Stakes last month at Belmont Park. He’d asked for the Cupecoy’s Joy, too, even though Dream Central was still a maiden with six defeats to her ledger.

The Cupecoy’s Joy worked out for longtime friends Fazzone and Sciacca – Dream Central won by a neck at almost 40-1 – and the $125,000 Suzie O’Cain worked Wednesday. Dream Central got up in time again to win the 1 1/16-mile turf stakes for New York-bred 3-year-old fillies, giving Fazzone’s Eddie F’s Racing operation its first Saratoga victory and fifth stakes triumph.

“What a great race to win,” said Fazzone, who runs the popular Eddie F’s New England Seafood Restaurant on Clinton Street in Saratoga Springs. “Suzie was a great friend. She came in the restaurant all the time. … I can’t be any more happy than I am right now.”

Dream Central, bred by and foaled at John Jayko’s Fedwell Farm in Saratoga Springs, improved to 2-for-7 and boosted her earnings to $164,667 with the head victory over even-money favorite She’s a Mia. The 3-year-old daughter of 2021 leading New York sire Central Banker had only finished third once in her six starts before entering stakes company, but that didn’t scare Sciacca or Fazzone from stepping up.

“She’s 2-for-2 in stakes races but couldn’t break her maiden,” Sciacca said. “She had a little trouble a few times and probably should have broken her maiden.

“It’s so good. Up here, Saratoga is so tough. I know it meant so much to Eddie to win up here. A regular race, never mind a stakes race. He would have been happy with a claiming race. But we still have some more bullets to fire.”

Dream Central came ready to fire in the Suzie O’Cain, named for the popular and pioneering horsewoman who served on the New York Thoroughbred Breeders’ Inc. board and passed away in January.

Jockey Jose Lezcano, who rode Dream Central in the Cupecoy’s Joy, came to the paddock confident and told Sciacca he’d let the filly relax and try to make one run for the victory.

Dream Central raced sixth early as Solib, one of two runners for trainer Joe Sharp along with Classic Lynne, set the early pace on a loose lead under Luis Saez. Classic Lynne led through splits of :23.93, :48.23 and 1:12.17 before the field bunched up around the far turn and into the stretch.

Dufresne came away with the lead in midstretch when the pacesetter called it a day and braced for the challenge of She’s a Mia in midstretch. She’s a Mia and Joel Rosario took dead aim, snatched the lead but couldn’t hold it and lost in the final strides. The first two were 3 lengths clear of Dufresne, with Classic Lynne fourth, Lisa’s Vision fifth and Solib sixth. Dream Central won in 1:42.34.

“I knew the race today was a little tougher than the last race,” Fazzone said. “She’s been doing great. Gary had her ready and I knew she was ready.

“We always knew she had a lot of talent. We tried her on the dirt but knew she was totally turf. Hopefully she comes out of this good and we go for the (Statue of Liberty division of the NYSS Aug. 18). Those were the two races we had picked out, today and the sire stakes.”

Dream Central is the fourth foal out of the stakes-placed winning Deputy Wild Cat mare Dreamed to Dream, who was purchased by Jayko in foal to Point of Entry for $7,500 at the 2018 OBS winter mixed sale. She produced the New York-bred gelding Dreampoint from that mating and he’s placed six times from 16 starts and earned $85,393 for Eddie F’s Racing and Sciacca.

Dreamed to Dream’s first foal, the Treasure Beach mare Beach Dreaming, was a five-time winner of $108,280. She’s also the dam of stakes winner Dreamalildreamofu, who is graded-stakes placed and the earner of $289,403. Dreamalildreamofu sold for $235,000 at last year’s Keeneland November breeding stock sale.

Dreamed to Dream is also the dam of an unraced 2-year-old New York-bred filly by Klimt named Secessionist and a colt by Speightster born in New York Feb. 20.

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2022/07/20/dream-central-in-time-again-to-win-suzie-ocain/

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Royalty: New York-bred steeplechaser wins Grade 1 at Saratoga

By Sean Clancy

“I don’t care about that right now…but, yes.”

That’s how Kate Dalton responded when she was reminded that she and her husband, Bernie, collected the breeders’ bonus for winning the Grade 1 A.P. Smithwick Memorial Steeplechase Thursday at Saratoga Race Course.

Their homebred, Down Royal, had upset the first steeplechase stakes of the meet, rallying latest of all to nail Chief Justice in the final strides of the 2 1/16-mile stakes. Bred by the Daltons, owned in partnership with Joe Fowler’s Shadowfax Stable, trained by Kate, ridden by Bernie, shipped by Bernie and run by Kate, the 8-year-old daughter of Alphabet Soup collected $90,000 for the win, provided the Daltons with a career highlight and, oh yeah, added another $27,000 in breeders’ bonus.

Now, that’s a score.

Taking on two British-breds, two Irish-breds, a French-bred and a Kentucky-bred – all boys – the hometown girl settled off the pace, moved up after a mile, waited around the fourth turn and aimed at Chief Justice like she knew the enormity at hand. Sent off fourth choice, Down Royal slipped through on the inside of longshot Chief Justice to win by a neck.

Born at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds all the way back in 2014, Down Royal made three starts on the flat (beaten a combined 45 1/2 lengths) before switching to steeplechasing. She broke her maiden as a 3-year-old and earned seven checks during a tough 11-race losing streak that lasted from November 2017 to April 2021. For her 7-year-old debut, the Daltons decided to take her off Lasix, to see what happened, basically.

What’s happened has been a resurgence.

Down Royal won a handicap to begin 2021, finished second in a filly and mare stakes at the Iroquois and tacked on stakes at Colonial Downs and Far Hills to finish last season. She provided Bernie Dalton with his 100th career win (the 41st American jump jockey to accomplish it) before her Grade 1 scourge Thursday.

“You don’t even dream of days like this. I had seen her as a chestnut filly with a white blaze about three or four months at McMahon’s and she’s been the apple of my eye ever since. Daddies and their girls, I guess,” Bernie Dalton said. “I loved her mother. I couldn’t win a stake with her mother. This mare was very much like that until a year ago. I don’t know if it’s the Lasix or what but she started to improve. It’s a credit to her, that mare comes in every spring and wants to train, never, ever says so, always happy to be back in the barn, always happy to go to the races. For the last two weeks, she’s been like, ‘I’m bored. Let’s go somewhere. Let’s do something.’ They speak to you, if you listen. It’s the New York-bred in them. It’s the New York style, baby. Bring it.”

She brought it.

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2022/07/20/royalty-new-york-bred-steeplechaser-wins-grade-1-at-saratoga/

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Barese dominates New York Derby

Paradise Farms Corp.’s and David Staudacher’s Barese made a winning return to the state-bred ranks Monday with a powerful victory over three rivals in the $150,000 New York Derby at Finger Lakes.

Fourth last time being Tawny Port, Grade 1 Florida Derby winner White Abarrio and eventual Grade 1 Belmont Derby winner Classic Causeway, Barese collected his third stakes win of 2022 in the New York Derby. The son of Laoban won the Rego Park and Gander at Aqueduct before giving open company a try and finishing fifth in eventual Belmont Stakes winner Mo Donegal’s victory in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial.

Barese, bred by Becky Thomas’ Sequel Thoroughbreds and Lewis Lakin’s Lakland Farm, went to the post as the 7-5 second choice in the field reduced by one with the scratch of Grabbing the Money. Manny Franco and even-money favorite Aggregation came away well at the break and took the lead, just ahead of Barese and jockey Richardo Santana Jr. and third choice Best Idea and John Velazquez.

Aggregation stayed a few paths off the rail into the first turn and led by a half-length through the opening quarter-mile in :23.88. He opened it up to a length to the half in :48.07 before Barese inched up a little more approaching the far turn. Barese drew alongside the leader midway on the turn, putting a head in front and opening up.

Barese drew off from there, opening up past the mile in 1:38.67 and winning by 4 lengths over Best Idea with Aggregation third and State Planning fourth. Barese won in 1:45.70 over the sloppy and sealed track.

Foaled at Sequel Thoroughbreds in Hudson, Barese is the third foal out of the unraced Successful Appeal mare Right Prevails. Trainer Mike Maker purchased the colt for $150,000 out of Thomas’ Sequel Bloodstock consignment at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream sale of 2-year-olds in training.

Barese won his debut for Maker and his owners in one of the first two New York-bred maiden special weight races run last year, taking a 5-furlong event by a half-length May 21 at Belmont Park. Off until Jan. 9, Barese returned to win the Rego Park and then the Gander about a month later. After a fifth in the Wood Memorial and a third in a division of the New York Stallion Series Stakes, Barese finished 7 1/4 lengths back in fourth in the Grade 3 Ohio Derby.

Right Prevails, a full sister to Grade 3 winner and 2005 Kentucky Derby runner-up Closing Argument, had produced one winner from two starters at the time of the Gulfstream sale.

Her first winner, Barese’s 5-year-old full sister Breakfastatbonnies, is 3-for-6 and finished third in the Feb. 13 Broadway Stakes at Aqueduct. An $80,000 purchase by OWL Stable at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale of 2-year-olds in training, Breakfastatbonnies has earned $164,140. Thomas’ Sequel Bloodstock sold Barese and Breakfastatbonnies.

Right Prevails is also the dam of an unanmed 2-year-old filly by The Lieutenant, a New York-bred yearling colt by Mission Impazible and a New Yrork-bred colt by Catalina Cruiser, all bred in New York and co-bred by Sequel and Lakland.

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2022/07/18/barese-dominates-new-york-derby/

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High Limit Room scores in Grand Prairie Turf Sprint

By Melissa Bauer-Herzog

The third time proved the charm in stakes company for High Limit Room as he timed it right to get his head in front to win the $150,000 Grand Prairie Turf Sprint Saturday at Lone Star Park.

Bred by Woodville Breeding, High Limit Room earned the victory after placing in Monmouth Park’s Get Serious in May and Select in June in his previous stakes attempts. Trained by Jose Camejo for Chris Aulds, the Grand Prairie Turf Sprint gave the 4-year-old Kantharos gelding his fifth win in 12 starts with only one off-the-board finish, that coming in his debut.

High Limit Room picked up $78,768 for the win and is now less than $500 away from $275,000 with his earnings.

High Limit Room and jockey David Cabrera raced in fourth early in the 5-furlong turf stakes, never further back than 2 lengths from the leader Sign of War through splits of :21.80 and :44.01 for the opening half-mile.

High Limit Room came running down the stretch with the leader in his sights, but looked like he might run out of room until he pulled up to Sign of War’s hip inside the final sixteenth. High Limit Room timed his run just right, having a head margin on 22-1 Sign of War at the end with Barristan The Bold in third. High Limit Room, the 5-2 favorite in the field of 11, won in :56.14

High Limit Room is out of the Stormy Atlantic mare Marie Antoinette. She went winless in five starts but has produced two winners from three runners, with two of those runners born in New York. Marie Antoinette is out of the stakes-winning Parisian Affair, who produced the stakes-winning Crimson China and the dam of the multiple graded stakes placed Belle Laura.

High Limit Room’s granddam is a half-sister to French champion 2-year-old and successful sire Elusive City with Canadian champion Lukes Alley also in the family.

High Limit Room was originally sold at the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale for $25,000 as a short yearling by Indian Creek before heading back to New York. Making another trip through the ring later that year, he sold for $62,000 at Fasig-Tipton’s Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale out of the Bluewater Sales consignment.

High Limit Room would attend one more sale when Carole Star Stables snapped him up from Golden Rock Thoroughbreds for $90,000 at the OBS March selected sale of 2-year-olds in training.

Marie Antoinette foaled a Central Banker colt in 2020, who sold for $36,500 at this year’s OBS April sale. The mare also has a yearling colt from the first crop of Solomini and a filly foal by the same stallion.

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2022/07/16/high-limit-room-scores-in-grand-prairie-turf-sprint/

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City Man collects first graded stakes in Forbidden Apple

By Tom Law

Dean Reeves shopped the 2019 OBS April sale of 2-year-olds in training, bought three prospects and picked out one he thought some friends might want to buy a piece of and campaign in partnership.

“We’re more of the silent partners, we don’t say much,” said Peter Searles, who with his wife Patty bought into the then 2-year-old unnamed New York-bred Mucho Macho Man colt that zipped an eighth in :10.1 before the Ocala auction. “After Dean bought him he called us to see if we wanted a piece. It was an easy answer. We said, ‘yes sir.’ ”

Three years and a few months after making that easy call the partners celebrated another win by the now 5-year-old City Man in Friday’s co-featured Grade 3 Forbidden Apple Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. City Man bested a field that included multiple graded stakes winners Set Piece, Public Sector and Get Smokin and Grade 1 Old Forester Turf Classic runner-up Mira Mission in the 1-mile stakes carrying a $175,000 purse that seemed far insufficient considering the talent.

“That was a great win,” Peter Searles said. “Usually it’s New York-breds that he’s running against, with some open stakes, but this is open company and a graded stakes. And the champagne tastes better when it’s free.”

The Searles’, Dean and Patti Reeves and trainer Christophe Clement and his team earned that champagne in the Carmen Barrera Room after City Man won for the sixth time in 22 starts in a swift 1:33.76 over the firm inner turf under Joel Rosario. City Man, sent off the 12-1 fifth choice in the field of 11, added the Forbidden Apple to his 2022 debut victory in the Danger’s Hour Stakes against open company at Aqueduct. He also improved to 2-for-4 with a second on the grass at Saratoga, where he won last year’s West Point Stakes on Saratoga Showcase Day.

City Man bounced back from a troubled seventh last time out in the Kingston Stakes on Big Apple Showcase Day May 30 at Belmont Park.

“He’s been a bit unlucky lately, so it was fun to have a good trip and he won well,” Clement said. “It’s fun to win the Forbidden Apple, because I did train Forbidden Apple. (City Man is) a good New York-bred, but he’s also a good horse.”

Rosario, aboard for those victories in the West Point and Danger’s House along with the Kingston last time, kept City Man in seventh early in the Forbidden Apple was Yes And Yes and jockey John Velazquez dictated the terms early. Yes And Yes took the field through the opening quarter-mile in :23.31 on a 2-length lead before Get Smokin applied some pressure when the tempo slowed to the half in :47.23.

Yes And Yes clung to a narrow lead through 6 furlongs in 1:10.90 and cut the corner turning for home. Get Smokin and Javier Castellano didn’t handle the turn as well and fanned several paths off the fence while Wolfie’s Dynaghost tried to slide past Yes And Yes to the inside of Clear Vision, Atone and a blocked Set Piece. City Man came from another group of four tracking those six in front, between Public Sector and Mira’s Mission.

City Man accelerated inside the eighth pole, outrunning Public Sector and passing Atone, Wolfie’s Dynaghost and Get Smokin inside the final sixteenth.

“He handled everything fine and put in a good run today,” Rosario said. “Turning for home when we started moving, I got lucky and got out in front of them. (Public Sector) was outside me and it looked like every time I asked him (City Man) to do something, he was moving forward. Sometimes, he’s a funny horse (in traffic), but he was OK with that today. He did great.”

Bred by Moonstar Farm and out of the City Zip mare City Scamper, City Man originally sold for $20,000 as a weanling at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed sale. He showed up in the OBS April sale 18 months later, selling as a member of Mucho Macho Man’s second crop.

Reeves, who campaigned Mucho Macho Man to victory in the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita Park and is involved in his stallion career, liked what he saw in the colt at the Off the Hook consignment and bought him for $185,000.

“I’m so happy for Mucho Macho Man to get a graded stakes for us,” Reeves said Friday. “This horse is talented. I felt like if we got a good trip, based on what he did at Aqueduct when he exploded home, he did the same thing here. As soon as it opened up for him, I didn’t expect that big of an explosion but he really kicked on. (The mile) seems to be hitting him just right.”

“It’s been so much fun. We’ve won some big New York-bred races. For him to step out in open company and be successful it’s really rewarding.”

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2022/07/15/city-man-collects-first-graded-stakes-in-forbidden-apple/

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