Champions Make Mischief, Somelikeithotbrown score in off-the-turf stakes

By Tom Law

Mark Casse wants to give Make Mischief a run on the turf. Seriously, he does. 

He said as much this week, in the days leading up to the Yaddo Handicap. He said it again Friday with 15 minutes to post for the $200,000 stakes for older New York-bred fillies and mares. 

“I really want to try her on the grass sometime, but I’ll take this,” Casse said, this being a rained-off and scratch-laden field of five going 1 mile for a $110,000 first-place check. 

Casse said it again after Make Mischief powered to an 8 1/2-length victory over Ice Princess in 1:37.63 over the muddy and sealed main track. A week removed from being crowned champion New York-bred 3-year-old filly, Make Mischief won for the seventh time in 20 starts and boosted her bankroll to $746,150 for owner Gary Barber. 

“I actually wanted to run her on the grass,” Casse said in the winner’s circle. “She worked really well on the grass. The mare is 4-for-4 to produce (winners on the grass). We’ll wait for another day.

“As soon as they said it was off-the-turf my confidence rose. I wasn’t sure how many had scratched but I knew there would be a few.”

Friday’s late-morning rainstorm moved the Yaddo to the main track and shortened it from 1 1/16 miles to 1 mile out of the Wilson Chute. Only four fillies and mares showed up in the paddock to take on Make Mischief, who went to the post 3-5 under Dylan Davis. 

Wasp, the 5-2 second choice who drew in as a main track only runner, took the early lead from Make Mischief under Flavient Prat and led through splits of :24.63 and :47.50. Davis was content to led Wasp clear from the outside, give up his inside position and stalk from the outside. 

“I broke sharp and after that I was going to take an easy lead,” Davis said. “Flavien opted to come to me early. I just let her have it. I wanted to be comfortable and she was comfortable on the outside.”

Make Mischief took the lead on the far turn with little argument from Wasp and opened up. She and Davis led by 6 in midstretch and cruised from there as Ice Princess edged Wasp for the place spot by three-quarters of a length. 

Mario and Dawn Martinez of Avanti Stable, who bred Make Mischief out of their Speightstown mare Speightful Lady, were on hand for the filly’s latest victory. 

“She’s a nice filly. It was an easy race for her,” Mario Martinez said. “After getting 3-year-old filly for New York, she’s just been doing better and better.” 

Foaled at Song Hill Thoroughbreds in Mechanicville, Make Mischief improved to 3-for-5 this season. She opened the season with an allowance win in April at Aqueduct and won the Critical Eye Handicap on Big Apple Showcase Day in May at Belmont.

Make Mischief is one five winners out of Speightful Lady, who was purchased in foal to Uncle Mo by Martinez for $75,000 at the 2013 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky winter mixed sale.

Speightful Lady delivered her first foal a few weeks later, the Uncle Mo colt later gelded and named Motown Rhythm. He was her first winner, along with $220,450-earner Speightful Kitten, the $250,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling Jody’s Song and the $115,000 Saratoga select yearling Crescent Lady. Speightful Lady is also the dam of an unraced 2-year-old filly by Union Rags named Speightful Lily, who turned in her first 3-furlong breeze in :38.66 Friday at Saratoga. She’s the dam of a Goldencents colt named Speightful Storm bred by Avanti and Song Hill born Feb. 19. She was bred to Mendelssohn in 2022.

 

Somelikeithotbrown scores first victory on dirt in West Point

Somelikeithotbrown also picked up a New York-bred championship last Friday night – his fourth – and added another stakes to his resume with a victory in the rained-off $174,000 West Point to close the stakes portion of the Showcase Day card. 

The 6-year-old son of Irish Hill and Dutchess Views Stallions’ Big Brown was voted New York-bred champion at 2 and 3 and as turf male the last two seasons and he won for the first time on dirt Friday over two opponents in the 1-mile West Point. The longest price on the board at 5-2 behind odds-on favorite and recent Evan Shipman winner Bankit and 8-5 second choice Jerry The Nipper, Somelikeithotbrown won by 6 lengths under Jose Ortiz in 1:37.68. Bankit finished second, 4 1/2 lengths ahead of Jerry The Nipper. 

Somelikeithotbrown came into the West Point with 20 of 26 starts on the grass, along with four on synthetic tracks. He’d raced just once on dirt and that run gave trainer Mike Maker plenty of confidence. 

“It [coming off the turf] didn’t bother me,” Maker said. “I knew it would be a short field. He ran fourth as a 3-year-old in the Blue Grass. A mile and an eighth was probably a bit too far for him. We figured we’d give it a shot. I talked to the ownerships and they said, ‘If you feel he’s doing well enough, let’s run.’ ”

Bred by Hot Pink Stables and Sand Dollar Stables and campaigned by Skychai Racing and David Koenig, Somelikeithotbrown won his seventh stakes in the West Point. 

“It’s been a while since he ran on the dirt,” Ortiz said. “He’s shown tremendous ability over the turf. Mike has done a tremendous job with him since he was a 2-year-old. … He’s got great form on turf and he ran good today on dirt, but it’s a three-horse race. It’s nice to know that if you’re going in on turf, and if it rains, which happens a lot, you can run on the dirt.” 

Somelikeithotbrown, a three-time graded stakes winner and multiple Grade 1-placed, earned $110,000 for the West Point and padded his bankroll to $1,316,248.

Foaled at Sequel Stallions New York in Hudson, Somelikeithotbrown is one of two New York-bred stakes winners for the Tapit mare Marilyn Monroan. She’s also the dam of Jolting Joe, who is 3-7-6 in 28 starts for $180,590 in earnings. Marilyn Monroan is also the dam of the 2-year-old Hard Spun filly Varsity Blond and a filly by Mendelssohn born Feb. 22 in Kentucky.

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2022/08/26/champions-make-mischief-somelikeithotbrown-score-in-off-the-turf-stakes/

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Heavy favorites Maple Leaf Mel, Andiamo a Firenze deliver Showcase victories

By Paul Halloran

Jeremiah Englehart was struggling with how to break the news to Bill Parcells that he would not be at Saratoga Race Course August 10 for the debut of Parcells’ filly, Maple Leaf Mel.

“This is his locker room,” Englehart said of the Hall of Fame coach. “When I missed her run the first time, I was watching a Mets game with my kids. He said, ‘I could see myself telling Mr. (Wellington) Mara, I’m not going to be able to make the NFC Championship game this week because I gotta take my kids to a Mets game.’ ”

Parcells actually took the news in stride and it was all good when Maple Leaf Mel rolled to a 5-length win in the maiden special weight for New York-breds. It was even better Friday when the daughter of Cross Traffic made it 2-for-2 – this time with the trainer front and center – with a 3 1/2-length score in the slop in the $194,000 Seeking the Ante Stakes to kick off Saratoga Showcase Day.

“We knew she was a talented filly,” Englehart said. “She handled another test, coming back on short rest and she handled the off track. I thought Joel (Rosario) put her in a super spot. When you ask her, she goes.”

Maple Leaf Mel, who was bred by Joe Fafone and foaled at Waldorf Farm in North Chatham, is the fourth foal and now third multiple winner out of City Gift. She battled with Song Parody early Friday before taking the lead going down the backstretch of the 6 1/2-furlong stakes for 2-year-old fillies. Longshot Lady Mine took over second on the far turn and appeared as if she might pose a serious threat, but Rosario had plenty of horse left, something which was obvious to the astute Parcells.

“I know Joel pretty well,” Parcells said. “I’ve seen what he does and how he behaves. He’s worked the horse, he’s been on the horse. I knew he had horse left.”

Parcells, who celebrated his 81st birthday Monday, was pleased to be back in the Saratoga winner’s circle.

“It’s the best,” he said, when asked to compare winning a horse race with his myriad of gridiron accomplishments. “It’s nice to be my age and have something like this to get you as excited as this.”

Englehart said he was smitten when he saw Maple Leaf Mel, an $18,000 yearling at Keeneland last September, at the Fasig-Tipton Midtlantic May 2-year-olds in training sale.

“You want to have those horses that when they come out of the stall and they show them to you, you get stars in your eyes,” he said. “Maybe that’s a little dramatic, but she was one of those horse that gave you that good feeling.”

Robbie Medina, who buys a lot of horses for Parcells, and trainer George Weaver were all on board and they went to $150,000 to add her to Parcells’ August Dawn Farm roster.

They named her for Englehart’s assistant, Ontario native Melanie Giddings, which Englehart figured might give him a leg up in getting the horse into his barn. The plan worked and Maple Leaf Mel is doing her namesake, a Stage 4 cancer survivor, proud.

“I talked her into coming up here last year just to live again, to get going again,” Englehart said. “She probable hated me for it because it was a lot of work. We’re like brother and sister. You can have an argument but you still love ’em. I trust her more than anyone.”

After the impressive debut win, open company was a consideration for the second start, but the connections were looking for Maple Leaf Mel to get more of a stern test before taking that leap.

“The first race wasn’t a contest,” Parcells said. “We wanted her to be in a little better scuffle. We’ll talk about the next one.”

It will be yet another conversation with the coach that Englehart values, even if they are not all cordial.

“I tell anyone, you haven’t been yelled at until you’ve been yelled at by a two-time, Super Bowl-winning, Hall of Fame football coach,” he said. “I’m a better person for knowing him and being able to work with him. In the last four years of our friendship the life lessons I’ve gotten from him is like having another dad.”

 

Mr Amore Stable’s homebred Andiamo a Firenze rolls in Funny Cide

When you have horses coming into a state-bred race off an open stakes in which they were very competitive, the result is often predictable. That was the story of Friday’s $200,000 Funny Cide Stakes.

Andiamo a Firenze, a homebred younger brother of nine-time graded stakes winner and $2,730,350-earner Firenze Fire, rebounded from a third in the Grade 3 Sanford Stakes July 16 and rolled to an easy victory as the odds-on favorite in the race named for the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness champ.

“He ran great today,” said owner and breeder Ron Lombardi of Mr. Amore Stable. “The last race was a little disappointing. He got tired. Kelly got him back to where he needed to be and I think today he showed what he’s all about.”

Trainer Kelly Breen said the ability to run in a state-bred stakes race such a big purse was the perfect opportunity for the son of Speightstown and the fourth winning foal out of the Langfuhr mare My Every Wish.

“We increase our purse and get to run against New York-breds, so it’s a win-win for us,” Breen said. “This gives him great experience and is maybe a confidence booster. He did run hard the last time and he was tired after that race.”

I’m Wide Awake set a blistering pace, completing the first quarter-mile in :21.29. Belt Parkway tracked him in second and it is no coincidence that the pair finished fifth and sixth in the six-horse field. Irad Ortiz Jr. had Andiamo a Firenze a close third heading into the far turn of the 6 1/2-furlong race, took the lead as they straightened for home and the horse showed his class in winning by 5 1/2 lengths in 1:18.72.

“They went very fast, :21.1,” Lombardi said. “Irad knew he had the horse and when he asked him to go by, he put them away quite easily.”

If all goes well, Andiamo a Firenze will try to follow in his brother’s footsteps by winning the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes Oct. 1 in the Belmont at the Aqueduct fall meeting.

“We’ll celebrate today and hopefully he comes out of this well and the Champagne is in our  sights and we’ll move him forward,” Lombardi said.

Breen thinks his colt can build off of Friday’s performance.

“This is a great steppingstone,” he said. “The timing was great, everything about it. We nominated to the Hopeful as a back-up plan if this race didn’t fill. Today he ran fast early and just kept on going.”

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2022/08/26/heavy-favorites-maple-leaf-mel-andiamo-a-firenze-deliver-showcase-victories/

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Bossmakinbossmoves, Fingal’s Cave shine in sophomore Showcase Day stakes

By Paul Halloran

If the East Avenue Racing people thought they were a lock for Most Raucous Winner’s Circle at Saratoga Race Course this year, the Clear Stars Stable folks would like a word.

Two weeks after East Avenue turned up the volume in their celebration of Vallelujah’s state-bred allowance win, Michael Sternklar and his group from Clear Stars raised the roof when Bossmakinbossmoves overcame a terrible start to win the Albany Stakes for 3-year-olds on Saratoga Showcase Day.

“One time in the paddock another trainer came up to me and said, ‘If I don’t win I hope you guys do because there’s nothing like watching your team celebrate,’ ” Sternklar said.

Hopefully, that trainer was around Friday.

By Laoban out of the Bernardini mare Marshtini and owned by Clear Stars Stable, Mitre Box Stable and trainer Rick Schosberg, Bossmakinbossmoves hopped at the start of the 1 1/8-mile Albany and was immediately trailing the four-horse field by 2 lengths. Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. allowed the gelding to get into his stride while not losing touch with the field down the backstretch.

“He jumped at the break,” Ortiz said. “Our plan was to let the speed go and make the last move, so I don’t panic. I let the horse get his stride and let him do his thing. He was moving on his own and doing good.”

Ortiz had Bossmakinbossmoves, who was bred by McMahon of Saratoga and Spruce Lane Farm and foaled at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds in Saratoga Springs, about 5 lengths behind the triumvirate of Price Discipline, Barese and Montebello, who were all 2-1 odds or less, down the backstretch. He made an inside move on the turn, then swung wide and powered past Barese and Montebello at the sixteenth-pole to win by three lengths in 1:51.29 and ignite the mayhem.

Bossmakinbossmoves, a $52,000 purchase at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic fall yearling sale, was bought by Clear Stars for $75,000 at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Midtlantic May 2-year-old sale. The third winning foal out of Marshtini, he broke his maiden in the mud at Aqueduct last December, but lost seven straight heading into the Albany. Schosberg removed the blinkers for the previous race, resulting in a second behind Price Discipline, giving the connections some confidence.

“We took the blinkers off,” Schosberg said. “We took a lot of the equipment off of him and he’s settled down. We’ve been training him at Clare Court and he’s really relaxed over there. I think he’s matured and his last race showed it, but this was a wonderful surprise.”

Sternklar started Clear Stars 17 years ago on a suggestion from his best friend and University at Albany roommate Rich Honen.

“We were splitting $5 bets and Rich said, ‘some day, we’ll be able to own horses,’ ” Sternklar said. “In 2004 or 2005 he calls me up and says, ‘you know, we’re not poor anymore. We can actually do this.’ I guess we can.”

Equine artist Michael Geraghty introduced Sternklar to Schosberg and they have been together since. Their first win was with Zippy Shannon in the Schenectady Stakes at Belmont Park in 2006 and they won the inaugural Seeking the Ante Stakes in 2014 with Myfourchix. Last year, A Bit o’Irish Sass brought home the New York Oaks at Finger Lakes.

Nothing, however, compares to what occurred on Union Avenue Friday.

“Of all of them this is the best,” Sternklar said, “because this is Saratoga and it’s a horse that, frankly, no one thought was going to win. “These people around me, this community we’ve built at Clear Stars, I love them all.”

Clear Stars has 14 horses in training, all New York-breds.

“What isn’t appealing about the NY program?” said Sternklar, a Saratoga Springs resident and CEO of a healthcare benefits company. “If you’re going to race in New York, financially there are such benefits. You can race for purses that are bigger than stakes races in 47 states around the country. This is a friends and family group. If you’re into a community of people who like to feel like you’re an owner and not just an investor, That’s who we are. We’re about having fun.”

That was evident Friday.

 

Fingal’s Cave stays perfect in Fleet Indian

David Donk has given John Velazquez a leg up on many a winner, so he was feeling pretty anxious when the Hall of Fame jockey aboard Let Her Inspire U led the field into the stretch of the Fleet Indian Stakes for New York-bred 3-year-old fillies Friday.

“She had to work for it today,” said Donk, wearing his customary New York Jets hat in the winner’s circle. “That’s a Hall of Famer in front.”

Jose Ortiz is pretty good in his own right and he had enough horse underneath him to catch the frontrunner and keep Fingal’s Cave’s record a perfect 4-for-4 in the Fleet Indian.

“You don’t plan on them being undefeated,” Donk said. “We know she is a nice horse. She’s got a lot of class.”

By Carpe Diem out of the Mineshaft mare Barbie On a Budget, Fingal’s Cave was bred by Chester and Mary Broman and foaled at their Chestertown Farm in Chestertown. Alifyfe Racing bought her privately for $85,000 after she was bought back for $75,000 at the 2021 OBS April 2-year-olds in training sale.

“I worked with bloodstock agent Marette Farrell,” said Alistair Fyfe, who owns the racing partnership. “She thought she was a very nice mover.”

Fingal’s Cave had some minor issues and was sent to Kentucky to Becky Maker, who recommended giving her time to develop. She won a state-bred maiden special at Belmont in May and an allowance in June by a combined 17 1/2 lengths. Donk stretched her to 1 1/8 miles to win an open allowance at Saratoga July 29, setting her up for the Fleet Indian start.

“David still thinks there is a lot to come,” said Fyfe, who has been in the ownership game for about 20 years and won his first stakes Friday. “We haven’t been really pushing her. We’ll probably take a little swing for fences next time and see where we can go.”

Let Her Inspire U set honest fractions of :24.19, :48.15 and 1:12.34 while maintaining a half-length lead over Fingal’s Cave down the backstretch. Velazquez extended the lead to a length around the turn as Ortiz took aim and favorite Venti Valentine drooped back. Fingal’s Cave finally got a head in front at the sixteenth pole and won by a half-length in 1:15.59.

“When we hit the three-eighths pole, things started getting serious,” Ortiz said. “ The other filly kept engaging with me. Every time Johnny asked her she kept on giving it. Finally, I got head-to-head with the other horse. My filly had run a mile and an eighth, the other one hasn’t. So, I rode her with a lot of confidence from the eighth pole to the wire and she got the job done.”

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2022/08/26/bossmakinbossmoves-fingals-cave-shine-in-sophomore-showcase-day-stakes/

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