Classy Edition makes amends in Royal Delta

Robert and Lawana Low’s Classy Edition turned the tables on Kathleen O. in Saturday’s Grade 3 Royal Delta Stakes at Gulfstream Park, almost a year removed from losing to that foe in another important South Florida graded stakes.

Benefitting from a smoother trip than her rival this time, Classy Edition improved to 2-for-2 on the season with a 1 3/4-length victory over Kathleen O. in the Royal Delta. Irad Ortiz Jr. rode the 4-year-old daughter of Classic Empire to her first graded stakes win in his fourth win on the card as trainer Todd Pletcher collected his fourth win in the stakes formerly named the Sabin before 2015.

“I was pretty pleased,” Pletcher said. “We got to a good spot and it looked like Irad had a lot of horse, just waiting to pull the trigger.”

The $150,000 Royal Delta looked like a rematch on paper and gamblers agreed, sending last year’s Grade 2 Davona Dale and Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks winner Kathleen O. to the post as the 4-5 favorite. Classy Edition, second to Kathleen O. in the Davona Dale after closing her juvenile campaign with back-to-back state-bred stakes wins, went off even-money with the 6-1 third choice Midnight Stroll the only other filly or mare at single-digit odds in the field of seven.

Longshot Jungle Juice took the early lead and led Classy Edition by a length into the first turn and to the pedestrian quarter-mile split in :25.28. Kathleen O. got away a half-beat slow and wound up sixth in the early stages, 5 lengths behind Jungle Juice and Classy Edition through the first half in :50.15.

Ortiz sent Classy Edition at the leader midway around the far turn and took control, clicking past 6 furlongs in 1:13.93 and opening up with Tap Dance Fever looking like a threat from her outside and Kathleen O. still more than 2 lengths back. Classy Edition extended her lead in the lane and held a 2-length edge at the eighth pole.

“She was going good on the backside,” Ortiz said. “We were going slow but she was close to the lead. I let her do her thing and she did the rest.”

Kathleen O. continued her wide run through the lane but couldn’t gain enough ground on the winner to finish second, 4 lengths ahead of Don’t Get Khozy. Tap Dance Fever, Soul of an Angel, Midnight Stroll and Jungle Juice completed the field.

Classy Edition, who prepped for the Royal Delta with a comeback win in allowance-optional last month at Gulfstream, won in 1:45.15.

Classy Edition, the most expensive New York-bred 2-year-old filly sold at auction in 2020, improved to 5-for-7 in the Royal Delta and boosted her earnings to $372,790. Bloodstock agent Jacob West bought the filly for the Lows for $550,000 out of the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May sale of 2-year-olds in training, and she ended that year as the second most expensive New York-bred sold at a juvenile auction.

Bred by Chester and Mary Broman and foaled at their Chestertown Farm in Chestertown, Classy Edition was sold at the Timonium sale by Becky Thomas’ Sequel Bloodstock. Out of the Broman-bred two-time winning Bernardini mare Newbie, Classy Edition is a half-sister to multiple New York-bred stakes winner Newly Minted and the stakes-placed New Girl In Town. Newbie is also the dam of the unraced New York-bred American Pharoah colt Pharoah Lake and a yearling New York-bred colt by Vekoma bred by the Bromans.

Newbie is also the dam of the unraced Speightstown mare Colonizer, who sold for $150,000 at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale. The Bromans subsequently purchased Colonizer, in foal to Omaha Beach, back for that same price at last year’s Keeneland November breeding stock sale.

The Bromans bought Newbie’s dam Changeisgonnacome, carrying Newbie, for $320,000 at the 2008 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. Bred in Virginia by Audley Farm, that mare won Saratoga’s P.G. Johnston Stakes in 2006 and placed in a Grade 2 the following year. All five foals of her foals to race were winners.

Classy Edition started her career with three straight victories in the late summer and early autumn of 2021 – a 5 1/2-furlong maiden at Saratoga, the Joseph A. Gimma Stakes at Belmont Park and the Key Cents Stakes at Aqueduct. She started her 3-year-old campaign with that runner-up in the Davona Dale before a fourth back at Aqueduct in the Grade 3 Gazelle. On the sidelines for nine months, Classy Edition returned to win going 1 mile Jan. 11 at Gulfstream.

“We really thought highly of her,” Pletcher said. “She showed quality. She ran a good second in the race here and then needed some time off. She came back really well. I thought her comeback race was excellent. We kind of had a little tactical edge today and she was able to get it done.”

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2023/02/18/classy-edition-makes-amends-in-royal-delta/

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Stonewall Star romps in Laurel’s Wide Country

Horacio De Paz figured Stonewall Star deserved another shot at an open-company stakes win after her second victory over state-breds last month. He considered next month’s East View – another stakes for New York-bred 3-year-old fillies – but figured the “timing was right” to return to Maryland for another shot at an open stakes.

Stonewall Star not only returned to the Free State but came away with that open score with a front-running romp in the $100,000 Wide Country to kick off the stakes portion of the Winter Carnival card at Laurel Park. Barry Schwartz’s homebred daughter of Flatter went to the front from the break under Angel Crus and cruised to an 11-length victory over Chickieness in the 7-furlong Wide Country. Stonewall Star won in 1:24.33 over the fast main track.

“I always thought she could run in open company,” De Paz said after Stonewall Star improved to 4-for-7 in her career.

Stonewall Star added the Wide Country to her prior stakes wins in the Jan. 22 Franklin Square and Nov. 20 Key Cents, both at Aqueduct, and bettered her previous effort in Maryland when third between those victories in the Gin Talking Dec. 30 at Laurel. She also boosted her bankroll to $255,808.

“She’s pretty straightforward. She likes to run on the lead, just try not to go too quick too early,” DePaz said. “She’s just in good form right now. … Mentally she’s just really in the zone right now.”

Stonewall Star went to the post as the 9-5 second choice in the field of six behind the 8-5 pick L Street Lady, who was coming off a victory over fellow Wide Country runners Chickieness and We’ll See in the Jan. 21 Xtra Heat Stakes at Laurel. Stonewall Star broke sharp from the outside post, withstood a bump from We’ll See and cleared to lead L Street Lady by a half-length through the opening quarter in :23.07.

Stonewall Star continued to lead by a length over L Street Leady heading into the far turn and to the half in :46.42, with Chickieness and Gormley’s Gabriela just behind. Cruz gave Stonewall Star her cue turning for home and she opened up as L Street Lady faded and Chickieness and Gormley’s Gabriela idled.

A 5-length advantage in midstretch grew with every stride and Stonewall Star finished well clear at the finish. Chickieness finished 1 3/4 lengths ahead of Gormley’s Gabriela for the place spot, with We’ll See, Sally’s Sassy and L Street Lady completing the lineup.

“I thought they would press her a little bit more,” DePaz said. “That was my concern because the last time with the seven-eighths she was on the lead and took everybody on and just came up short that last sixteenth. But today, she was right.

“The question is how far she would go, and she handled the 7 perfectly fine. We’ll continue to let her tell us. We’ll go back to New York and maybe back to Maryland. She’s got options, that’s for sure.”

Bred and foaled at Schwartz’s Stonewall Farm in Granite Springs, Stonewall Star is the fourth foal and one of two stakes winners out of Jonata. La Fuerza, a 6-year-old full sister to Stonewall Star won three stakes carrying his owner and breeder’s black and white colors in 2018. He won four of eight and earned 4261,610.

Jonata is also the dam of New York-bred winners Citizen K, a gelding by Mizzen Mast also trained by De Paz; and Whatlovelookslike, a 4-year-old by English Channel who won at Saratoga in early September and is 2-2-1 in seven starts with $155,250 for trainer Todd Pletcher.

A $100,000 purchase by Schwartz at the 2011 Keeneland September yearling sale, Jonata won two of 17 starts with five placings and $140,800.

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2023/02/18/stonewall-star-romps-in-laurels-wide-country/

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