Today’s Flavor gets sweet win in Thunder Rumble

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Today’s Flavor enjoys the mud in the Thunder Rumble. Chelsea Durand/NYRA Photo

By Paul Halloran

Javier Castellano says patience and confidence are the keys to winning any horse race. He had both, along with the wherewithal to find the most advantageous part of the racetrack, aboard Today’s Flavor in the $125,000 Thunder Rumble Division of the New York Stallion Series at Aqueduct Sunday.

Making his 10th start of the year, the gelded son of Laoban broke first and went to the front through a quarter-mile in :22.80, only to cede the lead to Dylan Davis and Be the Boss on the far turn. Be the Boss spurted away early in the stretch after a half-mile in :45.92, but when Castellano directed Today’s Flavor away from the rail, he came roaring down the outside of the track to win by 3½ lengths as the 6-5 favorite. General Banker closed hard to pick up Be the Boss for second. The winning time was 1:23.53.

“In those type of tough situations, you have to control yourself,” Castellano said. “My horse broke good and dictated the pace. I tried to give him a little breather, but at some point I don’t want to be pinched inside. I think the horse would be intimidated a little bit. You have to be patient and confident in yourself to have the best result.”

Castellano said he had the perfect horse to execute his strategy.

“He has a great mind, you can do whatever you want,” he said. “I tried to ride him like the best horse and that’s exactly what I did. I don’t want to duel the speed, I just laid back a little bit and set him outside turning for home and let the horse find his stride and finish really strong. He can do whatever you want. He can dictate the pace or be a little off the pace.”

As it turned out, Today’s Flavor experienced both scenarios Sunday, proving to be much the best in the 7-furlong stakes.

“He’s a rideable horse. You didn’t want to go with Dylan so it was the right choice just to wait and be out in the middle of the track,” said Blair Golen, assistant to winning trainer George Weaver. “It seemed like the last couple of races that’s where the winners were from.”

Today’s Flavor earned his third stakes win of the year, adding to scores in the state-bred Affirmed Success in April and an off-the-turf running of the Belmont Turf Sprint in October against open company, both over a sloppy and sealed Aqueduct main track. He improved his career record to 7-for-10 on the dirt at the Big A and 8-for-16 overall with $545,080 in earnings.

Bred by Joseph Calvo, Today’s Flavor is the first stakes winner (and one of three winners) out of the winning Speightstown mare Evangelical, a half-sister to stakes-placed Worship the Moon from the family of graded stakes winners Knights Templar and stakes winners For All Seasons and Dial A Song.

Reddam Racing purchased Today’s Flavor for $80,000 with Waves Bloodstock as agent at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale from South Point Sales Agency. Today’s Flavor is a half-brother to Garey Park, a New York-bred gelding by Trappe Shot who went 3-6-2 in 21 starts and earned $50,243.

Evangelical, a half-sister to Grade 2-placed Worship The Moon and four other winners, sold for $27,000 at the 2019 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. She has produced two foals in Korea, a Jimmy Creed filly, three-time winner Saenae Queen, and an unraced Shackleford filly, B K Zena.

Endnotes:

[Image]: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/todays-flavor-the-nyss-credit-chelsea-durand.jpg

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2023/12/03/todays-flavor-gets-sweet-win-in-thunder-rumble/

Morning Matcha rallies to win Staten Island

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Morning Matcha splashes to victory in the Staten Island. Susie Raisher/NYRA Photo

By Melissa Bauer-Herzog

The slop didn’t prove to be a problem for Central Banker’s Grade 1-placed daughter Morning Matcha with the 4-year-old romping home by 3 3/4 lengths in the $125,000 New York Stallion Stakes Series Staten Island Division at Aqueduct Sunday.

Breaking from the widest stall of all in the 7-furlong dirt race, Morning Matcha raced in last early on with Easy Play setting the pace. Six lengths separated the field after an opening quarter in :23.05, but the back markers were soon doing their part to close that gap.

As the field approached the turn, Morning Matcha and jockey Mychel Sanchez had one horse beat but zeroed in on the main pack in front of her. The leader was under pressure at that point with Bustin Bay pulling up to her hip halfway through the turn and others also looking to make runs at the lead.

Coming into the stretch, the eventual leader separated from the rest by a few paths as she raced down the center of the track. At that point, Easy Play gave in and Bustin Bay moved closer to Morning Matcha.

It was soon clear that the race would come down to those two but entering the final sixteenth, Morning Matcha showed why she’d gone off as the race favorite while easily pulling away. Lightly encouraged once she gained the lead, she won by 3 ¾ lengths in 1:23.78.

“We’re a very diverse outfit this weekend. It looked a little more even in the first couple races I watched today – horses had come off it, where yesterday it looked like you didn’t have any chance to come from off it,” said training Butch Reid, who won Saturday’s Go For Wand Stakes with the front-running Dr. B. “That’s the way this filly is. You can’t change her game. She doesn’t like to be rushed. She likes to be held together for the first quarter of a mile and then you can go ahead and do what you want with her.”

Owned by LC Racing, Cash Is King, and Gary Barber, the Crane Thoroughbred Services-bred Morning Matcha took her earnings to $899,740 with the victory. The $18,000 yearling purchase has won six races, five at Parx Racing near Philadelphia and one at Aqueduct.

“We have a lot of options, so it’s really worked out well so far in her career,” Reid said on the filly being New York-sired and Pennsylvania-bred.

The daughter of McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds’ Central Banker has finished in the top three in 19 of her 23 starts with those placings including 13 at the stakes level. The Staten Island was her second stakes win, but she finished second in last year’s Grade 1 Cotillion, was third in this year’s Grade 2 Delaware Handicap and entered Sunday off a third in the Turnback The Alarm last out.

Morning Matcha is one of three winners out of the multiple stakes-placed Home Ice, a California-bred who won four times in her home state. Also the dam of Central Banker’s placed daughter Center Ice, Home Ice is one of two stakes producers out of the stakes winning Hit a Homer Honey, with her winning half-sister producing stakes winner Cayambe and stakes placed Mmotombo.

New York’s leading sire the last two years, Central Banker looks to repeat in 2023. He leads all New York sires by progeny earnings, winners, stakes winners, and stakes performers with Morning Matcha his fourth stakes winner of the year.

Endnotes:

[Image]: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/morning-matcha-the-nyss-credit-susie-raisher.jpg

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2023/12/03/morning-matcha-rallies-to-win-staten-island/