Central Banker filly Sunday Girl rolls in NYSS Park Avenue

Sunday Girl ran to her odds and added another stakes winner to three-time leading New York sire Central Banker’s resume with a victory in Sunday’s $200,000 Park Avenue division of the New York Stallion Series at Aqueduct.

The 3-year-old filly, fresh from an eye-catching debut victory February 10 at Aqueduct, rolled to a 3-length victory in the 6 1/2-furlong Park Avenue under Katie Davis. Owned by Mitre Box Stable, Clear Stars Stable and Eighth Note Stable and trained by David Duggan, Sunday Girl won in 1:16.91 as the 6-5 favorite in the field of eight.

“I gave her [Davis] no instructions,” Duggan said. “I knew she [Sunday Girl] was going to be a little bit sharper again and she had a clear trip on the outside. She had to pass the test today and she did that. The question mark going in was seasoning and she passed that test.”

Longshot Bustin Time took the early initiative in the Park Avenue, setting the pace through the opening quarter-mile in :22.36 with Davis and Sunday Girl content to track from her outside down the backstretch.

“Honestly the first time she ran, she broke great, but she was more, ‘What’s going on?’ kind of thing,” Davis said. “She broke out of the gate and was like ‘what do you want me to do,’ but she was nicely in my hands. Today, the post really helped us nicely and I got to take advantage of the outside post and being where I wanted to be and she was game.

Sunday Girl pulled Davis to the lead around the bend and approaching the half in :45.18. In control coming off the turn, Sunday Girl spurted away in the stretch as My Shea D Lady, Fast and Frisky and Sohana tried to cut into her advantage. Sunday Girl switched leads late and held off her rivals in hand, cruising under the wire as her sire’s 13th blacktype winner.

“I knew warming up,” Davis said about when she knew Sunday Girl was ready. “The pony guy goes, ‘Oh my god’ and I go, ‘Oh, I know, if you want to stop galloping, I’m good, we can keep her calm and relaxed.’ A filly like that the best thing you can do is keep their heart rate down and let them know it’s OK.”

My Shea D Lady, a stakes winner in her final start of 2023, finished second in her 3-year-old debut and led a 2-3-4-5 finish for her sire Solomini with Sohana third, Fast and Frisky fourth and Handle On You fifth.

Sunday Girl collected $110,000 for her connections in the Park Avenue to boost her earnings to $148,500. Duggan said Sunday Girl could show up next in the $125,000 Bouwerie Stakes for New York-bred 3-year-old fillies on the Sunday, June 9 card of the Belmont Stakes Festival at Saratoga Race Course.

“You roll on to the next challenge that they give us which will probably be the Bouwerie at Saratoga,” he said. “If she gets seven-eighths – there will be a different type of horse coming in there, so with a little more time and maturity you’d like to think that you’re going to improve again. I don’t think she needs to improve a whole lot but that was quite a nice performance today.

“The punches are going to get tougher now. I’m very realistic. You’re in a good position going into the next stake. If she holds form or improves a little bit, she’ll be right there.”

Sunday Girl brought the highest price for a New York-bred in the open portion of the 2022 OBS October yearling sale on a bid of $43,000 from Kathryn Martin. Mitre Box Stables purchased her for $100,000 about seven months later at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May sale, out of the de Meric Sales consignment.

Bred by McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds LLC and Spruce Lane Farm and foaled at McMahon of Saratoga in Saratoga Springs, the chestnut filly is out of the winning Harlan’s Holiday mare Lady Daphne.

Sunday Girl is a half-sister to Lady Jasmine, a New York-bred daughter of Cairo Prince also bred by McMahon and Spruce Lane who won her debut in 2022 at Saratoga Race Course. She’s earned $79,068 in 11 starts. Lady Daphe is also the dam of the winning New York-bred Laoban filly Proper Grammar, who pushed her bankroll to $53,134 this month.

Lady Daphne, purchased by McMahon of Saratoga for $17,000 at the 2016 Keeneland November breeding stock sale, is also the dam of a 2-year-old colt by Solomini and a yearling full brother to the Park Avenue winner.

Central Banker, a three-time defending leading sire in New York, stands for $7,500 at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds in Saratoga Springs. Solomini also stands at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds.

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2024/04/14/central-banker-filly-sunday-girl-rolls-in-nyss-park-avenue/

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Antonio of Venice dominates NYSS Times Square

Antonio of Venice followed up on convincing stakes victory last month with another professional performance winning Sunday’s $200,000 Times Square division of the New York Stallion Series Stakes at Aqueduct.

The 3-year-old son of the late former leading New York-based freshman sire Laoban collected his third stakes victory in the Times Square, adding the 6 1/2-furlong stakes to his victory in the March 17 Damon Runyon and last year’s $500,000 Great White Way division of the NYSS.

Under regular pilot Manny Franco as the 6-5 favorite in the field of seven, Antonio of Venice won by 2 1/4 lengths over 2-1 second choice Doc Sullivan with 34-1 first-time starter Grand Opening third. Antonio of Venice won in 1:15.32 over the fast track.

“He looks like he’s improving every time,” said winning trainer Rudy Rodriguez, who co-owns the colt with Michael Imperio, Robert Cotrone and Hibiscus Stables. “The other day when I worked him in the morning, I looked at my watch and I said, ‘wow.’ This horse is just in a different league right now, so we’re just happy he keeps improving and hopefully keeps doing that.”

Franco, aboard for Antonio of Venice’s last four starts which include those three stakes victories, also noticed the improvement.

“I want to give all the credit to the horse, the team, and Rudy Rodriguez,” Franco said. “The horse is turning good at the right time. He’s improving every race he runs and you could see today that he just ran really hard. I’m just happy to be on him and part of the win.”

Bred by Cypress Creek Equine LLC, Antonio of Venice sold for $35,000 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling sale and for the same price at the 2023 OBS March sale. Antonio of Venice is the third foal out of Stella Performance, who also produced winning full siblings to the multiple stakes winner winner in New York-breds Modern Midas ($79,860 in earnings) and I’m Wide Awake ($158,603).

Stella Performance is also the dam of yearling New York-bred colt by McKinzie and filly by Keepmeinmind born February 18 in New York, and both bred by Cypress Creek Equine LLC.

A maiden winner at Saratoga Race Course in his third start, Antonio of Venice finished off the board in his first two stakes tries in Skidmore at Saratoga and Aspirant at Finger Lakes before a victory in the $500,000 Great White Way in mid-December. He started the season with a runner-up effort in the Rego Park in late January at Aqueduct before a 9 1/4-length victory in the Damon Runyon March 17.

The victory in the Times Square boosted Antonio of Venice’s earnings to $535,744.

Rodriguez kept the door open for several possible spots for Antonio of Venice.

“We’re going to enjoy the New York-bred, Stallion Series, maybe we take him to Finger Lakes,” he said. “Maybe we’ll take him to Saratoga, to Finger Lakes, and then try Saratoga again. We’ll see.”

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2024/04/14/antonio-of-venice-dominates-nyss-times-square/

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