Adam Coglianese
Francis Paolangeli’s second generation homebred Johannesburg Smile locked down his second career stakes victory in style on Sunday, wiring the open 1-mile $90,000 Lemon Drop Kid overnight stakes co-featured on Belmont Park’s Father’s Day card.
Second choice in the betting at odds of 3-2 in the well-matched field of five that remained after the early scratch of Boys at Tosconova, Johannesburg Smile had the services Cornelio Velasquez for the first time on Sunday for his 22nd lifetime start.
After exiting post two smartly and winning a three-way tussle for the early lead, Johannesburg Smile set challenging fractions, running a half-mile in 46.66 and six panels in 1:10.45. With the sharp pace to run into, Schoolyard Dreams looked like a late-closing threat as he advanced in the four-path in the stretch under Junior Alvarado, but the winner kept to his task and crossed the finish line with a half-length advantage. Johannesburg Smile’s final time for the mile over the fast Belmont main track was 1:35.48.
Johannesburg Smile is a 9-time stakes performer and now a dual stakes winner for trainer Dominic Galluscio. He also has a real affinity for Big Sandy, compiling a record of 4-3-2 from his 10 Belmont starts. His career stats now stand at 22-7-5-6 with earnings of $327,220.
A 5-year-old son of Johannesburg, Johannesburg Smile has been a competitive staple of state-bred stakes competition for the past two years and a model of consistency. In 2010 he hit the board in two legs of the Big Apple Triple – the New York Derby run at Finger Lakes and Saratoga’s Albany. In 2011, after placing in two NYRA stakes called the Noble Nashua (at Aqueduct in April and Belmont in June, both run at a mile), he got a breakthrough first stakes victory a third Noble Nashua run at the distance of 1 1/16 miles at Belmont in September.
After closing out last year with a pair of strong stakes placings – third to Haynesfield and Green Monster in the Empire Classic, and second by head to Groomedforvictory in the Adirondack Holme – Johannesburg Smile picked up where he left off in his 2012 debut, finishing second to Saginaw in the 1 1/16-mile Carr Heaven Stakes for state-breds on April 29. The Lemon Drop Kid Stakes was his open company stakes debut.
Johannesburg Smile is one of three black type winners from three foals to start out of Serenity’s Smile, a multiple stakes-placed New York-bred daughter of Dixie Brass ($178,634) also bred by Paolangeli.
Serenity’s Smile first foal, Stormy’s Smile ($73,971), a daughter of Stormy Atlantic, won the 2008 renewal of the Maid of the Mist at Belmont. The youngest runner, 3-year-old Wildcat’s Smile ($333,997) by Forest Wildcat, beat the boys in the New York Breeders’ Futurity last year and has two Grade 2 placings to her credit, running a narrow second to Disposablepleasure in the 1 1/8-mile Grade 2 Demoiselle at Aqueduct last fall and a gritty third after a wide trip in the Black-Eyed Susan on Preakness weekend at Pimlico.
Serenity’s Smile has a 2-year-old filly by Stormy Atlantic named Atlantic’s Smile, a yearling colt by Catienus named Catienus’s Smile and was bred last year to City Zip.
