Robin Sparkles handles the dirt in 2022 return, taking the Politely Stakes Saturday at Monmouth Park. Bill Denver/EQUI-PHOTO.
By Melissa Bauer-Herzog
New York-bred stalwart Robin Sparkles took her show on the road Saturday and made the trip a winning one with a 1-length victory in the $98,000 Politely Stakes at Monmouth Park.
Making her 2022 debut and first start since the Oct. 17 Floral Park Stakes at Belmont Park, the 5-year-old Elusive Quality mare shot to the lead under Daniel Centeno to take up her usual pace-making duties up front in the 5-furlong stakes originally scheduled for the turf.
Clicking off fractions of :21.86 and :44.96 racing on an uncontested lead, Robin Sparkles’ biggest challenge came in the stretch. The test came from a charging Bold Confection, who shrunk Robin Sparkles’ lead to its smallest margin and within a length of her at the line. Gogo Shoes finished another neck back in third. Robin Sparkles won in in :57.78 on the track labeled fast.
Michael Schrader’s Robin Sparkles collected her eighth victory in 14 starts and second stakes win, to go with three other stakes-placings in her career. Robin Sparkles finished in the top three in six of seven starts last season, good enough for the mare to be named a finalist for champion New York-bred turf female honors.
Bred by Hibiscus Stables and foaled at Waldorf Farm in North Chatham, Robin Sparkles was purchased by Linda Rice from the Indian Creek consignment for $30,000 at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale but has always been under the direction of Bruce Brown during her racing career.
“We’ve always known she is better on the grass but she has done okay on the dirt,” said Brown. “It was kind of a situation where we’re trying to get this first race in her for the year to get her going, so when the race came off the grass we knew she could handle the dirt. I was happy that the track was more of a dried-out surface. I might have been a little more skeptical about it if it was a sloppy or muddy racetrack.”
Robin Sparkles is out of the five-time winning Dehere mare My Sparky, who raced on the New York circuit throughout her 17-start career. My Sparky shares a second dam with Grade 2 winner and multiple Grade 1-placed Bay to Bay, who also produced Japanese Group 2 winner Suave Aramis.
A half-sister to the stakes winning Race Home, My Sparky has produced three winners from three to race with all three in the New York-bred program.
Robin Sparkles is the only stakes winner for the mare, who died after giving birth to her 4-year-old Effinex filly She’s a Spark.
