Soontobeking slips up in the inside to win Saturday’s Gander Stakes at Aqueduct. Coglianese Photo.
George Weaver watched the pace battle unfold in Saturday’s $125,000 Gander Stakes down the backstretch and liked what he saw.
“They were stacked three or four across kind of scrumming a bit and I was happy to see that because we needed some pace,” said Weaver, represented by Soontobeking in the 1-mile stakes for New York-bred 3-year-olds.
Weaver got the pace – solid fractions of :23.87 and :47.98 set by Givememythememusic, Mo Plex, Skytown and National Identity – and Soontobeking did the rest. The son of New York-based sire King for a Day cut into the lead around the far turn, continued his prolonged run through the lane and came up the inside to edge National Identity and Mo Plex at the wire for his first stakes victory.
“I was just happy to see the horse sustain the rally,” Weaver said. “I’ve never been quite sure if the mile is his best distance, but he just kept coming and that’s what we love about the horse. He just gives 110 percent every time and doesn’t stop trying and fighting. He wants to win, so he’s earned a special place in our hearts winning that race. Man, he’s a cool dude.”
Sent off as the 6-1 fourth choice under Eric Cancel, Soontobeking won by a nose over 6-5 favorite National Identity with graded stakes winner Mo Plex a half-length back in third. Soontobeking won in 1:41.26.
“He’s a pretty tricky horse,” Cancel said. “You just have to let him be wherever he wants to be and sit patient with him. Once you think it’s time to go and you start asking him, he picks it up. He knows his job and I’m really happy he got the job done.
“I saw the other two horses in front of me battling it out and they were kind of getting out a little bit in the stretch, so I decided to tip in and if I get there, I get there and if not, at least I did the right thing. He’s very hard-knocking. Every time he comes out to run, he shows up. It doesn’t matter the competition he runs in; he always gives 200 percent. I have a lot of confidence in him. It was just a matter of the timing and today the timing was right.”
Soontobeking won for his breeders and owners Our Blue Streaks Stable and Steve Venosa’s S G V Thoroughbreds. Weaver also owns an interest in the colt, who breezed an eighth in :10 before last year’s OBS March sale of 2-year-olds in training and was reported sold for $80,000 to J U Racing Stables.
Soontobeking raced for his breeders and Weaver from his first start May 10 at Aqueduct, where he finished third before returning two weeks later to win for trainer Mitch Friedman in an off-the-turf open-company maiden event. Back with Weaver from there, Soontobeking competed in six straight stakes after that win, finishing second in the Funny Cide at Saratoga and Aspirant at Finger Lakes and third in the Sleepy Hollow and Notebook at Aqueduct.
Weaver gave Soontobeking some class relief in his first start of 2025 and the colt won a 6 1/2-furlong state-bred allowance-optional January 12 at Aqueduct. He finished third behind Sand Devil and National Identity last time out in the February 8 Damon Runyon Stakes going 7 furlongs.
Soontobeking is the first foal out of the winning New York-bred Freud mare Swayed. Campaigned by Our Blue Streaks Stable, Swayed went 4-4-2 in 21 starts and earned $143,328. She’s out of the Johannesburg mare Easy Erin, a daughter of champion New York-bred and graded stakes winner Dancin Renee.
Swayed is also the dam of a 2-year-old New York-bred colt by Cairo Prince and was bred to Leinster in 2024.
“His mother was Swayed, who we trained as well,” Weaver said. “She was a sway-backed filly that Sanford Bacon had bred and he didn’t want to stay in on her, so she was kind of a house horse. She was a hard-trier as well and she knocked out her races at a lower level for the most part. She was hard-trying and put that in this horse.
“We got him from the 2-year-old sale and he worked well there, and he’s been straightforward ever since. He’s been sound, we’ve been able to run him, and this horse has put together quite a string of races for a young horse. He likes what he does.”
Soontobeking’s first stakes victory also provided his sire with his first stakes win. King for a Day, a 9-year-old son of Uncle Mo out of the French Deputy mare Ubetwereven, stands for $5,000 at Irish Hill and Dutchess Views Stallions LLC in Stillwater.
King for a Day finished second on New York’s freshman sire list in 2024 – siring three winners and the earners of $423,421. Soontobeking, who placed in four stakes as a 2-year-old, finished the season as King for a Day’s leading earner with a bankroll of $197,878. King for a Day came into Saturday ranked second on New York’s second-crop sire list with $240,474 in progeny earnings, less than $1,000 behind 2024 freshman sire leader Honest Mischief.
