Bank Sting scores first open-company stakes victory – and fourth overall – in Sunday’s Heavenly Prize at Aqueduct. Chelsea Durand/NYRA Photo.
By Tom Law
Bank Sting flew the flag for Central Banker in 2021, winning two stakes and three other races and banking $321,300 to put her sire atop New York’s general sire list for the first time.
She matched that stakes haul Sunday, venturing into open company for the first time and scoring a determined victory over Battle Bling in the $121,250 Heavenly Prize Invitational at Aqueduct. She also deposited another $68,750 to not only reclaim her spot at Central Banker’s leading earner of 2022 but padded his lead on this year’s New York sire list.
“She’s a pleasure,” said Joe McMahon, who bred Bank Sting with his wife Anne in the name of their McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds and campaigns the 5-year-old mare with Hidden Brook Farm. “She’s got seven wins in nine starts. That’s remarkable.”
Central Banker, a 12-year-old Grade 2-winning son of Speightstown, stands for $7,500 at McMahon of Saratoga in Saratoga Springs.
“She has a lot of run and it’s great for Central Banker. We’re lucky to have her,” McMahon said.
Originally targeted for the $100,000 Biogio’s Rose at 1-mile for state-bred fillies and mares, Bank Sting wound up in the rescheduled Heavenly Prize at the same distance when the former didn’t fill. The Heavenly Prize also didn’t have enough runners for its original spot on Saturday’s Gotham Day card at Aqueduct, so the NYRA racing office got creative and essentially combined the two stakes.
Sent off the 2-1 third choice in the field of five despite a record of 5-for-6 at Aqueduct coming in and off a two-month freshening after her victory in the 7-furlong La Verdad Stakes Jan. 2, Bank Sting switched to the outside from post two after the break and found a tracking position behind 8-5 favorite Maiden Beauty.
Maiden Beauty and Kendrick Carmouche carved out opening fractions of :24.18 and :47.92 through the opening half-mile with Dylan Davis and Bank Sting just a half-length back. Truth Hurts, Sharp Starr and Battle Bling chased a little further back.
“She didn’t come out the best and it took her two or three jumps to get into a stride and find her rhythm,” Davis said. “By that time, Kendrick was able to take over to the lead, but I was happy laying second. She was very comfortable in that position.”
Dylan Davis gives all the credit to “gutsy” Heavenly Prize winner Bank Sting. “She’s a great ride,” he said. Susie Raisher/NYRA Photo.
Bank Sting pulled alongside Maiden Beauty approaching the quarter-pole and after those two matched a few strides, Davis asked for more and his mare responded. Bank Sting shrugged off Maiden Beauty, drifted a bit and withstood a late rally from Battle Bling to win by a neck. Maiden Beauty finished 2 1/2 lengths back in third and Sharp Starr was fourth, giving the New York-bred program a 1-3-4 finish on a weekend that also featured open-company stakes wins by Coinage, Venti Valentine and Spendarella.
“She’s a great ride. She’s gutsy and she has a lot of heart,” Davis said of Bank Sting. “For a second, I thought the other horse [Battle Bling] was going to overlap her but she was able to re-engage. She’s smart – she had a little left in the tank and was able to get to the wire first.”
Bank Sting certainly knows how to win. She improved to 7-for-9 in the Heavenly Prize and boosted her bankroll to $475,050. Bank Sting ranks as Central Banker’s fourth leading earner, behind Bankit ($1,060,905), Newly Minted ($516,738) and Bank On Shea ($497,750).
“She’s just determined,” said Tonja Terranova, assistant to her husband John Terranova. “This filly doesn’t want to get beat and she keeps seeming to find more. We went a little too easy on her going into her last race, but we stuck it to her going into here to make sure she was fit. The track has been demanding on them. She’s awesome. We’ll see what’s in store for her the next time.”
Born and raised at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, Bank Sting is the fifth foal out of the stakes-placed New York-bred Precise End mare Bee in a Bonnet. She’s a half-sister to four other winners – including the stakes-placed Liberty Island and her full 4-year-old sister Lot of Honey.
Bee in a Bonnet is also the dam of an unnamed 2-year-old filly by Central Banker and a yearling colt by the late Laoban. She was bred to McMahon’s Solomini last season.
Bank Sting finished fourth in her debut in a division of the New York Stallion Series Stakes late in her 2-year-old season in December 2019. She didn’t return to the races until early last February and she won four straight from there, including the Critical Eye Stakes on Big Apple Showcase Day in late May at Belmont Park. Off until a fifth in the slop in the Empire Distaff Handicap on Empire Showcase Day in late October, Bank Sting hasn’t lost since with victories in the Staten Island division of the NYSS, La Verdad and Heavenly Prize.
“In the stretch, she really dug in,” McMahon said of his mare’s latest victory. “It looked like the other horse [Battle Bling] was going to go by, but Dylan said she dug right in as soon as she saw her. Last time, she was in the worst part of the racetrack. She was way out there and the rail was very live that day. That was a tough race, tougher than this race.”
