Adam Coglianese
Saul and Max Kupferberg’s Sunny Desert (Wild Desert) won her second stakes victory and fourth race in a row at Belmont Park on Friday afternoon, taking the $85,000 Judy Soda Stakes for 3-year-old state-bred fillies in wire-to-wire fashion.
After bumping slightly with Mom’s Law out of the gate, Sunny Desert wasted little time in assuming command in the two path, leading the field of seven by a length after the first quarter-mile (22.96), by two lengths after a half (45.75) and, once she was asked, opening up by more than four lengths after six furlongs (1:10.06). Jockey Ramon Dominguez geared down the odds-on favorite in the final sixteenth before they crossed the wire with a 6 1/4-length advantage.
I Bet Toni Knows (Sunriver), second choice in the wagering at odds of 7-2, was a clear-cut second, moving up from fourth at the rail in mid-turn and finishing 1 3/4 lengths ahead of Shesabronxbomber (Afleet Alex), who raced last early on. Completing the order of finish were Mischief Maker, Lemon Splendor, Why Take a Chance and Mom’s Law. The final time for the one-turn mile on the fast Belmont track was 1:35.75.
Claimed for $35,000 for the Kupferbergs by trainer John Parisella out of a fourth-place effort in her third career start at Aqueduct on December 7, 2011, Sunny Desert has never finished worse than second in six races since the claim, including victories in her last four starts.
After back-to-back runner-up finishes in the state-bred maiden ranks (running for a $50,000 tag the first time), Sunny Desert’s winning streak began with a fifteen-plus-length maiden breaking effort in three-and-up state-bred special weight company at Aqueduct on March 12. Shortening up from one mile to 6 1/2-furlongs for her next pair, she won the Park Avenue Division of the New York Stallion Stakes Series for 3-year-old fillies in her stakes debut at Belmont on May 6, and a second-level state-bred allowance race for fillies and mares three-and-up at Saratoga on July 30.
Commenting on the six weeks that had elapsed since her start prior to the Judy Soda, Parisella told the DRF earlier this week, “She’s the kind of filly where I want her races spaced out. This way I have her for the winter. I think she’ll be a dangerous filly this winter.”
Sunny Desert’s second stakes victory in the Judy Soda improves her career record to 4-3-0 from nine starts and increases her earnings to $206,750 — $200,000 of the total coming since the claim.
Bred by Breed of Characters LLC and foaled at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, Sunny Desert is the second foal and second stakes performer out of the winning Louis Quatorze mare Hoping for Sun. Sunny Desert’s elder half-brother, Bound by Humor by Sharp Humor ($87,720), ran third in last year’s Corma Ray S. Hoping for Sun currently has a 2012 colt by Two Step Salsa.
Sunny Desert changed hands once via public auction, going as a weanling to her first owners Drs. K. K. and Vilasini D. Jayaraman, from whom she was claimed last December, at the OBS Fall Mixed sale for $2,000.
Wild Desert, who entered stud in 2008, stood at McMahon’s from 2008-2010 and at Unbridled Racing Stable near Greenville in 2011. He is not registered in New York in 2012.
