Sterling Silver surpases the seven-figure earnings mark with victory in Sunday’s Biogio’s Rose at Aqueduct. Coglianese Photo.

By Paul Halloran

Sterling Silver, who sold for $13,000 as a pandemic-era yearling, eclipsed $1 million in earnings Sunday with a workmanlike win in the Biogio’s Rose Stakes at Aqueduct.

Making the 29th start of her career, and the seventh since being moved to Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, the 6-year-old grey mare sat behind a speed battle between Khali Magic and Bernietakescharge then ran down Sweet Brown Sugar to win by 1 3/4 lengths. The $68,750 winner’s share brought her earnings to $1,006,051.

“She’s very classy, a professional horse. We’ve had a lot of success together. I know her so well,” said jockey Javier Castellano, who has six wins in 14 starts aboard the daughter of Cupid. “She fit perfect today. It was a small field with a lot of speed and she came from behind and got it done.”

Sweet Brown Sugar and Bernietakescharge broke together, but Khali Magic rushed up the rail to take the lead. She and Bernietakescharge ran in tandem into the turn, with Sweet Brown Sugar, Caldwell Luvs Gold and Sterling Silver chasing through a quarter mile in :23.01 and a half in :45.63. Sweet Brown Sugar made the first move, looming on the outside through the far turn as Sterling Silver also hit her stride.

Sweet Brown Sugar took the lead at the quarter pole, but Sterling Silver had her in her sights and it was clear it was a matter of time before she went by, which happened inside the eighth pole. The winning time for the mile on the muddy track was 1:35.70.

“She’s a super cool horse – very consistent,” said Leana Willaford, Mott’s assistant. “I thought she ran really well today. They went pretty quick the second quarter, which was helpful, and she finished like she was supposed to.”

Sterling Silver, who was bred by Mallory and Karen Mort, became the 65th New York-bred millionaire. She was foaled and raised at Marlene Brody’s Gallagher’s Stud, where Mallory Mort serves as farm manager. Sterling Silver would have been in the ring at the 2020 Saratoga New York-bred sale but Fasig-Tipton held its yearling sales in Kentucky due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Sterling Silver was an RNA and was later purchased privately by Mark Anderson for $13,000.

Sterling Silver is the fourth foal out of the Distorted Humor mare Sheet Humor, whom Mallory Mort bought in foal to Midnight Lute for $14,000 at the 2015 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. The foal, Midnight Comedy, sold for $45,000 at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale. Sheet Humor is also the dam of the winning Central Banker mare Helene Jacqueline, who brought $35,000 at the 2018 Saratoga New York-bred sale; and Ortiz, an unraced son of Speighster that sold for $210,000 at the 2019 Saratoga New York-bred sale.

The Morts sold Sheet Humor, in foal to Central Banker, for $3,000 at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed sale. Sterling Silver won her debut at Aqueduct and became a stakes winner in her second start in taking the 2021 Franklin Square Stakes. She has run in 10 graded stakes in her career, including the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. She crossed the line first in the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom in 2023, but was disqualified and placed second.

Not surprisingly, Sterling Silver has been a force to be reckoned with in races restricted to New York-breds, with a career line of 6-3-2 in 11 starts, all stakes except for her maiden score.

The last foal the Morts bred out of Sheet Humor was Rhetorical, a 3-year-old gelding by Not This Time who sold for $320,000 at the 2022 New York-bred yearling sale. He had a maiden win and ran third in an allowance at Saratoga last summer for owners Siena Farm and WinStar Farm and trainer Will Walden.

Gatsas Stable’s Five G rolls to victory in Saturday’s Gulfstream Park Oaks. Coglianese Photo/Lauren King.

Mike Gatsas knew it was going to be a good day at Gulfstream Park Saturday when he ran into old friend John Assimakopoulos, a retired  trainer from New England and the son of legendary conditioner Charlie Assimakopoulos, who is responsible for Gatsas’ entry into horse ownership more than 25 years ago.

The elder Assimakopoulos bought the first two horses Gatsas owned, in partnership with his brother, Ted – the ageless New York-bred Gander, who earned more than $1.8 million in a 60-race career, and Shadow Caster, who won the 2020 Forego Stakes at 50-1. John was his father’s assistant for many years and finished his career in Florida in 2018.

“There’s no better luck than that,” Gatsas said of the chance meeting, and the results proved him right.

Five G, a 3-year-old Gatsas homebred filly, was a gate-to-wire winner in the Grade 2 Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Park Oaks, punching her ticket to next month’s Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs. Five G is by Vekoma, Gatsas’ best horse ever, whom he owned in partnership with R.A. Hill Stables, out of Triumphant, a broodmare he bought for $57,000 at the 2020 Keeneland November sale.

“Racing is a lot of fun when you win,” said Gatsas, who still lives in his native New Hampshire. “When you have one who is your own and by a stallion you raced, it’s like having a little kid grow up to be a professional baseball player.”

Gatsas hit a home run with Five G, who was foaled at Rhapsody Farm in Plymouth, New York. After she ran seventh in a maiden special weight at Saratoga last August, trainer George Weaver moved her to the turf, where she broke her maiden at Aqueduct and ran second in the Tepin Stakes in November.

Weaver took her to Florida for the winter and, despite the success on the grass, told Gatsas he wanted to try her on dirt one more time. Gatsas’ son Matt suggested they do it as soon as possible, so they ran in the Fasig-Tipton Cash Run Stakes at Gulfstream on New Year’s Day, a race she won by 9 lengths.

That put her on the road to the Oaks and earned her a trip to Oaklawn for the Grade 2 Honeybee Stakes February 23. Breaking from the far outside in a 13-horse field, Five G led for more than half of the 1 1/16-mile race, and when she was collared by Quietside, she yielded only after putting up a battle, finishing second by a length. That performance was flattered when Quietside came back to win the Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn Saturday.

“That was a great effort,” Gatsas said of the Honeybee. “She got beat by a real nice filly. We were excited coming out of that race.”

Weaver considered waiting for the Grade 1 Ashland at Keeneland this Friday, but preferred the spacing of the Gulfstream Park Oaks, on both ends.

“Five weeks since her last race and five weeks to the (Kentucky) Oaks,” Gatsas said. “We thought we had a real big shot in the Gulfstream Oaks.”

After jockey Tyler Gaffalione broke his ankle in a freak accident during a post parade three days before the Oaks, Weaver called on Manny Franco to pinch-hit and he could not have made a better decision.

“Manny rode her perfectly,” Gatsas said. “When I saw her on the backside with her ears pricked, I knew she was going to be a monster coming home.”

Five G – named for Gatsas’ grandchildren Calla, Adra, Matthew, Harper and Brody – broke alertly and made the lead without any serious urging from Franco. She was pressed by Anna’s Promise through moderate fractions (23.63, 47.11) and The Queens M G chased in third. It was a two-horse race around the far turn, but when Franco asked Five G for run as they straightened out, she responded and cruised to a 2¼-length win, earning a 90 Beyer Speed Figure.

“We’re right there,” Gatsas said. “The filly runs every time we put her on the track. She runs like her father. She didn’t give it up easy in the Arkansas race. I think she has that fight in her.”
As Gatsas brings a horse to the Kentucky Oaks for the first time, it is fitting he is doing it with a New York-bred, as a longtime supporter of the breeding program.

“Everything we breed, we drop in New York,” Gatsas said. “It’s a tremendous advantage to have a New York-bred. The program is amazing for owners. It gives you a leg up and you need every advantage you can get in this business. It’s the best program in the country.”

Gatsas maintained some breeding rights when Spendthrift Farm bought Vekoma, who ran in the 2019 Kentucky Derby and won the Met Mile and Carter as a 4-year-old before being scratched from the Breeders’ Cup Sprint due a fever.

Triumphant is again in foal to Vekoma. – Paul Halloran

RACING NOTES: New York-bred River Thames will look to lock up a spot in the Kentucky Derby field Saturday when he runs in the 101^st renewal of the $1.25 million, Grade 1 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland Race Course. The son of Maclean’s Music was pegged as the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the field of seven for the 9-furlong Blue Grass. Trained by Todd Pletcher, River Thames sits 28^th on the Kentucky Derby points list with the 25 earned from his runner-up effort in the Grade 2 Coolmore Fountain of Youth Stakes in February at Gulfstream Park. Bred by CTR Stables LLC, River Thames was purchased by CHC, Siena Farm and Maverick Racing for $200,000 at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale. … Chester Broman Sr.’s. homebred Violence colt Sand Devil, ranked 29^th on the Derby list also with 25 points, represents the Empire State in Saturday’s Grade 2 Wood Memorial Stakes presented by Resorts World Casino at Aqueduct. … New York-breds have won nine open stakes (through April 1) this year.

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.

Foaled at Irish Hill Century Farm in Stillwater, 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.

Bernieandtherose wins fourth straight – and second consecutive stakes – in Saturday’s Maddie May at Aqueduct. Coglianese Photo.

Another Saturday, another stakes win at Aqueduct for a daughter of the Freud mare Berning Rose.

Bernieandtherose did it this time, adding the $125,000 Maddie May Stakes for 3-year-old fillies to her resume four weeks removed from winning the $121,250 East View Stakes. The daughter of Accelerate also added to the wintertime haul for her owners and breeders, Robert Rosenthal and Brad Bernstein, who celebrated two weeks ago when Bernietakescharge topped open company foes in the Heavenly Prize Invitational Stakes. Dominick Schettino trains both fillies.

Under regular partner Katie Davis, Bernieandtherose won her fourth straight dating back to a maiden-winning score November 3 during the Belmont at the Big A meeting. She added an allowance-optional three weeks later before the February 8 East View going 7 furlongs.

Stretched out to 1 mile in the Maddie May, Bernieandtherose hounded 47-1 longshot Howling Wind throughout before taking command around the far turn en route to a 3 1/4-length victory over 6-5 favorite Lottie Margaret. Bernieandtherose, the 5-2 third choice, earned $68,750 for the win and boosted her bankroll to $231,750. She won in 1:41.35 over the fast track.

“I don’t think my friend and trainer gets enough respect,” Rosenthal said. “He’s done a phenomenal job with this horse, with Bernietakescharge and their dam Berning Rose. We are just blessed to have horses like this giving us so much pleasure and this is really special.

“I can’t give enough credit to Domenick and to Katie, who gets on the horse every day. They know the horse and are developing her and she just keeps getting better and better. We’re ecstatic.”

Foaled at Indigo Farm in Stanfordville, Bernieandtherose is the third foal out of Berning Rose. Her first foal, the Honor Code mare Berning Honor, went 1-3-1 in 10 starts and earned $82,573 for the same connections. Bernietakescharge, a 4-year-old daughter of Take Charge Indy, improved to 5-for-15 and $354,580 in earnings with her victory in the Heavenly Prize. She finished third in last year’s Maddie May and second in last year’s East View.

Berning Rose is the dam of the New York-bred 2-year-old Always Dreaming filly Roseberns Dream and a yearling colt by Central Banker. Berning Rose was bred to Americanrevolution in 2024.

A daughter of the multiple stakes-winning Flying Chevron mare Peach Flambe, Berning Rose went 2-for-3 racing for Rosenthal, Bernstein and Schettino including the 2017 Maid of the Mist Stakes on Empire Showcase Day at Belmont Park.

“I’ve been in the breeding and racing business for more than 30 years, and I have to say this is just an incredible thrill,” Rosenthal said. “She’s now won four in a row and we’ve won seven of the last eight races between the two [half-sisters], three stakes. … It’s just incredible and it’s what you’re in this business for. It’s a tribute to Domenick and the patience he has with young horses and the way he develops them. From Galloping Grocer, who was one of my homebreds back in the day, to these horses now, it’s been great.”

Mi Bago rolls to third stakes victory of Gulfstream Park’s Championship Meet in last weekend’s Colonel Liam. Coglianese Photo/Lauren King.

Stuart Morris went to the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed sale in 2017 with fairly specific instructions from his father Jeff about a mare. And ignored them.

The intended purchase didn’t measure up, for whatever reason, and Stuart spent $12,000 on Wabanaki instead. Consigned by Sequel Thoroughbreds, the New York-bred daughter of Indian Charlie never raced and neither had her three foals. Carrying a foal by New York sire Freud, the bay mare traced to a deep female family though, and Stuart liked what he saw. Dam New Harmony had produced six winners. Second dam Battle Creek Girl had produced 15, topped by Canadian champion Wavering Girl and graded winners Tricky Creek, Parade Ground, Parade Leader and Speed Dialer.

Going on eight years later, Wabanaki’s son Mi Bago is blossoming into a New York-bred star after winning the Colonel Liam Stakes at Gulfstream Park March 1.

The $215,000 turf stakes for 3-year-olds turned into a showcase for the son of Vekoma, who led at every call for Irad Ortiz Jr. and won by 4 1/2 lengths in a quick 1:32.51 for a mile. Trained by Mark Casse for Gary Barber, the bay colt won his second stakes of 2025 and his third consecutive race while improving to 5-for-7 lifetime with $387,850 in earnings.

Bred by the Morrises’ Kentucky-based but New York-supporting Highclere operation, Mi Bago was foaled at Dr. Jerry Bilinski’s Waldorf Farm in North Chatham in 2022 and was raised at Highclere in Lexington. In 2023, the colt sold as a short yearling for $62,000 at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky’s February mixed sale as part of the Stuart Morris consignment.

“He was always a really cool horse,” said Stuart. “He was a bit unassuming, very simple, uncomplicated. The horse didn’t have a lot of flash about him. He was one you forgot about because he took care of himself so well. You liked looking at him, he moved well, he was a correct, simple, uncomplicated horse. All you had to do was feed him and vaccinate him and let him be himself.”

The strategy has paid off at every step.

Original buyer Carlos Munoz tried to pinhook Mi Bago at Fasig-Tipton’s New York-bred yearling sale at Saratoga, but he failed to meet his reserve on a bid of $90,000. A year later, with Munoz as owner/trainer, Mi Bago dominated maidens in his debut sprinting on the dirt at Colonial Downs in Virginia. Barber bought the colt privately after that win and sent him to Casse. Twenty-four days out of the maiden win, Mi Bago finished sixth in the Funny Cide Stakes against fellow New York-breds – his only start in the program – at Saratoga.

Casse regrouped and moved Mi Bago to the turf. In October, he won the Algonquin Stakes at Woodbine. A month later, he finished fifth in a stakes on Breeders’ Cup Weekend at Del Mar. A month after that, he won the Pulpit Stakes at Gulfstream and added the Dania Beach on the Florida track’s synthetic surface on New Year’s Day.

For a substitute mare, Wabanaki did her part. Her foals now include five winners, three sold by Highclere for a combined $147,000. In foal to Highly Motivated, she sold for $45,000 at Fasig-Tipton’s December 2024 digital sale.

For Stuart Morris, the success has been fun to watch. Mi Bago joined racing Hall of Famer Silverbulletday, 2019 New York-bred turf male champion Gucci Factor and a slew of others on the farm’s roster of stars.

“Mi Bago is another cool horse to come off that farm,” he said of Highclere, a former cattle farm his father purchased in 1979. “We moved there when I was 4 years old and I just turned 50. It’s been a pretty remarkable run.”

The story could get even cooler, as Casse and Barber nominated Mi Bago to the English 2000 Guineas at Newmarket May 3.

RACING NOTES: Mi Bago was one of three New York-breds to win open stakes last weekend. At Aqueduct Saturday, Bank Frenzy won the Stymie for LSU Stable and trainer Rudy Rodriguez. Bred by Chester and Mary Broman, the Central Banker gelding won for the seventh time in 15 starts and improved his career bankroll to $506,670 . . . Central Banker completed a weekend double a day later when Sunday Girl won Aqueduct’s Correction Stakes for Mitre Box Stable, Clear Stars Stable and Eighth Note Stable and trainer David Duggan. Now a six-time winner, Sunday Girl was bred by McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds (where Central Banker stands) and Spruce Lane Farm. Mitre Box bought her for $100,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-old sale in 2023 . . . New York-breds have won eight open stakes (through March 4) this year.

River Thames (inside) finishes second to Sovereignty in Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of. Youth Stakes. Coglianese Photo/Angelo Lieto

New York-breds earn Kentucky Derby points

Sovereignty and Journalism hogged most of the attention this weekend among the national 3-year-old leaders on the road to the Kentucky Derby, but New York-breds took their swings too.

In the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park Saturday, River Thames led in deep stretch but couldn’t hold off Sovereignty’s late charge. Bred by CTR Stable, River Thames was beaten a neck while settling for second, and earned 25 points toward a spot in the Derby field for CHC and WinStar Farm.

Unraced at 2, the Maclean’s Music colt won a 6-furlong maiden race January 11 and followed up with a 1-mile allowance score February 1 for trainer Todd Pletcher. CHC, Siena Farm and WinStar’s Maverick Racing paid $200,000 for the colt, out of the Discreet Cat mare Proportionality, at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale in 2023.

At Aqueduct Saturday, Chester Broman’s homebred Sand Devil finished second in the Grade 3 Gotham for trainer Linda Rice, earning 25 Derby points as well. The son of Violence and the Mineshaft mare Mineralogist (a multiple New York-bred stakes winner) won his first three starts including the Damon Runyon Stakes in February. Sand Devil represents a deep Broman family through his dam, granddam Seeking The Ante and third dam Antespend (a 1997 purchase from Kentucky’s Elemendorf Farm as a 2-year-old).

Hip 42, a colt by Yaupon bred by Gabrielle Farm and Saratoga Glen Farm, sold for $250,000 to top Fasig-Tipton February digital sale. Photo courtesy of De Meric Sales.

February Digital sale success

Another New York-bred made headlines to bring February to a close, this time in the digital sales ring.

A 2-year-old colt by freshman sire Yaupon out of New York-bred champion Frosty Margarita sold for $250,000 to top the Fasig-Tipton February digital sale. Shane Yeager purchased the topper with bloodstock agent Dennis O’Neill handling the bidding. The colt was sold as Hip 42 as the property of De Meric Sales and off a traditional virtual inspection and video of an untimed gallop at De Meric Farm in Ocala, Florida.

Bred by Gabrielle Farm and Saratoga Glen Farm and foaled at Saratoga Glen Farm in Stillwater, the colt is the second foal out of the multiple stakes-winning Frost Giant mare Frosty Margarita. The same partnership bred her first foal, the placed Malibu Moon gelding Malibu Margarita.

Gabrielle Farm bred and raced Frosty Margarita, an eight-time winner who earned $599,876. She earned New York-bred champion 2-year-old filly honors in 2015 and won four stakes during her 36-start career.