Sweet Brown Sugar makes winning return to Finger Lakes in Monday’s Niagara Stakes. SV Photography.

Sweet Brown Sugar returned to Finger Lakes off a short freshening that followed her second stakes victory and added a third Monday in the $50,000 Niagara Stakes.

Off since winning the $100,000 East View Stakes March 17 at Aqueduct, the 3-year-old daughter of Collected ran her record at Finger Lakes to 3-for-3 with her 5 1/2-length win in the Niagara. Owned by Richie Rich Racing Stable and trained by Paul Barrow, Sweet Brown Sugar started her career at Finger Lakes with back-to-back victories that included the $40,000 Shesastonecoldfox in early November.

Hammered down to 1-9 in the field of five reduced by the scratch of A Thousand Plans, Sweet Brown Sugar and jockey Jeremias Flores took the lead from Dorth’s Sol Dancer shortly after the break and opened up a clear lead.

Sweet Brown Sugar clicked past the opening quarter-mile in :23.44 with Dorth’s Sol Dancer giving chase ahead of Dreamery, Love Thyself and Sevens Up. Dorth’s Sol Dancer inched up within three-quarters of a length midway around the far turn before Sweet Brown Sugar opened up again past the half in :47.45.

Sweet Brown Sugar cruised from there, turning for home well in control and widening her advantage. Love Thyself made a tepid run down on the inside to edge past 9-1 second choice Dorth’s Sol Dancer by a half-length at the finish for the place spot at 25-1. Dreamery finished another 8 1/4 lengths back in fourth. Sweet Brown Sugar won in 1:12.41 over the fast track.

Bred by Chester and Mary Broman and foaled at their Chestertown Farm in Chestertown, Sweet Brown Sugar is the first and only foal out of the winning Bodemeister mare Rachel’s Blue Moon. The winner of two of 11 starts and $97,096, Rachel’s Blue Moon raced for the Bromans as a second-generation homebred for the multiple leading breeders in New York. Rachel’s Blue Moon is out of the Grade 1-placed stakes-winning El Corredor mare Beautiful But Blue, who is out of the multiple stakes-winning $523,927-earning Dixie Brass mare Beautiful America.

Beautiful But Blue, third in the Grade 1 Test Stakes at Saratoga in 2012 and winner of three New York-bred stakes on the NYRA circuit that season, is also the dam of stakes-placed Montebello. Beautiful But Blue won five of 17 starts and earned $395,450. Beautiful America won six of 21 starts and earned $523,927 for the Bromans from 2002 to 2004.

Sweet Brown Sugar originally sold for $10,000 through the Sequel New York consignment at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale. She was then offered as part of the Scenic Sales consignment at the 2023 OBS June sale and brought $32,000 from Nick Hines, agent for Richie Rich Stables.

Sweet Brown Sugar started her sophomore campaign at Aqueduct for Barrow. After a fifth behind My Mane Squeeze in the Franklin Square Stakes in mid-January, she finished third in a 6-furlong allowance-optional. Sweet Brown Sugar has won three straight since – a similar 6 1/2-furlong allowance-optional, the East View by 4 lengths and Monday’s co-featured Niagara. Sweet Brown Sugar improved to 5-for-7 and boosted her bankroll to $180,500 with her latest score.

Kant Hurry Love holds off Leeloo to defend title in Sunday’s Dancin Renee Stakes. Susie Raisher/NYRA Photo.

Trainer Dave Duggan added blinkers for Kant Hurry Love’s return to the races, hoping for a little more focus from the 5-year-old daughter of Kantharos. He got it Sunday at Aqueduct.

Running for the first time since March 9 and with her new equipment, Ken Wheeler Jr.’s Kant Hurry Love defended her title in the $125,000 Dancin Renee Stakes. She won last year’s renewal at Belmont Park for her first stakes victory and picked up Sunday’s during the Belmont at the Big A meeting to the delight of her conditioner.

“It was a very unique performance,” Duggan said. “We were very nervous about how the blinkers would affect her off a good run. Obviously, at this stage, we don’t have to worry about that. She got loose on the lead and got very comfortable. It made a big difference.”

Off since a narrow second behind Hot Fudge in the open-company Correction Stakes March 9 at Aqueduct, Kant Hurry Love controlled the Dancin Renee from the start. Hustled away from the gate after the break by Trevor McCarthy, Kant Hurry Love led longshot Majestic Return up the backstretch through the opening quarter-mile in :22.28. Leeloo raced just behind the top pair and the complexion of the race remained that way around the far turn.

Kant Hurry Love shook off a pesky Majestic Return past the half in :44.95 and braced for the late runs from Leeloo and 1-2 favorite Sterling Silver in the stretch.

“We were rolling right along,” McCarthy said. “On paper, Kendrick [Carmouche, aboard Majestic Return] and I were the speed and with the blinkers on, I wanted to really hustle her. She broke good. I hustled her out of there and kind of had to earn it a little more than I thought.

“When we turned for home, I let her open it up a little bit and try and put some distance on Javier [Castellano, aboard Sterling Silver] and get the jump on them. She had been waiting on horses a little bit and that’s why we put the blinkers on. When she felt Javier inside and she surged again just inside the last 70 yards. It was a great performance by her.”

Leeloo, shipping in from trainer Ignacio Correas IV’s barn at Keeneland off back-to-back tries in open stakes, made a solid run at the leader but couldn’t get past. Kant Hurry Love won by three-quarters of a length over Leeloo with Sterling Silver third of six. Kant Hurry Love won in 1:10.11.

“Last race, that was a tough race beaten by a very good filly,” Duggan said of Hot Fudge. “She showed up against her own company today. We beat Sterling Silver at our game, not her game, at seven-eighths she is a better filly I think.”

Kant Hurry Love improved to 5-for-14 at the 6-furlong trip and 6-8-5 in 22 starts. She earned $68,750 for the Dancin Renee victory and boosted her bankroll to $525,600.

Bred by Dr. John and Laura McDermott, foaled at Seldom Still Farm in Granville and out of their homebred Langfuhr mare She’s All Love, Kant Hurry Love sold for $40,000 to Debbie Easter at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Select Yearling Showcase in Kentucky.

A half-sister to stakes winners Candid Desire and Bonus Points, She’s All Love is also the dam of the 3-year-old New York-bred Keen Ice gelding Triple Word Score. A $50,000 purchase out of the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern fall yearling sale, Triple Word Score finished third in most recent start in a mid-May maiden-claiming race at Belmont at the Big A. She’s All Love did not produce a foal in 2022 or 2023 and delivered a New York-bred filly by multiple Grade 1 winner Vekoma February 10.

Duggan said Kant Hurry Love, who scratched out of the April 13 Primonetta Stakes at Laurel Park and the June 5 Rehoboth Stakes at Delaware Park, would stay with New York-breds for her next start this summer.

“That’s it; that’s the plan,” Duggan said of the August 9 Union Avenue Handicap at Saratoga Race Course. “Would just train her up to that.”

Toby Sheets, former assistant to Steve Asmussen with NY-Bred Champion Haynesfield Photo Courtesy of Adam Coglianese/NYRA Photos

By Teresa Genaro

Maggie Wolfendale Morley and Toby Sheets’ friendship did not get off to an auspicious beginning. Morley (then Wolfendale) had recently begun working as the New York Racing Association’s paddock analyst, and Sheets was Steve Asmussen’s assistant. 

One night, she joined trainers Abigail Adsit and David Cannizzo for dinner. Sheets was seated across from her. 

“He ripped me a new one,” she said. “We didn’t really know each other, and he started talking about what I said about people’s horses on TV, and he was not happy. ‘You can’t say that!’”

Apparently the conversation escalated to the point that other diners in the restaurant noticed, leading to the waitress to come to the table as Morley tried to defend herself. 

“I started to lose it,” she said. “I went to the bathroom and Abby came with me, and she said to me, ‘Go to the bar, do a shot with him, and you’ll be good.’

“I took her advice, and by the end of the night, Toby and I were best friends.”

Fiercely protective of both his horses and his friends, Sheets was found dead in Greece on June 16. The cause of death was drowning. 

Winners circle photo following Haynesfield’s victory in the 2010 G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park. Photo Courtesy of Adam Coglianese/NYRA Photos

Toby Sheets with jockey Ramon Dominguez & Haynesfield Photo courtesy of Adam Coglianese/NYRA Photos

Sheets had worked for years as Steve Asmussen’s assistant at Belmont Park. When Asmussen closed his New York barn last year, Sheets worked for several other trainers at Belmont before recently traveling to Greece, with an eye on moving there and establishing a career in the restaurant industry.

“I feel completely empty,” said retired trainer Rick Schosberg, the president of New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association Take the Lead racehorse retirement program. “I had talked to him just a couple of days ago about Chestertown.”

Asmussen, and thus Sheets, had trained the New York-bred Chestertown, who sold for $2 million as a two-year-old in 2019 and who was retired last year. Chestertown was bred by Chester and Mary Broman and named for their upstate New York farm; Sheets had been training him to be a stable pony, and, ever vigilant, had made arrangements for the horse to be transferred to Miguel Gutierrez for a career as an outrider pony.

“I texted him while he was in Greece and he called me back a day later,” said Schosberg. “He seemed relieved to be in another place than the racetrack, at least for a little while.”

Known for his extraordinary kindness to other people, Sheets asked little of his friends, and even those closest to him often didn’t know much about his life before he got to Belmont.

Morley said that Sheets grew up in Arkansas and had been around horses since childhood; he left home while still young, working as a waiter and bartender in Colorado, then galloping horses on the West Coast and in New Orleans. He trained on his own for a decade before signing on as Asmussen’s assistant in 2004.  

He stayed in New York year-round, and while many images capture him at Aqueduct in the winter, it was in the summer during the Saratoga meet that he and others based at Belmont had time to relax.

“A lot of the assistants stayed at Belmont year-round,” said Cherie DeVaux, a trainer who formerly worked for Chad Brown. “It was quiet in the summer because the racing was upstate, so we got a chance to hang out. Toby was a big supporter when I went out on my own. He’d send a quick text to check in or to congratulate me, and he was always there to talk to, no matter what was going on.”

She remembered a particularly painful incident that was made slightly easier because of Sheets’ presence, when one of the horses that she worked with suffered an injury that required the horse to be euthanized.

“I was really struggling during the procedure, and he took over for me,” she said. “He told me to step away and he held the horse to make it easier on me. That’s the kind of person he was: he always put other people first.” 

Known as much for his horsemanship as for his kindness, Sheets reliably retired horses when they were ready, getting the retirement paperwork done early and thoroughly.

“He was by far one of the best all-around horsemen I’ve ever known in 40 years on the racetrack,” said Schosberg.

He recalled an incident when he was at the track during morning training; Sheets was on the pony, and an exercise rider was having trouble with one of Asmussen’s horses.

“He pulled the pony up, switched places with the exercise rider, and within an eighth of a mile, Toby had this horse that had been acting like an idiot galloping around with his head down.” 

Carol Seaver was the racing manager for Turtle Bird Stable, who owned Asmussen stable standouts Haynesfield and Cluster of Stars, both New York-breds, both graded stakes winners. 

“He knew what was going on with every horse in the barn, not just the accomplished ones like Haynesfield,” she said. “His being able to get on horses was such an asset, and he had such a good handle on Haynesfield. He understood the horse’s cruising speed and ability, and he plotted a very successful course for him, knowing where he’d shine the most.” 

Bred by Barry Weisbord and Margaret Santulli, Haynesfield retired with earnings of $1.3 million, a win in the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1), and a head loss to Jersey Town in the Cigar Mile (G1).  When Dave Lyon bought a $250,000 Classic Empire colt in 2021, he asked David Ingordo, his bloodstock agent, for trainer recommendations.

“He told us to send him to Asmussen, essentially because of Toby,” said Lyon. “And he was right.” After Morello won the Jimmy Winkfield Stakes, Lyon and his partners invited Sheets to have champagne with them.

“Nope,” said Lyon. “He wanted to go back to the barn. After we won the Gotham, he did the same thing. He always put the horse before everything. And he didn’t hesitate to tell us when a horse needed time or needed to be laid up for a little while.”

Sassy, sarcastic, and often spicy, Sheets might not be the first person you’d think of as a babysitter for humans. But his kindness and care extended beyond his friends and his horses to the children of his friends.

“My kids would spend holidays with him and his family, and we got to know his dad and his brothers,” said Seaver. When Maggie and Tom Morley had their first child in 2016, they asked Sheets to be Grace’s godfather. “He and Grace were really close,” said Morley. “He promised her that when she turned 18, they’d go to Paris together.”

She paused, choked up. “He was an amazing person to our girls. He and Leah Gyramati were the first people to hold Grace after Tom and me. He stood next to me at my wedding, and when he knew that Tom was away and I had the girls to myself, he’d come hang out and spend nights with us.”

When Asmussen shut down operations at Belmont, it “rocked Toby’s world a little bit,” said Wolfendale Morley. Another friend said that demons chased Sheets, and he chased them back. 

“I kind of thought that he’d made this far and he’d be around forever,” she said. “It hurts so much, especially because it was so sudden. The day before I heard the news, I’d been thinking about how I was going to find him to get to Greece to visit him.” 

“He was always there for us,” she went on, “and he never asked anything in return, just to be a friend and give love. As he always said to me, ‘Love is love.’” 

The Big Torpedo and Eric Cancel cruise to the finish in Sunday’s Spectacular Bid division of the New York Stallion Series at Belmont at the Big A. NYRA Photo.

Tom Morley looked forward to running The Big Torpedo back on the grass after what he called persevering through the winter and running the Big Brown colt on the dirt.

Second in that return to the grass in late April against open company in the Woodhaven Stakes at Aqueduct, The Big Torpedo took it a step further with a victory in Sunday’s $150,000 Spectacular Bid division of the New York Stallion Series Stakes at Belmont at the Big A.

Owned by Thomas Albrecht, Vincent Fusaro and James Klein and trained by Morley, The Big Torpedo won by 3 1/2 lengths over the Central Banker gelding Courtly Banker with the Bustin Stones gelding Bustin Away third and the Leofric colt Fidelightcayut fourth in the Father’s Day feature. Eric Cancel rode The Big Torpedo, who won the 6-furlong stakes over the firm turf in 1:08.38.

“These Stallion Series races are worth so much money,” said Morley, who ran The Big Torpedo in four straight dirt races including the $500,000 Great White Way division of the NYSS last December. “We had several options, we could have run in the Penn Mile or in the ‘A-other-than’ last week at Saratoga, but when you have a Stallion Series horse, you have to have a go at these races.

“Fingers crossed, he’s in good shape and we go up to Saratoga for the Cab Calloway. Now it will be about getting him to relax going into the first turn at Saratoga because it’s back to two turns next time.”

The 7-5 favorite in the field of eight off that close second in the Woodhaven, The Big Torpedo settled in third early as Bustin Away and Courtly Banker scrimmaged through the opening quarter-mile in :22.58.

Cancel was content to stay fourth around the far turn as Bustin Away clicked past the half in :45.66 just ahead of Courtly Banker and Grand Opening. The Big Torpedo surged through spot between the leader and the rail in the stretch, accelerated and opened up to lead in midstretch by a head.

“I was waiting for the right time,” Cancel said. “As soon as the rail opened up just a bit more where I knew he would fit perfectly, I went for it. I had the horse underneath me and once I asked him, he responded very quick.”

The Big Torpedo flew home from there, widening with every stride to finish clear. Courtly Banker edged Bustin Away by a neck for the runner-up spot with Fidelightcayut another head back in fourth. Grand Opening, Heavyweight Champs, Retail Man and Freedsdale completed the field.

“I’ve been working the horse and seeing him train,” Cancel said. “He’s been doing phenomenal. I sat the right trip with him. I knew I didn’t have to be on the lead, I could just sit from behind. That’s what I did, and everything worked out to our favor.”

The Spectacular Bid capped a big eight-day stretch for Big Brown, New York’s leading sire in 2020 who stands for $5,000 at Irish Hill & Dutchess Views Stallions in Stillwater. Champion 3-year-old male and winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes in 2008, Big Brown is also the broodmare sire of last weekend’s Belmont Stakes winner Dornoch and his Kentucky Derby-winning half brother Mage.

The Big Torpedo, bred by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, foaled at Irish Hill Century Farm in Stillwater and out of the Empire Maker mare U. S. S. O’Brien, finished second in his debut going 6 furlongs on the turf last November at Aqueduct. He crossed the finish fourth and was elevated to third via disqualification in the Great White Way in mid-December. The Big Torpedo won a 1-mile state-bred maiden race in mid-January by 10 lengths to earn a spot in the $100,000 Gander Stakes at the same distance. After a well-beaten fifth there, The Big Torpedo returned with a close second in a 1-mile allowance-optional in late March to set up his run in the Woodhaven.

A $130,000 purchased by Fox Hill Farm at the 2012 Keeneland September yearling sale, U. S. S. O’Brien won three of 11 starts with four placings and earned $143,140. She won the $50,000 Golden Beach Handicap in 2014 at Gulfstream Park for Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and trainer Kathy Ritvo.

U. S. S. O’Brien produced her first foal, a colt by Uncle Mo, in 2018. Her second foal, the Mucho Macho Man filly Hang On Honey, won one of two starts and earned $12,330. The Big Torpedo is U. S. S. O’Brien’s fourth foal. He improved to 2-3-1 in seven starts and earned $82,500 to boost his bankroll to $238,400.

U. S. S. O’Brien is also the dam of the 2-year-old Maclean’s Music colt O’Brien’s Song, a $28,000 RNA at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale.

Soloshot, between rivals in deep stretch, gets up in time to win Cupecoy’s Joy division of the NYSS Friday at Belmont at the Big A. Susie Raisher/NYRA Photo.

What a week for the stallions and the team at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds.

Everything started Saturday when Book’em Danno, a son of McMahon of Saratoga’s new stallion Bucchero, won the Grade 1 Woody Stephens on the Belmont Stakes Day undercard.

The run continued Thursday when juveniles bred, foaled and raised at the farm sold for six figures at the OBS June sale.

Then it hit a crescendo when Soloshot got up in time to win Friday’s $150,000 Cupecoy’s Joy division of the New York Stallion Series Stakes at Belmont at the Big A. The 3-year-old daughter of Solomini, a son of Curlin who stands at McMahon of Saratoga in Saratoga Springs, won the 6-furlong Cupecoy’s Joy by a nose from the Central Banker filly Geopolitics with Being Betty third and Sohana fourth. The Cupecoy’s Joy result gave McMahon a 1-2-4 finish the stakes for 3-year-old fillies eligible for the Stallion Stakes.

“I expected her to run big, but I was nervous going into the race, because you know you get nervous before a big race,” said winning trainer Lolita Shivmangal, winning her fist stakes. “I was very confident in her, and having Irad on, that she was going to run big, and she did it. I’m very proud of that little filly. Very, very proud of her.”

Bred by and foaled at Rhapsody Farm in Plymouth and winner of the Lady Finger Stakes last season at Finger Lakes, Soloshot was claimed for $32,000 March 3 at Aqueduct.

She finished seventh in her first start for new connections – Shivmangal and owners Travis and Eddie Racing Stable – in the March 17 East View before a runner-up effort in an open allowance race in on the turf late April at Aqueduct.

Soloshot finished fourth, beaten just 4 lengths in a similar state-bred turf sprint May 24 at Aqueduct, heading into the 6-furlong Cupecoy’s Joy.

“It was the mom’s breeding after we claimed,” Shivmangal said. “We did the research and we saw the mother ran four lifetime races and three were on the turf, and she placed in every one, so we went to the turf.”

Soloshot came through in her return to the main track. Sent off as the 9-5 second choice in the field of eight, Soloshot raced fourth early under Irad Ortiz Jr. while 7-5 favorite Geopolitics carved out quick splits of :21.93 and :45.19. Still third behind Geopolitics and Being Betty turning for home, Soloshot came off the inside in the lane and got close inside the final furlong.

Soloshot engaged between the two leaders inside the final sixteenth and edged past Geopolitics late to win by a bob at the finish. Soloshot won in 1:09.03 on the firm turf.

“Beautiful trip,” Ortiz said. “We had a perfect trip to be honest. I was right behind [Geopolitics] and she carried me all the way to the wire. I saved all the ground. The horse helped me because she was there when I asked her. She deserves a lot of credit – she fought and she deserved the win.

“She responded well and has been running tough races – :44, :43, fighting [for] the lead. I mean, she’s still running at the end and gives something to the rider. I was thinking that she probably doesn’t need to be on the lead to get the ‘W.’ We came out looking for the lead, but we can’t make it, so I went to Plan B and it worked out good.”

Soloshot is the third foal out of the stakes-placed Sweet Queen. A half-sister to Grade 3 winner Queen of the Castle, Sweet Queen is the dam of the four-time winning and $193,261-earning Practical Joke New York-bred filly Banterra.

Rhapsody Farm purchased Sweet Queen, carrying Banterra in utero, for $52,000 at the 2020 Keeneland January horses of all ages sale. Sweet Queen is also the dam of a 2-year-old full sister to Soloshot named Seaside Princess that sold for $27,000 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed sale and $25,000 at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling sale.

Central Banker, a 14-year-old son of Speightstown, stands for $7,500 at McMahon of Saratoga. The leader of the New York general sire list from 2021 to 2023, he currently ranks second on the New York general sire list with more than $1.7 million in progeny earnings and only behind fellow McMahon of Saratoga stallion Bucchero.

Silver Skillet dominates the off-the-turf Mount Vernon. Susie Raisher/NYRA Photo.

Christophe Clement heard the rain. Then he saw the rain. He didn’t care either way, Silver Skillet was running, rain or shine, turf or dirt. 

Silver Skillet showed she could handle either in her first 12 starts and did so again on Sunday’s New York Showcase Day card to close the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course. The 4-year-old daughter of Liam’s Map, a stakes winner in New York-bred company and placed in open stakes last year, added another stakes victory in the off-the-turf $125,000 Mount Vernon.

Joel Rosario rode Silver Skillet to her front-running score, finishing 4 lengths clear of Stonewall Star with 8-5 favorite Tough Street third in the scratched-down field of six. 

“She likes a wet track,” Clement said after the win. “She has run well before on a wet track. She was a little bit unlucky first time back at Aqueduct on the grass. She’s trained well. I just told Joel to break well and make it simple. And she broke well and he made it simple.”

Silver Skillet took command from the start, opening up 2 lengths through the opening quarter-mile in :24.31 and Rosario put his five rivals to bed from there. 

“With a sloppy track, we get in a position and see where we’re at,” Rosario said. “It looked like she showed a lot of speed and I was able to just go to the front and let her do what she wants to do.”

Silver Skillet continued to lead without pressure through the half in :47.35 and 6 furlongs in 1:11.21. She turned for home well in front and opened up 2 lengths in midstretch. Silver Skillet cruised from there, winning under a hand ride after on tap of Rosario’s right-handed whip in deep stretch. Silver Skillet won in 1:37.55. 

Silver Skillet improved to 2-for 4 on a wet track, adding the Mount Vernon to a 14 ½-length maiden win in December 2022. 

“She ran before on this kind of track and has run very well,” Rosario said. “Today, she proved that she’s OK with this track. You never know because (when a race comes off the turf) you could lose the speed of the race. We just try to get a good spot in the beginning and I was hoping to be close on the pace. I just tried to ride it from there.” – Tom Law

Sprit of St Louis handles off going to win Kingston to close New York Showcase Day card. NYRA Photo.

• Spirit of St Louis owner Michael Dubb didn’t have a stressful weekend.

He was only stressed before the Belmont Stakes festival started when he saw the thunderstorms scheduled for the weekend but other than that, there was no stress.

There definitely wasn’t any stress when he was standing in the winner’s circle after his New York-bred Spirit of St Louis won the $125,000 Kingston Stakes to close out the New York Showcase Day at Saratoga.

“I’ve been coming to Saratoga for 50 years and I’ve never had an experience like this in Saratoga,” Dubb said. “On Thursday when I arrived, I said ‘It’s a little awkward to be here.’ When I left Thursday afternoon, I said ‘Oh my God, this is unbelievable. I wish we could do this all the time.’ ”

Due to rain Sunday morning, the usual 1 1/16 mile turf race was moved to the dirt track for a muddy mile. It didn’t seem to bother the Chad Brown-trained 4-5 favorite.

Jockey Manny Franco put the son of Medaglia d’Oro near the lead in the shortened five-horse field and surged coming out of the final turn, passing Jerry the Nipper and Disarmed. From there, the race became how about the winning margin.

“He’s a good, consistent horse,” Brown said. “He’s effective on the dirt, particularly when it’s wet. He’s a real pleasure to have and he just continues to improve.”

The 5-year-old posted a 1:37.44 time and added his seventh victory and fourth stakes win in nine starts. This was his first dirt victory since his debut at Aqueduct in early 2023.

“He does whatever you ask him to do,” Franco said. “From the turf to dirt, he is a nice horse. He is very nice. Every time I ask him, he is there. He’s a cool horse.”

Dubb, before answering questions, asked a question of his own: “Where’s the champagne room?”

“It’s just phenomenal,” Dubb said. “This is the best racing place on Earth.” – Spencer Ripchik