Bank On Anna tops older fillies and mares and becomes the latest stakes winner for Central Banker in Friday’s Union Avenue. NYRA Photo.

Bank On Anna became the second stakes winner of the 2022 Saratoga Race Course meeting for leading New York sire Central Banker when she topped her elders in Friday’s $125,000 Union Avenue Handicap.

WellSpring Stable’s 3-year-old filly joined Dream Central, who took the Suzie O’Cain the first Wednesday of the meet, as stakes winners at the meet for Central Banker. Bank On Anna won the 6-furlong Union Avenue by 2 3/4 lengths over Snicket under jockey Jose Lezcano for trainer Phil Serpe.

Bred by Lou Corrente, foaled at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds in Saratoga Springs and a $46,000 RNA at the Fasig-Tipton Select Yearling Showcase in September 2020, Bank On Anna improved to 4-for-8 in the Union Avenue. She came in off a fifth in an open-company allowance race July 23 at Saratoga.

“She’s just a solid horse,” Serpe said. “Without making up excuses, she had a rough trip last time out. Broke kind of flat-footed and got squeezed in on the rail and just lost all chance after that. She’s been really training well up to this race, so we’re really happy.”

The Union Avenue was one of three New York-bred stakes on Friday’s card, which coincided with a luncheon honoring the nominees for the 2021 New York-bred championships in the 1863 Club followed in the evening by the New York Thoroughbred Breeders’ Annual Awards event at Fasig-Tipton.

“We’ve had so many nice New York-breds because of Flying Z Stable, Mr. and Mrs. Broman and now Dr. V. [Dr. Robert Vukovich of owner WellSpring Stables] and his wife Laura,” Serpe said. “These races are great. The New York-bred program is just a really good program for people. For a lot of money or not so much money, you can get in on some really solid horses and you’ve got to really like the programs they have here because there are stake races at every meet – Saratoga, Aqueduct and Belmont – and it’s just a good program.”

Bankit (left) edges defending Evan Shipman winner Sea Foam in the final strides Friday at Saratoga. NYRA Photo.

Bankit returned to the New York-bred program in the $125,000 Evan Shipman Handicap and came away with yet another stakes victory. The 6-year-old son of Central Banker won the 1-mile Evan Shipman off an almost five-month layoff, after finishing sixth in the Grade 2 Godolphin Mile in late March at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai.

Owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds and Willis Horton Racing and trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, Bankit wore down a stubborn Sea Foam in the final strides for his sixth stakes victory. He won by a nose as the 2-1 second choice, getting the mile out of the Wilson Chute in 1:39.24.

Bankit was expected to run in the Commentator on Big Apple Showcase Day at Belmont Park on Memorial Day, but when that race didn’t fill Asmussen opted to wait for Saratoga.

“He gutted it out today,” Asmussen said. “The race didn’t fill for him last time and he ended up having a trapped epiglottis and had that cured. A couple breezes back and he’s all class. I can’t say how proud we are of him. Sea Foam has always run extremely well here at Saratoga and it was nice to come out on the right end of that.

“I was really worried about it at about the sixteenth pole. He got there, but he just gutted it out in the last part. He’s an extremely classy horse, he’s always been so.”

Bred by Hidden Brook Farm and Blue Devil Racing and foaled at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds in Saratoga Springs, Bankit passed the seven-figure mark with his 13 ¼-length victory in last year’s Commentator at Belmont. He improved to 7-for-34 with 15 placings and earnings of $1,149,655 in the Evan Shipman.

“He’s run some extremely good races and had a million in the bank before he got here today and it’s just great to have a New York-bred stake here at Saratoga for him,” Asmussen said. “It was a perfect spot and what he needed right now. He’s extremely durable physically and mentally, and we expect him to be a quality New York-bred for a long time to come.”

Wudda U Think Now gets Rudy Rodriguez in the win column at Saratoga in the John Morrissey. NYRA Photo.

The Elkstone Group’s Wudda U Think Now kicked off the stakes action early on Friday’s card with an upset victory in the $121,250 John Morrissey Handicap for older sprinters.

Sent off the 6-1 fourth choice in the field of five, the 5-year-old Fast Anna gelding tracked Saint Selby early, made a bid around the far turn and re-rallied in deep stretch to win by 1 1/2 lengths over Reggae Music Man. Saint Selby finished another head back in third with 6-5 favorite Ny Traffic fourth. Wearing blinkers for the first time, Wudda U Think Now won in 1:11.65 over the fast track under Trevor McCarthy.

“I’m not sure about the blinkers,” winning trainer Rudy Rodriguez said. “I know he’s been breaking a little slow, but I think he was breaking slow because he was dealing with a quarter crack for almost four months right after the [victory in the Feb. 19 Hollie Hughes]. I couldn’t get him right – I patched him, took the patch off – all the credit goes to Stuart Grant. He’s very patient. Owners that are patient like that make our life easy.

“He’s a nice horse and he’s as solid as they come. We just have to be patient with him and take it from there.”

Bred by Mina Equivest LLC, foaled at Five Oak Farm in Saratoga and out of the Unbridled Jet mare Unbridled Grace, Wudda U Think Now improved to 7-for-16 with the victory and boosted his earnings to $429,750. He also gave Rodriguez his first win of the meet, ending a drought of 0-for-44 to start the 2022 season.

“It’s amazing,” Rodriguez said. “I’m going to sleep good.”

Red Knight returns from almost a year layoff to win Wednesday’s Colonial Cup. Coady Photography.

Trinity Farm’s homebred Red Knight returned from almost a year on the sidelines and won Wednesday’s $156,000 Colonial Cup Stakes at Colonial Downs.

The 8-year-old Pure Prize gelding hadn’t been out since finishing sixth and 10 3/4 lengths back in the John’s Call Stakes in late August at Saratoga Race Course. Red Knight also made his first start for trainer Mike Maker in the 12-furlong Colonial Cup after running previously for Hall of Fame conditioner Bill Mott.

The Colonial Cup was run two days later than originally scheduled after extreme heat forced officials from Colonial Downs to cancel racing Monday. The fixture was run as it was originally drawn with 11 runners led by multiple steeplechase Grade 1 winner Snap Decision, recent Grade 3 Louisville winner Cellist, former English Group 3 winner La Lune and Red Knight.

A three-time stakes winner coming in to the Colonial Cup, including the Grade 3 Sycamore at Keeneland in 2020, Red Knight went of 9-2 in his comeback under Horacio Karamanos. He settled toward the back of the field, which was disrupted in the early stages when Nathan Detroit lost jockey William Humphrey.

Karamanos kept Red Knight covered up in the early stages while Cellist and La Lune battled through the opening half-mile in :48.27. La Lune wrested a short lead from Cellist after a mile, with Bakers Bay, Bluegrass Parkway, Another Mystery and Snap Decision following the top pair.

Karamanos guided Red Knight to the outside around the far turn the final time, launching a four-wide bid past the stalkers and eventually the leaders. Less than a length behind with a quarter-mile to run, Red Knight collared Another Mystery outside the sixteenth pole and drew off to a 1 1/2-length win in 2:27.31 over the firm turf. Another Mystery held second, a head in front of Snap Decision.

“I got a good break and saved ground early,” Karamanos said. “The trainer told me the horse is ready to win so save ground and wait for your moment. In the second turn he wanted to go but I wouldn’t let him go. I tried to hold him back as best I could. At the top of the stretch, I finally let him go. He gave me a nice kick. He’s got a long, beautiful stride so I just let him go.”

Red Knight’s connections celebrate another stakes victory for the 8-year-old homebred gelding Wednesday at Colonial Downs. Coady Photography.

Red Knight added the Colonial Cup to his victory in the 2020 Sycamore at Keeneland in stakes-record time of 2:28.81 for 12 furlongs. He also won the H. Allen Jerkens Stakes going 2 miles at Gulfstream Park in 2018 and the Point of Entry Stakes at 1 1/2 miles in 2019 at Belmont Park. He improved to 9-for-27 with eight seconds and one third and earned $90,000 to boost his earnings to $893,258 in the Colonial Cup.

Foaled at Keane Stud in Amenia, Red Knight is one of five winners produced by the late Skip Away mare Isabel Away.

Isabel Away’s first stakes winner was Macagone, a finalist for champion New York-bred turf male honors in 2016 after a season highlighted by the first of two wins in the Danger’s Hour Stakes carrying Trinity’s colors. Macagone ran until late in his 9-year-old season and won 11 of 47 starts and earned $654,981.

Other winners for Isabel Way are Birchwood Road, a $252,002 earner on the New York circuit who became a steeplechaser; Jaye Jaye, the winner of her first two starts before trying stakes company; and Rosssellini, a filly by Freud who sold for $40,000 as a yearling at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed sale. Isabel Away is also the dam of Druid, a 4-year-old New York-bred gelding by Magician entered for his fifth start Friday at Saratoga.

Trinity Farm’s Tom Egan was confident heading into the Colonial Cup.

“I had high expectations because this horse is a terrific racehorse,” he said. “Mike Maker thought he’d run a very big race and he did. He was coming off a long layoff. He needed every bit of that layoff. … He has a lot of zest for racing. We bred him and we owned his mother.”

Galaxina holds off multiple challengers late to win Monday’s New York Oaks at Finger Lakes. SV Photography.

By Tom Law

The late money proved the right money in Monday’s $75,000 New York Oaks at Finger Lakes.

Galaxina, who hovered around 3-1 and 5-2 with about 12 minutes to post for the 1 11/6-mile Oaks, eventually was hammered down to 6-5 favoritism. She backed up the support in her first try beyond 7 furlongs with a three-quarter-length victory over Eros’s Girl and six others in the 34th renewal of the Western New York fixture.

The win didn’t come easy for Ascendant Farm’s homebred daughter of Giant Surprise.

Galaxina, shipped to Finger Lakes from trainer Jim Bond’s Gridley Street private barn just off the grounds of Saratoga Race Course, stalked early under Dylan Davis and withstood late runs from Eros’s Girl, Curly Girl and Shesascoldasice. She then withstood about a five-minute stewards inquiry and jockey’s objection from Kevin Navarro, the rider of Eros’s Girl, before adding the Oaks to her growing resume.

Eighth and 9 lengths behind Dream Central last time out in her turf debut in the Cupecoy’s Joy division of the New York Stallion Series June 19 at Belmont Park, Galaxina returned to the dirt for the New York Oaks. She’d won her last two on the main track before the Cupecoy’s Joy, including a 24-1 upset of the Park Avenue division of the NYSS in late April at Aqueduct.

Curly Girl came in a bit from post two at the break, brushing Galaxina down on the rail and Silent Invasion wound up in front heading past the finish the first time and into the first turn. Silent Invasion led Galaxina by a length through the opening splits of :23.98 and :48.60. Charge Nurse and Sister Linda, who opened up as the early favorite at 3-5 before drifting up to 9-5 at post time, tracked from there with Eros’s Girl fifth and Sweet Maeve sixth.

Davis gave Galaxina her cue around the far turn and was within a head of the leader through 6 furlongs in 1:13.98. They took the lead into the stretch, racing about two paths off the rail as Silent Invasion retreated and Eros’s Girl revved up.

Davis gave Galaxina a couple taps of the whip left-handed, she drifted out a bit and exchanged a light bump with Eros’s Girl. The two battled side-by-side through the lane with Galaxina eventually edging away to win in 1:49.68. Curly Girl finished a head back of the runner-up in third, with Shesascoldasice another half-length behind in fourth. Silent Invasion, Charge Nurse, Sister Linda and Sweet Maeve completed the field.

Galaxina earned $45,000 for the victory – her third in five starts – and boosted her bankroll to $208,250.

A second generation homebred for Ascendant and foaled at Rockridge Stud in Hudson, Galaxina is out of the Lawyer Ron mare Strange Magic.

Ascendant and Don Manuchia purchased the unraced Artax mare Lokoya Red, in foal to Saarland, for $28,000 at the 2005 OBS October mixed sale. Bred to Lawyer Ron in his second season at stud three years later, the mare produced Galaxina’s dam Strange Magic.

Strange Magic never made it to the track but has produced two runners with Galaxina her first winner. She’s also the dam of the New York-bred 2-year-old colt Incantation, who breezed a half in :51 Monday morning at Colonial Downs, and a New York-bred yearling colt by Frank Conversation.

Robin Sparkles holds off Souper Sensational to win the Grade 3 Caress Saturday at Saratoga. Susie Raisher/NYRA Photo.

By Tom Law

Robin Sparkles rewarded her supporters – owners, breeders, trainer and gamblers – in a big way in Saturday’s Grade 3 Caress Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.

Dismissed at 21-1 in a field of nine that included defending champ Caravel, graded stakes winner Souper Sensational and six other stakes winners, Robin Sparkles won for the ninth time in 16 starts in the 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint stakes. The 5-year-old Elusive Quality mare won by a head over Souper Sensational with Lady Edith third, Miss J McKay fourth and 2-1 favorite Caravel last.

“It’s huge,” said Jon Taisey of Hibiscus Stables, which bred Robin Sparkles out of the Dehere mare My Sparky. “It’s our biggest win as a breeder. We’ve had a lot of big wins. I think the Albany was our biggest before this with Funny Guy. This is our biggest. It doesn’t get any better than this.”

Taisey was first to congratulate trainer Bruce Brown after he finished his post-race interviews with the team from Fox Sports’ Saratoga Live and the assembled print media. Brown collected his first graded stakes win with Robin Sparkles, who finished third in last year’s Caress.

“It’s awesome,” said Brown, who trains Robin Sparkles for Michael Schrader.

Robin Sparkles came into the Caress off a third in the 5-furlong Goldwood Stakes at Monmouth Park, where she set what Brown called a “suicidal” early pace of :21.43 and :43.49 before fading to finish 3 1/2 lengths behind the winner Bout Time. She’d won her 2022 debut in the off-the-turf Politely Stakes going 5 furlongs May 21 at Monmouth.

Javier Castellano took the mount on Robin Sparkles for the first time in the Caress, reuniting with Brown after the two teamed to win with Saratoga’s Troy and Lucky Coin at the 2014 meet.

“He rode my good sprinter Spring To The Sky and won a few races on him and I told him in the paddock, ‘let’s try to do that and get her out there,’ ” Brown said. “She doesn’t like to be held too tight, just a loose reign and nurse her around there and that’s exactly what she did.”

Robin Sparkles and Castellano broke well from the gate, while Caravel got off just a smidge slow in search of back-to-back graded wins after taking Belmont Park’s Grade 3 Intercontinental in June.

Robin Sparkles led through the opening quarter-mile without any serious pressure in :21.54 and by the same 1-length margin to the half in :44.21. She opened up 3 lengths in midstretch while Souper Sensational, Lady Edith, Miss J McKay tried to rally. Souper Sensational came closest, but a head short. Robin Sparkles won in 1:01.98 over the firm turf.

“I really like the horse and the way she did it today,” Castellano said. “The horse is a free-running horse. She only likes to go to the lead. She broke so well out of the gate, I took a big advantage and put her on the lead and tried to slow down the pace the best I could. I like the way she finished. She is such a game horse. Today, she put in 100 percent and Bruce did such a good job.”

Foaled at Waldorf Farm in North Chatham, Robin Sparkles is the third foal out of the five-time winner My Sparky.

Hibiscus purchased My Sparky in foal to Frost Giant for $5,700 at the 2014 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed sale. Cold Sober, a gelding by Frost Giant, sold for $20,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale and won two of 18 starts. My Sparky’s second foal, the Majestic Warrior mare G’s Warrior, raced for Hibiscus Stables and won one of nine starts.

Robin Sparkles sold for $30,000 at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale. She picked up $110,000 for the Caress victory to boost her bankroll to $530,668.

Practice Squad (inside) digs in and holds off Dakota Gold to win the $125,000 Rick Violette Stakes Thursday at Saratoga. Chelsea Durand/NYRA Photo.

By Tom Law

Rick Violette left an indelible mark all over the Thoroughbred industry.

Take your pick between the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, National Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, Take2 Second Career Thoroughbred Program, Take the Lead Thoroughbred Retirement Program or any number of advocacy groups and initiatives for backstretch workers, horsemen, horseplayers. Don’t forget trainer of Grade 1 winners like Diversify, Dream Rush and Man Of Wicklow.

Add the 2022 edition of Rick Violette Stakes to the ledger.

Even without all the family and friends who turned out and scores of others for the second annual New York Thoroughbred Aftercare Day, Violette’s stamp was all over the race named in his honor as a former claimer narrowly edged the heavy favorite in the $125,000 stakes. Maybe Violette would have scoffed at the almost Hollywood outcome after Practice Squad, a half-brother to a colt that got the late trainer to the Kentucky Derby for the third time, edged a colt running out of his former barn still decked out in his signature turquoise and black albeit for another conditioner.

That’s how it shook out, Practice Squad winning by a determined head over 2-5 Dakota Gold in the third renewal of the Rick Violette. Claimed by Joe Sharp for $30,000 in late February at Fair Grounds, the 3-year-old Malibu Moon gelding ended a string of five defeats dating back to New Year’s Eve in New Orleans.

“We are big into aftercare and he was definitely on the forefront of that,” Sharp said of Violette. “We’re proud to win it, of course. He was a wonderful horseman, so it’s an honor to win a race like that, especially with a New York-bred.”

Bred by Joanne Nielsen and out of the Touch Gold mare Party Silks, Practice Squad was a $100,000 purchase at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Select Yearling Showcase – which featured yearlings that would have sold at the Saratoga Select and Saratoga New York-bred sales – during the Covid-19 pandemic. A half-brother to New York-bred champion, multiple graded stakes winner and Kentucky Derby starter Upstart, Practice Squad started his career for Bill Parcells’ August Dawn Farm and trainer Robbie Medina before being claimed in his second start for $40,000.

Sharp and Jordan Wycoff reached in to claim him for $30,000 after he won a maiden special weight and finished sixth in an off-the-turf optional for Larry Romero and Chris Hartman.

“The pedigree was definitely there,” said Carl Fiebig, a partner with Wycoff. “We thought he fit our program pretty well. The day we claimed him was a Monday at Fair Grounds. We probably should not have been watching races and handicapping but Jordan is a shrewd guy in the claim box and found a diamond in the rough.”

Freshened for two months after the claim, Practice Squad returned to the races in his home state and placed in three straight starts against older horses on the grass for his new connections. He returned with 3-year-olds for the Rick Violette, which had been run for 2-year-old New York-breds and known as the Rockville Centre from 2014 to 2018 when run at Belmont Park before being renamed and move to Saratoga.

Sent off as the 5-1 third choice in the field of five behind multiple stakes winner and 2-5 favorite Dakota Gold and Grade 3 winner Coinage, Practice Squad and jockey Flavien Prat lingered in fourth in the early stages as longshot Stop The Spread set the pace. Stop The Spread led Coinage through the opening splits of :24.59 and :50.02, with Dakota Gold and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. keeping tabs about 2 lengths back up the backstretch.

Coinage made the first run at Stop The Spread just past 6 furlongs in 1:14.91, taking a narrow lead as the field rounded the far turn. Coinage led into the lane with Stop The Spread trying to stay on at the rail, while Dakota Gold ranged up three paths off the rail.

Prat guided Practice Squad between a Stop The Spread and Coinage at the eighth pole and Dakota Gold passed Coinage at the sixteenth pole. The two raced almost on even terms from there, with Practice Squad never giving up his advantage to the wire. He won in 1:44.69 over the inner turf labeled good after being softened up a bit with a few quick rainstorms Thursday afternoon.

“(Coinage) came out and floated him, but that’s horse racing,” said Dakota Gold’s trainer Danny Gargan, who trains in Saratoga out of Violette’s former barn near the Morning Line Kitchen on the main track. “Sometimes, you have to overcome things. He didn’t overcome it. We’ll come back later on in the meet, there’s another stakes race. He ran his race, but we lost the head bob. We took a little bit of the worst of it. I don’t know particularly if he’s a soft turf horse, but it is what it is. I’m happy he ran and showed up. You can’t win ‘em all.”

Sharp’s history with the Wycoff family goes back to his days as an assistant to Mike Maker.

Practice Squad is the first horse he claimed for Jordan Wycoff, who watched the race with his wife and daughter at home in Philadelphia. Fiebig and Jordan Wycoff’s parents, Kirk and Debra Wycoff, stood in with Violette’s family that included his sister Patricia and brother Chris, former assistant Melissa Cohen and others for the winner’s circle photo.

Practice Squad is the seventh foal out of the unraced Party Silks, who is also the dam of the stakes-placed $126,480-earner New York Hero, four-time winner Party On and Party Season, a New York-bred son of American Pharoah who sold for $1 million at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Sale and was a winner in Ireland in the fall of 2020.

Dream Central edges She’s a Mia in the final strides to win the inaugural Suzie O’Cain Stakes Wednesday at Saratoga. NYRA Photo.

By Tom Law

Eddie Fazzone likes to come to trainer Gary Sciacca with the occasional suggestion, nudge if you will, about where to run his horses.

“He’ll come to me with this and that and I’ll tell Paul, ‘put it on the list,’ ” Sciacca said , referring to his longtime assistant Paul Barone. “We laugh about it all the time. He gets mad, well, not really mad. It’s fun, we have a great time. He’s a great guy.”

Fazzone asked Sciacca to put the inaugural Suzie O’Cain Stakes on the list for Dream Central, before she even ran in and won the Cupecoy’s Joy division of the New York Stallion Series Stakes last month at Belmont Park. He’d asked for the Cupecoy’s Joy, too, even though Dream Central was still a maiden with six defeats to her ledger.

The Cupecoy’s Joy worked out for longtime friends Fazzone and Sciacca – Dream Central won by a neck at almost 40-1 – and the $125,000 Suzie O’Cain worked Wednesday. Dream Central got up in time again to win the 1 1/16-mile turf stakes for New York-bred 3-year-old fillies, giving Fazzone’s Eddie F’s Racing operation its first Saratoga victory and fifth stakes triumph.

“What a great race to win,” said Fazzone, who runs the popular Eddie F’s New England Seafood Restaurant on Clinton Street in Saratoga Springs. “Suzie was a great friend. She came in the restaurant all the time. … I can’t be any more happy than I am right now.”

Dream Central, bred by and foaled at John Jayko’s Fedwell Farm in Saratoga Springs, improved to 2-for-7 and boosted her earnings to $164,667 with the head victory over even-money favorite She’s a Mia. The 3-year-old daughter of 2021 leading New York sire Central Banker had only finished third once in her six starts before entering stakes company, but that didn’t scare Sciacca or Fazzone from stepping up.

Team Dream Central celebrate victory in the Suzie O’Cain. NYRA Photo.

“She’s 2-for-2 in stakes races but couldn’t break her maiden,” Sciacca said. “She had a little trouble a few times and probably should have broken her maiden.

“It’s so good. Up here, Saratoga is so tough. I know it meant so much to Eddie to win up here. A regular race, never mind a stakes race. He would have been happy with a claiming race. But we still have some more bullets to fire.”

Dream Central came ready to fire in the Suzie O’Cain, named for the popular and pioneering horsewoman who served on the New York Thoroughbred Breeders’ Inc. board and passed away in January.

Jockey Jose Lezcano, who rode Dream Central in the Cupecoy’s Joy, came to the paddock confident and told Sciacca he’d let the filly relax and try to make one run for the victory.

Dream Central raced sixth early as Solib, one of two runners for trainer Joe Sharp along with Classic Lynne, set the early pace on a loose lead under Luis Saez. Classic Lynne led through splits of :23.93, :48.23 and 1:12.17 before the field bunched up around the far turn and into the stretch.

Dufresne came away with the lead in midstretch when the pacesetter called it a day and braced for the challenge of She’s a Mia in midstretch. She’s a Mia and Joel Rosario took dead aim, snatched the lead but couldn’t hold it and lost in the final strides. The first two were 3 lengths clear of Dufresne, with Classic Lynne fourth, Lisa’s Vision fifth and Solib sixth. Dream Central won in 1:42.34.

“I knew the race today was a little tougher than the last race,” Fazzone said. “She’s been doing great. Gary had her ready and I knew she was ready.

“We always knew she had a lot of talent. We tried her on the dirt but knew she was totally turf. Hopefully she comes out of this good and we go for the (Statue of Liberty division of the NYSS Aug. 18). Those were the two races we had picked out, today and the sire stakes.”

Dream Central is the fourth foal out of the stakes-placed winning Deputy Wild Cat mare Dreamed to Dream, who was purchased by Jayko in foal to Point of Entry for $7,500 at the 2018 OBS winter mixed sale. She produced the New York-bred gelding Dreampoint from that mating and he’s placed six times from 16 starts and earned $85,393 for Eddie F’s Racing and Sciacca.

Dreamed to Dream’s first foal, the Treasure Beach mare Beach Dreaming, was a five-time winner of $108,280. She’s also the dam of stakes winner Dreamalildreamofu, who is graded-stakes placed and the earner of $289,403. Dreamalildreamofu sold for $235,000 at last year’s Keeneland November breeding stock sale.

Dreamed to Dream is also the dam of an unraced 2-year-old New York-bred filly by Klimt named Secessionist and a colt by Speightster born in New York Feb. 20.

Down Royal and Bernie Dalton on the way to victory in Wednesday’s Grade 1 A.P. Smithwick Memorial Steeplechase at Saratoga. Chelsea Durand/NYRA Photo.

By Sean Clancy

“I don’t care about that right now…but, yes.”

That’s how Kate Dalton responded when she was reminded that she and her husband, Bernie, collected the breeders’ bonus for winning the Grade 1 A.P. Smithwick Memorial Steeplechase Thursday at Saratoga Race Course.

Their homebred, Down Royal, had upset the first steeplechase stakes of the meet, rallying latest of all to nail Chief Justice in the final strides of the 2 1/16-mile stakes. Bred by the Daltons, owned in partnership with Joe Fowler’s Shadowfax Stable, trained by Kate, ridden by Bernie, shipped by Bernie and run by Kate, the 8-year-old daughter of Alphabet Soup collected $90,000 for the win, provided the Daltons with a career highlight and, oh yeah, added another $27,000 in breeders’ bonus.

Now, that’s a score.

Taking on two British-breds, two Irish-breds, a French-bred and a Kentucky-bred – all boys – the hometown girl settled off the pace, moved up after a mile, waited around the fourth turn and aimed at Chief Justice like she knew the enormity at hand. Sent off fourth choice, Down Royal slipped through on the inside of longshot Chief Justice to win by a neck.

Down Royal soaks up some love from Kate and Bernie Dalton after her victory in Wednesday’s A.P. Smithwick. Susie Raisher Photo.

Born at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds all the way back in 2014, Down Royal made three starts on the flat (beaten a combined 45 1/2 lengths) before switching to steeplechasing. She broke her maiden as a 3-year-old and earned seven checks during a tough 11-race losing streak that lasted from November 2017 to April 2021. For her 7-year-old debut, the Daltons decided to take her off Lasix, to see what happened, basically.

What’s happened has been a resurgence.

Down Royal won a handicap to begin 2021, finished second in a filly and mare stakes at the Iroquois and tacked on stakes at Colonial Downs and Far Hills to finish last season. She provided Bernie Dalton with his 100th career win (the 41st American jump jockey to accomplish it) before her Grade 1 scourge Thursday.

“You don’t even dream of days like this. I had seen her as a chestnut filly with a white blaze about three or four months at McMahon’s and she’s been the apple of my eye ever since. Daddies and their girls, I guess,” Bernie Dalton said. “I loved her mother. I couldn’t win a stake with her mother. This mare was very much like that until a year ago. I don’t know if it’s the Lasix or what but she started to improve. It’s a credit to her, that mare comes in every spring and wants to train, never, ever says so, always happy to be back in the barn, always happy to go to the races. For the last two weeks, she’s been like, ‘I’m bored. Let’s go somewhere. Let’s do something.’ They speak to you, if you listen. It’s the New York-bred in them. It’s the New York style, baby. Bring it.”

She brought it.