Barese cruises to third stakes score in Monday’s $150,000 New York Derby. SV Photography.

Paradise Farms Corp.’s and David Staudacher’s Barese made a winning return to the state-bred ranks Monday with a powerful victory over three rivals in the $150,000 New York Derby at Finger Lakes.

Fourth last time being Tawny Port, Grade 1 Florida Derby winner White Abarrio and eventual Grade 1 Belmont Derby winner Classic Causeway, Barese collected his third stakes win of 2022 in the New York Derby. The son of Laoban won the Rego Park and Gander at Aqueduct before giving open company a try and finishing fifth in eventual Belmont Stakes winner Mo Donegal’s victory in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial.

Barese, bred by Becky Thomas’ Sequel Thoroughbreds and Lewis Lakin’s Lakland Farm, went to the post as the 7-5 second choice in the field reduced by one with the scratch of Grabbing the Money. Manny Franco and even-money favorite Aggregation came away well at the break and took the lead, just ahead of Barese and jockey Richardo Santana Jr. and third choice Best Idea and John Velazquez.

Aggregation stayed a few paths off the rail into the first turn and led by a half-length through the opening quarter-mile in :23.88. He opened it up to a length to the half in :48.07 before Barese inched up a little more approaching the far turn. Barese drew alongside the leader midway on the turn, putting a head in front and opening up.

Barese drew off from there, opening up past the mile in 1:38.67 and winning by 4 lengths over Best Idea with Aggregation third and State Planning fourth. Barese won in 1:45.70 over the sloppy and sealed track.

Barese’s connections celebrate his latest victory, the $150,000 New York Derby. SV Thoroughbreds.

Foaled at Sequel Thoroughbreds in Hudson, Barese is the third foal out of the unraced Successful Appeal mare Right Prevails. Trainer Mike Maker purchased the colt for $150,000 out of Thomas’ Sequel Bloodstock consignment at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream sale of 2-year-olds in training.

Barese won his debut for Maker and his owners in one of the first two New York-bred maiden special weight races run last year, taking a 5-furlong event by a half-length May 21 at Belmont Park. Off until Jan. 9, Barese returned to win the Rego Park and then the Gander about a month later. After a fifth in the Wood Memorial and a third in a division of the New York Stallion Series Stakes, Barese finished 7 1/4 lengths back in fourth in the Grade 3 Ohio Derby.

Right Prevails, a full sister to Grade 3 winner and 2005 Kentucky Derby runner-up Closing Argument, had produced one winner from two starters at the time of the Gulfstream sale.

Her first winner, Barese’s 5-year-old full sister Breakfastatbonnies, is 3-for-6 and finished third in the Feb. 13 Broadway Stakes at Aqueduct. An $80,000 purchase by OWL Stable at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale of 2-year-olds in training, Breakfastatbonnies has earned $164,140. Thomas’ Sequel Bloodstock sold Barese and Breakfastatbonnies.

Right Prevails is also the dam of an unanmed 2-year-old filly by The Lieutenant, a New York-bred yearling colt by Mission Impazible and a New Yrork-bred colt by Catalina Cruiser, all bred in New York and co-bred by Sequel and Lakland.

High Limit Room scores first stakes victory in Saturday’s Grand Prairie Turf Sprint at Lone Star Park. Dustin Orona Photo.

By Melissa Bauer-Herzog

The third time proved the charm in stakes company for High Limit Room as he timed it right to get his head in front to win the $150,000 Grand Prairie Turf Sprint Saturday at Lone Star Park.

Bred by Woodville Breeding, High Limit Room earned the victory after placing in Monmouth Park’s Get Serious in May and Select in June in his previous stakes attempts. Trained by Jose Camejo for Chris Aulds, the Grand Prairie Turf Sprint gave the 4-year-old Kantharos gelding his fifth win in 12 starts with only one off-the-board finish, that coming in his debut.

High Limit Room picked up $78,768 for the win and is now less than $500 away from $275,000 with his earnings.

High Limit Room and jockey David Cabrera raced in fourth early in the 5-furlong turf stakes, never further back than 2 lengths from the leader Sign of War through splits of :21.80 and :44.01 for the opening half-mile.

High Limit Room came running down the stretch with the leader in his sights, but looked like he might run out of room until he pulled up to Sign of War’s hip inside the final sixteenth. High Limit Room timed his run just right, having a head margin on 22-1 Sign of War at the end with Barristan The Bold in third. High Limit Room, the 5-2 favorite in the field of 11, won in :56.14

High Limit Room is out of the Stormy Atlantic mare Marie Antoinette. She went winless in five starts but has produced two winners from three runners, with two of those runners born in New York. Marie Antoinette is out of the stakes-winning Parisian Affair, who produced the stakes-winning Crimson China and the dam of the multiple graded stakes placed Belle Laura.

High Limit Room’s granddam is a half-sister to French champion 2-year-old and successful sire Elusive City with Canadian champion Lukes Alley also in the family.

High Limit Room was originally sold at the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale for $25,000 as a short yearling by Indian Creek before heading back to New York. Making another trip through the ring later that year, he sold for $62,000 at Fasig-Tipton’s Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale out of the Bluewater Sales consignment.

High Limit Room would attend one more sale when Carole Star Stables snapped him up from Golden Rock Thoroughbreds for $90,000 at the OBS March selected sale of 2-year-olds in training.

Marie Antoinette foaled a Central Banker colt in 2020, who sold for $36,500 at this year’s OBS April sale. The mare also has a yearling colt from the first crop of Solomini and a filly foal by the same stallion.

City Man storms through the lane to win Grade 3 Forbidden Apple Friday at Saratoga. Susie Raisher/NYRA Photo.

By Tom Law

Dean Reeves shopped the 2019 OBS April sale of 2-year-olds in training, bought three prospects and picked out one he thought some friends might want to buy a piece of and campaign in partnership.

“We’re more of the silent partners, we don’t say much,” said Peter Searles, who with his wife Patty bought into the then 2-year-old unnamed New York-bred Mucho Macho Man colt that zipped an eighth in :10.1 before the Ocala auction. “After Dean bought him he called us to see if we wanted a piece. It was an easy answer. We said, ‘yes sir.’ ”

Three years and a few months after making that easy call the partners celebrated another win by the now 5-year-old City Man in Friday’s co-featured Grade 3 Forbidden Apple Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. City Man bested a field that included multiple graded stakes winners Set Piece, Public Sector and Get Smokin and Grade 1 Old Forester Turf Classic runner-up Mira Mission in the 1-mile stakes carrying a $175,000 purse that seemed far insufficient considering the talent.

“That was a great win,” Peter Searles said. “Usually it’s New York-breds that he’s running against, with some open stakes, but this is open company and a graded stakes. And the champagne tastes better when it’s free.”

The Searles’, Dean and Patti Reeves and trainer Christophe Clement and his team earned that champagne in the Carmen Barrera Room after City Man won for the sixth time in 22 starts in a swift 1:33.76 over the firm inner turf under Joel Rosario. City Man, sent off the 12-1 fifth choice in the field of 11, added the Forbidden Apple to his 2022 debut victory in the Danger’s Hour Stakes against open company at Aqueduct. He also improved to 2-for-4 with a second on the grass at Saratoga, where he won last year’s West Point Stakes on Saratoga Showcase Day.

City Man bounced back from a troubled seventh last time out in the Kingston Stakes on Big Apple Showcase Day May 30 at Belmont Park.

“He’s been a bit unlucky lately, so it was fun to have a good trip and he won well,” Clement said. “It’s fun to win the Forbidden Apple, because I did train Forbidden Apple. (City Man is) a good New York-bred, but he’s also a good horse.”

Rosario, aboard for those victories in the West Point and Danger’s House along with the Kingston last time, kept City Man in seventh early in the Forbidden Apple was Yes And Yes and jockey John Velazquez dictated the terms early. Yes And Yes took the field through the opening quarter-mile in :23.31 on a 2-length lead before Get Smokin applied some pressure when the tempo slowed to the half in :47.23.

Yes And Yes clung to a narrow lead through 6 furlongs in 1:10.90 and cut the corner turning for home. Get Smokin and Javier Castellano didn’t handle the turn as well and fanned several paths off the fence while Wolfie’s Dynaghost tried to slide past Yes And Yes to the inside of Clear Vision, Atone and a blocked Set Piece. City Man came from another group of four tracking those six in front, between Public Sector and Mira’s Mission.

City Man accelerated inside the eighth pole, outrunning Public Sector and passing Atone, Wolfie’s Dynaghost and Get Smokin inside the final sixteenth.

“He handled everything fine and put in a good run today,” Rosario said. “Turning for home when we started moving, I got lucky and got out in front of them. (Public Sector) was outside me and it looked like every time I asked him (City Man) to do something, he was moving forward. Sometimes, he’s a funny horse (in traffic), but he was OK with that today. He did great.”

Bred by Moonstar Farm and out of the City Zip mare City Scamper, City Man originally sold for $20,000 as a weanling at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed sale. He showed up in the OBS April sale 18 months later, selling as a member of Mucho Macho Man’s second crop.

Reeves, who campaigned Mucho Macho Man to victory in the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita Park and is involved in his stallion career, liked what he saw in the colt at the Off the Hook consignment and bought him for $185,000.

“I’m so happy for Mucho Macho Man to get a graded stakes for us,” Reeves said Friday. “This horse is talented. I felt like if we got a good trip, based on what he did at Aqueduct when he exploded home, he did the same thing here. As soon as it opened up for him, I didn’t expect that big of an explosion but he really kicked on. (The mile) seems to be hitting him just right.”

“It’s been so much fun. We’ve won some big New York-bred races. For him to step out in open company and be successful it’s really rewarding.”

Market Alert keeps it together and cruises to victory in Sunday’s Saginaw Stakes to close the Belmont Park spring-summer meeting. Susie Raisher/NYRA Photo.

WellSpring Stables’ homebred Market Alert likes to give his people – along with the starting gate crew – a bit of trouble. So much so that trainer Jim Ryerson likes to joke that the 4-year-old D’Funnybone gelding keeps “finding new way to make more gray hair on my head.”

Ryerson will take the gray as long as Market Alert continues to uncover ways to win, like he did in Sunday’s $100,000 Saginaw Stakes to close Belmont Park’s spring-summer meeting. Market Alert won the 1 1/16-mile Saginaw under Jose Ortiz for his first stakes victory after eight prior tries.

“He’s kind of reinvented himself with a little distance,” Ryerson said. “He’s able to adapt to the pace. Today, there was a lot of speed and he was able to rate. All things you would hope for.”

Ryerson also hoped a half-mile tightener in :47.66 on the Belmont training track three days before the Saginaw, and a more professional attitude from the chestnut gelding would lead to success Sunday.

“We’ve had trouble with the tunnel and he didn’t want to come out of his stall after we saddled him,” Ryerson said. “He broke through the gate last time, and he tried breaking through the gate the time before that when he was third. They had just clicked it or he might have done it that day.”

Ortiz didn’t encounter much trouble from Market Alert in the Saginaw. Sent off as the 2-1 second choice in the field of six older New York-breds, Market Alert came away well from the gate and raced behind the three-way battle between 8-5 favorite Listentoyourheart, Therisastormbrewin and Daddy Knows for the early lead.

Listentoyourheart, winner of a 7-furlong state-bred allowance-optional last time, held a narrow lead through the opening quarter-mile in :23.10 before relinquishing it to Therisastormbrewin to the half in :45.50. Daddy Knows backed out of the three-way scramble first, just about the time Market Alert moved up to race alongside Listentoyourheart.

Market Alert drew just about to even terms with Therisastormbrewin at the quarter-pole and took the lead just outside the eighth pole. Ortiz stayed busy from there, knowing Market Alert’s tendencies after riding him May 28 and other times last year. They drew off late to win by 2 1/2 lengths from Therisastormbrewin, who finished 1 ½ lengths clear of the late-running Brooklyn Strong with Listentoyourheart fourth. Market Alert won in 1:43.20.

“He’s a horse that’s a little difficult. In the gate, he’s difficult, too,” Ortiz said. “We’re just happy to see what he can do when he runs his best. He was sitting in a good spot.

“[Jimmy has been working with him a lot, so I’m happy for Jimmy and the owners. He’s a nice horse, but sometimes they aren’t mentally there and it makes it a little tougher. This is one of them. In the post parade, he likes to freeze and stuff, but we’ve been working with him and I think he’s getting better and better. Today, he was the best horse.”

Market Alert improved to 5-for-19 with two seconds and three thirds in the Saginaw. Stakes-placed on three other occasions including a second in last year’s Mike Lee at Belmont, Market Alert picked up $55,000 to boost his bankroll to $351,120.

Market Alert is the fourth foal out of the stakes-placed Silver Deputy mare Shakaleena and one of two winners produced by the mare. WellSpring also bred her other winner, Market Alert’s full brother Beyond Honor, who went 2-2-4 in 20 starts and earned $66,224. Shakaleena sold in foal to Boys At Tosconova for $1,500 at the 2018 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. Her last known reported foal is a 3-year-old colt by that sire foaled in Korea in 2019.

Ryerson said he would target the $125,000 Evan Shipman Handicap at 1 mile Aug. 12 at Saratoga Race Course for Market Alert’s next start. Saratoga opens its 40-day summer meeting Thursday.

Eros’s Girl runs down No Chalk late to win Monday’s Niagara Stakes at Finger Lakes. SV Photography.

Eros’s Girl continued to show her affinity for Finger Lakes and landed her first stakes with a sustained winning rally in Monday’s $49,000 Niagara Stakes.

The 3-year-old daughter of Boys At Tosconova won the 6-furlong Niagara for owner-breeder-trainer M. Anthony Ferraro in her third stakes try and improved to 3-for-4 at Finger Lakes with her half-length victory over No Chalk. Sent off the 7-2 third choice in the field of six New York-bred sophomore fillies in the Independence Day feature in Farmington, Eros’s Girl won in 1:13.42 under Kevin Navarro.

Eros’s Girl added the Niagara to her 2 1/2-length victory in an open-company allowance at the same distance June 6 at Finger Lakes. She also broke her maiden in her debut by 5 lengths last September.

Navarro allowed Eros’s Girl to race toward the back of the field in her June 6 allowance score and again in the Niagara. No Chalk, Amore Fire and 4-5 favorite Sandy’s Garden scrimmaged for the early lead with the latter holding the advantage through the opening quarter in :22.52.

Amore Fire backed out of the battle for the lead first and No Chalk took over on the turn and was x in front past the half-mile split in :46.38. No Chalk and jockey Oscar Gomez cut the corner and opened up in to the lane, just as Eros’s Girl and Navarro started rolling.

No Chalk still led by 4 1/2 lengths at the eighth pole and past 5 furlongs in :59.46, but Eros’s Girl continued to cut into the lead. Eros’s Girl reduced her 2-length deficit at the sixteenth pole and grabbed the lead four strides from the finish to win going away. No Chalk held second, 6 3/4 lengths ahead of Curly Girl wth Sandy’s Garden fourth. Amore Fire and Betty Rubble completed the field.

Eros’s Girl is the first foal out of the stakes-placed New York-bred Freud mare Aspree.

Purchased by Ferraro for $7,500 at the 2012 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern fall yearling sale, Aspree went 6-1-4 in 27 starts and earned $82,944 for Ferraro. She finished third as a 2-year-old in the Shesastonecoldfox Stakes at Finger Lakes and third there in the Niagara Stakes as a 3-year-old.

Eros’s Girl made her stakes debut in last fall’s Sheasastonecoldfox, finishing a non-threatening sixth. She wintered at Tampa Bay Downs and finished second in an allowance-optional, seventh in the Gasparilla Stakes and fourth in another allowance-optional. She returned from a four-month freshening to win her 6-furlong allowance June 6. Eros’s Girl boosted her earnings to $72,050 with her Niagara victory.

Aspree was bred to Big Brown last year and is also the dam of a New York-bred yearling colt by the late A.P. Indy stallion and multiple graded-stakes placed Stephanoatsee.

Rotknee destroys his opposition in Wednesday’s Ontario County Stakes at Finger Lakes. SV Photography.

William “Buck” Butler’s second generation homebred Rotknee made quick and easy work of the field in Wednesday’s $48,500 Ontario County Stakes at Finger Lakes.

Despite being forced in at the start from Gimmedaymoney, whose inward beginning affected all five of the Ontario County starters, Rotknee recovered quickly and found an open early lead. The 3-year-old son of Runhappy cruised to a 12 ¾-length victory from there under John Davila Jr.

Rotknee improved to 5-for-7 with the victory, his third in a stakes to go with the Damon Runyon in March at Aqueduct and the Mike Lee in his most recent start on Memorial Day at Belmont Park.

Sent off 1-20 in the field of five reduced by three with the scratches of Mister Larry, Moped Dennis and Never Ever Home, Rotknee picked up $30,000 for Butler and trainer Mike Maker to pad his earnings to $256,600.

Rotknee took control after his bothered start and opened up a 2-length advantage over Gimmedamoney through the opening quarter mile in :22.51. He stretched the lead to 6 lengths through the half in :45.20, then poured it on in the lane to win going away. Gimmedamoney held second, 3 lengths clear of My Last Mission. Persistent Danger and Waheel completed the field. Rotknee won in 1:10.04.

Bred by Butler and foaled at Keane Stud in Amenia, Rotknee is the second foal out of the winning Speightstown mare In Spite of Mama.

In Spite of Mama’s first foal, the 4-year-old New York-bred Into Mischief colt Lookin for Trouble, is a winner and multiple stakes-placed for Butler and Maker. He’s earned $168,120 through his most recent start, a third in allowance company at Aqueduct in late April. In Spite of Mama is also the dam of the 2-year-old New York-bred Bolt d’Oro colt Mama’s Gold, who is in training at New Haven Farm, and a yearling filly by Audible. She also delivered a New York-bred daughter of 2019 Preakness Stakes winner War of Will in May.

In Spite of Mama, a 10-year-old out of the Carson City mare Mama Theresa, went 3-2-2 in 17 starts for Butler and Maker from 2014 to 2016.

Butler bought Mama Theresa for $65,000 at the 2005 OBS April sale of 2-year-olds in training. She won six of 25 starts, placed in two stakes and earned $240,898 for Butler and Timothy Twomey and the late trainer Dominic Galluscio. In Spite of Mama is Mama Theresa’s second foal and a half-sister to four other winners, including stakes winner A Freud of Mama, an earner of $399,818 who also finished third in the Grade 3 Matron Stakes at Belmont Park in 2019 for Butler and Maker.

Bank Sting collects her fifth stakes victory in Sunday’s Dancin Renee at Belmont Park. Susie Raisher/NYRA Photo.

John Terranova succinctly summed up Bank Sting and what he and his team need to do keep the Central Banker mare at the top of her game now at age 5.

“She’s a runner,” Terranova said on NYRA’s America’s Day at the Race broadcast a few minutes before the featured $100,000 Dancin Renee Stakes Sunday at Belmont Park. “We just try to keep her happy and stay out of her way.”

Nobody showed up in Bank Sting’s way Sunday and just like in seven of her prior 11 starts she came out on top, winning the 6-furlong Dancin Renee under Joel Rosario. Bank Sting broke well and tracked the early speed of the comebacking The Important One up the backstretch and around the turn before taking over in the stretch on the way to a 5 1/2-length victory. Bank Sting won in 1:10.82.

“She’s a bit antsy at times in the gate, but she was very good today,” Terranova said. “You never know what you’re going to get race-to-race with her. She has her little fits, but you just have to go with her. You can’t fight with her. Joel got to know her really well last time and they get along great; as everyone that’s ridden her has.”

Bank Sting became a five-time stakes winner in the Dancin Renee for her co-owners Joe and Anne McMahon and Hidden Brook Farm. Bred by and foaled at the McMahon’s McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds in Saratoga Springs, Dancin Renee boosted her bankroll to $582,050.

The Dancin Renee also marked Bank Sting’s first start at 6 furlongs. She’s run 7 furlongs on four prior starts and came into the Dancin Renee off three straight races at 1 mile, including a second last time out in the $200,000 Critical Eye Handicap on Big Apple Showcase Day in late May at Belmont.

Rosario rode Bank Sting in the Critical Eye, where she finished 4 lengths behind Make Mischief. With no Make Mischief in the field and despite meeting open-company stakes winner Time Limit and recent graded-stakes competitor Kept Waiting, bettors hammered Bank Sting down to 4-5 for the Dancin Renee.

The Important One, making her first start since a third behind Bank Sting in the Staten Island division of the New York Stallion Series Dec. 5 at Aqueduct, lost her footing a bit at the start but recovered enough to take the lead through the opening strides. She led by a length from Bank Sting through the opening quarter-mile in :22.50, with Time Limit and Kept Waiting not far behind.

Bank Sting and Rosario applied more pressure to The Important One through the half in :45.85, drew on even terms turning for home and took the lead at about the 3/16ths pole. Bank Sting drew off from there, by a length from The Important One at the eighth pole and through 5 furlongs in :57.96 and eventually by daylight at the finish. The Important One held second by 1 1/2 lengths from Kept Waiting, who was a neck clear of Secret Love.

“She broke really well and she put herself more in the race today than last time,” Rosario said. “She was happy up there. Last time, she broke and everyone got away and she had a lot of dirt in her face the first furlong. Today it helped her that she was more in the race and in the clear. I learned a little bit last time and now I know a little better for the next one.”

Terranova said the new $125,000 Johnstone Mile Stakes for New York-bred fillies and mares out of the new Wilson Chute Aug. 12 at Saratoga Race Course would most likely be next for Bank Sting.

“She’s a beautiful filly and we’re grateful to have her,” he said. “We’re looking forward to Saratoga. … There’s good spacing in between, so that’s next on our radar.”

Bank Sting already owns two stakes wins at a mile, including her most recent victory prior to the Dancin Renee against open company in the Heavenly Prize Stakes March 6 at Aqueduct. She also won last year’s Critical Eye at Belmont.

Raised at McMahon of Saratoga, Bank Sting continues to fly the flag for New York’s leading sire Central Banker. He came into the day well clear on the Empire State’s general sire list with progeny earnings of nearly $2.3 million and potentially on the way to his second straight leading sire crown.

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.

Dream Central slips through between rivals to win Sunday’s Cupecoy’s Joy division of the NYSS. Chelsea Durand/NYRA Photo.

By Tom Law

Dream Central became the latest success for the breeder-owner-trainer combination that produced stakes-winning full brothers Chowda and Lobsta with an upset victory in Sunday’s $150,000 Cup’coy’s Joy division of the New York Stallion Series Stakes at Belmont Park.

The 3-year-old daughter of 2021 leading New York sire Central Banker upset the 7-furlong restricted turf stakes at 39-1, giving breeder John Jayko’s Fedwell Farm, owner Eddie Fazzone’s Eddie F’s Racing and trainer Gary Sciacca plenty to celebrate on Father’s Day. Dream Central split rivals late to win by Cupecoy’s Joy by a neck under Jose Lezcano, returning $81.50 to her backers by winning for the first time in seven starts.

Dream Central led a 1-2-3 finish for maidens in the Cupecoy’s Joy, outrunning Robyn and Eli and pacesetting Royal Dancer late to trigger a $320.50 exacta for a $1 wager and a $1,333 trifecta for a 50-cent bet.

Dream Central came into Sunday’s race off a third in a 6-furlong turf maiden and a seventh in another at 7 furlongs this spring, both at Belmont. Sciacca said the filly trained well in recent weeks but still didn’t expect her winning performance.

“Eddie really wanted to run here,” Sciacca said. “Two months ago, he picked this spot out. He wanted to run here no matter what. We had a couple of bad breaks with her. A couple of times, things didn’t go right. But she got it all together today.”

Fazzone and Sciacca teamed to win the Thunder Rumble division of the NYSS late last year and the Say Florida Sandy Stakes in January with the 4-year-old Emcee gelding Lobsta. They also campaign the 5-year-old gelding Chowda, winner of the 2020 Gander Stakes. Chowda, Lobsta and Dream Central were all bred by Jayko’s Fedwell Farms in Saratoga Springs.

“I knew she was a decent filly. She was training well,” Fazzone said. “We tried her on the dirt when she first came up, and she hated the dirt. She was doing really well when we brought her back. The maiden race last time, she wasn’t paying attention. She was looking around. The first time on the turf this year she ran a nice third, so we knew she’d love the grass. Seven furlongs I thought would be her best distance, too. I saw the race and said, ‘This is the race right here.’ ”

“I love it [the New York-bred program], it’s great. … It’s the best racing going, the horses are great. The sire stakes here are nice.”

Dream Central and Lezcano raced sixth early while Royal Dancer set the pace, clicking off splits of :22.36 and :45.50 to the opening half-mile. Lezcano saved around around the turn and gradually inched up.

Dream Central cut the corner turning for home, just as Royal Dancer opened up a 2-length lead in the lane. Robyn and Eli, the 4-1 third choice in the field of 11 under Manny Franco, also advanced in the lane while on the outside of the leader. Dream Central split Royal Dancer to her inside and Robyn and Eli to her outside inside the final sixteenth to get up in time in 1:21.57.

“My filly didn’t get out when I needed and then the other horse [Robyn and Eli] tried to hold me over there. [Franco] did his job. But my filly, when I asked her, she really responded and finished the job. She picked it up real good and the other horse was fighting back at the same time.”

Robyn and Eli were a half-length ahead of Royal Dancer, who finished 2 1/4 lengths clear of stakes winner and 3-1 favorite Howdyoumakeurmoney in fourth.

Dream Central earned $82,500 for the win to boost her bankroll to $95,917. She’s 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 five times from 16 starts and earned $70,393 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.

Dakota Gold edges past Surprise Boss late to win the Spectacular Bid division of the New York Stallion Series Sunday at Belmont Park. NYRA Photo.

By Melissa Bauer-Herzog

Dakota Gold, last seen finishing fifth and just 2 1/4 lengths behind Modern Games in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf in November at Del Mar, returned to the winner’s circle for the third time in four starts Sunday with a victory in the $150,000 Spectacular Bid division of the New York Stallion Series Stakes at Belmont Park.

Bred by Sequel Thoroughbreds and Ron Bowden, the 3-year-old son of Freud was sent off as the 3-5 favorite in his sophomore debut, but the 7-furlong restricted turf stakes wasn’t going to be an easy effort.

Dakota Gold broke a step behind the leaders but quickly caught up to take his spot just off Surprise Boss’ flank. Surprise Boss raced on the lead through fractions of :23.66 and :48.40 for the opening half-mile, not looking like he was feeling any pressure from the eventual winner until Dakota Gold started to make his challenge in the stretch.

Dakota Gold ranged up the outside of the leader but Surprise Boss wasn’t going to lay down and dug in gamely for the stretch duel. Dakota Gold finally got his nose in front inside the final sixteenth. Surprise Boss grudgingly finished three-quarters of a length back with Marinara Sauced another 3 1/4 lengths back in third. Dakota Gold won in 1:21.50 over the firm Widener Turf under Irad Ortiz Jr.

“Irad said he had a lot of horse and he was just playing with the others,” said Danny Gargan, who trains the winner for Reeves Thoroughbred Racing. “I was hoping (Buckortwo) would get out at some point, but he got stuck down in there. I wanted two of them in front of us. I thought they’d go 1:09 and change. They came home in 11. I’ve only had two or three horses in my life run that fast.”

Gargan said a return to Saratoga Race Course – where Dakota Gold prepped for his 2022 debut on the Oklahoma Training Track – for the Cab Calloway division of the NYSS is likely next for the winner.  A victory there would give him three stakes victories in four starts at that level.

An $83,000 purchase by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed sale, Dakota Gold boosted his earnings to $467,5000 with Sunday’s victory. He earned back nearly his whole purchase price in the Spectacular Bid – taking home a $82,500 first-place check.

Dakota Gold was foaled at The New Hill Farm in Hoosick Falls and consigned by that operation when he sold at Saratoga. He is the second stakes winner of the month for his sire, who also saw I’m Listening winning the Smart N Classy Handicap June 5 at Monmouth Park. Freud’s son Freudian Sip also placed third in a stakes at Chippewa Downs in North Dakota Saturday.

Dakota Gold is one of two foals to run out of the Lemon Drop Kid mare Dakota Kid, who is a half-sister to Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Dakota Phone and stakes-placed Black Hills Goldie. Each of Dakota Gold’s first five dams are stakes producers with his third dam also winning four career stakes races.

Dakota Kid has a New York-bred juvenile colt by Redesdale named Ramblin’ Wreck, who was purchased by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing for $140,0000 from The New Hill Farm at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale. She foaled a New York-bred Mucho Macho Man colt in May 2021 and wasn’t bred in 2022.