HONORING THE 2015 NEW YORK BRED DIVISIONAL CHAMPIONS

N EW Y ORK T HOROUGHBRED B REEDERS A NNUAL A WARDS B ANQUET

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3 A MESSAGE FROM THE NYTB EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

warm welcome to all. This is NYTB’s marquee event, our Annual Awards Banquet, 2016 edition. Tonight, while we crown the 2015 New York-bred champions and 2015 New York-bred Horse of the Year, we also celebrate the biggest racetrack successes of the New York breeding Aprogram over the last year. As we applaud the nominees in each division and crown the champions, everyone in this room has a right to feel proud of the individual and collective accomplishments of the best regional breeding program in the country. I certainly do. In 2015 New York-breds left their marks coast-to-coast, north and south. Last year New York-breds won 99 stakes at no fewer than 17 different racetracks across the country, from Los Alamitos to Woodbine and all the major venues in-between like , Fair Grounds, and Keeneland. New York-breds won 32 open stakes in all and posted 15 graded wins in stakes worth 4.9 million in purses while taking home the prizes in two Grade 1s. Some of our biggest stars also proved astonishingly consistent and durable. La Ver- dad won five stakes in 2015, including three at the Grade 2 level, while juvenile sensa- tion Sudden Surprise also racked up four stakes wins. Effinex and International Star won three graded contests apiece, and our Mid-Atlantic sprint star Galiana won no fewer than four stakes at Delaware and Pimlico. Lubash who, along with Moonlight Song, was one of a pair of 8-year-old New York-bred stakes winners in 2015, also won three black type events, while Empire Dreams won three state-bred stakes. Tonight’s celebration is also a time for breeders to reflect on the success of New York-breds on the biggest stages of all. During last year’s exciting and historic Triple Crown season, we had three strong contenders for the Run for the Roses. In- ternational Star swept all three Derby preps at Fair Grounds. In Florida, Upstart dominated the Grade 2 , crossed the finish line first before a controversial DQ in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth and then ran second in the . Philip Birsh’s talented homebred Tencendur ran in the Derby after finishing second in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial. New York-breds also made headlines at the Breeders’ Cup World Championships. La Verdad was just caught in the Grade 1, $1 Million TwinSpires Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint a mere seven days after romping in the Iroquois. In the Grade 1, $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic Effinex shadowed Triple Crown hero winner American Pharoah and kept on well to finish second. Finally, for the second year in a row a New York-bred took center stage at the Eclipse Awards. Last year it was female turf champion Dayatthespa. This year the connections of La Verdad walked away with Eclipse hardware for champion female sprinter. This look at New York achievements in the national spotlight would not be complete without tipping my hat to New York- based freshman sire Giant Surprise, who surprised even his connections by finishing the year at No. 6 in North America’s freshman sire rankings, with New York-bred progeny of course. We have so much to celebrate tonight. Breeders’, owners’ and stallion owners’ awards have reached unprecedented levels and continue to mount. Our foal crop is robust and New York-breds occupy an increasingly important position at racetracks across the country. Our mare population is evolving and better stallions continue to come into the state. This is a formula for your main goal: marketplace success. Currently our sales results are strong and the top New York-breds are bringing top dollar. If all of you continue to breed the best to the best, the sky is the limit. So, for tonight, before you return to the unremitting attention and energy you devote to your breeding and racing busi- nesses, rejoice and celebrate these outstanding horses and look what you have made of your father’s and grandfather’s New York-bred.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey A. Cannizzo Executive Director, New York Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc.

4 NY THOROUGHBRED BREEDERS BOARD OF DIRECTORS Thomas J. Gallo III – President

Mallory Mort – Vice President

Vivien Malloy – Secretary/Treasurer Chester Broman Michael Lischin

Wally Burleson Joanne Nielsen

Lois Engel Suzie O’Cain

Seth Gregory Joan M. Taylor, DVM

Director Emeritus Paul A. Schosberg

Jeffrey Cannizzo, Executive Director New York Thoroughbred Breeders 57 Phila Street, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 (518) 587-0777. www.nytbreeders.org

NY THOROUGHBRED BREEDING & DEVELOPMENT FUND BOARD OF DIRECTORS

John J. Poklemba, NY Thoroughbred Breeding & Development Fund Chairman, Member, NYS Gaming Commission

Richard Ball, Commissioner, NYS Dept. of Agriculture & Markets

Jeffrey A. Cannizzo, Executive Director, New York Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc.

John A. Crotty, Member, NYS Gaming Commission

John Graziano Jr., Breeder • Edward Kelly, Breeder • Joseph G. McMahon, Breeder

Sen. Howard C. Nolan Jr., Breeder • Todd R. Snyder, Member, NYS Gaming Commission

Dr. William B. Wilmot, Breeder

Tracy Egan, Executive Director

New York State Thoroughbred Breeding & Development Fund Corp. 1 Broadway Center, Suite 601, Schenectady, NY 12305 (518) 388-0174. www.nybreds.com 5 ABOUT OUR EMCEE

ichard Migliore is currently a broadcast analyst for The New York Racing Association, Inc. Known best for a stellar career as a , Migliore won more than 4,400 races over a career spanning three decades. Migliore, who was born in 1964 and grew up on Long Island, got a job on a Rhorse farm near his home and decided he was going to be a jockey at age 12. He began riding in 1980, and in 1981 won the Eclipse Award as the nation’s top apprentice with 298 victories. Twice the leading rider in New York – in 1981 and 1985 – Migliore won or tied as leading rider at 10 different NYRA meets, most recently taking the 2005 Aqueduct spring meet. A fixture on the NYRA circuit, Migliore announced his retirement on June 2, 2010. “The Mig,” as he was known, rode 4,450 winners and the earners of more than $160 mil- lion in purses. Some of his biggest victories came later in his career, taking his first Breeders’ Cup race in 2008 aboard Turf Sprint winner Desert Code, and in 2009 capturing the Grade 1 Gazelle and Grade 1 Test aboard Flashing. In all, Migliore won 362 stakes, including 25 Grade 1 races.

A HEARTFELT THANKS TO Our Events Planning Committee: Lois Engel, Thomas J. Gallo III, Vivien Malloy, Joanne Nielsen, Suzie O’Cain. Kara Bluvas, NYTB Membership and Events Manager • Sarah Mace, NYTB Communications Manager

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SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR PATRONS Pond Farm • Burke Equine Rehabilitation • Dr. Russell S. Cohen • Mrs. Bernice Cohen Ronald R. Breed Sr. • Debra A. Breed • NTRA • Ralph M. Evans • Judith F. Evans Lauren Evans • Kathleen Taylor • Charles E. Hayward • Laura Javsicas • Nina Deibel Justin McNaughten • Leonard Pivnick, President Aliyu Ben J. Stable Inc. • Harry L. Landry Bloodstock Judy Harrigan • Sheila Rosenblum • Dottie Herman • Dorinda Medley • Maria Jacobello Diane Davis • Mona Andrikian • Royal Stables

6 ORDER OF EVENTS

WELCOME Jeffrey A. Cannizzo, NYTB Executive Director INTRODUCTION Thomas J. Gallo III, NYTB President PRESENTATION OF AWARDS Richard Migliore, Master of Ceremonies AWARDS CATEGORIES Lifetime Achievement Award to Barry Ostrager Thoroughbred Charities of America Award of Merit New York-Bred Champion Two-Year-Old Filly New York-Bred Champion Two-Year-Old Male New York-Bred Champion Three-Year-Old Filly New York-Bred Champion Three-Year-Old Male New York-Bred Champion Turf Female New York-Bred Champion Turf Male New York-Bred Champion Female Sprinter New York-Bred Champion Male Sprinter New York-Bred Champion Older Dirt Female New York-Bred Champion Older Dirt Male New York-Bred Horse of the Year New York Broodmare of the Year New York-Bred Trainer of the Year New York-Bred Jockey of the Year New York Breeder of the Year Awards Dinner Program produced by ST Publishing, the team behind The Saratoga Special and thisishorseracing.com Articles by Joe Clancy, Sean Clancy, Tom Law and other staffers. Photos by Coglianese/NYRA Photos unless otherwise noted. ST Publishing, Inc. • (410) 392-5867 • www.thisishorseracing.com

7 TWO-YEAR-OLD FILLY FINALISTS Frosty Margarita Dk. b./br. f. Frost Giant—Mango Margarita, by Not For Love. Breeder/Owner: Gabrielle Farm. Trainer: Rudy Rodriguez. 2015 record: 6-3-3-0, $285,800. 2015 stakes: Key Cents, New York Stallion Fifth Avenue Division.

hen you’ve got a product of your small breeding operation with as much quality and consistency as Frosty Margarita it’s difficult to pinpoint a singular moment as the highlight of the season. WSo Chip Acierno III went with two moments for the pride of his family’s Gabrielle Farm operation, one race he saw in person and another that he did not. “They were all special, but my favorite race and unfortunately I wasn’t there, was the New York Stallion Stakes,” Acierno said of Frosty Margarita’s victory over heavily favored Behrnik’s Bank Dec. son and a maiden win in late August at . The 20. “I was in Miami because we always go there for Christmas. Gus daughter of Frost Giant also placed in back-to-back stakes in be- Rodriguez actually called me on the phone and gave me the break- tween her maiden win and consecutive stakes victories. down of the race on the phone. He was screaming like it was the “The rewarding part is that she’s a homebred,” Acierno said. first time he ever won a race. That was pretty cool. “That makes it that more special. It’s great to buy horses but when “It was also pretty cool when my wife Maria, who has been to you breed them they’re kind of like your kid.” the races with us through the years but had never been when we The Aciernos bred Frosty Margarita and her dam, the unraced won a stakes, was able to walk a horse into the winner’s circle. She Not For Love mare Mango Margarita, who is out of a mare they did it with Rudy (Rodriguez) the trainer. That was the Key Cents. raced in partnership. They board Mango Margarita, who was bred That was special.” in 2015 to Central Banker, and their other broodmare, stakes win- Frosty Margarita made three trips to the winner’s circle in 2015, ner Saltamontes, at Dan and Kathy Barraclough’s Saratoga Glen the aforementioned stakes in back-to-back starts late in the sea- Farm in Schuylerville. Melodic Ch. f. Tale Of The Cat–Christina’s Melody, by ’s Song. Breeders: Mia Gallo, Dave Stack, Mary Kopley, Sam Palazzole, Bernie Ryan, et al. Owner: Treadway Racing Stable. Trainer: Leah Gyarmati. 2015 record: 4-2-1-0, $154,515. 2015 stakes: Joseph A. Gimma Stakes.

eah Gyarmati thought of Sweet Reason. Jeff Treadway thought of the ticket in his pocket. Either way, the trainer and the owner were ecstatic after Melodic won the seventh race at Saratoga Sept. 2. L“Winning with her brought back great memories of Sweet Rea- son’s debut win, which gives everyone a little shot of excitement,” Gyarmati said. “Sweet Reason was certainly the most special horse I’ve ever had and the one I’m most proud of. It’s hard not to think of her whenever something exciting like a first out win with a 2-year- “She’ll be ready pretty quickly because she’s a very forward filly old up there happens.” who gets a lot out of her training everyday, even galloping she puts Treadway, well, he was thinking about that ticket. herself into it 100 percent,” Gyarmati said. “She certainly has the “We liked her a lot going into her first race, but there were a attitude and the willingness to be any kind of filly. She does every- couple of well-regarded fillies in the race,” Treadway said. “More thing you ask, maybe more than you ask. She can be pretty strong than thinking about Sweet Reason I was ecstatic that I just cashed in the morning and when she is fit she is quite the handful coming a ticket at better than 19-1. But to win first time out is great, espe- off the track. All this in a good way though. She is very happy and cially at Saratoga. It’s nice to actually have an undefeated horse after full of herself and wants everyone to know it.” they’ve raced.” As for Sweet Reason, well, she knew it, too. She won her debut and Melodic stayed undefeated in her next, taking the Joseph A. took the Spinaway in her next start. As a 3-year-old, she captured the Gimma in September. The daughter of Tale Of The Cat faced her Acorn and the Test. She sold her for $2.7 million at Fasig-Tipton No- first defeat when finishing seventh in the Maid Of The Mist Stakes vember in 2015. Just like Melodic, it all started with her debut. but rebounded to finish the season with a strong second behind “Anytime you win at Saratoga it’s somewhat of a surprise be- Frosty Margarita in the Key Cents at Aqueduct in November. cause you know everyone brings their best to compete up there,” Melodic spent the winter at Dr. Patty Hogan’s farm before re- Gyarmati said, “let alone to win first time out...it’s certainly a thrill turning to Gyarmati’s stable in March. no matter how confident you are going in.” 8 A GOOD HORSE TAKES YOU ON AN INCREDIBLE JOURNEY.

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9 TWO-YEAR-OLD FILLY FINALISTS She’s All Ready Ch. f. Girolamo—Prominent, by El Prado. Breeder: Kings and Queens Farm. Owner: Nirvana Stables. Trainer: Jim Ryerson. 2015 record: 4-2-0-2, $228,800. 2015 stakes: Seeking The Ante.

im Ryerson knew what kind of filly She’s All Ready was when the daughter of Girolamo made the walk from his barn on the first turn of the Oklahoma Training Track to the paddock at Saratoga Race Course for her career debut last August. JThe filly touted herself in morning workouts, something she’d done during presale workouts at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-year-olds in training sale. Despite a fairly quick eighth-mile breeze, She’s All Ready fell through the cracks in Timonium and wound up being a buyback on a bid of $45,000 from Michael Salerno’s Nirvana Stables. Saler- no’s late cousin Peter Walsh originally picked the filly out of the She’s All Ready didn’t disappoint in her first two starts at Sara- Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale and bought her toga, winning by a combined 11 1/4 lengths, and earned a trip to for $37,000. Grade 1 competition in the Frizette for her efforts. Salerno was happy to keep the filly and Ryerson basically got the She finished third as the favorite, beaten less than 5 lengths, be- chestnut filly, well, all ready to run. fore ending the season three weeks later third again behind fellow “She came out of the Timonium sale, was very forward, very pre- New York-bred championship finalists Super Surprise and Frosty cocious,” Ryerson said before She’s All Ready romped to a front-run- Margarita in the Maid Of The Mist on Empire Showcase Day. ning win in the Seeking The Ante on the Saratoga Showcase card. “Barry Eisaman had her and I asked him if she needed some time off Bred by Kings and Queens Farm and foaled at Rockridge Stud after the sale and he said, ‘no, she’s really ready to go.’ I’ve known Bar- in Hudson, She’s All Ready is the first winner from her dam and a ry for a while, have done business with him in the past, so he must full-sister to a yearling that sold for $105,000 as one of the top-selling have thought highly of her and she hasn’t disappointed.” fillies in the ninth session of the 2015 Keeneland September sale. Super Surprise Dk. b./br. f. Giant Surprise–Miz Lynne Kelly, by Langfuhr. Breeder: Allen Hallett. Owner: Repole Stable. Trainer: . 2015 record: 4-1-1-1, $204,800. 2015 stakes: Maid of the Mist.

hile 2-year-old male finalist Sudden Surprise won five of six, Super Surprise took a little longer, earning checks in her first three starts before breaking her maiden – at 17-1 – in the Maid of the Mist Stakes at WBelmont Park in October. Todd Pletcher and Mike Repole unveiled Super Surprise at Sara- toga, she finished third as the favorite. With or without the maiden breaker, that was the last time the daughter of Giant Surprise would try maidens. Thirteen days after her debut, she finished second in the Seeking The Ante. A month later, she faded to be fourth in the Joseph A Gimma and a month after that, she became a maiden winner and a stakes winner, rallying from seventh to win the 1-mile stakes. potential,” Repole said. “It was my belief that he would have been “It’s not exactly what you always do with a maiden but Mike a future Grade 1 winner and a stallion in Kentucky for $25,000.” owns Giant Surprise and we’re trying to promote him as a stallion, Giant Surprise entered stud in 2002 and stands at Rockridge for get him off to a good start, having a couple of his offspring running $5,000. He’s off to a winging start, becoming the leading stallion of in stakes will go a long way to making him a stallion,” Pletcher said. 2-year-olds in the Northeast. “She’s a big, hardy filly who carries pretty good condition, we felt “For both of these horses to be nominated as potential 2-year- like she bounced out of her races well enough to take an unortho- old New York champs, it’s an amazing accomplishment for Giant dox approach.” Surprise. It’s exciting to own two horses like Super Surprise and Giant Surprise broke his maiden in his career debut at Saratoga Sudden Surprise,” Repole said. “Sudden Surprise was nothing but but returned with condylar fracture. That was that. Repole threw spectacular during his 2-year-old campaign and Super Surprise is more chips on the table. going to be a very special distance horse. It was great to see her “Deciding to stand Giant Surprise after one undefeated start as break her maiden at a mile in a stake race. She had a slight setback, a 2-year-old was not an easy decision. I basically went with my gut but will be back as a 3-year-old and will be very tough in distance instinct and knew that if he had a longer career he had unlimited races.” 10 Questroyal North

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11 TWO-YEAR-OLD FILLY FINALISTS Wonderment Gr./ro. f. Cosmonaut—A Wonder She Is, by Three Wonders. Breeder: Michael Landers. Owner: Magdalena Racing (Sherri McPeek) and Chris Sterbenz. Trainer: Ken McPeek. 2015 record: 2-2-0-0, $111,000. 2015 stakes: Lynbrook.

rainer Ken McPeek thought Wonderment had the phy- sique of a runner, even as a yearling. Her first two starts confirmed his instincts. A brief season curtailed by health issues couldn’t dampen the promise she showed while Twinning her debut and kicking clear to a decisive victory in the Lynbrook Stakes at Belmont. Bred by Michael Landers and foaled at Mill Creek Farm in Still- water, Wonderment was consigned as a weanling by Sally Thomas and purchased by Chris Baccari’s Baccari Bloodstock for $24,000 from the 2013 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed sale. Baccari con- through her first start, a 5-furlong maiden special for state-breds signed her the following summer at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New at Belmont Park, she closed on division finalist Frosty Margarita York-bred yearling sale, where she RNA’d for $47,000. McPeek pur- to win by 1 3/4 lengths. She ran back 10 days later to win the Lyn- chased her privately shortly after on behalf of Magdalena Racing brook Stakes. Racing just off the pace in the 5-furlong stakes race at and Chris Sterbenz. Belmont, Wonderment ran three wide around the turn and shook “She was just a good package, she was well made,” McPeek said. free of the field to win by 6 3/4 lengths. “She presented herself real well, the price was modest and she “Unfortunately it was cut short,” McPeek said of the filly’s juve- looked like she could run.” nile campaign, “but she started off really well, and then she came The gray or roan Cosmonaut filly proved to be a solid return on up with some problems in the fall and so we just backed off of her. investment for the partnership of Magdalena Racing – McPeek’s We’ve been working to get ready (for 2016).” wife Sherri – and Sterbenz. Wonderment, who spent the winter with McPeek’s string at Although she was lightly raced in 2015, Wonderment’s two Oaklawn Park, is out of the Three Wonders mare A Wonder She starts demonstrated that she was well worth her purchase price Is from the family of Videogenic. Wonderment is a half-sister to by earning $111,000. Breaking sharply and galloping mid-pack the Closing Argument colt and $149,150-earner Persuasive Devil.

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13 16-0233 STPub CustomCareEq NYTB Program.indd 1 3/24/16 11:56 AM TWO-YEAR-OLD MALE FINALISTS Dr. Shane Dk. b./br. c. Freud—French Link, by Orientate. Owner/Breeder: Dutchess Views Farm. Trainer: Nick Esler. 2015 record: 8-2-3-2, $270,328. 2015 stakes: N.Y. Breeders’ Futurity.

ichael Lischin describes his Dutchess Views Farm homebred Dr. Shane as an “iron horse” and with good reason. In October 2015, the Freud colt was involved in an accident while shipping to Finger Lakes to run Min the New York Breeders’ Futurity. “On his way up, we had him sent up in a private van,” Lischin said. “They got hit. Some ambulance driver was passing him and he had a heart attack . . . lost control of the ambulance and smashed into the trailer. And Dr. Shane got cut up and bruised. So this was the day before the race was going to be. But the next day he seemed Finger Lakes/SV Photography OK, he was acting perfect, and he ran and he won. Third in the Rockville Centre when back against state-breds, Es- “We did hear later on that (the ambulance driver) did survive.” ler opted out of an open-company sprint stakes on the grass in fa- Lischin and his wife, Anya Sheckley, own Dutchess Views and vor of the Funny Cide against New York-breds, where he ran third named Dr. Shane after their 8-year-old son, Shane. Dr. Shane is to fellow 2-year-old male nominee Sudden Surprise. out of the unraced mare French Link, by Orientate, who will foal a After a second in the Aspirant Stakes at Finger Lakes, Dr. Shane full-sibling to Dr. Shane this spring with plans of being bred back to Freud in 2016. Dr. Shane’s half-sister Esther The Queen, by Pu- found the winner’s circle again with a 2-length tally in the New rim, is also in training with Nick Esler. York Breeders’ Futurity in October.. After kicking off his career by winning a 5-furlong maiden at Dr. Shane finished 2015 with seconds to Sudden Surprise at Aq- Belmont Park, Dr. Shane received an education in his second start, ueduct in the Notebook Stakes and a division of the New York Stal- a seventh in the Stakes after getting bumped at the start. lion Series Stakes on the inner dirt, both going 6 furlongs. “He’s a very professional little colt,” Esler said at Saratoga. “He “When he’s raced, he’ll race really hard and the next day he jumped up, got the job done first time without a whole lot of foun- doesn’t even show the wear and tear of the race,” Lischin said. “He’s dation under him breeze wise.” just like an iron horse. He really loves to race, he loves to run.”

Flexibility B. c. Bluegrass Cat—Santa Vindi, by Vindication. Breeder: WinStar Farm. Owner: Klaravich Stable & William Lawrence. Trainer: Chad Brown. 2015 record: 3-1-2-0, $136,000.

he start of Flexibility’s career didn’t come early enough for him to make any of the other top juvenile New York-bred stakes that his fellow champion 2-year-old male nominees contested. TThe beginning was impressive enough though – and early enough, too – to justify his connections entering him in stiffer tests in back-to-back graded stakes in New York to end the year. The son of Bluegrass Cat showed he belonged in those spots, finishing second behind leading classics contender Mohaymen, beaten 1 1/2 lengths each time, and establishing his own creden- tials at the same time. longs against state-breds Oct. 10 at Belmont Park. That win earned Two days after the calendar turned to 2016, Flexibility landed him a spot in a pair of Grade 2 stakes – the and Remsen, one of those prizes of his own when he won Aqueduct’s Grade 3 Je- both won by Mohaymen. rome Stakes by 4 1/4 lengths. The graded score got him mentioned Flexibility was foaled at Vinery New York at Sugar Maple Farm. as one of the year’s early classics contenders. He followed that with He is the third winner produced by the placed Vindication mare a fourth as the favorite in the Grade 3 Withers at Aqueduct, but was Santa Vindi, who was purchased by the colt’s breeder WinStar Farm still in the discussion with major preps still on the horizon. for $60,000 at the 2010 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. The Jerome victory marked a point of continued improvement Santa Vindi, a half-sister to multiple graded stakes winner and for the $185,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Florida sale of se- successful New York sire Golden Missile, is also the dam of win- lected 2-year-olds in training, an upward curve that started back ners Yabuquiva (4-year-old full-sister to Flexibility) and two-time in October. winner and Southern California graded stakes competitor Alfa Flexibility broke his maiden in his career debut going 6 1/2 fur- Bird. 14 CONGRATULATIONS to all of the 2015 New York Thoroughbred Breeders Championship Nominees

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15 TWO-YEAR-OLD MALE FINALISTS Get Jets Dk. b./br. c. Scat Daddy—Sunny, by Dixieland Band. Breeder: Pat Pavlish. Owner: Team D. Trainer: Tony Dutrow. 2015 record: 3-2-1-0, $223,800. 2015 stakes: Sleepy Hollow.

hen Get Jets broke his maiden by 4 1/2 lengths at first asking in a New York-bred maiden special last summer at Saratoga Race Course, it took train- er Tony Dutrow by surprise. The Scat Daddy colt Wwas so relaxed in the mornings that even a veteran horseman like Dutrow couldn’t tell what was to come. “He is easy on himself. He doesn’t give you fast workouts,” Dutrow said. “He’s not hard on himself training. He’s a very smart horse and he goes about taking care of himself the right way. “I was not thinking I was going to see the type of performance in his maiden win at Saratoga. Don’t get me wrong, I knew that we had a decent kind of horse there and I was feeling good that he was going to run well. Because of the way he trains, I was not thinking I sire power, those kind of things that we look for that enhance your was going to see a performance like that. Since then, we know him chance of a better horse, costs you. So whatever that number is, is and we know how he is, so he doesn’t fool us anymore, but he did what it is. So money is really not the thing here. It’s an individual, fool us the first time he ran.” an athlete and the pedigree. We believe you need both.” Following that blowout victory, Get Jets finished second in the Get Jets earned $223,800 in his 2-year-old season and recently Bertram F. Bongard Stakes at Belmont Park before closing out the made his 3-year-old debut at Oaklawn Park, but after a disappoint- season with a win in the Sleepy Hollow Stakes. ing effort, the colt is heading back to New York. Still, Dutrow is Although many would say the $300,000 OBS April purchase pleased with the Get Jets’ career thus far. was merely living up to his price tag, Dutrow doesn’t worry about “We were very, very happy with his 2-year-old year,” Dutrow the money. said. “And at the end of the day, he was still in one piece and still in “I don’t look at it that way,” he said. “You’re trying to put a few very good racing shape at the end of his 2-year-old season. It made things together. You’re trying to find an athlete that’s got pedigree, us feel real good.”

Sudden Surprise B. c. Giant Surprise–Ready And Good, by More Than Ready. Breeder/Owner: Repole Stable. Trainer: Todd Pletcher. 2015 record: 6-5-0-0, $416,300. 2015 stakes: Funny Cide Stakes, Bertram Bongard, Notebook, New York Stallion Series.

odd Pletcher had big things to talk about for his Stable Tour in The Saratoga Special. It was the beginning of the Saratoga meet and the country’s most dominant trainer had the likes of Liam’s Map, , Rock TFall, Mshawish, Rachel’s Valentina to tout, regale and surmise. Pletcher offered something different. “Somewhat interesting, we have a couple homebreds that Mike Repole has by Giant Surprise. He was a Giant’s Causeway who broke his maiden up here in his only start, unfortunately he got were from the gate, when it rained and he got a big start, that hurt and Mike decided to take a shot and stand him in New York,” helped. We’ll see as we step up in his races.” Pletcher said. “He’s bred some mares to him and he’s actually got a A month later, Sudden Surprise used his speed again, dominat- couple that are training well that we hope to get started at the meet. ing the Funny Cide at Saratoga. Next he stretched his speed in the It would be exciting to have those come out and do well.” 7-furlong Bertram Bongard, holding off Get Jets by a neck. Come out and do well? They came out like a new iPhone. Call Stretched to a mile in the Sleepy Hollow at Belmont Park, Sud- them the GS. Two days after Pletcher’s interview, Sudden Surprise den Surprise never reached the lead and suffered his only loss won his debut – and paid $11.80 (see, it pays to read The Special). during the season. Repole and Pletcher knew what happened and The Repole homebred went on to win five of six, including four dropped the bay colt back to 6 furlongs where he dominated the stakes. Out of Ready And Good, second in her only career start, Notebook and the New York Stallion Series to complete a nearly Sudden Surprise led wire to wire over a sloppy track in his debut. flawless juvenile season. “We saw some (works) that would suggest he was good enough As Repole once said, “Ask a lot of questions and know a lot of to win first time out and I saw a few that made me unsure,” Pletcher answers.” said after the race. “He’s a good gate horse, some of his best works Sudden Surprise had plenty of answers. 16 Let our experience work for you!

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17 THREE-YEAR-OLD FILLY FINALISTS Bar Of Gold Dk. b./br. f. Medaglia d’Oro—Khancord Kid, by Lemon Drop Kid. Breeders/Owners: Chester and Mary Broman. Trainer: John Kimmel. 2015 record: 7-2-3-0, $323,700.

ar Of Gold’s pedigree screams distance and shouts grass. However, she’s at her best in one-turn sprints and in 2015 she came within 6 lengths of winning three prestigious graded stakes at that game. BA second-generation homebred for perennial leading-breeder contenders Chester and Mary Broman, Bar Of Gold started her 2015 campaign in allowance-optional sprints at Aqueduct and won them both. Tested at 1 mile in the Grade 1 Acorn and 1 1/16 miles in the Grade 3 , Bar Of Gold didn’t fare as well and went back to sprinting. “It’s really weird for me because I thought distance would not be a problem for her,” trainer John Kimmel said. “She’s breezed that way, galloped out in her breezes, she finishes her breezes great, The Raven Run was a tough beat, too, as she led from the start great closing kick and I thought Medaglia d’Oro out of a Lemon and was in a long drive before losing by a half-length to longshot Drop Kid mare that won graded stakes on the grass going long and Sarah Sis. I’ve got her sprinting three-quarters.” The Bromans bred and raced Khancord Kid, who earned Bar Of Gold was second in three consecutive graded stakes – $167,343 and won the Grade 3 Herecomesthebride in 2010 at Gulf- the Grade 1 Test and Grade 2 Prioress at Saratoga and Grade 2 stream Park for Kimmel. Khancord Kid is out of Confidently, a Raven Run at Keeneland – to end her 3-year-old campaign. Storm Cat mare the Bromans purchased in foal to Mr. Prospector She looked like a winner when she opened up in the Grade 1 for $1 million at the 2000 Keeneland January Sale. Test to start off the string, only to be run down in the final strides Foaled at the Bromans’ farm in Chestertown, Bar Of Gold is by Cavorting. the first foal out of Khancord Kid, the dam of unraced 3-year-old “I thought she was home free,” Kimmel said of the tough beat, Lonhro filly Yo Kiddo and a 2-year-old Mineshaft filly named Land officially 2 ½ lengths. Mine.

Hot City Girl Ch. f. City Zip—Noble Fire, by Hook and Ladder. Breeder: Eklektikos Stable. Owner: Lady Sheila Stable. Trainer: Linda Rice. 2015 record: 9-4-2-0, $452,550. 2015 stakes: Charles Town Oaks (G3), Safely Kept.

inda Rice considered bringing Hot City Girl back off a three-month layoff looking to end a four-race losing streak for the filly late in the 2015 Saratoga Race Course meeting. The Prioress Stakes seemed like a logical enough spot, La Grade 2 worth $300,000 and just a short walk from Rice’s barn across Nelson Avenue from Clare Court. When the overnight came out Rice saw Hot City Girl drew the rail in what she called a “big bulky field” and the presence of Grade 1 winner Cavorting wouldn’t make the task any easier for Maryland Jockey Club/Jim McCue the daughter of City Zip. ing the season with a hard-luck second in the Grade 1 La Brea at She pulled an audible and the plug on the notion of a Saratoga . start for the filly. Instead she waited for the Charles Town Oaks 11 Hot City Girl is the third foal and third winner from as many days later, a race that still offered graded status (Grade 3) with a starters out of Noble Fire. Like her champion half-sister, Hot City larger purse by $50,000. Girl has plenty of speed and plenty of size. Rice trained Noble Fire “We had been trying to get her graded placed or a graded win,” and City Zip, so she knows the source of many of the filly’s attri- Rice said. butes. Rice and owner Sheila Rosenblum, who purchased Hot City “Noble Fire has been a fabulous broodmare. She had a lot of Girl privately from her breeder, Mark Vondrasek’s Eklektikos Sta- speed and she was a big filly as well. I think that’s where they get ble, got the graded stakes win in West Virginia and it jump-started their size, La Verdad and Hot City Girl,” Rice said earlier this win- a strong stretch for the younger half-sister to Eclipse Award winner ter. “City Zip was such a great race horse. As a stallion, he puts La Verdad. speed in a horse. He puts run in all of his horses. Over the course Employing her signature front-running style, Hot City Girl rat- of time, he’s always moved up mares, instills a desire to win and the tled off two more wins after the Charles Town Oaks before finish- same raw talent and speed, which of course (Hot City Girl) has.” 18 19 THREE-YEAR-OLD FILLY FINALISTS Temper Mint Patty Dk. b./br. f. Congrats–His Beauty, by Adcat. Breeder: Gallagher’s Stud. Owner: Mark Stanley, Repole Stable. Trainer: Dale Romans, Jeremiah Englehart, Todd Pletcher. 2015 record: 10-1-2-3, $224,116. 2015 stakes: New York Oaks.

hree sales – Yearling, 2-year-old, Horses of Racing Age. Three years – 2013, 2014, 2015. Three prices – $30,000, $95,000, $350,000. Temper Mint Patty has the math down. Consigned by Denali Stud on behalf of her breeder TGallagher’s Stud, Temper Mint Patty attracted a final bid of $30,000 from Becky Thomas at Fasig-Tipton the New York-bred yearling sale in 2013. Seven months later, Mark Stanley spent $95,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Florida 2-year-old sale. Sixteen months and three wins later, Stanley cashed out, consigning the daughter of Congrats Finger Lakes/SV Photography with Bluewater Sales at the Fasig-Tipton horses of racing age sale said. “The sale was kind of a spur of the moment thing, it ended in July. The last horse to walk in the ring attracted the highest bid, up being really good for Mark. The timing was really good. Her $350,000 from Taylor Made’s Jacob West on behalf of Mike Repole. physical stature was her best selling point, she’s a really well made Transferred to Todd Pletcher, her third trainer, Temper Mint filly, she sold herself. It was my first time working with Mark, one Patty finished third in the Fleet Indian Stakes, second in the Charles thing you learn, he’s going to put nice horses in your barn. He made Town Oaks (earning her first line of graded black type), second in the Empire Distaff before ending her racing career with a seventh money and he seems to reinvest it, so all in all, I look at the big pic- in the Comely Stakes and Bay Ridge Stakes. ture. We have some other nice horses to look forward to this year.” In a career that has had many highlights, Temper Mint Patty’s Temper Mint Patty follows a long line of New York-breds from heyday came during six days last summer. In her second start for Gallagher’s Stud. She’s out of His Beauty, winner of the Jena Jena Jeremiah Englehart, she won the New York Oaks at Finger Lakes. Stakes in 2005. His Beauty traces to Mine Forever, who traces to Mer- Six days later, she was the sales topper at Fasig-Tipton. vat, a daughter of Vaguely Noble and the French-bred mare Doha. “It was a special race for me, having John Velazquez aboard, I Retired, Temper Mint Patty was bred to former Repole runner grew up at Finger Lakes, races like those are nice to win,” Englehart Uncle Mo. CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR NOMINATION

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21 THREE-YEAR-OLD MALE FINALISTS International Star B. c. —Parlez, by French Deputy. Breeder: Katy Voss and Bob Manfuso. Owner: Ken and Sarah Ramsey. Trainer: Mike Maker. 2015 record: 4-3-0-0, $818,400. 2015 stakes wins: LeComte (G3), Risen Star (G2), Louisiana Derby (G2).

en Ramsey knows where the racetracks are in New York, understands the purses available for New York-breds and realizes there are stakes opportunities for a quality older horse such as International Star. KRamsey also knows how good 2016 could be for his horse. “We’ve got big plans for him,” said the owner. “He could end up in Dubai next spring. The world is our oyster with him. Have horse, will travel.” International Star might not be that good, but Ramsey is go- Fair Grounds ing to find out. The bay colt swept all three major 3-year-old races ing for the Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap March 26. at Fair Grounds last year – rolling to wins in the LeComte, Risen International Star is a situational New York-bred. Seeking to Star and Louisiana Derby – and was in the until diversify from a big crop of Maryland-breds at their Chanceland scratched the morning of the race. Farm, Bob Manfuso and Katy Voss sent their mare Parlez to Berk- The issue derailed much of International Star’s season as he shire Stud in 2012. Her colt was International Star, an $85,000 pur- didn’t run again until November, when he finished fourth in the chase for Ramsey by EQB at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic fall year- Zia Park Derby), which Ramsey blamed on being over-ambitious ling sale in 2013. and a long ship to New Mexico. It turned out to be a bargain as International Star had earned “After missing the Derby, we took him home, cleaned him up $1,071,629 through March 25. Manfuso and Voss tried to sell and got him back in time to send him out to Zia Park,” Ramsey Parlez twice before campaigning her to three wins and adding her said. “I sent my own van out there and that exhausted him. Draw a to the broodmare band. She’s produced three stakes winners and a line through that. He’s come back super for 2016.” $140,000 yearling purchased by EQB for Olympic skier Bode Mill- International Star won the Louisiana Stakes at Fair Grounds in er last year. January, then finished last of four as the favorite in the Mineshaft “I tip my hat to (Manfuso and Voss),” said Ramsey. “They breed Feb. 20. Ramsey and trainer Mike Maker regrouped and were aim- a very good horse. I’m glad for them.”

Tencendur B. c. Warrior’s Reward—Still Secret, by Hennessy. Breeder/Owner: Philip Birsh. Trainer: George Weaver. 2015 record: 6-1-2-0, $347,500.

he employees of Birsh Family Farm were justified in the nickname they gave a bay Warrior’s Reward colt that could be heard crying around parts of the farm in Galway on the western edge of Saratoga County during the ritual Tthat is the weaning season in 2012. Later named after King Charlemagne’s warhorse in the epic French poem “The Song of Roland,” the colt was first tabbed with the moniker “Mama’s Boy” during the first few days he was weaned from the Hennessy mare Still Secret. The story grew legs as Tencendur hit the international stage last spring when he qualified for a spot in the Kentucky Derby starting Charlemagne’s war horse, was beginning to seem a bit ironic.” gate. Tencendur earned his spot in the Derby field with a runner-up Feature stories were written and TV spots appeared as owner effort in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, a race he led and breeder Philip Birsh and his longtime farm manager Mike in midstretch before finishing 2 lengths behind Frosted at the fin- Tobin talked about Tencendur’s early trials away from his mother. ish. The assembled media at the Derby gravitated to the story of Birsh’s son Alex Birsh even wrote about it in The Guardian. Tencendur, in part because of the colt’s personality and backstory, “Away from the races, he is as gentle as a friendly pet dog, and trainer George Weaver’s growing up in Louisville and Birsh’s pro- when he was weaned from his mother, Still Secret, he cried and fessional career as CEO of the live theater publication Playbill. sulked like nothing anyone on the farm had ever seen,” the young- Tencendur was shuffled back early in the Derby and finished er Birsh wrote. “Until his performance began to prove otherwise, 17th. He bounced back to finish second by a nose to Mr. Z in the none of us suspected that a fiery potential champion was living in $500,000 Ohio Derby before a broken bone in his left front leg end- our barn. Even his mighty name, Tencendur, from the emperor ed his season. 22 23 THREE-YEAR-OLD MALE FINALISTS Upstart Dk. b./br. r. Flatter—Party Silks, by Touch Gold. Breeder: Joanne Nielsen. Owner: Ralph Evans. Trainer: Rick Violette Jr. 2015 record: 7-1-2-1, $786,480. 2015 stakes: Holy Bull (G2).

alph Evans knows he’s got a lot to boast about when it comes to Upstart. The champion New York-bred 2-year- old male in 2014 upped his game even more in 2015, start- ing the season with a graded stakes victory, placing in two Rothers (one via a questionable disqualification that cost the Flatter colt a win) and earning a spot in the Kentucky Derby. “When I think about it, I had maybe the fourth- or fifth- or sixth-best 3-year-old in the country. That’s pretty cool,” Evans said. “That gave me some pride if you will. He wasn’t a million-dollar yearling and he wasn’t a million-dollar 2-year-old in training. He “We probably should have ducked American Pharoah the third clearly exceeded our expectations.” time,” Evans said of the Travers. “But we thought maybe by the end Upstart came into the year with fairly high expectations, after of the year he might not be at his best, but he clearly was an out- a juvenile campaign that saw him win the Funny Cide at Saratoga, standing horse. Overall we probably ran once too many in retro- finish second in the Champagne and third in the Breeders’ Cup spect, but we were competitive. Juvenile. He earned his spot in the Derby field with a victory in the Grade 2 Holy Bull at Gulfstream, where he also officially was “We had some tough luck in Florida. The disqualification was, second in both the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth and Grade 1 Florida well, what can we say without being too … well, that was a little Derby. The disqualification came in the Fountain of Youth, a deci- disappointing. Then we got beat on the square in the Florida Derby, sion Evans still wasn’t happy about in mid-March. although we ran awfully well. We got a lot of big thrills even though Upstart bounced back from his 18th-place showing in the Der- we didn’t win anything. We got to travel. We got to different places. by with a third in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational and a fourth For a little guy like me, to be fawned over at various racetracks, in the Grade 1 Travers. Those three races featured Triple Crown was kind of cool. It was very positive for Rick Violette, who is not a winner American Pharoah. high-profile trainer. All in all we were very pleased with the year.”

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25 TURF FEMALE FINALISTS Discreet Marq Gr./r. m. Discreet Cat—To Marquet, by Marquetry. Breeder: Patricia Generazio. Trainer: Christophe Clement. Owners: Moyglare Stud Farm. 2015 record: 4-1-0-1, $165,072. 2015 stakes win: Beaugay (G3).

ne day last summer, trainer Christophe Clement thought about the classy gray turf mare in his barn and summed up her career in a simple sentence – “She might not be the best, but she’s right there with the best.” OHe was right. Discreet Marq won the Grade 3 Beaugay at Bel- mont Park in May and finished a game third to eventual national champion and Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Tepin in the Grade 1 Just A Game on Day. Discreet Marq closed her career with two off-the-board tries against New York-breds in the Yaddo and Ticonderoga, but they did nothing to diminish her reputation. Bred by Patricia Generazio, Discreet Marq won eight races, The champion New York-bred 3-year-old filly and turf female placed in 10 others and earned $1,268,972. Among her wins was a of 2013 is another success story for the Generazios. They bred and Grade 1 score as a 3-year-old in the Del Mar Oaks – part of a 2013 raced stakes winner Pretty Momma in the early 1990s. Her daugh- season where she won four times and earned $657,500. Off her ter To Marquet won five times. Her daughter Discreet Marq turned 2014 campaign, she was sold by Generazio and her husband Frank out to be a star. at Fasig-Tipton November for $2.4 million. Irish powerhouse Moy- “They have been very successful as an owner/breeder opera- glare Stud wrote the check, and kept her in training for 2015. tion,” said Clement. “They have very good stock and it’s not sur- The breeding shed was her ultimate target, however, and the prising they could breed a mare as good as this. One of the great Racing Post reported that she was booked to Galileo. Look out, achievements the Generazios have done is they have been breeding Ireland. successful horses without using crazy stallions from an expense “She is a top class mare, very good looking, powerful, strong and standpoint. They are always very reasonable with their choice of a very exciting mare to breed to,” said Clement. “We miss her, but stallions and they’ve had great success as breeders. Discreet Marq we wish Moyglare Stud all the luck in the world with her.” is the epitome of their breeding program.”

Invading Humor Dk. b./br. m. –Very Funny, by . Breeder: Dr. James R. Mcglinn. Owner: Bloodlines Racing Partnerships. Trainer: Bruce Levine. 2015 record: 5-2-0-0, $197,100. 2015 stakes: Mount Vernon, Ticonderoga.

here are a lot of promises in . And, sometimes, they even come true. Bloodlines Racing Partnerships ex- plains its business plan on its website. It goes like this… We can offer the One Time Cost method of ownership Tbecause the Management of Bloodlines Racing expects that our Race- horses will be able to earn sufficient money to cover all of their ex- penses. We are breeding quality racehorses and we are willing to put our own money behind them. If for some reason a racehorse does not cover all of its expenses, you would not have to pay any of these costs. These would be paid by the Management. It is a risk the Management with eighth-place finishes in the Perfect Sting and Yaddo before is willing to take. Also, the breeder and General Manager of our part- bouncing back to win the Ticonderoga in October. Jose Lezca- nerships will own a significant percentage of each racehorse. no placed her on the lead in the New York-bred stakes and she Invading Humor and Distorted Beauty have done their part to staved off Distorted Beauty by 1 ¾ lengths. She paid $60.50 and led make the business model work. Racing for breeder Dr. James Ran- a hunch exacta of $358.50. No doubt, the partners in Bloodlines dall Mcglinn’s Bloodlines Racing Partnerships and trainer Bruce Levine, the full-sisters have won 14 races and $896,406. Racing had that one. Cold? Probably not cold. In 2014, Invading Humor won four in a row, including the John Invading Humor and Distorted Beauty are the first two foals Hettinger Stakes while Distorted Beauty won four races and fin- from the Distorted Humor mare Very Funny. Bred by Adena ished second in the Pebbles. In 2015, Invading Humor won two Springs, Very Funny fetched $400,000 as a 2-year-old in 2006. stakes, the Mount Vernon and Ticonderoga while Distorted Beauty Campaigned by Jayeff B Stables, Very Funny went winless in 12 won allowance races at Belmont Park and Saratoga. starts before Mcglinn purchased her for $16,000 at Keeneland Jan- Returning from a winter break, Invading Humor rallied from uary in 2009. fourth to win the Mount Vernon at Belmont Park. She followed It’s been One Time Cost ever since. 26 Congratulations to all of the award winners!

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27 TURF FEMALE FINALISTS Old Harbor Dk. b./br. f. Raffie’s Majesty—Royal Mast, by Roy. Breeder/Owner: Joseph Birnbaum. Trainer: Russell Cash. 2015 record: 8-2-1-3, $190,572. 2015 stakes: John Hettinger.

wner and breeder Joseph Birnbaum breeds horses for one purpose: to race. He doesn’t take his horses to auc- tions or sell them privately, at least not yet. That’s how he ended up with a horse like Old Harbor in his stable. O“The mare, we bought her at auction,” Birnbaum said of Royal Mast. “We knew the female family on her. When we ran her, she was a very good mare. But unfortunately, she had a chip in her knee, so we only ran her three times. When I bred her to Raffie’s Majesty, I brought her up to New York because the New Jersey pro- gram was falling apart. “I breed to race. I’ve been keeping them for myself. I basically had no intentions of selling. It didn’t come up to sell her, ever.” Keeping them for himself paid off in a big way with Old Harbor, a now 5-year-old mare whose resume sports two career stakes vic- “It was exciting to win a stakes race,” he said. “It wasn’t that tories and a bankroll of $408,477. In 2015, the Russell Cash trainee much of a surprise because I know how talented she is, so I think won two of eight and hit the board in another four starts. if she lost I would have been disappointed. Winning to me was “It’s nice to have a consistent money earner,” Birnbaum said. almost expected.” “She has the ability and the horse is like a sweetheart. She’s gentle The expectations for Old Harbor could be even higher in 2016. as can be. A little kid could go up and pet her. She’s a super-friendly Birnbaum hopes Old Harbor will be competitive against even horse and very intelligent.” tougher company. Old Harbor’s biggest win came in the $125,000 John Hettinger “We’re going to run her again this year,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll Stakes at Belmont Park. She sat close to the lead early and powered get her to graded stakes company. She’s just a super talented horse away late to win by 3 1/2 lengths. Although the victory was nice, and loves to run. She likes to go eye to eye with other horses and Birnbaum was just happy she got the job done. dig in and pass them.”

The Tea Cups B. m. Hard Spun—Lunar Colony, by A.P. Indy. Breeder: William Parsons Jr. & David Howe. Owner: Kendel Standlee. Trainer: Jeremiah Englehart. 2015 record: 5-2-1-0, $158,822. 2015 stakes: Yaddo.

endel Standlee didn’t exactly need liquid courage when he stepped to the plate to bankroll the claim The Tea Cups out of a race in February 2014 at Tampa Bay Downs. He’d seen the daughter of Hard Spun race prior to that Val- Kentine’s Day afternoon race and liked what he saw. He liked her pedigree, too. “We went to Tampa,” Standlee said after The Tea Cups upset the likes of fellow turf female finalist Old Harbor and Grade 1-winning millionaire Discreet Marq in last year’s Yaddo Stakes during the second annual Saratoga Showcase card. “I had been thinking about month after a good fourth against open company allowance fillies claiming some. I loved her pedigree and I had a couple drinks that and mares early in the meet. day and said, ‘I want that horse.’ (One month) later she came up for Englehart considered an open-company non-winners of a race the same price, so I claimed her. other than for The Tea Cups but settled on the Yaddo instead after The $16,000 claim has since won four times for her new connec- she stepped up her training upstate. The Tea Cups benefited from tions, including last summer’s Yaddo, and earned $222,415 since being haltered out of that runner-up effort. Initially claimed by a speed duel in the Yaddo and came from well back to win by a Joan Scott, The Tea Cups was turned over to Jeremiah Englehart in length. time for the 2014 Saratoga meeting. The half sister to 2012 Empire Classic winner and $446,495 “I felt pretty comfortable that we could improve her,” Standlee earner Lunar Victory is one of four winners produced by Lunar said. “She should be running in New York instead of Florida.” Colony and bred by William Parsons Jr. and David Howe. The The Tea Cups won for Standlee and Englehart that summer at $8,000 yearling purchase made her first nine starts in the Mid-At- Saratoga and proved her owner right again in 2015. lantic before getting claimed and bouncing to Florida and Canada The Yaddo was her coming out party, falling a little more than a and back to her native state – where she’s won three of seven. 28 29 TURF MALE FINALISTS Kharafa B. g., Kitalpha–Exquisite Cassie, by King Of Kings. Breeder: High Meadow Farm. Owner: Paul Braverman and Timothy Pinch. Trainer: Tim Hills. 2015 record: 7-3-2-0. $222,640. 2015 stakes: Elkwood, Ashley T. Cole.

arry Durocher kept asking his trainer, Tim Hills, about what he thought of his homebred making his turf debut. It was Sept. 16, 2011. Hills said he liked him, said he was training well, doing well. LDurocher went to the window. Kharafa went to the lead in the stretch. And Durocher had a score. Kharafa paid $31.80 to win. “I didn’t realize he was questioning me because he was planning on making a bet,” Hills said. “He made $40,000 or something, he made more with his bet than he did with the purse. I’ll never forget watching them count out the hundred dollar bills. It stunned me.” friends Lubash and King Kreesa at the top of the New York-bred Durocher died in 2013. Paul Braverman and Timothy Pinch turf division. purchased Kharafa and have made plenty of scores since. And after enjoying 60 days of rest this winter, he’ll be back for “Larry Durocher was the breeder and he was a wonderful man, more in 2016. so this horse is really close to my heart,” Hills said. “The only bad “We have penciled in a race at Keeneland in late April. He trains thing about being around Kharafa is missing Larry Durocher, he was a real character, a wonderful guy, we miss him every day.” just as well now as he did when he was a kid,” Hills said. “When Kharafa made seven starts in 2015, winning against open com- he was younger, he was pretty aggressive and nervous in his races, pany in an allowance race at Keeneland and in the Elkwood at but he responds to his riders now, really has his Monmouth Park, besting state-breds in the Ashley T. Cole at Bel- number, he just says, ‘No, not yet,’ and then he settles. He’s a really mont Park in September and finishing second to Lubash in the classy horse, he loves his job.” Kingston and Mohawk. Foaled at Mill Creek Farm in Stillwater, Kharafa is out of the In all, Kharafa earned $222,640 in 2015, increasing his lifetime unraced King Of Kings mare Exquisite Cassie from the first North earnings to $876,137. The son of Kitalpha, yet again, joined his old American crop sired by Kingmambo’s late full-brother Kitalpha. King Kreesa Dk. b./br. g., King Cugat—Storm’s Advance, by Storm Creek. Breeder: Horse Partners. Owner: Gerald and Susan Kresa. Trainer: David Donk. 2015 record: 7-2-1-1, $341,334. 2015 stakes: Poker (G3), Forbidden Apple.

avid Donk laughed about the competitive nature of the New York-bred turf division – which seems to include a monthly donnybrook between Kharafa, Lubash and King Kreesa. D“Sometimes it’s easier to dip into open company,” said the train- er, who manages the career of King Kreesa. The millionaire won two in 2015, both out of the state-bred ranks, and lost two meetings with rival Lubash. Not that it was a bad year. After losing his first two starts, King Kreesa won Belmont Park’s Grade 3 Poker at better than 17-1 June 13. He returned a month later and – at the same mile distance – knocked off Wicked Strong and rode his ability to the top of the sport – including two New in the Forbidden Apple in a rapid 1:32.34. York-bred championships in 2013 and a start in the Group 1 Hong Donk dialed up another big target, and King Kreesa didn’t Kong Mile. disappoint – finishing fourth (beaten a length) in the Grade 2 Donk, who took over the horse’s training from Jeremiah Engle- Fourstardave at Saratoga. hart in 2014, wouldn’t change a thing. Then came a second to Lubash in the West Point and a sixth in “He’s a horse with a lot of quality, a lot of ability,” said the trainer. the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland. “It helps that he’s a grass horse and he’s a New York-bred. He gets Like his familiar rivals in the division, King Kreesa took a the opportunity to get a break and that helps him come back every lengthy break over the winter and returns for a 2016 campaign as year. There’s always some stress in their body and it gives them an a 7-year-old. opportunity to heal. With nine wins, six seconds and four thirds in 28 lifetime starts, “They’re animals not machines, and it’s nice to see all three of King Kreesa could be a measuring stick for Thoroughbred success. these horses keep going. I guess we’ve done right by them and the King Kreesa started his career in the maiden-claiming ranks owners have done right by them. It’s been a great division.” 30 DAR10299 NYTB-DP-Emcee-Alpha roster-4 MAR16 01/03/2016 17:36 Page 1 Triomphant! 2015 freshman sensation Girolamo is exactly what you need to succeed in New York:a superior racehorse, a great pedigree, an excellent model. Fortunately, we have three more like him for you to take aim at...

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31 TURF MALE FINALISTS Lubash B. h. Freud—Nasty Cure, by Cure the Blues. Breeder: Aliyuee Ben J Stable. Owner: Aliyu Ben J Stable. Trainer: Christophe Clement. 2015 record: 7-4-0-1, $346,650. 2015 stakes: Kingston, West Point, Mohawk.

he New York-bred male turf division is as good as racing gets. For the second consecutive year, Kharafa, King Kree- sa and Lubash are finalists and they all deserve trophies. Their credentials are that good. TIn this corner stands Lubash. He made seven starts, won four, and earned $346,650. The 2014 champion defeated both rivals in the Kingston in May, edged 2013 champion King Kreesa in the West Point in August, lost to Kharafa in the Ashley T. Cole in Sep- tember and then avenged that defeat by a head in the Mohawk at

Belmont in October. Lauren Kasnet And he’s not finished. named after former New York Times crime reporter and Pivnick’s “He’s doing great,” trainer Christophe Clement said in March. childhood friend Arnold Lubasch came off his usual winter break “He doesn’t have a clue that he’s 9 years old.” with the Clement stable and was training in Florida. Lubash is indeed 9 and as good as ever, though much of the “He’s a difficult horse to train, not difficult – different,” Clement success in 2015 nearly didn’t happen. He got loose while training at said. “He’s got some idiosyncrasies, he’s difficult to put the bridle Belmont Park in July, ran behind the starting gate and banged into on, difficult to get to the paddock. Sometimes it can take the groom the rail. He missed two weeks of training, but returned to make his 20 minutes to catch him in the stall. You cannot have a stronger fifth consecutive start in the West Point at Saratoga. personality than that horse, but it’s fun and I think it helps him be Bred and owned by Leonard Pivnick’s Aliyu Ben J Stables, as good as he is.” Lubash has won that turf stakes twice (2012 and 2015) and has fin- Foaled at Carapan Farm in Freehold, Lubash is out of the stakes- ished second (2014, by a head to King Kreesa) and fourth twice. placed Cure the Blues mare Nasty Cure, who also produced the Clement hopes for a return assignment this year. The horse stakes-placed Netcong. NY-Bred Championship Finalists are by Rockridge Stallions CONGRATULATIONS 5 To ALL Their Connections!

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32 16-0214 RKR NY Breeder Award Program half pg.indd 1 2/24/16 1:42 PM 33 FEMALE SPRINTER FINALISTS Galiana Ch. m. Stonesider—Baby Jess, by Interprete. Breeder: John Behrendt and Charles Marquis. Owners: Triple R Stable, Maria Romero. Trainers: Rodolfo Romero, Jose Rodriguez. 2015 record: 12-5-1-2, $272,290. 2015 stakes: , Skipat, Dashing Beauty, Tax Free Shopping Distaff.

odolfo Romero loves to tell the story about how he wound up with a mare who churns out more checks than a pay- roll service. He got to tell it quite a bit again in 2015 as Galiana added five victories to her ledger, including four Rstakes, as she continued to carry the banner for the Romero family. The story changes slightly; sometimes Galiana was given to

Romero, other times she was purchased privately for a modest Maryland Jockey Club/Jim McCue price. After Galiana won the Skipat Stakes on the Black-Eyed Susan ream Park behind multiple graded stakes winner Merry Meadow and Pimlico Special undercard at , Romero and stakes winner More Than A Party. She started her 5-year-old added a new wrinkle. season in Florida, winning only once in four starts before getting “He passed her to another trainer, that trainer passed her to me back to the Mid-Atlantic, where she won four of five from mid- and that’s it,” Romero said, referring to the Stonesider mare’s origi- April to mid-September. nal trainer Michael Matz. How she won the Skipat surprised Romero. Galiana offsets with the acquisition story’s lack of consistency “She scared me,” Romero said. “I thought she’d be in fourth, with her own stamp of reliability. Galiana won five races in 2015, fifth, but when I saw her close I opened my eyes (wide). But she’s exactly her average number of victories for the three seasons she’s tough and was training good, no problems. She’ll do everything been in training with Romero. She won Delaware Park’s Tax Free you want.” Shopping Distaff for the third consecutive season in 2015, one of Foaled at Anne Morgan’s and Tim Little’s Mill Creek Farm in four stakes victories during a season that lands her on the list of Stillwater, Galiana is the lone North American winner out of the finalists for champion New York-bred champion female sprinter unraced Argentinian-bred Baby Jess. Galiana is also the leading for the third consecutive season. earner by a wide margin for her sire, who relocated to Keane Stud Galiana added another high mark on her career resume early in in Amenia for 2016. She’s earned $641,861 and is training for her the season when third in the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie at Gulfst- 6-year-old campaign. Hot City Girl Ch. f. City Zip—Noble Fire, by Hook and Ladder. Breeder: Eklektikos Stable. Owner: Lady Sheila Stable. Trainer: Linda Rice. 2015 record: 9-4-2-0, $452,550. 2015 stakes: Charles Town Oaks (G3), Safely Kept.

inda Rice considered bringing Hot City Girl back off a three-month layoff looking to end a four-race losing streak for the filly late in the 2015 Saratoga Race Course meeting. The Prioress Stakes seemed like a logical enough spot, La Grade 2 worth $300,000 and just a short walk from Rice’s barn across Nelson Avenue from Clare Court. When the overnight came out Rice saw Hot City Girl drew the rail in what she called a “big bulky field” and the presence of Grade 1 winner Cavorting wouldn’t make the task any easier for the daughter of City Zip. Maryland Jockey Club/Jim McCue She pulled an audible and the plug on the notion of a Saratoga Santa Anita Park. start for the filly. Instead she waited for the Charles Town Oaks 11 Hot City Girl is the third foal and third winner from as many days later, a race that still offered graded status (Grade 3) with a starters out of Noble Fire. Like her champion half-sister, Hot City larger purse by $50,000. Girl has plenty of speed and plenty of size. Rice trained Noble Fire “We had been trying to get her graded placed or a graded win,” and City Zip, so she knows the source of many of the filly’s attributes. Rice said. “Noble Fire has been a fabulous broodmare. She had a lot of Rice and owner Sheila Rosenblum, who purchased Hot City Girl privately from breeder Mark Vondrasek’s Eklektikos Stable, got the speed and she was a big filly as well. I think that’s where they get graded stakes win in West Virginia and it kick-started a strong stretch their size, La Verdad and Hot City Girl,” Rice said earlier this win- for the younger half-sister to Eclipse Award winner La Verdad. ter. “City Zip was such a great race horse. As a stallion, he puts Employing her signature front-running style, Hot City Girl rat- speed in a horse. He puts run in all of his horses. Over the course tled off two more wins after the Charles Town Oaks before finish- of time, he’s always moved up mares, instills a desire to win and the ing the season with a hard-luck second in the Grade 1 La Brea at same raw talent and speed, which of course (Hot City Girl) has.” 34 Congratulations 2015 New York-Bred Champion nominees & TO ALL THOSE WHOSE EFFORTS HAVE RAISED THE STANDARDS BY WHICH WE ARE JUDGED

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35 FEMALE SPRINTER FINALISTS La Verdad B. m. Yes It’s True—Noble Fire, by Hook and Ladder. Breeder: Eklektikos Stable. Owner: Lady Sheila Stable. Trainer: Linda Rice. 2015 record: 8-5-1-0, $722,500. 2015 stakes: Vagrancy (G3), Distaff (G2), (G2), Iroquois.

ark Vondrasek set a pair of goals for his fledgling Eklektikos Stable operation back when Noble Fire was forced into early retirement and became the ini- tial member of his broodmare band. He almost got Mthem both thanks to La Verdad. “I had two goals in racing, one was to have a horse that was an Eclipse Award winner and the other was what we almost got done and that was to win a Breeders’ Cup race,” Vondrasek said in March, referring to La Verdad’s taking home the Eclipse Award as champion female sprinter in January after nearly winning the La Verdad, the second foal produced by the Hook and Ladder Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in October. “To come that mare Noble Fire, ranks behind Dayatthespa and Fleet Indian as the close, it’s almost hard to explain how satisfying that is.” third leading female New York-bred earner of all time and 14th La Verdad initially raced for Vondrasek, winning three of her overall. It’s an amazing accomplishment, for the mare, her recent first four starts, before she was sold privately to Sheila Rosenblum’s connections and her breeder, who admits his foray into the breed- Lady Sheila Stable. La Verdad didn’t miss a beat for Rosenblum, ing end of the business was “a bit of a flyer.” who kept the daughter of Yes It’s True with Linda Rice, and she “The breeding thing kind of fell to us,” Vondrasek said. “We’d won six of 11 starts to become a finalist for New York-bred female owned horses before but when that big mare got injured so early sprinter and dirt female champion in 2014. in her career I didn’t know anything about the breeding game. You The 2015 season was even better. La Verdad won five of eight have an option when you’ve got a young mare who got hurt on the starts, including three Grade 2 stakes, and was second in the Breed- track and seemed to have a little bit of promise. Maybe it’s a game ers’ Cup at Keeneland. She earned $722,500 and that sum, plus an- you want to take a shot with. other $60,000 for winning the Interborough Stakes in early Janu- “To be honest it was a bit of a flyer and I didn’t know anything ary, pushed her career bankroll to $1,563,200. about it but it’s worked out so well.”

Princess Violet B. f. Officer-Lady Rapper, by Grand Slam. Breeder: Stonewall Farm. Owner: Barry Schwartz. Trainers: Linda Rice, Mike Hushion 2015 record: 5-1-3-0. $380,000. 2015 stakes: Madison (G1).

ake them count. Princess Violet won just once in 2015. But it was a big one. Bred and owned by Barry Schwartz, the daughter of Officer rallied from fifth to win the Grade 1 Madison at Keeneland in April. MSent off fifth choice behind Lady Sabelia, Sam’s Sister, Wedding Toast and Stopchargingmaria, Princess Violet broke from the out- side, settled on the inside, swung wide to reach the lead and then held off hard-charging Stopchargingmaria to win by a half-length.

The star-studded field accomplished big things after the Madi- Keeneland/Coady Photography son as Wedding Toast won three graded stakes in a row, including Bloodstock agent Buzz Chace bought Princess Violet’s dam the Grade 1 and Beldame and Stopchargingmaria Lady Rapper for Schwartz for $275,000 at the Keeneland Septem- won three graded stakes, finishing her season with a win in the ber yearling sale in 2006. She made two winless starts before pro- Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Princess Violet opened 2015 with a second in the Grade 2 Bar- ducing her first foal, Baime, who won seven races for Schwartz and bara Fritchie, chasing local speedster Lady Sabelia. That effort set trainer Mike Ferraro in 2013-14. Whiskey Seven, a 3-year-old geld- her up for the Madison where Lady Sabelia tried the same tactics ing by War Chant, has yet to start but is breezing at Belmont Park. but succumbed to her early endeavors and wound up last. After Lady Rapper is out of New York-bred She’s Got The Beat, who the Madison, Princess Violet posted a tough second in the Grade won seven races and finished second behind Sightseek in the Grade 2 , finished fifth in the Phipps and rallied to earn second in 1 Go For Wand and Summer Colony in the Grade 2 Molly Pitcher the Garland Of Roses. for Hall of Fame trainer P.G. Johnson and owner Elizabeth Walsh. One of the few New York-breds who didn’t try state-bred com- Princess Violet ran twice this winter, finishing fourth in the In- petition in 2015, Princess Violet earned $380,000, pushing her ca- terborough at Aqueduct and seventh in her second attempt at the reer earnings past $770,000. Fritchie at Laurel Park. 36 The smartest stop between two points.

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37 FEMALE SPRINTER FINALISTS Sheriffa Ch. f. Posse—Smileforamile, by Unbridled’s Song. Breeder: Colts Neck Stables. Owner: Antonino Miuccio. Trainer: Linda Rice, Adam Rice. 2015 record: 6-3-2-0, $266,334. 2015 stakes: Critical Eye, New York Stallion Series Staten Island.

heriffa certainly can sprint – she’s a finalist for champion New York-bred female sprinter after all – and she can go a distance of ground. Sheriffa had done the former but hadn’t done the latter, Sat least not successfully, when she was claimed for $16,000 in Sep- tember 2014. Roughly 18 months, four victories and two stakes wins later it might still be open for discussion whether she’s better going short or going long. What isn’t open for discussion is the value of that claim, as Sheriffa has earned $323,934 since that September after- noon. Sheriffa opened 2015 with an 11 3/4-length win in state-bred optional-claiming company going 1 mile and 70 yards at Aque- duct Nov. 15. The 7-furlong win went a long way toward her inclu- duct in March. Second in open company at 1 1/16 miles May 1, she sion on the list of female sprint finalists. She capped the year with a shorted up to a mile and won the Critical Eye Stakes May 25 to give second going 1 1/16 miles in Aqueduct’s Bay Ridge Stakes. trainer Linda Rice back-to-back victories in the premier race for Bred by Richard Santulli’s Colts Neck Stables and foaled at Vin- older fillies and mares on the Big Apple Showcase card at Belmont ery New York in Hudson, Sheriffa made her first nine starts for her Park. breeder and trainer Alan Goldberg. Uncharacteristically seventh in her next start, which Rice She is one of two winners produced by Smileforamile and the blamed on a virus, Sheriffa went back to winning in the fall when first of four straight foals out of the mare sired by the Rockridge she won the New York Stallions Series Staten Island Stakes at Aque- Stud-based Posse. Tricky Zippy Ch. f., City Zip–Honky Tonk Trick, by Phone Trick. Breeder: Donald Newman. Owner: Newman Racing. Trainers: Carlos Martin, . 2015 record: 11-5-1-2, $267,948. 2015 stakes: Union Avenue.

feel like we are in limbo.” “You are in limbo.” That’s how the conversation went at the Morning Line Kitchen at Saratoga this summer as Adam and Rich Newman were in the process of finding a new trainer for Tricky Zippy. IA few weeks later, Tricky Zippy made her debut for Jimmy Jerkens and turned limbo into security. The daughter of City Zip crushed older rivals in the Union Avenue Stakes, one of five wins during the 2015 season for the homebred filly. She won three of six for Carlos Martin and two of five for Jerkens, finishing her season with $267,948 in earnings. breeder Donald Newman, the founder of Newman Racing who Not that it was simple. passed away in December, 2014. Since then, his children, Adam, Tricky Zippy can make life difficult for her trainer and jockey. Richard, Matthew and Rebecca, along with their stepmother Gail, “She’s really quirky,” Jerkens said. “You’ve got to be careful have kept the family partnership together. around the barn and stuff. She flips and reacts and you just have to “This means more than I can tell you,” Adam Newman said after have a lot of patience with her. You have to watch her. She can be her win at Saratoga. “We’re Newman Racing and we’re only New- dangerous. I don’t know if she sees shadows or something. If some- man racing because of my dad. This was all him. He left it to us and one just raises their hand around her she’ll go on you.” we’re carrying it on. To be blessed with a horse like this from out of John Velazquez, who guided her to three wins, goes along with nowhere, I can’t put into words what it means for all of us. This is her antics, skipping the post parade and staying as quiet as a kid what he worked for, for 40 years.” who forgot his homework. Newman Racing has been around since the 1970s, but it took a “She’s always like that,” Velazquez said, after her win at Saratoga. long evolution for the family stable to transform from a claiming “We just have to let her do her own thing and keep her moving.” operation to producing homebred stakes winners. That’s easy when you run like Tricky Zippy. “There was a time when we had a lot of claiming horses,” Adam Tricky Zippy is the culmination of decades of hard work by Newman said. “But we were in a different mode then.” 38 YOUR 1/4% IS 100% APPRECIATED

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39 MALE SPRINTER FINALISTS Breakin The Fever B. g. Roaring Fever—Breakers West, by Rodeo. Breeder/Owner/Trainer: Debra Breed. 2015 record: 13-8-2-1, $188,061. 2015 stakes: Ontario County, Leon Reed Memorial.

onald Breed has been involved in the horse business for a long time. He spent years working for other stables before going out on his own at Finger Lakes. Now, by chance, he and his wife Debra bred, own, and train the horse of Ra lifetime. “I trained a horse for a guy named Frank Casey and I took her down to New York and she won by five down there and paid $60 first time out,” Ronald said. “She got hurt and she ran two or three times after that. She ran second in an allowance, but she had a real bad knee. He didn’t want anything to do with the horse anymore, so he ended up giving the horse to me and I ended up breeding biggest performance came in the $50,000 Ontario County Stakes, h e r.” where Breakin The Fever recorded a blowout 7 1/4-length win and That mare was Breakers West, who, paired with Roaring Fever, stopped the clock in 1:09.76 for 6 furlongs. produced the now 4-year-old gelding Breakin The Fever. From the “The Ontario County, I had chills,” Breed said. “I’ve been here a outset, Breed could tell this was a special horse. He loved the horse long time. I used to pony and gallop horses. I came up here and I as a foal and knew the talent was there as he watched him grow up. Although he had several opportunities to sell, Breed wasn’t tempted. bought a couple cheap horses and we’ve been going ever since. This “The first time I ran him at Saratoga, he ran third to Upstart,” is the best horse I’ve trained. No doubt about it.” Breed said. “I had a guy offer me $30,000. I said, ‘you gotta be kid- Breed says Breakin The Fever is continuing to mature and has ding me. He just ran for $75,000 and you want to offer me $30,000?’ his mind on the game. I had a couple people after that offer me $40,000, $50,000. I said he “In the stall, he’s like a pet,” Breed said. “You go by his stall, he would make that this year.” puts his head in your lap and everything. You go around the barn, Breed’s intuition paid off. Last year, Breakin The Fever won eight he’s fine. As soon as you take him out to that track, he knows what of 13, including two stakes at Finger Lakes, and made $188,061. His he’s got to do and he does it.”

Loki’s Vengeance Dk. b./br. c. Frost Giant—Subtle Sweetness, by During. Breeder: Andrew Cohen. Owner: Blue Bison Stable. Trainer: Mike Hushion. 2015 record: 8-3-1-2, $216,950. 2015 stakes: Affirmed Success, New York Stallion Times Square.

ike Hushion was anxious to give Loki’s Vengeance a try at a distance further than 6 furlongs against state- bred competition as the days counted down before the 2014 Mike Lee Stakes on the Big Apple Showcase Mcard at Belmont Park. “He’s a heavy, thick horse and he’s a heavy breather, but his ped- igree says he should go farther,” Hushion said at the time, not long after Loki’s Vengeance won a division of the New York Stallion Stakes going 6 ½ furlongs and as he prepared the colt and stable- mates Captain Serious and Freddie G for the Mike Lee. at the time. Loki’s Vengeance wasn’t up to the 7 furlongs of the Mike Lee, Loki’s Vengeance has carried those good looks to the racetrack, finishing seventh of eight, but he’s come around since, just as Hush- so much that the normally understated Hushion said “he keeps ion predicted. The dark bay enjoyed a strong season in 2015, racing himself looking like a million dollars,” with a typical caveat. from early March to late November and winning at 7 furlongs in “Everybody always says, ‘boy, you’ve got him looking good to- the Times Square Division of the New York Stallion Stakes to close out the campaign. day,’ but he always looks good. A lot of good horses stay like that, Purchased as a yearling for $35,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga tough horses.” New York-bred sale by the Blue Bison Stable of David Greenhouse Loki’s Vengeance, in training and started his 5-year-old cam- and Chris Boehning, Loki’s Vengeance first caught the eyes of his paign in the Grade 3 Handicap in early March at Aque- owners as a young horse at Vinery New York (now Rockridge Stud) duct, was bred by Andrew Cohen, who runs the Sunrise Stallions in Hudson. The son of Frost Giant stood out when Greenhouse and operation that stands Frost Giant at Keane Stud in Amenia. He was Boehning were given a preview of the sale-bound yearlings by Lere foaled at Vinery New York and is the first of five straight Frost Gi- Visagie, owner of Rockridge who was managing Vinery New York ant foals produced by Subtle Sweetness. 40 ENCAUSTIC (Broad Brush – Illeria, by Stop the Music) Best “DAM” Line Among stallions in NY State... Maybe the entire country!

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41 MALE SPRINTER FINALISTS Palace B. h. City Zip—Receivership, by End Sweep. Breeder: Peter J. Callahan Revocable Trust. Owner: Antonino Miuccio.Trainer: Linda Rice. 2015 record: 7-1-2-2, $237,000. 2015 stakes: Hudson.

inda Rice could never imagine where she and owner An- tonino Miuccio went after putting in a claim slip for the then 3-year-old Palace back in the fall of 2012. Rice trained City Zip, who blitzed his way through the L2000 Saratoga meeting by winning all three of its graded stakes for 2-year-olds before eventually retiring a near millionaire with a stall in one of the premier stallion farms in the world. She sometimes feels a connection, or at least a familiarity, to many of his offspring and she felt it with Palace. “I trained his father, and City Zip was a special horse,” Rice said. Rice does remember telling Miuccio that she thought Palace “I thought I could see the same things in Palace. I just knew there would win a stakes at Saratoga. was something special under the hood, and he shows it each time.” He did that in the Chowder’s First and then pulling off the Grade She knew something was there. But did she know he’d wind up 1 double of the Alfred G. Vanderbilt and Forego in succession in a two-time Grade 1 winner, a seven-time stakes winner overall and 2014. Palace wasn’t able to defend those crowns in 2015, slowed a $1,586,550-earner? How about one of the top New York-breds of all time, a two-time state-bred champion sprinter or an Eclipse early in the season after not bouncing back from an illness follow- Award finalist? ing the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Sprint and then dealing with various Not likely. She was optimistic that he’d be a worthwhile claim, other minor physical issues. looking back at it years later. Palace did collect another significant victory in 2015 winning “He’s improved so much over the course of time, from the time the Hudson on the Empire Showcase card, his second win in the I claimed him in October of 2012 and then into 2013 when we won sprint stakes. He placed in three other sprint stakes after that win, the Chowder’s First at Saratoga and I was happy with that,” Rice before heading to Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky to begin his next said last year. career.

Possessed Dk. b./br. g. Posse—Ibetyouwishyouknew, by Mr. Greeley. Breeder: Grapestock. Owner: Daniel Hayden and Charlton Baker. Trainer: Charlton Baker. 2015 record: 10-3-2-1, $191,375. 2015 stakes: N.Y. Stallion Spectacular Bid, N.Y. Stallion Times Square.

acehorses come in all different packages, from high-dol- lar cover boys to bargains and ugly ducklings. If you’re lucky, you get both in the same package and end up with a darn good horse that wins $191,375 during his 3-year-old Rseason. That’s Possessed for Daniel Hayden and his co-owner and trainer Charlton Baker. “He was actually given to me from the owners, the breeders ac- tually, they gave him to me when he was a yearling,” Baker said. “I got him without seeing him, I talked to the farm manager, told me he was OK and took a shot with him. “And when I got him I didn’t really like him. He had a big head Square division of the New York Stallion Stakes going 6 1/2 fur- and he didn’t really look like a racehorse. But once he started train- longs. Off the board in the Mike Lee, Possessed added his second ing and start shaping up, he started looking better. But when you Stallion Stakes score in the off-the-turf Spectacular Bid in late June. first look at him, he never really looked like that, a racehorse.” “Once we started breezing him he started showing potential,” Running only once as a 2-year-old in 2014 and placing in a Baker said. “His first race was a maiden claimer, I gave him a shot 6-furlong maiden claimer, Possessed broke his maiden in his fourth but I thought he was a lot better than that. And he got beat for career start and third start of 2015. Baker stepped him up after his second, and then after that we come up with special weight ‘cause I maiden win going 6 furlongs to the Stakes against thought that was where he actually belonged to start with. But once open company at the same distance. He finished third in the Wink- he started breezing he was looking pretty good and I thought he field, then was second in a starter allowance going 7 furlongs in was going to be a decent horse.” early April at Aqueduct. Possessed was foaled at Vinery New York at Empire Stud in Possessed earned the first of two stakes victories for the season Hudson. He is a half-brother to I Bet Toni Knows, who won the 16 days after the starter-allowance effort when he won the Times 2012 Cupecoy’s Joy division of the New York Stallion Stakes. 42 Afleet Alex – Classy Mirage, by Storm Bird | Fee: $2,500 Breed Secure or S&N

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43 OLDER DIRT FEMALE FINALISTS Flipcup B. f. Milwaukee Brew—Dream Affair, by Touch Gold. Breeder: Team Penney Stable. Owner: Team Penney Racing, Wachtel Stable and Brous Stable. Trainer: Bill Mott. 2015 record: 5-2-0-2, $145,557. 2015 stakes: Maple Leaf (G3), Classy ’n Smart.

hirl Penney admitted that he and other connections of Flip- cup might have gotten a little aggressive with the daughter of Milwaukee Brew during her 3-year-old campaign in 2014. She raced nine times, winning once with four seconds and Stwo thirds, so while it wasn’t a disappointing year by any means Flipcup might not have always been at her best.

The plan for 2015 called for a later return to the races and more WEG/Michael Burns spacing – often at least a month and sometimes nearly two months, day, whether it’s in the morning before school or in the afternoon. between starts with hopes of better results. She’s getting plenty of carrots and treats and love, that’s for sure.” That plan developed by Penney and fellow co-owners Wachtel Flipcup enjoyed the adoration and rewarded her connections Stable and Brous Stable and Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott worked with a pair of stakes wins and another stakes placing from five and Flipcup delivered in 2015. Flipcup is based for a significant starts in 2015. The biggest win came in the Grade 3 Maple Leaf portion of the year with Mott and his string at Saratoga Race Stakes going 10 furlongs on Woodbine’s Polytrack. Course’s Oklahoma Training Track, a perfect location for Flipcup The victory in the Maple Leaf, Flipcup’s first in a graded stakes, so Penney, his wife MaryAnn and two children can see her often. was a homecoming of sorts as the mare started her career with “She’s a member of the family,” Penney said. “Bill and his barn back-to-back wins on the Toronto track’s synthetic surface before a are wonderful from a client service perspective. We spend a lot of third in a small stakes during her 2-year-old season. time with her. She gets up to Saratoga early and she leaves Saratoga Foaled at Waldorf Farm in North Chatham, Flipcup is the fourth late so that my family can spend a lot of time with her. I work down winner from as many starters out of Team Penney Racing’s Touch in Manhattan but the kids and MaryAnn probably visit her every Gold mare Dream Affair. Galiana Ch. m. Stonesider—Baby Jess, by Interprete. Breeder: John Behrendt and Charles Marquis. Owners: Triple R Stable, Maria Romero. Trainers: Rodolfo Romero, Jose Rodriguez. 2015 record: 12-5-1-2, $272,290. 2015 stakes: Primonetta, Skipat, Dashing Beauty, Tax Free Shopping Distaff.

odolfo Romero loves to tell the story about how he wound up with a mare who churns out more checks than a pay- roll service. He got to tell it quite a bit again in 2015 as Galiana added five victories to her ledger, including four Rstakes, as she continued to carry the banner for the Romero family. The story changes slightly; sometimes Galiana was given to

Romero, other times she was purchased privately for a modest Maryland Jockey Club/Jim McCue price. After Galiana won the Skipat Stakes on the Black-Eyed Susan ream Park behind multiple graded stakes winner Merry Meadow and Pimlico Special undercard at Pimlico Race Course, Romero and stakes winner More Than A Party. She started her 5-year-old added a new wrinkle. season in Florida, winning only once in four starts before getting “He passed her to another trainer, that trainer passed her to me back to the Mid-Atlantic, where she won four of five from mid- and that’s it,” Romero said, referring to the Stonesider mare’s origi- April to mid-September. nal trainer Michael Matz. How she won the Skipat surprised Romero. Galiana offsets with the acquisition story’s lack of consistency “She scared me,” Romero said. “I thought she’d be in fourth, with her own stamp of reliability. Galiana won five races in 2015, fifth, but when I saw her close I opened my eyes (wide). But she’s exactly her average number of victories for the three seasons she’s tough and was training good, no problems. She’ll do everything been in training with Romero. She won Delaware Park’s Tax Free you want.” Shopping Distaff for the third consecutive season in 2015, one of Foaled at Anne Morgan’s and Tim Little’s Mill Creek Farm in four stakes victories during a season that lands her on the list of Stillwater, Galiana is the lone North American winner out of the finalists for champion New York-bred champion female sprinter unraced Argentinian-bred Baby Jess. Galiana is also the leading for the third consecutive season. earner by a wide margin for her sire, who relocated to Keane Stud Galiana added another high mark on her career resume early in in Amenia for 2016. She’s earned $641,861 and is training for her the season when third in the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie at Gulfst- 6-year-old campaign. 44 45 OLDER DIRT FEMALE FINALISTS La Verdad B. m. Yes It’s True—Noble Fire, by Hook and Ladder. Breeder: Eklektikos Stable. Owner: Lady Sheila Stable. Trainer: Linda Rice. 2015 record: 8-5-1-0, $722,500. 2015 stakes: Vagrancy (G3), Distaff (G2), Gallant Bloom (G2), Iroquois.

ark Vondrasek set a pair of goals for his fledgling Eklektikos Stable operation back when Noble Fire was forced into early retirement and became the ini- tial member of his broodmare band. He almost got Mthem both thanks to La Verdad. “I had two goals in racing, one was to have a horse that was an Eclipse Award winner and the other was what we almost got done and that was to win a Breeders’ Cup race,” Vondrasek said in March, referring to La Verdad’s taking home the Eclipse Award as champion female sprinter in January after nearly winning the La Verdad, the second foal produced by the Hook and Ladder Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in October. “To come that mare Noble Fire, ranks behind Dayatthespa and Fleet Indian as the close, it’s almost hard to explain how satisfying that is.” third leading female New York-bred earner of all time and 14th La Verdad initially raced for Vondrasek, winning three of her overall. It’s an amazing accomplishment, for the mare, her recent first four starts, before she was sold privately to Sheila Rosenblum’s connections and her breeder, who admits his foray into the breed- Lady Sheila Stable. La Verdad didn’t miss a beat for Rosenblum, ing end of the business was “a bit of a flyer.” who kept the daughter of Yes It’s True with Linda Rice, and she “The breeding thing kind of fell to us,” Vondrasek said. “We’d won six of 11 starts to become a finalist for New York-bred female owned horses before but when that big mare got injured so early sprinter and dirt female champion in 2014. in her career I didn’t know anything about the breeding game. You The 2015 season was even better. La Verdad won five of eight have an option when you’ve got a young mare who got hurt on the starts, including three Grade 2 stakes, and was second in the Breed- track and seemed to have a little bit of promise. Maybe it’s a game ers’ Cup at Keeneland. She earned $722,500 and that sum, plus an- you want to take a shot with. other $60,000 for winning the Interborough Stakes in early Janu- “To be honest it was a bit of a flyer and I didn’t know anything ary, pushed her career bankroll to $1,563,200. about it but it’s worked out so well.” Princess Violet B. f. Officer-Lady Rapper, by Grand Slam. Breeder: Stonewall Farm. Owner: Barry Schwartz. Trainers: Linda Rice, Mike Hushion 2015 record: 5-1-3-0. $380,000. 2015 stakes: Madison (G1).

ake them count. Princess Violet won just once in 2015. But it was a big one. Bred and owned by Barry Schwartz, the daughter of Officer rallied from fifth to win the Grade 1 Madison at Keeneland in April. MSent off fifth choice behind Lady Sabelia, Sam’s Sister, Wedding Toast and Stopchargingmaria, Princess Violet broke from the out- side, settled on the inside, swung wide to reach the lead and then held off hard-charging Stopchargingmaria to win by a half-length.

The star-studded field accomplished big things after the Madi- Keeneland/Coady Photography son as Wedding Toast won three graded stakes in a row, including Bloodstock agent Buzz Chace bought Princess Violet’s dam the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps and Beldame and Stopchargingmaria Lady Rapper for Schwartz for $275,000 at the Keeneland Septem- won three graded stakes, finishing her season with a win in the ber yearling sale in 2006. She made two winless starts before pro- Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Princess Violet opened 2015 with a second in the Grade 2 Bar- ducing her first foal, Baime, who won seven races for Schwartz and bara Fritchie, chasing local speedster Lady Sabelia. That effort set trainer Mike Ferraro in 2013-14. Whiskey Seven, a 3-year-old geld- her up for the Madison where Lady Sabelia tried the same tactics ing by War Chant, has yet to start but is breezing at Belmont Park. but succumbed to her early endeavors and wound up last. After Lady Rapper is out of New York-bred She’s Got The Beat, who the Madison, Princess Violet posted a tough second in the Grade won seven races and finished second behind Sightseek in the Grade 2 Ruffian, finished fifth in the Phipps and rallied to earn second in 1 Go For Wand and Summer Colony in the Grade 2 Molly Pitcher the Garland Of Roses. for Hall of Fame trainer P.G. Johnson and owner Elizabeth Walsh. One of the few New York-breds who didn’t try state-bred com- Princess Violet ran twice this winter, finishing fourth in the In- petition in 2015, Princess Violet earned $380,000, pushing her ca- terborough at Aqueduct and seventh in her second attempt at the reer earnings past $770,000. Fritchie at Laurel Park. 46 164049-DenaliStud-half-NYTBprogram.indd 1 3/16/16 12:23 PM

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47 FLGR357-16_Breeders_Ad_F.indd 1 3/14/16 10:41 AM OLDER DIRT MALE FINALISTS Effinex Dk. b./br. h., Mineshaft–What A Pear, by E Dubai. Breeder: Dr. Russell Cohen. Owner: Tri-Bone Stable. Trainer: Jimmy Jerkens. 2015 record: 8-4-1-1. $1,767,100. 2015 stakes: Excelsior (G3), Suburban (G2), Clark (G1).

ike Smith pulled down his goggles, pried a dirty sad- dle off a sweat-stained back and walked to the scales after the Breeders’ Cup Classic. The Hall of Fame jockey had just finished second Min America’s most lucrative race. Smith, as competitive as a walk- on special teams player, was far from disappointed. “I’m so proud of our horse,” Smith said. “I’m just so glad he ran that way, he ran a gallant race, a great second.” Tri-Bone Stable’s Effinex had just held off the best handicap horses in the country, dispatching the likes of Honor Code, Keen Ice and Tonalist in the $5 million stakes. that’s a lot of money.” Holding off those Grade 1 winners was an accomplishment, Effinex pocketed a cool $900,000 for finishing 6 ½ lengths be- tackling the front-running Triple Crown winner American hind American Pharoah and 4 ½ lengths clear of Honor Code. Pharoah, well, that was impossible. The check contributed to a lucrative season for Russell Cohen’s “I had seen he had us beat and knew the race was for second, we homebred son of Mineshaft. Effinex earned over $1.7 million in got a great second so I’m extremely happy,” Smith said. “At about 2015. Trained by Jimmy Jerkens, Effinex won three graded stakes, the three-eighths pole, he hit another gear that I knew I didn’t have, including a year-capping triumph in the Grade 1 Clark Handicap so I thought you know, instead of going this early, just wait for what at Churchill Downs. I thought was a reasonable time for us to go and we got second.” Effinex missed a check just once in 2015, when he bolted and As the world celebrated American Pharoah, Smith still had was pulled up in the Brooklyn at Belmont Park. work to do. “The only time he was off the board was when he bolted, why “If I was farther back, I might have become a fan and watched he bolted, we still don’t know,” Jerkens said. “He’s been great, un- American Pharoah,” Smith said. “But I was all out to be second, believable.”

Empire Dreams Dk. b./br. g. Patriot Act—Ascended Dreams, by Thunder . Breeder: Pegasus Dream Stable. Owner: West Point . Trainer: Tom Albertrani. 2015 record: 8-3-2-2, $422,834. 2015 stakes: Empire Classic, Commentator, Alex M. Robb.

mpire Dreams is as consistent a presence at New York Rac- ing Association tracks as enthusiastic partners in the rac- ing syndicate West Point Thoroughbreds when they’ve got a runner entered. It doesn’t matter if it’s a maiden claimer Ein the winter or a Grade 1 stakes at the zenith of the summer, the partners will be there. The same rule applies to Empire Dreams. Now a finalist for champion New York-bred honors for three consecutive years, Empire Dreams enjoyed his best season to date in 2015 with a victory in the most lucrative state-bred event of the year along with two other stakes victories. Empire Dreams’ wins in the Commentator in late May, Empire Classic in late October and Empire Dreams has won or placed in 15 of his 19 career starts. Alex M. Robb give him five career stakes victories and the $422,834 Ironically three of his off-the-board finishes came at Saratoga Race he banked for the West Point partnership put him at $746,501 Course, the place where West Point’s partners come out in the most through 2015. force. Terry Finley, founder and president of West Point Thorough- He was fourth there in his career debut sprinting, seventh in the breds, described Empire Dreams as “kind of a plain horse” when 2014 Albany and eighth last summer in the against open he bought him for $35,000 out of the 2013 OBS April 2-year-olds company. in training sale. Gelded last year, Empire Dreams is expected back in 2016 and “The sale was very strong and I had a pretty good sense that he could continue to carry the torch for his ownership group, sire might get overlooked,” Finley said. “He looked like a nice, athletic and dam. Foaled at Donna Sammons’ farm in Elizaville, Empire kind of tidy horse. He turned out to be alright.” Dreams is one four winners produced by the unraced Thunder All right indeed. Gulch mare Ascended Dreams. 48 Oh, the places we’ve been! Thank you, Upstart.

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49 OLDER DIRT MALE FINALISTS Palace B. h. City Zip—Receivership, by End Sweep. Breeder: Peter J. Callahan Revocable Trust. Owner: Antonino Miuccio.Trainer: Linda Rice. 2015 record: 7-1-2-2, $237,000. 2015 stakes: Hudson.

inda Rice could never imagine where she and owner An- tonino Miuccio went after putting in a claim slip for the then 3-year-old Palace back in the fall of 2012. Rice trained City Zip, who blitzed his way through the L2000 Saratoga meeting by winning all three of its graded stakes for 2-year-olds before eventually retiring a near millionaire with a stall in one of the premier stallion farms in the world. She sometimes feels a connection, or at least a familiarity, to many of his offspring and she felt it with Palace. “I trained his father, and City Zip was a special horse,” Rice said. “I thought I could see the same things in Palace. I just knew there Rice does remember telling Miuccio that she thought Palace was something special under the hood, and he shows it each time.” would win a stakes at Saratoga. She knew something was there. But did she know he’d wind up He did that in the Chowder’s First and then pulling off the Grade a two-time Grade 1 winner, a seven-time stakes winner overall and 1 double of the Alfred G. Vanderbilt and Forego in succession in a $1,586,550-earner? How about one of the top New York-breds 2014. Palace wasn’t able to defend those crowns in 2015, slowed of all time, a two-time state-bred champion sprinter or an Eclipse early in the season after not bouncing back from an illness follow- Award finalist? ing the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Sprint and then dealing with various Not likely. She was optimistic that he’d be a worthwhile claim, other minor physical issues. looking back at it years later. Palace did collect another significant victory in 2015 winning “He’s improved so much over the course of time, from the time the Hudson on the Empire Showcase card, his second win in the I claimed him in October of 2012 and then into 2013 when we won sprint stakes. He placed in three other sprint stakes after that win, the Chowder’s First at Saratoga and I was happy with that,” Rice before heading to Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky to begin his next said last year. career.

Royal Posse B. g., Posse–Struckbylightning, by Cryptoclearance. Breeder: Richard Troncone & Richard Troncone Jr. Owner: Michael Dubb, Bethlehem Stable, Gary Aisquith. Trainer: Brown Brown, Rudy Rodriguez. 2015 record: 10-3-3-0. $304,610. 2015 stakes: Evan Shipman, Claiming Crown Jewel.

udy Rodriguez walked up and down his tree-shaded shedrow at Saratoga, pointing to a bay colt, checking a chestnut filly and then stopping at a bay gelding, standing in ice. R“Look at him, he’s tough,” Rodriguez said. Tough? The granite-tough son of Posse was in the process of wheeling back in 12 days. “We know we like Saratoga and the boss wants to run. He gave “He had good back numbers and he’s a New York-bred,” Dubb us two good races and now to bring him up in the toughest race of said at Saratoga. “And the guy who bred him, he’s a sharp breeder. his life, it’s going to be a challenge,” Rodriguez said before sending I try to pay attention to that. We thought for that price – I wasn’t out Royal Posse for his stakes debut in the Evan Shipman. “He’s expecting this, this was great – that he would work out.” training good, he’s happy, I’m just babying him the last couple of Royal Posse capped his 2015 season with a win in the $200,000 days, just walking over there, over here, just making him happy. Claiming Crown at Gulfstream Park in December. He tries.” “When we claimed him he ran a big race, a very big race, and we In his third start at Saratoga, Royal Posse nailed Saratoga Snacks just pointed him for Saratoga and he’s working good for us,” Rodri- in the final stride of the Shipman. Royal Posse’s two wins contrib- guez said. “Bruce does a very good job with his horses, we were just uted to a stellar Saratoga meet for Rodriguez and helped Michael looking for horses to run at Saratoga and for horses who could run Dubb to the champion owner title. a mile an eighth, he can run all day. He’s nice and sound, he showed Claimed for $20,000 from Bruce Brown in May, Royal Posse up. Now, it’s a bonus.” produced three wins and two seconds for the ownership team of Royal Posse added to the bonus in 2016, finishing second in the Dubb, Bethlehem Stable and Gary Aisquith. Jazil and Haynesfield Stakes at Aqueduct. 50 ATC_NY Thoroughbred Breeders_2015_Layout 1 2/20/2015 10:24 AM Page 1

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51 OLDER DIRT MALE FINALISTS Saratoga Snacks B. r., Tale Of The Cat–Near And Dear, by Red Ransom. Breeder: Joanne Nielsen. Owner/Trainer: Gary Sciacca. 2015 record: 7-2-2-2. $169,900. 2015 stakes: Saginaw.

ary Sciacca crinkled the wrapper of a polo mint. Thir- ty feet away, the big bay horse in cold-water bandages stopped like a train was passing and waited. The train- er stepped across the macadam and onto the woodchip Gwalking ring. The horse nickered, shook his head up and down. Sciacca held out his hand and the mint was gone. Fast. The horse asked for another mint, as Sciacca straightened out a wisp of forelock above a white blaze that looked like a kite drifting into space. Sciacca unrolled another mint. Gone. Sciacca patted the horse between the eyes – big, long, adoring pats, like he was tapping a bongo. Now, that’s a Saratoga snack. See why Sciacca was giving him mints and patting his head? This has been going on for years, ever since Sciacca signed the Saratoga Snacks won seven races for Sciacca and owner Bill Par- ticket for Saratoga Snacks at Fasig-Tipton’s preferred yearling sale cells before departing for Bill Mott’s barn from August to Decem- in 2010. It was a quiet Thursday at Saratoga last summer. Sciacca ber in 2014. He went winless in five starts before rejoining Sciacca, was relieved, as another morning of the up and down life of a horse where he won two of seven starts in 2015. trainer was coming to a close. Perhaps his best effort was the day after he got loose at Saratoga The day before taking on five rivals in the Evan Shipman, Sara- when he stretched his speed nine furlongs and was nabbed on the toga Snacks dropped his rider and got loose, for 10 strides. The line, losing the Evan Shipman by a nose. nine-time winner was caught and led home. The bad news was he “Probably a mile or a mile and a sixteenth is his best distance but got loose. The good news was he’s done that before. what are you going to do, he always shows up,” Sciacca said the day “He only jogged 10 feet and they caught him. Thank God,” Sci- before the Shipman. “He came back like a tiger.” acca said. “The day before the race, he gets bad. Up here, a few years The day after losing the Shipman, Sciacca winced, the disap- ago, the day before he won, he got loose coming off the main track. pointment still there. Then he walked over and gave Saratoga He got loose another time at Belmont, the day before he won.” Snacks another mint.

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Thank You New York breeders, owners, trainers & especially the horses for a great ride in 2015. – Jose Ortiz and Jimmy Riccio

Tod Marks 53 TRAINER OF THE YEAR Linda Rice heila Rosenblum joked from the stage inside the Sport of Kings Theater at Gulfstream Park during the 45th annual Eclipse Awards that Linda Rice “begged me to buy” La Ver- dad when the eventual champion was late in her 3-year-old Sseason. Considering Rice’s record in recent years, not to mention a ca- reer filled with successful accomplishments, Rosenblum and any other owner for that matter might want to take heed if the veteran conditioner pleads her case for a horse. Rice is well regarded for her judgment and was spot-on in her assessment of La Verdad, who had won three of four starts at the time but went on to win 13 more races – 11 of them stakes and four of them graded stakes. “Everybody should have a horse like her,” Rice said of La Ver- dad, who racked up $722,500 of the $5,927,599 her stable earned in 2015. That earnings total was a seasonal best for Rice and her 100 vic- tories in 2015 were second only to the 102 her stable won in 2013. The highlights don’t end there. Rice’s seasonal total of more than $5.9 million ranked her 16th As a trainer of New York-breds Rice was in a league of her own. among all trainers in North America by earnings, a position she also She sent out 266 New York-bred starters in 2015, won 60 races with earned in 2014. She’s won $5 million in purses in back-to-back sea- 56 seconds and 35 thirds for a top three strike rate of 57 percent. sons and earned $1 million or more for 19 consecutive seasons from Of her more than $5.9 million in stable earnings, $4,020,802 came 1998 to 2016 (Rice’s stable earned $1,131,979 through March 23). from New York-breds, who earned an average of $15,116 per start. Rice won her seventh career Grade 1 in 2015 when Princess Vi- Rice, who trained five individual finalists for either all or a por- olet captured Keeneland’s and she won five graded tion of their 2015 campaigns, is the leading trainer of New York- stakes with three horses during the year – La Verdad, Hot City Girl breds for the third straight year and fifth time overall. She also and Princess Violet. topped the New York-bred list in 2009 and 2010.

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55 JOCKEY OF THE YEAR Jose Ortiz ne horse does not make a jockey’s year, but Jose Ortiz and his agent Jimmy Riccio surely counted on New York-bred mare La Verdad in 2015. The star of Lady Sheila Stable won five of eight starts (and was disquali- Ofied from a sixth win) and helped push Ortiz to a second consecu- tive New York-bred jockey championship. The award is based on earnings, and Ortiz piled up more than $8 million aboard New York-breds in 2015. The total went a long way toward a career year for the 22-year-old, who wound up fourth in the nation by earnings with $17,327,026 and seventh by wins with 244. “It’s obviously a thrill,” said Ortiz’s agent Jimmy Riccio of the success. “We love to win, everybody loves to win. But it’s not just the money. It’s the excitement and being able to wake up and get on live horses. It’s not like having a job, it’s fun.” Champion female sprinter in the nation last year, La Verdad slumps. His victory total has increased by 10 in each of his three won her first six starts – Aqueduct’s Grade 2 Distaff, Belmont Park’s full seasons – to 244 last year. With a little more than a month to Grade 3 Vagrancy and Dancin Renee, Saratoga’s Grade 2 Honor- go in the meet, he led the Aqueduct winter-meet standings with 85 able Miss, Belmont’s Grade 2 Gallant Bloom and the Iroquois for wins (six more than his older brother Irad Ortiz Jr.). New York-breds. She wound up losing the Honorable Miss for a “The kid’s been riding dark days at Parx, he works horses all the prohibited substance-, not that it took anything away from Ortiz’s time and he works hard at it,” said Riccio. “He just loves to be on year. horses and ride. Obviously, he has a shot when he rides but he and Trained by Linda Rice, La Verdad bounded out of the Iroquois his brother are good young men too. You forget how young they to finish second in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint are sometimes.” seven days later. She finished the year with $722,500 in earnings. Beyond La Verdad, New York-bred stars ridden by Jose Ortiz in Riccio called her a shiny spot in an already bright year. 2015 included stakes winners Upstart, Hot City Girl, King Kreesa, “Every time she went out there for us I feel like she was that Loki’s Vengeance, Possessed and Sheriffa, plus Palace and Princess horse you could count on,” he said. “If you were in a slump and Violet. you knew she was going to run you had a good feeling – like, ‘She’ll “New York-breds are better, a lot more people have them and turn it around.’ ” we’re here year-round so we have a bit of an edge,” said Riccio. “We Ortiz, who rode his first American race in 2012 after attending ride a lot of New York-breds for Linda Rice, Mike Hushion and a the jockey school in his native Puerto Rico, has not endured many lot of people really.”

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57 BREEDER OF THE YEAR Eklektikos Stable ark Vondrasek freely admits his initial foray into the world of Thoroughbred breeding as “a bit of a flyer.” He also acknowledges that his Eklektikos Stable nev- er had the numbers of some of the more high profile Mand well-publicized players in the industry. Neither of those factors slowed his passion to be the best and the accomplishments of 2015 are testament to Vondrasek’s goals. Eklektikos Stable, which means “eclectic” in Greek, was chosen as by the board of the New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc. as the state’s outstanding breeder following a 2015 season highlighted by the Eclipse Award win from multiple graded stakes-winning mil- lionare La Verdad and graded stakes winner Hot City Girl. “For me I’m not a big breeder and I don’t have the numbers of horses that … so many others out there that breed more, so what this shows is you really can be a small-time player in this business and still have a dream come true,” said Vondrasek, a resident of when Vondrasek isn’t directly involved in the industry. Stamford, Conn., and an executive with Starwood Hotels & Re- Vondrasek sold his only broodmare, the winning Hook and sorts. “To be recognized by that board for the year that we were Ladder mare Noble Fire, the dam of La Verdad and Hot City Girl, fortunate enough to have with these horses is great. I don’t have a privately to Three Chimneys Farm shortly after co-breeding the stable of mares and I’m not in this like others are, although I cer- now 2-year-old Frued filly Noble Freud with the Kentucky farm. tainly want to do more, it’s certainly more fulfilling. The success of La Verdad and Hot City Girl have inspired Von- “It’s a great message for people that are starting out that are in- drasek to reinvest in the future, so don’t expect the Eklektikos terested in breeding that maybe don’t have the ability to start with name to disappear. more than a mare or two, it gives them, I hope, the confidence to “We’re not a big breeding shop and we’re just now getting back know you can get in this game, do remarkably well and that you’ve into looking at other mares after the success of these few, but we’ve got a fair shot. We’re living proof of that. It’s incredibly humbling really stayed very small,” he said. “We’re going to be a bit more ag- and exciting to be recognized in this way for the work that we were gressive, and some folks have reached out and want to partner up able to do.” on some stuff. It’s a fascinating space to be in and I think we’ll do a Ironically Eklektikos wins the state’s top breeder award at a time lot in it over the next few years.”

58

As the major sponsor of tonight’s ceremony, the New York Thoroughbred Breeding and Development Fund honors and congratulates all award nominees for their outstanding achievements.

By breeding and racing these quality NY-breds, the nominees have set an example for horsemen and horsewomen across the state to help the Fund achieve its mission:

“To promote by monetary incentives the responsible breeding of quality thoroughbred racehorses in keeping with the founding legislation to preserve New York's irreplaceable farmland.”