Neolithic’s on fire again, and moves to second on sire list

There appears to be no letup of Super Saturday weekends at Gulfstream Park for Neolithic, and this Saturday vaulted the Pleasant Acres hero into second place again on Florida’s general sire list for 2024.

It began in race No. 5 with the victory of Great Venezuela, who was sent off at odds of 7/5 in a $62,500 allowance claimer at five furlongs on the grass. Leonel Reyes was aboard the 3-year-old filly, who was winning her third in a row for owner/breeder Orlyana Farm. Great Venezuela stalked the early pace down the backstretch while three wide, then ran down the leaders and was going away by 2 1/2 lengths at the wire, clocked in :54.99, less than 1 3/5 seconds off the course record. She paid $4.80 and earned a check for $33,700, jumping her total to $154,100 on a record of 5-1-1 in seven starts.

The eighth race was the $200,000 Affirmed, second division of the Florida Sire Stakes for 2-year-old colts and geldings, going seven furlongs. Drayden Van Dyke was in the irons aboard Neoequos, a colt bred by Joe and Helen Barbazon and Matalona Thoroughbreds who had finished second to superstar Rated By Merit in the $100,000 Dr. Fager in his previous start, and repeated his performance in the Affirmed. He chased the 1/5 favorite through fractions of :22.74, :45.45 and :1:09.83 and fell short at the wire by less than four lengths, but was 7 1/4 lengths ahead of the third-place finisher. A $22,000 OBS October purchase, he collected $40,000, raising his total to $105,400.

The fillies went in race 11, the $200,000 Susan’s Girl, and Kip the Distance came from off the pace under Jonathan Ocasio to finish second behind Win N Your In, after seven furlongs in 1:25.23. Owned, bred and trained by Angel Rodriguez, she also earned $40,000, and now has banked $117,350.

The three checks brought Neolithic’s progeny earnings for 2024 to $2,394,161.