Turf News

It took Skyler Spanabel three tries to get the lowdown on Lil Green Machine, and the duo hooked up at Tampa Bay Downs yesterday in try No. 4 to break the maiden of the 4-year-old gelding by Ride on Curlin.

Spanabel had guided Lil Green Machine to two seconds and a fourth before using a rail-running ride to gain his first victory. The gelding was purchased by Karyn Phillipp for $3,000 as a yearling at the OBS October sale in 2019, and yesterday’s check of $9,495 increased his bank account to $25,630 for his owner/trainer.

Lil Green Machine broke fourth in the race at six furlongs and dropped back to sixth along the backstretch, about five lengths off the pace. Spanabel then slipped him through on the inside on the turn and into the stretch and they ran down the last two rivals in the last 50 yards to win by half a length and become Ride on Curlin’s fourth winner of 2022.

Last week, Pleasant Acres celebrated three winners in the span of two days, the first two at Gulfstream Park with Charlotte the Brit and Emirates Affair garnering breeders’ awards for Joe and Helen Barbazon. The third victory, by Blissful Change at Fair Grounds, was the result of a partnership of the Barbazons with Ed Seltzer and Beverly Anderson.

Two more breeders’ awards were earned at Tampa Bay Downs on Wednesday via runners by Treasure Beach. The Barbazons earned an award in the seventh race courtesy of China Beach, a 4-year-old gelding who won by 2 1/2 lengths at a mile on the turf course in a maiden race with a purse of $19,000. He paid $11.

Two races later, Awilda’s Treasure lit up the tote board at $51.20, winning by 1 1/2 lengths in a one-mile race on the turf with a purse of $18,950. The 4-year-old filly is another product of the Barbazon-Seltzer/Anderson partnership.

At the 2021 OBS June sale, Span Investments made an investment of $13,000 for a 2-year-old daughter of Gone Astray bred by Ruben Valdes. Only four races into her career, Stormy Pattern has proven to be a solid financial investment for Span and trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.

After two races where Stormy Pattern was soundly defeated, still finishing second in both, the filly broke her maiden at Gulfstream Park with Chantal Sutherland, who was aboard again yesterday for her nose victory in a $54,000 allowance race at 6 1/2 furlongs.

Sutherland settled Stormy Pattern into a comfortable fourth along the inside leaving the gate, then swung her outside on the turn. She ran down leader Yes I’m a Beast nearing the finish, and edged fast-closing Clapton at the wire to raise her record to 2-2-0 in four starts. Clocked in 1:17.08, Stormy Pattern earned $32,400, increasing her total to $78,300, an average of $19,575 per race, and an excellent investment which can be expected to get even better for her owners.

Hard West is an anomaly in the world of thoroughbred racing – a 5-year-old male who is not a gelding but still active at the race track.

The son of Gone Astray gave his sire his ninth winner of 2022 yesterday with a slick, come-from-behind victory at Parx Racing. Jermain Burke was aboard in the test at 7 furlongs and he sent Hard West out quickly from the No. 2 post, then reined him in and took up a position on the inside in a perfect stalking third. Hard West slipped through on the rail into second on the turn, swung out into the two path and took over the lead heading into the stretch, then held off the lone late challenger by a head at the wire.

Hard West raced the 7 furlongs in 1:25.64 and paid $25, while raising his record to 6-3-4 in 29 starts. The $12,600 winner’s check boosted his earnings to $93,866.

In her previous start at Turf Paradise 17 days before, Galileta set a blistering pace in a test at 6 1/2 furlongs, and was in front with an eighth of a mile remaining after getting three quarters in 1:09.88. It stood to reason all she needed was a slightly shorter route in order to pick up her fourth career victory – and that came to pass yesterday.

With Jose Nava-Marin aboard in the race at six furlongs, the 5-year-old daughter of Amira’s Prince jumped out to the lead, put up fractions of :22.44, :45.49 and :57.52, and continued on to a half-length victory in 1:10.33, holding off favored Lovely Linda in the last sixteenth. Galileta, bred by Charles and Maritza Weston, raised her record to 4-1-2 in 17 starts with earnings of $60,383. She paid $11.40.

Joe and Helen Barbazon earned their second breeders’ award at Gulfstream Park in less than 24 hours when Emirates Affair won yesterday’s fifth race under Rafael Hernandez. That followed the victory of Charlotte the Brit in the ninth race on Thursday.

The 4-year-old Handsome Mike filly settled into third place leaving the gate in the race at ‘about’ five furlongs on the Tapeta surface and sat chilly in the three path as the two pacesetters battled through a :22.30 quarter. Hernandez sent her three wide on the turn and Emirates Affair assumed the lead at the top of the stretch, then coasted to a 1 1/4-length score in :57.95, just 53 hundredths off the current track record.

Handsome Mike’s seventh winner of 2022 was worth $17,100 to Emirates Affair and her career total rose to $93,410 on a record of 2-6-2 in 18 starts. She paid $11.60.

The Barbazons had also partnered with Ed Seltzer and Beverly Anderson for a non-breeders’ award victory by Blissful Change (Treasure Beach) at Fair Grounds on Thursday, making it a three-win two days for the Pleasant Acres breeding program.

Before yesterday’s ninth race at Gulfstream, other than a race where she clipped heels and lost her rider, Charlotte the Brit hadn’t finished worse than fifth in 18 consecutive starts. In that span, she posted six seconds, four thirds, two fourths and six fifths, slowly adding to a bank account that was inching toward the $200,000 level.

Yesterday, the 6-year-old mare by Treasure Beach, bred at Pleasant Acres by Joe and Helen Barbazon, had the services of Jose Ortiz, an Eclipse Award rider and a terror when he gets his mount to the front. And Ortiz displayed why he has achieved that reputation. He put Charlotte the Brit on the lead and lulled his fellow riders to sleep with a quarter in :25.60 and a half in :49.41 in the race at ‘about’ one mile over the turf course.

Charlotte the Brit responded by continuing on for a game neck victory, and rewarded her backers with a payoff of $43.60. While earning an Equibase ‘E’ speed figure of 86, she collected a check for $14,700, which increased her total to $174,525 on a record of 3-10-6 in 40 starts.

At Fair Grounds a short time later, the 4-year-old Treasure Beach filly Blissful Change, under Deshawn Parker, won for the second time in eight starts in a $51,000 allowance optional claimer. Bred by the Barbazons in partnership with Ed Seltzer and Beverly Anderson, she paid $26 and earned a check for $28,200.

John Bisono was able to accomplish at Tampa Bay Downs what jockey Mychel Sanchez wasn’t able to at Monmouth Park and Feargal Lynch wasn’t able to at Laurel.

After three unsuccessful attempts as a 2-year-old, followed by a layoff of nearly four months, High Vibes returned at Tampa yesterday and Bisono showed that the 3-year-old Maryland-bred daughter of Neolithic is capable of bigger and better things. Racing 1 1/16 miles over Tampa’s superior turf course, High Vibes sat well off the early pace, moved up to sixth coming to the final turn, circled the field into the stretch and inhaled the final two pacesetters with a slick move to the inside by her veteran rider in the last sixteenth of a mile.

High Vibes, a $45,000 OBS June 2-year-old bred by Maria M. and Mary Haire, won by three-quarters of a length and her maiden-breaker was worth $8,850. She completed the course in 1:44.84 and paid $39.40, while becoming Neolithic’s third winner of the new year.

Coop Tries Harder might have set two records with his victory in the third race at Gulfstream yesterday.

First, the 7-year-old gelding by Gone Astray lowered the record for ‘about’ five furlongs over the new Tapeta surface to :57.63 seconds. Then, he might have enjoyed the shortest reign ever as a record-holder when Fawning lowered the mark to :57.25 just five races later.

Coop Tries Harder was sent off as the 3/2 favorite with Junior Alvarado aboard after having finished second in his 2022 debut. The gelding bred by Dr. Thomas Brokken came from off the pace to score by 1 1/4 lengths, paying $5 and collecting a check for $22,100, which raised his career bank account to a healthy $207,472, while his record jumped to 5-6-8 in 34 starts.

It might not have been a surprise, if, on the way back to trainer Jane Cibelli’s barn, Coop Tries Harder was heard singing the old Sinatra favorite with a little change of words, “The way I traveled the track, the way I went 57.63, the memory of all that, no, no, they can’t take that away from me.”

Bettors on the races from Charles Town who sent Dealer’s Girl off at 2/5 in last night’s third race had to be more than a little concerned when the 8-year-old daughter of Gone Astray was away last in the race at 4 1/2 furlongs. But Marshall Mendez rushed the New Jersey-bred up on the inside, and when they passed the quarter in :22.67, she was head-and-head for the lead with 3-1 shot Bring It On.

Dealer’s Girl edged away on the turn and continued on the lead, reaching the finish three-quarters of a length ahead of a fast-closing runner-up. She was clocked in :54.49, paid $2.80 and collected $5,199 for the score, ballooning her career total to $207,357. Bred by Richard Malouf in New Jersey, Dealer’s Girl is 6-8-6 in 46 starts.