Turf News

Rolando Aragon showed he’s a great deal smarter than so many of today’s riders as he guided C V Thunder to a game head victory in a 6 1/2-furlong race at Turfway Park.

The 4-year-old daughter of Handsome Mike broke slowly from the rail, and Aragon was content to keep her on the inside down the backstretch. On the turn, as most of the field went wide trying to run down the leaders, Aragon never left the rail and C V Thunder surged into the lead, then held off one closer to score her second career victory.

The filly bred by trainer Jim Gulick was clocked in 1:18.65, paid a generous $34.40, and earned a check for $7,800.

Handsome Mike’s first winner of 2022 is Took a Cab, a 5-year-old gelding who has found his best form at Parx Racing after departing Florida last year.

Including his impressive performance yesterday, Took a Cab has now captured three of his eight starts at the Pennyslvania track after winning just once in his first 26 tries in Florida. The gelding bred by long-time Ocala breeder Joel W. Sainer is now 4-4-8 in 34 starts, and the $10,800 check raised his career earnings to $85,350.

With Luis Rivera contributing the perfect ride, Took a Cab was off well in the 5 1/2-furlong race, sat third early behind a :22.36 quarter, cruised up to second on the turn, and proved easily best down the lane, winning by 1 1/4 lengths in 1:07 flat.

Handsome Mike is now less than $59,000 away from reaching $4 million in career progeny earnings.

Handicappers who were sharp enough to take away something positive from Quantum Quest’s unsuccessful debut at Los Alamitos on Dec. 3, were able to cash in big time yesterday as Gone Astray closed out the year in the final race at Santa Anita by getting his 51st winner.

In his six-furlong debut, Quantum Quest finished fifth after forcing the pace through sizzling quarters of :22.07 and :45.78, then by losing ground by going four wide on the turn for home. Learning from that experience, and with every right to show great improvement, the now-5-year-old gelding shot to the lead under Kyle Frey, posted a :22.17 quarter, then edged away by daylight while going to the half in 46.06. He cruised to the wire under wraps as announcer Frank Mirahmadi brought him home with “Quantum Quest – strong every step of the way – strolls in – wins by seven lengths.”

Mirahmadi was right on – the final margin was 6 3/4 – and Quantum Quest paid $18, while collecting a check for $14,400 and, until all returns are in, temporarily giving Gone Astray $2,176,401 in 2021 progeny earnings. He finished sixth among active Florida sires.

Two Pleasant Acres products, both 4-year-old fillies, made it two victories in a row yesterday to beat their 5-year-old birthdays by three days. Indy Princess Koko (Amira’s Prince) scored at Mahoning Valley and Take to the Skies (Handsome Mike) did likewise at Tampa Bay Downs.

Indy Princess Koko was ridden by Erik Barbaran, and she was off last in a field of eight racing 5 1/2 furlongs. She was still 10 lengths behind the pace-setters coming to the turn, where she dug in and uncorked a monster wide run similar to the one she had made in her previous victory just 16 days before. Like that race, Indy Princess Koko inhaled the leaders late, going on to win by a length in 1:07.48, and earning a check for $8,940. Her fourth victory of 2021 was worth $28 to her backers, and she raised her earnings to $36,268.

Take to the Skies sat closer to the pace going a mile on the turf with Wilmer Garcia, and she slipped through on the inside coming to the final turn. Garcia swung her into the three path in the stretch and she proved best in the run to the wire by one length. She collected a check for $10,600 and increased her total to $31,855 on a record of 2-2-1 in eight starts; she’s been in the top four in seven of the eight.

Handsome Mike is listed at 14th on Florida’s leading sire list with earnings of more than $1.1 million, but five of those ahead of him have died, retired or gone elsewhere, leaving him ninth among active sires.

After winning three of her four starts as a 3-year-old in 2019, Shifty She was forced to the sidelines for 16 months, missing her entire 4-year-old campaign. The daughter of Gone Astray made her return in April of this year, and after her second-place finish in yesterdays’s Gr. III, $200,000 Suwannee River Stakes at Gulfstream, her record for 2021 is 3-1–1 in seven starts with earnings of $252,795.

Edwin Gonzalez was aboard the 5-year-old mare for the race at ‘about’ one mile on the grass, and he took her right to the lead from the break. Carrying high-weight of 125 pounds, Shifty She led at every call, only to be edged at the wire by Sweet Melania by one-half length after a furious stretch battle, and the winner carrying just 121 pounds may have been the deciding factor. The race went in 1:34.19, less than 2/5ths of a second off the course record, and Shifty She collected $18,600 for her strong performance.

Shifty She had previously won the Gr. III Noble Damsel at Belmont Park, and before that the Powder Break and Ginger Punch at Gulfstream. She’s now 6-1-1 in 11 lifetime tries, with earnings of $355,995.

Shifty She is trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., same trainer who won the $400,000 Remington Springboard Mile with Make It Big (Neolithic) the previous evening.

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With less than two weeks remaining in 2021, Neolithic all but wrapped up the title as Florida’s leading freshman sire by progeny earnings with the game victory last night of unbeaten Make It Big in the $400,000 Remington Springboard Mile.

Red Oak Farm’s $120,000 OBS April purchase, now 3-for-3 with two stakes victories, had a big edge heading into the mile race – Saffie Joseph Jr., the country’s 10th leading trainer, and New York jockey Jose Ortiz, the fourth leading rider.

Make It Big broke in mid-pack from the No. 2 post, and Ortiz had him well-placed on the inside racing down the backstretch, about three lengths behind the pace-setters. He swung his colt off the rail and came five wide nearing the top of the stretch, and Make It Big out-gamed Osbourne to the wire by one-half length to collect the $240,000 winner’s share for the Brunetti family, owners of Red Oak Farm and Hialeah Park.

While Ortiz was winning his 250th race this year, Make It Big boosted his earnings to $303,828, and Neolithic’s first-crop progeny earnings soared to an unbeatable $632,209.

The Gone Astray parade to the winner’s circle continued at Mountaineer last night with the second victory in his last three starts by Gone Paradise, a 4-year-old gelding bred by JDAB Stables.

Gone Paradise left from the rail in the 5 1/2-furlong race and Charlie Oliveros quickly had him on the lead, with 4/5 favorite USS Costly glued to his side. The duo raced that way – several lengths ahead of the field – until the top of the stretch, where Gone Paradise left the favorite gasping and drew off to a 3 1/4-length score in 1:07.13.

Gone Paradise paid a generous $16, while lifting his record to 3-4-2 in 18 starts.

Anybody compiling a list – world-wide – of those who believe the number 13 carries with it an unlucky stigma, can’t include the backers of Indy Princess Koko.

The daughter of Amira’s Prince scored her third victory in 16 starts yesterday – December 13 – at Mahoning Valley. Her maiden-breaker had come at Belterra Park on May 13, and her second victory was posted at Thistledown – on October 13. There was also a third added at Thistledown on July 13.

Erik Barbaran was aboard Indy Princess Koko yesterday, and he brought the 4-year-old filly from last place in the six-horse field to a flying finish in the race at six furlongs. The Equibase chart has Indy Princess Koko 5 3/4 lengths behind as the field passed the first quarter in :23.32 seconds. But a closer look at the video shows the margin was at least 9 or 10 lengths. From there, the filly bred by Jeannine S. McGinn looked like Arazi winning the 1991 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, literally inhaling the field with a monster move turning for home, then cruising to a 7 1/4–length victory. She had won her other two by seven and 3 1/2, a combined total for the three of nearly 18 lengths.

Indy Princess Koko was clocked in 1:11.35, paid $11.20 and earned a check for $6,660.

Handsome Mike’s 29th winner of 2021 is Take to the Skies, a 4-year-old filly who broke her maiden at Tampa Bay Downs yesterday despite a layoff of nearly eight months.

Ridden by Wilmer Garcia, Take to the Skies was off well in the race at one mile on the turf, settling in third on the inside She went after the leaders coming to the final turn, and survived a battle to the wire, holding off two fast-closing rivals in deep stretch. The filly bred by Ross Thomas Russell paid $5.60 as favorite and earned a check for $8,470; she has been worse than fourth just once in seven races.

Handsome Mike has progeny earnings of nearly $1.1 million this year, and is the ninth-leading sire among all those who will stand in Florida in 2022.

Gone Astray’s impressive run since his arrival at Pleasant Acres continues unabated. The stallion by Gone West picked up his 50th winner of 2021 with the virtually wire-to-wire victory of 2-year-old Nameeomee, who made her career debut at Charles Town last evening and lit up the tote board to the tune of $56.60, $24.60 and $12.40.

Christian Hiraldo was aboard the strangely-named filly, who had just two mediocre workouts listed, making it a difficult wagering proposition for the betting public. Nameeomee jumped out quickly in the race at 4 1/2 furlongs, battled for the lead through a quarter in :22.14, took over by herself on the turn and drew off late to win by 3 1/2 lengths in :54.01.

The filly bred by John R. Cothran earned $10,908, which boosted Gone Astray’s progeny earnings for the year to $2,084,472. He’s one of just seven Florida stallions who will wind up 2021 with more than $2 million.