Turf News

The honor of becoming the first Florida-bred runner to win a race in the New Year goes to Rubysa, a just-turned 5-year-old mare by Gone Astray who captured the second race at Gulfstream Park yesterday after Pennysylvania-bred Spy Novel won the first.

Ridden by Ocala’s Jose Ortiz, Rubysa was off with the leaders in the race at a mile and 70-yards over the Tapeta course, took up a stalking position in the two path down the backstretch, went up for the lead on the turn and held it down the lane, scoring by half a length in 1:41.07.

Bred by Inversiones Fl, Rubysa raised her record to 3-4-3 in 15 starts, and the check for $14,700 lifted her earnings to $65,920. She paid $5.20.

Gone Astray wound up 2022 as Florida’s fifth-leading sire with 48 winners and progeny earnings of $1,896,942. Earlier in the week, he passed the $15 million mark lifetime.

In the space of eight races, Tiz No Clown has become a source of great satisfaction for William Earl Atkins.

The 2-year-old Maryland-bred colt by No Never No More won for the second time yesterday in a $62,500 allowance optional claimer at Laurel, collecting a check for $37,260 and boosting his total for the year to $81,857. Atkins, the colt’s owner and trainer, purchased Tiz No Clown for a paltry $2,200 as a weanling at the 2020 Timonium December sale, making him one of the great bargains of the 2022 2-year-old crop.

Yomar Ortiz was in the irons for Tiz No Clown’s six-furlong test, and he broke the colt on top, then eased him back to fourth, off the rail. Ortiz sent him after the leaders on the turn, and Tiz No Clown didn’t clown around, out-gaming 2-1 favorite Lost Weekend to the wire by a nose. The colt bred by Stephen E. Smith and Denise Jones paid $51.80 after getting the six furlongs in 1:12.64.

LATEST NEWS; As the 2022 season came to a close, Gone Astray passed the $15 million mark in career progeny earnings.

Dropkick Murphy broke his maiden in his third start with a dominating wire-to-wire performance at Tampa Bay Downs yesterday and his sire, Bucchero, will wind up his freshman season tied for the Florida lead in the winners’ department.

The 2-year-old colt became winner No. 14 for Bucchero, deadlocking him for the lead with Awesome Slew. Neither stallion has a runner entered today, and Bucchero’s first-year progeny earnings will top out at $638,575.

Pablo Morales rode Dropkick Murphy, who shot out of the gate and into the lead and held it for the entire six furlongs. He paid $9.40 after passing the markers in :22.13 and :45.34, en route to a four-length score in 1:10.34 for his owners and breeders, Irish Eyes Stable and Going in Circles LLC.

Toddchero has added another stakes-placed effort to his resume and now has five to his credit in his first racing season. At odds of 16-1, the 2-year-old colt by Bucchero finished third in the $100,000 Sugar Bowl Stakes at Fair Grounds, his third time in the show position in eight races; he also has two runner-up finishes.

Bucchero’s No. 1 earner missed the runner-up spot by a nose in the six-furlong race that went in 1:09.46 and earned his best Equibase ‘E’ speed figure, an 85 . He picked up $10,000, raising his total to $95,600 on a record of 1-2-4, and sent his sire’s progeny earnings to $601,355. The colt bred by GDS Racing Stable has campaigned at six tracks.

Stallions who enjoyed their beginnings in the breeding shed at Pleasant Acres hit the jackpot yesterday at Florida’s tracks, accounting for four winners at Tampa Bay Downs and one at Gulfstream Park. The four at Tampa earned a total of $50,735, and the one at Gulfstream $31,800; $82,535 in all.

3rd race Tampa: China Beach, 4yo g by Treasure Beach won by 7 1/4 with Jose Alonso; paid $21.80, earned $10,095. Bred by Joe and Helen Barbazon.

4th race Tampa: Handsome Playboy, 2yo g by Handsome Mike won by 4 1/4 with Pablo Morales; paid $4, earned $19,850. Owned and bred by Gerald and Mary Bennett.

5th race Tampa: Fierce Warrior, 3yo g by Poseidon’s Warrior won by 4 1/2 with Angel Arroyo; paid $7.60, earned $10,395. Bred by Joe and Helen Barbazon.

8th race Tampa: Lord Berrier, 4yo g by Poseidon’s Warrior won by a head with Hector Diaz Jr; paid $5.60, earned $10,395. Bred by Bonnie Heath Farm.

1st race Gulfstream: Keanu, 2yo g by Brethren won by 1/2 with Juan Alvarado; paid $17.20, earned $31,800. Owned and bred by Arindel.

Gone Astray’s run toward $15 million in career progeny earnings is close to fulfillment after the dominating victory of The Biggest One in the third race at Parx yesterday.

The 4-year-old filly bred by Inversiones Fl won her second straight in the space of 14 days with Ruben Silvera in the irons, the first on Dec. 7 coming by 4 3/4 lengths, and yesterday’s by three. She raised her record to 4-4-3 in 24 starts and the check for $13,200 increased her total to $90,960. This year alone, she’s 3-2-3 in 14 tries with earnings of $57,620, and Gone Astray stands at $14,979,892; he could reach the $15 million milestone in the next couple of days.

In yesterday’s race at six furlongs, The Biggest One was off in the two path, head-and-head for the lead in a :22.86 quarter. She then shook loose on the turn and drew off in mid-track down the stretch, winning in 1:14.77 without a challenge and paying $7.40.

Daughters of Bucchero played a major role in several major payoffs on the front end of the Gulfstream Park program Sunday. Clay Soldier boosted her record to 2-for-2 by winning the third race and paid $21.20, followed by Sherlyn Go Go’s maiden-breaker in the fourth race at $6.00. The 50-cent Pick 3 on races 2-3-4 paid $1,422; the Pick 4 on races 2-3-4-5 paid $4,221, and the Pick 5 on races 1 through 5 was through the roof – $94,330.

CLAY SOLDIER – The 2-year-old filly owned and bred by retired Ocala dentist Sonny Link captured a $39,000 Starter Optional Claimer under Leonel Reyes, stalking a :21.80, :44.73 pace until the top of the stretch, then proving easily best in the lane to score by two lengths. She raced the five furlongs over the Tapeta surface in :57.17 and collected a check for $23,800, boosting her two-race total to $41,600. She’s the first of red-hot Bucchero’s runners to win twice in the stallion’s freshman season.

SHERLYN GO GO – In his first trip aboard her, former Eclipse Award winner Tyler Gaffalione piloted the filly bred by Dominique Damico and Fly By Breeding to her first victory in four starts, giving Bucchero winner No. 13 and putting him one ahead of Awesome Slew for the Florida freshman lead with less than two weeks remaining in the chase. He’s also tied for first with former Pleasant Acres stallion Brethren for number of 2-year-old winners among all Florida sires. The $22,000 OBS October yearling won by a neck and earned $31,800, increasing her total to $59,400. She raced a mile and 70 yards over the Tapeta course in 1:41.75 after the race came off the grass.

With just 14 days remaining in the 2022 racing year, Bucchero has again tied Awesome Slew for the Florida freshman sire lead in the winners’ department. It took her eight tries to accomplish it, but Major Pryce became winner No. 12 for Bucchero with a dominating performance in the second race at Gulfstream Park yesterday.

A main difference between her first seven starts and No. 8? Yesterday, champion rider Irad Ortiz Jr. was aboard for the first time. Major Pryce broke well in the race at a mile and 70 yards over the Tapeta surface, and Ortiz settled her into third place on the inside down the backstretch. She began a powerful run approaching the final turn, came three wide into the stretch, and cruised to the wire a widening 6 1/2 lengths in front fueled by announcer Pete Aiello’s call – “at one-to-two Major Pryce is easy money!”

Major Pryce, bred by Judy Bassett and Debora Morgan and a $27,000 OBS March 2-year-old, was clocked in 1:41.93 and paid $3 as the heavy favorite. She earned a check for $19,600, boosting her total to $38,200.

It took Leonel Reyes one race – and a sixth-place finish – to get acquainted with Heiresstray, a 3-year-old Gone Astray filly owned and bred by Purple Haze Stable.

In her second try with Reyes at Gulfstream yesterday, Heiresstray rocketed to the lead out of the gate, opened up daylight on the backstretch through fractions of :22.30 and :45.30, then coasted through the stretch to win by six lengths in 1:11.55 for the six furlongs as announcer Pete Aiello bellowed, “Heiresstray has run them off their feet.”

She became winner No. 48 for Gone Astray this year and was worth $12,800, which raised the stallion’s lifetime progeny earnings to $14,957,819.

In his first five career starts, Pluma Roja had the services of four different jockeys, never raced longer than six furlongs, and never finished better than sixth. At Gulfstream Park yesterday, trainer Nestor Cascallares made two changes – he picked new rider Jose Morelos to take the 2-year-old gelding a mile and 70 yards over the Tapeta surface. Result: Pluma Roja looked like a different horse.

The son of Amira’s Prince was away fifth on the inside down the backstretch and remained there until the turn. A good eight or nine lengths behind midway on the turn, Pluma Roja appeared to have no chance to even make the board. But he put it in another gear and closed a huge gap, then remained on the rail in the stretch and ran over the leaders to win by a neck, clocked in 1:42.99. He paid $58.

Pluma Roja became the eighth winner from 11 starters for Amira’s Prince, earning a check for $14,700 and getting another breeders’ award for Joe and Helen Barbazon.