Turf News

Jockey Leonel Reyes did everything right aboard Great Venezuela in Gulfstream’s $75,000 Sunshine Filly & Mare Stakes, he just had no way of knowing that 7-1 shot Ashima was up for a career best in the race at one mile over the turf course.

Great Venezuela, a 4-year-old Neolithic filly, came in riding a four-race winning streak, and Ashima had won three in a row, but not in nearly as good company. When Ashima took the early lead, Reyes was content to put his filly in perfect position, glued to Ashima’s right flank. Ashima flew through fractions of :23.36, 47:16, 1:10:45 and 1:22.01, and Great Venezuela couldn’t close on her through the lane. The race went in 1:33.73 and the final margin was 1 1/4 lengths, with Ashima notching an Equibase ‘E’ speed figure of 92, best of her 13-race career.

Great Venezuela earned $14,700 for second, raising her career total to $192,900 for owner/breeder Orlyana Farm on a superior record of 6-2-1 in nine starts.

Neolithic’s second January winner is Cajun Vibes, a 4-year-old gelding bred by Curtis Mikkelsen and Patricia Horth whose recent record was good enough to send him off at 4/5 in a six-furlong race at Penn National.

With Jorge Gonzalez in the irons, Cajun Vibes was off a step slowly leaving the gate, but he began a strong run down the backstretch and surged into contention down the lane. He won going away by nearly two lengths with six furlongs in 1:12.26 and paid $3.60. The $9,600 check increased Cajun Vibes’ total to $28,900 on a record of 2-2-1 in six starts.

Neolithic’s final winner of 2024, and his first of 2025, both came at Camarero Race Track in Puerto Rico.

SOUND OF WAR – The 3-year-old colt owned and bred by L&D Thoroughbreds beat the New Year by a few days, winning a six-furlong test by a length and a quarter in 1:14.27 under J. C. Diaz Jr. It was just his third start and he paid $7.00, while earning a check for $3,480. He gave Neolithic an even 50 winners for the year from 76 starters, for a 66 percentage.

DREAM V – The 5-year-old mare bred by Y-Lo Racing was a $30,000 OBS June 2-year-old and if she had raced anywhere but in Puerto Rico, her 40-7-8-10 record would have her listed as a great bargain. But, as the $3,480 check from her latest score shows, she’s been far from a financial success with total earnings of $46,416. Victory No. 7 was a $55.50 stunner, with Carlos Rodriguez getting her up for a neck victory over a 3/10 favorite. She was clocked in 1:06.26 for the 5 1/2 furlongs, and received an Equibase ‘E’ speed figure of 65, her best ever.

Right Angle became Gunnevera’s second winner in January, and his first runner to win two races, using a strong late run under Miguel Vasquez for a 5 1/2-length score in a $38,000 starter optional claimer over the Gulfstream Park Tapeta surface.

The 3-year-old filly was off sixth and raced in sixth place down the backstretch before beginning a three-wide run coming to the turn. She continued wide into the stretch and ran down 2-1 Blond Jak at the wire, winning by three-quarters of a length. Right Angle was clocked in 1:03.50, paid $24.80, and earned a check for $22,800, lifting her three-race total to $42,560.

Right Angle was bred by Tom MCrocklin and Frank Mermenstein, giving the former two Gunnevera victories in a week; McCrocklin is also a co-breeder of Princess Vera, Gunnevera’s New Year’s Day winner at Parx Racing.

After a late-season surge that gave Gunnevera six winners in his freshman crop, Princess Vera made it seven on New Year’s Day with a “last-to-first” effort at Parx Racing in her career debut.

With just two days left to decide second place on Florida’s general sire list for 2024, Neolithic has a slight edge on his two rivals with $2,874,224 in progeny earnings, thanks to the come-from-behind victory by Neoking at Turfway Park on Saturday.

The 4-year-old gelding owned and bred by Just For Fun Stable raced well back in the pack early, about 15 lengths off the pace in the race at six furlongs, with Fernando De La Cruz in the saddle. He began to close the gap on the turn, but at the top of the stretch Neoking looked well beaten. He then dug in and closed with authority in the last sixteenth, getting up by half a length over three others at the wire.

Neoking was clocked in 1:11.19, paid $35.26 and earned a check for $9,939. He raised his record to 4-3-4 in 20 starts, and his bank account jumped to $63,586, with $47,301 coming in 2024. He was claimed out of the race.

It took owner/breeder Terry Bruner and his team four sprint starts on the dirt and Tapeta at Gulfstream Park before they found the hole card for their 2-year-old filly, Das Ist Alles Ally. When they switched the daughter of Neolithic to a mile and one-sixteenth on the grass, she looked like a different horse.

With Sam Marin in the irons, Das Ist Alles Ally broke from the No. 7 post and was caught in a switch between two horses, and forced to drop back to ninth. Marin took her to the rail, and midway down the backstretch, she began to quickly pass fillies on the inside. Marin swung her out turning for home, and she proceeded to leave her rivals in the dust, drawing off to score by seven widening lengths. She paid $8.80 and earned a check for $11,720, lifting her total to $17,880, and she may spend the rest of her career on the turf.

Malicious Lady went through several jockeys without enjoying any success in her first five races at Camarero Race Track in Puerto Rico. Then, Andy Hernandez Sanchez hopped aboard and it all changed.

In a maiden race at one mile over a muddy track, Sanchez put the 2-year-old Neolithic filly on the lead leaving the gate, and she turned it into no contest, opening up by daylight and going on to score by an eye-catching 10 1/4 lengths. The filly bred by Terri Latner and Jeff Lovelady, a $20,000 OBS June 2-year-old, earned a check for $4,792, and became Neolithic’s 48th winner of 2024 from 74 starters, for an excellent 65 percent.

Gunnevera has added his sixth winner to his first-crop list, and Fontana Di Trevi’s score at Gulfstream Park may have been the most impressive of all.

Tyler Gaffalione was aboard the 2-year-old filly in the race at six furlongs, and the rider who just achieved his 2,500th winner had her in a stalking position heading down the backstretch. When Tyler gave her the go sign, Fontana Di Trevi proved to be a ton the best, winning by more than three lengths without being threatened in the late stages, clocked in 1:13.27.

After posting a second and a third in her first two races, the filly bred by Shade Tree Thoroughbreds was sent off at 7/5 and paid $4.80. She earned a check for $26,000, raising her three-race total to $38,800.

Freshman sire Gunnevera’s fifth winner is The Mole Baby, an $8,000 OBS June 2-year-old who broke her maiden in her third start a boat ride away, at Camarero Race Track in Puerto Rico.

With J. C. Diaz in the saddle, in a race at 6 1/2 furlongs over a muddy track, the 2-year-old Kentucky-bred filly took the lead after a half and ran away and hid down the lane, scoring by seven widening lengths. She paid $3.10, earned a check for $3,480, and was claimed out of the race.