Neolithic adds two more winners; he has 26

Neolithic added two more winners over the Belmont Stakes weekend, giving the son of Harlan’s Holiday 26 this year, good for third place among Florida’s active sires.

SIR BANANA BRIAN – The 3-year-old colt bred by Patricia Generazio and owned and trained by long-time South Florida horseman Danny Hurtak, was coming off a pair of seconds, and went wire-to-wire in a race at 5 1/2 furlongs over Gulfsream’s Tapeta surface. Under Miguel Vasquez, he passed the markers in :22.85, :46.56 and :58.67 en route to a 2 1/2-length score in 1:04.85, and paid $9.60. Hurtak, who forked over $10,000 for Sir Banana Brian at the 2023 OBS June sale, collected a check for $15,000, which raised his colt’s take to $37,860 on a record of 1-3-3 in 10 starts.

MISS NEO – The 4-year-old filly is another in a long line of winners bred by Joe and Helen Barbazon in partnership with Ed Seltzer and Beverly Anderson. In a maiden race at six furlongs at Monmouth Park, with Jorge Gonzalez aboard, Miss Neo stalked the early pace in the two path, dueled for the lead and took over in the stretch, then held off the 3/10 favorite by a neck. In her first 2024 start, she paid $22.60 and collected a check for $10,800, lifting her six-race total to $16,325.