Bernie Dickman

Ballybrit Stables’ patience with Loop of Henle paid off at Monmouth Park with the 3-year-old Gunnevera filly breaking her maiden under Paco Lopez in her 11th start.

Loop of Henle didn’t start at two and after coming up to her latest following a pair of seconds, she went to the post as the heavy 1/2 favorite. After a quick start, she sat a comfortable third down the backstretch, slipped through into contention on the inside, then bested 5/2 Princess Norman by a neck in the run to the wire. She was clocked in 1:13.31 for the six furlongs, paid $3 and earned a check for $10,500, raising her bank account to $25,150.

Attorney David Romanik and his trainer, Ron Spatz, have enjoyed great success in recent seasons with runners sired by stallions from Pleasant Acres. On Friday, they made a $25,800 score at Gulfstream Park with Private Thoughts, a 4-year-old gelding by Neolithic who also earned a healthy breeders’ award for Joe and Helen Barbazon.

Romanik and Spatz purchased Private Thoughts for a bargain $11,000 at the 2023 OBS March sale and he has now earned $187,574.

Private Thoughts had not raced in nine months, but he broke quickly and Leonel Reyes was able to settle him in comfortably along the inside heading down the backstretch in the race at one mile over the turf course. Reyes shook him up coming to the final turn and the gelding went up for the lead in the lane, then out-gamed even-money favorite Smart Striker by a head at the wire.

The race went in 1:33.27, less than two seconds off the course record and Private Thoughts rewarded his backers with a $9.40 win price. He raised his record to 5-2-2 in 13 starts and received an Equibase ‘E’ speed figure of 94.

Coming off a second-place finish at Penn National, where he missed by a head in a six-furlong race that went in 1:09.45, this week Neon Sign rebounded at the same distance and went wire-to-wire under Jomar Torres, scoring by three lengths, and posting the best Equibase ‘E’ speed figure of his 19-race career.

The 5-year-old Neolithic gelding bred by Southern Comfort Farm zipped past the poles in :22.67, :45.40 and :57.17 and rolled past the finish line in 1:09.74. Those who for some reason ventured to wager on the $15,000 OBS June 2-year-old collected $2.40 to win. His new top ‘E’ speed figure is 94, and he collected $13,200 for the impressive effort, which increased his career total to $108,145 on a record of 6-4-0 in his 19 starts.

Monumental. “Great in importance, extent, or size.” That’s the only way one can describe the four-day period winding up Saturday featuring Pleasant Acres Stallions, owners Joe and Helen Barbazon and the stallion Neolithic.

From Wednesday to Saturday, Neolithic had three winners, including one in a $100,000 stakes race, plus four seconds. The total haul for the magnificent seven amounts to $101,864. The Barbazons were breeders/co-breeders in three of them.

First on the list is Sir Banana Brian, who won at a mile-and-70-yards at Delaware Park and paid a juicy $25. The $10,000 OBS June 2-year-old bred by Patricia Generazio scored by nearly five lengths in 1:44.15. The 4-year-old colt became Neolithic’s 33rd winner of 2025, earning a check for $9,000 and raising his total to $53,840 on a record of 2-3-5 in 26 starts.

The first of the runners-up is Big Bucksalot, second by three-quarters of a length in a starter optional claimer at Thistledown. The 5-year-old gelding bred by Julie Jackson came from just off the pace in a six-furlong race that went in 1:11.77. He earned $4,000 and is just $433 short of reaching $100,000.

Next came Spotlight Girl, a West Virginia-bred 2-year-old filly owned, bred and trained by Angel Rodriguez. In her 5 1/2-furlong third start, at Charles Town, she led all the way into the stretch before being caught by the even-money favorite, and collected $6,064, jumping her total to $12,624.

On Friday, Neoequos, coming out of four straight graded stakes, including the Kentucky Derby, ran away and hid in the six-furlong, $100,000 Jersey Shore Stakes at Monmouth Park. Sam Marin was aboard for the first stakes victory for the 3-year-old colt, accomplished by nearly four lengths in 1:09.51. Bred by Joe and Helen Barbazon in partnership with Matalona Thoroughbreds, and with seven owners, the $22,000 OBS October yearling paid $2.60 and raised his record to 3-2-2 in 10 starts. The $60,000 check increased his earnings to $354,050, second best among all Neolithic runners.

Earlier in the day, Miss Neo, making her first start in 6 1/2 months, finished second to a 7/10 favorite at Delaware Park. The 5-year-old mare bred by the Barbazons in partnership with Ed Seltzer and Beverly Anderson earned $3,200, boosting her earnings to $43,050.

The streak wound up in the 11th race at Gulfstream Park, when Dialithic and I Love Venezuela finished 1-2 in a race at a mile and 70 yards over the Tapeta surface. Dialithic is a 4-year-old filly bred by the Barbazons without partners, and she won by two lengths over I Love Venezuela, who had 7 1/2 lengths over the third-place finisher. Dialithic, a $25,000 OBS October yearling, paid $8.40 and earned $14,550, becoming winner No. 34. I Love Venezuela picked up $5,050 for second.

Neodera raced twice as a 2-year-old in July of 2024 and collected a pair of thirds. The Neolithic filly then took a vacation of one year, returning at Gulfstream Park for owners SCF Inc. and attorney David Romanik and registering a wire-to-wire score to become her sire’s 32nd winner of this year.

Emisael Jaramillo was aboard Neodera in the $56,000 maiden special at 5 1/2 furlongs over the Tapeta surface. She passed the markers in :22.72, :45.29 and :57.58, then held off her rivals in the lane to win by one length. She was clocked in a quick 1:03.94, paid $10.20, and earned a check for $33,000 plus a breeder’s award for SCF Inc. Her three-race bank account jumped to $42,900.

At Belterra Park the same day, Zaddy also went wire-to-wire, this one at six furlongs under Summer Pauly. Since leaving Florida, where he could only muster up a single third in seven tries, the 3-year-old Neolithic gelding has had six races in Ohio, posting two victories and three seconds.

The sharp local record was enough to send Zaddy off at an unbettable 1/5, and he paid $2.40, although he won by just a head. Clocked in 1:12.77, the $20,000 OBS October yearling bred by Paradisus Acres Thorougbreds earned a check for $6,262, upping his total to $30,717.

Neolithic now has 2025 progeny earnings nearing $1.7 million, in third place on Florida’s general sire list.

Add Saffie Joseph Jr. to the list of trainers who like to take advantage of the cash handed out at the Colonial Downs meeting. Saffie struck quickly in a $72,000 allowance race with his consistent 5-year-old Neolithic gelding, Mister Abarrio, and owner Skymac profited to the tune of $43,200.

Micah Husbands was in the irons aboard the $30,000 OBS October yearling, who was coming into the one-mile test over the inner turf course off a second and a first, and went off at 5/2. Micah allowed the gelding to sit comfortably in mid-pack on the rail down the backstretch, and Mister Abarrio began to close coming to the final turn. He was blocked briefly, then swung wide for the stretch run where he inhaled the leaders and won going away by 1 1/4 lengths.

He was clocked in 1:35.94, paid $7.60, and raised his earnings to $251,510 on an imposing record of 5-7-11 in 31 starts, with $85,370 coming this year.

Prevent became Neolithic’s fifth $300,000-plus earner after his wire-to-wire victory in the $75,000 Soldier’s Dancer Handicap at Gulfstream Park.

Edgard Zayas was aboard the 4-year-old colt who completed the mile and 70-yard trip over the Tapeta surface in 1:39.31, less than two seconds off the track record, while receiving an excellent 102 Equibase ‘E’ speed figure, a career best. The colt bred by Katia Perez Ozuna was a $15,000 OBS Winter purchase by Arindel Farm’s Brian Cohen.

Prevent paid $14.40 and earned a check for $43,650, increasing his lifetime total to $300,947 on a record of 5-5-1 in 21 starts.

Express Kid took only :52.58 seconds to show that his $2,000 purchase price at the Arizona Fall yearling sale was a major bargain. The 2-year-old Bodexpress colt broke his maiden in his career debut at Canterbury Park and it was worth $13,800 to owner Steve Haahr.

Guillermo Rodriguez was in the saddle for Express Kid’s first start, a $25,500 maiden special at 4 1/2 furlongs. The colt bred in California by Richard Barton Enterprises was on the lead throughout and he prevailed by a neck, just one and 2/5ths seconds off the track record. He paid $16.40.

The best Trojan’s Pride could muster up in his first four races at Oaklawn Park and Churchill Downs was one fifth-place finish. But the ‘E’ speed figures for 3-year-old colt by Curlin’s Honor improved with each start.

Shipped to Ellis Park, the colt bred by Breeze Easy broke his maiden in his fifth try with an eye-catching ‘last to first’ performance, coming from 10 lengths behind on the backstretch under Corey Lanerie to a 1 1/2-length score. Lanerie sent Trojan’s Pride after the leaders on the final turn in the race at a mile and a sixteenth on the grass, split horses at the top of the stretch, then shifted to the inside and sprinted away late while widening the margin with every stride.

Trojan’s Pride was clocked in 1:42.93, paid $15.40 and earned a check for $17,484. He recorded his best ‘E’ speed figure – 79.

Add Dream V to the list of runners who have enjoyed highly successful racing careers, but whose earnings have not matched their records due to campaigning in Puerto Rico with its minor league purse structure.

Dream V is a 5-year-old daughter of Neolithic who was bred by Y-Lo Racing Stables and sold for $30,000 as an OBS June 2-year-old. In her latest race at Camarero, after having finished third in her previous three races, she went wire-to-wire under Javier Santiago and paid just $3.30. She completed 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:07.00, scoring by nearly two lengths.

Dream V raised her lifetime record to a formidable 8-10-13 in 48 starts, but the paltry winner’s check of $3,770 increased her total to only $54,986. This year alone, she’s compiled a record of 2-2-3 in nine tries, with microscopic earnings of $12,050.