Turf News

After sitting in third place on Florida’s general sire list for most of the year, Neolithic moved into a clear-cut second via the exploits of Prevent and Camigol over the weekend.

PREVENT – The 4-year-old colt bred by Katia Perez Ozuna, who sold for $15,000 at the 2022 OBS Winter Mixed Sale, captured a $70,000 handicap at Gulfstream Park in a race that was scheduled for the turf but was switched to the Tapeta surface. With Emisael Jaramillo in the saddle, Prevent was off fourth early, but rushed up to take the lead after a quarter and held it the rest of the way, winning by 1 1/2 lengths in 1:39.46 for the mile and 70 yards.

Prevent, who has won two of his last three, paid $7.20 and added $41,500 to his bank account, which now stands at $347,447 on a record of 6-5-1 in 23 starts. He received an excellent Equibase ‘E’ speed figure of 97.

CAMIGOL – For a colt who was a $9,000 RNA as an OBS October yearling, the 2-year-old has performed admirably. At odds of 3-1, he finished second under Marcos Meneses in the $100,000 Dr. Fager Stakes and picked up a check for $20,000, raising his four-race total to $90,200 on a record of 1-2-1. The two checks increased Neolithic’s progeny earnings for 2025 to $2,541,911 as his first $3 million season draws closer.

Leinster enjoyed a banner afternoon on Saturday, with Lennilu winning the $100,000 Desert Vixen Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Gulfstream Park and Triskelion finishing second in a $170,000 handicap at Kentucky Downs.

LENNILU – The filly bred by Joe and Helen Barbazon was a $23,000 OBS Winter Mixed Sale graduate. With Jonathan Ocasio in the irons, she went head-and-head with 2-1 Finding Strength for the entire six furlongs through sizzling fractions of :22.15, :45.50 and :57.87, and with track announcer Peter Aiello bellowing “a thrilling Desert Vixen,” Lennilu prevailed by a nose in a stakes-record 1:10.72. She paid $4.80 and collected a check for $60,000, ballooning her total to $163,289 on a stellar record of 3-0-1 in four starts.

TRISKELION – The $75,000 FTK July yearling stalked the early pace in third in the maiden special at 6 1/2 furlongs on the turf, then closed well to get the runner-up spot and earn a check for $18,000. With a third at Ellis Park in her debut, she’s collected $22,933 in two starts.

Blitz: “A lot of activity to achieve something in a short time, often used in various contexts, like marketing or sports.” Neolithic had six runners compete at four tracks between Wednesday and Friday, resulting in four victories, a second and a third. That’s a blitz!

WEDNESDAY: At Penn National, High Vibes raised her record to 6-3-7 in 38 starts with a sharp performance under Inoel Beato in a race at ‘about’ one mile over the turf course. The 6-year-old mare bred in Maryland by Maria and Mary Haire sat just outside 3-1 pacesetter Sweet No No for half a mile, surged into the lead turning for home and won by half a length in 1:36.51, less than two seconds off the course record. The $45,000 OBS June 2-year-old earned $12,000, increasing her bank account to $116,310.

At Thistledown, Big Bucksalot pressed the pace early in a $20,000 starter optional claimer before tiring to finish third. The 5-year-old gelding bred by Julie Jackson collected $2,000 and jumped his earnings to $101,567.

THURSDAY: A certain sharpie (or sharpies) was/were no doubt expecting a winner in the fifth race at Delaware Park. The 4-year-old filly Expecting a Winner was sitting at 10-1 as the field entered the gate for the race at a mile and 70 yards over the turf course, and the first change of the odds board down the backstretch showed her at 3-1. It wasn’t easy, but the filly bred by Patricia Generazio won it by a nose, and paid $8.60 to satisfy the plunger(s).

Expecting a Winner, a $7,000 RNA at the OBS June sale, was making her fourth start after a break of 8 1/2 months. She lifted her record to 4-1-3 in 15 starts, and the check for $13,200 raised her earnings to $68,700.

FRIDAY: After three ho-hum efforts, Little Torch woke up under Leonel Reyes and went wire-to-wire in a mile and 70-yard race over Gulfstream’s Tapeta surface. The 2-year-old filly was clocked in 1:43.24 and paid $32.20, while earning a check for $22,200 plus a healthy breeders’ award for Joe and Helen Barbazon.

Five races later, the Barbazons added another breeders’ award when Dialithic finished second, also in a mile and 70-yard test over the Tapeta track. The 4-year-old filly earned $5,250, upping her bank account to $74,570.

At Colonial Downs, West Virginia-bred Spotlight Girl was another wire-to-wire and first-time winner, scoring in her sixth career start for owner/breeder/trainer Angel Rodriguez. Under Francisco Arrieta, the 2-year-old filly won by a neck after 5 1/2 furlongs over the inner turf course in 1:03.98, also less than two seconds off the course record. The victory, worth $24,000 to Rodriguez, gave Neolithic 44 winners from 80 starters this year, or 55 percent.

In her career debut in August of 2023, Neolithica finished last by 36 lengths and received an Equibase ‘E’ speed figure of 0. In her latest race, at Timonium, the 4-year-old Maryland-bred Neolithic filly won by 9 1/4 lengths and received her highest ‘E’ figure, a 96.

Neolithica has come a long way since that horrendous debut. She’s run 21 times overall and has posted a record of 9-2-1, with earnings of $196,976. J. D. Acosta was aboard for the latest, and the filly bred by Maria M. Haire paid $9 after a wire-to-wire score under high-weight of 126 pounds, getting 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:18.25. It was her second victory in a row, fifth in her last eight, and was worth $26,400. She won her previous start at Charles Town by 9 1/2.

Victories by Mister Abarrio and Kip the Distance on Thursday added $59,400 to Neolithic’s 2025 progeny earnings. He’s closing in on $2.4 million, leaving him within a stone’s throw of second place on Florida’s general sire list, and $600,000 away from his initial $3 million season.

MISTER ABARRIO – The 5-year-old gelding bred by Dr. Tiffany Atteberry and Scott Brown, a $30,000 OBS October yearling, made it two victories in a row and three of his last four plus a second, coming from behind to score in a $75,000 allowance optional claimer at Colonial Downs. In a 1 1/8-miles trip over the outer turf course, with Micah Husbands aboard, Mister Abarrio broke well, then dropped back to a comfortable sixth along the inside down the backstretch.

Husbands shot him between horses, wheeled to the outside down the stretch, and the gelding was up in the final strides to win by a neck in 1:48.55. He paid $13.20 and earned $44,400, boosting his lifetime earnings to $295,410 on a record of 6-7-11 in 32 starts.

KIP THE DISTANCE – Also winning her second in a row, a $25,000 starter allowance claimer at Penn National, the 3-year-old filly picked up another $15,000 for owner, breeder and trainer Angel Rodriguez, raising her total to $178,670. With Jose Lopez in the irons, she broke sharply in the six-furlong test, chased the leaders while close-up down the backstretch, fanned three wide on the turn, and proved to be best in the lane by 2 1/4 lengths, clocked in 1:11.14. In running her record to 3-4-3 in 19 starts, she received her best career Equibase ‘E’ speed figure, a 79.

It was a long time between drinks, a little more than two years to be exact, but Nelida finally scored her second victory, accomplishing it at Presque isle with the best Equibase ‘E’ speed figure of her 16-race career.

The 5-year-old daughter of Neolithic was sent off at 8-1 in the race at a mile and 70 yards over the all-weather surface. She broke last in the seven-horse field under Scott Spieth, who was content to park her along the inside down the backstretch, about eight lengths from the leaders. Approaching the final turn, Spieth let her loose and the mare bred by Just For Fun Stable unleashed a strong wide run, made up a ton of ground in the run down the lane, and was up in the last jump to win by a nose.

Nelida was clocked in 1:41.55, paid $19.80, received an ‘E’ speed figure of 84, and earned a check of $11,400 for long-time owner and breeder Bruno Schickedanz. She became her sire’s 40th winner of 2025 and left Neolithic a few dollars short of $2.3 million in progeny earnings, on pace to reach his first $3-million season.

Neolithic has a new money-earnings leader.

Neoequos finished second under Irad Ortiz Jr. in the $500,000 Robert Hilton Memorial Stakes at Charles Town, and the runner-up check of $96,000 increased his bank account to $450,050. Neolithic has five runners who have earned upwards of $300,000. The seven-furlong race went in 1:26.39, and Neoequos was 2 1/2 lengths behind at the finish.

The 3-year-old colt bred by Joe and Helen Barbazon in partnership with Matalona Thoroughbreds, who had won the $100,000 Jersey Shore Stakes at Monmouth Park in his previous race, helped raise his sire’s career progeny earnings to $8,121,305. The $22,000 OBS October yearling now sports a record of 3-3-2 in 11 starts, and $344,650 of his earnings have come this year.

Neolithic is less than $2,000 away from reaching $8 million in lifetime progeny earnings keyed by the 1-2 finish of I Love Venezuela and Dialithic in a mile and one-sixteenth trip over Gulfstream Park’s Tapeta surface.

I Love Venezuela was back in action with Leonel Reyes just eight days after her last race, a four-length score in which she paid $4.40 while earning $14,550. For this outing, Reyes put her on the lead and she lulled the others to sleep, winning by nearly five lengths in 1:44.80. The 4-year-old filly bred by Orlyana Farm paid $9.40 and collected another $14,550, bringing her total to $68,512 on a record of 3-5-0 in 21 starts.

Dialithic came on to be second, completing an exacta of $22.80. She earned $5,250.

Leinster added a stakes-placed runner to his first crop when Monster led most of the way after setting a blistering pace in the $150,000 Skidmore Stakes at Saratoga, then giving way late to finish second by 1 3/4 lengths.

With Luis Saez aboard, the 2-year-old colt bred by Dr. Ross Russell and Deeann Smith Cavanaugh rocketed past the markers in :21.85, :44.54 and :56.36 and held on for the runner-up spot after 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf in 1:02.75. Spirit of New York, the 9/10 favorite, finished another three lengths back in third.

In his fourth start, the $25,000 OBS Winter Mixed purchase earned a check of $30,000 for Arindel, jumping his total to $84,751.

Neophyte, the talented 6-year-old Neolithic gelding, has made 36 starts in his long career, 33 of them coming at Gulfstream Park and the other three at Woodbine, in Canada. The 33 Florida races have resulted in a treasure trove of breeder’s awards for Dr. Robert Kitos and his wife, Belinda, owners of Southern Cross Farm (SCF). They have collected no less than 20 awards: five for firsts (12.5%), seven for seconds (5%) and eight for thirds (2.5%).

The latest score came in a 5 1/2-furlong test over the Tapeta surface with Heriberto Figueroa in the irons. Neophyte engaged in a cavalry charge out of the gate, and after a first quarter in :22.23, left the others behind on the turn. He put up :45.74 for the half, widened the lead in the stretch, and reached the wire 3 1/2 lengths in front, clocked in 1:04.12. He earned a check for $16,600, lifting his career bank account to $176,797, and despite his record, paid a whopping $72.20.