Turf News

Sept. 3: After enjoying a series of three-bagger Saturdays, Pleasant Acres stallions struck for a home run that included three maiden-breakers – at Monmouth Park, Delaware Park and Gulfstream.

MONMOUTH: Handsome Playboy kicked off the afternoon in the first race at 12:19, breaking his maiden in his career debut for owners/breeders Gerald and Mary Bennett and giving Handsome Mike his first 2-year-old winner of 2022.

Samy Camacho was aboard the colt in a $53,900 maiden special contested at one mile over the turf course. Handsome Playboy was away well from the rail and took up a good position in third place on the inside. He slipped through on the turn and swung out to mid-track for the stretch run, as announcer Frank Mirahmadi chimed in with, “Handsome Mike storms to the front and opens up with authority . . . Handsome Mike will get his picture taken.” The margin of victory was four lengths and the colt paid $12.20, while collecting a check of $33,000 for the Bennetts.

DELAWARE: A little more than an hour later, Handsome Mike 3-year-old Better Call Mama broke her maiden in her seventh start, with a clocking of :52.46 for the ‘about’ five furlongs on the grass popping up on the tote board at the end of the race, which she won by two lengths with a powerful closing kick. But it turned out to be an error of some kind with the teletimer and what would have been a course record was erased. The Equibase chart wound up minus fractions or a final time.

The filly bred by Jeanne Clermont earned $25,200 in the $42,000 maiden special, raising her total to $48,284. She paid $2.80 as the prohibitive favorite.

GULFSTREAM: Rough Enough was the third maiden-breaker of the day, winning in her 19th start for owner/breeder/trainer Gerald James and collecting a check for $11,600. The 3-year-old Gone Astray filly paid $7.80, scoring by 1 1/2 lengths under Jose Morelos with a mile and 70 yards over the Tapeta surface in 1:44.18. Rough Enough was 0-1-4 for 16 tries before Morelos came on board and guided her to a first, second and third in her last three races.

A week before his name was scheduled to come up on the monthly calendar, Septemberten scored his first victory of the year, and boosted his career record to 5-7-10 in 39 tries. The 6-year-old Gone Astray gelding earned a check for $15,400 and increased his career total to $226,575. The $3,500 OBS October yearling was bred by OBS employee Randell Edwards and his wife, Lucy, and all Septemberten’s races have come in South Florida, making for a healthy breeders’ awards haul. The gelding won by 6 1/2 lengths in 1:23.31 for the seven furlongs, receiving an Equibase ‘E’ speed figure of 104, his best ever.

Gone Astray now has 34 winners in 2022.

John’s Promise debuted as a 3-year-old at Timonium on Aug. 23 of 2019 and broke his maiden by 2 1/2 lengths. The 6–year-old gelding then campaigned with success at Delaware Park, Charles Town, Laurel Park, Penn National and Monmouth Park for his next 31 starts.

Yesterday, the son of Handsome Mike returned to Timonium for the first time in three years and he’s now 2-for-2 at the track north of Baltimore.

Jean Alvelo was aboard John’s Promise for the $49,740 allowance optional claimer at ‘about’ 6 1/2 furlongs. He broke well from the No. 6 post and was engaged between horses in a three-way battle going to the first quarter, which went in :23.28. He was head-and-head with Jimmy the Kid after a half in :46.79, then edged away on the turn and hooked up in another battle with Flank Speed, winning it by a head bob at the wire despite track announcer Dave Rodman briefly calling the other horse as the winner.

The check for $28,800 raised John’s Promise’s earnings to $181,993 on a record of 7-9-4 in 33 tries. He paid $9, became Handsome Mike’s 18th winner of 2022, and in his last 12 starts hasn’t finished worse than fourth, sporting a record of 2-5-2-3 in that span.

There were just a few similarities between the victories posted by two veteran runners yesterday that catapulted Gone Astray up one spot into sixth place on Florida’s leading sire list with 2022 progeny earnings of $1,247,804. Both begin with a ‘W’ – World Gone Wild and Wink and a Nod – and both broke a little slowly, rushed into contention early on the backstretch. took the lead going to the first quarter, then drew off to score handily without being threatened. World Gone Wild cruised to the wire by 3 1/2 lengths, Wink and a Nod by 3 3/4.

The differences in the duo were many: World Gone Wild is a 4-year-old filly who was going five furlongs over the turf course at Parx Racing; Wink and a Nod is a 6-year-old gelding who went six furlongs over the main track at Mountaineer Casino & Resort.

The purse for World Gone Wild at Parx, which is supported by a casino, was $46,000, and the winner’s check for $27,600 raised her career total to $247,725 on a record of 9-3-1 in 25 starts. She received an Equibase ‘E’ speed figure of 87. Despite the presence of the casino at Mountaineer, the purse was a meager $8,051, and added just $4,814 to Wink and a Nod’s bank account, increasing it to $87,531, even with his excellent record of 9-12-5 in 45 tries. His ‘E’ speed figure was 69. Unfortunately, 28 of his races have come at Mountaineer, in West Virginia.

One has to wonder what the purses would be like at Mountaineer if there was no casino.

Add owner Lisa Beige and trainer Patrick Nuesch to the long list of those who adhere to the nearly 200-year-old adage, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”

Beige and Nuesch have been trying to win a race with New York-bred Ballyhoo Prince for five years, and the 6-year-old gelding finally made the grade yesterday in the seventh race at Colonial Downs, a $40,000 maiden claimer at one mile over the inner turf course.

Jevian Toledo was aboard the son of Handsome Mike, who paid $7.60, winning by 2 1/2 lengths over favored Uncle Berley, clocked in 1:38.08. Ballyhoo Prince raised his record to 1-6-5 in 22 tries and his earnings to $99,452, with $34,620 coming in just three starts this year following a vacation of 7 1/2 months.

Bucchero’s stock continues to rise.

With yesterday’s maiden-breaking victory by Dance Step at Monmouth Park, the freshman sire by Kantharos now has four runners who have won and placed in their two starts, two stakes-placed horses, three who have finished second and one who has been third. He’s third on Florida’s first-crop money list with progeny earnings of $199,400.

Dance Step finished second in her first start but still went to the post at odds of 7-1 in the $45,000 maiden special. She bobbled slightly leaving the gate with Samuel Marin riding, then settled into fifth place in the field of eight. On the turn, Dance Step put it in another gear, making up six lengths in the stretch and getting up at the wire by a length, clocked in :59.07 for the five furlongs.

The $27,000 OBS April 2-year-old bred by Andy and Susy Cant paid $16.60 and earned a check for $27,000, lifting her two-race total to $36,000.

Sister Otoole came from last place to win yesterday’s listed $101,500 CTT and TOC Stakes and she now has won races at three of the most prestigious meetings in North America – Del Mar, Belmont Park and Gulfstream Park.

The 5-year-old Amira’s Prince mare bred by Joe and Helen Barbazon made a wide run on the turn in the race at 1 3/8 miles on the turf, and seemed to give up momentarily approaching the stretch. But Umberto Rispoli never gave up and he rallied her to a half-length victory and a check for $60,000.

Sister Otoole received a ’94’ Equibase speed figure for her effort, following a second place in the Robert B. Dick Memorial at Delaware Park, in which she received a ‘101.’ Clocked in 2:15.27, she has now earned $298,032 on a record of 3-5-3 in 17 starts.

Sealithic sent her sire, Neolithic, past the half-million-dollar mark in earnings for 2022 with a dominating performance yesterday in a $32,100 maiden special at Finger Lakes.

The 3-year-old filly bred by Susan Kahn went wire-to-wire under John Davila Jr., getting the mile and 70 yards in 1:48.82. She was 3 1/2 lengths in front after three-quarters of a mile, stretched it to 5 1/2 in mid-stretch, and seven at the finish.

The $50,000 OBS April product paid $6.50 while earning a check for $15,960. She became Neolithic’s 14th winner of 2022 from 26 starters, and the stallion by Harlan’s Holiday had his progeny earnings jump to $506,168.

The wholesale lack of runners countrywide has had a major effect on the pari-mutuel handle, but for many owners at most of the smaller tracks it’s proved to be a monetary boon. The smaller fields have made it easier for sound runners to compete more often and bulk up their bank accounts.

In yesterday’s eighth race at Mountaineer Casino & Resort, three scratches reduced the field for the one-mile race to five, which included Yeudiel, the 5-year-old by Gone Astray. The gelding bred by SJT Racing Stables returned from a long vacation on June 20 and has now raced four times in 2022, posting a record of 2-0-2. In two of those races, he faced just five others, and in the other two, which includes yesterday, he faced just four.

Luciano Hernandez was aboard Yeudiel for yesterday’s effort, who battled for the early lead in the race at one mile, took over on the backstretch, opened up by four lengths heading home, and coasted to the wire nearly three lengths in front. In his last seven tries, Yeudiel has racked up two victories, two seconds and three thirds. He raised his record to 4-8-7 in 26 starts, paid $22.20 and earned $4,698 from Mountaineer’s miniscule purse fund.

It took her until start No. 14, but Splenda Gail’s victory at Evangeline yesterday was worth $13,800 to her bank account and she now has more than paid back the $70,000 price she sold for at the 2021 OBS June sale.

The 3-year-old filly by Neolithic bred by Joe and Helen Barbazon came from five lengths behind on the backstretch, looped the field on the turn, and out-finished the lone remaining contender by a neck at the wire. She was clocked in :58.63 for the five furlongs over a sloppy track after the race came off the grass.

The winner’s check raised the filly’s total to $76,830 on a record of 3-2-1 in those 14 tries for owner Norman Stables, which has owned Splenda Gail from the beginning. She paid $6.40 and has posted a record of 2-2-1 in her last six starts.

As Galileta took her place in the second slot in the gate in yesterday’s eighth race at Belterra, the 5-year-old mare was sitting at 2-1 on the tote board; Arcelor was 8/5 from post four. When the latch was sprung, within seconds Galileta dropped to 6/5, while Arcelor drifted up to 5/2.

The bettors who were responsible for the switch were right on the money. Galileta, a 5-year-old Amira’s Prince mare, had a dream trip with Santiago Gonzalez, while Arcelor, after breaking sharply, steadily dropped back to next to last. Gonzalez guided Galileta into the lead entering the stretch, and Arcelor used the rail to close a big gap and engage her, with Galileta proving best by a head at the wire.

Galileta was clocked in 1:13.99 for the six furlongs and paid $4.60. The check for $5,520 raised her earnings to $68,709 on a record of 5-2-2 in 21 starts.