Turf News

With less than two weeks remaining in 2021, Neolithic all but wrapped up the title as Florida’s leading freshman sire by progeny earnings with the game victory last night of unbeaten Make It Big in the $400,000 Remington Springboard Mile.

Red Oak Farm’s $120,000 OBS April purchase, now 3-for-3 with two stakes victories, had a big edge heading into the mile race – Saffie Joseph Jr., the country’s 10th leading trainer, and New York jockey Jose Ortiz, the fourth leading rider.

Make It Big broke in mid-pack from the No. 2 post, and Ortiz had him well-placed on the inside racing down the backstretch, about three lengths behind the pace-setters. He swung his colt off the rail and came five wide nearing the top of the stretch, and Make It Big out-gamed Osbourne to the wire by one-half length to collect the $240,000 winner’s share for the Brunetti family, owners of Red Oak Farm and Hialeah Park.

While Ortiz was winning his 250th race this year, Make It Big boosted his earnings to $303,828, and Neolithic’s first-crop progeny earnings soared to an unbeatable $632,209.

The Gone Astray parade to the winner’s circle continued at Mountaineer last night with the second victory in his last three starts by Gone Paradise, a 4-year-old gelding bred by JDAB Stables.

Gone Paradise left from the rail in the 5 1/2-furlong race and Charlie Oliveros quickly had him on the lead, with 4/5 favorite USS Costly glued to his side. The duo raced that way – several lengths ahead of the field – until the top of the stretch, where Gone Paradise left the favorite gasping and drew off to a 3 1/4-length score in 1:07.13.

Gone Paradise paid a generous $16, while lifting his record to 3-4-2 in 18 starts.

Anybody compiling a list – world-wide – of those who believe the number 13 carries with it an unlucky stigma, can’t include the backers of Indy Princess Koko.

The daughter of Amira’s Prince scored her third victory in 16 starts yesterday – December 13 – at Mahoning Valley. Her maiden-breaker had come at Belterra Park on May 13, and her second victory was posted at Thistledown – on October 13. There was also a third added at Thistledown on July 13.

Erik Barbaran was aboard Indy Princess Koko yesterday, and he brought the 4-year-old filly from last place in the six-horse field to a flying finish in the race at six furlongs. The Equibase chart has Indy Princess Koko 5 3/4 lengths behind as the field passed the first quarter in :23.32 seconds. But a closer look at the video shows the margin was at least 9 or 10 lengths. From there, the filly bred by Jeannine S. McGinn looked like Arazi winning the 1991 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, literally inhaling the field with a monster move turning for home, then cruising to a 7 1/4–length victory. She had won her other two by seven and 3 1/2, a combined total for the three of nearly 18 lengths.

Indy Princess Koko was clocked in 1:11.35, paid $11.20 and earned a check for $6,660.

Handsome Mike’s 29th winner of 2021 is Take to the Skies, a 4-year-old filly who broke her maiden at Tampa Bay Downs yesterday despite a layoff of nearly eight months.

Ridden by Wilmer Garcia, Take to the Skies was off well in the race at one mile on the turf, settling in third on the inside She went after the leaders coming to the final turn, and survived a battle to the wire, holding off two fast-closing rivals in deep stretch. The filly bred by Ross Thomas Russell paid $5.60 as favorite and earned a check for $8,470; she has been worse than fourth just once in seven races.

Handsome Mike has progeny earnings of nearly $1.1 million this year, and is the ninth-leading sire among all those who will stand in Florida in 2022.

Gone Astray’s impressive run since his arrival at Pleasant Acres continues unabated. The stallion by Gone West picked up his 50th winner of 2021 with the virtually wire-to-wire victory of 2-year-old Nameeomee, who made her career debut at Charles Town last evening and lit up the tote board to the tune of $56.60, $24.60 and $12.40.

Christian Hiraldo was aboard the strangely-named filly, who had just two mediocre workouts listed, making it a difficult wagering proposition for the betting public. Nameeomee jumped out quickly in the race at 4 1/2 furlongs, battled for the lead through a quarter in :22.14, took over by herself on the turn and drew off late to win by 3 1/2 lengths in :54.01.

The filly bred by John R. Cothran earned $10,908, which boosted Gone Astray’s progeny earnings for the year to $2,084,472. He’s one of just seven Florida stallions who will wind up 2021 with more than $2 million.

The main differences between the winners of the fourth and fifth races at Gulfstream Park yesterday are that Poiema is a 2–year-old who raced six furlongs and World Gone Wild is a 3-year-old who raced ‘about’ five furlongs.

Here are the similarities:

(1) Sex, Sires – both are fillies by stallions from Pleasant Acres; Poiema by Neolithic, World Gone Wild by Gone Astray.

(2) Sales – both were purchased out of OBS sales.

(3) Post position – both left from No. 1.

(4) Trip – both broke a step slowly; both rushed up on the inside to take the lead going to the first quarter; both fought off several challengers along the way; both held on gamely in the stretch to win, World Gone Wild by a neck for her fourth victory, Poiema by one length for her first (7th winner for Neolithic).

(5) Prices: Poiema paid $20.20, World Gone Wild $19.20.

(6) Earnings – World Gone Wild $32,400; Poiema $36,700.

Twilight Zone material?

There were two stakes contested at Tampa Bay Downs yesterday and runners by Pleasant Acres stallions played a major role in two of them. Cattin (Neolithic) won the $100,000 Inaugural, and Chasing Happiness (Gone Astray) finished third in the $100,000 Sandpiper.

There were nine Claiming Crown stakes contested at Gulfstream Park and runners by Pleasant Acres stallions played a role in a pair of them, too. Our Fantasy (Amira’s Prince) finished second in the $80,000 Glass Slipper Starter Stakes, and Cat’s Astray (Gone Astray) finished fourth in the $90,000 Distaff Dash Starter Stakes.

In addition, C V Thunder (Handsome Mike) broke her maiden over the all-weather track at Turfway Park. The total monetary haul for the four Pleasant Acres stallions came to $113,712.

(1) – Cattin, a $25,000 OBS Winter 2-year-old bred by Curtis Mikkelsen and Patricia Horth, came from off the pace to win the Inaugural by 2 1/2 lengths under Samy Camacho, paying $11.40 and earning a check for $80,000. That includes $50,000 for the FSS bonus. He was clocked in 1:10.90 for the six furlongs and boosted his record to 2-0-1 in four starts, with earnings of $164,550.

(2) – Chasing Happiness, owned and bred by Bill and Lynn Rainbow, missed second by a neck in the Sandpiper after being squeezed at the break, then steadied, and collected $5,000. The 2-year-old filly is 1-1-1 in three starts with earnings of $48,900.

(3) – At odds of 8-1, Our Fantasy was nailed at the wire by a head in the Glass Slipper after making a five-wide move into the lead, and had to settle for the runner-up check of $16,544. The 4-year-old filly bred by Joe and Helen Barbazon, a $50,000 OBS April 2-year-old, is 5-4-3 in 20 starts with earnings of $157,224.

(4) – Cat’s Astray, a 46-1 proposition, missed second by a head and a neck in the Distaff Dash, and collected $4,968 to raise her total to $160,718 on a record of 5-6-5 in 33 tries. Winner Payntdembluesaway broke the course record of :55.61 for ‘about’ five furlongs on the grass, lowering it to :55.31.

(5) – C V Thunder, a 3-year-old filly bred by Jim Gulick, broke her maiden in her 10th start, scoring by a nose and paying $37.80. She raced six furlongs in 1:11.62 and earned $7,200.

In her first six career starts, Galileta posted a record of 1-0-0. But the 4-year-old daughter of Amira’s Prince has shown great improvement since, going 2-1-2 in her last six after yesterday’s wire-to-wire eye-catcher at Turf Paradise.

With Brayan Pena in the saddle, Galileta took the lead out of the gate and was never seriously threatened, winning by 1 1/4 lengths in 1:30.04 for the 7 1/2 furlongs on the grass. The filly who finished third at odds of 27-1 in the $50,000 Emerald Distaff Handicap on Aug. 15, paid $3.20 as favorite and earned a check for $8,689, raising her total to $49,556. She’ll be in a new barn for her next appearance after being claimed yesterday.

Red-hot Gone Astray enjoyed a 1-3 finish in the second race at Mountaineer last evening, highlighted by a wire-to-wire romp by Hard Astray.

Hard Astray won his second straight, shooting to the lead under Gabriel Lagunes and cruising down the stretch for an easy, 6-length score in the race at a flat mile. The 4-year-old gelding has won three times in 2021, and is 2-2-0 in his last five starts. He paid $7.20, while receiving an Equibase ‘E’ speed figure of 85, his best in 13 career races.

Yeudiel, another 4-year-old Gone Astray gelding, was the only challenger early in the stretch, but he was caught nearing the wire and finished third. He’s 1-6-5 in his last 14 tries.

Gone Astray sailed past the $2 million mark in 2021 progeny earnings when Fast Loaded scored a come-from-behind nose victory in a $30,800 allowance race at Charles Town last evening.

The 4-year-old gelding bred by Shade Tree Thoroughbreds earned a check for $18,402, raising his sire’s total to $2,006,024 and leaving him less than $$68,000 from reaching $13 million lifetime.

Gerald Almodavor was aboard Fast Loaded, who left from the No. 7 post in the race at seven furlongs, and was off fifth, five lengths behind the leaders heading down the backstretch. Almodavor moved him up on the inside on the final turn, swung him to mid-track for the drive and Fast Loaded was up in time, paying $5.40, and giving Gone Astray 90 winning races for the year.

Fast Loaded raised his record to 7-3-2 in 19 starts while his earnings jumped to $158,536. In 2021 alone, he’s won five times and earned $106,786.