Turf News

It only took Erik Barbaran one prep race to get the goods on Indy Princess Koko. In his first try at Thistledown aboard the 4-year-old filly, he finished well to get third with the daughter of Amira’s Prince. Yesterday, he guided her to an eye-catching victory, making it look she has better things in store.

Barbaran shot Indy’s Princess Koko out of the gate and allowed her to settle into third place down the backstretch, three lengths behind the battling leaders. Nearing the turn, Barbaran sent her up on the outside and Indy Princess Koko responded with a flourish, sweeping to the front and drawing off with a burst to score by 3 1/2 widening lengths.

The filly bred by Jeannine Strauss McGinn earned a check for $6,420 after getting her second victory with five furlongs in 1:00.04.

With just 10 runners, Amira’s Prince has six winners this year, and his progeny earnings of $316,807 are 18th best among all Florida active sires.

Neolithic became the first Florida freshman sire to reach five winners this year when Make It Big more than lived up to his name in a $45,000 maiden special at Gulfstream Park yesterday.

The 2-year-old colt bred by SHH Ventures had Edgard Zayas in the irons in the race at seven furlongs, and he was sent off as the 4/5 favorite after his final breeze on Oct. 3 – five furlongs in :59.87. Make It Big was off a step slowly, but Zayas rushed him up on the inside and he opened up by two lengths in a :22.40 quarter. He went to the half by himself in :45.89 and was three in front heading down the stretch. By the time he hit the wire, Make It Big had salted away the winner’s check for the Brunetti family’s Red Oak Stable, who purchased him for $120,000 at the OBS April sale.

The final margin was a widening 8 1/2 lengths and Make It Big was clocked in 1:24.62, receiving an 86 “E” speed figure from Equibase, an excellent number for a juvenile in his debut at the distance. He earned $27,000, raising Neolithic’s first-season progeny earnings to $217,005.

Despite a game half-length victory in his last race, and a record of 2-2-0 in five starts, the bettors on Delaware Park racing allowed Where U B to go off at 9-1 yesterday in a race at 5 1/2 furlongs.

As the non-believers ripped up their tickets after the 3-year-old gelding by Ride On Curlin won a stretch-long battle by a head, Where U B’s followers cashed in to the tune of $20.60.

Jaime Rodriguez was aboard again as Where U B collected a check for $8,400 while getting the distance in 1:04.55, and receiving his highest Equibase ‘E’ figure – an 85. He’s now 3-2-0 in six tries with earnings of $35,125.

Here Comes Bullet was a slow learner for Handsome Mike, and, after his first three races produced just one third-place finish, he went to the sidelines for 13 months.

The 4-year-old gelding bred by Thomas L. Croley returned this year and he’s proven to be a different horse. With his victory in a one-mile race at Gulfstream Park yesterday, Here Comes Bullet has won three of his last five.

With talented Edwin Gonzalez contributing a picture-perfect ride, Here Comes Bullet earned a check for $11,600 and raised Handsome Mike’s progeny earnings for 2021 to $979,707; it won’t be long before he celebrates his third straight million-dollar season. He’s currently in eighth place among active stallions on Florida’s general sire list.

Here Comes Bullet broke well from the No. 8 post and Gonzalez moved him up to third down the backstretch, battling the two leaders while three wide every step of the way. The gelding moved up to second coming to the final turn, then put away the leader under confident handling as they straightened out in the lane. He was never threatened in the final eighth and won by two lengths, clocked in 1:38.92. He paid a generous $20 and raised his earnings to $49,760.

While the decision-makers of racing contemplate whether Medina Spirit’s positive resulted from an injection or an application on a knee, or if it was a “heinous” crime when Linda Rice asked racing secretaries to let her know who has entered a race, My Little Rosy was the victim of one of the real problems in racing – monster drops in odds while the races are in progress.

It happened in the fifth race at Delaware Park yesterday, a one-mile and 70-yard test on the grass. The 5-year-old Handsome Mike mare was sitting on the tote board at odds of 4-1 as the field of 10 approached the gate. Leaving from the outside post, Erasmo Martinez hustled My Little Rosy to the front, and she opened up daylight in a :22.88 quarter. But as she was increasing her margin to 10 lengths heading to the half, the tote board read 8/5 – she was now the favorite .

Around the final turn, the second and third choices made a run at My Little Rosy, and caught her as they straightened out in the lane. From there to the wire any one of the three could have pulled it out, but My Little Rosy dug in gamely and prevailed in a head bob – by a head.

It marked her second victory in a row, and third in her last four starts after she had won just once in her first 23 races. She earned a check for $10,800, raising her career total to $58,732, and My Little Rosy received an Equibase ‘E’ speed figure of 82, second best of her 27-race career.

Handsome Mike moved closer to the $1 million mark in 2021 progeny earnings with the victory of Do What It Takes at Finger Lakes yesterday.

The 5-year-old mare won for the third time this year, and second in her last three tries, uncorking a monster run through the stretch in the six-furlong race. Do What It Takes was off fourth down the backstretch, and began moving up coming to the turn. She swung to mid-track entering the stretch, but still had five lengths to make up passing the eighth pole, where she dug in and roared to the wire in front by 6 1/4 lengths.

The mare bred in New York by Joe and Helen Barbazon paid $3.70 as favorite, and raised her record to 7-6-8 in 36 starts; the $7,560 winner’s check boosting her earnings to $86,768. Handsome Mike’s progeny earnings jumped to $965,757, and he’s currently the eighth leading sire among active Florida stallions.

On September 6, Happy Hill Lil broke her maiden at Saratoga under Eric Cancel and paid $35.40. When the 4-year-old Handsome Mike New York-bred filly returned at Belmont Park yesterday and made it two in a row with Cancel, she must have attracted all the same backers, because this time she paid $35.20.

Happy Hill Lil left from the No. 12 post in the six-furlong race over the inner turf course, and the filly owned and bred by Roger Cimbora Jr. broke in stride and took up a position in fourth place off the rail. Cancel sent her after the leaders coming to the turn, and she took the lead heading down the lane with only 3-1 Theodora Grace chasing her. It was a two-way battle to the wire, and Happy Hill Lil won it in a head-bob.

Happy Hill Lil completed the six furlongs in 1:09.28 and increased her earnings to $64,598. The two victories resulted in Equibase ‘E’ speed figures of 85 and 81, two best of her 11-race career.

After finishing third in a 7 1/2-furlong turf race at Gulfstream Park back on Dec. 13, Circle 8’s Toretto was laid up by trainer Michell Nihei for more than nine months. Yesterday, he made a successful return at Gulfstream in a $52,000 maiden special weight test at a flat mile on the grass with Luca Panici.

The 3-year-old son of Handsome Mike had been doing well in the morning at the Palm Meadows training center – including a pair of bullet works on the grass on Aug, 1 and Aug. 10 – and was sent off at odds of 7/2 despite the layoff. Panici settled Toretto into a comfortable sixth on the first turn, six lengths behind the leaders, then began moving him closer down the backstretch. Panici swung him wide on the turn and Toretto ate up the pack, and from there on it was no contest. Announcer Pete Aiello brought him home with, “Toretto now gets serious and puts ’em away,” as the gelding reached the wire 1 1/4 lengths in front.

Toretto, bred by Tropical Racing, collected a check for $31,900, breaking his maiden in his fifth start. He paid $9.20 after getting the mile in 1:36. 99, and earned an excellent personal best ’81’ speed figure from Equibase.

In just his third start, Cattin became the first stakes-placed runner for freshman sire Neolithic, finishing third in the $400,000 In Reality Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

The 2-year-old colt bred by Curtis Mikkelsen and Patricia Horth had broken his maiden in his career debut, then finished fourth in the $200,000 Affirmed. second leg of the Florida Stallion Stakes series. In the third leg, the mile-and-one-sixteenth In Reality, Cattin came up against Dr. Fager winner Cajun’s Magic and Affirmed winner Octane and gamely fought the pair for three-quarters of a mile. In the stretch the two stakes-winners proved best, but Cattin gamely held on for third, 7 1/2 lengths ahead of the third-place finisher.

Cattin earned $44,000, and increased his three-race total to $84,550.

It was easy to find where Where U B was hanging out after the fourth race at Delaware Park yesterday – he was prancing around in the winner’s circle.

The 3-year-old gelding by Ride On Curlin boosted his record to 2-2-0 in five starts with an ‘almost’ wire-to-wire performance, adding $9,000 to his earnings. Jaime Rodriguez, Delaware’s leading rider, put Where U B on the lead at the outset of the six-furlong race, briefly gave it up starting down the backstretch, then regained it for good passing the quarter in :22.90. The gelding went by the half in :45.91 and held on gamely down the lane, winning by half a length in 1:11.56.

The $5,000 OBS July 2-year-old, who had previously won at Parx and added seconds at Delaware and Pimlico, paid $9.40 and raised his bank account to $26,725.