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05/14/07 - Eclipse Champion Fleet Indian heads NY-bred champions for 2006
Paul Saylor’s 2006 Eclipse Champion FLEET INDIAN was named 2006 New York-bred Horse of the Year and Champion Older Female by the New York Thoroughbred Breeders (NYTB) at its annual awards banquet held Monday evening, May 14 at the Desmond Hotel in Albany, beating out Grade 1-winning mare BEHAVING BADLY. The latter, owned by Patti and Hal Earnhardt III and foaled on the same farm with Fleet Indian during the spring of 2001, was honored as Champion Female Sprinter – a newly-created division that featured Grade 1 and Grade 2 winners on both coasts. Also winning multiple NYTB championships was Anstu Stables’ 2006 graded winner and Grade 1 TVG Breeders’ Cup Sprint runner-up, FRIENDLY ISLAND, who beat out four 2006 graded winners for Champion Older Male and gained Champion Male Sprinter honors over a 2006 Grade 2 sprint winner.
Capturing super-competitive turf titles were Double S Stable’s CERTIFIABLY CRAZY, who edged graded or listed stakes winners on two continents to repeat as Champion Turf Male, and Jay Lieberman’s graded-winning SABELLINA, who won her second NYTB Turf Female championship despite more formidable divisional rivals than she had faced in 2004. Purdedel Stable’s and WinStar Farm’s 2006 Grade 2 winner, SHARP HUMOR, missed Male Sprinter honors but was named Champion Three-Year-Old Male – earned by giving Barbaro the most competitive race in that Kentucky Derby winner’s career with a half-length second-placing in the Grade 1 Florida Derby.
Winter Park Partners’ NO REASON won four stakes at three different tracks from seven furlongs to a mile and a sixteenth in 2006, which elevated her over two graded-placed winners for Champion Three-Year-Old Filly honors. Lawrence Roman’s homebred namesake LAWRENCE THE ROMAN was unchallenged in three of his 2006 juvenile outings, generating one of the year’s top half-dozen Beyer figures (96) for a two-year-old while winning Aqueduct’s Damon Runyon Stakes by 11 lengths and sealing his claim to NYTB Champion Two-Year-Old Male honors. Zayat Stables’ CHIEF OFFICER won three of four starts in 2006 – twice in stakes – and was graded-placed at Saratoga, capturing the NYTB Champion Two-Year-Old Filly title in a division that featured four other stakes winners, including an open two-turn stakes winner at Belmont. Repeating as NYTB Champion Steeplechaser was Hounds Cry Farm’s I’M HIT SARGE, who last year won the Regions Bank Imperial Cup at Aiken, South Carolina for his fifth career victory over jumps.
Candidates for the 10 NYTB flat-racing divisional championships included a dozen graded winners in 2006. Also honored were Becky Thomas’s and Lewis Lakin’s dam of Behaving Badly, TIMELEIGHNESS, as Broodmare of the Year. Human honorees were EIBAR COA as Jockey of the Year, GARY CONTESSA as Trainer of the Year for the second time in three years, and Richard Simon’s SEZ WHO THOROUGHBREDS as Breeder of the Year for the second consecutive year. Veteran New York Racing Association track announcer Tom Durkin again served as the banquet’s master of ceremonies.
FLEET INDIAN – Horse of the Year, Champion Older Female
Had the longest stakes-winning streak in 2006 of all the Eclipse champions – six wins by more than 31 lengths within seven months, which was actually an extension of an eight-race winning streak that she began as a four-year-old in November of 2005. Beat the best of her division while scoring a game victory in Belmont’s Grade 1 Beldame Stakes under one-turn racing conditions that were completely unsuitable for her. Prior to the Beldame, she reeled off dominating wins in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign (by 4-1/4 lengths), Grade 2 Delaware Handicap (by 5-1/2 lengths), Grade 3 Sixty Sails (by 12-1/2 lengths) and Next Move Handicaps, and the $100,600 Obeah Handicap (by 7-3/4 lengths). Purchased for $290,000 as a five-year-old racing or broodmare prospect at Keeneland’s 2006 January mixed sale by Atlanta investment banker Paul Saylor and turned over to three-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Todd Pletcher for her championship season. The most clear-cut New York-bred Eclipse Champion ever (the vote was not even close). Bred by Becky Thomas and Lewis Lakin and foaled at Lakland North, LLC (now Sequel Stallions New York) in Hudson. Injured her left front suspensory ligament in the Grade 1 Emirates Airline Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Churchill Downs and was pulled up in what already had been designated as her final career start. The long-striding 17-hand daughter of Indian Charlie – Hustleeta, by Afleet, earned $1,473,720 in 2006, boosting her 19-start record at retirement to 13 – 0 – 1 with earnings of $1,704,513. She is currently in foal to Storm Cat.
FRIENDLY ISLAND – Champion Older Male, Champion Male Sprinter
His graded Maryland Breeders’ Cup victory, his 112 Daily Racing Form Beyer figure in Oaklawn Park’s graded Count Fleet Sprint, and his two Grade 1-placed sprints, including a second-placing among 14 in the nearly $2-million TVG Breeders’ Cup Sprint, consistently confirmed him as one of North America’s top sprinters. Most of those accomplishments occurred before the inadvertent discovery of his preferred “stalk-and-charge” running style – inferred when he missed the break in Saratoga’s Grade 1 Forego but still placed third among 11. Owned by the Anstu Stables, Inc. of Stuart and Anita Subotnick and trained through 2006 by three-time Eclipse Award-winner Todd Pletcher. Bred by Frankie O’Connor’s Kildare Stud and Adrian Regan and foaled at Howard Kaskel’s Sugar Maple Farm in Poughquag, which O’Connor was managing when Friendly Island was foaled there. Seems better than ever in 2007, even though his record last year surpassed the 2006 seasons – in many respects – of several Eclipse Champion sprint candidates. The son of Crafty Friend – Island Queen, by Ogygian, earned $614,500 in 2006 with an annual record of 1 – 2 – 2 in eight starts, elevating his career earnings through 2006 to $879,714 and boosting him towards recently becoming the 19th New York-bred millionaire.
BEHAVING BADLY – Champion Female Sprinter
Arguably the best female sprinter in North America in 2006, she probably would have been the Eclipse Champion in that category had it been available a year earlier instead of being inaugurated for 2007. Won five of seven 2006 starts: Santa Anita’s Grade 1 Santa Monica Handicap by 4-1/2 lengths, Belmont’s Grade 2 Genuine Risk Breeders’ Cup, Del Mar’s Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Handicap by 3-1/4 lengths, Santa Anita’s Grade 3 Las Flores Handicap by 4-3/4 lengths and Bug Brush Handicap by 2-3/4 lengths. Placed second while under top weight in Churchill Downs’ Grade 1 Humana Distaff Handicap. Recorded six consecutive triple-digit Beyer speed figures – more than any other horse in the national sprint division, male or female – including a 112 while winning the Rancho Bernardo under top weight. Owned by Patti and Hal Earnhardt III of Gilbert (near Phoenix), Arizona, who had purchased the big bay speedster for $150,000 at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic’s 2003 May sale of two-year-olds in training, and trained by three-time Eclipse Award winner Bob Baffert. Bred by Becky Thomas and Lewis Lakin, she was foaled at Lakland North 28 days following the arrival of Fleet Indian. The daughter of Pioneering – Timeleighness, by Sir Raleigh, earned $552,024 in 2006, increasing her career earnings at retirement to $749,224.
SHARP HUMOR – Champion Three-Year-Old Male
Winner of Gulfstream Park’s Grade 2 Swale Stakes at seven furlongs, he was the only horse ever to go head-to-head with the legendary Barbaro all the way to the finish, placing a half-length back at equal weights in the mile and an eighth Grade 1 Florida Derby. Later in 2006 – in his first start following surgery for a left knee fracture apparently incurred during the Kentucky Derby – he missed by a neck to older competitor Gold and Roses at equal weights (giving weight by scale) in New York Showcase Day’s six-furlong Hudson Handicap at Belmont. Also a candidate for Male Sprinter, he was bred by NYTB 2002 Breeder of the Year Patricia Staskowski Purdy of Ivy League Farm in Ithaca, where he was foaled, and raced for his breeder and Chicago real estate developer and majority owner Edwin Edelberg under the banner of Purdedel Stable. After his runner-up effort in the Florida Derby, the WinStar Farm of Kenny Troutt and Bill Casner also purchased an interest in the colt. Trained by Dale Romans, the son of Distorted Humor – Bellona, by Hansel, was voted NYTB Champion Two-Year-Old Male for 2005 and earned $314,000 in 2006 to put his career bankroll at $490,410 with a record of 4 – 2 – 1 in 10 starts through 2006.
NO REASON – Champion Three-Year-Old Filly
Won four stakes at three different three tracks and going three different distances in 2006, becoming the leading earner of her division and gaining the divisional title over graded-placed specialists J’ray (turf) and Oprah Winney (sprint). Scored back-to-back victories in the New York Stallion Stakes Park Avenue (seven furlongs at Aqueduct) and Cupecoy’s Joy (one-turn mile over a “good” Belmont track) – winning the latter division under top weight – during the spring and early summer. Returned from a couple of unproductive turf experiments to tally back-to-back in the fall in Finger Lakes’ New York Oaks (two-turn mile and a sixteenth) by 3-1/2 lengths and New York Showcase Day’s seven-furlong Iroquois Handicap against older fillies and mares at Belmont. A candidate for both Female Sprinter and Three-Year-Old Filly titles, she raced through 2006 for the Winter Park Partners of Anthony Grey of Winter Park, Florida, who had purchased her for $50,000 at Fasig-Tipton Florida’s 2005 March 1 sale of selected two-year-olds in training at Calder. Trained through the first half of 2006 by Steven Asmussen and by Scott Blasi through the latter half of the year, she was among three 2006 NYTB champions bred by Becky Thomas and Lewis Lakin and foaled at Lakland North. The daughter of Precise End – Tammany Hall, by Clever Trick, won five of nine starts overall in 2006 and earned $254,651, boosting her overall record to six wins and two seconds in 14 starts through the year with total earnings of $315,956.
LAWRENCE THE ROMAN – Champion Two-Year-Old Male
Unbeaten and untested through three starts in 2006 that he won by a combined total of more than 25 lengths, registering one of the top half-dozen Beyer speed figures (96) among all two-year-olds in North America while capturing Aqueduct’s mile and a sixteenth Damon Runyon Stakes by 11 lengths. Broke his maiden by 4-1/4 lengths going six furlongs at Belmont, then seemed to relish a one-turn mile on Aqueduct’s outer main track in a 10-length cruise at the restricted N1X allowance level, but those efforts paled in comparison to his Damon Runyon romp. Conditioned by NYTB 2002 Trainer of the Year Richard Dutrow Jr., he raced for his namesake, Lawrence Roman, who had bred the colt in partnership with Edward English and Jeff Levine and had purchased him back for $35,000 as a two-year-old after having sold him for $22,000 as a yearling. His 96 Beyer figure beat the best Beyers posted in 2006 by Grade 1-winning juveniles Circular Quay, Great Hunter, and Scat Daddy. Foaled at Vivien and Henry Malloy’s Edition Farm in Hyde Park, the son of Point Given – Carly Lee, by Broad Brush, earned $94,236 for his three 2006 victories.
CHIEF OFFICER – Champion Two-Year-Old Filly
Beat males by 5-1/2 lengths in Finger Lakes’ $250,518 New York Breeders’ Futurity and handled fellow state-bred juvenile fillies with similar ease in her 6-1/2-length under-wraps gallop in the $126,725 Lady Fingers Stakes 16 days earlier. Might have been undefeated had she been fit and seasoned enough to duplicate those efforts earlier in Saratoga’s Grade 3 Schuylerville Stakes in her second start, when she placed a tiring third among eight after having held a hard-fought lead to the upper stretch. First graded-placed New York Breeders’ Futurity winner since future multi-millionaire Say Florida Sandy captured that event a decade earlier. Trained by two-time Eclipse Award winner William Mott, she raced for the Zayat Stables LLC of Egyptian-born beverage entrepreneur Ahmed Zayat, which had purchased her for $230,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s March 2006 sale of two-year-olds in training. Bred by Becky Thomas’s Sequel 2003 in partnership with Lynda Richter of Florida and foaled at Lakland North, this daughter of Officer – Guilty Pleasure, by Pine Bluff, picked up $262,076 for her three wins in four starts and Schuylerville third-placing, earning back her purchase price.
CERTIFIABLY CRAZY – Champion Turf Male
Winner of the Turf Male title for the second consecutive year, he had his best season ever despite going against significantly tougher New York-bred competition than he had faced in previous campaigns – like 2006 graded turf winner Foreverness, whom he beat in three of their four encounters. Won Belmont’s Draw Shot Stakes, Saratoga’s prestigious West Point Handicap, and New York Showcase Day’s $150,000 Mohawk Handicap – the latter two under top weight – and placed second under top weight in Belmont’s $110,600 Ashley T. Cole Handicap to Retribution, whom he beat in three other encounters. Owned by the Double S Stable of Joseph Sweedler of Westport, Connecticut and trained by Richard Schosberg, he was ridden in all of his 2006 starts by jockey Cornelio Velasquez. Bred by Duane and Roger Kilbride and foaled at Dr. Jonathan Davis’s Milfer Farm in Unadilla, the gelded son of Fit to Fight – Royal Trips, by Summer Squall, was a $2,700 sales yearling at Keeneland in September of 2001 – selling 12 days after 9/11. Had three wins and two seconds in six starts in 2006, earning $234,261 to put his career bankroll at $605,655 through his six-year-old season, with wins or placed efforts in 11 stakes events – three of them graded.
SABELLINA – Champion Turf Female
Also winner of the Turf Female title for 2004 as a three-year-old, she had her best season ever in 2006 even though the state-bred distaff turf division was loaded. Scored her first stakes victory of the year in Belmont’s $114,700 Mount Vernon Handicap in June despite having to alter course in the stretch and concluded the year by out-dueling a French Group 1 winner to capture Churchill Downs’ Grade 3 Cardinal Handicap in a star-studded field of 11. In between those victories, she had three runner-up efforts in turf stakes at Philadelphia Park, Saratoga, and Belmont, including a heart-breaking head loss to fellow state-bred rival Finlandia in New York Showcase Day’s $150,000 Ticonderoga Handicap under co-topweight. Began the season with a runner-up effort to 2006 Grade 1 turf winner Gorella in a Keeneland allowance despite conceding that rival five pounds. Owned by Jay Lieberman of Island Park, she was saddled by trainer Joseph Aquilino for nine of her 11 starts in 2006 and by trainer Charles Simon for her April and November outings in Kentucky. Bred by the late John Valentino and foaled at her breeder’s Genegantslet Farm in Smithville Flats, the daughter of Langfuhr – Restored Hope, by He’s Bad, earned $274,159 with a record of 2 – 4 – 1 in 11 starts in 2006, boosting her career earnings through her five-year-old season to $515,190.
I’M HIT SARGE – Champion Steeplechaser
Winner of the Steeplechase title for the second consecutive year, he had the biggest victory of his career when he made up three lengths in the stretch to capture the featured 2006 Regions Bank Imperial Cup hurdle race at the Aiken Steeplechase in South Carolina in March of 2006. That effort completed a three-race hurdle win streak that he had started the previous October, earning the big gelding his first of two NYTB championships. Owned by the Hounds Cry Farm near Lexington, Virginia of retired environmental executive and amateur steeplechase rider Tom Kirlin, who had purchased him in the summer of 2003 and whom he promptly dumped over his head at Saratoga’s Oklahoma training track the first time the two attempted a jump together. Retired from steeplechasing after injuring his right front tendon in a race last September, the laid-back nine-year-old is currently in a light workout regimen in preparation for the fall-winter foxhunting season at the Rockbridge Hunt, where Kirlin will be his rider. “He’s such a good-looking dude, it’ll be like going to a foxhunt in a Porsche,” analogized Kirlin. Trained through 2006 by Paul Fout and retired with five career wins over hurdles and earnings of $107,830, the 16:3-hand son of Compliance – No Fat Chicks, by Spring Double, was bred by William Fossett and was foaled at Keane Stud in Amenia.
EIBAR COA – Jockey of the Year
Leading rider of New York-bred NYRA winners in 2006, piloting state-bred winners of 125 races with earnings of $4,738,799, including NYTB champion Chief Officer and championship candidates Foreverness (graded victory), Organizer (Empire Classic), Chestoria (Belmont open stakes victory), Red Zipper, Gold and Roses, Gold Like U, and Ferocious Won. Rode six of those championship candidates to stakes victories. Guided Foreverness and Organizer to their biggest career wins ever in Aqueduct’s Grade 3 Fort Marcy Handicap on turf (Foreverness’s first graded victory) and Belmont’s $250,000 Empire Classic (Organizer’s first stakes victory – beating three graded winners, including two millionaires). In 2006, he became only the fourth rider in history to win 300 or more races at New York Racing Association (NYRA) tracks in one year. Previously had ridden such New York-bred graded winners as NYTB 2004 Champion Sprinter Well Fancied. A native of Venezuela and a natural athlete, he won five judo championships before enrolling in Venezuela’s jockey school.
GARY CONTESSA – Trainer of the Year
Leading trainer of New York-breds on the NYRA circuit in 2006, he sent out state-bred winners of 76 races with earnings of $3,345,278, including graded victors Magnolia Jackson and Accountforthegold while gaining his second NYTB trainer championship in three years (2004 and 2006). Also is one of the most astute claiming trainers on the NYRA circuit, recommending a $16,000 October claim of four-year-old Successful Affair to Winning Move Stable and then sending that New York-bred gelding out to victories in Aqueduct’s open Coyote Lakes Stakes and Gallant Fox Handicap in December. Winner of seven training titles at individual NYRA meets, including the Aqueduct spring and fall meets for 2006 plus Aqueduct’s inner track title for 2005-2006. Leading overall trainer at NYRA tracks for 2006 with the second-highest number of wins (151) for an individual trainer in a single year in more than 70 years – second only behind the 156 wins (in 1974) for his mentor from the early 1980s, Frank “Pancho” Martin. A hands-on trainer known for his colorful language, he labeled New York-bred mare Magnolia Jackson “mean as a junkyard dog.”
SEZ WHO THOROUGHBREDS (RICHARD SIMON) – Breeder of the Year
Leading recipient of New York breeder awards for 2006, beating its own leading figures from 2005 by 28 percent and also being named NYTB Breeder of the Year for the second consecutive year. Bred 2006 Grade 2 winner Magnolia Jackson, 2006 Grade 3 winner Accountforthegold, 2006 Italian listed winner Dream Impact, 2006 multiple open Aqueduct stakes winner Successful Affair, plus Endless Circle, How ‘bout No, and Storm Boot Gold – all New York-bred 2006 stakes winners, from four different crops, by five different sires. Sez Who Thoroughbreds North, LLC in Stillwater stands two of New York’s top dozen living sires for 2006 – Rizzi and Prime Timber. Owner and founder Richard Simon is a retired businessman and a resident of Aventura, Florida.
TIMELEIGHNESS – Broodmare of the Year
Dam of two New York-bred standouts – NYTB 2006 Champion Female Sprinter Behaving Badly and 1997 Maid of the Mist stakes record-setter Lavish Numbers – she was owned since the late 1990s by Becky Thomas of Sequel Stallions New York but has been producing state-bred winners for well over a decade. The first two New York-breds produced from the daughter of Sir Raleigh – Pleasure Moment, by Timeless Moment, were both six-figure-earners, and one of them – Lavish Numbers – continues to hold one of the oldest stakes records among the New York Showcase Day events. Her six winners to date – five of them New York-breds – are by six different sires and have earned almost $1.3-million through 2006. Her New York-bred dam, Pleasure Moment, also produced her stakes-winning full sister, Timelessleigh.
