Photo: Adam Coglianese
When two New York-breds won by open lengths over the weekend, their flair grabbed some extra attention from the racing press. Three-year-old STORMIN BOLT’s debut victory on Saturday earned him the distinction of becoming the first New York-bred featured in NYRA’s “New York Watch,” a series profiling promising young horses who have recently graduated on the NYRA circuit. Four-year-old IRONMAN JON’s win on Sunday was featured in “Today’s Video Highlights” in Monday’s Thoroughbred Daily News.
Stormin Bolt, a three-year-old gelded son of Questroyal Stud’s Roaring Fever, who stands at Dutchess Views Farm, left a field of twelve other state-bred maidens in the dust in his debut, a six-furlong allowance race at Aqueduct which he won by seven lengths in a final time of 1:11.48. Bred by Thomas Dushas and owned by Cam Allard, Stormin Bolt is trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, who is not generally known for winning with firsters. He was ridden for the win by veteran of the New York circuit Richard Migliore. Click here for the full NYRA profile, with a review of the race and details on breeding and auction history.
Photo: Adam Coglianese
Four-year-old Ironman Jon had his moment in the sun when, piloted by Ramon Dominguez, he put thirteen and a quarter lengths between himself and eight rivals in a mile and seventy-yard state-bred allowance in his second career start for trainer Michael Hushion. He broke his maiden by five furlongs in a front-running debut, winning a six-furlong restricted maiden race at Aqueduct on February 10th. The stretch out in distance and move to two turns on Sunday was not an issue. Content to sit in second for a half mile, once he made his move there was no looking back (until Dominguez peeked over his shoulder at the wire to see all pursuers in the far distance). Having cruised to victory under a hand-ride, Ironman Jon is now a perfect two-for-two with $52,800 in earnings.
A homebred from Barry K. Schwartz’ Stonewall Farm, Ironman Jon is a son of Mineshaft and the first winner from the winning Danzig mare Lamington, who is a full sister to grade 1 winner Furiously and two other graded performers. She was purchased by Schwartz for $575,000 at Keeneland 2003 November breeding sale.
