Willet runner-up by a game neck in G2 Go for Wand

by Sarah Mace

Willet, runaway winner of the Iroquois Stakes on Showcase Day, put true grit on display in the stretch run of the Grade 2, $200,000 Go for Wand Handicap at Aqueduct on Friday to finish second by just a neck to Nefertini.

Out of the gate well from her rail post, Willet (2-1 second choice) moved quickly up into second behind heavy 3-5 favorite Fantasy of Flight, who immediately struck the front.

During the long run up the backstretch for the one-turn mile, Willet lost two spots as Nefertini (9-1) moved up into second in the two path and R Gypsy Gold advanced at the rail. Regaining third in the two-path in the far turn, Willet seemed to break again with a new rival to fix on – Nefertini, who had taken over from a sputtering Fantasy of Flight at the quarter pole.

Willet came at Nefertini with determination in the stretch, engaged her fully with a furlong to go and reached her throatlatch in the final sixteenth, but Nefertini, in the words of her jockey, Alan Garcia, “was fighting and didn’t want to get beat.” Willet never gave up the fight either, finishing just a neck short of the winner by the wire. After opening fractions of 23.99 and 46.92, the final time for the mile was 1:35.80.

Willet’s jockey Rajiv Maragh said, “She tried hard. It was a good horse race at the top of the lane. I think the mile got her at the end. By the sixteenth pole, she was at the end of her rope. It wasn’t for lack of effort. The effort was good.”

A 4-year-old daughter of Jump Start trained by Jimmy Iselin, who owns her in partnership with Charlotte Assoulin and Eli Gindi, Willet burst into the limelight a month ago when she bested an extremely strong field in the Iroquois on Showcase Day by 9 1/4 lengths in the slop. She showed talent before, however, never out of the money in six prior starts and running a strong second to Risky Rachel in the Union Avenue at Saratoga in her stakes debut this summer.

Unraced at two, Willet broke her maiden by 14 lengths at Belmont in September 2011 after a runner-up finish in her Saratoga debut. Starting twice more last year, she won back-to-back allowance races at Aqueduct in November and December by a combined 13 1/4 lengths.

Willet did not return to competition until August of this year when she finished second in the Union Avenue and third in an open entry-level allowance at Belmont on September 23 prior to the Iroquois.

Apt to get wound up pre-race, Willet has become a model of composure since Iselin adopted the practice, learned from his mentor Charlie Whittingham, of having someone ride her over from the barn to the paddock.

With a record of 4-3-1 from eight starts Willet has now earned $245,400.

Bred by the late Michael T. Martin and foaled at Highcliff Farm[2] in Delanson (now Highcliff at Mill Creek Farm), Willet is out of Katina K, a winning daughter of Distinctive Pro out of Grade 3 winner Darlin Momma (Night Invader). Katina K has produced four winners from four starters, including 10-time winner Dr. Quirk (Tomorrows Cat) who earned $159,305. Willet is her most recent foal to start.

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2012/11/23/willet-go-for-wand/

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Notacatbutallama heads NY trifecta in Super Mario

by Sarah Mace

Repole Stable’s talented juvenile turfer Notacatbutallama scored his second straight stakes victory in Friday’s $80,000 Super Mario Stakes at Aqueduct, leading fellow New Yorkers James Jingle and Sunlover across the wire for an Empire-bred trifecta.

Heavily favored at odds of 2-5 to win the 1 1/16-mile turf contest for the potent team of Todd Pletcher and John Velazquez, Notacatbutallama was off a beat slow, but moved up to secure a groundsaving position at the rail in fourth in the early stages, while Bernie the Jet, tracked by Sunlover and Noosh’s Tale, led the way through an opening quarter in 24.02 and half in 49.00.

Bernie the Jet maintained a narrowing advantage through the far turn, while Notacatbutallama, directly behind Bernie the Jet and hemmed in by a rival to his right, found himself looking for running room exiting the far turn.

When a seam opened up three wide at the top of the lane, Notacatbutallama responded instantly to prompting, accelerated quickly and took over in upper stretch before drawing off to a 3 1/2-length victory in a final time of 1.44.31 for 1 1/16 miles.

James Jingle (Harlan’s Holiday), last of seven for the first three-quarters of a mile and as much as 10 lengths from the front, threaded his way through rivals with an energetic stretch drive to get the place at 22-1, finishing a neck ahead of Sunlover (Sunriver), a last-out maiden breaker, who kept on well to finish third after contesting the pace at 30-1. The New York-bred trifecta paid $239.00 for a $2 wager.

After breaking his maiden at second asking by an impressive 6 1/2 lengths at Saratoga on August 20, Notacatbutallama ran a solid fourth in the Grade 2 With Anticipation on August 30 on short rest. Second next out in Belmont’s Grade 3 Pilgrim to BC Juvenile Turf runner-up Noble Tune, on October 8, he scored a convincing first stakes victory by 1 1/4 lengths in Belmont’s Incurable Optimist at Belmont on October 28.

With three victories and two seconds in six starts, Notacatbutallama has banked $191,000.

A fourth generation product of Happy Hill Farm breeding, Notacatbutallama was foaled at Sue and Gary Lundy’s Cedar Ridge Farm in Pine Plains. He is one of five foals to start and the third winner out of Self Rising, a stakes-placed daughter of Hansel ($164,931). Her second foal was nine-time winner and six-figure earner Toque by Alphabet Soup ($147,396).

Notacatbutallama first sold as a 2011 Fasig-Tipton New York-bred preferred Saratoga yearling for $50,000 to Nick de Meric, who turned him around as a two-year-old at the OBS Spring sale, where he was purchased by Repole Stables for $105,000.

Self Rising currently has a yearling filly by Mineshaft, no reported foal this year and was bred in the spring to Girolamo.

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2012/11/23/notacatbutallama-super-mario/

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