NEWS: RACING

Wholelottashakin game runner-up in G3 Endeavour

Saturday, January 25th, 2014
by Sarah Mace

Parting Glass Racing’s Wholelottashakin (Scat Daddy), competing without blinkers for the first time in the nineteenth start of her career, delivered an impressive and gusty pacesetting performance to finish second in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Endeavour Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday, which was run at 1 1/16 miles on the turf course.

Drawn toward the outside of the full, competitive field of twelve fillies and mares with Alan Garcia aboard, in from south Florida to take the mount, the Tom Bush trainee was well-supported as the 4-1 second betting choice.

Sharp out of the gate, Wholelottashakin outsprinted the field early and crossed over into the two-path to grab a one-length lead by the time the field entered the clubhouse turn.

Cruising along comfortably at the rail along the backstretch while maintaining with a half-length lead over a pressing Graham Motion-trained Cloud Scapes (Smart Strike), Wholelottashakin faced direct challenges in the far turn from Cloud Scapes and Final Escrow, as she ticked off three-quarters of a mile in 1:13.88.

Cutting the corner neatly and regaining a one-length lead in upper stretch, Wholelottashakin dug in gamely for the charge to the wire, but was faced with an ultra-persistent Cloud Scapes who kept in the fight and in deep stretch just got up to win by a neck in a final time of 1:42.75. Floral Romance and Moment in Dixie finished a neck apart 2 1/4 lengths further back.

Alan Garcia said, “We got to the front easily so I was happy to let her settle and wait for a challenge. I asked for run in the final turn and she responded and I thought we were home. I could feel the others coming in deep stretch but she kept finding more right to the finish and we just missed.”

A multiple stakes-placed runner, who has compiled a record of 3-7-2 from 19 starts with $289,015 in earnings, Wholelottashakin earned her first graded black type in the Endeavour. The 5-year-old bay mare shadowed forth good things to come early on in her career, finishing second to eventual Grade 1 winner Dayatthespa in Gulfstream Park’s Sweetest Chant in January 2012 in her fourth career start and inaugural race of her three-year old campaign.

In 2013 Wholelottashakin was one of the main contenders in the very strong New York-bred filly and mare turf ranks, finishing second to Dayatthespa in the Yaddo at Saratoga last summer, second to Effie Trinket next out in the John Hettinger at Belmont in September and third to that same rival in the Ticonderoga on Showcase Day.

Bred by Mia Gallo and foaled at Tom and Mia Gallo’s Blue Stone Farm in Cambridge, Wholelottashakin is the last reported foal and one of seven winning offspring of the stakes-placed New York-bred mare Carr Shaker, a daughter of Carr de Naskra ($72,405). Other successful progeny are Grade 3-winner Dewars Rocks ($314,861), and stakes-placed runners Northern Shaker and Woodford Rocks.

Thomas J. Gallo III Sales Agency purchased Carr Shaker at the 2006 Fasig-Tipton December Mixed sale in Timonium for $10,000.

 

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