Don’t Tell Sophia last to first in Spinster to give NY’s Congaree latest progeny G1 winner
By Sarah Mace
Don’t Tell Sophia took down the Grade 1, $500,000 Juddmonte Spinster Stakes at Keeneland on Sunday with a dramatic last-to-first rally, giving her New York-based sire Congaree a third career Grade 1 progeny winner. By earning an automatic berth to the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff, the 6-year-old mare also gave her sire a chance for added glory on October 31 at Santa Anita Park.
Ridden by Joe Rocco Jr., 5-1 Don’t Tell Sophia dropped to the back of the six-horse field after the break, while 1-5 favorite Close Hatches, tracked loosely by Ria Antonia, led the way under Joel Rosario through fractions of 24.19 and 47.47.
Don’t Tell Sophia began to close as the vanguard entered the far turn and, once Ria Antonia shook clear of Close Hatches in upper stretch, Don’t Tell Sophia mounted her bid. The bay mare passed all five rivals and drew off to a 2 1/2 length victory, completing the 1 1/8 miles on a fast track in 1:49.80.
Winning jockey Joe Rocco Jr. said, “It worked out more or less like we thought. She kind of gallops behind them and does her thing back there. When it comes time for her to put in her run, it sure is explosive.” Rocco continued, “That’s how she likes to do it. We knew that Close Hatches on paper looked like the lone speed but we can’t take [Don’t Tell Sophia] out of her comfort zone. It all worked out. She’s an amazing mare.”
Rocco also addressed a claim of foul by Paco Lopez, the rider of Ria Antonia, against the winner for interference at the sixteenth pole, which was disallowed by the stewards: “We went by [Ria Antonia] so fast and it felt like it was very marginal. I didn’t think we came in very much, so I was pretty confident it would stand. But you still cross your fingers until they put the official up there.”
Trainer Phil Sims, who co-owns Don’t Tell Sophia in partnership with Jerry Namy, said, “We knew she’d make a run at the three-eighths [pole] and just hoped she’d have enough to run them down. She did.” Simms added, “She’s tough as nails. She shows up every time. We’re so delighted with her.”
Bred by in Kentucky by Stonerside Stable, who also campaigned multiple graded stakes winner Congaree, Don’t Tell Sophia is out of the graded stakes-placed mare Lost Expectations, by Valid Expectations, whose first foal was Summer Song, a multiple stakes winner and graded stakes placed earner of $336,981.
Sims purchased Don’t Tell Sophia for a mere $1,000 at the Keeneland September yearling sale in 2009. Explained Sims, “[She was] just a nice, big, strong filly. She had a lot of confidence when she walked into the sales ring – the kind of horse I look for. I was in the right place at the right time.”
A winner now of seven stakes races in all, Don’t Tell Sophia annexed the Grade 2 Chilukki Stakes last year at Churchill Downs. With eleven wins, four seconds and a third from 22 starts, she has earned $979,295 and joins the ranks of Congaree’s multiple Grade 1 winner Jeranimo, earner of more than $1.5 million, and Killer Graces who triumphed in the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet in 2011.
Currently eighth in the New York stallion rankings with 15 career stakes winners and nearly $1.6 million in 2014 Northern Hemisphere progeny earnings, Congaree stands at Saratoga Stud, LLC[1]. His stud fee in 2014 was $7,500.
Endnotes:- Saratoga Stud, LLC: http://www.saratogastudllc.com
Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2014/10/06/dont-tell-sophia-congaree-spinster/
International Star lives up to his name in Woodbine’s Grade 3 Grey
[1]
Michael Burns
New York-bred International Star (Fusaichi Pegasus) lived up to his name on Sunday afternoon, shipping across the border to compete in Woodbine’s $156,300 Grade 3 Grey Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile race for 2-year-olds on Polytrack, and coming away a winner. As part of the “Road to the Kentucky Derby” series The Grey Stakes offered 10 points to the winner toward a berth for the “Run for the Roses.”
Trained by Mike Maker for Ken and Sarah Ramsey and supplemented to the race, International Star was making his first start since finishing second in the Grade 2 With Anticipation Stakes going the same distance on turf at Saratoga on August 28. In two prior starts he had not finished worse than second, winning his debut handily at Belmont on June 21 and chasing a lightning-fast Bustin It around the track in the Rockville Center on July 13. In the With Anticipation he encountered traffic in upper stretch.
After breaking from his inside post, International Star (5-2 second choice) settled in sixth in the early going under Rafael Hernandez, saving ground around the clubhouse turn as Imperial Dream, destined to fade to last, led the field through splits of :24.63 and :49.01.
[2]
Michael Burns
Late along the backstretch run and rounding the far turn, the bay colt began to weave his way toward the front, passing several rivals before angling out at the top of the lane and beginning his bid in earnest. Responding to urging, International Star began to rally by the rest, gaining the lead just past the sixteenth marker and drawing off to a 1 1/4-length victory. Favorite Conquest Tycoon finished second, followed across the line by longshot Hollywood Critic. [VIDEO[3]]
Hernandez, aboard International Star for the first time, said, “He broke well and then started laying back into the first turn. We saved ground all the way and turning for home, I decided to take him outside. Once we got clear he was rolling. I had plenty of horse.”
International Star, who has earned $190,028 from two wins and two seconds in four career starts, was bred by Katharine M. Voss and Robert T. Manfuso and purchased by the Ramseys as a yearling for $85,000 out of the Fasig Tipton select yearling sale in September in Timonium. His dam is Parlez, a multiple winner by French Deputy who has produced five winners in all, including stakes winner Fools in Love by Not For Love.
Endnotes:- [Image]: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/International-Star3.jpg
- [Image]: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/International-Star2.jpg
- VIDEO: http://www.nytbreeders.org/includes/video-player.cfm?date=20141005&track=WOT&race=6
Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2014/10/06/international-g3-grey/