Offering Plan aces English Channel

by Sarah Mace

With only one horse beaten after three-quarters of a mile, but a robust pace up front to close into, Offering Plan and pilot Javier Castellano came flying home in the stretch to notch a victory in the featured $100,000 English Channel Stakes at one mile on the turf at Belmont Park on Sunday.

Lightly raced this year following a strong juvenile campaign that included a debut maiden special weight victory against state-breds at Saratoga in late August, a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Pilgrim at Belmont in September and culminated in a Breeders’ Cup bid in the Juvenile Turf, Offering Plan had mixed results in his two prior 2015 starts for trainer Chad Brown, both at Saratoga. He romped from off the pace in a first-level state-bred allowance on August 9, but finished a sub-par fifth next out in the Better Talk New Stakes later in the month.

Said Brown, who trains the colt for Michael Dubb, Nantucket Thoroughbred Partners, Bethlehem Stables LLC et al., “We gave him a lengthy vacation [after last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf], just for minor stuff, and we gave him extra time because we really liked this horse. He came back at Saratoga and he was so impressive in his first start back against state-breds. I put him in a stakes after that, and I don’t know if he reacted out of that race or what, but he was so flat that day. [Jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr.] didn’t have horse at any point of the race. So we just drew a line through that one and freshened him up and put him in a nice series of breezes.”

Partnered on Sunday with Javier Castellano, Offering Plan settled off the pace after breaking from the inside post, letting Vision Perfect, Nonna’s Boy and High Noon Rider fight things out on the front end where most of the field was tightly-packed, while the vanguard clocked the first three quarters in testing splits of 23.22, 46.33 and 1:09.67.

After having saved all the ground along the backstretch and around the far turn, Castellano nipped to the outside with Offering Plan to commence his drive five wide from seventh. The dark bay kicked into gear, picked off his rivals one by one, took over with a furlong to go and held well for the 1 1/4-length win. Team Colors closed from last to take second, while A Lot, also a closer, gained third. The final time for the mile over the firm Widener turf was fast: 1:32.68. [VIDEO[2]]

Castellano said, “I had a beautiful trip, it set up perfectly. I thought there was a lot of speed in the race and I had a good post. It was a perfect race for him. I saved all the ground in the first part of the race and whipped him outside to get the jump and find the last kick.”

He continued, “The fractions were decent fractions and they went pretty good. It was a good setup for my horse to come from behind. I give all the credit to the trainer. [Offering Plan] was very impressive today, which didn’t surprise me because of the way Chad Brown has been training lately.”

Brown added, “Today, he ran like he did in that first start this year. He had a beautiful trip. It was a perfect setup, fast pace, Javier saved all the ground early and swung him out. The horse finished well.”

Bred by C. W. Swann and Cygnet Farm and foaled at Akindale Farm in Pawling, Offering Plan is the first starter and only foal produced to date by Rosalie Road, an unraced daughter of Street Cry (IRE) who is a half-sister to Grade 2 dirt sprint winner Adore the Gold. Rosalie Road was bred to Bodemeister this year.

The colt changed hands twice at public auction, purchased as a yearling by Summer Mayberry at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling sale for $32,000 and bringing $135,000 at this year’s OBS Spring sale of 2-year-olds in training.

From six career starts Offering Plan has three wins and a third-place finish and has bankrolled $180,800.

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2015/10/25/offering-plan-english-channel/

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Full sisters Invading Humor and Distorted Beauty finish one-two in Ticonderoga

by Sarah Mace

In an unusual twist, two full sisters bred by Dr. James Randall Mcglinn, owned by Bloodlines Racing Partnerships and trained by Bruce Levine, set an exclamation point on the Empire Showcase Day races Saturday by finishing one-two in the day’s finale, the $200,000 Ticonderoga for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles on turf. Five-year old Invading Humor crossed the wire first at odds of 29-1, triggering a pick six carryover, while and four-year-old Distorted Beauty won a photo for second in a blanket finish at 7-1 odds. Both are sired by Invasor (ARG)

Drawn in post seven in the full field of 12 and slated to face odds-on favorite Discreet Marq, Invading Humor wasted no time in getting to the lead under jockey Jose Lezcano, opening up a 1 1/2-length lead through a first quarter-mile in 23.83 and maintaining a comfortable one-length margin along the backstretch and rounding the far turn, attended throughout by Mah Jong Maddnes.

Working her way out into the two path in the turn, she began to be asked for more. Spinning four wide into the stretch she dug in well and held her own against a gang of would-be closers to score a 1 3/4-length victory.

The next four across the finish line were separated by a head, a neck and a neck, with Distorted Beauty, who closed from mid-pack, taking second, Neck of the Moon finishing third, Swear by It in fourth and Mah Jong Maddnes in fifth. After a mile in 1:34.01, the final time for 1 1/16 miles over the firm going was 1:40.09. Discreet Marq faded to eleventh after racing near the pace until mid-stretch. [VIDEO[2]]

Lezcano said, “She broke good. Bruce told me to put her right on the lead, and there’s not too much to say. She kept on going and never stopped.”

“When Discreet Marq made a move at the quarter-pole, I got a little worried about Mah Johng Maddnes, I though she was going to win it but [Invading Humor] ran great,” commented Levine. “We had her entered in the Hettinger but we had to scratch her the morning of the race. She got hurt in her stall, so it wasn’t by design that she had so much time off. I’ve never done that [run 1-2 with full sisters]. I wonder if that’s ever been done before.”

Invading Humor has now won three of the major turf stakes for New York-bred fillies and mares, having taken the Mount Vernon earlier this year and John Hettinger in 2014, but was let go at long odds following two sub-par performances following the Mount Vernon in the open Perfect Sting and Yaddo Stakes. Overall, from eight wins, a second and third in 18 starts, she has earned $500,944. Her younger sister is multiple stakes-placed with five wins and $353,762 in earnings.

The dam of the two Invasor fillies, both foaled at Sickle Pond Farm in Stillwater, is Very Funny, a placed runner who originally sold for $400,000 at the 2006 Adena Springs sale of 2-year-olds. She was purchased by Dr. Mcglinn at the 2009 Keeneland January sale for $16,000. Invading Humor and Distorted Beauty are her only two foals to start, but she currently has three foals by Freud on the ground: a juvenile filly named Freudian Humor, an unnamed yearling filly and a weanling colt. Very Funny was bred in 2015 to Into Mischief.

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2015/10/25/invading-humor-ticonderoga/

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Wonder Gal stays unbeaten in New York-bred company with Distaff score

by Bill Heller

Treadway Racing Stable’s three-year-old New York-bred filly Wonder Gal set the bar pretty high in her two-year-old debut, easily one of the most impressive in New York racing history. On July 6, 2014, she began her career in the $125,000 New York-bred Lynbrook Stakes at Belmont Park. Sent off at 4-5 in the field of five, she won by 14 1/4 lengths under Taylor Rice. Wonder Gal’s ensuing seven starts were all in Grade 1 and Grade 2 stakes, and she posted two seconds, three thirds, a fourth, and, most recently, an eighth in the Grade 1 Test Stakes at Saratoga at 7-1 when she had a poor start and bled.

Trainer Leah Gyarmati reasoned Wonder Gal might need a confidence builder and she returned her filly to New York-bred stakes company Saturday on Showcase Day in the second running of the mile-and-a-sixteenth $250,000 Empire Distaff. Sent off at 9-5 under Jose Lezcano, her eighth different jockey in her ninth career start, she powered past front-running Hot Stones, the 3-2 favorite in the field of eight under John Velazquez, in early stretch and went on to a 2 1/2 length victory in 1:42.31. [VIDEO[2]]

“She bled in her last race, which was unusual for her,” Gyarmati said. “We gave her time afterwards and brought her back slowly. She was doing really, really well and this was a good spot for her. I’m sure it was appreciated by her to run back with New York-breds.”

Temper Mint Patty, sent off at 5-1 under Luis Saez, finished second, a length and a quarter ahead of 14-1 Jc’s Shooting Star, who was ridden by Manuel Franco. Kathy’s Humor, at 24-1 shot under Elvis Trujillo, finished fourth, a half-length behind Jc’s Shooting Star.

Apache Farm bred Wonder Gal, a daughter of Tiz Wonderful out of Passe by Dixie Union who sold for $210,000 in March, 2014. After her spectacular debut, she was third in the Grade 2 Adirondack, second in the Grade 1 Frizette and third by one length in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Filly.

She began her three-year-old season by finishing a wide fourth in the Grade 2 Gazelle, before finishing third in the Grade 1 Acorn and second in the Grade 1 Mother Goose before her tiring try in the Test.

Breaking from the seven post, she settled in third as 7-1 Carameaway, who was 7-1 under Javier Castellano from the eight post, and Hot Stones, who broke from the six post, disputed the early lead, with Carameaway gaining a slim edge on the outside of Hot Stones, who protected her position on the inside. Lezcano kept Wonder Gal in the clear three-wide in third through an opening quarter in 22.90 and a half-mile in 45.55.

“I actually broke a little slow, but after that she got right back on the bit,” Lezcano said. “She was sitting there the whole way. I knew the pace was fast, but I had to stay there. The favorite was right inside of me.”

Hot Stones then surged to the lead as Wonder Gal advanced into second after three-quarters in 1:09.89. Wonder Gal went right past Hot Stones, taking the lead readily and opening a two-length lead. She stayed strong to the wire to win handily.

Wonder Gal improved her record to two-for-nine with two seconds, three thirds and earnings of a tad under $700,000.

“I think she’s a really nice filly,” Lezcano said. “She’s easy to ride.”

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2015/10/25/wonder-gal-distaff-score/

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Maiden Super Surprise both super and surprising at 17-1 in Maid of the Mist

by Sarah Mace

Following a parade of well-backed winners on Saturday’s Empire Showcase card at Belmont Park, Super Surprise shook things up in race nine with a 17-1 upset of the $250,000 Maid of the Mist Stakes for 2-year-old New York-bred fillies, getting up late to nip Frosty Margarita at the wire in the one-mile main track contest.

A daughter of Mike Repole’s leading New York-based freshman sire Giant Surprise (Rockridge Stud[2]), Super Surprise, a maiden trained for Repole Stable by Todd Pletcher, had raced three times, finishing third by just three-quarters of a length in her Saratoga debut at 5 1/2 furlongs on August 7, second by three lengths to She’s All Ready in the Seeking the Ante at the Spa on August 28, and fourth in the Joseph A. Gimma a month ago.

Neglected in the wagering at 17-1 in the full field of 12, her principle rivals on paper were 3-5 favorite She’s All Ready, Seeking the Ante winner and third last out in the Grade 1 Frizette, and (5-1) Melodic, unbeaten winner of the Joseph Gimma a month ago.

Piloted for the fourth time by Pletcher’s go-to rider, Hall of Famer John Velazquez, Super Surprise suffered a bump at the start from post seven, but got into stride and and settled off the rail in mid-pack while 57-1 longshot Surprise Cameo took the field through a first quarter mile in 23.55.

Advancing steadily into contention along the backstretch and into the far turn, Super Surprise angled five wide into the lane and began to take aim on new leader Frosty Margarita, who completed a half-mile in 46.72 and three-quarters in 1:11.43.

Digging in down the center of the track, Super Surprise eroded the two lengths that separated her from Frosty Margarita and got up in the final jumps to score a three-quarter length victory in a final time of 1:37.76. She’s All Ready finished third. [VIDEO[3]]

“I thought she finally put it all together,” commented Pletcher assistant Byron Hughes. “We knew she was a talented filly. Johnny [Velazquez] did a great job riding her. She saved ground, sat right off the pace, and got up in time. Stretching her out [to a mile] definitely helped. I think she’s the type of filly that needs to close on a good pace, and she did that today.”

Bred by Allen C. Hallet, and foaled at Hallet Thoroughbreds in Cato, Super Surprise is one of four winners from five foals to start out of Miz Lynne Kelly, a seven-time winner and six-figure earner by Langfuhr. Repole purchased the filly, who has earned $204,800, for $55,000 at the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred preferred yearling sale last year. She is her sire’s second stakes winner.

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2015/10/25/super-surprise-maid-of-the-mist/

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