Giant Expectations hands defeat to West Coast elite in Grade 2 San Antonio

By Sarah Mace

Whatever lofty expectations trainer Peter Eurton, along with the partners of Exline Border Racing, Gatto Racing and Garrett Zubock, may have entertained on Tuesday afternoon for the Grade 2, $300,000 San Antonio Stakes at 1 1/16 miles Santa Anita, Giant Expectations exceeded them – and more.

Guided by Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens, the 4-year-old New York-bred colt by New York sire Frost Giant[2] (Sunrise Stallions[3] / Irish Hill & Dutchess Views Stallions in Stillwater[4]) led every step of the way in the San Antonio, soundly defeating the West Coast-based elite of his division by 3 1/4 lengths as the longest shot on the board at odds of 13-1.

The short, but star-studded field was led by Bob Baffert-trained Collected, slated to pay .30 cents on the dollar following his runner-up finish to divisional leader Gunrunner in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on November 4. Collected’s stablemate, the stalwart 6-year-old, $4.3 million-earner Hoppertunity was second choice at odds of 9-2. Completing the field were graded winners Accelerate (8-1) and Prime Attraction (10-1).

Alertly out of the gate from post two, Giant Expectations was up with the vanguard after the bell. The chestnut colt then advanced between horses, and took charge by the time the field entered the clubhouse turn, leading by a length.

Cruising through a quarter mile in 24.69 and half in 49.19, Giant Expectations extended his lead to 1 1/2 lengths along the backstretch. The pursuers, in a field that measured 4 1/2 lengths from front-to-back, were Prime Attraction in second, Accelerate three-wide in third, Hoppertunity in fourth at the fence and Collected trailing the field.

Continuing comfortably around the far bend as Prime Attraction and others began to be asked for more, Giant Expectations sprinted clear in the stretch without a serious challenge. Making it look easy, he crossed the wire a 3 1/4-length winner, clocking a mile in 1:36.84 and posting a final time of 1:43.07.

Accelerate finished second, a neck ahead of Collected, who salvaged third for the bridge jumpers. Another half length back, Hoppertunity, who had a big chance inside when the field went wide at the head of the stretch, came up short and finished fourth, followed by Prime Attraction the last of five.

Stevens affirmed that the pace made the race. “It looked like we were going to see a sub-23 first quarter, and we covered the first quarter in :24 and change and the half at almost :50, and the race was pretty much over. He’s got a great turn of foot the last quarter mile, and it was a lot of fun.”

The veteran pilot continued, “I was pleasantly surprised at the opening fractions – I thought I was going to have to use him pretty good, but my plan was to put him on the lead or close to it. I just didn’t want to have dirt in his face. I had a big smile on my face going around the first turn – the race was won going into that first turn.”

Eurton concurred. “When I saw :49 and change [for a half mile] I wasn’t surprised at that point [to be on the lead], because he is a very fast horse. You can see that by the way he works, but he needs to get out of the gate, which he did today.”

“He was a little tight [after the break],” Eurton continued, “but [Gary Stevens] kind of sent him away from there and the next thing you know it was :24 and :49 and it was game over. He’s just an amazing horse who needs his kind of race.” Eurton has no immediate plans for Giant Expectations’ next start.

Giant Expectations took seven tries to break his maiden (which he did at Belmont in his 2017 debut in May), but marked himself as a colt with a future in 2016 with a runner-up finish to Arrogate, when the latter broke his maiden on June 5 at Santa Anita. Giant Expectations then launched his 2017 campaign with three straight wins and a second, culminating in a victory in the Pat O’Brien Stakes in his stakes debut at Del Mar on August 26.

Giant Expectations, who paid $29.00 for a $2 bet, owed his longshot status in the San Antonio not only to the quality of the competition, but also to a perceived tailing-off of form in his two most recent starts, where he finished fifth and sixth, respectively, beaten by a combined 19-plus lengths, albeit with excuses. A bad actor in the gate before the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship on October 7, in the Breeders’ Cup dirt mile on November 3 Giant Expectations started poorly and got shuffled back.

According to Stevens, his regular rider, “I don’t think people knew how good his Breeders’ Cup race was – he absolutely got left at the start, and he didn’t like the dirt getting kicked in his face. He was really the only horse that closed any ground at all that day.”

With Grade 2 wins in the Pat O’Brien and San Antonio under his belt, and a record of four wins, three seconds and third from 13 starts, Giant Expectations has earned $449,200.

Bred by Sunrise Stables and foaled at Saratoga Glen Farm[6] in Schuylerville, Giant Expectations first sold for $85,000 as a short yearling at the 2014 Keeneland January sale. A $70,000 buyback at the same venue in September, he was purchased by Ryan Exline for $135,000 at the 2015 OBS March sale of 2-year-olds.

The colt is one of three winners from three foals to start out of Sarahisittrue, a winner by Is It True, who was bred in New York by Herman Wilensky and campaigned by IEAH Stables. Sarahisittrue has been bred exclusively to Frost Giant since 2010. Her most recent foals are colts: juvenile A True Giant, plus an unnamed yearling and unnamed weanling.

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2017/12/26/giant-expectation-san-antonio/

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Aqua Bel Sar breaks maiden in style in Great White Way, puts sire Trinniberg on the board

By Sarah Mace

Aqua Bel Sar, a homebred for Ryan Racing Inc. trained by Bisnath Parboo, achieved several significant milestones in Aqueduct’s Sunday feature, the 6-furlong, $150,000 New York Stallion Series (NYSS) Great White Way for eligible New York-sired 2-year-olds.

For himself, a maiden and second-time starter, Aqua Bel Sar delivered a gutsy performance to score his first career victory. He made a confident and aggressive move on the turn to gain the lead, and dug in to wrest that lead back from Bellville Spring who headed him in late stretch.

For his freshman sire Trinniberg, who has 11 foals of racing age and seven runners to date, Aqua Bel Sar put the stallion on the board with his first winner and first black-type winner. In fact, it was Trinniberg’s day all around, having also sired Bellville Spring, who completed race’s pricy exacta ($231 for a $1 bet).

For the New York Stallion series, Aqua Bel Sar, whose name is apparently derived from the three tracks of the NYRA circuit, completed a weekend of longshot juvenile NYSS winners, rivaling the Fifth Avenue victory on Saturday of Aunt Babe at odds of 39-1, when he won the Great White Way at 37-1.

Breaking from the outside post of seven with jockey Trevor Simpson in the irons, Aqua Bel Sar found himself six-wide, but just one length off leader Dezzer in third along the backstretch. At this stage, the first five horses raced less than three lengths apart through an opening quarter mile of 22.50.

In the far turn, Aqua Bel Sar made a sudden and aggressive move three-wide, and took over the lead. He straightened away and began his sprint to the wire.

With a sixteenth of a mile to go, Bellville Spring, who rallied between horses from mid-pack, challenged and headed Aqua Bel Sar, but the chestnut colt dug in, came again and reclaimed his lead, going on to earn a well-deserved neck victory in a final time of 1:13.43.

Bellville Spring in second finished two lengths ahead of 56-1 Spectacular Kid, while crossing the line next in order were Inalienable Rights, Five Star Bunt, Dezzer and 3-5 favorite Stoney Bennett. [VIDEO REPLAY[2]]

“This horse is a very nice horse and had been training good in the morning and I knew he’d run a good race today,” said Trevor Simpson. “The trainer said the best thing to do is a get a good break from the gate and then he can take it from there. He finished hard; he’s a fighter.”

Parboo said, “He was due to win. And more than win. . . . Horse was green [first time out]. I expected him to win [today]. I couldn’t expect less from him . . . The jockey gets so much instruction. I just said ride your race. You can’t tell a jockey to go to the front, or what to do. You tell the rider to win. That’s the job of a jockey, to win races.”

Parboo, who also trained 2011 New York-bred horse of the year Giant Ryan, could not be more bullish on Aqu Bel Sar’s future.

“His father was a champion New York-bred [sic] stallion. An Eclipse Award Winner. Trinniberg. I want to go to Dubai and this horse is going to take me there . . . This was only a small part of him. He has to go up to the top. You talk about pedigree, I think he has that. His mother, black-type. Father, black-type. Up to the top. That is where you will find him.”

Aqua Bel Sar ($92,750) is the first foal out of Parboo-trained Exclusively Maria, a Florida-bred stakes winner, who has been bred exclusively to Trinniberg and has a yearling filly Trinni Cutie Pie and a weanling colt.

The winner’s sire Trinniberg, also trained by Parboo, is a Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner and was voted 2012 Eclipse champion sprinter. Trinniberg’s other victories include the Grade 2 Woody Stephens, Grade 3 Swale and Grade 3 Bay Shore. Retired at four with $1,553,086 in earnings, he stands at Rockridge Stud[3] in Hudson for a $3,500 fee in 2018.

For the immediate future Parboo has plans close to home for his colt. “We are going to see how he comes back. But, most likely, he will run the races his father ran at Aqueduct. We will aim for the 7-furlong sprint race in April [Grade 3, Bay Shore]. His father Trinniberg won it like nothing. I think he will win it too.”

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2017/12/17/aqua-bel-sar-great-white-way/

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Aunt Babe on top at 39-1 in wild finish to NYSS Fifth Avenue

By Sarah Mace

When six New York-sired juvenile fillies lined up to go six furlongs in Aqueduct’s featured $150,000 Fifth Avenue division of the New York Stallion series Saturday, two horses had taken the bulk of the money: Hot Stones, fresh off a blow-out maiden breaking score on November 18 (4-5), and Todd Pletcher-trained Grade 2 Adirondack winner Pure Silver (8-5). Some “wise-guy” money gravitated toward Wegetsdamunnys (7-2), who had three strong Finger Lakes races under her belt for Jeremiah Engelhart, including a runner-up finish in the Shesastonecoldfox.

In the end, just about everyone picked the wrong horse. In a wild three-way blanket finish, Louis Ferrari’s homebred Aunt Babe (Desert Party) stole the show at odds of 39-1 with a determined late rally under a hot-handed Eric Cancel, for whom this was the third win on Saturday’s card.

Aunt Babe was already a veteran of stakes competition, but with little to show for it. Following her impressive seven-plus-length maiden-breaking score on debut at Belmont on September 8, the dark bay was beaten a combined 34 lengths in the Joseph A. Gimma Stakes on September 20 and Finger Lakes’ Shesastonecoldfox Stakes on October 23. Previously trained by Carlos Martin, the Fifth Avenue was her first start with trainer James Ferraro,

Away well at the break, Aunt Babe settled in last in the two-path and enjoyed a ground-saving trip through the far turn. Another longshot, 26-1 Velvet Trinni led the field from her inside post, clocking fast early splits of 22.34 and 46.18 with (from the rail out) Pure Silver, Miss Hot Stones and Beaux Arts lined up and chasing five lengths back.

After rounding the far turn and now in fifth, Aunt Babe’s pilot was tasked with finding clear running room after tracking Pure Silver on the inside.

Shifting out into the four-path with a little more than a furlong to go, Aunt Babe got going best of all in the final strides and just got her nose in front of Pure Silver at the finish line, while Miss Hot Stones between them took third another half-length back.

Completing the order of finish were Wegetsdamunnys, Velvet Trinni and Beaux Arts. Aunt Babe completed the six furlongs over a “good” track in 1:12.92. [VIDEO REPLAY[2]]

“I just tried to give her a confident ride,” said Cancel. “I didn’t have to rush her to do anything. I put my hands down on her and I decided to make my move from the quarter pole. I knew I had horse at the end, so I just tried to go on the outside and get a little bit of an advantage. She kept on running and the trip worked out really well.”

Ferraro said, “I told Eric to just get a position and make one run and he saw the same thing too. So, we were all on the same page. Eric did a lot of riding to get there, that’s for sure.”

Ferraro, who had given Aunt Babe seven weeks following the Shesastonecoldfox, also added, “I just took over the horse at the beginning of November. Carlos [Martin] did a lot of the earlier work. We just took it easy on her. We thought she was over trained a little bit. We got the right spot. The race came up light. There were over 300 fillies who were eligible for this race and only six of them showed up, so, it was a little surprising. I trained the mother [Bella Silver] for a little while, she had a lot of class too. [Aunt Babe] stepped up today and did it.”

Cancel forecasts good things for Aunt Babe down the road. “In the future, she’ll continue to be a decent filly. She’ll keep on trying. It’s tough in New York, there’s a lot of good horses, but hopefully she’ll get better and keep enjoying her victories.”

Foaled at Peacefield in Schuylerville, Aunt Babe is a daughter of Bella Silver, a placed runner by Silver Deputy also bred and campaigned by Ferrari. She is one of two winners from her dam from two foals to start and with two wins in four starts has earned $127,500. Bella Silver has a yearling colt by Mineshaft, a weanling Mineshaft filly and was bred in 2017 to Midnight Lute.

 

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2017/12/16/aunt-babe-fifth-avenue/

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Quezon rallies though the snow to head up New York-bred trifecta in Garland of Roses

By Sarah Mace

Marc Keller’s Quezon (Tiz Wonderful) added a fourth stakes win to her career tally, and first open black-type score, when she rallied to victory in the $100,000 Garland of Roses for fillies and mares three and up against the backdrop of a snowy Aqueduct on Saturday afternoon. Fellow New York-breds Picco Uno and Absatootly followed Quezon across the line next in order to complete an all-New York-bred trifecta.

All three of the New York-breds in the Garland of Roses were exiting the Iroquois Stakes at Belmont Park on Empire Showcase Day, October 21. That day, Newman Racing’s Absatootly was best, out-finishing Quezon from well off the pace following a heads-up rally at the rail. Picco Uno, owned by Kennesaw Mountain Racing LLC, chased the pace early and faded to fifth.

Partnered for the first time with Joe Rocco, Jr. to go six furlongs in the “Roses” as the 7-5 favorite, Quezon started alertly, but backed off for the first half mile, racing down on the rail three lengths off pacesetter Absatootly (2-1), who carved out opening splits in 23.35 and 47.26. Picco Uno (2-1) pursued a length back in second in the closely-bunched field

Still mired down on the inside through the turn, Quezon found room in upper stretch to maneuver into the three-path and found a seam in the final furlong to launch a strong rally in the clear.

In the final strides, the chestnut mare ran down new leader Picco Uno to win by three-quarters of a length. Absatootly had to settle for third another 2 1/2 lengths back and, completing the order of finish, were Kalabaka and Fusaichi Red. The final time for six panels in the snow over a track labeled “good” was 1:11.75. [VIDEO REPLAY[2]]

Joe Rocco reported, “I thought that Kendrick’s horse [Picco Uno] was the lone speed and I thought he would clear and I could get out right away because the rail didn’t look too great today, but it didn’t work out that way at all. Bravo’s horse [Absatootly] ended up showing more speed than I thought.”

Continued Rocco, “At least the two horses to beat were in front of me so I followed them until we turned for home. I was able to find a seam and get out. She switched leads and she really came home strong today.”

Winning trainer Bobby Ribaudo also registered some surprise about the way the race unfolded. “We figured we’d be laying a close second and our concern was that the inside wasn’t as good as the outside today and we’d have to try to get around. When they were all together, I wasn’t happy about that. We were kind of stuck down in there but [Rocco] worked his way out. She switched leads today, which she doesn’t always do, so it worked out.”

Quezon has been a consistent runner throughout her career, finishing on the board in 10 of her last 11 starts dating back to July 2016, but the mare came into the Garland of Roses with a win drought, having last visited the winner’s circle in October 2016 when she won the Iroquois. In six prior starts this year, the 5-year-old had posted three seconds and a third

Said Ribaudo, “It took a couple of races to get her game face on, but the last couple of starts, you can’t fault her. She probably shouldn’t have gotten beat the last time (in the Iroquois) and the Gallant Bloom (September 24, third place) was a graded race against nice fillies.”

With Saturday’s victory, Quezon improved her overall record to six wins, six seconds and two thirds, with one stakes victory a year: Maid of the Mist in 2014, Bouwerie in 2015, Iroquois in 2016 and the Garland of Roses. Her bankroll sits at a robust $694,200.

Bred by Apache Farm LLC and foaled at Apache Farm North in Mt. Morris, Quezon is the only foal produced by Kalookan Dancer, a multiple stakes-winning California-bred daughter of Olympio. Quezon was a $90,000 purchase by Riverside Stable at the 2013 Fasig-Tipton New York-bred preferred yearling sale in Saratoga.

 

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2017/12/09/quezon-garland-of-roses/

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