Effinity rolls for Effinex’s first winner
[1]
Zilla Racing’s Effinity rolls in second start to give the late sire Effinex his first winner. NYRA Photo.
By Tom Law
Zilla Racing Stable’s Effinity improved off a runner-up effort in his debut to break his maiden Sunday at Saratoga Race Course and provide his late sire with his first winner.
Effinity, a son of Grade 1 winner and 2015 New York-bred Horse of the Year Effinex, won the second race, a 5 1/2-furlong maiden special weight for state-breds on the main track. Trained by Brad Cox, Effinity won by 4 lengths in 1:06.36.
He’s a member of the lone crop sired by Effinex, who stood his lone season at Questroyal North in New York and relocated to McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds in the latter half of the year. He died in October 2017 due to a ruptured pulmonary artery.
Effinex bred 110 mares in his lone season and was the sire of 41 live foals according to statistics from The Jockey Club’s Live Foal Report.
Bred in New York by Dr. Russell Cohen and raced by his Tri-Bone Stables, Effinex won nine of 28 starts with three seconds and four thirds and earned $3,312,950 over three seasons.
Effinex won stakes at 3, 4 and 5 – the Empire Classic Handicap in 2014, Grade 3 Excelsior, Grade 2 Suburban and Grade 1 Clark in 2015, and the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap and a second edition of Suburban in 2016. He also finished second to Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland.
Bred in New York by Barry Ostrager, Effinity was foaled at Ostrager’s Questroyal North in Stillwater. Effinity is out of the Freud mare Letshootpool, who is also the dam of a yearling filly by Majestic City and a weanling colt by Majestic City. She was bred to Courageous Cat in 2020.
Endnotes:- [Image]: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Effinity.jpg
Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2020/07/27/effinity-rolls-for-effinexs-first-winner/
Somelikeithotbrown adds another resume highlight
[1]
NY-bred champion Somelikeithotbrown adds another graded stakes to resume in Bernard Baruch. NYRA Photo.
Melissa Bauer-Herzog/The Saratoga Special
Since breaking his maiden at Saratoga Race Course as a 2-year-old, Somelikeithotbrown has proven to be one of the most consistent horses in training.
A Kentucky Derby prep winner and New York-bred champion 3-year-old last year has already put together a resume most could only dream of and Sunday he added to it with a victory in the Grade 2 Bernard Baruch Handicap at Saratoga.
Third last time out behind Instilled Regard in the Grade 2 Fort Marcy at Belmont Park, Somelikeithotbrown showed that he deserved another chance at this level and his connections obliged.
In his first run at Saratoga since finishing second over this same turf course and distance in the Grade 3 With Anticipation as a 2-year-old, Somelikeithotbrown went straight to the lead and never looked back. Racing in distinctive orange blinkers, he opened a length lead going around the clubhouse turn with Halladay the closest threat.
Somelikeithotbrown pulled away down the backstretch to add another half-length to his margin on Halladay but that lead shrunk as they went into the far turn with a challenge. Jockey Tyler Gaffalione started scrubbing on the 4-year-old as they raced down the stretch and Somelikeithotbrown responded, opening back up on the field. A few rivals looked to threaten but Somelikeithotbrown put that to rest in the final sixteenth and won in 1:41.32.
“I was a little surprised down the backside when I was all by myself,” Gaffalione said. “I thought there would be a little more pressure, but I was happy with where I was and how he was running. All the credit to Mike [Maker, trainer] and his team, they had him ready. Every time I reached back and threw a cross and when I got into him a little bit, he kept on responding and giving me more, so I was pretty confident coming to the wire.”
From the first New York-sired crop of dual classic winner Big Brown, Somelikeithotbrown broke the $500,000 mark with the victory taking his earnings to $546,838. Now a three-time stakes winner with five wins and five other top three finishes overall in 13 starts, he races for Skychai Racing and David Koenig.
Bred by Hot Pink Stables and Sand Dollar Stables, Somelikeithotbrown is also a half-brother to Mission Impazible’s stakes-placed Jolting Joe. Foaled at Sequel Stallions New York, Somelikeithotbrown is out of the Tapit mare Marilyn Monroan, who raced for Hot Pink Stable, Skychai Racing and Sand Dollar Stable in her eight-start career. Purchased for $255,000 as a weanling in 2010, Marilyn Monroan is from the family of champions Stevie Wonderboy and Big Blue Kitten.
Endnotes:- [Image]: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/SomelikeithotbrownNYTB.jpg
Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2020/07/27/somelikeithotbrown-adds-another-resume-highlight/