Danny California opens Belmont fall meet with first stakes win
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Danny California goes all the way on the lead to win Friday’s Miner’s Mark at Belmont. NYRA Photo.
By Melissa Bauer-Herzog
Danny California became the first stakes winner of Belmont Park’s Fall Championship Meet Friday with a convincing win in the $77,600 Miner’s Mark Stakes going 12 furlongs on the dirt.
Danny California broke well, immediately took the lead and never saw another horse in front of him. He set an easy pace, stopping the clock in :52.40 for the first half with only Petit Fils and You’re To Blame putting any pressure on him at any point.
Clocking a mile in 1:41.98, Danny California felt pressure down the stretch as You’re To Blame stuck by his side until the final sixteenth until he started to give way. Danny California galloped strong to the finish to win by 1 3/4 lengths in 2:33.01. You’re To Blame was the only one within 14 lengths of the winner at the finish.
Trained by Orlando Noda, Danny California won his third straight and improved to 7-for-29 starts and $324,719 in earnings.
“I wanted to warm up my horse real good because on paper, it didn’t look like there was much speed,” winning jockey Manny Franco said. “My plan was to make the lead and see what the horse could do. He enjoyed it. He was nice and comfortable and he was there for me the whole way. When [You’re to Blame] got close to me, my horse responded and I knew it was going to be hard to get to me. My horse fought hard all the way to the line.”
Danny California was making his stakes debut in the Miner’s Mark, finding his best stride in the past year with six of his seven career victories coming since last September and only one finish worse than fourth in 2020.
Bred by West Point Thoroughbreds and 3C Thoroughbreds, the 5-year-old Afleet Alex gelding is one of two winners for his stakes placed dam Cinco de Mayo Mio. Winning three of 12 starts for West Point Thoroughbreds, all four of Cinco de Mayo Mio foals have been New York-breds.
The mare’s youngest is an unnamed 2018 filly by Gio Pointi, who has followed her siblings’ lead by never going through a sales ring.
Endnotes:- [Image]: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/DannyCaliforniaNYTB.jpg
Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2020/09/18/danny-california-opens-belmont-fall-meet-with-first-stakes-win/
Pair of NY-bred colts bring $300,000 in Book 2 at Keeneland
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The sun set on Book 2 of the Keeneland September yearling sale Thursday, when a pair of New York-bred colts sold for $300,000. Keeneland Photo.
By Melissa Bauer-Herzog
A pair of colts purchased by prominent buyers for $300,000 apiece and Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner Bar of Gold’s first foal brought $450,000 in a private sale to top the New York-bred offerings in Book 2 of the Keeneland September yearling sale Wednesday and Thursday in Lexington.
D.J. Stable purchased Hip 874, a colt by Tapit out of the Medaglia d’Oro mare Bar of Gold. Sequel New York consigned the colt on behalf of his breeders, Chester and Mary Broman.
The $300,000 colts came within 60 hips of each other during Thursday’s session with the Indian Creek-consigned half-brother to Grade 3 winner and sire Super Ninety Nine entering the ring first as Hip 972.
Bringing $300,000 from Albaugh Family Stables and West Point Thoroughbreds, the colt was bred by Viking Bloodstock. The March-born son of Exogenetic has been in high demand from the start. By first crop sire Mastery, he was a $150,000 purchase by Indian Creek this year at the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale.
Also the dam of multiple stakes winner Elusive Horizon and the granddam of Korean stakes winner New Legend, Exogenetic was purchased by Tracewood Farm for Viking Bloodstock for $180,000 in 2015 with this colt her first New York-bred.
The Broman’s successful broodmare Khancord Kid saw another big day in the sales ring Thursday when her Medaglia d’Oro full brother to Grade 1 winner Bar of Gold, Hip 1029, sold for $300,000 from Sequel New York’s consignment to BSW/Crow Bloodstock.
The sale of the Medaglia d’Oro colt marked the fourth time from four yearlings through the ring that the Grade 3-winning mare’s foals have brought $300,000 or more. Khancord Kid has produced three stakes horses from three to race with two New York stakes runners in addition to Bar of Gold.
The colt is a second generation Broman-bred with Chester Broman buying his unraced granddam Confidently for $1 million at the 2000 Keeneland January sale. A full sister to stakes winner and sire Yankee Gentleman out of Grade 1 winner Key Phrase, Confidently produced five winners from six to race led by Khancord Kid and her stakes-placed half-brother Crackerjack Jones.
Four of the six New York-breds sold from the 15 offered during the Book 2 sessions fetched six figures. The group averaged $174,167 with its median of $197,500, more than $45,000 higher than the overall Keeneland Book 2 median of $150,000.
Endnotes:- [Image]: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/KeeScenic-0917.jpg
Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2020/09/18/pair-of-ny-bred-colts-bring-300000-in-book-2-at-keeneland/