Big flex: Broman homebred Mr. Buff defends title in Empire Classic

By Paul Halloran

It’s amazing how much value you can get for $1.

Chester and Mary Broman campaigned Friend or Foe, a son of Friends Lake who won the Empire Classic 10 years ago, but weren’t interested in keeping him as a stallion. They sold him for $1 to a woman in Virginia, with the only stipulation that she register him as a Thoroughbred stallion.

Broman sent three mares to breed to him and one of the three horses in his first crop was Mr. Buff, who one-upped his father by winning the Empire Classic for the second year in a row Saturday to close the rich Empire Showcase program at Belmont Park.

“When he switched to his outside lead at the top of the stretch, I knew it was over,” winning trainer John Kimmel said. “There was no way they were going to beat him.”

Mr. Buff, a 6-year-old gelding who already boasted a seven-figure bankroll, led every step of the 9-furlong stakes, keeping Sea Foam at bay in the early stages and leaving plenty in the tank to hold off Bankit. Mr. Buff increased his earnings to $1,210,786 from 15 wins in 40 starts, and Kimmel has no intention of calling it quits with the gelding.

“For sure,” he said when asked if Mr. Buff would run as a 7-year-old.

“He’s a gelding and he’s a happy horse,” said Kimmel, who has won the Empire Classic three times. “He loves the winter here. He’ll have them over a barrel (at Aqueduct).”

Kimmel had put Mr. Buff in the deep end by running in the Grade 2 Suburban and Grade 1 Whitney this past summer, but the return to state-bred company was just what the doctor ordered.

“He hadn’t come back to the form he showed last spring,” Kimmel said. “He was breezing very well, but whether he can do it in the afternoon can be trying on your nerves.”

The way it turned out Saturday, there was nothing to fret about. Mr. Buff set reasonable fractions of :23.50, :47.56 and 1:11.50 under Junior Alvarado, who had plenty of horse in the stretch.

“Junior let him out a notch and he looked like he was real comfortable,” Kimmel said.

Kimmel, who has a long and productive history with the Bromans, was pleased to win this race for them again.

“They have taken breeding in New York to another level,” he said.

Mr. Buff, who was foaled at the Broman’s Chestertown Farm in Chestertown, stands 17.2 hands.

He’s out of the graded stakes-placed Speightstown mare Speightful Affair, who was purchased by the Bromans purchased Speightful Affair for $80,000 at the 2013 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky winter mixed sale.

She was not in foal at the time and Mr. Buff was her second foal, after the winning Sir Whimsey gelding Organic Gemini for former owners Turtle Bird Stable.

Speightful Affair produced two full siblings to Mr. Buff in 2015 and 2018, the winning 5-year-old horse Cain Is Abel and unraced 2-year-old filly Miss Buff. She’s also the dam of the two-time winning 4-year-old Scat Daddy gelding Daddy Knows and a weanling colt by Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Accelerate born in late April.

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2020/10/24/big-flex-broman-homebred-mr-buff-defends-title-in-empire-classic/

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New York-sired duo win Showcase Day sprint stakes

They may have beaten the logical Central Banker progeny in the $125,000 Iroquois Stakes Saturday on Empire Showcase Day, but they couldn’t prevent the productive New York stallion from being represented in the winner’s circle in the sprint stakes for fillies and mares.

Collegeville Girl, a daughter of Central Banker out of the Vindication mare Lifelong, came from last and mowed them down in the stretch to win the Iroquois by a half-length at 23-1 odds.

“She deserved another shot here,” said winning trainer Richard Vega, who bought the filly for $18,000 at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern fall yearling sale for Robert Brittingham, Salvatore De Bunda and Wire to Wire Stable. “She only got beat 1 length in the stakes race (Union Avenue) at Saratoga.”

Coming off an even third in an optional claimer at Parx Racing, Collegeville Girl got the setup that she and jockey Joel Rosario wanted, closing into a fast pace of :45.54 for the half-mile. Bertranda and Spin a Yarn contested the fractions, with Timely Tradition sitting third. Dylan Davis took Timely Tradition to the lead in the stretch, but could not hold off the closers. Prairie Fire ran second to complete a $414 exacta. Timely Tradition finished a neck back in third with 5-2 favorite Newly Minted ninth of 10.

“I know she has a closing kick,” said Vega. “Rosario told me he lost his whip; he did it all with his arms. She carried him all the way to the wire.”

“I could see there was a lot of speed in front of me and I thought some of that speed would come back to me and we could hit the board, but she put in a really good run in the last part and really impressed me with her performance,” Rosario said.

Collegeville Girl, bred by Andy Beadnell and foaled at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, became Central Banker’s second-leading earner in 2020 with $155,258. Her career earnings improved to $270,526.

Central Banker, who stands at McMahon of Saratoga, ranks second among New York stallions in progeny earnings in 2020, just behind Big Brown.

“He’s a good stallion and good stallions can stand anywhere, but we choose to keep him here because New York needs a good stallion like that,” Joe McMahon said earlier this year. “If he can continue to get 100 mares a year, that’s good business for our farm.”

Central Banker, a 10-year-old Grade 2-winning son of Speightstown, was bred to 114 mares in 2020 according to the Report of Mares Bred released Friday by The Jockey Club. – Paul Halloran

 

Bustin Stones gelding Tribecca scores in Hudson

Ronald Brown’s Tribecca bided his time in the allowance ranks since his last stakes appearance in October 2019 but when he returned in the Hudson Handicap he was up to the task to add a second stakes win to his resume.

The Chris Englehart-trained gelding out-broke the field and was quickly away with the lead in the 6 1/2-furlong stakes. Pressured throughout by Arthur’s Hope, Tribecca found another gear in the stretch and quickly put away that rival. He built his lead from there and scored by 3 lengths in 1:16.01.

“I love Tribecca. I rode him first time out four years ago and he won and he seems to find his way back to me,” winning jockey Kendrick Carmouche said. “He tries so hard. He proved today that if he can break out of there and get him to a slow pace, I know he’ll want to go from there. I’d like to thank Chris and Ronald Brown and now we’re in the winner’s circle.”

Bred by Laurel Least and Joseph Lech, who privately acquired Tribeca’s dam Heck after her racing career, Tribecca was foaled at Foggy Bottom Farm in Geneseo and a $10,000 purchase at the 2015 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern fall yearling sale.

Bought by Gary Sciacca from the Foggy Bottom Farm consignment, Tribecca was claimed a few times throughout his career before Englehart dropped a slip for $25,000 at Saratoga in 2019 on behalf of Brown.

The gelding won that race and hasn’t looked back, earning his first stakes victory two months later in the Leon Reed at Finger Lakes. A winner of three of his five starts in 2020, the Hudson Handicap took Tribecca over the $600,000 career earnings mark.

Tribecca is one of three winners from three to race out of the three-time winning Heck. That New York-bred mare is also a half-sister to the stakes winning New York-bred Socialsaul and two other stakes placed runners. Heck also has a Revolutionary yearling filly that sold for $10,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton New York Saratoga fall mixed sale to Tribecca’s owner and visited Bustin Stones for a full sibling to Tribecca this year.

Bustin Stones, a 16-year-old son of City Zip who bred 40 mares in 2020, stands for $5,000 at Waldorf Farm in North Chatham. – Melissa Bauer-Herzog

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2020/10/24/new-york-sired-duo-win-showcase-day-sprint-stakes/

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Lucky Move strikes in Empire Distaff Handicap

By Melissa Bauer-Herzog

It isn’t every day that you have both a horse you bred and a horse you claimed in the same stakes race, but that’s exactly how it played out for Ten Strike Racing in Saturday’s $175,000 Empire Distaff Handicap at Belmont Park.

In the end, age and experience won out with 6-year-old Lucky Move – claimed by Ten Strike Racing’s Marshall Gramm last year in Kentucky – coming out the winner and 3-year-old homebred Critical Value struggling through a tough race.

The decision to even put Lucky Move in the race was an audible after trainer Carlos Guerrero was approached by jockey’s agents that included Irad Ortiz Jr.’s agent, Steve Rushing.

“We were looking for a two-other than allowance and jockeys’ agents kept calling my trainer,” Gramm said of the decision to enter the Lookin At Lucky mare. “Once Irad’s agent called we’re like ‘it must not be much of a field’ and looked at it more closely and realized we had to go for the money. We were really hoping for a class relief spot and this turned out to be that spot.”

Lucky Move raced toward the back of the field for much of the 1 1/16-mile race before making her move in the stretch. Gramm said the mare loves to grind out her races and that was exactly what she did to score a 1 3/4-length victory over Mrs. Orb for her second stakes win. Makingcents finished third with defending Empire Distaff winner Ratajkowski fourth and Critical Value last of seven.

Gramm claimed Lucky Move for $30,000 late last April at Churchill Downs. He immediately wanted to take advantage of the mare’s New York-bred status and that move paid off when she won an allowance-optional at Saratoga Race Course two starts later.

“I had been following her for a long time, I’m a huge fan of Lookin at Lucky,” Gramm said. “I’ve owned about a dozen of them, either claimed them or bought them in sales. I claimed her in the spring [with Bentley Combs] and circled the state-bred allowance optional claimer going two turns at Saratoga. The mile and an eighth plays very long [at Saratoga] and I really thought that would be the race. We shipped up and we won that race last summer and I was there. It was great to be in the winner’s circle at Saratoga and then she continued to develop and she’s talented, she can run all day.”

Bred by Maltese Cross Stables and Stonegate Stables, Lucky Move had been sold for $37,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling sale and spent most of her early career shipping between Louisiana and Kentucky.

Her Saratoga return last season marked just the second time she’d raced in New York to that point. Since then she’s raced primarily in New York, along with starts at Churchill, Parx Racing, Delaware Park and Monmouth Park, and boosted her bankroll to $374,759.

Finishing second in a pair of New York-bred stakes over the winter and third in one last summer at Saratoga, Lucky Move broke through at the stakes level in the Obeah Stakes at Delaware in June. She became the first stakes winner for her six-time winning dam Quiet Mover, who has exclusively produced New York-bred foals since her retirement in 2012 after being claimed by Maltese Cross Stables during her racing career.

Quiet Mover’s youngest is a Tapiture 2-year-old colt named Double David.

While Gramm is leaning toward racing Lucky Move another year, he’s also toying with retiring her depending on how she runs this winter. Her plans currently include trying to go one better in both the Bay Ridge Stakes and Ladies Handicap at Aqueduct – two races she finished second in last winter.

If she does retire and stays in Ten Strike Racing’s breeding program there is a chance she’ll play a part in the next generation of New York-breds with the operation having mares at Keene Stud in Amenia.

“I’ve dropped plenty of foals in New York, it’s an excellent program,” he said. “I have two homebreds running right now that are New York-breds. I only own four or five mares so it’s just an honor to have two homebreds that are participating in the Empire Showcase Day and Lucky Move, who I didn’t breed but I claimed. I’m always looking to claim a New York-bred to run in New York. I love the program, I bred to Central Banker this year and I have another mare up there that’s in foal to Twirling Candy.”

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2020/10/24/lucky-move-strikes-in-empire-distaff-handicap/

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Homebreds Myhartblongstodady, Somelikeithotbrown score Showcase turf stakes wins

By Melissa Bauer-Herzog

Myhartblongstodady kept her 2020 record unblemished with a gate-to-wire win of the Ticonderoga Stakes Saturday at Belmont Park and had owner-breeder Lawrence Goichman breathing a sigh of relief.

The 5-year-old Scat Daddy mare drifted to the center of the track for a few strides in the stretch but made it clear she was going to win well before the wire on the way to a 3-length victory. Goichman thought Myhartblongstodady had a good chance at crossing the line first but the worrying wasn’t over when she straightened up.

“I just said “thank God” and I was hopeful that nobody else showed great energy and determination,” he said of the closing stage of the race. “You do hold your breath when you’re ahead, believe me. You don’t take anything for granted, you never know what will happen.”

For Myhartblongstodady’s owner and breeder, the victory was a culmination of years of work that started when he brought her granddam from Juddmonte Farm.

“It’s what people who breed horses dream about,” Goichman said. “When you plan pedigrees you say ‘can I get in the winner’s circle, can I win a stakes race?’ She’s just been awesome. She’s been a really terrific horse for us, I bought her granddam from a Juddmonte dispersal in England a number of years ago and I’ve done well.”

The victory is the fourth straight for Myhartblongstodady, who broke her maiden on debut in 2018 and had been close to another win in four starts since that race but didn’t secure it until last November. Off for eight months after that win, Myhartblongstodady moved to trainer Jorge Abreu’s barn and Goichman thinks that may have played a big part.

“Jorge Abreu has done a wonderful job getting her to relax, be comfortable,” he said. “He’s got some grooms that get along with her and they make her feel very happy and comfy. She comes out, she loves her job, she’s not stressed. You can see her body language and that she’s really comfortable and she’s not fretting and rearing up and doing anything stupid in the paddock.”

While Goichman cautioned that things can change, right now he is leaning toward bringing her back next year with hopes of adding another mark on the family’s resume.

“I enjoy the family and I’d like to see them win a graded stakes, that’s everyone’s dream here,” he said. “So far she’s definitely stepped up her game. She’s shown a dimension she didn’t before where we didn’t see her ever try to take the front. Now she plays the break and if the pieces come her way, she’ll take the front. Once upon a time we might take her back and now we just let her have fun.”

Foaled at Edition Farm in Hyde Park and a second generation homebred for Goichman, she is out of his stakes placed New York-bred mare Elusive Rumour. Goichman also bred Elusive Rumour’s stakes-winning half-sister Beebe Lake and her own stakes-placed daughter Roses for Romney.

Elusive Rumour also has a 3-year-old gelding named Scuttlebuzz who is racing in New York, a 2-year-old filly by Flintshire named Runaway Rumour, a yearling colt by More Than Ready and a weanling colt by Oscar Performance with her foals keeping their proud New York-bred tradition alive. Elusive Rumour was covered again this year by Oscar Performance.

 

Somelikeithotbrown continues climb toward another title

Already a New York-bred champion 2-year-old and 3-year-old, Somelikeithotbrown made it clear he is searching for another trophy this year with a win in the Mohawk Stakes.

Battling with Rinaldi for the lead as they ticked off early fractions of :23.72 and :47.67 early in the 1 1/16-mile Mohawk, owner and co-breeder Skychai Racing’s Harvey Diamond was worried it may be too fast for the son of Big Brown. However, when the 4-year-old colt had a second to relax around the turn it played to his strength.

“I was very surprised. The half went in 47 and change and I thought maybe that was a little fast for him but it really wasn’t,” Diamond said. “He kind of took a breather on the turn, he got in to the stretch a length or so on the lead and changed leads and took off.”

While Rinaldi would fade to finish last, Somelikeithotbrown went on to win by 1 1/2 lengths over Therapist. Not able to attend the New York Thoroughbred Breeders’ Annual Awards Dinner this year, Diamond is hopeful they’ll get to take home another trophy this year. Cross Border, who like Somelikeithotbrown is trained by Mike Maker, finshed third in the Mohawk to boost Diamond’s hopes.

“He was named 2- and 3-year-old of the year the last two years of New York-bred horses and we didn’t get to come up this year to Saratoga because of COVID-19,” Diamond said. “Hopefully we’ll have the opportunity to come to Saratoga in April. I think Cross Border was a close contender [for divisional awards] and I think this race did it. I kind of thought this was the race for the championship for the older horses.”

Diamond said that as long as all goes well Somelikeithotbrown would return next year.

Bred by Hot Pink Stables and Sand Dollar Stables and foaled at Sequel Stallions New York in Hudson, Somelikeithotbrown has been special to the Skychai team from the start. They named him as a weanling, with his moniker a play on both his dam, the Tapit mare Marilyn Monroan, and Kentucky Derby and Preakness-winning sire.

“We named him after the movie Some Like It Hot, one of [Marilyn Monroe’s] best movies and then we added on the brown and it kind of goes along with Hot Brown, which is one of the sacred foods here in Louisville,” Diamond said. “[Partner Jim Shircliff] and I went up to the farm to see him as a weanling and as soon as we saw him Jim said Somelikeithotbrown so he was named as a weanling, which is very unusual for us.”

Racing for Skychai Racing and David Koenig, Somelikeithotbrown is one of two stakes winners for Marilyn Monroan and Skychai Racing alongside 3-year-old Jolting Joe. Skychai races that colt with Sand Dollar Stable with the pair also racing Marilyn Monroan alongside Hot Pink Stable.

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2020/10/24/homebreds-myhartblongstodady-somelikeithotbrown-score-showcase-turf-stakes-wins/

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Velazquez sweeps juvenile races to open Showcase Day

By Paul Halloran

What happens when you match a chemist with a dentist? You get the breeders of a New York-bred stakes winner.

In deciding to whom they should breed their Medaglia d’Oro mare Riviera Chic, Cheryl Prudhomme and her dentist husband Dr. Michael Gallivan landed on Wicked Strong due to his imposing physical traits.

“I put a lot of time and effort into the breeding selection,” Prudhomme said from Shamrock Hill Farm in Fort Edward, after watching Brooklyn Strong roll to a 2 1/4-length win in the $150,000 Sleepy Hollow Stakes on Empire Showcase Day at Belmont Park Saturday. “I wanted a big stallion, with leg and size. I liked Wicked Strong.”

The modest $5,000 stud fee also worked for Prudhomme and Gallivan, who have been breeding horses in New York for 18 years and currently have about 10 broodmares on their farm located about 15 miles northeast of Saratoga.

“We don’t go to expensive stallions,” Prudhomme said.

They sold Brooklyn Strong, who was foaled at Shamrock Hill, as a weanling for $30,000 in the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed sale. The colt was a two-time RNA (for $42,000 and for $6,000) as a 2-year-old, before Mark Schwartz bought him for $5,000 at the OBS April sale.

“The bidding started at $50,000, went down to $1,000 and I got the horse for $5,000,” a jubilant Schwartz said in the Belmont winner’s circle after the race. “This is very exciting for me. I enjoy horse racing so much.”

A New York native who relocated to Florida, Schwartz named the gelding for his favorite borough.

“I grew up in Brooklyn and I love it. Brooklyn will always be right here,” he said, pointing to his heart.

Brooklyn Strong, coming off a third in the Bertram F. Bongard Stakes, sat fourth off a pace set by Eagle Orb. Jose Ortiz made his move on the turn and went by Eagle Orb in the stretch, covering the mile in 1:37.16. Breadman ran third.

The win completed a natural daily double for trainer Danny Velazquez, who also saddled Laobanonaprayer, an easy winner of the $150,000 Maid of the Mist Stakes for 2-year-old fillies. Bred by Christina Deronda and foaled at her Moonstar Farm in Hopewell Junction, Laobanonaprayer is by red-hot freshman sire Laoban, out of the Raffie’s Majesty mare Raffie’s Chance.

Laobanonaprayer sold for $17,000 at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga October mixed sale. Velazquez bought him for $15,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-olds in training sale this year.

“She kind of fell into our lap,” he said.

Velazquez owns the filly in partnership with Schwartz and Larry Rush. The victory was the first stakes win in a career that has seen him saddle 170 winners with earnings of $4.3 million. He only had to wait about 35 minutes for his second.

“I went in with high expectations,” said Velazquez, who has spent the majority of his career at Parx Racing, but took a string to Delaware Park earlier this year. Laobanonaprayer had been beaten in two maiden races at Delaware. “I knew I was live, but I thought, ‘am I really going to win two stakes races?’ I was very confident in both horses.”

Laobanonaprayer had only one horse beaten down the backstretch, but Kendrick Carmouche asked for run on the turn and the filly answered, swinging six wide and going by favorite Frost Me and Chasing Cara in the stretch. The winning margin was 5 1/2 lengths in 1:38.06.

“What a way to break her maiden,” Velazquez said. “We added blinkers and that made all the difference. I was very confident that she would love the one-turn mile.”

Laobanonaprayer’s dam, Raffie’s Chance, is the dam of a yearling filly by Algorithms and a weanling colt born May 2 by Central Banker.

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2020/10/24/velazquez-sweeps-juvenile-races-to-open-showcase-day/

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