Varda caps big day for New York in Grade 1 Starlet

By Melissa Bauer-Herzog

Saturday evening in California racing wrapped up an incredible day for the New York-bred program as Varda made easy work of the Grade 1 Starlet Stakes at Los Alamitos Race Course.

The newest Grade 1 winner for the Empire State’s rich and storied program, Varda shut the curtain on a day that saw New York-breds also win a Grade 2 and Grade 3 at Aqueduct.

Second in the Grade 2 Chandelier Stakes last out in September at Santa Anita Park, Varda was ready to roll in her return. Racing more than 5 lengths behind the leader in last for much of the running of the 1 1/16-mile Starlet, the 2-year-old daughter of Distorted Humor clicked into gear on the turn to make her charge.

The race turned bittersweet for her trainer Bob Baffert right as Varda started her challenge when Varda’s stablemate, Princess Noor, took the lead and was quickly pulled up at the top of the stretch.

Kalypso inherited the lead for a brief period before Varada reached her as they entered the closing stages of the race. Jockey Drayden Van Dyke kept Varda well in hand as she easily passed Kalypso in the stretch and the race was all but over from that point. Van Dyke gave her an easy time of it to the line to give Baffert a fourth consecutive Grade 1 Starlet victory. Varda won in 1:44.53.

Varda, now 2-for-3, was a $700,000 purchase by Baoma Corp. at this year’s OBS Spring sale of 2-year-olds in training sale in June.

Varda is also another successful graduate of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale after bringing $100,000 in 2019 when purchased by Raven Bloodstock from the Paramount Sales consignment.

The filly was bred by Masters 2013 LLC and the Distorted Humor Syndicate and is out of the winning Sky Mesa mare She’ll Be Right. Already one of three stakes horses for that mare with her Grade 2 second, Varda becomes the first Grade 1 winner from She’ll Be Right’s five winners from five to race.

The mare is also the dam of Grade 3-placed Big Family and stakes-placed Getouttamyway.

She’ll Be Right is a half-sister to multiple stakes winner and Grade 1-placed Storm Treasure.

Varda is far from the only successful stakes winner in the family with top racehorses from around the world on her page. Leading the charge is dual South African champion Overarching and Grade 1 winner Lady Of The House, in addition to Hong Kong listed winner Victory Mount. Closer to home, the family also includes Grade 1 winner Abscond and multiple graded stakes winner Cambodia.

She’ll Be Right had a New York-bred Lookin At Lucky colt last year and a Maclean’s Music colt in April, with both bred by Masters 2013. The mare visited Accelerate this year and is carrying a three-quarter sibling to her yearling.

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2020/12/05/varda-caps-big-day-for-new-york-in-grade-1-starlet/

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Sharp Starr maintains momentum for NY-breds in Go For Wand

By Tom Law

Horacio DePaz walked down the shedrow of his barn inside Clare Court this past summer at Saratoga, stopped at the stall of a fairly recent maiden winner and provided a straight assessment of the filly peering out.

“She’s honest,” DePaz said of Sharp Starr, a homebred daughter of Munnings he trains for Barry Schwartz.

Sharp Starr showed how honest in her next start, about a month later, when she finished a close third in the Fleet Indian Stakes on Saratoga Showcase Day. She did again two months later, blasting an allowance field at Aqueduct and went another step further Saturday at the Big A with a determined win over older foes in the Grade 3 Go For Wand Handicap.

Sharp Starr became the second New York-bred to win a graded stakes on the Cigar Mile Day card at Aqueduct, joining Grade 2 Remsen winner Brooklyn Strong.

“She definitely likes the track, but I think she likes the one-turn mile a bit better,” DePaz said after Sharp Starr won by a neck over Portal Creek. “I was happy she could repeat that last effort.”

Sharp Starr and jockey Jose Ortiz won the 1-mile Go For Wand in 1:36.75 to improve to 3-for-9 with two seconds and two thirds for DePaz and Schwartz, who bred the filly in the name of his Stonewall Farm. Out of the A.P. Indy mare Mindy Gold, Sharp Starr is a half sister to the multiple stakes-placed Papa Shot and winners Speke and Paved With Gold.

Sent off as the narrow 8-5 second choice in the field of six, Sharp Starr and Ortiz tracked the loose-running Portal Creek up the backstretch and around the far turn through solid splits of :23.26, :46.72 and 1:11.52. They were never more than 1 1/2 lengths back and came wide into the lane with a run at the leader.

Sharp Starr and Portal Creek battled through the stretch with the former edging clear just before the wire. They first two were 12 lengths clear of favored Nonna Madeline in third, with Stand for the Flag fourth.

Ortiz rode Sharp Starr in three races this summer, including her allowance runner-up at Saratoga July 22 and in her third in the Fleet Indian. She finished a non-threatening seventh at 39-1 in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan before her 15 ¾-length victory in the cutback to 1 mile Nov. 7.

“They were running her two turns and she was breaking a little slow,” Ortiz said. “Last time, when we brought her back to a one-turn mile, she broke well and that suited her better. They stuck with that racing style today. She broke sharp. She was there for me every time I asked her.”

DePaz trains about 30 horses and credited the support from Schwartz for helping keep his operation rolling. He’s won 16 races and the earners of just under $800,000 in 2020.

“The owner has good horses and has been a big supporter of mine,” DePaz said. “He bred this filly and does a good job.”

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2020/12/05/sharp-starr-maintains-momentum-for-ny-breds-in-go-for-wand/

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Brooklyn Strong takes Queens by storm in Remsen

By Tom Law

Daniel Velazquez admitted before Saturday’s Grade 2 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct that he and Mark Schwartz might have caught a bit of “Derby fever” thanks to the early success of Brooklyn Strong.

No one could legitimately find serious fault for the trainer-owner tandem feeling even more under the spell of the Derby after Brooklyn Strong successfully negotiated the 9 furlongs and sloppy conditions he faced in the Remsen. The son of Wicked Strong won his second straight stakes in the Remsen, improved to 3-for-4, gained a significant boost for champion New York-bred 2-year-old male honors and added his name to Kentucky Derby watch lists from coast-to-coast.

Brooklyn Strong also earned 10 points toward a spot in the Kentucky Derby field with his Remsen win.

“We’ll come back healthy and then start picking our spots,” said Velazquez, who trains Brooklyn Strong out of his base at Delaware Park. “This is a big prep for the Derby moving forward. Now, we’re definitely Derby dreaming.”

Brooklyn Strong, bred in New York by Cheryl Prudhomme and Dr. Michael Gallivan and foaled at the couple’s Shamrock Hill Farm in Fort Edward, won by a neck over favored Ten for Ten in 1:50.60. Known Agenda, the second choice and winner of a 9-furlong maiden at Aqueduct last time out, finished 8 3/4 lengths back in third with Grade 3 Nashua winner Pickin’ Time another 8 1/4 lengths behind in fourth.

Joel Rosario allowed Brooklyn Strong to drop back early and they raced fourth in the early stages over the sloppy and sealed main track, saturated by well over an inch of rain Friday into Saturday. Ten for Ten, a $410,000 yearling purchase for Courtlandt Farms and trainer Shug McGaughey, set the pace ahead of Pickin’ Time, clicking off splits of :23.67, :47.86 and 1:12.69.

Brooklyn Strong raced 3 lengths back through the opening half before Rosario encouraged the gelding to get closer and into contention around the far turn.

“I broke well and it looked like they were running away from me a little bit, so I had to ride him to get position,” Rosario said. “I didn’t want to let him fall back, so I rode him to stay within a couple of lengths. I was happy with how he was progressing and I was confident he was going to have something left for the end.”

Ten for Ten led into the lane and was still up by a half-length at the eighth pole with Brooklyn Strong continuing his run while being carried a bit wide in the stretch.

Velazquez watched it unfold and felt confident that Brooklyn Strong would handle the trip and get the job done.

“I was very confident going in,” he said. “I knew the distance was key and I was confident about the off track. I was happy with his performance. He really dug in. Today was a big showcase for him against tougher competition.

“It’s tough. They paid a lot of money for him and we paid $5,000. You start to second guess yourself, but I knew he had the heart to grind it out.”

Brooklyn Strong added the Remsen to his victory over subsequent Notebook Stakes winner Eagle Orb in the Sleepy Hollow on Empire Showcase Day Oct. 24 at Belmont Park. He’d finished third in the Bertram F. Bongard 22 days before at Belmont prior to that win following a score in an open-company maiden claimer at Delaware Sept. 12.

Prudhomme and Gallivan sold Brooklyn Strong as a weanling for $30,000 out of their Shamrock Hill Farm consignment at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed sale. He RNA’d as a yearling twice after that – for $42,000 and $6,000 – before being offered by Coastal Equine at the OBS Spring sale originally scheduled for April but pushed back to June due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Schwartz picked Brooklyn Strong out at OBS and earned his trainer’s approval, but neither expected the heights the gelding has achieved so far.

“The owner went down to Ocala and he called me and sent me a few pictures,” Velazquez said. “It was $5,000 and we decided to take a shot. We didn’t think he’d end up winning stakes races. Of course, we’re doing a little Derby dreaming, but we want to take it just one day at a time and stay healthy.”

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2020/12/05/brooklyn-strong-takes-queens-by-storm-in-remsen/

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