Cross Border adds Turfway’s Prairie Bayou to growing resume
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Cross Border, two-time winner of the Grade 2 Bowling Green at Saratoga, added Turfway’s Prairie Bayou Stakes to his ledger Saturday. Coady Photography.
By Melissa Bauer-Herzog
Popular New York-bred millionaire and multiple graded stakes winner Cross Border returned to the winner’s circle Saturday evening when he shipped to Turfway Park in Northern Kentucky for a victory in the $100,000 Prairie Bayou Stakes.
The tightly packed synthetic race saw Cross Border among the back markers only about 3 lengths off the leading Megacity through the first half of the 1 1/16-mile stakes. Megacity set fractions of :23.40, :47.45, and 1:12.00 as Cross Border happily raced widest of all under Alex Achard, just waiting for his time to shine.
That moment came around the far turn as Cross Border went widest of all and ranged up alongside the leaders. Achard never asked for Cross Border’s best with the English Channel gelding feeling just a few taps down the stretch. He coasted home under a hand ride in the final sixteenth to win by 1 3/4 lengths from Mr Dumas. Fellow New York-bred Hush of a Storm, winner of last year’s John Battaglia Memorial Stakes at Turfway, finished another 1 1/2 lengths back in third with 9-5 favorite Rushie fourth in the field of seven. Cross Border won in 1:43.89.
The Prairie Bayou was the fourth stakes victory and 11th stakes top-three finish for the multiple Grade 1-placed Cross Border, who is also a multiple Grade 2 winner.
Bred by Doug Koch’s Berkshire Stud and B. D. Gibbs and foaled at Berkshire Stud in Pine Plains, Cross Border has been a top-class runner for trainer Mike Maker and the Wycoff family’s Three Diamonds Farm since they purchased him for $100,000 at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July sale of selected horses of racing age.
Cross Border improved to eight wins and 10 other top-three finishes in 25 starts since that 2018 trip through the sales ring. He’s won 11 times with 13 other top-three finishes in 39 career starts for $1,087,929 in overall earnings.
Also a $180,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase before selling for $10,000 as a 2-year-old at the 2016 OBS June sale, Cross Border is one of three winners from three to race out of the Empire Maker mare Empress Josephine.
Empress Josephine is a half-sister to multiple graded stakes-winning New York-bred Private Emblem and multiple stakes winning New York-bred Rhum, who is the dam of leading New York sire Central Banker.
Endnotes:- [Image]: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Cross-Border-PrairieBayou.jpg
Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2021/12/18/cross-border-adds-turfways-prairie-bayou-to-growing-resume/
Laoban filly Yo Cuz earns first win in NYSS Fifth Avenue
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Dream Maker Racing’s Yo Cuz gives the late Laoban back-to-back winners in the Fifth Avenue division of the NYSS Saturday at Aqueduct. Chelsea Durand/NYRA Photo.
By Tom Law
Yo Cuz learned plenty in her first start.
The lessons – overcoming a slow start and settling early, making a solid middle-move and mounting a rally in the stretch while in tight quarters on multiple occasions – served the Laoban filly well for her second start Saturday at Aqueduct. She broke much better, relaxed on the lead and kicked clear in the lane for a maiden-breaking score in the $500,000 Fifth Avenue division of the New York Stallion Series Stakes.
“Last time [Nov. 21 maiden] cost her the race for sure. She was squeezed out of there and she was very green, too. I just sat patiently and tried to teach her some stuff. I didn’t want to rush her,” said Jose Ortiz, who rode the winner for owner Dream Maker Racing and trainer Bill Mott. “She’s a big filly and she closed well last time. I was very happy with the race. I knew second time she was going to be a lot better.
“I expected she was going to win a maiden; I didn’t know she was going to run in here. I knew this race was going to be a little bit tougher, but she proved that she belongs.”
Gallo figured back in May, when he bought the filly for $125,000 out of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May sale of 2-year-olds in training, that the Fifth Avenue would be a good spot for the New York-bred filly. He just needed the stamp of approval from her Hall of Fame trainer.
“When we first gave Bill the horse, we had this race in mind,” Gallo said. “When I mentioned it to Bill, he looked at me and laughed a little bit because he had just got her. But then she started to breeze at Saratoga and was training really well. We wanted to get one race in her before this and she ran fifth about four weeks ago. She broke bad, trailed the field but then weaved her way between horses and galloped out past the leader.
“When we spoke to Jose Ortiz after the race, he said that he really liked the horse. It’s nice to have continuity because he knew her.”
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Yo Cuz capped big two-day stretch for jockey Jose Ortiz in the NYSS Fifth Avenue. Joe Labozzetta/NYRA Photo.
Ortiz, who won two other races on Saturday’s card after a three-win night at Remington Park in Oklahoma Friday, rode Yo Cuz to a 1 ¾-length score over even-money favorite Morning Matcha with 43-1 longshot Laochi, another daughter of Laoban, third in the field of 11.
Yo Cuz won in 1:25.34, slightly faster than the 1:25.88 that Geno needed to win the Great White Way division of the New York Stallion Stakes Series two races prior.
“It was a great training job by Bill, as always. She was ready today. She broke well today and he worked on what she needed – breaking better, which she did,” Ortiz said. “I just held on and was a passenger. She broke very clean and when I went to take position and looked around me, nobody could keep up with me in the first quarter. So, when I took [the lead] I slowed it down nicely and she was very relaxed.”
Yo Cuz earned $275,000 for her connections, not including open company awards, and also gave the late Laoban, who formerly stood at Sequel Stallions New York in Hudson, back-to-back winners of the Fifth Avenue after eventual New York-bred champion finalist Laobanandaprayer won in 2020.
Bred by Seidman Stables LLC, Yo Cuz is the second foal out of the winning Tale of Ekati mare Steve’s Philly. A $50,000 purchase by Seidman Stables at the 2015 OBS April sale of 2-year-olds in training, Steve’s Philly is out of the Gone West mare Striking Wonder, who is out of multiple Grade 1 winner Wonder Again from the family of Grade 1 winners Colonel Liam, Tribulation and Graceful Darby. Steve’s Philly is also the dam of the 3-year-old New York-bred Palace Malice gelding Uncle Jerome, who is in training in New York with owner and trainer Michael Gorham; and a soon-to-be New York-bred yearling full brother to Yo Cuz.
Yo Cuz sold as Hip 209[3] at the Midlantic May sale, out of the Hidden Brook consignment for Seidman Stable. She didn’t breeze in presale workouts over the Timonium Race Course track, another selling point for Gallo.
“The thing that stood out for us was that she was one of the few in that sale who galloped and didn’t breeze,” he said. “We like when people take time with their horses. The fact that she was a good size and came out of a good consignment was appealing.”
Endnotes:- [Image]: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/YoCuz-NYSS-Durand.jpg
- [Image]: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/YoCuz-NYSS-labozzetta.jpg
- Hip 209: https://www.fasigtipton.com/catalogs/2021/0517/209.pdf
Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2021/12/18/laoban-filly-yo-cuz-earns-first-win-in-nyss-fifth-avenue/
Big Brown’s Geno scores in NYSS Great White Way
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Geno and Jorge Vargas Jr. hold of Un Ojo and Trevor McCarthy in Saturday’s $500,000 Great White Way division of the NYSS. Chelsea Durand/NYRA Photo.
By Tom Law
What better spot to take a try a dirt race with a 2-year-old colt with three starts, all on grass, than for a $500,000 purse?
Dave Donk figured as much with Pete Martine’s homebred Big Brown colt Geno, who relished his chance and came away with a victory in Saturday’s $500,000 Great White Way division of the New York Stallion Stakes Series at Aqueduct.
“This is a pretty good spot to find out,” Donk said after Geno split rivals in the lane and held off a late run from Un Ojo to win the 7-furlong Great White Way by a neck. Jorge Vargas Jr., aboard for Geno’s two most recent starts against open company in turf stakes on the NYRA circuit, rode the colt to victory in 1:25.88.
“This horse has a lot of class, as much class as I’ve seen a horse have in a while,” Donk said. “I debated first time out whether I should run him on dirt or turf. His mother (Weekend Hottie) won on grass and my success with Big Brown offspring have been on grass, so I ran him over it.”
Geno broke his maiden going 6 furlongs on the grass Sept. 19 at Belmont Park, then just missed there in the $100,000 Awad Stakes stretching out to 1 1/16 miles. He came into the Great White Way off a sixth, beaten just 2 lengths, in the $100,000 Central Park Stakes again at 1 1/16 miles on the turf at Aqueduct.
Sent off the 8-1 fourth choice in the field of 11, Geno and Vargas saved ground early and around the far turn while 8-5 favorite Unique Unions led Kenner through the opening splits of :22.71 and :46.48.
Vargas sent Geno through those two foes in the lane, took the lead at the eighth pole and past 6 furlongs in 1:12.30. Un Ojo, fourth last time in an open-company stakes at Delta Downs and making his first start in New York, rallied under Trevor McCarthy while several paths off the fence into the lane. Un Ojo came alongside Geno in deep stretch, the two exchanged bumps and the latter stayed tough for his second win in four starts. Unique Union, a son of freshman sire Union Jackson, finished 2 1/4 lengths back in third with 96-1 longshot Hot Stepper fourth.
Geno and his connections also withstood a claim of foul from McCarthy and a stewards inquiry for the victory.
“Nothing really happened,” Vargas said. “My horse got to waiting on horses a bit. He [Un Ojo] came running on the outside and bumped my horse on his rear end a little bit.”
McCarthy saw it a bit differently on his mount, an aptly named son of Laoban who is missing his left eye.
“My horse is a pretty big, gangly horse and it doesn’t take much to get him off stride,” McCarthy said. “When he bumped me, it took all the momentum away from him. I had a great position. I was able to tuck him in around the turn and cut the corner and then get him back out. He had a great trip. It was just really unfortunate that he got bumped and lost all his momentum.”
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Trainer Dave Donk (left) says Geno could wind up in more stakes this winter after Saturday’s Stallion Series victory. NYRA Photo.
Geno now heads into the winter months with some momentum.
Donk hinted that the colt could stick around for other dirt stakes engagements, rather than being turned out for six weeks and returning with eyes on spring turf stakes.
“He breezes really well on the dirt and I needed to try him somewhere on the dirt,” Donk said. “This is as good a spot as I could have found.”
Geno’s victory provided champion and dual classic winner Big Brown, who stands for $5,000 at Irish Hill Century and Dutchess Views Stallions LLC in Stillwater, with another major victory in 2021. He’s also the sire multiple New York-bred champion and multiple graded stakes winner Somelikeithotbrown, in the midst of his best season in 2021 with $498,000 in earnings; and 2021 stakes winner Jemography.
Bred by Martine and raced in the green and white colors of his Mendham Racing Stable, Geno is the first foal out of the winning Sun King mare Weekend Hottie.
Campaigned by Mendham Racing Stable, Weekend Hottie broke her maiden on the grass for Donk in June 2017. She’s also the dam of a soon-to-be yearling filly by Laoban, also bred in New York by Martine, and was bred back to Majestic City in 2021.
Endnotes:- [Image]: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Geno-NYSS.jpg
- [Image]: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/GenoConnections-NYSS.jpg
Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2021/12/18/big-browns-geno-scores-in-nyss-great-white-way/
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