Lady’s Golden Guy defends Leon Reed title
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Lady’s Golden Guy secures second straight Leon Reed Memorial Stakes Monday at Finger Lakes. SV Photography.
Different year, similar outcome with a twist in Monday’s $35,000 Leon Reed Memorial Stakes at Finger Lakes.
Lady’s Golden Guy, winner of last year’s Leon Reed via the disqualification of My Boy Tate for a medication positive, didn’t need a ruling this year and topped that same rival on the square to highlight the holiday card in Western New York. Lady’s Golden Guy defeated My Boy Tate by a length in the 6-furlong Leon Reed for his third win in six starts this season and first stakes since last year’s Leon Reed.
My Boy Tate finished 6 lengths clear of Lady’s Golden Guy in last year’s Leon Reed but was subsequently disqualified for an overage of a Class 4 therapeutic medication. My Boy Tate, a 10-time winner and $722,788-earner, returned from Michelle Nevin’s Belmont Park base for the 2022 renewal and went to the post as the 3-5 favorite. Lady’s Golden Guy went off as the 3-1 second choice in the field of six under Nazario Alvarado for owner and trainer Debra Breed.
Disco Deano came away fastest from the gate before Wow Brown slipped through to his inside to take control. Wow Brown led Acalteque by a half-length through the opening quarter-mile in :22.45 with Lady’s Golden Guy and Disco Deano side-by-side and chasing, ahead of the tandem of My Boy Tate and Nueva York.
Wow Brown shook off Acalteque and opened up a 1 1/2-length lead to the half in :46.67 with Lady’s Golden Guy the closest pursuer. Nazario guided Lady’s Golden Guy alongside the leader into the lane, just as Jose Gomez angled My Boy Tate off the inside to make their run. Lady’s Golden Guy opened up past the eighth pole and 5 furlongs in :58.67 and held off My Boy Tate’s late run. Wow Brown finished 2 1/4 lengths back in third, 2 lengths ahead of Nueva York with Disco Deano and Acalteque completing the field. Lady’s Golden Guy won in 1:11.43 over the fast track.
Lady’s Golden Guy earned $21,000 for the victory, the Golden Ticket gelding’s 10th in 27 starts, to boost his earnings to $219,825.
Bred by Ronald Breed, the 5-year-old Lady’s Golden Guy is out of the winning Value Plus mare Valuable Lady.
The Breeds claimed Valuable Lady for $7,500 when she finished second in late January 2012 at Aqueduct. She won three times for her new connections before being retired after the 2013 season.
Lady’s Golden Guy is Valuable Lady’s second foal. Her first foal, the New York-bred Willcox Inn gelding Invaluable Will, went 3-9-5 in 33 starts and earned $128,906 for the Breeds. Valuable Lady’s other two foals to race are winners – Lady’s Golden Guy’s 4-year-old full sister One Ticked Lady, and the 3-year-old Bellamy Road filly Road to Royalty.
Valuable Lady did not produce a foal in 2020 or 2021 but is the dam of a New York-bred colt by War Dancer born in late February 2022.
Endnotes:- [Image]: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/10-10-22-R7s-Ladys-Golden-Guy.jpg
Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2022/10/10/ladys-golden-guy-defends-leon-reed-title/
Irish Hill program produces strong yearling sale
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Hip 101, who led all New York-breds at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic yearling sale, learned his early lessons at Irish Hill Century Farm. Fasig-Tipton photo
You want to get a yearling ready for a sale? Take a walk. A good, long walk. Mix in some hills, get out there and put in the work. That’s the plan at Stillwater’s Irish Hill Century Farm, where a Girvin colt learned his early lessons en route to leading the New York-breds to sell at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic’s fall yearling sale at Timonium, Md. Oct. 3-4.
Irish Hill’s Rick Burke called the exercise a “power walk,” and said it does wonders for young horses.
“It’s a lot of walking,” Burke said. “We do it the old-style way. We don’t use a free walker. We hand walk them. We start out gradually and by the end it’s 2 1/2 miles. We have a 15-acre field that slopes down when you go in, curves up across the top to where it’s fairly flat and comes back down. Everything is gradual. It’s really good for them.”
The regimen paid off when the dark bay colt bred by Mary Lester sold for $140,000 to Tom McCrocklin for Champion Equine. The bid topped all New York-breds at the sale, and was the 10th-highest price overall. Out of the unraced Tiznow mare Tiz Possible, Hip 101 hails from a championship family. Second dam Proud Spell won an Eclipse Award as the champion 3-year-old filly of 2008 thanks to Grade 1 victories in the Alabama and Kentucky Oaks.
Foaled in February at Irish Hill, the Girvin colt took time to mature and was not pointed for Fasig-Tipton’s summer New York-bred sale at Saratoga.
“He’d catch your eye, he just needed time,” said Burke. “He would have gotten lost in the mix at Saratoga. We started in sales prep a few months ago and he was still a little bit immature. The last six weeks he was maturing into himself, the muscle was coming on and he got looking better and better.”
Vinery Sales’ Derek MacKenzie made the same assessment when he saw the colt at Irish Hill this summer, and again when he joined the consignment at Timonium. The colt dealt with Maryland’s rainy and chilly weather, and plenty of scrutiny from buyers.
“It was a good market if they looked good and they vetted good,” said MacKenzie, “but they’ve got to handle everything too, no matter where you take them, and he did.”
Again, the Irish Hill sales prep played an important role.
“They get groomed every day, hooves picked, manes and tails combed, we start bathing them about three or four weeks out and getting them used to that,” said Burke. “Come sale time they’re so well-handled they show pretty good and with the long walking they don’t get tired.”
Burke gives the yearlings weekends off, just to keep them fresh and engaged.
“We walk them five days a week,” he said. “I’ve found that they need a break. By the fifth day, they’re a little frustrated and just want to finish. By Monday, they’re waiting by the door wanting to go again like, ‘Let’s go.’ ”
The five-day schedule also eases the farm’s workload, just a little.
“It’s the old-style way, but it requires manpower,” Burke said. “You’re handling them the whole time too, which really helps them, but it takes time. We’re not set up to do a lot of horses, but that’s OK.”
Tiz Possible delivered a War Dancer colt in 2022 and was back in foal to the New York stallion for next year.
Endnotes:- [Image]: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Hip101.jpg
Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2022/10/10/irish-hill-program-produces-strong-yearling-sale/