Repole Stable’s Notacatbutallama (Harlan’s Holiday), freshened since a wide-trip sixth in the Grade 2 Jerome on January 5, made a huge move in the far turn from near the back of the field to finish third in the one-mile, $100,000 James W. Murphy Stakes, which was run on firm turf at Pimlico on Preakness Day.

Taken back after the break from post one while much of the speed to his outside swept past, 2-1 chalk Notacatbutallama looked a little hard to handle for jockey John Velazquez in the early stages, but negotiated the clubhouse turn cleanly in the two-path, avoiding trouble when Yougotthatgoinforu, also near the back of the field of 10 sophomores, clipped heels and lost his rider entering the turn

Cruising in seventh and more than 10 lengths behind pacesetter Redwood Kitten in the backstretch, Notacatbutallama made a big four-wide move rounding the turn for home, and emerged in third at the top of the stretch. Unable to make up the final four lengths on winner Redwood Kitten, Notacatbutallama finished third. The winner completed the one mile distance over the firm turf in 1:35.17.

Jockey John Velazquez, who piloted the colt for his first six careers starts and had the call on Saturday from trainer Todd Pletcher, said, “I was comfortable where I was. I think it was a little too much to make up and, you know, he probably needed the race, too. He hadn’t run in a couple months. He ran really well.”

With his third-place finish in the James Murphy, Notacatbutallama’s record now stands at 3-3-1 from nine starts with $218,334 in earnings.

Out of the exacta only once in a 7-race juvenile campaign, Notacatbutallama broke his maiden second out by an impressive 6 1/2 lengths at Saratoga and followed a solid fourth in the Grade 2 With Anticipation with a runner-up finish in Belmont’s Grade 3 Pilgrim. Notacatbutallama next reeled off back-to-back open stakes tallies, winning Belmont’s Incurable Optimist in October by 1 1/4 lengths and the Super Mario at Aqueduct by 3 1/2 lengths in November. He wound up the year finishing second to Smooth Bert in his first start on dirt in the Damon Runyon in December.

A fourth generation product of Happy Hill Farm breeding, Notacatbutallama was foaled at Sue and Gary Lundy’s Cedar Ridge Farm in Pine Plains. He is one of five foals to start and the third winner out of Self Rising, a stakes-placed daughter of Hansel ($164,931). Her second foal was nine-time winner and six-figure earner Toque by Alphabet Soup ($147,396).

Notacatbutallama first sold as a 2011 Fasig-Tipton New York-bred preferred Saratoga yearling for $50,000 to Nick de Meric, who turned him around as a two-year-old at the OBS Spring sale, where he was purchased by Repole Stables for $105,000.

Self Rising currently has a 2-year-old filly by Mineshaft named Jazzminegem. The filly, who was also bred by Happy Hill Farm and foaled at Cedar Ridge Farm, was purchased by Peacock Ridge, Agent, from the consignment of Becky Thomas’s Sequel Bloodstock for $100,000 at the 2013 OBS spring sale of 2-year-olds in training after recording a 10.0 breeze.

Adam Coglianese

Ogermeister, bred by Mrs. Gerald Nielsen and owned and trained by Wesley Ward, won NYRA’s first juvenile race of the year by six lengths on Thursday, rewarding backers who bet him down to 2-5 favoritism.

Exiting post two in the post-scratch field of five New York-bred juveniles, the well-prepared Ogermeister broke second under Joel Rosario, advanced to first in the opening strides and never looked back. Ticking off a snappy first quarter-mile in 22.56 and half in 45.81, he stopped the clock at 58.25 after five furlongs, crossing the wire six lengths ahead of the competition. [VIDEO]

Purchased by Ward for $40,000 at the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred preferred yearling sale last summer, Ogermeister is a bay gelding by Silver Train foaled in May. He is the first winner for his dam and a third-generation product of the Nielsens’ breeding program.

The colt’s dam To the Good Times (out of Neilsen-bred winner Bright Tribute by Polish Numbers) is a half-sister to stakes winners Lord Beer ($195,923) and Eliot Chacer ($107,950) – a stakes producer in her own right. The colt’s third dam, stakes-placed and multiple stakes-producer Dance Hall Girl, was purchased by Gerald A. Nielsen for $200,000 at the 1982 Keeneland November sale. In addition to producer Bright Tribute, Dance Hall Girl is the dam of multiple graded winner It’s Personal by Personal Flag ($232,836).

By virtue of Ogermeister’s maiden-breaking performance at the Belmont spring / summer meet, his owner becomes eligible for a $100,000 bonus from NYRA if he goes on to win a graded stakes at Saratoga Race Course, Belmont, or Aqueduct in 2013.

Returning to his native New York for the first time since winning an open allowance at Belmont last September, turf sprint specialist Next Question stayed on to finish third after setting a blistering pace in Belmont’s featured $85,000 Around the Cape overnight stakes Thursday.

Owned by Kirk Wycoff’s Three Diamonds Farm and trained by Mike Trombetta, the 5-year-old Stormy Atlantic gelding was looking to improve on his 2013 debut, where after racing on or near the lead in the 5 1/2-furlong Grade 3 Shakertown Stakes at Keeneland, he finished on the wrong end of a five-way blanket finish where the top five were separated by just a half-length. Ridden for the first time on Thursday by Rajiv Maragh and facing six in the six-furlong Around the Cape, the Grade 1 winner was bet down to 4-5 favoritism.

After winning a four-way scramble for the early lead, Next Question and took the field through red-hot splits of 21.55 and 44.01. Shaking free of his immediate competition in upper stretch, Next Question was faced next with two strong closers, Night Officer, who raced six lengths behind the vanguard in the early stages in fifth and Hoofit, who rallied from last.

In the final sixteenth the fast early pace took its toll, leaving Next Question to finish third 2 1/4 lengths behind Night Officer and Hoofit – a neck apart first and second – and 1 1/2 lengths clear of fourth-place finisher Saint Pete. The winner’s final time for the six furlongs was 1:07.92 for a Beyer Speed Figure of 92.

The stakes placing in his tenth career start improves Next Question’s career record to 3-1-2 with $414,513 in earnings.

Unraced at two, Next Question broke his maiden at second asking in May 2011 on the Woodbine Polytrack going 5 1/2 furlongs, but had to spend the next 13 months on the sidelines. Returning last June as a turf sprinter, Next Question followed a close runner-up finish in a state-bred allowance at Belmont with two trips marred by bad racing luck at Saratoga and then a victory in an open allowance at Belmont last September.

Supplemented next for the 6-furlong Grade 1 Nearctic Stakes at Woodbine in October, Next Question upset the field at 16-1 odds stamping his ticket to the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. He finished off-the-board over the downhill turf course at Santa Anita, but only four lengths behind the winner.

Bred by Dr. Lance Bell and foaled at BellView in Greenfield Center, Next Question is the first winner from five foals to start out of the unplaced Slew City Slew mare Seattle Stardust, who is a half-sister to 2004 BC Mile winner Singletary.

Offered three times at public auction, Next Question changed hands only once, when purchased by Three Diamonds at the 2009 New York Mixed sale for $30,000. He failed to meet his reserve when bid up to $29,000 as a weanling at the 2008 Keeneland November Breeding Stock sale and in 2010 was a $170,000 buy-back at the OBS Spring 2-year-olds in training sale.

After Freedom Child drew off to score – using Tom Durkin’s coinage –a “mud-nificent” 13 1/4-length victory over eight 3-year-olds in the Grade 2, $200,000 Peter Pan at Belmont on Saturday, John Esposito and Anthony Logrippo’s homebred Go Get the Basil (Andromeda’s Hero) – thick in the battle for the other placings – got a nose in front of Abraham to finish third over the sloppy going.

Breaking from post seven (of nine) under Irad Ortiz, Jr., Go Get the Basil settled in sixth position in the two-path for the run up the backstretch, while Freedom Child, off a beat slow, rushed up from post one to take over the lead for good.

With six or more lengths still to make up on the second flight in the turn, Go Get the Basil angled out five wide in upper stretch and took hold of the sloppy going. After steadily making up ground out in the crown of the track, he managed to nose Abraham out of third at the wire, while finishing 2 1/4 lengths behind runner-up Saint Vigeur.

After a mile in 1:35.95, the winner’s final time for the nine furlong-contest, which was run after a fresh downpour on an already sloppy racetrack, was 1:49.09.

Rick Violette-trainee Go Get the Basil took a couple of tries to get things figured out, but after breaking his maiden third out at the $50,000 claiming level at Aqueduct last October, the chestnut colt reeled off two more straight victories on “good” going over the Aqueduct inner in December and January: a 6-furlong state-bred allowance by a neck over subsequent Grade 3 Withers runner-up Escapefromreality and an open starter allowance / optional claiming event at a mile in January.

After finishing second in an open allowance on March 7, just a nose behind The Truth and K G, who ran third next out in the Grade 3 Bay Shore, Go Get the Basil ran eighth in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial prior to the Peter Pan.

Go Get the Basil is out of Images in Jade (Jade Hunter), a Kentucky-bred five-time winner of $118,535 (32-5-3-4), who was claimed by John Esposito for $20,000 out of an Aqueduct sprint in mid-February 2002. Images in Jade retired after nine starts for Esposito and Logrippo, which included a win, a second and a third, and has gone on to produce six winners from six foals to start, including Hot Splash (Sunriver), runner-up in the Park Avenue division of the NYSS last year ($115,155). Currently Images in Jade has a yearling colt by Artie Schiller.

Go Get the Basil’s sire Andromeda’s Hero, who entered stud in 2007, stands at Dutchess Views Farm in Pine Plains.

Adam Coglianese

Waterville Lake Stable’s homebred Miss Valentine took over the lead in the final sixteenth to score her seventh career stakes victory in Friday’s $90,000 No Reason Stakes for older New York-bred fillies and mares run at one mile over Belmont’s main track.

Miss Valentine (Afleet Alex) came into the No Reason after more than five months off with a history of running well fresh for trainer Christophe Clement. The chestnut was also looking for a third consecutive stakes victory, having wound up her 4-year-old season with back-to-back scores in the Chase the Dream and Lottsa Talc Stakes at Aqueduct in November and December.

Reunited for her 5-year-old debut with Kentucky Derby-winning rider Joel Rosario, who had piloted the filly to a runner-up finish behind runaway winner Willet in the Iroquois on Showcase Day last October and to victory in the Chase the Dream, Miss Valentine backed off the early pace set by Harbor Mist (23.86, 47.14) to race in fourth from post four, while Clear Pasaj (Smoke Glacken) pursued the pacesetter two lengths behind in second.

Around the far turn, Miss Valentine moved up into third, advancing steadily as Clear Pasaj took over the lead from Harbor Mist. Angled out three-wide Miss Valentine came under a ride in the stretch, passed Clear Pasaj around the sixteenth marker and edged ahead to get the win by a half-length. Clear Pasaj finished second, keeping a head in front of Lady On the Run, who ran last in the early stages but launched a bid in the turn and closed eagerly on the outside to get third. Erin Enchanted finished fourth, followed by Go Unbridled and Harbor Mist. Fiftyfour Forever was scratched.

Miss Valentine’s seventh stakes victory, which came in a final time of 1:37.53 over the “good” going on the Belmont main track, improves her record to 8-5-1 from 19 starts and increases her earnings to $470,500. Miss Valentine has not raced outside of stakes company since her second start when she won the Swirlaway at Aqueduct in November 2010. She has fared well against open rivals, in 2011 winning the Serena’s Song at Monmouth and Mom’s Command at Belmont, and finishing second in the Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks in 2011.

Foaled at Berkshire Stud in Pine Plains, Miss Valentine is out of the multiple black type-placed Gilded Time mare Miss Yiayia ($175,970), who has produced all winners from five foals to start. Purchased upon retirement by Winter Quarter Farm for $195,000 at the 2001 Keeneland November sale, Miss Yiayia changed hands again in 2009 going to David J. Fiske (agent) for $10,000 at the Keeneland January sale.

Miss Yiayia’s other six-figure earner is New York-bred Thunder Chief, by Thunder Gulch ($164,930).

Adam Coglianese

In a contest of battle-hardened veterans, Chester and Mary Broman’s 6-year-old homebred Mine Over Matter (Mineshaft) won a three-way battle with Be Bullish and Fiddlers Afleet in late stretch to come out on top in Thursday’s featured $83,300 Corma Ray overnight stakes for older New York-breds.

After winning the 6-furlong Hudson Stakes on Showcase Day last October for trainer Mike Hushion, Mine Over Matter wrapped up 2012 with an excellent third-place finish to Caixa Eletronica and This Ones for Phil in Aqueduct’s Grade 3 Fall Highweight Handicap, despite a bad stumble at the start. In three races this year, Mine Over Matter ran second to Brigand, who wired the field, in the Turnofthecentury overnight stakes on January 30, and was unplaced in the Grade 3 Toboggan on February 2 and Compelling Word Stakes on March 21.

Turning back from a mile over the Aqueduct inner to six furlongs on Big Sandy, and facing off-going (designated “muddy [sealed]), which had accounted for four of Mine Over Matter’s six career victories, Mine Over Matter was bet down to 7-5 as the post-time favorite and partnered for the first time with Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Joel Rosario.

Breaking from the outside post (of five) Mine Over Matter settled in fourth just off the pace, as Be Bullish outsprinted Fiddlers Afleet to grab the early lead, showing the way through early fractions of 23.46 and 47.08 with Fiddlers Afleet at his flank.

Looming three-wide and poised to strike at the top of the stretch, Mine Over Matter steadily narrowed the gap to the frontrunners in upper stretch and took over the lead past the sixteenth pole before edging away to a one-length victory in a final time of 1:22.73.

Be Bullish, game as always, held his ground under nearly constant pressure from Fiddlers Afleet, who poked a head in front at one point, to secure the place by a half-length. Ground Force and Cap the Moment completed the order of finish and Uncle T Seven and Johannesburg Smile were scratched.

Mine Over Matter has now won four stakes races and placed in nine more, including the Grade 3 Fall Highweight Handicap. The Corma Ray victory improves his record 7-4-10 from 39 starts and increases his earnings bankroll to $455,934.

Chestertown Farm purchased the dam of Mine Over Matter, Hansel’s Girl, in 1996 as a Keeneland September yearling for $80,000. The Grade 2-placed five-time winner by Hansel (Woodman) earned $237,980 on the racetrack and has had a productive career as a broodmare.

Hansel’s Girl has produced four winners from four starters including stakes-placed – Chestertown Slew, by Seattle Slew ($171,826), and Motor Patrol, by Cherokee Run ($148,633). Hansel’s Girl currently has a 2-year-old filly by New York Freshman sire Noonmark and a weanling colt by Girolamo born on February 24.

Adam Coglianese

Grade 1 winner Dayatthespa (City Zip), New York-bred champion 3-year-old filly and champion turf female in 2012, returned to the races in style on Sunday afternoon for her 4-year-old debut, comfortably winning Belmont’s $90,000 You Go West Girl overnight stakes for NY-bred fillies and mares at a mile on the Widener turf.

Owned by Jerry Frankel, Ronald Frankel, Steve Laymon and Bradley Thoroughbreds, Dayatthespa won five straight stakes races last year for trainer Chad Brown: Gulfstream’s Sweetest Chant in January and Grade 3 Herecomesthebride in March, Keeneland’s Grade 3 Appalachian in April, and the Riskaverse at Saratoga in August, and, capping the series with a return to Keeneland in October, the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup, which she won with a dominating wire-to-wire performance.

Dayatthespa did not, however, manage to stay perfect for the year. Favored to win the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes at Betfair Hollywood Park, she swerved and propped at the rail three-quarters of a mile from home, lost all chance and suffered a cut tendon requiring six stitches.

Keen and dancing around in the paddock before the race on Sunday and sent off as the 1-4 favorite, Dayatthespa broke eagerly from post two (of five), and, well-held by regular rider Javier Castellano, sat on the flank of pacesetter My Jopia behind solid early splits (23.20, 46.66).

Passing the leader in the far turn, Dayatthespa was met by a bold challenge from Broman homebred Kibosh around the quarter pole, but once roused the champion filly opened up a gap to her pursuers and crossed the wire with a four-length advantage. Kibosh finished second, 4 3/4 lengths clear of Elusive Rumour who finished third, followed up by My Jopia and Mystic City. The final time for the mile out of the chute was a strong 1:33.52.

Winning jockey Javier Castellano said, “She was much the best in the field. It was a small group, but she was coming off a layoff and I didn’t want to hook up and get into a speed duel in the first part of the race. She settled beautiful, and the other horses came out kind of quick early. She responded and did everything the right way today. I’m glad she came back good after the layoff and did it the way she did it. It was a great performance and I’m happy with that.”

Trainer Chad Brown added, “We were lucky to get her back. She had a difficult experience in the Matriarch where she tried to jump the rail. For a moment we were considering retiring her; we didn’t think she would come back good. We tested her out a little bit at Palm Meadows during the early part of the breeding season, and she trained well and has never looked back.”

Brown already has a plan in mind for the next step in the chestnut filly’s 4-year-old campaign. “We thought this was a good spot to get her started. I’ll probably run her back in the Just a Game [Grade 1, $500,000, June 8] if she comes out of the race good.”

Bred by Castellare DiCracchiolo Stable, Cracchiolo & Goldsher and foaled at Empire Stud in Hudson, Dayatthespa changed hands only once at public auction, going to Sarazen Stable for $50,000 at the Fasig-Tipton New York preferred yearling sale in 2010. She has compiled a record of 7-1-0 from 10 starts with $633,892 in earnings after her victory in the You Go West Girl, which is named in honor of a Craig Bernick’s accomplished multiple stakes winner bred by Gallagher’s Stud and trained by Tom Proctor (31-10-7-5 [$637,043]).

Dayatthespa’s dam M’Lady Doc, an unplaced daughter of Doc’s Leader, is a full sister to Phi Beta Doc, a Grade 3 winner and turf course record-setter at Saratoga and Colonial Downs ($442,815). Her half-brother Queen Mary’s Boy (Full Pocket) won a listed stakes. M’Lady Doc has produced four winners from four starters, including New York-bred $126,140-earner Doc Can Do (Quiet American). Her last reported foal, 3-year-old The Big Deluxe (Silver Wagon), broke his maiden in a state-bred maiden special weight turf sprint at Belmont on April 28.

Adam Coglianese

Joemar Racing Stables’ homebred Lovely Syn, a 3-year-old daughter of Freud with a big white blaze, turned the $100,000 Park Avenue division of the New York Stallion Stakes series into a romp Sunday, winning by 9-plus lengths and giving her sire Freud (Sequel Stallions) his third stakes winner of the weekend on the heels of Saturday’s Grade 3 victories by Lubash and Hessonite.

Undefeated after winning her first two career starts by a combined 9 nine lengths at Aqueduct in March and April for trainer Dominick Schettino, Lovely Syn was bet down to 2-5 by post time for Sunday’s Park Avenue – the filly division of a pair of 6 1/2-furlong New York Stallion Stakes Series races for 3-year-old progeny of eligible New York-based sires.

Bit Bustin (Bustin Stones) won the break, but it wasn’t long before Lovely Syn assumed command coming through from in-between horses, and proceeded to set strong early fractions under Mike Luzzi (21.71 and 44.59) as Keep Bustin and Kilnockagain moved up to pursue a length behind.

Still leading by a length, but shaken up around the quarter pole, Lovely Syn opened up daylight on the field, winning by 9 1/2 lengths in a final time for 6 1/2 furlongs of 1:16.33, a full second faster than the male division run the race before. Bit Bustin re-rallied for second, while Sharon Spagetti (Frost Giant), who made a bid at the rail, finished another length behind in third. Keep Bustin, Jerusalem Stone and Kilnockagain completed the order of finish.

Mike Luzzi, who has been aboard for all three of Lovely Syn’s starts, said, “She never breaks real fast, but her second jump she grabs the bridle. The first two times I had someone to stare at, but she was good enough to make the lead today and past the five-sixteenths pole she started to wait a little bit. Last time she didn’t switch leads on time, so today I just wanted to make sure she switched on time. It was a pretty good little workout for her. She’s a little special. She’s got a little class, and she might be able to improve, too. Dominick’s done a great job.”

Said trainer Dominick Schettino, “She’s fast, she’s always been fast, but I’d like to see her break a little better. We’re teaching her, but she doesn’t have that early foot right out of the gate. Hopefully in time, with schooling and teaching her, she’ll get the hang of it. Her sister, Lemon Tiger, was the same way. She actually breaks a little better than Lemon Tiger. Mike Luzzi said that at the five-sixteenths pole, she got a little bored, like ‘Where is everybody?’ He tapped her a couple of times and then she responded. She’s the type of filly if you just sit on her, she’ll settle, and then when you ask her, she goes, which is a good sign if you want to stretch out longer.

As to the future Schettino said, “We’ll see how she comes out of this race, I’ll speak to Michael Parisi and then we’ll go over a summer campaign and see what we’re going to do with her.”

Foaled at Highcliff Farm in Delanson (now Highcliff Stallions), Lovely Syn is the third foal to race and third winner produced by Lemon Drop’s Love, a New York-bred daughter of Lemon Drop Kid who brought $125,000 at the Fasig-Tipton New York preferred yearling sale and was unplaced in her single start.

Lemon Drop’s Love’s first foal Lemon Tiger (Hold that Tiger), bred by Joseph Parisi and trained by Schettino, hit the board in 12 of 20 starts and earned $176,816. Her second foal Mightylover (Catienus) is also a multiple winner ($58,750). Lemon Drop’s Love currently has a 2-year-old filly by Posse (Shotgun Love), a yearling colt by Stonesider (Lemon Iceking) and a weanling filly by Bluegrass Cat.

Adam Coglianese

Longshot Belief System (Read the Footnotes) won Belmont’s $100,000 NYSS Times Square in his fifth career start under a heads-up ride by Junior Alvarado Sunday. The Times Square was the first of a pair of 6 1/2-furlong New York Stallion Stakes Series races on the card for 3-year-old progeny of eligible New York-based sires.

Drawn in post two (of five), and making his second start for trainer Rudy Rodriguez, Belief System, who is owned by Sequel Racing, was the longest shot on the board at post time at odds of 15-1.

Outsprinted early, Belief System settled in the rail in third as much as five lengths off a scorching pace set by Broman homebred In Harm’s Way (21.77 and 44.71), who was pursued a length behind by odds-on favorite Chapman

Coming out of turn, Belief System capitalized on a gap at the rail, cut the corner neatly and grabbed the lead. Digging in in midstretch, the gelding crossed the finish line a half-length ahead of Chapman (Stanislavsky), who kept in the hunt with determination but ran out of ground, while In Harm’s Way (Hook and Ladder) finished another 3 3/4 lengths back in third. Laila’s Jazz and Petrocelli completed the order of finish. After three-quarters of a mile in 1:10.47, the final time for the 6 1/2 furlongs was 1:17.35.

Winning jockey Junior Alvarado said, “I know they were going a little fast in front, but the track has been pretty fast. I didn’t want to be too far back, either. I just tried to keep after my horse because he was trying to shuffle back a little bit. I just tried to keep him as close as I can, turning for home he got a nice space and he finished up pretty well.”

Rudy Rodriguez added, “This was his second start for us. He’s been pretty good. When we got him, he was ready to run. So we just waited for the right spot to put him in. We got lucky. The other horses went pretty fast and we would like to run a little longer, but this was a good race for him.”

Beginning his career in the barn of Chris Englehart, Belief System missed winning his open-company maiden special weight debut at Finger Lakes last November by just a head. Unplaced in a 1 mile and 70-yard state-bred maiden special weight at Aqueduct in December and third going six furlongs at the $35,000 maiden claiming level in January, he broke his maiden decisively for his new trainer after a two-month freshening, romping by 8 3/4 lengths in a $20,000 maiden claiming event at one mile on the Aqueduct inner oval on March 14.

Belief System, whose record now stands at 2-1-1 from five starts with $87,350 in earnings, was bred in partnership by Sequel Thoroughbreds LLC and Tony Grey and foaled at Hidden Lake Farm in Otisville. He is out of Boatman Road, a Lord a War (ARG) mare purchased by Becky Thomas at the 2006 Keeneland January sale for $13,000. Boatman Road has produced three winners from five starters, including juvenile Grade 3-placed runner Segal (Harlan’s Holiday) ($56,585). She currently has a yearling colt by Sequel first crop sire Noonmark.

Belief System’s sire Read the Footnotes is a former top-ten New York sire for Sequel Stallions, where he stood from 2006 to 2011 before relocating to Oklahoma.

Lubash wins G3 Fort Marcy in stakes record time (Adam Coglianese)

Multiple stakes winners Lubash and Hessonite, both offspring of perennially leading New York turf sire Freud (Sequel Stallions), scored powerful first graded stakes victories on Belmont’s Widener turf course under Junior Alvarado on Saturday, with Lubash taking the Grade 3, $150,000 Fort Marcy in stakes-record time and Hessonite making a dazzling move in the final furlong to capture the Grade 3, $150,000 Beaugay for fillies and mares.

Lubash, making the second start of his 6-year-old campaign for Aliyu Ben J Stables and trainer Christophe Clement, came into the 1 1/16-mile Fort Marcy following a second place finish to Street Game in the Dave overnight stakes on April 14 after a five-month layoff.

Reserved early under Junior Alvarado, Lubash (9-2) traveled in fifth behind a swift pace set by fellow New York-bred King Kreesa (23.23, 45.71 and 1:08.54). Beginning his bid entering the far turn, Lubash moved up into fourth, tipped out four-wide for the drive and had a clear run at the leaders.

After passing King Kreesa midstretch, Lubash had enough left in reserve to hold off a hard-charging Bombaguia, who finished a half-length behind in second. King Kreesa held on for third another length back. Lubash stopped the clock at 1:38.89, a stakes record and just .36 seconds off the course record set by Fortitude in 1997. The previous stakes record was held by Baletti, who won the 2010 Fort Marcy in 1:40.36. [VIDEO]

Victorious jockey Junior Alvarado said, “The first thing I tried to do was find a horse to follow because [Christophe Clement] told me to put him behind horses. I knew they were going pretty fast, and I was able to get a good position. When I asked him he came on pretty strong at the end. I tried to follow instructions, and it worked out pretty good.”

Clement said, “[Lubash is a] really nice horse, very honest, always tries. I thought he was a bit unlucky at Aqueduct the other day (when second in the Dave overnight stakes), came out of it, trained well. The next New York-bred stake is in a month’s time, and Mr. Pivnick wanted to try him. He was absolutely right, and he won the race, which is great.”

In addition to his Fort Marcy score Lubash, has won five other blacktype turf contests, including, the West Point and the Ashley T. Cole in 2012, earning $594,379 for his career (26-8-4-2). Bred by Aliyuee Ben J Stable, Inc. and foaled at Carapan Farm he is the most successful offspring of Nasty Cure, a stakes-placed daughter of Cure the Blues ($153,122), who has produced five multiple winners including stakes-placed New York-bred Netcong by Meadow Flight, who started 87 times and banked $327,924. Nasty Cure currently has a two-year-old filly by Midas Eyes and a yearling full sister to Lubash.

Hessonite streaks home in G3 Beaugay (Adam Coglianese)

William J. Punk, Jr. and Philip DiLeo’s Hessonite, coming off back-to-back championship years in 2011 and 2012, was last seen on Showcase Day in October winning her second straight Ticonderoga. Unplaced in her seasonal debut last year in the Beaugay and looking to improve on two career graded stakes placings, Hessonite broke well from the inside post Saturday and tracked at the rail in midpack behind moderate fractions for three-quarters of a mile (25.05, 48.94 and 1:12.51).

Finding herself behind a solid wall of horses in midstretch, the 5-year-old was angled sharply out into the five-path in the final furlong. Once clear, Hessonite absolutely shot past four rivals to secure the victory by three-quarters of a length in a final time of 1:40.82. [VIDEO]

Alvarado said, “I knew how much filly I had, and I knew I had horses right in front of me. I knew if I could find a way I would win the race. All I can tell you is that she was unbelievable. Once she was clear, she just took off right away, like she was coming out of the gate. It was amazing.”

Winning trainer David Donk said, “That was really cool. When you’re inside and there’s no pace…that’s the kind of the way she needs to run, is to be off the pace, so I told him, ‘Just be patient and trust her.’ You’ve got to get a little bit lucky, but…wow. When he was able just to get her out, like he said, ‘I didn’t even hit her, she just whooshed and threw me to the back of the saddle.’”

Donk continued, “She looks great, that’s the best she’s ever looked, so hopefully it’s the right move bringing her back at five for another year. It was important to win a graded race today, and maybe on to bigger and better things. I’ve always had the Sheepshead Bay (Grade 2, $200,000, 1 3/8 miles on May 25) on the radar with the Mount Vernon as a fallback if things didn’t work out today.”

Bred by Berkshire Stud in partnership with John Meriwether’s Waterville Lake Stables Limited, LLC, Hessonite (19-10-3-1, $803,310) was purchased by William Punk, Jr. as a 2009 Keeneland September yearling for $27,000. Hessonite’s dam Lakab is a winning daughter of Manila with three siblings who won at the Grade/Group 2 and 3 levels. Lakab has produced eight winners, including two other blacktype winners: European Rose, by Nureyev ($67,860) and Roanoke (AUS), by Danehill ($106,274).