Hot Mist, first foal o/o Hot Stones (SV Photography)
By Sarah Mace
While the New York Thoroughbred racing and breeding industries were still reveling Saturday in Governor Cuomo’s announcement that horse racing can resume in New York as early as June 1, more than a thousand miles away, New York-connected horses were celebrating in their own way on the Florida ovals.
A pair of first-time starters injected a strong New York flavor into a maiden special weight for 3-year-old fillies at Tampa Bay Downs on Florida’s west coast. Across the state, at Gulfstream Park, New York sire Bustin Stones got another feather in his progeny cap when his PA-bred 5-year-old daughter Jakarta upset the $75,000, Powder Break Stakes.
The debut maiden-breaker, Pennsylvania-bred Hot Mist by Tonalist, is the first foal out New York-bred graded stakes winner Hot Stones. Hot Mist rallied from fifth as the 8-5 favorite to win the seven-furlong contest for West Point Thoroughbreds and trainer Christophe Clement.
During her racing career, Hot Stones had the distinction of giving New York sire Bustin Stones (Waldorf Farm) his first stakes winner when she got up in the final stride to capture Belmont’s Grade 3 Bed o’ Roses Handicap in 2014. The following year Hot Stones won the Saratoga Dew at the Spa. Bred by Jerry Bilinski and Roddy Valente and campaigned by Valente and partners, the mare won eight races in 19 starts and retired with $521,356 in earnings.
Hot Stones changed hands twice since being retired in 2015, going first to Raylan Givens for $200,000 at the 2016 Keeneland January Sale and purchased later in the year at the Keeneland November sale by Clarkland Farm for $250,000. West Point went to $110,000 to purchase the filly at the 2018 Keeneland September sale.
The runner-up to Hot Mist in that same maiden special was New York-bred Bok Choy. Out-performing her 14-1 odds, she delivered a strong and determined performance for trainer Roy Lerman, dispatching the pacesetter early and yielding late to make the favorite work for her 2 1/2-length win.
Bok Choy, a dark bay brown filly by Shanghai Bobby is a homebred for Lambholm and Ella Fletcher. She is the seventh winner from 10 foals start out of veteran producer Clever Me, an unraced Florida-bred daughter of Not For Love, whose Pomeroy gelding Papa’s Paisley is a six-figure earner, In training at Saratoga as a juvenile last summer, Bok Choy tuned up for her debut with a steady series of moves at Tampa dating back to late march.
Later that afternoon on Florida’s opposite coast, Bustin Stones (Waldorf Farm) got another feather in his progeny cap at Gulfstream Park when his 5-year-old PA-bred daughter Jakarta upset the $75,000, Powder Break Stakes, originally scheduled for the turf and run at one mile on a muddy harrowed track labeled “fast.” She led at every pole, eventually kicking away to win by 2 1/4 lengths. Bred by Arrowwood Farm, Jakarta was purchased by her owner Three Diamonds Farm for only $35,000 at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic December mixed sale.
Sent off at odds of 11-1, the Mike Maker-trainee came into the race in sharp form, having wired her seasonal debut, a five-furlong sprint on turf in her first start for the Maker barn. She had previously run exclusively on dirt. Winner of her 2019 debut at Penn National, Jakarta has won six of 11 races and earned $159,986.
