NEWS: RACING

Shaker Shack leads 1-3 finish for sire in NYSS Park Avenue

Sunday, April 18th, 2021

Shaker Shack and Jose Ortiz cruise to the wire in Sunday’s $200,000 Park Avenue division of the New York Stallion Stakes. Susie Raisher/NYRA Photo.

By Melissa Bauer-Herzog

Shaker Shack became the newest New York-bred stakes winner Sunday afternoon with an upset victory in the $200,000 Park Avenue division of the New York Stallion Stakes at Aqueduct after two consecutive runner-up finishes over the same track.

Racing over 6 1/2 furlongs on the fast main track, the 3-year-old daughter of Bustin Stones was the first out of the gate and entered a duel for the lead against Laura’s Bellamy. Shaker Shack grudgingly allowed Laura’s Bellamy to take a short lead, the pair pushed each other through a first quarter of :22.07.  Laura’s Bellamy gave way entering the far turn.

Though she took over the lead, Shaker Shack didn’t get a breather with Shesadirtydancer coming up the outside as Laura’s Bellamy faded on her inside. Shesadirtydancer stuck her head in front around the turn with Shaker Shack’s jockey Jose Ortiz asking his mount to stick with her. Shaker Shack complied through a half in :45.21 and stuck to her dueling ways down the stretch.

Shaker Shack got her head in front in the final furlong and that seemed like the confidence boost she needed to start pulling away and win by 1 1/2 length over Shesadirtydancer in 1:17.75. The Park Avenue proved a big race for New York-based sire Bustin Stones, who sired the 1-3 finishers with his daughter Bustin Bay another 5 1/2 lengths back in third. Laobanonaprayer, the 1-2 favorite, finished last of six.

Shaker Shack led 1-3 finish for Bustin Stones in Sunday’s Park Avenue, with Bustin Bay third in the field of six. Chelsea Durand/NYRA Photo.

“She’s not one of those horses who comes over here prancing and dancing and really tough,” said Shaker Shack’s trainer Pat Reynolds. “I put the rider up and she’s all business. She’s a perfect filly to have and easy to train. The owners have been terrific. They bred her and she’s part of the New York program. It was their decision to come here and I went along with it.”

Breaking her maiden in a $40,000 maiden claimer to kick off the year, the Darlene Bilinski and Roddy Valente-owned Shaker Shack has finished no worse than second in 2021 with four top two finishes in five career races.

Bred by Valente and Dr. Jerry Bilinski and foaled at Waldorf Farm in North Chatham, Shaker Shack is the third stakes winner from four runners out of four-time winner Disco Shaker. Shaker Shack is the only New York-bred runner for Disco Shaker, who has seen all of her runners visit the winner’s circle. The mare foaled the stakes winning duo of Oak Bluffs and Shaker Shack’s full sister Bustin Out in New Jersey for Patricia Generazio.

Disco Shaker was sold privately to Valentine and Bilinski after foaling her first two stakes winners and her first New York-bred was an unnamed full sister to Shaker Shack born in 2016. The following year, the mare again produced a Bustin Stones foal, that one an unnamed New York-bred colt.

While there was a six-year gap between the stakes winning duo of Bustin Out and Shaker Shack, the filly made the wait worth it with Sunday’s win. Shaker Shack is the youngest of Disco Shakers foals with the mare not bred for 2021.

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