Mad for Fame and Tammi Piermarini win Monday’s Jack Betta Be Rite at Finger Lakes. SV Photography.
By Melissa Bauer-Herzog
Hudson Valley Thoroughbreds’ Mad for Fame laughed off her spot as the longest shot on the board in Monday’s $50,000 Jack Betta Be Rite Stakes at Finger Lakes for her first stakes victory.
The fast track proved to be perfect for the Sir Whimsey daughter, who was confidently ridden by Tammi Piermarini.
Mad for Fame was content to have just one rival beat for much of the 1 1/16-mile race as three of the six in the field were nearly 5 lengths in front of the rest. Tax Me Naught led through fractions of :24.22 and :48.94 for the first half and started to leave her two challengers behind as they raced around the turn.
Mad for Fame had a lot of work to do in the stretch with nearly the whole field to pass and a leader pulling away, but she was up for the task.
Racing as close to the rail as possible, Mad for Fame waited until she was nearly upon Tax Me Naught until angling into the two path to have clear running room. At the same time, Fleeta Belle collared the pacemaker and Mad for Fame had a different challenge on her hands.
Tax Me Naught gave in and it became a two-horse race with Fleeta Belle having a neck on Mad for Fame. Mad for Fame wasn’t going down without a fight and stuck her blazed nose in front inside the final sixteenth before adding half a length on Fleeta Belle at the line. Tax Me Naught held on for third by a neck as the clock stopped in 1:48.70.
The Rachel Sells-trained Mad for Fame won for the fourth time in 13 starts to take her earnings to $71,678.
The 4-year-old was bred by SKB Stables out of their multiple stakes-placed New York-bred Crazy Catlady. That mare is the dam of three winners from three to race with Hudson Valley Thoroughbreds and Rachel Sells also teaming up to race Mad for Fame’s two-time winning full sister Flaming June.
Mad for Fame is a third generation New York-bred with her granddam Lady Groush the first in the family to be born in the state. A two-time winner herself who produced five winners, Lady Groush is also a half-sister to the New York-bred Grade 3 winner Mr. Groush. That stallion won eight of 33 starts for $516,879 in earnings.
Crazy Catlady has a 3-year-old Laoban gelding named Mo Crazy Blues and an unraced 2-year-old Trinniberg colt named Dragon Ballet in training. She also foaled a Bustin Stones filly on April 16 of this year with all bred by SKB Stables in New York. She visited Disco Partner this year.
