Americanrevolution adds Albany Stakes to victory last month in New York Derby. NYRA Photo.
By Paul Halloran
The owners of Americanrevolution toyed with the idea of taking a big swing in Saturday’s Grade 1 Travers Stakes with their New York-bred 3-year-old, but opted instead for Friday’s $250,000 Albany Stakes on New York Showcase Day at Saratoga Race Course.
Winstar Farm and China Horse Club were looking and feeling good after the son of Constitution justified his 3-5 favoritism and with a 5-length victory in the Albany.
“We were confident,” said WinStar President and CEO Elliott Walden, after the colt bred by Fred Hertrich III and John D. Fielding had no problem blowing by Bob Baffert’s Bobby Bo in the stretch. “He’s a very good horse, one of our better 3-year-olds. It’s nice to see him put it together.”
Americanrevolution, a son of Constitution out of the Super Saver mare Polly Freeze foaled at Irish Hill Century Farm in Stillwater, sold for $275,000 at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale. Hertrich, who runs Watercress Farm in Kentucky, has a large collection of broodmares and has been a staunch supporter of the New York breeding program. He and Fielding bred New York-bred multiple Grade 1 winner Diversify.
“We were looking for Constitutions,” Walden said. “He was so well-balanced. He stood out to us at the New York-bred sale.”
Americanrevolution ran a troubled fourth in his debut at Keeneland last October, a race won by Mandaloun, who won the Grade 1 Haskell Stakes via disqualification and may yet capture the Kentucky Derby in the same manner. Walden thought Mandaloun should have been on the other end of a DQ in Americanrevolution’s debut.
“Mandaloun bumped him. I thought he should have come down,” Walden said. “They were going for the same spot and he banged him.”
The horse was given the winter off and returned to break his maiden at Belmont June 20 in his first start for Todd Pletcher. That prompted the owners and Pletcher to send him to Finger Lakes July 19 for the New York Derby, a race he won by 7 lengths as the odds-on favorite.
“That was our first,” Walden said, when asked if WinStar had ever run a horse at the Farmington track.
That made the Travers a consideration.
“We thought about it,” Walden said, “but we thought this race would be low-hanging fruit and would build his confidence. I wouldn’t be surprised if he showed up in the Pennsylvania Derby (at Parx Racing Sept. 25).”
Bobby Bo led the Albany through fractions of :23.49 and :47.33, with It’s Gravy and Joey Loose Lips in pursuit. Joel Rosario was content to track them in fourth, advanced on the rail going into the far turn and shifted three-wide coming out of it. He took the lead at the eighth pole and pulled away.
“I thought we would be a little closer to the pacesetter, but we got a little traffic and a little dirt around the turn,” Pletcher said. “He came away in good position turning up the backside and continued to improve his spot. It seemed like he was always travelling well.”
The winning jockey was Luis Saez, who made three trips to the winner’s circle Friday to extend his lead in the jockey standings to 14 over Jose Ortiz (56-42).
“He put me in a nice spot, right there. He’s a nice horse,” said Saez, who left Saratoga after the last race and flew to West Virginia to ride Art Collector in the Charles Town Classic. “When we came to the stretch, we found the room and he just started running pretty quick. I knew he was going to be in that spot. That’s the spot I was looking for. I tried to cover up and everything came so well. I’m very happy.”
Byhubbyhellomoney, a daughter of the late Effinex, scores for trainer Bob Dunham in Fleet Indian Friday at Saratoga. NYRA Photo.
• A daughter of Effinex winning on New York-bred Showcase Day at Saratoga for an owner from Queens and an octogenarian who has been training horses for a half-century?
That works.
That was the story in Friday’s Fleet Indian Stakes, as the cleverly named Byhubbyhellomoney rallied up the rail to win the $200,000 stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/8 miles on the main track. Byhubbyhellomoney caught 4-5 favorite Make Mischief, who nearly beat the starting gate and had a wide trip, taking the lead at the top of the stretch, before losing by a neck.
Steve Shapiro, owner of Jupiter Stable, claimed the filly in June at Belmont and sent her to Bob Dunham, the trainer of Eclipse Award champion filly Chou Croute in 1972.
“Bob is the most underrated trainer out there,” said Shapiro, who lives on the water in the Neponsit section of Queens. “Unfortunately, he’s outlived all his moneyed owners. I found him three or four years ago. … He doesn’t have a lot of horses, so he can pay attention to me. I love him.”
Shapiro said he claimed the horse – named by original owner Bad Boy Racing apparently after an acrimonious severing of marital vows – because of his sire, the fourth highest-earning New York-bred of all time. Effinex won the Grade 1 Clark, Grade 2 Suburban twice and the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap. He was standing at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbred in Saratoga Springs when he died suddenly of a ruptured pulmonary artery in 2017.
Effinex, who originally stood at Questroyal North in Stillwater before moving to McMahon six weeks before he died, sired his first black-type winner June 19 at Belmont when Tom Morley saddled 3-year-old Ocala Dream to a New York Stallion Series Stakes win.
“Effinex was a $3 million earner who could go long,” Shapiro said. “He was a solid sire and if he had lived I think he would have turned out to be solid New York-bred sire.”
He would have been proud Friday of his daughter, who was bred by Anderson Boulton Thoroughbreds and is out of the El Prado mare Shocking Behavior. After getting bumped at the start, Joel Rosario had her in the middle of the pack through a half mile in :48.30 and 6 furlongs in 1:13.24. Rosario saved ground on the far turn and stayed on the rail in the stretch, outdueling Make Mischief, owned by Gary Barber and trained by Mark Casse, who was coming out of the Grade 1 Test three weeks ago.
“I had no choice but to be [to the inside],” Rosario said. “In the beginning, I didn’t know how much room was there. There was a little bit of room, but it looked like she would take a little bit of time to get there. Afterward, when she saw everything open, she just went forward. She responded really well.”
Dunham, bedecked in a multi-colored sport coat in the winner’s circle, said he was confident his filly would get the distance, even though she had never run beyond a mile.
“She’s been training very good,” said Dunham, who has won 415 races with earnings of just under $9 million in his career. “We breezed her and she breezed outstanding. She reaches out when she gallops. It’s great to win any race at Saratoga, whether it’s a $25,000 claimer or a maiden special weight or a stakes. It’s nice to run New York-bred horses.”
Casse congratulated Dunham in the winner’s circle and if he had to get beat, he wanted it to be by him.
