NEWS: RACING

Classy Edition enjoys another overland journey in Key Cents

Sunday, November 21st, 2021

Classy Edition improves to 3-for-3 with another daylight victory in Sunday’s Key Cents Stakes at Aqueduct. Susie Raisher/NYRA Photo.

By Tom Law

Classy Edition walked out of the sales ring at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May sale of 2-year-olds in training in Timonium, Md., as the most expensive New York-bred juvenile filly sold to that point in the year.

The daughter of Classic Empire stayed in that position on her $550,000 hammer price, finishing the 2-year-old sales season the most expensive New York-bred filly and second overall behind the Connect colt now named Relate who brought $685,000 at the OBS April sale. Classy Edition finds herself near the top again here in the waning weeks of 2021, for racing, and after she ran her record to 3-for-3 with a victory in Sunday’s $100,000 Key Cents Stakes at Aqueduct.

Under Irad Ortiz Jr., Classy Edition duplicated her overland victory in the Joseph A. Gimma Stakes in late September at Belmont Park with another wide-trip victory in the Key Cents.

Shortening up to 6 furlongs after winning the 7-furlong Gimma, Classy Edition defeated 50-1 longshot Captainsdaughter by 3 1/2 lengths with Shesastonecoldfox Stakes winner Shesawildjoker third in the field of eight.

“It went pretty smoothly,” said Todd Pletcher, who trains Classy Edition for Robert and Lawana Low. “It looked like a race on paper that had plenty of pace. The main thing is we just wanted to keep her clean and out of trouble and Irad was able to do that. We had to sacrifice a little bit of ground, but she was able to get into a good, comfortable rhythm.”

Classy Edition, the 4-5 favorite and one of three stakes winners in the field, raced fifth early while recent maiden winner Silver Fist took the field through the opening quarter-mile in :22.48. Makin My Move, once a candidate for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint who was returning to the main track after a fourth in the Grade 3 Matron on grass, and Wesley Ward’s Kentucky shipper Miss Alacrity chased side-by-side up the backstretch.

Silver Fist continued to lead around the far turn over the same tandem of pursuers, while Ortiz was content to let Classy Edition linger 2 1/4 lengths back and in sixth while racing on the outside.

Classy Edition, the second most expensive New York-bred 2-year-old sold at auction in 2021, did everything right in Sunday’s Key Cents Stakes for jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. Joe Labozzetta/NYRA Photo.

“She broke a step slow but she put me in the race quick,” Ortiz said. “After that I just waited in the turn.”

Classy Edition raced at least five paths off the inside turning for home while Silver Fist, Making My Move and Miss Alacrity started to tire. Shesawildjoker also put in a belated run into the stretch but couldn’t match Classy Editions late kick inside the final furlong.

“She’s the type of filly that needs a little time to get going,” Ortiz said. “She probably wants to go a little farther, but she kept coming and she got there on time. At the quarter-pole, she went by and she just kept going. She’s a nice filly.”

Captainsdaughter closed from last, well out and almost in the middle of the track, to finish a neck ahead of Shesawildjoker for the place spot. Silver Fist, Cupid’s Heart, Tosconova Beauty, Makin My Move and Miss Alacrity completed the field.

Classy Edition, who won in 1:12.19, collected $55,000 to boost her earnings to $184,250.

Bloodstock agent Jacob West purchased Classy Edition, offered as Hip 72, on behalf of the Lows at the Midlantic May sale. She breezed a furlong in :10.1 during presale workouts and wound up the second most expensive filly and fourth highest-priced horse overall.

Classy Edition went to Saratoga with Todd Pletcher’s string shortly after the sale and posted her first workout there June 20. After eight more breezes on Saratoga’s main track, Classy Edition won her debut by 6 3/4 lengths going 5 1/2 furlongs the second-to-last day of the meet, Sept. 5. Pletcher brought her back 19 days later and she became a stakes winner in the Joseph A. Gimma, by 8 lengths over a muddy track at Belmont Park.

Pletcher targeted the Maid of the Mist Stakes on Empire Showcase Day from there, but the filly spiked a temperature before the race and wasn’t entered.

“It set us behind schedule a little bit, Pletcher said of missing the Maid of the Mist. “This seemed like a logical place to bring her back.”

Pletcher said Classy Edition, now with wins at 5 1/2, 6 and 7 furlongs, would likely stretch out down the road.

“We’ll see what other options we have now and what we’ll do with her for the winter,” he said. “We’re looking forward to stretching her out because I think she ultimately wants two turns.”

Bred by Chester and Mary Broman and foaled at their Chestertown Farm in Chestertown, Classy Edition was sold at the Timonium sale by Becky Thomas’ Sequel Bloodstock. Out of the Broman-bred two-time winning Bernardini mare Newbie, Classy Edition is a half-sister to multiple New York-bred stakes winner Newly Minted and the stakes-placed New Girl In Town. Newbie is also the dam of a New York-bred yearling colt by American Pharoah.

The Bromans bought Newbie’s dam Changeisgonnacome, carrying Newbie, for $320,000 at the 2008 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. Bred in Virginia by Audley Farm, that mare won Saratoga’s P.G. Johnston Stakes in 2006 and placed in a Grade 2 the following year. All five foals of her foals to race were winners.

The Bromans came into the week in a familiar spot – atop the leaderboard of breeders by New York-bred earnings. Horses bred by the couple earned more than $2.6 million, more than $800,000 more than the next closest breeders McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds LLC.

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