The Lumber Guy wins the G1 Vosburgh (Adam Coglianese)
The Lumber Guy and his connections took home no fewer than six awards at Monday evening’s NYTB Annual Awards Banquet in Honor of the 2012 New York-Bred Divisional Champions, including New York-bred Horse of the Year. Stonewall Farm owned by The Lumber Guy’s owner/breeder Barry K. Schwartz, was named New York Breeder of the Year.
The Lumber Guy, who was also a finalist for the 2012 Eclipse Award for Male Sprinter, was named Champion Three-Year-Old Male and Champion Male Sprinter, as well as New York-Bred Horse of the Year. The Lumber Guy’s trainer Mike Hushion and dam Boltono were also honored. Dayatthespa, another multiple honoree, was named Champion Three-Year-Old Filly and Champion Turf Female. Reigning three-time Eclipse-winning jockey Ramon Dominguez was in attendance to collect his third straight award for New York-Bred Jockey of the Year.
Held at the Saratoga National Golf Club in Saratoga Springs, New York, NYTB’s Annual Awards Banquet drew a capacity crowd for dinner and the awards program, which was co-hosted by Jason Blewitt, racing analyst for the New York Racing Association, and Richard Migliore, former leading New York jockey and current NYRA broadcast analyst.
The complete list of honorees appears below in the order in which the awards were presented. Profiles of all winners and a summary of their 2012 achievements appear below.
Champion Two-Year-Old Filly: Kelli Got Frosty
Champion Two-Year-Old Male: Weekend Hideaway
Champion Three-Year-Old Filly: Dayatthespa
Champion Three-Year-Old Male: The Lumber Guy
Champion Turf Female: Dayatthespa
Champion Turf Male: Unbridled Command
Champion Female Sprinter: Agave Kiss
Champion Male Sprinter: The Lumber Guy
Champion Older Female: Hessonite
Champion Older Male: Saginaw
Champion Steeplechase Horse: Cat Feathers
Horse of the Year: The Lumber Guy
New York Broodmare of the Year: Boltono (Dam of the Lumber Guy)
Leading 2012 New York Freshman Sire: Frost Giant
New York-Bred Trainer of the Year: Mike Hushion
New York-Bred Jockey of the Year: Ramon Dominguez
New York Breeder of the Year: Stonewall Farm / Barry K. Schwartz
PROFILES and ACHIEVEMENTS:
Horse of the Year, Champion Three-Year-Old Male and Champion Male Sprinter The Lumber Guy (Grand Slam) emerged as one of the top sprinters in the country in 2012. The grey, whose name derives from breeder Barry Schwartz’s nickname for his friend Aaron Jones, a thoroughbred owner and lumber magnate, won four of eight starts last year and led all New York-breds in earnings with $736,050.
Debuting in January for trainer Michael Hushion, The Lumber Guy was a wire-to-wire winner of his first two career starts by a combined margin of 13 1/2 lengths, and became a stakes winner second out when he took the Miracle Wood Stakes at Laurel Park in February. In April, just two weeks after finishing fifth in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, The Lumber Guy won the Grade 2 Jerome by 2 3/4 lengths, also in wire-to-wire fashion.
Freshened after tiring to sixth in the Grade 2 Peter Pan in May, The Lumber Guy returned to competition in September firing on all cylinders. Facing elders, he captured the Grade 1 Vosburgh Invitational by 1 1/4 lengths after a tracking trip, while earning a career-best 110 Beyer Speed Figure and securing a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita
One of 14 – including six Grade 1 winners – lined up in a deep contentious field for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, The Lumber Guy ran a strong and confident race from the bell under jockey John Velazquez, rallying in the stretch only to come up three-quarters of a length short at the wire behind South Florida-based winner Trinniberg, who went on to win the 2012 Eclipse Award as Champion Sprinter.
Barry Schwartz (NYRA Media)
Barry K. Schwartz’s Stonewall Farm, The Lumber Guy’s breeder of record, was honored as New York Breeder of the Year. Overall, horses bred by Stonewall Farm made 176 starts in 2012, compiled a record of 36-27-22 and earned $1,497,780.
The Lumber Guy’s dam Boltono, who unfortunately died from complications after foaling The Lumber Guy leaving him to be raised by a nurse mare, was named New York Broodmare of the Year. Boltono produced four winners from four foals to start – all New York-breds bred by Schwartz – including stakes winners Bold Deed, by Anasheed ($161,000), and Magical Solution, by Stormin Fever ($75,712).
Completing the award sweep by The Lumber Guy’s connections, trainer Mike Hushion was named New York-Bred Trainer of the Year. Hushion saddled 121 New York-breds in 2012 for a record of 32-17-19 and earnings of $2,130,174. Hushion also trains Broman homebred Mine Over Matter, winner of two stakes races in 2012.
Dayatthespa (City Zip), number four on the New York-bred earnings list for 2012 with $515,000 and winner of five of six starts, was voted Champion Three-Year-Old Filly and Champion Turf Female. Bred by Castellare DiCracchiolo Stable, Cracchiolo & Goldsher and foaled at Empire Stud in Hudson, Dayatthespa is owned by Jerry Frankel, Ronald Frankel, Steve Laymon and Bradley Thoroughbreds and trained by Chad Brown.
Dayatthespa began the year at Gulfstream Park, annexing the Sweetest Chant in January and Grade 3 Herecomesthebride in March. Following victories in Keeneland’s Grade 3 Appalachian and the Riskaverse at Saratoga, the chestnut filly returned to Keeneland in October for her greatest triumph: a dominating wire-to-wire performance in Keeneland’s Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup. Though favored to win her final start of the year, the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes at Betfair Hollywood Park, Dayatthespa swerved, apparently at a shadow, three-quarters of a mile from home losing all chance for a second Grade 1 victory.
A pair of multiple stakes winners took home the 2-year-old honors. Kelli Got Frosty (Frost Giant) was voted Champion Two-Year-Old Filly and Weekend Hideaway (Speightstown) got the prize for Champion Two-Year-Old Male.
Bred by Andrew Cohen and foaled at Empire Stud in Hudson, Kelli Got Frosty won three of five starts in 2012 ($175,994). The blaze-faced dark bay, who is owned by Cohen’s Sunrise Stables LLC in partnership with Lee Sacks, Aubrey Flanagan and Gary Tolchin, debuted a more-than-respectable fourth in the Lady Finger Stakes at Finger Lakes in September. Next out she broke her maiden in the mud at Belmont by a whopping 14 lengths. Following a close-up third in the Joseph A. Gimma on Showcase day, Kelli Got Frosty won the Park Avenue division of the New York Stallion Stakes Series in November at Aqueduct and, in December took the one-mile East View by 9 1/2 lengths.
Kelli Got Frosty is a daughter of Frost Giant (Giant’s Causeway), who was honored Monday as the Leading 2012 New York Freshman Sire. Also owned by Cohen’s Sunrise Stables, Frost Giant set a new record for first-crop earnings by a New York-based freshman sire in 2012 ($840,633). He also led New York sires in juvenile earnings and juvenile average earnings per runner ($56,042). From his small debut crop, Frost Giant led all North American freshmen with 80% winners from runners (12 of 15) and by percentage of stakes horses from runners (26.6%). Frost Giant also sired 2012 stakes winner West Hills Giant and stakes placed Zeke’s Surprise and Nonnie Connie.
Weekend Hideaway ($203,000) won three races and never finished worse than third in five starts last year. Taking the David Stakes by open lengths at Saratoga after breaking his maiden earlier in the meet, Weekend Hideaway finished third in the Grade 2 Futurity at Belmont in September. He wrapped up the year by defeating 13 to win the Bertram F. Bongard on Showcase Day by 2 1/2 lengths.
A pair of deserving and popular runners picked up the hardware for older female and older male champions. Winning powerhouse Saginaw (Peruvian) won the title of Champion Older Male, while fan-favorite Hessonite (Freud) was named Champion Older Female.
The rags-to-riches saga of Saginaw began when he was claimed for $30,000 out of a 13 1/4-length “blinkers added” romp at Aqueduct in March by trainer David Jacobson, who co-owns the gelding with Drawing Away Stable. Wearing blinkers in all 12 subsequent starts last year, Saginaw became virtually unstoppable, adding nine more victories to his tally, including six stakes scores: the Carr Heaven and Affirmed Success at Belmont in April and May, Saratoga’s John Morrissey Stakes, the Promenade All in Belmont in September, Fourstars Allstar at Aqueduct in November and open Gravesend in December. In the Hudson on Showcase Day, Saginaw ran second to the Mind Over Matter after a poor start. Bred by Ted Taylor, Saginaw compiled a record of 10-1-1 from 14 starts and finished the year in a three-way tie for most victories in 2012 in North America. He earned $515,150 last year, making him the third-highest New York-bred earner.
William J. Punk, Jr. and Philip DiLeo’s ever-popular Hessonite, who was bred by Berkshire Stud in partnership with John Meriwether’s Waterville Lake Stables Limited, LLC, won four of eight starts in 2012 – all in stakes races – and finished second twice, which was good enough for fifth place on the New York-bred earnings list with $441,000.
After tuning up for her 4-year-old campaign with an unplaced effort in Grade 3 Beaugay, the David Donk-trained daughter of Freud (Sequel Stallions New York) took a (close) back seat to turf rival Gitchee Goomie in her next pair, finishing second by a half-length in both the Mount Vernon at Belmont and Grade 3 Dr. James Penny Memorial Handicap at Parx after less than ideal trips.
Hessonite’s racing luck improved at the Saratoga meet, where she scored back-to-back wins in the Irish Linnet and Yaddo. At Belmont she ran her streak to three with a victory in the John Hettinger. Following a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Flower Bowl Invitational after traffic trouble, Hessonite concluded her year on Showcase Day with a confident score over 11 rivals in the Ticonderoga.
Unbridled Command (Master Command), who became the record-breaking fifth individual New York-bred Grade 1 winner of 2012, was named Champion Turf Male. Bred by Sequel Thoroughbreds LLC in partnership with A. Lakin & Sons Inc., and currently owned by Lewis Lakin, Kevin and Colleen Bamford and David Bernsen, Unbridled Command steadily ascended the class ladder last year. After two third-place finishes in state-bred allowance races at Belmont in May for trainer Tom Bush, the grey won all five subsequent 2012 starts, beginning with victories in first- and second-level state-bred allowance races at Saratoga, before stepping up and taking the Grade 3 Saranac at the end of the meet.
Following a scintillating 6 3/4-length romp in the Mohawk Stakes on Showcase Day, Unbridled Command’s last race of the year was a tour de force performance, as he came from well off the pace to score a powerful no-doubt-it victory over a huge field the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby at Betfair Hollywood Park. Earning $436,000 with a record of 7-5-0-2, Unbridled Command finished sixth on the 2012 New York-bred earnings list.
Champion Female Sprinter Agave Kiss (Lion Heart) began her sophomore campaign with four straight victories, which extended her unbeaten, never-headed winning streak to six after she closed out 2011 with back-to-back New York-bred maiden special and allowance victories for trainer Rudy Rodriguez. Moving straight into open stakes company at three, the Flying Zee color-bearer wired the Ruthless Stakes in January and the Grade 3 Cicada in March – both run on the Aqueduct inner oval – then handily took the Trevose Stakes at Parx Racing as the 124-pound high weight. She capped the series with a resounding 5 1/2-length victory in the Miss Preakness Stakes on the Black-Eyed Susan undercard. Each victory came at six furlongs.
Later in the year Agave Kiss added a Grade 1 placing to her resume when she finished third in the Prioress at Saratoga after setting the pace. A final stakes placing came when the filly finished second by a neck going 7 furlongs in mud in the Valor Lady Stakes. With four victories, one second and one third in eight starts, Agave Kiss earned $290,200 last year. Bred by Nustar Breeding, Agave Kiss is a daughter of 2011 New York Broodmare of the year Salty Romance (Salt Lake).
Champion Steeplechase Horse Cat Feathers, winless in three starts on the flat, discovered her true calling in November 2011 when she broke her maiden by seven-plus lengths in her second attempt over fences. Although the 4-year-old filly was pulled up in her first start of 2012, she showed enough in a second try, despite being bothered by a loose rival and finishing seventh, to convince owner/trainer Kate Dalton that she belonged in a stakes race in Saratoga.
Two starts later Cat Feathers won the Mrs. Ogden Phipps Stakes at the Spa at longshot odds of 23-1. The filly wove her way through traffic from near the rear of the field under Dalton’s husband Bernie, advanced to second just before the final fence and sprinted home to victory by 1 1/4 lengths. Three weeks later Cat Feathers missed scoring a “Spa hurdle double” by only a neck when she was collared after the final fence in the Mrs. Walter M. Jeffords Stakes. A daughter of Catienus (McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, LLC), Cat Feathers was bred by Happy Hill Farm, who also bred her first, second and third dam.
Ramon Dominguez (NYRA Media)
For the third year in a row, reigning three-time Eclipse champion jockey Ramon Dominguez won the award for New York-Bred Jockey of the Year. With 463 riding assignments aboard Empire-breds, Dominguez won at a 25% clip. He compiled a record of 116-74-62 with $6,143,429 in earnings – more than $2 million more than the nearest rival in the rankings of New York-bred riders.
Dominguez’s 116 winning rides aboard New York-breds in 2012 include 17 stakes victories on 11 different mounts, including Champion Older Female Hessonite, whom he rode to victory in four stakes, Sunny Desert (three stakes), Champion female Sprinter Agave Kiss and Champion Turf Male Unbridled Command (two stakes). Dominguez also piloted Next Question to a Grade 1 victory at Woodbine in the Nearctic Stakes.
