Manny Franco celebrates Commentator victory aboard Bank Frenzy Wednesday at Saratoga Race Course. Coglianese Photo/Chelsea Durand.
Rudy Rodriguez gave Manny Franco a leg up on Bank Frenzy before Wednesday’s $200,000 Commentator Stakes and offered one final bit of instruction before the field of eight left the Saratoga Race Course paddock for the second stakes on the New York Showcase Day card.
“Don’t let him steal the race, put some pressure on him,” Rodriguez said, encouraging Bank Frenzy’s regular partner to stay close to last year’s Empire Classic winner and expected frontrunner Mama’s Gold in the 9-furlong stakes for older New York-breds.
Franco followed suit, never letting the Central Banker gelding lost contact with Mama’s Gold before pouncing on the leader approaching the top of the stretch en route to a 1 1/4-length victory. Owned by Randy Sarf’s LSU Stables and the 7-5 favorite in the field of eight, Bank Frenzy improved to 9-for-18 with his latest stakes victory. He’s won his last three New York-bred stakes appearances, along with the Stymie against open company in March, after finishing 4 1/4 lengths behind Mama’s Gold in the Empire Classic Handicap last fall.
“Manny won that race,” Sarf said as he hugged Rodriguez walking out of the winner’s circle. “He put Romero (Maragh, aboard Mama’s Gold) to sleep. He put him to sleep.”
Sarf purchased Bank Frenzy privately from Phil’s Racing Stable last spring after a 5 1/4-length victory in a 1-mile state-bred allowance-optional at Aqueduct. He won the Evan Shipman in mid-August at Saratoga in his first start for LSU and Rodriguez, before back-to-back seconds that led to a four-race win streak.
Bank Frenzy came into Showcase Day off a fourth in the Grade 3 Westchester on a muddy track May 4 at Aqueduct. He rebounded in a big way in the Commentator, defeating not only Mama’s Gold but last year’s winner Drake’s Passage (third), Locke And Key (fourth) and General Banker (sixth).
“I knew he was going to be good,” Sarf said of the private purchase. “Once you see a horse win by that distance, if they stay sound, they can win these state-bred stakes. We love the state-bred game. We tried to see how good he was (in graded company last time), but state-breds hang out with state-breds. I guess that’s why you breed in New York, to hang out in New York.”
The Commentator didn’t go completely smooth for Bank Frenzy.
Typically outfitted with extension blinkers for his morning training, Bank Frenzy made the walk from the holding barn to the paddock without blinkers.
“He’s a little quirky but he does his job,” Rodriguez said. “He’s a little difficult in the morning so we put the extension blinkers on. Today he didn’t have them and was kicking all over the place. He’s more happy when we put the blinkers on and that’s all we can do.”
Bank Frenzy raced with his usual blinkers and Franco set up shop in second around the clubhouse turn behind Mama’s Gold through the opening splits of :23.79 and :47.84.
Mama’s Gold continued to lead past 6 furlongs in 1:11.53, with Bank Frenzy just a half-length back while in the three path on the bend. Bank Frenzy took over outside the quarter pole and eventually shrugged off a stubborn Mama’s Gold in the lane to win in 1:50 over the fast track. Mama’s Gold held second, 3 1/2 lengths clear of 2-1 second choice Drake’s Passage.
“My horse broke so sharp and Rudy told me he was going to break like that because he broke sharp in the mornings,” Franco said. “I just took advantage of my break and just put him right behind (Mama’s Gold). That was the horse that I thought I had to beat. My horse made the front a little earlier than I wanted, but he was running so nice and he kind of got lost a little on the front end, that’s why (Mama’s Gold) came back. I had a lot of horse under me. I was comfortable all the way around.”
Bred by Chester and the late Mary Broman and foaled at their Chestertown Farm in Chestertown, Bank Frenzy is out of the Tiznow mare Storm Now. He originally sold for $110,000 at the 2022 OBS April sale of 2-year-olds in training. Bank Frenzy picked up $110,000 for the Commentator victory and boosted his bankroll to $695,920. – Tom Law
Bernietakescharge (inside) holds off Sterling Silver to win Wednesday’s Critical Eye at Saratoga. Coglianese Photo/Chelsea Durand.
• Two races after her half-sister Bernieandtherose finished third in the Bouwerie Stakes, Bernietakescharge made the family even more proud by winning the $200,000 Critical Eye Stakes in front-running fashion.
Breaking from the outside post in the field of seven, Bernietakescharge took the lead going into the clubhouse turn and set moderate splits of :24.01 for the quarter-mile and :47.86 for the half. The filly owned and bred by Robert Rosenthal and Bradford Bernstein faced a major challenge from millionaire Sterling Silver nearing the quarter pole, but after a long duel with that foe through the stretch, Bernietakescharge prevailed to win by a neck for trainer Dominick Schettino and jockey Romero Maragh. The daughter of Take Charge Indy completed the 9-furlongs in 1:50.26.
“We had a very nice trip,” Maragh said. “I know she likes to be on the front. She gets very game when she’s on the front. So, that was the whole game plan to be on the lead and be pretty aggressive with her, and get her into her rhythm. That was the game plan. Everything honestly worked out super perfect, super great.”
Millionaire, multiple stakes winner and 3-10 favorite Sterling Silver made a run alongside Bernietakescharge and Schettino felt that maybe a runner-up finish was in the cards for his 4-year-old filly.
“When they got to the quarter pole and I saw her (Sterling Silver) coming, I said, ‘Well, second ain’t bad,’ ” he said. “Then I saw her in the stretch fighting again and I said, ‘Wow, she’s got a shot here.’ We wound up better today than her.”
Schettino wasn’t surprised by the grit Bernietakescharge showed Wednesday.
“That filly, when she gets to the quarter pole and the stretch, if she is in front, a lot of times, she will continue to grind it out,” he said. “That’s what she does. When that filly got to her, I figured ‘well, that filly is a graded winner.’ Like I said, if she finished second she ran a bang-up race. She was training forwardly and she ran to it today.”
Bernietakescharge is the second foal out of the stakes winning mare Berning Rose, who Schettino trained in 2017 to win the Maid of the Mist Stakes at Belmont Park. Berning Rose, a daughter of Freud, has also produced multiple stakes winner Bernieandtherose, winning mare Berning Honor and an unraced 2-year-old named Roseberns Dream. Bernietakescharge is now a winner of six of 17 starts and has earned $469,580. – Alec DiConza
