Pandagate improves to 2-for-3 with victory in $100,000 Gander Stakes at Aqueduct. NYRA Photo.

Christophe Clement shipped Pandagate back to his native state with confidence for the Arrogate ridgling’s first foray into stakes company and was rewarded.

Pandagate overcame a hard bump at the start and powered to a 5 ½-length victory in Sunday’s $100,000 Gander Stakes, improving to 2-for-3 in the process and giving his connections reason to think about bigger things down the road.

“He’s been training very, very well at Payson Park and we were excited to see him run,” Clement said. “Thank you to all the owners to be so patient. He’s a stakes winner and a New York-bred going long on dirt, so it’s a lot of fun for us.”

A 9-length winner in his debut under Dylan Davis during the Belmont at the Big A meeting, Pandagate reunited with that rider for the 1-mile Gander. He was ridden by Victor Carrasco when second in a 1 1/16-mile allowance-optional in early December. Davis liked the reports from Clement and his team and also came into the Gander with confidence aboard the morning-line pick and eventual post-time 7-5 favorite.

“He’s been training down at Payson Park with Clement’s crew,” Davis said. “They did a great job getting him ready. He had a little layoff, but I just wanted to break him well and not get too much distance from the front leaders. That is what the boss said.

“I haven’t seen him in a while, but the Clement crew gave me videos of him working and in the paddock. It was nice to see him again, he’s still the big horse that I knew before, but he was a little more mentally better today. Just hopefully will keep on improving.”

Pandagate wound up squeezed between Bali Amour and Brown Don’t Stop at the break and was last while The Big Torpedo, Liberty Central and Doc Sullivan scrimmaged through the opening quarter in :24.42.

The Big Torpedo, a 10-length maiden winner last time out and the 5-2 third choice, continued on the lead through the half in :48.55. Liberty Central, who hounded the leader most of the way on the backstretch and on the far turn, took the lead just before hitting 6 furlongs in 1:14.15 just as Pandagate found his best stride several paths off the rail. Pandagate widened his advantage all the way through the lane, kept to task by Davis to win in 1:40.67 over the fast track.

Doc Sullivan finished second, a neck in front of Liberty Central with Brown Don’t Stop fourth. The Big Torpedo and Bali Amour completed the field.

Pandagate’s connections celebrate victory in Sunday’s Gander Stakes. NYRA Photo.

“He did get a little bump there at the break but he got into stride, got on the bridle, and switched off, then at the three-eighths pole, I turned him out,” Davis said. “It took a little while to get going but once he did that, he was game. I kept him to task all the way to wire because he is still a young horse that doesn’t know what is going on, but he has a nice big stride and galloped out, not really that tired.”

Clement also heaped praise on Davis’ effort.

“Dylan knows him well and it was a perfect ride,” he said. “He was a little bit lost coming out of the gate and Dylan got him to settle. Then he got into a very good rhythm and when he decided to pick it up, he finished well. He’s a nice horse and by Arrogate – it’s a nice family. Everything seems to be working out nicely, and I’m just very grateful to the owners. I’m delighted to train this kind of horse.”

Bred by Fred Hertrich III and out of the stakes-placed New York-bred Sky Mesa mare Kitty Panda, Pandagate sold to Clement, as agent, for $130,000 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale. He races for Adelphi Racing Club, Madaket Stables, Corms Racing Stable and On The Rise Again Stable.

Pandagate is one of three winners – all New York-breds – out of Kitty Panda. She’s also the dam of three-time winner and $151,380-earner Panster and the two-time winner Countable. Kitty Panda is also the dam of a 2-year-old colt by City of Light. Hertrich purchased Kitty Panda, in foal to Blame, for $160,000 at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky winter mixed sale.

Pandagate picked up $55,000 for the Gander victory, boosting his bankroll to $101,650.

Clement didn’t commit to any specific for Pandagate’s next target, but is thinking about some lucrative summer stakes in the New York-bred 3-year-old division.

“At the moment, he just won, so we are going to enjoy that for 24 hours,” Clement said. “The way the program is made, the two New York-bred races going long on the dirt are the New York Derby at Finger Lakes or the Albany at Saratoga. That’s a long way down the road, so let’s try to find him something in late March or early April going long on dirt. Let’s keep him eligible for everything and enjoy this for a moment.”

My Mane Squeeze cruises to third straight stakes win in Sunday’s Maddie May at Aqueduct. NYRA Photo.

Buck Butler wryly admits he’d like to see My Mane Squeeze in some big spots, possibly against open company on one of racing’s biggest stages in a race like the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes.

He’s just not about to get ahead of his skis.

“I do have the dreams, but I have the right people who make the decisions,” Butler told NYRA’s Richard Migliore after his homebred Audible filly won her third straight stakes in Sunday’s $100,000 Maddie May for New York-bred 3-year-old fillies.

My Mane Squeeze made relatively easy work of her nine foes under Jose Lezcano, adding the Maddie May to victories last fall in the Maid of the Mist Stakes on Empire Showcase Day and in mid-January in the Franklin Square. Butler will leave the decision where My Mane Squeeze, a finalist for 2023 New York-bred champion 2-year-old filly honors, will go next.

Meanwhile, he and wife Loretta will continue to enjoy the ride.

“The people I’ve surrounded myself with make it easy for me,” Butler said. “My job, I sign the checks. I went to school in Loyola, but I’m a New Yorker born and bred. I don’t have a plan [for a next start for My Mane Squeeze]. Mike has a plan and I follow Mike’s plan. It’s gotten me here; why should I change?”

The 3-5 favorite off those two stakes wins from the outside post, My Mane Squeeze was content to track the early speed first from Cara’s Time and then Florida shipper and recent claim Blue Eyed Warrior. Running several paths off the rail, Blue Eyed Warrior clicked off the opening quarter-mile in :23.27, ahead of Kentucky shipper Landed down on the rail.

Landed, a half-sister to New York-bred champion Venti Valentine and multiple stakes winner and $516,625-earner Espresso Shot, slipped through the inside to take over approaching the half in :47.59. Lezcano and My Mane Squeeze took up the chase with more pressure from there and the top two separated from the field approaching the stretch.

After passing the 6-furlong split in 1:13.76, My Mane Squeeze took over in upper stretch and edged clear approaching the eighth pole. Lezcano hand rode the filly from there, winning by 4 3/4 lengths and finishing in 1:40.64 over the fast track.

“She broke pretty good, especially (at) a mile it gives you more time to find your stride,” Lezcano said. “I rode her like she’s the best horse in the race and kept her face clean. When I asked her, she kept going and won the race.

“I liked [Landed] and wanted to keep her close to me and see what happens. Stay close enough and when I asked, she kept going and won the race. … She’s pretty versatile.”

Landed, a daughter of Omaha Beach who cost Lael Stable $500,000 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale of selected yearlings, finished second in her stakes debut. She was 8 lengths clear of third-place Bernietakescharge, with Walk With Me fourth. Midnight Concerto, Munny Grab, Cara’s Time, Baroness Bourbon, Rumint and Blue Eyed Warrior completed the field.

My Mane Squeeze earned $55,000 for her Maddie May victory, to boost her bankroll to $293,960 from a record of 4-0-2 in six starts.

Foaled at Keane Stud in Amenia, My Mane Squeeze is the fourth foal out of Butler’s Speightstown mare In Spite of Mama.

In Spite of Mama is also the dam of multiple stakes winner and $582,955-earner Rotknee, stakes-placed winner and $170,220-earner Lookin for Trouble, four-time winner and $166,181-earner Mama’s Gold and an unnamed 2-year-old filly by War of Will. In Spite of Mama is also the dam of a New York-bred yearling colt by Runhappy and was bred by popular young New York sire Honest Mischief in 2023.

Carrying Butler’s colors, Rotknee won the Say Florida Sandy Stakes Jan. 28 at Aqueduct to improve to 9-for-17 in his career. A five-time stakes winner, Rotknee joined his younger half- sister as a finalist for champion New York-bred honors. The son of Runhappy is one of four finalists in the male sprinter category.

The New York-bred championships will be presented at the New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc.’s Awards Dinner sponsored by the New York Thoroughbred Breeding & Development Fund Monday, May 13 at Sacred Saratoga on the property of GMP Farm in Schuylerville.

Coincidentally that’s five days before the 100^th renewal of the $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico Race Course.

“There’s a joke to that—to the extent that the world wants to get into the Kentucky Oaks or the Kentucky Derby,” Butler said about his dream of winning the Black-Eyed Susan. “I started watching horse racing down at Pimlico in Section AA at Pimlico. I would hang out there on a regular basis. On Fridays, there would be nobody there for the Black-Eyed Susan and I would see these magnificent fillies run. It was a goal I set back then—this is over 50 years ago.

Security Code holds off Venti Valentine for her first stakes score in Saturday’s Broadway. NYRA Photo.

Phil Serpe never doubted Security Code’s ability, all the way back to the daughter of Frosted’s 2-year-old season. Security Code lived up to that billing in 2022, winning in her second start after a runner-up finish to the talented Maple Leaf Mel in her debut at Saratoga Race Course.

“We’re looking to run her longer as we get down the road,” Serpe told The Saratoga Special in his annual Fasig-Tipton Stable Tour. “She’s a nice filly and we like her a lot.”

Serpe said similar last season, when the bay filly came to Saratoga with one more win and three stakes placings

“I always thought she was going to be a nice horse,” Serpe said in 2023. “She seems like she just doesn’t quite get there in the stakes, but she ran well here and will get another chance before the end of the meet.”

Security Code made the most of that chance – winning a 6-furlong restricted allowance-optional over closing weekend – and ended her run of futility in stakes competition Saturday, holding off her late-running rivals to win the $100,000 Broadway for older New York-bred fillies and mares. Again, to the delight of her veteran conditioner.

“She’s got some fight in her, doesn’t she?,” Serpe said Saturday after Security Code won by a neck over 5-2 favorite Venti Valentine. “We were kind of resigned to the fact that 6 furlongs might be her thing. She did win at 7 furlongs before, but usually you see how good a horse is going to be somewhere into their 3-year-old year.

“She just keeps getting a little bit better and she just seems to be improving. Maybe seven-eighths will be as far as she wants to go, but it’s a good result considering the New York-bred program, which we love and we’re a big part of, so that works out for her.”

Campaigned by Dr. Robert and Laura Vokovich’s WellSpring Stables, Security Code landed her first stakes victory after winning a 6-furlong open-company allowance last month. She won the 7-furlong Broadway in 1:26.77 over the good track under Jose Lezcano.

Security Code improved to 5-for-19 with five seconds and five thirds and earnings of $419,040.

“Dr. Vukovich and his wife, Laura, are great people to train for and it’s always good to win for them,” Serpe said. “It’s good for this filly and she just keeps churning out a lot of good races. It’s funny, Andy Serling mentioned [on America’s Day at the Races] that she just keeps going. She was running here last January and she was running every month into February.”

Bred by Rockridge Stud LLC, Ascendant Farms LLC and Godolphin and out of the Grade 3-placed Montbrook mare Stopspendingmaria, Security Code is indeed proving to be a throwback. Since her debut Aug. 10, 2022, she’s made starts in every month but one (June 2023) since leading up to the Broadway.

Placed in the 2022 Key Cents at Aqueduct and the 2023 Franklin Square Stakes and East View Stakes, both also at the Big A, Security Code went to the post of the Broadway as the 5-1 fourth choice behind Venti Valentine, Kant Hurry Love and Majestic Return.

Lezcano put her in the race early from post six, keeping tabs on early battling leaders Kant Hurry Love and Majestic Return to through opening splits of :23.11 and :47.23. They stayed wide approaching the stretch run and needed to only pass Kant Hurry Love in the lane.

Security Code edged clear of that foe inside the final sixteenth and had enough left to hold off Venti Valentine. Kant Hurry Love finished another 1 ¼ lengths back with Sweetest Princess fourth in the field of seven.

“She broke pretty good and I was happy with the position I got,” Lezcano said. “She’s more comfortable when she’s outside horses. I put her in the clear and she take me from there. When I asked her at the quarter-pole, she kept running. My filly felt the other horse [Venti Valentine] outside and she picked it up again. She pinned her ears back and she wasn’t going to let her go by. She kept running.”

Security Code is one of four winners and two stakes winners out of Stopspendingmaria, originally a $90,000 purchase by Repole Stables at the 2010 OBS Calder sale of selected 2-year-olds in training. She later sold in foal to Outwork to Rockridge Stud for $32,000 at the 2019 Keeneland January horses of all ages sale.

Stopspendingmaria is the dam of the Uncle Mo mare No Mo’ Spending, winner of the 2020 Joseph A. Gimma Stakes; stakes-placed $360,765-earner Blewitt, an 8-year-old New York-bred son of Uncle Mo and the winning New York-bred Overanalyze mare Analyzeyurspending.

Stopspendingmaria is also the dam of the 2-year-old New York-bred Malibu Moon filly Maria Moon, who was bred by Rockridge, Ascendant and Spendthrift Farm and sold for $225,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling sale; and a yearling New York-bred colt by Modernist bred by Rockridge and Ascendant. The same breeders also welcomed a filly out of the mare by Greatest Honour born on Valentine’s Day.

Kinza and jockey Juan Hernandez win the Grade 3 Las Virgenes Stakes Saturday at Santa Anita. Benoit Photo.

An impressive maiden special weight winner on debut to end last year, the New York-bred Carpe Diem filly Kinza easily stayed undefeated Saturday with a win in the Grade 3 Las Virgenes Stakes at Santa Anita Park.

Stretching out to 1 mile for her second start, the Bob Baffert trainee went straight to the lead and set an easy pace a length ahead of the rest of the field. Setting early fractions of :22.99 and :46.91, Kinza faced mild pressure for the first time going into the turn when Kopion tried to mount a challenge but Kinza proved to be too good.

Kinza was comfortably ahead throughout the stretch run to win by 2 lengths in 1:37.03 for owner Michael Lund Petersen. The 2024 Las Virgenes was the third win in the stakes in as many years for Baffert, who has eight Las Virgenes winners overall.

“I never asked her to go that fast she was doing it all on her own,” winning jockey Juan Hernandez said “That was the key to win the race, that she was comfortable the whole race. When I asked her at the quarter pole, she picked it up, so I think she is a really nice filly.”

The victory took the undefeated filly to $99,000 in earnings in her two starts with both those wins coming at Santa Anita. Kinza will most likely stretch out even more from here with assistant trainer Jimmy Barnes thinking there is more to come.

“She acts like a filly that can handle (two turns),” Barnes said. “You don’t know until you do it, but she had shown in the morning, in her workouts that she could go further. I was more concerned there was so much speed, with the small field and a lot of speed.”

Bred by JD Business Ventures, Brushy Hill Stables and the Carpe Diem Syndicate, Kinza was sold three times before her debut.

The filly made her auction debut as a weanling when consigned by Schuylerville Thoroughbred Farm and brought $17,000 from Marysue Stable at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed sale. The following fall, she was purchased as a yearling for $30,000 by Grassroots Training and Sales for $30,000 at the OBS October sale.

Donato Lanni went to $350,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-olds in training sale to purchase her for Petersen as the second most expensive New York-bred of that sale. Kinza is the first foal out of winning Quality Road mare Secret Wonder.

A $100,000 Keeneland September yearling sale purchase in 2014, Secret Wonder is a half-sister to the stakes placed Mylastfirstkiss. The family also includes Grade 3 winner Gentler Ruler and two other stakes winners under Kinza’s third dam.

Secret Wonder’s youngest foal is a New York-bred Instagrand filly born March 9, 2022.