Marie Kizenko has joined the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association team as communications manager. A racing industry veteran, Kizenko served as a senior editor for 14 years at the Thoroughbred Daily News before working as a freelance writer and communications consultant. She returned to racing on a full-time basis in 2019 and most recently served as stakes coordinator for the Maryland Jockey Club.
“This is a fascinating time for the racing industry in New York,” Kizenko said. “NYTHA's core missions of benevolence, equine welfare, and safeguarding the interests of its members are vital to me. I have been involved in many facets of racing, and am thrilled to have this opportunity to ensure its future growth.”
“We are very excited to have Marie join us here at NYTHA,” NYTHA President Joe Appelbaum said. “Her industry knowledge is well-rounded, and she is able to offer a unique perspective as someone who has worked in journalism and publicity as well as a racing office.”
The third foal out of four-time champion Beholder (Henny Hughes), TEENA ELLA (War Front) debuts Saturday for the same connections as her dam, owner/breeder Spendthrift Farm and trainer Richard Mandella. Beholder, herself out of blue hen Leslie's Lady (Tricky Creek), is a half-sister to the likes of GISW & top-10 freshman sire Mendelssohn (Scat Daddy) as well as GISW & perennial leading sire Into Mischief (Harlan's Holiday). The first of her siblings to make the races as 2-year-old, Teena Ella enters off a pair of back-to-back six-furlong bullets, working from the gate in 1:12 4/5 (½) Oct. 27 and timed in 1:13 2/5 (1/4) Nov. 3.
A $940,000 yearling purchase by David Wilson out of last year's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale, Miss Monarch Bay (Into Mischief) is a half-sister to MGSP Sine Wave (Big Brown) and from the family of G1SW Menhoubah (Dixieland Band). She picks up jockey Victor Espinoza for trainer Mike McCarthy.
Following a workman-like breeze in :10, Wudi (Uncle Mo), originally a $117,000 yearling purchase, sold for $725,000 to Donato Lanni out of the OBS Spring Sale. The second foal out of a half-sister to MGSW His Race To Win (Stormy Atlantic) and the dam of GISW El Tormenta (Stormy Atlantic) and GSW Zero Tolerance (Mizzen Mast), this is the family of leading sire Smart Strike (Mr. Prospector), Canadian Horse of the Year Dance Smartly (Danzig) and Canadian champion 2-year-old filly Hello Seattle (Deputy Minister). Wudi races for trainer Bob Baffert in the silks of Baoma Corp.
The other half of the un-coupled Bob Baffert entry, Faiza (Girvin) also brought $725,000 as a 2-year-old out of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale following a breeze in :10.1. Second dam, MGSW & MGISP Pomeroys Pistol (Poneroy), also produced MGSW & Spendthrift stallion Thousand Words (Pioneerof the Nile). TJCIS PPS
3rd-CD, $120K, Msw, 2yo, f, 1m, 2:00 p.m.
A $525,000 Keeneland September yearling, MADLY DANCING (Curlin), for trainer John Ortiz, is a half-sister to GI Preakness third Creative Minister (Creative Cause), MGSP Battalion Runner (Unbridled's Song), MGSP Oceanwave (Harlan's Holiday), and GISP Dolder Grand (Candy Ride {Arg}). She is also out of a full-sister to GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner and late sire Tapizar.
Breaking to the outside is $500,000 KEESEP Juddmonte purchase Undoubtedly (Blame), a daughter of MGISP And Why Note (Street Cry {Ire}), who has also produced MGSW Fearless (Ghostzapper) and MGSP Just Whistle (Pioneerof the Nile). This is also the family of GSW & MGISP Lone Sailor (Majestic Warrior) and MGSW Timeline (Hard Spun). TJCIS PPS
10th-GP, $52K, AOC, 3yo/up, 1m, 5:09 p.m.
Making his first start since a distant eighth to Art Collector (Bernardini) in the 2021 Alydar S., JESUS' TEAM (Tapiture) returns to racing after a tumultuous layoff. After undergoing surgery for an ankle chip following his last race, MGISP Jesus' Team suffered both a bacterial infection that threatened his life and laminitis in both of his front feet. It has been a slow recovery back but, after runner-up efforts in both the 2020 GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and the 2021 GI Pegasus World Cup to Horse of the Year Knicks Go (Paynter), the Jose D'Angelo trainee returns Saturday off a steady Palm Meadows work tab. TJCIS PPS
An extremely rare opportunity will be presented during the Sceptre Sessions of the Tattersalls December Mares Sale when Desert Berry (GB) (Green Desert), the dam of this year's G1 Derby winner Desert Crown (GB), is offered for sale back in foal to Nathaniel (Ire), the sire of the Classic hero.
When Desert Crown passed the line in front at Epsom, he fulfilled a lifetime dream for breeder Gary Robinson of Newmarket's Strawberry Fields Stud, who will offer the 13-year-old Desert Berry as lot 1891 on Tuesday evening of the sale.
“She's a beautiful mare, she's the right age and she's carrying a full-sibling to the Derby winner,” he says. “So this is it: the best chance anybody's ever going to get to buy another Derby winner.”
Desert Berry first came into Robinson's possession as a foal, but he also owns her dam, the Juddmonte-bred Foreign Language (Distant View), as well as Rose Berry (GB) (Archipenko), a six-time winner and half-sister to Desert Crown who is also now in foal to Nathaniel. With younger members of the family also in his possession, including Desert Berry's 2-year-old daughter by Al Kazeem (GB) and yearling colt by Study Of Man (Ire), Strawberry Fields is well stocked with this Classic family.
“She's from a Juddmonte family originally,” says Robinson of Desert Berry, whose relations include the Group 1 winners Proviso (GB) and Byword (GB).
“I bought her as a foal at Tattersalls many years ago with the first four base mares that we had, and she is the last of those base mares.”
Desert Berry certainly has established a strong foundation for Robinson. All five of her foals to have raced are multiple winners. Successive matings with the late Lanwades resident Archipenko produced not just Rose Berry but also the Hong Kong Group 3 winner Flying Thunder (GB), who raced in Britain as Archie McKellar, winning for Ralph Beckett before moving to Frankie Lor.
“Unfortunately Archipenko is gone, but she is a nice mare and Nathaniel was perfect for her,” says Robinson. “She's bred a Derby winner now and that's put us on the map. And we've got all the family to go further with.
“I've got the yearling half-brother here and a daughter by Al Kazeem who is in pre-training as well.”
Robinson describes Desert Berry as an “alpha mare” and he adds, “She's an individual, she's different but she is kind. And she's got a beautiful action.”
He says of his decision to offer her for sale, “Sometimes you have to let things go. At the end of the day, this is a business, so we have to make money to go on again. We're building more new stables…and then we've also created a racing yard, so we've got that as a back-up as well. It's been a big investment and sometimes we have to sell things. This is a great opportunity now to reinvest the money into the stud, but we have the family and I'm quite sure they're going to be successful for a while.”
While Desert Crown will always be first and foremost remembered as a Derby winner, Robinson says that it was the colt's easy victory in the G2 Dante S. for his owner Saeed Suhail and trainer Sir Michael Stoute that lingers most in his mind.
“For me, the Dante was the race where I saw a wonderful walking horse and athlete, and that really that made it for me more than anything, just to have produced a wonderful horse,” he says.
Indeed, Desert Crown's physical attributes were clearly obvious from an early age, as he sold for 280,000gns to Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock when offered as a yearling at Book 2 of the Tattersalls October sale in 2020. And there could well be more high days to come for the colt, who has recently returned to training at Stoute's Freemason Lodge in Newmarket.
Robinson says, “Desert Crown is doing really well now, so he'll be ready and they're really excited about him for next year. They're going to go places with him. It's good, it shows that the horses the mare produces are progressive.”
The Retired Racehorse Project (RRP) will include a pilot program for broodmares to compete in the 2023 Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium, presented by Thoroughbred Charities of America. Recently retired broodmares will compete alongside traditional entrants in all ten offered disciplines, but will be recognized separately and have a separate $10,000 in prize money.
“As the Thoroughbred Makeover has made a proven impact on the population of horses retiring from racing, we've gotten an increasing call in recent years for a channel for Thoroughbred broodmares who are ready for their third career,” said RRP executive director Kirsten Green. “Although the needs of this group are somewhat different from the original Makeover eligibility, the principal is still the same: horses who have received the investment of quality care and training are more likely to find lasting homes. We're excited to offer a modified division to make a contribution to that outcome.”
To be eligible for the new division, broodmares must be registered with The Jockey Club (TJC), have foaled or been bred in 2021 or after, have one lifetime start or published work, and may not have had prior shows or competitions. Broodmares will not be subject to the 15-ride limit. Complete rules will be available when the 2023 rulebook is published next month at TheRRP.org.
The new broodmare division is made possible with a grant from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). Additional support from farms and regional breeders groups is anticipated.
