Month: July 2023

No Nay Mets further stamped himself as a 2-year-old turf sprinter with Breeders' Cup potential, returning from a disappointing showing at Royal Ascot by easily putting away 11 rivals as he cruised to a 5½-length victory in the $112,000 Tyro Stakes on Sunday at Monmouth Park.

Owned in part by Houston Astros' All-Star Alex Bregman, along with WEBD LLC, the son of No Nay Never became a two-time stakes winner in just his third career start.

He won the Royal Palm Juvenile at five furlongs on the turf at Gulfstream Park in his career debut on May 13, earning a spot in the Norfolk Stakes (G2) during the prestigious Royal Ascot meet.

The bounce-back from that ninth-place showing in England 38 days later was eye-catching.

“He impressed me today. I thought he won the right way,” said trainer George Weaver. “I can't be any happier with the horse. We went back to the tactics that were successful at Gulfstream. (Jockey) Paco (Lopez) asked him to run away from there. He had enough speed to make the lead and then on the turn he spurted for home and opened up.

“We're going to try to put him on a path to get to the Breeders' Cup.”

Lopez made the lead without much pressure, cruising to a :22.49 opening quarter and :46.15 first half as No Nay Mets seemed to get stronger in the lane.

The final time for the five furlongs over a firm turf course was :57.91.

“It's really hard to decipher when you're handicapping a race,” said Weaver. “It was a full field today with a bunch of horses that showed good early gas. You never know where you stand.

“Our horse definitely had some seasoning. He never ran in a maiden race, he broke his maiden in a stakes and then he went across the pond to run against a huge field at Ascot against some very good horses over ground he wasn't crazy about. He had an experience edge. It didn't take him long to get back on track.

The victory gave Weaver a sweep of the weekend 2-year-old turf sprints at Monmouth Park, with Amidst Waves winning Saturday's Colleen Stakes.

Ship Cadet rallied for second, two lengths ahead of Shea D World.

“The plan was just to go and to see if they could catch me,” said Lopez. “George Weaver told me `your horse is very fast. They have to catch you.' She broke sharp and then it seemed like she was waiting on horses a little. I went a pretty easy pace once she made an easy lead. The horse was very comfortable the whole time.

“This horse has a lot of potential. I can see this horse winning a graded stakes race soon.”

No Nay Mets was bred in Ireland by Coolmore. His dam is the War Front mare Etoile, Group 3 winner in Ireland and in France, where she was fourth in the 2019 Prix de Diane (G1) (French Oaks). Shipped to the U.S., she was 10th in that year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) at Santa Anita.

No Nay Mets paid $3.80 to win as the 9-10 favorite,

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AMO Racing USA's New York Thunder broke sharply to the lead in Friday's $200,000 Amsterdam (G2) at Saratoga and was never threatened, winning the 6 1/2-furlong sprint for sophomores by 7 1/2-lengths and earning a lifetime high Beyer Speed Figure of 110 under jockey Tyler Gaffalione.

Trained by Jorge Delgado, New York Thunder entered with a perfect 3-for-3 lifetime record, including the six-furlong Woodstock Stakes over Tapeta at Woodbine Racetrack in April in his start prior to the Amsterdam, which followed wins in a turf allowance and synthetic track maiden sprints over the winter at Gulfstream Park.

Leading up to the Amsterdam, the bay Nyquist colt strung together multiple impressive workouts at Monmouth Park, including two half-mile bullet breezes in June and an eye-popping :46.40 work on May 27. There was still a major question mark of the 3-year-old having never raced on dirt, but Delgado said Gaffalione believed in New York Thunder's speed.

“[Gaffalione] came immediately with a description of every horse in the (Amsterdam), and I told him, 'You got this, just go, I have full confidence in you,' ” said Delgado. “Every time I looked at the race, I looked at it a different way. I thought maybe the one [Drew's Gold] goes, maybe Ryvit goes, maybe we sit behind them, but I left it in Tyler's hands and his plan worked out perfectly.”

Ryvit stumbled out of the gate from post 5 as New York Thunder broke alertly from the outermost post 6 and set blazing fractions of :21.48 and :43.56 over the fast main track.

Gaffalione successfully mounted a three-length lead by the stretch, shaking odds-on favorite Drew's Gold from his side around the half-mile pole. New York Thunder's lead widened under little urging, and he finished in a final time of 1:14.65.

New York Thunder's six-furlong split in the Amsterdam of 1:07.77 is faster than Saratoga's six-furlong track record of 1:07.92 set by Imperial Hint in the 2019 Alfred G. Vanderbilt (G1), and the colt's geared down final time was not far off of Quality Road's track record of 1:13.74 set in the 2009 Amsterdam.

Delgado said New York Thunder returned to Monmouth Park from the victory in good order.

“He came back to the barn in good shape, happy and proud. As fast as he is, you can see in the races that he's a very, very quiet horse,” Delgado said. “He doesn't even move. He's just chilling in his stall, enjoying the days off.”

Delgado will resume New York Thunder's training shortly, pointing him toward the seven-furlong, $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial (G1) on August 26.

“If everything goes right and everything keeps normal, that race is highly possible. That is my, 'Plan A,'” Delgado said, also admitting that thoughts of a possible start in the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) down the line have started to creep into his mind after the impressive victory.

New York Thunder was purchased from the Threave Main Stud consignment for $130,000 at the 2021 Keeneland  September Yearling Sale. Bred in Kentucky by Gatewood Bell and Forgotten Land, New York Thunder is out of the Midshipman mare Start Over, who is a half sister to graded stakes-placed Degree of Risk. His third dam, Surf Club, produced 2012 Grade 1 Forego winner Emcee.

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