Month: September 2023

Munnings’s Zozos Leads Home ‘Rising Star’ 1-2-3 in ‘WAYI’ Ack Ack

Barry and Joni Butzow's homebred and 'TDN Rising Star' Zozos (Munnings) took them all the way for an overdue first graded stakes success in Saturday's GIII Ack Ack S., a 'Win and You're In' for the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile.

The 3-5 favorite set a pressured pace, albeit through very manageable early fractions of :23.69 and :47.10 going a one-turn mile beneath the Twin Spires. He let it out a notch as they straightened for home and held Justify (Scat Daddy)'s half-brother and 'Rising Star' Stage Raider (Pioneerof the Nile) safe by a length. Three Technique (Mr Speaker) completed the 'Rising Star' trifecta.

Zozos, a strong second at just third asking in the 2022 GII Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby, reeled off three straight wins earlier this term, including the Knicks Go S. over this same track and trip May 6 and the Hanshin S. at Ellis Park July 2. He was a disappointing fourth as the heavy favorite going 1 1/16 miles around two turns in Monmouth's GIII Philip H. Iselin S. last time Aug. 19.

“I didn't think he would get away with that easy of an early lead,” winning trainer Brad Cox said. “I thought Florent (Geroux) did a good job to not let Caddo River (Hard Spun) get too close on his outside. He's run well this year and trained well out of his last race at Monmouth.”

Cox continued, “I think he's now a really good one-turn horse. We'll see who's going where in the Breeders' Cup and make a decision on his next start soon. I don't know what we'd do if we don't go to the Breeders' Cup, but we'll let this horse tell us what's next. It's a lot to ask of any horse to make the trip from Kentucky to California against some of the best horses in the world.”

Pedigree Notes:

Zozos becomes the 27th graded stakes winner for Munnings. Forestry is now the broodmare sire of 27 graded winners as well. The Butzows acquired the dam of Zozos for $57,000 at the 2011 Keeneland September and raced her to nine victories and eight minor placings from 32 starts for earnings north of $233,000. Papa's Forest had a colt by Candy Ride (Arg) in 2023 and was bred back to Jackie's Warrior.

Saturday, Churchill Downs
ACK ACK S.-GIII, $400,000, Churchill Downs, 9-30, 3yo/up, 1m, 1:35.32, ft.
1–ZOZOS, 121, c, 4, by Munnings
              1st Dam: Papa's Forest, by Forestry
              2nd Dam: Dixie Sue, by Dixieland Band
              3rd Dam: Barbara Sue, by Big Spruce
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. O/B-Barry Butzow & Joni Butzow (KY); T-Brad H. Cox; J-Florent Geroux. $242,280. Lifetime Record: 11-7-1-0, $882,688. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Stage Raider, 121, h, 5, Pioneerof the Nile–Stage Magic, by Ghostzapper. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($950,000 RNA Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-John D. Gunther; B-John D. Gunther (KY); T-Cherie DeVaux. $78,800.
3–Three Technique, 121, h, 6, Mr Speaker–Nite in Rome, by Harlan's Holiday. ($50,000 Wlg '17 KEENOV; $180,000 Ylg '18 FTKJUL; $47,000 RNA 4yo '21 KEENOV). O-Miller, David E., Grindley, Eric and Werner, John; B-Omega Farm LLC & Bally Breeders (KY); T-Jason G. Cook. $39,400.
Margins: 1, 1, 5 1/4. Odds: 0.77, 6.70, 4.25.
Also Ran: O Besos, Caddo River, Seize the Night, Skyro.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuelTV.

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Brocknardini Scores ‘Very Professional’ First Stakes Win In Selima

Thomas Brockley and Daryn Bedinotti's Brocknardini, stretched out and dropped in class off a nightmarish stakes debut against Grade 1 company just two weeks earlier, returned to the races in style with a 2¼-length victory in the $100,000 Selima on Saturday at Laurel Park.

The 94th running of the 1 1/16-mile Selima for 2-year-old fillies was the first of four stakes worth $500,000 in purses on opening weekend of Laurel's calendar year-ending fall meet, co-headlined by the $150,000 Laurel Futurity for 2-year-olds.

Brocknardini ($9.40), sent off as the third choice in a field of 10 at 7-2, covered the distance in 1:47.45 over a Dahlia turf course rated good. Her victory continued an outstanding season for New York-based trainer George Weaver, who is 16-for-44 on the year with 2-year-olds including 13-for-30 on the grass.

“I've been blessed to ride for George a lot in the past. I have a lot of confidence in him and what he says, so when he says he thinks we're live I've got full faith in him,” winning jockey Joe Rocco Jr. said. “I just went out there confident and she ran that way, so it all worked out.”

Brocknardini was away alertly and settled in the clear in fifth as Carmelina, a stakes winner on dirt in her last start trying turf for the first time, got out well and led through a quarter-mile in :24.77 and a half in :51.26, tracked by 17-1 long shot Flowers for Me with Hekate saving ground along the rail and Determined Sail, exiting a third in the Kitten's Joy on the Colonial Downs turf, racing fourth.

Flowers for Me ranged up to challenge Carmelina for the lead around the far turn while Rocco stayed patient on Brocknardini, tipping the Palace Malice filly out once straightened for home. Rocco set Brocknardini down for a drive to reel in Flowers for Me and turn back a spirited bid on the far outside from Yatta, a last-out maiden winner 23 days earlier at Kentucky Downs.

“She actually broke better than I thought. Not that I thought she'd break bad, but I thought she'd be a little slower early to get going and she actually broke really well and put herself in really good position and made my job a lot easier,” Rocco said. “I just tried to point her in the right direction. I was able to get out to where I thought the ground would be a little firmer down the stretch and I had a lot of horse to go to the wire.”

Flowers for Me held on to second by a neck over Yatta. It was 1 ¼ lengths back to favored Positive Carry in fourth, followed by Low Mileage, Determined Sail, Carmelina, Kissedbyanangel, Gorgeous Girl and Hekate.

Purchased for $35,000 out of Fasig-Tipton's Midlantic 2-year-olds in training sale in May at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium, Brocknardini broke her maiden at first asking by 4¾ lengths Aug. 2 at Saratoga against fellow New York-breds. The effort earned her a trip to Woodbine for the Sept. 16 Natalma (G1), where she hopped at the start, got fanned well wide and had to check in the stretch and wound up last of 13 though placed 12th via disqualification.

Brocknardini faced none of those issues in the Selima.

“Today she was very professional,” Rocco said.

Bred by Thirty Year Farm, Brocknardini was produced by the Bernardini mare Broad Stripes.

Saturday was the first day of racing on the grass at the fall meet, which opened Friday following the Maryland Jockey Club's boutique fall stand at historic Pimlico Race Course.

“It seems safe; it's just soft. I mean, it's fall racing on the turf,” Rocco said. “When it rains and it's not 90 degrees and sunny out it just takes longer to dry out but as long as it's safe for the horses and the riders that's the most important thing.”

First run in 1926, the Selima is named for the great English race mare who was imported to the U.S. in the 1750s by Benjamin Tasker Jr., manager of the famed Belair Farm in Prince George's County. The daughter of the Godolphin Arabian, considered 'Queen of the Turf,' also gained fame as a broodmare.

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Catching Up with 2013-14 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile Winner Goldencents

The only two-time winner of the Dirt Mile to date, Goldencents had gameness written all over him. The Equibase chart for his second Breeders' Cup win summed up much of his career: “gunned hard,” “met the oncoming challenge,” and “dug in tenaciously.”

“Goldencents was a special horse for us because he is the first horse that really began to put Into Mischief on the map,” said Ned Toffey, general manager of Spendthrift Farm. “He and [MGSW & MGISP] Vyjack came out of Into Mischief's first crop. Obviously he went on to be a Breeders' Cup Dirt mile winner, the second win of which was in incredible fashion. He really began to elevate Into Mischief into the status of being a truly elite sire, and then he came to stud, had success, and began to set the stage for Into Mischief to become a sire of sires. He has really meant a lot to Into Mischief's career and to Spendthrift.”

Goldencents (2010 bay horse, Into Mischief–Golden Works, by Banker's Gold)

Lifetime record: MGISW, 18-7-7-0, $3,044,000

Breeders' Cup connections: B-Rosecrest Farm and Karyn Pirrello (KY); O-W. C. Racing, Dave Kenney, and RAP Racing (2013)/W.C. Racing, Inc. (2014); T-Doug O'Neill (2013)/Leandro Mora (2014); J-Rafael Bejarano.

Current location: Spendthrift Farm, Lexington, Ky.

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