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Rudy Rodriguez Gets $394K Judgment Against Zayat Stables, Joins MGG Investments Civil Case

The pool of people seeking money from Zayat Stables got more crowded in recent weeks as a judge in Kentucky's Fayette County Circuit Court consolidated two civil cases against the 2015 Triple Crown-winning owner. Trainer Rudy Rodriguez won a motion in late June to combine his civil case in Fayette County with an existing case between MGG Investments and Zayat Stables over $24 million in unpaid loans.

Rodriguez won a judgment against Zayat Stables in a New York court in late 2019 for $394,437.19 in unpaid training bills that his legal team says went back years.

MGG had objected to the motion before Judge Kimberly Bunnell, questioning whether the two cases had enough in common to be combined. After all, the company argued, Rodriguez had a judgment in his favor from a New York judge, but had nothing to do with the loan Zayat took out from MGG in 2016.

“Zayat Stables undoubtedly owes a lot of money to a lot of people,” read paperwork filed by MGG ahead of the judge's order to consolidate. “Allowing Rodriguez Racing into the case will only open up Pandora's box and cause all of Zayat Stables' other creditors to come out of the woodwork to join this case, regardless of the irrelevance of their claims to the matters before the Court in this case.”

Attorneys for Rodriguez Racing disputed that assertion and pointed out that in one monthly report alone, over $137,000 had been paid to creditors of Zayat Stables by the receiver in charge of winding down the Zayat Stables operation.

Rodriguez no longer trains horses for Zayat, according to court filings. In mid-October 2019, he alleged the stable owed him more than $600,000 in unpaid bills, and filed an agister's lien on Lezendary and Majid, the two Zayat horses still in his possession at the time. Justin Zayat, son of Zayat Stables founder Ahmed Zayat, told media the two sides had come to an agreement over the amount owed.

“He's a wealthy man. I'm a working guy,” Rodriguez said at the time. “It costs me a lot to run the stable, with salaries and workers' compensation. Whenever I talk to him, he says he's going to pay, he's going to pay. I told him, 'I can't carry you anymore.'”

Ahmed Zayat would later announce in a tweet in late October that Rodriguez was “back on the team,” showing Rodriguez with Ahmed and Justin Zayat in what would seem to be the Zayat Stables offices in New Jersey. That tweet has since been deleted.

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Owner Of Ashleyluvssugar, Champagne Room Dies At 83

Sharon Alesia, owner of stakes winners Ashleyluvssugar and Champagne Room among others, died June 15 at the age of 83.

The Daily Racing Form reported Alesia had owned horses with her late husband Frank for some four decades after buying him a Thoroughbred as an anniversary present. The couple sent their horses exclusively to Peter Eurton, who also campaigned Dance With Fate and Weemissfrankie.

Weemissfrankie collected two Grade 1 victories and finished third in the 2011 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, while Champagne Room won the 2016 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies for the stable. Fan favorite Ashleyluvssugar won six stakes races and earned over $1.4 million in a long-running campaign that concluded earlier this year for the 9-year-old gelding.

Vekoma’s Partners Hoping Thrill Ride Continues In Runhappy Met Mile

After running the race of his life with an emphatic 7 1/4-length romp in the Grade 1 Runhappy Carter, R.A. Hill Stable and Gatsas Stables' Vekoma tackles an even tougher field assembled for Saturday's Grade 1, $500,000 Runhappy Met Mile at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

The recent eye-popping victory under Hall of Fame rider Javier Castellano, which garnered a 110 Beyer, was a second start of the year for the Candy Ride chestnut colt who made his 2020 bow a winning one in the Sir Shackleton on March 28 at Gulfstream Park. Last year, Vekoma earned accolades heading into the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby after drawing away to victory in the Grade 2 Blue Grass at Keeneland for trainer George Weaver.

To earn a second Grade 1 victory, Vekoma will have to topple a field that includes last year's Grade 1 Runhappy Travers and Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup-victor Code of Honor and McKinzie, the winner of last year's Grade 1 Whitney at Saratoga.

Already a winner going a one-turn mile during his 2-year-old campaign in the Grade 3 Nashua, Vekoma will be stretching back out to a mile from the seven-furlong Carter.

“He's got so much talent it's unreal,” said co-owner Mike Gatsas. “I think he can handle it. Javier knows the horse very well and he can get the distance without a problem. They have a great rapport with one another, so we'll let him decide on a trip.”

In both of his 4-year-old starts, Vekoma has displayed tactical speed sitting just off of the pacesetters before making a winning bid at the top of the stretch.

Gatsas anticipates that Vekoma will display a similar running style on Saturday.

“He has some early speed, so he'll help set the pace somewhat,” Gatsas said. “He won't be on the lead, but he should be forwardly placed. Javier rides him extremely well and understands him well, so he knows what he's doing.”

Vekoma, named after a Dutch manufacturing company of roller coasters as a nod to his champion-producing sire's name, has taken his connections on an exciting ride. Hill and Gatsas also partnered with graded stakes-placed Our Country, who ran eighth in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf last November at Santa Anita as well as New York-bred stakes winner Funny Guy.

“It's such a great partnership, but what's really good about it is that it's also a great friendship,” Gatsas said. “We've had a lot of fun over the years. We've gone to the Derby, the Breeders' Cup together and we just won the Carter so it's been such a fun experience.”

Vekoma, bred in Kentucky by Alpha Delta Stables, is out of the Speightstown broodmare Mona de Momma who also is a Grade 1 winner going seven furlongs.

Being a Grade 1 winner with a Grade 1-winning sire and dam makes Vekoma quite enticing as a stallion prospect, but Gatsas said a triumph in the Runhappy Met Mile, which is known for being a “stallion making race”, could make his breeding value even more appealing.

“Hopefully this adds to his resume,” Gatsas said. “He also won the Blue Grass last year so I'm sure a lot of Kentucky farms would be interested in that. He took down that field real well, too.

“He's just such a special horse,” Gatsas added. “He's not a big, strapping colt, but he is really well-built.”

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New York-Bred Veteran Mr. Buff Stretching Out For Suburban Try

Chester and Mary Broman's multiple stakes-winning millionaire Mr. Buff will try 1 1/4-miles for the first time in Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 Suburban at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

Trained by John Kimmel, the 6-year-old New York-bred son of Friend Or Foe has posted wins from seven furlongs up to a mile an eighth in a 37-race career that boasts eight stakes wins from an overall record of 14-7-4 and purse earnings of $1,076,536.

The sizable chestnut was in a good run of form over the winter at Aqueduct with scores in the Alex M. Robb, Jazil and Haynesfield before his training was interrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He returned off a four-month layoff last out to finish second to Funny Guy in the one-turn mile Commentator on June 12 at Belmont.

“He was rolling until they shut things down here. He missed a month of training,” said Kimmel. “He walked for a month at the farm and he didn't have the bottom into him that Funny Guy did, not to mention he carried 127 pounds. I thought he was going to get swallowed up, but he actually hung in there really well.”

Mr. Buff matched a career-best 106 Beyer Speed Figure with his 20-length score in the Haynesfield on February 22 when left alone on the front end under regular pilot Junior Alvarado.

That effort came on the heels of a similarly powerful score in the open Jazil at nine furlongs. Kimmel has tried Mr. Buff in graded company twice when off-the-board in the Grade 2 New Orleans on a track he didn't handle and was seventh last summer in the Grade 1 Woodward at Saratoga.

On Saturday, the 17.2 hands tall Mr. Buff will have a significant weight break carrying just 118 pounds against a field headlined by 2019 Grade 1 Belmont Stakes champ Sir Winston [124 pounds] and multiple graded-stakes winner Tacitus [122 pounds].

Kimmel said the added distance may help Mr. Buff ease into his significant stride.

“I contemplated running him a little further if I had the chance and this looked like the right opportunity,” said Kimmel. “A mile and a quarter will have a much more reasonable pace scenario and maybe he won't have any issued with his lead transitions like he does sometimes at a flat mile and the pace is a little faster.

“When he gets going 45 to the half and three quarters in 10 and change, sometimes he doesn't make that switch to his outside lead,” added Kimmel. “But he's been pretty good at it when he goes around two turns, so we'll see how he does at one and a half turns.”

Mr. Buff will exit post 4 under Alvarado in the Suburban which will close out Saturday's 11-race card.

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