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Sanford Upsetter Yo Yo Candy Likely To Return In Hopeful

Equipment changes by an attentive trainer and a stumbled start by heavy favorite Gold Sweep landed Happy Tenth Stable's Yo Yo Candy a 46-1 upset score in Saturday's Sanford (G3), a six-furlong sprint for juveniles, at Saratoga Race Course.

The victory provided trainer Danny Velazquez his first win at the Spa in his fifth attempt and jockey Angel Castillo a first graded win in North America. An understandably happy winner's circle was only missing one thing.

“My owners went to Monmouth — we were 46-1 — and they were beating themselves up they didn't come,” Velazquez said, with a laugh.

The Danzing Candy colt, a $35,000 OBS March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training purchase, graduated on debut in May sprinting 4 1/2-furlongs over the main track at Velazquez' Parx Racing base. He followed with a distant third in the 5 1/2-furlong Tremont in June at Belmont Park, finishing 10 1/4-lengths back of the victorious Gold Sweep.

Velazquez went back to work on the lightly raced colt after the Tremont and made a number of equipment changes as well as sharpening Yo Yo Candy for his graded debut with a five-eighths breeze from the gate in 1:01.02 on July 1 at Parx.

“That day at Belmont when we ran third, he ran very green and was in and out and never switched his lead. He was a green horse on a new, big track,” Velazquez said. “So, went back home and added blinkers and put a figure-eight to shut his mouth and tongue tie. We took him back to the gate three times to get that speed into him because he didn't break sharp, either.”

The adjustment paid dividends Saturday as Yo Yo Candy broke well and tracked in third position while Dickens and Market Street dueled through splits of :22.15 and :45.83 over the fast main track. Castillo angled Yo Yo Candy four-wide for the stretch run and he drew off to win by 2 1/4 lengths over the late-charging Gold Sweep. Yo Yo Candy stopped the clock in 1:11.83 and earned a career-best 71 Beyer Speed Figure.

“I loved when he was sitting third. It seemed like Angel had him real comfortable behind the pace and when he tipped outside, it was just enough to go,” Velazquez said. “I tried to keep one eye on him [Gold Sweep]. I saw the stumble and you hate to see that, but that's horse racing. After that, we were just cruising and I lost all track of Gold Sweep. I was just focused on my horse.”

Yo Yo Candy is likely to train up to the $300,000 Hopeful (G1) on September 4 at the Spa.

“I think that would be a good target,” Velazquez said. “He's an easy horse to maintain and he loves his training program. We pressed him a little harder going into this race because I felt we needed to come ready. We put in three big works — an extra gate work — I wanted everything to go right. I didn't want him to break slow or have no gas. If we lose, we lose because the horse didn't have the talent – but not because of preparation.”

The California-bred colt out of the multiple graded-stakes placed Two Punch mare Yolanda B. Too is a half brother to graded stakes-placed Treble.

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Multiple Graded Stakes Winner Tax Retired

Multiple graded stakes winner Tax (Arch) has been retired from racing. The 7-year-old gelding, who was claimed by trainer and co-owner Danny Gargan for $50,000 out of his debut race in 2018, won the 2019 GII Jim Dandy S. and GIII Withers S., as well as the 2020 GIII Harlan's Holiday S. He earned a trip to the 2019 GI Kentucky Derby with a runner-up effort in the GII Wood Memorial. Fourteenth in the Derby, he returned to finish fourth in the GI Belmont S.

On the board in 11 of 19 races, he won five times and earned $1,102,190.

“We've decided to retire him because it was the right thing to do by the horse,” said Gargan. “He's done enough. We just wanted him to win over the million-dollar mark, and he got well over that.”

In his final career start, Tax was runner-up in the GIII Challenger S. at Tampa Bay Downs in March.

Gargan said Tax has been sent to the farm of Dean Reeves, who co-owned Tax through 2021, and he will be retrained with an eye to a pony career.

“He went to Dean Reeves's farm and we're probably going to break him to be the farm pony next year,” said Gargan. “Maybe he'll come here to Saratoga next year and be our barn pony here.”

Tax retires as the all-time top earner for Gargan.

“He's my favorite horse of all-time,” said Gargan. “He's so pretty and so kind for such a big horse.”

The post Multiple Graded Stakes Winner Tax Retired appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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‘If He’s Ready, He’ll Run’: Casa Creed To Point For Fourstardave Repeat

LRE Racing and JEH Racing Stable's 7-year-old multiple Grade 1 winner Casa Creed proved he is still at the top of his game with a one-length score over Grade 1 winner Annapolis in Saturday's Kelso (G3) at Saratoga Race Course.

Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, the Jimmy Creed bay earned his third graded win traveling one-mile over the Spa's inner turf, adding to scores in the 2019 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame (G2) and last year's Fourstardave Handicap (G1).

It's fitting that the evergreen Casa Creed will now point to a title defense in the $500,000 Fourstardave Handicap (G1) on August 12 which offers a “Win and You're In” berth to the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) in November at Santa Anita Park.

Fourstardave, a New York-bred gelding, won at least one race at each year at Saratoga from 1987-1994, including the 1988 Albany, the 1989 and 1991 West Point Handicap, as well as consecutive runnings of the Daryl's Joy (G3) in 1990-91. In 1996, the Daryl's Joy was renamed the Fourstardave to honor the horse that made 21 starts at the Spa.

Casa Creed has made seven starts at Saratoga, dating to his second-out graduation as a 2-year-old in August 2018 in an off-the-turf sprint. He added the Hall of Fame to his ledger as a sophomore and finished third in consecutive runnings of the Fourstardave in 2020-21.

“He's now run six years in a row at Saratoga and won four times,” said co-owner Lee Einsidler of LRE Racing. “That's beyond remarkable. He's a horse owner's dream come true. It's hard to imagine you would have a horse at 7 years old that's still at the top of his game. He's taken us around the world and, honest to God, we're so fortunate to have him in our life. He's like one of the family.”

The $105,000 purchase at the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale has banked more than $2.1 million through a record of 32-8-5-5, including consecutive scores in the 2021-22 Jaipur (G1) sprinting six-furlongs at Belmont Park. He finished a close second in both the 2022-23 1351 Turf Sprint (G3) at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Saudi Arabia and was fifth in last year's Al Quoz Sprint (G1) at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai.

Einsidler credited trainer Kenny McPeek for selecting Casa Creed as a potential prospect.

“Kenny said to me, 'I know you want to run in Saratoga, and this one will get you there. He could be either grass or dirt,'” Einsidler recalled. “But you could never imagine you would have this horse on the track for six years. You buy a horse and hope he can get to the races — and some don't even make it to the races. But you can never buy a horse at any price and think they would run over 30 times, make over $2 million and take you around the world a couple of times.”

Luis Saez provided Casa Creed with a picture-perfect ride on Saturday, tracking to the outside of 4-5 mutuel favorite Annapolis before making an early move for the lead through the far turn. Casa Creed swooped beyond the pacesetting Big Everest to establish a half-length lead at the stretch call and staved off the bid of Annapolis to stop the clock in a final time of 1:35.51. The victory garnered a 100 Beyer Speed Figure.

Einsidler said much of Casa Creed's success is down to Mott's meticulous horsemanship.

“Bill Mott is special. I was with him early this morning and he puts his hands on every horse in the barn,” Einsidler said. “He goes over every horse personally. He's an amazing trainer and a very close friend. He's really managed Casa Creed brilliantly. He gave him a lot of time off after winning the Hall of Fame as a 3-year-old and put him away thinking he'd be even better as an older horse and he came back the next spring and was a monster. We're happy to run him three or four times a year and just take good care of him.”

Einsidler said Casa Creed exited his stylish Kelso score in fine fettle and will hopefully be ready for a fourth Fourstardave attempt in one month's time.

“We're going to train him like he's going to be in the race. It comes up maybe a week quicker than we'd like, but if he's ready, he'll run,” Einsidler said. “He was perfect this morning — looked fabulous and doing great. He's come out of the race in perfect order, and if he's doing good we'll be there in mid-August.”

Casa Creed has made three previous Breeders' Cup appearances, finishing off-the-board in both the 2020 Mile (G1) at Keeneland and 2021 Mile at Del Mar and ninth in last year's Turf Sprint (G1) at Keeneland. With the Turf Sprint being contested at five furlongs this year at Santa Anita, the rugged bay will again point to the Mile as a year-end target.

Whether or not Casa Creed returns as an 8-year-old to race for a seventh straight summer at the Spa remains to be seen as the ownership group has already been approached about potential stud opportunities.

“We've had some inquiries. Not that he couldn't race next year, but we'll see,” Einsidler said.

And for those looking to find a potential Casa Creed of their own, it's worth noting that his dam, Achalaya, has a New York-bred filly by Authentic listed as Hip No. 227 at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Preferred Yearling Sale slated for August 7-8.

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‘A Longevity Milestone’: Ness Reaches 4,000th Career Win At Laurel

Morris Kernan Jr., Yo Berbs, and Jagger Inc.'s 3-year-old filly Sing Scat led from start to finish and pulled away late to score her second straight win and give trainer and co-owner Jamie Ness his 4,000th career victory in Sunday's opener at Laurel Park.

With main stable rider Jaime Rodriguez aboard, 2-1 favorite Sing Scat ($6) was hustled to the front from the gate in the 1 1/16-mile claiming event for fillies and mares who had never won two races and was never headed, leading comfortably throughout and coming home under a hand ride in 1:44.86 over a turf course rated as good.

The victory was the 27th in the month of July for Ness and extended his win streak to 17 calendar days between Laurel, Delaware Park and Parx Racing that dates back to June 30. It was also the second career milestone Ness has reached at Laurel, earning his 2,000th win with Caylee's Song on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 2013.

“Luckily, we weren't [waiting] for very long. It came pretty fast,” Ness said. “It's kind of a longevity milestone, I guess you'd call it. We've been doing this a long time. It means you've been doing it a while. I remember being right here for 2,000. Seems like it was yesterday.”

Ness becomes the 16th trainer to reach 4,000 wins in North America and ranks 13th among active trainers behind Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen's record 10,199 and counting. The 48-year-old Ness won No. 1,000 Sept. 23, 2010 at Presque Isle Downs with Afleet Ashley, and picked up No. 3,000 Feb. 18, 2020 at Parx with Late Breaking News.

“The last thousand went pretty quick,” Ness said. “The first win was tough. I went like 0-for-30 or 40 and was like, 'This is hard.' I just wanted to win one race when I first started. I had bad horses and didn't do a good job with the ones I had, so it took a while before I won a race.”

After graduating from South Dakota State University, the Heron, S.D. native took a job in the media relations office at Canterbury Park in Minnesota, where he won his first race with his 33rd starter, Blue Rocket, Aug. 21, 1999. Ness began training full-time in 2004 and over the years has expanded his operation to nearly 200 horses currently including 140 in training.

“I'm good at horse training, but I'm terrible with all the bookwork and that kind of stuff,” Ness said. “There's a lot more than just showing up in the winner's circle. There's a lot behind the scenes. They say it takes a village. It takes a community when you run a big stable like I've got.”

Ness has had 300 or more winners in a season four times, leading the nation with 395 in 2012 and ranking in the top six nine times since 2008, including second in 2010 and 2011 and third each of the past two years. He is coming off a 2022 campaign that saw him win 326 races and a career-high $10.3 million in purses.

Entering Sunday Ness had 168 wins and more than $5.8 million in purses from 688 starters in 2023, pushing his lifetime bankroll over $79.5 million. He owns four career graded stakes wins, two coming this year with Repo Rocks in Aqueduct's Toboggan (G3) and Belmont Park's Westchester (G3).

“We've been steady, that's the thing. We've been consistent and steady for the last little while,” Ness said. “[Wins are] all the same to me. Obviously, the graded-stakes are important but they all feel almost the same. This is my job and I approach it that way. It's on to the next. If you keep humble and keep on to the next, you might get another thousand down the line here.”

Ness has dominated the trainer standings at Delaware and Parx in recent years and has also won six meet titles in Maryland, including Laurel's winter stand to open 2023. Others have come at Laurel fall in 2011 and 2012 and historic Pimlico Race Course's 2012, 2015 and 2019 spring stands.

Heading into Sunday, Ness was the leading trainer at both Delaware Park and Parx and tied 16-16 with Brittany Russell in Laurel's summer meet standings after Starship Laoban ($4.80) gave Ness No. 4,001 in Sunday's third race, also with Rodriguez up.

“I'm fortunate. [This] is something I would do even if I didn't get paid,” Ness said. “It's my hobby, it's my passion and it's my job. Very few get to do that, so I feel blessed to be able in that position.”

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