The Week in Review: From $1,000 Yearling to Stakes Winner, It’s Sizzling Time Not Done Writing his Story

It's Sizzling Time (Not This Time) finished second in Saturday's $100,000 Harrison E. Johnson Memorial S. at Laurel, but trainer Valrie Smith wasn't about to complain. The gelding banked another $20,000, upping his career earnings to $327,766. Not bad for a horse who cost $1,000 as a yearling, which is what It's Sizzling Time sold for at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Fall Yearling sale

“If you had told me back then that he'd win all these races, win a stakes and make all that money, I would have told you you were being ridiculous,” Smith said. “I would have told you there was no way that could happen.”

But it did.

It's Sizzling Time has won seven races, including the John B. Campbell S., and has developed into one of the better older dirt horses on the Maryland circuit.

Smith and her husband Donnovan Haughton like to buy at Fasig Tipton's fall yearling sale and are always on the lookout for bargains. But the couple is not well off and they cannot afford to buy horses even in the four-figure range. Many of their purchases have been for $1,000, the lowest price a horse can sell for at a Fasig-Tipton auction.

Smith doesn't pretend that she saw something special in It's Sizzling Time or that she knew something the other buyers didn't. She also couldn't have predicted what was to come for the sire, Not This Time (Giant's Causeway).

Not This Time was second in the 2016 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile and never ran again. Taylor Made took a chance on the horse and started him off with a stud fee of $15,000. He's since gone on to become one of the top sires in the sport, with a stud fee of $150,000. It's Sizzling Time is from his first crop.

None of that was part of the equation when Smith put in her $1,000 bid for the horse.

“We bought him because we thought we were getting a bargain,” she said.

But why did he sell for so little?

“I have no idea why. It was just our luck,” she said. “We were just lucky to get him. There was nothing obviously wrong with him. He looked smart in the ring. It wasn't like he was looking all crazy.”

The Florida-bred began his career in a $25,000 maiden claimer in October of 2020. He finished second and two starts later would go on to break his maiden. For the next three years plus he started only in allowance races and starter allowance races. But he kept improving and Smith chose the Campbell as the race in which he would make his stakes debut. With jockey Jean Briceno aboard, he won the $100,000 race by a nose.

“I'm so excited, I'm lost for words,”Smith said after the Campbell win.

Smith is a native of Jamaica who came to the U.S. in 2005. Not only did she know nothing about horse racing at the time, she was scared of horses.

“I was scared of them because I thought they were so big,” she said.

It was Haughton, who was a jockey in Jamaica, that introduced her to racing. She started off as a hotwalker and soon found out that not only were horses not scary they could be your best friend.

“Gradually, I started to love them. But the horses loved me first,” said Smith. “They love people. You just have to be patient and love them back. I started having a good connection with the horses.  I was sucked into it.”

Smith, who works alongside Haughton, has been training since 2017 and has a four-horse stable. It's Sizzling Time is co-owned by Haughton and Mona Bowley, a friend from Jamaica.

It's not easy to make ends meet with a four-horse stable, but the money that It's Sizzling Time has earned has helped immensely.

“Oh my God, he has been a huge, huge blessing,” she said. “I just have to thank God. I'm so happy. This horse makes us look real good.”

Smith isn't sure where It's Sizzling Time will run next, but it will no doubt be in another stakes race. The $1,000 yearling has proven that he belongs.

Santa Anita's Safety Record

Matanzas Creek (Empire Maker) broke down three strides past the wire after winning Saturday's sixth race at Santa Anita. While no one wants to see a horse break down and euthanized, the incident served to remind us of just how safe racing at Santa Anita has become.

While there have been fatalities during training, Santa Anita went nearly one year without having a fatality in a race. Prior to Saturday, the last time it happened was Mar. 18, 2023 when a horse named Beverly Vista (Arrogate) broke down.

The increased veterinary oversight that horses must go through at Santa Anita is obviously an inconvenience to trainers. But no one should be complaining. It's working

The Chosen Vron Does it Again

It was quite a week for The Chosen Vron (Vronsky). First he was named the 2023 California-bred Horse of the Year and then he won for the 16th time in his career when he captured the GIII San Carlos S. Saturday at Santa Anita. He is now 16-for-21 lifetime. It was the fourth graded stakes win for the popular 6-year-old gelding

He's won 11 of his last 12 starts, with the only defeat coming when he was fifth in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint.

In an era where a lot of good horses race six or seven times in their careers and their owners can't get them to the breeding shed fast enough, it's great to see a tough old gelding whose a throwback to a better time for the sport when racing was more than an audition for the breeding shed.

The post The Week in Review: From $1,000 Yearling to Stakes Winner, It’s Sizzling Time Not Done Writing his Story appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Time for Truth Tunes Up for Arkansas Derby

Harry Rosenblum and Cheyenne Stable's Time for Truth (Omaha Beach) tuned up for an expected start in the Mar. 30 GI Arkansas Derby with a six-furlong work in 1:13.00 (1/1) work over a muddy Oaklawn strip Saturday.

“This was our meat and potatoes,” trainer Ron Moquett said of the work. “Then, we'll put a side on him next week.”

A debut winner at Oaklawn on New Year's Eve, Time for Truth was second in the Feb. 10 Ozark S., but missed out on a start in the GII Rebel S. when he suffered a minor shin injury the night before the Feb. 24 race. He resurfaced with a victory in a 1 1/16-mile allowance Mar. 2.

“We're still trying to put it all together,” Moquett said. “He's a very talented horse that we're just trying to see where his maturation is. The other day we noticed, even though he won, when he made the front, he kind of waited on a horse for a second, but then galloped out really well. So, we're trying to get him to do everything that he's supposed to do to be more professional.”

The Arkansas Derby will offer 200 points to its top five finishers (100-50-25-15-10, respectively) toward starting eligibility for the May 4 GI Kentucky Derby.

The post Time for Truth Tunes Up for Arkansas Derby appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Sixpence Dominates Satsuki Sho Trial

In an electrifying display through the late stages, Sixpence (Jpn) (Kizuna {Jpn}) overwhelmed nine other rivals and proclaimed himself as one to watch for the G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2,000 Guineas), dominating the G2 Fuji TV Sho Spring S. on Sunday at Nakayama.

Jumping well and close to the pacesetters, Sixpence tucked in neatly behind Allegro Brillante (Jpn) (Deep Brillante {Jpn}) and that one's closest pursuer Cosmo Buddleja (Jpn) (Gold Ship {Jpn}) as the pair showed the way. The placings remained consistent until the field passed the 800 metre mark with closers beginning their march from the rear and Sixpence was launching his own rally coming off the bend.

Looming the danger with 400 metres left, Christophe Lemaire asked and his charge responded, leaving long-time leader Allegro Brillante in his wake under the mildest of hand rides. The advantage extended with 200 metres left in the running and the gap back to the game pacesetter was 3 1/2 lengths on the wire. Lucullan Feast (Jpn) (Isla Bonita {Jpn}) came out best of the scramble for the minors, nosing out Channel Tunnel (Jpn) (Greater London {Jpn}) for the last trifecta spot.

 

Pedigree Note
The lone offspring to race for American Grade I-winner Finley'sluckycharm (Twirling Candy) thus far, Sixpence is the newest Classic contender for sire Kizuna (Jpn), who himself was the Japanese champion 3-year-old colt as well as a Classic winner in France and Japan. Among the stallion's best runners are dual champion Songline (Jpn), who twice claimed the G1 Yasuda Kinen, and G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup victrex Akai Ito (Jpn).

On his female line side, the busiest activity is found deep in the pedigree via the dam Gather the Clan (Ire), who is responsible for GISW Pure Clan (Pure Prize). That mare would later go on to produce SW & GISP Princesa Carolina (Tapit), who set a course-record en route to her victory in the Fifth Third Insurance Dueling Grounds Oaks. She is not the only runner with a wicked turn of foot as Pure Clan's half-brother MGSW Greater Good set a new track-record beneath the fabled twin spires of Churchill Downs.

Since changing hands to Katsumi Yoshida for $1.5-million in 2018 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November sale, Finley'sluckycharm has produced two of racing age, but Sixpence is the first to make it to the races. She does have a 2-year-old colt by Lord Kanaloa (Jpn) named Field Note (Jpn). Her 2023 Orfevre (Jpn) foal was stillborn.

Sunday, Nakayama, Japan
FUJI TV SHO SPRING STAKES-G2, ¥104,580,000, Nakayama, 3-17, 3yo, 1800mT, 1:49.40, fm.
1–SIXPENCE (JPN), 126, c, 3, by Kizuna (Jpn)
           1st Dam: Finley'sluckycharm (GISW, $928,068), by Twirling Candy
           2nd Dam: Day of Victory, by Victory Gallop
           3rd Dam: Gather the Day, by Dayjur
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN, 1ST GROUP WIN. O-Carrot Farm; B-Northern Farm; T-Sakae Kunieda; J-Christophe Lemaire; ¥54,756,000. Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0, ¥72,873,000. Werk Nick Rating: F. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Allegro Brillante (Jpn), 126, c, 3, Deep Brillante (Jpn)–Centenary (Jpn), by French Deputy. 1ST BLACK-TYPE, 1ST GROUP BLACK-TYPE. O-Sunday Racing; B-Northern Farm; ¥22,216,000.
3–Lucullan Feast (Jpn), 126, c, 3, Isla Bonita (Jpn)–Gorgeous Lunch (Jpn), by Manhattan Cafe (Jpn). 1ST BLACK-TYPE, 1ST GROUP BLACK-TYPE. O-Shadai Race Horse; B- Shadai Farm; ¥14,108,000.
Margins: 3HF, 1, NO; Odds: 1.90, 24.30, 6.30.
Also Ran: Channel Tunnel (Jpn), Cosmo Buddleja (Jpn), Stinger Glass (Jpn), Pellegrini (Jpn), Lograr (Jpn), Water Licht (Jpn), Jun Gold (Jpn). Click for the JRA chart & video.

The post Sixpence Dominates Satsuki Sho Trial appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Meet The Under-The-Radar Trainer Out To Make A Splash At The Curragh

Barry Fitzgerald may be an under-the-radar trainer but he is by no means unheard of. The County Carlow-based handler registered five winners in Ireland last season and six the previous campaign. What's more impressive is that he was operating at a hugely respectable 10 and 14 per cent strike-rate for those respective campaigns. No mean feat when you're operating with just a handful of Flat horses and working with limited pedigrees every year. 

But the quality is on the up in the yard and Fitzgerald, already off the mark this year at Dundalk, is hoping to hit the ground running when he unleashes a couple of youngsters on the opening day of the new Flat season at the Curragh on Monday. First up for Fitzgerald is Far At Sea (Ire), a filly by first-season sire Far Above (Ire), who tackles the opening two-year-old maiden and is reported to go well at home. 

The trainer said, “She goes very well–she's a good, fast filly. I know the ground is quite soft and hopefully that won't blunt her speed too much. We've liked everything she has been doing so far so hopefully she can bring it to the track. 

“Far At Sea was bought privately by her owner David Granville. He buys a lot of horses privately and, actually, he bought Harbour Gem (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) privately as well. She did well for us last year, placing in two maidens, and she has gone to Dermot Weld now. She could have a big year in front of her.”

Fitzgerald will also run another debutante, Bella Mistiko (Ire) (Invincible Army {Ire}), in the three-year-olds and upwards fillies' maiden later on the card.

On her prospects, he commented, “She goes very well as well. We're hoping for a big run but she's drawn in stall 19, which isn't ideal. She was just a very backward two-year-old and we were going to go to Dundalk with her. We said we'd wait and go for the grass instead and I think she will love the ground. She's ready to go as well. If either of them win or get placed, the likelihood is that they'd be sold. You need to sell in order to keep the whole thing going.”

Fitzgerald splits his yard of 20 horses between Flat and National Hunt. Much of the emphasis to his business revolves around trading and he has done well in that aspect of the game over both codes.

He explained, “We're getting better horses every year. We started off in 2019 and we've built it up to about 20 horses split 50-50 between the Flat and National Hunt. We got a couple of two-year-olds sold to America last year but we need to keep the two codes going to make the game pay. If I only concentrated on the one code, I'd be out on the road.”

On his background, he added, “I grew up on a farm in Limerick and was pony racing for 15 years before I went training a little under five years ago. Things got so expensive at the pony racing, I said I might as well have a go at training them for the track, and thankfully it has been working out for us. 

“I have worked for Mags Mullins, Shark Hanlon, Enda Bolger and Michael Hourigan so I have seen plenty and have been around the block. I have seen a lot of different things and, above all, I know how important it is to keep your yard clean and healthy. That's been a big part of our success.”

The respective strike-rates posted by Fitzgerald in recent seasons do not happen by accident. He only brings a horse to the races if he thinks it has a chance and it's a modus operandi that has served the stable well.

He said, “There is no point running horses for the sake of it. It costs a lot of money to bring a horse to the races and we like to be good and competitive when we go. You need to be trying to get as much of the prize-money as you can. It's an expensive game-even if I want to get the horse plaited, I have to give somebody 20 quid to do that for me. Everyone needs to be paid so there's no point going to the races and not being competitive. There's no craic in that.”

Away from the youngsters, Fitzgerald also has a number of smart older horses to lead the team into battle this season, and the handler nominated A Piece Of Heaven (Fr) (Jukebox Jury {Ire}) as being one to keep the right side of. 

He said, “A Piece Of Heaven is back in and is one to look forward to this season. He will work next week and hopefully he'll run when the ground dries out. To me, I think he could be a Royal Ascot horse. Races like the Ascot Stakes could be right up his street. It's great to have a horse like him because I don't even know how to enter for Royal Ascot, never mind getting there, so it's nice to dream in this game.”

Fitzgerald added, “Genesis (Ire) (Prince Of Lir {Ire}), who ran well the other night at Dundalk, is another to keep the right side of. He'll probably stay sprinting for now but we might step him up to seven furlongs towards the end of the year. The Scurry Handicap is the race I have in mind for him. He could be a progressive horse.”

 

The post Meet The Under-The-Radar Trainer Out To Make A Splash At The Curragh appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights