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‘A Very Good Day’: Rodriguez Savoring 1-2 Finish In Lucrative NYSSS Great White Way

Trainer Rudy Rodriguez celebrated a victory and second-place finish in Saturday's $500,000 NYSSS Great White Way at Aqueduct Racetrack when Antonio of Venice captured the seven-furlong sprint for eligible New York-sired juveniles, with Heavyweight Champs elevated from third to second position after the disqualification of Brick Ambush. Together, Rodriguez's two trainees took home $375,000 of the available $500,000 purse.

“It was a good day for us for sure,” Rodriguez said Sunday morning. “A very good day.”

Antonio of Venice, co-owned by Rodriguez with Michael Imperio, Robert Cotrone and Hibiscus Stables, notched the first stakes victory of his career under jockey Manny Franco with a rail-skimming trip in third behind pacesetting stablemate Heavyweight Champs before encountering traffic troubles in the turn. The son of Laoban angled out sharply from the rail as The Big Torpedo was pinched between him and the retreating Solo's Fury with Brick Ambush making his bid from just off the pace widest of all.

Antonio of Venice was taken all the way around Brick Ambush in the stretch and found more with each stride down the center of the course to collar Brick Ambush and post the three-quarter-length victory in a final time of 1:24.40. He was awarded a 68 Beyer for the effort.

Rodriguez expressed his gratitude for the result after the stewards' inquiry.

“Thank God he stayed up and that we enjoyed it,” Rodriguez said. “He looks good this morning. He took a nap all morning and he's a nice, cool horse to be around. I'm just happy we won and that we didn't get DQ'd. I lost my voice rooting for Heavyweight Champs in the stretch and then saw Antonio and said, 'Oh boy, come on!' Antonio stole the show. It's good for us.”

Bred in New York by Cypress Creek Equine, Antonio of Venice was bought for $35,000 by Rodriguez at the OBS March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training and has since banked $350,744 through a record of 6-2-1-1. Rodriguez said the robust colt emulates his late sire Laoban, a son of Uncle Mo who stood his final season at stud in Kentucky in 2021.

“I liked Laoban, and [his progeny] are nice, solid horses,” said Rodriguez. “They have good bone. Antonio of Venice put on a lot of good weight and matured with some rest. We just go steady without pushing him. Yesterday, Michael Imperio said, 'Man, this horse never looked this good.'”

Rodriguez added no further plans have been made yet for Antonio of Venice.

“We've run him a lot, so we'll see what's coming up,” said Rodriguez. “The way he looks and presents himself, it looks like he's going to be a sprinter. It's a lot of money in the New York Sire Series, so we've got a lot of options with him.”

Big Dom Racing Stable and Big Toe Stables' Heavyweight Champs made a productive career bow under Ruben Silvera and ran on gamely in the stretch as Brick Ambush and Antonio of Venice overtook him past the sixteenth pole, crossing the finish line third 2 1/4 lengths behind Antonio of Venice.

Rodriguez said he was impressed with the way the son of Solomini handled an eventful debut.

“It's very good, and the owners are very happy,” said Rodriguez. “I was expecting him to set the pace; I told Ruben, 'put him in the game and take it from there. Don't let him get behind with the kickback.' We had schooled him in the morning with the kickback, but it's way different in a race. He's been breaking very sharp from the gate. He ran the way I thought he would, and I thought the seven-eighths was going to be a little hard for him – it's a stiff race to put a baby in. He came back good and he's happy.”

Rodriguez also sent out King Freud, whom he co-owns with Frank Witz, to an even off-the-board finish in the Great White Way, and reported that the son of Freud emerged from the race in good order.

“He's a turf horse. I'll freshen him up for the turf now and maybe we'll geld him,” said Rodriguez. “He looks good today. He's a nice, solid, strong horse.”

One race before the Great White Way, Rodriguez saddled Adam Madkour's Sun and Wind in the $500,000 NYSSS Fifth Avenue, where she finished a pace-pressing fourth 3 3/4 lengths behind the Javier Castellano-piloted My Shea D Lady. The Freud dark bay had entered from a fifth-out graduation in an October maiden claiming tilt at the Big A.

“She came back good and I was very happy,” said Rodriguez. “If you look at the replay, it looked like Javier [drifted] out, and she lifted her head up a little bit. She's a wary filly, so she doesn't like to be intimidated too much. I was happy with the way she ran. She didn't embarrass herself.”

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Connections Considering Jerome, KY Derby Points For Debut Winner Dune Road

Blue Devil Racing Stable's homebred debut winner Dune Road is possible to make his next start in the $150,000 Jerome on Jan. 6 at Aqueduct Racetrack. The one-turn mile for sophomores offers 10-5-3-2-1 Kentucky Derby (G1) qualifying points to the top-five finishers.

Trained by Carlos Martin, the Kentucky-bred Speightstown gelding graduated Dec. 8 with a gate-to-wire performance under Kendrick Carmouche in a one-turn mile maiden claimer. The dark bay marked fractions of :22.97, :46.53 and 1:12.39 through six furlongs over the fast main track, then kicked clear at the quarter pole en route to a 2 1/2-length score in a final time of 1:38.10. He garnered a 68 Beyer Speed Figure.

“I was surprised he showed that much speed. In the morning, he had always been steady and didn't show 22 and change speed, but he broke so sharp that Kendrick just left him alone,” Martin said. “I was pretty happy. He was ready to run but the way we usually prepare our horses, you would hope they keep improving moving forward. We don't crank them to the gills first time out, so I'm optimistic that was a pretty good effort all things considered.”

Martin said he is hopeful that Dune Road will continue to improve with racing experience.

“He's still a work in progress. It took his mind a while to come around,” Martin said. “We gelded him three or four months ago and he's a little on the quirky side, but he was very professional in the paddock and in the race. He broke sharp and was on cruise control. I watched the replay and he was a little green not switching leads, so I still believe there's some improvement there.”

Dune Road, a half-brother to stakes winner Kentucky Ghost, is out of the graded stakes-winning After Market mare Closing Range, who is a half-sister to graded stakes winner Stupendous Miss.

“He's a compact horse — more a medium size. He's got a lot of Speightstown in him even though he's not chestnut,” Martin said. “He's a handy, athletic type of horse — well-made and solid.

“The dam has had a couple nice horses like Kentucky Ghost, who has earned over half a million,” Martin added. “He has an interesting pedigree, so he's a horse that hopefully can get better and distance doesn't seem like it will be an issue. He'll run on.”

Martin said he has nominated Dune Road to the Jerome and will keep an eye on how tough the race comes up.

“The 'non-winners of one' is the day before and if the Jerome is coming up light, you have to consider all the options,” Martin said.

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The Week in Review: Graded Stakes Committee Shows NYRA No Love

The American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association has done it again, announcing Saturday that it has reduced the number of graded stakes races that will be run in the U.S. in 2024, while also downgrading 30 races. To most, this is a welcome development. With the foal crop continually declining, there should be fewer graded stakes races and fewer Grade I's. Many believe that the committee has not gone far enough.

Yet, the announcement, as it always seems to do, did not come without a few head-scratching, controversial decisions, many of them leaving tracks to believe they have been treated unfairly. When the list of graded races for 2024 reached the New York Racing Association's executive offices there probably was a sense that they were being picked on. No tracks took it on the chin quite like the NYRA tracks did.

There will be 429 graded races in 2024, 11 fewer than there were this year. Thirty races were downgraded, and that's where NYRA was hit the hardest. Ten of those 30 races are run at NYRA tracks. They include the Carter H. and the Man o'War S., which were two of five races that were Grade I's that have been downgraded to Grade II's for next year. Ten races were downgraded from II's to III's and five of them are NYRA races. Three more NYRA races were dropped from Grade III's to listed races.

Ten races were upgraded, including three on the NYRA schedule.

It wasn't that long ago that the NYRA stakes schedule was the gold standard for the industry. But in 2024, NYRA will present a stakes schedule that looks nothing like what it offered during its glory days. It's not just the Carter and the Man o'War. The five NYRA stakes that have been dropped from Grade II's to Grade III's are the Forty Niner S., the Hill Prince S., the Vosburgh S., the Sheepshead Bay S. and the Prioress S. The Bay Shore S., the Fall Highweight H. and the Schuylerville S. all went from Grade III's to listed.

In 2022, it was announced that the 2023 runnings of the Cigar Mile S. and the Woodward S. were being dropped to Grade II's. Since 2016, NYRA has lost eight Grade I races. The list also includes the Wood Memorial S., the Flower Bowl S., the Beldame S. and the Vosburgh S. With the downgrading of the Carter for next year, there will no longer be any Grade I races run at what are the traditional Aqueduct meets.

Has the graded stakes committee treated NYRA fairly? Even with all the cuts, the answer, for the most part is yes.

A race like the Carter should have been dropped to a Grade II years ago. A quality horse in Vekoma (Candy Ride {Arg}) won the race in 2020, but recent winners (2021) Mischevious Alex (Into Mischief), (2022) Speakers' Corner (Street Sense) and (2023) Doppelganger (Into Mischief) are not Grade I material.

The Wood Memorial, once a premier prep for the GI Kentucky Derby and a Grade I through the 2016 running, has failed to keep up with the other Derby preps. You have to go all the way back to 2000 to find the last Wood winner to win the Derby, which was Fusaichi Pegasus (Mr. Prospector). Since Funny Cide (Distorted Humor) won the 2003 Derby after finishing second in the Wood, the Wood has produced 41 Derby starters without a top three finish. Tacitus (Tapit) was moved up to third after Maximum Security (New Year's Day) was DQ'd in 2019.

This year's Cigar Mile, won by Hoist The Gold (Mineshaft), was not a Grade I quality race.

The one move by the graded stakes committee that makes no sense is how it has treated the Vosburgh. Named a Grade I in 1991 when it was won by Housebuster (Mt. Livermore), it remained a Grade I until 2019. The 2020 and 2021 runnings were nothing to get excited about, but the 2022 edition was won by Elite Power (Curlin), who would go on to win the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint and be named sprint champion. This year the race was won by Cody's Wish (Curlin), who came back to win the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and is the favorite to be named 2023 Horse of the Year. How do you take a race won in back-to-back years by Elite Power and Cody's Wish and downgrade it from a Grade II to a Grade III?

NYRA can't afford more of the same in the year's ahead. (How much longer can the historic GI Jockey Club Gold Cup maintain its Grade I status?)The problem with NYRA's stakes program is that it hasn't adapted to the times. There are simply too many stakes races on the schedule. You have a declining foal crop and you have trainers of top horses who are perfectly content to run them four times a year. The inevitable has happened. Field sizes for stakes races keep going down as does the quality, and that's why NYRA keeps getting hit by the graded stakes committee.

It's time for some tough love and to simply eliminate some races. A perfect example is its schedule for older male dirt horses from the late spring to the early fall. You start with the June 10 GI Metropolitan H., followed by the July 8 GII Suburban S., the Aug. 5 GI Whitney, the Sept. 2 GI Jockey Club Gold Cup and the Oct. 1 GII Woodward. That's five races in the same division over less than four months and that doesn't begin to take into account major races for older dirt males run elsewhere. There simply aren't enough quality horses to adequately fill all those races. Yes, the Suburban and the Woodward are historic races, but maybe it is time for them to go. The same goes for a half dozen or so other stakes.

NYRA still has a terrific stakes program, particularly at Saratoga, where the prestige of the races and the purses involved attract the very best horses in the sport. Every Grade I run there is a deserving Grade I. The card offered on the day of the GI Belmont S. is the second best day of racing in the sport, behind only the Breeders' Cup Saturday program. It's just the rest of the year where NYRA needs help.

The Brick Ambush Decision

Put 1,000 racing people in a room and ask them to watch Saturday's running of the Great White Way division of the New York Stallion Series at Aqueduct, and the verdict would be unanimous. All 1,000 would say the stewards got it wrong. In disqualifying Brick Ambush (Laoban) from second, the stewards not only made the wrong call they made a call that defies explanation. Anyone can see that. In no way did this horse bother anyone or have anything to do with the pile-up that resulted near the quarter-pole when three other horses banged into one another.

Yet, the stewards took down Brick Ambush. If you didn't know better, you'd think they didn't even bother to watch the race. It was, simply, a horrendous call, and it cost the horse's owners $100,000.

The stewards are no different than the rest of us. We all make mistakes. But the problem is, who holds them accountable when they do? Who is reviewing them and watching them? Is anyone in a position to fire or demote a steward when it becomes clear they're not up to the job? There doesn't appear to be. Separate from an appeal from owners Dean and Patti Reeves, the New York Gaming Commission needs to conduct a review into this race and any others where the stewards might have made an erroneous decision and decide whether or not the three stewards on duty Saturday need to be sanctioned in some way, even if that means they should be fired.

The disqualification caused a firestorm on X, with the vast majority questioning the stewards call, which seemed so obviously wrong.

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Asmussen, Elliott Top Remington Standings

Steve Asmussen captured an unprecedented 18th training title at Remington Park, while Stewart Elliott won his first riding title at the Oklahoma track which concluded its 2023 meeting Saturday.

“All the credit goes to [assistant trainer at Remington Park] Pablo [Ocampo],” Asmussen said Friday night when he was on hand as Otto the Conqueror earned 10 Kentucky Derby points with his by win in the Springboard Mile. Asmussen also won the GIII Oklahoma Derby with How Did He Do That earlier in the meet.

“Pablo deserves it for all 18 titles,” Asmussen continued. “It has been a great association with him all these years. I've worked with him here since 1989 and I am extra fortunate to have had him. Winning the first one is one of my fondest memories and I love coming here.”

Elliott captured 74 wins at the Remington meet, 29 more than runner-up Lindey Wade. Elliott, who won the 2004 GI Kentucky Derby aboard Smarty Jones, made Remington Park his regular fall stop in 2019.

“I'm thankful I've had a lot of support here at Remington with Steve [Asmussen] loading me up with live horses and all the other trainers,” said Elliott. “I'm fortunate I have had such good business here and my agent Scott Hare gets a lot of the credit.”

In the owners' standings, Karl Broberg's End Zone Athletics, Inc., of Mansfield, Texas, won its second title in a row and third in the last five years. End Zone was responsible for 18 wins this meet, five more than runner-up L and G Racing Stables (Silvia Castillo) at 13.

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