Breeze On By Seeking Full Sweep Of Florida Sire Stakes Series In Saturday’s In Reality

Stonehedge LLC's Breeze On By will seek a sweep of the 2020 FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes series Saturday, when the undefeated homebred son of Cajun Breeze takes on eight rivals in Saturday's $400,000 In Reality at Gulfstream Park.

The In Reality, the 1 1/16-mile open-division final for 2-year-olds, and the My Dear Girl, the 1 1/16-mile final for juvenile fillies, will be joined on Saturday's program by the $150,000 FSS Wildcat Heir, a mile race for 3-year-olds and up. All three FSS stakes are for horses sired by accredited Florida Stallions. Supporting stakes will include the $75,000 Armed Forces, a mile turf stakes for 2-year-olds; the $75,000 My Dear Peggy, a mile turf stakes for juvenile fillies; and the $75,000 Hollywood Beach, a five-furlong turf dash for 2-year-olds.

Breeze On By captured the $100,000 FSS Dr. Fager at six furlongs Aug. 1 and the $200,000 FSS Affirmed at seven furlongs Aug. 29. The undefeated Ralph Nicks trainee, who captured his July 12 debut, will seek to become the fifth horse to sweep the FSS open division, joining Three Rules (2016), Sir Oscar (2003), Seacliff (1995) and Smile (1984).

“He's a nice horse. The question will be: Will he handle the two turns? That being said, he's done everything pretty handily so far,” Nicks said. “I love young horses. Stonehedge sends them to us early and let us do our job. It's fun to watch them develop. The ones who have talent you can mold into these kind of horses.”

Trainer Ralph Nicks, who won his fourth consecutive running of the Affirmed when Breeze On By romped to victory by 7 ½ lengths, has saddled the winners of eight Florida Sire Stakes series races since 2016.

“I've been blessed with some nice horses. It would be special to put him on the list with the other ones that have swept the series,” Nicks said.

Breeze On By provided Gil and Marilyn Campbell's Stonehedge Farm with a 15th victory in the tradition-rich series with his Affirmed score.

The gelded son of Cajun Breeze, who made a rather auspicious debut while capturing a July 12 maiden special weight race at Gulfstream by six lengths, set the pace in the six-furlong Dr. Fager before meeting a strong challenge from Gatsby at the top of the stretch. After Gatsby put his nose in front in mid-stretch, Breeze On By fought back gamely to prevail by a length.

In the Affirmed, Breeze On By was followed to the finish line by Nicks stablemates Big Daddy Dave and Seazan, who are also owned by Campbells, who achieved the superfecta with Kathleen O'Connell-trained fourth-place finisher Top Boss.

While Big Daddy Dave, who finished a distant second in the Affirmed, is scheduled to bypass the In Reality and start in the Hollywood Beach, Seazan will return in the FSS final. After a troubled second-place finish in his debut, the son of Khozan graduated in his second start Aug. 1. Seazan closed from ninth and last to finish third in the Affirmed.

“I honestly believe he is a two-turn horse,” Nicks said. “He'll be picking up lot of ground late. He's going to be even better the middle of next year than he is right now.”

Emisael Jaramillo has the return call aboard Breeze On By, while Samy Camacho is slated to ride Seazan.

Arindel's Gatsby will seek to rebound from a disappointing fifth-place finish in the Affirmed after giving Breeze On By a scare in the Dr. Fager. The homebred son of Brethren broke a step slow from his No. 1 post position before setting a pressured pace and faltering in the stretch.

An impressive winner of his April 12 debut, he rebounded from an off-the-board finish in the June 27 Bashford Manor (G3) at Churchill Downs with his gusty second-place finish in the Dr. Fager. The homebred son of Brethren pulled off an upset victory over heavily favored Golden Pal in his April 12 debut at 4 ½ furlongs at Gulfstream, chasing the Wesley Ward-trained odds-on favorite into the stretch before edging clear by three-quarters of a length. Golden Pal has gone on to impress on turf, finishing second in the Norfolk (G2) at Royal Ascot and winning the Skidmore Stakes at Saratoga handily by 3 ½ lengths.

Arindel and trainer Juan Alvarado will also be represented by Hercules, who debuted impressively at Gulfstream Aug. 29, scoring by 2 ½ lengths despite racing greenly through the stretch.

Cristian Torres has the call on Gatsby, while Hector Berrios has been named to ride Hercules, also a son of Brethren.

Kenneth Fishbein's Boca Boy, who finished third in the Dr. Fager, returns to FSS action Saturday after bypassing the Affirmed in favor of the Proud Man, an undercard turf stakes in which he finished second. Edgard Zayas will ride the son of Prospective.

Social Equality, Honesto and The Red Man round out the field.

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Nicks Hoping To ‘Breeze’ To Fourth FSS Affirmed Victory In A Row

A resilient winner of the $100,000 Dr. Fager Aug. 1, Breeze On By will seek his second straight FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes victory in the $200,000 Affirmed at Gulfstream Park Saturday while giving trainer Ralph Nicks a solid shot at his fourth consecutive success in the seven-furlong event for 2-year-olds sired by accredited Florida stallions.

The Affirmed will co-headline Saturday's Florida Sire Stakes program at Gulfstream with the $200,000 Susan's Girl, a seven-furlong event for juvenile fillies. The $75,000 Proud Man, a mile turf stakes for 2-year-olds and the $75,000 Sharp Susan, a mile turf stakes for juvenile fillies, will be supporting stakes on a 12-race program. The Affirmed will be included in the Rainbow 6 sequence Saturday, when a mandatory payout is scheduled.

Nicks has saddled the Affirmed winner the past three seasons, scoring with Soutache (2017), Garter and Tie (2018) and Liam's Lucky Charm (2019).

“Six, seven years, I've been here now. After the second year, I knew I had to competitive in the sire stakes,” said Nicks, who made a decision to base his stable year-round in South Florida when Gulfstream Park instituted a Spring/Summer Meet. “I've been fortunate enough to have clients to send me horses that are eligible for that and I've been fortunate enough to have some with the talent to get it done. The racing gods have allowed us to put it all together on those days.”

Breeze On By gave Nicks his seventh Florida Sire Stakes success since 2006, while providing Gilbert Campbell's Stonehedge Farm with a 13th victory in the prestigious tradition-rich series while winning the six-furlong Dr. Fager. (Michael Yates-trained Go Jo Jo Go upped that total to 14 for Stonehedge with a win in the Aug. 1 FSS Desert Vixen.)

The gelded son of Cajun Breeze, who made a rather auspicious debut while capturing a July 12 maiden special weight race at Gulfstream by six lengths, set the pace in the six-furlong Dr. Fager before meeting a strong challenge from Gatsby at the top of the stretch. After Gatsby put his nose in front in mid-stretch, Breeze On By fought back gamely to prevail by a length.

“He seemed to have handled the pressure of two races close together. It looks like he put some weight on and matured some more, so hopefully he'll move forward from here,” Nicks said. “He's a big rangy horse. I think he'll handle [seven furlongs] fine. It'll depend on pace scenarios and set-up, but time will tell on that.”

Emisael Jaramillo has the return call.

Nicks and Stonehedge will also be represented in the Affirmed by a pair of promising maiden winners, Seazan and Big Daddy Dave.

Seazan, a gelded son of Khozan who finished second in his June 10 debut in a $50,000 maiden claimer, stepped up to capture a seven-furlong maiden special weight race on the Dr. Fager undercard.

“He might be a bit of a sleeper in there. In his second start at seven-eighths of a mile, he really liked it. He's a horse that's definitely going to run on down the racetrack,” Nicks said.

Samy Camacho has the mount aboard Seazan.

Big Daddy Dave, also a gelded son of Khozan, captured his debut by 3 ¼ lengths May 30.

“We gave him time after his debut and we were pointing him to the first leg. When he came back he ended up getting sick,” Nicks said. “I think he'll run well.”

Edgard Zayas has the call aboard Big Daddy Dave.

Nicks is confident in the abilities of the three prominent South Florida jockeys to give their mounts their best chances for success.

“I like my hand going into it. Any of the three are capable. Hopefully, they'll stay out of each other's way,” Nicks said. “There are some different dimensions there. Big Daddy Dave and Breeze On By can control the early part of the race if wanted. They both could stalk and set off, and Seazan is an obvious closer. We'll try and let it play out. It'll be up to Jaramillo, Zayas and Camacho to see what happens.”

Top Boss, another gelded son of Khozan, will give Stonehedge a fourth chance to boost its gaudy FSS numbers. The Kathleen O'Connell-trained Top Boss captured a $50,000 maiden claiming race by 7 ½ lengths in his fourth career start.

Hall of Famer Edgar Prado has the call aboard the Stonehedge hombred.

Arindel's Gatsby, an impressive winner of his April 12 debut, rebounded from an off-the-board finish in the June 27 Bashford Manor (G3) at Churchill Downs with his gusty second-place finish in the Dr. Fager. The homebred son of Brethren pulled off an upset victory over heavily favored Golden Pal in his April 12 debut at 4 ½ furlongs at Gulfstream, chasing the Wesley Ward-trained odds-on favorite into the stretch before edging clear by three-quarters of a length. Golden Pal has gone on to impress on turf, finishing second in the Norfolk (G2) at Royal Ascot and winning last week's Skidmore Stakes at Saratoga handily by 3 ½ lengths.

Trilogy Stable and Laurie Plesa's Famous Gent made a middle move from back in the pack and raced evenly thereafter to finish fourth in the Dr. Fager.

Eddie Plesa Jr.-trained Famous Gent, who broke his maiden in the second career start, entered the Dr. Fager off a troubled third-place finish behind highly regarded Papetu in the first juvenile allowance race of the Spring/Summer Meet.

The son of First Dude will be ridden by Christian Torres.

Flying Finish Farm's Florala Al, Vicente Stella Stables LLC's Grey Dom and Just For Fun Inc.'s Advance Cash round out the field.

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INQUIRY: What Is The Greatest Race You’ve Seen In Person?

A horse race can be one of the best live sports experiences out there, and witnessing a truly great one can be the kind of thing that sticks with a person for a lifetime.

That's the thought on the minds of folks in this edition of INQUIRY, where we ask members of the bloodstock industry to reminisce on the “tell your grandchildren” moments they've been fortunate enough to see by posing the question, “What is the greatest race you've seen in person?

Seth Gregory – Seth Gregory Bloodstock

“That one's easy. The 1996 Dubai World Cup. I was fortunate enough to go be Cigar's groom for that race. I was Bill Mott's foreman at the time, and his groom couldn't go, so I went as his groom. It was a huge blast.”

 

 

 

 

 

Mike Recio – South Point Sales

“John Henry's Arlington Million. I became a John Henry fan for the rest of my life. He came from humble beginnings, was a gelding and tried every time, and it was a special story.”

 

 

 

Jimbo Gladwell – Top Line Sales

“We won the South Florida Derby at Hialeah Park a few years ago with a Quarter Horse we bred, and that was pretty exciting when you own them and have raised them. Her name was Ima Gator Fan. Me and some buddies chartered a little plane and flew down from Gainesville, and it was like living like rockstars.”

 

 

Chris Bernhard – Hidden Lake Farm

“I would have to say the Travers that Arrogate won. I'm just in awe of the horse. We got a nice mare to Arrogate, and you just watched him show up, shipping all over the country, and it was cool to be in his presence.”

 

 

 

Joe McMahon – McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds

“Jaipur and Ridan in Saratoga in the 1962 Travers was a real classic. Alydar and Affirmed was really good at Saratoga (1978 Travers). They were just outstanding matches, those four.”

 

 

 

 

Freddie Seitz – Brookdale Farm

“It has to be the 2012 Kentucky Derby, I'll Have Another. It was easily the greatest racing day I've ever been to.”

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