CHC Inc. and WinStar Farm LLC's Americanrevolution (Constitution–Polly Freeze, by Super Saver) has been retired from racing and will stand in 2024 at Rockridge Stud in Hudson, NY, his connections announced in a release late Thursday afternoon. The Todd Pletcher trainee was a four-time stakes winner at three, culminating in the $750,000 GI Cigar Mile H. as he registered a Beyer Speed Figure of 105.
“This is the best horse to retire in New York in a very long time,” said Rockridge Stud's Lere Visagie. “We all know we need top-class horses standing in New York to keep mares home. The winner of one of New York's most historic Grade Is for older horses is the way to do it. We can't wait to get started.”
Based on his Cigar Mile win, as well as wins in the New York-restricted Empire Classic H., Albany S., and New York Derby, Americanrevolution was named 2021 New York-bred Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old male during the New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc.'s annual awards ceremony in 2022. During his career, Americanrevolution also placed in the GI Jockey Club Gold Cup S., the GI Pennsylvania Derby, and the GII Stephen Foster S. The chestnut retired with a record of 12-5-2-1 and earnings of $1,286,810. Twice he registered Beyers of 108 and overall secured triple-digit Beyers five times.
“With Belmont being renovated, we feel it is time to re-enter the New York market,” said Elliott Walden, WinStar Farm's president, CEO, and racing manager. “WinStar Farm and CHC Inc. are staying in and committing 10 good mares to Americanrevolution to help launch his career in New York. We hope to breed another Funny Cide, one of the best New York-breds of all time.”
Bred by Fred Hertrich III and John Fielding in New York, Americanrevolution was acquired at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Select Yearling Sale in Saratoga out of the Taylor Made Sales consignment for $275,000 by CHC Inc. and Maverick Racing. He hails from the same family as MGISW Stop Traffic (Cure the Blues), who produced GISW and sire Cross Traffic (Unbridled's Song).
Americanrevolution will stand as a partnership between WinStar Farm, CHC Inc., Rockridge Stud, Taylor Made Stallions, Mill Creek Farm, and Fortune Farm in a deal brokered by Matt Bowling of Bowling Bloodstock.
“We are thrilled to be a part of this exciting stallion prospect–probably the most exciting stallion to retire to New York in several decades,” said Ben Taylor of Taylor Made Stallions.
Former WinStar stallion and Breeders' Cup winner Tourist (Tiznow) stood his first New York season at Rockridge this year.
“I'm thrilled to see a Grade I winner sired by one of Kentucky's finest stallions retiring to New York,” said Fasig-Tipton's Boyd Browning. “This highlights the growing significance of the racing and breeding industry in the state. I'm eagerly anticipating the opportunity to sell his New York offspring at our Saratoga sales.”
Americanrevollution will stand his initial season for $12,500 S&N. He will be available for viewing at WinStar Farm in Kentucky throughout the November Sale and during stallion shows.
Grandview Equine, Cheyenne Stable and LNJ Foxwoods's Olympiad (Speightstown), a head-scratching fourth in the GI Whitney S., bounced back with a powerful performance in Saturday's 'Win and You're In' GI Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga.
The 8-5 favorite jumped well from his inside draw and sat a perfect, stalking trip in second behind longshot pacesetter Tax (Arch) through fractions of :24.54 and :49.70. Racing in between rivals as last year's GI Cigar Mile H. winner Americanrevolution (Constitution), one of four entered for Todd Pletcher, continued to draw closer heading into the far turn, Olympiad struck the front as Tax was the first to blink approaching the quarter pole.
Olympiad turned for home as the clear cut one to beat, was still going strong three-sixteenths from home while Americanrevolution remained one paced in an all-out second and sailed home two lengths clear over that rival in his first career attempt at the Classic distance. First Captain (Curlin) was up for third.
Olympiad, a $700,000 Keeneland September Yearling graduate, opened 2022 with five straight wins, including the GII New Orleans Classic Mar. 26, GII Alysheba S. May 6 and GII Stephen Foster S. July 2. He finished 9 1/4 lengths behind the ultra-talented Life Is Good (Into Mischief) on a very hot and humid day in upstate New York last time Aug. 6.
“It's gratifying to see him come back,” said winning Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, who captured previous runnings of the Jockey Club Gold Cup with Hall of Famer Cigar (1995), Flat Out (2012), and Ron the Greek (2013). “The [performance] the other day [in the Whitney] was almost too bad to be true considering the form he had been in the previous five races. It was just good to see him bounce back. He's a Grade I winner, he's won six out of seven races this year and he's got a pretty good record for himself.
Mott continued, “I liked the way he looked [in the paddock]. After we put the saddle on him, he was walking around on his toes. He was a little quiet the other day when it was so hot–he kind of had his head down a little bit and looked a little too quiet. I think everyone was moving a little slow. But today, he looked like he had a little extra energy and like he had a little extra bounce in his step just before we put the jocks on. He looked good.”
Pedigree Notes:
Olympiad's win was another Grade I breeding for the coffers of Emory Hamilton and the legacy enjoyed by her family's King Ranch. For more on both Hamilton's family and their connection with Olympiad's family, as well as what was behind his mating, click for a recent story that appeared in TDN.
Olympiad represents six generations of King Ranch/Emory Hamilton breeding. His dam, who is a half to the dam of 2019 GI Woodward S. winner Preservationist (Arch), has a 2-year-old filly by War Front (who sold for $450,000 at Keeneland September to Larkin Armstrong), a yearling colt by American Pharoah, and is reported to be carrying a full-sister to Olympiad for 2023.
WinStar stallion Speightstown has 129 black-type winners from his 15 Northern Hemisphere crops of racing age, which also include 62 graded winners. Remarkably, seven of those stakes winners are out of Medaglia d'Oro mares. Other than Olympiad, the others include MGISW Rock Fall, GISW Competitionofideas, SW & MGISP Dawn the Destroyer, GSW & GISP Souper Stonehenge, and GSW Strike Power. He is now the sire of 25 Grade I winners.
Saturday, Saratoga Racecourse JOCKEY CLUB GOLD CUP S.-GI, $1,000,000, Saratoga, 9-3, 3yo/up, 1 1/4m, 2:02.11, ft.
1–OLYMPIAD, 126, c, 4, by Speightstown                1st Dam: Tokyo Time (GSP, $249,177),                                by Medaglia d'Oro                2nd Dam: Flying Passage, by A.P. Indy                3rd Dam: Chic Shirine, by Mr. Prospector 1ST GRADE I WIN. ($700,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Grandview
Equine, Cheyenne Stable, LLC and LNJ Foxwoods; B-Emory A.
Hamilton (KY); T-William I. Mott; J-Junior Alvarado. $535,000.
Lifetime Record: 12-8-1-1, $2,007,560. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Americanrevolution, 126, c, 4, Constitution–Polly Freeze, by
Super Saver. ($275,000 Ylg '19 SARAUG). O-CHC Inc. and
WinStar Farm LLC; B-Fred W. Hertrich III & John D. Fielding
(NY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $185,000.
3–First Captain, 126, c, 4, Curlin–America, by A.P. Indy. 'TDN Rising Star' 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($1,500,000 Ylg '19
FTSAUG). O-West Point Thoroughbreds, Siena Farm LLC, Bobby
Flay & Woodford Racing, LLC; B-B. Flay Thoroughbreds (KY);
T-Claude R. McGaughey III. $100,000.
Margins: 2, 1 3/4, 3/4. Odds: 1.70, 2.35, 5.20.
Also Ran: Untreated, Keepmeinmind, Dynamic One, Chess Chief, Tax. Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
Todd Pletcher was in a chipper mood one morning in his office near Saratoga's Oklahoma training track when I asked him about the Green sisters.
“Which one?” Pletcher replied, wryly.
“The one right outside the door.”
“Oh, the brown-noser,” Pletcher said with a laugh. “Do you want to listen in, Sophie?”
“No,” said the mocking English voice from the other side of the glass door. “I will never say anything nice about you again!”
Meet Sophie Green, the elder of the Green sisters, the younger being Amelia. The two sisters make up an enviable team, with Sophie opting to mainly keep her feet either on the ground or astride the barn pony, Bucky, and helping with runners and medication; Amelia riding some of horse racing's elite. Both put in full days under the Pletcher shedrow.
I had interviewed Sophie for this story several days before and was struck by her answer to my question: “What's the best part of working here for Todd?”
“Todd,” she replied without hesitation. “I have worked in restaurants and it's very much just about the job and making money, whereas here, he knows every horse, he cares about every horse, he knows every person that works for him. So, he is the best boss that I have ever had!”
This seems to be the sentiment of most everybody who has ever worked at the Pletcher barn, a long list of people going back decades, most of whom never leave. Ginny DePasquale has been there from day one. There's Tristan Barry, Byron Hughes, Anthony Sciametta, Juan Aguayo. Former assistants include trainers Michael McCarthy, Jonathan Thomas, George Weaver, Michael Dilger, and Michelle Nihei.
Dawn till dusk, when most exercise and pony riders are napping in the middle of the day–or perhaps downing a couple of cocktails at the all-too-many watering holes in Saratoga–the sisters Green are keeping a watchful eye on the Todd Squad.
Sophie and Amelia Green grew up in Thoroton, just east of Nottingham, England. “A place in the middle of nowhere, that nobody has heard of,” joked Sophie during that overcast morning.
The Green sisters followed the usual protocol for horse-mad girls growing up in rural England: school, ponies, and Pony Club.
“Grandad took us to the tack shop and bought us helmets and after that it was all over,” added Sophie, with one eye on Jack, her Jack Russell.
Both sisters finished school with Sophie opting to go to sixth form college for two years, working part-time in a local pub to pay her way and eventually becoming the manger. Amelia opted instead to follow the horses in Newmarket, first at the British Racing School and then apprenticing for the late Sir Henry Cecil.
Looking to broaden her horizons, Amelia wintered one year at Santa Anita Park. “I loved it,” said Amelia (hardly a surprise–who wouldn't want to trade the frozen tundra of Newmarket heath for palm trees and sunshine in the dead of winter?).
Unfortunately, after Amelia returned home to England, Cecil lost his battle with cancer that June.
“I worked for Lady Jane [Cecil] for a couple of months and then got my visa and went straight back to California to work for George Papaprodromou.
“George was a good boss; George was the best,” said Amelia with a smile, suddenly coming to life recanting tales of her old boss and likening him to a “best friend.”
Papaprodromou even legged her up onto one of his horses, with Amelia winning her first race aboard a horse called Twin Six (Include) in December of 2013 at Betfair Hollywood Park.
“It was surreal, I rode on and off for a couple of years whilst galloping for George,” Amelia said. “I did commit and go to Maryland for three months and that was when, ultimately, I realized I wasn't going to make weight, especially bug weight at 112 pounds. That was not the life I wanted to live.”
Amelia Green compiled a 9-148 record per Equibase.
“I came back to California; George insisted I get my assistant's license. I did that for a couple of years and then just plateaued. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to continue or go back to England. So, I spoke to Michael McCarthy and he said, 'Would you go work for Todd Pletcher on the East Coast?' And I was like, 'Sure, but isn't it hard to get a job there?' I called Todd the next day and he was like, 'Yeah, when do you want to start?'”
“It was obvious right from the start she was a star, an excellent rider, but also very interested in learning more on the ground and a very complete horseperson with ambition who just enjoys it,” said Pletcher.
Americanrevolution is one of Amelia Green's regular morning partners | Sarah Andrew
If you are looking for Life Is Good (Into Mischief), you had better be early as Amelia is the first to the track with him every day. Twenty years ago, Life Is Good would likely have been ridden by a man with his head cranked and bowed over as he is a very tough horse to gallop. But Green has gone for the finesse option and, while he's still not easy, he's a whole lot better than he was.
“He's a special horse, but he's not a cupcake to gallop,” said a now-wry-smiling Pletcher. “So, we have really focused a lot on trying to ration his talent and his speed. She gets along with him very well and has been a huge part of his success.”
Amelia has been around a lot of good horses in her five-year tenure at the Pletcher barn. There is Nest (Curlin) (Amelia is careful to remind me she is just borrowed from another rider, Nora, who didn't make the trip to Saratoga), Americanrevolution (Constitution), Mind Control (Stay Thirsty), Corniche (Quality Road)–whose retirement was just announced–and some unraced 2-year-olds that have not been tested yet.
None, however, as talented as Life Is Good, who now carries the nickname “Scooter.” According to Amelia, “When he first got here, he would just scoot off, but he's so much better now. Did you see him without the draw reins? This time last year there is no way I could have ridden him without them.”
“Is he your all-time favorite horse?” I enquired, already knowing the answer as “Scooter” was burrowing in Amelia's pocket for another peppermint. “Yes, he's the one,” she said.
Interestingly, Amelia admits she wouldn't normally get to ride the colts in England.
“I think it's a very old school thing, the girls are smaller in England and usually ride the fillies. I honestly think I had ridden maybe one or two colts before I arrived in America.”
Enter Winnie, Amelia's dog, who is part Great Dane and who at this moment is chasing Jack (Sophie's dog) down the shedrow past the likes of Mind Control, Capensis (Tapit), Malathaat (Curlin), Dynamic One (Union Rags), Happy Saver (Super Saver), and Chocolate Gelato (Practical Joke), none of which could care less as the feed cart has just arrived, much to the delight of Life Is Good, who is doing his best “Hungry Hippo” impersonation.
Sophie, who much like her sister plateaued working as a manager in a restaurant and was at a crossroads in life when Amelia suggested almost three years ago that she come over and work for Pletcher.
“We really didn't get on that well as kids,” said Sophie, older by just two years.
“So, who's the boss?”
“I am,” jumped in Amelia.
“And she's also the favorite child,” jabbed back a smiling Sophie. “It's OK. I'm used to it!”
Do they often get confused for each other?
“Well, actually,” interjected Sophie, “I get 'Amelia's sister,' not even Sophie. I think a few people have seen me around now so they know we are different but it's still 'Amelia's sister.'”
Is Sophie envious of her speed-queen sister?
“Oh God, no,” said Sophie, almost a little too quickly. “All our lives Amelia was the one who wanted to go fast. I'm quite content going slow. Even skiing she was always the first one down. I'm quite content riding the pony.”
Pletcher echoes the sentiment. “No, I think she's comfortable in her role. She's done a great job with our pony, Bucky, who had special needs when we first got him,” he said. “She's done a great job with some of our flighty fillies as well.”
Americanrevolution (Constitution)'s rapid development last season earned him New York-bred Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old male honors during the New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc.'s Annual Awards Ceremony on Friday, Aug. 12 at Fasig-Tipton's Humphrey S. Finney Sales Pavilion. Bred by Fred Hertrich and John Fielding and owned by CHC Inc. and WinStar Farm, Americanrevolution went from a maiden in June to a Grade I winner by December to lock up his championships.
The 2021 New York-bred Horse of the Year and divisional champions were chosen by a vote of New York turf writers, handicappers, photographers and television and radio hosts and analysts conducted by the NYTB. The Awards Ceremony returned to an in-person event for the first time since 2019.
Other 2020 honorees were: Champion Two-Year-Old Filly Venti Valentine (Firing Line), Champion Two-Year-Old Male, Senbei (Candy Ride {Arg}), Champion Three-Year-Old Filly Make Mischief (Into Mischief), Champion Older Dirt Female and Champion Female Sprinter Bank Sting (Central Banker), Champion Older Dirt Male Bankit (Central Banker), Champion Turf Female Runaway Rumour (Flintshire {GB}), Champion Turf Male Somelikeithotbrown (Big Brown), Champion Male Sprinter My Boy Tate (Boys At Tosconova), Broodmare of the Year: Polly Freeze (Super Saver), dam of Americanrevolution, New York-Bred Trainer of the Year Christophe Clement, New York-Bred Jockey of the Year Manuel Franco and New York Breeder of the Year Chester and Mary Broman.
