Tag: ballston spa

Twirling Candy’s Evvie Jets Upsets Ballston Spa at 29-1

She may not have been the longest shot on the board–that title fell to intent-on-the-lead pacesetter and 55-1 shot Sister Bridget (Ire) (Galileo Gold {GB})–but Mertkan Kantarmaci's 29-1 trainee Evvie Jets (m, 5, Twirling Candy–Natchez Trace, by Consolidator) was still an afterthought in the public eye's at 29-1 behind a trio of Chad Brown entrants and one shipped stateside by Ireland's Joseph O'Brien in Saratoga's GII Mohegan Sun Ballston Spa S. Thursday. Longshot or not, Evvie Jets set the Spa lawn on its ear with a bold win up the rail as MGSW & MGISP Fluffy Socks (Slumber {GB}) and Ascot GSW Jumbly (GB) (Gleneagles {Ire}) followed in a tight finish.

Evvie Jets broke like a jet when the gates flew, but stepped aside as Sister Bridget and the accomplished Technical Analysis (Ire) (Kingman {GB})–a 'TDN Rising Star', MGSW, and MGISP–fought for the lead. Those two pulled more than a half dozen lengths clear of the field with Sister Bridget getting the first fractions of :23.50 and :48.67 as Technical Analysis backed off. As the field closed in and swarmed the two leaders in the stretch, Evvie Jets snuck up the inside from fifth under Manny Franco and collared Technical Analysis, who had taken over from a tiring Sister Bridget as MGSW Gam's Mission (Noble Mission {GB}) attacked from the outside. It looked to be anyone's race a sixteenth from home, but Evvie Jets kept her head in front, despite being on her wrong lead, as Fluffy Socks and Jumbly closed in. Less than a length and a half covered the first seven under the wire in a wild blanket finish. Final time for the 1 1/16 miles was 1:43.06, a new course record.

Franco picked up the ride on Evvie Jets from Luis Saez, who was injured Wednesday and is out indefinitely.

“Manny [Franco] did the right thing–just save and save and our plan was only stick to the rail, and he did–and save in the second turn also,” said Kantarmaci. “She just made the stretch run today after the hot pace. She can do that. She showed that a long time ago already, but she ends up in fights in the slower pace. Today was the day for her to close.”

The winning trainer continued: “Since the first day, we took care of her like a stakes horse because I knew she was going to come to that level, but we wanted to go step by step with her. Now, of course, she's extra special after this race. Unbelievable she did that today.”

A winner two back of Belmont's July 2 Perfect Sting S. over Ballston Spa 6-5 favorite Technical Analysis, Evvie Jets was winning the second graded race of her career following a 2022 win in the GIII Noble Damsel S. She'd kicked off her 2023 campaign Apr. 16 at Aqueduct with a win in the Plenty of Grace S. and was last seen Aug. 2 in defeat to Technical Analysis in the De La Rose S. Originally trained by Anthony Dutrow until claimed for $80,000 in 2021, Evvie Jets has run exclusively in stakes company for the past 11 months and also placed in the GIII Athenia S. last fall.

 

Pedigree Notes:

Evvie Jets is one of 18 graded winners for Lane's End sire Twirling Candy, a son of fellow Lane's End stallion Candy Ride (Arg). With 43 black-type winners bred in the Northern Hemisphere and eight Grade I winners spread from coast to coast, Twirling Candy last had a graded winner at the Spa in 2018 with GII Honorable Miss H. scorer Finley'sluckycharm. Although Evvie Jets is his only stakes winner out of a Consolidator mare, Twirling Candy has a number of his top stakes winners out of mares by Consolidator's extended Storm Cat sire line. Consolidator himself was exported to stand in the Philippines ahead of the 2012 season and has 10 stakes winners out of his daughters.

From the family of MGISW and $1.85-million Keeneland broodmare Kalookan Queen (Lost Code), the Ballston Spa winner's dam was unraced and is, like her daughter, a Farfellow Farms-bred. Natchez Trace's 2-year-old colt by Catalina Cruiser was a $240,000 OBS March juvenile and has since been sent to Japan after being purchased by Katsumi Yoshida. With no foals in the meantime, Natchez Trace was bred to Airdrie's Upstart for next term.

Thursday, Saratoga
MOHEGAN SUN BALLSTON SPA S.-GII, $300,000, Saratoga, 8-24, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16mT, 1:43.06 (NCR), fm.
1–EVVIE JETS, 120, m, 5, by Twirling Candy
                1st Dam: Natchez Trace, by Consolidator
                2nd Dam: Crystal Cream, by Secretariat
                3rd Dam: Clear Copy, by Copy Chief
($75,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-The Estate of Robert J. Amendola;
B-Farfellow Farms Ltd. (KY); T-Mertkan Kantarmaci; J-Manuel
Franco. $165,000. Lifetime Record: 22-7-6-2, $698,680. *1/2
to Forever Mo (Uncle Mo), MSP, $248,315. Werk Nick Rating:
A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Fluffy Socks, 122, m, 5, Slumber (GB)–Breakfast Time, by
Kitten's Joy. O/B-Head Of Plains Partners (KY); T-Chad C.
Brown. $60,000.
3–Jumbly (GB), 120, f, 4, Gleneagles (Ire)–Thistle Bird (GB), by
Selkirk. (1,250,000gns 3yo '22 TATMA). O-Doreen Tabor;
B-Emily Rothschild (GB); T-Joseph Patrick O'Brien. $36,000.
Margins: HD, HF, NK. Odds: 29.25, 6.30, 5.60.
Also Ran: Gam's Mission, Technical Analysis (Ire), Consumer Spending, Surprisingly, Sister Bridget (Ire). Scratched: Into Happiness, Speak of the Devil (Fr).
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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Viadera Outlasts High Opinion In Ballston Spa

Chad Brown continued his winning ways in the first graded stakes on the Travers Day card at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. With three horses entered in the Grade 2 Ballston Spa, Brown claimed two of the top three spots, with Viadera taking the stakes for 4-year-olds and up by a nose while Kalifornia Queen finished third.

With a rain shower putting a brief damper on the day's festivities, the field of six broke evenly, with Tamahere, Brown's third starter, taking the lead over Platinum Paynter and Viadera. Tamahere and Platinum Paynter were several lengths ahead early, setting fractions of :22.60 for the first quarter and :47.55 for the first half-mile. As they approached the final turn, Tamahere's lead began to shrink, the field catching up to her as Platinum Paynter dropped back on the turn. Joel Rosario moved Viadera from the rail to the outside of Tamahere, positioning her for her closing run at the leader.

In the stretch, Tamahere looked like she could wire the field, Irad Ortiz, Jr. urging her to keep up the pace. To her inside, High Opinion and Luis Saez were riding the rail, taking advantage of the open lane, while Rosario had Viadera in a drive on Tamahere's outside. The two passed Tamahere and then hooked up inside the last sixteenth of a mile, with Viadera nosing out High Opinion at the wire. Kalifornia Queen, closing fast on Viadera's outside, rounded out the top three with Tamahere, New York Girl, and Platinum Paynter completing the field of six.

The final time for the 1 1/16-mile G2 Ballston Spa was 1:41.82. Find this race's chart here.

Viadera paid $3.60, $2.90, and $2.30. High Opinion paid $5.00 and $3.30. Kalifornia Queen paid $3.00.

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“Joel [Rosario] got in really good position this time and made sure there weren't too many horses in front of him in his way when he wanted to make his run. She got a nice, pocketed ground-saving trip, and once again she showed that she knows where the wire is. She's won a couple of close photo finishes now in her career,” Brown said after the race.” She has an affinity for the wire, this horse. If you train horses long enough you'll realize that certain horses know where it is on the winning end and some seem to come up on the losing end. She's one of the ones who knows where it is.”

“I think last time she was coming off a long layoff and the pace didn't work out all that well [fourth in the Faisg-Tipton De La Rose on August 8]. It was better here. She was sharper and I still thought the filly on the inside [High Opinion] probably had momentum on us going to the line, but she just has a way of always getting her nose down on the line,” Garrett O'Rourke, Juddmonte general manager, told the NYRA Press Office after the Ballston Spa. “She keeps winning photo finishes and everyone wants a horse with ability, but that competitive edge is fantastic as well.”

“It was a better trip today with horses being in front and I was able to track there for a little bit. Turning for home, I was clear. She always tries really hard. She's a very good filly,” Rosario said after the race. “At the last minute, I knew the horse was coming inside [High Opinion], but she was so game and fighting going forward, so I was never worried about it, but that horse came very close.”

Bred and owned by Juddmonte Farms, Viadera (GB) is a 5-year-old mare by Bated Breath (GB) out of the Beat Hollow (GB) mare, Sacred Shield (GB). The Ballston Spa is her first win of 2021, following a fourth-place finish in the De La Rose at Saratoga on Aug. 8. Her lifetime record is seven wins in 15 starts for career earnings of $618,641.

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Chad Brown-Trained Trio Headline Ballston Spa

Trainer Chad Brown will be represented by a trio of turf distaffers while seeking his sixth triumph in Saturday's 33rd running of the Grade 2, $400,000 Ballston Spa for older fillies and mares going 1 1/16 miles over the Mellon turf at Saratoga Race Course.

Brown, a three-time leading trainer at the Spa, is the winningest trainer in the Ballston Spa, having saddled Zagora [2012] and Lady Eli [2017] to victories en route to Champion Grass Female honors in their respective years, as well as winning with Dacita [2015], Quidura [2018] and Significant Form [2019].

Juddmonte's Viadera, who arrives off nearly three week's rest, was a troubled fourth as the favorite in the De La Rose on Aug. 8 at the Spa, where she made her first start in over eight months. The 5-year-old daughter of Bated Breath will try to regain her winning form from last season, when she secured three stakes victories.

Following a triumph by a neck in the 2020 De La Rose, which was her second start in North America, she won by the same margin against stable mate Blowout in the Grade 3 Noble Damsel on September 26 at Belmont Park. Viadera brought her form to new heights when shipping to Southern California for the Grade 1 Matriarch on November 29 at Del Mar, besting Blowout once more under a well-timed ride by jockey Joel Rosario to win by a nose.

In the De La Rose last out, Viadera rated at the rear of the field along the rail, checked slightly down the backstretch, and lacked racing room in upper stretch to close late finishing 2 ¾ lengths behind stable mate Regal Glory.

“She had a lot of trouble last time, but she got something out of it and hopefully can move forward off short rest,” Brown said.

Rosario, the pilot in all five of her North American starts, will retain the mount from post 3.

Kalifornia Queen, owned by Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb and First Row Partners, arrives off a late-closing second to stable mate Great Island in the Grade 3 Matchmaker on July 17 at Monmouth Park.

A Group 2 winner in her native Germany, the 4-year-old daughter of Lope de Vega was unplaced in graded stakes in her first two starts in North America, but made her third effort stateside a winning one in an allowance optional claiming tilt at the Ballston Spa distance on July 13 at Belmont Park.

Brown said he was satisfied with the effort.

“She ran great last time. Cutting her back and taking the blinkers off have done her well,” Brown said.

Kalifornia Queen will leave post 6 under jockey Flavien Prat.

Swift Thoroughbreds, Madaket Stables and Wonder Stables' Tamahere seeks her first victory since capturing her North American debut in the Grade 2 Sands Point on October 10 at Belmont Park.

The French-bred daughter of Wootton Bassett finished second in two of her three efforts this season. In her 2021 debut, Tamahere was second to Juliet Foxtrot in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley on April 10 at Keeneland. After a distant ninth in the Grade 1 Longines Just a Game on June 5 at Belmont Park, she received a drop in class into allowance optional claiming company to run second on July 28 at Saratoga.

Jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. will ride Tamahere from post 2.

Trainer Tony Dutrow will send out Woodford Racing's High Opinion, who bested winners last out on July 31 going one mile over Saratoga's inner turf.

The 4-year-old daughter of Lemon Drop Kid lit up the tote board when breaking her maiden at 97-1 odds on October 10 at Belmont Park and validated the effort when finishing a close second in the next-out Winter Memories on November 15 at Aqueduct.

Jockey Luis Saez will pilot High Opinion from post 1.

R Unicorn Stable's New York Girl has been multiple graded stakes placed since joining the barn of Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott last year and will seek a breakthrough victory in the Ballston Spa.

The 4-year-old daughter of New Approach was beaten by one length or less in three graded stakes events to kick off her 2021 season. After losing by one length in the Grade 3 Endeavor on February 6 at Tampa Bay Downs, she returned to the Oldsmar oval to finish third beaten three-quarters of a length one month later in the Grade 2 Hillsborough. In the Grade 2 Distaff Turf Mile on May 1 at Churchill Downs, she closed late to finish second and miss by a half-length.

New York Girl arrives off a troubled fourth at allowance optional claiming level on August 1 over the Spa inner turf.

Breaking from post 4, New York Girl will be piloted by Hall of Famer John Velazquez, the winningest rider in the Ballston Spa with five victories.

Rounding out the field is Just In Time Racing's multiple stakes-placed Platinum Paynter, who was third in the Grade 3 Beaugay on May 8 at Belmont Park and in the Grade 3 Dr. James Penny Memorial on July 6 at Parx Racing. Trained by Juan Vazquez, the daughter of Paynter made her 5-year-old debut when second to Regal Glory in the Plenty of Grace on April 24 at Aqueduct.

Jockey Jose Lezcano will ride from post 5.

The Ballston Spa is slated as Race 4 on the 13-race card. First post is 11:35 a.m. Eastern. For the third consecutive year, FOX will air the Runhappy Travers as the centerpiece of a 90-minute telecast beginning at 5 p.m. The networks of FOX and FOX Sports will air 7.5 total hours of live racing and analysis on Runhappy Travers Day, with coverage scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. on FS1. For the complete Saratoga Live broadcast schedule, and additional programming information, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule.

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Starship Jubilee Upsets Sistercharlie at the Spa

What Starship Jubilee (Indy Wind) may have ‘lacked’ in class entering a clash with champion Sistercharlie (Ire) (Myboycharlie {Ire}) in Saturday’s GII Ballston Spa S. at Saratoga was potentially mitigated by the fact that she was always going to hold a tactical advantage–positionally–given the likely shape of the race. When the dust had settled after 8 1/2 furlongs, the blue-collar Florida-bred took full advantage to cause a minor upset, as Sistercharlie could only finish a one-paced third.

While Thais (Fr) (Rio de la Plata) parlayed pacemaker duties–bar the GI Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf, from which she was scratched–for Sistercharlie into a couple of Grade I placings over the past couple of seasons, the new ‘rabbit’ was the commonly owned North Broadway (Quality Road). The latter was ridden for speed by Tyler Gaffalione and opened up double digits down the backstretch, but allowed to bowl along by her lonesome, she set only sedate fractions. For her part, Starship Jubilee tossed her head about passing under the wire for the first time, ultimately coalescing and settling third, with Sistercharlie watching her every move just behind her. The swoopers began to whittle away at the deficit rounding the second turn, but while Sistercharlie was first to get going, Starship Jubilee countered with a quick turn of foot of her owne and ranged up three wide looking dangerous off the home corner. Starship Jubilee hooked up with Call Me Love (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) about a furlong from the line and hung for a few strides in the waning stages, but edged clear to score.

Third, beaten a half-length by the Brown-trained and Stephanie Brant-owned Significant Form (Creative Cause), in this event last year, Starship Jubilee earned a breakthrough Grade I in the E.P. Taylor S., but was defeated at 1-2 over ground softer than she prefers in the GIII Cardinal S. at Churchill in November. She was perfect in three Florida starts over the winter, taking the Sunshine Millions Filly & Mare Turf in January, the GIII Suwannee River S. the following month and Tampa’s GIII Hillsborough S. when last spotted Mar. 7.

Pedigree Notes:

Canada’s reigning Horse of the Year, Starship Jubilee is one of eight winners from as many to race from her dam, a daughter of the New York-based Perfect Arc, trained by Angel Penna Jr. to victory in the 1995 GI QE II Challenge Cup at Keeneland and a trio of graded events on this circuit, including Saratoga’s GII Diana H. Third dam Podeica was victorious in the G1 Polla de Potrancas in her native Argentina. Also the dam of the MSP Starship Nala, Perfectly Wild is also represented by the 3-year-old Allegedly Perfect (Kantharos), a 4 1/2-length maiden winner on the Gulfstream main track this past May and more recently of an allowance/optional claimer sprinting on the turf. Perfectly Wild was bred to Malibu Moon in each of the last two seasons.

Saturday, Saratoga
BALLSTON SPA S.-GII, $194,000, Saratoga, 7-25, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16mT, 1:41.76, fm.
1–STARSHIP JUBILEE, 122, m, 7, by Indy Wind
                1st Dam: Perfectly Wild, by Forest Wildcat
                2nd Dam: Perfect Arc, by Brown Arc
                3rd Dam: Podeica (Arg), by Petronisi (GB)
($6,500 Ylg ’14 OBSAUG; $34,000 RNA 2yo ’15 OBSAPR;
$425,000 RNA 5yo ’18 KEENOV). O-Blue Heaven Farm;
B-William P. Sorren (FL); T-Kevin Attard; J-Javier Castellano.
$110,000. Lifetime Record: HOY & 3x Ch. Turf Female &
GISW-Can, 36-18-5-3, $1,608,667. *1/2 to Starship Nala (Capo
Bastone), MSP, $244,300. Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the
   eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Call Me Love (GB), 122, f, 4, Sea The Stars (Ire)–Fresnay (GB),
by Rainbow Quest. (82,000gns Ylg ’17 TATOCT). O-R Unicorn
Stable; B-Grundy Bloodstock S R L (GB); T-Christophe Clement.
$40,000.
3–Sistercharlie (Ire), 122, m, 6, Myboycharlie (Ire)–Starlet’s
Sister (Ire), by Galileo (Ire). (€12,000 Ylg ’15 AR15). O-Peter M.
Brant; B-Ecurie Des Monceaux (IRE); T-Chad Brown. $24,000.
Margins: NK, 1 1/4, 5. Odds: 3.10, 4.40, 0.40.
Also Ran: Bramble Queen, North Broadway. Scratched: Another Broad. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

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