Byhubbyhellomoney | Horse Racing Free Tips

85-Year-Old Bob Dunham Fishing For Another Stakes Score With Byhubbyhellomoney

Trainer Bob Dunham, who turns 85-years-old on Tuesday, will try to keep the celebration rolling when he saddles Jupiter Stable's Byhubbyhellomoney in Thursday's $100,000 Bay Ridge at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Byhubbyhellomoney worked an easy five-eighths over the Belmont Park dirt training track on Dec. 23, in preparation for the nine-furlong test for New York-breds 3-years-old and up.

“I enjoy it. Training horses is a passion. I was there on Christmas Day,” Dunham said.

Earlier this summer, Byhubbyhellomoney won the Fleet Indian at Saratoga Race Course. Dunham said he loves his summers at the Spa which allow him to dabble in his favorite pastime – fly fishing.

“Training horses is like fly fishing – it gets into your blood,” said Dunham, with a laugh. “I love going up to Vermont. It's only 55 miles from Saratoga and you can smell the change in the air, it's so much clearer and so fresh. There's a beautiful river I like there that goes from Manchester all the way down to New York to the Hudson called the Battenkill.”

The veteran conditioner, who trained 4-year-old filly Chou Croute to Champion Sprinter honors in 1972, has met a lot of interesting people through his career, both on and off the track – including broadcaster Charles Osgood and the late actor Steve McQueen.

“I was in the water fishing one morning – maybe seven years ago – at 6:30 in Arlington, Vermont and this guy gets in about 40 minutes later,” Dunham recalled. “As the morning moves along we end up closer together and he hollers at me, 'catch anything?'”

While Dunham had caught a couple, the friendly fisherman upstream had been shut out. When the fishing was done, the two strangers sat down for a cup of coffee and traded tall stories as 'Bob' and 'Charlie.'

“He had on these sunglasses that wrapped around, a Tilley hat and waders,” Dunham said.

Before he left, Dunham asked the man for his surname and he replied, 'Osgood' – as in Charles Osgood, longtime host of the CBS News Sunday Morning and The Osgood File.

“I told him I enjoyed his show on Sunday mornings. He's really a nice guy,” Dunham said. “Later, I invited him to the races at Belmont and he showed up for a nice lunch and we talked about the horses and the radio.”

Dunham also recalled shipping a small string of horses to Santa Anita nearing the tail end of 1972, including Chou Croute, who won the Las Flores Handicap on Dec. 28 and came back Jan. 16, 1973 to win the Grade 2 Santa Monica Handicap.

Dunham said he enjoyed spending time at Santa Anita with the late Willard Proctor, father of conditioner Tom Proctor.

“He was a good friend of mine and he liked to go out for a drink. He knew a lot of actors out there,” Dunham said.

On one occasion, Proctor introduced Dunham to racing fan and acting legend Steve McQueen, who was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actor in 1967 for his portrayal of Jake Holman in The Sand Pebbles.

After a few drinks, McQueen asked Dunham if he had any horses entered that he liked.

“I had a filly in that I loved. She'd had a couple races at Fair Grounds,” Dunham said. “We'd sprinted her a couple times and she was a route filly. She was entered going a mile and a sixteenth and I didn't think she could get beat, but I didn't tell Steve McQueen that. I said, 'I think she's got a chance.'”

Sure enough, the filly came through at a price.

“She won and McQueen came up and gave me a hug. I'm not sure how much money he bet,” Dunham said, with a laugh.

McQueen, known as a 'The King of Cool', kept in contact with Dunham through the years.

“He took us out to dinner several times and we exchanged numbers. Every time I had a horse in he called me,” Dunham said.

And while Byhubbyhellomoney, listed at 6-1 on the morning line, may be a little cool on the board Thursday, Dunham said he expects a big effort.

“She'll do good, but I don't know that she'll win,” Dunham said. “But every little bit helps.”

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Effinex Filly Byhubbyhellomoney Stretches Out In Thursday’s Bay Ridge Stakes

Jupiter Stable's Byhubbyhellomoney will look to provide trainer Bob Dunham a belated birthday gift in Thursday's seventh renewal of the $100,000 Bay Ridge, a nine-furlong test for New York-bred fillies and mares 3-years-old and up, at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Dunham, who celebrates his 85th birthday on Tuesday, said the sophomore daughter of Effinex has trained well out of her distant runner-up effort to Bank Sting in the seven-furlong NYSSS Staten Island on Dec. 5 at the Big A.

“I was a little disappointed with that race. I didn't like the way she finished up,” Dunham said. “She came out of it fine. She ate well and was training well, but I thought she had a chance. I wasn't sure she could beat that filly, but I thought she'd be closer.

“She's done well since,” Dunham added, regarding an easy breeze in 1:03.11 December 23 over the Belmont dirt training track. “I haven't gone fast with her because she's fit. She went five-eighths in 1:03 over a slow track. She trains well.”

Byhubbyhellomoney was claimed for $40,000 out of a second-out graduation in June sprinting six furlongs over turf against fellow state-breds at Belmont Park.

She made her next three starts in restricted company at Saratoga Race Course, finishing a close third in an off-the-turf allowance sprint against older horses in July ahead of completing the trifecta in the NYSSS Statue of Liberty for sophomore fillies on Aug. 4 at one mile over the inner turf.

“I actually think she's better on turf. The day she broke her maiden on the turf, she was so impressive,” Dunham said. “She just ran good on the dirt so we kept her on the dirt, but I want to try her again on turf this coming year.”

Dunham entered Byhubbyhellomoney in the Fleet Indian, a nine-furlong route against fellow state-bred sophomore fillies over the Spa main track on Aug. 27, and the $30,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase responded with a rallying neck score over multiple graded stakes placed Make Mischief.

Dunham said pedigree may have played a part in the Fleet Indian effort as her sire, the $3.3 million earner Effinex, excelled at a route of ground.

“I was a little surprised but she is bred to go a route by Effinex. I thought she had a chance and she was training better at Saratoga than she was anywhere,” Dunham said. “She was really sharp at Saratoga. That's the only difference I see in her now is she used to play a lot coming off the track at Saratoga, but she's settled down.”

The versatile Byhubbyhellomoney returned to sprinting in October over Big Sandy, closing to finish second in a six-furlong state-bred optional claiming event and three weeks later was off-the-board at the same venue against the victorious Sharp Starr in the 1 1/16-mile Empire Distaff for state-bred sophomore fillies which was contested over a sloppy and sealed main track.

Dunham said he is hopeful for a big effort from Byhubbyhellomoney in her final start before a freshening.

“I'm running a sound horse. She'll run well but I don't know if she'll win,” Dunham said. “I think we'll give her a break after this and plan for the races in the spring.”

Bred in the Empire State by Anderson Boulton Thoroughbreds, the New York-sired bay out of the El Prado mare Shocking Behavior will exit the inside post under Eric Cancel.

Sharp Starr, a 4-year-old daughter of Munnings, will look to make amends after a distant fourth last out when attempting to defend her title in in the one-mile G3 Go for Wand Handicap on December 4 at the Big A.

Trained by Horacio DePaz, the Barry Schwartz homebred boasts a record of 15-4-3-3 and will be attempting her first win at the nine-furlong distance in her fourth attempt. She has breezed twice out of her Go for Wand effort, including an easy half-mile in 51.55 seconds on Dec. 24 over the Belmont dirt training track.

“She's doing really well. She came out of the race in good order. Her appetite has been good and her breezes have been good,” DePaz said. “We had an easier breeze the other day a week out from the Bay Ridge. We don't want to put a lot of speed into her. She's fit and ready to go.”

Sharp Starr entered the Go for Wand from a visually impressive 3 1/4-length last-to-first score in the Empire Distaff at Belmont over returning rival Ice Princess.

DePaz, who had also considered entering Sharp Starr in the seven-furlong La Verdad slated for Sunday at the Big A, said the filly showed determination at nine furlongs last year at Saratoga when second in a state-bred allowance ahead of a third in the Fleet Indian.

“I thought seven furlongs would be too short for her and this race is a smaller field,” DePaz said. “She ran well going a mile and a sixteenth at Belmont coming from off the pace and in her two races at Saratoga going nine furlongs she was always closing and finishing up well.”

Sharp Starr has demonstrated an affinity for Aqueduct with a record of 7-2-2-2, including a romping 15 3/4-length state-bred allowance win in November 2020 that registered a career-best 101 Beyer Speed Figure.

Jose Ortiz, aboard for three of Sharp Starr's four career wins, retains the mount from post 3.

“He knows the filly and rode her going long at Saratoga. He's very familiar with her,” DePaz said.

DePaz will also saddle Amity Island, a sophomore daughter of Brody's Cause owned by Michael Dubb, Take a Shot Stables and Liberty House Racing.

Amity Island was claimed for $40,000 out of a runner-up effort in an open one-turn mile on Oct. 2 at Belmont. Following an even fourth in November in a state-bred one-turn mile over Big Sandy, Amity Island returned Dec. 10 at the Big A with blinkers on for the first time to post a head score at the same level with a last-to-first effort.

“She stepped up. Thar race came back to her last time, but she put a good effort in. I was really happy with how she adjusted to blinkers,” DePaz said. “Hopefully, second time out with the blinkers she'll be much more focused. It's a good spot for her and her running style suits the distance.”

Out of the A. P Jet mare Anjorie, Amity Island is a half-sister to stakes winner Fierce Lady. Initially campaigned by Chad Brown, she was claimed for $25,000 out of a third-out graduation traveling a one-turn mile over a muddy main track at the Big A.

DePaz said he is hopeful Amity Island will continue to improve with racing.

“She's a very honest filly and very competitive in the races she ran before we claimed her,” DePaz said. “We were looking at the winter meet when we claimed her and hoping she could come up and get into allowance company and improve as she matures.”

Bred by Sugar Maple Farm, Amity Island will emerge from post 4 under Manny Franco.

Ice Princess, trained and co-owned by Danny Gargan with Flying P Stable and R. A. Hill Stable, will look to turn the tables on Sharp Starr when stretching back out to two turns.

The 4-year-old graded stakes placed Palace Malice grey entered the Empire Distaff from a trio of nine-furlong efforts, including an open allowance win in August over a sloppy and sealed surface at the Spa and a closing second in the John Hettinger against fellow state-breds over the Belmont turf on Oct. 1.

Bred in New York by Mina Equivest, Ice Princess sports a perfect in-the-money record of 5-2-3-0 at the Big A, including a win in the one-mile Maddie May in February 2020 and a runner-up effort in the nine-furlong G3 Comely in November 2020.

Jose Lezcano will pilot Ice Princess for the first time from the outermost post 5.

Rounding out the field is stakes winner Maiden Beauty, who enters from a gate-to-wire optional claiming win against open company on Dec. 19 at the Big A. Trained by Robert Falcone, Jr., Maiden Beauty will exit post 2 under three-time Bay Ridge winner Kendrick Carmouche.

The Bay Ridge is slated as Race 7 on Thursday's eight-race card, which will also offers a $49K carryover in the $1 Pick 6 which begins in Race 3. First post is 12:50 p.m. Eastern.

America's Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the winter meet at Aqueduct Racetrack on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule.

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Dunham Still Training At 85, Gets First Saratoga Stakes Win In Fleet Indian

Bob Dunham, who trained 4-year-old filly Chou Croute to championship Sprinter honors in 1972 before there were separate categories for males and females, won his first Saratoga stakes on Friday with 3-year-old filly Byhubbyhellomoney. But it will hardly be his swan song.

“My family has been trying to get me to retire, but what would I do,” asked Dunham, 85. “I like to play cards, and I like to go fly-fishing in Vermont and Montana. But you can't go fishing every day.”

What he likes to do best every day is train his stable of seven. And he still does it well.

When former claiming horse Byhubbyhellomoney won the $200,000 Fleet Indian on Friday's New York Showcase Day at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., by beating the favorite Make Mischief, it was an enormously popular win. But it wasn't for the filly's $28.40 payoff for a $2 bet. It was a sign of genuine respect and sincere affection for Dunham.

“It was an extremely exciting win. We all felt really great for Bob, which is the main thing,” said trainer Phil Gleaves, who is married to Dunham's daughter, Amy. “I cannot tell you how many people, especially trainers, have come by the barn to ask me to please congratulate Bob for them. This morning, Shug McGaughey stopped by the barn to say the same. Bob is such a well-liked guy. Mark Casse was very classy. He just got beat with the favorite, who had a rough start, and Mark was literally the first one there to shake his hand.”

Casse, a Hall of Fame trainer, said Dunham is a long-time family friend.

“I was extremely happy for Bob Dunham. He was a great friend of my dad and since I was a little boy, he was always very kind to me,” Casse said. “I saw him before the race and he said, 'I don't think we can beat you' and I said to him, 'If anyone beats me, I hope it's you.' It was bittersweet and I feel bad for Gary Barber (owner of Make Mischief), but I'm also happy Bob won. I remember him training Chou Croute and she was a champion sprinter. He was a dear friend of my father.”

Chou Croute beat Icecapade in the 1972 Fall Highweight at Belmont, and the old media clippings say that had not Secretariat, then 2-years-old, been the Horse of the Year, it might have been her. Each year, the Fair Grounds in New Orleans, La., runs the Chou Croute Stakes for fillies and mares.

“She was a great horse,” reminisced Dunham, who is a Kentucky native and said he started mucking stalls at Claiborne Farm was he was 12 years old.

“I worked there for Bull Hancock. Moody Jolley [father of Hall of Fame trainer LeRoy Jolley] was the trainer. When I was a teenager, Bull asked me if I wanted to be Moody's foreman. My parents wanted me to stay in school, but I went with Moody. I was the assistant when he trained Round Table,” said Dunham, who remains sharp as a tack and has total recall.

Round Table was a five-time Eclipse Award winner, the 1958 Horse of the Year, and a 1972 Hall of Fame inductee. Other top-flight horses Dunham worked with as an assistant include Delta, Doubledogdare, and Nadir.

Dunham trained multiple graded stakes-winner Moment of Hope and that horse was his most recent stakes winner when he won the Grade 2 Stuyvesant Handicap in New York in 1987.

“He is from way back. He was the assistant with all those good horses, and he's an Eclipse Award winner himself, in 1972, and now he wins a stake at Saratoga 50 years later. And with a claim. Imagine that. How wonderful is that? He's won a few races over the years here, but certainly nothing of this consequence,” said Gleaves.

Gleaves and Dunham have a little history of their own, and it predates the marriage to Amy.

“We joke that he was my pacesetter in the 1986 Travers, which I was fortunate enough to win [with Wise Times]. He had a horse in there [Moment of Hope] that was on the lead and we joke about that all the time,” said the son-in-law.

Dunham and his wife, Judy, stay with Amy and Phil Gleaves for the Saratoga season every year and for the younger trainer, he said it's almost like having a living encyclopedia of horsemanship under his roof.

“Over the years, I've had lots and lots of conversations about horses with Bob and I've picked his brain on numerous occasions about things I needed some advice on. He's always been there about that,” Gleaves said. “He helps me a lot because I come up here in May from Ocala and ship the horses down to Belmont to run. Most times I don't go, and he saddles them for me. He's saddled a few winners at Belmont for me, which has been great, and it's a big help to me not have to drive down there and back up here every time I run a horse. We interchange horses. I go to Florida for the winter and I leave horses with him for the winter in New York because he trains there year round.”

Not only will Dunham keep hanging his shingle outside his barn, but his stable is also about to get bigger.

Steve Shapiro, the owner of Byhubbyhellomoney, currently has three in Dunham's care and said he's going to claim another New York-bred for him to train.

“Bob Dunham is a genius. He is a genius trainer. He's underrated. He doesn't have a lot of horses, so he can pay attention to me,” said Shapiro.

Dunham is also a gentleman, and one from the old school.

“That's the best way to describe him. He's a very likeable person and a high-class person,” said Gleaves. “These are the stories that making racing so great, and you can't make them up.”

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What’s in a Name: Filo Di Arianna

FILO DI ARIANNA is Italian for 'Ariadne's thread'. The expression refers to a most melodramatic Greek myth. Princess Ariadne of Crete betrays her royal father and helps enemy Athenian hero Theseus in the killing of her monstrous half-brother, the Minotaur, who resides in a labyrinth. The Minotaur is half man and half bull and 100% crazy; please no questions about his pedigree, this is a family publication. Ariadne provides Theseus with a ball of thread, so that he can find is way out of the maze after the brutal deed. Behind a successful demigod there is often a loving woman, but Theseus was a bit of a scoundrel and eventually abandoned Ariadne in the island of Naxos. Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes, as Vergil wrote. Brazilian FILO DI ARIANNA (the horse) clearly knows how to navigate horse races and is probably blameless in matters of romantic love as of now.

FILO DI ARIANNA (BRZ) (h, 5, Drosselmeyer–Principessa Capri {Brz}, by Northern Afleet) Woodbine, C$105,400, Alw, 6-27, 3yo/up, 7fT, 1:19.97, fm. Lifetime Record: Ch. 2yo Colt-Brz, MGSW-Brz, 4-4-0-0, $89,629. O-Gary Barber, Wachtel Stable & Peter Deutsch; B-Stud Principessa di Capri (Brz); T-Mark Casse.

PEDIGREE WORDPLAY: HONORABLE MENTIONS

Most reliable tournament finalist, for sure. NAVRATILOVA, 118, f, 3, by Medaglia d'Oro, out of Centre Court (GISW, $961,048), by Smart Strike. TEPIN S., $150,000, Churchill Downs, 6-26, 3yo, f, 1mT, 1:35.56, fm. O/B-G. Watts Humphrey (KY); T-George R. Arnold, II; J-Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr. $87,420. Lifetime Record: 5-2-0-2, $136,340

Self-evident follow-up. NEXT, 118, c, 3, by Not This Time, out of Bahia Beach (MSP, $141,104), by Awesome Again. WAR CHANT S., $150,000, Churchill Downs, 6-26, 3yo, 1mT, 1:35.09, fm. O/B-Silverton Hill, LLC (KY); T-Wesley A. Ward; J-John R. Velazquez. $97,500. Lifetime Record: 6-3-0-0, $199,394.

Like mother, like daughter. STIR CRAZY, f, 3, by Vancouver (Aus), out of Mentally Unstable, by Good Reward. Delaware, $34,580, Msw, 6-26, 3yo/up, f/m, 5f (off turf), 1:00.71, my,

4 1/4 lengths.. O-Delancey Stable LLC & Angelinos Racing LLC; B-Royal Oak Farm (KY); T-Benjamin W. Perkins, Jr

You just never know. BYHUBBYHELLOMONEY, f, 3, Effinex–Shocking Behavior, by El Prado (Ire). Belmont, 6-20, (S), (C), 6fT, 1:09.45. Lifetime Record: 2-1-0-1, $30,990. B-Anderson Boulton Thoroughbreds LLC (NY). *$30,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP.

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