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Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Maracuja Brings Sakkos A Graded Stakes Winner With His Fourth Starter

John Sakkos can count on one hand the number of horses that have carried the colors of his Beach Haven Thoroughbreds stable into the starting gate. The answer is four — one for as many years as he's been in the industry.

If Thoroughbred racing has taught fans and participants anything, it's that the size of Sakkos' stable and the age of his operation should hardly warrant him a trip to the winner's circle at the highest level of play.

But that's exactly what has happened.

When 3-year-old Maracuja crossed the wire a head in front of the previously undefeated Malathaat during the July 24 Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks, the filly became the fourth winner from four to race for Sakkos and brought home his first, coveted G1 win.

“The reality hit the next morning when my wife (Tracy) and I woke up, looked at each other, and said, 'Did we really win a Grade 1?'” said Sakkos. “We were all crazy excited. My wife even lost her voice. It was a natural high and when you think of our short career in racing history, it was just great.”

Beach Haven Thoroughbreds was born out of the friendship of Sakkos and his partner, Ara Aprahamian, who named their still fledgling operation after the island of Beach Haven, a small hamlet in New Jersey and favorite vacation spot of the pair and their families. A longtime fan of racing who had dabbled in partnerships since the early 2000s, Aprahamian — who runs a pharmaceutical company — approached Sakkos about forming a small racing syndicate of their own. Sakkos, who also has a professional background in the medical field, said he more or less agreed to the proposition on a whim.

“The joke between us is that I got involved in horses purely by accident,” joked Sakkos.

While Sakkos traces his ancestral roots to Greece, where his family were traditionally farmers, his limited experience with horses came from the occasional encounter as a child while visiting his grandparents' farm. Horse racing, he admits, was outside of his educational purview.

With that in mind, the plan from the start was to keep Beach Haven small. Partners were pulled from a ring of close friends looking to share in the action without overcommitting to the often-exorbitant expenses that come with campaigning Thoroughbreds.

Tracy Sakkos and Maracuja. Photo courtesy the Sakkos family

Beach Haven's first runner was Uncle Benny, a Declaration of War colt purchased for $185,000. The colt — who was named for Aprahamian's late uncle — proved a competent turf runner, notching a stakes victory next in the six-furlong Futurity on the grass at Belmont Park in 2018 before running second in that year's G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.

Next on the roster came Sassy Agnes, a New York-bred daughter of Central Banker who earned three consecutive stakes wins in 2018 when she took the Lady Finger and Shesastonecoldfox Stakes followed by the Key Cent Stakes for trainer Linda Rice. Rice would also take over of Newly Minted, another daughter of Central Banker, who herself banked four stakes wins on the way to amassing a 6-3-1 record from 12 starts and $516,738 in purses.

It's a strike rate even the most experience horseman would envy.

While Newly Minted was burning up the tracks on the New York circuit, Sakkos and his partners went to $200,000 — more than they'd ever spent previously — to secure Maracuja, a daughter of Honor Code. Trained by Rob Atras, the filly impressed early, and plans were made to debut her talent in the summer of 2020 at Saratoga.

But with the COVID-19 pandemic raging on the racing calendar upended, the decision was made to start the filly at three. The filly broke her maiden in February at Aqueduct before taking second in the G3 Gazelle next out. That race would be a springboard to the G1 Kentucky Oaks, where she finished off the board. Three months later she would redeem herself in the CCA Oaks, defeating the Oaks victress at odds of 14-1 and stamping herself one to watch for the G1 Alabama at the Spa.

“Rob didn't want to push her which I'm glad he didn't,” said Sakkos. “We're very proud but she's getting better and better with every race. Newly Minted did well, and 'Sassy' also did well, but she has done the best so far. She's it. It's all credit to Rob and his wife Brittney and his team. We were just lucky enough to buy her.”

With the pandemic still looming and with it, economic uncertainty, Sakkos said Maracuja will likely remain the only Beach Haven runner for the time being.

“With everything going on, we didn't mind keeping it all close. I still think we're not totally out of the woods yet unfortunately, so we're just enjoying the moment and focusing on Maracuja,” said Sakkos. “She loves the attention, she loves her carrots, and after the races I go back to the barn and give her a big hug and a kiss. She has a great personality and everyone at the barn loves her, but when it comes down to being on the track, she changes gears.

“Seeing the way Rob and his team, especially Mario, her groom, and Christian, the [exercise rider] and the love they give to their animals is just phenomenal. Mario, Maracuja's groom, has totally spoiled her. She's not happy when he's not there and he never left her side at the Oaks. They're attached at the hip.”

Win or lose, Sakkos said the most important thing now is that he's able to enjoy the ride with is partners and family.

“I still think there is a lot more for me to learn. I'm becoming more familiar with things, asking a lot of questions,” said Sakkos. “But I have a way to go to catch up with those folks that have so much more experience in this industry than I do. We enjoy it and our kids enjoy it. It's been a great hobby and so fun when the family can participate. It's all about the animals for us.”

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Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Wycoff’s Three Diamonds Farm Runners Find Their Niche On Turf

Meeting Cross Border in the winner's circle after his successful title defense in Saturday's Grade 2 Bowling Green Stakes at Saratoga race course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., was a special moment for owner Kirk Wycoff. The long-missed sound of fans cheering, the magnitude of the 7-year-old's performance on the track, and the ever-significant ability to share the moment with his family; it all played a part in the emotion playing over Wycoff's face as he gave Cross Border a well-earned pat.

“We didn't go in thinking we were going to win, and a lot of people had kind of written him off, so for him to give that performance, it was very special,” Wycoff said. “I was glad for him that he got that double under his belt, and to see him win.”

The Mike Maker trainee is also listed as the winner of the 2020 edition of the Bowling Green, though that trip to the winner's circle came as a result of the disqualification of Sadler's Joy, who'd crossed the wire in front by a neck after impeding Cross Border at the sixteenth pole.

“Last year he did it with no fans and the disqualification, so it was nice to see him get the win today,” said Wycoff. “This horse has been a project, like so many we buy out of the horses of racing age sales in July.

“My son Jordan picked him out because of a race he ran for $16,000 at Woodbine, and we bought him for $100,000. He had multiple little issues, so we gave him time off like we do with all our horses. It took eight months until he was right. Whenever you own one that long — we bought him when he was four — you get attached to them and so does the whole team.”

Cross Border has been holding his own against some of the top turf horses in the United States for the past year, running second in the G1 Sword Dancer (Aug. 2020) and third in the G1 Pegasus World Cup Turf (Jan. 2021).

“I still think we could have won the Pegasus, but we didn't get the best trip,” Wycoff said. “In high level turf racing around two and three turns, the trip is extremely important; he got a great trip Saturday in the Bowling Green. He's a very handy horse, likes the tight turns at Saratoga and Gulfstream, so we'll keep that in mind when pointing him to future races.”

A return trip to the G1 Sword Dancer at Saratoga is likely the next target for Cross Border.

“It might be a little short for him, but he's definitely earned the right to run in a Grade 1 again,” said Wycoff.

Cross Border winning the Bowling Green

Meanwhile, Wycoff's Three Diamonds Farm (named for his three children: Kirby, Ashley, and Jordan) will have several other runners coming up at Saratoga, including G2 Black-Eyed Susan and G3 Iowa Oaks winner Army Wife pointing to the Grade 1 Alabama.

Currently residing in Saratoga for the summer, Wycoff spent Monday afternoon at a charity golf event, and planned to accompany his wife Debra to the high-level show jumping competitions at Saugerties (about 1 ½ hours away) on other dark days. They'll reside in the bucolic horse racing town of upstate New York until it's time to head south for the Kentucky Downs meet.

Wycoff has loved horses for as long as he can remember, from taking riding lessons as a young man in Pennsylvania to acquiring his training license at Penn National as a hobby during college. He remembers mucking 40 stalls every morning before heading off to class!

Wycoff and his wife met through horse racing 44 years ago, and Debra is still riding today.

“My wife loves the jumpers, and still shows her amateur jumpers,” Wycoff said, referring to a division in which the height of the jumps is up to 1.3 meters, or approximately 4 feet, three inches. “It does make me nervous, certainly, but after 40 years of marriage, what you want as a husband is your wife to have a smile on her face.”

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A managing partner of the Philadelphia-based private equity firm Patriot Financial Partners, Wycoff decided to get back into horse racing in the early 2000s, once he and Debra's children were old enough.

The couple ramped up their participation around 2010 when they were first introduced to Maker.

“We wanted to compete, to win, and in studying the business, we realized that we were not in a position then or now to buy very expensive, well-bred dirt yearlings and 2-year-olds,” Wycoff explained. “We love turf racing because it's typically very close, so we concentrated on a part of the business where people didn't want to be. A lot of thought has to go into the horses you buy and where you race them, and we had to find trainers who could train two-turn turf horses.

“It was apparent to us six years ago, when we claimed Bigger Picture, that horses that were middle level claiming horses at 1 1/16 miles could be stakes horses at 1 ¼, 1 ½ miles, if they were bred appropriately. According to my bloodstock advisers, I've unfortunately now made that obvious to everyone else!”

The Wycoffs and Maker have had significant success claiming horses and turning them into stakes competitors. Bigger Picture is at the top of that list: a $32,000 claim in November of 2015, he went on to win the G3 Red Smith in 2016, and the G3 John B. Connally Turf Cup and G1 United Nations in 2017.

Other claimers-turned-graded-stakes-competitors for the Wycoffs include Gianna's Dream and Roman Approval.

The Wycoffs have also found success with purchases from the sales rings including: G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner Fire At Will, G1 winner Next Question, multiple G3 winner Field Pass, and G2 winner Hembree.

One of the benefits of having turf horses that run long, Wycoff explained, is being able to have sound horses into their 6- and 7-year-old seasons who often go on to have successful second careers. While his son Jordan particularly enjoys the racing aspect of the family business, Wycoff's eldest daughter prefers the aftercare side, and now has a four-stall barn of her own in Chester County.

Bringing the Wycoffs full circle is the fact that they just closed on a horse farm of their own in Lexington, Ky. It's a combination show jumping/Thoroughbred facility just a few miles away from the Kentucky Horse Park, and it's the first farm the couple has owned in over 40 years.

“Today the fence man sent me the bill to repair the fencing,” Wycoff quipped. “You know, whatever you plan for, it might not be what's next, but there's always something to be grateful for.”

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Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: ‘Keep Showing Up’ Motto Pays Off For Davis

It only took four and a half years for trainer Chris Davis to progress from saddling his first winner to his 100th, and shortly thereafter to his first graded stakes win. Statistically speaking, he's ahead of the curve. Watching the filly Naval Laughter crossing the wire first in the Grade 3 Modesty Stakes last Saturday at Arlington, Davis' 105th winner overall, the 32-year-old trainer let the emotion show.

He celebrated, of course, but like all lifelong horsemen he was right back in the barn before sunrise on Sunday morning.

“It's funny, when you go back and listen to some of these top-tier trainers, and they say the first 100 wins were the hardest to get,” Davis said. “You just keep doing your job, keep showing up and it'll happen. It's a marathon, not a sprint.”

The same could be said for Naval Laughter's career. The 4-year-old daughter of Midshipman was making just her fourth start in the Modesty, having missed the entirety of her sophomore season.

Breeder Anthony Braddock sold the filly as a yearling for $90,000 at Fasig-Tipton's July sale, then watched her run a game third in her first start in November of her 2-year-old season for trainer Ken McPeek. Naval Laughter developed an issue after that race, and the owners decided to run her back through another sale.

Braddock bought her back for $17,000 at the February Mixed sale in 2020, and gave her plenty of time to recover at his Two Hearts Farm. Meanwhile, the owner had been introduced to Davis through jockey Sophie Doyle.

Doyle got her first graded stakes win in the United States for Braddock in 2015 aboard Fioretti, and was aboard Naval Laughter for last Saturday's win to complete the full circle.

Trainer Chris Davis and jockey Sophie Doyle celebrate Naval Laughter's graded stakes win in the Modesty

“Tony has been extremely patient with this filly, basically allowing us to have free rein with determining what her schedule is going to be,” Davis said. “She'd had plenty of time off, so there was no sense of rushing her back to the races only to get her hurt again. We really just let her take us to her first race.”

That collective “we” refers to Davis' assistant trainer Mynor Ortiz. The man has been with Davis since the beginning of his training career, and works hard to keep both the horses and the stable staff happy. He was instrumental in bringing Naval Laughter back to the races.

In her first start off the layoff, the filly “just blew us away,” Davis said.

That first start in nearly 18 months came on June 3 in a maiden special weight on the synthetic at Arlington, which Naval Laughter won by an impressive 19 ¾ lengths.

In her second start, Davis had tried to get the filly on the turf course but the race was rained off and held on the synthetic once again. Naval Laughter went a bit too quickly early and had a 3 ½-length lead at the head of the lane, but was run down in the stretch and had to settle for second.

Davis finally got Naval Laughter on the turf for the Modesty, and the filly relaxed off the pace to run down the leaders in the stretch and win by a half-length. She completed 1 1/16 miles on the firm Arlington course in 1:54.58.

“It was a pretty awesome feeling,” Davis said.

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Davis has had horse racing ingrained in his soul since his earliest memories of toddling around his mother Liane Davis' shed rows throughout Chicago. She never trained more than 10 to 20 horses at a time, so their care was a family affair; Davis' father was her assistant, an exercise rider, and also served as an assistant starter on the gate in the afternoons.

There was, however, a brief period when Davis considered working outside the racetrack, he admits.

“I was really into movies and acting and theater when I was younger,” Davis said. “I worked at Medieval Times in Chicago, jousting, and I got into film school but I decided not to go. It was more about who you know than where you go to school, so I decided to go to community college and get a business degree instead while I worked at the track.

“I may have done a lot of acting stuff, but I've also always loved the racetrack; once it gets into your blood it's hard to get it out.”

Though he'd already passed the test to take out a trainer's license by the time he graduated, Davis knew he wanted to learn more before setting out on his own. He exercised horses for trainers like Richard Hazelton, Rusty Hellman, Wayne Catalano, and Pat Byrne, then took his first assistant's job for Mike Stidham.

Davis spent 5 ½ years with Stidham, then another two out on the west coast for Phil D'Amato.

“I was fortunate enough to see a lot,” Davis said. “People train so differently from coast to coast. I'd spent a lot of time in the Midwest, gone to New Orleans, New York, Gulfstream, shipping in to other trainers' barns and watching how they do things, but I hadn't spent a lot of time in California. Obviously there are trainers out there that are really strong in the game, so you figure there's got to be some reason for that. I wanted to be able to see what they were doing, how they trained.

“Out West, they train a little bit harder, just the way they breeze their horses and the work schedules are a little bit different.”

Today, Davis puts all his varied experience to good use when developing individualized schedules for his 35-horse string in Chicago.

“I never worked for a straight 'program guy,'” he explained. “Whether there were 50 or 150 in the barn, every horse got individual attention every day. So I'm always adapting different things to individualize it for each horse.”

A big part of his success has been Davis' ability to read both horses and people.

“I really try to individualize every client to their needs, just like the horses,” he said. “I think honesty is the most important thing; you're less likely to have a poor effort that's unexplained.”

Trainer Chris Davis

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Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Improving Miss Marissa Could Bring Ryerson To Del Mar

It may have been more than a decade since Jim Ryerson has had a graded stakes winner in his barn, but he certainly hasn't forgotten what to do with one. The 4-year-old filly Miss Marissa proved that fact decisively with her victory in the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap on July 10.

“You have to train the horses that you have and you try to do the best you can for the owners that you have,” Ryerson said of the in-between years. “Then at times a nice one comes along, I think we have an idea of what to do with them when we get them. But if you should ever think that it's a given to always have nice horses in the barn, you're in the wrong business!”

With the filly now pointing to the Grade 1 Personal Ensign near the end of the Saratoga meet, 68-year-old Ryerson is remembering to savor the experience along the way.

The trainer had to take his time developing Miss Marissa for owner Alfonso Cammarota, to whom Ryerson was recommended by Frank and Patricia Generazio three years ago. A New York-bred daughter of He's Had Enough, Miss Marissa needed four starts to break her maiden as a 2-year-old, then the pandemic last year caused major interruptions in the first half of her 3-year-old season.

Miss Marissa really started to put it all together last July, winning an allowance race at Ryerson's old stomping grounds of Monmouth Park to kick off a three-race win streak that culminated in the G2 Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico in October.

“That all followed stretching her out to two turns, which really helped her,” Ryerson explained. “She then ran a pretty good second in the Ladies (Handicap) in January, got beat by a filly of Todd (Pletcher's), and I didn't think the track was to her liking at all that day. We had made up our minds to give her a break after that, and she's come back very well.”

After a five-month layoff, Miss Marissa ran second to Dream Marie in the listed Obeah Stakes at Delaware on June 9, then stepped up to capture the G2 Delaware 'Cap a month later by 1 ¼ lengths.

“You like to see a filly progress from three to four – she's gonna have to run faster and all – and I think you can see signs that she's doing that,” said Ryerson. “You have Letruska, Swiss Skydiver, some other fillies that ran a good bit faster than her last year, but she's narrowed the gap. I think she has controlling speed, she's not one-dimensional where she has to have the lead, but she can carry her speed and there aren't a lot out there that have done that.”

Miss Marissa wins the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap at Delaware Park.

He acknowledges that the Personal Ensign will be a big step up in class, but Ryerson thinks Miss Marissa is capable of continuing to progress in what will be her third start off the layoff.

“We're stabled here (at Saratoga) and she won here last year, so that goes into it,” the trainer explained. “I think her effort in the Delaware Handicap puts us there. It's a pretty big jump but I think it's time to try and make it, and we've got about six weeks to get ready for that.”

The Personal Ensign is a “Win and You're In” race which offers the winner an expenses-paid berth to the Breeders' Cup Distaff this fall at Del Mar.

Should Miss Marissa earn a trip to the West Coast, it won't be Ryerson's first experience at the Breeders' Cup. He saddled the winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile in 1995: Unbridled's Song.

Later a champion sire, Unbridled's Song also won the 1996 Florida Derby and Wood Memorial before a well-publicized foot issue leading up to the Kentucky Derby. The colt wound up finishing fifth in the Run for the Roses.

Ryerson also had multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire Park Avenue Ball run in his hometown's Breeders' Cup World Championships at Monmouth Park. in 2007.

“I haven't had too many opportunities in the Breeders' Cup, but this filly, looking at her going into this year, I think if she can win a couple this year, she can get herself in that discussion,” Ryerson said of Miss Marissa.

No matter how this season pans out, Ryerson has come a long way from the 15-year-old kid who walked onto the Monmouth backstretch looking for a summer job. He became a well-known figure on the New Jersey circuit for several decades, but made the decision to move his stable to New York full time about 10 years ago.

“I was looking for a place that I could continue doing what I love doing; because of the lost dates in New Jersey, there were a lot of opportunities lost in the state,” said Ryerson. “My wife and all my kids still live in Monmouth County, along with all our grandchildren, so it wasn't an easy decision to make.

“My wife understands, but she stays there while I work in New York because it keeps her happy, and I then try to be the grandfather I want to be. You try to make the time. It's not as much as I would like, of course, because it's hard sometimes, but it's doable.”

With 17 horses at Saratoga and another 13 at Belmont, Ryerson said he definitely still enjoys coming to work every morning.

“I know that I'm not getting any younger, but I love doing it and I think that I can offer clients a good option as a horse trainer. I'm probably as busy now, even though I don't have a huge outfit, compared to five years ago, 10 years ago, so I think it's been a good move (to New York).”

Besides, you just never know when the next good horse will walk into your barn.

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