Gatsas Stables | Horse Racing Free Tips

Maven Heads Lucky Coin Field On Friday Card At Saratoga

Richard Ravin's Group 3-winner winner Maven headlines Friday's $120,000 Lucky Coin at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Trained by Wesley Ward, Maven enters the Lucky Coin, a 5 1/2-furlong Mellon turf sprint for older horses who have not won a stakes this year, from an off-the-board effort in the Group 1 King's Stand on June 15 at Ascot.

The 4-year-old American Pharoah chestnut has been a boom-or-bust proposition with four wins and four off-the-board efforts from eight starts. As a 2-year-old, Maven graduated on debut on the main track at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y., in April 2019 and two months later shipped to France and captured the Group 3 Prix du Bois traveling five furlongs on the Chantilly turf.

Last year, Maven won a turf allowance sprint at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., but finished off-the-board in the Mahony at Saratoga and the Grade 3 Franklin-Simpson at Kentucky Downs.

“He didn't really run too well at Saratoga, but he may have been on a bit of a downward spiral then,” Ward said. “We gelded him last year [in October] and at the time that we gelded him, it was getting to be the fall of the year and I didn't really want to take him down to Florida so we just gave him the extra time. He had no issues. He just ran a couple of poor races.”

Maven kicked off his 4-year-old campaign with an allowance score on the Keeneland turf in April that garnered a career-best 104 Beyer Speed Figure before shipping overseas and finishing 11th in the five-furlong King's Stand under Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez.

“We brought him back in the spring and he was a little short going into his first race. He really amazed me how he just exploded that day to the front like he does,” Ward said. “Turning for home, I was expecting him to stop and he just kind of re-broke, and he really wasn't ready. So, that's what inspired me to take him over to Royal Ascot at a distance that I thought would be just awesome for him, five-eighths, off the big numbers he got off his Keeneland run.

“It was good spacing and everything you want to see. I had my rider, Johnny, on him that won on him,” Ward continued. “He broke and kind of sprinted out there and when the running started, he just didn't have it. I'm not sure if this is a horse that is just a horse-for-course or if he can take his show on the road. That's a little bit of a question mark. That said, he's training really, really well right now.”

Velazquez will pilot Maven from the outermost post 8.

Marc Keller's Pulsate, a 5-year-old Speightstown chestnut trained by Robert Ribaudo, was a prominent second in last year's Lucky Coin, finishing 1 1/4-lengths back of Battle Station.

A strong second in his seasonal debut in a six-furlong optional-claiming turf sprint at Belmont on July 4, Pulsate faded to fourth last out sprinting 6 1/2-furlongs on the main track on August 6 at the Spa.

Manny Franco [post 4] will look to provide Pulsate his first win since December 2019.

Patricia Generazio's New York homebred Maxwell Esquire finished 2 1/4-lengths back of Pulsate last out on July 4.

Trainer Christophe Clement said the 4-year-old Discreet Cat colt has trained well enough to earn a fourth career stakes start and first since finishing fifth in the Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship in November.

“He's training well and doing well,” Clement said. “We were looking at other races but we'll see if he can face good horses and see what happens.”

Irad Ortiz, Jr. has picked up the mount from post 5.

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Gatsas Stables' Backtohisroots will look to make amends after stumbling at the start last out on October 4 in the Grade 3 Belmont Turf Sprint Invitational and unseating Jose Lezcano.

The 5-year-old son of Mark Valeski, a first-time gelding trained by John Terranova, boasts a record of 13-3-4-2 with purse earnings of $196,075, including a rallying score in an optional-claiming turf sprint in August 2020 at the Spa.

Backtohisroots will exit post 6 under Luis Saez.

Rounding out the field are Noble Emotion [post 3, Jose Ortiz] a four-time winner from 10 starts for trainer Horacio DePaz; Holiday Stone [post 7, Tyler Gaffalione], an eight-time winner with purse earnings of $532,159 for trainer George Weaver; The Connector [post 2, Willie Martinez], a Monmouth Park ship-in for trainer Michael Dini; and Guildsman [post 1, Ricardo Santana, Jr.], a three-time winner for trainer Robert Falcone, Jr.

The Lucky Coin is slated as Race 9 on Friday's 10-race card. First post is 1:05 p.m. Eastern. Saratoga Live will present daily television coverage of the summer meet on FOX Sports. For the complete Saratoga Live broadcast schedule, and additional programming information, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Saratoga Race Course, and the best way to bet every race of the summer meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.

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General George Favorite Funny Guy One Serious Racehorse

His name evokes a smile, and though he has yet to register a win against open competition, make no mistake – Funny Guy is one serious racehorse.

Gatsas Stables, R. A. Hill Stable and Swick Stable's Funny Guy is a five-time stakes winner against fellow New York-breds that owns six wins, six seconds and $638,645 in purse earnings from 17 lifetime starts.

The 5-year-old son of 2008 Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness (G1) winner Big Brown has fared well in the occasional foray into open company, including a runner-up finish behind Grade 1 winner Firenze Fire in the Vosburgh (G2) last fall at his home base of Belmont Park.

Funny Guy is entered to make his graded-stakes return in Saturday's $250,000 General George (G3) at Laurel Park, where he is the 9-5 program favorite against a field boasting seven other stakes winners including Grade 3 winners Laki, Majestic Dunhill and Share the Ride.

The 45th running of the General George for 4-year-olds and up and $250,000 Runhappy Barbara Fritchie (G3) for females 4 and older, both sprinting seven furlongs, serve as the co-headliners on a nine-race Winter Sprintfest program featuring six stakes worth $900,000 in purses rescheduled from Feb. 13 due to weather.

Funny Guy has been at Laurel since last week under the supervision of Tonja Terranova, wife and assistant to trainer John Terranova. Though training has been intermittently interrupted by weather, John Terranova said Funny Got got in a “strong gallop” Wednesday morning.

“It's all good. We'll just do what we've got to do during the week,” he said. “I guess everyone else is in the same boat with the postponement. We'll just ride the wave.”

The General George will be only the second time Funny Guy has raced outside of New York. The first came in the 2019 Oklahoma Derby (G3), when he ran sixth behind Owendale, third in that year's Preakness, and runner-up Sleepy Eyes Todd, most recently fourth in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1) Jan. 23 at Gulfstream Park and running in Saturday's $20 million Saudi Cup.

“He's been great. He's honest, he does everything right. He's been a fun horse to be around,” John Terranova said. “He's versatile and just keeps coming back for more each time. He's had a couple little circumstances where maybe the track got to him a little bit or it just didn't set up quite right, but he's always given us a big effort.”

One start prior to last year's Vosburgh, Funny Guy wound up fourth by 2 ½ lengths in the Forego (G1) at Saratoga to Win Win Win, another veteran of the 2019 Triple Crown trail, and Grade 1 winner Complexity, the runner-up. The seven-furlong Forego was contested during a thunderstorm that rolled through at post time. In a sign of respect, Funny Guy was sent off as the favorite in the Forego and Vosburgh.

“The Forego was one of those circumstances with that horrific rainstorm we were in the middle of when they snapped the gate on us. Everybody rushed out to the track and it was an absolute deluge,” Terranova said. “You couldn't even see them. It was like running through a river. He was down inside, just buried in there. The track took away from a lot of performances on that afternoon.”

Funny Guy's stakes wins have come at distances from 6 ½ furlongs to the 1 1/8 miles of the Albany, which he captured by a neck in 2019 at Saratoga, earning him a shot in the Oklahoma Derby. Given some time off after that effort, he returned with back-to-back stakes wins in the one-mile Commentator and seven-furlong John Morrissey last summer.

In his 2021 debut, Funny Guy ran second as the favorite in the seven-furlong Say Florida Sandy Jan. 9 at Aqueduct, his first start since a neck triumph in the New York Stallion Series Thunder Rumble Nov. 22, also going seven-eighths at the Big A.

“The track was a little loose on him. He's a big, heavy horse and winter tracks, they get cold, they get cuppy, they get loose and dry,” Terranova said. “He doesn't really get his feet that far up off the ground so I think he struggled with it, having that quickness to him. It took it a little bit away from him the last start. Our jock said the same thing after getting off him.”

Funny Guy owns two wins and two seconds in five career tries at the General George distance, and is two-for-three on an off track. A second winter storm is scheduled to pass through the Laurel area Thursday into Friday morning.

“He's certainly doing well coming into this. We're just kind of like in this holding pattern, not much to do this week,” Terranova said. “He's doing great. We've been looking forward to this race. Wet or dry, he's been great. Everything's good.”

Terranova has shipped in to Maryland and left with graded-stakes before, taking the 2019 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) with Killybegs Captain. It was the trainer's most recent of more than a dozen graded triumphs.

“We've been lucky down there and very fortunate that we've had some good success with our horses,” he said. “Hopefully it continues with Funny Guy.”

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Spendthrift Welcomes A Third Met Mile Winner

While there’s never one fool-proof indicator for determining stallion potential, Spendthrift Farm has found one race that they feel consistently produces winners who draw their attention.

In the past four years, they’ve welcomed a trio of GI Metropolitan H. victors to their stud barn.

First was Mor Spirit (Eskendereya), the first Grade I-winning two-year-old to later win the Met Mile since Holy Bull in 1994. Then came Mitole, another son of Eskendereya who would go on to be named the 2019 Eclipse Champion Male Sprinter. This year, they welcome a third winner in five-time stakes-winning millionaire Vekoma (Candy Ride {Arg}).

“The Met Mile, every year, seems to be one of the most competitive races that is run,” said Spendthrift’s Stallion Sales Manager Mark Toothaker. “Everybody seems to point to that race. It just is a race that everybody has circled on their calendars. To have three Met Mile winners here at Spendthrift, they’ve all be supported very well and all have gotten really big books of mares, so now they just have to go do the deal on the racetrack.”

This most recent Met Mile hero was a 2017 $135,000 Keeneland September purchase for R.A. Hill Stable. The late-May foal made his winning debut in September of his 2-year-old year before taking the GIII Nashua S. at Aqueduct for an undefeated juvenile season.

Campaigned by R.A. Hill Stable and Gatsas Stables, Vekoma ran third in his sophomore debut in the GII Fountain of Youth S. behind eventual dual Grade I winner Code of Honor (Noble Mission {GB}). He became a top consideration on the Derby Trail after taking the GII Blue Grass S. in his next start.

After failing to fire in the GI Kentucky Derby and staying on the sidelines for the remainder of his sophomore year, Vekoma returned for his best season yet in 2020.

The George Weaver trainee first took the Sir Shackleton S. in March, then followed that effort with an overwhelming 7 1/4-length victory in the GI Runhappy Cater H. to register a 110 Beyer in the Belmont slop. One month later, he faced off with fellow Grade I winners Code of Honor, McKinzie (Street Sense) and Hog Creek Hustle (Overanalyze) in the GI Runhappy Metropolitan H.

“He broke well and just sat right there and waited until it was his time,” Toothaker said, recalling the race. “He got his cue in the stretch and opened up and drew off in what was a very, very dominating performance. [The Metropolitan H.] is always a very difficult race to win and this year was no different. It was a very talented field that he was able to beat that day, and he beat them pretty soundly.”

Although Vekoma was set to be a top choice in the GI Breeders’ Cup Sprint, a fever days before the raced forced him to scratch.

“It was very unfortunate that Vekoma didn’t get to run in the Sprint,” Toothaker said. “He was going to be the heavy favorite against that field. No knock against anyone, but I feel like Vekoma would have had that bunch over a barrel.”

Over his three-year career, the speedy chestnut was well known for his unique way of going. Toothaker admitted that this delayed Spendthrift’s consideration of the stallion prospect.

“I’ve known George Weaver for a long time and he called me one day and he said ‘Tooth, you’ve got to come see this horse.’ I said, ‘George, he’s got to be really crooked’ but he replied, ‘How many crooked horses do you know that I buy? Listen, he walks really well. We had no idea he did that until we breezed him.'”

Toothaker made the trip to New York to see the prospect and sure enough, he was sold at first sight.

“George picked me up at the airport and we went and looked at him and I loved him,” he recalled. “I thought he looked like a rocket ship. I’m thrilled to death to be able to have him here at Spendthrift.”

Vekoma will be the first son of Candy Ride (Arg) to join the Spendthrift stallion roster.

“Spendthrift has been looking for a son of Candy Ride for a while and we had not been able to land one that we really liked,” Toothaker said. “This horse, when we had a chance to see him, we felt like he was the one we had been looking for. Candy Ride’s sons are doing extremely well and we were very happy to land Vekoma.”

The dual Grade I winner is out of the Speightstown mare Mona de Momma, winner of the 2010 GI Humana Distaff S. and GIII Las Flores H. and a $1.55 million Keeneland November purchase for Vekoma’s breeder, Alpha Delta Stables. While Mona de Momma died soon after foaling Vekoma, his half-sister Bloody Point (War Front) earned over $100,000 and is now a producer. Big names under his third dam include influential sire Mr. Greeley (Gone West), champion juvenile and sire Street Sense (Street Cry {Ire}) and dual Grade I winner Paradise Woods (Union Rags).

Toothaker said that Vekoma’s physical trends strongly towards his female side.

“Vekoma really looks a lot like Speightstown,” he said. “I mean, I’ve had people come out and say they see Candy Ride in him as well, but to me, he looks very much like a lot of the Speightstowns you see out there. He’s got good bone, he’s got a really strong body and a good hip.”

Already, Toothaker is imagining the first foals from Vekoma.

“I can foresee him having just absolutely beautiful, rocket ship-like weanlings down the road. I think he’ll be a very precocious sire- his body looks very precocious. He was so fast and hated to loose. So we’re looking forward to getting mares to him this year and then seeing what the foals look like in 2022.”

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Grade 1 Winner Vekoma Retired To Spendthrift Farm For 2021

Multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire Vekoma has been retired from racing and arrived at B. Wayne Hughes' Spendthrift Farm, where the 4-year-old son of Candy Ride will take up stud duty in 2021. His fee has been set at $20,000 S&N.

This year's impressive winner of the Grade 1 Carter Handicap and G1 Met Mile, Vekoma was scratched as the morning-line favorite in Saturday's Breeders' Cup Sprint after spiking a fever upon arrival at Keeneland. He will be given a few days to settle in at Spendthrift before being available for inspection.

“Precocious, brilliantly fast, carried his speed around two turns – you name it, Vekoma could do it. On top of that, he is a Grade 1 winner by a Grade 1 winner and out of a Grade 1 winner, so he's truly a rare package in the breeding world. You won't find a more brilliant or better-bred son of Candy Ride. We are extremely excited about his future at stud and look forward to showing him off to breeders after he's been allowed a few days to settle in here,” said Ned Toffey, Spendthrift general manager. “Any time a horse as good and as deserving as Vekoma does not get the opportunity to run in the Breeders' Cup, you are obviously disappointed for the horse and for the connections. There's so much hard work that gets put in. Ultimately, you have to credit George Weaver and his team for having an incredible season and always doing right by Vekoma through some hard luck at the end.”

Trained by George Weaver for owners R. A. Hill Stable and Gatsas Stables, Vekoma was one of the top racehorses in his crop, capturing graded stakes wins at two, three and four. After breaking his maiden at first asking in 1:08 4/5 at Belmont, the talented chestnut stretched out to win the one-mile G3 Nashua Stakes at Aqueduct to complete an undefeated juvenile campaign.

At three, Vekoma jumped onto the Triple Crown trail, finishing third to Code of Honor in the G2 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream in his seasonal debut. He went on to score a dominant 3 1/2-length win in the 1 1/8-mile G2 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, earning a berth into the Kentucky Derby.

This year, Vekoma was perfect with wins at three different racetracks, kicking off his 4-year-old season with a 3 3/4-length victory in Gulfstream's Sir Shackleton Stakes in March. Vekoma earned his first Grade 1 triumph in the form of a dazzling 7 1/4-length win in the Carter Handicap at Aqueduct, earning a career-high 110 Beyer Speed Figure. He validated his Carter performance with a front-running win in the prestigious Met Mile, defeating Grade 1 winners Code of Honor and McKinzie, among others, while stopping the clock in 1:32 4/5 – just .15 seconds off the stakes record for the 129-year-old fixture in New York.

An earner of $1,245,525, Vekoma was bred in Kentucky by Alpha Delta Stables. He is out of the Speightstown mare Mona de Momma who scored her biggest win as a racehorse in the G1 Humana Distaff on the Kentucky Derby undercard at Churchill. Vekoma's second dam, Society Gal, is a half-sister to successful sire Mr. Greeley.

Vekoma becomes the third Met Mile winner in the last four years to take up stud duty at Spendthrift. Mor Spirit, the 2017 winner, and Mitole, the 2019 winner, both stand at the historic Lexington-based farm.

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