Becky’s Joker Continues to Defy Odds with Unconventional Spa Schedule

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.–Trainer Gary Contessa believes in Becky's Joker (Practical Joke) and is not going to waver from his against-the-grain approach with the massive 2-year-old filly.

On the opening day of the Saratoga season, July 13, Contessa had her make her career debut in the GIII Schuylerville. She won for fun by 3 1/4 lengths at 21-1. According to Equibase, she is just the fifth horse since 1991 to start its career with a graded-stakes victory.

After she worked four furlongs in :48.40 seconds on July 26, Contessa said she was a probable starter in the GIII Adirondack S. on Sunday. Following her :48.77 half-mile work on Tuesday, Contessa said Wednesday he definitely would enter her in the Adirondack rather than wait for the GI Spinaway S. on Sept. 3.

The last time a Schuylerville winner ran back in the Adirondack was in 1999 when Magicalmysterycat (Storm Cat) ended up fourth in the second leg of Saratoga's juvenile fillies series.

Contessa is a veteran horseman who is not bound by current norms.

“I'm kind of old school. I race a horse if they're ready to run,” he said. “I don't say, 'Oh my, God, I ran a 2-year-old. I have to give it six weeks to the next.' Nah. I'm old-school.”

Contessa touted Becky's Joker to everyone before the Schuylerville and was not surprised when she won. He said after the race that he and owner Lee Pokoik would look to the Spinaway for her next start.

“I didn't want to run her three times at the meet. But if you really do the math, this is 23 days to this race. Not bad,” Contessa said. “And she's training great and she's a happy horse. Then it's 28 days to the Spinaway. It's not like we're not getting

some time in between.”

Contessa said that if she runs well in the Adirondack, she will go on to the seven-furlong Spinaway. The last Schuylerville winner to run in all three races was Turnback the Alarm (Darn That Alarm) trained by Red Terrill in 1991. She was third in the Adirondack and second in the Spinaway.

The last horse to complete the rare sweep was Over All (Mr. Prospector) in 1989.

Contessa bought Becky's Joker, already an above-average sized filly, as a weanling at Keeneland November 2021 for $130,000. She didn't reach her reserve when offered as a yearling or as a 2-year-old. Contessa had her shipped to his stable at Saratoga in early May and began getting her ready to run in Pokoik's colors. Her size, once considered a negative, has turned out to be an asset. Contessa said she stands about 16.3 hands and estimates that she weighs 1,250 pounds. He figures she will be 17 hands.

When he purchased her, Contessa acknowledged that he wondered whether she would be able to get to the races because big, young horses are prone to injuries.

“But you never know how precocious a horse might be,” he said. “She has defied the odds. There's an exception to every rule. Sometimes there's many exceptions to every rule and this filly is the exception to every rule.

“I'm sure, there are a lot of people that looked at her at the 2-year-old sales and said, 'I like her a lot, but she's too big.' And to me, she was never really too big. I always liked her.

Contessa said the Becky's Joker has made a believer out of some doubters.

“The day that I bought her as a weaning at six months and sent her to Taylor Made, Frank Taylor picked up the phone and said, “As a yearling, Frank called me and said 'Gary, she's kind of big.' Then as a 2-year-old in training, he said, 'Gary, she's kind of big.' Then, after she won the stake, he called me and he said, 'I guess she's not too big.'”

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Contessa’s Becky’s Joker Upsets Schuylerville in Career Debut

Much of the pre-race speculation about Saratoga's GIII Schuylerville S. for 2-year-old fillies going six furlongs on the dirt seemed to focus on which Hall of Famer–D. Wayne Lukas or Todd Pletcher–would be the first to win the traditional opening-day feature for the record seventh time, unless another Hall of Famer–Steve Asmussen–got in the way. Instead, that trio had to settle for filling out the superfecta as it was another veteran conditioner, Gary Contessa, who notched his first Schuylerville win with Becky's Joker (Practical Joke–Becky's Best, by Elusive Quality), the only filly in the field without a start under her belt. It was also Contessa's first black-type win at Saratoga since the Skidmore S. in 2019 and his first graded win anywhere since the 2018 GI Spinaway S. He had since quit training and then returned.

“This is the way to come back,” said Contessa. “I've tried the real world, but this side of the fence is the happier place for me. I like the other side of the fence, but I love this side of the fence.”

When the Schuylerville gates flew, Pletcher's $600,000 Keeneland September buy and June 18 Belmont debut winner Wine On Tap (Tapit) flew with them. She was quickly joined by Robert Reid trainee and June 18 Parx romper Camelina (Maximus Mischief) and Lukas's June 23 Ellis scorer Saratoga Secret (Arrogate). Becky's Joker had broken last in the scratched-down field of seven, but charged up the rail as that initial quarter sped by in :22.45. The eventual winner loomed on the turn to take advantage of a generous gap and joined the party made by the top three at the :46.03 half, but didn't stick around, pulling clear down the stretch despite running greenly and drifting significantly in the lane. She was 21-1.

“When she broke a little slow, I wasn't surprised because she's so big,” said Contessa. “She's 16.3 [hands], so I expected her to break slow and I was hoping she would engage immediately and she did. She got right behind the leaders and I loved her position. I felt we had a big chance turning for home.”

Saratoga Secret held for second, with Asmussen's June 11 Astoria S. winner Closing Act (Munnings) edging out Wine On Tap for third. Each of Becky's Joker's rivals was previously undefeated, all having broken their maiden at first asking with Closing Act the lone two-time starter and two-time winner coming into the race.

“I knew that physically she was as good as anything in this race,” said Contessa of Becky's Joker. “She trained like a stakes horse, but you don't know what's going to happen once the gate opens.

“With [owner] Lee Pokoik, it's easy because he always wants to run in stakes races. I didn't have to do much convincing to the owner and I would have to just eat a little crow if I was wrong.”

A $130,000 weanling at Keeneland November, Becky's Joker was a $50,000 RNA in her return to the ring in last year's Keeneland September sale. All nine of her published works have been at Saratoga. She signaled her readiness for her Schuylerville debut with a bullet three furlongs in :34 4/5 (1/19) July 7. Contessa indicated Becky's Joker would target the GI Spinaway S. Sept. 3.

“I bought her as a weanling right after she was born and with Lee, we always try to sell them as yearlings,” said Contessa. “If they don't sell as yearlings, we sell them as a 2-year-old. When she went to the yearling sale, everyone said she was too big. Then we took her to the March 2-year-old sale in Ocala this year and everyone that looked at her said she was too big. I'm thinking in the back of my mind, 'This is good, I may get to keep this one.' That's exactly what happened, and the same thing happened with Sippican Harbor [Orb], who won the Spinaway a few years ago. Nobody wanted her at the yearling sale or the 2-year-old sale and we got to win a Grade I with her, so hopefully we get to win a Grade I with this one.”

Pedigree Notes:

Becky's Joker is one of eight graded winners for Coolmore America's Practical Joke, who is also the sire of 15 black-type winners from his three Northern Hemisphere crops to race. The Schuylerville winner is the only one of the Into Mischief son's stakes winners out of an Elusive Quality mare, but Practical Joke does have stakes winners out of other sons of Gone West, including Speightstown and Proud Citizen. Elusive Quality has 159 stakes winners out of his daughters.

The winner's unraced dam was a $20,000 Keeneland January purchase in 2020 by Jay Goodwin and produced Becky's Joker the next year. Becky's Best, a half-sister to MGSW Vertical Oak (Giant Oak), also has a yearling colt by Caravaggio, who hammered for $90,000 to Becky's Farm at Keeneland November, and produced a colt by Silver State on Mar. 1.

Thursday, Saratoga
SCHUYLERVILLE S.-GIII, $175,000, Saratoga, 7-13, 2yo, f, 6f, 1:12.52, ft.
1–BECKY'S JOKER, 118, f, 2, by Practical Joke
                1st Dam: Becky's Best, by Elusive Quality
                2nd Dam: Vertical Vision, by Pollard's Vision
                3rd Dam: Caney Creek, by Service Stripe
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($130,000
Wlg '21 KEENOV; $50,000 RNA Ylg '22 KEESEP). O-Lee Pokoik;
B-Warran J Harang (KY); T-Gary C. Contessa; J-Javier
Castellano. $96,250. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $96,250.
Werk Nick Rating: B.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Saratoga Secret, 120, f, 2, Arrogate–Sister, by Fort Larned.
1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($200,000 Ylg '22
FTSAUG). O-BC Stables, LLC; B-Mulholland Springs LLC & Roger
& Mary A. Pardieck (KY); T-D. Wayne Lukas. $35,000.
3–Closing Act, 122, f, 2, Munnings–Evening Show, by Master
Command. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. O/B-Douglas Scharbauer
(TX); T-Steven M. Asmussen. $21,000.
Margins: 3 1/4, 3HF, HD. Odds: 21.20, 3.55, 5.00.
Also Ran: Wine On Tap, Carmelina, Sugar Treat, Kiss for Luck. Scratched: Dancing Diana, Mila Junes, Status Seeker, Union Suit.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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