Harold Queen | Horse Racing Free Tips

Noble Drama Rallies To Take City Of Dania Stakes

Harold Queen's Noble Drama called on his family's class to rally from far off the pace to win Sunday's $60,000 City of Dania, a rapidly run contest in which multiple Grade 1 stakes-placed Jesus' Team, the 7-10 favorite, was never a factor while finishing fifth in a highly anticipated return to action.

The City of Dania, a one-turn mile overnight handicap for 3-year-olds and up, headlined an 11-race program that wrapped up a weekend of racing action that included Papetu's victorious comeback in the $75,000 Carry Back and Competitive Speed's return to winning form in the Hallandale Beach on Saturday.

Out of a half-sister to 2010 Eclipse Award-winning sprinter Big Drama and full sister to multiple Grade 1 winner Sheer Drama, Noble Drama with Emisael Jaramillo collected his seventh career stakes victory at Gulfstream Park with a 1 1/2-length decision over pacesetter I'm a G Six.

“What a horse,” said trainer David Fawkes, who also campaigned Noble Drama's more famous family members.

Jesus' Team, who finished sixth in the $10 million Grade 1 Dubai World Cup March 27 after checking in second behind Knicks Go in the $3 million Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Jan. 23, raced evenly under Samy Camacho while proving unable to employ the stretch kick that powered him to a second-place finish in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes.

“Samy said he felt good but that maybe he needed a race,” trainer Jose D'Angelo said. “I know he had a lot of weight. Now we just have to check him and make a decision.”

Jesus' Team carried 127 pounds as the starting highweight while conceding between five and 12 pounds to his seven rivals, including five pounds to Noble Drama.

The victorious 6-year-old gelding, who went to post as the 5-2 second betting choice, was coming off a late-rallying triumph in the My Name's Jimmy overnight handicap May 22 off a four-month layoff.

“That last race took a lot out of him but it gave him plenty of time to recover. This week while training he's been bucking and playing like a yearling,” Fawkes said. “He's so much fun. He shows up every time.”

I'm a G Six, who was coming off an impressive optional claiming allowance victory, was hustled to an early lead by jockey Rajiv Maragh and proceeded to set a blistering pace, putting up eye-catching fractions of :22.81 for the first quarter and :45.12 for the first half mile and 1:08.89 for six furlongs. Pro Quality chased the pacesetter into the stretch under Chantal Sutherland and briefly appeared on his way to victory inside the eighth pole, but Noble Drama loomed in full strike on the far outside and claimed the victory. I'm a G Six battled back to finish second, a neck ahead of Pro Quality.

Noble Drama ran the mile in 1:35.09.

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Champion Sprinter Big Drama Dies At Age 15

Big Drama, the champion sprinter of 2010, was euthanized over the weekend due to complications from a stomach issue, BloodHorse reports. He was 15.

The son of Montbrook last stood at Stormborne Stallions in Citra, Fla., where he was set to stand the upcoming breeding season for an advertised fee of $5,000.

Since entering stud in 2012, Big Drama has spent two separate stints at Florida Stonewall Farm, once under the HallMarc Stallions banner and later under Prestige Stallions, with two seasons at Bridlewood Farm sandwiched between them. He began standing for Oakton Farm Stallions in 2019, and the operation renamed itself Stormborne Stallions ahead of this year's breeding season.

Big Drama has sired seven crops of racing age, with 136 winners and combined progeny earnings of just under $9 million. He has sired four stakes winners, with R Kinsley Doll and Tribal Drama earning their black type in Florida, Miss Deplorable at Monmouth Park, and General Council in New Mexico.

Racing as a homebred for Harold Queen and trained by David Fawkes, Big Drama won 11 of 19 starts and earned $2,746,060.

Big Drama started fast as a 2-year-old, sweeping the three races in his division of the Florida Sire Stakes, then capping off his season with a victory in the Grade 3 Delta Jackpot Stakes. He finished second in the G2 Swale Stakes in his 3-year-old bow, and the remainder of his season saw him run fifth in the 2009 Preakness Stakes, win the listed Red Legend Stakes at Charles Town, and finish second in the G2 West Virginia Derby.

The horse's championship season came at age four, starting in the summer with wins in the Ponche Handicap and G2 Smile Stakes at Calder Race Course. After second-place efforts in the G1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap and G1 Forego Stakes in Saratoga, he secured the champion sprinter Eclipse Award with a strong, front-running victory in the Breeders' Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs.

Big Drama raced for one more season after his Eclipse-winning campaign, taking the G3 Mr. Prospector Stakes and the non-graded Whippleton Stakes before finishing seventh in that season's Breeders' Cup Sprint.

‘Blue-Collar’ Noble Drama Set To Defend Title In Sunshine Classic

Harold Queen's Noble Drama has amassed earnings of more than $600,000 while winning five stakes and placing in 12 stakes during his 24-race career. Not bad for the “black sheep” of his family.

Noble Drama is out of a half-sister to 2010 Eclipse champion sprinter Big Drama and full sister to multiple Grade 1-stakes winner Sheer Drama.

While his exploits pale in comparisons to those of his Grade 1 kin, Noble Drama has been a most productive member of trainer David Fawkes' Gulfstream Park-based stable for the past few years.

“He's a little horse that always tries to win. He always tries hard. If you weren't looking for him, you wouldn't know he's in the barn. He's easy to deal with. There's never an issue with him,” said Fawkes, who also trained both Big Drama and Sheer Drama for Queen. “I'd take 20 of him.”

Queen's 6-year-old homebred gelding is scheduled to make a title defense in Saturday's $75,000 Sunshine Classic, one of four stakes for Florida-breds on Saturday's 12-race program in Hallandale Beach, Fla., with a 11:45 a.m. first-race post time. Noble Drama is also eligible for a win-only bonus of $25,000 offered to Florida Sire Stakes-eligible entrants.

The ever-versatile son of Gone Astray has never been a source of drama while winning from 6 ½ furlongs to the 1 1/8-mile distance of the Sunshine Classic.

“He's just a racehorse. He likes doing it. He's an easy-keeper. He's light, easy on himself. He's not a heavy-built horse,” Fawkes said. “He's a great blue-collar horse. We can take him anywhere we want. He doesn't have to take his surface with him. He's won at Calder; he's won at Tampa; and he's won here.”

Noble Drama is coming off a somewhat disappointing third-place finish as the 6-5 favorite in a seven-furlong Florida Sire Stakes race at Tampa Bay Downs Dec. 12.

“The race at Tampa, I really don't have an excuse for him, why he lost contact with the field. He left himself too much to do,” Fawkes said.

Noble Drama won back-to-back stakes in his two most recent starts at Gulfstream Park, where he scored in the seven-furlong Benny The Bull and the mile FSS Wildcat Heir.

Emisael Jaramillo, who rode Noble Drama in the Wildcat Heir, has the call.

Equine Authority Inc.'s Red Crescent, who finished a head behind Noble Drama while finishing second in last year's Sunshine Classic, is set for another clash this year. The John Vinson-trained 7-year-old gelding is coming off a sharp optional claiming allowance victory Dec. 3.

Paco Lopez has the return mount aboard Red Crescent.

Michael Dubb and partners' Last Judgment will drop from a troubled eighth-place finish in the Dec. 19 Mr. Prospector (G3, his first start for trainer Michael Maker since being claimed out of a Belmont optional claiming allowance win for $62,500.

Jose Ortiz has the call on the 5-year-old gelded son of Congrats.

IAB Stable and Walter Fralick's Quenane, who registered a 27-1 upset over Noble Drama in the Nov. 14 Sunshine Classic Preview over a sloppy Gulfstream Park West track; Mathis Stable LLC's Roman Empire, a Todd Pletcher-trained 4-year-old who finished second in a Dec. 9 optional claiming allowance at Gulfstream; Dig Than Mine LLC and trainer Steve Klesaris' Scar, who won a Dec. 20 optional claiming allowance at Gulfstream; and Marco Thoroughbred Corp.'s Kaufy Bean, a late-developing 4-year-old son of Adios Charlie, round out the field.

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‘Older And Smarter’ Noble Drama In Career Form Ahead Of Saturday’s Millions Classic Preview

Noble Drama's accomplishments may pale in comparison to those of his kin, but Harold Queen's homebred 5-year-old gelding has carved out quite a profitable niche for himself.

Out of Queen Drama, a half-sister to 2010 Eclipse Award-winning sprinter Big Drama and a full sister to multiple Grade 1 winner Sheer Drama, Noble Drama has established himself as a dominating force in the Florida-bred ranks, amassing nearly $600,000 in purse earnings during a 22-race career that includes five stakes wins and 10 stakes placings.

The David Fawkes-trained son of Gone Astray will seek to continue his dominance in Saturday's $60,000 Millions Classic Preview, a mile event for Florida-bred 3-year-olds and up on the nine-race Sunshine Millions Preview card at Gulfstream Park West that include four other stakes.

“Hopefully, this will be the steppingstone to the next one. He's doing really good,” said Fawkes, referring to the $100,000 Sunshine Millions Classic at Gulfstream Park Jan. 16.

Noble Drama enters the Classic Preview in career-best form, coming off back-to-back victories at Gulfstream in the Sept. 6 Benny The Bull at seven furlongs and the Sept. 26 FSS Wildcat Heir at a mile around one turn.

“He's been really good to us recently,” Fawkes said. “He's gotten older and smarter and he really likes what he's doing.”

In the Benny The Bull, Noble Drama overcame bumping at the start and rallied from seventh to win going away by 2 ½ lengths. In the Wildcat Heir, he settled in mid-pack before kicking in through the stretch to win by a length.

The very versatile gelding has won multiple stakes around two turns, including a victory in the 1 1/8-mile Sunshine Millions Classic last year.

“He beat some nice horses last time. He's really turned into a decent horse. You'd love to have a barn full of horses like him,” Fawkes said.

Emisael Jaramillo has the return mount aboard Noble Drama.

Jacks or Better Farm's Garter and Tie, one of the nice horses beaten by Noble Drama in the Wildcat Heir, is scheduled to return in the Classic Preview. The 4-year-old son of Brooks 'n Down made a big move on the turn into the homestretch before making a strong stretch drive, in which he closed the gap from 3 ½ lengths to a length in the final eighth of a mile.

“We've met Noble Drama four times and he's beaten us three times,” trainer Ralph Nicks said. “So, we'll have to improve.”

The Nicks trainee was stakes-placed in his previous two starts despite encountering trouble at the start of both races. He rallied to finish second behind heavily favored Cool Arrow in the Opening Lead before checking in third behind Noble Drama in the Wildcat Heir.

“He's doing well. The only thing with him is: his two-turn races haven't been as good as his one-turn races,” Nicks said. “That's always a question with him. We'll see what happens.

Edgard Zayas has the mount aboard Garter and Tie, who broke his maiden in the 2018 FSS Affirmed and has won two other stakes.

Equine Authority Inc.'s Red Crescent is set to title defense in the Millions Classic Preview, which he won by 1 ½ lengths last year. The 6-year-old son of Overdriven went on to finish second behind Noble Drama in the Sunshine Millions Classic, but is winless in five starts this year. The John Vinson-trained gelding finished fifth last time out in the Benny The Bull, in which he faded after stalking the pace while coming off a two-month layoff.

In his two prior starts, he finished third behind victorious Eye of a Jedi, finishing 1 ¾ lengths behind runner-up Noble Drama in the Sea of Tranquility and finished a length behind runner-up and multiple-stakes winner Diamond Oops in an optional claiming allowance.

Samy Camacho has the mount aboard Red Crescent.

Raymond Mamone's Debbie's Passion, IAB Stables and Walter Fralick's Quenane round out the field.

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